*walks in with Snape holding champagne* *Snape is dressed in his dress robes just for the occasion* Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a wonderful time, and that this year will be the greatest you have yet!

Sorry I took so long updating, but I was hibernating. I have only now shaken off that stupid virus. It was not a good deal, I tell you that. *Snape sits down in a flourish of silk and cashmere* I think that's my cue to start this chapter…

Chapter 18 *hit play*

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            Draco sat alone in the semi-darkness. He could hear his heart beating, and he felt his hands clenched so tightly around his wand that he doubted if he would be able to relax them on demand. Cold sweat was running down his back, even if it was not hot at all. These could be my final moments on this earth. How I wish I could tell mom I am sorry… and shag Zabini to the next century. He sighed, fidgeting. He heard Buckbeack's hooves claquing on the tiled kitchen floor. It was a bit of a reassurance, but unfortunately not enough.

            He smirked to himself. He hadn't felt this scared since his first year, when he and Potter had to go alone with Hagrid's dog in the Forbidden Forest. How calm and safe those past years seemed in relation to now! It seemed that every year became even more dangerous, even more sinister, even more deadly. Draco seemed to recall that he considered all this a game, not more than role play until Diggory had died. He hadn't shed any tears for the Hufflepuff- Merlin forbid. But his death had made it clear that students could die, students could be in danger even within Hogwarts' powerful wards. And then, came another shocking fact- that Potter had been blinded, by something dark. He had relished in the idea that he would have no worthy opponent in quidditch, but he had also felt a tremor of fear in his heart, for if the Boy-Who-Lived, the most protected student in all of Hogwarts, got maimed, then what could happen to him, who was a mostly hated, usually resented Slytherin with a shady family?

            How did I manage to come from spoiled bully to covert fighter for Dumbledore? Draco chuckled to himself again. It had been Potter and that temporary blindness prank that had started the chain reaction that led to him picking sides on the eve of Hogwarts Attack, then actively joining Potter's group and training with him to be able to fight side-by-side with his once-upon-a-time nemesis. And now he was no less than a Marauder, if you came to think of it: he was breaking rules, keeping secrets, being part of a team, and putting his life at stake like any foolhardy Gryffindor ever did- just like his Head of House. Snape too, was a great shock to me, he thought. It was amazing how much he respected and admired this man- more than Dumbledore. How much of a wild card he had proven himself to be, even by staging his own death to make Voldemort believe he was ahead in the game. Even from his grave, Snape is tricking Voldemort, he thought and he chuckled a little more loudly.

"Chuckling, you ingrate? Crucio!"

***

            As soon as they landed, Harry coaxed Sasha, stroking her triagonal head.

"I will need your eyes tonight, for a while, Sasha," he said gently.

"You don't have to ask, Harry, you know that," Sasha hissed back, her forked tongue caressing the agile fingers.

"As soon as I break the mind link, I want you to promise me you will hide," Harry hissed, and Sasha didn't answer immediately. "Promise me, Sasha!"

The snake's eyes glittered much like any true Slytherin's would and she hissed back softly:

"I promisssse, Harry."

            Harry nodded and using Sasha's eyes, looked around. All of the Study Group had gathered around him, waiting for him to tell them where to go and what to do, like soldiers do their leaders. Harry shook the thought away- he didn't want to think of the tremendous responsibility that he was taking. It would paralyse him with fear of the inevitable.

"Okay. Let's not use active spells until we absolutely have to. Stonehenge is that way, and according to what Professor Dumbledore told us, it will be crawling with Death Eaters. We should not be seen, so any invisibility spell and the like should be casted now."

"Why not there? It's not like anyone can see us a mile away," Neville asked.

"Because there may be spell detection wards around Stonehenge, and they will be alerted."

"We'd loose the element of surprise," George nodded.

"Okay, now is the time, guys," Harry nodded to them, and they grinned with glee. Fred pulled a small cube from his pocket, then muttered a spell. It unshrunk into a large cardboard box.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, her tone implying that she already knew.

"Wizard Wheezes! I think this is the perfect time to have some active trials of some items we plan to include in the catalogue," Fred said and George nodded.

            He opened the box with a flourish, and then, just like muggle salesgirls, he said:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the products we suggest for surprise raids…"

***

            Draco screamed and writhed under the torture spell that his father was casting on him with fiery, hateful eyes. He let it up before Draco ran out of breath, because he wanted the boy to live and stay conscious enough to endure more pain. Draco breathed raggedly, his panting loud in the quiet room where Voldemort, Blaise, Lucius and a group of about 20 more Death Eaters that Draco couldn't recognise behind the masks were standing. He hoped that they wouldn't notice the hidden wizards that were in strategic places all around the large living room.

"You dared defy our Lord for Dumbledore! Your punishement will not be death! Death will be your release when and if our Master wishes it, you filth," Lucius said loudly and casted the Cruciatus on Draco again.

            Draco had never felt the curse on his body. He felt it was unbearable, his mind screamed and his body was on fire and needles. He had dropped his wand, but he had seen where it had rolled to, underneath the armchair in which he had been sitting. The curse was let up again, and he greatfully gulped in air. His limbs still went through spasms that he couldn't control.

"Search the house, kill everything that moves. Seize Dumbledore, if he is in here," Voldemort ordered lazily, with the airs of a conqueror over a won battlefield.

"It seems the house is deserted, my Lord," another Death Eater said.

"The rats fled!" Lucius growled and lifted his wand to curse his son again. "Crucio!"

The curse missed.

            With the agility and presence of mind that Harry had taught him, Draco rolled to the side and grabbed his wand as he came to his feet. He felt the blood that was pooling in his mouth and the straining of his muscles, yet somehow he managed to override those sensations and go right into battle. Is this how Potter does it? his mind found the time to think fleetingly.

"NOW!" he shouted and suddenly the Death Eaters found themselves in the crossfire of four wizards.

            Before they had the time to react about 8 Death Eaters fell. Then everything was wrapped in a twirl of mayhem and multi-coloured light as the curses were fired from everywhere. Voldemort hissed, not agitated since it seemed to him that he had the advantage of superior numbers.

"Kill them and take their heads as trophies!" he ordered.

***

            Dumbledore sat alone in his office, gazing thoughtfully out the window. He was dressed in dark robes with no cloak- clothes that wouldn't impede him in a duel. He turned to Fawkes who was looking at him with mismatched cheerfulness.

"Everything is in motion now, Fawkes. All my strategy against that of Tom's."

Fawkes chirped optimistically. Dumbledore smiled and stroked the firey bird with a small smile.

"You believe in me still, old friend, despite my mistakes of the recent past," he sighed, thinking of Harry Potter and his parents before him. Fawkes again chirped encouragingly and then flew out the window like a bright flame. Dumbledore nodded and got his wand.

Now is not the time for regret. Now is the time to fight for those that already have given their blood and life.

***

            Arthur Weasley ran to one of the adjoining rooms in the Black house, 5 Death Eaters running after him, certain of his imminent demise. He skidded to a halt and dodged a curse, then turned to face them.

            They approached, some with their white masks still on, and laughed in their sinister manner.

"Give it up, Weasley. You simply are no match for the Dark Lord alone," one of them said. Arthur panted, looking this way and that for certain things, then smiled, holding his wand in defense. It was a grim smile, not the usual open-hearted, welcoming one of the father of a large large family.

"I may not be alone, but how about when there's more?" he said and aurors came in from the shadowy corridors of the house and surrounded the Death Eaters.

***

            Draco ran to where Buckbeak was and was about to mount him. He had to be fast- he had a specific task to do, and it required good timing.

"Come back here, -son-," came the steely voice, and Draco jumped, turning around, his wand at the ready. Lucius was grinning like a skull, his white hair loose all around him and in his eyes that were gleaming with madness and hatred.

"One son… only one son I had, and he turned out worse than a bastard," he murmured as he walked in an arch around Draco. Buckbeak ruffled his feathers in annoyance.

"You are the one that's a bastard!" retorted Draco, years of pent up anger at how he was belittled and mistreated surfacing now. "You know what? I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to lift a wand against you- that I would be afraid of you because I don't really love you, not anymore! But I find that I have absolutely no problem!" he ended up shouting, and fired a curse towards Lucius, which he ducked.

"You finally grew a spine, boy?" drawled Lucius and fired a stunning curse at Draco.

"Protego! I always had one. You just made sure it was always broken in a 90 degree angle!" growled Draco and returned the curse.

"You have become a good dueller. You still have the time to make the right choice. Join the Dark Lord, he needs you!" said Lucius, his eyes demanding, one hand outstretched.

Draco felt shaken. This was his dream come true. His father recognising his value, counting him as a variable in an equation, not as a burden and a good-for-nothing. He blinked, his wand wavered and for a moment, the hullabaloo of the battle going on in the other rooms and floors of the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix were muted. He blinked sweat away from his eyes. Lucius took one step forward. Buckbeak half-unfolded his wings, recognising the man for who he was.

"Join me, son. Serve the Dark Lord with me!"

            Like a film on fast forward, the past experiences that Draco had had rolled before his eyes:

The rainy day when he shouted Voldemort's name without flinching into the skies…

The day he stood among aurors and all the representatives of the Light side and with the spell of his wand took sides actively…

The moment when he saw Severus Snape's body, presumably killed by the hand of Death Eaters and the deep sorrow that came with it-

The moment when Sombre shifted into the Professor he long thought dead, and the joy as if the world was given back to him-

Blaise Zabini and her pledge to avenge her mother.

"No," said Draco, and his eyes hardened, his jaw clenched. Lucius blinked, as if he hadn't heard right.

"No?"

"Hell no! I am not going to be a minion to a mutant that can't pronounce s' without whistling!" screamed Draco at the top of his voice.

            For a moment, Lucius only had great surprise on his face, as if he was not looking at his son, but a stranger that he had never met nor ever expected to meet in his life. Then his eyes hardened and he moved his wand in the telltale way that made Draco's perception set off a thousand alarms:

"Avada Kedavra!"

***

            Voldemort was livid. There was no Dumbledore here, and not only had they not surprised anything, but also fallen into a trap, where everyone had been waiting for them. As he fought, shielding himself, casting the killing curse and only that when he pointed his wand to an adversary, he looked around to see how the balance of the battle was going.

It was not going well.

            Aurors hidden in obscure or concealed rooms were progressively overrunning his minions. Then, his eyes fell on a certain minion of his, and the hatred rose much higher than it ever had ever since Severus Snape's death.

Blaise Zabini had thrown her mask and robes, and in her school attire was fighting against him and with Dumbledore. She set me up! He pointed his wand and prepared to cast the killing curse.

"Avada-"

"Expelliarmus!" shouted a voice that he never expected to hear again. The surprise of the Dark Lord almost made him lose his wand, but he caught it with the tips of his fingers and nullified the curse. He blinked as he saw a dead man…walking.

"Ssssseverus! You are dead!"

"Fool me once," Snape said with a grim smile and a deadly voice as he swished and flicked. Voldemort's feet were swept from under him. "shame on you. Fool me twice…"

Voldemort flicked his wand without even talking, and the sabre spell went through Snape who ducked and shifted into a small black cat just before the spell would decapitate him.

"I can never be shamed, worthless worm." Voldemort tried to finish the kill of that damn Potions Master that simply wouldn't stay dead, but he saw at least three aurors and Blaise Zabini aiming at him. He could not afford to be captured or killed now- he had still aces up his sleeve. He had the ministry and nobody knew where his own base was. He would retreat there and resume the offensive in a day or two, after the moral had successfully broken down with the news of the Ministry's capture.

Voldemort disapparated.

"Voldemort fled! The battle is taken!" Blaise screamed with Sonorus, thus making the fighting Death Eaters panicky.

***

            Draco avoided the curse with agility that again Lucius didn't expect. He vaguely recognisedmoves he had seen only in certain Aurors of older times- Potter, Black… and his son wouldn't give up, just like the youngest Potter. He grit his teeth, because now it was not nature's failure that was staring him in the face, but his; for Draco had suddenly turned into all he had ever dreamed that he would become in 6 months when he had failed to make him so in more than 6 years. And he wanted to kill that failure, to eradicate it from his pristine record.

But his son, as always, wouldn't cooperate. He made a move to cast a killing curse- it shot out crimson towards his son while he was between the hippogriff and a wall with no way to duck out without the beast taking the hit. And it had been obvious that Draco was shielding it while defending himself as well.

"Protego Vitalis!" Draco shouted, his eyes widening as his wand shone brighter than a neon light. He couldn't believe that he was doing this- he was going to try and deflect a curse that could kill him just so that Buckbeak wouldn't be its receipient! He's essential to the plan- only reason I am helping him, his mind provided in the background as the crimson light engulfed him. He was using a rather tricky means of shielding, that Remus Lupin had taught them in the Study Group: Instead of shielding all of your body, protect only what will keep you functional and conscious.

            The curse sizzled under his skin, the pain excruciating, heightened with the sensitization due to the past Cruciatus he had received. He yelled in pain, and he sweated immediately, small veins and capillaries rupturing but arteries and major vessels remaining secure. His heart fluttered once or twice, but then resumed its rapid beating. The pain made him lose focus for a few seconds, and he heard his father casting against him. I am dead, he thought, his vision still blurry, his body still trying to weather the shock of the curse.

"Impedimenta!" came a voice that Draco realised he liked more than usual. His vision cleared to see Blaise standing at the entrance of the kitchen, with a small smile and charred muggle clothes, not the Death Eater robes.

"I thought I'd slow him down for you," she said with slight affection in her voice. Draco nodded and looked at the struggling figure of his father that was trying to shake off the curse. He grit his teeth as Lucius blinked again, seeing that he son was still standing, albeit much bloodier than before, and what was more, he was going to be able to cast a curse before him.

"Effectio Stasis! Go to hell! And stay away from me!" he shouted, as Lucius fell on the floor heavily, apparently dead. Draco flicked his wand once more and the words 'I'm alive' were scribbled on Lucius' forehead in red ink. He smiled thinly at Blaise and nodded towards Buckbeak.

"C'mon. We have to catch a very speedy flight," he said and Blaise grinned, running to him. Buckbeak allowed both of them on his back.

Then, Draco Malfoy  and Blaise Zabini mounted flew away out the kitchen's back door, to join the rest of the Study Group.

***

            Voldemort apparated right in the middle of Stonehenge, where his remaining Death Eaters were waiting for the great news of their Lord's supremacy.

"Welcome, my Lord," said Lestrange unfortunately, and was the receipient of a curse that sent him flying against one of the great boulders of the magical site.

"Fools! You were unable to detect the traitor in our midst! How am I to punish you now? Will you atone or shshshshall I kill you all?" he ranted at his minions, slurring almost to the illegible level. Everyone bowed their heads with masks off, hoping that if they stayed silent enough, they would be spared.

"You are fortunate that the Ministry has been occupied and is currently ours, or you wouldn't lassst the night! Has any intruder been detected?"

"No my Lord- of course the magic flow of the monument might obscure faint presences-" McNair started to explain.

"Sanguiflus!" Voldemort cut him off with the usual curse to silence someone that displeased him. McNair whimpered and wiped the blood that flowed down his eyes, nose and ears. "Imbeciles! Do you expect Dumbledore so idiotic as to walk up to you unprotected!? It is the ssssmall magic disssturbanccces that you have to detect!" Voldemort hissed.

            Nagini slithered up to him and coiled like a spring ready to attack. Voldemort knew this to be a guarded pose, when danger was approaching. He pointed longuish fingers to his Death Eaters to take positions. How had Dumbledore found him? Immediately his mind provided the answer, now that he had seen Severus Snape alive and kicking: He had made the potion that had thrown Bellatrix Lestrange in a coma, and as she was the secret keeper, they pried the secret from her mind through the influence of that potion. Snape! Again it is you that deceived me to my ruin!

            No. It would not be his ruin. He was ahead, he had a strong hold over this particular game, a leverage that he had toiled for 15 years to repossess after that fateful Halloween night. He would not lose it now.

            Bright yellow canaries flew from all sides of Stonehenge right into the inner circle where he and the Death Eaters had been standing. They were flamboyantly coloured and they chirped as they careened in a kamikaze streak. Voldemort stared at the ludicrousness of the projectiles for a second too long before he reacted. Barely having time to shield himself, the canaries landed with force and exploded, kicking up dirt and stones, dispersing the group of his minions and filling a good part of the inside of Stonehenge with thick smoke. Voldemort quickly flicked his wand to disperse it, when a voice, low and subliminal so it wouldn't cover noise told him:

"I really should hit you in the back, but that is just not my style."

He turned and saw Harry Potter, with bright green, unmoving eyes and his wand at the ready standing calmly opposite him. The way the mists from the canaries surrounded him, the way his unruly hair whipped about him in the soft breeze and the way his eyes were hard and unyielding made Voldemort think of the young Gryffindor as the teenaged, male version of Blind Justice.

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Showdown in the next chapter! This was Slytherins galore chapter, as I had promised my *coughs* colleague here. *Snape smiles with a rather saucy smirk as he sits back for another round of Baileys on the rocks* I hope you liked Draco's big moment there. ;)

As for my reviewers, as promised, here are my answers:

jaycee: I am glad you liked the chapter! I tried to weave in an overview of the story without arresting its flow. Is everything clear again?

floramoranda: lookie, more excitement! But be consoled, it will be over soon. ;)

Lady Lightning: I hope so too!

Ms Hobgoblin: Update! I hope it was not too late coming in.

Fire Valkyrie: *consoles you* there, there. You can read stuff of mine that is original, if you like my style so much. Our relationship doesn't have to end here, does it? Snape made me make a eulogy on light side Slytherins… heh.

Shawn Pickett: well, the game has definitely begun now, hasn't it? *moldyshorts goes to a corner and cries* nobody loves me!

Skysong1: Your wish is my command… somewhat. *chuckles*

Chantelli: Snape accepted your felicitations… *blank look* well that's what he told me to tell you! You know how he gets with affections. *L*

Dark Queen of Roses: *moldy feels even more unloved* *L*

Marauder3Moony: well at least she and Draco seem to be about to hook up together… heh.

Kateri1: one more chapter for the end… and perhaps an epilogue, I am not sure.

Kemenran: Well, how do you like how Draco got out? I pictured Aurors kind of like swat team people, that hide and can't be seen until the magic time comes. heh. And I let a sneak preview of what Gred and Forge have in stock for Stonehenge.

Cmon: *gives you a cookie* hey, you are the only one that noticed! Kudos to you!