Disclaimer: All places and characters belong to JK Rowling and WB and various publishers. No money is being made off of this piece of fiction.
Chapter 1: The War
Draco lit another cigarette, the soft glow the only light in the room. Like most nights he sat at the windowsill of his apartment in the dark watching the muggles below. It was Friday night; the pubs were packed. Drawing the smoke deep into his lungs he closed his eyes, resting his head on the wall. He was tired.
The War had been waging for three years now. Three bloody years with little to no hope for the Light and a hell of a lot of casualties. That is until recently. The Ministry's new inexplicable weapons had been a turning point in a rapidly losing war.
A shriek in the streets below drew Draco's attention, his hand tightened on his wand. But it was just a young group of girls, tottering on heels, clutching small purses.
Nothing had been able to combat the newly risen Dark Lord. Nothing. He had become untouchable. Tapping into magic unheard of, performing dark, unspeakable things, creating true monsters that did his bidding. Traditional spells could not stop him, or his followers blessed with his darkness, or his Dark creations. In the wake of the Dark Lord's apparent invincibility, the public's fear grew, and the Light's resistance shrank. The ministry fractured and the OotP became a primary target.
Draco flicked cigarette ash onto the window ledge, and briefly eyed the slit of light under the hallway door, before re-focusing on the street below. He'd taken this apartment located deep in muggle London as a guise. A place no wizard would expect to find him. It was here he picked up the muggle habit of smoking. Something he never did in view of wizards or witches who knew him. Despite the poisonous nature he found smoking oddly soothing and fitting for the current state of his life.
Hogwarts was now the last true stand for the Light. He took another heavy drag of the muggle poison, relishing the feeling.
The Ministry had retreated underground, Diagon alley was destroyed, and Hogsmeade rendered an abandoned waste land. The ancient magic surrounding Hogwarts castle was one of the only forces capable of holding out against the Dark Lord and his growing forces of darkness.
It was not long after Potter's disappearance that martial law was declared and the militia recruitments began. At first it was subtle, heroic. The recruitment of willing witches and wizards to fight for the cause. And who wouldn't answer the call? Who didn't want to defend the Light against the Dark?
All young able-bodied witches and wizards were expected to report, and so Hogwarts school became a military school for training and defense at the Ministry's orders. No longer did students learn magical theory or play quidditch. They now learned defensive spells to erect physical barriers and hand-to-hand combat.
Heavy footsteps passed the apartment's door, making Draco tense momentarily. They passed on. Only muggles.
When the Dementors openly sided with the Dark Lord, returning imprisoned and long faithful followers to Him, Minister Scrimgeour made the first real damning decision to their society. The All-Creatures Registration Act (ACRA). An invasive Act requiring all known creatures and humans with partial creature status to openly register with the Ministry, something that had previously been limited to full blooded creatures denoted as "Dangerous" on Ministry records. Standard "Dark" creatures like werewolves and vampires.
The Creature Conscription Act swiftly followed, requiring all creatures and part-creatures to train as infantry for the upcoming battles with the Dark. Their creature abilities were to be put toward combating the Dark and protecting the Light wizards and witches.
Draco lit another cigarette and glared balefully down into the street. A group of muggles were now lurching across the road, singing drunkenly. Absently he rubbed the skin on his inner right wrist. Small letters and numbers imprinted in black marred his skin.
VEL-42-097
He took another deep drag from his cigarette, blowing the smoke onto the glass and obscuring the world outside momentarily. The muffled sounds of muggle cars and shouts from below emphasised the silence in his nearly bare apartment.
The smoke cleared and Draco caught a glimpse of his reflection in the glass. He grimaced and turned away.
One of the best kept Malfoy secrets…the white-blonde hair, grey-blue eyes, bounty of narcissism and charisma were all the by-products of interbreeding with Veela generations back.
Draco strode through the hallways of Hogwarts. He was late, very "un-Malfoy" like, he could feel his lip curling at the thought. A long-ago memory of his Father surfaced. All poise, elegance, and icy cruelty. If only he could see his only son now, marked. But by the wrong side.
He pushed swiftly through a throng of teenagers, all wearing the gold badge of the OofP. There were no more Hogwarts houses. Their young faces were all grim. So young and grim.
He entered the staff room without knocking, everyone was already gathered and arguing by the sounds of it. He moved to the back wall and stood next to two unnamed Aurors.
'They have a new weapon Albus! I'm telling you I've seen it, it works! We've got to make our move now!' A young Auror with thick brown hair at the front addressed Albus, his words drawing the attention of the room.
'This can not be trusted. They can not be trusted!' Severus Snape slammed his hands on the table and hissed at the young Auror. The branded black Ankh under Snape's left eye stood out in stark contrast on his pale skin.
Draco resisted the urge to fidget. He would not itch his left cheek.
The young Auror countered, 'We have nothing else!' He gestured wildly around the room, 'Or have you not noticed vampire?' He spat the last word with venom.
Snape's jaw clenched; his hard nails leaving deep gouges in the table.
'Enough!' Albus' voice rang loudly through the room. He looked old, sitting hunched over in his chair, wearing robes that looked much too big and too bright.
Snape straightened slowly and leaned away from the table, his unblinking black eyes not once leaving the young Aurors. Folding his arms into his black robes, he looked every bit the vampire he was.
Draco noticed the bob of the young Auror throat as he swallowed hard, 'I'm just saying we should consider it.' He glanced around the assembled group for support.
The room was silent. Albus closed his eyes and steepled his fingers.
'What exactly is this weapon?' A rough voice asked near the front. Weasley. His red hair was long now, nearly reaching his shoulders. Who would have known Weasley would turn out to be such a strategist in the war and him, Draco would be nothing more than a pawn?
'I don't know exactly…It's some sort of way of generating force, magic, raw magic.'
A young woman wearing the dark robes of an Unspeakable spoke up, 'They've found a way to capture and store magic from a powerful primary source and direct it as a weapon or shield.'
'I've seen what they can do with this magic, it's powerful.' The young brunette Auror emphasized.
'This doesn't sound right.' Granger.
'Magical artifacts, while they can be powerful and hold magic as vassels, can not be used or directed in such a way. The artifact would just be too unstable to be useful in combat against You-Know-Who's magic.' She was still a know-it-all, still bushy haired.
Remus Lupin spoke up, 'I agree with Mrs. Weasley.' That's right Granger had married Weasley. The old werewolf looked shabby as always. The 3 black slash marks on his left cheek almost blended in with the scar that ran across his face. Almost.
'I've seen what they can do. It is remarkable, but yes unstable. They're short lived.' The Unspeakable witch spoke quickly. 'They have to replenish or harvest on a regular basis.'
'Harvest.' Severus Snape spoke the word with hate. 'How exactly do they harvest this power?'
The young witch gave a helpless shrug, 'I don't know. They keep the source well protected, very top secret, but I have reason to believe it involves Fae magic as there is a periodicity of the harvest that appears to revolve around the moon cycle.'
'Fae magic?!' Granger and Lupin asked at the same time. 'But Fae magic is notoriously unstable and temperamental!' Granger emphasized.
'And it requires permission of a Fae! Which is highly unlikely.' Lupin added.
'Permission?' scoffed Severus Snape. 'Since when has the ministry asked for permission?'
'I'm just telling you what I know.' The young witch gave a great sigh and turned towards Albus, 'I agree with Auror Thomas. I think we should at least consider the offer.'
Albus had yet to open his eyes.
The young Auror Thomas, sighed heavily, 'No one wants to side with the MoM, but we're running out of options.'
'He's right' Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke up from the back of the room, 'We're close to the end, we've lost Hogsmeade and West end has fallen.'
'Merlin' Weasley muttered under his breath.
Thomas spoke again, 'I've seen it in action, it holds the Dark out and it can be used offensively. It stopped the attack at OtterBay!' He seemed almost manic with his need to make them understand. Snape shook his head disgusted.
Draco looked at the other people assembled in the room. They were nearly it, all that was left of the resistance, of the Order of the Phoenix. This room of tired looking, hopeless adults. 5 of them had been marked. Branded.
How had it all come down to this?
Lupin looking haggard as ever, lowered his head, straggly grey hair obscured his lined face. Severus, outed and unable to consume his antidotes, looked barely in control of himself on the best of days. A fury of rage simmering just below the surface.
Both Weasley and Granger had hardened over the years, you could see it in the lines around their eyes, the set of their mouths. Not for the first time Draco wondered, Where the fuck had Potter gone? His disappearance had ruined them. Had ruined them all.
Draco's eyes slid back to Albus and he was surprised to see those piercing blue eyes staring straight back.
'Draco, I will need you to arrange the meeting.'
Fuck.
