Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter Warning/Authors Note: Theres likely some cursing. Oh and a deer is killed. Deer-icide. The plot is nearly to where my favorite plot line picks up and I'm excited to see what you guys think! Comments, edits, and constructive criticism are always more than welcome!
Draco walked along the narrow path, winding through the forbidden forest. Behind him, silently filed his classmates, those who had decided to come. He was trying not to panic, more had come than he expected, honestly he sort of thought it would just be him, and Vince and Pansy and maybe a few of the others. And by a few he meant one or two.
Blaise followed him, something that made him feel better. He always felt that Blaise could take over the world if he weren't so damn lazy, he was so much more politic than Draco could ever be, and more handsome, and charismatic and better at saying what people wanted to hear.
Draco glanced back at the rest of the group, their silhouettes almost romantic against the setting sun. They were near the edge of the forest, walking along and Draco saw that the walls that surrounded the grounds. It was becoming shabbier, and more worn down, and Draco was looking for the spot where it had to break. The forbidden forest was enormous, and not all of it was on Hogwarts grounds, and so the wall had to break at some point, otherwise how would the centaurs and unicorns and so on and so forth and Slytherin werewolves escape out into the world so easily.
He saw the spot, and paused turning around. "This would be the time to turn back. Once outside the wards it will be hard to get back inside, you'll have to walk all the way around the forest through Hogsmeade, through everything."
No one blinked, or hesitated, not much anyways.
"How are we going to get through?" Tiny Baddock looked a little nervous, but determined as ever.
"The wards are designed to keep everyone out, not keep us in."
Draco turned, and without hesitation, walked straight through one of the gaping holes in the crumbling stone wall. He moved on, not turning, not wanting to know who actually followed him. He continued straight on, until the wall was out of sight. He paused at the top of a small hill, gesturing with his head for Blaise to follow him down into the duvet, between the thick roots of the massive trees.
"Lets stop here."
Blaise just nodded, and took off his backpack, setting it down against a tree root, and plopping down onto the ground, leaning back on the tree.
"Liam, conjure us up a fire, if you will?" Draco turned, nodding to the older boy who just rolled his eyes and pulled out his wand. Pansy pulled hers out to help, but Theo reached out and blocked her, placing his hand over hers on her wand.
"We can't. Just Liam, he's the only one whose 17, we can't do magic unless we're on magical property, we've still got the trace on us."
"Pansy, you make sure everyone remembers the trace, Blaise and I are going to go figure out where the next train stop is, and find something to eat. Liam, make sure the fires warm enough, and cast a silencing charm on this clearing, Adrian, get a head count, make sure no one is lost, and Millie, find us some kind of spit to cook whatever Blaise and I kill on."
All he got in response was serious nods, the playful element to the Slytherin dungeons was gone. As soon as they were out of sight, Draco turned to Blaise. "You go find the railway, I'll kill a deer or something, then we'll meet somewhere in between to carry whatever I kill back."
Blaise shifted, landing in his wolf form already loping along, his thin wiry frame rapidly moving out of sight. Draco closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, shifting and pricking his ears forwards. He ran easily, sensitive eyes focusing to the dusky forest immediately. The wind carried strong smells on it, a deep forest-y musk, of rotting leaves littering the floor, in the distance, he could smell Centaurs, and of course, he could smell the familiar scent of the humans he'd just left. A bird moved, hundreds of feet away, twittering a high coo. He caught scent of a fire, in the distance to the north, and, something near by, whose heart was hammering. And it was big.
He lowered himself to the ground, as low as he could, and waited, eyes snapping into focus. He could smell grass, manure, something sweet and covered in fur, the lanolin oils tainted everything with a slightly salty scent.
A roe deer stepped cautiously into the clearing, tilting its head, small beady eyes darting back and forth. Draco held his breath, frozen in place, his thick black and brown and tan pelt camouflaging him to the surrounding underbrush. Draco waited, frozen, his brain crystal clear, in hyperdrive almost, his eyes unwaveringly focused on the roe doe. He was poised on his haunches, if he was a human, his leg muscles would be screaming, but as a hyena, he just felt alive, his only thought at the moment in the deer's heartbeat.
The moment the doe lowered her head to nibble on a leaf, Draco sprung, eyes wild, jaws open, teeth bared.
Draco leaned back, letting his body rest against the main trunk of a massive black oak tree, his stomach full. The ground was slightly damp, and it smelled earthy, and musty. The fire was giving off smoke, and the air was cold in some places, and comfortingly warm where the glow of the fire hit them. The tree was hard, nothing like his cushy bed back at home, or the warm bed in the Slytherin dungeon. But despite all of that, Draco felt oddly content, instead of upset at how the water that they had had to drink tasted cold, and earthen, and the deer had to be cut up and cooked and was not at all savory like the broth covered meal they would've surely been served back at the great hall.
Pansy shifted against him, and Draco adjusted his arm around her, letting his head fall onto Theo's shoulder on his other side. Blaise was stretched out next to the fire, Adrian and Liam were laying beside him, but of course were too manly to cuddle for warmth. Tiny was curled up, his head on his older brothers stomach, and Vaisey was stretched out next to him like a cat. Daphne and Morag were laying in between Draco's leg and Pansy's sprawled body, with Flora, Astoria, Harper and Hestia all curled up amongst one another not far from the older kids. Millie slept on Theo's other side, half propped up on a sprawling tree root. Last of all, Vince and Greg lay side by side on the last available stretch of space surrounding the fire, their bulk providing a comforting wall like presence on the side of their small camp not protected by either thick trees or their roots.
He knew this was stupid, that they were all taking off early, and that their families would feel betrayed, and that Dumbledore and his army or the light would feel that they were cowards running off. But honestly Draco didn't care, not even a little bit what they thought, he just was relieved that this many of them had come with him. It made him feel like something was starting, somewhere where when people looked this way they didn't just see either his last name and blood line, or where they didn't just see a death eater minion.
It was stupid, to think of classmates as family, but he really felt like they were, and at least now they were his. Which again, was silly, it had been his idea to go, but it was more of a rag tag leaderless group, than his pack, but that's what it felt like. It felt like being free.