A Throne of Blood and Stars

Chapter Fifteen

Ron nods. "What did you want to show me?"

"Alright, so," Draco starts. He walks over to the darkest corner in the room and points at the angry green hive of energy. "That is Voldemort's magic, as you know, Potter's is trapped inside. I have been coming here for days now, trying to figure out how to untangle it."

"Right," Ron says, nodding. "I know that."

"Good," Draco lifts his eyes again and points. "Now, if you look a bit to the left, you see an orange ribbon of magic."

Ron squints, moves to stand very close to Draco's arm so he can see where he's pointing. "The one that's going in circles?"

Draco exhales. "Yes. That one."

"What about it?"

"That signature is Granger's."

Ron's head snaps to Draco so quick, he might have cracked his neck a little. "Hermione? Hermione's stuck in there, too?"

"No," Draco shakes his head, points to the signatures trying to interact. "Do you see the way Granger is trying to find a way in? If you look closely, Harry is trying to find a way out. And Voldemort's is doing nothing. His signature is trying to keep Harry's in, for some reason."

Ron's brow furrows and he looks around at all the different magical signatures. "It's recent, right?"

Draco nods. "A couple of weeks," he looks around as well. "Wherever the Room dumped her, she is still trying to get a hold of Potter."

"Okay, so how did you find Harry last time?"

Draco feels a pool of cold settle in his gut. "I kept asking to be taken to him."

"Well, do it again," Ron exclaims. "If that's our only chance to find them, what are you waiting for?"

"Me? Why me? Why not you? She is your friend."

Ron rolls his eyes. "It's Voldemort's magical signature, as in, it repels his enemies."

Draco lifts a brow.

"Gryffindor," Ron sighs, pointing to his chest, then points at Draco. "Slytherin."

He feels enlightened, but it's gone in a second. "I am not risking that, what if it does not work? Then I get stuck in Salazar-knows-where and you are left with a half-hearted buffoon and the Ministry officials."

Ron rolls his eyes into the back of his head. "You'll be fine, Malfoy. If I try to do it, it'll probably mess with the equilibrium in the magical and spiritual tandem."

There's a very long stretch of silence, where Draco is too surprised to speak and Ron is rolling over the choices in his head.

This idiot, Draco thinks, is not an idiot at all. "How..."

Ron surges forward and grabs him by the shoulders. "Please! It's our only shot! If we wait for the Ministry to take action who knows what could happen."

Draco takes Ron's wrists and gingerly lifts them off his shoulders with a grimace. "Control yourself, man."

"Malfoy, please," Ron begs, looking up towards Hermione's orange ribbon that's still banging against the green hive.