Draco nodded slightly and placed his mother's wand in his father's hand. "Here. Mother needs this."

Narcissa was almost upon them now. "No!" she shouted, horrified. "Draco, take it!"

He looked at her grimly. "I'll get one."

Lucius nodded in understanding. "Me too. We'll have your back"

Not waiting for a second longer, Draco took off again as fast as he could run. Skirting around the side wall, he found a hole blasted low in the stone. He peeked inside, and a whispered "Accio." brought him the wand from a nearby corpse. He crept a little farther along to another hole in the wall, this one big enough for him to slip through. He stood, and immediately had to dodge a curse. Red and green sparks flew from wands all around him. Looking toward the main building, he saw Longbottom on his hands and knees, reaching for the Sorting Hat while a Death Eater narrowed his sights.

"Stupefy!" Malfoy shouted. The Death Eater stumbled back two steps, but didn't fall. Damn wand. "Stupefy! Stupefy!" The Death Eater finally fell, to Draco's relief.

"Malfoy!" Longbottom was struggling to stand with a bad leg, a wand in one hand and sword in the other, both pointed unwaveringly at Draco. "What the hell was that?"

"Nargles," Malfoy answered, offering a hand to help him up. "Have you seen Luna?"

Longbottom burst into laughter as he accepted Draco's hand. "I had to find Hannah Abbott earlier, to tell her I'm mad about her before we die. We'll find Luna."

The two young men stood back to back, dueling with all who dared to face them. The strange wand began to respond to Draco slightly better, but still was no comparison to his real wand. Neville, however, deflected curses and knocked down Death Eaters with astonishing skill. Malfoy was about to comment on his partner's newfound talents when a movement near his feet caught his eyes.

"Neville! The snake!" he shouted.

Longbottom spun around and sliced the snake's head off in one smooth motion, whirled the rest of the way around, passing the sword over Malfoy's ducked head, and resumed hexing the enemy.

"Harry Potter, my arse. Neville Fucking Longbottom is my hero." Draco muttered. Neville snickered.

At that moment, a small army came storming into the courtyard led by Professor Slughorn and Another Freaking Weasley. Someone right behind the leaders caught Draco's eye and smiled for a moment before charging into the building. Theo Nott.

A female scream split the air.

"Luna," Malfoy gasped, even though he wasn't sure who exactly made the sound.

"Go!" Longbottom gave him a small shove. "I'll cover you." Draco set off at a run.

Malfoy charged toward the Great Hall, dodging curses and duels. He passed his mother, dueling with one of the few Death Eaters still wearing a mask, but she seemed to be holding her own easily. He looked around, spotting his father dueling with Nott Senior. Good, that would keep Theo's father away from him.

He ran into the Great Hall, spotting Luna almost immediately. She, Granger, and the Weasley girl were backed into a corner, all three of them dueling Aunt Bella. His aunt fired a killing curse that passed right between Luna and Weaslette.

"Bellatrix!" he shouted, firing a Cruciatus curse that narrowly missed her.

At that moment, he was struck from behind by a falling Death Eater, knocking him to his hands and knees. He hoped he had her attention, that his aunt was about to strike him dead rather than turning her attention back to the girls.

Before he could look up, a voice shrieked "Not my daughter, you bitch!"

Molly Weasley was firing spells at Bellatrix, who was cackling like a loon. He slipped around the pair, pulling Weaslette and Luna out of the corner.

Hermione practically growled at him. "We don't need your help, Malfoy."

Malfoy was so thankful something in this whole insane situation was normal he actually smiled. "Shut up, Granger."

A chunk of plaster flew out of the wall right above his head. He shoved the Weasley girl to the side, pulling Luna behind him, and firing a stunning spell at the Death Eater aiming at them.

"Stay together!" he hissed at Granger and Weaslette. He pulled Luna along behind him, running over in his mind where he could get her to safety. He was almost to the door when he spotted a killing curse hurled at them from the corner of his eye. He ducked, covering Luna with his body as best he could. Almost instantly a shield charm was cast over them. He looked from one side to another, wondering who had tried to kill him, and who had protected him. He couldn't see who had thrown the curse, but he did see who had cast the shield. Theo. Before he could speak, he heard the words "Avada Kedavra!" in a sickeningly familiar voice. Theo fell, his face reflecting his shock. Vincent Crabbe turned his wand toward Draco and Luna as the shield collapsed.