Lyrics by Rascal Flatts
Draco's Confession
Draco was the first to drop into his room followed closely by Ginny, Harry and then Ron. They rested their broomsticks against Draco's dark swooping curtains, and ran their hands through their wind-blown hair.
"Hurry, this way," Draco said as he deposited his outer dress robe onto his leather couch. Harry was right behind him while Ginny was reaching under her dress for her wand, but Ron was staring in awe at Draco's room.
"This is gargantuan," he whispered to Ginny.
"Yes Ronald, we know," Ginny chided. "Now come on! We have to get to Hermione!"
"This would be the time to shut up," Draco hissed to the Weasleys a little more forcefully than he meant to, "we wouldn't want anyone hearing us."
They nodded but Draco didn't miss the eye roll from the older boy.
Draco whispered a command under his breath, and soon a soft i pop /i broke the silence in the room.
Ron jumped a mile when Tish appeared by his side, and Ginny shushed him urgently.
"Yes Master Draco?" Tish asked.
"I need you to check the hallway right outside my room, and come back and tell me if anyone is out there," Draco said in hushed tones.
Tish nodded, and disappeared again.
Draco looked back at the three, and explained to them that Death Eaters were probably lurking in the hallways. After all, they had only taken Hermione in hopes of catching Harry Potter, so Draco was sure that they were patrolling.
Moments later, Tish appeared again. "Master there is one man outside your door."
Harry tore his eyes away from the house elf towards Draco. "Now what?" he asked.
"Tish, listen to me," Draco said, "I need you to get him away from the door. Go further down the corridor and knock something over so that he leaves this part of the wing, can you do that?"
Tish was nodding her little head throughout Draco's speech, and went to do as she was told.
"I left my invisibility cloak in the tunnel to the East Wing Den, we need to get that so that when you save Hermione, you can get back to my room without being noticed," he explained. "I know my way around well enough to go unnoticed."
"But won't they see the door opening even if we are invisible?" Ginny asked.
"I leave Tish with you so that she can lure them away like she is doing now," Draco replied.
They all nodded, and a few minutes passed before Tish returned. "You must hurry, Tish saw another man with the one that was outside Master's room!"
"Are they gone?"
Tish nodded.
Draco opened his door and when he saw no one, he motioned for Harry, Ron, and Ginny to follow. They sprinted after Draco to the West Wing Den and Draco slipped into the passageway.
"Accio Invisibility Cloak!"
The emerald cloak came sailing their way, and Draco handed it to Harry.
"Follow me, I'll take you to the dungeons," Draco whispered as he opened the door. The coast was clear, and Harry had thrown the cloak around himself, Ginny, and Ron.
They crept down the hall and Draco suddenly stopped at a door on their right. They entered a brightly lit room, and after Draco made sure it was empty, he walked over to a large portrait that looked like a Malfoy family tree of sorts.
"Now this is just plain creepy, Malfoy," Harry said finally as the three of them stared at the generations of Malfoy men. Every single one of them had the same silvery blonde hair and the trademark smirk.
Draco ignored the comment, but whispered a password that caused the portrait to slowly transform into a great black door while Harry took the cloak off.
Ginny studied the door. It had no handles, no locks…nothing. It looked as if it was made of black stainless steal, and when she put her hand against it, she found it to be colder than she had anticipated. She shivered, and shrank towards Harry who was waiting for Draco to continue.
After a few more whispered passwords, they watched as the door swung opened slowly in front of them. Harry, Ron, and Ginny stepped through, and they each muttered "Lumos," when there appeared to be no light in the tunnel.
Draco called for Tish once more, and ordered her to stay in the room until the three of them returned. "You need to distract the men in the hallway again so that they can get back to my room, do you understand?"
Tish nodded, and looked at Harry, Ron, and Ginny.
"Okay, listen carefully," Draco said to Harry. "Go straight down this path, and when you get to the fork take the left passageway. The right will lead you outside, the left will take you to the cages," he said sternly.
"Cages?" Ron squeaked, "Blimey, it's hard enough to believe you actually have a dungeon under your bloody mansion, but now you're telling us she's locked behind bars!"
Draco's face fell, "Just hurry, okay? I'll go and stall for as long as I can. If she isn't down there—"
"Lets just hope she still is," Ginny said, cutting him off. With that, Draco turned and began to shut the steal door behind him.
"Wait!" Harry called to him before he disappeared. "The door has no handles, how do we get back out? You had to say a password," Harry said.
Draco seemed to have forgotten this and motioned for Harry to come closer. "Servo amicitia propinquus…Servo hostilis propinquus," Draco whispered to him.
"What does that mean?" Ron asked from behind them.
"Never you mind, now get going," he nodded to the red heads. He glanced back at Harry, "Can you remember that Potter?" Draco asked as he had one foot in the tunnel, one in the brightly lit room.
"Say it once more," Harry said.
"Servo amicitia propinquus…Servo hostilis propinquus, now go!"
center /center
Hermione was slouched against the corner, sitting as still as she possibly could. She had remembered that her wand was in her hair, but there was no way she could get it since her hands were still tightly bound. After struggling for what felt like hours, she hadn't been able to shrug them off with only one arm's strength. She knew she'd pass out from the pain of her broken arm if she kept moving it around as she was already light headed from the loss of blood.
"Live bait," she whispered aloud to herself. That is what she was to the Death Eaters…the bate to get to Harry Potter. She kept replaying the conversation she'd had with Draco on the first night of school. He'd told her everything he'd heard from their meeting, and now his father was making sure that the plan prevailed.
Thoughts of what they would do to her zoomed through her mind as she rested her head against the cold wall, which caused goose bumps to rise over her barely covered skin. If the spell had worn off of Ginny, surely she would have gone straight to Harry and Ron. What if they were going to try and rescue her? She had told them all about the Death Eaters plans of kidnapping her to get to Harry…would Harry risk his life to save her?
Part of her knew that they would come and rescue her from the dungeon she was trapped in, while another logical part of her brain hoped that Harry would keep himself safe.
And what about Draco? Did he even notice she was gone?
She sighed uncomfortably, and was taking all the control she had to prevent her teeth from chattering together, for the simple vibrations caused an agonizing prickly feeling in her head.
Both of her eyes were now opened, staring at the ceiling in what scarce light was in this place. She wondered how long she had been down there, when suddenly a tiny light shone from the ceiling…and voices. She heard faint voices above….
"HELP! HELP!" she yelled, hoping someone would hear her. She immediately shut her mouth when she realized what she was doing. Whomever the voice belonged to, helping her was probably the last thing they'd ever do. She had been captured by Death Eaters. They were ruthless, soulless beings who cared about no one but themselves.
It seemed that they hadn't heard her, for no one appeared at her cell to shut her up.
"He has been contacted," a man said.
Hermione strained her ears to listen, and tilted her head a bit in the direction from which the voices came from.
"Good work, it seems that the plan has finally been a success," Lucius boasted.
"Yes, no thanks to your worthless son," the man said.
Hermione realized that Lucius and whomever he was talking to were, in fact, almost directly above her.
"Draco will be punished accordingly," Lucius shot back.
Hermione's heart sped up at the mention of Draco. All she wanted to do was run into his arms and go back to Hogwarts, back to the dance, back to their room…anywhere but here. She winced as her head gave a particularly nasty throb.
"Hello, father," Draco said quite suddenly.
Hermione's head snapped up so quickly that she thought she sprained a neck muscle. Pain forgotten, she scuttled to the other side of the cell to get as close to his voice as possible.
"Care if I join you?" Draco drawled again.
She wanted to scream to him, "Draco! I'm down here!" but knew because of earlier, that he couldn't hear her.
Draco…he was here. He was here to save her.
Lucius and Alecto looked up to find Draco leaning against the threshold of the East Wing Den.
A crooked unpleased look crossed Lucius' face as he strode towards his son. "And to what, do we owe this—unexpected visit?"
Draco stared at his father, unblinkingly. Using his peripheral vision, he saw that there were only two other men in the room with him. The rest were probably out watching the hallways. Minutes seemed to pass before Draco spoke.
"Tell me where she is."
"In the dungeons, of course," Lucius said, not missing a beat. "But something tells me you already knew that," he whispered with an easy air.
Draco glanced to the ground, a mistake on his part for Lucius let out an evil chuckle of victory.
"So what now Draco? What are you doing here? Did you come to try and save the Mudblood since you couldn't do that last time?" Lucius taunted. When the other men sensed a fight brewing, they dismissed themselves. Lucius could handle his own son.
Draco was clenching his teeth down so hard that he thought he might break his jaw. He had to endure his father's cruelty and provoke him long enough so that Potter and the Weasley's could get to Hermione, and get her far away. Something told him that he might not last very long.
"I know all about your escapades, Draco! Your old whore of a girlfriend wrote to me to ask for the job that you neglected to take," Lucius snarled, pleased when he finally got Draco to look up from the ground.
"What did you say?" Draco demanded.
"Apparently, you left my letter at the table in your dining hall, and she took it, read it, and replied!"
Draco had a blank stare on his face. Suddenly it dawned on him that he had gotten a letter from his father, but he had never read it.
"Parkinson explained, in detail, your betrayal. She said you've been screwing around with that filthy Mudblood!"
Every time Lucius said that word, Draco could feel the temperature in his body rising. He locked eyes with his father. "So what if I am? Who the fuck are you to tell me how to live my own fucking life?" he said coolly. This got his father going.
"I AM YOUR FATHER, LIKE IT OR NOT! MY BLOOD RUNS THROUGH YOUR VEINS, AND I WILL NOT HAVE YOU SPOIL THE MALFOY NAME BY FUCKING A MUDBLOOD!"
"Stop calling her that," Draco hissed dangerously.
"SHE IS A MUDBLOOD DRACO, A DIRTY WORTHLESS MUDBLOOD! THERE IS NOT OTHER WORD FOR HER KIND!"
"STOP CALLING HER THAT!"
"WHY! WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH—"
"BECAUSE I LOVE HER!" Draco screamed, completely cutting his father off.
Lucius' mouth had dropped opened in shock.
Draco's blood pumped rapidly as he repeated his confession, "I love her."
"I love her."
Hermione blinked her good eye over and over in disbelief.
He loved her. He had said it. Twice.
"He loves me," she whispered to herself. Chill bumps danced throughout her body and her heart seemed to raise high in her chest. Now more than anything, she wanted to run into his familiar arms and never let go….
"REDUCTO!" Harry called from the tunnel as Hermione's cell burst apart.
"Oh Merlin, Hermione! Are you okay?" Ginny cried as she ran to Hermione. Ron and Harry were right behind her.
Hermione was overwhelmed with grief, fear, pain, love...She wanted to scream in relief that they had come to save her. She was so happy to see them…and so happy that Draco loved her that she simply collapsed in Ginny's arms.
"It's okay Hermione, we're here! We are going to take you home!" Ginny said with tears streaming down her cheeks when she saw Hermione's state.
Expecting a reply, Ginny pulled away to look at her, but Hermione's eyes were closed.
"Hermione? Oh no, Harry, Ron! She's unconscious!" Ginny cried.
"She's still breathing," Ron assured his sister when he knelt down beside them.
"C'mon, we need to get out of here," Harry said. "Locomotor," he said, pointing his wand at Hermione's limp body.
Ginny gasped as they saw Hermione's head wound from the light of their wands. Her dress was now a red rag, and her arms were severely bruised.
"Hey, isn't that Lucius' voice?" Ron asked as they began to travel down the tunnel.
Ginny strained her ears, "You're right," she said. "And that was Draco's voice."
"That means we need to hurry, Malfoy can't distract his father for long," Harry called from the front. Hermione's body was floating peacefully behind him with Ron and Ginny behind to make sure she didn't hit anything.
In what seemed like minutes, Harry reached the steal door. He had been chanting the password over and over in his head to make sure that he didn't forget it.
"Servo amicitia propinquus…Servo hostilis propinquus," Harry said confidently. The door swung opened, and the same brightly lit room appeared before their eyes.
"Almost there," Harry whispered to Ron and Ginny as they quietly walked into the room. "Hello," he said to the elf when it stood up straight at their entrance. "Can you check the corridor?" Harry asked the house elf.
She quickly popped out of sight.
"If Malfoy's house elf clears the hall, why bother with the cloak?" Ron asked as Harry held it out.
"To be safe," Harry said.
"But what about Hermione?" Ginny asked as she gestured to Hermione's floating body.
"I'll carry her," Ron volunteered. Harry nodded, and then ended the spell. Ron picked her up from the floor, cradling her head in his hands.
"Sirs and Misses, the men are gone!" Tish said as she reappeared.
"Thank you," Harry whispered as they threw the cloak around themselves and stepped out into the hallway.
They began walking but hadn't taken ten steps before they heard voices in the hallway.
"Shit!" Ginny cursed as she grabbed Harry's arm in fear. They stopped dead on the spot, holding their breaths as the voices grew nearer.
"What the hell the happened?" a man said, rounding a corner.
"I have no idea, there was a loud crash. I ran as fast as I could to the noise but the hall was completely empty!"
"What do you think caused it?"
"I have no bloody idea, but I'll bet my soul it wasn't the fucking wind," the man said cruelly as his beady eyes darted back and forth. "That is the second time it's happened in the past hour, something's going on here…."
Right then, Hermione opened her eyes. "What's going on?" she asked weakly as she was two inches from Ron's face.
"Did you hear that?" the man asked. They began to walk towards them.
Ron shook his head violently at Hermione and she realized that she needed to be quiet.
"Yea, I heard it," the other man replied. "A voice."
"Should we go get Lucius?"
"Yes, you go and get him, I'll stay here," he said. The other man apparated immediately.
Harry's heart was beating so fast that he thought for sure that the men would hear them. Ginny's grip on his arm was bruising his flesh, and his hand flew up to rest on hers. She lightened the grip considerably, and they caught each other's eyes in horror as the remaining man was now walking right towards them.
Ginny could tell that the man was going to run into them if he didn't change his path, so she quickly got her wand and in moments, had thrown off the cloak and stunned the man before he could react.
"RUN!" Harry hissed urgently as he grabbed the cloak and then Ginny's hand and sprinted down the hall to Malfoy's room.
Ron ran as fast as he could with Hermione and she couldn't stop the cry of pain that escaped her mouth as his hands were wrapped around her back and pressing into her injured arm.
Ginny shut Malfoy's door as quietly as possible as they hurried out of the hallway and into his room.
Hermione was crying out as Ron set her down on the couch. He tore at her bindings and pulled them off of her raw wrists.
"Are you alright?" Ron asked as he looked up at her.
Tears were pouring from her eyes as she nodded. She looked down to find Draco's dress robes from the ball on the couch next to her, and she let her good hand lightly roam over the material.
"Hurry, we've got to get the hell out of here," Harry said as he placed the invisibility cloak on the sofa.
Ginny was already mounting her broom when she spoke. "Harry, you should carry her since you have the most powerful broom."
"Okay," he said softly and helped Hermione up off the couch. He sat down on his broom, and Ron helped her straddle it in front of Harry.
"My arm," she whispered. "I think it's broken, I don't think I'll be able to hold on."
"Turn her around," Harry suggested, and Ron helped her turn her body around so that her thighs overlapped Harry's. She felt more secure this way, and threw her left arm around his upper body while cradling her right arm between their bodies.
Harry pushed off the ground, one hand firmly around Hermione's back, the other gripping his Firebolt. He followed Ginny out the window with Ron close behind, and they flew safely away from the Malfoy Manor, away from the Death Eaters, and away from Voldemort.
"Thank you," she whispered into Harry's ear. "You saved me," she cried.
Harry nodded. His stomach gave a small turn when he realized that Malfoy was still in danger, but then again, he did say that he knew what he was doing. All Harry could do now, was hope that Malfoy could get away unscathed.
"Malfoy—he's still back there," Harry said suddenly to Hermione. "He is the reason we were able to save you…" A few moments of silence hung in the air before he could continue, "He cares about you," was all he could say.
Her heart fluttered at his name, and despite all the pain she was in, she smiled. "I know he cares about me," she whispered. "In fact," she thought, "he loves me."
