I don't own anything! Thank you to my wonderful reviewers, marsiWHOdini, KogoShuko, ilovecupcakesxxx, and .rain! Butterbeers all around! Here is the next chapter, enjoy!
"Ron!" Potter bellowed, and from somewhere out of sight Hermione screamed. Draco felt the sound in the very core of his being. Was she there, on the other side of that wall? She would be crushed by the falling objects...before he could act, Potter pointed his wand and shouted "Finite!" and the wall steadied. Crabbe cursed under his breath and raised his arm to no doubt repeat the spell.
"No!" Draco yelled, grabbing his arm. He had to think of something quick, a logical explanation for stopping Crabbe so that he would not get any more suspicious..."If you wreck the room, you might bury this diadem thing!"
"What's that matter?" said Crabbe, tugging himself free. "It's Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?" Draco felt the frustration rising within him. He had to convince Crabbe to focus on the diadem.
"Potter came in here to get it," he replied angrily, "So that must mean.."
"'Must mean'?" Crabbe interrupted, and Draco saw a look of contempt and triumph that he had never seen before on his friend's face. "Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You an' your dad are finished." Draco rushed to think of a response. This was spinning out of control quickly. He knew that eventually he was going to have to stun Crabbe, the question was, how would Potter react?
"Harry?" Weasley's voice came from the other side of the wall. "What's going on?"
"Harry?" mimicked Crabbe. "What's going...no, Potter! Crucio!" Potter had used the moment of distraction to lunge for the top of the pile. Crabbe's curse missed him, but struck a few of the objects on top. They soared upward for a moment, and they all watched as the objects dropped out of sight. The weary look in Potter's eyes seemed to triple.
"STOP!" Draco shouted at Crabbe, grabbing his wand arm again. "The Dark Lord wants him alive..." It was a last attempt to reason with Crabbe. If bringing up the Dark Lord's name didn't make him settle down, Draco was going to have to stop him, and soon.
"So? I'm not killing him, am I?" Crabbe yelled back, shaking off Draco's arm. "But if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff..." Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw a red light streaking toward them. Without thinking, he pulled Crabbe out of the way. He felt his heart drop when he looked up and saw Hermione running toward them. Crabbe's lower lip curled in anger.
"It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!" Hermione dived aside just in time. Draco was filled with rage and fear, horrified that his former friend had actually meant to kill. He raised his wand to fire a powerful stunning spell at Crabbe, but Potter was faster. As Crabbe dived out of the way, he bumped into Draco, knocking his wand out of his hand. He reached for it desperately, but it rolled beneath a mountain of furniture and boxes. Wandless and defenseless, he turned to his friends and mustered all of the authority he could.
"Don't kill him! DON'T KILL HIM!" He screamed at them. Surprised, Crabbe and Goyle hesitated for a mere second. Potter took advantage of that moment and disarmed Goyle. Hermione ran to them, shooting spells at both Draco and Goyle. Draco ducked out of the way as Goyle fell. Potter was yelling about the diadem...Crabbe was firing curses...Draco had to communicate to Hermione that he wanted to help her...
"HARRY!" Hermione screamed suddenly, and Draco looked up as well. Weasley and Crabbe were both running hard up the aisle and a roaring noise filled the air.
"Like it hot, scum?" Crabbe panted. As soon as the flames were visible, Draco knew. His friend had cast a terrible curse, the Fiendfyre. Even if he had still had his wand, Draco had no idea how to stop it, and he knew that Crabbe didn't either. As Potter desperately called upon water, Draco grabbed the immobilized Goyle and ran. He had to get to higher ground, had to get away from the beasts that were pursuing them...he saw a pile of desks and headed toward it. He slung Goyle over his shoulder, fireman style, and began the arduous task of climbing. When he reached the top, he chanced a look below. The flames were coming, and he could not see anyone else. Where was Hermione? He had never wished for a wand more than at this moment. In the next instant, he knew that it wouldn't matter soon. The fire was storming closer, the flaming serpents and dragons bearing down on him and Goyle. This was how it was going to end...he hoped it was quick...he closed his eyes and thought of Hermione...
A shout from above made him open his eyes. Potter was there, on a broomstick, circling the room. Was he looking for them? Would he actually help them? Their eyes locked and Draco raised his arm. Potter dived in closer and grasped Draco's hand, but his weight combined with Goyle were too much. His hand slid out of Potter's grasp. A flaming chimaera bore down on them. Draco raised his terrified eyes to find Potter, wanted to plead with him to try again event though he knew it would be in vain...
"IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I'LL KILL YOU, HARRY!" roared Ron's voice. He and Hermione swooped down and dragged Goyle on to their broom. Draco clambered up behind Potter, and both brooms shot away, mere inches from the chimaera's grasp.
"The door, get to the door, the door!" Draco screamed in Potter's ear, holding on tightly. He tried to look around for Crabbe, but all he could see was flame and smoke. It was getting impossible to breath, but the door was near...all of a sudden Potter swerved and dived back into the din. What was he doing, was this his plan, to kill them both, they were headed right into the open mouth of a flaming serpent...Potter caught something around his wrist and wheeled around. Draco heard someone screaming, and then realized that the sound was coming from himself. Clean air filled his lungs in a sudden rush, and he tumbled off of the broom with Potter as it hit the corridor wall. He gasped for air as he lay there, chest heaving. He raised his head and found Hermione, she was slumped against the opposite wall next to Goyle.
"C-Crabbe," Draco choked as soon as he could speak. "C-Crabbe.." He wanted to apologize for his friend's actions, wanted to make them understand that Crabbe wasn't always like that...
"He's dead." Weasley said curtly, no emotion in his voice. Draco did not respond. Now was not the time to mourn for his friend, not when Crabbe had so nearly killed them all. He started to struggle to his feet, he needed to go to Hermione, needed to touch her, see for himself that she was unharmed. Before he could move, a number of large bangs shook the castle, and ghostly throng of figures galloped past on horses, screaming. When they had retreated, Draco heard more screams and knew that the battle was raging on around them. Potter got up quickly and asked his friends about his missing girlfriend. Draco didn't pay too much attention to their conversation, he was filled with the alternating emotions of relief that Hermione was okay and horror at the way his friend had died. He snapped back to attention when he heard Hermione speaking. She was looking at what Potter was holding. Draco peered closer and saw that it was the diadem, only it was leaking a substance that looked like blood and it appeared to have broken in half.
"Fiendfyre...cursed fire..." Hermione's eyes were on the broken pieces. "It's one of the substances that destroys Horcruxes, but I would never, ever have dared to use it, its so dangerous...how did Crabbe know how to..." Draco did not pay attention to Potter's reply. Horcruxes! Everything suddenly seemed to click into place. In a rush of understanding, he abruptly knew the terrible sacrifice that Voldemort had made to be immortal. So this was what Potter had been up to...finding and destroying the Dark Lord's horcruxes. The fact that he was holding one right now, mere feet away, made Draco want to shrink back in terror. In the next moment he was disgusted with himself and filled with a grudging admiration for Potter. "But don't you realize?" Hermione was whispering. "This means, if we can just get the snake..." Nagini! Nagini was a horcrux! Draco felt the knowledge hit him with such force that it almost knocked him backward. Yells and the shouts of dueling filled the corridor. From his vantage point on the floor, Draco saw a group of people stumble into view, fighting and cursing. He recognized some of the Death Eaters. Weasley, Hermione, and Potter ran forward and entered the melee. Draco wished that he could grab Hermione, take her someplace safe, but he had no wand and there was no safe place...he scrambled to his feet and pulled Goyle with him. He had to get away from here, had to make sure that Goyle was hidden. Then he would find a wand somehow, and return to help...he struggled under Goyle's dead weight as he rushed down the corridor in the opposite direction.