What Once Could Never Be...

What Once Could Never Be...

Chapter 9: Rescue

At that moment, Harry awoke with a start. He had just been having the same dream that Draco had been having for the past two nights. Only Harry had seen the dream from a different point of view.

He had been watching through a window in the ceiling as the Death Eater brought the knife across Hermione´s throat. He had watched as Draco began beating the glass in the window with his fist on the other side of the room. Harry had looked on in horror as blood began to pool around Hermione´s head and saw Draco doing the same. Both powerless to stop it.

Then, Harry had been catapulted a year into the future. He tossed in his sleep as the images of Voldemort´s terror and killings flashed through his mind. He saw his friends being killed by Death Eaters and the mark being left behind. The war between good and evil had ultimately started.

The next thing Harry saw in his dream puzzled him even further. He watched as an older version of himself faced off against Draco. They were both holding swords and were soon fighting with nothing held back. Metal clashed against metal as the fight went undisturbed. As Harry looked on, he felt himself being pulled into his dream self. He was facing Draco with his sword, poised ready to strike, in front of him. Something on Draco´s forearm caught Harry´s eye. The Dark Mark. It was unmistakable. The short distraction would cost him dearly. Draco took advantage and plunged his sword through Harry´s chest. Harry feel to his knees, and everything went black. It was then that he awoke.

He got out of bed and threw the covers off of him. He raced out of the dormitory, not even bothering to get dressed. His scar was hurting, and he knew something was coming. Something big. Something bad. He wanted to get to Dumbledore before he forgot a single detail of the dream.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco flew at a speed that was unmatched by any other time he had been on his broom. I wish I could fly like this when I meet Potter on the Quidditch field. I mustn´t think about these things right now. Hermione needs me.

He could see the outline of the ominous mansion in the distance. The towers of the large structure rose into the gloomy night, the granite stone blocks that formed the walls gave the whole place a shadowy feeling. Draco thought that the place looked more like a fortress than ever.

Draco knew this place as his home and had lived in the mansion all his life. It was true that most of his life was spent in suffering, but he wouldn´t have lived anywhere else for the world. The maze-like corridors and secret passageways were his playgrounds as a young boy, and they had taken his mind off his impending doom. Even after he had come to Hogwarts, he had still taken refuge in the safety of the house and he had many hiding places from his father.

His mother was of little comfort to him during his childhood even though he knew she loved him. She was afraid of Lucius, and sometimes he beat her bad enough that Draco wouldn´t see his mother for a month. When he was little, he had thought that his mother was always ill. When he had become old enough to learn the truth, it only made him want to kill Lucius even more. Narcissa had not chosen to marry him of her own will. She had confided this to Draco not yet a year ago. She thought it was time for him to know. Draco remembered the conversation like it was yesterday.

"But if he forced you to marry him, why stay married?"

"I didn´t want to be to a disappointment to my family."

"They would rather you be unhappy and forced into a marriage?"

"They thought it was the best decision." The next part she had said with so much disgust that she even surprised her son. "Because Lucius was a MALFOY." She spit the name like it was beneath dirt on the ground.

Draco had looked at his mother with a new respect for having to go through a life she did not choose. He could identify with her now for being forced to join Voldemort.

His mother gazed at her son with tears in her eyes. Her voice quickly changed into one that was silky and soothing as she gathered her son in her arms. "Don´t worry about me, my dragon. By the time I knew what had happened, I was already pregnant with you, and I would not give you up for the world. You are my one and only baby." She pressed a comforting kiss on top of his head as he drifted off to sleep.

It was then that Draco began feeling ashamed of the name he had been proud to have and of the father he had looked up to. Just the knowledge that his whole life was built on lies was enough to push Draco to the brink of insanity. He had decided to end his pain and suffering by jumping off a cliff that was near the mansion. He had been seated on the edge looking down into the rocky precipice when something stopped him from leaping to his end. His mother. He couldn´t leave her to suffer alone. If he was going to save himself, he would have to save her as well. His mother deserved her freedom even more than he did. Hermione had taught him in three days time that love and compassion really did exist. Something that had been forced out of him from day one. The more he dwelled on it, Draco realized that he and his mother were prisoners in the place known as Malfoy Manor.

When he had been told what he had to do, the life that he tried to avoid became his only choice if he was to save the only person he would ever love. He would sacrifice his entire existence in hope that she would one day find true happiness. Even if it didn´t include him.

The vast moors surrounding the mansion fell away as he flew through one of the topmost windows, landing in his room. He liked living on the top floor because of the view from the window that he had always kept open. It stayed open after he had to fly home on short notice once to comfort his mother after a particularly harsh beating. The cool night air floated in the window and a gentle breeze could be felt around his room.

His room did not look any different from the way he had left it except for the missing trunk at the foot of his bed that now was at Hogwarts. He crept silently to the door and pressed his ear gently against it. He wanted to make sure that nothing was astir before attempting to rescue Hermione. When he was confident that his wing of the manor was unoccupied, he cast a Silencing Spell on the room. He sat on his bed and emptied his pockets, and went to work on a plan that would save them both.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ron was soundlessly asleep in the sixth year Gryffindor boys´ dorm before being violently shaken to consciousness by Harry.

After an unusually grueling Quidditch practice, he had been exhausted and fallen straight to sleep after laying on his bed, not bothering to change into his pajamas. He opened one eye to see who had disturbed his dream about him telling Snape exactly who was the brainless git. When he saw that it was Harry and that it was also still dark outside, he shoved him away from the bed and rolled over.

"Come on, Ron. Wake up!"

Ron mumbled something incoherently before Harry started shaking him again. That was enough to get him up.

"What? What?! This better be good is all I have to say."

Ron got out of bed and followed Harry down to the Gryffindor common room. They sat down in two chairs nearest the fireplace. Harry gazed into the fire which had been reduced to warm glowing embers before turning to Ron.

"I had a dream last night, and when I woke up my scar was hurting."

Ron paled as the color drained out of his face leaving his freckles standing out. He found his voice, but was finding it hard to keep it steady.

"D - D - Did you go to Dumbledore? I´m sure that it was probably nothing. Right?" he asked hopefully.

Harry just sat there with a mixture of emotions upon his face and in his eyes. Ron had been friends with him long enough to be able to read Harry´s face like an open book. In it, he saw puzzlement with a sort of understanding and also a determination that Harry was known to possess. Ron didn´t want to know the reason behind the dream, but at the same time he felt like he couldn´t wait another second for Harry to tell him.

Harry opened his mouth and everything that Dumbledore had told him in the last hour poured out. He told Ron all about the prophecy and how it involved Hermione, Draco and himself. He told him how Dumbledore had informed him that he was to become the leader of the side of good in the war against Voldemort and how everyone would be looking to him for guidance. He also explained that Hermione had been kidnapped by Draco´s father and that Draco was the only one who could save her by giving himself up to the dark side. Out of all the things that Harry had just told Ron, the last one was what he was having trouble dealing with.

"We´re supposed to trust MALFOY to save Hermione?! He´ll just turn her over to Voldemort and we´ll never see her again. He´s already evil. He doesn´t need a mark on his arm to tell us that."

"Ron, calm down. I´m having trouble believing everything as well, but we have to trust Malfoy. For Hermione´s sake."

Ron nodded his head. "So when does the war start?"

"I think it all depends on how Malfoy does saving Hermione. By the images of my dream, it doesn´t look good. The war could start as soon as tomorrow." Harry did not tell Ron that Hermione had been killed in his dream. He silently prayed that Draco would return a safe Hermione before turning to the dark side. He also had not told Ron about Draco´s destiny. Dumbledore had told him about the path that Draco´s father had set for him. Harry had been shocked and at the same time realized why Draco acted the way he did, but he felt it was Draco´s business to tell people about his fate. Harry turned his attention back to the conversation in front of him.

Ron sat there with a dazed expression crossing his features. It was a lot to take in for an adult much less three teenage boys. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"We sit and we wait."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco slipped out the door of his room into the unguarded hallway outside. Under the cover of his own invisibility cloak, he made his way to the dungeons where, knowing from his dream, Hermione was being kept. His steps were masked by a Moinssolide Charm, and he had shrunken his broom and put it into his pocket. He was carrying a vial of the potion Menjareum, which he knew would come in handy from the book Snape had given him. The only other defense he had was his wand, but a sixth-year student against a group of Death Eaters did not bode well in his favor.

The eerie silence that seemed to have fallen over the house was unnerving to Draco as he took the stairs down one at a time being careful not to disturb anything around him. The walls of the mansion were covered with paintings by famous wizard artists and sculptures were arranged to give the rooms a certain grandeur. The people in the painting were eyeing Draco´s general position which he found quite distracting. Can they see through the cloak? I need to hurry.

When he arrived on the first floor, he walked through the middle section of the manor where his mother stayed. After making many turns in different directions, he came upon a door that stood out from the rest. It was not easily distinguishable for its grand carvings or gold-gilded panels like others in the house, but for its simplicity. It was just a simple wooden door. Draco looked from side to side before letting the cloak fall aside to reveal his wand hand. He placed the tip of his wand on the keyhole of the door and it disappeared to reveal a knocker. He knocked once and the door slowly swung open. He kept his wand out, waiting for a surprise attack, but found that the other side of the door was unoccupied.

He quickly recovered himself with the cloak and made his way through the miles of tunnels under his house. At times, he was worried about bumping into somebody in the narrower passageways, but was surprised to find that no one else was around. The only people he saw during his entire rescue attempt were house elves and prisoners in the dungeons. Draco had only come down here with his father when absolutely necessary. He did not want to think about what his father did to his prisoners which would make him think about what he might have done to Hermione.

Then, he saw her. He was starting to lose hope by the time he made his way past the middle dungeons, fearing that she was either in another part of the house or she was already dead. She looked like she hadn´t slept in days and hadn´t eaten either. Dark circles were starting to form beneath her eyes, but he didn´t care. She was still the most beautiful woman in the world to him. When he reached her cell, he softly called out to her.

"Hermione." No answer.

A little louder this time. "Hermione." That got her attention.

She stood up being supported by the wall and looked around. "Who´s there? Where are you? Show yourself."

"Shhhhh. It´s me. Draco."

"Draco?! Oh Goddess! I thought I was going to die. Are you alright?"

Draco chuckled from a place over to her right. She walked to the corner where she thought he was standing. "Shouldn´t I be asking you that question?"

She smiled. The first genuine smile in two days. "I´m fine. I´ll be even better if you can get me out of here."

Draco let the cloak drop slightly to reveal his hand which clasped the vial of potion. "Be very quiet and very still," he whispered. He poured the potion in a rectangular shape large enough for Hermione to crawl out of, and watched as it melted the bars away.

Hermione watched in awed curiosity. She would have to ask him about that later. She took his hand and crawled through the space left in the bars. Once out of the cell, Draco quickly pulled her under the invisibility cloak with him. The sight of Draco made her want to faint because she missed him so much. She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight against her.

He returned her embrace, but soon pulled back. "There will be plenty time for that once we get out of here." He took her by the hand and began retracing his steps back up to his room. Once again, he did not meet anyone on the way. How odd.

When finally in the comfort of his soundproof room, he threw the cloak off both of them and gathered her in his arms placing a kiss upon her tender lips. All the emotions that were bottled up in them over the events in the last two days poured out into the kiss. After pulling back for breath and sharing a few more, Hermione looked around at where they were at.

"Is this your room?"

"Yes."

She nodded her head while gazing at the room decorated in green and silver with black ebony furniture. "I like it." She smiled.

Draco removed his broom from his pocket and returned it to normal size. He packed away all the things he had brought with him. He went to the window and mounted his Firebolt. After feeling Hermione climb on behind him and place her arms around his waist, he kicked off and felt himself rising into the air. He sped off without looking back. They were safe. His Hermione was safe.

But something was nagging at the back of his mind. It seemed so easy to rescue Hermione. TOO easy. Was his father setting him up? Or was he getting more careless? They had not been flying for more than ten minutes when a soft, meek voice came from behind him.

"Draco?"

He looked back to see what was wrong with her, but instead his eyes fell upon a sight that made his stomach drop and his heart rise to his throat. A group of Death Eaters were flying towards them at top speed, and his father was right in front holding out his wand.