Once again, sorry for the wait. I know the speech is getting a little old
but I'm really pressed for time right now with school starting up and
everything-I'll try and do better. .
This chapter is going to get confusing with names again. Remember Adonis=Draco.
-=-=-=-
The group arrived in a long forgotten field several miles out of the main town area. Looking around they saw only unattended brush and weeds surrounding them on every side, preventing their escape. No where to be seen was a place to house the missing people.
"Any muggles around?" Sirius said as his eyes scanned the horizon. "No? Good." With a quick wave of his wand a path was cleared before them.
"Right then. Everyone follow me, wands at the ready." Snape announced and began down the pathway. His own wand was clutched tightly at his side. The others followed, Sirius bringing up the read to put as much distance as possible between the Slytherin and himself.
For what seemed to the voyagers like hours they trekked through the field. It was as if they were making no progress at all. The grasses looked identical to one another. More than once on the journey Adonis wondered if they were going in circles. As they neared the edge of the upcoming forest afternoon turned to dawn, green changed to brown, and they found themselves standing at the base of a giant black fortress.
Adonis frantically glanced around them, looking for an opening. Everywhere he looked he saw only more of the barrier. When he turned to the rest of the group astonished eyes looked back at him, never leaving his face.
"What?" He asked, irritated. The constant stare made him uncomfortable and self-conscious. He nervously ran a hand through his hair. "What are you all looking at?" Harry was the first to speak up.
"Malfoy?" He said, his eyes narrowing to angry slits behind his ever present glasses. Adonis could feel the blood drain from hi face as the others threw him appalled looks.
"W-what are you talking about Potter?" He stuttered, attempting to remain calm but failing miserably.
"I knew it." Ron said. "I knew there was something fishy about you from the start. So what was your plan? Going to lure us all inside and get us killed? That is so like you." He growled, pointing his wand at Draco's throat. "Never trust a Slytherin."
He'd been found out. His identity had been revealed. The group stood in a semi-circle around him, pinning him to the wall. Even Snape had his wand drawn, although he wouldn't bring himself to look him in the eye. Regaining his composure he began to defend himself.
"It still amazes me how incredibly wrong you can be sometimes, Weasley. I'd nearly forgotten." He said with a smirk. "I applaud you for all figuring out my true persona, although since it's probably because my appearance charms have been broken I suppose I can't give you too much credit.
"That does however," he said, his voice hiding the fear growing within him, "seems rather odd to me since I have not had to repeat the spells since arriving here and I highly doubt that they would simply wear off at such an inopportune moment. My only guess is that after passing through the port hole, the powerful magic that created it must have reversed the spells. That would explain why our friend Weasley here now has so many more freckles than before." Ron's wand was by this time pressed so hard into his neck he was sure it would bruise. Before they could mutter a spell he went on.
"However, your assumptions for my leading you here could not be more wrong. After all, if any of you ever took the time to read the Daily Prophet you would know that my family is no longer in union with the Dark Lord and I doubt even bringing Wonder Boy here to him would erase the past. Even if you doubt that I am coming here to help rescue Hermione," Ron's wand pressed harder, "you must remember that my mother is still inside and I have no hope of rescuing her by myself. So if you would be so kind, please remove your wand from my jugular vein and let's get on with this, shall we?"
"What good would that do?" Ron said, never loosening his grip. "We could kill you right now and it wouldn't matter. We can rescue Hermione without you."
"Au contraire, Weasley. Like it or not you do need me to get inside. I know dark spells you've never even heard of that you would need later on if you want to rescue her instead of kill her."
"That's not true!" Ron spat back. "Snape was a death eater, he'll know the spells. There's nothing you could possibly do for us that we couldn't do ourselves."
Snape visibly stiffened, a reddish tone flushing his normally sallow face. His black eyes shot daggers at Ron's back.
"Once again I much correct you. Was Snape ever exposed to You-Know-Who's inner circle?" Without waiting for an answer he turned to the potions master. "Can you tell me what a Morsus curse does?"
The older man's mouth opened and closed several times while he thought of the answer, making him look like a fish out of water.
"That's what I thought. Now if you don't mind," he said angrily, "I'd be much obliged if you'd all lower your wands and follow me."
He grabbed the end of Ron's wand and pulled it away from his throat, feeling the bruising skin with his fingertips. With a final glare at the redhead he pushed his way through the semi circle and began to follow the wall. Until he arrived at the end of the building he hadn't been sure if the rest of the men had followed him. He turned to see them all several steps behind him, still eyeing him warily. Peeking around the edge of the building he could see the looming entrance guarded by half a dozen men in hooded black cloaks.
"There are six of them at the door." He said, turning back to the group. "I think a simple stupefy charm would get them out of the way long enough for us to get their uniforms and get inside. But first things first," he said, whipping out his wand and pointing it at Harry. Immediately all wands were at his throat again.
"Exolesco," he said, pressing his want tip to Harry's forehead. The once vivid lightening bolt scar had faded to all but a thin line. "All right, now we're ready. On my count. Three - Two - One - Go!"
The six men jumped out from being the wall, screaming the charm. One by one the guards fell to the groung. They dragged them around to the side of the building and stripped them of their uniforms before taking their wands and binding their hands and feet. They put the uniforms on themselves and slowly made their way to the door.
With no one to stop them they stood before the looming barricade, looking all around for anything that might activate its opening. The gleaming black walls shone in the morning light, the only things that stood out were the entwined snakes bordering the entry and two words etched in above them.
"Morto remembori." Draco said, studying the immense detail put into the lettering. "It's Latin, but what does it mean?"
"Nothing good I'll bet," said Ron. He ran his fingers down the door and attempted to push it open. Nothing happened.
"It sounds familiar-" Draco mumbled half to himself. "My father used to say it to me whenever I did something that displeased him. He translated it once but I-" his voice faded to nothing as Harry stepped forward, eyeing the inscription.
His eyes searched the snakes carefully, looking for any clue that would help to open the vast doorway.
"Morto remembori-" he repeated, but all that came out of his mouth was a dull his. The snakes' eyes began to glow a vivid emerald green and the door vanished. Before them was a long obsidian road, branching off to either side.
They hesitantly stepped inside, each of them feeling that any place that was this easily entered couldn't be good. The place was so quiet that their footsteps sounded like deafening thunder. No signs of life presented themselves. It was so dark inside it seemed as though even light was afraid of this place, whatever "this place" was. On either side of the road there were smaller black buildings. A feint light could be seen flickering in the windows. They stood alone, consumed by the silence.
"That must be where they house people." Lupin said as his eyes scanned the buildings. "It actually doesn't look as bad as I thought it would, I'm surprised."
Draco shivered besides the blistering head. The farther they went inside, the more sure he was that this couldn't possibly end well.
"Hermione has to be somewhere in here, but where do we start looking?" Ron asked, his voice cracking with fear.
"There." said Draco after some time, pointing to the largest building of them all. It loomed at the end of the road like a shadow. The air about it made the hairs stand up on the back of the group's necks and made them rethink why they were there at all.
"Why there, Malfoy? She could be anywhere." Harry questioned quietly.
"Because it's the main building of this place, most heavily guarded. You- Know-Who knows you would come to save her, Potter. So she's in the place that would lead you right to him." Draco explained and began down the path. Harry remained in his spot.
"You sure know an awful lot about this place for not being a death eater." He accused. Draco's body visibly stiffened. He turned back to Harry with a look of enragement on his face.
"If you had grown up with my father you would know more too. Every day having these things drilled into you, being the practice victim when he learned new spells, he thought this was my destiny. I know more than I ever wanted to know." And with that he pivoted on his heel and trudged back down the pathway. The others were too stunned by his outburst to do anything else except follow him in silent obedience.
After what seemed like an eternity they stood in front of the door. There were no snakes to speak to on this one, simple a large silver knocker. Draco looked at the door, his shoulders slumped like those of a defeated man. The only things that had kept him going this far were the thoughts that Hermione and his mother needed him. Him. For once the boy wonder wasn't the one in charge. But the door had him stumped. They couldn't just knock and walk into this place. Voldemort knew each of his followers by name and face.
"What now?" Ron questioned, oblivious to the look of puzzlement on Draco's face. Draco sighed in frustration and turned to Ron. The look he gave Ron silenced him for quite some time.
"If I knew what to do know, Weasley, do you think I would still be standing in front of the door?" He looked all around the door, finding nothing of use to him. He sighed in defeat and banged his head against the stone surface of the castle wall. Snape's beatle black eyes studied that door with such intensity one would have thought it was a complex new potion. He pulled out his wand and shoved Draco to the side. Pushing back his sleeves he muttered what sounded to Draco like a very complex spell. His wand tip began to glow a brilliant red and he quickly drew a horizontal line across the door. The entry itself turned from it's ebony state to a translucent gray.
"Don't waste anytime, it's not permanent." The professor said and pushed everyone through the quickly returning door. He only just stepped through before it turned solid again. He looked at the astonished expression on Draco's face and smirked slightly. "You obviously didn't learn that one from your father."
"Come on then, we're wasting valuable time." Sirius said and pushed his way to the head of the pack. Keeping his wand out in front of him he led them down a dark hallway. They followed along silently, each of them nervously looking this way and that for any sign of invasion.
'Why haven't we run into anything yet?' They all wondered but were too scared to say out loud. It all seemed too easy, as if they had gone too long without any conflict. It set all of them on their toes and made their hearts beat double time.
The only door branching off the hall was one at the very end of the corridor. It seemed miles away. Their footsteps echoed off the walls around then, Surely someone would hear them and come running. Surely something had to happen before they reached the door. But it didn't.
By the time they reached the entry they were all shaking with nerves. There was nothing special about the door. It looked as though it belonged in an ancient castle. The wooden surface was rotting and stained with moss. Harry reached out a shaky hand and turned the knob. As the door swung open the room came into view. Hermione and Narcissa lay unconscious on the floor at Voldemort's feet. He grinned maliciously at Harry.
"Harry, so glad you could finally make it."
-=-=-=-
I PROMISE I won't take two months to get the next chapter out, I feel so bad for doing this to yall. You can yell at me in REVIEW if you want. *wink*
This chapter is going to get confusing with names again. Remember Adonis=Draco.
-=-=-=-
The group arrived in a long forgotten field several miles out of the main town area. Looking around they saw only unattended brush and weeds surrounding them on every side, preventing their escape. No where to be seen was a place to house the missing people.
"Any muggles around?" Sirius said as his eyes scanned the horizon. "No? Good." With a quick wave of his wand a path was cleared before them.
"Right then. Everyone follow me, wands at the ready." Snape announced and began down the pathway. His own wand was clutched tightly at his side. The others followed, Sirius bringing up the read to put as much distance as possible between the Slytherin and himself.
For what seemed to the voyagers like hours they trekked through the field. It was as if they were making no progress at all. The grasses looked identical to one another. More than once on the journey Adonis wondered if they were going in circles. As they neared the edge of the upcoming forest afternoon turned to dawn, green changed to brown, and they found themselves standing at the base of a giant black fortress.
Adonis frantically glanced around them, looking for an opening. Everywhere he looked he saw only more of the barrier. When he turned to the rest of the group astonished eyes looked back at him, never leaving his face.
"What?" He asked, irritated. The constant stare made him uncomfortable and self-conscious. He nervously ran a hand through his hair. "What are you all looking at?" Harry was the first to speak up.
"Malfoy?" He said, his eyes narrowing to angry slits behind his ever present glasses. Adonis could feel the blood drain from hi face as the others threw him appalled looks.
"W-what are you talking about Potter?" He stuttered, attempting to remain calm but failing miserably.
"I knew it." Ron said. "I knew there was something fishy about you from the start. So what was your plan? Going to lure us all inside and get us killed? That is so like you." He growled, pointing his wand at Draco's throat. "Never trust a Slytherin."
He'd been found out. His identity had been revealed. The group stood in a semi-circle around him, pinning him to the wall. Even Snape had his wand drawn, although he wouldn't bring himself to look him in the eye. Regaining his composure he began to defend himself.
"It still amazes me how incredibly wrong you can be sometimes, Weasley. I'd nearly forgotten." He said with a smirk. "I applaud you for all figuring out my true persona, although since it's probably because my appearance charms have been broken I suppose I can't give you too much credit.
"That does however," he said, his voice hiding the fear growing within him, "seems rather odd to me since I have not had to repeat the spells since arriving here and I highly doubt that they would simply wear off at such an inopportune moment. My only guess is that after passing through the port hole, the powerful magic that created it must have reversed the spells. That would explain why our friend Weasley here now has so many more freckles than before." Ron's wand was by this time pressed so hard into his neck he was sure it would bruise. Before they could mutter a spell he went on.
"However, your assumptions for my leading you here could not be more wrong. After all, if any of you ever took the time to read the Daily Prophet you would know that my family is no longer in union with the Dark Lord and I doubt even bringing Wonder Boy here to him would erase the past. Even if you doubt that I am coming here to help rescue Hermione," Ron's wand pressed harder, "you must remember that my mother is still inside and I have no hope of rescuing her by myself. So if you would be so kind, please remove your wand from my jugular vein and let's get on with this, shall we?"
"What good would that do?" Ron said, never loosening his grip. "We could kill you right now and it wouldn't matter. We can rescue Hermione without you."
"Au contraire, Weasley. Like it or not you do need me to get inside. I know dark spells you've never even heard of that you would need later on if you want to rescue her instead of kill her."
"That's not true!" Ron spat back. "Snape was a death eater, he'll know the spells. There's nothing you could possibly do for us that we couldn't do ourselves."
Snape visibly stiffened, a reddish tone flushing his normally sallow face. His black eyes shot daggers at Ron's back.
"Once again I much correct you. Was Snape ever exposed to You-Know-Who's inner circle?" Without waiting for an answer he turned to the potions master. "Can you tell me what a Morsus curse does?"
The older man's mouth opened and closed several times while he thought of the answer, making him look like a fish out of water.
"That's what I thought. Now if you don't mind," he said angrily, "I'd be much obliged if you'd all lower your wands and follow me."
He grabbed the end of Ron's wand and pulled it away from his throat, feeling the bruising skin with his fingertips. With a final glare at the redhead he pushed his way through the semi circle and began to follow the wall. Until he arrived at the end of the building he hadn't been sure if the rest of the men had followed him. He turned to see them all several steps behind him, still eyeing him warily. Peeking around the edge of the building he could see the looming entrance guarded by half a dozen men in hooded black cloaks.
"There are six of them at the door." He said, turning back to the group. "I think a simple stupefy charm would get them out of the way long enough for us to get their uniforms and get inside. But first things first," he said, whipping out his wand and pointing it at Harry. Immediately all wands were at his throat again.
"Exolesco," he said, pressing his want tip to Harry's forehead. The once vivid lightening bolt scar had faded to all but a thin line. "All right, now we're ready. On my count. Three - Two - One - Go!"
The six men jumped out from being the wall, screaming the charm. One by one the guards fell to the groung. They dragged them around to the side of the building and stripped them of their uniforms before taking their wands and binding their hands and feet. They put the uniforms on themselves and slowly made their way to the door.
With no one to stop them they stood before the looming barricade, looking all around for anything that might activate its opening. The gleaming black walls shone in the morning light, the only things that stood out were the entwined snakes bordering the entry and two words etched in above them.
"Morto remembori." Draco said, studying the immense detail put into the lettering. "It's Latin, but what does it mean?"
"Nothing good I'll bet," said Ron. He ran his fingers down the door and attempted to push it open. Nothing happened.
"It sounds familiar-" Draco mumbled half to himself. "My father used to say it to me whenever I did something that displeased him. He translated it once but I-" his voice faded to nothing as Harry stepped forward, eyeing the inscription.
His eyes searched the snakes carefully, looking for any clue that would help to open the vast doorway.
"Morto remembori-" he repeated, but all that came out of his mouth was a dull his. The snakes' eyes began to glow a vivid emerald green and the door vanished. Before them was a long obsidian road, branching off to either side.
They hesitantly stepped inside, each of them feeling that any place that was this easily entered couldn't be good. The place was so quiet that their footsteps sounded like deafening thunder. No signs of life presented themselves. It was so dark inside it seemed as though even light was afraid of this place, whatever "this place" was. On either side of the road there were smaller black buildings. A feint light could be seen flickering in the windows. They stood alone, consumed by the silence.
"That must be where they house people." Lupin said as his eyes scanned the buildings. "It actually doesn't look as bad as I thought it would, I'm surprised."
Draco shivered besides the blistering head. The farther they went inside, the more sure he was that this couldn't possibly end well.
"Hermione has to be somewhere in here, but where do we start looking?" Ron asked, his voice cracking with fear.
"There." said Draco after some time, pointing to the largest building of them all. It loomed at the end of the road like a shadow. The air about it made the hairs stand up on the back of the group's necks and made them rethink why they were there at all.
"Why there, Malfoy? She could be anywhere." Harry questioned quietly.
"Because it's the main building of this place, most heavily guarded. You- Know-Who knows you would come to save her, Potter. So she's in the place that would lead you right to him." Draco explained and began down the path. Harry remained in his spot.
"You sure know an awful lot about this place for not being a death eater." He accused. Draco's body visibly stiffened. He turned back to Harry with a look of enragement on his face.
"If you had grown up with my father you would know more too. Every day having these things drilled into you, being the practice victim when he learned new spells, he thought this was my destiny. I know more than I ever wanted to know." And with that he pivoted on his heel and trudged back down the pathway. The others were too stunned by his outburst to do anything else except follow him in silent obedience.
After what seemed like an eternity they stood in front of the door. There were no snakes to speak to on this one, simple a large silver knocker. Draco looked at the door, his shoulders slumped like those of a defeated man. The only things that had kept him going this far were the thoughts that Hermione and his mother needed him. Him. For once the boy wonder wasn't the one in charge. But the door had him stumped. They couldn't just knock and walk into this place. Voldemort knew each of his followers by name and face.
"What now?" Ron questioned, oblivious to the look of puzzlement on Draco's face. Draco sighed in frustration and turned to Ron. The look he gave Ron silenced him for quite some time.
"If I knew what to do know, Weasley, do you think I would still be standing in front of the door?" He looked all around the door, finding nothing of use to him. He sighed in defeat and banged his head against the stone surface of the castle wall. Snape's beatle black eyes studied that door with such intensity one would have thought it was a complex new potion. He pulled out his wand and shoved Draco to the side. Pushing back his sleeves he muttered what sounded to Draco like a very complex spell. His wand tip began to glow a brilliant red and he quickly drew a horizontal line across the door. The entry itself turned from it's ebony state to a translucent gray.
"Don't waste anytime, it's not permanent." The professor said and pushed everyone through the quickly returning door. He only just stepped through before it turned solid again. He looked at the astonished expression on Draco's face and smirked slightly. "You obviously didn't learn that one from your father."
"Come on then, we're wasting valuable time." Sirius said and pushed his way to the head of the pack. Keeping his wand out in front of him he led them down a dark hallway. They followed along silently, each of them nervously looking this way and that for any sign of invasion.
'Why haven't we run into anything yet?' They all wondered but were too scared to say out loud. It all seemed too easy, as if they had gone too long without any conflict. It set all of them on their toes and made their hearts beat double time.
The only door branching off the hall was one at the very end of the corridor. It seemed miles away. Their footsteps echoed off the walls around then, Surely someone would hear them and come running. Surely something had to happen before they reached the door. But it didn't.
By the time they reached the entry they were all shaking with nerves. There was nothing special about the door. It looked as though it belonged in an ancient castle. The wooden surface was rotting and stained with moss. Harry reached out a shaky hand and turned the knob. As the door swung open the room came into view. Hermione and Narcissa lay unconscious on the floor at Voldemort's feet. He grinned maliciously at Harry.
"Harry, so glad you could finally make it."
-=-=-=-
I PROMISE I won't take two months to get the next chapter out, I feel so bad for doing this to yall. You can yell at me in REVIEW if you want. *wink*
