Time passed. The extremities of his limbs soon became numb from lack of movement, and Draco began to feel frozen through; it was a moonless night, and he had nothing to guide him except the steady stroke of Viper’s movements. At one point, he passed into a fever dream in which it felt as though the world was rushing past him while he alone was still. It was with relief that he greeted the first pale fingers of dawn touching the eastern sky, and even greater relief that he saw the spires of Malfoy Manor come into view.