Chapter 6: The Missing Hour

Chapter 6: The Missing Hour

While Harry and Ginny were having their minds tinkled with, the rest of the group had parted their ways around the castle. Right when Harry and Ginny passed out, Aurora looked up. Draco was sitting next to her. They were in the greenhouse of the castle, surrounded by a special type of flower that resembled roses but bloomed in the winter.

"Did you feel that, Draco?" she asked, being the only other telepath in the house. Draco looked up at her and shrugged.

"What are you on about now, woman? Ever since you've been practicing that telepathy rubbish, you've always gotten these feelings. No, I didn't feel anything, and I would appreciate it greatly if you'd stop asking me that," Draco fussed. Aurora hit him on the shoulder.

"You are so mean to me," she mumbled. Draco lifted her chin so that she was looking at her. Aurora looked into his eyes. Draco was the only person who she couldn't use telepathy on. It was like he had mental walls up. Their faces got gradually closer.

**********

About an hour before that conversation, Ron and Hermione stumbled upon a hidden door. Hermione bumped into it, and the door seemed to be protected by some kind of shield. Ron looked as the shield rippled.

"Cool. Let's open it." Ron pulled out his wand, but Hermione pushed it down. She looked at the wall where the door had once been and tapped it with her wand. The ripples were made again, and the door appeared.

"Odd. I've never seen this kind of shield. Well, once. I saw it when Aurora did it in class that day. But, why is it here?" Hermione thought aloud. She ran her hand over the shield, feeling its warm presence. Ron, being the impatient person he is, sighed.

"Apparently it's guarding something. Now, break the shield, Mione," Ron said. Hermione looked at him in a way that made her remind him of his mother.

"Ron, since it's here, it must mean that we're not supposed to go inside. Are you that thick not to understand that?" Hermione said. She glanced at the door again. This time, a wave of suspicion fell over her. "Although, it is quite odd as to why this door is here. Every other door in the castle is unlocked. Why is this one? See, Ronnie! Now, I'm curious, and I must have a look inside."

"I knew you'd see it my way. Step aside." Ron practically pushed Hermione out of the way. "Alohomora!" he yelled the incantation. The shield merely deflected it. The two had to dive out of the way. If their reflexes hadn't been up to par, they would have been hit with it. Hermione stood up and pointed her wand.

"Honestly, Ron. It's a barrier we're trying to break, not unlock the door. Bombarda!" Hermione yelled. The barrier broke, and the door opened. Hermione smiled smugly at Ron and walked inside. He followed her, frowning with all his might.

Inside the room, they came to a staircase.

"Lumos maxima!" Hermione whispered, and the end of her wand brightened significantly. She looked at Ron who shrugged. He pushed past her and walked down the stairs. "Ronald, wait! Anything could be down there!" she yelled after him. Then Hermione heard the door shut behind her. She whirled around, shining the light from her wand behind her. No one was there.

"Hermione! Hermione!" she heard Ron yelling. Worried, she tripped and fell down the stairs because of the speed she was trying to get down them at. She landed roughly on the floor and coughed as the dust got into her nostrils. She looked up and saw two gigantic feet in front of her. Ron smiled down on her. "You really thought I was in trouble? Aww, Mione, I'm touched," Ron said. He helped her up, and she punched him the stomach. Then she looked around.

They were obviously in the cellar of the castle. Or, at least one of them. Hermione already saw the dungeons. This place was new to her. There were bottles upon bottles of wine and brandy. A whole wall was devoted to firewhisky. Hermione sighed. She knew how Ron was about drinking. He'd practically done it all summer long.

"Wow! This is great. No, this is heaven!" he said and started to walk towards the firewhisky. "I've got to tell Harry about this place!" he said gleefully. Hermione sighed deeply and rolled her eyes.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! I am honestly surprised at you! You are a prefect. Why are you behaving like this?" Hermione said. Ron glared at her. It was uncanny how much she sounded like his mother.

"Well, I'm not at school nor am I at home. So why should I obey the rules?" Ron said and popped a bottle of the firewhisky open. "I'm tired of training and right now, I want nothing more than to get bloody pissed." That's when they heard footsteps. Hermione and Ron turned towards the stairs and held their breath. The breathed when they saw it was just Neville and Neve walking down the stairs.

"Oh, it's just you. We thought it was somebody important," Hermione said. Neve looked at her in a slightly offended way.

"I see," she said in foreboding tone. Hermione mentally kicked herself, knowing that she'd just put her foot in her mouth.

"Sorry, Neve. I didn't mean it that way," Hermione said. Neve nodded then looked at the bottle that Ron was holding. Then she looked around the room. Her eyes lit up just as Ron's had as she stared around the room. She grabbed a bottle.

"Stupendo. Una cantina per vini!" she said gaily. The other three stared at her in wonder. "It's a wine cellar. This is great!"

*********

Upstairs in the greenhouse, Draco was playing with Aurora's hair as they walked around. Aurora would stop and smell the flowers every now and then. She came to a particular flower and looked at it.

"I know what this is. It's a 'margherita di nero.' Such a rare flower this is in Italia. Very rare indeed," she said, awed by the flower's beauty. It seemed to respond to her touch, as it turned toward her fingers and opened even further. Draco rolled his eyes. He hated when she got sentimental about things.

"Does Italy have a wizard's prison?" he asked, sitting on a stone step. Aurora looked over at him. She sat next to him, rubbing her neck. She still hadn't gotten used to her hair being so short.

"Yes. It is a dreadful place. Trials are held there for Dark wizards and the like. A very dangerous place it is, too. It is said that the worst sentence is the life sentence because of the level of that place's misery. I have only seen the outside of it when my father was picking up my grandfather in a Qualunque car. It's a Mugle car."

"It's pronounced Muggle. With two g's. What's this dreadful place called?" Draco corrected her, and Aurora cut her eyes at him. She hated being corrected with a passion. She also didn't like being second-best at anything. Right now, Neve was better at English than she was.

"The name is in Italian. I will see if I can translate it. I will say it first in Italian, though. It's called: Prignione di Massima si Curezza per Stregones di Cirocco. That means, um, Cirocco Maxeemum-Security Wizards' Prison."

"It's maximum. Ours is much simpler than that: Azkaban. Horrible place also. Never been there, though. Our trials are held at the Ministry of Magic in London. You do have a hospital, right? Ours is St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."

"Such a long-winded name. We have two. Their names are also in Italian. One is Ospedale di Santa Ana. It is just a regular hospital. The other is Manicomio di Santa Italia. It's a..."

"Mental hospital. I gathered as much. What guards the prison? We had dementors. Emphasis on had. But, they've all sided with the Dark Lord," Draco said disdainfully. Aurora looked at him with a quizzical expression on her face.

"Dementees? I have never heard of those. What are they?"

"De-men-tors. They're these ugly skeleton-like things that wear black cloaks. Whenever they're around, everything gets very cold. They give you this feeling like..."

"...you will never be happy again," Aurora whispered darkly. Draco looked at her with a surprised expression. Aurora was now staring at a red flower that rubbed against her hand as she touched it.

"Aurora, how did you know that?"

"Well, Neve and I have not told anyone this. Neve and I figured it was a normal occurrence for people who walk down that particular alley. I do not think she even remembers it that well, to tell you the truth. Well, we were at Diagon Alley, is it? Yes? We were shopping for supplies and came upon a dark and dumpy looking place. It soon occurred to us that we made a very wrong turn. Suddenly, everything got really dark and really cold. We could see our breath in front of us. I remembered my most horrible memory..." Her voice trailed off for a moment. She faced Draco with a frightened expression. "Oh, Draco! It was horrible. It wore a dark, raggedy cloak, like you said. Neve completely passed out as the dark dementee-thingy closed in upon us. It bent down over Neve, and a strange light was coming out of her mouth. The dementee seemed to be sucking the life right out of her. I did not know what to do. Suddenly, something clicked in my mind, and I pulled out my wand. I made a Patronus, and the ugly creature went away. That was when Neve woke up, and our father came down the street," Aurora said. Draco sat, utterly speechless. He realized his mouth was hanging open and blinked.

"A corporeal Patronus?"

"Corpo-che?"

"Did it have a definite shape? Form?"

"Shape?"

"Uh, una forma?"

"Oh. Yes. It was una unicorna. I think it is unicorn, in your language. Very beautiful, I might add."

"I've only seen Potter make one. It looks like a stag. My father, damn him to hell, taught me how to make one. It's a very large eagle. Scary looking, but beautiful at the same time. The thing about our dementors is that you can't let them Kiss you. That's what it was probably doing to Neve."

"Kiss?"

"It's not really a kiss, per se. All they do is suck out your soul. It's said to be worse than actually dying. Sounds awful if you ask me. You never told me what guards your prison, though. What is it?"

"Well, they're similar to the dementees..."

"De-men-tors. It really isn't that hard." Draco laughed. Aurora glared daggers at him.

"Shut up, Draco. We call them Spiriti Cattivi. It means..."

"...Nasty Spirits. I'm not that dense in Italian, Aurora. What do they do?"

"Well, they are very similar to the dementee-thingies. Not one word, Draco. They perform a dreadful thing. It is called 'Bacio di Morte.' Otherwise known as the Kiss of Death in English. Instead of sucking your soul out, they suck your life energy out. Evil creatures, they are. If they ever joined with the Dark Lord, as you say, it would be utterly terrible. From what Nonno tells me, it is a gruesome sight watching them perform this feat. I do not know how to beat them. I guess I could try a Patronus if I ever come face to face with one," Aurora again said darkly. Her tone seemed to have gotten lower as the conversation progressed. Draco leaned back onto the bush behind him.

"Nonno?"

"My... uh... grandfather. He is Ricardo Assante. He is what you call the Minister for Magic in Italy. Great man, that one. A bit mental, but very brilliant. He says he will retire after the war is over."

"What do you call the Dark Lord?"

"Who? Voldemort? Oh, he is known as ' il Malvagio' in our land. It means the Wicked One. Many wizards have joined his side."

"Cool name for such an evil person. Weasley was right. Speaking in Italian is like wiping your arse with silk," Draco sighed and got a sort of dreamy look in his eyes. Aurora smiled and looked back at his resting form.

"What are you thinking, Draco?"

"That I'd like nothing more than to beat the bloody hell out of him." Those words got him punched in the chest rather hard. Draco looked over at his girl with wide eyes. "That actually inflicted some pain." He said, rubbing his chest and smiling evilly.

"Quiet, Draco. You are always threatening someone." Aurora said in a heated tone.

"I'll do it. Just to spite you, love," Draco said, grabbing her around the waist. Aurora struggled in his grip.

"Sopre...il...mio...cadavere!" Aurora yelled and laughed at the same time. Draco swung her around so that he was on top of her. Aurora's face flushed at this occurrence.

"Over your dead body, huh? So be it!" he yelled and began tickling her like mad. Aurora squirmed underneath him.

"Draco! Fermarlo! Stop! Stop!" She tried to sound serious, but was failing miserably. Draco took absolute pleasure in what he was doing. He pinned her arms above her head. They were both breathing rather hard.

"Not a chance." Draco continued tickling her.

**********

Back in the wine cellar, Neve and Ron were positively drunk. Neville was well on his way there, but Hermione just watched them with hateful eyes. She was clearly not happy about this.

"Ronald, Neveah, and Neville! This is absurd. Don't come crying to me when you wake up tomorrow with a hangover! You'll just have to live with it." Suddenly, a wave of energy passed over them. Everyone paused for a moment, then Ron smiled.

"That felt funny. I felt all warm and tingly inside." He giggled girlishly. Neve looked lazily in his direction. Her hair was now a color similar to Ron's.

"Quello è perché essete bevuti, voi idiot." She laughed as well. The three of them were cackling while Hermione got a bad premonition.

"I'll be right back. I have an awful feeling about this." Hermione ran up the stairs. She ran to the room where Ginny and Harry were. Opening the door, she gasped. "Oh no," she breathed. She ran to them and checked their pulses. She sighed with relief to find their pulses were both strong, but they were both very unconscious. Fionnula walked in behind her.

"Hermione, what happened? Did you do this?" she asked, crossing her arms. Hermione shook her head very quickly.

"No, Fionnula. I felt a wave of energy and came to see if they were all right. I found them like this."

"I felt that wave also. Go and find Sloan and tell him to owl the headmaster. I'll take care of these two."

"Yes, Fionnula." And with that, Hermione was gone.

Stupendo. Una cantina per vini = Marvelous. A cellar for wines

Corpo-che = Corpo-what

Quello è perché essete bevuti, voi idiot = That's because you're drunk, you idiot