Fire and Ice

The Black Lake

Draco opened his eyes.

Surrounded by murky darkness, Draco squinted in an effort to see. The world in which he was clouded every time something came into focus; it was immensely irritating. A khaki-black film filtered Draco's vision, almost as if he was wearing muggle sunglasses (an admittedly genious contraption that muggles had invented to slightly reduce the blinding appearance of the sun). Raising his hands quickly to his face, Draco found no object stunting his vision; either his eyesight was fading or the universe he occupied was not made for seeing.

Draco looked down at his body, which was dressed in a plain black gown. That's strange, he thought, as he lightly fingered the edges. The material was smooth, but of mediocre quality; the clothing would need to be quadrupled at least to match the thread count of the robes at Malfoy Manor. Why am I wearing this? I wasn't wearing this before... Before...

Footsteps echoing behind him crushed Draco's train of thoughts. Whipping around, Draco's left hand automatically plunged into his clothing for his wand, only to find more rough fabric. Growling in annoyance, Draco adopted to instead stand his ground and wait for the shady silhouette to sharpen.

When it finally did, Draco's jaw nearly dropped.

Dressed in robes of jade green and pale silver, the aged man walked with purpose and power. Lines traced his face like a well-used map, and his stormy grey eyes mirrored Draco's. Holding his head high and striding slowly, he pierced Draco with a gaze so penetrating that Draco couldn't look away. His slanted eyes and hooked nose almost made him look snake-like.

They faced each other silently, waiting.

Draco opened his mouth to speak and almost immediately closed it; what appeared to be filthy water rushed into his mouth. Alarmed, Draco raised his arms in defence. Suddenly, the reason to why everything was murky and dark became clear; he was underwater. The Black Lake.

"Correct", a cold voice hissed in his head. Promptly, Draco opened his mouth and swallowed another mouthful of the dank liquid. Staring at the man before him, Draco thought, clearly: "But you've been dead for centuries."

Salazar Slytherin laughed. With a frown, Draco noticed that the water didn't affect him as it affected Draco. For some reason, Draco was satisfied knowing that fact.

"Correct again."

"So how..?"

"The question is not how, but who."

"I don't-"

"WHO, BOY, WHO!" Slytherin suddenly roared, leaping towards Draco to shake him. "You! You, who wears my great magic on your wand-hand, my legendary duelling powers! You, who dare use my duelling powers against my heir, the heir of Slytherin himself?!"

Overcome with sudden anger, Draco pushed the Hogwarts founder away with enough force to floor him. Draco's mind had suddenly stretched open as he realized what had happened; he had just been duelling Lord Voldemort.