**All right, so I couldn't resist. Now you all owe me massive amounts of reviews!!!
Chapter 19
Draco had been hurrying to get to the Astronomy Tower. He had every intention of distracting Cara as much as possible before informing her of Potter's knowledge of the situation. He smirked silently as he moved quickly through the dark hallways. 'Distracting' Cara was becoming one of his favorite pastimes.
He had just reached the top of the third floor stair when Millecent Bulstrode brushed past him, cold look in her eyes, pointedly ignoring his existence. He paid her no mind, she was just another Slytherin who'd chosen to shun him last year, and consequently was terrified to meet his eyes this year.
He heard voice ahead, and picked out Cara's. He smiled, despite himself, as his feet quickened. She was something special, this girl… she made him smile even when his thoughts were dark and enough to tempt him to something drastic. He identified Ginny Weasley as the other voice, and was rounding the corner when he picked up some of their conversation.
"She probably wouldn't have bothered to come back for it," Weasley said, voice faintly carrying. Draco was a ways down the hall, but could see as she walked over to where a quill was lying on the ground. "Heck, I could use a new one. Ron keeps thinking mine are sugar quills and chewing up the ends." The redhead reached down to pick up the quill, and just as her fingers touched it, she disappeared. Draco felt a shock go through his body and nearly froze in surprise. No. It was too soon…
As he stood in temporary shock, Cara gasped, looking bewildered. "Oh, God," she whispered. "Ginny?" And then before his horrified eyes, she pulled her wand out and clutched it tight in her hand, before reaching to grab for the quill herself.
"Cara, no!" Draco shouted, springing forward as fast as he could, but it was too late. At the same time, he heard Potter's voice down the other end of the hall, calling "Ginny?" Cara had disappeared from sight.
"Dammit," Draco cursed under his breath, running down the hall and skidding to a halt next to the inoffensive looking quill.
"Draco," Potter's voice came behind him, tense and terse. "It's her, isn't it?"
In reply, Draco pointed his wand at the quill. "Revealo," he snapped. A faint mist arose from the portkey and briefly took the shape of his cousin's smirking face before fading away.
"Fuck," Potter said. "Right. Let's go."
Draco whirled on him at that. "Stay out of this, damn you," he snapped. "I don't have time to baby-sit you while I deal with Bellatrix."
Potter just glared back. "You need help, and I'll be damned if I let Ginny or Cara stay in any danger, just because you're a pig-headed ass of a Slytherin," he growled. "Not to mention I'm probably the best bet you've got in this school." He reached into his bookbag and yanked out a rather familiar looking piece of fabric. "I've got my cloak with me. Get under, and let's go."
Draco breathed through his teeth, trying to get a grip on his panic and fury. He did not want Potter along, but he had to admit, help would probably be good. And Potter had a knack for getting in and out of tight situations. Potter unfolded the cloak and swirled it over his shoulders, casting Draco an impatient look. "Move it, Malfoy," he said tersely, dropping his bookbag on the ground even as the rest of him disappeared from view.
"Fuck," Draco growled, before tossing his own bag down on the ground. Before he did, however, he pulled out the small vial he'd taken to carrying around. For what reason, he didn't know. But something had inspired him to put his vial in the bag that morning, and now he was glad to have it. If only it would help.
He wrenched the top off and took two swallows. "Here," he growled, shoving the rest at Potter, half-invisible even though he was.
"What's this," Potter demanded, narrow green eyes on him.
"Dammit, Potter, drink the bloody potion," Draco snarled, grasping his wand tightly. "It's a bloody protection, ok? To try and block pain from curses. We're going to need it."
Somewhat to his surprise, because he would've expected the other boy to have refused anything he'd brewed, Potter took the vial, downed the liquid in one gulp and grimaced. "Right," Potter said, tossing the vial over his shoulder and ignoring the tinkle as the glass shattered. "Let's go."
Draco tightened his grip on his wand, and stepped under the cloak. Potter pulled the hood up, and once they were both completely covered in fabric, cast him a sardonic look. "Hold on," Draco muttered, and stretched out a foot to touch the quill. There was a jerk at his navel, and the halls of Hogwarts disappeared.
**********
Cara stumbled and fell heavily to her knees, gasping as the skin was torn by rough ground. Oww, oww, oww, she thought, grimacing as she shoved herself back up on her feet, casting a wary look around.
She was in a large, dimly lit room, bare of any furniture. The walls were some dark, dull paper, the floor a dirty wood. She spotted a flash of red hair on the far side of the room, and immediately started toward it.
"Ginny?" she whispered frantically, glancing around anxiously as she hurried across the room. Her friend was lying on her back on the floor, eyes closed. Cara huddled down and tentatively shook her. "Gin? Are you ok?"
Ginny groaned and lifted a hand to her forehead. "Dammit," she muttered. "Remind me never to touch anything belonging to a Slytherin."
Cara felt her skinned knees go weak, she was so relieved to hear her friend's voice. "Right," she said softly. "Can you sit up? Are you hurt?"
Ginny opened her eyes, glared at the ceiling for a second, and then slowly sat up. "I'm ok," the redhead said cautiously. She patted her pockets, and then pulled out her wand. "Still got my wand. You?"
Cara lifted her right hand. "Yep," she started to reply when there was a laugh from the far side of the room. It was a sound that sent icy chills down Cara's spine, a sound that she had a sickening feeling she was not going to like.
"Oh look," a woman's voice crooned. "Two for the price of one." Cara and Ginny both jerked about, Ginny scrambling to her feet, wands outstretched. On the other side of the room a woman was standing.
"Bellatrix," Ginny said flatly. Cara felt a wave of cold go down her back.
Bellatrix Lestrange threw back her head and laughed, that crazy scary insane laugh. "What a pleasure, the little Miss Weasley again. And here I was just expecting your dear friend Cara." Cara shivered as a smirk was turned on her. "After all, she's the one who's going to bring Draco this way."
Cara forced herself to speak up, to be brave. "You don't want to do this," she declared, trying not to sound scared. What she was, in fact, was terrified.
Bellatrix just smirked even more. "Oh, I most certainly do," she said sweetly, and then raised her own wand.
"Bulbous protectiago!" Cara shouted fiercly, grabbing for Ginny's other arm as Bellatrix's wand tip came up. All she could think of was the snippets Ginny had let drop about last spring, about Draco's scanty details and the scars she'd felt under her fingertips. All she knew was she had to try and keep Bellatrix's curses off them. The familiar orange glow sprang up about her and Ginny. Something hard slammed into the shield, making it shake and shudder.
"Quick, hex her," she gritted. Her head was starting to pound, and she'd only been holding the shield for a few seconds. There were several more thuds in a row, each one harder than the other.
Ginny was pale, and Cara could feel fine tremors in the arm she was clutching, but her friend raised her own wand and began to fire hexes with a fierce look on her face. For a moment, Cara felt a flash of hope. Her shield was holding, and Ginny was shouting every hex she knew, flashes of light shooting from the tip of her wand.
And then there was that frightening laugh again, and something slammed into Cara's shield with such force that it knocked the two of them backward off their feet. Cara not only lost control of the shield, her wand slipped from her hand as she fell heavily to the floor. Lights flashed behind her eyes as her head hit hard against the dirty wood floor, and she groaned.
"Bulbous protectiago," she heard Ginny shouting, a note of desperation in her voice, but her eyes were heavy. Crap, was all she could think as she slumped over on the floor.
**********
Draco managed to keep his feet, barely, as the portkey set them down. Still securely under the cloak, Potter gripped his arm. Draco didn't spare him a glance, all his attention was focused on the figures on the other side of the room.
Bellatrix, he thought in utter hate. As he watched, she laughed, that high, crazed sound that haunted his nightmares, and pointed her wand at a rather weak-looking orange glow on the other side of the room.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix called in a taunting voice, and there was a faint cry as the orange glow winked out. Potter's fingers dug warningly into his arm as the two of them saw the girls lying on the floor, slumped over and apparently injured. Cara lay on one side, hair falling over her face. Draco couldn't tell if she was conscious, and his fear increased.
Bellatrix laughed again, and pointed her wand once more. "Crucio," she said again, triumph practically dripping from her voice. Draco couldn't prevent the hiss of breath between his teeth as Cara's limp body jerked in reaction and a strangled moan came from her lips.
Bellatrix had heard him, however, and stopped to turn in his direction. "Draco," she cooed, looking supremely satisfied. "Come out and play, cousin, dear. I've been waiting for you."
Draco gripped his wand tightly. This was it. He shot Potter as telling a look as possible, willing him to stay under the cloak and use it to his advantage, and then jerked away, stepping out from under the fabric and into the dim shadows of the room.
Bellatrix grinned madly when she saw him. "My ickle cousin, come to play," she cooed again. She pointed her wand at him. "I told you, there was no way to hide," she said. She waved her other hand over her shoulder. "And really, you should thank me for taking care of that weak little girlfriend of yours," she smiled. "A Malfoy shouldn't lower himself to such standards."
"I thought I'd already disgraced the name unbearably," Draco shot back, in as steady and mocking a tone as possible. "What's a little more?"
"Now you're going to sound like my dear departed cousin Sirius," Bellatrix snarled. "You're a traitor to your blood like he was. And he died, just like you're going to." A maniac smile stretched over her face. "I'm going to enjoy this."
Come on, Potter, Draco thought desperately. Wasn't the Boy Wonder going to do anything? Catch Bellatrix off-guard, dammit!
"Stupedify," came from his far right, just as he was thinking it, and Bellatrix whirled with a shriek of rage as she dodged the beam of yellow light.
"Protego," she hissed. "Accio, revealo!" Much to Draco's dismay, the cloak flew off Potter to reveal the grim-faced boy standing, wand pointed at Bellatrix.
She laughed like the insane person she was. "Potter!" she crowed. "Even better!" "Expellariamus!" she shouted, and it was on. Draco barely managed to dodge to one side before beginning to fire off curses of his own. All the while, Bellatrix circled them with that maniac smile, hurling hexes of all shapes and sizes. One sliced his upper arm, and he gritted his teeth as he flung a cutting charm back at her. His potion seemed to help, however, as the blood flowed and he was still able to duck and spin.
A few feet away, Potter was down on one knee, having ducked a stupedify and was shooting a Boiling Hex back at her. He didn't have to look to know that the other boy was as grim-faced and determined as he was, or that Potter was trying to ease them around to stand in front of the girls.
But Bellatrix would have none of it. "Crucio," she shouted, and Draco was a second too slow. The beam of green light hit his shoulder, and his body exploded with pain. Any remnants of his potion vanished in the onslaught of the Unforgivable Curse. He couldn't fight the scream that was ripped out of his throat as he fell heavily to his knees.
"Petrificus totalis," he dimly heard Potter shouting, followed by a string of other curses, but the pain didn't stop. Bellatrix was far too good at dodging, and far too eager to hold him under the Unforgivable. His skin was on fire, his fingers exploding…
And then there was another voice, a weak one this time. "Stupedify," it said, and the pain stopped. Draco slumped forward before he could catch himself. Potter was there a moment later.
"You all right," the other boy said harshly.
Draco forced himself back up on his knees, noting the blood dripping from a cut over Potter's eyebrow and the boils on his left hand. Guess Perfect Potter wasn't so perfect after all. "Fine," he ground out, managing to stand.
"Good," Potter said, before moving swiftly off. Draco looked after him and then his feet made him move before his brain registered what was before him.
"Cara," Draco said urgently, anxiously as he painfully dropped to one knee beside where she lay still on the floor. "Dammit, girl, open your eyes!" She was frighteningly pale, eyes closed and barely seemed to be breathing.
"Bite me," she said very faintly, so faintly he wouldn't have heard if it he hadn't seen her lips move.
He nearly sagged in relief. "Perhaps later," he managed, dropping his head until his forehead touched hers. "Merlin."
"Ginny," Potter was saying next to him, voice tight. "Come on, Gin. Wake up. Wake up!" Draco looked over to see that the redhead was limp and still as Potter cradled her. Potter met Draco's eyes over her head, his face something that Draco recognized. It was what he'd feared when he'd seen Cara hit with the cruciatus. "We've got to get back to Hogwarts," Potter said.
"How?" Draco growled. "That bitch has us who-knows-where, and we don't know if there are any others around. We could be in the middle of Voldemort's stronghold."
Potter just looked grimmer, and seemed to cradle Ginny closer. "Cara, you all right?" he asked shortly.
"Yes," she said softly from where she lay against Draco, her fingers somehow having become laced with his. "I'll be fine. Is Ginny ok?"
"No," the other boy said shortly. "We've got to…"
And then there was a soft noise behind them, and both Draco and Harry whirled, wands out, bodies moving instinctively in front of the two girls.
Professor Snape stood before them, McGonagall at his side, tight-lipped and grim. "Professor," Draco said, lowering his wand. He'd never been so relieved to see his Head of House.
In two strides the Potions Master was down on one knee, brushing him aside to briefly examine Cara before moving on to Ginny. "You have some explanations to give, Mr. Malfoy," he said curtly, not giving either Draco or Harry a glance.
Professor McGonagall was standing over Bellatrix's limp form, muttering a variety of spells. Draco saw cords snake around her with deep satisfaction, and watched as the Transfiguration Professor reached down and plucked her wand from between his cousin's limp fingers. "Are you boys uninjured?" she asked brusquely, turning back to look at them, frowning at the cut on Potter's face, the blood on Draco's shoulder.
"We'll be fine, Professor," Potter answered, voice terse. Draco was secretly intrigued by the tightness of the other boy's voice, speaking to his own Head of House. What did he not know about Potter? His attention focused quickly back on the girl next to him, however, as she laced her fingers with his once more.
Snape was muttering charms over Ginny Weasley, as she was magically placed and bound to a stretcher. "Get McDouglas on her feet, Draco," he said harshly, rising. "Potter, you help. Let's go." The older man's voice did not invite questions, and Draco wrapped his arm around Cara's waist, struggling a bit to get them both to their feet as his own body shook with the residual pain of cruciatus. Potter was there, however, and together they all managed to stagger up.
McGonagall had levitated Bellatrix into the air, and was currently grasping her by one arm. "Right," she said sharply. "Grab hold," and she held out one arm.
Potter paused a moment to muttered an accio spell to retrieve his cloak, and then Draco stretched out an arm and grasped her sleeve as Snape did the other. "Hogwarts," she said, and the bare, dim room faded away.