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Dulce et Decorum est pro imperatori more.
|HPTC-Malfoy family motto|
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Part 4 -Elastic
The Great Hall
"Draco, they're beautiful...I can't believe that nobody knows how you write!" Hermione exclaimed, handing Draco back his journal.
"Thanks..." Draco said, his pale cheeks reddening. "That's the only thing that I really love to do...write, and to read. Father actually encouraged it."
"Even Muggle books?"
"Uh huh...you know, I like Shakespeare and Richard Bach the best..."
"I never really thought you were the type..." Hermione laughed.
"Mia, I'm going to tell you a secret." Hermione's face turned serious. "The Malfoy family isn't descended from Salazar Slytherin...we're descended from Rowena Ravenclaw."
Hermione gasped. "But you don't look it...at all..."
"No, we've tried hard as we could to purge our family of impure blood. Outwardly, we've succeeded." Hermione smiled and then her expression darkened. "You never told me how your family took it." It was obvious what she meant by 'it'.
"Father didn't like it very much...but he doesn't seem to be doing anything else to dissuade me." Draco winced uncomfortably. "If he had really wanted, he could have put a curse on you or something and he didn't..."
"And you're afraid that he's got something else in mind?" Draco nodded. "Let's just hope he doesn't care."
"Fell hope." Draco sighed. "What are you going to do, you know, when you graduate?"
"What choice do I have? Every person must fight Voldemort." Draco grimaced and Hermione laughed. "Say it, Draco, say it, come on!"
"Fine, I will! Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort! Satisfied?" Hermione patted his cheek.
"You're sweet when you're upset! Anyway, what will you do?"
"No idea. Before I met you I would probably have joined the Dar- Voldemort's following...but you changed my mind about Mud-, um, Muggle borns." Draco said, quailing under Hermione's stare.
"But I'm not exactly a great fan of Dumbledore, either...anyhow, didn't he say we'd be inviting some other schools for the Yule Ball?" Hermione bit her lip.
"Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and another one, what's it called again, Wyndelinn." Draco laughed.
"Afraid Krum's going to try and claim you at the Ball?"
"Does is show?" Hermione pretended to look worried. "Anyhow, he's going out with Feline Giegerich, now isn't he?"
"The German Keeper." Draco nodded. "I know a few people from Wyndelinn...Frank Wicker for one. He's one of Father's friend's sons. They call him Scorpio." Draco glanced at Hermione. "He's not exactly a friend of the Mud-Muggle Borns. Loads of fun, though..."
"You and your evil friends!" Hermione sighed in exasperation. "I'm never going to reform you!"
"Is that what you want, a nice Draco Malfoy?" Draco grinned.
Hermione sighed loudly. "That's impossible, even for me."
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The Slytherin Dormitory
Draco sat down at his desk, confused but not unhappy. He was assessing his relationship with Hermione Granger.
We're like good friends, only...more... Draco sighed loudly. None of his other girlfriends had been his friends, too.
That made them easier to dump, easier not to care about.
Girls had always flocked to Draco Malfoy, either for his power, or his handsome Malfoy looks. Hermione Granger had not.
Draco suddenly laughed as he remembered the first time he had felt a slight stirring for her. The time when she slapped him across the face. Draco could still remember the embarrassment that burned like fire in his face.
The only person ever to slap him. He had been hit, beaten within an inch of his life, but never, never slapped. The only girl that could ever do something like that.
The only one who had even come close was Parry. She was a truly fearsome girl, never afraid of him. Three or four years older than him, she had threatened to curse him if he ever dumped her. Parry. Draco shuddered inwardly.
He knew that her name would be known widely soon. She held power, raw, mesmerising power to control. He had succumbed. Succumbed so well that she actually started feeling for him.
If she didn't care for him it would be so much simpler. She wouldn't even bother to become his enemy. The trouble was, she did and she would be truly fearsome. If he crossed her. If he didn't love her back.
Draco remembered his father's parting words; they were perhaps the most affectionate ever addressed to him.
"Draco, listen to me. There is a Great War coming. The largest war in Wizard History. The Dark Lord is powerful, I hope you do not end up on the wrong side. She is just a girl. They're not worth it. You have no hope. There is no honour in losing."
Draco was jerked from his thoughts by an owl arriving. "Aurum." Draco said with surprise, not patting the so named feathered head.
He tore the parchment from the sharp talons and put a few coins into the birds' claws. He looked at Draco for a few seconds and then emitted a loud shriek.
"What do you want, Aurum?" Draco asked, bewildered. Aurum screeched again, but instead of waiting flew off in exasperation.
Draco didn't understand that all the owl wanted was to be patted.
He unrolled the parchment.
I know you and your father don't get along with me too well, but I have been hearing things that cause me to contact you quickly.
It has reached my distant ears that a fearsome change is overtaking the Malfoy Dragon. They say you are with a Muggle Born and consort with Harry Potter and his friends. They say you do not take interest in your Dark Arts studies any more and neglect your Slytherin friends.
Be this all true, Draco, I congratulate you. One is required to stand up for oneself.
I know I have been forced upon you but perhaps now we could be friends. Perhaps now you understand why I hate your father. I think it impossible for it to be otherwise. I don't see any reason for us to hate each other.
It is a time of great need, Draco, and I need your help. Unless I am mistaken you need mine, too. Do not be discouraged by your so-called friends.
Make the judgements your own and you cannot fail.
I wish to visit you at Hogwarts, please convey your reply to me soon.
I must warn you of the War coming. Hogwarts will be the base of operations. You must have heard of it. What will your decision be?
My experiments have come to a head and I believe that a great breakthrough is at hand. Flamel never went as far.
Hopefully yours with love,
Celeste LaSeule
Celeste...after all this time?
He tore a piece of parchment from his role, wrote three short words on it and signed his name.
Draco Malfoy
|| The Gryffindor Dormitory...
Hermione lay in her bed, restless...she got up and heaved open the window. The cold air lashed her face, creating reddish streaks across her bare cheeks. Her lungs refused to take in the frost-laden air and she closed the window with a soft bang.
Nobody had awoken, they were dreaming peacefully of the coming Ball.
Unfortunately, that was what kept Hermione Granger awake.
Even if Draco really did love her, where would their relationship go? What did Draco expect? She simply didn't know. And, as if to complicate matters, Ron had taken to ignoring her haughtily. Jealous. Jealousy is a powerful thing, she knew.
Capable of twisting even the best intentions to it's wily purposes.
She sighed loudly and touched the purple robes that she had bought especially for the dance.
"Once again, you prove yourself a nocturnal creature." Hermione whirled.
"Sylvoren, you scared me!" Hermione whispered.
"Gotten over Malfoy yet?"
Hermione cocked her head. "He asked me to the Yule Ball. I'm going with him."
"It won't be easy." Sylvoren Trelawney's expression was unreadable in the darkness.
"I know."
"No good can ever come of an union of silver and gold." She said, obliquely, as if quoting from a text.
"How would you know?" Hermione demanded, unsettled.
"You forget, I'm a Divinator. My speciality is personal futures."
"Bullshit."
"I am better than my sham of a mother. Do you know, You-Know-Who made the same mistake. He fell to the curse."
"Curse? What curse?" Sylvoren covered her mouth.
"Magic Undone! I let that slip, I can't tell, I'm bound." Hermione laughed derisively.
"Once again, bullshit."
"It doesn't matter. Does he love you?"
"Yes." Hermione was sure of it. "He loves me."
"Do you love him?"
Sylvoren wished that she could have seen Hermione's face as she said, "Yes."
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At the very same dark wood somewhere in England...
"Lucius, Lucius, Lucius..." The voice of the dark lord was faintly mocking. "You are most impatient."
"I am sorry, my Lord, I thought it would be best if my son was punished." He bowed his head low, remembering the punishment for pride.
"Do you not know that the more you forbid, the more tempting the forbidden becomes? At that age, even a crush is undying love. It will, however, die." He laughed his cold, eerie laugh.
"But my Lord, my position-...my family name, it-..."
"It is nothing! Nothing compared to my Plan, Lucius. A Wizard War is brewing and we must not make an enemy of your little traitor." Voldemort's red eyes gleamed. "A War of Mages unlike any other..."
"But-..."
"But nothing, Lucius. Your family name was soiled beyond repair when you married your Narcissa...for she was not yours from the start, she belonged to a MudBlood before. What your weakling heir has done is no worse." Lucius Malfoy shuddered slightly, Was her child a MudBlood? Shame enough to have married an used woman, but with a MudBlood? Lucius mind whirled.
"Besides, your son has powers which you cannot imagine. It would not be prudent to alienate him. Already the Muggle-loving fools, Dumbledore and Harry Potter..." He spit his name out like a bitter taste. "...have amassed an army, unequalled apart from my own."
"Why is an army required, my Lord, pardon my incomprehension." Lord Voldemort looked at Lucius Malfoy with distaste.
"Have you not been schooled properly? Are you ignorant? Surely you know the fundamental rules of Wizarding. The first one, at least."
"Yes, master. Magic per unit area."
"And you must also know that because of the increase in the Wizarding population, more residual magic is free in the world? Mage Wars, spell wars, were possible, but are no more so. An excess of magic in the battle area will cause an overload, especially since powerful magic is needed for the TimeFreeze. Our spells will either become useless or absorb too much power to master. This is because magic attracts magic." The Dark Lord spoke slowly, as if to a moron.
"Forgive me, master, I see it now."
"Of course you do. Back to the matter of your Gryffindor sympathising brat, do nothing more. I will send my loyal emissary to deliver him a message." He stopped suddenly and smiled at Lucius. "Time, Lucius, is on our side."
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The Great Hall, the Yule Ball is taking place...
Draco turned and looked at Hermione again. She was so different, all dressed up. She was wearing robes of deep purple with a thin silvery sheath. Jewels glittered in her Sleekeazy'd hair. Her face seemed to glow from within. She turned.
He couldn't get over how she looked. Draco felt like his eyes had been opened to a new conception of beauty. Before he had only looked for the classic Slytherin ice, now he could see that warmth could be attractive as well.
"Ready, Draco? They're not going to take this well, you know."
Draco didn't reply, but instead steeled himself for the task ahead. He could almost hear the taunts of his Slytherin 'friends'. It meant complete ostracisation from the society that he had once thought superior to all. A society that he still enjoyed, even.
For Hermione.
They walked down the steps into the glimmering red and green hall hand in hand. Draco spotted Harry and Cho Chang up ahead.
"Hey, isn't that Po-, Harry and Chang?" Hermione nodded. "How come people who play Quidditch always go out with people that play Quidditch?"
"You don't, Draco." Hermione said, playfully.
"Well, I'm different, aren't I?" Draco stopped as a kind of palpable silence descended on the hall.
Every single pair of eyes was upon them. Professor McGonagall tried to hide her look of surprise ineffectually while Professor Snape's face seemed twisted in a pained snarl. Of all the teachers only Professor Dumbledore's face seemed benign, only a mild trace of surprise in his eyes.
Draco shuddered and looked away from Dumbledore's penetrating glance. He's always trying to look inside me. Draco thought, angrily. And I won't bare my soul to him. Just because he's the great Albus Dumbledore.
Hermione tightened her grip on Draco's hand as she maintained a steady gait towards Harry and Ron's table. As they passed the jeering Slytherins Hermione tightened her hand further, as if afraid that he would break away from her grasp. Leave and go back to his old world.
But Draco kept his eyes straight ahead. He pretended not to hear the hissed words of scorn directed at him. My life, my choice my destiny. He tried to tell himself he didn't care.
He pushed the side of himself that pulled him towards the Slytherin table away. Each step he took seemed like stretching an elastic band. The farther he went, the stronger it pulled him back.
Hermione looked at Draco with a veiled sadness in her eyes. He wants to go back...I can see it in his face. Why do I care? Do I care? I care.
"You look really handsome tonight...I remember the Yule Ball in Grade Four, Harry said your dress robes made you look like a vicar!" Hermione smothered a giggle.
"A what?"
"A vicar, a kind of priest...you don't look like that now." Draco glanced at his new robes with a faint touch of pride.
"Of course not, they're custom-designed by Gucci." Hermione laughed outright.
"But they're robes!"
"Ah, Mia, people that rely on the rich rarely question the rich." Draco drew out a chair next to Harry and motioned for Hermione to be seated.
As Draco sat down next to her, the noise level of the great hall went back up to normal. Cho Chang seemed about to make a remark but held her tongue. Ron glared daggers at Draco.
"Hey Draco, that's Padma Patil from RavenClaw, Ron's date, and I think you know everyone else." Harry said, trying to ease the tension in the air.
"Uh huh, so Cho, how's Quidditch?"
"Pretty good, you only just scraped up enough points to win last game. Don't count on it happening next time." Cho smiled unreservedly. "The game's in the Seeker."
"Oh, Magic Forbid, three Seekers at one table, there's only going to be Quidditch tonight!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Don't count on it, would you like to dance, Mia?" Hermione nodded and she and Draco glided gracefully to the dance floor.
He took her hand gently and placed his hand on her waist. There was a prickling tension in the air, a shortness of breath. A slow song started mournfully. Draco danced with the elegance of one born to aristocracy.
"Honestly, Harry, there's something I just don't like about Malfoy." Ron said, glaring at the closely twisted couple.
"Leave it Ron, it-..." Harry was interrupted.
"'arry! It az been a long time, do you still remembair me?" Fleur Delacour's mellifluous tones cut in. Her looks had grown yet more Veela like since they had met.
"Fleur! How are you doing..." Harry said, sounding bored. Fleur looked at Harry strangely.
"Oh, am fine...I 'ave a job teaching in America...allo Ron...I do not know you uzzers..." Ron blushed and murmured his reply. Padma was sure he hadn't gotten over her.
First Hermione and now Delacour, I don't know why he keeps asking me out. Padma thought, unhappily.
"This is Cho Chang and that's Padma Patil." This time, Cho made no move to say hello. Padma smiled weakly. Fleur nodded, no love lost.
"'Ow iz your bruzzer Ron?"
"Oh, fine, Fleur, great." Ron's ears were beet red. Fleur smiled and turned back to Harry. "Oh, 'arry, 'ave you met Damien, my fiance!?" Fleur motioned to a tall, fine-featured blond a few tables away. He came up to them and smiled at Fleur in a hangdog fashion.
"Congratulations!" Cho said, quickly, with a bright smile. "Would you like to sit with us? There's place for two more."
"I am sorry, we already 'ave promised Viktor to sit wiz 'im, for apology, you remembair he cursed me at ze Triwizard Tournament. Zee you later!" She smiled and strode off with Damien behind her.
Draco and Hermione returned, flushed from dancing.
"Draco Malfoy! I've been looking for you." A tall girl with light-green eyes touched his shoulder. She was not strictly pretty, but her eyes glinted in an exotic way and her whole stance belayed surety and power.
Draco blanched but recovered quickly.
"Parry, it's been a long time, what are you doing here?"
She smiled alluringly. "Oh, you'll see soon enough."
"Ah, Parry, may I introduce Hermione Granger, my date." Parry's eyes narrowed and her icy face turned hard and brittle. The whole table felt a chill. "Cho Chang, Padma Patil, Ron Weasley, and uh, Harry Potter." Draco hurried on quickly, knowing Harry's name would provoke a reaction. "Everyone, this is Countess Parthenope Czyren, ."
"The word's been out that you've changed...but you can't change blood." Parthenope said, without batting an eyelid. Hardly anyone ever remembered her words, just her voice, so beckoning... "I have to leave, see you-...you all, later." She turned and walked away slowly, turning back to give Draco a lingering glance.
"Who's she?" Hermione crossed her arms and tried to look amused.
"Oh, just a family friend, you know the deal..." Draco said, a trifle snappishly. Hermione glared at him. "Oh fine, she's an old girlfriend."
"Uh huh...and?"
"She's not exactly a passive person...she tried to curse the girl I went out with after-..."
Hermione was spared having to hear about Draco's next makeout partner because a melodious and melancholy voice invaded the room. The sound was rich and pure, weighed down by sadness.
Hermione glanced at the stage. "Parthenope." She said with an air of resignation. Draco did not look surprised, but agitated.
He glanced around and seemed to be looking for an escape.
Like with the Veela's dancing, the room was entranced, lulled by this all pervasive song. But the singer seemed to be singing only for one person. Only for Draco Malfoy.
Draco touched Hermione's arm. "Let's go for a walk. Her singing isn't safe." She nodded reluctantly as they rose silently and, with a wrench, left the haunting noise. Like a banshee's soft wails, it followed them out of the corridor and all the way outside. Berating, blaming and chastising them for leaving it's all protecting embrace.
Draco glanced uncertainly at Hermione's face. He had told her the words before. He would not make that mistake again. He would not scare her. Hermione glanced up quickly, as if reading his thoughts.
"You don't scare me any more."
"Are you telepathic or something?" Draco snapped, unnerved.
"Took an extra course last year." She reminded him.
"Well, cut it out, I like my thoughts private."
"I could only do that if you wanted me to. You wanted me to hear it."
"But I didn't say it!"
"Sorry...and I'm sorry for being a complete coward, before, you know."
"I don't blame you."
"I love you, Draco Malfoy." Draco stopped abruptly and touched Hermione's chin, tilting her face upwards, towards him. His face was intense.
"I love you, Hermione Granger." Hermione tried not to shudder when she looked into his icy eyes.
He bent down and kissed her gently at first, but more passionately, lingeringly... They finally drew apart and he touched her hair softly.
She opened her mouth but instead of words a shrill, terror-laden scream was wrenched from her lips.
Inside the hall, Parthenope Czyren finished warbling her last note. The suddenly ugly silence was rent by a blood-curdling, penetrating scream.
For a second, time seemed to stop, people froze in their seats, the orchestra hung on their last note.
Then suddenly, time caught up with a shove, Dumbledore leapt to his feet, followed closely by McGonagall and Snape. The Prefects stood up and tried to calm the nervous, scared crowd.
"Harry, didn't that sound like-...?"
"Hermione." Harry affirmed, his heart sinking horribly.
"I told you that Malfoy was up to no good." Ron said fiercely, leaping to his feet. "I'm going to find her."
"Me too." Harry jumped up and followed him without a thought, leaving Cho and Padma to glare confusedly after them.
"It's always her first!" Cho said, savagely.
Outside Dumbledore stopped suddenly on the edge of the forest. Obscuring the pale moon was a giant, outstretched wing. Incredulously, he followed the wing to the proportionately impossibly small and black-scaled object suspended in the sky. Its skin seemed to absorb the light around it rather than reflect. Only it's red eyes were visible.
"Blacknight." he said, simply. Behind him, the blood drained from both Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape's faces.
Blacknight, a name whispered with almost the same amount of frightened submission as You-Know-Who's name commanded. Living Fear. Voldemort's emissary, his Watcher and guard. Voldemort's messenger.
The Dragon Blacknight.
Another shrill scream sounded from the thicket beneath its red-green stare. Suddenly, Dumbledore saw Draco emerge from the bushes behind, he paused and pulled Hermione into the clearing. The daemondragon let loose a roar of rage and flew after them.
Draco seized Hermione's hand. "Run." They ran in the opposite direction from the dragon, straight into the Forbidden Forest. The teachers tried to follow, but the Dragon landed in front of them, daring them, willing them to move. It's nostrils flared with anticipation.
Harry and Ron burst out of the Great archway.
"Accio FireBolt!" Harry yelled, instantly. Within a second, his FireBolt zoomed to him out of the darkness. He said a silent prayer of thanks to Hermione for teaching him the Summoning Charms. Ron jumped on behind him.
It's just the Hungarian Horntail, nothing else...it's going to be easy. It's not Blacknight...CONCENTRATE, Harry! Harry told himself, hoping silently as he evaded the malicious flames. A huge wing cascaded almost upon them, Harry merely zipped under it and evaded the whip-like tail as it lashed out at him in the gloom.
Instead of guarding the teachers Blacknight suddenly turned around, and in a gust of hot, firesparked wind, blew Harry and Ron off the broomstick. They hit a huge Evergreen tree with a sick thud.
"Harry!" Hermione screamed, as she saw him fall. Blacknight's eyes flicked toward her.
For a mortal instant, woman and daemon stared into each others' eyes. A queer discomfiture afflicted Hermione and she glanced away, breaking the thread. The Dragon's eyes had an indescribable human quality to them. With another battle-roar, the Dragon folded its great wings and seemed to shrink.
Draco thrust out an arm, placing himself between Hermione and Blacknight. He had left his wand in the Dormitory. The dragon drew in a long breath and started to lean closer.
It was obvious that in a second they'd be nothing but ashes. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Draco heard himself thinking. This isn't the time for that Draco. You aren't going to die. You and Hermione are going to live. You're going to live.
Draco felt Hermione trembling behind him, clutching his shoulder. He willed his hands to stop shaking but they disobeyed his mind.
Please, just please, help...don't let Hermione die, don't let me die! I don't want to die!
Draco was on the edge of desperation, hysteria gnawed at the periphery of his senses. The Dragon was only discernible from the darkness around by a faint sheen.
An unearthly calm came upon him.
The dragon started to spew out the red-white flames.
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