Sorry it's been a little while, I've found this chapter really hard to write as the how I was going to have this part plan out eluded me for a while, but I think I've got it now. Hopefully this isn't too hard to follow...
~PureBloodSnake xx
Bold writing- mental communication between Draco and Caelum
Plots and Prophesies
An hour later saw, Draco grimacing after taking a large gulp of polyjuice potion.
"Essence of Longbottom, delicious." He drawled, shivering as his body began to shift and change. He shrunk slightly, his hair darkened and his fingers, face and thighs became thicker. "This is disgusting!" Caelum was watching with a large smile on his face.
"At least it's Neville and not Crabbe or Goyle, that was like drinking essence of troll." Draco swatted Caelum playfully. "Come on do the charm, Hermione will be back soon." Draco reached for his wand, took a deep breath and pointed it at Caelum, who flinched slightly before nodding. Draco frowned slightly remembering the last few times a wand had been pointed at Caelum. How could he trust anyone with a wand? And yet here he was allowing someone who had previously attacked him, to point a wand at his face. Trying not to prolong the time his brother spent staring down a wand, Draco uttered the words Hermione had taught him.
"et abscondet faciem suam. et abscondet faciem suam. et abscondet faciem suam." Draco watched horrified as Caelum's sharp features melted into the rounder features of Harry Potter, the blond hair darkened to a deep brown almost black and the eyes became bright emeralds. In front of him once more was Harry Potter minus the glasses and gryffindor robes. Pulling the wire frames out of his pocket Caelum placed them on his face, flinching at the cold metal against his flushed skin.
We've still got this connection, remember? Caelum's honey-like voice filled Draco's mind and he smiled, leaning into the mental embrace.
I know. This is my plan, remember?
Of course Draco, just don't lose your head, I know you're worried but if we stick together we'll both be fine. Draco couldn't find the words to respond, so he wordlessly sent his feelings down their bond.
"Harry!" In a flurry of ginger hair, both Ron and Ginny collided with Caelum, their arms wrapping around him tightly. Caelum sighed as he felt the warmth from their hug and returned it as enthusiastically as he could. It was a nice hug, but it wasn't a hug from Draco, those were the best. When the two Weasleys let go of Caelum, a blonde girl, with a similar hair colour to the twins' naturally colour bounced up and wrapped her arms around Caelum.
"Sorry, who are you?" Caelum tried to put himself in the mindset of Harry Potter, the Gryffindor, the saviour of the wizarding world.
"Harry, this is Luna Lovegood, the Ravenclaw I told you about." Hermione was looking at Caelum with slightly narrowed eyes, trying to convey that she told Caelum about Luna, not Harry.
"Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you Luna."
"Thanks, nice to meet you too. I think you would look very pretty as a blond." And with that she skipped back to her place next to Ginny.
"Okay, Hermione, thanks for getting everyone here for a lovely reunion, but I only came here to pick your brains. I need to get to London. No one else needs to be involved in this."
"Why are you going to London Harry?" Draco tried to follow Caelum's line of thought, to play along, but he was lost. He wasn't thinking like the Caelum Draco had managed to unravel. What the hell are you thinking? He added sending a pulse of frustration across their bond.
I'm thinking like Harry Potter, the self-sacrificing Gryffindor. He wouldn't think of letting his friends help him with this sort of thing, just in case they got hurt. Don't worry, apart from Luna they're all Gryffindors…
So they'll follow you into anything like lost sheep.
Exactly. Caelum's plans were entirely of Slytherin nature and Draco could feel pride bubble up inside him.
"I need to get to the ministry, to the department of mysteries. Voldemort has Sirius there." He paused for a moment to gauge their reactions. "So, Hermione, how do I get to London quickly?"
"Mate, we're going with you. You don't have to fight this alone. That's what being a Gryffindor means remember." Predictable Ron was the first to protest at his best friend running off into danger first hand.
"What Ron means," Draco added, hating that his voice sounded like Neville's, "is how do we get to London?"
"We fly of course." Luna's dreamy voice floated over all their thoughts and mutterings.
Flying on thestrals that only Caelum and Luna could see was terrifying. Draco didn't like it at all, so he clung tightly to the neck of the invisible beast. Caelum's soft calming touches in the back of his mind was his lifeline and he tried to focus on that, rather than the fear gripping him tightly. In his opinion it took far too long to get to London, the only form of long wizarding transport Draco was used to was the Hogwarts express. Admittedly the thestrals were faster than the train. When they landed and Draco felt solid ground beneath his feet once more he sighed loudly in relief, pleased to hear Hermione do the same thing.
Well done. He heard Caelum say in the back of his mind, mirth evident in his tone. I'm quite surprised you made it all the way here, you looked as if you were gonna throw up before we'd even passed the Scottish border! Caelum's comment earned him a few choice words in return that made him laugh.
"So where to now mate?" Ron's voice was soft, a tone that Draco was not used to hearing from the redhead.
"Erm… the department of mysteries, I've been dreaming about that door for months." Caelum admitted his voice wavering slightly before he paused contemplating something. Draco paused as well, knowing exactly what 'Harry' was thinking. "Guys, this is the last time you can turn back, and I honestly don't want any of you to get hurt." Typical Harry Potter logic. None of them were going to turn back now. And he knew it, no one needed to say anything.
? ゚ミノ? ゚ミノ?
"Harry this one has your name on it." The group paused at the end of a row, full of pale blue orbs of various sizes. The one that was in question was small, the size of Caelum's palm, more white than blue. Caelum stepped forward and looked at the row number indicated on the end of the shelf.
"This is where Sirius should be. Here. This was where he was in my vision." Caellum sounded distraught, he wanted so much to protect the ones he loved, a trait reminded Draco that Caelum and Harry were still the same person, they were still recognisable.
"It's most probably a trap." Hermione whispered, lowering her voice and looking around. Draco had the same thought, and began to wonder about the orbs everywhere around them. He recognised them from a trip to the ministry with his father when he was young. He just couldn't remember what his father had said about them exactly.
Caelum, these things, I think they're prophecies. I'm not sure exactly how they work but I know that they can only be picked up by the people they're about or the seer who made them. I'm guessing this is the reason that The Dark Lord lured you here. It's a trap. Fear shot through the bond, not for Caelum's own safety, but for the safety of his friends. Without listening to Draco's warnings he reached forward and grabbed the prophecy.
I needed to know why Voldemort is after me, why he killed Lily and James Potter. Caelum hoped Draco would understand, he'd worked so hard to try and understand some of Caelum's strange actions and habits that had been a result of his previous life. Surely he could understand the need for closure.
"Well, well, well…" a smooth and scarily familiar voice floated through the otherwise silent room. Both Draco and Caelum froze their wands drawn. A figure dressed in intricate black robes, obviously made with high quality fabric stepped out of the shadows, a mask was surrounded by long blond hair that fell down onto their shoulders. Lucius Malfoy. Lucius paused as he stood in front of the group of students, there was his son, before he was his son, stood in front of a couple of Weasleys, a muggleborn, a pathetic excuse for a pureblood and a strange girl who was looking off into the distance. If Caelum was here… then Draco was here as well. He could rule out the Weasleys, neither of them would agree to sitting out this adventure, not if Harry was involved. The strange girl was also ruled out, Draco would look at whoever was talking, he never had the expression of distant and dreamy not since he was a child. However the Longbottom boy looked more like the epitome of PureBlood society, than he had last time Lucius had seen him. Longbottom had grown up well. Maybe Draco wasn't here, there was a possibility that Caelum hadn't told his brother of this reckless plan. Draco's protective streak would never allow Caelum to run into danger, right? As much as he wanted to remove his son from this situation, he couldn't arouse suspicion.
"What do we have here? Little children playing at being adults?" Lucius could see Caelum look at him incredulously, didn't he say not that long ago that he would treat his children like adults now. There was a challenge in his youngest son's eyes, he wouldn't allow his friends to get hurt, but he wanted to make this look believable. Lucius silently acknowledged Caelum's plans, the only problem was Bellatrix.
Caelum what are we going to do? We can't hurt Dad! Draco's panicked voice was perched through the calm on Caelum's mind. He had expected to see their father at some point during the springing of the trap, but what he hadn't planned was for their father to be leading this mission.
Draco calm down and focus. You need to be as on top of everything as you can be. We've got to make this look believable. We've got to stop our group from hurting Dad, whilst making it look like we're enemies. That's the only thing we have to do. Caelum could feel a spike of envy flit through the bond and had to hold back a smile. How at a time like this, could Draco be envious of his ability to keep calm? Surely there were more important things to be worrying.
"I see you've collected the item like the Dark Lord wanted. Now, if you would just hand it over." Their father put his hand out awaiting the glowing blue orb in Caelum's hand.
"Why did Voldemort need me to come and get it? Why couldn't he come and get it himself?" Caelum was quite pleased at how well he remembered to be Harry. Neither of the Weasleys had figured anything different with this Harry.
"The Dark Lord does not demote himself to trivial task such as this." Bellatrix's voice was nasally and instantly sent a shiver up Caelum's spine.
You didn't plan for Aunty Bella did you? Draco, as always, could read Caelum easily no matter how hard he tried to hide it. I'll handle her. Out of everyone here, I know her best and she'll single out Longbottom. Dear old Aunty Bella is the reason they're in St. Mungo's; tortured them until they lost their minds. Caelum was not at all happy with Draco's suggestion, but there was no other option.
"Now, now Bella, we're going to play nicely. Potter's going to be a good little boy and hand over the prophecy." Lucius was leaving little clues for Caelum to follow.
"Why does Voldemort need me to collect a prophecy for him? Couldn't he have sent one of his Death Eaters?" Bellatrix hissed in response to Caelum's questioning and threw a curse towards Caelum, which he effortlessly blocked. That was when all hell broke loose.
Spells, hexes and curses flew from every angle lighting up the otherwise dark room in a multitude of colours. Caelum, Draco, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna stood back to back surrounded by Death Eaters. Caelum was fighting his father, harmless spells flying back and forth as they both tried to stop the other Death Eaters from causing any lasting damage. With one large explosion of magic, Harry turned and ushered his friends to run. They scattered among the many shelves of prophesies the Death Eaters having to split up to follow them. There was a much higher chance of being able to beat them now. Lucius followed after Caelum and Neville, surprised at the closeness between the two of them. For a while the students kept running, firing spells backwards trying to hit their followers, until they met at the end of an aisle once again. Yet again, they were surrounded by Death Eaters.
"Reducto!" Ginny Wealey's spell burst out of her wand and slammed into the nearby shelves, missing everyone around them. With a small ringing sound, almost like tiny little bells, the orbs began to fall off the shelves and onto the Death Eaters below. Caelum saw an opening.
"RUN!" he bellowed, as the shelves began to fall on their pursuers. Breathing heavily, the six Hogwarts students, bolted through the door they had entered through, only to find no floor. They fell, screams caught in their throats, until Hermione held out her wand and chanted something that neither Caelum or Draco understood through the blood pounding in their ears. They stopped inches before the ground, then landing on the solid floor heavily. Looking around they noticed the room was dark and empty, the only thing in this room was a mound at the centre. On top of that mound was an archway, with a thick silvery substance floating in the middle.
