Кассандра Клэр - Draco Dormiens

"Sure," said Sirius.

He followed the Weasleys over to the car. Harry, wanting to be as far away from Hermione as possible, went with them. That left Draco alone with Hermione, who had been very silent throughout the whole exchange.

"Hey," said Draco.

She looked at him and, like Harry, thought he looked…different somehow.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "Sirius told us about the Veritas curse. I was much too ready to think the worst of you and I totally misjudged you and I'm sorry."

Draco shook his head. "You didn't misjudge me," he said. "You thought I was a jerk, and I am a jerk. And I probably always will be."

"Maybe," said Hermione. "But you're a moral jerk. Does that make sense?"

"Not really," said Draco.

"It means," Hermione explained, "that even though I don't trust you to say the right thing — ever — I do trust you to do the right thing. Always."

Draco grinned. "Does this mean that the invitation to spend the holidays chez Granger is still open?"

"Yeah," said Hermione. "And I think my parents might like you, after all, considering you saved my life."

"You know," said Draco, "they say that once you've saved someone's life you're responsible for that person forever. So I'll have to keep an eye on you from now on."

"That seems like an unfair rule," said Hermione.

"Any rule that means I get to spend more time with you is a good rule in my book," said Draco.

Hermione blushed. She couldn't help it. It occurred to her that the only two boys in the world who seemed to be able to make her blush just by looking at her were both standing here on top of this cliff. Of course, one of them wasn't speaking to her.

Draco seemed to be able to read her mind. "You're thinking about Harry," he said.

"We had a talk," she replied. "It didn't go well."

"He looks awful," said Draco.

"So would you, if you fell off a cliff," said Hermione defensively.

Draco grinned at her. "That's not what I meant, and you know it," he said. "You just have no idea what you want, do you?"

"I always thought I wanted Harry," she said. "Now I don't know anymore." She sighed. "He just makes me so mad."

"Off the topic of Harry," said Draco, "although I love talking about him, of course, something just occurred to me."

"What?"

"I´ve never kissed you while I was in my body," said Draco.

Hermione felt herself blushing again. "Would it be…different?"

"One way to find out," he said, giving her a lazy, catlike sort of smile.

"Hermione!"

It was Sirius calling. She turned and saw his gesturing her and Draco back towards the car. He and Harry and the Weasleys were already sitting in it, ready to go.

She looked back at Draco, who seemed unperturbed. "Itś all right," he said.

"We´ll have plenty of time during the holidays."

Awfully confident, isn´t he? Hermione thought as they headed back towards the car. Just the opposite of Harry. Harry, who was sitting in the back seat, next to Ron, and staring fixedly off towards the Pit.

Draco got in and sat next to Harry, who didn't turn around. This left nowhere for Hermione to sit.

"Out of room?" said George cheerfully. "Hermione, you'll just have to sit on someone's lap."

Both Draco and Harry looked at her. Harry looked hurriedly away. Hermione glared at George, then sat in Ron's lap.

"Couldn't you have made this space bigger with magic?" she asked George as they backed up.

"And your point is?" he said airily, and revved the car. It shot forward and upward with a loud bang, George shouted in glee, Ron complained loudly in Hermione's ear that she was squashing his leg, and over all the noise, she heard Harry make a noise that sounded very much like a yell of pain.

She spun around and saw Harry rising out of his seat. In fact, he wasn't rising so much as it looked like he was being lifted by invisible hands — hauled up by the collar of his shirt and dragged backwards, out of his seat. He had his hands at his throat, trying to keep his shirt from cutting off his air supply.

"George!" screamed Hermione. "Stop the car!"

They were about ten feet off the ground now. George turned around, saw Harry, goggled, and slammed the brakes on. The effect of this was that Harry sailed up into the air, hurtled over the back of the car and fell twenty feet to the ground.

George slammed the gas on again, whipped the car around in a circle, and propelled it back toward the ground. They landed with a bone-jarring thud and began piling out of the doors.

The first thing Hermione saw as she scrambled out of the car was Harry, kneeling on the ground. He had his hands behind his back.

The second thing she saw was Lucius Malfoy, standing about five feet away from Harry. He was holding his wand in one outstretched hand and had it pointed directly at Harry's heart.

"All of you," he said, not looking at them. "Stay where you are."

"How did he find us?" Hemrione hissed at Sirius.

"Epicyclical Charm," Sirius whispered back. He was looking anxiously at Lucius.

"Acts as a homing device."

Lucius stepped a little closer to Harry, keeping his wand trained on him. "Harry Potter," he said. Lucius was looking much the worse for wear. His hair was standing wildly out all over his head and his robes, where they weren't slashed and torn, were smeared with blood and mud. "You have caused me a great deal of trouble." He lifted his head, looked at the others where they stood by the car, open-mouthed with shock. His eyes lingered on Draco. "All of you have caused me a great deal of trouble."

"Leave him alone, Lucius," growled Sirius.

"Why should I?" said Lucius, now looking back at Harry. It looked, Hermione thought, like he had put some sort of Binding Hex on Harry's hands, she could see ropes around his wrists.

"Because you can't kill all of us," said Sirius sharply. "And if you touch Harry — " "Why says I can't kill you all?" said Lucius, looking quite insane. "I am a Malfoy! In my veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin!"

"It does not," said Harry, suddenly. "Dumbledore told me there were no descendants of Slytherin left alive besides Voldemort!"

Lucius snapped his head back and glared at Harry. "It is beyond my comprehension how all of our efforts to kill one stupid little boy have come to nothing," he said. "But no more. My master wished to have the pleasure of killing you, but he will have to content himself with the pleasure of being presented with your dead body."

He pointed his wand at Harry. "Avada-" And broke off. Because Draco had darted forward and placed himself between Lucius´ wand…and Harry. He faced his father, panting slightly, looking at him steadily.

Lucius Malfoy frowned. "Get out of the way, Draco," he said impatiently.

"No," said Draco, who was looking very pale. "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill me first."

Lucius looked furious. "Don't be a fool," he said.

Behind Draco, Harry began to struggle to his feet. He was doing something with his hands, but Hermione couldn't see what.

"I know you would have let the Dark Lord kill me," said Draco, still looking at his father. "But I don't know if you can do it yourself."

"I assure you I can," said Lucius. "And I will. Move out of the way."

"Kill him and you lose Narcissa, too," said Sirius.

"Shut up, Black," snapped Lucius. His hand went to his throat and closed over the pendant there. He lifted it over his head. Draco looked at him, confused.

"You are my son and my only heir," said Lucius to Draco. "For the last time, will you move out of the way?"

Draco shook his head. "No."

"Ah, well," said Lucius. "I am young. I can marry again. I will have more children."

And he tightened his hand on the pendant in his fist, digging his nails in.