Chapter 18: The First of Many

If anyone was surprised to see Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasely, and McGonagall's niece meeting up with Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini the Hogsmeade weekend after Valentine's Day, they didn't say anything about it. They didn't make any comments about the slight lip action Draco received from Seraphim when Blaise found some leftover mistletoe from Christmas either, probably out of sheer disbelief. Or the fact that the only way to explain the phenomenon was hallucination.

After dropping in at the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer, Blaise and Pansy separated from the group for their dinner engagement. Seraphim and Draco also opted for eating in the village. Saying goodbye to the remaining three, they watched as Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way up to the shrieking shack.

Draco took Seraphim's hand as they wound their way through the crowded streets of Hogsmeade. For this one day, worries were pushed aside and his only concern was for fun. "Where would you like to go?" he asked, gray eyes sparkling with something like innocence.

Seraphim looked up, "Um… Somewhere warmer, it's going to begin snowing soon."

Draco nodded; they followed at a fair distance behind Harry, Ron, and Hermione, making for a small restaurant that was not crowded yet. As they passed Zonko's, he noticed someone strangely familiar; a woman with dark eyes, like sapphires or onyx. As he searched the recesses of his mind, trying to figure out who the woman was and why she was familiar, a stray wisp of hair escaped the hood of her dark, heavy cloak. Silver-white. Draco froze.

"What is it?" asked Seraphim, bumping her nose on his back. Seeing the look of confusion and disbelief on his face, she frowned, "Is something wrong, Draco?"

Draco ignored the question and looked over the tops of people's heads. The woman, Lady Dae, had been introduced to him when he was very small. A Christmas Party held by his father at Malfoy Manor saw her as a guest the year Draco turned nine. He remembered her piercing gaze and long, pointed fingernails that pinched when she shook his hand. He'd also heard his father speak of her many times, calling her the Snow Queen. Not a Death Eater, but one of the best assassins in the Northern Hemisphere. She was difficult to hire, expensive, and difficult to find when you needed her. Lady Dae, the lady of shadows.

"Draco," Seraphim was becoming impatient, "what is the matter?"

He saw her eyes fix on Harry's forehead and the smallest of smiles graced her lips. She began walking with more of a purpose, walking to another unsuspecting victim. "Potter…"

Seraphim tapped Draco on the shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Snapping out of his previous immobile state, Draco grabbed Seraphim's hand and followed the others up the road, willing them to turn around and go back to safety. Yelling to warn them would result in a messy and unpleasant death, not catching up would result in a clean one. The only other alternative was to wait and follow.

Seraphim resisted the hand pulling on her wrist. "Draco, what are you doing?" she asked, annoyed. Her arm was beginning to hurt from the force he was pulling with.

"We've got to catch up with them," he muttered, half to himself.

"What?" Seraphim stopped dead and yanked Draco backwards by his collar. "Is that why you're trying to pull my arm out if its socket?"

"Come on!" Not bothering to explain, Draco gave a hard pull and Seraphim went flying after him, willing her legs to keep running in the deepening snow.

Lady Dae had disappeared from the crowd, Draco suspected she was using an invisibility cloak, and he hurried forward through the rapidly thinning crowd.

"Dra-mph!" Seraphim felt a hand over her mouth.

"That woman that was standing in front of Zonko's is an assassin and she's going to kill Potter because she's working for the Dark and we can't let her know we're here or she won't wait for the right moment." Heaving a slightly more cooperative, read: dumbstruck, Seraphim by her wrist once more, they hurried up the hill after the others.

As they neared the end of the street, Draco spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione talking quietly while leaning on the wooden posts of the barbed-wire fence surrounding the Shrieking Shack. A feeling of resentment came over him that he quickly squashed; being mad about the time in third year when Potter splashed him with mud did not matter when trying to save Potter's life.

"I don't see anyone Draco, you're being silly," Seraphim looked around as they hurried down the road. "You're not going to throw snowballs at Ron again, are you?"

"No," Draco hissed, "do you see that bit of black gliding along the floor over there?" He pointed at the edge of the forest.

Seraphim squinted; in the growing dark, she could just make out a sliver of cloak. "What is that?"

"It's Lady Dae's cloak." Seeing the blank expression on Seraphim's face, Draco rolled his eyes, "I'll explain later, hurry up."

Pushing Seraphim in front of him, Draco made sure she was hurrying, reluctantly and disbelievingly, to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Secure in his belief that Granger, Weasley, and Seraphim would be enough to protect Potter, he headed for the forest.

Grabbing Harry's shoulder to slow down, Seraphim stooped to catch her breath. "Well…hello."

"Hi Seraphim," Ron tossed the snowball he'd been toying with over his shoulder, "where's your other half?"

Seraphim's face took on an irritated expression, "Forest somewhere. Seems to think there's a woman who's going to assassinate you Harry."

She was met with three expressions of varying blankness.

"Yeah, that's what I said."

Rolling his eyes at the disbelievers, Draco continued into the pine trees skirting the road. A few moments tense searching revealed the familiar black sliver. He watched as Lady Dae removed her invisibility cloak and drew her wand from her pocket. Breaking into a run, he succeeded in knocking her over just as she muttered, "Imperio!"

They both landed with an "oof!" in the snow just as Seraphim stepped in front of Hermione to tug Ron's sleeve, accidentally jostling his wand from his pocket, and leaving Harry unattended. Draco turned quickly to see who had been hit. Of course, the Imperius curse is difficult to detect simply because there aren't any signs other than absence of free will.

Chuckling to herself, Lady Dae spoke up, "It doesn't really matter who I hit, my work here is done. Figure it out if you want but I'd run for my life if I were you." With another laugh, she disapparated.

Scrambling to his feet, Draco ran over to the others. "Which one of you did she hit?"

They looked at him strangely. "Who's 'she'?"

"Lady, oh nevermind." Draco scrutinized them all for a moment.

"Draco, sweetheart, what are you doing?" asked Seraphim, giving him a coy glance.

"I'm…thinking…" he replied. He stopped seeing Ron's wand tucked in Seraphim's left pocket. Realization following discovery, Draco pushed Ron and Hermione in front of Harry and sent them down the hill. "Get out of here!"

Not needing to be told twice, Hermione grabbed the arms of the two boys and hurried with them down the road. "What about you?" she yelled as they disappeared in the snow.

"Don't worry, I'll get Weasley's wand back!"

Hermione was about to shout back "That's not what I meant!" but a flurry of snow obscured her vision and she busied herself with pushing Harry and Ron to a more crowded area.

Back near the Shrieking Shack, Seraphim had gone rigid. A pleasant airy feeling engulfed her. She felt like she was floating, falling into a dream. Get rid of the obstacle.

"Seraphim, snap out of it," Draco took her by the shoulders and shook hard.

Destroy him!

No, said something in the back of her head, I can't… Not him…

He's in the way; incapacitate him immediately.

But it's Draco…I can't hurt Draco, she reasoned with herself. But the other voice, the commanding one, was getting louder and harder to disobey.

Kill him. Do it now.

No! I can't! She was screaming in her head, screaming at nothing, something that couldn't hear her and didn't care.

"Seraphim! I can't break an Imperius, come on!" Draco shook her more vigorously.

Kill him!

No! But she was losing the battle; her grip on self-control was ebbing.

Seraphim placed her hands squarely over Draco's chest and looked into his eyes. Do it now…

For a long moment, they stood in the snow. Draco could feel his heart beating wildly, the wood of Weasley's wand pressing into his chest, the intensity of Seraphim's gaze.

"AVADA-"

In the Gryffindor common room, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were reviving from their sprint over a hot cup of tea. "What the bloody hell was that all for?" asked Ron irritably, stirring a cinnamon stick into his mug.

"From what I can gather, there was a woman sent to assassinate Harry by Voldemort," Hermione explained. "She must have done something to Seraphim, that's why she stole your wand, and Draco must have known what was wrong since he told us to run."

Harry and Ron stared at her expectantly.

"I think he just saved our lives."

The speed at which jaws dropped in disbelief was immeasurable.

Closing his eyes tightly, Draco did the only thing he could think of to save his life. Leaning down quickly, he kissed Seraphim, efficiently shutting off her mouth from finishing the incantation. She struggled, pushing against him, trying to get away. He crushed her lips even more desperately with his own. 'Come to your senses,' he pleaded silently, 'know me again.'

'Know me again…' the words echoed in Seraphim's mind. She felt warmth over her mouth, an arm around her waist. There was a hand behind her neck, tilting her head up. Soft lips pressed urgently, hungrily. She was sinking to the ground, the cold of the snow chilling her legs.

She closed her eyes, loosing herself in the subtle sensations. Chocolate and…champagne? Silk. Coffee. Warmth. Safety. They enveloped her, drawing her into their core, fusing her into them until she couldn't tell where they met, only that they were. Oddly familiar sensations she'd felt before, known before, been before. 'Draco…'

The world spun as she surrendered to the kiss; allowing the feeling to wash over her, take her over. Tangling her gloved fingers in blonde hair -silk-, breathing in deeply the scent that was his alone -coffee-, feeling his arms around her -warmth-, being caught up in the taste of him -chocolate, champagne-. She relinquished hold of herself to him -safety-.

When he dared to release her, Draco searched her eyes for some form of recognition. "Seraphim?"

She blinked and shook her head to clear her thoughts. She took a deep breath, pocketing Ron's wand, "That was the best damn kiss I've ever had."

Draco grinned as he hugged her and sighed with relief. "You have no idea how scared I was."

Seraphim hugged him tightly, "You're not the only one. There was this…voice inside my head, it told me to- to hurt you." She shuddered, "I almost did."

"Lady Dae placed you under an Imperius curse," he explained. "We should get back to the castle and have Potter warn Dumbledore. I'm not sure how…trusting of me he'll be."

"Draco," Seraphim tugged him back, "I didn't hurt you, did I? I can't really remember."

"No," he said, helping her to her feet. "We're all fine."

"I'm glad…and I'm sorry," Seraphim apologized, suddenly fascinated with the toes of her boots.

Draco lifted her chin, "There's nothing to be sorry for. Come on, we've got to see if your Dream Team has made it back in one piece." He smiled. "It's all right, don't worry."

Seraphim beamed. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Come on," said Draco, taking her hand, "that's enough fun in the village for one day."

Together, they hurried back to the castle.

Outside of Malfoy Manor, a witch waited impatiently. When the door opened, she was let into a magnificently decorated office where Lucius Malfoy was signing some papers. "Be quick, what is it you want?"

"I've some information sir, information that might interest you greatly," she said with a smirk.

"Come on then, out with it. I haven't got all day," he said irritably, spot-checking a report.

"Your son is not as loyal as you think." The witch swept a strand of silver behind her ear, "Very disloyal."

"Lady Dae," Lucius Malfoy rose, "kindly do not insult my family. What goes on in it is our business; if you'll excuse me, Hector will see you out." The butler promptly ushered Lady Dae to the front gate.

Disgruntled but happy, she pocketed the small bag of coins. "As long as it pays," she whispered contentedly, disapparating.