Draco: Phoenix Rising

Chapter Forty Three - Death Eaters

Hermione vaguely heard Harry calling them from the Trophy Room. Draco was seated on the marble floor, leaning against the scabbard display and Hermione was in his lap, pleasantly lost in a fog of bliss.

Harry's voice grew louder as he entered the Armor Gallery. Hermione fought her way out of Draco's embrace, with effort, and stood up shakily.

"Here!" she called brightly. She took Draco's hand and pulled him to his feet, surprised to note he looked just as dazed as she felt.

Harry blinked at them when he approached. Hermione giggled at Draco's disheveled appearance.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Harry asked dryly.

Hermione shook her head, but Draco said, "Yes. Can you make yourself disappear, Potter?"

"Never mind," Hermione said. "We were just... looking at the displays. What did Dobby have to say?"

Harry frowned.

"Malfoy, have you ever heard of the Elven Council?"

Draco paused in smoothing his hair back to its normal perfection, although Hermione thought he looked delectable with it hanging over his eyes in a silver curtain...

"Elven what?" he asked.

"That's what I thought. It doesn't matter at the moment. We were going to fetch the map, remember?"

"What map?" Draco snapped.

"You'll see. Come on. The sooner we check this, the sooner you two can get back to snogging."

Hermione blushed, but Draco laughed.

"Smartest thing you've said all week, Potter."

They were nearly to the fourth floor landing when a cry from below halted them. They stopped and peered over the railing at Ginny Weasley, who bolted up the steps, looking agitated.

Hermione felt a sinking sensation, wondering if they had received bad news of Percy.

"Harry, come quickly!" Ginny yelled when she was near enough to be heard. "Susan Bones just killed the Carrows!"

"She what?"

Harry raced down the stairs two at a time, followed by Hermione and Draco.

"She tried to get Greyback, too, but he kept dodging her Avada Kedavras. Nearly blew his cell to pieces. Moody had to knock him out and move him when it was over."

The Great Hall had an atmosphere of shocked silence.

"How did it happen?" Hermione asked Fred and George, who stood nearby.

"We came in here and announced that Percy was alive," said Fred.

"Mum started going all to pieces again, knowing Percy was trapped somewhere," George continued.

"Possibly tortured."

"Susan got up and walked out."

"Hagrid came in from outside and heard the shouting."

"Susan was screaming, calling them murderers."

"By the time Hagrid tackled her, it was too late for the Carrows and Greyback was pretty singed. Another few moments and she would have killed him, too."

"Too bad Hagrid wasn't a bit slower," Draco said dryly. No one contradicted him.

"And Wormtail?" Hermione asked.

"Susan doesn't know who or what he is. She let him be."

"Another pity," Draco commented. "We should have labeled his cage."

"Where is Susan?" asked Neville. He and Luna had come in to hear the tail end of the story.

"Sedated in the hospital wing," said Ginny.

"They'll have to turn her over to the Ministry, of course," said Fred.

"McGonagall went to contact them."

"I'll go sit with Susan," Neville said quietly. "After what happened to my Gran, I sort of understand how she feels."

"I'll go with you," Luna offered.

Bill Weasley stood up from where he'd been sitting near his parents.

"Since most of you are here, at the moment," he said, "I have an announcement. We have decided the wedding will be held August fifteenth, and the ceremony will be outside, near the lake. You are, of course, all invited."

Fleur suddenly burst into tears and fled the Hall. Bill hurried after her. Draco looked confused.

"What? Now she doesn't want to get married?" he asked. Hermione rolled her eyes. Males were so dense, sometimes.

"This is supposed to be the happiest time of her life, and look what's happened. Percy kidnapped. Death Eaters everywhere. The Ministry in danger. Voldemort a complete unknown... And Bill stupidly announcing their wedding day in the midst of a crisis. Of course she's upset."

"Maybe they should postpone the wedding," Harry suggested.

"Well, that would be admitting defeat, wouldn't it?" Hermione said forcefully. Ginny nodded.

"I'd better go talk to Ron," Harry decided. He and Ginny moved toward the remaining Weasley group. The twins joined them.

Hermione looked at Draco seriously.

"We have to go tonight," she said quietly. His silver gaze sharpened. She continued, "I feel like we're running out of time."

* * * * *

Draco slipped out the large front door with a brief thought back to the number of times he'd crept out the same doors. Those days seemed so carefree and simple, now.

He hurried down the steps and around the side of the castle to find Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom waiting for him.

"Where's Granger?"

Ron made a sound of disgust and even in the dark Draco could picture him rolling his eyes.

"She stopped by the library again to check on something. If she could find a way to bring the whole library along, she would."

Draco glanced at the sky. No stars were visible. Clouds had begun to roll in shortly after dusk. Longbottom yawned.

Hermione finally trotted up.

"Sorry," she said. "Let's go."

They mounted brooms--Hermione rode with Draco by unspoken agreement and he wished he had his own broom. It was back at Malfoy Manor. Even Weasley's broom was better than the substandard school broom Draco rode. Luckily, the distance was short. Once beyond the school walls, they Disapparated.

The graveyard near Godric's Hollow was creepy at night, which was most likely true of all graveyards everywhere. Rain was spitting fitfully.

"Perfect night for grave digging," Draco said cheerfully. Weasley gave him a toxic glare.

Hermione had brought a backpack filled with supplies. Salt was useless in the rain, but she had also brought sand. She poured it out into a pentagram around Lily Potter's grave. The candles were more challenging as it began to rain in earnest shortly before they lit the candles. After they went out several times, Hermione commandeered a nearby vase, broke it, and transfigured the pieces into covered holders for the candles.

Hermione had instructed Neville on his part earlier and he invoked his quarter nervously, but managed not to stutter. Ron and Draco did theirs and when the circle was complete Hermione pulled out her wand and began the complex incantation to cancel the wards.

They quickly became soaked as they waited. Draco had worn a cloak, but the hood did little to keep the rain off his face. He blew at a droplet of water that hovered on his nose.

Hermione finally finished and quickly cast another spell. She sagged in relief.

"I think it worked," she said. "No ward lines."

Draco hadn't doubted her for a moment.

"All right, let's get this dirt out of here."

"Wait! I want to disturb the site as little as possible," Hermione said. "Not just because it's the right thing to do, but I also don't want Voldemort to know we were here, if at all possible."

The four of them used their wands to cut the grassy hillock from the grave and set it gently aside to expose the soil beneath. After that, it was sheer, grueling labor to levitate out as much dirt as they could life--soil that was quickly turning to heavy mud.

Finally, the top of the coffin became visible. They barely had time to sigh in relief before the crack of Apparition shocked them out of their tired stupors.

Three masked Death Eaters stood among them. There was a stunned moment of silence before they all erupted into action.

Draco threw himself sideways and leveled a blast that sent one Death Eater sprawling backward. Hermione cried out, hit by something. Draco looked at her worriedly, but she thankfully remained on her feet.

He heard Weasley shout and glanced back to see Ron dodge a green blast. Weasley shot an orange bolt at his attacker, who slipped in the mud and narrowly avoided it.

Neville was down on one knee, blasting madly with his wand like an American gunfighter shooting at a running Death Eater.

Hermione giggled and threw her arms wide before spinning in a giddy circle. Draco groaned. Confundus. He pointed his wand at her, intending to counter the spell, but the Death Eater he'd hit originally was up again. Draco felt a spell tug at his hood as it passed and experienced a moment of alarm, hoping his hair wasn't singed. He shot an absent curse at the man and tried to get to Hermione.

Neville's opponent suddenly turned and hit Longbottom full on with something. Neville dropped like a stone.

Another spell shot by Draco and he glared before sending his patented gale force wind at the man, who miraculously braced himself and did not fall.

"Malfoy!" the Death Eater yelled in recognition. Draco swore roundly. He had assumed the Death Eaters to be standard-issue underlings, like Crabbe, Goyle, and McNair. Now, he wasn't so sure. What if the Dark Lord had sent someone competent, like Lars or Mulciber? As if on cue, Ron went down with a yelp. Draco shot a Full Body Bind at Weasley's attacker an instant before he was enveloped in pain.

Draco went down on one knee, trying to fight the blinding excrutiation. Neville's attacker had hit Draco with the Cruciatus Curse--the other one laughed chillingly and Malfoy felt fear begin to overwhelm his pain.

"You are alive, Draco," Mulciber yelled. "Did you desert us for this? A girl?"

The agony forced Draco to his knees. He put one hand in the mud and it clenched convulsively as he strove to keep from screaming. His teeth were clenched in an effort not to bite his tongue.

"Will you come back to us when she's dead?" Mulciber continued conversationally. "Let's see, shall we?"

Ron's wail of denial behind him told Draco that Weasley was alive, but wandless.

Mulciber raised his own wand and gestured at Hermione. Draco's wand was still clenched in his hand. Using every ounce of willpower, he fought the Cruciatus Curse and lifted his wand. It seemed to move through molasses--slowly, too slowly. Green light erupted from Mulciber's wand.

"Avada Kedavra!" Draco screamed through a haze of red. Mulciber was felled like a tree and Draco was suddenly free. He sagged in the mud for only a moment before scrambling to Hermione's prone form.

"You killed Mulciber?" the other Death Eater yelled in disbelief. "Malfoy?"

Draco paused long enough the stun the bastard--Rabastan or Antonin, he thought, and then he was cradling Hermione in his wet arms.

"Oh God, don't let her be dead," he begged, nearly overwhelmed at how much he needed it to be true. He shifted her slightly and raised his muddy hand to feel for a pulse at her throat. To his utter shock, her brown eyes blinked at him semi-lucidly.

"I fell down," she said in a stage whisper and giggled.

Draco buried her face in his chest in relief and felt a hot wetness sting his eyes for a moment.

"Mmmm, you're warm and you smell so good," Hermione purred. Her voice was muffled by his shirt. "Do I know you?"

Draco smiled gently and touched her with his wand to cancel the Confundus Charm. Her bemused gaze cleared instantly.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I don't know," Draco admitted. "I thought you were dead."

"She tripped," said Ron behind him. "Right when he cast--it barely missed her."

Draco swiveled his head around to look at Weasley. Ron was lying in the mud, looking as though he'd dragged himself forward with his hands.

"You okay, Weasley?"

"I can't move my legs. And my wand is gone."

Draco cancelled the Leg Locker Curse on Ron while Hermione Accioed his wand, which snapped into her hand from the undergrowth.

"Where's Neville?" she cried when Ron stood up and retrieved his wand. Draco helped her to her feet.

"He went down over there," he said and pointed. If the Death Eater who had hit him was Dolohov, Longbottom might not be getting up. Ron hurried over to check on Neville and Draco walked to Ron's former attacker, who was still stiff from Draco's Full Body Bind. Malfoy knelt and tore off the mask.

"Hello, Gerald," he said to Goyle. "Nice to see you, again."

The Death Eater's eyes registered surprise for a moment, but Draco left him to remove the mask from Titus Mulciber, whose dead eyes stared into the rain, unseeing.

"Neville's okay!" Ron called. "Hit with a Stunner, looks like!"

Hermione joined Draco. She gasped at Mulciber.

"My God! Did you--?"

Draco nodded and laughed humorlessly. "Looks like I really am a killer."

"I can't believe it," she murmured and Draco's jaw clenched. He'd acted on impulse, but he hadn't hesitated to use the Unforgivable Curse. Potter would never have done it. He would have used a Stunner or Disarming Charm or something non-lethal. Now, Hermione knew what Draco was capable of. Regardless that he'd done it for her, she would still be properly appalled. He could practically feel her shrinking away from him.

Draco turned and walked abruptly to the last Death Eater, unwilling to meet her accusatory gaze. Ripping away the mask, Draco revealed Dolohov, who was unconscious. Malfoy conjured ropes to bind him further, and then did the same to Goyle. He levitated them and bound them to nearby headstones, making sure they would be unable to view the upcoming proceedings.

Neville was up, looking rather annoyed at having been knocked out. Hermione touched Malfoy's arm.

"Draco--" she started, but he shook her off.

"Let's get this done with, before he sends reinforcements."

"How did they know we were here?" Ron asked. "I thought we broke the wards."

Hermione cast a spell into the grave to reveal another set of glowing lines.

"How could I be so stupid?" she cried. "Second wards, right above the coffin. I should have guessed!"

"It doesn't matter," Draco said shortly. "It's already been triggered, so we no longer have to worry about it." He issued terse instructions and Hermione stood at the base of the grave, ready for anything, while the others cast an opening spell. The coffin lid snapped upward with a crack and they all cast Lumos spells.

Lily Potter's corpse was no prettier than any other body that had been lying in the ground for over a decade. The hair was a dull red, and looked almost too lifelike on the grayish skull.

Hermione turned away with a sob and the other two looked like they might be ill. Draco ignored them and knelt to peer closer at the body, increasing the light from his wand. Prisms of light glinted from an object on Lily's left wrist--the Ravenclaw bracelet.

"So... who volunteers to hop down there and get it?" Draco asked lightly. Both Weasley and Longbottom stepped back, horrified. Draco sighed. "That's what I thought."

Bloody squeamish Gryffindors.

"Wait, there might be a trap!" Hermione said. "Can't we just levitate the bracelet out?"

She tried several times, but it could not quite fit over the wrist bones, even though it seemed impossible that it wouldn't. Draco swore and impulsively jumped into the grave, ignoring Hermione's cry of protest.

Draco was prepared for just about anything, but he was still surprised when Lily Potter sat up and clamped a bony hand around his leg.

Hermione shrieked as Lily's corpse began to pull itself upright and the leering jaws gaped open. The Gryffindors began to pelt the body with spells while shouting madly. Draco began to shout, also, hoping to be heard over the din.

"Stop it!" he bellowed. "Inferi are immune, damn it! They're already dead!"

The jets of light either bounced off the corpse or were absorbed. Several ricocheted and nearly hit Draco. If one of the idiots Stunned him, he was dead.

"STOP!" he thundered. Lily's face drew close to Draco's groin as she pulled herself upright with the painful grip below his knee. He felt the circulation in his foot going fast. He put his left hand out and kept her clicking teeth away with a tight grasp on her jaw, cringing when his fingers sank into the decomposing gore.

The nearness of his flesh seemed to excite her and she strove to turn her head and bite Draco's arm. Her strength was incredible and Draco felt his sinews strain with effort.

"Draco!" Hermione screamed. "What should we do?"

"Nothing!" he gritted loudly. He pointed his wand at the Inferi and began to chant. A Binding was effective against the undead and similar horrors, but it took a bloody long time to cast.

Lily's other clawed hand reached up and snagged his waistband, dragging her long nails through the flesh of his waist. Draco winced, but his chanting did not falter. The Inferi heaved herself at him suddenly and he jerked backward to avoid the teeth that clicked where his belly had been an instant before. Draco's chant became a shout and finally a deep purple cloud began to form around the body.

The Inferi began to wail--a horrific, unworldly noise that raised the hairs on the back of Draco's neck--as it sensed its prey beginning to escape. The snapping jaws bit at the air more savagely and frantically. Then, it was still. Draco was completely drenched now. Covered in sweat on the inside and rain on the outside. He panted with exertion.

"Get off of me," he ordered. The Inferi obediently released him and he felt the blood begin to flow back into his left foot. He shook it experimentally. Lily's body scooted away from him. The eye sockets seemed to stare at him balefully.

"Now, give me the bracelet," he snapped. She reached a bony hand to the bracelet and slipped it easily off her other wrist. It dangled between them from the nearly fleshless bones of her fingers.

"Well," he said. "That was too easy. Give me something to put this in."

Hermione handed down the leather bag that had contained the sand.

Draco held it open beneath the bracelet.

"Drop it," he said. The sapphire encrusted trinket slipped into the bag and Draco tossed it up and out of the grave. If there was another curse on it, they could deal with it back at Hogwarts.

"Now, lie down like a good dead body," he commanded and the Inferi obediently, if somewhat petulantly, resumed its original position. Draco levitated himself out of the hole and slammed the lid of the coffin with a spell.

"Should we just leave her like that?" Hermione asked anxiously. He looked at her sadly.

"It's not Lily Potter. It's just a husk of flesh, animated by a dark spell. It will lie still as soon as we replace the soil."

"Can't we free it?"

"We don't have time. The Dark Lord will be wondering where his underlings are any moment, if they were sent to check the wards and return. We need to get the hell out of here. If you like, we can return later." His voice was sharper than intended.

Hermione nodded soberly and raised her chin.

"Let's cover it, then," she said and they started to lever the mud back into the grave. When that filthy job was finished, they replaced the grassy knoll. Draco looked around. The whole area was torn and muddy--it looked like... well, it looked like a battle had been fought there.

"So much for being inconspicuous," he commented.

"There's no help for it," Hermione said as she gathered the guttering and unlit candles. She tossed them into the bag with the bracelet and slung it over her shoulder. She took a moment to repair and replace the vase she had stolen from a nearby grave, something that wouldn't even have occurred to Draco. "What should we do with...?" She gestured to Mulciber.

"We'll have to take him. And the others. No sense broadcasting what we've done. If he checks for the Horcrux, he'll know we have it and the whole secret is out. I don't plan to leave him any witnesses, alive or dead."

Ron was charged with taking Gerald Goyle and Hermione grabbed Antonin Dolohov. Draco partially hefted Mulciber's body. The four conspirators and three incapacitated Death Eaters appeared back near Hogwarts' outer wall, covered in mud that the rain couldn't wash off.

Even with brooms, it would be a long, silent journey back to the castle.