Author's note
A new chapter for those who enjoy a weekend reading- enjoy and please review.
Chapter 28- Kill Him
Draco awoke to find himself somewhere he had never expected to be; the dungeons of Malfoy Manor. He seriously suspected that his hours were numbered. Voldemort had sensed his attachment to Hermione; the madman would not suffer him to live, not now.
His thoughts were interrupted by the rustling of robes in the darkness.
"Draco," his mother's soft tones echoed through the darkness.
"Mother what are you doing here?" he questioned in panic,
"I've come to save you, of course,"
Draco scoffed, when they had all quite finished saving each other they were likely to all end up dead.
"Hermione sent for me I have brought you a port key." She passed the small gold ring held in a white linen handkerchief through the bars of his cell. "All you need do is slip it on your finger and you will be safe."
Although he took the ring from her hand he did not put it on.
"Draco, we don't have much time," she cautioned.
"How will you get out mother?" She didn't answer merely taking another cloth from her pocket to indicate that she too had a means of escape.
"I won't leave her," Draco then told his mother firmly.
Narcissa gave him a disappointed look;
"Then you will both die," she began, "your affections for Hermione have been exposed hence you find yourself here. Tell me Draco how do you think the Dark Lord will expect her to show her loyalty to him before she takes the mark?"
"The usual way I suppose," he said not quite seeing what his mother was getting at.
"And do you see any other likely victims or are you alone in this dungeon?" she questioned.
Draco blanched as he realised the implications of his mother's words. Voldemort would order his death. Unless they were both very much mistaken Hermione would be expected to kill him. He knew she would not be able to do it and it would, as his mother predicted, cost them both their lives.
"Then all the more reason to remain," he concluded stubbornly, "I will need to find a way to get us both out."
His mother, who dotted on him and had rarely, if ever, chastised him rounded on him then;
"You stubborn fool," she growled, "don't you see you are each other's weakness, if Voldemort holds you both he controls you both."
In truth Draco understood this but he could bring himself to leave her it felt too much like betrayal.
"I can't," was all he managed to say.
His mother shock her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. Holding out her hand to caress his check she sobbed,
"My beautiful foolish boy," she could not bring herself to say goodbye. Knowing that the hardest thing for any parent was to allow their child to make their own mistakes, she kissed her finger tips and placed them on his cheek before placing her own portkey on her hand and disappearing.
Draco paced his cell desperate for a way out but every plan he came up with seemed fatal. He had no idea of the time but he knew he would not sleep anyway. What seemed like days later there was finally a chink of light as the door to his prison was heavily swung open.
"You have an audience with the Dark Lord," McNair told him with considerable mirth.
"Kill him," Voldemort demanded, "prove your loyalty to me."
Hermione schooled her feature not to show her horror at her new master's demands.
"Get out of here Draco", she silently communicated with him. "You are no good to me dead." Her legilimensy was not strong but she knew he heard her. "Stubborn fool, I won't think any less of you." She continued to communicate whilst she slowly raised her wand.
"You can have no other loyalties but to me," Voldemort hissed out.
"Go! Please! I can't live without you, I can't live with this stain on my soul-I will be ok," she continued her silent monologue.
Hermione took a step nearer it was the only way she could think of to stall for more time.
"Please," she was struggling now to be outwardly calm, "I would rather turn my wand on myself than do this." she told him in absolute desperation.
"You have to want to," Voldemort coached her. Black shadows began to form around her swallowing the light, pulsing with power.
"Good," Voldemort purred, "good."
The sight suddenly steeled Draco's nerve, realising that Hermione could defend herself and he need to retreat for now he suddenly spun slamming into the masked gathered Death Eaters behind him. This slight distraction was enough to give him the meter of space he needed to slip on the portkey and disappear.
Inwardly Hermione celebrated his escape but her elation was short lived. Her knees gave at the pressure Voldemort brought to bear, forcing her genuflection.
"You have much to learn," Voldemort hissed at her his mercurial mood shifting, "You will bring his corpse or it will be replaced with your own!"
As she knelt before this repulsive being a plan began to form in her head but there were certain things she needed to make it happen not the least difficult of which was an ally.
Draco crumbled to his knees as the portkey dumped him unceremoniously on the ground. Disorientated it was a moment before he took in his surroundings. Aunt Andromeda and his mother stood a few meters away.
The two older women rushed towards him.
"Draco," his mother screamed sinking to her knees beside him, "are you hurt?"
He had no concern for his own health or wellbeing he did not respond to their question. His first words being;
"I have to get her out of there."
Hermione knew that the only way Draco could be safe and the only way that he could not be used to manipulate her was if Voldemort assumed him to be dead. So she would follow Voldemort's order and bring him Draco's corpse or at least what would appear to be Draco's corpse.