Escape

Chapter 1: In too deep

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There's so much glory in heaven that it can easily spill over.

(The Christmas Mystery, Jostein Gaarder)

There's so much evil in hell that it can easily bubble over.

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Hermione Granger stood outside the portrait hole waiting. She heard a soft knock from inside the Gryffindor common room. She turned to the Fat Lady and said the password.

"Leo ira."

As she made her way through the hole behind the portrait, she felt someone, or something brush by her, and heard a softly muttered, "Thanks."

I just know that they're going to get into trouble without me there. They're always so careless, I really don't know what sort of fix they'll get themselves into without me there to save their asses. If only I didn't have to study for that Advanced potions test next week...

"Harry, Ron, be careful."

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Draco Malfoy sat alone in the library, his feet on the table and a thick book opened on his lap. Yawning, he spun his luxury eagle feather quill across his thumb. Damn, why can't I get anything in my head? If I don't beat the Mudblood in that freaking test next week, I'll be looking forward to a series of enveloped hexes from Father. As though it wasn't enough forcing me to stay in school for the holidays, he has to make me take lessons for extra credit. Draco grimaced at the memory of what he received after coming in second place in the previous test in Defense Against Dark Arts. A weekend in the infirmary with lizard-like skin with students from the other houses constantly trying to get a glimpse at him was more than enough, thank you very much. And to top it all off, it was a Hogsmeade visiting day and he had to force himself to stay in school to study.

He glanced at his watch. It was nearly twelve, and if Madam Pince hadn't given him special permission to stay in the library after hours, he wouldn't even have been there. The library was absolutely quiet except for the soft and rhythmic ticking of his watch. Draco got up from his seat and stretched, then as he was gathering up his books, he heard noises coming into the library behind him. Who the hell besides me would be in the library at this time of the day? It's two weeks to Christmas and everyone should be out at Hogsmeade with all their little pals shopping for Christmas gifts.

Draco smiled to himself. Oh well, let's find out who this is. Almost positive that the intruders were unaware of his presence as he was hidden behind the many shelves of books, he slipped quietly behind a shelf. Instantly after that, he started hearing people hissing to one another in whispers. Yet he could not see anyone.

"Ouch! Harry, that's the third time you stepped on my foot since we left the common room!"

"Shut up, Ron. It's not my fault you have bloody great feet and if you make any more noise you'll be seeing Filch trudging up here faster than a bullet train..."

"What's that?"

"Oh forget it. I wouldn't even be up here is you hadn't pestered me to find a charm against your arachnophobia. Anyway, I don't understand why it's such an embarrassing issue, that you refuse to approach a teacher for help."

"God, Harry, you're beginning to sound like Hermione! Teacher this, teacher that. It's not a matter of embarrassment... it's more of... pride."

Draco watched with amusement from his place behind the shelf. As he watched a book on the shelf carrying the books for Charms float off the shelf and disappears, he crept up silently behind the invisible being, reached out and felt a fluid liquid material, and in one swift smooth motion, revealed an utterly shocked Harry Potter and an equally freaked out Ron Weasley.

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When Harry felt his invisibility cloak being pulled off him, he knew it was mistake coming to library with Ron. And when he spun around to see his arch enemy, he felt that the luck he had in facing Lord Voldemort annually for the past few years had officially ran out. The blonde boy stood behind him wearing an infuriating smirk on his face with Harry's invisible cloak hanging from his long slim fingers. Harry stared at Malfoy in shock for several seconds before opening his mouth.

"Malfoy! What the hell?!!?!" yelled Harry.

"Isn't that my question? What are YOU doing here?"

Harry stuttered, "Erm...I asked first!"

"God, is that the best retort you can come up with? Your intellect must be lower than Snape puts you up to be. Anyway I'll be the gentleman and answer your question. I'm studying for my Advanced Potions test next wee. You?"

But before Harry could reply, Ron strode forward and hissed at Draco.

"It's none of your business what we're doing. Why not just run along like a good little ferret and bounce yourself back into the Slytherin common room?"

Draco snarled as he remembered the incident from two years back. He swung his fist at Ron's jaw, contacting sharply with it, causing Ron to stumble and fall back into the piece of furniture next to the shelf with the books on Charms - a glass case containing 'dangerous' books, including a book of limericks that caused anyone who read it to speak in limericks forever. Majority of the Hogwarts students had always treated the books in this case as a sort of joke, as there was a particular book when read by any wizard, would force the reader to read it for eternity, making the wizard live his life with the book stuck to his hand, directly in front of his nose. The book did not have the same effect on witches, thus most students thought that the book contained pornography and sex, the subject that most teenagers using the advanced section of the library had on their minds due to their raging hormones.

As Ron fell onto the case, the glass shattered, triggering the alarm of the library - the horrifying wail of a banshee. All three boys paled visibly. They knew that they would be in serious trouble for the mess they had caused. Madam Pince had told the Hogwarts students many times that anyone caught messing around with that particular case of books would be expelled from the school.

There was a moment of silence as the three guilty students stood in shock, unaware of what they should do next or how they could in any way, escape from the punishment they would face. Then, as if he had to break the silence, Draco swore a string of expletives that were impressive to hear even under such circumstances when he recalled the consequences of such a 'heinous crime', as the strict old librarian had put it. As much as he hated Potter and looked down on Weasley, he had to find a way to get them all out of the library as if anyone of them were caught, he would be the first to be blamed as he had been the one to start the fight. To top it all of, if he was to be expelled, he would probably be disowned by Lucius and be absolutely left out of the family fortune. He simply wasn't going to take that risk.

When Draco got over his initial shock of hearing the alarm, the cogs in his head begin to turn. A voice sounded in his head. Get out. Get the sodding hell out of here before anyone gets in. Another voice then rang out. But how?! Then it struck him, a fuzzy memory, but nevertheless an idea. His father had forced him to read a volume entitled Dangerous Books and Where to Find Them the previous holiday, supposedly as protection against any possible traps set by enemies. Draco had been amused by the book at first, but when he overheard a conversation between his parents about what his father had done to Ginny Weasley four years back, he had faithfully read and even memorized the book in fear of Lucius pulling a quick one on him as a form of punishment, so that he could recognize such books before he was affected by them.

There was something about a book that enabled one to travel to a parallel dimension of time or something like that. It was apparently created by some old wizard as he wanted to escape from his over domineering and possessive wife. It was also said that it was possible to jump from that parallel dimension of time to any point of time the traveler's original one. And most importantly, the book was kept in the Hogwarts' library.

Draco swept forward and rummaged through the debris around Ron, and he found what he had been looking for. It was a slim volume, bound in black leather and had a single word etched across the cover. Escapism, it read. Draco thought to himself. Oh well, what have I got to lose? It's either escape and try to set things back, or get expelled instantly. Draco knew of the dangers of traveling through dimensions, as it was these dangers that caused the book to be locked up in the Hogwarts' library. He grabbed the book and shouted at the other two boys.

"You have to trust me. We're getting out of here together."

Draco could almost see the wheels spinning in the two boys' heads. Harry's one was thinking, "Why should I go with Malfoy? He's caused me nothing but trouble the past six years, he's probably going to tell on us and get us into trouble," while Ron's was projecting his displeasure, "Stupid fuckwit. He beats me up then expects me to follow him. Fat chance!"

"Oh for goodness' sake, Potter, Weasley, if anyone's going to be in trouble here it'll be me. But if you two follow my instructions, we just might all get out of trouble!"

Harry glanced at Ron. Neither of them wanted to be stuck in the trophy room polishing up the trophies the Muggle way during the Christmas holidays. Reluctantly, both of them realized that it was their only way out.

"Okay Malfoy, what do you want us to do?"

"Grab on to my robes."

Harry and Ron held on to the sleeves of their nemesis' robes, Draco quickly opened the book, whipped out his wand and touched the tip of his wand to the strange symbol on the first page. It looked vaguely like the YinYang talisman in Taoism, which Draco knew from books on Chinese wizardry. The symbol was made up of a fish and a dove. He felt his wand grow warm in his hand, and as the wand begin to glow an eerie white, he muttered the incantation he remembered from the book.

"Profugere."