"Positions!" Shacklebolt shouted.
The front door of the flat had been charmed to alert him when it opened. Everyone jumped to attention, adrenaline in overdrive, not knowing how much time they had. Fourteen of the nineteen aurors who survived the war, Draco, Neville, Harry, Ron, Shacklebolt, Arthur Weasley, and Twin stood in a loose circle around the portkey destination.
Seconds later, the fake Hermione appeared on the ground, tangled around someone who looked like Draco, and all hell broke loose. There was blood on the two figures on the ground. Instead of immediately shoving himself free as planned, Scary struggled to keep a grip on Nott with his left hand while trying to retrieve his wand from his left sleeve with the other hand. Nott was desperately trying to push him off.
Half the circle was shouting for him to get clear. Scary was shouting something. Nott was shouting something. Ron dove in, trying to pull Scary away. Nott pointed his wand skyward and sparks flew into the air.
Draco finally caught what Scary was saying. "He fucking knows!"
He dove for Nott just as everything went dark. Draco's hand landed on Nott's shoulder a split second after Scary's hand was pried loose.
He immediately felt the pull of side along apparition.
They landed on a deserted stretch of beach Draco didn't recognize. Nott took advantage of Draco's momentary disorientation to punch him, hard. Without thinking, Draco let go of Nott to curl his own hand into a fist in anticipation of a fight.
"Things to do," Nott winked and disappeared.
Draco roared in frustration and punched the sand. He apparated back to the rendezvous point.
Now everyone was shouting.
Kingsley grabbed Draco when he reappeared and stuck a wand under his chin. "Where did you throw me on the floor?"
"Room above the kitchen at the Manor." Draco gasped out.
Shacklebolt nodded and released him. "Enough!" he roared at the crowd. "Alpha division, get back to headquarters and start tracing apparations. Beta division - get to Hermione's flat and start gathering evidence. Gamma - work the scene here." He turned to the trainees and unofficial aurors. "The rest of you, come with me."
"Apparate to the Burrow and floo to Grimmauld?" Arthur suggested.
Shacklebolt nodded.
The group did just that, surprising Molly, who insisted on coming to Grimmauld Place with them. She and Kreacher prepared coffee and tea and produced a plate of cookies and pastries as everyone gathered around the table.
"Bill, what happened?" his father asked.
"He fucking knew! He showed up at the door disguised as Draco, asked to come in and apologize. I knew at once it was an imposter because he said 'Hermione'. I let him in, closed the door, and he said 'Hello, Weasley.' I grabbed him, he tried to knock me off, but I held on and hit the portkey. Figured it was best to get backup as soon as possible."
Molly brought over a damp cloth and wiped his face, then healed his broken nose. She then took a jar of cream from a side cupboard and rubbed a dab on the bruise forming on Draco's jaw.
"Then you appeared in the clearing, trying to hold onto him, but Weasel here had to pull you loose so he could get away." Draco snorted.
"How?" Harry jumped in. "We put up an anti-apparation jinx. He threw his wand up and cancelled it immediately. There are multiple versions of the spell, but he got the right cancellation on the first try."
"And had Peruvian darkness powder at the ready to throw immediately." Twin continued. "I'm really starting to regret carrying that stuff, because it certainly seems to come in handy for Death Eaters."
"We've got a leak in the department." Neville said. "The profiler said he was probably in contact with someone near Draco."
"We've got a leak in this fucking room you mean!" Ron shouted, turning to Draco. "You hate me. So which was it you wanted to knock off, another one of my brothers, or my girlfriend?"
"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Draco roared back. "I set up the plan to catch Nott! Why would I have tipped him off?"
"Enough F words!" Molly shouted over all of them.
Shacklebolt put down his coffee and looked around the table. "Everyone in this room had too much to lose if this went bad. The leak is in the auror department."
"Who knew the details?" Draco asked.
"Unfortunately, all of them." Shacklebolt sighed. "Even the ones who weren't involved in the trap had some knowledge of what we were doing because they had to cover for the aurors who were involved." He closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head. He opened his eyes again and looked down the table.
"Draco, what happened when you grabbed him? I'm figuring he apparated out and you got pulled along."
The blond nodded. "Exactly. We landed on a beach somewhere. No idea where. As soon as we landed, he hit me. I let go to punch him back but he said 'Things to do' and apparated off again."
The color drained from Draco's face. "Luna's home alone." He jumped up from the table, knocking his chair over in the process and ran out the front door, apparating home as soon as he hit the boundary.
He landed in the front yard. Neville appeared with a crack seconds later.
They were too late. The front door hung crookedly by one hinge, the decorative glass shattered. He heard more cracks behind him, but was already at the door and didn't look back.
Luna lay in the foyer, covered in blood, eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling.
Draco couldn't even form a coherent thought, much less words. He made a strangled cry and flung himself on the floor next to his wife.
"Riddikulus!" Neville shouted behind him.
Luna disappeared.
He got to his hands and knees, shuddering and gasping and trying to control his racing heart. Neville knelt beside him, a hand on Draco's back.
"It was a boggart. Whatever you saw, it wasn't real." Neville whispered soothingly.
Draco nodded, waiting a moment to become more steady before trying to stand.
Harry, Scary, Twin, and Mr. Weasley all rushed past them, splitting up to search the house.
"Amateurs." Neville rolled his eyes, held his wand up, and said "Homenum revelio."
He and Draco counted off the shadowy figures.
Luna was not in the house.
Scary came back down the stairs as Draco finally made it to his feet.
"There's no sign of her. But there are signs of a struggle." He reported grimly.
Draco started to hyperventilate again.
"There's no sign of the house elves either." Harry said softly. Draco hadn't even noticed he was in the room. "I'm sure they got her somewhere to safety."
Draco nodded, trying to focus on slowing his breathing.
The floo roared to life. All of them whirled with their wands drawn.
"Draco," Shacklebolt called. "Luna is at Malfoy Manor. She's okay."
"But what's wrong?" Draco caught something in the man's tone of voice.
"Nott was here. Your father took a stunning spell to the chest. He appears to be all right, but I'm sending him to St Mungo's to be checked out because of the recent chest injury."
Draco nodded. "Thanks. I'm coming through."
Draco stepped out of the floo at the Manor to find Luna waiting for him. She threw her arms around his waist.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I shouldn't have insisted on staying home."
He shuddered again at the memory of the boggart. "You're okay and that's all that matters. I thought I had lost you."
Shacklebolt, Mrs. Weasley, and Weasel stood behind her.
"We came here when the rest of you went to Hogsmeade, just in case." Shacklebolt told him. "Nott blasted the door at your house. The house elves and Luna got into a brief duel with him, before the elves grabbed her and apparated here. But of course I never thought about adding Luna to the anti-apparation jinx on the house, so they had to apparate onto the grounds. Lucius saw them arrive and then Nott appear behind them, so your parents went out to help get her into the house." Something about the way Shacklebolt said it sounded a little off to Draco, but he decided he would just ask later. "Between your parents and all the house elves, they got Luna into the house safely, but your dad was hit. The house elves drove Nott away. I've already sent your parents on to St Mungo's. Everything is under control here, if you want to head over there. "
Draco looked at Luna. "I want you to get checked over too."
"I'm fine. Nothing hit me, I didn't get knocked down, anything like that." she assured him.
"Then it won't hurt anything for a healer to take a look at you." he replied stubbornly.
Luna shook her head and followed him to the floo.
They arrived at St Mungo's just as the healer came to speak to Narcissa. Lucius appeared to be all right, sore of course, but because of the fact he had trouble breathing right after being hit with the spell, they were going to keep him overnight for observation.
"I'd like you to check my wife over as well," Draco informed the healer in his Do Not Argue With A Malfoy voice. "She's five and a half months pregnant. She doesn't think she was hit with any spells, but she did have to run, and of course the stress of being attacked."
"Of course. You can go see Mr. Malfoy, and I will inform you as soon as I'm done with your wife." the old man lead Luna into another exam room.
Narcissa grabbed him into a hug before he could open the door. Draco wrapped his arms around her, slightly shocked at her trembling.
"Mother, are you all right?" Obviously they hadn't told him everything that had happened. "Were you hit or..."
"No, no," she pulled back to look at his face, shaking her head. "I'm just glad you're all right. And everyone else is all right."
He was missing something here.
They made their way into the room, to find Lucius sitting up in bed looking rather irritable. His face softened when he saw them. "This one is my son," he whispered, holding his hand out.
Draco felt as if he had been doused in ice water. "You thought it was me. You thought I was the one after Luna."
His mother looked at him sadly. "You father heard the cracks when Luna and the house elves came into the gardens. He jumped up and looked out the window. Then he saw you appear behind her and start flinging spells at her. We had no idea what was going on. But as soon as we got out there and took one look at him, we both knew it wasn't you. Then we were afraid that he had gotten to you, done something to you."
Draco nodded, understanding that his parents would probably never tell the full story of what they had felt that afternoon. He sat on the side of his father's bed, reaching across for his mother who sat on the opposite side, and pulled both of his parents into a three cornered hug. The Malfoys clung together until the healer came in.
A/N - Sorry for the late update. I was going to post this yesterday. But I was going to cut it off when Draco walked into the house and found "Luna". Then I decided I just couldn't be that mean. ;)
