Harry sat in silence, listening to Seamus' report of the battle at Windsor.

"We held the barricade close to three weeks," he said, standing in front of Harry, his lieutenants Hermione and Ron, and his cohort leaders Ginny and Neville, "we would've held it longer if Neville had gotten the reinforcements to us."

"We were held up by you-know-who's western cohorts," Neville muttered, "hit us like they knew our address."

Seamus nodded, then continued, "a few days ago, the third cohort came through Windsor led by Malfoy, he gave us a chance to surrender, we told him to put his surrender up his ass. Battle started…lasted maybe forty minutes…by the end of it all our soldiers were dead…Dean was captured…"

"You mean you left Dean!?" Ginny asked angrily.

"What was I supposed to do?" Seamus asked, "Fight an entire cohort and the home guard on my own?"

'No, but you could've tried to save him!" she snapped.

"Ginny," Harry warned, making her back off, though she still glowered at Seamus, Harry stood up, walking over to the window, he looked out and down towards the old castle of Hogwarts, the one hideaway that was safe from Voldemort, "how many men can you gather up for a raid?" he asked.

"I'm a little short on men right now," Seamus muttered, "maybe two…"

"I could get a squad from the cohort." Neville offered, stepping forward.

"Same," Ginny said.

"No, we only need about eight people," Harry said, looking at Seamus, "and we already have two on our team."

One week later.

Draco rode towards the castle, his wolf pack at his back, his hood up to protect him from the freezing rain.

"We need to report to the dark lord." Zabini said, "he'll want to know that the insurrection in the New Forest."

"I have a feeling he already knows," Malfoy said, inclining his head to the ramparts where a familiar robed figure was watching them approach.

"He never waits for anyone on the ramparts." Goyle muttered.

"This is either really good, or really bad…" Montague said, fidgeting nervously as they went through the gates.

"Don't be nervous boys," Draco said, jumping off his horse, "I'll go report to him, you rub down the horses and get them put up."

"You want us to put away your horse?" Zabini asked, "or will you be using it later?"

"I'll attend to him when I'm done." Draco said, ignoring the knowing grins the other men had as he walked up the steps to the ramparts. "My lord," he greeted his master, giving him a respectful bow.

"Ah, young Draco," the dark lord said, not even looking at him, "I trust the insurrection has been put down?"

"yes my lord, all dead, they fought to the last man."

"and it was just you and your wolf pack, yes?"

'Yes my lord."

He nodded, "I'll be leaving soon," he said, "I shall be taking Rosier, Avery, and Dolohov to London, it is high time they fall to their knees in fealty, while I am gone, I am putting you in charge of the castle. Defend it, allow no one to penetrate our walls."

"Yes my lord."

"I do not give reign over my castle so easily." He warned, "Do not fail me."

"Have I ever my lord?" he asked.

"That you haven't…but there's a first time for everything." The dark lord finally turned his red eyes to Draco, scanning him, "that will be all, you are dismissed."

Draco bowed and walked away, pulling his hood further over his head, trying vainly to keep the cold out, he quickly walked into the keep and went to his room, quickly shedding his armor and putting it on it's stand, and then put his wolf skin cloak back on before walking back out, before he went too far he was stopped by Zabini.

"Draco," he said, looking around, "what did the Dark Lord need?"

"He told me I'm in charge of the castle." Draco said, "he's leading an expedition to London, and he's left me in charge of the defense of this castle."

Zabini nodded slowly, "congratulations." He said, cracking a small smile, "guess your lord of the castle for a few weeks."

"Guess so," Draco said, returning the smile, before walking past him, "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go see a certain healer."

Zabini smirked, "it's been almost a week since we left, you sure she remembers your face?"

"Oh ha-ha." He said dryly, "I'll be back tomorrow."

"I know," he said dismissively, 'go have your fun."

Draco shook his head and walked out, heading straight for Xavier, he jumped onto the horse and took off, going right back into town.


Luna danced around her cottage, twirling and laughing as she went, stopping only when she almost collided into Draco's chest, "Draco!" she said happily, throwing her arms around him as he spun her around, kissing her.

Luna laughed against his kiss, "when'd you get back?" she asked softly.

"Thirty minutes ago." He said, looking down at her, "I'm sorry I had to leave so quickly after I'd just gotten back, orders came in…"

"I know…" she said, "I understand…you're a soldier…" she looked down slightly, "orders come first."

Draco lifted her chin slightly, looking her in the eyes, "orders come first, after you." he said, softly kissing her forehead, making the smile return, she slowly stepped away, "are you hungry?" she asked, walking over to the cauldron, "and did you see any umgubular slashkilter's?"

Draco watched her and laughed, "yes to the food, no to the slashkilter's."


Draco watched as the first cohort slowly marched away from the town, beside him stood Zabini, who was absentmindedly twirling a knife in his hand, "put that away, you're making me nervous."

"Sorry, bored." Zabini said apologetically, still twirling the knife.

Draco snatched the knife out of his hand glaring at him.

"You need to relax mate." Zabini said, 'Nothing's gonna happen."

"He's right," Goyle said, walking up with Crabbe behind him, "no ones stupid enough to attack this stronghold, so take the week off, take Luna on a trip to find Blibbering Humdingers."

Draco rolled his eyes, "I can't leave my post," he muttered, "but it would be good for Luna to get out of that cottage, spend her time somewhere other than the forest."

"Bring her to the castle." Crabbe said, sitting on the edge of the ramparts, "maybe throw some kind of ball."

"I think the dark lord would die of shock if he came back and found a full blown ball happening here." Zabini mused, "Probably kill everyone who participated in it."

Malfoy cracked a smile, "Your not wrong…no…best if I just visit her at the cottage like usual."


/

Harry watched the dark castle from his position on the outskirts of the forest, "the cohort just left." He said, looking back at the seven others who had joined him, Seamus, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, a guard named Ernie Macmillan, and an archer named Justin Finch-fletchley, they were all sitting on a fallen tree, waiting for the time to move, Ron was sharpening his Axe, Hermione was twirling an arrow in her hands, Ginny was tapping her fingers against her sword, and Neville was writing something in his leather journal while studying a plant.

"Why don't we just sneak in now?" Ginny asked impatiently, "With most of the legion gone-"

"There's still an entire Cohort in the castle." Neville said without looking up from his journal, 'our best hope is to sneak in at night, maybe put out a distraction.'

'What distraction would get the entire cohort to completely abandon their posts?"

"How about…Harry Potter?" Harry asked, "with a little explosive expertise towards the end." He nodded to Seamus who just grinned, "alright, here's the plan."


/

Draco woke up to someone pounding on the door, 'what…" he groaned, looking at Luna who was still asleep beside him, he carefully got out of bed and walked over to the door, he opened it and found a concerned looking Goyle, "what the hell do you want?" he asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"You need to get to the castle now." Goyle said urgently.

"Why?" he asked, looking back as he felt Luna's hand touch his shoulder, she was now standing behind him, looking at Goyle inquisitively, smoothing out her nightshirt as she did.

"Potters at the castle…he and that damn Scotsman are raising hell!"

Draco immediately turned around and started gathering his things, quickly putting on his boots and shirt, as he went he looked out the window, seeing the flames coming from the castle, "Luna, stay in the cottage." He said, clasping his wolf skin pelt on.

"Draco…"Luna whispered.

Draco belted on his sword and walked over to Luna, kissing her forehead, "stay in the cottage." He said again, "please." And then walked out of the cottage, looking at Goyle as he went, "keep her safe." He said.

Goyle nodded, "anything else?"

"I'm going to need your shield." He said, climbing onto Xavier, he took Goyle's shield and urged the horse towards the burning castle.


/

Harry dueled against two soldiers at the same time, weaving in between them and dodging both swords while trying to get past their defenses. "Seamus! I need help!" he shouted over at the Scotsman, who was duel-wielding his claymore and a axe against three other soldiers.

"I'M A LITTLE BUSY AT THE MOMENT!" Seamus snarled, digging the blade of the axe into one of the men's neck.

"SCOTSMAN!" Montague shouted, striding out of the castle, pushing soldiers out of the way, pulling out his sword as he went.

"Asshole." Seamus greeted, killing another soldier before running at Montague, the two clashed in the middle of the courtyard, sword and shield against claymore and axe, sparks flew as they glanced off each other.

"You'll pay for what you did in Windsor, and the dark forest." Montague growled, kicking Seamus back.

"How is Marietta?" Seamus asked, swinging his axe, catching Montague's sword, "still can't walk can she?'

Montague just let loose a snarl forcing Seamus back against the wall, struggling to block the now frenzied attacks.

"Seamus!" Harry shouted, running towards his friend, only to be blocked by Draco, who slammed his shield into the running man, sending him to the ground, "Don't get up." Draco growled, putting the tip of his blade underneath Harry's neck, "You men!" Draco shouted at a few members of his cohort, "head into the castle, I'm sure some of Potters men are in there right now."

"Still following delusions of a mad man I see." Harry muttered as the soldiers ran off to carry out their orders.

"The only mad man I see is sitting in front of me." Draco growled, "sending children to fight a mans war, hanging a woman in front of an entire town."

"What?" Harry asked in confusion, before slamming Draco's sword away from his neck before knocking Draco's legs out from under him; then jumped up, holding his own sword to Draco's neck, "What are you talking about?"

Draco kicked harry back and jumped up, 'don't act Innocent Potter!" he snarled, clashing against Harry, "these people don't move without your say so!"

Harry said nothing, just concentrated on blocking and returning attacks, he delivered a powerful blow that sent Draco's shield flying across the courtyard, now, without a shield, Draco's attacks were much stronger.

"Could you go grab the shield again mate?" Harry grunted, locking blades with Draco.

Draco responded with a growl and a kick to the chest, "Submit!" Draco shouted.

"Make me." Harry retorted, stabbing at Draco's stomach, he hit the sword away and responded with his own attack.

An arrow slamming into Draco's shoulder interrupted their battle, making him drop his sword and run for cover.

"Harry run!" Hermione shouted from atop the ramparts, loosing another arrow alongside Justin, who was aiming at an unsuspecting Montague, catching the knight in the neck.

"Montague!" Malfoy shouted, hiding behind the stalls, as more arrows flew at him.

Montague tried to speak, but all that came out was blood.

"MONTAGUE!" Higgs shouted, running out of the keep, a spear in his hand and blood running down from his temple, "MONTAGUE! NO!" he hefted his spear and threw it at Justin, catching him in the shoulder. He continued to run towards his downed partner, sliding to a halt beside him, "Montague!"

Crabbe stumbled out of the keep, dodging an Ax, Ron was behind him, wielding the Ax, Crabbe parried the Ax with his sword, glaring at Ron, "Damn Weasley!" he snarled.

"Stupid Git," Ron retorted, kicking Crabbe back, Ginny ran out from behind him, supporting an injured and tortured looking Dean, "Get Dean out of here!" Ron shouted at Ginny, stopping Crabbe's sword with his Ax's handle, Ginny just nodded and kept running, Dean hobbling along, explosions started going off, Seamus had ignited several firebombs and were throwing them anywhere he thought they would cause the most damage.

"CLOSE THE GATES!" Draco shouted at the guards on the ramparts, shielding his eyes from the fire flaring close to him. "CLOSE THEM NOW!"

The guards scrambled to follow their orders, dodging arrows to get to the levers to release the gate. But by the time they got it closed; Ginny, Dean, Seamus and Harry had gotten out, Ron ran up the steps to the top of the ramparts, helping Hermione with an injured Justin before jumping over the ramparts, Malfoy limped out, looking at the burning Keep and the dead bodies, his eyes fell upon Higgs, who was crying and holding Montague's motionless body, looking up at the sky with dead eyes, Zabini limped out of the keep, his shirt covered in blood, "Malfoy," he rasped.

"Crabbe," Malfoy said, looking over at the large man, who was still staring in shock at the fire, "get a team together and start putting out the fire," he looked over at Zabini, "get some men and start collecting the bodies, prepare them for burial…" he limped over to Higgs, putting a hand on him, "Mourn him later, we have work to do." He started walking, going towards the gates.

"How can you not even blink…" Higgs asked softly, not looking up from Montague.

Malfoy stopped, but didn't say anything.

"How can you just…keep giving orders and not even care that one of your men is dead!" he shouted, tears streaking down his cheeks.

Draco slowly looked at him, "if you think that about me," he muttered, "then you really don't know Me." and with that, Malfoy walked towards the gate, shouting for them to open.