The LightningStruck Tower, a harry potter fanfic

Summary: Draco's point of view from his arrival in The Lightning-Struck Tower (chap 27, HBP) to the end of the chapter - includes the unspeakable event.

(also archived at www. thesilversnitch. com )

SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

STILL WANT TO READ? I WARNED YOU... JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET THE MESSAGE:

SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

DON'T FLAME ME TELLING ME THAT YOU DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW WHO DIES. JUST REMEMBER, I AM WARNING YOU IN A BIG WAY, SO IF YOU DON'T WANT THE MYSTERY OF WHO DIES TO BE REVEALED TO YOU BEFORE YOU REACH THE END, STOP READING NOW!

If you don't know who dies, and haven't finished the book, why the hell are you on the internet in the first place? Go and read the goddamn book! It's better than this is. Trust me! I read it in six hours! It's become my new favourite! Go and read it! Go on, scat!

I threw the door open and shouted 'Expelliarmus', and crashed through to the rooftop without waiting even a second to see who was there. It had to be Dumbledore – who else would fly directly to the site of the Dark Mark and be able to lower the wards enough to allow himself to fly there?

I watched, satisfied, as Dumbledore's wand flew over the edge of the ramparts. The old man himself looked very pale, but far too calm for his present situation. He greeted me with a smile. 'Good evening, Draco.'

I stepped forward, and quickly glanced around to make sure that there was no-one waiting in the wings to jump out and rescue the Headmaster. I noticed the second broom. 'Who else is here?' I demanded. Dumbledore just continued smiling in that annoyingly know-it-all fashion that Granger often possessed.

'A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?' I looked back at Dumbledore. His skin seemed to have a slightly greenish tinge to it, probably from the reflected light of the Dark Mark. I dare say mine did too.

'No,' I said. 'I've got backup. There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight,' I said, once again in satisfaction.

'Well, well,' Dumbledore said. What did he mean by that, I wondered? Well, well? What was I, some over-ambitious kid who has successfully completed a homework task? 'Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?'

My breath was irregular – panting one moment, calm the next. I was panting as I said 'Yeah,' which was very unbecoming for a Malfoy. We never used colloquialisms. Ever. 'Right under your nose and you never realised!' I suppressed a laugh.

'Ingenious,' he said. 'Yet… forgive me… where are they now? You seem unsupported.' Inquisitive prat, I sneered mentally.

'They met some of your guard. They're having a fight down below,' I sneered. 'They won't be long… I came on ahead. I – I've got a job to do,' I stammered. Oh, so now the nerves decided to show up, huh?

'Well, then, you must get on and do it, my dear boy,' Dumbledore said quietly. What! That wasn't right, my mind railed. He was supposed to beg for his life, making this easier for me. This killing business was harder than I thought. I stared at Dumbledore as he, astoundingly, smiled at me. 'Draco, Draco, you are not a killer.'

'How do you know?' I responded instantly. For Goodness' sake, I sounded like a five-year-old! I could feel a very unbecoming blush spread across my cheeks. 'You don't know what I'm capable of!' I continued brashly. 'You don't know what I've done!'

'Oh, yes, I do.' Infuriatingly, the man was calm – even uncaring. 'You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts… so feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it…' he trailed off.

'It has been in it!' I protested, somewhat louder than I had meant to. 'I've been working on it all year, and tonight –" I broke off as a yell echoed from the castle behind me. I straightened almost instinctively, and glanced over my shoulder, but no-one was there.

'Someone is putting up a good fight,' the Headmaster said casually. Again, my mind screamed – why was he so calm? 'But you were saying… yes, you have managed to introduce Death Eaters into my school which, I admit, I thought impossible… how did you do it?'

I didn't reply – I was busy focussing on the battle down below us. If I listened hard enough, I felt sure that I would be able to hear my Lord's servants teaching the gits I had to put up with a lesson.

'Perhaps you ought to get on with the job alone,' Dumbledore continued as if I had replied. 'What if your back-up plan has been thwarted by my guards? As you have perhaps realised, there are members of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight, too. And after all, you don't really need help… I have no wand at the moment… I cannot defend myself.'

I stared at him, confused. Was he asking me to kill him?

'I see,' Dumbledore said when I didn't reply, or even move. 'You are afraid to act until they join you.' He sounded almost kind, but that made no difference to me as I exploded.

'I'm not afraid!' I snarled primevally, although I still couldn't force myself to move. 'It's you who should be scared.' Oh, resorting to pointless threats are we now, Draco my boy? said my conscience – if I indeed had one and I wasn't hearing things – which sounded suspiciously like my father.

'But why? I don't think you will kill me, Draco. Killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe… so tell me, while we wait for your friends… how did you smuggle them in here? It seems to have taken you a long time to work out how to do it,' Dumbledore said gently, as if he was trying to weasel an answer out of me.

Weasel. Huh. I'd give anything to be downstairs fighting the Weasel and the Mudblood – or even Golden Boy – right now, leaving this dubious honour to someone else. Snape would gladly do it, I thought cynically before banishing that though. I took a couple of deep breaths and raised my wand until it was pointed levelly at Dumbledore's heart.

'I had to mend that broken Vanishing Cabinet that no-one's used for years. The one Montague got lost in last year,' I couldn't help but brag as I struggled to keep the wand steady. What is it about being in a situation such as this that you have to tell anyone in the general vicinity exactly how you had come to be at this point?

'Aaaah,' Dumbledore half-groaned. I watched curiously as he closed his eyes wearily for a second or two. 'That was clever… there is a pair, I take it?' I felt compelled to explain, as I had previously mentally complained about.

'The other's in Borgin and Burkes,' I began. I recalled clearly the day I had reserved the second cabinet, but I continued without mentioning it, 'and they make a kind of passage between them. Montague told me that when he was stuck in the Hogwarts one, he was trapped in limbo but sometimes he could hear what was going on at school, and sometimes what was going on in the shop, as if the Cabinet was travelling between them, but he couldn't make anyone hear him… in the end he managed to Apparate out, even though he'd never passed his test. He nearly died doing it. Everyone thought it was a really good story, but I was the only one who realised what it meant – even Borgin didn't know – I was the one who realised there could be a way into Hogwarts through the Cabinets if I fixed the broken one.'

My explanation had taken longer than I thought, but the sounds of the battle downstairs were still there if I cared to listen hard enough. 'Very good,' Dumbledore said quietly. 'So the Death Eaters were able to pass from Borgin and Burkes into the school to help you… a clever plan, a very clever plan… and, as you say, right under my nose…'

Strangely, I felt myself slowly swell at the sound of the praise in Dumbledore's words. I knew that I craved appreciation – but not to the extent at being pleased to get it from a man I was supposed to kill. 'Yeah,' I said again, very un-Malfoy-like. 'Yeah, it was!'

'But there were times,' the old man said, 'weren't there, when you were not sure you would succeed in mending the Cabinet? And you resorted to crude and badly judged measures such as sending me a cursed necklace that was bound to reach the wrong hands… poisoning mead there was only the slightest chance I might drink…'

I sneered again. 'Yeah, well, you still didn't realise who it was behind that stuff, did you?' Without my knowledge, we had apparently moved to the edge of the roof, Dumbledore leaning weakly against the parapets. He looked weaker now – his strength was probably fading. I thought I heard sounds of laboured breathing behind me, but I dismissed it.

'As a matter of fact, I did,' Dumbledore said. I felt like snorting, but held back at the last moment. 'I was sure it was you.'

'Why didn't you stop me, then?' I demanded to know.

'I tried, Draco. Professor Snape has been keeping watch over you on my orders –' but I interrupted this.

'He hasn't been doing it on your orders, he promised my mother –' and this time Dumbledore interrupted me.

'Of course that is what he would tell you, Draco, but –' and again, I felt I had to interject. I was beginning to lose my temper.

'He's a double agent, you stupid old man, he isn't working for you, you just think he is!'

'We must agree to differ on that, Draco. It so happens that I trust Professor Snape –' what was with always calling me Draco? It was beginning to bug me, I thought as I interrupted once more.

'Well, you're losing your grip then!' I sneered. 'He's been offering me plenty of help – wanting all the glory for himself – wanting a bit of the action – "What are you doing? Did you do the necklace, that was stupid, it could have blown everything –" But I haven't told him what I've been doing in the Room of Requirement, he's going to wake up tomorrow and it'll all be over and he won't be the Dark Lord's favourite any more, he'll be nothing compared to me, nothing!' I ranted. I waited for Dumbledore's response, expecting some sort of scathing comment in the form of those that I usually received from my Mother and Father after such an episode.

'Very gratifying,' Dumbledore said, still calm. I was disappointed. 'We all like appreciation for our own hard work, of course… but you must have had an accomplice, all the same… someone in Hogsmeade, someone who would be able to slip Katie the – the – Aaaah…' and he closed his eyes again. Was he going to fall asleep? The old man nodded as he continued, '… of course... Rosmerta. How long has she been under the Imperius Curse?'

'Got there at last, have you?' I taunted him. Why was he staying so calm? Why couldn't he just get on with the pleading and bargaining my father had told me always comes before someone's death? Another yell came from below, and I looked around again. Nerves were beginning to get to me, I thought as I swung my gaze back to Dumbledore.

'So poor Rosmerta was forced to lurk in her own bathroom and pass that necklace to any Hogwarts student who entered the room unaccompanied? And the poisoned mead… well, naturally, Rosmerta was able to poison it for you before she sent the bottle to Slughorn, believing that it was to be my Christmas present… yes, very neat… very neat… poor Mr Filch would not, of course, think to check a bottle of Rosmerta's… tell me, how have you been communicating with Rosmerta? I thought we had all methods of communication in and out of the school monitored.'

My wand hand had begun to shake sometime during his little 'figure out the bad guy's plan' session, and I was unable to control either it or myself as I continued to explain. 'Enchanted coins,' I said. 'I had one and she had the other and I could send her messages -' but I was interrupted.

'Isn't that the secret method of communication the group that called themselves Dumbledore's Army used last year?' he said, but I could see him slip another inch or two down the wall in the pale green light.

'Yeah, I got the idea from them,' I admitted with a smile-grimace. 'I got the idea of poisoning the mead from the Mudblood Granger, as well, I heard her talking in the library about Filch not recognising potions …'

'Please do not use that offensive word in front of me,' Dumbledore ordered stiffly. I laughed harshly.

'You care about me saying "Mudblood" when I'm about to kill you?' I said incredulously.

'Yes, I do,' he replied and I had to adjust the angle at which I was looking at him as he slid down the wall further. 'But as for being about to kill me, Draco, you have had several long minutes now. We are quite alone. I am more defenceless than you can have dreamed of finding me, and still you have not acted…'

I suddenly felt like I was tasting something bitter and I realised quickly what it was –my own disappointment. He had me pinned, didn't he?

'Now, about tonight,' Dumbledore frowned lightly as he was obviously trying to keep the details straight in his mind. 'I am a little puzzled about how it happened… you knew that I had left the school? But of course…' he said before I could reply. 'Rosmerta saw me leaving, she tipped you off using your ingenious coins, I'm sure…'

I felt I had to jump in here. 'That's right,' I affirmed. 'But she said you were just going for a drink, you'd be back…' I frowned. He had certainly had a long drink, I thought for the first time.

'Well, I certainly did have a drink… and I came back… after a fashion,' he said cryptically to himself. I didn't bother to try and puzzle this one out. 'So you decided to spring a trap for me?' he continued.

'We decided to put the Dark Mark over the Tower and get you to hurry up here, to see who'd been killed,' I said. 'And it worked!' Inside, I was crowing. I had outsmarted Dumbledore!

'Well… yes and no…' he said, once again confusing me. 'But am I to take it then, that nobody has been murdered?' I could see the hope in his eyes, and decided to quash it with as much bluntness as I could muster – which wasn't much.

'Someone's dead,' I said, and instead of sounding blunt like I wanted to, my voice actually went higher. Why couldn't anything go the way I wanted it to? I sure could have used that Felix Felicis potion right now, I thought wistfully as I continued. 'One of your people… I don't know who, it was dark… I stepped over the body… I was supposed to be waiting up here when you got back, only your Phoenix lot got in the way,' my lip twisted. Didn't they always?

'Yes, they do that,' Dumbledore said, echoing my thoughts. I could see his mind working, wondering who was dead. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and some unintelligible shouts that sounded pretty darn close. Perhaps there was fighting on the spiral staircase that led us to where Dumbledore and I were?

'There is little time, one way or another,' Dumbledore said. 'So let us discuss your options, Draco.' What was that? My options?

'My options!' I repeated out loud, rather loudly. 'I'm standing here with a wand – I'm about to kill you –'

'My dear boy, let us have no more pretence about that. If you were going to kill me, you would have done it when you first Disarmed me, you would not have stopped for a pleasant chat about ways and means,' he said loftily. I recognised the way he was trying to manipulate me, and I blanched as it reminded me of the way my Lord had manipulated me into taking the Dark Mark and this mission.

'I haven't got any options!' I exclaimed. 'I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family!'

'I appreciate the difficulty of your position,' said Dumbledore. I felt like snorting again, but restrained myself considering the circumstances. I wished my Lord's servants would hurry up. 'Why else do you think I have not confronted you before now? Because I knew you would have been murdered if Lord Voldemort realised that I suspected you.' I winced involuntarily at the sound of my Lord's name.

'I did not dare speak to you of the mission with which I knew you had been entrusted, in case he used Legilimency against you,' he old man continued. 'But now at last we can speak plainly to each other… no harm has been done, you have hurt nobody, though you are very lucky that you unintentional victims survived… I can help you, Draco.'

Both of my hands were shaking now, along with the rest of my body to some degree. My wand hand was by far the worst – it was hard to even aim at Dumbledore's body in general, let alone pinpoint his heart. 'No, you can't,' I replied. 'Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice.'

'Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban… when the time comes we can protect him too… come over to the right side, Draco… you are not a killer,' he repeated, almost pleadingly. I stared at him.

'But I got this far, didn't I?' I said slowly, the truth beginning to dawn on me. 'They thought I'd die in the attempt, but I'm here… and you're in my power… I'm the one with the wand… you're at my mercy…' I finished.

'No, Draco,' Dumbledore said quietly. 'It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now.' I didn't say anything, but I seriously considered dropping my wand. I even felt it drop a fraction of an inch before thundering footsteps pounded up the stairs and four Death Eaters burst on to the rooftop. I re-affirmed my aim, pleased – for once, my side had won out over the Golden Trio and their cronies.

Amycus – I had never really known his last name – was a lumpy-looking man with a strange, twisted grin and a permanent leer. I shivered unnoticeably when I saw him – both he and his sister, Alecto, disgusted me. Amycus chuckled.

'Dumbledore cornered!' he wheezed, and turned to Alecto. She was lumpy like him, and they certainly looked like brother and sister. 'Dumbledore wandless, Dumbledore alone! Well done, Draco, well done!' he said. I could never figure out whether or not he was mentally retarded, or just plain stupid. Alecto grinned eagerly at her brother's pronouncement.

'Good evening, Amycus,' Dumbledore said pleasantly. Got to give the man some credit, faced with five Death Eaters bent on killing him and no escape – he's handling it pretty well. 'And you've brought Alecto too… charming…' he trailed off, and I suppressed a giggle. Alecto gave an angry little giggle, obviously not having the same restraints as myself.

'Think your little jokes'll help you on your death bed, then?' she chuckled menacingly. Though with her voice, it kind of came out as a bad sounding jeer and wheeze, rather than actually being frightening. I rolled my eyes.

'Jokes? No, no, these are manners,' Dumbledore said mildly.

Fenrir Greyback, one of the most horrible werewolves I had ever known, was standing closest to the door – a product of his paranoia, probably. 'Do it,' he urged me. I was glad he was standing so far off from me; he always smelled disgusting.

'Is that you, Fenrir?' Dumbledore asked with slight curiosity.

'That's right,' Greyback croaked. 'Pleased to see me, Dumbledore?' he asked menacingly; and unlike Alecto, it actually sounded frightening. I didn't look at Greyback – he scared me, to be honest – but rather kept my gaze firmly fixed on Dumbledore.

'No, I cannot sat that I am…' Dumbledore said solemnly. Greyback grinned suddenly, showing his pointed teeth. I refused to look at him, but found myself glancing anyway. Blood was trickling down his chin slowly, and he licked his lips. I shuddered again and looked away – thankfully, no-one was watching me. I wondered whose blood it was.

'But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore,' Greyback said.

'Am I to take it that you are attacking even without the full moon now? That is most unusual… you have developed a taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?' Dumbledore questioned. Where was he going with this? It wasn't like he would be alive much longer to write these findings down and send them to a newspaper or whatever.

'That's right,' Greyback grinned again. 'Shocks you, that, does it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?' he suggested.

'Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little,' Dumbledore said. 'And, yes, I am a little shocked that Draco here invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends live…' I had to butt in here.

'I didn't,' I breathed, and I felt all eyes on me. 'I didn't know he was going to come -'

'I wouldn't miss a trip to Hogwarts, Dumbledore,' Greyback rasped. 'Not when there are throats to be ripped out… delicious, delicious…' and I shuddered again. Greyback raised a yellow fingernail and picked at something caught between his front teeth, leering at Dumbledore. 'I could do you for afters, Dumbledore…'

'No,' the fourth Death Eater said. For the life of me, I couldn't remember his name… as a matter of fact, I didn't even think it had been told to me. 'We've got orders. Draco's got to do it. Now, Draco, and quickly.' I was feeling less and less confident as the seconds ticked past. I was feeling, and probably looking terrified as Dumbledore slid down the wall once more.

'He's not long for this world anyway, if you ask me!' Amycus grinned, accompanied by Alecto's wheezing chuckles and giggles. 'Look at him – what's happened to you, then, Dumby?' What a demeaning nickname, I reflected as I tried, once more, to straighten my wand arm. It refused to respond.

'Oh, weaker resistance, slower reflexes, Amycus,' said Dumbledore. 'Old age, in short… one day, perhaps, it will happen to you… if you are lucky…'

'What's that mean, then, what's that mean?' Amycus yelled, having a personality disorder that caused his moods to swing from one emotion to its polar opposite. 'Always the same, weren't yeh, Dumby, talking and doing nothing, nothing. I don't even know why the Dark Lord's bothering to kill yeh! Come on, Draco, do it!'

But before he got violent with me, loud noises echoed from the bottom of the staircase and a voice shouted 'They've blocked the stairs – Reducto! REDUCTO!' I began to panic; my time was quickly running out. If those who we had been fighting against downstairs had in fact not been eliminated… I didn't want to finish that thought.

'Now, Draco, quickly!' exclaimed the Death Eater I didn't know. He was quite heavy-set, like Crabbe and Goyle. His obvious contempt of my abilities wasn't helping any – my hand began to shiver and shake like anything. I was screwed, to put it politely.

'I'll do it,' snarled Greyback. He moved towards Dumbledore, already beginning to go feral. The other Death Eater reacted quickly.

'I said no!' he exclaimed; there was a flash of light and the werewolf was blasted out of the way. He hit the stone battlements and almost fell, looking furious. My heart was hammering so hard, I could hardly believe that I was still conscious. Alecto chose that moment to impart her wisdom to me.

'Draco, do it, or stand aside so one of us –' she screeched, but at that precise moment the door to the roof burst open once more and there stood Snape, his wand clutched in his hand and his robes billowing. His black eyes swept over me, Dumbledore leaning against the wall, and the four Death Eaters in various states of disarray.

'We've got a problem, Snape,' Amycus muttered. His eyes and wand were fixed on Dumbledore. 'The boy doesn't seem able –'

'Severus…' Dumbledore pleaded so quietly that I could barely hear it. It was more frightening than anything I had heard before in my life, including the voice of Voldemort at his most wrathful. The singularly most powerful wizard in the world – and I wasn't ashamed to admit it – was beginning for his life from a mere Potions Master? What was going on here?

Snape said nothing, not like I had expected him to. He stalked forwards and shoved me out of the way – I collided with the walls and could only watch helplessly as Snape stood before Dumbledore. The other Death Eaters fell back – even Greyback, which surprised me.

Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face. 'Severus… please…' Dumbledore pleaded once more. I watched, horrified. Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore, unshaken.

'Avada Kedavra!'

A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Draco's scream of horror never left him; silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air: for a split second he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backwards, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.

Dialogue taken directly from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, UK version, pages 545-556 (chapter 27, The Lightning-Struck Tower).