Author's note/ This chapter was inspired by The song by Bastille: Weight of living. Draco starts this chapter having felt relieved at having completed part of his mission, and at the end he his distraught to find the "Albatross" is still around his neck. Also the spell Draco uses to find the screw is one that i made up. In latin it means magnet of metal.
Chapter.4 The Albatross
There has been an albatross hanging round my neck since the beginning of the year. Since i had been given this, the darkest of tasks. Now it was over. I had finally succeeded. I was cutting it close though. Aunt Bellatrix had said "until May" in the note she'd had smuggled to me. I'd stuffed it between some papers, then shoved them all in my bag in an attempt to ignore it for as long as possible. May was only a week away. I won't owl my aunt right away. I need time to think, time to plan.
I feel weightless. Numb even, maybe i'm in shock. I really started believing i wasn't going to make it to May. I thought perhaps i was doomed.
Not sure what time is it, but i know i've been in the secret room for hours. Crawling around moving anything and everything in my path, to find that missing piece. After i left Slughorn's classroom i had come straight here thrown my bag down, and reinspected the cabinet. A screw. One tiny screw was missing on the door hinge. There was to much junk in the room to sort through in this lifetime, but a thought occurred to me. I only needed to sort through the metal objects.
"Magnete of metallicum" had been the spell i used to draw every bit of metal to me. I started in the sections closest to the areas where i found the larger pieces previously. I found hundreds of screws, tried many of them to no avail. Then as i was making what was my last round for the day i saw the tiara again. Exactly where i had left it on the mannequin. The only difference was that this time, sat beside it was a screw. I was now positive the tiara was in fact cursed. Was the tiara helping me in some way though? I took the screw to the cabinet, and placed it. Doing one last incantation of "Harmonia Nectare Passus", and i watched in awe as the spell worked once more. It's done, finally fixed.
Then i had to test it, just to be sure. A little swallow would be my test subject. I had transfigured a stuffed bird into a real one. A neat little spell i'd learned in Transfiguration class. I placed the bird inside the cabinet, sealed it and waited. The cabinet glimmered, and i opened it again to see the bird had gone. I closed it again. Then a moment later the cabinet glimmered, and i could hear the bird before i even opened the door. There it was, the little swallow had made the journey between Burgin and Burkes and Hogwarts. A working vanishing cabinet at last.
I am exhausted, and yet all i want to do is go to Grace. To find her and hold her and tell her that it had worked. That soon everything would be okay. But there was no point. Grace had no idea anything was wrong, she had no idea that i had been living under a death sentence for the better part of a year. I had one week left with her, and i was going to enjoy it.
Mother, and father, and i would live to see the new world order. I could keep Grace safe. Ensure she was safe, and remained untouched. Before that though i would have to talk to Grace about her sister, make her see reason. She would have to say her goodbyes, and part ways. It would be for the best. Having a squib in their family would make Grace and her mother targets. They would all be slaughtered because of her.
In a week Dumbledore would be dead at my hands, and Grace would hate me forever. I hope that fear in the end may persuade Grace more than anything that sending her sister away was the right choice. If she can't bring herself to take action i will be forced to take care of it myself. I hope it won't come to that.
It's time for me to leave, i throw the sheet back on the cabinet, and collect my bag from the floor. I know there's more work yet to be done. Notifying the death eaters, planning, killing Dumbledore, but i am in desperate need of some sleep.
I've just turned the corner when leaving the secret room, and i can see that it's nearly dark outside the castle. I've missed the rest of my classes for today and probably dinner to.
Standing near a window i find Potter, he turns at the sound of my footsteps. Following me again, huh. Potter knows how to get in the secret room i know, because of last year when i was on the inquisitorial squad for Umbridge. Why hadn't he followed me inside? Is there a limit to the way he's tracking me? There must be or he would have surely burst in to see what i have been up to, by now.
"Out for a stroll, Potter?" I drawl.
"Hagrid's been looking for you all day." He says. "He sent me to find you."
"Knew exactly where to find me then, did you?"
He doesn't rise to my bait. He just stares at me sizing me up.
My absence has been noted, unfortunately. Potter knows i'm working on something. How long had he been out here waiting? He's really getting on my nerves. It's hard enough finding time to sneak away and work on the cabinet. Now he's interfering with the time i can spend with Grace. I need him out of my way this week. I remind myself he still can't prove anything or i'd surely be on my way to Azkaban or maybe being underage would get me put in the looney bin. I wonder if i'd run into longbottom's folks.
"Well get on with it, why were you sent to find me Potter?" I ask.
"The unicorn is going to have the baby today. It might have already. I've been looking for you for awhile so i'm not sure." He answers.
I'm itching to see Grace, and i want to ask if she's there already but i don't ask. I nod at him to lead our way, and even though i need sleep i decide to put it off. Potter and his friends are chummy with the oaf so it makes sense that they would be there for this. Wonderful. I just hope Grace is there so i won't endure the presence of the 3 stooges alone.
We walk in silence for a long while until Potter tries to start a conversation and says, "Grace is there already."
"Why on earth would i care where Grace is?" Thank you for that Potter. The worry comes again that Potter might know about Grace, and i.
"Okay Malfoy." And he gives up trying to talk to me all the way to the oaf's hovel.
"Yer both just in time." The giant booms. He's partly behind his home but he's large enough that i can make him out. It's only moments away from being dark out, some torches have been lit around where the lot of them are gathered.
The unicorn called Thunder is laid upon a pile of hay, looking to be in a good deal of pain. Poor creature. Weasley, and Granger are standing next to their giant friend. They pay me no mind, and continue their chat. They look put out with each other, and they're having a talk about Lavender. Dreadfully ugly flower if you ask me. Potter moves to stand next to his friends. I stand opposite of them, suddenly unsure about my decision to come out. Potter lied to me, Grace is no where to be seen. That stinking son of-
"Hagrid i've got it!" I hear her voice before i see her emerge from the hut. In her hands is a large basin. I take care not to acknowledge her in anyway. Now that i know that Potter really is watching my every move.
Grace wears the unicorn hair coat, and my scarf. I'd never bothered to get it back after the pumpkin patch. I hope she'll keep it, after everything, just some small memento of me that can stay with her. Her robes are rolled up at the sleeves. Her hair is pulled back in a bun, and her headband is dotted with pearls. I can make out the shape of the butterfly clip underneath it. She's biting her pretty pink lips. Beauty incarnate.
"Thank Ye Grace, we will be needin' this for sure." The giant says to her as he takes the bucket. "The bucket has been treated to help wit' preserving the placenta. I'll be trustin' one of ye Slytherins to get it to Professor Slughorn for me, if ye don't mind." He says to Grace and i.
"Of course, Hagrid." Grace volunteers herself happily.
I look down as the unicorn cries out like a stuck pig. I suppose i didn't think about how disgusting this might be. I had not planned to come to see this at all but the thought of seeing Grace after all i had accomplished today, had both excited, and distracted me. There's mucous, membrane, and lots of blood at our feet. I take a tentative step back, not wanting the mess on my robes or shoes. Granger, and Grace seem unbothered. Each has taken to rubbing the creature. It's head is sat in Grace's lap now. Granger runs her fingers consolingly along it's spine. Suppose it's something to do with being a girl. The need to comfort other's while the pangs of childbirth rack them. The thought of Grace someday in the future with a child in her arms comes to my mind. It's a good thought until i think of the bloke she'll marry. Then the thought is sour, and i force myself not to think of it.
"Now the babe'll be out soon. Draco, and Grace you'll both need ter think of what ye was thinkin' when ye did the spell afore." He nods down at the creature. "An ye'll both ned ter put yer hands on her like ye did. Just keep thinking yer good thoughts for her, it helps." Hagrid assure.
Grace swaps positions with Granger, and i hesitate. Feeling very much like a little girl wrapping her dress about herself for fear of it dragging a puddle on the ground. My face warms. Potter, and Weasley both look pleased not to be me. They must be every bit as disgusted as i am. Potter smirks at me, delighting at my cowardice. I discard my bag to the side without caring to see where it lands. Then with trepidation i lower myself down to the mess. Feeling it squish under my shoes, i stifle a gag, and i vow to shower and throw everything i'm wearing away before bed tonight.
I put my hand on top of Grace's glad to have the warmth of her on me. I think of her hair clip again. The unicorns sides squeeze, and contract under our entwined hands. It must be pushing. Before i know it there's another gush of liquid from it, but this time a great white blob covered in the blood and mucous of it's mother emerges.
Weasley, and Potter are as horrified as me. None of us are attempting to keep the disgust on our faces any longer. The three of us turn away as the cord is cut, and the placenta is slopped over into the charmed bucket. The oaf is unbothered, and delighted.
Grace squeezes my hand, i squeeze back she's elated by the baby unicorn. For a fraction of a moment, i forget my present company, and i am to. Granger and Grace both prattle towards the tiny thing as it attempts to stand for the first time. They ooh and ahh at it together. It's mother is still lain down, recovering. Granger, is helping Hagrid, as i choose to call him at this tender moment, wipes the muck away from the baby. All the gore has gone away, and the towels are soiled. I would be lying if i said the disgusting little thing wasn't cute. In it's own way, of course. Watching it wriggle, and writhe about is amusing. It's first moments of life are so pure. Had my own first moments been so?
"So what'll we name her then?" Hagrid looks around us, waiting for an idea.
"Name it?" I ask.
"Well yeah she'll be wantin' to be called something other than a babe." He chuckles, and pets the baby as it stands on very unsure footing. "It's traditional ter name em after the weather or the sky on the day they've been born." He adds.
"It was sunny earlier." Weasley supplies.
"That's kind of corny sounding, Ronald." Granger says to him, scrunching her nose up.
"It's dusk out now." Grace says thoughtful.
"Dusk? I like that." Hagrid says. "How about the rest of ye?" He looks around and one by one we've all agreed it suits the creature well.
Potter and i exchange a glance as everyone watches the baby walk, his eyes glide down to my hand still in Grace's. I pull it back, and Grace hides the way it bothers her, but i don't think it fooled Potter one bit. Yes i would have to do something about Potter, soon.
I watch Grace as she continues to comfort the mother, gently trying to coax her to stand. I hear the rustling of paper, and look back to the baby now named Dusk. To my horror the little monster has opened my bag, and spilled the contents of it on the dirt. It's a bit of luck i had dumped the poison when i had the opportunity earlier. Apples is what it was after. 1 green, and 1 red. I had packed them for a snack. I start to collect my things. Potter finds me as amusing as Weasley, but Potter is more decent and helps me to collect the contents that are scattered every way.
Potter comes to hand me the pile he has collected, and looks genuinely empathetic when he says "looks like she nibbled this one up." I look down, and truly hate to see, Dusk has seen fit to obliterate my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. Snape's going to kill me. You would think being my godfather the guy would give me a break but no. The second i tell him "A Unicorn ate my homework", he's going to strangle me. Having a mission from the dark lord won't excuse homework not for Snape at least.
Ever being the good guy Potter bends down to grab the last paper. Its gone under his foot, he glances at it, and i rip it from him as soon as i realize what paper it is. Dammit why hadn't i just burned the thing. It's to late he's seen it. Does he know what it means?
"What's going to happen in May Malfoy?" He demands suddenly turning from good cop to bad cop in an instant. No he's suspicious but still clueless. Good. I need it to stay that way.
I glare at him, and would have hexed him right out of his shoes if it weren't for all these witnesses. He goes to grab my arm as i turn, but i duck out of his reach. "Fuck you, Potter." I whisper menacingly so only he can hear.
Holding the contents of my bag in my hands i start heading back to the castle, not daring to pause even to put everything in my bag. I let Dusk keep the apples.
I hear the oaf call out to me, but don't turn. What will Potter say to them i wonder. Grace will want to know why i've let but she knows better than to come after me. I'll make my excuses later.
Potter has reminded me i've still work to do, and i can't think straight right now. I feel suffocated. And now i know that the albatross never really left my neck after all. The delusional part of me just wanted to believe it had.
