snakes and lions

Chapter 5

He was back in the cellar. He approached Lord Voldemort from behind and saw him torturing the same person he had seen the day before. Draco was writhing and whimpering on the floor. Beads of sweat and tears rolled down his pale skin and he made whines of agony whenever his torturer twisted his wand. Voldemort looked very entertained, and he cackled at the weak and worthless body on the damp stone floor. The dark wizard finally dropped his wand to his side and took a step back to face the horrified Harry. He heard the almost lifeless body on the ground whisper something so softly and quietly that Harry could barely just hear. "Help me . . . "

The weekend went faster than Harry had hoped. Luckily, the talk of Potter and Malfoy had died down a bit by Sunday night, but by Monday morning practically everyone was talking about it.

"Harry? Harry?"
The Gryffindor snapped out of his daydream.
"Harry, you need to eat something,"
"Hm?"
"Harry!"
"What?"
Harry sat up suddenly and looked at the worried Hermione.
"Harry, you should really eat something,"
"It's okay, 'mione. I'm not hungry,"
Harry made to stand up, but Hermione suddenly pulled him in for a tight hug.
"I'm going to miss you,"
"It's only 10 days!" chipped in Ron.
"It's okay Hermione. As Ron said last night, it'll be over before you know it. And I'll tell you everything when I come back. It's not like I'm going away forever. I'll be fine - honestly," Harry whispered comfortingly in her ear before they pulled apart.
"Bye buddy. Have fun," Ron smirked.
"Oh shut up," Harry laughed.

He left his friends in the great hall to go and fetch his trunk from his dormitory, but that was unnecessary as he found his trunk and other belongings in the entrance hall already, along with Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall and unmistakably, Draco Malfoy.

"Ah, good morning Harry! You slept well, I hope?" greeted Dumbledore. Harry nodded. His eyes met the silvery grey ones for the third time in the last week. They looked at eachother for a few seconds, because he snapped out of it and looked down at the floor. "Well let's get going then, no time to waste," responded Professor McGonagall. "You can leave your things here, boys. We will get them brought up to you."

They made their way up a flight of stairs behind a door to the side of the great hall, which Harry thought was just the caretaker's cupboard. The steps spiralled up and up and up until they reached a blank wall. Dumbledore stepped up to it and placed his wand on one specific brick and muttered a few words of which Harry couldn't understand. A wooden door appeared against the stone with a large brass door knocker placed in the center. The door knocker was the shape of a lion and a snake entwined together, and although the door looked extremely old, the brass looked as good as new.

The door swung open to reveal a room slightly smaller than the Gryffindor common room. It had a warm, blazing fire and a few windows with a beautiful views of the Hogwarts grounds. Plush red and green sofas sat in front of the fire with beautifully designed silk cushions sitting on top. There were a couple of small desks and chairs dotted around the room along with spare ink and parchment. The walls were a pattern of green and red, with a tapestry of the same design of the lion and snake hung on one of the walls. Harry guessed that this room was at the top of a tower, as the ceiling was pointed and the room was quite cold in the areas which the heat from the fire couldn't reach. There was a door in the corner with a golden plaque on it reading 'H. Potter and D. Malfoy'. In the opposite corner was a small stove, a tap and some cupboards.

"This is your room for the next 10 days!" smiled Dumbledore. "As you can see, you have a sitting room, small kitchen, desks to work on and . . . " Dumbledore walked over to one of the windows and open it to reveal a balcony, "a place to get some fresh air. You can take a seat if you like," he gestured to the sofas in front of the burning fire.

"The balcony is enchanted so if you ever fall, or try to escape, you will be restricted by an invisible barrier. If you ever get hungry, or need something, just think very carefully of what you want and it should appear at your command-" Dumbledore stopped speaking and closed his eyes. A second later, a bag of sherbet lemons appeared out of thin air. "Ah, there you go. Sherbet lemon?" Dumbledore asked the boys. They shook their heads and Dumbledore carried on. "The door knocker on the door will only be used for emergencies. It is able to sense danger, so if you touch it, we will appear to help. But you can't just touch it when you feel like it or it might just burn your fingers off," Dumbledore winked. Harry turned his head to see that the brass door knocker was also on the inside of the door, as well as the outside.

"Minerva, Severus, they can have their work now, please." The two teachers walked forward clutching a bundle of papers which they handed to Harry and Draco.
"As I said before, this is your work for the next few days. You don't have to finish it all, but I won't be impressed if you do none, because this isn't just a silly game to bunk off school. Gryffindor and Slytherin weren't the friendliest with eachother back when Hogwarts began, but now is the time where we will change that, make a difference, and I am depending on you two. Would you like to ask any questions before we leave?"asked Dumbledore. There was silence. "Well then, I shall leave you be. Have fun, stay safe, and I shall see you at the weekend to check up on you."

Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall left the room swiftly and the door swung shut behind them. The two boys stood in silence, looking at eachother, until Draco left for the bedroom and shut the door with a slam.