A/N: So here it is, the second chapter. I waited a week so I could get started on the third chapter before posting this. The third chapter will really start in on things happening… and not happening. From there on out it will be a major AU. Also, starting next chapter I will put up a much more informative summary.

Anyway, here we go!

"Expulsus Tempore!"

Dumbledore's eyes widened as the spell flooded from Draco's wand, a colorless stream of force, invisible but for the ripples in the air it caused. The spell sank into Dumbledore's chest with the force of a ghost's handshake, the headmaster shuddering as it hit him.

"What was that?" Amycus snarled. "That weren't no Killing Curse, were it? You didn't kill him, did you?"

Draco could smell Professor Snape as the man burst through the crackly, electric barrier onto the tower top. The boy's eyes widened so far they almost bulged as the scents of everyone around him hit him full on, stripped of all insulation for the first time since Christmas: Potter's fear, Dumbledore's shock, Professor Snape's stunned concern, the blood still dripping from Greyback's chin… He could smell it all.

And one of the scents bothered him. He stepped toward Dumbledore, eyes narrowing. The faintest scent of relief was wafting off the man.

"What do you have to be happy about?" Draco whispered, so quietly even he couldn't hear himself. "You're finally paying for everything you've done; how is that something to be happy about?"

Now he could see the stone wall of the tower through Dumbledore's chest. The man's eyes were growing perceptibly lighter in color.

Fierce triumph was rolling off Greyback in waves as the scent of the man in front of them faded. Draco just watched, sweat running down his face. He was afraid that if he blinked, the man would come back into focus. He couldn't let that happen—he couldn't stop now. He focused on keeping the stream of tempore force flowing from his wand.

The sound of Snape's footsteps reached his ears, and he redoubled his efforts to keep every drop of magic he possessed moving from his hand, through his wand, toward the man in front of him. Slowly, the spell was tapering off. He could feel it slowing, feel the power stopping—but Dumbledore was still there. He wasn't gone yet. Draco focused his will, forcing all his power through the wand.

Dumbledore was blurring so far he was unrecognizable. His eyes were lost to the fuzzy images of his face, his hair and his hat. There was barely a trickle of power leaking through Draco's wand now. He focused all his will, forcing everything he had into the spell. He couldn't stop, he couldn't lose, not now, not when he was so close…

But Dumbledore wasn't the only thing that was blurring anymore. Draco's vision was turning black at the edges. He could hear a faint buzzing in his ears.

He couldn't stop, though, not now—there it was; Dumbledore was fading. A hole was opening in his chest where the spell continued to flow into him, the spell from which he couldn't and hadn't even made an effort to move away. Draco swayed on his feet. He could smell Professor Snape's uncertainty behind him—he wanted to help Draco, to steady him, but he also wanted to help Dumbledore. Besides that, he must recognize the spell, must know that it meant a fate worse than death for anyone who touched Draco now, anyone who tried to stop him.

Dumbledore was nothing but a faint, blurry outline now. Draco forced himself to hold on, to keep going, as that outline shattered and faded from existence.

Draco's wand shattered.

A/N: Okay, this chapter was short, too. The next one WILL be longer! I promise! (What I have written is already much longer, so I can promise it.)

Bye now! Reviews are welcome!