Chapter Thirteen – Anonymous
"Draco says he's found his mother."
"Right and is he going to kill her or let her survive?" Harry asked, creeping along the hallway and hissing to Balthazar.
"He says there is no point in letting her survive."
"Why not? If she loved him, then surely she should survive."
"Well besides being Head WAG, he says that you would say something about engines and wheels."
"The Engines running but there's no one behind the wheel?"
"Yeah that's the one."
"She's insane?"
"Yep, he says it looks like Lucius tortured her for some reason. He says it will be crueller to make her live and he can't do that."
"Fair enough, I think I would have done the same. Seamus, I think his room is the next one on." Harry said quietly to the man beside him.
"Okay boss. How are we going to do this?"
"How do you think we should?"
"How about Bal takes the air out of the room, then just as he is beginning to choke to death, you make a spark and Bal quickly lets all the Oxygen back in. Muggle Chemistry implies that there will be one hell of an explosion." Hermione supplied from the back, making everyone in their group look at her in awe.
"I like it."
IIIIIIIIIIIIII
Flees rolled his eyes as Theo and Neville tripped over one another as they reached the wards to the house. "Okay, I'm going to fire us all past the wards and into the foyer. Then we are going to find their bedroom. Do any of you know where it is?"
"Yeah it's on the first floor, second corridor. They only have two floors. Very common." Pansy said, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the relatively small house.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Now lets go." Flees said, making them all grip one another's hands and then disappear in a ball of flame.
They all appeared in a modestly decorated hallway, looking at the stair case in front of them.
"Right or left?" Flees asked quietly, looking at Pansy as she seemed to be the only one to know which way to go.
"Left." Pansy said, following Flees as he walked up the stairs. "No, your other left."
"My right then."
"That's what I said."
"Of course you did. Come on let's go." Flees said, rolling his eyes at the dumb blonde (is she blonde?).
"Right then, it's the room at the end of this corridor."
"How are we going to do it? I assume his wife will be there with him."
"I think so."
"Okay then, how shall we go about it then."
"Well we each have a component of all the elements each right?"
"Yes, where are you going with this Pansy?"
"I don't know, I was just asking."
"Oh for the- Does anyone have any good ideas?"
"Um... I could make some vines grow to hold them down on the bed, then Pansy can conjure up some large icicles, then you and Theodore could work together to float them above the two and then drop them." Neville suggested, getting looks of shock and awe form the other three.
"Who knew you had it in you Longbottom?" Theo asked, smiling proudly at the blushing Gryffindor.
IIIIIIIIIIIIII
"Draco, I think this is a trap."
"I don't care. That is my mother, she may not have done anything to stop my father but I'd like to believe she tried."
"I know Dray, but I really think this is a trap, don't you think it is a bit suspicious, you're mother sitting slouched in the hallway, drooling. Why would he leave her here? Why would he allow her to live in the first place?" Blaise asked, looking around them nervously.
"I think Blaise has a point Draco." Millicent pointed put softly, making Draco spin around and glare at her.
"Look, I'm going to see what she remembers and if it is nothing and she really is completely gone, then I will put her out of her misery." Draco said, closing his eyes at the last part.
"I know this must be difficult, but I really think we should get out now." Blaise said, still looking around him at the long shadows being cast by the setting sun.
"Let me just do this? Okay?"
"Fine but hurry up." Millicent hissed, getting a nod from Draco as he walked out of their shadow and over to his mother, kneeling down next to her. He whispered something to her and then bowed his head when all received in response was a blank stare. He then pulled out his wand and soon a bright green light lit up the hall way briefly.
For a while, only silence was heard, then from the opposite end of the hallway, a steady clapping started and Lucius Malfoy walked into the light.
"Very touching Son. Perhaps you should have listened to Mr Zabini."
IIIIIIIIIIIIII
Bal stiffened when he heard Draco's thoughts, remembering that Dean was in his group and then looking at Harry, who had just finished sending up their message above the burning building.
"What's wrong Bal?"
"It was a trap."
"What was a trap? Bal?" Harry asked, panic beginning to drip into his voice, making the other two look over in concern and shock.
"Lucius." Bal whispered softly, making Harry close his eyes briefly, then straighten his back and open them again. They were glowing a soft golden colour and his nails began to stretch painfully into claws as fire began licking up his arms.
"Then we had better go and collect them then, Hermione, Seamus, you two need to go to the check point to make sure that the other four get back safely. We'll be back as soon as we can." Harry said, getting nods from the two Gryffindors and then looking at Bal, seeing that his eyes were glowing silver and he had wind whipping through his hair.
"Lets go."
IIIIIIIIIIIIII
"Oh look, you've brought back two renegade children and a Gryffindor as well. Well Draco, you have finally done me proud, even though you are a freak."
"Oh shut up father, no one cares what you need to say." Draco said, hiding the fear he was feeling and stepping back to stand in front of his friends protectively. He sighed silently in relief when Bal brushed his mind reassuringly, but didn't relax his stance.
"My my Draco, have you finally grown a backbone? It took you long enough. Perhaps it was from shagging the Boy Who Lived. Tell me, how will you feel when our master rips his heart right out of his chest."
"Your Lord won't be able to lay a finger on Harry.:"
"Harry is it? Then it's true, you are married. Tell me, is he your mate?" Lucius asked, disgust lacing his voice and taking another step forward.
"Yes." Draco said, lifting his head high and making a cold steam begin to hover around his hands.
"Pity, I could have had big ideas for you. Being a Demon and all, My Lord was going to use you to gain access into the Demon Realm. After we defeat Harry of course. But they wouldn't accept a disgusting Half-breed with a human for a mate." Lucius said, sneering at his disappointment for a son.
"Well Voldemort is going to have difficulties getting into the Demon Realm if he kills me. Say hello to my Grandfather for me, because I'm sending you on a one way ticket to hell." Harry growled, appearing behind Lucius and wrapping his hand around his neck.
"Your Grandfather?" Lucius asked in shock, looking down at Harry.
"Oh yes, the Lost Heir is me. Harry Potter. Bye bye Lucius. No one threatens my mate and gets away with it." Harry said, before slitting the blondes throat with his claws, ignoring the gurgled scream as the wound burnt with liquid fire. Lucius looked at Harry in shock for a few seconds before dropping to the floor in a heap at his feet.
"Harry?"
"Yeah, in future, listen to what Blaise says, okay?" Harry said with a smile, before walking up to Draco and hugging him fiercely. Bal watched them with a small smile playing on his lips before he looked over at where Dean was standing and walked over to him.
"Are you all okay?" He asked, looking at them all, but paying particular attention to Dean, who was avoiding looking at him and was making Blaise and Daphne snicker.
"Yeah, we're fine. Lucius wanted to taunt his son before actually hurting us, so we were pretty lucky I suppose. I do think we should leave here soon though, I don't think Voldemort is going to be impressed with us fro killing one of his most loyal followers." Blaise stated, looking down at where Lucius was lying in a pool of his own blood.
"I agree with you there. Come on you two love birds, you can make sure that each other are okay when we get to somewhere safe." Bal said, making Draco and Harry separate from each other and glare at the smirking demon.
"Come on then, the others are waiting for us in our rooms."
"Sure thing. Right then, Blaise, you come with me, Millie you go with Draco and Dean you go with Bal." Harry said, grinning when Dean glared at him. Bal leered at Dean and grabbed him around the waist, pulling him close, next to him. Blaise walked over and grabbed onto Harry's sleeve, whilst Millicent did the same to Draco and they soon all disappeared from Malfoy Manor, leaving the token message above the roof of the grand house.
IIIIIIIIIIIIII
"Why didn't you tell all of us that you had encountered problems!?" Flees yelled as soon as they had appeared in their rooms.
"Er... I was too angry to think?" Harry supplied, making Seamus snort and mutter under his breath.
"Too angry! What to just let me know that you were going to your death via angry Malfoy Snr!" Flees yelled, making Harry frown and sulk.
"No. I just forgot about you." Harry said, lower lip jutting out as he crossed arms over his chest defensively.
"Argh! You're like a petulant bloody child!"
"So?"
"Oh for the love of Hades." Flees exclaimed before throwing his arms in the air and then walking out of the room in a huff.
"Er... I think you pissed him off."
"Well he's only my familiar! Not my bloody keeper." Harry said angrily, making Bal cough into his hand discreetly and look away when Harry pinned him with a piercing stare. "What?"
"Nothing, sorry, I think I inhaled something on the way here." Bal explained, making Harry narrow his eyes at him suspiciously but drop the subject.
"Well, what shall we do now then?"
"I have no idea. We've just finished off some of the most influential and/or irritating of Voldies crew. What do you want to do?"
"Watch CSI?"
"No!" Draco, Hermione, Seamus, Pansy and Neville all yelled, making Harry and Dean jump.
"Okaay, chill beans. I'll take that as a negative then." Harry said calmly, sitting down on his chair and making room for Draco to sit down next to him.
"What was your adventure at the end of last year? I mean you always have one at the end of the school year." Pansy asked, looking at Hermione and Harry.
"There wasn't one." They both answered at the same time, catching each others eyes and grinning slightly.
"Oh, that's a bit boring."
"Yep, made the wizarding world begin to loose faith in me though. I hid out in Severus' quarters. He told me to be myself and to screw the wizarding world, if they couldn't save themselves, then they weren't worth saving in the first place."
"Er... isn't that a little contradictory? I mean, if they could save themselves, then they wouldn't actually need saving." Blaise pointed out making everyone in the room look at him, before shaking their heads and continuing on.
"Anyway, the point is, it worked and I couldn't give a fuck what the wizarding world thought of me."
"Heh, remember when Draco came out and Ron started making fun of him in the common room?" Seamus said with a grin, making all the Slytherin's and Bal look up in interest, even more so when Hermione groaned and rubbed at her temples slightly at the memory.
"Oh yeah, heh, that was rather amusing. Who is Ron hanging around with now anyway?"
"Lavender, Terry Boot and the Patil's. You know, people as equally brainless as himself." Hermione deadpanned, making everyone grin, before The frowned and pinned Harry with a glare.
"What?"
"You never explained what happened in the common room! What did he do?"
"Oh he just started to rant about how everyone that was a raving puff needed to be drowned at birth. The usual."
"Yeah, it was hilarious because... Actually, why did you attack him Harry?"
"Harry attacked him? Harry!" Draco exclaimed, looking at his blushing mate from the corner of his eyes and grinning. "Aw, did you try to protect my honour form the big mean Weasel?"
"Oh shut up." Harry said, pushing him on the floor, and ignoring the others laughing at him.
"No really though, why did you stick up for him? I thought you really hated him at the end of last year and I know that you weren't actually going out and this whole marriage thing is to cover up you two being mated and not entirely human." Hermione said, looking at Harry in confusion.
"Ah, Sev asked me to watch over his godson for him." Harry said plainly, shrugging and playing with a loose thread on his shirt as everyone stared at him in shock.
"He what? Why?" Draco asked, looking up at Harry.
"He asked me to watch over you and protect you should he be caught or not there to do it. I decided to start and also release some of my own anger out on Ron. He was really irritating me."
"Yes well. Did you have to pound him into a bloody mess then fix him up again and apologise to him, telling him that Voldemort had taken you over for a second and he had touched a nerve. I mean! Honestly!"
"Well I had to cover it up somehow and Ron was stupid enough to buy it."
"Yeah, I thought he was going to be sick when you told him that Voldemort was protecting the honour of his sugar baby."
"WHAT!" Draco yelled, looking at Seamus in disgust, "Oh that's just wrong!"
"Well it just came out, made me chuckle actually, though right now the mere thought of it is making me want to retch and go be sick somewhere." Harry admitted, looking a little queasy whilst Seamus and Dean just laughed and Neville grinned like a loon.
"So you and Severus were close last year? Is that why he was there during the meeting?"
"Yep, he was like an unofficial godfather."
"Hey! Hands off! He's my godfather. You've already got one in the form of Remus."
"Can't we share? Remus is as bad as me when it comes to Potions." Harry whined, making everyone chuckle and Draco roll his eyes.
"Fine. So you had lots of training then last year?"
"Yep, Occlumency and Battle Magic from Severus and Remus respectively. I included some of th spells I learnt in the pranks I pulled."
"Like the one where the tables exploded in a mess of trifle?"
"Oh yeah, Dobby loved that one, in fact he pretty much came up with the idea."
"Wait, are you telling me that you and Dobby were the two pranksters last year?" Millicent asked, looking at Harry in shock
"Yep." Harry said, straightening his back in pride.
"Good lord, only you could corrupt a house elf." Hermione muttered, shaking her head in despair.
"Oi! I'll have you know, he was worse than me! Especially when it came to pranking the Slytherin's."
"What! So it was you that painted out Common Room bright pink and green?!" Pansy yelled, making Harry grin and wink at her.
"Actually no, that was all Dobby."
"When I get my hands on that house elf." Theo muttered form his place on the floor, in front of the fire.
"You'll what? He's a house elf, they are pretty powerful. He blasted Lucius down the stairs in my second year."
"He what?"
"Yeah, it was brilliant. Lucius was about to cast something at me, I think it may have been the killing curse, which is a bit harsh for saying I only freed his house elf, which to be honest can't have been that good a house elf anyway."
"Harry love, your rambling."
"Oh sorry, anyway, he started to say the curse and Dobby stands in front of me and say 'Yous will not harm Harry Potter.' And then blasts him down the hallway and part way down some stairs. It was classic! Honestly, I kept that one in my memory for rainy days that look dull, always makes me chuckle, seeing him all ruffled like that." Harry said, snickering at the memory and making everyone else in the room chuckle as they imagined it.
"Actually, for that I think I will let him off the for the pranks he pulled."
"I think he was just getting his own back for everyone not being very nice the house elves and not respecting them, that's why Hermione was left well alone. She was the only one who tried to free them, even if she wasn't quite getting what House Elves are all about." Harry added, making Hermione blush and look away.
"So really though, what do we do now? Continue taking out more death eaters or what?"
"Well I think we should leave the Lestrange's alone, including Bella, if not only for the fact that they are the most dangerous out of all the Death Eaters."
"I agree with Harry, maybe we should leave them for a bit. Let the Daily Prophet report on the ones we have done."
"Yeah but we left it nearly three months last time."
"I told Dumbledore, and though him the Order, that Smokey and Ice had gone to Tartarus to set up some things there."
"Ah so the break was expected?"
"Yep. The fact that the break wasn't for the whole of the school year also means that many won't suspect us as being the killers. Plus most of the manors burnt down so there is no evidence there."
"Harry, there are no wizarding CSI's. We are completely safe on that side of things."
"Fine fine, whatever. Well I'm bored, wanna go into the forest and see if we can catch some Unicorns going at it?"
"Harry you come up with the most bizarre ideas." Draco stated when everyone turned to look at Harry as though he was crazy.
"And anyway, most Mammals, Magical or Muggle, only copulate seasonally." Hermione added, making Seamus wrinkle his nose.
"How boring."
Harry snickered and looked around him, yawning loudly to show his boredom.
"Fine fine, we know you're bored. Is there anything else you want to do?"
"Not that I can think of." Harry admitted, shrugging his shoulders.
"How about going to play I prank on the House Elves?" Blaise suggested, making Seamus' eyes light up and nod.
"Nah, it's too impossible, they have house elves on watch for those sort of things."
"How do you know that? It's not even in Hogwarts; A History." Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes at Harry's altogether too innocent expression.
"What can I say? I'm like a sponge: I just absorb information."
"I thought that was my line?" Hermione asked, amusement shining in her eyes.
"Yeah, and I absorbed it." Harry said cheerfully, making the others snicker and Hermione to shake her head in exasperation.
"Really though Harry, all joking aside, how did you know that?"
"Er... I tried it last year."
"Heh, was that when you had to walk around with bright yellow hair and pink eyes for a week?" Pansy asked, snickering at the memory.
"No, that was when I accidentally on purpose let a prank go off early and actually managed to prank the house elves. No the first time was when all the food I got was porridge and water. Little buggers. I hate porridge. I didn't even get sugar!" Harry exclaimed when everyone started to laugh.
"Aw, well that'll teach you to- no wait, you went around with yellow hair a couple of weeks later. So you mean to tell me that you were pulling an all out prank war on the elves and we just got caught in the middle?" Draco asked, looking at Harry in shock.
"Nope, like I said, me and Dobby were partners in crime before the Black Kitchen incident." Harry said, sighing in reminiscence.
"The what?"
"The incident that got me pink eyes. I made the charm go off in the kitchen and it made everything in there black and sticky, like it was covered in tar. Took them ages to get it off the walls and stuff. Their little faces of fury was brilliant."
"You're so mean." Dean said through chuckles, making Harry nod proudly whilst Hermione shook her head and glared at him.
"You make their jobs even harder than they already are!"
"Oh pish, they got me back for it!" Harry exclaimed, waving Hermione's rants off, and making the girl huff.
"Do you think the final battle is going to be soon?" Pansy suddenly asked in a quiet voice, making everyone look at her.
"I don't know. Perhaps. We're ready if it does. We know what to do." Harry said, reassuringly smiling at her and getting a weak smile back.
"I hope so. I don't want anyone to die."
"I don't think any of us wants anyone to die." Harry said softly, making everyone silently agree and sit in silence for the rest of the night, contemplating the on coming battle.
Oooh, things are beginning to look bleak. Again, you can completely choose who you want to save but you don't have very long to do it. The next chapter is almost finished and then I only have the epilogue to do... sniff I'm going to miss this story so much!