"Where did it go?" Weasley's voice appeared from behind Draco and Potter.
"I don't know! Harry are you alright?" Granger ran toward Potter and Draco.
Potter, too focused at Draco, didn't notice them. Instead, he reached out to touch Draco's forearm. Immediately Draco rolling down the long sleeve to cover his forearm.
"Harry, what is it?" Granger asked as she squatted down to check on Potter.
Draco gave Potter a warning look.
Potter, realising that Draco didn't want anyone else to know about what had happened just now, shook his head, "Nothing. I'm fine."
"What the hell happened with the dragon? We just saw it a moment ago and now it's gone?" Weasley looked up to the sky and then sweeping their surrounding with his eyes.
"I don't know. It-it just gone. Um… Malfoy sent it away somewhere. Forest… Um, it doesn't matter. Where have you been? You two made me worried so much!" Potter stood up, brushing the dirt on his jeans.
Meanwhile Draco stood up as well but stay silent all the time. Granger didn't buy Potter's words, was eyeing them suspiciously but dropped the matter as she had something more important to tell.
"We've found the way to enter Hogwarts! Hogsmeade!" Granger said enthusiastically.
"What?" Potter's eyes were twinkling with hope, "How?"
"We'll visit the Hog's Head Inn," Informed Granger.
"Huh? Why there?" Draco asked.
"I don't know. Remus just said us to go there. He didn't tell us more than that." Granger replied.
"Alright. He must have planned something then. So, let's go!" Potter accepted.
"Wait. Hogsmeade must be under some protection. I'm sure he sets some kind of alarm to let him know Potter or the Wanted persons are there," Draco stopped them.
True to Draco's thought. It would be impossible for them to enter Hogsmeade without detection. Let alone reenter the Hogwarts castle.
"Well, damn!" Weasley swore.
"We'll go under the Invisibility Cloak," Potter decided.
Seeing as it was urgent for them to go to Hogwarts because Voldemort might have figured out that they have found out about the horcruxes, Granger and Weasley agreed without argue. Meanwhile Draco followed them without a word, uncertain if his existence was wanted by the Golden Trio.
~o~
Their feet touched the road of Hogwarts High Street. The three Gryffindor students were hidden under the Invisibility Cloak. The magical cloak, couldn't fit to hide four people, causing Draco to rely on the Disillusionment Charm and stood beside them.
"Ready—" Potter, haven't finished his word, lost his blood on his face.
A deafening scream was heard around the whole village.
A dozen cloaked and hooded Death Eaters dashed into the streets, their wands aloft.
"Shit! We've been detected!" Draco told the Gryffindors, "It's the detecting alarm!"
There were too many Death Eaters to run. Even attempting it would have given away their position. One of the Death Eaters raised his wand, and the scream stopped, still echoing around the distant mountains.
"Accio Cloak!" roared one of the Death Eaters.
Potter and Draco reflectively grabbed the Invisibility Cloak, but it made no attempt to escape. The Summoning Charm had not worked on it.
"Not under your wrapper, then, Potter?" yelled the Death Eater who had tried the charm and then to his fellows. "Spread now. He's here."
"How did they know about the Invisibility Cloak?" Weasley panicked.
"Voldemort must have told them everything about me," Potter said.
Then, six of the Death Eaters ran toward them. Paniced, Potter, Weasley and Granger backed as quickly as possible down the nearest side street. Draco followed. They waited in the darkness, listening to the footsteps running up and down, beams of light flying along the street from the Death Eaters' searching wands.
After a long wait, Granger whispered, "Let's just leave! Disapparate now!"
Before Potter could reply, a Death Eater shouted,
"Release the Dementor! He'll be easier to kill if he's been Kissed first!"
There were noises of agreement. Dread filled Potter. To repel Dementors they would have to produce Patronuses which would give them away immediately.
Suddenly, they felt the unnatural cold being spread over the street. Light was sucked from the environment right up to the stars, which vanished. In the pitch blackness, Draco felt Potter
take hold of his arm and together, they turned on the spot. They retreated down the side street, groping their way along the wall trying not to make a sound.
Then, around the corner, gliding noiselessly, came dementors, ten or more of them, visible because they were of a denser darkness than their surroundings. They could sense fear in the vicinity. Suddenly Draco felt chill in his bones, and when he looked behind him, three Dementors were already a metre a way from them.
Draco, remembered Potter had told him about Patronus that could sent away Dementors, grabbed Potter's hand that was holding him. And without a single thought, he gave his wand to Potter.
"Quick, the Patronus charm!"
Not a second later Potter whispered "Expecto Patronum!"
The silver stag burst from his wand and charged.
The Dementors scattered and there was a triumphant yell from somewhere out of sight.
"It's him, down there, down there, I saw his Patronus, it was a stag!"
Maybe it was not their lucky day. They merely ran a few metres but the Death Eaters had waited them at the opposite way. They had guessed correctly their whereabout.
Confronted by the Death Eaters before them, and Dementors were flying toward them from behind and above, the four of them were trapped with no escape.
Then, unexpectedly, Draco whispered to Potter,
"Save my Mother!" and with that he cancelled his Disillusionment charm on him and charged toward the shocked Death Eaters.
"What the fvck?! It's Malfoy? Get him!" A Death Eater yelled.
Using the distraction, the three Gryffindors made their way to escape the enemy. At the same time, Draco's vision blackened and then he lost consciousness.
~o~
Draco jolted awake and immediately felt pain in his whole body. The surrounding was veiled in dim light and chilling, damp air. He knew where he was at the moment. The Malfoy Manor's cellar.
"Finally awake, the Sleeping Prince," a chilling voice greeted Draco.
Draco sough around the room and spotted a shadow was moving tardily toward him.
A large, vicious-looking man with matted grey hair and whiskers appeared before Draco. And then the candle's light fell upon the man's face. Draco's pupils shrunk when he saw pointed teeth and long yellowish nails scratching lightly on the man's face.
"Greyback," Draco said the name in contempt. Fear started to creep out of his skin.
"Hm?" Greyback leant his face to meet Draco's in only mere inches. Then smell of fresh blood assaulted Draco's nose. Greyback raised his left arm and caressed Draco's jaw.
With horror, Draco noticed trails of blood on that big and calloused hand. His eyes swept around the room. There, on the floor near the wall, laid a bloody bone that looked like a humerus. There was still a bit chunk of flesh attached to it. Draco almost vomited. He wanted to step away from the werewolf but found himself unable to move. He tugged his wrist and belatedly realized that his wrists and ankles were being chained to the cold wall.
Suddenly Greyback gripped Draco's jaw roughly and tilted his face upward to meet his eyes.
"Did you know how long I suffered from Cruciatus after you freed Potter?!"
Then Greyback made a growling sound and brought his sharp teeth toward Draco's neck. Just when the blood-stained teeth were about to sink into Draco's skin, sound of a heavy door opened was heard. A second later Greyback was thrown hard to the wall.
"Behave, Fenrir. The Dark Lord wanted the boy alive." A male voice said as the person entered the cell.
"Alive, Amycus. Not necessarily in one piece. Half eaten should not be an issue," Fenrir Greyback hissed, angry that the wizard dared to shot an Impediment jinx that made him slam into the opposite wall. "What are you doing here?"
"You are needed for the next plan," the Death Eater told Greyback. "Now."
The werewolf growled but walked out, leaving the cell's door open. Amicus tsked and pointed his wand at the door to close it. Then he greeted Draco,
"Hello again, Draco."
Amycus Carrow, a Death Eater that was appointed by Voldemort to be the Dark Arts professor, was a sadistic man who enjoyed punishing and torturing students. Draco felt a deep contempt toward this man. He refused to acknowledge the man's existence and closed his eyes. He didn't know how long had he been blacked out since the Death Eaters seized him at Hogsmeade. He hoped Potter managed to enter Hogwarts unharmed.
"Listen to me…when your professor…speaks to you! Crucio!" Amycus threw the curse to Draco.
The pain was so intense. Hot knives were piercing every inch of his skin, his head burst with pain. Draco screamed and screamed until the Death Eater had thrown the Cruciatus Curse four times. Then he lost consciousness.
~o~
Day and night, without sustenance, Draco was tortured with curses by Death Eaters that he could no longer track the time. How long had he been prisoned in the cellar? He couldn't even remember who were the Death Eaters that torturing him. Draco assumed that Severus and his father weren't informed he was here as he hadn't seen them there. Could this mean that the Dark Lord planned to kill him?
Then, in his weak state, Draco remembered. He had his mother's wand with him. They must have had summoned Draco's wand specifically when he was put in the cell, and after they found that his wand wasn't with him, they just assumed Draco had lost his wand and defenseless. Hoping they didn't search on his body, Draco summoned his loyal house elf. Loud puff echoed in the cold cell and Tippy the free house elf appeared.
"Tippy! Hand me the wand hidden in my right sock!" Draco ordered the house elf. Then after he had a hold of his mother's wand, Draco sent the house elf away. In hurry, he casted a spell to unchain his wrists and ankles. The chains in the cellar were made to only lock and unlock with special spells that could only be casted by the Malfoys. Draco wondered which Malfoy that had chained him.
Now the next challenge was to get out of the cellar. A spell preventing Apparition was set to the cellar to prevent the prisoners from escaping. Calculating the situation, that his last torturer had made a visit less than an hour ago, so there wouldn't be any Death Eater down here for the next few hours.
Gripping his mother's wand tightly, he opened the door and stepped out. It was empty. Without missing a beat, Draco rushed toward the entranceway door and unlocked it.
"Who—"
"Petrificus totalus!" Draco casted the spell in lightning speed to the Death Eater that was guarding the entranceway. And a blink moment later Draco Disapparated.
~o~
Grimmauld Place came into Draco's view. It was the only place in Draco's mind when he Disapparated from the manor. Fear hadn't gone from his face yet, now he was aghast at the sight before him. The Black House's door had been blasted. Didn't know what to do, Draco could only think of Hogwarts. He tried to connect with Potter through his bond, but what was transferred to him was sense of chaos.
It had long since Draco surrendered to death. He had nothing to lose now (bar his mother's safety. But he hoped his father would take care of it). With that in mind, Draco was resolute and Disapparated to Hogwarts.
Protection spells enveloping the Hogwarts Castle were breaking into sparks of flames, exposing the castle to the outsiders. This was how Draco was greeted as his body Apparated by the Black Lake. His eyes examining wildly the landscape before him. Werewolves and giants were aggressively storming into Hogwarts. Draco describing the scenery in one word; chaos.
Is Voldemort attacking Hogwarts? Draco felt despair started to crawl into his brain.
"Potter!" Draco called through the bond. It was the same as before; he could only feel chaos delivered to him. Seeing the current situation, Draco thought that now Hogwarts must be defenseless. Taking a big gulp of water from the lake to regain a bit of his body strength, Draco raised his mother's wand and Disapparated into Hogwarts castle.
He landed among students who were running toward the Great Hall. Looking around, Draco didn't know where he should go. Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed Draco's jacket, dragging him into a deserted corridor.
"Blaise!" Draco called when the person called his name.
"You're alive!" Blaise Zabini gave him a brief hug.
"You know where's Potter?" Draco nodded, touched by the worry his close friend had for him.
"Why are you looking for him? The…Dark Lord sent you?" Blaise asked while keeping his eyes on their surroundings.
Draco couldn't hold contempt arose on his face, and Blaise blinked in wonder at the expression. The black haired Slytherin shook his head.
"No. Hogwarts is in chaos. All students are scrambling about in disarray as you can see. Wait, how did you get in here?"
Draco had no time to explain. He needed to find Potter. He would make sure The Boy Who Lived defeat the lunatic Dark Lord. He then remembered about the last horcrux. Potter said it was here in Hogwarts.
Think. Think! The last horcrux was related to Ravenclaw. Where would Potter search for Ravenclaw's treasure? The gear in Draco's brain worked so fast that his feet immediately moved without his command and brought Draco toward the Ravenclaw Tower.
"Draco, where are you going?" Blaise asked half yelling. Everything was so loud. The students' screams, rumbles of stones falling to the ground, explosions outside the castle, whistles of spells and curses.
Draco was just taking turn from the last corridor before he reached the stairs of the Ravenclaw Tower, his legs stopped abruptly as he felt a tug on his chest. At that moment, he took a deep breath and his clear vision met Harry Potter.
The later was rushing down the Tower's stairs and running past Draco without acknowledging his presence.
"Isn't that Potter?" Blaise said.
Without replying, again, Draco ignored Blaise and started to run to catch Potter.
Potter was running in unusually high speed. Draco was left behind one corridor. But, with Blaise following behind, the tug in Draco's chest kept them in track with Potter. And when he took a turn on a familiar corridor in the seventh floor, Draco saw a door attached on the wall before him, replacing a tapestry that was usually decorating the wall.
"What the—" Blaise almost ran into Draco from the surprise.
"The Room of Requirement," Draco said to no one in particular. Then he ran toward the door and entered the Room.
Both Slytherin were too focused on Potter that they failed to notice a figure was following them since the start of their chase.
The inside of The Room itself was a mess. Hills of various forgotten objects filled the spacious magical room, creating labyrinth in finding Potter. Draco had to rely on their bond to find him. He focused on Potter and waited for a minute, but there was no response from the bond. He felt the disorientation in their connection. So Draco started to search blindly, walking deeper into the room.
A pixie suddenly flew over Draco's head. While Draco kept walking, the little pixie started to play with his hair. Strand by strand was pulled by it. Annoyed, Draco hexed it away. In that moment, Blaise glanced at Draco.
"Huh? That's…not your wand?" Blaise noticed the unfamiliar wand in Draco's hand. The latter didn't give a reply and kept searching for Potter.
Just when both Slytherins turned to another path, they met Harry Potter.
"Potter," Draco greeted.
"Malfoy," Potter replied.
"Why you're holding Draco's wand?" Blaise asked.
"Potter! Surrender yourself!" another voice shouted from behind Draco and Blaise. The other three looked at the person.
"Vincent?!" Draco's heart suddenly beating rapidly. Not long ago, the senior Crabbe was punished to death by the Dark Lord for failing his task as spy. Needless to say, his son, Vincent Crabbe, was currently here to pay for his father's failure.
"Vincent, what are you doing here? Why are you here? And how did you get here?" Blaise asked his fellow Slytherin.
"How can you be the son of the Dark Lord's number one follower? You didn't even notice me following you," mocked Vincent to Draco.
"Hey, why's he here? Didn't all Slytherin students escorted back to the dungeon and locked?" Ron Weasley appeared from Potter's back.
"Shut up you filthy traitor!" Vincent pupils shrank and next, he hexed Weasley.
In a second, both teens throwing hexes toward each other. And when Draco was about to push Vincent away and stupefy him, fire erupted from the tip of Vincent's wand. It startled everyone.
Vincent, didn't expect fire to burst out of his wand, swung his wand to stop the fire that kept produced from his wand tip. But his movement only caused the fire to flare up even more. And in mere second, Vincent Crabbe had accidentally created Fiendfyre.
Without a though, Weasley screamed, "RUN!"
He was only saying that one word, and the hellish flame already licked up the roof and engulfed each and every object pile in the room. Everyone in the room ran for their life. But in such crowded labyrinth-like room, they couldn't see where the door was located. Draco, together with Blaise, ran blindly to unknown direction. The fiendfyre grew so fast, trapping them inside the room.
"Up! Hurry!" Blaise yelled and he and Draco climbed up on the high pile of objects.
"Shit! We're trapped! There's no way out!" Draco yelled in despair.
Amber light illuminated the whole room. Heat began to burn skin. The unstoppable flame didn't let a single thing to pass its rage, started to consume the pile Draco and Blaise were hanging on.
Draco's right forearm suddenly trembling. In panic, he shook his arm to make the sleeve rolled down a bit to see what's going on with his forearm. The dragon tattoo began to coil. But before Draco got his second panic, a shout of his name was heard.
"Draco!"
Draco looked up. Potter flew with a broomstick, reaching out for him. Without hesitation, Draco raised his arm and grabbed Potter's hand. As Potter got a hold of him, he sped up and flew toward the open door. Looking back, he saw Weasley had taken Blaise to his broom, too. Following behind him was Granger flew on a broomstick.
As soon as everyone flew out of the burning room, Potter threw something that looked like a diadem into the room. At the same time, the fiendfyre was about to strike out. Its fiery mouth met the object thrown at it, suddenly was blown back into the room and fought the black smoke burst out of the object and then exploded.
Draco, watching the scene, gave a look at Potter.
"Horcrux," Potter said. "Leave!"
"What?" Draco asked. Mind was still in chaos.
Without waiting for Draco to move, Potter ran, leaving Draco. Weasley and Granger followed behind, catching up on the running-fast Potter.
"Draco! Let's leave this place!" Blaise said from beside him. When he didn't get any response from Draco, he said again urgently, "Now!"
Still there was no reaction from Draco, Blaise swore and ran away by himself.
Draco's head was spinning. His ears were ringing he couldn't hear anything else. There seemed to be a pause in time. And the last thing he felt before he blacked out was a frantic emotion delivered through the bond.
~o~
Draco felt ticklish on his head. He opened his eyes and noticed he was lying on the floor in a corridor. He raised his hand and felt his head. A little pixie was tugging his strand of blond hair. Draco bashed it away and stood up. He couldn't remember what had caused him to faint. But he remembered Potter said to stay hidden and to be safe to him before he fainted.
The words kept playing in loop in his head. Draco felt there was something else that matter.
Oh! Right! He was…he was…actually he didn't know what to do now. When he escaped the Malfoy's cellar, he only remembered that he had to find Potter and encourage him to kill Voldemort. But seeing how Potter saved him instead before, it seemed that the Gryffindor didn't need any mental support. In contrary, it was Draco that was now in need of mental support.
Voldemort still kept his mother in manor. Death Eaters must be hunting him, too, now that he escaped their surveillance.
Like a lost child, Draco stood up and started to walk without certain direction. When he arrived at the Grand Stairs, he noticed that it was so quiet. He looked on his surroundings. Not a single Death Eater in sight. The castle was deserted. Had everyone retreated?
Draco closed his eyes, focusing on the bond and wished to guide him toward Potter. At first there was nothing. He didn't know how to control the bond. He concentrated, focusing his magic to find the string of bond attached in his body. His magic scanned his whole body and Draco noticed there was a tremble when it reached his heart.
"Of course it's in the heart," Draco said dryly. Now he needed a charm to make that bond string visible to his eyes and find the other end on Potter's.
"…or you can just ask me where you mate is."
"Who's that?!" Draco jolted and raised his (mother's) wand.
"Duh…" the heavy voice said in a…boring…manner…? "Here, youngling."
Draco moved his head very, very slowly toward his right forearm. He pulled up the sleeve, and with disbelieve bulging eyes, staring at the animated dragon tattoo on it.
"WHAT THE FVCK!" Draco, understandably, shouted.
"Tck. Noisy!" the dragon tattoo coiling around Draco's forearm.
"WHAT THE FVCK?" repeated Draco.
The dragon rolled his eyes, "How many hundred years I've been imprisoned in that stone? I had absorbed raw magic from my surrounding. Handed from one human to another countless time, I had plenty of time learning the language of human."
"…Right, right. Dragon is an intellectual magical creature," Draco nodded. Then, "But what the fvck?!"
The dragon sighed. "Alright. Enough talking. Do you want me to find your mate or not?"
Draco knew who the dragon addressed as his mate was. He had no time to argue and deny such label given to Potter, but he needed to find the Gryffindor as soon as possible. So Draco let it guide him.
"Ah, by the way, I absorbed all your magic energy that time. That's why you fainted," the dragon told Draco nonchalantly.
"WHAT?"
"Tch. That fiendfyre challenged me. And since I was still attached to your body, my instinct worked itself and drew all your magic to power up my defense. But when I was about to unleash off of your arm, your mate's hand pressed me back down."
"…"
Draco wondered if he could get rid of that dragon tattoo from his skin. He walked in silence until he reached the stone gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office.
"Here. Up," said the dragon.
"Password?" the gargoyle asked.
How could Draco know the password? He made random guess, "Dumbledore?"
To his surprise the gargoyle slid aside revealing the spiral staircase behind.
When Draco arrived at the door of the office, the magical string in his heart tugged and he saw Potter at the headmaster's desk.
"Potter?" Draco called, but Potter didn't answer. He even seemed like didn't notice Draco's presence.
Draco looked at Potter and noticed that the teen was dipping his head into a basin of…silver liquid? Sensing how anxious the bond's connection had become, Draco became curious about that silver liquid. Draco looked at the door's direction, making sure there's no one to ambush, then he put his face beside Potter's into that mysterious liquid.
The liquid was thick. Draco couldn't breathe and all he could see was mist. He blinked several times and was almost pulled his face out of the basin when suddenly his vision became clear. He looked to his right side and was greeted by the petrified Harry Potter. Draco followed Potter's staring direction.
Draco was shocked at first, but his brain had calmed him immediately, as it figured out the scenery before him was some kind of imagination, or a memory to be precise.
Before him were standing the younger Severus Snape and Dumbledore. They were in the headmaster's office. Both adult wizards were in the middle of a conversation.
"—part of Lord Voldemort lives inside Harry, and it is that which gives him the power of speech with snakes, and a connection with Lord Voldemort's mind that he has never understood. And while that fragment of soul, unmissed by Voldemort, remains attached to and protected by Harry, Lord Voldemort cannot die," said Dumbledore.
Draco seemed to be watching the two men from one end of a long tunnel. They were so far away from him, and their voices echoing strangely in his ears.
"So the boy must die?" asked Severus.
"And Voldemort himself must do it, Severus. That is essential."
Snape looked horrified.
"You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?"
Draco caught his breathe in his throat. Potter was a horcrux?
Suddenly the surrounding turned into waves. Draco felt like he was being pulled forcefully out from the memory. He gasped for air, at the same time saw Potter rose up out of the basin.
Without looking at Draco, Potter lay on the carpeted floor.
"Potter?" Draco called, "Potter…what was that?"
There was silence for a long moment. Then slowly, very slowly, Potter sat up.
"Potter?" Draco called again. Still there was no response from the other teen.
Potter started to walk toward the door. His expression was calm as he ever was.
"Potter where are you going?" Draco asked in panic. "Are you going to meet Voldemort?!"
Potter stopped. He turned his body toward Draco behind him, and calmly told him, "I must die. It must end."
Draco felt his heart pounding fiercely in his chest as he heard those words.
"Potter?" Draco called as he saw Potter continued to walk out of the office. "Harry?"
Finally able to break from panic and confusion, Draco moved his petrified legs and started to run in chasing Potter. His heart was pounding rapidly and loudly, his breathe fast and short. When he reached the Great Staircase where Potter was heading toward the courtyard, Draco shouted,
"Harry! Don't!"
Harry Potter, however, denied Draco's call and kept walking as if he didn't hear Draco.
How come there was no one there to stop Potter? Where were Granger and Weasley when they were needed? Draco ran and grabbed Potter's arm to stop him.
"What are you doing?! Stop doing stupid thing!" Draco hissed.
"Malfoy. Let me go," Potter said calmly.
"No."
Potter looked at him for a moment, then started to walk again with Draco's hand still holding his left arm.
"Potter!" Draco yelled. He wanted to stop Potter but as his magic hadn't come back yet, he couldn't throw any spells.
Potter turned his body, and watching the tears Draco unknowingly let fall from his eyes, Potter casted the body-bind spell on him.
"I'm sorry." Potter walked away.
~o~
Harry understood at last that he was not supposed to survive.
He felt numb. Dumbledore's betrayal was almost nothing. Of course there had been a bigger plan; Harry had simply been too foolish to see it, he realized that now.
He took a deep breath and stepped into the Forbidden Forest.