Chapter Fourteen

A/N: No reviewers.

In all the times Draco had mentioned his father in the past, which Merida could have counted easily on two hands, or perhaps even on one, the boy had never once said anything which was not complimentary regarding the man. However, the Death Eater that stood before her now was not the perfect Pureblood father that her friend had described to her. The Lucius Malfoy she saw was nothing more than evil.

'I can see why Draco is scared of him.' she thought vaguely. Although her friend had never explicitly told her that he was scared of his father, but even before she had known him so well, the young woman could see the fear in his eyes when he spoke of the man. Now she could see precisely the reason for that, as she suspected that the terror in her was equally visible to the Malfoy patriarch.

The Death Eater continued to speak then, and though she could hear the slippery smoothness of his voice, Merida made no effort to comprehend his words. Her thoughts were flying around in her head like moths around an open flame, she wanted to run, to scream, to attack the man that had made Draco so scared. But she did not. She merely stood faded into the background as the trap was closed around them.

The redhead had been vaguely aware of another Death Eater, an Azkaban escapee featured months ago in the Daily Prophet, appearing from the shadows to stand by the side of the blonde man, an expression on her face that would not be out of place on a cat that had gotten the cream. Unusually for a Death Eater, this one was clearly female, and judging by some of her facial features and the resemblance they shared to her friend's, she was also a relative of Draco, though most likely from his mother's side, as she bore no resemblance to Lucius at all.

At her side, she could see that Ron and Ginny were beginning to become scared. The male Weasley was showing the fear to far more of an extent than the female was, but she knew the girl enough to know that she was just as scared as her brother was, perhaps even more. Merida did not blame her, as she imagined that, should she allow the feelings to manifest themselves, she would also be terrified. However, she did not allow them to do so, instead choosing to be brave, as she knew that some of them had to be, or else they would all be done for.

"Well, it seems that your little friends are not of much help to you, Mr. Potter." Lucius sneered, running his gaze across the group that stood at Harry's back. His eyes seemed to linger for a moment too long on the redhead, and his vicious smile faded a little, as if he recognised her, but he quickly began to move along with their 'plan', as prompted by the woman at his side, who Neville had identified under his breath as Bellatrix Lestrange. Finally, Merida could stand the silence no longer, and she stepped forward to stand right by the dark haired boy's side, her fiery expression matched by her defiant glare.

"That's where you're wrong." she spoke boldly, her emerald eyes locking onto the grey ones of the man before her, trying with all her might not to compare them to those of his son, as she knew that her anger would ebb away if she did so. "Harry is the reason that we're here, nothing else. He is here to help Sirius, and we are here to help him. So, I think you'll find that helping Harry is all we want to do, and if that means taking you down... then that's what we're going to have to do."

It was only once the words had left her mouth, the flurry of passion with which she had uttered them finally fading away, that Merida realised how much of a mistake she had made. The Death Eaters had clearly been instructed to attempt to catch Harry and bring him to their master, and she realised now that Malfoy and Lestrange were not alone, their numbers exceeding the numbers of the teenagers, and now the reinforcements were surrounding them, leaving the group with nowhere left to run. They were not strong enough, the redhead knew that much. If the Death Eaters wanted them dead, then they would be before long.

"You are very brave, Miss McGonagall." the Malfoy patriarch told her, and Merida sharply breathed in. He knew exactly who she was, even after all her attempts to hide her identity. 'How can this be possible?' she asked herself, her mind racing with the many possibilities that there were to explain this. 'There are only a few people that know who I really am. He can't know. Unless...'

Immediately, the young woman found her heart sinking, a sickening sensation in the pit of her stomach. It was Draco. There was no other explanation for Lucius Malfoy knowing who she was, there was no other way he could have found out. She had trusted Draco with her most important secret, and he had betrayed her.

Forcing her emotions to the back of her mind, Merida turned to Harry, who was also attempting to hide the fear he felt. Their eyes met for a moment, a silent agreement to enact the plan they had made.

Only another second, then everything happened at once. The students attacked first, each sending a Stunning Spell in the direction of a Death Eater. Harry managed to incapacitate Bellatrix, while Meri did the same for the father of the young man she had thought to be her best friend, and between the other five that made up their group, they had managed to clear an exit, an opportunity which they could not afford to miss.

And so they ran, faster than they had ever done before. After moving through many rooms, eventually being pursued by Malfoy's reinforcements, they emerged into a cold room, with a mysterious archway in the centre of it. It was just an empty arch, yet it seemed to be much more than that.

However, Merida had no further opportunity to dwell on the strange archway, as beyond it, a glint of silver gleamed in the distance, coming closer and closer with every second that passed. It did not take long for the young woman, and the group of friends beside her, to realise that the glint was the reflection of the dim light off of a Death Eater's mask, and by the time they had realised this, it was too late.

They were surrounded.

A/N: Please review!