Rating:
PG-13
House:
The Dark Arts
Ships:
Ginny Weasley/Harry Potter
Characters:
Harry Potter
Genres:
Mystery
Era:
Multiple Eras
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Phoenix Quidditch Through the Ages Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Stats:
Published: 02/19/2004
Updated: 07/29/2007
Words: 410,658
Chapters: 40
Hits: 159,304

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Barb

Story Summary:
Aunt Marge's arrival causes Harry to flee to avoid performing accidental magic again. But when number four, Privet Drive is attacked, he becomes the chief suspect and a fugitive from both the Muggle police and the Ministry. He tries going to Mrs Figg's but finds unfamiliar wizards there. With an Invisibility Cloak and nowhere to turn he hides in the house next door, to keep watch on Mrs Figg's. He has no idea that this will irrevocably alter the rest of his life....
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Chapter 33 - Honour Among Thieves

Posted:
09/23/2006
Hits:
1,295
Author's Note:
Deepest apologies to the proprietor of the real Green Dragon pub for any inconvenience due to wizards attempting to Apparate into your establishment. There actually being a pub of this name so close to where I've placed the Malfoy home was too good to pass up!

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~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chapter Thirty-Three

Honour Among Thieves


"You are not my father!"

Teddy stared in shock at his best friend. Nate was riding on his father's back with his legs wrapped around Percy's waist and his arm across his throat, making Percy produce gagging noises as he struggled to breathe. They were overbalanced and Percy fell backwards on top of Nate, who grunted in pain when he hit the floor and then had a much older and heavier body land on top of his. Percy quickly got to his feet and pulled out his wand, backing up and pointing it at each of the children in turn before smirking down at his son in a rather non-Percyish manner.

"No, I'm not your father. Took you long enough to work it out, eh? You've never actually met your father. And now you never will," he added, moving his wand back to Nate in a rather menacing fashion, making Teddy wonder whether he was going to kill Nate with all of them looking on.

Not if I can help it, he thought, preparing to hurl himself at Percy--or whoever he was--if it would save Nate's life.

At that moment, however, the door opened again and a tall robed figure strode into the room, waving his wand imperiously at the candles on the walls and in the chandelier, so that the room was no longer cloaked in twilight gloom. He wore the same sort of mask Crabbe and Goyle had worn in the other house but he was obviously neither Crabbe nor Goyle. Despite his revealing not an inch of his person, he had an air of authority about him, and Teddy realized that they were, for the first time, seeing the ringleader of the kidnapping scheme. The ringleader was certainly not the Percy-pretender.

"Our--friends are back. And they've brought someone with them. She needs to see you as you are right now, so don't waste any more time in here. Come on--"

"--before the potion wears off that makes him look like Nate's dad? Yeah, we know it isn't really him. He told us," Teddy added, pointing at "Percy". The ringleader turned slowly; through the eyeholes in the mask Teddy could see that he was gazing directly back at him, and Teddy shuddered. Whoever he is, he's dangerous. Very dangerous.

"He did, did he?" came the slow, smooth voice. It was a voice that was used to being obeyed. "That is of no consequence now. Come," he said to the Percy-impersonator again. "She doesn't know that you aren't Weasley. We need to find out what she and the others are up to."

"Who's she?" Teddy yelled at their backs as they left, locking the door after themselves again. He wasn't surprised that they ignored him but he thought it was worth a try anyway. Nate still sat on the floor, somewhat stunned after his painful landing and his impromptu tussle with the father who wasn't really his father. He put his head in his hands.

"I think it must be my mum," Nate said in a muffled voice. "Who else would need to believe that he was really my dad? Perhaps his mum, but somehow I can't picture Nana coming here..." He groaned as he stood, then went to lean on the windowsill as though leaping down to the hard terrace below held some appeal for him. "I didn't really mean... I mean, when I said that he wasn't my dad, I just meant... Like, if he were my son, I'd say, You're no son of mine! I meant it like that. Like disowning. No dad of mine would collaborate with kidnappers and dark wizards..."

Teddy put his hand on Nate's shoulder and looked out at the dark night. "The problem is, you were right about that. No dad of yours would do that. On the other hand, at least you don't need to hate your dad. That's not him," he said, hoping this would be some small comfort to Nate. As many times as he'd wished someone other than Harry Potter were his father, he'd never absolutely hated Harry or thought he was evil. It was just a stupid longing to be a nobody, to be like any other kid starting at Hogwarts, a typical Muggle-born wizard who didn't look just like the most famous wizard of the last fifty years. "At least they didn't notice that Ruby and Marguerite aren't here," he said. "That's something."

Nate nodded. "But what about my mum? I'm certain that she must be who he was talking about. She must be trying to get us out. What if they kill her, too?"

Teddy tried to maintain the hopeful outlook, but it was growing more and more difficult. "Well, since whoever that was who's been impersonating your dad could have hurt your mum any time in the last couple of years, I'd guess that she's safe, for now. Maybe he'll even listen to her, negotiate or something."

Nate sat on the floor and took off his glasses, rubbing his hands over his face wearily. "He's made her so unhappy. She'd really hoped they could get back together, but he didn't want to. I should have known it wasn't him. She should have too, for that matter, but she wanted it to be him so badly..."

"So did you," Teddy told him bracingly. "And so did Ginny and the twins and Nana and Grandfather. No one wanted to see the things that were wrong, the things that didn't fit..."

Nate lifted his head suddenly. "So does that mean that my dad really is dead?"

Teddy thought for a moment. "Maybe not. He'd need bits of your dad to put in the potion, in order to look like him. They must be holding him prisoner, too. Mad-Eye Moody likes to talk about Death Eaters and other stuff from when he was alive. He said he was held prisoner by a Death Eater once for the same reason. The Death Eater had to keep him alive because the hair he was putting in the potion he was using to look like Moody would have been worthless if he were dead; you can only use bits of people who are still alive for that kind of thing."

Nate looked hopeful again. "You think he's in this house, then?"

Teddy drew his lips into a line. "Maybe. It's hard to say. Maybe he was in the other house we were in. Or maybe Ruby and Marguerite will find him in a dungeon down below the house or something. We'll have to wait and see."

He stood and walked to the door, putting his ear to it but hearing nothing. "Wherever they are they don't seem to be on the other side of the door. Or else they've Imperturbed it, so we can't hear anything. Let's hope that they're too busy to worry about coming right back in here." He looked at his watch; it had been more than twenty minutes since his sister and cousin had gone down into the secret passage under the drawing room and he worried that they were worried that they'd been forgotten.

He got help from the other kids moving things off of the magic carpet and rolling it back from the trap door; together, he and Nate lifted the door and swung it back to sit on the rolled-up carpet. To his relief, Ruby and Marguerite were sitting on the lowest stairs, but no ball of fire sat in Marguerite's hand now. As the girls wearily climbed back up into the candlelit drawing room, Marguerite looked around and said, "This room's not bad with some candles. I put out my own light while we were waiting for you to open the door again," she explained. "It's rather tiring for me to do for a long time and I reckoned I could give us light again if we needed to do any more walking around."

Teddy nodded at her, grateful for this strange veela gift of hers. "Sorry we took so long. We had a little visit from Nate's dad--except that it turns out he isn't."

"What?" Ruby said, frowning.

Teddy explained to the two of them what had happened while they were in the tunnel. As he talked they all worked to close the trapdoor again, roll back the carpet and replace the meagre furniture where it had been. He also told them that the carpet was no ordinary carpet, fully expecting Ruby's blasé reaction to this news.

Ruby flopped on the lumpy couch and whistled through the gap between her front teeth. "That's good, because we didn't find out anything useful down below. There are a lot of doors opening off the tunnel, but all of them are locked. We couldn't get through any of them. And it's hard to tell, but we think the tunnel just goes in a circle. We felt a breeze in the tunnel but couldn't tell where it was coming from; it might be a way out or it might not be. We didn't get very far before we had to go back to the stairs. Even if there's a way out somewhere down there the carpet sounds like a much better idea."

Teddy agreed, but when he walked to the window again, gazing out at the darkness, he wondered again how they were all going to escape at once. And then he wondered whether they should all leave or whether he and Nate should stay behind, since Nate's real father might be a prisoner in the house and his mother may have entered the den of thieves to try to save both Percy and the children. He caught Nate's eye and could tell immediately that Nate was thinking the same thing as his friend walked to the window and stood next to him.

Nate gave him a small nod. "We get the little kids out," he said quietly. "And I'll stay to look for my mum and dad. My real dad."

Teddy looked at him grimly, also nodding. "Right. Except that I'm staying to help you," he whispered. Nate grimaced but also looked thankful.

"I was hoping you'd say that, but I didn't want to volunteer you. I reckoned you'd do it anyway," he said, grinning at his best friend.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They Apparated to the courtyard behind the Green Dragon in twos. Bill and Fleur arrived first and went to stand by the pub door, holding their brooms like spears. Ron and Luna followed, then Hermione and Neville. Harry and Ginny arrived with their broomsticks in tow as well and quickly moved out of the way for Severus and Arthur to arrive.

Molly and Tilda had already hailed the Knight Bus in the street outside Blaise Zabini's London home and left. They decided that Shacklebolt should go into the house undercover. Hermione was the best at Transfiguration who was also on hand; for a moment Harry wished he'd contacted Theo, who wasn't worked up because his child had been kidnapped, but Hermione quickly had Shacklebolt turned into a small grey mouse. He immediately started squeaking noisily, but this became muffled once he was deep in Penelope's pocket with a small biscuit to keep him occupied.

Ron watched Hermione do this, suggesting that they all be Transfigured and enter the house in this way; Hermione made a scoffing noise at him. "Did you hear how noisy he is? You don't seem to understand, Ron: he's a mouse now. As in no longer human, with a human's mind. All he knows is squeaking and eating and pooping. One mouse Penelope could easily control and keep secret from Zabini and Malfoy, but nearly a dozen? Are you mad? Besides, Zabini smuggled Draco Malfoy out of Azkaban as a ferret; this is his sort of thing. If he catches on to Penelope having even the one mouse he'll probably work out that she's not a traitor and he'll kill her, the mouse, Crabbe and Goyle in a trice. This is risky enough."

"All right, all right, Professor Granger," he grumbled. "Don't need to give me a bleeding lecture..."

After giving them enough time to reach The Burrow, Crabbe, Goyle and Penelope-with-Shacklebolt hailed the Knight Bus again. Penelope gave the others a worried look as she boarded, paid her fare, and took a seat on a four-poster bed near the driver.

All ten of them took turns putting the Disillusionment Charms on each other in the courtyard of the pub. Only Snape and Arthur hadn't yet been concealed with the charm when they were all startled by the door to the pub suddenly opening. Harry assumed that it was Septimus Flint standing there, backlit weakly by the magical candles in the pub, using his wand to levitate a very drunk-looking wizard who was evidently being evicted from the premises.

Flint looked remarkably like his son (someone Harry hoped was far away and not inside the pub), with his enormous jaw, teeth that looked too big for his mouth, and nose twisted slightly to the left. Harry had always thought that Marcus Flint's face was due to an unfortunate Quidditch injury and hadn't realised that it was hereditary. He would have sworn that it was Marcus Flint were it not for the fact that Harry had just seen him at the Quidditch final, before the Easter holiday (Slytherin were playing), and he'd had a full head of hair still. His father had no hair on the shiny dome of his head, only around the back and sides, hanging down greasily onto his collar. Harry wondered how anyone in the pub could accept a drink or food from someone who seemed unaware that soap had been invented.

He held his breath and gripped his broom with one hand and Ginny's arm with the other; four of them were standing on either side of the courtyard. If they didn't move, so that Flint didn't detect them standing against the crumbling old walls, blending in with the brick and lichen, they might not need to worry about whether Flint was likely to return to the pub and get on the Floo network to warn anyone at the Malfoy house.

But that didn't solve the problem of Severus and Arthur.

"Weasley?" Flint said, squinting at Arthur in the semi-darkness as he used his wand to direct the drunk into an old horse trough half-filled with muddy water. "And Snape?" he added in confusion. "What in the name of Merlin are you doing here? With him, of all people?"

"Well, ah," Snape began unconvincingly. He looked more than a little startled by Arthur throwing his arm around his shoulder.

"Haven't you heard, Septimus? Severus has a fine son, and his son's half-brother is my grandson. We're practically family! We were having our Easter dinner together, in fact, when I thought it would be nice for us to get away and have a drink somewhere I knew Severus would feel comfortable. I immediately thought of your establishment, of course."

Flint squinted suspiciously at the unlikely pair. The drunk splashed about in the trough, trying to get comfortable.

"You ain't never set foot in my pub in your life, Snape. You neither, Weasley. Only used my courtyard to Apparate here before going up to the Malfoys' place to make trouble, if I recall," he said slowly, his hand still clutching his wand firmly.

As he started to raise his wand toward the pair, the door to the pub suddenly slammed shut, without anyone touching it, and then a voice said quietly, "Stupefy!"

It was Neville; Harry could vaguely see his body moving toward Flint where he lay on the ground. The charm made Neville blend in now with the door of the pub, now with the path leading to the door. "Sorry, you two. It didn't seem worth the risk. Next thing we knew he'd be insisting that you both actually come in for a drink and stay for a while."

Harry agreed. "Neville's right. Here, let me put the spell on you both."

He camouflaged his father-in-law; after that Snape sneered in Harry's direction, saying, "I think I would prefer for Arthur to put the spell on me."

Harry bristled but backed up, glad that the charm made it difficult for Severus to see the face he was making. How does he do that? Harry thought in annoyance. Always makes me feel like an incompetent little first year.

When Severus and Arthur were concealed and standing back against the wall with the others, Neville revived Flint and Harry immediately memory-charmed him. Flint looked around the courtyard dreamily, blinking, and then noticed the drunk lounging comfortably in the trough.

"Right, then, you. No more of your tricks. Don't know what you did to me but you can bloody well cool your heels in that trough. I wouldn't Apparate yet either, if you don't want to Splinch yourself." Flint evidently thought his disorientation had to do with the drunk hexing or jinxing him in some way, as retaliation for being kicked out of the pub.

The old drunk was quite cheerful and non-confrontational, however. He waved his hand and gave Flint an unconcerned crooked-toothed smile. "Thass alright, Seps-muss. I can talk to the wallsh. Theys vay nice."

Harry froze, wondering whether Flint would investigate the "walls", but he rolled his eyes and turned back to the pub door, opening it with the hand not holding his wand. When the door of the pub was securely closed again he heard Hermione's voice putting a locking spell on it; he could vaguely see her moving her arm if he squinted, but it was hard to tell whether it was a trick of the moonlight.

The old drunk lifted his head and looked around the courtyard, smiling sunnily. "Nice wallsh. Talkin' wallsh. Mulsh nicer than inshide... Bloody unsociable wallsh in dere... never a nice word for anyone..."

Harry whispered to Arthur, "Will he be a problem, do you think?"

"I shouldn't worry. He won't remember this when he sobers up. We should just go. Everyone get ready to kick off!" he said, raising his voice.

"Kick off," echoed the drunk, splashing about in his trough.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After flying for an indeterminate amount of time, Arthur had them land beside a large, dark forest that smelled of spring and new growth. They lit their wands to walk through the thick forest, Arthur in the lead. Since they were all still behaving like chameleons, blending in with their surroundings, it appeared to Harry that ten frightfully organized fireflies were flying through the trees, very slowly and methodically. They each held their brooms in their other hands, handle down, so that they could use them as walking sticks in the treacherous forest.

The trees, on the other hand, were doing some flying of their own, it seemed. Harry could have sworn that they were moving with them, as they walked, which was more than a little disconcerting. He didn't like to say anything, but was still glad when Ron mentioned it.

"How are we supposed to find the bloody house, Dad, when the trees won't stay still?" Ron complained, stumbling over a root for the fourth time, just barely saving himself by planting his broomstick handle in the dirt. Harry had been watching; the root really had moved directly into Ron's path and raised itself a little bit off the forest floor to trip him.

Harry could hear Arthur sigh. "They've improved security. I don't think it's Unplottable anymore, but it might as well be..."

"We might be better off splitting up," Neville suggested. "This large a group... it reeks of a raid. We need to be a little more subtle to get around their defences."

"Right," Harry agreed. "If someone gets through they can send a Patronus to the others and the rest of us can fly to the access point. Why don't you come with me and Ginny, Neville? And Arthur and Severus can go with Bill and Fleur, Ron with Luna and Hermione."

It was only after he'd said the last three names together that he realized what a gaffe that was, and he felt Ron hesitate beside him, but it also wasn't the time to worry about such things and Harry tried to put it out of his mind. The others agreed, including Ron, hesitantly. The group of four turned at a right angle and started heading straight through the forest while Harry, Ginny and Neville continued along the perimeter and Ron, Hermione and Luna took the perimeter going in the opposite direction. Surely at some point they'd be able to successfully evade the trees and enter the grounds of the Malfoy estate...

As they slogged through the thick undergrowth, Harry wished he could take Ginny's hand, feel her presence; it was disconcerting to see only the floating light at the end of her wand. We'll get our kids back, he thought with determination. We will. But he didn't say this; he didn't want to spout platitudes. He just wanted to get the children back. All of them.

After walking for what seemed miles, he suddenly ploughed into Ginny, who was standing stock-still, except for her wand-hand, which was shaking dreadfully. The light wavered all over the place and Harry dropped his broom and reached out to grasp her arm firmly, to still it. "Ginny? What's wrong?"

Then Neville was ploughing into him, and it was his turn to ask Harry what was wrong. "Dunno, Neville. Ginny stopped. Gin? What is it, love?" he whispered, holding her arm more gently now.

"They don't just have trees protecting the house," she whispered, the fear in her voice palpable. Harry stepped around her so that he could finally see what she was talking about. Drawing in his breath, he thought, I should have known.

Before them a virtual wall had been created that was made entirely of many different sizes and species of writhing, large-fanged and presumably venomous snakes. They slithered over and under each other, an eerie, constantly-moving sort of living wicker barrier. Beside him, Neville swore. Harry turned his head in surprise; Neville almost never swore. Ron did it like breathing, and Harry was no saint when it came to his language, but he'd never heard Neville say these particular words. Harry didn't feel that this boded well.

"Can't you--can't you reason with them?" Neville asked Harry. "You know--in Parseltongue?"

This hadn't occurred to him. Why, he wasn't certain, but it hadn't. He'd never tried to use Parseltongue to speak to the basilisk, either. After telling the snake to leave Justin Finch-Fletchley alone he'd never directly addressed another serpent, except for what he'd said to enter the Chamber and save Ginny. But those were just images of snakes, not real snakes. And the basilisk seemed like it was only interested in obeying one Parseltongue: Tom Riddle.

He watched the writhing bodies, the wand light reflecting off the shining scales and glittering eyes, which did not seem fooled by the Disillusionment Charms. There were too many of them to try to hex them; there was no guarantee that even the three of them working together would get every last one of them and be utterly out of danger. They could easily miss a very small snake that could, nonetheless, kill one of them in a trice. One was all it would take.

"I could try to talk to them," Harry said reluctantly, his voice quivering. "I can't guarantee that they'll listen."

"Well, bloody well try, then, Harry!" Ginny said tensely, her arm shaking worse than ever under his hand.

"What if they're enchanted?" Harry said, his voice going up a little. "I mean--they must be, since they look so, erm, organised."

"Well obviously they're organised, Harry," Neville said, sounding as nervous as Harry felt. "That's why we need you to reason with them."

"What if being enchanted means I can't reason with them? Malfoy knew I'd probably be coming to try to get the kids. And that I speak Parseltongue."

"You don't know that he's thought of you speaking Parseltongue, Harry," Ginny said. "I think we need to try. He's probably just keeping people out in general. He has no idea that Percy has sent us a letter about the whole kidnapping scheme. Draco Malfoy didn't send us a ransom note and say, Please bring a million Galleons to my home. We're not exactly expected."

"Right. You're right, of course. We're not expected. This isn't just for us." But that didn't make him feel any better. Harry stared at the slithering, writhing bodies and cleared his throat. "Please step, erm, move aside. Do not harm us. Allow us to pass unharmed," he added for good measure, feeling like an idiot. An idiot who speaks to snakes and might very shortly be dying of snakebite.

There was no visible change in the mass of snakes at first; then, slowly, a few of them moved up and to each side of where they stood, creating a low arch that would require them to crawl on their hands and knees to get through.

"Well, whatever you said worked. In a way. It's rather a small passage," she observed, and Harry couldn't disagree. "I take it we should assume that Apparating is out of the question?" she added, staring at the opening in the wall of snakes.

"Be my guest, if you're fond of being Splinched," Neville said ominously. "Trying to work around Anti-Appartion Jinxes is no picnic. Ask the staff at St Mungo's. And several Aurors I know."

Harry sighed. "I think Neville's right. I'd bet my life that there are Anti-Apparition Jinxes all over the forest and grounds; that's another reason I think your dad didn't suggest using Apparition. The only place that probably isn't protected with jinxes is the house, and you can't get in there unless you've been told the secret by the Secret Keeper or unless you're taken in by someone else who's been told, like Penelope and Shacklebolt will be, and like the children were." Ginny gave a small frustrated groan and Harry went on, "Neville and I will go first, won't we? And then you'll see it's all right." He hoped he sounded more reassuring than he felt.

He and Neville moved toward the snakes; He went down on his knees first, saying to them, "Thank you for letting us pass and not hurting us."

"What did you say, Harry?" Neville wanted to know as he crawled through the opening. Harry never got the chance to answer, however, for as soon as they were both through, the snakes moved into position again, recreating the uninterrupted wall of slithering reptiles.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Penelope stood between Crabbe and Goyle, very aware of the mouse in her pocket that was Kingsley Shacklebolt, waiting for Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini to come to the dining room to discuss her having betrayed the others to help Crabbe and Goyle escape. When Malfoy entered he was still wearing Percy's face, and she had to restrain herself from running to him and flinging her arms around his neck, reminding herself That isn't Percy. It never was. Zabini--she knew that it had to be Zabini, even though she could see nothing of the man beneath the mask and robes--entered first, with Malfoy-as-Percy behind him. Malfoy froze in surprise when he saw her.

"Penny!" Then he stared at his old mates. "Crabbe and Goyle! I thought you were arrested!" Penelope fought the urge to roll her eyes; Malfoy wasn't very good at keeping his cover. But then there were a thousand small things he'd got wrong that she remembered only after she knew that she'd never been with Percy since his "return"; he'd actually fooled her quite well for a long time, and she would never cease to feel incredibly stupid about having been taken in by someone who was such a bad actor.

"We were," said Goyle slowly, dutifully repeating the words Harry had taught him. "And we thought we were for Azkaban, but then she started stunning people and helped us escape and come back here..."

Malfoy widened his eyes as he regarded Penelope Clearwater in a new light. Penelope looked boldly at him, trying to think very quickly about what to say. "I know you've thrown in your lot with them, Percy," she said, trying not to choke on the name. "I have to say, you've disappointed me so much since you've come back that I no longer care any more. You are clearly not the person I fell in love with when I was a girl." That's putting it lightly, she thought. "All I care about now are my sons. One of them is your son also, and you may not give a damn about him, but I do. If they're going to be killed," she said, her voice catching, "then I want to be with them. You'll have to kill me, too. But I couldn't stand by and be told that there's nothing to be done, because neither one of these two are the Secret Keeper, and--"

"Quiet!"

Zabini looked penetratingly at Penelope through the enigmatic mask. "You know about the Fidelius Charm?"

Crabbe looked sheepish. "We, um, were trying to explain to them why it weren't no good to torture us get us to tell them where the kids were. We couldn't tell them nothing. She don't even know where we are; we kept her from seeing. But since she helped us escape we brought her along, in case we needed a hostage to get away..."

Zabini paced, clearly trying to decide what to do about her. He turned abruptly and waved his wand, causing a chair to appear behind her. The chair moved forward and forced her to sit, then ropes appeared and bound her tightly to the chair. Crabbe and Goyle stepped back, staring.

"You're telling me that Aurors tortured you?" he said imperiously, addressing Crabbe and Goyle.

They looked at each other. "Well, no. Didn't say we were tortured," Crabbe said slowly. "We told them it wouldn't do no good, that's all. We had nothing useful to say. We wasn't questioned by Aurors, anyway. It was Potter and Longbottom, and their wives."

Zabini sighed wearily. "Longbottom is an Auror."

Crabbe shuffled his feet. "Oh, yeah. That's right."

"And since Potter and his wife teach Defence at Hogwarts," Zabini continued, "they might as well be Aurors. And Granger works for the Ministry. Did you truly think that Potter or Longbottom were going to hex you?"

"Hard to say," Goyle responded. "He said the law couldn't touch him, no matter what he did to us. He had too many friends in high places. Trying to scare us, I think."

"But Granger was scarier," said Crabbe, shuddering visibly.

Zabini seemed to nod, accepting this; he paced some more, not speaking. Draco couldn't resist saying, "That sounds like Potter. He always did think he was above everyone else, could get away with murder..."

Zabini waved this away. "Potter would still never do anything like that. Not to these two, anyway. He'd need to mean it, and I just can't see him getting worked up over Crabbe and Goyle, even because of his children. Now, if he had you in his clutches, I could see him breaking the law..."

"Shut up," Draco hissed at him. "I'm Weasley, remember?"

It was impossible to tell what Zabini was thinking with the mask in place. "I disagree with your assessment of Potter. And that's one of his greatest weaknesses; he does not, in fact, think he's above everyone else. He does not think he can get away with murder. Remember, he did not even murder the Dark Lord. Not technically. I'm not certain that Potter does have it in him to kill, except possibly in self-defence, or the defence of another person. For his children he'd probably go further than he ever has, or for his wife, but he'd still need to be pushed to his limit."

He turned to Penelope. "I'm glad that you worked out that it was hopeless and that the children are going to die regardless of what you do." Penelope felt a chill inside at his casual words. "You're a loving mother, to want to be with your sons at their deaths. More than I can say for some mothers..."

For the first time, Penelope noticed with a gasp that Narcissa Malfoy had been unceremoniously propped in a corner of the dining room, strands of her blonde hair criss-crossing her face. She was either stunned or had already been killed; perhaps rigor-mortis had set in.

"Is she--?"

"--dead?" Zabini finished. "No. Not yet. And who knows? Maybe we'll kill her and spare you. You used to be fond of our Percy. Perhaps I'll let him keep you as a pet and you can go on living."

Penelope spat on Zabini's robes. "I'm no one's pet. When can I see my sons?"

Zabini strode to the door. "When I say you can. If I decide that you can. You do not seem to understand, Miss Clearwater, that simply because you have helped Crabbe and Goyle to escape, with the intention of being with your sons before all of you are killed, does not mean that I must agree to your plan. I do not need to agree. You may or may not have the opportunity to see them before all of you are killed. If all of you are killed. As I may not have Narcissa any longer for my amusement... well, use your imagination. The Imperius Curse would render you quite pliant and agreeable. Remember, Miss Clearwater: you are not in charge. I am."

Penelope shook, wondering whether their plan had any chance at all of working. "I don't know who you are," she lied, "but you're a monster," was all she could think to say.

"I hope to be far more than that, far more. Did you think a Dark Lord was going to serve you tea and crumpets and reunite you with your boys the moment you arrived, just because you brought my servants back to me? You're very naive for your age, Miss Clearwater. Consider yourself lucky that I did not kill you on the spot--I confess that I was curious about you. When I have had the opportunity to determine how or whether you might be useful to me I will let you know my decision. I may inform you by simply killing you. At this time I cannot say."

Without another word, he left the room, "Percy" again travelling in his wake.

Penelope's heart was in her throat. "I think it was a bad idea for Harry to tell you to say that he threatened to torture you. Zabini clearly knows that Harry wouldn't do that. I don't think he bought what you were saying at all. Which means that he probably doesn't believe that I turned traitor to help you get back here, so I could see my boys." She looked up at the hulking Slytherins sorrowfully. "I'm sorry to say this, but I have a bad feeling that he's just going to kill all three of us. And the children."

Crabbe and Goyle looked as disappointed as small children who had just found that Father Christmas had passed them over, and thinking about this failure, Penelope had to fight very hard not to cry.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Ginny!" Harry cried out, backing away from the snakes. Now it was his turn to swear.

"Harry!" she shouted from the other side of the wall. The overlapping serpentine bodies formed a barrier so thick that he couldn't even see her wandlight through it.

"Bloody hell," he muttered. "Please open again," he said to the snakes. "My wife still needs to pass."

The snakes didn't create another opening; they ignored him and continued to slither over each other. He asked more gently, then more adamantly. Nothing had any effect on the snakes.

"Harry!" Ginny said, after listening to his ineffectual hissing. "I'll stay where I am and send my dad and Ron a Patronus each," she yelled to him. "I'll tell them to meet me here and the eight of us together should be able to overcome the snakes without a Parselmouth to help. Hopefully. You can't wait for the rest of us, though. It's getting close to midnight! You and Neville are going to have to try to push on to find the house."

"But--but Ginny," Harry started to say.

"Ginny's right, Harry," Neville said. "We should go on."

"Good luck, Harry," she said, a choke in her voice. Harry wished that she'd got through with them, that he could hold her now and tell her that everything was going to be all right.

"See you soon," he replied with mock-confidence.

He and Neville turned and resumed trudging through the undergrowth. It seemed that they trudged for hours; Harry felt tree roots wrap around his ankles more than once, prompting him to jump free, and three times he and Neville had to fire curses at branches clutching at Neville.

At length, the forest started to thin out and they saw lights shining through the tree branches at last. The Malfoy home sat in the middle of an enormous park that might once have been maintained quite well. However, even in the moonlight, Harry could see how badly the grass needed cutting, how mangy the topiaries appeared. There were numerous bases for statuary that had had the statuary removed. As they drew nearer to the house, Harry was glad that they still had the Disillusionment Charms on them. (Not that that had helped with the trees.) Harry was tempted to get on his broom and ride up to one of the windows, to see whether he really could look in but not see anything of note, but ultimately decided that he and Neville should just settle down in an inconspicuous spot as close to the house as possible, where the moonlight wouldn't give them telltale shadows, and wait for the other eight or for Penelope, Percy, Shacklebolt, Crabbe and Goyle to somehow rescue the kids and get them outdoors, to safety.

They settled on sitting behind a huge topiary at the edge of the terrace, so that the topiary's shadow and their shadows would blend. Harry gazed up at the house through the gaps in the shrubbery; only one room on this side had lights in the windows, and he could see no shadows moving in the rooms. Harry had never felt so ineffectual in his life, just sitting with Neville and waiting for someone else to rescue his children. This was not supposed to happen to him. He didn't want to say this aloud, however, because he didn't want Neville to feel insulted. Neville had completed the Auror training, after all, and had performed admirably in his job for years.

"I still can't believe that wasn't Percy," Harry whispered, still staring at the house.

Neville heaved a great sigh. "I talked to Shacklebolt about it. I think that's why he wanted to go in with Penelope--he felt rather guilty about that. Blames himself. He remembers when Zabini and Malfoy's mum came to Azkaban to see Malfoy last; Zabini had a pet ferret with him that was probably the Muggle we found in Malfoy's cell, Transfigured. And then he Transfigured Malfoy into a ferret to get him out again. A witch, a wizard and a ferret go in, a witch, a wizard and a ferret go out. Either they left the Muggle with some Polyjuice Potion and put a spell on him to get him to take it periodically or the Aurors simply didn't double-check on Malfoy after they left. What should have raised a red flag was the fact that, after that, Malfoy's mum didn't come to visit him again. She hadn't been visiting very often--once a year--but she had been visiting..."

Harry nodded. "And now they're planning to take the kids' magic... I wonder where they got an idea like that? I didn't even know a spell like that existed."

"Erm," Neville said, sounding nervous; "Voldemort tried to do that to you, don't you remember?"

Harry frowned. "No. What? When was that?"

"When we were at the Ministry in our seventh year. Before you and Ron went through the Veil," Neville said quietly.

The doors were spinning again. Harry and Neville stared at them desperately. "How are we going to know which one Ron went through?" Neville cried, his voice breaking.

Harry shook his head; he didn't know, but he had to figure it out. His best friend's life might depend upon it. There was no telling who Ron might already be encountering in whichever chamber he'd entered. It had all happened so fast...

Suddenly the doors stopped and Harry looked around at them desperately. "Um--let's go through that one! Maybe even if we don't find Ron yet we can locate the girls." Hermione, Ginny and Luna had last been in the Hall of Prophecy. But as far as he knew they were at least together, able to watch each other's backs. It made Harry very nervous to know that Ron was all on his own, but the door had slammed shut behind him and the wall had begun to spin again before Harry could go after his best mate.

Harry put his hand on the knob and opened the door he'd chosen, but then stopped short.

He was face-to-face with Lucius Malfoy.

Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry and walked toward him, making Harry back up a little. Then, from behind Harry, he emerged.

Voldemort.

Neville stood at his side and the strange, pale face with the red eyes gave an approximation of a smirk. "Well, well, well, look who we have here. Not one but two Prophecy Boys. Yes, I could have chosen you, boy, the pureblood. Your parents also defied me three times. Why do you think my servants pursued me through them? They knew that you were one of the possibilities, that you could be the one to fulfill the prophecy..."

Neville stood straighter and taller than Harry had ever seen him. "How do you know it's not me? How do you know you haven't met your match?"

Harry could see Neville shaking visibly and knew how very frightened he was, but he couldn't bear it a second longer; he was not going to see Neville killed before his eyes, like Cedric. Harry stepped in front of him.

"Leave Neville alone. It's me you want," he said, trying to sound braver than he felt.

Voldemort laughed that cold, cruel, high laugh. "Protecting his friends again. Don't worry, I have my priorities in order, Potter. You first, then the...spare," he said, and Harry knew that his use of the word was completely deliberate, and intended to get under his skin.

"The spell, My Lord," Lucius Malfoy said eagerly. "The spell I told you about..."

Voldemort looked annoyed. "Yes, yes, I remember, Malfoy. And I know that you are in no hurry to be recaptured and returned to Azkaban, so I shan't keep you waiting any longer..." His unearthly red eyes bored into Harry as he said, "So, you have power that I do not? How very odd... when I happen to know a spell that will render you completely powerless and give all of your power to me... Let's see how much of a 'Chosen One' you are then, Potter."

With a silent wave of his wand Harry felt paralysed; he could barely draw breath and certainly could not speak or wave his wand. When Voldemort shouted the incantation and pointed his wand at him, he saw a dark blur before his eyes but he couldn't do more than blink; the dark blur fell out of his line of vision again.

Neville had leaped before him and taken the curse in his place; even in his agony, Neville now turned and pointed his wand at Harry, undoing the spell Voldemort had placed on him.

"Finite Incantatem!"

Voldemort immediately started swearing at Lucius Malfoy. "The spell didn't work, Malfoy! It didn't work! He can still do magic!" he cried, just as Harry waved his wand and caused ropes to wrap around Malfoy and Voldemort, binding them together, their hands at their sides, while Harry and Neville pulled open another door, slamming it shut loudly behind them.

They were in the Death Chamber.

"After you and Ron and Voldemort went through the Veil, I was in the Death Chamber with Lucius Malfoy, Harry," Neville told him. "He was a little shaken up by me, I think. I managed to put the leg-locker on him and took his wand away. I didn't know how or when you'd be back, and I reckoned that I should keep my wand on him until you did. He said that that spell I took for you should have taken my magic away--unless I was no longer an innocent child." In the shadow of the topiary, Harry couldn't really see Neville, because the Disillusionment Charm made him look like a topiary himself; however, Harry felt that he could hear Neville blushing. "He asked how I could possibly have got a girl to--well, he said, if Potter hadn't, with all of your fame and all..."

Harry felt irked. "How did he know that I hadn't? And how did he know that you had?"

"The spell. It didn't work on me because--well, Hermione and I--"

"--had already been to the Room of Requirement together," Harry said, nodding. "And I assume that you and Hermione didn't have the ghost of Mad-Eye Moody interrupting the pair of you every time you tried to be alone..."

"Oh, is that what happened with you and Ginny? Merlin's beard, I think I'd rather have had Snape catch us than have Moody's ghost haunting us. Talk about a moodkiller," he said, laughing softly. Harry had to laugh as well; it had been frustrating when he was a teenager, but was somewhat funny in retrospect.

He stopped laughing abruptly when he thought further about the situation he'd been in and what Neville had saved him from. "You didn't just save me from having my magic taken, Neville," he told him. "You saved--everyone. I doubt that I would have been able to do what I did after I went through the Veil, or that I would have been able to return, if it weren't for you..."

"...and the only reason I didn't have my magic taken is that I was no longer a child," Neville whispered.

"But our kids--"

"They're still vulnerable," Neville confirmed. "All of them are. I mean, unless Nate and Teddy.... They're the eldest. But still, they seem terribly young..."

Harry nodded, even though he knew Neville couldn't see the nod. "Nate's fourteen. And Teddy will be, on the first of May. Nate doesn't have a girlfriend. Teddy does, but--no. It's not possible. I can't imagine..." Harry stood and punched kicked the topiary planter in anger and frustration. "That's why they took kids. It's not fair, to target children this way. Why can't they bloody find a spell to take an adult's magic? Why does it have to be kids?"

"I don't know, Harry," Neville said softly.

"Well, I'm not going to let it happen," Harry said adamantly. "We have to let them know there's help waiting out here." He saw that one of the windows was open in the rear, in the room with the candles flickering. "I'm sending Teddy a Patronus message. No one else can tell what it says, just Teddy. He needs to know that there's hope. I'll tell him about Percy and Penelope and Crabbe and Goyle, and that we're waiting out here and that the others are trying to break through the defences in the forest. They need to know that we're trying."

"Okay, Harry, since that's a fairly secure method of communication. I just hope--" But Neville didn't finish his sentence. Harry wondered whether he was worried about giving the kids false hope.

It's not false hope, he thought. We're going to get them out.

"We have to," he said, as though Neville had heard his thoughts.

"We have to what?" Neville wanted to know.

"Never mind. I'll send Teddy the message." He pointed his wand toward the house and thought about everything he wanted to say to his son, then cried out softly, "Expecto Patronum!" and watched the glowing white stag erupt from the end of his wand and gallop toward that open window. "I think that's where they are!" Harry said excitedly. "It's going toward that window!"

"There's rather a steep drop to the ground from that window," Neville said apprehensively. Harry saw that and swallowed.

"I see that," Harry said.

It'll be all right, Teddy, he thought desperately, staring down at his hands now. We're here for you. Everything is going to be all right.

And no one is going to take my son's power without a fight from me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I'm staying to help Nate rescue his mum and his real dad," Teddy said, glaring at the others with his arms crossed. "The rest of you are going, and that's that."

"Well, I'm not going without you, Nate," Julian said loyally.

Ruby and Rory looked at each other, their mouths twisting, before Ruby sighed and said, "Oh-no-if-you're-not-going-then-neither-are-we," in a very mechanical voice, rolling her eyes.

"Ruby, Rory, don't be ridiculous. Do you think I want you to stay, just out of loyalty? No. You're going. You too, Julian," Teddy said as authoritatively as he could.

Rory sighed. "Okay, because you know we, erm, love you and all, but--"

Teddy brushed away her half-hearted expression of affection. "The important thing is to get as many of you out as we can. You'll tell the rug to come back, then, and we'll get out after that."

Marguerite looked uncertain. "I thought you said that it was struggling with ten on it?"

"Yes, but that's when the ten included the two of us," Teddy said, pointing at himself and Nate. "We're the biggest. We should be the ones to wait. Now, everyone pile on in the middle, as close together as you can. Ruby and Rory, you hold up the sides so that the carpet will fit out the window, and you hold up the back, Julian and Marguerite, to make sure no one falls off. Everyone sit as far back from the front as possible. Put your arms around each other and around Ruby, Rory, Julian and Marguerite."

"And then what?" Ruby asked, her hands on her hips. "If it can't carry twelve of us at once, what's the point of sending it back to get you? We'll just be on the grounds of the house, instead of in the house. You think they don't have any security on the grounds, probably keeping us in?"

"I thought of that," Teddy said quickly. He had finally come up with a solution to their transportation problem. "After all of us are out, we'll ask the carpet to sort of inflate itself again, you know, like a big cushion, and then we'll ask it to fly us up to London, or maybe to The Burrow. I think that once it's in that form it'll hold all of us with no problem. We can't fly it out the window while it's like that because it'll be too wide to fit, so we have to wait until we're not inside anymore."

Rory looked sceptical. "Shouldn't we test it first? Flying with all twelve of us on it while it's like a cushion?"

Teddy turned and looked toward the door, then hurried to it and placed his ear against it. "Bugger! No time. They're coming back! It's now or never." He shooed the children in the direction of the carpet while he motioned to Nate to help him move the couch in front of the door.

"You think this will stop them?" Nate whispered, bracing himself against the couch and door. "Because I think it's just going to slow them down a little. And probably not enough."

"That's fine. That's all we need to do to give them the chance to get out," Teddy confirmed. He didn't say, We're not getting out, because now there was clearly no hope of their being able to send the carpet back for Nate and Julian. Whatever their captors were going to do to them, Teddy and Nate would take the brunt of it.

Nate nodded, his face very white under his freckles, and went back to pressing himself against the door as firmly as he could while standing on the couch. Teddy looked at the other children; they'd managed to get the carpet to hover at windowsill-height while they continued to get settled, then Ruby and Rory picked up the sides of the carpet, holding them as tightly as they could, just as the doors started to open and Nate and Teddy pushed back against the doors using the couch.

"Go, go!" Teddy said desperately. "Now!"

"No! I'm not leaving you, Nate!" Julian cried. Two things happened at once: a large, ghostly stag galloped in through the open window and headed straight for Teddy, and Julian leapt off the back of the carpet while Marguerite grabbed desperately at the edge and pulled it up again, just as the carpet sailed out the open window. Julian ran to Nate and pushed his frail little frame against the couch, but the three of them couldn't keep the doors from opening, especially since Teddy was quite suddenly distracted by his father's Patronus, which he had immediately recognised.

It's all right, son. Harry's words went through his brain very quickly. Neville and I are outside, next to the terrace. Others are in the forest, trying to reach the house. And inside the house you have five people on your side: Percy, Penelope, Crabbe, Goyle and an Auror, Shacklebolt. Draco Malfoy has been pretending to be Percy. And Blaise Zabini is the ringleader. We're going to get you out of there as soon as we can but the Fidelius Charm is stopping us from entering. Don't lose hope.

Teddy gasped as the message concluded; he wanted to tell Nate what Harry had said, but their captors were not making it easy to keep the doors closed, even though they didn't seem to be using magic. They appeared to be using just their own strength, like Teddy and Nate and Julian. The three of them were flung backwards and the couch fell on top of them as the doors were pushed open roughly and Nate's dad entered the room with the tall man in the long robes and the mask. Or Draco Malfoy opened the doors, rather, whom Teddy now knew was the person pretending to be Percy. Crabbe and Goyle followed them into the room, and Teddy realised with a sinking feeling that it had probably been the strength of these two that had enabled them to break through. Why does Dad think they're on our side? he wondered. They still seemed to be quite loyal to Malfoy and Zabini.

Nate didn't know about Harry's Patronus being a message, though. "What're you two doing here?" he said from the floor, as though there wasn't a couch sitting painfully on his legs.

"We know who you are!" Julian cried out, springing to his feet, which surprised Teddy, since Julian didn't know the contents of Harry's message either. The couch had evidently missed Julian, although he'd been knocked flat when the doors opened. Draco Malfoy looked panicked at that, until he realised that Julian meant Crabbe and Goyle.

The tall man didn't waste any time talking, however; with a wave of his wand he sent the couch flying across the room, where it smashed itself into kindling and stuffing against the wall. Teddy's heart was going very fast, wondering what this wizard would do to them when he realised that the others had all escaped. I might not live long enough for you to get into the house, Dad...

"Where are they?" he asked ominously, looking around the room and seeing only Nate, Teddy and Julian. The three of them stood next to each other, and then Nate stepped in front of Julian, tucking him behind his back, while Julian put his hands between Teddy and Nate and tried to peek between them. The wizard pointed his wand at Teddy and said, "You. You're Potter's son. Probably fancy yourself some sort of leader. Where are the other children?"

Teddy clamped his mouth shut; so did Nate. "Fine," the wizard said, reaching between them and taking hold of Julian by the neck. Teddy and Nate tried to prise his hands from Julian, but Percy shot a curse at the two of them and Nate and Teddy recoiled from Julian and the wizard, their hands stinging as though they'd been trying to touch a jellyfish.

"Ow!" Nate cried, cradling his hands against his stomach, doubled over in pain. Teddy was trying not to cry himself, in the same position as Nate, while the tall wizard held Julian by the neck with one hand and pointed his wand at him with his other.

"I said," came the voice from behind the mask, as unperturbed as ever. "Where are the other children?"

"Gone!" Teddy and Nate said at the same time. Teddy hoped that he'd simply let Julian go.

"They flew off," Teddy told him, wishing he'd been able to tell them about Harry and Neville before they had. "Probably halfway to London by now."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The carpet landed on the grass with a bump. Harry stared. It was as though the children had materialized from nowhere, even more silently than someone Apparating, and certainly with less chaos than a Portkey. Harry and Neville broke cover and dashed out from behind the topiary, hugging the children happily. Unfortunately, this frightened them, since the Disillusionment Charm was still in effect, so they seemed to be under attack from chameleon people.

"Sssh!" Harry said desperately. "Calm down, kids! It's me, Uncle Harry! And Uncle Neville's here as well..."

"Dad!" Ruby whispered jubilantly, hugging him quickly. He held his daughter closely for a split second before releasing her.

"Listen, we'll put Disillusionment Charms on all of you, to help us all get away. How did you get out? Is this carpet what I think it is?"

"If you think it's a magic carpet, then yes," Rory said, also hugging him quickly. He kissed her on top of the head, smiling and trying not to cry with happiness.

"Brilliant. Good job, everyone! All right, get behind this big ugly shrub here, it'll help prevent shadows, and then we can put the charm on all of you and tell everyone else that you're all right and then we can just make the carpet into a Portkey or something to get you all out of here..."

He wondered fleetingly where Percy, Penelope and Shacklebolt were, and whether Crabbe and Goyle were all right, but another part of his brain said, They knew what they were getting into. They knew that the object was to save the kids...

He and Neville quickly put the charm on the children, and then Harry cried softly, "Expecto Patronum!" to send a message to Ginny, telling her that the children were safe.

"All right now, have you all used Portkeys before? It can be a little jumpy..."

"Yeah, that's how they brought us here from the other house," little Percy said.

"But we can't leave yet!" Ruby cried. Harry hesitated.

"Why not? You don't want to get out of here?"

"Nate and Teddy and Julian are still inside!"

Harry squinted at the children in the moonlight. It was very difficult to see that there were any children at all, now that they'd also been Disillusioned. "Wait--this isn't all of you?"

Rory explained what had happened and Harry turned to look at the house, which seemed as much of a cipher as ever. "But now that you're here, Dad, you can just go in and rescue them, right?" she said, her voice shaking.

Harry shook his head sadly. "No, didn't Teddy tell you? I sent him a message. I can't get into the house. There's a charm on it..." He explained the Fidelius Charm to the children. That explains it, Harry thought; he'd wondered for a moment why Teddy hadn't hugged him, like his sisters, putting it down to his age and a general reluctance to show affection to Harry. But that wasn't it at all; Teddy wasn't with the other children.

He looked up at the house, thinking how far they'd come, how close they'd been to rescuing all of the kids and protecting them from losing their magic.

But they still weren't close enough.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The hand on Julian's throat was as firm as ever; Julian struggled in his grasp, prying ineffectually at the fingers that were tightening their grip. "They flew off? And how, pray tell, did they do this?"

Which was when Draco Malfoy noticed the floor. "Bloody hell. The carpet's gone. They took the magic carpet!"

The wizard released Julian now, thrusting him at Teddy and Nate, who caught him; Nate went to his knees, hugging his little brother, but Julian shook him off, irritated. "I'm not a baby, Nate," he complained, extricating himself, rubbing his neck, which bore the white imprint of the wizard's hand, surrounded by red.

"Do you mean to tell me, Draco, that you put our prisoners in a room that contained almost nothing except a magic carpet?" Teddy had never heard a colder voice, yet it wasn't high-pitched, as his dad had always described Voldemort's voice. This voice managed to be cold and deep at the same time; Teddy shuddered to listen to it.

"Well, I hardly expected them to find out that it's a magic carpet. I was just glad to see that Mum hadn't sold it... And shut up! You just called me--" But then he looked down at his hands and arms. "Oh, bollocks."

Teddy stared at him; he no longer looked like Percy Weasley. Instead a tall, thin blond man stood before them, his pointed chin shaking as he beheld the very clear wrath of his superior, despite the mask hiding the other wizard's face.

"You're Draco Malfoy, aren't you?" Teddy said; he would have known immediately who he was even if Harry hadn't told him and if Zabini hadn't just said his name. "I thought you were in Azkaban?"

Draco smirked in a way that made Teddy want to smack him; he recognised the expression from when he had still appeared to be Percy. "Yeah, well, don't believe everything you read, kid. I thought your dad didn't go after women twice his age, too, but you're here, aren't you?" He snorted. "Harry Bleeding Potter. Shagging away when he was sixteen. I think even if I'd seen it I wouldn't have believed it. Your mother must be some kind of--"

"I'd stop talking if I were you," Nate warned him in a low voice. Teddy glanced at Julian, who was turning quite red; he knew that Tilda was being insulted and that was good enough for him. Teddy wished that Nate hadn't warned Malfoy. Hopefully it'll be good enough, Teddy thought, to turn someone into a walrus. Or a couple of someones, with any luck.

"Are you telling me to shut up?" Draco said incredulously. "Ha! You are Weasley's kid, aren't you? Think you're everyone's boss, everyone's superior..."

"That does not matter," the tall wizard said, taking down his hood and removing his mask. Teddy was surprised to see an ordinary man with dark, curling hair. He was nothing special after all, although his dark eyes were the cruelest, deadest eyes Teddy had ever seen. "Since I am going to be everyone's superior."

"Wh-what?" Draco sputtered. "Just a minute! Now, I know we don't have as many kids now--"

"Because you allowed them to escape with a magic carpet--" the tall wizard said as though he had all the time in the world.

"--but the plan was to make me the next great Dark Lord, not you, Zabini. And, well, even though I haven't been very certain lately that that's what I want--"

"That is just as well," Zabini interrupted, "since you are not going to be the next great Dark Lord, and never were." Without another word to Draco, he pointed his wand at him; Draco went shooting across the room backwards, hitting the wall very hard and crumpling to the floor in a heap. "You must be," Zabini said, addressing Draco's unconscious form, "the stupidest person I have ever met in my life. And I know Crabbe and Goyle."

"Erm, Blaise? Erm, Lord Zabini, I mean, erm, what do you want us to call you now?" Crabbe said uncertainly, looking in Draco's direction and presumably not wanting to join him.

"Zabini is fine. And you can take those bloody stupid masks off now. It's not as though it matters; these three aren't getting out of here alive, after all. They can't tell anyone about this."

The hulking wizards took down their hoods and removed their masks. Teddy tried not to think about the words these three aren't getting out of here alive and tried instead to remember his dad's message, telling him that Crabbe and Goyle were allies. I hope Dad's right, he thought fervently.

"Goyle, go to the window and see whether you can still spot the children who escaped," Zabini instructed him.

Goyle obliged and strode to the open window; he looked up into the dark sky, shaking his head. "I don't see nothing, Zabini. Least not on this side of the house."

Teddy's heart sank into his shoes. If Goyle was on their side, he was doing a damn good job of appearing otherwise. And he didn't seem to have the brains to do much in the way of acting.

Zabini shrugged. "I thought as much. Very well; my power will still be increased four-fold with the addition of the power these three have, and I can always get other wizarding children. It was just rather delicious to have those particular children..." He gave Teddy, Nate and Julian a rather disturbing smile. "These three will do rather nicely, though. Harry Potter's very own bastard, and the bastards of two spies. Funny how three metaphorical bastards all had literal bastards..."

"Meta-what?" Crabbe whispered, frowning. Zabini appeared not to have heard him.

"Get back here, Goyle," Zabini ordered him. Goyle seemed to have been looking down at the terrace below the drawing room. "You two, open the trapdoor. It's time."

Crabbe looked at his watch. "It ain't midnight yet," he told Zabini.

There's another one for their side, Teddy thought dispiritedly. They're just out to protect themselves. We have no allies here...

"I know that, idiot. It's time to go down to the chamber to prepare for the ritual. It shall be midnight soon enough."

Teddy stared down into the darkness when the door was opened, remembering what Ruby and Marguerite had said about the locked doors in the corridor. I wish they'd managed to get one open, so I'd know what we're up against, he thought, swallowing as Goyle grasped his elbow rather tightly and guided him down the stairs. Crabbe followed, grasping both Nate and Julian's elbows and Zabini followed, well behind.

What Teddy was not expecting was for Goyle to lean over as they walked through the dank corridor, holding his lit wand aloft, and whisper in Teddy's ear, "Don't worry, kid. We came back to help youse. And your friends' mum is here to help, too. And an Auror and Percy Weasley. The real Percy Weasley." Teddy jerked his head up, trying to tell whether the hulking man was kidding.

Goyle nodded and gave him a small smile.



Thanks to Rena, Andrew, Lea, Nick and Fiona for the beta-reading and Britpicking.

More information on my HP fanfiction and essays can also be found HERE.

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