Changing Sides

Chapter 15: Swords and Arrows

Disclaimer: Do not own.

I would like to thank the-dreamer4 for their review and curiousity. It is true, my writing isn't always perfect. Enjoy the chapter and the obnoxiously long delay. I know its the summer but I rarely have the time.

Previously:

Dumbledore had said that he was going to a Ministry event for three days. Dumbledore was not going to be here, in the school for three days. Last time this had happened, the Sorceror's Stone was almost stolen but the stone had been destroyed and that was not what Harry was thinking about. He was thinking about a shiny sword with emeralds on it in a glass case against the wall in Dumbledore's office. Voldemort needed the Sword of Godric Gryffindor and it was in Dumbledore's office and Dumbledore would be gone for three days. It was the beginning of October and Harry hoped he could put it off longer but Harry didn't know if he would get another opportune moment.

Tomorrow, he thought. Tomorrow I'll do it.

...

Harry woke up in the Hospital Wing. It was raining outside and no light shown through the windows. Harry saw his clothes and his robes sitting at the foot of his bed. This must have been someone's way of telling him he could leave. He pulled up the curtains and changed his clothes. He pulled down the curtains and quickly left the Hospital Wing without a second glance back.

Harry strode briskly through the corridors and was heading to Gryffindor Tower. He didn't want to have to face Miranda, if she was even there, was she? Did Dumbledore expel her? He honestly didn't remember. He knew that Miranda knew all about his summer 'camp' with Malfoy. But then why couldn't Dumbledore find out through Legilimency or why couldn't Snape? Harry made an assumption that it had something to do with the fact that he and Miranda had been very close and him and Snape, well... not so much.

Suddenly Harry remembered something and he froze in the middle of the corridor. Dumbledore wasn't here. Today or tomorrow. Or even the day after that. But that might be pushing it. He had the next few days to sneak into Dumbledore's office, retrieve the sword and bring it to Voldemort. Why did Voldemort even need the sword? It held no sentimental value to him besides the fact that it can kill a basilisk and Harry had used it just for that. Maybe it held exceptional magical powers since it belonged to Godric Gryffindor.

Dumbledore had told him that only a true Gryffindor could pull this out of the Sorting Hat and Harry did so in his second year. The thoughts about for what and why Voldemort wanted the sword were all cast aside. Harry just had to bring it to him to keep his friends safe.

"Potter!" someone yelled bringing him out of his thoughts.

Harry turned around to face Professor Connelly.

"Professor," Harry said nodding.

"Are you aware that that oaf of a headmaster is gone for the next two days?" Connelly asked.

"Actually, he'll be gone for three days," Harry replied. "And obviously I did know."

"Well, you should complete the task now while there is no one there to guard it. Leave the school and meet the three of us just outside the gate where we will portkey to the Dark Lord," Connelly explained.

Harry contemplated all of this in his head. "Meet the three of you? Three? Who's the third?" Harry asked.

Harry leaned to the side as he saw someone coming down the corridor towards them. It was Malfoy. Harry leaned back in. Then he did a double take and stepped away from Connelly to the side to get a clear view of Malfoy dragging Ginny Weasley in front of him. She was clearly struggling.

Connelly flung his arm out in front of Harry to stop him when he started to run towards her. "It's just a little bit of incentive to make sure you get the task done," Connelly said.

"If you touch one hair on her head, I swear Dol--," Harry said.

"I'm sorry did you call me something?" Connelly asked.

"Dol--. Ant--... Connelly," Harry finally settled for. He knew he could not say the true identity of this man.

"Me and Ginevra here are going to spend some quality time together," Malfoy said to Harry.

"Malfoy, I will kill you myself if anything happens to her," Harry threatened.

"Bring it on scarhead," Malfoy said and walked past Harry with Ginny.

"Harry... please," Ginny managed to say as Malfoy walked past her.

"Gin, you'll be fine," Harry said to her as her and Malfoy turned the corner. Harry turned his back on his Professor and marched towards Dumbledore's office. As soon as he turned the corner, he sprinted down the corridor and behind the painting of a wolf howling to the moon which led right to the Gryffindor Common Room. Secret passageway courtesy of the werewolf marauder himself. Harry thanked him in his head.

He ran to his dormitory, grabbed his cloak and shoved it in his pocket. Did he need anything else? He rubbed his neck subconsciously and realized he was still wearing the talisman that Malfoy gave him. Hermione had already tried numerous spells to get it off, but it wouldn't let her touch it. Ron couldn't even get near it. Harry groaned in frustration and tried to rip it off.

It fell off.

"What the?" Harry asked aloud. How is it that Hermione Granger using complex spells Harry had never even heard of could not get it off but with one tug Harry could get it off of himself? Stupid bloody Malfoy. He shoved the talisman in his pocket and went back through the passage he came.

Damn it, he thought when he got to Dumbledore's gargoyles. He didn't know a password.

"Acid pops, lemon drops, licorice twists, bertie botts, chocolate frogs, chocolate chips, chicken wings, apple pie, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, blueberry pie, raspberry pie? I don't know. Open up!" Harry shouted at the gargoyles.

They sprang to life and the spiral staircase started to spin. He must've said the password in one of his lame guesses. Pies? What was he thinking? Dumbledore always seemed to choose a food or something or some sort of candy sweet. He jumped on the staircase and ran up them to Dumbledore's office.

He pushed open the door slowly sticking his wand in first and then his head to make sure the coast was clear. It was. "Lumos," he said. He knew it would be. Well, he was pretty sure it would be. He saw the sword in the case by Dumbledore's desk.

He suddenly had a flashback of him in this office three years ago when Dumbledore told him to take a closer look at the sword. It had said Godric Gryffindor down the blade and had those rubies on its pommel. He was remembering being in the Chamber with Ginny Weasley and how he saved her life and how Fawkes had saved his by healing his wound from the basilisk fang.

Harry pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked at the sword in the case which he was supposed to steal. Dumbledore would find out. Dumbledore would know it was him. He would get expelled for stealing and then Voldemort would find him and kill him. Voldemort would kill him and his friends if he didn't steal it. Harry weighed the options. I die, he thought, or my friends and I die. One is less of a casualty than at least five.

Harry looked back at the sword in the case. This sword with Godric Gryffindor's name on it represented bravery, Harry knew he had to take it. There was suddenly a loud clap of thunder and a flash of lightning glinted off the indestructible blade and lit up the emeralds on the pommel emitting a momentary greenish glow to Dumbledore's dark office.

The eerie greenish glow was gone in a flash and it momentarily reminded Harry of the light from the Killing Curse.

Wait. Back up. Double take. Green? Harry shook his head and put his face against the glass. Those were definetely emeralds. They had always been emeralds, except for when he actually used the sword in second year. Then, they were rubies. Harry took a step back.

A fake sword. Oh Merlin, he was in trouble now. Where was the real one?

Wait. Back up. Double take. Was this a fake mission? Did Voldemort know this one was fake? Did he already have the real one? Was this just an excuse to get pleasure from a confused fifth year and then kill him once and for all?

There was another thunder boom and Harry thought of Ginny probably standing outside of the gates with a wand trained on her in the freezing rain. Harry went to the case and blew it open with a simple, "Bombara!" He enjoyed making a loud explosion.

Crap. People probably heard that. He opened the window and looked down. He saw Malfoy and Ginny running across the grounds to the gate. He watched as Ginny wrenched herself free of Malfoy's grasp and started running back towards the school. Malfoy was yelling at her but she would not go back to him. No way she would ever go back to him so she ran towards the school. Harry was about to run out of Dumbledore's office when he saw something that made him freeze where he was.

Malfoy held out his hands and his bow and arrows had appeared in it.

OH CRAP! Harry ran out of Dumbledore's office and while running he managed to shrink the sword to fit in his pocket. It felt like a small needle stabbing him. He ran down the corridors and through the school. He didn't run into many people. They all got out of the way quickly and he flew out the front doors of the school. He ran towards Ginny who was running towards him. She was directly in between him and Malfoy.

"Ginny! Get down!" Harry yelled just as thunder cracked.

"Harry!" Ginny cried running towards him.

"Get down! Ginny! Get down!" Harry yelled again.

"What?" Ginny yelled to him.

Harry felt time and space slow down. He heard Ginny yell "what?", heard the pluck of a taught string being released and heard his own voice yelling "Mobilicorpus!" with his wand pointed at Ginny and he flung her to the ground just as a green arrow flew through the air where she had been standing. She watched it with awe and she was what Harry had done for her. Her awe turned to horror and Malfoy's arrow struck Harry right in the stomach and he went down right there.

"Harry!" Ginny screamed. She got up and ran to his fallen form.

"G-Gin?" Harry managed to say.

"Harry, you're strong, you'll be fine," Ginny was saying. She ripped off part of the bottom of her too long, hand-me-down robe and started dabbing at where the arrow was.

Ginny suddenly whirled around at the sound of footsteps. "You!" she yelled pointing an accusatory finger and Draco Malfoy and Professor Connelly. It was like a horror movie. There was a flash of lightning behind them and it lit up their backs and it scared the crap out of Ginny. "He's dying!" Ginny yelled. She turned back to Harry but Malfoy grabbed her from behind. "No! No! Put me down! Put me down you ugly ferret face!" Ginny was screaming.

"Take her," Professor Connelly ordered and he picked up Harry's limp form and Malfoy picked up Ginny taking her feet off of the ground despite her screaming.

"NO, NO, NO! You killed him! You killed Harry. You killed Harry," Ginny was crying now and shouting at Malfoy. She was punching him, every part of him she could reach. Finally she kicked him with her foot in the... in the area where it hurts for a guy. Malfoy dropped down onto his knees and dropped Ginny. She took off sprinting towards the castle.

"Ginny! I will shoot you where you stand!" Malfoy shouted. "I don't care if you die or not."

Ginny stopped running and turned around. Malfoy had an arrow in his bow and had it pointed at Ginny. She took a few steps back. He lowered the arrow and shot it at Ginny. She screamed but it went literally through her legs and snagged the back of her robe into the ground causing her to fall over. She immediately stood up and one hit the sleeve of her robe by her arm and pinned her arm to the ground. Ginny tried to get out of her robe but Malfoy was already standing over her looking livid.

Malfoy swooped down and grabbed Ginny ripping her robes, despite her protests. He cast the silencio charm on her nonverbally and she was punching him again. He tucked his wand in his back pocket and threw Ginny over his shoulder as she looked helplessly at Hogwarts as she got farther and farther away from it. She closed her eyes and lowered her head defeated.

When she heard Professor Connelly's voice again she opened her eyes and she saw it. Malfoy's wand, in his back pocket, inches from her arms. She stretched out her fingers and brushed the tip of it. She reached again and snagged it between her index and middle finger just as Malfoy swung her back over his shoulder and put her down. She managed to slide the wand up her sleeve passing it off as scratching herself.

"We need to go Draco, Potter is getting worse," Connelly said.

Malfoy had grabbed onto Ginny as soon as he put her down and he held his Professor's arm and Professor Connelly held Harry in his arms. Ginny knew they were getting ready to disapparate. It was still raining and there was still thunder and lightning. She wondered if anyone knew that her and Harry were missing. Or about to go missing, at least.

She looked over at Harry. She could not believe that Malfoy would have actually shot her. 'He had tried to shoot me again,' Ginny thought. 'Well he was just trying to pin me down, but still that was incredible aim to hit my sleeve and the back of my robe.'

"What do you mean?" Malfoy asked Ginny. "I missed." He smirked at her and then they disapparated.

A/N: It has probably been a month since the last chapter. No, about a month and a half and for this I apologize. I don't deserve you guys to press the review button. But, better late than never I think. Even a month and a half late. My apologies again. Go easy on me, I'm a young writer just doing something I enjoy. I also enjoy reading the Harry Potter fanfics and I'm generally a good reviewer so if you want me to read something of yours, let me know. Thanks to everyone for sticking with me.

--Elizabeth