52. Malfoy's Revenge
The Great Hall was full of angry and worried people with all of their attention focused in one direction. With concern, speculation, confusion, and anger, everyone stared at "Margie".
Snape spoke up coldly, "She should be searched."
Turning thought to deed in a moment, Eleanor stepped forward and did a very thorough job, coming up with a stoppered bottle and a wand.
She gave the bottle to Snape who opened it, sniffed at it, and upended it. Gelatinous gunk fell out in glops onto the floor. "Look familiar?" he asked soberly.
Dumbledore looked grim. "Polyjuice." He turned cold eyes on the figure in the chair. "Who are you?"
"Margie" sneered back, seemingly undaunted by her precarious position, "That's for you to figure out, you old fool. I'd hate for you to overtax your brain, though. It won't be long now, why ruin the suspense?"
Angered by her arrogant and unhelpful manner, Snape made a threatening move forward, but Dumbledore and Black grabbed him and held him back.
Dumbledore nodded toward their captive. "She's right, Severus, look."
All of a sudden, the figure in the chair was altering, shifting, growing. Her coloring, size, and sex were changing. In a very short time, the chair no longer held Margie Sharp, but was instead host to Lucius Malfoy.
Upon recognizing Malfoy, Snape lost all composure and once more lunged for the figure in the chair. Dumbledore and Black grabbed his arms even more firmly and struggled to hold him back, but they had a very hard time keeping his hands from reaching Malfoy's throat.
"Malfoy, you bastard! What have you done with Evangeline!?" Snape screamed at his enemy, livid with fury.
Malfoy sneered, "Not what I'd like to have done to her, Snape, thanks to you! I did make sure she knew exactly how I felt about her though, you can be sure of that. She has a very pretty body, and I made sure I explored every inch of it."
He laughed and his eyes gleamed maliciously. "In fact, I'm not the only one who explored Evangeline's lovely body thoroughly. I left her cozying up to your pet werewolf. He'd just finished making love to her when I left them. They're probably quite busy consoling one another as we speak. Yes, he seemed to be as eager for her as I ever was. I quite enjoyed watching their passion for each other bear fruit. It was very satisfying to watch him thrusting into her over and over. Oh, yes, I imagine things are getting pretty interesting there by now. Just a little less than an hour left before moonrise. Then we'll be even, Snape!"
With a cry of soul killing rage, Snape shook off his restrainers as if they were dolls and locked his hands around Malfoy's throat. Dumbledore and Black grabbed his arms frantically and tried unsuccessfully to pull him off the helpless wizard. Snape saw nothing but a haze of red as he tried his best to reduce Malfoy's throat to a mass of limp flesh.
Black screamed desperately in his ear as he pulled uselessly at his rock hard arm, "If you kill Malfoy now, he won't be able to tell us where Evangeline and Remus are! We need the bastard alive, Severus! Let him go!!"
Black's voice reached Snape faintly, as if coming up from the depths of a long dark tunnel. Slowly he seemed to come back to his senses, and with a tremendous effort, he removed his hands from Malfoy's neck. Clenching them reflexively, he turned away, breathing heavily, and tried to regain control over himself once more.
Malfoy wheezed and gasped weakly for breath through his battered throat. "Thank you," he whispered hoarsely.
Black glared furiously at him. "Don't thank me, Malfoy, you slime. He was only doing what we'd all like to do to you. Where are Remus and Evangeline? Tell us now, or next time, I won't haul Snape off you. I'll help him out!"
Malfoy's sneer had reappeared and he shook his head defiantly. "Telling you would defeat the purpose of all this. Kill me, and I've still won! Evangeline and Snape's brat are still dead!"
The sinister wizard shifted his gloating eyes back to Snape. "So, go on Snape, you traitor, choke the life out of me if it'll make you feel better. You still lose! No one gets away with making a fool out of me. You'll never see that bitch alive again!"
Snape simply stood there, breathing hard, and glared malevolently at Malfoy. Then without a word, he turned abruptly, his boot heels clicking sharply on the stone floor, and stalked out of the room as quickly as he could.
Black and the women looked after him in puzzlement, but Dumbledore turned an expression of satisfaction on Malfoy.
"You won't win this time, Lucius. When Severus returns, you will give us the information we require."
Malfoy blanched. "Truth serum won't work on me, you old fool. I've been taking the best antidotes that money can buy."
Dumbledore smiled. "If they weren't created by Severus Snape, then they weren't the best, Lucius. Let's just wait and see, shall we?"
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Back at the tower, the mood was getting decidedly grim. Less than Fifty minutes to go on the clock. Remus and Evangeline sat anxiously holding each other and staring at its hands as they continued their mesmerizing dance around its face.
Evangeline spoke quietly, with tears in her eyes. "Remus, I can't just let you kill yourself because of me."
The werewolf sighed and kissed the top of her head, hugging her fiercely against him. "You'd rather I killed you, Evangeline? Because those appear to be the only two choices. Don't forget, it's not only your life we're talking about here. You're pregnant, Angel, carrying an innocent life inside you. I won't be responsible for your death and the death of your baby. I can't allow Malfoy to do that to me…to us. It would be the final nail in my coffin! I could never live with that. Never!"
"And how do you think I'll feel, watching you kill yourself because of me, Remus? How do you think I'll be able to live with that?" She swallowed hard, tilted her head back, and stared up into the underside of the tower roof. Slowly she blinked to clear her eyes of tears and frowned at what she saw.
"Remus…look up there. What do you see?"
He tilted his head back and looked up in puzzlement. "I see the inside of the tower roof. What are you getting at, Evangeline?"
She shook her head impatiently. "No, what's holding up the roof?"
"Beams." Enlightenment did not seem to be coming. What the heck was she driving at?
She turned her face to his. "Could you climb up there?"
He considered. "Maybe. Why? What good would it do?"
She shook her head. "No. Could you climb up there after your transformation?"
"No. Never. Werewolves aren't very good climbers."
She nodded in grim satisfaction. "Okay. Then we have to get me up there. I can hang on to the beams after you transform."
He nodded slowly, turning the idea around in his mind. "Maybe…but what if you tire or fall asleep?"
She smiled at him. "Terror is a great motivator, Remus. I won't fall asleep. Besides, I doubt if we'll have to wait too long after moonrise for rescue. Malfoy won't keep his mouth shut about where we are once he thinks I'm dead. He'll want Severus to find my remains as soon as possible, the sadistic pig!"
Remus jumped up, hope filling his heart. "Okay, then let's find the best spot to climb up. Do you feel well enough to manage this?"
She sighed as he helped her to her feet. "I'll manage, Remus. What other choice do I have?"
"Are you a good climber, Evangeline?"
She smiled grimly. "Actually, I'm afraid of heights, but I'm afraid of dying more. If there's any way up these walls, we'll find it. Let's get started, we don't have much time left."
He nodded. "Okay, but if you can't do it, I'm taking that pill. No more argument. I won't be the cause of your death, Evangeline." He caressed her cheek softly. "I can't be!"
They looked deeply into each other's eyes, and slowly…reluctantly, she nodded her head.
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