.
.
The dance of flames and shadows in the street
Make poetry nobody's ever heard
The weight of loneliness stands on your feet
The cage already there around the bird
So why don't we join the masquerade
before it all falls apart, before our love becomes insatiate?
What does tomorrow want from me?
What does it matter what I see?
If I can't choose my own design,
Tell me where do we draw the line?
~Poets Of The Fall, Where do we draw the line?~
She came home from yet another meeting with worried look on her face.
It was funny, really, how good he had become at reading her expressions. Immediately after she stepped from the floo, he was able to tell if she had fought with someone, if she didn't agree with them, if they had approved her plan, if something worried her…
Today she looked puzzled and sat down biting her lower lip, like she usually did, when she was bothered, or had to think especially hard.
"What is it?" He got up and sat opposite her by the table.
The look she had in her eyes, was somehow sad and worried and…sadly happy? at the same time.
"Ginny's pregnant…"
"What?"
He didn't know why, but it didn't sound like good news…had she mean it to?
She nodded, "She told me after the meeting." a pause, that spoke more than her words, "No one else knows."
"Is it Potters?" He blurted out the first question that came to his mind.
The answer was quite obvious…
She nodded again.
He remembered Hermione telling him how she didn't want children to this cruel world…And Teddy…a reminder how war treated the innocent. Potter had been born in the middle of war himself and look what good it did to him!
"Does he know?"
"That's the problem…"
"So, no?"
She shook her head, "Ginny doesn't want to tell him…She thinks it will distract him."
"You think she's right?"
She didn't look at him, "I don't know… I mean I guess it can do that, but on the other hand…" she glanced at him, "This is war and you can never know what happens tomorrow. What if he dies? Then he never knew…I just… I think he should have that… knowledge that he's legacy will live on…that he didn't fight in vain."
He nodded, totally understanding what she meant, "What about Weaslette?"
"What about her?"
"You won't let her fight, will you?"
Why was he suddenly this concerned about the safety of a girl he hadn't seen in years and even then barely exchanged two words with?
"Well…I think it's easier said than done… Getting her away from it…but I have to try."
It must be because of Granger, he decided. Weaslette was her friend, if she was hurt, Hermione would be devastated…
"Don't you think, that Potter knowing would help?"
"It's not my place to tell him"
"Then convince her!" He didn't still quite understand why this touched him so much? Maybe it wasn't just because of Hermione, but because of Teddy, too.
Suddenly she smiled, "You're a good man Draco."
"This has nothing to do with me." He huffed.
"I just wanted you to know." She took his hand across the table, "Thank you. This made my head a whole lot clearer."
He hadn't meant to smile at her…but did anyway.
.
.
.
"It's a dead end everywhere we look!" She ranted, pacing around the living room, "We know he stays at your family manor. We know they don't think we can attack there, because of the heavy wards we can't break. If we could just get Harry in. He could go with his invisibility cloak, kill Voldemort without anyone knowing what hit him. But we can't get through the wards! We can't even figure out, what kind of wards they are using!"
He stared at her: Why was this the first time he heard about this?
"The ancestral wards of the manor, of course."
She stopped on her tracks.
"Why didn't you tell me you were looking to get inside the manor?"
"I… I thought I did…" She sat down, her frustration completely forgotten, "The ancestral wards? Tell me about them!"
"They are ancient blood wards activated from inside the manor. It can be done only by someone belonging to the Malfoy bloodline. When the wards are up, no one, but a Malfoy, could get through. Even mother couldn't touch them. Father is the only one who can control them..."
It wasn't true, he realized right after the words had left his lips…
"And you?" She whispered
Coldness filled him with her statement, "yes, and me…"
So, this was it? His make or break moment? The moment he couldn't pretend he didn't fight for any side but his?
Without a second thought he straightened his back, "I'll do it! Go inside, break the wards and let Potter in"
She gaped at him with her eyes wide and then started to shake her head fiercely, "No…You can't…It's too much of a risk."
"It's the only choice."
She was still shaking her head, curls bouncing, "We'll figure out something else! If you go, you'll be targeted by both sides."
She stood up, "We could just…"
He, too, got up, standing opposite to her, trying to look calm and collected…
Maybe this was, what he was meant to do. His only chance to be of use…To be a hero...sort of.
"You know it's the only way…" He tried to reach her hand, but she pulled it away.
"NO! It's not! They will kill you!"
"Then that's what it takes." The calm determination in his voice surprised even himself.
"I…no!" She whispered, "I didn't save you so that you could get yourself killed! Why would you say that!?" Her eyes were wide and pleading.
He swallowed hard, "No one will ever be free if the dark lord lives… Theo, Blaise, Andromeda…Teddy, Weaslette's child…you."
She smiled sadly and took his hand, linking their fingers together, "I will never be free if you're gone."
POOF! All worry and sorrow and misery vanished from his mind for a moment. She could have as well screamed out she loved him. He felt light and fluffy, ready to burst out of the window and soar in the sky with the birds.
but it was short lived joy...
This was not a romantic fantasy moment, this was reality, and, at the moment, reality was not a fantacy.
"We need to at least look into some other options!" her plea was so desperate he could do nothing but nod.
She closed the distance between them and threw her arms around him. He buried his face into her hair and held her close.
No matter how hard he fought back…how hard he wanted to change the course of fate, to be a better man, there was no fighting back that his path had always led down to his demise. The last thing he could do, was to make it even count…
.
.
.
She shook him. He had fallen asleep on the sofa while searching options to his sacrifice, once again.
They had been doing this research for days. She had brought home half of Hogwarts library, it seemed. But the only ways to get through blood wards, always included killing the person whose blood was needed.
"I figured it out!" She said triumphantly.
He was awake at once.
"There is no way to get your Malfoy blood into someone else's bloodstream by magic, without killing you. But…" She took a deep breath, "there is a muggle way!"
"What?"
How could muggles do something magic couldn't?
"When muggles lose a lot of blood, for example in a serious accident, doctors give them someone else's blood instead!" She looked smug, "We just need to do a little raid into a muggle hospital, steal some gear. Then you donate blood and we pump it into me! I sneak in the manor, take the wards down and the order will be able to apparate straight in!"
Once, the thought of his precious pure blood, running in her veins, would have outraged him… Now, his blood in her system stirred completely opposite feelings inside of him.
"So, you just sacrifice yourself instead of me? How is that any better?" He asked dryly, not getting her excitement.
"It won't be a sacrifice! I won't get caught! Besides the Order knows I fight for them, so unlike you, I will be protected, once they get in."
He had to give it to her: It sounded like a plausible plan. Risky, but there was no chance to avoid risks in war… He was still reluctant to let her do all the work, while he did nothing, though.
"What if you get hurt again? What if you die this time?"
"That's a risk we have to take! But you have to admit, I have a hell-of-a lot more chances to get out of it alive, than you do."
She was right of course…
"We still can't be certain the wards will accept you!" He tried.
"No, but it's better than anything else we've come up."
He hated that she was right! He wanted to prove that there was a loophole, something she hadn't thought of, something that he could use to prevent her from going…But no…
"So, how are you planning to steal from the hospital?"
She looked thoughtful, "There is blood donation every Thursday…maybe we should just go and check if a chance presents itself."
"Doesn't sound too thoroughly planned…"
"No, but we're talking about a muggle hospital…I think we'll find a way."
"We?"
"Why yes. You and me of course."
He was going with her?
"That is, if you rather not come…" She added hesitating.
"No! That's not what I meant. It just took me by surprise."
.
.
.
The muggle London made him feel uneasy. Not because it was muggle, but because it felt dangerous to be out in the open like that. After all, it had been nearly a year since the last time he walked freely in the streets. She didn't look too confident either, glancing around every now and then.
She had instructed him to keep his wand out of sight, but somewhere he could easily reach it. She showed how she put hers in her sleeve so that she could just flick it out if needed.
The hospital was white and sterile and unwelcoming. Where St. Mungos was calm and quiet, this was busy and lively.
She walked to the counter: "I'd like to donate blood. Where should I go?"
"Straight ahead and to the right."
He followed her, trying not to stare at all the weird devices and muggle doctors, as they passed them.
"So, watch closely, we have only one chance to learn how it is done. When they leave us alone, grab what we need, shrink it and put it in my bag…" She kept whispering to him as they walked.
"Yes, I know the plan! We went through it only about a hundred times."
But the process blew him of guard.
He was not ready see a huge needle sinking into Grangers skin and her crimson blood start to drip to a bag next to her.
He had never known needles made him so sick. He just stared, feeling lightly ill.
"Draco!" She whispered trying not to attract anyone else's attention, "Draco! Get a grip! The stuff we need is behind you."
He still couldn't move. Were they going to do more of this on their own? How much blood could you give away and stay alive?
"Draco! Come on!" She was getting impatient.
He slapped himself mentally and turned around. Needles and bags and a hose…he grabbed some extra just to be sure and stuffed them in the back they had with them.
"Good, good!" She hissed, "Now let's act normal..."
It didn't take long before they were walking out again.
"That, was the easiest raid I've ever done." She laughed lightly.
But he knew, this had been only the easiest part of their plan…
