The Road To Nowhere

Chapter Nineteen

Drift in Dream

'Hush my love now don't you cry

Everything will be all right

Close your eyes and drift in dream

Rest in peaceful sleep

If there's one thing

I hope I showed you

Hope I showed you

Just give love to all

Oh, my love... in my arms tight

Everyday you give me life

As I drift off to your world

Will rest in peaceful sleep

I know there's one thing that you showed me

That you showed me

Just give love to all

Let's give love to all...'

Creed: 'Lullaby'

The Headmaster did not know yet the fate of his companion. Hagrid had died of defensive wounds. It was clear to Sirius that he had held out until his last, protecting the man that had stuck by him through a pretty rough and adverse life, only to show his ultimate loyalty in dying for him.

Dumbledore was awake now and slowly becoming more responsive.

As the doctors wished, he would not learn what had become of his faithful Keeper of Keys and Grounds until he was strong enough to handle the news.

Sirius doubted that he was even strong enough to learn what had become of the jovial half-giant. But, in performing the duties required of him, it fell on his shoulders to make the official identification of the body.

He now sat, haunted by the images, half collecting himself and half praying that another would not die tonight.

As the saying went: 'Life is a series of ups and downs.'Sirius wasn't sure if he would subscribe to that theory in its entirety. He knew about the downs. There were always downs. He wondered, sitting there counting time after time he'd felt this hopeless, confused, where the ups had gone? He'd had more hard times than he cared to remember. Counting them out, he was surprised at how numerous they had become in all of his thirty-eight years.

His spiral downward was interrupted by a flutter of wings as an owl alighted on the chair next to him, clicking its beak importantly. He looked over at it slowly. Damned the owl post! They had ways of tracking people down that Sirius was envious of.

He sighed and unfastened the letter from the owl's leg, allowing it to fly off on other deliveries. He hoped that it was business as usual. He needed a distraction right about now.

Opening it, his chest constricted painfully as he read the brief lines.

It was from Arthur Weasley.

Ginny had gone missing in France.

As if that wasn't alarming enough, it continued to relate the story of how they'd gone to Paris yesterday to sort out the matter and find their child. She was gone without the slightest trace.

Coming home to see to the others, Molly had found the Burrow turned over from top to bottom. Harry, Ron and Hermione were gone as well.

Siruis leapt from his seat, heart pounding. Not again, he couldn't deal with all of this again. He grabbed up his jacket, left a message with the nurse for Corbin, who'd gone to the cafeteria.

***

"Way to be discreet, Hermione," Ron said sarcastically, arms folded in front of him. He glared at her from his spot next to the door. "Just walk right up and knock. Nice plan."

She glared back while fishing a hairpin from her tangled ponytail, but did not answer.

Harry was listening at the door.

"One's just left. I think the other stayed behind to watch our door," he said, lifting his ear from the oak, near its hinges.

Hermione nodded, straightening the pin.

Making his way over to where Ron had seated himself, Harry leaned against the wall and noted their accommodations. The room was bare all except for a fireplace with an ages old vase on the mantle, crumbling, dried flowers stood petrified in its confines. There was no fire, which was a disappointment as they were all three soaked to the skin. He dried his glasses as best he could on his wet sleeve and sat down beside Ron to await their impending execution.

Hermione, more motivated by their circumstances now that they were hopelessly trapped, tied her hair back as best she could to keep it from her eyes. She set herself to think. She always loved a challenge.

***

Draco craned around the door he stood behind once more to check the position of the guard. He saw the man, enormous and rock-like, slumped on a stool outside the prisoners' door.

He would start with that one, then work on the door. After that, they could all split up to more efficiently look for Lucy.

He noticed with a slight bit of irritation that Ginny had slid to the floor in the corner, crouched in a fetal position. Her face was becoming pale and beads of perspiration dotted her brow. She was hugging her arms around her to stop herself from shaking and stared off into the distance with an eerie look of someone near death.

He didn't bother to force her to her feet. She would be in the way as it was. He would leave her here and come back for her when he could. She was useless now, in her guilty state of shock.

He cast about the room, a massive hall, for something to use against the guard at the door. His eyes rested on a poker that leaned against a large hearth at the opposite end of the room.

He rushed toward it, picking it up and testing its weight. It would be perfect for the job.

He gave one last glance to Ginny in the corner before opening the door enough to pass through. But, he didn't get the chance to exit and knock the sleeping guard out. He'd heard voices approaching down the other end of the hall.

He stepped back behind the door and rested the iron poker on the toe of his shoes, careful to make no noise. Ginny gave a slight whimper, which made him start a bit before crouching impatiently to cover her mouth. She didn't even register the contact. A slight alarm passed through him as his fingertips brushed her cheek. She was feverish, her cheeks were white and she slumped as he cut off her air supply briefly. He checked her pulse, finding it irregularly fast.

The voices came closer and then passed the door to the other end of the hall. He recognized each of them, Tom, Elena and his father.

Pulling his cloak tighter around the despondent Ginny, he got quickly to his feet and looked through the space where the hinges held the door to the wall. A crack there gave him the perfect vantage point. He watched, holding his breath as the three entered a room.

A moment later Tom appeared again in the hallway and with a smile proceeded to the stairs that he and Ginny had been on only moments ago. He ascended and then was gone.

His attention was brought back to the same door, three down from the one that held captive Granger, Potter and Weasley, and he marked his father's exit. Nervousness attempting to compose itself into calm indifference covered his features.

He gripped the edge of his weapon reflexively.

Now he waited for Elena to exit and then the coast would be clear and he would be free to move about in the hall. He noted something promising as well, the guard still remained asleep through all of this coming and going. It would be easy to take him by surprise.

His attention was brought back from the guard as the door slowly opened and Elena poked her dark and elegant head out to check the hall. She was alone, it seemed.

Now he was able to move and he would have to do it quickly. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out of his father's company, but someone was bound to miss either him or Ginny sometime soon.

He bent down again and whispered for her to stay here while he freed the others.

She nodded and got unsteadily to her feet, holding onto the wall for support.

When he'd convinced himself that she would be fine for a few minutes on her own, he rounded the open door and stepped tentatively into the hall, noting with surprise that the guard had been knocked out and laid unconscious beside his stool. Ron and Hermione stood over him.

***

Tom walked to the fifth floor. It was time for her to decide which side she was going to join.

In one instant, he wanted the fiery and impudent girl on his side, under his influence. He'd had an interest in the girl ever since he'd first seen her soul, read her thoughts--since he'd almost killed her at the foot of Slytherin in the Chamber.

In the other instant, he was in the mood for blood. He wanted a refusal. He felt like making someone suffer just now.

She would prove useful in either case.

He opened the door to her room anticipating the fear that was always evident on her face when he'd had her cornered. But he was surprised and enraged when he found the room empty.

***

"We're all in trouble," Arabella stated simply, scanning the other wall of the tomb with her torch held high to shed more light on the scene.

"Please stop stating the obvious. Make a real point if you want but, for the love of God, please stop repeating yourself," Severussnapped, slumping against one of the disgusting walls. They'd been bickering back and forth for about an hour and a half. If they weren't getting out of here alive, he prayed that God would take pity on him and strike Arabella mute, or at least render him deaf. Either way he wouldn't have to listen to her ramble about Founder's, Chosen Ones and the end of the world. Maybe he could even die in relative peace.

"There's no way out of here. It's sealed with a curse so you might as well get used to me. You're going to die with me, after all," Arabellasnapped, turning back to the fresco. It was Ravenclaw'scastle, Muriadoch Keep on Loch Muriadochin county Meath, the site of the famous execution of Salazar Slytherin. Whatever was happening with that cup Peter had retrieved for Voldemort and Slytherin'sprophecy, bid for immortality, it would all be happening right there in that fortress.

Severus closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. She wasn't going to shut up.

She continued to examine the walls hopelessly. She was the only one that knew of all of this and she could do nothing. "This was what Peter hoped would happen. He knew I would come looking for it...and he's trapped us here."

"What did you expect would happen?" he asked through his hands. "You know Peter better than any of us. You must have known he would pull something like this."

Arabella wheeled around sharply. "I did not!" She came to sit beside him and rested her elbows on her knees, giving him a momentary glance. "I still want to think that there are some of us that could help him in some way."

Severus looked at her incredulously, dropping his hands. "And you wanted to be the one to save his soul?" he said, agitated.

"No," Arabella answered sharply, "I wanted to believe that he still..."

Severus continued to glare at her, but the look had softened into uncharacteristic sympathy. Only a few people on the earth could induce that sort of pitying look from the tight-laced, stern man. "That he still gave a damn about you...at least."

"Yes," she said weakly.

Arabella turned away.

Severus looked anywhere but at her. "Maybe his still does," he said quietly. Then finally, he offered, "But it doesn't really matter one way or another."

Arabella stood and walked to the opposite wall under the pretense of examining a fresco there. She turned slightly to peek at her companion out of the corner of her eye. He wouldn't look at her. He was frowning, but studying the blocked entrance.

"Arabella?" she heard with mild agitation. Would he not even leave her in peace in the moments before she died?

"What?" she shot back impatiently.

"It's open again," he said in hollow amazement as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

She turned around immediately, "It's not possible," she gasped as her breath constricted painfully at the excitement. She wouldn't dare to hope, but it was true. The entrance was free of its former barrier.

"We need to get to Sirius and Dumbledore," she gasped, pulling the Potions Master behind her forcefully.

The entire crypt shook and began to crumble around them as they raced for the entrance, running full out to keep from being crushed as the ancient foundations began to give way.

***

"He's, he's snoring," Harry said, pressing his ear to the door, near the crack of the rusted hinges.

"Good, that'll be easy," Hermione said, brushing some bothersome strands from her eyes. "Here's the plan: I'm going to pick the lock. It's old so it shouldn't take that long to give out. Ron take that vase and when I open the door, as quietly as you can, smash it over his head," she was becoming wild with fervor.

Ron took a step back, away from the girl that was suggesting he render a man that outweighed him by at least two hundred pounds unconscious with a flower vase. "Lucy is probably on this floor as well. We'll sneak out and check the rooms on this side of the hall first. She looked to her two companions who nodded their understanding.

As she had said, Hermione wasted little time in maneuvering the lock before it gently clicked open. She slid the door ajar a crack, careful as to keep it silent on its hinges. Ron moved steadily to the door and out into the hall. He lifted the heavy vase over the head of the snoring hulk. He swung the makeshift weapon downward, but stopped just above the crown of the man's head who continued to snore.

Hermione tapped his arm lightly to which he mouthed, "Practice swing."

"Hurry," she mouthed back, eyeing him pointedly.

He repeated the motion again with the same effect.

Hermione, forgetting the need for quiet, scoffed loudly at Ron, startling the man awake.

He blinked and looked around, catching sight of the two of them.

In one deft movement Hermione took the vase from Ron and sent it crashing over the guard's head, laying him flat out. She jumped at her own violent daring.

Ron immediately took the rim of the vase (the rest lay fragmented around the unconscious guard) from Hermione's hand and, catching her around the waist to steady her as she began to sway precariously.

Harry joined them in the hall and admired her handiwork along with Ron briefly before Draco came out of the room across the way.

Hermione looked up to see him standing there, stunned. She began to take offense to their reactions, all three of them. A girl could kick a little ass when she needed to.

She was just about to voice her frustration when she saw Ginny, tear-sodden and pale emerge from the same room Malfoy had just left and moved quietly around the scene to stand in front of a room three doors down the hall to their left. She seemed to be the only one to notice her. The three boys were occupied with stashing the stiff.

They were all alerted to her presence, however as she let out a small sob and rushed into the room. Hermione started and the others emerged seconds later where they all rushed into the room Ginny had just entered.

***

Harry felt a nudge as Draco pushed past him and the others, urgently throwing himself against the door of the room Ginny had just entered.

Harry approached slowly, behind the others knowing what he would find on the other side of that door. He thought he would be all right if he just suspended the reality of it all for a moment longer he could compose himself, guard his heart. She was gone. He knew it and didn't trust it at the same time. He would have to know for sure and so he made the unrealistically long trek a few feet to the door.

Taking it step by step, Harry noticed first, Hermione who had cowered at the doorframe, hands clasped over her mouth, she was shaking her head with disbelief.

Farther in, Ron had rushed over to Ginny who had collapsed halfway into the room. She looked as close to death as he'd seen her on two occasions already. Ron was bent over her and frantic. He examined a livid bruise that surrounded a pinhole laceration or two just above her elbow. Something had been injected there.

And beside the fireplace, amidst twinkling shards of broken mirror lay Lucy, lifeless in her brother's arms. Pooling under the girl's tiny frame, blood stained the stone floor and covered the knees of Draco'sgray trousers as he kneeled beside her. A large wound slicing her left side was the cause for all of it. She had been stabbed and left to bleed to death.

They had killed her, helpless and unable to defend herself as it was, they had trapped her and murdered her, ripping her violently from the people she'd loved and the people who had loved her.

Harry sank to his knees beside Hermione in the doorway. He hadn't the energy to keep himself upright. Guilt weighed on him like so many waves, pushing him into the depths of despair. This was his fault. She trusted him and he let her down. How was it that he thought he'd deserved her? He couldn't even protect her. The angel that he'd silently and secretly adored for so many months had died because she trusted him.

He took his eyes from the pale face, the closed eyes, much like the last time he'd seen her. She had been sleeping peacefully. He realized that that was the last time he would ever hold her, that night already so long ago when he'd carried her to her bed. He was sick with the thought that the world wasn't right without her. How was he to live without her?

He looked to Draco, shaking his head, refusing to believe it all, rocking her in his arms, fighting the realization that she was taken from him for good this time and wondered to see the large tears silently chase each other down his otherwise stern and immoveable features.

Harry watched as if far from the scene, feeling obtrusive. He didn't belong here. This angel had never loved him. She loved her brother. He felt like a disgusting voyeur, looking in on the intimate scene. Her head resting limply in the crook of his arm dropped forward slightly as he lifted her to him, hugging her close and then gently kissing her pale cheek, resting his forehead on hers, slowly shaking his head as if that were all the realization it took and he would wake up from this nightmare. She would be there, unhurt and happy, smiling at him. How silly it was that he'd dreamt she would leave him. He never thought it possible.

***

"How very touching," a cold voice cut through the silent gravity of the scene. Tom stood in the doorway, behind Hermione and Harry.

"Go to hell," Ron spat, lifting Ginny off the ground. She was blinking and coming back slowly to the present, but faltered slightly as she caught sight of Draco cradling a motionless Lucy.

Tom chuckled softly and shook his head, "The point is actually to surpass hell, young man."

Lucius Malfoy, Elena Vassikin and two other individuals whom he'd never seen before pushed past Hermione, the deceptive Elena seizing hold of Harry as they entered the room.

A tall man, sandy blond with the distinctive black hooded cloak of the Death Eaters grabbed Ron roughly by his arm, hauling it painfully behind his back. The other, a woman who was short and dark, claimed Ginny as Ron put up a fuss at having been parted from her.

"Come now, Draco," Lucius said in a stern tone, attempting to tear him away from Lucy. He held her to him and glared at his father.

Tom moved into the room and gained control of the situation, "Do you hate him for taking her away from you, Draco?" his voice was soothing and placating, a serpent wielding a forbidden fruit. "Would you like to kill him for what he's done? She needn't have died. I only needed her to bring the other heir to me. Her job was fulfilled. She could have been spared."

Draco looked up from his spot on the blood soaked ground, innocently listening to all he had to say.

Ginny silently struggled against the woman that held her, shaking her head. She knew he would be easily tempted. All he wanted was the opportunity to exact revenge on the cold-hearted man that had tormented Lucy for so long.

Draco gave it some thought. He held Lucy to him one last time, kissing her forehead. He laid her down on the stone floor and stood.

Tom motioned to the large guard that had previously been lying on the ground down the hall. The burly man came through the doors and stood next to a calm but mutinous Lucius Malfoy.

"Shall we?" Tom said brightly. The procession of prisoners marched to the Great Hall of the fortress where preparations for the immortality ceremony had already been set in place. Lucy was left on the stone floor of her prison and tomb, forgotten.

Three enormous pillars extended to the rafters of the timber-roofed structure, solid and stone. This is where Ginny and Harry were tied. Slumping with the effects of a powerful drug, Ginny's head lolled to one side, her eyes glazed over.

Harry was tied on the next pillar over, Elena seeing to it that he was held securely.

Ron and Hermione looked on the two helplessly, bound to an empty armor rack to one side of the hall. Calmly surveying the room, Hermione assumed that it was originally intended as an indoor tournament area. Perhaps certain sports like hand to hand and broadsword combat took place in here, before a feast or similar festivities. She scanned the opposite wall as the wheels turned in her head. She remained calm, running through various scenarios on how they could all escape from this.

A curious glint caught her eye at the other end, a red glint, like that of a jewel. It was the sword of Gryffindor, in a rack of various period broadswords and other weaponry of the middle ages.

Draco had been ushered into the room along with his father, under the supervision of the massive Death Eater thug.

Tom made a slow trip to the weapons rack on the opposite wall from Hermione, explaining all the while, how events would proceed with this ceremony. "This Pensieve, the very reliquary that houses the thoughts of the greatest dark lord to ever live, until myself, has told me the secrets to life everlasting. One more addition to this caldron," he continued instruction, indicating a golden cup on an altar in front of a fire and a simmering caldron in front of that, as if they were mere visual examples in a laboratory lecture, "and I will have achieved what no other before me has achieved. I will live as an immortal overlord to the communities, wizard and muggle alike, for an eternity." His eyes glinted hungrily at the thought. "But first, since it is you, Dracowho will aide me in this final transformation, I will grant you the wish to fight your father. Traditional tournament rules apply," he picked up an inferior, plain-looking blade, heavy and powerful and tossed it to Lucius who caught it without expression.

Then, turning to Draco, he picked up Gryffindor'ssword, beautifully worked and by far the grandest blade in the hall, he stared at it fondly before continuing. "This is the very blade that killed Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor. It is unbreakable and as strong as diamonds," Turning to Lucius, Tom laughed a moment and then added, "and I dare say it will be easy enough to defeat you with." He handed the blade reverently to Draco who took it.

Several things happened at once as Draco's hand met the hilt of that blade; Hermione had seen Harry slowly and methodically freeing himself from his weakly tied bonds, saw Elena take a knife from beneath her robes and reach silently around the massive Death Eater guard's neck and slice cleanly through his jugular. He tried to cry out, but it was useless, he could not make himself heard. She eased him silently to the ground without detection. And she saw the gleam of an idea as Draco noted this as well as their confiscated wands that lay on the table beside him.

Harry, hands free, moved them discreetly forward as he watched Dracoand his father salute to begin their fight. Instead of striking, as Lucius did, Draco tossed the sword sideways to Harry who caught it.

Draco reached for his wand instead and ducked a blow from his father's furious sword at the same moment.

Tom saw all of this with rage.

Lucius continued to engage his son in a mixture of traditional dueling and wizarding methods, each ducking the other's advances and sending glancing blows in turn. Draco summoned another sword from the rack and held him off.

The other two Death Eaters present, the Lestranges, glanced at each other and retreated, leaving the torrent of confusion. They had no wish to repeat their sentence in Azkaban after their recent liberation.

Harry, taking heavy fire from Voldemort as Tom, shielded Ron and Hermione from his curses and hexes as he freed them, the fibula doing its part and working with the sword to keep him safe.

Lucius, always ready to show his son what loyalty meant, turned his sword on the despondent Ginny still tied and slumping against the pillar she was held to. Ginny held her breath but said nothing as the tip of Lucius' sword pierced her neck just slightly below her chin.

"Her life for your loyalty, Draco," he said in a warning tone. His glare was as unrelenting as the sword's point.

Draco watched with a racing heart as a small stream of blood made its way from the metallic point to the low neckline of the white silk garment Ginny wore. It was a sacrifice that he would have to make. He dropped his sword with a clang at his feet and held both of his hands out--resigned to defeat. He watched a little easier as his father brought the sword away from Ginny's throat.

Lucius swung it almost instantly in a broad arc over Draco's head. Draco, for his part, anticipated this, ducked and swung again at his father's knee, bending to take his previously discarded weapon in hand again.

Ron rushed to untie Ginny whose wrists were beginning to strain and bend painfully as she was unable to hold herself up. The drugs in her system were working fast and her breathing was becoming slower. She fell into her brother's arms motionless and he handed her off to Hermione to keep safe while he hurried off to Harry's side.

Tom stuck close to his two treasures, his caldron--one vital ingredient shy of eternal life for the drinker, and his heritage--the Pensieveof his ancestor. Harry and Ron did all they could to sabotage his efforts.

Draco parried another devastating blow from his father, knocking him off balance a bit before righting himself. Luciuswas advancing unmercifully on his son. Harry saw all of this in a slow moving sequence. He wouldn't be able to hold him off for much longer. Lucius was the superior swordsman and Dracowas tiring.

"You are no fool, Draco. I raised you. You are just like me. These four here are no friends of yours. They turned your family over willingly. Lucilla is dead and they are to blame," Lucius reasoned as he continued to advance on Draco. "Voldemort is weak. Ally with me, we could be great, overthrow him. He's nearing his end now," Lucius added with a nod in Tom's direction as he was both fighting off the advances of Harry and Ron as well as shielding his precious guarantees of eternity.

Draco shook his head, narrowing his eyes on his father, "You killed her, Lucy's dead and it's your fault."

Lucius scoffed setting his sword aside, leaning on it casually, "I killed no one, boy. Elena did it. She was weak and I feared her influence on you. She is once and for all out of the way. This is your chance to become something invincible. Don't throw that away. I taught you to seize upon every opportunity, glean the most from every situation to achieve your means. Do you care nothing of the time and energy I have spent on you?" His look was penetrating. Draco could almost feel the weight of his will tugging on Draco's own, weaker mind and heart. He was caught in a struggle. He shook his head, unable to answer, for he knew not which answer to give. His father struck out once more with the both down swing and back. Draco backed away, blocking him only just.

Tom, seeing his chance to end the chaos, aimed his wand at Dracowhose back was to him, blows from his father raining down around him. A soul with that much innocent, pure hatred, he would take his blood before it was all too late. There was one chance to get this right. One bid for life eternal.

As he spoke the words that would end Draco's life instantly, Tom was knocked bodily over his precious caldron and altar. The Pensieve rolled under the grate of the fire lit behind the altar. The altar itself, being completely wooden, was consumed in flame.

Harry's blow with Gryffindor's sword had rent a large tear through the midsection of the man that had hunted him since his time on this earth had begun. He was engulfed in the flames that reduced the altar to charred pieces of ruin, his cries of indignation and disbelief ringing in their ears.

He would see hell after all. He'd never realized his blessed immortality and died knowing that he'd been tricked by his faithful and defeated by good.

Lucius gave an evilly pleased grin. His work had been done for him. No one stood in his way now. He could fill that envious position of Dark Lord and iron-fisted dictator that Voldemort had made such fool's work out of. He would be feared and obeyed. His son would rule when he was gone--an evil dynasty of tyrannical leadership. The thought nearly made him giddy.

Harry dropped the sword and heaved to the ground with the effort of wielding such a massive weapon. Catching his breath would have to wait, however. He noticed with horror that the tapestries and the wooden paneling of the hall was lighting up like an ungodly inferno.

Hermione and Ron had seen it too, as they bent over Ginny.

Ron heaved her unconscious form into his arms and followed Hermione out.

Harry called to Draco who noted the development of the fire as well. Lucius took a moment to look around. As typical medieval structures go, Ravenclaw's castle was no exception. The grand stone fortress was supported from above like all structures of its size--with a timber roof.

As the flames climbed higher up the tapestries that lined each wall, rafter upon rafter was engulfed as well. In twenty minutes or less, they would be buried in fiery wood and stone. The building would collapse.

Harry, Draco and Lucius Malfoy ran for the exit to the fortress and onto the bridge across the loch.