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This is the first part of the final battle! Some things will upset people, just remember the book did it first ;) There will be a few passages taken straight from the book, but I didn't highlight them or anything because I mixed my writing in the middle as well as changing the POV from Harry to Draco, but yeah, anything you recognize is from the book.
I hope you all like this chapter!
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Things had been calm for Draco for some time when the news about the golden trio escaping from Gringotts on a dragon hit the school and everyone had the most crazy reactions. Draco suffered one of his bad headaches and was longing for his bed, but he was summoned by Snape at the end of the day and told about all the extra patrolling on Hogsmeade and how he and the Carrows needed to be on high alert, because there was a chance Potter would be going to Hogwarts next. Draco had no idea why the Dark Lord expected Harry to show up at school, but he just nodded and accepted it.
He did however go straight to his dorm trying to get as much rest as possible before Harry came bringing war with him. All the boys were preparing to sleep, Goyle and Blaise already had their curtains close and only Theo and Crabbe were awake.
"What did Snape want?" asked Theo
"The Dark Lord sent a message, something to worry tomorrow I suppose"
He could feel Crabbe looking at him attentively although he was pretending to get in bed, so Draco changed his clothes and turned to Theo.
"No Daphne tonight?" he asked with a smirk.
"Just me and you" said Theo a bit nonchalance.
Draco took his wand and climbed Theo's bed, he enchanted the curtains to close, but he did move to kiss Theo, just a peak before they were off view, leaving the rest for Crabbe's imagination and hopefully discouraging him to try to bypass their privacy charms. As soon as the thing was closed he cast a silence spell and turned to Theo who looked embarrassed, something Draco had rarely seen on him.
"I'm assuming Snape said something important, not that you had a sudden desire to kiss me" said the boy blushing and trying really hard to look like he was cool with it.
"Yes, sorry about that, but it is important" Said Draco trying to be serious, he was actually a bit amused with the boy's reaction, it was really kind of cute, but he had to focus "The Dark Lord thinks Potter will be coming here, if it's true, it might also bring a huge mess with him, so at the first sign of trouble, I want you to grab Daphne and Pansy and leave"
"We can't use the portkey in Hogwarts and they closed of the secret passages out of the castle"
"Longbottom has a way out, it's on the seventh floor, so either you will be able to get in on their secret room or you get someone to lead you to him, tell him I sent you and that you need to leave the school"
Theo nodded in understanding, he didn't look very surprised.
"So you did get into some kind of agreement with him?"
"Something like that"
"I suppose now you will have to sleep here with me?" the other boy asked trying to be funny, but failing quite a bit.
"Don't worry, I promise not to molest you" said Draco with a smirk and Theo immediately hit him, but did smile, it wasn't like they had never shared a bed before, although the space was way more accommodating when they were little.
Theo managed to sleep quite soon, but Draco had too much in his head and then, when he was close to sleep, he woke up with his head pounding.
"Draco?" asked Theo sleepy, hearing his moaning.
"Sorry, headache" said Draco, but a dreadful feeling took over him and just a few minutes later Slughorn woke them up and prompted everyone to move as quickly as possible to the Great Hall. Draco and Theo exchanged glances, it was happening and it was happening now.
Theo grabbed all the money he had on him and Draco gave him all he had as well and they left, getting the girls and moving to the Great Hall as instructed to at least find out what was happening before running.
Draco's head was still pounding and McGonagall's explanation about how evacuation would work didn't grab much of his attention, it was not like he would be leaving, but then pain fulfilled him and the Dark Lord's voice rang around the room.
"I know that you are preparing to fight." There were screams amongst the students, some of whom clutched each other, looking around in terror for the source of the sound. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."
There was silence in the Hall now, the kind of silence that presses against the eardrums, that seems too huge to be contained by walls.
"Give me Harry Potter and they shall not be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded."
"You have until midnight."
The silence swallowed them all again. Draco turned where everyone was turning and he finally saw Harry, standing right there as if nothing was wrong. Unbelievable. Then a figure rose from the Slytherin table right next to him and Draco turned to see Pansy completely pale and scared pointing at the boy.
"But he's there! Potter's there. Someone grab him!" she screamed terrified with the Dark Lord's words and Draco never felt so bad for her.
Many people started to stand up pointing their wands at Pansy and that was when Draco knew he needed to tell his friend he was staying and why. Many people shifted their wands at him when he stood, others finally stood when they saw him rise, but he ignored everyone and put a single hand on Pansy's face to make her look at him. As was their signal he gentle pressed his lips on hers and tapped three times with his finger.
No one's reaction mattered at that moment, Pansy's confused eyes looking deep into his until she looked at Potter with the corner of her eyes. When she looked at him again, he moved his lips in an apology that he knew was not near enough "I'm sorry", but it was enough for her to understand, her expression didn't change, she had been well trained in not showing her true emotions, but her eyes went wide and there was a mix of feelings that Draco had rarely seen on her. However, before anything could be said, she slapped Draco hard in the face, the sound reverberating over the shocked silence on the hall.
"Miss Parkinson!" came McGonagall's surprised voice.
But Pansy set her jaw in a murderous look at Draco, her way to keep the tears he knew she wouldn't let fall in front of those people and she slapped him again. Draco didn't try to stop her, he didn't even move, because he knew she was hurt and worried about him and he deserved this.
"Miss Parkinson!" said McGonagall again "You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."
But Pansy didn't move and neither did the Slytherins, things with Pansy always came in threes because she said when they were kids that it was her magical number, so it was her way of showing her anger, but also give him a blessing. She slapped him again, her hand this time trembling, the last blow not as strong as the ones she dealt before, but she spared him no other look and immediately turned from him to the Slytherin table.
"What are you all waiting for? We're leaving!" she said more firm than Draco thought she was capable at the moment and then she moved away from Draco without looking back.
All the Slytherins followed her lead despite their constant looks at Draco, but he ignored them all and only moved over to Theo to whisper in his ear.
"Spread around it is a plot, I'm gaining their trust to get Potter to the Dark Lord. If you find Rabastan, he will help you"
Theo looked at Draco with a hard stare, he too had questions he wanted to ask, but he didn't, he just nodded and left. Slowly all the students that wanted to leave left and Draco noticed someone approaching him and was surprised to see Blaise.
"What are you doing here?"
"Pansy will never forgive you if you die" was all he said and Draco shaked his head at the boy.
"You don't have to"
"Theo got her, you're the one who needs someone to look out for you"
Draco knew he never was that good a friend for Blaise and he wished he had been better. He would certainly try if he survived this.
He moved back to Harry and walked in his direction, many people looked at him, called him names and pointed their wands, but Harry just looked concerned.
"Are you ok? Parkinson…"
"Pansy loves me too much and she got upset when she understood I was staying because of you" he said not making a big deal of it, despite still feeling the slap on his face
"Yeah…you stayed" said Harry with a shy smile.
"Well, I'm assuming that if you're here it means either you're gonna win or we're gonna die, so no point pretending anymore. Either way, Theo will cause a distraction for me"
Harry nodded and Draco thought maybe he was going to keep going with whatever he was doing there, they never got to actually talk since Dumbledore's death and then they spent a long time apart, so he didn't expect a lover's reunion. But Harry was always good at surprising and he grabbed Draco and kissed him.
It was a moment of peace Draco didn't know he needed, all the stress of pretending and worrying left him through that kiss and he gave it back just as desperately, because it never seemed like enough, not until they were completely out of breath.
"This is beautiful" came a sarcastic voice and Draco turned to see Fred and George smirking at them "but I thought we were on a tight schedule?"
There was a huge silence across the hall and everyone was staring at them with all kinds of disbelief and amusement.
"Right, yes" said Harry finally catching up with his audience and getting embarrassed, but he did grab Draco's hand to move forward towards the group of Weasleys.
"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked
"Haven't you found -?" began Mr. Weasley, looking worried.
But he broke off as a tall black man stepped forward to address those who had remained behind.
"We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast. A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers - Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor - where they'll have good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus" he indicated Lupin "Arthur" he pointed toward Mr. Weasley, sitting at the Gryffindor table "and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defense of the entrances or the passageways into the school"
"Sounds like a job for us." called Fred, indicating himself and George, and the man nodded his approval.
"All right, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!"
"Potter," said Professor McGonagall, hurrying up to him, as students flooded the platform, jostling for position, receiving instructions, "Aren't you supposed to be looking for something?"
"What? Oh," said Harry, "oh yeah!"
The boy looked at Draco reluctant, but they both knew they had to part.
"Then go, Potter, go!" insisted McGonagall
"Right… yeah"
Harry gave Draco a quick kiss and left for whatever he was doing.
"Since you're now back to us, Mr. Malfoy, I believe you will be helping Poppy with the injured?" asked McGonagall.
"Yes"
"So take Mr. Zabine with you and move"
Draco nodded and went back to get Blaise, but then he changed his path toward Lupin, something that had bothered him since he saw the man there.
"Didn't you just have a baby? What are you doing here? What about my cousin?" he asked Lupin who looked surprised, but smiled at him anyway.
"Dora is fine, she is with her mother and the baby"
"And you should be with her!"
"I'm more needed here, to help as much as I can so he can live without fear, so he won't go through what we did"
Draco hated this part of Gryffindors, the one where they always prioritised the noble cause instead of themselves.
"I think there is plenty of people fighting, but he only have two parents"
"I don't plan on dying" said Lupin
"Usually one never does, they say they will come back for dinner, but then they don't"
"I'm not leaving Draco" insisted the man.
"If you die I will never forgive you" said Draco and Lupin smiled at him.
"I'm glad you feel so strongly about Dora, she has come to like you quite a bit"
"Can't wait for the family dinners" said Draco sarcastically but the man just kept on smiling. They looked at each other and with a nod they both parted hoping for the best on all this.
Draco went back to Blaise and told him to follow him to the infirmary, so he could meet Pomfrey and find out what her plan was if she had any.
"So… Harry Potter" said the other boy.
"Yep"
"That is a story I would love to hear"
"If we don't die, I'm sure I will be telling it plenty, you might have to get in line"
"I can't wait!" said the boy smiling and Draco shook his head and kept going.
As it turned out, Pomfrey had a plan.
"We won't be able to move people here, so we're going to transfer all the essential stuff to the Great Hall, so that way we can be close to every major fighting area, we can use the teachers room for support with the supplies. I will stay fixed, but you and Terry should go in opposite directions going around the place, keep at least one person with you always so you have someone to watch your back while you're helping someone"
"Blaise is staying with me" said Draco and Boot had Goldstein with him.
The group got all the supplies and took it to the Great Hall, using the teachers room as storage and then moved to help the injured, which by the time they were done was a considerable amount of people.
At some point Draco thought he saw a familiar face, one that should not be there and followed.
"It's Grabbe and Goyle" whispered Blaise and Draco nodded.
As they followed them, they noticed they were following Harry and his friends as well and Draco rushed to get to the room after them.
"Wait outside, so if they get out you can stun them" he said to Blaise who nodded and then Draco rushed inside.
He walked around for a while, they were in the room of hidden things, which left Draco curious, but soon he heard Harry's voice.
"So how come you two aren't with Voldemort?"
"We're gonna be rewarded," said Crabbe. His voice was surprisingly soft, like Draco has only heard when he was thrilled about torturing someone "We 'ung back, Potter. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you to 'im."
"Good plan," said Harry mockingly.
Draco moved to the direction of their voices and hid behind a few things, being very quiet so the two boys wouldn't see him. He tried to get Harry to realise he was there so they could attack together, but the boy had other plans.
"So how did you get in here?" Harry asked, trying to distract them.
"We knew Malfoy used it last year, we were hiding in the corridor outside," grunted Goyle. "We can do Diss-lusion Charms now! And then," his face split into a gormless grin, "you turned up right in front of us and said you were looking for a die-dum! What's a die-dum?"
"Harry?" Weasley's voice echoed suddenly from the other side of the wall to Harry's right. "Are you talking to someone?"
With a whiplike movement, Crabbe pointed his wand at the fifty foot mountain of old furniture, of broken trunks, of old books and robes and unidentifiable junk, and shouted.
"Descendo!"
The wall began to totter, then the top third crumbled into the aisle next door where Weasley stood.
"Ron!" Harry bellowed, as somewhere out of sight Granger screamed and innumerable objects crashed to the floor on the other side of the destabilized wall. Harry pointed his wand at the rampart, cried, "Finite!" and it steadied.
Crabbe tried to attack again, but that was when Draco jumped from behind him and with an expelliarmus send Crabbe's wand flying.
"You! You little blood traitor! I should have known… You an' your dad are finished, Draco! I will make sure the Dark Lord knows all about you!"
"Harry?" shouted Weasley again, from the other side of the junk wad. "What's going on?"
"Harry?" mimicked Crabbe and with a move he took Goyle's wand from his hand and turned to Harry "What's going on... no, Potter! Crucio!"
Harry had lunged for something Draco couldn't see and Crabbe's curse missed him but hit the stone bust, which flew into the air.
Draco sent another curse at the boy, but he was able to escape it and right after a jet of scarlet light shot past him and Harry by inches and as Draco turned he saw Granger, who had run around the corner behind Harry and sent a Stunning Spell straight at Crabbe's head. It only missed because Goyle pulled him out of the way.
"It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!" screamed Crabbe
Draco saw Granger dive aside and Harry shot a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, who lurched out of the way.
"Expelliarmus!" screamed both he and Harry at the same time and the spells ended up blocking one another which gave Crabbe a good opportunity to send another curse.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Weasley leapt out of sight to avoid the jet of green light and Granger charged toward them, hitting Goyle with a Stunning Spell as she came.
"It's somewhere here!" Harry yelled at her, pointing at the pile of junk.
Draco didn't know what he was looking for, so he just tried to help with Crabbe, but as he turned to look for the boy he heard Granger scream
"HARRY!"
A roaring, billowing noise behind him gave him a moment's warning and both Weasley and Crabbe were running as hard as they could up the aisle toward them.
"Like it hot, scum?" roared Crabbe as he ran.
But he seemed to have no control over what he had done. Flames of abnormal size were pursuing them, licking up the sides of the junk bulwarks, which were crumbling to soot at their touch.
"Aguamenti!" Harry bawled, but the jet of water that soared from the tip of his wand evaporated in the air.
"RUN!"
Draco looked at the Stunned Goyle as Crabbe ran leaving the boy behind, and although he knew he shouldn't, Draco grabbed the boy dragging him along. The fire was mutating, forming a gigantic pack of fiery beasts: Flaming serpents, chimaeras, and dragons rose and fell and rose again, and the detritus of centuries on which they were feeding was thrown up into the air into their fanged mouths, tossed high on clawed feet, before being consumed by the inferno.
Draco soon lost sign of Harry and his friends and tried to get to some place higher where he could see his boyfriend and hopefully not die burned by the dam fire. He was up on a tower of charred desks when he screamed for Harry, looking around frantically and thinking that maybe he would have to abandon Goyle after all to jump out of there to a better place, but Harry finally appeared on a broom and he raised one arm, but even as Harry grasped it he knew at once that it was no good. Goyle was too heavy and Draco's hand, covered in sweat, slid instantly out of Harry's.
Weasley and Granger suddenly appeared too and dragged Goyle onto their broom and rose, rolling and pitching, into the air once more as Draco finally clambered up behind Harry.
"The door, get to the door, the door!" he screamed in Harry's ear and the boy sped up, following his friends through the billowing black smoke, hardly able to breathe: and all around them the last few objects unburned by the devouring flames were flung into the air, as the creatures of the cursed fire cast them high in celebration: cups and shields, a sparkling necklace, and an old, discoloured tiara.
"What are you doing, what are you doing, the door's that way!" he screamed when he noticed Harry going somewhere else, but Harry made a hairpin swerve and dived grabbing some tiara
Harry swerved again as the serpent lunged at him, he soared upward and straight toward the place where they prayed the door stood open; the others had vanished and all Draco could do was hold tight to Harry and close his eyes. Moments later clean air filled his lungs and they collided with the wall in the corridor beyond.
Draco fell off the broom and lay face down, gasping, coughing, and retching, the smoke of the magical fire seemed more toxic than plain smoke. Harry rolled over and sat up, the door to the Room of Requirement had vanished and Ron and Hermione sat panting on the floor beside Goyle, who was still unconscious.
"C-Crabbe," Draco remembered.
"He's dead," said Weasley harshly and Draco could hardly blame him, but despite everything, he had known the boy since they were little and it was a strange feeling to realise he was now dead.
There was silence, apart from panting and coughing. Then a number of huge bangs shook the castle, and a great cavalcade of transparent figures galloped past on horses, their heads screaming with bloodlust under their arms. Harry staggered to his feet when the Headless Hunt had passed and looked around: The battle was still going on all around them and screams were all over the place.
"You people don't joke around do you?" asked Blaise who was a bit far looking at them all with a weary expression. Draco had completely forgotten about the other boy and felt a bit guilty about it.
"Blaise, I don't think you met my boyfriend Harry Potter, he almost gets himself killed at least once a year" said Draco sarcastically and the other boy just snorted as did Weasley.
"I'm assuming we just lost our secret way out then? Through the passage in the room?" asked Blaise
"Blimey, d'you reckon it'll still work after that fire?" asked Weasley but he too got to his feet, rubbing his chest and looking left and right. "Shall we split up and look?"
"No," said Granger getting to her feet too "Let's stick together. I say we go… Harry, what's that on your arm?"
"What? Oh yeah..."
Draco got up and close to see Harry pull the tiara from his wrist and held it up. It was still smoking, blackened with soot, but as he looked at it closely he was just able to make out the tiny words etched upon it; WIT BEYOND MEASURE IS MAN'S GREATEST TREASURE. Draco thought for a minute, not believing what he was thinking.
"This is… Ravenclaw's…?"
"The lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw" confirmed Harry and Draco just stared at the thing.
A blood like substance, dark and tarry, seemed to be leaking from the diadem. Suddenly the thing vibrated violently, then broke apart in Harry's hands, and as it did so, he thought he heard the faintest, most distant scream of pain, echoing not from the grounds or the castle, but from the thing that had just fragmented in front of him.
"It must have been Fiendfyre!" whimpered Hermione, her eyes on the broken piece.
"Sorry?" asked Harry and Draco just frowned at them even more.
"Fiendfyre… cursed fire… it's one of the substances that destroys… you know" she said and looked at Draco and Blaise for a second, so whatever it was, she didn't want to mention in front of them "but I would never, ever have dared use it, it's so dangerous… how did Crabbe know how to… ?"
"Must've learned from the Carrows," said Harry grimly.
"No, none of them would have been this foolish, he must have been studying dark arts on his own and it literally backfired on him" said Draco, he also knew for a fact neither of the Carrow had the magical strength to cast such a spell.
"Shame he wasn't concentrating on the how to stop it part" said Weasley, whose hair, like Granger's, was singed, and whose face was blackened. "If he hadn't tried to kill us all, I'd be quite sorry he was dead."
"But don't you realize?" whispered Granger "This means, if we can just get the last one..."
But she broke off as yells and shouts and the unmistakable noises of duelling filled the corridor and as Draco turned he saw what the others did: Death Eaters had penetrated Hogwarts. Fred and who Draco assumed was Percy had just backed into view, both of them duelling masked and hooded men.
Draco stayed where he was, for a moment he was unsure what to do, but the trio immediately ran forward to help. Jets of light flew in every direction and the man duelling Percy backed off fast, then his hood slipped and they saw a high forehead and streaked hair .
"Hello, Minister!" bellowed Percy, sending a neat jinx straight at Thicknesse, who dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes, apparently in awful discomfort. "Did I mention I'm resigning?"
"You're joking, Perce!" shouted Fred as the Death Eater he was battling collapsed under the weight of three separate Stunning Spells.
From behind the one that fell another one came forward, but he had his hood down and Draco saw it was Rabastan, so he finally moved from where he was to meet the man.
"Congratulations Weasley, you're free to leave the closet!" said the man without looking at the older Weasley and the two boys seemed confused for a second, especially because he was not attacking them, but he stopped in front of Fred "Where is Draco?" asked the man frantically.
Draco didn't expect Rabastan to come looking for him, but he was glad to see him nonetheless.
"Rabastan!" Draco called
And he looked to the side at Draco's direction, but he didn't have time to move or say anything because right then the air exploded.
Everyone went flying and even Draco, who was not so close, fell and was sent back, pieces of the wall hitting him. Blaise helped him stand, but as soon as he was on his feet, he was running towards the destructed wall where Percy was growling in the direction of Rabastan and his brother.
Draco reached them just a bit before the other boy and he immediately saw a huge gash on Rabastan's head, he took a deep and shaky breath and confirmed the horrible truth that he was dead. He could feel tears come over his eyes, but then he saw Percy come over and attempt to move the man, so Draco snapped out of his grief and moved the body over so it was not on top of Fred.
Something was burning on the boy's neck and Draco cast a diagnosis spell on Fred just in case and this time he was positively surprised: the boy was alive, but he very nearly broke his neck and took a good blow to the head. Percy went to grab his brother and Draco had to push him away.
"Don't touch him yet or you might break his neck!"
Percy froze where he was and Draco started casting something that would immobilize the other boy so they could move him, he was not skilled enough to fully treat him and even what he could do, it would not be good to do it in the corridor where a battle was happening.
With a more careful look, Draco noticed the nasty burn forming on the boy's neck had small pieces of glass stuck on it, so he looked back at Rabastan and that was when he noticed the necklace with blood had somehow broken on the impact and it's contend had ran freely over the man and yet it made no difference at all for him, but it was somehow acting as if it was a corrosive liquid where it touched Fred's skin.
With no time to think about it, Draco finished his work and looked at the group of people that had stood and now looked at him.
"He hit his head and he almost broke his neck, I can't fix it, I need to get him to Pomfrey, She should be-"
Before he could finish spells started to fly again.
"Get down!" Harry shouted, as more curses flew through. He and Weasley had both grabbed Granger and pulled her to the floor, but Percy lay across Fred's body, shielding it from further harm.
"He is stable and we can move him, but it needs to be with a levitation spell, so you and Blaise need to cover me and we can go to the other side, worst come to worst we find a save place to leave him, they will think he is dead and we can retrieve him later"
Percy was about to disagree when Granger suddenly screamed and they all turned to see a monstrous spider the size of a small car was trying to climb through the huge hole in the wall.
"Holly shit!" said Blaise.
"Change of plans, we're all getting out of here" said Draco and was about to cast a spell to levitate Fred when he looked at Rabastan's body "Blaise help me move him, there is an empty niche over there we can put him"
"Why are you bothering with him? Who cares about him?" asked Weasley angry and crying.
"I care about him! Look after Fred! This will only take a minute" said Draco just as angry, because right now he couldn't grieve.
He quickly moved Rabastan's body out of the way and came back to the group that was fighting the spiders to protect Fred.
"I will cast the spell and we move" said Draco and Percy Weasley just nodded.
The other brother also wanted to stay and help, but Harry clearly wanted the boy to stay with him and Granger.
"Weasley go! Too big a group will make us bigger targets, go help end this nightmare, I will take care of your brother!" Said Draco
With a lot of reluctance, Weasley agreed and Harry looked at him in gratitude and moved away with his friends. Draco was then left with the mission of getting Fred somewhere safe in the middle of a crazy fight. It was obviously incredibly hard to do it, he could not use his wand to fight and curses were flying everywhere, making him incredibly nervous. They were reaching to the ground level when a scream of pure hurt and terror rang around and Draco was able to see George running towards them as he was fighting everything on his path.
"Please no!" said the boy as he approached them, tears running out of his face
"He is alive, but I can't treat him, we need Pomfrey"
"I will help!" said George immediately.
With one more person the task actually became easier and the group actually reached the Great Hall and found a place to lay Fred so Draco could focus on treating the concussion, he hoped there wasn't some kind of brain damage even with the spells he had cast before because of the long time it took to move him, but he was positive this would heal, his neck however he had no idea what would happen, he knew magic was not very good with nerve damage and he wasn't sure how a treatment for tetraplegia would work.
"What now?" asked Percy
"Now I need to find Pomfrey and a dose of skele-gro" said Draco, he knew he couldn't share any of his thoughts with the two brothers, but he really needed a professional opinion on this.
"I won't lay around while my family is fighting!" said Percy
"Then leave him here and go" he said.
"I will stay with him" said George
One again Percy threw himself in the middle of the chaos and Draco tried to reach Pomfrey, but there were so many with bleeding wounds and desperate need of medical attention, that he found himself busy once more and sent Blaise to retrieve the potion and give a dose and a half to Fred. Only after some time, he made it to the woman.
"I need you to look at Fred Weasley, he broke his neck, I think I fixed his head, but I need you to double check"
"Is he going to die?" she asked dryly
"He should have died on impact"
"But is he going to die right now or can it wait?"
It was a terrible question and Draco wanted to tell her to go to him no matter what because Fred was his friend, but in the end, he knew she was asking for his professional view.
"It can wait" he said and she nodded moving to another patient and he too did the same.
He wasn't sure how long it was when the Dark Lord's voice rang among them once more.
"You have fought," said the high, cold voice, "valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured."
Draco scorned at the audacity of the man.
"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."
The second part of the message sent chills all over Draco, because he didn't know what Harry intended to do or what the Dark Lord had planned and that had him scared as he had not been all night.
People were coming in and bodies were carried everywhere, but all Draco wanted to do was find Harry, so he moved around desperately, he went back to Fred where the Weasleys were now reunited, hoping his boyfriend would be there, when he noticed two of the bodies brought in: it was Lupin and his cousin.
"No!" he said as soon as he saw them and got close to them, tears falling from his eyes in seconds "WHAT THE FUCK WAS SHE DOING HERE?" he screamed.
"She was fighting!" said a boy Draco didn't know, but who looked at him with contempt.
Before he could think he charged at the boy with a punch and the boy was too surprised to protect himself, but before Draco could go at him again someone grabbed him and Weasley and Granger held off the boy.
"That is his cousin, he is just upset" said Granger to the boy.
He was let go and when he turned it was Harry, who immediately got him in a hug and Draco felt like he could let go all the grief he couldn't feel before for Rabastan and now for his cousin.
"She just had a baby, what was she doing here?" he said in a small voice over Harry's chest.
"She was worried about Remus" was all he said and Draco just felt even more frustrated, the image of her baby boy in the picture he received playing on his head.
Eventually he was too tired to cry and let go of Harry, in silence they moved closer to the Weasleys who were still together and crying over Fred, who's fate none of them knew.
"Is Fred gonna make it?" asked Harry quietly.
"Alive, I think so, in what condition is what I'm not sure" he said honestly "I need to go look for Rabastan, I know everyone here hates him, but he was a friend"
"Luna doesn't hate him, she said he was really kind" Draco smiled a bit, because he supposed in his own way Rabastan had been kind, even though kindness had not been something he had seen a lot of "Voldemort was mad at him though, not sure what he did"
Draco frowned, not sure how Harry knew that or what the man could possibly have done, but whatever it was, he was sure he would find out eventually.
"I need to go out too, can't look at them" said Harry
"Where are you going?" Draco asked suspicious.
"I just need to get out a bit, don't worry" said the boy tired and Draco nodded as they both parted ways.
Draco went to the section where most Death Eater's bodies were being moved to. There was no care about any of them, just shoved into a corner, out of the way and it was a bit of a sad sight no matter how horrible any of those people were, because they were still people.
"He is not there" said a voice and Draco turned to see Blaise looking at him "I just got him back, he is over there"
Draco looked at the direction the boy showed him, it was further than the bodies of those that mattered the most, but he was still nicely positioned somewhere and that was good enough, so Draco moved to him and sat at his side, lots of questions around his head, but that no longer would have any answer.
"So this is Rabastan Lestrange" said someone and Draco looked up to see Longbottom, with Lovegood not far behind him.
"Yes" said Draco simply, not really sure if he wanted to have that conversation with the boy now.
"He was just moving around, he asked me about you, he was looking for you" said Lovegood
"Yeah, I know" and then he looked at the dry blood on the man's clothes and the explosion played out on his head again "might have saved Fred's life, they were right in front of the explosion"
None of them said anything else, Longbottom just kept looking at the man thoughtful and Draco let him make his own mind.
"We all know the world is not black and white, but I suppose we did try to make it so" Longbottom said eventually.
"Which is why it's our obligation to remember, so it doesn't happen again" said Lovegood.
Draco didn't feel like adding anything, but if this really changed something, it would at least mean Rabastan had not done so much in vain.
-x-
-x-
I admit some of the reviews almost made me change my mind over this, but not only I selfishly didn't want Fred to die, but I also didn't see a future for Rabastan, there was a thing I always thought about Sirius and even Remus about how much of a burden life had become for them and how happier they were after death, so I reckon Rabastan was the same.
What really told me I was on the right track however was a post I saw comparing Neville to Peter, because the new generation was a reflect of what the one before could have been and I kind of did that here too with James and Regulus and it really hit me how unconsciously, I had made Fred Rabastan's counterpart, one with a better brother and with enough self love to leave his bad boyfriend, in fact even some of the things I planned out for Fred's future made sense to that, so I'm sticking to my initial plan even if it hurts.