A/N
Thank you to everybody who's been reviewing ... you are without exception wonderful! In today's chapter, we discover just who the mystery person actually is, and events reach their terrible climax. This is the penultimate part.
Chapter 12.
A bolt of green light shot from the end of the wand. Will closed his eyes in horror. But nothing happened. He opened them again. Hermione was on the floor, sobbing. Voldemort stood over her.
"Imbeciles!" he was screaming. "You told me it would work. You told me it could not possibly fail!"
"I ... I do not understand it my Lord," Wormtail was scurrying forwards. "I was sure it would..."
"Silence!"
Wormtail stopped dead in his tracks.
"You are a failure Wormtail."
"Master, I beg of you..."
"You are an abject failure. A disgrace. You are unworthy to be a Death Eater. I should have you killed. Slowly, and painfully."
"Master ... I beg your forgiveness. I will do anything."
"Fetch me the boy named Draco," said Voldemort. "His shall be the honour of killing his erstwhile friends."
"Yes Master. You are kind Master."
"Get out of my sight," hissed Voldemort. Wormtail let out a squeak, and hurried away, back into the dungeons.
Voldemort turned to Hermione.
"How are we feeling my dear?" he asked.
Hermione scowled at him. "No better for you asking," she snarled.
"You owe me a lot, Mrs Potter," said Voldemort. "It was not easy for me to arrange all of this. To have you removed from St Mungo's without arousing suspicion. Lucius Malfoy played his part perfectly, I must say, even if the poor man was completely mad."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione ... she was still crouched on the floor, wringing her hands.
"Malfoy is under the delusion that he is performing a task for his own ends," said Voldemort. "He believes he is setting up a test for his son, to capture and kill Ronald Weasley I believe. He believes that if his son passes the test, I will take him back into my ... exclusive club."
The Death Eaters chuckled nervously.
"I, of course, have no such intention. I reward my servants, true, but Draco Malfoy turned against me the day he fled from my Romanian redoubt, so long ago now ... yet I remember it, and I'll wager you do too."
Hermione nodded. "He came to see me."
"I know ... he was always very smitten with you ... he would never stop talking of you. He quite tired us all out," Voldemort went on. "But that is neither here nor there. I have no intention of rewarding either of them. Lucius Malfoy has served his purpose, the miserable wretch, and he will be dispatched. Draco Malfoy, of course, will die, and you will be sent to Azkaban ... for having killed him."
"I will do no such thing," protested Hermione.
"Thus, my aims are fulfilled. Harry Potter will suffer pain and despair beyond my wildest fantasies, and I barely have to lift a finger. Imagine the suffering Hermione ... his son and heir dead and gone ... his dear wife, whom he believes is dead, and even now is grieving over, is alive, no less, but condemned to eternal hell within the walls of Azkaban. My vengeance will be partly complete."
Hermione looked up into the face of Lord Voldemort.
"Some day ... Potter will be delivered unto me. Until then, I must content myself with these little, pot shots at his life," he chuckled, but there was no mirth in his laughter. "Congratulations Lord Voldemort ... you have won the day, the Death Eaters go home for tea and currant buns. I believe that is how such stories invariably end?"
"You'll have to kill me first," said Hermione.
"No I won't."
Wormtail came back into the hall, pulling Draco along behind him. Hermione gasped. Draco looked up. His face was bloodied and broken, his eyes weeping tears that were very real.
"Draco?" breathed Hermione. Up in their cage, Andy and Will scrambled to see.
"Hermi ... what are you ... what's going on?"
"Hello there Draco," boomed Voldemort. "Welcome to Lord Voldemort's Family Fortunes, where the families we love to hate are broken asunder by me!"
Draco turned to face him. He scowled at him.
"Draco Malfoy ... meet Hermione Potter ... oh, sorry, you already have," said Voldemort, walking over to where the pair of them were standing, mere feet apart, Draco still restrained by Wormtail.
"You met in more ways than one, didn't you?"
"What do you ... how do you know?" gasped Draco.
"Lord Voldemort has eyes and ears everywhere. You remember your night in the Tyrol? Wormtail does. He said it was so romantic, so perfect."
"Mum?" Will breathed.
"How fortunate that the erstwhile lovers must now be each other's undoing," Voldemort went on. "It reminds me of Romeo and Juliet. In a nasty way, of course," he paused and took breath. "Of course, we must introduce you to our audience. These," he gestured expansively, "are my Death Eaters, and hanging from the ceiling, we have Mister Andrew Weasley and Mister William Potter, who are my guests of honour, and will of course be dying later. Hello boys!"
Both Hermione and Draco's gaze travelled upwards to where the cage was dangling from the ceiling.
"Mum!" called Will. "Don't do as he says!"
Hermione put her hands to her mouth. "What happened to you?" she called. "What are you doing here?"
"Portkey," said Draco. "It was my fault. If I hadn't ridden the broo..."
"Shut up Malfoy! This is all your fault in the first place," glowered Hermione. "I was talking to Will!"
"Draco's right," breathed Will. "There was a portkey. It was his Father ... in Sirius' garden."
"What were you doing at Sirius'?" asked Hermione.
Voldemort stepped in. "Touching reunion, sadly however, completely irrelevant," he turned to the boys in the cage. "You do realise, don't you Will, that Mister Malfoy here was shagging your Mother for quite some time?"
Will made a face at Voldemort. Voldemort merely laughed. "For some time longer than either of them are prepared to admit."
"Mum?"
Hermione shook her head. "Rot in hell," she breathed.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't catch that," said Voldemort, turning back to face her. "Now, you know what I want you to do?"
"You want me to kill them," said Hermione.
"Exactly. Are you going to do it quietly and peacefully?" asked Voldemort, stalking around her, almost spitting the questions in her face.
"Not likely," said Hermione.
"I had hoped you would," said Voldemort. "It makes my life so much easier. Oh well," he withdrew his wand from his robes, and pointed it at Hermione. "Crucio," he said.
Hermione collapsed to the floor, writing in pain. Draco broke free of Wormtail's grip, and dived down to the floor beside her.
"Touching," said Voldemort. "Very touching. I like the display of devotion Draco, it could win you an Oscar," he waved his wand. "Finite incantatem," he said, tiredly.
Hermione sat up. "You unspeakable bastard!" she hissed.
"Temper, temper," said Voldemort. "Perhaps a little further persuasion?"
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, not to you Hermione. To our captive audience," he aimed his wand straight at the cage, and before Will had quite grasped what was going on, he too had been hit by the Cruciatus Curse. He had heard Harry tell of how painful it was, but quite how painful he had never been able to grasp. It was as if every muscle in his body was in spasm, every nerve screaming blue murder. It was true about it making you want to die. He could sense Andy leaning over him, her Hermione screaming in the background.
Voldemort turned back to Hermione. "You don't like that much do you?" he said.
"You're unspeakable!" snapped Hermione. "You deserve everything that's coming to you."
"But nothing is coming to me," said Voldemort. He turned back to the cage. "Would you care to see your flesh and blood suffer any longer?"
Hermione was weeping. She could both see and hear Will's pitiful screams as the Curse gripped his entire body. "Make it stop!" she gasped. "Please make it stop!"
"I thought not," said Voldemort. "Finite incantatem."
"Why are you doing this to us?" gasped Hermione.
"Personal pleasure, mainly," said Voldemort. "My Death Eaters and I are an easy bunch to please. Muggles know it as schadenfreude, the action of finding the misfortune of another amusing."
Andy put his arm round Will's shoulders, and held him as his sobbing subsided.
"Now," said Voldemort, turning back to Hermione and Draco. "Hermione ... the time has come for Draco to die. He who betrayed me all those years ago has managed to avoid my wrath, so far."
Draco was quivering in fright. "Please, no," he whispered.
"Your Father always said you were nothing but a stinking coward Draco," said Voldemort. "I am beginning to suspect he was right. See how he grovels at my feet," he turned back to the Death Eaters. "Such cowardice, such fear. This boy has no right to call himself a Death Eater. He had no right to ever do so. It is right that he dies now as was intended all along, like a coward, weeping on the floor."
"At least let me die as I should do," said Draco. "Not like this."
Voldemort looked on the boy with something approaching pity.
"He is right of course," he said. "It would be more fitting for Hermione to kill the one she loved, rather than this child."
He aimed his wand at Draco, and for a brief moment, Draco quaked in fear, fear that Voldemort was tricking him, and that he was actually going to kill him dead as he stood. However, he did not. He merely muttered a brief incantation, the exact words Draco did not hear.
Draco stared down at his bare feet. Before his very eyes, they were growing. He could feel himself getting taller! He looked down at his arms. They were getting thicker, more defined ... there were hairs sprouting again. He looked to Voldemort in amazement.
"Is it true?" he asked. He stopped himself ... his voice had broken.
Voldemort nodded. "You shall die like a man Draco," he said.
"I think I'm about done," said Draco. There was a ripping sound as his borrowed jeans split.
"That will do," said Voldemort. Draco looked down at himself.
"I'm back," he said. "Lucky me. There aren't many who can go through adolescence in thirty seconds."
Hermione was smiling at him.
"See what I mean?" he said to her.
"You look ridiculous Draco," she said. She removed her heavy cloak, stepped forwards, and draped it round his shoulders. She was wearing a bright green hospital gown underneath. "Not very flattering is it?" she went on.
"Thanks," said Draco. "I appreciate that."
"No problem."
Voldemort appeared to be getting angrier. Finally he screamed. "Enough! Silence! Both of you."
Draco and Hermione turned to look at him.
"This is not some soap opera!" roared Voldemort. "This is not how it should be. I order you to kill him now!"
Draco turned to Voldemort. He surveyed him in disgust. "Do shut up, you horrible little man," he drawled.
He was still holding Will's wand. He lowered it until it was pointing at Voldemort.
"You wouldn't," said Voldemort. "Not after, not after what I've done to you."
"You would have done," said Draco. "Give me ten good reasons why I shouldn't use the Killing Curse on you now, and you may live."
Voldemort turned to the Death Eaters, who were standing in a tight group at the fireside.
"Come on ... you idiots!" he hissed.
"That's ten reasons," said Draco. "No more, no less. I have the upper hand here."
Voldemort looked back at him, with pure, undiluted hatred in his eyes. Finally, he spoke. "I ... I cannot," he said.
"Exactly," said Draco. "Now," he swallowed. "May God have mercy on me. Avada Kedavra!"
Nothing happened. Voldemort, who had covered his eyes, looked back to Draco.
"It seems to have jammed," said Draco. "Damn wand!"
The Death Eaters began to move, as one, fluid body, they surged across the floor towards Draco and Hermione, their wands withdrawn.
"Kill them!" screamed Voldemort. "Kill them now!"
"Avada Kedavra!" someone shouted. A bolt of green light shot out of the group of advancing men. Hermione ducked, rolled under the vast table. Draco dived the other way. The curse passed harmlessly between them, smashing a chair to pieces.
Will was on his feet in the cage. "Draco!" he was screaming. "Chuck it up here. It sticks sometimes. I can make it work!"
Draco picked himself up. The Death Eaters had stopped once again.
"Attack him you fools!" Voldemort screamed.
"Avada Kedavra!"
When shouted by nearly fifty people, all at once, the sheer force of it was deafening. Draco could only look on in horror as one massive, green bolt of light seemed to leap out of the group. He could only think of getting the wand to Will. His world took on a sickening, almost slow motion quality. He could feel his feet carrying him across the flagstone floor, heard his yell as he hurled the wand like a javelin at the cage, and then dived headfirst under the table, as the curse passed behind him. He landed on Hermione ... and there was a deafening roar as the whole side wall of the hall seemed to give way under the force of the curse.
Will reached through the bars, and grabbed the wand as it flew through the air. Draco's aim had been perfect.
"Hold tight Andy," he said. "This could be nasty!"
He took careful aim. He was dimly aware of Draco and Hermione thumping about under the table. He could see the Death Eaters, moving as one, their wands pointed straight at the cage. Will's mind was blank. He couldn't figure what spell to use. He wasn't yet advanced enough to use the ... then it hit him. Of course! It was obvious. He aimed his wand again, and summoning all his strength, willing the spell to work, screamed. "Expelliarmus!"
There was an almighty clatter as fifty wands were wrenched from their owner's hands, and flew off into different corners of the enormous room. At once, the hall erupted in confusion. There was almost a stampede, as the Death Eaters turned tail, and fought, each desperate to seek out their wand. Voldemort was standing up on the table, screaming for all he was worth. "Get them. Hurry! You imbeciles!"
Underneath the table, quite forgotten amidst the confusion Will had created, Draco detached himself from Hermione.
"Sorry," he breathed.
"It's quite all right," said Hermione. "Think nothing of it."
"We should do something."
Hermione nodded. "We have to get Will and Andy out. Is there some sort of pulley system?"
"I guess," said Draco. "They must have raised and lowered the cage somehow."
Hermione nodded again. "Are you going to do something then?"
"I should take advantage of the diversion really," said Draco. He took a deep breath, and lunged into the melee.
From that moment on, everything was a blur to Draco. His borrowed cloak afforded him total anonymity in the crowd of frantic Death Eaters. He elbowed his way through the throng, over to the far wall, by the entrance to the dungeon. Where the hell was that pulley? He couldn't for the life of him see it. Will and Andy were cowering in the cage, still uncertain what was going on, and then Draco saw it, on the other wall. A lever, connected to a chain, a system of pulleys. It had to be the one. He patted himself, looking for his wand, until he realised he didn't have it.
"Bugger," he said. He was going to have to pull the lever himself. Praying that Voldemort would assume he was just another random, panicky Death Eater, he launched himself across the room ... his bare feet pounding on the floor. He had never run so fast before. There was the lever, right in front of him. He reached out, grabbed, and yanked it up as far as it would go.
There was a pause. Then a dramatic thud that only Draco heard. He spun round. The chains rattled, and then the cage began to plummet downwards. Down ... down it went. There was a horrifying crack as it struck Voldemort on the head ... it sounded like a watermelon splitting. Voldemort fell forwards, onto the floor, and the cage crashed into the table, splitting it in neatly in two.
There was a weird, unearthly wailing. Someone shouted. "The Dark Lord is fallen!" The Death Eaters stopped dead in their tracks.
Then someone else cried. "Flee!"
Draco never thought he'd seen a hall empty so quickly ... not even when Fred and George Weasley had shouted 'Fire' during a Halloween feast. They scrambled for the exits ... rats, abandoning their sinking ship. Within a few, brief minutes, the hall was empty, and a deathly silence fell, save for the crackling of the fire.
Draco peeled himself away from the wall, and walked slowly over to the wreckage. Voldemort's bloody body was lying, face down on the floor ... whether dead or alive, Draco didn't know, and nor did he care. His only thought was to get to the cage. He grasped the handle, then realised it was padlocked.
"How do we get out?" groaned Will ... blood was oozing from a huge gash on his left shoulder. Andy looked shaken up, but otherwise fine, except for the burn on his chest.
"I don't know," said Draco. "Did you see an axe?"
Will shook his head. "I think Voldemort might have a key," he said.
Draco turned back to the body. He knelt down next to it, and flipped it over. Sure enough, there was a bundle of keys attached to a loop on the inside of his cloak. Draco tugged hard, and the loop split. He grabbed the keys, and turned back to the boys.
"It's the small one," said Will. "The very smallest."
"This one?"
Will nodded. Draco tested it in the lock. Sure enough, the rusty cage door swung open. Both boys flung themselves at Draco, almost knocking him over.
There was a groaning sound from beneath the table. Hermione extricated herself from the wreckage with some difficulty.
"Are you okay Hermi?" asked Draco, turning to her, the boys still clinging to him.
Hermione smiled. "You know, looking at you," she said. "You could almost be their father."
"Always said I'd make a good Dad," said Draco.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Harry turned back to Ron. He shook his head at Harry. "Is there no hope?"
"It doesn't look good," said Ron. "They'd need to question Mister Malfoy first, and he's in no fit state for that right now."
Darkness had now fallen, and after getting over the initial shock of Malfoy's full confession, extricated from him with a little help from Snape and his stores of Veritaserum, the Magical Law Enforcement Squad had hurriedly been called. Malfoy had been taken away under heavy security earlier that afternoon, and was now spending his first night in Azkaban.
"He did say the portkey was set up for, Romania or somewhere?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, I'm sure it was Romania."
"That would make a lot of sense," said Ron. "It tallies with all the accounts we've received of Voldemort's activities."
Harry froze. "Are you suggesting Voldemort is somehow mixed up in all of this?"
"It wouldn't surprise me at all," said Ron.
"You're probably right," said Harry.
There was a soft thud, somewhere off in the distance.
"Did you hear anything?" asked Ron
"What, what happened?" asked Harry.
"I heard something. I'm going to check," said Ron. He took out his wand, and set off down the garden. Harry stood on the patio, too worried for his family to even move.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Sirius.
"You'd better come inside," he said. "Warm up a little. You'll catch your death out here."
Harry smiled. "You sound like Aunt Petunia," he said.
"It was not intentional," said Sirius, withdrawing his hand hurriedly. "Come on ... there's no sense in waiting around out here. I'll get some tea on. Sound good?"
Harry turned away from the garden. "I guess so," he said.
They were interrupted by a loud cry from Ron. He appeared to have found something.
Sirius looked at Harry. "You think?" he asked.
Harry nodded. "Let's go."
They took off down the garden, heading in the direction of Ron's cry. Sure enough, he was crouched on the ground, just behind the line of trees. There were three dark shapes sprawled on the ground. Ron was clutching Andy to him, holding the boy tightly.
Harry stopped dead in his tracks. "Ron?"
"Harry ... it's okay," said Ron, he appeared to be smiling. "It couldn't be more okay. Come and see."
Draco sat up. He brushed his hair out of his eyes, and smiled up at Ron and Harry. "Are we back?" he asked.
The other shapes were stirring too. One revealed itself to be Will, though blue with cold, battered, and bruised, Harry flung his arms around him, and wept.
"I was so worried," he said. Will was crying too.
"Harry," another voice said. A hand touched him lightly on the shoulder. "Harry."
Harry recognised the voice. He turned, still holding onto Will for all he was worth, and looked up.
"Hello," said Hermione.
Thank you to everybody who's been reviewing ... you are without exception wonderful! In today's chapter, we discover just who the mystery person actually is, and events reach their terrible climax. This is the penultimate part.
Chapter 12.
A bolt of green light shot from the end of the wand. Will closed his eyes in horror. But nothing happened. He opened them again. Hermione was on the floor, sobbing. Voldemort stood over her.
"Imbeciles!" he was screaming. "You told me it would work. You told me it could not possibly fail!"
"I ... I do not understand it my Lord," Wormtail was scurrying forwards. "I was sure it would..."
"Silence!"
Wormtail stopped dead in his tracks.
"You are a failure Wormtail."
"Master, I beg of you..."
"You are an abject failure. A disgrace. You are unworthy to be a Death Eater. I should have you killed. Slowly, and painfully."
"Master ... I beg your forgiveness. I will do anything."
"Fetch me the boy named Draco," said Voldemort. "His shall be the honour of killing his erstwhile friends."
"Yes Master. You are kind Master."
"Get out of my sight," hissed Voldemort. Wormtail let out a squeak, and hurried away, back into the dungeons.
Voldemort turned to Hermione.
"How are we feeling my dear?" he asked.
Hermione scowled at him. "No better for you asking," she snarled.
"You owe me a lot, Mrs Potter," said Voldemort. "It was not easy for me to arrange all of this. To have you removed from St Mungo's without arousing suspicion. Lucius Malfoy played his part perfectly, I must say, even if the poor man was completely mad."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione ... she was still crouched on the floor, wringing her hands.
"Malfoy is under the delusion that he is performing a task for his own ends," said Voldemort. "He believes he is setting up a test for his son, to capture and kill Ronald Weasley I believe. He believes that if his son passes the test, I will take him back into my ... exclusive club."
The Death Eaters chuckled nervously.
"I, of course, have no such intention. I reward my servants, true, but Draco Malfoy turned against me the day he fled from my Romanian redoubt, so long ago now ... yet I remember it, and I'll wager you do too."
Hermione nodded. "He came to see me."
"I know ... he was always very smitten with you ... he would never stop talking of you. He quite tired us all out," Voldemort went on. "But that is neither here nor there. I have no intention of rewarding either of them. Lucius Malfoy has served his purpose, the miserable wretch, and he will be dispatched. Draco Malfoy, of course, will die, and you will be sent to Azkaban ... for having killed him."
"I will do no such thing," protested Hermione.
"Thus, my aims are fulfilled. Harry Potter will suffer pain and despair beyond my wildest fantasies, and I barely have to lift a finger. Imagine the suffering Hermione ... his son and heir dead and gone ... his dear wife, whom he believes is dead, and even now is grieving over, is alive, no less, but condemned to eternal hell within the walls of Azkaban. My vengeance will be partly complete."
Hermione looked up into the face of Lord Voldemort.
"Some day ... Potter will be delivered unto me. Until then, I must content myself with these little, pot shots at his life," he chuckled, but there was no mirth in his laughter. "Congratulations Lord Voldemort ... you have won the day, the Death Eaters go home for tea and currant buns. I believe that is how such stories invariably end?"
"You'll have to kill me first," said Hermione.
"No I won't."
Wormtail came back into the hall, pulling Draco along behind him. Hermione gasped. Draco looked up. His face was bloodied and broken, his eyes weeping tears that were very real.
"Draco?" breathed Hermione. Up in their cage, Andy and Will scrambled to see.
"Hermi ... what are you ... what's going on?"
"Hello there Draco," boomed Voldemort. "Welcome to Lord Voldemort's Family Fortunes, where the families we love to hate are broken asunder by me!"
Draco turned to face him. He scowled at him.
"Draco Malfoy ... meet Hermione Potter ... oh, sorry, you already have," said Voldemort, walking over to where the pair of them were standing, mere feet apart, Draco still restrained by Wormtail.
"You met in more ways than one, didn't you?"
"What do you ... how do you know?" gasped Draco.
"Lord Voldemort has eyes and ears everywhere. You remember your night in the Tyrol? Wormtail does. He said it was so romantic, so perfect."
"Mum?" Will breathed.
"How fortunate that the erstwhile lovers must now be each other's undoing," Voldemort went on. "It reminds me of Romeo and Juliet. In a nasty way, of course," he paused and took breath. "Of course, we must introduce you to our audience. These," he gestured expansively, "are my Death Eaters, and hanging from the ceiling, we have Mister Andrew Weasley and Mister William Potter, who are my guests of honour, and will of course be dying later. Hello boys!"
Both Hermione and Draco's gaze travelled upwards to where the cage was dangling from the ceiling.
"Mum!" called Will. "Don't do as he says!"
Hermione put her hands to her mouth. "What happened to you?" she called. "What are you doing here?"
"Portkey," said Draco. "It was my fault. If I hadn't ridden the broo..."
"Shut up Malfoy! This is all your fault in the first place," glowered Hermione. "I was talking to Will!"
"Draco's right," breathed Will. "There was a portkey. It was his Father ... in Sirius' garden."
"What were you doing at Sirius'?" asked Hermione.
Voldemort stepped in. "Touching reunion, sadly however, completely irrelevant," he turned to the boys in the cage. "You do realise, don't you Will, that Mister Malfoy here was shagging your Mother for quite some time?"
Will made a face at Voldemort. Voldemort merely laughed. "For some time longer than either of them are prepared to admit."
"Mum?"
Hermione shook her head. "Rot in hell," she breathed.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't catch that," said Voldemort, turning back to face her. "Now, you know what I want you to do?"
"You want me to kill them," said Hermione.
"Exactly. Are you going to do it quietly and peacefully?" asked Voldemort, stalking around her, almost spitting the questions in her face.
"Not likely," said Hermione.
"I had hoped you would," said Voldemort. "It makes my life so much easier. Oh well," he withdrew his wand from his robes, and pointed it at Hermione. "Crucio," he said.
Hermione collapsed to the floor, writing in pain. Draco broke free of Wormtail's grip, and dived down to the floor beside her.
"Touching," said Voldemort. "Very touching. I like the display of devotion Draco, it could win you an Oscar," he waved his wand. "Finite incantatem," he said, tiredly.
Hermione sat up. "You unspeakable bastard!" she hissed.
"Temper, temper," said Voldemort. "Perhaps a little further persuasion?"
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, not to you Hermione. To our captive audience," he aimed his wand straight at the cage, and before Will had quite grasped what was going on, he too had been hit by the Cruciatus Curse. He had heard Harry tell of how painful it was, but quite how painful he had never been able to grasp. It was as if every muscle in his body was in spasm, every nerve screaming blue murder. It was true about it making you want to die. He could sense Andy leaning over him, her Hermione screaming in the background.
Voldemort turned back to Hermione. "You don't like that much do you?" he said.
"You're unspeakable!" snapped Hermione. "You deserve everything that's coming to you."
"But nothing is coming to me," said Voldemort. He turned back to the cage. "Would you care to see your flesh and blood suffer any longer?"
Hermione was weeping. She could both see and hear Will's pitiful screams as the Curse gripped his entire body. "Make it stop!" she gasped. "Please make it stop!"
"I thought not," said Voldemort. "Finite incantatem."
"Why are you doing this to us?" gasped Hermione.
"Personal pleasure, mainly," said Voldemort. "My Death Eaters and I are an easy bunch to please. Muggles know it as schadenfreude, the action of finding the misfortune of another amusing."
Andy put his arm round Will's shoulders, and held him as his sobbing subsided.
"Now," said Voldemort, turning back to Hermione and Draco. "Hermione ... the time has come for Draco to die. He who betrayed me all those years ago has managed to avoid my wrath, so far."
Draco was quivering in fright. "Please, no," he whispered.
"Your Father always said you were nothing but a stinking coward Draco," said Voldemort. "I am beginning to suspect he was right. See how he grovels at my feet," he turned back to the Death Eaters. "Such cowardice, such fear. This boy has no right to call himself a Death Eater. He had no right to ever do so. It is right that he dies now as was intended all along, like a coward, weeping on the floor."
"At least let me die as I should do," said Draco. "Not like this."
Voldemort looked on the boy with something approaching pity.
"He is right of course," he said. "It would be more fitting for Hermione to kill the one she loved, rather than this child."
He aimed his wand at Draco, and for a brief moment, Draco quaked in fear, fear that Voldemort was tricking him, and that he was actually going to kill him dead as he stood. However, he did not. He merely muttered a brief incantation, the exact words Draco did not hear.
Draco stared down at his bare feet. Before his very eyes, they were growing. He could feel himself getting taller! He looked down at his arms. They were getting thicker, more defined ... there were hairs sprouting again. He looked to Voldemort in amazement.
"Is it true?" he asked. He stopped himself ... his voice had broken.
Voldemort nodded. "You shall die like a man Draco," he said.
"I think I'm about done," said Draco. There was a ripping sound as his borrowed jeans split.
"That will do," said Voldemort. Draco looked down at himself.
"I'm back," he said. "Lucky me. There aren't many who can go through adolescence in thirty seconds."
Hermione was smiling at him.
"See what I mean?" he said to her.
"You look ridiculous Draco," she said. She removed her heavy cloak, stepped forwards, and draped it round his shoulders. She was wearing a bright green hospital gown underneath. "Not very flattering is it?" she went on.
"Thanks," said Draco. "I appreciate that."
"No problem."
Voldemort appeared to be getting angrier. Finally he screamed. "Enough! Silence! Both of you."
Draco and Hermione turned to look at him.
"This is not some soap opera!" roared Voldemort. "This is not how it should be. I order you to kill him now!"
Draco turned to Voldemort. He surveyed him in disgust. "Do shut up, you horrible little man," he drawled.
He was still holding Will's wand. He lowered it until it was pointing at Voldemort.
"You wouldn't," said Voldemort. "Not after, not after what I've done to you."
"You would have done," said Draco. "Give me ten good reasons why I shouldn't use the Killing Curse on you now, and you may live."
Voldemort turned to the Death Eaters, who were standing in a tight group at the fireside.
"Come on ... you idiots!" he hissed.
"That's ten reasons," said Draco. "No more, no less. I have the upper hand here."
Voldemort looked back at him, with pure, undiluted hatred in his eyes. Finally, he spoke. "I ... I cannot," he said.
"Exactly," said Draco. "Now," he swallowed. "May God have mercy on me. Avada Kedavra!"
Nothing happened. Voldemort, who had covered his eyes, looked back to Draco.
"It seems to have jammed," said Draco. "Damn wand!"
The Death Eaters began to move, as one, fluid body, they surged across the floor towards Draco and Hermione, their wands withdrawn.
"Kill them!" screamed Voldemort. "Kill them now!"
"Avada Kedavra!" someone shouted. A bolt of green light shot out of the group of advancing men. Hermione ducked, rolled under the vast table. Draco dived the other way. The curse passed harmlessly between them, smashing a chair to pieces.
Will was on his feet in the cage. "Draco!" he was screaming. "Chuck it up here. It sticks sometimes. I can make it work!"
Draco picked himself up. The Death Eaters had stopped once again.
"Attack him you fools!" Voldemort screamed.
"Avada Kedavra!"
When shouted by nearly fifty people, all at once, the sheer force of it was deafening. Draco could only look on in horror as one massive, green bolt of light seemed to leap out of the group. He could only think of getting the wand to Will. His world took on a sickening, almost slow motion quality. He could feel his feet carrying him across the flagstone floor, heard his yell as he hurled the wand like a javelin at the cage, and then dived headfirst under the table, as the curse passed behind him. He landed on Hermione ... and there was a deafening roar as the whole side wall of the hall seemed to give way under the force of the curse.
Will reached through the bars, and grabbed the wand as it flew through the air. Draco's aim had been perfect.
"Hold tight Andy," he said. "This could be nasty!"
He took careful aim. He was dimly aware of Draco and Hermione thumping about under the table. He could see the Death Eaters, moving as one, their wands pointed straight at the cage. Will's mind was blank. He couldn't figure what spell to use. He wasn't yet advanced enough to use the ... then it hit him. Of course! It was obvious. He aimed his wand again, and summoning all his strength, willing the spell to work, screamed. "Expelliarmus!"
There was an almighty clatter as fifty wands were wrenched from their owner's hands, and flew off into different corners of the enormous room. At once, the hall erupted in confusion. There was almost a stampede, as the Death Eaters turned tail, and fought, each desperate to seek out their wand. Voldemort was standing up on the table, screaming for all he was worth. "Get them. Hurry! You imbeciles!"
Underneath the table, quite forgotten amidst the confusion Will had created, Draco detached himself from Hermione.
"Sorry," he breathed.
"It's quite all right," said Hermione. "Think nothing of it."
"We should do something."
Hermione nodded. "We have to get Will and Andy out. Is there some sort of pulley system?"
"I guess," said Draco. "They must have raised and lowered the cage somehow."
Hermione nodded again. "Are you going to do something then?"
"I should take advantage of the diversion really," said Draco. He took a deep breath, and lunged into the melee.
From that moment on, everything was a blur to Draco. His borrowed cloak afforded him total anonymity in the crowd of frantic Death Eaters. He elbowed his way through the throng, over to the far wall, by the entrance to the dungeon. Where the hell was that pulley? He couldn't for the life of him see it. Will and Andy were cowering in the cage, still uncertain what was going on, and then Draco saw it, on the other wall. A lever, connected to a chain, a system of pulleys. It had to be the one. He patted himself, looking for his wand, until he realised he didn't have it.
"Bugger," he said. He was going to have to pull the lever himself. Praying that Voldemort would assume he was just another random, panicky Death Eater, he launched himself across the room ... his bare feet pounding on the floor. He had never run so fast before. There was the lever, right in front of him. He reached out, grabbed, and yanked it up as far as it would go.
There was a pause. Then a dramatic thud that only Draco heard. He spun round. The chains rattled, and then the cage began to plummet downwards. Down ... down it went. There was a horrifying crack as it struck Voldemort on the head ... it sounded like a watermelon splitting. Voldemort fell forwards, onto the floor, and the cage crashed into the table, splitting it in neatly in two.
There was a weird, unearthly wailing. Someone shouted. "The Dark Lord is fallen!" The Death Eaters stopped dead in their tracks.
Then someone else cried. "Flee!"
Draco never thought he'd seen a hall empty so quickly ... not even when Fred and George Weasley had shouted 'Fire' during a Halloween feast. They scrambled for the exits ... rats, abandoning their sinking ship. Within a few, brief minutes, the hall was empty, and a deathly silence fell, save for the crackling of the fire.
Draco peeled himself away from the wall, and walked slowly over to the wreckage. Voldemort's bloody body was lying, face down on the floor ... whether dead or alive, Draco didn't know, and nor did he care. His only thought was to get to the cage. He grasped the handle, then realised it was padlocked.
"How do we get out?" groaned Will ... blood was oozing from a huge gash on his left shoulder. Andy looked shaken up, but otherwise fine, except for the burn on his chest.
"I don't know," said Draco. "Did you see an axe?"
Will shook his head. "I think Voldemort might have a key," he said.
Draco turned back to the body. He knelt down next to it, and flipped it over. Sure enough, there was a bundle of keys attached to a loop on the inside of his cloak. Draco tugged hard, and the loop split. He grabbed the keys, and turned back to the boys.
"It's the small one," said Will. "The very smallest."
"This one?"
Will nodded. Draco tested it in the lock. Sure enough, the rusty cage door swung open. Both boys flung themselves at Draco, almost knocking him over.
There was a groaning sound from beneath the table. Hermione extricated herself from the wreckage with some difficulty.
"Are you okay Hermi?" asked Draco, turning to her, the boys still clinging to him.
Hermione smiled. "You know, looking at you," she said. "You could almost be their father."
"Always said I'd make a good Dad," said Draco.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Harry turned back to Ron. He shook his head at Harry. "Is there no hope?"
"It doesn't look good," said Ron. "They'd need to question Mister Malfoy first, and he's in no fit state for that right now."
Darkness had now fallen, and after getting over the initial shock of Malfoy's full confession, extricated from him with a little help from Snape and his stores of Veritaserum, the Magical Law Enforcement Squad had hurriedly been called. Malfoy had been taken away under heavy security earlier that afternoon, and was now spending his first night in Azkaban.
"He did say the portkey was set up for, Romania or somewhere?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, I'm sure it was Romania."
"That would make a lot of sense," said Ron. "It tallies with all the accounts we've received of Voldemort's activities."
Harry froze. "Are you suggesting Voldemort is somehow mixed up in all of this?"
"It wouldn't surprise me at all," said Ron.
"You're probably right," said Harry.
There was a soft thud, somewhere off in the distance.
"Did you hear anything?" asked Ron
"What, what happened?" asked Harry.
"I heard something. I'm going to check," said Ron. He took out his wand, and set off down the garden. Harry stood on the patio, too worried for his family to even move.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Sirius.
"You'd better come inside," he said. "Warm up a little. You'll catch your death out here."
Harry smiled. "You sound like Aunt Petunia," he said.
"It was not intentional," said Sirius, withdrawing his hand hurriedly. "Come on ... there's no sense in waiting around out here. I'll get some tea on. Sound good?"
Harry turned away from the garden. "I guess so," he said.
They were interrupted by a loud cry from Ron. He appeared to have found something.
Sirius looked at Harry. "You think?" he asked.
Harry nodded. "Let's go."
They took off down the garden, heading in the direction of Ron's cry. Sure enough, he was crouched on the ground, just behind the line of trees. There were three dark shapes sprawled on the ground. Ron was clutching Andy to him, holding the boy tightly.
Harry stopped dead in his tracks. "Ron?"
"Harry ... it's okay," said Ron, he appeared to be smiling. "It couldn't be more okay. Come and see."
Draco sat up. He brushed his hair out of his eyes, and smiled up at Ron and Harry. "Are we back?" he asked.
The other shapes were stirring too. One revealed itself to be Will, though blue with cold, battered, and bruised, Harry flung his arms around him, and wept.
"I was so worried," he said. Will was crying too.
"Harry," another voice said. A hand touched him lightly on the shoulder. "Harry."
Harry recognised the voice. He turned, still holding onto Will for all he was worth, and looked up.
"Hello," said Hermione.