Ron's Worst Nightmare
THANX TO leah: A newbie, eh? *winks* Honored you'd take the time to sample my humble work! ChibiHoukan: Shall I kill off Ron? *looks insane* chimerical: *giggles* Whether or not you like it, lovey, it's there to stay! Ish. But don't worry, I'm not going to focus on it! *hug*
Chapter Sixteen: Blood and Tears
They padded stealthily down the hall, making not a sound in the cavernous corridor. Again Draco led the way, Harry right behind him, breathing down his slender neck watchfully. When he stopped suddenly at a corner, Harry ran smack into him with a low "Oomph!" Hermione hissed at him warningly and Harry grumbled darkly, rubbing his crown.
Curving his serpentine body artfully around the corner, Draco ignored the others, his sharp eyes glinting in the gloomy shine of the full moon. He had picked up a movement; a fleeting glimpse of deep crimson stained with black, disappearing down the hall. Behind him he heard a sharp intake of breath.
Ron.
That single syllable propelled the pale boy faster than fear ever could. Giving the Gryffindors little time to recuperate, he dashed down the cold hall after the lanky figure. He began to break into a dead run when Harry plowed into him, tackling the smaller boy roughly to the floor with a reverberating slap. Clutching at empty air, Draco bit back a dry sob as Harry hissed right next to his ear, "Don't be daft, Draco! That could be a trap. I want to see his face, hear his voice. I know Ron."
"So do I," Draco bit back, rasping slightly, his pale eyes piercing through the swarthy darkness with longing after the flash of red that sent his heart blazing with anxious passion. Harry gave him a searching look, his mouth set in a hard line before letting off, helping a limp Draco to his quaky feet.
Quietly, creeping down the hall with tense caution in fluffy green and pink slippers, Hermione and Ginny were deathly pale in the scant light filtering through the thin slits of window in the wall, mixing with the dull gold of the torches shining dimly.
"Let's get out of the open hallway," breathed Hermione urgently, tugging on Harry's sleeve. But the raven haired seeker was watching Draco, his face a blank mask, green eyes flickering like twin emeralds at the darkest time just before dawn. Draco was still staring longingly down the hall, looking crestfallen and small.
"That was Ron," he protested as he was pulled back against the wall, "I know it. Potter-"
"Malfoy, how can you be sure? You said there were traps all over, that thing you saw could've been one of them," Harry said softly, still watching the other boy intently. Draco didn't even spare him a glance.
"You don't get it," he cried softly, "I *know* it was him. I *know* it was Ron. Potter, believe me." He fought weakly against Harry's hold. "Let me go now, Potter," he begged quietly, almost demanding. Harry reluctantly let him loose, but stayed near enough to the Slytherin to prevent any bid for freedom.
Draco started forward slowly, hissing as the others moved to stop him. Harry waved away Hermione's and Ginny's voices when they started to protest and gently laid his hand on Draco's arm, letting the Slytherin pull him steadily along the hall, close to the stone wall if any guards decided to pop up.
They walked in complete silence, Draco starting whenever he heard the faint shuffling of feet up ahead. Harry himself failed to hear anything, but kept grimly onto the pale boy. For some reason, he thought, I believe Draco. He believed him all the more when the sound that made Draco cry out softly hit his ears. It was a the hesitant opening of a door. They quickened their pace.
Draco gasped and broke into a run as they all heard an eerie creak echo through the hall. All Harry heard from Draco was two words in a small voice; "The window." Before he could tell what was happening, Draco was tearing off down the hall, Harry keeping close to his heels and the girls following slower behind them. His heart thumped deafeningly inside his chest, pounding against his ribs in a last bout for freedom. Draco kept on running, stumbling a couple of times with sobs. Terror took hold over Harry and he rocketed forward. They were coming to a door. They rounded the last bend-
It was Ron.
But he was-
"NO! RON!!!"
~*~
Lupin weaved quietly through the gloomy gravestones, wincing as he smelled death and felt the strong spells around the place prickling his senses. In his wolfic mind, all he was aware of was that he needed to find a clean way for the others back at the gate waiting for him.
The cold was seeping along each individual hair and through each pore, hitting deep into the morrow of his aching bones. Lupin shuddered involuntarily and growled low in his throat, lips curling up over the wicked looking fangs. Along the wall running next to him, the ivy adorning the stone stirred as he brushed passed it, occasionally dashing sideways to avoid coming in any contact with the powerful spells hidden there. As he tensed, sensing heavy magic over a slightly thicker area, the Werewolf paused and narrowed his burning eyes into twin slits of intense concentration.
"Not bad magic," he thought slowly, "just defense." Pressing his sharp muzzle into the moist leaves, Lupin whimpered softly. There was a secret door behind this patch of lush ivy he had stumbled upon. A perfect path for the others. Lupin shuffled his great paws, stirring up the soil and rubbing his scent into the ground, marking the spot. Finishing, he continued onward to plan the whole route ahead of time so that he could head the group with minor difficulty.
He kept trotting at a steady pace until a prominent trap made him stop up short. It was surrounding a giant holly berry bush that reached up twenty feet in a huge archway leading straight into the castle courtyard before the huge entrance way. Lupin sneezed, the magic hung so heavy in the air. Deciding to skirt the nasty sensing curse, he began detouring around the perimeter of the strongest points. Coming up on the holly, though, he realized it was blocked. Scratching at the ground with impatience, he skipped back and forth, gnashing his teeth and raising up the hairs along his back.
Creeping cautiously closer, he sniffed just on the edge of what was a crackling sphere of pure energy. Just as his nose breached the edge, a huge clawed pincer came striking out of nowhere, catching Lupin of the curve of his long jaw and sending him crashing into a stone statue standing solemnly a few feet away. He yelped in pain and watched with terrified eyes as the great pincer flashed in and out of his vision, disappearing back inside the invisible sphere with every fatal swipe aimed his way. The wolf scrambled to his feet, snarling quietly in agitation and pacing, ignoring the stinging pain lacing his face and the odd green substance dripping from his fur. Instead he approached the sphere again, this time dodging the expected blow.
If he could not see the horrible monster hidden behind the spell, how was he to fight it? To a Werewolf, such seemed impossible. But recalling the faces of his other companions caused him to bristle angrily and stalk closer on his stomach toward the spell. There must be a way!
As another hit was aimed at him, his sensitive wolfic ears picked up the soft tangy sound of wiry fur rubbing against metal. The creature must be in a cage of some sort, allowing it access enough to the outside so that it may take the heads off anyone trying to steal their way in to the hidden Malfoy hold.
Lupin sat back on his haunches and gnawed at an itch on his left shoulder. The moon shined bright above him, a blazing white orb bright as the sun. The sky remained light to his wolfic eyes, seeing naught but blacks and whites around him. To the eyes of such a creature, night could seem as day and a black man could disappear into the backdrop of a forest and be gone from the eyes of a dog, if not the sense of him.
The wolf froze. All that rung in the silent night was the lonely call of an owl and the impending rustle of the creature inside the caged sphere. Lupin thought hard, pacing again, his sharp eyes fixed on the space where he knew the cage to be. Black and white. All was just black and white in the eyes of a wolf, a dog........ a creature trapped as a deadly snare outside Malfoy Manor?
~*~
"RON! NO!!" Draco yelled at the top of his lungs, stumbling forward, his legs having gone completely numb and a furious buzzing rendering his mind useless. Behind him he heard Hermione's terrible scream and Ginny faint dead away from pure exhaustion and fear. Harry's voice joined his own, calling out and rushing at the window full force. But Draco made it first.
He was up and over the sill before he knew that he was moving. Ron was so close below him, so close..... there! His arms encircled Ron's waist and he felt the lanky redhead stiffened even as the wind went whipping past them into oblivion. Draco tried to tell Ron it was alright, but was cut off as he felt the collar of his pajama top cut into his throat. Harry had followed him out, as blind as he had been, and grabbed the back of Draco's shirt. Craning his neck painfully around, Draco met Harry's gaze levelly, his vision wavering as his eyes watered from the sharp stinging racing over his slender neck and shoulders. Harry looked surprised, barely giving Draco a glance before looking back behind his shoulder. It was then Draco noticed that Harry himself was hanging out the window, holding tightly onto Draco while his feet were caught securely by the girls. It could have been a comical scene, what with their relief and shock. But instead they were silent and shivering, pale and cold. A rough hiss fought it's way through Draco's lips and Harry croaked up to the window, "Up!"
With much grunting, panting, cursing, and (on Ginny's part) crying, the girls managed to heft Harry over the sill. He hauled himself up so that he could hook a leg over the edge and with both hands, firmly grasp Draco better. The Slytherin let out a huge gasp of air when he hit the floor of the room, still holding onto Ron, whom he had just noticed was struggling weakly in his grip. Confused, he held the Gryffindor closer, and Ron shoved at him, seeming to be regaining his strength after such a close call.
Lips formed words that would not surface sound. Draco stared, hurt, while Ron scooted away from him, his eyes lowered, his jaw clenched. Ginny sobbed and moved forward to take her brother in her arms, but he rose shakily to his feet and warned her away. Speechless, they stared at him while he leaned heavily against the wall. Harry now blocked the window, and Ron's eyes were fixed on a point just above Harry's right shoulder, almost with a desperate hunger spawned from fright. Silver eyes met fleetingly with green in a telepathic question and Harry shut the window.
"Ron," said Draco, slowly getting to his feet. The redhead flinched and scuttled away. Draco felt anger rise in him at his companion's strange behavior. "Ron," he repeated, sterner this time. Ron glanced up and gave him a a pained expression, looking at a loss now that the others were on their feet and unconsciously blocking any way for him to save them.
You don't understand, he thought frantically, I'm meant to be a trap!!
After what seemed like twelve eternity's to Harry, he marched up to Ron and gripped him tightly by the shoulders, shaking him roughly. "What's wrong! Say something now, Ron, or I swear, I'll-" But Harry never got to finish, for when he started to yell, Ron had opened his mouth in a silent scream, eyes wild, and hit Harry squarely in the jaw with a clammy, shaking fist. It was so unexpected, Harry had no chance to duck and went reeling backwards. Retaliating quickly, he grabbed at Ron's leg as he tried to go for the window again and tripped him. Luckily then Draco interfered, yanking Harry back forcefully and motioning for Hermione to block the window. She did, all the while staring at Ron with huge calculating eyes.
Ginny was frightened to see her brother so. She sobbed non stop and Draco knew that it was hopeless to try and stop her. Ron fared no better than his sister. He now stood pressed into the corner as if trapped, watching all of them and crying with no sound. No sound at all. Draco narrowed his eyes.
"Are you Ron, or one of Voldemort's minions?" he said coldly, eyes glittering menacingly. Ron flinched at the name, but said nothing more. What was the point?
Trap! TRAP!! Ron tried in vain to warn them with both his eyes and his mouth. Harry cursed and glared at Ron while Draco sharply scrutinized him with great doubt. Ginny still stood shaking and crying, not even able to raise her eyes. It was Hermione who Ron's gaze was drawn to though. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was working, brow furrowed as if in deep thought. Ron held his breath, watching her. Then they heard the voices of Death Eaters just as she blurted out, "He's bait! That's it, we have to go. NOW!!"
Draco reacted immediately with a sharply trained instinct.
His father had once told him long ago;"Shall ever anyone who is not one of us enter this house, you must know where to run...."
He grabbed Ron, who tried to twist away, and dashed out the door. The others ran after them and they all raced quietly down the hall father and farther from the voices that seemed to surround them and pulse within their minds.
Harry had thought that Hogwarts was the most elaborate castle imaginable. But Malfoy Manor was plain inconceivable. He stopped trying to follow the directions and just ran blindly onwards. Through paintings, solid walls, running over thin air that hid walkways, even a short flying carpet that gave out after fifteen minutes. It was down deep in the lower levels that Draco finally stopped, his hand still gripping Ron's in an iron grasp. The redhead looked like he was about to be ill, and kept looking at his hand that Draco held as if in pain. When they had been running, Hermione had panted out the whole explanation, almost hitting it exactly. Ginny had been horrified and Harry looked indifferent, just weary.
"Why'd we stop?" simpered Ginny in a tiny voice. She was pale as death and her whole body was quaking jerkily. Draco didn't even look at her, but started running his hands along the walls. Ron fell back slightly when his hand was released, right into Harry. That blocked any running escape. While they had been going, Hermione had also made a good point that made Ron start crying all over again. He was as much a sitting bait as he was a beacon in the Dark Lord's mind. No matter where, or when even, they were, Voldemort would be turned to him until he undid the spell cast over him.
"Ah," breathed Draco, stopping at a bare patch of hard stone, a tiny patch less run over by dank moss than the rest. He turned and managed a tight smile. "This is our way out. It leads to the inner rooms, and a bottle of Floo Powder." A small sigh ran through the group and ignited a tremulous ember of hope in Ron's dark eyes. They all watched with baited breath as Draco stroked the block of stone. To their surprise, the stone shivered and crumbled into nothingness. The stones around it did the same and opened to reveal a hole barely big enough for Draco to fit through. He frowned slightly, glancing at Harry and Ron pointedly. "This might be a tight fit," he admitted, "The thing is set for me."
"That's fine," said Harry hurriedly, pushing Ron toward the opening as a faint echo traced the lines of dancing light in the dim corridor. The voices were once again approaching, it was no time to be choosy.
Hermione and Ginny disappeared through first, followed by Harry, Ron, then Draco himself, backing through and shutting up the opening behind him with a gentle touch on the rock. Then he turned. "Now, we just-"
"Petrificus Totalus," rasped a deadly quiet voice. Draco went rigid and toppled to the floor. A few feet away to him lay Hermione and Ginny, sprawled out in weird angles, their eyes closed and hair matted. They didn't seem to be breathing.
"Dragon, how good it is for you to come and visit again."
~*Villain*~
THANX TO leah: A newbie, eh? *winks* Honored you'd take the time to sample my humble work! ChibiHoukan: Shall I kill off Ron? *looks insane* chimerical: *giggles* Whether or not you like it, lovey, it's there to stay! Ish. But don't worry, I'm not going to focus on it! *hug*
Chapter Sixteen: Blood and Tears
They padded stealthily down the hall, making not a sound in the cavernous corridor. Again Draco led the way, Harry right behind him, breathing down his slender neck watchfully. When he stopped suddenly at a corner, Harry ran smack into him with a low "Oomph!" Hermione hissed at him warningly and Harry grumbled darkly, rubbing his crown.
Curving his serpentine body artfully around the corner, Draco ignored the others, his sharp eyes glinting in the gloomy shine of the full moon. He had picked up a movement; a fleeting glimpse of deep crimson stained with black, disappearing down the hall. Behind him he heard a sharp intake of breath.
Ron.
That single syllable propelled the pale boy faster than fear ever could. Giving the Gryffindors little time to recuperate, he dashed down the cold hall after the lanky figure. He began to break into a dead run when Harry plowed into him, tackling the smaller boy roughly to the floor with a reverberating slap. Clutching at empty air, Draco bit back a dry sob as Harry hissed right next to his ear, "Don't be daft, Draco! That could be a trap. I want to see his face, hear his voice. I know Ron."
"So do I," Draco bit back, rasping slightly, his pale eyes piercing through the swarthy darkness with longing after the flash of red that sent his heart blazing with anxious passion. Harry gave him a searching look, his mouth set in a hard line before letting off, helping a limp Draco to his quaky feet.
Quietly, creeping down the hall with tense caution in fluffy green and pink slippers, Hermione and Ginny were deathly pale in the scant light filtering through the thin slits of window in the wall, mixing with the dull gold of the torches shining dimly.
"Let's get out of the open hallway," breathed Hermione urgently, tugging on Harry's sleeve. But the raven haired seeker was watching Draco, his face a blank mask, green eyes flickering like twin emeralds at the darkest time just before dawn. Draco was still staring longingly down the hall, looking crestfallen and small.
"That was Ron," he protested as he was pulled back against the wall, "I know it. Potter-"
"Malfoy, how can you be sure? You said there were traps all over, that thing you saw could've been one of them," Harry said softly, still watching the other boy intently. Draco didn't even spare him a glance.
"You don't get it," he cried softly, "I *know* it was him. I *know* it was Ron. Potter, believe me." He fought weakly against Harry's hold. "Let me go now, Potter," he begged quietly, almost demanding. Harry reluctantly let him loose, but stayed near enough to the Slytherin to prevent any bid for freedom.
Draco started forward slowly, hissing as the others moved to stop him. Harry waved away Hermione's and Ginny's voices when they started to protest and gently laid his hand on Draco's arm, letting the Slytherin pull him steadily along the hall, close to the stone wall if any guards decided to pop up.
They walked in complete silence, Draco starting whenever he heard the faint shuffling of feet up ahead. Harry himself failed to hear anything, but kept grimly onto the pale boy. For some reason, he thought, I believe Draco. He believed him all the more when the sound that made Draco cry out softly hit his ears. It was a the hesitant opening of a door. They quickened their pace.
Draco gasped and broke into a run as they all heard an eerie creak echo through the hall. All Harry heard from Draco was two words in a small voice; "The window." Before he could tell what was happening, Draco was tearing off down the hall, Harry keeping close to his heels and the girls following slower behind them. His heart thumped deafeningly inside his chest, pounding against his ribs in a last bout for freedom. Draco kept on running, stumbling a couple of times with sobs. Terror took hold over Harry and he rocketed forward. They were coming to a door. They rounded the last bend-
It was Ron.
But he was-
"NO! RON!!!"
~*~
Lupin weaved quietly through the gloomy gravestones, wincing as he smelled death and felt the strong spells around the place prickling his senses. In his wolfic mind, all he was aware of was that he needed to find a clean way for the others back at the gate waiting for him.
The cold was seeping along each individual hair and through each pore, hitting deep into the morrow of his aching bones. Lupin shuddered involuntarily and growled low in his throat, lips curling up over the wicked looking fangs. Along the wall running next to him, the ivy adorning the stone stirred as he brushed passed it, occasionally dashing sideways to avoid coming in any contact with the powerful spells hidden there. As he tensed, sensing heavy magic over a slightly thicker area, the Werewolf paused and narrowed his burning eyes into twin slits of intense concentration.
"Not bad magic," he thought slowly, "just defense." Pressing his sharp muzzle into the moist leaves, Lupin whimpered softly. There was a secret door behind this patch of lush ivy he had stumbled upon. A perfect path for the others. Lupin shuffled his great paws, stirring up the soil and rubbing his scent into the ground, marking the spot. Finishing, he continued onward to plan the whole route ahead of time so that he could head the group with minor difficulty.
He kept trotting at a steady pace until a prominent trap made him stop up short. It was surrounding a giant holly berry bush that reached up twenty feet in a huge archway leading straight into the castle courtyard before the huge entrance way. Lupin sneezed, the magic hung so heavy in the air. Deciding to skirt the nasty sensing curse, he began detouring around the perimeter of the strongest points. Coming up on the holly, though, he realized it was blocked. Scratching at the ground with impatience, he skipped back and forth, gnashing his teeth and raising up the hairs along his back.
Creeping cautiously closer, he sniffed just on the edge of what was a crackling sphere of pure energy. Just as his nose breached the edge, a huge clawed pincer came striking out of nowhere, catching Lupin of the curve of his long jaw and sending him crashing into a stone statue standing solemnly a few feet away. He yelped in pain and watched with terrified eyes as the great pincer flashed in and out of his vision, disappearing back inside the invisible sphere with every fatal swipe aimed his way. The wolf scrambled to his feet, snarling quietly in agitation and pacing, ignoring the stinging pain lacing his face and the odd green substance dripping from his fur. Instead he approached the sphere again, this time dodging the expected blow.
If he could not see the horrible monster hidden behind the spell, how was he to fight it? To a Werewolf, such seemed impossible. But recalling the faces of his other companions caused him to bristle angrily and stalk closer on his stomach toward the spell. There must be a way!
As another hit was aimed at him, his sensitive wolfic ears picked up the soft tangy sound of wiry fur rubbing against metal. The creature must be in a cage of some sort, allowing it access enough to the outside so that it may take the heads off anyone trying to steal their way in to the hidden Malfoy hold.
Lupin sat back on his haunches and gnawed at an itch on his left shoulder. The moon shined bright above him, a blazing white orb bright as the sun. The sky remained light to his wolfic eyes, seeing naught but blacks and whites around him. To the eyes of such a creature, night could seem as day and a black man could disappear into the backdrop of a forest and be gone from the eyes of a dog, if not the sense of him.
The wolf froze. All that rung in the silent night was the lonely call of an owl and the impending rustle of the creature inside the caged sphere. Lupin thought hard, pacing again, his sharp eyes fixed on the space where he knew the cage to be. Black and white. All was just black and white in the eyes of a wolf, a dog........ a creature trapped as a deadly snare outside Malfoy Manor?
~*~
"RON! NO!!" Draco yelled at the top of his lungs, stumbling forward, his legs having gone completely numb and a furious buzzing rendering his mind useless. Behind him he heard Hermione's terrible scream and Ginny faint dead away from pure exhaustion and fear. Harry's voice joined his own, calling out and rushing at the window full force. But Draco made it first.
He was up and over the sill before he knew that he was moving. Ron was so close below him, so close..... there! His arms encircled Ron's waist and he felt the lanky redhead stiffened even as the wind went whipping past them into oblivion. Draco tried to tell Ron it was alright, but was cut off as he felt the collar of his pajama top cut into his throat. Harry had followed him out, as blind as he had been, and grabbed the back of Draco's shirt. Craning his neck painfully around, Draco met Harry's gaze levelly, his vision wavering as his eyes watered from the sharp stinging racing over his slender neck and shoulders. Harry looked surprised, barely giving Draco a glance before looking back behind his shoulder. It was then Draco noticed that Harry himself was hanging out the window, holding tightly onto Draco while his feet were caught securely by the girls. It could have been a comical scene, what with their relief and shock. But instead they were silent and shivering, pale and cold. A rough hiss fought it's way through Draco's lips and Harry croaked up to the window, "Up!"
With much grunting, panting, cursing, and (on Ginny's part) crying, the girls managed to heft Harry over the sill. He hauled himself up so that he could hook a leg over the edge and with both hands, firmly grasp Draco better. The Slytherin let out a huge gasp of air when he hit the floor of the room, still holding onto Ron, whom he had just noticed was struggling weakly in his grip. Confused, he held the Gryffindor closer, and Ron shoved at him, seeming to be regaining his strength after such a close call.
Lips formed words that would not surface sound. Draco stared, hurt, while Ron scooted away from him, his eyes lowered, his jaw clenched. Ginny sobbed and moved forward to take her brother in her arms, but he rose shakily to his feet and warned her away. Speechless, they stared at him while he leaned heavily against the wall. Harry now blocked the window, and Ron's eyes were fixed on a point just above Harry's right shoulder, almost with a desperate hunger spawned from fright. Silver eyes met fleetingly with green in a telepathic question and Harry shut the window.
"Ron," said Draco, slowly getting to his feet. The redhead flinched and scuttled away. Draco felt anger rise in him at his companion's strange behavior. "Ron," he repeated, sterner this time. Ron glanced up and gave him a a pained expression, looking at a loss now that the others were on their feet and unconsciously blocking any way for him to save them.
You don't understand, he thought frantically, I'm meant to be a trap!!
After what seemed like twelve eternity's to Harry, he marched up to Ron and gripped him tightly by the shoulders, shaking him roughly. "What's wrong! Say something now, Ron, or I swear, I'll-" But Harry never got to finish, for when he started to yell, Ron had opened his mouth in a silent scream, eyes wild, and hit Harry squarely in the jaw with a clammy, shaking fist. It was so unexpected, Harry had no chance to duck and went reeling backwards. Retaliating quickly, he grabbed at Ron's leg as he tried to go for the window again and tripped him. Luckily then Draco interfered, yanking Harry back forcefully and motioning for Hermione to block the window. She did, all the while staring at Ron with huge calculating eyes.
Ginny was frightened to see her brother so. She sobbed non stop and Draco knew that it was hopeless to try and stop her. Ron fared no better than his sister. He now stood pressed into the corner as if trapped, watching all of them and crying with no sound. No sound at all. Draco narrowed his eyes.
"Are you Ron, or one of Voldemort's minions?" he said coldly, eyes glittering menacingly. Ron flinched at the name, but said nothing more. What was the point?
Trap! TRAP!! Ron tried in vain to warn them with both his eyes and his mouth. Harry cursed and glared at Ron while Draco sharply scrutinized him with great doubt. Ginny still stood shaking and crying, not even able to raise her eyes. It was Hermione who Ron's gaze was drawn to though. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was working, brow furrowed as if in deep thought. Ron held his breath, watching her. Then they heard the voices of Death Eaters just as she blurted out, "He's bait! That's it, we have to go. NOW!!"
Draco reacted immediately with a sharply trained instinct.
His father had once told him long ago;"Shall ever anyone who is not one of us enter this house, you must know where to run...."
He grabbed Ron, who tried to twist away, and dashed out the door. The others ran after them and they all raced quietly down the hall father and farther from the voices that seemed to surround them and pulse within their minds.
Harry had thought that Hogwarts was the most elaborate castle imaginable. But Malfoy Manor was plain inconceivable. He stopped trying to follow the directions and just ran blindly onwards. Through paintings, solid walls, running over thin air that hid walkways, even a short flying carpet that gave out after fifteen minutes. It was down deep in the lower levels that Draco finally stopped, his hand still gripping Ron's in an iron grasp. The redhead looked like he was about to be ill, and kept looking at his hand that Draco held as if in pain. When they had been running, Hermione had panted out the whole explanation, almost hitting it exactly. Ginny had been horrified and Harry looked indifferent, just weary.
"Why'd we stop?" simpered Ginny in a tiny voice. She was pale as death and her whole body was quaking jerkily. Draco didn't even look at her, but started running his hands along the walls. Ron fell back slightly when his hand was released, right into Harry. That blocked any running escape. While they had been going, Hermione had also made a good point that made Ron start crying all over again. He was as much a sitting bait as he was a beacon in the Dark Lord's mind. No matter where, or when even, they were, Voldemort would be turned to him until he undid the spell cast over him.
"Ah," breathed Draco, stopping at a bare patch of hard stone, a tiny patch less run over by dank moss than the rest. He turned and managed a tight smile. "This is our way out. It leads to the inner rooms, and a bottle of Floo Powder." A small sigh ran through the group and ignited a tremulous ember of hope in Ron's dark eyes. They all watched with baited breath as Draco stroked the block of stone. To their surprise, the stone shivered and crumbled into nothingness. The stones around it did the same and opened to reveal a hole barely big enough for Draco to fit through. He frowned slightly, glancing at Harry and Ron pointedly. "This might be a tight fit," he admitted, "The thing is set for me."
"That's fine," said Harry hurriedly, pushing Ron toward the opening as a faint echo traced the lines of dancing light in the dim corridor. The voices were once again approaching, it was no time to be choosy.
Hermione and Ginny disappeared through first, followed by Harry, Ron, then Draco himself, backing through and shutting up the opening behind him with a gentle touch on the rock. Then he turned. "Now, we just-"
"Petrificus Totalus," rasped a deadly quiet voice. Draco went rigid and toppled to the floor. A few feet away to him lay Hermione and Ginny, sprawled out in weird angles, their eyes closed and hair matted. They didn't seem to be breathing.
"Dragon, how good it is for you to come and visit again."
~*Villain*~