Drifting

Chapter 13: ...and Rescue

"Back off I'll take you on,Headstrong to take on anyone,I know that you are wrong,Headstrong we're Headstrong,Back off I'll take you on,

Headstrong to take on anyone-" Trapt, Headstrong

~*~

Harry's scar exploded in pain again as the surroundings of Voldemort's hideout came into view. He fell to his knees from the combination of the pain and the landing from the Portkey. His fall didn't go unnoticed. "Harry! All right there?" Remus said, holding out his hand. Harry grasped it loosely, the pain in his head becoming too much to handle. Remus tried to pull him up but Harry was dead weight on the end of his arm. "Harry, work with me here!" Harry moaned softly. "It's worse than ever..." Dumbledore came over and took hold of Harry's other hand. Together, he and Remus managed to pull Harry up. Harry swayed slightly, his face showing signs of the agony in his forehead. "Can you walk?" Remus asked. "Yeah..." Harry said, taking a few small steps forward in demonstration. "Good. Harry, are you ready to have the charm put on you?" Dumbledore inquired. Harry nodded, stumbling back to Lupin and leaning on him for support. Dumbledore raised his hand to perform the charm. "Wait!" a voice called out.

~*~

Draco ran home as soon as Voldemort had left with Dudley and Bellatrix. He banged through the front door, not listening to his mother's cry for him to be quieter. He went straight to the drawer beside the stove and began sifting through papers. "Come on, come on," he muttered to himself. "It has to be in here!" His first search through the drawer resulted in him finding a very embarrassing photo of himself but not what he wanted. I must have missed it, he thought. Halfway through the drawer for the second time, he found it. Grabbing the small piece of parchment he ran into the lounge. Draco jammed his hand into the bowl of Floo Powder next to the fire and threw it in, calling out the address on the sheet. "Number 12, Grimmauld Place!" He knew at once he had to report what he saw to the Order of the Phoenix. Harry had given him the address a few days ago in case of an attack. Harry had basically accepted him into the realm of the Light Side and had become the first true friend Draco had ever had. He was shaken from his thoughts when he heard a small shriek. Ginny stood in front of him, her jaw slack. "M-Malfoy! What are you doing here?" "There was an attack on Harry's-" "Yes, I know," Ginny snapped irritably. "They all went after Voldemort and Dudley, even Harry. I have half a mind to follow them with the spare Portkey Dumbledore left in case of emergency." Draco stared at her. "Spare Portkey?" Ginny nodded. "Pull me through." Ginny's hand reached into the fire and a second later Draco was standing in the middle of the room. "Where's the Portkey?" Ginny grabbed his hand and pulled him to the place where the group of people had just left from barely two minutes earlier. Draco saw a small blue book lying on the floor. He reached forward to touch it but Ginny yanked him back. "Where the hell do you think you're going? Harry's getting Dudley! You don't have to help!" Draco shook his head. "My father forced me to go to Voldemort's hideout last year. The place hasn't changed from what I've heard. I know my way around there. Harry doesn't. I have to help him before he gets lost-" "You're not going without me!" Ginny interrupted. "Weasley-" "Ginny," the girl snapped. "Ginny...You can't go. I've been getting to know Harry quite well over the past few weeks and I know that if you went and anything happened to you he'd kill himself. It's much safer for you to stay here. Would you rather both of you are dead, or both alive and well?" He wrenched his hand out of her grasp. For a moment, he thought that Ginny would slap him, since her hand was shaking slightly. He was wrong though. The girl before him stood absolutely still. "Something might happen to him. I won't be there to help him," Ginny said finally, hanging her head. "I'll be there," Draco said, tilting her chin up until his eyes met hers. Ginny half-smiled. "Keep him safe. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Draco returned the smile. "I promise." His fingers left her chin and he grabbed the spare Portkey, disappearing from the room.

~*~

"Draco," Harry said faintly as he saw Draco stumble towards them. "How'd you get here?" Draco looked at Dumbledore and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "Spare Portkey." "Go back," Dumbledore commanded. Draco shook his head. "I know my way around here. I can go with Harry. Goodness knows he can't carry his cousin on his own." Harry grinned slightly. "I could barely carry him last summer after the Dementor attack." He turned to Dumbledore. "Please let him come. If we get attacked on the way, he can help with the fight." Dumbledore looked back and forth between the two boys. Draco made his way over to Harry and grasped the boy's arm. "I'm not leaving and you can't make me." Dumbledore sighed, giving in to defeat. Draco silently cheered at not being pushed down for once. Harry nodded his thanks. "Draco, I'm going to have to perform the invisibility charm on you, too. On the count of three..." Both boys were soon invisible. Draco was experimentally reaching out to touch things, having rarely experienced being invisible before. At first, he hadn't even been sure if he could touch things once he was invisible. Invisibility charms weren't in most of the books he had read and when the appeared, they were never described in detail. "This is so weird!" Draco exclaimed. Harry laughed. "You get used to it after a while." He sensed what Draco's question was before the other boy had opened his mouth. "I'll explain later." Dumbledore and Remus exchanged a look, each thinking the same thing. Have they actually put aside their differences? "Okay, Harry. We're going to have to take down the wards now." Harry nodded but no one saw. "Give me your hand," Dumbledore said, stretching his hand out. Harry reached forward until his hand was grasping the Headmaster's firmly. "Focus on channeling your magic to me. Will it out of your hand like you did last night. I'm going to say the spell and just focus as much magic as you can to your finger tips." "Yes, sir," Harry said. Dumbledore began to chant the spell in a language Harry didn't understand. After a few seconds he stopped listening as all his focus turned to pushing his magic to his hand. Soon the air around them began to glow in a golden color before it disappeared. Dumbledore released Harry's hand. Tonks stepped nervously forward and passed right through where the wards had once been. If the wards hadn't been lifted, she would have been thrown a few miles into the middle of nowhere, since that was what Lord Voldemort had set the wards up to do. "We've done it," Dumbledore said. "All right everyone, let's go!" The group headed off down the dirt path to the house where Voldemort was hiding. Dumbledore led the group; Harry and Draco took up the rear. "Draco, when we get to Dudley we're going to put an invisibility charm on him just like the one we have before we can get him out," Harry said. "Okay." Harry paused before he said his next words. "I, erm, just wanted to say thanks. I really don't think I could have done this alone." The corners of Draco's lips twitched up slightly. "Thanks for talking Dumbledore into letting me stay." The two boys remained silent as they neared the house. They could hear someone screaming. Harry knew it was Dudley. Dumbledore halted the party right in front of the door. He made his way back to where Harry and Draco were. "You boys know what to do right? Get Mr. Dursley and run." "Yes, sir," the boys chorused. "Good luck to you both." He led them to the front of the group. As quietly as he could, Dumbledore eased the door open, so as not to alert Voldemort to their presence. Harry and Draco slipped in. Instantly, Harry reached for Draco's hand. "I'll get lost if I don't know where you are," he whispered, moving as close as he could to the blond. "Okay, just be quiet." Harry didn't say another word. He allowed Draco to pull him down a dark hall and down a flight of narrow winding stairs. They ended up in a large stone room. There was a throne at one end of it. Harry presumed that that was where Voldemort would normally be sitting, except he wasn't there. Draco noticed this too, and breathed a small sigh of relief. There was a lump on the floor at the foot of the throne. Blond hair covered its head. Harry realized that it was Dudley and nearly cried out in horror. It seemed as if Dudley was dead. The two boys set off in a run to the third. Harry turned him over onto his back and checked for his pulse. It was still there. "We should do the charm after we lift him onto our shoulders, so at least we know what we're lifting," Harry whispered in a barely audible voice. Draco's response was picking up one of Dudley's arms and heaving. Harry did the same. After a small struggle, Dudley was hung between Harry and Draco and he was ready to go. Harry whispered the spell and they set off. As the front door came into view, the boys saw why this had been so easy for them. All the Death Eaters that were hiding here too were fighting with the Order. Harry and Draco began to run, dragging Dudley behind them. They had to get out of here before they got hit with a curse. They came up behind Dumbledore, who was crouching behind a large rock. "We have Dudley," Draco whispered. "What do we do now?" "Take the Portkey and go. I'll give the signal and then the rest of us will take the spare. We'll meet you two at Headquarters." Harry and Draco nodded, forgetting that no one else could see them. They tugged Dudley along as fast as they could to the Portkey. Draco lunged for it. "Harry! Draco!" a girl shrieked. "You're okay!" Draco stared at Harry and realized that he could see the boy. "Did you make us visible?" Harry nodded. "As we came through." They heard someone tapping their foot impatiently. Simultaneously, they stood up and looked at the source of the noise. It was Ginny and she proceeded to throw her arms around Harry and snog him senseless. It appeared to work as he stumbled back from her a few moments later. Then she turned on Draco and hugged him tightly, too. "Thank you for bringing the two of them back alive." She planted a small kiss on his cheek and Draco felt himself blush slightly. "Well come on," Ginny said, pulling away from Draco. "We've got to move the lump for when the others come." Harry nodded and proceeded to drag Dudley onto the couch in the neighboring room. A few minutes later Remus and Tonks tumbled in, closely followed by the rest of the group and Dumbledore. Dumbledore got up quickest. "I presume Harry is with his cousin?" Ginny looked around. She hadn't noticed that Harry had never come back. Apparently Draco hadn't either. Dumbledore didn't wait for a reply as he set off to the room where Dudley and Harry were. Ginny and Draco followed silently. Tear tracks were visible on Harry's face when they neared him. He was kneeling next to Dudley, shaking him. "Why won't he wake? Get him to wake!" he yelled. "Harry, calm down. I'm sure he'll be fine," Dumbledore said in a reassuring voice. "HE WON'T WAKE! HOW CAN THAT BE FINE?" Harry roared. Dumbledore and the others took a step back, each knowing what would happen when Harry's temper got out of control. Harry's knees buckled and he fell into a sitting position, his face buried in his hands. By the slight shaking of his shoulders, the other three could tell he was crying. "Ennervate," Dumbledore said. Dudley's eyes cracked open. They darted around the room, trying to figure out where he was. Suddenly he shot upwards. "It hurts!" he screamed. "What hurts?" Dumbledore asked gently. "That man! He said something... it made me hurt like... like..." Harry began to cry harder. "Did he say Crucio?" he choked out. "Yeah. Something like that," Dudley said. Harry picked his head up, angrily wiping tears from his eyes. "Dud, I'm so sorry. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for me. It's all my fault." He ran from the room. Draco and Ginny gave one glance at each other and took off after him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. "That's the first time he's ever said sorry and meant it. I could tell he did," Dudley commented after the three teens had run out. Dumbledore sighed. "Yes. He has a tendency to blame everything on himself ever since Cedric's death." Dudley looked confused. "Cedric... Cedric! The nightmares Harry was having last summer. Cedric died? I thought..." Dumbledore held up a hand. "Let's not talk about this now. I'm going to give you a potion to help the effects of the Cruciatus wear off faster." Dudley paled at the mention of the word potion. "Don't worry," Dumbledore chuckled, "it's not poisonous. I'll be right back with it." When he came back with a glass of the potion, Dudley eyed it warily. "I'll caution you now, it might not taste so good. I daresay your cousin has had enough of the foulest tasting potions." Dudley tried to turn his face away. "It's not that bad, my boy. Just drink it now and get it over with." Dudley grudgingly accepted the potion. He sniffed it with a look of pure disgust on his face but drank it anyway. "Good, now try to sleep," Dumbledore said, taking the bottle away. Dudley was snoring away in less than a minute.

~*~

They found Harry in the room he and Ron had shared last summer. His head was pressed into the pillow on the bed. Phineas looked on sadly from his portrait. "Harry," Ginny said softly. "Go away." "Harry," Draco said in a louder voice. "Are you just here to tell me it's all my fault for my cousin, too? If so, leave now." Ginny huffed impatiently. She crossed the room and sat down on the bed. She began to trace patterns across his outstretched hand. "We came to make sure you were okay. We're not going to change what you're thinking, since you're too thick-headed to listen anyway." Draco walked over and pulled up a chair to Harry's bedside. "Bottling up your emotions is a bad thing, Harry. I thought we determined that already." Harry laughed weakly as he sat up. He gestured to his face as he spoke. "I think I've let them all out already. Except maybe the feelings of utter malice towards that bastard who-" Ginny kissed him quickly on the lips to shut him up. "Voldemort is another discussion for another time," she said as she drew back. "I suppose so," Harry agreed. Draco laughed, standing up. "I'll leave you two alone." As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Ginny pounced on top of Harry. "Pick up where we left off this morning?" Harry said, his eyes shining with laughter and love. Ginny's only reply was to kiss him as passionately as she could.

~*~

Ron stomped around the kitchen of the Burrow. He'd been pacing back and forth for almost an hour. He stopped at the end of the table and banged his fist down on it hard. Hermione set her book down. Before Ron could strike the table again, she grabbed his hand. "Ron, please, take it easy." Ron stared at her and ripped his hand from hers. "I want to know what the bloody hell is going on! This is my only sister we're talking about here!" he yelled. "It's my only brother we're talking about, too!" Hermione yelled back. Ron dropped into the chair beside Hermione. He didn't want to start another row with Hermione right now. "You and Harry are really close, aren't you?" Hermione sighed. "We were... until Draco came along." "Malfoy? What did he do to Harry?" "It's more of what Harry did to Malfoy." "So, Harry finally gave him what he deserved, eh? I'll have to congratulate him." Hermione shook her head. "The opposite, Ron. They're friends." Ron's facial expression turned from one of glee to one of utmost hatred. "Harry is friends with a Malfoy and he's dating my sister!" Hermione stayed silent, knowing it was best to let Ron get all of his anger out first. She didn't want a row either. "I think I'll just have to give Harry a piece of my mind," Ron said angrily. "Hermione? How about a trip to London?" Hermione's eyes widened when she understood what Ron wanted to do. "Ron, no! You can't do that to Harry. Why would you want to lose your friend just because he's friends with Malfoy too! Think of Ginny, your only sister. If you did anything to Harry can you imagine what she would do to you? She really loves him, Ron, and the same with Harry. You can't just go over there and punch his lights out!" Ron stayed silent for a moment. His fists clenched and unclenched many times. He wanted to go hurt Harry very badly, he really did. Still, he knew that Ginny would do something drastic if he did. "Fine. I won't go over there and pound him to a bloody pulp just for my sister's sake." Hermione smiled and kissed him on the lips. "That's my boy!"

~~**~~