Most Lovely

Chapter Three - Bones and Feathers

The first owl came around mid-day, bearing a clipping from the Daily Prophet that screamed, 'JAILBREAK AT AZKABAN! LUCIUS MALFOY ESCAPES WITH UNKNOWN PERSON!'. There was also a note from Ron, and one from Hermione, both rather panicky, but depressingly uninformative.

The second one was a few hours later. This owl was a deep, glowing brown, shot through with black and silver, and there was a small silver band around one foot, set with an emerald, and carved with a design of ornate M's. It dropped a small scroll into his hand and waited patiently. Harry frowned, gesturing to the window. "Go on, then."

It didn't move. He shrugged and opened the note, to see handwriting that was now somewhat familiar.

'Get someone to bring you to Diagon Alley tomorrow. Meet me in the Evander Cafe. Susan Bones and Saba Fawcett will also be there, so don't sodding panic.

'And send an RSVP with Nicodemus. I'm not going to wait for you if you don't reply. - Draco Lucien Odilon Malfoy'

Instead of a signature, there was a blue wax seal, imprinted with a dragon dormant.

Grabbing a quill and a piece of paper, Harry wrote a short reply. As he was writing, his hand drifted up to the phoenix pendant hanging around his neck, and he was surprised to feel that it was no longer a pendant, but something round and heavy. He pulled it in front of his eyes, and saw that it had become a signet ring, on which was carved a phoenix in flight. One of the eye-rubies was now positioned like a button, on the opposite side of the ring from the seal itself. Frowning, he set it face-down on a spare sheet of paper and pressed the ruby. There was a hiss, and a red wax seal imprinted with the design formed on the paper.

"Hm."

He finished writing the note, and on impulse signed it with the signet ring. When it touched his chest again, it turned back into the golden filigree phoenix.

'Look, Malfoy, I've really no reason to trust you, but for some reason, right now I do. In this case only. I'll be there.

'This is about those dreams, isn't it? - Harry'

Nicodemus took the return note, and graciously accepted an Owl Treat. After all, Harry decided, the bird deserved something nice for putting up with Malfoy. Although his own feelings towards Malfoy were rather ambiguous at the moment.

***

"Well then, Potter. I didn't expect that you'd really come. How did you manage it?"

"Secret." Harry sat down at the table in between Saba and Susan. Actually, he'd had to plead and plead until Arthur Weasley grudgingly agreed to bring him there, with a simple disguise charm that he'd removed just before entering the cafe.

The two girls looked from him to Draco, then locked eyes. Susan appeared to be stifling laughter, and Saba's eyes were twinkling. It was extremely strange; Harry didn't know either girl well, but he did know that Susan, at least, was generally very contained.

Draco eyed her irritably. He seemed very tense. "What's wrong with you, Bones?"

"Nothing, nothing." She smiled at him cheerfully. "It's a beautiful day, that's all."

"All right...well, down to business. I suppose you're wondering why I've called you all here today."

Despite himself, Harry laughed. Saba looked a bit puzzled. "No, not really. It's about the dreams, right?"

"Saba, it's a line from some Muggle thing. Though it escapes me as to why any Malfoy would know it." Susan grinned. Saba nodded, the look of confusion fading.

"Yes, it is about the dreams, thanks very much." Draco scowled at them all. "I want to know what they are. And I want to know why in hell you three are in them."

There was a pause, and then someone spoke. Saba. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Isn't what obvious?"

"We are opposing forces. You and Harry, and Susan and I. This is why we are drawn to one another. You and Harry...well, your relations to one another differ by mood, I think."

Startled, Harry looked at Saba closely. She was a soft-spoken girl, approximately the same age as them, though in Ravenclaw. She'd come to the meetings of Dumbledore's Army, and though she hadn't learned the spells particularly quickly or well, she'd seemed extremely perceptive. At the moment she had her hands folded primly around a cup of hot tea, and was watching them all with an expectant look on her face.

Susan nodded. "I have to agree with Saba."

Draco scowled deeper and shook his head. "How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure. But...haven't you noticed anything strange happening? When you get excited, I mean?"

Harry's head flew up, and he and Draco locked eyes for a moment, before Draco nodded grudgingly. "Yes."

"What, then?"

"Ice. Frostbite."

Harry must have made some noise, because then they all turned to him. He thought about it. "I burn things."

"Yes." Saba and Susan were abruptly stifling laughter again, and the Ravenclaw girl was looking back and forth between the two boys. "That, and glass shatters whenever you're near each other. Especially when you kiss."

This elicited a reaction from both boys, in unison. "How did you know about that?"

"For one, it's in the dreams. For another, I'm studying medical magic, so I help out Madam Pomfrey, and near the end of the year you two started showing up with burns and frostbite in some really fascinating places. Like your tongues, for instance. And for a third thing, whenever you two kiss, Susan and I wake up."

Susan nodded. "You know, once I had to go on about one hour of sleep per night, for three days running. By the way, I know you said something about this before Harry got here, but can anyone hear us talking?"

"No. I called in a favor from Maire. She's spelled this corner."

More tea came, and there was an amount of tense silence while they sipped. A flash of light made Harry notice something, and he frowned. "Susan, where did you get that brooch?"

"What, this?" She removed it, smiling, and set it down on the table where they could see it better. "Pretty, isn't it? It came by owl. I'm not sure who sent it, but Aunt Amelia says it's safe."

He stared. The brooch on the table was a made of what looked like intricately worked copper, and was shaped like a long-haired girl in a dress made of leaves. Its eyes were made of tiny emeralds. "That's odd."

"Why?"

"Because I," and he fished the phoenix pendant out from under his shirt, "got this by owl, from someone unknown."

Draco groaned. "God, it never ends, does it? I got one too." He held out his left hand. A heavy silver signet ring flashed on the ring finger. It was engraved with a dragon, whose eyes were sapphires. After that, Saba was quick to show her own platinum bracelet, from with hung a large charm shaped like a winged horse with eyes of yellow topaz.

Eyes narrowing, Susan reached out and picked up her brooch, and everyone's hands brushed, and Harry would have said something, but at that moment the table went through several sudden changes of substance, and then blew up.

***

"You what?!"

"Um, Hermione, my dear girl, I kept very close watch, it shouldn't have happened at all..." Arthur Weasley trailed off as the girl in front of him glared. Her face was paper-white and tense, and she seemed too upset to speak. Behind her, Ron seemed to be going into shock.

Mrs. Weasley came hurrying up from the kitchens, having heard the voices in the hall. "Arthur, what happened?"

"It's Harry."

"What about Harry?"

"He's gone."

"WHAT?"

"Gone. Not run off. Not kidnapped. I don't know. I saw him. He just disappeared."

***

Narcissa Malfoy stared at the house-elf, face white and pinched, hand over her heart. "What happened to my son?"

"Master Draco is gone, Mistress! Gone without a trace!"

***

Emily Bones came tumbling out of the fireplace, eyes wide. "Mum! Mum, something's happened to Susan!"

Amelia Bones frowned. "You mean in Diagon Alley? What could have happened there? ...unless...did she go into Knockturn Alley?" Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth tightened. "I've told her not to go there."

"No, Mum. She'd been in the Evanders' cafe, meeting friends. I came back from Quality Quidditch Supplies to see if she was ready to go, and there was this terrific bang, and she disappeared!"

***

In Ottery St. Catchpole, a horde of small children were surprised when someone's head appeared in the fireplace. Jessamy Evander looked at them wide-eyed. "Go get your parents!"

They obeyed. A moment later, Kael Fawcett was peering down at the girl in his fireplace. "What seems to be the problem, Miss Jessamy?"

"It's Saba. You know she came to the cafe to meet some friends?"

"Yes, she told me that. Does she need to be brought home?"

"No, sir. She's disappeared. It wasn't Apparation, either. She was right in the cafe with her friends."

"Which friends?"

"One of them was Susan, and one was Draco Malfoy. I think the third was Harry Potter."

***

As this conversation was happening, Harry was waking up. He was sprawled on the floor of an enormous room, staring up at a flying buttress. Around him lay the other three, and Susan, he was alarmed to note, had blood on the front of her skirt.

He rummaged in his pockets, and came up with his wand. "Ennervate."

"Uh?" Susan sat up, blinking and running a hand through her hair. Her other hand had been clenched around her brooch, and she slowly opened her hand and pinned the tiny nymph back onto her shirt. "Harry. What happened?"

"I'm not sure. Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

"'m fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well...you're bleeding..."

Susan frowned and looked down at her skirt. Her eyes widened. "Oh, damn. The charm wore off. And this is a nice skirt, too."

"...what happened?"

Suddenly she blushed bright red, yanked her wand out of her waistband, and cast a cleaning charm, and then another charm that Harry had never heard before. The blood disappeared. "Nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Harry looking puzzled and Susan embarrassed.

"But really, what was it?"

She looked up at him, still as red as her plaits. "Girl problem."

"Wh-oh. Sorry." He looked away, feeling sheepish.

"Uhn..."

They spun around on the floor. Draco was pulling himself upright, rubbing at his forehead with the back of his hand. "Ouch. My head. Hullo, Bones, Potter. What in hell happened?"

"We're not entirely sure." Susan looked faintly apologetic. "We only just woke up ten minutes ago."

Standing, Draco looked around. "Well, we're obviously not at the cafe. And whoever brought us here is quite rich. Why isn't Fawcett awake?"

"I don't know that either." She frowned at him. "But you could at least call her by name."

"Why?"

"It's polite."

Draco made a face for a moment, before his expression smoothed into calm. "And Malfoys are nothing if not polite to those deserving of it. So why isn't Saba awake?"

There was a scrabbling noise, and as Draco said Saba's name, she bolted upright, dark eyes wide open. Her pupils were like pinholes. "He wants for the wind."

"What?"

"He wants for the wind, and the viper as well; she wants it. He is powerful, but he must have the right way. He wants for the wind, and he will take it, or the viper will, and she is less discriminating, and faster."

Harry blinked, trying to puzzle this out. "Who wants the wind?"

Saba seemed to come out of her trance long enough to shrug before lapsing back into unconsciousness.

***

Blaise Zabini was a young man whose hair, complexion, and general temperament strongly resembled good brown sugar. That is, he tanned quite well, and was normally a rather sweet and unassuming sort of person. However, he wanted things, as most boys do. For one, he wanted to corner the international wizarding magazine market, because he was quite fond of journalism, especially the shallow kind so dear to so many teens. It was funny. For another thing, he wanted to know where the hell his boyfriend had gone, and why nobody could tell him.

"Yes, the Evander cafe, I understand that he was there. Who was he with?" Blaise's patience was being sorely tried, and he was glaring at Jessamy Evander.

"He was with Saba Fawcett and Susan Bones, and a boy I think was Harry Potter." Jessamy thought for a fleeting moment that Blaise had a very nice mouth, and shook the thought off, because it wasn't really relevant. "One minute they were there, and then they were gone. Big bang. The table exploded."

After a moment, Blaise let out a stream of invective in French. When he ran out of French swears, he went through the other Romance languages, and then English and what sounded to Jessamy like Mandarin Chinese.

He finished, leaning on a chair, disheveled and panting and looking very angry. Jessamy raised an eyebrow. Her voice was dry. "You have a remarkable command of languages."

"My father's in international trade. I'm expected to."

"Look, Blaise, I'm sorry that I can't tell you more. But I only know what I saw."

He waved a hand dismissively, sounding strained. "It's fine. I'll deal. You go do...whatever it is you need to do."

Once she'd gone, he raced to his own room and began to search frantically until he found the thing Draco had given him for Christmas.

***

Jessica Oberon was one of those unconsciously graceful people who draws the eyes of everyone in the immediate area. She moved like a dancer, though her actual dancing was terrible, and her face was lovely in the way of a young girl, who does not know that she is pretty, but seems to use it all the same.

Appearance and otherwise, she was nearly a polar opposite to Grace. Her hair was black and softly waved; her nose was straight, but not regal. Her mouth was wide, and also straight, in a way that would have been cruel if it had been anyone else. She was not gaunt, but full-faced, and in her deep blue eyes gleamed with a sort of life and warmth that Grace lacked. She was compassionate, considerate, friendly; all those qualities that Grace did not have, without Grace's capacity for careful manipulation or measured cruelty. It was surprising, then, how deeply she loved the other girl, though Grace's love for her was not at all odd, for we often admire what we are not.

She was at the moment curled into her favorite chair in Grace's study, reading one of the many tomes on obscure magic, when she heard a loud explosion coming from upstairs. Normally this wouldn't have startled her - Algernon, Grace's rather reclusive father, spent most of his time up there, inventing things. However, Grace had gone upstairs just a few minutes ago, and explosions around Grace were often more dangerous than those her father created.

Of course, Jessica thought fleetingly as she ran out of the study and hurried up the stairs, it might have been Lucius Malfoy. Unable to return to Malfoy Manor with all the Aurors around, he was staying in a guest bedroom. But so far he hadn't made anything explode, as opposed to Algernon and Grace, who blew things up all the time. It seemed to run in the family, though she didn't really know about Grace's mother, who had died years and years ago.

She found Grace sitting on the floor in the middle of the upstairs hallway, looking surprised. Her eyebrows had been scorched off the rest of the way, and her robes were rather singed. The rug around her was mostly burned away, and the floor beneath it seemed to have turned to stone, and was soaking wet. Her hair was windblown and full of static, and made it look like she had a halo.

Lucius had come out of his bedroom, and Algernon was leaning out the door of his lab, looking puzzled. The elusive Mr. D'arcangelo was wearing slightly out of date Muggle men's clothes, with the shirtsleeves rolled up, and he also looked singed, but not as much as Grace, and probably for entirely different reasons. His glasses had slid down to the tip of his nose, apparently out of surprise. "Grace, dear? What happened?"

Grace shrugged, rubbing at the spot where her right eyebrow used to be. "Not sure. I felt something in my chest, and then everything exploded."

This seemed to alarm him. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, Father. Actually, it was rather nice." She picked herself up, pulled out her long, dark wand from some inner pocket in her robes, and cast a few charms, until the floor was properly dry, wooden, and covered by a rug.

Algernon paused, frowning. "Why didn't Tippy come when she heard the explosion?"

"Tippy's learned that she doesn't always need to. Normally if it's up here it's just you, and you can take care of your experiments better than she can."

"Good point. Will you send her up here with some hot oolong?"

"Of course, Father." She nodded to Lucius Malfoy. "I apologize for having disturbed you, Uncle."

"All is forgiven, Grace. Accidents happen."

"Thank you." She limped over to the top of the staircase and smiled at Jessica. "Hello, most lovely. I disturbed you, too? I'm very sorry."

"It's all right." Jessica slipped an arm around Grace's shoulders and began to help her down the stairs.

***

Blaise scowled at the figurine resting in his hand. Draco had given it to him for his birthday, in February, a silver fox about the size of a coffee mug. Its eyes, teeth, and claws were gold, and it had been enchanted to move around on its base, sniffing and sleeping and howling silently at a nonexistent moon. Draco had also had a communication charm put on it, so they could always speak to one another. The blonde boy had a counterpart to it, a round pendant with another fox engraved on it, which he wore around his neck.

"Draco!"

The fox started, opening its mouth, and Draco's voice came out. "Blaise! Hello."

"Where in hell are you?"

"I haven't the foggiest."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"I mean-ow, hey, Potter, you bastard, gerroff!"

A new voice came from the fox's mouth. Harry Potter. Blaise frowned. "Blaise? Blaise Zabini? If that's you, do you think you could help us?"

"Draco, why are you with Potter?"

Draco, having apparently wrested his pendant away from Harry, went back to talking, not answering the question. "I'm trying to remember the charm to turn this thing into a Portkey. If I can do it, it'll take us to wherever the fox is."

"Draco..."

"What?"

"Why is Potter with you?"

"Because I had him over to lunch at the cafe. Him and Susan Bones and Saba Fawcett."

"And why is this, Draco darling?" Blaise's voice had chilled slightly.

Draco's voice was exasperated. "Look, love, could you just hold on a minute? I'm trying to get this set."

There was some fumbling heard from the voice charm in the fox, and then Draco again, sounding alarmed. "Sodding hell-"