The crack from the apparation was loud and left his ears ringing from the noise.

His gray boots hit the mud and he sunk deep into the soft ground. The earth gripped his shoes with unexpected suction and his balance was temporally lost. Oddly, it was the freezing wind from the north that helped him steady himself. He shivered against the cold and made his first step to the trees. His pants were already filthy and he had barely taken a step forward.

He could not believe he was going to get used like this. He hated it when this happened and it seemed like it was happening more and more often in the past few months.

He was supposed to be an asset, one that was treated with respect and reverence. He popped his collar to better block the harsh winds.

The night was cold and the trees seemed to lean into him as he passed. They groaned and creaked loud when he neared them. Draco fingered his wand inside his cloak. He was not afraid of the dark, but it did please him when he found one of the ominous trees rotted to the ground.

Owls and bats fought overhead for the rights to eat small scraps of animals scurrying around him. Their screeching and hissing was sharp and loud.

The sound reminded him of home.

The wind picked up again and it made his platinum locks dangle in his eyes. It was a bad time to think about it, but he really needed a haircut.

He finally found his landmark. He was instructed to follow the moon until he found the rock that resembled a castle. It was a strange sight to look for, but the stone rose and fell in such a way that it did remind him of his old school. Who would make a Hogwarts made of stone way out here?

Now he was told to wait. The guardian would find him. Or something like that. He really did not know what he was looking for. As far as he knew, he was the first to enter these woods for centuries. The stories the kids would tell in class about this place was enough to keep everyone away.

So who the hell is the guardian?

The sound was enough to make his heart freeze. It was soft at first, like a whisper in his ear. Draco's throat went dry. What kind of creature made such an awful… tortured sound? The noise turned to a wail quickly but he could not locate the source of it. He backed into a bush and the noise ended abruptly. The forest breathed quiet, as if watching every movement he made. As if the guardian was right behind him, breathing down his neck.

The screech came so fast and so close he let out a startled cry and fell forward. His boots had finally caught the earth and stuck. He turned over on his back quickly and backpedaled as far as he could away from the sound while staying in the light of the moon. The shaking of the vegetation in front of him led him for a moment to believe someone was going to walk right through it.

But that was not the case.

The bush itself turned and growled in his direction. Its movements were slow and labored, as if he did not change position often. The shuffle of leaves and branches as it grew to its full height made a shiver roll down Draco's spine.

Fog rolled out of the mouth of the beast made of leaves. His breathing was the only thing in the entire forest making a sound. Bright blue eyes opened one at a time.

They were so incredibly… human.

Like fog being lifted, he knew this beast.

Back in school the students would tell stories about the great walking bush. That he was a student just like them, but with awful taste in women. He had fallen in love with a Muggleborn that was attending Hogwarts. She had been very beautiful, but was fairly cruel. At the time, she had been considered one of the best students to walk through the gates of the old school. The story ends with her trying out a potion on the boy. She promised him, while looking into his bright blue eyes that she would be his if he drank her tea.

Immediately he changed. He went from being a Ravenclaw to a leaf. It must have been the most painful transformation to ever take place in Hogwarts. The girl panicked and let the leaf fall from the highest tower of the tower. The wind carried him the rest of the way here. Then he grew.

The beast growled again. Now that he thought about it, they were the very sounds a human makes when they have given up on the world. As per requirement for being his father's son, he had heard them often.

The animal turned and started moving slowly away from Draco. The forest seemed to move aside for him. As if it knew it were moving for the guardian to pass. Having things move for his passage made him feel slightly more at ease. It was more familiar.

He genuinely hated being the decoy. In theory, he had gotten used to it. But with the war expanding on so many fronts, protection of him was growing thin.

The great Voldemort was dead.

But so many had risen to take his place, it was safer before the Dark Lord was slain. For a while the dark side did not know it was him that had spilled so many crucial secrets. But they grew wise and released a widespread campaign against him. Every worshipper of evil was quickly made aware of what he had done.

Draco Malfoy was one of the most wanted men alive.

But true to their word he has been protected against their retribution. The Ministry labeled him a decorated hero. Because of that, he was constantly safe.

Except for when he goes out on missions.

The monster quit moving and turned its body in Draco's direction. "You should be more careful. I don't feel anything here to protect you from what is in that cabin."

The leaves fell one by one from the animal until there was nothing and it flittered into the wind. His speech did little to reassure Draco.

"Bloody sodding plant."

He reluctantly pulled his gaze up the hill. The cabin was completely dark and rested in an opening of the forest. In the light of day it probably appeared quant.

Aurors should have made themselves known to him by now. Where the hell was his support? For a moment Draco considered the fact that they were giving him over to the Darkness, that they were getting rid of him. He did require twenty-four hour protection. More than one warrior of the light had died protecting him.

He shook his head to clear those thoughts. The ministry was always going to be there for him. Hopefully. Probably.

He sighed. So here he was, alone. He had a fifty/fifty shot of being screwed.

His hair fell into his vision again and with a huff he swiped at it.

The moon light fell on the cabin and lit the tin roof with its reflection. He was too close to the dark magic inside of the little house to signal to the aurors that were hopefully nearby. He started towards the house.

And immediately wished he were dead.

"Ah, Drakey!"

Shite. Pansy. Anything but her.

He cursed the gods that hopefully watched over him. He turned slowly in her direction and prepared himself to lie. "I was just thinking...about how lovely you are. I really just wanted to see you again." He even tried his best to look sincere.

Her high-pitched laugh bounced around the dark forest. It was as awful as ever, maybe even worse.

Her hair was longer now. It was thick and brown and rolled down her body; catching the light around it. Her eyes were bright with confidence. She was still short, but wore heels she couldn't possibly move well in to adjust the height.

She never really was very practical.

There were rumors that she was captain of her master's Darkness, which is another name for army of the dark. And for someone like Pansy to be captain… means she got powerful. Or lucky. Or maybe she's just great at shagging.

"I don't think so, Drakey-Poo. It has been a while since I saw you," she looked down at her nails and busied herself with cleaning them, "when I found out you were coming here, personally, I just had to do the same thing."

He was coming here to lure out some younger black cult wizards. There were only supposed to be a few of them. His job was to get them out of the enforced cabin. What worshipper of the dark arts wouldn't jump at the chance at Mr. Malfoy himself? Then surrounding aurors would swoop in to do the dirty work. He was always just a decoy.

Of course he would take all the credit. He would take a few pictures and sign a few autographs and the public would be completely satisfied at his heroism.

But if Pansy knew he was coming that means that the Order had been fed false information. There was no other reason to explain Pansy being here. Draco hated traitors. Which he thought was rather funny because he was the most famous one in recent history.

The presence of more death eaters surrounded him and he warily took a step back. If they knew about him, they knew about the backup. There was a good chance they were dead. The feeling of being completely alone hit him in the gut.

"Looking good Pansy, just what have you been doing all these years? That is, besides sucking dark lord cock every night? Voldemort had always said you were so very good at it."

Her eyes snapped to his. "Was that supposed to piss me off? Cause you really don't want to do that." She swung her long hair over her shoulder. A deep green dress peaked out from her black robes. She always did dress to impress.

"Well, you know me Pans. I always like to do the things I shouldn't." He was stalling.

"Like being faithful, Drakey? You were never too good at that."

"Well, I had to get satisfied somewhere."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You are a fool Draco."

"And if I had to wager, you still love me. Who is the fool now?"

She started to laugh again. "Say what you want. Your unsuspecting Aurors were stopped hours ago. They were mercilessly slain. You have no support. You have no hope."

Well fuck. She killed the Aurors? His hand was wrapped so tightly around his wand his knuckles were white. He hated it when Aurors were lost watching over him.

"How many?"

Her eyes twinkled. "Three. And I made sure my boys knew to do it slow. You should have heard them scream Draco. Once upon a time, you would have eaten it up." She licked her lips to make her point.

"I never got off on murder!" He poured as much ice into his voice as could fit.

She grinned, "Oh Draco. I think I might have missed you. Now that you have no hope you are positively delightful. Are you ready to be taken to my master now? You can't fight all of us. I have a small army ready to bring you to your knees if you don't do exactly what I say."

He laughed, "I have no fear for you, luv."

Pansy looked around her surrounding men. She shrugged. "You should. Goodbye Drakey. Scream for me," she disappeared with a bang.

Immediately he tried to apparate behind her, anywhere was better than here. No use, wards must have been setup after Pansy. He swore and tried to tally how many men were gathered.

They drew wands. But Draco was far from defenseless. It's true he didn't like to kill. He hated it really. It was considered a last resort. A last ditch effort. And this situation was most definitely a last ditch.

He quickly cast the entrail-expelling curse on the nearest death eaters. Two fell instantly to their knees, blood pouring from their orifices as his spell went to work. He used the distraction to his advantage. Draco quickly took three bottles of potions out of his cloaks and tossed them towards some gathering men. Their screams as their skin melted made a part of Draco smile that had long been dormant. The smell of their flesh was exquisite. But he was out of practice.

Pure surprise had been on his side before. Now the group gathered to kill him knew better than to underestimate him. He had taken down a few more with some spare spells, before trying again to apparate. No use.

He could only hold them off for so long before they took him down. A large man, possessed more than likely, grabbed for his arm. Draco lit him on fire before lifting his body with a flick of his wand. He callously tossed the heavyweight towards the cabin and the man slammed into the door with an audible crack.

It took upwards of three men to hold the proud Slytherin to the ground. He was a fighter. Even without magic he was a formidable opponent. Two wizards ripped his wand away from him. He felt its magic leave his body. He always felt cold without his wand in his possession. Choruses of "crucio" could be heard coming from the crowd. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain to hit him.

But it never came. And he felt it in his bones why.

His disbelief was tangible. The spells were frozen in the air between him and the death eaters. They had been stopped cold. He might actually have back up after all! The remaining members started to yell. They were confused. None had ever experienced a spell that could stop that many forbiddens in one instant.

The degree and speed to which the temperature fell was more than noticeable.

He heard the panic spread through the death eaters in front of him. The spells that were trapped began to boil and change color. With an audible crack they flew back towards his opposition and knocked four down to the ground.

He felt a source of power coming from the North. It was headed towards them fast by air, too fast if by broomstick. It was a small light at first, easily mistakable as a star or a comet. But the closer it got, the more the power pressed into Draco. This thing headed towards him stopped over seven forbiddens in the air, from miles away. There was no way it was a simple auror. It had to be something else, something powerful. His heart began to race faster. The power was choking him. He could barely recognize the death eaters around him starting a containment spell.

When the light touched down on the earth, Draco found he was slightly disappointed. He was expecting something no one had ever seen before.

But it was just some girl.

"Who the hell are you?"

She had landed between him and the death eaters. She was absolutely stunning, wild mounds of curly silver hair fell down to her shoulders. She wore the white robes of an auror but he had never seen her before.

She brought with her the cold. Wherever she stepped ice gathered around her. She was tall and from what skin Draco could see of her, she was very pale.

He thought it was his imagination at first. But after he repeatedly saw what looked like movement, he knew it was real. She had glass wings fluttering behind her. She was breathtaking.

But there was no way all that power had come from her.

"I asked you a question. If you work for the Order, you work for me. Who the hell are you?" He had not meant to sound so rude.

Eyes of intense auburn glanced over her shoulder at him before steadying in front of her. "Well, thank goodness I do not work for the Order." Her tone was bossy.

"Do you even know who I am?" All he wanted was an answer. He had gotten used to being pampered.

"I was called to save you. And yes Mr. Malfoy, I know exactly who you are." She drew her wand; he could see it was vine wood from there. What a strange wand for an Auror to use...

"Wha-" the death eaters finally made their move. The large containment spell fired off towards them.

He moaned. He was going to die.

"Consisto!" One extravagant motion later, the spells were stopped and fired back at the enemy lines. Three went down; all that was left were a few straggler death eaters and some dark warriors. He could smell all the magic in the air. He was worried Pansy would return.

She appeared by his side. He shivered and drew his cloak around him to protect him from the intense cold she brought with her. If she saw him flinch away from her, she showed no signs. "It's not over yet. I swear if I have to break another barricade to save you of all people I am going to snap your sodding neck myself." She said it in a way he had never heard anyone say it before… well, maybe once or twice.

He blinked. That voice. That hair. "Holy Merlin, Granger?" When she froze and looked at him again it all clicked into place.

"Malfoy." She nodded in his direction. He was utterly devastated.

"I can't fucking believe they sent a Gryffindor girl to save me." How the hell had she gotten this way?

"Stuff it Malfoy. You think I want to be out here risking my arse for you?" She huffed and fog rolled from her throat.

A spell hit the ground next to them and her power flared. She was off again. He could not see it, but he did hear the screams of some of the death eaters as her spells hit home. What the hell had happened to her that she was defeating death eaters by herself? Come to think of it, she had disappeared after Voldemort was defeated. What kind of training the annoying little wench go through?

"Malfoy, heads up!" He looked at her in time to see a jet of energy stream from her wand into the chest of another dark warrior. They were fierce creatures and known to be great fighters. They were often resilient to magic. But that did not stop the chest on this one to cave in. Draco ducked out of the way as his blood rained down where he had been standing moments before.

"You ready ferret?" She took flight again. Her glass wings flapped and sent her sailing much too fast in his direction. Her white robes billowed behind her.

Her hand snapped into his and they lifted into the air. Her hand was impossibly warm compared to the air around her. It was the first time he had ever flown without his broom and he absolutely hated it. "What the hell are you doing!?"

With no effort at all she pulled him behind her and hooked his arms around her neck. Her wings were like ice. Each time he came into contact with them they were so cold they burned. "Try not to choke me and keep your lard off of my wings the best you can."

It was insanely strange for him to be told such a thing. He did try to keep his weight off of the slowly beating wings, but it was hard with him being so cold. This was the first time he had come into contact with Granger since she had slapped the fire out of him.

Even with all the stress, he could not help but notice that she smelled like vanilla.

He watched as death eaters pooled out of the cabin.

He felt a shift in his unfortunate partner. The same power he had felt earlier intensified as she gathered it back inside of her. The girl he so was so tightly latched to began calling on her power. Once again, it was something he had never felt before. But he was growing tired. Every second he had to hang on the witch, felt like a lifetime. Was she drawing strength from him too?

"Vis vires frigus ego imperious, ADAVA KEDAVRA!"

The blinding light was supremely spectacular. The death eaters each felt the cold hand of death. There was now an entire square mile of forest, decimated under her wrath.

"Are… are they gone? Did we get them?" Her voice was weak. The beating of her wings had slowed against Draco's belly.

He blinked and looked around; if she was looking to eradicate the enemy, she did it. She had done it all by herself.

Holy bloody hell.

"Looks like it."

Her wings stopped all together. She was out like a light. Oh shit.

"Granger! Wake up!" The ground was coming up fast against him. He did not even have the time to cast a levitation charm on himself. He briefly saw a flash of red and a broomstick and was whisked back into the air.

"Whoooo!!! Did you see that Harry? Our girl defeated a whole damn army!"

He recognized the voice and part of him wished he had hit the ground. They were never going to let him live this down.

"That's because it's Hermione. Our very own hero! Isn't that right Malfoy? She saved your ass!"

Shit. Anything but Potty and Weasel. Shit. Shit. Shit.