The Heirs of Dreams

Chapter Seven

Zora laid her back on the bed and turned away from the window and finally shut her eyes tightly, willing once again for everything to simply disappear. She was stunned to find that when she opened them again, she saw nothing but complete black. Panic rose in her heart as she quickly fell into a deep sleep, the sounds of men's voices fading into the back of her head.

**

Harry awoke suddenly in Ron's bedroom and darted his eyes around. He sighed heavily at the annoyance of not sleeping well. He was worried about Zora. Ron had rushed inside the house and up to his room without a word to anyone. Hermione, Ginny, and he had followed him to see what was wrong. Shortly after that, Zora had snuck into the deserted living room was and refused to come out of her room and even refused to speak to Harry.

Harry wondered for literally hours that night how she could have kissed Draco. She hated him and she was constantly saying how much she wanted to stay away from him. Everything she had told him about Draco was evidence enough that she should stay clear of him, and she obviously knew that! Why would she go around kissing him when she had been excited about spending time with Fred as well? Something wasn't right.

It didn't help at all the theories emanating from his friends as the four of them sat in Ron's bedroom as Pig was sent to Diagon Alley. Harry had tried to keep Ron from sending the letter and had tried his best to stick up for Zora. He couldn't recall a time when he received more confused looks from his friends and thought it best just to keep his mouth shut before he spilled more details of Zora's past.

He fumbled slightly as he reached for his glasses and placed them over his eyes. The blurs and streams of colors turned into walls and posters and a boy sitting at the window. Harry looked again and saw that the horrible sight of Draco Malfoy was in Ron's bedroom.

"Bout time you woke up," Draco sneered unpleasantly from the window.

"What...how...why..." Harry mumbled, caught off guard by Draco's presence in the room.

"Think of a complete sentence, and then attempt to talk," Draco replied in his superior drawl.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked strongly. "You've done enough damage as is."

"Harry," Ron stirred from the bed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands and said, "Who in the world are you talking to?"

"Nice pajamas, Weasley...always sleep in fire engines? I see they haven't managed to put out that mess on top your head."

"Malfoy!" Ron said as he lunged at Draco.

Harry quickly went to his side and fiercely held him back. "Let me go..." Ron was saying as he struggled against Harry. "Let me at the bastard!"

"We can do this all night if you like, but I wouldn't recommend it."

After a few failed attempts to strangle Draco from six feet away, Ron finally regained himself and sat back on the bed. However, he did not remove his harsh stare from Draco's eyes.

"Why are you here, Malfoy?" Harry spat with a glare once he was sure Ron was calm enough to be left alone for a moment.

"Unfortunately, I need your help," Draco replied as he gave a hesitating look to Harry. He was asking for help and it was obvious he didn't want to.

"Why would we help you?" Ron sneered.

"Because...you'll want to," Draco said casually. "If you don't believe what I'm about to say you may verify for yourselves. Zora's gone."

"Good riddance, sure you two will be happy together," Ron replied.

"I don't believe you grasp what I'm saying...she's gone. As in...not here...as in another place."

"I grasped that," Ron sneered.

Draco appeared to be getting annoyed for a moment, his nostrils flaring slightly.

"Where is she?" Harry asked quickly, worry filling his heart.

"The Dark Lord's castle," Draco replied.

"What?!" Harry asked, feeling his eyes growing wider and wider.

"He's taken her. They followed me here when I visited...they've taken her to the castle."

"You led them here?" Ron said as red tints spread about his face and neck. "Into my house? With my mother and sister only doors away?" Ron said as he stood from the bed.

"Are Mrs. Weasley and Ginny all right?" Harry asked immediately.

He had a sudden urge to ask although he couldn't explain why. Draco seemed somehow relieved at the question and Ron took a step away to wait for the answer.

"They took Ginny as well," Draco replied.

"My...my sister?" Ron mumbled, broken hearted.

"So...are you going to help me or not?" Draco asked coldly.

Ron burst out of the room and ran down the many stairs. Harry was quick behind him, Draco trailing nonchalantly behind them. Ron tore open Zora's door first. The room was completely trashed, clothes spread all over the floor. Her bedspread was wound up in a ball at one end of the bed and the window was wide open. Harry wanted to enter the room, to look under the bed and in the closet. It was a cruel joke...that was all. She was hiding from them, she had to be.

But Ron could not wait; he pushed his body violently from the sight and forced himself back up the stairs to the third landing...to Ginny's door. Draco was waiting for the two, leaning casually against the door frame and examining his nails. Ron gave him an angry growl before throwing the door open. Ginny's bed was the same as Zora's and the window was thrown wide as well. Harry took a step inside and examined the state of the room. He could see pulls at the sheet and a few tears throughout the material. She had fought whoever had taken her, for that Harry was glad. However, it did not ease the fact that she had still been taken.

"How can you stand there...and be so calm?" Ron asked Draco.

Harry turned and found that his friend was not enflamed as he normally would be, but was instead a ghostly shade of white. He was shaking as he stared at the open window.

"Because I know you'll help me," Draco replied.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Harry asked, trying his best to not lose control.

"You don't," he replied honestly. "I know where they are...I might know how to get them out....but I can't do it alone."

Harry judged him for a moment. He was telling the truth, Harry knew that plainly. He couldn't be trusted, but he did know where the girls were. Besides, he was in love with Zora...he wouldn't risk her life. But what if he was using them to free Zora and leave Ginny? Perhaps that was a risk they would have to take.

"All right," Ron said just before Harry was to say the same thing. "On one condition...you promise me my sister will get out of this."

"I can't," Draco replied.

"Have you dreamt this?" Harry asked immediately.

Draco seemed taken aback for a moment and looked questionably at him. His face softened, or hardened rather for Draco, before he replied, "Talking with Zora, I suppose? Yes, I have...I've dreamed four different endings. There's no telling what will happen for sure."

"That's not good enough," Harry replied.

"What if I promise I can keep her alive until midnight? Plenty of time to retrieve her...it's ten o'clock now."

Ron looked at Draco with shock still overpowering his eyes. His face was sill pale and even his freckles seems to turn white.

"It'll have to do," he said and walked out the bedroom door.

Harry heard the heavy footsteps thudding on the stairs and he turned to Draco. He stood just outside the door, waiting patiently and looking bored.

"Someone's going to die tonight," Harry said absently once he was sure Ron was far enough away not to hear, "aren't they?"

Draco did not look surprised by this statement although it terrified Harry.

"We'll just have to see, won't we?" Draco said coldly as he left Ginny's room.

Harry looked once more to Ginny's torn sheets. He hated this...absolutely hated it. What would he want with her? She'd never done anything wrong...why Ginny Weasley?

The three boys stood outside. Harry and Ron had dressed so quickly they did not match at all, although it was not important to any of them how they appeared. At least not to Ron and Harry. Harry gave a look to Draco who was dressed in all black and had his hair slicked back as usual. He looked as though he had spent hours on his appearance at the very least. Harry ran a hand through his hair, standing almost straight up, and mounted his broom. His bag was weighted at his side with his cloak among the other miscellaneous items he hadn't bothered to remove from the school year.

"Just follow me...and try not to be seen," Draco said warningly as he mounted his broom and pushed off the grass.

Harry and Ron were soon up in the air, flying high above the clouds. The white puffs were so closely joined together that Harry could see not evidence of cities or lights below their dangling feet as they raced at top speed. Ron was struggling to keep up behind Harry's Firebolt and Draco's newest broom advancement. Harry believed it was Ron himself who was forcing his broom to go faster and faster rather than any spell cast on the broom itself.

"Where are we going?" Harry called up to Draco.

They had turned several times and Harry was worried they were lost for a moment.

"Just trust me," Draco called back impatiently.

"You do remember you're a Malfoy right...you should be careful with the word 'trust'," Harry retorted.

If Harry hadn't known better...he would think Draco was deliberately taking these turns above the locked clouds to keep Harry and Ron from being able to find their way to or away from the castle.

"Few more minutes," Draco said as he took a sharp left turn and darted forward. "Weasley still dragging?"

"Just worry about where we're going why don't you?" Harry sneered, but looked over his shoulder just to be sure Ron was still with them.

"Ready?" Draco asked as he stopped suddenly.

Harry pulled hard on his broom to stop it from plowing into the back of Draco's head, no use doing that now that they were relying on him to get the girls out of trouble. Ron however wasn't so lucky and turned his broom only in time for the back straw to plow into Harry's face, nearly knocking him off his broom.

"Stop clowning around, you idiots," Draco sneered. "Ready?"

"For what?" Ron asked, but Draco had already taken off.

He dove straight down through the clouds towards the earth below. Harry gave Ron a shrug and quickly followed his lead, Ron joined moments later. They dove into a completely vertical position, the wind whipping harshly at Harry's face, burning his eyes. Just before they collided with the ground, the two pulled quickly up and stopped a few feet from the ground below.

Harry dismounted from his broom and found it hard to stand, his body had grown accustomed to the fast pace of his broomstick and was having trouble becoming reacquainted with standing still. Ron seemed to be having a similar problem, his hands were cupping his knees and his face had a tint of green to it.

"Idiots!" the familiar drawling voice called to them.

They staggered as they followed the sound of the voice and Harry remembered with some distaste what Zora had said about Draco's strength. He hadn't believed it was true until now as he looked at Draco. After such a wild and exhausting ride, Draco simply looked as though he had just walked from one room to another.

Draco crouched down near the ground and pressed his back against the wall of the tall castle. Harry and Ron did their best to follow his lead, but their way was far less graceful than Draco's. Draco finally stood straight up and gave a glance around the area. He walked casually to a wooden door in the wall and reached for the knob.

"We're just going to walk in?" Ron asked suddenly.

"You have a better idea?" Draco asked, as if insulted by his questioning. "We could scale the wall...but you wouldn't make it past the first story."

"And you would?" Ron said defensively.

"Honestly, Potter, why don't you fill in your friends on all your knowledge...they might learn something," Draco sneered as he pushed the door open with a quiet creak and entered the castle.

"Do we have a choice?" Ron asked.

"Not really," Harry replied with a shrug.

"Can we trust him?"

"Not really," Harry replied.

"Don't you ever get tired of doing that?" Ron asked suddenly.

"Not really," Harry smiled momentarily before entering the darkness behind the door.

They caught up with Draco a few steps ahead and followed him through the winding halls, imitating each crouch and sudden stop and momentary sharp intake of breath Draco made. Once they were what appeared to be rather deep into the castle, Draco stopped and turned to the two boys behind him.

"Weasley," Draco said, "go to that door over there...the third from here."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Because if you want to see your sister alive...you have to do as I say," Draco replied, intolerance growing in his eyes.

"How do I know you're not tricking me? A trap!"

"Shh!!" Draco hissed and closed his eyes tightly in agitation. "If I really wanted you dead or trapped, I would've done it on the dive down into the bottomless pit, or lead you down to the dragon's lair, or turned you loose in the garden of grindylows...if I wanted you dead, you would be so now. So...go into that room and do not come out until eleven, understand?"

"Here," Harry said and removed his wristwatch, "take mine."

Ron gave a nod and gave an appreciating smile to Harry.

"Wait a sec," Draco intervened. He grabbed at the bag at Harry's side and rustled through it. He removed the Invisibility cloak, a few bottles of elixirs leftover from Potions class, Harry's pen knife, and a few nameless items Harry had forgotten from the end of term. Draco crossed over and dumped the items into Ron's arms. "Keep these, Weasley," he hissed before turning back and walking to Harry's side. "At 11:30, go to that door and open it. It latches from the outside so you should be able to get in," Draco added as he pointed to a door across the corridor from the door Ron was being asked to go in.

Ron looked at the items placed roughly in his arms and walked over to the room. He gave an unsure look back at Draco before he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Ok, now you...come with me," Draco said coldly as he continued to walk.

Harry wondered whether he preferred being called "you" or "Potter" as he followed. It was just after this thought passed his mind that he noticed Draco was no longer crouching down as he slid down the halls. Now the heels of his boots were echoing loudly against the marble walls. Harry was about to comment on his irresponsibility when he entered a room and received a blow to the back of his head.

A flash of painful light burst before his eyes as he struggled to keep them open. He saw that many people adorned in black cloaks and hoods had surrounded his limp body. Between two of the Death Eaters, Harry caught a glimpse of Draco standing a few steps away...he was smiling.

**

Zora lie in her bed, surrounded by emerald green sheets and her long black hair. She turned her head and looked to the open window, a warm summer breeze poured in, rustling the sheer silver colored curtains of the bedroom. She smiled at the luxury she was surrounded by, hoping that it could always stay this way.

She recognized a soft padding sound and a quiet whispering. She sat up in the bed and gazed across the sea of green stretching to the foot of the bed. The shirtless blonde boy stood just at the foot of the bed with his back to her. She smiled and crawled across the large bed to his side. She ran her hands across his back and up to his shoulders, gently kissing between his shoulder blades.

"I didn't mean to wake you," he said in his cold voice.

She smiled and walked around him, her silk nightgown flowing gracefully around her body. She saw the bundle of blankets in his arms. He lowered it to her height and she peered at the baby in his arms, resting her head on his upper arm as she admired her work. The eyes were closed, but she knew their blue by heart and the little blonde strands on top of his head. His skin was smooth and snow white from his head to his tiny toes. She looked back up to Draco's cold grey eyes and simply gazed admirably into their storms.

"I love you," she smiled dreamily.

He did not return her smile, only replied, "I love you too, darling."

There was no warmth in his voice, but it was one of the things she adored about him. He was void of emotion and completely cold to everyone, but only she could bring emotion out of him in the dark, while no one else is watching.

He crossed away from her and placed the baby in its basinet in the corner of the room. She watched him gently lay his son down as she turned the ring on her left hand around and around, a habit she had picked up since their marriage. He turned back to her and walked quickly to the bed. His hands were in her hair and his lips with kissing her neck. She smiled as they fell back into the soft green sea.

"How are we going to do this next year?" she laughed as she clutched at his bare back. "Separate rooms."

"Like everyone else...we'll find a way," he replied from her neck just before he bit down on her flesh, marking her as his possession.

"I guess not many seventh year students are married, are they?" she smiled as the pain of his teeth made her heart jump.

"Guess not...we're making history," he replied as his mouth traveled to her lips.

She felt his hand reaching under her nightgown, the touch making her shiver.

"I love you...I love you...I love you," she whispered over and over again, the echo sounding louder and louder in her mind.

Zora opened her burning eyes slowly and she looked around her. Her heart was pounding loudly and a thin layer of sweat covered her forehead and the back of her neck. She shamefully wiped them away and forced herself to calm down. She reached to her neck and swore that she could still feel the tenderness where he had bitten her.

After a few minutes of concentrated focusing, Zora recognized that marble walls and took in where she was. The castle. It seemed her stomach fell out from under her; would she never escape this place? She pushed herself up weakly from the marble floor but found she could not rise very far. She was chained to the floor with thick metal links.

She tried to remember how she had gotten here. Draco had visited her...and then everything went black and she fell asleep. She remembered the smell of his cologne and the color of his cold eyes, but nothing about her abductor. She thought slowly to herself...Draco was the kidnapper.

She took in further inspection of her surroundings and noted two hooded creatures in the corners of the rooms. They did not speak or appear to breathe, but stood motionless as if statues. Zora was beginning to think they were decoys to frighten her, but when the wooden door creaked open, they both turned to greet the new comer.

Zora could not help but give a hateful glare and was both thankful and regretful of the chains wrapped around her wrists. It was a crime to kill someone...but damn it would feel good to kill him.

"Sleep well? Any nice dreams?" he smirked as his gray eyes looked into hers.

"Bastard," she muttered out angrily.

"Come now," he continued to smile. "You can do better than that."

"And you wonder why we're not together," she sneered.

Draco chuckled and shook his head, a strand of his blonde hair falling in his eyes. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair and the strand was replaced in its perfect spot. He crouched down very close to her face and squatted there staring at her. She wanted to spit in his face, but her mouth was so dry from fear or from the after effects of whatever spell he had knocked her out with, she could not fulfill her desire.

She did not turn from his eyes. Their intensity was blinding but to turn showed weakness. She kept them locked with all her strength until he forced them to break with a sharp blow across her cheek. At first she thought she had imagined it, but the throbbing sting soon traveled across her face. She ground her teeth together and forced herself not to make a sound or cry although she was dieing to.

"Leave us," he sneered to the creatures guarding her.

The hooded men nodded and left through the wooden door, closing it sharply behind them.