Father and Son

~Chapter 21~
Under Attack

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Under attack, I'm being taken
About to crack, defences breaking
Won't somebody please have a heart
Come and rescue me now cos I'm falling apart
Under attack, I'm taking cover
She saw my track, my chasing lover
Thinking nothing's gonna stop her now
Should I want to, I'm not sure, I won't know how
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

December, 1997

'It's broken!'

Hermione was examining the Time-Turner.

'Fuck!' David ran a hand through his hair. Actually it was his father's hair, since he was in his body, but he didn't want to go there. Thinking about those things only made him wonder why he didn't have his father's brain. Time changes really were a difficult thing. 'So I can't get back with it?'

I wouldn't count on it.' Hermione sighed.

'We'll have to ask Snape if he knows someone who can repair it. There are only few wizards who are able to craft them. When I had a Time-Turner in my third year, McGonagall always reminded me not to break it in any way because it's really difficult to repair Time-Turners.'

'Great! You're really cheering me up,' David snapped. 'Give me the Time-Turner. I'll go to Snape now anyway. I wanted to ask him to let me hand in the essay about the Rigor Mortis potion only half finished.'

'Won't the others notice it's only one scroll of parchment instead of two?'

'I'll hand a blank one in.' David shrugged.

Hermione frowned.

'That's cheating, you know? I mean I've been sitting on this essay for hours and I'm--'

'You're twenty years older than me, and if I ever get back I'll still have to write this essay, all right?'

'Actually, I'm only one or two year older than you seeing as you're sixteen in your time!'

'You always have to have the last word, don't you?' he snapped and left the small common room through the portrait.

He sighed.

Sometimes she really was a nag! Most of the time he ignored her bossy attitude because she helped him and he was grateful for that. But times like today David was glad that he was a Slytherin and could easily avoid her by vanishing into the dungeons. Although it wasn't really safe to be around anyone but Hermione, he preferred the Slytherin Common Room to the Head Boy and Head Girl Quarters. He felt more at home there.

Besides her being an insufferable know-it-all at times, David had another reason to avoid his aunt-to-be. Because Hermione was right. Although she was twenty years older at his time, here she was eighteen and he was sixteen. And if David was completely honest to himself he felt rather attracted to eighteen-year-old Hermione. And he knew that if either his aunt or his mother ever noticed that all hell would break loose.

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

Ginny leaned back against David's chest and he carefully put his arms around her.

They were sitting on his father's bed, with the fireplace on, watching the heavy snowflakes falling outside the window of Draco's small room.

Up to now, David had managed to keep his mother from snogging him and had claimed that he just wanted to lie here for a few minutes and hold her in his arms. But he wasn't so sure how much time this lie had bought him. He actually enjoyed these minutes of peace with her, after days of trouble.

Ginny on the other hand was devastated. He had been... distant, to say the least. She never got more than a quick peck on the cheek or on her lips, he never touched her in any inappropriate way and he avoided her whenever she tried anything. She'd blamed it on the stress he was under with all his duties and work for the N.E.W.T.s.

And now they finally had time for each other. They were alone in his room. Ginny couldn't believe what had happened. A week ago, she'd had to fend him off every time because he just couldn't keep his hands from her and now he "just wanted to sit with her and cuddle".

'Draco?'

David was lost in thoughts.

'Draco?' Ginny repeated and turned to look at him.

'Yes?'

'I... I feel comfortable with you,' she said to break the silence.

'Me too.'

'It's just so... oh bloody hell, why am I even bothering to be polite with you? What's going on here? Have we reached the point where you've grown tired of me? Was the other night in the Prefects' bathroom too much? Are you bored now because you've seen me naked? Because you've touched everything already?'

David stared at her shocked. It wasn't only the intimate pictures of his parents he now had in his head and would never get out there again, but Ginny's raging anger that caused him to panic. His father knew how to cope with her, how to calm her down. But David wasn't sure he had the same ability.

'Or is it another girl? Tell me! Are you shagging someone else because I said 'no' too often?' Ginny shouted at him. She'd gotten up and was looking down on him dangerously, hands on her hips, eyes blazing.

'Ginny, calm down!' He desperately tried to save the situation.

'And why is it suddenly 'Ginny'?' she snapped. 'What has happened to "Gin" and "love" and "angel"? Are you using those names for the other one? Are you calling her that while you shag her here? Are you telling her now that you love her?'

'Gin, come on, give me a chance! There is no one else, I swear! Please sit down and let me explain.' He pulled her down on his bed again.

'Explain what?'

Shit. Hermione was right, I'm a bloody bad actor!

'I am in love with you!' he said emphatically. He took her hand in his. 'It's just... I'm so absorbed in my thoughts at the moment. The Death Eater thing is giving me some troubles, and then there are my N.E.W.T.s - if Hermione didn't help me from time to time, I'd probably fail a lot of subjects,' David said.

Think like your father! Imagine you're in love with her! Imagine she's your girlfriend and not your mum! he told himself.

'Please, Ginny, let's not quarrel just because I forgot to call you pet names.'

'Forgot?' Ginny asked, her temper flaring up again.

'Look, I didn't even notice that I stopped calling you them. McGonagall is giving me a hard time and Potions... let's say it's good that Snape lets us work in pairs! Yesterday, Professor Sprout said that I'm a month behind in my Herbology class and that I'll fail that subject, too! Today I worked a whole hour just setting up the prefect rounds...'

'Why? I always thought you were good at Potions. And Herbology and Transfiguration weren't a problem either.'

'I don't know... I can't concentrate.'

'It's the Death Eater thing, isn't it?' Ginny asked, bitterly.

'Probably. But it's also too much work. Don't give me an extra load by blaming me for being a bad boyfriend. I need you now!' he pleaded.

Ginny sighed.

'I'm sorry. It's just... I feel a bit neglected. It's like you're another person all of a sudden! One day we're getting detention for heavy groping and snogging in front of the Transfiguration classroom and the next you're avoiding me completely!'

David touched her face lightly. 'I'm sorry.'

He drew her face towards him slowly.

It's just a kiss! Make it count. It means a lot to her!

Closing his eyes, he imagined the lips that closed around his were Meredith's. He imagined her reddish brown hair, her hazel eyes that sparkled every time she laughed. He opened his mouth and let in her tongue.

She moaned and lay down on the bed, pulling David over her.

'Make love to me, Draco,' she whispered against his mouth. 'Please, I...'

That was too much! Even if Meredith had whispered that, David would have bolted up.

Before she could follow him, he had stormed out of the room and run through the sitting room. He pulled up a confused Hermione and shoved her into the bathroom, locking the door behind them.

'What--'

'Shhh!' David laid a hand over her mouth, listening. Ginny hadn't followed him or she'd already be banging against the closed door.

'She wanted me to... to shag her!' he hissed.

'Do you need a contraception charm?' Hermione asked innocently.

David glared at her. 'That's not funny! Do something! She's already frustrated that I avoid her all the time. I can't invent any more excuses!'

'What am I supposed to do? Make her swear a vow of celibacy?' Hermione asked.

'Yes! Please!'

Hermione sighed.

'Let me think for a moment.' Hermione sat down on the lid of the toilet. 'Why don't you tell her you're not ready?'

David raised an eyebrow. 'I'm a Malfoy. She won't believe I'm not ready for sex!' He smirked.

'Arrogant git!'

'I think that's the pet name my mum always used for Father,' said he, completely unimpressed.

'Well, that's a surprise!' Hermione mocked.

David sneered at her.

'Then tell her you're not worth taking her virginity. No, wait... tell her you don't want to rush anything!'

'Do you want her to ravish me or to keep her hands of me? That's the oldest spell in the book to get a girl, really!'

Hermione blushed, remembering Ron saying it to her a few weeks ago, when they'd talked about sex.

'That's not true! There are boys who mean it!' she protested.

David snorted.

Hermione chose to ignore it and continued. 'How come she suddenly wants to sleep with you? I mean you and she haven't done anything for a few days now.'

'I know! We just had a fight over it. She suspected I've got someone else, because I've been avoiding her.'

'Have you?' Hermione asked suspiciously.

David quirked an eyebrow at her. 'Yeah, I always dreamed of snogging the girls my mum went to school with, because they are just hot in my time. Honestly, Granger! Why would I want to be with someone from the past? It would only mess up my own time even more!' he snapped.

For a moment he noticed an expression on her face that he couldn't quite place. A second later it was gone.

'Just checking. I mean, you're a Slytherin after all, aren't you?'

'She's my mother, not my girlfriend! I would have every right to be with another girl!' he defended himself.

'So what happened in there? You said you two quarrelled - why does she want to shag you right after shouting at you?'

'I kissed her,' he said quietly.

Hermione had to laugh because of his pained expression.

'That's serious! I kissed my Mum! And not a quick peck, a French kiss!'

Hermione had to fight very hard to keep her laughter down.

'I don't see what's so funny about that!' he complained.

Hermione sobered a bit. 'I'm sorry. So you think she wants to shag you because you kissed her?'

'I am a pretty good kisser!' He pouted.

'I don't doubt that, but I think it's rather because she fears losing you. I mean, I heard her. It wasn't like you could miss what she was screaming. I think even the Dementors in Azkaban might have heard her and fled,' Hermione remarked. 'She's afraid you're going to abandon her because she keeps you waiting.'

'Wrong!' David said. 'She's not keeping me waiting. She kept Father waiting and now she's decided she doesn't want to wait anymore and is attacking me!'

'What I wanted to tell you is that you've got to make that clear to her. You've got to tell her you don't mind if she's not ready and that you'll wait as long as it takes, whatever impression you might have given her before.'

'He might have given her before!' David corrected her. He sighed in mock irritation. 'Why the hell am I so bloody attractive! It's a curse!'

'Yeah, you're a sex god! If you weren't twenty years younger than me I'd be falling for you immediately!' Hermione said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

'Would you?' David asked, smirking.

'Not in a million years, Malfoy!' His aunt rolled her eyes and left him standing in the bathroom.

'Ginny? Ginny!' He heard Hermione call repeatedly for his mother.

When he finally joined her in the small common room, he realized that Ginny had obviously left their quarters.

He sighed.

'Bugger! Now, she's angry at me! Why did my father have to be in love with such a hothead?'

'Well, you weren't particularly sensible, either!' Hermione remarked.

'And it's sensible of her to throw herself at her own son?' David asked.

'She doesn't know, okay?' Hermione snapped. 'I wish, I didn't!' she added, quieter.

David snorted. 'You always have to know everything, Granger!'

Hermione glared at him.

A minute later they heard an explosion.

'What the fuck was that?' David cursed, running through the portrait door. Hermione followed shortly after him.

The hallway was full of dust and smoke.

A little further away they heard shouting and screaming.

'There's an attack!' Hermione concluded.

'Snape would have warned us!' David disagreed, looking horrified.

'Not if he wanted us to be really shocked to raise no suspicion!'

Hermione sprinted away.

'Where are you going?' David screamed after her.

'Gryffindor Common Room! Remember what Inkspell told us?' Then she was gone.

David waited a moment or two until another explosion made him come to his senses again. He had to go to his common room. The Prefects had to make sure the younger students could leave through the fireplace of their common room.

The Great Hall was a mess. Obviously the explosions had blown away some parts of the facade. He could barely see anything through the smoke. Some younger students came running towards him, screaming and crying. At the same moment hooded people came running into the Entrance Hall. The Death Eaters had obviously broken through Hogwarts' defences. 'Come on you lot, this way!' he ordered and the students, who were obviously Ravenclaws, followed him. He led them down to the dungeons. They'd never reach the Ravenclaw Tower now that the Death Eaters had entered the castle.

'Run!' he ordered, dragging the smallest of them along with him.

The blonde girl cried and stumbled over her own feet.

David picked her up, half carrying her to the entrance of the Slytherin Common Room. 'Memento Mori!' he shouted the password and the wall let them through. In the common room, Blaise had already organized the students. There was no sound at all, only some whispering here and there, and the crying Ravenclaws David had brought with him. All eyes were on them now.

'Why did you bring those Raven-brainys?' Michelle Zabini snapped.

'They're supposed to be in their common room!' Pansy added.

'I know where they are supposed to be, Parkinson! I'm Head Boy!' David barked. 'The Death Eaters entered the castle when we were in the Great Hall. I couldn't leave them there!'

'Why do we have to leave?' A fifth-year suddenly asked. 'I mean, we could stay here and fight!'

'How brave of you!' David snarled. 'I'll nominate you for this year's honorary Gryffindor!'

'I meant on Voldemort's side!' the fifth year said.

'What's your name again?' David asked haughtily.

'Rookwood!' the boy proudly declared.

'Then go, join your daddy, if you have the guts, boy!'

'No one has to go if they're already of age!' Blaise informed them. 'The rest of you have to move their bloody asses into that fireplace, now! First years first!'

'Let the Ravenclaws leave first,' David suggested.

'Listen!' he addressed them. 'You will say Hogshead when you step into the flames, understood? That's the meeting point. One of your Ravenclaw Prefects should be there. They know what to do. If not, listen to the other Prefects. Who's going to be our Prefect at the Hogshead? Parkinson?'

Pansy nodded.

'I thought as much!' He sneered.

Pansy just raised an eyebrow at him, haughtily, and then vanished through the flames. The Ravenclaws followed her. While the other prefects started to organize the Flooing of the youngest students, David took Blaise aside.

'Some of the older students have already left - in black robes,' Blaise told him. 'Nott, Rookwood's elder sister, the Jugson twins, Crabbe and Goyle of course. What are we going to do?'

'We'll get the children out here. I don't want any blood shed whose owner isn't of age yet!'

Suddenly a bright silver light filled the room. A silver horse-like spirit had emerged through the wall of the common room entrance. The horse reared up and came to halt in front of David and Blaise.

'Isn't that... a Patronus?' one of the students asked.

'It's Ginny's Patronus! She must be in danger!' David didn't hesitate another minute. He stormed out of the common room. Blaise followed shortly after him. The horse galloped at his side, leading him. David drew his wand. He wasn't sure the Death Eaters wouldn't attack him. And suddenly he was in the middle of the fighting. Students and Professors were fighting against the Death Eaters in the entrance hall. The great staircase was a ruin and only one side of the steps remained.

David couldn't think clearly anymore. He started to shout curses and spells, but his thoughts were fixed on his mother. If she was in danger, he had to find her. He had to save her. It was not only her life but also his life and the lives of his sisters which depended on her survival. It was strange how protecting his mother meant protecting his family. And the horse Patronus seemed to protect him all the way up the stairs and through the hallways.

And then, he found her.

Crouched behind a gargoyle sat his mother, her long red hair sprawled around her face. Her eyes were closed and there was blood streaming from a wound at her head, running over her pale freckled face. How she'd still managed to produce a corporeal Patronus was a mystery to David.

'Ginny!'

She didn't answer.

'Mum!' he whispered, picking her up. He desperately thought of a place where she would be safe. He considered taking her to the Head Boy Quarters, but then he realized that she was bleeding too heavily and that she needed help. Gryffindor Tower it is then! he decided, and dashed off into the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room, the silver horse still at his side.

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