The Heart Asks Darkness First

CHAPTER TEN - DEEP INTO THE FOREST

Ten minutes later, Hermione, Ron, Cho and Draco were all heading towards the Forbidden Forest. Draco had his wand drawn, clearly on the warpath. Hermione and Ron were shooting worried glances at each other and Cho was trailing behind, clearly not used to the ways of the adventurous Gryffindors. As they entered the Forest, Draco sighed. "For some reason, this reminds me of a song Mother keeps playing."

Ron looked at the Slytherin as though he were insane. "How do you mean, Malfoy?"

Draco shrugged. "There´s just this instrumental piece she plays over and over. There´s a whole...thing full of these songs, but-"

"Malfoy," Hermione interrupted. "Are you telling us that your mother listens to Muggle music?"

"She never used to," Malfoy shot back. "But even so...it´s quite a pretty piece."

"I think I know the one you mean." Hermione replied. "It´s called...Deep into the Forest, something like that?"

Malfoy nodded. "Any minute now it feels like we´re going to go into that faster bit - the bit that sounds like there´s a chase going on?"

Hermione nodded "I know which bit you-"

They were cut off by a loud cry of pain. Hermione glanced at Malfoy. "Looks like we´ve hit it."

Malfoy nodded then raced off in the direction of the sound. Ron shot an incredulous look at Hermione. "Can you believe you just had a civilised conversation about Muggle stuff with Draco Malfoy?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don´t know what´s going on with that boy, but I dare say he´ll go back to normal soon enough."

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but shouldn´t we follow him?" Cho intervened.

Ron nodded. "You´re right, Cho. Come on, let´s go."

~GW~ ~TR~

Back in the clearing, Harry was collapsed on the ground as the force of two Cruciatus curses hit him. He had never felt so much pain in his entire life, and he longed to pass out just so the pain would stop. As he felt everything swim out of focus he could have sworn he heard someone approaching, but he couldn´t look to see who it was even if he wanted to.

Both Voldermorts glanced up at the approaching footsteps, allowing Harry some much-needed relief. Both had their wands pointed at the bushes, ready to strike at whoever was about to disturb them. As a familiar blond figure came into view, the younger Dark Lord let out a cruel smile. Moving to meet the Slytherin boy, he called "Malfoy! What can I do for you?"

"Get out of my way, Riddle! Even better, get out of my life!" A silver bolt shot from the end of Draco´s wand, connecting with the other boy´s solar plexus. As Tom buckled, the older Voldermort looked up. "Ah, young Malfoy. Never thought I´d see you turn on one of your own."

"He´s not one of my own; you´re not one of my own!" Malfoy took another step forward. Behind him, the other three students´ approach could be heard. Harry looked up, hardly knowing what to expect. "Who did you bring with you, Malfoy?"

Malfoy turned to him. "I didn´t bring them with me. They came in the same direction."

As he said this, Hermione, Ron and Cho reached them. "What´s going on?" Hermione asked.

Cho immediately rushed to Harry´s side. "Harry! Are you okay?"

Voldermort laughed. "Aw, how sweet. The little girl rushing to the hero´s side."

Meanwhile, Tom had turned back to Draco. "So, why are you helping a bunch of Gryffindors?"

"I´m not," the other boy snarled. "I only came here for you."

"You know you can´t kill me."

"Maybe not, but I can have a hell of a lot of fun without killing you." Another silver flash shot from Malfoy´s wand. Tom managed to dodge and shot back an icy blue ray. It connected with Draco´s shoulder, and the blond winced with the pain. Determined not to be outdone, a matching blue flash soon followed, this time hitting Tom´s chest.

As the two Slytherins battled it out, the trio and Cho had managed to regroup and had turned to face Voldermort. The old wizard smiled coldly. "You know how easily I could get rid of you all?"

"Just try it!" Hermione challenged. "And see how long it takes for you to get found out."

"Hmm. Maybe I will." Pointing his wand at Cho, Voldermort uttered the two most dreaded words - "Avada Kedavra!"

The green flash connected with the Ravenclaw and she collapsed to the ground. Harry froze to the spot, unable to believe what he had just seen. Voldermort cackled as he moved to aim his wand at Ron. He was about to cast when -

"Flamma!" An angry orange flame shot out from Hermione´s wand. Draco looked up in time to see this and was about to shout out when Tom, taking advantage of the distraction, punched him square in the jaw. Draco fell to the ground, the force of the contact with the ground knocking him unconscious. The young Voldermort then turned his attention to the trio, who were stood over the older version´s smouldering body. "You may have killed one of me, but you´ll never be able to kill the other. Not without losing your dear Ginny."

The trio stood stock still for a moment, trying to work out what he meant. Then Harry clicked. "The bind. Neither of you can live without the other."

Tom nodded. "Now if you´ll excuse me. I have things I need to be doing."

As he walked off into the darkness, Hermione moved to look more closely at Draco. "He´s still out cold."

"Why do you think he got distracted?" Ron moved to stand next to his girlfriend. The response he got came from a familiar voice sounding from behind them. "I can´t believe it´s too late."