Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.
Pairings: DM/femHP. CD/femHP. CD/HG. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).
Warnings: Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.
Notes: Finally, after all those long months of waiting, I have produced another chapter! Ehehehe. Please don't hate me, I really struggled to write this. I am pushing myself to finish this story as fast as I can. Anyway, enough of my excuses. Enjoy the chapter! :D
Chapter 38 – Three Promises
Harriet's lips twitched with laughter as she watched Draco struggling to set up the fire for that morning. She knew full well that her fiancé, a pureblooded heir who had grown up in luxury all his life, knew absolutely nothing about living life outdoors like this – and watching him now really amused her.
It was obvious from the agitated expression on his face that Draco was getting really frustrated, and that he knew she was laughing at him. In fact, when he let out an impatient growl and threw the two rocks he was rubbing together to the ground, she stifled a smile and tore her eyes away from him.
"This is ridiculous! I don't have to prove anything to you, Potter!" Draco snapped.
Ignoring Harriet's sniggers, he pointed his wand at the tall stack of firewood in front of him.
"Incendio!"
"What?" Harriet giggled to herself, shaking her head and watching as Draco scowled at her and moodily began poking at the newly lit fire. "I really didn't mean anything bad by what I said, you know!"
"You mocked me by saying that I couldn't make a fire without magic!" Draco accused, glaring at her through narrowed gray eyes.
"You goaded me! You made your point! I can't make a bloody fire!"
"I was just teasing you, you prat." Harriet rolled her eyes at his melodramatics but she relented, standing from her seat and walking over to plop down beside him on the snow-covered ground. When he continued to scowl at her, she smiled and leaned in closer, resting her head on his shoulder. "Besides, you really think it matters to me if you can make a fire or not?" She gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek.
"Diggory probably could." He muttered bitterly under his breath, but he didn't protest when she snuggled against him.
Rolling his eyes, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
"I think it's cute that you're so helpless outdoors." Harriet teased him playfully.
"So now I'm cute and helpless. I feel so much better now." Draco drawled sarcastically, but the scowl was gone from his face.
When she didn't answer, his expression sobered and he glanced at her.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"A little better, I suppose." She answered as she pulled away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. When he frowned at her reaction, she shook her head and offered him a small smile.
"I'm still worried about the others. I just wish I knew for certain that they were alright—"
"They're fine, Har." Draco assured her.
"They're perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. In fact, they're probably more concerned about us to be honest." He admitted with a pointed smirk.
"Right." She met his smirk with one of her own.
"I forgot that I'm the one with Mr. I can't handle the outdoors. Yes, they're probably worried sick about us." She teased, causing Draco to glare at her.
"That's cute, Potter. You're very cute."
"I know, right?" She cheeked.
Draco rolled his eyes at her again and stood up, walking back towards their tent. He was carrying two cups of hot chocolate when he came out. He offered one to her, and she gave him a small smile.
"Thank you." She rewarded him with another quick kiss before accepting the cup from him.
After he had resumed his seat, Draco turned to Harriet again and he was surprised to see her staring at her backpack on the ground with a strange and discerning expression creasing her features.
"Har?" Draco paused and waited until she had turned her attention back to him before he continued.
"Is everything alright? You look like there's something bothering you." He commented idly.
"There is." Snapping to attention, Harriet's expression turned grim and she turned to face him with a slight frown.
"We can't put it off any longer. We have to destroy the cup immediately, Draco."
"I…see." He froze at that, lowering his gaze slowly until he was staring at the gleaming, golden cup that was peeking out from underneath Harriet's brown leather bag.
"Then we'll destroy it tonight."
"Can you be the one to destroy it, Dray?" Harriet noticed the confused, worried look he gave her and decided to elaborate. "I don't like being near any of the horcruxes. I think they…affect me more than anyone else. I don't why I think they do but I…I don't like being near them." She admitted quietly.
Draco fell silent at that, taking in her words and studying the uneasy expression on her face. When neither of them said anything for a long moment, he reached out and took one of her free hands in his, interlacing their fingers together tightly. Harriet looked up at him with an anxious expression.
"I'll do it." He promised, leaning down and kissing the back of her hand.
Harriet's features visibly relaxed and she nodded, nestling her cheek against his shoulder.
"Are you ready?" Harriet whispered as she paused and looked up, meeting Draco's eyes from where he stood a few feet away from her, gripping the sword of Gryffindor firmly with both hands. When he nodded, she placed the horcrux slowly onto the grass between them and began to back away.
"Okay…Now, Draco!" She stepped back and watched, with wide eyes, as Draco took a deep breath before raising the sword high up into the air, bringing it crashing down against the golden cup.
To their dismay, however, as the gleaming blade of the sword clashed against the horcrux with a loud 'clanging' sound, the sword recoiled, causing Draco to lose his grip as it slipped from his hands.
"Damn it!"
Cursing, Draco made a move to pick it back up but before he could even get close to the sword, he and Harriet both froze when they noticed the thick black clouds of smoke that had begun seeping out from a small chip in the horcrux cup. Paling, Harriet's eyes widened and she began to back away again.
"D—Draco." She stammered in growing nervousness, her eyes never leaving the cup.
"Back away from the cup now before it—"
The rest of Harriet's words were cut off abruptly when Draco suddenly fell to the ground on his knees and began screaming loudly in excruciating pain, both of his hands going up to clutch tightly at the sides of head. Pale and terrified, Harriet immediately lost all form of rational thought altogether and ran to his side, kneeling down beside him and trying to tug his hands away so that she could see his face.
"Draco?! Draco, what's wrong?! Oh god, what's wrong?! Please tell me!" Harriet pleaded, her voice cracking as she cupped his face in her hands and tried to turn him towards her. "Draco, tell me what's wrong! Let me help, where does it hurt?!" She begged him desperately amidst his pained cries.
In spite of her pleas, Draco couldn't seem to even hear her. He continued to scream in pain and began desperately punching at his temples – as though he were trying to block something out from his head. Finally, after a few more minutes, his screams ended rather abruptly and he shot his head up, looking around with a wild, crazed expression on his face. When his wide eyes met Harry's, however, she gasped and stumbled backwards when she saw that – instead of Draco's warm, familiar mercury orbs meeting her gaze, she saw that his eyes were glowing an eerily familiar shade of bright crimson red.
"Draco?" Harriet whispered uncertainly as she tensed and slowly began to move away from him.
"Please say something, love. You're really beginning to scare me." She added, swallowing nervously.
"Oh, I'm not your beloved Draco!" He growled back at her in a very deep, snake-like voice that caused Harriet to scream and jerk away from him. "I'm the one who's going to kill you, Harriet Potter!"
"NO! GET AWAY!" Harriet shoved him, the Sword of Gryffindor falling to the ground as she ran as fast as she could towards the forest behind their campsite. "Draco, don't do this! Please fight back!"
She wrenched her wand out of her pocket, intending to stun him, but he was too strong for her and before she realized what was happening, he had grabbed her wand and snapped it right in half.
"NO!" Harriet gasped, backing away when he sneered and hurled the remnants of her broken wand away.
"Draco, don't! You have to fight him off! You have to drive him out of your head! Please!"
Instead of answering, Horcrux-Draco gave out a low, maniacal laugh before he took off after her, chasing her through the maze of trees and shrubs around the entire forest. When Harriet heard him growl out the killing curse from behind her, she squelched back another horrified scream and quickly swerved to the side – just in time to avoid being hit. Panicked, Harriet glanced over her shoulder at him.
"Draco, stop this! What are you doing?!" She pleaded desperately with him.
"I…MUST…KILL…HARRIET…POTTER!"
Horcrux-Draco's maniacal red eyes were glowing eerily with bloodlust as he pointed his wand at her again, aiming another barrage of spells at her running form.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"STOP THIS!" Harriet dodged again, his spell missing her by a mere inch, and quickly swerved to the side, tucking herself behind a thick mess of trees.
When she heard Horcrux-Draco stop running a few steps behind her, she tensed and quietly pressed up against a tree, using the shadows to hide herself.
"Where are you?!" Horcrux-Draco snarled and hissed with rage as he tore through the trees around them, slashing his wand wildly and sending a flurry of spells flying out into random directions. "Where are you, Harriet Potter?! You can't hide from me! I will hunt you down and kill you!" He raged.
Merlin, please don't let him see me! Harriet prayed silently to herself as she closed her eyes and pressed herself closer against the tree trunk. She began to slide down, settling herself into a squat on the ground and using that position to keep herself hidden behind the few thick bushes surrounding her.
"I can hear your heart pounding from here, Potter!" Horcrux-Draco called out from a few meters away, and Harriet clenched her hands tightly when she realized that he was getting closer to her. "In fact, I can almost taste your fear." He continued to taunt, his low voice sounding empty in the darkness.
He's really possessed! He means to kill me!
Harriet closed her eyes and bit her lip, desperately trying to keep from making any sounds that might give her hiding spot away.
I have to snap him out of it!
"Do you feel it too, Potter?That dark, foreboding feeling of your imminent death? Tell me you feel it too." Horcrux-Draco leered as he continued to near her, his footsteps heavy in the thick silence.
I need to get his wand! Harriet thought to herself in belated realization, her eyes darting wildly around her for something – anything – to arm herself against him.
She tried to peer out from behind the tree but choked back a scream when a bright green spell beam ended up missing her by mere inches.
"Damn it!" She cursed under her breath.
"Oh there you are, Potter!" Horcrux-Draco sing-songed, an unfamiliar, malicious cackle tearing itself from his throat.
"Well come on now, don't be shy! Come greet your beloved fiance!" He mocked.
"You are not my fiance!" Harriet shouted back at him, not giving him any chance to react before she grunted and bolted off, narrowly avoiding his aimed spells at her with a few perfectly timed turns.
"Is that so?"Horcrux-Draco drawled, smirking as he walked calmly through the thick trees and bushes after her.
"He's never quite forgiven you, you know. About his father, I mean." He added wryly.
"And what do you mean by that?" Harriet dug her heels into the ground and pressed backward tightly against another tall tree her, refusing to let him bait her into revealing where she was hiding.
"I mean, your precious Draco." Horcrux-Draco gave a low, mocking chuckle before he continued. "He hasn't forgiven you completely for the death of his father." He commented idly, twirling his wand around his fingers. "He thinks it's all your fault that he's dead. Or did he not tell you that?" He laughed.
"You're lying!" Harriet heard her voice choke up at his words and she bit her lip hard to stop it from trembling.
"Draco would never think that way! He knows that what happened was an accident—"
"Oh, is that what he tells you?" Horcrux-Draco retorted in a cruel, saccharine voice. "Don't you know the truth, Potter? Don't you know he despises you?!" He laughed again, the chilling sound echoing in the silence and causing Harriet to wince. "He's always despised you…Even when you were children!"
"That is not true! Stop lying to me!" Harriet raged back angrily, though the way her voice was trembling made it hard for her to believe herself. "He loves me! Y—you—stop messing with his head!"
"You know the truth don't you?" Horcrux-Draco taunted again, his red eyes gleaming maliciously as he neared her. "You know as well as I do that I can see past someone's lies into his deepest…darkest thoughts. I saw it in your friend, 'Hermione', and now I'm seeing it in your fiance." He smiled widely.
"I don't believe you!"
Belatedly realizing that he was closing in on her, Harriet screamed and tore away from the tree, trying to run around him but he was much too fast. He grabbed her roughly by her arm, hauling her to him and slamming her down against the ground. When she cried out in pain and began wrestling wildly with him to shove him off, he raised his hand – and Harriet barely caught a glimpse of the dagger he was holding – before he sneered and plunged it towards her, managing to stab it deep into her left shoulder.
Harriet's scream was cut off abruptly at that, and for a minute, she saw nothing but white from the blinding pain that overwhelmed her entire body. When Draco smiled and raised the dagger again, intending to plunge it into her heart this time, she summoned the last of her strength and kneed him.
"Argh! Bitch!" He cursed loudly and recoiled in pain, hurriedly rolling off her form.
Forcing herself to ignore the searing pain in her left shoulder, Harriet scrambled up to her feet and ran, blindly, as fast as she could, away from him. She heard his angry snarls after her as she ran back towards their campsite, her green eyes darting around wildly in search of the Sword of Gryffindor. When she saw it, lying a few feet away from the golden horcrux cup, she made a wild dash for it – only to gasp in pain a few moments later when Horcrux-Draco lunged at her from behind, tackling her to the ground.
"No! Draco, please! Please stop!" Harriet began pleading and tried to wrestle him off again but he was too strong for her, and she was unable to do anything when he grabbed her by the collar and slammed her head down against the ground. Another burst of pain exploded from the back of her head and Harriet blinked, her entire vision swimming before her as she tried to hold onto her consciousness.
When she looked up and saw Horcrux-Draco sneering down at her, his wand already pointed at her throat, her hands began to search frantically for something – anything – along the ground for something to use against him. Her fingers brushed against something cold and heavy, and without thinking, she wrapped her hand around it and swung it upwards, hitting Draco on the back of his head. He immediately recoiled in pain, hissing out curses and trying to scramble away from her but that was when Harriet reached up, tearing his wand right out of his hands before rolling quickly away from him.
At that, Horcrux-Draco growled, belatedly realizing that she had stolen his wand away from him. He lunged for her again, intending to choke her, but this time, Harriet was ready for his onslaught. She raised his own wand up into the air and pointed it at him, yelling out the first spell that came to mind.
"STUPEFY!"
He was out like a light instantly, slumping bonelessly onto the ground, and Harriet gasped as she struggled to her feet, panickedly searching her surroundings for the horcrux. When she realized that the weapon she had used to knock Draco out had, in fact, been the horcrux cup, she swallowed nervously and reached down to grasp the Sword of Gryffindor tightly in her hands. For a few moments, she stared in stunned horror at the sight of her fiance – knocked out cold with a nasty looking gash above his brow.
Then, raising the sword as high as she could, she brought it crashing down against the cup one last time, shattering the horcrux instantly and causing a pained, bloodcurdling shriek to erupt in the silence. Thick black clouds hissed out from the cup, circling the area around her and clouding her vision.
Finally, when the smoke vanished and Harriet found herself standing alone in the middle of their campsite, she stared shakily at the broken cup before her, clutching the blood wound on her shoulder.
She felt as though all of the adrenaline was flushing itself out of her body all at once.
Her limbs gave out, and soon after, her eyes had rolled up to the back of her head.
And then everything went black.
"Harry, are you okay?! Please wake up! Oh god, please wake up!"
"Leave me alone! Everything hurts. I can't!" She protested weakly, trying to move away from the insistent hand jostling her awake.
Every muscle in her body hurt, and she really didn't want to wake up.
"Harry?! You're scaring me, love! You have to wake up!"
Groaning in pain, Harriet recognized the frantic, male voice that was calling out to her but she couldn't recall what happened, or why she was passed out cold on the ground in the first place. When she finally opened her eyes, however, and found herself staring up at Draco's worried features, everything that had happened that night suddenly came rushing back to her and instinctively, she screamed in terror,flinching sharply away from Draco and cowering from his crouched form beside her.
"No, no, no! Please, Harry! It's okay – it's me! I'm not going to hurt you!" Draco's eyes were noticeably glassy with tears as he rushed forward to gather her back against him, his arms tightening helplessly around her when Harriet struggled to pull away. When her screams broke and she fell against him, sobbing into his shoulder, Draco buried his face into her hair and he allowed his own tears to fall.
"O—oh god, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I—I could see you b—but I couldn't do anything! I—I couldn't stop, I—" Draco's stammers broke off as violent sobs wracked his entire body. He crushed Harriet against him, stroking his fingers desperately through her dirt-grimed hair. "H—he was in my head and I c—could control myself, I tried to fight back! I tried but I—I hurt you and I'm so, so sorry—"
Harriet kept her eyes clenched shut but held onto him tightly, burying her face into his chest and listening to the rapid pounding of his heart.
They were both crying, and she could feel the violent sobs jerking their bodies, but for the life of her, she couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks.
It was almost an hour later when they both managed to calm down, but when Draco pulled back and noticed his shirt stained with blood, his eyes immediately flicked to the wound on her left shoulder.
"I hurt you." He whispered hoarsely, his face twisting with sickened realization.
"It's okay—" Harriet tried to reassure him but she ended up grimacing in pain when she sat up, putting strain on the open wound. Draco noticed her wince and moved to help her, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her back towards their tent. As soon as they were inside, he laid her down gently onto the bed and reached for one of their bags, rifling impatiently through it for their medicinal potions.
When he found what he was looking for, he grabbed the vial and hurried back to her, placing a few drops onto the wound on her shoulder. He waited until the wound began to heal partially before he knelt down beside her and tore off a piece from his shirt, using it to wipe the blood away from her skin.
As she watched him, however, those same harsh words that the Horcrux had said to her began to echo in her thoughts and she couldn't help but voice the painful question that lingered in her head.
"Draco, about those things that you—" Harriet cut herself off mid-sentence and took a deep intake of breath to correct herself before she continued. "—that he said. About how you still blamed me for your father's death." Slowly, Harriet lifted her eyes and stared grimly at Draco's pained expression.
"Draco, were any of those things true?" She asked quietly.
"Harry, listen to me." Draco's mercury eyes dimmed at her words and he shook his head, the crestfallen expression on his face reflecting the aching dismay he felt at her words. "Whatever I – that thing. Whatever that thing said was not true. I don't blame you for my father's death." He swallowed the lump in his throat and ran a hand through his disheveled hair as he struggled to find the right words.
"I'll admit that I was distraught over what happened, yes. And at some point, I was looking for someone to blame it on, but I never once blamed it on you." Draco's hand shook as he reached down and carefully began to patch her wound up with some clean bandages. "You have to believe me, Harry."
"I do believe you, Draco." Harriet whispered, blinking away the fresh batch of tears that were gathering in her green eyes.
"But that doesn't make me feel any less responsible." She admitted softly.
"You have nothing to feel responsible for." Draco insisted, his voice sounding laced with defeat.
"Oh, but I do."
"Harry—"
He tried to speak again but his voice only ended up sounding choked with remorse.
"It's alright you know." She gave him a small, weak smile. "I don't blame you for what happened tonight, Draco." She told him, inadvertently causing the Slytherin to wince even more in self-disgust.
Harriet wanted to reassure him – she wanted to help ease that pained, dejected look away from his face and remind him that she knew he would never hurt her but she couldn't. She was just so tired and with each hushed word that Draco whispered into her ear, her eyelids began to feel much heavier.
And as he pressed another tender kiss onto the top of head, she fell into a long, deep sleep.
"We'll be leaving for Potter Manor soon."
James had been staring off into empty space when the sound of Autumn's voice breaking the silence caused him to stiffen in alarm. He whirled around to stare at her with narrowed eyes. When she noticed the tautness of his muscles, she gave him a sheepish look in apology and sat down beside him.
"I didn't mean to startle you." She began to apologize but he cut her off.
"It's fine." James shook his head and leaned back against his seat, staring blankly up at the sunset in front of him with a solemn expression on his face. "I was just busy thinking about something."
"Harry?" Autumn asked, giving him a knowing look.
"Not this time." James had the temerity to look a bit sheepish as he shook his head and turned his attention from the kitchen window to meet Autumn's curious gaze beside him. "I was thinking about my father actually – and something he once told me when I was a child many years ago." He sighed.
"And what was that?" Autumn raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well." James blew out an exhale of breath and arched an eyebrow to himself. "I remember he once told me that he believed in so much more than wizard and muggle equality." He lifted his eyes until he met her gaze with a grim look. "He told me that he believed in wizard superiority – that wizards were meant to rule muggles simply because we were the more dominant species." He let out a sigh.
"Dominant species?" Autumn raised an eyebrow, looking both disgusted and incredulous.
"Those were his words." James couldn't help a chuckle of contempt. "He even had a symbol for it too – some strange triangular charm he wore around his neck all the time. I never understood what it meant. Now that I think about it, that was probably the reason he joined the Death Eaters." He mused.
"Was your father always like that?" Autumn prodded further. "About his ideologies?"
"You mean – was my father always so hateful towards muggles?" James asked wryly.
When she nodded, he scoffed but answered her anyway. "I suppose he was. I mean, he all but kicked Lily out of our house when he found out that she was really a muggleborn witch." James scowled. "It didn't even matter to him that she was one of the top witches in our year. All he saw in front of him was a muggleborn, and frankly, purity of blood was all that ever really mattered to him." He drawled.
"It must have been horrible for you to grow up with that." Autumn glanced quietly at him.
"Not at first actually, no." James gave her another wry smile and shook his head. "Until I was in fifth year, I pretty much didn't care about my father's extremist ideologies. It was only after I met Lily that I realized my father's beliefs were already bordering on archaic." He admitted with a defeated sigh.
"And what about you?" Autumn suddenly asked, giving him a curious look.
James blinked and stared at her in confusion. "What about me?"
"What's your position about muggles?"
"My position about muggles? I suppose—" Slightly taken back by her forward question, James stilled and his features creased into a frown. "—that my stance on that has always been a bit similar to Albus Dumbledore's." When it was obvious that Autumn was waiting for him to elaborate, he went on.
"I don't believe in wizard superiority, but I think that mutual understanding between our world and theirs is necessary. At least, for both sides to be aware of where their boundaries lie." He explained.
Autumn's lips tugged upwards into a reluctant smile as she listened to his words.
"I suppose that makes sense." She teased.
"Rest assured, if you were running for Minister of Magic again Potter, I think I might just vote for you now." She told him, earning a laugh from James.
"Do you really think I'd want to be Minister again after all this?" He pointed out.
"What do you mean by that?" Autumn's eyebrows furrowed together in concern and she stared at him, clearly troubled by his words.
"Are you not planning to at least finish your term?" She asked.
"To be honest, I don't know." James sighed and leaned back against his seat. "I think I want to take a break from all the politics for awhile. Assuming, of course, we make it out of this mission alive."
"We will, James." Autumn answered him in a firm, reassuring tone of voice.
"After we take Potter Manor back from those Death Eaters, we'll be able to plan the rest of our strategy from there."
"After we take Potter Manor back, I fully intend to find my daughter first." James corrected her, giving her a pointed glare.
"Harry's out there somewhere, and I'm going to get her back." He told her.
"Of course." Autumn nodded, though an odd look lingered on her face for a few moments.
"Do you really think we have a shot at this, Autumn? Seizing Potter Manor, I mean." James sat up and turned his full attention to her, a grim frown creasing his features.
"The entire Manor is surrounded by Death Eaters. I think they're also using the basement downstairs to keep their prisoners."
"I hope so, James." Autumn gave him a small, otherwise confident smile. "Sirius and the others will meet us at our rendezvous point, then head to Diagon Alley so they can wait outside the second passage. Until then, it will be up to us both to infiltrate Potter Manor so we can let them in." She added.
"Should be a breeze." James quipped, earning a reluctant laugh from her when she heard the sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"Honestly? It won't be the first time I try to sneak into my own house."
"I suppose that bodes well for us." Autumn quipped before she finally stood up from her seat, holding a hand out to help him up.
"It's time. We should head to our rendezvous point." She told him.
"Duty calls, huh?" James took her offered hand and pulled himself to his feet, readjusting the thick cloak on his shoulders and checking to make sure he had his wand with him. "Alright, let's go."
He followed her through the cottage until they reached the apparition point in the living room.
When she glanced at him, obviously waiting for him to go first, James ducked his head behind his hand.
"Where is our rendezvous point again?" He asked her with an apologetic smile.
At the admonishing glare Autumn gave him, James had the teremity to look sheepish.
"Woodgrove Forest."
It was a little after sunset when Harriet slid out of their tent that evening, walking over to the warm fire overlooking the sea and plopping herself down on the grass.
She sat there for a long time, wrapping her arms around herself and staring deep into the fire as she lost herself in her own thoughts.
When she heard a quiet scuffle a few minutes later, followed by the sound of Draco's footsteps approaching her from behind, she brought her eyes up slowly and met his solemn gaze. He didn't say anything as he sat down beside her, grabbing a branch from the ground and using it to poke at the fire.
She watched him for awhile, silently admiring the way the fire was casting shadows against his handsome features, but when he looked up and met her gaze, she slowly lowered her eyes to her feet.
"Is that—a bruise?" Frowning, Draco reached out and tried to push her hair away from covering a purple spot on her face but the instant his fingers made contact with her skin, Harriet couldn't help automatically flinching and jerking away–the action borne more out of pure reflex than anything else.
His hand immediately stilled at that, and the emotion on his face cleared, almost as though he had deliberately blanked his expression so that she couldn't gauge his reaction. Despite Draco's efforts to appear composed, however, Harriet knew for a fact that she had hurt him very deeply. Overwhelmed with guilt at blaming him for something she knew was not his fault, she tried to reach out for him again.
"Draco, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to react like that—"
"Don't apologize." He interrupted her sharply, cutting off her apology. Standing up, he didn't say anything as he began walking back towards their tent. Just as he reached the entrance, he paused and chanced a quick glance at her over his shoulder, allowing Harriet to see the anguished look on his face.
"I'll never hurt you again, Harry. I promise." Draco whispered, staring achingly at her for a few more pained moments before he turned around and strode back into their tent without another word.
The days that followed after the horcrux incident were particularly difficult for them.
Draco, out of embarrassment and guilt for what happened, kept avoiding any physical contact with Harriet whenever he could and Harriet, unsure of how she was supposed to broach the subject, kept trying to initiate that one discussion between them – only to be deliberately avoided by her fiance.
Finally, when his blatant rejection of her efforts became unbearable, Harriet gave up completely and stopped trying to talk to him about it altogether. Now, any form of communication between them was confined to polite, meaningless conversations about their whereabouts, their next hiding place, the weather, or virtually anything of no significant interest to both of them. It was torture, and Harriet knew that it was only a matter of time before it blew up in their faces but she just didn't know where to start.
That morning, when she woke up and walked out of their tent, she noticed that Draco was already awake. The former Slytherin was sitting by the fire, a distant expression on his face. When she sat down beside him, he snapped out of his trance and glanced at her, greeting her with a polite nod.
"Good morning." Harriet forced a small smile at him, studying the expression on his face.
When he didn't respond, she sighed and finally noticed the thick, familiar book that was lying open on his lap.
"The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore?" She raised an eyebrow at him in question.
Draco noticed her curious gaze, blinking down at the book in his hands.
"I found it in your pack the other night. I gather it was Hermione's?" He waited until she confirmed his question with a nod.
"Did you find anything interesting?" She asked again, desperate to maintain their conversation.
"Just a few things." Draco's lips tugged upwards into a wry smile before he turned the book over, pointing to a small picture of Albus Dumbledore and another wizard on the back over. "I remember reading from somewhere that Dumbledore and the dark wizard, Gellert Grindelwald, were rumored to be friends but it was only now that I saw proof of it." When he saw Harriet's confused frown at him, he arched an eyebrow at her. "Harry, you do realize who Gellert Grindelwald is….don't you?"
"I think I remember encountering his name in one of Cedric's lectures, but I wasn't really paying attention." Harriet reddened, looking a bit sheepish. "I just know that he was involved in Dark Magic."
"It was more than that." Draco told her, shaking his head at her in exasperation.
"When Grindelwald was seventeen, he was expelled from Durmstrang for doing all sorts of twisted experiments in school. His teachers tried to protect him at first, but eventually, he was forced to leave. He travelled for awhile after that before he ended up in Godric's Hollow – where his aunt, Bathilda Bagshot, lived."
"Bathilda Bagshot." Harriet's eyes narrowed. "Isn't she the author of—"
"The author of A History of Magic, yes." Draco finished for her, still lost in his thoughts. "She introduced Grindelwald to Dumbledore at a time when Dumbledore's mother had just died. They were both brilliant – and very troubled – so they hit it off and became friends. In particular, the pair became known for one specific ideal of theirs that raised a lot of controversy." He gave her a meaningful look.
"Wizards having control over muggles." Harriet whispered in stunned realization.
"Wizard superiority." Draco averred with a grim nod of his head. "Dumbledore believed in this – he believed that wizards were superior, and should rule over muggles – gently – for their own good. While Grindelwald, on the other hand, well let's just say that he had a slightly more radical position."
"I don't believe it." Harriet shook her head, staring quietly at the picture of Dumbledore and Grindelwald plastered on the book's back cover. "I can't believe Dumbledore never told me all this."
"He was a different man then. People do change, Harry." Draco gave her a pointed look before he set the book back down onto his lap. "Besides, it was him who eventually put Grindelwald in prison."
He looked as though he wanted to say something else but when he saw the closed, guarded expression on Harriet's face, Draco sighed in defeat and stood up, leaving the book beside the camp fire.
"Draco, wait."
Just as he was about to enter the tent, however, he heard Harriet call out to him again and he turned around slowly, only to find her staring intently at Grindelwald's picture on the book cover again.
When he stared at her, Harriet brought her gaze up and gave him an odd, calculating look.
"Do you know what this symbol means?"
Following her pointed finger, Draco raised an eyebrow at the sight of the strange, triangular-shaped symbol that was dangling as a charm from the necklace around Grindelwald's neck. When he shook his head, having absolutely no idea what the symbol meant, Harriet frown deepened in thought.
"Why? Did you see that symbol somewhere before?" He asked her curiously.
"I'm not sure."
Harriet continued to stare, transfixed, at the strange symbol in the picture.
"I just can't shake this feeling." With a sigh, Harriet stood back up and walked over to their bags. She rifled through it for a few moments, obviously in search of something. When her frustration with whatever she was looking for caught up with her, she let out an exasperated growl and turned to Draco.
"Draco, I've been meaning to ask you – did you happen to see my wand? I can't seem to find it anywhere." She bit her lip and fell back to the ground. "I've been looking for it for days now, I can't—"
"Actually—" The expression on Draco's face was a mixture of dismay and guilt as he stood up slowly, walking over to their bags.
Swallowing audibly, he reached inside one of his bag's outer pockets, pulling out what appeared to be two pieces of wood – a single phoenix feather holding them together.
"—I've had it with me this whole time." Draco answered her with a wince.
When she realized, with a start, that the two wooden pieces that lay, severed, in Draco's hands were, in fact, what remained of her wand, her expression shuttered and she cursed under her breath.
"Harry, I'm so sorry. It was my fault. That night, when I was possessed by that horcrux, I was the one who snapped your wand in half. I'm really sorry, I'll get you a new wand, I will! Just let me find—"
"Nope. It's done, Draco." She interrupted the rest of his rushed apology with a curt but resolute shake of her head.
At her words, Draco froze and he stared up at her with a wide-eyed, confused frown.
"But Harry—"
"I said it's done, Draco."
The irritated finality in her voice silenced the rest of Draco's protests.
"Lend me yours." Harriet stood up, walking over to him and holding out her hand. "It's your turn to get some rest, I'll take the next watch." She waited patiently until a bewildered Draco had reluctantly given her his wand before she nodded and moved away from him, sitting back beside the camp fire.
"We finally made it. Should we camp here for the night?" An exhausted Hermione turned to Cedric just as they reached a small clearing somewhere in the middle of Woodgrove Forest. After he nodded and gave her a small smile, she dropped her bags to the ground and began to raise her wand.
When he noticed the weariness in her expression, however, Cedric shook his head.
"I'll do the enchantments, 'Mione." He walked over to where Hermione stood and gently took her wand from her hands, bending down to plant a soft, reassuring kiss onto the top of her head. "Get some rest. We can resume our search for Harriet and Draco tomorrow morning." He told her firmly.
In spite of herself, Hermione managed to give him a grateful smile at his words.
"Thanks, Ced."
Instead of answering her, Cedric raised the wand he held up into the air, fully intending to begin casting all of the necessary concealment charms around their campsite. Before he could, however, a sharp, scuffling sound nearby suddenly caused both teens to freeze in place. Pressing her index finger to her lips, Hermione's entire body went perfectly still and she waited in silence for the soft sound again.
When they heard it, closer this time, Hermione turned wide brown eyes to stare at Cedric.
"Snatchers!" She mouthed, frantically shaking head at him in growing panic.
Paling at her words, Cedric was just about to pull Hermione back against him when their intruder suddenly made his presence known behind them. A split second later, without warning, the bushes right behind them parted, and they found themselves staring into a dark-haired, unshaven face.
"Well, well. What do we have here?" He grinned widely at their pale, terrified faces.
The man was obviously a snatcher – if his scruffy appearance and his grimed clothes were any indication – but when he saw them staring at him in fright, his smile widened into an eerie grin. He held a dark red scarf in his hand, and as he stared at Hermione, he brought the scarf to his nose and sniffed.
"Hello, beautiful." He flashed Hermione a particularly lecherous leer.
"Who are you? Wh—what do you want?" Swallowing audibly, Hermione took a shaky step back, her hand going to her throat. When the snatcher didn't answer and simply took another step towards her, however, Cedric had suddenly jumped in front of her and turned to her with panicked, gray eyes.
"HERMIONE, RUN!"
As Cedric growled and tackled the snatcher to the ground, Hermione choked back a scream of alarm and whirled around, running as fast as she could towards the opposite direction. After hearing an exchange of loud cursing and a few pained grunts, it wasn't long before she caught a glimpse of Cedric running right behind her, both of them dashing around the thick trees that were blocking their path.
"What happened? Did you get him?!" She asked frantically, glancing at him over her shoulder.
"I hit him over the head with a rock but I wasn't able to check if I knocked him out! Just keep running!" Cedric called back after her as they continued to push through a mess of trees and bushes.
They reached a wide river crossing, just a few kilometers south from where they had tried to set up camp. As they stopped to catch their breath, Hermione bit her lip and chanced another look at their surroundings. When after a few short minutes, they heard a loud cackle of laughter, her head snapped up again and she paled when she saw the same snatcher materialize from a large tree in front of them.
"Tsk, tsk. Found you." He gave both teens a wide, gleeful smile.
Unfortunately, he wasn't alone this time as two more snatchers walked up beside him, all three men unkempt, unwashed and looking decidedly feral. Before any of the three men could move towards them, Hermione had yanked on Cedric's hand and began running again, desperately away from them.
As they dashed through the trees, Hermione saw a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye and glanced up, gasping when she saw one of the snatchers – the first one who had seen them – leap across one tree to another. In her shock, she stumbled to the ground, wincing as she accidentally scraped her knee on a rock, before Cedric hauled her up in his arms and forced himself to keep running.
It was too much for them, however, and soon they could hear the gang of snatchers closing in on them from behind. Unsure of what else to do, Hermione turned to Cedric, her trepidation clearly written all over her face. Left with no other option, Cedric pointed his wand desperately up at the sky.
Harriet was startled from her thoughts when she heard a loud 'bang' nearby.
Frowning, she tilted her head upwards and gaped in shock at the sight of bright red sparks lingering in the dark night sky above her head. For a few minutes, Harriet tried to recall to herself why exactly those red sparks looked so familiar to her, but it wasn't until Draco had stepped out of their tent to check up on her that she remembered exactly where she had encountered those red sparks before.
Those sparks…The TriWizard Tournament! She thought with a start, ignoring the confused frown that Draco was giving her.
Those were the sparks we used when we had to call for help. But only the champions were aware of that – so that means—Bloody hell. That might be Cedric!
Harriet's eyes widened in realization.
She suddenly shot up from her seat and turned to Draco.
"What? What is it? What's wrong?!" Draco asked worriedly, seeing the panic in her eyes.
"Draco, those sparks!" Harriet pointed up to the sky again where the red sparks lingered, though they were slowly beginning to fade against the darkness.
"I think that might be Cedric and Hermione!"
"What? Harry, how can you be sure of that?! It could be a trap by—" Draco tried to follow her gaze but Harriet had already grabbed his hand and began yanking him in the direction of the sparks.
"Harry, just wait a minute!" He protested sharply.
"What are you waiting for?! Draco, they might be in trouble, they might be calling for help!"
Harriet ignored the rest of his protests and grabbed his wand, tucking it in her pocket. She used the location of the sparks in the sky as a guide to map out its exact location, but when they eventually got there – a clearing two hundred meters north of their camp, Harriet was surprised at what they saw.
"There's nothing here." Harriet voiced out loud to no one in particular, frowning as she watched Draco crouch down low to inspect the ground. "I don't understand. They must have gone somehow."
"How are you so sure it was even Cedric and Hermione?" Draco asked her pointedly. "For all we know, it could have been anyone who sent up those sparks. We're lucky they weren't Death Eaters."
"I'm not." Harriet answered him in flat, annoyed tone of voice.
"But whoever it was, I'm pretty sure they sent those sparks up to call for help so we can't just stand by and do nothing!" She argued.
"I don't know, Harry." Draco shook his head at her again, looking wary.
"What if there are more of those snatchers out there? Besides, are you suggesting we search for them in the dark? We can barely see a thing—" He stopped in the middle of his sentence when he noticed that Harriet was no longer listening to him and was digging through her pockets instead, obviously in search of something.
When she exclaimed in triumph a few minutes later and yanked something out of her jacket pocket, Draco arched an eyebrow and stared in confusion at what appeared to be a large, silver lighter.
"What the bloody hell is that?" He asked.
"To be honest, I'm not sure." Harriet admitted, giving him a sheepish smile.
"I think it's a lighter but in his last will and testament, Dumbledore referred to it as a 'deluminator'." She held it up with one hand and clicked it once, immediately causing a dim, yellowish light to illuminate their surroundings.
"And what exactly does it do—"
Draco cut himself off when, to his utter shock, the glow coming from the deluminator suddenly lifted itself up into the air as a tiny ball of light. When both Harriet and Draco gaped and stared at it, blinking a couple of times to make sure they weren't seeing things, they followed it as it began to float through the forest, leading them around the trees towards something.
Undaunted, Harriet went after it immediately, causing Draco to curse in frustration under his breath and chase hurriedly after her.
"Harry, wait! Slow down, that could be a trap! Damn it Potter!"
"Draco, it's fine!"
"No, it's not!" Draco grunted in pain when, in his hurry to keep up with her, he accidentally scraped his shoulder against a stray branch.
"I swear Potter, you're going to get yourself bloody killed—"
"Draco, shhh!" She suddenly cut him off in alarm.
Easily recognizing the panic in Harriet's voice, Draco snapped his mouth shut instantly and looked up, following Harriet's gaze until he saw exactly what it was that had made the Gryffindor stiffen like a statue in front of him. Standing just a few meters in front of them, a gagged Hermione and Cedric stood with their backs facing one another, both teens tied tightly to a tree with a thick length of rope.
At the sight of her two friends, Harriet's eyes widened and she immediately ducked down behind a couple of thick bushes, yanking Draco down beside her. After Harriet had ascertained that, more or less, both Hermione and Cedric were okay, she let her eyes wander around the area again – and she was stunned by what she saw. A few yards away from where Hermione and Cedric were tied up, she recognized another pair, gagged and tied up pretty much the exact same way to another large tree.
"Those other two." Draco whispered from beside her. "Aren't they your friends—"
"Dean Thomas and Luna Lovegood, yes." Harriet whispered back to him in the same stunned tone of voice as they stared at the other two hostages.
"They must have been captured by those same people too. They'll be brought to Death Eaters like cattle! We have to save them, Draco." She hissed.
In front of the hostages, seated in a circle around a small fire, a gang of wizards – three men in unkempt clothing and with unshaven features – laughed boisterously amongst themselves as they drank from a large bottle of liquor. Reading her thoughts, Draco turned to whisper something into her ear.
"Snatchers." Draco whispered grimly as he crouched down lower, hiding himself behind the thick bushes. "We can't just go charging in there like half-assed idiots, Harry. We need a plan of attack."
Harriet turned to him, staring expectantly at the calculating expression on his face.
"What do you propose we do?" She asked.
The former Slytherin fell silent for a couple of minutes. He stared off thoughtfully into empty space, trying to assess their situation.
Finally, he turned to Harriet again and gave her a pointed look.
"You stay here and wait for my signal. I'll go around the back and distract them so that you can untie your friends." He waited until Harriet nodded at him in agreement before he made to walk off – only to be stopped by a small hand gripping tightly onto his arm. When he turned around to ask her what was wrong, Harriet surprised him when she suddenly leaned in, meeting his lips in a passionate kiss.
"Promise me you'll be careful." She murmured against his lips before they pulled apart, their foreheads resting against each other as she reached up to caress his cheek.
"I can't lose you again, Draco."
Draco's eyes softened at her words and he nodded, catching her hand in his and guiding them to his lips.
"I promise."
He kissed her one last time before slipping away, dashing towards the other side of the forest.
Harriet watched him until he disappeared behind a cluster of trees.
She waited for a few more minutes until the sound of his footsteps had faded into silence.
Soon enough, when they heard a loud explosion somewhere in the far distance, the group of snatchers quickly jumped to their feet in alarm.
"Oy! What the bloody hell was that?!" The largest man of the snatchers blurted out, his thick eyebrows fusing together as he yanked his wand out of his pocket. "It sounded kinda like an explosion!"
"Could be another one of 'em kids, Scabior." His companion answered in a gruff voice, sneering at Cedric and Hermione's bound forms behind them.
"What d'you say we go check it out? Might get lucky and catch another one of em' mudbloods." He sniggered, causing Harriet to stiffen with anger.
"Both of you get your arses up then before we lose them!" The snatcher referred to as Scabior growled, waiting impatiently as his two companions rose to their feet and began trudging after him.
As soon as they were gone, Harriet let out the breath of air she had been holding and hurriedly ran into their camp.
She didn't bother reacting to her friends' muffled exclamations at her arrival as she ran to them and began tugging them free from their binds. Once she managed to free Hermione and Cedric from their ropes, a tearful Hermione lunged at her, yanking her into a tight, bonecrushing hug.
"Harry!" She choked out, burying her face into the other girl's shoulder. "I'm so glad you're alright! We thought you were hurt – or worse, we thought that you had been captured!" She hiccuped.
"I was hoping you'd recognize those red sparks." The grin that Cedric gave her was tired but was laced with warm humor. "You have no idea how happy we are to see you, Har. How did you find us?!"
"Listen, guys." Harriet managed to give both her friends a quick, reassuring smile but shook her head and gestured them frantically towards the bushes.
"I'm really happy and relieved to see that you're both okay but would you mind if we postpone the reunion for later? We have to get out of here before those snatchers come back." She knew from the looks of comprehension that suddenly dawned on both her friends' expressions that they'd understood. Without exchanging another word, Harriet ran off to help untie Dean and Luna next, freeing them from their gags and the heavy ropes bound around them.
"Harry, thank you so much!" Dean was giving her a look of deep, heartfelt gratitude as he watched her cut him lose from his ropes.
"I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't come along to save us." He added, wincing as he inspected the rope burns on his wrists.
"Don't mention it, Dean." Harriet cut through Luna's ropes next, exchanging a brief hug with the blonde Ravenclaw.
When Luna looked as though she wanted to say something, Harriet shook her head.
"There's no time, Luna. We have to go now before they come back!" She told her.
"Harry!" Luna's blue eyes were wide as she stared at something over Harriet's shoulder.
"What's wrong—"
Harriet frowned and tried to follow her gaze but unfortunately, before she could turn around fully, a large, calloused hand suddenly clamped down heavily on her left shoulder.
"Why hello there, little darlin."
A loud, snide voice drawled from behind her, causing all five teens to stiffen in alarm.
Harriet turned and looked up slowly, staring right into Scabior's dark, menacing expression just as the snatcher loomed over her form, his hand beginning to tighten painfully around her shoulder. As he studied her features up close, his eyes began to narrow in realization and to Harriet's dismay, his gaze did that familiar flick upwards to stare at the notorious, lightning bolt-shaped scar on her forehead.
"I'd say you're our catch of the day, beautiful! This is a surprise, indeed!" Scabior's eyes gleamed in delight and without warning, he wrapped his arm around Harriet's waist and yanked her against him.
"Let me go!" Harriet screamed, wrestling furiously against him.
"If it isn't the precious little savior herself – Harriet Potter." Scabior's lips curled upwards into a wide, malevolent smile.
"I can only imagine how much we'll get for turning you in, eh my little pretty?"
"I said let me go, you disgusting bastard!" Harriet growled, trying to dig her nails into his wrists but Scabior just laughed and tightened his grip around her, his arms locked like iron around her waist.
"It's no use. I'm afraid you're not getting away from me. And oh, look!" Smirking at something over his shoulder, Harriet was dismayed to realize that – while she had been busy struggling against him, his two companions had somehow managed to recapture her friends. Hermione, Cedric, Dean and Luna were all huddled on the ground now, tied to each other with a powerful binding curse.
They were staring back up at her with terrified, panicked expressions on their faces.
"Harry!" Hermione was watching her with wide, glassy brown eyes.
"Run away, Harry! Save yourself!" Cedric shouted at her, struggling furiously with his binds.
"No!" Harriet screamed again, doubling her efforts to extract herself from her captor. "You won't get away with this – let me go now! You have nothing to gain from helping those Death Eaters!"
"On the contrary, love—" Scabior was still smiling as he suddenly twisted Harriet around in his arms and slammed her roughly against a tree, pressing his wand painfully against her throat. "—I have everything to gain by helping them. Especially when I give them the 'Chosen One'." He drawled the last two words out of his mouth in a low, mocking voice. "I'll admit – it's a terrible shame, really. I mean—"
He paused in the middle of his sentence and leaned in closer against her, burying his nose into the crook of her neck and breathing in a deep whiff of her scent.
Harriet stiffened at the invasive contact on her skin and clenched her eyes shut, swallowing the urge to scream against his disturbing closeness.
"—my boys and I would have loved to keep you a bit longer." Scabior chuckled darkly as he pulled back and caressed Harriet's tear-stained cheek with his grimed fingers.
"Ain't that right, boys?"
His companions chortled at that and smirked their agreement at his statement.
"You bastards! Let her go!" Hermione shouted angrily at them.
"Don't touch her!" Cedric's gray eyes were hard with fury.
Ignoring their reactions, Scabior turned his dark eyes to Harriet again, dropping his gaze until he was staring at the angry, disgusted sneer that Harriet was directing at him.
Her eyes were cold, glinting dangerously as she watched him, and when he leaned back in, intending to sniff her again, something in those emerald green eyes sparked to life. She jerked her knee up, hitting Scabior hard right in the groin.
"Ow! You little bitch!" Scabior howled, his eyes wide with stunned disbelief.
As he doubled over in pain, his arms around Harriet suddenly loosened and before either one of his two companions could react, Harriet was on her feet and was running as fast as she could in the opposite direction. A small voice inside her head warred with her on whether or not she should go back and help the rest of her friends but when she heard Scabior, as well as the other two snatchers cursing angrily and chasing after her, she inwardly decided against it for now and forced herself to run faster.
"Damn it, she's fast!"
"Run faster, you idiots! She's getting away!"
"Don't bloody let her escape!"
Harriet heard their loud cursing as they struggled to keep up with her, their footsteps heavy against the dirt-covered ground.
When she turned sharply and ducked behind a thick row of tall trees, pressing her back tightly against a wide trunk, she heard their footsteps stop abruptly and she tensed.
"Damn it, where the bloody hell did she go?!"
Harriet heard the fury in Scabior's voice and closed her eyes, holding her breath and praying silently to herself for them not to find her. From where she was, she could tell that they were probably only a few meters away, and should they dare to walk on just a bit further, they would surely find her.
"I don't know, I didn't see where she went!" One of the snatchers answered dully, only to have Scabior growl at him again just before Harriet heard a loud smacking sound – probably from how Scabior had punched his companion for his incompetence. "I swear, Scab! She was just here a minute ago!"
"Then find her, you idiot! She couldn't have gotten far!" Scabior growled back furiously at him.
"But S—Scab, she could be anywhere by now! We can't just—"
Oh hell no. Not now, please not now. Now is definitely not the time to sneeze – please don't! For the next few seconds that followed, Harriet was unable to listen to the rest of their conversation. Instead, she covered her nose and struggled very desperately to keep herself from sneezing out loud.
As her luck would turn out, she ended up sneezing anyway.
"Did you hear that?!" Scabior and his companions picked up the miniscule sound instantly, their voices suddenly growing louder as they neared where Harriet was hiding.
"It came from over here!"
Bloody hell!
Harriet clenched her eyes shut again and covered her mouth with both her hands, trying to silence her breathing and hoping to Merlin they couldn't hear the rapid pounding of her heart.
'"There! Over there, it came from just behind that cluster of trees!"
As their footsteps drew nearer, Harriet felt her pulse beginning to quicken even more. With bated breath, she slowly wrenched her eyes open and glanced frantically around her for how to escape. When her eyes locked onto a familiar pair of wide, equally terrified mercury orbs, however, she froze.
Draco?!
She gaped back at him – a couple of yards away from where she was – crouched low behind several thick bushes.
He was watching the scene unfold around them intently, a strangely resolute frown that Harriet couldn't quite place slowly creasing his features.
It took her a few moments, but when Harriet belatedly realized what Draco's grim expression meant, her green eyes suddenly widened in alarm and she shook her head furiously, throttling the angry words that she wanted to scream at him.
Malfoy, you bloody bastard! Don't you dare! Don't even think about it, damn it!
She tried to tell him through her eyes – tried to convey everything she wanted to say to him with just one desperate, pleading glance – but Draco just shook his head and answered her pleads with a single, resolute look.
I'll distract them. Stay hidden. She heard his unspoken words almost as clearly as though Draco himself had whispered them into her ear and before she knew it, Harriet felt the corners of her eyes sting in helpless desperation.
"D—Draco—"
Her feeble attempts to call out to him were drowned out by Scabior's stunned outburst when Draco had suddenly lunged at him from his hiding place, tackling the snatcher to the ground. She heard a loud scuffle, followed by a round of angry hissing and cursing, before she dared to peak out from her hiding place again. She watched with wide eyes as Scabior's two companions hauled a struggling Draco roughly up from the ground and held him by his arms, waiting until Scabior managed to stand back up.
"You." Scabior's grin was menacing as he straightened and studied Draco intently, spitting away the blood that had pooled in his mouth from Draco's harsh blow to his face.
"I do believe I know you—"
"I beg to differ." Draco sneered haughtily at him and interrupted him with a loud scoff.
"I don't quite remember associating myself with such disgusting, low-life rubbish." He drawled, earning himself a rather painful round of punches in the stomach from the two snatchers who were holding him back.
Instead of growing angry, Scabior's eyes glinted with recognition and his smile widened.
"Oh yes, I most certainly remember you. You're Lucius Malfoy's little brat, aren't you?" He smirked when he saw the way Draco stiffened at the mention of his father's name.
"Ah yes, ol' Lucius was always a sniveling, prissy snob like you too. I hated that conniving blood traitor." He mocked loudly.
Draco's eyes darkened at Scabior's words and he resumed his struggles against his captors.
"Don't talk about my father like that!" He raged back at him, seething with anger. "My father was ten times the man you'll ever be! You're just the lowest of scum, you're nothing but a petty thief!"
"Aw, I hate this little prissy boy already, Scab." One of the snatchers holding Draco growled, his face twisting into a scowl.
"At this point, I think I'd be much happier if we just killed him." He suggested.
Harriet stiffened in alarm at that but, thankfully, Scabior shook his head and quelled her fears.
"Can't do that, Stan. If I'm not mistaken—" Scabior paused, yanking a crude dagger from his pocket and using it to rip through the fabric of Draco's sleeve, exposing the Dark Mark above his wrist. "—we have a wanted Blood Traitor in our hands." He smiled when Draco paled nervously at his words. "And I am more than certain that the Death Eaters will reward us handsomely for bringing him to them."
No! Draco!
Harriet wanted to rush back in and help him but then Draco's wide eyes somehow snapped back to hers and he glared sharply at her, causing her to freeze in place. Unfortunately, before she could think of a way to help him, Scabior and his men had already begun dragging Draco back to their camp.
As she watched them disappear into the forest, Harriet let out a pained exhale of breath and closed her eyes, sliding down against the tree behind her into a defeated, fetal position on the ground.
Notes: Oh no! Draco and the others have been captured! How exciting! XD What do you think will happen? More importantly, where do you think everyone else will meet again? Stay tuned to find out!
Like I said before, this story is nearing is indeed nearing it's end, and I wish I could write out those final chapters sooner but as I said, it might take some time. I need to ask you all to be patient with me. Rest assured, the ending is coming. I'm even planning to throw in an epilogue. :D
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Please send in your thoughts and leave a review! :D