Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned from the Harry Potter books belong to JKR. All other characters mentioned in these pages belong to Velvet Song or myself. No monies changed hands during the writing of this story.

Author's Notes: This is the sequel to Velvet Song's "Damsels and Dragons" which she allowed me to complete and post to this archive. If you have not read the first story, I strongly encourage you to do so to avoid any confusion while reading this story. The first chapters by Velvet Song can be found here: http://www.thepetulantpoetess.com/viewstory.php?sid=18337, and my concluding chapters can be found here: http://www.thepetulantpoetess.com/viewstory.php?sid=19501.

Thanks to noybate for the prompt beta.

Chapter 7

Draco pushed away from the table in the staff room, a pile of books forgotten in front of him. He leaned back in his chair and stretched, yawning loudly. Harry grunted at him from over his own stack of books while Neville echoed the yawn.

"Draco, where are your manners?" Narcissa scolded. "Cover your mouth when you yawn." She put aside the book she was reading and picked up another. "If you're finished with those books, would you go look for your father? He should have been back by now."

Draco sat forward in his chair. "Of course, Mother. Right away." With that, he stood up and headed for the door.

"Malfoy?" Harry called just as he reached for the handle.

"What, Potter?" Draco turned back to the room and looked at his schoolyard nemesis, who sat with his glasses in one hand while he rubbed his eyes with the other.

"If you see Minerva and Susan, would you let them know we're only about halfway through these books?" Harry asked. "I really don't believe we'll find anything in the Restricted Section, but don't tell them that."

"You never know," Neville piped up. "We might find something. There're corners of that library that I doubt anyone but Madam Pince has seen."

"And Hermione," Harry said with a laugh and a nudge into his partner's ribs.

"Right," Neville agreed, grinning. "And Hermione."

"Well," Draco drawled. "I agree about the number of books. I really doubt we'll get through all these today. If I see them, I'll let them know."

"Thanks, mate." Harry picked up the next book in his pile.

"Not a problem," Draco said, finally pushing through the door and into the corridor.

The hair on the nape of his neck bristling, Draco stopped just short of the dungeons stairwell and looked around. A faint shuffling sound met his ears from the Entrance Hall, but he saw nothing. "Finite Incantatem," he said, flicking his wand towards the sound.

"Heh, what's that?" Filch asked, sticking his head around the open door to the Great Hall. "What are you messing with now, Professor Malfoy?" He moved further out into the Entrance Hall, and Draco saw he carried a broom.

"Sorry, Filch," he said. "Thought I heard something out here." Shrugging, he continued, "Must've been my imagination. Too much reading today."

Filch tsked in his teeth. "Be worth it to help Professor Snape," he said. "Wish I could help." He shrugged. "Wishing don't make things come true. Not for me, anyway. Come on, Mrs Norris. We got floors to sweep." The cat following, Filch moved back into the great hall while Draco started down the stairs to the dungeons.

"That's odd," he muttered to himself as he noticed a cushioning charm on the stairs. "Who cast this?" Further on, he found a small smear of blood on the banister along with a strand of whitish blonde hair. "Father?" he called, to be answered by a groan from the foot of the stairs.

Draco practically raced down the rest of the stairs, almost falling over an unconscious Lucius in his haste. "Father!" he shouted. "Father, what happened?"

"Professor Malfoy?" Filch's voice echoed down the stairwell. "Everything alright?"

"Filch!" Draco yelled, stabilising his father's head and neck with a quick immobilising charm. "Get Poppy! My father's hurt!"

"Right away, sir!" Draco heard Filch's footsteps move away from the staircase. Shortly, Poppy raced down the stairs, followed closely by Narcissa and Susan.

"Oh, Merlin," Narcissa moaned. "Lucius, are you alright? Speak to me, darling."

"Narcissa, stay back," Poppy snarled, casting some quick diagnostic charms. "You're not helping matters." Swiftly, she conjured a stretcher and set it down next to Lucius's unresponsive body. "Draco, help me get him on the stretcher so we can get him up to the hospital wing."

"Is he going to be okay?" Susan asked, her arm around her mother-in-law's waist, the two witches supporting one another.

"Yes. Yes," Poppy said shortly, her mind on the patient. "He just has a concussion and bruising. A night on the ward will help immensely."

Narcissa let out a sigh of relief as she and Susan moved clear, allowing Poppy to move Lucius upstairs on the stretcher. Draco stepped back, giving his wife and mother the chance to go first, before he too climbed the stairs to the ground floor and then up to the mediwitch's domain.

§§§§§§§

Lucius groaned as he moved to turn over, only to realise he was not in his own bed. Opening his eyes, he saw the anxious faces of his family, as well as the headmistress, staring down at him.

"What happened?" he asked, moving to sit up, only to groan and fall back onto his pillow. "My head." He placed a hand on the side of his head as if to make sure it was still attached. "How did I end up here?"

"You're lucky Draco went looking for you," Poppy said briskly as she pushed through the curtains with a potion vial and a pot of salve. "Nothing's broken. Here." She handed him the vial. "This will help with your aches."

"Whose brewing?" Lucius asked as he accepted help from Narcissa to sit up. "Hermione's?"

"Severus," Poppy answered. "He wanted to feel useful, so he's started brewing the potions I'll need for the school year. Drink it down."

"At least I know it won't kill me," the blond wizard grumbled. He quickly swallowed the vial of potion, then frowned. "What did he do to this? It tastes good." Lucius regarded the vial in his hand with interest.

Poppy snorted. "The daft fool decided he didn't like the taste of the potions I made him take while he was recovering so he's started experimenting with flavours." She indicated the vial. "That's one of his first successes." She handed Narcissa the salve. "This will help with the bruising. Let's get your shirt off."

"I always knew you had a soft spot for me," Lucius teased. "But really, Poppy, my wife is standing right here."

"Oh, hush, you," Minerva said finally. Lucius looked up in time to see her wipe her eyes. "I'd thought we'd lost you at first. Filch was hard to understand, he was that upset. Luckily, Harry kept his head and got me while Narcissa went after you."

"He's well and fine," Poppy reassured the Headmistress as well as Narcissa. She finished pulling Lucius's shirt up and hissed. "Here, get this off completely," she ordered, reaching for her wand. "Minerva, you'll want to see this."

"See what, Poppy?" Minerva moved to the head of the bed where she would have a good view of Lucius's back. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed. There, between Lucius's shoulder blades, were two perfect handprints.

Poppy performed some more diagnostics. "At least we know Filch didn't do this," she said. "There's magic in these bruises. Someone used a strengthening charm when he pushed you."

"I felt something as I was walking downstairs," Lucius confessed. "I barely managed to cast a non-verbal cushioning charm before I hit the first steps."

"It kept you from being killed outright," Poppy confirmed. "But who'd want to push you downstairs?"

"Minerva? You here? Harry said there'd been trouble." Remus stepped out of the fireplace, brushing soot from his robes. "Everything all right?"

"Lucius was pushed downstairs," Minerva said, bustling up to the werewolf. "Did you smell anything strange when you came in?"

Remus took a moment to consider. "Not that I was aware of," he said with deliberation. "I came in and met Harry and Neville in the Entrance Hall. They told me you were up here so I used the Floo in the staff room and up I came. Want me to sniff around a little?"

"Probably a moot point," Minerva said with a sniff. "Winky!"

The little house-elf popped into view. "Headmistress call Winky?"

"Yes," Minerva said briskly. "Would you ask your fellow house-elves if they saw anything or anybody strange in the entrance hall this afternoon? Professor Malfoy was shoved down the stairs..."

The house-elf drew a deep breath. "Professor-father Malfoy, Professor-mother Malfoy, or Professor-son Malfoy?" she asked fearfully.

"Um." Minerva hesitated, trying not to smile at the names the house-elves had for the Malfoy family. "Professor-father Malfoy."

"Professor-father Malfoy good to house-elves. Winky ask." The house-elf vanished only to shortly return. "No see stranger in Entrance Hall today," she said. "Caretaker in Great Hall, fixing floor so house-elves can polish tonight. That all."

"Thank you, Winky," Minerva said, dismissing the house-elf, who vanished back to the kitchens. "How did he or she get in and out without someone seeing or hearing them?" she muttered to herself.

"Was that a rhetorical question, Minerva?" Remus asked. "If not, I'll go check out the Entrance Hall if you wish."

"No, Remus," Minerva told him. "If the house-elves didn't see or hear anything strange, I fully doubt you'll find anything." She moved off, back towards the bed where Narcissa was spreading bruise paste on the worst of Lucius's injuries. "Go change your clothes, if you would. We'll be meeting in the staff room as soon as we can. I want to know what you found out from your meetings with Bill Weasley and Thaddeus Phelps." She blushed slightly as she mentioned the older wizard's name.

"Oho," Remus teased. "Minerva's got a bit of a crush. He's married, you know."

"Get on with you," she retorted with a flick of her hand. "Go change. We'll meet in the staff room shortly." Minerva watched as the werewolf used the Floo.

"Remus Lupin's rooms," he called and whooshed away, only to return in an agitated state. "Minerva!" he gasped, looking stricken.

"Remus?" Minerva clutched him by the arm. "What's wrong? Poppy!" She manoeuvred the younger wizard over to a chair. "Poppy! Oh, there you are."

"What's happened to Remus?" Poppy said. "He sounded fine just a bit ago."

"The Wolfsbane," Remus gasped. "All my Wolfsbane. Destroyed. Every bit of it."

"Destroyed?" Draco asked, having wandered over on his father's orders to find out what was happening. "How?"

"Someone entered my rooms," Remus snarled. "Whoever it was managed to get past my wards and smashed my entire supply of Wolfsbane. I found the bottles smashed on the floor and the glass all mixed in with the potion." He looked at Minerva, the pain evident in his eyes. "Hermione made me enough to last for six months, ‛til the Christmas hols. Now what'll I do?"

"We'll ask her to make more," Minerva said briskly. "Let the house-elves clean the mess up, and let's get down to the staff room. We need to find out what's going on here. Poppy, can Lucius get up and join us?"

"I'll be right there, Minerva," Lucius answered for the mediwitch. "Just let me get my clothes back on."

"Good. Staff meeting in five minutes," the Headmistress ordered as she left the hospital wing, Remus and Draco on her heels.

§§§§§§§

"Right, then," Minerva sighed as she ticked off the last complaint of damage to personal possessions. "Has anybody checked Hermione's or Severus's quarters for damage?"

"Hermione's got so many wards and sigils on her doors...both her personal quarters and the potions lab...that I really doubt anyone could get in without her," Harry said with a laugh. "Though they do show signs someone tried." He and Neville shared an uneasy look.

"Severus's wards are, shall we say, challenging," Lucius drawled. "He's got the same wards as Marbh-clah on his door."

"What's that mean, exactly?" Minerva asked. "Is it dangerous for anyone living in the castle?"

Lucius laughed. "Not at all, Minerva," he quickly reassured her. "It just means that nobody can get into Severus's quarters without a personal invitation from him. In fact, I would wager you could go down there right now and...even knowing where the door is located...you wouldn't find his rooms at all."

"Interesting," Harry mused, his curiosity piqued. "How's that work?"

"It's really old magic," Susan spoke up. "I've only seen it mentioned in some older reference books that Professor Flitwick allowed me to borrow once, but I've never heard of any modern instances of it being used. I'd love..."

"Yes, I'm sure that's all very interesting," Minerva interrupted her Charms professor. "But it doesn't pertain to the question at hand. Who or what did this, and how did they get into the castle without tripping any alarms?"

Remus cleared his throat with a loud 'ahem'. "If I might make a suggestion?" he said when everyone at the table looked over towards him. "Harry, do you still have the map?"

"Map?" Draco looked up in interest. "What map?"

Harry ignored the other wizard as he pulled a piece of old parchment out of his robe's inner pocket. "Yeah, right here," he said. "Luckily, this guy ignored the old parchment sitting on my desk." He grinned as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

"I always knew you'd admit it one day, Potter," Draco said with a teasing grin. "What?" Astonishment crossed his face as the parchment opened out and became a map of Hogwarts and its grounds. "Where'd you get that?"

Draco and the other instructors gathered around Remus and Harry, exclaiming at the magnitude of charm work it must have taken to produce such an artefact.

"Look!" Susan said, pointing at the staff room. "It shows all of us here." She looked about quizzically. "But... it doesn't show the house-elves. Why not?"

"We were kids when we made this," Remus said. "I doubt any of us even thought of the house-elves. James and Sirius just wanted to know where the teachers were so we could sneak out if we wanted to."

"You made this as a student?" Lucius said, touching the edge of the parchment. He pulled his finger back quickly when Remus hissed. "Sorry. If Riddle had known about this map..." He shuddered, and the rest of the room fell silent as everyone contemplated the hideous idea.

"Yes, well," Minerva said, straightening her shoulders. "Does the map show anybody else on the grounds? Anybody who doesn't belong here," she quickly amended.

Harry and Remus looked over the map carefully. "No," Harry finally said. "It's just us. Whoever it was...if there actually was someone...they're long gone. Mischief Managed!"

"What d'ya mean?" Draco asked, irked, as the parchment cleared and shrank. Harry tucked it back into his pocket. "If there actually was someone?"

"Indeed," Minerva said. "Everyone in the castle today has been with someone else with the exception of Remus." She looked over at the werewolf. "My apologies, Remus. I know you were in London meeting with Bill Weasley and Thaddeus Phelps, not running around Hogwarts and destroying your own Wolfsbane potion."

"Not to mention my back-up supply cupboard," Poppy said as she entered the staff room. Sitting down with a sigh, she looked at the Headmistress. "Add it to your list, Minerva. I've just come from looking into the hospital back-up supply cupboard because I knew there was some spare Wolfsbane there. Everything's been totally destroyed. Hermione and Severus are going to have to work double-time when they get back in order for me to have enough supplies to even get through the first month of school." She shook her head sadly. "Someone has been extremely busy, and I know it wasn't one of us."

"Indeed," Minerva answered, her agreement all too evident. "Whoever this was must've moved fast. It's possible that Lucius's push down the stairs might have been the last action taken before our miscreant left the castle."

"What do we do now?" Neville asked, his voice shaky with trepidation.

"We clean up the messes," Minerva assured everyone, "and continue our research to help Severus. That's what we do now. Oh," she continued as the others stood and started out of the room. "We also keep an eye out for a stranger. I'll tell the house-elves myself."