There's Always a Catch

"HHHello Drraco. What brrringsss you hhhere?" Carpe was black and scaly. His skin was hard and his eyes were a crimson red. He stood on four strong legs with wings resting on his back that resembled that of a bat. He appeared menacing to those who didn't know better but he really was a lot like Draco, lonely and misunderstood. All the dragons in the valley enjoyed fighting and chaos. Carpe just liked to be alone, occasionally in the company of a few select friends. He enjoyed quiet and peace, couldn't be bothered with fighting and causing havoc, and for that, he was an outcast.

"We have come to retrieve our friend who has been taken by a death eater," Draco explained. They were in a cave that was owned by Carpe. In the very back a faint glow of gold could be seen in the sunlight that was coming through the entrance, it was obviously the beast's treasure that he had collected.

"Ah, Blaise, he's in the courtroom at the moment, better hurry, your father and his are planning to either convert him or kill him in the next hour." Ginny had desperately been trying to keep her cool in front of everyone but with those words she broke down, crouching on the ground, sobbing into her hands and Hermione was instantly by her side. They were both incredibly distraught but Hermione refused to cry, she was here to save her brother, not to break down.

"H-how do y-you know?" Ginny asked the dragon, hoping it was just a guess. She obviously didn't know much about Dragons.

"Dragons are very wise Ginny, they know everything." Hermione was rubbing her friends back trying to help her control her breathing. It wasn't going too well. "But don't worry, Blaise has grown up with his father, he'll know how to deal with this, at least until we get there." Carpe noticed the way Draco was looking passionately at Hermione.

"Drrrraco, I didnnn't knnnow you hhhad a ssssweet hhhheart." Carpe teased his friend; Draco looked back at him grinning madly.

"Sorry Carpe, I didn't get a chance to tell you yet," he confessed. Ominous fangs protruded from the beasts smile, a most absurd sight anyone would have to admit.

"Ssss'bout time." Draco laughed at that but ofcourse; the light mood didn't last long as another one of Ginny's sobs pierced the air.

"Could we get the key from you?" Draco inquired quickly. He was kicking himself for almost forgetting their purpose here. Carpe nodded his head looking sympathetically at the two distressed girls on his homes floor. When he turned to head for the pile of treasure Draco had to jump out of the way of his large spiked tail and just as he recovered from that he was dodging gold coins and other sparking metals as the dragon threw the items out of his way. That moment Draco was thankful his father had bought his way onto the quidditch team. Draco sighed in relief once the steady stream of items flying his way had finally stopped.

"Got it," Carpe announced, hazardously turning around to face the people. A small red jewel was dropped in Draco's hand. He looked up at his scaly friend and threw his arms around his neck.

"Thanks Carpe, we really appreciate it." With that Draco turned and ushered everyone out of the cave with him. Hermione however stayed behind for a moment.

"Thank you Carpe, you're a sweetie," she said, her eyes brimming with tears. He smiled proudly as Hermione also wrapped her arms around his neck. "I can't thank you enough," she told him.

"No need to thhhank mmeee, jjjussst gggo ggget yourrr brrrothhher." Her eyes sparkled at him before she left, running to catch up with the rest. It was a deceivingly calm day. The sun was out, streaming through the tree tops. The normally cheery sight was sickening to Hermione. Everyone was standing stiffly at the shoreline of a large round pond that sat in the middle of the lush green cove. The second Hermione had reached them Draco had turned to the water and dived in, cutting the surface with such grace Hermione was momentarily mesmerised. It ended as soon as she began to count the seconds until Draco surfaced though. 38, 39, 40, 41, and at 42 he came to the top again, blond hair plastered to his red face. He gulped in the fresh air greedily.

"Tell me you can all swim," he pleaded with them while he tread the shallow water of the pond. Collective nods caused a sigh of relief to issue from him as he gestured with his head for them to jump in. The second Hermione was submerged, she felt the water slide to the back of her nose where it's passage was cut off. She hated that feeling but pushed it out of her mind. All she could focus on at the moment was getting to the swirling mist at the bottom of the pond that Draco was mercilessly diving towards. She could feel her lungs straining and her head began to hurt as she got closer to the bottom, but she couldn't think about that. She sped up as much as she could, for her air supply could only last so long. Moments after Draco disappeared into the swirling colours she joined him in a dark hollow of a forest. She could hear Tonks and Ginny behind her but all she could do at that moment was gulp in air. She could hear everyone else doing the same. She was soaked and her nose stung from the water that had gotten to the back. Draco's long slender finger was pointing at a green glowing light in the distance. "There, that light means that something important is going on." They heard a gasp from Ginny but no other noises were made as they knew, relatively, the danger of being found out. Hermione's eyes were squinted at the figures in the distance, trying to discern which one was Blaise and what was happening to him. She saw him being led by his father towards a fire in the centre of three other tall, dark wizards. They all looked the same under their hooded black capes. She was assuming Voldemort would be recognisable, unless he didn't even bother coming.

"We're lucky, neither Voldemort nor Snape are here." Draco whispered to the group that was now huddled together watching the scene taking place in front of them.

"We're still going to have to act discreetly, they can always call others," Tonks pointed out. Draco pondered this for a second, for all he knew, Snape and Voldemort could have known about their plans from the beginning.

"That's true, Ginny, there's a black rock over there," he pointed to a looming dark object at the left side of the scene. It was about 30 meters (Approx. 60 ft.) away. "Go to it, stay in the forest and be as quiet as possible. It's the passage to where the rest of them would be. If you see anyone coming through there, warn us with red sparks." Ginny nodded determinedly.

"Good luck," she said before taking off in the direction of the rock.

"Tonks, Hermione and I are going to need a distraction while we paralyze the death eaters." As he sat contemplating the options Tonks came up with her own idea.

I have an thought," she smirked. This didn't make Hermione feel too safe but it was her brother on the line, she had to go along with it. Draco nodded.

"Good, now Hermione, go back there," he once again pointed to the rock that Ginny was watching with rapt attention. "Go with Ginny so when Tonks makes the distraction, you and Ginny will take out as many death eaters as possible. I'll be on the opposite side doing the same. Tonks will make the distraction on my signal, ok?" He took a long, relieved breath after his speech.

"Sure, we'll be waiting." And with that Hermione was off in the same direction Ginny had gone earlier. She explained the extent of the plan to Ginny who looked pleased to have a bigger part than lookout. Draco was soon at his post, giving Tonks the thumbs up. She rubbed her hands together excitedly and shook out her arms and shoulders in preparation. Uttering a charm, the fire jumped in four different directions catching the death eaters on their hood. They were looking around startled, and Blaise took that opportunity to run. Mr. Zabini seemed to be oblivious to the fire because he was soon after Blaise, but faltering when a curse his him dead in the chest. Blaise had been running straight for Draco, who immediately sprang into action, firing a curse at the pursuing death eater. Once Blaise realised it was Draco who had fired the curse he turned around to see all but one death eater paralyzed on the ground. The man had his want out and immediately shot a green light in the direction of Hermione and Ginny. The two sat there horror struck until Tonks snapped them out of it by binding the death eater painfully. Once it was safe everyone darted from their hiding places to the large black rock, but nothing was there. Frantically they searched the brush in the dim light

Hermione and Ginny were watching them from a branch in a high part of a pine tree. Once she had realised they wouldn't be able to get the other death eater in time Hermione Jumped into the safety of its branches, pulling Ginny in with her. They panted and watched, too shocked to move immediately. It wasn't until Draco was desperate enough to yell, "Hermione!" that they snapped out of it. Jumping down she ran to him. He had his back turned to her but whipped around immediately with his wand out when he heard the crackle of her footsteps. His eyes grew wide when he was able to focus on her and he sprinted for her. The branches caused the girls some scratches but, all in all they came out quite lucky. That is, until they heard the voice of the man that was binded.

"No matter, the Dark lord should have what he wants by now,"