Nathan closed his eyes and focused on the blood flowing in his veins. It was furious, racing through his heart searching for an end. This place reminded him of Azkaban, with its dark tunnels leading into insanity. Years ago, Nathan had fought to forget what was now creeping back. Nathan pushed the memories away and watched his blood. He struggled to slow it, concentrating on clearing his head of all thoughts, including Lucius Malfoy. Nathan opened his eyes, still feeling a little off center. Maybe a good thing, he mused, as he turned down the passageway to the right, all set to play this game of cat and mouse. He exhaled through his nose, the air cooling the sweat forming on his upper lip. The darkness swallowed him whole. There were no illumination discs to light his way down this tunnel. He felt like he was walking in the middle of nothingness, his mind struggling to comprehend how his feet crunched earth or his fingers touched rough wall that could not be seen.
The blackness stole his sense of time. Nathan stopped. He had no idea how long or how far he’d been tracking Lucius. He had no idea if Lucius was even down this way. Nathan licked the corner of his mouth and tasted sweat. He swallowed, wondering if it was as loud outside his body as it seemed inside. Nathan held his breath.
Pebble? Rat? Depends on your definition of a rat.
There was no sound or warning of the spell, only the disturbance in the still air. The flash of light blinded Nathan as a force threw him against the wall. Bruised pain radiated from his spine as he scrambled up and aimed his wand. His eyes strained to see into the darkness but could see nothing. Two can play at this. Without a word, Nathan flicked his wand, a flash of blue emitting from the end.
The blasting curse smashed into the wall, illuminating the passageway for a split second. A flash of robe, the sound of displaced air. Nathan raised his wand and shielded himself as he dove across the passage. Green sparks shot out of the darkness, hitting the wall above Nathan’s head.
Nathan heard Lucius growl with frustration.
Trying to see where Malfoy hid was pointless so Nathan aimed at the sound. “Reducto,” he said quietly.
Nathan heard Lucius scramble, his shoes slipping on the gravel as he whirled away.
”Relashio!”
Nathan covered his head with his arms as a tidal wave of flames flooded the space. Light and heat washed over him, singeing the hairs on his arms and neck. Nathan swallowed hot air as he sought to rob the flames of what little oxygen there was in the tunnel.
Blackness replaced red and Nathan looked up. “Malfoy,” Nathan growled. “You aren’t going to win this one.”
An inhumane cackle reached Nathan’s ears. “To lose would mean death,” Malfoy sneered, “and I don’t think you have that in you, Borgin.”
“You might be surprised what I have in me, Lucius,” Nathan replied evenly, standing up, wincing as the movement pulled his tight, burned skin.
“You will never surprise me, Borgin. CRUICO!”
Nathan dove out of the way, the Unforgivable curse smashing into the dirt. Nathan pointed his wand. ”Contundo!”
Lucius screamed, throwing his arms above his head to protect himself from the bludgeoning spell. Nathan heard his feet slide, the dirt and rocks scraping as he regained his footing and disappeared further down the passageway, spells blasting from his wand.
Nathan pursued, unable to see, relying on his ears to tell him where to aim. His foot hit something solid and unmovable. Lucius aimed at the sound. Nathan felt the force of a sledgehammer hit in the chest and pin him against the wall. He cried out as something cracked. He slid down, his jumper catching on the wall, dirt and rock scraping his back. His feet met ground and he stumbled forward, tripping. Nathan threw out his hands and caught himself on cold hard metal. It felt like armor “ a helmet, maybe.
Suddenly light blinded him as pain erupted in his temple. Nathan flailed backward, into the pile of discarded war paraphernalia. His head throbbing, Nathan threw up a magical shield to avoid the deluge of artifacts Lucius was pummeling him with.
Then it stopped. There was a light in the tunnel from a wand. Nathan pushed himself to his feet. Lucius stood, not more than a meter away, the glow from his wand highlighting his insane snarl. Nathan aimed his wand as Lucius did the same. But instead of casting a spell, Lucius threw back his head and laughed as he touched the tip of his lit wand to the Dark Mark on his arm.
Fire erupted in Nathan’s veins, tearing through his body, eating him from the inside out. His mouth opened to scream but no sound came out. A smell of burnt flesh began to fill the cavern as Nathan’s eyes rolled back in his head. Ragged bits of metal ripped through his clothes and into his skin as he fell into the pile, the iron groaning as it shifted to accommodate his weight.
Nathan tried, but he couldn’t seem to open his eyelids. They felt melted to his eyeballs. He panted against the pain, and realized it didn’t really matter if his eyes were open or shut. He couldn’t see anything anyway. Nathan cried out as he shifted his weight to his shoulder, exposing his wand hand. He focused, pushing past the excruciating burning in his veins and lifted his wand. His voice was inaudible as he rasped.
“Extundo.”
Nathan screamed, his body arching stiffly as the fire within his veins flooded out, sucked through the tip of his wand by the vacuum of hatred his barely audible spell carried. Nathan’s body fell, as the pummeling charm encompassed anything moveable in the near vicinity.
Nathan didn’t know if Malfoy even screamed. He was too consumed with the sudden intense chill of ice, freezing him where fire had burned. He felt his mind slipping away again as the shock of coldness, more bitter than anything he had ever known, enveloped him. Nathan felt his chest heave, his breath coming in short, panting gasps. His stomach rolled and he dry heaved over the dirt floor. He lay, twisted and broken among the debris and realized he was blissfully numb.
+++++
“Nathan? Nathan!”
Nathan gasped, his eyes flying open, his hand reaching to grab a hold of Lucius’s neck.
“Nathan “ it’s me, Tonks,” Tonks gasped, as she scraped at Nathan’s fingers on her throat.
Nathan released his grasp and coughed, the vibrations sending bolts of agony through his body. Rubbing her throat with her free hand, Tonks relit her wand and held it up to her face.
“Sorry,” he croaked. “Malfoy ““
“Malfoy’s dead,” Tonks said flatly.
“Wha ““
“Skewered,” Tonks said, wrinkling her nose. “Fell on a sword. Not sure how you did it, at that angle and all, but he’s not coming back any time soon.”
“Junk pile,” Nathan rasped, wincing. “Threw - it at him. Did you ““
“Yeah, Rodolphus Lestrange down the other passageway.”
“Bill?” Nathan croaked.
“He’s alright, but let’s just say Narcissa Malfoy won’t be looking at things in quite the same way again. Look, I don’t think you can walk and I don’t really think you want to feel any of this, so I’m going apologize now and you can hate me later, alright?”
Nathan blinked in confusion as Tonks straightened up and pointed her wand at him.
“Your wife taught me this one,” she smiled. “Soporifer.”
Nathan’s eye lids closed as he slipped under the spell of sleep.
+++++
A/N “ Poor Lucius, eh?
One of the bonuses of writing shorter stories is that you don’t run out of ways to thank people. By chapter 29, I’ve long since given up finding original ways to thank the people who helped pull this together.
Thanks wvchemteach for polishing up those battle scenes.
Thanks to Anya for catching all those little things like people trying to get out of the tomb when they’re already out of the tomb. Details, details!
To Bogus 7 “ I can’t imagine how many of these tales you read! Thanks for taking time to do mine.
Alrighty “ off to the grandparents. I may be slow replying to the reviews but please know, I will get to them. I appreciate them all!
Thanks and Happy Turkey Day! See you in December!