Magnanimous Chapter 4: Daring, a harry potter fanfic

Magnanimous Chapter 4 – Daring

Disclaimer: Plot is mine. The rest is all JK's.

Thanks for 50 reviews goes to: mutsumi, Saotoshi (x3), seashore, Rebecca15, Emerald Raven, Kersten Cheyne, Solemn Rayne, icemonkey, Vfoxy713, Oz1, ast*P, Xtreme Nuisance, Hp1fan, willowwiccantara, aliveforever83, Chiinoyami-chan, willowfairy, Flexi Lexi, KrystyWroth, simrun crazychick-1027, Jade-Jaganashi.

And special mentions to the two of my friends who reviewed under pseudonyms. You know who you are… Thanks also to the friend who reviewed with her real name!

Author's Note: This should have been up last night. It would have been up last night. It was sitting there, all nice and neat, ready for me to add a note and post it up… and then ff.net decides to bully me. With one of those random error messages which look like a monkey got loose on a keyboard.

Anyway. Apologies for the lateness, it shouldn't happen again, so long as the site doesn't die on me.

The e-mail update list is still and will always be accepting new submissions. Just leave your e-mail in a review and ask me to add it.

This Friday is BCG injection day. Cross your fingers for my test showing a positive result so I don't have to have the needle! Remember – if I do, my arm may hurt so much I can't write. Which is bad. Very bad.

And I think that's all. There's a recap at the beginning of the last chapter, because I cut off in a weird place. Enjoy!

~*~

And then a new voice split the proceedings. A young, male, drawling voice that was all too familiar.

'If I may interrupt this dramatic scene with something of historic proportions,' said Draco Malfoy, pulling Harry's Invisibility Cloak off his head, 'A momentous event has just taken place. I actually agree with a Weasley.'

~*~

All three of them gaped in shock at the shadowed figure of Malfoy, leering at them in the gloom. Malfoy surveyed their faces with a satisfied smirk, apparently amused.

'Yes, I do realise I am incredibly sexy, but that's no reason to gawk like dying goldfish.' he commented loftily.

Ron was the first to pull himself together. He drew his wand from his pocket and aimed it threateningly at Malfoy. 'Why are you here?' he questioned angrily. 'What do you want?'

'Tell me, Weasley.' Malfoy drawled, surveying the wand with a raised eyebrow. 'What exactly do you plan to do with that? Give me a demonstration of 'Weasley being stupid again'?'

Ron realised too late that he couldn't cast magic, and glowered at Malfoy. 'I could give you a demonstration of 'Enraged Weasley jabbing pointy stick up nostril of Malfoy.', if you'd like.' he muttered sourly.

'I somehow doubt that will be necessary.' Malfoy replied silkily. 'And as to your questions… if you want it simply, I'm here to help.' He shrugged elegantly, leaning back against the wall, and smirked.

Hermione, who had been silent for a while, narrowed her eyes in suspicion. 'Help us? What with, and why?'

'With what you were arguing about.' He replied cooly. 'Turning off the power source of the Aculux curse. I know where the master tower is, and I have the incantation to turn it off.'

There was a pause while they digested this. Harry was listening but ignoring them for the most part, except to cast a few dark glares at Ron, and occasionally Malfoy. His eyes still glittered with pain, like the shards of a broken mirror.

'So what you're saying,' Ron said eventually, 'is that you want to help us to stop Voldemort's plan, even though you're an evil Death Eater to-be who's never done a good deed in his life. And you expect us to believe you?'

'That's rather harsh, Weasley.' Draco said stonily, his face suddenly expressionless. 'I have no intention of being a Death Eater, much as it may surprise you. But yes, I meant what I said. I want to help you stop him.'

'Why are you doing this?' Hermione asked in a strange voice, frowning.

'Personal reasons.' he replied, blank-faced. Something seemed to strike him, and his mouth curved into one of his trademark smirks. 'There's already too many filthy Muggles in this country. I hardly want more, do I?'

His stance was casual, almost bored, his face bearing an enigmatic half smile. The overall impression was that this didn't matter to him, that he was doing this on a capricious whim, and whether they decided to believe him or not didn't matter.

Ron seemed to accept this, if he noticed it at all, but Hermione noticed something else. Malfoy's eyes had the same casual look to them, but as they darted between herself, Ron and Harry, she noticed something else. Not desperation, not concern, nothing so obvious. But something was there; a hard edge, a serious edge, far removed from his false air of informality. Enough to let her know, to make her sure; whatever his reasons for doing this, he meant it. This wasn't a game to him.

Hermione frowned. 'So it was you who stole Harry's Invisibility Cloak.' She remarked, glancing at the shimmering silver cloak where it rested on the floor. 'Why?'

'To follow you.' He replied calmly. 'I wanted to stop this curse, I knew the teachers won't do anything, and I also knew that if anyone in this damned school would, it was you three. So I followed you to see what your plans were. If you'd decided not to go, I'd have gone alone.' For a moment he looked almost defiant.

'We have decided not to go.' Harry remarked, voice still deep and angry, not looking up. There was a moment's silence, in which Ron's face grew paler and guiltier.

'Really? I thought you hadn't decided yet. Certainly I heard nothing like a decision or a calm, reasoned discussion in that screaming match you were having earlier.' Malfoy commented. Harry's eyes glittered with rage, but he said nothing.

'Shall we put it to a vote?' Malfoy asked almost cheerily. 'Democracy can be useful. All in favour of actually doing something useful instead of screaming at each other…'

Ron frowned suddenly and cut in. 'Wait a minute. We can't trust him.' he said, suspicious. 'Why would his father let him stay here and lose his powers? He wouldn't. Unless he needed to stay inside the field to do something like this. To trap us for Voldemort!'

Malfoy looked vaguely impressed. 'Quite a deduction, for a Weasley.' He remarked. 'But utterly wrong. There's nothing suspicious about it at all. All the Slytherins with parents in Voldemort's ranks took an antidote about a week ago. It stops the effects becoming permanent. But it only works if you take it before the spell is cast… so it would be no good to you.'

There was a pause, in which the hard look in Malfoy's eye deepened and mistrust shimmered in the air. Even Harry was paying attention now. Beside him, the Runespoor looked agitated.

'How much longer? How soon can we be free?' Alpha asked sadly.

'Soon.' replied Harry, sighing. 'As soon as we've decided not to run off and get ourselves killed…' He glanced up with another glare at Ron.

'Show us some proof.' Hermione asked of Draco, who looked mildly affronted by her demand. 'The incantation, or a map of where the main tower is.'

'Fine.' Draco replied, pulling some creased parchment out of his pocket. It had been folded for so long that it left deep creases in the parchment. It had been written very quickly and hastily, in Draco's spiked hand.

One side bore a diagram like the one the Runespoor had drawn in the dust, but with more detail. The Forbidden Forest and Hogsmede, as well as other geographical features around the school, were added on: and one of the three towers had a large star on it.

'The master tower.' Draco remarked, pointing to it. 'Right by the north border of the Forbidden Forest. I copied these off my father's notes, but they're accurate.'

He turned the parchment over. It bore a few lines of writing in the same spiky black lettering: an incantation in Latin, and the instructions for making it work.

Dico, et scelerati imperia huius orbis audire me imperio. Vos qui magicum ex animis magorum subduces, opus vester desinete, ad tenebras regredimini et qui subduicsis reddite. Nolite vester lucis acutae elucere numquam postes sinete; vos requiescere imperio.

Inside the master tower is an orb, with the sharp light that defines the field spiralling up from its depths. To end the curse, one should place both hands on the orb and recite the incantation above.

This incantation is proven to put an end to the fearful curse of the Aculux. However, it is inadvisable to use it, as records hold various reports of what happened to the person who used the incantation. Some reports show agonising deaths, comparable to burning or a lightning strike. Others report no damage at all. As it has not been used in thousands of years, no one knows for sure: but to try it is to risk your life.

Hermione and Ron read this in silence, frowning at the warning.

'Maybe this isn't such a good idea...' Hermione said dubiously, biting her lip. 'I mean, if we could die…'

'If we don't do it, then most of this country's wizarding population will lose their magic.' Malfoy pointed out swiftly. 'If they lose their magic, then there's no one to fight Voldemort. Only his followers will have magic. I know that they plan to kill everyone in this school as soon as the effects are permanent. Then it's only a matter of time for all the out-of-school wizards to die – by old age or murder – and England is Voldemort's for the taking.'

It was a grim picture, and illuminated the harsh reality of what would happen if Voldemort's plan were carried off. An agonising death… but they would suffer just as bad if not worse at the hands of the Death Eaters in a few days, and not only them, but the entire school. And for all Dumbledore's planning, there would be no way out of the school that wouldn't result in a few deaths.

One life wagered against many lives. Like one of those hypothetical situations, so easy to answer when safely in the realms of 'Imagine if…' but so hard to accept when it came to reality.

'It's a risk we have to take.' Ron said firmly, with the stance of a Gryffindor's courage. 'We have to try it.'

Hermione nodded. 'You're right. Count me in.'

'That makes three of us.' Malfoy remarked, looking up with a strange light in his eyes. 'Potter?'

Harry's glare was foul. 'As it seems I have one good friend risking her neck on this,' he said, voice clipped and scathing, as if he were the one who should be in Slytherin, not Malfoy, 'I have to go along with it, if only to keep an eye on her.' Hermione swallowed and looked down at the floor guiltily.

'Harry…' Ron said pleadingly, 'Look, I was angry…'

Harry didn't even look at him. 'Shut up, Weasley.

~*~

The night was cold. A cloudless sky revealed every solitary star, spanning the heavens with a glittering web. A little way above the horizon, a skinny crescent moon cast a bright, clear light on the Hogwarts grounds. It was a strange light that seemed to splice the world into black and white, allowing for no shades of grey, just utter darkness against glaring light.

But there were many shades of grey in the small party that crept out of a side door and stole softly across the grounds. The lines between friend and foe were blurred as they crossed the midnight grass, blurred almost beyond recognition. Harry and Ron, who had faced so many years together, were walking on opposite edges of the group. Ron looked desolate and guilty; Harry simmered with rage.

The other hazed aspect was in the swaggering form of Draco Malfoy, who was sauntering across the grounds as though he made heroic ventures every night. Hermione walked alongside him, mainly because she had to with Harry and Ron being so difficult, but partly because she was curious.

'Malfoy…' she began, in an attempt at conversation. He interrupted, however.

'Draco, if you please. We are… allies, after all.'

'Alright, Draco.' The name tasted unfamiliar to her tongue, unusual and new, but strangely comfortable. 'I want to know… how do we know we can trust you? How do we know you aren't just leading us into danger?'

'You don't.' he replied simply with a shrug. Hermione stared at him in surprise. He cut a strange figure in the moonlight; his robes as black as the sky, so if you looked hard enough you could convince yourself there was nothing of him there but his pale, pale face, small and mysterious smile on his lips, and blond hair that shimmered in the moonlight.

'Then how can we…'

'Hermione.' He interrupted, throwing her an amused smirk. 'Do you think I'm lying to you?'

'Well,' she considered, 'no…'

'Then why ask?' he replied. 'And don't be so sure. I'm a good liar.'

His joviality made her frown. 'You act like you're going to a party, not a life-and-death situation.' She muttered. He didn't reply, only gave another elegant shrug and kept on walking.

'You know what I think?' she asked, skipping a few steps to keep up with his striding pace. 'I think you're scared. I think you're putting all this on as a show, to pretend to us that you aren't really afraid. Because you don't want to lose face.'

'You know what I think?' He smirked again, a wide one. 'I think you've read too many crappy psychology books.'

Irritated, Hermione did not reply, and the conversation fell into silence, broken only by the crunching of their feet on the crisp grass.

Meanwhile, the Runespoor they had freed was slithering around in the grass, weaving in and out of their ankles. All three heads were euphoric at their freedom; Beta perhaps showed it most lyrically.

'Freedom! To slither through the grass, to hunt under the moon, to do as we will and live as we like! No space in all of thought where fancy cannot spread her painted wings, no place in all of reality where our scales cannot slither. Free!'

'Shut up.' Harry hissed back in irritation.

'What is wrong?' Alpha spoke this time, slithering in circles around Harry's feet as he walked. 'I taste anger. There was shouting before. What is angering you?'

'Nothing that concerns you. Someone I thought was my friend turned out to be a heartless bastard. That's all.'

Gamma nodded sagely. 'The one with the red hair? Yes… His air tastes nasty. Full of sorrow and guilt.'

'I don't care if his air tastes like the bloody Queen of Sheba!' Harry snapped, but the snake took no notice.

'And the pale boy, he tastes of fear. A lot of fear. Only the girl has anything like a normal air, and even she is troubled. Such unpleasing airs…'

'Let us go…' whispered Beta. 'Leave these humans, leave this prison behind… let us leave. To slither beneath the stars, to hunt the wild mice, to taste the blood of our kill. To live free, my brethren, under ties to no man!''

The other two heads seemed to agree, for the Runespoor slid away into the night, still hissing as it went. Beta began a song, which grew fainter and fainter as it vanished into the distance. If he listened very, very carefully, Harry swore he could hear Alpha and Gamma join in on the chorus.

But he didn't listen, and he didn't care. He hissed a nasty string of swear words, directed at Ron and the world in general, and went back to stomping broodingly along at the far end of the group.

It was only a few minutes later that Hermione spotted something. 'Do you three see a glow?' she asked, frowning and peering at the sky.

'What?' asked Ron, looking up.

'A glow. Like a line of light in the sky…' she replied, peering up into the midnight blue.

'It's the border of the field.' Draco replied casually. 'We need to follow it straight along till we reach the thread that goes towards the master tower.'

As the border came into clearer focus, they could see it for what it was, more than a fuzzy glow of light. It hung about twice the height of a grown man from the ground: if Harry had stood on Ron's shoulders he would just have been able to reach.

It was nothing more than a thin beam of pure white light. But as the four looked at it in a fearful awe, it seemed to be more than that. It was like a cut into the very fabric of reality. Even more than that; it looked sharp, like the menacing light on the edge of a knife blade. It made the observer very, very sure that if they touched it they would get their fingers sliced off.

If they had expected some sensation – a reaction, some feeling as they passed out of the field - they were disappointed. There was nothing, not even a twinge, to let them know their powers had returned.

Draco pulled out his wand. 'Be on your guard,' he told then, 'Voldemort planned to surround the towers with curses and obstacles… And of course, some of his Death Eaters on patrol. In case we get split up…'

He pulled the piece of parchment from his pocket. 'Triduplica.' He said, tapping it with his wand; it shimmered for a moment and divided like a cell splits. There was now the original parchment and three copies, which he gave to Ron, Harry and Hermione.

'This way.' he said, motioning with one elegant gesture in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, straight along the beam of light. 'We'll follow this line of the triangle until it meets the fork, then follow that line to the master tower.'

No one replied – there was no need to. They set off again in an edgy silence. The atmosphere was serious now: all four of them were tense, ready for attack. Harry still looked murderous, his knuckles white where they gripped his wand. Ron was pale, obviously still guilty, eyes flickering around them nervously, often landing on Harry's figure. Draco seemed composed, his face impassive, but his blank expression didn't genuinely indicate how he felt. Hermione appeared strong, even calm: she was doing what she had to do and not panicking in the process. But her eyes kept slipping sideways, focusing on Draco with a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty.

He was a mystery. Why was he doing this? What did he stand to gain? Nothing, as far as Hermione could see. It was so completely unlike the Malfoy she knew, a total opposite to the snide, sneering mini-Death Eater persona he usually wore with a swagger. The only explanation she could think of, as she watched him out of the corner of her eye, was that he was tricking them. Luring them out, maybe… luring them away from the castle. Into a trap!

She watched him warily, her suspicion rocketing. He could be leading them to danger… but he was leading them towards one of the towers, and there was a one in three chance that it was the right one even if he was lying. So for now, it was best not to speak up…

But the instant she suspected him of leading them into danger, of course… A dozen interesting spells coursed through her mind, and she began to ponder which one would be most efficient and most satisfying.

A sudden wind blew past then, freezing cold and violent, tearing at their clothes and blowing grit into their eyes. As she flung up her arms to protect her face, the thought flashed through Hermione's mind: it wasn't a windy night, there hadn't even been a breeze…

'What's going on?' shouted Ron. He had to shout: the wind was picking up, roaring in their ears and deafening them.

'We must have triggered something!' Draco called back, staggering as the gale tried to rip him off his feet. The trees were thrashing wildly in the wind, leaves being torn from their branches and hurtling away. 'We need to find shelter!'

But there was no shelter here. The Forbidden Forest, which may have offered some kind of cover, was still far, far ahead of them. All around, there was nothing but the grass, low shrubs, and the occasional ancient tree, which groaned and strained as the storm threatened to tear it from the ground.

And then, appearing on the horizon and racing towards them at a terrifying speed, was something else. A huge cloud was hurtling towards them, yellow-orange, with a noise like that of a demon rising from the mouth of Hell.

This time it was Harry that cried out, 'It's a sandstorm!'

And then there was no time, no time to do anything before the cloud of sand hit.

The world vanished, turned into nothing but a swirling cloud of sand that cut and stung as it raced fiercely past them. Each member of the quartet was suddenly alone, cut off from those people that had been at their side only moments ago.

Hermione tried to call out, screaming for Ron or Harry, even Draco, but her voice was drowned by the roaring wind so that even she could barely hear her cries, and the sand flooded her mouth each time she tried. It was everywhere, attacking every inch of her exposed skin, digging itself into clothing and hair. She could open her eyes only a tiny crack before the sand was whipped into them too. It was a nightmare, she thought desperately as she flailed hopelessly through the sandstorm, and surely, surely she'd wake up…

And then something large and black appeared to her left and crashed into her.

'Get down, you idiot!' the figure shouted, and she realised by the sound of the voice that it must be Draco. 'Get down on the ground before everyone's separated!'

She ignored him, her hands scrabbling to catch hold of him, desperate for something tangible in this world of whirling madness. 'Where are they? Where are Harry and Ron?' she screamed, half-hysterical.

'I haven't a clue, you brainless dimwit, now get down! If you lie flat on the ground it'll get you less!'

She had no intention of lying down. 'We have to find Harry and Ron!' she shouted. 'They might be hurt… they might need our help!' She wound her fingers into the fabric of his robes and clung on tightly.

'I'll find them, alright? Now get down before you get hurt!'

When she still made no move to lie down, he muttered a swear word under his breath and shoved her hard, sending her toppling through the storm. Hermione fell through the biting sands and landed, hard, on an already-growing sand dune. She tried to struggle up – they had to find Harry and Ron – but Draco appeared again beside her, lying down on the ground. Even in the midst of a sandstorm, he did it gracefully.

'If you weren't being such an idiot, I could find them!' he shouted. 'But as it is, I have to stay here and stop you acting so stupid. And keep your head down, it's easier to breathe.'

She tried to lift her head up, to scream something at him, but his arm snaked out, forcing her head firmly into the sand. His hand stayed there, pressing on her head at all times. She couldn't move her head an inch, no matter how hard she tried.

And so, with a sandstorm raging above her and Draco firmly forcing her head against the ground, she lay and waited for the madness to end. She didn't know if Harry and Ron were alright or even where they were: they could be just a few metres away or have stumbled out of sight. All she could do was wait and hope.

~*~

Now, before you click the review button (which you are going to do, right?) I do realise that there's some unanswered questions in this chapter… Ask them if you like, but remember; a good few of them are left unanswered intentionally. In the fullness of time…

I doubt any of you could have missed the huge glob of Latin incantation in the middle of the chapter… nearly gave myself a migraine translating that! Translation follows:

I speak, and command the evil powers of this orb to hear me. You who steal the magic from the souls of wizards, cease your work, retreat to the shadows and return what you have stolen. Let your sharp light shine no longer; I command you to rest.

And I think that's all.

Review. Go on. Review. Please? Pretty please with sugar on top? And icing in the middle? And a fat-free version for those on a diet?

Please?