Again: I do not claim any of this as my own. Also, a lot of this chapter dialog is directly from the book. It's not mine and I am not trying to claim it.

Chapter 8

"Time is running short, Draco." Dumbledore said. "Let's talk about your options."

"My options!" Draco shouted. "I am standing here with my wand. I'm about to kill you!"

"My boy. Let's drop the pretense, shall we? If you were going to kill me, you would have done it as soon as I was disarmed. You would not have stopped to have this little chat with me."

"I will. I have to. I haven't got any options!" said Malfoy. "I've got to do it. He'll kill me if I don't. He'll kill my whole family."

"I can help you, Draco. He cannot kill you if you are already death. Join us. The Order can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. I can even dispense members of the Order to your mother. Nobody would be surprised that you died in your attempt to kill me."

Draco stared at him. "But I got this far, didn't I? They didn't think I would make it this far, but I have. I have and you are at my mercy."

"No, Draco. It is my mercy that matters now."

Draco opened his mouth to reply but footsteps were suddenly thundering up the spiral staircase. He was suddenly pushed out of the way by the four Death Eaters who appeared to have won the fight below.

"Dumbledore cornered!" said Amycus. "Wandless and alone!" he said to his sister. "Draco, well done."

"Good evening, Amycus, Alecto."

"Think your little jokes are going to help on your deathbed?" The little witch jeered.

"Jokes? No, my dear. These are manners."

"Do it already." Snarled the werewolf.

"Is that you Fenrir?" asked Dumbledore.

"That's right Dumbledore. Pleased to see me?"

"No, I can't say that I am. And I am more than a little shocked to see that Draco invited you here, into a school with his friends."

"I didn't," breather Draco. "I didn't know he was going to come."

"I wouldn't miss a chance to get into Hogwarts. Not with so many young throats to be ripped out." Snarled Fenrir. "I could save you for after, Dumbledore."

"No," said another Death Eater. "Draco's got to do it. Those are the Dark Lord's orders."

The fear inside Draco was steadily growing.

"Come on Draco. Do it!"

But at that moment, there were more sounds of scuffling from below.

"Now, Draco! Quickly!"

The door to the ramparts burst open and Snape bounded in.

"We seem to have a problem Snape. It appears that the boy can't-"

But Dumbledore softly called Snape's name.

"Severus..."

Snape gazed at Dumbledore, hatred and revulsion etched into the harsh lines of his face.

"Severus... please..."

Draco watched as Snape raised his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!"

He watched as a jet of green light shot from his wand. It hit Dumbledore square in the chest, knocking him back into the air. Draco watched as he fell, helpless and immobile, out of sight.

"Get out, quickly!" Snape said, pushing Draco towards the door.

He ran down the stairs and out of the castle. Snape was close behind him.

They were sprinting across the grounds when Draco heard Potter yelling behind them.

"Snape!" He shouted. "Snape, you coward! Come back here!"

Draco heard Snape stop but he continued running. I've got to get away.

Ginny moved to Harry's side as he knelt beside Dumbledore's body. Her hand closed around his and she pulled him up. She couldn't let him stay here. And they needed to get to the hospital wing.

Harry was silent as she led him away and into the castle.

"We're going to the hospital wing." she told him.

"I'm not hurt." Harry told her.

"It's McGonagall's orders," Ginny said. "Everyone's up there.

"Ginny, who else is dead?"

"Don't worry. None of us."

"But Malfoy said he stepped over a body."

"He stepped over Bill, but he's alive. Don't worry." She said, choking up.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, catching the tone in her voice.

"Of course. It's just that, Greyback attacked him. Madame Pomfrey says he won't look the same anymore." Her voice trembled. "We don't know the aftereffects yet. Greyback wasn't transformed at the time."

"But there were other bodies on the floor."

"Neville and Flitwick were both hurt but they'll be alright." she told him. "But one of the Death Eaters is dead. He got hit with a Killing Curse." She paused. "Harry, if we hadn't had your Felix potion, I don't think we'd have made it."

When they reached the hospital wing, the saw Neville asleep on a bed near the door. Ron, Hermione, Luna, Tonks, and Lupin were all gathered around another bed on the other end of the hospital wing.

She let go of his hand as Hermione ran up to him, hugging him. Lupin moved forward as well, looking anxious.

"How's Bill?" Harry asked.

Nobody answered. Harry looked over Hermione's shoulder and saw an unrecognizable face on the bed.

"Can't you fix them with a charm or something?" He asked Madame Pomfrey.

"No charm will work. There's no cure for werewolf bites."

"But he wasn't bitten during a full moon." Ron said. "Bill won't be a- a real-?"

He looked to Lupin questioningly.

"I don't think so, Ron." Lupin said. "But I can't say that everything will be fine either."

"What about Dumbledore? He might know something that would fix it." Ron said. "Where is he? Bill fought those maniacs on Dumbledore's orders. He owes Bill!"

"Ron- Dumbledore's dead." said Ginny.

"No!" Lupin shouted, looking wildly from Ginny to Harry. When Harry didn't deny it, he collapsed into a chair beside Bill's bed.

"How did he die?" Tonks whispered. "How did it happen?"

"Snape killed him. I was there, I saw it. We got back and went to the Astronomy Tower because we saw the Mark. Dumbledore was weak but he realized that we walked into a trap. He immobilized me when I was under my Invisibility Cloak. I couldn't do anything. Then Malfoy came in and disarmed him-"

Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth and Ron groaned. Luna trembled.

"-more Death Eaters arrived- and then Snape did it. The Avada Kedavra." Harry finished.

McGonagall entered the ward. "Molly and Arthur are on their way." She said. "Harry, I've just seen Hagrid. He said you were with Dumbledore when he- when it happened. He says Professor Snape was involved."

"Snape killed Dumbledore."

"How did they get in? I don't understand it."

"I know." Harry said. He explained about the Vanishing Cabinets in the Room of Requirements. He looked, almost against his will from Ron to Hermione.

"I messed up," Ron said bleakly. "We did exactly what you said. We didn't see him on the map so we assumed he was in the Room of Requirements and we went to keep guard. But Malfoy, he got past us."

"He came out of the room half an hour after we started keeping watch." Ginny told him. He had an awful looking shriveled arm-"

"His Hand of Glory," Ron clarified. "Gives light only to the holder."

"He must have been checking whether the coast was clear because as soon as he saw us, he threw something into the air."

"Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder." said Ron bitterly. "Fred and George's."

"We tried everything but none of our spells worked against the darkness." Ginny continued. "Malfoy was obviously guiding them. But we couldn't do anything because we were afraid we'd hit one of our own with a spell."

"That's when we ran into Lupin and the others." Ron told him.

Ginny sat back as Ron and the others continued to tell Harry about the fights. How could Draco do this? Letting Death Eaters into the castle. I can't believe this is what he was supposed to do.