Winter's Flame

"It's quite scary, isn't it?" Maria asked of nobody in particular. "A girl goes missing, blood everywhere. Aurors crawling the school."

Draco nodded mutely, ignoring Goyle's snicker.

"It's odd they haven't found her yet. You'd think that after a week…"

"I'm just surprised that the parents aren't kicking up a fuss," Carlos added.

"Probably keeping it under wraps," Draco murmured. "Bad publicity and all that."

Maria's bright eyes surveyed the downcast Gryffindors as they entered the dungeons. "God, they look devastated."

"Yeah, well," Draco shrugged. "You would be, wouldn't you? Sit with me, Maria. You understand gilly-formula better than I do."

"As long as you help me with the veritaserum," she winked.

~

The lesson was, as usual, quite interesting. Draco and Maria had succeeded in creating the veritaserum and 'accidentally' fed it to Crabbe, thus revealing at last his secret feelings for Goyle after all these years. Unfortunately, Draco and Maria were the only ones close enough to hear it, though it was enough to blackmail him with if they ever felt the need. The lesson passed by without any other major events occurring, though Professor Snape was noticeably less harsh on the Gryffindors than he usually was. He didn't comment when Potter's serum failed to make Weasley admit that he had red hair and freckles, and he seemed to overlook the fact that Longbottom's serum was, instead of being a clear water-like liquid, a lumpy brown goo.

"Alright," Snape finally said when he returned to his desk. "Place a sample of your serums into a vial for marking and clean up."

This was quickly done and the class was soon filing out of the door in silence.

"Malfoy," Snape said before he vanished out the door.

"Yes, sir?"

"Stay here a moment. I need to talk to you."

Maria glanced at him questioningly, and he shrugged his shoulders as he waved goodbye. The door sung shut behind Potter and Weasley, both managing to shoot malicious glares at him before it closed.

"Come here, Malfoy," Snape commanded, not unkindly.

Draco swept his hair from his eyes as he moved towards the desk, letting his shoulder bag fall to the floor and sitting on one of the desks.

"Have you ever considered that a haircut might be easier?" he asked.

"Nah," Draco shrugged. "I like it."

"And so does Morgan, I'll wager?"

Draco was stunned for a moment, then remembered that, as a Death Eater, Snape had a reason to be aware of the woman being sent to him. "I don't know," he said carefully. "She's never mentioned it."

"I'll be brief, Draco," Snape said, touching his fingertips together. "All I want to know is if you had anything to do with Lavender Brown's disappearance."

"What?" Draco frowned. "No, I was with you all night."

"I realise that, Draco. And turning into a wolf is a fairly decent alibi on any count. But do you know anything about who was behind it?"

Draco shook his head. "I thought maybe it was… You-Know-Who…"

Snape stared at him for a moment, his dark eyes locking with Draco's own. "You may go, Mister Malfoy," he said finally. "I'm sure you will already be late for your next class."

Draco hesitated a moment, then realised that his next class was with Professor McGonagall, who was likely to murder him if he was any longer. Without a word, he rushed from the dungeon.

~

"Mister Malfoy," a stern voice of pure, unadulterated evil greeted him. "You are ten minutes late."

"Yeah, sorry about that Professor," he said in the politest tone he could muster. "Professor Snape wanted to talk to me about taking…" he glanced at Granger with a slight smirk. "Advanced Potions."

Her sharp intake of breath just about made his day as McGonagall motioned for him to sit down. "Alright," she said in her thick Scottish accent. Somehow it just didn't sound as cool on her as it did on Tay. Maybe it was just because Tay had nicer legs than the Professor.

Not that he was looking at McGonagall's legs.

"What are you shivering for?" Tay asked him curiously as he slipped into an empty seat beside her.

"It was a shudder, actually," he said dryly.

"Alright then, what were you shuddering about?"

"Mental image of McGonagall naked."

"Oh aye," she mused. "That'd about do it."

"Miss McAngus," McGonagall snapped. "At least pretend to listen, for heaven's sake."

"Yes, Professor," she smiled.

~

"So how's life?" Draco asked as they idly loitered in the halls. It was lunch time, and all of Draco's Slytherins had scampered off somewhere.

"Quite scary, actually," Tay shrugged. "What with the big bloody disappearance and all."

"Yeah. Bad, that."

"Everyone's saying you're behind it," she said, eyeing him to see how he'd react. "You and You-Know-Who."

"Yeah," Draco chuckled. "We're old friends. He raised me and taught me how to fry babies. Nah, I don't know who did it. Hope she's alright, though."

"Do you really?"

"Why so surprised?"

She shrugged. "To be honest you don't come across as a caring person."

"It's my sensitive side. I keep it hidden so that nobody knows that I'm human."

"Ah, now that would be such a shame."

"My reputation would be in shreds."

She stopped suddenly, cocking her head to the side. "Who's that?"

Draco followed her gaze to where a tall man in a black cloak was sweeping into Professor Rhun's office. "That's Snape. My Potions teacher."

"The mad greasy one?"

"If you like." He frowned. "What's he going in there for?"

"I don't know," she grinned mischievously. "But we can find out." She grabbed his hand and broke into a light run down the hall, pulling him after her.. They paused outside the office door, their ears pressed against the wood.

"This is stupid," he whispered. "We'll get caught."

"Honestly, Draco, where's your sense of adventure?"

"I left it in my other pair of pants."

"…it's not the boy. I didn't think it would be, but if the Dark Lord is trying to recruit him…" Snape's voice droned through the door.

"Well who else could it have been?" Rhun sighed, and for once he didn't sound as if he'd been taking Cheering spells for three solid weeks. "But to be honest I didn't think it was him either. Morgan's looking out for him. He shouldn't go too far astray. She says his magic's improving, when he bothers to practice."

"What about the other?"

"Nimrodel is watching him. His magic isn't all that strong, though. Doesn't practice at all."

"Now why doesn't that surprise me?" Snape muttered.

Rhun sighed. "Where do we go from here? It can't have been a student. Anyone outside of Gryffindor wouldn't know the password. So that leaves teachers, and Albus says he's checked everyone out."

"You seem to have slipped past him, however," Snape pointed out.

"You forget what I am, Severus. I could make you think I was a big chested Swedish girl if I really felt the need."

They fell silent for a long moment. "I still don't understand the reasoning behind the rain."

"Ah, winter. She stays too long. I know for a fact that her mistress is unhappy about the situation. She's tired, with too many things to do. But Voldemort-"

"Don't say his name!"

"-seems to think he can recruit more followers while the weather's gloomy."

"He's a fool," Snape said sharply, then calmed suddenly. "But a very powerful fool. After all, he managed to capture yourself and the Winter Queen."

"He did at that," Rhun mused. "But the others are still free. Rowan always was smarter than I. Though I do wonder how long…"

Draco didn't hear anymore, as Tay had pulled him away. "Professor Rhun's a Death Eater?" she hissed incredulously. "I thought they were supposed to be evil!"

"They're misunderstood," Draco said automatically, then sighed when he saw her face. "Yeah, okay. So they're not all that friendly. Rhun doesn't really seem to fit the nasty criteria. But Snape. Well, I've known about him for years."

"And how'd you know that?"

"My father was one, wasn't he?" Draco snapped. "Big evil Mr Malfoy, the bane of innocent kittens everywhere."

"Aye, forgot about that. Sorry," she apologised.

"Don't mention it. But who was the other?"

"The other what?"

"Boy. The one with… that… woman. Nim something."

Taylor snorted. "Well who was the other other one?"

Draco shot a glance at her. "Mm, I'm not sure."

"To be honest the only thing I understood in there was that they're both big evil nasties. D'you think we should we tell Dumbledore?"

Draco suddenly stopped and caught her around the shoulders. "No, that would be bad."

Her eyes lashed with a fleeting fear. "Why's that?"

"Well… because then they'd know it was us, wouldn't they?" he improvised, letting go of her quickly. "And then there'd be trails of blood leading from our windows."

Taylor sighed. "I suppose. But I tell you one thing, I'm bloody glad me Mam's a witch. I'd hate to be Muggle-born with those two skulking about."

Draco nodded mutely, his mind churning as they continued down the halls.

~

The rest of the day flew by in a blur. Draco's mind was abuzz with the conversation they had overheard. They both knew about Morgan. Obviously, since both were Death Eaters. But surely it wouldn't be common knowledge? Unless Snape was higher up in the Society than his father had known. But that didn't explain Rhun. You forget what I am, Severus. What was he? And whatever he was, he seemed to have been forced into being a Death Eater against his will. After all, he managed to capture yourself and the Winter Queen. It was all so confusing! And who was this other? Was there somebody else learning Earth Magic? It comforted him slightly to know that he was doing better than this mysterious person, but still. His mind was writhing with curiosity. He longed to write to his father, but he knew prisoners weren't allowed mail. Only personal visits, and then only once a month. And though it had been over a month since his last visit, Draco was sure that nobody would be willing to take him on a day trip.

He sighed deeply and lowered his head forward onto the table.

"Draco?" Carlos' voice asked from beside him. "You alright?"

He didn't answer. His mind was so tired that he had fallen asleep.

***

Quidditch season was a month away. It was the time of year anxiously awaited by almost every student and teacher in the school, and it was almost two months before the first inter-house Quidditch match: the always anticipated Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Due to the intense rivalry between the two houses, the match always turned out perhaps the strongest following, with the Hufflepuff's generally cheering for the Lions, and the Ravenclaw's for Slytherin.

Traditionally, training didn't begin until October, the official beginning of the season, but due to Draco's restlessness and a welcome break in the weather, he gathered the Slytherin team for a session, dragging the grumbling lot of them down to the pitch on an early Sunday morning.

"I do- don't even see why you're awake," Carlos yawned, leaning on his broomstick as they attempted to stretch.

"I couldn't sleep," Draco shrugged. "Besides, I thought we'd better break you in. Get an advantage. If we start training now, we'll have an edge over Gryffindor."

"Yeah," Montague said, a smile forming over his face. He looked at Draco as if he had suddenly found God. "Like, I didn't think of that."

Draco sighed and kicked Goyle, who had fallen asleep on the ground. "Come on, ladies, at least try and be happy about the sun."

"I don't give a fuck about the sun," Crabbe muttered.

Draco gave him a flat glare, which he responded to immediately, if reluctantly. He nudged Goyle and the two rose slowly, their brooms in hand.

"Alright, Bletchley, you get up to the goal hoops," Draco ordered, taking control of the session as he probably should have done the year before. "We'll have a sort of game. Carlos, you, Montague and Warrington will try to score while Bletchley defends and Crabbe, Goyle and I will fly around and pretend to get involved."

Everyone nodded and flew up into the air. Draco mounted a few seconds later, soaring high and enjoying the feeling of the sun's warmth upon his pale face. For once he felt himself wishing that Summer would return, though to be honest it was for slightly superficial reasons. His silver eyes had always leant themselves to his fair skin. They made him look cool, icy. His new golden ones made him look vaguely sickly. It was an odd effect. For once in his life he felt the urge to get a tan. Unfortunately for him, he usually skipped the tanned stage, went bright red and returned to his porcelain complexion.

"Malfoy!" Warrington called from the pitch. Draco glanced down and realised he'd been drifting. The entire team had assembled on the pitch, their green cloaks bright against the dark blue of the newly arrived Ravenclaw's.

Draco idly steered his brown downwards, it's ebony shaft like a solid shadow in the morning light. Hence the name, he supposed.

"Nice broom," Cho Chang remarked to Taylor.

Draco frowned. "What are you doing here?" he asked the Scottish girl.

"Didn't you hear?" she grinned. "I'm the new Chaser."

"Any good?"

"The best," Chang interrupted. "She can give Hart here a run for his money."

"We've been challenged," Carlos informed him, a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. "Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin."

"Getting in practise for January, are we?" Draco smirked. "You're on."

"Thought you'd see it that way," Roger Davies grinned. The relationship between the Ravens and the Snakes had always been one of friendly rivalry, stemming mainly from the fact that Slytherin's considered the house to be second in ranking to themselves, and vice versa.

"Who'll do the toss?" Warrington asked.

"Chang will," David Harvey jeered. He was a chaser for Ravenclaw.

"Very funny," she snapped, while Taylor and several other members of the team hid muffled giggles. She had been known to get around of late, from one disastrous relationship to another. Rumour had it that she was quite easy, but that she cried whenever she did anything with the current partner, waffling on about how she and Cedric had done it on the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall and how it had 'felt like she was in heaven.' Most of the male population of Hogwarts tended to avoid her nowadays.

"He's right, though," Draco drawled, biting back a cutting comment. "If we release the Snitch, throw the Quaffle, then go, it should be reasonably fair."

"Slytherin? Fair?" she scoffed.

"Yeah, like," Montague spoke up. "Yeah."

Davies gave him an odd look, but said nothing.

"Well, now that we've had that rather inspiring input from our captain, let's begin."

~

The game was, at worst, a complete and utter thrashing. Carlos had done them proud, scoring three goals in the first twenty minutes and Warrington scoring another two. Bletchley was in fine form, saving all but one of the Ravenclaw goals and, after forty-five minutes of play, Draco easily found the Snitch while Chang had been on the other side of the pitch chasing what was probably a large and shiny dust speck.

"Nice," Davies conceded as they dismounted, shaking Draco's hand. He and everyone else had begun treating him as the unofficial Slytherin captain, which Montague didn't seem to mind. "You slaughtered us."

"We did, yeah," Draco laughed. "You need to train them harder. Your Keeper's awful."

"I know," Davies said mournfully. "I can't get rid of him, though. My mum would kill me. He's my cousin, see."

"Family," Draco shook his head.

"Exactly."

"McAngus is good, though."

"Yeah. I had hoped she'd turn us around. Apparently not."

Draco shook his head and grinned. "The two of you make a good team, you just have to include Harvey in that a little more. He's always a second or two behind the both of you. Chester and Bentley are alright, though. Keeper sucks, and Chang…"

They both cast an eye on Cho, who was walking up ahead with Taylor. The two teams were making their way back towards the castle for lunch.

"I know," Davies muttered. "If she doesn't improve soon, we'll have to replace her. Last year we let it slide, because of Diggory. But it's been a year, and she's still awful."

"You'll be right," Draco shrugged, then noticed something in the air about a hundred metres ahead. "What the hell is that?"

Davies frowned. "I don't know. All I can see it that it's green. And kind of gassy."

All of a sudden, twin screams rang out across the field. They were high and sharp and bloodcurdling to hear. Both teams broke into a wild run to catch up with the two girls who had charged ahead.

Being the swiftest of the two teams, Draco reached the scene first and, almost gagged at the sight. He caught Taylor up in his arms and held her tightly while she sobbed and shivered into his shoulder. Being almost a head taller than she was, he had a fine view of the carnage before him. Behind and beside him he could hear the gasps, cries and retches of his team mates, but he could not tear his eyes away.

There, sprawled on the grass, were the remains of Lavender Brown. She was naked, with deep cuts and gashes across her greying body, bones protruding through fly-ridden skin. Her eyes were open, and her face was twisted in an expression of pure agony. Her eyes, once clear and blue but now pale and blank were locked in a blind stare upon the Dark Mark in the air above her.

"I should… get a teacher…" Davies choked out from beside him. Draco nodded vigorously, he's eyes still on what had once been Lavender Brown. Davies mounted his broomstick and was off like a shot, carefully flying around the scene as if it would disrespect the girl to fly over her.

"Oh, God," Taylor whimpered into his chest. "She's… she was…"

Draco stroked her hair and she fell silent, clinging tighter to him as if he could protect her from the dead body on the ground. "Somebody cover her up, for God's sake," he finally found his voice. Carlos quickly responded, shedding his cloak and laying it over her, covering her nakedness. After a moments thought, he pulled the cloak up a little so that it covered her eyes as well. "She shouldn't have to see that," the Italian boy murmured, then withdrew to where the others stood in thick silence.

Four figures appeared suddenly from the castle, running across the field. One was Davies, his broomstick still in hand. The others were teachers, Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore himself. They rushed over quickly. Like they could do anything for her by rushing. The girl was already dead.

McGonagall's face flushed bed sheet white for a split second at the sight of the Dark Mark, and even Snape's face showed a fleeting expression of dread. But he was a Death Eater. Why should the Dark Mark bother him? Dumbledore dispersed the Mark with a flick of his wand, then knelt beside Lavender's body, lifting the cloak briefly from her face, then gently replacing it. He did not move for a long while, and Draco saw an expression on the man's face that he had never seen before. Fury. It was a fury like Draco had never seen. He had seen his father livid, angry, incensed. Every possible word the thesaurus could think up. But this, this was a fury so great that the normally senile-seeming man who acted as if he took twice as many drugs as Rhun probably did totally changed in appearance. His face contorted, his eyes blazing with pure rage. Not a single person there missed that look, and it terrified them. Suddenly Draco realised why he was the one Wizard alive Voldemort feared. Dumbledore suddenly looked as if he could destroy anything.

Draco was feeling slightly sick, not just from seeing a dead body. He was suddenly questioning this Death Eater lark. Were they really as wonderful as he had once thought? Did anyone really deserve what Lavender had been through? And she wasn't even a Mudblood, really. Most wizards nowadays were half and half. Only a handful of families, like the Malfoys, were completely pure.

Dumbledore stood slowly, the horrible expression on his face melting away into a kind of sadness. "Return to your common rooms immediately," he commanded softly. "Severus, ensure every other student goes as well. Minerva and I will take care of Miss Brown."

Snape nodded once and turned back towards the castle, moving with remarkable speed.

"I'll take her," Davies offered as Draco encouraged Tay to start walking. Draco slowly transferred the distraught girl to her team captain, rubbing her back as he did so.

"Look after her," he said. "She's freaking out."

Davies gave a short bark of nervous laughter, then stopped immediately, looking around to make sure nobody thought he was a prat for laughing. "Who isn't?" he asked in a more sober voice, leading her away in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room.

Draco drifted through the halls towards his own, walking with his fellow team mates but not really noticing them, just as they were all doing. Had he looked he would have seen Montague shivering violently, Warrington's face a worrying shade of green and Carlos wringing his hands as he so often did when he was nervous. Bletchley was looking over his shoulder every five seconds, as if he were afraid someone might run up and stab him from behind. Only Crabbe and Goyle didn't look repulsed or terrified. They didn't exactly look overjoyed, but perhaps the impact of the event hadn't penetrated their thick skulls.

But then again, their fathers were Death Eaters too.

"Carlos?" Maria cried when they entered the dungeon. "Carlos, what happened? We were all sent here, Snape wouldn't tell us what was wrong."

Draco looked at the twins, Maria's hands clasped with her brothers. Carlos struggled to tell her what had happened, but nothing seemed to come out. The rest of the team were no help. They ignored the detail-begging crowd. Montague and Warrington drifted over to the fire. Bletchley backed into a corner, sliding down into a neurotic little ball. Crabbe and Goyle had, of course, gone straight to Blaise and Natassja. It made Draco wonder who was really leading the sixth years these days.

"We found Brown," he told Maria, his eyes dropping back to the floor.

Maria's hand flew straight to her mouth. "Was she…" she asked, not wanting to say the word. Carlos nodded mutely. Draco pushed passed them without another word, climbing up to the room he shared with Carlos and pulled out a piece of parchment.

Remus,
I know you would have heard about Lavender Brown disappearing. Today we found her, with the Dark Mark above her. I don't know what's happening, but maybe you should go see my father. Tell him I say hello, don't tell him what I am. Tell him I beat Granger in our Potions test. He'll be happy.

Draco

He paused a moment.

PS. The secret room is in my father's study. Only a Malfoy or the Dark Lord can open it. I'll show you when I come home. By the looks of things, Hogwarts won't be open for much longer.

Another pause.

PPS. Full moon was fine. I'm doing okay.

With a sigh, he rolled the parchment and let his eagle-owl Achilles out of his silver cage and tied the note to it's leg. "Go on, boy," he said to it before he set it free. "Find Remus."

He slumped back onto his bed and watched it go, flying out the window with a single hoot. Brushing the hair out of his eyes, he let his hand fall down to his pillow where it landed on something smooth. Looking down, he saw it was a note.

Meet me beside the Lake tonight. There is much to discuss.

There was no name, but he supposed it must have been Morgan. He hadn't seen her since their night beside the fire. He wasn't all that sure he wanted to. But, he supposed, it was the only way to find some answers.

Shoving the note in his pocket, he laid down and quickly fell asleep where he was plagued with dreams of snakes and blood.

***

The night air was cold and a bitingly cold wind blew through the trees. The heavy clouds were back, a threatening grey colour that looked on the verge of explosion. With a flash of insight, Draco foresaw himself getting very wet in the near future. Determined, however, to find some answers, he pulled his cloak around himself tightly and hurried out of a side door he'd discovered once when he was hiding from the Weasley twins and made his way towards the lake.

He saw a figure sitting beneath the shadow of a tree and veered towards it. "Alright," he drawled, leaning on the tree trunk and trying to see Morgan in the deep blackness. "I want answers."

"What the hell are you doing here?" an unmistakably male voice squawked. The figure jumped to it's feet and backed away, and in the darkness Draco could just make out a pair of startled green eyes against a fair face. Not the green eyes he was looking for, however.

"Potter?" Draco raised his eyebrows. "What are you doing out here? Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Who were you looking for?" Potter asked, ignoring him. "Got a secret Death Eaters gathering?"

"Close, Potter," Draco forced a smirk. "Quite close, but no. I was actually meeting a girl. Roughly my height, dark hair, nice pair of tits. Haven't seen her, have you?"

Harry scowled at him. "Why would I have seen your bimbo?"

"She's quite intelligent, actually. If you can make sense of what she's bloody saying."

"Yeah, obviously, seeing as she's with you and all."

Draco grinned. "So what are you doing out at this time of night? Hoping to get laid for once in your blessed life? Trying to conduct another home wrecking interview with the Quibbler? Or have you decided to submit your very first memoirs to Witch Weekly? I can see it now: 'Why I Like Boys,' the raunchy life story of Harry Potter and his frolics with the insatiable Weasel."

"Sod off, Malfoy," he muttered, pushing past him with quite a violent shove..

"No, I really am curious. You were meeting a girl. I can tell by that lovely crimson on your pearly cheeks."

Harry turned and frowned at him. "You're not a queer, are you?"

"No."

"Wouldn't surprise me if you were," he said rudely, then paused. "And I was meeting a girl, not that it's any of your business."

"Of course it's my business. You haven't given me anything with which I can take the mickey out of for a couple weeks now. What did she look like?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm here, and in case you hadn't noticed, this is the very first decent conversation we've had in a while."

"Yeah, since last year when you threatened to kill me." Harry smiled slightly. "You thought you could make it where Voldemort couldn't."

"Mm, well maybe he's just not going about it in the right way."

Harry snorted. "Is that a threat?"

"What do you think it is?"

"I think it's a load." Harry took several steps towards Draco, until they were practically nose to nose. Draco didn't move. To step back would be to submit. To step forward he'd have to touch the ugly little mite. Though, at this close range, he realised that Potter was almost the same height as he was. "You know, Malfoy, everyone knows you were behind what happened to Lavender, and you're going to pay for it."

"Really?" Draco raised his eyebrow slightly, drawing on everything he'd seen his father do when he was around Arthur Weasley. "And I suppose you'll be one of these berserk avengers?"

"I hate Death Eaters," he growled. "I hate you. You killed Lavender. Dumbledore might let you off but I won't."

"You hate Death Eaters?" Draco asked, pushing up the sleeves on both his arms and presenting them to Harry, though not taking his eyes off his. "I'm afraid I'm not one of them. You hate me? Likewise. But I did not kill Lavender Brown."

"Prove it. I heard you were out all night when she disappeared."

"What I do, Potter, is no concern of yours."

"I'd watch my back if I were you, Malfoy," he warned.

"If you were me?" Draco snorted. "If you were me, Potter, I'd be ugly."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he muttered, turning and walking back towards the castle.

"I'll keep that in mind," Draco called insolently, leaning back against the tree and watching him go. He waited an hour in the cold for Morgan, then returned to the castle, lying awake in his bed until morning.