A Phoenix Does Not Fear Ashes

by HeyyTyler

GWDM Draco joins the order, Ginny is raped. When he becomes her savior, who would have guessed that the two would become more? Or that together they would form the most badass team the Order has ever seen? A story of love, revenge, protection & sacrifice.

21. Burning

Chapter 21: Burning

We are ready for the siege

We are armed up to the teeth

Be careful how you live and breathe

Release what's broken underneath

How many times do you wanna die?

How many ways do you wanna die?

Do you feel safe again? Look over your shoulder

Very carefully look over your shoulder

We can laugh about it now

We hope everything works out

Be careful how you lick your wounds

Believe that change is coming soon

How many times do you wanna die?

How many ways do you wanna die?

Do you feel safe again? Look over your shoulder

Very carefully look over your shoulder

You used to do a little, but a little won't fly

Right before you hit your prime

That's when we fell in love, but not the first time

Can I please you still?

Remain in your father's will

Or does it make you ill?

Let us bruise their knees

We went in straight for a defeat

You will be relieved

So relieved, so relieved to the flow, and desire

Bitter sparks to the friendly fire

Misery inspires

Your throwin' me cuts several times before

Never noticed the size of the flow

Make it be ignored

Do you feel safe again? Look over your shoulder

Carefully look over your shoulder

You said you believe, but believing won't fly

Right before you hit your prime

That's when we fell in love, but not the first time

And when it's all over and you open your eyes

You see the room turned on its side

And you'll be lying down and over on the floor; signed,

The Royal We (x8)

Love, The Royal We

Footsteps quietly creaked through the Headquarters, the sounds of leather boots trying desperately, fruitlessly, to be silent as they tiptoed over the old creaky floorboards.

Wincing as every eerie footstep brought who he knew to be Bellatrix and another Death Eater, possibly his father, closer to where he and Ginny sat in the dark, Draco hurriedly whispered orders into the dark.

"Contact the team. Warn them. They have to get out safely. Tell them to help the rest of the Order. They need to get their weapons out of the room." Draco winced as a scream faintly echoed some floors below. The battle had started. Whoever was heading towards his room would be there soon. Draco grasped Ginny's arm and tugged her off of her bed, pushing her towards the corner of the room, beside the door.

Ginny stood in the dark corner in a soft silk and lace nightgown, reaching just above her knees as they shook slightly with fear, her bright, mussed hair illuminated as her wand tip began to glow softly and she whispered into the soft light, pressing it to her forearm. Draco checked his surroundings, forming a plan in his head, before slipping to the corner to join her.

Ginny's whispering ended just in time for Draco's keen ears to pick up another meow, this time just outside his room. Draco drew his wand, preparing himself for a fight, as the door creaked open, a sliver of light falling onto the floor directly in front of his bare feet. Pressing his back against the wall, Draco slowed his breath, feeling Ginny do the same as he saw the unmistakable aristocratic shadow of his father, proud and straight even in shadow-form.

His father stepped into the room, slowly edging his polished leather boots into the room as a snakehead cane and tailored suit followed, silvery pale hair falling over the back of the black ensemble.

As his father slipped into the dark room, Draco's mind involuntarily flashed backwards in time, his body reliving all those nights of gut-wrenching horror and fear as he was yanked out of bed and battered again and again by a man he had once held respect for.

Draco slid one bare foot forward onto the wood floor as a black cat darted before him. Lashing outwards, Draco quickly hit Bellatrix with a petrifying curse, watching with malicious glee as the small, scruffy cat, the tip of one of its ears missing, tensed and fell over as a bright flash hit it.

Red light filled the darkened room as Bellatrix was quickly stunned. Lucius' back tensed before he spun around to face his son, his Malfoy mask sliding into place over his stone-cold grey eyes. The scene was eerily similar to the one of the night when Draco had run away, but now Lucius was the one caught in the act, the one trying to destroy an organization, the one who had to be stopped at all costs. Regret welled up in Draco's stomach at the sight of his father; he should have stunned Lucius before Bellatrix, now he actually had to battle his own father. Again.

But it had had to be done. Bellatrix was fast and deadly, she would have been able to change into her human form in the time it took Draco's pupils to dilate and his eyes to readjust to the dark after the bright jet of light took out Lucius. Bellatrix was the psychotic one, the one who would give no mercy, even to family. Wasn't she?

Draco gulped as he stared directly into his father's eyes, the whites red with what Draco guessed to be booze. Lucius' features were as fine and haughty as ever, his nose perfectly straight, his pure white teeth gleaming even in the dark, his back and shoulders straight even as he leaned on his silver serpent head cane.

Swallowing the fear that was welling up inside his stomach and twisting it into a bunch of unrecognizable nerves, Draco lifted his chin slightly and smirked, "Hello, Father."

Lucius' face didn't move; his eyebrows didn't lift in feign surprise, his lips didn't twist at the understated greeting, his eyes didn't seem to register Draco's presence, instead aiming a kick at Bellatrix's stunned form, sending the dirty feline skidding across the room, before he responded, "Hello, Draco. Bellatrix had told me you were lying with dogs–" Lucius broke his sentence off as his eyes flicked towards Ginny, standing behind Draco, then continued, his voice hiding anger and disgust behind a veil of smooth sultriness, "–But I had had no idea how many fleas these mutts carried."

As his father's eyes coldly narrowed at the sight of Ginny's red hair, Draco instinctively found himself stepping in front of her, hiding her from his father's view, as his mind flashed back to hours before when Sofia Milieuxe had whispered the truth into his ear, that Ginny's rape wasn't a coincidence, before his mind flashed even further back, twisting and warping through time until he was lying on the cold, stone floor of a dungeon, a shaft of moonlight illuminating the broken, indistinguishable face of the girl in the white dress as Lucius' boot stamped out her final attempt at life, like a feeble flame being snuffed out.

Draco's attempt at shielding Ginny didn't go unnoticed by his father. Lucius' eyes narrowed further as they flickered back to his son, cold grey stone piercing everything they touched.

Lucius' face was shielded in shadow, casting an eerie pattern down it as Draco could only see part of his jaw, set squarely as he controlled his emotions, a sliver of his thin, aristocratic Malfoy nose, and his shining, silver hair.

His cold, grey eyes watched his son, calculatingly, before he spoke, his voice smooth and suave as ever, "I hadn't realized how protective you are of your bitch Draco." Lucius smirked as his son scowled as he insulted the youngest Weasley.

Draco felt anger rear it's ugly head inside its chest. He had forgotten exactly what it felt like to hold such hate. When his father wasn't around, constantly threatening his life, while he had been preoccupied with training the team, it had been surprisingly easy to forget exactly what hate felt like. But now, hate felt as if it were again clutching his heart, sinking its fatal claws into the thrumming muscle as his chest contracted in fear and anger around it. His arms began to shake, the muscles pulled so tightly that they were trembling.

Blindingly fast, he drew his wand, so fast that one moment it was clutched at his side, the next it was inches away from Lucius' face. He had moved so fast, he had caught his father off-guard. Lucius' constant grey eyes, unfazed by anything and everything, any opponent he had ever faced, had widened by a fraction of an inch before his gloved hand pressed slightly down on the emerald crested eyes of the silver serpent cane and Lucius pulled his own wand slowly from the depths of the black walking stick.

Suddenly, two simultaneous jets of light brightened the room as they flew through the air and hit one another, neither making contact with their intended target. Draco cursed under his breath as he searched the coils of his brain for a way to escape the room safely with Ginny.

His heart thudding, Draco watched his father's face for any clue of what he was planning. In the hallways, Draco heard the sounds of battle: screaming as people were injured by deadly jets of light, footsteps thrumming as their owners fled the scene, trying desperately to escape the bloodbath, crashes as spells missed their intended targets. Behind him, Draco felt Ginny move, edging closer to him. He could feel her eyes watching Lucius, searching for a weakness.

She didn't know what Draco was already aware of, what he had noticed about his father years before. Lucius had no weaknesses. There was no one to use as leverage against him, nothing he wanted out of the world but to sit back and watch it burn.

As the deafening silence reigned while outside screams still persisted, Draco decided on a plan of attack. He would talk until he found an opening; he needed to gather intelligence on the Death Eaters. They would need information if they survived this encounter.

Swallowing his fear once again, Draco steadied his wand so that it appeared it was merely lazily sitting in his palm while still pointing at Lucius' face, before casually remarking, "Father, how long has it been? A few months? How is Narcissa?"

Lucius cleared his throat, "Your mother was crushed to learn of your…" Lucius trailed off, choosing his words. "Vacation. She wouldn't eat for days. Had the house elves worried sick. But she is happy to hear that you will be coming home soon."

Draco stifled a scornful laugh. It was likely Narcissa hadn't noticed that Draco was missing, she was too busy staring into the mirror at her own reflection, trying to forget the marriage she found herself trapped in. And Draco was hardly on a vacation, trying desperately to avoid the Death Eaters; Lucius was aware of this. Lucius planned on taking Draco home; but he knew the only way he would be going home was in a body bag. Neither of them wanted Draco to live to see Malfoy Manor again. Lucius wouldn't want to have Draco around to insult the Dark Lord again and Draco would rather be dead than return to his previous living conditions.

Feeling his hands tense, Draco discretely took a deep breath to calm his nerves before replying, "I'm not sure I'm ready to go home yet, Father. But do give your regards to Mother, will you?"

Lucius' grey eyes gleamed in anger. No one ever said no–however indirectly– to Lucius Malfoy. No matter how angry his eyes were though, Lucius maintained his Malfoy mask and his tone was smooth as he replied, "Oh Draco, you mother will be so disappointed."

Fighting the urge to smile, Draco commented, "I know she'll just be heartbroken. But, you see Father; I'm just having too much fun with the Order. I can't leave now."

At the mention of his progeny joining the Order, Lucius finally snapped. His stone-cold grey eyes filled with a hate so incredible, Draco had the urge to look away. Lucius' face grew red as a vein throbbed on his forehead and along his neck. Draco feared his father would snap his wand as his hands clutched into fists.

Draco's mercury eyes widened in fear as he heard a small whimper from behind him. If Lucius Malfoy could frighten Draco, no doubt Ginny was scared out of her mind.

Suddenly, Lucius threw a curse at his son, a red jet of light flashing through the air. Draco pushed Ginny out of the way of the Cruciatus, jumping in the opposite direction as the curse blew a hole through the wall.

Straightening up from the ground, Draco brushed dust off of his pants as he laughed. "Another Cruciatus, Father? You've got to be a little more original."

Draco threw a spell at his father, watching unhappily as the older man gracefully dodged it and it hit the other side of the room, blowing a gaping hole the size of two men through the wall. Plaster and debris rained down on the three figures as a chilly night breeze blew into the room. Ginny was on her feet, her red hair blowing madly around, pushed by the wind as the large. Glancing outside, Draco saw it was just past three in the morning. Draco recognized the time as the Devil's Hour.

Turning on his father, the entire room was erupted into spells and curses, flying past his face and ears as he shot others towards Lucius. Ginny had joined the fray. She shot just as many spells at Lucius, but he still stood, holding his own against the two Order members. As he shot yet another spell at his father, Draco realized he wouldn't be able to defeat him tonight. It wasn't possible. Draco might be able to escape again, but Lucius wouldn't die tonight.

As his mercury eyes flickered over to Ginny, he watched as she fiercely battled his father, her red hair whipping around her face as she thought up every curse and spell she could, dodging every beam of light that flashed towards her. Flitting his eyes back to his father, Draco desperately sought an escape. Throwing the sectumsempra curse at his father, Draco's mind calculated how much of a distraction he would need to escape the room. The hallways were crowded with battling Order members and Death Eaters alike; he couldn't escape through the halls. They would have to go through the hole the blast had caused.

But there was one problem. They were three floors from the ground.

Draco threw himself on the ground as he dodged another Cruciatus. As he landed on the ground, he found himself beside his bed. Before he lifted himself onto his knees, Draco caught a glimpse of something that gave him hope. A grin spreading onto his features, a plan forming in his brain, Draco stood to face his father once again.

Glancing over at Ginny's beautiful form as she sent her infamous bat-boogey hex at a red-faced Lucius, Draco took a deep breath and sent the plan to her with a warm tingle and the scrawling of red type. His wand on his forearm, Draco flicked his mercury eyes over to his father in time to se Lucius grin wickedly.

Draco felt his heartbeat pick up even further, racing at a pace trains couldn't maintain, his blood rushing in his ears as a Cruciatus curse flashed from his father's wand. He was frozen; he couldn't jump out of the way. He would take the hit. The blindingly bright red flash consumed his vision; it became the only thing he could see until his body was hit with pain. He felt as if his world was splintered into shards, his vision going fuzzy, as he fell to the ground with a thud.

Ginny threw her bat-boogey hex at Lucius, staring into his venomous grey eyes, his silvery hair whipping around his face as the wind from outside blew towards them. Glancing to the right, Ginny saw Draco staring at her and tried desperately to preoccupy Lucius. Cursing mentally, Ginny weaved more spells, increasing her pace as she frantically tried to distract Lucius, but he saw through her ruse and turned towards his son.

Then, several things happened at once and Ginny somehow noticed them all, as if she were moving in slow motion. Lucius sent an evil, bone-chilling grin towards his heir, followed by a blasting Cruciatus as Ginny felt a warm tingling on her forearm. Glancing down, Ginny read the short message and smiled.

Escape. Evade Lucius. Ignore me. Meet you at exit.

Pain. Pure, torturous, and simple, it flashed through his body and mind before Draco found the strength to control himself and fight his way out of the curse. Sparing only a seconds worry that Ginny was able to decipher his cryptic message, Draco pushed his mind against the barriers of the curse, where he could feel it resting on him, as if it were some great, deadly demon, tearing and ripping at his flesh and mind. A Cruciatus spawns not only physical pain, but also mental agony.

Draco had only been able to escape the torturous claws of his father's Cruciatus a few times and hoped he would be able to pull it off this time. As sweat beads poured down his face, Draco tried desperately to feel nothing, as his body writhed in agony and his eyes squeezed themselves shut.

Clenching his jaw, Draco fought to control his movements, mentally attacking the place when he knew the curse sat, sinking its toxic fangs into his mind. As he shouldered his way towards the monster, he felt it give way to his determination and power. Just one more shove, Draco thought, as he pushed, using all of the strength of his mind, and felt the curse fall off. As it fell, his body relaxed, muscles giving way to the hardwood floor beneath his body.

He wanted so, so badly to relax, to lay down on the floor and sleep, to give in to the darkness and lose his mind to it. Instead, Draco rolled to the side, quickly slipping his hand under his bed and grabbing the object he knew sat beneath it, feeling the sleek wood in his hand as he ran towards Lucius headlong.

Seeing what his son was attempting, Lucius shot off curses blindly, maddeningly, simply trying to hit and kill his son. Gathering momentum, Draco jumped into the air and slid the sleek broom beneath his body, swerving to avoid his father's rampant curses. As he reached the hole in the wall, the exit, Draco reached his hand out to Ginny, grabbing her thin, porcelain wrist and pulling her onto the broom as he flew out of the room and into the night.

As quickly as they had gotten on, they dismounted, dropping quickly to the ground to help the other Order members. Headquarters was on fire, screams and terrified shrieks clouding the air as much as the thick, oily smoke produced by the inferno.

Draco glanced around and ran towards the wall, slapping his hand upon the white wooden slats as the door to the Weapons Room opened. Glancing inside, he saw that the rest of the Infernal Division had already collected their weapons, none of them had had as a hard a time escaping their rooms.

Tossing the throwing knives to Ginny, Draco stared up at the burning building, at a loss as to what to do. Finally, swallowing his fear, Draco ran to the door, throwing it open and rushing inside.

The entire first floor was covered in smoke, the flickering flames of the fire casting eerie shades of red and orange on the walls. The wood beneath his feet was warm with the fire's heat, the air heavy and thick as beads of sweat rolled down his face, matting his fair hair to his face. Behind him, the door slammed shut as Ginny gave a cough and followed him into the blaze.

Draco ran to a nearby room, kicking the door open and searching for Order members and Death Eaters alike. Seeing no one, he continued down the hall, Ginny following him on her guard, prepared to take on any enemy they encountered.

As they reached the second floor, Draco kicked open the door to another room, this time surprised to see a young woman, slumped to the ground on her knees, her brown eyes wide with fear as a masked Death Eater held her thick, raven hair, his wand to her temple. Draco immediately drew his wand, pointing it at the masked face.

"Drop your wand and leave or I kill her." The Death Eater's gravelly voice boomed through the empty room as the fire crackled on the first floor.

Draco calculated the situation, wondering if he could possibly hit the Death Eater before he killed her. Could he? As doubts began to swirl in his mind, his wand lowered, his hand trembling as he breathed in the soot from the fire.

"Fuck that." Ginny growled before shooting a spell at the Death Eater, a silver beam of light transforming magnificently into an arrow as it pierced the masked man's heart.

The body of the man slumped forward as the woman shrieked, pushing herself out of the way as his body fell to the floor, shaking the boards slightly. Ginny pushed into the room as the woman burst into tears, sobbing into her thin hands, her dark hair falling across her face. Ginny wrapped her arms around the woman as she rested her face on Ginny's chest. Using her soft, pink lips to make shushing noises, Ginny stroked the woman's hair comfortingly before she abruptly pulled away and stuttered, her voice cracking with tears, "My– My baby! He's on the fourth fl–floor! Please, you have to get him out of there!"

Draco's heart froze momentarily. The fourth floor could be on fire; he had no idea. Nodding resolutely, Draco ordered Ginny to take the woman outside to safety while he found the child.

Of course, being Ginny, she had to protest, "What? You can't go off by yourself! The building could collapse! I have to come with you!"

"And then what, Ginny? We leave her here? We can't do that and you know it. Take her outside to safety and stay there." Draco ordered, putting strength and power into the last two words before he turned and sprinted up the stairs to the next floor.

His bare feet pounding as he ran up the flights of stairs, Draco finally reached the fourth floor, his heart pounding in his chest. His head swiveling from side to side, trying to decide which way to go first, Draco opted for the shorter hall. Turning down the right, Draco sprinted to the end of the hall and kicked down the doors, his eyes searching in vain for the child, his ears listening desperately for the cry of a child, but hearing only the creak of the timbers above as they threatened to crash down.

Kicking a door down, Draco felt the warm tingling of a message on his forearm. Looking down, he saw a message from who he knew could only be Ginny. Hurry and find the child. We need your help outside now!

As he was throwing his shoulder against one of the last doors on the fourth floor, the sot mew of a child reached his ears. Whipping his head around, Draco spied the room he thought it had come from. Running over to the room, he forced the door open and stepped into the room to see the infant, wrapped in a soft blanket with roses on it, sitting in a polished dark wood crib, a lacy canopy parting softly over it.

As he approached, the child– a girl, he thought– looked up at him with large blue eyes, watching his every move. Sliding his arms under her soft body, Draco whispered softly to her, trying to comfort her, as he rested her against his chest and quickly moved out of the room. As he strode quickly down the hall, the floor overhead creaked again, cracking under the weight. His mercury eyes flicking worriedly upwards, Draco rushed down the stairs with the child.

As he passed the other floors, he knew he couldn't search for more survivors because the roof would soon collapse. As he reached the first floor, the building began to collapse. Fiery beams were crashing to the ground as he ran towards the exit, his hand tangled in the soft curls of the baby in his arms as he tried to give her what measly protection he could provide.

The roof cracked overhead again and Draco jumped out of the way just in time to narrowly avoid being flattened by a falling wooden beam, sparks flying up as it landed heavily into the floor. As Draco reached the door, he grabbed the handle, barely holding back a scream as it scalded his hand. Shaking it off, Draco kicked the door open, running out of the blazing headquarters and onto the dark grass as he coughed on the smoke he had inhaled, the building collapsing behind him.

Searching in the darkness, Draco spotted the mother of the child running towards him, tears steaming down her face. Handing the child to the mother and nodding absentmindedly to her praises of thanks, Draco searched the dark for Ginny. Where was she?

As soon as he had wondered, an answer came in the form of a flare being shot into the sky. Seeing it, Draco took off towards the woods, where the flare had appeared, a sense of déjà vu and fear knotting itself into his stomach.

Running through the woods, Draco bounded around trees and silently crept over crushed leaves, trying to reach the spot where he knew he would find Ginny. And where there was Ginny, there would be trouble.

Draco skidded to a halt as he reached the edges of a circle of light. Searching the scene, he saw Lupin, Tonks, and Ginny, all in fighting mode, facing a group of Death Eaters. Lupin was standing in front of Tonks, his wand pointing at the ground of Eaters as they laughed evilly in their black capes and white masks. The laughter didn't surprise Draco, it was easy to laugh at your enemies–no matter how lethal– if your face was hidden from their view. That's what he had always experienced, at least.

As his eyes took in the scene, one of the Death Eaters suddenly pointed his wand as a jet of green light spilled out of it, blinding the entire group. Draco felt his entire body panic, he knew that green light too well.

As the light faded and Draco's eyes adjusted to the darkness once again, he sighed in relief as he saw Ginny was still standing, unharmed. But Lupin wasn't.

Tonks, her purple hair hanging from her head, shielding her face, was one her knees, her hands on his chest as she screamed out his name, desperately calling to a man whom had already been taken by death. She continued to call out his name, the name of her lover, until her voice gave in to racking sobs. Tonks curled her left fist, balling Lupin's grey t-shirt in it.

As she did so, a small glint caught Draco's eye and he felt his heart break.

The ring. He had forgotten about the ring. In all the pandemonium, Draco had forgotten that they had gotten engaged just hours before.

Draco saw movement to his right. The Death Eaters would strike again, they didn't respect the dead, they'd take advantage of Tonks' weakness. Draco stepped into the light, putting himself between the Death Eaters and the mourning Tonks. As he did so, readying his wand for any attacks, he felt Ginny step beside him. Preparing to strike, he was stopped by a soft chuckle.

Flashing his mercury eyes to the masked figures, Draco searched for the source of the sound. Above his head, the tall oak trees creaked as the wind, unfelt by the people below, blew strongly while the fire in Headquarters still blazed behind them.

As Draco stared at the masked faces, searching desperately for any sign of identification, the chuckle arose again.

"Draco, don't tell me you've forgotten your uncle's face?" The Death Eater in the middle asked tauntingly.

His stomach dropping at the sound of the voice, Draco focused his eyes on the lead Death Eater, who he now knew to be Rodolphus. Clearing his throat, Draco made small talk with his uncle, trying to ignore the fact that Lupin laid dead three feet behind him. Talking was a key part to dueling as a Death Eater; they were chatty people and liked to distract their opponent by bragging.

"I can't really see your face behind that childish mask, now can I, Uncle?" Draco responded, a smirk scrawling onto his lips.

Rodolphus laughed, tossing back his masked face and howling at the moon like the wolf he was named for. Rodolphus was nearly the opposite of Lucius; while Draco's scathing comments about masks and Dark Marks would infuriate his father, Rodolphus would always laugh.

"I've missed that sarcasm, Draco, I really have. Your father, as humorous as he is, just doesn't have your wit."

Now it was Draco's turn to laugh as he gave a short, hard snort, "You're the only one who has missed me then."

"So you've talked to your father, then?" Rodolphus asked, smirking.

"Yes, and what a pleasant conversation that was. I had to–"

"Draco! What are you doing? This man just killed Lupin and now you're catching up with him?" Tonks screamed at Draco, cutting off his sentence, as she cradled Lupin's dead body in her arms.

Draco immediately swallowed his words. Perhaps it seemed insensitive, but this was how he fought with people he knew. It was a harder battle, facing someone he knew, because he knew their weaknesses, but they also knew his. Pretending to have a polite conversation with them was a way in which he could watch them and learn a few things before they fought. It was what he had been taught. But he didn't tell Tonks this, he didn't get the chance, because at that moment she jumped onto her feet and marched towards him, her wand drawn.

Tonks' oval face was pale, her blue eyes rimmed in red as tears streamed down her face. Her hair, once purple, had turned to a black color with misery and now hung limply at the sides of her face. Her nose had become pink and started to run and she bit her lips, holding back sobs, as she advanced, wearing only a baggy grey t-shirt, which Draco assumed had belonged to Lupin.

As her grip tightened on her wand, Draco saw what she was planning. Quickly, he fired off a few spells at the Death Eaters before throwing a shield up between the two parties, yelling at Ginny to hold Tonks back.

Ginny obeyed, quickly wrapping her hands around the older woman's thin arms and tugging them behind her back. Draco strode towards Tonks, raking his hands through his hair as he explained to her, "I wasn't fraternizing with the enemy. I haven't forgotten which side I'm on. This is how I fight." Tonks started to struggle against Ginny's grip as Draco pointed out to the middle Death Eater, Rodolphus. "You see that man? He's my, and your, uncle. He knows my weaknesses and strengths. By talking to him, I can examine any possible injuries he has without having to fight–"

Again, Draco was interrupted, but this time by Ginny as she yelled, "Draco I can't hold her any longer!"

Tonks broke through Ginny's grip and dashed towards where the Death Eaters were pounding spells against Draco's shield. Draco grabbed her arm, holding it tightly as he growled, "What were you going to do, Tonks? What are you going to fight them? All three of them, without backup or a plan?"

Tonks turned her face from Draco, shielding her blue eyes with her now-black hair as she tried to yank her arm free. As Draco's grip didn't yield to her struggles, she turned her face back to his and looked defiantly into his eyes as she hissed, "I didn't plan on fighting."

Draco turned and pushed Tonks into a tree, forcing her back against it so she could only see his face. As his hands clenched the tops of her arms, anger and stress rolling off his back in waves, Draco whispered harshly to the young woman, "You're not the only one upset by this, Tonks. You're not the only one who saw him die. Ginny and I were there too. You're not alone in this."

As Draco's words faded from his lips, Ginny screamed his name in alarm moments before the sounds of a thunderous crash reached his ears. Draco whipped around, spinning to see that Rodolphus and the rest of the Death Eaters had broken through the barrier and were advancing, their billowing robes giving them the sinister appearance of floating above the ground. Ginny readied her wand, fiercely tossing her red hair as Tonks scrambled behind Draco, aiming her wand at the advancing figures. Draco spared only a moment to be thankful that she had abandoned her suicide mission before readying his wand as well as a slight breeze chilled his exposed skin; he hadn't realized it before, but he was wearing only a pair of loose pajama pants.

As the wind tugged at his bond hair, Draco shot off the first spell, setting a few trees on fire as the Death Eaters jumped out of the way. As the battlefield erupted into streaks of spells and curses, Draco quickly forgot where he was and focused all his power on sending, blocking, aiming, and dodging those deadly beams of light.

Hitting the ground to avoid having his ear blown off by a spell, Draco shot another curse at Rodolphus as the fire began to blaze around them. As he straightened up, Draco heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw nearly ten Death Eaters advancing, lead by a figure he knew to be Lucius. Cursing to himself, Draco jumped out and turned, his mind desperately spinning a plan of escape.

Turning towards Rodolphus, Draco heard a gasp from Ginny as she saw Lucius moving through the woods behind them.

Draco quickly ran towards Ginny, grabbing Tonks' arm and dragging her with him. Standing with the two women, Draco summoned all of his focus and power, concentrating solely on the powerful spell he was going to cast. Shouting the name of the spell, Draco aimed his wand not at the Death Eaters, but at the ground.

A silver beam of light shot from his wand tip, hitting the ground and spreading outwards from the point where the three figures stood, concealing the ground like a fog as it quickly moved towards the Death Eaters. As it hit them, all fifteen of the Death Eaters were blown backwards, hitting trees and branches as they were knocked off their feet by the powerful spell.

Draco grabbed Ginny's hand and started running towards the woods, his feet pounding into the dirt and leaf-covered ground. As he dashed past the fallen Rodolphus, sprinting deeper into the woods, some of the fallen Eaters began to stir. His heart was pounding, his mind racing, as he tried to outrun the unstoppable. They would wake up soon, he knew, and they would pursue them.

Ginny had grabbed Tonks' wrist and was pulling her as they weaved through the trees, for which Draco was thankful. Tonks' face was wet with tears and she looked as if she would merely lie down and sink into a coma if Ginny hadn't been dragging her through the woods.

His breath was coming out in short bursts, the air he expelled visible in the cold, as Draco turned his head, glancing over his shoulder only to see Lucius, his mask having fallen off in the blast, running after him, his wand pointed. Draco pushed Ginny and Tonks behind a tree trunk as he jumped behind another, peeking behind it as he watched for Lucius' next move.

As his father threw a curse at him, Draco ducked, the tree splintering over his bare, muscled back as the curse missed its intended target. Standing upright, Draco pointed his wand at the Death Eaters and produced a lusty, flaming red jet of light before transforming it into a knife, watching as the red knife followed its path and embedded itself into the chest of an unsuspecting Death Eater.

To his right, Ginny threw what Draco knew to be a dark curse at another Death Eater, causing his limbs to explode into flames. Draco sent another curse at Rodolphus, one he had learned from Dolohov, with a purple streak of flames. Rodolphus bent over in pain as the curse delivered internal injury similar to that of being smashed by a train, before he passed out in the dried leaves.

The Death Eaters didn't spare a second glance at their comrade, but the intensity of the battle increased as it always did when someone fell. Draco was soon sending spells as he lay on his stomach, trying to avoid the barrage of curses he was receiving. Glancing over, he saw Ginny doing the same. Tonks suddenly jumped upwards in a flash of black hair, sending off several of curses in only a few seconds. The speed with which she moved was something Draco had never seen from her.

Several of her curses hit Death Eaters, killing them instantly. Her blue eyes blazing, Tonks shouted the words of the reducto curse, hitting two of the Death Eaters as their bodies were dismembered by the explosive curse.

As she pointed her polished wand at Lucius, Draco's father's stony eyes narrowed. Draco jumped up, Ginny following his lead, and pointed his wand at his father, only to be hit with another volley of curses. Attempting to dodge the curses, Draco found himself back on the ground, covered in dried leaves, as his father whispered the fateful words that even Draco himself couldn't dodge.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Draco's silver eyes flitted upwards just in time to see Tonks fall, her black hair turning purple once again as her body hit the dirt with a sot thud. Holding his breath with hope, foolish, childish, useless hope, Draco waited for the lively, clumsy, purple-haired woman to move. But she didn't.

Instead, the Death Eaters moved, closing in on Draco and Ginny. Grabbing Ginny's wrist with his hand, he tugged her close to his body, and whispered softly in her ear, "Remember the technique you used first day of practice?"

He didn't have to say any more. Ginny nodded, her red locks dancing in the moonlit woods as she stepped away from him and drew her wand once again, sliding into an offensive position.

As Draco did the same, he heard his father give a short, cruel laugh.

"You really think anything you have will work against fifteen–" Lucius broke off as he looked around and saw the damage his son and his friends had caused before continuing, "Nine of us? You're outnumbered, Draco. You can't win. Why don't you just give up now?"

Draco smirked and replied, "Because father, along with your eyes and nose, I also inherited something else from you." Lucius raised a thin, blond eyebrow, asking his son to continue, "Your stubbornness. I'm not going to give up without a fight." Then, Draco started to weave the spell he knew would allow them to escape.

The power of the spell began to build as Ginny lent her power to it before the spell erupted in a shower of sparks and jets of light, creating a wall of fire between the two groups.

Through the flames, Draco had just enough time to see his father's face, perfect aristocratic features set in an impassive face as his stone-grey eyes screamed in rage. In that instant, Draco knew what his father was thinking. This isn't over.

Draco smirked in response, just before the flames grew, drowning out the sight of the Death Eaters, and Draco grabbed Ginny's hand, turning and fleeing from the site.

He didn't know how long they ran, whether it was a few minutes or a couple hours. All he knew was that they soon settled into a brisk pace, their bare feet slamming into the soft ground as their hearts and pulses raced, blood rushing through their veins and air flying into their lungs as they desperately tried to put space between them and their enemies.

Finally, they reached a small, open meadow as the sun began to rise. Wind was blowing softly across it, causing the golden grass to sway gently. As they stepped out from the shadows of the forest and into the light of the rising sun, they slowed to a walk. Together, they walked in silence to the middle of the meadow, each replaying the horrors of hours before in their minds.

Draco kept musing over the same question as the faces of the dead popped up in front of his eyes.

As they reached the middle of the meadow, where they would be able to see approaching figures for miles in every direction, they both simultaneously sat down, the pressures and exhaustion of the previous night pressing down upon them.

Ginny laid her head on Draco's shoulder and he wrapped her in his embrace, desperately seeking the same comfort she had come to him for. As she leaned her face against his chest, she began to cry, tears leaking from her eyes and trailing down her face as she remembered everything she had seen.

Looking up into Draco's silver eyes, her red hair flowing down her back as she tilted her head upwards to see his face, Ginny asked, her voice small and cracking with tears, "How did they find us?"

Draco tightened his arms around Ginny as he replied, asking her the same question he had been asking himself since starting the fire, "No Ginny, the real question is: who told them?"

Ah, yet another cliff hanger. Don't worry, all will be explained within the next chapter. Sorry for the delay, but it was worth it, wasn't it? Review!

Thanks to all those who review last time, which I realize was a month ago... SORRY!

-Aikoyu Saotome

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Thanks for all the support As always, I will post when I can, which will hopefully be soon. I can't wait to explain what happened! You might want to read Chapter 20 again after I post Chapter 22.

-Katy