A Soul to Keep

CHAPTER SIX

The Soul to Keep

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It takes a thoroughly good woman to do a thoroughly stupid thing."

- Oscar Wilde

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello?"

Pamela Parkinson poked her heavily rouged face out into the cool afternoon air and looked mildly confused. She threw the tall double doors open wide around her and stepped daintily out onto the landing. Squinting into the distance, the onset of fine crow's feet were revealed as they came together at the sweeping tip of the thick pencil-line that encircled her eyes. She flattened her frilly robes to her thighs and gnawed thoughtfully at her crimson lower lip. "My Lord?" she called in her nasally feminine voice.

Matilda was rapidly losing faith in the intelligence of the Death Eaters as a whole. They seemed to allow even the most vapid and hopelessly inept of purebloods to gain membership and she was beginning to feel almost embarrassed of her family ties to the organisation. But, of course, it could be argued that women like Pansy's mother were far too dim to consider anything like mutiny or rebellion, and would be therefore useful as sacrifices or something similar if the need were ever to arise.

The four teenagers easily shuffled past the puzzled woman as she called out yet again to the darkest wizard of their time, the one man with whom any association could lead to an inquiry by the Ministry and, very possibly, a lengthy sentence in Azkaban. There weren't even any wards around the house. If she was to be found out - and with her stunning level of genius, it was only a matter of time - this woman was going to be defenceless unless Lord Voldemort stepped in to aid her himself.

"Ouch! That was my foot, Malfoy!"

"Shush! She's badly dressed, not deaf, you mongrel!"

"Shut up, the both of you!" Blaise hissed at the other boys.

They backed up into a wall that was plastered in the most wretched floral wallpaper in creation and held perfectly still, holding out the thin veil of the Invisibility Cloak before them as that ridiculous woman drifted past.

"No one was there, love," she called into the house.

"Are you certain, Pamela?" a familiar voice called back.

Draco made a quiet yelping sound and rushed forward, tearing the cloak away from the others for a split second before Blaise clapped a hand over his mouth and the others grabbed him by the arm. They dragged the panicked boy and the cloak back to the wall as he thrashed wildly against their grips. The translucent fabric now draped over their heads like it was meant to, and they had to huddle close and stoop to hide their feet.

Pamela giggled a bit. "Well, I would have seen them if there was someone standing there."

The invisible cluster of teenagers followed her down the short hall and into a small, lavender-walled sitting room. The windows were draped in delicate-looking white lace curtains, an off-white rug covered the floor, and in one of the powder blue armchairs sat Lucius Malfoy. He was reading a newspaper and holding a steaming mug in one hand, looking peaceful and very much at home.

Matilda's jaw dropped most unbecomingly for a fraction of a second as the image of her uncle-at-large seated comfortably in her roommate's living room registered in her mind. She let loose a marvellous grin and understood why Draco was putting up such a fantastic fight to get to the source of that voice.

Mystery! Suspense! Intrigue! She was thrilled; this was more than exciting, and she, being a genius, had obviously been right about who had tipped Lucius off as to the scene that night at The Three Broomsticks. She could see her cousin scowling at the look of delight that had plastered itself across her face, and she nodded toward Pansy's mother.

Pamela wafted by them as she crossed the room and then leaned on the back of Lucius' chair, smiling contentedly as she gazed down upon him. "I thought it might have been our Lord," she sighed.

"Oh?" he said. "And why would he suddenly begin knocking on doors?"

Pamela pouted and straightened up rigidly behind the chair, no longer resting on it. "He could have had someone with him," she murmured, staring fixedly at the floor. She suddenly looked pathetic and hurt, like a child being told off for doing something that she'd been punished for in the past.

"Oh, yes. Your famous logic." Lucius stood up gracefully and took three long strides toward the doorway, narrowly skimming Harry's shoulder. "He disappears for nearly a month, risking everything he has worked for to swell his ranks, and then just pops up on our doorstep with a date. Is that what you're saying?"

Draco was trembling in Matilda's hands as his father stood just beyond an arm's length away. She was doing her best to ball her fists around his left elbow and was having a hard time of keeping him still as he pulled forward. He had bitten Blaise's palm three times by now and Harry was looking determined to murder everyone in the room if the opportunity presented itself.

Oh, this was all so very exhilarating!

Draco moaned something like "Aaahhr?" against his friend's hand and began thrashing again. If he kept this up, they were going to be caught. The Invisibility Cloak was too small to hide all of them under normal circumstances, and if he continued to fight and make noise on top of that, their exposed feet were going to be noticed and everything would be ruined, making for a very annoyed Matilda.

"Well," Pamela ventured hesitantly. "He's bound to show up sometime."

"Yes." Lucius nodded pensively. "Yes, and I'm beginning to hope that he doesn't."

She looked shocked. "How do you mean?"

"This has happened before, at least a great deal of it. To men I knew personally. It... worries me." A dreadful look darkened his sharp features as he glared into the middle distance and added, "I'm not entirely certain that I've been told everything."

Pamela attempted a comforting smile and moved closer to him, coming to a halt a few feet away and nervously smoothing her robes. "Why don't you owl them and ask what happened? If it concerns you so much."

"I can't just owl them, I-" He cut himself short and took a deep breath, giving her a tight, momentary smile. "Not where they are now, dearest," he finished humbly.

"Where are they?" she pried, unaware of how perilously close she was to the edge of his patience.

"Obviously they're... No. This is all ridiculous. He needs me to bring him the boy, and he trusts you. It's that simple. Am I correct?"

"Of course, darling. Low-profile, elaborate, fool-proof, um..." She ticked each item off on her fingers as if reciting a list she had been trying to memorise.

Lucius turned and walked stiffly from the room. "Enough," he snapped. "You helot."

Draco made another strangled noise and lurched forward again, trying to make his way toward his father.

"Draco!" Blaise huffed, nearly snapping his friend's neck as he pulled him back against his own body. "Let's try and find Pansy, hey? Stop!"

He was doing his best to whisper, but Pamela was still close by and very much within earshot. In fact, she hadn't moved since Lucius had walked away from her. Her breath was a coming bit ragged and she looked close to tears as she stood perfectly still in the middle of the room.

Lucius had that effect on some women.

"Let's go," Matilda whispered, nudging the others back out into the foyer.

They had no choice but to physically drag Draco as he furiously twisted and tugged at their grips. They fought their way up a squat flight of stairs and down another short corridor.

"Llmee ooh!" he growled into the flattened palm over his face.

"Shut up!" Harry groaned. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Pansy's door was painted pink and appeared first on the right. It stood open, revealing her lying on the bed, half-asleep with a thick book resting open on her chest. They slipped in and Matilda let go of her cousin to quietly shut the door behind them.

Privately, she was quite amused and words like stealthy and clever were dancing merrily through her immediate consciousness. The cloak slid off of them, but luckily Pansy remained asleep and was unaware of their presence.

"Obb! Ed obb a me!" Draco groaned against Blaise's hand. He wrenched his arm away from Harry and went limp, falling to the floor like a child does to escape their parent's grip, and effectively loosed himself from Blaise's hands. He crawled across the floor toward the bed and stood up tall, squaring his shoulders. "Pansy," he said deeply.

She didn't move.

At this point, Matilda began to consider just how badly a situation in which they invaded a house full of Death Eaters and escaped criminals could turn out. She was becoming very fond of her new life and was not at all eager to be cursed. She shuffled up behind Harry, the only champion figure present, just for safety's sake. He appeared to be aboard the same train of thought when he picked up the Invisibility Cloak and threw it around the three of them.

"Pansy!" Draco repeated in his natural voice. "What the fuck is my father doing here?"

"Shut up, you half-wit!" she whispered, pointing her wand blindly at the closed door and hissing, "Silencio!" She seemed gaunter than she had been at school and her green eyes were hooded as she sat up and surveyed the room. "They're just downstairs, you fool. Why did you come alone?"

"Answer me!"

"I...uh. Draco, I..."

"Pansy, dear," Pamela said, strolling into the room. "What would you rather, chicken or..." She saw Draco and froze, stumbling backward into the door and slamming it with the weight of her body. As it shut, the silencing charm was broken and the clanking of pots and pans from downstairs drifted through the thin wood. "Draco!" she breathed. "What - was that you at the door?"

Draco gave her a winning smile and took a few steps toward her. "Hello, Pam. No, that wasn't me. Would you mind if I went downstairs and got myself a glass of water?"

Pamela looked confused again, but grinned through it. "Then when did you...? No, no dear, I'll get you one."

"Don't be ridiculous, Pam. I'll just be a moment." He moved close enough this time for her to reach out and place a hand on his shoulder. She lightly pushed him backward as she moved further into the room.

"No, no. I'll send for a house elf," she said, smiling thinly.

"Nonsense, Pam. I'm sure they're busy preparing supper."

"I'm certain one of them can spare a minute," she assured him. And with one last smile she dashed across the room and threw open the door. Draco braced himself as if making ready to run for it when she screamed, "Scoots!" out into the corridor. "Bring Master Draco a glass of water!"

Something crashed to the floor downstairs and Harry made an odd, strangled sound in his throat. Blaise grabbed the Gryffindor's arm with his cloak-free hand and motioned with his head for Matilda to do the same. Draco grinned smugly at the wall next to the invisible three and Pansy adopted a look of sheer terror.

Heavy feet thundered in a quick rhythm up the stairs, rising in volume as they moved closer to the room. Draco's face was stretched into a brilliant smile as Lucius threw the door open and swept into the room.

"Father, how nice to-"

"Petrificus Totalus!" Lucius roared, pointing his wand at his own son.

Draco's jaw snapped shut as his body went completely rigid and he crashed to the floor, his head striking the bedside table with a sickening crack.

Pamela practically danced over to the frozen boy and beamed down at him. "Surprising he came alone, isn't it?" she said, her voice quivering with what could only be excitement.

"I'm sure he didn't. Search the house," Lucius commanded and then loped out of the room, Pamela following close behind.

Pansy crawled from her bed and knelt down beside Draco. "You idiot," she whispered to him, brushing his fringe off of his face. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Matilda couldn't see if his eyes were open or not, nor could she tell if his head was bleeding from the fall. If he was concussed, it was going to be next to impossible to keep him conscious. Pansy would have to keep talking to him, keep moving his body for him, keep him alive. He was thin and probably light, she could do it, and she would know to, he would be fine. There was no way in hell that any of them were moving out from under that cloak with Lucius on the hunt. No one was that reckless.

Of course Harry the Terminally Gryffindor immediately began thrashing as wildly Draco had been mere minutes before, fighting to free himself and run over to the other two. He proved to be infinitely more intelligent than the Slytherin boy, though, when he remained silent, apart from the strangled sounds that continued to escape from him as he fought.

This was very bad, Matilda thought. They had to leave. Lucius was looking for them and she didn't think it would be long before he ran back into the room, waving his cane around in every direction in search of someone under an Invisibility Cloak.

"Leave," she whispered urgently. Blaise nodded and they commenced dragging once again.

They tiptoed down the stairs as Harry thrashed around like a wild animal, and then quietly pulled the front door open. Lucius was standing close by, marching back and forth and scanning the distance for any fleeing figures. They shut the door again and soon Pamela grazed past them, nearly sending Blaise flying backward as she dramatically flung both doors open before her.

"No one's in the house, Lucius," she said breathlessly.

"Not that you can see, obviously. They may have hidden themselves somehow. Feel around for a cloak, listen for footfalls, move!" he ordered without so much as a glance in her direction.

She nodded and disappeared back into the house, leaving the doors open for him.

Blaise tugged on Harry and pulled Matilda along with him as he led them to sprint across the lawn. They ran down a muddy dirt road for ages, until Matilda's legs felt like flames and her lungs threatened to explode from the exertion. She was certain that they were far enough away so as not to draw attention to the snapping sound when they disapparated, and she did so without warning.

"Why are we at Hogsmeade Station?" Blaise wheezed. He pulled the cloak off of them with one hand, his other still wrapped firmly around Harry's arm.

A train pulled up on their right; clouds of steam settling around them in the light rain as the passengers filed noisily out onto the platform.

"I didn't know where I was going, I panicked!" Matilda defended. "I've been here before, it was the first place I thought of."

Harry finally managed to wrench free and ran a few feet toward the thick crowd. "Tonks!" he exclaimed.

"Who?" the other two chorused.

A young woman with spiky electric blue hair froze in place and pivoted toward them, a brilliant smile spreading across her sunburnt face. "Harry?" she said excitedly, running up and wrapping her arms around him. "Harry! It's so good to see you! You're not going anywhere, are you?" she added, motioning to the train from which she had just disembarked.

"No," he replied, his face tilted slightly back from the blade-like spikes on the top of her head. "We just got back form Pansy Parkinson's house, and-"

"What? Harry, are you alright?" She pulled away and looked at him from arms length, as if searching for some mortal wound that she had not initially noticed.

"I am, yeah, but Draco Malfoy isn't. Lucius was there and he's pretty much kidnapped his own son. And I think he's hurt - Draco, I mean."

"What are you doing?" Blaise hissed. "Shut your mouth!"

"It's alright," Harry assured him. "We can trust her, she's an Auror."

"Oh, fabulous. Even better."

"No, she can help us. Really."

"Do you happen to recall what the Malfoys and the Parkinsons are, traditionally?" Matilda asked him. "I doubt that an Auror will be willing to help one of them."

"You and Draco aren't," Blaise reminded her.

"True," she agreed. "But they might be holding Pansy, and she definitely is."

Harry waved a hand at them and asked, "Whatever you're talking about, can you finish up later?"

Blaise ignored him. "Is Pansy, then?"

Matilda nodded. "Think so."

"Explains the arm thing, then," he added, nodding.

"Actually," Tonks cut in, "That's all part of the reason that I'm here. You'd all better come back with me to Hogwarts. Dumbledore'll be waiting."

Harry and the young woman began walking toward the road while the Slytherins held back, watching the distance slowly grow between the pairs. Matilda was feeling uneasy. Obviously she didn't trust as easily as Harry did.

"Are you telling me that an Auror is going to help a Malfoy?" she called after them.

The others stopped. Tonks turned to face them and replied, "It's... in our best interest. This time."

*

Dumbledore's office was warm and comfortable and an air of hominess settled about them as they clutched tightly to their mugs. A warm fire crackled merrily in the hearth and dozens of portraits of past headmasters feigned sleep all around them.

"Sir," Blaise said, impatiently tapping his fingers on the ceramic of his mug. "What the bloody hell is going on?"

Dumbledore smiled. "I do so enjoy conversations with you, Mr. Zabini," he said honestly. "You're refreshingly feisty." He set down his tea and folded his hands on the desk. "Nymphadora has been doing a great deal of work for me of late. She has been trailing Voldemort - " the Slytherins made hissing noises between their teeth, " - for the past few months, and it appears that you caught her just as she was returning to fill me in."

"How could she just follow him?" Blaise asked disbelievingly. "He'd be bound to have noticed. He must have had Death Eaters with him, someone must have seen you."

Tonks shook her neon head. "I'm a Metamorphmagus, so he saw loads of people at different times. And he was alone for the most part."

"Oh, excellent," said Dumbledore. "I trust you weren't harmed?"

"No," she replied. "Although, I have to say that Hags are the most disturbing creatures I have ever come into contact with. Very unpleasant to look into the mirror and see one staring back. Oh, damn!" she swore as her mug slipped from her hand and crashed spectacularly to the tiled floor.

Dumbledore smiled graciously and cleared it up with a wave of his wand. "So it was Hags that he was recruiting then," he said.

"Hags?" Harry cut in. "I didn't think they were at all powerful enough to be recruited."

"Under normal circumstances, no, Harry, you're right. But they do have quite a bit of power concerning blood. You've probably seen them at an inn at some time or another, drinking a glass of it. We all have, although I'm sure everyone likes to pretend that it's wine. But it is their innate talent for blood magic that Voldemort desires, as it is blood that links the two of you. As you know. And if he defeats you, there is little left that can stop him. Again, as you know."

"But what does this have to do with Pansy and Draco and Lucius?" Matilda interrupted. "Why are we hearing all of this?"

"Ah," said Tonks. "This is where I come in. I found out that Voldemort needs the blood of the 'most highly esteemed of his Death Eaters' along with the blood of that man's only heir. He's supposed to offer it to the Hags as a sort of sacrifice for their services. You know, show devotion. I don't think that Lucius or Draco know about this."

"He doesn't need all of it," Harry said nervously. "Right? They can't need all of their blood."

Tonks nodded. "As far as I know, they do."

"It is a sacrifice, Harry," said Dumbledore. "They will die if it all goes according to plan. If this is at all like the sacrifices that I have learned of, the souls of those whose blood they are offered become property of the Hags that perform the ritual. As long as the body survives, the victims are stripped of all free will and are used as slaves. Once the body dies, well, the soul is theirs to keep."

"We have to stop him then, stop the sacrifice!" Harry shouted, jumping to his feet. "We have to go. Now!"

Matilda and Blaise jumped up as well, nodding furiously as they ran for the door.

"Of course," the headmaster agreed. "When the time is right. But please, we must have a plan. We will not allow him to go through with this and gain such an advantage over you, Harry, calm yourself." He motioned for them to take their seats and smiled warmly. His eyes twinkled in the same way that Draco's had every time he had assured them that he had had a plan of his own, and Matilda felt strangely comforted by this thought.

"Right," said Harry. "Of course not."

***

Lucius' fierce voice rang out clearly through the thunder of the evening rain as he cast new wards around the grounds. The sound seeped through the sealed window and filled the room in which his son lay petrified on the floor, unnerving Pansy and certainly unsettling Draco.

She was relieved to see that his head wasn't bleeding and that he had remained conscious after his fall. It meant that the horrible cracking sound that his skull had made against her table hadn't been as ominous as she had suspected. He still lay motionless in the same spot though, his body frozen in place as he moaned pitifully.

She was certain that he was trying to speak to her, but she reminded herself that Lucius was infamous for his skill with a wand and that this spell had surely been powerful enough to petrify even Draco's vocal chords. His moans meant that it was wearing off, though, and it wouldn't be long at all before she would be able to reverse it completely and speak with him.

She had formulated countless plans for a day something like this, when she would have Draco alone to speak seriously with, and in each of them she was to confess to everything. She was to tell him of the band that had been around her neck, the Mark on her arm, she was going to assure him that she was going to help him and that he could always trust her. Of course, before all of this, there was no doubt in her mind that he would give her a vicious verbal thrashing before settling down enough to listen to reason. In the meantime he wasn't about to attack her, verbally or otherwise, as he struggled to make soft gurgling sounds of displeasure.

"Where is it?" she muttered to herself as she dug through her sock drawer. Eventually, she pulled out a half-empty bottle of pepper-up potion and zealously motioned to it as she held it up in plain sight for anyone that happened to be paralysed on the floor. "That should help, eh, Draco?" she asked and he moaned unintelligibly in response.

She knelt down beside him and pointed her wand at his chest. He made a pathetic wailing sound and looked very much like he wanted to sink through the floorboards. "Don't be ridiculous," she whispered. "Finite Incantatem."

Draco looked deeply relieved and then screwed up his face in concentration. He managed to wiggle a few of his fingers and jerk his head a bit from side to side. This was an excellent sign. She struggled to sit him up and bend him into a sitting position, and then leaned his torso up against hers. She tilted his head back ever so slightly to pour the potion into his mouth through the small gap he was able to create between his teeth.

"Better?"

"Gih ih tine," he mumbled through his clenched jaw. "Whah's going on?"

"Draco, I can explain," she said. No she couldn't, she didn't even know how to begin. All words and excuses had fled from her mind and she clutched uselessly at his stiff body for a few moments as he stared, frozen and impatient, up at her. She was extraordinarily relieved when she felt his body heat rise and he lurched forward out of her arms.

"That's what I'm asking you to do!" he barked. His words, although somewhat wet and forced, were now clear and full of malice as he slumped forward to gingerly rub at the lump on his head.

"I know, I know. He needs him, do you understand? He needs him because he needs you as well, and he knows that Potter will come to rescue you."

Draco sighed and shifted to face her. "Try that gain? With coherence?"

She took a moment to formulate a proper response. "He knew you'd eventually look for your father. Lucius is supposed to keep you here until Potter comes to save you. Or..."

"Or what, Pansy?"

"Or I'm supposed to bring you personally. Or him, I suppose."

"You?" Draco said disbelievingly. "But. No, wait. Why would the Dark Lord think Potter would come? We are talking about the Dark Lord, are we not?"

Pansy nodded solemnly and took his hand lightly in hers. "He knows about the two of you." Draco tried to pull it away but she tightened her grip; she wasn't going to let him get away from her this time.

"What are you talking about?" he snapped at her. "What does that mean? You're not making any sense again!"

It was Pansy's turn to sigh as she steeled herself against his inevitable fit. "Do you remember the night of my last birthday party? Who you were with in, in your room? I saw the two of you, you and Potter. And he saw what I saw. And that was the night after Lucius came here. He came here with him." Damn it, she was babbling. This was not how the situation was intended to go. She was supposed to clear herself of all blame and offer her help as a friend, not look the picture of guilt as she reddened uncontrollably and struggled to maintain eye contact for more than a few seconds at a time.

"You're joking!" he shouted with a terrible mixture of frustration and disbelief.

She shook her head, alarmed at the sudden flare-up of his temper. "No. And that's why we have to keep Potter away from here. He'll be trying to get in the house and to save you and then he'll be killed instead. Don't look at me like that; I know how you feel about him. If you want him to survive, you'll help me keep him away."

He squinted at her and remained quiet for several moments. "How did you learn all of this?" he eventually asked with forced composure. "They couldn't have told you."

"It's just what I've figured. But I'm pretty sure I'm right. Really."

Draco nodded thoughtfully and wiggled his fingers as she held his hand in hers. As conversations with Draco went, this was all going quite smoothly and Pansy began to relax. He didn't try to pull away from her grip; his silence and stillness told her that he was comfortable and they were friends again and that all of this was working out. It was as if he had lifted the world from her shoulders, hurled it to the ground, and then spat on it for good measure. It felt as if those long months of silence and anxiety had been nothing at all.

"Draco?" she said carefully, mustering her courage to ask him something that had been festering in her mind for far too long. "Whatever happened, you know, between you and Potter?" She held her breath and waited for an explosion.

His smile dropped immediately and he looked away. "Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity," she admitted. "You can tell me, I won't say a word to anyone else."

"Nothing, Pansy," he said faintly.

"Do you still love him?" she pressed.

Draco gave her an incredulous look and he placed his other hand on her arm. "Pansy, I'd rather not," he began. He spoke with the old secret kindness that she had only ever known him to show her, but he was cut off promptly as she drew in a sharp breath through her teeth. He had touched her Mark.

He raised an eyebrow at her as he slid his hand down to her wrist and shoved the sleeve up to her elbow, revealing the hideously marred skin. "Oh," he said. "I see."