Draco's heart started pounding faster as the footsteps neared, he didn't dare move, hoping that in the darkness whoever it was would pass him by. If it was the good guys they would have shouted out to see if anyone was here, they wouldn't creep around silently.
A low whine made Draco sigh with relief, it was one of the Crups, a live one. He crouched down and held out his hand and a moment later felt a soft wet nose pushed into it and give it a few licks. The Crup's tongue was dry though, it was probably dehydrated. He scooted closer and rubbed it behinds its ears. Its fur was long and ragged, running a hand along its back he felt its tail, which was forked like the other ones. Its skin was stretched tight across its ribs, starving as well.
After pausing briefly he picked it up, though big, it was extremely light, having practically nothing on its bones. It didn't struggle, just relaxed, feeling somehow that it was in safe hands. He stepped back into the other room where the hole in the ceiling gave enough light for Draco to see it was about the size of border collie and had black fur covering its body, not as long as a border collie, but it wasn't smooth coated either. It had an almost greyhound look, but was a bit too stocky and small, half greyhound half Crup maybe. As far as Draco could tell it had no white on it and was a female.
"Hey, is anyone down there?" someone yelled and Draco saw the shadow of a figure. It didn't sound like a death eater, so taking a guess he stepped into the light, still holding the Crup.
A wizard in Ministry robes peered down at him curiously glancing at the Crup briefly. He asked, "How'd you get down there? You don't seem like a death eater."
Draco shook his head and pointed to his mouth then made a motion as though he was holding a wand.
"Silencing spell?" the wizard asked then pointed his wand at Draco and said a few words before asking again, "You aren't a death eater are you?"
"No," Draco answered, "I live here, I was getting some of my stuff when the death eaters caught me and my friend who I've been staying with."
"A Malfoy then?" he asked, "Well let's get you up here. Do you have a wand?"
"They snapped it," he replied.
"Okay, let me get a few others and we'll levitate you up," the ministry wizard told him and Draco heard him walk off.
A few minutes later he came back with two other ministry wizards, together they pointed their wands at him and said some words and Draco found himself and the Crup rising into the air. Another minute later he was standing in the room he'd been in before he'd fallen down.
"What's that?" one of them asked looking at the Crup.
"A Crup, she's mine," he said and looked around the room before asking, "My friend, she got away earlier through the fireplace to The Burrow. Can I go now?"
"Yes, I'll need your name, signature, and current address though," the ministry wizard said pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill before adding, "By the way, I'm Tyler."
"Sure," Draco said writing down his name and Hermione's address before signing it.
"Thank-you, we'll be contacting your house in a day or so for facts on this," Tyler said puting the parchment back into his robes, "You can go now, using floo powder?"
Draco nodded and walked over to the fireplace and took a handful of floo powder throwing into the now dying flames.
"Take care," Tyler said, "Remember to take it easy, you don't look too good."
Draco nodded and picked up the Crup again, stepping into the green flames to say clearly, "The Burrow!"
After a few blasts of soot and whizzing fireplaces he found himself stepping out of a small fireplace into a rather dumpy living room with walls that looked old, probably supported with magic. What was this place?
"Malfoy?" a tall redheaded figure asked that Draco recognized as one of the Weasleys. Of course, this must be the Weasley's place, he'd half expected their place to look some what like this.
"Why is your house called The Burrow?" he asked then added, "Is Hermione here?"
Ignoring Draco's first question the Weasley answered, rather cautiously, "Yes, she is. She just got here a few minutes ago, in a pretty bad state. Do you know what happened?"
"Yes, death eaters," Draco said looking around the room wondering where in the Burrow she was and asking impatiently, "Where is she then?"
"In Ginny's room," he answered, "I'm Charlie by the way. You are Draco Malfoy right? Were you, ah, with her, come from the same place I mean?"
Draco nodded, "Malfoy Manor, turns out there was a infestation of death eaters."
"We called Hermione's parents, that's about all she was able to tell us," Charlie explained. Draco wondered briefly if Charlie even knew that Draco was no longer the bully. Ron probably would have told him though. Who wouldn't be confused if someone just appeared in their fireplace like that?
"Are you okay? You look almost as bad as she did," Charlie commented.
Draco suddenly realized he did feel pretty bad, the stress and the fear making his stomach protest a little. And he was tired; very tired. The events of the day seemed to swarm in on him, just five hours ago or so they'd been back at Hermione's house.
"I think I need to sit down," Draco said and realized he was still holding the crup, he set her down where she looked around The Burrow, her nose quivering.
Charlie waved a hand at the chairs in the small living room then looked at the Crup, "What's that? And, can I get you anything?"
"A crup I found," Draco said and sat down in the one of the sofa's. Charlie headed through a door into the kitchen as he leaned his head back feeling his muscles un-tense.
A/N: Sorry for taking more than a week to update! Normally I update on Sundays but the past weekends have been busy! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
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