Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Yeah! Lots of enthusiastic answers to the last chapter, I love it! Thank you so much for reviewing everyone! Thank you to everyone who have been following this from the start and who have commented often! The support is really appreciated!

I also really liked that there were a few new names as well in there! So, people who read and like this story, but haven't reviewed yet, don't be shy, even if you are afraid of making mistakes in the review or something of the kind, it doesn't matter. I don't bite and I like short and sweet reviews just as much as I like long and a bit random ones (does somebody recognise himself here? ;) hehe)

By the by, I really don't see Harry and Draco together as anything else than friends in this story. I like the pairing, but this is a solid HPLV, as you will see in a few chapters ;) Ouhhhh.

Warnings: mention of torture and a bit of violence

Chapter 15: 21st of July, the Rescue

When Draco opened his eyes again the shed was bathed in a pale grey light. A couple of the weird spheres left by the rebels after his interrogation were still spread around the space, but their glim was dull; the spells that lighted them were probably nearly drained by now. He estimated that he had slept a few hours, three or four, at most. A strange shift in the magic surrounding him had woken him up. He lifted his head just in time to see the door of the shed open.

There you go. Ready for round two? His body was aching everywhere and one of his eyes was swollen. He wasn't looking forward to a repeat of earlier.

There goes my perfect face for the Ministry ball, he thought a bit hysterically.

The door closed rapidly without anybody entering. Draco saw an alarm ward being placed on top of the door from the inside. Someone was here. He narrowed his eyes and could barely make out with his magical sight a trace of something floating in the air. He should have listened to his father more and train his sight better when he was younger, or at least keep up with it more assiduously. He listened closely and heard a slight panting, as if the intruder was out of breath.

Why is he invisible? Could it be the traitor Rebel?

His father had told him all about it. Apparently, his captors were so bad at rebelling that even people of their own base wanted out. The Ministry had suddenly started a couple of months ago to get free information on most of the Rebel raids in the form of weird paper planes.

And I'll get to see the identity of this informant before anyone else. Oh joy.

The air rippled and an Invisibility Cloak was lifted. Beneath it was a young man of about his age with dark hair and bright green eyes. He seemed more muscular than most wizards, in a sinewy way, and his eyes were steeled with determination.

On his forehead was etched a lightning shaped scar. Draco would have gasped in surprise, but Malfoys don't gasp and he didn't want to give his surprise away, so he just inhaled a fraction faster than he normally would have. The Boy-Who-Lived! The Dark Lord had enquired about him for the past few years and he had been in the Rebel's camp all that time? HE was their spy?

Oh...sweet Salazar, this is priceless! The Light is really doomed now! He thought gleefully.

Draco knew that a lot of people in the Wizarding World were still desperately waiting for the Boy-Who-Lived to come back, work his magic and 'rid the world of the Dark', or some hippogriph dung of the sort. Well, they'd be quite surprised if they knew what I see now...

On the outside, however, Draco didn't show any reaction to the young man's appearance. He lifted an eyebrow and kept his cold mask, waiting to see what the other would do.

Harry Potter glanced around the dirty shed, his lips tightening in disapproval. Then he looked at him, detailing him or maybe his injuries.

"You are Draco Malfoy." Stated the teenager in firm voice.

"Indeed I am. I would get up to properly welcome you in my humble abode, but I'm afraid my legs are a bit shaky after all the Cruciatus of earlier...And you are?"

Potter swore under his breath and kneeled on the ground. He brought a bag down from his back and began rummaging in it. What he was searching for turned out to be a vial of Potions that he handed to him. Draco took it with shaky fingers (he probably could have stopped himself from shaking, but why would he, when it worked so well to make Potter furious at the rest of the clan?) and sniffed it delicately. He recognised a poor quality Draught of Peace. It's still better than nothing, he thought as he drowned it.

"So," he asked after he finished it, his shaking abating slightly, "I didn't catch your name earlier, I'm afraid."

"Hadrian Black." replied the other. Interesting choice of names, not exactly what I would have chosen in his situation, though.

"Any relation to the infamous Sirius Black?"

"He was my father," said Harry Potter in a curt voice. Was? Ahhh, yes, I had forgotten about Black's recent death, that's right.

"My sympathies for your loss. May his soul promptly return to Magic and find peace in the afterlife."

Harry Potter, or Hadrian Black as he called himself, refocused on him abruptly and scrutinised him again.

"You know what? You're the first one to say that to me. All the others, they just skirted around the issue for a couple of months and kept quiet. So...thank you."

He sent a small smile to Draco, his eyes a bit sad. What do you know? A Gryffindor thanking a Slytherin...but you're not exactly a Gryffindor, are you, Potter?

"So, Black, not that I don't find this conversation charming or anything, but why are you here?

-I'm busting you out." There won't be a round two of torture for me, then. Thank you Morgana and Mordred for this blessing. He had to restrain himself from sighing in relief and keeping his indifferent façade.

"Good, good. And...Why are we wasting time with small talk when we should be...or at least I should be, running away?

-We have to wait a bit because I used up a lot of my magic to bend the wards without breaking them to be able to enter here unnoticed. I'm just catching my breath, I'll be good to go soon, don't worry."

Draco looked at the other man, flabbergasted.

"You bend the front door's wards? And you 'just' need to catch your breath a bit before you go? I thought they let you enter, that's why your whole escape scenario didn't impress me! Didn't they see the door open though? Don't they know that someone entered?

-No, I used an illusion on the front door to make it look like it didn't move...

- And you think you can break both the wards on my cell and those at the door afterwards?" Just how powerful is Potter to be able to manipulate wards like that?

"Yeah, but I'll probably need to sleep a lot to compensate. I'll just head to bed as soon as you're busted out.

-Potte...entially dangerous, Black." He caught his slip of tongue just in time. "Don't you think they'll know it was you?

-Yeah, maybe. I wanted to leave this place soon anyway, so I'll just go earlier than planned, tomorrow morning, maybe. Like I said, I'll need some sleep after breaking these wards. I won't exactly be 'up for the next adventure' five minutes after you're gone.

-Black, why don't you escape with me? You can stay at my manor for a couple of days. It's the least I can do to repay you for this." And the Dark Lord would kill me if I let this occasion pass without bringing you to him. He felt a pang of remorse at the thought of selling the Boy-Who-Lived to the Dark Lord right after he rescued him.

"Me? Stay at Malfoy Manor?" He asked in an incredulous voice.

"Of course, my mother is a Black as well, remember. We're cousins! I'm sure she'd be delighted to meet you. Family is important in troubled times, after all."

He saw Potter bite his lips, thinking it over. As Harry Potter, he'd have quite a good excuse to not want to go with him, but as Hadrian Black, like he introduced himself, there were no reasons why he wouldn't accept the offer.

"But...what about my status as a Rebel?

-You're the one who sent the paper planes, right?

-Yes...

-My father said that he'd get the informant a pardon if he could find out his identity. You won't get into any trouble from the Ministry; I can guarantee you that." I don't know about the Dark Lord though...

Potter took a deep breath and nodded.

"Perfect! And you know, if you need help with the wards, I can do some work as well. You face the right side of the wards to get me out of the cell, but not to leave the shed after. You could lend me your wand; my magic is still strong and I have a lot of training with wards...

-Are you kidding? You think I'd give my wand to someone I just met?

-Hey, I had to try. It could have worked with the other Rebels from what I've seen of their intelligence...

-Right, right," said Potter, shaking his head. " As long as I don't do more magic, I'll be fine since I've got a Pepper-Up. I would have liked to give it to you in case you were too tired to run, but hey, gotta save my hide first, what do you say?" He said in a teasing tone.

"I say that we might just make a Slytherin out of you, Black. It's in your blood, after all."

Harry laughed and Draco's heart felt lighter. Was this how friendship felt like? The thought flitted through his mind before the blood painfully pulsing in his swollen eye brought him back to a grimmer reality.

By all that is dark, I'll make those rebels pay for what they have done to me. And wait until my father hears about my treatment here! He'll be furious. He'll burn this dump to the ground and massacre everyone who even dared to lay a finger on me!

He distractedly saw the green-eyed teen get up and go at the opening in the wall (he refused to call such a substandard hole a window) to watch something. It was quite close to the new moon so it was very dark outside. They would have to be careful not to trip on roots in the woods. He suddenly turned to Draco and announced in a voice full of authority:

"It's time."

Draco got up painfully to his feet, leaning on the dirty wall behind him. The Draught of Peace hadn't been so effective. He would have needed that Pepper-Up, damn it. He had only been a prisoner for about a day, but now that salvation was at arm's length, he found that he couldn't bear to stay in this miserable shed for one more minute. His whole body was nearly shaking in anticipation.

He focused his attention on Potter who was breathing deeply. When Harry opened his eyes, they were glowing with his magical sight. Salazar, he's further than I ever was with it. He must have trained it a lot.

His eyes were sweeping over the structure of the wards, searching for weaker points. When he found one, he started to turn his wand around in small circles, alternatively pulling and pushing.

His technique is a bit rudimentary on the actual ward breaking, though. His training must not be very uniform if he has just been tutored in the camp. It must have focused on ward identification and ward building more than on their destruction. I have to help him a bit or he'll just waste his magic on this ward and won't have enough strength for the other.

Draco cleared his throat and said to Harry: "Try to make more cutting movements after your second flick and use the Excisus charm at every corner of the hole you want to make."

The Malfoy heir saw the other teen's movements falter a bit before he nodded and tried the suggested approach.

Within moments, Draco felt the ward against Physical Exit shatter. Harry bended in half for a few seconds and got back up quickly, breathing deeply. Damn, I'd be more tired than that if I were at his place.

Draco exited his cell as quickly as he could with the Malfoy poise and a hurting body and looked back in, quite happy if this was the last he saw of it. He turned back to Harry.

"You ok?

-Yeah... yeah. Thanks for the technique. I'm better at identifying weak points and letting someone else do the actual breaking. I should have studied it more in depth, though, it's too useful to neglect."

Draco looked at him, eyes narrowing as he thought over something.

"It was you, wasn't it? In Diagon Alley?

-What? How do you know about that?

-My father did quite a bit of overwork trying to find the culprit. They got a partial magical imprint from what you did. They concluded that you used way too much magical power and did a sloppy job of it... By Salazar, you were what? Fifteen?

-Just about...I didn't exactly plan on intervening that day. They forced my hand."

Draco tried to think about how he would have acted at fifteen in such a situation.

I wouldn't have intervened at all. I would have curled up in a corner, put my arms over my head and waited for my father to come rescue me, but that's Saint Potter for you. He might act strangely Slytherin from time to time but he most likely has a Gryffindor core.

-So...are you ready to go now?" asked the Malfoy heir, impatient to get out of there.

"Yeah. It was much easier with your technique; I'll be fine for the other wards. Do you want the Pepper-Up? You look a bit weak."

Draco glared at his comment, straightened himself up and lifted his nose a bit.

"It's this horrible place that's getting to me, a Malfoy doesn't look weak. But yes, I'll take the Pepper-Up..."

Harry rolled his eyes at him and handed him the vial. He sniffed at it subtly. Eurk, another potion of poor quality. Severus would strangle me if he knew what I ingested. Well, it's better than nothing.

He downed it, using all the power of his Malfoy mask to not make a disgusted face. That's not how it was supposed to taste, that's for sure. He nodded his thanks to Harry, who turned toward the door and the wards.

"When the wards are down, I'll Disillusion myself and you'll wear the Cloak. I won't bother with the illusion of the door, this time, since they'll notice immediately that the wards will have collapsed. I'll take your hand and you're not pulling it out of my grip before we're out of the wards, got it? You could get lost in the woods surrounding the village.

-Got it."

Harry took a deep breath and attacked the wards with his new technique. Draco could see the sweat slowly forming on his rescuer's brow and looked at the wards. He put on the Cloak. They wouldn't have much time to get out before the whole camp descended on them.

The wards shattered with a loud noise. Harry breathed deeply, hit himself on the head for the Disillusionment spell and took Draco's hand in his now clammy one. He opened the door quickly, and exited, pulling Draco after him. Draco pulled the Cloak tighter on himself when he saw some Rebels running towards them, shooting stunning spells left and right. Harry pulled him at cover behind the shed and headed from there to the woods at a brisk pace, passing through the branches and reaching a path easily in the dark.

Draco turned back to throw a last look at the camp behind. The wizards had switched to Homenum revelio and cast them in an ever-expanding range. Some of them were running towards the woods on the main paths.

Harry pulled on his hand to make him go faster. Draco's elbow hurt at the tension and he tripped on a root, barely catching himself in time before falling face first. Thank you Quidditch for preparing me for this ordeal. He wouldn't have been able to bear the mud, the pain and the exhaustion without it.

When they were at a good distance from the camp, Harry muttered, "screw this" and let his Disillusionment fall. He turned to Draco and told him: "Take off the Cloak, we have to leave the wards before they reach them and decide to do a lock down. I don't think I'd be able to break us out of that if it happens. We need to run."

Draco took the Cloak off hastily and ran, following Harry's lead. It was obvious that the other knew exactly where he was going. He zigzagged through the trees and Draco had trouble keeping up with him in his damaged state. His lungs burnt and every step jarred his injuries. They weren't anything life threatening, but they hurt, Circe!

.

After a few minutes, at last, they could see the wards. They were about to reach them when they heard: "Expelliarmus!"

Harry dived to the left, rolling on the ground and getting back to his feet swiftly, his wand aimed at their attacker's head.

"Neville?" Harry said in a surprised voice.

A boy was standing, his back to the wards, the wand pointed at them shaking a bit.

"I can't let you go, Harry.

-Why not, Neville?" Harry replied in a strained tone, taking a couple of steps aggressively towards the other boy. The plumb boy stood his ground, not budging an inch.

"Because, we need Malfoy. We need him to finish the war. His father will sign a peace treaty to have him back." He revealed with certainty.

Draco snorted at the idea. As if the Dark Lord would let his father do that.

"Moody told you that, right? He lied. They tortured Draco for information. They don't want a peace treaty unless it's a treaty of total surrender signed by the Dark Lord's hand himself. And you know they'll never get it only with Malfoy. Get out of the way.

-No." By now, the boy had stopped shaking and was facing them with a firm stance.

-Neville, by the gods! Moody is manipulating you to mould you into his perfect little minion; can't you see it?!" Harry sounded exasperated. The magical exhaustion was probably starting to wear him down.

- I'm still not going to let you pass. You made a prisoner escape. You're the traitor they were looking for."

Harry sighed. Draco looked around nervously. Now was not the time to have this discussion. As if Harry heard him, he suddenly flicked his wand at Neville, who dropped his wand with a moan of pain.

Harry ran to the other boy and gave him a solid punch in the face. Neville fell on the ground with a shout, clutching his aching nose. Blood flowed between his hands and dripped on the ground.

Harry kicked the other boy's wand out of the way and turned to Draco:

"Problem solved. Hurry up now."

They ran and dived out of the wards at the same time, falling on the other side on their stomach.

They paused for a moment and then looked at each other, smiling. They had done it. They managed to leave before the lock down.

As Draco thought that, he saw the faint blue of the wards turn silver and nearly opaque. Just in time, apparently. He turned to his right and saw Harry let his head fall forward on the grass in relief. He closed his eyes to give them a few seconds of rest. He couldn't believe he had just escaped the rebels' camp.

"So, Harry, ready to go to Malfoy Manor?" He asked in a chirpy voice (although he would deny it someone pointed it out to him).

Harry lifted his head, looked at him, and nodded. They both tiredly got up to their feet. He took Draco's hand and they disapparated.

Draco never noticed that he had called him Harry and not Hadrian.

Next Chapter is the long-awaited meeting between Harry and the Dark Lord.

Remember, people, the more you review and the quicker I'll post it!

Thank you in advance for your support!