Draco POV

Previously…

"To die," she whispers. Before anyone can interrupt, she continues. "Harry Potter is a horcrux that needs to be killed by Voldemort so that Voldemort can be killed. I was assigned to protect his body while the horcrux in him is dying…I was assigned to fight Voldemort while Harry can't." Her eyes meet mine again and I can't hear anything. I can't even hear anyone breathing as if everyone is holding their breath for my response, but all I keep hearing are her words over and over again.

I was assigned to fight Voldemort.

My entire mind is buzzing with hundreds of thoughts a second, but the only thing I could wrap my head around was someone tasked my doe with fighting Voldemort. The most dangerous dark wizard in history. The same wizard that has to kill Harry Potter who is supposedly our only hope to Voldemort not winning this war.

"No," I croak out and stare straight into her hesitant eyes. When I see confusion cloud them, I continue. "No, you need to get a different task. You can't fight Voldemort! He'll kill you just like he's apparently going to kill Potter!" She looks at me sadly and her eyes move to my mother when she starts speaking behind me, her hand squeezing my shoulder in a comforting manner.

"You don't have to fight him long though, do you? You said Harry has a horcrux in him? Does that mean he will wake up?" I can see Briar glance over her shoulder to look at Snape who is just standing with an angry mask set on his face. Looking back to my mother, Briar starts to explain.

"I think I should start from the beginning?" My mother must nod her head because Briar returns the gesture.

"Narcissa, you may want to take a seat," Severus drones from behind Briar. Moments later, my mother is next to me and holding my cold hand in hers. I can still barely process what's happening, but her hand in mine at least grounds me enough to focus on what Briar starts saying.

"During second year, I saved Ginny Weasley by bringing a dream I had to Dumbledore's attention. It was later revealed that the dream I had wasn't just a dream, but a vision. I'm a seer, or at least, I have seer blood in my family history and have visions occasionally. Most of the time, they come to me as dreams, but with Severus' help, I have been able to trigger them if I need to. It doesn't always work as it's not an exact science, but I've gotten pretty good at it," she pauses and lets that set in. Glancing at, what I'm sure is an emotionless mask on my face, she goes to continue before Snape interrupts.

"Ms. Griffin is one of the most skilled seers I've trained in all of my years at Hogwarts for her age. She proceeds even some of Professor Trelawney's abilities," Snape interjects. I can see Briar's cheeks blush at the compliment.

"One night I had a vision of a forest," she whispers and takes a deep breath. "Harry was laying on the ground and wasn't moving. As the vision progressed, I saw Voldemort casting a killing curse as well as a woman saying "Dead" over Harry's body. I immediately rushed to Dumbledore's office and interrupted a meeting between him and Snape." She turns to look at Snape to mumble a quick "Sorry about that, again," to which Snape just gives her a small nod of his head. Turning to me and my mother, she seems to be holding back as she stares at my mother.

"Who was the woman that pronounced him dead?" My mother's voice floats from beside me in her tentative question.

"You, Narcissa," Snape says from behind Briar. I look to Briar in shock to confirm and see her nod. Turning in my seat to face mother, I see her face is pale and is unable to speak as her mouth opens and closes multiple times without any words being audible.

"Me? But why…" She trails off unable to say anything.

"We don't know, Narcissa, but it was you in my vision. After this vision, I spoke with Dumbledore and Snape and I was given my task by Dumbledore. The night Harry survived, a piece of Voldemort was embedded into his soul, therefore, creating a horcrux. Dumbledore has known from second year that Harry will have to die so Voldemort can be defeated. He made it my task to fight Voldemort, should Harry be unable to fight him."

"So, Potter dies and you're responsible for killing Voldemort?" It's the first words I've said since I blew up over her being killed by Voldemort. Briar looks at me uncertain of her next words.

"I don't know," Briar whispers. I raise my eyebrow in question, but it's Snape who fills in the blanks.

"While Ms. Griffin has tried many times to see past that fate to see if young Mr. Potter lives after the horcrux dies or not; she has been unsuccessful. It's for that reason I have been training her, should she need to take the Dark Lord down instead of Mr. Potter. Dumbledore is unsure of what is in Mr. Potter's future once the Dark Lord kills the horcrux inside of him." All of the information swirls around in my head for what feels like forever, but in reality, it's only a few seconds before I find myself nodding my head in understanding. I let out a humorless chuckle.

"So, you're telling me that you don't know if she has to fight the Dark Lord instead of Potter or not? You're telling me that after he kills Potter, that it's her turn to die? That sounds like a great task," I sneer in Snape's direction. I can feel my mother squeezing my hand in a warning to control my temper, but this was not happening. I refuse to let Potter get her killed for good this time.

"Draco," my mother whispers cautiously and I turn to look at her.

"NO, mother! I'm not letting Potter get her killed! She survived the first time because of the connection or however that worked, but I'm not taking a chance on it happening ever again!" My mother looks at me sympathetically and squeezes my hand again in comfort, but there's very little chance of me calming down right now.

"I understand that, Draco, but it isn't your choice," she whispers and I know she's right. I may understand she's right, but that doesn't mean I have to like Briar putting her life in danger for Potter again. I snap my eyes to Briar's and I can feel the anger dissipate a little at her cautious look.

We just solved our first fight. Please don't start another, my dragon.

Her pleading in my head sounds sad and nervous and it sucks the rest of my anger from my body. All that's left is my agitation towards Potter's general existence and the sadness that she could die yet again. There's nothing I can do to stop that except stay by her side whenever possible. I snap my eyes to Snape and fire my next question towards him.

"What are you doing to keep her safe?" From my peripheral, I see Briar look over her shoulder towards Snape as well.

"I'm training her, Draco," he repeats from his information earlier. I shake my head.

"That's not good enough. If she has to go against the Dark Lord, training might not be enough. She needs to have a protector as well," I assert.

"I suppose you have someone in mind already, Draco?" I can hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"Yes. Make me her protector," I state. My mother gasps from my side and I can see Briar's head whip towards me in horror.

"Draco, no. You…" Briar's refusal is cut off by Snape speaking over her.

"No offense, Mr. Malfoy, but you're not trained to be anyone's protector. I highly doubt you'll have time to train with your new task from the Dark Lord."

"I agreed to help Draco with his task," Briar whispers, but doesn't say anything else. Snape's eyes pin with a look of disapproval, but doesn't have the chance to say anything before my mother butts in.

"Draco, being a protector is a lot more than training. While I think it's great that you want to try and protect Briar, I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into." I look to my mother with confusion clearly on my face.

"I have to protect her…What else is there that I need to learn other than some training? She's safer if I'm with her," I say with an air of arrogance in my voice.

"Dray, even with my abilities, training broke me down mentally, emotionally, and physically. You saw how exhausted I was whenever we met after my sessions. Training is a lot more intense than just doing some exercises and dueling practice," Briar breathes uncomfortably and I'm reminded of something she said months ago in the Room of Requirement.

"Snape," she says tiredly. Peering up at her face, I see she has a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. "He has been teaching me how to transfer my healing abilities to others. We can't get around the side effect of me feeling the pain though so he has been helping me…tolerate pain," she whispers. She must see the question in my eyes, but she shakes her head and says "Don't ask."

"Ms. Griffin is right. Besides, I have someone in mind to be her protector and he's already done with training. While she was in her coma, he was training so request denied, Mr. Malfoy," Snape drawls.

"He?" I can't help the redness that greets my cheeks when I clench my fist and can feel my jealousy rise.

"His identity is to be a secret until further notice," Snape says, but I can see him glance at Briar. She knows who it is. "Since Bellatrix is not a threat and you can't be Briar's protector since you have to go back to school, I must be going." He turns to walk towards the entrance to my father's study, but he doesn't get far before I stop him.

"Snape, what do you mean I have to go back to school? What does that have to do with anything?!" He looks at me over his shoulder, glances at Briar, and proceeds to walk to the floo and leave without even answering me.

"I'm not returning to Hogwarts, Draco," Briar whispers from behind me. I whip around and stare at her with wide eyes.

"Honey, Briar needs people to believe she's dead. She can't return to Hogwarts," my mother finishes Briar's thought process. I look to Briar and she nods her head in agreement.

"That's part of why you can't be my protector, love," she says affectionately. I stare at her and let everything sink in. After making such a fuss about how Briar will be safer with me, I just realized my worst nightmare had come true.

I was going to Hogwarts without her for my Sixth Year.