Another City, Not My Own

"ANOTHER CITY, NOT MY OWN"
Chapter Ten
"The Chateau Malfoy"

Harry sat in the back seat and stared out the window in amazement as the taxi moved slowly down the Boulevard de la Soleil. Outside, the sidewalks were crowded with Muggles in masks and costumes. The Carnival was definitely in full swing here. Festive music (a thumping version of Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue") blared from loudspeakers mounted on street lamp poles. And through the shouting of the crowd, Harry heard steel-drum music, doo-wop rock, and swing jazz coming from a dozen different places.

Sitting beside the taxi driver in the front seat, Monsieur Delacour turned and smiled over his shoulder at Harry. "Not what you are used to, eh?"

Harry looked out at the swirling riot of colorful people moving under the street lamps. He shook his head. "I've got to admit...even by Hogwarts standards, this place is bizarre!"

The taxi inched down the boulevard in the center of a hurricane of sound and color. Everywhere Harry looked, he saw people in lavish costumes, all dancing, laughing, cheering, shouting, and having a great time. The entire city seemed to be caught up in a siege of gypsy revelry, wild music, beautiful colors, and flashing strobe lights. It was like being at the ultimate masquerade ball, a party so large that the entire population of Latrece, and then some, were commanded to attend.

Wow!

Harry thought, looking out at the thousands of costumed people who were strolling the streets. This is one place that the people at Hogwarts would really appreciate. We could walk down the street, all of us, in our school uniforms and magic robes, and no one would even notice us here.

The variety and creativity of the costumes astounded him. Outside, he saw people dressed as kings and queens, as sailors and swashbucklers, as patchwork clowns and harlequins. Men in black tuxedos with ghostly-white greasepainted faces walked with women in exotic "tropical dancer" outfits, with Carmen Miranda fruit headdresses piled high on their heads. There were teenage boys in rainbow-colored calypso costumes, and girls in sparkling red-and-blue sequined outfits, decorated with long fluffy ostrich plumes that made them look like giant birds of paradise. There were children dressed as unicorns, ladybugs, butterflies, and flower fairies. There were angels in white robes with feathered wings and gold-foil halos on their heads, and mermaids in seashell brassieres with long, flowing silver dresses shaped like fish tails.

In the crowd, Harry saw people dressed as Esmerelda and Quasimodo, Valjean and Cosette, Cyrano de Bergerac, and of course, the Phantom of the Opera. Roman soldiers danced with can-can girls from the Moulin Rouge, and pirates and buccaneers did the Charleston under the streetlights with 1920's flapper girls. Men in Arabian costumes cavorted with girls in harem outfits, knights in armor strolled with medieval court ladies, and Elvis impersonators escorted blond Marilyn Monroe look-alikes.

There were many costumes in the crowd that could only be described as "Carnival costumes." They didn't fit into any single category. Harry thought these were some of the most original and colorful costumes he had ever seen. Here came a man dressed in robes adorned with orange flame patterns, with a silver belt around his waist, and a crown of yellow plumes on his head. There went a cluster of young girls in exotic crazy-quilt dresses, with orange, leopard-spotted dragon wings attached to their arms, making them look like beautiful fire-demons. On the other side of the street, an enormous lady in a ball gown of pink and lavender ruffles danced with a man whose outfit was covered, head to toe, with small oval-shaped hand mirrors. A troupe of bald-headed men with blue-and-white painted faces marched past the taxi in white fur-lined robes with blue-and-silver stars sewn on their chests and silver lamé capes on their backs. They looked, Harry thought, like some strange order of medieval monks that had just arrived in the city from outer space.

There was also a great variety of masks at the Carnival. Many people in the crowd wore grosses têtes--huge, grotesque papier-maché faces with long, banana-shaped noses, goggling eyes, enormous chins, and toothy smiles. Other people wore masks of silk or gold cloth with eyeholes cut in them that hung down like curtains around their faces. There were furry animal-head masks--such as bulls, bears, boars, wolves, lions, tigers, and dragons--and feathered bird-head masks--such as eagles, owls, roosters, parrots, and toucans. There were devil's-head masks, death's-head masks, and masks with faces shaped like the sun and the crescent moon. There were African tribal masks, white lacquered masks with their faces framed in a ring of flowers, and golden masks that resembled the "Comedy" and "Tragedy" masks of the Theater.

"I take it the costume shops in this city do a lot of business this time of year?" Harry asked Gabrielle, who was sitting next to him in the back seat of the taxi.

Gabrielle nodded. "Oui, zey sell a lot of costumes 'ere. Mama, she gets a lot of orders for children's costumes zis time of year." She pointed out the window at the crowd. "But many of zese people make zeir own costumes. Zey spend months and months putting zem togezzer and sewing zem for ze Carnival."

"Really?" Harry said, impressed. "Well, they do a good job. I've never seen anything like this!"

As the Carnival-goers marched through the streets, they blew whistles, banged drums, tooted horns, played tambourines, rang hand bells, and sang songs in every language. In all this mayhem, hawkers and street peddlers strolled through the crowd selling souvenirs, trinkets, masks, hamburgers, sausages, bottles of beer and wine, sandwiches, pastries, and ice cream. Every now and then, a street peddler would step up to the taxi and try to sell something to Harry and his friends.

I could enjoy all of this a lot more if I didn't feel like I was going into battle tonight,

Harry thought apprehensively. He looked at Gabrielle sitting beside him. She was smiling and enjoying the sights of the Carnival, her face lit by the flashing neon lights outside. She didn't seem at all nervous.

They had left the Maquis Mouse II at the Vieux Port about an hour before. Harry had brought along his backpack, with his Invisibility Cloak inside. Again, his wand was tucked into the sleeve of his jacket where he could reach it easily. The Traveler's Map was in his pocket. He had left everything else, including his Firebolt, behind on the boat.

Madame Delacour had chosen to stay behind. She had hugged her daughter and given her some very strict-sounding instructions in French just before they left the boat. Harry could tell that she was a more than a bit uneasy about letting Gabrielle go with him tonight. Before they left, he'd shaken Madame Delacour's hand and promised her that he would bring her daughter back safe and sound.

Now all he had to do was to keep that promise.

"So let me see if I've got this right," Harry said to Gabrielle now. "They've already had one huge parade here today...the Grande Parade. That's the one you and your dad went to this afternoon, right? And tonight, they're going to have another parade that's even bigger than the one they had this afternoon?"

"Oui," said Gabrielle. "Tonight, zey 'ave ze Parade du Carnival Roi...ze Parade of ze Carnival King. Zey will 'ave floats and music and flowers and all sorts of things. And ze Carnival King will come down ze Boulevard. We saw 'im last year. 'E is huge, enormé! 'E is over fifty feet tall. 'Is crown touches ze sky!"

"This is a parade float, the Carnival King?" Harry asked.

"Oui. Is a parade float. Ze parade, it comes down ze Boulevard 'ere, and it goes to ze beach on ze Promenade de la Plage. And at ze end of ze night, zey put ze float with ze Carnival King in ze water and zey float 'im out into ze sea. And as 'e floats away, zey set ze King on fire! And 'e burns up like a candle flame! Is manifique!"

"They set the Carnival King on fire?" Harry repeated in surprise. "Why?"

"Is like--how you say--a penance? It is to punish 'im for all ze fun 'e is 'aving. Is like ze old tradition to burn 'im at ze stake. To burn ze King, it marks ze start of Lent, when everyone must repent for all ze fun zey 'ave 'ad at ze Carnival."

"I see," said Harry. "Sure wish we had time to stick around and see that. So the whole thing takes place here on the Boulevard de la Soleil?"

"Oui," said Monsieur Delacour, from the front seat. "In another hour or so, they will start closing off the street for the parade."

Harry checked his watch. It was almost nine o'clock. He looked out the window--and almost did a double-take! For a second, he thought he had seen Professor Dumbledore standing in the crowd on the sidewalk! But it turned out to be a man dressed as Father Time. The man wore blue robes and a long white (fake) beard, and carried a large hourglass. He was standing with a young couple who were dressed as the King and Queen of Hearts, and a plump woman in a costume covered with multi-colored feathers that made her look like an enormous tie-dyed chicken.

If there were a couple of faces that I'd like to see in this crowd right now,

Harry thought, it would be Lucius and Draco Malfoy. That would mean that they were HERE tonight, watching the parade--and not up at the chateau. It might make this break-in a lot easier if nobody's home when we try to "knock over" the place.

On top of all the other strange elements at the Carnival, Harry noticed something else: Many of the revelers on the sidewalks outside were carrying bouquets or baskets of flowers. It was the way that these people were carrying their flowers that struck Harry as odd. They looked as if they were walking through the streets of Latrece armed to the teeth, on their way to some kind of confrontation. Even the street vendors who were selling bouquets and baskets of flowers were handing them out to people in the skittish manner of arms dealers passing out ammunition to mercenaries.

Harry was about to ask Gabrielle about the people carrying the flowers, when a group of Carnival-goers dressed in black-and-white zebra-striped zoot suits and top hats ambled by the taxi, looking like fugitives from a Dr. Seuss story. One of the Carnival-goers tapped on the window on Harry's side. Thinking that the man wanted to talk to him, Harry rolled down his window.

To his surprise, the man in the zoot suit reached into a cloth bag that hung from his hip, pulled out a mound of blue confetti, and hurled it through the open window of the taxi into Harry's face--as if he were socking Harry with a pillow during a pillow fight! The man in the zoot suit turned and casually strolled away as if nothing had happened.

Gabrielle doubled over with laughter as Harry took off his glasses and scraped the confetti off the insides of his lenses with a finger. He looked at her, smiling. "I suppose it would be silly of me to ask why he did that?"

She shrugged, as if the reason should be obvious. "Because it is ze Carnival, 'Arry!"

* * *

The taxi left the Boulevard de la Soleil and turned down a side avenue, away from the crowds and festivities. The streets became narrower, and soon they were driving through Vieux Latrece, the old section of the city. They were surrounded by rust-colored, multi-storied baroque apartments that looked to Harry as if they had been built sometime in the 18^th century. There were wooden shutters and cast-iron balcony railings on the upper windows of these ancient dwellings, and stone porticoes around the front doors. In between the apartments, Harry noticed a number of narrow streets and alleys marked "Résérve Aux Piétons" ("Pedestrians Only"). He caught occasional glimpses of dimly-lit arcades and courtyards through these open passages. A few costumed Carnival-goers strolled through the old town under the street lamps, on their way to the parade. But most of the streets in Vieux Latrece seemed to be deserted.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"Ah," said Monsieur Delacour. "This is the outer edge of Vieux Latrece. We are taking a short cut to your destination. 'Ere, look!"

The street on which they were traveling suddenly opened up into a broad, curving avenue that skirted the northern rim of the old town. A few small cars drove past them now, heading in the opposite direction. Just ahead, Harry saw a huge, jagged hill towering over the old city. Its massive black silhouette reminded him of a primitive Stone Age axehead set on its side. There were sporadic lights along the top of the hill, an indication that there were residences up there. A cluster of small shops and townhouses were huddled together around the hill's lower edge. They seemed almost prehistoric in appearance, as if they had been carved out of the rock at the bottom of the cliff. The face of the hill was a steep rise going up a thousand feet or more, lit in several places along its cragged surface by triangular patches of floodlight.

"That's the Hill of the Devil's Eye?" Harry asked.

Monsieur Delacour nodded. He motioned for the taxi driver to pull over to the curb. The taxi slowed to a stop at the bottom of the hill, along a narrow paved sidewalk dotted with street lamps.

"This is where you want to get out," said Monsieur Delacour. He spoke to the driver in French, asking him to wait, and stepped out onto the curb. Harry picked up his backpack, and he and Gabrielle climbed out of the back seat. They stood on the sidewalk on a brightly-lit street lined with parked cars. A few taxis passed by, heading down the avenue towards Vieux Latrece.

"This is the Avenue de la Contreforts," said Monsieur Delacour. He took out his street map of Latrece, and showed it to Harry. "We are right here, at the foot of the Hill of the Devil's Eye. The Rue du Scélérat is at the very top of this hill. Look up there. You can see the Dangling Gardens."

Harry looked up the hill to where copses of large trees and shrubs seemed to have been planted in triangular formations on ledges hundreds of feet in the air. He could see now why they were called the Dangling Gardens. As Gabrielle had said, it looked as if the gardens were dangling off the sides of the cliff. Fluorescent lamps glowed on the hillside, marking a zigzag path that led down through the wedge-shaped garden formations, with some high ledges connected by footbridges. A small horizontal grove of scrub pines formed the lower border of the gardens, about a hundred feet up the hill from where Harry and his friends stood on the Avenue de la Contreforts.

"We have to climb all the way up there to get to the Rue du Scélérat?" Harry asked. It was at least a thousand-foot climb up the winding paths to the top of the hill, and the terrain looked very steep and rugged.

Monsieur Delacour laughed. "Non, non, mon ami! You do not 'ave to climb. You simply take the Public Elevators."

He pointed to a pair of glass doors about twenty feet from where they stood. It looked as if the entrance to a mine tunnel had been dug into the bottom of the hill, except that there was a white awning over the glass doors. A sign on the awning read, "Ascenseur Public."

"The Public Elevators go up through the hillside," Monsieur Delacour explained. "The city built them so that people would not have to climb all the way up to the top. Take the Public Elevator up to the second level. The first level is the entrance to the Dangling Gardens. The second level is the top of the hill, and the Rue du Scélérat."

From his pocket, Monsieur Delacour brought out the small conch shell and clam shell that Harry had used earlier to call Professor Dumbledore. "You take the shell phone with you. I am going back to the Vieux Port. We 'ave plenty of seashells there, so you can call us any time. You can also use the shell phone to call the Muggle police if you need to. Gabrielle knows 'ow to use it.

He handed the two shells to Harry. "If you can get inside the Chateau Malfoy, find the Chimaera's Root, and get out again without being discovered, come back down 'ere to the Avenue de la Contreforts. You should be able to find another taxi to take you back to the Vieux Port fairly easily. Gabrielle, you 'ave the tarot crystal?"

Gabrielle patted her jeans pocket to show that she had it. Monsieur Delacour took hold of his daughter's shoulders and looked at her, firmly.

"You do everything 'e tells you to," he said, nodding towards Harry. "You listen to 'im. You stay with 'im. You do not leave 'is side, comprendez vous?"

Gabrielle nodded solemnly. "I know, Papa."

She hugged her father around his middle. Monsieur Delacour held his daughter close and kissed her forehead. "Be brave now, Monkeyface."

"Don't call me zat!" she said, smiling.

Monsieur Delacour offered a hand to Harry, who shook it. "Good luck."

"I promise I'll take care of her," Harry said.

Monsieur Delacour got back into the taxi and spoke with the driver. As the taxi pulled away from the curb, he waved goodbye from the window. Harry and Gabrielle watched as the taxi drove away up the street.

"Okay. Let's go," Harry whispered.

They walked to the Public Elevators. Inside the glass doors was a shadowy tunnel, about sixty feet long and lit by fluorescent lights. Harry and Gabrielle followed the tunnel deep into the interior of the hill, their footsteps echoing eerily off the concrete walls. The tunnel ended in a kind of cavern with four elevator doors along the back wall. Harry pushed the call button and the second elevator on the left opened. They stepped inside, and Gabrielle pushed the '2' button for the second level.

They rode the elevator in silence up to the top of the hill. It felt as if they were riding up to the observation deck of a tall skyscraper. As they neared the second level, Harry's ears closed a bit with the sudden change in altitude, and he had to clench his jaw to open them again.

At the top of the hill, the elevator opened into a small glass pavilion. Harry and Gabrielle stepped out onto the Rue du Scélérat. Perhaps it was the change in temperature with the higher altitude, but Harry could have sworn that he felt a chill pass through him. The street was dimly lit and full of shadows. It was deserted of traffic, and no cars were parked on the sidewalk that ran along the upper edge of the hilltop. On the other side of the street, a series of dark mansion-like houses peeked out from behind tall stone walls with iron gates at the entrances. These houses were quiet; no lights shone in any of their upper windows. They seemed almost to have been built as hiding places, to keep secret things out of view. There was an uncanny silence on the street, broken only by a sharp whistling wind that seemed to whisper of hidden treasures and closeted skeletons safely tucked away from prying eyes.

Harry wondered for a moment if they were in the right place. "Hold on a second, Gabrielle. I'm going to check the map."

He pulled his wand out of his sleeve, and pulled the Traveler's Map from his pocket. The map now showed himself and Gabrielle standing on the Rue du Scélérat. The houses on the other side of the street were visible on the map, as were the Dangling Gardens on the hillside below.

Harry tapped his wand on the map and said, "Destination: 606 Rue du Scélérat. Travel by foot."

The image of a footprint appeared on the map. It was followed by another footprint, and another, and another, as if the map were actually measuring the number of footsteps it would take for them to reach their destination. The track of footprints moved south across the map from their position on Rue du Scélérat. It turned left, crossed the street, and continued down an unmarked road, following a long winding path that ended in a cul-de-sac, next to the outline of a large house. The words "Total Distance: 1 mile 0.6 kilometer" appeared in the corner of the map.

Well, Dobby said the Chateau Malfoy was off the main street on a private road,

Harry thought. Let's just hope he got the address right.

"Is anyzing wrong, 'Arry?" Gabrielle asked.

"No, nothing's wrong. Just checking our position." Harry put the map back in his pocket, and stuck his wand back in his sleeve. "This way."

They walked down the street together, in the direction that the map had indicated. The top of the Hill of the Devil's Eye offered a breathtaking view of the city of Latrece at night. Harry and Gabrielle stopped for a moment at the guard rail that overlooked the maze of lighted streets below. They could hear occasional snatches of Carnival music coming from the Boulevard de la Soleil, cheers and laughter from gathering crowds, and the distant hum of traffic moving on the Auto-Route.

From the top of the hill, they could see all the way back to the Vieux Port. The moon was high and bright, its shimmering light reflected on the waters of the Mediterranean. Out in the harbor, the four-masted cruise ship that Harry had seen earlier was shining like a white beacon on the sea, with strings of lanterns hung between its four masts. From the hilltop, Harry and Gabrielle could even see the movement of the passengers on the decks.

"Sounds like a wonderful party going on back at the port," said Harry. "Too bad we have to miss it." He looked over the rail at the ledges on the side of the hill below them. "Are those the Dangling Gardens down there?"

"Oui," said Gabrielle. She pointed over the rail at the wedge-shaped configurations of trees and shrubs, crisscrossing down the hillside. "You can see how ze path goes down through ze garden to ze bottom of ze hill. Zey 'ave ze most amazing plants down zere. Zey 'ave cactus, and orchids, and wild flowers zat bloom even in ze wintertime. You should come 'ere and see it some day, 'Arry. C'est tres belle jardine--a beautiful garden!"

They started down the street again. Harry looked around, uneasily. He hoped that anyone who saw them would think that they were a brother and sister out for a nighttime stroll, and would take no notice of them. Of course, there was that old saying, "Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere."

"You know, I'm really sorry I interrupted your family's holiday," Harry said.

Gabrielle shook her head. "Is okay. You need our 'elp, so we come and 'elp you. We are glad to do it." She shrugged. "I am only sorry zat you will miss ze Parade du Carnival Roi tonight. Is really somezing to see."

"Your father that said you all went to Sardinia for the Carnival this year. Why Sardinia?"

"Oh, we went zere to see ze Sa Sartiglia festival in Oristano!"

"Sorry. You went there to see what?"

"Ze Sa Sartiglia festival. You might call it...how you say?...ze 'Festival of Stars' in Eenglish."

"The 'Festival of Stars,'" Harry repeated. "And it takes place in Sardinia?"

"Oui. Every year, during ze Carnival, zere is a tournament with riders and horses in ze town of Oristano. It is like ze joust, with ze knights on horseback. Ze riders in ze tournament all wear white masks and black capes, and zey all 'ave swords. When ze tournament begins, ze judges hang gold stars--zey are made of metal, you know, but zey are gold-colored--up over ze streets in Oristano. And ze riders, zey ride zeir horses down ze street and try to stab ze gold stars with zeir swords as zey ride under zem." Gabrielle made a stabbing motion with her arm, as if trying to pierce something with a sword. "And whoever can stab ze most stars with ze tip of 'is sword is ze winner of ze tournament. Is really very interesting to watch."

As they walked along the edge of the hill, the road curved slightly, and they found themselves going down a long slope. The mansions on the opposite side of the street gave way to a forest of darkened pine trees.

This is that bend in the road just down from the top of the hill that Dobby told me about

, Harry thought. Now I have to look for two stone pillars that mark the entrance to the driveway of the Chateau Malfoy.

Peering through the shadows on the other side of the street, he soon found what he was looking for: A pair of stone pillars surrounding a hidden driveway entrance. There were signs posted on the pillars, reading "No Trespassing" and "Defense D'entrer."

"That's the place," Harry said to Gabrielle. "Okay, here we go."

They crossed the street together and walked between the two pillars. As Dobby had said, the entrance to the property was a long driveway, leading down through a darkened wood full of tall Mediterranean pines There were no mansions or houses on this road. It seemed to have been paved solely to allow access to a private residence. As Harry and Gabrielle followed the driveway down a shallow slope, the tall trees seemed to close in around them, blocking out the moonlight from above. Crickets chirped in the trees and owls hooted nearby.

The woods reminded Harry of the Forbidden Forest back at Hogwarts. Gabrielle edged closer to him as they walked. Soon, it was so dark that they couldn't see the path in front of them. Harry decided to risk a bit of light. He pulled out his wand and whispered, "Lumos obscuro."

Once again, a dim light, like the flame of a candle, issued from the tip of his wand. The light illuminated another sign, posted on a nearby tree. They had to step close to the sign and peer at it in order to read it:

"Chateau Malfoy: 1 mile."

Directly underneath it was another sign, in English:

"I'D TURN BACK IF I WERE YOU."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Harry muttered.

Gabrielle looked at the sign. "What does zat mean?"

"It means that somebody in the Chateau Malfoy has been watching too many old Muggle movies," Harry replied. "Come on. Let's keep going."

They walked on down the driveway. Harry kept his ears open for any unusual sounds. His eyes strained as he watched the path in front of them, searching for any sign that someone or something might be coming up the drive towards them.

This is crazy

, he thought. I feel like I'm in a French Resistance movie, and we're on our way to blow up a Nazi ammunition dump.

To steady his nerves, he hunted around for a new topic of conversation. "So, you're going to Beauxbatons this fall. Are you looking forward to it?"

Gabrielle nodded. "I cannot wait to go. I want to learn everyzing zey teach zere." She gave a nervous shrug. "It will be difficult, I know, starting in a new school. I 'ope I make some good friends zere."

"You will," Harry said, confidently. "Oh, I meant to ask you. Do you model clothes for your mother's company, like Fleur did?"

Gabrielle shook her head, smiling. "Is not for me. I do not like dressing up just to 'ave people stare at me and take my picture. I zink perhaps Fleur will inherit ze business when Maman retires. She knows about clothes and fashions and things like zat. She will be good at it."

"And what about you? What do you want to do?"

"I think maybe I could work in ze bank, like Papa does," Gabrielle mused. "Eizer zat, or I could be a physician. I believe I would like zat. You said your petite amie, Ginny Weasley, she wants to be a doctor?"

"Yes, that's right. You two will have a lot to talk about some day."

As they rounded a curve in the woods, the end of the driveway came into view. As the Traveler's Map had indicated, it was a small cul-de-sac, a paved circle lit by moonlight from a gap in the trees. As Dobby had said, a stone wall, about ten feet high and covered with creeping vines, surrounded the property. The house itself was not visible, but the tops of several tall cypress trees poked up from behind the wall. An iron gate topped with sharp spikes guarded the entrance way.

Gabrielle looked at the gate. "Do you think we will be polite dropping in like zis?"

Harry smiled. "What I wouldn't give right now for a spray gun of 'Witch Remover.'" He whispered. "Nox," and the light on his wand went out. He put it back inside his sleeve. "Come on. Let's go up to the gate."

They crept up to the iron gate and looked through the bars. Beyond the gate, they saw another driveway, curving down around another small slope. A line of cypress trees had been planted along the driveway edge.

"I do not see ze chateau," Gabrielle whispered.

"It's probably hidden behind that line of trees in there," Harry said, pointing through the bars of the gate. "Let's move over here for a minute. There's a couple of things I need to tell you before we go in there."

They stepped over to one side of the iron gate, and stood next to the stone wall. Gabrielle looked at Harry.

"Okay, now listen to me for a minute," Harry told her. "When we go through that gate, we're both going to be under the Invisibility Cloak. Once we get inside the gate, you know we can't talk, right? We're going to have to be very, very quiet."

Gabrielle nodded. She knew. Harry could see that she was listening very closely to what he said. "Now you need to learn how to walk under the Invisibility Cloak. It's a bit hard to do if you've never done it before. Come here for a second. Stand right in front of me, and look straight ahead."

Gabrielle stepped in front of Harry and stood with her back turned to him, so that she was facing straight ahead. Harry stood just behind her and gently took hold of her shoulders.

"This is how we're going to be walking underneath the cloak," he said. "You'll be in front, and I'll have my hands on your shoulders to steer you. Remember, we have to go very, very slowly. It's very difficult to move when there are two people under the cloak. If one of us trips and falls, the other will go down with them...and if that happens, we'll probably be discovered! So we can't hurry and we can't run. We have to take our time doing this, understand? Okay, now let's just practice walking like this for a second."

They took a few slow, shuffling steps forward together. "Okay, that's good. We shouldn't be going any faster than this. Now, when I want you to stop, I'll squeeze your shoulders, like this."

Harry squeezed Gabrielle's shoulders gently. Gabrielle stopped walking. "Good. And when I want you to start moving again, I'll give you a little push, like this."

He gave Gabrielle a small push on the back of her shoulders. She started to move forward again.

"Good," said Harry. He took hold of the sides of her shoulders, and gently turned them right and left. "Now when we need to turn, I'll turn you in the direction I want you to go. Try to take the turns slowly, so you don't trip and fall out of the cloak. And if I want you to back up, I'll pull back on your shoulders like this."

He pulled back gently on her shoulders. Gabrielle took a few steps back with him.

"That's good," said Harry. He let go of Gabrielle's shoulders. She turned to face him again.

"Now, this is important," Harry continued. "If we run into anyone in there--if we come across any other people while we're inside the house--the first thing to remember is, don't panic! Remember, they don't know we're here. They can't see us when we're underneath the cloak."

Gabrielle nodded, listening intently.

"If we come across anyone in there, the first thing we want to do is back up against the nearest wall, like this." Harry stood behind Gabrielle once more, and took hold of her shoulders. He took a few slow steps back towards the stone wall. Gabrielle followed.

"We want to give them plenty of space, so they can walk through the room without blundering into us." He waved his hand in front of them, as if indicating people passing back and forth there. "Then, once we're up against the wall, we stand perfectly still. We don't move, we don't make any noise. We just stand still and make like a statue, and wait for them to go away. As long as we don't give them any reason to think that we're there, they won't know that we're there. Understand?"

Gabrielle nodded. Harry turned her to face him again. "One more thing. If anything goes wrong in there--if we're discovered and we have to fight our way out--you get behind me and stay there. You let me do the fighting, or the talking, or whatever I have to do to get us out of there. But you never, never leave my side. Understand?"

"I know," Gabrielle said softly.

"Okay." Harry looked at the wall surrounding the property. "Stand up against the wall for a minute while I get out the Invisibility Cloak."

Gabrielle stood with her back against the stone wall and waited. Harry took off his backpack, knelt down in front of the wall, and started to undo the straps on his bag. He didn't realize that anything was wrong until Gabrielle screamed.

"'ARRY!!"

Harry whirled. The green vines covering the wall had wound themselves around Gabrielle's arms and body and were now lifting her off the ground! Gabrielle twisted and struggled madly, a look of terror on her face!

Harry knew instantly what they were dealing with. "Don't fight it, Gabrielle! Just go limp! Don't struggle with it!"

Gabrielle did as she was told, letting her arms drop to her sides. The vines stopped winding around her, but they were still pulling her up towards the top of the wall. Harry got his wand out of his sleeve just in time. "Lumos!"

A bright light streamed from his wand, and he held it up in front of Gabrielle's hanging form. Instantly, the vines released her and she dropped to the ground. Harry ran back and forth, shining his light until all the creeper vines had retreated and slithered back over the top of the wall.

"Nox

," Harry whispered. The light on his wand went out, and he dropped it. Gabrielle ran to him and threw her arms around his waist. Harry held her awkwardly for a moment. She was trembling violently and her heart was pounding. Harry took hold of her shoulders and shook her. "Are you okay?"

Gabrielle nodded, dazed. "You...you said to stand against ze wall! I just do as you say!"

"I know, I know! It's not your fault!" Harry looked at the wall. "I'm sorry! I should've known that the Malfoys would have some kind of magical defense system to keep intruders out."

"Wh-what was zat?!" Gabrielle breathed, brushing her hair from her eyes.

"It's called Devil's Snare. It's a kind of magic creeper vine. It doesn't like light." He looked at Gabrielle and winced. I must have been out of my mind to bring this kid to a place like this.

"Listen, Gabrielle. You don't have to go in there with me. If you want, I can take you back up the road. We could find another taxi to take you back to the Vieux Port..."

Gabrielle shook her head. Her breathing was slowing, and she was beginning to calm down. "Non. non! You need my 'elp in zere, 'Arry."

"It's...too dangerous. I shouldn't've brought you with me. I shouldn't've agreed to this..."

"You need me!" Gabrielle insisted. "You cannot open ze crystal lock wizzout my 'elp. Please...do not send me back."

Harry took a deep breath. He squeezed his eyes shut. She's right! I need her to open the crystal lock so I can take the Chimaera's Root back to Hogwarts and save my teacher. I HAVE to take this risk.

He opened his eyes and looked at Gabrielle. "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?"

She nodded, resolutely. Her look of determination had returned, and Harry knew that it would be useless to try to talk her out of this.

"All right, then." He bent to pick up his wand, and stuck it in his pocket. Hope nobody up at the house saw the light when I chased away the vines.

Kneeling, he undid the straps and buckles on his backpack. Gabrielle gasped when he pulled out the Invisibility Cloak.

"Here," Harry said, hoping to take her mind off her brush with the Devil's Snare, "why don't you try it on?"

He put the cloak around her shoulders. Gabrielle stared down in amazement as her body disappeared, leaving only her head floating in midair. "Zis--zis is incredible!"

"Now put the hood up," Harry said. He reached behind her and pulled the hood over her head. Gabrielle disappeared. "And you're invisible. Don't go anywhere, or I'll never be able to find you."

He gave Gabrielle a few moments alone inside the cloak, to get used to the thrill of being invisible. In the meantime, he quickly closed the straps on his backpack. (It wouldn't do to have the metal-tipped straps and the loose buckles jangling against each other while they were sneaking around inside the chateau.) He put the empty pack back on and stood up.

"Where did you get zis cloak?" came Gabrielle's voice at his elbow.

"My father left it to me," said Harry.

Gabrielle pulled down the hood, so that her head appeared, floating in front of Harry. He looked down at her and smiled. "Are you ready now?"

She glanced back at the iron gate, then looked at him and nodded. She took off the Invisibility Cloak and handed it to him. Harry put the cloak around his shoulders and held it open. Gabrielle stood in front of him, facing forward, and Harry let the edges of the cloak drop around her. "Now hold the edges closed in front of you. Twitch the cloak around your legs. Make sure our feet are covered. Can you see out okay?"

Gabrielle nodded under the cloak.

"Good. Now as we walk, don't try to watch your feet. You can't see them anyway. Just look straight ahead, and keep an eye on the ground in front of you. Watch out for anything in our path that we might trip over. Are you ready to go?"

"Oui. I am ready now." Her voice was very calm.

Harry reached back, and covered his head with the hood. They were now completely invisible. Under the cloak, he put his hands on Gabrielle's shoulders. They shuffled towards the gate slowly. Gabrielle stepped on his feet several times.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"Don't talk," Harry reminded her. "Just keep walking. Remember, go very slow."

As Dobby had said, the Malfoy family coat of arms hung on the bars of the iron gate. On the face of the shield was a picture of a huge foot stepping on a serpent. The serpent's fangs were embedded in the heel of the foot that stepped on it. The Malfoy family motto was written across the top of the shield: "Nemo me impune lacessit." ("No one attacks me without punishment.")

Harry pulled his wand from his pocket and pointed it at the shield. Now, we find out if Dobby was right about the magic passwords to this place. If the Malfoys have changed them, we're in big trouble.

"Long live the Malfoys," Harry whispered.

The lock clicked open.

Harry pushed the gate open, and he and Gabrielle squeezed inside. He carefully shut the gate behind them. "Thank you, Dobby," he whispered. "Okay, let's keep moving. Slowly, now."

They crept up the inner driveway. Harry kept a sharp eye out for more magical defense measures, like the Devil's Snare. The wind rustled through the thin branches of the cypress trees planted along the edge of the driveway. Harry watched the trees warily, half-expecting them to come to life and start whacking away at the unseen intruders, like the Whomping Willow back at Hogwarts. But nothing else attacked them as they moved up the driveway at an insect crawl.

It took fifteen minutes of stumbling and stepping on each other's feet to get up the long inner driveway. Gradually, Harry and Gabrielle began to develop a regular, slow-walking rhythm and were able to move together more smoothly under the cloak.

As they rounded the curve in the driveway and came to the end of the line of cypress trees, the Chateau Malfoy came into view. It was a three-story, rustic stone villa, flanked on both sides by palm trees. On one side of the house was a two-story wing addition with a balustrade terrace on the second floor, overlooking the landscaped gardens in front of the house A tall rounded medieval tower with a funnel-shaped roof rose up in back of the chateau.

Lights were on in the large bay windows on the second floor of the house. Someone was definitely home.

Oh, brother,

Harry thought. This is not going to be a piece of baklava.

* * *

Another ten minutes of slow walking brought them up the twisting stone path from the driveway to the front porch of the chateau. The porch was a half-circle of four tiered marble steps, leading up to a heavy oak door.

Standing on the front porch, Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at the door. "Long live the Death Eaters."

The lock clicked open. Harry turned the large brass doorknob and pulled it. The oak door was so heavy that Gabrielle had to reach out from under the cloak and pull on the door's edge to help him open it. Harry prayed that the hinges on the door wouldn't squeak as they entered. They quickly slipped inside, and he carefully eased the door shut behind them.

They stood in a large, shadowy vestibule, a dark deserted room with a high ceiling. Shafts of moonlight shone in through the large bay windows on either side of the front door, throwing rectangles of light across the oval-shaped rug in the center of the floor. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. Directly in front of them, a long, sweeping staircase with marble balustrades curved gracefully up towards the second floor of the house. At the top of the staircase, a sharp glow came from what seemed to be the entrance to a second-floor hallway. An ebony statue of Cupid, aiming with his bow and arrow, stood on a banister at the bottom of the stairs.

Just inside the front door, Harry stopped and listened, his hand on Gabrielle's shoulder. In the darkness, he heard only silence. Through the open archways to his left and right, he caught glimpses of adjoining rooms filled with elegant furniture. The room to his left appeared to be a music room. He could just see the silhouettes of a grand piano and a large harp through the archway.

He twitched the Invisibility Cloak to make sure their feet were still covered. Dobby had said that the entrance to the wine cellar was in the salon, through the open archway to the right of the front door. Harry gently steered Gabrielle's shoulders to the right, and gave her a gentle push from behind. "Let's go. Move slowly."

Gabrielle began to move and Harry followed, keeping pace with her. As they crept across the vestibule, Harry kept an eye out for heaps in the oval-shaped rug, or anything else that they might trip over. The house was quiet and still.

"Harry Potter!"

Harry and Gabrielle froze halfway across the vestibule. His heart pounding, Harry looked up to see where the voice had come from.

Draco Malfoy was standing at the top of the marble staircase!