A/N So guys what's up? We're back again, sorry for the delay, for a very important chapter. Thank you Nikhil Malfoy and a 'Guest' for reviewing, once again I'm very greatful. Also I'd like to congratulate all of you, we've hit 36000 views (nearly 36500 now)! Thank you for all the support you've given so far all of you and enough with this note, on with the chapter...
Chapter 41 - Severus Snape
The screaming engulfed them all at once, as thick as smoke, thick enough to drown in. The ten of them broke apart, each and everyone of them getting ready for the impact that was about to blast their worlds apart. "Promise me something Hermione," Draco muttered under his breath, eyes on the wooden bridge. Hermione made a small sound of acknowledgment and Draco looked her in the eye before saying in a dead serious tone, "Don't die. Please." And with that Hermione turned and nodded, refusing eye contact. How could she know? She very well could die that evening and Draco needed to know that - but she couldn't bring herself to tell him. Draco's ragged breath came out in panicky, uneven gasps. He snuck a hand down the front of his robe to feel the ring which swayed softly next to his skin and he felt a sudden surge of terror. He envied her ability to stay clam.
The impact of noise subsided suddenly as three snatchers dashed towards the bridge - and vaporised. The shield had worked! But no one was foolish enough to voice their excitement. No one dared be naive enough to assume they'd won just quite yet. . "Interesting," they heard the soft voice echo out across the sky. "You fools," Voldemort hissed. None of them could see the owner of the deadly voice but they could all sense him raising his wand at that very moment. With an earth shattering cry, a bolt of bluish grey lightning shot out from the distance and with a bang penetrated the shining globe around their school. "BLOW THE BRIDGES!" Cried McGonagall loudly as the shield started falling away like snow melting in the palm of your hand. Hermione could almost see the cruel smile of Voldemort in her mind and stood her ground, terrified. From across the bridge, Scabior was eying the wooden boards in front of him with extreme caution.
Slowly, very slowly, Scabior raised a foot and placed it onto the bridge. Nothing happened. "GUYS GET OUT OF THERE!" Someone screamed as Fred, George, Lee, Seamus and Dean, who were all crouched on the bridge, all turned to see Scabior grinning manically. "RUN!" George yelled, grabbing his brother and Lee and charging towards the courtyard, Seamus and Dean just in front of them. Scabior gave them a smug smirk before leaping after them, leading a pack of stampeding death eaters behind him. A storm of different coloured spells were firing down the narrow structure like tropical birds towards Lee and the twins but they managed to dodge them all. And then one hit them. Fred let out a strangled moan as a jet of blue light burnt a hole through his robes sending him crashing down to the wooden floor. Skidding to a halt, George turned and saw his brother lying on the floor. Lee hadn't stopped. Petrified but with one thought in his head, George raced back to Fred, grabbing his arm and hauling him up. Feeling a warm trickling down his arm, Fred ran with George to catch up with Lee, biting back the agony coursing down his right arm. "You good?" George panted urgently.
"Yeah," Fred grinned groggily. Turning around, the injured twin raised his wand arm in pain and aimed his wand behind him and fired a bright red spell which hit the bridge.
With a bang, every support and every wooden beam behind them exploded one by one and rained down into the lake below. With strangled cries, a handful of death eaters fell into the inky black depths of the lake under them. "FRED RUN!" Angelina Johnson screamed just as Dean and Seamus threw themselves off the bridge and into the courtyard. A flash of green light narrowly avoided George's left ear and ricocheted off of a bridge support in front of him. There were three supports between the three boys and the exploding beams. Two supports left. "MOVE!" Roared Lee. There were five metres of wood between them and the courtyard. One support left. Molly made an incoherent screaming noise. Ron tried to charge forward but Harry held him back, screaming himself too. "JUMP!" Yelled Fred as all three of them leapt for the edge just as the whole bridge went up in a frenzy of flames behind them. The masked figures stood at the end of the smoking bridge, looking down to where several had fallen. Scabior was clinging onto one of the remaining beams, trying to make his way back.
Everyone in the courtyard watched in fear. In suspense. Five seconds had passed. Ten. "NO!" Screamed Ginny, fighting tooth and nail to get out of Arthur Weasley's grasp. "NOOOOO!" She screamed, splitting the air in two.
"Ron NO!" Harry yelled as Ron pushed Harry off of him and dashed towards the smoking ashes which were the remainders of the bridge. Even up close, the smoke was too thick. Everyone stood still with bated breath.
And then, at last, a hand grasped onto the courtyard paving stones followed by the clattering of a wand. Ron instantly bent down and grasped onto George's pale, clammy wrist and hoisted him up to the surface. Arthur and Molly ran forwards too to help and together, the three red heads pulled George, who was clinging onto Lee who was gripping onto Fred, clean up and out onto the hard, solid ground. An almighty uproar of noise came from this small victory as the three young adults collapsed onto the floor, blood staining the paving stones a dark red. Molly swept all three boys up into her arms despite Lee's protests as Arthur called for Madam Pomfrey. The first injury.
"What are you waiting for?! Kill them! Kill them all! Don't let a single blood traitor stand in your way," roared Voldemort, sending his army off in the direction of the viaduct where most of McGonagall's army of stone statues were in place. "They'll break into the viaduct courtyard, you take your group down there!" Hermione heard someone yell and all at once a sudden swarm of people were heading towards the viaduct courtyard. "Hermione? Hermione! HERMIONE!" Draco yelled but the small brunette was already out of sight.
"Ron we've got to get to the snake!" Yelled Harry from just ahead of Hermione.
"I know that!" Ron yelled back, skidding around the corner and approaching the viaduct courtyard. "Hermione! Where's Hermione?!" Harry yelled.
"Right behind you!" Called Hermione.
"Right. And Malfoy?" Harry asked.
"Umm, I lost him back there. He'll be fine I know he will. He's with Blaise, Theo and Pans. I - Ginny?"
"Thought I'd tag along," smiled Ginny as she caught up with the trio, "Neville and Luna are ahead somewhere with the tentacula." Hermione nodded and rounded the corner. What she saw made her heart ache. Fire and smoke everywhere, nestled in the broken mounds of rubble and the crumbling walls around the courtyard. The death eaters had already penetrated the grounds and they were swarming towards them, a solid mass of black, some duelling students, others battling giant stone statues. Hermione stopped for two seconds, taking it all in.
"CHARGE!" Screamed a sudden, high pitched male voice as Dobby and an elf that Hermione was certain was Kreacher lead an army of armed house elves towards the oncoming tidal wave of black. Some carrying kitchen knives, others carrying scissors they clambered upon the masked figures and stabbed and pulled at them, snapping their wands and biting their ankles. "Avada Kedavra!" A voice yelled and green light exploded in front of them. "MOVE!" Harry roared and grabbed both Ron and Hermione to pull them behind a cluster of burning rubble.
"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked fearfully, tossing his head in search for his Weasley. Ron and Hermione looked around too, uncomfortably. "GINNY?!" Harry roared but his voice was deafened by the shouted curses all around him.
"She'll be LOOK OUT!" Hermione screamed, pulling Ron out of the way of a large spider which definitely looked to be on the opposing side. "Impedimenta!" Hermione screamed, wand aimed at the scuttling eight legged beast. The curse wrapped itself around the jet black, hairy creature majestically and it curled up into a ball, paralysed. It looked like Aragog's children had escaped the forest. And it wasn't alone, a sudden horde of giant spiders came scuttling through a large hole blasted through the wall and as Harry began firing stunning spell after stunning spell, Hermione knew there were too many. "Keep moving," she muttered, dashing out from the rubble with her wand out, striding out into the apocalypse. Harry stole one more look around the courtyard for his red headed girlfriend before disappearing into the fog.
.
Draco dived under a falling heap of stone, rolling out onto the rubble laden cobblestone. He couldn't see anyone familiar just streaks of red, blue and green. He saw elves, spiders, giants, masks and cloaks but no faces. And then, right in front of him, he saw a colossal wooden club. Eyes widening to the size of dinner plates, he fumbled for his wand as he watched the club come crashing down towards his face. Suddenly it clicked. It was really happening. He was going to die here, right here in this dismal lump of rock and no one would ever know. Not even Hermione. And she'd never know how much she meant to him. All these thoughts chased after each other in his brain until he was overcome with fear and all he could see was the club coming down. And then he felt arms around him and hard muscle as someone swept him out of the fire zone and behind a fallen archway. Draco's lost eyes searched for the face of his saviour and half heartedly grinned to see Blaise, sweat drenched and panting. "What the hell were you doing?" Breathed Blaise hard, confusion embedded in the tired marks in his face.
"I - have you seen Granger?" Draco wheezed. Blaise' eyes furrowed in confusion.
"Granger. Hermione. Have you seen her?!" Draco said with more urgency. Blaise shook his head. "I need to find Hermione. I need her to know. I need - get off!"
"What you need is to get out there and lessen the number of people trying to kill us so that your girlfriend and her death trap sidekicks can kill the blasted snake. Now move!" Blaise ordered before jumping out behind the stone and yelling with bitterness, "Patrificus Totalus!" and a masked body froze just feet away from them. Darting forwards, Blaise grabbed the death eater's wand and snapped it in two. He then proceeded to spit in the masked face before proceeding to do the same thing to others.
Draco hauled himself up and looked around, deciding what to do. On impulse, he strode forward and helped his mate from birth to take out as many of the death eaters as possible.
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Harry looked around in horror. Bodies, blood, smoke, screams. "SOMEONE HELP ME!" He heard a dying voice cry and he turned to see Fenrir Greyback ripping apart a body, which was now a pale ghostly white. "STUPIFEY!" Harry roared and the werewolf darted away from the body and took off on all fours towards the mass of people. Feeling sick and slightly dizzy, Harry recognised the body as none other than Parvati Patil. Knowing he was too late, he tried to ignore the bite mark which slashed the figure's throats open to reveal the ooze of red, congealed blood and instead ran towards the epicentre of the mayhem; the laughing beast casting the most damage, the most green.
.
"The snake," Hermione panted, looking sideways and found Ginny.
"How do we kill it?" Ginny asked, looking towards the long, slithering green serpent on the floor trailing alongside her master.
"I... I don't know. I know Harry has a basilisk fang, I gave it to him after Draco destroyed the EXPELLIARMUS! Hermione cried, directing her wand at a death eater who had just raised their wand at them. Hermione watched as the jet of light bolted out of her wand towards the masked figure and observed as if in slow motion how the wand was sent high into the air and clattered down upon the ground some ten metres away. "So Harry can destroy it. Of course Harry would be the one. I mean -" Ginny began but was cut short as a curse narrowly missed her right ear. "We wouldn't be able to get to it anyway, it's impossible!" Hermione said infuriately, staring at the solid wall of death eaters between her and the snake.
.
The war was now only lit by the raging fires around them. The sky was an endless sea of blackness and the ground was a gateway to hell. That's how Draco saw it anyway. Both grounds and castle were overrun with death eaters. What was once thought of as the safest place on earth - and then he saw her. "Granger! Hermione!" Draco yelled, catching sight of his precious muggleborn witch. She was busy duelling someone, a death eater no doubt. He knew she'd easily beat them. She was the smartest witch of her age. She could easily - until he heard that awful awful cackle. "You think you could kill me mudblood? Itzy, bitzy, boo. You couldn't last five minutes out here mudblood, with your stolen magic! Crucio!" The witch cackled, pointing her crooked wand at Hermione's chest.
"You'll have to do better than that Bellatrix," Hermione spat, dodging the curse. Bellatrix gasped, appalled.
"How dare you speak my name!? You filthy mudblood!" Bellatrix screamed, enraged.
"Get the hell away from her!" Draco roared, "Stupifey!" Bellatrix easily deflected the curse, rage filling her wide eyes and she stared at Draco as if he were poison. Draco shot a look at Hermione which clearly said 'why the hell did you run off?' Bellatrix stared between the pair of them and the realisation slowly penetrated her thick mass of hair.
"I knew. I always knew you were as bad as my dearest sister. A blood traitor indeed? Filth! How will your father react when -"
"I don't give a damn what my father thinks! Seeing as he's stopped calling me his son I think I have every right to stop calling him my father! Expelliarmus!" Draco yelled furiously. Again Bellatrix just smiled sadistically and deflected the spell.
"You're mother would be ever so disappointed," Bellatrix said softly and Draco stopped for a split second. But that was all she needed to take the upper hand. "Crucio!" She screamed, arm outstretched, wand pointed at his heart. Hermione screamed, "Impedimenta!" just as Draco fell to the floor in agony. Hermione screamed in terror.
"I've never liked you! I always knew you'd turn out to be a disappointment, a burden! Just like young Andromenda did, running away with that muggle creature only for him to end up dying like the worthless coward he was. You silly little boy. I've wanted to do this for so long... come on, scream... maybe I'll make it stop," Bellatrix whispered, causing both Hermione and Draco's blood to boil.
"Stupifey! Expelliarmus! You're hurting him! He's your nephew! Get off of him you stupid bitch!" Hermione yelled at the sadistic woman. Bellatrix turned to her, her matted black hair blowing around in the wind.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix yelled, laughing, wands now on both of them. "How dare you speak to me! How dare you bewitch my nephew into liking you! I'm going to kill you mudblood, and you, you filthy blood traitor, are going to watch." She gave a horrible, high pitched laugh as Draco's eyes widened in terror.
"No," he croaked in a nearly audible tone and tried to move himself in front of Hermione, terrified, "You filthy, you disgusting, you revolting piece of scum, you'll meet your dear blood traitor friends soon on the other side. Ava -!" Draco hauled himself with all his might to get in front of the writhing girl but just as she was about to finish the spell -
"Bellatrix," drawled a cold voice which cut through the air like a knife. Bellatrix looked up to the speaker of the voice and rolled her heavily pencilled eyes and quipped, "I'm a little busy, Severus, if you could not already see that."
"Indeed," Snape drawled in an icy voice, looking between Hermione, Draco and Bellatrix with a calm expression. Draco almost looked like he was giving his old potions master a sort of pleading expression. Noticing this, Snape's lip curled and he looked back up at Bellatrix icily and drawled, "Torturing muggleborns and blood traitors, how original of you Bellatrix."
"Are you questioning my actions Severus, because I can get the Dark Lord to kill you within seconds. You're nothing but a servant. A slave."
"Pity. I was quite enjoying criticising your uncanny way of doing things. I also aspire to be something more than a servant, Bellatrix," Snape hissed spitefully. And with that he snatched Bellatrix' wand from her grasp and aimed his own at her throat, unblinking. Bellatrix' eyes widened as Draco and Hermione fell to the floor, gasping in relief. "What are you doing? Severus no!" She whined furiously, eyes full of shock and hate. Draco couldn't stop a smirk spreading across his features as he watched the trail of events unravel.
"Any last words?" Snape spoke coolly, glaring at her in a way that made Draco feel that if that glare was directed at him he'd want to run in the opposite direction, very fast. The female death eater quivered like a battered leaf, a manic, deranged look in her eye. "The Dark Lord will hear of your insolence! You worthless coward!" Bellatrix screamed in fury, taking the other three by such surprise that she managed to dart towards Snape and steal her wand back before Snape could react. "Avada Ked -" she begun lividly, eyes full of hate, nostrils flared.
"Patrificus Totalus!" Hermione choked, casting the full body binding curse on her. Bellatrix, whose attention had been fully focussed on Snape, froze and fell to the ground.
Hermione and Draco both turned to stare at Snape in awe. "You saved us," coughed Hermione at last.
"That I did," mused Snape dryly before nodding curtly at Draco and turning on his heel, striding off into the battle. Draco stared after Snape and instantly felt a stab of regret at not thanking him. Hermione looked intently at Draco before stepping away from Bellatrix and towards the chaos.
The mass of strewn bodies was increasing as the time ticked by. With every curse, every duel, at least one person was left bleeding, unconscious or worse, and that person was more often than not from their side. And still no advances on the snake! With an ear piercing scream, Draco and Hermione's heads darted up to look at one of the turrets, a large part of which had been blown off and was falling rapidly to the floor. There was a scramble of bodies and curses to get out of the way, more screams and more cold, cruel laughter. With an CRASH that made the ground quake, the wall hit the floor and split off into different pieces, each flying in different directions. They couldn't see if anyone had been caught in the fall.
Suddenly, many people turned and started, pointing at an object in the sky, slowly getting bigger and bigger. Draco ran to stand next to Hermione and they both raised their wands along with many others. Even death eaters and giants alike stopped what they were doing to stare dumbly at the sky. They had to squint to really distinguish it from the clouds.
Soon over half the people in the courtyard were pointing and whispering at the dark shadow in the already darkened sky, most forgetting their present duel. "What is it?" Hermione shouted to Draco over the loud hubbub everyone was making. People began to scream, stepping away from the mass of inky black in the sky.
"No idea!" Shouted Draco back, but then the screams turned to cheering. Both Fred, George and Lee were yelling happily when the massive silhouette in the sky turned into the form of a massive creature with a gigantic wing mass. A dragon, a real, fire breathing dragon and riding on the colossal beast was... "CHARLIE!" A muffled cry sounded as none other than Molly Weasley with her flyaway hair and blood stained clothes ran out into a small clearing about twenty metres below the dragon.
"Mind it Mother!" A broken, male voice shouted from above them. A jet of bright orange and red flames spurted suddenly from the dragon's open mouth with a roar which ferociously wrapped itself around one of the giants and lit up the courtyard causing everyone to shield their eyes and some to scream. The giant let out an earth shattering yell and tried to beat away the flames. Consequently it ran, straight through the courtyard of people, who consequently fled from the danger zone, and dived straight into the depths of the Black Lake with an almighty splash. Hermione turned to watch as the flames were immediately extinguished and the giant began to climb out. And then, for the first time that year, Hermione caught sight of the Giant Squid - which was making its way towards the giant. Almost as sudden as the giant had jumped in was he being smothered by the tentacles of the squid. With a strangled cry, the giant tried but failed to tackle the tentacles wrapping around him like devil snare and for the next few seconds all you could see from the grounds was just a flailing blur behind the splashes of water. And then the surface of the water calmed, and both squid and giant were nowhere to be seen.
Charlie continued to fly the fire breathing beast over hordes of death eaters and burnt them to a crisp, careful to avoid all of his side. Fluffy also made an appearance, thoroughly intent on attacking the acromantula in the furnace of burning rubble and smoke. Many death eaters yelped at this appearance, clearly not accustomed to see three headed dogs loose around a school. "Ron have you seen the snake?" Harry called over to Ron who was mere metres from him.
"Have you seen You Know Who?" Ron asked back, pointing at the centre of the courtyard where Voldemort had previously stood, a laughing thing. Now not an inch of white in sight, only blackness.
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"I am assuming, my Lord, that you need to speak with me?" Asked Snape in a slightly wobbly voice, as if he was biting back the fear he felt. He stood quite still, as casually as possible, trying not to look away.
"Indeed, Severus. I feel I have not gotten to know you well enough my dear friend. I feel that I have too willingly accepted you into our ranks, especially after seeing what you did to young Bellatrix Lestrange," Voldemort hissed. They were both stood in the small boathouse at the bottom of the grounds. The room was set in an underground cave, the only source of light coming from the large parting in the rocks where the boats rowed in. Due to the thick sheet of ivy overhanging this, minimal light could get in. This caused not only a semi darkness, but a darkness in the air too. "Lumos," Voldemort hissed, illuminating Snape's pale face, sunken features and dry lips, casting ghostly shadows on the stone walls around them. A gust of cold air suddenly blew through the ivy covered hole causing the hairs on Snape's back to stand on end.
Aside from the many boats, creaking as the water moved rhythmically, there wasn't much else in the small space rendering little opportunity for hiding, and plenty of opportunity for the poisonous green snake to slither around, which was trailing around her master's ankles. Two smaller bodies beyond the curtain of ivy moved a fraction. "My Lord, I am afraid I am not aware what you are referring to," Snape tried steadily, a calm aura about him. Voldemort peered down at the man considering him.
"Indeed, I believe you do. You turned upon Bellatrix with harmful intentions in order to protect your students," Voldemort hissed.
"You must be mistaken my Lord, pardon my words. Let me find the boy, Potter. Let me bring him to you!" Snape said with a slight edge of desperation, masked with his cold drawl.
"The boy will come to me. I know he will. Even Potter can't stand by and watch his friends die for him," Voldemort drawled.
"But I could find him -"
"You will stay here, Severus," Voldemort hissed silkily. Snape remained silent, his heart hammering against his rib cage . "We both know what you did to Bellatrix. Now as for Draco, he and I will be having words. I will dispose of him quickly. He was just as useless as his father and just as annoying as his despicable mother. As for you Severus, you must know that I do not tolerate traitors."
"My Lord, I don't... I... yes. Yes I did try to kill Bellatrix," Snape finally spat, "Because she was trying to kill my students. Children. Children who will grow up in a world where you will no longer threaten their lives, a world where you shall no longer exist." Voldemort looked at him, amused by his little speech.
"Indeed Severus, but you see you are wrong. I will exist. You however, will not," he smiled cruelly, then added in a whisper, "Nagini, dinner is served." The long, green serpent slithered towards Snape, a hungry glint in its eye. Snape' s eyes widened in terror as the snake lunged, mouth open, fangs glinting, directly at his face. Snape fell backwards against the stone wall, screaming in pain.
Two sets of eyes watched from beyond the curtain of ivy in horror as a terrible cry echoed out over the lake and a drool of blood crept under the leaves which hung precariously in front of them. One of them nearly let out a scream and tried to break free of the female arms around him trying to hold him back. "Let me at -"
"Shhh!"
"Profess-!"
"Shut up!" Hissed the female voice in his ear, "He'll hear you!" Voldemort however did not hear them. They watched as the long black cloak trailed across the stone floor leaving a small line where the dust had parted behind him. The taller of the two students slid to the ground silently, still in the smaller one's clutches. "Come, Nagini!" Hissed Voldemort, seemingly satisfied and feeling no remorse The serpent slithered after him, a deep red staining its brilliant green scales.
Once the pair of them were certain that Voldemort and Nagini had both retreated from the cavern, the taller, blond boy scrambled to his feet and flung aside the curtain of ivy feverishly. The small brunette followed anxiously, wand drawn. "D-Draco?" A voice murmured from the corner of the room. Draco turned, eyes filled with horror, to the sight of blood and flesh. "Professor," Draco muttered, ignoring the pools of blood pouring from his late professor's wounds as he ran over to his side.
"Draco, Draco it's too late -"
"Shut up Pansy!" Draco shouted behind him, voice breaking as he slid to the floor and drew his wand. The familiar beam of golden light shone from his wand. Snape eyed Draco wearily, full well knowing that it was too late. "Draco," Snape repeated and Draco felt tears brimming over his tired, pained eyes.
"No, you can't die, not yet. I, I need you, you still have to teach me the occlumency, you have to stay, you can't -"
"Draco," Snape croaked, trying to hold up a bloody hand to stop him. Draco chewed his lip, pain etched all over his face, blood staining his hands from where he'd tried to stop the blood pooling out. A single tear leaked from Snape's eye. "Take it," he murmured, softly. Draco looked around, confused. What was 'it'?
"Draco the tear, he wants you to take the tear!" Pansy said anxiously, looking round for a container of sorts.
"Left, pocket," Snape heaved, breathlessly. Draco rammed his hand into his professor's left robe pocket and sighed slightly as he felt his hand come into contact with the cool, smooth glass of a vial. He unscrewed the lid and held it by his professor's eye, catching the tear as it rolled down his cheek. "Give it to Potter, he - he needs to know! Give it to him and help him win. Give it to him, Draco," Snape croaked, anxiety and desperation filling his eyes.
"I'll give it to him, I promise," Draco said confidently.
"Take it to the pensive," the greasy haired man explained.
"No no no hold on, you can't die. Pansy help me!" Draco began feverishly as Snape's eyes slid out of focus. He conjured a bandage with his wand and wrapping it around his pale, cold teacher's arm, his chest. As he began trying to stem the blood flow on his face, he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. "Draco," Pansy said quietly but it sounded as though she'd shouted it.
"NO! He can't! He was on our side! He saved my life! He -"
"Draco it's too late," Pansy whispered, tears streaming down her face too. Draco stared at his dying professor's face, willing himself to think straight. What to do. There must be a way! "Draco, give - give the tears to Potter. Tell him - tell him..." Snape trailed off and his eyes began to slide out of focus.
"Tell him what?" Draco asked. Snape didn't reply. Draco's eyes widened and he grasped Snape by the shoulders with his sweaty hands. "Tell him what Professor?!"
Snape's eyes jolted open. "Tell him that - that I am sorry," he croaked, voice thinning out into silence. And then his hand slid from his lap, and his head keeled to one side. "No," Draco muttered, and then shouted the word to the night. "Tell me what to do! Please wake up, you have to wake up!" Draco sobbed, blood, tears, mud and sweat mingling on his face.
"Draco we need to find Potter," Pansy said quietly, trying to drag him away from the lifeless body.
"He's not dead, he can't be!" The blond boy shouted, bending down to check his potions master's pulse. A second past. Two seconds. Three. Four. Nothing. Not even the slightest prick. He was gone. Silence filled the cavern. "I never said thanks," Draco uttered into the dusty silence. Pansy looked at him, wondering what Draco meant. "I - no. He can't be left like this," he murmured to break the uneasy silence, no emotions filling his empty voice. Nothing replied.
"We need to get back up to the battle, find Granger and the others," Pansy began.
"Not like this!" Draco said angrily, stooping to pick up the dead, greasy haired weight. "Help me," he panted.
"What are you doing?!" Pansy asked shrilly, dashing over to help Draco pick up their old head of house.
"Over here," Draco panted, each word taking up all his remaining strength. Together they heaved the body into one of the little wooden boats that the first years arrived in and stopped to catch their breath. Draco wiped his face with his sleeve before raising his wand and as he did so, the boat began to float out of the cavern, past the curtain of ivy and out into the middle of the lake. "Incendio," Draco spoke in an empty voice and watched as the boat burst into orange and red flames. Pansy stepped a little closer to Draco and gripped his hand tightly, flames flickering in her glassy eyes. Watching.
"Come on," Pansy said heavily, dragging Draco away from the burning sight. Draco followed, not really feeling anything at all, turning back one last time to see the silent roaring flames in the centre of the black, calm, undisturbed lake.
A/N I'd also like to say please don't hate the story for any deaths, hate me not the read. So, next chapter soonish on a Tuesday and let's see where this war goes! Can't wait to hear your comments on the war. Also, I'm sorry if it's not very well written, this is my first fiction so obviously my first dramatic war scene. I hope it didn't drag! See you all soon!