Tenken no Miko - Thank you. *smile* Back to unexplained events - but more WILL be explained. Soon. I promise.

spunky panda - More strange conversation. What can I say - they talk as they talk.

duj- another twist

Weirdo101 - OK. An update. *grin* (See - feedback gets fic. Try it - you'll like it. )

Empire and Exigency
Chapter 9 : Retrograde Maneuvers
by Annie B

Rated PG-13

JKR owns all things Hogwarts. I only wish I did.

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Lucius Malfoy looked up. "So, now that..."

CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!!!!!!!!

*whoop*whoop*whoop*whoop*

Whatever he would have said was lost in the sudden shrill of alarm.

"SORRY!" Harry shouted, holding up his wand to silence the sirens. "Teacher alert! Finish this tomorrow."

Already Ron and Hermione were running for the boats.

"What about...?" Draco looked frantically from Harry, to his father, to the red light flashing overhead.

"Tomorrow!" Harry was waving his wand faster then a conductor at the London Philharmonic.

Huge doors crashed shut over the tunnel entrance.

The long white candles flared, then died, as if snuffed by a thousand fairy fingers.

"He has to stay here!" Harry shouted over his shoulder, already headed for the steps. "Aragog will take care of him."

"The *spider!?" Draco's voice was a protest, but his body was following Harry to the river door.

Harry pointed his wand at the door as soon as they were out. It swung shut, the bolt driving home with a heavy thud.

At the end of the dock the two dragon boats were awake. Their blackened sails were stretched high, and at each side the oars waved like hummingbird wings.

Hermione balanced on the tail of the first boat.

Reaching out, she grabbed Draco's wrist and pulled him on board.

The dragon zoomed off, kicking up a wake like a powerboat.

Harry jumped for the other.

As the boats passed, Draco again shouted. "SPIDER!?!"

"Why not?" Harry called back. "You always said he looked good in silk!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lucius Malfoy stood alone ( well, he hoped he was alone ) in the middle of the dark cave. One sputtering candle, the remnant of the spell circle, burned at the far end of the empty sand. Beyond that, some scant patches of moss glowed sickly green, doing little more than marking the walls and deepening the ominous shadows.

Here and there something - perhaps just his imagination - shifted and moved inside those shadows.

His hand reached for the wand he no longer had.

Even if he had a wand, he doubted it would have helped. Weak as he was, he could feel the wards and bindings press down on him from the undefined darkness. He was out of Askaban - yes - but was this any better of a place? Stone. Darkness. Monsters.

How had he come to this?

One year before he had been the Favored Servant of the Dark Lord, feared and envied by those who dreamed of being his peer. Now?

He found himself pacing the narrow patch of light.

Dismissed. Disgraced. DEAD! for Merlin's sake. How had...?

"NO!" Lucius Malfoy pulled himself together.

He had survived. He WOULD survive!

He was a MALFOY! Nimue-damn-it!

He would plan. He would persevere. He would prosper. And - in the end - whatever it would require - he would PREVAIL!

End Chapter Nine

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And now - if you've enjoyed this chapter - you should push the little button on the lower left hand side. *I* will enjoy that.