Кассандра Клэр - Draco Sinister

"Don't say anything to Harry about this, all right?"

A short silence. "All right."

Sirius went out of the room, shut the door behind him, and fell back against it, his hands over his eyes. Why exactly he had lied to Draco about having been given something by James, he wasn't sure. One thing he was sure of, though. He would be going to Gringott's tomorrow.

Ron and Ginny sat with Harry and Hermione (recently arrived via Floo Powder) at the table in the Weasley's warm, yellow-lit kitchen, drinking tea and eating digestive biscuits straight out of the packet.

"He's really all right?" Hermione asked for the eighth time, and for the eighth time, Ron nodded.

"He's fine…unfortunately."

Hermione threw a biscuit at him. "Karma, Ron."

Ron caught the biscuit and handed it to Ginny, who grinned at him.

"I'm not worried about my karma," said Ron smugly. "Considering."

"True," Harry pointed out. "You did save Malfoy's life. Although you dithered a bit at first…"

"Did not. Well, a little. He just looked so dead, it seemed pointless."

"He was dead," said Hermione, eating a biscuit. "Clinically, anyway, he must have been dead. No pulse, no heartbeat…no brain waves, maybe…"

"Does Malfoy ever have brain waves?" put in Ron, but Hermione ignored him.

"It's interesting," she added, her eyes lighting up, "that Draco being clinically dead was enough to counteract the love potion. It's an intersection of magic and science I hadn't really considered before, and the possible implications-"

"Have another biscuit, Hermione," said Harry, firmly, shoving one into her hand.

She smiled at him. "Am I being boring?"

He kissed her ear. "Yes, but in a very interesting way."

"Ginny's interested," said Hermione, pointing at Ginny, who had her chin on her hand and was smiling.

"Not, I'm not," said Ginny candidly. "I was just thinking that Ron has now officially gotten more action with Draco than I have." She turned a dazzling smile on her brother. "Congratulations, Ron!"

Ron blanched. "I have to go brush my teeth," he said, making as if to stand up, but Ginny grabbed his arm and yanked him back down.

"You've already brushed your teeth twelve times and it hasn't helped," she said. "Face it. You kissed Malfoy, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Now, now," said Harry, grinning like a fiend. "It was a medical procedure. A medical procedure that just happens to look a lot like necking."

"You were the one who got all hysterical!" said Ron, pointing a shaking finger at Harry. "I would just have let him die!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, you wouldn't, Ron, because you're a good guy and good guys do not just let other people die, even total pills like Malfoy."

"Argh," said Ron, and put his head down on the table.

"Ron's having issues," Ginny sang, hopping up to retrieve some milk from the sideboard. 'Ron's having iss-ues…"

"I hate you all," said Ron, in a muffled voice.

"Oh, come on. We're just winding you up. Hey, how did you know all those anti-drowning spells, anyway?" Harry added, curiously. "Not that they worked, but still, it was impressive."

"Well, they would have worked if he hadn't been so far gone already," said Ron. Then he looked over at Ginny, who looked back at him, and sighed.

"We had a brother," she said, looking down at her hands. " In between Percy and Charlie. He drowned in the quarry when he was three years old. We never knew him, but Mum and Dad have insisted on all of us knowing anti-drowning spells, just in case anything ever happens."

Hermione glanced over at Harry, who looked astonished. Apparently neither of them had known this fact about Ron's family. They could both, however, tell that questions on this topic would not be welcome, so restrained themselves. "Why didn't they just fill in the quarry?" wondered Hermione instead.

Ron shrugged. "You can't. They tried. It's got some kind of magical protection on it — fill it in, it just reappears the next day. So they put up wards around it. They only took them down when Ginny was twelve, the figured we were all old enough not to fall in, and all of us can swim, so…Harry, how did you know that other stuff?"

"CPR?" said Harry, and made a face. "I used to have to go with Dudley to swimming lessons, but I wasn't actually allowed to take lessons with him, because that cost money. So I used to sit in on the CPR classes. I must have sat through the same class about fifteen times."

Hermione grinned at him. "I figured you nicked it off watching

'Baywatch.'"

Harry looked indignant. "I've never watched 'Baywatch!'"

"Bet you have."

"I have not."

"What are you two blithering on about?" Ron demanded, raising his head off his arms.

"Girls in bikinis," said Hermione.

"I'm not sure even that could lift me out of my despair," said Ron gloomily.

"Despair?" Hermione jumped up, came around the table, grabbed Ron by the shoulders, and kissed him firmly on both cheeks. "You saved someone's life, Ron Weasley," she announced. "I think this makes you a hero. And the fact that you don't even like him, that makes you even more heroic. So there."

Ron blushed scarlet.

"That's right!" agreed Ginny, swooping down to give Ron a hug as well. Hermione threw her arms around Ron from the other side.

"Hey," Ron protested feebly, although he looked like he was having a good time. "Girls! You're messing up my hair!" Harry looked over at them, grinned, got up, and threw himself into the group hug with such enthusiasm that Ron was knocked off his chair and all four of them collapsed to the ground in a giggling heap.

"Well, well," said an amused voice from the doorway. "Am I late for the orgy or am I right on time?"

Ginny looked up, flushed from laughing, and clapped a hand over her mouth in surprise. "Charlie!"

The rest of them looked up as well. It was certainly Charlie Weasley, tousle-haired and tired-eyed. He was wearing his dragon-keeping clothes, and there was a dusty satchel slung across his back. "Hallo, all," he said.

Ron hopped to his feet. "Charlie! How'd you get here? Dragon?"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "I've told you before, Ron, people don't ride dragons. That's just a cutsey myth. I Apparated, what'd you think?"

Ginny stood up and held out a hand to pull Hermione up after her.

"Did you come because of Draco?" she asked Charlie, looking curious.

Charlie looked blank. "Because of Draco..?"

There was a step on the stairs and Sirius came into the kitchen, looking disheveled and immeasurably tired. His eyes lit up when he saw Charlie, however. "Charlie," he said eagerly, crossing the room to shake Charlie's hand, 'did you get my owl, then? Wonderful, I really need to get back to the Manor and — "

Charlie was shaking his head. "I didn't get any owl from you. I came because my mum wrote and told me about Dad being elected Minister, and since they had to stay in London for a few days she asked me-" He glanced around again, as if seeing Harry and Hermione for the first time. "What are you lot doing here, anyway?"

There was a short silence. Harry looked at Ron. Ron looked at Ginny.

Ginny looked at Sirius. Sirius looked at Charlie, and sighed.

"Come on into the living room for a second, Charlie," he said. "I'll fill you in on the details."

"All right," said Charlie slowly, hefting his satchel onto his back.

Sirius turned to the rest of them. "I want one of you to sit with Draco, just in case anything happens — nothing will, he's fine, but just as a precaution."

"I will," said Ginny immediately.

"Thanks." Sirius turned back to Charlie. "Let's go."

As Charlie followed Sirius out of the room, Hermione heard him say, "I brought a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey with me."