Author's Note: Yayyy finally new chapter! And thanks for reviewing once again, please continue doing that ;D Haha, this is chapter…what again? Ooooo hell it's chapter 37 ALREADY? It's about time I wrap this story up man. Just curious, how many chapters do YOU guys hope this story contains? Anyway, while I ponder over how to end the story, whether it's to shorten or lengthen it, you can sit back, relax and read this chapter. R&R! ^^
Acceptance
Chapter 37
It All Comes Down to This
"My Lord, when do you suppose the time is right?"
"Impatient, are we, Bellatrix?"
"Um…I thought that…my Lord, you'd want to kill as soon as possible…"
"True, true. Incidentally, I have already decided beforehand that we embark on our little killing spree today. So you might want to get ready, this is going to be a bloody encounter…"
Somewhere in the distance, the dark mark implanted itself into the clouded skies of grey and within seconds, deatheaters were swarming down to god only knows where. Pretty soon, this very batch would head off to Hogwarts, rushing in for the kill.
*~*~*~*MEANWHILE~*~*~*
"Curse at three o'clock!"
"Yeah I got it!"
Draco and I were dodging and deflecting spells like professionals now. If I recall correctly, we had been having DADA lessons for almost two weeks. According to Ron and Hermione, everyone else in the Room of Requirement was making quick progress as well. Now all of us felt pretty ready for battle. But we knew at the back of our minds that not all of us were going to survive this, no matter how prepared we were. We were considered kids, the death eaters were like…how old? Either way, we were going to fight to the very end. Draco and I had already decided on skillful tactics and positions to take, who would cast what spell and when, based on our niche areas in specific spells. Things hadn't gone as swimmingly as we hoped during the initial training process, we got hurt pretty badly at times.
~FLASHBACK~
Draco and I stood back to back as we kept a lookout for Dumbledore who kept appearing out of nowhere in the darkness. It was terrifying for both of us and we were shivering in fear half the time, reason being that Dumbledore warned us he was going to attempt using forbidden curses this time, and he had put all the light out. We were engulfed in darkness and had nothing to rely on besides each other.
"See anything, Draco?"
"No…Wait, holy shit MOVE!"
"What?"
Before I knew it, Draco had pushed me aside just like countless times before, but he himself sustained injury. Normally we would have been able to deflect the curse or dodge it skillfully, but the darkness and the knowledge of possibly being hit by the killing curse altogether put us in a vulnerable state of panic.
Immediately, I bent down to Draco. I got worried as hell as I saw him clutching his stomach and coughing blood. My first assumption was that the curse had hit him in the middle, which would definitely have hurt since the hospital incident.
"Draco, are you okay? Professor Dumbledore, stop the training! He's hurt!"
Another blast of light was shot in our direction and I pulled Draco aside right on time.
"Sir! I said stop! You injured him!"
One more spell was shot relentlessly through the darkness and both Draco and I realized Dumbledore's point. It was my time to shine and protect the Slytherin. I braved myself and stood up, protecting Draco with a magical shield, and also with my life. Nevertheless, I was trembling. "Harry," Draco muttered, pulling at my cloak. "Focus, okay? Don't be scared." I found myself feeling slightly relieved and a small wave of inspiration came back to me upon hearing Draco's words. I was forced to face the truth that during actual battle with the enemy, Voldemort would never be so kind as to stop attacking and wait till his opponent recovers from an injury. It was every man for himself, except that wasn't the case for Draco and I; if good ol' Voldy wanted to kill one of us, he'd have to kill us both.
Suddenly, I caught sight of a green streak heading towards me from the side. Draco seemed to have noticed it too, and was about to warn me, but almost instantaneously, I had deflected it. Both Draco and I seemed to be in awe at my achievement. Somewhere in the darkness, Dumbledore smirked and nodded his head in approval. He was going to take things to a higher level…
Pretty soon, spells were being shot everywhere from every edge of darkness and I had absolutely no idea how an old guy could move so fast. If Dumbledore was so fast, how fast was Voldemort…? Once again, Draco reminded me not to panic. I bit my lip and nodded. While just barely deflecting new spells, I struggled to compose and recall every bit of training I had been through. Come on…I need to find that 'feel'…That feeling of invincibility… Once I grasped that feeling, I would naturally feel more confident of myself and that would allow me to release magic of a higher standard. I needed to find my motivation, according to Dumbledore, it was sort of the same concept as the Patronus charm; find a happy memory and blah blah blah… Secretly, I had decided that my motivation was Draco, who was now sitting at my feet, pretty helpless if I might add. The thought of him was making me more worried than confident.
"Draco…"
"Don't worry about me, I know what you're thinking, but I'll help you with this, okay?"
"Okay…"
Taking a deep breath, my eyes began to scan the darkness, looking for any sign of movement or shadow. The spells had ceased to come and I knew Dumbledore was planning on a sneak attack. Who knew, he could be a few meters away from me now. Focus…Focus…
"Draco! Movement at four o'clock!"
Startled, Draco pointed his wand in the direction I had given him and shot a spell into the darkness. "Did I hit anything?" He asked, still shivering. I didn't reply. I was sure I sensed movement there, but the sound produced from Draco's blow didn't sound like it actually hit anything besides a stone wall. I strained my eyes and looked around, Draco following my lead. We had both been through the same training, somehow when one of us knew what we were doing, the other would be able to follow suit. I began to feel a bonding aura between the Slytherin and I, which was making me swell up with joy on the inside. Yay~
Unexpectedly, the spells were coming at us again at vicious speed. This time, Draco and I had somehow linked our auras together and were shooting our own spells relentlessly into wherever we perceived the attacker was, deflecting his spells swiftly at the same time. In my mind, I was absolutely amazed at what we were doing. This looked like a scene in some computer game where you had no idea where the enemy was and you were just blindly attacking. But this was different. At some point, I had experienced something unimaginable, and I was sure Draco did too.
Part of our souls had wandered out of our bodies and were free to roam about the darkness, scanning the area for our target. My vision became quite disoriented, half of it was almost pitch black except for the spells being constantly shot around, the other half was moving at light speed with blue on white vision. Finally, I saw him. Dumbledore in the newly uncovered half of my vision was a glowing white figure among the sea of midnight blue, moving at a speed that no elderly man should. "Do you see him, Dray?" I asked, hearing my voice in two places at once. I couldn't tell which by now, but one of the Draco's had nodded and lifted his wand.
After what seemed like eternity, we had a lock-on on Dumbledore and shouted in unison, "Expelliarmus!"
What happened after that was amazing, instead of the spell being fired twice, it got fired from four different areas! One from my wand, one from Draco's, one from my loose soul and the other from Draco's, bringing about a great impact of a spell landing on the astounded headmaster who got thrown backwards and disarmed. I was actually worried that we hurt the old guy. Turns out that we didn't though, thank Merlin.
I felt my soul become one within myself again as my vision began to stabilize, that indeed was an out of this world experience… Dumbledore put the light back on, and got back onto his feet. He retrieved his wand, looking as if he were about to attack again. Draco and I went back into a battle position, but Dumbledore waved at us to put our wands down.
"You two…amazed me today. I haven't been so tired in years. But back to the point, that was truly some magic back there, I see you have uncovered a new skill. You see what you're capable of doing when you work together? Now, I believe, with more practice, you two might really be able to defeat Voldemort once and for all. Good job…now if you'll excuse me, I need to get some rest. I would advise you to do the same…" Patting us both on the shoulder, the old man exited the room.
~END FLASHBACK~
And that was only the beginning. After which, the lessons just got more and more thrilling and challenging, but both of us had enjoyed the experience as the seemingly unstoppable duo, especially with our newfound ability.
"Dodge to your right!"
Now we felt united, there was a link of communication formed between us, sometimes we didn't even need to speak to let the other know what we were saying. Just a look in the eye or a simple gesture would tell us all.
"Attack from above!"
I couldn't help but chuckle- Don't get me wrong, I was serious as hell about this training. But I chuckled because I couldn't contain my joy any longer. Draco and I were finally beginning to bond. I mean, we're actually doing more than talking. Sure, we're not a couple, but who says you need to be a couple in order to find happiness in one another?
"Expelliarmus!"
I was thankful enough that Draco and I were on speaking terms after the hospital incident. But it was on that one training day that he opened himself up to me, and I saw a hint of the innocent three year old Draco in him. I wanted so much to believe that he was actually remembering the past, but I guess I'd just have to settle for this. It was good enough.
"Well done, both of you. I couldn't be more proud."
"Thanks, professor."
"Hey, now that you think we're professionals-"
"I never said that, young Malfoy."
"Whatever, you old coot. Are we gonna have some sort of party after all this is over? I could really use a break."
"We'll talk when the time comes."
Right you are, Dumbledore. I, too, would only be in the mood to think about parties when Voldemort rots in hell. Right now, we didn't even know if we would survive. Sure, the training went well and definitely seemed like it would pay off, but who could be sure?
Just then, there was a thunderous boom somewhere outside the castle. Draco, Dumbledore and I dashed out of the room, finding everyone rushing out of the Room of Requirement. I managed to locate Ron and Hermione, "what happened, guys? We heard some weird noise."
Both of them shrugged and followed the rest of the crowd outside…where we witnessed a sight like no other. The sky became almost entirely black and clouded over, a greenish grey tint covering the surface of the clouds, among which lay the dark mark.
"They're here…" Dumbledore muttered. Immediately, all the professors went to take their position, ushering students to come along and follow their instructions without question. Ron, Hermione, Draco and I glanced from Hogwarts to the sky, and what lay below it. There was a mass of some black smoky formation heading towards us. "Deatheaters…" Ron snarled. He and Hermione then took off with the rest of the crowd, hand in hand. I looked at Draco and his glassy silver orbs met my green ones. He nodded.
"It's time."