Be Careful
40: Who You Bring Along
By Anne B. Walsh
Draco roused slowly to the feeling of warmth on his face. He had a feeling he'd overslept, though he couldn't understand how, as the position he was in didn't seem as though it would be comfortable for long periods of time.
Smells good, though. That charm on my nose must have worn off.
He laughed at the thought of the charm, and why he'd used it. The sound came out as a soft ch-ch-ch-ch-ch.
What in—I'm still transfigured?
One eye opened and scanned down his body.
Long, grey, and furry. Still transfigured.
The soft, sweet-smelling expanse below him shifted to accommodate his movement, and a sigh came from it. Draco yipped in surprise and nearly jumped clear before getting himself under control. It's all right, stupid, it's just Luna—you fell asleep curled up with her, why are you surprised she's still here?
He lifted his head to have a better look around.
Weasley, Longbottom, and Hagrid were gone, along with the two lantern-holders at the corners of the campsite. The pit in the center was filled with leaves, and the sun was high overhead, one beam lancing down to shine on his face.
This doesn't make sense. Why didn't anyone wake her for her watch? Why did they leave without her? Why does this place look like—
Draco smacked himself on his furry forehead with one little mongoose paw.
Idiot. How, exactly, did I forget what happens to me when I go to sleep? It's only been the most important thing in my life for the last two and a half months! But no, I went traipsing blithely off into the woods and curled up with a pretty little girl, and now I'm going to have to change back and explain to her how she accidentally got transported into another world!
He squinted up at the sun. Not to mention, I'm late for Charms. "Sorry, Professor Flitwick, I turned into an animal and overslept out in the Forest with a girl who hates me—"
Except she doesn't. Draco carefully slid to the ground beside Luna, who pulled the top flap of her sleeping bag up to cover where he'd been without waking. Longbottom and Weasley still think I'm scum, and I can't blame them, but Luna seems to be looking at me differently these days…
He shook his head and carefully thought the countercharm to the transfiguration spell on his amulet. A moment later, he was human again, crouching beside Luna's sleeping bag.
Differently or not, this isn't a conversation I'm looking forward to having—
So why should I?
He drew his wand and murmured the strongest Sleeping Charm he knew. Luna twitched as it took effect, then nestled down farther into her sleeping bag and was still.
"There," Draco said aloud, standing up with a wince. His back was sore after sleeping on Luna's neck all night long. "If I'm lucky, it'll last all day, and then I just need to come back here tonight—Disillusioned, of course, they'd hex me as soon as they saw me on the other side if I weren't—and take her back with me…"
And now I know I can take people along when I change worlds. I didn't before. Not that I'd inflict that world on anyone here, but I might want to try to salvage someone from there. Maybe Mother… though I don't know how well she'd get along with Mum, or what she'd do with herself here…
Dismissing the thoughts, Draco set a few Safety Charms around Luna, then put his wand away and started for the castle. He'd explain what was going on to his Head of House and the man's wife—Professors Riddle and McGonagall were equal to almost anything, and what they couldn't handle, Headmaster Dumbledore surely could…
And only a bit of that would make sense to anyone from the other side. The rest would be gibberish. Either that or heresy.
He laughed aloud, recalling the night before. Longbottom was making fun of Luna—or no, just trying to tell her how wrong he thought she was—but anyway, he claimed if she was right about me, he'd marry a relative of the Lestranges. Well, maybe you won't, Longbottom, but Neville certainly seems to be looking at Meghan Black that certain way, and she's my dear Auntie Bella's first cousin once removed…
A far older memory swept over him. He was quite small, about Dragon Charlie's age, and climbing out of a Gringotts cart with his mother, wincing away from the noise as a goblin shook a metal instrument towards a dragon, which cowered back down the passage—another goblin laid his palm against the wood of a nearby door, which melted away, revealing what looked to Draco's five-year-old eyes like all the Galleons in the world, and an entire wall covered with silver suits of armor and jeweled helmets and golden goblets—
"Yes!" Draco shouted, startling a treeful of birds into flight. "That's it!"
He picked up his pace to a run. His plan for the eighteenth of October had just had a new wrinkle added to it.
Now I understand why Abby said I needed to know where the cup was before then…
"What is he doing in the Forest?" Hermione demanded, peering over Harry's and Ray's shoulders at the Marauder's Map.
"Leaving," said Ron, pointing at Draco's dot, which was moving rapidly towards the castle. "But he wasn't alone—" He stopped and looked up. "Huh. That's strange."
Hermione followed Ron's gaze to Luna. She was taking advantage of their morning break to discuss the life cycle of a nargle with Professor Kettleburn, who'd taken over his father's position when the elder man retired to preserve his one-and-a-half remaining natural limbs. I can understand that—even a magical prosthesis isn't ever the same as what it's replacing, though they can come surprisingly close…
Then she looked back at the Map, at the spot Ray was pointing to.
"Oh my," she said.
"Maybe we should go out and meet him." Harry folded up the Map. "See what he's got himself into this time."
"That's one thing I like about having Draco Malfoy around," said Ginny, following her fiancé. "Life is never dull."
"Occasionally insane," Neville said, holding the door for everyone. "But never dull."
Luna watched them go, smiling to herself. Professor Kettleburn was trying to find a polite way to tell her that he didn't think nargles existed. She had known that about him, but talking to him about them served as a useful cover for what she was really doing.
I will have to tell Draco sometime about another piece to his ideas about parents and upbringing—two counterparts who had the same mother, a lady who was courted by a pair of half-brothers, and in each world a different one succeeded…
Professor Riddle proved more than willing to lay a few Safety Charms of his own around the spot in the Forest where Luna was sleeping, Professor Flitwick waived the usual detention for missing class with the proviso that Draco have the day's work done by their next meeting, and there was just enough of morning break left for Draco to tell his friends the realization he'd had in the Forest.
"It's the Lestrange vault," he said, tapping the sketch Luna had made of the scene Professor Riddle had showed them, Helga Hufflepuff's cup reposing between an emerald-studded helmet and a flask of potion, its glass etched in patterns that had been filled with gold. "Mother took me there once when I was young; I think there'd been an attempted robbery and she wanted to see for herself that her sister's treasure was all safe. Mind you, I'm not sure how she'd have noticed anything missing in that rat's nest…"
"That's great," said Harry, "but I'm still not getting why it was so important for you to know this now. What's it have to do with Ron walking out on me and Neenie? And don't even start," he added over his shoulder. "You know I mean the other one."
"I wasn't going to say anything," Ron protested.
"Just making sure…" Harry's voice was almost drowned out by the warning bell for the second morning class.
"Tell us at lunch, Draco," said Hermione as the group grabbed bags and headed for various doors and stairwells. "Meet in the TVP room, everyone? We can have the house-elves bring something up."
"Sounds good." "I'll be there." "Got it."
"What it has to do with Weasley walking out," said Draco between bites of sandwich, "is that I'm planning to be there. To grab him and take him back to the Manor with me."
"What?" said several people at once.
"No, hear me out!" Draco held up his free hand. "I did some experimenting over the summer, and now that I've bonded with the Manor-core, I can make things move in the house and on the grounds. Doors, windows, furniture—even the actual grounds themselves, the dirt will get out of the way if I tell it to, all the way to our boundaries—are you starting to see what I'm getting at?"
"Maybe," said Ray. "Go on."
"The Dark Lord kidnapped Ollivander nearly a year ago, he's been torturing him ever since, I'm not sure what he's after…" Draco shook his head. "Never mind. The point is, Ollivander's weak enough he'd never get away from there on his own, even if I gave him a tunnel right out of the cellar they're keeping him in. But with someone helping him, they could both escape."
"And you're going to make the other me the someone," said Ron, then frowned. "But wait, isn't he supposed to be home sick?"
"That's right!" Ginny exclaimed. "No one knows Ron is with Harry, they all think he's home with spattergroit—you can't bring him in, Draco, they'll go after our family, we won't be able to get into hiding in time unless you warn us, and even then there's the other me to think about, I don't think she could get away from Hogwarts in time…"
"Hold on a second," said Harry. "What do they know, or think they know? Who's missing?"
"Just you and Hermione." Draco set down his sandwich in favor of a slice of apple. "Why?"
"Well, you can't exactly bring me in. That'd get them way too excited, and suspicious, too, because you've never beaten the other me in a duel, right?"
Draco winced. "Do you have to bring it up?"
"Sorry, just thinking. But it's right, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it's right."
"So it can't be Ron you ‘heroically capture’, and it can't be me." Harry bit a crisp in half. "That only leaves one person it can be."
"I hate to point this out, Harry," said Ginny, "but she's not the one Abby saw leaving."
"That's easy to fix," said Luna. "Draco's good with a cauldron." Her smile seemed to linger a moment longer than it should have. "There's just enough time, too. And he can do the brewing here and take it back with him so no one suspects, now that he knows he can bring things back and forth that are bigger than just a bit of parchment or a wand."
"I'm still missing a connection here," said Ray.
"You won't need to worry about redosing," Luna added to Draco. "They won't want to question her right away, because they'll want him to be there for it, so they'll put her in the cellar with Mr. Ollivander—only by the time he gets back…" She giggled. "I see why Abby said it was funny. It really is."
Meghan began to giggle as well, looking from Ron to Hermione. A moment later, Ginny and Harry both laughed. Neville scrunched up his face. "Merlin's wand, Luna," he complained, "I didn't need to think about that."
"Don't you have a free period now, Draco?" Luna asked as the group finished lunch.
"Yeah, why?"
"I have one too, and I was hoping to try over a duet I taught you the first night you came in your spirit form. Do you remember?"
"Which? The first one, about dangerous games?"
Luna smiled. "Yes, that one. I've always liked it, and it seems very fitting for me to sing it with you instead of with Ray."
"Why—oh, right." The duet in question came from a show about a man with a dual personality, one good, the other evil. "Just as long as you don't think I'm out to murder you."
"No, that's Nev…" Luna stopped. "Never mind me," she finished after a moment. "Will you come? Pretty please?"
"You're certainly as pretty as Abby, so I don't see how I can say no." Draco shouldered his bag. "Which way?"
The room to which Luna led him was larger than the practice room in which he'd learned the song, but windowless as that cubbyhole had been, and a piano stood in the corner here as well. Luna took out a book of music from her bag, opened it to the song she wanted, and placed it on the piano's music stand, then tapped her wand three times against the corner of the piano. "It won't have the spirit that a real player would give to it," she said, coming to the center of the room. "But it will accompany us well enough. Tell me when you're ready."
Draco took up a place a few paces behind Luna and reached towards her, letting his fingertips just touch her soft skin at the juncture of shoulder and neck. A thrill ran down his arm as they made contact, and he had to swallow before he could say, "Ready."
Luna began to sing. Within a few words, Draco knew this had been a mistake.
She's beautiful, she's talented, I'm attracted to her, we are alone together, and she's singing about how dangerous I am to her. Is she more right than she knows?
Firmly controlling his desires, he entered the song on his cue, answering her desperation with mockery. His character, after all, was evil.
And I don't know how much longer I can be good with temptation like this…
In the Forest, Luna slept soundly. A faint smile lingered on her lips.
It was always good to give one's friends chances to know each other better before they got involved.