Disclaimer for Harry Potter on the first chapter.
Author's note: Hi! Sorry about the long time between updates, it's really hard to keep writing, especially when you have a boss that thinks about work 100 of the time, anyway, thank you for your continued reviews, and to all of you that are still reading.
Chapter 25. Trapped
On Thursday night it was Draco and Hermione's turn to patrol the halls, though the blond thought that it was a waste of time, they had aurors now, why the students should keep patrolling? However he was most intrigued with the peculiar map that Hermione was showing him, the girl had intended to give it back to Harry, but now that Draco had seen it there was no way he'll let it go, at least not until he had gotten enough blackmail material to make it worth it or they were definitely out of Hogwarts, after all the map was only useful if you were in the castle. He had immediately point out all the hidden passages that could be useful as escape routes and memorized their location.
At the moment he was busy following the advance of two dots that were slowly making their way to the dungeons, Draco noticed that the dot labeled 'Harry Potter' was closer than necessary to the dot labeled 'Artemisa Nochland'.
"We shouldn't be spying on them Draco."
"Please, don't tell me that Potter wouldn't do it if given the chance, besides, I'm only making sure that they are getting along nicely." Malfoy smirked at his girlfriend and the girl rolled her eyes at him but say nothing more.
They were close to the astronomy tower and it was almost time to return to their respective houses, when Malfoy's eyes suddenly looked over to the main reason of why Hermione had brought the map in the first place, a group of dots had been following them for some time, the group had divided and now three dots were behind them while two more were a few meters ahead on the corridor. Draco's mouth twitched in a despising gesture. They wanted to play? Well, he was ready for them. Malfoy took out his wand and signaled to Hermione to be ready, he was surprised at Patil's tenacity, if he hadn't been expecting this attack they would have been in serious troubles, he quickly scanned the map to see who were nearby. There were no aurors on their floor and Dumbledore was in his office with Remus Lupin, but professors McGonagall and Snape were barely two corridors away, if they made enough noise they would attract attention, he did the spell to hide the map and rolled the parchment.
"I'll turn around and you take care of the two that are in front. Protection first, then we duck and do 'expelliarmus', we have to be fast and move to that statue, it should give us enough cover ok?"
"Ok."
"Ready? Now!"
Draco swirled and cast a protection spell just in time to see the sparks of an hex flying everywhere, they moved quickly and got to the statue safely, firing hexes and curses, they made some portraits fell and the head of the statue where they were hiding exploded, Malfoy felt something hit him and sudden pain in his left arm a second before professor Snape's voice thundered in the corridor.
"What is happening here?!!!"
"Children!! Stop this instant!!"
Everyone stood frozen in place while McGonagall enervated two Ravenclaws and professor Snape advanced on them, glaring at the blood on Draco's arm.
"It's nothing, just a cut."
"Well, maybe someone can explain what the meaning of this chaos is?!"
"They attacked us professor!" someone shout, Draco turned to see Patrick Thorney and sneered.
"Oh yes, and I suppose that's why WE are the ones hiding behind a fucking statue!"
"Mr. Malfoy, watch your mouth! Miss Granger, I expect you to tell us exactly what happened."
McGonagall was not happy, everyone could see that she was more inclined to believe that Malfoy was to blame for this, professor Snape narrowed his eyes in annoyance and Draco crossed his arms, wincing at the pain on his left one, maybe it wasn't just a cut, but he refused to acknowledge it and bit his lip while Hermione explained what had happened, trying to make it clear that she and Malfoy were the ones who were attacked for no reason, Parvati huffed at that and almost yelled.
"Don't cover Malfoy just because he's your boyfriend! We saw him trying to hurt you!"
"Don't be ridiculous Patil! Why would I do that?!"
"Well, after you got her pregnant, Malfoy, surely you feel like you can do everything you want to her!"
"WHAT?!!!"
Malfoy may have hexed Parvati into oblivion if he hadn't been amused by McGonagall's face at the moment, Hermione just gaped at her housemate for a moment and then turned worried eyes to her Head of House, who looked like she would drop dead at any instant, the elder witch didn't seem to realize that she was the only one surprised by the news.
"W-what… how…?"
Malfoy pressed his lips together to stay silent, he was very aware that teasing would only make things worse. Snape rolled his eyes and turned over to the stuttering professor.
"Minerva, I think you need to go see the Headmaster now."
The witch looked at him with unfocused eyes, for a moment the potions master was really worried.
"He… he-he knows? I-I can't believe he…"
"Now Minerva, I don't want to deal with you in this state. You go with the old man, he'll give you tea and those awful candies and you'll feel much better. I'll take care of this, now go!"
McGonagall breathed heavily and walked away. As soon as she disappeared Malfoy had his wand up again and pointing towards Parvati, however his godfather was faster and soon had the boy's wand in his hand.
"Mr. Malfoy, what do you think you're doing?!"
"I was only going to give her a few more appendages."
"Bad luck Malfoy" Parvati raised her wand, but Snape disposed of it with a move.
"All of you will stop this nonsense at once! Mr. Malfoy, take your troublesome fiancé back to her tower and then go to the hospital wing."
"It's nothing."
"Now Mr. Malfoy!"
Draco took his wand and grudgingly walked away with Hermione, Snape barely waited for them to be out of hearing range before he started with the rest of the students.
"And you. Exactly which part of 'don't do anything' is not clear?"
"But professor, I swear she's pregnant!"
"And do you think I don't know girl? That's the reason why young Mr. Malfoy is a lost cause!"
"But we should do something!"
"Miss Patil, I understand you're distraught, I know you used to be quite intimate with Mr. Malfoy, but you are not going to do anything! The Dark Lord wants everyone inside this castle relaxed and thinking that they are safe, so you are going to follow his instructions and not raise suspicions from the old Headmaster. Are we clear now?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, and not a word about this to anyone, understood?"
"Yes sir."
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Of course the next day the entire school knew that Hermione was pregnant, and the girl had a hard time trying to get Harry to understand that Malfoy hadn't done it on purpose and that she had wanted it and was perfectly fine with it; she did hex Parvati's seat during breakfast, so the girl had to get out of there quickly due to uncomfortable itching.
The rest of the students seemed happy to have more gossip to entertain themselves and forget about wars and murderous Dark Lords trying to dominate the world, so they started to invent the most dramatic situations, from Malfoy planning to stole the child as soon as it was born to Hermione using it to keep the blond Slytherin at her side, along with some tales about Nochland being pregnant too and Harry hiding it. The Slytherins seemed pretty amused by all the gossip and Hermione only tried to ignore it, but Harry was frustrated, unhappy and he wanted to yell at the top of his lungs for everybody to shut up.
Draco took the chance to go with Hermione everywhere between classes and made sure no one tried to approach her, the girl smiled at the show of possessiveness and accepted it happily, mainly because she had to go with Madam Pomfrey for a check up and didn't want to be alone with the mediwitch, it was bad enough that McGonagall seemed at the verge of tears each time she saw Hermione.
The couple went to the Hospital Wing before dinner and Madam Pomfrey scowled at the prospect of having Draco present during the check, she tried to make the blond wait outside but he pointed out that as Hermione's future husband and father of the child he had the right to be with her at all times. The mediwitch was actually impressed at his determination and proceeded to attend Hermione without further comments, the girl was eternally grateful for that.
Both mother and child were healthy and the baby was developing as it should, besides, there was the signature of very powerful magic protecting them, Madam Pomfrey was certain that they would be fine and should have no problems, the mediwitch did a special spell to know the sex of the baby right away, Hermione was delighted, if they were at a muggle hospital there would be no way for them to know the sex of her child yet, it was a boy and the girl clapped her hands in delight, Draco was proud of it and gave a peek to his fiancé, Madam Pomfrey watched the interaction seriously but continued silent.
Finally, when they were about to go, the mediwitch commented.
"Ronald Weasley has woken up Miss Granger; I think that you should know."
Hermione stopped and bit her lower lip, turning to look at the mediwitch; Draco narrowed his eyes and sneered nastily. The girl looked uncomfortable but answered nonetheless.
"Thank you Madam Pomfrey, Harry told me yesterday night. I'm glad that he's recovering."
"He had asked for you, he doesn't remember what happened, and I think he deserves an explanation."
"I'm sure that Harry told him that I'm fine and that he would explain things to Ron."
"And don't you want to see him? He's your friend after all."
Draco almost huffed at the statement, he didn't like the idea of Hermione getting anywhere near Ronald Weasley, but the mediwitch had a point, he was, or had been, her friend and if she wanted to see him it was her decision to make, he suppressed his annoyance the best he could and held Hermione's hand tightly, the girl smiled weakly at him and returned to see Madam Pomfrey.
"I know he's my friend, but I really don't want to see him right now, maybe some other time."
"Don't you think it would be best if you do it now?"
Well, that was enough, Hermione had said that she didn't want to see the weasel and that was all Malfoy needed to step into the conversation.
"Hermione doesn't owe anything to Weasley, and she doesn't have to see him if she doesn't want to, I really think it would be best if she stays as far away from him as possible."
The mediwitch frowned at the boy and answered.
"Mr. Malfoy, I really think that Mr. Weasley had been a good friend and that you should understand that he was not himself when he attacked you, he and Miss Granger had been pretty close all this years."
"Well, that's over now, she doesn't want to see him, and someone should tell him that Hermione is my girl now, and I don't want him pestering her anymore!"
Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows at the boy's audacity and huffed.
"My Goodness, until now I really didn't have the chance to compare you both, I have always thought that the Weasleys and the Malfoys were so different from each others, but I'm really surprised at the similarities."
Draco gaped at the mediwitch's words while Hermione covered her mouth with her hand in an effort to hide her giggles. Madam Pomfrey sighed and dismissed them.
"Wait! What do you mean 'similarities'?"
Hermione pulled her shocked boyfriend to the exit, the blond tried to compose himself without really succeeding.
"Did she just compare me with Weasley? What the hell is she thinking?!"
"Come on love, don't fret."
"I'm not fretting!"
They got out of the Hospital Wing, Malfoy still fuming.
"I can't believe it! I have no similarities with that bastard!"
"Of course not love, you're nothing like him."
"Are you humoring me?"
"No Draco." Hermione stopped and kissed her boyfriend, trying to make him relax, the boy huffed in annoyance and both continued their way.
"Stupid witch."
Hermione smiled and let the subject drop, they walked to the Great Hall in relative silence but once there Draco froze, his face darkened a little and Hermione scanned the staff table worriedly to see what had affected Malfoy. Professor Snape was absent again.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Malfoy sat cross legged on his bed with the Marauder's map in front of him, he was looking for his godfather, hopping that the man simply hadn't been in the mood for dinner, but he couldn't find him in the entire castle, that couldn't be good news. He sighed as his eyes scanned the map, noticing that Potter and Artemisa were busy in the Astronomy tower, and then he scowled at two dots that were entering a special room in the dungeons. He made a mental note to take Blaise's key away; his godfather had given it to him for his personal use, not for others to take advantage of it. Blaise could very well take his girl to the room of requirement!
He glared at the map until Blaise's and Alice's dots started to merge a little, then he blushed and made the map disappear, he felt uncomfortable spying on Blaise's sexual life, even if it was just seeing dots. He tucked the now empty parchment away; he was going to give it to Hermione the next day for her to have one more advantage. He went to sleep still thinking about what his godfather could be doing.
Draco woke up in the middle of the night sensing magic around him, and frowned recognizing a spell his father used when he wanted to send him something without using the owls, he sat on the bed, making the thing that was on his chest to fell, he grimaced and took the piece of parchment after making sure that it was not a portkey or any other thing equally dangerous. He recognized his father's writing at once and scowled at the words.
'It's your last chance Draco, come here this instant or you'll be dead by Monday. Look out the window.'
"Great. I'm in a fucking dungeon! How am I supposed to look out the window?!"
The dungeons didn't have windows, only enchanted images of them during daytime, at night the only way to look out to the castle's grounds was from the upper floors, Draco considered to just ignore the missive and get back to sleep, but curiosity got the better of him and he dressed quickly.
He wandered through empty corridors, making his way to the astronomy tower, thinking that he could get a better view from there. He was near the last set of stairs, just walking by a big window when he saw it. He stopped in the spot and breathed heavily in shock, it was not possible; the dark mark was in the sky, just above a brilliant reflection that surely was from a big fire, it took Draco some minutes to realize that Hogsmeade was lying that way.
He was still staring at the dark mark when he heard someone calling him.
"Malfoy! What are you doing here? Are you alright?"
He turned around to see Potter and Nochland coming down from the Astronomy tower, both of them looked scared, surely they had had a better look form up there.
"What do you think Potter? Enjoying the view."
He must have looked a bit perturbed because all the reaction he got was both students turning around to look out the window, after a short while Potter asked.
"How did you know?"
"Oh, my father had the grace to inform me."
Malfoy extended the note to the Gryffindor boy and Harry scowled upon reading it, a look of determination suddenly set in his face.
"'Misa, would you return with Malfoy to the dungeons? I have to see the Headmaster"
"Sure"
Malfoy raised his eyebrow but didn't say a thing, he and Nochland started their way down to the dungeons while Harry ran to the Headmaster's office.
"Someone should tell him that it's the middle of the night and the Headmaster is probably in his bedroom."
"Don't waste your breath, you know how Gryffindors are."
When they were near the main hall they heard a lot of noise from the entrance and walked that way to see what was happening, both Slytherins gasped in surprise when they saw what seemed Hogsmeade's entire population entering the castle in a hurry, many looked terrified and the children were crying, some were injured and the aurors were trying to move them away from danger of being crushed, professors McGonagall and Flitwick were trying to put some semblance of order and calm down some of the most hysteric persons.
Malfoy and Nochland stared petrified for some while, unsure of what to do, they didn't know if they could be of any help, the aurors kept bringing injured people and soon the main hall was not enough to keep them, Nochland grimaced at the sight of a child that was practically covered in blood and whose legs were twisted painfully.
"I don't want to see this Malfoy, let's return to the dungeons."
"Yes, let's go."
They continued their way, trying very hard to ignore the crying and desperate sounds that seemed to echo in the halls.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The next day Hermione had breakfast with her mother, Mrs. Granger was now lucid the majority of the time and had started to ask questions, she had recovered quickly and had not needed the special potion that Hermione's group had brewed, which had been an advantage because now there were many more patients in great need of it. Even some of St. Mungo's mediwizards had taken residence in the castle to help with the injured villagers of Hogsmeade.
Hermione had the impression of being in a refugee's camp, the castle was big but it was starting to be crowded with all the people that presently inhabited it. It was rather depressing. The majority of the students weren't sure of what happened. Some Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had seen the dark mark hovering over Hogsmeade in the early morning and had panicked immediately, some parents had visited the common rooms to make sure that their children were still there and the atmosphere seemed to get heavy with fear. It had not helped in the last to realize that all Hogsmeade inhabitants had arrived over night and were staying in the castle. It was impossible to walk along a corridor without stumbling into someone who was clearly terrified or crying or simply depressed.
Hermione hadn't wanted to be at the Great Hall and Malfoy had accompanied her to the Hospital Wing, but he had stopped at the entrance and had looked unsure, it had been clear that he didn't want to enter, Hermione knew that Draco was scared and trying to hide it, she couldn't blame him, after all it was one thing to know that there was war and that someone was being attacked or killed, and it was another thing to have the attack happening next door and actually see the victims running away, trying to save themselves. Hermione had told Malfoy that she wanted to have some time alone with her mother and the boy had promised to return for her later.
The girl sighed, she would have liked to be with Draco, but shrugged the feeling of loss away and looked to her mother, who was asking her about the boy that had accompanied her on other occasions, Hermione smiled and started to tell Mrs. Granger about Draco and their plans together.
Malfoy was upset and angry with himself, he should have stayed with Hermione, no matter that the Hospital Wing would surely be full of injured men and women, at least it should be quiet in there. Draco grimaced at the crowded Great Hall, where the majority of the people were crying or staring into space instead of eating. He wasn't hungry anymore, he felt rather sick, he should be stronger, when the Death Eaters finally attacked them he would have to fight, he couldn't afford being scared, he was supposed to protect Hermione and the baby and he wouldn't let them down.
Draco looked around him to the fearful faces of his classmates, many parents were sitting with their sons and daughters, and it didn't matter anymore in which table you were seated. Goyle was at his right side, talking quietly with Millicent and a Hufflepuff, to his left were Blaise and Alice; Neville, Potter and Nochland were in front of him, with grim faces.
Malfoy poked his food and tried very hard to forget where he was, an owl had left the Daily Prophet beside his plate but he really didn't want to read it, what he had seen at night had been enough. Unfortunately, Blaise had decided to read aloud and Draco was wishing his friend would shut up; he didn't need to know that the wizarding world was intrigued as to why the Death Eaters had attacked like they used to do before and had not used their new "weapon". The blond Slytherin huffed in annoyance. Of course they wouldn't waste energy in the town; they were saving the special attack for the castle! And it was no wonder that no one had been able to track the Dark Lord, all ministry officials were a bunch of idiots!
Dumbledore was giving a speech again, saying something about not loosing hope and assuring everyone about the safety of the castle, Draco could say that the majority was trying to believe him, but a few were not buying it, he expected that some of the parents would want to leave, hell, he'll like to leave too, he wanted to disappear and never return, but he had promised to stay with Hermione, and no one was going to have any reason to say that he was a coward.
Blaise had fell silent at last, Malfoy had feared that the boy could feel compelled to read the victim's list aloud, it was not a large list, thankfully the aurors had been able to arrive quickly and put on a fight, but they couldn't save Hogsmeade as practically the entire town was reduced to ashes.
Potter finished his breakfast and excused himself saying that he was going to the Hospital Wing, he gave Nochland a quick kiss of goodbye and promised to see her later, Malfoy still poked at his food for a while and when he finally decided to go look for Hermione he heard Goyle gasp and felt him went still, the blond turned to see the big boy shaking and biting his lip.
"Greg, what happened?"
"No-nothing. It's nothing."
Goyle stood up and half covered his face with his hand while he walked out of the Great Hall. Malfoy watched him go and curiously took the forgotten paper to see what his friend had been reading. His eyes scanned quickly the victim's list until he found it, he felt shocked for a moment and then let out his breath in a frustrated groan. Vincent Crabbe was dead.
&&&&&&&&&&&
Hermione left her mother's side promising to return before dinner, she was happy that Mrs. Granger was more alert and didn't sleep so much anymore, the girl figured she could convince Draco to accompany her later, so her mother could have a better look at him, maybe she'll tell her about the baby soon.
The Gryffindor girl was walking through the hospital wing trying to not pay much attention to the large number of beds that were occupied, when she saw Harry and Ginny outside the door of one of the private rooms, she supposed it was Ron's and grimaced, intending to pass them by and not stopping, however she couldn't avoid hearing their argument.
"How you dare call yourself his friend Harry?! As far as I'm concerned you have betrayed us! You and that bossy friend of yours had betrayed our House principles!"
"Ginny that's insane! Would you please forget about the stupid House rivalry? This is serious!"
"I'm sorry I can't forget how your precious serpents treat us! And I know very well that just because we need them you don't have to act too friendly with them! Much less go out with them!"
"Ginny please!"
"Don't 'please' me Harry; you can go with your Slytherin slut!"
"Don't call her that!"
"She is! And she will grow tired of you and would dump you! Then you're going to see that I am right and you would come apologizing! Until then I don't want you visiting my brother!"
Ginny entered the room and slammed the door in Harry's face, Hermione felt bad for him and walked to his side.
"I'm sorry Harry"
"Don't worry Herm. It's not your fault." He sighed tiredly and looked at the door one more time before turning away. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'll see him later."
"You haven't told him about 'Misa?"
"No, I didn't want to get him angry, but I'm starting to ask myself why I even bother."
They got out of the Hospital wing to find Malfoy walking through the corridor towards them; Harry left the couple alone and went to find his girlfriend.
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They supposed that Quidditch would be canceled as the students were not really in the mood to have fun, so Malfoy was really surprised when some people showed up in the Quidditch pitch, some of them just had went to see, to get out of the castle for a while.
Draco organized two teams and set up for refereeing a game while Hermione headed to take a seat on the stands, she wished she had brought a book with her, it would be boring to just sat there watching the others play, but as soon as she was seated three girls approached her.
"Hello Granger, do you mind?"
"Hi Alice, hi 'Misa, you're welcome."
"You already know Lilith don't you?"
"Sure, hi Lilith."
The girls took a seat, Nochland and Anthera at both sides of Hermione, and Agracon at Alice's other side, the Ravenclaw girl had a backpack with her and got out some bottles of pumpkin juice, Artemisa took out a sketch book and began to draw.
"Anyone want some?"
"Sure."
"So Granger, how does it is like to be the Slytherin prince's girlfriend?"
Hermione smiled and started to talk, maybe she wouldn't get bored after all.
Up in the sky, Malfoy was following the game closely, making sure that no one intended to kill another, he once in a while stole glances at the stands and smiled approvingly at his girlfriend and the group of girls, she was in better company now than those distasteful Weasleys, if no one of the red-heads talked to her ever again it would be a blessing. It was a shame that he hadn't been able to get rid of the bloody boy-who-lived too, but at least Potter and him had succeeded in tolerate each other, besides, the black-haired Gryffindor had finally come to his senses and listened to reason. Reason, among other things, said that a Slytherin was a thousand times better girlfriend than an annoying red-headed bitch. If Hermione knew what he was thinking she would skin him alive.
A bludger that past rushing in front of him made Draco return to reality and he surveyed the pitch. All seemed to be in order. Except that he was missing a seeker.
'Where in hell is Potter?'
He looked around first and finally looked above him; Harry was there, completely immobile and apparently not paying attention to the game. Draco frowned and flew over to him, wanting to know what was happening.
"Hey Potter! What are you doing?!"
Harry didn't turn to look at him; he continued staring into space while he answered.
"Malfoy, what is that?"
"What?"
Draco looked over into the horizon; he didn't see anything at first and was starting to think Potter was mental when he noticed the mist. He narrowed his eyes and analyzed it, the mist was over a good part of the forbidden forest and it seemed to be advancing slowly, the blond panicked for a second and looked around, the mist was everywhere, thicker at some points, it was surrounding the castle. He gulped but tried to calm his panicked mind and think what it could be, at his side he heard Potter muttering his worst fear.
"Dementors?"
Malfoy bit his lip and considered the option.
"Could be, but they'll need a lot of them to surround the castle at that distance and create the mist, surely they don't have that many."
At least he hoped they didn't, he'll hate to have to deal with a lot of those things.
"What else could it be?"
Malfoy thought hard for a few seconds about other possibilities.
"Well, it could be a spell; they may be trying to isolate us, to cut communications and any way to escape."
"Like an outer ward?"
"Yeah, something like that. Dumbledore can be happy now, that could very well mean that we are next."
"About bloody time! I am tired of waiting! I want this to be over!"
Malfoy only nodded, he was about to suggest to go down when he heard the rest of the players flying over to them.
"Hey you two! What are you doing?"
Soon, all their schoolmates were looking to the strange mist, utterly shocked, until Malfoy decided that it was enough and shooed them back to the ground. Potter went directly to give the news to Dumbledore while Draco explained to the girls what was happening, after a few minutes everyone was inside the castle again.
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It turned out that Malfoy's assumptions were correct. It was not long before the staff and the aurors confirmed that the floo network was not working and that the owls refused to fly more than a few meters away from the owlery, some parents had gone out the wards to try to apparate and had returned frustrated and tired of reappearing on the same spot that they were trying to leave, a few aurors that had volunteered to explore the limits of the mist had flew back, confused and having forgotten why they had left in the first place, people started to panic and turned to Dumbledore for a solution. The Headmaster remained calm and announced a meeting in the afternoon, every adult that wanted to go was welcome, as for the students, only the sixth and seventh years prefects were invited.
Malfoy, Millicent, Lilith and Andrew Deli walked to the room of requirement where they met quite a lot of people waiting for Dumbledore. Malfoy sighed and proceeded to make his way among them to find Hermione, the Slytherins followed him. They found the Gryffindors near the entrance, they didn't look very happy, in fact Potter looked like he was starting to forget that Ginny was supposed to be on his side and was considering the idea of strangling her, Hermione practically ran to Malfoy's side as soon as she spotted him, the red-head did a pathetic imitation of a sneer when she saw the Slytherins.
"Well, who could have said it? You're here after all, and I see that Nochland is not good enough to be a prefect, too bad, maybe she's not good enough for many other things."
"Ginny, shut up already!"
Potter was angry; Draco narrowed his eyes at the Weasley girl and snorted.
"Typical Gryffindor that thinks that to be a prefect is the only way she has to attract attention. Maybe someone like you doesn't have any other way to get people's respect."
Ginny paled and was ready to retaliate, but Harry spoke first.
"Please! Not now! Can't we at least pretend to have a truce? We can get attacked at any minute! We can't afford to lose time in fruitless bickering!"
Malfoy raised an eyebrow and smirked, embracing Hermione. Dumbledore appeared at that moment and invited everyone into the room.
After the few first moments of chaos, shouting and demanding a solution, Dumbledore could make everyone calm down and pay attention, he began to answer questions and explain his tactic for defense. Draco noticed that the Minister was there, as well as many of the principal men of the Ministry and the Wizengamot. Malfoy sniffed, they were after all an attractive target, the only thing that could be more obvious was a sign at the top of the castle saying "attack here" with a bunch of arrows signaling its way, it was a misfortune that the Dark Lord had decided to make a show in Hogsmeade first.
He heard the instructions that were given in order to defend the school and noticed how everyone progressively abandoned panic to focus on fight strategies; they analyzed a spell to keep dementors outside the wards but were instructed to be ready to cast full force patronus if some of them managed to get through. Only the sixth and seventh years were going to be allowed to fight, the rest of the students would have to stay in their respective Houses. The strategy was so well designed that Draco didn't have any doubt that the old man had been working at it for some time, and judging by the faces around him it seemed that some people had realized it too and didn't know if they should be annoyed or glad about that.
The only moment when Draco tensed and felt danger was when someone accused professor Snape for not being present, fortunately Dumbledore had thought about that too and had been able to cover Severus. It was a long meeting and Malfoy zoned out after they explained what position he would cover, he started to think about all the possible outcomes of a battle, he still was dealing with Vincent's death and he didn't want to have to deal with another one. He came back to reality when Dumbledore was almost finished.
"Tomorrow will be a busy day my friends, we would have to get ready, when the attack begins it's going to get hot inside here, remember to not panic, some of the outer walls may start to melt but it would stop soon, don't cast any cooling charms, just move to the main hall and get ready, we are going to give them a fight."
He dismissed the audience and everyone headed to the exit, Malfoy embraced Hermione and kissed her head while Harry walked towards Dumbledore.
"I'm a bit scared Draco"
"Don't be pet. We are going to make it, the Death Eaters would be weak, my godfather has told us the amount of energy that is necessary to do the ritual, I'm more worried about Dementors."
He looked around him, there was still some people talking among themselves, he supposed they must be of the Order. Out of the corner of his eyes he caught a glimpse of red and turned to see Mrs. Weasley in the process of asphyxiating Potter with a hug, he grimaced at the display and considered to disappear before someone decided to notice him; unfortunately Hermione was already waving her hand at another red-head who approached them immediately.
"Bill! You're here! I'm so glad that you're ok!"
"Hi Herm, Malfoy"
Draco nodded curtly and pulled Hermione to his side, Bill looked amused at his display.
"Hermione I'm sorry about what Ron did, and I have heard that Ginny had not been nice either."
"Don't worry Bill; I'm ignoring Ginny at the moment. I was hoping to not lose you all, you're really important to me."
"Well, it took a while for mother to accept it, but when she knew about the baby she just changed her mind, you know what she thinks about parenthood, she's glad that you two are taking your responsibility."
Malfoy almost rolled his eyes, but narrowed them instead, analyzing Bill, he wasn't sure if he should drag Hermione away from this Weasley, he didn't seem like a threat and Hermione was happy to know that not all the Weasleys hated her, but he was considering if such company was advisable, he hated mediocrity and all his life he had been told that the Weasleys were losers and commoners of the worst kind, though he recognized Bill as the one who had married Fleur Delacour, that was really something, the Delacours would never have allowed such a marriage if the groom wasn't good enough for their daughter. Malfoy was deciding to give Bill the benefit of the doubt when Mrs. Weasley appeared next to them.
"Oh, here you are dear! Hermione, I'm so sorry for my children!"
"Don't worry Mrs. Weasley."
"I'll keep them both in line; they won't bother you or Harry anymore sweetheart."
Finally, someone heard Malfoy's prayers and hopefully Ginevra and Ronald Weasley would stop to be a pain in the ass, he thought that he could almost tolerate Mrs. Weasley's company. Almost. She was still a bit exuberant for his tastes, she just had an overwhelming motherly presence and he wasn't used to it; so he tensed and barely stopped himself from giving a step back when the woman turned to look sternly at him.
"And you young man. You better take good care of her, you hear me?"
Malfoy raised his eyebrows and nodded, trying his best to not look shocked, Hermione giggled at his side and he glared at her. After a few minutes the group broke apart and the students returned to their respective common rooms.
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After leaving Hermione in Gryffindor's tower, Malfoy made his way to the dungeons, still thinking about the inevitable confrontation, his godfather had told them that the Death Eaters that would give their magic for the attack would be drained and useless after it, but not all the Death Eaters had to participate on it, that meant that there would be a fight and there was no guarantee that they'd be able to catch all of the Dark Lord's followers or to defeat the Dark Lord himself once and for all. The Order was ready for a chase.
Draco thought about his unborn son. Dumbledore had mentioned the fact that it may be to someone's advantage that they had the Minister of Magic in residence, Malfoy could ask for the marriage forms at any time, it was all they need to be legally married, he would talk about it to Hermione first thing in the morning. Funny, all his life he was expected to marry a worthy pureblood witch, one that had a respectable and influent family, who could enhance the social power that his own family already had, and it should have been a big social event. Malfoy smirked to himself, his mother would be disappointed at the lack of party, but they really couldn't wait, maybe later when they were safe they could think about celebrations, for now the legal stuff would have to be enough.
He got to his common room's entrance and said the password absent mindedly, entering the room, he really wasn't expecting the entire Slytherin house waiting for him, as soon as the door was closed they all turned to face him, Malfoy was quite shocked for a second but pulled himself together quickly and raised his eyebrows in askance at his fellow housemates. Soon Blaise started talking.
"We really are going to do this, right? We are going to fight against them."
Oh, that. Malfoy cursed himself for having completely forgotten the fact that some of the Slytherin's parents were Death Eaters and that they may have to fight against them, not to mention that they could find some of their ex-housemates among the enemy lines. He sighed and looked seriously at them.
"In fact, only the sixth and seventh years would be allowed to fight if they wish to do so, the rest are supposed to stay in the common room, away from the danger. But you can all stay behind if you want. No one is going to force you to do it."
He saw many faces relax at his words, some first year raised his hand timidly, wanting to talk.
"Malfoy, do you really think this is going to work?"
"It has possibilities."
"It's too risky Malfoy." Said a fifth year, Malfoy recognized him as one of the firsts that had followed Vincent's little rebellion. "We are risking too much, what if the Dark Lord wins? You can't really think that Potter would be able to stop him, he's just a student like any of us, he has no special powers, and you had said it yourself all these years!"
"I know he doesn't have anything especial, I'm not like those idiots that think that Potter is a hero who can save us all! Of course he's not going to defeat the Dark Lord; maybe he won't even fight him! Dumbledore is the one who's gonna do it, Potter and some of the aurors will help, that's why they have possibilities."
"But what if they loose anyway? We can get killed if we fight with the light!"
"Fighting for either side would not guarantee your life Hummold! Crabbe was with the Death Eaters and he's dead! Do you think the Dark Lord would give a shit about it?!"
They all looked down and Malfoy sighed tiredly.
"Look, if you want to go to the Dark Lord you can still do it. Just go talk with Thorney and I'm sure he'll be more than happy to accept you. But you'll have to do it tonight, tomorrow could be too late."
A few of the Slytherins did funny faces at Malfoy and others snickered.
"Patrick Thorney? That looser?"
"You got to be kidding, no wonder that you and your girlfriend are still in one piece!"
"Yeah, who would think it a good idea to have someone like him leading anything?"
Malfoy snickered too and shook his head, suddenly someone shot another question.
"What about professor Snape? Why he's not here?"
"He got stuck somewhere, but he won't be a problem."
"Really? Are you sure of that?"
"Yes Blaise, I'm sure."
"Then, do you think that there would be an advantage for us if we help in the fight?"
"Surely, if the side we'll be fighting for wins."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then we would better be dead. Even if we were with the dark, believe me the Dark Lord is not what everyone tells you, he's not a great wizard, he has power, but he's mad and he only wants slaves at his side. I don't want to live like that, if he wins I rather be dead."
Malfoy stared at his housemates for a moment, making sure they knew he was serious.
"So, what's your answer?"
Blaise smirked and leaned on a couch.
"I'll fight, I have someone to protect too you know."
Malfoy rolled his eyes at him and muttered something hideous about romance. Millicent just shrugged and sneered.
"I'll do it too. I have nothing to lose anyway and mother is going to fight too, even if she's terrified that she might find father among the Death Eaters, I have to be with her in case that happens."
Malfoy nodded at her and looked at Goyle, the boy seemed to not be paying attention to them, Draco sighed and turned to the rest of the Slytherins.
"What do the sixth years say? Nochland?"
The girl raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Are you kidding? What kind of girlfriend I'll be if I don't support my partner?"
That made the Slytherins roll their eyes and some of the girls giggled, a fifth year girl that was beside Nochland punched her playfully.
"Sis! As if it wasn't enough that our baby brother was sorted in Gryffindor! Did you have to go and get one of them as a boyfriend?!"
"And the Golden-boy at that" said Lilith mockingly, there was some laughs this time and Artemisa shrugged.
"You're jealous of my good luck."
"Just don't let the Gryffindor rubs into you too much Nochland, I'd hate to have a Slytherin rushing at foolish acts of heroism. Try at least to teach him something useful, would you?"
Now the laughs of the younger Slytherins were more open, Malfoy smiled, content that they were more relaxed, he announced that the next day the upper years were expected in the room of requirement and then proceeded to take a seat beside Goyle, successfully ending the informal meeting. He was not sure of what his housemates would decide, but he expected that they waited until the attack was over to make a final decision; being Slytherins he knew that they'd prefer to be sure of the facts before making a move, and at the moment everything was still uncertain, but he had to his advantage the fact that none of them had liked the idea of having to speak to Thorney if they wanted to go to the Dark Lord.
He was worried about Goyle, so he waited until the majority of the Slytherins abandoned the common room. When there were only the seventh years left, Malfoy nudged at the bigger boy.
"Greg, you all right?"
"I'm going to kill him Malfoy."
"Hey, don't get over exited. Kill who?"
"Him. That stupid Marshall! It's all his fault!"
Malfoy narrowed his eyes in confusion for a moment and then sighed.
"Greg, it was Vincent's decision, Marshall only happened to be there for him to get a hold to."
"No! You don't understand Draco! It was Marshall the one who convinced him! I went over Vincent's house on Christmas and the Marshalls were visiting and that son of a bitch convinced him to go to the initiation! Our fathers didn't want us to go, when I arrived home, father asked where you were and told me to do exactly as you said, because he didn't want to make a mistake! I know that Crabbe senior said the same to Vincent, but then that bastard had to come and convince him to do stupid things! If it wasn't for him Vin would still be alive!"
Malfoy looked at the boy and considered for a moment. Crabbe and Goyle had been good friends practically since birth, he couldn't blame Gregory for being so upset; finally he sighed and conceded.
"Ok Greg, if we find Marshall, he'll be all yours."
The boy sniffed and nodded his thanks; they all went to sleep after that.
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Two or three more chapters to go and this would be finished!