Chapter 18
Draco paced anxiously. Today was the day that he was supposed to let in the Death Eaters to attack the school. The plan was relatively simple; as soon as Potter and Dumbledore left the castle on their mission, Hermione would come and tell him. Then he would activate the Vanishing Cabinet and let in the Death Eaters.
If all went according to plan, they would be stopped as soon as they made it up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower, a 'trap' he was going to lay for Dumbledore. Then, when attempting to confront Dumbledore, he was to also be 'executed' by one of the Light members, thus allowing him a way out of being Voldemort's pawn. The rest of the Death Eaters would try to scurry away, but The Order would capture as many of them as possible. Seemed pretty easy, right?
Yet in spite of knowing they had planned out every possible situation, Draco was worried. What would happen if something else occurred? There would no doubt be some serious injuries tonight, if there not deaths. And what if a student happened to be out of bed by some chance? It was impossible to predict the casualties.
Breaking out of his trance, he saw that he had made it to the other side of the room. He shook his head, and sat down on a nearby couch.
As he waited he thought about his last conversation with Blaise. He had tried to explain, but Blaise wouldn't hear of it. It probably was for the best, seeing how complicated it could be to try and begin explaining everything that had happened. So that night when he left his dorm room, he made sure to glance back at where Blaise was seated. For all he knew, it could be the last time he ever saw his childhood friend.
Several more long excruciating moments had passed before Hermione had entered the room. He instantly stood up to greet her.
"Is it time?" he asked in a somber voice. He could see that she was also worrying about what would happen.
She nodded, "Harry just left. But before he did, he asked me to take some of this and give it to the members of Dumbledore's army," she said pausing. She held up a vile which he instantly recognized to be the Felix Felicis. Most of the liquid had already been consumed, so he assumed the remaining bits were for him. "I know that you aren't a member of the army, but you deserve to have a bit of luck on your side tonight, just in case."
He looked up, processing her statement, "You, you're going to be fighting?" he asked, trying to veil his shock.
"I have to. I'm as much a part of this as the rest of you. And I know that there's no way that the rest of them will sit back either," she said as she handed him the vile.
He swallowed it in a single gulp. "Hermione, what if something happens to you tonight? It would be so much safer for you to wait in the Gryffindor Common Room instead of being here." But he knew that it was a losing battle. There was no way anyone could ever talk Hermione Granger out of doing something once she had her mind made up.
She chose to ignore his statement. "There are teachers waiting directly outside of the classroom. Hopefully we can take down as many as we can before you reach the Astronomy Tower. There are also other teachers waiting in other corridors along the way."
He nodded as she made her way out of the room. "Granger," he called out to her. She turned back to look at him expectantly. "Good luck tonight," he said, hoping that it wouldn't be the last time he ever spoke to her.
She smiled at him, before leaving the room. Draco turned toward the cabinet, knowing fully that it was time to let in the Death Eaters.
He placed an apple in the portal and sent it off to Borgins and Burkes. It had become the way Draco would communicate with the owner of the store. The first time he placed it in the Cabinet, the apple had ended up only slightly better than the bird. But once it had successfully vanished, upon summoning it back, he saw that it had a bite taken out of it in the shape of the Dark Mark. It had made him sick to see it, but he knew that he had to keep up the pretense.
Draco waited for the Death Eaters to come through the portal. A few seconds later, his aunt stepped out, crouching her head so she didn't hit it.
"Draco," she said with a toothy smile. Her teeth were as crooked and blackened as always. He shuddered internally, as he let his aunt embrace him. "You've done so well, Draco," she said beaming. "The Dark Lord will be so pleased with out after this is all over."
'You would like that, wouldn't you?' Draco thought. 'Anything that puts you in a better place with that Lord of yours."
However, he smiled at his aunt. It would do no good to set her off. "I've missed you Aunt Bella. You look just as lovely as always."
As he finished his faux compliment, he watched as several other Death Eaters made their way out of the portal. It started off with the Carrows, and then there was Yaxley, Nott Sr., and Rodoluphus and Rabastan. However, he frowned when he saw Fenrir Greyback make his way out of the portal.
"I didn't invite you," he growled at the half-breed. The last thing he needed was for a werewolf in the school. Regardless of the fact that it wasn't the full moon, Greyback had a reputation amongst the Death Eaters of viciously ripping out the throats of his victims, despite the lunar cycle.
"Don't you want him to rip out the throats of the Mudbloods in this school, Draco? Let him purge the school of their dirty blood. If we are lucky, then maybe he will rip out Potter's personal pet Mudblood," His aunt said, trying to convince him in a cooing tone.
Draco felt the rage pump through him. Draco mentally vowed that if that filthy man laid a single finger on her, then he would personally kill him in the most painful way possible.
Through gritted teeth he replied, "Whatever. As long as he doesn't screw up this mission, then I don't care what he does," Draco finished. Thankfully for him, no one had caught the shrewd tone that he spoke with.
The Death Eaters all turned to look at Draco expectantly. "So boy, what's the plan?" Yaxley asked him in a gruff voice.
Draco took a deep breath before telling them 'the plan'.
Hermione wrung her hands together nervously. It had been almost twenty minutes since she had left Draco alone in the room, and so far there had been nothing but pure silence. There had not been so much as a single student out of bed, or even the castle creaking at night. Hermione was glad for both, but for very different reasons.
She knew that he had been so worried when she had visited him. She could read him well, and when he had made that statement about wanting to keep her safe, she simply couldn't reply. It wasn't that she was trying to ignore him. But she felt that her throat had closed up, preventing her from answering. She knew that if she stayed in the room for any longer, she probably would end up crying. She was so worried that something would go wrong. What if Draco was caught? What if the Death Eaters found that it was all an elaborate plan so Draco would be able to vanish? And what if he was killed in the middle their ruse?
Hermione knew that there was no way that she would be able to live with herself if anything happened. Although she knew that she would not be to blame, Hermione often did blame herself for the mishaps of others.
She felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Hermione turned to see Ron standing there behind her, with a smile on his face.
"He'll be alright, you know," he said, as if to read her mind.
"How did you-" she began to ask her ginger haired friend. She noticed that in the dim lighting of the school that he had matured visibly over the last year. Not just physically, but also mentally. While he had a tendency to act like a child at times, there were other times were he also was one of the most mature people in the room.
"I've known you for six years now, Hermione. I know when something is bothering you, even if I still act like an immature prat at times. But Hermione, I want you to know that regardless of what happens tonight, that everything will turn out okay in the end."
She embraced him in a hug tightly, as she held on for dear life. She loved Ron. Both he and Harry were the siblings she never had. And she needed both of them with her.
Ron pulled away from her quickly as he looked down the hall.
"Did you hear that?" he asked her worriedly.
She tried to hear any sounds, but if there were anything, then it was faint.
"There!" he said again. This time, Hermione did hear it. She heard a scream of pain, and hexes fly back and forth.
Hermione and Ron raised their wands. Ron took her hand in his and squeezed it gently as they waited for the sea of Death Eaters to make their way over to them.
Harry and Dumbledore apparated back to Hogsmeade. Dumbledore was grasping tightly to Harry's arm, as the potion he had drunk in the cave had significantly weakened him. It scared Harry, to see the greatest wizard alive double over in pain. At that moment, the his many years weighed down on Dumbledore. Harry had never seen him in such a vulnerable position.
What would it mean for tonight? They needed everyone on the Light side to be as strong as possible to make sure no unwarranted consequences occurred. And while Dumbledore at his weakest was probably stronger than any other wizard/witch, it was a chance Harry couldn't take.
"We're almost back to the school professor, just a couple more moments," Harry said as he led his mentor the Three Broomsticks. The dark mark already circled the sky around the Astronomy Tower. Malfoy had set the trap, and they were about to walk straight into it. But they needed to get back to the school as quickly as possible. Merlin knew how many people had already been injured in the fight.
"Madam Rosemerta, I need you to open up!" Harry shouted as he banged on the door the pub. Less than a few seconds later, the door swung open.
"Harry? What are you doing out of school at this hour? And is that, is that Albus? What happened?" She asked in a bewildered tone.
"There's no time to explain. The Dark Mark has been cast over the school. We need to borrow two broomsticks so we can get back there," Harry rushed. She nodded and brought out two broomsticks.
The flight back to the school should have taken no less than 3.2 minutes top. But those minutes were some of the longest he had experienced in his entire life. It was as if they were flying in a sort of slow motion.
Once they had made it back to the tower, Harry and Dumbledore placed their broomsticks against the side of one of the walls.
"Harry, I want you to wear the Invisibility Cloak. And no matter what happens, I don't want you to remove it," Dumbledore urged as they waited for the Death Eaters to make their way up to them.
"But professor, that wasn't part of the plan," Harry exclaimed, startled.
"I know. But promise me this, Harry. You cannot take off that cloak, no matter what. Just promise me," Dumbledore pleaded with him.
Normally, the man would just demand something. He held the sort of authority that allowed him to do so, even though he very seldom took advantage of it. So when he pleaded Harry to do something, he had no choice but to oblige.
As he wrapped the cloak around his body, Malfoy stumbled into the room. His face was tattered with cuts and bruises from the fight. But for the most part, he looked alright.
"Someone's dead. I stepped on their body on the way up here," Malfoy said. He didn't sound jeering at the fact, yet a bit wounded at the thought of a lost life.
"I see. Well we must get on with the plan"
"Expelliarmus," Malfoy said, without any delay. They had planned for Dumbledore to be unarmed for their charade. But the wizard was brilliantly trained with wandless magic, so it was hardly the problem. However, with Dumbledore's current state, Harry couldn't help but be slightly worried.
Dumbledore's wand went flying, and simultaneously, Harry felt his body go rigid. Expelliarmus wasn't supposed to be an immobilizing spell though…
Malfoy seemed to notice a person missing from the room as he made a questioning glace towards Dumbledore when he couldn't find Harry in the room. But before Dumbledore could say anything, the rest of the Death Eaters made their way into the room.
Harry couldn't make out any of them, other than Fenrir Greyback. It worried Harry that a werewolf had come to the school.
"Dumbledore cornered!" a lumpy looking mad said with a leer. Harry felt the overwhelming urge to spit in the man's face.
"Good evening Amycus. And you've brought Alecto too … charming.." Dumbeldore said calmly, while implying that it was anything but.
"Well done, Draco," Bellatrix cooed in a disgusting tone. "Now, do what you've spent all these months for. Kill him, Draco. Kill Dumbledore," she said as she seemed to gain a pleasure out of saying those sick words.
Harry caught his breath. The rest of the Order was supposed to make their way up the stairs at any moment. They would overpower the Death Eaters and all would be well. What could be taking them so long?
Severus Snape made his way up the stairs of the Astronomy Tower. A few students had 'woken him up' to aid their cause. He didn't have the heart to tell them that he was about to murder their beloved Headmaster in cold blood. It wouldn't matter if he was doing so on Dumbledore's orders, seeing that no one would probably ever know.
The Potter boy would hate him. He wished he could tell the boy that he had done everything for him, to try and make it up to Lily. He had sacrificed everything for her, and even in her death, he continued to make these sacrifices.
He pushed open the door to the Astronomy Tower. There was Dumbledore, wandless and weak on one side (presumably with Potter beside him, cloaked), and with Draco and his 'allies' beside him on the other. Both side seemed to gain a sense of relief to see him.
"We've got a problem, Snape," Amycus said without taking his eyes off Dumbledore.
"Severus…" he heard a frail voice call out. Snape looked over alarmed, to see Dumbledore calling for him.
"Severus…Please," the old man begged.
What sounded as the words for mercy to most men was in fact the sound of the best wizard he ever had known begging for Snape to take his life. It was a sort of mercy, if you thought about it. Dumbledore wanted to control his death; he wanted to be put out of his pain before it grew to be unbearable. So in a way, Snape was granting him mercy when he spoke those fateful words.
"Avada Kedavra"
Draco watched in horror as his Headmaster fell. That was not supposed to happen! He couldn't bear to watch the time frozen expression of pain on Dumbledore's face. Draco always had known that his Godfather was acting as a double agent for Voldemort, but he never dreamed that he would also be Dumbledore's executioner.
"Out of here, quickly," Snape said in an emotionless tone. The bastard had just murdered the greatest wizard to ever live, and he couldn't even display a slight remorse? How could anyone be so cold and cruel?
At that moment, the Order of the Phoenix made their way up the stairs. He saw a stunned look upon their faces as they saw Dumbledore dead on the cold stone floor.
"You! You did this!" Weasley shouted as he started hexing Draco. He had been wearing a hex protectant charm that Hermione had taught him a few days prior, so none of the curses had any impact. But seeing that it was time for his 'death', he had to act believable. He wasn't quite sure if the boy was trying to cause him real harm.
Thankfully at that moment, Hermione decided to intervene. Draco couldn't even begin to put into words the happiness he felt at seeing her alive.
"Go," she shouted to the rest of the Order as the remaining Death Eaters attempted to escape from the room. Draco doubled over as Hermione sent off a curse that would 'kill him'.
"What about the boy?" Amycus asked as he followed Snape to the door.
"Leave him. He's as good as dead anyways," his Godfather said in a heartless tone. Draco couldn't help but cringe as he heard those words being uttered.
Draco lay on the ground 'dying', as he watched Potter pull off his invisibility cloak. He grabbed his wand and began to charge out of the room. Seeing that there were no Death Eaters left in the room, Draco spoke.
"Potter," he said in a clear tone. Potter looked over at him, surprised. "Go get the bastard." Draco said.
Potter nodded with an ashen face before he charged out of the room with full force. Draco knew that he had to stay in the room for a few more moments to secure his 'death'. It definitely wouldn't do if he was seen attacking Death Eaters like he so wanted to do.
So instead, he closed his eyes and waited for a sign that it was all clear.