Hey, everybody! I know. Two updates this week. Well. It's the last official day of winter break here. I have to go back to school the day after tomorrow, so I figured, "Hey. Why not end this break on a happy note and update twice?"

Anyways. Here we go! The big ambush in Deathly Hallows Part One! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Twenty-four

The week leading up to the ambush was torturous. Not only did I have to continue bringing food to Ollivander-who was looking worse than ever-but I didn't sleep and I barely ate. I couldn't bring myself to eat, and my mind was too troubled by what was to come to let me rest. The moment I closed my eyes, I had a vision of my father trying to kill me, and if I slept any deeper, I had even worse nightmares of me killing others, so I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or terrified when the Saturday of the ambush came.

But I decided on terrified when my mother approached me with a dark cloak and a silver mask the afternoon before we took off.

"You've got to put these on before the other Death Eaters arrive," she told me. "At least the cloak. You don't have to put on the mask until the ambush."

I didn't take them. It took all I had to not recoil in disgust at the items.

"Draco," she sighed, warning in her voice, "I know the thought of ambushing the Order is intimidating, but you have to do it. We all have to…Except your father."

"I assume that he's in no state to come," I spat, my hand automatically going to the cheek Lucius cut with his glass a few nights ago.

My mother looked at me pointedly. "Did he do something?"

"No," I quickly answered. "I'll just go put these on in my room." I took the cloak and mask from my mother and rushed up to my room, avoiding any further talk of my father.

I threw the dark robe and shining mask onto my bed and closed the door, locking it behind me.

The sun was setting. The Death Eaters were almost here. A few more hours, and they would start arriving. They all seemed anxious to start the ambush, so they'll arrive quickly. An hour or two from then, and we would fly off to Potter's house.

I would miss on purpose. I refuse to kill anyone.

Unless a Death Eater is on the other end of my Curse.

But I had to make it look like I was trying during the ambush.

Either way, I had to wear that cloak and mask. The uniform of a true Death Eater.

This was a mistake.

"Draco! Let's go! They've started arriving!" my mother's faint voice called.

My breathing grew shaky as I grasped the hem of the dark robe with my trembling hand. I squeezed my eyes shut, and quickly pulled the cloak over my clothes. Once the hood of the robe flattened my hair, I opened my eyes again.

My heart danced as I took the mask from my bed. I didn't have to wear this yet. Right now, I'm just wearing a robe. Nothing more. I couldn't think of the cloak as a Dark Mark, though it practically was. If I though of it like that, I wouldn't be able to do this.

I left my room and arrived in the dining room much faster than I would have liked. Most of the Death Eaters were already there. Many of them held brooms at the ready, and there were spares leaning up against the walls.

"There you are," Mother sighed. "You took a while. I was starting to get worried."

"Sorry," I muttered halfheartedly.

"Are you ready?" a low voice slurred.

I turned to the side to find my father standing unsteadily and leaning heavily on his walking stick.

I didn't respond.

Lucius glanced at Mother, who nodded and walked off to talk to a group of other Death Eaters.

My father approached me slowly and leaned down to my height.

"Your first battle is always frightening," he softly began, "but you have nothing to be afraid of."

My chest tensed painfully with his words. His breath still reeked of alcohol, but is was much less potent. He looked like my father. My real father who held me until I lost consciousness during training.

"I don't want to kill anyone," I sighed, the words coming out of me before I could stop them. "And I don't want to die."

"And neither of those things will happen." I gave him a confused look. "You just have to weaken them. Then you can let everyone else finish them off, and as for you getting killed, you know enough about magic to prevent that. And you have the other Death Eaters. We protect each other," he encouraged softly, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder.

Why was he speaking like this? He hasn't spoken to me since the letter he sent me while I was in the hospital.

Something foreign made my mouth twitch upwards in the corner. "You're sober," I whispered, not realizing that I had said the words aloud.

Father's hand tensed so much that it was almost painful. I winced, and he instantly let go. He looked down at me with a mixture of fear and confusion before bowing his head and leaving the dining room.

After a minute or two, a distinctive and chilling voice cut through the Death Eater's chatter. "Is everyone ready?"

My mother appeared at my side as I glanced towards the dining room doors to confirm that it was who I thought.

"Good," Voldemort dismissed. "Everyone choose a broom and meet at the front gate in five minutes."

Mother turned to face me, and I noticed the two brooms gripped in her hand. One was standard but fast and the other was the one I hardly ever use anymore.

She held the brooms out to me, and I took the black-handled Nimbus 2001 from her. The green and black straw had gotten a bit frayed on the ends, but it was still in excellent condition.

"Are you ready?" she asked, scanning me for something.

"Nope," I answered simply and followed the other Death Eaters streaming out to the front of the estate.

We stood in a rigid, grid pattern, and a voice far towards the front commanded, "Brooms at the ready!"

I didn't know who the voice belonged to, but I followed everyone else as they put on their silver masks and raised their brooms in their right hands. I glanced at mine. It was shaking. It was almost constant now. There was no stopping it.

The others straddled their brooms and I did the same. There was no instruction for take off, but each line of Death Eaters in front of me lifted from the ground and launched into the sky.

I followed my row and flew through the sky. We stayed in the same rigid formation during the entire flight, and by the time we reached Little Winging, the sun had set and thick cloud cover was moving in.

I couldn't shake a feeling of dread that encroached on me. My hand wouldn't stop trembling even as I drew my wand. The mask was suffocatingly tight on my nose and mouth.

An animal that I've never heard before cried out. It was high-pitched and smooth, like a musical note. A second later, a large, bat-winged horse broke through the clouds. I jumped at the sight of it, having never seen the animal before, but I quickly recovered when I spotted Harry on the back of it along with a man with a scar and long red hair. I had to get to him before the others did.

But I was prevented from getting to him when a broom tore through the cloud cover with Mad-Eye Moody and a second Potter. I froze. There were two of them. More brooms and bat-like animals broke through the clouds, revealing more pairs of people, one of them always Potter.

Smart. No one could tell which was the real Harry, but that would mean that we would have to either kill or capture them all.

I picked a random Potter on a broom with who I thought was Professor Lupin and chased him through the flashes of green and blue. Screams of anger and fear rang almost as loudly as the bangs of spells. I threw a Killing Curse at the Harry on the back of the broom, purposefully missing. Potter gave me an odd look and answered my Curse with a stunning spell.

I raised my wand and blocked the spell, my wrist beginning to burn. Voldemort was coming.

Quickly glancing around, I spotted a black mist racing towards us.

I threw another curse at the Harry I was following, blasting his ear off the side of his head.

I zoomed off before You-Know-Who could get to me. He saw. He saw me take Potter's ear off. He couldn't punish me for not trying.

Every Potter seemed to have one or more Death Eater on him. I didn't know where to turn to. Everything was so loud and confusing.

A hot and loud blast of fire lit the clouds, and I turned to see some kind of flying machine race towards the ground with two Death Eaters on its tail.

I quickly followed after them, staying above the battle. This machine had another Harry Potter seated with Hagrid, and this Potter didn't seem to be casting many spells.

"Expelliarmus!" Potter shouted, sending a Death Eater's wand crashing to the ground.

Harry was always the best at disarming charms, and no one but him would disarm someone in the middle of a life or death battle.

Harry and Hagrid flew into a tunnel filled with Muggle vehicles. I hovered above the tunnel and waited for them to come out of the other side. Eventually, Potter and Hagrid came out, and they weren't followed. I had to get to him. Maybe we could get each other out of this.

I raced towards them, but found my way blocked. A screeching white owl flew towards my masked face and scraped at the silver material. This was definitely the real Harry Potter. His white owl wouldn't protect anyone else.

I was prepared to fly around it when my wrist burned again. Why did he always have to come? Why did he ruin my only chance at getting out of this?

I cast a Killing Curse at the owl, making it look like it got in the way. It screeched before going limp and falling out of the sky.

The burning in my Mark intensified to a terrible peak, forcing me to back away. Potter glided further and further away, taking my last chance with him. And I would likely never see him again.

A faint, pained scream echoed from the direction that Harry flew as a thick black mist quickly passed me by.

Go back to the others over Potter's house.

I jumped at the voice. I knew whose it was, and that only made it more disturbing.

I sluggishly turned my broom around and started to fly back to the others, but a harsh and angered shout made me jump. It didn't sound like Potter's.

He must have failed. Potter got away. He had to.

An almost unfamiliar emotion tugged the corners of my mouth upwards as I resumed my flight.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for your continued support and see you next week!