Okay, I'm redoing chapter 34, because in my opinion, it sucked. I had such
high hopes for the adventures in Malfoy Manor and it pretty much bottomed
out quick, more boring than women's basketball [[[energy dodges objects
hurled by WNBA fans--come on, it is booooring….honestly…]]] anyway, after
enoimreH agreed with me, it was time to change it. I hope this works
better.
Dark had long since fallen, being as late in the year as it was, and when Draco awoke he saw the moon nearly full in the chilly air.
"We need to get going Harry," he said as he shook his shoulder gently. Harry opened his eyes and wiped them clean. A yawn later and he was sitting up.
"Let's go and get this over with," Harry said as he loosened his tight limbs. The two of them quietly began making their way out of the barn. "We should probably leave our brooms here, I don't think we'll want to lug them around inside." Draco agreed.
"Oh Harry, remember how I couldn't figure out the difference between Crabbe and Goyle and the animals a while ago?" Draco whispered to Harry.
"Yeah, did you come up with an answer?"
"Sure did. The animals have personality." Harry looked at Draco strangely for a moment and then it dawned on him what Draco meant. They shared silent giggles as they snuck out the front door.
The manor was a quarter mile down the road from them, and it was dead quiet outside. It seemed almost surreal. The shadows provided their only real cover as they skulked across the ground. Harry and Draco stole to the gate of the manor and with a wave of their wands jumped the fence.
Harry was momentarily awed by the size of the place. The Dursley's entire house would fit neatly with a bit of room left over in the smaller of the two front porches on the place.
"Around the side, Harry, come on." Draco gently pulled his arm and led him away from the sight. They came around to a side door and Draco motioned for Harry to stop behind him. Draco put his hand on a small metal square on the door and it glowed a cherry red color for a few seconds before going out. Gears were turning inside the walls and the door slowly opened inward. "Come on, let's get inside." he pulled Harry inside and shut the door behind him.
They had entered into what appeared to be a mud-room. Draco searched the wall in the dim light and touched a place on the wall not far from the door jam. After he removed his hand the other door opened into the kitchen.
"Exactly what did you just do, Draco?" Harry asked him.
"I just deactivated the first line of wards. At least I hope I did." Harry felt his stomach lurch a little and they entered the kitchen.
"Jeez, Draco, how big is this place?" Harry asked him as he gazed along the walls, which were decorated with all sorts of carvings and other wall hangings.
"It is fairly large, Harry. And I've only been in about half of it." Draco was walking over to the refrigerator and was pulling out a small snack.
"Um, Draco, is this the best time to be eating? I just got a weird feeling that something is not right."
Draco was in mid bite when he put down his bagel and looked at Harry. "I just felt it too. Let's get this over with." The boys left the kitchen and made their way into the front room by way of many smaller ones. They had just left what seemed to be a gigantic sitting room when Harry heard a faint humming sound. He looked ahead, about to warn Draco when he saw a small blue sparkly thing on a chandelier. Harry acted on instinct and pushed Draco to the floor roughly, landing on top of him. A blue blast of what felt like electricity arced by them and melted a small spot on the floor.
"I don't remember that one, Harry," Draco said sheepishly as he and Harry rolled to the side to avoid another bolt.
"Good. I don't want this to be too easy or anything." Harry raised his wand and a bit of his own magic flew to the chandelier, knocking it to the ground. The noise that accompanied the fall was deafening.
"I never liked that old thing anyway," Draco said as they walked past the pile of broken glass. "Too gaudy. I think they got that in France."
"Thank you Mr. Antique Road Show. Let's move on, huh?" They stepped into the main hall, the front door on their right side.
"Only step on the lighter colored stones, Harry," Draco told him as they walked across a dark marble floor.
"I don't know how you can tell the difference, Draco, so I'll just step where you step." Harry was looking as best he could, but could barely make any distinction between dark and 'light'. he just followed Draco. "What if you stepped on the wrong stones, Draco?"
"You don't want to know, Harry. Let's just say that this house has never been successfully burglarized before."
"Oh great, that makes me feel oh so much better. Thanks. You could have kept that last bit until later, you know."
"Sorry Harry, it just sort of slipped out. Malfoy pride I guess. I can't change everything about me in a few weeks."
The slowly made their way to a large marble staircase going up. It curled to the left and the right at the top. "That is where we need to go, I believe, to the right."
"Then let's go." Harry was right behind Draco as they mounted the steps.
Back in the Gryffindor tower, Colin awoke with a start. Just like before, something felt eerily wrong. A deep seated feeling of unease filled him. Something was going on. Colin reached down and felt the stone, noticing little difference than usual, except for a bit more brightness than the usual dull glow. "I hope Harry's alright," he said to himself. He looked over at Dennis and Aidan, who had refused to stay in their own beds and come down to his dorm to keep him company during vacation. They were sleeping soundly, "And why wouldn't they be?" He asked himself.
Colin got out of bed and stuffed his toes into his fluffy slippers. Unlike Harry's, these actually kept a person's feet warm. He wrapped a blanket around him and decided to take a little walk around the school to see if he could focus on the elusive problem. Colin walked down the steps from the dorms and saw the portrait door closing as he got to the bottom. He was not sure, but he thought that he saw a tuft of red hair just as the door was shutting. "Ron? Ginny?" he thought to himself, naming the only two redheads left in Gryffindor at the moment.
Colin stood rooted in place, unsure as to his next move. He probably should stay right where he was, but a part of him wanted to follow Ron , "Or Ginny, he reminded himself, it might be Ginny." He finally made his decision and headed to the door, hoping he hadn't already lost Ron. He came to the hallway outside the room and looked both ways. No sign of him, but he followed his first instinct and turned to the right, heading off in that direction.
Back in the manor, the two adventurers had reached the top of the steps and were beginning the walk down the right side corridor.
"I've lived here my whole life, Harry, and I can count on one hand the amount of times I've been in this hallway, and not a one of them without my father." Harry didn't like the way that sounded, so he urged Draco on.
"Alright, lead the way, Draco." They set off down the hall, Draco passing up a
few doors, opening others. One particular door wouldn't budge at first, making Harry suspect it of harboring their goal. "Let's force this." Harry and Draco lowered their shoulders into the door and on the fourth whack knocked it open. They fell headlong into an empty room. Not a single piece of furniture graced the carpet, nothing adorned the walls. Completely bare.
"What a waste of space here," Harry said as he stood up. "Did they forget this was here or what?"
"I don't know Harry, I've never been in--" Draco was in mid sentence when his attention was gathered by a small metallic click on the wall behind them. Not wasting time to turn around, he shoved Harry to the ground as a guillotine blade swung through the air where they had been a second ago.
"You know, Draco, I think I'm about over your father's idea of entertaining guests."
"Yeah. I agree with you. We need to find what we're looking for quick. I don't know how much more tackling I can take tonight."
"And I always thought you'd like it rough," Harry said as they dodged the blade on their way back out of the room.
"Wouldn't you like to know for sure?" Draco asked, not expecting a response. He didn't get one, at least one he could hear. [[[what was Harry's answer??? Hmmm???]]] Harry shut the door back and they continued along the hallway.
"From now on, stuck doors are to be avoided," Harry said and Draco agreed wholeheartedly.
"I know that somewhere in here he has a bloody study, I just can't remember which door it-- ah. Here it is." Draco opened another door and saw a room full of books and mounted animal heads as well as a few comfy sofas and chairs.
"What ever we need, it's in here, Draco, do you feel it?"
"Yes I do. I can almost taste it." they began looking in things, under things, behind things, everywhere. Finally, Draco and Harry started looking at the bookshelves. Harry was pulling on books, hoping to find the secret door that was always in the Muggle movies. Draco was behind him, running his hand over the books, when he landed his hand on one that Harry had just tried. He instinctively pulled it out, and the wall began to rotate on itself.
"I just tried that one," Harry said as he saw the book in Draco's hand.
"That's why no one from the Ministry could find anything Harry, it's keyed only to open for a Malfoy. The same reason it didn't work for you."
"Well then, after you," Harry said to him as they walked into the opening. Behind them, a mounted boar head's eyes began to glow a soft red. The bookshelf swung shut behind them.
Back in Hogwarts, Colin had been walking around the school now for a good twenty minutes. He'd found no sign of Ron at all and was beginning to wonder if he'd not just imagined the whole thing when he'd entered the common room. Something told him he didn't though, so he kept looking. His paths eventually took him in to the dungeon levels and past the Slytherin common room. He had shivers as he passed the common room door, thinking back to the day when he almost…. He shunted that thought away and kept looking.
The Potions classroom was not far from here Colin knew. "I'll check there, and if I find nothing, I'm going back to the common room," he told himself. He was tired again, not to mention cold. He followed the hallways and found himself in front of the Potions door. It was usually closed, but now was wide open, and the door was hanging awkwardly, seemingly on one hinge. Colin bent down to examine the hinges when his mind suddenly was very far away.
"I just tried that one," he heard Harry's voice say, and Draco's voice answered almost immediately
"That's why no one from the Ministry could find anything Harry, it's keyed only to open for a Malfoy. The same reason it didn't work for you." He was now with Harry, in a very odd sort of way. He closed his eyes and saw a very grainy image of a room full of books and weird things hanging everywhere. He watched as the two descended the steps and then the door closed. He saw the boar's eyes alight. Colin exhaled sharply and fell over, losing his focus and the picture in his mind.
He sat down and tried to will it back into his head but was having no luck. He closed his fist around the stone and tried to focus again, this time with more success. The boys were looking around a large desk in a rather evil looking room. Colin's viewpoint spun around and he was looking behind the two. Something with beady red eyes was making its way quietly toward the two. They were too busy rifling through all the papers in the desk to take any notice.
Colin felt rather than heard the beast growl in its throat, and screamed in his mind, screamed as loud as he possibly could, "Harry!! Behind you!!" Colin's connection to Harry was broken a moment later when the two boys whirled around.
"Lumos," they both called as the last bit of light from the study was gone. In front of them was a large stairway descending into darkness. At the bottom of the steps, it seemed like they'd stepped into a madman's shrine. Evil of all sort leaked from the walls. The air felt extremely oppressive, and both boys were uneasy, even more so than when they'd arrived.
"My god, Draco, anything here would probably be enough to send him away to Azkaban forever." Harry turned his attention to a picture of what seemed to be very blurry lights on one wall. "It's a good thing that Colin isn't here, he'd try to lecture your father on the fine art of the telephoto lens."
"I know. Let's search the desk and hopefully get the hell out of here. It feels like the walls are watching us."
"I feel it too." Harry and Draco began throwing papers around looking for anything. Harry was opening a drawer when Colin's voice exploded in his head. "Harry, behind you!!" It called, and Harry and Draco both turned in the opposite direction. They both saw the creature as it jumped, a horribly disfigured four legged creature with large teeth and claws and dark fur.
Draco dove to his right, avoiding the creature completely, but Harry was a little slower. He nearly got out of the way, but three of the long claws raked across his upper arm and shoulder, leaving three deep and bloody gashes.
Confused yells and growls filled the room as the creature tried to attack one then the other of them. They were quickly running through their inventory of spells to use on the beast, 'Stupefy' and the others having no effect on the thing other than pissing it off further. The beast also seemed bent on not letting them go, keeping itself between the two boys and the steps.
"What the hell is this thing, Draco? Our spells aren't working a bit!" Harry called as he dodged a blow to his head.
"Harry, I wish I knew. Likely a magically augmented watch-beast I guess."
"This isn't working, you know," Harry said and this time he didn't avoid the creature. It lunged on him and caught him right in the chest, knocking Harry to the ground, his shirt now covered in slashes and blood.
Colin was still sitting on the floor outside of the Potion's class, trying to get back with Harry. He couldn't do it, but as he was getting up, he felt Harry knocked to the ground and slashed again.
Draco watched as the beast took Harry to the floor like he was a rag doll. It was all Harry could do to keep the beast from ripping his throat open, and Draco knew that there wasn't much time left. He instinctively raised his hand and with the utterance of a few words, a huge bolt of green and black lightning shot out to the creature, making it forget completely about Harry as it turned to face its new attacker.
The creature looked hurt, very much so, but wasn't about to give up. The smell of burnt bacon filled the room. It charged at Draco, determined to kill him. Draco raised his hand and again shot the thing with the lightning. This time, it fell. Draco shot it again and again, his face illuminated in the glow.
"Draco!!!" Harry called out, finally bringing Draco back into this world. Draco looked up at Harry and saw him struggling to his feet.
"Harry! You're hurt."
"Later. Let's get this stuff and get out of here before any other pets of your father get the idea to arrive." Harry began to shakily shove papers into his sack, Draco doing the same. "This will be more than enough," he told Draco as they'd stuffed their bags full.
"You're right, now let's get gone." the two quickly made their way up the steps and out into the study and then back out the way they came.
"Goodbye, house," Draco said softly as they made their way back over the fence, Harry leaning heavily on Draco as they went back up the road.
The danger was over, this much Colin knew for certain, but he also knew that Harry was hurt pretty badly. He had to go find Hermione, she would know what to tell him, she'd know what happened. He left the dungeons with the off-kilter door and the Potions room unexplored.
"You need to rest Harry, you're hurt."
"No Draco, we need to get away from here as quick as we can." The two had holed up in the same barn as before while Draco did his best to clean Harry's gashes. "Ouch, Draco, you don't need to make them deeper, you know."
"I'm doing my best, Harry. Unfortunately, I don't really know any of the healing spells.
"So I've noticed. You do know another type, don't you? That was Dark Side magic, wasn't it?"
Draco didn't reply immediately, then he quietly did so. "Yes. That's what that was. I always told myself that I'd never use it, and I've done my best to forget it, but it came back as easy as riding a bike."
"Thank you Draco." Harry said to him.
"I feel tainted now, Harry, horribly so. That was a terrible spell I used on it, and then I couldn't stop doing it. It felt, felt good, I guess."
"We can talk about the morality of all this later, but we need to put miles between us and this place by morning, so let's go."
"One more bandage, Harry, and then you're as done as I can do you." Draco wrapped one more around his lower arm and they were off, a decent amount of blood lighter, but many reams of parchment as well as a great deal of guilt heavier. As they were taking off, Draco looked back one final time and saw a swarm of people buzzing around the house. He kept this secret to himself for the moment and the two flew away.
It took no time for Colin to get Hermione up. He had no sooner walked into the room and lightly touched her shoulder than she'd been awake and coherent.
"Colin, what is it?"
"It's Harry, something's happened to him. He's alive, but he's hurt."
"I'm sure he's fine Colin."
"No Hermione, I don't know how I know, but I do. I was there when it happened." he saw the puzzled look on her face and he told her everything that had gone on with his mind that night. "I think they got out fine after whatever that thing was, but I don't know. I don't feel him now."
The two had migrated into the common room and were sitting around the fire. "Well Colin, I'm here, so why don't we talk to keep you from worrying?"
"That might work. Maybe I can get myself back to sleep sometime soon."
"I'll stay up with you until you drift off, I don't mind."
"Thanks, Hermione. You're so kind, it's easy to see why Dennis adores you." Hermione blushed a little.
"Thank you, Colin. He is cute himself. Anyway, how'd your letter writing go?" she asked him, having a memory of Dennis' story as Colin mentioned his name.
"Well, I did it. It wasn't easy, so I just came out and said it. I haven't received a Howler, so I guess that they took it okay." He looked quite relieved at the fact the mini ordeal was over.
"So I'm guessing that you are going to ask your parents if Harry can stay over the summer?"
"Definitely. I don't know if I could stand not being around him for the entire summer."
"I bet that Harry would be overjoyed to be there, Colin. He loves you so badly, you know."
"I know. I think that is why I can feel him through the stone, I really do. It is like part of him is with me and part of me with him. I can almost feel his hands on my shoulders now, Hermione. Have you ever felt that way about anyone before?"
"Once. It was a wonderful thing. I could feel him no matter where I was, where he was."
"You said once. What happened?"
"I still love him, I'd rather not talk about it, Colin, if you don't mind."
"Sure, I understand."
"No, you probably don't, and it's best you don't," Hermione thought to herself. Instead, she changed the subject. "Have you decided what you'll get him for Christmas yet?"
"Actually I have. I asked Mum to send it to me as soon as possible."
"Can you tell me what it is, Colin, or is it to be a surprise?"
"I'd rather not, it would ruin it for everyone."
"Fair enough."
Colin and Hermione talked about the letter and many other things until the moon set, when Colin fell back asleep. Hermione wasn't remotely tired anymore, so once he passed out, she summoned one of her books and again began searching for that name that Draco had mentioned to her. Surlain? Oh, she knew she was close.
Alright. I like that one a lot more. I put in two new hooks, both for the sequel that is trying to take over my head now. How can I sequel a masterpiece as this, you ask? Well I guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? Just don't hold your breath, as I have seven other stories I am working on. Just wait. Look forward to two more chapters for this one, one short, one longer, or maybe one, it just depends. Look forward to death, betrayal, hope, all the fun things in the final bits.
What did you think, enoimreH, was it better????
energy
Dark had long since fallen, being as late in the year as it was, and when Draco awoke he saw the moon nearly full in the chilly air.
"We need to get going Harry," he said as he shook his shoulder gently. Harry opened his eyes and wiped them clean. A yawn later and he was sitting up.
"Let's go and get this over with," Harry said as he loosened his tight limbs. The two of them quietly began making their way out of the barn. "We should probably leave our brooms here, I don't think we'll want to lug them around inside." Draco agreed.
"Oh Harry, remember how I couldn't figure out the difference between Crabbe and Goyle and the animals a while ago?" Draco whispered to Harry.
"Yeah, did you come up with an answer?"
"Sure did. The animals have personality." Harry looked at Draco strangely for a moment and then it dawned on him what Draco meant. They shared silent giggles as they snuck out the front door.
The manor was a quarter mile down the road from them, and it was dead quiet outside. It seemed almost surreal. The shadows provided their only real cover as they skulked across the ground. Harry and Draco stole to the gate of the manor and with a wave of their wands jumped the fence.
Harry was momentarily awed by the size of the place. The Dursley's entire house would fit neatly with a bit of room left over in the smaller of the two front porches on the place.
"Around the side, Harry, come on." Draco gently pulled his arm and led him away from the sight. They came around to a side door and Draco motioned for Harry to stop behind him. Draco put his hand on a small metal square on the door and it glowed a cherry red color for a few seconds before going out. Gears were turning inside the walls and the door slowly opened inward. "Come on, let's get inside." he pulled Harry inside and shut the door behind him.
They had entered into what appeared to be a mud-room. Draco searched the wall in the dim light and touched a place on the wall not far from the door jam. After he removed his hand the other door opened into the kitchen.
"Exactly what did you just do, Draco?" Harry asked him.
"I just deactivated the first line of wards. At least I hope I did." Harry felt his stomach lurch a little and they entered the kitchen.
"Jeez, Draco, how big is this place?" Harry asked him as he gazed along the walls, which were decorated with all sorts of carvings and other wall hangings.
"It is fairly large, Harry. And I've only been in about half of it." Draco was walking over to the refrigerator and was pulling out a small snack.
"Um, Draco, is this the best time to be eating? I just got a weird feeling that something is not right."
Draco was in mid bite when he put down his bagel and looked at Harry. "I just felt it too. Let's get this over with." The boys left the kitchen and made their way into the front room by way of many smaller ones. They had just left what seemed to be a gigantic sitting room when Harry heard a faint humming sound. He looked ahead, about to warn Draco when he saw a small blue sparkly thing on a chandelier. Harry acted on instinct and pushed Draco to the floor roughly, landing on top of him. A blue blast of what felt like electricity arced by them and melted a small spot on the floor.
"I don't remember that one, Harry," Draco said sheepishly as he and Harry rolled to the side to avoid another bolt.
"Good. I don't want this to be too easy or anything." Harry raised his wand and a bit of his own magic flew to the chandelier, knocking it to the ground. The noise that accompanied the fall was deafening.
"I never liked that old thing anyway," Draco said as they walked past the pile of broken glass. "Too gaudy. I think they got that in France."
"Thank you Mr. Antique Road Show. Let's move on, huh?" They stepped into the main hall, the front door on their right side.
"Only step on the lighter colored stones, Harry," Draco told him as they walked across a dark marble floor.
"I don't know how you can tell the difference, Draco, so I'll just step where you step." Harry was looking as best he could, but could barely make any distinction between dark and 'light'. he just followed Draco. "What if you stepped on the wrong stones, Draco?"
"You don't want to know, Harry. Let's just say that this house has never been successfully burglarized before."
"Oh great, that makes me feel oh so much better. Thanks. You could have kept that last bit until later, you know."
"Sorry Harry, it just sort of slipped out. Malfoy pride I guess. I can't change everything about me in a few weeks."
The slowly made their way to a large marble staircase going up. It curled to the left and the right at the top. "That is where we need to go, I believe, to the right."
"Then let's go." Harry was right behind Draco as they mounted the steps.
Back in the Gryffindor tower, Colin awoke with a start. Just like before, something felt eerily wrong. A deep seated feeling of unease filled him. Something was going on. Colin reached down and felt the stone, noticing little difference than usual, except for a bit more brightness than the usual dull glow. "I hope Harry's alright," he said to himself. He looked over at Dennis and Aidan, who had refused to stay in their own beds and come down to his dorm to keep him company during vacation. They were sleeping soundly, "And why wouldn't they be?" He asked himself.
Colin got out of bed and stuffed his toes into his fluffy slippers. Unlike Harry's, these actually kept a person's feet warm. He wrapped a blanket around him and decided to take a little walk around the school to see if he could focus on the elusive problem. Colin walked down the steps from the dorms and saw the portrait door closing as he got to the bottom. He was not sure, but he thought that he saw a tuft of red hair just as the door was shutting. "Ron? Ginny?" he thought to himself, naming the only two redheads left in Gryffindor at the moment.
Colin stood rooted in place, unsure as to his next move. He probably should stay right where he was, but a part of him wanted to follow Ron , "Or Ginny, he reminded himself, it might be Ginny." He finally made his decision and headed to the door, hoping he hadn't already lost Ron. He came to the hallway outside the room and looked both ways. No sign of him, but he followed his first instinct and turned to the right, heading off in that direction.
Back in the manor, the two adventurers had reached the top of the steps and were beginning the walk down the right side corridor.
"I've lived here my whole life, Harry, and I can count on one hand the amount of times I've been in this hallway, and not a one of them without my father." Harry didn't like the way that sounded, so he urged Draco on.
"Alright, lead the way, Draco." They set off down the hall, Draco passing up a
few doors, opening others. One particular door wouldn't budge at first, making Harry suspect it of harboring their goal. "Let's force this." Harry and Draco lowered their shoulders into the door and on the fourth whack knocked it open. They fell headlong into an empty room. Not a single piece of furniture graced the carpet, nothing adorned the walls. Completely bare.
"What a waste of space here," Harry said as he stood up. "Did they forget this was here or what?"
"I don't know Harry, I've never been in--" Draco was in mid sentence when his attention was gathered by a small metallic click on the wall behind them. Not wasting time to turn around, he shoved Harry to the ground as a guillotine blade swung through the air where they had been a second ago.
"You know, Draco, I think I'm about over your father's idea of entertaining guests."
"Yeah. I agree with you. We need to find what we're looking for quick. I don't know how much more tackling I can take tonight."
"And I always thought you'd like it rough," Harry said as they dodged the blade on their way back out of the room.
"Wouldn't you like to know for sure?" Draco asked, not expecting a response. He didn't get one, at least one he could hear. [[[what was Harry's answer??? Hmmm???]]] Harry shut the door back and they continued along the hallway.
"From now on, stuck doors are to be avoided," Harry said and Draco agreed wholeheartedly.
"I know that somewhere in here he has a bloody study, I just can't remember which door it-- ah. Here it is." Draco opened another door and saw a room full of books and mounted animal heads as well as a few comfy sofas and chairs.
"What ever we need, it's in here, Draco, do you feel it?"
"Yes I do. I can almost taste it." they began looking in things, under things, behind things, everywhere. Finally, Draco and Harry started looking at the bookshelves. Harry was pulling on books, hoping to find the secret door that was always in the Muggle movies. Draco was behind him, running his hand over the books, when he landed his hand on one that Harry had just tried. He instinctively pulled it out, and the wall began to rotate on itself.
"I just tried that one," Harry said as he saw the book in Draco's hand.
"That's why no one from the Ministry could find anything Harry, it's keyed only to open for a Malfoy. The same reason it didn't work for you."
"Well then, after you," Harry said to him as they walked into the opening. Behind them, a mounted boar head's eyes began to glow a soft red. The bookshelf swung shut behind them.
Back in Hogwarts, Colin had been walking around the school now for a good twenty minutes. He'd found no sign of Ron at all and was beginning to wonder if he'd not just imagined the whole thing when he'd entered the common room. Something told him he didn't though, so he kept looking. His paths eventually took him in to the dungeon levels and past the Slytherin common room. He had shivers as he passed the common room door, thinking back to the day when he almost…. He shunted that thought away and kept looking.
The Potions classroom was not far from here Colin knew. "I'll check there, and if I find nothing, I'm going back to the common room," he told himself. He was tired again, not to mention cold. He followed the hallways and found himself in front of the Potions door. It was usually closed, but now was wide open, and the door was hanging awkwardly, seemingly on one hinge. Colin bent down to examine the hinges when his mind suddenly was very far away.
"I just tried that one," he heard Harry's voice say, and Draco's voice answered almost immediately
"That's why no one from the Ministry could find anything Harry, it's keyed only to open for a Malfoy. The same reason it didn't work for you." He was now with Harry, in a very odd sort of way. He closed his eyes and saw a very grainy image of a room full of books and weird things hanging everywhere. He watched as the two descended the steps and then the door closed. He saw the boar's eyes alight. Colin exhaled sharply and fell over, losing his focus and the picture in his mind.
He sat down and tried to will it back into his head but was having no luck. He closed his fist around the stone and tried to focus again, this time with more success. The boys were looking around a large desk in a rather evil looking room. Colin's viewpoint spun around and he was looking behind the two. Something with beady red eyes was making its way quietly toward the two. They were too busy rifling through all the papers in the desk to take any notice.
Colin felt rather than heard the beast growl in its throat, and screamed in his mind, screamed as loud as he possibly could, "Harry!! Behind you!!" Colin's connection to Harry was broken a moment later when the two boys whirled around.
"Lumos," they both called as the last bit of light from the study was gone. In front of them was a large stairway descending into darkness. At the bottom of the steps, it seemed like they'd stepped into a madman's shrine. Evil of all sort leaked from the walls. The air felt extremely oppressive, and both boys were uneasy, even more so than when they'd arrived.
"My god, Draco, anything here would probably be enough to send him away to Azkaban forever." Harry turned his attention to a picture of what seemed to be very blurry lights on one wall. "It's a good thing that Colin isn't here, he'd try to lecture your father on the fine art of the telephoto lens."
"I know. Let's search the desk and hopefully get the hell out of here. It feels like the walls are watching us."
"I feel it too." Harry and Draco began throwing papers around looking for anything. Harry was opening a drawer when Colin's voice exploded in his head. "Harry, behind you!!" It called, and Harry and Draco both turned in the opposite direction. They both saw the creature as it jumped, a horribly disfigured four legged creature with large teeth and claws and dark fur.
Draco dove to his right, avoiding the creature completely, but Harry was a little slower. He nearly got out of the way, but three of the long claws raked across his upper arm and shoulder, leaving three deep and bloody gashes.
Confused yells and growls filled the room as the creature tried to attack one then the other of them. They were quickly running through their inventory of spells to use on the beast, 'Stupefy' and the others having no effect on the thing other than pissing it off further. The beast also seemed bent on not letting them go, keeping itself between the two boys and the steps.
"What the hell is this thing, Draco? Our spells aren't working a bit!" Harry called as he dodged a blow to his head.
"Harry, I wish I knew. Likely a magically augmented watch-beast I guess."
"This isn't working, you know," Harry said and this time he didn't avoid the creature. It lunged on him and caught him right in the chest, knocking Harry to the ground, his shirt now covered in slashes and blood.
Colin was still sitting on the floor outside of the Potion's class, trying to get back with Harry. He couldn't do it, but as he was getting up, he felt Harry knocked to the ground and slashed again.
Draco watched as the beast took Harry to the floor like he was a rag doll. It was all Harry could do to keep the beast from ripping his throat open, and Draco knew that there wasn't much time left. He instinctively raised his hand and with the utterance of a few words, a huge bolt of green and black lightning shot out to the creature, making it forget completely about Harry as it turned to face its new attacker.
The creature looked hurt, very much so, but wasn't about to give up. The smell of burnt bacon filled the room. It charged at Draco, determined to kill him. Draco raised his hand and again shot the thing with the lightning. This time, it fell. Draco shot it again and again, his face illuminated in the glow.
"Draco!!!" Harry called out, finally bringing Draco back into this world. Draco looked up at Harry and saw him struggling to his feet.
"Harry! You're hurt."
"Later. Let's get this stuff and get out of here before any other pets of your father get the idea to arrive." Harry began to shakily shove papers into his sack, Draco doing the same. "This will be more than enough," he told Draco as they'd stuffed their bags full.
"You're right, now let's get gone." the two quickly made their way up the steps and out into the study and then back out the way they came.
"Goodbye, house," Draco said softly as they made their way back over the fence, Harry leaning heavily on Draco as they went back up the road.
The danger was over, this much Colin knew for certain, but he also knew that Harry was hurt pretty badly. He had to go find Hermione, she would know what to tell him, she'd know what happened. He left the dungeons with the off-kilter door and the Potions room unexplored.
"You need to rest Harry, you're hurt."
"No Draco, we need to get away from here as quick as we can." The two had holed up in the same barn as before while Draco did his best to clean Harry's gashes. "Ouch, Draco, you don't need to make them deeper, you know."
"I'm doing my best, Harry. Unfortunately, I don't really know any of the healing spells.
"So I've noticed. You do know another type, don't you? That was Dark Side magic, wasn't it?"
Draco didn't reply immediately, then he quietly did so. "Yes. That's what that was. I always told myself that I'd never use it, and I've done my best to forget it, but it came back as easy as riding a bike."
"Thank you Draco." Harry said to him.
"I feel tainted now, Harry, horribly so. That was a terrible spell I used on it, and then I couldn't stop doing it. It felt, felt good, I guess."
"We can talk about the morality of all this later, but we need to put miles between us and this place by morning, so let's go."
"One more bandage, Harry, and then you're as done as I can do you." Draco wrapped one more around his lower arm and they were off, a decent amount of blood lighter, but many reams of parchment as well as a great deal of guilt heavier. As they were taking off, Draco looked back one final time and saw a swarm of people buzzing around the house. He kept this secret to himself for the moment and the two flew away.
It took no time for Colin to get Hermione up. He had no sooner walked into the room and lightly touched her shoulder than she'd been awake and coherent.
"Colin, what is it?"
"It's Harry, something's happened to him. He's alive, but he's hurt."
"I'm sure he's fine Colin."
"No Hermione, I don't know how I know, but I do. I was there when it happened." he saw the puzzled look on her face and he told her everything that had gone on with his mind that night. "I think they got out fine after whatever that thing was, but I don't know. I don't feel him now."
The two had migrated into the common room and were sitting around the fire. "Well Colin, I'm here, so why don't we talk to keep you from worrying?"
"That might work. Maybe I can get myself back to sleep sometime soon."
"I'll stay up with you until you drift off, I don't mind."
"Thanks, Hermione. You're so kind, it's easy to see why Dennis adores you." Hermione blushed a little.
"Thank you, Colin. He is cute himself. Anyway, how'd your letter writing go?" she asked him, having a memory of Dennis' story as Colin mentioned his name.
"Well, I did it. It wasn't easy, so I just came out and said it. I haven't received a Howler, so I guess that they took it okay." He looked quite relieved at the fact the mini ordeal was over.
"So I'm guessing that you are going to ask your parents if Harry can stay over the summer?"
"Definitely. I don't know if I could stand not being around him for the entire summer."
"I bet that Harry would be overjoyed to be there, Colin. He loves you so badly, you know."
"I know. I think that is why I can feel him through the stone, I really do. It is like part of him is with me and part of me with him. I can almost feel his hands on my shoulders now, Hermione. Have you ever felt that way about anyone before?"
"Once. It was a wonderful thing. I could feel him no matter where I was, where he was."
"You said once. What happened?"
"I still love him, I'd rather not talk about it, Colin, if you don't mind."
"Sure, I understand."
"No, you probably don't, and it's best you don't," Hermione thought to herself. Instead, she changed the subject. "Have you decided what you'll get him for Christmas yet?"
"Actually I have. I asked Mum to send it to me as soon as possible."
"Can you tell me what it is, Colin, or is it to be a surprise?"
"I'd rather not, it would ruin it for everyone."
"Fair enough."
Colin and Hermione talked about the letter and many other things until the moon set, when Colin fell back asleep. Hermione wasn't remotely tired anymore, so once he passed out, she summoned one of her books and again began searching for that name that Draco had mentioned to her. Surlain? Oh, she knew she was close.
Alright. I like that one a lot more. I put in two new hooks, both for the sequel that is trying to take over my head now. How can I sequel a masterpiece as this, you ask? Well I guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? Just don't hold your breath, as I have seven other stories I am working on. Just wait. Look forward to two more chapters for this one, one short, one longer, or maybe one, it just depends. Look forward to death, betrayal, hope, all the fun things in the final bits.
What did you think, enoimreH, was it better????
energy