Another City, Not My Own

"ANOTHER CITY, NOT MY OWN"
Chapter Eleven
"The Wine Cellar"

How can he see me?

Harry thought, his mind reeling. I'm under the Invisibility Cloak? How can he see me?

But Draco didn't seem to be looking down at them from the top of the staircase. He was staring back through the entrance to the second-floor hallway from which he had just emerged. As Harry watched, Draco was joined at the top of the staircase by a tall, blonde-haired woman carrying a large porcelain water jar.

Harry recognized the woman instantly. It was Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother. The last time he'd seen her was at the Quidditch World Cup in England several years ago. The Malfoy family had been seated in the Top Box at the Quidditch stadium with Harry and the Weasley family. It had been a very uneasy seating arrangement. Harry remembered that Narcissa had worn a sour look on her face, as if she were smelling something awful. She didn't have that look now; in fact, she had a very sweet smile on her face. Perhaps, Harry thought, she'd been wrinkling her nose at the Quidditch World Cup because she didn't like having to share the Top Box with the Weasleys, whom the Malfoy family considered to be lower-class vermin scum.

"What did you say, dear?" Narcissa asked her son as they came down the long staircase together.

"I said we should've sent the owl to Harry Potter, not Dumbledore," said Draco. "It would've killed all those stupid brats at Hogwarts to watch their big hero die. They'd've been broken, all of them. With Potter dead, they wouldn't have the strength to stand against the Death Eaters."

Under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry felt Gabrielle twitch. "Shhh," he whispered, soothingly. "They can't see us. Back up against the wall."

They shuffled sideways until they were standing against the wall under the staircase. Harry turned so that he and Gabrielle were facing the front door. They waited, breathlessly.

As Draco Malfoy reached the bottom of the staircase, he said, "Lumos." Instantly, the crystal chandelier lit up, and the vestibule was flooded with magical light.

"Now, Draco, dear," cooed Narcissa Malfoy, "you must be patient. Chimaera's Root can take a very long time to kill someone. And the longer it takes, the better. Just think of all the pain and suffering that Professor Dumbledore is going through right now. I'm sure they'll be printing his obituary in the Daily Prophet in a day or so."

She said all this as if she were consoling her son over an expected birthday present that hadn't yet arrived in the mail. Her syrupy-sweet voice reminded Harry of Aunt Petunia when she was coddling Dudley.

Narcissa walked into the music room next to the vestibule, and said "Lumos." The music room was flooded with light. Through the open archway, Harry watched as Narcissa moved around with the water jar, apparently watering plants in the out-of-sight corners of the room. Draco stood just inside the archway, talking to his mother.

"We don't even know if Dumbledore's been poisoned," Draco grumbled. "Damien hasn't come back yet."

"Oh, you must have a little faith," said Narcissa. "Damien's a good owl. He knows how to deliver a good lethal scratch when you tell him to."

Draco shuffled a bit under the archway. "Mother, I don't mean to question your knowledge of poisons. But are you sure this Chimaera's Root stuff is lethal enough to kill a wizard like Dumbledore?"

Narcissa stopped in the center of the music room. She looked at her son as if she were offended by his question. "Why, of course it's lethal enough, dear. Trust me, I know my poisons. And Chimaera's Root is one of the deadliest toxins in my collection. Believe me, after a few days of convulsions and hallucinations, Dumbledore will be more than ready to die."

Harry listened incredulously as Narcissa Malfoy talked about poisoning his teacher as casually as if she were talking about having the house repainted. He resisted a sudden urge to march right into the music room and put an incredible hex on her--or better yet, to stuff both her and her son inside the grand piano and close the lid.

Keep calm.

he told himself. Just be patient. Remember what Hermione said. We're here to get the Chimaera's Root. Payback can come later.

Draco Malfoy gave an impatient sigh, and leaned against the music room archway. "Has Father sent out any more owls about getting me into another school?"

"These things take time, dear," said Narcissa, moving around the music room with her water jar once more. "Don't worry, I'm sure your father will find a good school for you once he gets back from settling that matter with Captain Lesgate in Venice."

So Lucius Malfoy wasn't here tonight. Good! That might make things a bit easier if they had to fight their way out of here.

"Well, I hope he does better than that Romanian school that you tried to send me to," Draco said to his mother.

"I'm sorry, Draco," said Narcissa. She sounded a bit embarrassed now. "The Lugoshi School of Magic seemed like a good school when I read the brochures."

"It's a school for vampires, Mother. They only have classes at night. I'd have to sleep in a coffin during the daytime."

"Well, they seemed very ready to accept your application."

"Of course they did," said Draco, rolling his eyes. "They wanted to have me for dinner at a banquet...as the main course!" He gave another exasperated sigh. "You'd think that Durmstrang would have accepted me, especially after I offered that idiot Viktor Krum brand new equipment for his Quidditch team."

"Do you have any idea why he rejected you?"

"Ahh, he's still in love with that Mudblood, Hermione Granger. He'd do anything for her. She's turned him against the Death Eaters. So now I'm stuck with twelve new Firebolts and nowhere to play Quidditch!"

Under the Invisibility Cloak, Gabrielle suddenly inhaled sharply. Harry turned. To his left, he saw three dark figures coming towards them through the adjacent salon. As the figures stepped into the lighted vestibule, Harry recognized them.

They were three young men, each about twenty years old. In the center was Marcus Flint, a burly, troll-like young man who had barely graduated from Hogwarts a few years before. Flint had been the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team during his time at Hogwarts. The other two, who were even taller and brawnier than Flint, were Derrick and Bole, who had been the Slytherin Beaters on Flint's team. Derrick was red-haired with an oafish look on his face. Bole was dark-haired with a bowl-shaped haircut. He had a crooked nose, the result of having been elbowed in the face by George Weasley during the Quidditch final in Harry's third year.

Harry himself had had a nasty encounter with Derrick and Bole during that same game. Knowing that Harry, as Seeker for the team, was essential for a Gryffindor victory, the two Slytherin Beaters had tried to knock him off his broom with a Bludger, and had then attacked him with their Beater's clubs. Harry had barely avoided having his brains knocked out by dodging the attack at the last possible second, causing the two Beaters to collide in midair.

Gabrielle was breathing hard under the Invisibility Cloak. Her back was pressed against Harry, and he could feel her heart pounding through her shoulders. He quickly put his hand up and covered her mouth.

"Shhh," he whispered to her. Gabrielle nodded under his hand.

Marcus Flint strolled into the vestibule, stopping only a few feet from where Harry and Gabrielle were standing. "Oy, Draco! You better come into the kitchen, quick. Crabbe and Goyle are making ice cream sundaes in there. They're spilling stuff all over the kitchen floor."

"Aw, hell," Draco growled. "Can't those clowns find anything better to do?"

"They're bored!" said Flint. "Tell the truth, so are we! We been cooped up in this bloody house for four days now!"

Malfoy turned towards the music room. "Mother, can't we at least go out tonight and have some fun? There's a big Muggle party going on down in the city. It's called the 'Caramel,' or something. There's so many people down there, nobody would notice us."

Yes!

Harry thought. Go! Go out and enjoy the Carnival! Please! Get out of here, all of you, so I can get the Chimaera's Root without you interfering!

"Not tonight, Draco," said Narcissa. "I'm sorry."

"But, Mother, if we go out and curse Muggles tonight, they won't remember a thing when they wake up tomorrow. They'll just think they had too much to drink at the big party."

"Your father gave strict orders, Draco," Narcissa said. "He wants you to stay out of trouble until he can get you into a new school. Just be patient, dear. Once you've been accepted into the Death Eaters, you can go out and curse Muggles any time you wish."

Marcus Flint suddenly looked around the vestibule. He glanced up at the ceiling and down at the floor. Then he looked around the room once more, his shoulders twitching, as if he suddenly had a chill. "Oy, Draco? Did you turn on the heat in here?"

Leaning against the archway, Draco shook his head. "No, why?"

"Strange, it's...kinda hot in here. Or maybe it's too cold, I dunno."

Uh, oh

, Harry thought. Past experience had taught him that, while the Invisibility Cloak made you invisible, it couldn't completely hide your presence. If someone was standing too close to you, they could sense the vibrations in the air caused by your heartbeat, or feel the heat coming off your body, or smell your personal scent. Or they just knew, from intuition, that someone was standing in the room, watching them, even though they could not see you.

Harry watched as Marcus Flint did a kind of shuffling dance around the vestibule, his eyes darting left and right. Derrick and Bole were looking around as well, as if they too sensed that something was wrong.

"What?" Draco asked. "What is it?"

"I dunno!" said Flint, in a confused tone. "Maybe I'm goin' crazy, but...it's like somethin's outta place here."

Gabrielle twitched slightly under the Invisibility Cloak. Harry gently put both hands on her shoulders, massaging them reassuringly. But his own stomach was twisting itself into nervous knots.

Draco Malfoy walked out into the middle of the vestibule. He looked around slowly, up at the chandelier, down at the rug under his feet. He sniffed the air, and seemed to listen closely to the silence of the room for a moment. Then he turned to Flint.

"I think you're right, Marcus. You are going bloody bonkers!"

"Maybe I am," said Marcus, with a shrug.

Suddenly, there was a sharp yowling sound! Everyone turned toward the salon.

Oh, NO!

Harry groaned, internally. Narcissa Malfoy has a cat!

A large, black cat--a long-haired Persian with piercing yellow eyes and sharp, white teeth--stood just inside the vestibule with its back arched. Its bushy tail was pointed in the air, its claws bared on the rug. It was staring straight at Harry and Gabrielle, yowling and spitting madly.

Harry's heart sank. Cats had the ability to see through the Invisibility Cloak.

"Mother," Draco asked, "what's got into your cat?"

"I don't know." Narcissa Malfoy came across the vestibule, and knelt before the cat. "Whassa matter, Poopsie? Hmmmm? You see a mouse or something?"

She glanced at the corner of the wall where Harry and Gabrielle were standing, then back at the cat. "There's nothing there, sweetie."

The cat continued to howl and spit, its fur standing on end. Draco Malfoy followed the cat's gaze to the wall under the staircase, then looked back at the cat. Harry gulped. Gabrielle was shaking hard against him.

Draco turned and suddenly walked straight towards them, peering closely at the wall under the staircase. Under the cloak, Gabrielle gasped and backed up against Harry. Harry quickly put his hand over her mouth again. With his other hand, he very slowly extracted his magic wand from his pocket, holding it ready underneath the cloak.

Malfoy moved closer, his eyes traveling around the wall as he tried to figure out what the cat was hissing at. His face twitched a bit, as if he subconsciously knew that something was there, and his mind wanted to see it. He was less than ten feet away from them now. In a few seconds, he would bump right into them.

A huge crash sounded somewhere in the house. Under the cloak, Harry and Gabrielle jumped. Malfoy and his friends whirled towards the salon.

"Aw, what are Crabbe and Goyle doing now?" Malfoy groaned.

A loud metallic clang, which sounded like a large metal spoon hitting a tile floor, came from an inner room. Malfoy turned wearily to Flint and his gang, and nodded towards the noise. "Come on. We better stop 'em before they wreck the entire kitchen."

"Draco," said Narcissa, "make sure that Vincent and Gregory aren't using my best crystal dishes for their ice cream sundaes. That thing they made yesterday--the "pizza," or whatever they called it--just about ruined my best serving tray."

"I'll take care of it, Mother," Draco said, patiently.

"And tell them," Narcissa continued, her voice as sweet as ever, "if they must put horseradish on their ice cream, they should try not to get any on the good tablecloths." She turned and walked back through the vestibule into the music room.

"Yes, Mother. I'll tell them." Draco turned to Marcus Flint. "I'll have to tell them very slowly. You can't explain anything to those morons unless you use very small words."

The black cat was still standing in the foyer, hissing at the unseen intruders. Draco looked down at it, then looked at the seemingly-blank wall that it was staring at. For a moment, Harry was afraid that Draco would step forward and start to examine the wall again. But just then, he heard a door open somewhere in the salon.

"Oy, Draco?!" called a voice that Harry recognized as Gregory Goyle's. "How do ya get guacamole stains off the ceiling?"

Malfoy turned and looked back through the open archway. He exchanged another look with Flint and rolled his eyes. "Just leave it there!" he shouted back to Goyle. "I'll be there in a second."

He looked down at the hissing black cat one more time. "Mother, what the hell's wrong with this bloody cat?"

His mother didn't answer. Draco turned and headed back towards the salon. Flint, Derrick, and Bole followed.

"I hope Crabbe and Goyle don't act stupid like this at their initiation ceremony," Flint griped.

Draco stopped and looked back at Flint, annoyed. "Hey, Marcus, don't get snotty. Just 'cause you and your friends have already been accepted into the Death Eaters, don't think you can push us around."

Malfoy, Flint, Derrick, and Bole disappeared into the salon, heading for the kitchen. Narcissa Malfoy came out of the music room, holding her water jar. She stood under the archway next to the grand staircase, and said, "Nox."

The magical lights in the music room and the vestibule went out at once. Narcissa headed back up the staircase.

The black cat was still staring at Harry and Gabrielle, spitting and howling. As Narcissa mounted the stairs, she looked down over the balustrades at it. "Quiet, Poopsie! For heaven's sake, go chase mice or something."

She disappeared into the hallway at the top of the steps. Harry and Gabrielle stood very still in the vestibule, breathing hard. They looked at the black cat, still yowling at them, its yellow eyes shining in the moonlight from the windows, its white fangs still bared. In the darkness, it looked very much like a demon from hell.

Poopsie?! Harry thought, mouthing the name in disbelief. He whispered to Gabrielle. "Stay still. I'm going to try something."

He brought his wand out from under the Invisibility Cloak, pointed it at the spitting cat, and whispered, "Irrigo!"

A stream of water shot out of the end of his wand and hit the cat in the face. It howled, turned, and dashed away through the salon.

Gabrielle giggled. Harry pulled his wand back under the Invisibility Cloak. He squeezed her shoulder, gently. "Okay. Let's start moving again."

They walked slowly through the open archway into the salon. It was a stylish room filled with elegant French furniture. There were china vases on the mahogany tables and framed portraits on the walls. An eight-foot marble statue of a nude woman stood on a pedestal in one corner. Harry thought it was another Venus de Milo, until he looked closely at the statue's face in the moonlight and realized it was a statue of Narcissa Malfoy. Looking closer, he realized that most of the paintings on the wall were nude portraits of Narcissa as well, showing her in various standing and reclining poses. Like most wizard paintings, these were moving portraits. Most of the nude Narcissas in the paintings seemed to be sound asleep at the moment.

Sheesh, no wonder Draco's so messed up in the head!

Harry said to himself. Imagine having to live in a house full of nude portraits of your mother!

Light shone from under a nearby swinging door which, Harry supposed, led into the kitchen. Malfoy's voice sounded faintly from a distant room. "Cranberry sauce?! You idiots! Whoever heard of an ice cream sundae with cranberry sauce?!"

To the left of the swinging door was a larger, oak door set in an arched doorway. It had a brass handle in the shape of a dragon's head.

That's it,

Harry thought. That's the door that Dobby told me about.

They moved slowly toward the door. Harry stuck his wand out from under the cloak and whispered, "Unica!"

The lock clicked open. Harry grasped the handle and pulled hard. The heavy door swung open, and he and Gabrielle slipped inside.

* * *

As soon as the heavy door shut behind them, Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak. Cold damp air hit his sweaty face. They were standing in total darkness.

"Zat was close!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Harry said quickly. "Don't talk until we get down into the wine cellar. Shield your eyes a moment. I'm going to light my wand." He held up his wand in the dark. "Lumos obscuro."

Once more, a dim light issued from his wand. They stood in a vast, open stairwell at the top of a long flight of stone steps. The steps descended along the wall to a square-shaped center landing, then turned left and continued down the opposite wall to an oak door at the bottom of the staircase. A pair of enormous wine casks, each about three feet in diameter, stood on the center landing.

"Go down the steps, quick," Harry whispered. They hurried down the stairs, Harry shielding the light from his wand with his hand, his Invisibility Cloak draped over his shoulder. At the foot of the stairs, he carefully opened the oak door. The hinges squeaked a bit as they stepped inside the wine cellar, and he shut the door behind them.

They were in a square room with cold stone walls, a low ceiling, and a flat stone floor. Wine racks loaded with ancient bottles stood along the walls on both sides of the room. Shadows flickered in the corners in the dim light of Harry's wand. Breathing heavily, he leaned against the wall next to the door and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor.

"Mon dieu!

" said Gabrielle, as she leaned against the wall on the other side of the door. She looked over at Harry, wide-eyed. "I thought 'e was just going to reach out and pull ze Invisibility Cloak right off us!"

"Shhh! Keep your voice down," Harry said, gently. They rested for a few minutes, trying to recover from their near miss.

"Zat boy with ze blond hair?" Gabrielle whispered. "Was zat...?"

"Yeah, that's Draco Malfoy," said Harry. "He's the one who got expelled from Hogwarts. And that was his mother, Narcissa, with the water jar. His father, Lucius Malfoy, isn't here tonight. At least that's one problem we don't have to worry about."

"Who were ze ozzer boys?"

"They're friends of Draco's. They used to be students at Hogwarts."

"Did ze chat noir see us?"

"Yes, it did. Sorry about that. The Invisibility Cloak doesn't work too well on cats." Harry pushed himself up the wall. He walked to Gabrielle and put a hand on her shoulder. "You did good up there. You kept your head, and you didn't panic."

Gabrielle nodded soberly. Harry looked across the wine cellar floor. "Now let's see if we can find the secret chamber."

They walked to the center of the room, staring down at the stones that covered the floor. "Dobby said to look for five perfectly-round stones that formed the shape of a cross. He said they would be right in the moonlight underneath the window." Harry looked around the room. "But where is the window?"

He looked at the wall to his right. It took a moment for him to spot the window. It was a small, half-circle alcove at the top of the wall, hidden just behind the wine racks. He hadn't seen it at first, because the Malfoys had covered it with a wooden shutter.

I'll have to remove that shutter to let the moonlight in,

Harry thought. He handed his lighted wand to Gabrielle. "Here. Hold this for a second."

They moved to the wall. Gabrielle held the light up, and Harry reached over the top of the wine racks to the window. As short as he was, he had to stand on tiptoe to reach it. The wooden shutter was wedged tight inside the alcove. Harry worked his fingers carefully under the shutter's edge. The bottles on the top of the wine rack jostled and shivered under his elbows as he tried to pry the shutter loose.

With a sudden jerk, it popped out. As Harry pulled the shutter from the window alcove, the sleeve of his jacket caught on a corner of the wine rack. The rack tilted forward as he drew his arm back. To his horror, a wine bottle slipped off the top of the rack and plunged towards the stone floor!

Gabrielle dropped Harry's wand and fell to her knees, shoving her hands under the falling wine bottle! She caught it an instant before it hit the stones!

Harry stood frozen beside the wine rack for several seconds as his brain tried to get his heart started again. Gabrielle looked up at him, wide-eyed. Finally, he managed a small, breathless croak. "Th-thank--you!"

Gabrielle smiled up at him in the moonlight that was now streaming in through the window. The light from Harry's wand had gone out when she dropped it.

His head spinning, Harry gently set the wooden shutter down on the stone floor. He knelt beside Gabrielle. His hands trembled a bit as he took the wine bottle from her. He could read the label in the moonlight. "Pommard: 1934."

If this had hit the floor, it would have sounded like an atomic bomb going off in the cellar!

The Malfoys would be down on top of us now like a clutch of angry dragons!

He patted Gabrielle on the shoulder. "Good catch," he whispered, hoarsely.

"Are you all right?" she asked, chuckling a bit at his blanched expression.

"I'll be fine," Harry said. He stood carefully and set the wine bottle back on top of the rack. Turning, he looked across the moonlit floor. "All right. Five round stones in the shape of a cross."

"'Ere zey are!" Gabrielle whispered. She pointed to five perfectly-round stones, set in the floor in the shape of a cross.

"Perfect," said Harry. He was beginning to wonder if having a veela girl with you when you broke into a Death Eater's summer home was a good-luck charm. "Now let's see if this works. Where's my wand?"

Gabrielle picked up his wand and handed it to him. Harry walked across the floor and stood facing the window. Bending, he tapped the stones on the floor with his wand, as Dobby had said, like a compass, in North--South--East--West order.

"Long--live--Lord--Voldemort!" Finally, he tapped the stone in the center of the cross. "Open!"

The stones in the floor began to move. A small hole appeared, growing wider and wider as the stones seemed to fold in upon themselves. It reminded Harry of the magic brick wall in back of The Leaky Cauldron that opened onto Diagon Alley. He and Gabrielle backed up to the corners of the room. When the stones in the floor stopped moving, there was an opening about eight feet long and three feet wide.

"Sacre Bleu!" whispered Gabrielle.

Harry stared down into the opening. A good deal of Ron Weasley's vocabulary did come to mind.

As Dobby had said, two solid steel doors lay over the top of the secret chamber. An L-shaped handle was attached to the inside edge of each door; the two handles were parallel with each other. In the center of one door was a large, circular object that resembled the combination dial on a Muggle safe, except that this dial was obviously made of crystal. It glittered like a jewel in the moonlight. The secret chamber looked to Harry like the most unbreakable vault in the world outside of Gringotts Bank.

"Are you sure you can get this open?" Harry asked.

Gabrielle nodded, wordlessly.

"Okay." Harry turned and looked at her once more. "Now listen to me very carefully. I want you to take your time doing this. Don't rush, don't hurry. Take as much time as you need to do this."

He nodded towards the ceiling, indicating the Malfoys. "Remember, they don't know that we're down here. As long as we keep calm and don't make any big noises, it'll stay that way. We can still do this and get out of here without them even knowing that we were here. Just stay calm, and do what you have to do."

He prayed he wasn't giving her any bad advice right now. Part of him felt like a fraud, giving directions to this little girl whom, he knew, thought of him as a hero because he had once "rescued" her from merpeople who weren't going to do her any harm anyway. He knew from personal experience how easily hero worshippers could be led astray by bad directions from people that they trusted. So he was very careful now to speak only of things he knew.

"Keep focused on your task," he told her. "Take as long as you need; take all night if you have to. Just make sure you do the job right. And remember, if you need to call your mother for help, I've got the shell phone. Understand?"

Gabrielle nodded again.

"Now, do you need anything?" He held up his wand in the shaft of moonlight. "Do you need the light back that we had before?"

Gabrielle shook her head. "No. Is better if I do zis in ze darkness. Is easier for me to talk to ze crystals when zere is not as much light."

"All right." Harry pointed to the wine cellar door. "I'm going to go stand guard in the stairwell, just in case someone does come down here. I'll be hiding under the Invisibility Cloak, but I promise you, I won't go anywhere. If someone does come down the stairs, I'll come and get you and we'll hide under the cloak. But chances are good that nobody'll bother us while we're down here."

He pointed to the secret chamber in the floor. "Just keep your mind on what you're doing here. Let me worry about the rest. And remember, if you need anything, I'm right outside the door."

Gabrielle nodded once more. From her pocket, she brought out the tarot crystal. It glowed in her small hand, illuminating her face. She stepped down onto the steel doors of the secret chamber, and knelt beside the crystal lock.

Harry walked across the wine cellar to the door. He picked up his Invisibility Cloak and pulled it around his shoulders. He watched for a moment as Gabrielle sat on the doors of the secret chamber, slowly rolling the tarot crystal in her small fingers. Then she placed it down on top of the crystal dial and closed her eyes. She seemed to be in deep concentration. Her silver hair shone in the light from the window.

Harry pulled the hood of the Invisibility Cloak over his head, opened the cellar door, and stepped out into the stairwell. Leaving the door open a crack, he sat down against the wall and waited.

* * *

This part of the story must now be told from Gabrielle Delacour's point of view.