It's early! Please accept this as a token of my apologies for the tardiness of the last chapter. Shit is hitting the fan!
Thanks to everyone who's following the story, thanks to you who have favourited it and thank you so much to the ones who review. A personal thanks to wildflowers-and-sun who never fails to make me blush! My exams went pretty well, thanks for asking, and I hope to keep writing as well as you think I do.
This is to everyone who supports me and to the ones who don't as well. For anyone who loves Harry Potter as much as I do and spends so much time with it.
I hope you keep liking it and if you don't please tell me. I write for myself but also for my readers .
Theo didn't look at Anna when she came into the Great Hall. Really, he didn't. He didn't notice how tired but peaceful she looked. He didn't notice how she held on to Draco's hand as she walked in her white heels and blue dress with white flowers, looking beautiful as she smiled at her cousin. He didn't notice how her smile fell a little when she looked at Potter and he definitely didn't notice how she looked around when she sat down to have breakfast, searching for him. He really didn't see any of that. At all.
Blaise and Daphne disagreed, apparently. If their unimpressed looks were anything to go by.
"Anything you want to say to her?" Daphne suggested. "Like 'I'm sorry I was an ass when you were in clear distress'?"
"Or maybe, 'I stand by my opinion but we have to work this out'?" Blaise interfered when he saw Theo's upper lip pull upwards.
"No." He huffed and picked up his cup. "I have nothing to say to her."
"Really?" Blaise raised his eyebrows. "Because that look you just sent her way was one of longing, my friend."
"That wasn't longing."
"So you were looking at her?"
"Ugh." Theo snapped. "Stop talking, Blaise. You make me want to hang myself." He stood to leave.
"You're cheerful today." Daphne muttered standing up too and pulling Blaise with her. Not that he seemed to have a problem with that as he was practically glued to her these days. "You two really need to talk about this. Communication is key in a relationship."
Theo sighed. Fine, if anyone was going to force him to talk about why he had stormed into the common room on Thursday, sat down and cursed the first year that had asked him to give him the chair he had vacated to go to the toilet. Really, the kid had it coming. Though maybe a blood-clotting curse had been too much. Who cares? They'd taken him to the infirmary.
"I'm not sure this is even a relationship anymore, actually." He admitted.
"Don't be ridiculous. You're stupidly good for each other, you're both just stubborn idiots." Daphne made a dismissive motion with her hand. "One argument doesn't end a relationship. If anything, you'll learn how to figure things out between the two of you."
Theo grunted. "I suppose. If she wants to talk at all. I mean, she might hate me."
Daphne rolled her eyes. "Blaise, fix your friend."
Blaise sighed. "Listen Theodore, you need to fix this. She definitely wants to fix this, she looked for you when she came in -yes, I was looking- and you have been moping since you ran out of steam on Thursday."
"I haven't been moping." Theo muttered, stepping out into the grounds as they headed towards the Quidditch pitch.
"Sure looked like it to everyone." Blaise commented.
"Anna, where are we even going?" Pansy whined as she pulled her long by the hand.
"I need to find Harry and Draco, Greg and Vince already went on to the Pitch to get us seats." She informed her struggling friend.
"Potter?" Pansy scowled. "Why do you need to talk to him? Honestly your stupid camaraderie with him is precisely that; stupid."
"Very eloquent, Pansy." Anna snorted. "It's just a quick chat to wish him good luck."
"You're not leaving Theo for him, are you?"
"What?" Anna glared at her. "Don't be ridiculous."
"Good. He was sulking on Thursday and I'm sure that if we'd seen you you'd have been sulking as well."
Anna didn't answer and kept tugging her to the tent behind the Quidditch Pitch. The entrance was open and through it they could see Harry sitting with the Weasley family and the Granger girl. He seemed calm, or as calm as he could be. Far more calm than he'd be if he knew what was coming.
Anna shivered at the thought.
"Come on." She pulled Pansy's hand. "Harry!"
Harry looked up from among the people around her and his face split into a grin when he spotted her, though it faltered slightly when he saw Pansy.
"Anna!" He walked to her. "What are you doing here?"
"Wishing you good luck, of course!" Anna hugged him, ignoring the raised eyebrows of everyone except Harry, who hugged her back.
"Thanks. I think I'll be fine, though."
She gave him a wry smile. "I'm sure you will, though don't be overconfident. Constant vigilance, huh?"
Harry laughed nervously. "Yeah." He nodded awkwardly at Pansy, who merely raised her eyebrows. "You brought Parkinson? I thought Nott would be more likely to come with you."
Anna couldn't help but wince. "Theo and I are having a slight misunderstanding." Pansy snorted behind her. Rude. "Anyway, Draco is waiting for us with seats-"
Her eyes landed on one of the Weasleys. Percy Weasley, actually, mr Crouch's assistant. For a second she thought she could feel spiders crawling up her legs.
"- so good luck."
"Wait." He grabbed her wrist and lowered his voice. "Does this mean we're friends?"
For a second she hesitated before nodding slightly, against her better judgement, might she add. "Don't tell Draco."
With a last squeeze to his arms and turned around and walked away, Pansy hot at her heels. It was a quick visit, she needed to confirm that her barrier was working, that she couldn't feel Harry's emotions unless she was actively searching for them, that she wasn't influenced by him as a fellow horcrux anymore.
Somehow that didn't make her pity or like him any less.
People were streaming into the stadium, Hogwarts students, Beauxbatons students, Durmstrang students, all chattering and exited and happy. As if the world as they knew it wasn't going to end that very same day. As if the Dark Lord weren't about to come back. She couldn't help the guilt that settled in her stomach but she quickly averted her attention to looking for her cousin.
"There." Pansy pointed to one of the seats by the exits where Draco sat with Greg and Vince to his right, Theo, Blaise and Daphne in the seats above them, and two empty seats to his left.
Holding hands so as not to get separated, Pansy and Anna weaved their way through the crowd, trying to avoid getting hit by the banners and large musical instruments most of the student population was carrying around. They were loud and the heat made them all sweaty and smelly and, frankly, it was not a pleasurable experience.
"There you are." Draco smiled as they arrived. "Where did you go?"
"Anna felt the need to wish Potter good luck." Pansy mocked.
Anna was 99% sure she could feel Theo's glare on her back. "It wasn't what Pansy is making it sound like. I just needed to make sure that thing you helped me with this morning was working."
Draco raised an eyebrow but let it be, opting to offer her a small packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans instead on questioning her further. She grabbed one and put it in her mouth, then grimaced as she recognized the flavour.
"Ugh, avocado."
"You don't like it? It's wonderful for the skin." Daphne announced from behind her.
"It's gross and I will not have it anywhere near my mouth." Anna argued. "When I live by myself avocados will be banned from my house."
"Are we just going to ignore how Anna let Draco help her? Or are we actually going to talk about this personal progress of hers?" Blaise drawled.
As one they all turned to Anna who couldn't help but groan.
"Merlin, can't you all give it a rest? I promise you'll find out soon. I'll even tell you myself."
"Soon, right. And then will you let us stop you from killing yourself or are you just going to lock us out as usual?" Theo's bitter voice sounded and she refused to turn around.
Biting her lip she let out a harsh breath through her nose. "I'm thinking about it. I don't want to put you at risk."
"But you can be at risk? Hypocritical, really. It's like you don't think we'll be upset if something happens to you. Something which could have been prevented if you'd let us help." He ground out, apparently choosing the passive aggressive way to approach things. "But it's okay for us to be hurt like that, as long as you don't, right? That's pretty selfish."
"I never said I wasn't. It is selfish, I know. I'm perfectly aware of what I'm putting you through."
"I don't think you are."
"I am going to tell you, alright. It's just-"
"What? You're afraid we'll not want to be around you? That we'll get hurt?" Theo sneered. "Newsflash, we'll be more hurt if you keep treating us like fragile pieces of glass. Let us make that choice, you have no right to do it for us."
Anna didn't answer. Something pulled her attention away from the argument. Barty was standing by the bleachers, staring up at her. When she met his eyes he beckoned her over.
She sighed. "I'll be right back."
"Right. Because last time you didn't come back terrified and covered in spiderwebs or something!" Theo called after her, but she ignored it, hurrying down the steps and following bart behind the bleachers.
By now, the crowd had dissipated and they were alone so when he turned around to look at her she didn't bother to pretend to be a student talking to a teacher. She raised an eyebrow, leaned against the wood with her hip and crossed her arms expectantly.
"What do you want, Barty?" She asked. "I thought you had the last task covered."
"You haven't left the Slytherin common room since Tuesday. Are you alright?" He muttered, stepping closer so they wouldn't be overheard. "Is there a problem?"
Anna shrugged. "Yeah, but I fixed it. Did anyone mention over a dozen books disappearing from the restricted section?"
"No?" He frowned. "Did you take them? How are you going to put them back?"
"I'll just do it sometime tonight." She waved it off. "It's no problem then. Sorry I worried you, I was just very busy."
Barty nodded. "Alright, your business is your own."
"Is everything ready?"
"Yeah. Minerva had me put the cup in the center of the maze. She trusts me." He snickered. "I'll also be accompanying Potter to the entrance to the maze, because he trusts me."
Anna winced. "Give him a hint so that he gets there faster. We don't have all day." She looked away. "Will you be patrolling the maze?"
"I'll get rid of the competition." He studied her. "Are you feeling guilty?"
Anna glared at him. "No." She snapped. "I just think it's a pity we have to use a fourteen year old boy who had no choice in being pulled into this mess."
Barty laughed. "Look at you! Growing a conscience and everything." Then he sobered up. "Get rid of it. You won't get anywhere with it. You need to crush the pity inside you or you'll never achieve what you want to achieve. I'm assuming that you wish to get your parents back and serve our Lord?"
"Wouldn't be doing this if I didn't." She lied rolling her eyes. "Now go escort Harry."
"Don't forget about cursing children, that's always fun."
"Fine." She snapped. "Enjoy yourself."
With a last chuckle, Barty headed the other way to the champions' tent. For a second she stood still, following him with her eyes. Every passing second she regretted her actions more, but she shook the feeling off and walked back to her seat, trying with all her might to think of something else.
Unfortunately, though, it seemed that her departure had once more soured the mood around her because no one was speaking. In fact, Theo and Draco were pointedly not looking at each other. She was decidedly not in the mood to deal with that, so she pretended not to notice and sat down, hands folded neatly on her lap and gaze fastened on the maze.
The hedges were dark and ominous, a slight layer of fog curling up to knee height and barely any light in the small corridors. The dark passages made shiver crawl up her spine and a tiny prickle of dread emerged in her stomach as she thought of Harry. That was also definitely not helping the guilt.
What had she done? She had ensured her survival, but looking at those dark tunnels and everything they represented she could only wonder if her survival was worth the cost.
Logically she knew that it wasn't. Her survival was not worth the horrors and suffering that bringing back the Dark Lord would bring about. Releasing her parents on the off chance that she would get along and accept mass-murdering psychopaths wasn't worth what she would have to give up in order to get that. Logically, she knew all of this, and thinking logically was something she took pride in. Now that she was thinking clearly, something that she thought was an effect of the barrier protecting her from the influence of Voldemort's magic, she knew very well that what she was doing was wrong. And she knew that she'd known this for a long time.
There was nothing she could do to stop it, though. Not now that Barty was standing next to Harry in front of an entrance to the maze. It was far too late.
The task began. Harry walked into the maze and it closed behind him.
Anna dropped her head into her hands.
What had she done?
She was hyperventilating, some part of her told her. But she couldn't breath. Draco was holding on to her shoulders, Pansy was holding one of her hands, Daphne the other. Theo was behind her, rubbing her back, nervous for her even in their fight. Blaise stood in the corner of her eye, blocking her from view with Greg and Vince.
"I'm sorry." She choked out. "I- I couldn't just- Merlin, I-"
She pushed herself to her feet, shaking their worried hands away. Anna ran, she hurried out of the Pitch. She couldn't breathe.
Fleur had been carried out of the maze not long ago, and more red sparks had flown into the sky a second before. Oh, what had she done? It was her fault. All her fault. She couldn't let anyone see her like this. She couldn't let them see the guilt eating at her.
"Anna!" Draco was forcing her to straighten up. "Breathe, alright? Breathe."
Like she wasn't trying to do that already.
All her fault.
"I'm sorry." She was sobbing now. "I'm so sorry. I should've just died. I never had the right. What was I thinking? Merlin, what have I done? I-"
"Anna, stop. You're not making any sense!" Draco shook her slightly. "What do you mean, you should've just died?"
"Get off her!" Theo roughly pulled Draco away from her and grabbed her arms. "Anna, shut up."
Anna closed her mouth with a soft click, staring straight into his eyes. Tears were still running down her face.
"What are you talking about?" He insisted.
"The ceremony. My magic. The only one who could save me is the one who-" She shook her head. "And that's- I- I helped bring him back, I-"
"What?" His eyes widened in shock and he cast a scared look to their other friends who had crowded around them. "What did you do?!"
"I-" Another whimper left her. "I helped bring him back. Merlin, what have I done?" She swallowed forcefully and stepped back. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have panicked." She hid her shaking hands behind her back, trying with all her might to keep her voice steady and knowing she was failing. Her eyes were fixed on a spot somewhere above her friends' heads. "I should never have told you like this, just forget it."
"Yeah, like that's so easy to forget. You helped bring back a Dark Lord, Anna." Blaise scoffed, voice somewhere between awe and anger.
"Keep your voice down." She barked. "Just go."
"But-"
"Go!" She glared until Pansy, Daphne, Blaise, Greg and Vince walked back inside. Theo and Draco didn't though.
"I though we'd decided you'd let us make our own choices." Theo stated, an unimpressed look on his face.
"We didn't decide anything. We didn't finish discussing it." She huffed.
"Right, because you were pulled into a guilt induced panic attack before we could continue talking. A perfectly justifiable panic attack, might I add, since Blaise was right because you brought back Lord Voldemort." He finished with a hard line to his mouth.
"Don't think I don't know it was wrong." She growled.
"Then why did you do it, Anna?" Draco sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It'll ruin us. Not just that, you're his goddaughter. There's no way you won't be pulled into this mess. There's no way we can fix this."
"We?" She gave a shaky laugh. "I tell you I've brought a Dark Lord back to power who could and would kill us all and you still stay?"
"Of course." Theo snapped. "You fucked up. Seriously fucked up. You still haven't explained your reasoning, if you had any which from your reaction it seems you didn't, and you've kept us in the dark about something that will seriously influence us. Or have you forgotten that my Father and the Malfoys are Death Eaters? And the Crabbes and Goyles? That mrs Zabini will be pulled into this because she's influential and a pureblood? That the Parkinsons will join him? That the Greengrasses will have to obey him to stay in business?"
Anna groaned and turned away, pacing slightly. "I know. I know. I- I just couldn't help it! His magic and the horcrux just... made me ignore the consequences. They... sort of made surviving and getting my parents out a priority to anything else and- No, no, what have I done?" She turned back to them. "That's what the ritual was for, to block his influence, to stop him from getting in my head and now it's also... blocking the horcrux and his magic from changing how I... process stuff. It's very confusing and nauseating and I just- I was already feeling guilty! I didn't need this. I don't need this." She ran a hand through her hair. "Poor Harry. Poor everyone! I need- I can't do-"
"Yes." Theo cut her off. "You can. We can do something."
She gulped down her protest. "I'll figure something out."
"Good. Because I'm not going to spend the rest of my life serving a madman." Draco huffed. "Power is good and all, but Father told me what serving him was like. I'm not looking forward to that."
"It'll have to happen." Theo argued. "We'll have to serve him to not arouse suspicion. Anna most of all."
She nodded shakily. "I know. But bringing him back will make me rise in the ranks. I doubt you'll have to join yet but by the time we do get to do something you'll already have joined."
"What do you mean?" Theo frowned.
"He can't be killed." She told him. "Horcruxes are parts of one's soul that are stored inside other things or beings. You can only die if all the horcruxes are destroyed."
Theo looked at her horrified. "But you said-"
"It happened in second year. Remember what I said about something forcing their way inside me?" She looked away.
"No." Draco stepped forwards. "You're lying."
"Harry is one too. I think that's why I feel so close to him..." Her hands were shaking again. "But if that's true then-" A hysterical laugh bubbled up. "don't worry about it. I'll find another way."
"Really?" Theo frowned, studying her face.
"Yeah." She kissed him again, surprised at how much she'd missed it. "I'll find another way."
The sun was setting.
"So we're getting rid of him?" Draco prompted suddenly.
"You make it sound easy." Theo scoffed. "But are you alright with that? Your parents..."
Draco shook his head. "Mother and Father... they fear him. Our life is good. Him coming back will only be bad for us. I'm sure Father won't know wether to be terrified, horrified or delighted about him coming back. He'll probably be all three. Your father?"
"I couldn't care less." Theo snapped. "If he stands in my way I'll kill him myself."
Anna grabbed his hand and placed a kiss on his palm, soothing him.
"What about your parents Anna?" He asked, eyes crinkling in worry.
She shrugged. "I don't know. I want to meet them. I want to know if I could love and be loved by them but... somehow I feel that won't be the case. I just hope- I've always hoped." She swallowed. "In a way I've always wondered about wether they'd love me. Because if they don't then- then how could anyone else?"
"Just because they're your parents doesn't mean you owe them anything. They've never been there for you, the most they've done is get themselves thrown in jail." Draco scoffed.
"I know." She insisted. "Logically I know that. Still-" She was cut off by a wave of nausea. "Ah." She let go of Theo to grab her head. Something was crashing into her mental barriers with enough force to knock her off balance. Her vision started darkening around the edges. "He's back." She breathed.
Then she fainted.
Someone was shaking her and with a gasp she stood. Theo and Draco stood around around her holding her up, asking worried questions, but she pushed them off her.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." She shook her hands at them. "I need to find Barty. You get back to our seats."
"What-"
"Anna-"
As she hurried away she heard them call to her, but she ignored them, heading to the teachers' seats. It was on the other end of the seats and as she hurried she saw people staring at her but she ignored them. She could feel Barty among the teachers and as she searched for him she made eye contact with Dumbledore.
She couldn't help but rip her eyes away from him, a nasty feeling in her gut, only to meet Barty's eyes. He was barely restraining himself. There was a definite glint of glee in his eyes, much like there was panic in Karkaroff's and shock in Snape's. Anna hurried over.
"Professor Moody?" She asked, standing by the edge to the teachers' seats. They all turned to her. "Might I have a word please?"
He grunted in response and walked over, wooden leg clunking heavily as he wormed his way from between his colleagues. "Be right back. What do you want Connors?"
He led her away.
"This is attracting too much attention." He whispered once they were out of sight.
"Someone had to stop you from celebrating." She glared. "Came just in time to by the look of you."
He narrowed his eyes. "Didn't it take you long? It happened almost half an hour ago."
Anna swallowed. Half an hour. Had she been out so long? Had Harry been dead for half an hour? "I passed out." She snapped. "Apparently his magic reaches me even here."
Barty smiled, face constricting horribly. "Yes, child. Our Lord is extremely powerful. You should me proud to be his godchild. He'll share his glory with you the most."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"You helped bring him back. You, a fourteen year old girl who grew up not knowing who she was but as soon as you found out you started serving him. You are loyal, you are valuable. He will favour you." Barty grinned at her, cupping her face in Moody's gnarled hands that felt so different from his normal ones.
"More than my mother?" She asked, dreading the answer.
"It's hard to say. She's loyal, but she didn't find him. We became careless and let ourselves get captured. Sure, going to Azkaban for him is better than denying our loyalty to him, but never getting caught? That would have been better." He shrugged. "I think he might. Why?"
Shit, now she had to improvise. "I doubt she'll be as accepting of my relationship with Theo as you are. He is loyal, even if his father isn't. She'll never give him a chance but if she so much as touches him I will curse her into oblivion." She shrugged. "I was hoping he wouldn't punish me for it."
Barty laughed. "I don't think our Lord would bother with family issues, but even if he wanted to punish you he wouldn't be able to harm you directly."
"What?" Anna shot him a startled look. "Why?"
Barty shrugged. "He wouldn't want to risk Rodolphus getting upset. I don't think he would betray our Lord, but you never know with your father. He's incredibly loyal, but he really did love you. I think you're the only good thing his marriage with Bella brought him." Then he cast her a careful glance. "Don't just assume she'll oppose your happiness. I think Azkaban may have made her realize how much she cares about you."
Anna scoffed. "If either of them cared about me, they wouldn't have gotten themselves locked up. No matter what you say, clearly I wasn't that important to them."
Barty opened his mouth to protest when they heard screaming coming from inside the arena. With a confused look at each other they hurried back, trying to see what the situation was through the masses of people milling at the center.
There was yelling and screaming and suddenly she couldn't see Barty and Draco and Theo were heading towards her with the others at their heels but she just pushed forwards, shoving people aside roughly until she broke through the circle, only to come face to face with Diggory's body.
For a second she stared at him in a stupor. Hadn't Barty gotten him out of the maze? What happened?
Her eyes searched desperately through the crowd. It didn't take long for her to pinpoint Barty. He was- he was dragging Harry away.
"He's alive?" She breathed.
"What?!" Theo asked, having just arrived beside her. "What's going on?"
"Harry's-" No. No, no, no. Barty had him. Barty was going to-
She shook Theo's hand from her arm and turned to look at them.
"Draco, go get your broom and meet me at the owlery." She ordered before turning away to run to the castle.
"What?!" She heard him call.
"Do it! Run!"
Of all days to wear heels. Exiting the pitch she took off her shoes and kept running. She couldn't let him hurt Harry. Definitely couldn't. She also couldn't run the risk of him telling Harry about her. What was Barty thinking? Stupid imbecile.
The castle was empty, of course, but paintings called out to her to slow down. She ignored them, irritating busybodies. She was furious. She was worried. Couldn't they see this was important? Stupid Barty and his stupid need to hurt stupid Harry who stupidly didn't realize that someone must have turned the cup into a portkey and stupidly invited Diggory along for the ride which got the stupid boy killed. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could it all have gone so wrong? Or right, depending on who you asked since Harry was actually alive.
She stopped outside of Barty's office and pressed her ear to the door.
"Y- you bewitched Krum, but-" Harry was saying.
"B- but -but" Barty mocked.
Stupid idiot.
She gently opened the door, thanking anything and everything that the door didn't make a sound so she didn't pull Harry's attention. He was openly staring at Barty, who was by his desk, leaning over it with a nasty grin on his face.
Good grief.
"You only won because I made it so, Potter-"
Silently, she stunned Harry.
The boy crumpled to the ground, landing with a soft thud.
"You had to ruin my fun." Barty scowled. "I was going to kill him."
"You're being an idiot. Dumbledore knows something is going on now. Dumbledore knows he's back and he'll want to keep an eye on Potter. You don't think he'll be coming here soon?"
"That's not-"
"It's very important!" She yelled. "If you get fucking caught, Barty, he'll know about me and send me back to the orphanage, you fucking idiot! Now you come with me, right this instant."
Barty was about to protest when they heard yelling coming down the hallway. He hastily grabbed a piece of parchment from one of the drawers and grabbed her, pulling her out of his office and down the opposite side of the hall.
"What the hell is that?" She asked, running along. "Go to the owlery!"
"Potter's map." He panted. Then he groaned. "Damn it, not now!"
"What?!" She asked as he faltered.
"The potion is running out." Barty panted.
Anna groaned. "Terrible timing, Barty." But she pulled him into a crevice behind a statue, where he bent over in pain. "Silencio." She cast over him, stifling the pained moans coming out of his mouth. "Try to keep it together Barty."
He just glared up at her as his fake eye fell out, causing him to silently scream in pain. In all honesty, losing and eye and a leg and regrowing them because of the polyjuice potion must actually be pretty damn painful, but she was far too pissed off to pity him. This was possibly one of the worst days of her life.
It had started out great, really, being able to create her barrier and so protecting herself. But then the guilt kicked in and the panic and her mindless babbling and then she was forced to start thinking about what she was going to do after this, which she was not in a sufficiently stable mental state to do, and then she fucking fainted because of the magical pressure Voldemort caused on her, which still throbbed but she was getting used to it, now it felt like a finger pressing into a nerve on the back of her neck, and then Harry survived which was great but also terrible and then this fucking moron took it upon himself to get them caught.
Anna was not pleased.
"Get on with it, then." She ordered, voice coming out colder than intended. "We're kind of in a hurry here."
When Barty looked back up at her, his face was back to normal, albeit with a grimace and glare in place, and he was able to stand up straighter than before, towering over her. She wasn't wearing her heels, she had them dangling from her wrist by the straps, so she barely reached his shoulder. Barty was tall.
"Finite incantatem." She murmured. "Better now?"
"No thanks to you." He sniped.
"Whatever. Let's go to the owlery."
"What's over there?" He inquired as they ran, avoiding the corridors with paintings in them, lest they be recognized and told on.
"Draco's there with his broom." She told him, stepping out onto the grass. "You're going to Malfoy Manor."
"No, I'm not." He frowned.
"Yes, you are." Anna argued. "He's going to be there. Why would he stay in your dilapidated house when he can stay in Malfoy Manor, huh? Besides, someone is bound to notice that your father if fucking missing and go to your house sooner or later, right? Oh, I'm sorry my Lord, are we intruding? We're just looking for Crouch senior, would he happen to be here with you? No? Eaten by spiders, you say? Sorry, again, for intruding. No, I don't quite see that happening Barty, so shut the fuck up and go to Malfoy Manor."
By then they'd entered the owlery and were met with a startled looking Draco. Barty ignored him to keep arguing.
"I really don't think-"
"Just do as you're fucking told, for once, Barty! If you don't get out of here he'll never know I was involved. If you don't get out of here you'll be fucking me and my parents over so just shut up and leave!" Her face was red from screaming and running at the same time.
Barty paused but seemed to make up his mind. "Fine." He huffed. "Give me that broom, boy."
Draco handed it over without protest, staring at the older man in apprehension.
Without a glance back, he got on the broom and flew away, leaving the map on a small crevice in the wall.