Chapter 18 - Abducted
April 2007
Draco Malfoy sat with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny in an upstairs bedroom at Sirius' home, playing exploding snap and eating the chocolate frogs that they'd saved from their last Hogsmeade visit. The Easter holiday had begun, and since most of Slytherin House had decided to stay at Hogwarts for the holiday, Professor Dumbledore had decided that Order Headquarters was the best place for them all.
The months since Snape's second departure hadn't been easy. Draco suddenly found himself to be the pariah of Slytherin, and without a Head of House to keep his housemates in line, things tended to get out of hand. Sirius and Muriel had been a great deal of help, but most of the skirmishes seemed to fall on the Gryffindors he'd despised for so long. He'd told them about staying at Headquarters last summer, and shown them his attic bedroom as proof. He and Hermione still fought once in a while, but the words mud blood and ferret seemed to be universally off limits. Since Ron had helped him with the Slytherins in the divination classroom, the two had fallen into an uneasy camaraderie as well. But he was finding that he had the most in common with Harry. Professor Deesia, who only insisted on her formal title in class, had begun teaching him Occlumency as soon as Professor Snape disappeared again. Harry and Draco had fallen to practicing on one another, and both had been more than a little surprised at what they'd learned.
"Look at this," Draco said suddenly, handing Harry the Famous Wizard card that he'd just opened.
Harry laughed out loud, then scrambled up from the floor and said, "Come on!" Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance, but couldn't help laughing as Harry and Draco found Sirius, in the kitchen. They thrust the card at him, demanding to know why he hadn't told them about it! Sirius laughed too, passing the card to Ron, who said, "Bloody hell," before handing it on to Hermione and Ginny. Hermione let out a little squeal of delight.
"When did you start appearing on Chocolate Frog cards, Sirius?" Ginny asked.
"I haven't yet, they sent me some before they started selling them and I put a few in your stash," he replied, grinning. "I thought you'd get a kick out of that." They headed back upstairs, still laughing.
"Hey," Sirius called after them, "did you get those Potions essays done yet?" He heard them groan as they tromped away. He didn't want to take a bunch of points from Gryffindor for them not having their homework done.
Sirius checked his reflection in a mirror in the hallway as the doorbell rang. 'Well,' he thought ruefully, 'I'm not exactly dashing, but definitely better than this time last year.' "Harry!" He called up the stairs, "I'm going out for a bit, Remus will be here any minute, so behave yourselves and stay put!" He pulled open the door. Muriel was standing outside, looking flustered. "Ready to go?" he asked with what he hoped was a charming grin.
"What are you up to?" she asked immediately. But she let him lead her down the street, walking hand in hand like any muggle couple in the world. He handed her a chocolate frog, feeling at once proud and ashamed of himself. 'If Remus ever saw me stooping to a low trick like this to get a girl - ' He snorted a bit, thinking of what his friend would say.
Muriel knew what the chocolate frog contained before she opened it. She had, after all, arranged for them to meet with Sirius and take his picture for it only a few months before. Nevertheless, she was careful to say all the right things, and was rewarded as Sirius beamed at her. They walked on in silence for a while, enjoying one another's company before Muriel spoke again.
"Sirius, let's go to Diagon Alley. It just occurred to me that Draco's birthday will be coming up, and I'd like to get him something." Draco already had a very nice eagle owl, she knew, but his broom was rather outdated and she'd been thinking of getting him a new one.
Sirius was glad for the excuse to extend their time together and agreed. They passed a pleasant afternoon shopping, though Muriel was careful not to mention Severus at all. They even ran into a few old friends who hadn't seen Muriel yet. And although he wasn't too happy about sharing her, Sirius enjoyed watching her as she talked animatedly with a lady who'd been in Ravenclaw with her. He even stood by patiently as she chatted with the old wizard in Flourish and Blotts about her book, which he had recently begun selling, having heard that Fudge approved of her return.
As they came out of the bookstore they were met by a very worried looking Remus. "Sirius, Mur, you've got to come, Harry and the others are gone and it looks like the house has been ransacked!" He was breathing heavily and Sirius realized with a shock that neither he nor Muriel had told anyone where they were. It had taken Remus all day to find them! They all apparated instantly and returned to Grimmauld place. The house was in ruins.
"You don't think Draco would have - ?" Remus asked darkly.
"Of course not," snapped Sirius, "we've just renewed the Fiddaleus Charm since Christmas, only Dumbledore could have told."
"And he wouldn't have told on purpose," Muriel added, looking worried. They'd just decided it would be best to leave, as the Headquarters was no longer safe, when Snape appeared. He looked around the house and swore vehemently. Muriel rushed over to him, looking very pale.
"He's got Dumbledore and the others at Hogwarts. That's why the Slytherins were all staying. He told everyone but me." The sour expression he always wore was replaced momentarily by something that was almost fear. Then his usual sneer snapped back into place. He produced the port key that Sirius had used so long ago to take Muriel to the hospital ward. "Good luck," he said, and vanished.
"Remus," Sirius barked, "go and find the Weasleys, all of them." He turned to Muriel, " we'll need the Aurors for this could you - " he didn't finish asking because she was already gone. Remus vanished as well, and Sirius grabbed the port key that Snape had left on the table.
He found himself behind a curtain in the hospital ward that he could only assume Snape had pulled to help hide him. There were voices coming from Madam Pomfrey's office, and Sirius filled with indignation as he realized that several Slytherin students were holding the medi-witch at bay. He swallowed, and made his way quietly out, knowing that his first task had to be to get to Harry and the others.
He made his way up to the Headmaster's office, whispering the password as quietly as he could, then stepped onto the staircase. As he was taken upward, he transformed into the great black dog that he had been the first time Harry saw him. As soon as he was close enough to the top he jumped silently up to hide behind a large bookcase. He looked around.
Dumbledore was in his own chair, his head lolling back and his eyes closed. Sirius was sure that he'd been given some kind of potion, and wondered briefly if Snape had provided it. He squelched the thought as Voldemort spoke, coming down the right hand set of stairs to face Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco, who were all wearing identical expressions of revulsion.
"Well, it has been quite some time since we've chatted, hasn't it?" His voice was without warmth, and he cackled mirthlessly before continuing. To everyone's surprise he addressed himself to Draco. "You have served me well," he said, in a gracious voice, as though he was rewarding him, "You may go." The others stared in disbelief as Lord Voldemort released Draco from the binding spell that had been holding him. Draco didn't move.
"What do you mean?" His voice trembled, but he never turned his eyes away, and Voldemort seemed to consider him before his mocking voice rang out again.
"Did you imagine I would let you leave the Malfoy mansion with my most loyal follower if I didn't know that you'd be of some use to me?" He laughed his high-pitched, cold laugh, and Sirius shuddered involuntarily. He needed to get closer to them.
"Your ring, boy," Voldemort spat suddenly at Draco, "Perhaps you assumed your father gave it to you out of love?" At this Draco blanched, looking down at his ring, which seemed to be a brighter color of red than he remembered. He looked back up, still confused.
But Hermione was whispering, "Oh no, it must have had an escryvian charm on it!"
"What a clever girl!" Voldemort exclaimed mockingly. He turned back to Draco. "Indeed, and your father had the presence of mind to pass his ring into my keeping so that I could see whatever you were seeing." Draco sank to the floor in shame and fear as Voldemort raised his wand. "Now you will do what you were born to do. You will obey me!"
As he flicked his wand, Sirius, in human form again, stepped out from behind the bookcase, shouting, "Expelliarmus!" Voldemort's wand flew from his hand, and he took a step backward. Sirius looked over to see that Draco had picked up the fallen wand. There was a very tense silence as everyone wondered whether Voldemort's curse had hit him or not. Would he turn on them?
Then a slow smile spread across his face, and he pointed the wand at Voldemort. "Reversa Escryvia!" he said in a clear voice. Nothing happened, but Draco was grinning widely now, and Voldemort, to everyone's surprise, was grasping at his finger. His ring seemed to have attached itself permanently, though he tried desperately to pull it off.
Draco turned to release his friends, but was interrupted by several things happening at once. Severus appeared at the top of the staircase, flanked by Muriel, Arthur Weasley, Moody, and Kingsley just as several cloaked and hooded death eaters shattered the windows and rushed down the opposite staircase. The curses flew everywhere, and Sirius screamed to Draco to get himself and the others out. Draco released their bonds, and the five underage wizards crawled to the staircase, running at full tilt toward the hospital wing. Draco was still carrying Voldemort's wand.
Madam Pomfrey had managed to subdue her captors, and they nearly ran into her in the hallway. She listened to their jumbled news, then hurried off to find more reinforcements. "We can't just STAND here," Ginny said, stamping her foot in frustration.
"We can watch what happens," said Draco, his voice wavering. He took off his ring and held it in front of them, each of them placed a finger on it, and the world shifted. They were looking through the eyes of Lord Voldemort, and things looked grim indeed. Dumbledore still sat, slumped, in his chair. Several Death Eaters were already down, and Kingsley was having a fine time of it with Avery, who'd just tripped on the stairs. They watched as Kingsley bound him and took his wand, kicking him down the stairs and out of the way of anyone who might think to set him free again.
Arthur Weasley had a large cut on his arm, which reminded Ron of the curse Crabbe and Malfoy had been using on one another, but he seemed to be blocking curses fine now, though his hair was wet with the sweat of concentration. "But we can't hear anything!" Ron was looking worried, and Hermione had her hand on his shoulder. With a jabbing motion from Mr. Weasley his opponent fell down, a blank look on his face. The nose in front of their eyes twitched, and they realized that Voldemort must have spoken. The stunned man's wand flew into Voldemort's hand, and it seemed like everyone turned to look at him again.
The door to the Hospital ward banged open and several more Aurors from the ministry interrupted them, demanding to know where everyone was. Harry led the way back to Dumbledore's office, and gave them a detailed description about what was going on. But before he could finish speaking the password, Arthur and Sirius pushed their way out, supporting Muriel.
"Kingsley's gone, go in there and BRING SNAPE OUT!" Sirius shouted, sounding wilder than Harry had ever heard him. Only moments later the Aurors came out, levitating Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, and Kingsley, who was covered in a sheet.
"They're gone, the room's deserted," one of the Aurors said. He was obviously speaking to Sirius, though his eyes were on Muriel, who was just starting to come around after being stunned. Her eyes had a haunted look.
"Where are they, have they gone?" She asked. Her breath was coming in gasps, and Sirius was afraid she might hyperventilate.
"They've gone. We've got to get these three to St. Mungo's," he said as he helped her to stand.
"Severus!" she exclaimed, stumbling forward. He was shaking violently on the weightless stretcher, and he was definitely unconscious. "Oh, no," she said quietly. Sirius asked her what it was, and she shook her head. "Voldemort must have managed to get inside Severus' mind after all. That's the only way he could have known." She looked helplessly at Sirius. "You recall that I mixed Crucio with the everstick spell? Well, it looks like Voldemort's done me one better. He mixed a stunning spell with it too, so Severus can't even wake up long enough to perform the counter curse. No one knows the counter curse but him, Sirius!" She swore loudly as the tears started to pour unbidden from her eyes. She knew the kind of pain he was in.
"Surely someone at the hospital will be able to come up with a counter curse or an antidote. Let's move." Sirius was already leading the way downstairs, Harry and Ron beside him.
They finally reached St. Mungo's hospital and forced their way in through the visitor's entrance. Several healers seemed to come out of no where to help them into beds. Muriel and Sirius sat with Snape while several healers tried everything they could think of to counter the hex. Nothing worked, and he continued to moan and shiver in his sleep.
Professor Dumbledore was revived rather quickly, and soon joined them, wearing a thin hospital dress, but the warmest, woolliest socks Harry had been able to find for him. He winked his thanks as he passed Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Draco on his way into Professor Snape's room. They quit whispering long enough to smile and nod at him, then resumed their conversation.
"Draco, it isn't your fault," Hermione said for the hundredth time. Draco had hardly spoken at all since they'd left Hogwarts. "You couldn't have known there'd be an escryvian charm on that ring when Dumbledore told you about Headquarters!"
"She's right, mate," Ron added, looking ruefully at the blood red ring that was still on Draco's finger.
"That's it!" Draco exclaimed suddenly, startling them into silence. He wrenched open the door to Professor Snape's room and ran inside. With almost idle grace he swished the wand, and muttered a long string of Latin that no one could follow. Snape sat straight up and his eyes opened very wide. He let out a scream that wrenched everyone's ears. But then he stopped, and fell back onto the bed, panting.
Everyone was looking at Draco again, and he felt his ears get hot. Hermione was whispering something to Ron, who exclaimed, "Bloody brilliant!" and fell silent. Draco looked back at them, and Hermione looked expectant. She wanted him to explain.
"When I was really young my father put a picture of Voldemort up in a back room in our house. Mother was furious, but when she tried to take it down, she found he'd used an everstick spell on it. We looked through every book in the house. It took us three weeks to find it, and it was really complicated. It's a wonder I remembered it at all." He shrugged, not willing to go into the changes he'd had to make in the spell to alter it for the purpose. When he looked up, he saw that Professor Snape was holding out an arm. He went forward to take it and was surprised along with everyone else when Snape pulled him into a hug.
"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy," he said, releasing him. Draco, looking both relieved and somewhat pink, headed back into the hallway with the others. He turned to close the door behind him, but heard Sirius ask Muriel and Professor Dumbledore for a moment to talk with Professor Snape. He opened the door again for them, and they all headed upstairs to find the tearoom. With Dumbledore awake and Snape no longer in pain, things were starting to seem normal again. As they passed the ward for serious spell damage, Hermione stopped.
"We should go in and see Professor Lockhart," she said timidly. "Remember what the nurse said last time we were here, Ron? He doesn't get any visitors, only fan mail." Ginny and the boys made faces at one another but followed her inside. They spent a pleasant quarter hour with an insufferably happy Lockhart, helping him address his fan mail.