Generations: Tales of the last stand

Part VIII

Lucius Malfoy had found them. Each and every child stared at the hulking figure of a man in varying states of surprise and horror. Leshia looked arguably the worst for wear and she spun on the boy who still held her shoulders in his hands with a look of confused outrage.

"You!" she exclaimed sounding murderous. "You're the one that's been helping him?" Julius furrowed his dark brow in complete confusion and shook his head.

"I don't know who that man is," he said firmly.

"But you led him here!" Leshia complained sounding terrified, out of the corner of her eye she could see her grandfather still standing still by the pile of fallen rubble unmoving, as though waiting patiently for his moment. He knew the children had nowhere else to go.

"No I didn't Malfoy," Julius complained and he looked briefly to Leshia's grandfather with an expression of bold courage on his face. "Who is he?"

"Don't pretend you don't know!" Rachel suddenly cut in and she rushed to Leshia's side, extricating her friend from the Slytherin's grasp. "Come on Leesh, we'll all fight him together, he can't…"

"Stupefy!"

XXX

Draco was having a bad day. Having spent the morning huddled in a poky little room with the very same do-gooders he'd helped to bring Voldemort down with was trying his patience. He could recognise that these people, these Order of the Phoenix, had done many brave things during the Great War, but he couldn't abide with their yapping. None of them could ever agree on anything, and now time was of the utmost importance; his father was close and if they were to catch him before he got away or worse, before he got to Leshia, then they were going to have to act fast.

Over the years Draco had come to regret his decision to let his father go. In retrospect he looked on his actions as nothing more than cowardice and it shamed him to think he had placed his daughter's safety in danger – and even worse, placed the whole of the wizarding community in danger – due to his inability to finish what he started. He should have killed Lucius Malfoy when he had the chance: fourteen years ago in that smoggy wood during the Battle of the Ages.

"Look this is ridiculous," the young man suddenly exclaimed and everyone temporarily stopped bickering to look at him in surprise. "Enough talk! Why aren't we out there looking for him? We know he's close! We know what he's after."

"Draco," Hermione said softly, attempting to pacify her husband and dissipate the temper she could see rising in him. "It's pointless to wander aimlessly through the grounds hoping we'll catch sight of him. If he's avoided being found so far, he's not about to let himself be caught now is he?" Draco gave his wife a hard look.

"It's better than sitting around arguing. I want to be doing something!"

"Hermione is right Draco," Dumbledore explained quietly and he seemed grave. None of the others could know, except perhaps those closest to the headmaster, how much the old man hated himself at this moment in time. He too felt a failure. How had he not felt nor realised this approaching menace? How had he not sensed it in young Leshia those many times he had encountered her since this trauma began? "Lucius will not be caught through sheer looking power alone, not if he has evaded us all these many months. We must discover who has been aiding him. He has not been acting alone…" There was a frantic knocking at the door and moments later the pretty face of Professor Ramble peered round the door, however, at this moment in time her features were contorted in annoyance and she didn't seem so attractive as she once was.

"I'm sorry headmaster," the young woman uttered and she seemed a little surprised and slightly afraid by the sheer amount of people stuffed into the tiny room. "But I'm looking for Draco." Hermione narrowed her eyes furiously at the woman by the door, at the same time that Draco cleared his voice, indicating his location in the throng of people.

"Something the matter?" he asked sounding putout, as though he didn't enjoy this meeting being disturbed.

"Well actually it's about Leshia," the Ramble explained and at this Hermione mimicked her husband by clearing her own throat. What, did she not qualify to be consulted when something concerned their daughter?

"What about her?" Draco asked seriously.

"She was supposed to show up for detention an hour ago," the young woman explained. The room instantly broke out into a mass of whispers, in which only Hermione and Draco looked to each other in terrified silence.

"Silence," Dumbledore ordered gently and the esteemed members of the order suddenly fell quiet at his command. "Hermione, Draco? Have you seen your daughter today?"

"Only over breakfast," Hermione replied, glancing over to the woman at the door with narrowed eyes. By her side Draco had hunched over his hands, seemingly chewing on his knuckle in worried thought.

"Has anybody else seen her today?" Dumbledore enquired and those who lived at the school shook their heads. For a moment Dumbledore furrowed his brow in thought, before he looked up at Harry, who had been sat keeping mainly to himself in the corner, not wishing to get caught up in the bickering the same as Draco. "Do you still have the map Harry?" For a moment the raven-haired man looked perplexed, but then he realised what old Albus Dumbledore was referring to.

"No," he replied sounding surprised. "I gave it to Michael when he started school."

"Quickly, you must go and find him, there is little time." Harry and Ginny climbed to their feet and rushed out of the room in search of their son.

"Well, I might just go…" Ramble began apologetically, evidently a little embarrassed that she had burst in on such a strange and clearly important meeting.

"No, stay please, we could do with your help!" At his wife's side Draco turned and stared at Hermione in surprise. Why was she willingly offering the hand of friendship to the woman she had blatantly hated all the way throughout the year?

"My help?" the woman at the door repeated unsurely. "I doubt I would be able to help with anything…"

"No please, Hermione is right," Albus Dumbledore suddenly exclaimed and he stared the young woman down until she had taken a seat close to the door. As soon as she had made herself comfortable the venerable old man turned his piercing eyes on Hermione, before he ever so subtly winked.

XXX

"Ennervate." Julius Black's eyes suddenly shot open to find the somewhat concerned and yet entirely disgusted faced of Damian Allseyer bearing down on him. "I ought to skin you alive for siding with the dirty blood traitors," the pointy-faced boy hissed evilly.

"What are you talking about?" Black demanded as he sat up and rubbed the side of his head, which had taken a blow when he fell to the floor unconscious.

"I'm talking about you helping that filthy Malfoy get back at me." Although his words spoke of continuing hostility towards Leshia, Allseyer's humble expression spoke of different matters. It would seem that Leshia's trick had worked; for now, Allseyer would shelve his hatred for her for when he might better be able to do something about it.

"I didn't help them," Black countered sounding so forceful that Allseyer furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Then what are you doing down here?"

"Saving your skin you idiot," Black hissed angrily and he looked about at the unconscious bodies of Rachel and Katie. "Where's Malfoy?"

"Don't know, don't care!" Allseyer said simply and he climbed to his feet, all set on making his way back through the tunnels towards the school.

"He's taken her," Black exclaimed in surprise and he turned worriedly towards the rubble in the tunnel where the tall imposing figure of Lucius Malfoy had stood not so long ago. "Help me with these two!" Julius Black suddenly called to his fellow Slytherin and he dropped to his knees beside Rachel, taking out his own wand to bring her back to consciousness.

"What are you doing? Don't help them!" Allseyer complained and he rushed back, pulling Black's arm away from Rachel's side. "They're filthy blood traitors, we should leave them down here to rot."

"I'm not leaving anyone down here," Black countered so darkly and forcefully that Allseyer backed off, giving the boy a disgusted look.

"You're no better than them," the pointy-faced boy hissed and he started storming off. Black glared after him for a moment, his pale piercing eyes narrowed in hatred, before he turned back on Rachel and easily brought her round from her unconsciousness. The boy quickly woke Katie before Rachel had even managed to open her eyes fully.

"Leshia!" Rachel gasped once she'd sat up and taken in her surroundings.

"She's not here," Black told her as he climbed to his feet and placed his wand in his back pocket.

"Where is she?" Katie asked shakily and she scrambled to her cousin's side for comfort and protection. The redhead was glaring furiously at the back of Julius Black's head.

"I think that man took her…ow!" The boy rounded on the girls furiously, his hand clasping the back of his head, which had just been struck by a lobbed rock. Rachel, the one responsible for all the rock throwing, had already picked up another sharp stone and sent it flying towards the boy. "Stop it!"

"You betrayed us!" Rachel screamed furiously and within seconds she was on her feet, throwing another rock straight at Julius Black's head, which he managed to fend off with his arm.

"I did no such thing…"

"You led him down here! You bastard! I'll kill you…"

"No I didn't!" Black yelled back furiously. "He must have followed me the same way I followed you."

"Why would he follow you unless you were leading him to her huh?" Rachel demanded and she picked up another rock and let it fly.

"I don't know! Stop throwing bloody rocks at me. You're not helping matters! We have to get back to the castle and warn Professor Malfoy that she's been taken, now come on." Rachel, who had picked up another rock looked down at it tearfully.

"Rachel he's right," Katie said softly and she took the rock from her cousin's hand. "Let them deal with him. We have to tell!" With tears streaming down her cheeks Rachel nodded pathetically and allowed herself to be led back through the tunnels. As they ran past Allseyer, he quickly joined them, loathe to be left down in the tunnels on his own. The children soon reached the pipes they had slid down in order to reach these subterranean tunnels, and whereas the two boys stopped running, Rachel and Katie climbed into one of the tunnels. They promptly disappeared. The boys struggled to follow them and soon they too were enjoying the strange sensation of being sucked up the tube by some strange magic they had not realised was in place. They didn't have time to question the girls on it though, as the moment they materialised in the girls' second floor toilets – much to the surprise of Moaning Myrtle – they careened into the corridors heading for the staff room.

"Katie why would there be anyone in there? It's a weekend!" Rachel panted as the children bent double outside the door catching their breath.

"Trust me, there's always someone in there." It would seem though, that Katie's estimation of the teachers' swottiness was entirely mistaken and after five minutes of no response Julius Black tried the door and found it locked.

"What now?" Rachel wailed.

"Arghh," Julius Black growled. "Come with me!" He started leading the others through the corridors towards Professor Malfoy's office, but it would seem their wild goose chase was over.

"Mum! Dad!" Katie suddenly exclaimed when she caught sight of her parents rushing down the corridor in front of them. Harry and Ginny spun around so quickly it was as though someone had lit a firecracker under their feet.

"Katie!" Ginny exclaimed and she ran the whole length of the corridor and hugged her daughter firmly. "You're alright!"

"Auntie Ginny its Leshia! Her grandfather's kidnapped her!" Rachel blurted out and she felt tears stinging her eyes once more. Ginny pulled back from her daughter with concern in her large eyes.

"What happened?" she asked sounding pained, but at this point Harry joined her side and after pulling Katie into the crook of his arm he started leading everyone to the room he and Ginny had been hurrying back to. No on spoke a word as they rushed along the corridors until finally they reached the small room that was temporarily acting as a headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Only once Harry started ushering everybody in did Damian Allseyer step backwards. He had been blindly following the others in the hope that he would come across someone with the authority to punish the girls for what they had done, but all this seemed far too complicated and the boy wished nothing more than to slink away unnoticed.

"I might just go back to my common room…" he began, but Harry grabbed the scruff of his neck and forced him through the door.

"We've got the map," Harry told the professor once he'd shut the door behind himself. "And we picked up some strays on the way."

"Professor Dumbledore its Leshia! He took her!" Rachel cried out and once more a tear rolled down her cheek. For a moment the room was plunged into silence as everybody's eyes turned to Draco and Hermione. Both parents had reacted entirely differently, and also entirely differently to how you might have expected. Draco, who became briefly consumed by his worry, dropped his head to his hands trying to find the peace of mind to continue on. His wife Hermione however, very slowly climbed to her feet, her expression one of utmost evil as she glared furiously across the small room.

"You," the young woman finally whispered.

"Hermione?" Harry asked with a frown, but she didn't heed him.

"It was him!" Rachel suddenly managed and she jumped into the path of Hermione's glare. "That Julius Black was helping Lucius, he led him down there." Across the room Draco's head popped up as though it were a Jack in the box and he suddenly jumped to his feet, dwarfing his still furious wife.

"I…I didn't!" Black tried desperately, finally losing the calm and grace he was well known for under the murderous glare of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. "I knew Leshia was going to get her own back at him, so I've been following Allseyer all day. I have no idea how he got down there."

"You liar!" Rachel screamed at the boy.

"I'm not lying…"

"Yes you are, you…"

"Silence!" All activity in the room ceased as the venerable old man that was Albus Dumbledore climbed to his feet, drawing all eyes towards himself. "You four, go back to your common rooms," the aged headmaster told the four children.

"But professor, he's…" Rachel began furiously, pointing her finger accusingly at Julius Black.

"Now," Albus Dumbledore said softly, his expression darkening. With an expression crumpled in defeat Rachel stormed from the room with Katie in her wake. The two boys they had left behind glanced nervously from one furious adult to the next.

"Professor I didn't lead him down there," Julius Black finally said firmly, having regained his calm and grace. Dumbledore nodded slowly.

"I know." With one last nod Julius Black turned from the room, with his housemate scurrying behind him. Once they had left Harry, who still stood by the door in confusion, shut it quickly behind the boys. Hermione, who had not moved since the children had interrupted her angry outburst, still glared furiously across the room at the person she held responsible for her daughter's disappearance.

"It was all you wasn't it?" the young woman finally spoke. "You're the one who's been helping him! You're the one who planted the note for Leshia to find, you're the one who broke in again and stole it after you'd wetted the girl's appetite. It was all you! The notes! Everything!" At Hermione's side Draco's eyes had become so narrowed he oughtn't to have been able to see, and yet still, he had now joined his wife's side in glaring furiously across the room.

"Draco…"

"No," he said softly. "It all makes sense! That's why you gave her detention today, you had arranged with him to have her taken." Once more the room plunged into silence as all eyes were drawn towards the beautiful blonde trembling woman in the corner. Zahra Ramble had been found out; Zahra Ramble, Lucius' right hand woman since she had been nineteen years old, Zahra Ramble, who had followed Draco around the country in order to keep and eye on him and remain close, Zahra Ramble, who wanted nothing more than to hurt Draco Malfoy for turning her down so many years ago.

With shaking hands fourteen-year-old Zahra Ramble straightened her hair clip, grinning goofily at her beautiful reflection. Today was the day, she just knew it. Her friends had been casting her silly smiles all day, and whenever opportunity arose, they would burst into a chorus of giggles. They had been infuriating their teachers to the point of distraction. Being thrown from Professor Umbridge's Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson had been worth it, because now, after years of silent admiration and adoration, Zahra Ramble was going to become Draco Malfoy's girlfriend.

Oh yes, she'd heard the rumours. She'd even seen Draco and that awful Pansy girl doing what could only possibly be called 'canoodling' in the corner of the common room many a time, but she also knew that he felt nothing for the vile fifth year girl. Zahra also knew, that she was by far the more attractive of the two, so surely Draco wouldn't pass up the chance to 'canoodle' with a much more aesthetically pleasing version? Yes, she was two years younger and only in third year, but surely, her beauty would overcome this obstacle?

Pushing the self-doubt from her mind, Zahra gave her friends one last beaming smile, before she made her way out to the common room of the Slytherin dungeons. Draco was lording it over one of the sofas with his friends and were Zahra any less than the most confidant girl in third year, then she would have shrunk away from all the burly loud fifth years. After a few shallow breaths she set her jaw firmly and headed out towards Draco and his gang of bullies and airheads.

"What do you want?" one of the spotty vile girls who had taken up residence in Pansy Parkinson's shadow demanded. Zahra stared coolly at this girl, before turning her attention on Draco. He was regarding her with a strange expression; almost as though he could smell something unpleasant. Unfazed by his obvious lack of enthusiasm, Zahra puffed out her chest and smiled at him enchantingly.

"May I have a word?" Draco's friends burst into sniggers and for a moment he looked set on joining them, but he managed to refrain himself just in time. Still, the over-confident fourteen-year-old held her ground.

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it here," Draco finally told her in a drawling tone. Zahra lost a little of her smile.

"Here?" A stammer entered her voice. Pansy and her posse cackled with laughter, already guessing why the third year had come over. Their jealousy had made them very bitter.

"Yes, here. Now spit it out, or get lost," Draco snapped at her. Pansy was eyeing Zahra with a snide smile, and she slowly got up and crossed the seating area to where Draco was lounging on a sofa all to himself. Still keeping eye contact with the younger girl she dropped down next to Draco and draped her arms around him, caressing his long silky hair with a self-satisfied smile on her face. Zahra narrowed her eyes slightly at the vile girl, but then looked back to Draco.

"Will you go out with me?" she asked full of confidence. For a moment there was absolute silence as everyone sat near the sofas turned and stared in dark amusement. What was that silly Ramble girl doing now? Yes she was beautiful, but my God she was weird! After a few moments the laughter of everyone in the common room rose up in a tidal wave of cruel mocking noise. Draco was laughing the loudest, actually holding his sides in an attempt to regain control.

"What?" he finally managed and he swung his legs around and sat up beside Pansy. "Go out with you?"

"Well why not?" Zahra demanded cockily, only to be met by another chorus of malicious laughter. Draco stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes at the girl with the confidence and cruelty of the most efficient bully of his day. While still maintaining eye contact with the young girl he draped his arm around Pansy and then kissed her in such a way that should a teacher walk in at this moment then they would undoubtedly give him a month's detention for such a disgusting act of public indecency. Whereas most would blush and look away, the pack of Slytherins in the common room started to hoot and cheer, and very slowly Zahra felt the colour rising in her cheeks. She did not however, look away and when Draco had finally finished devouring Pansy he turned round to find he could catch Zahra's eyes once more.

"You will never be good enough for me," he told her callously. "Now get out of my sight." For a moment Zahra stared at him in intense hurt, before a big fat tear rolled down her cheek, once more causing the entire common room to burst into heartless laughter. The young fourteen-year-old fled from the room in tears, not to return for days. She would never live it down.

Very slowly, the beautiful woman got to her feet and started to clap. Everyone stared at her in amazement.

"Well done!" she finally said. "For the smartest witch in the country, you certainly took your time didn't you Hermione?"

"You're pathetic," Hermione snapped furiously, feeling her temper spinning out of control at the thought of her daughter being in danger. "Where is my daughter? Where has he taken her?" A slow smile crept onto Ramble's face, but whereas usually her entire face brightened up with her white smiles, on this occasion, her eyes narrowed in loathing and the combination made her look wicked and frightening and not in the least bit attractive.

"You'll never get her back," she said before laughing cruelly.

"Really?" Draco demanded quietly, though anger and hate positively dripped from his voice. Ramble turned her self-satisfied smirk on the young man who had once turned her down so cruelly those many years ago.

"Yes, really."

"You are pathetic," Draco snapped, having read the young woman's thoughts easily. He didn't even really need his skills in legilimency as she wore her feelings on her sleeve for all to see. "You've carried a grudge nearly twenty years because I turned you down? We were teenagers! You've sentenced a child to certain death because when you were fourteen you got rejected? What is the matter with you?" Ramble's entire head twitched to the side.

"Shut up!" she cried out furiously. "You have no idea, so shut up." Draco shook his head in anger, but a manic laugh escaped his lips.

"You're as insane now as you were back then," he exclaimed. "You wonder why I didn't want to go out with you? You were the maddest girl in the whole school. Even Loony Luna didn't have anything on you."

"Enough Draco," the calming voice of Albus Dumbledore came and everyone in the room, who up until this point had been watching the story unfolding in front of them in surprise, turned to look at the Headmaster, hoping for some sanity to enter the situation.

"No it is not enough!" Draco cried out furiously. "Not nearly enough! She knows where Leshia is and until she tells me it will never be enough." At his side Hermione matched his expression perfectly and everyone could see there would be no arguing with them.

"Expelliarmus."

XXX

Leshia groaned and rolled over on the uncomfortable rock floor she had been dropped on quite unceremoniously. Everything was aching, and for a moment the girl was entirely oblivious to what had happened, but the memories did return, and when she became aware of her situation her hand flew to her pocket to find her wand was missing. Not daring to open her eyes she scrambled across the floor until she reached a dripping cold wall, where she forced herself to her feet and finally managed to open her eyes. Had she been expecting to find she had company in her dreary cavern dungeon, she would have been mistaken to find that she was very much alone in the enclosed cave.

Unsure of where her captor was, she edged along the side of the wall in the direction of the small entrance to her 'cell'. There was only one way out, and as the girl could feel the fresh breeze of the open air gently wafting onto her face from this opening, she could only assume that this would be her way out.

She didn't for one moment believe that it would be so easy to escape, but perhaps she might be able to outwit, or perhaps even overpower her grandfather depending on his physical state. Her thoughts cast back to his menacing and hulking figure stood by the caved in rubble and she shuddered; he was a massive man, even taller than her father it seemed (who to her was the tallest man in the world, even Hagrid didn't seem so tall stood beside her father). He hadn't seemed weak in the slightest, and the girl was sure any attempts to overpower him would be as futile as trying to overpower her father. Never in their play fights had she ever gleaned the upper hand for more than a few moments, and in each of these situations it was purely out of her father's letting her win.

She edged further along the wall, making her way through a series of larger caverns until she could see daylight in the distance. Out of desperation she sped up, stumbling towards the daylight like a moth to a flame. The entrance came into view and after a strangled noise of fear the girl break into a run.

"Not so fast." As though he had materialised into place, all of a sudden the threatening form of Lucius Malfoy appeared right in the middle of the cramped entranceway, blocking Leshia's escape.

"Get out of my way!" Leshia shouted shrilly at her grandfather and she glared him down with a furious expression. "I'm not coming with you!"

"No, I expect you shan't," Lucius said cruelly and he smiled darkly. "Sit down." Leshia's face scrunched up into a furious expression.

"No!" she cried out angrily. "This isn't happening, who do you think you are?" Lucius looked as though he wanted to roll his eyes, but he refrained before he took a step towards the young girl. She darted backwards, tripping over loose boulders and falling to the ground.

"That's better," Lucius said snidely. "Now, unless you want me to hurt you, then I would suggest you be quiet and listen."

"I'll never listen to you!" Leshia cried back.

"You will if you want to live." The girl on the ground frowned angrily.

"You won't kill me," she retorted. "You don't want to kill me." Lucius looked surprised.

"Don't I?" he asked curiously. "Why ever not? I feel I would be most relieved to know that my son and all those he cares for have been wiped out after what he has done." For the first time emotion entered Lucius' voice and Leshia began to fear for her own safety; had she read the whole situation wrong? Did her grandfather want to take her alive, or did he want to torture her father by taking her alive and then…

"What do you want with me?" the girl asked with less bravado. Lucius smiled darkly at her and walked slowly across the cavern to a large boulder he had evidently been using as a chair these past few months, as the surface was ever so slightly smoothed. As he reclined on it Leshia noticed he wasn't as strong as she had imagined; pain streaked across her grandfather's face as he moved and once he had reclined on his makeshift chair he seemed positively dwarfed by his large cloak. The girl considered running, but she knew that hidden within the depths of those robes were two wands that she was very sure he would be able to whip out before she'd even taken two steps.

"To answer your question," Lucius began. "You and that filthy mudblood woman are the only things my son holds dear." On the ground Leshia bristled with this vile jab at her mother, but she held her tongue. "That wretched boy took from me everything I held dear, so now, I intend to do the same thing."

"But what do you want with me?" Leshia demanded.

"I want to make him suffer." Every single word had been expressed with such hatred that it made Leshia's head swim with worry.

"But I remember. I remember that day you came to our house. You said you wanted me to be your heir."

"Yes that is true," Lucius confessed. "When you were only seven years old I believe it would have been relatively easy to mould you into a suitable heir…"

"I never would have gone with you. I would have rather died!" Leshia countered fiercely. Lucius studied her for a moment with what could only be described as a putout look on his face. Was her loyalty truly so strong? Why had Draco managed to create a child so loyal to him she would stare death in the face before turning away from him, when his own child had abandoned him at the first opportunity?

"That my girl, brings us very nicely to out current situation," Lucius said with a cruel smile. "Once I may have wanted to steal you from that ingrate of a son of mine to torture him with the knowledge that you had turned from him the same way he turned from me, but now, I see that is impossible. So I must settle for the next best thing, and that is to take you from him forever."

"He'd hunt you down and kill you," Leshia scowled furiously at her grandfather, who began to laugh.

"By then it will be too late for him and his kind," Lucius countered.

"No! It won't be too late! What? You think you're going to resurrect Voldemort and the pair of you will live happily ever after is that it?" Leshia demanded with all the cockiness in the world. "Forget it! He's not coming back, and you're going to get caught and thrown into Azkaban."

"Crucio." As though a thousand volts of electricity had suddenly been passed through her body Leshia dropped to the ground screaming out in pain. Her body writhed in uncontrollable seizures as the immeasurable agony surged all over her. For several moments Lucius enjoyed the sight of the child struggling to contain the pain he was causing her, until finally he felt she had been punished enough and he put his wand away.

"I would suggest that you control your attitude," he told her coldly. "Your parents may revel in the fact that they have raised an uncouth impertinent know-it-all, but it will do you no favours here." Leshia crawled to her hands and knees with shaking limbs, before she fixed a look of hatred on her grandfather. For the first time he smiled; oh how like a Malfoy she became when she was angry. It was a shame she couldn't be turned, couldn't be convinced of the greatness of Voldemort, because Lucius was certain she would have made a very suitable heir.

"He'll kill you for that," the girl said smugly, her pain being pushed aside for her arrogance and pride in her father's protectiveness.

"I daresay he would like to try," Lucius agreed. "I welcome him to try." Leshia frowned and managed to climb onto a smaller boulder. The awful truth was dawning on her, even though she was trying very hard to fight it.

"You're leading him into a trap," she finally whispered.

"How very perceptive of you."

"And I'm the bait. But…" The girl trailed off with a deep frown. None of this made sense! Surely if her grandfather were after her father then he could have just attacked them at Christmas time when he had evidently been wandering around London with impunity. Lucius studied the girl carefully.

"It pains me to say it, but I wish to explain to you the brilliancy of my plan and for me to do so, I must start at the beginning. Many years ago, after my failed attempt to take you, your father went running to that doddering old fool Dumbledore, who managed to concoct a spell that was quite brilliant. Ora Coma: The boundary that protects those within from those who wish to harm. Yes, Dumbledore was quite lucky to discover the old spell. Your father erected the spell around himself and a few of his closest companions so that if I came near he would be alerted of my presence before I had the chance to do any damage…"

"Why didn't I get one?" Leshia asked with a frown.

"Crucio!" The girl slid of her boulder in a jerking motion as for five seconds she writhed under the torturing curse. "Did I say you could speak?" Lucius hissed at the child as she slowly picked herself up and arranged herself on the boulder once more. Tears sparkled in her eyes and she hugged her injured body with her arms, but she would not give the twisted evil old man the pleasure of seeing her cry.

"The spell requires a grasp over magic that you did not possess. I believe my foolish son felt he would be able to watch you closely enough to keep you safe. How wrong he was. One factor he had not counted on however, was that the Ora Coma is distorted on these grounds and the effect becomes so minimised that he would only feel my presence if I were standing right behind him. These caves, offer me plenty of cover. He will not escape."

"He's smarter than that," Leshia whispered harshly, and she flexed her muscles, preparing for the agony of the cruciatus curse once more. Lucius' face twisted into an expression of vile fury, but he contained his wand hand and merely shook his head.

"We shall see about that. If I'm not mistaken then that idiot girl I employed to set the trap is spilling the beans as we speak. I always knew she would betray me, and it is for this reason that I requested her services. She will rot in Azkaban, and that is penance enough for me for her betrayal." Leshia frowned.

"Who? Who did you get to help you?"

XXX

Zahra Ramble's wand flew through the air and into Hermione's outstretched fingers. The young blonde woman was cornered as all eyes in the room bore into her. No one spoke as the gravity of the situation dawned on all of them. This woman, this for-all-pretences-lovely young woman had betrayed them all, and she had done so under the radar. Only Hermione had suspected her possible double-handed nature and even though she had been trying to tell anyone that would listen all year, nobody had heeded her.

"Leave me with her." As though controlled by one mind everyone turned to stare at Draco with wide eyes.

"No Draco, I…" Hermione began passionately.

"Hermione, I know what I'm doing. Leave me with her." His tone was so dark and so determined that slowly, one by one everyone in the room started to file out. Hermione remained as she stared her husband down darkly.

"Draco…" she began once more, before she jumped in fright when Dumbledore's long and surprisingly strong fingers clasped around her arm.

"Come on Hermione, I believe Draco is right, we must let him speak with Zahra alone." Hermione shook from anger, before she started to back away slowly.

"She's my daughter too Draco," the young woman said in a wounded tone, before she turned on heal and rushed out, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall. Once outside in the corridor Hermione fled from the curious faces of her friends and rushed away from everyone.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron called after her.

"Let me go," Ginny told the men and she took off after her best friend. Hermione was surprisingly hard to catch, but finally after several minutes of running, the young prodigal witch allowed herself to be caught and she dropped down against the wall in the abandoned corridor. The laughter of the children out in the sunshine wafted in through the windows and the sound brought tears to Hermione's eyes. Where was her child? Was she safe? Were they too late?

"Hermione, I'm so sorry," Ginny panted as she dropped down beside her friend.

"It's not fair Ginny," Hermione sighed. "Draco is so much more of a parent to Leshia than I am…"

"Don't be silly!" Ginny countered firmly. "That's absolute nonsense and you know it."

"No? Then why have I been dismissed so easily? Why has he sent me away when we should be the most united? It's as though when it comes down to it, with the really big decisions concerning our child then I don't matter."

"Hermione this is just the hurt talking," Ginny soothed and she wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders. "You know that isn't true. Draco sees the pair of you as equals in Leshia's life and you know it."

"Then why did he send me away?" Hermione sniffed as the tears poured down her cheeks. "Why does he always have to have the final say when it comes to her?"

"He's the sort of person that has to have the final say about everything," Ginny said gently. "You knew that when you married him darling." Hermione's beautiful face scrunched up as more tears fell.

"I missed it all Ginny," she stated simply. "I missed her childhood. It doesn't surprise me that Draco finds it hard to share her…he raised her…"

"Stop this right now," her friend countered firmly. "You know that Draco doesn't think that way for a moment, and I know that you don't think that way either. You're upset because Draco wants to interrogate that awful Ramble woman alone, and dear Hermione, don't you think he's the best person for the job?"

"What do you mean?"

"He spent seven years interrogating people for a living, he was the best Auror in the team…if anyone is going to get answers out of Ramble, then it's your husband." Hermione sighed heavily and rested her head against the cool wall. Her tears were subsiding as her common sense took over. Ginny was of course right, Draco wasn't trying to override her, he was just doing his best to find out what had happened to their daughter, and she couldn't slate him for that. After a few more minutes of reflective silence the two women clambered to their feet and made their way back to the others. There was some sort of commotion happening up the corridor and after exchanging a curious glance the two women broke into a run reaching the others just in time to see Ramble being led away round the corner of the corridor.

"What's happened?" Hermione panted, before her eyes fell on her husband's face. "Draco?"

"I know where he is," he said triumphantly.

"Already?" Draco smiled kindly at his wife, his worry being buried for a moment, and he took her hands in his.

"I'm sorry I asked you to leave," he said gently. "But I know how people like this think…it was easy." Hermione smiled genuinely and she briefly leaned up and kissed her husband firmly.

"It's okay, you don't have to explain," she said softly. "Now come on, let's go and rescue our daughter."

XXX

Leshia sat and watched as her grandfather stared out at the rain that had started falling. The revelation that Ramble had been a traitor had shocked Leshia and for a long time she felt infuriated by the woman's double-handedness. Her questions as to why the woman hated her family so much to do them such a grievance as to betray them to a madman went unanswered and so with very little to go on Leshia pondered the situation. There were so many things in her parents' past that she was entirely oblivious to.

"You know of course that when your father joined that band of misfits, this so-called Order of the Phoenix, his intention was to betray them. He was a double-crossing the people he was supposed to be double-crossing for. I suppose he never told you that did he?" Leshia frowned. This was too much information. What on earth did half of those things mean?'

"The Order of the Phoenix?" she asked wearily. Slowly Lucius turned around and stared at the girl with a look of amazement.

"They haven't told you anything have they?" he finally asked sounding delighted. Leshia fought her burning curiosity over her parents' past; she would not give this wretched old man the satisfaction of having her beg him for information. It would seem though, that Lucius Malfoy was quite eager to part with his stories, as they incriminated his son, and it was the adoration that this young girl held her father in that made old Lucius feel sick to his stomach. She needed taking down a peg or two, and he knew stories about her father that would make her blood curdle.

"Many years ago when my Lord was in his prime there existed a group of renegades who rather fancied themselves the underground police I'd imagined. Oh yes they caused my Lord all manner of trouble, but before too long many of them had been eradicated. During the second coming this pathetic organisation regrouped and this time employed the help of your do-good mother and her awful little friends…"

"You know, I don't care," Leshia interrupted, using all her will-power to say the words – she did in fact care, she cared a great deal, but she didn't want to give her grandfather the satisfaction he evidently felt in telling the story.

"Silence!" Lucius bellowed at her and he lifted his wand in her direction. "You wish to suffer once more?" Leshia narrowed her eyes at him.

"I. Don't. Care," she said slowly and clearly. Once more the cruciatus curse flew through the air causing the girl to writhe to the ground in agony. The cruel old man held her under the spell for the longest amount of time yet and by the end of his vicious attack the young girl lay shaking and whimpering on the ground. Even her pride couldn't override the amount of pain she had just sustained and for a few minutes she cried pathetically on the ground of the cave while her grandfather watched on with a small smile.

"As I was saying," he spoke over her tears. "When your parents were on the verge of turning eighteen, Draco was captured and in a moment of brilliant foresight on his part he feigned repentance, wishing to make up for his previous bad behaviour by turning spy for the Order. In return he would be granted asylum. Acting head of the order, that wretched woman Minerva McGonagall persuaded the others that this is what Dumbledore would have wanted and so they allowed Draco to join their ranks. Once he was in their midst he created all manner of havoc unbeknownst to them. Betraying their locations, telling us of their movements, he aided us in eliminating more of them than had ever previously been managed. I was so proud of him…" Lucius trailed off in silent memory, as he pondered these last months when he couldn't have been prouder of his one and only child.

On the ground Leshia had struggled up to lean against the boulder and was watching her Grandfather through slit eyes, her head leaning back in agony, her heart breaking with this awful information. Her father…he had been a traitor.

"The months passed and in the run up to the Battle of the Ages I began to sense my son slipping. He'd been dragged under that harpie mother of yours spell. He was beginning to question everything, and slowly we started to lose him. His last duty to us was on the day of the battle; to place key members of the order in the centre of our most elaborate trap. It would have settled the battle; it would have swayed it in our favour. The agreed upon time came and went and we waited while our Lord battled on in another part of the woods. Most of his strongest supporters had been recruited to spring the trap leaving him to battle virtually alone. Draco never came, he never delivered them to us, instead we suddenly found our positions spoiled and we were dragged into a vicious battle we could not recover from. He had betrayed us, and in turn out lord. I managed to get away…

Stumbling, Lucius was hurrying towards the valley Voldemort had taken refuge in. His Lord was in trouble, he could sense it. The Dark Mark upon his arm burned in Agony as Voldemort called all his supporters to his side; he was losing the battle and he knew it. Fury practically blinded the ageing wizard as he thought of his son's treachery. How could Draco have turned from them? How could he have betrayed them to those wretched do-good low lives? How could he consort with mudbloods… Oh it didn't bear thinking about. The important thing now was his Lord; he had to get to his side or he would fall, he knew this deep within.

"Reducto!" The colossal tree in front of Lucius buckled under the spell's power and it fell, blocking his path effectively. Within moments Lucius had reached for his wand, but it was too late. "Expelliarmus." Lucius Malfoy's wand flew across the clearing to land firmly in his young son's hand. Draco had found him.

"You!" Lucius accused threateningly as he rounded on his son, who stood across the clearing wearing a sorrowful expression.

"Father," Draco said softly.

"Do not call me that! You are no longer my son!" the silver-haired wizard yelled furiously.

"You cannot understand…" Draco began.

"Oh I understand boy, you wish to join them when they are eradicated by the dark Lord. You have fallen in love with that pitiful mudblood and now you are going to die with her. Yes, I understand very well!"

"Voldemort is outnumbered and moments away from being defeated, you must see this. You've lost…"In a mad rage Lucius raged across the clearing, his hands outstretched to strangle his one and only child for breaking his heart and bringing down the Lord he had held in such a highly esteemed position his entire adult life. Draco easily dealt withy his father's oncoming attack by locking his legs in a leg locking bind. Lucius fell to the ground in an undignified pose, but Draco soon lifted him from the ground with a levitating charm so they could speak.

"Release me!" Lucius yelled, his voice breaking and turning manic with anger.

"It's not too late father, you don't have to sentence yourself. You don't have to go to Azkaban again. Help me," Draco tried, finding it very difficult to look upon his father's broken form.

"Never!" Lucius cried out. "I shall never help you. You had better know what you are doing boy, because the moment you have released me from this spell I am going to skin you alive. Draco sighed heavily and shook his head.

"I didn't think you would," he said softly and he approached his father. For a moment he looked to be considering something until finally he nodded once and reached into his pocket for something, taking it out in a handkerchief. "I cannot kill you. Even after everything you have done…I cannot. We will meet again father."

"You had better watch your back. I will haunt your steps; I will make sure you never attain happiness. I will ruin you…" The rest of Lucius' howl was no longer audible as Draco quickly released the spell and then threw the powdery contents of the handkerchief at his father. Lucius barely had time to register his release before suddenly he found himself standing on a lone hilltop in the sunshine. His cry of anguish was lost on the winds.

"I don't care about any of this," Leshia lied. In truth, the tale of her father's treachery was quite hard to take in. He had betrayed everyone. It was despicable. Her adoration of him was so firm that any attack on his character always left her feeling slightly sick and this occasion was no different. Lucius could see the effects story was having on the girl and it made him smile broadly.

"I think you are lying," he said triumphantly. "Does it hurt to know that your precious daddy is as low and despicable as those Slytherins you hate so? Does it hurt to know how pathetic his past is…"

"He wasn't pathetic!" Leshia cried out firmly. "He never stood a chance, not with you as a dad. He changed in time to kill that worm Voldemort and that's all that matters."

"Crucio!" The fury in Lucius' tone as he inflicted the pain on the girl was immeasurable. How dare she insult his Lord and Master, how dare she defy his name. Unable to withstand such copious amounts of agony, Leshia passed out from the pain leaving her grandfather shaking as he dropped his wand. He had to preserve his strength…he had to stay strong in order to finish off his son once and for all!

XXX

Draco and Hermione walked ahead of the others. They were fed up of the endless discussions about how they were going to approach the situation. The longer they stood discussing their plan of action, the longer their daughter suffered under the hands of Draco's tyrannical father. After barely two moments of arguing Draco and Hermione had stormed out together and were now hot-footing it over to the cave Ramble had told them hid Lucius and their child.

"We have to think intelligently Draco, your father hasn't just been waiting around to get caught. I'm sure he has a plan."

"I know," Draco said softly and he winced in pain as they soldiered on across the rainy grounds of Hogwarts.

"What is it?" Hermione asked vulnerably. Draco shook his head.

"I should have killed him," he said simply. "Twice! I had the opportunity to end this before it had started and twice I was too much of a coward to do it."

"Don't talk like that!" Hermione admonished him firmly. "You are not a coward! I can't imagine having to kill a parent. I mean how could you? I would do anything to have my parents back."

"Yes, but your parents weren't sadistic maniacs hell bent on world domination were they?" Draco countered. Hermione frowned and shook her head.

"You shouldn't give yourself grief over something so difficult as taking your father's life. I can't imagine the pressure you were under…"

"Can we stop talking about this please?" Draco hissed tetchily. "Look, there's the cave opening."

"So what do we do now?" Hermione whispered. Her husband turned to her with a small smile.

"Go up there," he said simply and he started to lead the way up to the cave entrance. Darkness emanated from within and as the worried couple reached the narrow opening to the network of caves that led directly under the school.

"Stay behind me," Draco whispered to his wife and he took out his wand, stepping cautiously inside the cave and walking forwards into the darkness. Dare he light his wand to see where he was going? Or would that alert his father to his presence? Knowing that his father was probably already aware that his son was on his way, and knowing that due to is Ora Coma spell he would sense his father when he got within fifteen yards of him he took the risk and lit his wand.

"Lumos." Behind him Hermione copied his lead and they wound their ways through the tunnels, following their gut instincts. It was as though Leshia were drawing them to her through some unconscious magical bond she held to her parents, who helplessly followed, leaving the rest of the rescue party far behind. How long they clambered through the narrow and uncomfortable corridors they could not say, but eventually they reached a vast open chasm with a massive dried up snakeskin spread out over the rubble filled floor.

"Oh God…" Hermione whispered. "You know where he is don't you?" Draco hung his head and nodded.

"The chamber," he said softly. After a look of solidarity had passed between them, the young parents made their way over to the entrance to the chamber, which lay open awaiting their arrival. A dim green light lay at the end of a long corridor lined by statues of gaping snake mouths. Hermione longed to reach out and take Draco's hand, but she refrained and searched deep within for the courage to continue. The image of Leshia's smiling face instantly filled her mind's eye and instantly, she felt renewed bravery. Through the haze the couple could not see what lay at the end of the corridor before the vast carving of Salazar Slytherin's head, but they did not need to aid of vision to know who stood there.

"Leshia!" Hermione cried out once her feet touched the walkway leading down the corridor towards their daughter. She wanted to break into a run, but Draco held her shoulder back.

"No," he told her gently. "Look." His face had paled and rightly so, because as they approached the end of the corridor the scene before them unfolded. There stood Leshia, her head lolling, standing unnaturally, as though she were a puppet held up by strings. Behind the unconscious girl stood Lucius, carefully shielded by the body of the girl, a nasty dark smile on his face as he met the eyes of his petrified son.

"We meet again," Lucius called jeeringly across the gap between them.

"You monster!" Hermione cried out furiously. Draco squeezed her shoulder, which he still held, urging her to stay silent.

"I told you I would have her. I told her I would take her from you," Lucius told them simply. Draco's brow lowered in fury as he came to a halt, dragging Hermione back to his side (she had rushed ahead to her daughter's side) only a few feet from the gruesome scene in front of them. He looked momentarily to his daughter to see that her face was tear-stained and deep within something started to roar in fury and rage and anguish, wanting to break out, wanting to be free so he could unleash all manner of pain on his father.

"You're not going to get away with this," Draco said darkly and he started to reach for his wand.

"Ah ah ah," Lucius countered joyfully, and he indicated his own raised wand. "One move from you boy and she will pay the price."

"What do you want from us?" Hermione demanded.

"I want him to feel the pain he caused me!" Lucius bellowed. "I want him to know how it feels to have everything you value taken from you piece by piece. To be reduced to nothing before your very own eyes. I have been destroyed by you boy!" the old man yelled furiously, causing the girl before him to twitch briefly into consciousness unseen by her parents and grandfather. "But not to matter. I am going to reclaim that life that was stolen from me."

"You're mad if you think you will ever reclaim the life you once had," Draco said angrily. "The world is a different place now. There is no room for dried up old tyrants like you. Voldemort will never return."

"Silence!" Lucius screamed furiously and he took a step closer to the girl hanging helplessly in the air before him.

"No!" Hermione cried out. "Draco don't wind him up…"

"Yes Draco, if I were you, I would listen to the mudblood."

"Shut up," Hermione snapped angrily at the long-haired cretin. "What do you suppose is going to happen Lucius? You're going to kill us, and then what? You're in the middle of Hogwarts, how on earth are you going to get away? Half the Ministry is aware of your resurfacing and are now on your tail. You can't win. You can't resurrect Voldemort."

"I said silence," Lucius hissed lowly. "Crucio!" For the very briefest of moments the girl before him twisted and turned in agony.

"No!" Hermione cried out as instant tears formed in her eyes and dropped down her cheeks. Draco lifted his wand, all set on running round his daughter's unconscious form and baring down on his father, but before he had even taken two steps Lucius let the girl go from his spell and pointed his wand at her once more.

"The next time, I shall not be so kind," he hissed.

"I will kill you for that," Draco said darkly. Lucius smiled at him.

"I suppose you would like to think so." A stalemate ensued in which all three eyed one another up as though trying to think of the next move. Lucius was enjoying the agony on his son's face and while he toyed with new ideas in which to torture his son the girl in front of him began to wake up. Very discreetly and without anyone noticing she opened her eyes to a slit to ascertain the situation in front of her. She had started the slow climb back to consciousness with all the shouting going on around her, but it was the agony of the curse that had jolted her back to consciousness. Feeling herself weightless in the air and yet able to twitch her toes and fingers discreetly, the girl knew she wasn't bound, but was being held weightless by a spell. Would it still hold her in place if she tried to move? Would she have enough time to move enabling her parents to deal with her grandfather?

Suddenly Leshia remembered her father's unique skills. Over the last two years he had certainly seemed to be very gifted in Legilimency, at least, it had seemed so at all the most inopportune moments. Surely now, when she need it the most, he would express such skills once more.

'Dad,' she thought hard. 'Dad please! Please hear what I'm thinking! I'm awake! I'm going to move the next time he starts to speak.' The girl repeated her thoughts several times, but there was no indication that her father had heard her as she watched him, he still had his eyes fixed on Lucius' face. The girl waited with her heart in her mouth, barely daring to breathe should her grandfather figure out that she wasn't in fact still unconscious. Eventually her moment came.

"So then…" Lucius began, but before he realised what was going on Leshia had thrown herself to the side, barely missing the spell Draco had sent flying in Lucius' direction. It went straight through him.

"Oh God," Draco muttered and he shoved Hermione to the trench lining the walkway just in time, before diving towards Leshia. The air was filled with spells, but the young man managed to reach his daughter before anything struck her. Shielding her with his body he dragged her towards the vast statue of Salazar Slytherin where he sheltered her in and amongst the grooves of the statue's hair.

"Hermione!" he called out desperately.

"I'm fine!" the muffled cry of his wife returned. "It was a Reproba Statua!" his wife added sounding impressed; and in truth she was slightly impressed. A Reproba Statua was an incredibly difficult spell to pull off, but when correctly done, one could create an image of oneself to perfect design in order to trick people into thinking it was in fact a person stood where there was in fact none.

"I know! He's still in here, be careful!"

"Dad…" Leshia began pathetically, but she was pulled into a bear hug and silenced.

"I know, shhh," Draco urged her, taking the briefest of moments to bend down and kiss the top of her head. In doing so, he narrowly averted a curse, which in turn smashed into the rock where his head had been.

"Protego," Draco muttered, lifting a shield around himself and his daughter, giving them enough time to scramble round the statue to a safer angle.

"What are we going to do dad?" Leshia asked worriedly.

"Leshia keep quiet and stay out of sight," Draco told her firmly while he shut his eyes, taking an immense risk to sense out his father's location. It would seem that Lucius was aware of his actions as even the spells stopped while he cleared his mind of any thoughts that might betray his true position. For the longest time (or so it seemed to Leshia) the silence filled the vast chamber. The girl worried for her mother; where was she? Was she safe?

"Hermione? Malfoy?" Draco\s eyes flew open and he glanced round the protective cover of a statue-tendril of hair to see the rest of the rescue party walking in the door as easy as you like.

"Watch out!" he yelled out to them as further spells filled the air.

"Mum," Leshia cried out when she saw Hermione had been flushed from her hiding place and was joining her friends in their battle against the hidden enemy.

"Stay here!" Draco told the girl firmly. "Do you hear me?" Leshia looked desperately to her fighting mother, terrified for her safety. "Leshia do you hear me" Draco repeated seriously.

"Yes," the girl quickly responded with a heartbroken expression. Without so much a as a reassuring smile Draco darted from her side, dodging spells to join the others in their fight against his father. Leshia watched while they hid behind their protective spells, shooting spell after spell into the nooks and crannies of the vast chamber. It was difficult to pinpoint where the spells were emanating from as they were bouncing off the walls and ricocheting at such strange angles it was impossible to decipher where they had originated.

"Where's Leshia?" Hermione demanded of Draco once he joined her side.

"She's hidden," Draco replied and he held out his hand to point towards the statue. This is when they both saw him; stood above the girl's hiding place, his wand drawn and bearing down on her was Lucius Malfoy.

"Leshia! Move!" both parents screamed out in terror.

"Avada Kedavra!" the cry of Lucius Malfoy came to the bright green light of his curse, before he fell onto his back in an attempt to dodge the numerous spells that had been cast in his direction. Before another round had the chance to reach him, he turned to look at his son, and through the distance even Draco could make out the hugely satisfied grin on his father's face, before quite suddenly he disappeared.

"Leshia!" Hermione's cry came as the tears coursed down her cheeks. As one the mass of rescuers charged down the walkway with the frantic parents at the head of the stampede. It seemed to take an eternity to reach the tendrils of Salazar Slytherin's hair.

"No!" Hermione cried out sounding as though she was in agony, for as they neared the statue a small foot came into view. It was Leshia's; she was lying splayed out on the ground face down. "No no no! Not my baby! Please!" Hermione cried out desperately as she and Draco reached their fallen daughter's side. Draco reached the girl first and as he dropped down at her side he pulled her onto his lap and turned her face up revealing a torrent of blood gushing from her temple.

"What?" he stammered, barely able to breath as he bent down and felt his daughter's pulse. "She's alive!" he cried to the others, and he briefly glanced up in worry as Hermione collapsed at his side.

"What?" she cried, her sobs unstoppable.

"She's alive," Draco repeated with some laughter. "He can't have hit her. I think the rubble got her instead."

"Come, we have to get her to the hospital wing," Dumbledore told the gathered youngsters, fearing for what might happen if they remain. "We do not know where Lucius has gone." As one the gathered rescuers surged towards the entrance to the chamber, Draco clutching Leshia's unconscious body close to his chest. No one questioned how Dumbledore knew the way through the tunnels back to the pipes that would lead them to the castle bathrooms. Leshia's blood was pouring down Draco's T-shirt, and as the group of bedraggled adults emerged in the busy corridors (after all, by now all the children had been forced back inside due to the torrential rain) the pupils started screaming. Dumbledore remained behind to calm them while Draco and Hermione rushed forward with their unconscious child. Before too long they had reached the hospital wing, depositing Leshia on the cot she seemed to have spent innumerable nights on during the course of this violent year.

"Oh my Goodness what's happened?" Poppy Pomfry gasped as the bloodied girl and her parents burst in.

"We don't know," Hermione managed through her tears, which still had not subsided. "Please Poppy, help!"

"Of course, of course," the healer exclaimed and she rushed over holding her wand over the girl, uttering silent incantations in order to establish the damage. Meanwhile the girl's parents waited with bated breath, unable to breath until they knew what was wrong with their child.

"Well," Poppy said breathily and she looked up at the two teachers she held dear. "She's going to be fine. It's just a fractured skull."

XXX

It took Rachel and Katie five minutes to find out that Leshia had been found, and a further three to sprint down to the hospital wing. They came a cropper their parents outside who diverted them and managed to give the anxious parents inside time to fuss over their injured daughter. Finally, after half an hour of Leshia assuring her parents that she was in fact fine, the two girls were allowed in and they were at their ringleader's side within seconds.

"Leshia!" Katie exclaimed through tears. "You're alive!"

"Just about," Leshia managed as she struggled to sit up, giving her mother a reassuring look, who looked likely to intervene when she saw the look of pain cross her daughter's face.

"We've been so worried!" Rachel gushed.

"Well no worries, I'm fine," Leshia told them with a smile. Draco, after offering Leshia a small proud smile, climbed to his feet and then placed his hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Come on, let's leave them to it," he told her fondly. Hermione looked reluctant to leave her little girl's side, but finally she nodded and she too climbed to her feet. Before Leshia could object she had pulled the girl into a firm hug and she kissed her cheek firmly.

"We'll be right outside," she assured the young girl, before Draco led her out, looking over his shoulder and smiling adoringly at his child. She grinned back before looking to her friends.

"Start from the beginning!" Rachel ordered as she swung her legs up on the bed beside Leshia and snuggled down next to her. "And don't leave out any of the gory details!"

"Rachel!"

XXX

Over the following weeks the story of Leshia's escape from death had spread all over the school and everyone's admiring looks had gone entirely to the girl's head. Julius Black and Damian Allseyer had not mentioned the events of that day, thought several times Leshia had caught Julius casting her admiring looks across the great hall. 'Great,' she had grumbled to herself, 'Just what I need: another admirer.'

In secret she worried greatly over her grandfather's movements, but her parents assured her that he could no longer hurt her; they would never allow it to happen. It appeared that Lucius had in fact escaped via a portkey, and had managed to make a clean getaway – no one was sure of his whereabouts, even though Draco was delving into the depths of his dark contacts to find his father. He would kill him for the pain he caused his daughter; next time, he would not let him walk away.

Leshia had had to relive her experience to about a dozen people, but it was when she told her parents about her experiences in the cave that she felt tears sting her eyes. Hermione had burst into tears at the thought of her daughter suffering under the cruciatus curse and even Draco had seemed close. What had brightened up their moods however, was Zahra Ramble getting a lifelong sentence in Azkaban for acting to resurrect the Dark Lord and this couldn't have made anyone any happier.

Doing her exams under the circumstances was hard and yet still Leshia was sure she had done well. Infinitely harder than doing her end of year exams was picking her subjects for the next year. After endless indecisiveness she finally decided that she would take her mother up on her offer and she put down Ancient Runes – luckily Katie too had an interest for the subject, and as Rachel didn't want to be left out, she too put it down, so she would not be alone. The last day of term dawned before Leshia was ready for it and as the girls gathered on the platform at London after an exuberant trip home, she felt tears stinging her eyes.

"I'll see you soon, I bet before too long we'll be round each others' houses," she told her friends.

"Shotgun not mine," Rachel said firmly and her friends managed sympathetic smiles before they all burst into giggles and hugged one another.

"I'm done with the big adventures," Leshia told her friends. "Let's hope that next year is pretty normal in comparison!"

"With you Leshia?" Rachel giggled. "No chance!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

THE END

Woohoo, the end :) I hope it lives up to expectations. Thank you Kas and Betsy for being my best ever fans! I've already started work on the third one, so if there's enough demand, I can't imagine it'll be long before I post it :)

Peace out (God I'm so gangster :) )