A/N Hello again viewers! I just want to say a massive thanks to all those who reviewed the last chapter: Nikhil Malfoy, KissMiInk, Jaybat and TheQuietAwakening. I really enjoyed reading them and listening to your views. I never really know what to put in the A/Ns so let's get right into the story.
Chapter 32 - Kreacher
They landed hard in a darkening street, dimly lit by a few, flickering orange lamp posts. The dingy light cast ghostly shadows all around them. Once Draco's eyes had adjusted, he noticed a row of houses right in front of him. He was just about to open his mouth to ask where exactly they were, and to make a snide remark about Potter hiding in a desolate, dingy building, when Ginny snapped, "Obscuro!" in a very rushed tone. Draco blanched, immediately engulfed in the black blindfold which had just appeared over his eyes. "What the hell Ginny?" He asked furiously, about to rip the thing off but Ginny batted his hand away, hissing "The less you see the better! If You Know Who interrogates you about this then I don't want you being able to tell him anything! You hear me?" Draco made a face but dropped his hands, supposing that this was probably for the best. He heard her mutter something and then blanched again. It sounded as if the buildings in front were falling and he backed away feverishly, waving his arms about wildly and trying to get a sense of what was happening. "Shut it!" Ginny hissed, then out of nowhere she grabbed his wrist rather uncomfortably tight and dragged him forwards.
Once inside, she muttered, "You can take that thing off now," indicating towards the blindfold. His hand instantly made contact with his skull as he ripped the black fabric off, tossing it into the air and watching it disappear into nothingness. Then he took a good long stare at his surroundings. He looked to be in some sort of old style furnished hallway, dimly lit by gas lamps on the peeling wallpapered wall and a dusty chandelier overhead. At the far end of the corridor, he noticed a large portrait of a woman who seemed to be sleeping. He opened his mouth but Ginny put a finger firmly to her lips, nodding her head at the portrait. Draco shut his mouth, confused. To the side of the portrait was a very dusty staircase. If it hadn't been so thick with dust, it may have appeared as grand for a town house. In front of him stood a troll leg, which was seemingly being used as an umbrella stand which Ginny carefully hung her cloak upon. Draco kept his on, glancing at the peeling walls and thin carpet. This house, wherever it was, looked pretty abandoned.
He followed the redhead along the hall and through a door to a significantly larger room, much less dusty but still ridden with cobwebs. A long wooden table stretched from one end of the room to the other, wooden chairs tucked in under it and just behind the table, skulking behind a dresser stood, "Kreacher." Ginny had voiced in an undertone after spotting the elderly looking elf. Draco stared at the elf, who was wearing what looked to be a loathsome but tired expression. A torn, ragged cloth hung from his shoulders which may have once been a pillowcase but was now a dirty rag. He'd never paid any attention to house elves, other than Dobby. "Mistress won't be happy," muttered the elf, feet shuffling across the floor as he walked. "Blood traitor in the house, no, mistress is not pleased. Kreacher to be punished, what should be done?" The elf cursed, head down.
"Kreacher!" Ginny said loudly, addressing the elf, which did not look up. "Kreacher where is everyone?" She asked firmly.
"The blood traitor is talking," muttered Kreacher, glaring at the floor.
"Hey! Kreacher," Draco said in a dangerous tone, "Don't call her -"
"A Black," Kreacher said, surprised and staring up at the platinum haired boy with something remarkably like awe. Draco fell silent. Ginny looked between them. "I'm a Malfoy..." Draco began warily.
"My Mistress' niece's son, if Kreacher is right. A pureblood, loyal and good. Mistress would be proud," Kreacher said to himself.
"I don't care what your mis-" Draco began but Ginny stamped on his foot.
"What he means is he's wondering where everyone is," Ginny said hurriedly, directing her speech at the elf who looked mutinously up at her.
"Everyone?" Kreacher asked.
"The people who're usually here," Ginny clarified, avoiding the words 'The Order'.
"Answer her," Draco said after Kreacher didn't seem keen on replying.
"They left after the death of the blood traitor headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Agreed it was unsafe to prolong their meetings here when the loyal death eater purebloods knew about this house," Kreacher said stonily.
"The Order?" Draco asked, as if a lightbulb had just been switched on at the back of his mind. Ginny sighed.
"Yes," she confessed, "This is - was - their meeting place." An odd, dark part of Draco said firmly that he should curse Ginny and find out from this elf everything he could about the order. He should search it, strip the house clean of any evidence. But he ignored this irritating voice in his brain and focused on the marks on the scorch floor. He had to find Hermione, and to do that he needed help and if that help was from Saint Potter himself then so be it.
Kreacher had clambered onto the table and had grabbed Draco's wrist, who tried and failed to snatch it back. "Get off me," he snapped to the elf, batting it away with his other hand.
"A Black is here, a pure Black. Why are you contaminating your blood with this blood traitor?" Kreacher seethed with a painfully tight grip on his wrist, "Mistress would not be happy, not at all!" He yanked his wrist back and stared in disgust at the elf.
"What I'm doing is my business, Kreacher," Draco snapped coldly, to which Kreacher glowered and looked away. However he looked back and grasped his wrist again, tugging him down with immense force. "Stupid elf get off!" Draco fumed, tugging away from it. Kreacher yanked at his collar and just as Ginny was stepping forward, about to pull the elf off, Kreacher drew out Draco's chain and inspected the ring on it. "Don't touch that," Draco said in a deadly voice, pushing Kreacher away from him and tucking the glinting ring out of sight. "Kreacher is seeing that ring before," Kreacher murmured, a wicked glint in his eyes.
"What are you talking about?!" Snapped Draco.
"Master Regulus is bringing that ring to me after stealing it from my Mistress. Years upon years I've looked at that ring but then it was taken by Mr Lucius Malfoy and I is never seeing it again," Kreacher said in a crumbling, deflated voice.
"Nonsense," Draco said in a furious tone, "You must be talking of another ring. This is mine. Now if you don't mind we're in a bit of a hurry, elf." And he patted his shirt down where the ring was for good measure. Ginny drummed her fingers upon the dusty tabletop and waited for the air to clear. "Kreacher," she began clearly and confidently, "You wouldn't happen to have seen Harry Potter or Ron Weasley recently have you?" Kreacher narrowed his wide eyes and muttered, "blood traitors." Draco looked skywards exasperatedly before demanding Kreacher to answer. Kreacher looked at him and said angrily, "The blood traitors were here for a couple of weeks, trying to find my Master's private belongings!"
Draco glanced at Ginny before saying, "Which was...?" Kreacher went cross eyed before spitting out something. "What?" Draco asked.
"Master's locket!" Kreacher spat angrily. Ginny narrowed her eyes.
"I thought they'd already found that," she said confused, visualising the list in her brain.
"My Master is replacing the real one with a fake and keeping the real one to himself, but Mr Mundungus Fletcher stoles it! He is stealing my Master's things in the night and is selling them to filthy traitors and purebloods! So Mr Potter is findings Mundungus and asks Kreacher to brings him here so he does, and Mundungus is saying he sold the locket to our Minister for Magic," Kreacher finished, eyes wary.
Draco edged over to Ginny and asked in an undertone, "Isn't that Umbridge?"
"Yeah, it is," Ginny sighed. She turned to Kreacher and asked, "So did they get the locket back?"
"They is getting it back, yes. They is stealing it from the ministry itself. But the death eaters is comings here after them and they is leaving a hurried note for me to keep and they is apparating far away. Kreacher is being left specific instructions not to let anyone see the letter unless they are you Miss Weasley, or their mudblood friend Granger," Kreacher said, sounding almost retired.
"What did you just call her?" Draco demanded quietly, wand drawn and venom coursing through his veins.
"Not now," Ginny hissed, but Draco had dived for the elf and hit it's scrawny head with the palm of his hand. "Draco NO!" Ginny screeched, grabbing Draco's collar and yanking him away from the elf, who'd let out a high pitched yelp and staggered backwards. Draco was still trembling.
"Apologise!" He spat, glaring at the elf.
"Kreacher is sorry, sir, he is not meaning to cause offence," Kreacher said earnestly. Draco lowered his wand slightly, but did not pocket it.
"Could we see the note then?" Asked Ginny, her patience trickling away like water cupped in her bare hands. Kreacher muttered something incoherent before disappearing off through a side door. Draco looked at Ginny, waiting. "This better be worth my time," Draco hissed in her ear. Ginny bit her lip.
The elf returned a couple of minutes later, a scrap of parchment in hand. Kreacher passed it up to Ginny, avoiding Draco's gaze, who took it out of his bony grasp. Ginny read the note quickly, allowing Draco to read over her shoulder. It read, in an untidy scrawl:
"If you're reading this now, then your probably needing to find us. We really hope you will never need to read this but in case you do, we've left instructions with the faithful bird.
Hope this helps."
"The faithful bird?" Draco asked incredulously, "Merlin Potter's even more stupid than I gave him credit for. How the hell is this supposed to help?"
"It must mean something!" Ginny said frustratedly.
"Well, he's your boyfriend!" Draco said, somewhat aggravated.
"I'm trying to think! Faithful bird. What birds do we know? Hedwig? She's faithful," Ginny said in heated thought.
"She's with them," Draco pointed out, "Have you got an owl?"
"Neither Errol nor Pigwidgeon are hardly what one would call 'faithful,'" Ginny said, "Who else is there?"
"Could it be like a metaphor or something? You ever talked about birds? Is it a place even, or a pub?" Draco asked encouragingly, but Ginny just shook her head.
"Think!" She told herself, "Faithful to who? What are you if your faithful?"
"Always turn up when the owner calls? Could it be a magical bird?" Draco asked.
"Magical... Dumbledore had a phoenix. That's a bird right?" Ginny said excitedly.
"Um, yeah," Draco said awkwardly, feeling a rush of guilt at the name. "Yeah and they're incredibly faithful and loyal."
"Brilliant!" Ginny squealed. They stood for a moment, Ginny grinning.
"Call it then," Draco said irritably. Ginny' face fell. "You can call it right?" He asked but felt a surge of powerlessness when she shook her head. "Well how the fuck do you propose on finding it?!" He roared, banging his fist on the table and unsettling a small poof of dust.
"Well where could it've gone? After he dies I mean," Ginny inquired calmly.
"Anywhere really," Draco said, "Phoenix's usually inhabit forests so it could well be in the forbidden forest."
"Harry once summoned it, back when I was in first year. Dumbledore said that he must've shown great loyalty to have been able to summon Fawkes," Ginny thought aloud.
"Fawkes?" Draco asked, momentarily confused.
"Dumbledore's phoenix," Ginny clarified. Draco nodded.
"So we show it loyalty? What's that supposed to mean?" Draco asked, infuriated.
"Why do you expect me to know?!" Ginny retorted.
"Your the Gryffindor!"
"Not the Ravenclaw!"
"That much is clear already!"
"Fine, we find a Ravenclaw then!" Ginny said angrily.
"Who exactly would help me find my supposed enemy, in Ravenclaw?" Draco asked.
"That's easy. Besides, she probably already knows," Ginny said, heart rate returning to a steady beat, breathing becoming even. Draco shrugged and followed her out of the room and back down the corridor. "So what, back to Hogwarts?" Draco asked as Ginny unhooked her cloak from the troll leg and threw it over herself.
"Yep," Ginny replied, opening the door to a rush of cold wind. "Oh, nearly forgot. Obscuro!" And the familiar black fabric covered Draco's eyes once again. Ginny closed the door behind them and took a hold of his wrist, leading him outside and suddenly, without any kind of warning, Draco felt himself lurch headlong down a tiny invisible tube and heard the familiar 'pop'.
...
They reappeared instantaneously and Draco staggered to the floor, throwing the blindfold off of his face and knowing it'd disappeared from the absence of it hitting the ground. He grimaced as he felt mud oozing between his fingers and pushed himself up off of the ground, scowling at Ginny. "You could've warned me when we were going," he said angrily but Ginny merely smirked.
"Ruins the fun then doesn't it," she replied coolly. Draco looked up at her and was dumbfounded that she wasn't even looking at him, but down at something in her arms. "Found it," Ginny said happily, turning around. Draco saw that the thing in her arms had been Hermione's bag, and the thing she was waving in front of her was - "No way is that what I think it is," he breathed, standing up straight and inspecting the flowing fabric.
"Umm... Hermione hasn't... told you?" She asked edgily, and had Draco not been so transfixed on the material then he would have spotted the red tint in her cheeks. "Merlin Ginny these are so rare! Where did you find one?" He asked in awe.
"It's Harry's," she mumbled. He narrowed his eyes and his head shot up to meet hers.
"Obviously Potter would have an invisibility cloak. If anyone would, it'd be him wouldn't it. Explains a lot really doesn't it. I wondered how none of the teachers ever spotted him and Weasel sneaking out to break rules. Well now it all makes sense!" He said, not even bothering to doubt that it was Harry's. Obvious, now he came to think about it. "So that's how you threw the snowballs right?" Draco asked, referring to Christmas Eve. Ginny nodded. Draco shook his head and they began to walk through the foggy darkness towards the castle. Ginny distinctly heard him mutter "cheats" under his breath.
Upon reaching the door, Ginny put her hand out in front of Draco and raised a finger to her lips. He glanced at her and she threw the cloak over the pair of them. The pair of them then pushed the door open a crack and peered through, hoping that no teachers would be nearby. Clearly luck was on their side as not a soul was inside - ghost or living. They crept into the entrance hall and pushed the door shut, which banged loud enough for their hearts to freeze. They glanced around with bated breath. Still, there was no one was insight.
Moving around the castle was a lot harder than Ginny had anticipated. Draco was a good five or six inches taller than her and he had to stoop slightly so that their toes wouldn't be visible. And then there was the slight flaw that they didn't actually know where they were going. Draco decided to voice this concern when Ginny had turned around to look behind her on one of the staircases. "Where are we heading, might I ask?" Draco hissed uncomfortably, fully aware that every moment they spent wasting was another Hermione spent suffering. "Um..." Ginny mumbled.
"Ravenclaw common room right? Do you even know where it is?" Draco asked in a belittling manner, causing Ginny to redden slightly. She stayed silent to which Draco took as a no. "Follow me," Draco said irritably, and headed up the flight of stairs. Ginny begrudgingly followed, almost jogging to keep up with Draco's quick strides under the cloak.
At the top of the fourth set of stairs, Draco flung out an arm and skidded to a halt. Ginny crashed into him and he stumbled forward, nearly toppling off the moving stairs. "What -!" Ginny hissed, about to inquire on why he'd stopped but Draco kicked her in the shin to make her shut up and nodded in front of him. Ginny looked in the direction he was indicating and held her breath, staring into a pair of yellow, lamp like eyes. Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, was perched at the top of the banister, looking directly at them. Draco and Ginny were both thinking the same thing. Did the cloak work on cats? Mrs Norris mewed loudly and stared penetratingly hard at the spot they were hidden, as if trying to spot any kind of movement.
A whole, frustratingly long minute passed before the dusty coloured cat turned and walked away, tail held high. Ginny let out a breath as Draco muttered, "Wish someone would just give that cat a good kicking." They set off again and at last, after passing nobody else, they'd reached the staircase to Ravenclaw tower. They shrugged off the cloak here and Ginny stuffed it into Hermione's bag. There'd be no need for the cloak up this staircase as everyone would be either in the common room or asleep. In any case, it was getting rather stuffy under the cloak.
After their ascend up the spiral stone staircase, Draco and Ginny both stared at the door in front of them. It had no handle. Instead, a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle was placed on the door. The moonlight glinting off of the eagle's gleaming eyes made it look like it was stirring. They looked at each other, unsure of what to do. "Do you know the password?" Draco asked. Ginny shook her head and grasped the knocker, before cautiously knocking the door with it. The beak of the eagle opened a crack. "I am in the beginning of sorrow and sadness. You will find me in happiness also. You will find me in sun and stars but not in moon. I am in summer and spring but not in autumn or winter. Who am I?" The knocker asked.
"What?" Draco asked after a long silence.
"They have riddles?" Ginny asked.
"I'm sure McGonagall gave them a password too, at the start of term," Draco said in disbelief.
"Maybe they have both?" Ginny asked. They continued to look at the knocker, frustration painted across each of their faces.
"Can we hear it again please?" Ginny asked, and the eagle repeated its question. "In the beginning of sorrow and sadness," Ginny wondered, "No idea. Depression?"
"Look we really need to get in!" Draco said frustratedly to the door, but it didn't budge.
"But depression isn't in happiness. What's in sadness and happiness Draco?"
"I don't know! Bloody emotions or whatever!" He retorted.
"In sun and stars but not moon. Maybe it's like a chemical. In summer and spring. What if it's a sound, or symbol like... I don't know, something smart people know."
"Ginny, just shut up!"
"I'm trying to think!"
"That's what your head's for!"
"Stop sounding so s... so stubborn!"
"I'm not. Wait. No that's too easy. What happens if we get it wrong?" He asked Ginny. She shrugged so he turned to the knocker and asked, "Is it the letter 'S'.
"Well done, and the password?" The eagle asked. Draco stopped congratulating himself immediately. He looked dumbly at Ginny.
"Don't ask me," she said, "I know the Gryffindor one."
"Well are they linked in any way?" Draco asked.
"Um... I mean it's just been changed back to its original one from the start of term," she suggested.
"Helpful. Hang on... Hermione said something about... about them all meaning something. What was it again?" He asked, kicking the heel of his shoe on the floor irritably.
"The Gryffindor one means courage or something in Latin. Aren't you meant to know the passwords, being head boy?"
"I don't remember them! And it's McGonagall that makes them. If yours means courage then surely this one is something Ravenclawish in Latin. Like smartness."
"Smart, wisdom, intelligence, could be anything," Ginny listed.
"Know any Latin?" Draco asked.
"No," Ginny replied.
"Well this is useless!" Draco said angrily. He was about to start hammering on the door when Ginny hissed, "Do you really want to answer to the whole of Ravenclaw house?" Draco glowered at her.
"I know a bit of Latin but not a lot," Draco said after a few seconds.
"Anything useful?" Ginny asked hopefully.
"No," Draco sighed whilst shaking his head, "Dobby taught me when I was a kid... Dobby knows Latin." His eyes suddenly widened.
"Draco what are you -" Ginny started to say but Draco had snapped his fingers and instantly Dobby the house elf had appeared before them with a deafening crack. "What -?" She began again but Draco glared at her and said, "Dobby, do you know Latin?"
"Of course Sir, Dobby is knowing lots of Latin Sir," Dobby said eagerly in his high pitched voice.
"What's smart in Latin?" He asked hurriedly.
"There are many translations, Sir. Dobby is wondering why you is by the Ravenclaw tower, sir?" Dobby asked.
"Never mind that Dobby, just tell me what one translation is!" Draco said as calm as he could as Ginny just stood back, dumbfounded.
"Scitus, Sir."
"Scitus!" Draco said to the knocker. It didn't budge. "Um... intelligent?"
"That would be intelligens, Sir," Dobby said, confused.
"Intelligens?" Draco asked the knocker but to no effect. "This will never work!" Draco stormed angrily, turning to Ginny in a defeated manner.
"I don't know," Ginny admitted, causing Draco to turn on his heel and punch the wall beside him. "Hey we'll just find another way in," Ginny said. Dobby looked up at the pair of them and stepped forward, timidly.
"Sorry, Sir, but is Sir and Miss trying to get into the Ravenclaw tower?" Dobby asked.
"Yes," Ginny said.
"Well Sir and Miss should have said so! Dobby is being a smart elf, he is knowing things, Sir and Miss," Ginny and Draco both looked at him, "And he is being -"
"Sorry, Dobby, but did you just say you know the password?" Draco asked the elf, looking him firmly in the eye.
"Of course, I'm an elf!" Dobby replied. The two of them looked at him, waiting.
"Well?" Draco asked, impatiently.
"Oh! Dobby is sorry Sir. The password is being sapientia," Dobby replied. And almost instantly, the door opened.
Ginny's eyes flitted between the open door to Draco, who was standing in plain view of the common room, before diving at him and pushing him out of late night Ravenclaws' eyes. "Wh-" Draco began but Ginny had already thrown the cloak over him and Dobby had disappeared with a further deafening CRACK! Carefully, she stuck her head around the door and kept her ears open for the slightest noise of movement. Draco looked at the redhead with baited breath. What if someone chucked them out? He hadn't thought of that. He waited for Ginny to do something, say something even. "Clear," she said after a pause and Draco let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He ripped off the cloak and gripped it in his hand, following Ginny into the circular room.
He was instantly hit by a rush of cold air and he looked around. It was definitely the airiest room he'd ever been in in Hogwarts. In front of him were armchairs and tables stacked high with books. Bookshelves lined the walls, spilling with more books and in front of him stood a life size statue of who he could only assume was Rowena Ravenclaw herself. Beside it was an archway which Ginny was already heading through and climbing the spiral staircase beyond. He could hear her shoes clattering up the stone slabs. "Wait down there," she called and he winced at how her voice echoed loudly in the stairwell.
Shrugging, he settled himself against one of the arched windows and gazed out towards the black mass which was the lake. He thought back to when the world had been simpler and he was in one of the small boats, paddling across the lake as a first year. He sighed and lifted his gaze to the snowcapped mountains and the circle of owls in the sky, and then even further so he could see the moon, a dazzling white glare of light in the sky. Somewhere, most likely his house, he knew Hermione could see that same moon, twinkling innocently in the sky, watching all the terrors happening down below.
...
Squinting through her own blood, a hundred miles away, a small figure sat in the corner of a dungeon, looking up at the moon shining down through a small, barred gap in the ceiling. "Night Draco," she murmured quietly, knowing he could see the moon too. She hadn't managed to fall asleep yet. Not with an empty stomach. Starved and shivering, Hermione tried to ignore the scurrying noises of the rats, tried not to think that Draco hadn't discovered that she was missing yet, and instead willed herself to fall asleep.
A/N I love Dobby, he's such a good elf. Hope you enjoyed this week's chapter and that it wasn't dull. Do say if you're finding the story boring so far and I'll try to make it better. That's all then, bye and see you all two Tuesdays time!