Dodging Prison and Stealing Witches

Chapter 55: Movers and Shakers - Part 3

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text
Through the floor came sounds of dancing. Through the floor came sounds of merry-making. Through the floor came the occasional sounds of a very embarrassed witch or wizard — one who just realised that the charming masked man or woman that they'd just shared an intimate dance with, was, in fact, their wife or husband's sworn mortal enemy.

Up here, in the private quarters of Slytherin Manor, the muffled sounds of the party below filtered through several layers of wood and carpets, to reach the ears of Daphne and Harry, sitting side-by-side on one of the large sofas, going through large collections of parchment notes on the low table in front of them.

"So much left to do," Daphne said. "And I'm already tired. I do hope Astoria isn't embarrassing me down there."

Footsteps from down the hall caused them both to look up.

"My lord?" Luna poked her head around the corner. She had another stack of parchments under her arm. "Would now be a good time, my lord?"

— DP&SW: NRiCaD —

Outside Slytherin Manor, torch-lit under an ink-black sky, Draco sat on one of the many grassy benches of the duelling arena with his hands under his chin, staring blankly upon the circle of sand below. Down there, his new mistress was going toe-to-toe with a wizard eight years her senior. Black was holding her own, swatting and dodging, shielding when needed and casting out nasty-looking hexes and curses when the opportunities presented themselves.

It was unbelievably impressive, but, Draco noted glumly, it was nowhere near as impressive as taking on the whole Slytherin common room single-handed.

How had he believed, even for a minute, that was possible?

What had been the trick? Had it even been Black? An illusion? Polyjuice? Had there been help? Had her opposition been infiltrated with sleeper agents? Traitors? Informants? Or had the illusion been woven on the fight itself?

It was Harry and John Potter's fault, that was it.

After they'd completely dismantled the duelling tournament last year, he'd come to see that kind of overwhelming power as normal.

Of course it wasn't.

Everything about Slytherin's protégés was ridiculous. Even Weaslette was on their side. Only John and Virgo weren't... probably.

He shook his head.

No, he couldn't start thinking like that. His father had Virgo under control, certainly.

At least the pledge he'd made to Black didn't endanger his family secrets. That was a small blessing.

Down in the arena, Alexandra released her Black chains. They shot towards the shocked-looking duellist and cracked his wand clean out of his hand with a snap that sounded all around the island. Her opponent let out a cry of pain and dropped to his knees.

All around Draco, a mix of indignation and applause emanated from a dozen-ish other spectators.

Red sparks shot into the air. "Disqualified!" called out Lord Slughorn. "No family magics in Standard Class A."

"WHAT?!" Black shouted. "Potter used his at Hogwarts!"

"This is not Hogwarts, young lady. Hogwarts uses a different variation."

Draco turned his eyes skyward as the argument escalated. Weasley was up there, somewhere, happily zipping around on a broomstick that she'd found Merlin knew where. One of her hundreds of older brothers had stood around shouting at her to come down for about ten minutes before giving up and going back inside.