When Worlds Collide

The next day was a Friday, but school was still closed due to the snow. Therefore, Draco and I spent the morning in the kitchen, drinking hot chocolate and debating over what to do for the afternoon. Draco wanted to stay indoors and keep warm at all costs; but I was for going outside, be it for flying or sledding or just playing in the snow. I had finally convinced Draco to try sledding--or, as he put it, "that infernal Muggle sport on a trashcan lid"--when something completely unexpected and extraordinary occurred.

At first, neither of us noticed the soft tapping on the kitchen window, we were so engrossed in our discussion over the merits of sledding. But when two golden eyes peered in at me through a crack in the curtains that shaded that particular window, it was all I could do not to scream--and I came pretty darn close.

"What the hell is that??"

When he heard my exclamation and saw those unnerving eyes for himself, Draco jumped up and ran to the window, where he threw back the curtains and let the winter sun flash into the room with a blinding light. It took us a few moments to adjust our eyes to the brightness; and when we did, we both froze at what we saw.

Hovering just outside, its wings pumping wildly against the wintry winds, was a black owl with a small parcel attached to its leg.

Both Draco and I stared at the bird in stiff silence for many moments. Then, Draco reached out, undid the latch, and pulled the window up with a rough jerk; the owl soared in and immediately landed on Draco's shoulder. I gaped at the owl as Draco untied the package from the bird's leg, at which point the owl took off from its erstwhile human perch and flew out the window again, disappearing from sight within moments.

Draco tore open the package, and I saw his face grow pale as he scanned the contents. I watched him from my seat at the breakfast table, still in some shock from the owl's sudden appearance. It had to be from his world, but who would know that he was here?

Suddenly, he looked up at me, his face betraying a turmoil of emotions. "Read this." His voice was tight as he tossed me a scroll of parchment. I caught it and began to read the scrawling handwriting.

Draco,

I know you are still alive and out there somewhere, so please do me the favor of not ignoring this letter. I hope this owl finds you in better conditions than where you were last--I should say, where Wormtail found you last.

Yes, Peter Pettigrew had been following you, from the time you were abandoned in Muggle London until your reported 'demise.' The Dark Lord was quite pleased with the news, since your survival was all that kept him from accessing your family's estate. You, of all people, should know that the Dark Lord's naming of himself as the heir to the Malfoy legacy did not automatically make him the heir over you; he merely became the heir after you. The blood protection of estate runs strong in pureblood families; therefore, he had to wait until your natural death before he could attempt to take over any of the Malfoy funds. I hear that he sent several assassins on your trail, but all were complete imbeciles when it came to tracking a seemingly Muggle tramp. Only Pettigrew was successful in monitoring you completely; but he was under orders to simply watch, not act.

However, when the Dark Lord tried to access your estate after Pettigrew's announcement, the result was the same as when you were alive. That was when I realized that, whatever the odds were against you that day, you had somehow survived and were in hiding. I could only guess where you were hiding, though. Stupidly, it took me another two months to realize that any post owl can track you down. Hopefully, this one did. Merlin knows it made enough of a fuss when I told it whom to track down; I still have a pile of owl feathers and excretions in my study that has yet to be cleared away.

Enclosed is a Portkey that will bring you to Spinner's End when you put it on. Should you choose to return, I swear to protect you until either the Dark Lord is defeated or, in the more likely scenario, forgets about you entirely. It would be more suitable for the last scion of one of the oldest pureblood families in Britain to return to his fatherland than to languish in exile in some remote country where no one (not even the Dark Lord) can track him down. Safe, indeed, but not at all practical. I am sure that is not what your either of your parents would have wanted you to do.

I hope you seriously consider my offer, and I earnestly await your arrival.

Your concerned godfather,

Severus Snape

"Your--your godfather is--Snape?!" I spluttered, dropping the parchment onto the breakfast table.

Draco snorted from his position at the kitchen window. "Is that the first question that comes to your mind when you read that?"

"Well, I think I already knew that owls can track anyone down, no matter where they are, so there goes my other question," I retorted. "So, is he, or not?"

"He is. He was my father's best friend, pretty much, and he provided the Pain-Killer for my mother when she went into labor with me. He's been watching out for me ever since I started at Hogwarts."

"I see." A long pause. Draco was staring out the window with his back to me; I couldn't tell what he was thinking. "What is this 'blood protection' he mentioned? About estate transfer or something?"

"Pureblood families have a long tradition of primogeniture--you know, passing the property on to the firstborn son." Draco's voice took on a dreamy tone that I had never heard before. "There's this charm that most of the pureblood families cast on themselves to make sure that the proper heir gets the estate. If the last remaining heir to the family is still alive, the estate will be automatically locked away from everyone but the heir--" He turned to face me; he was rolling something around in his closed fist. "Until the heir dies."

"Oh." I let his words sink in for a moment before pointing to his fist. "Is that the Portkey?"

"Yes. Do you want to see it?" When I nodded, Draco walked over and dropped a ring into my waiting hands. It was quite a plain little thing made of gold, without any stones or other decoration; but it radiated a dark, irrational sensation of fear that made me shiver unconsciously.

"I don't like this," I murmured without realizing it.

"What?"

"It feels--" I searched for the right word, but none came. "It feels wrong."

Draco glanced at the ring in my hands before shrugging off my comment. "Can I have that back now?"

"Why?"

Draco snorted. "Well, obviously, so that I can use it."

I looked at the ring in my palm, weighing it as I chose my words. "So. . . you just want to put it on, go back to your godfather, and forget that the past month and a half ever happened?"

I could see Draco flush in my peripheral vision; I seemed to have struck a nerve. "Estella, you know that's not what I--"

"Oh, I know perfectly well what you mean," I interrupted, starting to seethe inside. "You miss your world more than ever, I know it, and you'd seize any chance to go back--even if you played yourself right into Voldemort's clutches!"

"Don't say his name!" Draco hissed, but I ignored him.

"You've not given one thought to who Snape is working for now, have you? How do you know that it isn't some ploy to have you trapped and killed?"

"Severus would never do that--"

"And I'm sure you thought he'd never murder Dumbledore in cold blood, not when Dumbledore was begging for his life on top of the Astronomy Tower!"

"SHUT UP!" Draco roared, now towering over me. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING ABOUT MY GODFATHER! YOU DON'T KNOW THE HALF OF IT!"

"Oh, really?" I stood so that we faced each other, nose-to-nose. "It doesn't matter that your mother and aunt put an Unbreakable Vow on him--he should have died before he killed Dumbledore!"

The ensuing silence was punctuated by our heavy breathing. "Just give me the ring," Draco finally said.

My hand clenched tightly around the object in question. "No," I murmured. "Not until we've both had time to think this over calmly."

Draco gritted his teeth and turned away, walking over to the window again before whirling around with his wand drawn. "Accio Portkey!"

"Protego!" I shouted in return. The ring wriggled in my grasp for a moment, but that was all.

Draco stared at me, then forced a harsh laugh. "I've taught you too well, haven't I?"

"Draco, just listen to me, please." I was so close to breaking down and begging on my knees; as much as I didn't want to admit it, I would miss him terribly if he went back, and I didn't want to lose him so quickly. "Please, at least wait until we can find out if Snape really means what he says or not. I'd--" I gulped before continuing. "I'd hate myself forever if you walked straight into a booby trap and got yourself killed."

"I've been hating myself as it is!" Draco shouted, his voice cracking and twisting with emotion. "Every time--every time I think about how my parents are dead, and I didn't do anything to stop it! Every time I remember how the Dark Lord ordered that my parents never be placed in the Malfoy mausoleum, but rather left to rot in the dungeons of Azkaban--d'you think I'd rather be staying here, with no hope of ever going back?"

"At least you know it can't kill you!" I snapped.

I immediately regretted my words when I saw Draco stiffen and glance at his wand with a murderous look in his eye.

"Do you want to bet on that?" he muttered, almost to himself, before striding past me.

"Wait a minute--where are you going?" I stood up and made to follow, but found my feet stuck to the floor with a wave of his wand.

"To the devil!" he yelled over his shoulder, and disappeared around the corner. A moment later, I heard the bathroom door slam shut.

"What the--oh, bloody hey, Finite Incantatem!" Fortunately for me, the common counterspell worked. With my feet now functional, I ran to the bathroom--and found the door locked.

"Draco!" I pounded on the door with both fists. "Let me in! NOW!"

"Go away!"

"Come on, just undo the damn lock and open the door!"

"Over my dead body!"

"That is not funny, Draco! OPEN IT ALREADY!"

"I mean it! Don't you know that you can use Avada Kedavra on yourself if you really mean it?"

I froze for a split second as his words registered, then cast the next spell at the door with all my might. "ALOHOMORA!"

The door swung open as if struck by a gale, revealing Draco facing me, his mouth set with determination and his wand aimed at his temple. The bathroom mirror made it look as if there were two Draco Malfoys, aiming their wands at each other through their ears. "Avada Ke--"

I lunged at him, a wordless cry stuck in my throat. "--davra!"

My outstretched arm hit his hand just as he finished the spell, sending the green light that shot out of the tip of his wand awry and into the bathroom mirror. We crashed to the floor together. . .

Just as the mirror exploded, covering the two of us with shards of glass and plaster.

WWC WWC WWC WWC WWC

It was some minutes before we were able to extricate ourselves from the mess in the bathroom, and what we saw when we came out was not pretty.

Almost all of Draco's body was underneath mine, but his neck and face were still exposed, both of which were scratched and sliced to varying degrees. One piece of glass had even come dangerously close to his jugular vein; but fortunately, it only made a small pinscratch just below his chin.

My injuries, however, were more serious. My hands, back, neck, ankles, face--any part that was exposed received the full blast of the explosion. The two of us were covered in blood; but I'm afraid it was mostly mine, not Draco's, that stained our clothes. Draco had to help me limp out of the bathroom and into the kitchen where he could take care of our wounds; he was too distracted to notice when I slipped the ring that had caused so much trouble into the pocket of my jeans.

He didn't ask for the ring again that day--nor did he say a word about anything else. As soon as he had stopped my bleeding from becoming life-threatening, he went outside and locked himself in the tool shed for the rest of the afternoon and well into the night.