Corruption

CHAPTER FIVE

Air

Draco went over and over it in his head. He had always hated her, but she wasn´t so bad. He had to stop her. The Call would start up soon, and then she´d be the most dangerous weapon on earth. He couldn´t stop her. The only way to stop her would be to kill her, and he couldn´t. He had never thought himself incapable of murder, but he was. It had never been something he would have to test. The other way was to chain her, but he couldn´t do that, because it would hurt him too. But why was she free? She had gone wrong in some way, and if he could find that out, he could play to her weaknesses. He knew what his were, but would that be the same? Also, the fact that she couldn´t remember any of it would make his job far harder. She didn´t even know where she was going, for god´s sake.

He sat up and stared at the wall in the darkness. She had to be stopped. Lavender and Sam were both dead now, and they wouldn´t be the last if Lara was still free. But he empathised. He understood, but he wasn´t as powerful as she was. It had been forced out of him, but not her. She had been bred especially for it. He knew that he had to tell Hermione. He shifted to his feet and padded over to the desk in the dormitory. He took out a quill and unscrewed the ink pot. Pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts, he began to write.

~*~

Ginny stood outside the Slytherin dungeons, gazing up the corridor in the flickering light of her torch.

`Leader?´ she called uncertainly, on hearing footsteps.

`Weasley?´ said a voice.

`Are you alright, Lara?´ Ginny asked, running forwards.

`I´m a bit wet,´ Lara grinned awkwardly, clutching a cloak far too big for her.

`Let´s get you in, quick. It´s cold down here,´ Ginny chivvied, leading her to the sliding panel.

`What happened?´

`I fell in the lake,´ Lara answered simply, and Ginny knew better than to press on.

`I´ll get you some clean robes,´ Ginny offered, walking to the laundry.

Lara watched her go, then released her held breath. She went into her room, taking the bundle of clothes from the coppery haired girl. She changed slowly, but kept the cloak. It was huge and wet, but it was his. She lay back on her bed, clutching it to her chest, breathing in his lingering smell. Despite all the water on it, she could still smell the lime-alcohol tang. With a deep sigh, she lay back and fell asleep.

~*~

Hermione awoke with a start as something very cold touched her lips. She tried to sit, then realised the cold thing was a finger, and it belonged to the pale, silver-blond, Draco Malfoy. He stood over her, pressing his finger against her lips for silence. He appeared to be only half dressed. He wore no shirt, and his pale chest was streaked with ugly red scratches.

`What?...´ Hermione began, but he pushed against her lips harder, and she shut up.

`Just listen,´ he whispered. `I know something about Ryder, I know what we have to do.´

She opened her mouth, but he pinched her lips closed.

`I´ve written it down. As soon as I leave, read it, but not till I´m gone, okay? You might get hurt if they come while I´m here.´

Hermione nodded slowly at this strange statement, knowing better than to ask. She took the folded parchment, and watched his streaked back leave the room. Breathless, she fumbled for her wand, and lit it. She flicked open the parchment and scanned it wildly.

Hermione

I have to write this, because they´ll come after me if they find out, and I don´t want you to be there when they do.

It´s about Lara.

When we were about seven, the both of us were taken to meet the Dark Lord, and told we may not return. He performed a great series of spells on other children, and us and turned us into weapons to do his bidding. Lara and I were his favourites. We became what he called `Corrupters´, beings with a totally irresistible power of corruption. We were meant to move in, smash things apart, gather him unconditional followers, and make war. It worked up to a point, but he couldn´t control us.

We began to corrupt his own followers, gathering them to our sides. Lara and I joined together, and, as Corrupters are immune to each other, we were totally formidable. Many of the Corrupters were killed for this simple fault, but as I said, Lara and I were his favourites. He memory charmed us, and chased us away.

My father, desperate to know what had happened to me over the past four years, broke my charm, and I told him. I had my powers crushed by my father, who knew what would happen if I used them. I would be Called back to Voldemort, and become very dangerous. Father didn´t want to lose me, so he told me the danger I was in, and let me live a normal life.

Lara, however, has no parents. They didn´t want to give her to Voldemort, but he wanted to take her, so he killed them. Lara was successfully given the memories of a girl roughly the same as her, who had been killed recently. This girl had been a friend of mine, my first girlfriend. Lara now thought that, from seven years old, she had not been with Voldemort, but lived a normal life. She has continued the girl´s life until now. She has come to one of the main places Voldemort wanted to break, and has begun to break it.

Now she´ll start being Called again, and will return to Him, or kill herself trying. You understand why I didn´t tell you, I hope. Too much of my past is involved, but something must be done. I am sure, knowing you as I now do, that you will have read about the Corrupters. We were sent away for more reasons than that we were out of control. Mine was that I was easily influenced. I would do things if anyone told me to. I suspect that Lara´s situation was much the same, but proof would be much appreciated.

If you ever need to hold her in any way, we are allergic to gold. Such that it will kill us in prolonged exposure. NEVER bring any near me, I am VERY allergic. She is too, but it will make her comatose for long enough to lock her up. We HAVE to stop her getting to Voldemort. Nothing but gold will hold her. This may be hard to believe, but try.

Don´t kill her. She´s the last one of my friends from before. I need her.

Draco

Hermione sat and gaped at the letter for a while. It fitted so well. She had read about the Corrupters, and knew all about them. She had to help Malfoy. They were now the only ones who could do anything. Harry couldn´t be told, he would kill her, he was becoming so ruthless. Dumbledore.... She hardly knew. It seemed too hard to tell him all this without getting Malfoy into trouble.

Resolved, she folded the letter and got out of her bed. Armed with her wand, and dressed in jeans and a black shirt, as dark as she could get, she banged her way into the boys´ dormitory.

Malfoy sat on his bed, looking up at her.

`Read it?´ he asked.

`Yes. Do we do it now?´

`I think so,´ he shrugged. `We have to try to stop her first. It´s our best option.´ He stood up and stretched languidly. He grabbed a black T-shirt off the back of his chair and pulled it over his head, covering his scratched torso.

`Where did you get those scratches?´ Hermione asked, swinging her cloak around her shoulders.

`Hell, why not? I´ve told you all my other secrets. Lara roughed me up a bit,´ he grinned.

`You shagged the enemy?´ Hermione demanded hotly.

`Not quite. I´m working on it, though.´

She rolled her eyes and followed the cold glow of his pale hair down the stairs and out of the corridor.

`Are you sure we aren´t in any danger out here?´ she whispered, trotting to keep up with his long legs.

`Not at all. I´m just hoping that shagging the enemy has additional benefits.´

Hermione choked slightly on that.

`They might kill us?´

`Well, yeah. We are going to kill their leader,´ he reminded her.

`Or not. You won´t let me, remember?´

~*~

Lara woke up with cold sweat on her forehead and a painful stabbing all over her body. It felt like she had full body pins-and-needles. She knew she had to get out of bed. That was certain. She threw Draco´s nearly dry cloak on the floor and ran to the window, limping slightly. She fumbled desperately with the catch, then gave up, and punched it through. There was a cold wetness across her knuckles, but it didn´t hurt too much. She kicked the wooden frame out and began to climb through, cutting her body all over on the jagged glass.

There was a short jump to the ground, and she crouched on the sill, preparing. Then she glanced back. She grabbed the huge purple lined cloak from the floor and fastened it with bloody fingers, before jumping out. She landed in a bone-crunching crouch, and ran. She didn´t know where. She had to move, keep moving. The pain stopped if she moved. The moment she slowed down it tore at her again, so she ignored the blood trailing after her from her knuckles.

Directly ahead of her was a shed, but she didn´t dare leave the course, or the pain would start up. She heard cries behind her, and sped up. Then she remembered what was in the shed. Broomsticks.

She had never flown before, but it couldn´t be that hard, and the pain would stop. Brooms were fast, right?

The heavy cloak weighed her down, but she wouldn´t have left it behind for money. She stepped back, feeling the pain mounting. She gave the door a solid side-kick. The rotten wood broke under the force, and she ran in, grabbing the nearest broom. It said Nimbus 2002. It looked all right. She ran outside and leapt onto it. It rose grudgingly into the air, and she wobbled madly. Behind her, she heard people going into the shed.

`Lara!´ It was Malfoy.

She cast a glance back over her shoulder at him.

`Wait!´

`I can´t!´ she yelled. It was true enough. He put on an extra burst of sped on his stolen broom.

`Lara! You can´t go!´ he told her. `You have to remember!´

`Remember?´ she frowned.

`Remember where you´re going. Who it is, what he´ll do to you!´

`Who?´

`Voldemort!´

The name struck her with a wave of dizziness like rocks falling from the sky. A confused welter of memories hit her. Meeting Him, all the spells, the pain of transforming, being chased away, the charm...

`I have to go!´ she yelled.

`You don´t remember?´ he asked, catching up to her.

`I do, but it hurts, Draco,´ she said, a small sob escaping her.

`If you´re going, then I´m coming with you,´ he said resolutely.

`You can´t!´ she gasped. `He´ll kill you!´

`Not like you care,´ Draco scoffed.

But I do, she thought. I really do.