Under A Clouded Sun

Under a Clouded Sun

Chapter One: The Messenger

The dark mass of trees that was the Forbidden Forest huddled under a steely grey sky. The gathering wind whipped up the branches making them wave and moan ominously. The same wind stirred up waves in the lake and made the pale blue, silk robes of the girl who was emerging from the forest fly.

She was running. No running wasn't the right word. She had run out of energy and breath to run a long time ago. Now she was simply stumbling and staggering on. Driven by both fear of her pursuers and the urgency of completing her quest. Her silk, slipper-like shoes had been ruined after only a short time in the forest. They had fallen apart, but she carried on, her feet cut and bruised from the forest floor and its roots and undergrowth.

She was making her way around the lake. Her breath ragged, her heart loud in her ears. Too loud. Surely she couldn't carry on, her heart and lungs would just burst. But she had to and now the pursuit was gaining. Dark shapes, still miraculously fresh, were an ever decreasing distance behind.

There came a loud howl from the pursuers. It was long and low and throbbing with an unmistakeable malevolence. She faltered, her foot caught in a hole and she crashed to the ground. She wasn't even able to put both her hands out to catch herself because one was clutching something tightly. She lay there, wanting more than anything just to be able to lie and sleep. Sleep forever. But she could not. She raised her self carefully and started out again, barely able to but weight on her left ankle. She headed up, away from the lake, with its treacherous puddles and hollows, up the slope, towards the castle, towards her aim.

She fell again. This time she could not put weight on either ankle and fell for a third time attempting to stand. She began to crawl up the slope of frosty grass, dragging her lower legs. Almost delirious with pain and exhaustion she struggled on. She had to reach the castle. She had to reach Hogwarts School. She had to see the ones she had come so far to find.

But her pursuers were coming closer. Another terrible howl, nearer now. They were nearly upon her but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't move any faster than she was. She closed her eyes and looked for hidden stores of energy. She had none. She could hear their feet on the snow, almost feel their hot stinking breath.

And then, a miracle occurred. Down through the light drizzle came a figure on a broom stick, like an arrow of God. He landed lightly on the snow next to her, a slight figure dressed in black. She looked up into his pointed, handsome face, up into his grey eyes and tried to speak. The effort was too much, her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

Draco Malfoy looked down at her. Carefully he scooped her up and took off on his broomstick. Below them the child's pursuers had reached the spot where she had lain but Draco flew fast and before they had time to realise where she was gone, the broomstick had crossed the castle wall. She was safe, nothing would face Dumbledore anger by venturing into the castle. The grounds were risky enough. The Dark shapes reluctantly slunk away.

Flying with an unconscious child balanced precariously in front of him was more difficult then Draco had imagined. He landed in the first available place, the owlery. Showing surprising care, he lifted the girl in through the unglazed window and quickly followed.

Carefully, he kneeled next to her. He turned her tear-stained face to him. The ash grey face was strikingly beautiful despite the bruise-like shadows under her eyes and the several shallow cuts left by undergrowth in the Forbidden Forest. She had even, white teeth and silvery, white blonde hair. She stirred, her eyes flicking open, large, deep blue eyes. She could not have been more than eleven.

"Spek...mus...pott.. ro..rry," she muttered incomprehensibly. He watched expressionlessly. His grey eyes taking everything in.

"Must...I ...talk... potter... ron....Harry waesle...speak ," she tried again.

This time Draco froze. He wondered if he had misheard her. She couldn't have asked to speak with Potter or Weasley. That just couldn't be right, she couldn't have dragged herself here, in this state, to see them. He continued to watch her, his face blank, but she had lost consciousness again. Very slowly, he picked up his wand and positioned it so the tip was pressing lightly in her throat.

Just then, he heard feet on the landing, he turned to face it, wand ready but it opened before he could reach the door it opened and he was looking up into Harry Potter's startled face. They glared at each other, grey eyes meeting green ones. Neither moved for a second then both moved at the same instant, wands whirling up to point at each other's throats.

"Harry? What's the matter? Have you changed your mind about letting me borrowing Hedwig or something?" Came a light voice from further down the stairs. Draco raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"How sweet Potter, you've brought your little...."

"Insult her and I'll have you burping slugs for a month, Malfoy," Harry snarled. But Draco was looking delighted.

"Does Ron know that you and his sister.."

"I mean it Malfoy, just one word, one rumour and I'll..."

Harry's threat was interrupted by Ginny managing to shove around Harry and in to the room. Her brown eyes took in the whole situation, Harry and Draco, still with their wands pointed at each other's throats and the unconscious girl lying on the floor behind Draco. When she spoke her voice was cold,

"What are you doing here Malfoy? What have you been doing to that poor girl?"

Neither boy answered her. They continued to glare angrily at each other, Ginny signed in exasperation and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Men!" before whipping her wand out and shouting "Expelliarmus!"

The spell had the desired affect as both boys' wands flew out of their grasps and she caught them neatly.

"Now," she continued. "I want to what exactly has been going on, who the hell that little girl is and what's happened to her." Her voice was dangerously quiet. Harry had moved past her and over to the child's side. He turned her head gently so as to see her face and gasped. This girl was no more then eleven but she was the image of her elder sister, would be even more like her in a year or two.

"What is it, Harry?" Ginny asked, curious.

"It's Gabrielle Delacour!" He answered before throwing himself at Draco and pinning him again the wall.

"What have you done to her?" he snapped

Draco looked at him coolly. "All I've done is save her life. She was being pursued by Nundu," he said calmly. A silence fell.

"You did what?" Harry asked incredulous.

"Nundu? Here?" Ginny asked, equally surprised. "I thought they came from Africa."

Draco said nothing.

"Either way," Harry continued, after a pause. "I think we should take her to the hospital wing and you can tell your tale of heroism," there was definite scepticism as he said that word, "to Madame Pomfrey." He bent down and lifted Gabrielle carefully. Draco felt a wand tip prod him in the back, reached for his own then cursed remembering Ginny had it.

"Come on," Ginny hissed. "You can have your wand back when we've talked to Madame Pomfrey." Another prod from her wand made him walk and all four of them set off down the staircase.

* * *

Several hours later, a cold, damp Harry arrived in the Infirmary after several hours Quidditch practice. He found Ron, Hermione and Ginny seated around a bed where Gabrielle lay sleeping. Madame Pomfrey saw him enter and hurried over.

"I've healed all the cuts and bruises and the broken ankles," she began. "And she should wake up any minute now but I don't know if she'll talk to you. She's been badly frightened." She looked faintly apologetic, "I've had to notify the headmaster of her arrival, I'm afraid."

Harry nodded and hooked a chair round with his ankle to sit with the others at Gabrielle's bedside. Ron grinned across the bed at him, "You want to here the strangest thing? Malfoy actually told the truth! Madame Pomfrey used a truth detecting spell when he told his story and it was true. She was chased by Nundu, he did save her!"

"They were black Nundu," Hermione interrupted. "That means they were sent by someone. You see when a Nundu is enchanted (which can only be done by a strong dark wizard) it loses its colour as it loses its free will and appears black."

Harry frowned. "And Malfoy saved her? I can't understand that. I mean, why? What's in it for him?"

Further discussion was curtailed by the soft moan issued from Gabrielle as she began to move restlessly. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she screamed along piercing scream. Everyone hurried over but Harry was nearest and at the sight of his face, the sight of his scar she calmed.

"Harry Potter," she said, her voice was soft and slightly accented but her English was clear. "I came looking for you for my sister. I need to tell you something. But where is the other one, um, Ron Weasley." Ron bent down next to Harry.

"I'm here," he said gently. "What do you need to tell us?"

"My sister sent you this," she said simply, and opened her hand that had remained tightly clenched, revealing a small gold key. She had been holding it so tightly for so long that she could barely open her hand at all and when Harry took the key he could see that it had left a mark cut into her palm.

"And she said to say.." A loud clap of thunder covered Gabrielle's next words. All the lamps hissed out at once and the room was left black. Before any of them could reach for their wands, their was another loud thunder clap and all the glass in the hospital windows exploded inwards bringing with it a strange ghostly blue light and in that light they all became aware that a tall hooded figure stood there, wand raised.

Harry was on his feet and feeling for his wand in seconds but the hooded figure made a sweeping gesture with its wand and scream a spell in a hard, harsh voice. Harry felt his muscles all seize up. He felt a chill sweep over his body and seemed to turn to ice. He couldn't move even a fraction. His darting eyes were all that appeared to be able to move and through these he saw Ron, Ginny and Hermione in the same position and knew he had to do something. He began concentrating hard on his wand arm, now only inches away from his wand. He found the part of his mind that was cooling and freezing and preventing movement, and began to fight it, just as he had fought the Imperious curse in his fourth year.

All the while the figure was advancing on Gabrielle. As it reached the foot of the bed, she screamed. It was a long, piercing note that went on and on. The figure laughed in success and performed another spell in that horrifying voice. The air seemed to thicken to the consistency of treacle, and Gabrielle's scream was now a jet of light not noise, a jet of pure white light. Light was flooding out of her and into the out stretched hand of the malevolent figure. She realised what was going on and tried to stop but too late. The last of the light pooled into the cupped hand and it neatly poured it into a glass phial.

Harry gave his arm a last burst of furious will and suddenly it was free. His arm and wand blazed up as he uttered the spell to slow the hooded figure down. He felt a surge of triumph as the spell shot nearer but then had to jump backward with a weight of defeat in him as the spell met a wall of that blue light, now gathered around the figure. The spell ricocheted off, scorching the next bed but Harry hadn't noticed because all the strange light in the room was flowing to the figure until there was a glowing blue orb in the centre of the room, so bright Harry had to shield his eyes. Slowly, slowly the orb shrunk until there was only a globe as large as a fist left, then that winked out too like a blue eye closing. And they were left in darkness.

* * *

Hermione slammed the book closed with a defeated sigh and looked around the long emptied common room. It was around two in the morning she guessed from the amount the fire and candles had burned down and they had been at their collective research for hours.

"We're never going to find anything," she said in defeat. Ron raised his head from his crossed arms (he had giving up a long time ago) and smothered a yawn.

"Not tonight anyway."

Harry shook his head. "We have to, we can't give up, we can't! Don't you understand? Gabrielle was trying to give us a message. Something from Fleur. She's in trouble, don't you see? She's asking us to rescue her."

The others looked at him. Ron sprawled on the sofa, Hermione sitting in an armchair and Ginny sitting cross-legged on the floor by the fire. Ron shook his head.

"There he goes again, Sir Harry in his shining armour, riding off on his white charger to rescue another damsel in distress." Hermione and Ginny laughed at the image.

"Honestly, Harry," Ron continued. "All we actually know is Gabrielle arrived here, pursued, to give us a small gold key and a message from her sister which we didn't hear because some lunatic in a hooded robe stole her voice. So, having completely failed to find the meaning of the key we know absolutely nothing."

Hermione yawned deeply, closely followed by Ginny, long, jaw-cracking yawns. Harry smiled tiredly.

"Bed, I think. Come on. We'll continue this in the morning when I want to find out what that key opens, why Fleur would send it to Ron and I, what Draco has to do with Gabrielle, who that hooded lunatic was and... "

"...Why you've turned into Fleur's knight in shining armour all of a sudden?" Hermione finished innocently. The other two laughed.

Harry shook his head, "You don't understand, if anyone sends me a mysterious key and message I'm intrigued. Not to mention that I've been in enough secret rooms and chambers to know that they're usually bad news but I usually end up in them all the same." He sighed. Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance, they had been in the rooms that led from the third floor corridor when they had been in the first year and they had both been in the shrieking shack in third year not to mention the various tunnels to Hogsmeade. Ron had been also been part way down to the Chamber of Secrets.

Ginny had her own memories of that place. Things she remembered sweating in the middle of the night and never mentioned. Perhaps that should have been enough to persuade her to get out of this now, whatever this was. To say no, I won't help, I won't get involved. But she had been included since they had found Gabrielle. Ron, Harry and Hermione had seemed to assume she was meant to be here. Normally they were distinctly elder sibling-like towards her, going off on all their important spates of rule braking without her. She had thought there was nothing she wanted more then to be one of them, for the three of them to treat her as an equal instead of some small child who had to be protected. And there was another thing, the image of Gabrielle lying on her hospital bad as they left, surrounded be the wizard guard Dumbledore had ordered, shouting and crying silently. Her mouth often set wide in a horrific silent scream that plagued Ginny's mind.

Ginny followed Hermione upstairs after a goodnight from Harry and a hug from Ron. She undressed in the pitch black of her dormitory, unwilling to make light for fear of disturbing her friends. Silently she slid into bed and lay listening to the wind moan around the tower.

* * *

Hermione woke with a start. She lay for a moment wondering why she was awake and then became aware of her dry throat. She reached out for the drink she kept on her bed-side-table and felt her questing fingers touch someone's hand. Her hand recoiled instantly and only the awareness of the sleeping girls surrounding her made her bite back her scream. She tried to see into the blackness, feeling the darkness press at her eye-balls.

"Who's there?" she finally managed in a shaky whisper.

"Me," the answer came back.

Hermione lay for a moment, puzzled. She knew that voice that cold drawl all too well but she could not fathom what he would be doing in her dormitory. Too puzzled and sleepy to feel very annoyed she asked, "Malfoy?"

"Of course." There was a smugness at her surprise that made her want to slap him.

"What the hell are you doing in my dormitory?"

"I've come with a proposition that I think you might like to hear," came the amused drawl from the dark figure she could now make out standing next to her bed.

"Now? In the middle of the night?" Hermione asked, still suspicious. "How did you get in?"

"What better time to get you alone long enough to explain every thing? And as to how I got in, did you think your precious Potter was the only one with a broomstick and invisibility cloak?" He indicated the open window.

"I didn't like the sound of this Malfoy. If you think for one moment that I'd-"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't sully myself on a mudblood like you. Anyway, I prefer blondes. I'm only putting this proposition to you because you're less likely to punch me than either of your friends. Much more sensible, more inclined to listen."

Hermione had given up. Making a mental note never to sleep with her window open again she said, "Alright Malfoy, cut the flattery and say your piece."

She heard the smug smile in his voice and again had to fight down the impulse to slap him hard. "I happen to know, well, any fool with eyes can see, that the Gryffindor Quidditch team desperately need new brooms. Potter may have his Firebolt but the Weasleys for example are mounted on brooms that any museum would feel privileged to own. Now, I can afford a full set of decent brooms, fast enough that Gryffindor could be almost unbeatable. Think how many point you could earn for your house." Hermione had stopped allowing herself to be baited by his jibes and was listening perplexed as he continued, "All I want is the key that unfortunate girl delivered to your friends earlier."

Hermione had the urge to spit in his face or something. "You think I'd sell something so important for Gryffindor Quidditch victories? Anyway, when have we needed fast brooms to beat Slytherin? We usually do it on skill alone."

She could hear the restrained fury in his voice. She thought longingly of days when he had let him self be so easily provoked. Once he would of lost his temper at a remark like that, now he knew better. "Perhaps I should have asked Potter or Weasley. They would have jumped at the chance."

"You misjudge them. None of us would ever do that."

"Ahh, but you haven't heard all of the bargain. Give me the key and in return you get her voice."

"What ? You took it?"

" No, but I do know who did and how you could get it back."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply but stopped. Could she answer this alone? She knew what her answer should be. She should throw this back in his face, be proud, not give in to the Dark and all that but prudence help her back. She realised she should speak to Harry and Ron, it was their message after all.

"I need time to think."

"To talk to your friends." It wasn't a question or even an accusation, simply, like so many things he said, an expressionless statement. It was strange to hear his voice come out of the dark like that. For the first time Hermione realised how surreal this was, sitting in bed, in the middle of the night, in the pitch dark, covers drawn around her, bargaining with Draco Malfoy as he stood next to her bed. Suddenly she was exhausted and she smothered a yawn.

"Of course, give us a week to decide. Next Thursday night, say ten o'clock, meet us in the charms class room."

Draco gave her a long, hard look that in the dark she couldn't as much see as feel at last he said,

"Alright."

* * *

At the same time, Harry was tossing and turning in bed, trying to wake up.

He was having a strange nightmare. He was in a wind-scored desert of grey rock under a strange flat sky and clouded sun. The sun puzzled Harry in particular, it had a strange opaque surface and seemed almost frozen, giving off light but seemingly no heat. The landscape was flat as could be in every direction, apart from in front of him where he could see a sharp mountain jutting up and on top of it a brooding, dark castle. It would obviously not have been a nice place even if he couldn't feel the menace radiating from it, radiating like the heat the sun wasn't giving off

He turned around and began to walk in the opposite direction but when he looked up, there it was, straight in front of him again. He tried again and again, running now, trying to go anywhere but the dark castle until at last he collapsed on the hard grey rock under the clouded sun.

Voices came to him. Strange floating pictures, hallucinations. He tried to wake himself up, to force his eyes open. This dream seemed too real. The floating pictures gathered themselves together and resolved themselves into a tall cloaked woman. She smiled coldly down at him and spoke in a high, hard voice.

"You must visit my castle, Harry Potter, there is something there you want."

Harry shook his head, not understanding.

"A message that was intercepted. It awaits you there. You must come to my castle."

Harry shook his head again. He had a natural aversion to anyone telling him he must do anything.

"No."

Now the woman laughed and Harry winced, wanting to cry out because it was the same sound he so often heard in nightmares, a sound he heard when the dementors came near him. It was a high cold laugh. The cruellest sound Harry had ever heard. And as she uttered it Harry's scar began to burn. She spoke again.

"Don't you see it makes no difference, you foolish boy. You'll come here anyway. Even if you don't come now. I will wait for you Harry... "

Then the dream took a different turn as woman seemed to change shape, becoming a boy the same age and height as Harry with a pale, pointed face and silvery blonde hair. Draco Malfoy. He finished the woman's sentence in his own sneering drawl,

"...Potter."

The land under the clouded sun had disappeared and he was standing in a darkened dormitory that after a moment he recognised as Hermione's. He was standing next to her bed and looking across it at Draco. He had a smirk on his face as he reached out and slowly, watching for Harry's reaction, stroked Hermione's sleeping face with one long, pale finger.

Harry exploded towards him, yelling but just as he reached out to grab him the room swan out of focus and Harry snapped awake.

He was being restrained by Ron and Dean, as Seamus and Neville peered around their heads to see. He shrugged them off and sat up. Puzzled he asked, "What's going on? Why is everyone awake?"

Ron opened his mouth to answer but before he could Seamus cut in.

"Honestly, Harry, you were screaming at the top of your voice. Something at Malfoy and I think Hermione was involved too, you certainly shouted her name a lot..."

"I did?" Harry asked weakly.

"Then you tried to punch Ron when he came to see what the matter was..." Seamus continued eagerly.

Ron cut in, "Shut up, Seamus. And it's okay, you can go back to bed now. It was just a bad dream. Thanks for helping Dean."

When the others had returned to bed, still muttering mutinously, Ron raised his eyebrows at Harry and asked, "Well, what was that all about?"

Harry told him as well as he could then sank back onto his sheets with a feeling of deep foreboding in him. He felt it heavy in his chest and Ron let him alone.

Slowly the dormitory filled up with snores again but Harry could not rid himself of the feeling of doom that the dream had left him and so lay awake, eyes wide in the dark. Thinking. Wondering. Fearing.