Before this ineluctable logic, Sirius had no response.
'Now remove your clothes,' she said.
He began unfastening his robes, wondering how this had all happened. He was meant to be rescuing his godson, and instead he was doing a striptease for an extremely demanding banshee in a very cold dungeon. He wondered if Draco had known that his incarceration would involve nudity. Better not to think about that.
He set to work on his shirt as Raven took hold of his discarded cloak and went through the pockets. She giggled at the Every Flavor Beans in Flower Power Flavors, and gazed quizzically at the Zonkos Magical Reality Pencils and stacks of old letters. 'I like you,' she said, running a red-nailed finger down his bare chest in a very familiar fashion. 'I will let you keep these things.'
'If you really liked me you wouldn?t make me take my trousers off,' he pointed out, backing away.
She smiled at him. 'Don?t worry. I know it is very cold in this dungeon. I will not pass judgement.'
Sirius sighed, and set to work on his trousers.
'I don?t know,' said Draco, not taking his eyes away from Harrys.
'I thought she?d be here. Thats why I came. Part of the reason, anyway.'
'You don?t know?' This time it was Ron who spoke. He was pale with rage, his freckles standing out in splotches. 'She went to look for you.'
'Did she find you?' put in Hermione anxiously.
'Yeah,' said Draco. 'She found me.'
They all stared at him expectantly.
'Would you let go of me?' he said to Harry, almost plaintively.
'You?re ruining my shirt.'
'That is a shame,' said Ron, 'especially when he should really be ruining your face.'
Harry let go of Draco and stepped back. 'Talk,' he said, tersely.
Dracos eyes went to Hermione. 'I was in my room. Ginny found me. I left her there with Fleur when I was summoned to talk to Slytherin. When I came back to the room, she was gone. Fleur said didn?t say where she was going, she just went.'
'And why should we believe you?' said Ron in a soft and dangerous tone.
'You?re right, Weasley. She found me, I killed her, and then I decided to come and tell you all about it because I hadn?t yet reached my personal abuse quota for the day and I thought you could help me fill it.'
'Well, I think you?re lying,' said Ron. 'Thats my opinion.'
Draco looked as if he had reached the end of his endurance. 'Thats your opinion? Well, how would you like me to put my fist in your opinion?'
'Enough!' said Harry sharply. 'You two, either have a proper fight, or shut up and get along. But this…this… sarcasm rally is not helpful. Ron, hes got no reason to have come here if he is responsible for Ginny being missing. Malfoy, start talking in the next five seconds or I will make you swallow that sword.'
Draco grinned. It was a fatigued sort of grin, but a real one. 'Well, since you ask nicely,' he said. The grin faded quickly, and his eyes darkened to slate. 'She left this,' he said, and held out the folded silvery square of the Cloak. Harry took it without comment. 'This is a very bad time for her to be wandering around the castle,' Draco added. 'Events are on the move. Part of the reason I came here was because I was looking for Ginny. And part of the reason that I need to find her is that, if what she told me is true, she was the way that you all got here. And shes the only way you can leave. And you need to leave now.' Now he was looking at Harry. 'Slytherin wants you dead,' he said bluntly. 'I stalled him and kept him from killing you; I told him there was some kind of charm on your life. Thats why he wanted your blood. Now that hes examined it, he?ll know I was wrong, or lying, and he?ll come for you. You have to get out of here before that happens.'
Hermione felt as if her blood had turned to ice water. 'You got into the cell,' she said to Draco. 'Can?t you let us out?'
He shook his head, avoiding her eyes. 'I can let you out, or Ron out.
But the wards are charmed to recognize Harry as the prisoner here.
If he leaves, the alarms will go off like a rocket. We?ll be deluged with dementors within seconds.'
'Then Harry stays here,' said Ron, firmly. 'I?ll go look for Ginny.'
'I?ll come with you,' said Hermione quickly.
'Hermione, no,' said Harry, even more swiftly. He had gone quite pale.
She turned back to him. 'Harry, it makes sense. The Lycanthe can feel the presence of other powerful magical objects. It?ll be attracted towards the Time-Turner. It?ll help us find Ginny, but it won?t work for Ron, so I have to take it and go with him. Otherwise he?d just be wandering around lost, and we?d never get you out of here. We?ll take the Cloak; it?ll be safe.'
'There are dozens of powerful magical objects in this castle — ' Draco began. And stopped.
'But these two were meant to be used together,' said Hermione quietly. 'I don?t want to go wandering around here any more than Ron does. But it makes sense.'
Draco looked down at the floor; Ron looked set and determined. She knew he would go after Ginny even if she didn?t come. She turned to look at Harry — and found him staring at her intently.
'I need to talk to you, Hermione,' he said, in a fierce, low tone.
'Now.'
She let him take her hand and draw her across the room, around the side of the wardrobe, where there was a modicum of privacy. Of course, she could still hear Dracos voice, telling Ron to take the Cloak, and he?d give him some instructions on how to find his way around the castle. 'Draco Malfoy, deigning to help us,' Ron replied, irritably. 'Finally I can die happy.'
