Chapter 54- A Fallen Warrior
Assured that Lucius was dead, Draco at last felt a weight lift from his heart. The shadow of a threat that had hovered over him and Hermione for so long was gone, blown away as though by a gust of wind. Lucius's body was still, facedown, his hair spread over the ground.
Curious as to what had been going on around him, Draco directed his attention to where he had heard Harry's voice intone a spell only moments before. Though he had expected it, he was startled to see Voldemort's body on the ground.
Funny, he did not look dead. But the evil in the air was diminished, and they knew he was. The Dark wizard always looked dead, because he wasn't really alive in the way that most people are. The Death Eaters, the ones still conscious, were staring at the body of their leader in shock. Most of them had believed he would never die. Draco snorted at the thought- or, he would have snorted, had he been the type.
As they watched, the body of the former Dark Lord began to fade, until it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He had probably cast a spell to leave no remains in the event of his death. Harder to prove he was really dead, Draco supposed.
The danger was gone for the moment, he realized. He let his white shield diminish, and the glow around Weasley faded as well as Harry had the same thought. The Gryffindors approached him, fixing Hermione with wary, worried looks.
"What happened to her?" Harry asked, almost silently.
"She's alive," Draco answered. "She's merely unconscious. She was stunned by Lucius. I tried to revive her, but it didn't work. He…he used a modified spell. I don't know how to counter it."
None of them spoke for a few minutes. Draco held Hermione, able to do nothing but hope she would awaken.
Ron turned one of the unconscious Death Eaters over with a foot. "What do we do with these bastards?" he wondered.
Harry surveyed the clearing. "Did you really do all that?"
"Why yes, I suppose I did. Only because someone put a shield on me and their attacks had no effects." Harry smiled. "So what do we do with them?" he repeated.
Harry shrugged. "We should probably go back to the castle, get Dumbledore, he'll take care of them. Or throw them all in Azkaban, whatever."
Draco looked at the fallen form of his father. "They deserve it," he muttered. "They deserve to be beaten and stuffed for the things they did. But the most they'll get is life in Azkaban. Maybe some of them will be sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss," he said hopefully.
"Yeah, maybe." Harry stared at the ground. Then he shook his head, clearing it of unbidden memories, and looked back to Draco.
"I think we've been forgetting the most important question, Ron," he said. "What do we do about Hermione?"
"I didn't forget," Ron protested. "I just can't think of anything."
Another uneasy silence fell over them, like a cloud of dark uncertainty. They did not want to look at Hermione that way for another second, none of them, but they did not know how to change it. And so they simply stared at her.
"Do you think she's going to die?" Ron asked in less than a whisper.
Draco's head snapped up, his eyes narrowed in a glare. "Of course not," he spat, drawing on a bit of his abandoned enmity. He had to convince himself of his answer, after all. "I won't let that happen."
"Neither will I," Harry affirmed. He refused to take his eyes off her, and Draco regretted that he had done so. He might miss something important. His eyes moved over her face, taking in her pale, somnolent beauty.
Ron seemed to be clearing his throat to say something, but he never spoke. He sounded almost like he was crying- but Weasley would never cry in front of him. He just wouldn't.
"Hermione," Draco uttered quietly, gently stroking her cheek. "I need you here to tell me how to fix this. You would know. Please, come back. Wake up."
"Draco…" Harry said.
"What?" his own voice was as hoarse as the others'.
"Don't. It's not going to help."
Draco raised his eyes- against his better judgement. Harry was still staring at Hermione. He seemed to be watching her breathe, to make sure she didn't stop. "It will be all right, Harry. I swore to myself I would not let Lucius take her away from me. I'll find a way to wake her up, if it kills me."
"I thought you would say that."
He was well aware that she would not want him to do anything of the sort, but that was just too bad. She wasn't conscious to talk him out of it, and he would not let her stay that way.
"We should take her back to Hogwarts, at least," Ron suggested. He had regained his voice, apparently. "Maybe Madame Pomfrey can do something for her."
"You really think she'll be able to help?" Draco asked skeptically.
"I don't know. She is a specialist, you know."
"Yes, I know. Well, whether or not Pomfrey can do anything, we still need to get back to the castle. It's not as though we could stay here forever."
"I wholeheartedly agree," Harry put in. "Because there are certain things in this forest I am not particularly anxious to meet tonight." He looked around at the trees as he said this, rolling his wand between his hands. "Or any other night."
Nodding, Draco shifted his arms to a better position to lift Hermione. Before he could move another inch, however, a foreboding sound pounded in his ears. "What is that?" he growled to himself.
"What is what?" Ron wondered. Harry looked at Draco with an expression that said the same thing.
"You don't hear it?" They shook their heads. Draco listened more closely. "It sounds like- like…" Looking up, he fixed his eyes sharply on Harry. "Harry, there are centaurs headed our way. Is that good or bad?"
Harry's eyes went wide and darted wildly about, he turned slowly in circles, peering through the trees as though he expected a dangerous enemy to emerge any second.
So bad.
Draco tightened one arm around Hermione, and in the other gripped his wand with ease. The hoof beats grew louder, and louder, and louder. Harry and Ron grew more nervous. Draco assumed it was because they could hear the approach.
He tried to decide where they would come. It could be in front of him, or behind him, or from either side. The hooves were giving him no clues. Unless-
His thought was cut off by the appearance of five or six centaurs ahead of him. They had crossbows leveled. He raised his wand, but before he could say one syllable of a spell, he had been grabbed from behind by a pair of impressively strong Centauri arms. The arms encircled him tightly, the spot they pressed probably holding some vital organ. He struggled, but he was no match for the centaur with the unfair advantage.
Worse, he had dropped his wand in the…scuffle, if you could call it that, and now had no hope of retrieving it. He turned his head- he could at least move that much- to see Harry and Ron held similarly. *Great, neither of them had managed to have the thought that maybe it would have been helpful to escape.* Indeed that would have been nice, but he should have known better. Bravery and cunning just don't go together. Except in Hermione's case.
"Magorian, this one has been in here before," one of the centaurs said. He was pointing at Harry. "Recently. He claimed Auror training, I claim he was lying."
"Ronan, you claim that about everyone and everything. Still, I am curious as to why you are here. I assume the rest of them are also being trained as Aurors."
Draco was staring at Harry, who swallowed. "No."
"No? Then what are you doing here?"
"Well, I was killing Voldemort, but now he's dead, so I was about to leave." Draco held in the urge to snort- partially because his breathing was constricted as it was- at the rather sarcastic comment.
"Prove it."
Harry said nothing. Voldemort's body had disappeared. There was no proof, except one involving the wand. Draco was pretty sure that one was out of the question.
"I thought so," Magorian snarled. "Centauri." This appeared to be an order, as a few of them stepped forward, and before he could think, Draco's hands were bound and he had been thrown to the ground.
He stood, taking a step toward where Hermione lay, but found the point of a crossbow at his throat in less than a second. "Move, and you are dead." He stopped.
It took only moments for Harry and Ron to be similarly bound. When this had been done, they were dragged over to a large tree, and their hands tied to branches above their heads. Draco was stretched so that his feet barely reached the ground. He pulled as hard as he could, but the ropes and the branch were too strong. He could see his wand on the ground, half hidden among the leaves, and wished it was in his hand.
"What about this one?" he heard from one of the centaurs. "What should we do with her?"
The one called Magorian trotted to her. "I don't know, is she alive?"
There was a pause. "Yes. She's still breathing."
Another pause, as he considered what they should do. "We'll bring her. I'm sure we'll think of some use for her. These three can be left here. Some forest creature or other will find them eventually and finish them off."
Draco tugged harder on his bonds. "Leave her alone, you bastards!"
In a flash, a hand had gripped his throat, cutting off his air supply. He found himself looking into the fiery eyes of the centaur called Ronan, who apparently did not take kindly to insults.
"If you wish to live longer than the next minute, you will hold your tongue."
The hand released him, and he proceeded to cough painfully. His lungs did not seem to want to cooperate, making breathing rather difficult, and he could already feel bruises forming on his neck where Ronan had held him.
"Draco," Harry called. "Are you all right?"
He could not answer, not having regained enough air as of yet, but he nodded and hoped Harry would be able to see it, and would stop bothering him.
"Be careful with her though. We don't want to damage her- at least, not yet." A few of them laughed, and Draco felt a meaningful glance thrown in his direction. He gritted his teeth, then ungritted them because that made it harder to breath. That damned horse must have damaged his windpipe.
A heavy footstep sounded. Then another, quite soon after. They were fast-paced and headed toward them.
"Something large is coming," Weasley said helpfully. Surprisingly, the centaurs had stopped moving. They seemed to be anticipating what might come. Every one of them had taken to standing stock still.
"That really doesn't sound good," Harry said, thirty seconds later.
*No, really, you think?* Draco wondered what could be coming, and resigned himself to painful death. He couldn't really do anything about it, tied as he was, and his wand lying too far away. He didn't have enough energy left to use wandless magic.
The thing- whatever it was- was almost upon them. There were other footsteps, lighter, even faster, and more hoof beats. More centaurs, perhaps? *That* would help.
The huge, heavy footsteps were only a small distance away now. The centaurs were spurred into action, and they all formed a line, readying themselves against the threat.
"We'll not let them take our forest from us!" Ronan called. He uttered some indistinguishable battle cry.
It had almost broken the trees. Whatever came, was so close they should be able to see it through the fringe of the forest- it broke into the clearing, and Draco attempted to sigh with relief. He did not succeed, and decided that he had sighed internally.
"Hagrid!" Harry called gleefully.
Close behind him were Firenze, a centaur who had been working at the castle, Professor Dumbledore, Snape, and Lyipin. They shot spells at the centaurs, and the half-horses started to bolt away.
Fearing for Hermione, Draco called, "No!" but no sound escaped his lips. In frustration, he began to struggle again, though he was causing the ropes to break into his skin. He didn't care.
Harry seemed to understand what he was trying to do, and called out, "Get Hermione!"
Draco saw Dumbledore move quickly, and within moments the centaurs were gone, and Hermione lay on the ground protected by a wall of teacher. Professor Lyipin severed their ties with a simple cutting spell, and Draco fell to his knees. He did not rub his wrists- it would only have irritated the wounds- or his neck. He was not concerned with himself. All injuries on his body had gone numb.
Using wandless magic, as the numbness had allowed him to forget completely his lack of energy, he brought his wand into his hand. As he moved he felt the rips in the sleeves and back of his shirt, but ignored them. Keeping his wand in his hand, he rushed to Hermione's side, and was relieved to find that even now she lived.
"What happened here, Malfoy?" Snape demanded. He had to smirk. Even in these circumstances, the Potions master asked him first. Too bad he couldn't speak.
"Severus, now is not the time. These students must be brought back to Hogwarts. Once their injuries have been taken care of, we can find out their story. Now, they need to be tended to."
Draco only half-heard the headmaster's speech. He assumed he would create a Portkey for them to be transported safely and quickly to the castle, and certainly would not object. He needed to bring Hermione to a safe place as quickly as possible.
Sure enough, Dumbledore muttered "Portus" after his brief speech, and he instructed them to take it back to the castle, and give Madame Pomfrey a note he handed to Harry.
"Draco, come on," Harry urged.
"You three, make sure Miss Granger is in a bed as soon as possible. We'll take care of all these Death Eaters."
Draco turned to face them only after he had lifted Hermione into his arms. He carried her over to Ron and Harry, where the Portkey was waiting.
End Chapter 54
Aw…poor Draco. Poor Hermione. What have I done to J.K.'s characters? They won't want to come out when she's finally ready to actually write the sixth book…even though it probably won't be for another five years.
The chapter title refers, of course, to Hermione, in case it was not clear to anyone.
Good job to everyone who earned house points! Lyra Silvertongue2, short puppy, slytherin (who did not specify their house but I assume it's slytherin…), Allie, Zaptor, Tamurl07. If you guessed correctly and did not specify your house, you did not receive any points…sorry. Next time, check before you send it. Slytherin is now in the lead by fifty points. Hufflepuff is second.
The next chapter will be here soon… but until then, review for your confetti!! Since so many people seem to want some, I'll be giving you Draco-shaped confetti.
Assured that Lucius was dead, Draco at last felt a weight lift from his heart. The shadow of a threat that had hovered over him and Hermione for so long was gone, blown away as though by a gust of wind. Lucius's body was still, facedown, his hair spread over the ground.
Curious as to what had been going on around him, Draco directed his attention to where he had heard Harry's voice intone a spell only moments before. Though he had expected it, he was startled to see Voldemort's body on the ground.
Funny, he did not look dead. But the evil in the air was diminished, and they knew he was. The Dark wizard always looked dead, because he wasn't really alive in the way that most people are. The Death Eaters, the ones still conscious, were staring at the body of their leader in shock. Most of them had believed he would never die. Draco snorted at the thought- or, he would have snorted, had he been the type.
As they watched, the body of the former Dark Lord began to fade, until it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He had probably cast a spell to leave no remains in the event of his death. Harder to prove he was really dead, Draco supposed.
The danger was gone for the moment, he realized. He let his white shield diminish, and the glow around Weasley faded as well as Harry had the same thought. The Gryffindors approached him, fixing Hermione with wary, worried looks.
"What happened to her?" Harry asked, almost silently.
"She's alive," Draco answered. "She's merely unconscious. She was stunned by Lucius. I tried to revive her, but it didn't work. He…he used a modified spell. I don't know how to counter it."
None of them spoke for a few minutes. Draco held Hermione, able to do nothing but hope she would awaken.
Ron turned one of the unconscious Death Eaters over with a foot. "What do we do with these bastards?" he wondered.
Harry surveyed the clearing. "Did you really do all that?"
"Why yes, I suppose I did. Only because someone put a shield on me and their attacks had no effects." Harry smiled. "So what do we do with them?" he repeated.
Harry shrugged. "We should probably go back to the castle, get Dumbledore, he'll take care of them. Or throw them all in Azkaban, whatever."
Draco looked at the fallen form of his father. "They deserve it," he muttered. "They deserve to be beaten and stuffed for the things they did. But the most they'll get is life in Azkaban. Maybe some of them will be sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss," he said hopefully.
"Yeah, maybe." Harry stared at the ground. Then he shook his head, clearing it of unbidden memories, and looked back to Draco.
"I think we've been forgetting the most important question, Ron," he said. "What do we do about Hermione?"
"I didn't forget," Ron protested. "I just can't think of anything."
Another uneasy silence fell over them, like a cloud of dark uncertainty. They did not want to look at Hermione that way for another second, none of them, but they did not know how to change it. And so they simply stared at her.
"Do you think she's going to die?" Ron asked in less than a whisper.
Draco's head snapped up, his eyes narrowed in a glare. "Of course not," he spat, drawing on a bit of his abandoned enmity. He had to convince himself of his answer, after all. "I won't let that happen."
"Neither will I," Harry affirmed. He refused to take his eyes off her, and Draco regretted that he had done so. He might miss something important. His eyes moved over her face, taking in her pale, somnolent beauty.
Ron seemed to be clearing his throat to say something, but he never spoke. He sounded almost like he was crying- but Weasley would never cry in front of him. He just wouldn't.
"Hermione," Draco uttered quietly, gently stroking her cheek. "I need you here to tell me how to fix this. You would know. Please, come back. Wake up."
"Draco…" Harry said.
"What?" his own voice was as hoarse as the others'.
"Don't. It's not going to help."
Draco raised his eyes- against his better judgement. Harry was still staring at Hermione. He seemed to be watching her breathe, to make sure she didn't stop. "It will be all right, Harry. I swore to myself I would not let Lucius take her away from me. I'll find a way to wake her up, if it kills me."
"I thought you would say that."
He was well aware that she would not want him to do anything of the sort, but that was just too bad. She wasn't conscious to talk him out of it, and he would not let her stay that way.
"We should take her back to Hogwarts, at least," Ron suggested. He had regained his voice, apparently. "Maybe Madame Pomfrey can do something for her."
"You really think she'll be able to help?" Draco asked skeptically.
"I don't know. She is a specialist, you know."
"Yes, I know. Well, whether or not Pomfrey can do anything, we still need to get back to the castle. It's not as though we could stay here forever."
"I wholeheartedly agree," Harry put in. "Because there are certain things in this forest I am not particularly anxious to meet tonight." He looked around at the trees as he said this, rolling his wand between his hands. "Or any other night."
Nodding, Draco shifted his arms to a better position to lift Hermione. Before he could move another inch, however, a foreboding sound pounded in his ears. "What is that?" he growled to himself.
"What is what?" Ron wondered. Harry looked at Draco with an expression that said the same thing.
"You don't hear it?" They shook their heads. Draco listened more closely. "It sounds like- like…" Looking up, he fixed his eyes sharply on Harry. "Harry, there are centaurs headed our way. Is that good or bad?"
Harry's eyes went wide and darted wildly about, he turned slowly in circles, peering through the trees as though he expected a dangerous enemy to emerge any second.
So bad.
Draco tightened one arm around Hermione, and in the other gripped his wand with ease. The hoof beats grew louder, and louder, and louder. Harry and Ron grew more nervous. Draco assumed it was because they could hear the approach.
He tried to decide where they would come. It could be in front of him, or behind him, or from either side. The hooves were giving him no clues. Unless-
His thought was cut off by the appearance of five or six centaurs ahead of him. They had crossbows leveled. He raised his wand, but before he could say one syllable of a spell, he had been grabbed from behind by a pair of impressively strong Centauri arms. The arms encircled him tightly, the spot they pressed probably holding some vital organ. He struggled, but he was no match for the centaur with the unfair advantage.
Worse, he had dropped his wand in the…scuffle, if you could call it that, and now had no hope of retrieving it. He turned his head- he could at least move that much- to see Harry and Ron held similarly. *Great, neither of them had managed to have the thought that maybe it would have been helpful to escape.* Indeed that would have been nice, but he should have known better. Bravery and cunning just don't go together. Except in Hermione's case.
"Magorian, this one has been in here before," one of the centaurs said. He was pointing at Harry. "Recently. He claimed Auror training, I claim he was lying."
"Ronan, you claim that about everyone and everything. Still, I am curious as to why you are here. I assume the rest of them are also being trained as Aurors."
Draco was staring at Harry, who swallowed. "No."
"No? Then what are you doing here?"
"Well, I was killing Voldemort, but now he's dead, so I was about to leave." Draco held in the urge to snort- partially because his breathing was constricted as it was- at the rather sarcastic comment.
"Prove it."
Harry said nothing. Voldemort's body had disappeared. There was no proof, except one involving the wand. Draco was pretty sure that one was out of the question.
"I thought so," Magorian snarled. "Centauri." This appeared to be an order, as a few of them stepped forward, and before he could think, Draco's hands were bound and he had been thrown to the ground.
He stood, taking a step toward where Hermione lay, but found the point of a crossbow at his throat in less than a second. "Move, and you are dead." He stopped.
It took only moments for Harry and Ron to be similarly bound. When this had been done, they were dragged over to a large tree, and their hands tied to branches above their heads. Draco was stretched so that his feet barely reached the ground. He pulled as hard as he could, but the ropes and the branch were too strong. He could see his wand on the ground, half hidden among the leaves, and wished it was in his hand.
"What about this one?" he heard from one of the centaurs. "What should we do with her?"
The one called Magorian trotted to her. "I don't know, is she alive?"
There was a pause. "Yes. She's still breathing."
Another pause, as he considered what they should do. "We'll bring her. I'm sure we'll think of some use for her. These three can be left here. Some forest creature or other will find them eventually and finish them off."
Draco tugged harder on his bonds. "Leave her alone, you bastards!"
In a flash, a hand had gripped his throat, cutting off his air supply. He found himself looking into the fiery eyes of the centaur called Ronan, who apparently did not take kindly to insults.
"If you wish to live longer than the next minute, you will hold your tongue."
The hand released him, and he proceeded to cough painfully. His lungs did not seem to want to cooperate, making breathing rather difficult, and he could already feel bruises forming on his neck where Ronan had held him.
"Draco," Harry called. "Are you all right?"
He could not answer, not having regained enough air as of yet, but he nodded and hoped Harry would be able to see it, and would stop bothering him.
"Be careful with her though. We don't want to damage her- at least, not yet." A few of them laughed, and Draco felt a meaningful glance thrown in his direction. He gritted his teeth, then ungritted them because that made it harder to breath. That damned horse must have damaged his windpipe.
A heavy footstep sounded. Then another, quite soon after. They were fast-paced and headed toward them.
"Something large is coming," Weasley said helpfully. Surprisingly, the centaurs had stopped moving. They seemed to be anticipating what might come. Every one of them had taken to standing stock still.
"That really doesn't sound good," Harry said, thirty seconds later.
*No, really, you think?* Draco wondered what could be coming, and resigned himself to painful death. He couldn't really do anything about it, tied as he was, and his wand lying too far away. He didn't have enough energy left to use wandless magic.
The thing- whatever it was- was almost upon them. There were other footsteps, lighter, even faster, and more hoof beats. More centaurs, perhaps? *That* would help.
The huge, heavy footsteps were only a small distance away now. The centaurs were spurred into action, and they all formed a line, readying themselves against the threat.
"We'll not let them take our forest from us!" Ronan called. He uttered some indistinguishable battle cry.
It had almost broken the trees. Whatever came, was so close they should be able to see it through the fringe of the forest- it broke into the clearing, and Draco attempted to sigh with relief. He did not succeed, and decided that he had sighed internally.
"Hagrid!" Harry called gleefully.
Close behind him were Firenze, a centaur who had been working at the castle, Professor Dumbledore, Snape, and Lyipin. They shot spells at the centaurs, and the half-horses started to bolt away.
Fearing for Hermione, Draco called, "No!" but no sound escaped his lips. In frustration, he began to struggle again, though he was causing the ropes to break into his skin. He didn't care.
Harry seemed to understand what he was trying to do, and called out, "Get Hermione!"
Draco saw Dumbledore move quickly, and within moments the centaurs were gone, and Hermione lay on the ground protected by a wall of teacher. Professor Lyipin severed their ties with a simple cutting spell, and Draco fell to his knees. He did not rub his wrists- it would only have irritated the wounds- or his neck. He was not concerned with himself. All injuries on his body had gone numb.
Using wandless magic, as the numbness had allowed him to forget completely his lack of energy, he brought his wand into his hand. As he moved he felt the rips in the sleeves and back of his shirt, but ignored them. Keeping his wand in his hand, he rushed to Hermione's side, and was relieved to find that even now she lived.
"What happened here, Malfoy?" Snape demanded. He had to smirk. Even in these circumstances, the Potions master asked him first. Too bad he couldn't speak.
"Severus, now is not the time. These students must be brought back to Hogwarts. Once their injuries have been taken care of, we can find out their story. Now, they need to be tended to."
Draco only half-heard the headmaster's speech. He assumed he would create a Portkey for them to be transported safely and quickly to the castle, and certainly would not object. He needed to bring Hermione to a safe place as quickly as possible.
Sure enough, Dumbledore muttered "Portus" after his brief speech, and he instructed them to take it back to the castle, and give Madame Pomfrey a note he handed to Harry.
"Draco, come on," Harry urged.
"You three, make sure Miss Granger is in a bed as soon as possible. We'll take care of all these Death Eaters."
Draco turned to face them only after he had lifted Hermione into his arms. He carried her over to Ron and Harry, where the Portkey was waiting.
End Chapter 54
Aw…poor Draco. Poor Hermione. What have I done to J.K.'s characters? They won't want to come out when she's finally ready to actually write the sixth book…even though it probably won't be for another five years.
The chapter title refers, of course, to Hermione, in case it was not clear to anyone.
Good job to everyone who earned house points! Lyra Silvertongue2, short puppy, slytherin (who did not specify their house but I assume it's slytherin…), Allie, Zaptor, Tamurl07. If you guessed correctly and did not specify your house, you did not receive any points…sorry. Next time, check before you send it. Slytherin is now in the lead by fifty points. Hufflepuff is second.
The next chapter will be here soon… but until then, review for your confetti!! Since so many people seem to want some, I'll be giving you Draco-shaped confetti.