Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to this lowly writer. I do not make money from these stories, they merely provide me with entertainment :D
I don't think apologies will suffice this time; my updating has been absolutely awful.
*bows head in shame*
But as of now my summer holidays have officially started and I will update regularly. I promise this time!
He managed to make it to the Transfiguration corridor before he ran out of breath. His lungs burned uncomfortably but his lips seemed charred. He had practically flown down the Grand Staircase to the ground floor, his mind pleasantly blank as he searched for somewhere, anywhere he could just stop and...think.
What was he doing? What was kissing Potter meant to achieve? The plan had failed, he had failed. And now it seemed like he was doing whatever he could to further mess things up. Potter might have said he cared but he certainly wouldn't when he found out the truth that Draco had played him in order to get more protection. Hell, even when Draco himself said that it sounded selfish and...well something a Slytherin would do.
The gut wrenching guilt he felt when that thought entered his mind just wasn't normal. He was Draco Malfoy; guilt was something other people experienced. He definitely shouldn't have been experiencing it towards Potter!
He slid down against the cold stone wall, his legs shaking too violently to keep him upright any longer.
Potter was a distraction that Draco couldn't afford to become involved with. James and Alex had both gotten hurt because of his idiotic plan. Blaise had tried convincing him that they would have been attacked anyway because of who they were connected with, but Draco didn't buy it. He had angered those attacking Slytherins.
And if those threatening notes left in Draco's bag were anything to go by, they certainly didn't want Harry Potter to become involved in their escapades.
Hands trembling slightly, Draco slid his wand out of his pocket and fingered it regretfully. If only he knew who was behind the attacks. He would hit them so hard they'd have no chance to prepare themselves. The cowards.
Cowards who hid behind a stupid facade of righteous avengers.
After the war Draco knew his life would become complicated, even more so than before the war. Maybe because of how he acted, definitely because of whom he had been connected with, regardless of which side he had allied himself with in the end. His family had been shoulders deep in connections with that side and now Draco was paying the price.
He shook his head slightly. There was no point in sitting here, hiding from Potter. What would that achieve apart from making Draco seem like an absolute idiot? He was going to have to face Potter sooner or later and tell him to...
What did he want to tell him?
There was no way in hell that Draco could tell Potter about the Plan. He would get his face pummelled for sure, if not by Potter then by his Gryffindor lackeys who would surely by indignant about the devious use of their hero.
Draco didn't really fancy having a hundred plus pounds of angry Weasel beating his face in. Not to mention Granger had one hell of an arm on her. His jaw clenched at the memory of third year. That had been beyond painful and the bruise was something he hadn't wanted to explain either. Crabbe and Goyle were still sworn to secrecy from mentioning it.
Slowly he stood up and pushed himself away from the wall. He needed to patrol. If nothing else he did tonight was useful the least he could do was make sure the Slytherins were protected. The problem of Potter could wait for another hour or so, until he was in his bed. Blaise would be patrolling with Pansy. Theo would be staying with his brother and most of the Slytherins would be in bed hopefully at this time. His job tonight should be pretty straightforward if he was lucky.
As a shriek rang out in the distance, Draco mentally berated himself. Since when had he ever been considered lucky?
He practically slid around the corner in his haste to get to the girl – the shriek had sounded feminine – and only just caught the banister before he fell head first into the stone steps. The shriek came again, fear palpable in the sound. Draco set his jaw and gripped his wand tighter.
They weren't going to get this one, not on his watch. Not when he so close...
And there they were. About seven students clothed in black standing outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classrooms, pointing their wands at...nothing?
Oh shit.
Draco barely registered the thought before he spun on his heel and dived to the right. The corridor rang with several voices shouting curses that landed a few centimetres to the left of where Draco had landed. Rolling to the side, he quickly got to his feet and began running towards the stairs again. His only chance of getting away would be to start running towards the Slytherin Common Room.
A trap?
Draco had obviously underestimated how annoyed he had made these people. He never thought that they would actually carry out their threats.
As a curse sparked off the wall near his head Draco briefly considered firing some curses back, but the sheer numbers of them dissuaded him from that course of action. Seven against one was hardly fair. Draco may have been angry but he was still a Slytherin. Survival came first, revenge could wait until later.
He rounded the corner to the stairs, ducking as a bright blue curse singed the ends of his hair. Oh how he would hurt them when he wasn't immensely outnumbered...
Footsteps thundered behind him as his pursuers reached the top of the staircase, their voices ringing out as they fired yet another round of hexes at him, swearing as they missed their target. Draco smiled grimly as he put on a burst of speed and managed to hurdle over the banister at the end of the steps. He landed awkwardly, but ignored the pain in his knees.
Gathering his bearings, he sped off towards the courtyard. From there he could make his way to the Great Hall and down into the dungeons. Perfect, he doubted they'd want to follow him down there anyway. Draco knew several parts of the dungeons that were labyrinths to those who hadn't the knowledge of how to get out of them.
A bead of sweat slowly made its way down his cheek before Draco wiped it away impatiently. Robes weren't designed for their occupants to run marathons in. Already Draco felt hot and out of breath from his sprint, but he couldn't stop yet. He had almost reached the Great Hall when he collided with another, much smaller body which squeaked in terror as Draco ploughed into it.
Winded, Draco gulped breaths as pulled a small girl up from the ground. He almost swore as his eyes were drawn to the emerald green badge on her robes. His attackers were still on the stairs but he knew he had merely seconds to spare before they reached him.
And when they reached him they would reach her.
"You need to run, alright? Run towards the Slytherin Common Room, run as fast as you can and don't stop. Do you understand?" he said rapidly, his breath coming out in sharp gasps. She looked at him in confusion before looking over his shoulder. Her eyes widened almost comically and she started to run backwards.
"I should- I'll get someone to help!" she stuttered, fear evident on her young face. She was sprinting now and Draco knew he should start running again soon as well. His mind worked rapidly as he worked out his options. Making a split decision, he spun on his heel and headed towards the Grand Staircase. He needed to draw the attackers away from the Slytherin girl. If they caught her now, they would hurt her as well. He couldn't let that happen.
Not again.
He knew he was going in the stupidest direction ever. He told the other Slytherins to never, ever, ever run upwards if they were being attacked. Not only did the climb tire you out, it led you further away from the Slytherin Common Room. But this wasn't just about him anymore. If they wanted him they would have to catch him first.
"You lot, get him! I'll get the girl before she gets to their common room!"
Draco snapped. He skidded to a halt and shot several stunners at his followers, gritted his teeth as most of them missed. He dodged out of the way of several curses, letting a few of his own fly before they could get another round out. He smirked as he managed to hit a few stragglers at the back, but the smirk was quickly wiped off his face as a hex shot past his side, almost catching his arm.
He wouldn't be able to hold them off here, it was too open. But if he moved, he knew that they would get to the Slytherin girl. She wouldn't have been able to make it to the common room yet; he needed to buy her some more time. He obviously didn't have much of a choice.
Draco dived out of the way of another curse but it sliced him just below his ribs. He hissed and clamped his hand over the seemingly shallow wound. Cutting curse. Draco revised his previous assessment: They were extremely pissed at him.
He growled slightly and constructed a messy shield charm which blocked a few nasty blue coloured hexes before they could hit him. He just needed to hold them off for a few more minutes, that's all. He just needed to make sure that none of them were able to follow the girl back to the common room. He let out a grunt as his side burned, but kept the shield charm up. They were advancing but there was nothing he could do. With the multitude of hexes hitting his shield it was a wonder he could keep it up at all let alone attack them back.
This was not looking good for him.
By some miracle he did manage to escape they would surely be back for him tomorrow night, and the night after...and the night after.
"Confringo!"
A force the size of a small explosion hit Draco's shield and propelled him into the wall behind him. He grunted in pain as his head struck the stone and his vision began to flash out of focus. He held on futilely as his wand was tugged harshly from his hand and he heard it clatter as it was thrown to the ground a second later.
Draco struggled to get to his feet but pain seared through his cheek as a fist crashed into it. He spat out blood as he attempted to defend himself. Pointless as a leg lock was quickly placed on him. Not a body bind though...they liked to hear their victims scream in pain. The remaining four gathered around him, gripping their wands threateningly.
He glared up at the apparent leader of the group as he advanced on Draco menacingly.
"You actually thought that Harry Potter would help someone like you," the leader spat, his voice familiar but Draco couldn't place it. "Harry Potter helped put Death Eater scum like you in Azkaban." The group sneered at Draco and a sharp foot caught him in the ribs.
Draco gritted his teeth through the pain, doubling up.
"You had an opportunity and you wasted it. Not all of us were lucky enough to fight in the last battle. Some of us were imprisoned as we prayed that our friends, our family were safe." The leader let out a sardonic laugh, his cloak casting impenetrable shadows over his face. Draco couldn't see his face, but the grim pleasure was evident in his voice.
"So now, Malfoy, we're going to punish you."
Draco's eyes widened in panic, but he held his body still. If they thought he was just going to sit here and wait until they cursed him, they had another think coming. He threw himself forward and managed to bowl over two of the cloaked figures in front of him, and rolled sideways to dodge the other two reaching for him. Kicking out with his bound legs he managed to strike another in the face before clambering to his feet unsteadily. His head pounded with residual pain and he couldn't see his wand clearly enough to summon it to hand. He began to hop unsteadily in the direction in which he thought his wand was thrown, but he hadn't managed to move a foot before a slash of pain hit him in the middle of his back.
Draco toppled forwards, his arms fully disabled down thanks to the body bind he found himself in. Apparently his attackers decided they favoured his disability over his shrieks of pain. His eyes flickered upwards as a figure stood over him.
"I always despised you, Malfoy. Switching sides just before the final battle?" the figure barked, "Now that was sneaky even for you." Slowly he leaned forward until his wand jabbed into Draco's immobile neck. "But I know you're just like the rest of them...and I must do my bit for the Wizarding community to make sure people," he sneered out the word, "like you are properly done away with."
Fear began to rise unbidden in him, but Draco couldn't do a blessed thing about it. All he could do was watch as the wand was levelled at him.
"Imagine asking some of your Death Eater friends to stage a mock attack just to get Harry Potter's attention. You thought we wouldn't find out? How pathetic." The leader snapped out.
"Cruci-"
Someone snatched the wand out of the leader's hand, holding it away as they stood flailing to reach it again. Unfortunately, it was the last person Draco wanted to see at this particular moment.
From his limited – and increasingly darkening – vision, Draco watched as Potter turned his sights on the thugs. His vibrant green eyes burned behind his ugly spectacles and his hand tightened flexed around his wand. Draco could only watch stunned as Potter quickly dispatched the last of the attackers and threw the leader to the floor carelessly, their wand broken next to him.
In the next second he had released the body bind on Draco and had flung himself to cradle Draco's head.
Possibly the worst thing he could have done, Draco mused to himself as pain exploded in his temples and behind his eyes. He must have let out a weak whimper of pain as Potter immediately began stroking his head soothingly.
Draco knew a little warning flag was waving in the back of his head as Potter's caresses slowly made his eyes slide shut, but he found himself utterly unable to care.
So what if Potter knew all about his plan now?
"Malfoy! Malfoy, wake up! I think you might have a–"
Who cared if Potter was going to tell his faithful minions who would almost certainly curse him worse than he already was now?
"Draco, you need to stay awake!"
Certainly not Draco, he was pretty content with surrendering himself to the darkness that was threatening to swallow him, regardless of Potter's panicked yells in his ear.
I am actually pretty darn excited about the Harry Potter 6 movie! *dances wildly* The trailer actually inspired me to finish these fics I have going! I do hope this chapter was atleast half way decent. It took me forever to write...perhaps a small case of writer's block?
There is an excellent remedy for that though...if you know what I mean :)
