Disclaimer: Do I really have to go through this with you? Again? Ok, ok,
Harry Potter is not mine. If it were I would not be slaving away at the
hellhole- aka my school. *Deep Breath* Did I go over the top there?
Note: And a big hi to all those lovely reviewers - though I think some of you are dieing and yes my exams are over and we'll have to wait if I'll be moving down in my Science group. A1 to A2 is not good. Maybe I should shut- up you know, I mean I tell you guys all my problems - do you think that shows anything?
Chapter 16:
Mark had to sit on Ron when Maria explained to him exactly who it was they were trying to rescue and even then, Mark had a hard time keeping him down,
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?????!!!" Ron roared surprising loudly considering that he had a fully-grown man holding him down and squeezing all the oxygen out of his lungs.
Maria was desperately trying to calm him down and knelt by him ignoring all the murky water that found its way through her trousers and onto her knees. She was going to kill Harry when she saw him - he didn't explain to Ron that it was his sister that they were saving but then again, Maria didn't know why Ron didn't already know.
"Quiet!" she hissed covering his mouth with her hand and looking around in the mist as if hundreds of Lucius Malfoy's would come over the horizon, "They're barely six feet under us,"
Mark grinned at Ron's face,
"Excuse the pun,"
Ron growled and tried to push him off but failed and Maria removed her hand - he seemed to have calmed down. More than that in fact - he now looked like he was going to cry something that none of them needed. Her partner picked up on someone else's emotions for once and stood up leaving Ron to pull himself up on to a sitting position.
Maria straightened up and stared down at Ron with something she thought she would never use on someone she liked - pity.
"Look," Maria said matter-of-factly and catching his attention, "I don't know what you did to your sister-"
"I yelled at her,"
Mark joined in Maria's puzzlement and looked down at him just waiting for him to explain. Ron glanced up at the two Auroras and they saw the uneasiness in his eyes. Mark was the first to crack,
"You yelled at her?" he asked a small smile tugging at his lips, "I yell at people all the time. What was special about this yell?"
In other situations Maria would have hit him for being so insensitive but Ron was taking so long telling them whatever reason him and his sister fell out she didn't bother.
"I blamed her for our parents death,"
Something about that triggered a memory in both their minds - Harry had already mentioned something about this and what did before. That was the reason that she didn't like him before - she had seen this Ginny before though at a distance and she seemed as if nothing could touch her. Or at least nothing negative. And she knew that Harry always hid behind the whole I'm-in-a-dangerous-job-and-I-don't-want-people-at-risk thing and this girl had been the first one to get through it.
"You bastard,"
Ron looked a little better after she had said that.
~*~
"Glad you could come Mr. Potter,"
Ginny stared at the ropes that were binding her wrists together and closed her eyes in a vain attempt to block out the world around her. Her eyelids hurt, everything hurt for that matter. Her arms, her face, her legs, her head all ached but most of all her heart.
She ought to be panicked but she wasn't, a sort of ice-cold calmness replaced any emotions she may have felt before at the sight of Harry walking into a trap. A trap she could have prevented if she had a brain. She was so stupid, the feeling that she was a total waste of oxygen returned to her for not the first time in her life.
Harry figured it out in a second and Ginny could feel his gaze on her and she concentrated more on the rope binding her.
Lucius raised his wand and muttered something - Ginny couldn't hear what because she had blocked out er hearing.
Harry collapsed on the floor though she didn't hear - just saw it out of the corner of her eye - writhing in agony his wand just barley a foot away from his reach. Lucius kicked it out of the way into the shadows and Ginny watched it slide away into the darkness with her hope.
Lucius waved his hand and some more magical bolts drew across, the rust on the locks scraping all the way but doing nothing to wake Ginny out of her stupor.
This is where I'm going to die, she thought, alone with the people I love knowing I betrayed them.
~*~
Draco looked up the staircase in front of him, squinting up into the darkness searching for any sign of well, anyone. It had all happened so quickly he wasn't even sure what had happened himself.
All he remembered was that he was trying to find something - he had no idea what just something - that might help them whether it was a wand or a sword or just some food, anything. He had been concentrating on finding this thing that he only looked up lazily to see how Potter was doing.
That was when he saw it.
The door closing, slowly but there was no way he would reach it in time though he tried. As much as he hated Potter, that was just it. He did hate Potter and he liked it that way, what was the fun of hating a memory? Snape had made that mistake and looked what happened to him - swinging from hate to guilt only to take out his feelings on the son of the person he hated.
But all these thoughts happened at once and a split second later he was chasing the closing door. He might have yelled though if he ever looked back at those sequence of events every again in his mind, he would edit it out though whatever he did it didn't stop Potter.
Gryffindor's, he mused, all the same. Courageous they may be but Slytherin's at least had the sense to plan ahead.
All the same, if his little Auror friends or that Weasel's brother got their hands on him anytime soon, there would be hell to pay.
Those thugs as well, where had they got? If the group where still outside then how could they get to him or indeed Harry and his girlfriend? This had gone way out of plan but now he thought about it, there had been no plan to start with.
Draco dropped to his knees and kneaded his head with his knuckles. He had all to many reasons to believe that all the people in this team were damn Gryffindor's which showed through with the stupid situation that they were now in.
Two of them were with his father (he gave them an hour tops), three of them were outside in the stinking wasteland no doubt being either enticed by Kelpies or beaten to death by those two thugs.
Hermione and Dumbledore it seemed were the only two with a little sense and they were little over, oh, a hundred miles away and he had already tried apparating and got a nasty bruise for his efforts. If he tried, he could find a way of contacting them but as he looked around the room he noticed something -
The windows around the top of the walls were barely half a foot above the ground.
That could help.
~*~
"What's taking so long?"
Hermione was jumping up and down, then sitting, and then returning to her pacing. Dumbledore smiled for what seemed the twentieth time and tried again to calm her,
"They've been gone two hours Miss. Granger. It takes an hour and a half alone to get there,"
This didn't help in the slightest, really did not help at all. She just paused, looked like she was considering calming down a little then went back to her twitching only this time worse. There was nothing left of their here - only Draco's wand which she had managed to lift from the Department Of Law Enforcement over five hours ago.
It seemed like an age away since she was chatting up the security man that was guarding the storeroom like an over grown bulldog.
The mere memory of what she had to do was enough to make her fall onto one of the chairs and groan into her aching hands.
Why didn't she go with them? Why did she have to go to sleep just before they went? And why was she still tired? Despite all the possible deaths going on around in her imagination, she couldn't help but picture the huge pile of marking she had to finish when she got back.
This was not good.
Knowing Harry and for that matter Malfoy, they would probably bicker then just stay away from each other. That would mean that Harry would do something daft and Malfoy might be left completely defenceless because here she was with his wand.
His wand.
Why hadn't she thought of this before?
If he had his wand, it could help or it could just make things a lot worse. If Lucius were talking to Draco or Harry at the same moment that the wand came in, he would know that there were some external forces helping. She had to do it though, whatever the risks - it was just ridiculous sending Draco out there without his wand, he grew up with this life of darkness. Hermione had a strong feeling it was Ron who had stopped him from taking it.
As much as she loved him, he could be annoying like that - didn't trust Malfoy as far as he could throw him though she didn't feel very differently.
But that wasn't the point. There was no way on this earth that Dumbledore was going to let her do a Locating Charm and sent Draco Malfoy his wand over what could be miles and miles of Muggle's. For one thing it could be seen though if it went high enough that wasn't likely. On the other hand, there was the possibility of it getting caught by a stray airplane and getting incinerated.
A person had only one wand - the wand was as unique to them as their DNA and very often they felt connected like without their wand they were not a whole being. Hermione hoped that being split off from it for a while didn't make Malfoy want his wand more because she had faced people that had had the one thing they had to lose lost and it wasn't pretty.
She had to bide her time anyway. Maybe there was some kind of alcohol in this place - as much as she did not want to see her old headmaster drunk it was their only hope.
~*~
"Take her out."
Lucius nodded to the men behind Harry but he didn't care. All he could think about was his friends, Malfoy and most of all Ginny.
He was on his knees before Lucius with a broken nose, hands tied and the blood dripping steadily off the tip of his nose staining the floor in front. His broken right wrist he cradled in his arm keeping it out of Lucius' sight like the coward he was.
If he had a backbone he would have stood proud and tall like his father and fought for the people he loved. But he didn't. He took it. Took all the hits, all the blows and all the curses not even uttering a word of power.
He could feel Ginny stare as she was taken away but he didn't want to look at her - how could he? He had let her down, disappointed her and now this mistake was going to be his last.
"Get up." He ordered down at Harry, who didn't react, then after a moment yanked him by his collar onto his feet. For a deranged lunatic, Lucius Malfoy had some strength in him and he forced Harry to look at him,
"Rest assured Potter," he spat not trying to keep the anger out of his expressions, "They'll take good care of Ginny before she dies."
Harry struggled out of his grip but his strength deserted him under the vice grip around his neck. Fifteen minutes he had been in here and for ten out of those fifteen he had had the Cruciatus Curse on him over and over again. It was all he could do to stop screaming out loud.
"No!"
Harry glanced back jut in time to see Ginny being led down stairs and for one perfect moment her brown eyes met his and he understood her. The tears were still there; the cuts and bruises were still there, the same weaknesses but she was ready - ready for what he was yet to see.
"Just like you father," he hissed in Harry face, "Trying to save everyone. I see the Potter taste in partners hasn't got any better - are red heads a traditional choice Potter?"
Harry let the door shut before he answered using it to calm down.
"I really wouldn't know." Harry spat in his face using the last of his energy up quickly.
Who was he to talk about his family like that? It was because of him and the people he associated with that he didn't know these kinds of things.
Lucius' face contorted with suppressed anger and punch Harry in the stomach. Harry didn't give him the pleasure of knowing exactly how much that hurt. Lucius moved away and unfortunately for Harry, he happened to be holding him up slightly so with his hands behind his back he fell forward onto his broken wrist.
"Want to know how long I've wanted to do that?"
Harry didn't want to know but he was in no position to tell him other wise.
"Ever since I've known you father - was since I was ten. You're just like him and I knew how to hut him and I know how to hurt you. Why, even your girlfriends look the same and look what happened to her."
Harry gritted his teeth and looked at the floor just as Lucius' knee connected with his chin. It was all Harry could do to stop falling over again but still stars danced in front of his eyes. Mark would have known what to do, he thought stupidly, mark was muggle born and did self defence until his eleventh birthday but the Dursley had never taken him swimming let alone a place to learn how to hurt people.
Something in Lucius face changed - he became calmer and silent which to Harry was worse than the yelling and the hitting he had received earlier. The man bend down to Harry's level but somehow Harry had to look up to stare him in the yes. Lucius tilted his head to one side and smirked.
"I shouldn't worry about her too much," he whispered in Harry's ear as he twisted the wrist around making several things crack, "You'll be seeing what's left of her soon enough,"
Harry gasped in pain and tried to blink back the tears making Lucius laugh even more as he stood up. This wasn't the first time he was feeling pain, and it wasn't even the worst, but every single time he had faced Voldemort, he knew why he was doing it - to rule again and kill him. But with Lucius, he could see that he wanted it kill him but Harry couldn't see the reasoning behind all of this.
"Why?"
"Do you think I'm going to tell you?" Lucius spat down at him, kicking Harry's kneecap viciously, "I don't expect you to even understand. To you every person's life is important, valued even. But to me its different people can be owned, can be property."
Harry frowned as more blood dripped softly of the end of his nose.
~*~
Draco sat in the middle of the room, eyes closed, crossed-legged on the rug just thinking. One of the few things he had been taught that seemed to apply in the real world by his father that nothing was too difficult for the brain - it was all just locked up. So now Draco was trying to find a way to unlock it.
No plan had come yet no matter how relaxed he got himself and every situation he thought of always ended in someone dieing or worse.
Think, he urged himself, think!
But it was no use. All the blankness he had given his mind seeped away like water running through his hands. It was like telling yourself to sleep - you just couldn't do it. The more it slipped away, the angrier Draco got and the angrier Draco got, the quicker it went.
Nevertheless, when he finally came completely back to consciousness, it was a shock the find himself sweating like he had run for miles. Ever time he managed to get close to some kind of idea he would hear himself at the end of his fifth year - "Your dead Potter!" - over and over again. The remark Harry shot back never quite echo though.
Draco shuddered. This place was cold but he was used to cold. Maybe why he couldn't quite slip in semi-consciousness was because he felt like someone was watching him. Without moving his head, he looked around him - nothing except that stupid portrait, the cause of all this and why Draco had to resort to actual planning.
As much as he had a go at all these people for not having a plan, he wasn't any better - the only reason he seemed to have a plan was because he lied more than he breathed.
But this was the only way. It Draco didn't get Harry it wasn't just the authorities that would want his skin, it was his friends. Weasley and the Mudblood he had seen angry but that Auror man looked pretty violent without much provoking. Those Crabbe and Goyle look-alikes were starting to worry him though, for their bulky size they seem to be invisible at this moment.
Draco shrugged off the feeling - after all he was a Malfoy still had some of the Malfoy pride in him.
He had every suspicion in the world that his father was going to play dirty - real dirty. What are rules made for except to be broken by people (i.e. affluent people)? Wit the right amount of money and power and rules can be twisted and mangled.
Draco rubbed his with his dirty hand, he could stilt feel where the ropes had been and was wishing desperately for a glass of water. The sandwiches that Hermione had made seemed a long time ago.
There was nothing to do except plan now. He flexed his shoulders and rolled his neck around before closing his eyes again. He ignored his stomach rubbing and that incessant tapping somewhere above him.
~*~
"Great! So what are we supposed to do now?"
Ron had been saying more or less the same thing for the past hour or more. Maria, for the first half an hour, was feeling kind of understanding for once - this poor guy had seen his best friend and his only sister for possibility the last time. But now it had gone beyond annoying.
Harry and Maria once had to deal with a woman whose son and daughter had been kidnapped and would not stop making daisy chains. By the time Mark and his partner had retrieved the children, the chain was over five metres long. That, before now, had been her worst ever shock victim. Ron Weasley, however, had now taken that spot.
Mark scratched his neck for the fifth time in two minutes. That was a bad sign.
"Ron," she soothed forcefully and grabbing his jacket, "Just sit down! We've only been here an hour."
That was a lie. By her watch they had been here 2 hours, twenty-six minutes and counting. There was still no sign of either Harry, Draco or, most scary of all, those human boulders. Ron sighed heavily and flounced to the ground next to Maria looking completely wretched. Maria couldn't help still feeling sorry for him though a small part of her wished that there were some daisies in the area.
"It's just been so long!" Ron explained, receiving a soft punch on the shoulder from Mark to be quiet. He continued in a softer voice, "Does it usually take this, you know, this long?"
Maria forced a smile on her face,
"Depends. If they came out in ten minutes I'd be worried."
Ron seemed a little better after that but all the same he kept staring up at the building behind them. Even in this light-that-wasn't-quite-light, it was so big that the top merged with the fog into nothing. Or it could have just been thick fog.
"Do you want to explore a bit?" Ron asked.
Both of them looked as if he was crazy. There was this little mad glint in his eye that wasn't there before. Mark trod carefully,
"Why?"
Ron grinned,
"Look," he pointed to something near the bottom of the building. Maria squinted and saw it was nothing more than a small barred window - no way they could get in without making noise. "Ginny might be in there,"
"Yeah," Mark replied with heavy sarcasm, "So might the rocks,"
Ron didn't figure it out for a second but frowned.
"So that's a no to the exploring?"
Basic Rule Number 6 of the 'How To Survive Auror Life' was 'Never leave an area where your friends know you are or that is safe.' That was just a shorten version, the real book donated a page and a half to all two hundred and three of its rules.
"That's a hell no."
Ron look offended, then angry, then stood up very swiftly and started marching up to where this window was. It all happened so quickly that neither of them had time it react to what happened.
A wand came flying through the air and hit Ron and the side of the head sending both him and the wand towards the floor. Maria shot out of the bushes Mark sniggered for a while before helping Maria drag Ron up into a seating position. It was a wonder that Ron didn't cry out in shock - that wand came out of nowhere pretty fast. Maria bent forward to pick it up.
Peering at it through the limited light, she saw it was made out of dark wood. Not being a wand maker herself, she didn't know what was in it or anything. Every little child is taught one thing about wands in the wizarding world - the wand reflects the person's character.
Now for the tough question: Who did she know that was dark and in the area?
"Malfoy,"
Ron looked up dazed and rubbing his head,
"What about that git?" he grumbled.
Mark made no effort to correct him,
"This is his wand," Maria explained frowning, "But how-"
"Hermione."
~*~
Draco still could not concentrate. For one thing his stomach was rumbling again but he could ignore that and his lack of sleep - that wasn't what was annoying him. It was that constant tapping again.
For the past five minutes he was trying to ignore it without much success.
With his limited imagination, he could think of just three reasons behind the tapping. One: Harry was trying to get out in which case a bit of ignorance on Draco's part wouldn't go amiss. Two: Owl Post was late. Or three: That something had-
A magically magnified voice boomed around the room and even then he couldn't help but open his eyes.
"Will you quit your yoga and wake up Malfoy you little -"
~*~
"Keep tapping then," she hissed, poking him in the back only to receive a frown, "He might be asleep!"
Ron turned back to his tapping while Maria looked around in case those other Deatheaters come back. Mark, on the other hand, was just in a mood because he didn't see the point of not just opening it by magic and slipping through. Maria just had the feeling that Mark wanted to hit Malfoy though.
Ron sniggered,
"What?" Maria asked irritably not wanting one of Ron's jokes again. But nothing of that came. She peered over his shoulder only to see that he had rubbed all the murk and creatures of the window and looking through. What was so funny though, she had no idea.
"Malfoy," he gasped now even interesting Mark, "He's doing yoga!"
Trying to keep a smirk down she glanced at her partner. He was smirking even though he hadn't even seen it yet and even Maria couldn't help but find Draco Malfoy in the lotus position funny.
"Just keep tapping," she ordered, attempting to keep her voice straight if only for the sake of these two.
Shaking his head Ron returned to banging the tip of Malfoy's wand on the end. Maria was slightly worried - Harry had mentioned about wands going off by accident and apparently wizards had lost their behinds in previous years due to foolishness.
Suddenly, Ron's voice boomed over the landscape, making Maria jump out of her skin and making the fragile glass shatter everywhere.
"Will you quit your yoga and wake up Malfoy you little -"
He trailed off because Mark had his hands around his neck.
~*~
For a moment, Draco couldn't figure out the noise that followed the speech - when he did he grinned his vampire smile. Still in no kind of rush, he remained sitting down, cross-legged on top of the high quality rugs.
He glanced up at the window, which had smashed because of the noise, and he thought of a suitable comment to throw at Weasley when he poked his stupid head through. He had recognised his voice at once away, apart from anything, those other Aurors had to remain impartial - not that had stopped Potter on some occasions.
But Weasley didn't poke his freckled face through - that Mary girl did. He toned his comment down a little,
"You could have knocked,"
She didn't rise to it like every one else did, she merely grinned,
"You realise you look like a vampire bat when you sit like that,"
Draco stood up slowly and brushed himself down a tad unnecessarily and looked right into her eyes as he arranged his prison uniform into a better position,
"Thus the basis of its appeal,"
She laughed for the first time and Draco couldn't help smiling - apart from Pansy's fawning and cackling, that was the first time someone had actually laughed at a joke. He gave her a lopsided grin and kicked a piece of glass out of his way,
"You lot must be Gryffindor's," he muttered to no one in particular, "Total lack of planning - look at the mess for god's sake,"
He reached the window and The-Mary-girl just offered her hand to pull him through which he took
"Actually," she said looking down at him, he noticed a gash across the side of her face, "I was in Ravenclaw."
With their combined efforts they managed to get him through - he ignored Weasley and the other Auror fighting and replied,
"I like you already,"
~*~
"What was that?" Lucius snapped. Harry looked up; he had forgotten his ears worked. That sounded like Ron. At least it was Ron's exaggerated voice that he had heard but he thought it was just him that could hear it.
"Nott!" Malfoy yelled and almost a second later one of the human rocks appeared at his side, "What was that?"
Even with Nott's obvious limited number of facial expressions, Harry could still tell that he was nervous and Lucius picked up on it. It was quite amazing to see this mass of human shaking slightly at the sight of Lucius who, widthways was half the size.
"Look after Potter," he spat after a moment with no answer, "Don't let him out of your sight,"
This Deatheater nodded fervently at the prospect of doing something right. With one last dirty look at Harry, Lucius swept out of the room leaving Harry and this Human Rock alone in the room. This suited Harry just fine. It would give him time to figure out what exactly was wrong with him.
But as soon as he lifted his hand to his swollen eye making the Deatheater grunted a spell and again Harry was bound together at his wrists, knees and ankles. He hit the floor on his left temple and the world clouded over. He didn't care if he didn't wake up - ever.
The last thing he heard was another grunt though whether it was a word Harry had no idea but his mind was far to preoccupied.
~*~
"Ginny!"
Ginny looked up to find her brother staring back at her. All her strength seemed to return to her and all the cold ebbed away slightly though only for a split second. She shook her head and turned around. This was madness. She was going crazy - she was seeing her brother for the fist time in years. Ron hated her - he would be in London no doubt at a desk job drinking tea and eating muffins in a warm office.
And blaming and hating her. Maybe this was what Askanban was like.
"Ginny you idiot - we don't have much time!"
"Ron?" she croaked, unable to believe her luck, "Is that-"
"Yes, yes," he rushed dangling a hand down through the bars, "Can you move?"
Ginny tried but had to hold back a scream - her ankle was broken, the same ankle she broke in her fifth year. Even if she didn't have any broken bones, she felt she couldn't - she was on the last of her energy and a step felt like SO much effort.
"My ankle is broken,"
Several people swore and Ron's face was pushed out of the way to be replaced by another woman's face,
"Hello Ginny," she whispered, removing all the bars in one swoop with her wand and slipping through, "Mind if I join you?"
Ginny was just glad to see magic again. She was still sure however that she had imagined Ron's face.
~*~
"Does it hurt anymore?"
Ginny smiled and shook her head. Apparently, this woman was an Auror but she couldn't heal very well - the broken ankle was the best she could so. Ginny didn't care, all the other cuts and bruises were superficial and now she could walk, run! She shot up and ran to the window,
"Hey!" Maria called quietly, "Easy on the ankle!"
They both gazed up at the window, it was high up but Ginny didn't care how they got out, it didn't matter if that Ron was a figment of her imagination - at least there was fresh air out there. The sound of two sets of fast footsteps caught her attention and her heart sank, she had forgotten that there was a Malfoy here.
Maria looked around desperately and that bars had reappeared at the window,
"Shit," she muttered, "Sit down and pretend to be unconscious,"
Having spent the past couple of hours not pretending, Ginny slipped into the role quite easily. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the Auror fall silently into the shadows that lay behind her.
Then the door slammed open and the rushed footsteps slowed down as they came closer and closer,
"Weasley," he spat, "Is there something you want to tell me?"
Sleeping, she reminded herself, sleeping, sleeping.
That couldn't work for long, Lucius stepped forward and shook her awake and when Ginny opened her eyes she came face to face with a livid Lucius Malfoy. She didn't need to feign the panic and fear in her eyes, she really was scared of him and couldn't stand the feel of his hands on her arms as he pinned her on the chair.
~*~
"What are we supposed to do now?" Ron hissed for the second time in ten minutes. He didn't take all the dirty looks he was receiving as a hint. It seemed that he just couldn't stay still, "Couldn't we find Harry?"
Mark looked up at Ron and grinned - it was about time this actual rescue mission included some rescuing. Mark mentioned this to Ron as they wound their way around to where Draco was earlier on,
"But you rescued me!"
Both Ron and Mark ignored him as they pressed on. Things had taken a nasty turn for Draco when Maria (he had found out her name) had gone - now it appeared that she was the only one who liked him. Then again, did he really want the friendship of Weasley and one of Potter's other friends?
"Here Malfoy, is this it?"
Draco squinted down at the broken glass and mangled bars,
"Have you broken any other windows?"
Mark smiled,
"Right lets go," and a second later he had slipped through. Draco grimaced - it was bad enough going back to this place but with a Weasley and a rescue for Potter as well it seemed like someone was punishing him for something.
He had absolutely no idea why though. What had he ever done?
As if reading his thoughts Ron pushed him forward,
"Cold feet Malfoy?"
Draco just shot him a scathing look before sliding in and narrowly missing a pane of smashed glass.
~*~
"Okay," Ron whispered, looking around as if even the most innocent object could turn into a Deatheater, Draco bit his tongue, "What the plan?"
"You? Plan Weasley?" he scoffed, "I thing the smog has gone to your head!"
The tips of his ears went red,
"Alright then," he replied taking a step forward, Draco was suddenly reminded why he like Maria - she didn't rise to the stabs he made, "Your Slytherin, your cunning, you plan!"
Draco grinned evilly,
"Finally, someone with a little sense!"
Mark just rolled his eyes at the pair of them and started to insect the room, examining each object until Draco mentioned in passing that half the stuff in here was jinxed. There was a faded, dark portrait on the wall that he was dieing to inspect but resisted - everything in here stank of dark magic.
He had managed to block out the other pairs bickering, it was getting annoying now and he had learnt to just walk away. Apparently, they were school enemies and their families had never got along so they were fighting like husband and wife.
Occasionally, he would hear snatches of their conversation, which were usually cries of indignation from Ron and cold remarks from Malfoy.
Finally they came to a decision,
"Harry's up there," Malfoy informed him, jerking a thumb towards the dark portrait, Mark just raised an eyebrow, questioning his sanity. Draco just pushed past him and touched the serpent locket delicately - the picture slide back soundlessly to reveal a steep set of stairs.
"Cold feet Weasley?" he spat, somehow able to look down at the red head even though Ron was taller. Ron gritted his teeth as Mark dragged him up the stairs and tossing Draco his wand.
~*~
Harry stirred but didn't open his eyes. Someone was calling his name. It was probably Aunt Petunia, yeah; Aunt Petunia telling him it was time for his breakfast and there was Dudley trundling past - he could feel the vibrations. In fact Dudley must have put on weight because the vibrations were shaking him.
"Harry!"
"Coming Aunt Petunia!"
Silence and the shaking stopped. Then an awfully familiar voice said,
"He's cracked, told you! Mad!"
Where was that voice from? He was starting to get his vision back - it was a small wonder his contacts hadn't broken - even so all he could see for a moment was a blur of blonde and a separate blur of red.
"Ron?" he croaked, blinked back whatever was crusting his eyes together, "Malfoy?"
A smirk and a genuine grin floated int view - things hadn't changed then,
"Is he always this cranky in the mornings?"
"Shut up convict!"
Ah, Mark. How could he even forget?
Harry managed to sit up and look around through his foggy vision,
"Hey, Mark,"
Mark grinned and helped Harry to his feet. Harry suddenly remembered, well Mark reminded him, that his wrist was broken but as Ron passed him his wand he healed it himself. He had seen Ron's healing skills, didn't trust Malfoy and Mark didn't pass his healing exam until his fifth attempt. Not that he didn't appreciate being rescued.
"Weren't you supposed to be the one rescuing Potter?"
"Ginny!"
~*~
Lucius didn't get another word out of Ginny though. In fact, he didn't get chance to say another word anyway. Ginny had realised long before that there was more reason behind Maria hiding than cowardice so kept as quiet as possible and didn't look anywhere except Lucius' eyes. She was slightly worried about how dilated his pupils were at the moment.
Ginny scrunched her eyes to try and block out the image of his face.
It all happened so quickly that Ginny didn't see it - only when she opened her eyes, her captor's body sprawled ungracefully on the floor. Ginny's mouth was open. She hadn't seen anything or heard anything except his body falling to the floor. Maria kicked his unconscious body and wiped the freshly bleeding gash on her cheek, she looked up and noticed Ginny's face. Maria grinned,
"C'mon then, Ginny"
Ginny stood up slowly, all the energy leaving her body suddenly even though Maria had healed her ankle. The blood in her head was pounding and she suddenly felt faint. Very faint now she thought about it. Swaying for a second she felt easy more sick so she decided to sit back down.
"Ginny?"
"Be right there,"
She heard Maria's questions in the hazy distance so decided to stay awake though it was sapping most of her strength. All she wanted to do was so to sleep but that Mary person's questions were so persistent that it wasn't worth it if it meant more of them.
There was a dull thud - Maria had kicked Lucius in the shins - and the door banged open once more. Great, she thought, just what she needed now. Maria's questions were gone - maybe she was asleep? Though she didn't realise it, she grinned lopsidedly, all she thought was: sleep was good.
~*~
They slowed down as they came closer to where Draco said the dudgeon was. Both Harry and Mark had no inclination to walk into another trap like the last one especially as both those situations involved a Malfoy. Harry was fighting off the urge to sleep again - that bruise around his eye was blurring his vision and pounding in his ear.
Then the path started sloping down and a soon appeared ahead which ajar. Draco and Mark hung back but Harry moved on just as fast not even realising that he was practically running. The door gradually grew and a minute later he was standing in front of it.
He clutched his wand and opened the door with the other hand. It creaked wide open slowly revealing the people in the cell.
The first thing he saw was Lucius Malfoy slumped all over the floor sporting a large black eye that was steadily turning darker. Behind him Draco snorted. Maria was fussing over someone in a chair uncharacteristically and it took Harry a moment to realise who exactly it was (there was a lot of mud in their hair):
"Ginny!"
Note: And a big hi to all those lovely reviewers - though I think some of you are dieing and yes my exams are over and we'll have to wait if I'll be moving down in my Science group. A1 to A2 is not good. Maybe I should shut- up you know, I mean I tell you guys all my problems - do you think that shows anything?
Chapter 16:
Mark had to sit on Ron when Maria explained to him exactly who it was they were trying to rescue and even then, Mark had a hard time keeping him down,
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?????!!!" Ron roared surprising loudly considering that he had a fully-grown man holding him down and squeezing all the oxygen out of his lungs.
Maria was desperately trying to calm him down and knelt by him ignoring all the murky water that found its way through her trousers and onto her knees. She was going to kill Harry when she saw him - he didn't explain to Ron that it was his sister that they were saving but then again, Maria didn't know why Ron didn't already know.
"Quiet!" she hissed covering his mouth with her hand and looking around in the mist as if hundreds of Lucius Malfoy's would come over the horizon, "They're barely six feet under us,"
Mark grinned at Ron's face,
"Excuse the pun,"
Ron growled and tried to push him off but failed and Maria removed her hand - he seemed to have calmed down. More than that in fact - he now looked like he was going to cry something that none of them needed. Her partner picked up on someone else's emotions for once and stood up leaving Ron to pull himself up on to a sitting position.
Maria straightened up and stared down at Ron with something she thought she would never use on someone she liked - pity.
"Look," Maria said matter-of-factly and catching his attention, "I don't know what you did to your sister-"
"I yelled at her,"
Mark joined in Maria's puzzlement and looked down at him just waiting for him to explain. Ron glanced up at the two Auroras and they saw the uneasiness in his eyes. Mark was the first to crack,
"You yelled at her?" he asked a small smile tugging at his lips, "I yell at people all the time. What was special about this yell?"
In other situations Maria would have hit him for being so insensitive but Ron was taking so long telling them whatever reason him and his sister fell out she didn't bother.
"I blamed her for our parents death,"
Something about that triggered a memory in both their minds - Harry had already mentioned something about this and what did before. That was the reason that she didn't like him before - she had seen this Ginny before though at a distance and she seemed as if nothing could touch her. Or at least nothing negative. And she knew that Harry always hid behind the whole I'm-in-a-dangerous-job-and-I-don't-want-people-at-risk thing and this girl had been the first one to get through it.
"You bastard,"
Ron looked a little better after she had said that.
~*~
"Glad you could come Mr. Potter,"
Ginny stared at the ropes that were binding her wrists together and closed her eyes in a vain attempt to block out the world around her. Her eyelids hurt, everything hurt for that matter. Her arms, her face, her legs, her head all ached but most of all her heart.
She ought to be panicked but she wasn't, a sort of ice-cold calmness replaced any emotions she may have felt before at the sight of Harry walking into a trap. A trap she could have prevented if she had a brain. She was so stupid, the feeling that she was a total waste of oxygen returned to her for not the first time in her life.
Harry figured it out in a second and Ginny could feel his gaze on her and she concentrated more on the rope binding her.
Lucius raised his wand and muttered something - Ginny couldn't hear what because she had blocked out er hearing.
Harry collapsed on the floor though she didn't hear - just saw it out of the corner of her eye - writhing in agony his wand just barley a foot away from his reach. Lucius kicked it out of the way into the shadows and Ginny watched it slide away into the darkness with her hope.
Lucius waved his hand and some more magical bolts drew across, the rust on the locks scraping all the way but doing nothing to wake Ginny out of her stupor.
This is where I'm going to die, she thought, alone with the people I love knowing I betrayed them.
~*~
Draco looked up the staircase in front of him, squinting up into the darkness searching for any sign of well, anyone. It had all happened so quickly he wasn't even sure what had happened himself.
All he remembered was that he was trying to find something - he had no idea what just something - that might help them whether it was a wand or a sword or just some food, anything. He had been concentrating on finding this thing that he only looked up lazily to see how Potter was doing.
That was when he saw it.
The door closing, slowly but there was no way he would reach it in time though he tried. As much as he hated Potter, that was just it. He did hate Potter and he liked it that way, what was the fun of hating a memory? Snape had made that mistake and looked what happened to him - swinging from hate to guilt only to take out his feelings on the son of the person he hated.
But all these thoughts happened at once and a split second later he was chasing the closing door. He might have yelled though if he ever looked back at those sequence of events every again in his mind, he would edit it out though whatever he did it didn't stop Potter.
Gryffindor's, he mused, all the same. Courageous they may be but Slytherin's at least had the sense to plan ahead.
All the same, if his little Auror friends or that Weasel's brother got their hands on him anytime soon, there would be hell to pay.
Those thugs as well, where had they got? If the group where still outside then how could they get to him or indeed Harry and his girlfriend? This had gone way out of plan but now he thought about it, there had been no plan to start with.
Draco dropped to his knees and kneaded his head with his knuckles. He had all to many reasons to believe that all the people in this team were damn Gryffindor's which showed through with the stupid situation that they were now in.
Two of them were with his father (he gave them an hour tops), three of them were outside in the stinking wasteland no doubt being either enticed by Kelpies or beaten to death by those two thugs.
Hermione and Dumbledore it seemed were the only two with a little sense and they were little over, oh, a hundred miles away and he had already tried apparating and got a nasty bruise for his efforts. If he tried, he could find a way of contacting them but as he looked around the room he noticed something -
The windows around the top of the walls were barely half a foot above the ground.
That could help.
~*~
"What's taking so long?"
Hermione was jumping up and down, then sitting, and then returning to her pacing. Dumbledore smiled for what seemed the twentieth time and tried again to calm her,
"They've been gone two hours Miss. Granger. It takes an hour and a half alone to get there,"
This didn't help in the slightest, really did not help at all. She just paused, looked like she was considering calming down a little then went back to her twitching only this time worse. There was nothing left of their here - only Draco's wand which she had managed to lift from the Department Of Law Enforcement over five hours ago.
It seemed like an age away since she was chatting up the security man that was guarding the storeroom like an over grown bulldog.
The mere memory of what she had to do was enough to make her fall onto one of the chairs and groan into her aching hands.
Why didn't she go with them? Why did she have to go to sleep just before they went? And why was she still tired? Despite all the possible deaths going on around in her imagination, she couldn't help but picture the huge pile of marking she had to finish when she got back.
This was not good.
Knowing Harry and for that matter Malfoy, they would probably bicker then just stay away from each other. That would mean that Harry would do something daft and Malfoy might be left completely defenceless because here she was with his wand.
His wand.
Why hadn't she thought of this before?
If he had his wand, it could help or it could just make things a lot worse. If Lucius were talking to Draco or Harry at the same moment that the wand came in, he would know that there were some external forces helping. She had to do it though, whatever the risks - it was just ridiculous sending Draco out there without his wand, he grew up with this life of darkness. Hermione had a strong feeling it was Ron who had stopped him from taking it.
As much as she loved him, he could be annoying like that - didn't trust Malfoy as far as he could throw him though she didn't feel very differently.
But that wasn't the point. There was no way on this earth that Dumbledore was going to let her do a Locating Charm and sent Draco Malfoy his wand over what could be miles and miles of Muggle's. For one thing it could be seen though if it went high enough that wasn't likely. On the other hand, there was the possibility of it getting caught by a stray airplane and getting incinerated.
A person had only one wand - the wand was as unique to them as their DNA and very often they felt connected like without their wand they were not a whole being. Hermione hoped that being split off from it for a while didn't make Malfoy want his wand more because she had faced people that had had the one thing they had to lose lost and it wasn't pretty.
She had to bide her time anyway. Maybe there was some kind of alcohol in this place - as much as she did not want to see her old headmaster drunk it was their only hope.
~*~
"Take her out."
Lucius nodded to the men behind Harry but he didn't care. All he could think about was his friends, Malfoy and most of all Ginny.
He was on his knees before Lucius with a broken nose, hands tied and the blood dripping steadily off the tip of his nose staining the floor in front. His broken right wrist he cradled in his arm keeping it out of Lucius' sight like the coward he was.
If he had a backbone he would have stood proud and tall like his father and fought for the people he loved. But he didn't. He took it. Took all the hits, all the blows and all the curses not even uttering a word of power.
He could feel Ginny stare as she was taken away but he didn't want to look at her - how could he? He had let her down, disappointed her and now this mistake was going to be his last.
"Get up." He ordered down at Harry, who didn't react, then after a moment yanked him by his collar onto his feet. For a deranged lunatic, Lucius Malfoy had some strength in him and he forced Harry to look at him,
"Rest assured Potter," he spat not trying to keep the anger out of his expressions, "They'll take good care of Ginny before she dies."
Harry struggled out of his grip but his strength deserted him under the vice grip around his neck. Fifteen minutes he had been in here and for ten out of those fifteen he had had the Cruciatus Curse on him over and over again. It was all he could do to stop screaming out loud.
"No!"
Harry glanced back jut in time to see Ginny being led down stairs and for one perfect moment her brown eyes met his and he understood her. The tears were still there; the cuts and bruises were still there, the same weaknesses but she was ready - ready for what he was yet to see.
"Just like you father," he hissed in Harry face, "Trying to save everyone. I see the Potter taste in partners hasn't got any better - are red heads a traditional choice Potter?"
Harry let the door shut before he answered using it to calm down.
"I really wouldn't know." Harry spat in his face using the last of his energy up quickly.
Who was he to talk about his family like that? It was because of him and the people he associated with that he didn't know these kinds of things.
Lucius' face contorted with suppressed anger and punch Harry in the stomach. Harry didn't give him the pleasure of knowing exactly how much that hurt. Lucius moved away and unfortunately for Harry, he happened to be holding him up slightly so with his hands behind his back he fell forward onto his broken wrist.
"Want to know how long I've wanted to do that?"
Harry didn't want to know but he was in no position to tell him other wise.
"Ever since I've known you father - was since I was ten. You're just like him and I knew how to hut him and I know how to hurt you. Why, even your girlfriends look the same and look what happened to her."
Harry gritted his teeth and looked at the floor just as Lucius' knee connected with his chin. It was all Harry could do to stop falling over again but still stars danced in front of his eyes. Mark would have known what to do, he thought stupidly, mark was muggle born and did self defence until his eleventh birthday but the Dursley had never taken him swimming let alone a place to learn how to hurt people.
Something in Lucius face changed - he became calmer and silent which to Harry was worse than the yelling and the hitting he had received earlier. The man bend down to Harry's level but somehow Harry had to look up to stare him in the yes. Lucius tilted his head to one side and smirked.
"I shouldn't worry about her too much," he whispered in Harry's ear as he twisted the wrist around making several things crack, "You'll be seeing what's left of her soon enough,"
Harry gasped in pain and tried to blink back the tears making Lucius laugh even more as he stood up. This wasn't the first time he was feeling pain, and it wasn't even the worst, but every single time he had faced Voldemort, he knew why he was doing it - to rule again and kill him. But with Lucius, he could see that he wanted it kill him but Harry couldn't see the reasoning behind all of this.
"Why?"
"Do you think I'm going to tell you?" Lucius spat down at him, kicking Harry's kneecap viciously, "I don't expect you to even understand. To you every person's life is important, valued even. But to me its different people can be owned, can be property."
Harry frowned as more blood dripped softly of the end of his nose.
~*~
Draco sat in the middle of the room, eyes closed, crossed-legged on the rug just thinking. One of the few things he had been taught that seemed to apply in the real world by his father that nothing was too difficult for the brain - it was all just locked up. So now Draco was trying to find a way to unlock it.
No plan had come yet no matter how relaxed he got himself and every situation he thought of always ended in someone dieing or worse.
Think, he urged himself, think!
But it was no use. All the blankness he had given his mind seeped away like water running through his hands. It was like telling yourself to sleep - you just couldn't do it. The more it slipped away, the angrier Draco got and the angrier Draco got, the quicker it went.
Nevertheless, when he finally came completely back to consciousness, it was a shock the find himself sweating like he had run for miles. Ever time he managed to get close to some kind of idea he would hear himself at the end of his fifth year - "Your dead Potter!" - over and over again. The remark Harry shot back never quite echo though.
Draco shuddered. This place was cold but he was used to cold. Maybe why he couldn't quite slip in semi-consciousness was because he felt like someone was watching him. Without moving his head, he looked around him - nothing except that stupid portrait, the cause of all this and why Draco had to resort to actual planning.
As much as he had a go at all these people for not having a plan, he wasn't any better - the only reason he seemed to have a plan was because he lied more than he breathed.
But this was the only way. It Draco didn't get Harry it wasn't just the authorities that would want his skin, it was his friends. Weasley and the Mudblood he had seen angry but that Auror man looked pretty violent without much provoking. Those Crabbe and Goyle look-alikes were starting to worry him though, for their bulky size they seem to be invisible at this moment.
Draco shrugged off the feeling - after all he was a Malfoy still had some of the Malfoy pride in him.
He had every suspicion in the world that his father was going to play dirty - real dirty. What are rules made for except to be broken by people (i.e. affluent people)? Wit the right amount of money and power and rules can be twisted and mangled.
Draco rubbed his with his dirty hand, he could stilt feel where the ropes had been and was wishing desperately for a glass of water. The sandwiches that Hermione had made seemed a long time ago.
There was nothing to do except plan now. He flexed his shoulders and rolled his neck around before closing his eyes again. He ignored his stomach rubbing and that incessant tapping somewhere above him.
~*~
"Great! So what are we supposed to do now?"
Ron had been saying more or less the same thing for the past hour or more. Maria, for the first half an hour, was feeling kind of understanding for once - this poor guy had seen his best friend and his only sister for possibility the last time. But now it had gone beyond annoying.
Harry and Maria once had to deal with a woman whose son and daughter had been kidnapped and would not stop making daisy chains. By the time Mark and his partner had retrieved the children, the chain was over five metres long. That, before now, had been her worst ever shock victim. Ron Weasley, however, had now taken that spot.
Mark scratched his neck for the fifth time in two minutes. That was a bad sign.
"Ron," she soothed forcefully and grabbing his jacket, "Just sit down! We've only been here an hour."
That was a lie. By her watch they had been here 2 hours, twenty-six minutes and counting. There was still no sign of either Harry, Draco or, most scary of all, those human boulders. Ron sighed heavily and flounced to the ground next to Maria looking completely wretched. Maria couldn't help still feeling sorry for him though a small part of her wished that there were some daisies in the area.
"It's just been so long!" Ron explained, receiving a soft punch on the shoulder from Mark to be quiet. He continued in a softer voice, "Does it usually take this, you know, this long?"
Maria forced a smile on her face,
"Depends. If they came out in ten minutes I'd be worried."
Ron seemed a little better after that but all the same he kept staring up at the building behind them. Even in this light-that-wasn't-quite-light, it was so big that the top merged with the fog into nothing. Or it could have just been thick fog.
"Do you want to explore a bit?" Ron asked.
Both of them looked as if he was crazy. There was this little mad glint in his eye that wasn't there before. Mark trod carefully,
"Why?"
Ron grinned,
"Look," he pointed to something near the bottom of the building. Maria squinted and saw it was nothing more than a small barred window - no way they could get in without making noise. "Ginny might be in there,"
"Yeah," Mark replied with heavy sarcasm, "So might the rocks,"
Ron didn't figure it out for a second but frowned.
"So that's a no to the exploring?"
Basic Rule Number 6 of the 'How To Survive Auror Life' was 'Never leave an area where your friends know you are or that is safe.' That was just a shorten version, the real book donated a page and a half to all two hundred and three of its rules.
"That's a hell no."
Ron look offended, then angry, then stood up very swiftly and started marching up to where this window was. It all happened so quickly that neither of them had time it react to what happened.
A wand came flying through the air and hit Ron and the side of the head sending both him and the wand towards the floor. Maria shot out of the bushes Mark sniggered for a while before helping Maria drag Ron up into a seating position. It was a wonder that Ron didn't cry out in shock - that wand came out of nowhere pretty fast. Maria bent forward to pick it up.
Peering at it through the limited light, she saw it was made out of dark wood. Not being a wand maker herself, she didn't know what was in it or anything. Every little child is taught one thing about wands in the wizarding world - the wand reflects the person's character.
Now for the tough question: Who did she know that was dark and in the area?
"Malfoy,"
Ron looked up dazed and rubbing his head,
"What about that git?" he grumbled.
Mark made no effort to correct him,
"This is his wand," Maria explained frowning, "But how-"
"Hermione."
~*~
Draco still could not concentrate. For one thing his stomach was rumbling again but he could ignore that and his lack of sleep - that wasn't what was annoying him. It was that constant tapping again.
For the past five minutes he was trying to ignore it without much success.
With his limited imagination, he could think of just three reasons behind the tapping. One: Harry was trying to get out in which case a bit of ignorance on Draco's part wouldn't go amiss. Two: Owl Post was late. Or three: That something had-
A magically magnified voice boomed around the room and even then he couldn't help but open his eyes.
"Will you quit your yoga and wake up Malfoy you little -"
~*~
"Keep tapping then," she hissed, poking him in the back only to receive a frown, "He might be asleep!"
Ron turned back to his tapping while Maria looked around in case those other Deatheaters come back. Mark, on the other hand, was just in a mood because he didn't see the point of not just opening it by magic and slipping through. Maria just had the feeling that Mark wanted to hit Malfoy though.
Ron sniggered,
"What?" Maria asked irritably not wanting one of Ron's jokes again. But nothing of that came. She peered over his shoulder only to see that he had rubbed all the murk and creatures of the window and looking through. What was so funny though, she had no idea.
"Malfoy," he gasped now even interesting Mark, "He's doing yoga!"
Trying to keep a smirk down she glanced at her partner. He was smirking even though he hadn't even seen it yet and even Maria couldn't help but find Draco Malfoy in the lotus position funny.
"Just keep tapping," she ordered, attempting to keep her voice straight if only for the sake of these two.
Shaking his head Ron returned to banging the tip of Malfoy's wand on the end. Maria was slightly worried - Harry had mentioned about wands going off by accident and apparently wizards had lost their behinds in previous years due to foolishness.
Suddenly, Ron's voice boomed over the landscape, making Maria jump out of her skin and making the fragile glass shatter everywhere.
"Will you quit your yoga and wake up Malfoy you little -"
He trailed off because Mark had his hands around his neck.
~*~
For a moment, Draco couldn't figure out the noise that followed the speech - when he did he grinned his vampire smile. Still in no kind of rush, he remained sitting down, cross-legged on top of the high quality rugs.
He glanced up at the window, which had smashed because of the noise, and he thought of a suitable comment to throw at Weasley when he poked his stupid head through. He had recognised his voice at once away, apart from anything, those other Aurors had to remain impartial - not that had stopped Potter on some occasions.
But Weasley didn't poke his freckled face through - that Mary girl did. He toned his comment down a little,
"You could have knocked,"
She didn't rise to it like every one else did, she merely grinned,
"You realise you look like a vampire bat when you sit like that,"
Draco stood up slowly and brushed himself down a tad unnecessarily and looked right into her eyes as he arranged his prison uniform into a better position,
"Thus the basis of its appeal,"
She laughed for the first time and Draco couldn't help smiling - apart from Pansy's fawning and cackling, that was the first time someone had actually laughed at a joke. He gave her a lopsided grin and kicked a piece of glass out of his way,
"You lot must be Gryffindor's," he muttered to no one in particular, "Total lack of planning - look at the mess for god's sake,"
He reached the window and The-Mary-girl just offered her hand to pull him through which he took
"Actually," she said looking down at him, he noticed a gash across the side of her face, "I was in Ravenclaw."
With their combined efforts they managed to get him through - he ignored Weasley and the other Auror fighting and replied,
"I like you already,"
~*~
"What was that?" Lucius snapped. Harry looked up; he had forgotten his ears worked. That sounded like Ron. At least it was Ron's exaggerated voice that he had heard but he thought it was just him that could hear it.
"Nott!" Malfoy yelled and almost a second later one of the human rocks appeared at his side, "What was that?"
Even with Nott's obvious limited number of facial expressions, Harry could still tell that he was nervous and Lucius picked up on it. It was quite amazing to see this mass of human shaking slightly at the sight of Lucius who, widthways was half the size.
"Look after Potter," he spat after a moment with no answer, "Don't let him out of your sight,"
This Deatheater nodded fervently at the prospect of doing something right. With one last dirty look at Harry, Lucius swept out of the room leaving Harry and this Human Rock alone in the room. This suited Harry just fine. It would give him time to figure out what exactly was wrong with him.
But as soon as he lifted his hand to his swollen eye making the Deatheater grunted a spell and again Harry was bound together at his wrists, knees and ankles. He hit the floor on his left temple and the world clouded over. He didn't care if he didn't wake up - ever.
The last thing he heard was another grunt though whether it was a word Harry had no idea but his mind was far to preoccupied.
~*~
"Ginny!"
Ginny looked up to find her brother staring back at her. All her strength seemed to return to her and all the cold ebbed away slightly though only for a split second. She shook her head and turned around. This was madness. She was going crazy - she was seeing her brother for the fist time in years. Ron hated her - he would be in London no doubt at a desk job drinking tea and eating muffins in a warm office.
And blaming and hating her. Maybe this was what Askanban was like.
"Ginny you idiot - we don't have much time!"
"Ron?" she croaked, unable to believe her luck, "Is that-"
"Yes, yes," he rushed dangling a hand down through the bars, "Can you move?"
Ginny tried but had to hold back a scream - her ankle was broken, the same ankle she broke in her fifth year. Even if she didn't have any broken bones, she felt she couldn't - she was on the last of her energy and a step felt like SO much effort.
"My ankle is broken,"
Several people swore and Ron's face was pushed out of the way to be replaced by another woman's face,
"Hello Ginny," she whispered, removing all the bars in one swoop with her wand and slipping through, "Mind if I join you?"
Ginny was just glad to see magic again. She was still sure however that she had imagined Ron's face.
~*~
"Does it hurt anymore?"
Ginny smiled and shook her head. Apparently, this woman was an Auror but she couldn't heal very well - the broken ankle was the best she could so. Ginny didn't care, all the other cuts and bruises were superficial and now she could walk, run! She shot up and ran to the window,
"Hey!" Maria called quietly, "Easy on the ankle!"
They both gazed up at the window, it was high up but Ginny didn't care how they got out, it didn't matter if that Ron was a figment of her imagination - at least there was fresh air out there. The sound of two sets of fast footsteps caught her attention and her heart sank, she had forgotten that there was a Malfoy here.
Maria looked around desperately and that bars had reappeared at the window,
"Shit," she muttered, "Sit down and pretend to be unconscious,"
Having spent the past couple of hours not pretending, Ginny slipped into the role quite easily. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the Auror fall silently into the shadows that lay behind her.
Then the door slammed open and the rushed footsteps slowed down as they came closer and closer,
"Weasley," he spat, "Is there something you want to tell me?"
Sleeping, she reminded herself, sleeping, sleeping.
That couldn't work for long, Lucius stepped forward and shook her awake and when Ginny opened her eyes she came face to face with a livid Lucius Malfoy. She didn't need to feign the panic and fear in her eyes, she really was scared of him and couldn't stand the feel of his hands on her arms as he pinned her on the chair.
~*~
"What are we supposed to do now?" Ron hissed for the second time in ten minutes. He didn't take all the dirty looks he was receiving as a hint. It seemed that he just couldn't stay still, "Couldn't we find Harry?"
Mark looked up at Ron and grinned - it was about time this actual rescue mission included some rescuing. Mark mentioned this to Ron as they wound their way around to where Draco was earlier on,
"But you rescued me!"
Both Ron and Mark ignored him as they pressed on. Things had taken a nasty turn for Draco when Maria (he had found out her name) had gone - now it appeared that she was the only one who liked him. Then again, did he really want the friendship of Weasley and one of Potter's other friends?
"Here Malfoy, is this it?"
Draco squinted down at the broken glass and mangled bars,
"Have you broken any other windows?"
Mark smiled,
"Right lets go," and a second later he had slipped through. Draco grimaced - it was bad enough going back to this place but with a Weasley and a rescue for Potter as well it seemed like someone was punishing him for something.
He had absolutely no idea why though. What had he ever done?
As if reading his thoughts Ron pushed him forward,
"Cold feet Malfoy?"
Draco just shot him a scathing look before sliding in and narrowly missing a pane of smashed glass.
~*~
"Okay," Ron whispered, looking around as if even the most innocent object could turn into a Deatheater, Draco bit his tongue, "What the plan?"
"You? Plan Weasley?" he scoffed, "I thing the smog has gone to your head!"
The tips of his ears went red,
"Alright then," he replied taking a step forward, Draco was suddenly reminded why he like Maria - she didn't rise to the stabs he made, "Your Slytherin, your cunning, you plan!"
Draco grinned evilly,
"Finally, someone with a little sense!"
Mark just rolled his eyes at the pair of them and started to insect the room, examining each object until Draco mentioned in passing that half the stuff in here was jinxed. There was a faded, dark portrait on the wall that he was dieing to inspect but resisted - everything in here stank of dark magic.
He had managed to block out the other pairs bickering, it was getting annoying now and he had learnt to just walk away. Apparently, they were school enemies and their families had never got along so they were fighting like husband and wife.
Occasionally, he would hear snatches of their conversation, which were usually cries of indignation from Ron and cold remarks from Malfoy.
Finally they came to a decision,
"Harry's up there," Malfoy informed him, jerking a thumb towards the dark portrait, Mark just raised an eyebrow, questioning his sanity. Draco just pushed past him and touched the serpent locket delicately - the picture slide back soundlessly to reveal a steep set of stairs.
"Cold feet Weasley?" he spat, somehow able to look down at the red head even though Ron was taller. Ron gritted his teeth as Mark dragged him up the stairs and tossing Draco his wand.
~*~
Harry stirred but didn't open his eyes. Someone was calling his name. It was probably Aunt Petunia, yeah; Aunt Petunia telling him it was time for his breakfast and there was Dudley trundling past - he could feel the vibrations. In fact Dudley must have put on weight because the vibrations were shaking him.
"Harry!"
"Coming Aunt Petunia!"
Silence and the shaking stopped. Then an awfully familiar voice said,
"He's cracked, told you! Mad!"
Where was that voice from? He was starting to get his vision back - it was a small wonder his contacts hadn't broken - even so all he could see for a moment was a blur of blonde and a separate blur of red.
"Ron?" he croaked, blinked back whatever was crusting his eyes together, "Malfoy?"
A smirk and a genuine grin floated int view - things hadn't changed then,
"Is he always this cranky in the mornings?"
"Shut up convict!"
Ah, Mark. How could he even forget?
Harry managed to sit up and look around through his foggy vision,
"Hey, Mark,"
Mark grinned and helped Harry to his feet. Harry suddenly remembered, well Mark reminded him, that his wrist was broken but as Ron passed him his wand he healed it himself. He had seen Ron's healing skills, didn't trust Malfoy and Mark didn't pass his healing exam until his fifth attempt. Not that he didn't appreciate being rescued.
"Weren't you supposed to be the one rescuing Potter?"
"Ginny!"
~*~
Lucius didn't get another word out of Ginny though. In fact, he didn't get chance to say another word anyway. Ginny had realised long before that there was more reason behind Maria hiding than cowardice so kept as quiet as possible and didn't look anywhere except Lucius' eyes. She was slightly worried about how dilated his pupils were at the moment.
Ginny scrunched her eyes to try and block out the image of his face.
It all happened so quickly that Ginny didn't see it - only when she opened her eyes, her captor's body sprawled ungracefully on the floor. Ginny's mouth was open. She hadn't seen anything or heard anything except his body falling to the floor. Maria kicked his unconscious body and wiped the freshly bleeding gash on her cheek, she looked up and noticed Ginny's face. Maria grinned,
"C'mon then, Ginny"
Ginny stood up slowly, all the energy leaving her body suddenly even though Maria had healed her ankle. The blood in her head was pounding and she suddenly felt faint. Very faint now she thought about it. Swaying for a second she felt easy more sick so she decided to sit back down.
"Ginny?"
"Be right there,"
She heard Maria's questions in the hazy distance so decided to stay awake though it was sapping most of her strength. All she wanted to do was so to sleep but that Mary person's questions were so persistent that it wasn't worth it if it meant more of them.
There was a dull thud - Maria had kicked Lucius in the shins - and the door banged open once more. Great, she thought, just what she needed now. Maria's questions were gone - maybe she was asleep? Though she didn't realise it, she grinned lopsidedly, all she thought was: sleep was good.
~*~
They slowed down as they came closer to where Draco said the dudgeon was. Both Harry and Mark had no inclination to walk into another trap like the last one especially as both those situations involved a Malfoy. Harry was fighting off the urge to sleep again - that bruise around his eye was blurring his vision and pounding in his ear.
Then the path started sloping down and a soon appeared ahead which ajar. Draco and Mark hung back but Harry moved on just as fast not even realising that he was practically running. The door gradually grew and a minute later he was standing in front of it.
He clutched his wand and opened the door with the other hand. It creaked wide open slowly revealing the people in the cell.
The first thing he saw was Lucius Malfoy slumped all over the floor sporting a large black eye that was steadily turning darker. Behind him Draco snorted. Maria was fussing over someone in a chair uncharacteristically and it took Harry a moment to realise who exactly it was (there was a lot of mud in their hair):
"Ginny!"