Author's Note: This week was awful, to the point that I'm too tired to even list all the crap I did. And I have a slight but annoying headache right behind my eyes. So I'll just leave it at that and get along with the post. Needless to say, very little got written this week. Hopefully next week will be a bit more productive.

Chapter 87

"Oi, Draco. You're early," Theo says.

"Grab the head," I reply.

"What?"

"The shrunken one. Go get it."

Theo frowns but disappears from view, doing as he's told. As he returns, I step through the fireplace into his house and grab his arm, Disapparating immediately.

We appear along the outskirts of the camp at Derbyshire, and Theo looks at me, waiting for me to explain. I take the small jar out of his hands and look at Finnigan's shrunken head, suppressing the urge to shudder.

"We're going to rescue Frank Longbottom," I tell him as I carefully stow the jar away.

His eyes widen. "Are you out of your goddamn mind?"

"Shut up. Just go down to the secret dungeons. I'll be following under a Disillusionment Charm. Act natural."

"How the hell am I supposed to—"

"Theo, look at me," I say.

He fixes two large, frantic eyes on me.

I heave a sigh. "How did you make it through these years, mate? You have the nerve of a kitten."

"I'm fine when we're out killing Mudbloods. That's not difficult. Right now, you're asking me to—to betray the Dark Lord. Punishment for that isn't just a Killing Curse to the chest, you know."

"Yes, I know how Oliver Wood was killed."

"But you weren't there to see it."

Theo was clearly traumatized by the event. But I can't waste any time on consoling my friend.

"You can do it, mate. Let's get going. The clock's ticking. If you don't hurry your arse up, I'll hand you over to Voldemort myself with a note saying that you were my accomplice."

He knows as well as I do that it's an empty threat, only meant to convey that I'm in no mood to waste time. He takes a deep breath and strides into camp. I cast a Disillusionment Charm and follow close behind him, shadowing his steps.

We pass by the guards without incident and move through the empty hallway to the secret door. Once we're through it, I reveal myself and move to Longbottom's cell.

The door is just as easy to open as it was before, which means Voldemort can't have discovered the truth yet. I step into the cell and see that the old man is asleep.

Not wanting to wake him, I free him of his restraints with a few flicks of my wand and levitate him so that he won't hit the ground.

"We can't Disapparate from in here—we'll have to go to the main hallway," Theo tells me.

I nod and move over to the unconscious old man floating in the air. I take his weight on my shoulder and gesture for Theo to open the door. He sticks his head out first, then opens the door fully and steps out into the hallway.

I follow swiftly, grabbing onto his arm and Disapparating as soon as I'm in the hall. We appear just outside the boundary of Hogwarts, a few yards farther to the east than I'd originally planned. I realize that this is the Apparition Point that Hermione had used that night.

Seems as though it's already been an eternity since that night…

I turn to Theo as people from the castle start heading in our direction.

"Go to Rowle's house," I tell him.

He frowns. "But why? What am I supposed to do there?"

"Keep your head down, that's what. He's expecting you."

"What?"

"He's taking orders from me," I snap. "He'll tell you what I want you to do, but until then, stay out of sight. Don't leave the house unless there's an emergency. Now get out of here, all right? The Order won't take lightly to seeing two Death Eaters on their doorstep. Get going."

Theo nods. "All right, all right. I'm leaving."

As he Disapparates, the members of the Order who had been coming in my direction reach firing range and point their wands at me.

"I have a special delivery for Potter," I tell them, shifting the weight on my shoulder.

"Draco Malfoy," one of them says, eyes wide.

I don't recognize him.

"Didn't you just give yourself up? How are you here, alive?" he continues.

I glare at him. "I don't have time for this, you imbecile. Get Potter out here right now."

He bristles at the insult but doesn't retort, heading back toward the castle instead. The other person who had come toward me was a girl. I think she'd been in Ravenclaw, maybe two or three years below me.

She has her wand pointed at me, and I can see the fear on her face.

I instantly get another flashback of her, and I close my eyes. I don't need a reminder of what I did, what I felt. I want to disappear.

No. Not today. Not when there's so much left to be done. I'm not going to crack today.

Not today.

A few minutes later, Potter appears at the entrance to the castle and hurries over with a few other members of the Order in tow. One of them breaks away from the group at the sight of me, sprinting toward the boundary.

I realize as he draws near that it's Neville Longbottom. Bloody bastard blew my cover. If it weren't for the sake of his parents, I'd be giving him a taste of hell right now.

The Ravenclaw girl attempts to hold him back when he reaches her, but he brushes her off and comes straight toward me.

Apparently it doesn't really matter to him whether or not I could be another Death Eater in disguise.

I gently put his father down on the ground as he reaches me.

"Neville, you're a goddamn idiot, you know that?" one of the Weasley twins shouts. They've also reached the boundary, but none of them have crossed over.

"Dad—Dad? Dad, are you all right?" Longbottom is asking.

I hear the old man wake up, hear the way his voice breaks when he calls his son's name. I glance down at the reunion and see that father and son both have tears in their eyes. Suddenly feeling like an intruder, I move away from them and toward the boundary.

"Don't come any closer," Potter warns me. "You'll get shocked."

"I'm aware of that," I say, stopping just a few inches shy of the border.

"Did you get the Horcrux?" he asks.

The others are now listening intently, not paying as much attention to the Longbottom reunion that's going on. All but one girl, that is—she moves over to father and son and coaxes them to cross the boundary into safe territory.

"I have it," I tell Potter.

"I'll help you destroy it, then," he says.

I smile. I knew he'd make the right choice.

"You're leaving with him?" the other Weasley twin says.

I still don't remember which one has his ear chopped off. I'll have to ask Hermione to remind me someday. If I live till then.

Ignoring him, I say, "Back to my home, then. It'll be safer there."

The Weasley twins are looking at Potter, still waiting for a response.

"Yes, I'm going with him," Potter says. "Keep an eye on Hermione for me. And don't let her leave the hospital wing when she wakes—I think she's going to be itching to come after us."

I nod. "Keep her on the grounds."

The Weasley twins look between Potter and me, no doubt curious as to why we're working together.

"Do you know what you're doing, Harry?" the one-eared twin asks.

Potter nods. "Don't worry about it. See you later."

He steps past the boundary, and we Apparate back to my cottage.

"Thanks for bringing Neville's dad back," Potter says.

I don't respond and pull out the jar that contains Finnigan's head. It's easier for me to just keep moving, right now. I can't be idle. If I'm not doing something, then my mind is going to lapse back to her face. And I don't think I can take that right now.

Potter winces at the sight of the head.

"Yes, I know. It's disgusting," I say.

"Why would Voldemort use a human head as a—"

"It's not the head—it's the earring."

"The earring?" Potter leans over, then backs up a step and looks at me. "That's not—that's not who I think it is, is it?"

"Seamus Finnigan," I say.

His face is pained as he looks at the shriveled head. Then he clears his throat and looks back up at me. I can tell that he's struggling to keep his eyes from straying back to his friend's head.

"How did you know it was his earring?" he asks me.

I take a deep breath. I guess now is as good as any other time to come clean.

"It followed the same pattern as the dagger I gave you last time," I tell him. "I obtained the… material, and Macnair hid it after it was made into a Horcrux."

It takes a moment for Potter to catch on.

"You killed him."

It's a statement, not a question.

I nod.

He clenches his jaw, and his hands ball into fists.

"You can hit me, if it'll make you feel any better," I offer. "But I don't think it will help."

He shakes his head. "No, it won't." Then he turns his attention back to the jar and clears his throat. "Should we—is there some sort of curse that we'll have to break to get his head out?"

I'm surprised that he's not angrier at the realization that I killed his friend. But then again, I've been a Death Eater for three years. I've killed several of his friends. The only difference about this time is that he happened to find out. But I still have the feeling that this conversation isn't over.

I lift the jar and examine the seal. "Should be fine," I reply. "Would you rather kill the thing, or should I?"

He reaches into his pocket, takes out Hermione's beaded handbag, and extracts a small box. He opens it to show me a basilisk fang.

"I'll do it," he says.

I summon my basin from the bathroom and hold the jar over it.

"I'll open this and pour it into the basin. Don't miss. I'm pretty sure he'll have some sort of nasty curse on this thing."

Potter nods, lifting the fang in preparation. He nods to give me the okay, and I open the jar.

Gelatinous liquid tips out of the container and into the basin, along with the head. As soon as the head lands in the basin, Potter lunges for the earring. But the jelly that was used to suspend the head suddenly rises up out of the basin, rapidly taking the shape of what looks like a giant squid.

I attempt a Freezing Charm to immobilize it, but the spell has no effect. Potter tries to Impede and Stun the bugger, but it continues to get taller and larger.

When the transformation is complete, the gelatinous giant squid lunges at Potter, who dodges out of the way and leaps toward the basin. A huge tentacle extends toward him, but I point my wand at it, severing it.

But before Potter can reach the basin, another tentacle wraps around his ankle, and Potter struggles to stay on his feet.

I step closer to the basin and lift my hand as though to strike the shrunken head, banking on the fact that the spell should put highest priority on protecting its charge. Sure enough, the creature releases Potter to come for me.

I slam my fist down on the edge of the basin, flinging the head in Potter's direction just as several tentacles wrap around my chest. Potter slows the momentum of the head as it reaches him and slices at the earring with the fang.

But the squid is extremely strong and works excruciatingly quickly—by the time the tentacles vanish, I'm already seeing dark spots. I drop to my knees, bracing my palms on the ground and sucking deep breaths of air into my lungs.

"What the hell was that thing?" Potter asks, sounding slightly breathless.

"Fucking ugly, that's what it was," I reply as I get back to my feet.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Then it's about time to go."

"I just need to wait for Hermione to give me Blaise's location," I say. "Should be soon—I can't imagine they lasted long before Voldemort cracked his way in."

He nods, and we fall silent.

Author's Note: Headache is worse now than it was before… :/