A/N: Standard disclaimer: All characters and setting belong to J.K. Rowling, except for my original characters Clara Bradley, Renee Sanderson, Tomasz Ruddernot (mentioned), Gill Bellis (mentioned), Sandra Ballias (mentioned), Nolan Avery (mentioned), Franklin Morrison (mentioned), the Harpies Agnes and Cajun (mentioned), the House Elf Dizzy (mentioned) and Morgana Fletcher (mentioned). Nico di Angelo and Percy Jackson (mentioned) belong to Rick Riordan. I am making no profit from this story.
Nico POV
"No. Not… them."
I'd never experienced this feeling before. I suppose some would call it PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder. I knew Clara, for some reason, reacted harshly around snakes, and maybe I was the same way with the Harpies. All I know is that one moment the veela women were really pretty, and the next time I looked, there were Harpies everywhere. I guess they weren't really Harpies, but…
"Psst. Nico."
"Minos? I thought I told you-"
Minos pointed at something in the distance. There was a shimmering image of Percy and his friends trying to fight off a skeleton army. There were more than I'd ever seen. "Your friends are in grave danger," the king said. "Come, before they are overpowered. Only you can save them, my Lord."
"Torture…" I muttered. "Got to get away… got to warn Percy…"
The ghost king led me down through the cattle guard and back into the Labyrinth. "This way, Nico, I can sense them. We are getting close."
I couldn't sense anything. But seeing is believing, and I had seen Percy in danger.
The first thing I noticed was a grove of trees. They looked almost normal, except that we were in the Labyrinth, and also, the trees were black and twisted.
Then, they descended upon me. Five of them.
"Our prize," they screeched collectively. "A young, delicious demigod for us to feast upon."
The largest one pierced my shoulders with her talons. "Up you get," she cackled menacingly. The other four circled around her, making sure she didn't loosen her grip. Minos had disappeared, and I was all alone. I was starting to question whether I could actually trust the old king. Why had he brought me here? I didn't see any signs of Percy or his friends anywhere. It didn't seem like demigods had been to this place for millennia.
"So nice of you to stop by," one of the Harpies screeched. "We hardly ever have guests."
"Demigods are the best," another one cackled.
"Hang on. I thought Harpies hated demigods."
"Oh, yes," the one carrying me said nastily. "As humans, they are most despicable. But as prey, they are the best gift a Harpy can ask for. We're here."
I looked at my surroundings. The Harpies had placed me in a nest made of bones. I didn't want to think about whose bones, about a hundred feet in the air. I closed my eyes tightly.
"Aww," one of the Harpies mocked. "The little demigod thinks if he closes his eyes, he'll only be dreaming. Isn't that sweet?"
"More like a little salty," another Harpy responded.
The largest one dropped me with a thud. "You know what I love most about demigods?" she asked her companions.
"What?" they demanded, cackling loudly.
"There are always more where they came from. Cajun, Agnes, search the area. His companions can't be far!"
The two smallest Harpies took off, and I knew I had to stall. Despite what the Harpies thought, I had no companions. I never would.
"You're wrong!" I said, shaking. "I have no friends." Well, it was true. Except… if Clara and Percy knew I was down here, would they help me? I had to warn them!
"No friends, demigod! Ha! A likely story!"
"I've been all alone my entire life," I insisted. "My sister died last year." I swallowed hard. "Nobody will come for me."
The Harpies laughed. "Nonsense. Then they will send a quest, demigod. And you know what that means…"
"A FEAST!" the other Harpies screamed with glee. "A proper feast! And we can sacrifice their bones to Kronos!"
"Nobody is coming for me," I insisted. I thought again about Clara and Percy. I knew they wouldn't actually come. They wouldn't help me now.
But they were helping me now. Clara summoned a sunbeam. "Hey bro. Let's get you somewhere quiet. The stadium must be overwhelming."
Stadium? What stadium? Was this the arena that all demigods had to pass through to get to Daedalus's lab? I squinted at Percy… no, not him… someone else… I'd met this guy before, but it wasn't Percy… I'd need to be careful…
"Shall we kill him now?"
"Oh yes," I begged. "Please, get it over with."
The lead Harpy noticed my fear. "Kill you now? I think not, demigod. We will eat you alive!"
"Starting from the legs up!" Another Harpy cackled. "Then after that, it's on to the organs! We'll see how long we can keep this one alive, and make him watch his own demise!"
Suddenly, a shadow swooped over us, and there were two more Harpies flying over us. One had stark white hair and one black wing, and one bloodred one. The other one was smaller, with dark red hair and shiny black wings.
"You will do no such thing!" the larger one screeched. "This demigod is ours for the taking! He will aid our master greatly!"
"Hello, Morgana," the largest one from my original group said nastily. "I'd invite you to join us, but you're not like the rest of us, are you?" She spat. "You refuse to eat demigods, don't you? Ah, but we could eat you."
"You're disgusting!" the smaller of the new Harpies retorted. She had a softer voice, one that almost sounded human. "The boy is ours. We have strict orders from the master!"
The Harpies laughed. "Oh, you have orders from the master, is that so? Well then, why did he-" she gestured to a figure directly below us - "bring this lovely snack to us instead of you?"
I looked down, and I gasped. There, below us, was the ghost of King Minos.
"Kaylee said to bring him to the Harpies," the ghost said. "I was only doing my duty."
"You idiot!" the Harpy called Morgana yelled, and there was definitely something about her that sounded a lot more human as well. "She meant us! Not these bloodthirsty… you know what, never mind! When you get your mortal form back, I'll slap you so hard you'll wish you were still a ghost! I don't know why they thought using you would help!"
His mortal form? I glared at the ghost king, realizing what he had been planning all along. How could I have been so stupid?
I was shaking like mad as Clara's sunbeam lowered me onto the ground in the middle of the woods. The woods? Where was I, again? This wasn't the Labyrinth. That other kid wasn't Percy.
Before I knew what I was doing, I started talking, more quickly than I thought I was capable of.
"So many of them. Morgana and Ariana showed up later in the Labyrinth, but first I had to battle five of them, with just my sword. They captured me, brought me to their nest, and tried to eat me. It was like… like cannibalism. In the Labyrinth. Ariana and Morgana. Harpies."
I sat down on a rock. The boy who wasn't Percy had a whispered conversation with Clara and then pulled something from a bag. Then he pulled out a stick of some sort and said a few words that sounded Latin. He handed me a cold cloth, and then sat next to me.
"Shit," he said. "Quests. Harpies. The Labyrinth. Gods. Demigods. It's all real. Shit."
"You don't know the half of it," I said. There was something I should know about this kid.
He sighed audibly, and then turned to me. "No, I suppose I don't. Do you want to talk about it?"
I stared at Clara, trying to ask her if we could trust this kid. She nodded after a moment, but then there was a loud noise, and something in my mind clicked. I was in the middle of the woods, at some sporting event, I remembered. And then everything came crashing down on me.
Wizards. Hogwarts. The Quidditch World Cup. Draco Malfoy, who I'm not supposed to like, but feel inexplicably drawn to. Who saved my life from Ariana and Morgana. And saved Clara and Renee. And helped me buy my wand. And is Clara's brother. And wizards. Styx.
Renee POV
"Ireland wins!" Bagman boomed, sounding shocked. "But Krum gets the Snitch. Oh, they'll be talking about this one for years!"
Fred and George grinned and high-fived. "Thanks, Clara," they said, looking over past me. "Hey, do you want a cut?" Fred asked.
"Wait, where did she go?" George said, looking at the spot where Clara should have been sitting.
I looked around nervously. Almost immediately, I noticed Nico and Draco were gone too. Styx!
There was a flash of light, and then the three of them appeared in their seats.
"What happened?" I hissed at her. "Where were you?"
"What? I've been here the whole time."
"Clara!"
"Okay, fine. Who else noticed?"
"Fred and George noticed you were gone, but I was the only one who noticed about Nico and Draco, I think."
"Okay, good. Nico had an issue when the veela turned into Harpy-like creatures. He froze up a few minutes ago. I noticed and helped him get to the woods, where it was quiet, and he could process his thoughts. Draco noticed he was having trouble and came down and…" she narrowed her eyes. "He knew? And you didn't tell me?"
I sighed. "Clara, he wanted to talk to you about it himself. He only told me this morning, when he helped me get past Roberts with a Ministry guest pass."
"Ministry guest pass? I thought you-"
"Shh!" I looked around, but most people were paying attention to the players, who were doing a victory lap around the Top Box. "Look, I told Draco… well, um… Draco told me three months ago that Narcissa would want to meet with you at the World Cup. With all the craziness this summer, I never got a chance to talk to you about it. But I think you should hear him out.
Nico had pulled out a Mythomagic figurine and was looking at it strangely. Draco had gone back to watching the players with everyone else. Even so, I had the feeling they were both listening closely to Clara's and my whispered argument.
Clara started messing with her hair, and I could tell that she didn't want to be having this conversation at the moment. I kind of agreed, and so I pointed out something about Viktor Krum instead.
"Are you guys still interested in Tomasz's party?" Ginny asked. "I've been thinking about it, and I'm not sure if I want to go. It's mostly going to be Slytherins and a few Hufflepuffs, isn't it?"
I glanced at Clara. I had completely forgotten about the invitation to the party. It would give us the perfect excuse to go to Draco's and not make the Weasleys suspicious.
We were back at the tent and had just eaten sandwiches for dinner. Everyone was happily discussing the match, except for Clara and Nico, who were playing exploding snap in a corner. Next to Nico was the Mythomagic figurine he had been playing with earlier. Looking at it more closely, I realized it was the Hades one that Bianca and Percy had gone through all the trouble to give him. I was glad he still had it.
It was about 10:00 in the evening. I would have expected everyone would be asleep, but I also knew Slytherin parties often went way into the night. All around us, everyone was celebrating the Irish victory. I stepped over to the woods and pulled out a Drachma.
"Draco Malfoy," I whispered into the night.
Draco was sitting on a feather bed in what appeared to be a private room in his tent. I wanted to say something about the tent, but I held myself back. After all, he said it hadn't been his idea.
Draco turned toward the Iris message almost instinctively. A small smile played on his lips as he noticed me.
"Rebirth."
I smiled too. I didn't want him to call me that in public, of course, but I didn't really mind if it was just in his own room.
"I don't know all the details," I said. "But thank you for helping Nico today. When you're with him, I see a whole new side of you. Why is that?"
Draco smiled, and it was clear he was hiding something. "He's a lot like me at that age," he said quickly. "If I had had a positive guiding figure in my life, I might not have turned out, well… so much like my father, I guess. Renee, I'm serious when I say I don't want to turn into him. I just don't know how to keep it from happening."
"Is he still there, in the tent?"
Draco shook his head. "Thankfully it's just me and my mother now. Maybe you and Clara can come over?" he sounded hopeful.
"Sure," I agreed. "Yeah, we'll be right there."
I waved my hand over the message and walked back to our tent. "Clara, we should go."
"Do you think they'll mind if I'm only wearing this?" Clara asked, gesturing to her jeans and T-shirt.
"You'll be fine," I reassured her. I didn't think she realized my plan.
"Have fun," Ron said.
"Try to be back by midnight," Arthur told us.
Percy had a sour expression, and I could just hear him mutter the word "Slytherin," before Ron cut him off with a glare, and Fred and George started to talk about how everyone was so prejudiced nowadays. I smiled, knowing that my friends had my back.
"We'll calm him down," Ginny reassured us. "Go have fun."
Nobody noticed the shadow that trailed us as we left the tent.
"So where are we actually going?" Clara asked as we walked past tents.
"Tomasz's party. Why would you think otherwise?"
Clara smirked. "Because his tent is back there."
Clara was on to me. "Okay, fine, you win," I said as we neared Draco's tent. "I couldn't tell you when we were close to the Weasley tent, but we're going to see Draco and your mother."
"I knew it! Renee, you could have-"
"You know they would have kept us from going. Harry, Ron, and Percy especially."
Clara shrugged. We approached the door of the tent, and Clara knocked.
Narcissa Malfoy opened the door, which was a real door, and not just a tent flap. She ushered us in quickly.
"Come in," she whispered. "Draco said you might be coming over." She hugged Clara, and Clara awkwardly hugged her back. "Oh, you've grown so much since the last time we talked!"
The last time they saw each other, Clara would have been eleven. Now, she was almost fourteen.
Draco stepped out, levitating four cups of tea with his wand. He brought them over to a coffee table set up in what appeared to be the tent's living room, and then gestured for us to sit next to him on a couch. I was honestly a little upset about the complete lack of anti-Muggle security he was showing. But on the other hand, I doubted the Malfoys really cared how many times poor Mr. Roberts was obliviated.
Draco had positioned himself on the far edge of the couch. He gestured for Clara to sit next to him, which I was a little surprised by. I placed myself on her other side, and Narcissa sat in an armchair across from us.
"I hope you like mint herbal tea," Draco said. "We didn't bring anything strong."
"It's my favorite," Clara said. Narcissa and Draco smiled knowingly at each other. "Wait… it's both of your favorites too?"
Clara looked uncomfortable at the fact that she shared something so arbitrary with her family. I held back my laughter and sipped my tea.
After a few minutes, a House-Elf brought out some little cakes and then hurried away.
Clara POV
"So, I only know a very limited part of the story from your father," Narcissa began, but I cut her off.
"Hang on. First, I'd like to know how Draco knew about us."
Draco gave a sigh of annoyance, and then he and Renee told me about the research he had done, and I relaxed a little bit. So Narcissa really hadn't told him. I was both relieved and impressed.
"So wait," I said after they had finished their explanation. "You've kept in contact with my father?"
Draco looked curiously at his mother with this information too.
Narcissa smiled wistfully. "A few times. The first time was when you got your quest, right after you showed up at camp. He was supposed to contact me when that happened, but he never called, and so I decided to call him around your eleventh birthday. Well, actually, it had to wait until around six months after, what with Draco's first year. But I called when you were eleven, and that was the first time I've talked to him since. He persuaded me to meet him in London in a few weeks time, and I agreed."
"A few weeks?" I asked. "So he knew the quest was going to go wrong, and go on that long?"
My mother raised her eyebrows. "Clarissa, what happened?"
"It's a long story," I said, looking away from either of the Malfoys, and directly at Renee. She squeezed my hand encouragingly.
"Which we will tell, but first, I want you to finish yours."
I glanced warily at Renee.
Narcissa nodded. "I left him, and then we didn't talk for another few months. Not until you got petrified."
Draco raised his eyebrows. "You talked to him then?"
"It was a few months after, and I was so worried. I asked him to heal her."
"But direct interference is against the ancient laws!" Renee protested. We'd heard that one quite a few times over the last couple years.
"Ah, so that explains it. Anyway, I was angry. I said if he actually cared about you, he had a funny way of showing it. We screamed at each other and then I hung up on him. But he called me back, and do you know what he did to redeem himself?"
Narcissa looked on the verge of laughing. Renee, Draco, and I looked curiously at her.
Narcissa grinned. "A haiku. Ending in 'Apollo is great.'"
We all snorted into our cups. Draco looked confused.
"My father is the god of poetry, among other things," I explained for my brother's benefit. "His poems are notoriously bad. And he's been stuck on a haiku stage for most of this century, according to my friend Zoë, and she said before that he was on a limerick stage for ages. Zoë's an immortal Hunter of Artemis, so she's seen everything. Well, she was. She died last winter."
Renee squeezed my hand again. Talking about fallen friends was hard. Zoë, Bianca… and now we'd have to add Lee to the mix. A tear slid down my cheek. With the coming battle when Percy turned sixteen, I knew we would have to anticipate even more.
"What's got you mixed up in their nonsense?" Narcissa asked. "The Hunters, huh?"
"First of all, it's not nonsense," Renee insisted. I knew she was thinking of Thalia, her other best friend in the demigod world, and the current lieutenant of the Hunters. I put a hand on her shoulder and she relaxed.
Narcissa didn't press the matter. "Well, I'm not surprised to learn about the limericks, I guess. He tried that after the haiku. It was… it was a stronger sentiment, and we made up."
Draco raised his eyebrows. "And then? Did you talk to him after that?"
Narcissa shook her head sadly. "Things were heating up with Sirius Black, and I didn't think it would be wise, in case he found out about the gods and that some of their children were living among us."
I stared straight ahead, pointedly not looking at Renee. The Sirius story was one thing that we would absolutely not be bringing up in this discussion.
Narcissa didn't notice. "Well, that, and in November, Draco wrote me an interesting letter."
Draco went pink. "Mother!" he whispered.
Renee smiled. "So you wrote to her to ask about Clara? I thought you said your mother wouldn't tell you-"
"I refused to tell him anything about your father," Narcissa said evenly. "But at Christmas, we did speak privately about you, out of earshot of Lucius, of course. I cast a silencing charm around the room we were in, quite similar to the one I am using now in this tent."
I nodded. I hadn't even bothered to think about secrecy, so I was really glad that someone else had. I saw Renee visibly relax as well.
"So then you wrote to us at Christmas, and you never stopped trying to figure us out after we confirmed?" Renee asked. "That's, well, kind of impressive, Draco."
Draco smiled a genuine smile. "Thank you." He turned to me. "Now, I believe you said you would tell me everything?"
I groaned. I didn't want to, but I had agreed when he helped me cover up with Nico. And surprisingly, Renee wasn't protesting either.
"Okay," I began. "The story might be a little shaky. There's a lot of things we haven't told any other wizards, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione."
Draco scoffed. "So you've told them about the demigod world before you told me?"
Renee glared at him for a moment. "Yeah," she said. "We trust our friends."
Draco was about to retort, but then he seemed to realize the last part of what Renee had said. We trust our friends. I knew her well enough to know that Renee was implying that Draco was a friend, and someone we could trust. Draco seemed to understand this too.
"So our first quest was when we and Percy Jackson showed up at the camp," I said. "Percy's a son of the Big Three, and supposedly the subject of a prophecy. That's where everything started…"
Together, Renee and I explained the Andromeda Jean and the discovery that Luke was working with Kronos. Narcissa paled at this information.
"This sounds almost like…" she and Draco exchanged a look, and I was pretty sure I knew what they were thinking. Kronos's attempted rise reminded me of the rumors about Voldemort, rumors that seemed very close to true, considering how Tom Riddle had enticed Ginny and me in our first year, and about the prophecy Professor Trelawney had told to Harry and Renee last year.
"So that wasn't as bad as some other quests," Narcissa said. "Apollo told me… well, he told me when you first got a quest, and I was very worried."
"Why would he tell you?" I asked.
Narcissa shrugged. "Who knows? But I'm glad your quest wasn't dangerous. So I assume you just spend the summers training now, and the threat of Kronos has been taken care of?"
Renee and I exchanged a glance. Distant thunder rumbled, and Renee paled. "Don't say his name. Names have power in our world. It's not like Vol-"
"Shh!" Draco snapped. "Please, don't say it. It-"
I squeezed Renee's hand. In reality, people here did actually think saying Voldemort's name was like invoking the names of one of the gods or titans.
"So, I take your ominous glance and your reluctance to say the name to mean that yes, he is still out there."
Narcissa glanced worriedly at the door. A while ago, we had heard yells from all the parties, but now the screams had changed. It sounded like-
"Torture," a voice muttered.
"Nico! What are you doing here?"
We all turned as the younger boy stepped out of the shadows. Outside, someone screamed again.
Nico stepped closer to us. "I followed you. I have just as much of a right to be part of this discussion, you know."
Narcissa walked over to the door. What she saw made her swear loudly.
"What is it?" Draco asked shakily.
Narcissa looked uncomfortable. "It's… people. In masks. And they're torturing some Muggles. Levitating them."
Draco paled. I followed his gaze to the windows, and saw a lot of people running toward the woods.
"Come on," Renee said. "We should get out of here."
Renee POV
I was tense. From Narcissa and Draco's reactions, I had a feeling that they knew the people under the masks. And then something clicked.
"Styx," I muttered. I wasn't going to share my realization that Draco's father was likely among the torturers. Hadn't Draco said he was having a meeting with some of his old friends, including Mr. Parkinson, Mr. Goyle, and Mr. Crabbe? It would only make sense that people like them were torturing Muggles at this event.
"Come on. We should go." People were fleeing to the forest. In the distance, I saw a glint of red hair, and I felt immediately guilty. If our friends ran into Gill, Sandra, Franklin, Nolan, or Tomasz, they would know that we never showed up at the party.
"Sunbeam?" Clara asked.
"No," Nico insisted before anyone else could say anything. "There's too many people, it's too risky!"
He had a point. Narcissa looked directly at Draco. "You are the only one who is safe with the Death Eaters," she muttered. "You have to lead the three of them to the woods."
Draco stared at her for a moment. I reached out a hand to him. I could guess the conflict he was going through. If we ran into his father…
"I'll help hide us," Nico said. "But we have to move. Quickly."
Nico concentrated on the shadows. After a few seconds, Narcissa nodded approvingly. "You won't be seen. Good job thinking quickly, Mr. …?"
She trailed off, and I realized she hadn't properly met Nico.
"di Angelo," Nico said. "Now, stick close. I haven't tried hiding other people with these before… let's go."
He set off with a burst of speed I never would have expected from him. We followed as best we could.
As we approached the woods, Nico looked sick.
"Rest," Clara said. "I know what this is like. Overexertion. Here, lean against this tree for a moment."
Many children and teenagers were running toward the woods, but most of the adults had gathered around the circle of Death Eaters and the levitating Muggles. Suddenly, there was a familiar yell.
"What happened?" said another familiar voice anxiously. "Ron, where are you? Oh, this is stupid - lumos."
A moment later, everyone around us was thrown into light. "Tripped over a tree root," Ron said angrily.
"Well, with feet that size, it's hard not to," Draco drawled.
Gods, now was not the time. Clara looked ready to slap him. Why was he so great around us, but so awful around everyone else? I hated it.
Ron told Draco to do something he would never have said in front of Mrs. Weasley. Then, our three friends turned to Clara, Nico, and me.
Harry's expression changed suddenly. He looked like he was going to hurt someone, probably Draco. Ron looked confused. Hermione looked hurt.
"You three had better have a good explanation for this," she said, glaring at us. "We were worried sick when we found out you weren't at Tomasz's party. And you, Nico!" She looked back at Draco again. "Why?"
Draco stepped away from us, as if to dissociate. I wasn't sure if that was for his benefit or ours. "Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like her spotted, would you?"
He nodded at Hermione as a blast that sounded like a bomb went off in the distance.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione demanded.
"Granger, they're after Muggles," Draco said.
"Hermione's a witch," Harry snapped. "Clara, Renee, Nico, come on, let's go."
"Have it your own way, Potter," Malfoy said, grinning maliciously. "If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are."
Ron had his wand out in a flash. I knew I had to diffuse the tension. We had to keep moving.
"Well, it's lucky that we have three demigods, a half-blood, and two purebloods with us," I said, looking individually at each of my friends. "We have to keep moving. Nico, can you…?
"He's in no state to work with more shadows," Draco said angrily. "Look at the poor kid!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at us for a moment. Draco had just been nice to someone who was with us.
Draco turned to Clara. "I think now's the time for your sunbeams, if there ever was a time," he prompted.
"Wait," Ron demanded. "You know about that?"
Clara didn't actually look like she was in much of a state to work with sunbeams either, now that I looked at her closely.
Draco smirked.
"Come on," I demanded, using charmspeak. "We have to stick together. Where are the others?"
"We were with Ginny, Fred, and George, but we got split up," Hermione said hurriedly. "Renee's right, though, we need to keep moving."
"I'm not going anywhere with him," Ron insisted.
"Well," Clara said quietly after a moment. "I'm not leaving him."
"What?" Ron yelled. "Just because he's your brother-"
"Wait," Draco said. "You know about that?"
We stood staring at each other for a moment; Draco facing Ron, Hermione facing Clara, and Harry facing me. Nico stepped up next to Draco, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione shifted their attention to him.
"Harry," I pleaded. "You get it, right? Would you leave me? Even when we fight, I'm still like your sister, and-"
"Okay, fine," Harry said, his gaze still on Nico. "But on our terms."
"No," Clara said, stepping more toward the center of the group. She glanced at me, and I stepped up near her, to show that we were willing to take the middle ground. "On ours."
Everyone stared at us, but Clara didn't back down. I'd never seen her like this, so assertive in the face of both Draco and Harry.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione, you won't insult Draco. You won't pull your wands on him or attempt to hurt him in any way while we run to the woods. Draco, you will also not insult any of our friends or try to harm them. You will not call Hermione that disgusting term for a Muggle-born, or say anything derogatory about Ron's family, and you will try to hold back the Death Eaters with us if they come after us. Are we clear?"
I was impressed. Usually it would be me who made these kind of commands, and with charmspeak. Clara so rarely found herself in a position where she had to negotiate between Slytherins and Gryffindors.
The noises got louder as the crowd moved closer to the woods. I grabbed Clara's hand and we glanced around at our friends. Nico stepped away from Draco and closer to us. Then at the same moment, Draco and Hermione also stepped closer to us. Harry and Ron glanced at each other, and then moved slightly closer.
"Good," Clara said. "Now, everyone light your wands, and let's go."
I fumbled around in my bag for my wand. The others did the same, except Nico, who looked confused.
"Ah, no, I don't believe it," Harry said after Draco, Ron, Clara, and I had lit our wands. "I've lost my wand!"
"You're kidding!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to glare at Draco. "You were behind us in the Top Box," Ron spat at Draco. "What did you do?"
For the second time in less than a week, Draco looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I swear I didn't touch it," he said nervously.
"Malfoy," Harry said venomously.
Draco looked at us for help, and suddenly I knew what to do. "Swear on the Styx," I whispered. If I didn't trust Draco, I wouldn't have said it, but I was positive that he didn't take Harry's wand.
Draco looked at the ground. "I swear on the Styx that I didn't take Potter's wand," Draco choked out. Thunder rumbled overhead.
"Thank you," I whispered.
"Come on," Hermione said. "We should find the others."
A rustling noise made us jump, and then Winky the House Elf limped out of the bushes. It was almost as if someone invisible were trying to hold her back.
"There is bad wizards about!" She squeaked distractedly. "People high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!"
She scurried away into another clump of bushes. Draco looked at the ground again.
"What's up with her?" Ron muttered.
"I bet she didn't have permission to hide," Draco said haughtily. "Our old House Elf, Dobby, he was always doing things without permission. He-"
I glared at Draco. I would prefer him not to talk about Dobby in front of Harry right now. Harry looked around uncomfortably.
"He got fired after my second year," Draco said, realizing our reactions. "Father never said… he was pretty odd. Our House Elf now, Dizzy, is much more well behaved."
Hermione scoffed. "You know, House Elves get a very raw deal," she said indignantly. "It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?"
Draco frowned. "Oh. I should have asked my mother if we could bring Dizzy with us. But maybe she'll send her away. House Elves can apparate and disapparate in their own ways too."
Ron cut him off. "Well, the elves are happy, aren't they? You heard old Winky at the match… 'House Elves is not supposed to have fun'… that's what she likes, being bossed around…"
"Yeah," Draco said. "I mean, I can't believe I'm agreeing with Weasley about this, but Dizzy is happy serving us. She-"
"It's people like you, Ron, and Malfoy, even more so, who prop up rotten and unjust systems just because they're too lazy to-"
"Alright, stop it, all of you!" I commanded. "We can discuss House Elf rights later. We have to keep moving."
Draco and Ron glanced warily at Hermione and Nico. I wondered if it was at all true that they were in more danger because they were Muggleborns. Well, Nico wasn't, technically, but people didn't know that. And did that extend to Clara and me as well?"
We kept moving. Clara and Draco walked close together, and I wondered at that. What had changed in him that he was now so close to his sister? In the past week he had saved our lives, helped a boy he didn't really even know to get his wand, used a ministry pass to get me into the Quidditch World Cup, helped Clara make Nico more comfortable, and was now running from Death Eaters with me and my friends. And Clara… she had come a long way from the girl in the Hufflepuff hidden room who accidentally let it slip that she and Draco were related. I was proud of both of them.
We ran past a patch of silver light. As we got closer, I saw three veela, surrounded by a group of older teenagers. They were all talking really loudly.
"I pull down about a hundred sacks of Galleons a year," one was saying. "I'm a dragon killer for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures."
"No you're not!" his friend yelled. "You're a dishwasher at the Leaky Cauldron… but I'm a vampire hunter. I've killed about ninety so far."
Something pulled me toward those veela. They really were very pretty. Before I knew what I was doing, I stepped forward. "I'm the youngest model and fashion correspondent Witch Weekly has ever had! I started there when I was twelve, and now-"
Ron cut me off. "Did I tell you I've invented a broomstick that'll reach Jupiter?"
"A likely story!" Draco scoffed. "But me, I've killed eighty werewolves in the last month alone! I-"
I felt something warm wrap around my waist, and something dragged me, Draco, and Ron back to the group. Looking down, it was a sunbeam. I glanced around. Why had I behaved that way around the veela anyway? That wasn't like me at all.
"Honestly," Hermione said, exasperated.
We walked to the heart of the wood. "I reckon we can just wait here, you know. We'll hear anyone coming a mile off," Harry said.
Nico sat down on a rock, looking relieved. The rest of us followed suit, but just as I was about to sit down, Ludo Bagman emerged from behind a tree right ahead of us.
Even by the feeble light of the wands, we could tell that Bagman had changed a lot since this afternoon. He no longer looked buoyant and rosy-faced; there was no more spring in his step. He looked very white and strained.
"Whos there?" he demanded, blinking down at us as if trying to make out our faces. "What are you doing in here, all alone?"
We looked at each other in surprise.
"Well," Ron said. "There's, er… some sort of riot going on."
Bagman looked at us confusedly. "What?"
"At the campsite," I said. "Some people have got hold of a family of Muggles." I felt Draco tense beside me.
Bagman swore loudly. "Damn them!" he said, and then Disapparated with a soft pop!
Harry and Ron started to discuss Bagman, but I was paying more attention to everyone else. Ron had taken out his miniature figure of Krum, and they were watching him walk on the rock. Nico looked at his Hades Mythomagic figurine, and I wondered if I should teach him a spell to animate things. Draco was watching him closely, too. Hermione and Clara were discussing something in hushed tones. I closed my eyes for a moment. Maybe I could just rest for a moment…
My eyes flew open at the rustle of footsteps in the grass. It sounded as though someone was staggering toward our clearing. We waited, listening to the uneven footsteps behind the grass. Then, as suddenly as we had heard them, they came to a halt.
"Hello?" Harry called shakily. He stood up, and Clara and I did as well. We glanced around the trees, but it was too dark to see very far, and I knew Clara wouldn't risk using sunbeams right now.
"Who's there?" Draco asked, coming over to join us. I'd never heard him sound nervous before, but now he seemed downright terrified.
And then, without warning, the silence was broken by a deep voice unlike any other that we'd heard in the wood or at the match. It uttered, not a panicked shout, but something that sounded like a spell.
"MORSMORDRE!"
Something vast, green, and glittering erupted from the area we had been staring at. It flew up over the treetops and into the sky.
Ron sprang to his feet, but I was paying more attention to Draco. "No," he whispered. "No. It's not possible. It hasn't been seen for…"
"Thirteen years," Hermione finished. "Malfoy, I don't want to be helping you, but since Clara insisted we bring you along, I think I have to. Hide, okay? And Renee, go with him."
I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but before either of us had a chance to do anything, there was a series of popping noises, and about twenty ministry wizards apparated onto the scene.
We whirled around, and as we were getting our bearings, I registered one fact: all of the wizards had their wands out, and all of them were pointed directly at one of us.
"DUCK!" Harry yelled. I felt Draco's strong hands push me to the ground.
"STUPEFY!" Twenty voices yelled, echoing in the woods. I felt a powerful woosh, as if of wind, fly past us, and then bounce off the trees where the spell had seemingly come from.
"Stop!" yelled a familiar voice. "STOP! That's my son!"
"And mine," said a softer, female voice.
I raised my head slightly higher. The witch directly in front of me had lowered his wand. Arthur Weasley and Narcissa Malfoy came striding toward us, looking terrified.
"Ron - Harry -," he said, his voice shaky. "Hermione, Clara, Renee, Nico! Are you all right?"
"Draco!" Narcissa shouted, running toward her son. "What happened?"
"Out of the way, Arthur, Mrs. Malfoy," said a cold, curt voice.
It was Mr. Crouch. He and the other ministry wizards were closing in on us. Harry and I jumped to our feet to face them. I thought about my training from the summer. I would need a lot of the new charmspeak techniques I had worked on.
"Which of you did it?" Crouch snapped, his sharp eyes darting between us and resting on Draco and Nico.
Nico held his gaze. "We didn't do that, sir," he said calmly, looking at the skull in the sky. I wondered at his reaction. He was a little shaky, and I thought about the fact that the symbol was a skull. I wanted to reach out and comfort the younger boy, but Draco motioned for him to sit down with him. I was truly in awe of their relationship, and the fact that it happened over a span of less than a week. Nico never opened up to anyone, but now there was Draco, who was actually similar to Nico in a lot of ways, and the younger boy… I was really glad he was a wizard. I imagined this world would make life suck a lot less for him.
"We didn't do anything," Ron echoed, rubbing his elbow. "What did you want to attack us for?"
"Do not lie, sir!" shouted Mr. Crouch. His wand was still pointed directly at Ron, and his eyes were popping. He looked slightly mad. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"
"Barty," whispered a witch in a long, woolen dressing gown. "They're kids, Barty, they'd never have been able to-"
"Where did the Mark come from?" Mr. Weasley said quickly.
"Over there," Hermione said, pointing over to the place where we had heard the voice.
Draco stepped slightly closer to us as well. "There was someone behind the trees… they shouted words… an incantation…"
"Oh, stood over there, did they?" said Mr. Crouch, turning his bulging eyes on Hermione and Draco now, disbelief etched all over his face. "Said an incantation, did they? You seem to know a lot about how that Mark is summoned, sonny. Tell me, aren't you Lucius Malfoy's boy?"
Most of the other ministry wizards were shaking their heads. It was clear that they didn't believe that any of us could have cast it, although some of them were looking curiously at Draco again.
"We're too late," said the witch who had spoken earlier. "Whoever it was will have Disapparated."
"I don't think so," said another wizard. "Our Stunners went right through those trees… we might have caught them…"
Mr. Diggory stepped forward. A few people whispered for him to be careful. I stepped closer to Clara and put my arm around her. Nico looked offended by something.
A few seconds later, we heard Mr. Diggory shout. "
"Yes! We got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! But… blimey… it's…"
Amos Diggory reemerged, carrying a tiny, limp figure in his arms. I stared as I realized the figure was Winky the House Elf.
Mr. Crouch stared at his elf. "This… cannot… be," he said weakly. Then he walked off into the woods, to the spot where Mr. Diggory had just been.
"Bit embarrassing," Mr. Diggory said grimly. "Barty Crouch's House Elf… I mean to say…"
"Come off it, Amos," said Mr. Weasley quietly. "You don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."
"And she had a wand."
"What?" said Mr. Weasley.
"Here, look." Mr. Diggory held up a wand and showed it to Mr. Weasley. "Had it in her hand. So that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken, for a start. No non-human creature is permitted to use or carry a wand."
Hermione gasped a little ways away, and I rolled my eyes. She hadn't known anything about the lives of House Elves until today. Why did she suddenly care so much?
There was another pop!, and Mr. Bagman apparated into the midst of everyone. He chatted with the other ministry wizards, but I wanted to get a closer look at the wand Mr. Diggory had found. It looked very familiar, just from the glimpse I had gotten of it.
Mr. Bagman seemed very confused as he talked to Mr. Crouch and learned what was going on.
"No!" He said when Mr. Crouch had finished his explanation. "Winky, conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand for a start!"
"And she had one," Mr. Diggory said grimly. "I found her holding one, Ludo. If it's all right with you, Mr. Crouch, I think we should hear what she has to say for herself."
Mr. Crouch gave no sign that he had heard Mr. Diggory, but the latter seemed to take the former's silence for assent. He held out his wand toward Winky. "Ennervate," he muttered."
Winky was visibly terrified as she moved into a sitting position.
"Elf!" Mr. Diggory yelled. "Do you know who I am? I am a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!"
Winky began to rock back and forth.
"As you see, elf, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago," Mr. Diggory continued. "And you were found minutes later, right under it! An explanation, if you please!"
"I… I… I is not doing it, sir!" Winky gasped. "I is not knowing how, sir!"
"You were found with a wand in your hand!" Mr. Diggory barked, brandishing it in front of her. Harry and I recognized it at the same moment.
I gasped, at the same time Harry said, "That's my wand!"
Everyone in the clearing looked at us. Clara put a hand on my shoulder.
"Excuse me?" said Mr. Diggory, incredulously.
"Yeah, that's his," I confirmed. I'd seen him use it enough times to know. "He dropped it."
Draco looked relieved, and then some people turned to him.
"Is this a confession?" Mr. Diggory said quietly.
Mr. Weasley and Mr. Crouch started to argue with him, and then they performed a spell to see what spell the wand had last performed. Everyone gasped as a shadow of the skull that hung in the sky appeared from Harry's wand.
Mr. Diggory interrogated Winky some more, and then he and Mr. Crouch argued about whether or not he was blaming Crouch. I kind of tuned out, and it seemed like most of my friends had, until a tall, official-looking wizard in the back spoke up.
"Be that as it may," he said, responding to something another wizard had said, "I do not believe we can pardon all wizards in question without further interrogation."
Everyone looked curiously at him.
"Many people know," he said, "that Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy are enemies at school. Mr. Malfoy was sitting directly behind Mr. Potter during the match today, and may well have taken the opportunity to steal his wand then. And given Mr. Malfoy's family history, I think it would only be right for us to take him in for questioning."
I glanced at Clara, but surprisingly, she wasn't looking at me. Instead, she was having a silent conversation with her brother and her mother. I knew that if the Ministry took Draco in for questioning, he would be in danger because of his father, as well as from any Ministry officials who were to dig up anything on his family.
"Actually," Nico spoke up, "Draco was sitting directly behind me. I was next to Clara, who was in front of his mother, and she was next to her husband, who was behind Renee. Renee was next to Harry. So he would have had to reach past his parents and over four other people to get Harry's wand, and that's assuming that he would even care!"
Narcissa looked impressed at Nico, but the Ministry official didn't seem bothered.
"There are spells," he said. "The match was loud. He could have whispered one, and nobody would have noticed."
"Yeah," I said hotly, "but why would he?"
Clara nodded emphatically. "Besides, how would he have been able to cast it? We would have seen him."
Once again, we stood on separate sides, facing each other. I couldn't believe that Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't even willing to help when they knew Draco was innocent in this matter. This wasn't simply about a school rivalry. For Draco, it may have been life and death.
"How can we believe them, that he was with them?" the official asked. "They are just kids! They could be accomplices, for all we know!"
Draco, Clara, and Narcissa looked at each other. I glanced nervously at my friends. Harry looked at the ground, and then took the tiniest of steps forward.
"He… he was with us the whole time," Harry said unsteadily. "I know you won't take their word for it, but will you take mine? I'm the boy who lived! I'm Harry Potter!"
I noticed him wince a little bit when he called himself that, and it reminded me of Nico when he said he was the ghost king, back in Daedalus's workshop. Both were titles that would follow him around, and neither of the boys liked these. But sometimes, revered titles were necessary, even when their holders despised and disregarded them most of the time.
Surprisingly, the Ministry official backed off. Narcissa gave an audible sigh of relief. "If I may, I will leave with my son," she said with a note of finality. "Good day, sirs."
She took Draco gently by the arm and led him away, and her son didn't protest.
"Well, I think I'll take my lot back to the tents, if nobody's got any objections. Amos, that wand's told us all it can - if Harry can have ir back please -"
Mr. Diggory handed Harry his wand, and Harry Pocketed it. As we walked away, Mr. Crouch was reprimanding Winky in front of everyone. The last sound we heard was the elf's horrible sobs as Mr. Crouch fired her.
I knew there would be a lot of questions about why we were with Draco, and what had happened before we met up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. But while Arthur and the trio went to the boys' tent to discuss the evening's events, once everyone knew we were safe, I decided to retire to my room in the girls' tent. Clara followed me a few minutes later. She lay down on the mattress we were sharing and squeezed my hand.
"What a night," she said quietly.
"Yeah…" I said, but a million other thoughts were racing through my mind.
"Gill was pretty worried this morning when I told him you couldn't get in," she said. "What are you going to tell him about tonight?"
I sighed, thinking of my boyfriend. I had missed him, but our last encounter had been kind of frosty.
"I'll just tell him I got busy with the Weasleys," I said slowly. "And that the time escaped me."
"Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew we weren't at the party," she reminded me. "Which means that they probably ran into one of them."
I groaned. "Well, then, I'll just have to get Harry and the others to cover up for me."
"What are we going to tell them?" she asked. "You saw how upset Hermione looked. And Harry, he looked like he was going to hurt Draco."
I sighed. She had so many questions that I couldn't answer. It reminded me of the night I had stayed up with Sandra a few months ago. She had had a lot of questions I wasn't sure about back then, too.
"I'll probably tell him a half-truth," I sighed. "And maybe Draco can help me cover that up too."
Clara smiled, and I smiled back. "I'm really glad you're getting along with him now, you know. He is your brother, and I told him I'd help him to change. He's… he doesn't want to be like his father, but he doesn't know how not to.
"I think saving us was easily the first step," Clara said. "It got me to spend time with him, and we actually have a lot in common. I think, if he continues being the person he's shown himself to be this past week, I'd be willing to call him my friend. And of course, there's the stuff with Nico."
"It's strange," I said, my mind somewhere else. "The people who we take to, I mean. The people we try to fix. Draco and Nico. Me and Draco. You and me."
Clara met my gaze. "You think I fixed you?"
"You saw kindness in me," I said. "You saw something I didn't see in myself. And I saw something Draco didn't see in himself. And Draco, I think, sees Nico in a way he doesn't feel about himself, either."
I smiled to myself, and Clara's eyes widened.
"Hey Wren?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Yeah?"
"There's no possibility… I mean… well, you don't, well… like him, do you?"
"No!" I protested. "I'm in love with Gill! I'm sure…"
I trailed off. I could tell Clara wasn't convinced. And when it came to that, I wasn't actually sure I was, either.
A/N: So that was my next chapter. Sorry this one was a bit long. I had a lot I wanted to say, and I felt like it all had to fit in this chapter. The next chapter will start off the school year, including Nico's sorting, so that's exciting. Then I'll do probably one chapter between that and the arrival of the other schools. I'm really excited to dive into Goblet of Fire!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. Please review. And Happy Thanksgiving to those who are reading, I love my readers!
~Celia
