A few of Draco's vassals were at his side when they found Longbottom staring at the school.
"He's been stunned- Nott."
The other Slytherin quietly cast a reviving charm, and Neville drew breath as if he had been holding it.
"Malfoy, thank goodness- we've got to get back to the school, the Aurors just got wind of something in there-"
"Are there Death Eaters in the castle?" he asked, interrupting.
"Everyone inside seems to think there are. I haven't seen any," he answered, checking his infernal Remembrall. If the Death Eaters are inside, we have a chance. They need only hide until everything dies down and kill the new authority when the opportunity presents itself. Then we'll have everyone's children. That he had not heard of the plan, however, concerned him. It seemed likely that his falling out of favor with them resulted in their concealment of relevant details, lest he ruin their chances. Even my own father said nothing of it.
"No school under the Ministry is worth the taking," Nott muttered, following all the same. Tracey had an icy glare.
"If they fail to take it, we shall have the most valuable seat of power in the world."
"There is little any of us can do against a host of Aurors," Malfoy responded. "A successful capture would depend on the force the Death Eaters have brought." I would have some idea of it had they deigned to tell me.
They left Neville behind as they approached the school. His involvement would not help them any more than Crabbe's, and they needed him in the school in the likely event that the Ministry would seize the school. What eludes me is how they're insuring it won't be a repeat of Umbridge- though they can't be the wisest, as they are not blood purists, they should not be any more inclined to throw lives away than we are.
He remembered allowing Goyle to leave with Neville, meaning he was most likely in the school or around it. He felt a chill as the four of them reached the main doors.
"Looks like they weren't lying about the dementors, but they had to have been lying about Crouch," Crabbe muttered.
"You needn't trip the rest of us with your blundering," Nott said, casting a muffling charm as Draco put up an illusion. I'll have to thank Padma- but first we'll have to remain unseen. No one explicitly told us not to go to the castle, but that excuse will run out soon. "Why would they lie about both? They must have been mistaken- but had they only a cursory look, they would not have stood by the statement."
"It was someone else with polyjuice then, in case they were seen," Davis decided. "We have more important-"
"My father told me Crouch has a son," the Malfoy heir said, trying to focus on the Aurors apprehending the dementors. It was almost like the wraiths were guarding the way in. "He fought with us on the last war, and made the old bastard break his own kill on sight policy. More of a Dark Lord loyalist than a blood purist, and to so much as read the descriptions of the corpses he left behind, he was violently unstable."
He hoped the explanation would set the proper mood, even among Nott and Davis, both of whom he knew to admire the Lord Voldemort more than was advisable. The latter scowled. They did, after all, call all the Death Eaters mentally unstable. Fitting, that the insane should find the last sane men and say they are mad for not being the same.
The dementor was only chased away, but there was nowhere the Aurors could have put it. Secrecy is a hair's breadth away from being destroyed. These particular wizards are no more responsible than the Dark Lord, for destroying Azkaban, but their contribution to the loss of our world will be remembered. Where he had expected they would leave the school after banishing the wraith, they entered.
"Stupefy." Draco knocked out the last one to scan the area as the rest entered.
"Do you mind explaining?" Davis asked.
"We don't want them to know who did it. Otherwise I would have killed him." He made a motion to follow, which all but Crabbe obliged haltingly. "Hit them in the backs and the Death Eaters will have an easier time."
Counter to his expectations, the Aurors were back outside, scanning in all directions as one of them revived the fallen one. Damn. Someone counted to make sure they all made it inside.
"We should retreat," Nott suggested. "It's as well that they're out of the battle looking for us."
The Malfoy heir kept his scowl to himself. The Aurors were better trained than to be intentionally led away, and more logical than to allow one stunner from a distance to deter them from their mission when the problem was easily remedied. Even if they correctly assumed we were initially trying to attack them, we would have to make a better effort to bother them.
As he silently predicted, the red robed wizards were not interested in chasing them.
"It could be the dementors- or it could be the Death Eaters, but they have other concerns," he summarized quietly. We can't pick them off, we can't even slow them down by any measure. "We shall follow them." At the very least, we shall know what has become of the school.
He was aware the school was no longer his own, but he had reasonably held out hope the blood purists could take hold of it. Though it had been Snape who had expelled him, if for no other reason than to quiet the school governors, a proper administration would see him to the education his birth merited. I shall have to merit it myself at Durmstrang- no matter. My past failures will be unknown.
It appeared that the Aurors were not going to split up again, but they were staying far enough apart to avoid being caught in any kind of spell that would take them all out at once. The killing curse is only effective on a single target because of a brief connection between the souls of caster and victim. Fire spells, however, have a better chance under these circumstances. Four wands with standard fire charms are better for a small area than four killing curses any day of the week.
The unmistakable sound of an explosion rang out. Goyle wouldn't be so reckless.
No one asked what was going on; there were no answers to be had. It was uncertain who had cast the spell and why. They had to follow the red-robed wizards slowly, maintaining the illusions and recasting them where necessary. It was nowhere near as good as an invisibility cloak, but it was a sight better than the Peruvian Darkness Powder that Nott had been using the previous year.
The explosion was followed by several more, at least three, though they were getting louder, making it hard to tell when one ended and the next began. Never mind, Goyle's at least involved. The Death Eaters would have ended things more swiftly.
The four of them followed their targets to what seemed a battle from the pages of history. Draco coughed as smoke reached his throat. Explosions can get around shield charms with the debris- clever bastard. Immediately the Auror in the lead cleared the smoke with a single spell, revealing Goyle and a Hufflepuff of some sort with shields up. Both had a few stunners sent at them from different wands, but the Slytherin was unlucky enough to be hit, while his opponent fled after two spells bounced off his shield. Damn. I might be deprived of a loyal servant. An explosion went off at their feet, though it was difficult to say who cast it- as three of the siz Aurors were knocked off their feet, Draco drew.
"Quickly!" he shouted, hitting one of them with a stunner as Nott put an ice charm on the ground. Crabbe might have been putting one to sleep or disarming- the killing curse was a challenge to learn and none of them could claim to have mastered it. That fleeing Hufflepuff might have used the explosion to cover his tracks. Draco hit another Auror as Tracey was forced to dodge a retaliatory curse, and the four of them had the numbers advantage, if nothing else. The illusion is unlikely to be effective with all the dust in the air- why didn't I think of it?! He felt his wand fly out of his hand and jumped in the way of a body-bind curse as Nott took out its caster. The amulet he was wearing took effect soon after he hit the ground, and he grabbed a stray wand, rolled over and managed to deflect some sort of jinx as Crabbe finished with the few that were on the ground before being stunned. Only one Auror stood, but he cast a massive explosion charm at the feet of Nott and Davis with a snarl. He must have not seen me- Draco hit him in the back with a stunner as he stunned Nott. Tracey coughed.
"Can you produce a killing curse?"
"It takes practice. I haven't had time yet."
More than anything though, the truth was he had no hatred for the red-robed wizards- their masters, to be sure, but the men themselves were runes in a great ward. It made more sense to think of them as the wand arm of the Ministry, or part of it, and the arm had no will of its own. They would suffer appropriate consequences for the regime they supported, but the venom was reasonably reserved for the Department and the faction.
At the same time, he had no moralistic objection to executing them, even when they were lying on the ground. Davis was already hitting Nott with a counter charm, though there might have been some other reason she was avoiding Draco's eyes. He elected not to waste time and woke Goyle, then Crabbe.
When they were all standing, they stared at the Aurors, either petrified or stunned.
"Fire charms- it'll go faster if we all do it."
"Shouldn't we question them?" Tracey asked suddenly. "Or- better, does anyone know the Imperius Curse?"
"No," Draco said softly. He needed not explain that no one was a master of the curse and little information could be gained from trained wizards whose minds were almost certainly occluded, actively and while they slept. The simple fact of it was that it was time to stop being children, and incinerate what would only be a threat to them later. All Tracey needed
They stood at a safe distance and burned, hearing occasional explosions in the background. The little bastard must still be trying to lose his pursuers- maybe cut them off entirely. The more he thought about it, the targets they should interrogate with Legilimency were the Hufflepuffs- untrained with Occlumency, but they had to know more than the Department really wanted them to know. September next will see the beginning of the wars of the mind. We shall have to leave as many at Hogwarts as we can- Parkinson, Creevey- we have to have something on a dozen Slytherins... we have to control them with memory charms and teach them how to protect themselves.
In the middle of his planning, he noticed the Aurors were destroyed past all possible recognition. It was not enough to burn them a little; they had to be killed, and he knew it was easier for his people to stand there holding wands and maintaining spells when everyone else was doing it than to stop and see if they were dead.
"That's enough," he decided. "The goal is not to reduce them to ashes. Let the Ministry find that their servants are dead, and let them hem and haw over whether it should go in the Prophet or not. We should be going after the Hufflepuff, though not with the direct route." They set about getting out of the school, since their target would either get out and run for it or block their path, meaning the quickest route would take them outside. It might have been odd to him a year ago, that they could all unconsciously navigate the castle, but it was the product of years of experience, and the same could be said of all the students before, as it would be said of all the students after.
He could faintly hear the explosions outside as he ran, wishing he had thought to bring his broomstick, and the scene oddly reminded him of chasing the mudblood in first year, when he had no idea of her blood status, only a reasonable suspicion. In his mind he could still see the great roar of flame from five wands, it was as if the light had damaged his eyes. The doors to the Entrance Hall opened as soon as they reached them, and the wizard behind them was ready with an explosion, forcing them all backward as he ran.
Covered in the loose earth, Draco stirred, grabbing his wand with a few blades of grass. Damn- it feels like I've broken something. His racing mind managed to reason that their target was not waiting for them specifically, but expected someone on the other side of the door, which was why he said the incantation for an explosion just as he heard footsteps or anything else. Uncaring if anyone else followed him, he attempted a killing curse, but if he managed the spell it missed. Forcing himself back into a run, he found Goyle flanking him. The heir to the Malfoy name had not the breath to give orders, but none were necessary. As his henchmen accelerated, he heard another explosion, then another- He has to be just as fatigued as the rest of us, if not more.
The next explosion was followed by what sounded and felt like a small earthquake.
"Must've hit some kind of pillar," Goyle muttered, letting him catch up. "Managed to figure it out myself."
As they ran through the Great Hall, the gems of the House Point hourglasses were scattered across the floor. Goyle jumped to a table without missing a beat, and Draco was quick to follow. He shot sparks at an archway above one of the ways out and his henchman followed it with an explosion. Now he knows which way we're taking to chase him, but his way is cut off.
He anticipated some worthwhile secrets coming out of the wizards mind; the real cowards always had dirt on someone for insurance. Another explosion was waiting for them, but he was ready with a shield charm. The castle shook once more. Desperation notwithstanding, he is nearly in our hands.
As they cornered the target at the end of a ruined corridor, Draco put a shield charm directly in front of him, causing his next explosion to force him against the wall. It would not do to let him take the easy way out. Interrogation must be better than death.
"When your little friends find you, be sure you tell them about our capabilities. We want them scared."
He started to reach out with Legilimency, but Goyle hit the Hufflepuff with a sleeping charm first.
"We need to get out of here. The whole damn thing could come down any minute."
"Mobilicorpus." The target's body was fluid and easily moved through the air. As they turned to leave the corridor, the heir of House Malfoy could see where his henchmen made his assessment. All over the ceiling there were cracks; some of the arch supports were ready to come down entirely. He remembered the castle healing itself in first year, though they never learned whether it had been that, or the Lord Voldemort repairing it to cover his tracks. In either case, the walls looked to be in no condition to put themselves back together. Ward light flickered when he looked closely, making him wonder what kind of defenses had been put in place since the ancient magicks the Founders had wrought. Salazar Slytherin would have objected to his Chamber being opened and occupied by the unworthy, but his heart might have wrenched to see the school in disarray.
The three of them were outside to find their associates standing around like characters in some kind of dramatic painting, perhaps Grim Silence in Autumn by Aslaug the Ancient, or even The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio, as they were still.
To his detriment, it took him a moment to process what he was seeing, his eyes passing between them as he dropped the sleeping Hufflepuff on the ground. Nott was looking away from everyone else. He seemed to have a bruise on his head. Tracey had hastily healed her own ankle; there was blood on the ground all around her and her shoe was a few feet away. She seemed to be distressed, needlessly putting Crabbe's arms on top of him.
Crabbe was dead.
Draco froze his legs stock-still to keep himself from collapsing to his knees. He turned to Goyle, but the young man's face was hard and full of a silent rage that would burn as long as his heart would beat. Tracey seemed to notice them as the sleeping body rolled over to her.
"I'm sorry, Draco, there was nothing-" He knew. Her voice was enough. "He- well, he must have heard it or something and he put himself in front of us... my ankle snapped under him, but that's not, that's nothing, I don't care about it..."
"How did he die?" the living henchman asked.
"It might have been the explosion... it might have been the door hitting him... I'm sorry, I really couldn't tell, he was beyond hope when I had my wand in my hand- Nott, he was unconscious, but he woke up... at some point. I saw you two were gone and I told him that you were avenging him."
"That's what I needed," Goyle muttered. "More bodies to avenge."
A contingent of Aurors appeared with Crouch, who might have been the Minister already, or have some more powerful position. Draco knew why they were there.
"They went inside. We didn't see them after that." He kicked the sleeping Hufflepuff, who had since been petrified. "This one attacked us unprovoked." I would have liked to question him, but it's more important that we have an explanation for the corpse.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, they seemed to believe four Hogwarts students had nothing to do with the disappearance of a team of Aurors, but they could see that an explosion had taken place.
"Was there a reason for the attack?" Crouch asked. The venom in his voice suggested he was thinking it was 'fighting blood purism'.
"You'll have to ask him," Nott said, turning around. "You'll also have to ask him why he thought it best to cast enough explosions in the castle to make the walls shake. You'll have to excuse us; we have someone to bury."
"Mobilicorpus." Draco lifted Crabbe's static corpse after hitting it with a full-body bind.
"The four of you will be questioned extensively."
"We have family not far from here." Goyle muttered. "We're not flight risks."
They started to walk away. We're only losing a Hufflepuff. There are more from whence he came.
"On second thought," Crouch started, looking between them and the school. "Perhaps the deaths have not yet concluded for today. With deaths there can be new beginnings, and this is the hour of beginnings as well."
"How apropos," an Auror muttered. Draco saw a sycophant, but he saw something of himself or his father at the same time. "Perhaps, even, there truly is no need to incinerate the collection of books of dark magic. Perhaps there is no need to map the cursed maze of a castle so that we can finally figure out how to get in and out. A facility we created in the Ministry would be more convenient, more modern, and safer by leagues."
"It is decided, then, what I have contemplated. Oh, Hogwarts, you stood long and raised many a dark wizard, from the teats of their mothers to the cold earth they return- I suppose this one should count himself lucky he made it to fourth year."
Draco was stunned into stillness. There were only four of them- there was no chance to be had against Crouch and an entire contingent of Aurors, even as they leveled their wands to the castle they had an eye on the ragged group of Slytherins, daring them to try something.
Were it not for the catch in his throat he might have screamed, and were it not for the curse he applied to his legs they would have failed him. So, with it all taken into account, he was the picture of strength as the school fell, as a monument to magic itself was reduced to a ruin.
