Draco approaches the Forbidden Forrest at top speed on his broom. His legs dangle in the wind as he leans to one side. His eyes scout out the scene beneath him; searching for a sign of his father. Hundreds of black birds with catlike ears pass him in the air on their way to the castle.
Once he finds himself in the center of the Forbidden Forrest he presses on the front of the broomstick to descend. He circles above Lucius who's accompanied by approximately ten other Purists standing in human form. Flocks of black ravenlike birds litter the branches of trees surrounding them.
Draco's heels slide against the dirt as he grounds himself. Clutching the broom in one hand, he pushes the damp hair from his eyes with the other.
The clouds continues to dump copious amounts of rain upon them. A bolt of lightning illuminates their surroundings and highlights the enemies swarming him.
Lucius stands centered among his comrades with his shoulders held back. Those encircling him hold their wands directed at his son who stares back at them fearlessly.
"Go," Lucius instructs them. "Leave the boy to me."
One by one the Purists transfigure into mutated birds and flap toward the castle.
"Where is that Mudblood girlfriend of yours?" Lucius taunts. "No longer here to protect you?"
"Her presence is unnecessary," Draco replies with confidence. "Though I will admit her astute ability to disarm came of great use."
Lucius raises his eyebrows with an amused smirk. A glimmer of dark excitement crosses his eyes; his lips curling at the corners as he takes a step closer.
"Besides, this is between father and son."
"You've always been a despicable excuse for a son," Lucius jeers. "An embarrassment to the Malfoy name."
"And you've been a stand-up father?" The blonde gives a short laugh. "You raised me to be a self-serving bigot. You stood by as I was tortured; faced with the task to kill my own headmaster at the age of sixteen." He raises his wand hand, calmly directing it at his father. "However, I didn't come here to discuss pleasantries," he adds. "I came here to finish this; once and for all."
"You don't have it in you to kill," Lucius presses. "It was always your weakness." He folds his arms behind himself while tilting his head to the side in contemplation. "Receiving those orders at such a young age was a great honor; a direct order by the Dark Lord. And yet, you failed him."
"I didn't fail Voldemort, father; you did."
The statement causes visible tension in Lucius' face. His upper lip curls as he tilts his head back in displeasure. "You've caught me in a good mood. I'll give you this chance to flee; take your dirty blooded girlfriend and leave this town for good," he instructs through pressed teeth. "This is a sign of mercy for your mother. Now leave before I change my mind."
Draco grits his teeth while effortlessly directing his wand at Lucius. "This is for mother as well." With the quick twirl of his wrist, a flash of white light crackles from the tip of wand.
The charm crashes over Lucius like a hurtling wave; projecting his body feet away from Draco. His father is thrown onto his back and into a pile of sludge. Lacerations cover the Purist from head to toe as blood spills from his face and limbs. He kneels over in pain while gripping his cane close to his chest.
Lucius lets out a sudden sinister chuckle which chills Draco to the bone.
The blonde takes a few steps back with his wand held securely before his face. Lucius rolls onto his back, howling in laughter, as blood continues to spurt from every crevice. With one swift sudden movement he hurdles himself to his knees while delivering a curveball of a charm. "Crucio."
Draco is blown quite a few feet back as he's now shoved into the mud. He thrashes back and forth in the muck as his body aches from head to toe. The torturing charm stings every muscle in his body and ignites what feels like a wildfire on every inch of his skin.
Lucius continues to cackle, blood staining his mouth and teeth, as he retrieves a vile of potion from his cloak. He watches on in amusement as his son continues to helplessly flail in the sludge. He keeps the target of his wand focused while heightening the torturing curse with all of his might.
Draco screams out in pain as Lucius casually uncorks the potion with one hand. He presses it to his lips and tilts his head back while digesting the contents. The potion instantly heals all lacerations across his face and body. He licks his lips dry and tends back to his wand hand; held rigid at his son.
"Pity," Lucius whispers. "This is how my son dies.."
Draco rolls on his back and desperately tries to reach for his wand that was sinking in the mud. His fingertips dig into the dirt while clenching around his wand. His body convulses as he sucks in copious amounts of strangled air.
Using every ounce of energy he has left, he chokes out, "Wait." He places both palms against the mud, his wand held firm beneath his right hand, as he struggles to lift his upper body.
Lucius lowers his wand for a brief moment. The torturing charm alleviates with each passing second.
As Draco continues to regain his strength he keeps his head held low. Time was limited and he was running out of options.
Lucius arches his wand over his head and directs his other arm straight at Draco. With one fluid movement he takes a step forward and swishes his wand hand from around his head. "AVADA-"
The sudden screeching of a bird circles overhead and halts them in their place. Lucius stares up to the winged creature that levitates midair above the Purist.
Draco has his breath hitched in his throat as he shakes his head. He was now up against two Purists and he knew deep down that he was a lost cause.
To his surprise, Lucius begins shooting one charm after the other at the feathered creature. As a crack of lightning illuminates their surroundings, Draco can make out the fact that the appearance of the bird didn't match that of a mutated raven.
It was an eagle; with a massive wingspan and a large hooked beak. It smartly dodges each charm shot its way and moves through the air in some sort of controlled dance.
Draco takes the chance to dig his fingers fist deep in the mud and retrieve his wand. Without putting much thought into it he lashes his wand hand toward his father and shouts, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
A green lightning bolt explodes from the tip of his wand and zig zags its way to his target. Upon impact, Lucius falls lifeless to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Draco stumbles backward against the trunk of a tree while catching his breath. He gapes at the wand in hand and back again; in disbelief that he had finally cast the killing curse that he had been destined to conduct since he was sixteen.
The bird overhead lets out another ear-piercing squawk while hovering toward the ground. The second its talons touch the ground they transform into human feet. Teddy staggers across the mud; drenched in rain and covered in wet dirt.
"Draco!" he calls out.
A confused grin crosses the Slytherin's face as he takes a step closer. "Theodore?"
"I knew you needed my help," he proudly replies. "Did I do well?"
"Well; Teddy?" Draco places both hands on his shoulders. "You saved my life."
Upon their return Teddy and Draco sprint toward the Main Hall; saturated, dirtied and disheveled. The sounds of colossal blasts echoes throughout the halls as they pass each corridor.
They run almost face first into Harry and Hermione who stare at them as though they had seen a ghost.
"Draco," Hermione cries. She runs into his arms and tucks her head beneath his chin. He closes his eyes while slowly rubbing her back.
Taking a quick step back, she firmly smacks him across his face.
Draco winces as a scowl forms on his face. "What the bloody hell what that for?!"
"If you ever.." She points a stern finger held inches from his nose. "Disappear on me like that again, I'll kill you!"
Harry takes a slow step toward his godson with a very stern expression. His eyes are narrowed and his arms are tightly folded across his chest. "Just where have you been?" he scolds the blue haired boy.
"Teddy!" Victoire appears from behind, bolting past Harry and into Teddy's arms. "If you ever disappear on me like that again, I'll kill you!"
Draco forcefully blows air from his nose while withholding a laugh. He and Teddy share an exchange of similar guilty looks.
"How could you be so thick?" Victoire scolds. "Going off without us?"
"He saved my life," Draco informs. "I'd be dead if it weren't for him."
This statement appears to alleviate and frustrate Harry at the same time. "You can't be so reckless as to go up against the Purists alone, Teddy. It was a great risk."
"I remember a man I went to school with not so long ago." Draco tilts his head while looking to Harry. "He wouldn't have listened to that same principle."
Harry gives a dramatic sigh while rolling his eyes.
"There you are, Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall hurries up to them with a fearful yet contained expression. "They've broken the shield."
The smile on Draco's face fades as he looks the headmistress up and down. He opens up the lapel to his drenched suit jacket and pulls out a snake-headed walking stick; flattening out the wand in the palm of his hand. "He's dead," he speaks lowly. "The Purists will crumble without their leader."
"Your father is dead?" Hermione repeats. "How did you..?" The expression on her face tells that she already knew the answer.
An explosion erupts from behind them and McGonagall promptly swishes her wand over her head. She shoots at a stone pillar adjacent to them.
The pillar comes crashing to the ground within a matter of seconds. It had landed atop one of the ravenlike birds that had been fluttering toward them. It promptly transfigures back into a man in his early thirties who's trapped beneath a pile of rubble.
The six of them have their wands drawn at the Purist injured on the floor.
"Please," he coughs out. "I have a family."
Draco emerges from the rest, slowly taking one step after the other. He directs his wand in between the Purists eyes. "Crucio."
In a similar fashion to the status of Draco just thirty minutes prior, the man wiggles back and forth in immense pain.
"Draco!" Hermione wails. "Stop it!"
Draco's jaw clenches as he keeps pristine focus on his target; the Purist twitching beneath the pile of rubble while screaming out in agony.
"Oh, I'll stop it," he replies coolly. "Once he's agreed to obey my orders."
"I'll-I'll d-do anything!" he chokes out.
"You will turn back into that bloody bird suit of yours, and alert the others. Lucius Malfoy is dead. And unless the lot of you wish to end up like him, I'd suggest you leave," Draco advises. "Understand?"
Another explosion rattles the walls as the Purist digs his fingernails into the ground. His silence causes Draco to intensify the torturing charm.
"Under.. stand?" he slowly repeats.
The man fervently nods his head, his entire body convulsing. "I'll-I'll do it."
"You're letting him go?" Teddy interjects, leaving Victoire's side. "How do you know he won't kill us the second he gets a chance?"
"They boy has a point," Draco contemplates, the grip of his wand tightening. "Expelliarmus."
The wand is ripped from the Purists hand and flies into Draco's. He breaks the charm being expelled from his own wand but still holds it fixed on the man's bloodied face.
The Purist crawls on hands and knees from beneath the rubble with his chest heaving. With wobbly knees he brings himself to his feet and dusts his pants off. He twirls his robes from around his shoulders and morphs into the black bird. The bird, sputtering wildly in the air due to a broken arm, vehemently flaps off into the distance.
"Do you.." Harry approaches Draco's side. "You can't believe that'll actually put an end to this?"
"We'll have to find out," he replies. "At the very least it'll delay them." He turns to McGonagall with a solemn expression. "In the meantime, headmistress, our focus should be to keep you safe. Potter; take Hermione and the children back to the Main Hall where you'll be safe for now."
"And you?" Hermione asks. "Where will the two of you be going?"
"To higher ground. The Astronomy Tower."
McGonagall presses her mouth into a thin line while solemnly nodding her head. "Very well."
Harry, Hermione and the children look to one another. "It never gets easier admitting this, but Malfoy's right," Harry states with confidence. "Keeping the children safe is our priority."
"No he's not!" Hermione insists. "What if something happens?"
Draco gives a firm head nod to Harry who places both hands on Teddy and Victoire's shoulders. He directs them from out of the room toward the Main Hall.
"Harry, where are you going?" Hermione pleads.
Draco walks up to her with his hands in his pockets.
"Draco, no." Tears well up in the waterline of her eyes. "It's safer with all of us together!"
He interlaces his fingers in hers as he presses his forehead against hers. He sniffs back a few tears while deeply staring into her eyes. "You're the most brilliant witch I've ever met. Just remember that I love you."
"Why're you talking like that?" her voice squeaks.
Placing both palms on the side of her head he presses his lips against her forehead. "I love you, Hermione," he repeats.
Her hands wrap around his forearms as tears stream down her cheeks. "I love you too, Draco."
And with that, Draco takes a step back and places his hand on McGonagall's back. "After you, headmistress."
