A/N: Whoo! I'm back. I'm having last-minute-panic-fits because there are only almost two weeks left till HBP comes out, and I want to have this fic finfished by then (Of course, it would all be easier with more reviews... ;)). Well then, on with the story! Enjoy!
oOo Angels of Heaven and Hell oOo
Chapter 16 - Endless Nightmare, Devil's Lair
oOo
Draco hadn't planned a thing for what to do in the case of being locked up in the same room as Potter in Voldemort's castle.
Of course, that was exactly what had happened to him shortly after the Death Eater group had left the throne room. They had levitated Potter into this dimly lit, cold, unfurnished room with stone floor, walls and ceiling and told Draco to watch over him. Then they had turned the key around, effectively trapping them in the room together.
Draco had conjured up a small pillow for himself to sit on and watched Potter for a while.
He had considered hexing the crap out of Potter, who was defenceless and who didn't have his friends there to protect him. It was the perfect occasion on which he would be able to take out all his grudges on Potter and get away with it. It was the perfect occasion to make Potter pay.
But in the end Draco decided against it. During school he had always thought that he would join the Death Eaters one day and that it wouldn't matter what he did then because he would be feared. But now he had Rhiannon and wanted to ensure a safe and happy future for them together and then it would matter what he had done - Death Eater or not.
And he also had to think about the imprint his father had left in the wizarding world. Lucius Malfoy: cold, cruel, heartless and devoted follower of Voldemort. People had automatically assumed that he would be just like his father one day and he had lived up to their expectations.
Now he had to do something to remedy the situation. Draco had thought about it again and again - the only thing that would help, would be to wake Potter up and help him with taking down Voldemort. It was simple enough, yet Draco didn't want to do it. He had never wished to be Potter's ally.
Draco stared at Potter for another moment and made up his mind. Sighing he got up and walked over to his school rival.
That's all he ever was, Draco tried to tell himself. His school rival and school was irrelevant, at least for now.
"Enervate," Draco whispered. A few seconds passed before the spell took effect and Potter opened his eyes.
"Are you all right, Potter?" Potter didn't respond immediately.
"On the list of things I never wanted to happen, waking up to your face is on top, Malfoy," he said finally and rolled over to get away from Draco.
"So you are," Draco concluded. "That's good, because we're going to break out of this room and take down Voldemort. Got that, Potter? Now, up with you." Draco himself stood up and walked over to the door, pondering if a simple Alohomora would be able to open it.
"You weren't joking when you said that just now, were you?" Potter groaned and heaved himself up. "I can't believe it."
"You better do," Draco muttered and then concentrated. "Alohomora!"
Nothing happened. Draco's shoulders sagged.
"Where's my wand?" Potter asked from behind him. "Death Eaters probably took it. Damn."
'Don't be stupid.' A voice sneered inside Draco's head, and he recognised it as Salazar's voice. He'd heard it often enough within the last few months. 'Give him your wand and then I'll let you channel my magic powers.'
'Giving away my wand? That's suicide!' Draco snapped back, mentally.
'If you don't, you'll die for sure. If you follow my words then at least you'll have a chance of surviving this.'
Draco grumbled and held out his wand to Potter, who looked questioningly at it and then into Draco's face.
"Take it," Draco told him. "I'm on your side for once. So I have an interest in keeping you alive and - let's face it - you're pretty much useless without a wand."
Reluctantly Harry reached out grabbed the wand from Draco's hand. He waved it around experimentally and when it didn't explode, he nodded grimly.
"So then, any ideas on how to get out of here, wonderboy?" Draco asked.
"I think, I do." Harry stepped forwards, wand raised and face set.
"Reducto!" he yelled. A red bolt of light shot from the tip of the wand, towards the door. Draco almost couldn't follow it. There was a whooosh and when Draco could see anything but red light again the door merely was a sorry pile of dust.
"Show-off," muttered Draco.
Harry already had stepped on top of the dust and looked up and down the hallway, when Draco followed him.
"We need to go to the right, if we want to meet up with the Dark Lord," Draco said. Harry nodded. They both stepped out into the hallway and they were on their way.
"Why are you doing this?" Harry asked in a hushed voice after they had been sneaking along in silence for about five minutes. "Helping me, I mean. It makes no sense - no matter how I look at it."
Draco's first impulse was to make some snide remark on the typical Gryffindor stupidity, but then he remembered that he needed Potter.
"I want Voldemort gone just as much as you do," he said finally, in an equally hushed voice. "I'm not my father. I have something that's worth fighting for."
'Yes,' whispered Salazar inside his head and the word echoed inside Draco's mind.
"Yes," murmured Draco, almost inaudibly, and closed his eyes.
The next second it was Salazar who opened his eyes and walked towards the final confrontation. All that had been Draco - his mind and his soul - had been replaced by Salazar and now Draco was merely a spectator, captured inside his own body.
'I will fight,' thought Salazar, full well knowing that Draco could understand him. 'Even if I only fight because I think you can't do it... Even if I won't win I won't have fought in vain. There is always something worth fighting for and there is always hope - however small it might be.'
Rowena observed Voldemort and Rhiannon, who were still in the throne room.
Voldemort had sat down on his throne again, Rhiannon kneeled before him, her head bowed, and that heinous snake slithered around the both of them. Voldemort stroked Rhiannon's hair as he talked to her.
"I learned that Potter likes you," he told her jut now. "This will make it easier for you. He will let you in willingly. Break through the petty defences he still has left and ban his magic. Suck it out of him. Dispel it. You can't kill him - but I can. With your help I can." He smiled benevolently down at Rhiannon, as if she was a loved pet.
'It will also work the other way round,' Rowena informed Rhiannon coolly. 'This is how you will fight him.'
But there were also the thoughts that Rhiannon didn't hear.
Please, please, don't do it wrong. For my sake. We're so similar - you and I. And I don't know if I can fight this fight with you. All I can do is telling you what to do. You're my last hope.
At that Voldemort stood up and pulled Rhiannon up with him.
"Let's go," he said softly. Rhiannon looked him in the eyes and tightened her grip on his hand.
"Yes, to Potter's defeat," she responded, a fake smile on her lips. They both went for the door with Voldemort leading the way, just like Lucius had done earlier this day with Rhiannon.
That was when Rowena felt it. Rhiannon had started to do exactly what Rowena had told her to do. It was weak - very weak - so Voldemort wouldn't notice it for some time. But she noticed how his magic slowly was drained out from him. It was a mere trickle, but the magic was leaving him and travelling to Rhiannon. It was like watching a wet washcloth sucking up even more water.
'Fool!' Rowena hissed angrily and this time Rhiannon heard it.
'What?' she asked, but Rowena didn't answer - she was already trying to find a hole in Rhiannon's mental wards that even Voldemort wasn't able to break through. She fought amidst Rhiannon's confused thoughts of 'What's the matter?'
There! There was a weak spot and Rowena instantly felt bad, but it was the only way. Rhiannon trusted her and that was why she hadn't put up such strong defences against Rowena. Rowena didn't want to but it was the only way to save Rhiannon from certain death. Alone she would never be able to hold the power of Voldemort's magic.
Rowena slipped through the wards and banned Rhiannon's mind and soul into the back of her head. She could already hear Rhiannon calling out for her faintly.
All this had taken place in the span of mere seconds and Voldemort had already reached the door. He pulled it open and Rowena's eyes widened in disbelief.
Before them stood Harry and Dra... no... Salazar? The two stared back at Voldemort and Rowena.
"Ah," said Voldemort simply.