Okay, so there is no excuse for how horrendously late this is. But, I have an excuse anyway. I've been working flat out trying to pass my final year of school. That's all I got. This is the only weekend I've had free in a long time. Not to mention I had terrible writer's block. But finally, here is the most fantastic chapter of all ever except for later on when it gets good again.

That was probably the worst cliffhanger, the last chapter. Cliffhanger with a five month break. I'm so sorry, and I love you.

The Other Malfoy

Chapter Twenty One

George felt the cold before he felt anything else, the biting, aching cold around him. He felt his skin stinging and realised it was raining quite heavily, and then he heard a string of obscenities, turning around to see Adriana swearing at him, the rain plastering her hair to her forehead.

"You stupid git! You lousy fucking excuse of a wizard!" she shouted through the downpour, before she hit him with a blast of her wand and he found himself on the floor.

"Adriana, calm down!" George cried out.

"Calm down?" she repeated, throwing her arms in the air. "Calm down, he says! You're gonna lose me my job, you – you – imbecile!"

She kicked dirty puddle water in his direction and George shut his eyes before it hit him. "Okay, point taken!" He stood up, clothes dripping, and he said, "So where are we going?"

Adriana laughed angrily. "We? Oh no, there is no 'we'. You're apparating back to the ministry this instant before Kingsley finds you –"

But it was too late for that, because in the near distance Robards was waving them over, and when he laid eyes on George he began to swear as well. George couldn't hear him, but he knew a swear word when he saw one. Adriana glared at him something awful and she said, "You're gonna pay for this, Weasley."

"Like to see you try," George retorted, but in all honesty he really wished she wouldn't.

They caught up with the others and Robards said angrily, "What's he doing here?"

Adriana's lip twitched. "He followed me through the fire. I've told him to go back."

"Can't make me apparate against my own will!" George said quickly, remembering something Arthur had told him once. "Section something of something, something… you know the one."

Adriana scowled. She knew he was right, but she turned back to Robards and said, "Gawain, really, he can't be here. He's a liability."

"I have every right to be here."

Whirling around to face him, Adriana's eyes were alight with fury as she spat, "You have no right, you are endangering the entire operation, you are nothing but a nuisance and have been since the start."

George was taken aback. He'd seen Adriana pissed off, but she was furious and he was speechless. He couldn't think of anything to say.

Robards put a hand on Adriana's arm and tugged her away from George, still aghast. Walking up behind them, having heard the conversation (if that's what you'd call it), Kingsley said, "Let him stay, Adriana. He won't get in the way." He gave George a look that said something else – that said he wouldn't get in the way or there would be trouble.

Adriana was fuming but she said nothing, simply turning and walking off to where the others stood, not even looking at George as she did so.

They moved quickly, the estate not far from where they had apparated. It was perfect weather for infiltrating the property – the rain was a good cover. They should have thought of it earlier, but weather magic was particularly difficult anyway. It was a stroke of luck.

George hung at the back of the group with Kingsley walking behind him, and Gawain in the lead, followed closely by Adriana and a few other Aurors George didn't recognise. Harry and Ron walked a little ahead of him. The huge building in the distance was obviously their target – grey stone and unkempt hedges gave a less than warm welcome to the group. They had to walk quickly, because apparating would surely set off any detection charms they had set up – from what Rookwood had told them, there was an apparition ward that stretched one kilometre from the mansion, and a movement ward at five hundred meters. The plan was to move through the first five hundred meters and apparate through the second, if they could, because they could then avoid detection altogether.

For once, everything went according to plan. Robards checked the map and then cast a spell detection charm, and he saw the line where the two wards met. They stood in a close line, each moving one step at a time as they apparated towards the house.

As they stood by the rusted gates, George felt the raindrops creep beneath his collar and trail down his spine, only adding to the shivers that wracked his body. He was so nervous. The alarm should be going off by now – perhaps they had more time, and as George began to calm slightly he suddenly heard a painfully high pitched screeching sound that would have, at any other time, caused him to clap his hands over his ears and cringe. But there just wasn't time for that.

Somebody blasted the gate open and they rushed through, moving as quickly as they could, while the element of surprise was still on their side. Moving quickly, George looked around himself frantically, looking for wolves or spiders or something, anything – but what they faced was something much more terrible, and George only realised it was there when he bumped into Harry, and looked over him at what the obstruction was.

George thought it was a lion at first, but where the lion's face should have been was the face of a man. The skin of his face was scratched and dirty, his eyes thin and cat-like, his teeth long and pointed but it was a man's face nonetheless. And where his tail should have been was a long, scaled sting, like a scorpions.

"Manticore," Harry said. "This is going to be fun."

The manticore growled, and flashed sharp teeth before beginning to circle, pacing around them, scorpion tail flicking back and forth. Gawain, at the front of the group, said quietly, "Harry, Ron, I'd like it if you could take care of this little obstacle."

"Little?" Ron muttered cynically, but he stepped forward with Harry so as to face the manticore, wands at the ready.

The manticore hesitated, but his tail cracked and he said in a rasping voice, "How brave the young wizards, to face such a foe."

"Shut up, git," Ron said loudly, "At least I'm not a stupid half breed."

George winced as the manticore roared, the sound making his body tremble. Gawain began to move away as the beast was distracted, and even though he knew it would do no good, Harry threw a stunning spell at the beast, making it snarl and hiss.

They circled each other, and when the manticore was facing entirely away from the rest of them, the group quickly moved to the front of the manor. Whoever had set up that defensive system obviously had no idea that such a large group would dare infiltrate their hiding place.

The front door was locked and presumably protected by magic, but there was almost no spell that could stop an Auror or Unspeakable. If Rookwood had been the one to set it up, he would have known all of the complex ministry security spells – in theory, it should be easy to get rid of them.

It was only when Gawain pushed on the door with his wand, and it swung inwards slightly that they realised there was no spell. These leftover Death Eaters obviously did not have the security priorities that their late leader had.

As they entered the castle, there was a great moment of silence when the group of Aurors, Unspeakables and others stood very still in the large room, staring around the dirty, dusty place and waiting for something to happen. It seemed like a forever.

And then, a flash of a spell fired from a nearby corridor, and suddenly it was all a mess. George felt a great wave of déjà vu overcome him as the blur of lights and spells flashed backwards and forwards across the room, and the sharp screams, the sound of the manor walls buckling from off course curses. George immediately sought out his targets, the darkened eyes of the Lestrange brothers wide-eyed as they revelled in the battle – George just wanted it to be over.

George stood beside Adriana, fighting in tandem, shielding incoming spells from the Death Eaters as she replied with similar curses. George looked at the way she was so calm, contained – moments ago she had been screaming and throwing obscenities at him, yet in the middle of a duel she was totally in control. George, on the other hand, was breathless and panicking, trying to block spells with defensive shields he had nearly forgotten how to use. He shouldn't be here, Adriana was right.

"George," she said, voice dry, "You need to go find Aurelia."

He shook his head. "No. I can't leave you alone. Somebody else can find her."

"Look around George, the others have their hands tied. You're the only one who isn't a major threat to them."

George glanced around the room quickly, and saw she was right. While they were duelling Rodolphus and Rastaban, Robards and another Auror were busy with Fenrir Greyback, Kingsley was caught up with both Yaxley and Rowle as the unspeakable next to him was hit with a stunning curse and fell to the ground. There were at least four other Death Eaters, who were being attacked by the remaining Aurors. Harry and Ron were still nowhere to be seen.

"Go, George!" Adriana hissed. "Go now."

Not bothering to argue, George cast one last shield for Adriana before he bolted to the other side of the room, dodging curses as he went, running down the corridor the Death Eaters had emerged from.

It almost seemed too simple, to George. He ran to the end of the corridor, and walked down the stairs, assuming in all of his worldly knowledge that Aurelia would be underground. He stumbled downstairs, the walls shaking from above and dust falling on his hair and in his eyes.

The stairs led to a chamber, locked by large iron bars. George stepped up to the bars, touched the wand to the lock, but no curse threw him backwards, no wailing alarm sounded. He tapped the lock with his wand, muttered some simple curses but it did not open.

Taking a step back, he called out, "Aurelia? Are you there?"

Through the sound of yelling and crashing above, George heard the sound of a chain rattle and echo through the chamber. He felt his heart hammer and he said quickly, "Aurelia, I'm going to get you out."

The chains rattled again and George tapped the lock with his wand again, and in his frustration he growled, and rattled the iron bars.

A small clanking sound followed shortly afterwards, and the lock fell open.

Eyes wide, George looked at the lock – the small insignia of the Greyback clan was set in the iron. It was a werewolf lock – he should have seen it earlier. Bill said they were used at the bank.

George pushed the bars open and carefully stepped inside. "Aurelia? Where are you?"

A tiny whimper and rattling of chains was his only reply.

George swallowed his nervousness and he called out, "Aurelia, my name is George Weasley. I'm here with the Minister for Magic, and the Aurors – we're here to get you out."

There was no sound this time. George continued talking, glancing around with his lit wand. "Your family is at the ministry – your parents, and your brother. He asked me to take you back to them." He paused, and turned. "I'm here to bring you home."

The chains rattled again, louder this time, and George spun, walking towards the corner of the chamber. The sounds continued, and though the crashes and screams continued overhead, the manor shaking, George could hear the definite, deliberate shaking of chains.

And when he saw her, her eyes were wide, her hair was dirty, ragged, and her clothes were torn. Her skin was burned, scarred and bloody, her hands cut, one hand locked by a rusty iron manacle to the stone wall. She was tiny, thin, the bones showing through her pale, sick skin.

She shrunk away from him but he kneeled beside her and he said, "Aurelia," his voice breathy from the tightness in his chest, "You're safe now."

Sparks flew from his wand as he broke her chains, and he picked her up in his arms, watching her eyes close shut calmly for the first time in a long time. With a swift flick of his wand, George sent his patronus upstairs to tell the others he had found her, and then he disapparated.