Yay New chapter. Enjoy and please review.
~PureBloodSnake xx
Inhuman Invasion
Standing in this almost empty room, Caelum took the time to check that his friends were okay. Ron had a large gash on his temple but otherwise seemed okay, Ginny had a few scrapes and was breathing heavily, Hermione looked fine but her eyes were darting around quickly, Luna had a split lip and was still looking around dreamily and Draco, his hair was becoming slowly lighter and his face narrower but there was a haunted look in his eyes.
Dray, you okay? His question was met with silence just a buzzing of uncertainty. The two twins met eyes and a feeling of understanding passed between them, neither of them were alright but they were keeping themselves together, just.
Caelum could feel a swarming of magic above them.
"Everybody get down!" He dropped to the floor, hoping that his friends had done the same, but could feel Draco's panic through the bond and knew that his brother was being smothered by the mass of blackness that was swarming above Caelum's head. Cradling the prophecy to his chest and curling into a fetal position, Caelum knew that the only way he could help his friends was to stay unaffected by this blackness.
The darkness cleared and Caelum stood back up. From where he was being held, with a wand pressed to his neck, Draco could see Caelum's face hardened with determination.
Don't do anything stupid. He warned, trying desperately to convey the message with seriousness. He could feel Caelum mentally smirk at him, he had a plan, one that Draco wouldn't agree with.
"Now Potter, why don't you hand over the prophecy and none of your friends will get hurt." Caelum froze at Lucius' outstretched hand, he wanted to let his father deal with all this, he was after all in too deep, but before that he could wreak havoc on the Death Eaters. Handing over the orb Caelum smiled as his friends all shouted in protest. Lucius smiled and with a wave of his hand all the Death Eaters released their captured students.
"See we always keep our promises. Now you little children should go back to school and pretend none of this happened-" without warning Lucius stopped halfway through his sentence as Caelum punched his father square in the jaw. Lucius fell back, the prophecy in his hand falling to the ground and smashing. "No!"
All the Hogwarts students took inspiration from Caelum's tactics and began to fight like muggles. Draco pulled Bellatrix's hair grinning slightly when she struggled to do anything back to him. Muggle fighting although usually useless against spells was working wonders in this scenario.
They fought for a few minutes, the children having the upperhand with the element of surprise. But it wasn't long before the Death Eaters managed to use their superior skills to once again hold the children captive.
"Tut tut Potter, the Dark Lord is not going to be very happy with you, you smashed his prophecy." Lucius ground out, still quite shocked that his son had punched him. "If you want your friends to live…" Bellatrix pushed her wand into Draco's throat, the skin turning white under the pressure. "You just have to stop fighting." Caelum knew that he was well past the time he could do anything to save his friends and brother anymore, they needed help.
As if his thoughts were enough to call for help, a swarm of white smoke made itself into the room and became Sirius, Mad-eye Moody, Lupin and various other people that Caelum recognised. Sirius stepped in front of him, protecting him from his own father.
"Hands of my godson." Swinging his arm back, Sirius landed a solid punch on Lucius. "Go, grab your friends and get out of here, we've got this." Too tired to argue, Caelum ran off towards his brother, who was cowering behind a boulder at the edge of the mound. Both of them stopped to check that the other was okay, before continuing on to round up the others. Caelum hurried them out of the room, glancing back just to see Sirius be hit by a green light and fall back through the veil.
"No!" Caelum called out, moving to run forward, only to be stopped by Draco's strong arms. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the polyjuice had worn off and Draco once again looked like himself. "Let me go Draco, I need to-" Draco's arms didn't loosen. "Please,". Draco's heart broke at the anguish he could feel pouring through the bond and the sound of Caelum's voice breaking. With Ron's help, Draco managed to pull Caelum out of the room. As soon as Caelum had calmed down slightly, Ron pulled his wand on Draco.
Draco felt the polyjuice wear away completely, and now he was standing in the middle of the ministry wearing clothes slightly too big for him, and trousers that were too short for him and showed his ankles.
"Malfoy, what the bloody hell are you doing here, you ferret!" And of course it was Weasley that noticed it first. "You're spying for dear old daddy aren't you?" A wand was pressed to his throat and he allowed air to fill his lungs before releasing it in an effort to keep his cool. Caelum looked distraught, having lost Sirius, but at the same time looked determined as if nothing had happened. He probably didn't fully believe what he had seen. In this state, Caelum may not be too much help against his friends.
"Do you think Weasley, that if I was on the side of the Death Eaters I would've fought with my aunt, the homicidal bitch?" Ron looked murderous at the mention of Bellatrix.
"You don't seem to be too hurt, considering you just went a couple of rounds with your aunt. Do you really think we'd believe that? You set it up!" Draco wasn't entirely sure what to say to that. It was a little ludicrous, no one could stop Bellatrix from hurting someone when she had the opportunity.
"Ron, stop it." Hermione called out, trying to put herself between the two boys. "Now is not the time to fight with people who have been helping us." She kept her face stern, even when Ginny pointed her wand at her.
"You knew, from the start. You're working with him, you traitor!" Ginny's face was red with fury, and her wand was letting off a few red sparks that coincided with her anger.
"Stop it, all of you. I asked him to be here, just like I asked you." Caelum's voice filtered over the background noise of the firing of spells, it was authoritative and left no room for argument. Draco hadn't heard that tone from his brother in awhile, long enough to forget the power that came with it.
"Why would you ask him to come along? He's a Death Eater in training!" Ron's cries of protest were seconded by his sister.
"I needed him here," Caelum started to explain, but he was interrupted by Bellatrix slipping into the ministry atrium.
"Dra-co!" She called dragging out the a. "Does daddy know that you're here?" Her voice was flighty and terrifying.
"I'm sure he'll understand my reasoning, Aunty Bella." Caelum marvelled at Draco's PureBlood tone and the fake politeness of his words.
"But Draco," she wailed at the frosty tone. "Cissy would be so upset to see you've turned traitor." Draco theatrically froze at the mention of his mother. In the back of his mind Caelum could feel Draco enjoying this.
"I don't think Mother would be too upset that I'm following my own beliefs, instead of cowering in fear from my own aunt." Caelum could feel pride fluttering in the back of his mind amongst the intense amounts of fear. Bellatrix's face changed almost instantly, from the teasing childish expression to a murderous one.
"How dare you?" She screeched, causing Caelum to step forward in alarm. He was now close enough to be able to jump in front of any spell thrown at Draco. Bellatrix too had noticed his move. Without waiting for her to strike first Caelum used the first spell he could think of.
"Crucio!" The spell didn't have the desired effect, just knocked her off her feet, sending her sprawling towards the ground.
"You have to mean it…" a voice whispered in his ear. The voice was compelling, but the fear he could feel coursing through the bond immediately put him on high alert. Voldemort.
Caelum's first priority was the safety of his family and friends. Taking a deep breath, Caelum focused on locking away the bond between him and Draco and then hid the memories of his new family in a impenetrable box. He would not allow Voldemort to hurt his family.
Draco paused for a second as the connection between him and Caelum disappeared. Well not disappeared as such, there was still a faint electric buzzing that alerted Draco to the continuing existence of the bond. He panicked for a second, wanting to be there for his twin when he inevitably faced The Dark Lord again but the look Caelum shot him was easily recognisable as a warning. Don't. Caelum had deliberately done this and to him it was justifiable, Draco was going to have to accept this and get on with everything.
"Run." Caelum directed his words to his friends, not leaving any room for argument. "This is between me and him, no one else needs to get hurt." The words this time were directed at Voldemort, who nodded. Draco wasn't happy, but he allowed Hermione to pull him away. They ended up in the next room, Draco stood in the doorway watching his brother talk with The Dark Lord. Things were looking to get a little heated, Caelum looked calm though, which was not good. The Dark Lord was going to lash out and Caelum was going to end up hurt again. A hand landed on his shoulder, he spun round wand pointed at the figure of his father.
"I didn't realise you were here." Lucius spoke softly.
"Where else would I be? He can't lie or hide anything from me." Lucius looked at his eldest, shocked at the open defiance on his face. That was something new, there was not much that caused Draco to argue with his father, even less to cause him to argue with him in public. That shocked him for a little bit, but he was proud that Draco was finding a mind of his own.
"No matter what has changed, Caelum and The Dark Lord are going to always end up as opponents. You can't keep serving him, if you want to protect Caelum." Draco's wisdom surprised Lucius and he looked at his son with fresh eyes. Having Caelum back in their lives had been wonderful for Draco, and if he and Narcissa weren't careful, that could end all too quickly and they could lose this new, strong boy.
Caelum faced Voldemort again, but this time he was an entirely new person. He was far more proficient with duelling, and knew how to keep his calm.
"Nice to see you again Tom. It's been a year, give or take a couple of days. How have you been?" His mother would be proud with his etiquette, even though he faced his worst enemy.
"Now is not the time for pleasantries Potter, you were supposed to collect something for me." Voldemort's voice was cold and he hissed when it came to the s.
"Ah yes, there was a little bit of an incident concerning that, my fault entirely, but there is no prophecy anymore. Unless you want me to collect the shards of glass?" In contrast to Draco's anger which was heated, Voldemort's anger was cold and stifling.
"Avada Kedavra."
"Expelliarmus." Red and green hit each other, splintering off into the surrounding area. Caelum was glad he had gotten everyone to leave. In the corner of his eye he could see Draco and his father watching in the doorway, concern and fear etched identically in each of their faces.
Dumbledore arrived through one of the fireplaces, green flames similar in colour to the killing curse. He slipped past the observers, quietly not announcing his presence until he was almost in the centre of the fight.
"It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom." Caelum was infinitely glad to see Dumbledore, he was exhausted and wasn't sure how long he could last in a duel. With Dumbledore here, he was safer. In a blink of an eye his back hit the wall and brightly coloured spells were flying through the air. Caelum sat mesmerised, watching the duel between mentor and enemy with rapid interest. Although his defence knowledge was a lot better than it had ever been, Caelum had no clue what was happening in front of him. There was large balls of water and snakes made of fire. Several times he tried to get up, only to be slammed back to the wall by a surge of magic.
Draco watched as glass exploded and shot towards Dumbledore and Caelum. He could feel his father's hand tighten on his shoulder as they both watched in horror. Caelum had gotten himself off the floor without any interruption from Dumbledore this time, and stood behind the man who was his champion. The old man raised his wand and a pearlescent shield appeared inches away from his face, moments before the glass hit and turned to sand. Caelum shielded his eyes and Draco breathed a sigh of relief. Until he noticed the Dark Lord was gone.
Caelum felt the cold enter his body before he could feel the intrusive thoughts of Voldemort. His body was trying to fight it off, like the possession was an infection, but little could be done.
"You are weak, old man." He could feel his mouth moving and hear his voice saying words, but they weren't his words. He pushed hard against the cold and dark presence that had begun to invade his mind. No. No. No. He would not allow Voldemort to use him as his puppet. He could vaguely hear Dumbledore's voice whispering words of encouragement, it did little to help. He forced his eyes open, it was if they had been weighed down, and in the distance spotted Draco's heartbroken face. Realisation surged through him. Friends.
"You're the weak one…" he ground out deliberately directing his thoughts to happy ones of him, Hermione and Ron. Laughing in the Gryffindor common room, Christmas at the Burrow, the hug they shared when Hermione was un-petrified, tea at Hagrid's, quidditch. Images of laughter and smiles flashed through his mind, faster and faster as his felt Voldemort's hold on him grow weaker and weaker. "You'll never love or friendship, and I feel sorry for you." With one last push, Voldemort was forcibly evicted from his body.
"You're a fool, Harry Potter." Blackness overtook the world and the last thing Caelum felt was the extreme fear and panic that flooded through the bond.
Voldemort disappeared, Ministry photographers had gotten their photo and had been sent away again, all before Draco could get anywhere near his twin.
"Caelum. Oh god. Caelum." Caelum was limp in his arms, unresponsive. Taking out his wand, Draco pointed it at his little brother, who at that point looked years younger than Draco, and shakily removed the glamour. Not that it did anything to hide how bad Caelum looked. Holding his brother close, Draco refused to allow anyone other than Madame Pomfrey cone anywhere near Caelum. He held his hand all the way through the medical procedure and the torturous day after in which he did not wake.
The next morning, Caelum started shifting in his bed, closing the gap between him and Draco.
"Caelum?" Draco's voice was rough with the lack of talking he had done over the last twenty-four hours.
"Draco?" The tired voice was the highlight of his world, and Draco quelled the urge to squeeze his brother tight. Caelum sat up and looked around, his head hurt but other than that he seemed fine. Draco on the other hand looked awful, his eyes held a deep sadness to them and it looked as if he hadn't slept for weeks.
"Draco where's Mum and Dad and Sirius?" Caelum thought he could see Draco's heart shatter at the question.
"Mum's teaching her last few classes, Dad was arrested for being a Death Eater, he was caught at the ministry. They threw him in Az-" Draco's voice cracked. "Azkaban. And Sirius- he's dead Caelum. He fell through the veil. No one knows what happened to the body. I'm so sorry." Caelum's world broke, he hardly felt the arms that wrapped themselves around him, he hardly registered Madame Pomfrey checking him over. He hardly felt anything, he was numb.
