The Dragon Games

Harry blinked a few times, hoping he had misheard his best friend. Ron quickly stood up, moving away from Ginny.

"Harry," he said, "I have to find her."

Harry nodded slowly. "Do you know where they took her?"

"Ginny overheard them before she fell unconscious, so I sort of know," he replied, looking distracted.

Harry sighed. He had to get Ron to Godric's Hollow with him, but he certainly wasn't going to leave Hermione in the grasps of Death Eaters.

"Ron," he began, "find her as quickly as you can. I need you to meet me at Godric's Hollow as soon as possible, alright?"

Ron nodded without question and immediately Apparated from the spot. Harry ran a hand through his hair, silently pleading for Hermione.

"Harry, what is-" The voice of Bill Weasley that filled the room stopped abruptly. "Ginny?" he asked in a strangled whisper, and rushed over to her.

"Someone knocked her out and took Hermione," he explained, feeling lost as Bill coaxed Ginny awake. "We have to get going," he said after a moment in a trance-like voice. "Can you get all your brothers and Lupin here? I'll wake her."

Bill looked at him for a moment. "What's going on, Harry?"

"We're going to war."

Bill was stunned silent after that statement so blunt, but soon snapped out of it and quickly left to find his brothers.

"Gin," Harry whispered. "Wake up."

It took awhile, but he finally got her to stir, and her eyes opened groggily.

"Harry?" she mumbled. "Ow! My head." She winced and pressed a hand against her forehead.

A loud rush of footsteps was heard, and the entire Weasley gang - lacking Ron - came into the room.

"I couldn't find Ron," Bill said.

"He's not here," Harry replied. "Someone heal Ginny."

Bill came over and pulled out his wand, muttering a series of spells.

"What's going on, Harry?" Ginny asked, confused.

Before Harry could respond, he heard the door slowly opening, revealed behind it was Lupin.

"It's time," he said to Lupin. "Get everyone and meet me at Godric's Hollow."

After Lupin nodded and Disapparated, Harry checked his pockets again to make sure he still had everything. He did.

"Alright," he said, turning to the others. "We have to leave. Come on."

"How are you getting there, Harry?" Charlie asked, concerned.

"I can Apparate well enough when I have to," he answered shortly. "Let's move."

Harry had Apparated back to Grimmauld place safely, he was just hoping he could do that again.

---

The old rusting building was only lit by a few torches around the walls. Hermione had been awake for only a few minutes and was trying to get her bearing. She looked around, trying to spot something familiar. She didn't however recognize anything.

She was alone, her legs and arms tied to an old chair and a gag in her mouth. Her head was throbbing from where she had smacked it on the ground after Pansy had stunned her with a spell. The air was musty, full of rot and mold, and there was movement in the rafters from a few large bats. She heard voices coming near, and their owners were obviously in an argument.

"I'm not using that spell again," came a boy's voice - Blaise. "I refuse!"

"Then what do you suggest?" Pansy's voice rang clear. "Because I refuse to use an Unforgivable curse."

"Why?" Millicent asked as the door banged open.

"Because I just can't do it," Pansy said shortly.

Hermione noticed the fear Pansy had in her voice and quickly evaluated the situation. Pansy was afraid to kill Hermione herself. She was hoping to pass that unpleasant task to someone else, judging by the topic of conversation. Though neither Blaise or Millicent seemed up to it, Hermione refused to allow herself any comfort. There were plenty other Slytherin's who would if Pansy asked only too happily. No, she just had to keep hoping that Harry, Ron, or anyone from the Order would find their note, and Ginny would help them get to her.

"How about the Imperius curse?" Blaise asked.

"Are you going to do it?" Pansy hissed at him.

Blaise didn't answer, which made Hermione assume that he shook his head no.

"Get the books down," Pansy said, and Hermione head footsteps coming nearer.

She thought about closing her eyes, pretending to still be asleep, but Pansy might try by force to wake her up, so she thought better of it.

"Granger," Pansy said, coming into view. "I see you're awake and bleeding all over yourself. Isn't that a shame?" she asked, laughing cruelly.

Hermione realized her head must have been bleeding, and that's when she noticed the line of dried blood that ran down her shoulder.

"Well, don't worry," Pansy continued with a sneer, "You don't have to worry about bleeding when you're dead."

Hermione glared at her, muttering a string of incoherent words through her gag, wanting to curse her.

"Pansy," Millicent called. "I think I know a good spell."

---

Godric's Hollow - it was just as Harry had dreamed it: A run-down house with splintering wood and broken windows, surrounded by a large empty field near the edge of a massive forest.

He appeared outside the house among a pile of old leaves, still intact. He glanced about as the other six Weasley's appeared around him and found Draco further off in the distance, glancing into the forest.

Percy Weasley opened his mouth to talk to him, but Harry put up a silencing hand and headed towards Draco. A cool breeze brushed passed him, making him shiver.

"They're coming," Draco said, not turning around.

"Draco," he said solemnly.

Draco turned around, frowning. "What? What happened?"

"Hermione's been captured," he said. "Ron went after her."

There was a flash of fear in Draco's gray eyes. "He what?" he asked, unsure of what he had heard.

"Ron's not here," Harry said. "Is this going to work without him?"

A moment of eerie, shivering silence. He tried to read Draco, but got nothing.

"I hope so," was Draco's soft reply.

There were leaf-crunching footsteps approaching them, bringing them back to physical reality.

"Harry?" Ginny asked, moving to stand next to them. "What's going on?"

Draco glanced at her, and then at the rest of the Weasley's.

"Follow me," he told her, finally. "Harry, stay here and keep on the look-out. When Lupin comes, have them spread out."

Harry nodded and watched Draco lead all the Weasley's into the old house. His fingers and nose were going numb from the cold, but he wasn't worried about that. He was only worried about getting everyone here out alive - but he knew that wasn't at all likely.

When Lupin appeared, so did the others - many of which Harry had never seen. They were Apparating all over the place. He looked around in awe. All these people were willing to risk their lives to save the magical world - and probably the Muggle world too, for that matter.

Everyone was silent, a few were shivering - not just from the cold, but also from fear. After a brief whispered conversation, Harry and Lupin delegated orders to them.

Soon enough, Harry heard the door to the house snap shut, and he turned to see Draco heading towards him.

"We're set," Draco said. "I gave the Weasley's their signal, so when we're ready, we just have to call them out."

"How do we know when it's the right time?" he asked.

"When we've gotten Voldemort alone," Draco said. "We call them, and then one of us will read the spell on the scroll using that wand."

"Aright," Harry said, shivering again.

Draco took his hand and squeezed it. "We can do this. You can do this."

He nodded, inhaling deeply. "Thanks."

Draco's nose was red from the cold, and his fingers were even icier on Harry's hand than his own. Despite this, his face was set in determination. Harry had never seen anyone who looked so determined before.

He knew there was a lot he wanted to talk to Draco about; their future. He wanted to tell him how much he meant to him, that he was possibly completely in love with him. But the leering doom and torment that was soon to approach him stopped his words.

If they survived - no, when they survived, Harry would be able to tell him everything, plan their future, and be with him happily and peacefully for the rest of his life with no more war, no more pain, no more decisions.

Draco turned to a woman facing away from them, standing in the middle of the field. "You! Move away from there, unless you want to be killed straight off!"

The woman turned around. It was Aiyana.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy," Aiyana said, amusement in her voice, "but I believe I'll be just fine." Her eyes moved over Harry and Draco's hands which were entwined together, and she shot them a grin as she turned back around.

---

Pansy, Millicent, and Blaise had set up a cauldron and were working at it diligently. They had been completely ignoring Hermione for the past ten minutes as they set to work on Millicent's spell.

Hermione was trying to figure a way out of there, but even with her cleverness, she couldn't come up with anything. Even if she got herself untied - which wasn't likely - it was still three to one, and she didn't have her wand.

"Alright," Blaise said. "We have to let it sit for ten minutes before we can do anything to it."

The three moved away from their work, and Blaise came over to Hermione.

"So," he said. "Comfortable?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes, the only thing she could do in a retort.

Blaise patted her head, mocking her, before moving away to help Pansy with something. All of a sudden, Millicent let out a loud shriek.

"What?" Pansy asked.

"Something moved out there!" she squeaked.

"Oh jeez," Pansy groaned, annoyed. "It was probably just the wind."

"I dunno," Millicent said unsurely.

Hermione, whose heart had began to pound wildly in her chest, begged desperately that it was someone there to save her.

"Go check it out, then," Pansy said carelessly with a shrug.

"Someone come with me," Millicent said in a whiney tone.

---

If you looked casually at the large open battlefield, it looked like no one was there; except for Harry and a few others, no one was out in the open, Draco noticed as he looked around. They had their army well hidden, prepared for the Death Eaters and Voldemort's arrival, which would be very soon if everything went to plan.

But so far, not everything had gone as planned. The news about Weasley running off to save his girlfriend was possibly the worst mess up of all. Draco didn't have a clue what would happen if they did the spell without the seventh Weasley, but he guessed they'd find out.

Pansy had indeed made him regret his decision, she had made him pay. She had gotten everything she wanted, and could have possibly helped in killing off both he and Harry on this very day. Hopefully, it wouldn't come down to that; he believed in Harry's strength to keep going, and he believed in his own determination.

Everything was silent except for the soft wind as it rustled through the trees. Draco stood, holding Harry's hand, waiting for any sight of the Death Easters. Harry shivered slightly next to him, and Draco tried to reassure him with a soft squeeze of his hand.

A cry shot through the trees, shrill and loud. "Confundo!"

A gold beam passed by them, narrowly missing Lupin's head. Draco frowned; the fact that they were using spells like the Confundus Charm meant this could turn out to be nastier than he had pictured it.

"Incarcerate!" Another spell shot through the trees.

This time the spell hit a woman, and she fell down as ropes began to bind her. Someone rushed to help.

Draco quickly shouted the Conjunctivitis spell into the trees, hoping to hit someone.

More spells shot in and out of the trees, and soon, Draco heard their footsteps. A few of the Death Eaters, at least, were moving into open range.

They came in a hoard of twenty, advancing quickly. On cue, two dozen warriors from Harry's army stepped forward, shouting more curses. As a Death Eater moved towards them, Harry dropped Draco's hand.

"Locomotor mortis!" he shouted.

The Death Eater deflected it, firing back with a sharp "Expelliarmus!", and Harry's wand flew from his hand.

Draco, who had been about to cast a spell on the Death Eater, was suddenly knocked down by another who had ditched his wand and was pounding his stomach with his fists. Draco kicked him off, pulling up his wand and shouting "Obliviate!"

The Death Eater flew backwards in a large explosion of dirt and grass, and Draco looked back to Harry. He was still dueling with the first Death Eater.

"Imperio!" the Death Eater growled, but to Draco's surprise, his wand was on Draco himself and not Harry, even though he had been fighting Harry.

His mind went blank, and he felt a strange bind to the Death Eater - the Death Eater who was undoubtedly his father.

"Draco," the Death Eater hissed. "Kill him. Kill Harry Potter."

---

Time had passed and Blaise and Millicent still hadn't come back in. Pansy had been working on the spell without them, but as time passed, Hermione could tell she was getting worried about them.

"Where the hell have those two taken off to?" Pansy hissed under her breath, loud enough for Hermione to hear. She stood to go out and look when Millicent and Blaise opened the door.

"There's nothing there," Blaise said, annoyed. "She made me search everything three times."

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Millicent said grumpily.

Millicent may have been annoying, but she was thorough. Hermione's hope fell when they confirmed there was nothing out there.

"Is it almost done?" Millicent asked.

"Almost," Pansy responded.

"Good," Blaise murmured. HHhe came around to look at Hermione. "Granger, you hear that? You'll be dead in no time at all."

Hermione tuned him out, wishing and begging silently for someone to save her. She hated being the damsel in distress.

---

Draco felt his wand arm beginning to lift towards Harry, but he fought it with all his might. He had had this curse on him before; he had fended it off before. He could do it again. He had to do it again. Harry's green eyes shined at him briefly before they turned away as he lunged at Lucius, catching the man off guard. Draco watched, trying to break off the curse. He was not going to kill Harry. Not after all they'd been through. Not after all it had taken them to get to the point they were at now.

He fell to the floor as if an invisible hand had pushed him there, and dropped his wand. He wasn't going to do it. Something snapped, and his mind cleared. He was free. He grabbed his wand again and looked straight into his father's cruel eyes.

Lucius pushed Harry off him, throwing him to the ground. "Draco," he growled. "You've betrayed me."

"You catch on quick," Draco said sarcastically.

"Do not speak to your father like that!" Lucius yelled, towering over him.

He felt small, felt as if he would crawl into a hole and be forced to obey his father again - but he couldn't do that this time. He had to be strong.

"The Dark Lord will see to you," Lucius hissed, picking his son up by the collar. "You will die, Draco, for this," he spat, sneering at Harry, who was struggling to his feet. "How does that make you feel?"

"Pretty damn good," Draco retorted rebelliously, pushing himself free of his father's grasp.

Harry snatched up his wand, but didn't attack. He knew this was Draco's fight.

"You are a disgrace to this family," Lucius hissed. "I am ashamed to call you my son."

"Stupefy!" Draco shouted at his father, tired of every word that was coming out of his mouth.

The unconscious Lucius fell to the ground, and Harry gave him a good kick in the ribs. "That was easy," he said casually.

"Only because he wasn't expecting it. No matter how much of a traitor he pegged me to be, he'd never think I'd curse him." Draco paused, and then continued softly, "There's a lot of things I'd do that he wouldn't expect."

As if to emphasize this point, he turned his wand on his father again...To kill him?

Can I kill him?

After everything his father had put him through, he thought it would have been easy. But he hesitated, staring at the unconscious body as shouts of spells and screams of pain rang throughout the field. His love for his father was inherently genetic, he couldn't help that - but his hatred was genuinely earned, and Draco realized that death was too much justice for the man's black soul.

Draco turned to see the destruction that was happening around them. People fighting, screaming, blood staining the earth. He turned for Harry, and found the boy face-to-face with a wild looking Death Eater who had her hood down.

Bellatrix Lestrange.

---

Harry stared at Bellatrix, his hatred for her swelling, making his head pound. She killed Sirius, she helped Lucius kill Arthur and Molly, and she had attacked Charlie Weasley. She had taken away the only family he had ever known. She was going to pay.

Adrenaline rushed through him as he raised his wand, changed his mind halfway, and punched her hard in the face. There was a loud crunch as his fist made impact with her nose, and she gave out a horrid cry and dropped her wand, her hands going to her now broken nose.

She moved backwards, stunned. Clearly, Muggle dueling was something she'd not expected from him, and nor was it in her vast Death Eater experience to take part in such dueling. As if suddenly realizing this, she made a move to her wand. Harry was having none of it.

If he had had time to think before lunging at her again, he might have thought about restraining himself, about not allowing himself to become a murderer. He might have thought about how 'hot-headed Harry' could get him into a lot more trouble than it was worth.

But he didn't think about it.

He elbowed her in the gut; she was going to pay for his pain. Lucius was taken care of. It was her turn now.

Bellatrix's eyes watered fiercely as she doubled over. She was trying to fend him off, but was nothing without her wand. Years of fist fighting with Dudley kicked in, and Harry overpowered her.

"Harry!" A shout from Draco broke through his rage. His voice sounded bewildered.

Harry raised his wand, prepared to do any spell that would cause the most harm to this wretched woman.

"Harry, stop it. Harry, honey, please," Draco begged, trying to pull him off Bellatrix with great force.

Harry struggled against him, trying to reach for Bellatrix again, but Draco restrained him. He yelled at him to let him go, but Draco wouldn't budge, his hands tightly clasped around his shoulders. Harry turned to look at Draco's eyes, as if to make him understand why he had to do this, but the moment his eyes met Draco's, all he could see was the shock, concern and fear that was etched across his face.

"Don't do this Harry," Draco said softly, his grip still as tight as ever, though Harry was not struggling anymore. "You're not a killer."

Harry's shoulder slumped, his gaze on Draco as the blonde raised up his wand, shouting, "Impedimenta!" The spell hit Bellatrix square in the chest. She fell to the floor unceremoniously.

Harry stared at her, and then turned to Draco.

Draco didn't say anything to him, just ran a quick hand down his face before he turned away to fight again.

Harry looked back at the motionless Bellatrix and forced himself to move away. As he did so, he heard a soft cackling; he turned around to see Bellatrix laughing as she pushed herself up off the ground.

"Bitsy baby Potter," she mocked, but her voice cracked. He had damaged her confidence. "Where are you going? Aren't you going to try to finish me off?"

A brief memory flashed through him, and he remembered the Cruciatus curse he had tried to perform on her once. "You need to mean them," she had told him.

"Crucio!" she shouted just as he had thought it. He dodged it quickly, the curse barely missing him.

"Crucio!" he shouted back at her. She screamed for a moment, but the screams subsided quickly, and she began to laugh manically again.

"You're done for, Potter, you and your little boyfriend." She raised her wand high.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted.

She deflected the spell easily, and then with one last evil laugh, she shouted, "Avada Keda-"

"He's mine!"

Harry heard the loud cry, a grotesque, icy voice that he recognized. Bellatrix was thrown aside, crashing into a pile of rubble. Harry felt his scar burn with pain; he didn't have to look at the source of the voice to know who it was.

"Potter!"

---

Hermione felt a sharp pain in her back as Pansy stuck a needle in that would inject the strange liquid they had cooked up into her blood stream. She held her breath.

"Petrificus Totalis!" came a shout from the window. Pansy fell down in the full body bind, Millicent let out a shrill scream that rang in her ears, and Hermione caught sight of Ron bursting through the door. She shouted his name into the gag, but nothing but a low jumbled murmur came.

Ron still had his wand out, pointing it at Blaise and Millicent.

"I told you!" Millicent screeched.

"Shut it!" Ron yelled.

"Obliviate!" Blaise screamed at Ron.

Ron dodged the spell, shouting one at Blaise. "Expelliarmus!"

Blaise's wand flew out of his hand, and Ron took the opportunity to curse him. "Petrificus Totalis!"

Blaise fell down next to Pansy on the floor. Millicent stared wide-eyed, like a deer in headlights, staring at Ron, who muttered the Furnunculus curse upon her. Boils stared to appear across Millicent's skin and she screamed out, shouting what she hoped would be counter-curses, and Ron rushed to Hermione and untied her. She flung her arms around him thankfully, tears in her eyes, loving him desperately.

"You okay?" he asked softly, gazing at her bleeding head.

"I will be," she answered.

"Ferula," he said the bandaging spell, and pulled out the needle from Hermione's back.

She flinched from the pain, but was forever thankful that she was alright.

"Thanks," she said. "What are we doing with them?"

Ron paused for a moment. "Let's tie them up."

Hermione nodded, took Ron's hand, and kissed him passionately.

"You saved me, Ron," she whispered, tears flowing from her eyes as happiness filled her.

Ron smiled and kissed her again.

---

Harry swung around to see Voldemort, staring at him with a very creepy smile along his pasty white face. He looked just as evil as before - exactly as Harry remembered seeing him; those haunting eyes, and slits for a nose.

Harry held up his wand, glaring at Voldemort determinedly - he wasn't going to seem weak. Not this time, not ever again.

He felt someone come up next to him, their robes brushing his icy skin; he jumped slightly, but saw it was Draco.

"Draco," Voldemort said with a cruel malicious laugh. "You are a foolish boy."

"No more foolish than you," Draco retorted.

Voldemort stilled, arrogant eyes looming, with an evil, teeth-baring look of hatred.

"Do you think we'd really start a war believing we couldn't destroy you?" Draco hissed.

Voldemort laughed again. "Destroy me? The greatest wizard of all time, who even bested Albus Dumbledore himself?"

"I'm afraid he bested you," Draco said coolly.

Harry glanced at Draco. Taunting the Dark Lord seemed to be all but daunting to him.

Draco's head tilted towards Aiyana, who was in battle with a Death Eater, and clearly winning.

Voldemort's eyes flashed to her, then back to Draco, not saying a word. Harry had no clue what Voldemort was thinking, but now was the time for the spell.

"Silencio!" Harry shouted quickly before Voldemort had a chance to cast the killing curse to Aiyana, where his wand was already pointing.

Harry pulled out the other wand and spell. Draco's eyes surveyed him in a quick glance that Harry couldn't comprehend, except for the look of fear.

Voldemort fended off Harry's silencing spell with a growl.

Harry heard Draco scream to the nearby house, "Now!"

Then in one quick confusing moment, Draco snatched the wand and scroll from Harry's hands. Harry, confused, tried to snatch it back, but Draco stopped him with a freezing charm.

Harry didn't think he could move even if he wasn't bound magically. Fear flooded into his veins.

What the hell is going on? What is he doing? And why is he looking at me like that?

The look was so apologetic, full of longing, fear, and so much love it blew Harry away - it was the look that was so familiar from his dream.

Draco opened his mouth, and in a warm heartfelt whisper, he heard the words that filled the whole world around him. "I love you."

Everything was in slow motion - no, slower than that, everything was as if it would never end again - but really, everything was happening too fast.

Draco turned away from Harry just as the six Weasley's surrounded Voldemort. Draco aimed the wand at Voldemort, just as Harry fought his way free from the spell - he didn't know how he did it, but he was able to move. He rushed to Draco just as a large golden beam shot out of the wand, hitting into Voldemort's stomach. Everything went deadly silent as Draco flew back, landing motionless into Harry's outstretched arms.