Black Truth [READ DESCRIPTION]

chapter thirty

Chapter Thirty: Opening the Gates of Hell

Lucius Malfoy's eyes opened blearily, and took in his blood covered son and his son's bonded in the dim light before saying:

"What are you two thinking!?" He half shouted at them as Harry whispered the spells to unlock the chains. "You cannot possibly be this dense!"

"With all due respect, Mr. Malfoy, you're beginning to sound like Snape" Harry said seriously. He was fixed with two incredulous looks before Draco spoke.

"I came to rescue you, Father, but I did not bring Harry. He came by himself. He's the stupid one, not me."

The look Lucius gave his son was one that stated quite clearly that he highly doubted his son's words were true, but he said nothing. He gave a long suffering sigh and leaned back against the wall, wincing as his body protested.

"So then Potter, I can guess how my son came here from Hogwarts. How did you?"

Harry looked down at the blood-stained floor sheepishly. "I had Dobby connect the fireplace in your study to one in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts."

Instead of being angry that his former House Elf had done something like that, Lucius merely looked impressed. "That was a good idea, Potter. And it gives us a means out of this mess."

"But your study's in the south wing," Draco pointed out. "And we're in the north wing. Initiation isn't going to take all that long."

"It's probably over by now" Lucius replied morosely.

"Initiation?" Harry asked, the blood draining from his face.

"Yes. You two picked a magic's cursed time to stage this rescue mission."

"Draco picked it, not me" Harry pointed out.

"I didn't ask you to come, did I?"

"This is not the time to be casting blame." Lucius stopped the bickering with a look. "We have to devise the safest way out of this mess, and quickly. We could take the diagonal, go down to the ballroom. And though that would be the fastest way, it's probably the worst as well. They most likely used the ballroom for Initiation."

"We could walk through my wing and then down to yours" Draco offered, thinking of his mental maps of the Manor.

"Too much time spent walking in a place they could easily check. No, we have to get over to the east side of the Manor without them being able to see us."

"Underground then?" Draco asked, a slight tinge of fear in his voice.

"Yes. No Death Eater would look there."

"Um, Mr. Malfoy, are you sure you can walk that far?" Harry asked as he surveyed exactly how much damage Lucius had been through.

"You'd be surprised what adrenaline and Veriae magic can do towards ignoring one's wounds" Lucius drawled. "Once we're out of this magic forsaken tower, I'll be fine."

Leaning heavily on his son, Lucius stood on shaky limbs, and the three of them made their way towards the base of the tower.

"Where are we going exactly?" Harry asked, as they made their way down the steps. Neither of the two Malfoys had explained their conversation from before and he had no idea what they were talking about.

"The dungeons run underneath the north to west wall" Lucius explained in a ragged voice. "We're going to walk through them to get to the west wing and then walk down the corridor that leads to my study."

"No one goes down there." Draco said with conviction. "Even if every Malfoy to live here has memorized it passageways, it's still not a good place to go by yourself."