A/N: THANX TO K.C Matthews: Here here, now what kind of story would it be without a couple 'o cliffies? :^ Lucky: Trust me, love, I'm not he killing type except for when it comes to the unavoidable ends. r6: Oh, they shall suffer! Mahaha! chimerical: You have no idea what drama can get to! ChibiHoukan: *blush* Awww..... nuts, guyz! Mello in the Sun: Ooh, then I have just the thing for you! EmuyenneVision: *huge grin* Heh...
Chapter Eighteen: Sorrowful Joy
Shying away from his father's silky fingers, Draco kneeled down and gingerly lifted Harry's bent, taped up glasses from the ground, holding them tightly in his hands before tucking them away in a breast pocket on his pajama top. He could feel Lucius' eyes watching him, studying his son skeptically. He could almost see the slight curl of the thin lips and the cruel glint in the pewter flecked eyes. Not quite wanting to face what frightful music lay waiting behind him, Draco stood, looking away from the man and setting his jaw. This time, as the soft hands trailed over his collar bone, he did not move except for the tiniest flinch when Lucius touched his cheek and tilted his weary face upwards.
Opening his watery gray eyes, Draco stared almost bleakly into his father's fierce glare. He felt numb and lost. He knew that Lucius would not follow up on his word and soon enough his friends would all be executed in the cruelest of ways. If the Dark Lord felt playful, he would most likely force Draco to finish the deed with the killing curse when his friends were about to burst from Crucio. Shuddering visibly, he erased the disturbing pictures from his mind and tugged his chin from his father's lingering grasp. Lucius himself did not even acknowledge the movement, merely cocked his angular face to the side and smiled easily. That easy smile sent tiny shivers dancing over Draco's skin, setting goose bumps springing up over his arms and the hairs on the back of his neck to prickle. He stepped back, but Lucius caught his arm tightly.
"I'm not done with you, boy. I have not yet even begun..."
~*~
The gags had been ripped from their faces and the teens untied. Only Hermione remained bound, to her chair, cursing and thrashing against the magically induced ropes. Ginny stood at the bars of her cell, reaching through the cold bars and stroking her brother's tear streaked face. On Ron's other side, Harry stood brooding, sometimes rousing to stalk the stone wall of his cell or run his fingers over the bars.
I will NOT stand - sit for this! shrieked Hermione mentally, wriggling about in the tight ropes that still held her back to the chair. No way on this earth was she going to let that bastard Lucius Malfoy hurt Draco. Not while she was still relatively able to move!
The others finally ignored her after her valiant struggles had long since deemed pointless. Harry became more and more like a caged animal, restlessly moving about his cage, not speaking, not making any sound. His poison colored eyes bore into the stone that lay blocking his path with a heated rage. Tilting his head into Ginny's soft fingers, Ron watched his best friend detachedly. Already had he given up any hope. Draco might as well be dead by now. It was only a matter of time before Lucius came down with the Dark Lord to end their lives, or give them the Dementor's Kiss. Or even worse, knowing Lucius Malfoy. He shivered as Ginny slipped her tiny arms around his waist and clung, shaking, to his back. His fingers played lightly over her white washed knuckles, and Ron tried to close his eyes and block out the sound of Harry's shuffling feet, and the sharp cracking of Hermione's chair legs on the ground and she rocked back and forth.
A single guard stood outside their cells. He leaned against the wall, trying to look bored. But Harry had seen through his act. This Death Eater was a mere boy, probably sent to keep an eye on them for a first assignment. He twitched at every crack of Hermione's chair and flinched whenever distant creaks or groans echoed down the long hall of cells. Harry had settled down and started watching him blatantly, taking a small joy in how the nervous young man would continuously glance at him. The piercing gaze was wearing on his nerves, Harry knew. He rested his chin down on his knees and sat still. The young man looked anywhere but at The Boy Who Lived.
A spider scuffled across the floor near the guard and a smile quirked Harry's lips as the man practically *jumped* away from the tiny creature. He could see the red stained cheeks turn away from his gaze and look down the hall, thin, lipid mouth turned in a small scowl. Harry himself took no notice of the large arachnids making their way around his cell. Luckily Ron was in darker quarters and could not see them. Otherwise he might go mad and actually start flinging them at everyone to get them away.
Harry's smile froze. His lips parted slightly in surprise. How obvious, he cried in his head, jumping to his feet. The guard cringed. Ron blinked away out of his hazy doze and looked at Harry questioningly. Ginny stood up, looking over her shoulder at Hermione, who had managed to topple herself over.
They all watched with surprise as Harry leaned against his bars and stuck a fist through them. The guard back backed away slowly, his eyes large. Then, with a quick flick of the wrist, Harry sent something no one could see flying into the man's face. Instantaneously, the young guard started screaming and clawing at his face. Harry started yelling with him, falling to the ground and grabbing at invisible shapes, tossing them through the bars onto the man. Ron crawled to the bars and squinted at what Harry could possibly be doing.
"Spiders," he wheezed weakly, recoiling from the ground and suddenly seeing everything in a sharp focus. Thousands of tiny creatures scuttling over the ground, and his friend kept scooping them up and throwing them with wild abandon.
"Help me!" cried Harry angrily as the guard started to thrash and scream louder. Knowing an alarm would be raised, Ron blindly reached down and felt the floor. There! He shut his hand over some struggling little shape and flung it out of his cell. He found another, and did the same, then another, then another. Soon, it was nothing, just reaching down and grasping anything that moved, throwing it at the guard. Next to him, Ginny had started doing the same. The guard leaped from the floor, thrashing around and twisting, hands darting over his robes to dismantle the tiny fangs and legs of the dungeon spiders.
There was a small click and Hermione yelped in pain. Something heavy and metal had hit her in the cheek. She craned her head around and squinted, being farthest from the torch light. Her friends ignored her, still throwing *anything* that could be picked up. She scooted closer and brushed the thing with her cheek.
The keys!
When the guard was thrashing around, they must've been thrown from a pocket. Hermione nearly sobbed with relief. She went to pick them up, to open the door, but the slight scraping of the chair told her otherwise. Cursing graphically, Hermione looked around for some sort of solution. How could she reach the handle of the door, being tipped over on the ground?
Suddenly something was flung against the bars of her cage. It seemed Ginny had thrown off her cloak to be able to move better, now scooping up dirt, rocks, slime - anything to throw at the guard. Hermiones eyes fixed on the garment, her brain's gears slowly turning.
Throwing herself over onto her back and biting her lips at the pain lacing her poor arms tied to the back of the chair, Hermione managed to somewhat drag herself over to the cloak. She sifted and in the flash of the faint torch light, she could see a large rat watching all that was happening. He had retreated to Hermione's cell once three of his brood had been flung through the bars and were squashed by the guard or stunned by the impact of hitting a wall. This human though, was now biting and yanking at a large, funny smelling article of clothing. The rat's whiskers twitched with interest and he inched closer.
Hermione tugged at the cloak and pulled the cloth with her teeth until the side of the coat with the pockets resting at her back. She then slid her hands into the pocket and felt around. Aha! She pulled free a small piece of her tar like cookie and crumbs. Now the rat had gone still, his nose twitching madly. Was that food he smelled?
Hurriedly, eye on the rat, Hermione twisted her hands painfully in the ropes, tearing at the already raw skin, and smeared some sweat wetted cookie on the ropes. The rat had now come to rest by her hip, and she shuddered at the massive size of the thing, and the reek of its oily fur. Then she lay still and watched, holding her breath, as the rat sniffed her her hands and darted out a tiny red tongue to taste the crumbs.
It shook its little head and squeaked, backing away from her hands. She struggled not to scream at it when the rodent crawled back along the wall and disappeared into jagged rip in the stone. She choked out a small sob instead, eyes clouding with stinging tears.
They cleared into cloudy vision. Hermione looked dully around, ears aching from the screams of the guard and her friends - now taken to banging on the bars - and thought of her failure. But nothing to the pain that beat inside her chest. All was lost. The blunt end pressed upon her and made it hard to breathe.
Then she noticed a small movement out of the corner of her eye. She narrowed her eyes and craned her neck forward. Numerous shapes were trotting along the line of the wall, whipping their bald tails and long whiskers twitching with hungry impatience. Hermione gasped.
It seemed the rat enjoyed tar tasting cookies, and wanted some friends to try them, too.
~*~
Voldemort waved his wand lazily and smiled as the group (including Lupin) was thrown back against the wall, stuck to it. Snape looked over his shoulder and straightened his shoulders, turning back to his old master. He bowed once, grimacing. Dumbledore should *be* here.....
"How shall I kill them, Severus," bubbled Voldemort with a demented pride, his rasping voice echoing eerily around the whole group. "How shall *we* kill them, Severus!" He laughed, and Sirius flinched at the high-pitched peels of mirth dripping from the nonexistent lips.
As Voldemort raised his wand once more, a cruel smile chasing itself over his twitching mouth, there came a crashing at the door. Snape threw himself to the side as a volley of magical blasts broke down the door and people came streaming into the entrance hall. In a few short seconds, the air crackled and fizzed with curses, hexes, and spells alike. Flashes of green light lit the ghostly pale faces of Death Eaters and Aurors. One could hear Voldemort screaming powerful spells and frequent cries of "Avada Kadrava!"
There was no way for the Dark Lord to escape now. He realized it as he started to flee down the hall, his Death Eaters raising all bloody Hell against the Aurors. Then a man smoothly stepped from the wall in front of him and Voldemort hissed darkly.
"Tom," greeted Dumbledore calmly, "It has been too long."
"Albus, you old fool." The Dark Lord relaxed and smiled easily. "Soon to be a dead fool, I'm afraid."
The two men solemnly raised their wands and bowed to each other.
~*~
Blood only went to put the rats into a frenzy. They managed to thin down the ropes with their almost ravenous ripping to get every crumb, and coat Hermione wrists with heavy blood. She yelped as they surged over her skin, biting and slicing at the crumbs and warm river of blood snaking it dusty way over the ground. She blinked away tears bravely, knowing that if she made too much fuss, the animals would run away and all could be lost.
Finally, the rats started slinking away and Hermione was able to lift her freed hands to her face and inspect the damage. It proved to be quite immense. She winced. They were swollen and red, aching and still streaming with blood. Wonder how many diseases I just received, she thought darkly. A simple patch spell would work, but first she would need to get to the guard, and by the looks of it, that better be soon, for the others had nothing else to throw.
Untying her feet was torture. She let herself cry then, as the stinging, piercing, mind numbing pain seethed over her nerves. She managed barely to wriggle one foot free and grab the keys, half crawling to her door and reaching through the bars. Ron noticed what she was doing and rushed over, taking the key and turning it for her. Hermione stumbled out, knocking into the wall facing them and tossing the keys to Ron as she slumped to the ground, dizzy with blood loss. Before long, the other three were out and searching the quaking Death Eater's robes for a wand.
Ron performed the spell, and handed the wand over to Hermione, her hands still hot to the touch, and motioned to his throat. She nodded and muttered a couple trying spells that failed against his silence. Growling with frustration, Hermione wracked her brain for the counter spell. Harry reached up and took down the torch, bringing it over. Ginny cocked her head to the stairs leading up and out of the dungeon and gasped to her companions, "More are coming, he must've notified them somehow!" Ron shook his head as Hermione made a sound of protest and they were again running through the confusing, labyrinthian halls of Malfoy Manor.
"We need to find Draco," panted Hermione, still trying to come up with the spell to break the magic over Ron. Harry skidded around a corner, nearly falling over, and stopped dead in his tracks. They all held their breath and listened; above them roared a great pounding wave of crashes and booms.
"What could that be?" whispered Ginny frantically, her eyes huge and round. Harry closed his eyes and swayed on the spot, his hand inching up to rest over his scar. He gasped and fell to his knees, Ron barely catching him before the raven haired boy fell over.
"It's Voldemort," he breathed in a tiny voice, "And Dumbledore. They're fighting. I see it....."
A light flickered at the end of the passage. Ron looked up sharply and tensed as shadows played over the walls, stretching to impossible heights. He wrenched a babbling Harry to his feet and drug him along the hall, Hermione and Ginny running up ahead, the brunette using the guard's wand to efficiently light their way.
Ron ran heavily, half carrying his friend, who kept talking as if nothing was happening - of Dumbledore and Voldemort.
"Dumbledore is on his knees..... there's blood..... it's running over the carpet..... he's still fighting..... a flash..... green light..... laughter..... Merlin, I know it....."
~*~
Bill rolled to the side, ducking as a heavy candle holder was swung over his head. It missed completely and cracked into the skull of another Death Eater, splitting his face in half. Bill gagged and staggered behind a suit of armor as a spray of blood flecked his face. He saw Sirius and Iris fighting back to back, shooting off curse after curse, after curse. But where was Charlie? His brother had been cornered by three Death Eaters when Bill had saw him last, but where could he be now?
"Bill, thank Merlin I found you! We need to find Draco. Lucius could kill him whenever, Iris hasn't seen the bastard yet!" Charlie sported an ugly cut across his eye, forcing the brilliant blue to be shut. Bill reached to touch it, but Charlie batted his hand away. "We don't have time! Sirius and Iris are going to cover us, and then follow. Snape is waiting in the next hall. Let's go!" Bill stumbled forward behind his brother. They both kept low to the ground as curses were sent sizzling right over their heads, one bullet like jet of magic catching the side of Bill's face and sending him sprawling on the ground. Charlie pulled him up and they continued, managing to send off a hex here and there before diving out a doorway and into an empty hall. Or a hall they thought was empty. Snape seemed to materialize out of thin air, and wave them to hurry. They began running down the hall, shortly after joined by a bright-eyed Iris and a bloody Sirius.
The five adults made it up a couple flights of stairs with no trouble before Snape took them into a dank wing of the castle. He warned them to move quietly and keep their ears sharp. These were the personal rooms of Lucius, and the most dangerous part of the castle. Bill and Charlie were further dazzled by the castle when Snape dropped down through a hole in the floor, and when they were swallowed by a dragon's head mounted on the wall, sending them slipping and sliding down a long passage.
"I thought we were supposed to be heading upwards," growled Iris, nursing a twisted wrist. Sirius shook his head, and Snape made a face when drops of blood scattered over his robes, flung from the shaggy nest of ebony tendrils.
"We are, in time. This is the longest way to Lucius' private chambers. But the most necessary. Think of it as a safe detour around a very bad accident not yet happened," answered the potions master smoothly, walking right through a blank faced wall of deep stone. Too tired to marvel at it, the rest of the group followed and stared dismally at a winding wire staircase leading up and out of their sight that rested beyond the otherside.
"The road to Hell was always thought the longest," said Sirius pessimistically, mounting the stairs with a carefully reigned weariness.
~*~
"Hermione, we've been at this forever! Are you sure you know where your going?"
"Yes, Ginny! Now, quiet."
"It just seems-"
"Shush!"
A little further they shuffled down the hall.
"Someone must die..... it's so close....."
"Merlin, Ron, can you get him to shut up?"
Ron shook his head and slapped Harry lightly on the cheek. The Boy Who Lived shivered, but did not stop his relentless flow of words. Hermione wondered if it would hurt to magically gag him up, but decided against it. Wand light was probably pushing the bounds of the castle's sensory spells. And Harry wasn't that loud.....
"SPENINDA COLIOSKAA!!!"
Alright, so maybe she had thought too soon?
Ron threw Harry into another, smaller corridor as Hermione muttered a spell. Ginny took lookout, shivering. Ron held Harry still as Hermione weaved a magical line to close up his lips. Soon he was silent and his friend had the chance to notice the dark blood oozing from the lightning bolt scar. It flowed in a steady river down the left side of his face, leaving a trail of heavy black beads on the floor. Hermione gasped, staunching the flow with her shirtsleeve. Ron tore a piece of his pj top and pressed it to the scar. Soon both articles of cloth were soaked thoroughly and Harry started to moan through his gag, louder and louder. Hermione, feeling slightly panicky, slung Harry's arm over her shoulder, Ron doing the same with the other, and followed Ginny down the hall, whispering her directions, and gradually yelling them as Harry's moans turned to screams. His eyes had flicked open to stare unseeing into the darkness beyond, wide and frantic.
The scar bled heavier and heavier. Soon there zig zagged trail of blood behind them, and Hermione felt her hands on fire with pain. Ginny's legs nearly gave out from tense exhaustion and Ron pushed Hermione away, taking the full bulk of Harry's weight upon himself.
Hermione soon lost sense of direction and sense of time itself. She just ran onward, listening to the agonizing sound of Harry's visions, Ron's hitched breath, and Ginny's quiet sobs. She led the group through every shortcut she could detect, and soon they found themselves very high up in the castle. Before Ron's legs gave out, they stopped at a window and Hermione stuck her head out, drinking in the fresh air of the darkest time, just before dawn.
Then she heard something. A voice, just above them on a balcony. It sounded just like....
"Draco," croaked Ron, his voice laced with phlegm. He coughed and wretched over the floor, spilling contents that resembled wiry green cotton. Ginny gasped and held him up as he coughed violently. Hermione craned her neck, listening closer. It was indeed Draco, and a staircase was just up ahead of them. By some weird twist of chance, they had managed to find their friend.
Ron staggered down the empty hallway, clutching his side as the violent coughing came upon him wave after wave. Harry, still half caught in his dazed reverie, followed like some living corpse. Ginny tugged at Hermione before darting after her brother. Hermione took one last look above her head before ducking back inside and trotting after the others. Fear gripped her heart. For she had heard another voice along with Draco's. It seems they would meet Lucius Malfoy once again.
~*~
"Father, you're mad!" cried Draco, trying to pull free of his father. But Lucius only threw his son to the ground and pointed his wand cooly at the boy, aimed right between the eyes.
"Am I ?" he taunted in a quiet voice, "Or am I only making a righteous punishment to one who has committed the ultimate crime. You have betrayed me, Draco. Your own father. Your own *blood*. And now you shall pay in blood." The wand was held steady, as steady as he held Draco's unwavering gaze.
The boy did not shiver, he did not cry, he did not move. He lay half on his back, immobile. His father was in a dangerous mood. The worst kind, a kind of quiet rage that had built up over time; all for this single moment. Draco shut his eyes tightly. He thought about Ron and the others. What would they think? Perhaps those four would be the only ones to care if he was killed.
Ron will forget about me, he thought bitterly, opening his eyes. He'll forget about the sorry Angel who had fallen. This is for the best, though I would have liked to take Lucius with me.
With a remarkable reserve, Draco picked himself up from the ground with dignity, even dusting off his pajamas and tugging the top straight. He held up his chin and threw back his shoulders defiantly, looking his father bravely in the eye. Then he said, almost lazily, "Kill me then. I don't care how you go about it. But when you do, look me in the eyes. Look me in the eyes until they see no longer. Grant me that, and I will give you my life free of will."
Lucius actually smiled, the wand still raised. He approached Draco slowly, taking long strides and never breaking their mutually intense gaze. He stopped right in front of his son, the tip of his wand pressed to the hollow of Draco's throat. Then he raised a hand and cupped the side of his son's face, brushing the thumb over pale pink lips and stroking a dirty white cheek.
"You could have been *so* much, my Dragon."
"I was never yours, father."
The man chuckled, digging the point of the wand hard against the boy's flesh. Draco did not move. "You act just like a Gryffindor, *my* son. And you are acting most unwise towards me. Do you not realize that I hold your life now in my hands?"
"I know that very well, father. So use it. Do it now, if you need to so badly."
"Ah, my son." Lucius pulled Draco forth sharply, and the boy fell into his arms, head pressed to his father's breast. He breathed in the familiar scent of darkness and spices, closing his eyes. If it must be this way, it must. He hesitantly uplifted his hands and rested them on Lucius' back. He squeezed a little as he felt feather light lips brush his crown, stirring the corn silk tresses with warm breath. Draco allowed himself to relax into his father's embrace, and whimpered quietly as Lucius stroked his hair.
"Let him go, Lucius, you bastard!"
"Touch him and we'll blast you apart!"
"Harry?"
"Sirius?"
"Ron! Ginny!"
"Bill, Charlie," rasped Ron thickly.
Lucius did not even turn. He tightened his grip on the boy in his arms. Draco stiffened and his pale eyes fluttered open. But he did not try to push away.
"Lucius, I suggest you let the boy go and lie on the ground."
Now Lucius lifted his head and spoke to the night, his eyes lazily half closed. His stroking did not falter, though his fingers grasped Draco's soft hair tightly as he said smoothly, "I had known of your betrayal to us, Severus. But our - *my* lord would not believe me. He had such *trust* in you, Severus."
"Let Draco go."
"Why? What do I have to lose now? Either way, I die. So why don't I take the boy with me, eh?" He turned slowly, twisting Draco around so that he held the boy tightly by one long arm draped across his slim chest.
"You would never take your own life, Lucius. I know you too well."
Another soft chuckle. It chilled Ron's bones. His light brown eyes fixed on Draco, but the blonde boy seemed to be in some kind of trance.
"Fine, Severus. Have it your way, take the boy." Lucius suddenly shoved Draco forward, flicking his wrist and dragging the thin, razor edge point of a dagger across Draco's alabaster chest. Blood spilled in a thin ribbon from his front, and Draco's eyes widened fleetingly to meet Ron's as he sailed towards the ground. Ron lunged forward, barely catching him in time to stop the dull crack of bone on stone. He held Draco tightly in his lap, sobbing and crying to the other boy as Lucius laughed.
"At least I have something! He did it to himself!" Lucius backed away from them, his dagger hand up and shaking. His wand was trained on Snape.
Harry leapt to his feet, face chalk white with rage. His fingernails dug into his palms, creating half moon arcs of silver kissed crimson in the dying moonlight. He ground his teeth, grabbed the guard's wand from Hermione and pointed it at Lucius, running forward as he bellowed, "Avada Ke-"
But a dark shape blocked him and went careening into Lucius, knocking him over the edge in a tangle of fur, snarls, and fangs. The two twisting shapes hurtled from the edge and seemed to hang in space and Time for a full minute as the others watched in horror. Sirius cried out and ran to the edge, grasping at thin air as Lupin and Lucius went tumbling down the side of the tower.
He was shoved roughly to the side though, as Snape jumped halfway over the edge himself and yelled at the top of his voice, "Accio Werewolf!" And in the next few seconds, Lupin was brought back over the edge, thrashing and twisting, yelping in pain. The sun was rising.
Bill bent down and tried to pull the barely breathing Draco from Ron's grasp. But his younger brother shoved him away and stood, taking Draco with him. The pale boy had never looked smaller than nestled in Ron's arms, his tiny hands curling against Ron's bare neck. The lanky redhead strode past his brothers and an abashed Iris, moving slowly, but steadily. Ginny dashed after him, eyes wild, followed by Iris, Bill, and Charlie. Harry, having fallen to the ground, face drenched in blood, was now being pulled to his feet by Sirius. The Auror slung one of his Godson's arm across his shoulders and attempted to lift the boy up. But Harry pulled away. "I can walk," he said tonelessly. When they reached the door, he stumbled and Sirius caught him, holding him up as they continued down the passageway.
Snape unclipped his cloak and covered Lupin, bare and shivering on the stone floor. The Werewolf opened his eyes and looked at Snape. The potions master shifted under the intensity of the gaze.
"This brings them back, doesn't it, Severus?" Lupin whispered, reaching up to touch Snape's face. Snape gripped the clammy hand tightly and shut his eyes, answering quietly, "So it does, Remus."
"You saved my life, Severus."
"As I have countless times before this dawn, Remus."
"Let me repay you. For once, Severus?"
The potions master could not decline as his head was pulled down and mouth consumed by the soft lips of the Werewolf.
A/N: NOT THE END, DAMMIT!! *eases down* Go onward, brave one!! *grin* I kind of made it too long again and had to split it! ^__^ Sorry for the inconvenience! But there's one more after this one!
~*Villain*~
Chapter Eighteen: Sorrowful Joy
Shying away from his father's silky fingers, Draco kneeled down and gingerly lifted Harry's bent, taped up glasses from the ground, holding them tightly in his hands before tucking them away in a breast pocket on his pajama top. He could feel Lucius' eyes watching him, studying his son skeptically. He could almost see the slight curl of the thin lips and the cruel glint in the pewter flecked eyes. Not quite wanting to face what frightful music lay waiting behind him, Draco stood, looking away from the man and setting his jaw. This time, as the soft hands trailed over his collar bone, he did not move except for the tiniest flinch when Lucius touched his cheek and tilted his weary face upwards.
Opening his watery gray eyes, Draco stared almost bleakly into his father's fierce glare. He felt numb and lost. He knew that Lucius would not follow up on his word and soon enough his friends would all be executed in the cruelest of ways. If the Dark Lord felt playful, he would most likely force Draco to finish the deed with the killing curse when his friends were about to burst from Crucio. Shuddering visibly, he erased the disturbing pictures from his mind and tugged his chin from his father's lingering grasp. Lucius himself did not even acknowledge the movement, merely cocked his angular face to the side and smiled easily. That easy smile sent tiny shivers dancing over Draco's skin, setting goose bumps springing up over his arms and the hairs on the back of his neck to prickle. He stepped back, but Lucius caught his arm tightly.
"I'm not done with you, boy. I have not yet even begun..."
~*~
The gags had been ripped from their faces and the teens untied. Only Hermione remained bound, to her chair, cursing and thrashing against the magically induced ropes. Ginny stood at the bars of her cell, reaching through the cold bars and stroking her brother's tear streaked face. On Ron's other side, Harry stood brooding, sometimes rousing to stalk the stone wall of his cell or run his fingers over the bars.
I will NOT stand - sit for this! shrieked Hermione mentally, wriggling about in the tight ropes that still held her back to the chair. No way on this earth was she going to let that bastard Lucius Malfoy hurt Draco. Not while she was still relatively able to move!
The others finally ignored her after her valiant struggles had long since deemed pointless. Harry became more and more like a caged animal, restlessly moving about his cage, not speaking, not making any sound. His poison colored eyes bore into the stone that lay blocking his path with a heated rage. Tilting his head into Ginny's soft fingers, Ron watched his best friend detachedly. Already had he given up any hope. Draco might as well be dead by now. It was only a matter of time before Lucius came down with the Dark Lord to end their lives, or give them the Dementor's Kiss. Or even worse, knowing Lucius Malfoy. He shivered as Ginny slipped her tiny arms around his waist and clung, shaking, to his back. His fingers played lightly over her white washed knuckles, and Ron tried to close his eyes and block out the sound of Harry's shuffling feet, and the sharp cracking of Hermione's chair legs on the ground and she rocked back and forth.
A single guard stood outside their cells. He leaned against the wall, trying to look bored. But Harry had seen through his act. This Death Eater was a mere boy, probably sent to keep an eye on them for a first assignment. He twitched at every crack of Hermione's chair and flinched whenever distant creaks or groans echoed down the long hall of cells. Harry had settled down and started watching him blatantly, taking a small joy in how the nervous young man would continuously glance at him. The piercing gaze was wearing on his nerves, Harry knew. He rested his chin down on his knees and sat still. The young man looked anywhere but at The Boy Who Lived.
A spider scuffled across the floor near the guard and a smile quirked Harry's lips as the man practically *jumped* away from the tiny creature. He could see the red stained cheeks turn away from his gaze and look down the hall, thin, lipid mouth turned in a small scowl. Harry himself took no notice of the large arachnids making their way around his cell. Luckily Ron was in darker quarters and could not see them. Otherwise he might go mad and actually start flinging them at everyone to get them away.
Harry's smile froze. His lips parted slightly in surprise. How obvious, he cried in his head, jumping to his feet. The guard cringed. Ron blinked away out of his hazy doze and looked at Harry questioningly. Ginny stood up, looking over her shoulder at Hermione, who had managed to topple herself over.
They all watched with surprise as Harry leaned against his bars and stuck a fist through them. The guard back backed away slowly, his eyes large. Then, with a quick flick of the wrist, Harry sent something no one could see flying into the man's face. Instantaneously, the young guard started screaming and clawing at his face. Harry started yelling with him, falling to the ground and grabbing at invisible shapes, tossing them through the bars onto the man. Ron crawled to the bars and squinted at what Harry could possibly be doing.
"Spiders," he wheezed weakly, recoiling from the ground and suddenly seeing everything in a sharp focus. Thousands of tiny creatures scuttling over the ground, and his friend kept scooping them up and throwing them with wild abandon.
"Help me!" cried Harry angrily as the guard started to thrash and scream louder. Knowing an alarm would be raised, Ron blindly reached down and felt the floor. There! He shut his hand over some struggling little shape and flung it out of his cell. He found another, and did the same, then another, then another. Soon, it was nothing, just reaching down and grasping anything that moved, throwing it at the guard. Next to him, Ginny had started doing the same. The guard leaped from the floor, thrashing around and twisting, hands darting over his robes to dismantle the tiny fangs and legs of the dungeon spiders.
There was a small click and Hermione yelped in pain. Something heavy and metal had hit her in the cheek. She craned her head around and squinted, being farthest from the torch light. Her friends ignored her, still throwing *anything* that could be picked up. She scooted closer and brushed the thing with her cheek.
The keys!
When the guard was thrashing around, they must've been thrown from a pocket. Hermione nearly sobbed with relief. She went to pick them up, to open the door, but the slight scraping of the chair told her otherwise. Cursing graphically, Hermione looked around for some sort of solution. How could she reach the handle of the door, being tipped over on the ground?
Suddenly something was flung against the bars of her cage. It seemed Ginny had thrown off her cloak to be able to move better, now scooping up dirt, rocks, slime - anything to throw at the guard. Hermiones eyes fixed on the garment, her brain's gears slowly turning.
Throwing herself over onto her back and biting her lips at the pain lacing her poor arms tied to the back of the chair, Hermione managed to somewhat drag herself over to the cloak. She sifted and in the flash of the faint torch light, she could see a large rat watching all that was happening. He had retreated to Hermione's cell once three of his brood had been flung through the bars and were squashed by the guard or stunned by the impact of hitting a wall. This human though, was now biting and yanking at a large, funny smelling article of clothing. The rat's whiskers twitched with interest and he inched closer.
Hermione tugged at the cloak and pulled the cloth with her teeth until the side of the coat with the pockets resting at her back. She then slid her hands into the pocket and felt around. Aha! She pulled free a small piece of her tar like cookie and crumbs. Now the rat had gone still, his nose twitching madly. Was that food he smelled?
Hurriedly, eye on the rat, Hermione twisted her hands painfully in the ropes, tearing at the already raw skin, and smeared some sweat wetted cookie on the ropes. The rat had now come to rest by her hip, and she shuddered at the massive size of the thing, and the reek of its oily fur. Then she lay still and watched, holding her breath, as the rat sniffed her her hands and darted out a tiny red tongue to taste the crumbs.
It shook its little head and squeaked, backing away from her hands. She struggled not to scream at it when the rodent crawled back along the wall and disappeared into jagged rip in the stone. She choked out a small sob instead, eyes clouding with stinging tears.
They cleared into cloudy vision. Hermione looked dully around, ears aching from the screams of the guard and her friends - now taken to banging on the bars - and thought of her failure. But nothing to the pain that beat inside her chest. All was lost. The blunt end pressed upon her and made it hard to breathe.
Then she noticed a small movement out of the corner of her eye. She narrowed her eyes and craned her neck forward. Numerous shapes were trotting along the line of the wall, whipping their bald tails and long whiskers twitching with hungry impatience. Hermione gasped.
It seemed the rat enjoyed tar tasting cookies, and wanted some friends to try them, too.
~*~
Voldemort waved his wand lazily and smiled as the group (including Lupin) was thrown back against the wall, stuck to it. Snape looked over his shoulder and straightened his shoulders, turning back to his old master. He bowed once, grimacing. Dumbledore should *be* here.....
"How shall I kill them, Severus," bubbled Voldemort with a demented pride, his rasping voice echoing eerily around the whole group. "How shall *we* kill them, Severus!" He laughed, and Sirius flinched at the high-pitched peels of mirth dripping from the nonexistent lips.
As Voldemort raised his wand once more, a cruel smile chasing itself over his twitching mouth, there came a crashing at the door. Snape threw himself to the side as a volley of magical blasts broke down the door and people came streaming into the entrance hall. In a few short seconds, the air crackled and fizzed with curses, hexes, and spells alike. Flashes of green light lit the ghostly pale faces of Death Eaters and Aurors. One could hear Voldemort screaming powerful spells and frequent cries of "Avada Kadrava!"
There was no way for the Dark Lord to escape now. He realized it as he started to flee down the hall, his Death Eaters raising all bloody Hell against the Aurors. Then a man smoothly stepped from the wall in front of him and Voldemort hissed darkly.
"Tom," greeted Dumbledore calmly, "It has been too long."
"Albus, you old fool." The Dark Lord relaxed and smiled easily. "Soon to be a dead fool, I'm afraid."
The two men solemnly raised their wands and bowed to each other.
~*~
Blood only went to put the rats into a frenzy. They managed to thin down the ropes with their almost ravenous ripping to get every crumb, and coat Hermione wrists with heavy blood. She yelped as they surged over her skin, biting and slicing at the crumbs and warm river of blood snaking it dusty way over the ground. She blinked away tears bravely, knowing that if she made too much fuss, the animals would run away and all could be lost.
Finally, the rats started slinking away and Hermione was able to lift her freed hands to her face and inspect the damage. It proved to be quite immense. She winced. They were swollen and red, aching and still streaming with blood. Wonder how many diseases I just received, she thought darkly. A simple patch spell would work, but first she would need to get to the guard, and by the looks of it, that better be soon, for the others had nothing else to throw.
Untying her feet was torture. She let herself cry then, as the stinging, piercing, mind numbing pain seethed over her nerves. She managed barely to wriggle one foot free and grab the keys, half crawling to her door and reaching through the bars. Ron noticed what she was doing and rushed over, taking the key and turning it for her. Hermione stumbled out, knocking into the wall facing them and tossing the keys to Ron as she slumped to the ground, dizzy with blood loss. Before long, the other three were out and searching the quaking Death Eater's robes for a wand.
Ron performed the spell, and handed the wand over to Hermione, her hands still hot to the touch, and motioned to his throat. She nodded and muttered a couple trying spells that failed against his silence. Growling with frustration, Hermione wracked her brain for the counter spell. Harry reached up and took down the torch, bringing it over. Ginny cocked her head to the stairs leading up and out of the dungeon and gasped to her companions, "More are coming, he must've notified them somehow!" Ron shook his head as Hermione made a sound of protest and they were again running through the confusing, labyrinthian halls of Malfoy Manor.
"We need to find Draco," panted Hermione, still trying to come up with the spell to break the magic over Ron. Harry skidded around a corner, nearly falling over, and stopped dead in his tracks. They all held their breath and listened; above them roared a great pounding wave of crashes and booms.
"What could that be?" whispered Ginny frantically, her eyes huge and round. Harry closed his eyes and swayed on the spot, his hand inching up to rest over his scar. He gasped and fell to his knees, Ron barely catching him before the raven haired boy fell over.
"It's Voldemort," he breathed in a tiny voice, "And Dumbledore. They're fighting. I see it....."
A light flickered at the end of the passage. Ron looked up sharply and tensed as shadows played over the walls, stretching to impossible heights. He wrenched a babbling Harry to his feet and drug him along the hall, Hermione and Ginny running up ahead, the brunette using the guard's wand to efficiently light their way.
Ron ran heavily, half carrying his friend, who kept talking as if nothing was happening - of Dumbledore and Voldemort.
"Dumbledore is on his knees..... there's blood..... it's running over the carpet..... he's still fighting..... a flash..... green light..... laughter..... Merlin, I know it....."
~*~
Bill rolled to the side, ducking as a heavy candle holder was swung over his head. It missed completely and cracked into the skull of another Death Eater, splitting his face in half. Bill gagged and staggered behind a suit of armor as a spray of blood flecked his face. He saw Sirius and Iris fighting back to back, shooting off curse after curse, after curse. But where was Charlie? His brother had been cornered by three Death Eaters when Bill had saw him last, but where could he be now?
"Bill, thank Merlin I found you! We need to find Draco. Lucius could kill him whenever, Iris hasn't seen the bastard yet!" Charlie sported an ugly cut across his eye, forcing the brilliant blue to be shut. Bill reached to touch it, but Charlie batted his hand away. "We don't have time! Sirius and Iris are going to cover us, and then follow. Snape is waiting in the next hall. Let's go!" Bill stumbled forward behind his brother. They both kept low to the ground as curses were sent sizzling right over their heads, one bullet like jet of magic catching the side of Bill's face and sending him sprawling on the ground. Charlie pulled him up and they continued, managing to send off a hex here and there before diving out a doorway and into an empty hall. Or a hall they thought was empty. Snape seemed to materialize out of thin air, and wave them to hurry. They began running down the hall, shortly after joined by a bright-eyed Iris and a bloody Sirius.
The five adults made it up a couple flights of stairs with no trouble before Snape took them into a dank wing of the castle. He warned them to move quietly and keep their ears sharp. These were the personal rooms of Lucius, and the most dangerous part of the castle. Bill and Charlie were further dazzled by the castle when Snape dropped down through a hole in the floor, and when they were swallowed by a dragon's head mounted on the wall, sending them slipping and sliding down a long passage.
"I thought we were supposed to be heading upwards," growled Iris, nursing a twisted wrist. Sirius shook his head, and Snape made a face when drops of blood scattered over his robes, flung from the shaggy nest of ebony tendrils.
"We are, in time. This is the longest way to Lucius' private chambers. But the most necessary. Think of it as a safe detour around a very bad accident not yet happened," answered the potions master smoothly, walking right through a blank faced wall of deep stone. Too tired to marvel at it, the rest of the group followed and stared dismally at a winding wire staircase leading up and out of their sight that rested beyond the otherside.
"The road to Hell was always thought the longest," said Sirius pessimistically, mounting the stairs with a carefully reigned weariness.
~*~
"Hermione, we've been at this forever! Are you sure you know where your going?"
"Yes, Ginny! Now, quiet."
"It just seems-"
"Shush!"
A little further they shuffled down the hall.
"Someone must die..... it's so close....."
"Merlin, Ron, can you get him to shut up?"
Ron shook his head and slapped Harry lightly on the cheek. The Boy Who Lived shivered, but did not stop his relentless flow of words. Hermione wondered if it would hurt to magically gag him up, but decided against it. Wand light was probably pushing the bounds of the castle's sensory spells. And Harry wasn't that loud.....
"SPENINDA COLIOSKAA!!!"
Alright, so maybe she had thought too soon?
Ron threw Harry into another, smaller corridor as Hermione muttered a spell. Ginny took lookout, shivering. Ron held Harry still as Hermione weaved a magical line to close up his lips. Soon he was silent and his friend had the chance to notice the dark blood oozing from the lightning bolt scar. It flowed in a steady river down the left side of his face, leaving a trail of heavy black beads on the floor. Hermione gasped, staunching the flow with her shirtsleeve. Ron tore a piece of his pj top and pressed it to the scar. Soon both articles of cloth were soaked thoroughly and Harry started to moan through his gag, louder and louder. Hermione, feeling slightly panicky, slung Harry's arm over her shoulder, Ron doing the same with the other, and followed Ginny down the hall, whispering her directions, and gradually yelling them as Harry's moans turned to screams. His eyes had flicked open to stare unseeing into the darkness beyond, wide and frantic.
The scar bled heavier and heavier. Soon there zig zagged trail of blood behind them, and Hermione felt her hands on fire with pain. Ginny's legs nearly gave out from tense exhaustion and Ron pushed Hermione away, taking the full bulk of Harry's weight upon himself.
Hermione soon lost sense of direction and sense of time itself. She just ran onward, listening to the agonizing sound of Harry's visions, Ron's hitched breath, and Ginny's quiet sobs. She led the group through every shortcut she could detect, and soon they found themselves very high up in the castle. Before Ron's legs gave out, they stopped at a window and Hermione stuck her head out, drinking in the fresh air of the darkest time, just before dawn.
Then she heard something. A voice, just above them on a balcony. It sounded just like....
"Draco," croaked Ron, his voice laced with phlegm. He coughed and wretched over the floor, spilling contents that resembled wiry green cotton. Ginny gasped and held him up as he coughed violently. Hermione craned her neck, listening closer. It was indeed Draco, and a staircase was just up ahead of them. By some weird twist of chance, they had managed to find their friend.
Ron staggered down the empty hallway, clutching his side as the violent coughing came upon him wave after wave. Harry, still half caught in his dazed reverie, followed like some living corpse. Ginny tugged at Hermione before darting after her brother. Hermione took one last look above her head before ducking back inside and trotting after the others. Fear gripped her heart. For she had heard another voice along with Draco's. It seems they would meet Lucius Malfoy once again.
~*~
"Father, you're mad!" cried Draco, trying to pull free of his father. But Lucius only threw his son to the ground and pointed his wand cooly at the boy, aimed right between the eyes.
"Am I ?" he taunted in a quiet voice, "Or am I only making a righteous punishment to one who has committed the ultimate crime. You have betrayed me, Draco. Your own father. Your own *blood*. And now you shall pay in blood." The wand was held steady, as steady as he held Draco's unwavering gaze.
The boy did not shiver, he did not cry, he did not move. He lay half on his back, immobile. His father was in a dangerous mood. The worst kind, a kind of quiet rage that had built up over time; all for this single moment. Draco shut his eyes tightly. He thought about Ron and the others. What would they think? Perhaps those four would be the only ones to care if he was killed.
Ron will forget about me, he thought bitterly, opening his eyes. He'll forget about the sorry Angel who had fallen. This is for the best, though I would have liked to take Lucius with me.
With a remarkable reserve, Draco picked himself up from the ground with dignity, even dusting off his pajamas and tugging the top straight. He held up his chin and threw back his shoulders defiantly, looking his father bravely in the eye. Then he said, almost lazily, "Kill me then. I don't care how you go about it. But when you do, look me in the eyes. Look me in the eyes until they see no longer. Grant me that, and I will give you my life free of will."
Lucius actually smiled, the wand still raised. He approached Draco slowly, taking long strides and never breaking their mutually intense gaze. He stopped right in front of his son, the tip of his wand pressed to the hollow of Draco's throat. Then he raised a hand and cupped the side of his son's face, brushing the thumb over pale pink lips and stroking a dirty white cheek.
"You could have been *so* much, my Dragon."
"I was never yours, father."
The man chuckled, digging the point of the wand hard against the boy's flesh. Draco did not move. "You act just like a Gryffindor, *my* son. And you are acting most unwise towards me. Do you not realize that I hold your life now in my hands?"
"I know that very well, father. So use it. Do it now, if you need to so badly."
"Ah, my son." Lucius pulled Draco forth sharply, and the boy fell into his arms, head pressed to his father's breast. He breathed in the familiar scent of darkness and spices, closing his eyes. If it must be this way, it must. He hesitantly uplifted his hands and rested them on Lucius' back. He squeezed a little as he felt feather light lips brush his crown, stirring the corn silk tresses with warm breath. Draco allowed himself to relax into his father's embrace, and whimpered quietly as Lucius stroked his hair.
"Let him go, Lucius, you bastard!"
"Touch him and we'll blast you apart!"
"Harry?"
"Sirius?"
"Ron! Ginny!"
"Bill, Charlie," rasped Ron thickly.
Lucius did not even turn. He tightened his grip on the boy in his arms. Draco stiffened and his pale eyes fluttered open. But he did not try to push away.
"Lucius, I suggest you let the boy go and lie on the ground."
Now Lucius lifted his head and spoke to the night, his eyes lazily half closed. His stroking did not falter, though his fingers grasped Draco's soft hair tightly as he said smoothly, "I had known of your betrayal to us, Severus. But our - *my* lord would not believe me. He had such *trust* in you, Severus."
"Let Draco go."
"Why? What do I have to lose now? Either way, I die. So why don't I take the boy with me, eh?" He turned slowly, twisting Draco around so that he held the boy tightly by one long arm draped across his slim chest.
"You would never take your own life, Lucius. I know you too well."
Another soft chuckle. It chilled Ron's bones. His light brown eyes fixed on Draco, but the blonde boy seemed to be in some kind of trance.
"Fine, Severus. Have it your way, take the boy." Lucius suddenly shoved Draco forward, flicking his wrist and dragging the thin, razor edge point of a dagger across Draco's alabaster chest. Blood spilled in a thin ribbon from his front, and Draco's eyes widened fleetingly to meet Ron's as he sailed towards the ground. Ron lunged forward, barely catching him in time to stop the dull crack of bone on stone. He held Draco tightly in his lap, sobbing and crying to the other boy as Lucius laughed.
"At least I have something! He did it to himself!" Lucius backed away from them, his dagger hand up and shaking. His wand was trained on Snape.
Harry leapt to his feet, face chalk white with rage. His fingernails dug into his palms, creating half moon arcs of silver kissed crimson in the dying moonlight. He ground his teeth, grabbed the guard's wand from Hermione and pointed it at Lucius, running forward as he bellowed, "Avada Ke-"
But a dark shape blocked him and went careening into Lucius, knocking him over the edge in a tangle of fur, snarls, and fangs. The two twisting shapes hurtled from the edge and seemed to hang in space and Time for a full minute as the others watched in horror. Sirius cried out and ran to the edge, grasping at thin air as Lupin and Lucius went tumbling down the side of the tower.
He was shoved roughly to the side though, as Snape jumped halfway over the edge himself and yelled at the top of his voice, "Accio Werewolf!" And in the next few seconds, Lupin was brought back over the edge, thrashing and twisting, yelping in pain. The sun was rising.
Bill bent down and tried to pull the barely breathing Draco from Ron's grasp. But his younger brother shoved him away and stood, taking Draco with him. The pale boy had never looked smaller than nestled in Ron's arms, his tiny hands curling against Ron's bare neck. The lanky redhead strode past his brothers and an abashed Iris, moving slowly, but steadily. Ginny dashed after him, eyes wild, followed by Iris, Bill, and Charlie. Harry, having fallen to the ground, face drenched in blood, was now being pulled to his feet by Sirius. The Auror slung one of his Godson's arm across his shoulders and attempted to lift the boy up. But Harry pulled away. "I can walk," he said tonelessly. When they reached the door, he stumbled and Sirius caught him, holding him up as they continued down the passageway.
Snape unclipped his cloak and covered Lupin, bare and shivering on the stone floor. The Werewolf opened his eyes and looked at Snape. The potions master shifted under the intensity of the gaze.
"This brings them back, doesn't it, Severus?" Lupin whispered, reaching up to touch Snape's face. Snape gripped the clammy hand tightly and shut his eyes, answering quietly, "So it does, Remus."
"You saved my life, Severus."
"As I have countless times before this dawn, Remus."
"Let me repay you. For once, Severus?"
The potions master could not decline as his head was pulled down and mouth consumed by the soft lips of the Werewolf.
A/N: NOT THE END, DAMMIT!! *eases down* Go onward, brave one!! *grin* I kind of made it too long again and had to split it! ^__^ Sorry for the inconvenience! But there's one more after this one!
~*Villain*~