This chapter took me a right long while but I really like how it turned out and I hope you lot do as well. This is defenitley one of my favourite chapters so far. Enjoy and review!
Eclipse
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Tara was put up in a room next to Dawn and Snape was called to care for her. Then it was left to the fang gang to explain to the Order members exactly who Dawn and the wiccan were. Molly began whipping up food for everyone as they sat down, all with varying degrees of worry and confusion on their faces. Willow sat down and stared blankly at the table, not really seeing it; eyes wide and face rather green.
"Willow, are you alright?" Hermione knelt next to Willow's chair and placed a hand on her shoulder. Willow just looked at her helplessly.
"Here you go, dear." Mrs. Weasley placed a cup of tea into her shaking hands. "Drink this, you'll feel better."
"Thank you." Willow said finding her voice again.
"Oh, don't mention it. Now why doesn't someone tell us what is going on? How do you lot know the two girls Mr. Malfoy brought here today? For that matter, where does Mr. Malfoy come in at all?" Mrs. Weasley looked at said blond as Hermione began cleaning the wound above his eye and he sipped at a strengthening brew.
"I think that would be a very good place to start." Mr. Weasley said from the door.
"Erm, well, you see...uh." Harry looked uncomfortably from Mr. Weasley to Draco.
"Because Potter is clearly unable to explain the situation without botching it I feel the need to protect my godson's reputation." Snape stood next to Mr. Weasley in the door way.
"Is there something we can help you with Severus?" Mr. Weasley asked Snape.
"No, I was on my way to retrieve some potions when I heard Potter's failed attempts at an explanation. To put it simply, Draco has been working under me, spying for the Order, for some time now. Before you ask, yes, Albus knows. Yes, Draco is on our side. No, his parents are not and they do not know that their son is a spy. Yes, this is a top secret and, because I feel Draco will appreciate me saying so, there is no need to fawn, apologize, or in any other way show an obsessive amount of kindness to him because you have been falsely judging him for years. Now, I'll be on my way." With that, Snape left to floo out the parlor, leaving a kitchen full of gaping people.
The only people who continued about what they had been doing were Harry, Ron and Hermione. Immediately, all eyes went to them as Draco did his best to avert all stares. Then, Draco coughed softly, breaking the silence.
"So, now you all know about me so I should probably fill you in on the rest." There were nods of affirmation. "Well, a few weeks ago I had a letter from Harry explaining the situation and asking me to try and find the witch. When I finally found the girl they were, without going into to much detail, torturing her in any and all ways they could think of. At that point, she was still refusing to participate in the spell. That was when they went and kidnaped the other girl from the same world. It was just coincidence that the wiccan knew the girl that had been captured; it made the deatheaters' task just that much easier. Then they started torturing the new girl. It wasn't long before the wiccan broke down and began working the spell. It was my plan to, after long and careful observation get the two girls out of there. That plan was shot down however, when the Dark Lord found a 'demon' from the same world he had gotten the two girls from and decided the wiccan's use had expired. I really don't want to contemplate what would have happened if the two girls had stayed where they were much longer." The Slytherin shook his head from side to side, as if clearing it.
"Alright, that all makes sense but how is it you lot know those two girls?" Mrs. Weasley asked, directing her questions over to the side of the table where all the fang gang sat. As if rehearsed, they all looked towards Willow. When she didn't say anything Xander spoke.
"Well Dawn is Buffy's little sister and Willow and Tara were seeing each other for awhile." Draco and Harry looked at each other confusedly.
"As in a relationship?" Harry asked.
"She never mentioned anything." Draco said.
"Yes," Willow looked at both of them, a dangerous glint in her eye. "We were in a relationship. Do you two have a problem with that?" Two sets of eyes went wide.
"We're good." They said in unison. At that moment there was a scream. Everyone got up from the table and dashed towards the rooms Tara and Dawn were in. Buffy had her head stuck out of the door to her sister's rooms.
"What's going on?" Xander asked her.
"Dunno, that was Tara."
"Draco! In here, NOW!" Snape had slammed the door open. Draco excused himself and entered the room, the others crowding the door.
"She won't take any potions." Snape grumbled. The blond strode over and knelt in front of Tara. The girl was now in proper sleep wear and she had been cleaned but the haunted look in her face was only enhanced with her eyes now open and fearful. She was sitting in the corner shaking her head frantically and muttering 'no' over and over.
"Tara, remember me?" Draco asked softly; she nodded. "Why won't you let Severus help heal you?"
"You said no more." Her voice was low and raspy.
"No more what?"
"No more bad potions. No more torture."
"No, no, no, we want to give you potions to heal you. They aren't going to hurt you. Here," Draco took one of the potion vials from Snape.
"This is okay for me right?" He asked the professor softly.
"It's just to mend the broken bones. I was going to give you some later for your rib anyway." Draco looked back at Tara.
"Look, I'll even drink some and show you that nothing bad will happen." The Slytherin took a swig, Tara's eyes watching his every moment. Draco crinkled his nose.
"Well, it doesn't have the most pleasant taste in the world but see? Nothing bad." The witch reached out, her hand shaking violently. He wrapped his hand around the girl's smaller one and helped her to drink the rest of the potion. There was a cough from the door way and Draco looked up. Standing there, almost regally, were five figures in black robes. There was Pansy and Millicent, Crabbe and Goyle, and Blaise Zabini.
"Draco," said Blaise.
"What is it?"
"We have a problem." The blond nodded and rose, all the others in the room looked up as he walked slowly out of the room, weighed down by an unseen weariness.
Unknown to the Slytherins everyone followed them as they walked to the kitchen. As they closed the doors behind them everyone crowded around the door to eavesdrop.
"What are you lot doing here?"
"Like Blaise said Dray, we have a problem." Pansy's voice didn't sound simpering now.
"What's happened then?" There was the sound of someone's fist colliding with the table and then Blaise's furious voice ripped from his throat.
"What do you think has happened? The Dark Lord knows, you idiot. He knows you helped the prisoners escape! Draco, he's out for your blood now. He's sent Macnair to tell your parents that should you come home, they must kill you." You could hear a body, presumably Draco's, sitting down heavily.
"Fuck." Draco's voice was hushed, as if he was covering his mouth.
"You have to take them back." The harsh tones of Millicent Bullstrode made themselves known.
"What!" Draco shouted indignantly.
"Dray," Crabbe said. "It's you or them. Come on, we're here, we can help you get them out of the house. You can say the witch put you under a spell."
"I can't do that."
"You have too," said Crabbe.
"No."
"Dammit Draco," Pansy practically shrieked. "You're a pureblood. You're a Malfoy. Start acting like it! What happened to the Draco who did anything to save his own skin?"
"If I take them back, they'll be killed."
"It used to be you wouldn't care about the lives of muggles." When Blaise said the word 'muggle' it sounded like the filthiest insult. A chair hit the floor as its occupant rose in anger.
"I WAS NEVER A MURDERER!" The blond took a deep breath and when he spoke again his voice was low, yet lethal. "I would rather die then take those girls back to be tortured to death."
"Draco, please, please think about this." Pansy's voice was choked with sobs. "After everything we've gone through. After everything that we've survived….. We've all gone through hell with our parents. Each one of us grappling with the knowledge that we couldn't be the good little deatheaters they wanted. That we just couldn't kill innocent people everyday, that we didn't want to dominate the wizarding world. But against all the odds, we survived the beatings and abuse and every other form of torture they could throw at us. We even managed to keep the fact that we became spies a secret and become very useful to the light side. You can't just give up, not now that we've come so far. You just can't." The girl howled.
"Ssh, come on Pans, don't cry. I'm not giving up. I'm not going to lie to you, it's hard for me to look at those two girls and think 'Hey, they're muggles but they're my equals'. We can't fight who we were raised to be but we can rise above it. The more time I spend with people like Granger, who is undeniably the most brilliant witch of our year and Tara who sacrificed herself for a friend, the easier it is for me to accept that I'm no better then them just because I'm a pureblood wizard."
"I don't want to loose you mate." Blaise's voice was soft and full of pain.
"I'm not going to die." There was a pause in which Harry could just picture Draco smirking. "Besides, the Dark Lord has to find me first. Wait…the first thing he'll do is interrogate all of you." Before anyone could say another thing Mrs. Black began screaming and Snape came in, practically knocking over Mrs. Weasley, who had let him in.
"YOU FOOLS!" Five throats inside the kitchen audibly swallowed and the door was opened. Snape was upon them before the room's occupants could contemplate the presence of half of the black mansion's occupants outside the kitchen. He grabbed Goyle by the shoulders and shook him roughly.
"YOU DIDN'T COVER YOUR TRACKS!"
"We, erm...Hullo Professor."
"For the love of Merlin! How are you so stupid! None of you can go home! The Dark Lord has your names and has notified all of your families of your betrayal. He sees the attempt at helping Draco as treachery as well. If any of you show your faces to a deatheater you are to be terminated."
"B-But professor, where will we go?" Pansy asked.
"There's nothing for it, you'll have to stay here. This is the only safe enough place that He can't find you. I'll go talk to Black." Snape swept out of the room, leaving the Slytherins sitting, or looking as if they were about to faint.
Pansy began crying again, this time to be joined by Millicent. The two held each other as Draco stared at a wall, eyes huge and unseeing. Blaise began pacing back and forth, twisting his hands nervously. Harry walked in and squeezed Draco's hand.
"Draco, are you okay?" Slowly, as if through a daze, the Slytherin's eyes focused on Harry.
"I, well, yes, I think I am." Harry drew away, taken aback.
"You are?" The blond rose and looked at his house mates. He grabbed Blaise by the arm to stop the boy's pacing and drew the two girls to him.
"What are we doing? Why are we upset?"
"Draco, are you insane! We've lost our bloody homes and families!" Blaise's eyes danced with fury.
"No, I'm not crazy. Think about it. Yeah, we've lost our families; our abusive, evil, abhorred families. We've lost our homes; the depressing and constricting environments we grew up in. All we've lost are the things we hated in our lives. We don't have to pretend anymore, secret's out." Dawning comprehension washed over's Pansy's face and she smiled.
"We can be ourselves. No more of the constant muggle bashing." Now Millicent was grinning like an old woman who just bought a new cat.
"No more stupid parties and dinners!"
"No more watching people be tortured," Goyle threw in.
"No more beating innocent people up," Crabbe said as he clapped Draco on the back. They all looked to Blaise who frowned slightly, then smirked.
"No more gor'amned kneeling and foot kissing." Without warning, Pansy turned around and kissed Harry on the cheek. The Gryffindor turned bright red.
"We don't have to pretend to hate you either, Potter. So, come here and let me hug you. It's because of you we're free! If you hadn't told Draco about the wiccans none of us would be rid of the Dark Lord." Harry waved his hands in front of his face frantically.
"No, no, really, I'm sure this would have happened anyway." While Harry was concentrating on avoiding Pansy, Millicent came upon him from behind and embraced him tightly.
"AH!" Harry cried out, startled. Draco just laughed.
"Alright, alright. Leave poor Harry be, you're freaking him out." As he spoked the Slytherin's smile faltered and he paled. Seeing this, Blaise moved next to him.
"What is it?" Before the blond could reply his body gave out and he collapsed to the floor in a dead faint.
"What's the matter with him?" Goyle asked.
"He was wounded when he got here, plus he used up a lot of energy with apparation today. It probably just caught up with him." Harry looked over his shoulder to call his best friend but saw Ron already coming towards him. The red head knelt and took one of the blond's arms over his own shoulder as Harry took the other.
"You read my mind."
"Yeah, yeah," Ron grumbled. "Let's just get him in a bed I don't want to listen to the noise he'll make if he wakes up and I'm helping him. I'll never live it down." Harry shook his head, amused.
"Shut it, Ron." The two friends walked out of the kitchen, supporting their former enemy between them and laughing amongst themselves as Hermione twittered about behind them. It was almost ironic how easily Draco fit into the familiar sight of the trio talking together.
