The corpse of the girl rose shakily, like a marionette on invisible strings. Slowly, it stumbled towards The Veil.
"Inferi, My Lord?" Bellatrix asked as she entered the large, cold room.
"Obviously..." Voldemort seethed, glaring at her. He was deep in concentration. Normally, Inferi did not need so much attention, but he couldn't risk anything. He had to have complete control. Finally, the body staggered through archway. It had previously belonged to Cho Chang. She'd been one of Potter's little friends. It had been a true delight to slaughter her; yet another stab into Potter's cold corpse.
"Why Inferi, Dark Lord?" Bellatrix asked again, her eyes glinting excitedly.
"Did you bring me what I asked for?" He hissed, ignoring her question.
"Yes! I have three mudbloods waiting outside, My-"
"Well? Bring them in!"
"Of course, My Lord." She bowed frantically and sprinted out of the room.
Closing his eyes, Voldemort concentrated on the Inferius. He still had control. It was responding to his commands. Clenching his fists, he ordered it to return to his side, and waited. The air seemed thin as a heart string as The Veil pulsed gently. Alas, the Inferius did not return. If he couldn't bring a soulless being back, it seemed damn near impossible that he would be able to recollect the lost pieces of his own soul.
Bellatrix cleared her throat crisply, cutting through his internal dialog. "Here they are, my Dark-"
"Bring me one."
In a moment, she was at his side, holding the arm of a pale, shaking witch in one hand, and her wand in the other. "My Lord." She bowed.
"Excellent. Now kill it."
The muggleborn screamed, trying to pull away.
"My pleasure. Avada Kedavra!" Like a light switch, the witch fell, all life leaving her young face. The Veil shook lightly.
"...Kill another." The Dark Lord seethed, handing her a knife. "With...this..."
"Your servant, my Lord." Bellatrix smiled. Pulling a shaking wizard to his feet by his hair, she slit his throat cleanly. The man let out a pinched squeak before toppling to the ground into an ever growing pool of blood. After a moment, The Veil moved as though someone had nudged it. Obviously, that was the motion of a soul, passing through to the other side, but he wondered if that meant The Veil opened. And, if so, was it possible to keep it open?
"I grow weary of this task. Bella, you will take the last blood-soiled creature and put it under the Imperius curse. Then, force it through The Veil and attempt to make it return. If it does return, send someone to alert me."
"Of course, my Lord." She gave him a crooked smile and bowed. And, without a second glance, Voldemort disapparated.
Draco walked down the puddle filled street, an icy wind biting at his cheeks. Everything hurt. He had spent almost a month in the cellar of what used to be his home, getting tortured daily, and fed rarely. Then, when he finally escaped, he and Hagrid had slept on the forest floor, just in case the search parties were out looking. He was also numb; his parents' death not fully registered.
Hagrid was walking beside him, wearing some kind of muggle getup but he still stood out do to his sheer size. Draco wore it as well. The black jacket and uncomfortable jeans Hagrid had supplied fit him loosely, but still offered disguise from passers by. Although, there were very few muggles on the street so late. The moon was covered by clouds, and the rusted street lamps gave flickering, yellow light. Ahead, he could hear Hagrid muttering as they passed buildings. "Could'a sworn it was just 'round here...maybe it was Birch street, not Oak...no, but tha' pub is the right one..."
"Hagrid, how much further-" Draco began, making large strides to keep up.
"Not but a few minutes more." Dropping his tone to a whisper, he added, "An' you shouldn't call me Hagrid. Just in case someone's listenin' fer us. Er, call me..Horton. And I'll call you...Delvon. Alright?"
Nodding, Draco pulled the hood of the jacket over his head. The rain had started again.
Tromping through the swampy streets, they passed a pole covered in posters. One in particular caught his eye. It read in bold, blue letters, "Extraterrestrial Invasion: Could these mass murders and strange, cloaked men have origins not of this earth?" It was amusing, really, the ideas that muggles came up with to explain what was happening.
"Ah, here's the place!" Hagrid boomed, grabbing Draco's arm. A seedy motel stood before them. The open sign flickered in the window as raindrops pounded the glass. A few people stood in the ally beside it, smoking cigars. With a nod, Hagrid pushed open the door. A bell rang out.
From behind a desk, a tall old woman asked, "Two rooms?" Looking over her glasses, she scrunched her nose. She had a strangely masculine voice and glared persistently at Draco.
"Oh no, that's alright ma'am. I was just wondering how you spell phoenix?" Hagrid winked.
Lifting his eyebrows, Draco turned and opened his mouth to question his large companion.
"Of course. Follow me." The old lady jumped up quickly and began to make her way down a hallway.
"What is going on-" Draco began.
"Hush. You heard 'er. Follow."
After they reached the end of the hall, the woman stepped into a coat closet and beckoned for them to join her.
"I won' fit with both of you." Hagrid blushed, pushing Draco forward, "But take the boy."
"I think you'll find that you do fit."
With a shrug, Hagrid squeezed in.
After the door was clicked closed, the woman pulled out a wand and began to mutter a spell. Then, she opened the door again. A flight of stairs stood where the hallway should have.
"Follow." She spoke again, voice losing all feminism. They walked for several minutes in silence, passing through staircase after staircase when at last they reached a door.
"Is this it?" Hagrid asked in a quiet voice.
The lady nodded.
"And, how do we get back?"
"You'll find it's easier to leave than it is to come. Up this flight of stairs," she pointed to a tunnel on the left, "is a door. That door will take you to a room which we leave empty at the motel. But remember, you can only exit through it, not enter."
"Thank you ma'am."
"Not ma'am. It's actually just polyjuice. My name is Bradford Kelvin, I don't know if-"
"Bradford! 'Course I remember you. Glad to see you're still alive."
"You too, Hagrid." He smiled, but his eyes stopped on Draco.
"Er, Draco, this is Bradford. He graduated a few years before you started Hogwarts. Brad-"
"I recognize him. So, Lucius Malfoy's kid is with us now?" Bradford lifted his eyebrows.
"The Dark Lord killed both of my parents." Draco spoke quietly. It was the first time he had said it out loud and it sounded hollow.
After a moment, he felt Hagrid's hand on his shoulder. "I trust 'im."
Strangely, Draco felt like crying.
Bradford sighed. "Yes, revenge has a way of changing people. Condolences on your parents."
Nodding, Draco looked at the floor.
"Well, I need to go back to the front desk. We are actually expecting more magic guests tonight."
"Good to see, Brad. Oh, how's yer sister...Jemma, isn't it?"
"She tried to break some students out of the school about a week ago...she didn't make it." He looked up, a sad smile on his face.
"Oh. Terribly sorry-"
"It's okay. She died a Gryffindor's death, so she'd be happy." A moment of heavy silence passed. "Well, just through that door there is the place. G'night."
"'Night, Brad!" Hagrid nodded as the disguised young man disappeared down a passage. Then, he placed his hand on the doorknob and pushed it. Yet another tunnel lay ahead of them.
"Where are we?" Draco asked, cringing at the sudden burst of cold air and putting his hood up.
"Well, er, hard t'say, really...Roughly a couple hundred feet beneath-oh! You mean, where're we headed?"
Nodding, Draco slipped his hands into his pocket, rubbing the invisibility cloak between his fingers.
"Ah, just wait an' see! Never actually been here myself, but Dumbledore told me all about it. Seen pictures too-"
"Get to the point." He grumbled. Though, instantly, he felt guilty and added, "Er, please."
"Right. Anyway, this place was used during the first war as a safe house for muggles an' anyone else in need of protection. Figured if any place was bein' used now, it was this one, as it was never discovered."
After a minute more of walking, the tunnel began to widen. Then, suddenly, it gave way to a massive cavern.
"An' here she is! Knew we wouldn't be the only ones!" Grinning, Hagrid spread his arms out wide.
It took Draco a long minute to take it all in. The spacious cavern was filled with people; huddled around fires, sleeping on folded blankets, children skipping about, and adults, murmuring in worried tones. There was even a couple of young wizards zipping around on broomsticks, tossing what appeared to be an empty butterbeer bottle between them. At least two hundred candles were suspended in the air, illuminating every shadowy corner and the smell of beef and onions wafted through the place. Together, Draco and Hagrid climbed down the stone steps and became a part of the crowd.
"I'm going to see who all is here! Care to join-" Hagrid began, but Draco shook his head. His eyes had fallen upon a table, laden with food and drinks.
"Well, suit yer self. Try an' get some rest, if ya can. If you need anything, I dare say you'll be able to see me." He laughed.
Turning, Draco began to make his way to the table.
"An' Draco?" Hagrid called after. "Er, hold off the firewhisky, alright? Shouldn't have given you tha' in the first place, best not make a habit of it."
"Alright." He sighed. But, after Hagrid had disappeared into the crowd, Draco found the biggest bottle of firewhisky he could. And, with a heavy cloud of depression hanging over his head, he slumped into a dark corner, eager to drink himself to sleep.
A/N: Hey guys! Sooooooo sorry it took me this long to update (Yikes! Has it really been a month?). Life has not been nice to me lately. Won't bore you with the details, just know I got my wisdom teeth out, wrote a nine page research paper, got really sick, and suffered from MAJOR writers block. Yep. Real fun.
Anyway, since I totally forgot to reply to reviews last time (Oh, and I reached 100 reviews, so thank you guys SO VERY MUCH!) I thought I'd reply to some of them now...
AllHellBrokeLoose666: Thank you so much! I will definitely check out the story you were telling me about. And I would LOVE for you to translate this one! :) Thank you for always being so lovely in your reviews.
Skye: Thank you for catching that! I just went back and changed it. Auto correct can be a pain when writing Harry Potter fanfiction.
DaOneInDaCorner: Thank you! I also wanted to let you know that I haven't had a lot of time to read lately, so I have gotten behind on reviewing your story, but I intend to get caught up over Thanksgiving break. It really is an awesome fic!
serenabaileyimpington: Aaah! Thank you so much! That review was so lovely, it really made my day! :)
Also thank you to ElsaElphieGinny, RAGAnne, Iris Stardust, and notsing! You guys are simply amazing! I am so terrible at updating regularly, I really don't deserve such awesome readers.
Stay totally awesome guys! I will try my very best to update regularly now that my life seems to be calming down. Don't forget to review, follow, and favorite!