Malfoy Manor

Harry quietly followed Draco to the huge mansion. Namiko trailed behind, keeping guard in the back, should something happen. It was around 10:30. They were all dressed in black, though Draco was wearing black robes, and Harry and Namiko were wearing what they were wearing in the war, just in black and without the robes. Harry glanced at Draco as they wound their way through the dense forest. "Draco, are you sure this is the way in?"

Draco nodded. "This is the way in through a tunnel underground. It leads directly to one of the first floor's closets. When I lived here, all the Death Eater activity was in the basement, so they won't notice if we are in a closet on the first floor. But be quiet. The tunnel drills just next to the basement wall, and they might hear you if you make a loud sound."

Harry nodded. Namiko had offered to just Port them in, but Draco had adamantly refused, saying that the wards placed around the house would be tripped, and would alert the DE's of their arrival. So now, they were forced to crawl through a dirty tunnel, and into a closet.

Draco led them to the base of a tree with confident steps. He deftly stepped to it and tapped an upraised root five times with his wand. The tree disappeared, revealing a deep hole with a ladder going down it. "This is the escape hatch, and our ticket in. My Great-great Grandmother built this, so that the Malfoy family could escape if they were attacked. Come on now, follow me."

Draco went in first, as he was the only one who knew the way. Harry went next. Namiko brought up the rear, and snapped her fingers as she went in. The tree reappeared above her. She smirked. It was a rather simple illusion.

Draco led them through winding passageways for what seemed like ours. Namiko produced a bright white ball of light to float above them and light their path. They walked… and walked…

Draco suddenly raised a hand. "Stop here," he whispered silently. They were right in front of a ladder that seemed to stretch endlessly up. "This is the longest ladder in the route, and the last. This ladder leads up through the tunnel, right by the basement. Be very quiet. Oh, and go all the way to the top, don't go on any of the side paths. Those lead to… other rooms. I'll go first. Follow me closely."

Draco nimbly started to climb up the stairs. Harry followed him, with Namiko once again bringing up the rear. They climbed for what seemed like hours, though in reality it was only about thirty minutes. Draco stopped at the top of the ladder and put his hands to the ceiling. He pushed, and a section of it disappeared, as if it was never their.

He put his fingers to his lips to indicate that they needed to be silent, and climbed through the hole. As Namiko and Harry climbed in, they saw that it was a rather large closet. Draco motioned for Namiko and Harry to get closer so that he wouldn't have to talk as loud.

"Ok, here's the thing. We are on the first floor, in a closet close to the kitchen. We need to get to the basement without being seen, and then we must have a means to walk freely. I suggest that we attack some Death Eaters and take their robes and masks. No one will be suspicious because there are tons of new recruits that are no older than 20."

Namiko and Harry nodded their agreement and Draco started to head out. Namiko stopped him with a light touch. "Don't," she whispered. "I can take us their without having any problems." Draco hesitated for a moment, then stepped back. Namiko closed her eyes in concentration, and they melded into the shadows.

They swiftly ran across the halls, concealed by darkness. Draco suddenly stopped and pointed to a slightly upraised section of the floor. "The entrance to the basement is here," he said, not bothering to lower his voice. When in the shadows, you were not heard or seen, no matter how loud you are.

Harry quickly went over and tried to open it. It didn't budge. Draco furrowed his brows. "That's odd," he mused. "I suppose Lucius put up a password entrance spell." Harry grinned savagely.

"Hey, Draco," he asked casually, "is the floor made of wood." Draco nodded, looking slightly wary. "Good."

Harry pressed his hands to the floor and pushed. There was a slight pause, then the chunk of floor that covered the stairs to the basement disappeared. Harry smirked slightly then walked down the stairs. Namiko and Draco followed.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Draco's raised hand stopped them. That and the fact that there was a Death Eater meeting that had just finished, and all of the Death Eaters were streaming toward the stairs. Namiko hissed and quickly pulled them back, so that they were once again hidden in the shadows.

Finally, only four Death Eaters were left. They patiently waited for them to approach. Harry could feel Namiko quivering with anticipation. He could only hope that she didn't give in to her past. She used to be a hitokiri, an assassin, but then she quit. But still, every once in a while, her assassin nature comes out.

As the Death Eaters approached, Namiko suddenly jumped at them. A small dagger appeared in her hand as she neared one. Harry and Draco watched as she deftly slit the neck of one of the Death Eaters with inhuman speed.

As she finished, Harry and Draco decided to join the fray. Draco quickly disarmed one with a simple spell, then knocked him out with a well placed punch. Harry went all physical as he tripped his opponent then sent a roundhouse kick towards his head. It connected, and he went down like a stone. The last Death Eater quickly trained his wand on them. He seemed a bit more experienced. Harry also realized that their little fight might have drawn attention, so he quickly sealed the door shut.

The remaining Death Eater snarled as Harry did this and launched himself at them. Before any of them could even react, Namiko was in front of them with her dagger through the man's gut. "A little slow, are we?" she asked in a menacing whisper. Then she slid the dagger at and gazed at the man dispassionately. She smirked at the man, then brought the blade up to her lips as her tongue flicked out. The steel was stained red with blood.

Draco had hurriedly started to put on the Death Eater robes, and Harry soon followed. Namiko paused for a bit, before pulling on a robe as her bloody blade disappeared.

When they were all satisfied that they looked like convincing Death Eaters (should someone return to the basement), they continued deeper into the room and found that their were documents and potions everywhere. Namiko went to study a document as Harry and Draco were trying to identify potions. She quickly scanned the parchment, then stopped as her eyes rested on two words: "siege" and "Hogwarts". She quickly went back to the beginning of the page. It seemed to be a letter to Lucius.

"I am becoming impatient Lucius. You really ought to hurry up if you wish to live. You are behind. You are trying my patience. I will send you three battalions of my followers for the attack on Wednesday. Do not fail me."

Namiko's eyes widened as she read this. She quickly reread it… and read it again. "Harry, Draco!" she hissed in surprise. They looked up from their task of collecting potion samples. "Come over hear quickly!"

They rushed over and noticed the document she was reading. They read it hurriedly, then froze. "Attack… on Hogwarts… Wednesday…" Draco muttered, still in shock.

Harry protested rebelliously. "They wouldn't do that! They lost so many in that battle just a few days ago!" Namiko shook her head furiously.

"I bet Voldemort only put his lower followers into that battle, mixed with only a few of his best! So he still has a whole army of his best Death Eaters to lay siege on Hogwarts! Plus most of our fighters are weak or injured right now!" Draco's eyes widened as the significance of this attack took hold in his mind.

He suddenly slammed his fist into the desk, cursing up a storm. "Shit!" he exclaimed after he had calmed down some. "We have to get back. I think that we got enough information. We have to start preparing for the attack!"

Namiko nodded her understanding and left the parchment on the desk before grasping the boys' arms and pulling them into the shadows. They raced toward the closet they had entered from, when suddenly Namiko let out a strangled cry and her spell faded.

All three suddenly became visible, and as they turned, they could see Lucius with a total of 25 Death Eaters behind him. "Ahh, Draco," he drawled with a sneer, "come give your father a warm welcome." Draco spat on the floor before the tall blonde.

Lucius shook his head. "Hardly a way to greet someone as powerful and important as me, Draco. Apparently, your manners have not improved." Then he turned to the other two. Namiko was plucking out a dagger from her arm.

"Ahh, the famous Harry Potter," he sneered delicately. "You have returned. And now you shall die." As if on cue, the Death Eaters behind Blonde Senior started attacking. (A/N: sorry, couldn't resist calling Lucius that…) Harry gave a feral grin before burning a DE with green flames. Then he started engaging the Death Eaters in hand to hand combat. Namiko joined in with a wild look in her eyes as she slashed any Death Eaters within reach with her two short kodachis. (Japanese short swords). In no time, the lowly Death Eaters were either too hurt to fight or dead. Namiko stood with blood dripping off her blades. Harry started cracking his knuckles ominously.

Lucius chuckled darkly. "You have indeed improved. But you cannot withstand the power of the Dark Lord!" Suddenly, Lucius was engulfed in black flames. When the flames disappeared, Lucius seemed… different. There was an evil black aura around him now. He raised his wand and all three of them were pushed back as a mighty gust of wind assaulted them. Lucius chuckled again as they picked themselves up. "Meet the might of the Dark Lord and his Dark Apostles!"

They all winced as Lucius started firing a flurry of deadly curses at them. Harry, Draco, and Namiko were narrowly dodging them, but if this kept up, they would be killed. Harry decided to try the head on approach and tackled Lucius, only to be thrown into the wall and electrocuted by a barrier. He got up painfully, then fell into a ready position.

Lucius laughed again, "My power is absolute! No one can stand in my way, for I have the power of the Dark Lord himself!" Draco growled and charged at the elder blonde, then at the last second, he fired a dangerous Bone-Breaker curse. The curse passed through the barrier and struck the "Dark Apostle" on the leg.

Lucius didn't even stop to acknowledge his wound. Draco, Harry, and Namiko soon saw why. The wound was already healed! Namiko cursed fit to make even the most seasoned guard blush, and yelled, "Regeneration spell! It instantly heals small wounds, but takes more time to heal larger ones. We just need to wound him enough so that we can escape. At this time there is no way for us to defeat him!"

Draco looked at her desperately. "How are we supposed to do that!" Harry also looked at Namiko. She grinned savagely.

"Leave that to me." She charged forward, and a long whip appeared in her hand. She lashed out with the whip, but the whip just bounced back off of the barrier. Lucius shook his head, laughing at her.

"That won't work, little gi-" he cut off abruptly as his barrier started to freeze over. Namiko tapped it lightly with a finger and it shattered.

"Whip of the Ice Goddess," she said carelessly. Lucius grew livid with rage. He charged. Namiko smirked and took out her two swords. "It's been a long time since I've tasted human blood," she purred mockingly, licking her blades. Draco stared as she engaged the Apostle in a swords duel.

Harry in the meantime was shaking his head with wide eyes. He quickly pulled his katana (Japanese long sword) from its sheath on his back. This battle needed to stop before Namiko killed Lucius, but most likely the other way around.

Namiko was actually faring quite well in the battle. Lucius was obviously not an expert swordsman, and she quickly disarmed him. Lucius growled and hit her with a powerful blast of wind. "Oh," he said mockingly, "did I forget to tell you? All 14 of us control elements. Two of each of the seven basic elements. Did I forget to mention that?" Namiko growled, then launched a flurry of ice shards at the smirking man before her. Lucius blew them away with some difficulty, but then got hit with a huge fireball. He turned toward Harry, who had launched it.

Draco suddenly fired off two Bone-Breaking curses, and Bludgeoning curse. The Bludgeoning curse hit his chest, and the other two hit his legs, knocking him to the floor. As they hit him, Lucius howled, and glared at all three of them. Suddenly, Namiko appeared behind him. "Which way you looking at?" she asked coldly. Then she struck his head with the palm of her hand. He dropped like a sack. She smirked coldly and lifted her twin blades. "Die!" she hissed, and brought the swords down.

Blood splattered everywhere. Draco stared in shock at the blades protruding from flesh.

Harry looked up at Namiko with the blades caught between his two palms. Namiko looked at Harry with emotionless eyes. "Why are you protecting him, Harry?" she asked coldly. Harry shook his head.

"You will not kill anyone yet. Wait until Wednesday." Namiko looked like she was about to argue, but Harry swiftly stood up and tapped the back of her neck. She went down. Harry caught her as she fell.

Draco rushed up. "Is she ok? Harry, what did you do that for?" he asked a tad bit angrily. Harry just smiled and pointed at her. She was already waking up. She looked at Harry and smiled.

"Thanks," she said gratefully and got up. "What?" she asked, looking at Draco, who was staring at her oddly. "Aren't we leaving now?" Draco just shook his head and led them to the closet. Coincidentally, Lucius had attacked them a few yards away from the closet. Harry, Namiko, and Draco quickly climbed down the ladder and ran out of the tunnels. Then they proceeded to rush to Hogwarts in the semi-darkness, where the only light was the moon.

just to all of my readers, i am really glad that you waited for this chapter to come up! i know that i have not been updating all that quickly, and i would just like to thank all of you for sticking with me!

Alright, i suppose i should respond to reviews now!

Kyntor, chapter 2: thank you for reviewing! i know that malfoy IS grossly out of character, but since i have gotten so far into the story, i won't change it, or my plot. also, you will see in later chapters that most of the people have the same traits!

Kyntor, chapter 1: harry is complaining because he didn't really trust all of the people in that school, and he didn't want to leave his friends, cause he was going to go to the burrow, ya know...

flower123, chapter 10: thank you for reviewing! sorry if i disappointed you in this chapter! if you have any complaints, feel free to tell me, and i will try to add that advice into my upcoming chapters!

darkcelestial20, chapter 10: ya, i've always wanted to write a fic where draco is a good guy! thank you for you compliment!

TxA-GunFighter, chapter 1: thank you for reviewing! and thank you for your compliment on chapter 1!

Beth5572, chapter 9: thank you! hope that you liked this chapter!

momocolady, chapter 6: thank you! oh... why do i have a feeling i've already replied to this?

luvbooks, chapter 6: thank you for reviewing! i hope you found this chapter enjoyable!

xcb, chapter 5: thanks!

ok, if i missed any reviews, or if i already replied to a review that i replied to this time, please let me know!

until next time!

Korihime (iceprincess421)