52

52

Rating: You name it, we´ve got it - at some point in the story - as long as you don´t name children or animals. (Werewolves not considered animals)
Kids? Scram! Don´t like kinky, \"perverted\" sex? Don´t read. - In short: NC-17! Consider yourself warned.

Disclaimer: All Hail JKR! Everything recognizable belongs to her. The story though, belongs to us.

A/N: And now to something completely different!: SNAPE ON TRIAL at ACCIO 2005??? Help us protest. Please visit Danish Harry Potter Society\'s site, www.patronus.dk and sign a letter of protest.

Kabal & Lýsa

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11. Eleventh week – June 19th to June 26th – Being, beast and blood.


Sunday June 19th, Hogwarts

Ronald Weasley sat at the table at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and wondered why he always seemed to attract the nutters. Ok, it was hardly his fault this time; someone had seated Luna Lovegood next to him at the high table, she was apparently there on behalf of her father to investigate some new and strange story – this time about giant slugs in the cellars, living of magic sewage and thus gaining psychic powers sufficient to control the minds of students.

Luna was a nice enough girl; she was just a bit too odd for Ron’s taste and put far too much stock in what her father’s magazine wrote.
She was very interested in his travels; of course he couldn’t reveal detail but she could be trusted, she had proved that often enough and he knew it was all right to tell her a few things.
He explained that he was going to Transylvania to find out more about Voldemort’s whereabouts since it was rumoured that he was in that area.

‘But why search when you can read where he is?’ she asked, and pushed the latest Quibbler into his face.
‘It is all right here: ‘Vampires in league with You-Know-Who’ – see, it says he’s in Drãgasani in a hut right outside the village. And he’s there to negotiate a deal with some of the local vampires.’

Ron tried to fend her off buy telling her that Drãgasani was on his itinerary and he would get to it soon but she seemed to think he was as nuts as he knew she was.
In the end he managed to switch her attention to discussing giant mind-reading slugs with Professor Flitwick who, by the end of the meal, looked as if his mind had indeed been invaded.

What neither Ron nor anyone else heard was what Luna mumbled as they all left the table and Ron headed towards a bedroom to get some rest before the long journey:
‘Perhaps I should just go take a look myself.’


Sunday June 19th, Bill Weasley’s house, Cairo, Egypt

Severus was pacing; Tonks could hear him at him. He had shut her out and she knew it had to be about the screw-up of hers when she started crying about Charlie but it was not that serious. She worried about the man, of course, because he was such a nice guy, very special indeed, and he deserved so much better than to be in the clutches of You-know-who. Also she felt guilty for going there in the first place, had it not been for them he would not have been in this situation.
At least it was settled that Bill and Fleur would leave as well so that this would not happen again. They were going to France and she and Severus was going somewhere as well, just where had not been decided yet.

She stood up, feeling as restless as the man she could hear next door. She decided to see him whether he wanted her to or not and try to explain. Something had to happen – it could not continue like this.

As she walked out into the hall she literarily bumped into him. She was reminded of last time that happened, in the cabin in the woods, and how he had snarled something at her. This time he only looked, eyes cold and face closed, and that was even worse than hurtful words.

‘Sorry,’ she began, ‘I was just coming out to look for you - we need to talk. I am sorry for that outburst before, it’s just that I worry. He’s a nice guy and I feel guilty about it. If we had not been there he would never have been in any danger.’

Severus still just looked at her.

‘Then I suggest you learn to control your feelings better, Nymphadora’ he said dryly.
‘Now if you would please assist me; I need to find an owl and take this letter to Romania – I have a contact there who might be able to help Charlie, someone who most decidedly owes me!’

Tonks flinched at his use of her given name but said nothing. She accompanied him in silence as they ventured out into the Egyptian evening and found an owl to take the letter to Romania. She knew it was no good to try and ask him whom the letter was for, but she had an inkling it might be the vampire who bit him, Rebecca Sanguina.


Monday June 20th, Bill Weasley’s house, Cairo, Egypt

‘So we are going to France as well.’

Tonks had just read a letter from Minerva telling them that Beauxbatons would take them in for a while as there, with this short notice, were very few places to go.
Now she summarized it in a resigned voice; she didn’t particularly feel like going to France, especially not with an increasingly withdrawn and grumpy Potions Master.
Somehow nothing she said seemed to get through to him, or…
She had her doubts. He still looked at her when he thought she wasn’t looking and he had a few ‘relapses’ where he showed her affection, but he seemed adamant to not let her in for real again.
It hurt her a lot. She had let him in, fully, more than anyone ever before, and now he had decided to shut her out. She cursed herself for caring about Charlie.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the French fraggle.

‘Oh, how wonderful!’ she erupted, clapping her hands like an imbecile. ‘Zen we can go togezer and ‘ave such fun!’

Tonks was at loss for words. The goose was not stupid, that much was certain, or she would never have survived the Tri-wizard Tournament – or have been chosen as champion in the first place – but she clearly had no clue what so ever about what was going on in the world.

She looked at Severus who seemed ready to kill and the look between them was the first open and honest exchange in a few days.
They were not going anywhere with that!


Wednesday June 22nd, Transylvania

‘Malfoy. Go out, check the area. I have a feeling someone is searching for us. Take the boy.’

The hissing voice made shivers run down Draco’s spine, it always did. He loathed the half-human thing that was Lord Voldemort, he loathed being near him never knowing what would be asked of him or when, not if, he would be forced into a closer alliance with the Dark Lord.
He didn’t even know himself if he wanted that alliance, if he wanted the Mark. He had no choice anyway so it had always seemed pointless to think about it.
Right now he was grateful for the short respite from the near presence of the terrible being that was his de-facto Master.

Outside he breathed deeply of the fresh air so different from the stifling heat inside; the scaly man liked the heat just as his snake did.
He walked in silence behind his father; there was no point in trying to talk to him lately, not since Macnair died. Not that the death of the creepy Death Eater bothered his father, quite the contrary Draco felt, but their Lord had not been pleased and Lucius had been annoyed to begin with. Justly annoyed but that made him a very distant companion.
So a vindictive Dark Lord and an angry father; this was most certainly not a leisure trip.

‘Let us not strain ourselves,’ Lucius voice said a few feet ahead of him, ‘we will do a perimeter sweep and then return. Though I am not sure there is any need to go inside that soon.’

Draco was relieved at the prospect of being away from the rat and the snake for a while and they did these rounds so often that the woods were familiar by know; their Lord was somewhat paranoid.

They split up and Draco walked slowly through the wood, wand at the ready but without light, light would blind him and lead an attacker.
He went no further into the woods than he could see the light from the hut at all times; it was much too easy to get lost in the vastness of the Transylvanian forest.

He was halfway through his part of the search when he heard something crashing through the woods; it sounded like a wild animal, grunting and gasping, and it was headed straight for him.
He pressed his back up against a large tree and steadied himself; he should be able to handle this even though it sounded like a large animal.

A second or so later he saw the eyes glittering in the moonlight, yellow and ferocious, and he aimed at them and sent a stunner their way. The creature dodged. He had not expected that and was suddenly at loss for what to do next.
In desperation he threw the first curse that came to mind; the Reductor Curse, but he missed and the thing was close now.
He saw the eyes and the teeth up close before he felt it and let out a loud scream when teeth broke skin and his left shoulder burned.
It was a wolf.

It stopped and stared at him; he still held his wand in his right hand and this time he could not miss; the wolf stiffened and fell where it had stood.
He sank down on the ground, his shoulder was bleeding freely from what had to be a pretty deep gash and he could feel himself shaking from shock and pain. The world seemed oddly far away as if his head was in a cloud.

Moments later his father was by his side. He took in the scene in a second: the wolf, the boy, the bite. He stared at the sky and cursed.
Draco was puzzled, why curse the sky?
He looked up and felt what blood was left in his head disappear; the moon stood there, above them, bright and white and full. A full moon in Transylvania.

His father knelt beside him, muttered a word and cast light over the scene. He looked at the wound on Draco’s shoulder, shook his head and swore again. Draco faintly thought that if his mother had heard those words she would have told him to cover his ears. He giggled slightly at the thought but quickly stopped when the pain of moving kicked in.

‘This is bad Draco,’ his father’s voice said, full of worry. ‘We need to get help. Now. Unfortunately we cannot get help to this place and we are not going to be met with kindness very many places so I have to mend this as best I can right now – you need to be able to think straight and move on your own if we are to get you help. We are leaving this place, now.’

Lucius turned and looked at the creature that had bitten his son. He took a small vial from a pocket, procured a knife and took a sample of blood from the creature on the ground. He pocketed the vial again along with a few hairs from the beast.
Then he killed it.

Draco saw it all through a haze of pain, a pain that was relieved as his father healed the worst of the damage to his shoulder. The bleeding stopped but his shoulder still hurt only differently now, a dull sort of pain deep inside, and he was still faint and dizzy.
His father seemed to understand this and helped him to stand and supported him on their walk back towards the cabin. He left him outside, leaning against another tree.

‘I am going inside to excuse us. We need a head start and I cannot let them know that I am not returning,’ he told the disoriented boy.

Draco heard him walk to the cabin, enter it and explain that his stupid son had been bitten and needed help. That he would take care of that problem and then return; he’d look for news of their prey as he did so.
The scaly monster hissed something but seemed to accept the story; Draco knew that meant it had to be true, in essence at least. He tried to make sense of it but failed; he was so tired.

Moments later his father returned with their things. He told Draco to hold on to his bag and to him and the world spun a bit as they changed location.
He felt them arrive and noticed figures coming towards him and then the world was going darker; his head spun badly and he tried to close his eyes to make it stop.
Someone caught him as he stumbled and he wanted to tell them to not do that, it hurt his shoulder, but instead all went black.


Thursday June 23rd, Cairo, Egypt

‘Shhh, you’ll wake them!’ Severus hissed when Tonks managed to trip over the umbrella stand at the foot of the staircase as she had done so many times lately; and why on Earth would anyone have an umbrella stand in a country that only had rain three weeks a year?
They both froze and waited to hear if anyone had woken but when nothing happened they slipped out of the door and into the very early Arabian morning.

Tonks had booked their tickets the same night that Fleur had gone off about ‘having fun togezer’ and now they were dishonourably sneaking out to get away from the pest of a woman.
They hailed a cab and went to the airport where their boarding was less eventful than it had been in Romania. They were both tired and didn’t feel like talking. But at least the silence was more comfortable; it had relieved some of their tension that they were in this silly conspiracy together: the plot to escape the French fraggle.

~ ~ ~

Tonks woke somewhere over the Mediterranean and stared out of the window. Then closed her eyes thinking she must be dreaming but when she opened them again she saw the same thing.

‘Severus,’ she whispered intensely, shaking his shoulder, ‘Severus, wake up! There’s an owl outside the window!’

He woke with a look as if to tell her she was completely crazy but then he saw the bird outside the plane window; it was struggling to keep up and had a large letter tied to its leg.

‘How do you open these things?’ he asked.

‘You don’t. Besides, if you magiced the glass away the Muggles would see. Let’s go to the bathroom, there the doors can be locked.’

And so they did. Sneaking two people into a bathroom is an awkward thing, and to have two people crammed into a tiny space like that is equally awkward; in all, none of them were particularly delighted at the situation.

‘Now, you can’t just remove the glass,’ Tonks warned as Severus was pulling out his wand.
‘If you do the cabin will decompress – the air in here is pressurized to simulate surface conditions – and all sorts of warnings will go off.’

‘I understand,’ he replied. ‘I will create a membrane that will keep the air in place but allow you to reach out and catch the critter. Take the letter and put the bird back out again, we can’t be bothered with it now.’

She agreed with him and readied herself. At his word she quickly put her hand through what felt as a sheet of cold water, pulled the owl back in, took the parchment and put the owl back outside. It fluttered away looking slightly ruffled and offended.
Severus replaced the glass in the windowpane and took the roll of parchment from Tonks. It was addressed to him and embossed in the seal was a crest, which Tonks didn’t have time to recognize before he broke it.

Severus read the letter with a concentrated expression. He was as closed as ever to her and she wondered if this might be bad news.
He looked up and at her and suddenly she saw a glimmer of something in his eyes, something besides that dull and closed expression he had worn for days.

‘This is an interesting development,’ he told her and his voice betrayed a slight excitement.
‘The letter is from Lucius Malfoy and it informs me that his son has been bitten by a werewolf.’

Tonks gasped. She didn’t know the Malfoy boy, she knew that his classmates didn’t like him but he hardly deserved that fate no matter what.

‘Lucius seems determined to get treatment for him and he knows I am the only one who can provide it and be trusted doing it. I believe we have a very strong hand here. This can only turn out to our advantage.’

There was something slightly triumphant in his eyes and suddenly she became aware that he was very close to her indeed. The look shining in his eyes drew her closer and he grabbed her and kissed her demandingly.

She was short of breath when he let her go and by then his hands were under her clothes, pulling, tugging and moving things in his way. He pushed her roughly against the wall and her body was way ahead of her mind and a loud moan escaped her as he pushed into her.
Her legs were wrapped around his waist and she gasped when he painfully squeezed one of her nipples.

Their release came quickly, and as it did she looked at him. And wished she hadn’t. He wasn’t there, he was somewhere else, he was having sex with her but his mind was with someone else.
She knew he wouldn’t miss the hurt and disappointed look on her face and she wanted him to acknowledge it but he didn’t.
Instead they found their seats in silence and didn’t speak for the remainder of the trip.

~ ~ ~

Beauxbatons was deserted by all but a few of the staff and they were freer to roam the beautiful estate than they had been on their previous secret visit.
Madame Maxime was undoubtedly an excellent host, and Tonks felt grateful for her kindness and hospitality - not to mention how grateful she was to have decent French food…

She spent her evening writing a letter to Minerva, pouring out all her hurt and frustration about Severus and the whole situation but put off posting it till the next day.


Friday June 24th, Beauxbatons, France

‘I am answering Lucius’ letter today,’ Severus informed her at breakfast. ‘He suggested we meet at their old family estate, La chateau de Mal Foi, on Monday and I suppose I can’t get away from you anyway so I thought best to inform you right away.’

‘I am delighted at your thoughtfulness,’ she said sarcastically, ‘and for your information there is no way you are meeting Malfoy anywhere else than in public and with me right next to you!’
Her eyes were fiery and she knew that the look on her face right now was what her mother referred to as the ‘Black stubbornness’. She could not be swayed.

Severus looked surprised but apparently recognized that he, for once, would not get his will.

‘Very well then. I expect he will bring Draco if we meet somewhere else, he is not likely to let a fledgling werewolf be alone, he’s not that reckless. And he needs a relatively intact heir. You can keep the puppy company.’

Tonks was appalled that he talked about the boy like that; it was hardly his fault that he had been bitten. But she did not fancy a fully blown row with him and bit back her angry reply. Instead they stared at each other for a moment and then went each their way; he presumably to write Malfoy and she to add a PS to her letter to Minerva. Something about pigheaded bigots.


Friday June 24th, somewhere in Eastern Europe

Draco woke up and saw sunlight. He was in a bed somewhere and there was a lot of whiteness around him. It hurt his eyes and he closed them again only to realise that they were not the only part of him that hurt. Something hurt inside his shoulder and there was still a burning sensation in what was left of the bite wound.
And someone was sitting next to him, he remembered.

He opened his eyes again and looked at his father who had the look of a man who hadn’t slept at all, there was a deep worry in his face.

‘You are awake. Good,’ he said. His voice reflected the tired worry on his face.
‘I can’t tell you much right now, we are at Durmstrang and we need to leave soon. You need to eat and drink now, you have to be strong enough to make the trip to France. We will go to the Chateau. Do you remember it well enough to Apparate there?’

Draco nodded and his father moved a small table bearing a tray with food closer to his bed. He ate in silence still with his father beside him.
It was such a new experience to have him actually be there. And it was nice. For a moment Draco was almost glad that he had been bitten; he never knew that his father really cared about him, and he would never have known had it not been for the beast who bit him.

But that sentiment only lasted a moment. Yes, he was grateful for his father’s care, very much so, but he would like to think that he would, eventually, have gotten it somehow even if this had not happened.
And it was not worth the life he was going to lead from now on. A life of prejudice and pain. He had heard of werewolves of course, and he knew how much they were shunned. He had just taken a serious plunge down the social ladder and it was going to hurt when he landed. Not to mention the physical pain of monthly transformations.
He sighed deeply, an action that made his father look at him again with a question on his face.

‘Nothing,’ Draco said, trying to give the impression that he could bear his fate.

Then he thought better of it and tried to see if his father’s newfound interest in him would extend to actually caring about how he felt.

‘It’s just that I only now realized the full impact of what has happened. And life is going to suck.’

His father gave a derisive snort.

‘Not to mention that at the moment it may look as if the family line is going to end here,’ he said.

Draco felt a hurt inside as deep as the bite in his shoulder. So his father didn’t actually care; he cared about the bloodline. As usual. He should have known, really, that was how it always was. Everything was blood and appearances, all for the sake of the family.
This time his sigh was silent. After all blood was important, and family too. All-important. There was no way he could ever shake that knowledge.


Friday June 24th, Drãgasani, Romania

Wormtail swaggered down the street feeling rather pleased with himself.
His Lord was not unhappy with him for once, and getting the better of Lucius Malfoy had iced the cake for him. Macnair was no loss either, and the Weasley was so much fun to play with.
Wormtail himself had been allowed to gain his pleasure from it and now he had left his Lord to some fun in private; the Imperius Curse seemed to work very well on this one even though it was Malfoy’s curse and not, as he had pretended, his own.

He passed a weird looking girl who had a quill stuck behind her ear and was reading a magazine, and he briefly wondered who she were - she looked so odd.
Then he forgot all about her as a woman came walking up the street, eyes fixed on him. He saw her clearly even in the dark; her pale skin shone by the light of the moon and her beauty was goddess-like, intimidating and alluring at the same time.

He heard her voice in his head: ‘follow me’ she said, ‘follow me and I will show you sights you have never even dreamt of’. And he did. He wanted to, he didn’t even need the choice.

She led him to a small house on the edge of the village and down a long spiral staircase inside it. They emerged in a beautiful cavern that obviously served as living quarters. He marvelled at the beauty of it, the place so fit the woman that he did not even stop to wonder why she lived there, deep under ground.

And then her voice spoke again, this time out loud, and he went to her like a small dog, drawn like a mosquito to a flame. Her sharp teeth sunk into his neck and he was filled with ecstasy as she drank of his blood; he heard his own voice plead with her to continue but she stopped.

Instead she pushed him to the ground with a light touch and he fell hard. Her heavenly voice played with him, made him grovel and worm around on the ground in front of her, degrade himself in unimaginable ways. He loved it.

She grabbed him by his collar and pulled him up again.

‘Why don’t you fight it, you pitiful excuse for a thinking being?’ she spat.

‘I would never fight any word from you’ he answered and she threw him away from her in disgust.

He hit the wall several yards away and slid to the floor, stunned by the impact.

‘You spoiled my appetite, you revolting creature’ she hissed and crossed the distance between them at an incredible speed.

The second she reached him she snapped his neck. Then she wiped her hands on a piece of cloth.

‘I must write the charming Englishman back,’ she mumbled. ‘His request has been fulfilled. We are even. And I must find new prey, this one was not worth the effort.’


Friday June 24th, Transylvania

Luna Lovegood stared in the window of the hut and absentmindedly scratched her head not even noticing that a quill, previously tucked behind her ear, fell out and to the ground.
She was wondering how to proceed since there was no doubt that she would have to proceed somehow.
Since she saw the man called Wormtail in the village she had known that she might find something like this, and she knew all too well who was hidden in that hut. She also knew that she would have to attempt to get Charlie out of there before Wormtail returned.

She could see Charlie from the window; he was lying on the floor with a vacant stare in his eyes and a touch of a foolish grin on his face. There was no doubt in Luna’s mind the he was affected by an Imperius Curse.

Carefully she walked around the house and looked in the other few windows and lady luck was with her; from one of them she saw the form of a sleeping person and knew that it had to be Voldemort. His repulsive face was turned away from her and she was grateful for that.
There was no way of making sure that he was in fact sleeping; she would have to take her chance. And quite a risk that was. She would risk both their lives but she had to try.

First she tried to attract Charlie’s attention. She scratched the window and his vacant eyes turned on her, went past her, and then back to staring again.
She repeated her attempt with the same response, only this time he looked back at her again and something was moving behind his eyes.
He had begun to fight the Curse.

This was it. She opened the door very carefully and waved at him to come closer.
He looked as if he wanted to go to the sleeping figure instead but the fight inside him was still going on and he stood as if nailed to the floor. His legs jerked a few times as he tried to move in two directions at once.
She dared not attempt to lift the Curse fully right here, it might cause a reaction in him that would wake the dreaded Lord. She had to count on his ability to fight this enough to walk to her, to leave this cabin on his own.

She kept encouraging him with waves, smiles and looks, and slowly, very slowly, one step at a time, he came nearer.
After what seemed like hours he was outside and she closed the door behind him.
Then she began luring him into the woods, this time she could help him by physically guiding him and as he began to regain more and more of himself he was able to follow a bit faster than before.

At last they were a few hundred yards away from the cabin and she attempted to lift the Curse. It was not as hard as expected. He had been fighting it for a while she assumed, and she wondered why the caster had not bothered to strengthen the Curse; he should have known that this would happen.

Charlie Weasley looked at her with a confused expression. He was back.

‘Who are you?’ were his first words.

‘Luna Lovegood,’ she said. ‘I just rescued you. You-know-who had captured you, but I found you with help from the Quibbler.’

Charlie blinked a few times and then seemed to remember something.

‘Oh yeah, I heard of you, or met you, or something. You are that strange girl in my sister’s year. Only, you graduated, so you are not really in her year anymore…’

He looked as if he had managed to confuse himself, and she patted him gently on the shoulder. It would be a while before he remembered more.

‘Come on,’ she said, ‘we had best get back to the village before something happens.’

They walked in silence for a while before Charlie suddenly swore loudly.

‘Norbert!’ he continued, ‘bloody hell! Norbert! He tried to protect me and Malfoy and son hit him with some sort of Curse and then. Then he hit me with one… Damned. I remember. But the rest is still blurred. It must have been days… Anyway, can we go find out what happened to Norbert right away, please.’

She nodded and he grabbed her firmly around the waist and Apparated to a spot right outside his house. When they arrived he didn’t let go of her at once because the sight that met him was such a surprise:
A tall young man with vivid red hair was trying to revive a dragon that had surely been Petrified by a curse; he had succeeded far enough to allow the dragon to move again and it had gotten to its feet and was now attempting to nuzzle the young man in what was, to it, a loving way.

‘Come off of it Norbert’ the man said, ‘I’m trying to fix the rest of you!’

Charlie broke into a huge smile.

‘Ron! What the heck, have you come looking for me?’ he said.

The young man, who was indeed Ron Weasley, spun around.

‘Charlie! Gosh, I’m so glad to see you! I came here and found Norbert and I feared the worst. We heard that you had been captured by You-know-who and I was sent to find you.’

Ron almost ran to his brother and embraced him before noticing that Luna was there as well.

‘I was captured,’ Charlie explained, ‘but Luna here found me first. Walked straight there I suspect, read where to find me in The Quibbler. Amazing really. But I owe her my life.’

He smiled fondly at her and she blushed to the roots of her hair and giggled funnily.

It took a while to sort out the entire story and even longer because Charlie was unable to completely calm the ecstatically happy Norbert who kept acting as if he thought he were a lap dog.
When all had been told they decided that it would be best if they left the area as quickly as possible; there was no way of telling if there were more Death Eaters around and Wormtail would not stay away for ever.
On Charlie’s initiative they all mounted Norbert and took off; the dragon would take them home safely and quickly.