Кассандра Клэр - Draco Veritas

Ginny heard Draco's sharp inhalation of breath. He was staring at Lucius as if he'd just been punched in the stomach, blank-eyed and struggling for equilibrium. She heard Harry whisper, "Steady on, Malfoy, steady on -

"

Lucius looked at his son, his smile thin as a razor cut. "Why, Draco," he said. "I 'm surprised to see you. I'd have thought you'd be dead by now."

He cast a critical eye over his son. "I'd say you're looking well, but we all know that's hardly true, don't we?"

Draco gripped the hilt of his sword, his knuckles whitening. "Father," he said. "You can't imagine I'd miss the opportunity to share my dying words with you."

Lucius raised his eyebrows. "I can't wait to hear them," he said.

Draco raised his arm. "Here's a preview," he said. Ginny heard something whip past her head and turning, realized that Draco had flung his sword at his father. The blade missed Lucius by inches and thumped point-first into the wall beside his head, where it stuck, quivering gently.

Lucius didn't blink. He glanced at the sword indifferently, and then at his son. "Haven't I always told you that swords are poor throwing weapons?"

he said in a gently chiding voice. "I prefer a sharpened dagger myself."

Draco's face shut like a fan. "Come now, Father," he said flatly. "Not even a little afraid of me?"

"Not at all," said Lucius, and let his eyes drift to the corpses strewn about the hall. "If you'd wanted that sword to strike me, it would have."

Draco's face twisted. Harry stirred and stroked his arm lightly, but Draco seemed hardly to notice; he was staring at his father.

"You've killed all of the Dark Lord's guards," Lucius said to Harry. "That wasn't very nice."

"You seem to have a few more," Harry said, looking past him.

"Ten out of three hundred," Lucius said. "Rather a sad outcome."

Draco stared at Harry. "You killed two hundred and ninety guards?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"How?"

"Force of personality," Harry said dryly.

Draco looked Harry up and down, as if expecting to find that he had grown an extra pair of arms. His gaze lit on Harry's wrist. "Your runic band — "

"Yes," Harry said quickly. "Quite. Anyway," he said to Lucius, "I'd say I'm sorry I killed your guards, but we all know that's hardly true, don't we?"

For a moment, Ginny saw anger flash in the back of Lucius's eyes. Then he smiled, bringing his hands together, the fingertips touching lightly.

"Well," he said, "we did kill your girlfriend, so I suppose this makes us even, young Potter. I know you like things to be fair."

Harry stared for a moment, as if the words made no sense. "What?" he said. "But — Hermione's my girlfriend."

"Yes," Lucius said. "And we killed her. Not very swift, are you? But then I suppose you don't have to be; you've got Draco for that."

Slowly Harry lowered his hand, the bloody-hilted sword still grasped in it.

"It's not true," he said. He was very white. "It can't be."

It was Draco's turn to seize Harry's arm. "Potter," he said, and then leaned in and spoke very softly, saying something Ginny couldn't hear. Harry didn't look at him; he was staring straight ahead.

"She's too smart for you," Harry said to Lucius. "She'd never let you hurt her."

Ginny bit her lip hard. Tell no one I'm alive — not even Draco or Harry, Hermione had said. But the look on Harry's face — it was almost too much for her to bear. Surely Hermione wouldn't want Harry to be in this much pain.

"Rhysenn," Lucius said silkily. "The Epicyclical Charms, please."

Silently, Rhysenn came to his side and placed something in his palm.

When he raised his hand, the fingers spread wide, Ginny saw the two Charms on their gold chains, dangling from his grip — the one that she had helped make in Harry and Draco's room, and the one that Hermione had brought back from Malfoy Manor after that first adventure, and had afterward worn around her neck. "Rhysenn took the Charm from her dead body," he said. "Didn't you, dearest?"

"I took it from her," Rhysenn said, her voice nearly inaudible. "After I kissed her."

"Ah, the kiss of death — your specialty," said Lucius. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he flung the Charms at Harry's feet. "Take them," he said.

"They'll be little use to you."

They clattered to the ground at Harry's feet. Draco winced involuntarily, but Harry seemed hardly to notice. It was Ginny who bent down and scooped them up, sliding them into the silk pocket of her robes.

If the look on Harry's face was unbearable, Draco's was worse; he looked torn open. She wasn't sure if it was his own pain or Harry's that had shattered him so. She didn't move towards him; someone who looked like that could not be comforted.

"No!" Harry cried, and raising his sword, ran at Lucius, Draco's outstretched hand reached to hold him back just a second too late. Lucius drew his wand, mouthing the words of the Cruciatus curse -

And Harry seemed to trip — but there was nothing for him to trip over; it was more as if he had struck something, something Ginny could not see.

He gasped, dropping his sword, and fell backwards, rolling to the side, as the green light of the Curse sailed harmlessly over his head. He rolled over and over, tangled in something — Ginny could see the flash of a white arm, and a tangle of brown curls, and then the Invisibility Cloak fell away, and it was Hermione, lying with her arms and legs tangled around him and her face streaked with tears.

"I couldn't," she sobbed, staring at Harry, who was lying on top of her, looking astonished. "I couldn't — you weren't meant to know — but it was too cruel, I couldn't do it. Oh, Harry — "

Harry said nothing, but, incredibly, smiled and tightened his arms around her. They clung together, her shoulders shaking and his face turned in to her hair.

Wrenched, Ginny turned away. And there was Draco, staring at Harry and Hermione, a strange look on his face. He was smiling, but his eyes were barren. She could see her own pain in the gray mirrors of them. She reached to touch him — he stiffened, going rigid, but not because of her.

Voldemort had arrived.

He strode up behind Lucius, Tom at his side. Ginny was struck again by his hideousness. Blood red and papery white he was, with thin black lips and nails like claws. How could this monster ever have been her beautiful Tom?

Voldemort halted, his lips curling back from his teeth. "Tom," he said, looking at Ginny, "your whore's got free somehow."

Tom said nothing, but his blue eyes met hers and burned like flames. She felt her skin crawl. He would make her pay later, she knew, if he could.

"Don't call her that," Draco said.

Voldemort glanced at Lucius. "Isn't that your son?"

Lucius nodded.

"And isn't he supposed to be dead?"

"Draco never does do anything on time," Lucius said. "It's why he's never first in his class." He sounded genuinely regretful.

"And there's Potter," Voldemort mused, glancing at Harry. He and Hermione were sitting up, still clenched tightly together. Hermione was murmering into Harry's ear, his hands tight between hers. He was nodding intently. "And his girlfriend the Mudblood," Voldemort added, and his toneless voice sounded very nearly surprised.

"I thought they broke up," muttered Wormtail.

"Isn't she supposed to be dead as well?" Voldemort demanded.

"Yes," Lucius said. He looked profoundly annoyed. "Rhysenn!" he barked.

She crept to his side like a beaten dog. "Yes, Master?"

"You lied to me," he hissed.

"You know I cannot lie to you, Master."

"You told me you killed that girl," he said, pointing to Hermione.

"I told you I kissed her," Rhysenn whispered. She was trembling. "That usually kills them, but…"

"Be silent." Lucius's hand whipped out, striking her to the floor. She fell at his feet, her black hair showering down around her, and lay motionless.