Papillon

19 - la posédé

C H A P T E R 1 9

Harry

Harry had always wanted to visit Malfoy Manor, wanted to know what the place Draco called his home was like. At least; one of his homes. Harry knew his true home was that in France — the cottage on the countryside with a beautiful sea not too far away. A place where the French could relax on a sandy beach, a beautiful horizon throwing orange light upon his pale face. Yet he knew Draco had spent most of his life at the manor. A dark place, he had told him, where a winter's cold seemed to haunt the corridors even during the warmest of summer days. Harry simply couldn't see the two together — and now that he had to go there soon enough himself, he didn't feel that excited anymore either.

They had started to make plans almost immediately after finding the whereabouts of the locket — at least, the person it was with. Of course there was no certainty of Bellatrix and Voldemort being at the manor, or the locket itself all-together, though the three of them knew there was no way around visiting the place anyway. They didn't have any other leads for the remaining horcruxes, and therefore it seemed the best to go with their gut-instinct.

Empty beds greeted the young wizard — a few rays of daylight shining in through the creek of the closed curtains. A portrait of an angry Wizard was still turned around with its face towards the wall. Harry sat in the room he had shared with Draco before; where they had whispered stories and listened to Tonks' loud snoring for hours on end. It felt extremely empty now without the French being there. No grins. No round suitcase. No Draco. Two months had passed since they had arrived at Grimmauld Place, a poster now on every wall in the magical world declaring Harry James Potter as Unwanted Number One. It had been strange to see his own face, his own pair of eyes, his mess of a hair everywhere they secretly went.

Lies, spread around by a Ministry that wasn't in the hands of the good anymore. They had realized that soon enough, as they had read the Daily Prophet and seen its cover with a smiling Dolores Umbridge depicted on it. Hermione quickly speculated that Voldemort was behind this sudden new election. Even though Umbridge had seemed so highly against him, they were all convinced they would match perfectly evil-wise. The cruel woman was in charge of interrogating Muggle-borns and Half-Bloods now — of which most ended up without a wand or in Azkaban if they really were a disappointing matter in the eyes of the pink toad.

It had started to rain. Drops made loud noises against the windows, on the roof, surrounding Harry with a drowning sadness. The sound the drops made against the glass reminded him a bit of Hedwig whenever she would bring a letter to his window at the Dursley's. Draco's letters mostly. She had passed away during the attack in the night sky — catching a Death Curse that had been meant for her owner. Feeling forever grateful for her loyalty and sacrifice, Harry still thought about her daily and wished her the best afterlife an owl could possibly ask for.

Descending the stairs with his eyes wandering off to the display of beheaded House-Elves, Harry could hear Hermione and Ron exchange words in a whispering tone in the living room. He waited in the hallway for a few seconds, held his ear by the door as he listened to the worry in their voices as they once again discussed the whereabouts of other horcruxes — and how disappointed they were for nothing having found any yet. His friends grew quiet as he entered the room, their eyes looking up and quickly down again. 'Did you sleep well?' Hermione asked, the same question she repeated every morning since their arrival at the place.

A nod followed, even though Harry hadn't slept well at all. Every night he had nightmares about either Voldemort or Draco; the monster murdering his friends, or Draco being hurt or dead. He would often catch glimpses of Dumbledore as well, stumbling down the Astronomy Tower and getting swallowed by the darkness of the night. 'Did you?' he asked in return — yet another one that got repeated daily.