A/N: Another quick update! I hope you guys like this chapter, it was kind of annoying to write...but hopefully it came out alright :)
Ahh 120 reviews! This is ridiculous! Thanks you guys! Thanks to Tiadorable, Lycoris Brightwater, Leanora, personofnoconcern3000, Hartwi1, SpiritGirl183, Purpledaizi626, iilovefallingstars, and dizzydazzle for reviewing last chapter!
Chapter 13: Leap Into the Darkness
The happiness and laughter surrounding him faded to black as the sudden pain in his left arm burst into his complete awareness. The laughter generating in the direction of the Weasley twins suddenly sounded like hideous screeching and he pressed his hands to his ears to block it out, but the pain only seemed to increase. He distantly heard a shocked scream that sounded suspiciously like Hermione's and the screeching laughter ended immediately, and just as quickly the pain in his arm faded and he dimly became aware that somehow he had fallen to the floor.
He pushed himself up and unconsciously rubbed his arm, glancing up at the shocked and worried faces of his companions. Hermione was by his side, a steadying hand on his back as if she were afraid he would topple backwards again, and Potter had stood up in his seat to get a better look at him sprawled out on the floor. His mother had her hands pressed to her mouth, but her eyes told him that she knew what had happened. The other occupants of the room were simply staring at him with small hints of concern in their eyes. Did they all truly care for his wellbeing? Every single one of them? Were they not supposed to be enemies? The only one with suspicion still in his eyes was Ronald Weasley. Draco and the Weasley had not yet formed a bond and vaguely Draco wondered if he ever would. He seemed to be the least trusting of them all.
Draco glanced up at Snape, who had only grimaced and pressed a hand to his left arm. Feeling slightly embarrassed that he had let the pain shock him so badly, Draco stood, mumbling that he was alright. Everyone then glanced at Snape, who said simply, "The Dark Lord is calling a meeting."
Draco did not miss the significant glance that was thrown across the table from Potter to Weasley. In an instant they had stood. Potter motioned to Hermione to follow, and much to Draco's surprise, he waved over Draco as well, then turned and left the table without a word, walking up the stairs. Molly Weasley slapped her towel down from where she had been cleaning dishes, clearly showing her displeasure at them holding secret meetings, but Ron ignored his mother and followed Potter. Glancing at Hermione, Draco did the same, the last two trudging up the stairs to Potter's room and ignoring the accusing glares of the adults at their backs. It was quite obvious that they knew they were not invited to this secret meeting and resented it.
When Draco entered Harry's room behind Hermione, Potter and Weasley were already in a flurry of action. Harry was throwing things into a small rucksack, and Weasley was doing the same, gathering all sorts of items. When Draco entered, Ronald stopped and stood up, eyeing him accusingly.
"Are you sure about inviting him?" Weasley said, not bothering to cover the obvious distrust in his voice. Draco stiffened, narrowing his eyes as Hermione rolled hers.
"Really, Ronald, that's enough."
They fell into silence again, and Draco noticed that Potter had not even looked up at Ron's accusation. He was concentrating on his task of gathering the majority of his belongings. Hermione seemed to be at a loss of what they were doing as well, and raised her eyebrows as she crossed her arms. "What's going on? Are we going somewhere?"
"We are," Potter said, finally locking eyes with his friend and motioning to the three boys. Draco's eyebrows rose, knowing that Hermione's reaction was not going to be very accepting of this.
"What?" All three boys winced at Hermione's shrill scream. "You are not leaving me behind, Harry Potter!" She screeched, stepping forward to poke her finger in Harry's chest. "I'm sick of being left behind by all of you!"
"Hermione," Potter said, grabbing her wrists and looking into her eyes with far too much pain for a young man. "Look, I won't risk you being caught again. I'm not going to risk it."
Hermione glanced over at Ron, who pointedly avoided her eyes. She then glanced up at Draco, who returned her gaze bravely, telling her with silent words that he agreed. Wherever they were about to go, it apparently was going to be dangerous, and Draco wasn't even sure if he wanted to go himself. "You can't all do this to me." Hermione whispered, her voice breaking. "You never leave me behind. We're a team." She pleadingly looked back at Potter, who was still holding her wrists. Draco's eyes were drawn to Weasley, who was stuffing an actual sword into a rucksack, where it disappeared down into the bag. His eyes widened.
"That's the point, Hermione." Potter whispered. "I won't let us get broken up again."
It was obvious that neither of them were going to back down. Hermione's eyes were narrowed and she absolutely refused to stay behind, and Potter's eyes were large and pleading.
"So he gets to go and I don't?" Hermione shouted suddenly, pointing a finger at Draco, who involuntarily took a step back. He did not want to get into the middle of this. Ron glanced up from his work at that moment, as if agreeing with Hermione and waiting for Harry's response.
"Yes. He does." Potter said simply, and Hermione set her lips in a hard line. She ripped her wrists from Harry's grasp and folded them underneath her chest. "Look, Hermione, I need you do to something for me while we're gone." He said softly, as if this would tempt Hermione into staying. She didn't respond, so he went on. "We've destroyed four of the six Horcruxes. There's only Hufflepuff's cup and Nagini left. I need you to stay here and figure out a way to get to Nagini."
"I can figure out a way to get to Nagini with you!" Hermione screeched, her voice raising again as she beat her fists on Harry's chest. Draco was glad he was not on the receiving end of her fury for once.
"No, you can't. It'll take research, it'll take planning, and you're going to need quiet to figure this out. It's going to have to be fool proof, Hermione. Only you can think of a plan that good." Potter made a brave attempt at a smile, and Hermione scrutinized him for a moment. "And we need to leave someone here to be able to continue destroying the Horcruxes in case something happens to us. Hopefully we'll only be gone a few hours."
Her eyes roved from Harry, to Ron, and rested on Draco. "Be careful." She whispered as her final content. "Watch each others' backs." She commanded, glancing at Harry. "And don't die."
Harry grinned, pulling her forward and enveloping her in a hug. "We will."
Hermione's eyes began to brim with tears as she wrapped her arms around Potter and closed her eyes, allowing the tears to fall down her thin face and to her chin. Potter reluctantly released her, and she moved to Ron, bestowing him with the same crushing hug. He, too, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "We'll be fine." He muttered into her hair.
Finally, Hermione rested her eyes on Draco. He shifted uncomfortably, and she leapt into his arms, her lips centimeters from his ear. He returned the gesture awkwardly, allowing her to melt into his body with a sigh of worry. "Be careful." She whispered so softly that only he could hear, her warm breath tickling his ear. He smiled reassuringly as she pulled back, and without another word, she stalked out of the room and closed the door behind her.
"What's going on?" Draco immediately asked, completely confused as to what Horcruxes were and why Potter needed to get to Voldemort's snake and something of Hufflepuff's and destroy them. Was he off his rocker?
Potter turned his gaze on Draco from where he had been staring at the door. "Horcruxes are pieces of Voldemort's soul. As long as they exist, we can't kill him, so we have to destroy them before we ever even face Voldemort." Draco's mind whirled. Pieces of soul? Was that even possible? "That's what I was going into Hogwarts for that day in Hogsmeade. Look, we'll fill you in on the way there, we've got to hurry. That is, if you want to go. Your choice."
Potter hefted the rucksack up on his shoulder and Weasley did the same. Draco surveyed them for a moment. He wasn't itching to go, but the obvious trust in his decision coming from Potter made him finally nod. They exited the room together and Draco reluctantly followed, unsure of what he was getting himself into. He didn't particularly even want to go, but something was telling him that this could be the chance to do something right, to fix all the mistakes he had made, to do his part in helping the Wizarding World.
The crossed by the kitchen and immediately the werewolf stood, but Potter shook his head without making eye contact and the three of them walked straight out of the door into the cold night. With a nod, Harry grasped both Weasley's and Draco's arms and turned on the spot, taking them away from their safe haven and into the unforgiving night.
They landed in a dark forest, Potter immediately going to work and setting up enchantments around them to hide them as he filled Draco in. "We're guessing there's a Horcrux out here somewhere. We're near Little Hangleton. Voldemort's been moving his Horcruxes around from what we can gather. I think he's figured out that we're looking for them. For instance, we were absolutely positive of the location of the Cup and went to retrieve it, but it was gone. There were traces of Magic though, so we think it was there at one point. Now we think it's in the home of his parents, where he made his first kill to turn a ring into a Horcrux, but that one has already been destroyed. We figured he may have begun to set up guards, but if he's called a meeting, then that means they're all at Azkaban. So that's why we've come here now. We'll have to try and retrieve it as soon as possible, before anyone who may have been guarding it comes back."
Weasley had stayed silent during Potter's explanation, but now he lifted his ginger head and gazed away into the distance to where Draco suspected the house must be. "We should start heading over there."
Potter nodded, and from his pocket he produced three bottles of some murky liquid. "The Invisibility Cloak won't be big enough for all three of us, so I got some Polyjuice Potions. We'll just look like Muggles."
Draco crinkled his nose but obediently took the Potion. He watched the other two down it like experts without even cringing, so he lifted the glass to his lips and drained the liquid. It was revolting and Draco had to fight back a cringe. He glanced down at his skin, which appeared to be bubbling. It was quite a disgusting look, and he was worried about how this was going to turn out.
After the transformation, Draco felt his face. His skin felt rough and coarse; no longer smooth. He felt his chin, and discovered he had quite a lengthy black beard. He glanced at his companions, they, too, had undergone complete changes in their entire bodies. Potter looked like an old, wrinkly man with white hair, and Draco had to fight back a laugh. Weasley had taken on the appearance of a fat, bald man. His clothes stretched dangerously over his expanded belly, and Potter snickered as he glanced at him. Weasley glared murderously, hitching down his pants so they fit a bit more properly.
"We should hurry," Potter said, his voice shaking dangerously. It was Weasley's and Draco's turn to laugh as he tried to cough the oldness out of his voice and failing miserably. Potter shook his head and straightened his naturally curved back. "Shut up. Let's go."
They scampered through the forest until they came upon a small village, a sign hanging above them that cheerily announced 'Welcome to Little Hangleton'. The largest house perched on a hill, and without having to ask, Draco knew that was their destination. It reminded him faintly of the Malfoy Manor, due to its size and the way it loomed on the hill. They strolled through the town as inconspicuously as possible, the cheery inhabitants waving at them as they passed, but then shadows falling over their faces as the three men's destination was made known.
There was a long, winding road up to the house and they walked up it in silence. There was no need to speak, they each knew the dangers they were about to face.
"There will be enchantments to guard the Cup." Potter said as his hand rested on the door to the mansion. He glanced at Draco and Ron. Weasley nodded, urging him on, and Potter took a deep breath, pushing open the door.
They were greeted by utter darkness. Potter went first, then Weasley, and Malfoy took up the rear, all of them holding their wands out in front of them. The house was eerie in its very own way. Spider webs graced the many pictures that adorned the walls, and Draco realized they were pictures of Muggles. The eyes didn't follow them as they tiptoed down the hall, and he felt as if he was in a daze. Voldemort's parents…they weren't Muggles, were they? He was sure Potter had said this was the house of his parents…perhaps they were mistaken?
He could feel the tension rolling off of Potter and Weasley in waves, and he knew why. The build up to coming to this house had been enormous, but so far it seemed as if was unprotected. Perhaps they had been wrong in guessing the location of the Horcrux?
"Well, well, well…" The voice made the hairs on the back of Draco's neck stand straight up, and he tensed, his spine arching in foreboding as the person he least wanted to see stepped out from seemingly nowhere to block their path. "And what are Muggles doing in this house? Did you not see the Keep Out sign? Oh, Muggles with wands? How interesting." Bellatrix Lestrange sneered evilly, her teeth glinting in the light like fangs, her eyes shining with the promise of punishment.
Sorry about the cliffhanger...I couldn't resist :) Hope you liked it!