Corruption

CHAPTER TWELVE

Stars

Lara felt a bubbling sense of self worth as they wandered out of the now water-free fortress, and onto the plain. The immediate difference she noticed was the sun. It hung low over the horizon, shimmering with blood red and gold. She swung her sword around, talking animatedly, but not really listening to herself. As they watched, a plant tendril poked through the stones, and wound up to the sky, opening in a delicate blue flower.

`He really is gone,´ Draco marvelled, stroking the petals with one finger.

`Did you doubt my ability to slit throats?´ Lara asked him archly.

`No dear,´ he said. `I was just thinking how much I appreciate it.´

To him the `dear´ seemed inadvertent, but to Lara it meant the world. She said nothing, but ran it over and over in her mind. It was probably just him being upper class and English, but to her it was more.

`What´s going to happen to all the people at school who went all weird?´ Harry asked, frowning.

`I don´t know. They should remember it all, but come out of a trance, so to speak,´ Draco guessed.

`I just hope they aren´t too angry,´ Hermione said nervously. `They might forget the tests.´

`Heavens, no!´ Lara gasped, but she was grinning.

`It was only, what? Mcgonagall, Sinistra, Flitwick, Hector and Trelawney. That´s not bad.´

`My ARITHMANCY EXAM!´ Hermione howled, clawing her face.

`No one said it would be cancelled,´ Harry consoled her, patting her back awkwardly.

Hermione looked up at him through tear-stricken eyes. `I... I get to do my test?´ she asked hopefully.

Harry just shook his head in despair.

~*~

Ginny didn´t know what had hit the school. Suddenly, all the things they had been doing made no sense. The teachers, Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs all filed out of the Slytherin dungeon, her included. Everyone went back to their old rooms, to find them untidy and neglected over the past few months. Teachers said that lessons would be off for a time, so everyone could recover.

But people were dead. Four had died in total over the time of Division. Sam and Lavender from Gryffindor, Lucy from Hufflepuff, and Morag of Slytherin. Ginny found it hard to believe that one had died under her reign, and she felt guiltier than she had ever felt before. It was all out of her hands, though, and no one was being blamed...

Except Lara. All those who didn´t know her story were saying that she should be sent to prison, or Kissed. No one was quite sure why she had done it, but it seemed enough to them that she had. Ginny wasn´t sure of her feelings on the matter. She felt that she knew Lara, but she was gone. No one knew where she, Hermione, Harry, Ron or Malfoy were. It was a matter of great debate.

Ginny ran to her brothers when they saw her coming. They picked her up and spun her around. Fred said that he didn´t blame her at all, and that Ryder would take the blame when she returned.

Somehow, though, Ginny knew it wasn´t her. She knew that Lara hadn´t meant to do it. There was something behind all this, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

~*~

When they emerged from the barrier, Ron stood outside, looking very bewildered. He told them what had happened to him, and in turn they told him their story. He listened with wide eyes, and so did Hermione and Harry on the bits they had missed.

Lara, being the smallest, shared a broom with Draco on their return journey. Hermione was getting flying lessons from Harry all the way, and Draco could see that she didn´t want them. He, however, was perfectly happy. The one problem in his life was gone, and Lara was sitting close behind him with her arms around his waist. Yes, life was good. He found his hand spinning the snake bangle on his wrist, as it had done so many times in the past. He had never been able to get it off, not since Voldemort had given it to him. He latched his fingers around it, and pulled at the catch. It slipped undone, and the hated cuff fell down to the ground far below. Draco scratched at the free skin. Life was even better than it had been a minute ago.

Lara stretched hard to rest her chin on his shoulder. He could tell she was finding it difficult, being as short as she was, so he slumped for her. She shifted a little, and sighed. Her still damp hair was lying against the back of his neck, and it tickled.

`Draco-oo?´ she asked sweetly.

`Yes, LaaaarraaAAAaaa?´ he replied.

`You know when we were dying in the study?´ she said.

`As opposed to `in the library´, `in the grounds´, `in the hallway´, `in the basement´?´

`Yeah,´ she said, looking a little frightened. `Well, when you thought I was asleep, I was actually awake.´

Draco said nothing. He just concentrated hard on a speck of dust on the handle of his broom.

`And... And... Well, that is to say, I... umm.... I like you too,´ she mumbled, taking her chin off his shoulder and shifting as far away as she could.

Draco´s heart skipped a beat, then settled into a drum-roll in preparation. `I like you quite a lot, and I was wondering if we could set aside this little war?´

`Yeah,´ Lara said, smiling. `I´d like that. We are Slytherins, after all. Unless I´m expelled,´ she said, voicing her current `worst ever fear´.

`They can´t. Voldemort influenced you. And you killed him. That was pretty useful of you,´ Hermione assured her.

`I sure to God hope you´re right,´ Lara said nervously.

`Hang on, since when did you ever get nervous?´ Draco frowned, turning and poking her in the stomach.

`Since I stopped being a cocky little bitch-queen from Hell House, Hell Street, Hell Town, Hell,´ she answered promptly, sticking out her tongue.

`Stop it. Nothing will change you being a bitch-queen from wherever. The only thing that´s changed is that now no one will care,´ he smiled.

`Shut up,´ she sniffed, folding her arms and looking the other way.

`I wouldn´t want you to be any other way,´ he said quietly, and felt her stiffen. `I like you just how you are.´

`You mean that?´ she asked, the hardness momentarily leaving her mahogany brown eyes.

`I have never meant anything so much in my life,´ he said solemnly.

`Draco?´ she said suspiciously. `Alien scum! What have you done with Draco Malfoy?´

He laughed and fended her off as she tried to hit him. `We have beamed him up to our ship, and he is currently being anally probed by some fit alien girls in short skirts.´

`I have to rescue him!´ she said melodramatically. She laid the back of her hand against her forehead. `He needs me!´

`I need you more,´ Draco told her, and, on an impulse, spun his legs around so that he faced her on the broom. He took a deep breath, and grabbed her around the waist, then he kissed her.

She stiffened again, lifting her hands up in surprise, then she settled against him. After a moment, he pulled away, and put a hand to his mouth.

`What have I done?´ he asked rhetorically. Lara looked distraught.

`What do you mean?´ she asked brokenly.

`This isn´t right,´ he said, turning around again.

`Draco?´ she whimpered.

He shook his head in response, mind trickling like sluggish water over plans.

Lara made a sort of retching noise, then he felt her foot scrape his back briefly. She sat on one side of the broom, then slid down.

Draco was facing the other way, and there was no way he´d know if she went. They were flying over the ocean at that point, and she could swim. She slid further until she hung from her fingers from the broom.

`Lara?´ Draco said, turning.

She let go one hand.

`What are you doing?´ Draco screeched.

`I´d rather swim. I´ve changed my mind about you,´ she said coldly.

`What did I do?´ he asked.

`"What have I done?" That´s hardly the way to make a girl feel needed. I´m sorry I ever thought you´d changed. I know now. You never loved me. You liked the person I thought I was. She was with you, before she died, and you knew I had become her. You thought you´d get a second go with her, didn´t you? I don´t need you if you´re going to be this way,´ she said, but waited for his response.

`I doubt that in this state you´re in any condition to listen to reason. I shan´t bother to tell you the truth, because you don´t think I´m worthy of telling it,´ he said coldly, and faced ahead again.

Lara shrugged mentally. She wasn´t a whole new person with the loss of her powers. She was essentially even more Lara, unpolluted by something she didn´t need. The power to Corrupt was all that was gone. All her knowledge, pain-resistance and fitness stayed. She gave Draco a scowl as would melt iron, then let go.

She plunged down, and turned in the air to stretch out into a dive. She screwed her eyes up tight, pretending she knew what she was doing. Mind over matter, mind over matter, mind over matter, she repeated in her head.

~*~

Hermione heard Draco snap something unintelligible from the distance, and looked over her shoulder in time to see Lara roll into a dive off the broom. Draco swore, and smacked his fist against his leg. Hermione swerved to face him.

`What did you do?´ she asked hotly.

`It´s nothing to do with you, Mudblood,´ Draco spat.

`I don´t care. I´ll make it my business.´

`You don´t want to be involved,´ Draco cautioned, but spitefully.

`How can you know? Do you know me?´ Hermione hissed.

`Difficult as it is, I restrain myself from wishing I was you,´ Draco said, lolling his head to one side in heavy sarcasm.

Hermione glanced down at Lara, who had nearly reached the water in the time they´d been arguing, then a blur curved at the corner of her vision, and the tiny girl was plucked from the air by Harry on his Firebolt. Lara was kicking and screaming, smacking her tiny fists against his back.

Harry brought his broom up level with Malfoy´s, and Hermione flew closer to them. Seeing them all stop, Ron flew back to join them.

`What happened, Malfoy?´ Harry asked flatly, sitting Lara, now sullen and sulking, in front of him on his broom.

`Nothing you possess any right to the knowledge of,´ Malfoy spat coldly, drawing himself up to his full height.

`Look, I hate you, you hate me...´

`And we´re as happy as can be,´ Lara sang.

`Yeah,´ Harry said, looking a little scared. `But that´s no reason to piss anyone off, Malfoy.´

`You piss me off, too, Potter,´ Lara told him. `I hate you more than I hate Malfoy, so if I were you, I´d go and see if my huge head would fit up my tight ass.´

Harry looked kicked, and Draco laughed, clapping her on the back. `Good one,´ he sniggered.

`Thanks,´ she said, not looking at him.

`Look, we all have about an hour to go before we get back to school. Lara, you fly with me, I´m the only one you haven´t declared war on yet,´ Ron said. `Harry, you go in front of us, and Hermione, you go behind Malfoy, who goes behind me, okay?´

They all nodded a little sullenly, and flew to their assigned positions.

~*~

Somebody was pointing and shouting when the four broomsticks came into view. Teachers crowded out onto the lawn before the school, pupils massed on the tops of towers, and swarmed around the lake. An open space was left for them to land.

Harry came down first, and marched off to the dormitory stiffly, ignoring anyone who tried to talk to him. Hermione landed next, and started towards Ginny, before hesitating uncertainly.

`It´s okay!´ Ginny yelled, shaking her head, and holding her arms out.

Hermione ran to her, and they hugged.

`I was so worried you´d be permanently damaged,´ Hermione confessed.

`I´m okay,´ Ginny assured her. `Are you all okay, though?´

`I think we´re well,´ Hermione said, looking back over her shoulder to where Ron and Lara had landed, followed by Draco, who stood off to one side as Lara was bombed by teachers to keep the pupils away.

`Just as well,´ Ginny whispered.

~*~

Draco didn´t really know where to find her. It was just a hunch, but true enough; there she sat by the lake. She was plucking grass from beside her, and shredding it, then hurling the scraps into the black water.

`Are you alright?´ he asked her, standing behind her awkwardly, with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

`Yeah. The teachers forgave me,´ she said, not turning.

`That´s... that´s good to hear,´ he said truthfully. `Listen, I´m...´

`I know,´ she said, waving a hand in dismissal. `You didn´t mean to do what you did, or say what you said. You´re sorry, and you just want to know how to make it up to me.´

`Not exactly,´ Draco said, sitting down. `I did mean to do what I did, and say what I said. I´m not sorry, and I already know how to make it up to you.´

`Go on, you have my attention.´

`Will you listen to the truth?´

`Yes. As long as I like it.´

`Fair enough. I did want to kiss you, and I do like you, but I had it all planned out. I had planned exactly when, and where, and how I would do it, and flying back from killing the Dark Lord, with a broomstick crammed up my arse is not how.´

`Really?´ Lara said, trying to look detached, but he could tell she was curious.

`Yes. I wanted to be outside, at night, with a cool breeze, preferably by the lake. I wanted it to be a revelation, and something that meant a lot to us both. Oh, and the stars had to be out, with a full moon.´

Lara glanced up at the sky, and licked a finger, holding it up into the air. `That breeze is cold,´ she said. `And I think that moon is the fullest I´ve ever seen. The stars look like little tiny jewels. I just love being outside at night. It would mean a lot to me if I had someone I loved to share it with.´

`Yeah, but life isn´t perfect,´ Draco shrugged.

`We can´t have everything,´ Lara agreed.

`I guess we´ll just have to make do with a cold breeze instead of a cool one,´ Draco conceded. He stood up, grabbing her hands and pulling her to her feet.

She was looking up at him, mouth slightly open and dark eyes scanning his face. He slid his arms around her waist, and ducked his head slightly to one side to meet her lips with his. She linked her arms behind his neck, and they kissed.

Over their heads, lilac clouds skated past the round, silver coin-like moon on the cool breeze. The stars shone brightly against the velvet throat of night, and a perfect beam of moonlight reached down to try to touch the happiness they had. Lara´s hair stirred in the light wind, and wrapped around Draco´s back, tracing silver webs against his black cloak. He smoothed a hair off her cheek with his thumb, and she smiled against his lips.

Who needs perfection anyway?