Draco heard the thud as his cousin made forceful contact with the floor, encouraged (I learned much later) by Bellatrix Lestrange and a large candle holder. //Oh, shit. So much for the 'covert' part of this covert operation!// He drew the pair of Tec-9 machine pistols he kept holstered at the small of his back, and cautiously advanced up the stairs.
He ducked behind a large and rather ugly vase as he heard voices.
"This is one of those kids who killled the Master. He's a Auror or something, I think."
"But what the hell's he doing here? And what's this thing?"
"Bella, be careful with that! It's a Muggle weapon, and if you pull that lever thing it throws lumps of metal very far and very fast, so please put it down. CAREFULLY."
"So, what do we do with him?"
"I'll lock him in one of the spare rooms. But before we do anything else we have to search the rest of the house, and the outbuildings as well. Not even a mudblood like him would be foolish enough to go in alone."
Draco stepped out from behind the vase, guns pointed directly at both his father and his distant aunt. "Stay where you are. Throw your wands over here, and raise your hands above your heads very slowly. I strongly advise you not to try anything silly like throwing a curse at me, because these things have VERY delicate triggers and you never know where the shots will end up. If you're lucky you'll only be horrifically wounded."
Lucius wore an expression that suggested he had just had a length of gaspipe shoved straight up through his colon, but tossed his wand at Draco's feet. Bellatrix hesitated, then followed suit.
"Good. Now, you two are going to return to the Ministry with me, where you will be answering searching questions about the bomb attack on King's Cross. If you don't cooperate then I will take great satisfaction in shooting both of you."
Lucius sighed. "Where did I go wrong with you, child?" he said more or less to himself. Draco thought about it.
Draco smiled ruefully at himself. "The fact that I'm currently threatening you with a pair of fully automatic weapons tends to suggest that something has gone wrong somewhere, I admit." He paused, mulling his father's question over. "How about when you tried to turn me into an arrogant, self-centred bigot? The best I can say about you as a parent is that you failed to do so."
"I don't know," a new voice remarked. "The more you do for them the less grateful they are."
"Very deep, Mother," Draco replied. "However, somehow I doubt that Father sees things that way."
Lucius just glowered at his son. Narcissa kept her wand pointed towards the ground, ready to use but not menacing anybody as she moved out of the shadow. She studied her son with care. He looked much the same as he always had, but there was something different about him. The way he stood, the set of his features... he seemed less imperious. More human. She wondered why.
The explanation was simple: exposure to Weasleydom. The contrast between the two households had been quite a revelation to him.
"Aaargh. Somebody's going to DIE for... What the HELL-?" I took in the scene around me with a certain amount of confusion, groping for my handgun. Lucius took advantage of the distraction to dive for his wand, and after that everything happened rather quickly. I can't describe it in great detail from my own recollection on account of a mild head injury, but the sequence of events as Draco recalled it it thus:
Lucius got about six inches before getting five rounds through his chest. The other thirty-five from both guns did several hundred quid's worth of damage to the carpet, panelling and wallpaper, as well as smashing a rather ugly vase. Bellatrix screamed, attempted to lunge at him and scratch his eyes out and failed on account of me semi-accidentally shooting her in the side of the head. Draco holstered his weapons and grabbed me by the collar, thrust my gun into his waistband and legged it for the front door before anything else happened. By this stage the others were implementing our contingency plan, which consisted of shooting up the building in a manner calculated to cause more confusion than actual harm, hopefully allowing us three insurgents to escape without fear of being cursed in the back.
It didn't quite go as planned. There were a large number of people in the main building -Draco had had a tough time avoiding them all- and they weren't as fazed by bullets as a non-practitioner of magic (the politically correct term for a Muggle) would have been. Some people never learn.
It began to get complicated at about the same moment as I tripped and pitched headfirst into a bush. The language I used is best not repeated here. Fran had turned up from somewhere, and grabbed me by the legs. "What's wrong with him?" she hissed.
"Concussion. Lestrange hit him with a candlestick."
"Oh, you pillock!" Hermione's voice. "Hippocratius!" The pounding headache left, and I began to feel more normal.
"Thanks. Give me my gun back, will you? I'm okay now." I staggered to my feet, snatched the pistol off him and ran towards the gun flashes.
"Any luck?" Harry called cheerfully.
"Not really!" A green bolt of light felled a nearby tree. "He's doing SOMETHING illegal, but I'm not exactly sure what! It's not impossible that Lucius really didn't have anything to do with the bomb!"
"Okay, let's just get the hell out of here!" I nodded in agrement, but before we could fall back a dozen Death Eaters apparated right on top of us. I saw one of them raise their wand at Luna and threw myself in front of her, dimly hearing the word "Crucio!"
Then there was nothing but pain, then nothing but darkness.
He ducked behind a large and rather ugly vase as he heard voices.
"This is one of those kids who killled the Master. He's a Auror or something, I think."
"But what the hell's he doing here? And what's this thing?"
"Bella, be careful with that! It's a Muggle weapon, and if you pull that lever thing it throws lumps of metal very far and very fast, so please put it down. CAREFULLY."
"So, what do we do with him?"
"I'll lock him in one of the spare rooms. But before we do anything else we have to search the rest of the house, and the outbuildings as well. Not even a mudblood like him would be foolish enough to go in alone."
Draco stepped out from behind the vase, guns pointed directly at both his father and his distant aunt. "Stay where you are. Throw your wands over here, and raise your hands above your heads very slowly. I strongly advise you not to try anything silly like throwing a curse at me, because these things have VERY delicate triggers and you never know where the shots will end up. If you're lucky you'll only be horrifically wounded."
Lucius wore an expression that suggested he had just had a length of gaspipe shoved straight up through his colon, but tossed his wand at Draco's feet. Bellatrix hesitated, then followed suit.
"Good. Now, you two are going to return to the Ministry with me, where you will be answering searching questions about the bomb attack on King's Cross. If you don't cooperate then I will take great satisfaction in shooting both of you."
Lucius sighed. "Where did I go wrong with you, child?" he said more or less to himself. Draco thought about it.
Draco smiled ruefully at himself. "The fact that I'm currently threatening you with a pair of fully automatic weapons tends to suggest that something has gone wrong somewhere, I admit." He paused, mulling his father's question over. "How about when you tried to turn me into an arrogant, self-centred bigot? The best I can say about you as a parent is that you failed to do so."
"I don't know," a new voice remarked. "The more you do for them the less grateful they are."
"Very deep, Mother," Draco replied. "However, somehow I doubt that Father sees things that way."
Lucius just glowered at his son. Narcissa kept her wand pointed towards the ground, ready to use but not menacing anybody as she moved out of the shadow. She studied her son with care. He looked much the same as he always had, but there was something different about him. The way he stood, the set of his features... he seemed less imperious. More human. She wondered why.
The explanation was simple: exposure to Weasleydom. The contrast between the two households had been quite a revelation to him.
"Aaargh. Somebody's going to DIE for... What the HELL-?" I took in the scene around me with a certain amount of confusion, groping for my handgun. Lucius took advantage of the distraction to dive for his wand, and after that everything happened rather quickly. I can't describe it in great detail from my own recollection on account of a mild head injury, but the sequence of events as Draco recalled it it thus:
Lucius got about six inches before getting five rounds through his chest. The other thirty-five from both guns did several hundred quid's worth of damage to the carpet, panelling and wallpaper, as well as smashing a rather ugly vase. Bellatrix screamed, attempted to lunge at him and scratch his eyes out and failed on account of me semi-accidentally shooting her in the side of the head. Draco holstered his weapons and grabbed me by the collar, thrust my gun into his waistband and legged it for the front door before anything else happened. By this stage the others were implementing our contingency plan, which consisted of shooting up the building in a manner calculated to cause more confusion than actual harm, hopefully allowing us three insurgents to escape without fear of being cursed in the back.
It didn't quite go as planned. There were a large number of people in the main building -Draco had had a tough time avoiding them all- and they weren't as fazed by bullets as a non-practitioner of magic (the politically correct term for a Muggle) would have been. Some people never learn.
It began to get complicated at about the same moment as I tripped and pitched headfirst into a bush. The language I used is best not repeated here. Fran had turned up from somewhere, and grabbed me by the legs. "What's wrong with him?" she hissed.
"Concussion. Lestrange hit him with a candlestick."
"Oh, you pillock!" Hermione's voice. "Hippocratius!" The pounding headache left, and I began to feel more normal.
"Thanks. Give me my gun back, will you? I'm okay now." I staggered to my feet, snatched the pistol off him and ran towards the gun flashes.
"Any luck?" Harry called cheerfully.
"Not really!" A green bolt of light felled a nearby tree. "He's doing SOMETHING illegal, but I'm not exactly sure what! It's not impossible that Lucius really didn't have anything to do with the bomb!"
"Okay, let's just get the hell out of here!" I nodded in agrement, but before we could fall back a dozen Death Eaters apparated right on top of us. I saw one of them raise their wand at Luna and threw myself in front of her, dimly hearing the word "Crucio!"
Then there was nothing but pain, then nothing but darkness.