Christmas Eve

"Come on Molly you read the letter, they said exactly midday so stop fretting!" Said Mr Weasley as he watched his wife pacing in front of their fireplace.

"Oh I know but… I'm just so nervous." She replied.

The clock chimed twelve and the fireplace began to blaze green. Hermione stumbled out, followed by Ginny, Neville and Draco.

The rest of the Weasley family piled into the room as they heard them arrive.

When they sae Draco exit the fireplace they froze and eyed him suspiciously.

"Ginny what is h…?" Began Percy

"The right thing." She snapped back.

"How else did you expect us to get in?"

Percy came to her side and whispered quickly. "But how can we trust him? What if he's leading us into a trap?"

Ginny turned around and looked at Draco who stood nervously on the edge of the room and smiled.

"He's not Percy. Things have happened this year which have changed him. I trust him." She said.

Percy simply nodded. He broke the tension between the blonde haired boy and he Red-headed family by walking over and holding out his hand.

"Okay! We don't have a lot of time! Everybody quiet!" Yelled Hermione over the chatter. The room fell silent and they sat.

"Now, we have formed a plan of sorts in which we will need all of your help! We have left a letter for Professor McGonagall which can not be opened until 5 o'clock this evening, at which time she shall alert the whole order of the happenings. From then on we will be free to apparate to Hogwarts where they shall be waiting. This very well may be the end of the war… and we shall not give in. We shall get Ronald and Harry back alive and we shall fight to the end!"

"For Dumbledore!" Shouted George and Fred.

"For Sirius!" Shouted Mr Weasley standing.

"For Harry's parents." Shouted Ginny.

"For my parents." Added Neville.

"For humanity!" Shouted Charlie.

"For humanity!" The room echoed.

With that, Hermione, Draco, Neville and Ginny said their final goodbyes.

"Wait for the signal." Hermione said as she hugged Mr Weasley goodbye.

"Be careful." He said pulling away and looking into her eyes.

"You know me Mr Weasley… I'm nothing but." She said giving him a smile. It felt like there was a circus inside her right now as her stomach did back flips, but it was best to appear strong for the Weasley's, for everyone.

"Now, this is a port key, it shall lead us to the field in which I found Draco." Hermione said to Ginny and Neville as she held out a quill. Hermione took a deep breath… "Take hold."

Neville, Ginny and Draco each held onto a small part of the large brown quill and felt the familiar pull of Port key travel before being spun out and thrown hard to the ground in a snow covered field.

Ugh..." Moaned Neville.

"Sorry Neville." Gin said as she clambered off of him and brushed herself off.

Draco stood and made his way over to Hermione and held out his hand to help her up.

"Thanks Draco." Hermione said and he brought her to her feet without letting go of her hand.

"What now?" Said Ginny as she looked around the field. They were bordered by rolling hills on one side and a large forest on the other.

"My father is expecting me soon." Said Draco. "We have to make our way through the possessed forest." He said pointing over to the trees.

"Possessed?" Ginny gulped.

"Yes. They are loyal to the death eaters."

"Well how do we get through there?" Asked Neville as they walked towards the edge of the clearing.

"We've already planned for this…" Hermione said as she pulled three small bottles out of her satchel.

"Polyjuice potion? 'Mione that's brilliant!" Ginny said. "Who will we be turning into?"

"Well I decided the best form would be animals. We have an hour until it wears off. Draco will be fine but we cannot draw attention to ourselves. Stay close, follow Draco but act ordinary." She said as she handed out the vials.

"Neville you'll be rat. I plucked the hair from Angus Brungstrom's earlier this week. Be cautious of other animals!" Neville nodded.

"Ginny you're a cat."

"Crookshanks by any chance? Ginny said smiling. Hermione nodded.

"I'm an owl." Hermione said.

"When you get to the other end of the forest remember to stick to the plan! Be careful!" Hermione said. She hugged Ginny and Neville one more time before they opened their vials and drank the potion quickly.

"Ugh!" Ginny said as she recoiled at the taste before morphing into a cat.

Neville did the same and morphed into a large rat.

"Hermione." Draco said softly.

Hermione looked up and saw the look in his eyes.

"No Draco, don't even say it, it's not going to happen. You say it and…and its as if you're giving up, like you're saying goodbye. No goodbyes Malfoy." Hermione said.

She could tell he was nervous as all hell. What if he didn't make it out? What if they failed? It had run through Hermione's mind but she dispelled the thoughts quickly.

Draco nodded. He took hold of her hand and kissed her cheek.

"Remember Mione… west wing." He said

She smirked. "As if I would forget. Bottoms up." Hermione opened her vial and quickly downed the potion.

"Oh Merlin that's awful." She said as she dropped the vial and morphed into an owl.

Draco took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold of the possessed forest. The trees began to whisper.

"He's coming." The hissed and quickly the message was carried from tree to trees making its way to the other end of the forest. Draco began to walk briskly through the forest. He couldn't quite remember which way to go considering last time he was here he had trouble focusing on anything other than getting as far away from here as possible and now he was on his way back.

A branch swung out from a tree throwing him to the left.

"Go left" It hissed "They're waiting for you."

Draco quickened his pace. "Bloody trees." He mumbled as he felt the sting on his back from where the branch had lashed him. He looked over his shoulder and saw a rat not far behind. It weaved its way around tree roots not daring touch them incase they were to strangle him. Draco saw an old cat a little ahead of him stopping frequently to keep an eye on him as it wandered around as if aimlessly.

Light peeked through the canopy and every so often an owl would dive through the leaves in front of Draco, spot him, and then make there way up again.

After what felt like an eternity Draco saw the edge of the forest drawing near. The trees around him began to writhe and hiss.

"You're late...You're late!" The said as they tried to lash out. Draco ducked as many of the branches as he could and broke into a sprint towards the end.

Before him stood a large old castle. Small in comparison to Hogwarts which was so large there were entire wings unexplored, but still large enough to get lost in and never find your way out again. Neville scurried through and stopped beside him in the snow. He noticed Ginny surface a little further along before leaping off into the snow as she wasted no time to complete her task. Hermione was visible ahead of him as she flew around the castle wearily.

"He's arrived…" The trees hissed. Draco groaned and began to walk towards the castle he had vowed never to go near again.

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