Кассандра Клэр - Draco Sinister

Still, it seems impractical." She leaned against the door jamb, inhaling with great effect. "Does your vampire friend talk? Because I have to ask you both the Questions."

"The Questions?" Sirius echoed, snapping to life.

"There are three. The first would be 'What manner of Dark creature are you?´ but I guess you´ve already answered that. Then thereś

'Have you come here to be cleansed?´"

"Cleansed?" echoed Lupin, briefly thrown off.

"Your souls must be cleansed," said Raven severely.

"Sure they must," said Sirius. "I´ve been thinking lately that I need a good soul-cleansing. I've been having impure thoughts like you wouldn't believe. Really lurid stuff. There was this one dream I had, where I was dancing with a bunch of house-elves in luminous tights

— "

"Your souls must be cleansed of humanity," corrected Raven, staring at Sirius as if he´d come from another planet.

Lupin stepped in front of him. "Vampire humor," he said hastily.

"He had some bad blood in the Netherlands. Heś been a little off since then."

She raised her eyebrows high. "And are you willing to accept the Snake Lord as your master and acknowledge the superiority of pure wizarding blood?"

Lupin clamped a hand firmly on Sirius´ wrist. "We are," he announced.

Without saying anything, she leaned back against the open door, creating enough space of them to pass, although not quite enough space for them to pass without brushing against her. Once they were inside, she shut the door behind them and picked up a small lantern which glowed with an intense blue light. "Follow me," she said, and started off down the hall.

"What is she?" Sirius whispered to Lupin as they followed the rather mesmerizing sway of Ravenś hips down the hallway. "A veela?

No…sheś too dark."

"I´d guess sheś a banshee," Lupin whispered back. "And have I mentioned that when there are pretty girls around, you suck at undercover? Now shut up."

Raven slowed down a little as they turned a corner, allowing them to catch up to her. Lupin glanced around with great interest. So this was the stronghold of Salazar Slytherin, one of the greatest Dark wizards who had ever lived, who had inspired so many imitators, like Grindelwald, Voldemort and Steve The Third, who wasn´t as successful at evil as the others, but had written some very famous self-help books. The walls were ancient stone that bore the marks of the tools used to hollow out a passageway, the ceilings beamed in dark and heavy wood. Everywhere there were serpents — not live snakes, but a clear reptilian motif: carved snakes writhed up and down the architraves, were mosaiced into the floor, adorned the gleaming bronze torch brackets. It was actually quite warm inside the castle — fires were lit in almost every room, flaring and fading as they passed, some of them large as bonfires. Warm enough for cold-blooded creatures, Lupin thought.

They turned another corner. Raven was looking at Sirius again.

"We´ll have to keep you away from the veelas," she said, cheerfully.

"They´ll just eat you up. Not literally, of course. Well, not most of them."

Sirius looked alarmed. "Why me particularly?"

Raven poked him gently with her index finger. "Come on. Have you looked in a mirror lately? Oh. Well, no, I guess you wouldn´t have, being a vampire and all. But they do like good-looking dark-haired men."

Sirius grinned. "I´ll have you know my friend Remus here has been quite a hit with the veelas back where we come from."

Raven looked disapproving. "Veela-werewolf relationships never work out," she said to Sirius in a stage whisper. "Although they do have the cutest little wereveela babies. Oh look, we´re here."

She paused in front of a large ivory door — or at least, Lupin would have thought it was ivory if any creature alive was large enough to yield such unbroken sheets of whiteness. He blinked, and the door swung partly open under Ravenś touch. She glanced at him. "You go here, for the Testing."

"But-" he turned to look at Sirius.

Raven looked annoyed. "What is it with you two? Can´t you be separated for a minute?" she snapped. "We are segregated here -

werewolves separated from veelas, banshees separated from trolls.

Unless you really want to bunk with the dementors?"

Lupin glanced towards the half-open door. "That room is full of werewolves?" he demanded, wondering if this meant, by extension, that Sirius would soon have to cope with a room full of vampires.

"You say that like itś a bad thing," said Raven, and prodded him inside. He barely had a chance to glance at Sirius before the door shut between them, cutting his friend off from view.

Draco sat down very hard in the chair by the fire and clutched at his head. The faint blurring of his vision and the pleasant sensation of drifting were gone, replaced by a pain that felt as if a small mountain troll had taken up residence in his head and had just decided to add on a second story and perhaps a nice bay window.

"Owww," he said, gingerly touching his face and looking at Ginny accusingly. "Why´d you do that?"

"You were drunk," she said severely, putting her wand away in her pocket. Anger was rising off her in shimmering waves like the heat from a mirage; her small, freckled face was glowing pink and her round lower lip was trembling.

"I must have been," he said shortly, thinking that he had to have been quite drunk to forget that Fleur was still asleep in the bed.

Ginnyś face crumpled. Draco looked at her in surprise for a moment, before realizing how what he said must have sounded. He bolted to his feet, forgetting the pain in his head. "Ginny-"

"Shut up." She jerked away from his reaching hand, her eyes suspiciously bright. "Don´t touch me."

Draco threw up his hands in exasperation. "Look-"

But at that moment Fleur created a disturbance by suddenly, without so much as a sound, falling off the bed in a dead faint.

Draco darted forward just in time to keep her head from hitting the stone floor. He caught her up in his arms, deposited her back on the mattress, and bent over her, his heart hammering unpleasantly.

"Fleur?"

Her head rolled back on his arm, her eyes still closed, their lids bluish.

"Fleur!" He touched the back of his hand to her forehead, found it cold and clammy. At least she was still breathing, her chest falling in a rapid, shallow motions.

A second later Ginny was at his side, pushing him away. She bent over Fleur with her wand, whispering something Draco couldn´t hear. There was a bright flash of light, and Fleur jumped, her eyes flying open. Ginny stood up and backed away as Fleurś eyes filled with tears.

"What 'as happened?" she demanded, struggling to sit up.

Somewhat reluctantly, Draco leaned forward to help her into a sitting position. He could feel Ginnyś gaze on them both. "You fainted," he said.

She reached out and clutched at him. I´m dying.

Draco jerked back. What are you doing? He can hear us.

Draco. No. He can´t. He doesn´t have his full powers yet — won´t have them until the Orb is opened. He cannot hear you talking to me, or to Harry. I know you don´t want to believe me, but please, if you have any trust left in you at all — please believe this.

He believed her. For the first time since he had realized her betrayal of them, he believed her, not lastly because he knew that nobody could lie while they spoke this way. He was aware of Ginny looking daggers at them both, and knew it must look like he and Fleur were gazing silently into each otherś eyes. Couldn´t be helped, though.

I can help you, said Fleur. Please let me. I want to. I know things. I can tell you -

She broke off, and, as she looked over Dracoś shoulder, her eyes widened. He whipped around to see what she was staring at, and saw that the door to the bedchamber was open, and one of Slytherinś servants was standing there, gaunt and silent in gray, hooded robes.