A Dangerous Plan

Draco sat in the Common Room late at night working on his Potions homework. With his cousin's incapacitation, he had been made substitute Seeker, and he had just returned from Quidditch practice. Wood was working them like mad, and the professors had not let up at all, despite the news that one of their number had been possessed by the Dark Lord all year.

The worst part was that Draco knew he had something that could cure Aries completely, but it was locked away in Aries' trunk, sealed under a Parseltongue password. Draco had tried all the opening charms he could find, and had even tried cutting into the trunk, but there was no way through. Aries' protections were simply too powerful. Draco thought that perhaps one of the adults would be able to break into the trunk despite the password, but that would mean revealing the boys' secret, and Draco knew that Aries wouldn't want that, not if there was any other possible alternative.

Hermione Granger came up to Draco and coughed slightly. 'Er, Malfoy?'

'What do you want, Granger?' the blond boy asked with a sigh.

'I know why Quirrell attacked Black,' she said quietly.

Draco dropped his quill in surprise. 'What?' he exclaimed. 'Why's that, Granger?'

'Several weeks ago I saw you two Apparate into Gryffindor Tower,' she explained. 'I heard Black say that he was the Heir of Slytherin and the next Dark Lord.'

Draco rolled his eyes. 'Aries was only joking. You can't take things like that seriously.'

'I understand that now,' Granger went on, chewing her lower lip anxiously. 'But I was worried at the time.' She paused and took a deep breath. 'So I went to Quirrell to ask him for help. I didn't know he was being possessed by You-Know-Who.'

It was as though the dragon for which he had been named had been suddenly born deep within Draco's bowels. Flaming fury rose up within him at the impertinent stupidity of this foolish know-it-all girl. It was with great difficulty that Draco restrained himself from cursing her then and there.

'You meddling Mudblood!' Draco shouted. 'Do you realise what you've done? My cousin could die because of you.'

Tears came to Granger's eyes, which only made Draco angrier. How dare she cry when he was angry with her? It was so very like a girl.

'I didn't mean to,' she whispered. 'I thought that you two were up to some evil plot, and I wanted Quirrell to stop you. I didn't think he'd try to kill Black.'

'You'd better hope he survives, Granger,' Draco said in a very cold voice, one that nearly sent shivers up his own spine. 'Because if he doesn't, I swear to Merlin I'll kill you myself.'

Granger began to respond, but stopped herself. Instead, she nodded meekly and went upstairs to her dormitory. Draco frowned and returned to his Potions homework, ignoring the stares of his Housemates.

...

Meanwhile, back at Windermere Court, Cassiopeia was relaxing in the drawing room, brushing up on her Sanskrit, when her younger brother came in.

'Cassie,' he said in a grave voice. 'I need to talk with you.'

'What is it now, Marius?' Cassiopeia snapped, not even looking up from her book.

'It's about Aries,' her brother replied. 'I've found a way to save him.'

The old witch sighed and put down her book before turning to give the Squib a pitying glare through her spectacles.

'I know you want to help,' she said, 'but what can you possibly do? You're only a Squib.'

Marius frowned. 'I may not be able to do magic, Cassiopeia Virgo Black, but I remain perfectly capable of reading.' He held up the thick volume in his hands. His sister looked at the book curiously. She recognised the texture of the parchment—the book had been written on human skin.

'A bit of light reading, Marius?' she observed wryly.

Her brother grunted and plopped the massive book on the table beside her chair. He flipped it open to a spell that had been written in silver ink, or perhaps it was unicorn blood. Cassiopeia sighed and looked at the spell her brother wanted to show her. After all, it couldn't hurt to humour him. However, as the old witch scanned the manuscript her expression morphed into one of stunned disbelief.

'Great Merlin!' she exclaimed. 'Curse Transfer? Do you even realise what a difficult piece of magic this is?'

'Surely nothing you can't handle, Cassie dear.'

'We'd be breaking half the statutes on the books, you know,' his sister continued.

'Since when has that ever stopped you?' the Squib retorted.

Cassiopeia frowned. 'This is different. It's a truly nasty spell. I've only done anything like this a few times in my life. Besides, to whom would we transfer the curse? It would have to be someone we hated, since they would certainly perish in the process.'

Her brother only stood there quietly, and Cassiopeia slowly realised with mounting horror what her brother had in mind. She leapt to her feet.

'Absolutely not, Marius!' she shouted. 'I utterly forbid it.'

'I'm only a Squib,' he replied casually. 'It would be no great loss.' He gave his sister a small smile. 'I came to you because I thought you of all people might go along with it. It's the only way to save our nephew.'

Cassiopeia collapsed back into her chair. Her face had grown quite pale, and Marius thought that he had never seen her appear so vulnerable.

'First I lost Dorea,' she whispered. 'Then Pollux.' She grabbed onto her brother's hand. 'I won't lose you too, Mar.'

The Squib knelt next to her chair. 'Cassie, I'm going to die one day anyway. I've lived a very full life. Would you rather cancer took me, or a heart attack?' He laughed. 'This way I could die from a curse, like a true Black.'

Cassiopeia sniffed, and Marius handed her his handkerchief.

'Let's remember for just a moment who the boy actually is, Cassie,' he continued. 'He's Harry Potter, James's son and Dorea's last surviving descendant.'

'I'm being sentimental,' Cassiopeia said, wiping away the tears from her eyes. 'Of course you're right, Mar. You've always been very sensible. For dear Dorea's sake, we have to do whatever it takes to save our Aries.' She stroked her brother's cheek. 'You're such a brave boy,' she said fondly. 'You always were. Going off on your own into the Muggle world at the age of eleven, admonishing little Dorea not to cry. You two were always so close.'

'And I'll be with her again soon,' Marius said, standing up. He offered a hand to his sister. 'Shall we get on with it?'

.....

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