Chapter 29

Morning could not have come sooner, Draco was ready. He had to convince both Severus and Neville that he was okay to do this. Draco walked downstairs and Grimmauld Place was packed. It was full, there must have been a hundred people in the living room. Gregory and Charlie came back from France. Mr. Weasley had switched places. Charlie and Oliver Wood had been running drills since early in the morning. Charlie gave their team an extra flyer. Bill Weasley and Remus were there as well as Draco's cousin Tonks and his Aunt Andromeda. She spotted him first, "Draco,"

"Hello," Draco said awkwardly. It was nice that to know that not all of his relatives were horrible. His Aunt threw her arms around him. Draco froze, unsure of what to do, "It's very nice to meet you too."

"Mum, you're scaring him." Tonks sent him an apologetic look.

"It's alright. You look like my mother" Draco said.

Andromeda smiled, "She and I looked like our father, and Bella was a good mix. I'm sorry you've had such a rough time, but I would like to consider you family if that's alright with you."

"Let's win the war first." Draco smiled, "We should divert all of our attention to making sure that Harry succeeds."

"I agree" Tonks replied.

"Gran," Neville called out as he ran to hug the person who had raised him, "I didn't realize you were coming."

"I'm not staying Neville. I am going to France to help your Mother and Father. "His Grandmother smiled, "I wanted to see you before I left."

Draco walked over to Neville and his grandmother to give her the address, "Mrs. Weasley said that they've used a charm so that they can communicate with the locals. You should be able to relax, Mrs. Longbottom."

"Thank you," Neville's Grandmother seemed wary of Draco for some reason, "It seems strange for you to exert so much energy into helping us."

Draco blushed a little, "I only want to do what's right. What's wrong with being a side where there are people who actually care about each other?"

"Nothing at all" Neville interrupted, "Draco has made sure many of the ones who can't fight are safe."

"You call him by his first name?" Neville's Grandmother asked, "I thought you had trouble with him at school."

Draco exhaled, but found his confidence and spoke to Neville's Grandmother honestly. Neville wanted to stop him, but Draco shook his head. If there were doubts about him, he wanted to address them, "Mrs. Longbottom, I was a right prat in school. I was awful to Neville. I called him names, I teased him, I did everything that I could to make him feel worthless. I am not a child anymore; I cannot do anything about my behavior in my past except apologize for it. However, I am not that person anymore. I am here to make sure that our freedom isn't taken away, and to assume some of the responsibility of the damage that my family has caused. So, all of the sins that my family committed. I'll bear them all."

"I think he sounds more like me, then my sisters." His Aunt came to his rescue, "We, both, can try to undo some of the damage that my sisters have caused."

Neville's Grandmother put his arms around Draco and whispered in his ear, "Are you in love with my grandson?"

"I don't know" Draco answered honestly. Neville's Grandmother nodded. She left shortly after that.

The other Weasley twin walked into the room with ears for everyone. They were squishy awkward things, but once they were inside, they fit perfectly. Draco couldn't tell the difference between his own ears and the ones they gave him. George, the one that Draco recognized, said, "Let's test them. Neville go upstairs."

"Draco, when Neville leaves the room ask him a question. When he responds, we will all be able to hear." George explained. Neville left the room and waited a couple of minutes before Draco started speaking.

"Do you normally wear boxers or briefs?" Draco asked with a smirk on his face.

"I thought you didn't normally wear underwear, Draco." Neville responded. If only he could have seen Draco's face when he answered. His wishes were answered quickly, Draco's face was still bright red when he returned to the room. Neville whispered to his friend, "Next time, ask a normal question, love."

Their equipment was set. Mad-Eye was placed in charge of the entire operation. The first team was Draco and Neville bringing in Severus as a prisoner. Draco and Neville disguised themselves as Death Eaters and were expected to bring Severus in as a prisoner. The three of them walked up into Neville's bedroom. Neville asked, "Do you want to take off your clothes or do you want us to use a spell?"

"I'm sorry there isn't really a good option" Draco said with real sympathy on his face.

"Let's do it in the cell. It's probably darker in there so we don't have to parade him down the all." Neville suggested.

"None of the prisoners are brought in like that from what I remembered." Severus said shuddering at the memory, "Just used the spell. We don't want to waste more time then we have to."

Draco pointed his wand at Severus's body "Divesto"

Severus's face blushed red and reached down with his hands to cover himself, "Don't look anywhere vital, please."

Draco and Neville tried hard to look only at his face. Neville spoke first, "I'm sorry Severus, you will just have to bear with it. It won't be for long."

Neville bound Severus's arms and legs, and they both apparated to the Prison. Draco followed right after them. Severus remembered the previous time when he was rescued by Ron and Harry and closed his eyes. He tried to block out what was happening. Neville and Draco brought Severus into a cell. There was one other prisoner, but they paid him no attention. They hung Severus up with the shackles and spread his legs. Severus's eyes begged them not to look at his body. As they turned to leave the room, Neville's eyes widened when they saw who the other prisoner was. Draco asked Neville through Occlumency, "Do you know him?"

"Yeah he was in Gryffindor, used to worship Harry" Neville responded, "His name is Colin Creevy."

"He looks like he's been there for a while." Draco commented, "He looks like he won't make it much longer."

Neville looked at the poor boy who's arms and legs looked so worn out. The life was basically drained from his eyes, "We'll come back for him. We're busting everyone out. Draco and Neville stood on either side of the door to avoid being in the line of sight if someone were to walk in. Colin's eyes widened when he saw them. Neville held up a finger to his lips to make sure that he stayed quiet. Draco began pulling off his cloak. Several times a Death Eater walked past the window and peeked though. Severus struggled against the chains, but it was useless.

"That was once, we need to wait for her to stop." Neville spoke under his breath.

Tonks was disguised as the Death Eater making her rounds. Each time she checked in on them meant how many prisoners she found. Bill and Remus were in another cell with Gregory as the prisoner. Tonks walked around four more times. Excluding Colin, there were five prisoners here. They heard a large blast from the front gates. From their plan, they were not to move until the majority of the death eaters left. Charlie was partnered with Tonks in her mission. Sending anyone in alone would have been suicide. When the floor was mostly cleared, Charlie and Tonks knocked out the remaining Death Eaters. Neville and Draco freed Severus. Draco transfigured his cloak into robes and handed them to Severus. Draco also handed him his wand. Neville freed Colin who tried to curl up to cover his body. Neville transfigured his own cloak into robes and helped Colin dress.

"Isn't that Malfoy?" Colin asked quietly.

"Yeah, he's on our side." Neville explained, "We can't leave yet until they've broken through the gate"

"It sounds like they are struggling out there. One of the Weasley twins got hit pretty hard." Draco explained. Neville shook his head to tell Draco to stop talking about the battle in front of Colin who was in tears.

"We can't think about that now. Your aunt will worry about the injuries. We need to focus." Neville spoke calmly.

"I think they need help." Severus said getting ready to open the door. Tonks heard their conversation and stopped them. Her eyes told them to stay put. A few minutes later, Bill and Remus carrying Millicent Bulstrode into their cell. Bill stepped out to help his brother free other prisoners. Tonks let Severus out to open another prison cell. Neville and Draco stayed put with the victims. Luna Love good was barely alive. Justin Finch-Fletchley screamed when he saw Draco, but Neville covered his mouth. Draco didn't recognize many of the others. He took Luna from Severus's arms. She was naked, and her face was ghostly white. Draco checked for a pulse, then he took off his outer robe and wrapped it around the girl and held her tight.

"Did you free them all?" Neville asked.

"I didn't see anymore." Severus said.

"There's a second floor," Justin spoke.

Draco spoke first, "What we're going to do is block of this cell. There are six of us, if there's an ambush, we will probably be okay."

"That's a good plan, but what happens if they discover this cell?" Neville asked. Draco pulled out two wands out of the robes that he wrapped around Luna. He handed one to Justin and the other to Millicent who seemed to be the most functional in that moment.

"If the front gate is over run, then they don't stand a chance." Tonks pointed out, "Two of us should stay behind."

"Shhh, someone's coming!" Neville shushed. Everyone pushed to the sides to avoid being scene. Draco peaked out. It was Nott. He took one look at the empty cells and called ran out of the door. Draco and Neville looked at each other again.

"Their fight isn't going to end soon. Remus and I will get the prisoners out. Go take the front Gate from the behind at least then you will have a chance to regroup." Bill pointed his wand at the back wall. He blasted the hole stone all open and Severus flew out. He managed to grab the edge of the window and Remus pulled him back up. Remus took off his shoe and handed it to Bill.

"Do you know where you want to go Bill?" Remus asked.

Bill nodded, "Sorry about that Severus, here we go. Portus"

As soon as it was clear, Neville, Draco, Severus, Tonks and Charlie ran to the front gate where the fighting was. They could hear what was happening because of the ears that George had created, and when they reached the gate, there was no turning back.