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The horrible scene of his friends fighting a werewolf momentarily distracted Draco, and Pettigrew used this distraction to snatch Draco's wand, sending him and Potter flying in the air. Pettigrew tried to run but got hit by a stinger sent from Neville, who now bravely stood in his way.

Pettigrew was being surrounded and obviously felt trapped. As a last, desperate attempt to distract them and flee he yelled "Sectumsempra."

Draco froze. He knew that spell. Cold dread washed over him. The spell went right past him. Everything went dead quiet. It had hit someone, thought Draco helplessly.

Draco turned around in time to see Astoria, covered in blood, fall to the ground.

"No!" screamed Draco and ran towards her. He fell on his knees beside her. "Astoria," he cried as his trembling hands tried to cover some of the heavily bleeding wounds. But the slashes were many and deep, covering her chest and throat, and his hands did little to stop the bleeding.

Her hazel eyes were glassy and wide and looking right at Draco. She opened her lips but only a gurgling, choking noise escaped her. Horror filled Draco as he realized that the spell must have cut her trachea. He moved his blood covered hands to her throat, hoping they would do more good there.

"Shh," he whispered, "Don't speak. Everything is going to be alright. I'm here, you'll be fine."

He couldn't see anything but the blood and her eyes and couldn't hear anything but a jingling in his ears and her ragged breathing.

"Severus!" he yelled. Snape had helped him when Potter had used that spell, surely, he could help her too.

Her face was ashen by now, her lips blue, and she had stopped moving.

"Help!" he croaked in a desperate voice.

Draco heard a loud "Incarcerous!" and a second later, Snape was next to him and gently pushed him aside.

Snape traced the wounds with his wand, muttering "Vulnera Sanentur," over and over again. It sounded like a song and his smooth voice calmed Draco's racing heart somewhat. When the wounds started to heal, Draco's panic and fear left him and he was filled with something else: primal fury.

The air grew colder as he stood up. Apparently, the Dementors had noticed the commotion and were closing in on them.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Draco could see Neville running into the forest. Figuring that he was probably chasing the rat, Draco grabbed Astoria's wand and went after him.

Empowered by his rage, he quickly ran past Neville and closed in on the fleeing Pettigrew.

"CRUCIO," he roared, pointing Astoria's wand at Pettigrew's back.

Pettigrew fell and started to twitch on the ground. He thrashed and howled in pain, a sight that did little to soothe the boiling rage inside of Draco.

"CRUCIO!" he yelled again. Never before had he been so angry and never before had his curse been so violent.

Draco's rage finally dissipated somewhat after he cast the spell a third time.

He took a few deep breaths, using a silent Accio to get his own wand back from the still thrashing and screaming man. He put Astoria's into the pocket of his robe.

Pettigrew stopped wriggling on the ground. Draco could see him pulling something out of his pocket. It was shining golden in the moonlight.

"Oh no," Draco gulped. He frantically started to search his pockets. But he couldn't find it. It was gone! The time-turner was gone!

He could see Pettigrew's fingers fumbling with it. He must have grabbed it while they were fighting on the ground. Behind him he heard Neville coming closer. He didn't have enough time. Not enough time!

In his panic, Draco screamed "Diffindo!", pointing his wand at the time-turner. He could see the time-turner falling apart, clattering on the ground.

"CRUCIO," he bellowed, newly enraged by the sight of the broken time-turner. "A-"

"Draco!" he could hear someone yelling before he got tackled from behind and fell to the ground with the other party landing on him.

When Draco looked in the direction of Pettigrew, he had already turned into his rat form and scurried away. Draco wrestled his arm free and shot a stunner after him, but missed the tiny rodent. Then it was out of view.

"You," Draco screamed, jumping to his feet and pointing his wand at his attacker - Neville. "You let him get away!"

"D-Draco," Neville was shaking but soon caught himself. "You were going to kill him! Are you out of your damn mind?"

It took a while for the words to register in Draco's mind. Neville was right. He took a few calming breaths before he noticed that he was aiming his wand at a friend and lowered it immediately. "D-Did you see what he did to Astoria?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Neville didn't say anything.

"He- he…" Draco started trembling again.

He had failed. Failed at protecting Astoria. Failed at catching Pettigrew. Failed at saving Sirius.

And he couldn't even go back to undo his mistakes anymore.

He fell to his knees, a sob escaping him. It got so cold, he could see his breath even though his sorrow was so heavy he could barely breathe.

"Draco," Neville whispered frantically, edging closer to Draco, "the Dementors."

But Draco didn't care. So, what if they got them? The world was better off without Draco in it.

"Draco! We need to get back to the castle!" Neville grabbed him by the shoulders, but Draco shook him off. "Draco?"

Draco could feel how Neville grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along, back to the others, who were surrounded by Dementors. The werewolf was also close to freeing himself from the conjured ties.

It was over, Draco thought. Over. They were all going to die. And it was his fault.

He watched Snape fighting for Astoria's life and Harry desperately conjuring shapeless Patronuses to keep the Dementors at bay. It was useless, Draco thought numbly.

But when all hope seemed lost, a blinding light lit up the night and with it Draco's will to fight and live returned. A bright, flaming phoenix flew around them, driving away the Dementors.

Draco turned his head. Dumbledore had arrived at the scene, his Patronus stronger than any magic Draco had ever experienced. With a flick of his wand, he detained Lupin, who had just freed himself, again. He strode towards Snape, a stern look on his face. They exchanged a few words.

The children gathered around them. For once, Draco felt like Dumbledore looked his age. A somber expression, no twinkling in his eyes.

Dumbledore told everyone to hold on to him. Snape held Astoria in his arms and Harry was holding the beaten body of his godfather in dog form. And then they apparated.

Draco had forgotten that the headmaster was in control of the anti-apparation wards on the Hogwarts grounds.

Next thing he knew, they were in the infirmary.

Snape and Pomfrey immediately tended to Astoria and Draco was relieved to see that besides being very pale and having a few nasty scars on her, she seemed alright.

Potter was holding onto Black. His dog form, which was bleeding heavily, but otherwise seemed okay. Potter put him on a bed and he transformed back into his human form.

After Madam Pomfrey did everything she could for Astoria, she walked over to Black. With a sneer, she conjured handcuffs, which tied him to his bed. Then she tended to his injuries.

Draco looked around the room. Daphne was by her sister's side and Neville was standing next to the Gryffindor Golden Trio. After some internal debate, Draco slowly walked over to them.

They all looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"So," Harry finally said to Draco, "Were you trying to kill me and messed it up spectacularly or were you trying to help me?"

"Oh, the world doesn't just evolve around you, Potter" Draco smirked. "I wanted to help Sirius," he continued, more seriously.

"So you knew he wasn't going to kill me?" Harry asked for clarification.

"Yes," Draco sighed. "I was not trying to get you killed. And believe it or not, I wouldn't have helped him if I had thought he would try to hurt you." Had he really been that horrible of a person that no one could believe he might help someone without any selfish reasons?

"Why?" Weasley looked at him wearily.

Draco shrugged his shoulders.

"No offense, but two whole years you hate our guts and try to make our lives as difficult as possible, and suddenly you are helping us?"

"Leave him alone," Neville said. "He helped. Isn't that the only thing that is important right now?"

No one said anything. Draco flashed Neville a smile but Neville did not return it. Instead, he looked at Draco wearily.

Dumbledore, who had been talking to Snape up until now, walked over to them.

"Headmaster," Harry greeted.

Draco felt queasy so close to Dumbledore. Thoughts of the Astronomy tower flashed before his eyes and he had to sit down on one of the beds. He concentrated on his breathing and occluded the best he could.

"What will happen with Sirius?" asked Hermione. She probably assumed that Snape had already explained everything of relevance.

"The minister will arrive here shortly and Aurors will-"

"But he is innocent," interrupted Neville.

"So I've been told," Dumbledore didn't seem to mind the interruption. "I will talk to the minister in the hopes of giving Mr. Black the proper trial he would have deserved in the first place."

Draco nodded. That sounded good. Maybe he hadn't failed Sirius completely.

"Now," Dumbledore continued, studying every one of them, his gaze lingering on Draco, "I would like to know what happened."

The children all looked at each other, before they started their tale. Neville began the story as he knew more than the others. He left out why Draco and him had been in the Forbidden Forest, but besides that everything he said was the truth. When he got to the part with the Shrieking Shack, the Golden Trio took over. Draco kept quiet, listening to the others telling their tale, watching Astoria and Daphne.

TBC

Hmm things look a lot better than they did at the end of the last chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one. Let me know what you think.