It was difficult knowing that all that they had ever hoped for in life was quickly spilling down the sinkhole. It was even more unnerving knowing that the man in the room with them was a past death eater, which was a completely impossible thing, at one point or another their professor would turn on them and the three of them would have to suffer the consequences of keeping him safe. Alas, he knew who Draco's real father was and there was no way that Draco would surrender this, much less, Harry; for they were both as curious each other on the matter.

Hermione curled in the corner with Snape who has finally come to and tried to stand but in his attempts, began to feel dizzy and fell again. Restricted to the ground, Snape was as much use as a rubber duck. While sitting here, instead of waiting for their doom, they could have been discussing Draco's long lost father and how to cure the carving in his side.

Harry sat bolt upright. "Your side. Is it still bleeding?"

"It doesn't heal, Harry. That's the whole pint of an unhealing cut."

"But you're losing so much blood if it constantly bleeds. It was oozing quite a bit when you showed us before."

Draco sighed, "Snape gave me medicine, administered by Dumbledore. Dumbledore's the only one that knew what it said until I showed you two." He looked over to Snape and sighed again. "Dumbledore can't hold the secrets of the castle forever. We need him awake so that we can get out of here."

Hermione instantly slapped Snape across the mouth and then on the forehead. He jumped, obviously awakening again. "His reflexes are better." Everyone could tell that Hermione was enjoying this even though she never seemed the one to take revenge on a teacher, no matter how cruel he was.

The kids stood around for five more minutes just waiting for Snape to start to speak. He came back to consciousness slowly at first; he moved his fingers and then his arms, his feet and his eyes fluttered. Then he jumped, almost completely out of his skin, and he was suddenly on his feet. How he got to his feet, nobody was entirely sure, but it meant that he'd be able to talk.

The interrogation began with Harry as Draco was too startled and nervous to speak. "So you said you know who Draco's father is. Do you?"

"Yes," came a slow, crackling voice.

"Can you tell us the name?"

The professor frowned harshly, "Why would you want to know?"

"Because Draco wants to know," Harry said, attempting to stay calm but his voice still sounded bitter no matter how hard he tried.

"Professor, I need to know," Draco whispered from the shadows.

Snape looked more startled than he had even been before; he jumped at the sight of Draco and at the sound of his voice. It was almost as though he was scared of what Draco would do to him if he got too close, but he stood his ground even if he was jittering. "It is hard to explain my boy."

Draco sighed and decided his next tactical movement. He stepped forward, not menacingly but calmly, close to Snape who cowered in front of the young scrawny boy. Draco dared not speak a word and performed, to every precise detail, what he had shown Harry and Hermione. As the bloody bandages unravelled and fell to the floor, Snape's face did the same; his eyes fixed to the boy's waist but his jaw dropping through the floor. His jaw trembled as he watched the thick blood ooze around the cuts, he read the word over and over, but his eyes never left Draco's side. His jaw twitched a little more violently when he tried to speak but he cleared his throat and resumed his usual speech patterns, "Mr Malfoy, you already know. What is it that you seek by asking?"

Harry and Draco exchanged looks; Harry questioning Draco's knowledge and Draco assuring Harry that he had no clue. They re-joined Hermione in glaring at the professor. "First of all, don't call me that; if my Lucius isn't my father then Malfoy is not my surname. Second, I don't know who my real father is and lastly, I want to know the name."

Snape looked startled, his eyes widening until they looked as though the eyeballs could fall out of their sockets. "You really don't know… He doesn't know… I thought he might tell you… He doesn't know." And so Professor Snape fell into a spiral of confusion and random gibberish.

"Great help he was," spat Hermione sarcastically. She collapsed to the ground in a huff with teary eyes, "I could have saved Ron after all. What a waste of time."

The room was still for minutes that seemed like hours; the only movement and noise came from Snape who was rocking back and forth and muttering his gibberish. Disappointed in Snape's answers, Harry and Draco held each other and listened in on the nonsense mutterings of Snape; each muttering seemed to get further and further away from the topic of Draco's biological father. Still in a huff, Hermione sat away from the group, sulking about losing Ron and her failure to keep him safe at all costs; for who knew, he could be dead, lying among the bodies of their classmates and his family. Although this was entirely impossible: the room was not sound proof and she has not heard so much as a footstep outside the room.

Ron however was perfectly safe. Encircled by his family, both he and Ginny had no chance of seeing the world around them and therefore, the world could not see them. There was no fighting, not yet anyway, but the large fiery haired family stood at the ready with their wands poised just in case. Ron was disgruntled at the fact that his family would not let him fight; he had fought the all mighty Dark Lord with his best friends and even if Hermione was the best witch of the age, Ron had to amount for something during those fights.

He stamped his feet in protest but didn't utter a word. He couldn't get one in anyway, Ginny was complaining nonstop, so much so that she didn't seem to breath between sentences and her face was slowly turning redder than her hair. "What do you mean we can't fight," she screeched, "the fact that I'm your daughter is not an excuse: Ron's here too and he is a boy."

"Ginny, you're the youngest and Ron is second youngest, neither of you have even graduated from school. You have your whole lives ahead of you, but not if you fight in the front lines," Percy said matter-of-factly.

"I've fought him before," Ron finally squeezed in.

"That doesn't mean you should fight again Ronald," screeched Mrs Weasley thoroughly sick of her children's arguments. "Behave," she added as she turned back to the doors of the dining hall.

Ron and his sister were determined, however, to break free and find Harry and Hermione. "Ginny, on three we escape right?" Ron whispered to his left.

"Where to, we're in a circle."

"Anywhere you can think of, just make sure we go in the same direction, yeah?"

"Got it."

Ginny shuffled her feet apart, lifting the weight subtly off one leg so that she didn't draw attention to herself, Ron did the same. She loosened her muscles and then sprinted through the tiniest of gaps between her mother and father, through the dining hall and into the main hall. Ron was close on her tail following her bounding leaps up the first flight of stairs; but unfortunately he wasn't the only one following in her footsteps, Percy wasn't far behind.

"Come back!" He screeched again and again, at the top of his lungs but the two youngest Weasleys kept running.

They weren't far from the first staircase when Percy caught up to Ginny, who had started to lag behind Ron, and grabbed onto the tail of her flowing cloak. "Ginny, you'll get hurt," He said reeling her in like a fish, "we just want you and Ron to be safe."

"Ginny just run!" Ron screamed, his voice echoing through the castle. Ginny wiggled her shoulders, flicking her arms forward, and then, violently, flung her arms out behind her while running at full speed. Her cloak slid from her shoulders and landed on the ground leaving Percy shocked and still holding the bottom tightly in his grasp.

They were racing now. The last flush of adrenalin had sent them flying and now they found it easy to leap the stairs three at a time. But now Ginny began to wonder where they were heading. Surely leaping up the stairs away from the fight would just end with them being trapped and unable to fight which is was they were running from anyway. "Ron, where are we going?" She called to him.

Ron who was running just a few steps in front of Ginny, came to a quick halt, almost skidding into a wall and falling over. "I have no idea…" he stopped to think for a second. "Where do you want to go?

Without even having to think, Ginny answered the question, "I want to find Harry and Hermione."

Ron scratched his temples. "There's only one place I can think that they'd go if You-Know-Who was outside, and he is, so I have a fair guess. But I don't remember how to get in." Ron frowned and shrugged before starting to run again.

Ginny was ever so tired by the time they reached the towering picture frame; she barely made it to the start of the corridor but Ron had dragged her along behind him. He had refused to wait for her to catch her breath because he knew that if he'd stopped, she would have never started running again. On the way, Ginny had made countless excuses for slowing down such as the fact that their family wasn't catching up but Ron had never given in, besides, the quicker he found his friends the quicker this would all be over.

"It's the biggest painting in the whole castle," he said.

Ginny yawned, "It's not a secret doorway, too big. Let's leave, there's no time for appreciating art."

"Umm…" Ron racked his brain, "bigger on the inside?"

The painting didn't react but his sister did, "what?"

Ron ignored her as he always did and went on guessing the passwords, "It's something about a song or an eye, maybe a forest. God I wish Hermione was here." Ron paced up and down the corridor while Ginny moaned at him and pleaded to leave. "OH! Look into my eye!" and the painting moved, revealing the doors in the box and letting them pass through.

The room beyond was pitch black and slightly chilly. Goosebumps started to form on Ron's pale skin. As he rubbed at his arms to keep warm, he wandered further into the room looking for any sign of Hermione or Harry. "How can you see a thing?" Ginny protested.

"I can't." And then Ron's foot hit something squishy. He heard a quiet groan of pain from a male voice but he was unfamiliar with the voice. "Who is it?" He fumbled in his pockets clumsily for his wand, "Lumos." Draco's blonde hair came into view before his face and the rest of his body. "Malfoy? What the bloody hell are you doing here you little prick."

"Ronald!" Came the voice of a very disapproving Hermione, still concealed in the shadows. There was a faint rustling as she popped to her feet and ran towards Draco to check his cut. "We thought you might be a death eater."

"Get away from him Hermione! What are you doing! He's the death eater."

"No I'm not," whispered Draco through teeth that were gritted in pain. "I think you just made it worse," he said as he and Hermione nursed the wound.

"Hermione! I said get away from him. What are you doing?"

Hermione looked into Draco's eyes and waited for him to nod before stepping back and giving Ron full view of the words carved into Draco's skin. "What is this? A publicity stunt Malfoy?"

"What do you think?" Draco said obviously distressed by the increase of blood flow with tears forming in his eyes. Curled on the floor, he looked so innocent and vulnerable.

"What have you done to Harry?" Ron snarled, "What have you done do my girlfriend? Why does she trust you?"

Draco looked stunned and stayed silent, Hermione saw it best for her to step in, "Harry is over there with professor Snape; and before you say anything, no, he has not drugged us or jinxed us.'

There was a sound of frantic footsteps that could only have been Ginny's as she ran towards the unharmed Harry. She was still so obsessed with him and it had been many years and quite a few turndowns since they first met. Ron could hear Ginny as she squeezed Harry tightly around the waist. Draco looked on, slightly jealous, "what's that look about Malfoy?" Ron spat bitterly, "You're not getting my sister."

Draco smiled cruelly, "I don't care about your foul little red haired sister, she's so very annoying anyway. She's worse than you, dirty, annoying, clingy, I don't know how you cope; but I suppose she is just like you anyway."

Ron threw a flying punch at Draco but missed and hit the floor. Rubbing his hand gingerly with a sour look mixed of defeat and loathing scarring his face. "Well, good! I'd rather her be like me than be with you." His face contorted at the thought.

Draco looked contented with his efforts and looked over to Harry, nodding and blowing a kiss. He remained facing Harry but his gaze looked sideways at Ron's face that was quickly twisting with confusion. "What the f-" he mouthed, barely audible.

"It's a long story."

"Well make time! How long have I been away from you? Just a few hours and apparently that means that Draco and you are an item now."

"We are not!" Draco screeched, although he seemed surprised by his volume for he suddenly drew back.

"You blew the kiss to him."

"Fine, I admit we are dating as of a couple of hours ago. But we're not officially an item," he winked over Ron's shoulder to Harry, "Are you jealous, Weasley?"

"Since when were you gay?" He said looking over to Harry, "And, also, since when were you gay?" He scowled, looking back to Draco.

"Ronald!" Hermione's shrill voice pierced the air making everyone wince.

Ron crossed his arms at Harry, "Well?"

"A while," Harry stuttered, more worried about Ginny's reaction than Ron's. Although non-violent, she was tearing up inside and out.

"Me too for that matter. It's a bit hard to get past and difficult to insult your crush but not so hard to insult the idiots in your way," Draco nodded at Ron signalling that he was one of those idiots.

"Stuff you," Ron drew his foot back and violently threw it into Draco, who was still lying on the floor.

Draco coiled in, groaning and clutching his side. He rolled over, his pain scarring his eyes and blinding him temporarily. He could barely hear Harry as he frantically asked if he was ok. Even less audible was Hermione yelling at Ron and slapping him hard across the face, something the Draco was sorry not to have seen. He twisted again and twinged forcing a scream of pain that turned into painful tears. He could feel Harry try to gentle remove his bandages without success; each touch sent spasms of intense pain through Draco's skin. And then flat white filled his vision and he could barely hear anything, even less than the little noise he could hear before; the white was short lived and black soon clouded his vision and Draco felt as though he had drifted away, his whole body numb.

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