The Lewis House 108 страница

Malfoy threw back his head and pointed to a blonde girl Harry couldn't quite see, who stood near Remus in the front of the crowd.

"Midgen," Malfoy spat. "I'm sure you'd like to call yourself an unbiased reporter. Well, write this down - no proof of any other crimes has been offered against me in court. I have been convicted of nothing. I am being used as a pawn and I will see to it that each of you who has supported these proceedings is rightly punished in the future." His hands were clenched. "Rightly," he repeated. "In the future. When there is once more a Ministry uncorrupted by nepotism and prejudice."

Ron gave a loud, contemptuous snort. "When it's corrupted by money and Dark magic again, you mean?" he shouted across the crowd.

The entire crowd turned. Many of them looked approvingly at Ron.

Malfoy's eyes traveled the back of the crowd and alit on the four of them.

"Perhaps," he hissed, "some of you are unaware of who is in command this morning." His narrow eyes flicked from Ron to Harry. "You will all do exactly as I say until the duty I have been forced into fulfilling has been entirely accomplished."

"Yeah, I'll do exactly as you say," Ron muttered, "the day you say I should throw you in a cage with a Chimaera."

Several people around them snickered. Harry knew that Malfoy couldn't hear what Ron had said, but his eyes narrowed further all the same.

"Oh, you don't have to obey me, of course." Malfoy smiled icily. "It's no tragedy to me if you die. And let me state up front that if any of you die by accident, due to some mistake of your own, I will not be held responsible. That much respect for the law is, apparently, still left in this pretended Ministry. It is not in my contract to see that you all survive our day together. As long as I inflict no deliberate harm - which is apparently of enormous concern - what happens to you is your own business."

"God, he's such a bastard," Ginny muttered under her breath. "He's actually enjoying this."

And he was. Malfoy pushed a hand through his hair and surveyed the lot of them with contempt and condescension written all over his face. "And so this is what I have been provided with…" he said softly. "And what a rag-tag group it is. Why, half of you are still in training. Perhaps we should review a few fundamentals." He held out his hand and snapped as if for a servant. "My wand," he demanded.

Harry was repulsed when it was Mr. Weasley who came forward. But he seemed quite unruffled about having been snapped for; he held out Malfoy's wand with perfect dignity.

"There you are," Mr. Weasley said calmly.

Malfoy looked from his wand to Mr. Weasley's face. He let out a long, slow breath. And then he very gingerly plucked his wand from Mr. Weasley's fingers and wiped it on his robes before holding it out.

Ginny made a soft, strangled noise, and Harry wished he were close enough to knock Malfoy to the ground.

"I am sure," Malfoy said softly, his eyes flitting to the back of the crowd again, "that there are those among you who are unwilling to use the kind of power I will now show you." He snorted softly and turned his head to look again at Mr. Weasley, who had returned to the side of the platform and was watching quietly. "I am sure, for example, that most of you here would prefer to use methods of murder other than the Killing Curse."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Ron stiffen. Saw Hermione put her hand on his shoulder.

"But you will learn to speak the Killing Curse today, with real intent. Or you will not get what you want."

Harry's stomach churned. The Killing Curse - Avada Kedavra. He knew that Ron had said it once, but he wasn't sure that he could force his own mouth to shape the words that had taken his mum and dad. Cedric. Hagrid.

"That doesn't make sense," Hermione whispered. "I thought it didn't -"

"If you have something to share with the rest of us, Miss Granger," said Draco loudly, sounding uncannily like Snape, "please do speak up."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. She tapped her throat. "Sonorus. It doesn't make sense," she said, just as loudly, as the crowd turned to face them. "The Killing Curse has no effect on the Dementors," Hermione went on. "It's already been tested on them - if it were that simple, this would have ended months ago."

"Perhaps if you'd stay quiet long enough to hear anything all the way through, you wouldn't always have so many inane questions," Malfoy sneered, and the crowd glanced edgily at Hermione and then at Ron, who was bright red. Hermione, however, only shrugged and tapped her throat again.

"Quietus," she said, and quickly took Ron's hand to hold him back.

Malfoy smirked and looked away from her. Harry thought it should have been impossible for someone to remain so childish.

"The Killing Curse alone is not enough," Malfoy went on. "There is a ring - which I believe you were shown. It contains a level of magic that I alone among you can control. I will unleash that magic around all of you - you will see it in the air, it is visible. Within the bounds of that magic, the Dementors will be rendered vulnerable to deadly magic. So long as you and they are within the boundaries I create, the Killing Curse will be enough to destroy them."

It was so simple. Harry felt a surge of anger - so simple. All Malfoy had to do was perform a bit of magic around a particular area, and the Dementors would be practically mortal - this could have been done months ago. Years ago.

"There are, of course, complications." Malfoy said with satisfaction. "First, after the curse falls around all of you, you will not be able to pass through it until I end the incantation."

"He's trapping us," Ron muttered. "Wonderful."

"Second," Malfoy continued, "the Dementors won't be able to escape either - they are incapable of passing through this magic. So the Patronus Charm will not be able to drive them far. You will have to kill them in order to stop them coming near you."

Harry's heart went cold. He hadn't imagined that he wouldn't be able to drive the Dementors off with his Patronus, in case of an emergency. He supposed it wouldn't matter too much - after all, they'd all be on brooms, and they would have the advantage of height over the Dementors, who would be restricted to gliding across the water.

"Third." A vicious smile lit Malfoy's face. "The magic that I am about to use does not only make the Dementors vulnerable to death. It also feeds them. Expect to see them developing… interesting powers, as time wears on."

"What kind of powers, Malfoy?" shouted Ron, again not bothering to charm his voice. He didn't have to; it rang out across the crowd so loudly that the people near them covered their ears.

Malfoy laughed. "Why, I don't know. As I said, it would take time - and I've never witnessed any truly incompetent wizards at work with this magic. But I'm certain we'll find out today."

Near the front of the stage, Harry heard Fred - or perhaps it was George - call Malfoy something would have made Mrs. Weasley shriek in protest under any other circumstances. But when Harry found her in the crowd, she looked as though she quite agreed.

"My last word of warning," said Malfoy, who now looked very relaxed, "is that the Killing Curse does not discriminate. Do be careful who you're aiming at." He smiled as though he didn't care at all. "Now." He flicked his wand and, in the air before him there appeared an intricate, three-dimensional map of Azkaban. "I'll be here," Draco said, pointing to a high place in the air just above the center of the prison. "The rest of you will spread out here." He drew a circle around the perimeter of the island. "And when the curse falls around you, it will look like this…"

Out of thin air, red light shot up from the point just above the prison, then arced out in all directions. It cascaded downward in a massive dome of light that surrounded all of Azkaban and a huge stretch of the sea, going so far as to touch the shoreline at the dragon camp. It was enormous. There must have been twenty square miles of sea within it. Harry tried to imagine them all inside it, using the Killing Curse against the Dementors. He tried to imagine a hundred of them, trying not to hit each other - tried to imagine all that green light.

He swallowed the desire to throw up.

The map vanished. Malfoy surveyed them all again. "Are there any questions?" he asked lazily. "Do you all understand?"

A hundred cold, silent glares met his question, but Malfoy seemed unperturbed. He held out his wand towards Mr. Weasley.

"I'll take my ring."

But it was Sirius who approached him, and Malfoy obviously hadn't been expecting it; he jerked his hand back and seemed to shrink when Sirius reached for his wand. For the first time since his appearance, Malfoy looked like what Harry knew he was. Spineless. Somewhere near the platform, a flashbulb popped.

Sirius disarmed Malfoy and carelessly threw his wand to the nearest Auror while Malfoy looked on, clearly furious. Standing several feet from Malfoy, Sirius held up the pouch that contained the ring in his left hand, and drew his wand with his right.

"Let me remind you," Sirius said, in the rasping voice Harry had first heard from him, "that if you misuse this opportunity, it will be your last."

Malfoy tossed his head in an attempt at arrogance. Instead he looked like he was having a seizure; his hair fell into his eyes and he had to push it back. Hermione gave a low, satisfied laugh.

Sirius suddenly flicked his wand - Malfoy flinched - a gleaming Firebolt 5 appeared between them, hovering in midair. Malfoy's eyes widened and he gripped the broom, pulling it to his side.

"Where did you get this?" he demanded angrily. "You have surveillance privileges on my property, not free reign to enter my home and take whatever you -"

"Your mother turned it over to us," Sirius interrupted severely. "She is also here."

Malfoy's eyes were not the only ones to scan the crowd. "Where?" he barked. "And is she -"

"Free, yes. Her trial was held this week, as per your agreement with Privy Brown."

"And so she was proved innocent." Malfoy gave his pale head another toss, and this time the arrogance was real. He pointed to Eloise Midgen again. "Put that in there," he commanded. He dared a step closer to Sirius, reached out and snatched the pouch, and fished out his ring. He tossed the pouch aside.

Malfoy slid the ring onto his finger and flexed his hand. At once he looked tall and confident again.

"I have no further instructions to give any of you," Malfoy said flatly. "I want this over with. Those who are coming, follow me."

He mounted his broom and shot into the air. Behind him, the semicircle of Aurors followed suit and surrounded him - they flew in a tight unit towards the shore.

The crowd around Harry began to take flight - the Auror who had spoken to Sirius, the M.L.E.S. wizard who had thought it might be a trap, the short man in hooded robes whose broom looked no better than the ones the Weasleys had ridden in school. Harry noticed Mrs. Weasley hurry over to where Mr. Weasley was mounting his own broom, while Moody looked on. He saw Mick O'Malley grab Rose off the platform and nearly suffocate her with a hug before flying off with Charlie and Cho. He saw Remus, looking grave, step up onto the platform to confer quietly with Sirius. He saw the twins and Angelina soar off after the Aurors, looking fit to kill. He saw Bill helping Fleur tie her hair back, and registered some surprise that she was getting on a broom as well. He saw Lavender kiss Seamus. Heard Hermione say something frantic to Ron. Felt Ginny's hand push through his hair.

"Come on," she said quietly, and mounted her broom.

Harry and Ron both did the same. They both gave Hermione a long look - she reached out a hand to each of them and they squeezed hers hard. And then they were gone with the rest, up in the air and following Malfoy to Azkaban.

The misty rain had turned to a light drizzle; Harry was glad that Hermione had instructed him to charm his glasses. It was much easier to navigate when he wasn't blind. When he had flown between the rocks that marked the exit of the dragon camp, Harry could see the expansive shoreline, stretching forever in both directions, while the dark gray sea stretched out ahead, choppy and cold, even in June. Over it hovered Malfoy, who had stopped and seemed to be waiting for something.

"There they are," Malfoy called, when Harry, Ron and Ginny joined the rest.

Below them, at the edge of the shoreline, guards were driving back Dementors in groups that seemed almost too large to handle. Aurors flew close to the creatures and began to drive them out towards the island, while Harry, Ron and Ginny flew closer to Malfoy. They hovered there, facing him and all his Auror guards, splitting their attention between him and the sight of hundreds of Dementors being driven out to sea.

"Where's Granger?" Malfoy demanded, glaring at Ron. "I specified that she was to be involved."

"She's involved," Ron said curtly. "You didn't specify that she had to be in the air. She's working on the ground."

"Working on what?" Malfoy snarled.

"Ron? Harry?"

Harry jumped. Hermione's voice, clear as a bell, was ringing in his head.

"I'm with Penny and Moody and Rose and Diggory and -"

"Everyone who's not up here," Harry finished, tapping his wand to his ear. "We've got it. Go on."

"Tell us immediately if there are any emergencies, and we'll do whatever we can. We've split up the participants between us so that we won't have a hundred people shouting at us all at once. Moody's going to be in contact with all the Aurors, Diggory's got the M.L.E.S., Rose is on call for Mr. Weasley and the P.A.P. - except for you - and Penny's communicating with the mediwizards - they're not going to be flying, though. They'll be on a raft down below you, with Eloise and Colin. They're going to stay a bit further back. "

Harry didn't blame them. "Who are you communicating with, then? Just us?"

"Everyone who's not specifically employed in any given group. Ron and Ginny - the twins can hear me, and Angelina - Bill and Fleur - Remus and Sirius…" Hermione paused. "Hello, Malfoy."

Malfoy's mouth was tight and the corners turned down. He looked positively disgusted.

"Can everyone in your group use the Communications Charm?" Hermione asked. "If not, you need to teach it to them, Harry - speak up if you don't need help."

"I've got it," said Remus, in Harry's head, and he appeared at their sides a moment later to demonstrate the charm to those who didn't know it.

Sirius, on the other hand, didn't answer. But there was a loud, rumbling noise in Harry's head a moment later - like an engine. And it wasn't just in his head - it was also behind him in the sky. Harry turned, saw what it was, and gaped in astonishment.

Sirius was on the motorbike, grinning at them all, his hair damp and stringy around his face.

"I fly best this way," came Sirius's voice in Harry's head. "Always did. I'm looking forward to doing a bit of damage with her."

"That," Malfoy said in what was obviously total irritation, "is blatant misuse of a Muggle artifact if I've ever seen -"

But Sirius revved the engine so loudly that the rest of Malfoy's commentary was drowned out.

Harry smirked and pushed back his own damp hair.

"God," Malfoy muttered, and pivoted sharply in the air. "The sooner this is over, the better."

Harry actually agreed with him. He followed Malfoy and the Aurors away from the edge of the shore with Ron on his right and Ginny on his left, knowing that Remus and Sirius were right behind him. He glanced down at the shore and saw a tall, beautiful blonde woman who was standing as still as a statue, her eyes on the sky. For a split second he thought it must be Eloise, but the features were too sharp. The expression too haughty.

"Who would ever marry into that family? " Harry muttered, tearing his eyes away from Narcissa Malfoy as they continued to fly.

"Considering the filth I imagine you'll marry into, Potter," came Malfoy's furious voice in his head, "I hardly imagine you can appreciate my mother's choice."

Harry had forgotten that their Communications Charms were on. He burned in embarrassed anger for a moment, until one of the twins told Malfoy to do something that made for such a funny visual that all any of them could do was snigger, no matter the dire circumstances.

"That's right," Malfoy breathed a moment later. "Enjoy your last few moments of immaturity. It remains to be seen if any of you can withstand what you are about to be shown."

They all fell silent. Harry flew forward with the wind in his hair, and tried to pretend it was Quidditch - that they weren't flying out to Azkaban to be subjected to curses. That it wasn't all going to be controlled by Malfoy.

"Can the illustrious, pure Potter survive the channeling of such Dark magic?" Malfoy's leering voice was audible to all of them. Harry felt Ron's worried glance

"Perhaps not, Weasley - " Malfoy paused. "And I'm talking to the Healer," he added. "Perhaps…" He lowered his voice to a very soft whisper. "Perhaps you'll have to watch him die after all…"

Harry's stomach turned, but to his surprise, Ginny's mouth lifted in what was almost a smile. She adjusted her grip on her broom and squinted against the rain. Little tendrils of her hair were coming out of her ponytail and curling against her neck and temples in the wet weather.

"You obviously don't know what happened to the last person who told me I'd have to watch Harry die," she said, looking very relaxed. She glanced sideways at Harry. "Got any giant fangs handy, Harry?" she asked.

It took Harry a moment to understand what she meant. When he did, he felt a lurch in his stomach - had Riddle told her she would have to watch him die?

"What are you talking about?" Malfoy hissed.

"Oh, never mind," she said cheerfully. "I suppose you had to be there." She snorted. "Come to think of it, you probably would have liked it there."

Harry flew closer to Ginny's side as they continued towards Azkaban. For several minutes there was silence, except for the whipping of the wind past his ears, and the rushing of the rain where it met the surface of the sea.

When they came in sight of the prison, Harry heard several low gasps in his ears - he looked at who was near him in the sky and saw Ron, Ginny and the twins all looking aghast at Azkaban, where it rose out of the sea like a vast, rotting tomb. They had never seen it - not even Ginny had seen it this close, for all the time she'd spent at the dragon camp.

"What is it?" came Hermione's anxious voice.

"Azkaban," Ron answered faintly.

Harry looked over his shoulder at Sirius, who was gripping the handlebars of his motorbike so tightly that his hands were as white as his face. Beside him, Remus was gazing down at the prison, his usually mild eyes full of horror.

"Where…" Remus's voice was nearly inaudible.

Sirius didn't answer, but he pointed to one end of the prison with his wand, and flicked. A single, dark turret of the prison gave off a faint, shimmering blue light, which died away almost at once.

So that was where Sirius had been kept. Harry had never asked. But he stared at the spot now, and his skin crawled.

"My God, look at all of you. You look like someone died," Malfoy drawled. He had wheeled around to face them. "It's just a building - only murderers and thieves know it as anything else."

Anger, hot and uncontrollable, shot through Harry. He put a hand to his wand.

"And unless you want to spend the better part of your youth in prison, Potter, I suggest you keep your temper." Malfoy smirked at him. "Granger, I do hope you're listening. You'd better get the rest of your communications team in order. Everyone must stay back, and it's no fault of mine if they don't. I'm going up to start this."

Malfoy pivoted away again and soared up over Azkaban, high into the air above the very center of the prison. The Aurors followed him.

"I said to stay back," Malfoy snapped at them, and though he had traveled far out of earshot, his voice was still perfectly audible in all their heads.

The Aurors did not budge.

"Very well," Malfoy muttered. "But it won't be my fault when you catch the full blast. I hope everyone is ready."

"Wait a minute, Malfoy," Hermione's voice interrupted. "Let everyone get into place."

Harry scanned the sky. The perimeter of Azkaban was entirely flanked by a hundred wizards and witches. He saw Charlie, Cho and Mick soaring across to the west of the island. Mr. Weasley, Bill and Fleur were off to the south. The twins and Angelina flew north, and Harry remained in the west between Ginny and Ron, with Sirius and Remus at his back. Harry had naturally fallen into his usual navigational pattern, about a quarter of a mile from the Azkaban shoreline, which put him and his friends far closer to the prison than most of the other wizards. He looked around behind them and saw that the next ring of defense started at least another hundred feet back. He recognized a few of the people from the crowd - there was Seamus Finnigan, and there was the witch who had spoken to Sirius, along with the man in a hood who seemed to be her companion. The witch looked terribly nervous, but she kept her eyes on Malfoy and seemed to be steeling herself for whatever was coming.

Harry turned back to do the same thing. He squinted out over Azkaban, where Malfoy was nearly eclipsed by the silvery-black robes of the Aurors. All Harry could see was a distant thumbnail of white-blond hair, and then the rain began to fall harder, making it difficult to see anything at all. It soaked Harry’s hair and began to soak through his robes as well, making him cold and uncomfortable. He wiped his forehead of irritating, trickling drips, and gripped his broom.

"What’s going on?" Hermione demanded.

Before anyone could answer her there was the sound of an amplified throat being cleared and then Malfoy’s voice rang out – over the sea and in Harry’s head – loud and terrible. Harry clapped his hands over his ears, but it didn’t help; the voice was coming from inside, too. Ron made a noise of pain.

"PREPARE YOURSELVES," Malfoy shouted, though there was no need. It made the noise worse. "WHEN YOU HAVE DESTROYED THE LAST DEMENTOR, GIVE ME NOTICE. IF THEY DESTROY YOU FIRST, REMEMBER WHO IS TO BLAME. I WANTED NO PART OF THIS."

Harry barely saw Malfoy thrust his fist into the air.

"GET BACK!" he shouted to the Aurors around him, but they would not go. "YOU FOOLS –" But Malfoy was laughing. "AS YOU WISH." He drew an audible breath and took an awful pause. Harry’s blood ran cold and he pulled his wand – so did everyone around him. It was coming.

"MORSMORDRE IMPERIO MORTIS!"

There was a deafening CRACK! as though the sky had snapped in half – everyone jumped and tightened their grips in fear. And then, from the center of the sky above Azkaban, a thick jet of bright green light shot up and out from Malfoy’s fist and blossomed across the sky like a giant firework made of emerald stars, surrounding them.

A hundred terrified screams filled the air – Harry realized that he had shouted too – Malfoy was going to kill them. He had shown them no demonstration of green light – this was some advanced version of the Killing Curse, this was going to slay them all at once. He heard Hermione shouting in his head, asking to be told what was happening, but he could not answer her. He could only watch as the jet of green light caught all the Aurors near Malfoy by surprise. With the force of a thousand fists, the light knocked the Aurors hundreds of feet straight out into the sky, where they dropped from their brooms and fell like stones into the sea. Whether they were unconscious or dead, Harry didn’t know. He only knew that he was going to be sick.

And then another scream – this one even more urgent – began to rise from the crowd around the prison. Harry looked down, expecting to see a rush of Dementors, but they were nowhere to be seen. So he looked up.

"Oh – " Harry swore fiercely, and shot forward. "COME ON!" he yelled to Ron and Ginny, and whoever else who could hear him. "HURRY!" The dome of green light was falling all around them – but it was too close, too small. It wouldn’t contain everyone – more than half the crowd was still outside it and there was no time for them to move forward; the dome was dropping like a weighted curtain, fast and violent, slicing its way down the sky towards the sea. His friends had managed to duck inside it without being hit, but Harry saw it drop down to collide with the witch and the hooded man who had been beside them – the hooded man shrieked and bolted forward on his rickety broom, just making it into the dome. The witch, however, was not as quick. The curtain of green light sliced straight into her and continued on its way towards the water. She moaned – her face went disturbingly blank – she lost her grip –

She plummeted.

"NO!" The cry was communal and several people, including Harry, dove down along the side of the dome in an effort to save the witch from her fall. But she was outside the dome of light and they could not reach her. She splashed into the water and the rain began to wash her away – through the curtain of light, they could see the mediwizarding raft coming towards her, but Harry knew they were too late. His heart thumped horribly in his chest. He hadn’t seen anyone die in nearly a year, and he had hoped never to see anyone die again. But there it was. That girl’s life had been taken, and they had let Malfoy do it.

"Hermione," Ginny said, her voice shaking, "they’ll need another mediwizarding raft, there were several Aurors hurt – they might be dead, but if they’re unconscious, they’ll drown – just one raft will never get to all of them."

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04