Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent

He looked down; the trees were below them now. Harry scanned the forest, looking for clearings. He often had to make several passes over an opening in the trees to determine whether there was anything to see; the clearings were small, he was well over a hundred feet in the air, and he flew over them quickly. He couldn't hover, like a hummingbird. They saw the giants' camp at one point, and he hoped they didn't see him. He wondered whether Malfoy had run into the giants.

Then a strange feeling thrilled through him. He felt it from the tips of his nose and ears to the end of his tail, to his very toes. An animal instinct, making his hide twitch; he felt like he was sensing Ron's presence. We're close, he thought.

Hermione spotted them first. She dared to take one hand off his mane and point. "There! I saw a fire--and Malfoy's hair. It's impossible to miss!"

Harry would have felt a lot better if she'd seen Ron's hair--that was pretty hard to miss, too. Then she frantically clutched at his mane again, making him wince. He was banking, heading for a clearing that was about one-hundred yards from where she'd seen the fire. Hopefully Malfoy hadn't seen them in the sky. He probably wouldn't think to look up, Harry thought. Unless he expected them to come on broomstick...

Harry tried not to think of what would happen if Malfoy saw him in his griffin form. He descended in tight spirals, as she pulled painfully on his mane even more. They were on the ground at last. There was a greenish cast to the late-afternoon light in the forest, as if they were underwater. Harry changed back to his human form, groaning with the pain, both in his bones and his scalp.

"Ouch, Hermione! You can stop pulling my hair now."

"Sorry," she mumbled, rolling off his back, the absence of her warm weight making him feel a little cold. It was less embarrassing this time for her to be flying with him; they'd been far more intimate physically since that first time in the air.

Harry willed himself to stand and disregard the pain in his joints. He helped her to stand and pointed through the trees at the fire; it was a large one, visible even at a distance. I hope they aren't going to burn the forest down, he thought. Then he jumped when he heard Sandy hissing under his robes.

"Harry Potter," Sandy said softly. "What has happened?"

"Oh no!" Harry said, hitting his head, feeling like a complete prat. "I forgot! I was wearing Sandy when I changed!" He pulled her out of his sleeve. "Sandy! Are you all right? I'm so sorry--"

"For what are you sorry?"

"For changing into a golden griffin and not putting you somewhere safe--"

"You can change into a golden griffin?"

"It's my Animagus form. That's why I wasn't wearing you to dinner for a while, because every night after dinner..."

"Interesting. I was part of a golden griffin."

"What?"

"When you changed, I changed with you. I do not remember anything that occurred during that time. Where are we now?"

"In the Forbidden Forest. So you're okay?"

"Evidently. I am not saying that I would choose to be a part of a golden griffin every day, as I do not like them. You did not kill any snakes I hope?"

"No. I just did it so I could fly over the forest."

Hermione tapped him on the shoulder. "As interesting as it is to stand here listening to you hissing, we have to find Ron!"

"Right. Just a second." He looked at Sandy again. "Sandy, can you See anything? Anything at all?"

"I cannot receive the Sight at will, Harry Potter. It is a gift."

"Well if you have any gifts to give me while we're here in the forest, please let me know right away. I know I sometimes tell you not to tell me things, to stay quiet, but right now I need all the help I can get."

"I will not keep quiet," she promised him. Harry let her slither back under his sleeve; he felt her wind around his arm again. He nodded at Hermione and reached for her hand; she gave it to him at first, then changed her mind and took her wand out. He nodded again and took out his own--no, that didn't look right. He had grabbed Ron's, which he put back in his pocket. He found his own wand and took it out. They approached the clearing as quietly as they could.

Finally, they reached the perimeter of the irregular break in the trees. They could feel the heat now from the enormous orange-blue fire in the center. Malfoy was nowhere to be seen, but Harry was sure this was the same clearing they'd seen from the air. Where is he? Harry wondered. The clearing seemed deserted.

Suddenly, Hermione cried, "Ron!" She ran toward him. Thick vines bound him to a tree to the left of the thick tree trunk where they'd been crouching, which had blocked their view of him. Ron didn't respond when she threw her arms around him. Harry looked around the clearing again, peering closely at the trees around him. He could see no one else. Hermione pulled away from Ron. Harry walked up to him and put his hands on either side of his head. His skin was still warm and his eyes rolled back in his head.

"Stunned," Harry said simply. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. She leaned on the tree next to Ron's catching her breath. Suddenly, what looked like very strong vines around the base of the tree reached out and pulled her to the trunk. She screamed, but more vines wound themselves around her, trapping her arms at her sides. Even though it only took Harry a moment to reach her, he couldn't pry the thick vines from her, as strong as steel cables.

Then he felt something on his foot. He looked down and saw a vine wrap itself around his ankle and pull him to a tree beside Hermione's. Before he could do anything, more vines whipped around his body, binding him to the tree, as had happened to her. He looked helplessly at her and the still-senseless Ron. He had dropped his wand; it lay on the ground not a foot in front of him. Hermione had also dropped her wand.

Harry looked toward the crackling flames, which did not seem to rely on any sort of fuel to burn. Then he thought he saw a face floating above the flames; no, it wasn't floating. It was a person approaching from the other side of the clearing. A face he'd last seen on the day of the ceilidh, staring back at him from the edge of the village moments before he Apparated.

Lucius Malfoy.

The look in his eyes chilled Harry to the bone. He smiled, the most insincere smile Harry had ever seen in his life. Harry was startled by how much he seemed to be just an older version of his son; he hadn't thought the Lucius Malfoy in the Pensieve looked exactly like Draco Malfoy. But now he felt as if he could see a quarter-century into the future, see an older Draco Malfoy. Which will never happen, Harry thought, if I just kill him, which I might very well...

He saw Ginny in his mind's eye again, shivering and wide-eyed, her huddled form against his chest like a small child as he carried her to the hospital wing. He clenched his jaw. Malfoy would pay for what he'd done to Ginny--both Malfoys, he remembered, since Lucius Malfoy had been the one to give Ginny Tom Riddle's diary. He felt hate for all things Malfoy roiling through him, as he watched the grim-faced wizard who'd recruited Snape to be a Death Eater walk around the magical fire toward him.

Draco Malfoy followed his father. Another figure was behind him; he was slight, bowed just a little, wearing a hood which threw his features into shadow. He walked toward Harry, Ron and Hermione around the opposite side of the fire from the two Malfoys, and when he raised his hands to push his hood back, that's when Harry saw it; Hermione had noticed too, and she gasped.

The silver hand.

Wormtail's ghoulish little face peered at Harry, Ron and Hermione, and something that might have been a smile spread over his visage. He and Lucius and Draco Malfoy approached them. Harry and Ron were on each end, Hermione in the middle. Harry stared with revulsion at Wormtail. Suddenly, his parents' erstwhile Secret-Keeper raised his wand and pointed it at Ron.

"Enervate!"

Ron shook his head and struggled to open his eyes. He looked down, surprised to see himself bound to a tree. He looked surprised in general, staring first at Wormtail, then the Malfoys, then Harry and Hermione.

"W-what--?" he stammered.

"I'll talk," Harry informed the two of them, taking charge. "Where is he, Wormtail?"

His eyes bore into Harry's. "Where is who?" came his oddly high-pitched voice.

"Voldemort."

"My Master. And soon--your Master as well."

"Where is he?" Harry was shaking.

"He is not coming today. Tomorrow, we will take you to him."

"Why?"

"Several reasons. You know that while he has his body back, he is not as strong as he was when the curse that rebounded from you left him less than a spirit. He is busy...busy building up his strength again. He does not wish to exert himself unduly. He is relying upon his servants to be strong for him until he is back to--his old self."

"No, I mean why am I being recruited? Voldemort's been trying to kill me for years. Why does he want me to be on his side now?"

Wormtail smiled. "On his side? You say that, Harry, as though being 'on his side' is the same as being his comrade, an equal. You will not be 'on his side,' you will be his servant. There is a difference."

"You still haven't said why."

He nodded at Draco Malfoy. "Young Malfoy tells us you know about the Prophecy. You know why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as a baby, and since then. 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Surely you have heard that. You know that your parents decided they would rather die than see you serve my Master. It was I who convinced him to give James and Lily that choice. They did not need to die. All they had to do was let him put a spell on you as a baby, an invisible kind of Dark Mark, if you will, and you would have been his faithful servant. You would have had so many advantages! Young Malfoy here--he had some of those advantages, briefly, before the Dark Lord tried to kill you, and almost died himself. I asked him not to kill James and Lily, I did Harry. I would not lie about that. But they would not agree to raise you to be his servant, and without that promise, my Master's spell would have been useless, just as useless as if you were orphaned. Once he killed both of your short-sighted parents..."

"Hey!" Harry responded indignantly.

"He decided to kill you, to make a clean sweep of it. Unfortunately, he did not anticipate Lily's sacrifice protecting you. And so you lived. Yet you did receive some protection from my Master, in a way, something of the protection you would have enjoyed had your parents simply let him claim you as his in the first place. You have enjoyed some of the abilities my Master has, have you not? I understand you are a Parselmouth, like my Master. Do you ever offer any thanks to him for this ability? You should. Or, when you see him, you can thank him in person."

"Thank him? For trying to kill me? And suppose--just suppose I agree to do this, to keep some people safe..." he looked sideways at Ron and Hermione.

"No, Harry!" she cried.

"Harry, don't!" Ron implored.

"This is my choice!" Harry growled back, his heart going a mile a minute.

"You know what we told you, Harry..." Hermione reminded him.

"We meant it," Ron said; Harry did indeed remember. They said they would die before letting him become a Death Eater.

"But that wouldn't be the end, even if the worst happened, would it?" he said to them. "There are always other people that could be hurt. How many people are supposed to suffer before it stops? Remember the Westminster tube station? He did that just to get my attention. Remember POTTER on the wall?"

Lucius Malfoy smiled. "Well, getting your attention was one reason for what the Dark Lord did in that station..."

"What was the other?"

The elder Malfoy smiled coyly. "You don't know the significance of that station?"

"Just that it's near Parliament."

He continued to smile. "Well. You are an ignorant little whelp, aren't you? But then, those Muggles wouldn't have been able to teach you anything, would they? Although it seems that the other two don't know either. Interesting. I don't know what this school is coming to. And you Weasley, son of a Ministry employee..."

"What are you talking about?" Harry wanted to know.

"Not now. There will be time..."

Harry glared at him. What was significant about that particular station? Other than the connection to Muggle government? "And the Three Broomsticks. Were you behind that?"

"Technically, although of course, I was down the road at the ceilidh, where dozens of people could vouch for me..."

"Do you think that your becoming a Death Eater will put a stop to all that?" Hermione demanded of Harry. "What do you think you would be required to do as a Death Eater?"

Lucius Malfoy stepped toward them, cold steel-colored eyes lighting on each of them in turn. "Yes, young Potter. What do you think I should ask you to do? Hmmm...Torturing your friends comes to mind..."

"No!" Harry cried. "Let them go. I'm who you want. Leave them out of it. All right. I accept. Make me a Death Eater, I don't care. But let them go." He felt tears behind his eyelids. Now Draco Malfoy came swimming toward him, looking blurry.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" he said in a sing-song intonation. "Except that it's not true that you're the only one wanted here. I've been telling my dad that Granger and Weasley would make fine candidates as well. She has the brains, and he has the temper. I can testify to that," he said with a lopsided grin, pressing his hand momentarily against a bruise on his cheekbone. His open wounds had been magically healed between the time Snape hauled him out of the Potions classroom and this moment, but it was easy to tell he'd been fighting recently.

"I can't believe I actually was starting to think you were an all-right bloke...Helping me when the pub blew up, sitting with Neville..." Ron's wounds were caked in dried blood, a bruise on his cheekbone below his left eye; he might have had other bruises, but the facial hair he'd grown to hide the scar on his cheek now also hid those marks.

Draco Malfoy smiled. "Thank you, thank you," he said, bowing. "I should go on the stage, I should. Take the West End by storm."

Hermione muttered darkly, "If you ever appear in the West End, people will no longer be engaged in hyperbole when they say the theatre is dead."

He stepped forward, stood very close to her. "Now you're just trying to hurt my feelings," he whispered, his face very close to hers. She turned her head and closed her eyes.

"What feelings?" Ron snarled. "Look at what you did to my sister!"

Draco Malfoy laughed, stepping back from Hermione and looking at his father and Wormtail, who smiled smugly. "What I did to your sister! You haven't figure it out yet, you great ponce?"

Ron looked murderously at him. "Figured what out?" he said between his teeth.

"That I didn't do a damn thing to your sister. That whole scene was an act. She's almost as good as I am. If I were going to shag your sister--especially against her will--do you think I'd use the Potions dungeon? I'm not an exhibitionist, Weasley. Not that there haven't been people who tried to change my mind about that." He smiled, enjoying himself. "We weren't sure who our audience would be, but we were pretty safe in betting that one or more of the Weasley brothers, once they got wind of it, would be trying to bash my skull in. Luckily, I took a lot of painkilling potion beforehand. You were getting very annoying, you know. Actually landed one or two punches."

Ron was looking like he was sulking a bit. "A lot more than that, I thought."

"Okay, three or four. I'd suggest that you all put your hands together and clap for the fabulous acting talents of Miss Virginia Weasley, but she's not here--she's continuing her performance in the infirmary, I assume--and you three aren't exactly in a position to clap."

"What makes you think I believe you?"

"Would you like me to detail every move of my seduction of your sister? Or better still--her seduction of me? She's got a very dirty mind, you know. All the smartest girls do. But then, you know that, don't you Potter?" Although he spoke to Harry, he looked at Hermione again. Harry saw her close her eyes, shivering, so she wouldn't have to meet that knowing gaze. "That part of our relationship is actually relatively new. I was almost proper about the whole thing, waiting until after she turned fifteen. I just hope the Dark Lord doesn't think that makes me soft, that it disqualifies me from being a Death Eater." He smiled at his father, who chuckled appreciatively. Wormtail looked uncomfortable. "Potter saw us behind Hagrid's cabin on her birthday. You didn't know I'd figured that out, did you Potter? You have to watch what you say in future. You can be careless. Ginny wasn't ready that day. Close, but not quite."

Ron glared at Harry. "You knew about them ?"

Draco Malfoy slowly, laconically walked over to stand before Ron. "Not only that, Weasley," he drawled. "He knew about it quite a while ago." He turned to look at Harry and Hermione. "When was it, October? You know, that night the two of you were going at it in your common room and I came by to take Ginny for a little midnight walk around the castle..."

"October!" Ron's voice had gone up an octave. "Common room?" His face was turning as red as his hair.

"It wasn't like that!" Hermione burst out desperately. "We had just used Hedwig to deliver a letter to Dudley. Ginny came downstairs and Harry figured out that she was going to meet Malfoy--"

"Hermione!" Harry said suddenly. "Shut up!" She looked at him with a hurt expression, hearing the hardness in his voice. He was tired of the lies.

But Ron looked at Malfoy through narrowed eyes, nodding his head. "Oh, I see what you're doing again, Malfoy. I told you before, Harry and Hermione are friends. You can stop the--"

"Friends?" Malfoy laughed. "If most friends regularly shag each other senseless."

"Stop it!" Ron shouted. "Stop saying that!"

"Can't stand the truth, can you Weasley?" He moved from Ron to Hermione, standing very close to her. She turned her head, closing her eyes, her cheeks flushed, a tear running down one cheek.

Although he was looking closely at her, he was addressing Harry. "What's she like, Potter? Eh? What kind of sounds does she make? I'm betting on a screamer..."

"Malfoy--" Ron was saying again, getting darker red with every second. Suddenly Hermione turned her head and spat at Malfoy. He stepped back, wiping his cheek with his hand, livid. He reached for his wand, but Wormtail stepped forward, putting his hand on his arm.

"There is a way to determine this," he said with a soft lisp, and then suddenly, he was Scabbers again, but Scabbers with a strange little silver paw. He climbed up Hermione's robes, then the ropy vines binding her. He poked his nose here and there, while Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and looked green. He climbed higher and higher, closer to her face. She lifted her chin when he sniffed her neck; she was shivering and shaking, more tears sliding out of her eyes.

Without warning, the rat ran down her body and went to Harry, repeating the performance. Harry felt goosepimples all over as he felt the rat's progress; he felt sour stomach bile in the back of his throat as the rodent came closer and closer to his face. He squeezed his eyes shut as Hermione had done, trying to blank his mind until it was over.

Finally, the rat jumped back down to the ground, and in a blink, Wormtail had reappeared in his human form. He smiled lasciviously at Draco and Lucius Malfoy.

"They've been together in the last twenty-four hours. Probably more like fifteen hours. His smell is all over her, hers is all over him...there's some soap, too. They've tried to wash each other's scents away, but it's too soon, it's still too strong. And it's not just that their scents are on each other; there's another scent too. Unmistakable. Certain--bodily fluids--"

A slow smile spread across Draco Malfoy's face. "I am the luckiest bugger there is. I just want all of you to know that." He looked at Ron, who was glaring at Harry and Hermione, still speechless. Hermione looked at her feet; Harry glared at Draco Malfoy. "I certainly suspected, especially after that photo turned up...but now we know, don't we? Beyond a shadow of a doubt. I don't hear anyone denying it now." He turned to his father, waving his arm at the three bound to the trees as though he were a salesman showing off his wares. "Have I done it or haven't I, father? Now, I know I said I would bring you Harry Potter and his two best friends, but this is even better. Harry Potter, his best friend and--his girlfriend."

His father stepped forward and stood very close to Hermione, looking down at her in a way Harry did not like. "So," he said in a soft, silky voice. "It worked." He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. When she flinched away from his touch, he smacked her, the red imprint of his hand showing clearly on her pale cheek. Harry had hoped for a moment that she might spit at him too, but she didn't look like she would dare.

"Leave her alone!" Ron growled at him, straining again at the vines. Lucius Malfoy ignored him, continuing to bore his eyes into Hermione, his hand on her cheek again. She would not meet his gaze. His son laughed at Ron.

"Still defending her after the way she lied to you, Weasley? After the way she went after Potter? The way she forced you to settle for Patil? Not that Patil doesn't look very nice and--flexible. But when she's not your first choice..."

"Leave Parvati out of this!" Ron snarled.

"You said it worked," Harry said suddenly to Lucius Malfoy. His voice shook. "What worked?"

The older man didn't turn away from Hermione. "I planned ahead. I thought, Would a teenage boy do everything in his power to protect his friends? Considering that the boy in question was Harry Potter, the answer was--probably. Then I asked myself, What about a girlfriend? And the answer I gave myself changed to definitely. My next problem was--how to make sure Harry Potter would have a girlfriend. I came up with several prospects."

Sirius had said the very same thing, Harry remembered. A teenage boy--how better to get at him than going through a teenage girl? He turned to look at Hermione; she turned her head and met his gaze, an anguished look in her eyes. A spell, he thought, his mind reeling. It was all a spell!

His throat was tight as he choked out the question: "Who?"

"We began first with a couple of girls in your own house, girls you would also see during Quidditch practice. It was easy enough to find Miss Bell, since she was staying with her great-aunt in Hogsmeade during the summer, and it was also fairly simple with the Head Girl, since her parents are Muggles. Draco didn't know about this. That's one reason I was somewhat surprised to see her with my son at the ceilidh. I behaved as if I did not know about her parents. It would have been suspect for me to know too much about her. I would have thought that she would have been your choice if you were going on looks alone," he said snidely to Harry, lifting up a lock of Hermione's hair as if judging her and finding her wanting. "Didn't she pursue you at all, Potter?"

"Yes," Harry whispered, remembering his moment of weakness, when Alicia kissed him and he kissed back.

"And Bell?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Not as much," he said quietly. "I think--she fancied another boy." He remembered Lee Jordan being rather alarmed by Katie having mononucleosis. "Was that all?"

Draco Malfoy laughed derisively. "Believe it or not, my dad did not bewitch every girl in school. You'd think he had. There's no accounting for taste. You could have saved yourself some trouble, father. Practically every idiotic girl in the castle was throwing herself at Potter. Why, I have no idea..."

His father ignored his son and Harry both. "And then, of course, the one we thought would work best--the Ravenclaw Seeker. And it seemed to be successful for a while--although just to be certain, I strengthened the Imperius Curse on her when I came for that Quidditch Match--but then my son," now he turned and sneered at Draco, "managed to make a colossal blunder."

Harry furrowed his brow. "What?"

Draco grimaced. "The Charms classroom. I didn't check the book where I found that spell closely enough. Didn't see the part about the forty days of enchanted sleep."

"But--but--" Harry sputtered, "you knew that Cho Chang and I had broken up."

"Exactly. Which meant that you didn't suspect me. What I was trying to do there, in case you couldn't tell, was get you suspended or worse, expelled. Once you had left the school and were en route to your Muggle family, you would be vulnerable. Of course, Dumbledore never seriously suspected you, or he believed whatever story you told in your defense."

"But you said--school owls..."

"Oh, right. The school owls. Made it up. I also made you suspect Davies. Which made me think of recommending him to my father for recruitment. He will probably make an excellent Death Eater. You are too gullible by far, Potter. Just more of my amazing acting prowess," he smirked, walking lazily over to Harry. "If you had eyes in your head, if you were at all observant, you'd have known that I never got any school owls."

"So," Harry said shakily, turning to Malfoy's father, trying to sort out everything that had occurred. "You put the three of them under Imperius. And it didn't really work that well. What did you do to Hermione?"

Malfoy's dad frowned. "She was harder to get at, in Bulgaria. But an opportunity finally arose, in the market. Luckily, we already knew that Krum was hopelessly puppet-like under Imperius. His assistance was invaluable. You, however," he said bringing his face close to Hermione's again, "you fought the curse from the moment it was put on you. So we had to use more drastic measures."

Hermione raised her eyes to his at last; she could finally find out what had happened to her when she was kidnapped. "What?" she whispered.

"A potion. Rather like a liquid form of Imperius. But longer lasting, harder to resist. Obviously, since it seems to have gotten you and Potter together..."

"How long does it last?" she asked, her lip trembling.

"Six months. Which seems to have given the two of you ample time to become...intimate."

Hermione didn't look scared any more. She looked more like she was working out an Arithmancy problem. "But--that means it wore off in early February!" she said, with a note of triumph in her voice.

Draco Malfoy raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "So? You and Potter were already--"

"But we weren't!" she said, sounding almost happy, a smile starting to pull at the corners of her mouth. She looked at Harry. "Don't you remember? When I told you I wasn't feeling--insane any more? The potion had worn off by then. I was resisting it all that time!"

Lucius Malfoy frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

Hermione was practically babbling. "I mean, we--we kissed, but not--" she started to say something else, but caught Ron's eye and looked down, suddenly silent and flushed. The flames from the fire made her look even redder.

Draco Malfoy walked over to Harry, an incredulous expression on his face. "You mean you two were all alone in Gryffindor Tower during the Christmas holidays and didn't do it? You expect us to believe that?"

"It's true," Harry said, his jaw clenched.

"So we're to believe that your first time was last night?"

Harry drew his lips into a line. He too caught Ron's eye, but then Ron looked away. "Not exactly," he said softly. "Easter hols. Middle of the week. Just before I found Neville."

Ron had dropped his jaw, then closed it again. Harry saw him swallow. He tried to will himself to look back at Ron, to not chicken out and drop his gaze. He tried to communicate as much apology as he could through his eyes, but Ron's eyes were blazing, the fire reflected in them heightening the effect.

Malfoy came and stood next to his dad, also leering at Hermione now. "So. You've been going at it like bunnies since then, have you?"

Hermione looked back at him defiantly. "No, you pervert! Last night was only--only the second time--" she trailed off.

Malfoy threw up his hands and went to stand closer to Ron. "Only the second time, she says. But what timing! On the eve of your best friend's birthday, the best friend who you were still lying to about shagging Potter. How completely tactless, Granger. Don't dentists teach their children manners?"

His father laughed along with him. Harry thought of New Year's eve, on Ron's bed. That was pretty tactless too. And she was still under the influence of the potion then. He had stopped them from finishing what they'd started. He was stopping himself even before Sandy told him about Sirius coming. He remembered Hermione saying in the Charms classroom, I want this too much. She was fighting, all that time, fighting what she wanted and what the potion made her want, which were so close together that it was confusing. She knew she didn't feel quite right, but she didn't know why.

"Harry," she said softly, turning her head to him. "You know I'm not under a spell, or the influence of potion, right? You know that?" Her eyes pleaded with him. He nodded, but he couldn't help thinking, But for so long, you were. What do we make of that?

Ron seemed determined to ignore them. "What about my sister?" he demanded angrily. "What did you do to make my sister go with you? What have you done to her?"

Malfoy strode over to Ron and gave him a lopsided smile. "Merely the Draco Malfoy charm. When I really want to turn it on, it can be quite irresistible. Although, truth to tell, she was the one turning on the charm at first. Very subtle, but I could tell. She was all put out about Potter being with Chang. Then I thought, what if I could get her to join us..."

His father finally moved away from Hermione now, going to stand beside his son, watching Ron's face. "Arthur Weasley's daughter," he drawled, smiling. "Wouldn't that be quite a coup! And now, it seems, Weasley will have to see two of his sons and his only daughter becoming Death Eaters. That pencil pusher at the ministry should be easy enough. Maybe the whole lot, if we can convince them. Those twin brothers of yours certainly could get some kicks from playing with Muggles, and seem to be quite creative. Then there's the charm-breaker, good skill for a servant of the Dark Lord. Ditto for the dragon man. Maybe we won't need to kill your dad after all. Once he learns his entire family has turned against him, perhaps he'll just oblige us with a nice, neat little heart attack."

"Percy? Percy is going to be a Death Eater?" Ron said, eyes practically bulging out of his head.

"He hasn't given his answer yet, but if he values the lives of his loved ones, I think he will."

Wormtail stepped forward now, silent after so long. "So, are they all candidates? Planning to make up for bungling Clearwater and Flint, Malfoy?" he addressed the older man. Lucius Malfoy made a face. He turned to Wormtail.

"Er, thank you for not telling the Dark Lord about the other Weasley boy and this one and Granger. In future, I think I will present my recruits to him as a fait accompli..."

Wormtail smiled evilly. "Yes. You didn't look like you enjoyed your--punishment for botching those jobs. You're welcome." He turned to Harry now. "Of course, the other reason for my wanting to help you, Harry, is the fact that you saved my life, that night in the Shrieking Shack. I tried to keep my Master from using your blood to regain his body, but those entreaties were to no avail. Luckily for you, you escaped that night, so I can still repay you for what you did for me. I can take you under my wing, teach you the glories of serving the Dark Lord..."

Harry struggled against the vines again. "Then do it. Take me. Let them go."

Lucius Malfoy shook his head, amused. "But you three make such a wonderful team. We can't be breaking that up, can we? Although Weasley looks like he'd just as soon kill the two of you right now as look at you."

Harry turned to his head to look at Ron, whose gaze was shifting back and forth between him and Hermione, the most terrible expression Harry had ever seen there.

"I know!" Draco Malfoy said suddenly, almost like an excited small child. He started to laugh. "It's almost too perfect!" He stepped close to Ron and spoke softly near his ear; Ron flinched and tried to pull away, but the vines made it impossible. As Malfoy spoke, Ron's eyes widened. He turned and stared at the pale-haired boy. "So?" Malfoy said in a normal voice. "Do you agree to do it?" Ron looked dazed as he nodded--a very small nod, but it was there. Malfoy turned to his dad. "Father--let's untie Weasley. The Dark Mark will have to wait until he is presented, of course. But for his first act as a Death Eater, to prove his loyalty...do you think the Dark Lord would be terribly disappointed if Harry Potter were killed? By his best friend? Or would he rather that best friend kill Harry Potter's girlfriend?"

Lucius Malfoy furrowed his brow, but looked interested. "What did you have in mind, Draco?"

He looked at Ron, smiling. "Let's give Weasley a choice. Right now, he certainly seems angry enough to do Cruciatus justice. Let him choose. He will put the curse on either Potter or Granger. Then, whoever he doesn't curse with Cruciatus would get the killing curse. That way, of course, the one who's going to die gets to see the other in agony, and they also get to consider their own impending death during the other's suffering." He grinned at Ron. "If he does this--there'll be no turning back for him. Think of Arthur Weasley's face when he finds out...Plus," he added, as though he'd just thought of it. "No matter whether you torture or kill Granger," he said to Ron, "you can still have your way with her, if you like. Although I call second. After all, what's a little necrophilia between friends?" At that, Harry saw Hermione turn green again, as when Wormtail had been climbing on her. She made a gagging sound in her throat, and suddenly, she was retching, bringing up what was left of her lunch. It splattered on her shoes and splashed onto the leaves scattered on the ground before her.

Malfoy turned to her, grimacing. "Oh, that's attractive, Granger. Trying to put us off? You'll have to try harder. So I just won't shag your mouth, as appealing as that sounds..."

"As appealing as getting your prick bitten off?" she whispered malevolently, trying to swallow.

"Point well taken," he said cheerfully. "If she's still alive, avoid the Mudblood's mouth. There is of course, an ample array of other orifices..."

Hermione was still shaking from the retching; Harry felt his stomach churning within him too, and he swallowed to avoid doing the same thing she did. He felt almost blinded by anger, hearing Malfoy speak this way about her, so cruel and yet so off-handed. Why can't I just do spontaneous magic at a moment like this? he wondered. But what he really wanted had very little to do with magic; he understood now why Ron had thrown down his wand in the Potions classroom and started throwing punches; Harry wanted nothing more than to wrap his hands around Malfoy's neck and squeeze.

Lucius Malfoy laughed and smiled at his son and put his hand on his shoulder. "I like it. All right! Untie him, Wormtail!"

Pettigrew looked nervous about this. Harry remembered him reacting the same way when Malfoy said Karkaroff would need to be untied, before he put the Hara Kiri on him. The uncertainty never vanished from his face, but he drew his wand from his robes and flicked it carelessly in Ron's direction, saying "Finite Incantatem," and the vines released Ron. He stepped away from the tree just a little, flexing his arms and legs, shaking out his robes, drawing deep breaths; Harry realized for the first time that the tightness of the bindings were keeping him from being able to really fill his lungs satisfactorily. Wormtail kept his wand carefully trained on Ron.

"Get out your wand," Malfoy said to him. Ron patted down his robes. "I haven't got it. Must be back in the Potions classroom." His voice shook. He wouldn't meet Harry's or Hermione's eyes.

"Don't, Ron! Don't let them make you!" Hermione said. Ron scowled at her.

"Still think I care anything at all about you?" he spat, a look of utter hatred on his face. "You're so proud of the fact that you slept with Harry of your own accord. Like that's something to be proud of! And the way you lied about the photograph..."

"Well," she said weakly, "there was a grain of truth to it. There really were two photographs stuck together, that's what made me think of it. Except that they were copies of the same one, the one I sent Harry. It just didn't--didn't seem like the right time to tell you..."

He stepped toward her. "When would have been the right time? When?" his voice rose in volume, making her draw back, biting her lip, eyes glistening.

She put her chin up, suddenly defiant. "Maybe we should have told you right after you were done shagging Parvati! Which you only did because you were hacked off about what those Ravenclaws said about you..."

There was a loud smack! and Harry looked in shock at the two of them. Ron had struck her, harder than Lucius Malfoy by the look of the red mark on her cheek. Her mouth was open in shock.

"Parvati is my girlfriend, and everyone knows it! We weren't sneaking around. And you were keeping from me that my sister was with Malfoy!"

Malfoy made a face. "You say that like it's a bad thing..."

Hermione bit her lip, no longer defiant. "I'm so sorry, Ron..." she choked, even as her face still bore the mark of his hand.

He looked at her grimly, speaking softly. "Yes. You will be."

Harry swallowed. "This isn't you, Ron. You're not a murderer, you're not someone who can torture..."

He came to stand before Harry now. "I'm not, am I? And you are? I'd make a hell of a better Death Eater than you. I have ambition--" he turned to Hermione momentarily "--whether you think so or not--" he turned back to Harry. "And I would have killed Wormtail that night in the Shrieking Shack, or let Lupin and Sirius Black do it, anyway. You haven't got the guts to do this, Harry. I have. I'm tired of being in your shadow. I'm tired of being poor. What good has it ever done my family to embrace poverty? We won't be poor anymore. Or powerless. That's all going to change."

Malfoy stooped and picked up Harry's wand where it had fallen on the ground when the vines had pulled him to the tree. "Is this your wand, Potter?" Harry wouldn't answer, but Ron recognized it.

"Yeah, that's his." Harry kept silent, looking back and forth between the two of them. He was loath to tell them that he had Ron's wand in his pocket. Then he started to panic; would Ron really do this? He had to get more time, give Ron a chance to reconsider. "I was wondering, Malfoy--how did you and Ron get out of the cells where Snape took you?"

Malfoy shrugged nonchalantly. "My dad was already in the castle, waiting down in the dungeons. He let us out. Simple. And you aren't the only one who knows secret passages out of that place..." He smiled and handed Harry's wand to Ron. Wormtail was still pointing his wand at Ron.

"Now, Weasley. It's up to you. One of them lives, one of them dies. The one who lives, you put the Cruciatus Curse on them. That comes first. Think about it; choose carefully. No matter what you decide, the Dark Lord will be pleased, I think. It's not many Death Eaters get to enter his service so auspiciously. You'll be quite a celebrity among dark wizards. You've craved celebrity, haven't you? I saw your face all last year, every time Potter was getting his picture taken, or an article about him appeared in the Daily Prophet. Well, it will be your turn to be in the limelight. This is your chance, Weasley. But don't forget--Wormtail and my dad and I have our wands trained on you. So just keep that in mind. Now, make your choice."

Ron stood between Harry and Hermione, only about six feet away, holding Harry's own wand. The two Malfoys stood about the same distance from Ron, each pointing their wand at him, and Wormtail did the same. Ron turned and pointed his wand at Harry, his arm shaking. Then he turned and pointed it at Hermione. Harry saw her pleading with her eyes. Harry wanted to say something but couldn't. What could he say? Should he ask to be the one to die? That would still mean Hermione getting the Cruciatus Curse. The thought made him want to cry, that she should ever experience anything so painful. He didn't want to plead to get the Cruciatus in her stead, because that would mean she would be the one to die. He decided against pleading with Ron not to do this at all; the three of them were pointing their wands at him. They could kill him in a trice, and then the two of them would still be at their mercy--or lack thereof.

Harry swallowed. He couldn't take a deep breath, it seemed. He looked at Ron's face; it was so different now, with the beard and mustache, and the wounds from his fight with Malfoy. And he was so tall. So different from the boy he'd first met on the Hogwarts Express five years ago. Here was a man, not a boy. He held their lives--and his own--in his hand.

Suddenly, Lucius Malfoy, pointing his wand at Ron, cried, "Crucio!"

The curse hit Ron from behind, and he dropped Harry's wand, falling to his knees. As the pain continued, he fell to the ground, his arms out, his legs twitching, his scream echoing through the dark trees beyond the firelit clearing. Harry watched him in horror. This was completely different from watching Malfoy be tortured in his dream, or even experiencing it himself at the hand of Voldemort. This was his best friend, a half-dozen feet away from him, writhing and screaming in agony, while Malfoy's dad continued to send the pain through his body, through his mind.

After what seemed an eternity, Lucius Malfoy raised his wand. Harry turned his head, saw that tears were streaming down Hermione's face. And then, the echoes dying away, he realized that Hermione had also been screaming. Harry watched Ron try to get his breath back, lying on the forest floor, looking up at the night sky. Harry looked up at the sky too; he hadn't noticed when it had become dark. The impersonal stars winked at them, too impossibly far away to really affect human lives, he felt, no matter what Trelawney said. He looked back down at Ron, who was panting, but getting to his feet, with Draco Malfoy's help, holding Harry's wand again.

"Almost forgot that," Lucius Malfoy said casually by way of explanation, as though he were talking about forgetting to leave his house with his coat or gloves. "Now you know, Weasley. Now you've felt it. Now you know that you have to do. It seeps down into your very bones, doesn't it, the fire, the pain? It's fresh in your mind now. Think of it; think of it and make your decision."

Suddenly, Harry heard it; heard the hissing. Hermione turned her head. She heard it too, but he couldn't tell her what Sandy had said. He looked at the others; the Malfoys and Wormtail were too preoccupied to notice, and Ron was too. Harry swallowed, knowing now what Ron's choice would be. Should I tell her? he wondered. Or would it be better for her not to know...

Ron was leaning heavily on Draco Malfoy still. Sweat beaded on his forehead; he was still reeling from the curse. Harry ached for him, even as he knew now what was coming. Ron, Ron, he thought. If I could spare you from this I would, if I could turn back time and tell you what horrible things would happen to you by you becoming my friend...

Ron was standing on his own again, feet spread wider apart for better support. His face was in shadow, the fire flickering in the middle of the clearing, limning him, a tall menacing figure who seemed to have nothing to do with Harry's best friend. The other three were arrayed behind him once more, their wands pointed at him. Ron looked at Harry, then Hermione. He raised the wand. His hand was no longer shaking, as before. Harry drew in his breath; Sandy was right about Ron's choice. Harry watched the end of the wand, his own wand. It seemed he could look nowhere else. Ron also seemed to be staring at the end of the wand. He opened his mouth, and louder and more terrible than his cries while he himself was being cursed, he uttered the word Harry had never thought to hear from his best friend, the sound echoing through the forest, through the night.

"CRUCIO!"