My hollow footsteps echoed through the empty halls, away from where I was supposed to be waiting: the common room. At Professor McGonagall's urging I had herded the Gryffindor students into the common room, and slipped away. I needed to know what was happening. I needed to find Harry.

"Granger." It echoed through the hall ominously. Normally I wouldn't have been frightened, but I recognized the voice. Harry was right, that voice could be deadly. I glanced behind me, and my instinct was correct. Malfoy. "No, wait!" He called again, as I picked up the pace, my shoes slapping against the hard floor. But I wasn't moving fast enough, and a few seconds later I was tackled to the ground, my face slammed roughly onto the stone, I coughed as the blood filled my mouth. I fought to get him off of me, Harry needed my help, but he was too strong.

He grabbed the back of my robes and flipped me over onto my back in a rough motion that knocked the air out of me. He had a hold of my wrists before I could catch my breath and grab my wand. Merlin's beard, I was screwed: A Death Eater hovering above me as I laid in an empty hallway, unarmed, and gasping for air around the blood that spilled from my lips. I closed my eyes as his hand came up with his wand, and tried not to flinch as his voice rang out quietly, but clear in the hallway. It echoed back to me, and I was surprised that it wasn't the words I was expecting to hear. "Episkey!". A warm sensation flowed over my face as I felt the injuries being healed. A "Tergeo!" followed, and the sticky blood was cleared off my face. Why was he healing me? Why wasn't I dead? I opened my eyes and looked at him, burning with curiosity. His expression was torn.

"You could let me go Draco. You don't have to do this." I found myself saying, and his eyes caught mine, as if he was just remembering I was there.

"Bloody hell, I'm not going to kill you, you filthy-" He stopped and sighed. "I need your help." He said suddenly, urgently. "They're going to kill me."

"What?" I cut in, attempting to sit up, but he wasn't moving. Then I realized he knew what was going on. He knew what had happened in the school. "Malfoy, what's going on? What's going on with the school?" I demanded.

"He said if I didn't do it they would kill my family. I mean, either way they were going to have him dead." He slammed his hand down next to my head and I let out a squeak of fear.

"Who would kill your family?" I whispered. I already knew the answer.

"Voldemort." He hissed, his hand clenched into a fist, I could feel it shaking. I was quiet for a moment. Voldemort was going to kill Malfoy's bigoted family, unless Malfoy killed...

"Dumbledore.' I gasped, jumping quickly, managing to get out from under him. I scrambled to my feet and took off down the hallway once more, a real destination in mind this time.

"NO!" Malfoy shouted, catching up with me quickly and grabbing the back of my robes and pushing me against the rough wall.

"If you go up there, they're going to kill you." He growled, and despite my confusion, I shoved him away from me, and managed to get my wand out of my robes.

"I don't know why you're trying to help me Malfoy, but you need to let me go." I backed away, wand pointed at him.

"Granger!" He chocked out quickly, wand swinging upwards as two arms grabbed me around my neck from behind, cutting off my air.

"Drac-" The arm tightened. He put his face against my hair and breathed in deeply with a groan.

"This filthy little Mudblood is going to be a delicious snack." The voice growled. I looked to Malfoy for help, but he looked absolutely terrified. I could feel the man's mouth near my ear, and his tongue flicked out to lick my cheek. He groaned again. It was then, surprisingly, that I realized who it was. It was the werewolf who had bit Lupin. Grayback. Fenir Grayback. Shit. That knowledge didn't help me in the least as he grabbed me by my neck and tossed me roughly against the wall. I felt my wand snap under me before my vision went black.

"What the hell happened to her Malfoy?" I heard a voice yell. I brought my hand up to my face, and pressed it against my forehead. It was throbbing. Malfoy?

"Grayback." I opened my eyes. Everything was blurry and distorted. I blinked for awhile until things started making sense. I suddenly remembered what had happened.

"What's going on?" I said, sitting up quickly, dizziness threatening to overcome me and put me back to sleep: I pushed past it and steadied myself against the wall. Harry and Malfoy were standing close to each other, Malfoy pressed into a wall, Harry's wand at his throat.

"Dumbledore's dead." Harry said, his fist flew up to the side of Malfoy's head knocking him to the ground. Dumbledore...Dead? The words couldn't fit together in my mind. This couldn't be happening.

"How?" I whispered, lowering my eyes from the pain in Harry's. He snorted.

"Why don't you ask him?" Harry's voice was cold and vindicitive. He looked down at Malfoy in disgust before pulling back his foot and kicking him in the ribs, hard. Hard enough to break them.

"Stop!" I cried out suddenly, lurching off the bed. "Harry, he saved my life." I laid my hand on his arm. I kneeled down to Malfoy, and rolled him onto his back, blood was dripping out of one of his ears...The one Harry had hit him in, and his ribs were obviously broken. "Episkey." I whispered, healing the ribs. "What happened Malfoy?" I said slowly and quietly, leaning over him.

"Voldemort took over our home, at first I was left out of it, I was just a kid. Then he decided he needed to get rid of Dumbledore to get to you." He shot Harry a dirty look. "And I was a direct link to Hogwarts. Voldemort branded me with the dark mark. He was going to kill my family and I if I didn't find a way to get the Death Eaters in." His voiced dropped to barely a whisper, I had to lean in to hear him. "I was supposed to do it. I was supposed to do it, then Snape and his bloody Unbreakable Vow, everything just went down hill..." He trailed off.

"Snape?" I whipped around towards Harry.

"Yeah, you heard him. Snape did it." Harry slammed his fist down onto one of the glass trinkets. I looked around for the first time, to realize we were in Dumbledore's office.

"Harry." I whispered. "Were you there? Did you see it happen?" Harry nodded. I turned back to Malfoy. "Why were you trying to help me earlier?"

"Because...I just couldn't do it." He shrugged, apparently coming back to his senses.

"You said you needed my help?" I stood up and brushed off my skirt.

"Yes. I did. I do." Malfoy looked uncomfortable. Harry smashed another item, I shot him an exasperated look.

"Harry, please." I sighed. "Malfoy, what do you need help with?"

"I need to kill Voldemort."