-----
Misu froze. Mark froize. Amy looked at the black rose on her wrist. But what could Draco do in a case like this?
"What is that you say, Nagini?" Voldemort purred to his snake.
"Wasn't his othe snake named Nagini?" Mark began to say, but forze again as Nagini eyed him with her slitted eyes.
Voldemort's thin lips became a gruesome smile, curved like the arched spine of an attacking cat. He slunk over to them, and whispered in a barely legible but quite lethal voice, "Run."
THey scattered. Voldemort laughed his cold high laugh and with a wave of wand shut the doors.
I am a mouse, Misu thought, terrified, and he is the cat. Eventually, he will kill me. But until then I can outsmart him and perhaps free Harry. Her comrades thought along the same lines. Amy looked again at the black rose.
"Fools. Show yourselves! It does not matter...if you appear by your own will, I may spare you the rather unpleasant death I have planned for Harry here. If not...crucio!"
Harry couldn't wreath. He could only gasp and shake as a thousand pins dipped in molten lava plunged into him.
Misu was the first to uncloak. Mark followed. Amy only inched toward the fireplace.
Voldemort gazed around. He sniffed the air. "There is one more of you," he pulled out his wand.
At that moment several things occured more or less in this order:
Amy threw off her cloak and screamed desperately into the rose. "Draco!" and Draco came, almost falling out of the fireplace in his haste. Voldemort pulled out a glittering green gem, whose puke colored facets made Harry nearly barf. He suddenly felt weak.
And so they all stood there, poised for attack or defense. A crackle of electricity seemed to fill the air. Draco had gone even more pale than usual, his eyes now a roaring glacier blue. They were fixed upon Voldemort, who was crouched in a hunter's stance yet somehow still relaxed. Misu and Mark had tried to move toward Harry in the confusion, but now were pressed against the wall closest to him. Taut as a bow ready to release its lethal arrow, Amy seemed to pose in a jungle stnace next to Draco.
The stillness ended.
*** Dumbledore sensed a change in the web of magic that wove itself around the world. Sometime was about to happen. It was as though a pensive pair of scissors was poised in front of two threads in the massive web. It wondered which to snip.
And he wasn't about to let it snip Harry's string.
"Snape!" He roared into the small statuette of the Hogwards seal on his desk. "Mundungus! Arabella! Remus! Sirius..."
***
Only minutes later a motley group cluttered Dumbledore's office. Among them there was a lady with two cats on her shoulders and a rather short and stocky man in flannel pajamas.
"It seems our young agents are in a dire situation. But I do have a general idea of where they are." Dumbledore began.
"Albus, I must say it doesn't seem wise to send agents over three young teenagers if they are with You-Know-Who." the stocky man said sagely, adjusting his spectacles.
"Perhaps not, Mundungus, but we must try. Voldemort--several people winced--has Harry as prisoner. IT has come to my attention that if action is not taken Misu, Mark, and Amy may not be able to handle what Voldemort has chosen to throw at them. Therefore, your assignments are as follows: Mundungus, Sirius, and Remus go to Malfoy Manor and find the pentacle room. The rest of you, go back to your normal routines and be wary. Anything unusual should be reported to me. You are dismissed."
Snape didn't say anything about how like a colonel Dumbledore sounded. He merely returned to his dungeon. Yet, he thought to himself, there was something this life was missing.
***
Voldemort was the first to act. He roared a terrifying "Avada Kedavera!", but not at Harry. At Amy.
And all of a sudden the barf green stone was glowing brightly, in a disgusting kind of way. At the same time, reddish-pink glow radiated unsurely from Amy. Misu watched as Draco perplexedly examined his own body, which glowed a dark maroony-brown color. Harry was also quite confused as he glowed pure black. He was beginning to feel sick.
Ay felt overwhelming love for Draco, at his blocking of the rapid green bolt that had been shooting from the Dark Lord's wand toward her. She wanted to hold him tight and never let go.
Draco felt love toward Amy as well. But he also felt bewildered. Why was he still alive? The only person who had ever survived the Death Curse was the infamous Harry Potter. He suddenly hated Harry. HE was famous and had good friends and was popular and had Amy as a guard. He...Draco turned to glare at Harry and felt his eyebrows rise.
Harry himself had somehow defeated the body bind. He had crumpled and was nearly dead. Pale as a sheet, the Boy who Lived was about to leave the land of the living.
Despite himself, Draco ran to Harry. Amy felt her chest sweel at him, checking the vitals of his rival. She loved him so much. It was really a shame neither of them would live to get to kiss again. She closed her eyes as a single tear found its cold way down her cheek.
Suddenly a shattering crack filled pierced the air. The stone had split into five jagged shards on the floor. Its puke color faded slowly into black grey.
Draco felt a wrench at his heart. Pain. Needles. All over. Couldn't--breathe.
He collapsed.