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The right thing to guide us
Is right here inside us
No one can divide us
When the light is nearly gone
But just like a heartbeat
The drum beat carries on
And the drum beat carries on
Just like a heartbeat
When We Stand Together, Nickelback
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Draco entered Harry Potter's room with the feeling of being led down death row. Sirius was holding his arm too tightly, yanking Draco forward and making any hesitation impossible. The part of Draco that still clung to his pureblood standards hated himself for not walking into the room with his head held high, leading Sirius instead of being led himself. Most of him, however, was angry and beaten and too lazy to make any struggle at all.
Harry was sitting on a cheaply made bed when Sirius pushed Draco through the door, a filthy mudblood that he recognized as Fred's slave sitting right beside him. Their shoulders were even touching. A shabby cot was tossed into the corner next to the bed, and Draco was pretty sure that he was supposed to sleep there. His back hurt so badly after sleeping on the floor for so long that he didn't even think to complain.
"Draco," Harry said, nodding his head in his cousin's direction. Then again, Draco supposed that Harry wasn't his actual cousin. He still couldn't believe that he'd been fooled so badly as to think that the filthy half-blood could ever be Bellatrix's child.
"It's nice to meet you," the slave said, looking straight at him with piercing brown eyes. It was clear that she did not know her place, but Draco knew better than to say anything. He was on thin ice already and didn't need to get himself executed. "I'm Hermione."
"And I'm tired," Draco announced, effectively ignoring both of them. He turned to Sirius. "I am allowed to sleep, aren't I? Or do I have to ask permission to do that, too?"
"Don't be an arse, Draco," Sirius said. He let his dark eyes rest on Harry. "I'm sorry, Kid. We don't have anywhere else to put him, and too many people felt bad for sticking him in the dungeons."
"It's fine," Harry said, because he was righteous and friendly and an all-around good person, apparently. "I don't mind." Draco knew that was bull crap, though. Harry was more vicious than an angry manticore; he was just very, very good at hiding it.
"If you insist," Sirius shrugged, sounding skeptical. Then he left, and Draco was alone with the two mudbloods.
He glared at both of them individually, then stomped off to his bed and laid down on the cot, resolving to get a good night's sleep. Harry and the Mudblood's eyes were boring into his back, but Draco closed his eyes and pretended that he was back at Malfoy Manor with his father still alive and war only a far-off worry.
Surprisingly, after more than three weeks of sleeping on a hard concrete floor, he fell asleep without any problem.
…
"Draco."
Draco turned over, pulling his covers over his head and pretending like he didn't hear his voice being called. He felt someone breathing sweet-smelling breath on his face.
"Draco."
If he ignored the voice, it would go away. It had to go away.
"Draco."
He opened his eyes, startled to find himself looking into liquid silver. The blond jumped back so far that he cracked his head against the wall, let out a loud curse, and pitched forward, rolling off of his bed and on top of Luna Lovegood.
"Wha's gon on?" Potter muttered sleepily.
"Nothing," hissed Draco, struggling to get himself off of an eerily smiling Loony.
"Are you okay, Draco? I'm afraid that you hit your head quite hard."
Potter's cheap bed groaned as his weight shifted, and Draco knew that his bloody cousin had seen what was going on when he started laughing like a freaking cow.
"D-Draco," laughed Potter. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to be sick," moaned Draco. He finally managed to roll himself off from on top of Luna and climbed hastily to his feet.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You're bleeding. Can I get you something for that?" asked Luna. She hopped to her feet with an eerie grace, then set a hand on his arm that he shook off instantly. The creepy little Lovegood girl didn't seem to notice.
"No," growled Draco. Harry was laughing so hard that he was clutching his stomach.
"You… and… Luna…"
"You're quite mistaken, Harry," Luna said wistfully. "Draco and I are just friends right now. We won't become anything else for at least two weeks."
Draco stomped out the door. He had no idea where he was going or where he wanted to go, but anything was better than hanging around with Potter and Luna. Anything.
Of course, little did he know that the two other would just have to follow him.
…
Hermione was happy. It was undeniable. She was in the middle of a war, had just spend a month locked up in a dungeon, and lived a life as a fugitive and a slave before that, but she was happy. Harry was with her, she had Fred back, and the memory of Percy still made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Even at that moment, at a strategy meeting, wedged in between Fred and a grinning Lee, Hermione found herself absolutely shaking with joy.
"Ve are veady to strike again," Viktor Krum announced in his harshly accented voice. He looked absolutely terrifying as he strolled back and forth in front of the room in his military uniform, dark, gnarled wand looking malicious in a holster at his belt. "This time, the rebels vill be trying to rescue every slave in the empire. As you all know, ve have a big army, but ve vill be needing help that can't be gotten anywhere else. To do this, Nymphadora Tonks, one of our best spies, is going to place the Imperius Curse upon Gideon Prewett, the Keeper of the Bells. If the curse vorks, he vill deactivate the bells just as a good numver of rebels signal for the slaves to apparate avay."
Hermione snuggled back into her seat as Krum finally came to a stop and, looking at the crowd with hard eyes, finished, "Tonks vill act tomorrow. Until then, I urge you to rest. If she succeeds, ve vill have much vork in front of us. The slaves vould give us the men that ve need to start this var, and everyone vill be expected to contribute. Do you understand?"
Fred nudged Hermione in the ribs and, with a small laugh, joked, "With that accent, I really can't say I can."
Biting her lip to keep from laughing, Hermione ducked her head when Krum's deep brown eyes landed on Fred.
"Focus Veasley!" he boomed.
"Yes, Sir," replied Fred. Krum glared and continued.
"As I am sure you realize, ve vill have three targets after ve get the slaves. The Palace, Veasley Manor, and Hogwarts. Vith our spies, the Palace vill be easy, but the other two vill have to be fought for… mainly vith slaves and rescued prisoners. The problem with them, is that they have to be trained. And ve need people to train them.
"If ve succeed, I estimate a hundred thousand soldiers vill be need needing vork. Black and I can take some of them, and I vill have a few personal generals able to train more, but ve need another twenty competent individuals villing to train the rest."
"I will!" said Fred, raising his hand.
"I said competent," Krum stressed.
"Let him do it," James Potter mentioned from somewhere else in the room.
"I want to, too!" George pitched in.
"They're seventeen!" Krum cried.
"And super smart," retorted Fred.
"They started the rebellion," Minerva McGonagall announced. "You should give them the benefit of the doubt."
"Vhatever!" Krum said, throwing his hands in the air helplessly. "Fine. Ve have two. Anyone else?"
Several other people stood up, including James and McGonagall. Hermione wanted to, but she knew that Krum would never let her; she was only fifteen, and that was too young, no matter what she had been through.
When Krum had twenty people, he stopped them and announced, "This meeting is adjourned. If you have been selected, stay after. Ve have things to study!"
Everyone who hadn't been selected started to leave. Hermione hesitated, waiting for Fred and George, but then figured that she and Lee could go find Harry, whose father hadn't allowed him to attend, instead. The two former slaves started to leave, but Krum asked Lee to stay behind as well, and Hermione was forced to go on by herself.
She had only just left the strategy room when she came across the strangest thing that she had ever seen in her entire life.
A/N- Sorry that was so short, but I have been busy, and I really wanted to get something out. As you can probably tell, a whole bunch is going to be going on next chapter, which will hopefully make up for this.
Um, to PhilosopherStone909, I haven't forgotten about your one-shot. I will get it out sometime, but it may take a little while.
Other than that, I realize I've been kind of inconsistent on updating this story, so thanks for sticking with it. I'm doing my best, and hopefully things will smooth out sometime soon.
~bballgirl32~