Harry and Draco paused at the door before going in. Harry gave a slight nod before quickly going through the door and pressing his back against the wall. Draco came in right after him, pointing his wand in all directions. When nothing happened, they both looked at each other, slightly confused by the lack of attack.
Draco took the lead and they slowly crept into the large foyer, walking with their backs to each other. It was quiet and the place looked deserted. Draco cocked his head towards a door off to the right and they both went towards it. Draco grabbed on to the handle as Harry went to the right side of the door. When Draco yanked open the door and side stepped with it, a death eater was standing there waiting.
"Impedimenta!" The cloaked death eater yelled, as soon as the door opened. However, no one was is in the path of the spell.
"Stupefy!" Harry yelled as death eater froze and fell backwards down the stairs. No one stood behind him.
"That's it?" Harry said, as he looked down the empty stairway, the death eater's motionless body sprawled at the bottom of the stairs.
"I wouldn't count on it. And now they all know where we are." Draco said as he stood next to Harry.
A crash behind them made them jump and they spun around to see what had happened. Behind them was a broken crystal vase on the floor but no one was around them. Confused they both turned back around and looked down the stairway. At the same time, they noticed the stupified body was no longer there.
"Seems they're waiting for us." Draco said, nodding his heads towards the stairs.
Harry nodded as he started to walk down the stairs slowly, each stair creaking under his weight. Draco came up close behind him, his wand hovering over Harry's shoulder. As soon as they got to the bottom of the stairs, spells were shouted in their direction.
"Protego!" Harry and Draco both yelled as it protected them from the green and red beams of light that came at them.
There were three death eaters in front of them, all wearing scowls that their first assault hadn't worked. Quickly, Harry dispatched a stupefy that hit the same person who had fallen down the stairs. Draco threw up another shield charm as Harry kept with the offensive. Soon, all three death eaters were on the floor and unmoving.
Draco quickly took their wands while Harry took off their masks. Draco snapped two of the wands and put the third in his pocket. He looked down at the three death eaters, now without their masks. He recognized all of them.
"Nott, Goyle and Crabbe. Somehow, I'm not surprised." Draco muttered looking at his former classmates' fathers.
"Do you have the portkey?" Draco asked as Harry nodded.
Harry removed a book from his pocket and placed it on the ground. He took a hand of each death eater and placed it on top of the book. He enabled the portkey and watched them get sent to a cozy jail cell where the head auror was waiting for them.
Harry looked around. "Well, quickly, let's check the cells." He said running towards the barred doors.
The two of them searched each door and found no one. "Well, we need to move on upstairs." Draco said as he headed back to the staircase.
Draco paused for a moment when he noticed the door on top of the stairs was shut. "Did you close the door?" He asked knowing the answer already.
"No. Did you?" Harry asked.
Draco shook his head. "We better be careful. I'll take the front this time." He said as he started to walk up the stairs carefully.
Harry followed closely behind him as they came to the closed door. Draco threw the door open and Harry threw up a shield but to their surprise, nothing happened. They looked around and saw that the broken vase was gone but there was no one in the vicinity. The silence was unnerving. As they went through the foyer to get to the stairs they heard a spell shot from above. Draco looked up to see a spell fly through the air and hit the cable the chandelier was attached to. Without thinking, he jumped in Harry's direction, pushing both of them out of the way as the chandelier fell behind them, glass shards flying everywhere.
Harry's eyes went wide as he heard the crash behind him. He picked himself off the ground and held out a hand to Draco. "Uh, thanks Malfoy." He said as he helped him up.
"Yea, let's just go." Draco answered, as he shook glass off of himself.
They both went around the fallen chandelier and went up the stairs carefully, aware that there were people waiting for them.
They made it up to the platform and looked down the hall when they heard the yell.
"Petrificus Totalus!" A death eater yelled from behind them.
"Protego!" Harry yelled as the green light dissipated into the shield.
Another death eater showed up from the other side of the hall. As the four of them dueled, no one saw a death eater sneak into a room behind them.
********
Hermione shuddered at the sound of the spells being yelled outside of her doorway. She sat on the bed, relieved to know they were still alive but nervous as hell at the idea of them not staying that way. She found herself thinking of Draco, and knotting the blanket between her hands at the worry she had for him. Suddenly, the door opened and a death eater snuck into the room then quickly closed the door behind him.
"Are you enjoying the battle raging right outside your door?" The death eater taunted her as a feral grin came upon his face.
Her face turned red with anger as she rushed towards him, trying to get a hold of his wand.
"Tsk tsk tsk, there will be none of that." He said, as he easily grabbed her wrists and threw her to the floor.
"DRACO! HARRY!" She yelled from the top of her lungs, hoping that she might be able to get their attention.
The death eater laughed. "Forgot about the silencing charm already, have we?" He said as he got closer to her. "You seem fond of the young and foolish Malfoy."
She glared at him. "Certainly, he's better than you." She spat.
The death eater glared at her. "I would watch my tongue if I were you." He warned darkly.
Hermione got up and backed up towards the dresser, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. As her back bumped against the dresser she heard the sound of a scream rip through the air. She knew instantly it was Draco's. She became rigid and the color drained out of her face as the death eater turned towards the door.
"Oh, I do hope that was the end of him. It would be lovely, don't you think?" He said with a saccharine sweet voice as he glanced back at her.
Hermione balled her hands into her fists. "You're an evil man and Draco is worth more than thousands of you. He will always be a better man than you and even if that is his last breath, he will still have more respect dead than you ever will alive!" She screamed out.
The death eater narrowed his eyes at her. "You stupid girl. I don't care if we said we'd keep you alive. Diffindo!" He called out, pointing his wand at Hermione.
She jumped out of the way as she heard the curse hit the mirror and explode into pieces. She quickly lunged at his knees and his knees buckled as he fell to the floor. She got to her feet quickly but not before he threw another spell at her. She quickly jumped away as the spell hit the door. The spells Lucius had put on it obviously worked in keeping the door together but a loud creak could be heard as the wood bent. Her eyes widened as she felt the magic that was on the door giving into the spell the death eater had shot at it. She could feel the magic disappearing and she quickly tried for the door but saw that it was locked the muggle way as well. She heard a loud pop as she looked around and saw that the death eater had apparated away while she was distracted.
She slid down the door and frustration overwhelmed her. "YOU BASTARD!" She yelled with all her might.
**********
Draco continued to fight, while he held his arm which had been cut with a spell that he had almost not deflected in time. He heard the loud creak of a door and his attention was diverted to behind him for a moment, wondering if he was going to be attacked from behind. Unfortunately, it was the wrong second to be distracted. A well placed stupefy had him frozen and falling over.
Harry had tried to ignore the sound of the creaking in order to keep his attention on the battle. However, Draco happened to fall in such a way that he hit his wand hand and before he knew it, his wand had gone out of his hand and on to the ground. Once he was disarmed, the death eaters quickly stupefied him and he too was on the ground next to Draco.
Draco cursed to himself as he saw what happened. What was the chance of falling towards Harry? His body ran cold when he saw the death eaters take off their masks in joy.
The Carrow siblings rejoiced and quickly called Lucius to the scene. Lucius apparated to the spot straight away and looked down at the boys, a smirk on his face.
"And here I thought you were going to at least get down the hallway to where I was. Obviously, I overestimated the two of you." He shook his head in mock disappointment. "Very well then, let's take them to the dungeon."
The Carrows levitated the two of them down the stairs and to the dungeons with Lucius following. When they got down to the dungeons he looked around, obviously looking for something.
"Where did Nott, Crabbe and Goyle go?" He asked, knowing that their stations had been down here.
"We don't know, my Lord." Alecto said, looking around in surprise as well.
"Well well well, what did you two do with them?" He asked, looking at his new prisoners. "Pat down their robes."
Amycus grinned as she went over to them. She pulled out Draco's wand which was still in his hand. She put her hands all over him and he felt a wave of nausea go through him. She pulled out his galleon and looked it over before throwing it on the floor. She pulled out the wand he stashed in his pocket and threw both wands to the floor as well. She quickly moved over to Harry where she pulled out another small book but couldn't find anything else. She started to search frantically until Alecto put his arm on her arm.
"He must have lost his wand when Draco fell on him." He chuckled remembering their easy capture.
Amycus nodded and stepped away. "That's everything."
Lucius picked up the book only to find it blank. "Now, what to do with the two of you?" He asked in a bored tone as if he had forever to come up with the answer. "Do I kill you straight off? Do I torture you first? Decision, decisions."
The Carrow siblings laughed as Lucius continued to ponder the questions. "Any last words?" He asked as he relieved them from their stupefy charms.
Harry glared at him as he rolled his shoulders after being frozen. "Killing us won't help you succeed. You'll still be caught and thrown into Azkaban."
Lucius clucked his tongue. "Perhaps, but I'll be much happier knowing that you're no longer alive." He said condescendingly. The Carrows had their wands pointed at the now unfrozen duo. The final death eater came up next to them, his wand pointed at the prisoners.
"You'll be happy to know the mudblood is still safe and sound in her room. However, we can't guarantee for how long." He cackled, throwing off his mask.
"Rodolphus LeStrange." Draco spat. "I should have known."
"Of course you should have, dear nephew. I have to say, I think the mudblood is quite smitten with you." He mocked. "Too bad she's a mudblood, I might've had a go at her myself."
Draco lunged at him. "Don't you dare touch her!" He yelled.
Rodolphus laughed as he threw a spell at him. Instantly, Draco was thrown against a wall and the wind was knocked out of him. "Don't tell me the feelings are reciprocated?! Oh, what joy it will be to tell her that right after I tell her you're dead!" He said gleefully.
Lucius growled. "A mudblood, Draco? Not only do you betray your family name but you fall for a mudblood?! You disgust me!" He yelled, throwing the cruciatus curse as him.
Draco writhed on the floor. And finally, when he stopped, he breathed heavily on all fours. "Wouldn't you be happy that it's all your fault, Lucius." He spat.
Lucius' eyes widened like he was slapped in the face. "None of this is my fault! I tried to make you respectable!" He yelled back.
Draco got up on two feet as a smirk graced his faced. "It's all your fault. If you hadn't disregarded Mother, if you hadn't invited Voldemort into our lives, I might've continued to believe your pureblood bullshit. If you hadn't captured me and left me in a cell with Hermione, I might not have fell, as you put it, for a muggleborn. But no, father, you made exactly who I am today. And even if you kill me now, I hope you live with that for the rest of your life." Draco said calmly and seriously. He lifted his chin and for the first time in his life, he looked down his nose at his father.
Lucius turned bright red. "That's it, this ends now." He raised his wand at Draco. "Avada Kedavra!"
A/N: WOW! Over 100 reviews! You all ROCK! Thank you especially to those who review after every chapter and encourage me along. You know who you are. I'm still doing my best on this story but I have to admit, I've had another story pop into my head, a 7th year Hogwarts story for our dear Draco and Hermione. However, I think I'm going to finish this one before I start another so I don't fall behind. I hope you're enjoying the ride! PLEASE continue to REVIEW! Thanks!! ~Chrissy