Chapter 29

Malfoy Manor

"Let's go." Harry said.

"I've got to get my broom." Ginny replied as she hurried up the stairs to the fifth year girl's dormitory.

"No Harry!" Ron said sternly as soon as he was sure Ginny was out of earshot. "She can't come. It's too dangerous especially since she won't even be able to see what is going on."

"I don't think we'll be able to stop her Ron." Harry replied calmly. "And besides, I think she's right. We never even contemplated how hard it is going to be to get a half giant out of Malfoy Manor and back to Hogwarts, especially if he is injured. It's not like the three of us will just be able to carry him."

"I should be able to take care of that." Hermione spoke up. "I think I'll be able to put a hover charm on him if he isn't able to get out under his own problem. But I think Harry is right Ron. It can't hurt to have Ginny along. She can serve as a lookout for us and can create a distraction for us if we need it." It looked as thought Ron was going to open his mouth and protest some more but just then Ginny appeared in the doorway.

"Ready." She said loudly. Ginny had pulled her long red hair in a ponytail and had put on tight fitting black robes. She had her broom in her right hand and her left hand on her hip. Harry couldn't help but stare for a second.

"Uh yea were about ready." Harry finally replied. "Ginny, once we're inside were going to need you to keep lookout. I'm going to give you the invisibility cloak. If you think we are in trouble or if you see us come out with Hagrid, do something to create some commotion away from us."

"No problem." Ginny answered confidently.

"Harry we have one more problem." Ron announced. "Once we get Hagrid outside, how are we going to get him back to Hogwarts? We can't just throw him over the back of one of our brooms." Harry's face fell a little as he contemplated this issue. It was something he hadn't considered. His immediate reaction was to look towards Hermione.

"We could ride the Thestrals again." Hermione said immediately.

"No, we can't go out to the forbidden forest now." Harry answered. "We can't risk being seen." For the next few minutes the discussed different options, but none of them proved to be valid. Ron had inquired about making a portkey but Hermione reasoned that a Portkey would be much too difficult to make. She reasoned that she could do it, but it would probably take her a close to a week to perfect it. It seemed like there would be no hope at all, but then an idea popped into Harry's head.

"Hermione, if I were to grab onto Hagrid and then apparate, would he come with me?"

Hermione's face tightened up as she contemplated this question.

"In theory yes that would work." She started. "But that's very complicated magic Harry. You've only just learned to apparate and you've never done it over a long distance yet… if you want my honest opinion, I think it's very unlikely that it would work."

"Well, it's the best plan we've got." Harry reasoned. "Besides, my whole life has been unlikely." Harry smirked at his three friends and led them to the door of the common room. When he got to the door he checked his pockets and made sure he had everything. He had his wand, the Marauders Map, his invisibility cloak, and even his Weasley's Wand Catcher which he had noticed in his trunk earlier in the night and decided to bring along.

"Where are you going at this time of night?" The fat lady sung as Harry swung open the door. They all chose to ignore her as Harry pulled out the map and checked the hallways.

"It looks like McGonagall is on patrol tonight." Harry started. "She's in the dungeons right now and Filch is in his office. It looks like we have a clear path." And fortunately he was right. They made it to the statue of the humpback witch and into the secret passageway with no trouble.

Ginny held on to Harry tightly as they pursued the passage quickly in almost a run. No one spoke until they through Honeydukes and onto the streets of Hogsmeade. Harry noticed a group of people coming up the street a little ways away so he motioned for his three friends to follow him into the alley on the side of Honeydukes.

"Alright, let's mount our brooms." Harry said as he pulled out the directions that Fred and George had given him to Malfoy Manor. "Let's get up to a high altitude quickly so that we are not seen. There is a forest just on the edge of Malfoy Manor that we will land in, follow me closely." The other three nodded and they all began elevating in the air and then one by one accelerated high up into the cold winter air.

Harry gripped his broom with his left hand while he held the directions in his right. It wasn't going to be a very long trip by broom, which Harry thought was a very good thing as he saw his breath evaporate into the darkness.

After being in the air for about fifteen minutes and following Fred and George's directions, Harry knew they were close and began to descend to the ground. He landed them in a grave yard that was just in front of a vast forest.

"Are we there Harry?" Ron asked looking around.

"According to Fred and George, there is a path that goes right through those trees and leads right to the house." Harry answered. "Follow me, wands at ready." They found the path almost immediately. They entered the forest and were all very careful not to make any loud noises. They were only walking for a few minutes when Malfoy Mansion finally became visible. Harry led them up a little closer until finally veering off the path and settling in behind a group of large trees.

"Here Ginny." Harry said pulling out his invisibility cloak. "Keep this over you until we are back." She agreed and quickly pulled the cloak over herself.

"Don't worry." Ginny said with a smile in her voice. "I will make sure to create a suitable diversion."

"Good." Harry replied. "By the way Ginny, what is it that you see?"

"I just see a large clearing between all the trees." She replied.

"Just make sure you keep alert." Harry replied. "Alright let's go." Harry began creeping up through the forest to the edge with Hermione and Ron and his tail and finally stopped when the Mansion came into full view. It was very large and dark and resembled a castle more than a house. In the front was a large stone staircase that led upwards. At the top of the staircase were two large pillars with the front door in the middle. The door itself looked to be about fifty feet wide and a hundred feet high. It was engraved with serpents and swords. There were many windows but they were all either blacked out or had dark drapes in front of them because Harry couldn't see inside at all.

"Where are we going to try to enter Harry?" Hermione whispered.

"It doesn't look like they are guarding the front door." Harry replied in an equally low tone. "I guess they would have no reason to think that anyone could find them. But just to be safe, we should go through a window on the side." They nodded and Harry began to lead them up the large stone staircase. The house itself was very dark except for an eerie green light that was coming from a room that looked to be on the third floor.

When they got to the landing, Harry walked right passed the magnificent front door and led them around to the side of the mansion where there was a stretch of ground floor windows. The windows were indeed covered with dark purple drapes, but there was a small gap in the draperies where Harry could see through. Harry peered in and could see the back wall of the room which contained large bookcases filled with books.

"It looks like this is a library." Harry commented. "This will be a good place to enter."

"I can cut the glass." Hermione stepped forward. "She pulled out her wand and was about to trace it on the window when Harry stopped her."

"Don't worry about it Hermione." Harry smirked. "I have some experience with glass." Harry focused his energy at the glass and starred at it intently. He imagined it disappearing and held out his hand towards it. Then all of a sudden, it vanished.

"Amazing." Ron said.

"Come on let's go." Harry replied.

"Wait." Hermione interrupted. She took out her wand and muttering an incantation that Harry couldn't quite make out tapped herself, Ron, and Harry with her wand. Harry's hand had been on the window sill and saw it began to slowly change color and blend in with the window.

"A disillusionment charm." Hermione commented. Harry went to look at her after that comment and noticed that he could hardly see her except for her eyes. Hermione had cast the same charm that Moody had last year which made them all blend in with their surroundings. "It's the next best thing to an invisibility cloak."

"Brilliant Hermione." Harry replied. He climbed through the window with Ron and Hermione right behind and noticed that the room was indeed a library. There were a few candles burning on either side of the door that provided a little light for the room so the three Gryffindor's resisted the urge to light their wands. The room itself actually was a lot like the Hogwarts library. There were many rows of books along with tables and couches in which to sit and read. Harry elevated his wand and approached the door that led out to the hallway. He creaked it open and peered around the corner into the hallway. "It's clear."

"This place is huge Harry." Ron said before they went any further. "Where are we going to go?"

"I think our best bet is to look for stairs leading down." Harry replied. "I'm sure they have a dungeon here and I'd bet that they are holding him there." It seemed like as good an idea as any and Harry opened the door and decided to go to the right down the hallway. There were candles on the wall that lit up as they went deeper down the hall. Eventually, they came to the end of the hallway. There was a door right in front of them, two doors on their left and two doors on their right. All of the doors were closed except for the second door on their left which was creaked open just a bit. Harry thought that he could hear the echo of voices coming from there. He was about to suggest that they go in the door when he felt Ron tug on his robe.

"Harry look." Ron whispered. There was a picture hanging just to the right of the door of a wizard. The wizard in the picture looked to be a teenager and had shoulder length black hair and was zapping leaves as they fell off a large Oak tree. It appeared that the wizard was fairly preoccupied with himself and had not yet noticed them. Harry, Ron and Hermione all instinctively pressed up against the wall and blended in so that they would not be seen.

"We need to get into that room." Harry whispered into Ron's ear. He then motioned with his hand for the two to follow him. They slid along the wall and Harry was about to creak open the door when the voices that he had previously heard began to intensify. They shuffled back against the wall as the door burst open deliberately. Two men in black and dark green robes exited the door and turned left approaching the door at the end of the hall. Harry heard a quiet gasp come from behind him as they opened the door and began walking down stairs.

Harry realized quickly that the gasp came from Hermione. Last year at the Department of Mysteries, Hermione was almost killed by a curse from the same Death Eater who had just walked right in front of them. Harry was pretty sure that his name was Dolohov and he knew that he recognized the man with him. It was Macnair.

In his haste to follow them, Harry made a little too much noise and as he was approaching the door he realized that he had made his presence known to the wizard in the picture. The wizard looked like he was going to yell something out, but then locked eyes with Harry and studied him for a second. He then diverted his eyes from Harry and went back to his business of zapping leaves as they fell off the tree. Harry turned and looked at Ron who just shrugged and they continued on to the door. Harry wasn't sure why the wizard in the portrait let them pass but he was grateful.

Harry turned the knob and began descending a long spiraling staircase. There were torches every ten feet or so that were hanging on the wall to provide light. When they got to the bottom of the staircase there was a small narrow hallway that led to one metal door.

"Are you guys ready?" Harry asked. "I'm not sure what will be behind here but it probably would be best to have a curse in mind." The other two nodded an agknowledgement and Harry went to turn the knob of the door. But it was locked. Harry was sure that whoever was on the other side of the door had heard him.

"Alohomora!" Hermione yelled quickly and the door blasted open. The Death Eaters obviously hadn't heard them at the door because when it opened Harry saw their shocked faces as they stumbled to get out of chairs and pull out their wands.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron and Hermione both shouted behind him. Macnair was closest to him and both spells hit him directly. He flew back against the back concrete wall and was seemingly knocked unconscious as his wand flew about twenty feet away. In the next few seconds, a flurry of jets of red lights were flying at the trio. The three of them dove back through the door they had just come and around the corner narrowly avoiding the curses that were flying there way.

"It's Dolohov." Hermione whispered. Harry peered around the corner and noticed that Dolohov had turned over a large wooden table that had been in the center of the room. Harry noticed that there was a cell that ran the length of the room on the right side. It had iron bars and a distinct green glow to it. There was also another door that stood about fifty feet behind Dolohov.

"He's got a table in front of him for cover." Harry told his two friends as he noticed for the first time that the disillusionment charm had worn off. "But I have an idea. On my signal, you two fire curses around the corner at him."

"Alright." They both conceded

"What are you going to do Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I'm going to surprise him." Harry replied. "Now on three. One, two, three." Harry heard Hermione and Ron both shout curses as concentrated on apparating. He felt himself disappear and suddenly was standing right behind Dolohov who was now leaning around the edge of the table and firing curses in rapid succession.

"Stupefy." Harry directed as a jet of light flew out of his wand and it Dolohov square on his shoulder blades. He went down quickly and Harry could tell that he was out.

"Alright guys?" Harry called.

"Alright." Ron responded back. Hermione and Ron came cautiously through the door and approached Harry and the unconscious Death Eater. Hermione gave him a long stare before aiming her wand at him and shooting ropes out of it that quickly tied him up. Harry picked up Dolohov's wand and promptly snapped it in two.

"You can never be too careful." Harry reasoned as he turned and faced the vast cell that appeared before him.

"Do you think Hagrid's in there?" Ron asked as the three of them got as close to the cell as they could. There wasn't much light in the room except for a few candles that hung on the wall. The only other light source was the green glow that encompassed the steel bars of the cell. Harry starred through the gaps in the bars but could only see a few feet in front of him. The rest of the cell was draped in shadow.

"Any idea how to get in there?" Harry asked his two friends. Ron immediately turned towards Hermione.

"I'm not sure." She answered. "There is obviously some sort of spell protecting the bars. I've never encountered anything like it." There was a door to the cell, but it had no lock, just a handle. But the handle had the same green glow that the rest of the cell had so Harry was fairly certain that touching it would be a mistake.

"What if we all threw a Reducto charm at the same time?" Ron asked.

"It's worth a try." Harry asked as he gripped his wand. "Aim it at the door." The other two nodded and Harry signaled for them to fire.

"REDUCTO!" The three yelled. The curses all made simultaneous connection with door and sent it flying off its hinges. But their relief was short lived as the green glow still engulfed the doorway. Hermione picked up a piece of Dolohov's wand and threw it at the doorway. It made connection with the green glow and then they all had to duck as it was jettisoned right back at them.

"It's like a shield charm." Hermione reasoned. "There must be a way to get rid of it; I just need time to think."

"Unfortunately, we don't have time." Harry replied as he made a quick decision and apparated to the other side of the bars.

"Harry what are you doing?" Ron yelled.

"Someone is bound to come down here soon. We don't have a lot of time. We need to find out if Hagrid is here and get him out of here. You two keep working on eliminating this shield." Harry explained. "And if there is any trouble, run."

"We're not leaving you Harry." Hermione started. "So if you are really concerned for our safety than you better get back her quickly." Harry nodded and started maneuvering through the cell quickly. He lit up his wand which provided him enough light to see in front of him and a few feet on either side.

The cell was much bigger than he had anticipated. He walked about fifty feet into it before turning around and realizing that he couldn't even hear or see Hermione and Ron any more. The floor was a mixture of concrete and dirt and the whole cell was freezing cold. There was a long stone bench on the right side. The left side on the other hand contained nothing but endless wall. After walking carefully for another thirty or so feet Harry finally saw the back wall with a large shadow in front of it.

He quickly sprinted up to the shadow to find Hagrid shackled to the wall with the biggest chains that he had ever seen. His hands were tied together at the wrist and chained over his head, and his feet where spread apart each attached by a chain to the ground. Harry could see many marks on the chains that indicated to him that Hagrid had put up a hell of a fight. But now his head was lying limply down and Harry had to place his hand on Hagrid's chest to make sure he was still breathing.

"Hagrid." Harry yelled shaking him. "Hagrid wake up." But his old friend showed no signs of coming out of it.

"Ennervate!" Harry shouted desperately. The spell hit Hagrid in the chest and he stirred briefly, even raising his head for a moment before collapsing back into the same position. Harry thought quickly that he would need Hermione's help to get Hagrid out of here so he sprinted quickly back to the entrance.

"He's here!" Harry shouted as he stopped abruptly in front of the door that was still growing green. "He's chained up and unconscious. I wasn't able to wake him. I need your help Hermione."

"Alright Harry." Hermione answered. "But first I have an idea to get rid of this shield that I have to try. Maybe I can try ending the spell with one of the Death Eaters wands." But no sooner did she say this than did a jet of blue light strike her on the back. She collapsed to the ground. Macnair was awake and had tracked down his wand. Harry was about to fire a curse but realized that it probably couldn't break through the shield. Thankfully Ron had acted quickly and had grabbed Hermione and flung himself and her behind the table. Harry apparated back to the other side of the bars and saw Macnair aim his wand at the opposite wall and shoot a jet of green light at it.

"Stupefy." Harry shouted taking this opportunity to eliminate Macnair. He collapsed to the ground, but Harry realized that the damage was done. Macnair had activated some sort of alarm. Harry now saw a tiny statue of a serpent on the wall that was glowing brightly and red lights were flashing. Harry ran over to Ron and Hermione quickly to see if they were alright.

"Is she okay?" Harry asked.

"I'm alright." Hermione said gingerly rising back to her feet. "The spell just glanced off me."

"Alright, we need to act fast." Harry continued. "It seems that Macnair set off some sort of warning.

"We need to seal the doors." Hermione added.

"Right." Harry replied. Harry ran over to the door that they had entered through while Hermione and Ron ran over to the door on the other side of the room.

"Colloportus." Harry said. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hermione picking up Macnair's wand and approaching the cell.

"Finite Incantatem." Hermione instructed pointing the wand at the cell. The green glow grew blindingly bright before fading away completely.

"Brilliant." Harry said as he ran through the door with Ron and Hermione on his heels. When they got to him, surprisingly Ron was the first to act.

"Evanesco." He ordered, and the chains on Hagrid's feet disappeared. Ron aimed his wand at the chains on his hands next and vanished those also. Hagrid began to fall limply forward but thankfully, Hermione had cast her hover charm on him before he hit the ground.

"Let's go." Harry shouted. They flew out of the cell with Hagrid floating along and got back into the dungeon. The door they had entered through was being banged on and Harry could tell that it was close to being penetrated. So he opted for the other door which for now had no sound coming from it.

"Alohomora." He shouted and the door swung open. It contained a similar spiral staircase as the other door leading upwards. Harry began manipulating the steps with Ron right behind him. The floating body of Hagrid was behind him and Hermione was bringing up the rear. Harry could tell that Hermione was having a tough time maneuvering Hagrid's large body up a spiraling staircase.

"Alright there Hermione?" Harry called back when he reached the landing at the top of the stairs.

"Alright." She yelled back.

Harry opened the door and quickly shouted "Stupefy." However, there was no one there so the curse merely disappeared down the hallway. Harry noticed that they were in the same hallway that they had originally been in. He saw the familiar picture of the wizard that he had encountered earlier and saw that he was pointing grimly down the stairs and urging him to get out quickly. Harry turned around and saw Hagrid's huge body hovering through the doorway with Hermione right behind it.

"Get to the library!" Harry yelled urging Ron and Hermione to go ahead of him. They were running now and it was quite a site to see a half-giants body whipping through the hallway. Harry was now bringing up the rear and was continuously checking behind them to make sure that no one was coming behind them. Harry thought they were going to make it to the library undetected until he heard a loud familiar shrill voice echoing through the hallway.

"TRAITORS, FILTHY MOODBLOOD's, FREAKS." Squawked a portrait of Sirius' Mother that was hanging on the wall across from the library. The portrait was quite a bit smaller than the one that had hung at Grimmauld Place, yet her scream was just as vivid.

Ron ran full speed into the door which led to the library and smashed it right down he entered the room in front of Hermione and the body of Hagrid. Harry continued to pear down both ends of the hallway to make sure no one was coming while Hermione sent out a screaming curse that shattered all the windows the length of the library. Ron jumped through the window and Harry ran to join them to help get Hagrid's massive frame through when he heard a sickening voice come up behind him.

"So little Harry came to save his friend the giant freak." Oozed the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry did the first thing that came to his mind and reached into his pocket for the rock that Lupin warned he should always keep with him.

"Roccia Protecto!" He shouted as he tossed the rock in front of him. It transformed into a large wall, blocking Harry and his friends from the Death Eater.

"Hurry up, get out of here." Harry prodded Hermione. They had secured Hagrid outside and then Hermione jumped out the window.

"Harry let's go." She said turning back to him.

"I'll hold her off." Harry explained. "Go now." Hermione normally wouldn't have listened, but the ferocity in Harry's voice caused her to concede. Harry was contemplating what to do next when suddenly the rock shield in front of him was hit and collapsed into a million pieces onto the floor.

"I've been waiting for this since last year." She snarled as she twirled her wand between her fingers. Just then Macnair and Dolohov appeared in the doorway behind her looking equally as menacing. "I wish I could kill you myself right now, but my master's orders are to take you alive."

"No matter." Harry replied smugly. "I don't plan on letting you take me anywhere." He knew at this moment that he had to try anything to buy himself time until he could think of a way out of this.

"You're arrogant just like my dear cousin." She responded. "And you're going to meet the same end as him." Harry started to feel the anger rise inside him at the mention of Sirius. He felt a surge of energy rush through him and suddenly the candles above the door flew off the wall and struck Dolohov and Macnair. Both their robes caught on fire and this gave Harry the distraction he needed. He quickly pulled out his Weasley's Wand Catcher and aimed it at Bellatrix. He pushed the button and then turned to jump out the window. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that he wand had flown from her hand for a second but then had gone right back to her.

Harry knew that she would be right on his tail so he just kept running as fast as he could. He made it to the front door and began flying down the stone steps two at a time. He was so distracted by his desire to get away that he barely noticed that the left half of Malfoy Manor was on fire. With the flames rippling and the heat at his back, Harry made it to the ground. He started a mad dash for the woods but quickly stopped in his tracks when he saw Ginny pull of the invisibility cloak and aim a curse right for him. Before he knew it he felt a surge go through his body and the world went black.

Author's note: Before anyone says it, I know I am evil. I didn't want to end this chapter on such a big cliffy but the chapter was already long enough and if I gave an explanation for what just happened than the chapter would have gone on forever. Anyways I hope everyone isn't too mad. Don't worry the next chapter with all the explanations including the fate of Hagrid will be coming soon. I wonder if anyone can figure out why the wizard in the painting didn't alert the Death Eaters that Harry was there. Guesses? Also, I thought people might wonder why there weren't more Death Eaters present. My answer is that the Death Eaters are very much spread out all over Britain doing Voldemort's work. Thankfully, the only people at Malfoy Manor that night were Dolohov, Macnair, the elder Goyle, and Mrs. Malfoy. Bellatrix was elsewhere but was alerted and got there quickly. I know you didn't see Goyle or Mrs. Malfoy but you will find out later that they were there. Anyways I hope this answers some questions. Keep reading and reviewing. And just to give you a little hint about the next chapter, it will begin in the hospital wing of Hogwarts.