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The end of the forest was close, when Draco tripped over some roots. He just had enough time to cast Protego before a number of spells rained down on him. The others had stopped to help, but Neville was soon hit with a whip-like curse, and Astoria landed on the ground next to Draco after being hit with a Tarantallegra. The other Death Eaters were catching up with them, and it did not look good for Draco and his friends.

Draco was hit in the face by a blazing heat. It rolled over him like a wave, burning like a blazing sun on a hot summer day. A light spread through the forest, illuminating the night.

Draco turned his head just in time to see a geyser of flames shoot past him and towards the attackers. It landed between them, the force of the impact throwing several Death Eaters of their feet. A wall of fire cut a line through the grass, separating Draco and his friends from their enemies.

A figure appeared beside Draco. It stepped around him and through the receding flames. The figure aimed several spells at the opponents, knocking some of them out within seconds.

"Professor… McGonagall?" gasped Neville from somewhere behind Draco.

Draco took a closer look. Neville was right. He released Astoria from the Dancing Feet spell, and jumped back onto his feet, joining his Transfiguration teacher with his own spells and hexes. The others joined the fight.

Cracking sounds in the distance announced the first Death Eater's departure. The tides were turning. Those who realized it were opting for a strategic retreat from the wrath of one angry head of house.

With few Death Eaters remaining, McGonagall focused on Bellatrix Lestrange.

With Avis, followed by Oppugno, McGonagall sent an enthusiastic flock of ready-to-attack birds after Bellatrix.

Bellatrix dissolved the birds into cinder and ash, before casting Alarte Ascendare with an angry snarl, in an attempt to send the teacher flying. When the spell bounced off McGonagall's shield charm, she sent arrows shooting out of her wand towards the Transfiguration teacher.

With an erratic lash of her arm, McGonagall bent the surrounding trees down. The arrows thudded into the branches. Once every arrow was stopped, she had the branches of the trees flying towards Bellatrix, like giant hands trying to squash a fly.

With a swift downward motion of her wand, Bellatrix hacked off the branches.

"Give up, Bellatrix," said McGonagall, her voice loud and clear. She seemed calm. But her posture was rigid and her breathing rapid. "Your friends are leaving already. You cannot win this!"

Bellatrix' upper lip curled, and she growled, "Crucio!"

The curse hit McGonagall square in the chest, sending her down with a pained gasp.

McGonagall's pain could not have lasted long, as three furious Gryffindors sent their most violent hexes Bellatrix' way, stopping her attack and forcing her on the defensive. Spell after spell hailed down on her shield, which remained strong.

"Look around you," McGonagall urged, getting up from the ground. "You are alone. They are all gone."

And it was true. Not a single Death Eater was in sight anymore.

Bellatrix hurled one last Bombarda Maxima at the students before she disapparated.

The students managed to jump away just in time to avoid getting hit directly.

The explosion was loud and violent, bending trees and breaking branches. Draco flew back several feet, a tree bringing his flight to an abrupt stop. When he looked up, his head was spinning, and his side hurt with a piecing intensity. He could see the others sprawled out around the clearing. He did not know how badly injured they were, but at least they all appeared to be alive. McGonagall was the only one still standing, Bellatrix was gone.

"Coward," he could hear his Transfiguration teacher cry over the ringing in his ears. Then she turned towards the students. "What on earth were you thinking?" she said, with cold fury in her voice, her glance jumping from Harry to Draco and back to Harry.

The children all looked at each other.

"You're lucky you weren't killed," she continued. Then, she took a deep, calming breath. Then another. "Is anyone hurt? Does anyone need to see Madam Pomfrey?" She then made her way from student to student, checking their injuries.

Draco had a feeling that he would have to spend the whole evening in the Hospital Wing, whether he needed it or not. It was probably for the best, though.

He crawled to Astoria, who was sitting on the ground, looking rather dazed.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I think my arm is broken," she said, lifting her arm so he could have a look at it.

"Uhm- there is blood dripping out of your ear," Draco said, while eyeing her arm.

He helped her up from the ground and they joined the others. Neville had a bloody wound across his chest from a whipping curse he had been hit with. Potter had a cut on his forehead and blood was dripping down his face. The others had similar injuries. Thus, as had apparently become an annual tradition, begun another silent walk to Madam Pomfrey.

The mood was subdued. Draco knew that their nightly outing would lead to some rather unpleasant consequences. Detention, definitely. But also a stern lecture from both McGonagall and Snape. Perhaps even Flitwick, once he found out one of his ravens had been dragged into this mess. But Draco was worried for entirely different reasons.

"I have to talk to the headmaster," Draco said, once they had set foot into the castle, breaking the silence.

"Mr. Malfoy-" McGonagall began.

"Madam Pomfrey cannot look at all of our injuries at the same time!" Draco interrupted, and he knew the house of Slytherin would awaken to an unprecedented loss of house points. "And my injuries are not as bad as those of the others. I'll talk to him for 10 minutes, and then I'll go straight to the Hospital Wing, promise."

He did not wait for McGonagall to approve – not that he expected her to – but he wanted a chance to talk to the headmaster freely before he was confined to the Hospital Wing for the rest of the night.

He hurried through the castle, as fast as his aching side allowed, and was in Dumbledore's office within two minutes.

The headmaster did not appear at all surprised to see him.

"This was new," Draco began, jumping right into the topic once he had set foot in the office of the headmaster. "They tried to lure out Potter. Grab him in the middle of the night. An ambush. Aunt Bella was there. And plenty of others." His mind was racing and the words just came spilling out. Draco was not even sure they were coherent.

"I think," Dumbledore started calmly, "that we have already established that things are happening differently than you remember. What I would like to know is why you and your friends were outside the castle in the first place during times such as these."

The sudden change of topic, from the most recent events that still had adrenaline pumping through his veins to something so practical, calculating, threw Draco. He took some time to calm down, collect his thoughts and pierce together how the events of the night had come to pass.

"Daphne and Astoria told us this morning that they overheard Warrington and some others discussing the third task. Potter naturally wanted to know more about it. I didn't think much of it at the time. He must have missed Warrington and his friends. Maybe Warrington is a Death Eater and those were the friends he was meeting… I don't know. We have to tell the Ministry about it. They have to send Aurors right away. Maybe they are still in the area..." Draco rambled. "Are you listening to me?"

Dumbledore sat at his table, looking pensive.

"Are you," and here Draco waited until Dumbledore's eyes fell on him, so he knew he had his attention, "going to do anything about it?"

It took a long time before Dumbledore answered. "I think that, considering the circumstances, it would be unwise to let Aurors into the school."

Draco took a deep breath and sat down. It would not do to lose his head. With the current state of things at the Ministry and with Neville's family on the run - perhaps not letting them roam the school was sensible. "But what if they were counting on us to do absolutely nothing?"

"I assume that is the case," replied Dumbledore calmly. It irked Draco that the man never seemed to feel anything. Draco could rage, he could cry, he could rejoice right here in this very office - Dumbledore would stay his stoic, calm self. He wondered if Dumbledore was actually able to fight or if he would say cryptic stuff in a calm manner while the Dark Lord was throwing curses left and right. "They clearly were not afraid of repercussions."

Draco groaned. Perhaps the whole thing had not been a stake-out followed by a spontaneous attack when the opportunity presented itself. Perhaps it had indeed been planned meticulously for weeks. His mind had avoided interpreting what happened in such a manner, mainly because everything else that had strayed too much from the original timeline had been the results of coincidence and not so much real planning. Other than Draco and his surroundings, not much had changed. Things had sped up, yes, but ultimately they stayed more or less the same in matters Draco was not directly involved with. And recent events aside, that remained more or less unchanged. "Okay then. What are you going to do about the Triwizard Tournament? Because the way I see it, nothing much has changed. The Death Eaters are after Potter, and I am sure they will go after him during the third task again."

"I would argue that a great many things have changed. Alastor Moody is investigating at the Ministry. Severus is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. The cup will stay at the Ministry until the very last moment, at which Hagrid himself will put it into the maze. Harry's odds are better than ever, I must say. I am certain this war will claim far fewer lives than it originally did."

"The cup in the maze..." Draco repeated, realization dawning. This was not about keeping Harry away from the Dark Lord. If it were, the third task would be something else and Harry would be ill-equipped to win it. But Dumbledore knew the cup was a trap and that Harry would win in the maze. "Wait a minute - You want the Dark Lord to kidnap Harry!" He jumped out of his seat. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Have you finally come to care for Harry?"

"I- uhm- don't turn this around on me!"

"Your assumption is not entirely incorrect," Dumbledore admitted.

"I repeat: What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you want him to be kidnapped by the Dark Lord?" Draco was seething. All the work he had put into making things better- and Dumbledore did everything for them to stay the same.

"Calm down, Mr. Malfoy," he said calmly.

Draco glared at him but sat back down.

"Voldemort will return," Draco wanted to interrupt, but Dumbledore silenced him with a raised hand. "This is a fact. One we can do little about. To do this, he needs the blood of an enemy. Which is why he kidnapped Harry back then and will try to do so again."

Draco's brows furrowed. "He used Potter's blood?" He really should not be as surprised as he was. The ritual, whatever else it was, was dark.

Dumbledore looked contemplative. "I believe so. He could have used the blood of anyone opposing him, but he chose Harry, believing his blood would make him more powerful than any other blood. However, I also believe that this is the reason Harry was able to survive the killing curse in the end."

"W-what?"

"You are a smart man. You have all the puzzle pieces in front of you. Why do you think Harry survived that faithful night in Godric's Hollow?"

"I- I don't know. I've never thought about it," he admitted. It was rather peculiar, that a one-year-old could do what no one else could. Potter was not particularly powerful – at least not more powerful than the Dark Lord - so his magic alone could not have been the reason why he survived. So, it must have been something else. Maybe it had something to do with the circumstances. The Dark Lord had killed his parents before he killed Harry. They must have tried to stop him, like every parent would. But the Death Eaters had annihilated many a family and nothing like this had ever happened before. Something must have been different. Dumbledore said he had all the puzzle pieces, so what was he missing?

And suddenly, he remembered something.

"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," Harry had said to the Dark Lord, right before the end. "You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people —"

"But you did not!"

"— I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

Potter said that his readiness to die had been protecting everyone. That must be it.

Draco gazed into Dumbledore's eyes. They were watching him. He was giving him time to draw the right conclusions on his own.

"Severus asked the Dark Lord to spare Potter's mother. And he actually gave her a chance… I can't believe the Dark Lord actually listened to Severus… But she wouldn't step aside. Of course, she wouldn't," Draco knew what it meant to be a loving parent.

Dumbledore smiled. "Indeed. Ancient, sacrificial magic – no incantation necessary - flowing through Harry Potter's veins."

Like a Life Debt, Draco thought. "And the Dark Lord's," he finally muttered, understanding dawning on him.

Dumbledore nodded.

"Love – the one thing Voldemort will never understand. He took Harry's blood and rebuilt his living body with it. Harry's blood in his veins. Lily's protection inside both of them. He tethered Harry to life while he lives!"

"So, when he thought using Potter's blood would make him more powerful, it actually made him unable to kill Harry?"

"Precisely," smiled Dumbledore.

"And this is why you want him to get kidnapped? You want him to use Potter's blood? Because it will protect him?"

Dumbledore nodded again. "Although want is not the word I would use. I have tried everything in my might to find out who Barty is impersonating this time. But everything the Moody of your memories has done, has happened again. Every incident happened around different people. According to Severus, Voldemort is in contact with the Death Eaters and he gives them orders. But none of them know how. My best guess is that Barty either impersonates a different person each time or somehow orders different Death Eaters to do Voldemort's bidding."

Draco furrowed his brows. That did not sound good.

"Please don't believe I let all of this happen. I did not choose Moody to teach in the hopes of keeping history from repeating itself. I also kept an eye on Harry, but he seems to have solved the tasks without the help from anyone untrustworthy. I have also made sure that the cup is under constant surveillance at the ministry and will be brought here and put into the maze by Hagrid. If all of this fails, I will put a tracking charm on Harry. Should he disappear, I will send Aurors after him. But Voldemort will return, and if he does during the Triwizard Tournament, we are at an advantage. We know what will happen. If we change things too much, he might use someone else's blood, which would deny Harry an advantage."

Draco nodded his head. It really did not seem like there was any more the headmaster could do. And his side was killing him, making every breath feel like someone was stabbing him in the side. He stood up with a wince. "I believe my friends and some very anxious teachers are awaiting me in the Hospital Wing."

A few parting words later, Draco was on his way to Madam Pomfrey, his mind abuzz with everything he had learned.

TBC

Another chapter done! And one step closer to the end of the school year.

Somehow, Draco's encounters with Dumbledore never go quite the way he expects them to go. What do you think of Dumbledore's decision not to call the Aurors? Is it sensible?

What did you think of the fighting scene? Bellatrix' fight with McGonagall? Or how Astoria beat that Death Eater in the previous chapter? I find fighting scenes difficult to write, but I think it turned out quite well.