I was cool, determined and absolutely in control. I was calm.
I was dead.
Where had they come from? The most unlikely people to be here at this time. The most unwise people to pull a prank with.
Snape – that was bad. McGonagall – even worse. And Dumbledore – a disaster.
I was so done for.
I slumped down on the floor, trying to get a grip, but all I could think off was the fact that I had just put the Headmaster, Deputy Headmistress and my Head of House successfully out of order.
I suppressed the urge to punch Crabbe in the face when he leant down next to me. "Draco? They just walked in there. Draco? What are we going to do now? Draco?"
Goyle, meanwhile, was edging towards the entrance to the Great Hall.
"DON'T!" I yelled, making him jump. "It's not worn off yet. It's bad enough already without one of you blacking out as well." I looked into their faces. Understanding was not looking back at me.
Merlin, next time I decided to attack, I'd swear I'd team up with a bunch of Ravenclaws, even if that meant – well, teaming up with a bunch of Ravenclaws. Having Crabbe and Malfoy as allies was like having minus two brains working for you.
Think, I urged myself. You're a smart Malfoy. Think like one. What would father do now? Right, killing everyone definitely was an option, but unfortunately I was not even close to possessing the power and training required to cast an Unforgivable. Erm, what I mean is, those fools running this school haven't seen fit to acquaint us with even the most essential measures of magical killing yet.
Alternatives. I quickly needed plenty of alternatives. Like-
"We have to break the spell."
The Brain Brigade still glared at me. Whatever was in charge of their functioning? How did they manage to understand the concept of, for example, continuous breathing?
"Crabbe, Goyle, we have to BREAK THE DAMN SPELL. NOW!"
"But that means we're letting Potter off the hook," Goyle complained.
"It also means we're going to live and not be expelled," I ranted. "Goyle, that's Dumbledore in there, with McGonagall and Snape. They're going to flay us alive if they ever find out what we did. And we can't, like, keep them under this spell forever, right?"
Why not?, a voice in my head demanded. I recognized it as my evil self and shunned it. Not really an option, this. Dumbledore might be a senile old fool, but not even the most deluded staff members would fail to notice that he was cursed when he showed up without any memories. Potter could have gotten in trouble all by himself, he was known for messing around with dark powers. But it would be so obvious that the teachers' minds had been tampered with.
"How do we break it?" Crabbe asked.
"Easy. We just have to position ourselves in the exact places where we stood when we cast it. We say the counter curse, and everyone previously affected will get their memories back. They don't even have to be in the same room anymore."
I was glad I had looked this up after all, even though I had of course never intended to use it.
"What is the counter curse, Malfoy?"
"It's …" Damn, what was it again? I forgot, oh Merlin, it's gone. My slightly-hysterical-and-on-the-verge-of-panic self was taking over inside my head. It was no use. I had never memorized it.
"Okay, tell you what we'll do. We go back to the dorm, look up the counter curse, and sneak back here to cast it. If they wake up in the meantime, we'll have to lure them out of the Hall, so they don't see us. Once we cast the counter curse, we head back to the dungeons as quickly as possible. No one must know about this. We'd be history."
"But Draco, that's what you said you wanted to be."
I flicked my wand at Goyle and put a gluing spell to his mouth. Blissful. Should have done that years before.
We trod back in heavenly silence.
The AwakeningSomething soft lying beneath me had shifted, and come to lie partly on top of me, turning from being rather pleasant to feeling rather heavy.
I stirred.
So did the weight across my chest.
I tried to move. My arms seemed to be pinned to the floor by the same weight that now began to interfere seriously with my breathing.
I yanked one arm free and attempted to shove the obstacle away. It screamed in my face and I bolted straight up.
A face was staring at me. Was that a human face? It was distorted by fear and surrounded by a tangled mass of brown hair. I scrambled away in surprise.
More screaming was going on. I heard someone gasp in shock, someone else yelped. The face was still there. It was still looking at me.
Someone broke the silence. "Who are you guys?"
I looked up to see who had asked. A red-haired boy of about seventeen, maybe eighteen years was standing a few feet away. He was taking a rather defensive posture. Next to him sat another boy, who was looking around with a dazed expression, gaze apparently not entirely focussed on anything.
As no one felt entitled to answer, I turned my attention back to the face next to me. It appeared to be attached to a body (for once, no surprise there), which was presumably what had been interfering with my sleeping.
What had I been doing, lying on the floor with … a girl? I dragged myself up, not sure what to make of the situation. She got to her feet as well.
"Who are you?" she said, still staring at me. Before I could answer, something moved a short distance away.
"Will anyone please be so kind to tell me what has happened? And who are you?" a stern voice asked. I looked at its owner, who turned out to be a woman with the most disapproving look on her face. She was wearing … a pointed hat?
The boy on the floor had managed to get up as well. He had black hair and green eyes and somehow annoyed me. More than anyone else, that is.
As everyone in the closer vicinity appeared to have regained a standing position, we eyed each other suspiciously. I brought both hands to my temples and began to apply some pressure, as I was taking in the situation.
I had found myself on the floor of what appeared to be a hall of some sorts. There were long tables, chandeliers, and the inevitable banners. I couldn't help but notice the lack of a ceiling. There was an odd variety of people standing around me. A girl, with whom I had obviously just shared a slumber, a woman dressed up as a witch and two teenage boys with the most unnerving stupidity imprinted on their faces.
"Now what is this?" I demanded. Everyone looked at me. "Is this a joke? Who are you, and where am I?"
"You tell me!" the redhead shouted. He was sounding as though his nerve might fail him. "Who are you freaks? Did you kidnap me?"
Before anyone had a chance to speak, something shot up behind a table. It appeared to be an old man in robes, but no old man could possibly climb up the table as quickly and agile as this one did. Looking around, he spotted our ill-mixed little group.
"Lovely!" he exclaimed, getting down and hurrying towards us. "A party. Is this a castle?" He came up to me and grabbed my collar. I yanked myself free, but he kept tugging at my clothes. "Say, good Sir, are you the owner of this splendid place?"
"Most definitely not," I spat.
"Unfortunate indeed. But do you mind if I have a look around?" With that he turned and left, venturing the full length of the hall, looking around like a tourist in a cathedral.
The girl had edged away from me during this strange intermezzo, and was now standing close to the strange woman. They both turned their attention to me.
"Does anyone know where we are?" the woman asked. The boys shook their heads. The black-haired one said, in a low voice, "I don't even know who I am."
"Me neither!" the other one shouted, and the girl nodded.
This was ridiculous.
"This is ridiculous. Are you implying that none of you knows who he is?" I sneered derisively. Hang on – this felt somehow satisfying. Familiar.
"Do you?" the girl demanded. I looked down at her.
"Of course I do. I am …" I paused.
I didn't know.
She gave me a smug look.
A loud smashing noise interrupted us again. The old man had examined some pieces of armour, which were now shattered on the floor. He hadn't separated himself from any of his limbs, though, so I decided to ignore it. He waved and shouted at me, "Truly splendid, your collection, Sir. Has anyone ever told you that you look like Count Dracula from a distance?"
The boys had begun to chuckle, and the redhead whispered, "Who's Count Dracula?" The other one shrugged, and they chuckled some more. They seemed to be getting along fairly quickly. Maybe I should have an eye on them.
The girl was pacing now, muttering to herself. I noticed she was wearing the same strange robes as the boys. Actually, even I appeared to be following this dress-code. Only my robes were plain black, much more elegant and sleek than what the others were wearing.
Examining their clothes, I noticed a coat-of-arms embroidered on them.
"Hold on. Come here," I told the girl. I bent down and tried to make sense of the imagery. Arranged beneath the word "Hogwarts" were some animals: a lion (somewhat pompous-looking), a badger, a raven and a beautiful silvery snake. It was subtitled: "Draco dormiens numquat titillando". The girl cleared her throat. I noticed that – while tracing the writing – my hand was closing in on one of her … er, an inappropriate place on her front. Uh, that wasn't good. I mean, it was good, it felt good, but I wasn't sure if I was entitled to do this. I took my hand away. We were both avoiding to look at each other.
"What does this mean?" pondered the dark-haired boy. "Maybe we're in a club or something. Had a club celebration, got drunk, have a blackout."
"I don't think I drink," I heard the girl whisper. The woman gave her an approving look.
"Yeah, well, I could see myself in a club," the red-haired boy said, "But what about them?" He pointed at the woman and me.
"Well, maybe we are somehow related," she said. Since she had a slight Scottish accent, I doubted anyone here was a relative of hers.
"You have the same coloured hair," the girl stated, indicating me and the black-haired boy. "Maybe you're father and son."
"What!?!" we both exclaimed simultaneously.
"There is a ruggedly handsome resemblance."
"My father? Him?" The boy turned to look at me incredulously.
I contemplated this. "You do seem familiar," I told him, watching him through narrowed eyes. "When I look at you, I get this sense of … sheer disappointment."
"Oh yeah!" he rolled his eyes, "I must despise you. And what's with the trollop?" He pointed at the girl. "I saw you two, sleeping together."
"Resting together," I corrected furiously. "And how dare you…"
The woman cut in. "Since neither of us knows anything, I suggest we find some help."
"Get to a hospital," the girl offered.
The woman nodded. "We might consider splitting up. As there are several doors to this … enclosure, I suggest we proceed in pairs. The boys can check the door over there, and the two of you can try that one." She shoved the girl in my direction and pointed us at another door. "I will take care of our eager adventurer here …" she concluded, nodding her head at the old man, who was having a ball. Right at the moment he was attempting to put on a knight's armour. "… we'll see if we can find anyone. Report back here in an hour."
Everyone agreed reluctantly, and we all sat off in different directions. I admit that I was relieved to be rid of my potential son's company. As we departed the hall and decided to try a staircase, I glanced at the girl. She was struggling to keep up. When our eyes met, she looked away quickly. I found a nasty little grin playing at the corners of my mouth. I guess I must be a nasty kind of person. I tried a sneer, and found that it felt good, even more, it felt right.
"So…" I began, "… do you have any idea why you just woke up on top of me?"