A/N: So, Merry Christmas everyone. I had an idea slam into me as I waited to meet some friends for dinner and typed this out in an hour. Then I thought, hmm, it doesn't give much away but gives you a glimpse as to what situation the foursome will have to face. So, I thought it wouldn't hurt to insert this in between chapters to give you a taste of what is to come! My present to you, my faithful readers! Also, this chapter was written to Muse's "Map of the Problematique", "Take A Bow" & "Assassin"-which I played over and over on my IPOD as it fit this scene so well! (Listen to "Assassin" and tell me if that music doesn't make you think of the two of them running and dodging things in this chapter!)
A/N to the A/N: This is why your comments are valued. I thought I explained it well enough above, but obviously I didn't. I'm so sorry! This is a chapter that will happen towards the end of the story, not the next chapter in the series. I was putting this up to offer a tantalizing tidbit of what WILL come for the four of them. They still have a ways to go to go from just having Malfoy and family move in to running from bad people together. So, this is just a glimpse of the future…it just didn't work out as well as I hoped. Anyway, I hope that clears up any confusion I may have caused!
Beginning of the End
There was a great rumbling and Harry dove towards Priscilla, pushing her to the ground as the platform at the top of the stairs gave way under their legs. Scrambling to their feet he grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him, quick to move away from the crumbling walls.
"Which way?" she cried keeping up with Harry's quick turns and leaps. A piece of smoking timber crashed next to them spraying them with sparks as they zig zagged their way down the long hallway.
"No idea. Away from the center of this floor!" Harry skidded to a stop and almost fell forward into a deep gaping hole as Priscilla slammed into the back of him. He teetered forward, heart leaping to his throat as the stone floor twenty feet below him seemed to beckon to him. Harry then felt her hands grab his arms as she steadied and pulled him back.
"Shit! Thanks! We have to turn back. Go to that hallway to the left," Harry gave her a push and they ran back towards where the walls were crumbling. Thankfully, the entrance to the hallway wasn't blocked and they ducked in it, noticing a door at the end.
"Wait!" Harry pulled her back as she went to open it. He had to yell over the sound of falling timber,
rocks and who knows what else that were falling through the roof of the old house. "It could be a
trap!"
Harry whipped out his wand and waved the tip over the doorframe, urging the spell to read the area on the other side of the door faster. After what seemed like ages, a green light issued from the tip and soon he and Priscilla were on the other side, the door falling off the hinges as another piece of roof struck the top of the open door. They stood facing a series of windows of what used to be a sun room.
"Now what?" Priscilla yelled stumbling against him as the floor rocked under their feet. A large piece of roof fell to ground, knocking them into the wall. Harry stumbled and fell to his knees. Priscilla yanked his arm and glanced up, pointing. There was a ladder leading to a ledge and a few windows had the glass blown out of them.
"There's a tree branch on that side. Let's go!" she tugged him towards the ladder and with a quickness that was similar to Viktor on a broom she climbed the ladder and paused to help him off the top. Harry kicked his foot free of the last rung only to see the ladder crumble to the floor as the section of the floor it was on gave way.
"We'll have to jump a bit!" she screamed and Harry shook his head, muttering a spell and pointing his wand to the direction of the large oak branch that dangled just out of reach. Ropes coiled out of his wand and wrapped themselves securely around the branch. The house shook and Harry quickly made a circle around the two of them with his wand, feeling ropes secure around their bodies like a harness. The only problem was Priscilla was now pressed up tight against him, as Harry didn't think far enough ahead to give them two separate harnesses. Their movements were now definitely limited.
Someone screamed as the floor gave way and they flew to the floor then stopped with a jerk a few inches short of the windowsill. Priscilla's shoulder slammed against the wall and he heard her scream again, not fear but in pain this time.
"We need to pull ourselves up before the wall gives!" Harry placed his feet on either side of her and motioned for her to do the same and with agonizing slowness they climbed up the wall like careful rock climbers. The smell of smoke stung Harry's nostrils now and Priscilla was coughing as she reached up with her good arm and wrapped it around the windowsill, helping Harry to lift them up and over. It was hard to stand up being tied together but harder as the house began swaying violently. Without any warning, Priscilla leaned forward and they both careened out of the window as the wood gave way, creating a monstrous dust cloud that gathered around them as this time their backs slammed into the trunk, only barely cushioned as Priscilla yelled a softening charm at the last minute.
For a moment they hung there, Harry's back stinging from the impact. They saw the wooden house fall to the ground and flames leaping out of the pile of rubble on the other side.
Hooded figured began rummaging though the end that wasn't burning as Harry nudged Priscilla with his leg to get them turned towards the tree. Again, they began walking up the tree foot by foot, hand over hand on the rope until Priscilla was forced to turn to the side, moving slowly as she and Harry were still connected. She placed a knee on the sturdy branch, then felt Harry place his next to hers.
"Don't move for a second," Harry hissed in her ear and suddenly the ropes disappeared and, breathing a large sigh of relief, they maneuvered themselves into a sitting position, the green leaves hiding them for the moment.
"I need a second," Priscilla gasped her hand gripping her right shoulder. Harry nodded and looked around them, trying to figure out what direction Draco and Hermione had run once the floor between them had given way.
"You okay?" he asked a second later realized that she was in a lot of pain.
"I'll live. I'll need someone to pop my shoulder back in though," Priscilla said quietly, her voice tense with pain and at the situation they were in.
"I'm going to summon my broom. We need to get away from here," Harry reached up and pulled a twig out of the neck of his shirt and felt a flat spot against his chest. He had put his glasses there, and now they were gone. For a moment he felt panic set in. He was used to not needing them anymore, but they had been on his nose the last month so the shadows wouldn't know that he was slowly taking every advantage he could to fight for his life. Not having to worry about shattered glass in his eye was reassuring but he wondered where they had fallen out.
He summoned his broom at the same time he heard a shout from below.
"What?" Harry leaned forward and looked over Priscilla's shoulder. She held up a pair of muggle binoculars that had been charmed to fit into her jean's pocket.
"It looks…well, I think they found your glasses and, if I'm not mistaken, they look happy."
"Maybe they'll think I'm dead." Harry held up his hand hearing the slight woosh of his broom getting closer to him.
"Not sure. They'll need more proof than that," she charmed the binoculars and placed them in her pocket, taking Harry's help in getting in front of him on the broom.
Carefully, Harry turned away moving within the branches of the tree until he was on the opposite side of it, away from them hooded figures. He heard an explosion and a yell of pain but didn't turn around to see what happened, instead he used the distraction to gain speed and push up through the low lying clouds. Priscilla turned her head towards him and asked where they were going.
"I'm going to circle around. Use those binoculars and see if you can find Hermione and your husband!" Harry turned slowly, not used to extra weight on his broom. She shifted naturally as he circled once, twice, three times going a tad bit lower each time. Finally Priscilla shook her head, and let them hang around her neck, not bothering to shrink them. Harry began to feel a sense of worry settle in his heart; he was hoping to see some sign of them on the ground.
A shudder ran through his broom and suddenly Harry was losing altitude.
"We hit some kind of invisible wall!" Priscilla grasped the broom with her one good hand and Harry wrapped an arm around her waist, not wanting to think what would happen if he let Priscilla die or get hurt. They spun downward and Harry forced the end of the broom up, hoping that that their feet would touch first and they could kind of run into the landing. He shouted his thoughts to her and suddenly the grass rose up to meet them. They managed to run a few steps before the end of the broom hit the grass and both of them went flying head over heels with Priscilla landing on top of Harry, pushing all the breath out of him.
"Someone's coming!" she hissed and reaching into his front jeans pocket she pulled the invisibility cloak out and threw it over them, making sure to pull the broom under them. They laid still, Harry trying not to make noise as he gulped in air and reached up to push Priscilla's hair out of his mouth.
"I saw them go down here!" a familiar voice whispered and in a flash Harry pushed up and rolled Priscilla off of him. The cloak fell away, revealing the back of Hermione and Draco.
"Hey," Harry called weakly. The two spun around and for a moment all Harry could do was gasp for breath again as this time a familiar body was pressed into his. Only for a moment though as Draco pulled her back. Harry sprang to his feet angry at Malfoy touching her and saw Draco had Priscilla tucked against his side. Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and motioned for him to touch the hubcap Draco held out. A familiar sensation tugged at Harry's navel and a moment later he made a not so graceful landing on his own living room rug.
"What the hell!" Harry sprang to his feet, wondering why Draco had a portkey, bringing them back to the last place the hooded figures would be.
"Listen, Potter," Draco ordered, carefully setting a banged up Priscilla down on the couch. Hermione rushed over and soon began tending to her shoulder. "They think you are dead for the moment. We saw them find your glasses."
"They won't find my body, because it's here. Alive, sans glasses only."
"Right, obviously," Draco replied wryly. "Your wife managed to get a message to John and Isabel saying they needed something that would pass as human bones, burned, to pass as you. We had to get you out of there before they saw you obviously alive." Draco looked at him levelly, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. Sense slowly trickled into Harry's sore head. Sighing he rubbed his hand across his messy hair.
"I see. Let them think I am dead and get them at the celebration."
"You catch on quickly."
"Don't be an arse Malfoy. I could've let your wife here fall down through the floor you know," Harry retorted quickly. An expression flitted across Draco's face that Harry had never seen before as he watched him glance in Priscilla's direction.
"Thanks for not doing that," he said still looking away from Harry who just nodded, knowing that those words were the closest he was going to get to a heartfelt thank you.
"So, what direction did you guys go in?" Harry asked after Hermione stood up and declared Priscilla's shoulder to be as good as new.
"The way we came into that house, but the front door was blocked by rocks that fell from the chimney so we had to crawl up the back stairs and out the porch roof and jump to the ground."
"Sounds so easy," Priscilla sighed. "We had to dodge falling stairs, falling timber that were on fire, glass from broken windows, then climb a ladder and tie ropes around ourselves only to jump out of a disintegrating window straight into the trunk of a tree. Then we took a nice spill off his broom. Is it always harder with you than her?" she asked leveling her blue eyes at Harry. Hermione answered for him, nodding her head and letting a small smile grace her lips.
"Now what?" Priscilla asked gratefully taking the glass of water Draco conjured up for her.
"We wait here until I get the signal that John and Isabel set out to accomplish what they wanted to do. Then, when that happens Harry gets to help me write his obituary. How about them apples, Harry?" Hermione touched his cheek, her eyes locking onto his. "You get to play dead twice in your life."
"Wonderful." Harry rolled his eyes but hugged her close. He'd much rather play dead a million times over than to lose her or his life.
"I need a shower. Let's all go clean up then get something to eat." Harry nodded to Draco and led Hermione upstairs fully intending on washing every ounce of soot, dirt and grime off himself and his fiancée.
-->