Chapter 35
More and more people left the feast to search the room for clues. Neither Draco nor Mars bothered. It was a very large, empty, fortified space, with high columns overhead. A few folks were searching beneath the tables, which Draco thought smarter than checking each wall, since there was absolutely nothing there to hide.
“We have to be missing something,” Draco said, not for the first time.
Mars nodded agreement and once again read through the invitation. The fact she hadn’t gotten up to search the room either made Draco more secure in his decision to study first, act later. “What about this?” Mars asked, pointing at the opening line: “Please join his majesty Harry James Potter in looking up and celebrating the fall equinox.” It was the only part of this invitation that mentioned the king or the equinox.
“That’s not duplicate information,” Draco said.
Mars pointed again. “Look up,” she insisted.
Draco paused and tilted his head. Yes, that was new. He met Mars' eyes for a beat, then both looked upwards to the rafters. This space was technically indoors, but only just. The ceiling was not insulated. In fact, high up on the wall the brick occasionally held space for windows without any frames blocking out the evening wind. The arcs above them were dark and dirty, likely with the remnants of animal nests that staff diligently cleaned out as necessary.
“What the fuck are we supposed to do with that?” Draco muttered.
Mars stood up then, craning her neck to see what everyone else was doing. It was a general free for all of directionless explorers. The astrolabe’s actions were more deliberate. She was circling the outer edges of the room, looking up high at the wall as she did so.
“I think she’s on to something,” Mars said, pointing the astrolabe’s movements out to Draco. The Patil sisters were with her, one craning her neck upwards to the ceiling and the other keeping an eye on everyone else in the room. That meant their team had a ticket to the chapel.
Draco was nodding. “Right. She knows something." He shifted his weight as he thought. “She wasn’t here when they took the castle, was she?” he asked.
“Psh, not here,” Mars scoffed. Then she considered. “But she knows someone who was here. Why? What do you got?”
Draco pointed again at the page. “Outsiders were not admitted. The whole point of a place of arms is it’s fortified and no one can get in. Do you know how they got in?”
Mars stared at him like he unlocked something critical. “I’ve heard this story. They came in through the main gates. They shouldn’t have been able to, because this place was heavily fortified, but somehow they intercepted the guards…” she trailed off.
“Do you think that happened here?” Draco asked, once again glancing around the room, picturing what it looked like filled up with men waiting for battle.
Mars spun in an entire circle, taking it in. “Must have been, for the story to make sense. Our competition is betting on the windows, but…” Draco glanced up at the windows. He understood the pause, there would be no sneaking in that way. Anyone outside would see you trying.
Draco wondered aloud, “Outsiders were not admitted. Does the story say if they had an insider helping?”
Mars grabbed his arm and hissed excitedly. “Yes! Yes! We did. One of Voldermort’s small council was a spy. He helped us get in.”
Draco’s eyes widened in true shock. This couldn’t be a story wildly shared, even Draco would have heard of it. Draco needed to know. “Who?”
Mars hesitated then closed her mouth, choosing not to say. It was a secret, then. A real secret from outside the game.
It didn’t matter who, Draco supposed. Someone hand picked by his father had betrayed King Voldermort and possibly cost them the war. It would eat him up inside if he let himself wonder why. Tonight wasn’t about the past, it was an outlet to live in the present, and in the present he needed to focus on the clue. An insider would be admitted. Only, from where?
Draco looked up again, spinning once more in a circle to examine the room with fresh eyes. Most walls led outdoors, but one abutted the castle. Draco paused to stare at it. It had one window, high up, separated from this room by a pane of glass that did not look like it had been untouched for decades, when it should have been too unimportant to bother cleaning.
Draco immediately dropped his gaze and grabbed Mars, squeezing tightly and biting his lips so as not to squeal. He glanced clandestinely around, making sure no one saw what he did.
“Tell me, tell me, tell me,” Mars insisted, huddling closer to Draco.
“Don’t look, but it’s the window behind you. I think something is up there, probably hidden on the windowsill.”
Draco had no clue how this woman managed to keep the secret of who betrayed his family, since she immediately whipped around and stared up at the window. Draco was rolling his eyes up towards the heavens when she looked back to him.
“It’s so high up! What are we going to do?”
Draco ran a palm over his face, trying to decide that himself. “For the love of everything good, stop drawing attention. Whatever we do, we’re going to have to move fast and get out quick.” He tried to guestimate how tall the window was, maybe 5 meters? One man on another’s shoulders couldn’t reach it. However… he glanced at the tables. If everything lined up just right this could work. “How strong would you say Aergia is?”
Mars, incapable of subterfuge, cackled. “Let’s go find out if he’s built us a team.”
Aergia had not disappointed. He winked when he saw his team approach, his gaze lingering a touch longer on Draco, then subtly turned his new friends’ attentions to Draco and Mars.
“What perfect timing, this shooting star was just saying how she needed seven to make it to the chapel. You two get us exactly there,” Aergia said smoothly. “That is, if you have anything we can use to get to the chapel?” He was good at selling that he wasn’t convinced.
Draco looked at the woman with the chapel invitation, not recognizing her at all. At her side was the comet, who had gotten them into the place of arms and was worth repaying for the effort. Butting elbows with the comet was the redhead dressed as half of a twin. Draco tried to see him as Castor, but his nerves had him only seeing George and waiting with baited breath for whether or not he was recognized. No spark of recognition came. Draco hardly glanced at the final man, until he realized the sailor was staring hard at his face. No, not his face, his mask. Just one piece of a disguise that Draco knew to be exemplary. This man couldn’t see Draco at all. When Draco examined him in turn, he couldn’t see enough to know if he’d ever met him before.
Draco almost opened his mouth to explain, but then thought better and motioned for Mars to take the lead. She grinned, as if it was a continuation of their game rather than Draco’s effort to minimize speaking to those who knew him best. Thankfully, everyone on the team did far better than Mars had when she instructed “don’t look!” since by now they were being watched closely from the fourteen other courtiers surrounding them from all directions.
“But how are we going to get up there?” asked the comet.
Draco grinned and pitched his voice lower than normal when he spoke. “We’ll need to move quickly, but before we do, which of you four is the strongest of the lot?”
He had meant it to tease, but the reaction was enlightening. Castor said, “Lee! Wait, what are we calling you? Oh yeah, Comet.” Comet whacked him over the head but agreed with his assessment. The sailor was pointing to Aergia, who also pointed to himself.
“Fabulous, we needed two. Here’s what we’re going to do.”
With the plan agreed upon, everyone jumped into action. Comet took the lead, pointing to the table everyone should gather round. On his count they lifted, each of the four strong men at a corner and Draco with the shooting star on a side across from Mars. They strained and shuffled, carrying the table all the way to the wall under the targeted window. Other folks were hollering at them now, but they powered on without explanation. Comet and Aergia jumped on the table, followed by the sailor.
Draco slipped off his shoes before following in their stead. He lost two inches that had been intentionally added to further confuse his identity, but he was still taller than any of the others who wouldn’t serve as a base. He was nearly at eye level with the sailor and for the first time that night he met the sailor’s brilliant green eyes. They looked familiar, but in Draco’s distraction he couldn’t place them. Besides, the sailor was bending down to hold out his hands for Draco’s foot. They’d agreed to focus and keep going, so Draco let the odd feeling in him die and stepped into the sailor’s hand to be boosted upwards.
Comet and Aergia caught and helped steady him as he climbed onto each of their shoulders. They held Draco’s calves as he crouched on them, and stayed steady as Draco balanced against the wall and pushed up to standing. For a moment, the entire world wavered beneath him and he swore he was about to fall. He grabbed forward for the wall, throwing his weight towards it to catch his balance.
“You’ve got this, Navigator!” Mars cheered beneath him.
Draco choked out a laugh, his fingers still clinging to the bricks.
“Steady on, you’re nearly there,” said an unexpected voice Draco recognized too well. Despite his fear of falling, he twisted to the side to look down at the third man still standing on the table. The sailor’s green eyes twinkled back at him, and Draco knew for certain who he was. King Harry called out, “Keep going. I’ll catch you if you fall.”
Draco’s heart clinched in his chest as a new panic gripped him. He didn’t care about the height or his very real lack of balance. He didn’t worry about the strain he put on the two men propping him up. His only fear was what the king had seen when he’d recognized Draco and what it meant for the rest of this adventure.
Draco looked straight ahead. If he wanted the rest of the adventure to happen he couldn’t panic now. He’d look a fool to all these people he’d tried so hard to impress, but more than that he’d be letting himself down. Draco squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t like the king, and the king didn’t like him. However, the king was very fond of his equinox persona and Draco was far too aware of what possibilities that unlocked. But Draco hadn’t come here for the king. He’d come here to have the magical adventure his parents always promised awaited him. That adventure was exploring remarkable spaces and building teams to solve ridiculous puzzles. He was here now, goddamnit, and it was his for the taking. The king had nothing at all to do with him having the night of his life.
With a deep breath, Draco steadied himself and looked up. His eyes didn’t reach the level of the windowsill, but he would be able to reach it if he tried. He held one hand to the wall for stability and then shifted upwards, trying to stand on tip toes as he reached an arm out as high as it would go. His fingers found the window and he started at one edge then inched along it to the other. It was slow going to not lose his balance, and half way through he had to carefully switch arms to reach the full way. Not once did Draco lose the certainty that this was right and as long as he kept going it would be there.
It was. At the very end, it was. Draco had to lean and stretch, but his fingers went from cold stone to brushing smooth metal.
“I’ve got it!” He cried out, too jubilant to distort his voice. The cheer that went up was from more than Draco’s team. Everyone was thrilled to be in on the action.
Mars had the clever idea to plan for that. While Draco firmly grabbed the metal box and pulled it off the sill, he made no effort to lower himself. Insead, he leaned his head and shoulders against the wall for stability so he could maneuver the box with both hands. He pulled out a pile of papers he had tucked away and held them in his mouth. Then slow and carefully, one at a time, he lined each up to the box and stamped out the next clue. Courtiers beneath him groaned out in frustration when he finished and stretched out one final time to put the metal box back where he found it.
The men beneath Draco each held out a hand for him to grasp so he could drop his feet and be lowered steadily back down to the table. His team was cheering, thrilled to have succeeded so completely. Comet slapped him on the back, but Aergia pulled Draco into a congratulatory hug. The older man squeezed Draco tightly and held on much longer than a friendly hug would go. Once released, Draco stumbled back a step and had to cling to Aergia for balance on the uneven table. When he was steady enough to let go and look up it was to see King Harry’s pained expression as he watched how close the two men were. Draco felt the sudden need to explain that this didn’t mean anything. Not that it mattered, since this whole thing was a lie and the king would abandon Draco should the king ever learn his true identity. Only, if it didn’t matter, why were nerves squeezing Draco’s chest?
Draco turned to Aergia, ready to seek his help in explaining the exaggerated affection away. Only, Aergia wasn’t looking at Draco. He was smirking and his gaze held steady on the king.