Hi

I'm so sorry this took so long... when I said it would take some time for another chapter, I didn't mean this long. I feel like I'm running out of inspiration, and I'm not sure if I'm depicting Draco quite right. I'm waiting for Reyna to arrive, then maybe things will just come to me. Anyways, here is this chapter. Hope you enjoy!

- citrus-shadow

Chapter Fifteen - Loyalty and Allegiance

Draco POV

I grabbed Will as he sank down. I just killed a manticore. And saw another. They were supposedly extremely rare, so I had only seen them in drawings from a book. I guessed that they were also Greek monsters.

Nico appeared beside me, easing Will into his own arms. He waved his hands frantically over the wound, where the spike was still embedded in his abdomen.

"Will. Oh gods, Will. Will, tell me what to do. Do you have ambrosia? Oh gods. The spikes are poisonous right? You can't die on me! Will!" I could tell the son of Hades was close to tears.

"Take-take out the spike. The poison won't kill me, but the wound might. Don't let m-me bleed out. Draco, you know potions. You know what this poison is?" It was scary how weak, and calm, his voice was. I nodded. "Then you know how to make the cure. You could take me to the hospital wing, but that would take too long. A-attract too much attention. Nico, no shadow-travel. Doctor's orders."

"No! Will? No, no, no, don't fall unconscious on me now!" Nico's voice was hysterical. I rested my hand on his shoulder.

"He'll be fine. Calm down. Do as he said. I can gather some basic things around the forest. Take the spike out and try to stop the bleeding." Nico nodded. He raised his arms to start. Then paused. "He'll be fine. Trust me. And him."

Nico nodded again. "Thank you." He murmured. Only once he started working on the wound did I start foraging around the area for some ingredients. A couple things I had to Summon from my dorm (yes, I keep supplies of my own), but luckily, most of the required items were easy to find. I managed to make a rough poultice which I was pretty sure would counteract the poison. The good thing was that the poison wouldn't kill him, and only cause him extreme pain, so even if I got this wrong, Will's body would (should?) heal itself in its own time. I was also hoping that his godly Apollo blood would help the healing process.

When I got back to Nico and Will, they both looked to be in fairly good shape. Nico had mostly calmed down, and the bleeding had mostly stopped. Though on the other hand, I could tell the poison was doing its work. Will was flinching and twitching, but still unconscious. Hopefully that would help the pain. I started applying the poultice to the wound, before I realised that the poison was probably in his bloodstream, so what I was doing wouldn't help much. I stared at the wound, thinking. If I had him drink the mixture, would that help? It was no magical potion and would have to go through his digestive system and everything before going into his bloodstream. So, too slow, and therefore a useless strategy. Nico interrupted my thoughts.

"Could you inject it into his blood?" I stared at him.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked.

"You know, when you get a shot, like from a doctor." He paused. "It's a mortal thing. Er, Muggle. They take a syringe that has a needle and poke you with it. I got quite a few of those recently. Will panicked over the fact I wasn't caught up on vaccines."

"Vaccines? You know what? Whatever. But where am I going to find a syringe?" I was very confused by Nico. Muggles were weird. Nico was silent for a moment.

"Will probably has one in his medical bag. I can go grab it. If he asks later, I did not shadow-travel." The son of Hades proceeded to shadow-travel away. There wasn't much else I could do except watch the bleeding. Perhaps five minutes later, a longer time than I expected, Nico came back looking rather pale. Well, paler than usual. In his hand, he held what I assumed was ambrosia, nectar and a syringe. I strained the pulp out of the mixture I had made and put it into the syringe. I looked at it.

"Nico, how do you do this?" I looked at him and was surprised to see he was shaking. "What happened? Did someone see you?" Nico started to shake his head, before nodding.

"Yeah." He whispered. Resuming a somewhat normal tone, he answered my other question. "Just stick it in his arm where you think there's a vein. I don't know much more than that."

I did as he said and gently pushed on the plunger. Nico force fed him some ambrosia. Within a minute, Will had gone still in what I hoped was a peaceful sleep.

"We better get back to the castle now." I murmured. I grabbed my wand and said an incantation under my breath. "Levicorpus."

We gathered our stuff and started walking. Honestly, I had absolutely zero idea where in the Forest we were. However Nico did, oddly enough. Soon the trees cleared and the castle loomed over us. I gently laid Will down back at our spot by the lake. The area was empty. Lunch had obviously ended a while ago. Based on the sun, it was mid afternoon, maybe about 3-ish. When I told Nico as such, he cursed under his breath.

"We might as well just skip the afternoon's classes. Will and I should be in Study of Ancient Runes and you have…"

"Arithmancy." I supplied.

"Yeah." Nico went silent. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. Will was waking up. Nico breathed. "Will!"

He knelt next to his boyfriend and cupped the back of his head. Will's eyes blinked open slowly. Nico immediately pulled him into a tight embrace, eyes slightly wet.

"Nico!" Will laughed slightly. His voice softened. "It's alright Neeks, we're all fine." Nico finally let go of Will. The blonde glanced at me. "Thank you. For healing me, which I can tell you did a good job of, and for keeping Nico from panicking too much."

He got up off the ground and gasped slightly, as his wound was still healing. Nico put his arm under his shoulders, letting the boy lean on him despite him being smaller. We started heading back inside to the library, careful to avoid any teachers who might have been roaming the halls. As we were nearing the library's entrance, Will turned suddenly to face me.

"Nico didn't shadow-travel, did he?" I blinked.

"No, you told him not to." Will stared at me.

"I don't believe you." Will announced, then lowered his voice and glanced conspiratorially at me. "He never listens to me. Neeks, I know you love me, but you really have to stop shadow-traveling."

Nico glared. "Nope." He replied moodily, popping the p, and stalked into the library, dragging Will with him. Will rolled his eyes. After a moment, I followed them.

The two demigods—they were really a good pair. Under all the banter, fighting, teasing, I could tell that they cared and loved for each other. That used to be my parents, but in the last year or so they'd been arguing about loyalty. And where mine lay. And on that note…

I still couldn't bring myself to tell Nico and Will about my Death Eater mission. Every time I see the tattoo on my arm, I hate the Dark Lord with a passion. And myself too. My conscience has been eating away at me for weeks now, and it continues. Especially after this attack that seemed to be from my "master". Really, if they tried hard enough, Nico and Will would find out. Or they could ask Snape.

In the library, we discussed the attacks. I was glad to note that they did not seem to be acting around me any different, and Will praised me again on my healing skills (which I thought were pretty mediocre, seeing as I only really knew potions). I kind of zoned out a bit after a while. Maybe they knew what I had done already, but they were just keeping the information for later use. Or they really didn't know. I wasn't sure how they weren't suspicious. Potter was, and I'd wager Nico and Will were brighter than he was. Well, I hoped so. Of all the people who could know, I wasn't sure if they were the best or worst option.

~•~•~

Later that day, just before curfew, I knocked on Professor Snape's office door. I heard a bored "Come in" and entered, closing the door behind me. Snape looked up from the paper he had been studying.

"Draco. What brings you here at this hour?" His face and tone were unreadable. I replied in a soft tone, barely keeping my voice from quavering.

"You know my situation, my mission. And you know Nico and Will's mission. We're on different sides here. I haven't been able to tell them, and I want them to know what I am. I want them to know I have this." I thrust back my sleeve. And there, on my forearm, was the Dark Mark. Snape looked at it with a perfect poker face.

"They took a risk in telling you. They knew that. If they knew you worked for the Dark Lord, then they wouldn't have told you, and for obvious reasons. You should tell them, perhaps not now, but soon. But you must be cautious. Don't leave anything out. It's hard to earn Nico's trust, and it's easy to lose. Then, it's impossible to regain. Will trusts Nico, though I think he'd be a bit more forgiving on his own."

"Do they know about you?" I asked. I knew he worked for Dumbledore as well as Voldemort. I was almost surprised the Dark Lord hadn't yet caught him in some way, shape or form. The professor rolled up his sleeve, revealing his mark of allegiance.

"Nico does, though I asked him to avoid telling Will for the time being. As I'm sure they have told you, Reyna, daughter of Bellona, is soon to arrive. I will tell Will and Reyna then, once I have met Reyna, though I've heard much about her from Nico."

I nodded. Now, it was the middle of November. Reyna was to come sometime before the Christmas holidays, which was when I had to go back to the Manor and sort out Father's death with Mother.

"I'll tell them the same time you do. That should be soon enough, right?"

Snape considered it and nodded slightly.

"Until then, continue with your mission. If you do not manage to kill Professor Dumbledore, that is fine. He will die by the year's end."

I stared at Snape, trying to figure out what he meant. When it became clear he wouldn't explain further, I looked away. Snape added something more.

"The Vanishing Cabinet. How is your progress?" I stiffened. Snape noticed, of course, and cocked his head.

"It is… not quite there yet. I haven't been working on it since…" Father's death. The professor nodded.

"Keep going, or at least have some good progress to present to the Dark Lord, should something come up." He dropped his business-like tone and lowered his voice. "I know your allegiances are conflicting. You do not have to decide yet, but you will. No one else can make this decision for you. You know where my loyalty lies, and you know where Nico and Will's lie. Think on it. You will know when your time to choose is up. It will be clear." I nodded slowly. Until this year, I actually hadn't known much about Snape. Only when he found out I was a demigod did he tell me he spied for Dumbledore. Which was yesterday. I couldn't fathom how he played so many roles, and yet stay so unbiased around me. I knew that there were many ways I could go from here. None of them would be easy. I'd be betraying someone, no matter what.