Draco ducked as a blue spell shot past his head, hitting a house behind him and causing it to burst into flames.
"Mudbloods here! Protection for your family if you give us the identity of a Mudblood!" McNair was shouting, walking through the scene of the battle calmly. He was pointing his wand to a bunch of people suspended in mid air by an invisible rope, like Draco's mother was when the Dark Lord punished her.
"Come on lads, round those mudbloods up!" roared another Death Eater, as they scattered around, shooting curses and breaking down doors. The sound of screaming was deafening, and the heat of the fire was enough to melt stone. The sky was dark red and hazy with smoke, and there were dead and injured bodies littered everywhere. Draco could almost taste the panic.
Why had he come here? He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to fight his former allies or help his new ones.
Another spell shot past his ear, and hit a Death Eater with no mask, whose face erupted in boils which burst into swarms of insects, which bit him.
It was all Ginny Weasley's fault. The Weasel Queen, who had been remarkably distant with him since the "arm incident", had "accidently" spilt tomato soup down his most expensive travelling cloak. They had yelled at each other until she had turned crimson and he had gone rather pink (which was a big change in colour for him).
Suddenly that Ragged Werewolf, Lupin, and flooed and requested to see Weasel snr, as there had been a "spot of bother in Hogsmead". The Ragged Werewolf and Weasel snr were just about to floo off when the Weasel Queen, still red with anger, had told them she was coming too. The RW and Weasel snr had not been amused.
"Ginny, you can't. It might be dangerous" The RW had tried to explain.
"Yeah, and what about my cloak?!"
"Oh, sod your cloak!" Or words to that effect.
"Ginny!" Weasel snr had scolded her, just as she jumped into the emerald fire with them.
"Oh no you don't" Draco had snarled, and jumped in seconds after, almost burning himself as the flames started turning orange once again.
They ended up in the Hog's head, and rushed outside where the chaos was ensuing.
"Oh, my" whispered the RW, the scene of destruction reflected in his eyes "It's worse than I feared." And he rushed off to protect some mudbloods.
"You two" Weasel snr had shoved a pouch of floo powder into the Weasel Queen's hand and pushed them back into the pub. "Get back!" and he ran off too.
"Hah!" muttered Ginny, pocketing the floo powder. There was a fire in her eyes that Draco didn't think had been a reflection. "I've wanted to do this for ages!"
She darted to the windowsill, and discreetly aimed at a random Death Eater. Huge, green bats had erupted from the end of her wand. Her face lit up in cruel delight as they attacked the poor man, covering him with squelchy slime.
"Weasel" Draco whined "my cloak!"
"Oh, who cares? Reducto!" She blasted the door open and began shooting curses at Death Eaters. "Malfoy, you are such a stupid-" she shot another curse "-spoilt-"
Another Death Eater fell down "-brat!" 5 Death Eaters at once flew into the air, landing with a SMACK! And she shot away.
Draco had scowled at her, then at his soup-stained robes. Then he remembered he could do magic, and with a quick scourgify his expensive robes were clean again. Hmm, quite embarrassing for a pure-blood wizard.
So here he was, trying to keep as out of sight as possible and stay alive. Life had hit rock bottom.
He needed to find Weasley, she had floo powder. Perhaps he'd be able to get out completely un-injured.
"GERROUT O' THE WAY, ALL O' YER!" Draco heard the roar of an engine, and the monstrous bearded head of the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Hagrid. He was riding an equally monstrous muggle contraption (a motor- cycle, Draco thought it was called) through the air, about half a dozen people heaped on the back, unconscious. He flew wildly and at an alarming speed, zooming over Draco's head and out of sight.
Draco moved, lurking in the shadows. What if his father was here? He couldn't face him.
He saw a flash of red hair. He turned the corner, but it was one of the Twin Weasels fighting furiously with Dolohov, while his twin lay on the floor, with half an arm missing.
A mad cackle he recognised reached his ears and he turned to see his Aunt Bellatrix levitating mudbloods, a cruel glee glinting in her eyes. Draco froze, heart pounding.
Suddenly a large stone came hurtling out of no-where, and hit Bellatrix in the stomach. Arthur Weasley, who had sent the rock, caught the muggleborns she dropped and disapparated away.
Eyes flashing furiously, Bellatrix looked around. An evil smirk crept up her face as she raised her wand at Ginny Weasley, who had just appeared.
The red-haired girl dodged the curse, looking terrified, and fled. She may be brave, but she wasn't stupid: she knew she couldn't defeat Bellatrix. Still smiling cruelly, Bellatrix stalked after her, like a carnivorous animal stalking its prey. Draco followed at a distance too: Ginny Weasley had the powder, and it was his only chance of getting out.
She ran through the streets, shooting curses behind her back at Bellatrix, who deflected them with ease. Ducking out of sight, she found herself cornered, and climbed the guttering of a tall and extremely crumbly hotel. She climbed onto the roof, and clambered to the very top, which was flat. She looked down, thinking she was safe, but didn't realize Bellatrix had apperated right behind her until she cackled. Draco watched interestedly from the ground as they sized each other up, his aunt smirking amusedly and Ginny pointing a trembling wand at her.
He saw Ginny's lips move, and Bellatrix hissed something back too. Ginny backed away slightly and muttered something again. Bellatrix laughed loudly.
"Perhaps, he will come and get you, little girl, but what will Daddy do when he finds his little princess's mangled remains?" she jeered.
Foolishly, The Weasel Queen shot a curse at Bellatrix, who deflected it and sent another spell at her, which she almost dodged, but it caught the side of her robes, and something small fell and rolled down the roof shingles to stop at the edge.
The pouch of floo powder!
He had to get closer, and like the Weasel Queen, climbed up the pipes running up the wall of the hotel. It was extremely easy to climb, and he grabbed the little satchel, crouching on the sloping roof as his aunt and the Weasel duelled.
Well, it was Ginny who was duelling; Bellatrix flicked her wand lazily, deflecting the girl's curses with boredom.
"Enough!" she announced suddenly, and Ginny flew backwards over the edge of the roof, just managing to cling on by the very tips of her fingers. She hung from the edge of the roof, clinging on for dear life as Bellatrix slowly stepped nearer, a cruel smile still plastered on her face. She raised a foot, ready to stamp on the shaking girl's fingers, but a small jet of light shot just past her chest, and she looked round. Granger was standing on a nearby roof, the tip of her wand steaming slightly.
Using magic, Bellatrix jumped over to the roof where Granger was, and they started duelling, leaping and apparating from roof to roof while they shot brightly coloured spells at each other.
Draco turned back to the Weasel Queen at the edge of the roof. Her feet desperately scrabbled on the wall, trying to lift her up, and her fingers were going white with effort of supporting her. A tiny part of the roof crumbled, and one of her hands lost their grip. With a little shriek, she managed to grab a different part of the roof.
"Malfoy!" Damn, she had spotted him. Her eyes were wide, pleading with him silently. "Malfoy, help!"
Draco shook his head. He had the powder, now all he needed was a fire and he'd be at the Burrow, safe and sound. He could pretend the Weaselette had made him go back on his own, that he'd tried to take her, but she'd pushed him through the flame. Yes, that's right…
"Malfoy, please!" she wailed. Her fingers were sliding slowly; she didn't have enough strength to pull herself up.
Draco looked over the side. They were on top of a five storey hotel, and it was slightly dizzying. If she fell, she would surely die, or at least break every bone in her body. If he didn't do something…
No, forget her; he needed to save his own arse. He could be killed at any moment. He was an easy target, he was on a roof! This was not the time to think Gryffindor.
"Draco!" she sobbed. Draco gasped. That was the first time she- or any one from Gryffindor- had called him by his first name. She was crying now, glancing over her shoulder at the heart stopping height. Her wand was in her pocket, but to get it she'd have to move her hand, and she couldn't hold herself up on one arm. Her fingers, coiled around the edge of the roof, were slipping, soon she'd fall, plummet to her death…
Aww, why did he have to care?
On his hands and knees, he clambered to the top of the sloped roof, to where it was flat. He stood up, fearing he'd faint if he looked to the ground, which seemed a thousand miles away. Ginny was literally hanging on with her fingernails now.
"No…" she moaned, tears spilling from her face as her fingers gave way, and she slipped from the top of the roof…
Draco reached out and grabbed her hands, locking his fingers tightly around hers.
He was leaning over the side, but he tried not to look at the ground. Instead he looked into her face, and smiled as she closed her eyes in relief, chest heaving and body trembling slightly.
He stepped backwards, pulling her up with him, and she put her foot on the wall. With his help, she walked up the vertical wall.
But they hadn't counted on Bellatrix and Hermione Granger duelling on the roof just behind her. Bellatrix shot a curse at her, distracting her for a minuet. She looked around, and, with a scowl, saw Draco pulling Ginny to safety. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and he put his hands on her back and waist, steadying her, making sure she didn't fall.
Making sure she didn't fall?!!
Her nephew, the son of her highly respected pureblood sister and brother-in-law, helping a Weasley?! She couldn't have that.
And they were looking at each other in an odd way, gazing directly into each others eyes, like there was some unspoken bond between them. That wasn't on.
"Sectumsempra!" she screeched, just as the Granger mudblood got to her feet again.
Ginny let out a scream as a beam of light came soaring out of no-where and hit her arm. As though a long knife had slashed her, her arm split into a deep, painful cut that ran from her shoulder to her wrist.
She stumbled backwards, twisting her ankle as she fell over the edge of the roof once again. But this time Draco, who was still holding on to her, couldn't save her; they tumbled over the edge of the roof.
Screaming, they plummeted to the ground, Ginny clutching him tightly.
It seemed to be in slow motion, and as they neared the earth Draco wrapped his arms around her. They jolted to a stop.
"Well, dying isn't so bad" thought Draco. He had expected it to be a lot more painful. Even if death itself was painless, how come he didn't feel himself collide with the ground?
"Wait a minuet…" he wasn't dead! He could still smell the smoke that polluted the air, still hear the cackling flames and the thunder of screams. Plus, he could feel Ginny Weasley wrapped around him, nuzzled into his neck, making it wet with tears, and trembling like a scared puppy dog.
Aww, she was trembling! He suddenly had an odd urge to protect the younger girl.
He shook that thought from his head and slowly opened an eye. He gasped. They were literally two inches from the cobbled path, nose to nose with the stones. Whatever was levitating them dropped them, and, extremely embarrassed, they let go of one another.
He'd just hugged a Weasley!! Oh, his life really was the pits.
A man with light brown hair and a large belly came stumbling towards them. Draco's eyes narrowed. This was a mudblood, he could tell.
"Are you alright? That was quite a tumble you took" he said anxiously. Draco glared at him, daring him to come nearer.
"Mr. Tonks!" said Ginny. Her face was contorted in pain, and her breathing was shallow. There were tears welling in her eyes, but she refused to let them flow. Hmm, Tonks, where had Draco heard that before? "Was that you, who levitated us?"
"Yes"
"Ah, thank you so-" but he wasn't paying attention, two Death Eaters had appeared, and he was fighting them. Draco was disgruntled. A mudblood had saved his life. Oh, the irony.
He looked at her, and she looked away, seething. Draco sneered at her, then at her arm.
"That looks bad" he muttered. The long gash running the length of her arm was bleeding; her sleeve was almost as scarlet as her hair. He remembered when Potter had decided to slice him up like a Christmas turkey with the same spell.
"It is" she sniffed. She rocked drunkenly, looking like she was about to faint. She had that horrible expression of great pain and looked as though she were going to be sick. Draco didn't understand why she didn't cry.
"You must have lost half a pint already, cover it up." His stomach turned to see so much blood.
"With what?"
He sighed and pulled off his cloak, wrapping it tightly around her arm and chest like a sling. The same cloak he had had a go at her over a bit of soup was now covered in blood, blood he considered almost as dirty as Granger's. Oh the irony, the irony!
"Son, I think you and Miss Weasley here aught to go to St. Mungo's" Tonks had returned and placed a hand on Draco's shoulder. He felt a shiver go up his spine, but not because the man was a mudblood: he felt a weird sense of family, as though this man were kin.
"I think I twisted my ankle, I can't really walk" said Ginny, as a few more Death Eaters appeared and Tonks duelled them.
"Come on, I'll carry you" Draco grunted.
"You most certainly will not!" she said indignantly.
"What, do you want me to levitate you?" he sneered.
"No, but you're not carrying me!" But Draco wasn't listening: he was tired, irritable and stressed. He couldn't be bothered to stay here and wait for someone else to carry her. She squealed in protest as he picked her up in a piggy back; she was surprisingly light.
"Malfoy!" she shrieked, hitting him with her good arm. He ignored the blow. She wriggled about, but with an injured leg and arm, she couldn't do much.
"So, its Malfoy again, is it? What happened to Draco?"
"Let- go- of- me!" she said as she struggled about. At least he was taking her mind off the pain.
He hadn't really passed his apparation test. But he felt the semi-familiar feeling of being squeezed as he apparated to St. Mungo's. He was five meters from where he had aimed, but ah well.
He rushed over to the manikin in the shop window. "Let me in! It's an emergency!" he ordered. Ginny's teeth were gritted and beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead. The pain appeared to be really sinking in now. The ugly manikin nodded and let him through the sealed door.
He stepped into the bright glare of the hospital lights, which were made worse by the reflection off the walls, and looked around. Healers were bustling around, carrying trays of potions, stretchers with gruesomely mutilated people on them and piles of bandages. It was berserk.
"Hey, you!" Draco turned to a Healer who was pushing a wheelchair with a man who had sprouted feelers in it. "I need-"
"We'll be with you in a moment" she said irritably. Nobody seemed to be noticing him. Draco's blood boiled furiously. Couldn't these people see someone was bleeding to death in his arms?! Well, not quite death, but she appeared to be in a lot of pain.
"HELLO!" he bellowed at a Healer "seriously injured girl here!"
"We'll be with you in a moment!" she snapped. He snarled at her. Didn't she know who he was?
"Over here, son." Tonks had appeared just behind him, and led him out of the hustle and bustle of the corridor.
"George! George! Fred, what happened to him?" he heard the Mother Weasel's squeal from the room Tonks was leading him to. With a sigh of relief, he plunged into the room. The Weasleys stared at him.
"Malfoy? I thought you were at the Bu- Ginny!"
The twin Weasel, George, was lying on a bed, crying pathetically as his severed arm got bandaged up. Draco laid his sister on the bed at the opposite end of his room, and, unable to hold her tears any longer, they spilled down her face.
"Heal her!" he ordered the Healer.
"GINNY!" screeched Mrs. Weasley, seeing the girl's bleeding arm. "What have you done to her? You- you-" she flung herself at him, and he stepped back from his attacker in alarm. A Healer held her back, but he was looking livid too.
"HE'S KILLED HER!" screamed Fred, frothing at the mouth slightly "MURDERER!"
"How could you do this?!" Mr. Weasley hissed, grabbing Draco by the collar. "We've shown you nothing but hospitality, given you food and shelter, put a roof over your ungrateful little head and this is how you repay us?!"
"Hold it Arthur!" that Tonks man had finally come in "You owe him your daughter's life!"
They gawped at him, Arthur's fingers loosening enough for Draco to slide out of his grip. He cowered against the wall, fearing the Weasleys would attack him again.
"Tell them, son."
He told them how his aunt had nearly pushed her off a building ("MY BABY!" wailed the Mother Weasel), how he had saved her, but Bellatrix used the sectumsempra curse and they had fallen, and then Tonks had levitated them to safety.
They all stared at him in silence, and he looked nervously from one to the other. The only sound was the Healers muttering, Ginny's quiet sobs and the noise outside.
"Bellatrix Lestrange…" muttered Tonks, breaking the silence. "Where've I heard that before?"
"She's one of You- Know- Who's inner circle" whispered Mrs. Weasley, tears shining in her eyes as she gazed mournfully at her daughter "terrible woman…"
"Yes I know, but I'm sure I've heard my wife mention her a few times…"
"Who have I been mentioning, Teddy?" Draco gasped as a woman walked through the door, a woman who could have been Bellatrix's sister. She had the same prominent features, same nose, roughly the same height…
"Bellatrix Lestrange. Do you know who she is, Andromeda?" said Teddy Tonks.
"Ah" Her eyes, which were warmer and rounder than Bellatrix's, hardened, and her lip curled. She seemed to draw all the warmth out the air. "Oh, yes, that would be my good for nothing sister whom I asked you not to talk about."
"Oh, ah, sorry."
Draco gasped. So, this Andromeda woman was his aunt's sister. But that would mean…
"Oh my word, what happened?" her expression softened as she looked over to Ginny sympathetically.
"That sister of yours tried to slice her arm open."
"Oh no!" she gasped, her eyes filling up with tears. "Oh, Molly, I'm so sorry!" she whispered.
"It's not your fault Andromeda" said Mrs. Weasley thickly, stroking her daughter's shiny hair protectively. "You're not to blame."
"You've just missed the story, Andi. This lad was telling us how he saved her" Teddy nodded to Draco. Andromeda's head whipped around, but when she saw Draco she stopped dead. Her eyes pierced his. He felt like he was being analysed. "What's your name, son?"
"Unless I am very much mistaken" interrupted Andromeda before Draco could open his mouth, her voice icy again. "This is Draco Malfoy."
Her husband looked from her to Draco. "How did you know?"
"You are Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy's son, yes?" her eyes narrowed as she said the name Narcissa.
"That's right" said Draco in a voice as haughty as hers.
"Yes… This" she turned to Ted Tonks "is my baby sister's son."
Ted gawped from his wife to Draco. "You never told me we had a nephew!!"
Andromeda ignored this and continued to survey Draco through eyes riddled with loathing.
"You don't look a bit like her" Andromeda announced.
"Yeah, well, neither do you." This was not entirely true: she had the same pale skin tone as his mother, and her hair was a soft brown, a cross between Narcissa's blonde and Bellatrix's black. However, she did look a lot like Bellatrix, and she seemed to understand that he was implying this as her eyes flashed dangerously.
With a last look at Ginny, he stalked out, brushing his shoulder against his aunt's.
"What is wrong with the world?" thought Draco. It was only two years ago that he had found out Bellatrix was his aunt, a few months ago that he had found out Sirius Black was related to him, and only now did he know he had another aunt! Plus, if this woman was married, that probably meant he had cousins. How could his Mother have kept all this from him?!
Then again, Bellatrix and Sirius were convicted murderers, and Andromeda was married to a mudblood. Urgh, he was related to a mudblood. The irony was killing him.
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