Astray in Endeavor
Summary: Ginny Weasley disappeared within a week of graduating from Hogwarts, and Draco Malfoy swore that he would find her if it killed him. Now, three years and an anonymous tip off later, it just might do that. And if he's not careful, her too. In order to protect the world and the woman he fell in love with from a new and perhaps even more dangerous threat, he must swallow his pride and team up with his childhood nemesis before someone else disappears.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm a University student. I have no money.
Note: This chapter is a little gory. Just a little. There's no explicit murdering going on, but it gets a bit ugly. Sadly, I'm nearly done. Perhaps one long chapter, or two short ones left....
Chapter 8
If it had been dark in Manchester, it was positively black in Surrey. Draco wasn't sure whether it was due to the weather, or the obvious presence of Dark Magic in the air that was doing it. Perhaps it was a combination of both. They had apparated right on the outskirts of the town, and were currently attempting to locate the house that was reported to be where all the excitement was happening.
"That way." Harry pointed to his left.
"How do you know?"
"Easy. Locator charm. Used the one that Dumbledore taught us for locating focal points of Dark Magic."
"Clever thinking, Potter. Remind me to give you a cookie when we get out of this."
"No thanks, but I will remember that compliment." Harry retorted. Together, the pair of them made their way to the left, Draco following Harry, as it was his wand doing the locating.
It wasn't long before they reached a rather large and forbidding house. Harry snorted derisively.
"Boy, I didn't know they still made these. If it gets anymore stereotypical I swear I'll eat my robe."
"I'd pay to see that, Potter. But we are on a mission, if you remember."
"Of course I remember. It's just that if they were going for something sinister, normal people would choose a location that wasn't so obvious."
"You've got a point. But we're not here to be art critics. Lets go." Draco said, grabbing the other man's arm and pulling him inside the building.
They had entered via one of the many back and/or hidden doors. And navigating the darkened house was a little difficult. Especially when light anything up would likely attract attention.
"We're in the kitchen. Anything they'll want to try is either being done in the ballroom, or the basement."
"Why those?"
"Basements are closer to the base of all the magic they're trying to use. However, in place like this, the basements are small and cramped. It's more likely that they'd keep her down there until they needed her. So, I'd say they're in the ballroom."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. There's nowhere else they could be."
"How do you know?"
"You know who my father was, Potter. Where do you think he held all of his meetings?"
"That's a good point. How do you know that this place has a ballroom?"
"If it didn't they'd make one. You said it yourself, it's the stereotypical evil house. All evil houses have a ballroom."
"Yours doesn't."
"Not anymore. I downsized." Draco ended the conversation by opening a door that led into a hallway. He listened to the house for a few seconds.
"It's quiet." He said. Harry nodded in agreement.
"A little too quiet." Harry added. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Potter, if that's supposed to be funny, I'm not laughing."
"It's not supposed to be funny."
"Good."
They crept carefully forward, listening for anything unusual.
"Remember what Blaise said about silencing charms." Harry murmured. "It's probably one of the things guarding the room they're in." He observed. Draco nodded, and took out his own wand, and whispered an incantation. The end of it lit up blue.
"There is a silencing charm in here. It's this way." They set off down a corridor.
"Malfoy?"
"What?"
"What are you going to do when we get there."
"I'm going to get my girlfriend back. And maybe make some Death eater hash."
"I meant..."
"I know what you meant. Look, I know enough Dark Magic to make your hair stand more on end than it already is. And I'm just mad enough that I could use it. If I were to tell you exactly what I might do, you would get in trouble for knowing about it. So you just worry about dispatching any Death Eaters that aren't lurking around Ginny." Harry stared hard at Draco for a moment, remembering a time when he would have happily beaten the other man up for any number of the things he had said in the past five minutes. Now, he couldn't think of what he would have done if things hadn't happened this way. His respect for Draco Malfoy had gone up a notch within the last few days. And he couldn't help but remember the last time that he had fought with him, right before their own separate battles.
****
"Look, Malfoy, you still have a chance to get out of here. He doesn't really have anything against you yet. You can always save yourself by lying about Ginny, she'd understand, and so would we. And then at the very least, you could start a rebellion in a year or two." Harry said, rubbing his glasses clean of the mud that was laying everywhere. Malfoy looked at him, surprised.
"Are you completely daft? The only reason he hasn't killed me yet, is because my father wants to do that himself. That's why I'm still here. They know everything that goes on, Potter. No matter how well Dumbledore's concealed me so far, they know I'd never be one of them willingly." The blonde boy grinned suddenly. "Besides, without me you three would probably be flattened. No offence, but you really have no idea what Death Eater's are really capable of, and I've seen it all before." Harry was still giving him the same look that he was before, one that said he wasn't moving from his opinion one bit. Hermione placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Harry, he's right. We need him. You can't make him leave any more than you could keep me away from here." Harry looked up at her, and smiled sadly. He shook his head slightly.
"Fine. But it's not my fault if you both get killed." At that moment, someone burst through the foliage to their left. It was Ginny.
"Ginny! What are you doing here?" Ron asked first." She heaved in a breath.
"Message from Dumbledore. They're coming this way. Not much time, and reinforcements are too far away to be here before them."
"How many?"
"All of them. Except Voldemort, Wormtail, Crabbe, Goyle and Lucius Malfoy." She said, still breathlessly. "He sent me because I could run the fastest. With luck, everyone else will get here before things get out of hand." Harry put his glasses back on and stood up. Hermione pulled out the spell disperser and Ron wiped off his wand. Malfoy stood up, and Harry watched him as he put an arm around Ginny's shoulders. She finally looked up, and smiled grimly.
"This is it. And it's just the five of us." She said, drawing her own wand.
"For now." Malfoy said. Harry whispered something to the ever faithful Hedwig, and she, Pigwidgeon and Malfoy's owl, Zeus flew up into the trees, lying in wait. They knew what to do. A rustling was heard from in front of their temporary camp. Then it expanded to circle around them.
"They're all around us." Hermione whispered. Harry nodded.
"Five point position. Now!" He hissed. The five of them stood back to back, wands drawn and ready, without seeming like they were ready, when in actuality all someone had to do was drop a pin and hexes would be sent in all five directions. Harry reached out and squeezed Hermione's hand, at the same time Malfoy did the same with Ginny's hand. A split second later, Death Eaters swarmed out of the forest and attacked. Harry retaliated as best he could, hurling hexes and counter curses as fast as possible. Around him, he could dimly hear the others doing the same. He heard Hermione cry out as something hit her, but she kept firing, so it wasn't bad. Every Death Eater he saw, he shot a hex at, and every spell he saw he fired counter curses at. The spell disperser was doing it's job to a point, but anything that hit still left a physical impression. He staggered as an Avada Kedavra was dispersed into the air. That was close. And that's when he heard it. A voice inside his head, accompanied by the familiar burning of his scar.
"Come and get me, Potter. You know where." The burning made him fall to the ground.
"HARRY!" Hermione screamed, and suddenly the remaining four were standing around him, forming a protective wall, still fighting off the bad guys.
"Potter, are you alright?" Malfoy asked.
"Just my friendly little scar reminding me that I have an appointment to keep." He growled, standing up. The Five point star reformed instantly.
"Voldemort?" Hermione called.
"Yes. He wants me. Where the hell are everyone else?" As if in answer, the forest suddenly burst outward in a slew of spells and hexes. The cavalry was here. Within a moment, any remaining Death Eaters were strewn out on the ground, in body binds or the like, and Harry was tearing his way through the forest, the others right behind him. He frowned.
"Get out of here you lot. It won't do for you all to be killed." He called back at them. He heard Malfoy laugh behind him.
"Well, I'm not going with you. I'm going after my father. I know where he's waiting for me. But, as for the rest you, I'd do what Potter here says." Then he heard Hermione laugh.
"Fat chance. We've been fighting Voldemort together for seven years. We'll be damned before we let you face him alone now. Right, Ron?" She said, huffing a bit, trying to run and talk at the same time. He heard Ron behind him now too.
"Right. We've been through too much together to back down now." Ron said.
He shook his head.
"I'll never get rid of you guys, will I?"
"Not on your life." Hermione said. He heard Malfoy laugh again.
"God speed, Potter. And good luck to you two as well." He said, and then Harry saw him veering off elsewhere in the forest. Then she saw Ginny veer off with him. Hermione must have seen her too.
"Ginny!" She called.
"She'll be alright. She can take care of herself." Ron said, but Harry could hear the uncertainty in his voice.
"And Malfoy will protect her." Harry said too them. He watched the pair disappear. 'God speed to you too Malfoy.' He thought.
****
"Potter? Are you in there?" Malfoy's voice brought him back to the present.
"Oh. Yes. Right, sorry. I was just dwelling on ghosts." He said. "Take care of Death Eaters that aren't near Ginny. Got it." Malfoy looked at him oddly, but nodded. The shivered as they passed through something invisible. Suddenly their ears were assaulted by whispers.
"We've passed through the charm wall." Draco observed. Harry nodded.
"So now which way?"
A blood-curdling scream rang out through the air from somewhere ahead of them. They glanced at each other for half a second, then took off running down the corridor. It took a second scream to pinpoint the door they needed to burst through. They were not prepared for the sight that met them.
Twelve black- cloaked figures were assembled in a circle, all peering up at a figure suspended in the air. They were swaying and chanting, almost like a cult. The figure up in the air was dressed in some ceremonial type robes of a gray colour. As wisp of red hair blew in a wind. It was Ginny. The twelve Death Eaters raised their arms collectively and sent another volley of pure magic up at her. She screamed again. Draco couldn't help but notice that the scene very closely resembled the one from his recurring nightmare.
"They're forcing Riddle's mind to come out of hiding!" Harry hissed.
"We have to stop them!" Draco hissed back.
"Break the circle." Harry said, and then fired off an advanced body binding spell that he'd picked up in seventh year. It took out two of them. Draco took out another three with a well aimed body throwing spell. They crashed into a wall, and didn't move. Angered, the remaining seven turned to the intruders, and drew their wands. Snarling at them, Draco hissed out one of the spells he'd been taught as a child. Two of the Death Eaters screamed in agony, and thre back their hoods. They were clutching at their eyes, and Draco watched in perverse satisfaction as their eyeballs exploded in their hands. Harry wrinkled his nose.
"Ew. Did you have to do that?"
"Sorry. But no one messes with my girl." Draco growled. He looked up to where Ginny was floating, and to his horror discovered that she seemed to be falling rather rapidly. He must have gotten the one who'd put her up there. He dashed out toward where she was falling, punching one of the remaining Death Eaters in the stomach as he went. He left Potter to deal with the rest of them for a moment.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" He shouted, and Ginny stopped falling. "Accio Ginny." He said. And she gently floated to his arms.
"Malfoy! A hand please!" Potter yelled. He looked up for moment, and noticed that Potter had gotten one of the other four, but the remaining three weren't letting up on him.
"Expelliarmus!" He shouted, and their wands flew at him. That left Potter to deal with them with greater ease.
"Petrificus Totalis." He muttered, grinning at them. And they dropped. Draco smiled in satisfaction, and then turned his attention to Ginny. The last volley had knocked her unconscious, and she was cold. There were a few minor bruises that he could see, likely from where she'd been tugged along at some point. But she was breathing normally. And she was there! That was the thing he could hardly believe. After three long years of endless searching and a string of incompetent office assistants, he was actually holding her. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face, and stared at it for a moment. She hadn't changed much. Harry ran up to them.
"Is she okay?"
"I think so. We should get her to a hospital, though. Just to make sure."
"I'll take care of this mess, if you want to take her." Harry offered. Draco looked up at him, and he smiled directly at him for the first time in many years.
"Thanks, Potter." He said, standing up with Ginny in his arms. Harry smiled.
"Anytime, Malfoy." Draco turned, and headed for the nearest fireplace. He quickly attached it to the floo network, and stepped inside. There was only place he trusted enough to take her to."
"Hogwarts Hospital Wing." He said. A whoosh of green flame and he was gone. Harry went over to the fireplace as well, throwing a handful of grey dust inside it, he said,
"This is Potter. I need a clean up crew at a house in Surrey. Twelve Death Eaters caught in the act." It crackled a bit, but then a the voice of a dispatcher came through.
"Acknowledged."
End of Part 8
Stay Tuned for Part 9