THE UNEXPECTED
DISCLAIMER: Nothing is mine; all this fantastic universe and characters belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling.
CHAPTER 1: STRANGE ALLIANCE
It was common knowledge that the grounds of Hogwarts were meant to be the scenario of the final battle between the forces of the dark side and the light side, it was inevitable that in such a magical place the ancestral fight that seemed to never end would take place. Hogwarts have always been a symbol of freedom; through the ages it had resisted every Dark Wizard's attempt to conquer the world with the only purpose to subdue it into darkness, and every time the old castle have been a silent witness of every Dark Wizard's downfall. This time, another battle was taking place again in its grounds, another Dark Lord claimed to be predestined to be the absolute ruler of all the Wizarding World. And precisely this Wizarding World only hoped that Harry Potter, better known as 'The Boy Who Lived', would end this Dark Lord's reign of terror. All expectations to have peace was in Harry's shoulders, maybe due to the prophecy, maybe because of this boy's inner strength, maybe because of his friends and supposed enemies, but mainly because there was no other option. He was the boy in whose hands the unsteady fate of the future rested.
This battle would decide the Wizarding World's fate and it was taking place at that moment, a young wizard was meant to face one of the most powerful dark wizards ever known; Harry Potter had to vanquish Lord Voldemort, and he was totally alone in the battlefield, without friends surrounding him, without allies supporting him; only his swore enemy was by his side helping him in his final effort. There he stood, exhausted beyond belief with only Draco Malfoy by his side, fighting together in the middle of the chaos, and there were no other option but to trust Malfoy, Harry's nemesis during his years in school. Harry scanned the battlefield and he was able to see his two best friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger doing their best in trying to cover him... to cover them, the desperation was evident in their eyes while searching for Harry's eyes and at the same time trying to dodge curses and send their own hexes to protect their friend, but Harry was beyond their reach and they knew that Harry didn't want them close enough to get severely hurt for fighting a battle that they couldn't have possible won. Kill or be killed, those were the very limited options for Harry Potter.
Draco Malfoy was staring at Potter, he couldn't believe himself trying to think of something to help them both to get away with their lives. Certainly his hatred for 'wonder boy', 'Saint Potter' was not diminished by the circumstances, but it was necessary to win this battle, otherwise there could be no tomorrow for neither of them. The Dark Lord was a threat for all the Wizarding Community including Draco's own interests, that was the reason he was helping Potter, no hidden causes, no divine inspiration and definitely not a sudden change in Draco's heart. He still hated The Boy Who Lived, and right Draco hated him more than ever for taking away the only thing that once was important to Draco.
When Draco chose to betray his family at betraying his Lord, he knew that the only way to ever defeat Lord Voldemort was to work directly with The Order of the Phoenix, and in doing so Draco had no other option but to help Saint Potter, the only wizard who could be able to defeat the pathetic excuse of a man in front of them both, the most powerful wizard in history, Lord Voldemort, who hadn't realized at that moment that Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter had grown into men, and dangerous ones. Draco detested Potter, but with time he learned to hate The Dark Lord even more, he knew that after Voldemort's downfall there would be plenty of time to make Potter's life miserable.
So, there they stood: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, the petty school rivalry suddenly forgotten, the fierce hate for each other directed for the first time towards the same person, and their efforts directed to the same cause: destroying Lord Voldemort, the one and only Dark Lord.
Thousands of Death Eaters were in the grounds of Hogwarts trying to get access to the Castle, and that was not an easy task because the Castle itself was defended by all its occupants: students and teachers, besides all the members of the Order of the Phoenix plus some Aurors, those who managed to survive past battles. It was a magnificent sight for Draco, he never saw as many powerful wizards fighting together as in that moment, he caught a glimpse of Severus Snape, Hogwarts's Potions Master, Death Eater and double agent for Dumbledore, pretending to fight against Draco's father: Lucius Malfoy, top Death Eater and Snape's best friend. Next to them Hermione Granger was doing an excellent job fighting a bunch of Death Eaters, Draco couldn't deny her skill even if he never have liked the little mudblood, she was the most brilliant witch in ages and a very brave one too. But Draco's eyes were looking for someone else in the multitude, a certain redhead girl, stubborn and brave enough to forbid all her family and friends to lock her away from the war and beautiful enough to get all of Draco's attention. Finally he saw her.
Ginny Weasley was fighting side by side with her brother Ronald Weasley and as much as Draco despised the weasel, he was relieved to know that Ginny was not alone, he knew that her brother would literally die trying to protect her and Draco knew that Ginny was as safe as possible in the middle of the war. It seemed that the little girl was looking for him and Potter as well, and for a brief moment her eyes were locked with Draco's intense glare and he could see a flash of hope, regret and worry at the same time, but he didn't dare to keep looking at her, he was sure she was looking for Potter.
Somehow in the middle of the battle, Voldemort himself managed to separate Harry and Draco from the main group and from the protection that they could provide them, and was dueling both of them. Although Draco and Harry were highly skilled wizards, very well trained by the very top elite Aurors from the Ministry of Magic and really powerful on their own, somehow Draco was starting to believe that the task ahead of them was almost impossible. Draco knew for certain that it was Potter who was supposed to kill Voldemort thanks to the bloody prophecy, he knew that wonder boy had done everything in his power to try to be prepared for this battle, but the truth was that Potter was not prepared enough and perhaps he would never be and that knowledge wasn't helping Draco to think clearly about their situation, for a second he desperately wanted to believe that maybe Potter had some kind of strategy... although Potter was never good at chess.
"Hey Potter" Draco snarled managing to avoid the curses that were directed towards him "have a plan? you know, we can't play hide and seek forever, he's trying to kill us in case you haven't noticed yet"
"Shut up Malfoy, I'm thinking!" Harry barked, but to be true Harry's mind was blank, how on earth was he supposed to defeat the most powerful wizard on earth, that stupid prophecy never said what was needed in order to vanquish the Dark Lord, the hard training with top Aurors wasn't enough, the countless nights spent with Hermione in the library looking for spells that could help them, was not enough, the blind fate of his friends, teachers and all the Wizarding World was not enough, it seemed that no matter how hard Harry tried to prepare himself for this moment, Voldemort was meant to win. A sense of inevitability descended upon Harry and he started to panic. He continued dodging spells and curses but his eyes started to go wild and he didn't notice Draco watching him, reading his expressions.
"I can't believe it Potter! You don't have any plan! And now you're starting to panic, this is not the best moment to do that, you know" Draco's voice was slightly alarmed, for a moment before he asked Potter about his plan, Draco wanted to pretend that they both were in full control of the situation, he wanted to believe that they actually had everything planned, and seeing Harry's expressions his worst fears were confirmed, if wonder boy couldn't defeat the Dark Lord, all of them were doomed.
It was clear that Harry-bloody-Potter was loosing it and they were in a very dangerous position. "Come on Potter, put yourself together. Over here!" he said leading the way into the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort close behind them. Draco knew that it didn't look right to run away form the battlefield but he was not going to let the Dark Lord kill Saint Potter so easily. Draco knew that the only hope for the entire Wizarding World was the pathetic wizard who was running with him. He kept running deep into the Forbidden Forest dragging Potter along and cursing loudly "Really Potter, you couldn't have chosen a worst time to indulge yourself into madness". Harry seemed not to listen to any word Draco was saying and continued running, but some little voice in the back of his head told him that if he survived, he would be in eternal debt to Malfoy for saving his sorry ass!
Suddenly Malfoy stopped dragging him and somehow Harry started to return to his senses only to notice that in front of them was the most amazing creature he'd ever seen, a gorgeous woman dress in black leather, gazing at them and smirking in the way Malfoy did it half the time. Lazily the woman approached them.
"I was expecting to see both of you here, you run pretty fast. Anyway we don't have enough time for pleasantries right now, so right to business" They looked at each other without understanding what this beautiful woman could possibly be doing in the middle of the forest, in the middle of a battle "I have something to offer to both of you" she was looking intently to Harry "Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, I know that you don't have idea of how to destroy Voldemort and maybe I can help you young Potter, but, I need something in return"
This is my first fan fiction posted, so please be kind and tell me if you liked it or not. Constructive criticism will be appreciated. Thank you for reading!