DISCLAIMER: I am not Jo Rowling. Had I been her, I wouldn't be giving out spoilers for my book. Not that I say this contains spoilers, but you get my point.

-Chapter Twenty-Two-

From the gray skyline shadows rise;

Time is running out like sand.

Life is a jumbled, broken dream

Ruled by haunted sleep and cruel eyes.

Time is slipping away like sand,

Smoky shadows engulf the land.

Snakes, Cups and Pumpkins

"Where have you three been?" Ginny exclaimed as Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the library an hour before lunchtime, looking exhausted, disheveled but extremely pleased about something at the same time. She noticed Harry's hand was heavily bandaged.

"What is this nonsense about the amulet?" She asked him angrily.

Harry glared at Ron and Hermione before turning to face her.

"I …well, I guess it was a stupid thing to do." He finished somewhat lamely.

"So you are saying you did buy a cursed amulet?" She persisted.

Hermione spoke up before Harry could reply. "Look Ginny, we invented the amulet story because we can't tell anyone what really injured Harry. Not even you."

"But it could be dangerous!" Ginny argued back.

"It is dangerous. That's the reason why we can't tell you."

For a moment, the two girls looked at each other, Ginny looking hurt and angry, Hermione pleading but firm. Neville's eyes were fixed to his diary, obviously refusing to participate in the discussion. Luna however was watching their faces with the air of watching a mildly interesting television programme. Finally, Ginny gave up.

"Well, at least we can give you a bit of news. Malfoy went to see Voldemort last night. He's been looking devastated since his return." She said.

"What happened?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"He didn't say." Said Neville looking up, "He went a little while after dinner and returned about an hour later. He went straight to bed after that, though I don't think he slept much. He was tossing and turning all the time. He's still lying down, refused breakfast this morning."

"I'll go and talk to him." Harry said quietly.

-XXX-

He knocked at the door, but there was no response from inside. He turned the lock, and pushing the door open, looked cautiously inside. Malfoy was lying on his back, his eyes fixed at the ceiling. He didn't stir when Harry entered.

"Malfoy, what's wrong?" he asked, standing beside the bed. The other boy sat up this time, but still his eyes were fixed to the ceiling.

"He's going to kill us. He's going to kill us all." He muttered distractedly.

Harry rested his hand on Malfoy's shoulder, feeling quite at loss about what to say. Malfoy turned and saw him.

"How's your arm, Potter?" he asked indifferently. It seemed just a casual enquiry, but it was a change from the gloating, sneering stuff that Harry had been used to hear from him about his injuries.

"It's better now, but never mind that. What happened to you? I thought Moody had trained you in case you had to answer to Voldemort?"

"Don't name him, Potter!" Draco snapped. The idea that Potter was trying to teach him what he should have done irritated him. "I know my work, thank you very much. But he wasn't pleased with the ordinary things I had to say about the working of the Order, he wants me to bring you to him. That's the main reason why he made me attack Greyback that night. And he's becoming impatient. He's given me a last chance and if I fail…" he stopped as the horrible image of his punishment visualized before him.

Harry watched silently for a minute, as Malfoy seemed to struggle to shut out whatever nightmarish consequences Voldemort had threatened him with, and then handed him a glass of water.

Malfoy took the glass silently from him and drank like a man in a desert.

"He killed a muggle boy last night, barely five years old." He whispered to the blank wall facing him. "He immobilized him and then fed him alive to the snake. But the boy was screaming madly, he hadn't been silenced. I think everyone was quite enjoying his screams…"

Harry stared, horrified, as he comprehended what Malfoy was saying. "What had the boy done?" he asked hoarsely, though knowing fully well that a muggle boy of five years couldn't have anything to do with Voldemort, and this sort of thing was what meant fun to him and his deatheaters.

"Nothing. He did it to warn me…to show me what he will do to me if I fail."

"Calm down, Malfoy, Voldemort can't find you if you remain here."

"He will hunt me down wherever I go if he wants to, Potter. He will find me and feed me to his serpent. What am I going to do? Aunt Bella will kill me herself if she can please him by it, and my parents…" he shuddered.

Harry leant and shook the blonde boy by his shoulders.

"Don't be ridiculous, Malfoy! Voldemort had tried to feed me to Nagini too, but I am still living, am I not? The Order has a secret-keeper to protect its headquarters. He can't reach you here."

"Yours parents had a secret-keeper too, Potter." Draco replied in a tone half resigned and half sarcastic.

Harry could barely control his temper. Here he was, trying to help this arrogant boy who could think of doing nothing braver than throw a jibe at him. Besides, his hint had re-ignited his anger against Pettigrew and Bellatrix Lestrange, the people responsible for ruining his life. With immense effort, he stopped himself from shouting and cursing Malfoy.

" Yes, they had a secret-keeper. That was their and Sirius Black's biggest mistake in life. But I think you will agree that there are some obvious differences between a stinking piece of vermin like Wormtail and a witch of Minerva McGonagall stature. However, if you are so afraid of your dear Master's favourite pet, why don't you go and kill it?" His voice remained steady as he said this last bit, but his mind was racing. However, the effect of these words on Malfoy was priceless. Never in all his years at Hogwarts had Harry ever seen him looking so silly or clueless.

"Kill the snake?" he asked blankly, "What good will that do?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I thought you just said…"

"I know what I said, Potter." Draco replied irritably, "But killing his serpent will not stop him from killing me, he will probably kill me twice over if he can as punishment, and he can always get another snake if he wants me to be fed to one. Your plan is as idiotic as should be expected from you!"

Harry ignored the jibe and pondered over his words before replying. "Well…killing Nagini may temporarily hinder Voldemort's plans."

"Honestly, Potter!" Malfoy drawled, "You're dumber than even I thought you were! Hinder the Dark Lord? What do you expect, that he will die of a broken heart or something over his pet?"
"Have it your own way then, Malfoy." Harry said coolly, "I'm sure Nagini will love you."

The smirk slipped of Malfoy's pale face as he stood up very quickly.

"Don't you dare, Potter." He said dangerously, pointing his wand at him.

"Yeah, threaten me, Malfoy, because I'm so scared of you." His wand was also out. He was painfully aware of how heavy and rigid his injured wand-arm felt, but he showed none of that.

"Don't act so big, Potty, I can break your stupid face and make it look like your arm anytime I want!"

"Sure thing, Ferret! Go ahead and do it. Or perhaps you're not brave enough to do it alone, why don't you ask one of your old pals? Better still, ask his Lordship himself to help. That will save you from the snake."

"Potter, I am warning you. One more time you mention that snake and I will…" His silver eyes flashed as he raised his wand, and then, in one violent movement of his arm, and to Harry's infinite surprise, he threw it away. It landed on Neville's bed, emitting a shower of red and green sparks. Warily, Harry lowered his wand.

" What's wrong with you, Potter?" he yelled exasperatedly. "Why are so obsessed with that damned snake? Why are you trying to egg me on? And what do you mean by suggesting I give you up to him? You know I am in the Order! You know I want to help defeat him!"

"And yet, you seem to be afraid to face even his snake."

Malfoy sank back on the bed and clutched at his forehead.

"There you go again." he said tiredly. "You've lost your marbles Potter. That pathetic reporter was right about you. You are a gone case."

"We can discuss Rita Skeeter at another time, Malfoy. Look, I hate Nagini. If you don't want to kill her, lead me to her and I will do it." Harry said calmly.

"Even if it wasn't such a ridiculously useless idea, Potter, I wouldn't be able to help you. The snake stays at the Dark Lord's secret dungeon and only he can reveal it's whereabouts to anyone. As for me doing the killing, he keeps the snake close to him at all times. Don't expect me to risk my already messed up life for your pea-brained schemes, Potter."

But Harry wasn't going to give up so easily.

"But if you can kill Nagini when Voldemort is out on a raid, can't you?" he asked desperately.

"In case you haven't noticed Potter, the Dark Lord doesn't ask me before going on raids. And for the final time, stop naming him!"

"Fear of a name increases the fear of the thing itself, that's what Dumbledore (he saw Malfoy change colour at the mention of Dumbledore, but ignored it) used to say. But of course, that may mean nothing to you; he was just a silly old man for you! As for removing Voldemort from Nagini, that's easy. All you have to do is to go and tell him that I'm out of headquarters, roaming around somewhere, and he will come after me. He will probably take a large number of his servants with him, so that will make your job easier."

" And when he finds out in about two minutes that it's a false lead…"

"It won't be a false lead."

Malfoy rose and faced Harry again, apparently struggling for words.

"What are you playing at, Potter? How insane can you be to actually set up an appointment with the Dark Lord?"

Harry couldn't help smiling at the expression. "Well, you seriously don't think I'm going to hide and escape from him all my life? And it's always polite to make appointments before visiting lords and ladies. But that's not going to happen for sometime, though. What say about the snake? Will you do it?"

Draco scanned the face of his archrival. His tone was light, and he was smiling, but beneath the smile, and the good-humoured voice, he could detect an inner fire, and a sense of firmness. And for the first time, Draco Malfoy felt something he had never dreamt he would ever feel for any non-Slytherin or halfblood, let alone Harry Potter: respect. But he kept that carefully out of his voice as he spoke again.

" You've lost your marbles, Scarhead, but I guess I must pay the price for joining your side. I'll kill Nagini for you, and you can go meet him if you want it so badly."

"Thanks." Harry said cheerfully. "We'll finalise our plans later. By the way, Neville said you had skipped breakfast. If you're feeling better now, shall I send up a tray here?"

Yeah, I'm feeling better, because you've given me such a wonderful job to think of you, Draco thought. "It's nearly lunchtime now. I think I'll go down myself after an hour or so." He said aloud.

"Okay. Read something then. I'll bring something for you."

"Fine. As long as it's not one of Granger's tomes." He replied carelessly.

"Don't worry," Harry grinned, "I have something better in mind."

-XXX-

Hermione read the news item that Neville had marked out for them.

"Why did you want us to read this?" she asked him suspiciously.

"Well, I thought since you guys are trying to study the pattern of You-Know-Who's actions, I thought you should have a look at this one. I mean, studying the important events should help."

"Important event?" she repeated curiously. Surely there had been many mass murders like this one when Voldemort was in power?

"Well, this was the first time the Dark Mark was used, I've read about it in 'An Account of Rare Magicke Plants and Herbs of England'."

"What? What has herbology to do with the Dark Mark?" Ron asked, looking bewildered.

"Well, the wood in Derbyshire where the killings took place is like the Forbidden forest, it consists of mainly magical flora and fauna. Muggles never enter the place. There was an Assyrian Oak that was burnt down; it was more than five hundred years old. The Dark Mark was put directly above it."

"Really?"

"Oh yes. Lot's of people died, you know. Around twenty-five aurors and thirty muggles who he was holding hostage in the forest, I think Professor Moody was one of the few aurors who had survived."

"He held muggles hostage?" Hermione asked, "What were his demands?"

"He wanted to take over the Ministry, I think. We've been checking the old Prophets here, it was around this time that he first started coming out in the open, during the mid-sixties."

"Can we take a look at those records?" Hermione asked, hiding her excitement.

"What records?" Someone asked from the door.

They all turned in time to see Harry locking the door of the library.

"Hello, Harry." Said Luna serenely, "We didn't hear you coming in. Did you see Draco?"

"Yeah, he seems fine now. Umm… Luna, do you have some old Quibbler editions with you? I think Malfoy might like some light-reading."

"But the Quibbler isn't meant for light-reading, Harry. It deals with serious things which people should know about."

"I know." Harry said quickly, "What I meant was that Draco probably was getting bored doing nothing, and he might be interested to read some of the discussions that's published there. Can you lend him one of them?"

Luna beamed at him. "I have a whole collection with me," she said, " they are in my room. I'll go and give it to him now." And she left the room, looking dreamy and pleased.

"Harry," Hermione said urgently, "Neville's found an interesting piece of news for us."

-XXX-

It had been decided between Harry, Ron and Hermione that they would visit the Misty Woods as soon as Harry's arm was okay. Madame Pomfrey had said that the bandage would automatically come off in two or three days. But day after day passed, yet the bandage wound round his right arm remained as fixed as ever. They visited Madam Pomfrey one more time, but she couldn't find anything wrong with his arm, though she couldn't say why it wasn't healing either. Hermione suggested going to St.Mungo's quite a few times, but Harry was afraid of Voldemort hearing about the nature of his injury. He convinced himself that his arm would heal in time, and meanwhile concentrated on the DA sessions, learning and teaching new spells. While they practiced together, Malfoy spent the time reading or by practicing hexes by himself, occasionally borrowing a book from their ballroom-library. But as weeks passed, Harry started feeling that his wand arm was gradually becoming weaker. He didn't admit it to himself at first, and nobody noticed anything, but he was feeling increasingly restless and frustrated.

On Halloween morning, a sharp pain in his arm waked Harry up. It lessened after a while, but a dull throbbing pain remained. However, he didn't tell anyone about it, hoping that it would soon go away; and went about decorating the house with everybody else. Hagrid turned up with ten huge pumpkins, all somehow fitted into one small sack. Harry noticed he had his pink umbrella with him, though it was a sunny day outside. They spent a happy day carving out the pumpkins and hanging them all over the house, though a sharp pain shot through Harry's hand now and then like an ominous warning. In the evening, Fred and George turned up, dressed up as skeletons.

"You look very handsome with those paintings on your face." Luna commented.

The rest of them roared with laughter.

"Can you believe this?" said George indignantly, "We took so much trouble to scare them and all they can do is laugh."

"Today's youngsters have no innocence left. It's quite a hopeless situation." said Fred with a sad face.

"Speak for yourselves, you two." Ginny retorted back.

They had a great party, with lots of food and sweets, though they all politely refusing the sweets that the twins offered them. In the middle of the feast, Draco Malfoy arrived in the kitchen, looking hesitant. Harry had seen him watching their activities with a wistful expression on his face, though he was quick to replace it with one of indifference and disdain as soon as he found someone watching him. Harry had even invited him to join them, and Neville had called him to the party, but he had declined. But it seemed he had finally made up his mind.

"Can I join you?" he asked awkwardly.

"Sure, welcome!" Fred and George cried out together, jumping up to pull Malfoy into one of the chairs. Harry had a bad feeling about their so vigorous enthusiasm, but he kept that to himself.

Barely five minutes had passed, when he heard Malfoy scream, and he looked up to find Malfoy's head turned to a bright orange pumpkin, with his gray eyes flashing furiously out of it's carved eye-sockets. Loud laughter erupted in the kitchen, and by the time Malfoy's face had become normal, if so scarlet a complexion could be called normal for him, they were all wiping their eyes.

"You guys poisoned me!" he cried, sounding outraged.

The twins bowed deeply in response.

Furious, he rounded on Luna.

"You are a Ravenclaw!" he cried, "You are supposed to have more sense than them! How can you laugh with them?"

"But you do look so much better as a pumpkin than as a ferret. Any sensible person can see that." Luna reasoned earnestly.

More laughter. Malfoy groaned and buried his face in his palm.

"You were the crowning glory of our little Halloween party, you really were, Mr. Draco Pumpkin Malfoy." Fred said solemnly.

"Yeah, you almost made up for the disappointment and heart-break our own siblings and old friends caused us by refusing our food." George put in.

"And now, if you excuse us, we must return to our little shop."

Barely five minutes had passed after the twins had left, when Harry felt a searing, burning pain in his arm, almost as intense as the pain had been when he had opened the trunk that had caused this injury. A soft gasp escaped him.

"What's wrong, mate?" Ron asked.

"Nothing." He lied, not willing to spoil the mood of the party.

" No, it's not." Ginny said, "It's your arm, isn't it?"

Hermione spoke up without giving him any chance to reply.

"Harry, I don't know why you do nothing about that arm. More than a month has passed, and you are still sitting here, pretending it's going to heal on its own. What you need is…" she suddenly gave a loud gasp here as her eyes suddenly fell on his arm, "Harry, that bandage on your arm…it's turned green."

Harry looked. She was right. His bandage definitely had a pale, sickly green shade which had not been there in the morning.

"Potter, you didn't touch a Daichellian lock, did you?" Malfoy asked suddenly.

"What's that?" Harry asked him.

"It's a cursed lock. I've never actually seen one; you won't even get one at Knockturn Alley unless you order for it. But I've heard father speak of it. It works slowly, at first it looks just like an ordinary cut, but after 35-40 days, the cut starts turning green, and within a few or more weeks, the injured part is just eaten away."

Harry suddenly had a vision of his right arm, shriveled and useless like Dumbledore's.

"What do you mean, eaten away?" Ron asked, looking sick.

"I mean the skin and the flesh die and falls off."

"But there must be some cure?" Harry asked desperately.

"There is a potion that can heal this kind of an injury. But it has terrible side effects. It will make you seriously ill for several days; it can even kill you. It is a deadly poison, actually."

A collective sound of gasping went round the table. Ginny gave a dry sob.

Harry looked at his arm. He needed it whole and healthy if he was to finish his task, and it was still a long way off.

"How do you make that potion, Malfoy?" he asked, looking straight into his eyes.

Malfoy didn't look away.

"I thought you were going to take the risk." He said slowly, "Do you trust me, Potter? I don't deny I would have loved to kill you, or see you killed during our years in school."

"I know. I still trust you."

Malfoy smiled, and it wasn't a smirk or a sneer.

"Right, the procedure for making the actual potion is extremely complicated. Fortunately, it is sold in ready form at Knockturn Alley. I will get it for you, and some other ingredients that need to be mixed with it before use as a medicine, and if it's done correctly, it will reduce the risk factor considerably. I've never done it, but I will do my best. And then, with a brain like Granger's here, it couldn't possible go wrong."

Author's note: Don't wait, go review! That's an order! And if you dare disobey…