A/N: This installment is slightly more mysterious than the others, and much less straightforward. There is one part where you might find yourself kind of wierded out, (keyword: cherries) but I promise it works out in the end. *grins* As my World History teacher likes to say in an annoying voice: "Trust the Process!"
Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story belong to me, as they all belong to JK Rowling (and her publishers too, I think...oh well, whatever.)
The Potion of Immortality:
Part Three
"Who are you to tell me where I can and can't walk at night!? I don't care who your uncle is! In fact, I don't-"
"Please! I was just wondering why you were out in the dead of night walking along in a corridor that's not near your office."
"You still have no business knowing that! You're just diverting my attention from why you are walking along here at two in the morning. I'm not that dumb. I would have thought you'd have figured that out by now...but wait, you're too dumb."
"OK. How about this: I didn't see you. You didn't see me. We'll just go on our ways..."
"Ever since you saw me at that meeting, you've thought of me as an equal or maybe even as a lower class! Well, when we're at Hogwarts I am the teacher and you are my student who cowers at my feet." The teacher stood on the tips of his toes, towering over the student, and fiddled with his wand threateningly. "And yes, you can tell your uncle what I just said. It will interest me greatly to see whether he does anything. You need to start acting as you usually do around me or people might begin to think things..."
"People would never suspect me! Not after my parents...not when they think of who my friends are. I think the reason you're saying that is so people won't suspect you! Oh, and my uncle is coming tomorrow to bring me back home with Gran, so I'll be sure and tell him exactly what you said..."
"You...you...I'm taking twenty points from your house for this!" After the teacher said this, he turned and stormed away, leaving the student to stand alone in the deserted hallway.
Draco paced around his room with the same thoughts running through his head again and again. He still couldn't believe that he had been an official Death Eater for one day, yet hadn't been able to talk to his father about the Dark Mark Voldemort put on his arm. Finally, he grew tired of his room and decided to pace around the house, which might be a more interesting environment. He stopped just outside a room he was usually forbidden to go into, and listened to the voices coming from within it.
"So you've got her completely convinced? You sure? Do you want me to control her or you?"
"I should. I'm around her and know what she normally acts like..."
"Well, you know, the spell will allow GWMP to do what you want, but for the most part it won't even realize it's under any kind of spell. It'll deny to itself that everything it does is controlled by someone else. Eventually it will think that it's gone mad and will give in to everything it thinks it wants, but are really the things that you want. GWMP will think that it is who you need it to be. Do you follow?"
"Yeah. This sounds great. So GWMP will be controlled by me, but not think that it is? How should we get BWDP to go along with it, I mean when GWMP tries to talk it into drinking the blood? Should we find some grand explanation for why it should drink what GWMP wants it to drink? Should we just have GWMG spike BWDP's drink? We'll never get the Elixir of Life, but unicorn blood we can get hold of, or, more like it, GWMP can get hold of it." Both voices chuckled.
Draco realized that he was listening to what was probably a very secret meeting, and he edged closer to the door hoping to hear more.
"Yes, but there's something I don't understand...How do I put the spell on her?"
"I'll say the incantation on the day Draco goes back to school, and will include both of your names in it. At four pm you should feel a sudden burst of power, and that is your clue that you are controlling GWMP's every move, got it? People are going to notice I'm gone, so I've got to go. I wouldn't want people suspicious of me or anything..."
"What is with people today? Someone else said a very similar thing to me less than an hour ago, but you're right. I have to go too." There were some shuffling noises and a few clatters, and Draco realized he needed to get far away from where he was standing. He settled for huddling in a dark corner, since he wanted to see who had been talking. He was unsurprised when his father slid out of the room straightening his robes and patting his hair. Draco waited until his father was far down the hallway and around a corner before he scuttled off in the opposite direction his father had gone. He jumped guiltily when a clock behind him noisily chimed three am.
Draco found himself in a huge library with hundreds of book towering over him. Even though the books looming down on him were creepy, he decided to stay and research some on what he had overheard. The E-something of life and unicorn blood had been mentioned, and they had also talked about some kind of controlling spell. After a few hours of looking up vague things in books that held both too much and not enough information, Draco decided to go back to his room.
However, he had a slight problem. His mansion was so huge that he had no idea where he was, and was sure that no one came to this particular library very often, as everything was covered in many layers of dust. When he had walked to the library, he hadn't watched where he was going because he was so deep in thought about the fascinating conversation he had listened to. Draco stood up and analyzed the situation. Eventually, ne concluded that if he walked for long enough he'd come to a place that he recognized and would be able to find his way back to the main part of his home from.
He strolled out of the library, taking some books of interest with him, and wandered out of the library. He did not recognize where he was in the house, and picked up his pace. He made turn after turn, and was shocked to realize how much distance he had covered while spacing out. Getting more nervous by the minute, Draco broke into a run. He was convinced someone was running after him, trying to catch him while he was lost in his own house. He sprinted for about ten minutes before he gave up and collapsed on the red carpeted floor. Everything was upside down, and he felt like throwing up. However, he was too tired. Instead, he curled up on the floor, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
Draco woke up the next morning thinking the previous night must have been a dream. When he saw that he was lying on the floor of a dark, narrow, high-ceiled hall, and had been using several books as a pillow, he realized with a jolt that it had been real.
Draco straightened up and leaned against the wall, gathering the scattered books in his arms. After a few minutes he stood up and began to walk slowly down the hall in the direction he thought he had been going in the night before. Maybe father sent out a search party for me. Then again, I doubt he thinks it would be possible for me to get lost in this mansion. I wonder if he's ever been down here?
I mean, this part of the house looks so deserted that maybe he would never even think that I could get lost because he doesn't know that this part exists...I'm lost in my own mansion. How pathetic is that!? Ugh, I'm so hungry. I haven't eaten since...that dinner before I became a Death Eater? It couldn't have been that long. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so dizzy.
Without realizing what he was doing, Draco leaned up against a weak wall that gave in under his weight. He passed out right before he noticed that he was falling into one of the deserted Malfoy dungeons beneath his house.
"Good morning Narcissa, has Draco already come down for breakfast?" Lucius settled himself at the head of the long dining room table.
"No. The last time I saw him was the lunch and dinner the day after you went to your important meeting, which was the night before last..."
"Wait, you didn't see him yesterday? I haven't seen him since...the lunch and dinner after the important meeting either. So what did he do yesterday? I'll go check his room...perhaps he's tired." Lucius got up from the table and walked off in the direction of the house elves' rooms. Instead of checking on Draco himself, he got an elf to do it for him.
"Yes, so tired that he slept all day yesterday and missed breakfast today too..." Narcissa was a little ticked at Lucius' calm when it was obvious something was wrong with Draco. A few minutes later, Lucius marched into the room and announced that Draco was not in his room, and that none of the house elves had seen him the day before.
"HELLLLLPPP!!!!" Draco was getting close to tears since he had been trapped for almost 24 hours in a cold dungeon. With every passing minute he was becoming more delirious because he hadn't eaten for so long. There were things to eat down where he was, but they were bottled up and looked so creepy that he didn't dare touch the glass jars to open them.
After what felt like hours of staring at one particular jar, which looked like it was filled with cherries, Draco summoned all of his courage and reached out to open it. He finally got it open, and walked over to some kind of work table where he dumped the cherries (or whatever they were) out onto. He walked around the table, looking at the cherries from every possible angle to make sure they weren't hiding anything. In one quick movement he snatched one up, shoved it in his mouth, and chewed it a little before swallowing.
Suddenly, the area he was standing in lit up, and he was able to see several doors which led out of the room. He grabbed as many of the cherries as he could take, and timidly walked through the closest door to him. As soon as he stood on the threshold, he could see his yard and the gates leading out of his house.
Thinking he was free, he walked out through the door and into what he thought was his yard. Suddenly the scene changed and he was standing in the narrow space between a door and a wall. He could hear two people chattering away, obviously not realizing that someone was hiding in their house. Draco peered out from behind the door, and saw that he had come to the kitchen area of his own mansion, since he recognized several of the elves as ones who had woken him up from a good night's sleep to clean his room.
Draco cleared his throat and entered the room from his hiding space behind the door. The house elves continued their work. Draco chucked the cherries at them, but they ignored them. Draco stormed out of the room in the direction of the dining room, and none of the elves came after him.
Draco looked down at his hands to see how many of the magical cherries he had gathered, and was horrified when he saw nothing but the floor. Either the cherries were making him go crazy, or they caused people to vanish. Maybe it was a mix of both, because Draco had most certainly vanished, but was feeling a little bit foolish too. He had never heard of cherries with those kind of powers, and had only heard of a few (illegal) potions which resulted in a person going invisible against their will.
Draco stopped where he was and walked back to the kitchen area. He was determined to try and retrace his steps to see how he might have jumped from one place to the next, and to see if he was only invisible in certain places. Draco had only taken a few steps when he fell to the ground, clutching at the Dark Mark on his arm which had suddenly reappeared. Right when he felt like screaming for the pain to stop, the room faded away and he found himself back in the dungeon on the cold floor.
"What the hell?" Draco's voice echoed strangely in the empty room, and some flakes of dirt fell from the ceiling and scattered around the floor. That has got to be the wierdest nightmare I've ever had. Did I ever eat one of those cherries? Oh...ewww...I smushed it all up! Gross, I've stained my good white shirt! Draco began to laugh upon thinking that, since there were much more important things that he should have been thinking about than ruining his shirt. Draco got up off the floor and walked around the room, noting that the hole he had fallen was nothing more than a small dot of light far above.
Voldemort grinned as Draco walked in circles around the dungeon, staring up at the faintly visible hole he had fallen through. Voldemort leaned against a wall of the dungeon in a dark corner and waited for Draco to remember that Voldemort had caused his Mark to hurt. Of course, he probably thought that was in the dream, but it would only be a matter of time before Draco glanced at his arm and noticed that the Mark was black.
Neville Longbottom frowned at his grandmother, who was pleading with him to be let out of the basement he and his uncle had locked her into. Longbottom ignored her shrieks and curses while he went about his business. Voldemort had requested that he find some ancient literature on The Potion of Immortality, but there didn't seem to be any. He hadn't dared to ask his grandmother about it, as she was so angry with him that she would probably just lie. His uncle was annoying him by rattling on about needing to find information about other things, so Neville's last hope had been to search in the basement for moldy books that hadn't been touched in years, but might hold the answers to Voldemort's questions.
"Neville, dear...he's got you all confused. This isn't what you want. Please, how can you do this to me!? I've taken good care of you, haven't I? I raised you when no one else would...or could. Stop listening to Peter. He's just too afraid for his own life to stand up for what he knows is right. I know you really belonged in Gryffindor...you're so brave. You can fight him off, dear. Please just let me go! I won't do anything to you; I just want to get out of the darkness. I'm being swallowed up...I can't see..."
"You're being way too dramatic about this, Gran. Just deal with it. At least I'm not physically hurting you...I could kill you. You know, I'd be rid of you forever. I'd never have to worry about disappointing anyone. Never again, Gran. Never again would I hear about Potions being an easy class...never again would I hear you complaining about my Transfiguration final results. At least my parents never complained. They don't care. Why did you have to care so much, Gran?"
"Damn it, Neville! I don't care anymore! I'm so upset...this is so...horrific. This must be some kind of a nightmare."
"I suppose you'd prefer that I put you out of your misery, then?" With that, Longbottom whipped out his wand. He smiled as he clearly spoke the words for the Killing Curse, and his smile grew to be a wide grin while he watched his grandmother slide limply to the floor.
Longbottom decided that he would ask his uncle later about destroying the evidence of his second official murder, and continued his search through the endless books.
Severus Snape slammed his book on foreign potions closed on his desk and rubbed his head (which made his night cap go crooked) trying to understand everything that had happened within the last few months of his life. Peter Pettigrew, or Wormtail as he called himself now, had somehow gotten Neville Longbottom to join Voldemort. Snape recalled that last potions class.
He had lashed out, hissing something about Longbottom's weakness with potions, and how he must take after his uncle, Peter Pettigrew, who had been horrible at them too. Longbottom had replied in a quiet undertone that his uncle was very good at potions, and had successfully created one that allowed Voldemort to rise again. Snape was still horrified that Longbottom had found out about that, as he thought Longbottom believed his uncle to be dead.
Snape thought he might have made too big and obvious a scene then, as most students in the potions class had noticed his sudden look of horror he gave Longbottom. It had been a big enough shock to learn that Longbottom was Wormtail's nephew. It was an even huger surprise when Longbottom as good as told Snape that his uncle was still alive.
Snape knew, from the second new-member joining ceremony with Voldemort, that Wormtail was alive and that Longbottom had joined up with him. However, he didn't understand how Longbottom switched sides. He had appeared to be completely on the "light" side, since he was a Gryffindor and was on good terms with Harry Potter.
Thinking of Potter, Snape began to wonder what Longbottom could be doing, or planning on doing, by getting closer with Granger and Potter. Maybe he was just being a usual spy, but something was screaming in Snape's ear that there was more to it than that. Deciding that he had spent an overly long time thinking about other people, Snape finally straightened his night cap, picked up his potions book, and snuck into his bedroom. He blew out his many candles surrounding his shrine for Professor McGonagall, and hopped in his bed.
Lord Voldemort was growing very impatient with Draco, who was not looking around in any of the right corners. Instead, he was staring at the squished cherries in his hands as though he had discovered secret government information that he could get paid a lot of money for. Tiring of waiting for Draco to notice him, Voldemort stepped out from the shadows and faced Draco.
Draco slowly backed into the wall farthest from Voldemort and clenched his fists, which dripped a red blood-like liquid.
"Um....hello. Can I help you?" Draco was trying his best not to faint from shock.
"Yes, I think you can, but first you deserve an explanation." Voldemort paused and was deeply amused with Draco's struggles to hide how terrified he was. "So. You've just taken a bit of a trip with that..ah...cherry, haven't you? Sorry about that, I think I may have put in the a different ingredient than...well, you know. What am I apologizing for? How stupid of me to be so...kind...to a person such as yourself..." Draco squeaked in response.
"So...you must be wondering what I am doing here, or how you got here, or possibly where here is. You're right with your original thoughts, young Malfoy. You are in a deserted Malfoy dungeon, and you fell through the wall up there. Yes, yes...I will get to my purpose, young Malfoy. I wanted to see how you'd respond to such a situation as this, and I am rather pleased with the results...yes, you did well. Also, I wanted to ask you something...are you friends with my associate Neville Longbottom?"
This seemed to be the last straw for Draco, who fainted and collapsed on the cold floor.
A/N: *giggles* I'm sorry for such a wierd chapter! The next one is much more...umm...normal. Although I have to admit this has been the most fun chapter to write so far...*hehehe* Oh, so...if you've got any ideas about what was going on in the first couple scenes (the student and teacher, and the conversation Draco overheard) or anything else (like why Snape has a shrine dedicated to McGonagall! *hehe*) please tell me in your reviews. [Note to Al: GWMP has nothing to do with Wormtail, Moony, or Padfoot...although that's a good guess...*hehehe*]