Chapter 5 UNCROSSABLE DISTANCE (1)
In the shadow of Voldemort's return, Hogsmeade was no longer the pleasant place it used to be: many stores closed up, the doors and windows were sealed by sticks, and notices posted everywhere made the students even moodier, not to mention the bitter wind mingled with snow and ice. It was really not a good day for hanging out. Further, to the Slytherin who disguised himself with Disillusionment Charm and who was tailing furtively the wandering Gryffindor trio, this was without doubt the worst weekend he had ever had over the past sixteen years.
Disillusionment Charm could not make one invisible, and it only allowed you to merge unobtrusively into the background like a chameleon, so you risked the chance of being exposed if you moved fast. Draco stood beside a small wrecked cottage, wrapping his scarf and cloak tightly, but he was still numb in cold. The three of them had stayed in Honeydukes for about half an hour, and peering through the window Draco saw Potter conversing with Slughorn for at least twenty minutes. The bald elder Professor seemed to be trying to talk Potter into buying a box of Cockroach Clusters and Potter made it to a refusal after a long struggle. After the Professor left Honeydukes, they seemed quite relieved and headed for the Three Broomsticks.
Draco was again trailing them in a distance. After he found a sheltered corner opposite to the pub to hide, his mind began to wander. He truly could not believe he was reduced to a watchdog of the Gryffindors! He ran his fingers in his messy hair and shivered. The bitter wind was like knives on his face. The weather was getting worse and snow was heavier. His cloak was damp and freezing as if he was tucked in ice.
"Awful weather." Draco swore and took out his wand to dry his robe. At the ringing bell from the opposite street, he turned and saw the three Gryffindor walk out the Three Broomsticks. Not far ahead of them was another two Gryffindor girls, among whom one was the Gryffindor Chaser Katie Bell and the other might be her friend, and they were arguing over something vehemently.
"It's nothing to do with you, Leanne!" Bell exclaimed hysterically and gave the other girl a heavy thrust. She was holding a package wrapped up in royal blue velvet. Draco prayed that Potter would not pry, because his disguise would be easily blown up when running. Unfortunately, seeing the two girl's condition, Potter immediately ran up for them, as if there was a Golden Snitch for him to catch.
Annoyed Draco grabbed his wand and decided to follow them when the air before him suddenly twisted and in a small Beep Bellatrix Lestrange apparated in front of him, bending her face close to his.
"Haha, look what I've got here! Dear Draco, why don't you follow what your mother has said and stay in your warm bed?" Bellatrix bared her teeth and pointed at Draco's chin with her wand, crazy glint in her eyes, "or you are up to something forbidden, like betraying the Dark Lord?"
Staring into her dark eyes, Draco found without pretense he was trembling in fear and fury. "Mind your words, aunt Bella. A Malfoy betraying the Dark Lord? All the world knows where we stand!"
"Is that so? Then why are you so anxious and afraid-you haven't answer to my question why you don't listen to your mother's words, my dear?"
"Mother was meddlesome when she entrusted you! It was me that the Dark Lord assigned the task to and I will accomplish it myself!"
Bellatrix giggled madly, hoarse laughter mingling with the sound of wind blowing through the street, like the growl of some beast. "You are afraid that I will steal your credit? Haha, naïve. However, I appreciate your resolve to serve the Dark Lord. Don't follow your cowardly father." She repressed Draco's defiance, "to be honest, your mother's idea can't be worse, yet I cannot refusal the request of a heartrending and blind mother, can I?
"Don't you dare talk about my mother like that-"
"Well, well, nephew. I bet her trick won't work, so there's no need to worry about your credit. Just a little chaos, a death or two-some compensation for my trip." Bellatrix released him, stepped back, and grinned triumphantly. "I've added something to your mother's, so everything will be more-", she mouthed a 'bang', "-fantastic." At this, she disapparated.
Draco turned, and forgetting the Disillusionment Charm ran along the way where the Gryffindors had disappeared. The five pairs of footprints were half covered by snow and half disrupted by others', and shortly found himself in an isolated street. There was no one around, ahead was frozen ground and the footprints vanished. Scanning around anxiously, he prayed that what was fantastic told by Bellatrix had not occurred when he heard a piercing shriek of pain-a girl's voice. Draco's heart stopped a beat.
Knees weak, he stumbled forward following the continuing scream, and then turned to see Katie Bell floating above the ground, arms outstretched, face twisting in anguish and fear, and her black hair whipped around her like seaweed, as if she was under the torture of one hundred Crucios. The trio and Bell's friend were trying to tug her back to the ground.
That shriek was not Hermione's. She's felt a little relieved, but then he got a glimpse of an ornate opal necklace with an eerie green glint in the snow.
"Run!"
Draco yelled and pulled out his wand, yet it was too late. The time his voice was let out, the opal necklace suddenly jumped up in the air, belching black smoke which blanketed the five people.
"Malum Dispello!" Anxious and afraid, he waved his wand and a golden bolt of light shot from his wand. However, in the hurry the spell was too weak to take effect and the dark cloud only writhed. Gritting his teeth, Draco dash into the smoke where Hermione was standing. In the darkness he reached a hand, cold, soft and slightly trembling, which he recognized in no time. Clutching her hand, he tugged her behind him and at the same time casted two Protegos to shield various dark curses spilling out from the opal necklace.
"What happened?" Leaning against him, her sweating hand gripping his, Hermione cried, "Harry? Ron?"
Draco bit his lips. He was not letting she know he was neither of her friends at the moment. He did not know what Bellatirx had done to that necklace, or whether it was immanently a powerful dark magical artifact. Red light flashed in the dark smoke. All of a sudden, he thought of the bang she mouthed before her leave and exclaimed, "Run! It's exploding!"
As if confirming him, the thick black smoke turned red hot in the next second. Draco grabbed her hand and rushed out only about five or six meters before the scorching heat hit him.
"BANG!" Violent explosion generated a fire two stories high. Out of instinct Draco held her tightly in his arms in protection, feeling him hurled forwards by the blast of the explosion. Then he hit hard against a stone wall. At a crack from his left arm, a sharp pain overwhelmed him. Fantastic indeed. Hissing slightly in pain, tears nearly running down, Draco leaned against the stone wall stiffly, not daring to move. Bellatrix's madness did not fail him. Were the necklace thrown into the crowds, much more than a death or two would have been caused.
The whole Hogsmeade was startled by the loud explosion and people quickly headed for the spot. Through the smoke Draco saw Potter and Weasley struggled to rise, each dragging an unconscious girl. They all seemed well despite some burns. It was a pity that his own left arm was broken. He could not truly believe there would be a day when he risked his life to save a batch of Gryffindors.
The girl in his arms was still in shock. Draco could even hear Hermione's heartbeats despite the heavy clothes, as if they were tapping on his ribs. She pressed her face against his chest and her hands were clutching his robe. They stayed so close that he could smell her light perfume of green grass and books, and sense her hair touching lightly his chin. It was with all his will that he refrained himself from hugging the girl. He held his breath, trying as possible to preserve the transient warmness. He really was incorrigible.
When Hermione raise her head from the cold and elegant aroma-filled embrace, what she saw was the pale and delicate face of Draco Malfoy, who was gazing steadily at her with a pair of ice grey eyes as clear as gemstones. With astonishment she thrusted at the chest before her and jumped away. Draco suppressed a cry and and held his left arm. If it were not for the fact that he could not speak at the moment, he would undoubtedly give the ungrateful woman a lesson.
"Hermione! Are you okay?" Having checked Katie Bell and her friend, the two boys hurried towards their own friend. Just as they were relieved to see Hermione standing there safe and untouched, they spotted the unwanted man by the wall.
"Malfoy, what are you doing here?"
"It seems that someone can't resist the urge to make a hit even for one second. Only one hour in Hogsmeade, and you have already put on such a show, and I'm merely the ignorant passerby affected by your deed."
Potter's initial hesitant expression turned annoyed. "We were attacked by dark magic! It must have been because of your Death Eater fellow-or maybe just you!"
Author Notes:
Malum Dispello is a spell I believe invented by the original fiction author. In the original text it is a phrase meaning dispersing evil with light, and I am not sure how to translate it properly. I have used google translation and decided on Malum Impetro in Latin, meaning dispelling evil. If you have any good idea about it, please inform me.