Clash at Riddle House

Back at Riddle House, Remus and Sirius were locked in a battle for their lives with Lucius and the Voldemort-possessed Quirrell, and the tide had definitely turned against the old Marauders.

'Moony?' Sirius asked as he dodged a spurt of fire from Lucius's wand.

'Yeah, Padfoot?' Remus replied, Banishing a sofa at Quirrell, who simply caused it to explode into a hundred flaming pieces.

'You've been a good friend,' the Animagus replied, dodging the debris. 'I want you to take your Portkey and get out of here. I'll follow if I can, but if I don't...'

The werewolf snarled at his best mate. 'Shut up, you idiot!' he snapped. 'There's no way in hell I'm leaving you here with these two.'

Their conversation was cut off as Lucius blasted Sirius against the wall, and the dark-haired wizard fell limp to the floor.

No! Remus thought with despair, but couldn't check up on his friend at the moment, as he found himself facing a violent assault from Quirrell. The werewolf yelped as a Cutting Curse hit his lower leg, and fell to the floor. His opponent swept over with a cruel smile.

'Goodbye, werewolf,' he taunted, and levelled his wand.

'NO!' came the voice of a young boy, who barrelled into the room and threw himself at Quirrell.

Aries? Remus thought, then gasped in surprise when he saw the boy's blond hair.

'Get off me, you brat,' Quirrell snarled, and grabbed Draco's arm in order to pull him off. He screamed out in pain as their skin touched. 'Not you too?' he spat in confusion. He raised his wand and aimed it at the boy, but Draco was quick on the uptake. He grabbed Quirrell's face with both of his hands, and the evil wizard began to scream as though he were being burnt. Quirrell collapsed lifelessly to the floor, and a black mist rose from his body, rushing straight towards Lucius. It entered into the blond wizard, and his eyes began to glow red.

'Foolish boy,' he cackled. 'It was time for me to change hosts anyway.' He sneered. 'Now you will pay for your interference, and at your father's own hand too. How appropriate. Ava-'

'AVADA KEDAVRA!' came Sirius's furious voice. Remus looked over to see his friend crouched on the floor, battered but very much alive, his wand aimed directly at Lucius's chest. The green light burst from the tip of his wand and hit Lucius full-on. The blond wizard looked a bit surprised as he crumpled to the ground, the black mist rising up from him and fleeing the building.

Draco sat on the floor, staring at his father's dead body in shock and terror. Sirius limped over and put an arm around his nephew. Draco jerked away.

'You killed him,' he said in a dull voice.

Sirius winced. 'Draco, I'm sorry,' he whispered.

The blond boy looked up at his uncle. 'He was going to kill me. I heard him begin the Killing Curse.'

Sirius nodded.

'You saved my life,' Draco said.

His uncle gave him a small smile. 'Of course I did. You're my favourite nephew.'

Draco shook his head sadly. 'No, I'm not.'

'What do you mean by that?' Sirius asked with a frown.

'Aries told me the truth,' the boy replied in a small voice. Sirius nodded, surprised, but hardly shocked. 'You're my mum's cousin, but you were never married to my...well, to Aunt Regina. You were never really my uncle.' Draco paused. 'And now you've killed my fa...him.'

Sirius looked the blond boy in the eyes. 'You've every right to be angry with me, Draco.'

'I know,' Draco said. His voice was strange, as though balancing on the border between breaking down in tears or erupting in angry shouts. 'And I should be, shouldn't I? But I'm not, at least not yet.' He looked away from his father's corpse and took a deep breath. 'We ought to get back to Grimmauld Place. Aries was having a fit when we left.'

'What? Why didn't you say something sooner?' Sirius asked anxiously.

Draco glared at him, and Sirius hung his head in shame. Of course the poor boy hadn't brought it up. Draco had just seen the man he trusted most murder his father. The fact that Sirius had only been acting to protect Draco only made it worse.

'Come on, you two,' Remus said in a gentle voice as he held out a Portkey. 'Let's go home.'

.....

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