Lupin's quietly spoken words were an icy shower over Draco's body. Ginny stirred in his embrace, slowly waking.
"Ginny?" Lupin called again.
"She's awake. Give us a minute, will you?" Draco growled. He could almost hear the werewolf's reticence as he closed the door.
Ginny yawned widely and sat up.
And then it all came racing back to her. Tears built in her eyes and she tried not to outright sob.
"Listen," Draco said, his voice suddenly at her ear. "Be as careful as you can. Watch your back. Death Eaters don't give a shit whether you're a man or a woman."
"I'm more worried about you," she said, voice wobbly.
He laughed hollowly. "I'm probably the safest of you lot. Just being a Malfoy lets me do things in the Manor that no one else could probably do but Snape." He paused.
"You've got to go," he said, wrapping his arms tightly around her and kissing her tearstained lips.
Suddenly he pushed her away.
"Go!" he said gruffly, turning himself away from her completely.
She couldn't bring herself to say goodbye as she fled, copious tears plastering strands of hair to her cheeks.
***
When she entered the lounge a half hour later, everyone was there. It was easy to see the prevalent fear. Shaking hands trying to balance cups of hot tea, furtive sniffles, pale, drawn faces with lips pressed tightly together.
Accepting a cuppa from her mum, she sat alone and on the floor in the far corner of the room. Stomach churning, she held the tea more for its inherent warmth and comfort than anything else. Her eyes were unfocused, the opposite wall the only thing in her fuzzy line of sight.
Suddenly there was a flurry of activity and Ginny realized with horror that it was one o'clock, and Tonks and Kingsley were preparing to Apparate to the Manor grounds.
Kingsley was shaking her father's hand and Tonks was leaving Remus' fierce embrace before they left. Ginny watched Snape sneer at it all, and she caught sight of her mother fretting over the first pair's departure.
Hazily she heard the distinctive pop of Apparation. When she looked up, she caught Draco's glance. He bit his lip and looked away, and she felt a fresh flood of tears begin anew.
An unearthly quiet shrouded the room for approximately ten minutes when Tonks Apparated in, shouting frantically.
"Snape! They've put other wards over ours. You've got to come now!" she wheezed, pushing Remus away when he came over to comfort her. "Now!" she repeated shrilly, hair rapidly changing color in her distress.
Snape stood and snapped his fingers at Draco.
"We're coming," Snape replied to Tonks while beckoning Draco. Tonks disappeared again almost immediately. Ginny could hear a muffled drone of voices as Snape conferred heatedly with her father and Bill Weasley.
Feeling dizzy, she heard Bill announce that he was going too. Standing up to hug him goodbye, she couldn't make it over to the three men before they had their wands at the ready. Bill, who stood a head taller than Draco, looked directly at her and mouthed, "love you."
Trying to focus on her brother with watery eyes, she began to mouth it back. Instead, she realized Draco was staring right at her. With a pained expression, he shut his eyes, shook his head, and was gone.
***
With the second pair gone far ahead of schedule and one of the third team gone as well, Arthur, Remus, Molly and Charlie were trying to decide when to go in. After a short while, it was decided they would still go at the same time they had all agreed on earlier unless they were alerted.
Ginny moved from her space on the floor to a sofa, her own island. It was half one. She had an hour left before she went to fight for her life.
***
Sweat dripped down Draco's face as he listened intently to spells designed to disarm family wards he'd never known about. Snape seemed to know pretty much everything about being a Malfoy, short of having the blood himself.
Bill, Tonks and Kingsley stood by attentively, but essentially worthless until Draco and Snape could fight their way through several extra layers of protection none of them had counted on.
The Malfoy-tuned wards were the hardest. Many of them Draco had never heard of, and consequently he did not know the spells to counteract them. A system was worked out of Snape giving Draco the words, and Draco would rhythmically repeat them until he was ready to use his wand and say the words in cadence.
Snape and Draco had fought through six wards when the seventh knocked them off their feet and back onto Kingsley and Tonks.
"Professor…" Draco said warily, for he recognized this ward. Snape nodded.
"The library," they said in grim unison.
All five present knew what this meant. It was common knowledge within the Death Eater and Auror communities that during the height of Voldemort's terror, Lucius Malfoy had kept several special Dark Arts items concealed within a trap door in the library, ensorcelled to repel unwanted visitors on contact.
It required three people to disarm. At present, there were only two available who were intimately familiar with it.
"Miss Tonks," Snape said in a low voice, "due to your unfortunate familial ties to the Malfoy-Blacks, you may be able to assist in removing the ward. If not, we may be fucked."
Bill looked positively relieved to be a second cousin four or five times removed.
Draco goggled at his godfather and his choice of words, but they had the intended effect.
His cousin raced forward.
"What is the incantation?" she asked fiercely.
Snape quickly parceled out the three required phrases. The easiest he gave to Tonks to repeat, and Draco took the next.
Taking a deep breath, Snape counted to three.
Together, they shouted the ancient Latin words. The air pressurized and began to pulse. Draco held his breath. The ward had never reacted this way before.
"It is weakening!" Snape yelled as though he was in a thunderstorm.
With a final, explosive burst of air, the heavy ward broke and threw all of them down to the earth once more.
Kingsley stood first, checking his partner to ascertain that she was not injured. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Snape, Bill and Draco standing. Nodding to them, he approached the Manor. Fifty yards from the home, which was much closer than they had been before, Kingsley felt the familiar tingle of wards he had set himself.
"Tonks," he called. "These are ours."
***
The Aurors were disarming their wards in record pace. Bill had joined them, as he was familiar with the wards used. Snape pulled out his pocket watch from his frock coat and examined it. It was now 2:15 a.m. If those dunderheads back at 12 Grimmauld Place could follow the plan, the first group should be arriving in fifteen minutes.
"Mr. Shacklebolt," Snape said, and Kingsley turned around. "Are you nearly complete?"
"Three more," Kingsley huffed, brow beaded with sweat. "Tonks set the next two, and the last one is mine."
"Good," Snape said. "We have only a quarter hour to get through the rest of the normal protective wards and escort the first team inside."
***
At twenty five minutes after two, Remus, Ginny, Harry and Ron were subjected to much hugging and kissing by a tearful Molly.
"Mum! Let go!" Ron complained, pulling away. "We have to leave now."
Molly's faded blue eyes were misty.
"My babies," she cried softly.
The last thing Ginny saw was her father hugging her mother close as he said goodbye.
The four of them ended up in a tangled heap on the cold, foggy grounds of Malfoy Manor. Having only seen a photo of the Apparation point, the group wasn't able to focus clearly enough to have separate landing spots.
A soft snigger was heard and Ginny looked up to find Professor Snape and Bill heading toward them.
"Always lying down on the job, Remus?" Snape said nastily. Remus glared at his childhood foe but said nothing.
"Come this way," Snape said, leading them down a narrow path and into a French garden that had seen its share of disuse. "Stay here. Draco is taking down the last of the wards on the front entrance. The internal ward alarms will not be tripped if he disarms them. The other group will arrive in ten minutes, correct?" he asked Remus.
"Yes. They are ready to go."
"Please listen well. As soon as the other group arrives, I will be going inside for the meeting. Draco will be waiting for you inside the foyer behind a tapestry and a Disillusionment charm. He will lead you into the correct hallway and show you where to wait. At three minutes after three, Dumbledore's groups will Apparate in."
"Precise, eh?" Ron mumbled petulantly. Bill sighed while Ginny elbowed him sharply as Snape fixed his gaze on Ron.
"You would do well to know punctuality, Mr. Weasley. Yes, we are being that precise. The Dark Lord is despotically stringent about beginning a meeting on time."
Snape looked at his pocket watch.
"Stay here. I am going to meet the other group."
Snape strode quickly away from the dilapidated garden and out of their sight.
"You know, Ron, I dislike Snape as much as you do," Harry said, pinning his best friend with a glare, "but antagonizing the git who could help me live is counterproductive."
Ginny giggled despite herself, and Ron bestowed his own evil eye on her.
"Harry's right, Ron. And you know it."
Ron sniffed in disdain as Snape reappeared, with Arthur, Molly, Charlie and the twins tagging behind.
"I've briefed them," Snape said to Remus as the others gathered around. "Follow this path up to the front. The door will be open. Take great care."
Using his wand to illuminate the path briefly, Snape walked away in a flurry of robes, soon invisible behind the shrubbery.
***
From behind the tapestry depicting Malfoys as gods on Mount Olympus, Draco watched Professor Snape enter the grand foyer. Snape nodded once in his direction, and Draco saw him walk through the long Hall of Ancestors then turn sharply right and ascend the staircase that led to the southwest wing.
Glancing down at his watch and trying not to inhale dust from the overgrown tablecloth he was hiding behind, he saw that he had just a few more minutes before the rest of the group came in. Kingsley and Tonks were already stationed in the designated rooms, waiting to lead the others in the offensive.
A minute ahead of schedule, a passel of redheads and plus some extras filed in. Without ending the Disillusionment Charm, he walked up to them.
"I'm here," he said softly. All heads whipped toward him, but they looked right through him.
"Draco?" Harry said hesitantly.
"Follow my voice," Draco said. "We're going upstairs. No nicking anything."
Ron groaned, but the entire party surged behind Draco as he led them through the Hall and down to the staircase.
"You want the fourth landing. Tonks and Shacklebolt are on opposite sides of the hall. Split up into your original parties. Professor Lupin, your group is to go to the third room on the left side. Mr. Weasley, you go to the second room on the right. The rooms we think they will use are either one of the fifth doors down on both sides of the corridor."
"Where is the room where your mother and father are?" Arthur asked, trying to picture the hand-drawn map Snape had provided earlier.
"Somewhere between the fourth and fifth door on the right side," Draco said, and paused. "One last thing…beware my father. Malfoys can apparate inside the Manor. Anyone else who tries will be splinched."
As those gathered digested his nugget of information, Draco checked his watch again.
"You've got to get in there," he said urgently. "I have to go back down to meet Dumbledore. I'm coming up with his people."
They scurried off like ants to the appropriate doors and Draco hotfooted it back down to the foyer.
***
Snape sat next to Voldemort, employing the breathing techniques he had mastered while brewing noxious substances. The…thing…smelled of putrid death. Dolohov, the Crabbes and Goyles junior and senior, Bellatrix Lestrange, Nott, others.
Lucius was conspicuously absent. He normally occupied the chair at Voldemort's right hand, and it was somewhat unsettling to see it empty.
They sat in the study on the right side of the hall, the fifth room down. Snape was a decent tactician, it was true, but he also knew that Voldemort didn't like small spaces and that he preferred a venue in which he could showcase his theatrics.
Everyone had been present for some time; this was something Snape had counted on. Voldemort was notorious for starting early just to amuse himself with torturing the hapless stragglers. Many of the Death Eaters arrived an hour early. And at Malfoy Manor, there was a side entrance hidden in the East wing that was exclusively used for this purpose. It was why Snape had no compunction about entering the veritable fortress from the front. At Malfoy Manor, company never called from the north.
"My Lord," Snape said, turning to face Voldemort but keeping his eyes carefully on the table. "I do not wish to trouble you, but shall we expect Lucius tonight?"
"We shall not," Voldemort said, sibilant voice hissing. "He attends Narcissa, who is…indisposed."
The pause in the Dark Lord's voice caused the slightest of shivers to roll down Snape's spine. In Voldemort's words, indisposed could mean every degree of incapacitation from a stunning spell to shuffling off the mortal coil.
"As always, if I may be of service, my Lord, it is only your word," Severus said penitently, turning away from the half-ethereal thing at his side and glaring at the others gathered around the circular table.
As the ancient clock struck three, Voldemort stood and surveyed his minions, probing their minds rapidly. Severus was prepared, but imbeciles such as the Crabbes and Goyles could be seen grasping their foreheads and grimacing. Honestly, it would be too easy to divine that quartet's thoughts with one single focused spell.
Snape steadied himself and felt Voldemort intruding rudely into his thoughts. Carefully, he projected images of brewing deadly potions and of Draco's supposedly still-injured foot. Voldemort had not been happy that Draco survived, but was slightly mollified that he had sustained injury.
The silent and invasive roll call was interrupted when the entire room seemed to shake on its foundation.
***
"Draco!" Dumbledore called, seemingly able to see him through the Disillusionment Charm. "I've twenty-two people with me with me. Please lead us!"
Shocked into action and unwilling to remove the charm, he motioned to Dumbledore and the other Order members and assorted Aurors who streamed in through the front door. The mass Apparation had tested the somewhat weakened wards around the Manor, and as planned, the vibrations were easily felt by those inside.
Surprisingly spry for a man of nearly two hundred years old, Dumbledore clattered up the stairs behind Draco while simultaneously shouting instructions. When Draco rounded the fourth floor landing he knocked directly into Potter, who had been huddled in the shadows under his Invisibility Cloak.
"Go!" Dumbledore said urgently, and all but seven of his group surged into the corridor.
***
"We're being attacked!" Bellatrix Lestrange shrieked, wand pointed toward the door. "We've been set up!"
The thirty-seven Death Eaters present stood as one and began to swarm out the door, voices raised and wands unsheathed.
"You dirty bastard!" she shouted at Severus, leveling her wand. "I knew you had two masters!"
In a flash, Voldemort shouted the incarcerating charm at Bellatrix, who fell back onto a sofa in a screaming heap.
"Blame later, woman! Provide protection now!" Voldemort screeched. Her ropes disintegrated immediately and she jumped up, a murderous gleam in her eye.
"Severus! Stay!" Voldemort yelled in his direction. Snape had been pretending to make for the door. Turning on his heel, Snape ran back to Voldemort's side. Aiming his wand at the door, he uttered a wordy sealing spell and shut them inside.
Severus hoped neither Voldemort nor Bellatrix would notice that his "spell" was little more than an elementary locking charm with some choice Latinate insults thrown in for good measure.
Author Note: I just realized I'd previously said that the hidden room was underground. Sorry about that; it's now upstairs. Also, I have also learned the correct noun for `to apparate' is indeed Apparition. I never used that because to me, an apparition is a ghost. I'm going to finish the way I started, but will correct in other stories.
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