The Beginning of the End

Chapter Nine: Blood

"I don't see what's wrong," Madame Pomfrey said, shaking her head. "I've tried to figure out what spell was use on the students as well as the giant squid, but I'm afraid I have no idea what it is. Whatever spell the person cast, it must've been extremely complicated."

Professor McGonagall looked at the two bodies on the beds. "But are they safe? Is there any side effects of the spell?"

"Not to my knowledge," said Madame Pomfrey. "Did you get rid of the carcass?"

"Yes--Hagrid disposed of it just a few hours ago," answered McGonagall.

"And did you ever find out what happened to the giant squid?"

Professor Dumbledore spoke up. "I believe someone must've shouted a spell at it from the Forbidden Forest. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue as to what it is. It is more than likely a new spell..."

"Do you think it's a Dark Art spell?" asked McGonagall quietly, keeping her eyes downcast.

"I hope not," Madame Pomfrey said.

Removing his spectacles, Dumbledore rubbed his eyes gently. "I'll make an announcement tonight for the students to be more alert than ever. In the mean time, do not let any of the students leave the school grounds. I've assigned Hagrid to look after the lake for anything suspicious."

Draco groaned quietly from his bed.

"I see you have a student to attend to, Madame Pomfrey," he said as walked out of the room, trailed by McGonagall. "Good bye."

"Mister Malfoy," Madame Pomfrey clucked, immediately at the silver-blond's side. "How are you feeling?"

Instead of answering, Draco asked, "Can I go now?"

Madame Pomfrey eyed him carefully. "Wait until Miss Granger is up. Students are not to be traveling alone now."

"I can take care of myself," Hermione spoke up from her bed.

"And I don't need to be with -her-," Draco added, narrowing his eyes.

Madame Pomfrey raised her index finger up. "Unless you two want to have detention for disobeying school rules, I suggest that the both of you go together."

"Fine," he grumbled as he got off the bed. "Come on, Granger."

Hermione huffed indignantly, but she followed him out of the hospital wing. "So, do you know what that spell was?"

Draco shook his head. "No. But even if I did, why would I tell -you-?"

She stopped walking abruptly. "Because if it has some side effects, it will be happening to the both of us! If something happens to you, it will happen to me as well! Look, if something strange happens to you, tell me, all right? I will do the same if I start growing scales and what not."

"Okay," he said as walked ahead of her.

"I mean it!" she called out after him, stomping her foot.

"Fine," she heard him respond.

"And Malfoy..."

"What do you want?" He turned around, scowling at her.

"Ijustwanttothankyou," she said in one breath.

Draco simply nodded and waited for her to catch up with him.

"And I was just thinking...what the giant squid had to do with anything," Hermione mused outloud as she match his stride. "I mean, somebody must've done something to it. I should go to the library and read up on it. Or maybe it's in one of our books... What do you think, Malfoy?"

"I think you talk too much," he said bluntly.

Hermione opened her mouth to gap at him. That wasn't very nice of him, even if it was true. "I was just trying to figure out something."

"Can't you do it in your head?"

"I wanted to know your opinion," Hermione said. "So what do you think?"

"I think you should give it a rest and bother me only when some side effect happens to you," he said as he waited for the stairs to move.

"Okay then!" Hermione crossed her arms angrily and walked towards the Heads dormitory. "See if I try to talk to you about anything again."

He smirked and said, "Spring water. Who comes -up- with these passwords?"

Hermione shrugged.

-------

"Are you certain about this?" Macnair asked, looking at the Burrow with great dislike. "It looks like a farm to me. Why would the Minister of Magic live in a dump like -this-? And why are we doing this again?"

Lucius silenced the man with a look. "We're doing this because we don't want Voldemort to be suspicious of our ulterior motives and the death of Arthur Weasley will buy us some time."

"Ah," Macnair nodded.

"Will you do the honors?" Jullien asked Macnair, making a hand movement towards the door.

"Of course." Macnair kicked the front door open, grinning maliciously. "It's a wonder that they don't use spells to lock their doors."

"Weasley probably wants to do everything the Muggle way," remarked Lucius absently. He stepped inside the Burrow, inspecting the interior of it meticulously. It was cluttered with Muggle devices every where he looked, and every now and then there was some clothes thrown carelessly on chairs and tables. There was a small, tidy pile of papers at the corner of the kitchen table, and not far from it were some wands.

"How careless...leaving their wands around," he said.

Macnair picked one up and promptly dropped it as it turned into a rubber chicken. "Fake wands. They're pretty interesting, actually." He pocketed a few to amuse himself with later.

"I don't think anyone's home," Jullien said. "It's extremely quiet..."

"I'm sure someone's home," Lucius said, climbing up the stairs.

"How many kids did you say they had?"

"I don't know. More than four, though. And I know some of them are out of Hogwarts."

"Shh!" Macnair hissed. "I think I hear something from this room..." He opened the door on the right of him and ran in.

Lucius smirked as he and Jullien followed the bigger man. "I think whoever's there would've heard us already."

"I got him!" Macnair yelled excitedly, holding on to a struggling red-haired man. "He was just about to apparate out of here, but I have him!"

"Why lookie here..." Jullien said, staring down at the red-haired man. "It's a Weasley! What's your name?"

"Percy," he responded as he struggled to get out of Macnair's strong hold on him.

"Hi, Percy," Jullien greeted amiably. "I'm Jullien. How are you?"

"Let me go!"

"Is anyone else home with you?"

Percy closed his eyes and tried to reach for his wand in his robe. Unfortunately, Lucius spotted his intention and grabbed the wand before he could. Percy watched in silent horror as Lucius snapped the wand in half.

"I believed he," Lucius gestured to Jullien, "asked you a question. You should feel obliged to answer it. Unless you want us to force it out of you. Macnair over there knows some pretty good torture techniques that he's been -dying- to use."

Percy glared at the three men resentfully. "I will not tell you anything."

"We tried," Lucius said.

"We tried," Jullien echoed, shrugging.

Macnair grinned as he bent Percy's index finger back in a quick motion. Percy howled in agony as his finger broke with a dull crack.

"What about now?" Jullien asked, looking at his cuticles with interest. "Will you tell us now?"

"No!"

"No, what? No one's home? Or no you won't tell us?"

"No!"

"My dear boy," Jullien said, "are you really that stupid? Why don't you be a good boy and just answer us? Then we'll leave you alone. Or do you want Macnair to break another finger?"

Percy closed his eyes tightly, willing his index finger to go numb. "No...no one's home. There, you have your answer! Now go away!"

Jullien walked up to Percy, looking him squarely in the eye. "I lied. Have at him, Macnair."

--------

After Dumbledore made his announcement at the end of dinner, the students left the Great Hall in a gloomy silence. First it had been the death of all those Muggles and now they were prohibited from going outside. Things were looking rather grim at Hogwarts this year, and if Voldemort had really regained power, who knew what was going to happen?

"What was the squid thing about?" Ron asked worriedly as he, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry walked towards the Gryffindor dormitory. "Do you think You-Know-Who's supporters actually did it?"

"Of course he did!" Ginny said knowingly. "Who else would it have been? Squids don't decompose like that all by themselves, you know."

"But why would they do that to the squid? And why Hermione?"

"And if it were Death Eaters, why would they include Malfoy?" Hermione wondered outloud. "He's on the verge of becoming one of them...unless..."

"Unless what?" Harry asked. "You don't think he's one?"

"No, I do," she said. "I just think it was for any random students. But I can't figure out -why-! I wish I can go to the library right now."

"The library probably doesn't have anything about this," Ron pointed out reasonably. "Even the teachers are stumped by this! If it happened before, don't you think they would be acting calmer?"

"That's true," Hermione said more to herself than the others.

"I think it might be a trick," Harry said, musing over the situation carefully. "Because if Malfoy is a Death Eater, they might be using him for you to trust him or something because you went through it together. Has he been acting out of the ordinary towards you lately?"

"No," she responded. "Nothing at all. It's the same as always..."

Seamus appeared by their side. "Talking about the giant squid, huh?"

Ginny nodded. "Do you think it's the Death Eater's doing as well?"

Seamus' eyes hardened. "If they could do that to my parents, then I'm positive that they are capable of killing a squid." He clenched his fists tightly. "What I wouldn't give to murder the one that killed my parents..."

Harry nodded. "I'm sure the Ministry will capture them all and put them safely behind bars. If not, I'll join you too."

"I thought you didn't care about your Muggle family," Seamus said, frowning.

"Let's just say it's for all the Muggles," said Harry softly.

----------

Hermione sat on her bed, brushing her hair with her fingers. The incident with the giant squid still bothered her. There was definitely something about it that chilled her very bones. It might've been due to the fact that it was a carcass, or that it was dead... She really didn't know. She turned off the lights and laid down on her bed, pulling the blankets up to her shoulders.

Then she closed her eyes and began to dream.

(Dream)

She found herself at the Burrow. She saw three men enter the house, two of which she didn't know, and the other, a man she was all too familiar with--Lucius Malfoy. But what was he doing at the Burrow?

Hermione watched as they searched the house swiftly, opening and closing doors in a violent manner until they reached Percy's room. The biggest man of the group entered the room, grabbing Percy. Lucius Malfoy and the other unknown man entered the room a few seconds after. Hermione gasped as he broke Percy's finger mercilessly. He demanded to know if other people were in the house and after a while, Percy answered him. Then Hermione saw the black-haired man whisper something to Percy...

"I lied. Have at him, Macnair."

So the other man was Macnair! The black-haired man and Lucius apparated away and Hermione attempted to wake herself up, not wanting to see what will happen next. But she saw Macnair began to kick and punch at Percy as if he was nothing more than a punching bag.

"STOP!" Hermione cried. She ran out towards Macnair and was startled to find herself running through him. "No!"

Macnair was beating Percy to a bloody pulp and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"Merlin! Just stop it!" she wailed, tearing her eyes away from the sight of her friend. She heard his cries for help, but she couldn't do a single thing to stop it. Not one single thing! She covered her ears and closed her eyes tightly. His cries became weaker as the seconds ticked by.

"I'm sorry to leave you here, but Voldemort calls," Macnair said.

Hermione turned around just in time to see Macnair apparate away. She looked at the body on the ground. It was red all over... Blood, she realized. Merlin. That was...blood....

"PERCY!" she cried out, sitting up on the bed. She sobbed loudly and as she began to hug herself, she realized her arms were...wet. Looking down, she realized that her entire body was covered in the wet substance. She sniffed at her hand and her eyes widened as she realized what it was.

Blood.

She screamed and ran to her door, clearly frightened out of her wits. She crashed into someone as she opened her door and the two of them fell in a crumbled heap.

"Granger, it's me," Draco said after taking a deep breath.

Hermione looked up and saw the familiar silver-blue eyes staring down at her. But he looked different from before. In fact, he looked as frightened as she felt. And his face...it was covered in...

"Blood," she whispered.

"That Weasley?" Draco asked.

At the word "Weasley", Hermione began to shiver. Merlin, Merlin, Merlin! That just -had- to be a dream. It couldn't have been true!

"This must be the effect of that squid..." she said shakily. She began to stand up, but her knees buckled and she fell right back down again. She began to sob violently. "Oh, my God, Percy!"

Draco looked at the young woman crying next to him, her shoulders hunched over and her back heaving. With some hesitation, he patted her back awkwardly and tried to whisper a few soothing words to her. He couldn't blame her for this breakdown--that dream scared the hell out of him too. He wasn't new to death, but seeing it so brutally given like that... It scared him. He was used to the instant death spells, yes, and rape, yes, but not this barbaric kind of death... All that blood! It was enough to make him sick for the rest of his life. And the thing that scared him the most was that the man was still alive.