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Chapter 7

The first scream resonated through the hallways of the Manor just when Draco turned around the corner of the North Wing on his way down stairs for dinner.

By the time he reached the open door of the West Wing's main drawing room, only a few more had found their way echoing through the empty halls of the Manor and he was quite sure that come tomorrow he wouldn't be able to move. That however was of no concern the moment he laid eye on the scene in front of him.

The first thing he noticed was the girl, pressed up against the wall between two windows, ready to let out another toe curling scream, but changing her mind the moment they locked eyes.

Then, although it was quite hard to oversee even, there was the gigantic Agromantula making its way over to the girl. Killing plants would have been so much easier to deal with, he thought.

The there was the decided lack of wands. The girl didn't seem to be carrying hers; his was still in possession of the Ministry. It didn't really matter anyway, any spell that would get rid of the blasted giant spider would get him a one way ticket back to Azkaban. And that was definitely not going to happen.

He would just have to get the girl away from the wall and around the spider without magic. If they could make it out of the drawing room, they might be able to make it to the big oak doors that marked the entrance to the West Wing. If they could just make it to those doors, they might be able to get out of there alive.

What he did next, would in the years to come repeatedly be described as foolish Gryffindor behavior, totally unsuitable for the prince of Slytherin. His friends would have a good laugh at his expense every time the story got dragged up after a few too many glasses of wine.

Blaise would repeatedly state with obvious glee that Azkaban must have muddled with his brain, because no one in their right mind would jump in between a hunting Agromantula and its prey. Still he did just that and never regretted it, not once.

Lucinda pressed her back up to the wall behind her to keep as much space between herself and the monstrous spider. Its large eyes never lost her out of sight and a quick look told her that the only way out of the room was behind the spider that was slowly making its way towards her.

She silently cursed herself for leaving her wand in her room, for wandering off into a locked part of the house and for not being on guard because of that. Then she cursed the Ministry for not cleaning up the place decently like they should have. Then she screamed again, loudly!

Maybe someone in the house would hear and come to her rescue.

She didn't really remember how much time passed but the next time she looked passed the spider and at the door, he was standing there, catching her gaze. He seemed utterly unfazed by the fact that a gigantic spider was about to eat her for dinner. Not that there was much he could do. He could off course distract the spider, but that didn't change the fact that it would still be between her and the doorway. If she made it around, the spider would just eat them both. He could try and get over to her side of the room, but that would just lead to the same. Simply said, there was not much he could do.

Obviously he thought differently!

Without a warning he kicked the small side table on his left, making the rather ugly large green vase on it wobble and fall.

The crash momentarily distracted the spider and while it tried to see what caused the noise, he made his way towards her around the other side, reaching for her hand and pulling her away from the wall and across the room.

"Rule number one when facing deadly peril; never get backed up into a wall, it completely reduces your chances of getting away alive", he said in a tone that she couldn't really place. He seemed to be quite serious, but there was a hint of humor as well as if somehow being cornered by a spider was funny.

They didn't make it very far off course. The spider threw around its head to their side followed by its colossal body, placing itself once again in front of them before they made it even halfway through the room.

"Well, since you seem to be so adept at getting out of deadly peril please tell, how are we going to make it to the door", she hissed back, unable to keep the snark out of her voice. She was getting scared again and she never handled scary well, it made her freeze.

Instead of answering he started to slowly make it across the room, step by step, not leaving the spider out of his sight. Every time they took a step towards the door, the spider turned with them, making sure to face them at all times while at the same time closing the gap towards the door. A few more steps and it would have completely closed their only way out.

All through this game of cat and mouse he had not once dropped her hand and made sure that she was behind him at all times, pulling her along. Somehow that was a comforting thought. He might not like her, but he definitely would protect her as long as possible, she thought. His sudden silent but urgent whisper once again called her attention to their present situation.

"We won't be able to make it to and through the door like this. We'll just have to run for it and hope we'll make it through before it notices that we are done shuffling out."

"But…. but it will come after us!"

"Sure, but if we can make it back to the entrance doors we can lock it in", he said, calm and collected plan in place, like outrunning angry hungry monster spiders was something he had been doing all his live.

Well, at least he had a plan and she clearly remembered the heavy doors she had opened entering the hallway. They had looked sturdy and heavy. There had been a key in the lock. If they could make it there, this might actually work.

"OK….. lets make a run for it. But we should both take a door on our way out, that way we'll be faster closing them behind us. Do you want left or right?"

At that he pulled up one of his pale eyebrows, a small smirk forming on his lips. "Good to have you in on this. I'll take the right one, let's run on three OK!"

"OK."

"One…..two…three."

They both spun from their spots and towards the door, reaching it by the time the spider realized they were actually making a run for it. Turning around the corner into the hallway she pulled a dead sprint to its end, the doors looming at the end.

She would definitely have to take up sports again, she decided, feeling her muscles strain while running at dead speed. She could hear the spider gaining ground behind them and Malfoy didn't look like he would be able to handle their pace for much longer but she decided not to look back and instead push on forward. She was definitely too young to die now.

When she reached the door, she just folded her hand around it and without slowing down pulled it along with her, almost jamming her fingers when Malfoy did the same with his, pulling in right behind her. The moment the doors hit each other, he grabbed the big brass handles, pulling the doors together and turned the key, not a second to early. A loud crash made the doors and floor shake and echoed through the hallway making its way through the Manor. The doors fortunately held and suddenly everything went silent.

All she could hear was their uneven breathing and she leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down until she was seated on the old, dusty green carpet. She was five feet away from her room, but she wasn't sure she would be able to make it there.

On the other side of the hall Malfoy followed her example, sliding down the opposite wall before pulling up his knees and putting his head down between them taking one ragged breath after another.

After a while he seemed to catch his breath and uncurled, stretching out his legs. His were so much longer than hers, leaving only a small bit of carpet between their feet.

Looking at her, he once again smirked and stretched out his right hand, "Draco Malfoy, to the rescue!"

Pulling up one of her eyebrows in a perfect imitation of the look he had earlier given her, she had one more look at his outstretched hand and then just took it.

"Lucinda Shacklebolt, glad to be saved".

"Yes well, just imagine the field day they would have at the Ministry if it would have eaten you. Couldn't have that happen now, could we", he quipped back.

"Well, I'm glad I could be of help there", she replied, and they both chuckled.

"After dinner, we should get you another room", he said after a while, dubiously looking at the closed doors.

"Oh, I'm actually at this side of the doors right down here, so that's just fine."

"Nah, we'll get you a room in the North Wing somewhere close to mine, that way we'll both be safer, who knows what else is walking around in this house. That, and Mimi threatened to have my head if I wouldn't move you out of the West Wing, so humor me will you. This is the perfect plan to avoid apologizing for putting you up here in the first place and still moving you out?"

"Your house elve threatened to have your head? Well that's new; I'll have to keep that in mind for future use. Now did I hear you mention dinner", she parried back. "Because I'm rather starving and this place is so big I wouldn't be able to find the dining room if my live depended on it."

"Well, I can definitely help with that", he said, slowly getting up from his place on the floor and reaching out a hand to help her up.

She got up and they made their way through a hall and than around a corner and down a few steps into a corridor that opened up into the central hall and the big staircase. Halfway down the stairs he turned around and while walking on backwards down the stairs said, "Sorry for being rude before, but I was kind of preoccupied and missed your name and then …."

"You weren't going to apologize remember", she cut in, smiling at him.

"Actually, I wasn't going to apologize about giving you a guestroom in Death Eater Central, this however is a completely different apology."

"Well, the way I look at it, you snubbed me, then I snubbed you, you snubbed me some more, then I almost got eaten by a monster spider, you saved me from said spider, we then totally outsmarted the beast and made up, so I suggest we forget all about this earlier today and start over, starting right now. We can actually be nice to each other. It would definitely make this entire, "we have to live together in one thing" much easier to live with, believe me."

Throwing her another look he muttered, "Fine, but I won't promise I'll be nice, I'm not nice. I can however attempt to be civil. Will that do?"

She couldn't help but laugh at that. "I guess civil will do just fine for now, we can work on nice later" she said, skipping down the last few stairs and following him into the dining room.

She could definitely use a meal right now.