Hey, guys! Surprise! Happy Presidents' Day! I'm just updating a short-ish chapter here in celebration of this day off of school. Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter Thirty-four

No one moved. No one dared to for several minutes. After a moment, we were at least able to draw breath.

"Take everyone to the Great Hall," McGonagall's voice ordered from the steps of the castle.

I finally looked around, scanning the faces of those who had died. Some I recognized as Death Eaters, others as students or professors. I took deep, shaky breaths to calm my pounding heart. Part of me wished for that icy calm to return, but the rest of me was glad that I could still feel something towards the situation.

"You're a Death Eater?" Longbottom hissed, turning his wand on me.

"Yes," Luna answered, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "But never in his mind. Draco might have a Dark Mark, but he is not one of them."

Surprise, gratefulness and confusion crashed into me all at once, and I didn't know which one was the most important. I glanced at Luna and tried to smile at her, earning a small and sweet one in return.

"You're the Healer, Draco," she said. "What do you wanna do?"

I scanned the courtyard, looking passed the pools of blood and fallen stone. "Do what McGonagall said. Take the…" I swallowed deeply, "dead to the Great Hall. I'll check around for injured and see what I can do."

Luna nodded and started towards a body. "Let's go, Neville," she called back, sweeping an arm towards her.

Longbottom gave me an untrusting look before following after Luna. "How'd you know he's a Healer?" he wondered as he caught up to her.

I sighed and went in the opposite direction. I didn't know where to start. There were people everywhere, and they all looked dead. It was too overwhelming. My mind was so scrambled that the apocalyptic destruction didn't even look real,

My foot connected with something soft, and the terrible thought came that it was a body. I looked down to find a shoe. It was covered in blood and only half the size of mine. The laces were frayed and the sole was eaten away until it was almost gone.

The sight of it was enough to get me to focus. I looked up, spotted a older student and ran to her. Her tie said she was a Hufflepuff. She was pale and her clothes were tattered and bloody. I felt for her pulse in her neck, but found nothing. Her skin was stiff and cold, and no dull beat of life greeted me. I grabbed her wrist and checked again, refusing the fact I already knew. I dropped the student's wrist and got back to my feet when I failed to find her heartbeat.

I spared her a fleeting moment before refocusing and moving on. There were hundreds of more bodies to check. Almost every student and adult I got to were dead, their skin already cooling. Some were so young and their clothes so tattered that they looked like rag dolls someone had carelessly thrown onto the castle grounds.

"Help me," a weak voice groaned.

My heart jumped, lighter than it's been for months.

"Hey," the same voice called, quieter than before.

I raced towards it and found a boy with a Ravenclaw crest on his ripped jumper. A cut on his forehead was streaming crimson, and a mass of fallen debris trapped his leg. I knelt down to him and inspected his head injury. Freeing his leg would be of no use if he couldn't make it to the Great Hall and a more professional Healer.

"It's broken, isn't it," he cried, placing a hand on his leg.

"I don't know," I said, rolling my sleeves up and focusing on his cut. "We can look at it after we fix that cut on your head. What's your name?"

"Jeffrey. Jeffrey Morgan," he answered. "You?"

It was best to keep him calm, yes, but talking with him was making it hard to think. I wasn't a Ravenclaw. I couldn't memorize everything I read about healing. "Draco," I answered. "Nice to meet you Jeffrey."

The bleeding from the cut was gradually slowing, and some of the blood had already dried. I raised my wand and carefully pronounced, "Terego." The dried blood and dust lifted from his wound and streamed into my wand, disappearing.

The cut was still bleeding, and I wasn't sure if it was severe enough to use Vulnera Sanentur. I ran through my memory, searching for something that could help. Episkey eventually came to mind. It could be used for moderate cuts and small broken bones. It might not fix it, but it would slow the bleed until he could get to the Great Hall.

I lifted my wand again and recited the spell. Jeffrey's skin knit together at the base of the cut, the bleeding slowing even more, but looking at Morgan's eyes, I noticed that they were out of focus. It could be nothing, but it was always best to check.

"What year are you, Jeffrey?" I asked lighting the end of my wand with Lumos.

Morgan winced and closed his eyes against the light of the spell. "Sixth."

I dimmed my wand and nodded, turning to his leg. "I'm seventh."

I couldn't see much of his leg, but from what was visible, it was already swelling. If I didn't take the weight off of his leg, he might lose it.

"What a crappy way to end school, right?" Jeffrey chuckled, his laugh gradually turning into a cough.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I'm going to lift the rock off of you leg now, okay? And I'm gonna tell you now that it's going to hurt."

Jeffrey nodded vigorously. "Just do it."

I got to my feet and aimed my wand at the stones trapping his leg. I recited the levitation spell in my mind, gradually lifting the boulder off of Morgan's leg. He cried out as I moved the stone several feet away and let it fall with a thud.

I dropped back down to floor and carefully rolled Jeffrey's pant leg, revealing swollen and purple skin and a bone that was bent at an unnatural angle. Definitely broken at the very least.

I didn't read to the part of broken bones yet. The most I could do was splint his leg and send him to the Great Hall for a better Healer.

Jeffrey hissed and leaned back on his elbows, his eyes closing.

"Hey!" I shouted in a panic. "You gotta stay awake, okay?" Jeffrey lifted his head back up and gave me a frustrated look. "I'm going to bind you leg in a splint, but that's all I can do. After that, we're going to take you to the Great Hall and get you to a Healer more skilled than me." I didn't wait for him to answer and leveled my wand at his leg, reciting, "Ferula."

A wrapping appeared out of the tip of my wand, slithered around his leg and bound it tightly.

Morgan sighed, his eyes closing again.

"What did I say about saying awake?" I snapped.

Jeffrey pulled his head back up and blinked rapidly. "Sorry. The spell helped with the pain."

"It's okay," I said, getting to my feet.

I offered my hand to Morgan, and he grasped it with both of his hands. I pulled him up, and he grunted in pain. I threw Jeffrey's arm over my shoulder to steady him and support his leg. "You good?" I asked, receiving a nod. "Let's go, then."

I guided the limping Jeffrey through the smoldering rubble of the destroyed castle, catching him when he stumbled. We limped for several minutes until I spotted an older man scanning the courtyard.

"Sir!" I shouted, getting his attention. The man ran up to us, and I recognized him as a teacher, but not anything beyond that. "Could you take him to the Great Hall?"

"Yeah," the man answered, taking Morgan's other arm.

"Get him to a Healer, and tell them that his leg is broken and he might have a concussion," I instructed, receiving a nod from the professor.

"Thank's, Draco," the Ravenclaw muttered before limping off with the professor.

I stayed long enough to make sure that Jeffrey made it into the castle before turning back around to check for any more injured. Most of the bodies had disappeared from the halls and courtyard. Other survivors must have cleared away the dead and helped the injured. The only bodies that remained were Death Eaters.

It was a terrible thought, but I couldn't help but be glad that they were dead. Less Death Eaters meant that there was a greater chance that we would win this battle.

Glass crunched under my foot, and I glanced down to find a broken camera. I bent over and picked it up, studying it. The bulb was shattered and the metal was bent and broken. I looked around to see if the owner was nearby and if they needed help.

My eyes eventually landed on a small boy in a shredded Gryffindor tie. I instantly dropped the camera and ran to him as fast as I could. I dropped to my knees beside him and checked his pulse. His skin was cold and pale. His eyes were open and glassy. There was no blood or injury except a few minor cuts.

He was already dead. I was too late. As I always was. I sighed and leaned back into the wall, my eyes prickling.

"Thought he called you all back," a recognizable voice spat.

I looked up to find McGonagall standing several feet away with her wand up. "You-Know-Who didn't call us back," I returned, getting to my feet. "Just his Death Eaters."

"Malfoy?" she said, gradually lowering her wand. "I saw your Mark and thought-"

"That I was a Death Eater. I know," I interrupted, yanking my sleeves back down. "I swear. I've been answering these questions all day, so to sum up: Yes, I have a Dark Mark, but no, I'm not a Death Eater. You-Know-Who threatened both me and my family, so I became a Death Eater, but I never agreed with them. I've been fighting against them since this battle began."

McGonagall stayed frozen during my rant and placed her wand at her side when I finally finished. "Alright, then," she said. "Do you know what happened to him?" She gestured to the Gryffindor boy at my feet.

"Killing Curse, if I had to guess," I answered, struggling to keep my voice steady.

McGonagall came closer and looked down at the boy. "Colin Creevey," she muttered. The professor glanced around the broken corridor for a moment, taking deep, shaking breaths. "We should take him to the Great Hall."

McGonagall waved her wand and levitated Colin Creevey into the air, guiding his body through the debris. I followed behind her, straining to contain my monsoon of swelling emotions, but it was more difficult than staying awake when I was in the cellar.

There were shredded ties, tattered jumpers and burned House banners littered everywhere. Broken and hole-punctured trunks with snapped handles. A broken wand. A shattered picture frame with the smiling and blinking members of a large family. A small, blackened stuffed animal with its stitches torn and stuffing spilling out.

By the time we arrived at the Great Hall, my vision was blurred and my chest was tight. As soon as McGonagall laid Colin down on a blanket in the row of the dead, I retreated into a darkened corner, the farthest away I could get from everyone.

I slid to the floor and turned my back to the people in the Hall. The air turned cold, and my chest started to ache, the prickling in my eyes building to tears.

I did this. I made all of this happen. If I had refused Voldemort the moment I saw him three years ago or flew my broom faster when we were ambushing Potter or kept my mouth shut when Bellatrix was interrogating me, this battle wouldn't be happening. Colin Creevey and everyone else would be alive and healthy.

A louder wailing reached me, and half of me wanted to ignore it, but the other half of me could help it. I turned my head to find Ron and one of the twins holding each other and sobbing openly over another red-headed family member. I pleaded that it wouldn't be the other twin, but the fact that there was only one of them weeping with the rest of the Weasley family said otherwise.

My heart shattered all the more, and I buried my head in my hands.

"MIster Malfoy?" a voice called. I ignored her, not having the energy or desire to even lift my head.

A hand slid onto my shoulder, making me jump and double my grip on my wand.

"It's okay," Madame Pomphrey comforted, holding out a glass of water.

I stared at the water for a moment, not believing that it was meant for me. Pomphrey smiled softly at me and took my hand, wrapping it around the glass.

I tried to return the smile and quietly thanked her, accepting the glass. I took a sip of the water, the dryness of my throat springing to the forefront of my mind.

Pomphrey sat by me on the floor, dust flying out from underneath her dress. "I treated that boy. Jeffrey Morgan," she said.

I gulped down another mouthful of water. "Is he okay?"

"Yes. The immediate care he said you gave him saved his leg," she informed, relief nearly overwhelming me. "Where'd you learn to do it?"

"Hmm?" I muttered, taking another sip of water. This conversation was leading down a path that made my hand shake.

"Well, I didn't see you at all this year," she explained. "Not in the corridors, infirmary or the Great Hall. And as far as I know, Healer wasn't on your list of 'Things to be When You Grow Up'."

I didn't answer. I didn't know how without explaining and reliving it all.

"Are your parents Death Eaters, Draco?"

My Marked wrist turned inward, and I pressed the Mark against my leg, my heart racing.

"You need some practice, but you have the makings of a great Healer, Draco," Pomphrey approved, patting my shoulder before getting up and attending to others.

See you soon for Chapter 35!