Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
Confrontation
The adults in the group moved quickly in opposite directions leaving Draco where he sat, with Ron and Hermione standing above him. Draco did not look up to the two Gryffindors. His mind had turned in another direction as his rage began to return. He was furious at Meggit who was now petrified while Snape removed him to the dungeons, but he was even more furious with one other person in the castle, and he knew exactly where to find her.
Hermione looked to Ron not sure what to do. They didn't know if they should help Draco to stand or wait for him to ask for help. But he decided that for them as he stood rather stiffly as the pain seared through his back.
Ron shrugged at Hermione. But Hermione took her duties a little more seriously than Ron did. "Come on, Draco. We'll help you to the hospital wing." She said in a softer voice than she even thought herself capable of when talking to the young man she had learned to hate.
He turned to her and she could see the anger brewing in his eyes. But he did not strike out at her as she expected. "I'm not going to the Hospital Wing." He said icily. "I have something to do."
"What do you mean, Malfoy?" Ron asked seeing that he could barely stand. "Dumbledore said to take you to the Hospital Wing."
Draco turned those angry eyes on Ron but yet again did not strike out. "There is a person in this school who has answers and I'm going to get them. Now either get me my wand from in there or get out of my way." He said motioning to the open door to the Room of Requirement. They could see his wand on the floor where Meggit had dropped it.
Ron looked to Hermione and she had a look on her face that said she had no clue what to do, so Ron made a decision. He retrieved Draco's wand and brought it back but did not immediately give it to him. "If you're going to get answers, we are going with you."
Draco reached out snatching his wand, but spoke while doing so. "If you wish, but stay out of my way." His face showed them how deadly serious he was.
He turned towards the front of the castle and started walking as fast as his pain would let him, but as he moved and his anger grew even worse he forgot the pain and his steps became quicker as if he were possessed. Classes were let out before they reached the front of the school and they received amazed looks as a battered and beaten Draco Malfoy walked with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger through the halls. The deadly look on Draco's face kept anyone from making comments to him.
Draco immediately saw whom he was looking for standing in a group of Slytherin girls directly outside the castle. She was turned away from him and did not notice as the other girls became silent at his approach. Draco grabbed her arm and swung her around so she was backed against the stone wall, with his wand at her throat. "You better start talking, Pansy. I promise you, you won't survive otherwise."
Pansy's eyes had doubled in size as she saw his appearance. "Draco, but how..?" She began to ask.
"I'm asking the questions." He spat at her. "Where are my sister and Potter?"
"Draco, I don't know. Believe me." Pansy pleaded with him.
"I don't believe that. You were my father's contact here. You were doing his dirty work. He would have told you, so you could get out when it was over and done with." Draco shouted.
"Draco, please don't hurt me." She said as tears started running down her cheeks. "I didn't know Meggit would hurt you. You heard me tell him not to. I'm your friend. I have always been your faithful friend."
"A faithful friend does not try to kill those that you love." He shouted pressing her harder against the wall. Pansy whimpered slightly shaking her head. "Don't deny it, Pansy. Meggit told me about your invisibility cloak and how you stayed hidden during Christmas break so you could try to kill Val."
"I was only doing what was best for you." She whispered.
"You were only trying to get rid of the only person in this world that I cared for, so you could have my attentions to yourself. Get this through your head, Pansy. I despise you. I detest you, and if you don't tell me where my father has them, I will kill you here and now." He threatened pushing the wand into her throat.
"You can't do that, Draco." She said as the tears poured from her eyes. "I'm unarmed, and I'm a girl. Your new hero act would be blemished by such an action." She spat out angrily.
At that moment Hermione stood up beside Draco holding her own wand and pointing it at Pansy. "If he can't do it, I can." She said threatening the girl then whispered a curse. Pansy immediately felt the boils begin to blossom on he fair face.
Her hands flew up covering the pussy boils. She began screaming at the mess her face was becoming.
"Quit that screaming, Pansy, or I'll turn her loose on you. I hate to think of all the curses she has been dreaming up to use on you in the last seven years." Draco said vindictively. "Now talk. No one is going to help you now." And his words were true. Ron was standing behind them with his wand drawn threatening anyone who might consider defending her.
Pansy finally muttered the words he wanted to hear as she stopped crying out. "The Secret House of the Serpent."
Draco gasped slightly. "But Voldemort knows of it. He would be an open target there."
"Your father made a deal with Voldemort. He would deliver a weakened and broken Harry Potter to him at the end of this day. At that point Voldemort would be assured to defeat him in front of his faithful Death Eaters. As payment for this act your father will be forgiven and welcomed back into the ranks. Voldemort will not attack your father if there is any chance that he can deliver on his promise." Pansy explained.
"A weakened and broken Harry?" Hermione asked as her fear increased.
"Lucius will use Val as a pawn to control Harry and then torture him to the point of exhaustion. At that point he will break his spirit." She said then stopped reluctant to go on.
"And exactly how will he do that?" Draco asked knowing he would not like the answer.
"He will kill Val in front of him." She whispered.
Draco's breath caught in his throat. He knew how much his father detested Val, but he never imagined he would kill her. But something wasn't clicking in his mind. "But why. If he is going to torture Potter, why would he have to kill her?"
Pansy laughed ironically. "You are blind aren't you, Draco?" She said. When he looked even more confused she answered him. "Because Potter is in love with her. I saw them kissing by the lake a few weeks ago. If Lucius takes the girl he loves from him it will break his spirit like nothing else can."
Draco let go of her and turned towards Hermione. Hermione shrugged at his unasked question. "It's possible." Was all she could say. He turned towards Ron then.
Ron looked him square in the eyes and Draco could see the truth written there. "What difference does it make? She's still Val, no matter who she loves. Now isn't she?" Ron said angrily.
Draco looked away from them for a moment. He looked around the grounds as his mind fought to accept the information. And he found that truly in his heart it did not matter. Even if they did not share the same parents, she was and always would be his sister, and he had to do something to save her. He nodded once and started back towards the castle doors.
"Where are you going, Malfoy?" Ron called out.
"We need help if we are going to save them. There's only one way into The Secret House of the Serpent. And for that we need to go to Dumbledore's office." He called back not waiting for them.
Draco did not know the password for the gargoyles in front of the entrance to Dumbledore's office, but Hermione did. They did not stop to knock when they entered the office. Severus Snape was sitting at Dumbledore's desk, writing several letters to be sent by floo to any contacts he still had outside of the school that might have a notion of where Lucius could be hidden. He looked up scowling at the three teenagers. "Mr. Malfoy, you are supposed to be in the Hospital Wing."
Draco did not stop for explanations. "We know where they are." He said immediately.
"What?" Severus said as his face dawned a speculative look.
"The Secret House of the Serpent." Draco blurted out.
Severus' eyes widened at the name. He began to ask the obvious question but Draco cut him off. "He has made a deal with Voldemort. A weakened and broken Harry Potter in exchange for his position in the Death Eaters."
"And just how did you discover all of this?" Severus asked not sure whether to believe such a tale.
"My father had an accomplice here at the school. She has confessed." Draco said cryptically.
Severus wondered just how the accomplice was made to talk, but guessed that he would probably be proud of his student's efforts if he knew. "This makes things more difficult, and you know that, Draco."
"Why?" Hermione asked in confusion.
"Because only certain people know how to enter this place, Ms. Granger, and it is very dangerous to do so, if you are not wanted there." Severus answered. "And I am not one of those privileged with that information."
"But I am." Draco answered.
Severus blinked a few times as the words surprised him. "Where do you think I was supposed to go after the attempt on Dumbledore last year?" Draco explained.
"Well then what's stopping us?" Ron said in excitement ready to go anywhere to save his friends.
Draco turned to Ron and smiled ironically. "Well nothing is stopping Professor Snape and I, but you two can't go."
"You have got to be bloody out of your mind if you think we are staying behind when Harry is in trouble." Ron said angrily.
"Calm down, Weasley." Snape said coldly. "Mr. Malfoy is correct. Only true Slytherins or Death Eaters are allowed to enter this place we speak of. The wards of the house are set to kill anyone else as soon as they step foot in it. Only certain high-ranking Death Eaters can negate the wards, and since I have never even been there before I can do nothing to protect you. Only Draco and I will be able to enter, and I am really only guessing that we will be safe."
At those words Ron and Hermione looked to each other in desperation. They had never truly trusted either of them, but how could they do anything else.
"After we are gone, you two must contact Dumbledore at the Ministry. Tell him everything you have learned. He will have to see if the floo network can determine where we are taken, so reinforcements can be sent." Severus said standing and moving around the desk towards the fireplace. "After you, Mr. Malfoy."
"Hold on." Ron said unbuttoning the shirt he wore and removing it holding it out to Draco. "You can't let the enemy know how badly you are hurt."
Draco had forgotten that he was shirtless. As a matter of fact he had forgotten his pain completely in his rage. He took the shirt, which would fit him decently and put it on. Weasley had a point. The bleeding had stopped for the most part but his back was covered in cuts and dried blood. If they did face opposition his weakness would be evident if not hidden. He nodded his thanks then turned to the fire. He grabbed a handful of floo powder and turned back to them "No offence intended, Granger."
Hermione looked at him strangely then he threw the powder and said the words to activate the floo. "The Secret House of the Serpent. Death to all Mudbloods." Hermione's face turned scarlet at the word Mudblood, but she nodded in understanding.
Snape followed him and then she and Ron were left alone. Left to wait for word after passing on the information they knew to Dumbledore. It would be a long wait.