"I can't believe we left her behind like that."
Draco Malfoy wanted nothing more at that moment than to shut up Harry noble Potter. "You heard her. She told us to take off. I'm not sticking around with that loony. Besides, all we have to do is hole up, wait for that repulsive potion to wear off, and go find her. I'm not planning to leave her out there, wonder boy. But I'm not stupid. You and I both have an idea what that repulsive creature will do to her; she's right, he's not going to kill her. Not right away, anyway. I'm not exactly thrilled leaving her in that situation, but she was right. We're no use to her right now; why stay behind and get killed too?"
Harry wanted nothing more at that moment than to kick Draco chicken Malfoy. He had an idea of what Malfoy meant by 'what that repulsive creature will do to her'. It both frightened and enraged him. "I hope we can find her when we do have the ability to use magic again."
"Thank you, Professor Obvious." Draco snorted as he looked over at the one person he had never wanted to be stuck in a dangerous situation in for the entirety of his life. "You didn't really think I would leave her there completely, did you? Despite my sarcasm, I'm not a total jerk, you know. I happen to like Drecorum. She's got a wicked sense of humor."
This was probably one of the last things Harry ever expected to hear Draco Malfoy say. He liked someone? "Why did you begin going to Drecorum in the first place?"
"Because. She didn't judge people. She seemed impartial. And because she came to me, asking to talk, one day in the library." Draco turned to look behind them, more because he didn't want to face Potter than anything else. "Just because I don't want to be my father doesn't mean I'm perfect or noble or anything. Don't go making that mistake. And while we're asking questions, why did you want to come along on this little adventure in the first place?"
Harry swallowed. He hadn't expected an honest answer from Malfoy. It made him feel more inclined to be honest in return. "Because that book, and what Dumbledore wants to use it for, is going to affect me. I'm going to end up at the center of it all. I guess I felt I should be there for the beginning of it all."
The thought made Draco look at Potter a little oddly. There had been such a tired resignation in his voice, like someone told they only had a month to live when they knew they were already dying. Maybe Potter wasn't the do-gooder he'd always thought. Maybe he didn't want any of this. Was that possible? Did Perfect Harry Potter really not want to be the famous savior of the wizarding world?
The rustling of leaves behind them stopped Draco's introspective train of thought. Without warning, hands clasped their shoulders and yanked them backwards.
A second wave of nausea hit Desi right as she saw Pettigrew through the trees. Swallowing the bile that rose in the back of her throat, she took off down the slope that led away from Harry and Draco, breathing a sigh of relief as he followed her. Something had told her this wasn't about the two students anymore.
This was personal.
The slope grew steeper the further she went, trailing towards a small streambed below. The trees here were older, denser, but a great deal of deadwood littered the ground at her feet. Desi kept finding herself dodging stumps and large branches, trying to avoid them so she could stay on her feet, sucking in air as her footfalls jarred her left shoulder painfully.
Why in the Hell hadn't he simply apparated to her?
As soon as she thought the idea, he did. With a loud pop, the short, loathsome, obnoxious, simpering creature that had locked her in the Malfoy home stood in front of her, barring any further escape.
Good. As long as he dealt with her, Harry and Draco were safe.
"Where do you think you're going, pretty Desdemona?" The high squeal in his voice made her want to curl up in a ball and cringe. "It's not nice to sneak away from your host, you know. It wasn't nice at all. And look, you've lost your lovely robes. You must be chilly. Red was always your color, you know. Brought out the highlights in your hair."
Desi wanted to be sick again. Somehow, she knew it wasn't because of the potion fiasco. "Yeah, well, I've been thinking of dying my hair. Black's a good color. Goes with anything. Whatcha think, Peter?"
Please, let those two get somewhere safe.
The only thing keeping her standing there at that moment was that lone thought. Well, that and the desperate hope that, by now, someone at Hogwarts was looking for them. Or her, at the least.
Pettigrew's eyes grew wide, and the expression on his face reminded her of a feral animal. With rabies. "No, you mustn't do that, lovely little Desdemona. Black doesn't suit you. Too colorful of a personality for that." He reached his left hand towards her cheek to brush away a lock that had slid from the braid, but Desi jerked away from the touch.
Pettigrew's eyes grew even wider at her movement.
In that moment, Desi felt the dark chill of fear sweep through her, and she shuddered. She couldn't help the involuntary act; all trace of rational thought left his face, and images of what could happen between that moment and whenever she was found flashed in her mind.
They weren't good images, either.
"I always thought you were special, someone unique, little Desdemona. So outgoing, so smart, so pretty and so lively. Even as a little girl, so lively. It was like you were so much more than the rest of us in school. Perfect Desdemona." He took a step closer and she stumbled back in response, her eyes closing in the split second that Pettigrew's hand flew out to grab her by the auburn hair he prized so much. With a yelp, Desi found herself falling to her right side, Pettigrew dragging her on the ground by his grasp on the end of her braid.
"So. You think you're too perfect for me, don't you, little Desdemona? Too special for someone like me. You weren't too good for whining, annoying Severus Snape back in school, were you? Oh, no, you weren't. Following him around like a kicked puppy. I had to watch every day as you tagged-along at his heels, wondering why I wasn't good enough to follow." Pettigrew was ranting as he kept hold of her hair and pulled her uphill by it, Desi kicking and scratching at his hand to no avail. "And when it wasn't Severus, it was my dear friend Remus. You can't tell me it was all tutoring and homework and friendship; I know better. You always had a taste for the outcasts, sweet Desdemona. You seemed to prefer them for some reason. Well, I was an outcast too." His tone suddenly raised, his voice a high pitched squeal. "Why couldn't you prefer me?"
Desi screamed as he dragged her over a log, her left shoulder catching a knot in the wood. He was insane. Completely insane. He was dragging her around a forest, screaming at her for things that happened over twenty-five years ago, and who knew what in hell he had planned for her when they made it back to the manor. She was screwed. Totally and completely screwed.
And there was no way help was coming. She knew it.
Another log jarred her shoulder, causing her to scream again. The pain in her shoulder was blinding her, her head ached from her being dragged by her hair, and Pettigrew seemed unfazed by any of what was going on.
"Where in the hell is she?"
The two students stood silent in shock and fear as they faced their professor, who looked pissed enough to take on Voldemort himself and win with hardly a scratch on him. Behind him stood their former professor, who didn't look as mad, but didn't look exactly thrilled to see them. For a second, neither could speak.
A step forward from a violent-looking Snape had both talking incoherently.
"She's in the forest somewhere."
"She made us leave her behind."
"Some henchman of you know who..."
"Pettigrew's chasing her..."
"...locked us in Father's apothecary..."
"...and she's sick from the potion..."
"STOP!" The lone word shocked both boys into silence. Snape's black eyes seemed to glow with anger, and Lupin was whiter than snow.
"Sick? From what potion?"
"Peter? Here? Where?"
Harry sighed deeply, trying to make his words coherent. "We came for the book Draco mentioned. We got here, Pettigrew apparated and took the book from us. He locked us in the apothecary, tied us up, and fed us something Drecorum called a Blocking Potion. He left to give the book back to Voldemort, and in the meantime Drecorum got loose, made another potion to counter the potion he gave us, and helped us get out. We had gotten into the woods when she got sick from the potion because she couldn't brew it or something, and then Pettigrew came back to find us gone. She made us take off because she was too sick to help us and the potion is still blocking us from magic." He turned to Draco. "Did I leave anything out?"
Draco thought for a second. "Scary guy steals book, locks us in apothecary, professor does contortion trick to get loose, makes a bad potion, throws her guts up, and decides to take on scary guy single-handed. No, I think you got it all, Potter."
"This isn't funny, Malfoy." Lupin turned even whiter. "Peter was after her? Or you two?"
Draco answered this time. "He said originally he was there for the book, but when he saw her, he went all weird and psychotic. He didn't want to take us to you-know-who right away. He kept making references to the two of them at school. It was weird, like she was his ex or something, leering at her and stuff. He ignored us most of the time, just kept staring at her, touching her cheek, acting like he was in love with her or something. Gross." He then realized what he had said, and who was standing six inches from him. "Sorry, Professor Snape."
Harry took over. "He said he'd hand us over to Voldemort when the timing was right. That he'd be back to check on us. He was fixated on Drecorum, though. He said he'd be back for her."
Lupin swore so fiercely that Harry and Draco stared at him, swapping looks that plainly read, 'so that's where Drecorum learned some of those phrases'. Somewhere in the words, Harry caught 'should've listened to Sirius' and 'if he touches her'. He didn't think he'd seen his honorary uncle this upset in two years.
Snape, on the other hand, wasn't following the conversation as well. "Pettigrew? Coming back for her? What in hell are they talking about, Lupin? And how is this helping us find Desi?"
"Because, Severus, Peter Pettigrew became obsessed with Des, especially after she left you and Slytherin. None of us understood why, but he had this idea in his head that after she and you fell through thin ice, he stood a chance. Remember, this was probably the only guy more hard-up in all of Hogwarts for a date than you. At least you had Des. He's not exactly mister sanity anymore since spending twelve years as a rat and then turning around and selling out to you-know-who. So, you have your girlfriend in some dark forest with a not-completely-stable blast from her past, sick off of some bad potion, and without the ability to use magic of any kind. At least we know what we're dealing with."
Snape looked like he'd been kicked in the stomach. Harry didn't envy him.
A sudden scream pierced the silence, causing all four to jerk, looking east towards where the noise came from. Within seconds, another scream rang through the air.
Pettigrew continued his insane ventings. "I can understand not preferring me at first. You were in Slytherin, after all. Not much time for me there, even if you were spending time with Remus. Studying, of course. Ah, but then you came to Gryffindor, and you spent even more time around me. You came and spent time with me and my friends. Did you ever know Sirius thought you were cute, but Remus talked him out of asking you out? He seemed possessive of you, little Desdemona. Always wondered why, if it was only a friendship. But I kept showing you how interested I was, and how much I cared. And none of it mattered." He stopped for a moment to look down at her face, terror etched in her eyes. The squeaky yelling voice was back. "It never mattered, did it?"
This didn't have anything to do with Voldemort anymore. In all honesty, it never had. Once he saw Desi, the plans changed. She saw that now.
In that moment, Desi feared for her life. He was crazier than she'd given him credit for being earlier. He was obsessed. She'd known that, years ago at school. She'd just not known what to call it. That day in the library years ago had scared her more than she'd ever told Remus. He'd always looked at her with those eyes, filled with a mixture of desire and rage. He'd always scared her, but she brushed it off then as her overactive imagination. Obviously, time and playing errand-boy for the dark lord hadn't exactly killed whatever thought Pettigrew had in the back of his mind twenty years ago. And now who knew what he was planning? All she knew was she hurt, she was scared, and she prayed like a Muggle priest that someone would find her before it was too late.
It was the last thought she had, as her head hit a rock jutting out of the ground at an odd angle, with a loud crack, knocking her into unconscious oblivion.
Still ranting to her about the past and how she'd wronged him, how the world had wronged him, Pettigrew finally reached the edge of the treeline. The damned bitch had cost him valuable time. He hadn't planned to have to go hunting her down in the forest. And where were those boys? He'd never be able to find them now. He'd been so giddy when he realized he'd be able to hand Potter over to his master so easily. His master would be happy, pleased, even ecstatic. Now she ruined that. Why couldn't she have just stayed in the room he locked her up in? It was his fault; he didn't realize he'd locked them into a potions room. Of course she'd find a way to get loose and to get out. She had always been smart and talented. Resourceful, making that potion in the dark, even if it did make her sick. Such a clever girl Desdemona had always been. Not just a pretty face...
With a final tug, he pulled her clear of the brush. It wasn't until her head rolled like a rag doll to one side that he realized she was unconscious.
This wasn't good. How long had she been like that? He'd heard her scream, that was a few minutes ago, but she wasn't awake. He slapped her face, trying to wake her up. Nothing.
This could ruin everything.
The pendant in Snape's hands began pulsing red. The sight of the flashing color caused the two professors to stop breathing and the two students to stare in confusion.
Snape spun around and began to walk directionless in the trees.
"Dammit, Severus, calm down!" Lupin grabbed the taller man by the shoulder, whipping him around. "She's still alive. We know that. But we don't know exactly where she is. What are we going to do, just storm around a bunch of trees and hope we find her?"
"Well, what do you suggest? Sticking around until this stops glowing at all? I'm not leaving her out there to die, Lupin!"
"So you're going to act irrationally and look for her with no idea of how to find her? Does that even make sense?"
The two men yelled at each other back and forth for a full minute until Draco Malfoy finally stopped them with a loud piercing whistle. They stopped mid-words to stare at their student.
"You two will be pleased to know that the fuzzy hole in my head vanished just a second ago."
Snape glared. "Is that all you can say?"
"And if that necklace is what I think it is, now that my head feels normal, I can turn it into a portkey to go save Drecorum. If you're interested, of course." Draco smirked at the pair, who looked as if he'd just announced he was Potter's new roommate.
Harry gaped. "You can make portkeys?"
Draco nodded. "Learned how studying for NEWTs. Practiced on a few things. How do you think I managed to nick the Ravenclaw shield from over their mantle a month ago?"
"It's illegal."
"Potter, you total twit, I'm in Slytherin, it's a nifty spell, and I mastered it, legal status notwithstanding." Malfoy rolled his eyes. "You really are a do-gooding annoying snot sometimes, you know that?"
Lupin groaned. "Draco, portkeys don't work like that. Portkeys are in tuned to a place, not a person. You'd have to know where she is in order to make a portkey to go to her."
"No, you don't." Draco stood firm. "As long as you have something else that knows her. Something else attuned directly to her. Which, from the way you two are carrying on about flashing colors, I'm assuming that necklace does."
Snape thrust the necklace out at him. "How can you make this a portkey to get to her?"
"It has a Guardian Charm on it, right?" At Snape's nod, he returned the gesture. "It's linked to her. I just add the portkey spell on top of the charm, and it works. I've actually done it before, when I wanted to visit my mother without getting permission to leave school grounds. It's really easy..."
Snape was sick of the background on this little piece of magic. "Do it. NOW."
Draco pulled out his wand, tapped the necklace, and said the incantation for the Portus spell in a hushed tone. Within moments, the red pulsing bottle was suffused with a blueish glow, which then faded as quickly as it appeared.
"There you go. Touch the bottle and poof! You're there by her side."
Lupin stared at him. "Thanks for the theatrics. Now, since we all know I can't touch the chain, and the bottle isn't exactly that big, I'm thinking only two of us can make this work. And you two are not coming." He stared hard at the pair of teenagers who looked ready to object. "If Des risked her life to keep you two out of trouble, I'm not incurring her wrath when you show up. Now, Severus, ready?"
The other man glared, holding out the chain so Lupin could take hold of one side of the small bottle. Within seconds, both men vanished.
Harry and Draco stood alone again in a forest, the sun beginning to slink down toward the horizon.
"I hope you didn't screw that spell up." He glared at Draco's back; the other boy was facing east, where his house sat.
"Don't worry, Potter. I know what I'm doing. Sometimes, even I can do something right."
He couldn't drag her much further; not like this. She was dead weight; at least before, her struggling had helped a bit. It had lifted some weight off of him. But now, he needed her awake to get her back in the house.
Pettigrew couldn't believe his bad luck.
It got worse when he noticed the blood that had run down one side of her head. Lifting the hair he loved on her so much, he found the source; a gash on the back of her head, blood seeping sluggishly. She must have hit a rock or something. But that hadn't caused her to scream.
Her left arm at an odd angle to her body showed him what had. She must have dislocated her shoulder. He'd noticed she hadn't been using it when he caught up with her. She must have done it beforehand. Dragging her on her back hadn't helped.
It wasn't as if he'd wanted to do that. He didn't want to cause pretty Desdemona any pain. He wanted her perfect; charming and lively, like she had been when he first noticed her.
Not that she'd ever noticed him.
But he'd made her notice him that day in the library. No more ignoring him, no more snubbing him for his friends. No. That day, she'd been forced to really notice him.
If only Remus and Sirius hadn't interfered.
Kneeling beside her, he tried to get her to wake up. Slapping her face some more, pulling back her eyelids. Nothing was going to work...
"Get your hands off her."
"We're not seriously going to sit her and wait for the two of them to come back for us, are we, Potter?" Draco rolled his grey eyes at the boy wonder in front of him, who'd managed to pace a decent path in the dirt between two fir trees in a matter of minutes. "I mean, we're not going to listen to them, are we?"
"How do you propose we get there, Malfoy? We don't even know where they went. They took the portkey. Unless you have a way of knowing where they are, we'll never find them." Harry kicked another pinecone out of his way. "Besides, how much sense does it make, charging into something when we don't know what to expect?"
"Spoken like a true Gryffindor, Potter. Amazing how old Lupin said the same thing to Snape just before they left." He picked up a rock and threw it, watching it bounce off a tree trunk thirty feet ahead. "And like a true Slytherin, you saw how Snape just loved that bit of advice. Come on, you pansy, you can't seriously say you want to stand here safe and sound while they have all the fun?"
"Fun? You think this is fun?" Harry stopped pacing to plot Malfoy's murder. "This isn't my idea of fun. Playing Quidditch is fun. Skipping divination is fun. Teasing Ron about his almost-nonexistent relationship with Hermione is fun. This - this is not fun. This isn't why I came along in the first place."
"Oh, okay, I get it now. All those times you snuck out of the dorms after hours were painful through and through. Scared, Potter? Is that it? You can beat a mountain troll, you can beat Quirrell even with a dark lord plastered to the back of his head, you can fight dragons and merpeople and come damn near to beating Voldemort more times than we care to recall, but teensy weensy scary stalker guy is too much of a challenge? Or is it that you're too lazy and think you're too good to help when there are adults around? And they call you the boy who lived." Draco rolled his eyes.
Harry couldn't believe his ears. "I am not scared. It has nothing to do with whether or not I can. But all the sarcasm in the Malfoy gene pool doesn't take care of the tiny little problem we have of not knowing where they are."
Draco grinned wickedly and winked. "What little problem?" In his hand, he showed Harry a ragged quill. "Nicked it from Lupin's pocket, amongst all sorts of other things he carries around, as I made the first portkey. I'll just do the same to this as I did to that necklace of Drecorum's. Take us right to them."