Chapter Twenty Malfoy-Draco

Voldemort did not feel the loss of the Horcrux but it did diminish his already poor supply of human qualities. It was evening and he had not yet heard of the escape of his prisoners from Azkaban. As it always is with despots, they are the last to hear the bad news because the one who carries it always feels the results first, and no one wanted to be the harbinger of bad news and pay for it with their lives.

He liked Dumbledore's old office and he even liked the fact Dumbledore's portrait hung above the desk on the wall. The figure in it was sleeping peacefully while the other portrait's occupants, when possible, had fled to other pictures. Voldemort had even taken to talking to the picture.

"...you see Albus? I'm sure you do. I could not abide your kind of sanctimonious governing. If you were here you would have to admit you controlled the Ministry with as much of an iron fist I am doing now. The facade you showed the world was a kind and loving Father Christmas; give to the muggle-born and half-breeds and let us all be happy." He rose from his chair and pulled the long velvet green robe around the desk and gestured with his long delicate fingers that were now webbed.

"Of course, you had to poison their minds against me." He made another scorch mark on the frame of the portrait since he could not damage the surface itself. This often led to a fit of rage that he could not remove it or damage it more. He continued to speak in his raspy, hissing voice, " I can also be a benevolent leader Albus, I just have to rid myself of some of these trouble-makers."

He once again circled the tower room and gazed out into the dim light of the evening and folded his deformed hands to his chest. He felt like, if there had been a balcony, he would like to stand on it and spread his arms out and declared to the world below, that they bow down before him. He wanted to look into their faces and if he saw any trace of rebellion he would kill a hundred of them for the betrayal in the face of one.

That's what I will do, he decided. I will order them to form below my window so I can cleanse my new world of all of that old goat's friends. He smelled, with his tongue, the faint wisp of old burning wood as he made another hash mark on the frame.

He did not reach out to touch the mind of the Potter boy which would surely mean pain and agony. But he had devised a plan to have the boy brought to him. The Ministry was now within his grasp and the wizarding world knew of the boy as a criminal, that had been achieved by the Daily Prophet. Now, he had but to wait and continue to gather his friends. The boy would show up, he decided, to avenge his parent's death, rescue his friends or seek revenge; to try and assassinate him.

The partly human creature grinned and the snake-like fangs hung over his lower lips. Voldemort could still be amused.

"I will close the portals from the muggle world Albus and I shall run this school better than you ever thought possible. My children shall not have their minds warped by muggle concepts; tainted by your prudishness. You drew the lines on the use of dark magic and lost all understanding of the value of it. Perhaps, I will have more children like the Malfoy boy and have a chance to finish him the way I never could his father," he frowned with disgust. He turned once again to stare at the portrait. "Your memory will fade into oblivion Albus and good riddance!"

He paced back and forth and then held an index finger in the air, "Perhaps, I should show them one of their own can be loyal to me. There is one...yes, the name escapes me. No! Longbottom, that's it. The boy's parents are a loss but we can turn him to our side and he is a pureblood. If they can see that he will serve me faithfully then I will have their loyalty as well. Yes! That is an excellent idea." He waved the pale hand and a house elf appeared in the darkened room.

"Kreacher is it?" Voldemort said kindly.

"We are Kreacher, master," Kreacher answered and bowed.

"I want you to find the son of Frank and Alice Longbottom and have him brought to me at once."

"Yes, master," Kreacher said. "There are wizards waiting to see you m'lord. They wish to become Death Eaters in your service."

Voldemort nodded sagely, "Yes, you see? They wait to join me, Albus." He turned to the portrait and Kreacher bowed himself out of the room.

The other thing Voldemort did not understand was that those who had his ear would never have thought of telling him he was steadily growing more insane with each passing moment and the wizards and witches waiting for an audience were nothing but would-be murderers and cut-throats who had never been loyal to anyone.

Ron had not looked back when his father had pulled him off the Quidditch pitch and into the Forbidden forest until they were safely in the shadows. When he did he was astonished that Harry was not behind him. He spun around and was headed back when the twins and his father reached for him again.

"Harry...he's not here... he's gone," Ron sputtered.

"You cannot go after him, Ron!" Arthur Weasley said savagely and held onto him.

"I have to!" Ron said struggling against the hold the three had on him. "He's my friend. He can't do this alone!"

"If he's going where I think he's going Ron, he is alone," Mr. Weasley said, sadly. "We must get your mother to safety." They moved as a group through the shadows.

Ron fell back to the end of the group and waited until they reached Hogsmeade before slipping away after everyone else had disapparated. He headed for the Shrieking Shack under cover of dark. The little village was like a ghost town, inhabitants were either gone, or in hiding. The streets were empty.

In the meantime, Harry, who was very familiar with the Marauder's map also had the same idea in mind. Although he had never used any of the other secret passages into Hogwarts he was familiar with their entrances. The bridge spanning the small ravine under the main portico entrance had one of the tunnel entryways. He hastily pulled away shrubbery and vegetation searching for it.

Lupin and Snape had managed to cross the expanse of the gorge and were grateful to find the cover of the vegetation and the trees, where hours before, Snape and Harry had last rested.

They sat in the very spot in the rotted trunk of a large tree and rested.

"We aren't going to make it much farther," Lupin said and closed his eyes. "If you didn't have to contend with me Severus you could probably make it to the shore."

"And find what, Lupin?" Snape asked, his voice also showing fatigue and strain. "I told Potter we could only fly off the island and that is what must be done. I don't happen to have a broom and neither do you. Tonks and the Granger girl will have found the ones we left, hopefully, and use them. I hope Tonks would be wise enough not to return to try and save us."

Lupin nodded to himself. "Yes, you're probably right. I hope you are anyway." He heard a grunt from the man who sat opposite him. He was glad Tonks and Hermione had escaped . Together they would protect Ginny and all get to safety. There was nothing they could do for Harry.

Remus thought of the young man he had become so fond of and his thoughts naturally drifted to his mother. "Severus, if you have to fly how did you get Lily off the island?"

"Not you as well," Snape sniffed and then, "I transfigured her...actually she helped me transfigure her ...into a cat. We made it to the shore and then used gilly weed and swam to safety."

Lupin raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really!"

"Yes, really," Snape said irritably.

"That's quite a swim," Lupin said.

"Yes, it was," Snape agreed.

Remus tried to envision the journey and tried to remember what Lily had looked like. He was caught up in his thoughts and several minutes went by. "Severus, you didn't force me to leave Lily. I agreed to your stipulations but only because I knew in my heart I needed to leave. James and Lily wanted me to be close to them but they always were idealistic when it came to my circumstances."

"You mean being a werewolf," Snape said and Lupin could hear the snicker in his voice.

"Yes," he said carefully. "It wasn't important to them and they refused to believe anyone else would be repulsed by having me around. It was what made them very special; made her special."

"Is this death-bed confession time, Lupin?" Snape asked. "Because if it is, I hope you don't expect me to join in."

"I really never thought I was going to die next to you, Snape," Lupin growled and then he softened. "I thought you were my enemy, Severus. I thought that for many years and I finally allowed myself to look at the truth. I let you run me off. I ran away from my friends when they needed me the most because I hated what I was. James, Sirius...Lily was just a dream. After we left Hogwarts I saw what life was really like, I knew they couldn't protect me anymore. I left because I thought it would be better for them...for Lily."

"She spoke of you," Snape said. "You loved her, too."

He opened his eyes. There were some faint sparks of yellow and green shining through the heavy fog. He hoped it wasn't Hermione and Tonks fighting it out somewhere on the island, but felt sure it was. The thought tore him from the memories. "Did you see that?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Hermione and Tonks?" Lupin asked, but only because he wanted Snape to tell him it wasn't.

"Probably."

"Can you get up?" Remus asked and tried to pull himself into a standing position. The nightshade had done its work; it was killing him. He fell back against the rough bark of the tree and wished he could see the other man.

"No," Snape answered after a pause. "It seems I have other injuries."

They sat that way in silence and Remus strained his eyes to watch for holes in the fog. They both smelled the troll at the same time because they both gasped at the same time. It was Snape's turn to snort, "Troll, they have a troll!"

"What else do you think is out there?" Lupin asked and was glad they were well hidden inside the tree.

" A dragon," Snape answered.

A dragon! Lupin thought. Why not? It is Azkaban after all. Can't let the inmates escape.

"Sirens," Snape mumbled.

"What?"

"There are sirens on the rocks along the shore," Snape answered a little more vigorously.

"Oh, great," Lupin said quietly. He recalled the creatures as he had described them in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class so long ago. The creatures that lured seamen to their deaths on the rocks by singing their seductive songs. At least Hermione and Tonks won't be affected by them, he decided. That's one creature that won't hurt them. But then he knew there were dozens of others. The island was teeming with an assortment of deadly animals, plants and now, wizards.

They once again sat in silence and Lupin perked up his ears to listen for any more activity. There was a faint scuttling noise he couldn't quite identify.

"I dream of her," Snape said in the dark. "I sometimes find myself in the middle of something, just standing still, caught by a dream. I see her again, see her smiling, laughing, even the small cleft in her chin and her eyes- those green eyes."

Lupin turned his head to where the voice emanated from the dark and caught his breath. Snape prodded his own memory and it was sharp and painful.

"I tried to tell her she needed to stop aggravating Riddle, that he was becoming very powerful and the Wizengamot and the purebred families would support him. But of course, she wouldn't listen. She was ...zealous...in her beliefs." Snape moved a little and Lupin could imagine him laying prone staring up at the inside of the tree and instead seeing Lily.

"When she was captured, I happened to be doing something for Dumbledore and I saw her taken. Of course, I followed." The voice now very tender continued and Lupin could hear the pain in it. "It almost broke me to see her tortured. It almost killed me."

Lupin clenched his own fists and his jaw tightened.

"I went to her in her cell and every moment she was there I spent in trying to find a way to help her." There was a small gasping laugh. "She was always more concerned about me. Me!" He stopped and the atmosphere was heavy with their combined silence. He continued, "When she lay there day after day and HE amused himself with hurting her, I wanted to kill him. However, even then I knew it couldn't be done by any ordinary wizard." Their conversation was interrupted by the noise drawing steadily closer. Lupin didn't speak but listened even harder.

"I didn't know she was pregnant until after when she asked me to help her," Snape said finally. " And I did. I used dark magic, a blood charm. As you know there is always some rebound effect. I guess I thought I was invincible. That it could not effect me. And to my surprise it didn't. The rebound was on her and her son!" There was a soft choking sound.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked, suddenly listening very hard.

Snape went on as if he hadn't heard, "I sent you away knowing you cared about her. I wanted to rescue her...I wanted to be the one. Later, I...told the Dark Lord of the prophecy but I never knew... never believed... it was about Lily's son. I would never have dreamed he would make a Horcrux by murdering her!" The last was an anguished gasp and Lupin reached out not to comfort but to stop his words. He heard the noise again and this time the creature who made it was very near by.

Snape jerked away and for a second Lupin had felt the trembling from his emotions and then; Remus felt the first threads, the first silken threads spinning down on them, like strands of wet, sticky spittle.

"We have to move!" he said loudly. "There are spiders; the acromantula have found us."

Snape moved quickly and they once again ducked through the small opening. The fog was lifting and the light from the half moon shone on the valley floor. They saw many pairs of eyes gleaming in the dark at them.

"How many do you think there are?" Lupin asked.

"Too many," Snape said his voice husky from emotion. "We'll never make it, even if we run."

Remus felt Snape press his back up against his own and he shifted his weight to his good leg, ready to switch to the other, ready to kick out at the first pair of gigantic mandibles that came near. "You don't happen to have some plant or anything that'll kill these?" he said with a half-hearted, choked laugh.

Snape didn't answer.

"You can still get away," he whispered. "You can still run."

"They would have me in the end," Snape answered. "Perhaps it is a fitting end for both of us, Lupin."

Harry found the school to be changed. It was cold and empty. The hallways seemed familiar with the same portraits, the same statues; everything the same except it felt like life, the vitality of the school, had fled.

He made his way up from the dungeons to the main floor keeping to the shadows. The school was not brightly lit and there were no sounds of students gathering, talking, chatting, and happy. The hallways were even empty of ghosts.

He picked his way carefully around obscene objects that cluttered the floor and pulled the map from his satchel. He had carried it from the moment they had left for Azkaban, slung over his shoulder and hanging at his side. It carried his mother's diary, the invisibility cloak and the Marauder's map plus a few other small items, including his own wand. The wand he carried was Dumbledore's shoved into his hand by Hermione just before he was transported by the portkey.

He almost dropped it when someone spoke from the shadows.

"Are you here to kill him?" Draco asked.

Harry pointed the wand at him and kept silent.

"If you're here to kill him, I'll help."

They stood silhouetted by the supernatural light from a waning moon shining through the window.