Chapter 31
"How is he?" Draco asked, sitting on the arm of the couch and looking at the boy pensively.
"He should survive. He's going to have one hell of a headache though..." Snape said, casting another healing spell over the boy. "I somehow doubt the spell you used was entirely legal..." Snape said, smirking up at Draco.
Draco crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you want legal or the boy alive? If I hadn't walloped it's arse hard we would have had a reenactment of Saturday night. I didn't think anyone wanted that."
There were a number of shudders from the surrounding students.
"Unfortunately, we appear to be dealing with a fully mature demon... probably at least several hundred years old... none younger than that would have been strong enough not to be taken down by my spell." Draco said grimly.
"How did you know it was in him?" Ron asked curiously.
"I wouldn't have if it weren't for your little lover boy over there. I heard him commenting about the metallic scent and I remembered my niece once saying she thought they smelled like her mother's silver. I could never smell it myself, but some people's noses are just more sensitive.
Snape arched an eyebrow, noting that Draco had referred to what was obviously Darien's niece (since Draco was an only child) as his own. He seemed to be making little slips like that more and more often. He chose not to comment on it.
Blaise gave a snort of laughter. "You mean I can smell demons? Bloody hell. What a talent." He said ruefully. "You aren't going to make me stand at the door and sniff everyone now are you?"
Snape smirked. "I don't think that will be necessary, but do feel free to tell us if you smell it again."
"I'll try to remember to do that." Blaise said with a little nod.
The boy stirred, then let out a groan. Snape peered down at him intently, "How are you feeling Nicolaus?"
Nicolaus rubbed the back of his head, letting out another groan. "Like I got run over by the Knight Bus. What happened?" Before Snape could even answer, his eyes went wide and he sat bolt upright, then clutched his head as the sudden movement sent pain flashing through it. "It had me didn't it? That bloody demon?"
Snape blinked in surprise. "Yes... you remember?"
"Ya..." He said, not wanting to nod his head while it was throbbing so bad. "But it was like I was just... watching..." He said, trying to figure out how to express the odd experience.
Snape looked contemplative. "It didn't get a chance to alter his memories... it left too suddenly..." He looked at Nicolaus again intently, "What exactly do you remember?"
Nicolaus thought about it for a minute, ordering his thoughts. "I was cutting through the Ravenclaws... and I swear I felt something odd... that has to be when it happened... I just brushed one of the first years in passing... but then nothing happened for a bit... when we started going down into the dungeon I was behind those three... but... I looked back and saw one of my mates and was going to go back and walk with him... and that's when everything went wonky. It was like I wasn't in control anymore... I just watched while I turned back around and followed them... I kept staring at Ron... and..." He looked over at Ron, "It REALLY hates you..." He said, shaking his head slightly. "There were some pretty... disturbing thoughts and little imaginings going on... it has a VERY vivid imagination..." He said, shuddering. "Especially when it saw Snape casting at the front of the line... It was trying to decide how it could best kill Ron and as many others as it could before escaping..." He rubbed his eyes hard, as if trying to scrub the images away.
"Do you remember it thinking anything about its master or its plans here?" Snape prompted.
Nicolaus dropped his hands, looking thoughtful. After a moment he shook his head. "No... this wasn't part of a plan... it was just about getting Ron... well... and causing chaos and pain... the more the better..." He looked up at Draco, "But then it saw Draco... and it found him... very interesting... but... I can't say quite how or why... but it wanted to get into him like fuck!" He looked confused, "I thought you said it couldn't get into you?"
Draco smiled, "Well, to my knowledge it hasn't tried yet, so maybe it doesn't know that."
"How did you know it was in me anyway?" Nicolaus asked curiously.
"Demons apparently give off a scent Blaise can smell." Draco said with a smirk.
"That's it? He just smelled something so you just took a pop at me?" Nicolaus asked, looking incredulous.
"Well... that and then you checked me out..." Draco said, amused.
Nicolaus smirked, "Hey, you checked me out first!"
"I was just double checking." Draco said with a shrug.
"Well, think of a better test. I happen to fancy blondes, and you're a bit of alright!" Nicolaus said with a smirk.
Draco's eyes went wide, then darted over to Blaise.
Blaise let out a loud laugh. "Bloody hell! I missed one! And in my very own House..." He said, shaking his head ruefully.
"There has to be a better way to detect this thing." Snape said, leaning back in his seat and looking frustrated. "Fudge is insisting on a meeting to discuss the problem this afternoon before curfew, and knowing that old windbag it will take right up until we have to seal up the Dungeon... starting tomorrow, Slytherin House will be dedicating all it's free time to research. I will retrieve books from the library... and I think I have a few books in my office that may have potential... of course let's not mention those... there are too many Ministry people around." He said with a smirk. "But for now, it appears there is a spell we need to make sure is taught to the other students..." He said, looking over at Ron, who blushed, looking sheepish.
Draco looked around curiously, "Where's Ginny?"
"She went right into your room when she got in here. She looked white as a sheet." Pansy said, looking at the door in question, which was as close to directly off the Common room as they got.
Draco nodded in thanks and hurried into his room. He glanced around when he got in the room, but didn't see her. He checked the bathroom, but that too was empty. He turned back, looking around in puzzlement. Surely they would have seen her leave the room...
He froze, listening intently... he thought he heard something... the sound came again and he followed it to the desk. He pulled out the chair and looked under it in shock. Ginny was there... hugging her knees tightly to her chest and rocking slightly.
He immediately knelt. "Ginny... are you ok?" He asked, shocked that she would have been so effected by the attack.
She looked up at him, her eyes haunted. It was quite obvious she had been crying. "Wake me up..." She said in an aching voice so soft he was barely sure he heard her.
"What?"
She let out a sob. "Wake me up! I want to wake up!" She said, her voice rising with an edge of hysteria.
"Ginny... you aren't dreaming... but it's ok... it's gone now. Nothing's going to hurt you." He said as soothingly as he could, reaching in and trying to get ahold of her to pull her out.
She pressed back further, shaking her head stubbornly. "No... no!" She said firmly. "This can't be real because that bloody THING can't be real! It CAN'T!" She said, her voice half screaming, half begging him to tell her it hadn't been real.
He stared at her. He had no idea how to react to this. He couldn't even figure out why she was so very upset... She'd faced fearsome creatures in the past... The demon was nothing compared to a basilisk. "Ginny..." He said, trying to figure out what best to say to her. "It's ok... It's real, but it's gone."
She was just shaking her head. "But you said! You SAID! It can't be real... You said it was just a dream! That means THIS has got to be a dream because THAT'S WHAT KILLED ME!"
He stared at her in shock. "The thing in your dream was a Shadow Demon?"
"Not A Shadow Demon," She said, her voice just shy of a scream, "THAT FUCKING SHADOW DEMON!"
---------------
"But you said your family got rid of all of their Shadow Demons..." Snape said, shocked.
Draco glared at the floor in shame. "Apparently Grandfather decided to keep one around for special occasions." He said ruefully.
"Is she sure it was the same one?"
Draco nodded. "Shadow Demons may all be hideous, but they are all hideous in their own unique way. If she says it's the one, it is. Once you've seen one of those once, it's pretty well imprinted in your mind. It also had scar tissue under it's eye where she said her spell hit it. It's not Voldemort's Demon. It's my father's." he said darkly. "The same one they used to kill the first Ginevra. What she felt in the dream... the demon wasn't ripping her flesh... it was tearing out her soul. Apparently it didn't get a good enough hold on it... but it still separated enough from the body to kill her. From what she told me, I'd say she fell into the pond and her body drown before the soul could recover enough to save it."
Snape looked at him contemplatively for a moment. "This might work to our advantage. You are a blood relation to it's master."
"That only helps if father told it not to kill me. There's no guarantee he bothered. I think he knows I don't want to join his Dark Lord. And if what Nicolaus said is accurate, it wants to possess me... hardly what it would want to do if I was under my father's protection. For all I know, taking me out is part of its mission here."
Snape looked thoughtful, but shook his head. "No... if you were part of it's mission you'd be dead by now...." Something suddenly clicked in his head. "Before... when you were first telling me about the Shadow demons and why your family gave them up... you said they only obey the oldest member of a bloodline..."
Draco nodded. "So we just have to kill my father... that plan has definite potential." He said with a sarcastic smirk.
Snape had to smirk at that. "As tempting as that is at the moment... it may be unnecessary. How old are you?"
"I'll be seventeen in February. You know that." Draco said, furrowing his brow.
Snape smirked. "Not you, Draco. Darien..."
Draco's eyes went wide, but then brown flooded them. "Won't work." Darien said sadly.
"Why not?" Snape asked, "You're far older than Lucius."
Darien shook his head. "Oldest living member of the bloodline."
"You're practically living."
Darien gave a snort of laughter. "Practically doesn't make me alive, and it's not going to mean anything to this demon. I have to be completely and permanently attached to a body... and that may take years, if I can even get to that point that is."
Snape eyed him for moment. "Perhaps..." He said contemplatively. He looked up again, "How's Ginny?"
Draco gave him a rueful smirk. "Hard to keep that girl out of sorts for long... as soon as she saw the blood on my head she started channeling her mum. After a good deal of scolding while she fixed me up, she was much calmer."
Snape's mouth couldn't help but slip into a mirthful smirk, "Good to know. If you should ever need to calm her again, I shall be more than happy to clock you upside the head."
-------------------
Fred and George looked at eachother in trepidation, then looked back at the building before them. The 'shop', if that was indeed what it was, was only about four meters wide, windowless and solid black to the last stone. The only attempt at ornamentation in the architecture was the addition of two particularly fearsome looking gargoyles perched on the roof, glaring down at them. The door looked very intimidating as well, having a number of what appeared to be dire warnings inscribed in blood red on it in half a dozen languages, none of which they could really read, though they were pretty sure the top one had the goblin words for 'death' and 'dismember' in it. Not comforting. One of the languages did appear to be the same as the scrawling message on the note though. This was a much worse area than even they usually went. Admittedly, they had gotten desperate enough to visit a couple of the surrounding shops the day before, but only the clearly marked and less formidable ones.
Bracing themselves, they mounted the rough hewn stone steps leading up to the door. When they got there, they discovered that there was no kind of bell or knocker of any kind. There weren't any windows to look in of course, so George took the initiative and knocked. His knuckled made a loud, ominous booming sound on the ancient door.
They waited.
Nothing.
They looked at eachother, then Fred knocked.
Still nothing.
"Reckon we should try it?" George said uneasily.
"Doesn't look as if we have a choice..." Fred said with a shrug. He reached out and put his hand on the door handle....
... and disappeared.
George's eyes went wide and he immediately grabbed the handle, heedless of what it would do to him. He felt a sudden wrenching sensation behind his navel that was all too familiar, and the port key transported him away, turning the world into a swirl of blurred color...
... and then there was darkness all around him. He pulled out his wand and muttered 'Lumos' but to no avail. He stared at where the light should be, the darkness so complete he feared for a moment that he had been blinded.
And then light flared. It wasn't more than a candle, but in the complete blackness it was startlingly bright. He squinted against it for a moment, then fear clutched him. Fred was standing just a few feet from him, and there was a dark cloaked figure behind him, one hand clasped firmly over his mouth, the other holding a wickedly gleaming knife to his throat.
"I don't believe you gentlemen were invited..." A soft voice hissed from the shrouded figure, lilting with a strange, unplacable accent.
"We're just looking for some spell ingredients..." George said, making a show of putting his wand away. Not as if it appeared to be of any use at the moment anyway. "We were told to come here..."
"And who would tell you to come here?" the figure asked, knife still poised dangerously.
"Draco Malfoy."
The shrouded figure's stance shifted, and the knife eased back a bit. They heard a little snort of laughter. "Why would that little son of a Nundu send you to ME?"
George shifted uneasily. "I take it you don't like Draco..."
Another snort of laughter. "Never said I had a problem with the boy. I've just met his father." He said with obvious amusement.
"He gave us a letter..."
Fred slowly reached into his robe and pulled out the letter, holding it up so it was clearly visible.
They both relaxed a bit as the blade seemed to vanish into thin air. The long, thin fingers snatched the letter from Fred's hand, then his head tilted slightly, looking at his captive. The hand over Fred's mouth slipped down, grabbing his chin and turning his head towards the shadowed hood. The figure's head tilted slightly and Fred caught a glimpse of wide, almond shaped eyes with brilliant periwinkle colored irises and slitted pupils. The eyes slid from him to George, then he let out another laugh and Fred suddenly found himself spun around and shoved back into George, who caught him before he could fall.
They both flinched as light flared all around them as nearly a dozen torches burst to life simultaneously. The dark figure was strolling across the room towards the chair before the fireplace, which had also sprang to life. As he dropped down casually in the ancient looking chair, draping one leg over the arm, it looked as if he had disregarded their presence entirely.
They stood there uneasily, not sure what to do while he opened the letter and looked it over. "It's rude to linger on thresholds." He said offhandedly, not looking away from the note.
They took the hint and moved forward into the room.
"He said you might be able to help..." George began tentatively.
"We've been looking all over..." Fred continued, their usual synchronism kicking back in as the shock wore off.
"But these ingredients are really hard to come by..."
"And he said if anyone could find them..."
"You could."
The figure looked over at them. They could still see little of him. He was covered head to toe in black, even his face had black cloth over it starting just below the eyes. The only parts visible were his slender, nimble hands and attentive eyes. His form looked long and lanky under the layers of cloth, though he moved with almost unnatural fluidity and grace. His height was nearly level with the twins, which was something they didn't see often. With more light, the periwinkle of his irises almost seemed to glow, even from across the room. Those eyes were now filled with unmistakable amusement as he surveyed the two.
"You always take turns talking?" He asked in amusement.
"Not always." They said in perfect unison.
He laughed. "I see..." He said, looking back at the letter thoughtfully. "You got a list?"
They nodded and George took it out of his inner pocket. They moved closer and George handed it to him.
He opened it up, his eyes glancing down at the list. "Chimaera eggs are Class A non-tradable goods..." His voice was a bit mischievous, his eyes glinting.
They shifted uneasily. "If they were easy to find..."
"We wouldn't need help." Fred finished.
The brilliant eyes darted between them contemplatively. "Does your father know you're here? I doubt his boss would approve..."
They blinked, surprised.
The eyes rolled, "Oh please... not too hard to figure out who you are... twins with that flaming hair... might as well wear name tags!"
"We're not the only redheaded twins." George said defensively.
"We saw two other sets at the Quidditch World Cup couple years back."
"Perhaps... but I bet they weren't the spitting image of your grandfather at your age."
They looked at eachother. "You knew our grandfather?"
"At OUR age?" Fred finished incredulously. He certainly didn't look very old... the hands were thin and pale, but the skin was smooth and supple looking, and there was certainly nothing old about those vibrant eyes.
"Bit of a hot tempered git... but not bad company overall... He could certainly hold his fire whisky..." He said, his eyes dropping back to the list. "This here... this one's legal... Erumpent tail is only class B."
"Maybe..."
"But we still can't find any."
"What ever could you need that much Re'em blood for...?" He mused to himself, then his eyes fell on the last item on the list and narrowed, suddenly looking irritated. "Why that presumptuous little bastard..." He looked up at them, staring at them contemplatively for a long moment. "I usually don't ask... because quite frankly I don't want to know... but if you want me to even consider filling this order I want to know what it's for."
"Counter Curse."
"For the White Wraith."
"And it's rather urgent..."
"Because it was cast by a Shadow Demon..."
"And so the potion that was used to stop it..."
"Could fail at any time..."
His eyes narrowed as they heard a little hiss. "A Shadow Demon? I'd hoped I'd seen the last of those... what fool called one of those out?"
"That would be the Nundu." Fred said with a rueful smirk.
"That idiotic ponce..." He growled, looking thoughtful. The eyes darted back to them, "Who was it cast on? Someone in the ministry?"
"No..." George said ruefully.
"He's just a boy..."
"A student..."
"Draco's best friend..."
He gave a little nod. "That would explain it. I thought he sounded a bit too generous in the letter..." The eyes suddenly danced with mirth, "Do you know what it says?"
They looked at eachother. "Um..."
"No."
He laughed, and it was a real laugh, sounding almost musical. "He really is a bastard..."
---------------
A/N - sorry didn't post yesterday... continuity issues... had to move some stuff around... I actually had to make up a timeline! Do you know it's only been like a week? Yikes... Oh, and mandabella, patience :) it's not like he can slip out at night nowadays, and Thestrals prefer the dark.