Disclaimer: Sometimes, I hope to retire from fan fiction writing just so that I won't have to write another one of YOU again. But, I don't own it…
I am the
son
And the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am
the son and heir
Of nothing in particular
You shut your
mouth
How can you say
I go about things the wrong way ?
I am
Human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does
There's
a club, if you'd like to go
You could meet somebody who really
loves you
So you go, and you stand on your own
And you leave on
your own
And you go home, and you cry
And you want to die
When
you say it's gonna happen "now"
Well, when exactly do
you mean ?
See I've already waited too long
And all my hope is
gone
You shut your mouth
How can you say
I go about things
the wrong way ?
I am Human and I need to be loved
Just like
everybody else does
-How Soon Is Now- The Smiths
ha, he laughs but not really
issalee
Ginny glanced up as Blaise entered the library; she was sitting in the empty room, quietly flipping through a random book. Her hair had fallen to cover her eyes, and she looked just as tired as she probably felt.
"Alright, Gin?" Blaise said softly. He flopped down into the seat across from her, resting his elbows on the table. "Don't worry about Carleigh, she's just upset about Chloris."
"I know," Ginny muttered.
"And Carina's not exactly in a great frame of mind. She's known Chloris since she was a kid, and she hasn't even gone off and grieved yet. She'll do it sooner or later. For now, I suppose she's probably going to take your advice."
"I know."
"You're going to sit inside this library and mope, but I suspect it has to do with something other than your spat with the three—two Cs."
"I know."
"I'm wildly, madly in love with you and I'm going to just as wildly, madly prove it to you."
"I—" Ginny stopped short, and raised her head. "Stop," she said dryly. "You're making me all hot and bothered."
Blaise grinned, but it faded when Ginny's eyes dropped again to her hands. "What's up?" he said quietly. When she didn't answer, he leaned back in his chair and toyed with a lock of his hair.
"You know, Ginny, I have two older brothers and a younger sister besides Carina." He glanced up, and from the stiff form Ginny had taken, he supposed she was listening. "My brothers, Erick and Ivan, are nineteen and twenty-seven. My younger sister is only thirteen, but she was so passionate about the whole Death Eater business it was dangerous for her to go to Hogwarts, so she stayed home. They were great favorites of the Dark Lord, which is probably why he didn't punish my family for me and Carina."
"Why are you telling me this?" Ginny interrupted.
There was a moment of silence, and then Blaise shrugged. "I don't know, really. I suppose what I'm trying to say is I know what it's like to know someone who's done bad things. Who's actually gone and made me miserable, or disappointed in them."
Ginny shot him a sharp glance; did he know about Ron? But Blaise didn't notice. He was tracing patterns in the dust on the table.
"Erick especially was my role model. He was closer to my own age, and almost exactly like Carina and me. He always thought there could have been a way to maybe be rid of the Dark Lord, but all that went down the drain when he went to his first meeting, and saw our parents being tortured for arriving late."
Ginny stood, and Blaise looked up out of shock. "Oh, Merlin, Ginny, I'm sorry," he began. There were tears forming at the corners of her eyes, and before he could say another word she had rounded the corner of the table and flung herself into his arms.
"I'm so, so sorry," she sniffed. "I've been so obsessed with all these little things going on that I never even thought about the kind of pain you have to live with every single day!"
Bewildered, Blaise patted her back. "Er. Are you sure you're all right, Ginevra?"
She rested her head on his shoulder and hiccupped lightly. "No," she answered. "I'm never sure."
Blaise pulled back from her, taking in the red-rimmed eyes, hair falling all around her face, and grievous look. He cupped her chin in his hands, suddenly feeling surer about this than anything he'd ever done in his entire life.
"I wasn't joking about being in love, you know," he said softly. Before Ginny could answer, he kissed her lightly, a chaste one that just barely brushed her lips. He was about to pull back when Ginny wound her arms around his neck, and smiled against his lips. Tears were still trickling down her face but she felt as though a heavy weight was being lifted off of her.
"I think," she said quietly. "That I am quite alright now."
Bellatrix trailed up the hallways, a sort of weightlessness about her. It had been too easy to convince the guards that she didn't need to be announced, she wanted to surprise everyone. The location of her supposed sister had been just as easy to get from them. They'd overheard Luna asking Carleigh up to Ravenclaw Tower.
Bellatrix wondered vaguely what she would do with these girls once their part in the plan was completed. She could always dispose of them, but more often than not that turned out to be too messy for her.
"Chloris Ernestine," she muttered to herself. What a curious name. She knew their father of course; he was a quiet man, and sometimes she felt compelled to send awkward rumors and things that would fire him up his way. But this was normal.
A sneer overtook her face as she discreetly passed the spiraling steps leading down to the dungeons. A few secret passages away and she could probably find Rabastan. She hated him, the pretentious little twat.
"Bella, Bella, of the alabaster skin. Sold her soul for a night with Satan."
Shaking her head furiously in an attempt to erase the memory, Bellatrix climbed up the stairs towards Ravenclaw's common rooms. She wasn't thinking where to go; the only words in her head were the words written on the parchment.
Find the girl, take her, take anyone with her. Then find Potter. I want him to be touched by my bonded, and through you, I shall take him.
She stopped in front of a door made entirely of sapphire. It was half-open; no on cared about security inside of the castle as of yet. Inside, Luna Lovegood was drowsing on an armchair, and Carleigh was sitting at the foot of it, sniffling quietly as Luna ran idle fingers through the younger girl's hair in an attempt to sooth her. A bottle of Firewhiskey was clutched tightly in the girl's hand.
"Carleigh," Bellatrix sang, instantly hating herself. "Carleigh! It's me, Chloris!" she all but skipped into the common room, the movements jerky and unlike her. It didn't matter, though, as in a second she was being smothered.
Bellatrix didn't hear a word of what Carleigh said. She was watching Luna Lovegood with half-lidded eyes. The Ravenclaw was sitting stiff in the chair, eyes wide and hand clenching her wand. Luna's eyes were averted from the whole scene, however, as though she couldn't bear to watch them.
"Carleigh," Bellatrix said finally, remembering her next part in the plot. "Come with me while I return to the others? Please?"
"No."
It was Luna who said it. She had stood up, and her usually impassive face looked furious. "You're not Chloris Ernestine. Whoever you are, get out."
Drunk and dazed, Carleigh turned to face Luna. "No, Loony, this is my sister. I thought she was dead but she wasn't—and she's here, it doesn't matter how or why, but she's here!"
"Shh," Bellatrix whispered, eyes never straying from Luna. "Shh, sister. She just does not want us to be happy. I will take care of her. Soporifer insomnium!"
Luna raised her wand, shouting "Stupefy!" at the sane time, but the spell hit her.
There had been brief moments in Luna's life where she had felt so helpless. Watching her mother die, feeling half-awake in the Department of Mysteries…she had never been good at forming and keeping friendships with new people. The ones she had were cherished, and these were high points in her life. But as soon as the spell hit her, all energy was sapped from her body. Darkness piled upon darkness crashed into her, pressing past her boundaries, opening the doors in her mind so that memories locked away pooled at her feet.
Her eyes flew wide, and she crumpled to the ground, mouth open. Bellatrix deflected the Stupefying spell with little effort. It hit the couch instead, sending it into sizzling flames. She pushed back her hair from her eyes and scowled darkly. This was taking too long.
"Time to go," Bellatrix whispered, turning to Carleigh, who was gaping. "Imperius," she said lightly. Carleigh's eyes glazed over, and she tilted her head to the side as she listened to her orders.
Bellatrix shooed her out of the room, eyes glittering before she turned to Luna, still lying on the ground. The Ravenclaw had been put into a deep sleep, one that was sure to be plague her with nightmares.
"Mother," Luna whimpered softly.
Bellatrix smiled, and whispered a charm over her. Luna's body gradually trickled away, disappearing from view in less than seconds. The lady Black hoisted Luna's still form over her shoulder, and, straining with the effort, deposited her on the windowsill and unlatched it. She was about to push the prone form outside when an idea took her; should anything fail, she wanted a backup.
Smirking widely, Bellatrix sat back, and waited.
Harry had been dreaming; deep, deep dreams with no meaning. He was more unconscious than sleeping, actually. He was falling in an eternity of black, swathing him in its morbidly comforting embrace.
"Harry."
He woke up with little trouble, and found Carleigh leaning over him, eyes shining in genuine worry. "Harry, please, I need your help. Something's wrong with Luna, and I can't find Draco anywhere…"
Harry rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, but as he slipped out of bed and threw on a robe, he was still groggy. "What's wrong with Luna?"
"Oh, Harry, I don't know! She's just collapsed and I'm so worried. I can't talk to Pomfrey because if it has anything to the Firewhiskey we were downing we'll be in such trouble."
"Luna doesn't normally drink," Harry said, befuddled for a moment as they walked out of the room. He forgot all about the supposed locks on the door, and that he wasn't supposed to leave. Somewhere, a voice in his mind wondered where Draco was. Lethargically, his brain sent out a question while he continued walking. "She keeps some of it but only for others. She likes butterbeer better."
"I persuaded her to take some! I feel so bad now," Carleigh sniffled. She cast a sideways glance at Harry as he wrapped an arm around her automatically.
"It'll be fine," he said, and then yawned widely. He was so drowsy that he didn't notice Carleigh's hand slipping around his waist to latch onto his wand, and slip it into her robes. They walked up the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower, and it was only as Harry pushed open the common room door that he thought of something odd.
"Carleigh. Why aren't you acting drunk, then?"
She looked at him fully, and he noticed her eyes were misted over. In an almost mechanical movement he reached for his wand, and when he didn't find it, scooted back a few inches, but it was too late. The door slammed shut, and Harry turned to face Carleigh. She had been joined by—
"Chloris?" Harry said disbelievingly. "But—Draco says you're dead."
"Draco's wrong," the girl said dismissively. "Harry, come here, I need your help with Luna, she's by the window."
But Harry didn't move. "What the hell is going on here?" he said shakily. "Apparently you've risen from the dead, Carleigh looks like she's been hexed to oblivion and back again and I don't even see Luna here!"
Silence wound all around them like tendrils of mist, and a feeling of heavy unease entered Harry's body and mind. The girl who called herself Chloris Ernestine grinned suddenly, and Harry caught a subtle flickering in her skin tone and hair color.
"Very adept, Potter," she spat. "But too late. Too, too late." She didn't give him any more time to react as she strode over to him and grabbed his wrists. A shocking, burning pain spread up Harry's arms, and he tried to wrench himself away, but he suddenly fell in the midst of a spasm, whimpering.
Harry's sight began to diminish, and before he could stop himself, he screamed.
Draco and Ron walked out of the hallway, both unnaturally quiet and comfortable next to each other. The awkward need to fight was gone, and now all that remained was the question floating silently above their heads.
Why was it always Harry?
The most self-explanatory question in the world, Draco thought dryly. He turned to Ron, and offered his hand. "So, Weasley, this doesn't make us friends."
"But we're close."
Draco cocked an eyebrow. He hadn't missed the underlying tone, the missing half of that question that said only because of Harry.
"Yeah, we're close," he repeated. Ron took his hand, and shook it. They both turned to go their separate ways when Draco felt something brush at his mind.
It was a simple, are-you-there brush, and Draco was wondering whether or not to return it when there was another brush. This time, it was slightly frantic and held a tint of fear. Draco froze, mid-step. "Weasley," he said, eyes wide. "Where is everyone?"
Ron turned back to him and shrugged. "I dunno. I haven't seen anyone since you walked in and disrupted my whole life, Malfoy." He noticed the look on Draco's face and his own inexpressive features fell. "Wait, is this about Harry?"
Draco took only a minute to think before he was off, sprinting for the place he had last seen his mate. Ron wasn't far behind him.
Hermione was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, grinning widely despite the time of night. She, Pansy and Carina had been giddy that Theodore had finally woken up. Despite the fact that she didn't know Theo as well as any of them, his true happiness at seeing her offer her joy that he was all right was enough to make her happy and forget all about Ron.
For the moment, at least.
She had been laughing gaily for the first time in a long time, with Slytherins, of all people, and she suddenly fell into total agreement with Ginny. Said girl walked in at this exact moment, with Blaise trailing sheepishly behind her.
"Gin!" Carina cried, and threw her arms around the other girl. "I'm so sorry, I should've said something! Carleigh can be headstrong…"
"Yeah, like you," Ginny teased, but she returned the hug. "It's okay."
"But I, darling sister, am deeply disappointed." Blaise said sternly, but the look didn't befit him, and Carina hugged him as well.
"Sorry, then, dearest brother," she mocked.
"Oh, shut up," he provided.
Hermione laughed then. They were acting nothing like the devious Slytherins she had heard of, and along with this revelation came another. This was why Dumbledore was astounded that they couldn't get along with each other. They were just children, whose ideals and morals had been so deeply twisted it would mar them forever.
"Hermione!" Ginny said, jolting her from her reverie. "I was just looking for you." The unasked question hung between them. Ron, what about Ron?
"I'm fine," Hermione said firmly. "And I'm not upset."
Every Slytherin in the room raised an eyebrow (coined from their Prince, of course) at this, but before any questions could be asked, a pounding on the door forced them all to turn their attention away.
Hesitatingly, Blaise moved towards the door and opened it, wand at the ready, but he didn't need it. A pale-faced, out of breath Seamus Finnegan was looking frantically for someone. Dean was behind him, looking similarly shell-shocked. When his eyes locked with Hermione's, he let out a deep breath.
"Thank Merlin, Herm, we need your help!"
"What's going on?" she asked, already half out of her seat and casting a quelling glare at Ginny, who was already reaching for the door.
"Harry's missing," Seamus gasped. "Ron and Draco were running past us and Ron stopped to tell us Draco felt something was up. By the time we got there Draco was leaning on the door and he looked terrible. He said Harry was gone."
Hermione had clenched the chair so tightly it splintered under her fingers. She wondered vaguely why she wasn't used to this right now, but then quickly quashed that thought. "We're all going," she said, voice trembling, "to find Harry. All of us."
There were no protests.
Harry was falling through the darkness again, but this time, he was frightened. There was nothing more terrifying than realizing that you were utterly alone, and he had just had that moment.
"Hello, Harry."
Thin and translucent, like a sheet of silk thrown over him. It wrapped all around him, sheltering him from the darkness, from the fear of being alone. He forgot for a moment that there was a place beyond this, and focused on the voice, and only the voice.
"You'll come to me when I call, won't you? Please say you will."
He didn't disappoint, never when people were kind. Harry forced a nod from himself, eyes drooping. There was a moment's hesitation, almost as though the voice hadn't been expecting an answer so quickly. In this moment everything started to unravel, and Harry looked up, a quick, unnatural move.
"Shh," the voice came back, soothing. "Shh, Harry, I am here."
He closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of a breath slide across the nape of his neck, tickling him so that he smiled a little. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of the lithe form of Tynan Malfoy. Strangely, he didn't feel threatened, or even connect her to the voice.
"Hullo," he said.
She smiled back at him; a wicked, wicked smile that did not attempt to hide what she felt. Harry shivered. "Hi, Harry," she greeted back. "I've decided that you're going to come to me. On the stroke of the New Year, darling, I wanted it to be, or even on my birthday—Christmas. What a great double present!"
She smiled again, but Harry cringed and looked away. This didn't seem to bother her, as she kept on talking. "But I've decided that the best day would be on June fifth."
Harry's head jerked upwards, and Tynan looked positively thrilled. "Oh, yes, you know what day that is, don't you? Draco Malfoy's birthday. Your mate's birthday."
Harry opened his mouth to speak, and a stinging pain grew behind his eyes, but Tynan waved her hand. "No worries, Harry. You'll forget this conversation until that day, and besides, you've already promised yourself to me."
The Gryffindor screamed again, in outrage at first, but then in pain as what could only be described as claws hooked themselves into his right arm. Tynan looked a little surprised.
"Marking you? Like Lord Voldything?" She seemed indignant. "I never wanted that!" She turned huffily, calling out a name, but Harry was past hearing anything she said now.
He kept screaming even as the claws relaxed, leaving only burning blood and something (he didn't want to look) imprinted on his arm, in his arm, branding him the way Voldemort had. He wanted so badly to throw up, he began to heave dryly, and then stopped. He was in horrific pain, and in a moment of clarity, he seized upon his last hope.
Oh God, Draco, help me!
Rabastan resisted the very much heavy urge to laugh as Tynan materialized in front of him, red-faced and with splatters of blood trickling down her fair hair and features.
"You said," she hissed, "that the spell would make him come back to me. I am not one for repetition, and yet I see a Mark-The-Potter contest in the making!"
"Lucius hasn't marked him," Rabastan said idly. He wasn't really with Tynan at the moment. He was wondering whether Potter was all right, and when he realized he was thinking this, he automatically shut down.
"Sorry, what?" he said.
Tynan looked furious. "I was saying that it doesn't matter what Lucius does, it's me that's working so damn hard! He'll be pissed off but it's in his own right, he has no idea how much he's softened up."
"You're mad," Rabastan said, more for show than anything. The lady Malfoy regarded him with contempt, and then she smiled thinly.
"A veiled jibe, easily seen through," she replied.
"Daggers from my eyes to your heart. Hah."
"You are an imbecilic, immature excuse for a person or Death Eater," Tynan said, and then paused. "Or maybe that's what you want people to think. You're smart, Rabastan. Figure out why I let you get away with so much."
"Because of my immense legerdemain and droll ripostes?" Rabastan fidgeted a little. Okay, so that had been a little too much of his acting. "I mean, because of my great agility and witty comebacks?"
"You have spent too much time with yourself," she retorted, mocking him. But Rabastan knew he had calmed her down, and as she slipped down on his bench, she made a vague motion with her hand.
"I'm tired."
Her hair was still tied into its elaborate headpiece, tendrils escaping from a hair net exuding the fragrance of roses. She never wore any makeup, save for kohl around her eyes and at times, cheek rouge and lipstick. She wasn't wearing anything but the ever-present kohl at the moment, and Rabastan knew that if she removed it the eyes would be the same. Bright and alert. They were wide, wide eyes with the expanse of an ocean.
Rabastan knew exactly the moment he had first met Tynan, and decided to reminisce with her for a moment. "Lucius Malfoy's twenty-first birthday. You were fifteen."
"The first day I met you," she said quietly. "At his little get-together, when I had tired of speaking to Voldemort and was reclining in my room. You walked in with three girls dripping from your arms."
Rabastan smiled fondly. "Ah, yes, the women do love me."
"You were blond then."
"Well, yes."
"And younger."
He frowned. "Yes."
"And cuter."
"Shut up or I shan't say anymore," he snapped. Shockingly, Tynan did so. Rabastan launched into the telling with new fervor. "I sent them all on their way whilst I inquired about you. When I learned that you were Lucius's younger brother, I immediately grew fond of you."
"Because you wanted Narcissa."
"Because she wanted me," he corrected.
"You didn't want her back?"
He didn't answer, so Tynan resumed for him. "You two were desperately in love, weren't you? But she was already married to Lucius. Arranged, but that was to be expected from people of high-ranking families. So you let her live her life. You cared for her so much you would have done anything. You went mad, sometimes, thinking about how Lucius had her and you didn't. She noticed that you had started the insanity quite a while ago, but she loved you nonetheless."
"Shut up," Rabastan murmured.
"I won't," Tynan said, holding her chin high. "Narcissa was afraid. Even more so when she heard the Dark Lord plotting and knew that soon you were to go on a mission and that she was supposed to start swelling with child or forfeit her life. So she came to you, and asked you for your help. She asked you to take the child. What did you say?"
"No." Numbly, and then it was said with bitter remorse. "I said no. To her."
"She was crushed, as were here petty feelings for you. You told me, of course, but only when you were drunk and I was as well. I found it astonishing that you, such a playboy, would never touch me, even smashed to hell and back. Odd, don't you think so?"
"I went to Azkaban," Rabastan snarled, ignoring her prodding. "I only managed to get out once. Once, when our Lord promised me freedom. A Dementor smuggled me out for a weekend, and I saw her, and Lucius, and their son. Draco Malfoy. He was a product of what could not be called love, nor lust, nor duty. Lucius did it simply because there was nothing to be had—"
"That's where you're wrong," Tynan countered. "Lucius loved her as well. At least, he did when he married her, and when Draco was conceived; he withdrew from Narcissa and loved Draco. For a long time, it was the only thing he could make sense of. Wasn't he supposed to love this child? But then you came traipsing along, bringing old memories to the surface. Narcissa forgot herself, forgot what you said, and thought highly of you, but she would never love you again, and you knew it."
Rabastan suddenly felt drained of all energy. He had always been a shameless flirt, especially with Tynan, but never had he been so sapped of his abilities as of now. It wasn't so disconcerting that she was dredging up old things; he'd finally gotten over what he had titled The Crush That Crushed Me in a hilariously drunk mood, and he didn't even mind that he couldn't manage to hate Draco or anyone who associated with him. He hated Lucius for the reasons every else hated him for, and he hated Tynan for the same reasons as well.
He was upset because she was picking at it, attempting to find answers to her own questions as well as his. How does one tell another about such personal things? He was saved from having to explain anything when Tynan frowned.
"I think Lucius is calling me back." She began to fade, and placed one small hand on Rabastan's brow. "Mayhaps I can convince him to count me out of his devious—and rather idiotic—plot to get you out."
Rabastan rolled his eyes as she disappeared. Trust her to take what could have been a good moment and totally twist it.
Ginny's breath hitched as she all but flew up the steps to Ravenclaw's common rooms, and the crowd of people behind her. Even Theodore had gotten out of bed, and by the time they'd scoured the lower Hogwarts and Gryffindor Tower it became apparent that Harry wasn't there, they'd gotten frantic.
"Who're you looking for?" A Ravenclaw had said, approaching them as they exited the Great Hall. He was identifiable from his blue badge, still worn over his robes. There was a pause; no one really wanted to say.
"Carleigh Ernestine?" Ginny ventured.
"Oh," the boy said, visibly brightening. "Tell her I said congrats as well, okay?"
"What do you mean, congrats?" Carina sidled up to him. "Was there something she should have been told about?"
The boy barely refrained from wrapping an arm around her waist and leading her off when Blaise growled at him. "Er, well, her sister came in alive and we thought she'd be excited to find out."
Draco, who had been too anxious to dwell on what everyone had been discussing before, heard this and stopped. "What? Say that again!"
"Her sister—came in—alive," the boy repeated. "Me and Mitch were patrolling outside the front doors—Neville assigned us." His chest swelled with pride but the looks shot at him made him go faster. "And Chloris walked in from the general direction of the forest so we just let her in."
"She's dead!" Draco sputtered angrily. "Tell me, how can she be alive? I checked her pulse myself! I—" Draco stopped short, eyes narrowed. "She had no life aura. It was diminished completely."
"Wuzzat?"
"Where did you send her to?" Pansy snapped, alarming the boy greatly.
"Er, er, to her sister, in the Ravenclaw commons."
They were gone before he could register it.
Now as Ginny stood aimlessly before the locked common room door, she realized her heart was attempting to pound a hole through her chest.
"Who knows the password?" Ron said finally. There was a long, long pause, before Draco finally spoke up, mouth dry. He had to swallow twice before he could speak again.
"I think—I think Luna told me it once. She wasn't even really paying attention, it was—today, actually," he said, sounding surprised. "This morning, when we were walking down towards the lake."
"Well, what is it?" Hermione cried, frustrated.
"Maybe I'd remember if you stopped breathing down my neck, Granger, I'm sort of at a loss here!" he ran a hand through his hair and took a ragged breath. "I can't—I can't function," he said aimlessly, looking very much like a lost boy. He bit his lip and berated himself for acting like such an idiot.
"Love is weird," whispered Seamus to Dean.
"Yeah," his friend whispered back. "It's gotta be to make Malfoy act like that about his worst enemy."
Everyone was startled when Draco suddenly reeled back. "Um…I heard him?" he said, by way of explanation. "He's—in pain." A decisive look took over his face, and then Hermione suddenly threw up her hands.
"Rack your brains, Malfoy! What kind of idiot can't even remember a common room's password? You've snuck in enough times, I suppose." Her voice sounded malevolent and cold, as one might have expected from a Slytherin, not her, Hermione Granger, Gryffindor know-it-all and renowned peacemaker.
The Slytherins were momentarily shocked before Theo lifted an uncertain hand. "Er…Granger, it's not his fault you know, you shouldn't be so harsh on him—"
"Shut up," she hissed. "It's his fault and he bloody well knows it. Running off to leave Harry alone when he knows there's a war going on! For Merlin's sake, even his aunts are in the enemy's inner circle—how do we know he's not plotting against us as well?"
"Hermione, you're being unreasonable—!" Ginny began, but Ron stopped her. He had a peculiar expression on his face as he leaned down to whisper to his younger sister.
"Now you get to see her in action; she's brilliant!"
Draco raised his head, and Hermione winced a little as she realized his eyes had taken on an unnaturally blue hue that reminded her of Tynan. They were cold, and merciless, and his voice was exactly the same.
"Where do you get off telling me, Granger, Potter's mate, that I am betraying him? Haven't the past few days done anything? And here I thought you were an accepting little Gryff, never wanting to stir up any trouble…"
"Oh, shut it, Malfoy," Hermione growled. "You might love him, but nothing in that little book of yours claims you have to change other loyalties. Your personality still bears a passing resemblance to that of a wild dog, and I feel the need to inform you that the only good thing about you is that you'd make a good boy toy. Probably the only reason Harry's stayed with you for so long…"
Hermione uttered a small noise of surprise as she found herself being pushed up against the wall. Literal sparks were flying between her and Draco, and flecks of dark green were visible in his eyes. She didn't need to look to know his wings were flapping angrily behind him, keeping everyone at bay, and she suddenly wished she hadn't been so fervent with her idea.
"I can't believe you," he said, voice frighteningly low and dangerous. "You vile, loathsome Mudblood. I would so enjoy tearing out your precious brain and picking it to bits…"
But it was an empty threat, and Hermione knew it, so she kept her goading. "Please, Malfoy, you're a pawn on Harry's chessboard. He can't even whisper a bad word about you all the way across the world without you flying into headboards and whatnot." She leaned in closer, defiantly closing the space between them. "Face it; you're weak, you've lost your standing, and your precious daddy's not going to save you. You've got nothing, nothing but your stupid Pureblood world."
Color exploded in front of her eyes, and she felt light and airy for a moment. Somebody screamed and it took her a moment to register the sound of her own voice, and when she opened her eyes she expected to find herself floating on a cloud of some sort with wings and a harp tucked under her arms.
Instead, she found herself looking into a pair of very worried, warm blue eyes. Ron held out a hand and she took it, shaking a little. Blaise, Seamus and Dean were restraining Draco, who looked furious.
"Are you okay?" Ron asked her.
Hermione ignored him, and for a moment he thought she was still mad at him but then she pointed behind the group. "There," she said, a note of faint triumph in her voice. "You've opened the door, Draco."
The blonde gaped at her, and then at the crushed bits of sapphire that were still falling to the ground. They were still making soft tinkling noises when understanding dawned on him, and he stopped his struggles.
"Smooth, Granger," he told her, and then pushed away from those holding him to peer inside of the common room.
The couches and armchairs had been completely decimated, burned to a scorch as though they had all spontaneously combusted. Even the fireplace had dark marks on it, and the windows had all been flung wide open. A single, clear bottle of Ogden's Best Firewhiskey rolled to a stop just as the last person (Dean) stepped inside of the room.
There was no sign of human life in the room, and suddenly feeling as though a terrible weight had been dropped into the pit of his stomach, Draco walked slowly over to the largest window. It was clear of any damage, and looked almost serene amongst the chaos. He leaned over to look out but stopped himself. There was a slip of parchment with hastily scribbled words on it, and dreading what it said, he picked it up and handed it to the nearest person.
Blaise took the paper gingerly, opened it, and read its contents in a shaky voice.
She Is With Us.
-Bellatrix Black
"She signed it," he finished. "Why in hell would she sign it?"
"So we knew she did it," Pansy said softly. "She likes to operate that way, and besides, she has no reason to fear us if she's run off. Look outside, someone, so we can find out which 'she' she meant."
Draco was already leaning out of the window, and he blinked rapidly to stop himself crying as he peered down. What he saw nearly stopped his heart.
"Blaise, my feet," he croaked. When his friend hesitated, the blonde snapped. "My feet, Blaise, grab them! There's someone hanging onto the ledge!"
Draco wasted no time in scrambling onto the ridge, and lowering the front half of his body downwards. He only just remembered to tuck his wings back into his body as he slid down, aiming for the person whose body was sprawled on a protruding statue of a gargoyle, arms flung around the stone figure's back so as to keep safe. They had been covered with a black cloak, which he brushed briefly with his fingers before flinging it back.
"Harry," he sighed in relief. The Gryffindor's eyes were shut, and soot marked his whole body. Draco's eyes narrowed as he noticed the blood staining his mate's right arm. Snarling, Draco reached out to grab the prone body, eyes glittering with rage. Whoever had messed with his mate would be very sorry, very soon.
At the very beginning of the Forbidden Forest's boundaries, Bellatrix Black watched her nephew haul the body of her nemesis into an open window. But Bellatrix was past caring about Harry Potter. From what she had gathered, as soon as he had agreed to Tynan's stupid plot he was signing his own death wish.
The body in her arms shifted, and she glanced down at the white-blonde hair that was falling in tendrils across the eyes of her charge.
"What a shame," Bellatrix whispered to the still-sleeping Luna, "that your friend had to die. What a pity they won't ever find her corpse. What a terrible, terrible thing it was to have died that way; first to be burned so badly and then dropped out of a high, tall tower."
Smirking, Bellatrix waved Chloris Ernestine's stolen wand over the dead girl's now-dead twin, Transfiguring the remains into a pebble.
" 'We are all pebbles in the stream of life'," Bellatrix quoted. She threw the pebble as far as she could, and felt a tingle of satisfaction run down her spine as she heard it clatter to a stop in the Forest. She stepped back, shifting the quiet girl in her arms for more comfort.
"Shh," she cooed. "Shh, darling. We're nearly there. You're going to have a grand time with me, I promise you, little Luna."
Luna squeezed her eyes shut tighter, and tried to fight away the malicious creatures in her dreams; some of which were more real for her than she thought.
So.
I suppose I should explain all about how as soon as I got Dance Dance Revolution: Ultramix 3 for X-Box I spent a whole day playing it. I suppose I should explain how I ended up cleaning my house and the backyard and getting a minor cold that still made me feel like crap. I suppose I should tell about how it took me seven tries to upload this damn chapter, and how it took me (YES, I TIMED IT) exactly forty-six hours all together to type this chapter, in little bits in pieces. I suppose now I should tell you it's 13 pages long on Word and I still feel sleepy as a sleepy thing.
But, nay, I shall refrain from saying anything, because I have a Vanilla Bean Coolata in my hands and despite the cool weather, that in itself is enough to sooth me. Plus, I have become enamored with my new Demon Diary manga and my knee socks (don't ask). Laaaaaaaaaa. Now all I need is the Hush Sound - So Sudden, and I shall begin updating every day. Too bad I start school again in anothet two days. :( Nyah.
To my anonyluffs:
bananagirl: Hah. Submissive Draco. Hah. Well, he is, but not really...sexually wise? Er...this is awkward...
Jen: Well, then, muchos muchos grazis for helping Jools to find her way to this fic.
Jools: Hezzs, welcome back! And I wouldn't say Narcissa is necessarily 'dead'. Go back and read the chap when Bella and Lucy and Ty are all talking...heh...
RaineMarker16: Eh, no prob, I wrote the whole quotes by memory and some I was laughing over with friends. I'll fix it as soon as I get a chance, thanks for telling me!
