Corruption

CHAPTER THREE

Spirit

When the prickling on her skin began, she ignored it as nerves. She was succeeding such as she never had before, and she was bound to be a bit excited, right? Her council of Gold had formulated a set of beliefs, principles and rules for the Order, as it was now known. It was a proper cult, and she was proud. But she wasn´t happy. It wasn´t finished, whatever she had to do. She wanted to be elsewhere. It was too hard to explain. It was like she had conquered this place, and now needed to find another, and another, and another. But that wasn´t quite it. There was somewhere specific she had to be, not just another place.

Lara stretched like a cat, and laid down her quill. The candles were burnt down to spluttering stubs, and the grey fingers of dawn grasped at the edges of the night. She screwed up her eyes tightly, and winced at the needle pains on her eyeballs. She´d been up far too late. She dripped wax onto the page from her candle, and pressed her signet ring into the black blob. It left a deep indent of her coiled dragon emblem. She signed it with a flourish, and folded it in half. Her hands shook with exhaustion as she tied it to the ankle of her black owl.

She flopped onto her bed and stretched out. Her back clicked several times, and she rolled into sleep without bothering to undress.

~*~

Ginny practised day and night for her trial. She couldn´t possibly fail, not having asked to take it early. She was cursing a tree intently, when she heard footsteps. She dived forwards and rolled off the tree, landing in a crouch behind Harry, wand out.

`Potter?´ she asked, coming to her feet slowly.

`Ginny?´ Harry frowned. `You´ve never called me that before.´

`I was your friend then,´ Ginny snarled, pointing her wand at his chest.

`You aren´t now?´

`I´m one of the Order now. We aren´t friends with scum like you,´ she spat, looking down her nose at him, which was quite impressive, as he was a lot taller then her.

`What have they done to you?´ Harry asked, looking hurt.

`Made me who I am.´

`This isn´t who you are!´ Harry told her, reaching for her arm.

She jerked it back out of reach. `Don´t touch me.´

`Where are you, Ginny? What have you become?´ he asked her, frowning.

`I am where I always wanted to be, and I have become strong. You shouldn´t be out. You might get hurt.´ She turned back to the tree, blocking him out. He gave a slight sigh of sadness, and walked away.

~*~

The atmosphere in Gryffindor Tower was panicked, and Draco found it very hard to stay cool. When news of Sam what´s-his-face´s death had reached him, he had been shocked. Although he had known Ryder since five years old, he had never thought her capable of that. But he knew why she was doing it. He tried to tell Potter, and failed. He had tried again to tell Granger, and had been interrupted once more. It was like fate was against them finding out.

He pulled on a plain black cloak and raised the hood.

`Be careful,´ Hermione cautioned, as he passed her to join a group of similarly garbed Others. `Now, you know what you have to do. Just find where she lives, then tell us. Don´t get involved in anything, unless you can help it. Clear?´

They nodded, and climbed out of the portrait into the dark hall, wands ready inside their cloaks. Draco had ignored everything Granger said. The others could do the spying; he was going to infiltrate the Order. It sounded like fun.

They passed a few guards, but no one paid any attention to them. Something about this struck Draco as wrong. They were in too big a group to get away with this. That was the plan. They would get caught, and so find out where the prisoners were kept. Then they could fight their way out. Then Draco saw why. There was a huge gathering outside the great hall. He motioned to the group, and they sneaked over to join.

Draco tapped the shoulder of a figure in front of him, she whipped around.

`What?´

`Weasley?´ he asked in astonishment.

`Yes. What?´

`What is all this?´ he asked, praying she didn´t recognise him.

`The trials,´ she snapped. `What are you, senile?´

`Oh, yeah,´ Draco said, turning away. He spoke to two of his group. `This is some kind of trial. I´ll keep you two with me, tell the others to go and see what they can find while most people are here.´

The doors opened a minute later, and they all filed in. The ones with unmarked hoods appeared to be going to a different area from everyone else, and Draco followed them. They waited in silence as the candles dimmed, and a small, white blonde figure climbed onto the stage.

`Welcome to the trials!´ she called. There was cheering all around.

`First, the Blacks will come up, one at a time, then Purples, then Greens, then Blues. You know the score by now.´ She stepped back, and a black cloaked figure detached from the group and made its way up to the stage. Praying they wouldn´t have to remove their cloaks, Draco watched.

Lara herself stepped in front of the figure.

`Swear to me upon your life that you will uphold the honour of the Order.´

`I swear.´

`Swear to me that you will fight to the death for your beliefs.´

`I swear.´

`Will you duel me?´

`I will.´

`Then so be it.´

Lara flicked back her hood, but the figure kept its hood up. Draco´s fears melted away.

They began to duel. The Black dodged very well, and used more movement than was usual, but managed to last the time without getting too badly hurt. Many other duels came after this. Lara never seemed to tire, and worked her way through the Blacks, beating some, drawing with some, never losing.

The line came to Draco, and he stepped onto the stage. His palms were sweaty, and he could hear his heartbeat along the back of his skull. Thrills of fear shot through him.

`Swear to me upon your life that you will uphold the honour of the Order.´

`I swear.´

`Swear to me that you will fight to the death for your beliefs.´

`I swear.´

`Will you duel me?´

`I will.´

`Then so be it.´

Draco drew his wand, and held it in front of him, gulping down his unrest. Lara stood before him, colder than he remembered. Her small hands clutched the wand, and she gave no sign of what she was planning to do until she did it. Draco took the force of a spell in his stomach, and doubled over. He formulated a plan as he curled, and dived into a roll, grabbing her ankles and pulling her to the ground. Mind racing through what he knew, he shot curse after curse at her. She blocked most of them, but not all, and began to wear down. Draco could barely stand. So much energy went into his spells that his knees were weak. Lara was slowing down, and presenting him the advantage he had been aiming for.

He turned her into a dove.

`Accio, cage!´ he yelled, holding his arm high. A gold wire cage fell into his hand, and he snatched the wildly flailing bird by its tail feathers. He shoved her into the cage, and placed it on the stand.

There was a moment of shocked silence, then people started to clap. He bowed, feeling sweat drip off his forehead onto the stage. He went over to the cage and opened it. Lara flew out and tried to get away, but he pointed his wand at her and cried `Finite Incantatem!´ Lara herself fell out of the air, and he caught her. He set her down on the ground, and prepared to join those who had got through it. Then she caught at his sleeve.

`Congratulations are in order,´ she told him. He turned back to her, frowning. She grabbed onto his other sleeve, and pulled him right up against her. He was wondering what this was all about, if it was some kind of secret handshake, when she stood on tiptoes, and kissed him.

The taste of the sweat on her lips and the feel of her pressed against him made him far weaker at the knees than the fight had done, and when she pulled away finally, he stumbled slightly.

`Who are you?´ she whispered.

`Just call me your tall, dark stranger,´ he grinned, knowing that all she could see would be his teeth. Then he became aware of the crowd watching them, and walked away.

`What´s your name?´ she called after him.

`You know me,´ he said. It was true, after all, and if he told her who he was, she´d have him killed.

`I want to,´ she replied.

~*~

Hermione checked her watch, then the portrait hole, and then the group who had already returned. She stamped her foot angrily. Why wasn´t he back? Everyone else had returned ages ago. She was just getting up to look out, when the portrait swung forwards, and Draco rolled in. He wore a cloak lined with purple satin, and a huge grin.

`Who is da man?´ he demanded, spreading his arms wide and basking.

`I´m guessing you are,´ Hermione said stiffly.

`Damn right!´ Draco nodded, flopping into a chair and flicking his silvery hair.

`Why?´ Hermione sniffed, hands on hips.

`Why? Why? How could you!´ He looked scandalised. `I have managed to make Ryder fall in lust with me, and will proceed to infiltrate their base.´

`Doesn´t she hate you?´

`I was anonymous,´ Draco shrugged.

Hermione was interested, despite her anger. She sat down on the arm of the chair, and made him tell her the story.

`Well, now you´re in trouble,´ she smiled when he finished.

`How so?´ he asked lightly.

`What happens if she works out who you are?´

`She´ll kill me,´ Draco shrugged.

`Are you willing to take that risk?´ Hermione asked, breath taken.

`I´ll do whatever it takes,´ Draco grinned, then he kissed her cheek and walked up to the boys´ dormitories.

Hermione pressed a hand to her face, and gazed after him, open-mouthed.

~*~

Lara lay on her bed, gazing happily at the ceiling. She licked her lips again in an attempt to taste him again. The moment played over and over in her head, and she sighed. She couldn´t figure out who it was, though. It might have been Seamus, but it didn´t seem likely.

At that very moment, the door burst open, and Seamus barged into her room.

`What did you do?´ he demanded, shaking with rage.

`I--`

`I know what you did,´ he snapped. `WHY?´

`I--` she began, then she felt a bubbling rage. Why should she make her excuses? `I felt like it.´

`How could you?´ he hissed, eyes narrowed. `I trusted you.´

`Your mistake,´ Lara shrugged.

`It´s over, as if it wasn´t already.´ He slammed his way out of the room.

Lara turned back to the ceiling. At least that narrowed down her list of suspects by one. Then a horrible thought struck her. Malfoy.

She had kissed him once before, and remembered it clearly. It had been really cold, and they were on a school trip. They had been out camping for a Muggle studies field trip. They were the last ones by the fire, and she had been insulting him. Then he had scanned her hot face with his grey eyes, and kissed her so hard she fell over. He had tasted the same, sort of spicy, misty, with a tang of sweat. Before it had been from the fire, and this time from duelling with his hood up.

She sat up and stamped angrily. In pointless anger, she magically hurled a vase at a wall, and watched it smash. She jerked on her hair, and ground her teeth, but that wouldn´t get him back for it...

But she had liked him. They had never had time to establish their own views of each other, as their families had hated each other for ages. She had always found something about him that she liked, but denied it. She would play along, acting like she didn´t know, and thus would be her revenge. She grinned to herself and flexed her fingers. She laced her fingers behind her head, and began to giggle uncontrollably at the thought.

~*~

Draco scratched at the back of his head thoughtfully. He needed to play this just right. There was no way she could know it was him. They had never kissed before. They had only ever met at big parties where their parents were mutual friends of someone. He knew that they had always hated each other, and what he knew ruled out a lot of chances for them to have been drunk.

But there was that one time they had been friends. He had a photo in his drawer when they were about three, and had been friends. She had changed since then, a lot. He knew why, but couldn´t say. It was the root of all the problems, and he could do nothing about it. No one would believe him, it was too complicated, and would put him in a position he didn´t want to admit to. There were too many of his own secrets at stake to give away just one of hers.

No, he would bide his time. If he could confront her with it, she might remember it. That would break the spell, and free her. Then all this would end. He had seen it before. He had done it before. It wasn´t too bad, but they hadn´t been hiding him. He got up and pulled on his cloak. He would do whatever it took, the quicker the better.

It would all be over before dawn.

~*~