The time after she was sorted passed as a sort of delirum to Celeste. After a few more tests by Dumbldore, she was proclaimed not a witch, but a mage. She was given sleek copper robes, instead of the normal black ones, and they were richer and more detailed too. Instead of a wand, which she couldn't use anyway, she was given a staff that was five feet tall, nearly as tall as herself. It was slim, but sturdy, in a strong ebony wood. It was topped with a crystal sphere, and could be used much like a wand. All she had to do was concentrate, and the crystal sphere would fill with her yellow-copper magic, and she could use it like normal. Her classes were different from most others too, her schedule consisted of: Animal Transfigurations, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Flight, Magery, Magical control, and Dueling. Most of these were taught by Dumbledore himself, because none of the other teachers knew that much about her magic. Her dragons also followed her everywhere she went, to the chagrin to many people, but Celeste was happy, happier than she had ever been in her entire life. She had also worked on her telepathic connections with Draco, and they could now communicate with eachother on a regular basis.
On the night of the assault prepared by Snare and Craggle, luck would have it, Celeste was called out to the Astronomy tower to do some stargazing. She said goodnight to her fellow Slytherins, and left with the dragons to the Astronomy tower. It was around eleven-thirty. An hour later, the reptilian pair attacked.
# # #
Draco Malfoy had had quite a nice year so far. For the first time ever, he had beaten Potter at a Quidditch game, and was getting good enough marks to please even his father. He had a sister who could tame dragons, and had a telepathic link to him. For the first time in his life, he was getting the feeling that he was forming a dependant link with another human, his sister. Although he wouldn't admit it for worlds, he was very fond of his animal loving sister, despite the fact that she got along with the Gryffindors.
On the night of the attack, after he had said goodnight to his sister, he had talked with his friends Crabbe and Goyle for a while, then at around midnight, went to his bedroom. He got dressed in his night robes, and slid into his feather-soft bed. Curling up in it, he fell asleep, only to be awakened rudely a half-hour later.
# # #
Snare and Craggle were walking though the halls of Hogwarts, invisibly cloaked, doing very well, and making good time. They had only met up with four other people, all of them teachers, and they had put them to sleep. They even got tangled up with a mangy looking cat, whom they had had a tussle with, but eventually put her down into a deep slumber. Following their misstresses directions, they made it to the enterance of the Slytherin common room. Making a magical sign that would open up even the heaviest charmed doors, they entered. There were only about two people milling about the room, and Snare easily put them to sleep with a easy charm of his own. Craggle walked up to the fire, that was still roaring, and took out a bottle of greenish liquid.
"Hold your breath," he warned Snare. He threw the vial of liquid into the fire, and the fire sprang around, and then flew out of the fireplace. It zoomed over the walls, leaving a faint green sheen over the stone. In an elapsed time of about five minutes, the fire had travled the entire length of the Slytherin house, and was back to crackling in the fireplace, red as before, as if nothing had ever happened.
Snare and Craggle began their search. They turned the girls half of the house topsy-turvy, and half the boys part, before finding their quarry - or so they thought. When they saw Draco Malfoy, who fit their description, they tore off the bed curtains, waking him up. For some unknown reason, he was unaffected by the sleeping spell. Naturally, when he woke up to see two dinosaur-like things looming over him, his first reaction was to scream. But before he could get the sound out of his throat, the reptile on his left - Snare - jammed a bottle of powder over his open lips. He got an entire mouthful of the stuff, which was salty, sour, and bitter tasting all at once. He squirmed in futile under his cover, and Snare took the bottle away, smirking. He leaned over the bed to spit the yellow stuff out, and he came back up. When he did, the other reptile slapped a hand on his head. Before he could react, his body fell limp, and he couldn't move. Craggle had done a energy-sucking curse on him. He had to fight to breathe, let alone struggle against the scaley hands that picked him up and slung him over it's shoulder. They walked out of his bedroom, Craggle and Snare talking in little hisses; their native language. Draco's mind panicked, it was screaming at him different commands, and Draco's body didn't know which to follow. Finally, his mind settled on one plea.
Help me!
# # #
Help me! Celeste was in the Astronomy tower, looking through a telescope at Jupiter, when she got the call from her brother. She rubbed her sleepy eyes, and saw the the Astronomy professor, Professor Copperpot, was snoring in his chair. With him otherwise occupied, she stepped away from her magicked telescope.
What's the matter? There was no responce, which struck Celeste as omnious, because normally, Draco would chatter endlessly if Celeste didn't shut him out. From the corner of her eye, she saw movement flash on the ground. A quick yank on her telescope put them into focus. Two figures on foot were carrying something else, though it was too dark and she was too far away to see what they were for sure. She looked down at her two dragons, who were sleeping next to her. Celeste nudged at them with the toe of her boot.
"Get up, you two," Nightshade opened one sleepy eye and yawned. Sunsmear didn't move at all. Celeste nudged at him until he acknowledged her existance by swatting at her with a paw.
"I need you two to follow those two figures out there for me, kay?" they grudgingly got up and fluttered out a window that Celeste held out for them.
Celeste sprinted down the hallways, seeing nobody, and all the candles were out, leaving her in the dark. "Something is fishy here," she muttered to herself. Stopping for a moment, she tapped her staff against the floor three times, and the crystal globe on top filled with a copper light, throwing shadows over everything. She ran, until she met up with the severe looking woman that she now knew was Professor McGonagall, and she was sprawled out on the floor.
"Professor McGonagall?" Celeste asked timidly, poking her with the end of her staff. McGonagall rolled over and uttered a little snort; she was sleeping. Now Celeste knew something was wrong. People just don't go to sleep in the middle of hallways, particularly respected professors.
The wind whistled through an open window, and Celeste shivered. It was cold out. Looking back down at the professor, Celeste saw that she wore a coat-cloak over her teacher's robes. Celeste bit her lip in consideration, and started to untie the cloak.
"Please don't give me detention for this," Celeste begged the sleeping professor as she tied the cloak under her own chin. The professor only snored in reply. Gripping her staff tigher, she walked out the doors.
# # #
It had been about ten minutes, and Draco began to panic. Where was Celeste? Did she even hear him at all? Where was he going, anyway? The salty-sour-bitter tang of that powder that these monsters made him swallow was still on his tongue. He spat on the ground, and the lizard things went on hissing. Then they stopped. Draco didn't know why, and would have asked, but the powder had taken away his voice, as well as put a bad taste in his mouth. Abruptly he was flung in the dirt, his back hitting a lumpy stick. He screamed with pain in his mind. The things went on hissing and pointing at him. Finally the one on the right - Craggle - bent over, and with a claw, shredded his night robes until they came off. And he thought he had been cold before. Now he could testify as freezing. He was also quite embarrassed, as he was basically naked. The monsters started to talk in english.
"Do you really think that was nessasary, Craggle? Do you really think that they enchanted his clothes to keep him safe?" the other monster - Craggle - answered.
"You can never be too cautious, Snare. Magic like this kid has is very rare, and they go to any length to protect it." It all clicked in Draco's mind now. They were after his sister, for her magic, not him. He wanted to yell at these stupid creatures, but he couldn't. He couldn't even go through the loud motions of sneezing, for crying out loud.
The wind picked up, biting at Draco's unprotected skin, and whistling through what little clothing he did have on. He started to shiver madly, and - Snare - picked him up and carried him off again.
# # #
Celeste ran through the Forbidden Forest, following the trail of light gold dust that her dragons left behind. She tripped on an upturned root, and it put out her light. Cursing, she relit her staff, and saw that part of the crystal sphere had been broken off. Cursing again, more vividly this time, she got up and started to run again, but was intrupted by the soft patter of hooves behind her. The hair on her neck stood up, and she whirled around to find a unicorn. Her breath caught. It seemed to glow in the dark light, and she lost concentration on the light in her staff, her light wavered and flickered until it extinguished again, but, no matter. The unicorn gave off more than enough light. It walked up closer to her.
You are Celeste Malfoy, the Wild one. You have the magic. It was not a question asking her name, rather, it was a statement. Celeste nodded dumbly as the beautiful creature came up closer to her.
You seek the pale headed one, that was carried off by the reptile enemy, do you not? Celeste had no idea who the 'reptile enemy' was, but she assumed that the unicorn meant Draco as the 'pale headed one'. The unicorn was in touching distance now. It sniffed the air, and sided up to her.
I am Cormica, the unicorn. I believe that I could be in service to you in your search. Can you ride? Celeste nodded again, and climbed onto the unicorn's pure white back. She grabbed onto it's golden mane, and they were off.
It was like nothing Celeste had ever experienced. Even though she had ridden before on Pegasteeds, and they gave rides as smooth as anything, but this was maginificent, to say the least. It was smoother than butter, and faster than a swift flying in a marathon. In less than five seconds, or so it seemed, they had caught up with two figures, the one holding something over it's shoulder, like a sack of potatoes. Using a skill she had learned from McGonagall in Animal Transformations, she turned her eyes into cat eyes, so she could see well in the dark. The two walking figures were lizard things, and the thing they carried was Draco. She urged Cormica faster, so they could take them by surprise. Surprise they did. Celeste wound up and smacked the lizard-thing that didn't have Draco - Craggle - over the head with her staff as she sped past. He collapsed on the ground, wailing a lizard's wail of pain, his two-fingered hands covering a large gash in his head.
"What the hell?" Snare was so surprised that he dropped Draco, who fell with a silent cry and rolled into a sharp bush. Celeste rode by again, and lept off Cormica's back, landing with a battle yell in battle stance in fromt of the two lizards, who stared, flabbergasted.
"Two? There's two of you?!" Snare cried. Celeste threw her head back, laughed, and tightened her grip on her staff as she spoke.
"No, you slimy thing. There's only one of us here with the magic that you're seeking, and that's me. You've got my brother, you stupid creatures," as she spoke, her chipped globe on top of her staff began to glow with her copper-yellow light. The lizards gnashed their teeth.
"We've been deceived! Come on, Craggle! Two against one, we've got the dead advantage!" The battle was a long a well-fought one. Dragon and Dark magic clashed with Celeste's Wild magic, and they both were held at bay for quite a while. Then the lizards started to use their claws and teeth. Celeste screamed in pain as sharp claws tore into her flesh. Suddenly, two blurs zinged past her and clamped onto the monsters in fron of her. The lizards reared back in pain. Celeste smiled when she saw Nightshade and Sunsmear bravely biting into Snare and Craggle's flesh, and not letting go. She tried to get up, but was in too much pain. A wave of copper power ran along the ground. Celeste grinned. That could only mean one thing...Werewolves bounded out from the leafy undergrowth and attacked with claws and teeth. The lizards hissed in pain. Finally, one of them - Craggle - looked up.
"This isn't over yet, brat!" he and Snare hissed something, and they were gone in a flash of light. The werewolves ran back into the woods, and Nightshade and Sunsmear helped Celeste up.
"Thanks, you guys, I owe you," the two dragons smiled and rubbed up against her affectionately. Celeste half walked-half stumbled over to the place where Draco lay. His energy had been basically zapped, but the silence powder had worn off, and Celeste drug him to a sitting position. They both blushed furiously when Celeste noticed that he wore almost no clothing.
"Christ, man, what did they do to your clothes?" Celeste asked. Draco blushed a deeper red when she issued this question.
"It isn't like I wanted to be drug around the forest, tongue tied and half-naked at night, you know. You wouldn't happen to have anything for me to wear, I'm really cold," his teeth were chattering so much that his lips had trouble forming the words. Celeste sighed.
"No...Oh, wait. You can have this," she took off her coat and wrapped it around his shoulders. He sighed in relief at it's warmness.
"Thank you," those words sounded funny on his tongue. Celeste smiled as she buttoned up his front for him.
"Nah. What are sisters for?" Draco cracked a scarcastic grin at this.
"For chance, they wouldn't happen to be for running after little kidnapped brothers, would they?" Celeste rolled her eyes back into her head.
"That's one of their many uses, yes." Impulsively, Draco leaned on her shoulder, just for a moment. Celeste smiled again as she helped him up.
"I don't think you're in any shape to walk back to the school." Draco shook his head, his voice hoarse.
"I don't think so either..." To Celeste's ears only, the unicorn intrupted.
My mate, Tankisie, and I will give you a ride back to the school, if you so wish. Draco saw the sudden look of concentration on Celeste's face.
"What's the matter?" Celeste sighed.
"The unicorns said that they would give us a ride back. You wanna?" Draco's tired gray eyes widened in shock. He nodded, but then sagged, and Celeste had to catch him.
"We accept," Celeste told the unicorns. Cormica whistled, and another unicorn appeared out of the trees, identical to Cormica in every way, execpt for the fact that she had a silver mane, in stark contrast to Cormica's golden one. It must be Tankisie, Celeste decided.
They climbed on, and rode, until Celeste felt her eyes droop. She tried to stay awake, but she fell asleep, without her minds permission to do so.
# # #
"Idiots!" Synthia screeached at her subjects, who winced. "Fools, morons, blockheads, jackasses!" Snare and Craggle shut their eyes.
"But misstresss, ssshe had the werewolves on her ssside..." Craggle tried to explain to her, but Synthia would have none of it.
"Silence!" she roared. Craggle was scared into silence. "You're part dragon, and dragon magic can beat werewolf magic anyday!" Snare growled in his throat.
"It wassen't our fault..." he was silenced by a smack to the left side of his scaley face. Synthia was totally red with fury.
"I can't believe that I even put up with your sheer stupidity! If you weren't the only useless things around here that would listen to me, I would have gotten rid of you a long time ago! Get out of my face! You'd better hope not to see me for a long time, you idiotic reptiles!" with that, Synthia stomed away. Snare and Craggle watched her go.
"Remind me," Craggle said bitterly, "why do we listen to her babble in the first place?" Snare sighed and kicked at the ground aimlessly.
"Because we're her binded ssslavesss, Craggle," he said sadly. Craggle pressed a hand to his forehead.
"It's daysss like thisss, Sssnare, that I wisssh I was never born." Snare nodded understandingly, and they both walked away.
# # #
Word had spread that both Malfoys had been abducted by something, or someone, and the entire school had been herded into the Great Hall, in their pajamas. It reminded them something of what had happened the night Sirius Black had been found over Ron with a knife. Harry sat down on the floor. He was tired, but it was too bright out to go back to bed. Ron sat next to him, followed by Hermione.
"I wonder what happened to them," Hermione said, chin in her hands. Ron snorted grumpily.
"If this is all some joke that Malfoy pulled, I'm going to wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze so hard that.." Harry intrupted him.
"I don't think it was a joke, Ron. There was some serious magic going on in the Slytherin dorms, and I don't think that Malfoy could have pulled it all off without someone noticing," Hermione nodded in agreement, and the threesome preceeded to stare out at the rising sun.
# # #
Celeste was awakened by a nudge to her forehead. It was the unicorn. She opened her eyes to see the school in front of her face. The unicorn nickered.
We have served our purpose. We leave you at your destination, and we go now. Celeste nodded.
"Thank you," she whispered to their backs as they disappeared into the Forbidden Forest. She saw Draco and her two dragon kits, sprawled on the lawn. She went over to Draco and shook his shoulder. He looked worse for wear; he had little nicks and scratches all over his body, and a large gash on his back. He opened one eye with a groan, and shot awake at once. Celeste notied that his eyes widened when they located on her body. Looking down, she saw that she had five large gashes down her front from the claws of the lizard things, as well as bite marks. The dragons had their own bumps and bruses from battle. They all rose, and nearly fell over. The dragons caught Draco before he fell over, and Celeste leaned on her staff. They all hobbled towards the school.
# # #
Harry was drifting in and out of sleep, when the door slammed open. The hall fell silent at once, and the teachers lept to their feet, with wands.
"Who's there? We're armed!" called Dumbledore in the steeliest voice that Harry had ever heard him use.
"It's only us, you don't have to shoot," the soft voice, though sounding very mangled and worse for wear, was familiar. Both Malfoys came into the hall, lurching about. Ron stared at Draco, who was swaying in his spot.
"What happened to you both?" he asked, repulsed. Draco looked back at him, pouring what fire he had left in him into his eyes.
"Did I ask you to put your big head in my life, Weasley?" He was hard to listen to, as he was so hoarse that his voice weaved in and out of his mouth. He fell to his knees and began to cough loudly. Hermione leaned away from him.
"Are you...Okay?" Draco stopped coughing, but started making little gagging noises in his throat.
"No," he said scratchily. He swallowed hard, which was a pain to his dry throat, and spoke again.
"I'm going to be sick," he said faintly. Harry couldn't tell if this was a figure of speech or not, but then when Draco started making funny noises in his throat, he decided that he wasn't kidding after all, and pushed a water pitcher in his direction. Draco grabbed it, and started retching. When he'd finished, he wiped his mouth blearly on his sleeve. Harry thought he looked terrible. He looked as if he had been chewed by a lion, he was sweating like crazy, and was convulsing dangerously. His eyes took on a sudden glossy sheen.
"Ooooh, look at all the pretty spots...Too many Snitches.." he grabbed at the empty air in front of him, then passed out. Celeste coughed into her sleeve.
"I don't feel too well myself," she said calmly. Nightshade and Sunsmear came up to her whimpering. They clawed at her robes pitifully. Ron turned to her, and gaped at her bloody, torn clothes.
"What happened out there?" he repeated the question to Celeste. Blood, half-dried, came off in flakes when she walked. She smiled aimlessly, and Harry could tell that she had slipped into a delirum.
"Just do me one small favor, okay?" Harry was a bit startled, but nodded feebily.
"Err, all right. What do you want, Celeste?" Celeste started to weave, but was still smiling at everybody.
"Just make sure...I...don't...swallow...my...tongue...o...k...a...y?" she stopped weaving, and collapsed onto the tile floor, with a muffled thud. Harry blinked.
"Err, okay," the two dragons climbed ontop of Celeste's back and started to howl. Ron stuffed his fingers in his ears.
"Someone shut those stupid things up!" Nightshade snapped at him. Hermione looked at Draco and Celeste.
"This is going to be one heck of a story to listen to when they wake up...."
The End.