Draco rode alongside Goyle, "so, did you tell Lovegood goodbye?" the large berserker asked.
Draco shook his head, "didn't have the time," he looked at Goyle, "you've been visiting her?"
"Of course," Goyle muttered, "she patched us all up, saved Young Nott and Marius, least we could do was make sure she had company."
Draco said nothing, just looked ahead as they slowly but surely approached Windsor, it had taken two days of hard marching, though the men barely showed any fatigue; they had marched on dutifully, only stopping for a quick bite of rations and then it was right back to it, now the Dark Lord called for a halt, "Draco." He called, "to my side."
Draco spurred the horse forward, coming to a halt right beside him, 'yes my lord?" he asked.
"What is wrong with this picture?" he asked, motioning to the town below them.
Draco looked, the barricade the rebels had made was crude, made of what appeared to be bits of furniture and overturned wagons, but that wasn't what the dark lord meant, two hundred yards from the barricade was a small encampment, with men in chain mail darting between the tents, gathering what looked to be supplies, in front of the encampment was a wooden barricade composed of logs, to protect the small force from any attack the rebels may throw at them, "did Avery find out and send a detachment?" he muttered.
"No," the dark lord said, "they are not of our legion, take your wolf pack and go see what these men are here for."
Draco looked at the other death eaters and motioned for them to follow, he thundered down the slope, Goyle and Crabbe beside him with Montague and Higgs bringing up the rear, within a few minutes they were in the camp, several of the men fell into a deep bow at the sight of Draco, one ran off to a slightly larger tent, "where is your commanding officer!" Draco snarled.
A few seconds passed before a plump man in very tight fitting leather armor came out of the tent, "Sir Malfoy!" he greeted, plastering on a fake smile, "we had not thought…we didn't think…"
Draco regarded him with cold eyes, "what detachment are you from?" he asked, looking at the men's shoddy and outdated armor, and they're old, slightly rusted weapons.
The fat man cleared his throat, "I-I'm Captain Frisk, of the Windsor home guard."
"the home guard?" Montague asked incredulously, "what are you doing out here?"
"we…were forced from the town by the rebels, but rest assured we are doing all we can to retake it."
Draco looked around the camp, "you seem to have been camped here for quite some time." He noted, looking at slightly weathered wooden barricade, which still showed signs of being built recently, "how is it that I barely received a message of this two days ago, and yet you look as if you've been here for weeks?"
"Well…I…that is to say…" Frisk stuttered, looking scared.
"And where," Draco started, jumping off Xavier, "is the man I sent here eight days ago? All he sent back was a messenger."
"H-he left! Ages ago! He said he…he was headed to London!"
Draco narrowed his eyes, "Crabbe, Goyle, search the tents."
"Now wait just a-" Frisk started indignantly, until Draco put his sword tip to Frisk's gluttonous belly.
"You will stay right here captain, that's an order." Draco growled as Crabbe and Goyle jumped off their horses and started going through the camp, none of the men stopped them, no one wanted to get on the wrong side of the large, imposing goliaths who lumbered into the tents one by one, in no time they returned, with a very indignant looking Zabini, who was rubbing his wrists, "We found him tied up in the last tent." Goyle growled, glaring at the captain.
Draco dug the blade slightly into the mans neck, "you dare imprison one of my men?" he asked angrily.
"W-we…he…he tried to kill us!"
"That's a bald face lie!" Zabini spat, stalking towards the captain, "you placed me under arrest after I sent my squire to go alert Sir Malfoy about what was happening here! I'm surprised you didn't try to kill him!"
Draco turned back to Higgs, "you're relieved of duty," he hissed, withdrawing his sword and turning around, then turned back around and punched the man square in the face, "and that's for not alerting us sooner!" he jumped back onto Xavier, "you three!" he snapped at three of the Home guard soldiers, "place your former captain under arrest!"
They complied instantly, dragging the man away, Draco then looked around, he pointed at an archer, "you there, Archer, how long has this stand off been going on?"
The man jumped to attention, "sir, we've been at this for close to three weeks! The enemy has fortified their position, at least three-dozen knights, archers, and spearmen."
"How did they capture the city if the Home Guard was here?"
"They overwhelmed us sir, pushed us out of the town…I'm embarrassed to say that they had the jump on us…hit us in the morning and killed off half the home guard before we knew what was what."
"And you're sure they're with Dumbledore's army?" Draco asked.
"Yes…I saw their leaders…the Iron Knight…a-and the Highland warrior"
'Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan…" Draco muttered, looking at his men, Montague gripped the pommel of his sword tighter at the mention of Seamus.
"There's one more thing sir." A spearman said from beside Malfoy, "The enemy…they're…they're just kids…"
"What?" Malfoy asked.
"They're…young'uns sir…barely fifteen years at the oldest...not includin' the ones in charge mind you…"
"And these…school boys over powered you?" Higgs asked with a snort of amusement, earning him a look from Montague.
"As we said, we were taken by surprise…"
Draco looked towards the barricade, children…have you sunk this low Potter? Or are you this desperate, "Crabbe," Malfoy said, "return to the dark lord, give him the report, and move the cohort up."
"T-the dark lords h-here?" the archer asked in fright.
Draco's lip curled into a sneer, "yes, and he doesn't like failures, not at all." He looked over at Zabini, "took your time didn't you?"
"Piss off," Zabini said sulkily, "if they hadn't of got the jump on me."
"And we all know how hard that is," Draco said, making the others chuckle, "how did you find out about Marietta?"
"Saw Seamus string her up myself." Zabini said, "was the second day I was here, I was looking through the spyglass, and they had her arms bound as they led her to a tree…she was crying somethin' fierce too…he put the noose around her neck and had a horse haul her up…she was dead within minutes."
Draco scratched his jaw, "Seamus has always been somewhat of a brute…but even I wouldn't have guessed he'd kill someone like that…specially a woman."
"She was a spy, what did you want him to do, lock her up?"
"It's what Potter would've done…either he's getting more cruel…or he doesn't know."
Within minutes the sound of marching feet filled the air as two hundred legionnaires marched up to the camp, the dark lord and Crabbe at the head of them.
"My lord," Draco said, giving a half bow in respect.
"Draco," he said, "Crabbe tells me, that these rebels are mere school boys."
"Yes my lord, the only real warriors among them are two of Potters lieutenants." Draco said, "Shall I tell the legion to surround the barricade, dig in."
"No." he said, "I want you to form up the legion, and march straight for the barricade, lock shields, to protect from spears and arrows, once you are inside the barricade, unleash hell…no survivors."
Draco's eyes widened, "My lord…surely this is a bit extreme!"
He turned his cold eyes to Draco, studying, "do you doubt my strategy?" he asked icily.
"No my lord…but they're just children…school boys whose minds have been poisoned with promises of grandeur."
"Then they will die as idiotic children do." He said darkly.
"My lord-"
"You still argue with me Draco?" the Dark lord asked dangerously.
"No my lord…I simply want to point out…when word gets out about this…about us slaughtering dozens of children; I say children because they will not be seen as soldiers, but children, more people will be willing to Join potter against us."
The dark lord was silent for a few minutes, "there is truth in your words Draco, what would you suggest?"
"I suggest we give them a chance to surrender, I'll ride out with Crabbe and Goyle…we'll give them an ultimatum…surrender or die."
The dark lord gave a cruel smile, "issue the warning, either they surrender as soon as you give it, or they die."
Draco felt a lump rise in his throat, "yes my lord." He turned Xavier towards the barricade and nudged him into a trot, Crabbe and Goyle followed him, when they were far enough away, Goyle finally spoke, "Draco…this isn't right…"he said, his voice oddly soft, 'they're just kids…"
"I know," Draco muttered, "but we have our orders…"
"You know most of them won't surrender…right?" Crabbe asked.
"We have to try." Draco said, "but no matter what happens here…I'll take full responsibility.
Dean Thomas sat in the towns Chapel, praying, he prayed for the lives of his men, those he lost, an those he still had, he prayed for the war to be over, and he prayed for mercy, for his soul an Seamus'.
"Dean." Someone said behind him, shaking him from his prayers, he looked back and found Seamus standing behind him, wearing a kilt with sparse armor, he had a buckler strapped to his arm and had his hand on the pommel of a basket hilt claymore at his side, "what're ye doin' in here?"
"Praying." Dean said, standing up, "Seems no one prays anymore, guess in times like this we forget there's a god…"
Seamus walked over to him, hesitating, "I…I wanted to talk to ye about Marietta…I…I know what I did was…questionable…"
"You strung her up in front of her home town, with her begging and crying for mercy." Dean said sharply, "it's beyond questionable."
"I had too," Seamus muttered, "She was a traitor…a bloody spy."
"She was an unarmed civilian in their eyes." Dean said, "You should've waited until we were back at headquarters, Harry wouldn't have approved of it."
Seamus said nothing, "I let my anger get the best of me…" he said, "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize to me," Dean said, turning back to the alter, "I'm not going to be the one who'll judge you in the end."
Seamus shook his head, "Stopped believin' in tha' years ago." He turned around and started walking out, and almost got bowled over by a scrawny teen in bulky armor.
"Sorry Seamus!" the boy struggled out, rolling off the man and standing up.
"Bloody hell Colin!" Seamus said angrily, "What're ye doin' runnin' all Willy nilly, almost killed me ye did!"
"I'm sorry! It's just…there's death eaters right outside the barricade! Fifty yards at least."
Dean looked over him in surprise, "do you know which ones?"
"N-no sir, all I know is they're death eaters…one of thems wearing some kind of pelt."
"Are they attackin'?" Seamus asked.
"No, just standing there…the one with the pelt said something about a proposition."
"Come on Seamus." Dean said striding out of the chapel "lets go see what our enemy wants."
Draco looked up at the sky as he waited in front of the barricades, watching as dark clouds slowly rolled in, thunder rumbled softly as lightning flitted between the clouds, he brought his hood up to shelter himself from the cold.
"What's taking them so long?" Goyle muttered, glaring at the barricade, "it's getting cold out here, and not all of us have Wolf pelts."
"Why does he get a wolf pelt?" Crabbe asked grumpily, "He wasn't the only one who fought the wolves, everyone who fought should get a pelt."
"In which case you still wouldn't have one Crabbe." Goyle snidely remarked.
"Oh sod off you-"
"Quiet." Draco hissed at them as Dean Thomas appeared at the top of the barricade.
"Sir Malfoy," Dean said coldly, 'to what do we owe the displeasure of your presence."
"I come bearing a proposition from the Dark lord!" Draco shouted.
Dean said nothing, just continued to glare at him.
"As you can see, we have an entire cohort here, waiting for the order to attack, when the order is given, all enemies inside that barricade will be slaughtered, no quarter given…" he let that sink in to all of them, 'however, the dark lord, in his merciful ways, has given me permission to let any who wish to, put down their arms and leave! No harm will come to them, however, if you do not put your arms down-"
"We know what will happen!" Dean shouted, "and we're all prepared to die for our cause!"
Immediately a cheer erupted from the defenders, some beat their weapons against their shields, or the wood of the barricade.
"No…no you don't understand…" Draco whispered, and then shouted, "The dark lord himself is here! No quarter-"
"We'll die fighting you traitorous git!" one of the smaller defenders piped out, making more cheers sound.
"LISTEN TO ME DAMMIT!" Draco snarled, "THIS ISN'T A GAME FOR SCHOOL BOYS! THIS IS WAR!"
"We know tha'!" Seamus shouted, appearing beside Dean, "and when you're cohort comes, we'll show them just how well us 'school boys' fight!"
They cheered again, one drew an arrow and loosed it right at Draco, it went right past his head, leaving a cut in his cheek.
"Fools…" Draco whispered, "FOOLS! YOU'VE CHOSEN YOUR OWN DEMISE!" he turned Xavier around and urged him forward, Crabbe and Goyle followed suite, soon they were back with the Cohort, "FORM UP!" Malfoy shouted, "NO QUARTER!"
The men cheered before forming into their ranks.
Draco looked at his 'wolf pack' "I won't make you come if you don't want to…" he said softly, "killing children is not what we were trained to do."
"No one leaves the pack!" Higgs declared, "If one wolf is in battle, we're all in battle."
"Git," Montague grumbled, slapping Higgs in the back of the head, "but he's right Draco, we're in this together, besides, I need to pay Finnegan back for the last time we fought."
Draco smirked, "dismount," he said to them, and they all complied, "front of the herd."
"Draco," the Dark lord whispered as they moved, Malfoy turned to him and sank into a bow.
"I will be following up the rear." He said, "You have complete command."
"Thank you my lord." Draco said, turning and walking to the front of the cohort, "COHORT! LOCK SHIELDS!"
The front of the cohort immediately raised their shields and locked them, edge to edge, behind them; the second rank lifted theirs and rested them on the lip of the first cohort's shields, forming an effective shield wall.
"FORWARD!"
The men let out a cheer and they started marching forward, the six death eaters in front of them had their helmets on and shields ready, Malfoy himself stood in front of them, he knew all they had to do was get within five feet of the flimsy barricade and they could easily push through it, they just had to be protected from the spears and arrows that were sure to be launched at them, his suspicions were correct as they got to the fifty yard mark, and a hail of arrows fell upon them, far behind him Malfoy heard a scream of pain, "Hold steady!" Malfoy shouted, grunting at the impact of a spear against his shield, "keep moving men!"
/
Dean Thomas stood atop the barricade, "keep firing men!" he shouted, "don't let them scare you!" he picked up a spear and hurled it at Malfoy, the legionnaire stopped in his tracks from the force, but continued on.
"They won't stop!" Colin shouted.
"Prepare to defend the Barricade!" Dean shouted, and his men cheered, "Draw swords!"
Malfoy looked past his shield, "Now, NOW CHARGE! NO QUARTER!"
The men cheered and charged past the death eaters and into the barricade, easily toppling it before jumping over the scattered pieces of wood and at the meager defenders.
"FOR HARRY POTTER!" one of the defenders shouted and cheer went up, they charged savagely at the cohort, the two sides slammed into each other, sword against sword, steel bit into flesh, the screams of the dead and injured soon filled the air, Crabbe and Goyle were in the thick of it, Goyle swung his sword with a grim face, sword fighting with several of the boys, Crabbe went about it with a gleeful light in his eye, the prospect of battle always fueled him, making him a worthy adversary.
Zabini strolled into the fight, the anger of being locked up for so long spilled over, he was ruthless to anyone who crossed his path, dispatching them quickly one after the other, Montague and Higgs worked like a well oiled machine, their movements in sync from the years of training they had done side by side. Malfoy was quickly dispatching his enemies, his sword a blur in his hand as he jabbed and stabbed into the weak points in their armor, the fire of war shining in his eyes. He engaged one boy in battle dispatching him after five minutes of hard fighting, he heard someone running up behind him, so he turned on the balls of his feet and came face to face with Colin as he drove his sword into the boy's stomach.
Colin let out a strangled gasp, his sword falling from his hand, the fire died in Malfoy's eyes as he realized what he had done, looking into the face of the young boy who realized he was going to die drove the fight out of Malfoy, "No…no, no, no…" Malfoy mumbled, pulling his sword out and dropping it; he guided Colin to the ground, the fighting around him forgotten, Colin looked up at Malfoy, blood, trickling out of his mouth,
"T-Traitor…" Colin whispered as the light left his eyes.
Malfoy slowly let go of Colin, looking down at his blood soaked hands, he felt tears trail down his cheeks as he looked at the blood, his hands slowly starting to shake, finally the sky broke and torrents of rain fell down upon battlefield, still Draco didn't move.
"You dare cry for the boy you just killed?" someone asked from behind him, Draco slowly looked back, and found Dean standing behind him, his armor grimy and covered in gore, a cut above his eye soaking his face with blood, "you dare cry for the boy you murdered?!"
Draco felt anger rise in him, he stood up, grabbing his sword as he did, "You dare accuse me of murder?" he snarled, "you who gave boys weapons and marched them into battle? Their blood is not on my hands, but I'll gladly soak them in yours!" he swung his sword out, Dean stopped it with his shield and swung his own sword at Malfoy, so began their dance of death, the two well trained swordsman fought with every ounce of strength, blocking and parrying each others attacks, all the while the battle that raged around them was slowly dying down, it wasn't until Dean slipped on a piece of wood that Malfoy finally took his chance, he shot forward and stabbed between the shoulder and chest plates, driving his blade deep into Dean's shoulder, Dean let out a scream of pain as he fell to the ground, his sword arm now useless, Malfoy dug the blade deeper and deeper, until it was up to It's hilt, he let go of the handle and glared down at Dean, before pulling a dagger out, intent on killing.
"Sir Wolfsbane." The Dark Lord whispered, making Draco stop, "leave him."
"My lord?" Draco asked angrily, "He's the enemy leader…"
"I know, which means he has valuable information that could lead us to potter, you don't have to heal him, but you can't kill him either."
Draco felt his lip turn into a wordless snarl as he pulled his sword out of Dean's shoulder, instantly three Legionnaires ran forward, dragging the injured man away, he looked around him, seeing dead bodies everywhere, all of the rebels had been killed, while quite a few legionnaires had been killed as well, the cries of the wounded could be heard, "you men!" Draco shouted, pointing at a squad of soldiers, "start retrieving our wounded, when you're done with that collect our dead and prepare them for transport, have the Home Guard collect the dead rebels."
"Yes sir!" they sounded off, and ran to carry out the task as Malfoy cleaned his sword on the grass below him, then he turned to the Dark Lord, who was now standing behind him.
"You've done well today Draco," he said, putting a hand on his shoulder, the praise fell heavily on Draco, he found himself unable to thank his lord, "I want you and Zabini to return to the castle, your cohort will remain here and finish the clean up, however, you and Zabini have earned a rest."
"Yes my lord…thank you…"
Seamus dragged himself out from under an overturned wagon, he had been pinned under it when the barricade had been thrust aside, and had only been able to wrench himself free when the rain loosened the ground enough for him to claw himself out, now he stood looking at the battlefield, still littered with the bodies of the rebels, a couple of legionnaires walked amongst the dead, dragging a few away to a line that was prepping them for burial, Seamus' started walking, with a heavy heart, towards the outskirts of town, careful to avoid any wandering patrols, it was one of these patrols; that had stopped by a tree he was hiding behind, that unintentionally conveyed news that made his blood run cold.
"All dead, except for the Iron Knight," one of the soldiers said, "they say the dark lord has some 'questions' to ask him."
"Hmmph," growled an older soldier, "That means the poor lads gonna get tortured until he spills his guts, and then killed, he should've fallen in battle."
"Nothing they can do about it now huh?" another asked as they started moving away, "best to just pray he gives the dark lord what he wants and move on."
As soon as they were gone, Seamus started moving quicker; soon he was over the bridge and stealing a horse from a farmer, "I have to tell the others." He growled as he urged the horse faster through the falling rain.
Luna sat at the window, watching the horizon, she was waiting for a glimpse of the Cohort returning, she had done this every night since they had left, at first she hoped they would turn around, say it was a joke, then she was hoping that they would avoid a fight, solve things peaceful, but now, she was just hoping that when they came back, her friends would still be alive, that Draco would still be alive. She watched until the sun finally went down, and with a sigh she turned and went to her cot, pulling the covers back, a knock at her door made her look up sharply, fear slowly creeped into her mind, was it a messenger that she didn't see? She slowly walked to the door and, with shaky hands, opened it, she almost started crying when she saw Draco standing in front of her, his armor was off and his shirt was blood soaked and dirty, she quickly ran forward and hugged him.
"Luna…" he whispered softly, breathing in her familiar scent of herbs, holding her in his arms.
"It's been two weeks." She whispered, "I was so scared something had happened…"
"Took a little while to get back." He mumbled softly, "Got stalled by bandits on the road."
"Is that why you're bleeding?" she asked worriedly, looking at the blood on his shirt.
Draco looked down, confused at the blood, "m-maybe…"
Luna guided him to a chair and sat him down, pulling his shirt off, he had several new gashes on his chest and shoulder, and another three on his back, she quickly started cleaning the wounds and wrapping them with gauze, "you're always so careless…" she mumbled, "like you don't mind being injured…"
"Sometimes I don't…" he said quietly, catching her hand before she moved away, "sometimes I could care less what happens to me…if I get injured, so be it…at least I have a healer I know that can look after me."
"I won't always be there," she said with a light laugh, looking into his grey eyes, "so as your healer…please…please be careful."
"Do you say this only as a healer?" he asked quietly.
She looked at him, "I say it as your healer…and your friend…and as someone who cares about you." she whispered softly.
Draco touched her cheek softly, she closed her eyes at his touch, her own hand coming up to hold his, they sat like this for a few seconds, until Malfoy leaned forward and kissed her, it was a chaste kiss, so sweet and innocent that for a few seconds Luna didn't react as warmth flooded her body, she slowly opened her eyes and looked into Draco's eyes, they were full of a sadness that you could only see in a soldiers eyes, but they were also full of tenderness and love; with this in mind, Luna leaned forward and returned the kiss. Malfoy smiled softly against her lips as he put his other hand around her, caressing the small of her back as Luna put her arms around his neck, keeping him close, Draco slowly trailed his hand down to her waist as he kissed her neck, making Luna let out a small sigh, "Draco…" she whispered softly, running her hands through his hair as he picked her up and carried her to her cot, laying her down gently as he continued to ravage her neck and collarbone, his hands wandering shamelessly up her skirt, making her gasp in surprise, "Draco…" she said softly.
"Luna," he said back, kissing her deeply as her hands held onto his bare back, having the presence of mind only to be careful of his bandages; soon the two were lost in the throes of passion, nothing mattered to them but each other, how they made each other feel, how the other sounded, how a simple touch could send pleasure and warmness through their bodies, it wasn't until they were lying in the cot, her head lying against his bare chest, his arms around her to keep her close, and a blanket covering them haphazardly, that they started thinking of the consequences of what they had done; and yet, they made no sound, they did not have to convey their feelings verbally anymore, they didn't have to justify what they did. And as they slowly slipped into sleep, Draco kissed the top of her head and whispered, "Claimed."
