Undefined

Chapter 37

Of Betrayal and Redemption

Wait they did, for what felt like hours. Ron and Hermione remained in one another's arms while Draco paced the room. He stopped every now and then and sat on the edge of his bed, but, feeling even more restless than before, stood and continued his monotonous pacing. He heard a steady trample of feet throughout the corridors, coming and going in sporadic bursts. The light outside was dismally gray, with a tinge of red, as though the sun were straining to show its face before disappearing for good. Draco jumped when the wind howled and rattled the window nearest his bed, feeling as though if the waiting didn't drive him mad, the silence would. All three of them turned expectantly when the door burst open.

"What are you still doing here?" Montague asked, grabbing a bag from under his bed and haphazardly throwing items into it.

"What's happening?" Ron said.

"Owls have been swarming the castle and the teachers have set up evacuation points; everyone's leaving," Montague said, holding his bag on the edge of his dresser and sweeping the contents in with his arm. "Well, not everyone, but most everyone."

"Makes sense," Ron muttered.

"You lot'd best go too," Montague said, opening a drawer and stuffing clothes into his bag.

"I don't have anywhere to go to," Draco said. "And even if I did, I wouldn't."

"I wouldn't stick around," Montague said, throwing a few more items into his bag before zipping it up and hitching it onto his shoulder.

"I guess that's the difference between us," Draco said, folding his arms and gazing out the window.

"Good luck," Montague said, grabbing his coat and sweeping out the door.

Footsteps continued in rapid succession outside the doorway, until they eventually teetered off into silence. It was fully dark out by now, and Draco wondered vaguely if they were the only ones left in the castle.

"I wish something would happen," Hermione said weakly, her nose very red from crying.

"It will," Ron said. "It will."

"I'm frightened," Hermione admitted. "And Harry..."

"He's fine," Draco said. "He'll come back; we just have to wait. If the Dark Lord shows up before that, we'll hold him off."

"Right," Ron said, his jaw set determinedly on his ashen face.

"We'll be fine," Draco said, not believing it himself. "We'll stick together no matter what. Let me go first in anything we do, understand? And do everything I say without question. Agreed?"

Ron and Hermione nodded, Hermione looking very close to tears again.

"I'm scared for him," she said, barely above a whisper.

"He's fine," Draco said. "He's strong and, besides that, he's with Dumbledore."

"Yeah, Hermione," Ron said, nudging her slightly. "He's with Dumbledore."

Draco sat down. "Do you really think Harry'd let anyone or anything except for Voldemort get the best of him?"

"No," Hermione said very softly.

Just then, several loud consecutive bangs made the three of them jump violently. Draco ran to the window and noticed two long lines of dark, foreboding figures approach from opposite ends of the castle.

"Holy shit," Draco breathed, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

"What?" Ron said, moving beside Draco. "Is that--"

"Yeah," Draco said, spotting the Dark Lord.

Predictably, he stood near the back of the large crowd, surrounded by what must have been hundreds of Inferi, dozens of Dementors, and a cluster Death Eaters. In the opposite crowd, which was quite a bit smaller, dozens of Inferi surrounded what members remained of the O.S. Draco spotted Dolohov and Lucius near the back. In spite of his strained relations with his parents, Draco was relieved to see his father alive.

"Are those Inferi?" Hermione asked, moving next to Ron.

"Yes," Draco said.

"I've read about them," she said faintly.

"I've never seen them," Ron said, sounding very hoarse.

"Come on," Draco said, moving towards the door.

He would not simply stand around waiting for Dumbledore to fetch him. Any sort of action was better than sitting in his dormitory twiddling his thumbs. Hermione promptly followed, but Ron remained glued to the window.

"Ron, come on," Hermione shrilled, tugging on his sleeve.

When they entered the common room, students sat in clumps talking amongst themselves, some looking positively passive while others looked absolutely petrified. Draco guessed these were the last remnants of his housemates unable or unwilling to flee.

"Draco," Pansy said, standing suddenly. "Where are you going?"

Draco said nothing, and kept walking towards the exit. She rushed to him and threw her arms around his neck.

"You can't go out there! Are you mad?" she shrieked. "You'll be killed!"

"Let go, Parkinson," Draco said, shoving her away.

"Stay!" she pleaded.

"No," Draco said, moving towards the door.

"You'll be killed! You'll die out there!" she wailed, falling to the floor in tears.

He continued towards the door in silence, Ron and Hermione following close by. If the world was to end, he couldn't think of two people he'd rather have by his side.

The Entrance Hall was eerily still and quiet when they reached the top of the stairs. Everyone had either left or was hiding out in their respective common rooms. Draco walked to the doors, and stopped briefly. He could turn around and run back to his dormitory and wait it out; it was, after all, what Dumbledore had told him to do. But Dumbledore wasn't there, and there was no telling if he would return. The urge to flee was nearly blinding, but then he felt Hermione step closer and look to him with wide, imploring eyes. He looked to Ron, who nodded, looking faintly green, and was just about to open door when Draco heard a flurry of footsteps on the stairs.

"Ron!" Ginny Weasley sprinted towards them, her cheeks pink and a fire in her eyes that Draco admired. "You prat! You can't just traipse out there alone!"

A small knot of students stood behind her, and Draco recognized Longbottom, Finnigan, Thomas, the Weasley Twins, Luna Lovegood, and a few other Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.

"Ginny, you shouldn't--" Ron began, but looked immensely relieved to see them.

"Oh, shut it," Ginny said fiercely, and turned to Draco. "What do we do?"

Everyone stared at him.

"We fight," he said, and opened the door.

They walked into the pitch-blackness, the wind howling in their ears. There was not a star in the sky and no moonlight to illuminate their path. Somewhere to the right, off at a great distance, a torrent of lights flashed and a cold, high-pitch laughter tore through the silence. Then it was quiet. No footsteps, no movement, nothing. Draco walked towards the site of impending battle, and noticed two lone figures standing in the middle of a great circle of dark figures. He quickened his pace and ran, stopping several feet away. He felt Hermione slam into his back.

"Sorry," she said. "I can't see."

Ron shushed her, and everyone gathered behind Draco and strained to see what was going on.

"Dumbledore's back," Ron said lowly.

Voldemort, standing opposite Dumbledore, was swathed in long, flowing black robes which gave his movements a ghostly and fluid appearance. He threw his head back in another loud, mirthful laugh.

"Look at where you're standing!" Voldemort's voice carried easily in the howling wind. "You're surrounded by the enemy."

"I daresay you are once again mistaken, Tom," Dumbledore said fiercely.

"Do you honestly think," Voldemort said, pacing, "that any pathetic resistance movement could undermine me?"

"No," Dumbledore said. "Your blinding ignorance on what is good and evil will."

A few of the masked Death Eaters made to move towards Dumbledore.

"Don't move!" Voldemort shrieked. "I want to kill this old fool myself."

Hermione grabbed Draco's arm very hard.

"You will attempt it, I am sure," Dumbledore said calmly.

Voldemort raised his wand and issued a nonverbal spell, which Dumbledore easily blocked.

"Is that all you have, Tom?" Dumbledore said, though Draco could barely hear it.

Voldemort struck again, advancing on the old man, but Dumbledore stood fast, his agility evaporating with every blocked curse. When Voldemort struck him with the Cruciatus Curse, Dumbledore, by then looking very weak, barely dodged it.

Hermione's grip on Draco's arm tightened and he was sure it would leave a mark.

"He's going to die," Ginny murmured.

Voldemort's rage increased when Dumbledore managed a very effective Shield Charm. Voldemort retaliated with the Cruciatus Curse, and, by then too weak to deflect or dodge it, Dumbledore's screams punctuated the air, causing Hermione to cover her ears with her hands and close her eyes.

"Beg for mercy," Voldemort said, sounding insatiable with rage, "and I may let you live."

"Make him stop," Hermione mumbled pathetically.

Ron pulled her close and clutched her tightly. The silence among the bloodthirsty crowd surrounding the two figures was as unnerving as Dumbledore's screams.

"Have you had enough, Dumbledore? Dear, dear Albus? Lover of half-bloods and Mudbloods?" Voldemort shrilled, lifting the curse and standing over Dumbledore's crumpled figure.

"As usual, you fail to realize what you are up against," Dumbledore said, though it came out more as a croak.

Voldemort struck with the Killing Curse so quickly it took a moment for Draco to comprehend what had happened. Hermione shrieked loudly and covered her face in Ron's chest. Ginny moved next to Draco and stared at the milieu in silence. Voldemort laughed triumphantly, lifting his hands in air. He turned to his Death Eaters and with a wave of his hand, they advanced on the cluster of figures on the opposite side of Dumbledore's fallen body. The howling of hundreds of moving figures suddenly filled the night, punctuated by brightly colored sparks of light issuing from every direction.

Draco turned.

"If you want to go back, go now," he said very quickly, his mind barely able to keep up with the events that were unfolding around him.

No one moved.

"Right, those going, stick in pairs or more; remember Inferi hate fire, and Dementors are driven off by the Patronus Charm. For everything else, be swift, be fast, and remember everything you can from Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Everyone nodded.

"I'm going for Voldemort," Draco said, pulling his wand from his robes.

"You can't kill him," Ron said.

"No, but I can distract him," Draco said.

"We'll cover you," Ron said, pulling out his wand.

Draco nodded and before he could ponder the matter any further, before he think of how particularly dangerous and stupid it was to face the Dark Lord without Harry by his side, he ran full sprint to the midst of battle, nearly colliding with a clump of Inferi.

"Incendio" a voice screamed, and they fell away.

He turned and saw Ron dodge a curse, then froze in terror as an Inferius advanced on him.

"FIRE, RON!" Draco screamed, "FIRE!"

Ron snapped out of his stupor and cast the spell, taking great care to avoid touching the fallen Inferi as he ran towards Draco, who was tearing towards an open path when he felt a jolt and dodged instinctively, the Killing Curse buzzing near his ear. He threw his wand over his shoulder and jinxed the caster of a curse, not bothering to look back. He ran blindly, jumping over fallen bodies, shoving black, billowing figures out of his way, and dodging curses with extreme ease and agility. He turned and noticed Longbottom about to be struck. Draco dived and threw him to the ground, a curse whistling above their heads.

"Thanks," Longbottom said, immediately jumping up.

Neville ran off to the right, shielding a curse for Luna. He grabbed her hand and tore off, pulling her in his wake.

Draco spun around, looking for any sign of Harry. Where the fuck is he? Draco thought, panic-stricken. By then, everyone who had followed him into battle were interspersed and engaged in private battles; he glanced to his left and saw Finnigan and Thomas battling a pair of Dementors. Behind them, the Weasley Twins were alternating Incendio with Jelly-Legs Jinxes on Inferi. He looked right and saw Ginny, Ron and Hermione facing a pair of Death Eaters. What have I done? Draco thought. I'm going to get them all killed! He looked around for the others, but saw only the swishing of robes and flashes of light, and the sounds of screams, curses, feet trampling, and heavy breathing made his head spin uncontrollably. But he knew what he had to do; he had to focus. Clear his mind. And at that moment, perhaps more than any other that night, he was thankful for his lessons with Snape. But, at the same time, he suddenly realized the utter hopelessness of their situation; they were in the middle of a war with no allies. They were completely alone. How long could they last? Ten minutes? Fifteen?

"Expelliarmus!" Draco yelled, disarming Mulciber who was aiming at Finnigan.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Draco noticed another mass of figures approach led by Lupin and Sirius Black, and exhaling a great sigh of relief, realized their allies had arrived at last. Before he could appreciate the scene any longer, he was thrown to the ground. The stench of blood mingled with sweat filled his nostrils. Draco kicked Greyback hard in the groin and threw an Impediment Jinx at him before dodging yet another Killing Curse.

Draco immediately ran to Lupin, screamed, "DUMBLEDORE'S DEAD!" then turned and ran as fast as he could in Voldemort's direction.

He stopped suddenly, feeling a distinct chill envelop his core and cloud his thoughts. He looked up, barely aware that he was in the midst of battle, and saw the towering, black figure of a Dementor descending upon him. His mind grew blurry and spun sickeningly but he forced himself to focus on conjuring a Patronus, but a blinding flash of light caused him to throw his arms over his eyes and shirk away. He looked over his shoulder and saw Harry's figure swim into focus. Draco was so relieved to see him, he felt his knees buckle.

"Dumbledore?" Harry asked, rushing to his side.

"Dead," Draco said, running towards Luna who was trapped by a Body-Bind curse.

He freed her and pulled her up, looking back at Harry, whose face was cold with fury. Not fear, apprehension or uncertainty, but a cold, hard fury, the likes of which made Draco shudder.

"Where is he?" Harry asked, very lowly, casually casting away several dozen Inferi headed towards them.

"Towards the pitch," Draco said, kicking Rookwood out of his way.

Harry immediately took of in that direction.

"TRAITOR!" Dolohov screamed, running towards Draco.

He withdrew his wand, momentarily blocking everything out and focusing on Dolohov's thoughts, easily and nearly unthinkingly blocking every curse. With a casual flick, Draco hit Dolohov with a Body-Bind Curse.

"Draco!" Hermione screamed and he felt a body slam into him, pushing him to the ground.

He kicked and squirmed, intent on fighting the unknown assailant with his bare hands, but realized the body covering him was cold and lifeless. He shoved it off and found Sirius Black staring back with glazed, unseeing eyes. Hermione jerked Draco up and threw herself on top of him as a shower of sparks exploded above their heads.

"Who did that to him?" Draco asked.

Hermione pointed a shaky finger towards Bellatrix, who was immersed in battle with Neville.

"You shouldn't have shielded me like that!" Draco said, fear of anything happening to her causing his insides to shake. "Where's Ron?"

"Over there," Hermione said, pointing towards Arthur Weasley, who was issuing spells from the tip of his wand at lightening speed. To his right, Kingsley Shacklebolt was in the middle of all out fist fight with a Death Eater.

"Find Ron," Draco said, "and stay with him! I'm going after Harry."

Hermione nodded and ran off, jumping over the bodies strewn on the ground.

Draco turned towards his aunt, who was laughing with delight at Neville.

"Scream for me," she was saying, "like your parents did."

She raised her wand but Draco disarmed her from behind. She whirled around and her eyes narrowed into slits.

"YOU!" she screamed, summoning her wand.

"Yes, me," Draco said, moving beside Neville, whose face was a bloody mess.

"Cru--" she began, but Neville beat her to it, nonverbally hitting her with the same curse before she could.

She screamed imprecations and writhed on the ground miserably, grasping at her robes and the ground, and pulling at her face.

"I'll take over from here," Neville said, watching Bellatrix.

Draco looked at him, understanding perfectly.

"GET UP!" Neville screamed. "GET UP, YOU FILTHY BITCH, AND FIGHT!"

Draco felt something heavy hit his head that nearly knock him silly. He turned and saw that it was Katrina. She punched him once again, this time in the jaw.

"Fuck!" Draco spat, warding off another blow by grabbing both of her wrists with one hand.

Katrina squirmed and flailed impossibly, kicking and biting her way free. She assailed him with more punches, before he kicked her hard in the stomach and cast a Body-Bind curse before moving off to find Harry.

To his right, Ginny Weasley dodged a number of spells from MacNair, finally summoning a large boulder and knocking him square in the head with it. MacNair fell to the ground, his head bleeding heavily. Draco skidded to a halt when he noticed his father aiming at Ginny.

"Avada Ked--" he began, but Draco ran to him and tackled him to the ground, screaming at Ginny to run the other way.

Lucius punched Draco in the eye, and he slumped back, seeing stars.

"I see what you have become!" Lucius said, standing and kicking his son hard in the stomach. "You're one of them!"

Draco clutched his stomach, fighting for breath.

"It pains me to do this, Draco," Lucius said, raising his wand, "but I have no choice..."

What exactly his father intended to do, Draco never knew. Next moment, Lucius was knocked hard to the ground by a very determined, very angry Ron, who punched and kicked without restraint. Behind Ron, Draco noticed Rodolphus Lestrange, his face red with fury, approach with his wand raised. Draco collected enough breath to grab Ron and pull him off Lucius. Rodolphus' Killing Curse missed Ron, but Lucius chose the wrong moment to shove himself up onto his elbows. The curse hit him in the chest and he fell to the ground, limp.

Draco screamed and tackled Rodolphus, Ron at his heels, the pair of them beating Rodolphus into a bloody pulp. Draco slammed his fist again and again onto his head, finally drawing blood, and then wrapped his hands around his neck, squeezing with everything he could.

"Draco," Ron said, pulling on his shoulders.

Rodolphus squirmed and kicked, sputtering for breath. Draco squeezed harder, slamming his head into the ground and screaming in fury.

"Draco," Ron said, feebly trying to pull Draco free.

But Draco ignored him, continuing to slam Rodolphus into the ground and chock him until he grew still. Holy shit, Draco thought, pulling his shaky hands from Rodolphus' throat, I've killed him! I've killed him with my bare hands!

Hermione shrieked somewhere nearby and Ron tore off in her direction, whilst Draco headed once again towards Voldemort. He skidded to a halt when he faced a wall of Inferi blocking his path. Panting, sweaty, and nearly unable to steady himself on his own legs, he looked into their lifeless, vacant faces and beady red eyes. Their skin looked pallid and transparent and they smelled of dirt and burning sulfur. He cast Incendio, but it only served to knock a few out of his way, the rest advancing, looking very hungry and ready to tear him limb from limb.

"INCENDIO!" he screamed over and over until he felt the coldness of their bodies encircle him.

Then, suddenly, thankfully and wonderfully he had an epiphany. He raised his wand and cast a fiery lasso from the end of his wand, watching the Inferi catch fire and wither on the ground, fading into nothing. He kept his wand out and ready, noticing two figures in the distance. One, towering and billowing, stood opposite a figure Draco would have been able to recognize anywhere. He quickened his pace and ran, stopping directly beside Harry, and stood facing, at long last, the Dark Lord.

Voldemort smiled broadly at Draco's presence. "Draco," he said, "we meet at last."

Draco said nothing, the power and strength behind the half-man nearly intoxicating. For someone so shrouded in mystery and mystique, he was nothing at all what Draco'd expected. His features and movements were fluid yet ungraceful, and he seemed a short, rather broken version of a once very formidable man. He was in essence, an oxymoron of the overbearing, dominating physical presence Draco had envisioned since he'd first learnt of the Dark Lord.

"Harry and I were just talking about you, weren't we, Harry?" Voldemort said, pacing the pair of them. Harry stood silent, shaking with fury. "It seems you have been preoccupying his thoughts for most of this year and I was amazed to see how schoolboy rivalry melded into something a bit more...well a bit more. How disappointed your parents must have been to learn of your sordid affair." Voldemort stopped pacing. "Almost as disappointed I was to learn that my own dear, loyal followers were plotting against me." Voldemort waved his hand dismissively. "But no matter, no matter. I took care of everything as I always do. But there is one little detail left to settle." He stopped directly in front of Harry and smiled hungrily. "You." There was something seductive about the smile; sweetly flattering yet devouring. "Dumbledore seemed to think I fail to understand the potency of love when it comes to human relations, but I do not."

Voldemort had barley raised his wand when maddening, blinding pain filled Draco's body and he fought fruitlessly to free himself from his very body. Anything was preferable to this. Anything. His surroundings shook as he met Voldemort's eyes and he knew that he meant to keep this up until Draco was driven mad. There was nothing he could do--no spell to block it or stop the pain. He heard himself screaming at Harry to finish Voldemort off, to kill him while he was distracted, but only heard Voldemort slip into his mind and laugh shrilly, telling him to scream louder. Just as suddenly, the pain ceased, and Draco was left panting on the ground. He was only faintly aware of Harry standing over him protectively.

"But he was mistaken; I understand perfectly what it means to carry such a passionate feeling in your very core. I've seen its implications and cancerous effects. It binds itself to the heart, perfectly clouding the mind and distorting the senses. It would do little good to torture you, Harry," Voldemort said, once again causing Draco to writhe in pain under the curse. "But it does you immense harm if I do so to the one you love so deeply."

"Just finish him off!" Draco screamed to Harry, delirious with pain.

Draco was only vaguely aware of the pair of them dueling, and he looked up, half-conscious, and saw Harry advance, his face contorted with fury, his voice issuing a stream of obscenities that, under normal circumstances, would have made Draco blush.

"I could kill him, Harry," Voldemort said calmly. "But that would offer too much finality in the moment for you. Perhaps I shall invade his mind and borrow his body for a moment or two. Could you kill him if you had to, Harry? I could use his death to replace the Horcrux you so rudely destroyed earlier tonight."

Draco focused hard on Voldemort, realizing Snape had not been making light of the Dark Lord's gift at Occlumency. He had an idea just then, an idea that he felt was insanely improbable but nonetheless necessary. If he could just get inside Voldemort's head for a moment, it may be enough.

"It's your own fault you have loose ends to tie up!" Draco said, mustering up every bit of energy he could.

Voldemort's gaze rested on Draco as he appraised him. Draco shoved himself onto his elbows, feeling his body scream under the strain. He sealed his mind tightly shut before plowing on. "Couldn't think ahead when you tried to kill him, could you? Thought you had it all sorted out, didn't you, you fucking half-blood! You're more like your filthy Muggle father than you think!"

"SILENCE!" Voldemort screamed.

But his moment of anger allowed Draco the intrusion he needed.

"DOWN!" Draco screamed with every bit of energy he could muster, and Harry instinctively heeded his warning, narrowly missing the Killing Curse.

He screamed out more directions to Harry, fully knowing what was headed his way, reading the Dark Lord's mind with sufficient ease. Voldemort turned to Draco, his face livid.

"Go on then and do it," Draco said, "unless you're too weak."

"Shut up!" Harry screamed.

"I know what I'm doing!" Draco said, still staring into Voldemort's dead eyes. "Do it."

"You're MAD!" Harry said.

"For God's sake, I know what I'm doing!" Draco yelled, livid.

"NO!"

"SHUT UP!" Draco screamed.

"STOP IT!"

And then the Dark Lord plunged into Draco's very core, attempting to overtake his soul until he was nothing but a lifeless corpse, akin to the many Inferi that littered the battlefield. There was a suffocating darkness and void that suddenly filled his soul, worse than any sensation conjured by a Dementor, and a pain more acute than anything the Cruciatus Curse could conjure as his soul was ripped in two.

Dumbledore had been absolutely correct in his assessment of the root of Draco's power and in that moment, when Draco thought, no he knew, all hope was gone, that everything that meant anything had shrunken and vanished, he thought of Harry. He brought every memory he could muster to the forefront of his mind: the color of his hair, the way he bit his lip when caught in a pinch, the way he laughed, the look in his eyes when Draco leant in for a kiss, the way he walked, the way he chewed on the end of his glasses when lost in thought...any and every tiny detail he could pull forth from the depths of his fading mind.

And then, everything fell into place and made sense: friendship, love, quarrels, self-indulgence, control...every facet he'd felt or experienced over the past few months had everything clarity and meaning...and then he felt himself float blissfully and gently away...was it up? He didn't know. Already gone, already fast asleep in a slumber he never wanted to wake from, he felt an ease and relaxation fill his very soul and he knew no more.