Кассандра Клэр - Draco Sinister

"Then kill Harry," said Lucius. "It's what you were meant for."

"A love potion?"

Hermione heard Ron's voice as if from a long way away. She looked up tiredly. They were all staring at her — except Harry — Sirius, leaning against the bookshelves with a look of disbelief on his face, Lupin, with faint embarrassment, Ron, who looked shocked, and Ginny. Ginny looked worried. Sometime during what felt to Hermione like her interminable explanation about the love potion and its consequences, Ginny had put her arm over the side of Hermione's chair, taken her hand, and squeezed it. Hermione continued to hold on tightly to Ginny's hand while she talked, and was grateful for the contact.

Harry was sitting down at the desk, his arms crossed over his chest, staring fixedly over everyone's heads at one of the stained-glass windows. So far, he had been entirely silent.

"I always thought love potions were a bit of a joke," Ron went on, flushed with surprise. "Not real."

"They're real," said Lupin, who was looking rather shaken. "They're illegal, of course."

Sirius was shaking his head. "It makes no sense," he said. "I was thinking that before, and now…"

Now Harry glanced over at him.

"For Slytherin to want Hermione as his Source. Only a Magid can be another Magid's Source. The drain on her would have killed her."

"Rowena was a Magid," said Hermione. "Maybe he assumed that since she was, I would be."

"An assumption that would have been the end of you," said Sirius, looking tense.

"I'd rather have died," said Hermione, in a fierce little voice. "Than be in love with that — that evil — "

"Oh, but being in love with Malfoy's all right?" interrupted Ron, shaking his head.

Now Harry spoke, and at the sound of his quiet voice, they all jumped, as if a bomb had gone off. "Let her alone, Ron," he said.

They all gaped at him, Hermione more than anyone else. She tried to catch his eye to give him a grateful smile, but he wouldn't look at her. He was looking at Sirius, and his hands were clenched tightly in his lap. "Is there a way of taking it off?" he said. "Is there a reversal spell?"

It was Lupin who answered. "I'm sure there must be one, Harry," he said, although he sounded far from sure.

"Every spell has a reversal," said Hermione, slightly shrilly.

"No," said Lupin, quietly. "Not every spell."

They all stared at him.

"But most do," he added quickly. "Hermione," he reached into the desk drawer, and pulling out a quill and parchment, held it out to her, "I'm going to need you to write down everything you remember about the potion: how it looked, what it tasted like, what it feels like, anything that will help us identify it. That way we can more efficiently discover whether or not it is, in fact, reversible."

Hermione slowly drew the parchment towards her, took hold of the quill, and echoed faintly, "How it…feels?"

"Er, yes," said Lupin, and made a nebulous gesture towards the quill she was holding. "Write it down, you don't have to tell us."

Rather inadvertently, everyone looked over at Harry, who flushed and looked away again. Hermione bent her head and began to scratch away with the quill.

Lupin glanced sideways at Sirius, who glanced back. It was evident that this new information regarding Slytherin's intentions towards Hermione had given them much to think about. It was equally evident that they were far from willing to discuss it in front of Harry and Hermione. Especially Harry, who was beginning to look as if he were hanging on by the merest thread. Ginny and Ron had now transferred their worried glances to him.

The library door opened, and Narcissa came in, looking flushed and slightly worried. "Sirius — " she began, and broke off, as Harry jumped out of his chair as if he'd been shot, stared at her blankly, and announced, "I've got to go." He hurried out of the room, brushing past Narcissa, and slamming the door behind him.

Hermione began to get to her feet, looking blindly after Harry. "I should — "

There was the sound of a muffled explosion from the corridor outside. Ron grabbed at Hermione's arm and yanked her back.

"Bollocks," said Sirius, with finality. "Magid powers. I'd nearly forgotten."

Narcissa stared at all of them with wide eyes. "What on earth is going on?"

Ron continued to hang on to Hermione's arm while Sirius, with admirable concision, explained. His speech was punctuated by occasional explosive sounds from outside the library, each one of which caused Hermione to wince.

"A love potion?" Narcissa echoed in disbelief, when he was done.

Everybody nodded.

"Right," said Narcissa, and raised her chin. In that moment, Hermione thought, she looked very much like her son — determined, defiant, even a little arrogant. "Here's what we're going to do. Ron," she said, turning to him. (Ron blushed. It was the first time Narcissa had ever spoken to him directly.) "Go after Harry. Make sure he's all right. If things start flying around, tackle him."

Ron blinked and nodded.

"Sirius," she said, turning back towards the desk. "I want you to write to Severus Snape."

Sirius' jaw dropped. "Snape?"

"No one in the world knows more about potions than he does," said Narcissa. "The Dark Lord himself used to call on him for assistance, back when he was a Death Eater. If the potion is reversible, Severus will know about it."

Now Narcissa turned to Hermione, who was suffering Ron's grip on her arm with very bad grace. She was, in fact, glaring at him. Which was fine, since if anyone in the world could match Hermione glare for glare, it was Ron; they'd been practicing for five years.

"Hermione," she said, more gently, "I want you to come with me."

Hermione's head went up, and she said quickly, "I have to talk to Harry-"

"No," said Narcissa. "You can't."

"But — "

"The last thing he needs," said Narcissa, evenly, "is to get more angry. While he would never hurt you, if his temper gets out of control, he could become a danger to himself as well as to the breakable objects around him."

Hermione paled, but nodded.

Narcissa glanced over at Lupin. "Make Sirius write that letter. And while he's doing that, you can work on translating that book.

Agreed?"

Lupin raised an eyebrow. "Yes, indeed."

Narcissa held out a hand to Hermione, who glanced down at Ron.

Ron grudgingly released her, and, with Narcissa holding her arm, they left.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Ginny let out an exasperated breath. "What about me?' she said, turning to Lupin and Sirius.

"Don't I get given orders too? Or am I not useful?"

Sirius put his head in his hands. "Ginny…" he said, wearily. "Not right now…"

"Oh all right," she said crankily, got to her feet and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

As soon as Ginny had left the room, Sirius wheeled on Lupin. "Now tell me the truth," he said, looking at him hard. "Do you think that love potion is reversible?"

"I don't know," replied Lupin, who was taking down a number of books from the shelves and tossing them onto the desk.

"I saw your expression change. You know something."

Lupin picked up a book whose spine was stamped in gold lettering: Moste Potente Potions. "I don't know anything for sure," he said, irritably. "But what I do know is that love potions are not exactly benign magic. There's a reason they're illegal."

"Because they're really, really annoying?" asked Sirius, drawing the parchment Hermione had been writing on towards him and scanning the sparse lines she had scribbled.

"Any magic that contradicts one's essential nature is by definition dark magic," said Lupin. "Love potions are simply another variation of what goes into the Imperius Curse. An enchantment that subsumes the will of the subject…"