And again, more sincere thanks for the reviews, the notes, the fav's and alerts. I feel so loved. (Even if I still can't read my hits- but you guys make it so worthwhile). You are the best group out there!
Enjoy the DADA class.
Merick
Chapter Twelve
Wands sprang to light and pairs began moving out into the stacks, eyes darting everywhere, keeping alert for any possible danger. I headed to the center of the room, following Draco who seemed to have a bead on something.
"They've made it much easier by transfiguring everything." He whispered to me. "It's much easier to find something that hasn't been altered recently." Again he was right.
"I have your back then Draco. Start your hunt."
The spell he used was two-fold, one to reveal the truth of the objects he scanned, and the second to find bronze. I cast a shield charm around us both; it would slow down anything we might run into accidentally.
From behind us we heard the first minor explosions to indicate that someone had tripped a booby trap. There were muttered profanities, but they indicated to me that no one was seriously hurt, just annoyed. A shriek and a shower of sparks meant another trap had been set off. I doubled my vigilance, and just in time. Something leapt at us from the top of the shelf to our left. Without thinking I stunned it and it fell to the ground at my feet. A pixie. I nudged it aside with my shoe so no one would step on it. We rounded another corner, meeting the wall of the Great Hall, I assumed. I put my hand out to touch it, which was a mistake because a white fog began to roll from it, partially obscuring my view and making my eyes burn. Apparently it wasn't the real wall. 'Deprimo' created a stiff breeze from the end of my wand and dispersed it and my eyes began to feel better.
"There's something up here." Draco's voice rolled around his robes, as he didn't look back at me. A figure darted in front of us, Voldemort. But of course it couldn't have been, not that it didn't startle us both for a millisecond. I had been right about the boggart, we both turned our wands at it, shouting 'riddikulus'. Voldemort ended up in my cousin Dudley's wrestling singlet; which I had always thought was the funniest looking piece of clothing ever invented. Draco's contribution was neon striped thigh high stockings, in a fabulous mixture of green and pink. It was terribly elegant, and not at all frightening any longer, we both laughed at it. The thing flicked off to startle someone else.
Sounds of spells being cast were growing more frequent, which meant that we were finding and disarming more and more traps. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, in fact I don't think we'd ever discussed how long we would have to complete this task before Minerva pulled the plug on the whole thing. There was a loud crash behind us and we heard a shelf toppling not too far off. Things seemed to be getting more serious. Draco, still ahead of me, stopped.
"Harry? Don't move." I had been ready to rush to his side. "I've just tripped something." He was standing stock-still. Immediately I cast the 'Specialis Revelio' and revealed tendrils rising from the floor, curling around his feet.
"Damned Devil's Snare!" I cursed as it took hold of Draco. "Confringio!" I pointed my wand at it, causing the tendrils I could see to burst into flame. Devil's Snare did not like fire, and I hoped Draco could jump free before his robes caught as well.
He pulled back towards me, falling against me in his haste to escape. In a heap on the floor we sat, and caught our breath for a few moments, trying to sort out where to go next.
"We must be getting closer Harry." I agreed with his assessment. In my peripheral vision I could see sparkling, I didn't know what it meant, but it didn't give me an easy feeling. We stood up, straightened our robes, checked our wands and surveyed the area quickly for more nasty plants before moving.
"Come on, I think we're running out of time." Draco grabbed my robe and we took off. The fireworks and loud voices were growing even more pronounced around us. We rounded one corner, then another, all the while me seeing the sparkles.
"Duck!" I pulled him to the ground as a bolt of fire shot out from a small gargoyle statue sitting eye level on one of the shelves.
"This has to be it." The end of Draco's wand projected a golden light over the shelf and one object stood out, a solid black rectangle, which reflected no light.
"You're better at transfiguration than me Harry. Solid to liquid, please."
I pointed my wand and uttered the spell, I saw the blackness begin to melt away but the sparkles surrounded my head, preventing me from seeing anything else. I tried to swat at them but each time my hand met a cluster I felt the sting of their sharp edges, it was like being caught in a fog of glass. I couldn't see well enough to direct another transfiguration spell to turn them to liquid as well, and I couldn't cast blind. I sank to the floor hoping to evade them. Immediately I felt a hand around my arm.
"Open your eyes."
The sparkles were gone. I looked at Draco. "I didn't hear your spell."
"No you didn't." He grinned, bloody hell, the boy could cast wordless spells. He pointed up to the block, or where the block had rested. In its place, surrounded by a viscous puddle was a leather wrapped bundle, glowing with a bronze sheen.
"Take it." He told me. I shook my head.
"It's yours Draco, your spells found it." Even if I hadn't heard what those spells were.
He reached for it, unwrapped it, and instantly the Great Hall was a swirling maelstrom of objects retransfiguring themselves into our familiar environment. It was over. Draco stood, with the revealed dagger in his hands, and a round of applause broke out amongst all the students, even some of the Gryffindors, and most notably, Ron. I decided I could be a little less angry with him.
Minerva's voice rose over us all, it seems they had all been on the dais where the Professors normally sat for meals, watching us.
"Congratulations students! And special congratulations to Mr. Malfoy for finding the prize. An excellent event to be sure Mr. Weasley." Ron beamed with pride. "I heard the use of many innovative spells and charms, and I must compliment the makers of the environment." I bristled a bit at that, "To have achieved such a Transfiguration in so short a time demonstrates great skills."
I was still looking a bit sideways at Draco, I had had no idea he could cast spells wordlessly. For those of you who don't know, this is an incredible skill. So much of proper spell casting involves verbal inflection, or spells can go terribly wrong, or not work at all. For the first time, Draco's smile stayed plastered to his face for longer than a few moments. Winning that prize was a turning point for him it seemed, in recapturing part of his heretofore-lost spirit. It was good to see, at least for me.
Our team gathered around Draco and I, and it was hard not to notice a few singed spots and torn robes. Pansy appeared to have a green tinge to her skin, but I didn't want to mention it for fear it would embarrass her. Her sister would likely point it out, and it would be easier to hear it from her. But, even with the surface scars we all seemed to be intact, and everyone seemed to be treating Draco's prize as a general victory. After a few minutes of discussion of what had transpired, many of the students started making their way back to their dorms to clean up and see what spells they could use to repair torn garments and ruined shoes. It would be a simple task in comparison to what we had just faced, and a general sense of camaraderie followed the groups out into the halls. Ron and Hermione had hung back, speaking with Minerva for a few minutes, and Professor Sinistra had taken the opportunity to come over to speak with Draco and I when we were left alone.
"I wanted to add my congratulations to you both. I was excellent to see you working together as you did."
"Thank you Professor." We both mumbled, feeling a little overwhelmed, and humble. Okay, I couldn't really speak for Draco, but I sensed he was feeling the same way as I was.
"I would be happy to help you both set up for the match on Friday if you need any assistance." I wasn't sure that would be fair, but I thanked her politely. Again she had an afterthought, which she verbalized after taking a few steps away from us.
"Come and see me tomorrow in the tower Harry, I think I have a prize you can use for the others to search for." And then she was gone again, not waiting for an answer. I was beginning to see a pattern in her dealings with me.
"I want to go and speak to Ron and Hermione for a moment Harry. Would you come with me?"
"Of course."
Hermione still had an upset look on her face as we came over. To give her credit she hadn't left like Ginny had after the game had ended. Ron had a big smile; he was totally pleased with the outcome, if not totally oblivious to what his sister had done. Draco stuck out his hand to Ron.
"That was an excellent game Ron, very challenging."
Ron shook his hand, I was pleased about that, and the anger that remained in my mind towards Ron melted away. It was easy to forgive him; knowing him as well as I did, and knowing how genuine he was.
"But you still managed to beat it Draco."
"Luck, and the fact that we were at Hogwarts, and I'm sure that Professor McGonagall limited the type of spells you could use. I know you have many more deadly ones in your arsenal." Draco's words were polite, and encouraging, and respectful. Certainly not a chorus of 'Weasley is our King'.
"Well, thank you Draco." Ron looked at me oddly as Draco next went to Hermione.
"I'm sure that your skills also played a large part in creating this challenge." I froze for a moment, afraid that he was going to call her out on the design of the playing field. The look in her eyes told me that she thought the same, and she was steeling herself to apologize to him.
"Are you still planning on taking a position at the Ministry? In the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?"
She nodded, unsure of where the line of questioning was going, as was I.
"Then I hope you will not mind if I make a gift of this to you." He held out the dagger, with just a small smile on his face. "I think it may be of use to you." He put it in her hands.
"Draco?" Her voice was hesitant.
"Please take it Hermione." He stepped back, nodded to me, and walked away alone.
Ron and I crowded around Hermione who was watching Draco's egress with wide-eyed shock.
"Wow." Was all Ron could utter. I didn't have anything better just at that moment.
"Why would he do that?" She asked us both, eyes darting back and forth between us.
It dawned on me. "It was an apology Hermione." She shook her head. "For the manor."
"But," she stopped, "I didn't," She couldn't get out any more words.
We three of us stood in silence for a few moments. I don't know exactly what the others were thinking, but for myself I was seeing greater and greater layers of Draco Malfoy than I had ever seen, and I liked them. Ron broke the quiet finally.
"Do you think Kreacher could bring us up some more snacks Harry?"
Always practical that Ron, and almost always thinking about his stomach; I suppose that came along with a family of seven kids. I laughed at him. He took Hermione's hand, like the king and queen of the night that they were, and we headed back to the Gryffindor tower to see about some snacks.