The Alliance

Chapter 3

Child of Darkness

Remus Lupin was not prepared for the scene that met his eyes as he stepped into the Headmaster's office of Hogwarts. Professor Albus Dumbledore was seated behind his desk with a look of serious perplexity reflecting in his eyes. For a while it seemed as if he didn't even register Remus's presence in the room.

"Is something wrong?"

Dumbledore finally snapped out of his reverie to focus on the sound of Remus's voice. He smiled, but the twinkle was absent in his eyes, and this caused a deep tremor or fear to course through Remus's body.

Noticing this look of fear, Dumbledore quickly shook his head.

"It may not be serious but Severus reported to me that something strange was conspiring in Azkaban. It's been over three weeks now, and I've heard nothing from him since then. Worse, he is subconsciously blocking the connection."

The fear Remus felt instantly turned to dread.

"Is he alright? Is he still safe?"

Before he answered, Dumbledore gestured for Remus to take a seat. Remus was all too eager to comply. He wasn't sure he wanted to be on his feet if something drastic had happened.

As strange as it may seem, Severus Snape had become his heart, his soul, his...whole life. As peculiar as it may seem, they had fallen deeply in love with each other before the war had broken out. Now the very thought that Severus may have been discovered as a spy was the one thing that Remus had been dreading all this time.

Dumbledore smiled at the many emotions that flickered across Remus' eyes as he sat before him. This time the twinkle was once more in place.

"I think he is. He assured me that it had seemed too small to have been about him. Yet he has still been blocking the connection."

Remus considered this information for a few second before he asked another question.

"So he has never done this before?"

At this, Dumbledore nodded his response.

"Since we developed the connection a year ago, he has only done this in important circumstances. As a matter of fact, he only does it if he feels that the connection may be close to discovery. The only other time apart from those instances was when his identity as a spy could have been discovered."

There was silence for a while before Remus spoke again. This time his voice was very quiet.

"Could he could be in danger?"

"Maybe," Dumbledore acknowledged, "or maybe it could be something else."

*********************

Cold...

Darkness...

Pain...

It was all that had become of his universe now, so he had adapted.

From the darkness around him, he had found strength.

In the darkness, he could not hide from the realty of what his life had become. He had been brought into the darkest dungeon of Azkaban to be punished for an act that he did not commit, and it had enlightened him somehow. He was no longer the best, no longer the strongest, he was no longer appreciated for the things he had done in the name of the Dark Lord. In the darkness, none of that mattered anymore.

From the cold, he had found assurance.

From the searing, mind numbing cold that often engulfed him he found something that undoubtedly proved that he was still alive. In the beginning, he had not wanted this reminder but now he endured it, and it had now become almost important to him.

And from the pain he was forced to endure he had found motivation.

If he ever lived through this he would find the person who had done this to him, and he would make sure they knew just how much he had not appreciated this.

*********************

Narcissa Malfoy had only loved one person in her entire life.

She had loved her with her heart, her soul and her entire being. When she had died, Narcissa had died with her, there was nothing left within Narcissa to love again and she hadn't.

He twin sister had been her world, and Lucius had her killed the night he had announced his engagement to Narcissa. Narcissa was a Malfoy now; incest was only tolerated within the realm of the Malfoy family.

Narcissa felt that she owed Lucius nothing, and because his son was also a Malfoy she owed Draco nothing either.

Yet she felt it was her duty to tell him goodbye.

The darkness around her seemed to thicken as she made her way along the passages of Azkaban to the dungeon deep within. Then even before she got there she heard his screams. It seemed that they almost never stopped torturing him for information she knew he didn't have.

Pushing open the door, the first thing she noticed was the stench.

It smelt of death and decay. It smelt as if a thousand persons had died in the room in the most grotesque of manners, and not for a moment did she doubt that they actually had. It smelt of rotting flesh and body fluids, and in the midst of all that, it reminded her of Lucius Malfoy.

There were two figures at the far end of the dungeon. One was screaming under the Cruciatius Curse, and the other was shouting questions at him.

"How long have you been spying for the Resistance?"

There was only screaming.

"Is Hogwarts the location of the Resistance main base?"

More screaming.

"What is the Alliance?"

Only continuous screaming.

Forcing her body to filter out the stench, she opened her mouth to speak, and hoped that she wasn't inhaling anything lethal.

"I would like to have a word with my son."

For a moment it seemed as if neither of the figures had heard her, then the spell was removed.

"Finite Incantatum!"

The screaming stopped, and the torturer approached Lady Malfoy. Only then was she able to decipher who he was, yet it really didn't matter to her.

"If you need me I will be outside," he whispered, as he walked by.

As soon as the door closed behind him, she slowly walked up to her son.

In the darkness he looked like he was floating vertically in the air, hung by his wrist from invisible strings. If she hadn't heard him screaming moments before, she would have sworn that he was dead, and he looked it.

The she saw the blood, and wondered how he managed to still be alive.

He seemed to be almost covered in it. There was even a small puddle below where his feet hung. In the darkness it appeared black and almost unreal. To Narcissa it might as well been. Even as her eyes flickered up his body to his wrists, which she realized had both been broken, she didn't flinch. Even when she saw the ivory bone protruding from one of them and wondered how he had prevented it from severing completely from the pressure on it, she really wasn't affected from the sight of him.

"What are you doing here, Mother?"

As he quietly asked the question she noticed the way his face seemed to be grossly swollen. She realized that his jaw was also badly broken, and she wondered how many other bones were broken too.

"I don't know."

She slowly walked around his body. His back was a field of criss-crossed lines and seemingly never-ending streams of blood flowed from wounds that could have healed, but were magically kept open.

"I came to tell you goodbye." she said as soon as she was facing him again.

Draco laughed bitterly. It was a sound that told of pain and anger and hate.

"How fitting of you, Mother. You've ignored me my entire life. You've never even loved me."

Narcissa looked into his flashing silver eyes. Her eyes. The eyes of the one she had truly loved. For once, she would be honest with him.

"I couldn't love you. I don't know how. You are a symbol of something I hate, an emblem of the pride and pain that is Malfoy. I couldn't love you, you are one of them."

"Not anymore." he whispered and she turned to walk away from him.

"It doesn't matter who you are now, Draco. No one can help you now."

"I didn't betray the Dark Lord, Mother." he whispered to her retreating back.

She paused, as she opened the door her words floated back to him.

"I know, but that isn't my problem. It's yours."

*******************

"Harry what's wrong?"

"I don't know."

"Is it Voldemort?"

"I don't know."

"Is it another member of The Resistance?"

"I don't know."

"Is it important to The Alliance?"

"I don't know."

"Is it a threat to either world?"

"I don't know!"

"Well could you please stop bloody pacing, then! You're making me bloody nervous!"

Harry immediately stopped his trek across the length of the room, and turned to face Ron who had been busy scrying.

"Something's wrong." he said softly.

Ron gave an exaggerated sigh, then looked up from the map of London that had been reflecting in the surface of the crystal glass.

"What do you mean?"

Harry paused to reflect on what he really felt.

"I.... I don't know... I've just had a really weird feeling all day."

Ron considered this information for a few seconds.

"Good feeling or bad feeling?"

"Apprehensive."

There was a pause, then "Oh... I see."

Harry smiled, and was just about to ask Ron what the hell that was supposed to mean when Hermione walked into the room. Heading directly for Ron, she pulled him from where he sat around the dining table, and immediately enfolded herself within his arms.

"What's going on?" she asked when she felt snug enough.

Ron smiled at her then he kissed her on her forehead before he decided to reply.

"I think Harry is having a premonition."

There was a few second of silence before Hermione began to laugh, and Harry turned beet red. She was laughing so hard that Ron had to turn her around in his arms as she doubled over. Tears silently streamed down her face, and even after she seemed to have run out of breath, she was still silently laughing.

When it seemed that she had gained enough control, she looked at Harry's face and began laughing all over again.

"I don't see what's so funny really," Harry whimpered, pouting a little.

Hermione gasped for air then, with a grin still on her face, she wiped her eyes, and stared at Harry.

"Harry, darling, you have never had a premonition in your entire life before. Don't you remember Divinations from first to fifth year? You had to fake all those predictions. Even when Professor Dumbledore had us training in secret during Lower and Upper Six Year you were still the only one of the three of us that couldn't for the life of you predict anything. That was Ron's area. You were spectacular in Defence Against the Dark Arts, but quite horrible in Divinations, even with all that incredibly advanced training. I just find it awfully hilarious that after all this time you're having a premonition. Whatever it is that's causing it right now must either be very special or very powerful!"

All of that was said in only one breath, and Ron was so impressed that half of the speech was lost on him anyway.

Harry just frowned in embarrassment. "I wouldn't exactly say premonition. It's just a weird feeling I have."

"A very strong feeling that had him driving me batty for almost a good two hours!" Ron chipped in.

Hermione grinned at Harry anyway.

"Again, I'm impressed!"

Harry groaned then walked over the table to pick up the crystal glass. Looking at the transparent flat surface, he didn't see anything but his fingers on the other side.

"I never could figure out how these things work," he said, glancing up at Ron and Hermione again in annoyance.

With Hermione still enfolded within his arms and a grin still on his face, Ron rolled his eyes.

"Concentrate on what you're feeling. Your magic will take care of the rest."

Harry looked at him completely blank for a few seconds, then he decided he might as well give it a try.

Looking at the glass again he tried to concentrate on the weird apprehensive feeling that had been slowly getting stronger all day. At first his face reflected nothing but deep concentration and slight annoyance, then suddenly his expression changed to surprise and, after, puzzlement.

Slowly he placed the crystal back onto the table, and just as slowly turned to Ron and Hermione with the same puzzlement in his eyes.

"What did you see?" Hermione asked softly.

"Somewhere in Wizard Britain."

Ron looked shocked.

"Wizard Britain is a huge area, Harry. Where exactly was what you saw?"

Harry looked confused.

"I... I don't know."

"What was there?"

"I don't know."

"Was it human?"

"I don't know."

"Was it Muggle or wizard?"

"I don't know."

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed in annoyance. He detangled himself from Hermione, and went to sit down back at the table.

Hermione looked at each them and smiled.

"Well, Harry, when you figure it all out, tell us okay," she said patiently as she left the room.

So Harry began pacing again.

********************

Pain is always defining, always humbling.

One could always assume that they would be able to stand a certain amount of pain until they actually experience it. Then if it is beyond that person's limitations it strips them of every emotion and every ounce of pride they can own. It takes away everything until it is all that is left, and the reaction is almost always immediate.

Even the most prestigious person, surrounded by pain, will scream.

"Maximus Crucio!"

So Draco screamed...

...And Pansy laughed as she entered the dungeon.

"Finite Incantatum!"

Pansy pouted sexily at Blaise's father, then, with a sudden smile, she winked.

"No, don't stop for our sake. We like to hear him scream."

Draco lifted his head slowly to look at the three persons before him. Pansy had already removed her gaze from the elder Zabini, and was back to grinning evilly at Draco. Crabbe and Goyle stood impassively beside her.

"Maximus Crucio!"

Draco was immediately engulfed in pain again, and as always, he screamed.

"How does it feel, Draco? How does it feel to be on the other end of the Cruciatus Curse?" Pansy asked, as she slowly begun walking around his body.

Stopping directly in front of him again, she looked up into his pain-glazed face and smiled.

"Do you like it Draco?" she asked softly, trailing a finger up his stomach as far up as she could reach.

Without even turning, she motioned for Zabini to stop the spell.

"Finite Incantatum!"

As soon as the pain stopped Draco gulped in large batches of air. When he had had enough he forced himself to look at Pansy again.

"My condolences to you, Parkinson. Even in my current blood-soaked state, I can see that you still can't fight that urge you have to want to fuck me." he said softly.

Pansy eyes began to flash in anger, but before she truly lost her temper, she forced herself to calm down.

"I'm impressed Malfoy, I always thought you were above the "F" word."

Draco's expression didn't change.

"Well trash begets trash, and everyone knows that you've always liked being below me, Parkinson."

The pun was so obvious that even Crabbe raised an eyebrow at the double insult.

"Well at least I don't have a father that takes it up the ass." she retorted.

Draco's eyes narrowed.

"No, your father just prefers to screw his daughter than his wife."

Pansy didn't even have the common decency to even blush. Instead she simply turned, and flounced out of the room. Draco was very pleased that he had cut her visit short. He wasn't sure that he could have kept up the verbal battle any longer.

"Crucio!"

The voice rang out in sadistic disappointment, but this time Draco waited until Pansy was out of earshot before he screamed.

*******************

"Where are you going, Harry?"

Harry had been so engrossed in minimizing his wand into 'pocket size' that he hadn't heard Hermione enter his room.

Brushing past her, he made his way along the passage to the stairs.

"There."

Behind him Hermione patiently sighed.

"Where exactly is there?"

Harry paused to turn and look at her.

"I still have no idea, but I have to go."

At that point Ron seemed to suddenly appear behind Harry, and he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to comment.

"Then would you mind telling us how we're going to Apparate there if we don't know where we're going?"

To this Harry had the perfect solution. He didn't even pause to question the 'we' in Ron's comment. He didn't have to, the Alliance travelled everywhere together.

"We're going to travel Muggle."

Ron couldn't suppress a groan at that information. Though he had gotten quite familiar with the Muggle way of travelling in the past two years, he really thought the wizarding way was much easier.

Glancing at Hermione, he saw the question in her eyes and sighed. As much as he loved the wizarding way, he was smart enough to realize that it could never work in a situation like this.

"So, what are we waiting for? It'll be dark soon, and something tells me this may be a very long night." he conceded.

Grinning with joy, Harry pulled both his best friends into a group hug.

"You two are the greatest!"

Hermione just grinned back, but Ron sighed dramatically.

"Yes, well, the things I put myself through for the two of you."

*******************

Lucius's fist connected squarely with Draco's already broken jaw, and immediately Draco was awakened from his unconscious state.

After Pansy had left, he had been put through a series of torture like none he had to endure before. His head felt as if it was literally split in two, and he knew that more than likely he had been bleeding internally. He really couldn't feel his body anymore. In fact he had been slipping in and out of consciousness for nearly five hours, and the only thing he had woken up to had been pain. This time it appeared that the Zabini Sr. had been gone for a while, and Draco would have loved to have rejoiced.

Except, now it seemed his father wanted to talk.

"I wonder why everyone's decided to visit me today," Draco said softly, "Well, father, since you're here, I'm sure you'd also like to tell me what you think of me."

"You have embarrassed me and your mother, Draco. More importantly, you have insulted the Malfoy name. If it were up to me, I would see that you suffer long and hard, but the Dark Lord has commanded that we be rid of you today. You have become worthless to both the Dark side and me. You are no longer any child of mine."

As Lucius spoke in his hard cold voice, Draco looked at the man he had admired his entire life, and only felt the deepest loathing. He had given up his life, his freedom, his entire being for this man, and instead of standing by him, Lucius had chosen to pretend to ignore the obvious. Yet Draco felt that Lucius knew he had not betrayed the Dark side. Draco knew that like his mother, his father had instead chosen to abandon him.

There was no one who could help him now.

"How dare you father?" Draco asked softly. His eyes met the cold blue eyes of his father and he was overcome by disgust.

"What did you say?" his father asked just as softly, his eyes never leaving his son's.

"How dare you," Draco repeated, "How dare you stand there telling me that I have insulted the Malfoy name? When you have dragged it through the mud, while you pretend to be Voldemort's little whore. Don't speak to me of embarrassment, father. Ever since we came here it is all that I've had to endure."

Lucius punched Draco again, and Draco had to force himself not to scream in pain. Behind his closed eyelids, Draco saw sparks of pain.

With his eyes still closed this time, Draco decided to speak again.

"Is he that good, father? Did you miss having your dick up an ass so badly that you had to give up everything for him? Did you like it? Did he make you scream? Was he really that good father?"

Lucius's eyes narrowed, and he only slightly hesitated before he answered.

"Yes, he was, is, amazing."

And for the second time in almost twelve hours, Draco laughed sarcastically.

"Better than me?"

The entire world seemed to have gone completely silent at the quietly asked question. It had been so effective that even Lucius flinched slightly. Then suddenly a throat was cleared as Severus Snape stood at the now open door. Blaise Zabini Sr. brushed past him, but it was obvious that both had heard the little interlude.

"Lucius, the order has been given to get rid of him. I think it is time you leave. Besides, the Dark Lord needs you," Snape said, still at his position at the door.

Without even a second glance, Lucius walked out of the room.

Before Severus left, however, he cast a glance at the bloodied figure at the other end of the room.

For a moment Draco thought he almost saw sympathy in Snape's face, but it had been so swift that the sneer was back on his face before the door was closed and Draco was once again left with his torturer.

"Stupify!"

After that, for a very long time, Draco was totally overcome by darkness.

Three dark wizards entered the room, and they quickly went to work in releasing him from his bonds. When they had finished, Zabini Apparated with the broken, blood soaked body to somewhere deep within the realm of Britain.

If Draco wasn't dead by then, he wouldn't make it past the next two hours.

********************

"What are we looking for?"

"I'll know when I see it."

"Well could you hurry the bloody hell up, I'm freezing my ass off here!"

Obviously, the last words had been spoken by Ron.

They had travelled from train station to train station; from subway to subway until Ron had felt quite turned around pretty lost. Yet Harry's confidence never wavered; only he seemed to know which way to go. Now they seemed to be very far from civilization, and even Ron realized that they weren't in England anymore.

Somehow, after leaving the last train station hours ago, they had walked until they ended up in what seemed to be a small forest. The temperature seemed to have drastically decreased not soon after they had entered, and now Ron wasn't the only one that wished they'd been wearing their robes.

Suddenly Hermione paused.

"Am I the only one that's hearing the hooting of an owl?" she asked.

Harry immediately paused also, but Ron just looked at them impatiently.

"We're in the middle of a forest; of course we'll be hearing owls."

Harry was not so unconvinced.

"I think I hear it, too!" he exclaimed, then began to run in the general direction of the sound.

He was immediately followed by Hermione, but Ron was a little more hesitant.

That was until they saw the dark outline of a figure lying just ahead in a little clearing. An owl stood beside the still figure, occasionally hooting and picking on its master's torn clothes.

Though his body was covered in blood, and some of his body parts were aligned at grotesque angles, Harry would have known that form anywhere.

"It's Malfoy." Harry whispered confidently.

Ron looked at him strangely.

"How do you know?"

Harry shrugged before he replied, "I would know him anywhere."

The three approached the body closer, and Harry knelt, and put his ears against Draco's chest. Phoenix stopped his hooting, and looked on in a gesture of curiosity.

"Is he dead?" Ron asked.

"No," Harry replied, barely glancing up at him, "but he's barely breathing."

"We have to help him." Hermione whispered.

"And just how do you suggest we do that?" Ron looked around his surroundings as he spoke. The darkness was beginning to look quite foreboding. "We don't even know where we are, how will we get back?"

Harry tore his eyes away from the still form of Draco, and looked at both his friends. Determination blazed strongly in his eyes.

"We don't need to know where we are to Apparate -" he began, but Hermione interrupted him softly.

"No, but we need to know how far away we are from where we want to be. If we try to Apparate without knowing how far we'll have to travel, it will be dangerous."

Harry began to look angry.

"Well we can't stay here; we have to do something! What if he dies?"

Ron wisely decided to not comment, but Hermione was not following suit.

"What if we die trying?"

Harry was silent for a while, then softly he spoke again.

"Then I'll try to Apparate to Diagon Alley with him. You two can find your way there after."

Ron looked exasperated.

"What makes you think we want you to risk it when we won't? It's too dangerous!"

"I have to try," Harry said, as he picked up the surprisingly light form of Draco. He hoped he wasn't making the broken bones any worse.

As if he knew he couldn't follow them, Phoenix fluttered up to Hermione's shoulder, and sat there as still as possible. His eyes, however, never left his master's form.

"Harry, it's just Malfoy." Ron said quietly.

"I know," Harry said just as softly, but the determination never left his eyes.

Hermione smiled then slowly she walked up to him and, tipping slightly, she kissed him on the lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

"Be safe," she whispered.

"Always."

Then with a pop, Harry disappeared from their sight.

******************

// We have Draco.//

// Good. I was really afraid that he was going to die.//

// Don't get too relieved, he still might.//

// Well at least he has a better chance at living now than he did at Azkaban.//

// What happened to him?//

Silence.

// Severus?//

More silence, then...

// He was betrayed... and abandoned.//

************** *** ***************