A/N: The battle begins! I hope you all enjoy this one!
AlphaBet love to BiscuitsForPotter and DisenchantedGlow for their amazing help as always!
Also, I've got to plug Biscuits' works for a second! If you're not reading Subtle Perfection yet, do yourself a favor and get on that! It's a beautiful Muggle Ice Dancing AU and it's AMAZING! Seriously so beautiful and magical even though it's in the muggle world. Join us on that fun little journey.
Okay, now on with the war!
Draco and Charlie charged forward across the battlefield where the Death Eaters were meeting Order members with deadly force. Already, screams and cries filled the air. Rallying cries, angry jeers, shouted hexes, and moans of pain assaulted Draco's ears as he raced across the lawn, his eyes searching for brown curls.
"Where's Granger?" Draco shouted over the sounds of hexes being cast from both sides.
Charlie cast a Stunning Spell to his right and a Death Eater dropped to the ground. "Erm… I think she's coming from the other side." He turned around to look at Draco and his eyes went wide. "Avada Kedavra!" A jet of green escaped Charlie's wand and shot past Draco's left shoulder.
Draco turned in time to see Macnair crumble to the ground, a vicious sneer still twisting his lips even in death. He glanced around for more approaching Death Eaters before turning back to Charlie. His wand was still gripped tight in his hand, and his mouth was clenched in a hard line.
His first kill?
Draco couldn't be sure. But Charlie didn't seem the least bit bothered to have killed Macnair.
"Thanks," Draco gasped, his heart racing.
"Look out for yourself, mate." With a jaw set in determination, Charlie continued forward into the fray.
Draco darted across the lawn, looking out for Death Eaters as well as Granger. There was fighting going on all around him. The front door of the house opened as Draco was directly in front of it and Death Eaters poured out. Dozens of them.
He froze, wondering how many he could handle when suddenly, Potter, Dean, and Bill raced forward with raised wands.
Potter stunned two Death Eaters before anyone else could release a hex. Draco ducked as a Killing Curse surged toward him. Then he released his own, hitting a burly man in the chest.
Twenty-four.
The four men fired spell after spell at the mass of armed men barreling down on them. Many hexes were deflected, but a few Death Eaters fell. Bill killed two men. Dean petrified three. Then the Death Eaters scattered, forcing the quartet of Order men to split up in pursuit.
Potter ran in the same direction as Draco, firing Stunning Spells at the back of a retreating Death Eater. The man crumpled to the ground.
Draco couldn't decide if being with Potter gave him a tactical advantage, or if it just made the target on his back bigger. The Auror was an excellent dueler, but he was sure that many Death Eaters would give their right arm to be the one to kill The-Boy-Who-Lived. But as Potter stunned another man and bound him without breaking his stride, Draco decided that being alone would give him worse odds than sticking with the Boy Wonder.
"Have you seen Granger?" Draco shouted.
Potter glanced at him and shook his head. He opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a loud blast from across the garden.
Someone had blown a crater in the earth. Debris and people were flying through the air from the shock of it. Draco and Potter ducked and covered their heads as dirt and rocks rained down upon them. Draco cast up a quick shield charm to block them from the worst of it.
A body dropped to the ground not far from them, mangled and bloody. Draco couldn't be sure if it was one of the Order or a Death Eater, but it was long and tall and broad like a man.
Where was Granger?
He couldn't be sure which side had set off the blast, but it seemed to have caused equal destruction on both sides.
Order members were staggering about, dazed and injured. Several fell to the ground, unconscious or dead, Draco couldn't be sure. Others thrust their hands into their pockets and then disappeared, whisked back to Headquarters by their emergency Portkeys.
Their numbers were dwindling, and they had hardly put a dent in the Death Eater ranks.
"Is this all of us?" Draco asked.
Potter shook his head and brushed the dust from his shirt as he straightened up. "Kingsley's gathering reinforcements. They'll be here soon."
Draco hoped it would be very soon. He stunned two Death Eaters who had begun to get their bearings back following the blast.
"Potter, I need to find Granger," Draco bit out, suppressing the tremble in his voice.
The Auror nodded, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "Let's check around back."
Draco took off running, hearing the sounds of Potter's heavy footfalls behind him. They skirted around the large estate toward the back garden. Flashes of light from spellfire were up ahead, and Draco saw Lovegood backing up, deflecting curses as a Death Eater advanced on her.
The Killing Curse bubbled up from his chest and released through his wand, and the Death Eater dropped dead.
Twenty-five.
Luna's head swiveled in his direction and she sent him a smile as if he'd just held open a door for her. "Thank you, Draco."
Draco nodded, not sure if he'd ever been thanked for killing before. He took in the rest of the lawn. George and Angelina were dueling Crabbe Senior together, and winning. The lumbering man was far too slow to be a match for either of them, and together they quickly bested him and Crabbe went limp.
Arthur Weasley was back to back with Ron against two lean Death Eaters who Draco recognised as the Carrows.
Arthur quickly took down Alecto and turned to help his son with Amycus.
"Luna, have you seen Hermione?" Potter asked.
Draco turned back to the batty blonde girl.
"She went into the house with Ginny, Seamus, and Neville."
Dread swept over Draco. He hadn't seen Theo or Dolohov yet. Which meant that they were likely inside the house. Why had she gone in there? Why hadn't she found him like he'd told her to?
Potter bolted forward, taking the back stairs two at a time on his way into the house.
"Wait, Potter!" Draco halted him.
Potter stopped, his hand on the doorknob and turned back.
"The battlefield may be your domain, but this is mine," Draco hissed, stepping past him. "I'll lead."
Potter stepped back, his green eyes wide as if he hadn't realised what they might need to do inside the house. But he'd gone to the Longbottom House after it was attacked, and Draco knew he understood now. Potter nodded, and Draco opened the door.
As soon as they stepped foot inside, the sounds of battle were muffled. They stopped just inside the door and Draco raised his wand. "Homenum Revelio Charta."
The map of the house lit up, and Draco watched as the blue dots moved about. Two by the back door: one of him and one for Potter, three others on the ground level, six in the basement, and five scattered upstairs.
"I can't handle that many," Draco admitted, glancing away from the map to send Potter a wary look. "Even if four of them are ours, that still leaves ten."
Potter nodded. "Well, you have me."
"And me."
Both Draco and Potter jumped a mile high and turned to see Luna standing directly behind them.
"Fuck, Lovegood. How did you get in here?" Draco hissed.
"Through the door. I'm here to help."
Draco and Potter shared a look. She had snuck up on them. Opened a door and closed it again right behind them without them noticing. Perhaps she could be useful. Draco's eyebrow twitched up questioningly and Potter nodded in response. They studied the map. The corridor in front of them seemed to lead to the drawing room where two dots hovered. One more dot was moving quickly through the adjacent corridor. It bolted for the front door and disappeared out onto the battlefield.
One less for them to deal with immediately.
Draco let his eyes sweep over the six in the basement before flickering to the five on the floor above. Where would Dolohov and Theo be? If they weren't on the battlefield, it likely meant that they were plotting something else, or trying to command from afar. But would they be underground where it was safer, or upstairs where they could survey the battle from the windows?
He couldn't be sure, and a glance at Potter told him that he wasn't either.
There wasn't a cluster of four together, which meant that Granger, Ginny, Longbottom, and Seamus had either split up or some of them were dead.
The sound of frantic footsteps upstairs had them all looking up. Draco's heart quickened and gripped his wand a bit harder. They would start with the drawing room. From there they would just have to take it one room at a time and hope Shacklebolt arrived with his reinforcements.
Just as Draco was about to vanish the map, a dozen more blue dots appeared in the entrance hall, all flooding into existence as if from nowhere. Muffled speaking in foreign tongues drifted down the corridor. Someone shouted orders in a harsh voice before all but one of the dots exited the house through the front door. The remaining dot went upstairs, his footsteps thundering on the way.
"Floo," Potter murmured, and Draco nodded in response.
"If we can get to it without being seen, I can block it," Potter assured him.
"Let's clear this level first," Draco replied. He turned to his companions and lifted a finger to his lips, then he walked forward quietly.
Potter wasn't silent, but his Auror training had done him some good. His footsteps barely made a sound as they made their way down the corridor.
Luna on the other hand was as silent as the grave. Draco could have sworn she was floating. Several times, he had to turn around and make sure that she was still behind them. Each time he did, she smiled at him. He wondered if she was even human.
Draco kept his ears piqued for any sounds of approaching people, but heard nothing as they drew to the drawing room door. From the corridor, he could see the fireplace across the vast entrance hall. He slowed, looking for the signs of people coming through, but the flames were low and yellow. They would clear the drawing room and then close the Floo. It wouldn't do them any good to be ambushed from behind while Potter crossed the room to deal with that.
Draco paused at the door to the drawing room and glanced at the other two. Both of them held their wands tightly in hand. Luna gave him an encouraging nod, and Draco pulled the door open and swept into the room, wand aloft.
A Stunning Spell narrowly missed his head and he threw up a shield charm as quickly as he could.
Potter raised his wand to attack but froze as his eyes focused on the two people in the room.
"No!" Ginny grabbed hold of Granger's arm to stop her spells as she recognised the people entering the room. Granger dropped her wand slightly and started towards them, but Potter closed the door quickly and held up his hand to stop her.
"Wait," he ordered. Granger halted. "Niffler."
Granger's eyes darted between the three of them briefly before replying, "Hippogriff."
Potter lowered his hand and quickly crossed the room to Ginny. She threw her arms around his neck and cried into his chest.
Granger approached Draco and wrapped her arms around his middle, squeezing him tight. "I did look for you," she promised. "I thought you might have gone after Theo."
Draco pressed a kiss into the top of her head, relief flooding his chest.
Across the drawing room, Ginny was weeping into a bewildered Potter's shoulder.
"Is she alright?" Draco asked.
Granger pulled back and glanced at the couple. "Ginny killed him," she murmured, jerking her head to the right.
Draco wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed the body of a Death Eater in a far corner of the room.
"We dueled," Granger explained. "But he kept blocking our spells. She killed him."
He felt himself nod, remembering how he'd felt after his first kill. That had been different though. The man he had killed was innocent. Ginny had killed a Death Eater, an evil man, a man who had been about to kill her and Granger.
He stepped away from Granger and moved to where Potter was trying desperately to console his girlfriend.
"Ginny," he bit out. Glassy blue eyes snapped to his.
"We don't have time for this," he pressed on, keeping his voice even.
"But I—" she warbled, turning to face him.
"I know," he interrupted. "And I know how it feels, trust me. You can process it all later." He glanced at Potter for a moment before grabbing Ginny by the arm and pulling her further away.
Ginny's breathing was erratic. He needed her calm if they were going to leave this room with her.
He spoke to her quietly, keeping his tone calm and dark. "I can stand here and tell you that it was self-defense. Or I could tell you that he would have killed you if you hadn't killed him. I could say that he probably deserved to die. All of that is true, but it won't change the fact that you took a life today, Ginny."
She trembled before him, her eyes fixed on the body of the man she'd killed. Draco turned them so that her back was to the Death Eater.
"Close your eyes," he ordered, placing his hands on her shoulders.
Ginny's eyes swept over his face before slowly drifting closed.
Draco took a deep breath. "Focus on the sound of my voice and the feel of your feet on the ground. Imagine that you are standing on the shore of a deep lake. So deep that you cannot see the bottom. The waters are cold and still, containing unknown depths and secrets." He watched Ginny's brow furrow in concentration.
"Bring forward the moment you killed him. Think about every detail surrounding the moment. His face, the way the curse felt in your hand, on your tongue. Think about how he fell to the ground, and think about the moment you realised what you'd done."
Ginny shuddered.
"Throw them into the lake one by one. They're heavy. Feel how much lighter you feel without them. Watch them sink down into the depths of the water far beneath your feet until you can no longer see them. They're miles down now, shrinking under the weight of the water surrounding them, losing their power."
Ginny's brow unfurrowed and she let out a little breath of air.
"Now, take three deep breaths…"
She inhaled slowly and blew it out through her lips three times.
"...And open your eyes."
Blue eyes met grey, and instead of seeing panic and terror, he saw nothing. No emotion, only blue.
Good. It's what they needed from her right now. She could process the emotions properly later, but for now they needed focus.
She nodded at him, her lips pressing together. Draco squeezed her shoulders and then led her back to where Potter, Granger, and Lovegood were talking quietly.
"Are you alright?" Potter asked. Ginny nodded quickly in return, her face betraying no more emotion.
"What did you say to her?" Granger asked softly as Draco moved back to her side.
"It's a simple Occlumency trick. Something my mother used to do to help me when I first started. It should get her through the day."
Granger's hand slipped into his.
"I used the map spell," she said, addressing the whole group. "There are twelve in the house other than us. Two of them are Seamus and Neville, but I can't be sure which ones."
"You don't know if they went upstairs or downstairs?" Potter asked.
Granger shook her head. "We had to split up rather quickly when we heard Death Eaters coming."
"We'll find them," Draco assured her. "Let's—"
He fell silent when footsteps in the entryway thundered once again. The Floo had let more Death Eaters in. Draco's eyes met Potter's and they both grimaced. He'd forgotten that they needed to deal with the Floo when they'd found Granger. He guessed that Ginny's distress had distracted Potter as well.
They needed to close that damn Floo fast.
In a flash, Draco cast the spell to conjure the map. A mass of blue dots was crossing quickly through the entrance hall, scattering to various places in the house. Most left through the front doors, but two descended into the basement and another two crossed quickly toward the drawing room door. Where they were currently hiding.
Granger wheeled around to face the door, raising her wand. Draco fought the urge to push her behind him and instead stood shoulder to shoulder with her. Potter squared off, his eyes flickering to Draco as he gave a quick nod.
Draco returned the gesture as the door opened and the sound of two men laughing echoed through the drawing room.
"I'm serious mate," one of the men clamored. They weren't within sight yet, still blocked by the door. "Jenkins said the only thing he wants to do today is slice one of those Order scum's guts open."
"He's sick," the other one laughed. "I'll be sticking with the Killing Curse myself. Way less messy."
They came around the door, and before their focus even turned to the group of Order members in the room, they both dropped to the ground. One downed by at least three Stunning Spells, and the other dead from Draco's Killing Curse.
Twenty-six.
"Close the door," Draco hissed, moving forward to pull the Death Eaters away from the entrance. Potter grabbed the arms of the stunned man and pulled him away from the door as Luna closed it.
Checking the map, Draco determined that no other Death Eaters were coming their way.
"We've got to get the stunned one to the Ministry," Potter directed.
"But if any of us goes, we won't be able to come back. The Portkey will bring us back to the outskirts of the battle again," Ginny protested.
"She's right," Draco said. "We need as many people to sweep the house as possible."
"So what do we do?" Luna asked, her pale eyes watching the unconscious Death Eater. "Bind him and leave him here?"
"We could kill him," Ginny suggested, her voice cold and far away.
Draco's eyes snapped to her. She was watching him expectantly. "I'm not killing an unarmed unconscious man," he insisted with a scowl.
"What difference does it make? If we leave him here, someone might find him and revive him. Then when he comes after us again you'll have to kill him."
"Ginny…" Granger's tone was shocked as she admonished her friend.
Draco's tone darkened. "Oh sure, Draco's an assassin. Draco won't mind disposing of our little problem for us. What's one more kill for the soulless murderer?"
"I didn't mean—"
Draco sneered and turned away from her. "Yes, you did."
"I'll take him to the Ministry," Luna offered.
"No," Potter said. "Draco's right. We need all the help we can get in here. Let's just bind him and make sure we take his wand and the wands of the dead as well. Even if he gets revived, he'll need to find a wand."
Draco nodded and summoned the three wands from the Death Eaters. He distributed one to each of the three witches in the room. "Just in case," he told them, clenching his jaw.
"I need to close the Floo before any more come in," Potter said. "You all should stay here, put the unconscious one in that cupboard, but leave the dead ones where they are."
Draco shook his head. "One of us should go with you to watch your back."
Potter nodded and glanced at his watch. "The three of you stay here and deal with the Death Eaters. Keep quiet. We'll be back in a minute." His green eyes were hard as he looked at each witch in turn.
Draco checked the map. "Let's go."
He didn't vanish the map as he and Potter exited the drawing room and moved across the entrance hall toward the fireplace. They were alone.
"How long will you need to block it?" Draco hissed as Potter stopped in front of the Floo.
"Just a few minutes." He began murmuring incantations. The flames crackled and hissed as if offended by the intruding magic.
Draco kept quiet, listening intently for any sounds which were out of the ordinary. He watched the dots intently, monitoring the movement patterns of each person. He tried to discern which two could be Finnegan and Longbottom, but there were several isolated pairs so he couldn't be sure.
With a jolt, Draco realised that three dots were moving quickly toward the stairs. "Potter," he whispered urgently. "We have company."
"Almost done."
The flames crackled, their colors changing rapidly as if someone were trying to get through.
The dots were descending the stairs now. They would be within sight in less than ten seconds.
"We're out of time."
Potter's brow furrowed in concentration, his wand tracing the mantle in a complicated pattern. Draco could hear footsteps approaching now. Could they make it back to the drawing room before being seen? His chest was pounding wildly, every instinct within him screaming to hurry back to the safety of the drawing room.
The flames burned bright, flickering rapidly between orange and green. Edges of black cloaks and grasping fingers could be seen darting in and out, trying to gain passage, but with a final flourish, Potter closed the grate, and the flames reduced to a gentle yellow smolder. "Done," Potter announced.
Draco took off running towards the drawing room, Potter hot on his heels. They were nearly to the drawing room when the three Death Eaters rounded the corner at the base of the stairs and saw them.
"Oi!" A surprised cry came from one of them. Draco stunned him first, but the other two scattered, dodging Potter's Petrifying Hex.
Potter fired off two Stunning Spells in quick succession, narrowly missing one man as he dove behind a suit of armor. Draco blocked a bright purple hex sent his way, and returned fire with an Impedimenta, which was deflected.
Potter was clipped in the shoulder by a severing hex and stumbled back with a hiss of pain, but recovered quickly and managed to stun the Death Eater who had cast it.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Draco barely had time to throw himself out of the way as the green curse hurtled towards him across the entrance hall and missed him by inches. He was squaring off to return the curse when a brilliant red Stunning Spell shot past him and hit the Death Eater straight in the chest.
Wheeling around, Draco saw Granger standing in the doorway of the drawing room, wand in hand, jaw set in fierce determination. His warrior lioness.
Potter and Draco hurried back into the drawing room and shut the door.
"Thanks," Draco panted to Granger.
Potter moaned, clutching his bleeding arm with a grimace.
Granger was on him in an instant. She dove her hand into her beaded bag and withdrew a tiny phial of Dittany. With her wand, she severed the sleeve of his jumper to reveal the deep gash beneath. She wasted no time in murmuring a few healing spells and dropping the Dittany into the wound.
The skin began to knit itself back together and the pain on Potter's face subsided. Soon, the skin on his arm was smooth and pink with just the faintest hint of a line where he'd been cut.
"Thanks, Hermione," Potter said as Granger reattached the sleeve of his jumper.
"We'll have to move soon. The others upstairs probably heard that," Ginny commented. "Did you get the Floo closed?"
Potter nodded. "Just in time, too. Some others were trying to come through just as I was closing it."
"I'm sure they'll find another way to get here, but at least we were able to slow them down. Maybe we can get the situation under control here before they arrive." Draco conjured the map and studied it carefully. There were three more upstairs and still six below.
"We should clear the upstairs first," Potter interjected.
Ginny nodded and pointed to two isolated dots. "With any luck, two of them are Seamus and Neville."
"Maybe," Draco said, vanishing the map. He set to work casting cushioning charms on everyone's feet including his own. "But we should proceed with the expectation that it will just be the five of us. For all we know, they're already dead."
"Why would you say that?" Ginny drew back, betrayal in her eyes.
"No, he's right," Potter cut in, straightening his glasses. "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Malfoy, you lead the group, and I'll go last to keep an eye out from behind."
Draco nodded and beckoned to the others to follow. Together, they made their way out of the drawing room and through the entrance hall. Luna darted away from the group briefly to retrieve the wands of the three stunned Death Eaters. She brought them back and distributed them to Draco, Potter, and Granger.
They made their way up the stairs quietly. It was hard to hear the sounds of the house over the battle raging outside. Screams and cries accompanied the sounds of spellfire and blasts from the lawn. The only advantage to this was that the people upstairs were also unlikely to hear their approach.
Draco approached the room where the map indicated two people were standing. He braced himself. It was possible that Dolohov and Theo were in this room, looking out over the battle below. They would need to be quick. Who should he hex first? Theo was dangerous. Skilled in dark, wandless magic and likely to kill quickly.
But Dolohov had trained him. Draco knew how ruthless the High Minister could be. Though he liked to delegate the bulk of the grunt work onto his followers, it didn't mean that he wasn't capable of incredible and devastating magic. He paused at the door and looked back at his companions. Four determined looks met his gaze as they all adjusted their wands in their grips.
He took a deep, silent breath and swung the door open. Two Death Eaters stood near the windows and Draco didn't hesitate, hitting one with a Stunning Spell before they even had the chance to turn around.
The second Death Eater was petrified by Luna an instant later and Draco nodded at her in thanks. They swept forward, Potter closing the door behind them. Granger summoned their wands and bound them as Draco inspected their faces. He didn't recognize one of them, but the other was Goyle Senior. Why they were here instead of on the battlefield, Draco didn't know.
"One more up here," Potter announced. "We should keep moving."
"Seamus and Neville must be in the basement," Ginny surmised, her nervous eyes flickering to Luna.
Draco nodded, but shared a look with Potter. Unspoken understanding passed between them. The longer they were in this house, the less likely it was that Finnegan and Longbottom were alive. They were outnumbered and were likely to be detected. It was possible, of course, but as the minutes passed, Draco braced himself for the probability of stumbling across the two Order members dead rather than alive.
"Let's go," Draco grumbled, crossing the room to the door. Before heading back into the corridor, he checked the map again. Still only one more on that level. And there were two isolated dots in the basement. Possibly Finnegan and Longbottom. He hoped.
He moved to open the door when suddenly a group of blue dots entered the house through the front door. A team of at least ten was sweeping forward in an organized formation. They moved quickly through the entrance hall and into the nearest room.
"Death Eaters?" Luna asked, peering at the map over Draco's shoulder.
"It could be the Order," Ginny guessed.
"There's no way to know for sure without seeing them," Draco replied.
As the group reached the drawing room, one of them stayed behind in the entrance hall, moving slowly around the space before disappearing abruptly.
"I...I think it might be the Order," Granger piped up. "That might have been one of them transporting the stunned Death Eaters to the Ministry."
"Possibly," Draco said with a nod. He hoped that was the case. It would make finding Theo and Dolohov that much easier. And the quicker they were found, the sooner this would all be over.
The team swept across the room, pausing where Draco remembered the bodies of the two dead Death Eaters were. When one of them reached the closet where the stunned Death Eater was bound, the dot disappeared.
Granger was probably right. This was the Order sweeping the house, searching for Dolohov.
"Let's get the other one up here," Draco suggested. "Then we can check it out and see if it's the Order."
Potter nodded, and they all fell back into formation. Once back out in the corridor, they made their way slowly and quietly toward the furthest room where the only other person on this level was waiting.
The house was quiet save for the sounds of battle coming in from the lawn beyond the walls. Draco heard footsteps on the stairs far behind them and his heart quickened. If it wasn't the Order, they were going to be trapped and outnumbered. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Potter had turned around and was squaring off to defend the group.
Draco slowed, but wasn't willing to turn his back on the door where the final Death Eater was waiting. He would deal with this final man, and then return to the group.
"Wait here," he hissed to the others.
Granger looked like she wanted to argue, but he jerked his head in the direction of the approaching feet and her mouth shut, understanding him. She stopped, offering him a nod of encouragement.
He continued on, drawing closer to the door at the end of the corridor. A thin sliver of daylight was escaping under the door. He gripped his wand tightly, preparing himself. It could be Dolohov in there. Or Theo.
A surge in screams from beyond the house filled the air, and in the next instant the house shook, sending Draco stumbling to the side, his shoulder colliding painfully with the wall. With a mighty bang and several shouts, the floor beneath him quaked and he turned to see the corridor crumbling away.
No.
The corridor was collapsing, cascading to the level below in an avalanche of debris.
Several screams cut across the air over the crashing of the house collapsing, seizing his heart as Granger, Potter, Ginny, and Luna were all sent careening to the ground level.
"Arresto Momentum!" Granger's hysterical cry met his ears, filling him with a brief moment of relief. There was a terrible clatter as the debris settled, and he held his breath as silence met his ears in its wake.
"Draco!" called Granger's voice. She was alive. And unharmed enough to call out for him. He was about to shout back to her when the door to his left opened abruptly.
Yaxley's Killing Curse was so fast that Draco barely had time to throw himself out of the way and he felt the curse graze his shirt by his ribs. He returned fire, but missed in his disoriented state. Yaxley sneered, his cruel eyes regarding Draco viciously as he reared back to try again, his lips parting to form the words. "Avada—"
Casting the Killing Curse nonverbally was much faster though, and the spell had left Draco before Yaxley could finish speaking. The blond wizard was enveloped in a blaze of bright green and he fell backwards through the doorway and landed limp on the floor, his eyes wide and unseeing, the ghost of his sneer still visible.
Twenty-seven.
He turned around to the crater where the corridor had been. "Granger!" he shouted.
"Draco! Are you alright?"
He couldn't see her, but she sounded unharmed. "I'm fine. Yaxley's dead. Are you all okay?"
"A little banged up, but we're fine."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Stay where you are. I'm going to try to find a way down." He looked around. The end of the corridor was completely isolated. No other stairs existed on this side of the house, and the gap in the middle of the corridor was far too wide to jump. He peered over the edge of the crumpled corridor, wondering if there was a way to climb down. The drop was severe, several metres at least. Perhaps he could jump and just slow his fall the way Granger had. It was an option if he couldn't find another way, but there were always risks involved.
There was a jumbled pit of jagged debris below. If he wasn't careful, he could be impaled on a splintered beam or cut by a rusty pipe. And even if he made it to the ground without hitting any of the shrapnel, there was no guarantee that he could cushion his fall enough to avoid injury.
As he was debating the possibility of breaking a leg with a semi-controlled fall from a great height, movement across the chasm caught his eye. The Order members had made it to him. Bill, George, and Angelina led the pack.
"Alright, Malfoy?" George called with a grin.
Malfoy nodded, gesturing to Yaxley. "He's dead. Any idea how to get me down from here?"
Bill eyed him warily. "Niffler."
"Hippogriff," Draco replied.
Angelina stepped forward and waved her wand. Several loose pieces of wood floated up from below and formed a makeshift bridge. "Come on over," she encouraged.
Draco raised a skeptical eyebrow. The boards were moving ever so slightly in the air and were unconnected to each other.
"I won't let you fall," Angelina assured him with a wink.
He didn't have much choice, so he took a deep breath and then stepped onto the first board. It sank under his weight a bit and his stomach jumped up to his throat. Angelina laughed.
"Oh, love. Don't give the poor man a heart attack," George chuckled.
"Sorry, Draco. It won't happen again." Angelina grinned, but retrained her wand on the boards.
Carefully, Draco made his way across the hovering boards before he was close enough to the other side to step onto solid flooring.
Bill grabbed hold of his arm as he crossed the gap and helped Draco regain his footing.
"Thanks," Draco said, feeling his heart slow a bit. "Where are Granger and the others? They fell."
"My mum and Katie Bell are helping them out. They got a bit buried, but I think they're alright," Bill replied.
"This level is clear now," Draco told them, glancing over his shoulder at Yaxley's body. "But there are six people in the basement, or there were the last time I checked."
"Checked? How?" George asked.
Draco showed them the map. It was rather useless now. There were so many people in the house that it was impossible to determine who was a Death Eater and who was in the Order. There were six on the upper level and the same on the ground level, but at least ten in the basement.
Dean and Parvati made their way up the corridor. "Everything clear up here?" Dean asked.
"Yup!" Angelina chirped, twirling her wand in her fingers.
Draco began to walk past the group, eager to get downstairs and find Granger again.
"Cool spell," George said jovially, bouncing along next to Draco like a cheerful golden retriever. "Where'd you learn it?"
"It's mine," Draco replied, striding quickly toward the stairs.
"Nice. I've invented a few spells as well, but none of them are particularly useful in battle."
Draco didn't have the wherewithal to think about what kind of spells George Weasley might invent in his spare time. There was a war going on. They could chat about their ingenuity later.
They descended the stairs and began to make their way across the entrance hall toward where the upper level had collapsed. Draco sped up as they approached the debris. "Granger!" he called. There was no sign of anyone. He cast the map. No blue dots other than his own and George's in the area.
They were gone.
"Where are they?" Draco asked.
"Maybe they went to search the basement with the others," George suggested.
"Or they might have gone back outside," said Dean, striding over to them.
Draco frowned. He had told Granger to wait for him. Perhaps she hadn't heard him. Or perhaps they hadn't had the chance to wait.
"Were any of them so wounded that they might have gone back to headquarters?" he asked. Thinking of Granger tending to a wounded friend was easier for him to stomach than her out on the battlefield.
"No, they said they got a little bruised, but nothing serious. I doubt they would have bothered," said Dean.
Downstairs or outside? Where would Granger have gone? He tried to put himself in her mind. Perhaps they had moved downstairs to seek a way for him to get down from the upper level. Or maybe they had gone outside when they realised that the Order had taken control of the house.
As he stood debating with himself, the front door was suddenly blasted open and several Death Eaters swept inside, spells flying.
Draco returned fire immediately, killing one of the men swiftly.
Twenty-eight.
George killed another with no hesitation. Bill and Angelina charged forward, dueling with the Death Eaters as Draco tried to get a clear shot. He blocked a deep blue hex that nearly hit George head on. His next Stunning Spell was easily deflected by a young, wiry man up front.
Dean petrified a large woman and squared off to stun a burly man.
He never got the chance.
The young, wiry man had cast a Killing Curse and Draco watched, unable to stop it, as it zoomed across the room and hit Dean in the heart.
Draco's chest constricted painfully as Dean fell down dead.
Rage overtook him, and the Killing Curse left his body with so much force that he staggered back slightly. But the wiry man died an instant later, snuffed out by Draco's bloodlust.
Twenty-nine.
They dueled for several minutes with the remaining Death Eaters. Several were stunned or petrified. One was killed by Bill, and one more by George.
When the last Death Eaters lay still on the ground or had retreated back onto the battlefield, Draco realised just how willing the Weasleys were to kill today, and how they all—with the exception of Ginny—seemed unbothered by the act.
George grimaced as he looked down at the body of one of the men he'd killed. "I thought I'd feel worse," he murmured.
Draco turned to him. "It helps when they deserve it," he said evenly.
Dean lay quite still on the floor, his eyes wide and unseeing in death.
Draco knelt next to him and gently swept his hand over his face to close Dean's glassy eyes. "Do we have a protocol for what to do with our dead?" he asked, looking up at Bill.
"We'll deal with them following the battle," he replied, eyeing Dean remorsefully.
Draco nodded. "Well, let's at least move him out of the way so he doesn't get trampled."
George approached and helped Draco lift Dean's body without magic. Together, they moved him to the edge of the room and laid him softly on the floor. "Rest well, mate," George intoned softly as he placed one hand over Dean's still heart.
Draco closed his eyes against the image of Dean's death. He was tired. His soul was weary. His shoulder ached. Part of him longed to lie down next to Dean and let the battle drift away from his mind.
But this was war. If he lingered too long next to the dead, he was likely to join them.
A/N: Updates on Mondays
Next chapter posts (hopefully) September 14th.
Come yell at me about how evil I am on my Tumblr (graceful-lioness) or over on the Dept. of Fanfiction Discord server on the #gracefullioness channel.