Chapter 4: Plans

That was how it began. Luna and his grand plans for escape.

They had no parchment or ink to plan with, but they did have the rusty nail to scratch at the walls with, and their memories.

Their plan was simple, but unlikely. It was also their only chance, so they worked on it every day, talking in whispers or silence. They just needed a wand.

They planned this all in two weeks, going on nothing more than skill, chance, and the possibility of disaster. They finished planning on the twenty-second day, but they did not have their chance until the forty-ninth.

The door scraped against the stone, and a voice called through,

"Stand against the wall! Put your hands where I can see them!" this was their usual orders. However, the voice of Wormtail brought no fear for them. Draco motioned to Luna in the darkness, and they stood on either side of the door, blending into the dark, hardly daring to breath.

The door cracked open, and a golden strip of light fell into the shadows. Perhaps Wormtail blamed it on the poor lightening to their apparent absence. He stepped forward into the room, his eyes slightly out of focus, not used to the cruel darkness. A tray of food and a water jug was balanced in one hand, while his wand was trained on the room ahead of him.

Draco nodded to Luna, but his movement must have been noticed by Wormtail for he opened his mouth wide, the tray clattering to the ground. Luna grabbed his wand hand and wrestled the wand from it. Draco tackled him to the ground, listening furiously for any noises coming from the upstairs. Hearing none, he looked at Luna trying to communicate without words to put him under the Imperious Curse. To his relief, she seemed to understand, pointing the wand at Wormtail's terrified face, whispering, "Imperio."

Wormtail immediately stopped struggling, his face utterly expressionless. She flicked her wand, and he stood, and resumed talking.

"It's more than you deserve, filthy traitors. If I had it my way, you wouldn't be brought food at all."

He spat on the ground.

"Germinio." Luna whispered, and an identical, but useless wand was thrust into Dawlish's hand.

"Obliviate." She said. She rearranged the food on the tray, shoved it into his hands, and handed the wand to Draco, who tucked it into his waistband. The Imperious Curse broken a second later, and Wormtail stood there, with no recollection of what had just happened, as he wordlessly placed the tray on the stone floor, and closed the door. A click of the key in the lock could be heard, and Luna and Draco silently celebrated their victory.

"We did it!" Draco whispered as he embraced Luna. She beamed at him as he pulled the stolen wand out and examined it. It was short and made of a rough, light brown wood, possibly elm. He passed it to Luna.

"So," he said, smiling.

"What do you think you'll be? They say you can't pick when you become an Animagus."