8

Breath of Life

Draco once found comfort in the simplicity of Murphy's Law: if anything could go wrong it would. But when Voldemort dropped dead and Potter spoke on his behalf, it seemed the majority of his bad luck had run out. He briefly wondered if he was due for another round about thirty minutes into his stare-off with Blaise.

Without remembering how, he found himself standing in the centre of his friend's office after leaving Granger in the Void Room. Draco Floo called Patil, who was still at home, in lieu of a response to Blaise's initial question of 'What are you doing here?' He instructed her to tell the Keepers to report to the department, but to inform their Unspeakables and interns that they were to stay at home.

Then, he sat down and refused to answer Blaise's question.

Refused to think about anything.

Well, until the floor started shaking violently with enough intensity to make them both grab the arms of their chairs. Draco held on just long enough to get his bearing. Blaise used one hand to shield his coffee from debris as picture frames fell from his walls. The shriek of voices and crash of glass propelled him into action rather than immobility.

The disturbance could only have come from one place: The Department of Mysteries

His first thought was irrational, but he'd left Granger down there alone.

His second… wasn't so much a thought as it was him internally yelling at himself about his first thought, but at the same time understanding that while he was furious at her—and he was very angry—he wasn't a complete bastard.

And fuck if loving her hadn't clouded his judgment.

Case in point: his exit from Blaise's office.

With only one destination in mind, Draco didn't wait for the shaking to stop. He left in a flurry of disoriented movements that had him first bumping into walls, then using his hands to both keep himself from falling over and cut through the crowd of people seeking cover. By the time Draco made it to the lift, the tremors just stopped and an eerie silence fell in the aftermath. People slowly emerged from their offices and departments, looking around in confused awe while making sure everyone else was unharmed.

Draco said nothing to anyone; he was already unsettled, stomach churning with an unfamiliar feeling. It was the sort of unease that kept his heart somewhere in his throat and his foot tapping impatiently on the marble until the doors opened.

After stepping on the empty lift, he pressed the button for Level Nine multiple times until the doors finally shut. Probably sensing his jittery restlessness, the lift moved faster than he'd ever experienced, and before he knew it, the doors were opening on Level Nine.

He rushed down the same hall he walked every morning, only to find a thoroughly soaked, but positively wild-looking Granger at the end of it, beating on the entrance chamber with the closed fist that contained her wand. On the floor next to her, there was an empty glass jar with a lid that was—unsurprisingly—half-full of water. There was a growing puddle around her feet as more water poured from her.

Draco would have laughed at the sight had he not been so fucking relieved.

But did he express that?

No.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Granger beat on the door one last time, then kicked it for good measure before turning to him and making an almost feral noise of frustration. "I came back here after getting my jar from my office, then I went to the Artefact Room to reset the wards. I thought that I could get the runestone into the jar if I just—"

"What did you do?" Draco approached her, momentarily forgetting the long list of reasons why he was so angry.

She didn't exactly look proud of herself when she responded. "I touched it with the tip of my wand to nudge it off the shelf and into the jar. I got zapped by magical lightning for my trouble." That was when he noticed her jumper was torn below her elbow, discoloured. "No idea why I thought it could possibly be that easy, but I had to try." Granger gingerly presented her arm to him. Draco was half-listening, concentrating as he rolled up her sleeve, revealing the nasty-looking burn on her soaked skin. She winced.

"Looks worse than it feels, honestly. I'll heal it later. I have a vial of dittany in my office."

"Shut up." Then he added, "Please."

Healing was not his speciality, but Draco took out his wand and got to work; he did the best he could without thinking. Granger's skin was too warm when he finished, but there wasn't much left of the burn except an irritated patch.

"Thank you."

They both heard a loud crash of thunder and looked at the entrance chamber.

"What the hell is going on in there?"

Granger looked sheepish. "Well…" Draco groaned, not liking at all how this was going. "The stone did not appreciate my attempt. The runes turned bright red, the stone itself started shaking right before the ground did. I got out and came out here to try and find you, but the doors shut and locked behind me and…" She shrugged. "You're all caught up."

Draco swore under his breath. "The department has gone into a containment lockdown. It's a safety measure to protect the rest of the Ministry from being blown to bits by what we do down here."

"That's comforting, but how—"

"I'm the Department Head. I have access."

"Great, because I have an idea. Of course, the responsible thing to do would be to wait for backup, but the Artefact Room…"

With its wards being sucked up by the runestone, they would eventually fail and destroy all the precious artefacts they hadn't been able to move.

Waiting for help was simply out of the question.

Before he could inform her of his decision, the ground started shaking again, harder and far more intensely than what he'd felt in Blaise's office. The lanterns on the wall snuffed out, plunging them into darkness.

Blindly, Draco reached for her as the quaking forced him to his knees, bringing her down with him. He could feel the vibrations in his bones and could hardly keep his balance, even that close to the ground. But he made sure to cover her wet head with his arms, instinctively curling himself over her as she clung to him.

When it stopped, the lights came back on and they both lifted their heads. Still trying to get his bearings, he closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he found her already looking at him. It wasn't exactly a glare, but something… softer?

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Draco nodded, not really in the mental space for sarcasm. They got back to their feet.

"So, your idea is…" He gave her an expectant look.

"Not fully-formed, but you should take off your shoes and set a warming charm. The water is freezing and we might need to swim at some point."

"Swim?" He went to the entrance chamber door and tapped it with his wand. When the doors opened, the water—stopped by the containment charms over the department—was up to his ankles. "Is my department flooding? Why is my department flooding?"

"Possibly. I noticed it when I was almost out. Did Magical Maintenance check the drains?"

"No, they didn't, but I think the quake damaged them because everything was draining just fine before. Maybe? I have no idea."

At the look on his face, Granger held her hands up in mock-surrender. "Don't ask me how. For once in my life, I don't want an answer. I just want to neutralise the bloody thing and go on about my day."

It was a fair point that he actually agreed with.

The runestone was more trouble than it was worth. It had to go.

Granger narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, then looked over at the rainwater that was slowly rising; stopping at the doorway as if held there by an invisible force. "I think we can use the flooding to our advantage."

"I don't follow."

"We have a better shot of getting the runestone into the jar if we're underwater. I observed earlier that the rain doesn't act like typical precipitation. Unlike natural water, it doesn't seem to be acting as a conduit. It has magical properties from being spawned by the runestone and it seems to be sentient. It doesn't like to be touched or moved, but if we maneuver it into the jar while it's still surrounded by the water of its own making, it should stay suspended in a protective bubble. It might not even know it's being moved. Then we need to swim to the Void Room and throw it in. Problem solved."

"Chances for success?"

"Fifty-two percent."

"You just made that up."

Granger smirked. "Of course I did. The actual odds are much worse."

Well, fuck the odds because they didn't matter anymore. Not when his department was flooding. The trajectory of the entire situation had been elevated from emergency to critical mass. They could no longer wait for a Rune Specialist or Curse-Breaker. Draco removed his jacket in a rush. Granger, silently acknowledging his agreement, took off her boots and walked past him to cast a Patronus. Draco rolled the sleeves of his shirt to his elbow while Granger sent her message through her otter.

"For backup we'll inevitably need," she said without looking over her shoulder at him.

Together, they watched the otter scamper off.

"Patil?" he guessed. She would be the only one, outside of him, who could access the department while under containment. The issue was Patil couldn't swim. She would need—

"And Harry." Granger finally looked at him. "They'll bring everyone we need to help." She looked down at his feet. "You won't be able to swim well with shoes on."

She was right. He didn't need anything to make this task any more difficult. Draco took them off and set them next to his jacket before joining her where she stood just outside the entrance.

They cast their own warming charms.

Draco nodded, eyes fixed on the water while listening to the maelstrom they were about to walk into. The rain sounded like a shower on the rising water, the thunder was as loud as bombs, and the wind was ferociously blowing drops in all directions. There was an ominous groan coming from somewhere deep in the department. He and Granger exchanged looks.

"Are you ready?" Granger asked.

No. Because he wasn't a lunatic that charged into danger. But Granger looked unbothered in a particularly Gryffindor sort of way that usually led to someone—probably him—getting hurt. It was so very her; he probably should have been more worried.

Bizarrely, he wasn't.

In fact, he led the way.

Hearing the storm was one thing, but standing in the centre of it was something entirely different.

Water was past his ankles, but Draco couldn't focus on anything because he was freezing. Warming charm only kept him from rapidly losing body heat, but didn't stop him from feeling the wind as it cut through him like tiny needles piercing his skin all at once. Draco was blinded by the rain beating down on him, instantly soaked through his clothes and socks. It didn't matter when he shielded his face, didn't matter when he turned around to make sure Granger was still there. It was too much. Too intense.

But she was behind him, fighting the wind with every step she took towards him. The jar was in one hand and her wand was in the other.

The entrance sealed behind them in a flash of white, officially trapping them inside.

Granger tried to yell over the storm. He could barely make out her mouth moving, but he couldn't hear over the howling wind. All of a sudden, the direction of the magical wind changed, which sent Granger crashing into him.

"It wasn't this bad!" she shouted, now close enough for him to hear.

A flash of lightning shot over their head, lower than he was comfortable with, but still closer to the now black cloud than not. The thunder that followed felt like a physical force that would have cost Draco his footing had it not been for the wind gusting in the wrong direction that propelled him forward rather than back.

Draco lowered his head, Granger not too far behind him as they pressed on, each step harder than the last. They continued on, traveling deeper and deeper into his department, and all the while, the water was rising higher.

By the time they passed the Void Room, where the water rolled to the doorway and stopped,halted by the invisible force, the flood waters were at Granger's knees. And even through the elements, he could hear her sloshing behind him and used that to make sure she didn't get too far from her.

They passed two other sealed doors.

At the Hall of Records, Draco touched his wand on the door frame and the door closed, sealing with a stream of bright light.

They passed the Brain Room, where they briefly saw the encephala erratically splashing around in their tank of green solution. Granger stopped to look, curious as always, but he yelled at her just loud enough for her to hear him and nod, continuing on.

Draco tapped his wand against that door and stumbled back when they shut with a boom.

That time, he turned his head away from the light only to find another one coming at him. The lightning came so close to Draco's head that he had to duck to avoid getting hit. It continued on, cutting high over Granger, but they both looked at each other in shock.

"That was close!" Granger yelled.

"Too close!"

By the time they reached the end of the third corridor, ready to make the first left in the right direction—the Artefact Room at the end of the long hall—the water had risen and was to the top of his calves and the middle of Granger's thighs.

The now familiar sound of her sloshing through water stopped abruptly.

Draco turned around, ready to see nothing where she was supposed to be, but she was still there. Her wand was out and she had a familiar fierce look on her wet face. Draco had just enough time to briefly wonder what the fuck she was doing when she cast a non-verbal protection charm that shot right past him, colliding with the bolt of lightning in a flash of white, hot magic that lasted the length of a heartbeat before the lightning dissipated into nothing.

With wide eyes, he looked back at Granger, who was pleased with herself, despite being thoroughly drenched.

"Every one hundred seconds, the lightning strikes! It doesn't like defensive spells!"

Because of course she would figure out the timing. And be right about it.

A hundred seconds later, Draco used his own protection charm just outside the closed doors of the Artefact Room. Granger, with a tight grip on her jar, gave him a little nod before he used his wand to open the door, the quick action causing a wave of water to crash into them both. Draco managed to stay on his feet, but Granger went under with a shout. Then, before his heart had a moment to kick into a higher gear, she came right back up.

Well, first her hand holding the jar appeared.

Then, the rest of her emerged, sputtering and using the back of her wand hand to wipe her face. "I'm fine!" Granger assured, lips chattering. "Let's go."

Draco nodded and took a breath before entering the room.

The door sealed shut behind them, per containment protocol.

The normally well-lit room was nearly too dark as the lights had been covered by the black cloud. The dormant section was towards the back of the room. In the Artefact Room, the water was colder, bitingly so, and he felt the last of his warming charm being sucked away, leaving a chill unlike anything he'd felt before.

Right.

The runestone sucked magic.

All magic.

And they were trying to cut off its power source.

No wonder it was pissed off.

The wind gusts were harder as they made their way to the source of it all, now nearly having to wade instead of walk as the cold water was to his chest. Instead of using a protection charm, Draco quickly dipped below the surface to avoid the lightning, not knowing if it was a good move until a bolt skimmed the surface.

Granger had the same idea and emerged after him, skin almost as pale as his and breathing hard.

The full extent of how fucking cold the water was hit him the moment he was out of it. The chill felt like it sliced through him, freezing all the way to his bones. Coupled with the fierce winds, it was harder for him to move, but he did, marvelling dully that while his body was so cold, it felt like it was on fire. It was painful, but he continued on through the heavy rain until he realised that mixed into the rain were small chunks of ice. Hail.

"We need to fix the wards!" Granger shouted.

His eyes burned from the rain and hail hitting him in the face, but he could barely make out the slight shimmer of a weakening ward protecting the artefacts from the flooding room. Draco nodded, his verbal agreement lost to the howling wind. Together, they made quick work of resetting them—hopefully for the last time—as they pushed their way towards the section where all dormant artefacts were stored.

By the time they were mere metres away from the runestone, it was glowing like a beacon, each pulse a different colour that transfixed them both. Granger's movements, Draco noticed, had become stiff, the only sign of her body's reaction to the temperature.

When he cast a warming charm for her, she whipped her head in his direction. Granger waded over to him, the water just under her shoulders. "No unnecessary magic, Malfoy! It won't last!"

"And neither will you if you freeze!"

She gave him a pointed look, which would have packed a little more punch had she not been blinking the rain from her eyes, had her teeth not been chattering, and had there not been pieces of hail stuck in her hair. Draco didn't see her mouth move, but he felt warmth spread throughout his body and took what felt like his first deep breath since the first warming charm had worn off. Granger didn't have to yell over the rain when she touched his face and said, "Same goes for you."

Then she pulled him under the water with her as another streak of lightning skimmed the surface, so bright it was almost blinding.

Draco resurfaced after her and Granger pushed the jar into his chest. "You're a better swimmer." She answered his question before he could ask. "While it stopped Skeeter from transforming, I doubt putting the runestone in there is going to stop the storm or the flood. I'll cover you."

"Magic?"

"Essential, of course. Defensive spells only." She gave him a confident look that turned serious as the hail and rain continued to fall all around them. "Be careful."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Keep talking like that, Granger, and you'll make me think you actually care." Before she could say anything in response—she'd opened her mouth, but water rushed in the moment she'd fixed it to speak—he cast a bubble-head charm and went under, knowing that there was an unknown time limit before the charm would fail as the runestone devoured the magic.

It was easier to swim, with one arm curled around a jar and clutching a wand, than walk. Faster than he'd anticipated, Draco broke the surface in front of the shelf that held the runestone.

The stone was not happy with his proximity. It started shaking and he barely missed being burned like Granger had been. Draco unscrewed the top of the jar, filled it with some of the water he was currently treading, and quickly covered the runestone with it. He flipped over the little pedestal on which the stone sat and watched the glowing runestone stall right in the middle of the jar, suspended. He hastily slid the pedestal away, screwed on the lid, and sealed it with a charm, hoping it would last.

As soon as the sealing charm was in place, everything stopped.

There was nothing except the sound of their heavy breathing and the sloshing of water settling after rough winds. But the air felt wrong. Twisted. His eyes barely had time to find Granger's before he felt the runestone vibrate inside the jar, then unleash its fury.

A pulse of magical energy rippled out from the jar, the wave sending him flying backwards. He crashed into the shelves behind him with enough force to take the breath from his lungs. Before he could think, he felt the shock of his body hitting the icy water. As if weighed down by stones, he sank to the floor as the room shook violently with the force of the runestone's rage amid a menacing groan.

Broken shelves, artefacts, and chunks of ice fell into the water, sinking and floating all around him as the water steadily rose. Meanwhile, Draco struggled to catch his breath, thankful for the bubble-head charm that was, miraculously, still intact. The pain in the back of his head and the sharp ringing in his ears were enough to make his vision blur, but he clung to consciousness with grim urgency until he could fully breathe, think, and see.

The first thing he noticed was that his wand was missing.

And while that was cause for serious concern, he didn't have time to react, because before he could blink, his entire world lit up. Silent trails of white light, so blinding they made his head throb, arced above the surface of the water. The two forces crashed together, neither backing down or giving in.

Granger.

Draco kicked himself into a new gear, getting himself upright under the water and looking around until he saw what he was looking for. The jar was still sealed shut, but like Granger had hypothesized, it wasn't strong enough to contain the runestone's magic. The stone and unknown rune were rapidly changing colours, as if both were on colour wheels that were being spun in opposite directions. It sent pulse after pulse of magic to break itself free from the unbreakable charm.

But it held firm.

For now.

At least until it inevitably feasted on the magic that had created the jar in the first place.

Draco swam to it, his movements a bit slow. Even in the freezing water, the jar was hot like molten lava to the touch and burned his fingertips; he quickly released it. Draco looked around, finding nothing with which to grab it. Thunder rumbled above and he kicked to the surface, swimming towards where he thought Granger might be. Before he could take a final inhale, his bubble-head charm failed, allowing water to breach.

Now, his quest to swim right to Granger turned into a race for the surface, which seemed far off as he dodged shelf fragments, artefacts, sinking chunks of ice, and fought an invisible force that pressed him down.

He had seconds, not minutes, and kicked out, making sure to keep himself as calm as possible, given the situation, or it might not end well for him. But the urgency was there in the back of his mind. It remained, even when he burst through the surface, taking a shuddering euphoric lungful of air.

All around him was chaos.

Draco didn't know which hurt worse, the hard rain or the hail. He scanned the room as best as he could in the near darkness and poor visibility, trying to figure how much the water had risen and immediately recognising that they were closer to the ceiling than the floor. He thought what he was hearing was thunder, but it was actually the wind that was audibly roaring all around them, creating a wave that he hadn't felt underwater. He watched the winds swirling, the water churning in a vortex centered over where he knew the jar was located.

And that was when he spotted her.

Granger.

In the middle of it all.

Fighting the waves as she aggressively took on a cloud that hurled bolts of lightning at her with increasing frequency.

As with everything in her life, she was focused on her task with ruthless determination, power crackling in the air around her. She was brilliant in a way he'd always known, but he'd never witnessed it so closely, so clearly.

Not like this.

Transfixed, he watched the eruption of light as her protection spell hit the lightning; the resulting fireworks made him briefly turn his head from the brightness because it hurt. He felt nauseous and dizzy but shook the pain away as best as he could, finding her again. Granger was looking around frantically, her mouth moving as she called out something he couldn't hear with the sound of the roaring wind and the ringing in his own ears. She sank beneath the surface, resurfacing a little closer to him, still looking. Searching.

Then he heard his name cut through the storm.

He could see the waves beginning to swell, rolling into her from behind. Draco swam to her, towards her voice, dipping under the surface to cut through the cold water faster. And when he came up behind her, she had just diffused another lightning bolt.

Then she turned around and saw him.

Granger honestly looked relieved to see him. Then she actually looked at him, her face morphing to alarm. "Your face," was all she said. Ah, he was injured. That explained enough for now. They had no time for anything else because they were in the middle of a goddamn magical storm.

Just one thing.

"I lost my wand," he blurted out.

Granger gave him an incredulous look before shaking her head, pointing hers, and summoning it from wherever it ended up after the explosion. Draco caught it in one wet hand, feeling far better.

"The jar—"

"Go under."

And he did. Now that he knew that he was injured, the water seemed to burn worse. Or maybe his adrenaline had shut off. No matter. He stayed underwater while Granger made short work of the lightning, then resurfaced again. She looked torn between wanting to abandon their mission and haul him off to St. Mungo's and doing something reckless.

"Where's the jar?" she shouted over the storm.

"On the floor with the stone sealed inside!" He tried to turn too quickly, and not only did it hurt, it brought too much attention to whatever the hell was wrong with his face. She winced at it, but that was her only reaction.

"Protection charm every sixty seconds. Don't look at the light." And she set her bubble-head charm, sinking below the surface.

Draco's heart was racing as he treaded water in the middle of maelstrom, counting to the next bolt as he rode the building waves. The water was still rising steadily. He shut his eyes before casting his first charm, not opening them until he was sure the lightning was gone. He did it three more times before everything started shaking again, the thunder deafening him with its angry roar and the wind forcing his eyes shut.

The spike in the storm's intensity told him one thing:

Granger had the jar.

He set his bubble head charm and sank into the icy depths, still not accustomed to the chill. He waited two lightning strikes, then sure enough, Granger was swimming towards him; the jar with the angry runestone was in a bubble of magic she controlled with her wand. Simple, but it did the trick. For now. They stayed underwater as they swam to the door, more to avoid the thunderstorm than anything.

Draco made it first, touching his wand to the door. Nothing happened.

He did it again.

Nothing.

Both of their bubble head charms failed at the same time, likely due to their proximity to the runestone. Draco made a gesture with both hands and she nodded; they both resurfaced at the same time. Granger's hand was still underwater, holding on to her bubble.

"What happened?" Granger asked, seeming to struggle with the jar under the water. "I'm not sure how much longer it'll hold."

Draco had no idea, but it felt like they were well and truly trapped in there, which wasn't good, because the room was almost completely underwater. There was no telling, if they set another bubble-head charm, how long it would work. Drowning was an actual possibility, and judging from the hyper-focused look on Granger's face, it was something that had dawned on her as well. But she seemed far calmer about the possibility.

The lightning that whizzed by their heads was stronger than any they'd encountered previously.

Granger looked up. "I could always blow a hole in the ceiling."

"Is property damage your answer to everything?"

"Sometimes."

Which meant most of the time. Draco tapped his wand against the door once again, then pressed his hand against it. When he looked back, Granger was staring past him with a thoughtful look on her face.

"You're entirely too calm right now, Granger."

"I've been in worse situations with a lot lower chance of survival, so I think we're good here." Granger looked up again. "I still like my property damage idea."

Draco looked at the door. "Actually, I do too. Only, not the ceiling; that's insane."

She hummed in a 'let's agree to disagree' sort of way—like they weren't in the middle of a goddamn magical deluge. Draco rolled his eyes, set his bubble head charm again, then hers, and for once, Granger followed his lead, sinking beneath the surface. They swam a safe distance from the door, with Granger pulling along her stubborn bubble holding the sparking runestone all the way.

As they descended, Draco looked around. It was strange seeing the Artefact room completely submerged, the streaks of lightning spreading in all directions across the surface of the water as if it were looking for them. He could see the shelves of artefacts they'd warded, noticing that the proximity of the runestone was making the shimmer of the wards fade slightly. Above them, artefacts, debris from the explosion, and loose parchment were floating like they were in some sort of dream.

For a moment, Draco found himself fascinated by the sight of Granger.

Her skin was pale from the cold, her face expressing her calm irritation, even behind the bubble. But it was actually her hair that grabbed his attention as it floated around her with a life all of its own. She looked almost ethereal in the insistent lightning strikes. Draco shook the thought from his head and gestured to the door when they touched the ground, which made her nod in response.

Ready?

The blasting spell he shouted sounded muffled in his own ears, but the unmistakable white spark that shot from the tip of his wand hit home in the way he expected.

And in a way he did not.

The power of the underwater blast from his spell sent them both backwards first, then forward as all the water poured from the Artefact Room into the hall, sucking them both into a vortex of quickly moving water. Once again, Draco lost his wand and sight of Granger instantly as they were flooded from the room in a chaotic sequence of spins and twists.

Head over feet.

Feet over head.

Rolling and spiralling out of control.

He collided with what felt like a brick wall before being carried on through the rushing water, vision hazy and ears ringing. Draco reached—for what he didn't know, just something to stop him. His hands came back empty, grasping at water.

And when he hit something harder than the first wall, something more unforgiving, some part of him screamed in pain.

Water poured into his bubble head charm and Draco had the awareness to suck in a final breath.

The last conscious thought he had was, definitely my time for bad luck.

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