Chapter 16: From Essex

Someday you will find me

Caught beneath the landslide

In a champagne supernova in the sky

Champagne Supernova, Oasis

Draco blinked a few times before his eyes decided to focus on something. The spell had hit him right in the middle of his chest and now, it was hurting. Something else was hurting too. His hands had been shackled behind his back and he was tied against an uneven wooden pole, its ridges poking painfully into his back. His legs from what he could see in the dim light were tied with rope and the more he struggled, the deeper it cut into his bruised skin.

How could he have been so stupid? He should have seen it coming. The only business that Nott had to settle was Draco before he went round on a mass killing spree. Once he got rid of him, he would be free from any more interruptions. He really should have seen that one coming. His chest hurt from even breathing. Did he crack any ribs from that fall?

"Glad to see you're awake," a smooth voice sounded in the dank room. "Glad to see I'm alive," Draco drawled in reply. If he kept this up, he would live just a few more minutes. Even then, what were those minutes for? "So Malfoy, tell me about yourself. I haven't seen you in a very, very long time," Nott carried on as he paced around Draco, fingering his wand lightly. Draco didn't reply. After a long minute, Nott stopped his pacing and stood in front of Draco, blocking out any light. "Can you even believe I used to follow you around in school? Like those lap dogs you had. By the way, where are they?" When Draco didn't reply after his probing, he aimed a kick towards Draco's stomach. A loud 'off' emitted from Draco's mouth but he still refused to talk.

"Not so brave now, are we?" Nott sneered," I've got your wand and all those junk stuff from your cloak. What are you going to do, scream at me? Say, you should have seen your body crumple to the floor last night. It was so brilliant." Draco grinned up at the dark figure and spat hard. So hard it landed on his face and Nott howled. "Insolent little beast!" He roared and slapped Draco's face. Just as he was going to inflict more pain on to his body, another figure appeared at the door. "Sir." It was Marcus Flint. Nott massaged his neck and moved out of the way, letting Draco look up at the fast approaching Flint. "This is what I pay you to do, Flint. Do I good job, you hear?" Flint nodded and Draco could see his yellow stained teeth.

Nott left after that, bolting the door shut after him. "Hey Draco, want to play?" Flint leered, fingering Draco's blond locks between his hands roughly before yanking them. Draco's head followed and jerked painfully. "Say, do you prefer some wand magic or just cold hard fists?" Flint carried on. When Draco sighed heavily and tutted, Flint decided to punch his face, his fingernails clawing into Draco's smooth face, leaving a trail of blood down his cheek. His ear was bleeding and his brain was throbbing and Draco still did not talk.

Blow after blow, Flint hit him like a monstrous beast. His head felt like it was cracked right down the centre from the repeated bashings of his head against the wooden stake. Blood trickled down his temples and Draco spat again, this time landing on Flint's cheek. Flint rubbed it off with disgust but did not stop. When he eventually tired out, Flint fumbled with his wand, thinking of spells to shoot at Draco.

He started off small; just a few spells to knock Draco out and bring him back up to speed again. Then it just got worst. He called out hexes that shredded his robes then he did a simple spell that caused hail to fall over Draco's head. After that, snow set in just before a heavy downpour of rain. Marcus panted and stopped after that. Nott had come back. He surveyed the scene before muttering a few words and pointing his wand at Draco. The pools of water that lay around Draco turned to ice. By then, Draco's lips had turned purple and his face was as pallid as never before.

"Do you really want Marcus to carry on?" Nott hissed as he slapped Draco's face again. "Or just give me the answers I need. When are the rest coming? What the hell do you want with me? What do you want to find out now, Malfoy? Or should I say Draco, sir?"

Draco glared at Nott with as much energy he could muster, hoping Nott would never see that he was trembling from the cold, and he was slowly dropping into an unconscious state. He was sure he was bleeding internally and more than a few ribs and other parts of his body were broken or fractured. Draco cleared his throat and said in raspy voice, " Nobody's coming, Nott. This is a stand alone mission." Nott crowed and Flint sniggered heavily. "Stand alone mission? Why, my dear Malfoy, were you expecting us never to find you? Did you really think we were that stupid to let your photographer take that snap shot of the paper? It was a bloody trap Malfoy. We knew you were going to find out, we knew you would be insistent on doing this alone. Why Malfoy, when did you ever become so thick?" Nott laughed and rapped his knuckles hard against Draco's skull.

And the pieces clicked in Draco's mind. Alfred couldn't take pictures before that note because Alfred couldn't see the notes. It was written so easily and so neatly on the brown paper that it was so easy to be shot on the camera. Even Granger could figure the code out so easily. There was nothing stopping Nott from the very beginning except him. Killing Nicola had just been a lure to get Draco started on the case. After that, everything just fell into place. He would find the pictures taken by Alfred, he would then try to put them together, and when the time was right, Nott would plant that fake message for Alfred to take, so Draco would follow Nott, thinking he was hot on his heels when it was practically the other way round.

Draco cursed his stupidity. "Damn it," He swore and Nott laughed even more, his eyes twinkling with malice. "Stupid, stupid Malfoy. All ready to save the world and this is where he ends up. Oh poor Malfoy, what has the world ever done to you?" Nott mocked the fallen man and Flint guffawed. "Now, for the fun part. Are you ready to be my assistant Malfoy?" Nott yanked Draco's head back with his hair that was matted thickly with blood. Nott placed the tip of his wand under Draco's chin and muttered soft words. A sickly yellow hue emitted from the tip and disappeared down Draco's throat, yet nothing happened to Draco. "Oh, you'll find that out later," Nott said in an offhand way.

He fingered his wand once again and whispered Crucio, a smile lit upon his face. Draco stopped himself from yelling yet he could not stop writhing under the intensity of the pain. Eventually Nott lifted his wand and grinned at the man. "Don't you want to know what my plans are?" He asked. Draco winced as he tried to lift his head up and face Nott. "Do I really need to ask for you to tell me?" Draco said through short gasps.

Nott giggled lightly and bent down to face Draco, almost patronizingly so. "I just want to rid this world of impurities. There are just way too many so why not start on those that tainted the blood of the pure? Why not, I asked myself one night. I was angry with Pettigrew for taking his time, and I had the skill. All I needed were some stupid minions to do the dirty work.

"Peter was taking too much time. He ordered us to do useless things that did not alter the mudbloods. So I decided to speed things up a bit. Kill off the weak old man and then start my own rule. Nobody ever saw Pettigrew nowadays so why start now? Just kill him off and make it look as if I was taking orders from him. The rest of it just came too damn easily.

"Everybody knows that when you have a problem, you start small and work your way up. So that's what I did. Start small like Pettigrew. Kill the mudblood's animals, make their children sick, that kind of stuff. But it grew boring. So I decided that it was time to move on to the next stage. Purebloods need to stick with their own kind, so why are there those odd ones that just love muggles so much? Kill them, I say. They should have been born mudbloods.

"Nicola Black was the easiest. She lived in America. The land of the free, pah! What did she know? So, kill her off. So we killed the husband. Oh, that was so fun. He looked at us so strangely and the last thing he said was, "Nicole, do you know these men?" Hah! How funny is that? She rushes over and looks at her husband, all pale and spectacles askew. It was hilarious watching the tears fall down her face, you know? And then we kill her. Easy peasy. Did you know she pleaded for her life? She begged us not to kill her or do anything else, just let her life in misery. As if we were going to let her have the easy way off. So another bright green flash and she's gone.

"The other muggles were fun too, but the first time is always the most exhilarating. And now we come to you. Draco Malfoy. What else do you want to know?"

"Do you have any ice? My head hurts from listening to your filthy speech," Draco said lightly. Nott snarled and aimed a blow at his legs. He stepped heavily on his shin and heard a loud crack. It pleased him as he saw the agony on Draco's face. "Guess what Draco? Your time is almost up. It's four in the morning. We have to kill you before we start on the Pines. They live a few miles away from here and we need to be on time," Nott's face contorted in ecstasy as he said those words. "Get up, Malfoy. I want to see you facing me. I want to see the pain in your eyes just before you go. Get up," Nott ordered but Draco was in no way able to stand. His feet were bound and covered in ice, and he could hardly feel his legs anymore; it was growing numb.

"Get up," Nott snarled and threw the Imperius curse on him. Get up you filth, get up on your rotten legs and face me. Face me. GET UP. The voice in Draco's head grew louder but Draco persisted, turning his face away thinking it would help. His feet moved a little yet it was still a dead weight. Get up fool. Draco was exhausted. His legs followed Nott's mind and Draco stood up, his weight crushing down on his feet just trying to stand.

"Goodbye Draco Malfoy," Nott said sweetly. Draco closed his eyes and an image flashed past his mind. Nicola. Then it was Hermione. Then Ben. Ben. He had promised Nicola to take care of Ben. Ben. Little Benjamin Michael Murray. His little Ben. Boisterous Ben and the sweet, hot tempered Hermione. God, would he miss them. I'm sorry, he whispered.

Somebody screamed then it was silent.

When Draco opened his eyes, he found himself sitting on a grimy floor facing an even dirtier hallway. "Is this what heaven is like?" He croaked. It didn't look any better than it was before he died. Oh hell, he thought, if he was going to have to live here for a very long time, he would rather die. Or was he dead all ready? Because he heard voices. Familiar voices that resonated in his head.

And then, somebody laughed. "If heaven was like this, I'd rather go to hell, honey," the voice said with a tinkling laugh. Draco blinked again and looked at his feet where a pair of sparkling green shoes stood. He craned his head up painfully to see a pair of brown eyes staring back at him. "Oh honey, you look like hell," the man tutted. "Blaise?" Draco croaked softly. Blaise laughed again and undid his binds on his legs. "That's me, and don't you ever forget that."

"How'd you? What?"

"Harry's just finishing off Flint. Nott's conked out."

"How did you find me?"

"The Weasley twins put a tracker on all of those stuff that you bought from them and told Harry."

"I'm going to kill them."

"Why? They saved your life. Your signal appeared on the map of Essex. Harry tracked you to that bar then he found tons of signals pulsating on the map closer to London. It was a wild shot but Harry decided to go for it and that's where you are now."

Draco felt the binds on his wrists release and he massaged them gratefully. "Hey, Blaise, you might want to get Malfoy out of here right now. I just heard something beeping and it just might be a muggle bomb," Harry's voice floated down the hallway. "Right on, Potter," Blaise replied and hauled Draco up over his shoulder. "I'm sorry about those ribs but this is easiest way to carry you with my wand hand free," Blaise looked at Draco with mock sorrow. "Oh just shut up and get me out of here," Draco groaned. "Okay, sweetheart. Hold on tight," Blaise answered cheekily and with a bang, the two of them disappeared. A few seconds later another similar bang was heard, and just after that, the room exploded along with a few of the Weasley Firecrackers.

A few minutes later, Harry looked at the battered body in front of him. It was four fifteen and they were in the Auror Department. "You'll be needing a lot of potions to fix these up," Harry said. "I am not going to St Mungo's," Draco retorted flatly. "After what they did to my hair and feet the last time, I am never going back."

"Come on, Malfoy. You don't have any other choice. And that was an accident okay? The Healer just misread the symptoms, she was new."

"Misread the symptoms, she was new," Draco mimicked, "Then she should have been fired. I want to go back to the Manor."

"Malfoy, you know you can't go back there, there isn't anybody there who can help—"

"Granger took an extra course for Healing. She'll know what to do. It isn't much, just a few bones and bruises. Skele-grow will fix this, I know she knows what to do."

"She took the course years ago!" Harry argued, "Things change you know and she just might make you take the wrong stuff!"

"Shut up, Potter. I'm going back. Give those goods back to the twins and send my regards." Draco stood up and pointed towards the huge pile on his table and hobbled towards a clear space. With a crack, he was gone, just as Blaise came through the door holding a tray of steaming mugs. "Where did Draco go?" Blaise looked crestfallen. "Shut up, Potter. I'm going back," Harry copied Draco and blew a wet raspberry. "Ah, young love these days," Blaise sighed and handed a cup to Harry.

A few miles away, Draco rapped the front door tiredly. No matter how much a brave front he put up for Harry, he had no more energy to stand properly even with a brace on his foot. When nobody answered, he knocked the door even harder and leaned heavily on it. Just as he did, the door flew open and Draco hit the marble floor hard, groaning.

"Malfoy!" Hermione gasped and hauled Draco up. Her clothes were dishevelled and her hair was mussed yet she still looked beautiful. Draco couldn't help but smile back weakly at her and pointed at the couch. Hermione nodded and with all her might dragged Draco's heavy body towards the couch. Once he got on, he lay down and sighed, the blood from the back of his head dripped onto the white leather. "Draco!" Hermione gasped again. Draco grinned with as much strength as he could muster and whispered, "Water." Hermione nodded her head and rushed to the kitchen.

Draco rolled off the couch and stretched his hand out for the ginger cookies lying on the platter on the glass table. After those two days, food looked just too good to be true. His hand trembled as he picked up the cookie. He bit into it hard and chewed it slowly before swallowing.

All of a sudden, Draco felt a faint queasiness in his stomach followed by a gurgle in his stomach. He hadn't felt that in months, ever since that sushi and vodka, and it was not feeling good. Moments later, a sick yellow liquid spewed from his mouth, landing on his lap. More followed but this time it was a thick ruby red. There was a loud crash as the glass hit the floor and Hermione rushed over to Draco. "Oh," Draco said matter-of-factly and blacked out just as his head hit the ground.

He blinked. And then again. Was everything dark or was there something wrong with his eyelids? So he blinked once more. His body felt like lead and his mouth tasted faintly metallic and salty. He blinked once again and the room looked familiar. Dark but familiar. He was facing up, looking through his thick eyelashes, and almost painfully lifting his lead-like eyelids by a quarter of a millimetre. Ouch.

He lay there for maybe hours or just a few short minutes but it seemed like a lifetime being stuck under the sheets, which were becoming increasingly heavy and hot. Eventually he made his mind to get up. And then he found out that he couldn't. His chest hurt and his legs refused to budge. He flailed his hands wildly trying to throw off the sheets but something was stopping it and that something just stirred.

Something near his thigh just moved and he craned his head to see what it was. If it was that crazy cat he was going to scream. But it didn't feel like that cat at all. It felt soft and even slightly squishy. If it was a face he was going to scream. If it were Potter or the Twins they would be gone in a green flash. If it were the sister, he'd have to leave her alone. It wasn't in his nature to hurt girls. If only he could find his wand…

Then the thing moaned. And it didn't sound manly at all. He craned his neck painfully to see who or what it was and caught a glimpse just over the messy sheets. That thing had brown hair. Which only left—

"Granger," Draco whispered hoarsely. The sound of his own voice irked him. It felt grainy and just absolutely horribly to listen to. Saying her name was rather difficult for him. "Her-my-own-knee," Draco had tried to enunciate it to himself a week or so before. It was just too long with too many syllables. Maybe he should just stick to calling her Granger or Herb.

Hermione's head shook a bit before she got up. She rubbed her sleep eyes and gave a blank stare at him. Draco looked back at her with as much amusement as he could muster from the pain with his craning neck.

"You should have slept on the bed," Draco grinned from his odd position and patted the ruffled duvets. Hermione yawned and stretched her arms out wide. "With you? In your dreams, Malfoy," Hermione retorted cheekily. "How are you feeling?"

"Stiff."

Hermione laughed and stood up. She bent over Draco and pulled his body up gently and propped it up with the pillows. "How long have I been out?" Draco asked. "Two days," Hermione replied, "But you were in good hands. Harry came over just after you blacked out and sent you to St Mungo's. You really should thank him."

"Oh."

"And they found out the hex that Nott threw on you. It was something new he invented. Apparently, if you were to eat something, you would spew it out along with the entire contents of your stomach and soon your intestines would follow. Fortunately for you, you blacked out, or else you would have been dead before Harry came."

"Oh."

"And they're holding a trial for Nott and Flint. It's splashed all over the front pages of the Daily Prophet."

"Mm."

"Are you ever going to say more than one syllable?"

"Yes," Draco started slowly, " Do you have any food? I'm hungry." Hermione shook her head slowly and gave a smile. "You're never going to change are you? Hold on, I'll get you some food. In the mean time why don't you read the papers from yesterday? I'll go get today's papers," Hermione said and passed the crumpled newspaper to Draco and walked out of the room.

Draco looked at the page, half filled by a large black and white picture of Flint and Nott in the holding cell till the trail. Just one more day and their lives would be over, along with so many others. He was going to have to be a witness in the court, along with Blaise and Harry. But does fate subsequent opinion matter? Even if they were placed in Azkaban with the four walls and the dementors, there would be those who would still carry on. There would still be those who discriminate. Do we really live in a world where we only tolerate other people? Does it matter, race and religion, even blood? "Does it matter?" Draco thought aloud.

Hermione soon reappeared with a tray laden with bread and jams. "It's nine in the morning. And it's Wednesday. Just a brief reminder since you've been out for two days and made me worried sick—"

"Granger, we need to talk about this," Draco cut her short curtly and pointed at to a page in the newspapers. On it was a huge grinning picture of a good-looking man in full colour, waving jauntily. His eyes were a bright blue, and he had many freckles, and a messy mop of orange hair. The headlines read: HEALER WEASLEY RETURNS FROM ASIA.

Hello darlings (: sorry if this is really short compared to the previous chapters but this is what I can give you right now, what with four tests just passing. I haven't had time to write a lot compared to the precious posts and I'm really sorry, so please accept my apology!

I'm actually supposed to be doing my homework but oh, never mind. If only those who have put this story on their favourites list or story alert list do review, my life would be much happier. I sincerely do hope that you as the reader would be able to give good critique so that this story would be further improved, yeah?

Do you think I'm going to be able to hit 100 this time?

Thanks to all people who encouraged me and giving me particularly good critique (: love you all and peace!