Author's note: This is dedicated to Esty, my big sister, who shows me again and again that you don't have to live near each other to be close…
Small note to prongs: Sorry, but there is mild cussing in this as well. I just can't see Draco without it. I'm really sorry, that's just my view. ^_^
Chapter 2 – One Way Road
"…as White as Snow, as Red as Blood, as Black as the Wood on the Window frame…"
from Snowwhite and the Seven Dwarfs
She always got up early, to watch the sun rise. There was something restful about seeing the sky get lighter, until it became fully red and the sun rose. Not the penny shaped thing you saw in the sky around midday but a huge red ball of gas that burned with character, stretching out over the landscape and bathing the white tower in a warm, red glow.
It was usually only those seconds that were interesting, and in any case, Draco woke up at about that time. Why he timed it always a few seconds after the sunrise was a mystery to her. Perhaps he was afraid to catch the dark.
He was still captivated by his dreams...
A loud wail behind her tore her out of her thoughts. Draco had woken up in his cot and was standing up, his eyes rimmed with tears, stretching his little hands out to her to be picked up.
'There, there,' she said automatically, and lay him on her shoulder and rubbing his back. The crying subsided as it had reached his aim: he'd got her attention. There were a few moments of peace as Draco happily gurgled by her ear. Then she sat him down on his blanket.
'I'll be right back,' she said brightly, and crossed the room to the huge fireplace. It was ornamental, and sadly decorated with various sorts of snakes. When seen from an angle, the two main snakes spelled out the word 'stupid'. That had brightened the occasion a little.
She took a handful of grey powder which lay in a pot on the mantelpiece (just above the 'p') and blew it gently into the fire. She counted to three under her breath. For a second the flames of the fire flickered, and became white. A tray appeared in the middle of them. She quickly reached down and picked it up. A bottle of milk, a fresh supply of nappies, tissues, some washed clothes, and a silver plate with her breakfast. She inspected the plate. Burnt toast again. She sighed. House elves were a good thing, but she wished they wouldn't be so bad in the mornings. Still, house elves usually had an eight hour day, and 12 hours was quite too much for them…
Draco grabbed the bottle she gave him, stuffing it into his mouth. She watched him, grinning. It was almost fully light now. The sun glinted off blond hair. Myrren sighed, and tousled a little strand between her fingers. He was looking more and more like his father.
She left him to play in the blanket. It had a Scottish pattern on it. She'd acquired it from her travels.
She'd also put another blanket on the cot. The carvings on there were enough to give her nightmares.
A sound behind her made her turn around.
'Draco?' she said.
And Draco awoke, and the dream faded into the back of his head. He shook it, and opened his eyes.
He was lying on his back, and blinked as the world swam into focus. Above him was, and he had to concentrate, green. And the green had a name. A name.
'Leaves,' he whispered.
And all at once it all came back to him.
Draco groaned, and rolled over. Then he hoisted himself up onto his elbows and pushed himself to his knees. Various muscles and bones screamed at him in protest. It was worse than after his first real Quidditch practice with his father.
Father. What would he say?
He gritted his teeth and got up, taking tottering steps until he regained his balance. He scanned the place for Neville, and spotted the plump boy lying sprawled beside the huge roots of an upturned tree.
'Longbottom?' Draco said and took a step towards him. Something glinted out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to it. The locket lay on the ground, shining in the sun. Draco glared at it and pocketed it. Then he turned back to Neville. 'Longbottom? Hey! You're going to miss the best part of the day!'
Neville's eyelids fluttered. He groaned, and pushed himself up.
'Did the cauldron explode again?' he murmured, and slumped back. Draco grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and pulled him up. Neville was lighter than he had thought.
'Stop lazing about, Longbottom, and get up!'
Neville opened his eyes and looked up at Draco. Draco felt a slight pang of triumph as the boy's eyes widened with fear. Looks like someone remembers yesterday's behavior…
He smiled, and his eyes glinted.
'Get up, Longbottom. You and me have a long day ahead.'
Neville got up quickly. He looked nervous.
'Have you- have you found a way home?' he quavered.
'No,' Draco said simply. 'I've tried everything already.' That wasn't exactly a lie.
'Have you- did you- did you try linking putting our thumbs together on the locket thing again?'
Darn.
'Of course I have,' Draco lied. 'But perhaps we should do it again. Just incase it only works when we're both awake.'
Neville flushed bright red, and held out his hand palm up, his fingers together and his thumb stretched out.
Draco pulled the locket out of his pocket and held it between two fingers. Then, bracing himself, he pressed the locket to Neville's thumb.
He opened his eyes again after a second or two, feeling foolish.
Neville was watching the locket, looking anxious. Feeling like a fool, Draco pulled it away and permitted himself a smug look.
'Told you it didn't work,' he said.
Neville looked at him with a mixed look of horror and disbelief.
'You mean we're stuck? Here? Me? With you?'
'Admittedly, you're not my first choice either.' Draco snapped. 'I mean, look at you! A few hours away from home and you're already half in tears!' Oh shit, why did I say that? Neville's lower lip trembled.
'It's my gran's birthday tomorrow.' He whispered.
'Too bad,' Draco said coldly. Damn, he's really almost in tears…
Feeling sorry for him, are you?
Of course not!
'We'd better get going,' Draco turned around and stopped again.
'Where to?' Came Neville's sniffing voice from behind him.
'Somewhere- there.' Draco pointed a little to the right of him. That's right. I know it's right.
'There.' he said again and put a hand to his forehead. His head hurt. 'I'm sure,' he murmured.
'Why?'
'Because… Because there's something there that belongs to me.' Draco's mouth snapped shut. He hadn't known until Neville had asked, and even now he didn't know where the answer had come from. And his head was hurting…
'What belongs to you?'
'Myrren,' Draco whispered. There was a rustling in the trees, a whisper that hadn't been there before. Like a sound that has always there but you don't become aware of until someone suddenly mentions it to you…
He sank to his knees, clutching his head.
'Malfoy? Are you alright?' Neville's plump, anxious face came into view. Draco glared at it, and straightened himself up, clutching his head.
'Yes, I am- fine.' He said, through gritted teeth.
'The locket's doing this to you, isn't it.' Neville took a step back and eyed the locket fearfully.
'Don't be silly,' Draco spat. Neverless he glanced at the locket suspiciously. After all, the thing had got them here in the first place, evidently…
'You're the one that's being silly!' Neville said with a sudden outburst of rage.
Oh, we're getting cocky again, are we? Draco thought and regarded him coldly.
'Am I?' he said, icily.
'You got me here in the first place! Now you can darn- damn well get me out of here!'
'For your Nan's birthday, right?' Draco said sarcastically.
'Right!'
'Well look around you! Can you see a way out? Perhaps we could- could climb a tree and fly home, how about that?' Draco gestured wildly to the tree beside him. Neville looked up it. Then he said: 'Where on earth are we?'
For the first time the two boys considered their surroundings thoroughly. There were trees everywhere. Or, to put it in a better word, there were tree-trunks everywhere. If you looked up, then maybe you could see the rest of the tree, or at least glimpse a hazy bit of green.
Draco turned to a trunk beside him. It was, in one word, massive. He hadn't looked at anything closely before, and now he regretted that he'd done it. The trunk was greenish brown, and covered over and over in moss. A number of yellow flowers the size of Draco's fist grew on it.
Neville finally voiced what they were both thinking. 'I feel dwarfed.' He said.
Draco mutely shook his head, staring up into the leaves. The tree went up fully straight for about twenty meters, until some fragile looking twigs spouted. The trunk also looked quite slippery.
'So much for climbing up,' he muttered. Then he brightened up. 'Still, we won't be needing much for firewood.'
A sudden wind came up, ruffling the boys hair and robes and carrying on through the branches of the trees. A few twigs the size of Draco's arm fell down and in to the place he had been standing before he, quite wisely, moved.
The boys looked at each other. 'Let's go,' Neville said, and for once Draco couldn't object.
~~*~~
They scrambled over the heaps of bracken. There were no paths, and even Draco's sharp eyes couldn't spot any animal tracks. It was as if the forest was only populated by trees- trees and small yellow flowers.
They'd been walking for a while now. Neville was being silent and stared sullenly ahead. Draco used the silence to sort his thoughts, which he did by beginning a diary.
Dear Diary, Draco thought. Well, today has been a day worth remembering. Let me rephrase that. Today was a day worthy of being forgotten very, very quickly. Let's see what has happened. Now: I got covered in spikes by a soppy, nervous Gryffindor boy, upon which we both suffered detention- together. During detention my necklace, which incidentally was sealed with numerous unbreakable spells, got stuck on a nail and flew off, right to the feet of the Gryffindor boy. The result is that I've been whisked off to this crazy place containing oversized trees, yellow flowers, no paths and, and I will stress this, a soppy, nervous Gryffindor boy who's afraid he won't be back in time to congratulate his Nan on her birthday. Sometimes I really wonder…
He didn't complete his thoughts, however, as Neville suddenly awoke from his stony trot, blinked, extended an arm and squeaked. Draco stopped dead in his track, staring straight ahead over Neville's shoulder.
After hours of walking, they had finally come to human civilization. Or more, what seemed like the remains of it.
It was like turning a corner and finding your foot hanging over nothingness. The ground just stopped, and gave way to the huge gorge. Mist filled it and rose up like a wall. How long it was to the other side was anyone's guess.
And towering over the gorge was…
'A bridge?' Draco said, disbelieving. 'Here?'
He blinked, just in case.
The bridge was still there.
It had a gothic design. Two gargoyles, glaring at the trees and the forest beyond, stood on the two stone pillars that framed the bridge's entrance. Creepers were growing up there, undisturbed. The bridge itself was made from black stone. It looked menacing and evil, and reminded Draco strongly of the Malfoy residence.
He couldn't see to the other side. The mist swirled and blocked his view.
He couldn't even guess how long it was.
He made up his mind.
'I'm going over,' he said, and took a step closer. He heard Neville clear his throat nervously.
'Look,' Neville said, hesitating, 'shouldn't I-'
Draco spun around. 'Look, I come from a house in which every second corner is hexed. You, on the other hand, wouldn't recognize a curse if it jumped naked before you dancing the conga.' He turned around and had a second look at the bridge. The gargoyles didn't look less menacing from close.
Draco took a deep breath, and put a foot on the stone. Then he took a hesitating step forward, so he was standing fully on the bridge. When it failed to give away, he stamped a few times.
'Looks strong enough!' He called to Neville, who was watching him anxiously. He took a deep breath, grinned for the heck of it and walked right into the mist.
~*~
Neville had stood rigid, watching the other boy carefully edge forward until he was sure that the bridge was stable. Draco had stamped down a few times, called something over- not that Neville had been listening, the rushing in his ears had drowned out every other noise- and had vanished into the mists. Until then Neville had stood like a stone, now he ran to the edge of the bridge and peered into the mists. He wanted to run forward, to call Draco, but he was afraid that any sudden movement would disturb some cosmic balance and the bridge would collapse, and Draco would tumble down, down, into the fog, and he, Neville would be left all alone…
At that moment he heard footsteps. A figure came visible in the mist, took on shape and became Draco.
Neville let out a sigh of relief. 'Is it safe?' he called out.
Draco looked up and seemed astonished. He stared at Neville strangely. Then he looked back into the mists. Then he grinned, and stepped off the bridge.
'Go and see for yourself.'
'What?'
Draco sat on the ground.
'Go on. Take a look. It won't bite, Longbottom.'
Neville stared, then turned abruptly and walked out on to the bridge. He went quickly. When he looked around, the bank was lost in the mist.
Ahead of him, he thought he saw something. Giant shadows loomed out and turned out to be trees. And sitting on the bank, his legs stretched out…
'So,' Draco said sarcastically. 'What happened? Why did you come back?'
'I didn't! I went straight across!'
The other boy laughed, grimly. 'So did I, Longbottom. So did I.'
~~*~~
Her dress was torn. And it was cold, but she was used to that.
He was near. She could feel him. They had spent enough years together to have a close bond, and even if he turned out to be like her worst dreams…
She had to hope. Not long now. The locket would guide him. Yes, it might drive him mad or kill him altogether, but it would guide him.
Not long now.
'Take care, Draco,' Myrren whispered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's note: Another Cliffhanger…*her grin fades as she sees the mob with pitchforks* Ok, enough of that… *cough* I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to review… ^_^