A/N: This chapter was ridiculously complicated and didn't make much sense at all. I don't know what I was thinking. Hopefully, it's a little less totally pathetic after a thorough going-over!
Disclaimer: We solemnly swear we are up to no good…(of course it's not ours!)
In a world full of people
Only some want to fly
Isn't that crazy?
- Seal
)PvsM(
Supper that evening was even more unpleasant than breakfast. Cedric made the promised appearance, but it was debatable whether or not his presence was an improvement. Unspeakable Harry spent the meal glaring with all possible suspicion at his son, who in turn chatted with forced nonchalance to his sister. He didn't once turn to look at his father. Tristan seemed happy to talk with her brother, but obviously sensed the tension. When a lull occurred in her conversation with Cedric, she bowed her head and didn't touch her plate.
Ginny's nerves were on end. Seated between dour Blaise and mutinous Draco, she hadn't a hope of proper conversation. The only person she felt safe discussing anything with was as far away from her as it was possible to be. In all fairness, Harry wasn't looking much better than Ginny was. He was between the Weasleys, one of whom chatted amicably with Mr. Malfoy while the other argued cheerfully with Malfoy's son. Harry's head was in his hand, although he was clearly trying to listen to Ron and Mr. Malfoy's conversation about exceptions to the Unforgivable Curse law. Occasionally, Harry would poke something into his mouth, but mostly he prodded his food into a mess with his fork.
"Pine, pine away, Weasley." The voice in Ginny's ear made her jump. Draco's drawl grated on her nerves and sent tingles down her spine.
"What're you on about?" she muttered, pretending to be interested in the argument that had just erupted at Tristan and Hayden's end of the table. She couldn't help rolling her eyes. "Honestly, you'd think someone would separate them," she mumbled into her soup.
"What would be the fun in a little peace and quiet for a change?" Blaise unconsciously mimicked Harry by mashing all her food around her plate. Ginny ignored her, but found it harder to ignore Draco – she could feel his eyes on her as she tried to return to pretending to eat.
"Yes, is there something you want?" she snapped irritably several minutes later when she could no longer ignore his gaze. He grinned fierily and Ginny swallowed hard. Why, oh, why couldn't she be sitting with Harry? At last she didn't have to worry about him .... well, insinuating all the time.
"Something I want." Ginny was sure no one else could hear him, his voice a soft caress. "Is that an offer, Weasley?"
"Leave me alone, you slimy ferret," she gasped, unable to tear her eyes from his. He seemed awfully close, all of a sudden ...
"Malfoy, stop breathing on my sister!" Ron snapped from his seat between the two Harrys.
"Actually, Weasel, I think you'll find she's breathing on me," he returned, leaning back in his chair without taking his eyes off Ginny. She felt hypnotized, trapped by a snake.
"You always knew just what to say, dear."
Ginny tore her eyes away at last and saw Mrs. Malfoy eying her husband with amusement.
"How can you stand him?" Ginny demanded, glowering at her. "God, he's like a leech."
"You are vile, Weasley." Draco's lip curled. "Disgusting little mind you've got in there."
"I take it back – a parasite!" Ginny didn't feel the pull of his eyes this time as she scowled at him.
"You know, I often wonder why I bother with him," Mrs. Malfoy said thoughtfully. "Could be the money – "
" – could be the libido," Mr. Malfoy pointed out. He looked nothing more than coolly amused.
"Sweet baby Jesus, shut up, Dad!" Hayden wailed.
"It's sweet!" Tristan smirked at her godbrother. "Just because you wouldn't recognize love if it bit you on the – anyway. I still don't see how you two could possibly have ever been like that, Uncle Draco, Aunt Gin." She waved a hand down the table at Ginny and Draco.
"You can't still have a crush on my dad." Hayden sneered at her. "It's tragic. Oh, but look, it's your lucky day. There's one your size right down the table."
Tristan's fist was halfway to his face before her brother, seated on her other side, caught it.
"Don't get your knickers in a bunch, little girl," Cedric advised kindly, rubbing her hand until her fingers uncurled. "If there's duffing to be done, leave it to the big boys."
"I'm not child, Ced – " she began, and the fierce look on her face made Ginny smile. She looked just like Harry.
"Could have fooled me." Blaise's voice was so quiet that only Ginny heard.
"What's the matter with you?" Ginny hissed. "I'd think you'd be proud or whatever. She's your daughter."
"And this is your perfect Gryffindor future." Blaise snapped, her voice still low. "This, for me, is a personal hell."
"Oh, please. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm married to the high king of all prats," Ginny pointed out. "If that looks to you like my ideal future, you're mad." She glanced at the blond beside her, who was into the muttering and mutilating his food routine again. "God, he can't even eat properly. What am I supposed to do with that?"
Blaise made a funny choking noise and Ginny turned back to find her fighting a smile. She looked Ginny over, made another funny choking noise. "I just don't know about you, Weasley," she said at last, her voice unreadable.
"What do you mean?"
"Dunno." The Slytherin shrugged, the hard edge slipping back in her voice, as though she'd been caught doing something inappropriate. "Guess you've surprised me is all."
"At your service," was all she could think to say. Inwardly, she balked. A minute ago, Blaise was tearing into everyone. Suddenly, she wasn't quite complimenting Ginny. At this rate, Zabini might even become bearable someday.
"Who're you servicing, Weaslette?" Apparently Draco had been paying attention.
Ginny felt her face go warm and sank down in her chair. This was going to be a long meal.
)PvsM(
When at last Mrs. Malfoy couldn't bare the bickering a second longer, she threw them all out and sent them straight to bed. Draco had argued at first, but when Mr. Malfoy pointed out that Draco could sleep inside or out on the front steps, Draco went, swearing all the way. Ginny practically ran to her own bedroom, slamming the door and bolting it before Draco could start harassing her again.
Crossing to her bed, she collapsed onto it, so tired that she was tempted to sleep in her robes. The prospect of discomfort wasn't appealing enough, however, and with a reluctant grunt, she got up and began pulling off her clothes. A set of pajamas had been placed near her pillow. She pulled on the long trousers, but when she got a good look at the top, she hesitated. It had to be Tristan's but it looked like it might fit a seven-year-old.
Muttering darkly to herself, she pulled the top over her head. The thing was so tight that it felt like a second skin. Typical Tristan, if Hayden and Dorian were to be believed.
Ginny jumped as a soft tap came from the door.
"Coming!" Praying to every deity she had ever studied in History of Magic that her visitor wasn't Draco, Ginny opened the door.
"Hey." Tristan Potter smiled at her. Her own outfit confirmed Ginny's suspicion that she was wearing Tristan's clothes – the Slytherin was dressed in an tight half tee with a broom and Snitch sitting stationary across the chest and almost non-existent shorts with grinning Quidditch stars flying across them.
"Hi." Well, at least it wasn't bloody Malfoy. "Is, er – is something up?"
Tristan hesitated.
"Um – Harry and Dorian and I wanted to talk, is all," and Ginny noticed the two boys standing behind her.
"It's about Dumbledore, Gin," Harry told her. Ginny felt her heart skip a beat. He'd been thinking the same thing she had.
"Right," Ginny nodded. "Lemme just – er, Tristan, do you have a jumper or something I can borrow?"
"Whatever for?" Tristan looked surprised. "It's sweltering! Ced likes the place kept warm, so usually every fireplace is blazing when he's here."
"Well – " Ginny felt herself blush, but plowed recklessly on. "It's this shirt – " She plucked helplessly at it and didn't dare look at Harry.
"It does look fabulous on you," Tristan said. "You don't wear stuff like this now and it's a waste. You've got a wicked figure."
"I say Amen to that," Dorian added in what he probably thought was an encouraging way. Tristy rolled her eyes.
"Ian, don't hit on your aunt," she ordered, not even deigning to looking at him.
"Come on, Gin," Harry put in. He studied her a moment, then smirked. "Don't worry. We'll protect you from Malfoy."
To her dismay, Ginny felt her face warm. "Shut up, Potter."
"Come on." Dorian took one arm and Harry the other and frog-marched her out of her room. "Where to, Tristy?" Dorian asked.
"The lounge. Reckon it's empty."
They followed her through a twisting maze of passages that led into the same lounge Ginny and Cedric had used the night before. Ginny untangled her arms from Harry and Dorian and took a seat in a large armchair, tucking her legs under her.
"So what're we going to do about Dumbledore?" she asked the room at large.
"Well, I owled our letter after supper." Harry, seated on a sofa with Tristan, sighed, pushing his long fingers through his unruly curls. "I didn't really know what to say, and I had to be careful in case the owl gets intercepted, so the message was pretty vague."
"I doubt he'll even get it," Tristan said. Her eyebrows pulled together. "A lot of people have tried to contact him over the years, but no one's had any luck. I know Snape has, I think even my dad once tried. Nothing."
"But we've got to find him," Ginny murmured, resting her chin on her hand. "He's the only person who'd help us – let alone give us the benefit of the doubt and not throw us bum first into Azkaban."
"We know." Dorian's eyes glinted in the flickering firelight. "We discussed it while we were coming to get you."
"And?"
"There's only one way we're going to find him."
"And that is?"
Dorian hesitated. Harry broke in.
"First of all, can we be one hundred percent sure that, of the four of us in the room, we're all seriously committed to this?" he asked. "Because what we're planning is going to be hard and there'll be a world of hurt if we're caught."
"Make that five." They all jumped. Cedric stepped out from behind the door they'd just come through. Harry glanced around at the others.
"Ced's in," Tristan murmured, her eyes fixed on her brother. "Of everyone in this house, he's the one who – well, he's in."
"Fine – the five of us, then?" Harry put the question again, brows raised. It was Tristan who acted first. Getting to her feet, she crossed to Harry and knelt at his feet.
"I'm in," she said softly, gazing into his eyes. "I don't want to die, but it's not just me. Any one of you could get hurt if Red Robes keeps running around and – " She swallowed. "My dad has issues now, but at least I have him. If anything happened to you ..." She trailed off, resting her forehead against his knees.
Ginny glanced at Harry. His expression was unreadable. Slowly, he reached out a hand and rested it on her tangled hair. When she lifted her face, he smiled.
"I'm not going anywhere."
Tristan returned the smile, an almost identical curl of her lips. "I'm going to make sure you don't." She squeezed his hands before moving to sit with her brother. Cedric met Harry's gaze, frowned, and said slowly, "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for her. Nothing, nothing is going to happen to my little girl." He put his arm around Tristan, who leaned comfortably into him.
"All right." Harry nodded. Ginny couldn't see his disappointment, but she could feel it. She hoped the whole episode would make a change between father and son. He shook his head, his eyes returning to Ginny. "What about it, Gin?"
"Hey, I've got as much to lose doing nothing as you do," she pointed out. "Anyway," she added, her chest suddenly tight, "I don't want – I can't let anything happen to Hayden."
"I know," Harry told her. She knew he did.
They both looked at Dorian.
"Ready for my two sickles worth?" Dorian teased good-naturedly. "All right, here's the cake. I love Tris and Hayden like they were my sister and brother, right? We grew up together and I want nothing more than to see them get married. I have a whole scheme where I'm godfather to their fifty kids." Tristan turned bright red, her brother growled at Dorian to shut up, and Ginny and Harry laughed. "All I'm saying is, if I'm there, I can be sure they're safe. Same as the rest of you." He paused. "And Ced's my blood brother," he finished. "Anything happens to him, I can't live with myself."
"You're coming along to protect me?" Cedric demanded, looking mortally offended.
"Sure, you're all tough. I get that." Dorian beamed at him. "Who gets the tough guy's back? That's me."
"Well, Harry?" Ginny asked. "We all in?"
"I'm convinced," Harry agreed. "So – here's the plan." He took a deep breath. "We're going to find Avalon."
Ginny and Cedric stared at him. Cedric found his voice first. "Are you mad?" he demanded, both astonished and hopeful.
"We're here, aren't we?" Harry shrugged carelessly. Ginny didn't buy it, not for a minute. He had to know what he was suggesting was insane.
"But – Harry – no one knows where Avalon is, or if Dumbledore's there, or if it even exists," Ginny breathed, slumping back in her chair. "We wouldn't even know where to start."
"Oh, it's not as bad as all that," Dorian assured her. "Thanks to common report and some eavesdropping I did several years ago, we've got the towns where Dumbledore was last seen. We've also got the legend of Avalon, which is supposed to be a kind of riddley guide thing. And Ced, you're the best damn tracker out there these days. If anyone can find a legendary temple, you can." Dorian turned playful eyes on his friend. "If you're up to it, mate."
"Don't take the piss, Ian, this is serious." Cedric's eyes were dark, her brow pinched in thought. "What you're suggesting – it's not going to come cheap."
"Well, it's not like we can't scrounge up a few Galleons around this place." Ginny frowned at him, waving her hand.
"No, that's not what I mean." Cedric turned his sapphire eyes on her. "We're in a house full of Unspeakables. We all disappear, it would be a matter of minutes, maybe a half-hour before Dad and Uncle Ron and company are on our tails. They track faster than anyone – much faster than bloody me! We'll have to use every ounce of brain we've got between us to work up a plan."
"Already started, big brother," Tristan said soothingly. "Have a little faith."
Cedric settled into the sofa, crossing his arms. "Fine," he ground out, glaring at his sister. "What's your brilliant plan?"
"First," she said coolly, "we don't touch our wands or brooms."
"What?" Ginny shivered. She hadn't been without her wand in years.
"She's right," Harry agreed. "If we're off the beaten track and using spells, they'd track us in minutes. If we fly, we cover a lot of ground and the second they guess where we're headed, they head us off. Too easy to trace, both ways. Plus the fact that Avalon – as the legend goes – is only accessible by foot."
"Don't worry," Dorian added, seeing Ginny's apprehensive expression. "We'll have our wands and brooms, for emergencies. We'll just tuck them away most times so we're not tempted."
"Good idea to stow the brooms as well." Cedric squinted. Clearly, he thought the plan so far was quite good. "The Unspeakables will assume we've flown and try to track us that way. They'll get way the hell ahead of us and we'll have plenty of time to get lost enough in the woods that they'll have to start the trace over again at the beginning. Buys us a couple days."
"And there's the advantage of them not being absolutely sure what we're gone for," Ginny conceded. "They might suspect, but they can't know."
"We'll leave them a note, so they don't think our friend in red's got us," Tristan insisted. "I'll write it in Mum and Dad's secret code."
"How do you know it? I thought it was just their thing." Cedric stared incredulously at his sister.
"You're not the only one with a brain, Cedric." Tristan drew herself up to her full height – comical, given that she was sitting down. "The first year you were off at Hogwarts, I was lonely. I found Mum's letter she'd written to Daddy and started working out the code from what I knew about what had happened. It was fun."
"You're brilliant, Tris." Dorian grinned at her. "And, I might add, a knock-out in that top."
"Why thank you," Tristan said, taking a seated bow.
Cedric snorted.
"So when're we leaving?" Ginny asked.
"As soon as we can pull everything together," Cedric answered. "We'll have to bring what we can carry and pack up about five minutes before we go. It'll be hard to do this without them or any house elves noticing."
"And we can't go at night," Tristan pointed out. "The wards are always up from dusk till dawn. They keep anything from getting in or out."
"So we'll head out right after lunch a week from now." Cedric spoke with finality. His expression made it look as though he were visually the entire scheme in his mind's eye.
"How?" Harry asked curiously. "Won't it be a bit obvious if five of us come tramping through the living room with heavy rucksacks and broomsticks and try to claim we're just off for a stroll in the woods?"
Tristan giggled.
"I've got a few tricks up my sleeve." Cedric looked offended. "I used to sneak out all the time. Grandpa James' old cloak will help, for a start."
"I've still got it? Now, I mean, after all this time?" Harry looked sheepish at their surprised glances. "Well, after all the close calls in the past I'd have assumed I would have lost it or destroyed it by now."
"Nope, it's somewhere in Dad's room," Tristan assured him. "It'll be a trick getting in without him noticing. Think I'll have to go. I sometimes sleep with Daddy still when I have nightmares. I can look tonight, probably."
"Excellent." Cedric nodded, obviously fitting another piece of the plan into place in his head.
"But that thing won't fit all five of us," Harry pointed out. "It barely fit Ron, Mione, and I when we were kids."
"We'll have to do it in groups, then," Ginny said, suddenly wanting to help in any way she could. "Maybe, if we go through one of our bedroom windows in pairs and hide on the perimeter of the woods or something."
"Yeah." Dorian looked excited. "The first two go and wait just inside the trees, then the next two summon the cloak back and do the same thing. Then the last person summons it and closes the window behind him and we're good to go."
"Our only problem being that we have to get all our stuff into that one person's room and get everyone out without getting caught." Ginny realized she was beginning to see the plan in her own mind as well.
"Oh, Ian, I've got it!" Tristan's eyes brightened. "The map!"
"Why didn't I think of that?" Dorian looked like he could have kicked himself.
"Map?" Harry leaned forward, intrigued.
"The summer before Tristy, Hayden and I to start at Hogwarts, Uncle Harry gave us the Marauder's Map," Dorian explained. "We were buzzed until we realized it only worked for the Hogwarts grounds."
"We – er – we were a little disappointed, you see," Tristan continued slowly. She was watching Harry carefully. "We thought it was cool, but imagine a map that could give you the same tools for any area of land you wanted!"
"What did you do?" Harry was starting to grin. Tristan looked relieved.
"We modified the map to do what we wanted it to," she explained. "We had a time of it convincing Uncle Sirius to help us, but in the end he couldn't resist. Called in Uncle Remus as well. We worked on it all summer and finally got it right. Now you use 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,' but you tack on a catch phrase and the map can show any area the size of Hogwarts. It still shows every person within that area."
Dorian sighed dramatically. "It's the only thing we can still use together without Tristy and Hayden jumping down each other's throats."
"Our parents don't know about it, either," Tristan went on hastily, with a guilty look at her friend. "I mean, Dad gave us the map originally, but he doesn't know we did all this to it. Uncle Sirius doesn't think he'd like it if he knew, especially now he's so worried about me all the time. If Uncle Ron or Daddy knew we had it – although I reckon Uncle Draco'd be green that we had something this cool – "
"Draco!" Ginny suddenly breathed, her eyes going wide as a shadowy figure stepped through the door.
"Weasley." The silky drawl washed over Ginny and she shivered. The others jumped as Draco, Blaise on his heels, stepped into the room, followed closely by Hayden. Draco's wand was out, and his languid smirk made Ginny want to scratch his eyes out with a spoon.
"Nice little party you've got here," Blaise put in, dark eyes wandering over the group. "Real shame we weren't invited."
"Real shame." Hayden looked mutinous. He glanced at Dorian and Cedric. "When exactly were you going to let me in on your little secret?"
"They hit a nerve, Malfoy?" Tristan's green eyes narrowed. "Hacked off that they trust me more than you? Me, a Slytherin." Ginny rolled her eyes. Now was definitely not the time to take the mickey out of Hayden. If he told his parents – or Harry –
"Look," Ginny said, on her feet and thinking fast. "What I was about to say is that we have to bring you lot along as well."
"Oh, really?" Draco raised an eyebrow.
"She's right," Harry agreed, standing up beside her. Blaise's eyes narrowed. "How much have you heard?"
"Enough," Hayden said shortly. "We know you're going to Avalon to find Dumbledore."
"And I'm still not clear why we have to be there," Blaise put in, hell-bent on getting her own say in. "This idiot plan involves dodging Unspeakables, finding a place that doesn't exist, and running from a murderer." Her voice rose with each word. "I know you're Gryffindors, I know it's hard, but think, just for a second, about what you're saying. I'm not going on some chase that'll land us all in Azkaban, just so Potter can look like a hero to everyone and save the day again. So you lot have a nice time and when you're in Azkaban, think of me."
It must have been as shocking to Blaise as it was to Ginny and the rest that she was suddenly poked in the nose by a wand.
"Oh, you're coming," Tristan told her, venom in her voice. "You're coming because you're not going to foul us up. I don't care if you're a wimp. In fact," she added, wand arm steady as she laughed humorlessly. "I don't care if Ced and I never exist. It's you should be locked up. If you weren't such an lying, cheating coward, then none of this might have happened because you wouldn't have left with some sodding traitor friend of my dad's and broken his heart!" Tristan's eyes burned green, so much like her father's, and though she was shaking, her wand arm was steady.
Blaise stared back at her without a word. Ginny wondered if it was the first time Blaise had ever been speechless. No one else really knew what to say, either.
"That's my wand," Blaise said at last, her husky voice cutting the heavy silence. She pointed at the object in Tristan's hand. Ginny hadn't noticed it until now, but it was the most bizarre wand she'd ever seen. It was white stone, Ginny realized. Twined around the central rod were two snakes. Just below where the snakes' tails ended – about halfway down the wand, which was a good thirteen inches long – were a small set of wings.
"Yeah, that's right." Tristan smiled darkly. "You gave it to Dad to give to my before you skived off. He told me he would have destroyed it, but a Caduceus is a powerful tool."
"A Cada-what?" Harry piped up, leaning closer.
"A Caduceus," Blaise supplied, staring at the one trained on her. "The original belonged to the god Hermes. His brother gave it to him. The story goes that Hermes happened to come across a pair of angry snakes. He stuck his wand between them and they instantly became friends. Then, for some reason, they coiled around his wand and became friends forever. The wings were added during the middle ages to represent Hermes swift movement from place to place."
"Er – yeah." Tristan looked a bit deflated.
"Um – so about Avalon," Ginny ventured.
Tristan reluctantly put away her wand and returned to sit by her brother. "You're coming with us," she repeated, waving at Blaise, Draco, and Hayden.
"I suppose we can't make you come," Cedric put in, addressing the three new companions.
"Since I'm a really cool bloke, I'll pretend that you were planning on telling me all along," Hayden said placidly. Dorian nodded eagerly at him. "I'm in." Tristan groaned and her brother nudged her ankle with his toe.
"So what about you two?" Ginny asked, turning apprehensively back at Draco and Blaise. To everyone's surprise, Blaise spoke first.
"What choice do we have?" Blaise demanded. "We're going to be threatened and kicked around no matter where we are." She glared at Draco. "And forgive me, the last thing I want is to be stuck in this place with Mr. Ego, here."
Draco growled, muttering something under his breath.
"How about it, Malfoy?" Ginny asked, turning to the final person. "In or out?"
"Are you mad?" Draco snapped, glaring at everyone. "What sodding choice do I have? Let's see – stay here with more than one person keen on offing me; or go with you and possibly get caught and thrown in prison."
"Fine," Harry spat. "Don't come. We're better off without you. If you get us all thrown in prison, I will make sure one of those Unspeakables knows you let us go." He turned back to the others. "All right. Let's use my room since it's on the first floor and faces the woods. We can smuggle our stuff down the day before using the map and a communicator charm."
"Or," Hayden said slowly, "we could use the walkie-talkies."
"You have walkie-talkies?" Harry said slowly.
"I don't want to talk about it," Hayden muttered.
"We should move all our stuff at night," Dorian pointed out. "Cover of darkness and all that. Hayden's room's at the top of the stairs, so we'll have to go from there."
"Yeah, except Uncle Draco's a night owl," Cedric put in. "He could be out wandering."
"That's what the map's for. We can also use the Invisibility Cloak and that should be fine," Harry countered.
"For now, though, I'm beat." Cedric stood and stretched, his muscles tight under his shirt. Ginny tried to remind herself she was, for all intents and purposes, his aunt. "Bed, everyone."
Ginny was glad for a chance to be alone. She followed Harry from the room, ignoring the appraising look Draco was giving her top. She said goodnight to Harry on the first floor and continued up the stairs to her room. She was almost to the door when a hand shot out of the darkness to grip her arm. She squealed.
"Shut up, Weasley!" Draco's voice was harsh, but quiet.
"What do you want?" Ginny snapped, wrenching her arm out of his grasp. In the dancing moonlight, she could see his exhaustion, his weariness, and the first light of hopelessness she'd ever seen in his eyes. The look made her heart skip a beat.
"I need you to tell me honestly," he said, reaching out to grip her arm again. "No sarcasm – no sympathy."
"Okay." Ginny studied the circles under his eyes, the pallor of his face. When he finally spoke, she could hardly hear him.
"Should I come?" he whispered, not meeting her eyes.
"What?" She learned closer.
"Should I bloody well come with you lot when you go to find the crazy old man?" he repeated impatiently, still not looking at her.
Ginny didn't speak for a long moment. Draco looked uncharacteristically anxious; brow furrowed, shoulders tense. She thought about his nasty comments over the last few days. The taunting, the come-ons, the careless attitude toward everyone.
Draco was scared. This wasn't a situation where his money or quick wits could save him and he was unprepared to deal in a rational, heuristic manner with their situation.
As she had for Blaise, Ginny felt an unexpected pang of compassion for him. Ginny and Harry were accustomed to weird adventures and dealing well under pressure. Blaise and Draco were not – they weren't a-crisis-a-year people.
"Yes," she told Draco at last. "I think you should come."
"Why?" he demanded.
"Why what?"
"Why do you think I should come? What's in it for you?" He turned his eyes on her suddenly, catching her off-guard. "Why not just leave me here? It would solve a lot of problems for you and Potter, right?"
"Not really," Ginny told him, eyebrow raised. "First of all, you could rat us out – "
"So I'm a liability, am I?"
"Sort of – let me finish," she said carefully. "The other reason is Hayden. If you stay here and something happens to you, he might never exist."
"I hope you realize what you're saying." Draco's expression was unreadable, but his eyes bore into hers. "You do know how that kid came into existence."
"Of course I know," she snapped, going red at once. "But things – people can change and I – he's my son. So maybe – maybe someday things will be different. For now, that's all I need to know."
Draco regarded her for a long, silent moment. Ginny wanted to squirm, but forced herself to be calm and meet his gaze. He needed now to trust her enough to come with.
"All right," he said at last. "All right – I'll come." He sounded relieved, but quickly added, "Just remember who I am, Weasley. I'm not one of your little hero brigade. Don't blame me if you don't like the consequences."
"Just a guess, but I think days of hiking through the woods can change even the likes of you for the better," Ginny retorted, turning away to her bedroom door. "See you in the morning, Malfoy."
He caught her wrist and Ginny was preparing to pull away again when her chest bumped against his and he kissed her. She fell against him in surprise and inadvertently deepened the kiss.
He pulled back right away, leaving Ginny's knees trembling. "Just had to see what I was missing," he mumbled, before disappearing into the shadows of the corridor.
Ginny clutched the doorknob for support, silently berating herself for enjoying that so much.
She didn't sleep very well that night.
)PvsM(
The fact that the eight young people were so painfully polite at breakfast the next morning was clearly making the adults suspicious. Harry was deeply grateful that Tristan and Hayden's ill will remained in full force. Their ceaseless bickering called attention from the others' sudden meekness. When Cedric casually brought up Quidditch and the others casually agreed to it, suspicion returned and Tristan hastily kicked Hayden under the table. The others, cottoning on, agreed to a morning tournament and left Tristan and Hayden to cover their retreat. Unfortunately, Mr. Malfoy and Ron followed them out of the room, complaining of headaches.
"Usually they aren't so nosy," Tristan grumbled, shouldering her horrendously expensive racing broom and glaring at her uncles' backs. "Think they suspect?"
"Probably," Harry agreed. Nosy was right.
"I don't care how many times I see it, it's still bloody wrong," Draco muttered from his other side. "Weasleys and Malfoys. It's not right." He nodded toward Mr. Malfoy and Ron, who were arguing over the advantages of team members all owning the same make of broom. When they laughed over some joke of Ron's, Harry and Draco shuddered.
"It's sick-making and no one can tell Ron about it when this is over," Harry muttered back. "Think about it, Malfoy. If someone had told you this was going to happen – you know, us having to cooperate and all – right after we were sorted, what would you have told them?"
"Told them, nothing!" Draco growled, hoisting his borrowed broomstick higher on his shoulder. "I'd have booked them a luxury suite in Saint Mungo's." Ginny, who was on Malfoy's other side, stifled a laugh.
"Oh, by the way," Tristan put in suddenly. She was just ahead of them beside Cedric and Dorian. "I got the you-know-what last night." Harry perked up.
"Brilliant – where'd you hide it?"
"It's in my room, in my knickers drawer." She threw a smirk over her shoulder. "If Dad realized it was gone, it's the last place he'd look, I can tell you."
"Harry, I've thought of something else," Ginny said. Her eyebrows drew together.
"Later," Harry mumbled at her as they reached the pitch and the Unspeakables turned to face them.
"Right, we've only got eleven players, one alternating in," Mr. Malfoy said. "Teams of five, with a beater, a keeper, a seeker, and two chasers." He paused, glancing around. "I'm curious – oy, Potter!"
He was looking over their shoulders. Harry's heart sank as Unspeakable Harry stalked out, a broom slung over his broad shoulders that made Harry's Firebolt look like a toddler training broom.
"What are you howling about?" the Unspeakable demanded, drawing level with the eight students.
"How d'you feel about Seeking against yourself?" Mr. Malfoy asked, indicating the seventh year Harry, whose eyes widened.
The Unspeakable smirked. "Think you're up to it?"
Harry's eyes narrowed. "You're looking a little frail there, old man."
It was the strangest thing Harry had ever done. Playing Seeker against Malfoy, his rival, was one thing. Playing his best moves against himself was quite something else. For one thing, Harry was still smaller, less bulky than the Unspeakable. He moved faster and was more agile. On the other hand, the Unspeakable could apparently read minds. He knew exactly where Harry was headed any time he tried to move anywhere on the pitch and was there before Harry. It seemed that neither would ever get the Snitch, since Harry could move faster than lightning and the Unspeakable was telepathic all of a sudden.
"This is ridiculous!" Blaise finally called in annoyance. "If someone catches the Snitch before I'm eighty-five, it'll be a miracle. I call for a break." Ginny, one of the opposing Chasers, nodded fervently in agreement.
"Have some picnic teas brought out, Dad," Hayden suggested, coming to land beside the others with Tristan on his tail.
"Oh, yes, your little bloody highness." But Mr. Malfoy ruffled his son's pale hair as he passed. They were all grateful for the break. Harry especially felt relieved because Unspeakable Harry's expression suggested that if he didn't win the match, Harry would find himself a two-dimensional afterthought on one of the goalposts. He wasn't afraid of that older self, exactly, but he had a healthy sense of caution and the man was not stable.
"Did Dad notice you snooping around, Tris?" Cedric was asking of her Operation: Obtain Cloak mission when Harry joined the group.
"You forget my family status," she quipped, rolling her eyes. "How many men in our family do I have wrapped around my finger?"
"Let us count, shall we?" Cedric retorted, but his lip twitched . "Go on, then, little princess."
"Reckon he was half-asleep anyway," Tristan went on, ignoring her brother. "I went in and pulled the whole teary-eyed motherless girl routine. He let me in and demanded to know what I'd been dreaming about. I – er – let's say I've never been good at lying on the spot."
"What did you say?" Ginny asked leaning forward. Tristan shrugged.
"Told him I'd had a dream that Ced married Lord Voldemort, who turned out to be that octopus woman from that Muggle movie about the mermaid we watched at Dorian's place last summer holiday," she said in breath. They all stared in wonder. Cedric's nose wrinkled.
"Don't worry, big brother," she said, patting his cheek. "In a proper dream, you'd get the mermaid."
"Mermaids are disgusting and noisy," Cedric muttered. He had a little sulk. Hayden pointed at him and laughed.
"Apart from Tristan getting the you-know-what, I've thought of something else," Ginny interjected, glancing around for eavesdroppers. "How on earth are we going to manage supplies? The house elves will give us away for sure if we ask for the things we're going to need. They'll feel obligated to tell Malfoy."
Harry grinned.
"Bet you didn't know there's a rebel, did you?" he asked triumphantly. "Dobby'd steal the Hope Diamond for me if I asked him to. He's a right devious little bugger."
"Dobby's on staff?" Ginny said in amazement. "How'd you find out?"
"Naturally, he found me first," Harry said. "Gave me a bit of a turn when he popped out of the wardrobe this morning."
"Out of the wardrobe, eh?" Blaise murmured, smirking at him.
"Sod off," Harry said, going red for no good reason.
"Alright," Ginny cut Blaise off, rolling her eyes at her. "So supplies are covered," she said. "Guess we're set."
They glanced at each other, and made a silent pact not to speak of the event again until the night of the smuggling.
)PvsM(
The night before their intended escape seemed to leap out of them at the end of the week.
Dinner an unusually noisy affair, as they were all keen to act normally. Draco harassed Ginny, Blaise made snide remarks about Harry, Tristan and Hayden outdid themselves verbally, and Dorian kept up a running argument with Harry (when Blaise let up to take a spoon of soup) about the advantages of self-steering broomsticks.
By the end of dinner, they were all psychologically exhausted, but they knew they needed to stay awake to carry out their plan. The only bright spot that evening was that Harry, upon clearing his old Quidditch robe pockets in search of his wand discovered that he had forgotten to remove the Invisibility Cloak after his raid on McGonagall's study. That meant two cloaks instead of the limiting one.
The trick was coordination. Draco, surprisingly, had the solution.
"It's called constructive deconstruction," he explained to his son, his partner in crime, while mutilating the water pipes leading up to every one of the guest bedrooms except Hayden's. Hayden actually seemed impressed with his father's strategy and happily helped him blow up the pipes.
"Good thing Mum and Dad are crap at anything to do with plumbing," Hayden panted as he crept back up the cellar steps after Draco.
"And this is why all of you are trying to fit into Hayden's room at ten-thirty at night?" Mrs. Malfoy said doubtfully. "The plumbing's out everywhere else?"
"It's a shame, Mum, but I'm willing to make a sacrifice for guests," Hayden said with a long-suffering sigh.
"We're pretty sure Hayden's real agenda is a bit less honorable where the ladies are concerned," Dorian said in a loud whisper, "but the rest of us come seeking only hot water."
Mrs. Malfoy let this slide, though reluctantly. She wandered off, muttering about calling her mum. The others exhaled, creating a little second-floor breeze, and threw themselves into action.
Harry showered first and went straight to his room. He put out the light, burrowed beneath the covers, and pulled out the Marauder's Map and his wand. Armed with a Muggle walkie-talkie of Hayden's (when asked again, Hayden went red and repeated, "I don't want to talk about it" while Tristan and Dorian laughed and laughed), Harry lay in wait. Meanwhile, Hayden had his shower, said goodnight to his parents, and prepared for bed. He pulled the hangings round his bed, stuffed his bed with pillows, and crawled out again under one of the invisibility cloaks. Armed with the other walkie-talkie set on its lowest possible volume, he followed Tristan down the hall to her room, where she spent two minutes throwing a few things into a rucksack. Hayden took it and Harry quietly directed him down deserted passages to Harry's own room. Harry's door was open just wide enough to admit a thin person, which Hayden was. Hayden slid in, stuffed the ruckie under the second invisibility cloak under Harry's bed (under which were also survival supplies from Dobby), and disappeared back up the stairs. As the others left the shower and went to their rooms, Hayden shadowed them, slowly collecting rucksacks until they were all concealed under the second cloak under Harry's bed.
While he was doing this, Cedric emerged from his shower, stuffed a rucksack for Hayden, and threw it through the hangings onto his bed. Hayden retrieved it last, nearly collided with his father on the stairs, and at long last, divested himself of the Invisibility Cloak in Harry's room. He slipped from the room and went in search of his parents and uncles. He excused his late trip downstairs to them by giving his mother a big hug and telling his father not to worry, he was sure everything with the time travelers would get sorted out in no time.
"Nice one, Den," Dorian murmured as they passed in the hall. Hayden collapsed onto his four poster and slept a deep, untroubled sleep.
)PvsM(
Breakfast the next morning dragged by. The Unspeakables seemed suspicious, Draco thought, but perhaps they were enjoying the tranquility too much to look into it.
"So what're everyone's plans for today?" Mrs. Malfoy asked.
"You all seem dull," Mr. Malfoy added. "Couldn't you do something outside?"
"Quidditch," the eight students said at once. They jumped and then tried not to panic as they realized their brooms were in Harry's room, shrunken and stuffed into rucksacks.
"Really, what's with all of you?" Weasley demanded, glancing around. No one met his eye. It was Tristan who saved the day. Putting on a brave face, she looked imploringly at her uncle.
"We're worried, Uncle Ron," she said softly, twisting a strand of hair round her finger. The girl could act, in Draco's opinion. "We were talking last night and – well, there's a murderer out there somewhere, isn't there? He might be on the grounds." Her voice began to tremble. "He could be in here!" She threw an arm around to encompass the room. Hayden, seated across from her, coughed a bit and the others were all turning smirks into looks of agony. In the Gryffindor's case, Draco noted, they looked constipated rather than anxious. He was sad to see that his heir was no exception.
Unspeakable Potter, his eyes narrow, turned in his chair to wrap an arm around his daughter.
"You know we'll take care of it, Tris," he assured her. "Nothing's going to happen to any of you."
"Look," Mrs. Malfoy cut in. "Why don't the lot of you stay inside today. Snape's been kind enough to send over homework for you three – " indicating his sniffling daughter, Dorian, and Hayden.
"Good idea." Weasley nodded. "It's pouring rain and you'd probably not be able to see the Quaffles or Snitch anyway."
The three who were actually properly attending Hogwarts in the present groaned, but didn't argue.
"As for you four." Mr. Malfoy eyed Draco, Blaise, Potter, and Ginny. "There's a library and Hayden can find you something to do." He smiled at his nephew. "Ced, you're a grown man. I think you keep yourself occupied."
"Think I can manage, yeah." Cedric shrugged. "Nice to have some down time."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of everything, Dad," Hayden assured him. "In fact, let's go up now."
The morning passed in unusual stillness. Cedric talked Potter into a game of chess. Ginny routed through the library until she came up with a fat volume Draco couldn't see the title of. Draco and Blaise took up books as well. Hayden, Tristan, and Dorian did their work quietly and were done by lunch, at which point Tristan's said her hand was shaking too much to write. Draco knew how she felt – he'd read the same paragraph in his book four times without knowing what it said. He finally cast it aside with a groan and went to one of the bleak windows to watch the unyielding rain.
Weasley poked his head round the door at half-noon. "Lunch, you lot," he said. He took in the silence and the parchment covering the floor. "Want to eat up here?"
"Yeah." Potter put in their collective word. He looked a bit pale.
"Right." Weasley gave him a grin and ducked out.
"Okay." Potter turned back to them. He had that earnest, do-gooder look about him that made Draco want to hit him. "Once he leaves the food here with us, we probably have a good twenty minutes. How're we going to get to my room?"
"We're right above your room." Blaise rolled her eyes. Her hands were fisted in her lap. "There's a window over there and we have the invisibility cloak."
"That takes too long," Hayden told her. "By the time we climbed down, got the stuff, and started to leave, our parent's would cottoned on."
"Yeah, I reckon tying bedsheets together is a bit obvious," Tristan said with a smirk.
They were spared Blaise's answer by the arrival of food. Weasley floated it onto the floor, accepted their thanks, and left them to it.
"We need a good excuse to all be in Harry's room," Ginny put in quickly as soon as the door closed behind her brother. Blaise stopped glaring at Tristan and stared at Ginny for a moment. Slowly, she began to nod.
"I'd say a good fight's in order, wouldn't you, Potter?" She raised her eyebrows at Tristan, no longer irritable.
"But it only makes sense if Harry goes down first," Tristan pointed out, cottoning on.
"So, Potter," Draco said. No time like the present, after all. "How's your Mudblood mother doing?"
Game or not, Potter's eyes blazed.
"Bit over the top there, Malfoy," Ginny muttered to him. Without a word, Potter stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him. Pulling the Marauder's Map from her jumper, Ginny waited until the it showed Harry was in his room. Not that she needed the map. They could all hear the door slam.
"Now, Tris, Blaise," she said, "you've gotta follow as soon as I get inside, okay? The room shouldn't be empty at any time. But stay in there for a bit before following, so that the timing of people coming to Harry's room is staggered."
"Right, go on." Blaise nodded, taking the map. Ginny glanced at Draco, conjured up a very convincing – and possibly not faked – look of loathing, and hurried out the door.
It was a tense twenty minutes. Potter and Ginny were safely hidden in the trees, Blaise and Tristan were almost there, and Hayden had just summoned the formers' cloak.
"All right, Draco." Cedric met his eye. "Time for the finale."
"Joy unbounded," Draco retorted. He hated admitting to wrong-doing, even if he was pretending.
"Just grumble and curse a bunch. Let's go." Cedric grinned and tucked the Marauder's Map into his pocket.
Go, they did and ran into Mr. Malfoy on the landing.
"What the hell are you lot into?" he demanded. Draco felt his insides go cold – had they been caught already? But then the Unspeakable added, "Tristy and Blaise were crying – crying." He grabbed Draco by the scruff of the neck. "If you had anything to do with this – "
Mercifully, Cedric the Improviser jumped in, leaving Draco to scowl and fight to free his collar.
"Too much homework, too much time in the same room," he said simply. "Words were had, it wasn't pretty, we were all to blame, really."
Mr. Malfoy frowned, but released Draco, who tried not to cough. "Where're you off to? Harry's room, too?"
"That's right." Cedric grinned, hooking his finger at Draco. "You have some apologizing to do."
"See that you do, you little twerp." The master of the house stabbed a threatening finger at Draco. "I'm getting tired of you hacking the women off."
"Right, I'll keep that in mind," Draco shot back. "Now if you'll excuse me I have some mindless groveling to do." And Cedric led him away.
"Close – too close," Cedric mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.
"Bloody yeah," Draco mouthed back. They made it to Potter's door without another meeting, thankfully. They slipped inside, Cedric sealing the door behind them to buy time if they needed it. He pulled the Marauder's Map from his pocket.
"Right," he said, once he satisfied himself that the coast was clear for the moment. "Let's get the hell out of here." Draco already held the rucksacks and a sopping Invisibility Cloak. Someone had already taken the one under the bed. He tossed a rucksack to Cedric and shook out the cloak.
"It'll be a tight squeeze, but we'll manage." Cedric shouldered his own burden and moved to open the window. Gusts of wind swept rain in. Draco snorted.
"We would choose the day of a bloody hurricane to do this," he muttered. He was just thinking gratefully about the thick cloak he'd packed when a glance over Cedric's shoulder at the Marauder's Map made his heart skip a beat.
"We've gotta move," he snapped. "I'm coming toward the door." The boys dashed to the window and vaulted through it. Draco reached up and wrenched it shut, then Cedric wrapped the sopping Invisibility Cloak around them.
"Come on!" he called over the wind. "We've gotta move fast."
"The cloak's so damn wet that bits of us might not be covered!" Draco retorted. "We'll have to walk in step."
Unfortunately, that took quite a long time. As they neared the perimeter, they could see six anxious faces within the foliage. Risking that the high winds wouldn't disguise his voice, Draco called out to Potter, whose face was the easiest to make out.
"They've probably discovered the empty room by now," he shouted. "Go! Run! We've gotta get away from here now!" Potter nodded, and turned to the others. A moment later, Draco could here the distant crunch of running feet fade slowly.
"Take a look at the map," Cedric said. They were still ten meters from the perimeter. Draco plucked the map from Cedric's pocket and opened it while Cedric held the cloak over them.
Draco's heart froze. He nudged Cedric. Cedric swore.
The tiny dots labeled Ginny Malfoy, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and Ron Weasley were no longer in Potter's room. They were coming out toward the Quidditch field.
The Quidditch pitch that was roughly a hundred meters from where Draco and Cedric were standing.
"We've got to move," Cedric hissed in his ear. Run, they did, though awkwardly and at last stopped behind a pine tree at the perimeter. They checked the map again.
"Keep moving!" Draco snapped, throwing off the cloak and dragging it behind him. He and Cedric fled through the undergrowth.
They must have run flat-out for ten minutes before a voice behind a large cedar hissed, "Hey! Malfoy, Ced!" Potter and rest were disheveled and looked like drowned rats. Fortunately, the tree canopy was so thick that it all but stopped the rain from coming through.
"Where's the map?" Hayden asked, his teeth chattering. They all crowded around Draco and let out a collective sigh of relief. The adults had gone back inside. Hayden squinted. Then Tristan gasped. Then Dorian swore.
"Fuck me, they're already getting their brooms," he breathed, pointing at an unlabeled room into which all four Unspeakables had moved.
"They'll be searching the grounds," Hayden agreed. "We've got to get to the edge of the estate. Fast!"
"How far?" Potter demanded.
"About a kilometer from here." Hayden led the way, breaking into a run.
"Oh, no!" Tristan groaned suddenly. "Malfoy, your dad's going to put up the wards!"
"No, you think?" Hayden bellowed. She was already ahead of him and Draco thought he looked more bad-tempered than usual.
"Are those the wards that keep things from coming in and out?" Potter asked, sounding as though he didn't think he wanted an answer.
"We'll never make it passed them if they go up," Hayden panted. "They aren't usually up during the day, especially now that we know they won't keep Red Robes out."
"There's nothing for our parents to suspect yet," Tristan countered. "At first, they'll just think things with Harry got out of hand. Then they'll think we've been kidnapped and will scour the grounds. When they realize we've taken off on our own? That's when we're basically screwed."
"Knowing Malfoy and his suspicious, ferrety little mind, it won't take him long to realize what's happened," Ginny jibed, panting along beside Potter. Blaise sniggered.
"Good one, Weasley," she approved. But Draco, glancing again at Ginny, thought he heard rather a warped compliment mixed in.
They continued to pound along through the woods, Tristan leading them along various clear paths until they could see the edge of the woods.
"That's it!" Dorian called, pointing to the wall of rain waiting to meet them. Draco squinted. Was it rain?
"Oh, damn!" Hayden shouted. "Dad's started putting up the wards! Move!" Though exhausted, they put on a burst of speed. Ginny and Potter, last in the group, were a few meters behind the rest. Draco dashed through the shimmer, feeling as though he'd had a static shock. He whirled back to the barrier, pushing wet hair out of his eyes.
The shimmer was getting stronger.
Without thinking, Draco drew his wand.
"Accio Ginny!" he shouted and Ginny suddenly shot toward him through the barrier. Both toppled to the ground, even as Tristan screamed. Draco looked around Ginny. Potter was diving.
There was flash. A thick silver glimmer hung in the air. Potter lay motionless just on their side of the fully operational ward.
"Dad!" Tristan dashed to his side, dropping to her knees beside him. Draco watched Potter stir, groan, and sit up slowly. Tristan threw her arms around him, and Cedric and Dorian moved to help him up. Blaise started telling him what a git he was.
"Thanks, Malfoy." Ginny's voice was in his ear and he realized she was still stretched out on top of him. She lifted her face and he caught her eye without meaning to. He grinned up at her, her hair hanging in lose tendrils into his face. She blushed and rolled quickly off him. Draco got to his feet, still watching her. His voice was too quiet for anyone to hear.
"Any time, Weasley. Any bloody time."
)PvsM(
TBC