Fantasy House

Harry knew the moment he walked into the flat that something was wrong. The place was immaculate. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as he and Ron entered the foyer.



Ron raised an eyebrow. "Seems like the house-elves have been here, doesn\'t it?" he suggested, swiping a finger along the table at the entrance. His finger came up clean.



"House-elves," Harry echoed uncertainly.



Harry opened the entrance closet and immediately drew his wand. "Someone\'s here," he said, pointing to the two sets of muddy boots.



Ron quickly cast a reveal charm and shook his head. "We are alone. They must have came and left."



"But why leave their boots? It\'s snowing out," the bespectacled man replied.



The red head shrugged. They both cleaned their boots and walked into the main part of the flat.



Even if no one was there now, it was clear someone had been there. The coffee table had all sorts of paperwork strewn across it. Harry quickly bagged an empty mug that sat on an end table while Ron bagged a sofa pillow.



"I wonder who it was," Harry commented aloud as he moved to the kitchen.



Ron shook his head. "You\'re still so sure the Malfoys are innocent. Why wouldn\'t it be them, Harry? I mean, look around you. And wait!" The red head walked to the dining table and picked up a bottle and held it up to the light. "How much do you want to bet this is one of the potion bottles missing from Snape\'s stores?"



"The Malfoys are innocent," Harry stated, unwilling to waver from his belief. "These things were planted here recently. Look!"



Harry pointed to another mug in the kitchen sink. This mug had the unmistakable impression of lipstick. "Someone\'s been here tampering with things."



Ron glanced at his friend curiously. “How do you know that?” he inquired, looking around the room in hopes of seeing what his friend saw.



“Everything else is in its place but the mugs, the papers, and the boots,” the raven haired man said. “Even the curtains and couch pillows are perfect.”



The red head nodded. “Another OCD family,” he said wisely.



Harry rolled his eyes as he bagged the mug while Ron bagged the bottle. They continued searching the flat for more things, but came up short. They took the paperwork and the boots. "I\'ll bet neither of the Malfoys actually wore these boots," Harry claimed as he put them in bags.



Ron loved Harry, that much was certain. Since boyhood, they had been more like brothers than he had ever been with his real brothers. That did not stop Ron from doubting Harry, especially now when the evidence was so clear.



"When are you going to accept that the Malfoys are responsible for the disappearances?" Ron asked.



Harry gave his best friend and brother a sour look. "When Hermione, Sirius, and Remus tell me to my face that they are responsible." Then, he sighed, "Look around you, Ron. Can\'t you see this is a set up? Someone wants to frame the Malfoys; I know it."



"But who would do something like this? Who would have it out for the Malfoys to the point of framing them for kidnapping?"



Harry thought for a moment. "Narcissa," he said as he held the lipstick-smudged mug in his hand.



Ron\'s eyebrows furrowed. "Narcissa?" he asked in disbelief. "I\'d agree if it weren\'t Draco as well, but why on Earth would she frame her own son?"



That was something Harry wanted to know as well.



(II) (II)



Hermione sighed as she lounged on the couch with Draco and Remus. They had been working in the garden all day long, and she was exhausted.



Of course, they hadn\'t really been working in the garden: she had been working in the garden while Remus and Draco covertly threw rocks and sticks at the weak spot in the barrier. The spot was slowly getting larger, but not by much.



Hermione hoped that by the end of the month the spot would be large enough to fit at least one person through. If one person could get through, then they would all be saved, and the sooner the better by her reasoning.



She didn\'t know what they had done to cause it, but Zabini had suddenly started to limit their supply of food and water. He wasn\'t starving them by any means, but Hermione noticed the cupboard wasn\'t as full as before. They were starting to have to portion how much they ate, eating only one serving size each.



Lucius had also started an exercise regime for himself and anyone else who wished to participate. "Sexual intercourse isn\'t enough to keep the body fit," he had claimed before encouraging the others to join him.



For the most part, they did, especially Sirius. If Hermione didn\'t know better, she\'d think Sirius was completely smitten with Lucius. Then again, perhaps he was. It wasn\'t really a bad thing, but it did concern her a bit.



They weren\'t going to be in this house forever. She knew, as the others did, that once they were out of the house, life would change dramatically. They wouldn\'t have the constant need, or even desire, to be around one another.



Hermione had also begun to notice the emerging social structure of the household. While no one said anything, she could tell she was more or less the leader of the group. She assumed this was because she was the only female, but she couldn\'t be certain if that was the case. Perhaps it was simply that no one wanted to take the lead.



She noticed other things as well. After her discussion with Sirius, Hermione took note of how much Severus watched the others and herself. She could tell he was enjoying the idea of being part of the group and wondered if he feared an inevitable return to his solitude once they left the house.



Remus, she knew, was slowly becoming more possessive of her. Ever since that day when he and Severus had had sex, Remus had been spending more and more time around Hermione. She had even heard him growl a time or two when one of the other men had come close or kissed her.



Even now, as she lay with her head in Remus\' lap and her feet in Draco\'s lap, she could feel the tension from the werewolf. She knew Draco was too close to her for Remus\' liking.



"Remus," she whispered, causing the werewolf to jump in surprise.



"Yes?"



She sighed and sat up, letting her feet fall to the floor. "You\'re really tense. What\'s wrong?" she asked.



He gave her a sheepish smile. "My apologies," he said. "The full moon is coming close, I fear."



She nodded. "Yes, I fear that as well, but there\'s more to it, isn\'t there?" she surmised. "You don\'t like it when Draco touches me. Or any of the men for that matter."



His lips pinched together as he glanced at the Slytherin. Draco watched with interest and only slight amusement.



Remus sighed in defeat. "No, I don\'t," he admitted, looking down at his hands. "I feel they shouldn\'t touch you. I can\'t explain it, except..."



"It\'s the way of wolves," Hermione interrupted, placing a hand over one of Remus\'.



He glanced up into her eyes and, for a moment, they looked at one another, understanding passing between them. Hermione sighed, "I can\'t imagine what this must be doing to you. I do know that this cannot continue. If you were to attack one of them..."



"That won\'t happen."



"You don\'t know that, Remus," she pointed out. "Even with Severus\' potion, you can\'t always control every little thing the wolf in you does. Especially given the circumstances. I\'m surprised you haven\'t attacked anyone yet, all things considered. You have much more control than I originally thought, but it won\'t last."



"There are a lot of things that won\'t last, Hermione," Draco intervened. "That Remus is controlling his wolf is only a small portion. Sirius and Severus are starting to become more heated in their arguments, if you haven\'t noticed. Apparently the dog is jealous of the attention Snape receives from my father."



Hermione nodded. "I\'m not surprised. And Severus still blames Sirius for what happened between him and Lily."



Draco agreed while Remus looked away.



"I fear a huge fight or something will break out soon if we don\'t get out soon," Hermione said, glancing, unseeing, at the television.



Draco thought on this a moment. Then, he said, "Maybe not. Perhaps Severus and Sirius could use that anger and turn it into a sort of passion? Maybe..."



"I seriously doubt that," Remus interrupted. "The hatred between those two runs too deeply. At one time, that hatred was because of Lily. Now, I think they\'ve transferred it to Lucius. It\'s the same, always the same."



The Slytherin\'s lips pursed together. "I never imagined my godfather fighting with another man over my father. It\'s almost... sick."



"It\'s not almost sick, Draco," Hermione told him. "It is sick. The sad thing about it is, until Zabini lets us go, this animosity is only going to grow. I fear they might even get to the point of killing one another."



Draco shook his head. "I doubt that. The knives do not work that way. And we really..."



"Shit!" hollered a voice from the kitchen, causing the three on the couch to jump.



Hermione dashed into the kitchen to see Lucius standing over the sink, his hand plunged under the water. "What happened?" she asked him, running to him and looking at his hand.



His teeth were clenched in pain as he held his hand under the water. "I was cutting a tomato and sliced open my thumb in the process."



Hermione blinked and glanced over at the cutting board. She looked over her shoulder to see Remus and Draco standing in the doorway with almost identical shocked expressions.



Well, there went the theory that the knives couldn\'t cut people...



(III) (III)



Ginny stared at the result in front of her. There was no mistaking it: the mark had clearly been made by Andromeda\'s lips. "I don\'t get it," she said to Harry. "Why would Andromeda Tonks be at the Malfoy\'s flat?"



Harry was just as confused. "I don\'t know, but I intend to find out."

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Author\'s Note: Hello there again! Hope you all liked this chapter. Oooo things are getting more revealing now. Wonder what will happen now that the knives can cut humans...



Thanks again to my betas. You girls are awesome!