After their role in the activation of Hermione and Harry's plan, Draco and his friends had found themselves on the sidelines. They hadn't been needed at the first meeting, where Tonks had been snatched, and kidnapping Flitwick had been a low-key affair with the Lestrange brothers trusted with the job. And if the original plan to next target someone who worked at the Ministry had panned out, they wouldn't have been involved in that either.
However, Hermione's quick trip home had changed things and once Remus Lupin became the next target, Draco and his two best friends were brought back into the game. With the knowledge that the werewolf had taken to spending his night drinking, Voldemort had trusted a portion of his supporters to scour the pubs in search of him on the night he latest meeting with Harry was scheduled for. People went out in pairs or small groups, moving from pub to pub in search of their target, and Draco, Blaise and Theo were among one of the groups.
Even though they had been included in the plan, Draco hadn't honestly thought it would be his group that found their former Professor. But when they'd decided to visit one of the seedier pubs in the Wizarding World, located in Knockturn Alley, they'd struck gold when Theo had spotted the wizard they were looking for slumped in the corner. Given the sort of establishment they were in, Draco had suspected they could simply walk up to Lupin and escort him from the pub and no-one would bat an eyelid, but he himself provided the perfect opportunity for them to take him when he got to his feet and drunkenly stumbled towards the bathrooms.
With Lupin up on his feet and away from the main bar it was easy for Draco and his friends to follow him, and for Theo and Blaise to move to either side of him and lead him out of the back of the pub. Draco had then stunned his former Professor, and whisked him back to Voldemort, who could call off the rest of his Death Eaters.
Impressed that Draco and his friend had brought him the goods, Voldemort had asked the blond to visit the following lunchtime to discuss what sort of role he could have in the final confrontation. And so on his lunchbreak, Draco headed to The Dark Lord's house and they were just discussing what Voldemort wanted him to do when an alarm sounded on Voldemort's wand, which he explained meant that someone had arrived in the front hallway.
When Voldemort didn't order him to stay put, Draco accompanied his master the short distance to the hallway, where he was stunned to see his girlfriend standing with Ginny Weasley clasped tightly in her grasp.
"Hermione?" He frowned, his instincts kicking in and warning him there was something off about what he was seeing.
"Guess again," Hermione laughed, angling her hand so her wand, which was pressed firmly against Ginny's neck, came into view.
"Aunt Bella," he declared, recognising the distinct arched wand of his aunt.
"Oh yes," Bella giggled, still looking and sounding like Hermione. "I noticed you saw straight through my disguise, Draco. Unlike this fool here, who couldn't even tell I wasn't the real Hermione."
"I do know Hermione very well," Draco said, smirking as Ginny's face contorted in horror as it seemed to hit her just whose side Hermione was really on.
"Take our latest guest down to the dungeons, Bella," Voldemort ordered. "You can then join Draco and I in the study and tell us all about your catch."
"With pleasure," Bellatrix replied as she began to drag Ginny down towards the dungeons.
"Why do we have Weaselette already?" Draco asked as he and Voldemort made their way back towards his study. "I thought she would be next after Lupin."
"She would have been, but Hermione visited late last night and that changed everything," Voldemort replied, quickly filling his daughter's boyfriend in on what had occurred the previous night.
"I can't believe Dumbledore would do that," Draco remarked with a low whistle. "What am I saying? Of course the manipulative old goat would try something like that. He must have been fearing his hold over Harry was weakening, and he would go against him and meet you."
"Well he's certainly lost his hold now," Voldemort snorted. "Nothing in the world will keep Harry from our next meeting."
At that moment there was a knock on the door and when Voldemort called for the visitor to enter, Draco was relieved to see his aunt was back to her normal self. It was rather disconcerting seeing his girlfriend and hearing her voice, but knowing it was his aunt and recognising the sing-song way she talked.
"You had a successful morning, Bellatrix," Voldemort said. "I'm assuming this means Dumbledore didn't tell anyone about the return of Flitwick early this morning."
"I wouldn't have thought so, given the girl was at the shop when they opened," Bellatrix replied.
"So how did you get her in the end?" Voldemort asked.
"I kept myself dosed with Polyjuice potion as no-one is going to think twice about a young girl like Hermione wandering around Diagon Alley," Bellatrix explained. "I then kept disillusioning myself and walking past the shop and peering inside. Fairly quickly it was clear that one of the twins was either not there or in the back, as I only ever saw one at a time in the shop. One time when I walked past, he wasn't there either so I whipped off the disillusionment charm, ran in and told her that something terrible had happened to Harry and she had to come with me right away. She didn't even think about shouting for her brothers. The second I mentioned Harry, she was putty in my hands. She came with me willingly and only started to panic when we landed here and she realised I wasn't Hermione."
"Nice work, Bella," Voldemort chuckled. "Now to crack on with the plan. You know what Draco, I'm going to give you another job to do. This evening you are going to take the werewolf to Grimmauld Place and make sure that his body is found by whoever happens to be at Order headquarters. Make a fuss if you have to, but make sure that body is found tonight."
Even though Twelve Grimmauld Place was the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, and neither Hermione, Harry nor Severus had been able to give them the address, they had been able to tell them enough to know it was Sirius Black's childhood home. And with Bellatrix and Narcissa being Sirius's cousins, they'd known exactly where he'd grown up. They'd been the ones to explain that the house was cloaked because it was in a muggle neighbourhood, and while usually it could be revealed by someone with Black blood running through their veins, the privacy charms Dumbledore had cast over the house, prevented that from happening. But Draco had still been taken to Grimmauld Place by his mother and even though he'd never seen number Twelve, it had been easy to know where it was by the other house numbers.
"I can do that," Draco confirmed with a nod of his head.
"What is the message going to say this time?" Bellatrix asked.
"It's going to say that Harry has one final chance to meet me, and since I have the Weasley girl I will kill her at the meeting place if he fails to show up," Voldemort replied.
"Where's the final meeting going to be?" Draco asked.
"I haven't totally decided yet, but I'm leaning towards heading back to Godric's Hollow. I think it's rather nice symmetry to threaten to leave the body of our latest victim on the graves of Harry's parents. Not that it will happen of course, as Harry is going to turn up and it will be Dumbledore meeting his maker."
"You're going to let the girl live?" Bellatrix questioned with a pout.
"Whether she survives the evening will be up to her," Voldemort replied with a shrug. "I am planning on releasing her as the only person I plan on killing tomorrow night is Dumbledore. But I suppose if she fights, then who knows what will happen to her."
"Oh, I do hope the Order fights," Bellatrix cackled. "I'm itching for a good battle."
"You never know Bella, you might just get your wish," Voldemort chuckled, before turning back to the point in hand. "Draco, be back here by eight and I'll give you the werewolf's body. Just remember to stick around long enough to make sure he's been found, and not just by Dumbledore. Not that I expect him to be there as I rather think that by now he would have been forced to admit the truth, and Harry was ready to explode at him."
"You don't think a falling out with Harry will prevent him from being there tomorrow night, do you?" Draco asked, not wanting their entire plan to fall apart thanks to Dumbledore's stupidity.
"I really don't think so," Voldemort replied with a shake of his head. "I don't see anything keeping him away from that meeting. Even if he and Harry are at odds, he will still want to be there and try and control the situation. But I suppose if the worst happens and he's not there, we can find a way to send a message to him. But I honestly don't think it will be an issue."
Trusting in Voldemort's judgement, Draco thanked him for the chance to be involved in plans yet again, before he headed back to work with a spring in his step. Not only was he playing another vital role in the plan that evening, but the following night everything should come to a head. Dumbledore should be killed, and Harry and Hermione would be free. He would finally get his girlfriend back and they could start planning their future together.
Despite Bill and Charlie keeping their promise and going out looking for Remus, there was no sign of him, and as the day wore on and it became almost twenty four hours since he'd left the house, the idea of him being taken by the dark became more realistic. Although aside from Harry and Hermione, who clearly knew what was going on, no-one was quite sure why both he and Ginny had been taken. It was a massive change of tactic from the dark, and until they made their next move, no-one could offer a real answer as to what they were playing at.
While Molly and Arthur hadn't left the Burrow since learning of Ginny's disappearance, and Percy had opted to stay with them, Bill, Charlie and the twins had come to Grimmauld Place and they were discussing when the dark might make their next move when a loud bang sounded from outside.
"Bloody kids and their fireworks," Sirius grumbled, not in the mood to be dealing with noisy neighbours.
"Fireworks?" Charlie queried. "It's the wrong time of year for fireworks."
"And that bang didn't really sound like fireworks," Fred said as yet another bang could be heard from outside.
Getting to his feet, Sirius crossed to the window and peered outside. Even though the house was cloaked from view, you could still see outside and at first glance everything seemed normal. But then there was another bang, and Sirius spotted red sparks coming from the large green that the houses of Grimmauld Place surrounded.
"There's someone out there on the green," he announced, a bad feeling forming in the pit of his stomach. "They're shotting sparks in the air, but I think they must also be making the noise."
"They're trying to attract attention," Harry declared, jumping to his feet and heading towards the front door.
"Harry wait," Sirius cried, running after his godson and stopping him from opening the door. "You and Hermione stay here. Bill, Charlie, do you want to come with me. The twins can come halfway to watch our backs, but if there's trouble they can get back to Harry and Hermione."
With a plan of sorts decided on, Sirius opened the door and led the way down the front steps. As he did so there was another loud bang and more red sparks flew into the air. Other neighbours could be seen peering out of their windows, but no-one seemed to have emerged to see what was going on. Possibly they were too scared to confront the figure on the green, who seemed to be waiting for something, or most likely someone.
Standing on the doorstep, Harry and Hermione watched as the twins paused at the bottom of the steps while Sirius, Bill and Charlie carried on across the road. Just as the trio reached the green, another shot of red sparks flew into the air before the dark figure suddenly vanished from sight. At almost the same time, Sirius began running onto the green and Harry and Hermione watched as he suddenly fell to his knees and looked like he was cradling something.
"Remus?" Hermione whispered to Harry.
"I would think so," Harry replied, also keeping his voice low in case the twins could hear them, despite the fact they'd edged partway across the road. "At least this way I won't miss the message."
It was in fact Remus who had been delivered and Bill and Charlie helped a devastated Sirius get him back inside the house. At Bill's insistence, Dumbledore was sent for, as even though no-one in the room approved of his recent handling of events, he was still leader of the Order and the most experienced wizard they had at their disposal.
"Is there a note?" Hermione asked softly. She couldn't really see if there was a note as Sirius was still hugging Remus tightly.
"Yes," Charlie said with a nod as he and Bill gently prised Sirius away from his dead friend and removed the note that came with him.
"They have got Ginny," Bill gasped as he read the note, before passing it to Harry.
"And I can save her," Harry said as he read the note, Hermione at his shoulder. "I don't care what Dumbledore says, I am doing this. I am going to that meeting tomorrow night, and I will save Ginny. I promise, you will get your sister back."
Bill, Charlie and the twins all nodded in appreciation of Harry's vow, but there was still sadness etched on their faces as they knew it wasn't as simple as Harry was making it sound. Even if he attended the meeting and saved Ginny, he would be giving his own life up in return. The Weasleys all thought that getting Ginny back meant losing Harry, and it would. They just didn't know that they would lose him in a very different way to what they expected. They were expecting him to die the following evening, not rise from the dead and join the dark – which was exactly what was going to happen.