Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, I swear.
Note: Theres some character development here. This is a long one. I've been writing all day so maybe I'll post a few more chapters tonight, but more likely, I'll wait until tomorrow so I can read through the whole thing and make sure I'm happy with them. Thoughts, comments, and criticisms more than welcome! Enjoy!
Draco snorted, rolling his eyes, turning away from the younger kids, who were delightedly watching as Liam was trying to learn to be an animagus. It wasn't working that well because every time that it would get quiet and calm enough for Liam to possibly be focused, Hestia would whisper a possibility, but of course, it being Hestia, they were all ludicrous. Blaise was grinning toothily, but keeping quiet, trying to coach Liam.
"Come on, lets keep moving, and let poor Liam take a break from that vicious Carrow wit," Draco said rising, turning to offer Daphne his hand to hoist her up. The kid's groused, or pretended to, but they all got up. So far, their odd little group had come up with a hierarchy, but it was for the most part kids pretending that no one was dead, that they shouldn't be in school, and that none of them missed plumbing, and showers, and food not scavenged, stolen, or killed.
"Where are we going, Draco?"
Vaisey loped up, abandoning his spot next to Tiny and Harper. He was a relatively timid boy, but Draco suspected that as he got more comfortable, he would open up, after all he no longer said nothing, or squeaked when Vince and Greg got into one of their inevitable squabbles.
"We're going to get to Montrose, where there are enough wizards we can find some portkeys and maybe stay somewhere with heat, and then we are going to vote, and either go hide on the continent, get revenge on some people, or stay in the UK and try to hinder as many negative things as possible, and help as many people as we deem worthy."
Vaisey looked a little worried, but he usually did, and nodded, dropping to the back of the group to update Harper and Tiny on what he'd come up with.
"Are we really going to vote?" Adrian was walking on Draco's other side, and he bumped his shoulder against Draco's arm in a friendly manner.
"Yeah. But. I know I'm staying to fight something. I'm too invested to run. But I imagine we'll split up, I know I don't want any of the kids staying, not really."
"Those darned kids, they're so spoiled, not like us beat up old radishes," Adrian said mildly, rolling his eyes slightly, a small smile pulling on the corners of his mouth.
"Pucey, I have never been compared to a beat up old peasants vegetable, and I don't intend to start now," sniffed Draco haughtily, attempting to toss his admittedly slightly filthy hair in the most imperious way he could manage. Adrian laughed a full out laugh this time.
"Is he on about peasants again? All hail Queen Draco," said Theo, in a falsely proper and stiff voice, bowing deeply. Draco flipped Theo the bird, but grinned none the less. He was feeling lighter than he had in months, even though he was dirty, and his pants were ripped, and he was wandering along beside a train track with a small gang of school drop outs who parents would likely murder them if they could see them now.
They walked on in silence, and though none of them mentioned it, their feet hurt, shoulders hurt, backs hurt, and their hair was greasier than any of them had ever experienced. Eventually, Flora skipped up to them, slipping between Adrian and Draco. "Can we see your werewolf again, Draco?"
"Flora! How very dirty of you," jeered her twin sister Hestia from the back of the group, followed by the scandalized, "Let her see his werewolf, indeed." Flora blushed and rolled her eyes, but was pretty experienced at ignoring her sister, and she looked pleadingly at Draco.
His secret had not lasted long, as Blaise pointed out that if he didn't prove he could control himself before the full moon then likely someone would panic and try to kill him or something. So he had proved it, grudgingly, and then less grudgingly because lets face it, Draco was nothing if not a natural show off, switching between his human form, wolf form, and animagus. He'd made a game where the fourth and fifth years called out a form and he switched, as fast as he could, without hurting himself.
He rolled his eyes at Flora, and closed his eyes, letting himself fall almost, unlike the peace required to become an animagus, he just let go, like that moment of consciousness right before one wakes up, when they think they're falling so fast into nothing they might die, it was that feeling that was the best for a controlled transformation. He breathed out, and let himself fall, and catch, and shift.
He opened his eyes, his paws thudding to the ground, the pain of transformation something he was able to stomach when he expected it now. He glanced up, and met Flora's gaze levelly, his thick fur ruffling slightly in the wind that swept across the Scottish landscape.
Flora grinned, and reached forwards, running her hand through his thick fur. Draco growled a warning to her, but she ignored him, grabbing his tail lightly. Draco was able to at this point feel less like a wild carnivorous killer, at least when he was around them, this group, he felt more at home, more like he was tolerating an impertinent pup and less like he was challenged or wanted to murder someone or something.
"Draco, stop growling at me, I'll become scared," said Flora smugly, in a tone that suggested that she would do nothing of the sort. Blaise had sternly told them all not to joke around, that Draco in that form was contagious, and that they were to tell him seriously if they were frightened and not to bait him. Them being Slytherins, they had promptly ignored him.
Draco padded along, lengthening his stride to breeze past the group, his long stride feeling comfortable, his muscles feeling slightly tired. The less he slept in his human form, the more tired his werewolf form became, he found. Flora called to him, but he ignored her, loping along the tracks easily, his long stride carrying him out of sight of the group, up a hill, then down, then up another, and then he froze. He crouched low, spotting what he knew was a group of wizards. He could smell their magic, thick on the air, and he narrowed his eyes, looking for something to identify them by.
He caught a familiar scent, and spun, shifting effortlessly into his swifter hyena form, galloping along the landscape until the group of Slytherins came back into sight. He skidded to a halt, and shifted, hastily, and paused for a moment to catch his breath.
"Hide, come on, into the woods, up ahead, Death Eaters," he managed, between big breaths. Blaise turned to the rest of the group, taking command while Draco caught his breath.
"We'll split up. Morag, you take the younger kids, find a tree, climb it, or some trees, hide up in the air, out of sight. Liam, you stay near the edge of the forest, have your wand ready. Vince, you stay with him, watch his back. Greg, you take Theo, Adrian and the girls, and you guys hide along the other side of the tracks. Draco and I will come find you when it's safe. Remember, we just want to live, it doesn't matter who you see or what you feel, if the group is not compromised, do nothing. Does everyone remember what the code for it being safe it?"
There were a few nods, but mainly, everyone just ducked their heads, jaws set, and disappeared in their directed places. Draco and Blaise shifted, and moved forwards at a steady lope, Draco leading the way to where he had seen them.
It was some ministry shmuck, Dawlish or some such name, and Flora and Hestia's great Uncle Carrow, and two unmarked, odd smelling twenty something year olds. Draco twitched one ear to the left and heard Blaise pad off without question, and Draco himself slunk low along the bushes that grew next to the tracks.
"The Dark Lord is most upset, but most upset by the interest the ministry is taking, in searching for the infernal brats."
"Why are we looking here?" The uncultured grunt of one of the strangers that Draco hadn't recognized.
"One of the children was spotted by a witch who wrote to the prophet, but luckily Dawlish here intercepted it for us."
Draco could smell the disrespect. Draco would never tolerate that tone, the scent of scorn to be directed at him, but the other humans didn't appear to notice. Fuck. They'd been seen? Draco hadn't considered this. Damn. Draco closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, preparing to pounce, slinking closer, aiming for his quarry, fixating, and sinking back onto his haunches.
He sprang, his jaws closing around the one, Dawlish's leg, teeth crunching down as hard as he could before he let go, letting the foul smelling man's scream mask the sounds of him retreating.
"It's the Grimm!"
The hysterical scream came from one of the strangers, who screamed, and pointed at the direction Draco had disappeared in. Dawlish gave a bellow of pain, falling to the ground, and the younger stranger, not the one who had shrieked, looked pale, like he might pass out. Carrow closed his eyes, looking for patience he surely did not possess, and his arm snaked out, and the cracks of apparition rang through the air as the four disappeared.
Grimm indeed. Draco wasn't even black, he was brown. And his ears weren't the same at all.
Blaise the wolf appeared, trotting up to Draco and pressing his nose to Draco's neck, his tail down, ears relaxed. Draco held his tail and head up, accepting the gesture and looking pointedly in the distance.
Blaise let out a huff of breath and a soft, barely audible whine, the signs for none or gone, and enemy. Draco gave him a tail wag, and turned, loping back towards where they'd left the children, licking his blood stained lips, thinking as he ambled.
When they reached the place where they'd all left, Draco threw back his head, and let out the lowest toned cackle he could manage, the hyenas laugh echoing across the cloudy, stormy landscape.