Title: Bad Faith
Chapter: 8/?
Author name: badfaith
Author email: anna@tomfelton.zzn.com
Author website: http://www.undisguised.net and http://nightfall.undisguised.net
Category: Angst
Sub Category: Drama
Rating: R
Summary: Draco Malfoy learned a few things he didn't want to know, and as a result he is plunged into a war. Will Harry Potter be able to save him before it's too late? Or will Harry learn things that might condemn Draco to death?
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The plot and title are mine, though!
Warning: This story contains slash, which are two boys who are in a sexual relationship together. If that's not your cup o' tea, I suggested you find some that is, or you'll miss your teatime. ^_^
A/N: I am so sorry for not finishing this chapter earlier! I'm a nasty procrastinator, and I shouldn't punish you for it. I finally have finished this chapter, though, and I hope you enjoy it, seeing as I do think my writing has improved. ^_^ Please review of course
Chapter Eight
The Writing On The Wall
It appeared to have been meticulously planned. The strangeness of it all gave Harry an odd sense of déjà vu creeping slowly down his spine with chilled fingers.
The letters were large, easy to read. The person who had put them up had obviously thought the situation out from every angle possible. The words appeared to have been written by magic, not by hand. The message had been placed in a most inconvenient place – right outside the Main Hall. How anyone would miss seeing it in his or her daily routine was impossible.
Harry once again reread the strange message on the stone wall.
Awaken Fire and Ice
The letters swirled as if alive -- coiling and intertwining inside of each other, but never changing what was written. Then he realized – it wasn't the letters that were moving, it was snakes. Small snakes writhed in the words – drawn, but nevertheless impossibly realistic.
Around the phenomenon in question was the reason Ron had shouted 'Bloody Hell!' and why there was a dead silence in the corridor.
The blood looked like it had oozed slowly out of the minuscule cracks in the mortar and stone, magically appearing out of what seemed solid wall. It had dripped thickly, dark and crimson red, down the cold and gray blocks. Seemingly when it was puddling on the floor and streaming down the stone it had frozen. In small streaks of frozen brown-red the evidence remained, the red icicles thawing, dripping the now freed blood.
All this surrounded the message, and stilled the voices of many.
Later -- Gryffindor Common Room
"I don't suppose you have any idea what that…thing written on the wall meant, do you Herm?" Ron asked hopefully, looking with round puppy eyes at his caramel-brown haired girlfriend.
She laughed, but it was a nervous laugh, one not quite sure if the occasion called for it. The raven-haired slender boy slouching next to the couple glanced over and fixed his hypnotizing emerald gaze expectantly on the girl.
"Well?" the slender boy urged her on.
She shifted uneasily on the couch under the force of the two boys' looks. "Well…I remember reading something in sixth year for some fun," she began.
The redhead snorted and the raven-haired boy smiled a knowing smile. The girl rolled her eyes at their antics, quite familiar and comforting like an old blanket, and continued.
"It was an old, dusty book. I think it was called 'Prophecies In Ancient Times', or something along that line.
"I thought you didn't like Divination, Herm." Ron interrupted.
"Well, it looked interesting." The girl scowled her irritation at being interrupted. "Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted," another scowl at the red-haired boy and a pointed look, "it said something about a woman who prophesied the end of the Wizarding World. The prophecy said something about it being destroyed by fire and ice."
"We have to find this book, Herm," Harry said. "This suspension of classes won't last long, and I can just feel that something bad will happen if we don't act quick. Herm, you try and find that book. Ron and I will ask around and see if anyone else knows anything."
Ron piped up, "If anyone knows anything, I wouldn't be surprised if it's that slimy git Malfoy."
"Ron, we were wrong about him in second year. Maybe this time he doesn't have anything to do with it either." Harry pointed out, giving Ron a long look. "If we don't have any leads in a week, or Malfoy kills someone with his bare hands in front of our whole school, we will not go assuming just because his father is a Death Eater that he had something to do with this."
"All right, Harry." Ron slumped, properly chastised. "But you have to admit, whoever did that stuff on the wall is pretty good at wand work."
"Yes, Ron, I know. And that's what I'm worried about. Who here knows that much about spells?"
Southeast Corridor
"What…?" a mousy haired small girl started, her brown doe-like eyes round.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Her lifeless body crumpled to the floor.
The boy stood, his wandless hands dripping crimson blood onto the floor, his eyes gleaming ice cold into the night.