Malfoy was right: the stairs, along with the elegant cast iron railing, had disappeared. Along with the way out.
Tonks forced her gaze upwards. This wasn't a small space and, just at the moment, it was getting steadily larger. A little above head height, above the regular courses of shaped granite, ran a decorative bas-relief. Snakes, naturally, she noted. Above that, the walls were composed of irregular stone and mortar and new stones were popping into it and swelling like bubbles; in consequence of which, as Malfoy had noted, the floor was going down. Potter splashed away for a closer look at the snake frieze.
'You don't suppose it's going to try and drown us?' suggested Granger, head down, watching as the toes of one foot made a series of ripples in the shallow water.
'Nothing so unimaginative,' said Malfoy.
'Look, I'm sorry,' spat Granger, and sneezed and shivered. 'I didn't know.'
If Granger stays wet through like that, she'll catch cold, thought Tonks. Assuming that is, that she stays alive long enough. Malfoy, given who his parents were, had a fair chance of getting out whatever she did and Snape was Snape. Weasley and Potter had some degree of competence.
Granger, while an unspeakable, would be the most vulnerable. Brilliant, but academic. There was, however, no chance at all that Weasley and Potter would abandon Granger and, in some ways, that simplified things.
'We're not blaming you,' said Malfoy, gently, and then spoilt it by adding: 'I'm blaming the Weasel.'
'Would someone care to explain why, exactly, we're in the Black Mausoleum?' said Snape.
'We thought you were dead,' said Malfoy. 'New Ministry Regulations call for burning. Don't want Death Eaters buried in with decent people. Actually that bitch Umbridge tried to sell you for potions ingredients. So Nott gave me a call and we . . . Malfoy trailed off, a distinct pinkish tinge to his face, even in the torchlight. 'I thought you'd be safe here,' he rallied. 'She's been arrested.'
'And why was I in the Ministry at all?'
'The Dementors were after something,' Tonks explained. 'I couldn't just leave you there.'
'Really? The Dementors were after something?' Snape closed his eyes wearily. 'And it didn't occur to you that they might have been after you?'
'No, actually.'
Although inwardly squirming, Tonks hadn't become an Auror without learning to brazen things out.
Snape turned. 'Potter, are you deflating?'
It did sound a bit like that Tonks had to admit. She'd heard the Boy-Who-Lived make that hissing before but the acoustics were definitely doing something to the sound.
'Potter,' Tonks began. Potter held up one hand and it was hard to tell but she thought the apprentice might have shushed her too. Well, there probably wasn't anything to be gained in tearing a strip off him at this point. She didn't speak Parceltongue. Her priority had to be getting as many as possible of them out of there alive.
Or trying to. Weasley drew his wand and Malfoy grabbed him. 'Unconsciousness was just a warning,' he hissed.
Niches were forming and deepening along one wall, becoming doorways. 'Six,' murmured Granger. 'Not five or seven but six. And there are six of us.'
'Divide et impera,' said Snape.
'Divide and rule,' translated Weasley. 'What happens if we just refuse to go through them?'
The light was dimming in an unpromising fashion. Tonks looked up to discover that the torches were slowly changing into something far less friendly; narrowing, elongating and twisting downwards to pour out jets of flame.
'Is there any way we can make it back off?' suggested Weasley.
'No active spells, Weaslet. Do not use the wand.' Malfoy reconsidered and let go. 'You're right though. We don't have to be able to win. We only need to be able to cause enough damage to make attacking us not worth while. What have you got in your pockets?'
'Nothing,' grouched Weasley.
'Nothing from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?'
'No.'
Malfoy gestured towards Potter, still deep in conversation with the decor. 'What about him?'
'We're both on a warning. Right?'
'Aurors,' snarked Malfoy. 'What about you Professor. I mean, Longbottom could blow things up without even trying.'
'Longbottom could cause devastation with no more than a bar of soap and a wet tea bag,' said Snape. 'But then I believe that he was subject to great deal of frustration. Demolition was likely to have been a form of release.'
'He should have got himself a girlfriend,' muttered Malfoy.
'Longbottom,' continued Snape, 'may also be a warped sort of potions prodigy. The frequency with which he added precisely the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time was quite impressive; particularly in that it usually happened after he got mail.'
The hissing had stopped. Potter looked surprised, although whether as a result of Snape's revelation or something the snakes had said was unclear. There was a rumble, a sudden brightness and Tonks morphed and extended her wings an instant before the modified torches belched a wall of fire. As soon as the flames subsided, she twisted her head back to see what had happened to Potter.
Potter had apparently not been attacked. He opened and shut his mouth and Tonks lowered her stinging wings. Seeing the others unharmed, Potter began hissing rather more urgently. Tonks turned her attention to her own scorched hide: shielding wasn't going to be effective as a long term strategy.
'It's me,' said Granger. 'I used the wand. I'm the mudblood. If I go through one of the doors, maybe they'll let you go.'
'No.' Weasley wrapped both arms tightly around her.
'No,' echoed Malfoy. His smile wavered only slightly. 'Actually, you're the one who's most likely to get out of here alive.' Granger looked puzzled. 'That earlier outburst about contraceptive charms? A witch carrying a child is . . .'
'Hermione?' Weasley's voice was falsetto. Granger nodded and then leant her face onto his shoulder. Weasley smiled dazedly.
'Which still leaves us trying to get out of here,' said Snape.
Beyond six narrow doorways, darkness beckoned. Bugger that, thought Tonks, launching herself into the air and spiralling upwards. Twice, she circled the hanging, leaden mass of coffins. If the presence of a big stroppy dragon hadn't persuaded the mausoleum to let go, she'd have to try something different. They were big, thick, strong chains that were holding the coffins suspended but she thought she could get between them.
She decided to try for a landing.
