Chapter 53

Draco felt that familiar tugging sensation of apparation and found himself standing in a field- god knows where.

He looked around, realizing that the mess that was the Weasley's house was in view. The Weasley house!? That was the big secret hideout?

"Here." Hermione said in a soft voice, handling him a slip of paper. "The headquarters is protected- Dumbledore is secret keeper. He wrote this down for you and your father. After you both read it, we can take you there."

Thank god. Draco had dreaded the thought of stepping into the crooked hovel in the distance…

He opened the note, staring at the address printed there. He looked over at his unconscious father. He was going to have to wake him up, wasn't he?

Just as he thought this he heard a loud "pop," and saw two female figures walking towards them. He tensed up; could it be that his aunt had followed them? Was that possible?

He relaxed visibly upon recognizing the figures. One was his mother, who ran to him the moment she saw him. The other was a pink haired witch he had only seen in passing maybe once. His cousin Nymphadora.

"Draco!" His mother cried, throwing her arms around him. "You made it away safe! I trust no one was the wiser, then? We're safe?" She looked down, and screeched. "Lucius!? What happened!?" She bent down beside her husband, stroking his brow. "Did he get hurt? What's wrong?"

Draco felt uncomfortable. How was he supposed to tell his mother that he had stunned him? Hermione gave him a look and raised her eyebrows, as if to repeat 'walking that fine line of morality…'

"Er, he's fine…just, stunned. Here, let me…" Draco said, dropping down and pointing his wand at his father, whispering "Renervate."

He couldn't help but notice the twitch in several of the surrounding Order member's wands as his father groaned, slowly waking up. Draco himself made sure to keep out of his direct reach…he did just stun him, afterall. He was willing to bet he'd be a bit…unhappy with him.

Narcissa put a supporting arm around Lucius's shoulders as he sat up, him grasping his head in one hand. "What in the hell happened?" He muttered, looking around. His eyes grew wide at the crowd around him, falling lastly on Draco. He gulped. "We've been captured, then?" he asked, his eyes growing cool.

"No, Lucius…didn't Draco tell you?" Narcissa asked, throwing a scolding glance at her son.

Draco tried his best not to look too guilty, answering, "No…there wasn't time, and I couldn't explain it too early…"

"Explain what?" His father asked simply, but Draco recognized the cold air to his voice. Draco knew he was on his father's shit list at the moment.

Lucius slowly moved to his feet, glaring at the people standing around him again. Narcissa attached herself to his arm, looking up at him with a slight frown.

Everyone was tense, trying to figure out exactly what to do. Draco gripped the little piece of paper with the address, although Potter was staring at it with an angry look on his face. No doubt he didn't want Draco sharing it with his parents. Well, fuck him!

Draco didn't even realize he was staring daggers at Potter until he felt a soft hand entwine with his own. He looked down, surprised, at Hermione's concerned face. "We're taking them both with us, so they'll be safe." She assured him, staring at everyone in the group as if daring them to argue. She turned last to Lucius and Narcissa, both of whom looked like they might suffer a stroke any minute as they stared at their son's hand. Draco sighed. Crap.

"Draco…this is the girl we….spoke of earlier, correct?" his father asked, barely sparing a glance for Hermione.

Draco nodded. This was going to be trouble.

"The one whom you were 'just playing around with?' Who you had told off, so as to make her useless to the Dark Lord?" His father continued, anger seeping more and more into his tone.

"Yes." Draco said simply. There really wasn't much else to say.

His mother looked like she might faint. "B…but, what is going on here!?" She screeched, staring at his hand. Hermione blatantly refused to let go of it, clutching him tighter. "Draco, explain yourself. Is this why we were offered help by these…people?"

"By our enemies!" Lucius hissed, pointing out the obvious. "Our enemies who would in no way want to help us escape, and who should have no way of knowing about our situation in the first place! Our enemies who will most likely send us straight to Azkaban…"

"Not likely." Mad-eye surprised everyone by interrupting. "At least, not "straight to Azkaban." As long as Voldemort has control of the dementors and his insiders in the ministry, sending anyone to Azkaban would be a large waste of my time." He grinned in a rather unpleasant way. "Don't worry Lucius; we'll be sure to settle out your debt to society after this war is over."

Malfoy Senior's face grew red, and he looked like he might burst at any moment.

"Draco, you can't possibly mean…you and this girl…" Narcissa continued, focused on her son rather than their current situation. "I mean, Draco darling, you can't really be serious about this. What about your engagement to that sweet Parkinson girl? She's from such a nice family…"

"Come again?" Hermione asked, looking for all the life of her as if she really believed she had misheard. Draco groaned. Of course his mother would bring that up. He refused to look at the girl holding his hand, not even wanting to dignify his mother's meddling accusation.

"You know very well that I've found her to be incredibly annoying for a year now! I did what you asked; I tried getting along with her. She's a pest, and nothing you two say can make me marry her! We've already been through this! Don't bring it up like it's unresolved!"

"Malfoy, as interesting as your insane family's deep involvement in your love life is, we do have somewhere else to be." Potter said. He looked impatient, and Draco wondered again what had happened to the Weasley girl.

His mother, of course, promptly ignored Potter and plowed on. "Draco, you know we want what's best for you. When you professed your disagreement with Parkinson we relinquished that rather antiquated tradition of arranged marriage in the hopes that you would find another nice…acceptable girl…"

"Then why bring it up now?"

"Because you didn't find an acceptable girl, Draco! You let yourself get tortured when all along you could have just turned her in! Why? What is that mudblood girl to you, exactly?" his father burst, yelling at this point. He felt Hermione cringed next to him, though he was sure she didn't want him to notice. Her face was set in a brave, 'just try it, asshole' look that Draco loved seeing on her.

Draco was a bit worried at this point. He just straight up didn't want to argue with his father. This was a man he respected; he couldn't remember ever having gone directly against his father's wishes. Afterall, Lucius was always right, wasn't he?

But he hadn't been right about Voldemort. There was no glory coming to the Malfoy name from that.

And he wasn't right about this.

"You don't have to like me; but you damn well will refrain from using that word!" Hermione surprised everyone by bursting out. She dropped Draco's hand, presumably to have it free to reach for her wand if need be. "The people around you, including me, have just risked a lot to save Draco. Not you two. Draco. But since you two would have suffered for him leaving, and since for some reason he loves you, we had to drag you out too, Mr. Malfoy." The last was said in a harsh, almost mocking tone. Draco wasn't sure he had ever heard so much venom in Hermione's voice before. He rather liked it, truth be told. "How about some gratitude? The least you could do is stop insulting me, and talk this through with your son once we're all somewhere safer and more private."

Everyone in the group, including Lucius, jumped in surprise as Narcissa Malfoy started to sob loudly. She stepped forward quickly, clinging to Draco (who was of course properly embarrassed). "Oh, Draco! I don't care what you do! I'm just so glad your safe…" She turned to look at Lucius. "I'm glad your both safe."

"Narcissa…" Lucius said in a cautious tone. He was most likely appalled that his wife no longer seemed to be on his side in his strong anti-Granger front. At the same time, however, he was also probably stunned by his wife crying. Draco certainly was. This war was really getting to her; she was usually the picture of decorum, especially around people outside the family.

"I had to watch, you know! I had to watch you get tortured, Lucius! And Draco, my baby…" She was sobbing harder now, and Draco wasn't sure what to do with himself as he was trapped in her arms. "Not just Crucio, but when you came back from that mission with such a deep wound…"

"Mother. I'm fine now. Quit it." Draco said, finally, deciding he had had about as much as he could take. He pushed away slightly, trying to avoid her grasp. Looking over next to him he saw a questioning look on Hermione's face, meaning he'd have to explain his damn wound to her later…though if things went his way she'd eventually see it herself, anyways.

"Draco, if you hadn't….known this girl, we wouldn't have had anyone to help us. No one we knew would have a place to hide us, and no one would want to try." She took a deep breath. She once again looked to be her usual regal self, except for the tear tracks and the slightly disheveled hair. Turning to Hermione, she managed to say, "I apologize on behalf of myself and my husband. Thank you for your aid. We will gladly pay whatever price you require, even if it is Azkaban, to avoid another day as prisoners in our own home." Her eye's shifted to her son. "Because another mission could have been the death of any one of us."

Lucius frowned, not at all happy with the situation. However, in Draco's memory he couldn't remember his father ever directly contradicting his mother. The two of them always seemed to be on the same page. He nodded. "Very well, we'll drop the subject for now." He turned to the group, mainly focusing on Harry. "I can assure you we'll be…courteous guests. Now, where is this hide-out we're all putting so much faith in."

Harry glared, his eyes narrowed. "I gave the address to Draco. But just so you know: No one can spread this information. It's impossible. Only our secret-keeper can give it away."

"A Fidelius Charm, then?" Lucius asked with a sneer.

Moody laughed. "Don't think we're so quick to trust you, Malfoy. There'll be no running back to your Lord now; you have no information to give him. And once we get there, we'll be sure that neither of you leave the premises. Anything you hear in that house will be kept quiet…or I'll be sure you get more than just Azkaban!" He burst, seemingly somewhat gleeful at the prospect.

Draco's stomach did a flip-flop. He wasn't at all partial to his mad former professor…

"That's enough!" Hermione chided, glaring at the man who was much her senior. "We're here to save them, not threaten them." She reminded. "Now, if everyone is done ranting and raving and threatening and baiting, then can we please hurry back before Harry starts foaming at the mouth with worry?"

Harry didn't even look vaguely insulted; just worried shitless, shifting from one foot to another impatiently.

Draco handed the slip of paper to his father, who passed it to his mother. She frowned as she looked at the paper. "Of course." She said, but that was as much as the spell would let her comment about the place while outside of it. She held the paper out, surprisingly, to Hermione, who destroyed it quickly.

"Well." She said with a sigh, giving Draco a tired look. "Let's get everyone to our temporary home."