Draco led the charge down the dungeon stairs. Behind him thundered a mob of over a hundred students, all ravenous for the hefty reward money promised to whoever captured Sona Sitri.
Draco did not give a single shit about the galleons. Let the rest of these desperate idiots squabble over scraps.
He was after something much more valuable than such a paltry amount of gold.
He had spent the last few days thinking about nothing but Sona-about her strange wandless power, her arrogance, her flawless body, and the way she had humiliated him in front of Slytherin house.
"MOVE!" He tightened his grip on his wand, shoving aside a Hufflepuff who was blocking the path!
He had it all planned out. Once Sona was captured, the scrying mirrors following her would stop recording. No one would be watching anymore.
She would be incapacitated, helpless, and utterly at his mercy.
Just the thought of it sent a delicious shiver down his spine. He could already picture her on her knees, defiant or begging, it didn't matter-either way, she would know who was in charge.
Whether Sona ended up as his wife or not, Draco was determined to at least get his sample of her first!
Draco hit the bottom step. He swept into the wide dungeon corridor with his army behind him. More than a hundred students spilled down the stairs in a noisy, jostling flood-shouting, whooping, some waving their wands in the air as if just showing up made them badass duellists.
All of them had the same feverish look in their eyes. Ten thousand galleons would make even the quietest Hufflepuff turn into a greedy lunatic.
A few eager idiots from Durmstrang and Gryffindor tried to sprint ahead, desperate to get a head start on the others and claim Sona's "bounty" for themselves.
Draco snarled, shoving a skinny Ravenclaw out of his way next and raising his voice above the chaos. "Oi! Back the fuck off! No one gets ahead of me, you hear me?" He glared daggers at the ones in front, daring anyone to ignore him.
Of course, none of them listened. The greed was too strong. A pack of fifth-years and a pair of Beauxbatons boys bolted past anyway, pounding down the corridor. Draco just sneered and slowed his pace, letting the fools run headlong into whatever trap Sona Sitri had prepared.
He was not stupid! Sona was a dangerous witch-she would not just sit pretty and wait for them to stroll in and collect her.
He got his answer a second later. The corridor suddenly lit up with an eerie blue and gold glow-runes igniting along the floors, walls, even the fucking ceiling.
For a split second, everything was silent. Then the dungeons exploded into chaos!
The first group of students set off a frost rune and were instantly flash-frozen up to their waists, shrieking as jagged ice raced up their legs and locked them in place. Another boy tried to jump back, only to trigger a column of flame that shot straight out of a nearby wall, roasting the edge of his robes and sending him running in circles, howling in pain.
A group of French witches screeched as a cloud of blinding white mist erupted in their faces, followed by a concussive blast that knocked them flat on their backs. Someone triggered a binding trap and got their arms yanked behind them by invisible magical chains.
The corridor turned into pure pandemonium. Students were slipping, shrieking, stumbling over each other as more and more of Sona's vicious traps went off.
"AAAGH! My fucking legs! Get it off me!" screamed a Beauxbatons boy, his feet frozen solid in a block of jagged ice.
Another Durmstrang brute howled, clutching his scorched sleeve. "Fuck! It burns! She's fucking insane!"
A Ravenclaw girl tumbled to the ground, tangled in invisible chains. "Help! I can't move! Somebody, get these off me!"
White mist exploded in another cluster, sending three French girls to their knees, hacking and coughing, eyes streaming. "Je ne peux pas voir! Merde-what did she do to us?"
On the far side, a Hufflepuff's robes caught fire. He shrieked, slapping desperately at his flaming sleeve. "I'm on fire! Water, someone-fuck, WATER!"
A Slytherin fifth-year crashed into the wall, stunned by a concussive blast. "This isn't worth it! Fuck the gold, I'm out!"
"Get back! Don't step there!"
"Watch the runes on the ceiling-shit, DUCK!"
"I can't feel my arms!"
"Someone hex her already! She's just one bloody girl!"
"Bloody hell, this is a warzone-"
"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"
Draco could not help the smug smile twisting his lips as he watched it all unfold.
Idiots! The lot of them!
He had let them rush ahead on purpose, or at least that's what he'd tell anyone later...
Pansy Parkinson pressed up beside him, her face twisted with disgust and fear. "I hate that Sitri bitch," she spat, "She's making us look like fools. What are we supposed to do...?"
Draco sneered. He raised his voice so that everyone could hear, his tone dripping with cold authority. "She could not have trapped the entire fucking dungeon. It's been, what, twenty minutes? No student has that kind of talent or magical reserves, not even her. These are just the first traps to scare us off. If we move together, carefully, we'll get through! We're wizards, not fucking children. And whoever finds her first, remember-a Malfoy always pays his debts! I can offer far more for her than a paltry 10,000 galleons!"
A few Slytherins cheered, emboldened by his confidence. Even some Durmstrangs started to look his way for leadership.
Someone nearby shouted, "Yeah, let's go! She's just a girl-there's hundreds of us!"
"Forward. No more rushing in like idiots. If you see a rune, don't touch it. Keep your wands up and shields ready. We're taking her down tonight." Draco shouted.
That roused the mob's courage, and the horde surged forward in a more cautious wave. But the traps only got worse-flames, ice, magical tripwires. Every few feet someone got caught, spells ricocheting and sending more students crashing into each other.
The corridor filled with smoke, the stink of burnt hair, the shrieks of students getting zapped or immobilized.
Draco stayed near the center, keeping his eyes peeled for Sona and letting the weaker idiots flush out the worst dangers first.
As the minutes dragged by and they ventured deeper, the number of students thinned out dramatically. The dungeons became eerily quiet, broken only by the distant echoes of shouts and the occasional blast from some unseen trap. Draco scoffed, watching as another group of Hufflepuffs blundered straight into a nasty-looking hex, dropping like stunned sheep.
Once again, idiots...
At least they were good for something-every one of them that got knocked out made Draco's own path safer. And there would be less "witnesses" he would eventually need to silence for what he planned next.
Draco kept his most loyal Slytherins close at his sides-Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott. None of them were as clever as him, but at least they knew to keep their mouths shut and their wands ready. They stuck together, staying smack in the center of the dwindling horde, letting the other reckless students serve as magical cannon fodder.
If a trap went off, someone else would get blasted, not them.
Room by room, corridor by corridor, the dungeons were methodically cleared out. The air grew colder, every step more treacherous, but Draco never lost his composure. Each new magical ward or booby-trap only confirmed what he already knew. Sona Sitri was dangerously talented-and utterly ruthless.
But so was he.
At the far end, just one obvious door remained. Draco checked his watch, smirking. Good. He still had ten minutes to spare before this first challenge ended.
He nodded at his companions once the crowd had thinned enough and all the obvious traps dealt with.
""""Stupify!""""
They all shouted at once, and stunned the remaining few other students in the backs.
Draco's pulse thundered with the thrill of victory as he strode up to the last heavy oak door at the far end of the dungeons. Only his loyal Slytherins-Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott-were still close behind him, faces pale, wands drawn, all of them eyeing the door like it might explode.
Crabbe hissed, "Draco, maybe we should slow down-she might have more traps-"
"Fuck that," Draco sneered, not even slowing his pace. "She's out of tricks." He could feel his cock twitch in anticipation. He wanted to be the one to do this-to claim her, to see the look on her face.
Pansy's voice was sharp and shrill. "Be careful! That bitch is dangerous, Draco-"
He ignored her, flashing a condescending smile at his friends. As if a Malfoy ever had need of such things.
"What's the matter, Parkinson? Afraid of one little foreign witch?" He scoffed. "A Malfoy never cowers behind a locked door. You want to be my wife, don't you? Then you need to start acting like a Malfoy as well!" he commanded her, not needing to tell her that he'd already been planning on replacing her.
Draco threw open the door and stormed inside, making sure to give the scene the drama it deserved. The hinges shrieked and the wood slammed against the stone.
There she was. Sona Sitri, standing alone at the far end of the unused classroom.
Draco drank in every detail. The way her dark silky hair clung to her damp cheeks, her chest rising and falling with ragged, exhausted breaths, her black robes clinging to her body, damp with sweat and tiredness from clearly casting WAY TOO MUCH MAGIC.
Even drained and desperate, she was gorgeous-maybe even more so. Her glasses were askew, her lips parted, her modest but perky breasts outlined perfectly under the clingy fabric.
He let his gaze rake over her, slow and deliberate, letting her feel every second of it. He grinned, wide and wolfish. "Well, well, well. Look at you, Ms Sitri. You put up a valiant fight, I'll give you that. You made hundreds of students piss themselves just to get here. I almost started to believe you were unbeatable." He stepped forward, his wand loose in his hand. His Slytherins hung back by the door, peeking in nervously, but Draco had eyes only for Sona. "But in the end, you're just one girl," he taunted, his voice low and full of venomous satisfaction. "All that power, all those clever little traps, and you still couldn't keep me out. You must be running on fumes by now. Even you don't have enough magic left to stop me, do you?"
He raised his wand, daring her to resist, already savoring the promise of her defeat!
"Stupefy!" The red jet of magic hit Sona full in the chest. She barely had the strength to gasp before she crumpled onto the stone floor, glasses slipping down her nose, her limbs limp and helpless. Draco let out a low laugh, every inch of his body thrumming with anticipation. "That's more like it," he breathed, eyes hungrily devouring the sight of her unconscious body. His trousers strained uncomfortably tight as he stepped closer. He turned to his fellow Slytherins and gestured impatiently. "Get in here, tie her up quickly. I don't want her moving around if she wakes up halfway through!"
Pansy hesitated, her face twisting into a reluctant pout. "Really, Draco? She's completely out cold already. Isn't tying her up a little much?"
He sneered at her. "Did I ask for your opinion, Parkinson? Just do it."
Crabbe and Goyle hovered at his side, eager and stupid, as Nott conjured magical ropes.
But then-a quiet, mocking chuckle echoed from the hallway behind them. "Well, well. I knew you were arrogant, Draco... Malfoy, but I didn't realize you were actually this stupid. And that expression on your face-it fucking disgusts me..."
Draco whipped around, wand at the ready, eyes wide with shock. His Slytherins spun with him, all staring at the doorway.
Sona stood there, looking perfectly composed. Not a hair out of place. She twirled a stolen wand between her fingers. "Checkmate..." she said softly.
Before Draco could even spit a curse, Sona snapped the wand forward. The heavy oak doors slammed shut with a bang, locking them all inside.
He barely had a second to register the trap before the fake Sona on the floor dissolved into thin air-just a clever illusion.
"FUCK!" Draco roared, shoving Crabbe out of his way as he lunged at the doors. "Open it! Open it now, you idiots! She's outside!"
Pansy shrieked, yanking at the handle. "It's locked! She locked us in!"
Goyle slammed his shoulder into the wood, grunting with effort. "Move! Move, damn it!"
All around them, the walls of the classroom lit up with an unholy blue glow. Runes blazed to life on the stone, on the ceiling, even under their feet.
"Oh, no. Not again-" Draco whimpered.
Then the freezing ice magic hit them. Draco screamed, his body seized by the bitter, bone-cracking cold, the memory of that humiliation coming back ten times worse. He watched his own breath crystallize as his limbs went numb and useless.
— Harry —
An hour earlier...
I was sprinting up the countless flights of stairs. Flying would have been so much easier, quicker too, but there was no way I could risk anyone seeing my devil wings.
As I raced upward, a bunch of students began to recognize me and blocked my path, shouting excitedly.
They thought they'd be heroes, stopping Harry Sitri, or maybe they were just greedy idiots hoping to cash in on the bounty. I didn't care why they got in my way-they weren't going to slow me down.
I swung my arm out, sending a wave of water magic at the nearest group, knocking them flat against the wall. Another boy lunged toward me from a side corridor with his wand raised and glowing, but he was too slow.
My fist connected sharply with his jaw, and he dropped like a stone, completely out cold.
"Stay down," I muttered, leaping over his limp body and continuing upward. More students rushed at me, wands firing spells wildly. They were persistent, I'll give them that, but none of them were anywhere close to my level.
Was this bullying? It kind of felt like it as I punched through them going higher and higher.
I burst onto the seventh floor landing, barely catching my breath, and was immediately hit with a wall of noise and heat.
The whole corridor was packed. At least thirty students jammed together, all jostling for a spot at the base of the spiral staircase that led up to the tower. Every single one of them had their eyes glued to the madness happening at the top. The blazing Veela fire that Fleur and Gabrielle were throwing down the stairs, and the Weasley twins standing front and center with shit-eating grins. In Fred's hands was a bright orange powder that glowed with magic.
Fred held up the little pouch. "One toss of our patented Weasley Wonder Powder-"
