A/N: Heart-wrenching, that's all I can say about this chapter :/ There are four more to go until this story is over. Enjoy, if you can anyway.
Draco's POV
In the photo, he was sitting in a chair, blood trickling from his mouth, both eyes puffy and mere slits. His arm was in his lap awkwardly. Below someone had written: Harry Potter, the hero of the Wizarding world, will be dead in 24 hours from the point this picture was taken. By the time you get this, it will be less than five hours. At that point, the Wizarding world will be ours again.
I shook my head. No, I wasn't going to let this happen. My heart broke and my stomach churned violently in fear, but I was not going to let him die. "Get your team, Ron and I will get mine. Meet me in the garden. We are going to get him out of there," I said as I stalked out of my room and went downstairs.
I found my parents in the garden room. When I stalked in they both stood up in surprise. They looked at me in both worry and fear. I could only imagine how I looked. I shoved the picture into my father's hands as I gathered up the supplies we needed to find him. I heard my mother gasp.
Tibbles popped into the room. "Master Draco!" he cried.
I stopped and looked at him in surprise. He never talked out of turn. "What is it?"
"Kreacher has just contacts me. He needs to speaks with yous," Tibbles replied.
"I already know that Harry was taken," I told him as I shrank the bag and placed in my pocket. I secured my wand to the holster.
"He knows, buts Master Harry was studying potions," he told me.
"I already know that he made a locator potion," I told him again, my tone suggesting that he was wasting my time.
"It is nots a locator potions. It is potions that can kills him," he said fearfully.
I stopped my movements. Why would he be looking at potions like that? I rushed out of the room and went into the floo room. I could see Kreacher in the flames. "Kreacher, what are the potions he was looking at?" I demanded. Kreacher listed them all off. My father and mother had followed me and heard each one. I sat back on my heels, thinking about what they were. I looked up at my father. He looked fearful.
"Son, those are very dark potions. They would need a bone fragment from either the Dark Lord or some relative of his. Any of those could kill him. The one with a twenty-four hour limit is very rare and the antidote is even rarer. It's called de morte inimici mei. You would know its counter potion, the one that the Dark Lord used to bring himself back to life. Draco, it's too late for him," my father told me.
I shook my head. "No, it's not too late. Harry drank a locator potion. I will find him. Will you help me?" I demanded.
"Draco, the antidote is rare. Even if we do find him, we can't guarantee there's an antidote available," he insisted.
"I don't care. Even if it is too late, he's not going to die alone," I stated. I turned back to Kreacher. "Thank you for that information," I told him. I saw him nod and then he cut the connection. I flooed Pansy.
"Gather everyone up and get to the Manor. We are getting Harry," I told her. She looked at me in surprise.
"He was kidnapped?" she questioned.
"Yesterday afternoon. I just found out today. Get everyone here now," I told her. I cut the connection.
I walked out of the floo room. My mother and father followed behind me. I went out into the garden. I took several deep breaths. My mind was racing with worry. I wasn't going to let him die, but I wouldn't succumb to my fears. I had to be strong if I was going to get Harry out of there safely.
I heard my parents coming out into the garden. I turned to look at them, sure they were going to tell me that they weren't coming. I was surprised to see both of them in their battle attire. They looked younger than they were which was very odd to me.
"You're going to help?" I asked in surprise.
"Of course, we are. I contacted St. Mungos. They are prepared to take Harry in once we have him and are fully aware of what he is dealing with. They are working to acquire the potion," my mother told me. I walked quickly over to her and hugged her. I started to cry and she just squeezed me tightly. My father came over and hugged us both. After a few minutes, I stepped back and wiped at my eyes.
"Thank you," I whispered.
They both nodded and looked towards the inside of the Manor as several people started coming through the garden room and out into the garden. Everyone was there and everyone was ready to fight. Granger, I mean Hermione was with Weasley, I mean Ron. I never in a million years would have thought I'd call either of them by their first name, but here I was doing just that.
"Let's get this done and over with so we can get back our lives!" Nott Sr. exclaimed. I wasn't sure if he was saying it in a jerky way or in an 'I'm ready to fight' way.
Hermione walked over and handed me a portkey. "I had this prepared for us today. It will work as soon as you find out the location of Harry," she told me. It was a large boulder, but it appeared to be very light as she was holding it easily enough.
She set it down in front of me and stepped back. I looked around at everyone and took a deep breath. "Thank you for coming here on such short notice. I want to have full disclosure before we go so that if anyone wants to stay behind they can. Harry purposefully got himself kidnapped. He went to the pub that he knew they had been at before. He did this so that we can end this standoff. He didn't want any of us to keep waiting and putting our lives on pause for him," I explained. Several of the Death Eaters looked at each other in both surprise and anger. I was sure that some of them would stay behind. No one said anything though so I continued. "I don't know where he is yet, but he drank a locator potion so I should be able to find him that way. They have also poisoned him with the de morte inimici mei potion. He has less than five hours to live. This all may be for naught, but we've got to try. If you want to stay, I won't hold it against you. If you are ready, touch this boulder while I cast the spell to locate him," I finished.
I stepped forward and touched the boulder. Ron, Hermione, and my parents stepped forward next without hesitancy. Pansy and Theo did the same. Soon, everyone was stepping forward. No one was staying behind. I looked at each and every one of them gratefully. I took a deep breath and held out my wand. "Locus mea," I said.
Sparks flew out of my wand and up into the air. They spiraled around each other as if they were dancing. Everyone looked up in amazement as the stars started to form a map. All of us gasped as we realized exactly where the map showed. It was the original place that we had been told about; the Albania forest. The map disappeared and we brought our focus back to the boulder.
"Ready?" I asked. Everyone nodded. Hermione tapped the boulder, gave our destination, and suddenly we were all feeling the familiar tug at our belly buttons of portkey travel.
We landed roughly, as many inexperienced portkey travelers do. Granted that was just me and the rest of the people my age. The adults were making their way down easily enough. I groaned and stood up. We had landed outside the forest. We gathered up and looked around.
"Well, we're here, now what?" someone asked.
"Locus mea," I muttered away from the group. A different sort of sparks shot out from my wand. They looked like fireflies. They lighted a path through the woods. It was very dim so you'd have to be right on it to notice, but I knew it led to where Harry was. "This way," I said as I started down the path that the 'fireflies' lit up.
They looked at the path in surprise and followed after me. We traveled for what seemed like hours, but was only about 45 minutes. Of course, when Harry only had a few short hours to live, it made time seem much longer. The 'fireflies' disappeared once we reached a clearing in the forest. There was a small hut on the edge of the clearing. My father stepped around me and cast a detection spell. There weren't any alerts around the clearing itself.
"Let's fan out around the clearing. Be sure to disillusion and silence yourselves. Does everyone have their coins?" Ron asked. Everyone nodded. "Good, let's spread out. Remember what you're supposed to do," he reminded them. They nodded and started to move around the clearing. There were more than twenty of us so I felt that our odds were pretty good.
Ron and I, as well as my parents and Hermione moved closer to the hut. My father scanned again, but found no detection spells. We looked around to check for traps, but saw none. We heard the door of the hut open and we crouched down and watched. I looked into the hut and saw Harry sitting in the chair, slumped over. I felt my heart stop and my stomach drop. It broke my heart to see him that way and scared me more than anything.
I tapped the coin once and we stormed towards the hut. One tap sent an alert that myself, Ron, Hermione, and my parents were going to attack. We started flinging spells at the hut. It wasn't long before spells started flying back and five Death Eaters came out of the hut. I didn't see Rodolphus or Avery, but right now I couldn't worry about that. Spells flew back and forth. Both my mother and father were stunned at one point, but managed to dodge the worst of the spells. Hermione and Ron managed to dodge them as well. I crouched behind a shed, close enough to the hut that I could see Harry through the window. He had lifted his head somewhat and I saw a small smile on his face. I felt tears at the corners of my eyes. He was so close and yet so far from me.
I heard an expulso spell and looked out from behind to see it flying towards my hiding place. I dove out of the way as the spell hit the shed, exploding it to pieces. I scrambled up to standing, throwing a shield in front of me as another round of spells started flying around. I moved towards the five Death Eaters, flinging spells one after the other. I had to get to Harry.
Soon all five were incapacitated and Ron was busy tying them up. My mother, father, and Hermione had their wands focused on the hut. Avery and Rodolphus stood on the porch with their wands pointed at us. I watched as they tapped their wands on these necklaces around their necks and then something I had never seen happened. They multiplied. My eyes widened and I backed up towards the others. We were surrounded by these multiples.
Avery and Rodolphus walked down from the steps towards us. "You look worried, young Malfoy," Rodolphus said as he cackled with laughter.
I cringed. "Let him go," I said in a shaky voice.
"Let Potter go? Sure. He's as good as dead anyway. You won't be able to save him. We might as well allow you to say good bye," Avery reasoned.
They separated and made it possible for me to go into the hut. I glanced back at my parents and Ron and Hermione. They nodded once. As far as we knew, Avery and Rodolphus had no idea that there were fifteen more people hiding in the bushes.
I rushed inside and made my way to Harry. He looked awful and I feared even more that he had even less time than I thought. "Harry," I whispered as I pulled him gently into my arms. He cried out in pain, but settled into me. He lifted his arms just enough to show that he was with it.
"The potion worked," he croaked out.
I started to cry. "Of course, it did. When you focus enough, you're brilliant at potions," I replied with a little laugh.
He laughed a little as well, but groaned in pain again. "Oh, Draco, I'm so sorry for everything," he whispered to me.
"Don't be. I'm the one who messed it all up. My life may have been easier without you in it, but it was the worst life I could be living. Being with you has been the most fulfilling thing I've ever done in life. I should have just realized how lucky I was," I replied.
He tipped his head back and looked at me. His eyes were just slits and the green was fading. He smiled at me. "I was the lucky one. At least I got to see you before-" he paused, not wanting to say it. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes.
"We are going to get you out of here. I promise," I told him.
He smiled again. "I love you," he whispered. His eyes closed for a moment.
I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. "Oh, Harry, I love you," I replied as I kissed the top of his head.
He squeezed my arm and then he passed out. At first I thought that he had died and I sat there, breathing quickly, panic building. I felt for a pulse and found it, but I could tell that he was fading. We needed to get him out of here. I settled him on the floor and stood up. I stalked out of the hut and screamed out the strongest stunning spell I knew. It hit Avery square in the back and he flew forward, skidding across the ground. His multiples looked about in surprise. Rodolphus turned and I disarmed him. His wand flew into my hand.
The multiples started flinging spells at us. The others were able to fight back, but it wouldn't be long before they were overpowered. Rodolphus scrambled over to Avery, trying to wake him up. I tapped the coin twice and everyone who had been in the bushes came out and destroyed the multiples leaving Avery and Rodolphus as well as the other five completely outnumbered.
I watched as Rabastan walked over to his brother and pointed his wand at him. His brother looked up at him in surprise and then anger. "You traitor!" he screamed, spit flying from his mouth.
"I guess we're all traitors, aren't we brother dear?" Rabastan said thoughtfully. He flicked his wand at his brother, sealing his mouth shut and knocking him out.
Avery came to and looked around fearfully. My father walked over to him and kicked him in the thigh. "It looks like you failed again, Avery," he drawled. Avery snarled at him, but with a quick spell from my mother, he was silenced and knocked out as well.
I turned back into the hut and went to Harry again. He was barely breathing. I picked him up carefully and carried him out of the hut. Hermione started to cry the second she saw him. I was numb with my anger and fear of losing him. I couldn't cry again, even if I wanted to.
"We need to get out of here," I said calmly.
"Dragon, he's in bad shape, he may not make it to the portkey," my mother said as calmly as she could. I glared at her. She cowered slightly.
"I did not come this far to have him die on me," I said angrily. I saw the 'fireflies' appear again and I followed them quickly to the boulder. I could feel Harry's life force slipping away. I felt something within me starting to detach itself from my very soul. I knew that it was Harry. I felt the tears coming back. I started to cry as I left the forest and made it to the boulder. I realized that I didn't know how I was going to hold on to Harry and portkey back.
"Let me take him," my father offered quietly. I hadn't realized that everyone had followed me back through except for Ron and the other aurors.
"Where are the others?" I questioned.
"They're staying behind until their reinforcements get here to take away the Death Eaters," my mother told me. I nodded numbly.
"Draco, let me take him," my father repeated. I looked back at him, not wanting to let Harry go. I shook my head several times, my tears coming faster. Even as I refused to let him take Harry, he managed to take him from me anyway. My mother forced me to touch the portkey and I watched Harry disappear with my father as we portkeyed back to the Manor.
We landed in the garden and I collapsed to the ground. I watched as my father rushed Harry inside. I scrambled up and ran after him and followed him into the floo room where he flooed to St. Mungo's with him. I flooed after him and tumbled through the floo.
When I arrived at St. Mungo's, I saw my father running through the hospital with Harry cradled in his arms. I went after him. He rushed into the emergency department where several healers and mediwitches were waiting. They looked at Harry gravely, but took him and rushed him into another room, closing the door behind them. My father stood for a moment in the middle of the emergency room breathing heavily. That small piece that I knew belonged to Harry was hanging by a thread on my soul. If they couldn't save him, I didn't know what I was going to do.