-Heal-
A/N: Ah. Yes. The lovely, lovely cliffies...Don't we love them? (Only on our own fics, thoh _)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. And any silly spells that sound absolutely ridiculous are probably mine, too.
~~~
For a moment, Hermione waited with bated breath, quickly lowering her head to the ground and averting Bellatrix's steely gaze. Hopefully, Bellatrix would see this action merely as one of a Death Eater showing respect to her superiors, and not notice that she wasn't one of them. It seemed to work, as the witch's eyes swept right past Hermione, landing instead, on Tonks beside her.
"Goyle!" Bellatrix snapped. "What are you doing here?"
"Du-uh...we were jus' walking around and uh...we kind of got lost..." This was a very good imitation of Goyle's gormless voice indeed, but was it good enough to fool even the Death Eaters?
"Oh really?"
Hermione felt Tonks stiffen beside her, and noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Tonks looked about as nervous as Hermione felt. Nevertheless, Hermione tried to calm her wrangled nerves - Tonks was, after all, a powerful auror, and if anything went wrong...well, at least they would be able to escape. Or so she thought.
"You can drop your little pretence now..." Then the voice of Lucius Malfoy resonated from the room, every word soft yet hauntingly clear. "Nymphadora Tonks."
~~~
" Du-uh...I don't know what you're talking about, my lord..."
"I'm sure you do...Miss Nymphadora." A figure stepped out from the shadows, his cold voice drawling each syllable of Tonks' name out slowly and deliberately, malice dripping from every word. Hermione vaguely felt Tonks trembling - but whether it was with fear or fury, she was unsure.
"That's TONKS, Goddammit!" Hermione shut her eyes and sighed inwardly as Tonks' voice rang out, in stark contrast to Lucius Malfoy's. It was fury. Then Hermione looked up, only to find 'Goyle' reverting back to her bubblegum-pink-haired self, drawing a sleek, black wand out of her robes. Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned - especially if the specimen in question was Nymphadora Tonks.
In one fluid motion, the Death Eaters too, had their wands drawn from their robes and held out before them - Lucius' and Draco's wands were held towards Tonks, while Bellatrix's was held towards Hermione. A raging sense of dread filled Hermione- she didn't have her wand. That meant they were outnumbered - three to one. It was evidently the wrong move to make, especially at this junction.
"So you are the infamous shape shifter..." Lucius Malfoy was the first to speak, stepping towards the auror. "And here I was, just testing out the waters..."
"You...you were just guessing?"
"Indeed, I was. But you fell for it, like the reckless fool you are." He took another step closer, a cruel smirk playing about his lips. "Bit of a pity - I was looking forward to having a friendly duel with a powerful auror, but it looks like you really aren't my match."
"You can say that after you've beat me, Elf-boy!" The pink-haired auror shouted, stabbing her wand in Lucius' direction. A flaming yellow, ribbon-like jet burst from the tip of her wand, a shot that the Death Eater dodged easily.
"Planning to defeat me with your childish display of fireworks?" Lucius drawled as he darted swiftly and effortlessly across the carpeted ground, barely hurt by Tonks' array of curses by so much as a hair. The curses hurtled by, each one ending in a bursting spectrum of colours. Hermione could hardly see past the cacophony of incantations Tonks was hurling at the Death Eater.
"Don't just dodge around! Show me what you've got!" Tonks yelled, leaping back into a defensive stance, her wand poised over a study table.
"I fear it would be a waste of my energy... Though my time is far more precious." Lucius shifted across the carpeted ground, his wand still held before him. He had been biding his time, waiting, for the best opportunity to strike. Then he would pounce, lithely, like a cobra striking its prey...
"Watch out, Tonks!" Hermione yelled, unable to contain her anxiety any longer. She regretted this action almost immediately, for both Bellatrix and Draco swivelled round to face her. She cursed under her breath. Had they recognised her voice?
"Gotcha!!" Hermione whipped around at the sound of the pink-haired auror's voice. Her eyes widened at the scene that lay before her.
A medley of flying knives had Lucius Malfoy pinned rather unceremoniously against the wall; Tonks stood before him, her wand pointed towards him in triumphant victory. Hermione felt as though a half-giant had been lifted off her chest - a glimmer of hope! She smiled to herself - now she knew that Tonks' real purpose in bombarding Lucius Malfoy with curses was only to distract him from noticing Tonks' hidden knives.
But only seconds after Hermione's elation, two jets of electric-blue streaked towards the auror. Before Hermione could even react, the jets had hit Tonks with full force. The spell took effect almost immediately -an icy barrier rose, wrapping itself tightly against the auror as it solidified. In a matter of seconds, she stood still as an ice sculpture, her expression frozen in one of perpetual shock.
"Tonks!! " Hermione started towards the auror, only to be sent flying to the back of the study with a cold blast. She winced as pain shot through her back; her hood fell, and she felt, rather than saw, Draco Malfoy's cold, intense gaze. She looked up, expecting a malicious sneer on the Death Eater's face, but saw none. Instead, his pale grey eyes widened slightly with shock, and he hesitated, lowering his wand slowly to the ground.
"You dirty, cheating, Slytherin! That was supposed to be a duel!" Hermione bit her lip, fighting back the stinging tears forming behind her eyes. Damn! Why didn't he say something? She wished for him to insult her, to make a cutting remark, so she'd be able to snap back, to vent her frustration with comebacks instead of tears.
"You should have seen enough of the world now, to know that Death Eaters don't exactly play fair...Mudblood." Bellatrix cut in sharply, stepping in beside Draco. Her wand held carefully towards Hermione; she looked towards Lucius for further instructions.
"You really needn't have interfered, Bellatrix," replied the pale man, who'd somehow managed to undo his rich, navy-blue robes from the flying knives, without so much as a scratch. " I could have handled her just fine on my own."
"Tonks could have beaten ten of you, Lucius Malfoy!!" Hermione snapped, just managing to hold back her tears. She glared up at the older Malfoy, defiantly, despite the fact that it seemed - to the normal, sensible Hermione at least - the most stupid thing to do at this point of time. The older Malfoy returned her glare, his blank grey eyes sending shivers down Hermione's spine. They were silver-grey orbs just like his son's, but unlike Draco, they seemed to hide nothing behind them.
They seemed to be blank, unseeing - like two hollows of dark, gaping nothingness beneath a mask.
"Imagine...a Mudblood on our premises..." Lucius breathed, his lips contorting into the closest he'd ever get to a grin. It was revolting, like watching a blank rubber mask attempt to show some semblance of emotion, and failing miserably. "Do me a favour, and dispose of her, Bellatrix."
"Just what I was thinking, My Lord."
Hermione shut her eyes, preparing for the worst - of course...this moment would come...she knew it the minute she fell captive to Draco Malfoy. It was just a matter of how soon she'd get killed- and she had merely hastened the process by trying to escape. Any moment now, her whole life would pass before her eyes...
She was only dimly aware of a cloaked figure...rushing between herself and the Death Eaters. He stood with his back towards Hermione, panting slightly.
"Don't kill her, Father! Please..."
~~~
Oh great. He had to choose this 'opportune' moment to act the hero. As if he weren't in enough trouble with his father already. It was one thing to yell at his father, but another to oppose him right to his face. And frankly, Draco didn't even have a grain of an idea why or what he was doing. For some reason Draco was not willing to know, he'd panicked when Father and Bellatrix closed in on Granger. The next thing he knew, he could only feel the wind beneath his robes as he rushed forward.
Now Draco found himself face to face with his father. Trapped, like two chess pieces caught in a stalemate. His father's expression did not change - save for his eyes, which were growing colder and more hostile by the minute.
"Is this your idea of a rebellion, Draco?" He breathed, his pale eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
"No, Father." Draco mumbled, his eyes fixed to the ground. Yes, he was mad at his Father. He'd been demoted, despite the fact that he was Lucius' son - it was the worst form of humiliation one could deal to a Death Eater. But whether he was ready to rebel against his father was a different story altogether. Besides, Draco thought sullenly, Father would rather kill his own men than allow them to be unfaithful to him, his own son being no exception.
"So why...pray tell, can't I kill her?"
Draco moistened his lips, his brow glistening with beads of sweat. He'd seen this coming, and he was ready with an answer, more or less. Now the only thing left was to convince his father...
"Because she's no ordinary mudblood, Father," Draco whispered. "She's..." He glanced about, and then leaned in to whisper into his Father's ear.
And Lucius Malfoy's lips stretched into a taut smile, his blank, glassy eyes turning to look at Granger.
Draco drew back, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief. Success.
~~~
A/N: Ah. Yes. The lovely, lovely cliffies...Don't we love them? (Only on our own fics, thoh _)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. And any silly spells that sound absolutely ridiculous are probably mine, too.
~~~
For a moment, Hermione waited with bated breath, quickly lowering her head to the ground and averting Bellatrix's steely gaze. Hopefully, Bellatrix would see this action merely as one of a Death Eater showing respect to her superiors, and not notice that she wasn't one of them. It seemed to work, as the witch's eyes swept right past Hermione, landing instead, on Tonks beside her.
"Goyle!" Bellatrix snapped. "What are you doing here?"
"Du-uh...we were jus' walking around and uh...we kind of got lost..." This was a very good imitation of Goyle's gormless voice indeed, but was it good enough to fool even the Death Eaters?
"Oh really?"
Hermione felt Tonks stiffen beside her, and noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Tonks looked about as nervous as Hermione felt. Nevertheless, Hermione tried to calm her wrangled nerves - Tonks was, after all, a powerful auror, and if anything went wrong...well, at least they would be able to escape. Or so she thought.
"You can drop your little pretence now..." Then the voice of Lucius Malfoy resonated from the room, every word soft yet hauntingly clear. "Nymphadora Tonks."
~~~
" Du-uh...I don't know what you're talking about, my lord..."
"I'm sure you do...Miss Nymphadora." A figure stepped out from the shadows, his cold voice drawling each syllable of Tonks' name out slowly and deliberately, malice dripping from every word. Hermione vaguely felt Tonks trembling - but whether it was with fear or fury, she was unsure.
"That's TONKS, Goddammit!" Hermione shut her eyes and sighed inwardly as Tonks' voice rang out, in stark contrast to Lucius Malfoy's. It was fury. Then Hermione looked up, only to find 'Goyle' reverting back to her bubblegum-pink-haired self, drawing a sleek, black wand out of her robes. Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned - especially if the specimen in question was Nymphadora Tonks.
In one fluid motion, the Death Eaters too, had their wands drawn from their robes and held out before them - Lucius' and Draco's wands were held towards Tonks, while Bellatrix's was held towards Hermione. A raging sense of dread filled Hermione- she didn't have her wand. That meant they were outnumbered - three to one. It was evidently the wrong move to make, especially at this junction.
"So you are the infamous shape shifter..." Lucius Malfoy was the first to speak, stepping towards the auror. "And here I was, just testing out the waters..."
"You...you were just guessing?"
"Indeed, I was. But you fell for it, like the reckless fool you are." He took another step closer, a cruel smirk playing about his lips. "Bit of a pity - I was looking forward to having a friendly duel with a powerful auror, but it looks like you really aren't my match."
"You can say that after you've beat me, Elf-boy!" The pink-haired auror shouted, stabbing her wand in Lucius' direction. A flaming yellow, ribbon-like jet burst from the tip of her wand, a shot that the Death Eater dodged easily.
"Planning to defeat me with your childish display of fireworks?" Lucius drawled as he darted swiftly and effortlessly across the carpeted ground, barely hurt by Tonks' array of curses by so much as a hair. The curses hurtled by, each one ending in a bursting spectrum of colours. Hermione could hardly see past the cacophony of incantations Tonks was hurling at the Death Eater.
"Don't just dodge around! Show me what you've got!" Tonks yelled, leaping back into a defensive stance, her wand poised over a study table.
"I fear it would be a waste of my energy... Though my time is far more precious." Lucius shifted across the carpeted ground, his wand still held before him. He had been biding his time, waiting, for the best opportunity to strike. Then he would pounce, lithely, like a cobra striking its prey...
"Watch out, Tonks!" Hermione yelled, unable to contain her anxiety any longer. She regretted this action almost immediately, for both Bellatrix and Draco swivelled round to face her. She cursed under her breath. Had they recognised her voice?
"Gotcha!!" Hermione whipped around at the sound of the pink-haired auror's voice. Her eyes widened at the scene that lay before her.
A medley of flying knives had Lucius Malfoy pinned rather unceremoniously against the wall; Tonks stood before him, her wand pointed towards him in triumphant victory. Hermione felt as though a half-giant had been lifted off her chest - a glimmer of hope! She smiled to herself - now she knew that Tonks' real purpose in bombarding Lucius Malfoy with curses was only to distract him from noticing Tonks' hidden knives.
But only seconds after Hermione's elation, two jets of electric-blue streaked towards the auror. Before Hermione could even react, the jets had hit Tonks with full force. The spell took effect almost immediately -an icy barrier rose, wrapping itself tightly against the auror as it solidified. In a matter of seconds, she stood still as an ice sculpture, her expression frozen in one of perpetual shock.
"Tonks!! " Hermione started towards the auror, only to be sent flying to the back of the study with a cold blast. She winced as pain shot through her back; her hood fell, and she felt, rather than saw, Draco Malfoy's cold, intense gaze. She looked up, expecting a malicious sneer on the Death Eater's face, but saw none. Instead, his pale grey eyes widened slightly with shock, and he hesitated, lowering his wand slowly to the ground.
"You dirty, cheating, Slytherin! That was supposed to be a duel!" Hermione bit her lip, fighting back the stinging tears forming behind her eyes. Damn! Why didn't he say something? She wished for him to insult her, to make a cutting remark, so she'd be able to snap back, to vent her frustration with comebacks instead of tears.
"You should have seen enough of the world now, to know that Death Eaters don't exactly play fair...Mudblood." Bellatrix cut in sharply, stepping in beside Draco. Her wand held carefully towards Hermione; she looked towards Lucius for further instructions.
"You really needn't have interfered, Bellatrix," replied the pale man, who'd somehow managed to undo his rich, navy-blue robes from the flying knives, without so much as a scratch. " I could have handled her just fine on my own."
"Tonks could have beaten ten of you, Lucius Malfoy!!" Hermione snapped, just managing to hold back her tears. She glared up at the older Malfoy, defiantly, despite the fact that it seemed - to the normal, sensible Hermione at least - the most stupid thing to do at this point of time. The older Malfoy returned her glare, his blank grey eyes sending shivers down Hermione's spine. They were silver-grey orbs just like his son's, but unlike Draco, they seemed to hide nothing behind them.
They seemed to be blank, unseeing - like two hollows of dark, gaping nothingness beneath a mask.
"Imagine...a Mudblood on our premises..." Lucius breathed, his lips contorting into the closest he'd ever get to a grin. It was revolting, like watching a blank rubber mask attempt to show some semblance of emotion, and failing miserably. "Do me a favour, and dispose of her, Bellatrix."
"Just what I was thinking, My Lord."
Hermione shut her eyes, preparing for the worst - of course...this moment would come...she knew it the minute she fell captive to Draco Malfoy. It was just a matter of how soon she'd get killed- and she had merely hastened the process by trying to escape. Any moment now, her whole life would pass before her eyes...
She was only dimly aware of a cloaked figure...rushing between herself and the Death Eaters. He stood with his back towards Hermione, panting slightly.
"Don't kill her, Father! Please..."
~~~
Oh great. He had to choose this 'opportune' moment to act the hero. As if he weren't in enough trouble with his father already. It was one thing to yell at his father, but another to oppose him right to his face. And frankly, Draco didn't even have a grain of an idea why or what he was doing. For some reason Draco was not willing to know, he'd panicked when Father and Bellatrix closed in on Granger. The next thing he knew, he could only feel the wind beneath his robes as he rushed forward.
Now Draco found himself face to face with his father. Trapped, like two chess pieces caught in a stalemate. His father's expression did not change - save for his eyes, which were growing colder and more hostile by the minute.
"Is this your idea of a rebellion, Draco?" He breathed, his pale eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
"No, Father." Draco mumbled, his eyes fixed to the ground. Yes, he was mad at his Father. He'd been demoted, despite the fact that he was Lucius' son - it was the worst form of humiliation one could deal to a Death Eater. But whether he was ready to rebel against his father was a different story altogether. Besides, Draco thought sullenly, Father would rather kill his own men than allow them to be unfaithful to him, his own son being no exception.
"So why...pray tell, can't I kill her?"
Draco moistened his lips, his brow glistening with beads of sweat. He'd seen this coming, and he was ready with an answer, more or less. Now the only thing left was to convince his father...
"Because she's no ordinary mudblood, Father," Draco whispered. "She's..." He glanced about, and then leaned in to whisper into his Father's ear.
And Lucius Malfoy's lips stretched into a taut smile, his blank, glassy eyes turning to look at Granger.
Draco drew back, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief. Success.
~~~