Кассандра Клэр - Draco Sinister

Narcissa banged her head on the table. Why not? There was no one around to see her. "Demon locusts," she groaned. "Give me a break."

"Demon locusts are no joke," came a dry voice from behind her.

"They can really ruin a picnic."

She spun around, her hand at her throat, and saw a familiar head and shoulders floating in the fireplace. Dark eyes regarded her narrowly.

"Severus," she said. "You scared me."

"I´m sorry." Snape inclined his head. He had always possessed a almost archaic set of courtly mannerisms, she remembered this from the time he and Lucius had been close. He wasn´t the hand-kissing type, but he would bow, and stand up for women when they entered a room. It had always struck her as at odds with his otherwise very severe demeanor. "I was looking for…"

"Sirius?"

Snape looked every so slightly shifty. "Yes."

"Well, he isn´t here. And I don´t know when he´ll be back. Can I give him a message?"

Snape hesitated for a moment, then nodded curtly. "I thought he might want to know that I translated the fire-letters on the wall of the cell where…" His voice trailed off.

"Where Lucius died? You can say it, Severus."

"Where he was murdered." Snape held up a folded piece of parchment. "Itś a demon-banishing incantation."

"You mean a demon-summoning incantation."

"No, I mean what I said. I think he must have called something up, not liked what he saw, and tried to banish it. To no avail. I believe the banishing curse is demon-specific as well, but since Sirius borrowed my demonology text, I can´t do a match."

"Ah," said Narcissa. "Well." She held out her hand for the parchment, and after a moment of hesitation, Snape relinquished it.

"I´ll give it to Sirius when he returns."

"Very well." Snape nodded curtly, and vanished.

Narcissa sat for a moment, staring at the parchment in her hand.

Then she rose to her feet, went into the drawing-room, and with a quick "Alohomora!" opened the trap door that led to the dungeons.

She had never much liked the corridors under Malfoy Manor, and they were even worse when she was alone and in the tense state she was in currently. She held her wand high, trying to spread its illumination. She took a deep breath when she reached the dungeon gate before pushing it open. It gave a rusty scream which sent shivers up her spine.

The demon was awake, as she had expected. She rather doubted that such creatures slept at all. It regarded her with whirling red eyes as she approached its cell.

Without preamble, she stopped dead in front of it and said: "Demon.

What do you want?"

Its whirling eyes widened. "What does any prisoner want? To go free."

"I can´t set you free. But I can send you back to Hell."

Its twisted little face reflected its doubt. "You would do that? Why?"

"Because I want to make a bargain with you. I´ll send you back to Hell, in exchange for a favor from you."

The demonś face stretched into an ugly rictus-like grin. "A bargain, eh? Tell me more… I´m all ears."

The trip forward in time was much like the trip back had been.

The Portkey deposited Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Benjamin on the front steps of Slytherinś castle. Hermione and Ron stumbled forward, but kept their feet; Benjamin and Ginny landed more gracefully, lightly as cats.

Once inside, the castle had a still, Sleeping-Beauty sort of feel to it, as if it were trapped outside of time. No breath of wind stirred the tapestries as they hurried after Benjamin along the narrow stone corridors, no sound of birds came through the open, glassless windows. There was no need for any wards on the adamantine prison to be taken down: the door was open.

They went into the cell and Hermione almost cried out: the walls were exactly the color blue she had seen in her vision of Harry. She barely saw the tumble of odd heavy furnishings everywhere, the shimmering tapestries. The idea that she might be standing only feet from Harry in space, although a thousand years away in time, made her desperate. She pulled Ron and Ginny towards her, linking arms with them, nearly forgetting to say goodbye to Benjamin. It was Ginny who drew him towards her and kissed him on the cheek in the thanks. He turned bright pink, and then Ginny flipped the Time-Turner over and the room, the tapestries, the glowing walls, and the blushing Heir of Gryffindor vanished into the gray mist.

It wasn´t so bad this time — cold and airless and intense, but Hermione kept tight hold of Ron and Ginny. When the world finally righted itself again, she was still on her feet, her arms linked with theirs. She opened her eyes.

The room was the same. Blue walls. The tapestries the same, dulled by age and years now. The same furniture. And there, against the far wall, sat Harry.

He looked exactly as he had in her vision: arms chained behind him, covered in blood, torn and scratched. But he was alive, and staring at them in astonishment. She flew across the room and flung herself at him, throwing her arms around him. His shirt was torn, stiff with blood, and scratched her fingers. She felt the muscles in his back contract as he struggled to move his hands forward, to get his arms around her, and his chest hitched under hers. His face was pressed against her hair. "Hermione," he said, his voice cracking with disbelief and astonishment. "Hermione…"

"Itś me," she said, holding him more tightly. She could see, over his shoulder, the bindings that held him: two clear cuffs around his wrist attached to a thick chain which was itself attached to what looked like a large adamantine staple driven into the floor. The sight panicked her. She wanted, more than anything else in the world, to be able to free him, and couldn´t imagine how it could possibly be done. Trying not to think about it, she drew back and kissed his face fiercely, striped with blood and grime though it was, and stroked his hair. "Itś me…you must have known I would find you."

"I hoped you would," he said, his voice dry and strained, muffled in her hair. "I missed you so much. I thought I heard your voice this morning, saying my name, and I thought it meant I must be dying, and hearing what I most wanted to hear before I — "

"Shh." She kissed his mouth shut. "Harry, I love you."

"I know. I love you too."

They sat locked together like that for a long moment, Hermioneś arms tight around him. Finally, she let go and sat back.

"About time you let the poor guy get some air," said Ronś voice from behind her.

Hermione looked up; so did Harry. A huge smile spread across his face as he saw Ron and Ginny. He looked as if he didn´t know whether to laugh or cry. "I cannot believe you guys are here," he said.

"Come on, you knew we´d come after you," said Ron amicably, grinning at Harry. "We´re your friends. We wouldn´t let anything happen to you. Well," he added, taking in Harryś undeniably gory state, "aside from the imprisonment and the horrible injuries, of course."

Harry shook his head. "Itś not my blood."

"Well, I´d hate to see the state of the other guy," said Ron, looking impressed. "What´d you do — peel him?" He grinned. "Was it Malfoy?"

Harryś smile vanished as if it had been wiped off his face.

Ron looked worried. "You didn´t kill Malfoy, did you? Thatś gonna be hard to explain when we get back home. You'll get detention for sure."

"Where is Draco?" asked Ginny, kneeling down on the other side of Harry and touching his shoulder lightly.

"Heś probably just in another cell, right?" said Hermione, feeling uneasiness prickle under her ribs. "Right, Harry?"

Harry sighed, and leaned his head back. "I didn´t kill Malfoy," he said, a touch bitterly.

Then he launched into the story of what had happened over the past two days, from waking up in the adamantine cell to Fleur coming to rescue them, at which point he was interrupted by both Ginny and Hermione making spluttering hissing noises. "Fleur?