The Depths of Winter

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The Depths of Winter

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Chapter twenty-three

A Wizard's World

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They stood outside of the classroom Myra and Darius had just been in. Harry had sent Darius a text message on his cell phone and told them to leave the class; they'd done as he'd asked and now they were all here.

"What is it, Harry?" Myra looked worriedly up at him, her hand on his arm, trying to make him stand still. "Harry?"

"He's gone," Harry said as he pulled himself out of her grasp so that he could start pacing again.

"Who's gone?" Darius asked dumbly.

"Draco!" exclaimed Harry. He was upset, his heart beating madly in his chest.

"What do you mean by 'gone'?" Myra asked.

"They called from the youth centre where he's been working," Harry explained, his voice stressed. "He never made it there. He left this morning and an hour later, one of the girls there called and said he hadn't arrived yet. He still hasn't. He's gone."

"And he doesn't have a cell phone, does he?" Darius asked.

Harry shook his head, wishing he'd given Draco one. He also wished that he'd never let Draco leave at all that morning. He shut his eyes tightly and tried to stop wishing for things; they would never be real anyway.

"I need to find him," Harry said.

"Have you talked to the police?" Myra asked.

"No, not yet," Harry said. He didn't know what good the Muggle police would do - what he really needed was to get in touch with the Aurors. However, he'd sent the owl off earlier, before Joanne had called, so the only way to get a hold of them was to actually go to the Ministry.

He wasn't quite sure why he'd decided to take Myra and Darius with him. He'd tried to get a hold of Hermione, but she wasn't answering on her home phone and he had no other way of contacting her, so in her stead, he'd decided to get his two best friends, even though they knew nothing of the Wizarding world. He would wonder later about the wisdom behind his decision.

"Then I'll call them and talk to them," Myra said. "Harry, you should just go home and sit tight. The police will handle it."

"No," Harry said. Myra and Darius both looked startled by the sheer force in his voice. "No, I'm not going home. I have to find him."

"Yes, Harry, I understand that, but what can you do?" Myra asked, trying to reason with him.

Harry swallowed. "There are people I can talk to," he said.

Myra frowned. "This is about your past, isn't it?" she asked.

Darius followed the conversation with great interest.

"Yes," Harry said, his voice now far from strong. It sounded, even to himself, like a small, lost boy's voice. It wasn't far from the truth.

Myra's hand came up to rest on Harry's arm again, gently reassuring, but Harry found that he didn't want anyone's reassurance but Draco's. He pulled away. "Will you come with me?"

"Of course," Myra said, trying not to sound hurt by Harry's rejection.

Twenty minutes later, Myra and Darius were both hurrying after Harry, breathing heavily. Neither of them had asked where they were going, something for which Harry was thankful. Harry opened the door to the telephone booth, however, and they looked at him like he was crazy.

"Just trust me, all right?" Harry said.

"Harry - it's a telephone booth," said Myra, sounding as though she was worried for his sanity.

"Yes, thank you for being so observant," Harry said, harsher than he intended. "Sorry. Just-- don't ask. Not now. When we've found Draco, you can ask all the questions you want, okay? For now, just trust me. Please?"

Darius nodded and stepped inside the telephone booth. Myra gave him a long look before going in after Darius. Harry picked up the phone, dialled and spoke. Three buttons with their names and 'visitor' written on them popped out and Harry told his two friends to fasten them on their clothes. Then they began sinking into the ground and Myra yelped, hanging onto Darius. Darius looked quite uncertain himself, while Harry was just stressed.

He ran through the corridors, barely giving his two followers time to register their surroundings. Myra's mouth was hanging open at the clothes worn and Darius stared wide-eyed as a Wizard came walking with a pyramid of books floating in the air behind him.

Harry took them to the elevator and within moments, they were on the Aurors' floor. He ran down the corridor to Angelina's office.

"Harry! What are you--" Angelina started.

Harry slammed the door shut as soon as Myra and Darius had come inside.

"He's gone," he said. "Draco is gone."

A deep frown settled between Angelina's brows. "That's not good," she said. She motioned for them to sit down. Myra inched closer to Harry and Darius looked quite uncertain, too. Angelina held out her hand. "I'm Auror Angelina Johnson," she said.

"Au-what?" asked Darius.

Angelina frowned at Harry. "Are these two Muggles?"

"They're my best friends and they're going to help me find Draco," said Harry, not quite answering her question.

"So they're Muggles. Harry, you can't just bring Muggles into the Ministry of Magic!"

"The Ministry of what?" Myra asked, sounding almost afraid.

"The Ministry of Magic," Angelina repeated. "You know, wizards and witches. I'm a witch. And Harry here, he's a--"

"Was a wizard," Harry corrected her. "I'm not anymore."

"Harry, you can never not be a wizard. You have the knowledge and the power," Angelina said. "No one, not even yourself, can take that away from you."

"Thank you for this crash course in psychology," Harry said angrily. "We're here to find Draco, not to do introductions and play nice. He's in danger and we need to find him."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" asked Angelina.

"A location spell, of course," Harry said. "I don't remember any, but I'm quite sure that you do."

Angelina glared at him for a moment before nodding. "All right, let's go to one of the private rooms. They have maps and such as well."

Five minutes later, they were all seated in a room with no windows. Books covered all sides of the room and most of the floor. Angelina had set up the maps around her and was preparing for the spell.

"Oh, before we start," she said and pointed her wand at Myra, whose eyes widened. "Calma." Myra immediately seemed calmer and more relaxed.

"What did you--" Darius began, moving towards Myra, but Angelina pointed her wand at him as well and he fell silent.

Harry didn't say anything, just motioned for her to hurry up and do the location spell. Angelina nodded. She waved her wand and said a string of Latin that Harry didn't recognize and a small ball of light appeared in front of her. It started moving towards the maps on Angelina's right, but then it died.

"Strange," Angelina said. "Let me try again."

But the light did the same time the second and third time she tried the spell; it died almost as soon as it started moving.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked, afraid for the answer.

"It means one of two things," Angelina said, her frown deepening again. "Either he's in a very well-warded place or he's--" She trailed off, but everyone in the room knew the sentence's continuation.

"He's not," Harry said, trying to feel as sure as he sounded.

"We need a stronger spell," Angelina said after a moment of silence. "Something of his. Blood or hair is the best."

"I don't have either," Harry said. "There's probably hair on his hairbrush back at home, though."

"I'll send someone over there to get it," Angelina said, standing up and leaving the room.

Harry sighed and sank down in one of the chairs, burying his hands in his hair. "I can't do this," he said. "I'm not the intelligent one. I'm the rash one, the Gryffindor."

"The what?" Darius asked.

"Gryffindor," Harry repeated. "I went to a boarding school in Scotland called Hogwarts and it has four houses and Gryffindor is one of them. You get sorted into a house by the Sorting Hat at the beginning of your first year."

It made him feel slightly better to explain to his friends about such trivial things as houses at Hogwarts. They were easy, uncomplicated, and required no attachment or thought.

"I think you're going to have to give us a very long explanation of things when this is over," Darius said.

"Harry," said Myra, frowning slightly, "you do have Draco's blood."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, all of his attention on Myra.

"The blood exchange," said Myra. "Back when you were in the hospital. Draco and you exchanged blood to save your life. He-- did magic." Realization dawned on her and she fell silent.

Angelina chose that moment to enter the room.

"He did a blood exchange with you?" Angelina asked incredulously.

Harry nodded. "He saved my life."

"Things really have changed, haven't they?" Angelina said.

Harry gave a small shrug and then remembered the seriousness of the situation again. "What do I need to do?"

"It's not a hard spell to do," Angelina said. "Especially not if you've done a blood exchange. The spell will be that much stronger if the blood is connected to you."

He thought it was all taking too long. Angelina prepared him for the magic he was about to perform. She asked him how long ago it was since he'd last performed any spell at all and explained that it might drain him and make him tired. He snapped at her to get on with it.

The spell wasn't hard; he chanted a short string of Ancient Greek and a red light appeared before him. It started bobbing down towards the maps. It floated back and forth for a few seconds before it sank down and burned a hole in the map.

"Bloody hell," Harry swore, putting out the small fire.

Angelina looked thoughtful. "That's strange," she said. "That is a Muggle area, not a Wizarding one."

Harry looked up at her. "Whatever. I'm going. Gather a few Aurors or something and come after me."

"Harry, wait!"

Just as Harry said the Apparating spell, Myra pulled Darius with her and touched Harry. They all disappeared.

*

When they opened their eyes again, they were outside of a huge apartment building. The early afternoon sun was bright and seemed too cheerful.

"Myra!" Harry yelled at her. "You know what you just did? You could have made me splinch us all! Don't ever touch a wizard who's about to say a spell."

"Well I'm sorry," Myra snapped back, "I'm not that used to being around wizards, so I don't know the correct way to act!"

Harry looked as though he'd been slapped.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I shouldn't have brought you at all. This is not for you. It's not your place."

"What are you talking about?" Myra said, raising her voice at her. "We're your friends! This is the only place we can be, no matter how strange the place happens to be! So shut up and find Draco and we'll just follow. And help."

"I--" Harry wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have--"

"Stop being sorry, Harry," Myra said, cupping his face with her hand. "You're upset. Let's go find Draco."

Harry nodded resolutely. Darius gave him a smile and he felt stronger again. He was there to find Draco and he had two amazing friends with him.

Quickly, he performed the location spell again and the red light appeared before him. It urged them down the street towards another building and in through the door. Harry quickly pulled it open and the two followed.

The building looked old - what little of it Harry saw, at least. He had eyes only for the red light before him and he followed it blindly as it moved up the stairs, higher and higher. He felt his heart beating madly and the blood pumping in his ears, his breath short and laboured, but he was high on adrenaline. He had to find Draco.

They reached the top of the stairs and were met with--

"Nothing?" Darius said. "That light thing is weird."

"There has to be something," Harry said. "The spell can't lead us wrong."

The light suddenly disappeared into the wall.

"Hey!" Darius exclaimed. "It's gone."

Harry frowned and started running his hands over the uneven wall. "It's not gone," he said. "It's just continued--"

"So what do we do to open this thing, then?" Darius asked. "'Sesame open up', or what?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "Hermione was the one who used to be good at these things."

Suddenly, the wall started moving.

"What the--" Darius mumbled. "Perhaps it was 'Sesame'."

Harry frowned. Something was not quite right about this. Too many clues were pointing in one direction and he didn't like that direction in the least.

The light was hovering a few feet away. The wall had moved to reveal a tunnel with stone walls. It was completely dark except for the red light and Harry muttered, "Lumos."

"Whoa," said Myra and stared at the light he'd just made.

The red light made them continue down the corridor. Harry's heart was speeding; he felt sick. The tunnel was long, the air dry. Harry couldn't understand how this could fit into the apartment building - but then, it was magic, so--

"Did you hear that?"

Myra's words made Harry stop. Indeed, in the dark corridor, a low growl could be heard.

"What is that?"

"It doesn't sound very pleasant," Darius said, sounding just as worried as Myra.

The trio continued down, slower than before. Harry didn't know if it was his imagination or if their footsteps actually echoed much louder now than they had before. The growling became louder and was accompanied with scratching sounds. The red light didn't seem to notice the three's hesitance; it continued on just as before, hovering a few feet off the ground.

"Harry, I hope you're good with that stick, because whatever that is, it doesn't sound like fun," Darius whispered to him.

"It's a wand," Harry snapped back, his nerves making him unpleasant to be around, "not a stick."

Darius didn't seem reassured by his words.

The red light turned a corner and the trio followed suit.

"Bloody hell."

Darius had spoken and it got the three-headed dog's attention immediately. Harry almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fluffy," he said.

"Fluffy?" asked Myra incredulously.

Harry nodded. "Give me your watch."

Myra looked as though she was going to ask why, but thought better of it. Harry waved his wand over it and turned it into a flute.

"Play," he said to Myra and gave it to her.

"What?"

"Play," Harry repeated. "He will fall asleep as soon as he hears music."

"But I haven't played since I was--"

Harry growled at her. "Just play, all right?"

Myra's eyes widened and she put the flute to her mouth and began playing. Darius was hiding behind Harry, watching the beast fearfully.

"Now," Harry said to Myra, "don't stop playing until we're way past him, okay?"

Myra nodded and continued to play random notes that didn't sound all that good. Fluffy - or perhaps it was Fluffy's cousin; Harry couldn't tell - seemed to think it was all right however, because he lay down and was snoring within moments. Harry and his two friends walked up and past him. They had to climb over his back paws to get to the other side of the narrow corridor.

Ahead of them, the red light was still hovering. They hurried after it, with Myra still playing the flute.

"Can we not have any more of those interventions?" Darius asked, sounding shook up. His pale face clearly showed his distress.

"I certainly hope we won't," Harry said as he broke into a run. They were wasting too much time!

Myra threw the flute down when they couldn't hear the beast's snores anymore.

Suddenly they were in front of a door. The red light hovered before it and then it disappeared, as though someone had blown it out. They heard the sound of someone opening a door and light poured out of the room before them, blinding them. A dark silhouette stood in the doorway and a voice said,

"Hello, Harry. I had a feeling you'd come visit me."

To Be Continued...