The Heirs of Dreams

Chapter Eight

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 dying 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.

"Êtes-vous bien ?" Draco asked.

"English!" Zora burst out loud. "I will not speak a language I didn't learn from a book! Speak English, you stupid asshole!"

"Are you...all right?" he asked, his voice soaked in concern. "Did it hurt?"

"No," she lied angrily, "it didn't hurt."

His face looked broken as it had in her bedroom. She refused to fall for his display and kept her anger and hatred towards him.

"I...I had to do that, or else they wouldn't leave," Draco carried on. "I'm sorry. For all of this...I'm sorry."

"Yeah...I believe that," she scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

"Well, you should! This isn't exactly easy, you know? Trying to help you and pretend to be helping him. It's no walk in the park. I'd like to see you try it some time."

"No thanks...I prefer denying from the start...it saves trouble."

"It's not that simple. I can't deny him...it's all I have, I will lose everything."

"Then accept failure, you idiot!" she shouted angrily.

"Look, I know you're angry with me, but you have to realize there really was no other way," he said after a calming breath. "You can trust me," he added hopefully.

"Oh, yeah," she said sarcastically as she shook the chains at her arms, the jingling echoing through the small cell. "I can see that."

"What will it take for me to convince you?"

"Explain...why am I here? What's going to happen? Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I...can't...tell you," he replied carefully.

"What do you mean you can't? You just said...oh! You're bound aren't you?" she said when it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Thank Merlin!" he exclaimed happily. "At least one of you know how Dark Magic works!"

"One of who? Someone else is here?" she asked as her heart began to pound.

"Harry and Ron," Draco replied hesitantly.

"Are they all right?" she asked as her heart rate sped up a bit.

"Not exactly...Harry's been taken, it was part of the deal. I had to lead you all here. They don't know Ron's here though, not yet anyway."

"Why do they want Harry...tell me the whole story, I just asked you to tell me and that means you can tell me everything."

"All right," Draco began with a deep breath, "in order for the Dark Lord to come back to his full power, he made a deal with every dark creature he could in exchange for those powers. He has repaid all his debts, but one. He happened upon a group of demons at one point who made the final deal which has given him more power than ever before. In exchange for his power, he would give them the fatal blood of one of the Slytherin line."

"That's us, right?" Zora asked.

"Yes...and Harry too," Draco replied.

"Harry?! You can't be serious!" she said in disbelief.

"He's distant...extremely distant, probably a one night stand somewhere in that late 1700's but-"

"Draco! Unimportant!" Zora interrupted.

"Oh...right. Anyhow, the blood's still there. A few of the Death Eaters can be traced as distantly as Harry. Anyone of us can take the place....but I'm pretty sure the Dark Lord would prefer to be rid of his...enemies...first. But blood must be spilt before dawn, or else all of us will drop dead."

"All of us? Well, that's a bit harsh isn't it?" Zora replied. "If one of us has to go...it's better if it's you or me. After tonight really, there doesn't seem much else for us. We're definitely not having that baby, and I have no interest in taking over the world, but Harry has more to do."

"So you're still set on that baby issue?" Draco inquired stubbornly.

"Dye your hair red...then we'll talk," Zora found herself smiling, the weight of the situation momentarily lifting.

"I can work on that," he smiled back.

"Promise me..." she began after a long pause, regaining the seriousness of the situation once more, "that if it comes down to the two of you, he'll get out all right?"

"Promise? That's a lot to ask for," he replied with a sigh.

"No...it's just enough. I honestly don't care which or even both of us die...as long as he gets out, I'll die happy."

"Then I promise...he'll get out," Draco said reluctantly.

Zora gave him a bright smile and a whispered "Thank you" as she felt a great lift release from her heart. She had Draco's word, and knew that bound him to his promise and Harry would make it out of this castle alive.

"So, how's it going to happen?" she asked after a pause.

"That I really can't tell you, some things are more closely guarded than others," Draco explained sadly.

"I guess I'll find out soon enough," she replied with a shrug.

"I must go...things to be done and destroyed. I'll see you just before midnight if all goes well," Draco replied.

He leaned forward and kissed her cheek before rising from his knees and walking gracefully to the door. Zora didn't have time to accept or reject the tender affection, but was caught up in sudden worry. What did he mean "if all goes well"? That meant he had some sort of plan, one which he didn't share with her. Why? Didn't he trust her? Wasn't he the one who had betrayed her and her friends? She felt she deserved a little more than a kiss on the cheek and a simple promise that everything would turn out all right.

As suddenly as the resentment came, it departed. She hated being an emotional wreak and ever since that night months before, it was all she had experienced. Every human emotion possible had flooded her at one time or another and sometimes, it seemed, all at once. It was tiring being fully human, how could anyone put up with so much baggage at all times?

Zora waited for a few minutes before realizing that Draco wasn't coming back to explain anything. She let out a frustrated sigh and lay as comfortably on the marble floor as possible, the cold of the floor seeping through her thin white nightgown as she closed her eyes. The potion was still coursing through her veins, making her sleep come much quicker than ever before. Even the most horrible dream was better than the reality of that marble cell.

**

The last thought that Harry remembered was Draco's smiling face. He sensed that some amount of time had elapsed between then and now, although he could not tell how long a time period it was. His head was throbbing, but at the same time it was dull and distant. He opened his eyes and found himself in a familiar room, although he had no memory of being in it before.

His eyes blinked and he studied his surroundings. It was not until he finally glimpsed the golden blonde haired girl seated across the room from him that Harry knew where he had seen this room before. Lara smiled, eerily close to Zora's own smile, and spoke, "You must be the one."

"'The one'?" Harry spoke, the confusion only intensifying the pain in his head.

"The one against the Dark Lord, it is you, yes? I see you're scar...I feel your journey...he has brought you to his castle?"

"Well...Draco did," Harry replied thoughtfully.

"Draco," Lara whispered to herself. "You know the Malfoys?"

"I wish I didn't, but yes, I know them," Harry replied bitterly.

"Then you must know my girl...do you?"

"Yes...Zora, I know her," Harry nodded.

"Zora?" she smiled. "He named her Zora? Of course he would, he really was kind to me," she trailed off. "Zorina was my mother's name, you see? Does Severus Snape still work at Hogwarts? He treats her well, I hope...she's his godchild, you see? So much I don't know...sitting in this bloody painting. He wouldn't just kill me. Oh, no! He had to torture me with existence. I'm sorry, dear...it has been nearly seventeen years since I last spoke to someone. But tell me more about my daughter...what does she look like?"

Harry reached to his bag still strapped on his shoulder and quietly dug through it. He took out one of his few pictures and handed it to Lara. She took the paper into her hands as if it were a relic of a saint. She gasped at it for a moment, then tears began to stream down her face.

"She looks so like them...she has my eyes and my smile I think, but she looks like them more than she does me," she said to herself as she traced her hands over the picture.

"Who?" Harry couldn't help but ask...them implied more than one, he reasoned.

"The Dark Lord, you can see it in her hair, thick and black. The children only inherited one of his physical traits...just enough to be his own, but not enough to be noticeable. She has his hair obviously. But she looks so much like Severus, it's uncanny. See her jaw? Her nose in a way...not as crooked, but just enough to look like him."

"You mean Snape?" Harry asked, shocked. "Why would she look like Snape?"

"Because...he was the one I chose. We all had to choose someone to be the father," she exclaimed with a bright smile and sparkling eyes, so much like Zora it triggered a worrying sensation deep in his gut that he would not see that smile on Zora's face ever again.

"I thought Voldemort was her father," Harry said confused.

"He's her creator...the one who administered the spell, but she's not physically connected to him like she is to me. She and...Draco was it? Yes, Draco. She and he are not his children as you would think they are...they were merely invented by him. I know it makes no sense...it is so complicated this mess I've helped create. Biologically...physically, they are nothing like him but their one trait of his. But mentally...they are tied to his way of thinking. The physical separation is how their...relationship could take place in the future. The two were to have a strong mental connection, but not related in any way."

"You're right...that is a bit confusing," Harry replied as he tried to sort out and rationally take in her information. "So Snape is her father?"

"The other girls we already married so it was easy for them to choose...but I wasn't," Lara went on as she studied the picture of Zora. "I chose Severus because he was the only man I've ever loved. I'm sorry, I'm trailing again, but you must remember I haven't spoken with anyone in seventeen years. How is she? Is she all right? She's not dead yet is she?"

"No...she's alive," Harry replied although he wasn't completely sure that it was true, "she's smart too...and funny...she's a really good person."

"I bet Severus taught her that, does she live with him?"

"Err...yeah, she had to be sent away for a while, but she's been staying with a wizarding family, the Weasleys."

"Weasleys?? Well, I definitely didn't see that coming. What would the Weasleys want to do with her? Wouldn't she and Draco be rivals against them?"

"Well...it's not all that easy to explain, really. She and Draco aren't really on the best of terms...and Zora's sort of...involved with one of the Weasley boys, Fred."

Harry found it rather difficult to explain the little he knew of Zora's life to, of all people, her mother. He wondered if someone would one day explain him to his own mother somehow. With that in mind he began to search for little things that her mother might want to know about her daughter.

"She's fighting against Voldemort...she died to keep from joining him."

"I thought you said she was alive!" Lara burst out in a panic, her hand stretched over her heart.

"She is! I mean...Snape brought her back with some potion. She's fine now, a little confused at times, but she's trying her best."

"Of course...that potion, I know the one you speak of. So...the spell broke? I can't imagine how hard that must feel for her. And what's she to do about Draco?"

"She's denied him and Voldemort completely," Harry replied.

"Denied them?" Lara smiled proudly. "Well! She is my little girl after all. She won't be having the baby?"

"No...she's doing everything she can not to," Harry replied with a smile, he was at least half sure this statement was true too.

"Hmm...I can't really see how that works out...he must have chosen someone else by now, Merlin knows who," Lara thought out loud. "You'll be waking soon, I sense it...they're coming for you now. All I can say is be strong and don't back down, no matter how much you want to. And tell...tell my daughter that I love her."

Harry nodded and gave what felt like a smile. She leaned forward in the chair and handed the picture out to him.

"Err...keep it," he smiled just before he felt himself being drawn away from the room through the ceiling. He found himself lying on the cold marble floor. He pushed himself with his hands and noticed the picture of Lara's portrait just in front of his face. He took it in his hands and carefully placed it back in his bag. Suddenly, a hooded creature with the smell of death imprinted on it opened the door to the room with an eerie creak and was soon dragging him across the floor.

As Harry was still struggling to stand he was thrown through a massive wooden door and skidded on the marble floor of the throne room. The room was decorated with the same luxurious green drapes and massive coats of arms upon the walls, all swords had been removed. He smiled briefly as he thought of he and Ron defeating the gigantic spider in this very room only months before. His recollections were halted with the voice that often haunted Harry's dreams, although he would never admit it.

"Bring the boy to the center and prepare him for the duel," the Dark Lord commanded to the hooded creatures from the throne.

Harry was pulled up by his armpits and dragged carelessly to the center of the room. The green carpet had been rolled away revealing the clean white marble at his feet. The Dark Lord peered upon him with the fire red eyes set into his skull. Harry glanced nervously around and noted that he was completely surrounded by all sorts of ugly demonic creatures that he had never seen in any defense or creature book before. Most carried horns on their temples, some had green skin and other purple or red, most had pointed teeth, and all looked extremely deadly.

The creature that had dragged Harry from his cell now stood before him and thrust a heavy sword into his cold shaking hands. He looked frantically now, preparing himself for the worst thing possible. A manicore? A dragon? What was it that he needed a sword to defend against?

"I," a voice rang from near the throne. Harry turned his head quickly and saw Draco Malfoy stepping from behind the throne, carrying a sword similar to Harry's in his right hand. "I...Draco Malfoy, descendant from the great Dark Lord do challenge you, Harry Potter, to a duel to fatal blood spill in accordance with my master's agreements with these demons present here. May the Dark Power aid me and win a noble victory. Do you accept?" he said as he walked smoothly to the center of the demons until he was steps away from Harry.

Harry stood silent for a moment. The only words he had caught were "duel", "fatal" and "demons", but it was enough to tell him this was not where he wanted to be. He looked around and saw there was no way out of the circle. He had no choice.

"I do...I accept," Harry managed to squeak out to the boy in front of him.

He watched as Draco gracefully saluted him and Harry attempted his best replica of the movement, although he sensed it was a bit off from the giggles of the demonic crowd. Draco shifted his feet and began to circle Harry. Harry continued to watch him, not blinking for an instant. He moved in the same direction as Draco, skillfully keeping the same distance between them the entire time.

Draco suddenly shifted forward, sweeping his sword so quickly it was just a silver flash before Harry's eyes. Harry raised his sword instinctively and blocked the move from tearing at his flesh. With a small amount of pride, Harry continued to block each shot Draco sent his way with tiny clangs of metal on metal sparking together. And so the two continued for several minutes. Each rise of Draco's sword was met by Harry's own just before it could do him any real damage. It was when Harry finally decided to make a move of his own that Harry was finally struck. It was a quick slice at his arm and thankfully not as painful as Harry would have expected, but a thick stream of warm blood ran down his right forearm. Harry's sword fell with a clatter as Harry went to his knees. He gently nursed his arm when he realized he was in a duel with Draco to fatal ends. He turned and saw the thin boy standing over him.

Was this really it? He was to die here...crouched on his knees like a coward. He made a movement for his sword and took the heavy object in his hand. He soon found that he could not even grasp the handle properly. It clattered at his side once more as the pain began to throb in Harry's forearm. Harry looked up to Draco's cold grey eyes and to the smile playing on the blonde boy's lips. He waited for something, anything, to happen.