Chapter 20- End of Something
*****Draco*****
"Theo, what's going on?" Draco shouted, coming to stand in front of the other Slytherin who seemed to be in a hurry to get away from whatever was behind him. Which was the reasonable thing to do, probably.
"Get the fuck out of my way," Nott said, physically shoving Draco aside.
Slytherins never fought with each other outside of the Slytherin common room. That was not something Draco would tolerate.
A silent stunning and disarming spell, and Draco had the better of the other boy. Draco had been practicing more than his housemate.
"Whose side are you on?" Nott demanded from the ground.
"I'm on my own side, protecting myself like any intelligent Slytherin would," Draco maintained. It had been his line for a year, when he'd been pressed to say anything at all, which wasn't often.
Nott was on his feet again already, so Draco's spell hadn't been very good. Intent was what mattered, and Draco had never raised his wand against a fellow housemate before, someone he'd shared a room with for years, and had played with as a small child. They'd been… sort of friends. When was the last time they'd had a conversation?
"Not possible anymore. You've got two options, thanks to the Weasleys. I only had one," the boy said. Draco resisted taking a step back.
"I'm not like the Weasleys at all. I can only tolerate Ginny, and she's not really like the rest of them," he maintained. Another line. It was made easier when Ginny hadn't gone home for Christmas like the rest of her family, but could someone really think that Ginny Weasley would turn her back on her family? Though her brother Percy had, it seemed.
"You'll have to choose soon," Nott gave a little chuckle.
"No, I don't. And you don't have to either," Draco said.
Theo laughed.
Nott had been the one behind things that year, Draco now felt. Knew. And whatever was happening in the castle now. Draco had wondered who… Other, older and more powerful people were supposed to fix this. Or Potter. Draco Malfoy had become someone who counted on Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter.
"I will be among his most trusted, perhaps his very most. Pushing far past people like your father, or mine. I just killed Albus Dumbledore," the boy declared.
Boy. Were they still boys? Was Theo still a boy if he had killed?
Albus Dumbledore.
Draco had never liked the man, never really had reason to trust him but…
"Now, give me my wand, and maybe I won't mention our little altercation. For old time's sake. In another year, I might even bring you forward to join our ranks. Once you've proven yourself," he declared.
He had to do it.
Draco held out the wand, trying not to shake. How had this… teenage boy beaten Albus Dumbledore? Because of Dumbledore's character. The old man probably hadn't wanted to actually hurt the young man, even if he was a Slytherin and the son of a Death Eater. Dumbledore probably had thought there was still hope.
Draco needed to find the others, mostly Ginny.
Hogwarts was done.
Halls were chaos. People would die. Draco kept low with a shield charm in place. No one attacked him, Death Eater or Order member. He supposed no one knew what to think of him so they didn't yet want to kill him. It had been what he'd aimed for since Tom Riddle had been in his house. He thought he heard Dora's voice, but he kept going.
*****Ginny*****
Dennis Creevey's voice echoed through the common room. "Death Eaters coming from the Room of Requirement," it said, and his wallaby patronus faded. Ginny hadn't known what the animal was before Dennis first made his corporeal patronus, just last week. It was basically a small kangaroo.
Ginny wasn't sure how many other Gryffindors ran for the door with her. She was the first to it.
If someone else sent a message to Slytherin, what would it say? 'Stay quiet and safe' or 'Come, be a Death Eater now'? What about the other Houses? How far could she send a patronus? All the way to the Order Headquarters in London? She had only sent one with a message to the other side of the Room of Requirement. Dennis or Colin- they were usually together- would have told their Head of House, maybe Dumbledore himself, and they would do what was best. She couldn't send anything to Draco, because she might make whatever situation he was in worse for him.
"Ginny," a hand gripping on her shoulder slowed her down.
"Harry?" Ginny protested. Who was he to stop her?
"Take a small sip," he said, handing her a vial. She did it without question. She owed him enough, and they didn't have time. "Liquid luck," he explained. "Neville," he called next. Ginny kept going. If that worked, why weren't they always on the stuff? Was Tom? Was He there too?
Death Eaters were terrifying. Masks hiding their identities, but did that matter? All of them were dangerous and evil. But they weren't using killing curses, and neither were the rest of them, the defenders. Teachers, Gryffindors, maybe others. Ginny ran over to Dennis and Colin who were fighting a masked Death Eater. Bellatrix was somewhere in hearing distance, cackling. Ginny didn't think she was wearing a mask. Ginny couldn't hurt her or Lucius, as much as she wanted to.
Dennis fell over, screaming. Ginny thought it was the Cruciatus Curse. Their Death Eater ran away. All of them were running, shielding. Did no killing curses mean no killing? She could hope that the bodies on the ground as she ran weren't dead. There was blood further down the hall, but no body, which seemed good.
Into the first main staircases, Death Eaters running and jumping, moving staircases, cushioning charms, things Ginny had only imagined that not even the twins had done.
Until now. Fred and George were there, running into the staircases from two floors below. And Tonks- she could tell by the clothes not the face- then Bill, then other Order members Ginny didn't know as well. The Death Eaters were off down another hallway. Loud spells colliding, but not damaging ones. Ginny slid down a rail that was moving to the right direction.
Fear was what they wanted, chaos. Tom cared about Hogwarts, wouldn't want it really destroyed. She knew how he felt about the castle when… he was her age, and that much wouldn't have changed. But he wanted everyone to know it wasn't really safe. Ginny told herself that she didn't have time to be afraid, but she did, she was. She was slower at running than some of them. When she burst into the Great Hall, the Gryffindor hourglass was shattered, gems scattered, it would have been deliberate. They couldn't have really been rubies, she thought for some reason. The doors were open to the outside, so Ginny kept running. She could see Neville ahead.
When she got outside, the Death Eaters were already escaping from the grounds. Their apparitions audible in those numbers.
It was dark, and she craned her head up at the sickly, green image that she'd seen at the Quidditch World Cup.
Someone was dead.
*****Ginny*****
"Do you think Snape could really be on their side?" Ginny asked. She'd defended him to Ron, Hermione, and Harry, or at least pointed out that they didn't know anything. But Draco had never been confident about Snape's leanings. Both sides had trusted him for so long, or at least trusted him enough.
Their former potions and defence teacher, and Order spy had left with the other Death Eaters. But that didn't mean that he had done anything worse, except probably helped them escape, but it was good to get them off the grounds, wasn't it? No one had died except Dumbledore, but that still didn't feel real.
Theodore Nott had killed Albus Dumbledore in the Headmaster's Office, by the killing curse. The boy that Draco had played with as a child. Who had lost his mother early in life like Luna had. But a sad childhood didn't excuse murder, like it didn't for Tom. But what if there were other factors that Ginny didn't know about?
There had been a funeral. Lots of people had been at the castle. Some of those same people who probably called Dumbledore a liar and denied Tom's existence until a year ago. Fickle public. There were probably newspaper articles praising him, but Ginny wouldn't read them. They said he'd been the only one Tom feared.
Exams were cancelled, even though there were three weeks of class left, but Ginny and the other fifth years and seventh years would need to take their OWLs and NEWTs. Classes still met, except Defense and Transfiguration. She sat with Draco sometimes as she revised, or with Luna. Some parents took their children out of the school. Ginny wondered if they would be back next term.
Neville had gotten them to go to the Room of Requirement again. He said it wasn't the room or the castle's fault that the Death Eaters had gotten in. He'd pointed out very reasonably that when they were using the room, the castle was even safer, because whatever configuration or hidden object in the room that let the Death Eaters in couldn't be activated. The Creevy boys were older now, like Neville had been after the Ministry. Luna, Susan, and Hannah hadn't known anything was happening until it was over.
Just two weeks before, Ginny had been flying around the empty quidditch pitch in Draco's arms. The first really nice day that made her believe spring was coming and would be beautiful. Feeling all of him pressed up against her. Climbing, diving, flying fast, flying slow, high, low. Him in control, her in control, sharing control. It was beautiful. There had been lovely days since then, but no casual flying. Quidditch season was over, her excitement over winning the cup a distant memory.
No one had died, besides Dumbledore. Bill had been hurt, by Fenrir Greyback. One swipe across the back. And then Tonks had been there, forcing the monster away. Monster because of who he was, not because he was a werewolf. She'd thought he'd been unconscious when she got her own scratch. But they'd both assured Ginny and Draco that they'd be fine. Bill and Draco hadn't said much of anything to each other.
"I think he hasn't betrayed me, when he's seen in my head," Draco answered. Ginny had forgotten the question. Wondering if Snape was on their side, yeah. The biggest question around, maybe. That was an argument she hadn't used with her other friends. It said too much about Draco, and they wouldn't find it convincing anyway. "But it could just be an- affection for me, not for Dumbledore and his Order's cause." Because Snape had been friends with Lucius Malfoy for longer than Harry would have known, and that wouldn't make him trust the man any more. And it shouldn't. She would argue for their former professor in their company, but she wasn't at all sure. He wasn't a blind follower of Tom, she was sure of that, but that didn't make him on their side.
"Yeah, maybe," Ginny answered. They were just saying things they both already knew. "I guess we're living at the Burrow again," Ginny said. Headquarters didn't have its secret keeper, which would mean it wasn't protected anymore, or at least not as tightly, from what Ginny understood about charm. Even if Snape contacted McGonagall or anyone else in the Order, Ginny wouldn't know about it. "You can still come to the wedding?"
"I'll be there," Draco answered.
Bill was getting married before her. It was right for the oldest to get married before the youngest. Sometimes none of that felt real. Sometimes it felt like she and Draco were just dating and would one day get married, probably. Like Bill and Fleur. She hadn't always liked Fleur, but it was just jealousy. That Fleur was unnaturally beautiful, and had a normal love life.
"And maybe I can visit you again first," Ginny said.
"That will be nice," Draco said. He looked lost.
"We are engaged, after all," she pointed out, waving her hand, which had the ring on it. She let it be seen sometimes, like when they were alone, or during their defense practices, and when she slept. Draco nodded. They'd agreed that Ginny could tell the rest of her family when the time felt right. Draco wouldn't mind missing that.
"Hey," Ginny said, making him look at her. "We'll be okay," she said, the most trite line ever. "And why don't we just snog for a while, yeah?" she proposed. Snogging hadn't gotten old yet, she hoped it wouldn't, even when they moved far beyond it. Eventually. Draco smiled at her suggestion.
*****Draco*****
Perhaps the strangest conversation in his life happened the evening Ginny finished her last OWL, and they were going to celebrate with dinner alone in the Room of Requirement. He was loitering two hallways from Gryffindor portrait to meet her.
"Can we come to your defense practice?" Harry Potter asked him. Potter could have used his map to find Draco, which Draco greatly disliked his childhood rival having that power.
"Ask Ginny," Draco decided that was most fair, and most likely to get rid of Potter. Ginny would protect Draco's feelings but know that Potter could really use worthy practice. And Potter was good.
"Neville said anyone coming into the room had to be unanimously accepted, so we should talk to you. And I thought coming to you just me might work better."
"And did your friends agree that you were the best messenger?" Draco asked, curious.
"No, Hermione said she would be the most level headed, and Ron thought he should do it, since the two of you can't hurt each other." Part of the betrothal contract, yes.
"I would have chosen Weasley, for that reason and others," Draco said.
"Yeah, well, if you tell me no, i'll be sure to send in Ron," Potter shrugged.
"Because they do what you tell them to do?" Draco questioned.
Potter seemed to actually think about it, "Not really. Sometimes. Ron more than Hermione. I don't think they thought this would work no matter who talked to you. I didn't think I cared, you know? The three of us can practice spells. I could get together the rest of the DA if I wanted to, probably. Term's almost over anyway, it should be the best part, no classes, no exams- again. But I actually want to take exams, because that would mean my world was normal. You know I've only taken end of term exams in first and third year? And then the OWLs last year, but we'd have had to make those up. So I'm two for five, and in those years, my world didn't collapse until after end of term exams," Potter ranted.
The school hadn't had exams their second year or this one, and Potter had been exempt their fourth year as a 'champion'. Didn't feel like a school sometimes.
"You'd make our number odd," Draco pointed out.
Potter opened his mouth twice before saying, "I could bring Katie," he said, listing his girlfriend. Or at least, Draco assumed that was still going on. Would it survive the girl graduating though? Likely not. And Potter's life would always be different until Tom was dead. He was the 'Chosen One."
Another possible Gryffindor in the group, but the girl didn't seem bad.
"If she wishes. Uneven numbers are fine for some practices," Draco said. And sometimes someone had to miss, or Neville would work with those having trouble, usually one or both Creevy boy, or Abbott. "Tomorrow after dinner," Draco said. "Assuming no one else objects," he allowed. No one would. They'd all spend the night staring at him though.
It would be the last before they went home, probably.
"I'll try to find Luna before then, but she won't mind. And Ginny would have said if she did."
"Creevy brothers, Hannah Abbott, and Susan Bones," Draco listed.
Potter seemed surprised. It was a large portion of his old group.
"Yeah, okay," the other boy agreed. None of them would mind.
"Potter asked if they could join our 'study' group," Draco said when Ginny's mouth was full of steak. Her eyes widened, and she gestured in a circular manor for him to keep talking.
"Nothing more to say, is there?" he asked back.
"Unfair Slytherin," Ginny got out through her mouthful. She was cute even then.
"I allowed it," Draco informed her. It was rather mature of him, wasn't it? They had been rivals since Potter refused to even shake his hand and publicly rejected him. He could now recognize reasons why, but it hadn't been entirely young Draco's fault.
"Was it just so you could finally beat him in a duel?" Ginny asked. So she thought he would win- or just thought that he would think so.
"The boy needs practice, doesn't he?" Draco said instead, neutrally.
*****Ginny*****
In the Room of Requirement, nothing felt different, usually. Except now Harry, Hermione, and Ron were there. And yet it felt even less like the DA than usual, because Harry was very obviously not in charge. No one was in charge. Which probably wouldn't work for a group larger than theirs. Usually it was Ginny or Draco or Neville who suggested something at first, but Susan and Colin started voicing what they wanted to work on, usually in smaller groups, and finally Dennis and Hannah as well. Luna was content with anything, it seemed, but Ginny thought she would feel comfortable speaking up if she needed. Usually Dennis wanted to fight with his brother against Draco. It wasn't an aggressive thing, just Draco was the best at facing two opponents at once. The youngest boy gravitated towards Neville when he wanted to learn something new, and to Draco when he wanted to practice. Or maybe it was a male bonding thing for the younger boy.
And Draco wasn't trying to fight Harry. They both seemed content to stay on opposite sides of the room. Harry worked with Katie, and Hermione with Ron. It was tense, but nice that they were all together.
"Hey, Harry, wait a second," Ginny wanted to hold him back when everyone seemed done by mutual agreement. Draco gave her a raised eyebrow look, but left with the Creevy boys. It was a shame that Draco had never gotten to be a big brother. It would have been good for him. Katie waved at Ginny in a friendly way. So she wasn't worried. And maybe Draco was curious, not worried.
"Have a good summer, Ginny," Hannah called, smiling. Ginny wished she knew the Hufflepuff girl better. "And you too," Hannah added.
"Ginny?" Harry asked when they were alone. He looked tired.
"It was nice of you to come today," Ginny started.
"Yeah," Harry answered.
"You and Katie seem good," she observed.
"Yeah," Harry answered again.
"Are you going to break up with her before you go off on your mission?" Ginny asked.
"What?" Harry protested, off balance.
"Dumbledore was working on something, and you were helping him," Ginny said slowly. She noticed things. She had watched Harry Potter for five years. It was habit long ago, and the way to not entirely miss whatever exciting or important was going on.
"I- yeah, sort of," Harry admitted. "But I can't tell you anything," he maintained.
"Hopefully Dumbledore actually gave you enough information to keep going on your own?" Ginny pressed. "Well, with Ron and Hermione, and anyone else you actually let help you. We exist too, you know."
"I- have some things to go on, yeah," Harry said.
"Because Dumbledore is not always a fount of useful information, and always knows more than he says. He hardly tells you anything, and he tells even less to anyone except maybe McGonagall," Ginny said. She knew that the twins didn't feel like they knew everything, even after joining the Order. "You do know that most Hogwarts students never actually talked to Albus Dumbledore ever, right?" Ginny checked, because she wasn't sure that Harry knew.
"He- we did something a few days before he- died, and he told me stuff he wouldn't normally say. He'd been in a bad way since his hand, more than he let on. He was- going to die pretty soon, I think. He almost died that day," Harry admitted. It was more than Ginny had thought he would say. Though Harry wasn't as tight-lipped as the Headmaster, he had at least a hundred years less experience at it. "And he knew someone was supposed to kill him- more than just the poisoning last term- and he thought he could change their mind. I- still sort of thought it was Malfoy."
"Yeah, you can be pretty single-minded, Potter," Ginny joked. It wasn't a good joke. It might have been, probably would have been Malfoy if they hadn't kept him away from Malfoy Manor last summer. He would have been tricked, bribed, or threatened into trying. It would break him. Tom broke people, and she couldn't judge anyone for that, when he'd broken her. But it didn't mean those people didn't have to be stopped, maybe killed. But Draco wouldn't be one of them now.
"He's really not a bad guy to you? I mean, I know you have a lot of older brothers looking out for you, and you can take care of yourself, but none of you could actually hurt Malfoy, and- I could- if he needed it, you know?" Harry said, looking at his feet.
"Not a bad guy, and I'm going to marry him," Ginny said calmly.
"Yeah, but you have to," Harry protested.
"I want to," Ginny said, going ahead and waving the ring in his face. She'd essentially made the decision when she hadn't hidden it at the beginning of practice. Draco hadn't objected, and he noticed things like that. He'd held her hand, fingers rubbing over her ring. He was romantic like that. Hermione definitely noticed. And she wouldn't keep anything from the boys forever. "Don't talk about it except with Hermione and Ron, and they need to keep quiet too. The others of our group have already known," she added.
"Wow," Harry breathed. "You're- we're all really young," Harry amended what he was going to say slightly.
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be getting married this young if the contract didn't exist, but that doesn't mean I don't want to now," Ginny said.
"I figured with all this defense practice with him you weren't just hoping he'd die in the war so you could marry someone else," Harry muttered.
"That's correct. And I'm going to pretend you didn't say it. I know you probably think about people dying a lot. I do too sometimes. You should probably talk to Harry and Ron about it. Or my parents. You're coming to Bill's wedding before you head off to do whatever?" she checked. Ron needed to be there. And Harry was family too, and Hermione.
"Yeah, I'll be there," Harry agreed.
"Have a good summer, Harry," Ginny said, going off to find Draco again. They'd find somewhere besides the Room of Requirement to talk. If Dumbledore had been dying anyway, did that change anything about his death? Maybe Dumbledore was better off at peace earlier. But it wasn't better for anyone else.
She should try to grab Ron and tell him about the ring before he heard it from Harry or Hermione. It was the sister, but also friend, thing to do. She'd find Ron and then Draco.
A/N: Sorry for the delays. I've been on an Avenger's kick lately and not feeling very inspired here. Any encouragement and inspiration would be appreciated.