The Dream Trilogy Book 2: Tread On My Dreams

by Helen Jay

COMPLETE. Draco is lost. Harry's is the world in trouble now, but it's Draco's past that is catching up to them. Fast.

4. Chapter Three: Away From Me

A/N 15-08-14: Thank you to everyone who took the time to review last week – it was brilliant to hear your feedback! I hope you enjoy this week's chapter too.

I'd also like to say a big thank you to The Modern Prometheus who took the time to help me edit out some heinous typos that managed to sneak into the first two chapters. My final editor and I were very careful to go through this chapter, but if you spot any more please let me know so I can fix them too!

Now, I know I've encouraged you before to listen to the songs that the chapters are named after, but if you only ever listen to one in the whole trilogy, please let it be this one! "Away From Me" by Evanescence IS Draco and his journey of repentance. It's from the band's demo album as well, so chances are you won't have had the opportunity to hear this song before (unless you're a massive fan like I am lol). I always post links to the songs on my Twitter, so if you want to hear it you can find it at HelenJHaslam. I've also been posting pictures of the progress on the book covers which I'm really excited about, and I'd love to hear what you guys think of those too.

Alright, enough from me, let's get back to the gang and see what trouble they've been getting themselves into!

Hxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter Three -

Away From Me

xxx

I hold my breath

As this life starts to take its toll

I hide behind a smile

As this perfect plan unfolds

But, oh, God

I feel I've been lied to

Lost all faith

In the things I have achieved

And I-

I've woken now

To find myself in the shadows

Of the lie I've created

I'm longing to be lost in you

Away from this place I'm in

Won't you take me away from me

xxx

Evanescence

xxx

Draco Malfoy tried not to check the time. In the last hour or so he couldn't seem to stop himself glancing every few seconds at his watch, but it appeared as if time itself was standing still. As was usual of a Sunday, lunch was dragging on forever. People talking lazily, putting off homework, putting off the impending doom of the Monday morning start for just a couple more hours.

His father's voice rang in his ears. 'It is imperative that you maintain appearances Draco,' he had told him, the whispered words ringing from the letter in which he'd recorded them. 'There are eyes everywhere, no one must know. The reputation of the Malfoy name is at stake. You must not fail.'

But Draco had no intention of failing. They'd given him the mark hadn't they? He would prove to him he was on their side, that he could do this, and then everything would be okay.

Everything would be okay. The black tattoo on his forearm still stung when he touched it, but the pain was fading every day. He'd done everything he could to hide it from his fellow classmates, no one would know a thing. Everything would go to plan.

His mother had been deeply upset at the ugly skull and snake now brandished on the inside of Draco's wrist. His father hadn't told her what was happening until afterwards, when Draco had heard them screaming and roaring at each other all throughout the Manor. He'd not been able to make out most of the words, hidden up in his room, except his mother had kept screaming 'Too young! He's too young!'

Draco hadn't seen his mother since then, and that had been the Easter Holidays weeks ago. His father had assured him she had been sent somewhere for her own protection, because what they were planning was too important to risk anything, but that didn't explain to Draco why he couldn't talk to her, or even write her a letter.

'Your mother believes in you,' the letter's voice had said. 'You'll be able to see her when this is all over.' He'd replayed that part over and over, until the letter had buckled under its own magic and burst into flames. What would happen if he didn't do it, if he didn't succeed? Draco couldn't help but wonder. Would he still get to see his mother?

Was she really okay?

He banished the thought away and checked his watch again without thinking. It was almost time. He wanted to get there early, so there was no mistakes.

"Are you late for something?" asked Blaise Zabini coolly. Draco felt himself jump back to reality and look guiltily at his best friend. She always sat with such poise it reminded him of a cat, and right now her large hazel eyes were fixed accusingly on him. Colour reached up his neck. He should have known better than to try and hide this from Blaise, she was so damn observant about everything, he should have just avoided her.

Please, he thought to himself, please just drop it.

"Well?"

He should have known she never would. "It's nothing," he muttered. Blaise remained unmoved.

"Are you going to meet Pansy for a little rendezvous?" she asked. Only because Draco knew her so well did her realise she was teasing. Her tone was completely calm, but those hazel eyes said otherwise.

On a different day he would have enjoyed a bit of goading. Pansy was a nightmare and the pair normally laughed themselves silly behind her back.

But not today.

"I...I have to go somewhere," said Draco lamely. "It's important."

Blaise's eyes narrowed. "This is something to do with your father, isn't it?" Draco clenched his jaw together to tried not to give anything away, but he couldn't help it as the words came tumbling from his mouth.

"I can't...I can't explain," he said, looking at his watch again. It was time, he had to go. He took hold of Blaise's hands, oblivious to the chatter and laughter happening around them. "You have to promise me something," he said. "When I leave the hall, you have to leave too. I want you to go to the common room, or better yet your dorm. Don't come out, no matter what happens, until I come find you."

Blaise's face showed no flicker of emotion, she just watched him, drinking in his barely concealed panic and desperation. She looked so much older than she was – little more than a child. They were both just children.

"Okay," she told him eventually, and gave his hands a squeeze. "But you will come find me."

Draco stood up and walked away from her without a moment's pause. I'll see her in a while, he told himself sternly. And my mother, I shall see her soon. I just have to do this one thing.

Most students paid him no mind as he made his way along the Slytherin table and over to the large double doors that lead to the rest of the school. That was until he passed by Potter and his gang. He was sat on the end of the Ravenclaw table itself with Parvati Patil standing beside him. Seamus Finigan and Neville Longbottom were sat on chairs by Terry Boot, who as usual had a Muggle guitar planted in his lap and was probably the reason the Gryffindors had absconded from their own house. He looked up half interested as Draco walked past, then continued fiddling with the strings, letting an attempt at a melody float through the hall. Seamus frowned at him, then leant over and said something to Terry causing both the boys to nod. Draco wondered if it was about him.

He didn't have to wonder when it came to Potter and Parvati. "You lost Snake Spawn?" cackled Parvati as Draco made his way away from them. He heard several people join in laughing around her, including Potter.

"Nah," he cried, "he's off to snog his girlfriend, Moaning Myrtle!" By the time Draco left the hall, Potter was singing. "Myrtle and Malfoy, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!"

Draco curled his fists and let the doors swing shut behind him, deadening the noise. How dare they talk to him like that, his family was pureblood. Potter's mother was a filthy Mudblood, he knew that for a fact, and he didn't even care which dirty country Patil came from. Longbottom was one step away from a Squib and didn't deserve to be pureblood. Boot and Finnigan were both Half-Bloods, which was almost as bad as being Mudblood. What the Hell right did they think they had to insult him like they did? He'd show them, once and for all.

He made himself unclench his fingers and breathe deeply as he walked down the stairs, he needed to be calm and focused otherwise it wouldn't work. His mind wondered to Blaise though. He really hoped she would listen to him and go to the common room. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he didn't want her anywhere near it. She had enough problems dealing with her mother when it came to the Dark Lord, she didn't need to contend with his father too.

Draco had lain awake for many hours wondering what it was he was going to be doing for his father. All he knew was they needed a resident of Hogwarts with the Dark Mark, and it had been an honour to be chosen. An honour, he told himself again, this is important for my family. Whatever it is.

The air grew colder and moister the further down he descended. The docks were always deserted during term-time; as far as he knew they were only ever used to bring the first years to the castle at the beginning of the year.

He was proved wrong however almost immediately. He froze at the patter of bare feet on rock from below – he was halfway down the staircase, what could he do? In a flash he was pelting back up the stairs that lead to the dungeons, trying his best not to make a sound, and found a shadow to hide in just as two house elves came up the steps, hoisting a large wicker basket of fruit between them. They chattered in their high pitched voices, their ugly faces pulled into what passed for smiles. Idiots, thought Draco spitefully, pointless creatures. Anyone content to spend their life in servitude was worthless as far as he was concerned. They had a house elf at home and Draco enjoyed booting it down the stairs every now and again.

Once the elves were gone, Draco crept back towards the spiral staircase, then began carefully journeying down again. His ears strained to hear if there were anymore of the vermin, but there was nothing. He reached the dock with his wand out and pointed, only to find it empty.

It was dark and breezy here. He was on a stone wharf, maybe a dozen or so feet wide, with a rippling rectangle to his left for the boats to dock. The entrance in from the Great Lake was covered with a curtain of ivy and only a few of torch brackets lined the walls, not all of which were even lit. The water was lapping against the stone and swaying the foliage gently. He had no way to tell if the elves had just met a boat that had since departed, or if one would be coming back anytime soon. He shook himself and headed for the cave's entrance. If there was any trouble his father could deal with it.

He pulled the trailing ivy back and looked out into what little there was of the Spring sunshine. The day was cloudy, the waters looked slate grey and rain was attempting to fall in a misty sort of fashion. Draco couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but that was the point. "Linter Revelio," he said out to the lake.

A patch of air above the reeds to his right began to shimmer, and suddenly a small row boat came into view, containing his father Lucius Malfoy, Barty Crouch Jr, and his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange. The sight of Bellatrix, with her mad mop of black curls and even madder black eyes made Draco's stomach drop. He had not realised she would be coming; not that it would have altered the plan in anyway, he just liked to be prepared when he saw her. She was fond of mockery as a sport, and Draco was one of her favourite targets.

Draco silently held the foliage aside as the small boat powered its own way through to the dock. The three adults remained perfectly still, as if frozen, and around their necks they wore matching glowing pouches on brown leather thongs; charms to help them enter Draco guessed. He dropped the curtain once they were through and darted to the boat's side when it gently came to a halt by the stone wharf. "Animatium," he declared, pointing his wand at his father first and then the other two. They blinked and roused, shaking the spell from their limbs as they clambered ashore. Draco knew his father had taken several different potions to enable him to arrive into the castle unannounced, and his status as a school governor would apparently mask his presence even further. Bellatrix and Crouch may have taken the potions, Draco thought looking warily at them, but they certainly weren't governors. He hoped that wouldn't be a problem.

His aunt sighed theatrically and stretched her arms out. "Baby Malfoy," she cooed in her sing-song voice, pinching his cheek with fingers adorned with long black nails. "Aren't you a clever little boy." Draco swatted her hand angrily away but said nothing. Bellatrix just laughed again and danced off.

"Thank you, Draco," said the smooth voice of Barty Crouch. He was tall and lean with soft brown hair and calculating eyes. Draco wasn't as surprised to see him here, he professed himself to be The Dark Lord's most loyal servant and had murdered his entire family to prove it. Bellatrix was just his lapdog as far as Draco could tell, and it made him cringe.

Crouch fished out a small caldron from the boat and more phials and bottles from his robe than it had any right to hold, whilst Bellatrix prowled around the dock humming shrilly. All the while, Lucius Malfoy regarded his son.

Draco tried to stand up straight and not tremble. Had he done something wrong already? he panicked. He knew better to speak before being spoken to however, so kept his mouth shut. "Your next task," said Lucius eventually, "will be the most vital. I do hope you are feeling up to it."

"Yes sir," said Draco automatically, hoping his father would elaborate. He remained silent though, and switched his attention to Crouch.

"How long?" he drawled.

Crouch was unfazed by the imposing presence of Lucius Malfoy, and answered him with a shrug. "Couple of minutes?" he said. Bellatrix gave a few claps and let out a little giggle of delight.

"He comes," she whispered to herself. "He comes, he comes."

Something deadly cold slid down through Draco's insides. He? Surely she didn't mean...well he couldn't possibly come here could he? And even if he did, to what purpose?

He could feel his hands start to sweat as he watched Barty work the magic over the pot, adding a dash of this or that and muttering words Draco didn't recognise. A light zephyr teased the vines at the cave mouth and made the water in the dock ripple. The boat banged against the stone quay until Lucius banished it outside with a flick of his wand. "By the water please." Draco had to assume it was him being spoken to, so he edged over and looked at his father in anticipation. Lucius pulled out a knife in an elaborately stitched leather sheath and handed it hilt first to his son.

"To begin the ritual you will have to perform the sacrifice." There seemed to be a glint of amusement in his eyes, which scared Draco even more as he stared opened mouthed between the weapon and his father.

"S-sacrifice?" he spluttered. Was he asking him to...Draco could even think the words, but his brain was conjuring up images of him slitting his own throat.

"Yes," said Lucius pragmatically. "The oldest kind." Draco couldn't find any words, he just kept his eyes unblinking on the knife, insides pulled taught waiting for his father to explain, to tell him he wasn't expected to kill himself.

Crouch sighed. "Why must it always be riddles with you?" he chided at Lucius in his soft Scottish accent, forcing Draco to look up, a warm sensation of hope pricking at the edges of his numb mind. "Blood, he means blood."

Draco felt all the air leave his lungs. So he was right. Crouch had stood up and now marched over to where Draco was. He took hold of the wrist holding the knife, firmly but not so much it hurt, plucked the sheath off, and guided his hand so pressed the sharp edge of the blade against his other palm. It was cold.

"Just one quick cut, let me have a few droplets in my bucket, then shake a good handful into the water and say the words. You remember them right?" Draco snapped his mouth shut and nodded. "Good," said Barty, clapping him on the shoulder. "Then I'll heal your hand – unless you want a scar?" He raised an eyebrow. "Scars build character, boys like that don't they?"

Before Draco could even think about an answer his father spoke. "Scars are ugly imperfections, you will remove all marks." Barty shrugged.

"Makes no difference to me."

Draco tried to stop his hand from shaking as he pressed the blade against his palm. One, two...one, two...three. But he didn't cut. He heard Bellatrix sigh. "You have to do it by yourself, we can't help you. Hurry up."

He took a deep breath. One, two...one, two, THREE. It stung ferociously, but Draco bit his tongue and didn't make a sound. Only babies cried when they were hurt, and he was a servant of The Dark Lord. Obediently, he turned and held his clenched fist out for Barty, who collected half a dozen drops of blood in his caldron, which started to fizz and foam. He then walked over to the water and squeezed as hard as he could bear. "The path is clear," he said in the strongest voice he could muster. "The door is unlocked, step into my abode, what is mine is yours." He almost forgot the last words, the most important ones, but after a beat or two they came back to him. "Ostiumus occulta."

Crouch was spell casting again, and the water around the blood began swirling. He came and stood behind Draco, still murmuring, the pot in one hand and his wand in the other. The water in the dock was a fully fledged whirlpool now, and Barty reached over Draco and tipped his potion into the centre.

A column of green light shot up instantly, connecting the water with the rough stone ceiling of the cave. Draco jumped back into Crouch, but the older man suddenly had a free hand that he gripped onto Draco's shoulder. "It's okay," he whispered into his ear. "Watch."

Bellatrix barely seemed to be able to contain herself. "Rise!" she hissed. "Rise!" The column was blurring, and Draco could feel his heart rate quicken as a form started taking shape. It was Him.

The chalk white, snake like head was clearest first, followed by flowing black robes and skeletal hands. Crouch flung the caldron to the ground with a clatter and yanked Draco down to the floor to bow beside him. From the corner of his eye he could see his father kneeling, and Bellatrix was practically wailing "My lord, my lord!"

"Do I have your consent to enter?" came his echoey, serpentine voice. Draco felt as stiff as a wooden plank, but after a moment or two he forced his neck to crane upwards. The Dark Lord was staring right at him.

"Y-yes," stammered Draco, uncertain whether or not he should move, but Barty still had a firm grip on his sleeve so he decided to remain where he was. "Yes, I as...as an occupant of this place hereby g-give you my consent."

The Dark Lord stretched his lips in what might have been a smile, and slowly took a step from the luminescent column towards the stone floor of the dock. As his solid form reached dry land, Bellatrix leapt up from where she had been sprawled on the ground to throw herself at her master's feet instead.

"My lord!" she cried. "You are here, we have done it!"

Voldemort looked down at her, almost amused. "I am not quite sure what part you played in this my dear, but it is a pleasure to see you as always." He gave a small flick of his foot and she scuttled away. Lucius was already standing, and Barty pulled at Draco's robe, indicating they should do the same.

The Dark Lord's red eyes swung around once again to find Draco. "You have done well Master Malfoy," he said softly, so much so Draco had to strain to hear him over the blood pumping in his ears.

"Thank – thank you," he said, cursing himself. Why couldn't he talk without fumbling over every word! "It was an honour," he added, concentrating on every syllable.

"Your family will be proud," he replied, then without another word he turned in a sweep of robes and glided up the staircase. With a flick of his wand Barty gathered up his kit and made to follow, only stopping at the last minute to gab Draco's injured hand.

"Episky," he said, then winked at Draco as the cut vanished. "You did well kid."

Bellatrix was already right behind The Dark Lord, and Barty joined her, hiding his caldron up his sleeve. Lucius turned to join in their ascent.

"Remain here," he instructed his son without so much of a glance. Draco stared at him in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" he found himself calling up after him. "What's happening, where are you going?" Lucius spun around and glared at his son.

"Be quiet," he hissed, eyes darting to where the others had disappeared from sight. But Draco felt shaky and irrational from the fear-fuelled adrenalin in his system.

"What's going on?"

Lucius stormed back down towards him, and Draco couldn't help but flinch away as he approached. "You have done your family proud today, Draco," he said through gritted teeth. "You will continue to do as you are bid."

Draco bit his tongue, trying to keep the words inside, but reckless desperation took a hold of him.

"I want to see mother, you said I could."

His father frowned at him. "Your mother is being kept somewhere safe, we have discussed this."

Draco's eyes narrowed, and there was no keeping the words down now. "I don't believe you," he breathed.

The back of Lucius' hand hit his face faster than Draco could comprehend. He staggered backwards as blood welled from a split lip, and Lucius scowled. "How dare you talk to me in such a manor," he snarled. "You will remain here until I fetch you and bring you back home."

He spun on his heels and raced after his master. Draco cradled the right side of his face as his jaw began to throb and blinked back tears of shock more than pain. His heart pounded and it seemed like a whistle was blowing in his ears. Mum, he thought, unable to process anything else, you promised I would see mum.

The air in the cave had dropped several degrees, and the rowing boat had found its way back inside the cave to tap against the wall. Anger started rising in Draco then. Why should he stay behind? If it wasn't for him, they would never have even been able to get into the damn school, what right had they to tell him to hide in the shadows?

He ran up the spiraled stairs again, taking them two at a time, and heaving the door open at the top. He froze. There, littered on the ground, were the two house elves he'd only just seen with the basket of fruit. Their dead eyes stared unblinking up at the dungeon ceiling, the now empty basket lay on its side a few feet away. He tried to steady his breathing as he reasoned they were only elves, and how did he expect his father or The Dark Lord to have dealt with them?

He edged around the corpses and took off at a run, putting the creatures from his mind. They didn't matter, they were nothing. He managed to reach the main body of the castle without catching up to his father and the others, which irked him slightly. He had no idea where they might have gone now, so he just started walking down the corridor, thinking about how quiet the school seemed. Were there more Death Eaters waiting to be let in outside the gates? he wondered. Where would The Dark Lord go, what did he want here? Was he going to attack Dumbledore?

A faint noise made him spin around, his wand in his hand and his heart in his mouth. A scream? Was that a scream? He was at the base of a square tower that held a series of winding staircases that liked to change their destination depending on what day of the week it was, and looking up he had no idea where the noise, whatever it had been, had come from.

But then it came again, and again. Draco turned about himself, looking upwards, but there were sounds everywhere now, all faint from where he stood. He had a feeling they were coming closer.

He had his wand out but he didn't know where to point it. What was happening, was that students making those noises? Try as he might couldn't deny now they were screams and shouts. Maybe his father had let more Death Eaters in like he'd thought, were they attacking the children? Why? Not knowing anything was making him more and more scared. Blaise, he thought to himself, please say you hid like I said.

The doors a floor above burst open, and a flurry of students of all ages came tumbling out, racing in all directions. They were screaming, crying, yelling to one another, and Draco jumped backwards in surprise. One bolted down the stairs and flew past him, a girl with blond ringlets and freckles. "What are you doing!" she shrieked at him as she pelted in the direction of the Slytherin common room. "Run!"

But Draco's eyes were drawn to where they'd just emerged from. What was that rumbling? The sounds of spells being cast were echoing from atop all the stairways, vibrating down corridors. Who was fighting, what was happening? The stairway above him was still releasing students in fits and starts, a gaggle one moment then a frightened loner the next. There definitely seemed to be a rumbling noise, and something else that Draco couldn't place but for all intents and purposes had rooted his feet to the floor.

The Longbottom boy, the Squib one that hung around with Potter slammed into the railings at the top of staircase. "Malfoy!" he yelled upon spying him. "Run! It's right behind me, it's-"

But at that moment Neville Longbottom turned and looked behind him, and there was a blinding flash of light, so bright Draco wasn't even sure of its colour as he flung his arm oven his eyes. There was a sickening crunching sound, and, terrified of what he would find, Draco forced his arm away to look.

Longbottom lay in a crumpled heap by his feet, his eyes wide open in terror. He was most definitely dead. Draco made a gagging noise and tripped backwards, unable to tear his own eyes off Neville's. The Killing Curse? Had the light been green? As he glanced back up to the doors leading to the corridor, an immense shadow fell against the wall, and before he had time to think Draco bolted down the corridor that would take him to the Slytherin common room.

There was a thud behind him that shook the floor and made him stumble. It was behind him, he knew it. Could it fit down this corridor? How big was the other hallway? Knowing he had too far to run, instead he yanked at the edge of a huge coat of arms that concealed a secret tunnel and jumped inside, slamming it shut behind him. The way the swords rested on the shield though meant the arms weren't flush against the wall, and he could still hear the screams and see the floor of the corridor. He backed along the crawl way, which was barely big enough to fit a person unless they were on hands and knees, desperate not to draw its attention.

He wasn't looking where he was going, so had to stifle his own scream when he backed into a warm body. He snapped his head around as hands groped at him in the gloom. It was the older girl with the blond ringlets; she'd obviously had the same idea as him. She shoved a finger in front of her lips but Draco didn't need telling twice. Don't make a sound.

They could hear the rustling sound coming closer. Obviously the corridor was big enough to take it after all, and Draco prayed to whoever might be listening that it didn't knock the coat of arms off the wall. The girl clung onto his hand so hard he feared his fingers might break. He didn't know her name, or even what year she was in, but he'd seen her in the common room and on the Slytherin dining table. "Whatever happens," he managed to whisper. "Don't look at it. Keep your eyes closed and you'll be okay."

"What?" the girl whispered back as the coat of arms rattled at the end of their tunnel.

"It can't get down here," he said as bile rose in his throat. Keep it together, he wiled himself. The small amount of light coming from the gap at the tunnel's entrance suddenly disappeared as the beast slithered past them. "But if it looks at you it can kill you, so if the shield falls down or something, just keep your eyes closed."

He was shaking all over, but as soon as the light came back to the crack under the shield, he let go of the girl and edged towards the hallway. "Where are you going!" she squeaked.

He turned awkwardly, feeling the sweat running down his neck. "I have to go, just stay here, you'll be fine."

The girl's face shined with tears, staring at him in disbelief, but he couldn't stay. He scrambled back around and crept up to the back of the coat of arms. He couldn't hear anything, no screams, no vibrations from the creature. He knew it was the Basilisk, beyond a doubt. His father had told him many a time about The Dark Lord's prized pet, how he'd killed a girl while they were at school together. He just could not believe that they'd set it on the school; it didn't know what it was doing, it would attack Mudbloods and Purebloods alike.

He saw Neville Longbottom crumpled at his feet again. He had been pure of blood, no matter what his magical talent was.

He didn't want to leave the tunnel, but there wasn't a single sound to be heard and he knew he might not get another chance. Sucking in air he threw the coat of arms open, slammed it shut again as he jumped out and sprinted for the entrance to the Slytherin dungeons. "Magic is might!" he hissed to the bare patch of wall, and to his immense relief the entranceway appeared. He hurtled inside, and watched on tender-hooks as it slowly disappeared again.

The common room was in hysterics, with students running around, whimpering and bellowing all over the place. Draco couldn't seem to steady his breathing as he searched all their faces for Blaise. She wasn't there, he knew she wasn't there. He pushed through the hoard towards the passageway that lead to the girl's dormitories, but when he reached it he rebounded off an invisible barrier that made him screech out in frustration. Of course boys couldn't go into the girls rooms, he knew that.

He felt like crying, he needed to find Blaise, but she wasn't here and he couldn't check her room. She was probably there, he told himself as people yelled and bawled and shoved. He had to get away.

He elbowed his way through again, stumbling into the corridor that lead to where all the boys slept. He raced down to his private room, the one father had paid for, and unlocked the door. There was no one inside, and silence fell as the door swung shut again. All he could hear was his fervoured breathing as he took a step forward, then another, before his legs gave way and he fell through the curtains concealing his four poster bed. He pulled his legs inside the velvet drapes and let his whole body shake as it rested on the mattress.

A hand reached up from underneath the bed and grabbed his wrist.

Draco let out a startled cry and tried to pull away, but the hand was followed by the pale and wide eyed face of Blaise Zabini. A noise of anguished relief escaped from Draco's throat as he threw his arms around her and hauled her up onto the bed beside him. She was a still as a stone, and when Draco released her from his embrace she was still staring wide eyed at him. Her hands groped at his clothes, but her eyes never moved, never blinked.

Draco began trembling. "What have I done?" he said, hands gripping at her slim, fragile shoulders as the tears finally began to fall. "What have I done, Blaise, what have I DONE?"

xxx

Try as he might, Harry couldn't make his legs move fast enough. Draco had torn back into Honeydukes like something demented, bolting back into the cellar and down the trap door, up along the shadowy tunnel that led back into the school. Harry was trying to keep up, but man that boy could run.

"Draco!" he called out. "Slow down, you don't know what's up there!" But Draco didn't slow down, nor did he reply. Harry looked over his shoulder to make sure the other three were keeping up behind. They didn't look happy, but he could see them at least.

How could he have been so stupid, how? A diversion was the oldest trick in the book, what had he been thinking? He only hoped the officials from the Ministry had had more wits about them, and that's why they all disappeared from Hogsmeade in such a hurry.

Surely no one could get into the school though, he consoled himself, it was impenetrable. But the panic that had seized Draco, the desperation, made him very worried indeed. Dumbledore wouldn't let anything happen though, or any of the other teachers, he knew it. Didn't he?

The journey back must have taken less time than it had taken the five students to get to Hogsmeade, but it seemed to take twice as long. Harry kept imagining a thousand different ways that Death Eaters could have penetrated Hogwarts' defences, but each seemed as unlikely as the last. It's just a false alarm, he repeated to himself, everything's going to be fine.

He burst back into the corridor from behind the statue of the one-eyed-witch with his wand raised and eyes dizzy with adrenaline. Draco was pacing back and forth, head snapping in every direction. "I can't hear anything," he said. "Where are they?"

Harry caught his breath, and looked back down the tunnel to make sure Sarah, Hermione and Ron were on their way. "Maybe there's no attack?" he suggested rubbing his right knee which was twinging. Small beads of sweat were dotting on Draco's forehead, making some of his hair stick up, but other than that he showed no sign that he'd been running for the best part of forty minutes. His face was wan though, his eyes fervoured and his feet and hands twitchy.

"It's happening again," he breathed, rocking back and forth. "It's happening again."

Sarah was the first to tumble back into the corridor, followed by Ron and then Hermione, who propped herself against the wall as soon as she was out and tried not to gag. "What's going on!" demanded Sarah, sucking in lungfuls of air with her hands on her hips. "Is someone attacking the school, they can't be!"

"YOU!" shouted Ron, taking a run at Draco and slamming him into the wall.

"No!" yelled Harry, leaping instantly to pull them apart. Draco seemed too shell-shocked to do anything except hold his arms up in defense, but Ron was smashing him against the wall repeatedly. "Ron!" He managed to yank the two boys away from each other, and tried to get his best friend to look at him. "We don't even know what's happening!"

Ron stabbed a finger at Draco, who had slumped up against the wall and was trembling from head to toe. "It was him!" yelled Ron. "He shows up, leads us away and the bloody Death Eaters get in!"

"Ron I lead you down to the town!" Harry shouted back, giving the boy a shake to help him focus.

"And," said Sarah, squaring up to him as much as she could, being a foot shorter. "We just showed up from an alternate universe, how did we have time to talk to any Death Eaters?"

Ron had stopped struggling against Harry now, but he didn't trust him enough to let him go just yet, he knew how hot-headed his friend could be. Ron narrowed his eyes. "He says he just came from another reality, how do we really know?"

Sarah threw up her hands in frustration. "Then how do you explain me, huh?"

"You're not an evil Slytherin," replied Ron.

"Neither is he!" shot back Sarah.

"All of you, shut up!" hissed Hermione. Harry looked over to see she had wrestled herself off the wall, and although still green she no longer looked like she was threatening to pass out. "If there is anybody untoward in the castle, do you want to bring them down on our heads?"

All the anger seemed to evaporate from Ron at that, to be replaced by a healthy dose of sheepishness. "Erm, no," he said. "Sorry Hermione."

"It's Draco you should apologise to," she snapped, shoving back the tangles of hair that had become plastered to her face from the run. Her cheeks were bright red and she was struggling to control her breathing, but she still managed to be scary when telling them off. "Harry's right, there's no way he could have been a part of this, if 'this' is even anything at all." She took one last deep breath and managed to calm herself a bit. "I mean look at the poor boy, he's practically traumatised."

Harry felt like he could let go of Ron now without him flying off the handle, so he did and turned to face Draco. He was still leaning against the wall, arms wrapped around his chest, eyes staring blankly at the floor. "What have I done?" he whispered. "What have I done, Blaise, what have I done?"

Harry walked cautiously over to him. "Blaise isn't here," he said gently, reaching out to touch the blond boy's shoulder. "And you haven't done anything."

"Yes I did," shuddered Draco, still staring at the floor. "I let them in, I said the words, I didn't know, I – I..."

"See!" said Ron loudly. "See I told you!" But Sarah silenced him with a glare.

"He's talking about before you idiot," she hissed. "Why do you think he's freaking out?"

"Draco," said Harry again, taking the other shoulder in hand as well and trying to ease the other boy's eyes off the floor. "Draco you can help us, how did they get in last time?"

Draco began to panic, finally looking at Harry with pleading eyes. "I didn't know, I didn't know he was coming, what he would do! They all blamed me but they had my mother and Blaise was under the bed but Longbottom still, he still..." His eyes went back to the floor as he kicked the wall with the heal of his boot and blinked back tears furiously.

Harry didn't know what to do. Draco was clearly having a minor break down, but other than slapping him across the face Harry was fresh out of ideas to snap him out of it.

"It's okay, Draco," came Sarah's voice by Harry's elbow. "It's okay I promise."

Draco clenched his jaw. "No it's not," he whispered.

Sarah considered him for a minute or so before speaking again. "What could you have done differently?"

The question seemed to quiet Draco somewhat. He took in a few shaky breaths. "Everything," he said, looking up at her. "I wouldn't have let them mark me, I wouldn't have gone down to the docks, said the words, let him in. I would have warned somebody, tried to stop them."

Harry could still feel his shoulders trembling beneath his hands, but at least he seemed back in the room with them. "Could you have done any of that?" said Sarah in a small voice. Her tone was kind but the way she held his eye contact was firm.

Draco threatened to crumble on Harry again, but he dug his fingers into his flesh. C'mon mate, he thought to himself. You can do it, pull yourself together.

"They had my mother," whispered Draco. "I was just a child, I didn't know, I was scared I...I..."

But Sarah was shaking her head. "You're right, all those things you just said, you're right." She reached for his arm below where Harry's hand rested and squeezed. "You were a victim, and you can't do anything to change what happened." Then she smiled at him. "But if anything really is happening now, you can help us. You can stop it happening again, in this world."

Harry was nodding. "You can tell us how it happened before – how many ways can there be to get into the school? It's a fortress."

Draco looked between the Potters holding him, and then slowly, very slowly, he nodded. "You're right," he said, "you're right I can help, I'll show you."

Harry let himself smile as well and clapped Draco on the shoulder.

"No," said Ron, who Harry had momentarily forgotten was even there. "No, no, no. You expect me to believe he just shows up, right before the school gets attacked-"

"Might have got attacked," cut in Hermione.

"And then he knows how to stop it or whatever?" Ron looked incredulous and more than a little bit angry. "And how can anyone get into the school anyway! Hermione, back me up here, how many layers of defences does this place have? It's just not possible!"

"I know it's possible," growled Draco, which just earned a told-you-so hand gesture from Ron.

"See! How massively unlikely is that!"

Harry stood shoulder to shoulder with Draco. "About as likely as me showing up in a universe where Pettigrew is still a traitor, being able to expose his betrayal, then being the only one with the ability to save my sister, take on You-Know-Who and win." He pointed to his scar as if to illustrate the point. "The other Harry never had to face him, never held a sword, couldn't speak Parseltongue and, most imortantly, would never in a million years trusted Draco when he arrived asking for help."

Ron wasn't sure what to say to that, but Sarah and Hermione were nodding. Harry was aware time wasn't on their side, but he thought it was worth just a few more minutes if it could make them understand, get them all on the same team.

"Hermione, your Hermione," he said, indicating Sarah and Draco. "Told me that the reason there's all these alternate realities is because everything that could happen, does happen. Therefore, in each reality that's the way it was meant to be, it couldn't be any other way because that way happened in some other plane of existence."

Hermione was nodding, but Ron screwed up his face and seemed to be trying to think it through. "So when I crossed over," Harry continued, "it was because I was meant to be there, I was...drawn to where I was needed." He shrugged. "It's just a theory, but Draco and Sarah said they didn't do anything to prompt them crossing over. Maybe they were just meant to be here too, because we needed them and their experiences."

Ron turned to look at Hermione, who nodded. "Harry said something about that before, when he'd just come back, and I always thought it made sense."

"Well, technically it's your theory, so why wouldn't you," muttered Ron, but he threw up his hands in defeat anyway. "Okay, fine, so this Malfoy's a good guy and he's been sent here to save the day. Let's go see if it actually needs saving."

"I couldn't agree more," said Harry, a wave of relief coursing through him. "Let's go find some bad guys."

xxx

Sarah kept a close eye on Draco as they began their journey once more through Hogwarts. He seemed more stable after their impromptu intervention. She couldn't really imagine how it must feel to come to terms with what he was forced to do as a child, and now to be thrust into what was essentially a re-enactment of it could really tip him over the edge. She decided not to stray too far from him, just in case he felt like doing something drastic.

The castle was eerily hushed as they made their way along. Draco had told them he'd let the Death Eaters in via the docks in their own world, but seeing as they'd probably be long gone from them now they'd decided to head to Dumbledore's office, much to Hermione's quiet satisfaction after all. However they hadn't gone more than one corridor before they ran into someone.

Sarah felt her insides jolt as they rounded the corner to see a small figure in Gryffindor Quidditch robes staring out of the window, clutching a battered old broom, but almost instantly she recognised who it was.

"Natalie," she breathed out in relief, forgetting that this wasn't really her best friend and that this Natalie McDonald had no idea who she was. She pushed past the others and raced towards her, but she didn't move. In fact, as Sarah stopped beside her, it didn't even look like she was breathing.

"Natalie?" cried Sarah, suddenly panicked, and reached out to grab her arm.

"Don't touch her!" snapped Hermione, and Sarah whipped her head around as the other four approached.

"What do you mean, what's wrong with her?" Natalie was as still as a statue as she gazed out of the window, a look of surprise frozen on her face. Hermione came up close to her and peered into her unblinking eyes, then glanced over the rest of her body.

"I don't know," she said, frowning and pulling out her wand. She flicked around a couple of spells and murmured to herself.

"Is she petrified?" asked Ron, and Sarah studied her face.

"She looks more shocked than scared," she said, but Hermione was already shaking her head.

"No, he means Petrified, it's a state of magically immobility. But unless there's another Basilisk been set loose, I'm not sure what could have done that."

"Plus she's staring out the window," added Harry. "So it would have had to have been a flying Basilisk."

"Wait, hang on," interrupted Draco. "What do you mean 'another Basilisk'?" Sarah had been wondering the same thing. Surely there was only one huge snake hidden underneath Hogwarts?

Ron puffed his chest with pride. "Harry totallykilled You-Know-Who's Basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor. And," he added, "he was only twelve."

Draco stared open mouthed at Harry, who looked a little embarrassed. Draco would have been the same age when he enabled the Basilisk's release in their reality, and here Harry was having bloody killed it. She worried what that would do to Draco's fragile state of mind.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Can we get back to the matter at hand please? Why is this girl frozen?"

"This is my friend Natalie," said Sarah softly. She leaned in and examined her face. She could have been a wax model for all the life she showed. "Will she be okay?"

Hermione pursed her lips. "Well," she said uncertainly. "I was Petrified and I was fine." Sarah saw Draco's eyes widen at this but he remained silent. "So if it's something similar, a dose of Mandrake Drought should sort her out no worries."

"And if it's not?" asked Sarah quietly.

Hermione considered that a moment. "Let's go to McGonagall's office. It's closer."

They started up their run through the castle again, taking as many of the back passages as they could to the Deputy Head Mistress' office. The Harry from this world and his friends knew far more short cuts than Sarah or Draco did between them, and she tried to commit as many as she could to memory.

Any time they ventured out into the corridors themselves, Sarah got a squirming sick sensation in her belly that they were going to run into trouble, or even more worrying, that it was going to creep up behind them. They found themselves running past several more students, just as frozen stiff as Natalie had been, all with a surprised or concerned look upon their faces. Sarah found herself wondering what their last thoughts had been before they became as good as statues, but then an even worse thought crossed her mind as she glanced at an older Hufflepuff student. What if they were still awake? What if they couldn't move but they could still see and hear? The prospect terrified her, and she rushed past the student trying to push the notion from her mind.

From what she could remember, they were getting close to McGonagall's office when they came across Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, mid-sprint to the Deputy Head. Seamus' feet had actually left the floor mid-stride, and she stared in wonder as Ron Weasley came to a halt and waved his hand under the Irish boy's shoes.

"Hermione look at this!" cried the red head, which earned him a frown from Hermione and a 'shh' from everyone else.

"You don't know who could be about," scalded Harry in little more than a whisper.

Hermione came walking back to where everyone else had stopped around Seamus and Dean, and folded her arms. "I don't get it, it just doesn't make sense," she hissed to no one in particular, shaking her head. "It's not possible Harry, it's just not. No one could get in the school and bring it to a halt like this, it's just-"

But she broke off suddenly, head whipping round, wand in her hand. Sarah's heart leapt into her mouth. "What?" she whispered, fear making the words quaver ever so slightly. "What can you hear?"

Hermione tilted her head and put her finger to her lips, her frown increasing so there were deep grooves in her forehead. "Can you hear that?" she mouthed.

Sarah and the rest strained to find what Hermione had honed on to, and suddenly it was there. It was like a fierce buzzing noise. "What is that?" asked Harry, clearly having heard it too. Draco clenched his jaw together as a bead of sweat trickled down his temple. Sarah took his hand and gave it a squeeze, but he barely seemed to notice.

The buzzing was getting louder, and it was coming from behind them. The five teenagers all turned slowly, eyeing up the end of the corridor. "Hermione," said Ron tersely. "What-"

But he didn't get to finish his question, because at that moment two creatures flew around the corner, and Sarah had to slap her hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. They were like giant wasps, at least two feet long, with a dozen black eyes on each side of their heads and mouths that seemed to be jabbering inaudibly, displaying numerous rows of sharp teeth.

"Stupefy!" yelled Harry and Hermione simultaneously, taking down one of the insects each. They crashed to the ground in a tangle of spindly black legs, unconscious for the next few minutes at least.

"What...are they?" breathed Sarah, trying not to gag as they edged closer to the fallen beasts. Any animal with more than four legs was a no-go area as far as she was concerned, let alone mutant sized wasps with far too many eyes and vicious looking mouths.

"Wranglers," answered Hermione, nudging one of the creatures with her toe to make sure it was really out for the count. Sarah's stomach gave a roll as she did. "From South America, they're practically extinct Hagrid said, or no doubt he'd already have a pair as pets. This one's a male – see the extra glands he has under his eyes? I should have known. There's probably dozens of them here."

The mere suggestion of that made Sarah blanche.

"Known what?" asked Harry, looking over the other Wrangler which Sarah took to be a female from her lack of glands.

Hermione rubbed her head. "The male has the glands with the dust in. The female has the larger frontal lobe, see how much bigger her head is?"

"So what do the dust and lobe do?" said Draco quietly, looking up and down the corridor.

Hermione sighed. "The front lobe amplifies their telepathy. All Wranglers are connected, like a hive mind, but the females are stronger at it. The dust...the dust is sprayed at a victim, and once it's inhaled it paralyses the person, puts them in the suspended animation that we've seen in the students."

"Oh," said Sarah slowly, not sure where the biology lesson was going. "Are they still awake?" she asked, thinking of the Hufflepuff boy, Seamus, Dean and Natalie.

"No," Hermione told her. "Once frozen the female adds the person to the hive mind, it's like they're asleep. The more minds in a hive, the more powerful the binding is."

"Binding?" asked Ron.

Hermione nodded. "The telepathic bond acts as a sort of battery. By using wranglers, not only has whoever's done this brought the school to a standstill, it's also fuelled whatever spells are being cast." She screwed up her fists in frustration. "That must be how they got into the school."

Sarah stared open mouthed at the ugly beasts. "Whoa," she said, feeling a prickling sensation at the back of her neck. "So if they're mind readers, would they have been able to let the others know we're here?"

"How can you know there are others?" jumped in Ron. "You said they were extinct?"

Hermione shook her head. "They wouldn't be of use just the two of them, they wouldn't have been able to do this to the school, you'd need at least half a dozen pairs, probably more." She looked up at the rest of the group. "I'm not sure if they would have had time to alert the others or not."

"We'd better get moving then," suggested Harry. They hurried away from the wranglers, past Seamus and Dean, continuing towards McGonagall's office.

"Do you think they got the people from the Ministry?" asked Sarah, which Hermione replied with a nod.

"They would have been expecting them."

"Not us though," growled Draco, his face still very pale.

"Those were probably scouts to make sure no one was left moving around." She bit her lip. "We're going to have to be very lucky not to get caught."

"Are you kidding?" muttered Sarah, spinning her wand through her fingers. "Lucky's my middle name."

xxx

Harry wasn't all that surprised to find McGonagall's office deserted. It didn't stop him from cursing out loud though.

"Harry, really," fussed Hermione. "Swearing won't make her appear." No, he thought, but it made him feel a lot better. Their situation was going from bad to worse; they'd already had to fight off another pair of Wranglers on their way up here, and goodness knew how many more there were lurking about the castle and how many of those knew that he and his friends were still walking around.

He stared at the empty room, organised and tidy as always, thinking if he concentrated enough maybe McGonagall would come back. He didn't know what to do, he just wanted to be told that for once rather than always having to take charge. "Maybe we should go to Dumbledore?" asked Ron, but it was Draco who replied.

"His office is too far away, and even if we get there without meeting more of those wasps, he could be gone like McGonagall." He turned his grey eyes to Harry. "We need to get out of here. Now."

"We can't just run away," said Sarah accusingly. "What about all the people here, what will happen to them if they just get left like this?"

Harry shook his head. "No, Draco's right, we can't help them right now, we need to get ourselves out of here and call for back up."

"But what if the Death Eaters hurt them?" demanded Sarah, brushing back a lock of black hair and jamming her hands on her hips. He'd forgotten how stubborn she was, but then he thought, he'd never really had a chance to get to know her. "We don't know what they want."

"I can probably guess what they want," he said darkly. If Voldemort wasn't after him, he'd eat his own broomstick.

"Can't we use the Marauders Map to check where Dumbledore and McGonagall are?" asked Ron. "Or any teacher for that matter, it might even shown up those wasp things and whoever's in charge of them."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck to dispel some of the tension. "It's back in the dorm, I'm sorry." Ron went to open his mouth again but Harry interrupted him. "And so is the invisibility cloak remember. It's just too far." He looked at the group around him, debating what he was about to suggest. "I think our best bet is to get out of the school as quick as possible and head towards the Whomping Willow."

Sarah blinked at him.

"The crazy tree that tries to decapitate you if you get anywhere near it?" clarified Draco, an incredulous look on his face.

"Believe me," said Harry, "the tree's the least of our worries. How do we get out of here without getting caught?"

Ron frowned and Sarah shrugged her shoulders. But Hermione smiled. "We walk out the door," she said.

xxx

Draco didn't think this was a very good idea. Not even a sort-of-good idea, or might-improve-with-time idea, it was just bloody crazy. They made it through the castle without encountering any more of the Wranglers, but they did have to hide in a giant vase when a group of black robed figures came upon them suddenly. It was a good job they were arguing loudly about how far they could each throw a house elf, otherwise Hermione might not have had time to cut a section out of the vase for them all to jump in.

"Depends how old the elf is," insisted a man with a deep, rumbling voice. "Younger ones flail around more when they're in the air, a wrinkly old one'd struggle less. Aero dynamics, see?" he sounded pleased at knowing such a long word. Draco wasn't sure which put him out more; the fact that the group walking past them were obviously Death Eaters after all, or that Hermione's body was currently pressed right against him.

Focus, he scolded himself.

When all was quiet again they had slipped from the vase and hurried down several floors to where they were standing now, peeking down a corridor at one of the school's side entrances. Unsurprisingly, there were two Death Eaters guarding the doorway, and they didn't look to be going anywhere anytime soon.

"I don't think I can do this," whispered Draco, staring at their backs. His insides were a wreck and his hands were shaking almost uncontrollably.

"Yes you can," whispered Harry back, giving him a nudge. "I know you can." But Draco shook his head.

He was that scared little boy again, staring at Neville Longbottom's crumpled form. There were Death Eaters in the school again, and here he was, right in the middle of it, it was his fault, he'd brought this upon this world, he'd caused it, he knew.

"Draco," said Sarah softly. "You're the only one, no one else can do this, there's no other way." Draco clenched his jaw and tried not to panic. Surely there must be some other way? They'd discounted going back to Honeydukes as the village would most likely be crawling with Death Eaters by now, but Harry seemed to know so many hidden tunnels and passageways, Draco was convinced there had to be another way off the school grounds. But Hermione had said there wasn't, and by going out of this exit it would give them the best cover to get to the Whomping Willow.

Sarah had tried to ask again why they would want to go anywhere near the violent tree, but Hermione had waved her off saying she'd understand later. Draco, though, didn't understand at all. Hermione had then explained to him what she wanted him to do, and he felt like all the air left the room. He'd fail, he'd get them all caught, he didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"See," muttered Ron almost inaudibly. "I told you he couldn't do it, he's on their side." Draco felt every muscle in his body tense and he slowly turned round and glared at the red-headed boy. Without another word he stood up and went strolling down the corridor towards the Death Eaters.

"You there," he called out, trying with all his strength to stop his voice from wavering. The two figures turned around, wands up and suspicious. One was a fat, bearded man, the other a square looking woman with pigtails.

They seemed confused at the sight of him. "Draco," said the man, who obviously knew him but Draco had no idea who he was. "We thought you'd be frozen, that you were playing along?"

Draco found himself scoffing. "And become a human battery with all the other morons, I don't think so. Didn't my father explain anything to you?"

He could do this, it was coming back to him, how he used to saunter about and bark orders at people as a child. Be your father's son, he urged himself, just for a few minutes, that's all you need.

The woman opened and closed her mouth. "Sorry...sir," she said, surprising Draco with her courtesy. Lucius Malfoy obviously must be just as intimidating in this world as his own he reasoned. "We haven't had direct orders from your father, they've all come from Lestrange."

Draco found his hands curling. He wasn't really surprised her slippery fingers were all over this. "Of course," he said, improvising, "that would explain it then. She's requested to speak to you immediately, and instructed me to take over your post. She's in McGonagall's office."

The two hooded figures exchanged glances. "I didn't think she was at the castle?" said the woman. Draco rolled his eyes after only a moment's pause.

"In McGonagall's fireplace, what did you think I meant?"

They still looked unhappy. "We were told not to move under any circumstances," said the man. Draco almost felt sorry for them, then gave them a cold look and drew his strength up through his taught chest and cramping fingers.

"By all means," he said pleasantly, leaning against the wall, slipping his shaking hands in his pockets. "I'm sure she won't mind being kept waiting."

With little more than a fleeting look at each other, the two Death Eaters took off at a run, right past the spot where Harry and the others were crouching in the shadows.

Draco let out a breath and felt his vision lurch unpleasantly as he gripped the wall and tried to right himself. It worked, he told himself as he sucked in air, you did it, we can escape.

The other four came creeping up to him. Sarah gave him a quick hug, Harry a punch on the arm. Hermione looked him up and down. "Pretty good," she said with eye brows raised. Ron harrumphed.

Hastily, Harry edged up to the heavy single door, and pulled it slowly on rusty hinges. At the first hint of a squeak, Hermione darted forward and zapped it with a silencer charm, and within a minute the thick oak door was wide enough for them to all get through into the bright Autumn afternoon. "We're right by the forest here," said Harry. "Follow me and we'll be at the willow in no time." He looked around the students apprehensively as Draco tried to slow his heart rate even just a little. He wasn't sure he was ready for any more excitement just yet. "We should be well covered, but I want to run anyway, so watch your feet on any roots or anything else that could trip you."

"And keep an eye out for giant bugs," whispered Sarah to Draco, wand held in front of her face, forehead beaded with sweat. He managed a nod, and then they were off.

Draco felt like a bird taking flight as they leapt out into the sunshine and pelted for the foliage. As they left the school behind a great weight rose from his shoulders as he gulped down fresh air and blinked against the cobalt blue sky. The tree branches reached hungrily towards them as they dove into the forest, swallowing them up as they ran without a word for the irate deciduous. Panting mouths and snapping twigs were the only sounds that accompanied them. Draco kept glancing behind, anxious they were being followed or watched. If they were, he saw no sign of it.

Ron scooped up a long but sturdy looking branch from the forest floor. Draco thought it was a questionable keepsake at best as it kept knocking into all the shrubbery as they sprinted through, but he soon realised why it was needed. As they broke out from the tree line and approached the flailing tree, Ron darted up to it, and poked it with the stick in between several overlapping roots.

The tree went as still as a statue. Sarah's mouth dropped open as she looked back at Draco, then grinned. "Cool," she said, and Draco had to remind himself that after all, she was only thirteen.

Ron was sliding down under the roots, and after a few seconds he disappeared completely. "Come on," said Harry, beckoning Draco and Sarah along as Hermione lowered herself down. "It won't stay still for long, there's a tunnel we can use to get us out of here."

Draco insisted Sarah go first so he could keep an eye on her. If Ron and Hermione were in front she should be safe enough, he reasoned.

Draco scrambled through the dirt, feeling it rain down on him as he dropped into the tunnel, then moved over to make way for Harry. The other three were already moving on ahead, wands up and illuminating the wooden beams holding the walls in place. Harry only just made it inside before the willow's branches started lashing again, even more fervoured than before, as if it sensed it had just been tricked. "Let's go," said Harry with a smile, indicating they should follow the others.

But Draco only managed a few steps before his fears and doubts caught hold of his ankles again and he stumbled to a halt. "Hang on," he said, making Harry stop as well. "Hang on what are we doing?" He pointed back up to the shaft of sunlight that indicated the tunnel's entrance. "We're just running away? What about everyone that's trapped in there, what about Blaise and Dean, those wasps could be hurting them."

Harry looked a little lost for words. "You think we'd just abandon them?" Draco felt more than saw the other three come back up the tunnel towards them, drawn to his raised voice no doubt.

"Well, what are we doing?"

Harry allowed himself a half smile and put his hand on Draco's shoulder. The physical touch, like the ones he got from Sarah and his own Hermione, still felt a little alien to him after so many months without his mother. "We're calling in the cavalry."

Draco shifted uncomfortably. "What does that mean?" he said, feeling a little foolish. He guessed it was some sort of Muggle saying, but he'd only had a few weeks of Muggle Studies and Hermione wasn't always so au fait with pop culture terms.

This Hermione smiled at him though. "It means we're going to get help."

"The tunnel leads to the Shrieking Shack," added Harry. Sarah visibly paled in the faint wand light.

"We can't go there!" she said, horrified. "It's haunted, there's monsters and ghosts in there, dad said so!"

Harry and the other two laughed, but Draco had to say he'd heard the same thing and couldn't blame Sarah for balking.

"Dad was pulling your leg, trust me," said Harry. "You'll have to ask Remus about it when you get home. Right now though, we really have to go."

Sarah looked like she was going to fight, but Draco gave her a nod. If Harry said it was okay, they were just going to have to trust him. The sooner they got help, the sooner they could rescue this world's Blaise and Dean, and then get back to their own versions in their own world.

As they ran though, Draco looked at Harry. He looked away almost straight away; he didn't want to stare as that would be weird. But this Harry was so different to the one he was stuck with back home it was unreal. His face was so open and honest, every action was fuelled and purposeful. And he genuinely cared about the people around him. Was Hermione right, was this boy really buried somewhere, deep down in their version? He really hoped she was right.

Last time, Draco had only found out the truth after Harry had travelled back to his own world. What would it be like this time when he actually had to say goodbye?

He pushed the thought away. He was being very optimistic worrying about goodbyes, when they were on the run from Death Eaters who had taken over the school in less than an hour. He had a feeling they had a long way to go before they would be able to worry about Dimensional Hotspots and Inter-Dimensional Leaps.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, Draco saw they were faced with another trapdoor above them just like at Honeydukes. Ron waited to get a nod from Harry, then shoved the old wooden door up. They hauled themselves up one by one; it was lower than the one in Hogsmeade so they had less trouble. When Draco emerged he saw he was in an incredibly dusty living room, with old looking tracks where some had obviously disturbed the dust some time ago. There were footsteps, but also it looked like something had been dragged along, and the thought made Draco's stomach turn.

"Looks like no one's been here since us," said Hermione as Harry lifted himself up into the room. He looked around and kicked the door closed.

"Good," he said. "Then hopefully no one will think to look for us here." They traipsed through the house, kicking up dust clouds as they moved. The walls creaked and it looked like every surface and piece of furniture had been ravaged, but it seemed to Draco as they travelled through the kitchen and back out into the sunshine, whatever had once haunted this place, if anything ever had, was long gone.

Draco rubbed his temple. The fierce headache he'd had when they'd first arrived seemed to be lessening, but he still felt quite queasy. And all the adrenaline and stress was certainly not helping matters.

"So where are we going now?" asked Sarah, looking back up at the ramshackle of a house. The Scottish landscape unfolded out in front of them, revealing rolling hills, copses of trees and sparkling little streams working their way downwards to the big loch to the left.

"Sirius' house," said Hermione, before raising her eyebrows at Harry. "We are going to Sirius' house aren't we?" Harry nodded and started walking along a trail so vague that barely qualified as a pathway.

"But," said Sarah as they all fell into line behind him. "Sirius' house is in London, at Grimmauld Place?" The trail seemed to be slowly leading them down towards the lock, but the angle was very gradual.

Harry made a guttural noise at the back of his throat. "That horrendous place? He got rid of that ages ago."

"Wait a minute," said Draco, catching up to Harry. "Sirius – is he, does that mean you-"

"Saved him?" jumped in Sarah, running up to Harry's other side, eyes as wide as saucers as she realised the same thing as Draco. "Because our Sirius showed us the letter, he told us everything you told him, but we never knew what happened." She was right, part of proving that the body swapping had happened had been to show everyone that letter, the one detailing amongst other things how the Sirius of this world was wrongly accused of the Potters' murder and sentenced to getting his soul sucked out by a Dementor's Kiss. His Sirius had confided to Draco once over a bottle of fire whiskey he'd asked Harry not to go, to stay with them and live the better life, but Harry had convinced him he had to go home and rescue his own Godfather. Always the bloody martyr, thought Draco with a mix of bitterness and pride.

"It was nothing short of genius," declare Ron proudly from behind them, and with a jolt Draco realised it had been him that had written the other half of that very letter. He'd never given it much thought, just some other friend of Harry's – he'd never connected that it was Ron Weasley, and he certainly hadn't put it together since they'd arrived. More pressing matters were at hand, he supposed, but it was still a funny realisation.

As Draco picked his way along the dry and stony track, Ron told them all how Harry, upon returning from Sarah and Draco's universe, had decided not to go and tell people of his homecoming right away, and instead snuck up to the Gryffindor tower to retrieve his Invisibility Cloak. "But this girl a few years below-"

"It was that girl we just saw," interrupted Hermione. "Natalie."

"Yes!" agreed Ron excitedly. "So her and a bunch of mates saw Harry before he got the cloak on, and ran down to tell everyone in the Great Hall, and the place went nuts looking for him. But Harry just slipped into McGonagall's office and used the Floo network to get into the Ministry."

"The Ministry of Magic?" clarified Draco, eyebrow raised as Harry determinedly looked at the ground. Draco could see the half smile on his face though.

"Yup, walked right in and demanded to see Fudge. The Minister didn't want to listen, but then Harry just slaps this bottle of Veritaserum into his hand, and says 'Now are you gonna prove Sirius is innocent, or am I' – what a legend!"

Harry looked sideways at Ron as he clapped him on the back. "I knew reasoning with him wouldn't work, so blackmail seemed like the next best option." He shrugged. "This way, once he'd heard the truth, he could spin it any way he wanted, and he ended up saying he had no idea Sirius had never had a trial, gave him a full and very public pardon, and put a warrant out for Peter Pettigrew instead."

Sarah had tears in her eyes. "Oh that's amazing."

Draco frowned. "I would have thought he would have tried much harder to sweep it under the carpet that that."

Harry nodded. "So did I, I thought he'd take me down too, but I had to at least try."

"I think," said Hermione, arms folded over the lightweight top she had on and shivering slightly in the brisk highland wind. "He figured if Harry was that confident, maybe he was really telling the truth, and it would be much better to present himself as the saviour rather than battle it and risk it coming out anyway."

"Didn't he blame a load of people from the Justice Department?" asked Ron.

Harry laughed. "He tried to pin it on Kingsley Shacklebolt, until Kingsley told him in no uncertain terms he'd been protecting Sirius the entire time, so Fudge had to back pedal that one pretty sharpish."

Draco remembered Shacklebolt from Germany. A large, imposing African gentleman with whom Draco probably wouldn't want to fight with either. He smiled. "So Sirius is a free man."

"And living the good life," Harry said with a laugh. "He's got a lot of years to catch up on and he's not wasting any time."

"He lives in a little cottage down here," said Hermione, pointing. "But he's also got flats in London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam-"

"His bank vault in Gringotts got reopened too," said Harry by way of an explanation. "Remus lives with him here a lot of the time as well, and sometimes Tonks too."

"I think they like to keep an eye on him," said Hermione warmly, rubbing Harry's arm, but Draco was trying to remember something.

"Andromeda Tonks?" he asked.

"No, her daughter Nymphadora," said Harry. "But she'd kill you if you tried to call her that, so it's just Tonks."

"I still say she's snogging one of them," said Ron, a pink tinge in his cheeks. "I don't care about the age difference, she's always round there."

"And I still say it can't be Sirius," said Hermione hotly, turning to Draco. "She's his second cousin."

"Yeah," agreed Draco. "I know. So am I."

Everyone in the group stopped to look at him. "Sorry?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah," said Sarah loudly. "What do you mean, you never said that before."

Draco opened his hands out. "You never asked. Why do you think he took such an interest in me? The rest of our family are rubbish."

"Wait," said Ron, "back up and explain.

"Andromeda Tonks is my mother's sister," said Draco. "And Sirius is my mother's cousin. But Andromeda and her husband were murdered by You-Know-Who years ago, along with a cousin I never met – I guess that must be this Tonks."

Harry looked sad. "I'm sorry," he said, but Draco shrugged.

"I know it's sad, but I never knew them." He smiled. "My mother always said Andy was her favourite sister, but," he added darkly, "that's not hard when Bellatrix is the other option." He got that twisted feeling in his guts again, thinking whether or not his mother might be alive in this universe. He almost asked the question; if her sister was alive, why shouldn't she be? But it died on his lips. He was better off not knowing.

"Well," said Harry brightly, clapping him on the shoulder and starting to walk again. "Maybe you'll get to know her now."

Draco smiled. "I'd like that."

xxx

Harry felt a warm sensation of relief flow through him as Sirius' house came into view. Sirius would know what to do, everything was going to be okay. At the very least they could look forward to a hot cup of tea.

Remus threw open the door before they'd even reached the front gate. "Harry!" he cried out, flustered. "What are you doing here, is something happening at the school, are-" But he stopped mid-way down the garden path, eyes locked on Draco. Harry already had his hands up defensively, but Remus started shouting regardless. "You, scheming, good-for-nothing, traitorous little – you've got something to do with this haven't you!" He wrenched the shiny black gate open, and grabbed Draco by the collar, completely ignoring Harry's cries of protest. "What have you done to my Godson!"

"REMUS!" Harry bellowed, finally getting his surrogate uncle's attention. "Let him go, you don't understand."

Remus scowled at the boy, then looked at Harry. "What, what don't I understand?" He looked haggard, face all drawn out, hair mostly grey and eyes that pleaded for a decade's worth of sleep.

Harry sighed, exasperated. "Let him go and I'll explain."

There was a few tense moments before Remus relented and removed his hand from Draco's jumper. He staggered back a few paces and Sarah jumped to steady him. Remus eyed her up suspiciously as Draco took several breaths in and out through his nose, fists curled into balls. Harry worried they might be moving past the broken, self-doubting Draco and fast approaching a violent, daddy-didn't-love-me time bomb. There was only so many unfounded attacks one person could take when they already thought themselves to be guilty without flying off the handle.

"Explain," said Remus stiffly. "The school's been attacked hasn't it? How did you escape, and why is the Malfoy boy here."

Harry couldn't help but glance at Hermione, who raised an eyebrow. Remus was the calm one, it was Sirius who tended to blow up like a volcano then come crawling back to apologise later. Draco must have really pressed a button. But Draco hadn't done anything wrong.

"His name isn't Malfoy," said Harry evenly. "It's Draco, and yes the school's been attacked by Death Eaters, but Draco's the one who got us out so I'd like it if you could cut him a bit of slack."

Remus narrowed his crinkled eyes at Harry, and he couldn't help but think back to his level-headed, healthier looking counterpart in Draco and Sarah's world. He had been instrumental in keeping the peace when Pettigrew had kidnapped his sister, defending Draco even before Harry himself had been convinced of his genuineness. But of course this Remus didn't know anything about that, because Harry had only ever told Sirius and even then sworn him to secrecy. Sirius, he figured, deserved to know what drove him to such an act of lunacy in front of the Minster of Magic last November, but he didn't want anyone else knowing for the same reasons he didn't like talking about it with Ron and Hermione. He thought that world was closed forever to him, so what was the point of torturing himself? How little did he know.

"Draco?" repeated Remus in a tone that was almost scathing.

"Yes," snapped Harry. He didn't know what had got into his second Godfather, but right now there was more pressing matters at hand. "Could we maybe come in before someone at the school realises we're gone and comes looking for us?"

Remus stared at him for a moment, then seemed to deflate. "Yes," he said flatly. "Yes of course you should come in." He glanced back at the little house covered in ivy, before beckoning the group in and walking back towards the front door still hanging a jar.

"Are you alright?" muttered Harry to Draco as they followed Remus.

"I'm used to it," replied Draco coldly, eyes fixed on the back of Remus' head. "I know what he's like at home, it doesn't matter if this version hates me. My Remus has my back."

They shuffled into the porch way and stamped dirt from their shoes. "He's here," called out Remus, but he didn't sound too happy about it. They followed him into the kitchen, where Sirius was sat sullenly at the large wooden table, staring at a mug of black coffee. He jumped to his feet as he realised who was filing into the room.

"Harry," he accused, taking him in his arms. "What are you doing here?" He let go and unsurprisingly pointed his finger at Draco. "And what is Malfoy's boy doing with you?"

"His name is Draco," growled Harry. "And he's nothing like the boy you know." They didn't have time for this. "You remember the trip I went on last autumn?"

Sirius' eyes blinked in surprise as his posture loosened. "Yes," he said slowly. Remus stood with his arms folded by his side, and Draco and Sarah flanked Harry closely. Hermione hovered uncertainly in-between the two, but Ron and already hunting through the cupboards in search of biscuits.

"Draco's more like the guy I met then...almost like he's a different person."

Sirius stared at him a moment, then slowly switched his eyes to the blond boy. "I see," said slowly. "Yes, I see." He nodded his head, which Harry took to meant he hopefully understood, and then cast his eyes on Sarah. They flicked back to Harry for a minute, then back to her. "And this is?"

"Sarah," said Harry simply.

Sirius rubbed his mouth then rested his chin on his fist. "James' mum had the name Sarah too," was all he said, before sitting back down at the table and staring back at his coffee.

"I'm going to make tea," announced Hermione a little too loudly, and began boiling the kettle.

"Why did you come here?" asked Remus, obviously realising he wasn't going to get anymore of an explanation regarding Draco or Sarah.

Harry felt hurt. "The school," he said, "all the students have been frozen, they're probably searching for me right now, and we have no idea where Dumbledore or McGonagall are. We thought you could help."

Remus gave a snort of disgust, which Harry had no idea how to interpret. "Ron," said Sirius, breaking through the tension. "How's Scabbers?"

Ron resurfaced from the cupboard door he'd been crouched behind, and looked at Sirius as if he'd lost the plot. "Scabbers?" he repeated through a mouth stuffed full of chocolate bourbons.

Harry couldn't help but agree with him. Scabbers was the name Ron had given to his pet rat before he'd revealed himself to be Peter Pettigrew and run away to leave Sirius as prime suspect for his parents murder. Sirius was there, as was Remus, they knew what a ridiculous question it was, but the were both just staring hard mouthed at Ron, waiting for an answer.

"Scabbers is fine," said Hermione brightly as she plonked several mismatched mugs and a freshly steaming teapot down on the table. "Though he does try his best to get away every now and again."

Harry stared at them all, lost for words. What was Hermione talking about? She sat down beside Harry and flicked her wand to fetch the sugar and several teaspoons, but when they too were settled on the table, she placed her wand deliberately in her lap, right hand still gripped tightly to it. A prickle went down Harry's spine. Why was she and Sirius talking strange, why had Remus been so hostile?

"Maybe you should think about letting him go," said Sirius, toying with a teaspoon. "Before it's too late."

"Tut, tut, tut," came a voice from the corridor, causing every single person in the room to jump to their feet if they weren't there already and brandish their wands. Harry realised with a terrible lurch that Remus and Sirius were both unarmed. "If you cheat sweet Sirius you spoil the game, and you know how angry that makes me."

Harry felt his insides drop as Bellatrix Lestrange, the woman he'd given a fiery death to in Germany last November, stepped into view. Clutched firmly in her grasp was a furious looking Tonks; her mouth gagged with black tape and Bellatrix's wand pointed dangerously at her temple.

"For God's sake let her go!" shouted Remus.

"Harry, I'm so sorry," snarled Sirius. "We didn't have a choice, they arrived about ten minutes before you did."

Harry supposed he should have felt betrayed, but at that moment his sole concern was with Tonks and the crackles of electricity coming from Bellatrix's wand, singeing her bubblegum hair.

He didn't have to wonder who 'they' were for very long either. Behind Bellatrix at least half a dozen Death Eaters had emerged in the corridor, and more appeared from the back door and lingered outside the window. "I'm here," said Harry softly at the deranged looking witch. "I'm here, I'm the one you want aren't I?"

"Clever little Potter," cooed Bellatrix, flexing her fingers around Tonks' neck. "And clever little Draco," she said, turning to the boy frozen stiff beside Harry's shoulder. "I wondered what you were doing sending me those idiots from the back door, wanted the glory for yourself did you?"

Draco's voice came out a cracked mess. "No!" I didn't, this wasn't-"

"You liar!" screamed Ron, swinging his wand around to point it at Draco. "I knew you were on their side, I knew it!"

"Ron no!" shouted Sarah, grabbing Draco's arm and trying to move in between the two boys.

"Hold it right there!" snapped Bellatrix, aiming her own wand at Sarah's head, then hastily back at Tonks. Several of the robed figures behind her leveled their own weapons at Sarah instead, and she stopped moving.

"You want me," repeated Harry, as calmly as he could. He could smell where Tonks' hair was burning; Remus looked distraught, edging as close as he dared to the two women. "You want me, not her. I'll come quietly, just let everyone else go."

"NO!" roared almost everyone in the room, as Bellatrix laughed and Tonks shook her head and shouted from under her gag.

"Hardly," cackled Bellatrix. "I know what you Gryffindor types are like, they'll fight tooth and nail before they let me take you."

"Damn straight!" yelled Ron as the hooded figures encircled them.

"I'll tell them to back off, I'm telling you to back off," Harry demanded of his friends. "I'll go with you, just release her, she's your niece for crying out loud!"

Bellatrix scoffed. "She's no relation of mine, my filthy sister married a filthy Muggle and this is the unfortunate result." She dug hers nails into Tonks' flesh, causing her to flinch. "I'd be doing us all a favour."

Before Harry or anyone else knew what was happening, Draco Malfoy was standing in front of him. "Bellatrix," he said coldly, before she could react to his moving. Maybe she trusted him, thought Harry, she had no reason not to after all. "Let her go, and I'll make sure Harry comes quietly." Ron and Sirius went berserk, but Harry just stared at Draco uncomprehendingly.

"That's very kind of you nephew," Bellatrix simpered.

He moved to Harry's side, taking a hold of his arm, and placing his wand against Harry's head, just like Bellatrix had done to Tonks. "Let her go and we'll all walk out together." Sirius and Ron were still bellowing, their wands pointed at Draco, where as Hermione and Sarah just stared, as if trying to work out what part of the puzzle they'd missed.

That was when Draco gave Harry's arm a quick double squeeze. It wasn't much, but Harry really hoped he understood correctly. Draco was playing Bellatrix. He wasn't sure yet to what end, but if they could just get Tonks free they could take it from there.

"He's right," said Harry, really hoping Draco knew what he was doing. "Let her go and we'll come quietly."

Bellatrix looked at them, and then she smiled. And that's when he knew they were in trouble. "I think I'll keep her too," she said in a sing-song voice. "As insurance."

"No," breathed Remus. Harry felt Draco shrug.

"Well, that's disappointing to hear."

His wand swung from Harry to his aunt in a flash, firing out a jet of red light. Bellatrix screamed and flung her hostage aside, firing her own spells out wildly. All Hell broke loose. Death Eaters tried to pin down the students and Harry's Godparents, but they fought back fiercely. Ron rugby tackled Draco away from Harry.

"No!" he shouted. "Ron don't!"

But the two boys were trading blows and rolling around on the floor. Remus pulled Tonks up and tried to get her behind him, but the were spells flying everywhere and she was soon flinging crockery at their assailants, presumably having had her wand taken away from her as well.

"Stupefy!" yelled Harry as he threw the dining table over and shoved Sarah behind. "Expelliarmus! Stupefy!" He saw Sirius get stunned and fall to the floor, Hermione was taking down every person she hit, but she missed at least half and suddenly got blasted back into the wall. "HERMIONE!" roared Harry, darting towards his friend as Draco managed to shove Ron off him and take out a Death Eater lunging towards them both. Harry ducked as Bellatrix fired something purple at him. Then several things happened at once.

Instead of hitting his back, the purple spell hit a copper frying pan hanging from the wall. Sarah jumped up from behind the table and started firing spells of her own, causing Harry to turn and yell at her to get down. A Death Eater lying on the floor reached out for Harry's ankles, grabbing on to him and sending him flying towards the kitchen's large stone fireplace. Harry flung his hands up to protect himself from the flames, so he almost didn't see the purple spell ricocheting from the frying pan and hitting the jar of Floo powder sitting on the mantelpiece.

He did however see it fall into the flames just before he did.

Harry didn't cry out a destination, or even think one, he had no intention of abandoning his friends. But it was like being sucked into a hurricane, his body torn from the ground and spun away from the carnage, away from his friends who needed him and the enemies who would undoubtedly hurt them if he left them behind. "No," he managed before the kitchen was whisked from sight, and he was tumbling through the Floo Network.

Where he was headed was anybody's guess.