"WOW these are really old and dusty. Look at this one Ancient Curses and the counter curses. The pages are falling apart." Said Ron

"Shut up Ron, your disrupting my concentration," said Hermione.

Ron looked put out for a second and opened the book at a random page.

"Hey, I found it!" he screamed.

Upstairs, Ellie had slipped back into the room where Draco slept, despite the fact that both her father and her mother had ordered her to rest for a while. She seemed to have inherited her father's love of flouting the rules, and added to her strong desire to help her best friend the temptation to ignore her parents' instructions completely was too much to resist.

As she took up her customary chair by the bed, she noticed that the cheeks of the sleeping body held more colour than they had previously and that she (or should she say he?) slumbered in a more natural position.

She grasped one of the small, slender hands between her own, and began to talk quietly to her comatose friend.

"Hey Drake," she whispered. "I hope you wake up soon, I can't wait to talk to you again. I found out a few months back that I'm a witch too. My mum's a muggle, but my dad's a wizard. His name is Sirius Black. I suppose you've heard of him. He told me that he's a convicted murderer, but really he's innocent. He's related to you, did you know that? Your mother is his cousin, but he's nothing like her. It's nice to know my dad at last."

She sighed heavily.

"I'm so sorry about what happened to you. I just don't understand how anyone could do that to their own child. I guess I should have realised something was wrong when I got that letter. It was so horrible, Drake, cold and scathing. And I believed it came from you. I'm so sorry! Maybe I could have made things better if I had just..."

She broke off as the hand clasped between her own twitched. She looked up, and her eyes met the clear blue ones of Narcissa Malfoy. But none of the cold indifference that Narcissa usually exuded lay in those eyes. The warmth and intelligence of her childhood playmate, slightly dimmed by years of hardship and torture, encompassed them, giving the angular face beauty that Eleanor had never seen on it before.

"Not your fault, Nora," a voice, hoarse with disuse, assured her. "Couldn't have done anything."

"Draco!" she exclaimed in relief, pilling him into a loving hug. He stiffened for a moment, before relaxing into her arms. After a few minutes, she pulled back, and, turning, pored him a glass of water from the jug on the dresser. He nodded his thanks. She beamed at him as he gulped it down, her happiness and relief palpable.

"How did you know it was me?" he questioned when he had finished.

She reached out to touch his tattoo in explanation, but he flinched as if he expected her to strike him before the movement was complete. She clamped down on the impulse to be hurt by that reminding herself that he had been abused all his life and had not seen her for six years. She gave him an encouraging smile.

"You know I'd never hurt you, don't you Drake?" Ellie asked softly.

He nodded his mother's head, ashamed at his instinctive action, expecting her to draw back. Instead, she repeated the motion, slowly this time so that he could watch her hand, barely touching her fingers to the ugly mark on his skin.

"My dad knew that Narcissa had taken the Mark," she explained. "It was unusual, that she, you, didn't have it now, so we researched the tattoo. And you talk in your sleep. It wasn't hard to work out what happened. I'm so sorry Drake, no-one should have to go through that."

Tears were slipping down her face, and Draco surprised her by initiating contact, pulling her into an one-armed hug, and using the pads of his fingers on the other hand to wipe the tears away.

"Don't be sorry, Nora," he whispered. "There's nothing you could have done."

And he surprised her again by patting the bed next to him, inviting her to sit shoulder to shoulder with him. She complied.

"So, Nor. Where am I?"

Downstairs, in the kitchen, everyone was staring at Ron, surprised.

Hermione was one of the first to recover from her shock.

"Pass it here," she demanded.

She quickly scanned the passage Ron indicated, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is it!" she exclaimed.

"Well then 'Mione, lets hear it!" Remus told her with a smile.

So she cleared her throat and began to read.

"The counter spell for Animus Muto is a simple ritual, but it must be performed by a witch or wizard more powerful than the original caster. The subjects are placed next to other in the same type of casting circle as the original spell. Their hands must be bound together with a red ribbon soaked in the potion used in the spell. The caster aims his or her wand at their joined hands and intones the incantation Abrumpo Pestis. The souls will return to their rightful places. However, the backlash of magic that was used to keep the souls in the wrong place will knock the subjects out. The longer since the spell was performed, the more magic will be released and the more likely in is for the subjects to become comatose. The longest stretch of unconsciousness recorded in the aftermath of this spell is 3 months and 12 days."

Meanwhile, upstairs, Ellie had just finished explaining to Draco where he was. She did not go into detail about the Order, because she had no idea if she was allowed to.

"Drake, think that you're up to walking downstairs?"

Draco nodded.

"You'll help me?" he asked.

Once he was out of bed, he found he could stand, but had to lean heavily on Ellie to walk. Ellie took the dressing gown hanging on the back of the door down and helped her friend into it, and they made their was slowly down the stairs.

It took them some time to reach the kitchen, and when they entered everyone was gathered round the table having a heated discussion. Professors Snape and Dumbledore had evidently been called, and Ellie hoped that it was because they found the countercurse.

"But if the ritual will knock them both out, we should at least wait until Draco's awake! We have no idea how it would affect him in his current state," Remus was arguing. Several people started to voice objections, but Dumbledore silenced them all by agreeing with the werewolf.

Ellie smiled and said, "You won't have to wait anyway."

Everyone turned and noticed that she was supporting a slightly pale Narcissa Malfoy, though anyone who had known Narcissa could spot the subtle differences of countenance between her and the woman (boy) standing in front of them.

Each person greeted Draco politely, and after a while he grew used to the handshakes and gentle pats on his shoulder, and relaxed. Dumbledore explained the countercurse to Draco and Eleanor, and told them that Professor Snape was going to make the potion that evening. He then smiled and told them to get some sleep. Draco was exhausted from the trip down, and so Dumbledore levitated the chair he was sitting on up to his room.

The next day, the Order was gathered in the drawing room of 12 Grimmauld Place for the countercurse. Tonks, Kingsley and Moody had brought Narcissa in Draco's body, and she and her son had been positioned as the book instructed. When Dumbledore performed the spell, the room was filled with a blinding flash of red light, and a puff of purple smoke. When the smoke had cleared and their eyes had recovered they could see the slumped and unconscious forms of Draco and his mother, souls returned to their rightful places.

We apologise, but it will be some time before we update, we are moving house on Thursday, and we don't know when we'll be online at our new place. Many thanks to our reveiwers.