The Last Horcrux

Cats in the Night

Sev woke to the yowling of cats. He pulled the quilt over his head and tried to get back to sleep. The yowling continued, an unearthly sound, reaching up through the soft mists of his dozing mind. Beside him Remus stirred and groaned.

"What the fuck?" he said.

"Cats," Sev replied.

There was no point in trying to sleep. Sev rolled over and glanced at the lighted alarm clock on the nightstand. Twelve O'clock. Midnight. He got up, grabbed his wand and peered out the window.

Down below two cats were circling each other in the abandoned street. They looked like a couple of big toms. Their tails were pointing straight up, their backs arched. Their fur was bristled out, making them look bigger than they really were. Their eyes glowed green in the low light of the street lamps. They continued to circle each other, then attacked, hissing. Their yowls echoed off the brick walls of the dark houses.

"Make it stop," Remus moaned.

Sev opened the window. "Shoo!" he called ineffectually. "Scat!" The cats below continued to yowl and tear at each other. Maybe one of them would kill the other and they could get some rest? But that didn't seem to be happening. Sev didn't like to use magic in full view of the neighbors but no one else seemed to be about.

"Aguamenti!" he cried. Water poured from his wand and onto the snarling cats below.

Yowling with fury the two cats broke apart and ran down the road in opposite directions. Peace descended on the neighborhood. Sev closed the window and snuggled back into bed beside Remus.

He was just drifting back off to sleep when Remus started and sat up. "Shit!" he said.

"What?" said Sev groggily. "What is it now?"

"I think my water broke."

********

On a chilly afternoon in late January Draco and Dudley apparated to the road outside Malfoy Manor. They walked down the country lane lined on either side by Linden trees, their bare branches forming cones against the steely grey sky.

When they got to the heavy wrought iron gates at the end of the road Draco dug the key out of his pocket and inserted it in the lock. The gates swung inward with a creak. He reached for Dudley's hand and together they went inside.

The manor house loomed at the end of a circular drive. It was built of dark grey stone, heavy and imposing. Dudley whistled under his breath.

"There used to be peacocks on the lawn," Draco said wryly. "I wonder what happened to them."

Hand in hand they went up to the front door. The stone steps looked as if they had been destroyed by some kind of explosion. Black char marks streaked across the columns that held up a sagging roof. They picked their way over the rubble.

"What happened here?" asked Dudley.

"Snape," replied Draco. "The night he rescued Gav and Amanda. He caused an explosion out here as a distraction."

"Wow," said Dudley, "Really?"

"Yeah," said Draco. "I was there. Sitting in that fucking Death Eater meeting in the dining room." His face had gone pale. There was a far away intensity to his eyes as he remembered. "The Dark Shithead had Gav and Amanda up on the ceiling. That was the first time I ever saw them. He had already killed their parents, their mum and their stepdad. They were really little. Gav was only about 5 or 6 and he'd wet his pants. They were so scared, Dudley. I've never seen such terror in anyone, before or since."