Author's Note: Thanks for your patience waiting for updates and for continuing to read. This one is a bit shorter, but I've got a holiday from work coming up soon, so the writing will come back in full swing then! As always, JKR is like a vial of Felix Felicis.

….

Their odd group of three Gryffindors and three Slytherins were struggling to catch their breath on the rumbling stone of the Seventh Floor corridor. The smells of battle invaded their little hideaway, and it was some kind of miracle that the fighting had not yet encroached on the small space. Draco's eyes flicked over to Blaise in particular, who was curled over near them, retching from inhaling too much smoke, since he had doubled back for Goyle and had been yelling, inhaling a lot of smoke. But for the most part the rest of them seemed to be unscathed, if a little shaken. Goyle of course seemed completely stunned. He was staring dumbly around at the group, his mouth gaping open like a fish.

"Cr…Crabbe…" he stammered fearfully.

"He's dead," Ron said harshly. Draco glared at him warningly.

"What?" the ginger snapped belligerently, "He tried to kill us. So excuse me if I'm not going to mourn the loss."

Draco just grit his teeth and turned away, knowing it would upset Hermione if he started up another fight with the ginger. Instead he turned to his old friend and crouched next to him. Even though the larger boy had made some mistakes lately, he was actually pretty harmless. Whereas Crabbe had always had a bit of a sadistic streak, Goyle was just inherently stupid. He really only followed people who were stronger than him, regardless of where they took him or what they told him to do. Draco felt mostly pity for the big guy. He waited until Goyle met his eye, and then he looked at him with conviction.

"Greg – you need to do something for me…" he waited for Goyle to nod in response before he continued, "Go down to the dungeons and hide, alright? You shouldn't be out here while all this is going on."

His voice was probably kinder than he had ever spoken to Goyle in their lives. Now that Crabbe wasn't here, it was second nature for the big Slytherin to just obey anything that Draco said, and he reverted to that behaviour now.

"Right…Right. Yes. Okay, that's a good idea."

"Yes it is," he encouraged, "Go on. Just stay there and look out for any younger Slytherins who didn't get out. Try to protect them. Can you do that?"

Goyle nodded quickly and clambered to his feet.

"We're not seriously just going to let him go, are we?" Weasley stammered angrily, "He tried to kill us!"

"No he didn't," Draco snapped, spinning to face the red head, "Crabbe did. He's not even involved in any of this."

"His dad is a Death Eater," Potter pointed out softly, though his voice wasn't harsh or accusatory like his friend's.

"Yeh, well so is mine," Draco retorted, "That doesn't define us."

There was a soft weight on his arm, and he felt Hermione wrap her fingers around him. She gave a gentle squeeze of encouragement.

"Just leave it," she said to the two boys in front of her, and while Ron scowled darkly, Potter nodded.

"Alright."

Draco gave a gentle push to Goyle and the other boy began to lumber down the corridor towards the staircase that would lead him to the dungeons. He watched him go worriedly, knowing that if anything bad came upon him, he probably wasn't capable of dealing with it. But at least this way he might sneak by unnoticed instead of hanging around with Potter the danger magnet. He felt Hermione slip her hand down to link her fingers through his. He stroked his thumb over her hand in response, feeling soothed by her gesture.

"We need to find You-Know-Who…" Hermione began, looking with wide, scared eyes around at the group. Potter nodded and stepped forward, automatically taking charge. Draco definitely noticed the way that the other two Gryffindors immediately turned to him for instruction.

"I'll try to see where he is…" he said nervously, but he seemed pretty shaken still. He closed his eyes and just stood there for a short while, trembling and clenching his fists. Hermione and Weasley were watching him with bated breath. Draco glanced sideways at his friend and they shared a questioning look of confusion. He didn't know why Potter would mysteriously be able to pinpoint Voldemort's location through some kind of bizarre trance, but he knew better than to start asking questions. He knew that if they survived this, he would get all his answers after.

The four of them waited in silence while Potter stood frozen, eyes roving under his lids, until finally he snapped them open and stared around at the group.

"He's in the shrieking shack," he murmured, wiping the sweat from his forehead, before turning to look at Draco, "Your father was there too."

Draco swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and felt the anger bristle up his spine as Potter rubbed his hand over his face anxiously.

"He was asking for Snape. But Lucius was reluctant to fetch him. He just wanted to go out there and fight, to kill as many muggleborns as he could… um…er…sorry-" Potter looked over at him with a worried frown, and he could feel Hermione squeezing his hand a bit tighter as well.

"Fucking bastard," Draco growled quietly, making Blaise snort in agreement and the two Gryffindor boys stare at him with shock.

"Alright," Potter stammered, turning his attention back to his friends, still looking pretty tremulous on his feet, "well let's get going. Ron and Hermione, you're coming with me?"

"Yes," they echoed each other at once. Draco felt a plummeting sensation in his gut, knowing that this brief time with her was coming to an end. He turned to Hermione and clenched her hands in both of his, looking at her intently.

"Be careful. I'll let you know if there's any news from the battlefront, from the other death eaters."

"You be careful too. Be a Slytherin," she murmured in response, "Protect yourself."

Potter had to practically drag her away, but eventually he managed to coax her to leave. Draco watched her go with a sinking feeling, which only increased every time she looked back at him yearningly. By the time they reached the end of the corridor, Potter had retrieved a long flowing piece of material from Hermione's bag. He threw it over the three of them and they vanished completely.

"Woah, what the bloody hell was that?" Blaise asked.

Draco was also blinking in surprise at their sudden disappearance. He had heard of invisibility cloaks before of course, but this one seemed completely undetectable.

"It's better not to wonder," he said dryly, "Just go alone with it for now."

Blaise shook his head whimsically and the two of them turned away from where the Golden Trio had disappeared.

"What's the plan then?"

Draco took a deep breath and pointed down a different passage that headed in the direction of the astronomy tower.

"Let's go back to the fight. See if we can get a better idea of what's happening to tell the others.

"Right," Blaise agreed with a sharp nod. The atmosphere between them had turned serious; they were no longer interested at all in joking around or making light of things. Draco was too focused on the dark thoughts that kept swirling through his mind when he considered what might happen to Hermione if Voldemort caught them. And even fun-loving Blaise felt the impact of the surrounding battle. The smell of death and decay everywhere was sure to dampen anyone's spirits.

The two of them ran down a few different passageways, keeping to the edges and the shadows. Once or twice they had the opportunity to fire spells from a distance as skirmishes appeared nearby. Draco managed to throw an angry hex at an enormous figure in dark robes who was attacking a group of students being led by Professor Flitwick. He was worried for a moment when the tiny Charms teacher spun around, seeing the advanced spell work coming from somewhere behind them, and Draco could swear he saw him widen his eyes in realisation. He wouldn't be surprised if the powerful little wizard could spot them through their concealment charms. He was sure that Flitwick sent a wink his way before he turned back to direct his students down another staircase.

Blaise managed to also play the hero for a little while, just as he'd wanted. He noticed some younger boys from Gryffindor, maybe second or third year, who had obviously thought the battle would be a cool thing to hang around for, and who had been gravely mistaken. He saw them wander in front of a couple of overly zealous death eaters just in time to throw up a shield charm around them. The dark curses rebounded off it, giving them time to realise their predicament and run away, yelling at each other at the tops of their voices and assigning blame for the idea.

It wasn't until they actually neared the north side of the Great Hall, having circled down to the ground floor that they stumbled across the more intense fighting. The people down here were casting to kill on both sides. There were ferocious Death Eaters, many of whom had abandoned their anonymity by removing their masks and taking the hall by storm, no longer caring if they were recognised. Against them were a few hardened aurors as well. The air was hot and sticky with magic, and Blaise and Draco crept to one side, crouching behind some rubble to get their bearings as they watched the frenzy before them.

His eyes were drawn to a figure fighting close to them. She was an auror with a shocking head of magenta hair. Although she seemed a bit ungainly on her feet, she was a tough warrior, taking on five Death Eaters at once. Her reflexes were unmatched, and she soon had the herd around her thinned to just two. Draco recognised one of the men she was fighting as Pius Thickness. While he was a brute politician at heart, there was no denying that he was good with dismembering spells. He could sever a limb from a hundred meters away with just a flick of his wand. The other Death Eater Draco didn't actually know by name, but he recognised the face from a few of his father's more disreputable gatherings. The purple haired auror was holding her own well, but Draco could tell she was beginning to tire. Her motions were getting sluggish as she kept having to spin between the two experienced dark wizards. And Draco could distinguish in the distance the wild hair of his aunt Bellatrix, eyeing this powerful witch with something that looked like rage in her mad eyes. He wondered if there was any personal grudge there, because she seemed more insane than usual. The sudden rumbling of the castle around them threw everyone off their feet, creating a pause in the various battles as dust rained down on top of them. When Thickness raised his wand as the auror's shields went down, distracted by the castle's movement, Draco knew that he had to act quickly or this could end badly, fatally. Raising his wand over the rubble that was sheltering him, he quickly cursed Pius right off his feet, watching with grim satisfaction when the Death Eater went crashing into the wall with a sickening crack as his skull hit the stone. The purple haired woman was momentarily distracted, but managed to gather her wits quick enough to take on the other dark wizard. After a minute or so she knocked him out cold, but not before suffering a blow to her chest that sliced across her skin, a small spray of blood erupting from the wound, making her gasp. She stumbled a bit, and Draco ducked out from behind the rubble to grab hold of her and pull her back into their hiding spot.

"Here you go," he muttered as he gently lowered her to the ground out of sight. Blaise knelt down too, and they looked over her shaking body as she panted for breath.

"We need to heal that," Blaise said with a frown, pointing at the fresh wound that ran up her chest near her collarbone. Draco nodded, directing his wand at her and muttering a healing charm that would help knit the skin back together to prevent worse damage or bleeding. The auror blinked in surprise as he was working, looking at him with wide, confused eyes.

"Blimey…you're Draco Malfoy," she murmured in disbelief, "I'd recognise that hair, those facial features anywhere."

Draco finished the charm and leaned back on his haunches, studying the strange looking woman.

"Yes. I am. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeh, I'm alright. A bit sore, but there's too much adrenalin to worry about that. Wait… you really are Draco Malfoy? As in Lucius Malfoy's son?"

Draco scowled and sighed, flinching when some of the rubble cracked off and showered down on them.

"Yes, really."

The woman stared at him.

"But…you just saved my life!"

Draco blinked at her a few times, before cursing himself loudly. Blaise groaned at the same time as he closed his eyes for a brief moment in regret.

"I wasn't…It was an accident…I didn't know…" he tried to cover, hoping that the woman wouldn't make a big deal of it, wondering how long it would take her to realise what he had in mind before he could fire off an obliviate.

"It's alright," she said quickly, holding up her hands in a gesture of peace, "I'm just surprised that's all. My mother always told me you were just like your father. I'm pleased to see her proven wrong."

"Do I know you?" he asked, confused, trying to ignore the screams and curses of people on the other side of the barrier protecting them.

"Um…well…the thing is yer know, we're actually…cousins," she said with a bit of a sheepish smile. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Blaise smirk with amusement, while he frowned down at the young woman whose hair had now turned a deep shade of blue.

"What?"

"I'm Andromeda's daughter. Nymphadora Tonks at your service."

The blue haired auror stuck out her hand and, a bit dazed, Draco took it and shook.

"Draco Malfoy."

"Yes, we already established that. You can call me Tonks. I owe you one big time, cousin. I'd be dead if it weren't for you."

"Wait a minute," he said, furrowing his brow, "You're the one that my aunt keeps going on about. You married the werewolf."

"Remus Lupin, yes!" she said with a bright smile, as if she were literally glowing with pride about it, "Is your mum here? My mum will be anxious to hear about her. Her favourite sister and all, despite everything that went down."

Draco swallowed, licking his lips as his heart thudded painfully at the reminder.

"Actually, she's dead. She died weeks ago. Killed herself," he said a bit curtly, not really wanting to have a family reunion in the middle of a warzone.

"Oh no!" Tonks exclaimed with anguish, "That's awful. I'm sorry, Draco. Is that why you're not fighting for them?"

"One of the many reasons."

There was another big crash near them, and the three of them cowered as pebbles and glass scattered all over them.

"Look, sorry to interrupt this touching moment for you two, but is this really the time or place?" Blaise said wryly, and Tonks immediately sobered.

"Gotcha. Save it for later. I'd better get back out there, find Remus and see how he's doing."

Draco grasped onto her forearm before she could slide out from their hiding place.

"Um…Tonks…" it felt a bit awkward saying the strange muggle name when he'd only just met her, "Don't tell anyone. Not a soul. I'm still technically a Death Eater here. And I want to keep helping."

Tonks nodded, giving him a big goofy grin and drawing him in for a bear hug, Draco stumbled a bit into the embrace, feeling the wind choked out of him. When the now blue haired woman leant back she looked ecstatic.

"I am the very picture of silence!" she announced, "I'm just so happy to finally meet you. Stay safe! And thank you again."

"Yeh, you too. Be careful out there. Bellatrix has it in for you."

Tonks nodded in acknowledgement. She took a deep breath to steel herself before tightening her grip on her wand.

However, before she could launch out ready to attack, there was an ear splitting noise that made them all gasp and hunch over before a voice spoke loudly through the Great Hall. The sound echoed around the vaulted ceilings, ringing out like a siren of terror.

"You have fought valiantly. And Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately," Draco looked over at Blaise with worry clear in his expression. He didn't like the sound of this, "You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you-"

Draco tuned the voice out a bit as he turned to Blaise.

"I guess I'd better go. I wouldn't want anyone to get suspicious."

"Keep in touch," Blaise reminded him and he nodded. Then they both cursed simultaneously as they heard the last part of Voldemort's message.

"He's just trying to goad Potter and his whole saviour guilt complex."

"And Potter's stupid enough to fall for it," Blaise responded with a nod, as the Dark Lord repeated his threat to the Chosen One and gave him the ultimatum.

"Listen, Blaise," he said frantically, ignoring Tonks who was staring between them with interest apparent on her face, "Whatever happens, do not under any circumstances let Hermione go with him on some suicide mission into the forest. If he chooses to do something stupid, restrain her if you have to. Just keep her here."

"Hermione? As in…Hermione Granger?" Tonks asked curiously, but Draco just ignored her.

"Can you do that for me, Blaise?"

His friend nodded, giving him a reassuring smile and a pat on the shoulder. Draco heard the whooshing sounds of apparition all around them that signalled the departure of the Death Eaters. He quickly tightened his grip on his wand and, with one last nod to his cousin and his friend, he vanished, appearing seconds later in the heart of the forbidden forest.

The darkness of the forest dazed him for a moment. The castle had been lit up in its own special, magical way, and the flashes of spells and shields had lit up the sky like a festival. But here it was cold, and painfully quiet. He saw some other shadowy figures skulking through the trees nearby, so he quickly straightened, squaring his shoulders and drawing on his mental walls. He began following their lead towards a clearing up ahead where the Death Eaters had gathered around Voldemort. The Dark lord was pacing back and forth in agitation, but for some reason Draco was certain that he wasn't worried about just Harry Potter. He was merely one pesky kid after all. There was something else bothering him. He kept staring down at his wand, a look of impotent rage in his red eyes. Draco shuddered, taking his place in the group, standing to one side as far away from Voldemort as he could without seeming suspicious.

His eyes scanned the group quickly. None of the wizards or witches present were wearing masks any more; it had gone beyond that. He was searching desperately for Severus, hoping for a look of comfort or reassurance that things were progressing as the mad old Headmaster had planned. But to Draco's dismay, there was no sign of his godfather anywhere. He shuffled over to one of the men he recognised as a friend of his father's who had always been fond of him.

"Have you seen Severus?" he muttered to the many, trying to sound nonchalant, leaning casually against a tree trunk as he did. The man – Hopkin was his name – shook his head.

"Nope. I don't think he's even been near the battle. Bloody coward."

Draco felt his skin crawl with worry. It bothered him that the potions master was missing. It wasn't like him to lose track of time, and he doubted the man had blown his cover and was with the Order. He just closed his eyes briefly and hoped that he'd turn up soon.

He half expected Voldemort to start offering them words of wisdom, congratulations or encouragement, or even punishment. But the Dark Lord didn't say anything, didn't acknowledge anyone or speak at all. His lack of direction worried the group, which was now significantly smaller than it had been earlier in the evening. They were all waiting for something to happen, but didn't want to raise their voices to high to disturb the nightmarish silence that had descended on the forest. It was just a waiting game now.

….

It felt like much more than just an hour later that the cracking of twigs and rustle of leaves alerted them to a presence entering the clearing. Draco held his breath as he watched Voldemort spin to face the sound, contempt and triumph fighting to take reign on his face.

And sure enough, as the Dark Lord had predicted, a scruffy haired boy walked out into the open space, his skin pale and smeared with dirt. But his eyes were confident, challenging even as he faced death, ready and welcoming.

Harry Potter had given himself up.

….

It's all going down now! We're up to the big "hold your breath" scenes. Please review and help me to figure out how to relieve all this tension! I'm pretty set on how I want my ending to go, but there are so many details that are unclear in my mind. Thank you for your reviews.