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Title: Bonfire Night

Contributors: dm_fugitive, lacy_pembrooke

Edited by: Carla Lute

Posted: 2006-01-29 to 2-02

Game Date: September 12th

Disclaimer: No one at Levicorpus owns Harry Potter, the world or its characters. We just like to play in J.K. Rowling’s world.

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Draco spent much of his afternoon getting to know the print machine at the library. He took his stack of papers back to Riddle House, and laid on the bed looking them over. A distant, cold feeling creeped upon him as the sun began to set. It took him a little while to recognize that the feeling was not inspired by his reading material but had an outside source. He got up and stashed the papers away.

The dementors were supposed to come tonight. The grey mist was beginning to creep across the horizon, but as Draco watched out his window it came no closer. While he wasn't particularly looking forward to their visit, he wondered what could be keeping them. It would be nice to be away when they finally got here. His mind strayed to Lacy's invitation. She had said something about...

Draco swore vehmently. "The Bonfire!"

He grabbed his wand and ran outside.

Lacy had been sitting close to the fire. It hadn't been particularly cold that day, but now that the sun had set, the weather had turned strangely chilly. Steven put his coat over Lacy's shoulders and sat down beside her on the log they had made into a bench.

"Uh... thanks." Lacy said offhandedly, but was glad of the coat's warmth. Steven had confronted her earlier in the day about her dinner with her black-cloaked visitor and there had been some tension. She had remained calm though and Steven had eventually dropped it entirely.

The bonfire had been disappointingly boring to Lacy, probably because Drake hadn't shown, coupled with the fact that Steven had been following her around like a lost puppy. The others milled about, sipping punch and chatting happily, but Lacy just couldn't get into the spirit of things. Something just didn't seem right.

And then it happened. Out of the corner of her eye Lacy spotted something moving towards the group. She turned her head towards the movement and let out a squeak as her eyes caught the distinct outlines of a figure akin to the traditional portrayal of death. It loomed out of the trees and soared across the field towards them followed by many more just like it. It wouldn't have frightened her, in fact she would have dismissed it as a prank had it not been for the fact that these things were flying. Lacy stood up quickly and stumbled backwards over the log. At any other time she probably would have been thrilled to have such an encounter, but these things sent chills through her very core.

Steven jumped up and grabbed her by the hand, catching her before she hit the ground. "What's the matter?" he asked, completely confused, standing her up.

"Th.. th... THAT!" Lacy gasped and pointed, her knees threatening to buckle.

Steven turned towards the direction she was pointing and saw absolutely nothing but an empty field. "Are you daft?" he asked her. "Who spiked the punch!?" he yelled to the others and chuckled slightly. "Nice one, Lacy. Stop playing around."

Draco apparated to the trees just outside the field, and tried to get the dementors attention. They noticed him but seemed unwilling to change course from the crowd of unwitting teenagers.

As the dementors effect began to spread, the party's gaiety became more forced. Someone turned up the music on the radio to a glaring volume, and the conversation groups huddled more closely together.

"The house," Draco hissed and added gestures in the appropriate direction. "You're supposed to go to the house. Not here. There." The dementor who seemed to be leading the pack watched him blankly from beneath his dark hood.

Draco felt the cold creep over him, flashes from Underton and Dijon started to creep into his thoughts. Focus! he order himself. Focus.

Lacy watched in half shock as the death-like creatures loomed in the field, not 20 feet from the other youth group members.

"Don't you see!?" Lacy was whispering loudly at Steven who looked at her incredulously.

"See bloody, what?" Steven snapped back, sounding dejected.

Suddenly Lacy wondered if she'd gone mad. She broke away from Steven. "Nothing, just forget it." Strangely, he didn't respond, and moved away from her to get more punch.

Slowly, Lacy turned her head towards the ghostly forms. Okay, you've always wanted to see ghosts. Now go make nice. One foot in front of the other, Lacy made her way over to the looming figures, her fear still palpable, but her curiosity taking over.

Draco seemed to be at an impasse with the dementors. They weren't moving either towards or away from the bonfire, obviously torn between the Dark Lord's orders and easy prey. Something else was moving though. Draco caught something blonde through the trees. "Lacy?"

Why on earth was she moving towards them?!? "Lacy!" he called a bit more loudly. "St-Lacy, come here!" He was trying to shout loud enough for her to hear him but not so loud that everyone else did.

Past the shadowy forms and farther into the distance Lacy heard her name, immediately she spotted Drake's pale form lingering near the tree line.

"Drake!" she gasped, her spirits lifting slightly.

She looked back over her shoulder to where the group was, still huddled around the bonfire. They still hadn't seen a thing. Her gaze shifted to the apparitions and then finally settled on Drake again.

In a flash she was bolting across the field, directly under the ghosts and straight toward Drake. When she reached him she grabbed onto his shoulders and swung herself behind him quickly, peeking over his shoulder at the strange beings.

"Please tell me you see them too..." she whispered in his ear.

"I-" Draco had been ready to tell Lacy to get behind him. Ready to ask her to shut up and not ask questions, but he found himself temporarily unable to speak. "Of course I..." he began scowling.

But as he broke eye contact with the dementor to look at Lacy, he seemed to lose his hold on them as well. The dementors surged forward, and Draco swore sharply. Happy thought, happy thought, pier with Ginny "EXPECTO PATRONUM" he yelled and silver light burst from the tip of his wand. It formed into the shape of a small serpentine dragon, and began to curl and wind it's way around the dementors cutting them off from the bonfire group and herding them back into the trees. "Towards the house, send them towards the house," Draco told it.

It took a few very long seconds, but the dementors finally let themselves be herded in the direction of Riddle House.

Lacy's eyes went wide with the display. Her gaze followed Drake's outstretched arm to the object in his hand. Some sort of 'wand?'

She found herself grabbing tightly to his waist, just barely peeking over his shoulder at the spectacle before her, as the snake-like dragon herded the things she'd seen away from the bonfire.

When it was all over she found herself still clutching to Drake, completely and utterly speechless.

"Get off," Draco muttered irritably, once he had caught his breath again. His patronus had faded, but the dementors were still headed towards the house. He pulled himself free from Lacy's grip and spun about pointing his wand at her now. "I thought you were a bit too nosey. Who are you? Do you work for the Ministry?"

"Th...the!? What? No…I work at my uncle's store...I go to church, but I don't work there." Lacy blinked, confused greatly.

She found herself staring down the shaft of the wand in his hand. "Wh...what's that? How did you do that? And what were those ghost things!?"

"Shh!" Draco put his hand over Lacy's mouth and pushed her up against the closest tree, casting the bonfire attendants a nervous glance. "Keep your voice down," he hissed. "Don't play with me. Muggles can't see dementors and that means you’re a witch. And that means you've jerking me around. Now you better tell me the whole story or I'll make you my gift to the Dark Lord. Got it?" He removed his hand from her mouth and put it on her shoulder so she could speak, but he kept his wand pointed at her throat.

"Ow!" she whispered angrily. "I'm not a witch!" her voice was a shout but it only came out in a hurried whisper. "You're the witch! You're the one making dragons with a stick!"

Lacy smacked the wand out of the way quickly. "Stop it!" she hissed, becoming her old self again. Muggles, dementors... Dark Lord? Lacy kept herself pressed against the tree where he'd thrown her. "Is that what you call your uncle? The 'Dark Lord?' It sounded like a perfect nickname for him.

Draco was a new legilmens but this seemed like the perfect time to make use of what Snape had been teaching him. He watched Lacy's thoughts while she spoke and detected no sign of deception.

He dropped his wand away and let out a nervous snicker. He shook his head with a somewhat awed expression. "No, I'm not a witch. I'm a wizard. This is my wand, which you had best never touch again without permission. And you are a witch, Lacy, which makes as little sense to me as it does to you, but it's the only explanation."

He glanced over his shoulder as though expecting to see something there. "We've got to get out of here in case the Ministry comes to investigate." He extended his hand to her, this time in a gentlemanly fashion. "Come on."

Lacy was taken aback. Needless to say she was confused all over again, but the word 'wizard' had been said to her before. Severus had joked that his attire was his "wizard's cloaks." It was all coming together in her head now, but it still wasn't making much sense.

Drake was being awfully nice too. She looked down at his hand and took it quickly, glancing back at the bonfire only briefly. "Will they be okay?" she asked, sounding strangely meek.

Draco took Lacy's hand and grabbed her about the waist with the other arm. He had never tried side along apparition with another person, but there was a first time for everything.

He chose a familiar spot in the woods near Great Hangleton to apparate to. By some miracle they both reappeared in the right spot with all their body parts attached.

Draco let go of Lacy and took a few steps back. "Okay," he said. His mind already racing with ideas, each crazier than the next. "Okay...um, you want sit down? And maybe we can figure this out."

Lacy's head was spinning after the short trip. In fact she felt a bit queasy, as if someone had just pulled her through the eye of a needle. "Why didn't you tell me we were gonna do that?" she complained, holding a hand to her head.

"If I had told you I was about to apparate, you wouldn't have understood anyway," he said.

Lacy looked around herself, half-recognizing where they were. There really wasn't much to sit down on however besides some stray rocks and patches of grass. Lacy sank down on the nearest rock, looking befuddled.

"What... is going on?" she asked, looking up at him, a hint of fear in her eyes that she was most certainly trying to mask.

Draco waited for her to sit and pressed his lips together as he considered her question. "Okay, short version. Those were dementors, nasty soul-sucking buggers that would have ruined your party had they gone unchecked. Only witches and wizards can see dementors, and since you were able to see them, you are clearly a witch. What I'm trying to understand is why you don't know that." He stopped pacing, not wholly aware of having started and crossed his arms. "Who did you say your parents were again?"

"My mum and father? Allister and Sharon Pembrooke... They died when I was really young. Why?"

Lacy was beginning to calm down. As she sat on the rock she tucked her legs up to her chest, hugging them close to her body with her arms.

"I've never heard of them," Draco said. "May have been too young though, guess I can ask Snape." He tapped his wand against the side of his cheek thoughtfully. "Still you should have your Hogwarts letter. Did an owl ever bring you a letter?" He said the first sentence almost to himself, and the second slowly as though Lacy might have trouble understanding.

"N...no. But I got moved around so much after my parents died, from one relative to the next, that I never really stayed in the same place for very long." Now that Lacy was thinking about it, she almost started to wonder if they'd kept moving her around on purpose.

"Who's Snape?" she asked questioningly. "And...uh...does this mean I'm gonna have to move again?"

"Nevermind Snape," Draco said. He tucked his wand away and kneeled down in front of Lacy so he could look her in the eye. "Do you like this town, Lacy? If not, you'd probably be a lot better off getting out of here, as far away as you can. But if you do, you have to start taking me seriously. Very seriously."

Lacy stared at Drake incredulously. "And where do you suppose I go then!" She shook her head suddenly and put up her hands submissively. "Sorry... I'm just tired of moving around. And besides, I've always taken you seriously. I just thought you were paranoid." She paused a moment. "Now I'm beginning to think that you've got good reason to be."

Draco raised his eyebrows doubtfully when she said she had always taken him seriously but decided it was not a point worth arguing. "Okay, here's the deal. We, the wizards, are at war. The side that wants to kill or enslave all Muggles has decided to make your little hamlet their headquarters. Only reason we haven't already wiped out every Muggle in the village is that it would draw too much attention to it."

He sat back on the ground. "In other words, the bad guys are living in Riddle House. I work for the bad guys. My uncle isn't really my uncle. He used to be my teacher, my father's an escaped convict, and my grandfather is not my grandfather but a dark lord bent on world domination." He smiled blandly and waited for Lacy to try to digest it.

Lacy blinked for a moment. "What are Muggles and what do you mean you WORK for the bad guys!?"

She still hadn't grasped anything much yet, and was finding it hard to focus on one idea at a time.

"Muggles are non-magic folk. People who don't possess the gift or the sight, who can't work magic or often even perceive it," Draco said. "And what I mean is that I work for the bad guys. I'm not really thrilled about it though." He picked at a blade and flicked it away. "But this is where you come in. I'll give you a wand and teach you how to defend yourself. In exchange, you help me keep our presence here a secret."

Lacy thought about it for a few seconds, mulling things over in her mind, her eyebrows knit. "A secret from everyone in town you mean? I guess that's not too hard... And I can't tell anyone? And you'll teach me to make a dragon snake like you did?" Lacy looked up at him, a hopeful expression playing on her features.

Suddenly her expression dimmed again. "Does that mean your unc... I mean Severus really is a bad man?"

Draco chewed his tongue when she asked about Snape. "Yes, he is a bad man," he said after a moment. "I like him better than some of the others, but I've watched him kill, more than once actually. He's been a part of this a lot longer than I have."

Draco paused, deciding how best to gain her cooperation. "And he can read minds. That's why you can't tell anyone, and I mean anyone. If he finds out you’re a witch, there'll be trouble. I can teach you how to shield your thoughts, but it'll take time and practice. I certainly won't be able to teach anyone else."

Lacy sat there with her jaw hanging open the whole time Drake spoke and looked as though his words had cut her to the quick. She covered her eyes and slumped noticeably when Drake mentioned that Severus could read minds. Bloody wonderful. He knew. It just didn't make sense though. Drake had been the one who was so adamant about being a 'bad person' to begin with, and Severus had been telling her the same racket.

Suddenly Lacy smiled. She placed a hand on Drake's forearm and squeezed it briefly. "You were looking out for me this whole time weren't you?" her smile was turning into a grin, but her face grew serious again. "All right, deal. I'll keep your secret, since it's technically mine too now, and I'll do my best to listen to you." Lacy smirked. "Even though it'll be hard and most likely test my patience."

Slowly but surely she was feeling like her old self again.

"Well that, and you just bloody annoy me," Draco said, patting her hand and giving her a wane smile. He got to his feet and looked in the general direction of Riddle House. "I should probably go check on things," he said unenthusiastically. "Can you get back to the field from here, or do I need to take you closer?"

"You're just gonna leave me!?" Lacy stood up quickly and moved closer to him instinctively. "What if those... dem…demented things come back!?"

She stopped whining for a second and looked down. "If it's not too much trouble, I think I might feel a little better if you took me closer..."

"I was gonna go deal with the dementors," Draco said, smirking slightly at her panic, oddly grateful that something could scare her. "But as you like." He took her about the waist again and apparate to a wooded spot between Riddle House and the field. "I trust you can find your way from here?"

Lacy nodded. She wanted to ask him so much: when she'd see him next, what she was supposed to do, but found herself oddly unwilling to vocalize. The best she could get out was, "Uhm... thanks." before she turned from him and took off running across the field.

The bonfire was still going and people were still milling about. She slowed her pace once she got back into the globe of light cast by the fire and walked calmly toward the group, realizing that she still wore Steven's coat.

Strangely, no one had even missed her. It suddenly dawned on Lacy that she really didn't want to be there anyway. She walked calmly to Steven and dropped his coat in his lap. "I'm going home... must have been the punch..." she explained

He looked at her oddly. "You want me to walk you?" he asked, as if he'd forgotten about her little display.

"No. I'll be fine. Stay and have fun. I have to be up early for work tomorrow anyway."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged. She wanted to hit him. Honestly she didn't even know why. But the thought alone made her feel guilty. She didn't even tell anyone else goodbye, only turned around and headed back home.

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