Chapter 41: Calm Before the Storm
Castle by Halsey
"Fuck!"
Draco looked up with an arched eyebrow as Blaise slammed his books on the table. He had a large gash running down the left side of his face, through his eye, and it was bleeding heavily.
"What happened to you?"
"The fucking Carrows!" Blaise said, "Getting more creative with what they consider to be 'rules' that have to be followed. I simply suggested that they, you know, go straight back to Hell where they came from after I found them using this bloody curse-" His hand waved wildly over his face, "On a second year! I thought you talked to Snape? What the hell happened?"
Within moments, Neville Longbottom was at Blaise's side handing him a cloth to press to his face and going through a bag the D.A. kept healing potions in.
"I talked to him weeks ago and it's not like he's a very forthright person," Draco grumbled.
"Well, maybe go talk to him again? The greasy bat hasn't left his quarters in over a month! Maybe he could, you know, do something to stop the fucking torture?"
At that, Neville snorted. "Hate to break it to you mate, but Snape isn't exactly one to be against terrible treatment of students."
"Just because he didn't like you Neville, doesn't mean he's awful to everyone. Draco practically grew up with the man!" Blaise argued.
"Yes, and growing up with him, I agree with Longbottom." Draco said, looking back down to his Potions book.
"Are you honestly revising right now?" Blaise asked, "You're actually doing your assignments?"
"Unlike some people, Blaise, not all of us get ahead because of our good looks."
Neville, again, laughed. "Yeah, certainly a terrible looking and very impoverished person like you would have no knowledge on getting ahead because of their looks."
"Not everyone can have teeth as large as yours, Longbottom."
"Oi! That was rude!"
Blaise snickered and then winced as Neville applied a little unnecessary pressure to the cloth held to Blaise's face.
Draco continued to work on his potions revision, albeit, he had been staring at the same paragraph in his notes for several minutes when Blaise interrupted. He found it increasingly difficult to concentrate anymore, his marks had started slipping months ago, but now it was almost embarrassing. It was the first of May, and by next month, he would be out of Hogwarts for good, if they made it that long. He could turn his focus on more important things than the healing properties in Phoenix tears and possibly even find Elara. If she were still alive, and fuck how he hoped she were still alive, and possibly find a way to get back to the Manor, to get their parents and leave the country. Maybe go to France or Spain… Even America, if he had to.
"They've been spotted!"
At the sound of Ginny's voice, he finally gave up on the largely unread and completely unabsorbed article and closed his book. She burst through the doors of the Room of Requirement, holding a copy of the Daily Prophet in hand.
"What are you on about?" Neville asked.
"Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ellie!" Ginny said, tossing the paper onto the table. "They were spotted! Look! They broke into bloody Gringotts!"
"They what?!" Blaise asked, shoving Neville's hand away from his face and picking up the copy of the Prophet. His eyes scanned over the front page before handing it to Draco.
"On the back of a fucking dragon!" Ginny laughed.
There, on the front page of the ridiculous excuse for a newspaper, was a picture of an enormous Horntail, milky white eyes and pale scales, but on it's back, clear as day, Draco could see Elara's face. The entire front of the ancient bank was blown to bits by the force of the dragon emerging, and when he squinted, pulling the paper closer to his face, he swore he could see Elara laughing.
Undesirables Break Into Gringotts
"Looks like Potter's not the only one whose earned himself a title," Blaise said, as Draco opened the paper to read the continued story on the inside.
It was complete thestral shit. Of course, it was! The Prophet had taken liberties and dubbed them criminals, claiming the group had used unforgivables and held Goblins at wand point under the guise of Polyjuice to break into ancient vaults and steal gold and jewels. The Ministry, if you could even really call it that anymore, had decided to take it upon themselves to up the bounty on their heads. Adding a collection reward to Weasley and Granger as well.
Draco sneered at the article, tossing it aside for Blaise and Neville to read. Pansy, Theo, and Luna had all joined as well as a few other younger years, to read about what had happened. Ginny tapped him on the elbow, a silent ask for him to budge over so she could join him on the small bench where he sat.
"Leave it to Harry to figure out how to break into Gringotts," Ginny chuckled.
"Somehow, I find it hard to believe that Potter came up with this idea on his own."
Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Do you honestly believe that Ellie and Hermione would come up with something this mental? Not a chance. That was one hundred percent Harry and my brother's barmy idea. The reason they made it out alive, however, can probably be credited to Hermione and your sister, though."
Draco snorted, tucking his books and parchment into his dragonhide bag, "You're probably right about that. But then again, I've seen both of them act out in defiance to Bellatrix, so they may not be as intelligent as we thought."
"Look at you with change of heart, calling Hermione intelligent."
Draco rolled his eyes, "Yes well, when she essentially sacrificed herself to the end of Bella's wand to keep the rest of them from it, you gain a certain level of respect for someone."
Ginny gave a small smile and leaned over, placing a swift kiss on his cheek. "There's hope for you, yet, Draco Malfoy."
"You know, for someone who spent the majority of her life locked in her bedroom or singing songs to cannibalistic plants, Ellie has certainly done a full one eighty." Blaise mumbled, tossing the paper aside. "She's going to get herself killed."
"Aren't we all?" Draco quipped.
"Fanged Geraniums aren't cannibals, Zabini. They're carnivorous, they eat other things, not themselves." Neville said.
"Missing the point, Longbottom."
Draco pushed up from the small table and walked to the far side of the room. The Room of Requirement had grown considerably since the Christmas Holidays, becoming nearly triple the size of the Slytherin common room to accommodate the amount of students who now sought refuge inside of it. It was no longer just the upper year D.A. members looking to form a resistance to fight when the time came. Younger students from all houses had begun filtering in, trying desperately to get away from the masochistic clutches of the Carrow twins.
He climbed into his hammock that hung high above many of the others. Ginny, Neville, Luna, Blaise, Theo, Pansy, Seamus Finnegan, Lavender Brown, Cho Chang, Justin Finch-Fletchley and several others all took the top row of hammocks so they could keep eye over everyone in the room, to be the first to see things coming. He had to admit that Neville Longbottom was a surprisingly deft leader, even if he kept a strange set of plants near his hammock that made Draco sneeze. Neville had established a good relationship with the owner of the Hogs Head Inn, Aberforth, and the man brought them food a few times a day for the students who weren't safe to leave the Room of Requirement. Draco had begun to realize that it wasn't safe for anyone to leave, except maybe the Slytherins who were here, and that was only if the Carrows weren't in a completely foul mood that day. Judging by Blaise's face, he could guess that today would not be one of the days they would be able to smuggle food from the Great Hall.
Dobby had been a large part of bringing them food and information throughout the term, and Draco wasn't happy to have to explain to the others that Dobby had died, by the hands of his aunt, no less.
"You can feel it, can't you?" Ginny whispered, startling him from his thoughts as he stared down at the throng of students below.
"Feel what?"
"The change," Ginny said, standing up in her hammock and waiting a moment to find her balance before stepping over the large gap into his. She settled next to him, folding her legs in front of her. She pulled an apple out of her robes, and then another, handing one to him. She took a bite and chewed before continuing, "It's like the air is different, tense. Something is going to happen soon, I can feel it."
"Because they broke into Gringotts?"
She nodded, "They wouldn't have done it without reason. Whatever they were there for, they found it. Which means it's only a matter of time."
"A matter of time?" Draco asked, taking a bite of his own apple. "Until what?"
"Until battle."
Draco sighed, biting off more of the fruit and contemplating her words while he chewed. Finally, he swallowed and looked at her, "Do you think it's going to an actual battle? Everyone running around, shooting curses off and hoping they don't die?"
"You may not have seen much of it that night," Ginny said, her tone cautious. "But it's not the first time we've had to fight and pray we make it out okay. We lost people, that day, and we'll lose people again."
Draco suddenly didn't feel very hungry. She was right, of course she was, Ginny had a way of being right about a lot of things. He hadn't been in the fight that night on the Astronomy Tower. He had been staring Dumbledore in the face, holding the man at wand point as he tried to convince Draco to do the right thing. As Elara cried at his side, begging him to lower his wand, to see reason. He hadn't fought then, not really. And the thought of doing it now terrified him. But the defiant look on Ginny's face and the hum of anxious excitement that was constantly consuming the room somehow fueled him.
Elara's words while they stayed at Shell Cottage together kept ringing through his head. For the last almost two months, it was the only phrase he could hear. When fear makes your choices, it often makes the wrong one. Draco knew fear. Draco knew real, all-consuming fear. This was not fear, this was not nervousness. This was rebellion. This was a carefully curated brand of mutiny that he would have never been consumed with had he not eventually listened to Elara, to Blaise, to Ginny… He was scared, of course he was! But for once, he wasn't terrified for his own life, he was afraid for theirs.
He had always been terrified for Elara. Ever since they were children and he knew her life would be far more difficult, ever since they hid her away and told people she was too sick to be a normal child, he had always feared for what kind of life she would have. But had never been afraid of losing her. That thought alone was enough to make fire burn in his belly.
He heard Blaise laugh, he and Pansy telling Neville and Anthony Goldstein some silly story from their childhood. Blaise said Elara's name, and he heard Neville say he missed talking to her.
She had stolen the hearts of every person she had come into contact with in her short time at Hogwarts, and that gave Draco some relief. He knew that he wouldn't be the only one fighting for her anymore. Not that Blaise hadn't had her well-being in mind since they were children, but they wouldn't have to worry about her as closely as they had in the past. Now, it would seem that since Draco knew Elara would be taken care of and could more than hold her own, he was terrified of losing another witch he had gotten close with. A fiery, defiant, audacious redhead with the brightest blue eyes he had ever seen. Whose freckles covered her from head to toe and he wanted to spend the time to count each and every one of them.
He knew Ginny could more than defend herself. She had grown up with six older brothers after all, and judging by what little he actually knew of them and the short time he had spent with Bill the few days after escaping the Manor, Ginny was a force of nature on her own.
But still, some strange primal part of him wanted nothing more than to protect her. To flay the muscle from the bone of any witch or wizard that threatened her wellbeing.
"Are you scared?" Draco asked, his voice a soft murmur as he slowly pulled his eyes from the scene below him and stared into Ginny's face.
"Bloody terrified," Ginny admitted. "But if we don't fight, if they win… I can't think about what will happen to the rest of us."
Draco knew exactly what would happen to the rest of them. The Death Eaters had talked about it ad nauseam in the time he was present at the meetings. There would be a few months of peace, taking in the victory of war and revelling in their triumph. And then, they would move to control other countries. Seize the muggle ministry and enslave anyone who stood against them. Pureblood women would be held captive, sold off and used for breeding heirs. Muggleborns would be used for target practice, or other disgusting ways of torture.
He shuddered at the thought, his stomach churning uncomfortably as he tried to push the image of Ginny being shackled and forced into some Death Eater's dungeon to be used as they saw fit.
Movement from the corner of his eye pulled his attention to the left. A large portrait sat above a wide mantle. The girl in the portrait, a finicky brown haired girl who looked to be younger than he was, came into view, walking up the path in the picture.
"Nev!" Ginny called, obviously catching the movement in the portrait.
When Neville looked up and followed the direction that Ginny was pointing, his brows furrowed together in confusion on his exhausted face. "Ab? He shouldn't… It's past curfew, he never sends anything this late…"
Neville broke away from the table, climbing the ladder that was propped against the mantle and standing on the ledge. The portrait didn't like anyone but Neville, it had been figured out. Even Luna seemed to be off putting to the girl. But she always smiled at Neville, and would take him with her through the portrait to the other side, on occasion.
She motioned for him to follow, a huge smile on her face that seemed very uncharacteristic of her. The look in her eyes and the bounce in her step made Draco's heart beat wildly against his chest. Something wasn't right…
"I guess I'll be back in a few?" Neville called out, equally as confused as he stepped through the portrait and disappeared down the pathway.
"That was odd, wasn't it?" Ginny asked.
"Yes. It was certainly very strange."
Aberforth seemed completely irritated with himself after Ariana had disappeared. He paced the room wildly, cursing and muttering to himself before finally turning to Harry and sighing.
"I'll alert the others," he said. "I've got most of their locations, the ones I don't have, aren't people who would be bothered to come help anyway."
"You… You're going to help?" Harry asked, confused by the man's change of heart.
"Looks that way."
Harry nodded, "Thank you."
Aberforth puffed out a grunt of acceptance and turned his gaze to Elara, "You keep your word, girl. If we come out of this alive, you keep your word. You tell everyone about people like you, and you clear my father's name. You tell them that the codswollop they read in Skeeter's book about my sister about my family wasn't true. Ariana deserves better than the rubbish that horrid woman wrote about her."
Elara turned wide silver eyes to him, an earnest expression on her face as she nodded. "I promise."
"Is that… Harry! That's Neville!" Ron said, pointing to the portrait.
"I like that kid, he's a good bloke. Ariana likes him too. You keep him alive, you understand me?" Aberforth said.
"I will," Harry said.
"Maybe if we're lucky, I'll see you on the other side." Aberforth said, although his tone was grim. He turned and walked down the stairs, leaving the group alone, awaiting Neville. Elara heard him cast a patronus charm from downstairs, giving it a message to deliver to the Order.
The portrait creaked open, and standing on the mantle was an exhausted and bruised-faced Neville, a look of shock on his features before he jumped down, pulling Harry out of Elara and Hermione's grip to deliver a crushing hug.
"Merlin, I never thought I'd see you again!" Neville said, turning to pull Ron into the same tight embrace. "The back of a bloody dragon?!"
Ron laughed, "Yeah."
"Good to see you mate!" Harry smiled, although Elara could feel his nerves swelling considerably.
"The dragon was 'Mione's idea," Ron said, something akin to pride pulsing through him.
"You're kidding?!" Neville laughed, pulling Hermione in for a hug. When his arms dropped from around Hermione, he quickly pulled Elara to him as well. "Your brother and Zabini are going to be thrilled to see you!"
"We should get going," Harry said.
"Yeah, mate, of course!"
As they all climbed up to the mantle, crossing into a dank tunnel and following Neville back toward the castle, Elara found herself swimming in a confusing mix of overwhelming joy and fear. Neville seemed to be giddy with excitement at the sight of them, telling Harry how the tunnel opened up when they needed food, and that he had become rather close with Aberforth. He explained that the tunnel went directly into the Room of Requirement, and it was the only passage that hadn't been blocked off in or out, because of that.
"Why are you staying in the Room of Requirement?" Hermione asked.
"Well it's not safe to be anywhere else in the castle, is it? Not since the Carrows came in and took over." Neville spat on the ground in anger. "Bloody menaces, they are! Using crucio on twelve year olds who forget their assignments!"
"Is that why you're so banged up?" Elara asked.
"Yeah," Neville laughed, pointing to his blackened eye and a hastily healed cut on his forehead. "Got this for intervening in the detention of a couple of fourth year Ravenclaws. They took a few things out of Umbridge's book, too." He gave Harry a meaningful glance. "Everyone's been talking about you lot all evening though! The Prophet put a huge price on your heads for breaking into Gringotts."
"The Prophet?" Harry asked.
"Yeah! You can't seriously think that you broke into bloody Gringotts and escaped on the back of a dragon and it went unnoticed?"
Ron snorted, "You've got a point."
"At any rate, what are you coming to Hogwarts for?"
"We need your help," Harry said.
"Yeah, of course! Anything you need, Harry!"
As they came to the end of the tunnel, Elara reached out and grabbed Harry's hand, giving it a light squeeze before the portrait swung open.
"Nev is back," it was Theo's voice that hit Elara's ears first.
"And he's got… Who's that with him?" Pansy said.
"Is that…"
"It's Harry!"
"Oh my God, it's Harry!"
"Ron and Hermione are with him too!"
"Blaise, Blaise! Look! Where's Draco? Look! It's Ellie!"
"Well back up now, let us come down!" Neville called, laughter in his voice.
The crowd that had formed split, creating a semi-circle of space for them to step down the ladder. Elara was the last to climb down and when she was halfway down the ladder, she yelled out in surprise as she felt a pair of hands grip her waist, pulling her from the wood and spinning her around, slamming her into their chest. She looked up to see the dark skin of Blaise's face buried in her hair, his arms tightening around her.
"Fuck, I missed you!" Blaise said.
"Always with the swearing," Elara quipped, smiling at the chuckle that rumbled in his chest.
"The back of a bloody dragon, El? Really? Are you trying to give Draco a fucking heart attack?!" Blaise answered, pressing a kiss into her hair. "You're okay?"
"More or less," she said, pulling away and giving him a watery smile. "You look terrible though."
He shrugged, "This is nothing."
As Harry, Ron, and Hermione were pulled in every direction while everyone cheered and laughed and told them all how worried they had been, she felt another grip on her wrist, pulling her to them. Pansy's face was wet with tears as she hugged her, letting her loose only for Theo to swoop in and steal an embrace of his own.
"YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!"
Theo's arms dropped from Elara and she turned around to see Ginny Weasley rushing toward them. She hugged Ron first, "You absolute morons! A dragon? Really?! You couldn't figure out a better way to, you know, not blow up Gringotts?! You bloody arsehole!"
"Missed you too, Gin." Ron laughed, pressing his lips onto the top of his sister's hair. Ginny moved to pull Harry into just as tight of an embrace and then over to Hermione.
Elara heard a thud and looked over the group to see Draco as he dropped down from a hammock, a wide smile on his face.
Draco slammed into her with just as much force as he had the day they arrived at Shell Cottage, his hands buried in her hair as he held her against his chest, pressing kisses into her the top of her head. "You were right," he whispered, low enough that over the hum of excitement of their arrival, no one else would hear it. "I talked to Snape, you were right. You're always fucking right."
"I'm so proud of you," she said, her voice cracking. "I love you, you know that right? I know I was angry back at the cottage, I was… distant. I know that. But I love you."
"I love you, too, Ellie. So much more than you can understand. And I'm ready to do what we have to do."
She smiled.
Draco stepped away and she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before being swept into another hug. "Thank you," Ginny said. "Thank you for taking care of my idiot brother."
"Thank you for taking care of mine." Elara said, trying to push as much gratitude into the statement as she could. "I can never repay you."
"No, you don't… We aren't back to stay." Harry's voice rang out, flustered as he tried to get everyone away from him so he could think.
"What do you mean you haven't come to stay? Why else would you be here?" Lavender asked.
"Look… We.. We have a job to do-
"So we'll help!" Neville said.
"No, you can't."
"What do you mean, we can't?" Seamus asked.
"It's just… It's the four of us, okay? I'm sorry but you-
"We've been waiting for months," Pansy said, clearly irritated. "You can't just show up and expect us not to help."
It was clear to Elara that Harry was completely thrown by the Slytherin girl's statement.
"Listen, I don't have time… I'm sorry. We're looking for an object! Something to do with Ravenclaw. If you can help with that, then by all means, help. But we aren't here to rescue you."
Harry's voice was strained, and Elara could feel the disappointment shift in the room.
"Wha-Whatever we can help with, then." Neville said, giving a sharp nod. "This will help bring down You-Know-Who?"
Harry nodded.
"Then we'll help."
.
.
a/n: Hey Everyone! thanks for reading! Just a heads up, I'm having surgery in two days! I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out (because apparently teething at the age of 30 is a fucking thing?) and they're all impacted *eyeroll* so I have to be put under and all that good stuff. Anyway, I tell you all this ridiculously personal information that you didn't give a shit to know, just to let you know that I might not have an update next week. I'm working on 42 today, but if I can't get it done by tomorrow, I won't have it for next week! So I apologize in advance for that!
Anyway, thanks for reading! We're nearly to the end! For the battle, I'm going to be pulling from both the movie and the book in terms of sequence to try and figure out what will work best to fit my babies in where I need them to be. Stay with me, yeah? I know shits gone off the rails, but hopefully you're still enjoying it.
xo
mimi
