Corruption

CHAPTER EIGHT

Stone

Hermione didn´t care how much noise she made; she just had to get out. Still, there was the sense of leaving your home. Like she had said, it was the same as fleeing overseas.

But there were a couple of problems. One was that she couldn´t fly, and was terrified of heights. The other was that Lara and Malfoy had left hours ago, and she didn´t know where they were going.

`Hermione?´ called Ron.

She slowed down. `Are you done shouting at me yet, or have you come back for more?´ she asked coldly.

`I´m sorry, okay? Look, Harry´s out there too, and we both owe it to him to try and help.´

`Friends?´ Hermione sighed, holding her hand out.

`I don´t know about that,´ Ron grinned, shaking it.

`Allies, then?´ Hermione offered.

`That´ll do,´ he shrugged, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

`Now we have to run,´ Hermione told him.

`Okay,´ he smiled, and they ran off down the corridor, footsteps echoing all the way.

~*~

Ginny pulled on the black shirt, black skirt and long, white silk-lined cloak, smiling to herself. She had been given one of the dragon daggers for her very own, and she tucked it into her belt. She had been asked to choose an amulet, to represent her Regency. She held the one she had chosen up into the light. It was a lion´s head, cast in gold. Light glinted eerily off its eyes, and Ginny tucked it back into her clothes.

She would be the best Regent ever, and Lara would be proud when she returned.

Where had she gone? Ginny had been wondering for a while now. Lara had just vanished earlier today. She was probably with that boy from the Trials. Ginny imagined that they would have sneaked off grounds to be alone, and anyway, Lara needed a back up. Ginny would make a good back up. She just needed a different name. `Virginia´ was so... sweet. She picked a book off the shelf in her new room. It fell open on a page entitled `Glory or Loss?´

`Glory,´ she tested it. It was sweet on her lips, and she smiled. Glory. Who could deny that name? Admittedly, it didn´t have the neat immediacy of Lara, but it would do.

`Lady?´ one of the Black Ryders asked, poking her head around the door.

`Yes?´

`You need to address the Order.´

`I shall,´ Glory smiled, lifting up her hood, and following the girl out.

~*~

Draco ignored Harry, who was ranting wildly. He couldn´t think straight with that racket going on, and he was trying very hard to formulate a plan. Potter´s presence would certainly make things harder. Voldemort could believe that Lara and Draco had been Called, but Harry?

Unless they had taken him as a gift, to ask for forgiveness? Yes, that could also get rid of Potter, which would be a true bonus. Draco decided to run it past Lara, but not Potter. He wouldn´t be too happy, and Draco wanted to be intact when he reached Voldemort. He glanced back at Lara, but all he could see in the darkness was her white shirt and hair. She didn´t seem to be moving very much. He remembered the shock of knowing what had happened, and didn´t bother her.

He rubbed at his sore eyes. It was nearly dawn, and they had left late afternoon. Draco hadn´t slept properly for about two days. He slapped himself around the face with his icy cold hand. It just hurt, and did nothing to wake him up. He groaned and bit his tongue. Potter was still rambling, and Draco had a serious, bad-ass headache coming on. This looked to be a very long night.

`Potter, shut up,´ Draco snapped. Harry faltered and stopped. Draco rubbed his hands together, and blew on them. The cold sliced through the gaps in his clothes like sharp knives.

`You don´t have to be rude!´ Harry objected.

`I´m evil, I´m famous for being rude!´ Draco yelled.

`Well, I think we´ve just met the latest edition of Evil Monsters `r´ us!´ Harry shrilled, jerking his head in Lara´s direction.

`That was uncalled for,´ Draco said coldly. `She´s not some common piece of crap from Evil Monsters `r´ Us. She´s a top-of-the-range, Harrods Evil Monster!´

`Shut up,´ Harry said, but he was grinning.

`Stop laughing at my jokes, Potter. I hate you, and therefore you have no right to enjoy yourself because of me.´

`Oh, sorry,´ Harry said, hanging his head.

`I see it!´ Lara suddenly yelled. Draco snapped his head in the direction she was pointing. Sure enough, there was that shimmering dome. He got a dizzying flashback, and pitched forwards.

He slammed against the door with all his might. It budged eventually, but they lost precious seconds. Blaise hurled herself at it, but bounced off like a raindrop on a flagstone.

They burst out and flung themselves out across the plain. Cold rain pelted them, and the sky flickered with thunder. Draco spat furiously on the stony ground. He scraped his hair out of his eyes, and wiped the water off his face. Behind him, Blaise tripped. He heard her yell out, and ran back to grab her hand. She scrambled to her feet and they continued, hopping like mountain goats over the boulders scattered around them. But she was lagging behind again, and Draco could almost feel his soul trailing out after him. Thinking of all the memorable events in his life, he fought to hold onto it. The shimmer was a yard ahead, a foot...

Draco smacked his head on the handle of his broom, and came back to the present. He blinked stars out of his eyes, and saw Lara doing much the same. It must have been the normal reaction.

She flew up close to him, and grabbed his hand in a vice-like grip.

`Let´s go,´ she said quietly.

Draco nodded, and kissed her cheek, before grabbing Potter´s arm and diving down to the ground outside the dome.

They dismounted, and hid their brooms behind a rock.

`Are you ready to go back?´ Draco asked her.

`I think so. It´s not like I have a choice.´

`We may not come back,´ he warned her.

`I know,´ Lara nodded. She shifted her dagger in her belt. Draco checked his wand was still there. Harry stood off to one side, looking scared. Lara dipped a hand down the front of her shirt, and pulled out a dragon shaped blood-charm in silver on a long chain. She kissed it, and tucked it back in. She kissed her dragon ring as well. Then she kissed Draco´s cold cheek, and they linked arms. The two Corrupters exchanged a glance, then took a step forwards.

~*~

Hermione knew it was far too late to catch up. Not to mention that Harry and Draco could both fly, and Lara probably could too. All these new students seemed to be amazingly proficient at it. Especially all the ones who´d just found their magic powers.

Hermione, however, was a whole new chapter at sucking at flying. Ron wasn´t too bad, but that wouldn´t really help her, would it?

`Ron, you fly there. I´ll do a locator charm on your broom, so it´ll automatically take you to wherever Harry is, just promise you don´t kill Draco or Lara?´

Ron snorted, but held out his broom, as Hermione put hers down. She cast the charm, and the broom immediately began to fly off. Ron leapt on it, and waved goodbye. She went back into the castle as fast as her legs could carry her. The Gryffindor shot into the library, keeping to the shadows where possible.

`Accio, Spells of the Sorcerer!´ she whispered. A book flew into her hand, and she thumbed through it by the light of her wand, until she reached the right page. She stood up, looking down at the words, and muttered the spell, then focused on Lara´s image with all her strength. Nothing happened. Hermione cursed and stamped her foot, she obviously didn´t know Lara well enough yet.

`Accio, Lara´s hairbrush!´ she muttered, acting on an impulse. It hurtled into her hand, and she pulled some of the long, fine silvery strands from between the bristles. She put the brush on the table, and wound the hair around her hand. Hermione chanted the spell again, and squeezed the hair in her palm. She screwed her eyes tight shut, and said the last words, `Take me to her!´

There was a painful stretching, then she felt herself shooting up into the air. Cold air burnt her skin, and she fell down, down...

And crashed into someone.

`Granger?´ Draco demanded incredulously.

`Malfoy? Ryder?´ she gasped, sitting up and clutching her side. Malfoy held out a hand to her, and pulled her to her feet.

`You came just in time to join us in Voldie-Land!´ he told her enthusiastically.

`Oh, great!´ she exclaimed, brushing the grey dust off her clothes.

Malfoy and Ryder were both staring at her with looks of total disbelief on their oddly similar faces.

Lara shook her head and offered her small, bloody hand to Hermione. She took it, and gave the tiny girl a reassuring smile.

`Off we go, then!´ Hermione said. Draco nodded, but Lara just stared ahead stiffly.

`Three, two, one!´ Harry counted, and with a deep breath, they all stepped over the shimmering line into whatever lay beyond.