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Chapter Four
Ted ran out of the house with Draco close behind.
"No, Draco!" Andromeda yelled, pulling him back. "Stay in the house!" she instructed. She ran out after her husband.
"Who's there?" Draco heard Ted say. "Is it Potter? Are you Harry Potter?"
Draco watched anxiously from the front door. His mother hovered right behind him. She kept a tight hand on his arm to prevent him from running out again. He could feel his mother's grip growing tighter. It was beginning to cut off his circulation.
"They've crashed, Ted!" Andromeda shouted. "Crashed in the garden!"
Draco saw Potter standing over a massive lump on the ground. He swayed a bit and fell to the ground. He was about to run out again, but his mother's arm kept him stationary in the doorway. He saw Andromeda pull out her wand and levitate Hagrid's large body toward the house while Ted easily picked up an unconscious Harry.
"His wand," Ted said, as he passed by Draco and Narcissa. He was holding it awkwardly in his hand. "Can you grab it, Draco?"
Draco took the wand and a dirty rucksack from Ted's outstretched fingers and followed him to the couch. He was quite surprised to see Harry in the state that he was in. Blood poured from his mouth. He had cuts all over his face and hands.
"What happened up there?" Narcissa's voice echoed Draco's thoughts.
"Narcissa, can you fetch me a basin of warm water, please?" Andromeda asked, tending to Hagrid's wounds in another room.
Narcissa nodded stiffly. She was still looking at Harry as she backed out of the sitting room and disappeared into the kitchen.
"Look here, Draco," Ted said, kneeling over Harry. He was pointing to Harry's mouth. "He's missing a tooth. It feels-" Draco winced as he watched Ted prod Harry's ribcage. "I think he's broken a couple of ribs, too. And his arm. See the way it angles out? I think it's fractured."
Ted looked up at his nephew. He felt a bit sorry for him, being cooped up indoors all day and night. He wasn't even allowed to venture out into the garden for fear of a Death Eater attack. So he tried to include Draco in everything. He tried to keep him engaged and less bored.
"Can you fix it?" Draco asked. He felt like he was going to be sick again. He didn't quite like the sight of blood.
"Oh yes," Ted answered. "Quite easily, actually." He pointed his wand at Harry's arm. "Let's begin with the arm, shall we? Episkey!" At once Harry's arm straightened. He pointed his wand toward Harry's rib and repeated the spell.
Draco winced, hearing a crunching sound.
"No matter, it's fixed now." Ted pointed his wand at Harry's mouth and immediately his tooth grew. "Hopefully, he wakes soon."
"Hagrid?" Harry's weary and tired voice cracked out.
Draco looked at him in surprise and backed into the wall. Ted was watching Harry anxiously.
"Hagrid's fine, son," he said kindly, "the wife's seeing to him now. How are you feeling? Anything else broken? I've fixed your ribs, your tooth, and your arm. I'm Ted, by the way, Ted Tonks – Dora's father."
Harry sat up quickly. Too quickly. He looked as if he was going to be sick.
"Easy now," Ted said, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder and pushing him back. "That was a nasty crash you just had. What happened, anyway? Something go wrong with the bike? Draco mentioned something about seeing red and green sparks."
Harry's head spun around until he saw Draco hiding in the corner. "Yeah," he said, looking at Draco in surprise. "There were Death Eaters, loads of them – we were chased-"
"Death Eaters?"
Draco had never heard Ted's voice sound this angry.
"What d'you mean, Death Eaters? I thought they didn't know you were being moved tonight, I thought – "
"They knew," interrupted Harry.
Ted glanced at Draco and gave him a small smile. "Well, at least we know our protective charms hold. That's got to be good for something, right, Draco?"
Draco gave him a half-nod. He saw that Harry swung his legs off of the sofa. He stood up and Draco barely moved out of the way when he heard the door behind him open and Hagrid came bounding through the door. He ran over to Harry and knocked over two delicate tables and an aspidistra. Draco knelt down and straightened up the plant and the tables. His mother and his aunt entered the room behind Hagrid.
"You!" Harry shouted at Draco's aunt.
"Your wand's here, son," said Ted. "It fell right beside you and I picked it up. And that's my wife you're shouting at."
"Oh, I'm – I'm sorry."
Draco watched Harry's reaction to his aunt and understood. In the low lighting of the room, Andromeda looked extraordinarily like Bellatrix. She moved forward into the room with a haughty look on her face.
"What happened to our daughter?" she asked. "Hagrid said you were ambushed; where is Nymphadora?"
"I don't know," said Harry. "I don't know what happened to anyone else." He glanced at Draco, who immediately looked away toward the floor. "Are you all right, Malfoy?"
Draco looked up in surprise at the kind words from Harry. Other than their first meeting at Madam Malkin's, they had never exchanged pleasantries. Narcissa laid a hand on Draco's arm. He nodded at Harry.
"I'm all right, Potter."
Harry gave him a grim smile. "Good."
Everyone was silent for a bit. Andromeda resumed her glancing outside the window every five seconds, no doubt for any sign of her daughter. Narcissa joined her at the window. There was one thing that the two of them still bonded over: the love of their children. She understood that she was deeply worried for Nymphadora and even though Narcissa wasn't close to the girl, she nonetheless felt sorry for her sister.
"Portkey," Draco said.
"Oh that's right," Ted said. He glanced at his wife. "Dora'll be okay, 'Dromeda. She knows her stuff, she's been in plenty of tight spots before."
Draco checked his watch. "Three minutes."
Ted nodded to his nephew. "The Portkey's down this way." He gestured toward the doorway where Draco stood. "Draco, can you show them, please?" He nodded over to his wife, who began to shed silent tears.
Draco didn't want to go. He didn't want to be alone with Potter or Hagrid. But he knew he would have to do it because he didn't want to disturb his mother or his aunt. He felt sorry for his aunt. He didn't know his cousin at all; only met her twice since he's began hiding out here. But he nodded at Ted and silently walked down a short hallway into a bedroom with Harry and Hagrid close behind.
"It's right there," Draco said, pointing to a small, silver-backed hairbrush. "That's the Portkey."
Harry nodded and reached to place a finger on it.
"Wait a moment," Hagrid said, looking around. "Harry, where's Hedwig?"
Draco's ears perked up at the unfamiliar name. He's heard of Potter's owl before; of course, he's seen the owl flying in and out of the Great Hall during breakfast at times. He also wondered where the owl was.
"She…she got hit," Harry said.
Draco noticed tears in Potter's eyes. He wondered why Potter felt so strongly about some animal.
"Never mind," Hagrid said gruffly, roughly patting Potter's shoulder. "She had a great old life."
Potter's hand slipped and the hairbrush fell to the floor in front of Draco. It was already glowing bright blue and Draco bent down to pick it up. He held it out to Potter and Hagrid and as soon as they touched it, a familiar jerk behind the navel pulled Draco along into nothingness, alongside Potter and Hagrid.
He slammed into the hard ground of the earth and looked around, seeing Potter, Hagrid, and a couple of Weasleys.
"Oh no…my mother is going to kill me," Draco said, out loud. He shook his head in disbelief.