Draco: Phoenix Rising

Chapter Seventeen - The Dark Mark

Their conversation was interrupted by an owl tapping on the parlour window. Hermione hurried over and opened it to admit Harry Potter's white owl. She removed a message from its leg and scanned it quickly.

"Don't leave, Hedwig. I'll have a return reply." She set the scroll on the end table and went to the kitchen. While she rummaged for something, Draco picked up the message, having no qualms about reading other people's mail.

H, R wants to know what the hell you're doing. We need your help with something so get a move on. H.

"You're in trouble now," Draco commented.

She threw Hedwig an owl treat and sat down to write a reply. At that moment, a silvery shape burst out of the fireplace. It actually enveloped Hermione for an instant and she looked like a semi-solid ghost. Draco watched curiously, but assumed from her unconcerned pose that she wasn't under attack. The silver nimbus dissipated, but her face remained pale. She dropped the parchment and quill.

"It's Neville. They think he was taken. I have the address now, but we'll have to Apparate blind." She stood up and gestured at him impatiently.

"We? I certainly don't need to go. I'll wait here for you."

"I'm not letting you out of my sight. Now, come on."

He rose in annoyance and she stepped close to him again. He was very glad he was tall enough to look down upon her.

"You're enormously bossy, you know?"

"It's been mentioned. Here, you might need this."

He was surprised to see her offering his wand. He took it and quirked a brow at her.

"Do you have to touch me again? Can't you just tell me where it is?"

Her brown eyes flashed and she grabbed his chin rather ungently. She tugged his face downward and leaned into his chest while raising her lips... Bloody hell! She wasn't going to--!

The squeezing blackness of Apparition drowned all other sensation. When they arrived, Hermione released him and stepped away quickly with a giggle.

"Oh my, that was rich. You should have seen your face." She laughed. Draco was about to flay her with a scathing retort when his comment was overwhelmed by someone shouting Hermione's name. She sobered at once and turned. She gasped so loudly it was nearly a shriek. Draco followed her gaze and saw a green, glowing Dark Mark hovering in the growing shadows over the house. He had a sinking feeling. Had they killed Longbottom, then? Hermione hurried toward the shouter.

The shade was growing as evening approached, but it was light enough to see that they were in a neat garden near double-doors that opened into a large house. A man in a top hot stood in the doorway, fairly jumping up and down.

"Come quickly!" he yelled. "She's in a bad way! I've just located her!"

Hermione raced inside and Draco reluctantly followed. They hurried up several flights of stairs and came to a large, mostly destroyed, bedchamber. The man was bending over a shape partially beneath the shattered remains of the bed. Hermione gasped.

"Mrs. Longbottom!"

"They didn't even give her the Avada Kedavra," the man snapped. "Just blew apart the room and left her trapped to die. The bed frame was half crushing her. We got here just in time. One leg is broke for sure. Bastards cast the Dark Mark too soon, lucky for us." Unless the Mark was for Neville, Draco thought.

"We've got to get her to St. Mungos," Hermione said.

"I know! I was waiting for Jack. He's looking for the boy. I'll take her and you can find Jack."

He gently lifted Neville Longbottom's unconscious grandmother and they both disappeared with a crack. Hermione looked at Draco worriedly.

"Who's Jack?" Draco asked.

"I'm Jack," said a voice behind them. A scarlet-clad wizard with extremely long hair pulled back into a ponytail strolled in. "Hermione. The boy is not to be found. It appears they took him." Draco was glad to see someone of Hermione's acquaintance that didn't want to kill him at first glance. Apparently, the man had no idea who Draco was.

"Why would they do that? They've been trying to kill everyone else," Draco said.

"Do you know for certain they planned to kill Luna?" Hermione asked.

Draco thought about it for a moment. "No. Snape brought me through. He said it was another chance for me to become a true Death Eater, but he may have meant for me to kill her father."

"They wanted to capture someone, I'm sure. They're setting a trap for Harry," Hermione whispered. Draco realized the attack on Hermione's parents might have been an attempt to seize Hermione for the same purpose.

Jack nodded.

"I'm afraid so. I'll inform the Order. Are you coming?"

Hermione shook her head. "I've got to tell Harry."

"What can he do? We've got to find Neville, first. We don't want Potter to rush off and be captured to no purpose."

Hermione sighed heavily. "All right. I'm going to stay here for a bit and see if the Death Eaters left anything for us to work out. Let the others decide what to do about Harry," she said wearily. Draco wondered how many times she had Apparated that day. Three that he knew of. She looked like she would gladly collapse at any moment.

The man called Jack nodded and Disapparated.

"Do you know where they took him?" Hermione asked Draco seriously.

He nodded. "I have an idea."

"Can we get him back?"

"No. Not without a massive fight on your hands. You can't find the place, anyway. It's Unplottable."

Hermione clenched her hands together around her wand. "We can't just let them torture Neville! They can't do to him what they did to his parents. They just can't."

Draco said nothing, since it was his own relatives that had performed the deed she referenced.

"You could go get him!" she said suddenly.

He stared at her, dumbfounded. "Are you mad? You want me to go on a suicide mission to rescue your friend Longbottom from a house full of Death Eaters? Do you think they'll just let me walk in there and escort him out?"

"You could take me with you. The two of us might have a chance." Her face was earnest, desperate, and pleading.

"I am not Harry Potter," Draco said brutally. "I will not go rushing into the jaws of death and rely on ridiculous Gryffindor luck to pull us through by the thread of a robe. You are supposed to be intelligent! You know the two of us will never be able to take on the Lestranges, McNair, Mulciber the Devil, Lars, and the rest. And you know what will happen if Fenrir Greyback is there? He will tear out your tender throat and laugh while he does it. If you're lucky, you'll be dead when he's through with you."

Tears sparkled in her eyes and she glared at him.

"You're afraid!" she accused.

"I'm realistic!" he snapped. "I know what they're capable of and I don't intend to throw my life away."

"Is that the only reason you left them? To save your own bloody skin?" she yelled. Draco reacted as if slapped. He spun on a heel and marched down the stairs.

Stupid overemotional Gryffindor idiot! He would never understand the Gryffindor mentality. Even the smart ones thought nothing of barging willy-nilly into colossal peril, against insurmountable odds, just because they thought it was the proper thing to do.

He stalked outside and noticed the sun had set, tingeing the sky with red and gold. For a brief, ludicrous moment, he considered Apparating to Malfoy Manor. Not because she asked him to, but because... because it's what Harry Potter would have done. His fist clenched tightly around his wand. Harry fricking Potter.

"Malfoy, wait!" she called behind him.

He halted and wondered what verbal torment she had for him, now. She grasped his arm and turned him to face her. He glowered at her and noticed her face looked like burnished gold in the twilight. Her hair glinted, halo-like.

"I'm sorry," she said, to his astonishment. "I shouldn't have asked you. This isn't even your fight and here I am, trying to drag you into it. I forgot you would have to fight your own parents..."

Draco hadn't. He knew he'd never have to fight his parents. No matter what lip service they paid to Voldemort, they would both die rather than harm Draco. He knew that to be true above all else. The thought made him suddenly wonder what they were doing. His mother was probably frantic, thinking him dead or captured by the enemy. He wished he could send her a message, but that would only put her in danger.

Hermione's hand fell away. "I need to do something or I think I'll go crazy," she said.

"Fine. Let's do something," he suggested. "Let's go to the Riddle house."

"Go after the Horcrux?"

He nodded. "Probably still dangerous, but somewhat less likely to get us killed. Hopefully."

She gnawed on her lip for a moment. "All right. I feel like I'm letting Neville down, though."

"You'd be letting him down more by getting Avada Kedavraed. I'm sure your Order will think of something."

"I hope so."

"Come on," he said, "I'll take us through this time."

She waited as he stepped close to her and reached out. He snaked his arm around her waist and pressed her fully against him. Her eyes were huge as she stared at him in surprise.

"You're a little too trusting, aren't you?" he asked and triggered the spell.