X. THIS IS NOT REAL

Summer had finally ended, the great hall was duller than usual on the first day of term. Dumbledore wasn't there at all, McGonagall standing in front of the crowd.

He sat next to Echo, who looked very tired: Draco's eyes immediately scanning the crowd for Harry, he couldn't see her, couldn't find her in the massive crowd. She must be there though, he'd heard nothing about her in the last weeks of summer. She had to be here, or around.

"Echo, where's Harriet?" Draco whispered out of the corner of his mouth when he grew frustrated at being unable to see her, she wasn't here she was somewhere else in the castle, Miss Priss Potter always got special treatment. That was it, Draco thought, that had to be it.

"She was taken, Draco," Echo said slowly, thickly. Draco felt as though he were in a dream, He just stared at Echo, how dare she even joke about that. "She's going to explain." Echo said tiredly, pointing to McGonagall.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts," she began, "But I regret to inform you that this year the school will not be operating under normal circumstances, next week the ministry will be doing a full scale evacuation of wizards and witches from wizarding communities and as such we will use the time to prepare for the upcoming war. Hogwarts will fall under the jurisdiction of the Order of the Phoenix. There was a gasp among the students, Draco made to look appropriately angry.

"Many of you know already over the summer the school was attacked," McGonagall continued, "for those of you who didn't know, one of our staff betrayed us, Albus Dumbeldore was killed and Harriet Potter taken. We do not know if she is still alive."

Draco felt like all the air had been knocked from him. He looked at Echo, her face was bruised but clean and she had a large welt on her hairline.

They had done it, Draco hadn't been apart of the plan and he didn't know why he expected them to include him in the briefing, he had warned them, there was a spy! It shouldn't have happened.

Draco began to take note of the students then, how little there were, He had seen many of his schoolmates in the holidays, from behind the skull mask of the death eaters, firing off spells that discreetly hit the death eaters or just missed the order members. He had killed a few as well, when he saw people being tortured, if he couldn't kill the death eater doing it he would put their victims from their misery.

Echo looked at him. "Are you alright?" She asked and he shook his head.

"She can't be dead," He said shaking his head, "We can save her."

Echo shook her own, "Draco, what they plan to do with her she would be better off dead."

He knew this, he saw what they had done to Ginny Weasley and Dean Thomas, Dean had already tried to kill himself twice.

Order members descended on the students and took some out of their seats, pulling their sleeves up and revealing the dark mark on each forearm. There was shouting and the students were marched out.

The feast began, the hall silent, Draco couldn't eat. They hadn't even sorted the new students. He left the table, asking for the common room password on his way out, Order members were in the halls, reinforcing windows and doors and placing new wards around the castle. People were running about making up rooms, they were preparing for a siege, it seemed. Draco only wanted Harry, and he hadn't even stopped to say a final goodbye before he left for the summer, and now, she was gone.

Draco was included in the meetings of the Order, but he hadn't been called back to the Dark Lord since Hogwarts had begun, hence had no knew information, there were a few other informants now, not school age, men who had joined with the intent of being spies, and so not all hope was lost, but beyond putting most of the wizarding world in just one place no other plans had been made. It was the third order meeting where Kingsley addressed him directly, "Mr Malfoy," Kingsley had said, after briefing the otheres on the strategy for their planned attack on Malfoy Manor. Draco looked up, he instinctively wanted to bow and grovel. But that was not expected of him here.

"Yes?" He said instead. They couldn't be asking for information, they knew he hadn't been summoned in weeks. The Auror looked at him just as disdainfully as last time, he placed a potion on the table.

"I will warn you it hasn't yet been tested on a living human being," Kingsley warned, "It worked on the body of Severus Snape, to remove the mark. Poppy Pomfrey and Healer Agustus Pie developed it. It will remove the Dark Mark and the bond that it creates with Lord Voldemort." Draco reached for the vial. "Take it before you're next called," Kingsley advised and Draco nodded.

The meeting ended and Echo dragged him away, towards the hospital wing.

"Anastasia wanted to talk to you."

Draco was surprised that the young professor was in a hospital bed, her brother near her and Weasley and Granger there too.

"Professor Sinstra killed Dumbeldore and set up an ambush for Harriet. She was taken at the end of summer from the grounds." Anastatia started with. "The school was attacked -"

"Why didn't you warn us?" Weasly said, it took me a moment to realise he was talking to me. It was actually a little frightening being the subject of the red-head's anger, he was much, much taller than I remeber him being.

"I did." I said, "There was a spy in Hogwarts I got the message to your brother, like all my other messages." Draco said, Granger put a hand on her ginger's arm. "I didn't know, they didn't tell me when, I'd have done anything to stop them from taking her - I just didn't know."

"Malfoy what are you playing at here?" Ron warned him, Draco spluttered in indignation.

"Weasley I was doing my best!" Draco defended himself. Weasley didn't look appeased.

"Ron, calm down." Hermione pleaded. Anistasia called us all to order then, solemnly told us about how Harriet had been taken. Sinatra had gotten three other death eaters into the castle, all poly juiced to look like her one had gone after Dumbeldore and killed him, one had led Harriet into an ambush in the forest and the other two were supposed to take out the other teachers, each one had gotten as far as McGonagall and herself before they were stopped but Dumbeldore had been killed and Harry taken.

Draco still did not believe them. It was impossible that Harry was back at Malfoy manor when she shouldv'e been here with him, it seemed impossible that he was here when she was there. It was all wrong Charlie shouldv'e warned them, Ron's reaction meant they were taken by surprise when Sinatra betrayed them all.

Charlie Weasley was a spy.

"Ah," Draco hissed as his mark burned, distracting him from his thoughts. Echo wrestled the vial from his robes and pressed it into his right hand.

"Drink, now," she demanded. Draco tried to protest - he was going back for Harry but with Weasley and Granger's help he was force fed the vial. Draco gasped, doubled over and then Madame Pomfrey was yelling too loudly in his ear and he was scooped up and laid on a bed. He doubled over in pain, dry retching, his arm burned fiercely and the feeling seemed to spread, moving like tar through his veins, then he blacked out.