Chapter 28
My Fiery Almost-Death
Greyback dragged me down the stairs and through the school, heading out through the Entrance Hall, which Bellatrix was tearing up all to hell. She extinguished the floating candles, she blew up the windows by the High Table, you name it, it was done.
Greyback tightened his grip on my forearm and dragged me deep into the Forest, where the other Death Eaters were waiting with another Death Eater, who looked seventh year.
She had long black hair and ice blue eyes. She was really pale, bar her birthmark like thing on her right ear. She was wearing a pair of black jeans and a matching t-shirt, which revealed her Dark Mark. She was also wearing a green and silver ring and a choker with a snake wrapped around it. She looked a lot like me, besides the fact I wasn't Marked.
The girl was with a woman with long black hair and green eyes. She, like the girl was wearing all black and her Mark was visible.
"We've brought her." Greyback said, setting me down.
"Excellent!" the woman said, grinning evilly as she turned to the girl, who's eyes went from blue to dark brown. I gasped.
"You…you're a Metamorphmagus." I said, turning to her.
"Excellent deduction, worm!" Traci Lestrange snapped, turning to the girl "Ravenwood, stop changing your appearance and kill her already!"
The girl named Ravenwood paused and locked eyes with me, her wand raised.
"Do it, Emily!" the woman standing next to her said. "If you do it, you'll be praised beyond all the rest of us!"
Emily looked me in the eyes and I knew. I knew she wasn't willing for this.
I'm scared, Hannah. she was thinking. If I don't do this, he'll kill me. He'll kill my whole family!
"You don't have to do this." I mouthed "Come over to the right side. We'll help you."
"I have to." Emily mouthed back, her face paling further. "If I don't, my entire family will die."
"Emily Harper Ravenwood!" the woman snapped "You kill Hannah Potter right now or you are disowned, young lady!"
"She doesn't have the stomach." Greyback said for the second time that night "Just like her older brother."
"Don't talk about Dylan like that!" Emily snapped.
"I'll finish her my own way." Greyback added, grabbing my shoulders and making to bite into my throat.
"No, you imbecile!" Lockton shouted "The Dark Lord was clear that if the boy couldn't kill Dumbledore, the girl was to kill Potter. This is your moment, do it, don't be the second Death Eater to bottle out on a murder!"
Emily looked me in the eye and mouthed "I don't want this. I never wanted to be a Death Eater."
"Go on, Emily, NOW!" Bellatrix shouted, just like she had for Draco.
I locked eyes with Emily and focused on putting thoughts in her head.
You don't have to do this. I thought to her Just drop your wand and come with me. I can help you. I can protect you against Voldemort.
Emily looked me in the eye, and I swore I saw her smile faintly when she lowered her wand. "No." she said, looking who I was guessing was her mother in the eye "I can't do it."
"You filthy blood traitor!" her mother shouted, taking a step towards her daughter, wand drawn.
"Oh, no you don't!" I shouted, taking out my dagger and throwing it.
My dagger flew and caught Emily's mother in the tresses of her long black hair before it hit the tree, close to where her temple was.
Emily's hair and eyes went as pale as she was and turned to me "T-Thank you." she whispered.
I smiled "You're welcome. Run. Go into the castle and don't come back out!" I shouted. "I'll meet you in the common room!"
Emily smiled at me and broke into a run for the castle, which nobody noticed because everyone was staring at me.
Bellatrix grabbed my arm. "I have a backup plan for this one." she said, dragging me out of the Forest and shoving me in Hagrid's cabin just as Harry ran out onto the grounds, screaming.
"SNAPE! HE TRUSTED YOU!"
I backed away from the door slowly, completely terrified of what was going to happen to me, and if I was getting out of whatever it was alive.
"INCENDIO!" Bellatrix screamed from the outside.
Suddenly, the cabin I was in erupted into flames. I screamed as Fang the boarhound howled.
"Fang's in there, yeh evil -!" Hagrid shouted.
"No!" someone else shouted.
"Come on, me, think!" I said to myself. "Wait! I can put the fire out with my…oh, wait, my wand's on top of the Astronomy Tower! That's out…think, think, Potter! OH! My element control! That's it! I can put it out with my power!"
I started to try and conjure up enough water to put out the inferno blocking my way out, but…
With a crack and a crash, a support beam broke off the top of the roof of Hagrid's cabin and pinned me to the floor, my hands were at my sides. I screamed again, louder than ever. I was trapped!
Or was I?
"FANG!" I shouted, knowing that Hagrid's dog was in here.
The boarhound came bounding over fiery debris and stopped where I was trapped.
"Get help!" I said.
Fang barked once and jumped over another mound of debris before running out through the dog door.
I was running out of time. The smoke was taking up most of the breathable air in the cabin, and I was stuck. I was stuck breathing in that smoke, and if help didn't show up soon, I was going to die from smoke inhalation.
"Hopefully…" I said, pausing to cough "that help comes soon.
…
Twenty minutes later, just as I thought I was done for, smoke having been the most I was inhaling and I was starting to black out, the door crashed down.
"Hannah!" Draco's voice shouted.
I gasped, coughing when I got some smoke in the back of my throat. "Back here!" I gasped weakly.
I knew it. I knew it was going to be the end of me. I was going to die in that fire.
How ironic. A girl that can make fire gets killed from it. Was my last thought before the world went black.
…
Potter ran after us, he was deranged with grief for Dumbledore, and to be honest, I was as well.
"SNAPE!" Potter shouted, drawing his wand and making me and my godfather turn around. "HE TRUSTED YOU!"
Potter glared me in the eye and snarled, lowering his gaze to my Mark "She trusted you, Malfoy. She bloody well trusted you!"
Bellatrix sent the Cruciatus Curse his way and cheered all the way back to the oaf's dwelling.
"INCENDIO!" she screamed in delight.
Suddenly, flames flickered from the cabin that belonged to the oaf Hannah respected so much…Hagrid's hut was on fire.
Snape turned to me and shouted just as the cabin started to burn "Run!"
I started running, but I stopped when I heard something. A scream. A girl's scream.
Hannah's scream.
"No…" I breathed. "No…they wouldn't…she wouldn't!"
They locked her into the oaf's cabin. They locked her in and set it on fire just to kill her.
To punish me.
"NO!" I shouted, starting to run from where I was.
Please, please let her hang on long enough for me to get to her. Please! I thought as I started running.
I heard a crack and crash and I gasped as I heard another scream…louder than the last.
"Hannah!" I bawled, falling to my knees.
That had to have killed her. She must have succumbed to whatever collapsed on top of her. She had to have been…dead.
I heard another shout, but it wasn't from in the castle or from the Forest, it was from the cabin.
"FANG!" Hannah shouted.
I sighed in relief. She was alive. She may have been hurt, but she was alive.
I was suddenly knocked onto my back by the oaf's hound, Fang. His paws were muddy and he messed up my suit.
"Get off me, dog!" I shouted, pushing the great beast off me and getting up.
Fang barked and turned to the cabin before looking at me with eyes that clearly said:
She needs you.
I took a deep breath and scratched Fang behind the ears "You are one faithful dog." I said before starting to run.
I'm on my way, Hannah. Hold on! I thought as I ran, drawing my wand.
I tried to open the door, but it was too hot to the touch to do so. So, I did the smart thing.
I used the first spell that came to my head.
"FLIPENDO!" I shouted, blasting the door off its hinges, but open nevertheless.
I heard the Death Eaters at the edge of the Forest shouting at me.
"NO! You're to come here now!" Lockton ordered.
"You'll parish!" Munville shouted, worried.
"LEAVE HER, DRACO!" Bellatrix barked.
I locked eyes with my godfather and he nodded.
"Go. Save her." he said.
I smiled at him for the first time in a while and ran into the cabin, the Death Eaters shouting my name.
"Hannah!" I shouted when I stepped over the threshold.
I heard a gasp, then a coughing fit. "Back here!" Hannah gasped, sounding to my alarm, weak.
The adrenaline started pumping through my body quickly as I ran into the cabin. I wasn't going to let her die. I wouldn't let her die.
I stalled when I found her. "No…" I mouthed.
I was right. She was trapped underneath a support beam, which explained the crack, crash and screaming I heard beforehand.
But what made it worse…she was unconscious.
I dropped to my knees and started to try to pull the beam off her, not caring about the fact that I could do magic, not bothering to grab my wand and use it.
"Come on!" I grunted, unable to pull the beam off of her. "I can't! I'll never get it off her in time!" I said, thick tears starting to fall down my face.
Then, I heard her voice and I almost thought she had came around, but I was mistaken. She was screaming in my head.
HAVE YOU GONE MAD?! ARE YOU A WIZARD OR NOT!?
I wiped my eyes, picking up my wand and pointing it at the beam she was trapped under. "Wingardium Leviosa!" I shouted, hoping that it would work.
I sighed in relief when the beam got up off her and flew into another room.
I had to act fast after that, if I didn't, I was certain that Hannah was going to die. I crouched down and lifted Hannah into my arms and started running.
It was a good thing, too. Another beam had cracked and collapsed where I was just standing.
As soon as I was out, I knew that the Death Eaters were probably in the Forest, thinking I was either dead or ditching them.
I set her down somewhere I knew no one would find us. I hid her in the clearing. Our clearing.
I sat down and pulled her tightly into my lap, holding her close in my arms as I hoped to Hannah's Jeff Skinner that she'd wake up.
I started singing. I didn't know why, but I started singing. And not just anything. I sang her song. The song that Potter consoled her with all those years ago when she had her Muggle nightmares:
"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go. When all those shadows almost killed your light. And I remember you said 'Don't leave me here alone. But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight.
Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, you'll be all right, no one can hurt you now, come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound.
Don't you dare look out your window, darling, everything's on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold on to this lullabye, even when the music's gone. Gone.
Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, you'll be alright, no one can hurt you now, come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound.
Just close your eyes. You'll be all right. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe...and...sound."
Her hair smelt like smoke, but I still held her. I wasn't going to let her go.
But I didn't know why. Hell, I didn't even know if she was alive.
I laid her in my lap and placed a hand over where her heart was and sighed in relief.
It was still beating. It was weak and almost undetectable, but still beating.
I lifted her up and cradled her against me again, thanking her Skinner that she was still alive.
"Thank you." I muttered, tears stinging my eyes as I kissed her lightly. "Thank you." I said again, burying my face in her hair, not caring that it smelt of smoke.
I held her tightly and muttered "I'm sorry…I'm sorry."
I never wanted this. I never wanted any of this.
Sure, I never wanted Hannah to almost die in a fire, but I also never wanted this to have happened.
I never wanted to be like my father. I never wanted to serve the Dark Lord. I didn't want to be a Death Eater.
There was only one problem…I had to.
The Malfoys were in debt to the Dark Lord. With my father incarcerated into Azkaban, we made Death Eaters look horrible, so, I was Marked in my father's place.
My mother thought I was being punished when I got my assignment.
I was supposed to kill Dumbledore and repair that Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Hidden Things.
And if I didn't do it or failed…He said that he'd make me watch him kill the raven in my arms.
The raven that was…coughing?
I looked down and watched her with wide eyes until she stilled, her breathing back to normal.
She moaned next, moving one of her shoulders that was probably hit the hardest when she collapsed in the cabin before she stirred, her eyes fluttering open as she began to come around.
I sighed in relief again as I closed my eyes, I knew she wasn't dead but it felt good that she didn't need medical attention.
When I next opened them, the first colour my eyes saw was a clear metallic blue.
"Draco?" she whispered.
A/N: Well, for the Death Eaters that were submitted, did I portray them okay? I still don't own anything. Be patient, the next chapter will be up soon!
