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Summary:The discovery!


"Don't kill her father...please don't...ill do anything...Father... No...she hasn't corrupted me...she's a human like you...please father..."

Narcissa's eyes shot open. A confused look passed her face. The bloodshot eyes focused on Ellie.

"Nora?" she said and fell back into the eerie lands of her unconsciousness.


Meanwhile, downstairs in the kitchen, the table was piled high with books, both from the Black family library and the Hogwarts library. The vast majority of them were on the Dark Arts, as Dumbledore was almost certain that Narcissa's tattoo had something to do with Dark Magic.

In the room sat nine persons: Hermione, her head buried in a book so heavy that she had to rest it on the floor, or the table would collapse, and Ron searching half-heartedly through a much smaller book. Ginny and Harry lay on their stomachs next to the fire, books close together and shoulders touching. Although they appeared, to the casual observer, to be diligently studying said books, anyone who knew the couple well might notice that more of their attention was focused on their clasped hands that the crisp brown pages that they turned at regular intervals.

Remus was doing a much better job. He was thoroughly absorbed in a book entitled The Dark Arts and Their Effects on the Human Body, a 14th Century book written in Latin. Despite the somewhat disturbing passages it contained, Remus was genuinely interested in the contents of the tome, for purely professional reasons of course, and this meant that he was probably paying more attention to his book that anyone else in the room. Tonks sat next to him at the large oak table. She was not even pretending to research, having given up on understanding the archaic language in her own book ten minutes ago. She had her hands cupped around an empty tea cup (Hermione had sent her away from the books while it was full), watching Remus curiously, wondering how he could be so interested in such a book.

Mairead was also sitting at the table. She had been sharing another book between her and Sirius, also written in Latin, and Sirius had translated in a soft voice while Mairead jotted down any useful information on a pad. Now Sirius had gone upstairs to check on Ellie, she was rereading her notes, looking for anything useful.

Arthur had transfigured one of the kitchen chairs into a soft, plush couch and he and Molly sat on it side-by-side, each with a book on their lap, also studying intently.

Bill had gone back to Egypt after the Order meeting, he had to work tomorrow, and the twins were working at the joke shop. Charlie had gone to talk to Hagrid about Norbert, he had brought an album full of photos for the gamekeeper to look at.

The only sound in the room was the swish of turning pages and the crackling of the fire, charmed not to give off too much heat for the summer day.

Ron, much to Hermione's annoyance, had broken the silence regularly, exclaiming over the things that he read ("Ugh, a curse to eviscerate someone!" "Hey, I've always wondered if I could turn Malfoy into a girl!") until both Hermione and Remus had hissed at him to be quiet simultaneously. Now he too sat, chastised, in silence.

Hermione turned the page of her book, and found the beginning of the next chapter, which was entitled Body Swaps. Glancing down the page, she noticed a picture of the tattoo, with numbered arrows to show the way that it was drawn. She let out a gasp, which echoed round the nearly silent room. Everyone looked up at her inquiringly, but she ignored their curiosity, instead reading on to pick up as many details as she could.

When she had read the passage thoroughly she looked up and smiled a triumphant grin at her companions and said, "Call Dumbledore. I've found it."

Minutes later, Dumbledore was in the room, and at his suggestion, Hermione read out loud the passage she had found.

"The Animus Muto is a spell in which causes the souls of the two subjects to leave the body in which they dwell and take up residence in the body of their counterpart. Essentially, the souls are exchanged, giving the each party full control of the other's body, and no recognition of their own. This was most commonly found in Ancient Egypt, where dying Pharaohs would use the exchange to inhabit their heir's bodies in order to increase the length of their reign.

The spell is invoked using a complicated ritual performed by the most powerful of the subjects. The other subject does not need to consent to the procedure. The subjects sit with in a circle of sacred sand mixed with ground sage and dried dragon's blood. A tattoo is inked onto both the subjects with a potion made of the blood from the liver of a toad, a boomslang skin and a little blood from each subject. Instructions on how to make this potion can be found on the next page. The tattoo is in the shape of a pentagram with a double-headed arrow bisecting it, as shown below, and the lines must me drawn in the illustrated order. The caster touches his wand to the other subject's temple and his other hand rests on their forehead. Then the words of the curse: "Animus Muto" are invoked. The procedure may take several minutes and will be very painful, but the caster must not break his connection with the subject or both souls will be lost into the Ether."

There was absolute silence.


Upstairs, Ellie had come to a conclusion. That woman lying in front of her was not Narcissa Malfoy. In fact "that woman" was not a woman. This was Draco, her best friend. No one else had ever called her "Nora". And his mutterings made sense too. Obviously Lucius had found out about their friendship, and threatened to kill her.

"...She's a human like you..." he had said.

So Drake had tried to persuade his father that she was human, that their friendship was not wrong. She winced, imagining Lucius' reaction. He must have got one hell of a beating for that. And that explained his cold reaction to her letter too.

Deep in thought, she was unaware that her father was watching her from the door, concerned about her pale face, and horrified expression.

He came forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She jumped, startled and looked up at him.

"I know what the tattoo's for," she announced.

And with that, she ran out of the room, clattered her way down the stairs and into the hallway. Sirius followed her quickly.

Ellie threw open the kitchen door just in time to hear Dumbledore's summary.

"So we know that it is not Narcissa upstairs, but someone else in her body. And we have no idea who it is."

Everyone turned round at the sound of the door opening.

"I do. I know who it is, it's Draco."

Shocked silence once again descended on the party.

"May I ask what leads you to this conclusion, Miss Black," Dumbledore questioned.

"He recognised me, and called me Nora. No one else ever did. And he was talking in his sleep. Besides it explains why the Draco you know and the Draco I knew are so different."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, and this explains why there is no Dark Mark on Narcissa's body too. The Dark Mark is tied to the soul, not to the forearm. Miss Tonks, would it be possible for you to go and check if Mr Malfoy has this tattoo on his arm?"

Tonks nodded and left.

"So," Mr Weasley started. "How do we put this right?"

Hermione looked worried. "It doesn't say anything about a countercurse here."

Remus nodded. "We're going to have to do more research," he said with a sigh.


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