Harvest Moon

Voracious Reader: Have I mentioned lately how much I love the way your mind works? You\'d be marvelous in the criminal psych field.

Taz: Sorry to make your character suffer so. Hopefully I\'ll be forgiven for it.

mrequecky: Read on and find out.

To everyone still reading and reviewing, I thank you most sincerely for your patience.



***



Lucius went to see who was hanging over his doorway. He wasn’t about to obey Potter’s orders no matter who he was at this point. Hermione and Arabella followed him out, everyone dreading who it might be. Lucius stood on his front lawn staring in horror at the person dangling over his entryway. The body was wedged between the life sized statues mounted on a small landing over the door, hanging crucifixion style with arms outstretched over the heads of the statues. Long red hair blew back away from the face and he felt his heart clench then drop to somewhere in the vicinity of his stomach.



It was Arabella who voiced the painful truth. “Oh, gods, Taz!”



Hermione took out her wand and said “Decendio!” However, nothing happened. Tazura’s body remained hanging where it was. “She has to be secured there with something other than a spell,” she said, frowning and thinking over other ways to get her down.



While everyone else seemed frozen to the spot, Lucius took matters into his own hands. Before anyone could stop him, he climbed up the intricate stonework adorning the sides of the doorway to better examine the situation. Fortunately, the knotwork design allowed for many hand and foot holds in the masonry. Balancing precariously on the narrow ledge he eased his way closer to her.



“Be careful, Lucius,” Hermione called up, looking more than a little bit worried. “We don’t want to lose you too.”



“You won’t, Mine. I promise,” he said through clenched teeth, trying to maneuver around to a point where he could see what had her up there.



This whole situation had instantly gone from nightmare to flat out hell. How the bloody hell had he gotten to Taz in the first place? She was always on guard, it was simply in her nature. As far as he knew she had only trusted a handful of people in the whole world. He took a deep breath and blinked back the moisture threatening the edges of his eyes. He’d grieve for her later, right now all he cared about was getting her down. After that, he planned on hunting down his brother and killing him with his bare hands. Slowly.



He paused for a moment to get his bearings after one foot had slipped on the smooth stone. He finally managed to get in beside her and his eyes widened when he saw the faint pulse in Tazura’s neck.



“Mine! She’s alive! Send an owl to St. Mungoes telling them to expect her. Potter, get your arse up here and help me get her down. She’s nailed to the portico,” Lucius said, noticing the big, nasty looking spikes that had been driven into her forearms just below the wrists.



Hermione instantly darted off toward the owlry, while Harry used a levitation spell to get to the same level as Tazura and Lucius.



“Get ready to catch her after I get the spikes out,” Harry said, aiming his wand carefully. “It’s probably a good thing she’s unconscious for this. I doubt it would be at all pleasant while awake.”



Lucius snorted in agreement and managed to put one leg behind one of the statues to better balance himself. He put both hands on Taz’s waist and nodded to Harry. At his muttered incantation the bolts slowly freed themselves from the stonework.



“What’s taking you so damn long, Potter?” Lucius growled over one shoulder.



“If I remove them quickly she might bleed to death. We don’t know if they went through an artery or not,” Harry snapped. Harry knew, somewhere deep in his heart, that it could have very well been Hermione posted up there like an old edition of the Prophet. He shook his head and refused to think about it. He had a job to do that was best done clear headed. At this point though he wasn’t so certain he would be able to. While his gut told him, much to his annoyance, that Lucius really had nothing to do with this, he had to go on the facts as they presented themselves.



Lucius was thinking along the same lines to a certain extent. Not about himself being a suspect any more but about the fact that it could have been Hermione or even Arabella hanging there waiting for him to catch them. He winced inwardly, knowing it probably would be eventually if he couldn’t find and stop his brother somehow.



As the spikes came free from the wall Taz dropped like a rock into Lucius’ waiting hands. He held her close to him for a moment, eyes squeezed shut to ward off the annoying leaking they kept trying to do. “Gods, I’m so sorry, Taz,” he murmured into her hair. “I should have been watching you more closely. Should have been more careful with you and made certain you were safe.”



“Malfoy. Do you trust me enough to ease the both of you down?” Harry asked, thinking he probably knew the answer.



“No. Frankly, I’d not trust you with one of my handkerchiefs but it would seem that I have no other choice,” Lucius said.



“Arrogant bastard,” Harry growled before pointing his wand and saying, “Descendio!” and lowering them to the ground.



“Sadly, my parents were married, Potter,” Lucius sneered. “You’re hardly one to speak about anyone else being an arrogant bastard.”



“What exactly do you mean by that, Malfoy?” Harry asked, glowering at the other man.



“I believe the saying goes, It takes one to know one, Mr. Potter.”