Scorched
Author's Note: So here we are in the midst of battle! I would just like to remind readers that this story is really based predominantly off the books, so things that are only in the films may not happen. Your reviews are lovely, they make my day! As always, JKR is a famous curse-breaker at Gringotts!
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Draco skidded to a halt outside the Room of Requirement. They had run here as fast as they could, ducking to avoid spells and debris that were flying around the castle. Between the two of them they had even managed to help. Blaise had concentrated on keeping them disillusioned while Draco shot a few nasty hexes at some of the dark figures in cloaks. He wasn't sure who he had hit, but it didn't really matter in the end. The Death Eaters were all fighting aggressively to kill and maim, while many of the students simply didn't know those kinds of darker spells. It wasn't really a fair fight. He had already saved one or two lives that had been close to slaughter at the tip of some maniac's wand. He was pretty sure that he had seen the mousy little face of Colin Creevey swiveling to stare around the space where he was disguised by Blaise's charm, his wide blue eyes confused but gratefully trying to locate his savior.
When he stopped suddenly outside the Room, Blaise ran straight into his back, jolting them both forwards a bit and almost pitching them over completely.
"Woah, watch it!" his friend whispered loudly, "What's wrong with you? Did you have an aneurysm?"
Draco tapped the top of his head to release the spell keeping him camouflaged.
"We're here," he replied curtly, turning to face the wall where the door was hidden.
Blaise's gaze drifted over the completely blank area of stone, with no divots or cracks to give it away, then back at the dull, oversized tapestry behind them, and then at Draco.
"It's very…impressive," he drawled. Draco snorted and waved his hand towards the wall.
"It's a hidden entrance you bloody prat."
Blaise frowned and looked a little bit sheepish.
"I knew that," he said defensively. The blonde Slytherin shook his head with a wry smile and started to pace back and forth in front of the space. It was like retracing his steps from the past, he had done this so many times in sixth year. He thought hard about finding a room where things could be concealed, crossing three times in front of the entrance. After the third time, a crack in the stone grew out of nowhere and widened until it became a doorway.
"Cool," Blaise commented simply, and they both hurriedly made their way inside before anyone could see them. Even as they crossed through and into the Room, they could both feel the ceiling of the corridor shudder as dust cascaded down on top of them. The door slammed behind them, and the silence that descended on them after the ferocious noises of battle was an unsettling contrast. Draco pocketed the Death Eater mask he had been carrying, raising his wand higher and concentrating on the room. He could hear Blaise whistling lowly beside him at the impressive sight of the jumble of old furniture and objects piled high around them like a towering city. They started to inch forwards into the room, around mounds of junk, and Draco automatically made his way slightly to the left towards that cursed vanishing cabinet. He looked up at it with a shiver of fear, remembering the horror of that night when the Death Eaters had come through. Fenrir Greyback had been savage, Bellatrix psychotic and Snape eerily calm. Draco still sometimes relived it in his nightmares.
"What is it?" his friend asked quietly, sensing his distress.
Draco sighed and pointed up at the cabinet in front of them.
"That's what I used to get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts last year," he explained in a curt tone, the tinge of regret obvious to his own ears.
Blaise took in a breath quickly and looked up at it, contemplating the hideous contraption with a dark expression.
"Bloody hell, Draco," he commented in a low, serious voice for once, "I don't know how your witch forgave you for that one."
Draco grit his teeth a bit in anger, not at Blaise but at himself.
"Neither do I," he replied shortly.
It looked like Blaise was going to say more, but Draco hurriedly shushed him with an urgent wave of his hand when he heard a distant voice calling something from over the stacks of junk. His friend listened and heard it too and they nodded to each other.
"Over that way," he mouthed, and the two of them started to pick their way around the towers of things in the room, creeping towards the voices. He was of course hopeful that it would be Hermione, but he wasn't taking any chances. As he and Blaise made their way around a corner that was piled high with old couches, they saw three figures rummaging around looking for something. Draco felt his chest swell with delight when he noticed one of them had a familiar head of curly hair, and was pushing aside stacks of old books. She was alive and seemed unhurt, and he felt like the weight he had been carrying around the last few hours was lifted slightly. As he watched from a distance, he saw Potter release a sudden sound of triumph as he ripped away some rubbish to reveal a perch with a dull looking tiara on top of it. The metal was old and bent in a couple of places, and it needed a damn good polish, but looked like it might have been expensive at some point. Draco frowned in confusion. Just before Potter could step forward and claim his prize, he moved around the corner and towards them.
"Hold it, Potter," he spat in a low, sarcastic drawl, "Do you mean to tell me that your big secret mission all this time has just been to find some tacky jewellery?"
The golden trio spun around in shock as his voice interrupted their concentration. Potter looked at him with his brows raised high in vague bemusement. Weasley was fuming. Blaise had been right, it was fun to see his face turn such a deep shade of red that he looked like he was suffocating. Then he looked over at Hermione. Her face was flushed a pretty pink and her hair was becoming more and more untangled from the braid draped over one shoulder. Brown eyes widened to stare at him with delight and the most angelic smile spread across her lips, creasing her cheeks into dimples. He offered her a smirk in return.
"Draco!" she gasped his name in one deep breath, starting to race towards him. But Weasley was closer. And he got there first.
Draco hadn't been expecting it; otherwise he would have raised his wand or shielded his face with his arms. Weasley's fist met his nose with a sickening crunch and he stumbled back a couple of steps as the pain flashed through his head like a sudden migraine. He heard a couple of voices distantly yelling, and Hermione squeal in horror.
"RON!"
Almost instantly he felt the warm sensation of blood dribbling down from his nostrils. His jaw was throbbing from the impact and had gone so numb that he almost didn't feel it when the blood trickled down to his chin. He dabbed softly at his face until it stopped. His nose was stinging and he felt his eyes water in response to the blow. It hurt like a bitch. When he was finally able to blink and look up at what was happening, he saw Hermione's face in front of him, her eyes wide with worry. When he managed a crooked smile to reassure her, she instantly spun away to look furiously at her redheaded friend.
"What is wrong with you?" she growled angrily. Draco followed her gaze and saw that Potter had stepped forward to hold his friend back, but the ginger menace was still struggling with a thunderous expression on his face. Blaise was also standing there ready to defend him if needed, which was probably a good thing, because Weasley looked ready to explode.
"He's a fucking Death Eater," Ron shouted his head swivelling to stare at each of them in turn, finally settling on Hermione. "How could you do this to me Mione? How could you do this to Harry?" he accused, his eyes almost popping out of his head in furious despair.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"For a smart girl, I didn't think you could be so bloody stupid! Malfoy is just pulling you along. Trying to seduce you so that you'll betray Harry."
There was a brief, silent pause that was only interrupted when Blaise snorted with laughter. Draco shot him a frown, knowing that Hermione wouldn't like him taking light of the situation.
"Are you serious, Ron?" she said with exasperation, "That's ridiculous. I've been living with him for three bloody months."
"So?"
"So I think I know his intentions a bit better than you do."
Ron huffed and tried once more to shrug Harry off, but the messy haired boy was holding on tight.
"This is the same ferret that used to call you a mudblood, or have you forgotten that?"
Hermione flushed a bit and clenched her fists at her sides.
"Of course I haven't. But we have all grown up since then."
"Well, Weasley obviously hasn't." Draco added with a bit of an evil smile
The ginger spun on him, his face turning purple now.
"SHUT UP MALFOY!"
Hermione groaned and put her hands on her hips, looking like her old bossy self.
"Ron, he hasn't been like that towards me for years. He's apologised profusely and I've forgiven him."
"His family tortured you!"
"Yes, they did," she responded quite calmly, "And despite the hundreds of reasons not to, he rescued me from them."
"Mate…she's right you know," Harry piped up in a small voice, even while he was still holding onto his friend, "he saved her life, and he didn't actually kill Dumbledore when he should have. You know how much I hate the guy, he's an annoying wanker, but even I'm having doubts about his loyalty to their side."
"Thanks Potter," Draco said dryly, rolling his eyes at the boy's clumsy defence. Weasley stared at his best friend with wide, hurt eyes, like he had been slapped in the face.
"Have you both gone mad? Mione-" he switched his gaze to her, "What really happened? Did he imperius you? Because you can't seem to see that he's just trying to get into your pants!"
Draco smirked, unable to stop himself from making the Weasel squirm.
"Not just trying," he muttered. Hermione groaned softly and rolled her eyes, while Blaise let out a burst of laughter.
"You FUCKING BASTARD-" Ron yelled, and he almost managed to get free of Potter but somehow scar-face managed to keep a hold of him, even as his face turned down in disgust a bit as well. He probably didn't want to hear that kind of stuff about his friend who he loved like a sister. Draco didn't really care; Hermione was his now and her friends needed to start accepting that so they didn't ruin their friendships with her. It was clear, though, that Weasley was unable to cope with this kind of jealousy right now with everything else going on.
"Ron, calm down, for goodness sake!" Potter grunted, pulling back hard on his arms to move him a few steps away, "Now is really not the time! We're in the middle of a bloody war here, so can you put your personal problems to the side?"
"But he-"
"NO! This is bigger than you and your hurt feelings."
Hermione tutted and stepped forward as well, maybe hoping that she and Potter could gang up on the ginger to knock some sense into him.
"Ron, when all this is over you can yell at me as much as you want, honestly. But tonight, right now, please just trust me enough to keep going and help us win this."
Ron looked back and forth between his best friend and the girl he was in love with, looking troubled. But finally his expression cooled a bit, and his body relaxed enough for Potter to feel okay about releasing him. Draco watched for Hermione's reaction and was pleased to see her calm down as well; he could tell her body had been tense and ready to jump in front of him to defend him if necessary. She was like a fierce lioness protecting what was hers.
The Weasel ground his teeth together and turned away sullenly, not meeting anyone's eye.
"Fine, but this isn't over. And I am not helping the ferret worm his way out of anything. If he fucks up and dies, then so be it."
Hermione's brows creased together, but she eventually nodded in acceptance. It was probably the best she was going to get. Draco shared a glance with Blaise and was annoyed to see the shit eating grin spread wide on his friend's face. He was such an immature prat.
"Okay," Hermione snapped, bringing the conversation to an end, "Now let's just take the bloody diadem and get out of here."
"What is a diadem anyway?" Draco asked with a frown.
"Don't ask," Potter replied with a sheepish smile, before he reached over and tugged it off the statue where it was sitting. He seemed to shiver a bit as he touched it, but grit his teeth and shoved it into the pocket of his hoodie. Draco wondered again what this thing could be. It seemed strange that the three of them were hunting down some grotty old tiara; how was it related to Voldemort?
While he was watching Potter, he felt a gentle hand tug on his arm and he turned to see Hermione looking up at him with a smile.
"Thank you for helping," she murmured softly, "I'm glad you're here with me."
His returned her smile, reaching up to run his fingers over the plait hanging across one shoulder. He gave it a little tug and leaned in closer to her.
"Someone has to keep an eye on you lot," he said quietly.
It was when the five of them turned back towards the path that would lead them out of the room that they all froze in shock. Blaise was the first one to notice them, and his eyes went very wide before he swore quietly, alerting Draco to their presence as well. He shuffled sideways a little to stand in front of Hermione.
"Well what do we have here?"
Crabbe and Goyle had turned the corner to come face to face with them. They were both wearing their school robes, which were far too small for them on their hulking frames. Draco bit down on his tongue in irritation that the two morons had not left the castle when the other students were evacuated. They were only likely to cause trouble here.
Goyle was looking as befuddled as he always did. His expression was gaping and his hands swinging by his sides like an ape. He was barely pointing his wand upwards. Crabbe on the other hand was glaring at them with a cruel, triumphant glint in his eyes. He was taller than Draco remembered, he had grown a lot, but was still just as firm and stocky, and his chubby hand was pointing his wand with shaking fury at them.
"Crabbe, what an unpleasant surprise," Blaise commented with distaste, also getting his wand ready for a confrontation.
"This is a change," Crabbe sneered at the two Slytherins in front of him, the spittle flying from his mouth as he spoke with belligerent rage, "When did you two turn traitors?"
Draco shooks his head.
"That's none of your damn business, Crabbe. Now drop your wand before this gets ugly."
Crabbe fixed his gaze with fierce intensity on Draco. His former bodyguard and friend seemed drastically different, he could tell jut from looking into the large boy's eyes. He was more confident, but also more unhinged. Draco wondered what the stupid boy had gone through since he himself had left Hogwarts. Who knows what the school had become this year, or what these two boys had done now that they weren't under the control of other stronger, more intelligent people like him and Blaise.
"You think you're so fucking clever, Draco. But I always knew you were a gutless coward. Siding with mudbloods and muggle lovers."
"Crabbe, I'm warning you. There's five of us and two of you. You can't win this," he tried to reason, but the mad, frantic look in his old friend's eyes made him realise that he wouldn't listen to logic.
"You don't know that," the boy shouted, his wand jabbing into the air wildly in front of him, "I've been taught things you probably haven't even heard of."
Blaise rolled his eyes, groaning in irritation. He'd never had the patience to deal with Crabbe or Goyle.
"Come on, mate. Just hex him so we can get out of this bloody place."
But Draco was still hesitant to throw any spells at Crabbe. The boy looked like he could be seriously dangerous if he were attacked. His low intelligence coupled with his violent anger was a bad combination. Just to be sure, he inched another step further in front of Hermione so that she would be shielded from any wayward hexes.
"You always treated me like dirt on the bottom of your shoe, Malfoy," the boy growled, his eyes wild and his upper lip sweating as he shouted, "Well now I'm the one with the power. And you're nothing but a mudblood loving son of a bitch."
"Just shut up and drop your wand," Draco snapped suddenly, angered by Crabbe's taunts. He heard rather than saw a shuffling to his right, and he knew that Potter had moved forward to stand beside him, shoulder to shoulder, both their wands outstretched. Crabbe just laughed.
"Is that why your mummy killed herself? Too ashamed of her traitor son?"
"SHUTUP UP!" Draco repeated a lot louder this time, and his voice echoed around the high domed ceiling of the cathedral-like room.
He felt Hermione behind him reach out and place her hand gently on the small of his back to sooth him, and it helped to calm him down a bit. That was until Crabbe turned to Potter and his smirk turned truly evil.
"You and Potter must be great friends now that you both share that in common. Both of you had mothers who were too weak. Too stupid and snivelling to stand up to the might of the Dark Lord."
Draco wasn't sure which one of them hexed first. All he knew was that he and Potter fired spells simultaneously towards Crabbe, both of them literally shaking with anger and ready to kill or injure the larger boy. The red and orange lights burst forwards but recoiled and rebounded away when Crabbe slashed his arm downwards in an arc of blue light.
"Oh? Are we playing that game now? Okay – descendo!"
Crabbe drew his wand down like a whip and, after an alarming creaking sound, one of the towers of junk next to them started to fall sideways. All five of them shouted in exclamation as the top layers of books began to cascade down on them. Hermione was, not surprisingly, the first to act. She swung her wand up and silently charmed the pile to freeze centimetres above their heads, just in time. The items quickly rose up again and rearranged themselves messily.
"Stay out of this, Mudblood," Crabbe sneered, and Draco was only just in time to block a nasty hex that was intended for her. He growled and threw one back of his own, which Crabbe slashed away again. His magic wasn't more refined – he still clearly had half a brain, as his spells weren't quite what they should be – but he was wild, violent and ham-fisted. A dangerous combination. He was also quite unpredictable, as the next second he was yelling "Crucio" and casting the unforgivable towards Potter. It was fortunately blocked, though the severity of the curse made the mood in the room turn deadly serious, even Blaise, as they realised what evil the other boy was capable of.
"Uh…Vince…" Goyle stammered next to him, cringing back a bit from his friend's wrath, "We're not supposed to kill Potter, remember?"
Crabbe growled and spat on the ground next to him.
"I don't give a shit. No one tells me what to do anymore."
Draco knew that this was going to go badly. He exchanged a significant look with Blaise and the two of the stepped to opposite sides. They were trying to encircle him, outsmart him since he was unlikely to see a sly attack coming. Draco was very conscious of all the wooden furniture, books and scrap towering on either side of them. It was a precarious position to be in while fighting. He was pleased to see Potter and Hermione take their lead and get themselves into position so that they were harder to attack with the distance between them, but also in place to get at him from different angles.
It was a shock to Draco then when Crabbe's eyes widened and his nostrils flared in a rage as he looked across the group.
"Oh you think you're so fucking clever, Malfoy," he sneered, "But you can't act like you're better than me anymore. I'm more powerful than you now. I've been taught dark spells you can't even imagine."
That was the moment when Crabbe's face went black with vile intent. His left eye was twitching and his face was covered in sweat and sickly looking. Draco watched in apprehension as the tip of his wand sparked and a flare of fire spluttered clumsily to life. Once it took form out of his wand, he saw that the fire looked unnatural. It was too bright, the edges violent and moving in erratic patterns like snakes. It didn't behave like a normal fire. It started to grow unevenly, and as it stretched its tips out, Draco became aware of the heat. Even standing three metres or more away from the flames, he felt scorched by it, and his skin tingled uncomfortably. Crabbe was also now dripping with sweat and his pudgy face was flushed a shiny red colour.
Hermione's voice rang out in a shriek, sounding like a tinkling wind charm against the hollow vibrating backdrop of the fire.
"You idiot!" she screamed, "What have you done?"
"What is it?" Potter yelled towards her.
"It's fiendfyre! He can't control it. He's going to kill us all."
Crabbe laughed, his face screwed up in an ugly smile of triumph.
"Like it hot, scum?" he shouted hoarsely over the roar of the flames as they kept spreading, forcing everyone to take a few steps backwards. The curly haired witch groaned fearfully and turned towards Draco.
"He's not strong enough to hold it. We have to get out of here now."
Draco was staring at his old friend, dumbfounded for a few seconds longer as he tried to reconcile this sadistic madman with the quiet, shy boy he had known as a child. The fire kept growing larger and more menacing.
"DRACO!" she shrieked again, and he snapped out of it in an instant.
Blaise was already shoving Potter and Weasley away, and he and Hermione followed at a run. Before they could get very far, there was a deafening blast behind them as the fire took over. Crabbe and Goyle were thrown to the ground as the fire attacked the towers of junk ravenously. It wasn't very long before the blaze had swept across the corridor of old belongings. A pile of wooden classroom chairs crashed to the floor, sending the flames right across their path. Draco felt his heart throbbing and he was dripping so much with sweat that he had difficulty keeping his grip on his wand.
"What do we do?" Hermione shouted over the loud roaring of the fire. Far behind them now, they could see Crabbe and Goyle trying desperately to grapple with the furniture around them, climbing above the aggressive force.
"Aguamenti!" Potter cast at the flames again and again, but it made absolutely no difference.
"That won't work!" the witch groaned, her hands shaking in terror. Blaise suddenly darted into a side alcove of rubbish and began tugging things away from the heap. Each item went clattering to the floor.
"What are you doing?" Draco yelled, but Blaise ignored him. As the golden trio kept trying to cast spell after spell on the fire, his friend continued to rummage for something.
Finally he shouted in triumph.
"HERE!" he called out to the others, and started tossing old mangy broomsticks at them. There were three in total, "Get to the door!"
Potter grinned in relief.
"Brilliant! Let's go!"
The two Gryffindor boys managed to squeeze onto one of the larger brooms, while Hermione jumped on behind Draco. Blaise kicked off on his own broom, leading the way over the towering city of things towards the doorway. As soon as Draco kicked off, he felt the witch behind him grab on as hard as she could. He wasn't sure what was more painful; the heat from the fire or the sting of her fingernails digging into him. He knew she was scared of flying, and this was hardly an ideal setting either, but she did manage to cling on securely once they were in the air.
"Hold on," he called, twisting the handle to the side to swivel the broom backwards away from where the other boys were heading.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked into his ear, her voice shaking.
"I have to see if Goyle's ok!"
He felt her squeal a bit into his back as he raced around the area where the fire had started. The debris of the room was completely consumed by the fire, everything charred to blackness by the violent blaze. Draco shuddered as he glimpsed the body of Crabbe still on the ground nearby. He had stopped writhing, having been taken quickly in the flames. Draco clenched his eyes shut and turned his head away so as not to see the mangled, slowly deforming figure. When he opened his eyes again he spotted a large figure clinging desperately to a stack of old student desks a little further away.
"BLAISE!" he yelled, but when he turned his head he saw that his friend was zooming towards him; he had returned on his broom out of worry for them.
"Are you fucking kidding me, Draco?" Blaise shouted, his face a picture of outrage.
"Please, Blaise, Greg doesn't deserve this!" he asked over the roar below, almost choking on smoke as he did. Blaise grimaced and let out a heavy panting breath.
"Fine! But if I die saving him I'm going to kill you, Draco!"
Draco nodded and watched Blaise sweep the hulking figure of Goyle up onto the back of his broom. The wood buckled beneath their combined weight, but managed to steady out and chug its way towards the door.
"Alright," Draco said through his teeth, clenching his jaw as he spoke to avoid inhaling more smoke, "Let's get out of here."
He and Hermione followed behind them. The fire was quickly approaching the door, and it was an incredibly close call. The searing flames licked at their skin as they tumbled through the doorway, panting and coughing from the smoke. The four of them collapsed on the ground as Potter kicked the door closed, throwing the diadem inside as he did. A loud groaning, almost horrific screaming sound echoed out from inside and the walls around them shook violently. It felt like an explosion had gone off inside, and Draco guessed that the wailing sound must have come out of the crown-like thing that Potter tossed in there. As the noise reverberated around the shuddering walls, Potter clutched at his head and fell to the ground, groaning in pain. Hermione instantly crawled to his side and took hold of his hand, murmuring something to him that he couldn't hear. The boy rocked back and forth a few times, his hand pressed to the lightening bolt scar as if it were splitting him in two. Draco just stared at the scene with shock.
The room of hidden things was destroyed, and the tiara with it. Potter eventually blinked and looked up, staring around at their small, bizarre group.
"Now it's just the snake…"
….
Thanks for reading once again. It's getting pretty intense now. And thank you for your very encouraging reviews – I also kinda love Blaise. Please leave a comment.
