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Consequences	By : Aline Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 33797 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 26
- 27
- 28
Chapter 27. Trapped.

On Thursday night it was Draco
and Hermione�s turn to patrol the halls, though the blond thought that it was a
waste of time, they had aurors now, why the students
should keep patrolling? However he was most intrigued with the peculiar map
that Hermione was showing him, the girl had intended to give it back to Harry,
but now that Draco had seen it there was no way he�ll let it go, at least not
until he had gotten enough blackmail material to make it worth it or they were
definitely out of Hogwarts, after all the map was only useful if you were in
the castle. He had immediately point out all the hidden passages that could be
useful as escape routes and memorized their location.

At the moment he was busy
following the advance of two dots that were slowly making their way to the
dungeons, Draco noticed that the dot labeled �Harry
Potter� was closer than necessary to the dot labeled
�Artemisa Nochland�.

�We shouldn�t be spying on them
Draco.�

�Please, don�t tell me that
Potter wouldn�t do it if given the chance, besides, I�m only making sure that
they are getting along nicely.� Malfoy smirked at his girlfriend and the girl
rolled her eyes at him but say nothing more.

They were close to the astronomy
tower and it was almost time to return to their respective Houses, when
Malfoy�s eyes suddenly looked over to the main reason of why Hermione had
brought the map in the first place, a group of dots had been following them for
some time, the group had divided and now three dots were behind them while two
more were a few meters ahead on the corridor. Draco�s
mouth twitched in a despising gesture. They wanted to play? Well, he was ready
for them. Malfoy took out his wand and signaled to
Hermione to be ready, he was surprised at Patil�s
tenacity, if he hadn�t been expecting this attack they would have been in
serious troubles, he quickly scanned the map to see
who were nearby. There were no aurors on their floor
and Dumbledore was in his office with Remus Lupin, but professors McGonagall and Snape were barely two
corridors away, if they made enough noise they would attract attention, he did
the spell to hide the map and rolled the parchment.

�I�ll turn around and you take
care of the two that are in front. Protection first, then we duck and do �expelliarmus�, we have to be fast and move to that statue,
it should give us enough cover ok?�

�Ok.�

�Ready? Now!�

Draco swirled and cast a
protection spell just in time to see the sparks of an hex flying everywhere,
they moved quickly and got to the statue safely, firing hexes and curses, they
made some portraits fell and the head of the statue where they were hiding
exploded, Malfoy felt something hit him and sudden pain in his left arm a
second before professor Snape�s voice thundered in
the corridor.

�What is happening
here?!!!�

�Children!! Stop this instant!!�

Everyone stood frozen in place
while McGonagall enervated two Ravenclaws and
professor Snape advanced on them, glaring at the blood on Draco�s
arm.

�It�s nothing, just a cut.�

�Well, maybe someone can explain
what the meaning of this chaos is?!�

�They attacked us professor!�
someone shout, Draco turned to see Patrick Thorney
and sneered.

�Oh yes, and I suppose that�s
why WE are the ones hiding behind a fucking statue!�

�Mr. Malfoy, watch your mouth!
Miss Granger, I expect you to tell us exactly what happened.�

McGonagall was not happy,
everyone could see that she was more inclined to believe that Malfoy was to
blame for this, professor Snape narrowed his eyes in annoyance and Draco
crossed his arms, wincing at the pain on his left one, maybe it wasn�t just a
cut, but he refused to acknowledge it and bit his lip while Hermione explained
what had happened, trying to make it clear that she and Malfoy were the ones
who were attacked for no reason, Parvati huffed at that and almost yelled.

�Don�t cover Malfoy just because
he�s your boyfriend! We saw him trying to hurt you!�

�Don�t be ridiculous Patil! Why would I do that?!�

�Well, after you got her
pregnant, Malfoy, surely you feel like you can do everything you want to her!�

�WHAT?!!!�

Malfoy may have hexed Parvati
into oblivion if he hadn�t been amused by McGonagall�s face at the moment,
Hermione just gaped at her housemate for a moment and then turned worried eyes
to her Head of House, who looked like she would drop dead at any instant, the
elder witch didn�t seem to realize that she was the only one surprised by the
news.

�W-what� how�?�

Malfoy pressed his lips together
to stay silent, he was very aware that teasing would only make things worse.
Snape rolled his eyes and turned over to the stuttering professor.

�Minerva, I think you need to go
see the Headmaster now.�

The witch looked at him with
unfocused eyes, for a moment the potions master was really worried.

�He� he-he knows? I-I can�t
believe he��

�Now Minerva, I don�t want to
deal with you in this state. You go with the old man, he�ll give you tea and
those awful candies and you�ll feel much better. I�ll take care of this, now
go!�

McGonagall breathed heavily and
walked away. As soon as she disappeared Malfoy had his wand up again and
pointing towards Parvati, however his godfather was faster and soon had the
boy�s wand in his hand.

�Mr. Malfoy, what do you think
you�re doing?!�

�I was only going to give her a
few more appendages.�

�Bad luck Malfoy� Parvati raised
her wand, but Snape disposed of it with a move.

�All of you will stop this
nonsense at once! Mr. Malfoy, take your troublesome fianc� back to her tower
and then go to the Hospital Wing.�

�It�s nothing.�

�Now Mr.
Malfoy!�

Draco took his wand and grudgingly
walked away with Hermione, Snape barely waited for them to be out of hearing
range before he started with the rest of the students.

�And you. Exactly which part of �don�t do anything� is not clear?�

�But professor, I swear she�s
pregnant!�

�And do you think I don�t know
girl? That�s the reason why young Mr. Malfoy is a lost cause!�

�But we should do something!�

�Miss Patil, I understand you�re
distraught, I know you used to be quite intimate with Mr. Malfoy, but you are
not going to do anything! The Dark Lord wants everyone inside this castle
relaxed and thinking that they are safe, so you are going to follow his
instructions and not raise suspicions from the old Headmaster. Are we clear
now?�

�Yes sir.�

�Good, and not a word about this
to anyone, understood?�

�Yes sir.�

Of course the next day the
entire school knew that Hermione was pregnant, and the girl had a hard time
trying to get Harry to understand that Malfoy hadn�t done it on purpose and
that she had wanted it and was perfectly fine with it; she did hex Parvati�s seat during breakfast, so the girl had to get out
of there quickly due to uncomfortable itching.

The rest of the students seemed
happy to have more gossip to entertain themselves and forget about wars and
murderous Dark Lords trying to dominate the world, so they started to invent
the most dramatic situations, from Malfoy planning to stole the child as soon
as it was born to Hermione using it to keep the blond Slytherin at her side,
along with some tales about Nochland being pregnant too and Harry hiding it.
The Slytherins seemed pretty amused by all the gossip and Hermione only tried
to ignore it, but Harry was frustrated, unhappy and he wanted to yell at the
top of his lungs for everybody to shut up.

Draco took the chance to go with
Hermione everywhere between classes and made sure no one tried to approach her,
the girl smiled at the show of possessiveness and accepted it happily, mainly
because she had to go with Madam Pomfrey for a check up and didn�t want to be
alone with the mediwitch, it was bad enough that
McGonagall seemed at the verge of tears each time she saw Hermione.

The couple went to the Hospital
Wing before dinner and Madam Pomfrey scowled at the prospect of having Draco
present during the check, she tried to make the blond wait outside but he
pointed out that as Hermione�s future husband and father of the child he had
the right to be with her at all times. The mediwitch
was actually impressed at his determination and proceeded to attend Hermione
without further comments, the girl was eternally grateful for that.

Both mother and child were
healthy and the baby was developing as it should, besides, there was the
signature of very powerful magic protecting them, Madam Pomfrey was certain
that they would be fine and should have no problems, the mediwitch
did a special spell to know the sex of the baby right away, Hermione was
delighted, if they were at a muggle hospital there
would be no way for them to know the sex of her child yet, it was a boy and the
girl clapped her hands in delight, Draco was proud of it and gave a peek to his
fianc�, Madam Pomfrey watched the interaction seriously but continued silent.

Finally, when they were about to
go, the mediwitch commented.

�Ronald Weasley has woken up
Miss Granger; I think that you should know.�

Hermione stopped and bit her
lower lip, turning to look at the mediwitch; Draco
narrowed his eyes and sneered nastily. The girl looked uncomfortable but
answered nonetheless.

�Thank you Madam Pomfrey, Harry
told me yesterday night. I�m glad that he�s recovering.�

�He had asked for you, he
doesn�t remember what happened, and I think he deserves an explanation.�

�I�m sure that Harry told him
that I�m fine and that he would explain things to Ron.�

�And don�t you want to see him?
He�s your friend after all.�

Draco almost huffed at the
statement, he didn�t like the idea of Hermione getting anywhere near Ronald
Weasley, but the mediwitch had a point, he was, or
had been, her friend and if she wanted to see him it was her decision to make,
he suppressed his annoyance the best he could and held Hermione�s hand tightly,
the girl smiled weakly at him and returned to see Madam Pomfrey.

�I know he�s my friend, but I
really don�t want to see him right now, maybe some other time.�

�Don�t you think it would be
best if you do it now?�

Well, that was enough, Hermione
had said that she didn�t want to see the weasel and that was all Malfoy needed
to step into the conversation.

�Hermione doesn�t owe anything
to Weasley, and she doesn�t have to see him if she doesn�t want to, I really
think it would be best if she stays as far away from him as possible.�

The mediwitch
frowned at the boy and answered.

�Mr. Malfoy, I really think that
Mr. Weasley had been a good friend and that you should understand that he was
not himself when he attacked you, he and Miss Granger had been pretty close all
this years.�

�Well, that�s over now, she
doesn�t want to see him, and someone should tell him that Hermione is my girl
now, and I don�t want him pestering her anymore!�

Madam Pomfrey raised her
eyebrows at the boy�s audacity and huffed.

�My Goodness, until now I really
didn�t have the chance to compare you both, I have always thought that the Weasleys and the Malfoys were so
different from each others, but I�m really surprised at the similarities.�

Draco gaped at the mediwitch�s words while Hermione covered her mouth with her
hand in an effort to hide her giggles. Madam Pomfrey sighed and dismissed them.

�Wait! What do you mean with �similarities�?�

Hermione pulled her shocked
boyfriend to the exit, the blond tried to compose himself without really
succeeding.

�Did she just compare me with
Weasley? What the hell is she thinking?!�

�Come on love, don�t fret.�

�I�m not fretting!�

They got out of the Hospital
Wing, Malfoy still fuming.

�I can�t believe it! I have no
similarities with that bastard!�

�Of course not love, you�re
nothing like him.�

�Are you humoring
me?�

�No Draco.� Hermione stopped and
kissed her boyfriend, trying to make him relax, the boy huffed in annoyance and
both continued their way.

�Stupid
witch.�

Hermione smiled and let the
subject drop, they walked to the Great Hall in relative silence but once there
Draco froze, his face darkened a little and Hermione scanned the staff table
worriedly to see what had affected Malfoy. Professor Snape was absent again.

Malfoy sat cross legged on his
bed with the Marauder�s map in front of him, he was looking for his godfather,
hopping that the man simply hadn�t been in the mood for dinner, but he couldn�t
find him in the entire castle, that couldn�t be good news. He sighed as his
eyes scanned the map, noticing that Potter and Artemisa were busy in the
Astronomy tower, and then he scowled at two dots that were entering a special
room in the dungeons. He made a mental note to take Blaise�s
key away; his godfather had given it to him for his personal use, not for
others to take advantage of it. Blaise could very well take his girl to the
room of requirement!

He glared at the map until Blaise�s and Alice�s dots started to merge a little, then
he blushed and made the map disappear, he felt uncomfortable spying on Blaise�s sexual life, even if it was just seeing dots. He
tucked the now empty parchment away; he was going to give it to Hermione the
next day for her to have one more advantage. He went to sleep still thinking
about what his godfather could be doing.

Draco woke up in the middle of
the night sensing magic around him and frowned, recognizing a spell his father
used when he wanted to send him something without using the owls, he sat on the
bed, making the thing that was on his chest to fell, he grimaced and took the
piece of parchment after making sure that it was not a portkey
or any other thing equally dangerous. He recognized his father�s writing at
once and scowled at the words.

�It�s your last chance Draco, come here this instant or you�ll be
dead by Monday. Look out the window.�

�Great. I�m in a fucking
dungeon! How am I supposed to look out the window?!�

The dungeons didn�t have
windows, only enchanted images of them during daytime, at night the only way to
look out to the castle�s grounds was from the upper floors, Draco considered to
just ignore the missive and get back to sleep, but curiosity got the better of
him and he dressed quickly.

He wandered through empty
corridors, making his way to the astronomy tower, thinking that he could get a
better view from there. He was near the last set of stairs, just walking by a
big window when he saw it. He stopped in the spot and breathed heavily in
shock, it was not possible; the dark mark was in the sky, just above a
brilliant reflection that surely was from a big fire, it took Draco some
minutes to realize that Hogsmeade was lying that way.

He was still staring at the dark
mark when he heard someone calling him.

�Malfoy! What are you doing here? Are you alright?�

He turned around to see Potter
and Nochland coming down from the Astronomy tower, both of them looked scared,
surely they had had a better look form up there.

�What do you think Potter? Enjoying the view.�

He must have looked a bit
perturbed because all the reaction he got was both students turning around to
look out the window, after a short while Potter asked.

�How did you know?�

�Oh, my father had the grace to
inform me.�

Malfoy extended the note to the
Gryffindor boy and Harry scowled upon reading it, a look of determination
suddenly set on his face.

��Misa,
would you return with Malfoy to the dungeons? I have to see the Headmaster�

�Sure�

Malfoy raised his eyebrow but
didn�t say a thing, he and Nochland started their way down to the dungeons
while Harry ran to the Headmaster�s office.

�Someone should tell him that
it�s the middle of the night and the Headmaster is probably in his bedroom.�

�Don�t waste your breath, you
know how Gryffindors are.�

When they were near the main
hall they heard a lot of noise from the entrance and walked that way to see
what was happening, both Slytherins gasped in surprise when they saw what
seemed Hogsmeade�s entire population entering the
castle in a hurry, many looked terrified and the children were crying, some
were injured and the aurors were trying to move them
away from danger of being crushed, professors McGonagall and Flitwick were trying to put some semblance of order and
calm down some of the most hysteric persons.

Malfoy and Nochland stared
petrified for some while, unsure of what to do, they didn�t know if they could
be of any help, the aurors kept bringing injured
people and soon the main hall was not enough to keep them, Nochland grimaced at
the sight of a child that was practically covered in blood and whose legs were
twisted painfully.

�I don�t want to see this
Malfoy, let�s return to the dungeons.�

�Yes, let�s go.�

They continued their way, trying
very hard to ignore the crying and desperate sounds that seemed to echo in the
halls.

The next day Hermione had
breakfast with her mother, Mrs. Granger was now lucid the majority of the time
and had started to ask questions, she had recovered quickly and had not needed
the special potion that Hermione�s group had brewed, which had been an
advantage because now there were many more patients in great need of it. Even
some of St. Mungo�s mediwizards
had taken residence in the castle to help with the injured villagers of Hogsmeade.

Hermione had the impression of
being in a refugee�s camp, the castle was big but it was starting to be crowded
with all the people that presently inhabited it. It was rather depressing. The
majority of the students weren�t sure of what happened. Some Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had seen the dark mark hovering over Hogsmeade in the early morning and had panicked
immediately, some parents had visited the common rooms to make sure that their
children were still there and the atmosphere seemed to get heavy with fear. It
had not helped in the last to realize that all Hogsmeade
inhabitants had arrived over night and were staying in the castle. It was
impossible to walk along a corridor without stumbling into someone who was
clearly terrified or crying or simply depressed.

Hermione hadn�t wanted to be at
the Great Hall and Malfoy had accompanied her to the Hospital Wing, but he had stopped
at the entrance and had looked unsure, it had been clear that he didn�t want to
enter, Hermione knew that Draco was scared and trying to hide it, she couldn�t
blame him, after all it was one thing to know that there was war and that
someone was being attacked or killed, and it was another thing to have the
attack happening next door and actually see the victims running away, trying to
save themselves. Hermione had told Malfoy that she wanted to have some time
alone with her mother and the boy had promised to return for her later.

The girl sighed, she would have
liked to be with Draco, but shrugged the feeling of loss away and looked to her
mother, who was asking her about the boy that had accompanied her on other
occasions, Hermione smiled and started to tell Mrs.
Granger about Draco and their plans together.

Malfoy was upset and angry with
himself, he should have stayed with Hermione, no matter that the Hospital Wing
would surely be full of injured men and women, at
least it should be quiet in there. Draco grimaced at the crowded Great Hall,
where the majority of the people were crying or staring into space instead of
eating. He wasn�t hungry anymore, he felt rather sick, he should be stronger,
when the Death Eaters finally attacked them he would have to fight, he couldn�t
afford being scared, he was supposed to protect Hermione and the baby and he
wouldn�t let them down.

Draco looked around him to the
fearful faces of his classmates, many parents were sitting with their sons and
daughters, and it didn�t matter anymore in which table you were seated. Goyle
was at his right side, talking quietly with Millicent and a Hufflepuff,
to his left were Blaise and Alice; Neville, Potter and Nochland were in front
of him, with grim faces.

Malfoy poked his food and tried
very hard to forget where he was, an owl had left the Daily Prophet beside his
plate but he really didn�t want to read it, what he had seen at night had been
enough. Unfortunately, Blaise had decided to read aloud and Draco was wishing
his friend would shut up; he didn�t need to know that the wizarding
world was intrigued as to why the Death Eaters had attacked like they used to
do before and had not used their new �weapon�. The blond Slytherin huffed in
annoyance. Of course they wouldn�t waste energy in the town; they were saving
the special attack for the castle! And it was no wonder that no one had been
able to track the Dark Lord, all ministry officials were a bunch of idiots!

Dumbledore was giving a speech
again, saying something about not loosing hope and assuring everyone about the
safety of the castle, Draco could say that the majority was trying to believe
him, but a few were not buying it, he expected that some of the parents would
want to leave, hell, he�ll like to leave too, he wanted to disappear and never
return, but he had promised to stay with Hermione, and no one was going to have
any reason to say that he was a coward.

Blaise had fell silent at last,
Malfoy had feared that the boy could feel compelled to read the victim�s list
aloud, it was not a large list, thankfully the aurors
had been able to arrive quickly and put on a fight, but they couldn�t save Hogsmeade as practically the entire town was reduced to
ashes.

Potter finished his breakfast
and excused himself saying that he was going to the Hospital Wing, he gave
Nochland a quick kiss of goodbye and promised to see her later, Malfoy still
poked at his food for a while and when he finally decided to go look for Hermione
he heard Goyle gasp and felt him went still, the blond turned to see the big
boy shaking and biting his lip.

�Greg, what happened?�

�No-nothing. It�s nothing.�

Goyle stood up and half covered
his face with his hand while he walked out of the Great Hall. Malfoy watched
him go and curiously took the forgotten paper to see what his friend had been
reading. His eyes scanned quickly the victim�s list until he found it, he felt
shocked for a moment and then let out his breath in a frustrated groan. Vincent
Crabbe was dead.

Hermione left her mother�s side
promising to return before dinner, she was happy that Mrs. Granger was more
alert and didn�t sleep so much anymore, the girl figured she could convince
Draco to accompany her later, so her mother could have a better look at him,
maybe she�ll tell her about the baby soon.

The Gryffindor girl was walking
through the hospital wing trying to not pay much attention to the large number
of beds that were occupied, when she saw Harry and Ginny outside the door of
one of the private rooms, she supposed it was Ron�s and grimaced, intending to
pass them by and not stopping, however she couldn�t avoid hearing their
argument.

�How you dare
call yourself his friend Harry?! As far as I�m
concerned you have betrayed us! You and that bossy friend of yours had betrayed
our House principles!�

�Ginny that�s insane! Would you
please forget about the stupid House rivalry? This is serious!�

�I�m sorry I can�t forget how
your precious serpents treat us! And I know very well that just because we need
them you don�t have to act too friendly with them! Much less go out with them!�

�Ginny
please!�

�Don�t �please� me Harry; you
can go with your Slytherin slut!�

�Don�t call her that!�

�She is! And she will grow tired
of you and would dump you! Then you�re going to see that I am right and you
would come apologizing! Until then I don�t want you visiting my brother!�

Ginny entered the room and
slammed the door in Harry�s face, Hermione felt bad for him and walked to his
side.

�I�m sorry Harry�

�Don�t worry Herm. It�s not your
fault.� He sighed tiredly and looked at the door one more time before turning
away. �Come on, let�s get out of here. I�ll see him later.�

�You haven�t told him about �Misa?�

�No, I didn�t want to get him
angry, but I�m starting to ask myself why I even bother.�

They got out of the Hospital Wing
to find Malfoy walking through the corridor towards them; Harry left the couple
alone and went to find his girlfriend.

They supposed that Quidditch would be cancelled as the students were not
really in the mood to have fun, so Malfoy was really surprised when some people
showed up in the Quidditch pitch, some of them just
had went to see, to get out of the castle for a while.

Draco organized two teams and
set up for refereeing a game while Hermione headed to take a seat on the
stands, she wished she had brought a book with her, it would be boring to just
sat there watching the others play, but as soon as she was seated three girls
approached her.

�Hello Granger, do you mind?�

�Hi Alice, hi �Misa,
you�re welcome.�

�You already know Lilith don�t
you?�

�Sure, hi
Lilith.�

The girls took a seat, Nochland
and Anthera at both sides of Hermione, and Agracon at
Alice�s other
side, the Ravenclaw girl had a backpack with her and
got out some bottles of pumpkin juice, Artemisa took out a sketch book and
began to draw.

�Anyone want some?�

�Sure.�

�So Granger, how does it is like
to be the Slytherin prince�s girlfriend?�

Hermione smiled and started to
talk, maybe she wouldn�t get bored after all.

Up in the sky, Malfoy was
following the game closely, making sure that no one intended to kill another,
he once in a while stole glances at the stands and smiled approvingly at his
girlfriend and the group of girls, she was in better company now than those distasteful
Weasleys, if no one of the red-heads talked to her
ever again it would be a blessing. It was a shame that he hadn�t been able to
get rid of the bloody boy-who-lived too, but at least Potter and him had
succeeded in tolerate each other, besides, the black-haired Gryffindor had
finally come to his senses and listened to reason. Reason, among other things,
said that a Slytherin was a thousand times better girlfriend than an annoying
red-headed bitch. If Hermione knew what he was thinking she would skin him
alive.

A bludger
that past rushing in front of him made Draco return to reality and he surveyed
the pitch. All seemed to be in order. Except that he was missing a seeker.

�Where in hell is Potter?�

He looked around first and
finally looked above him; Harry was there, completely immobile and apparently
not paying attention to the game. Draco frowned and flew over to him, wanting
to know what was happening.

�Hey Potter! What are you
doing?!�

Harry didn�t turn to look at
him; he continued staring into space while he answered.

�Malfoy, what is that?�

�What?�

Draco looked over into the
horizon; he didn�t see anything at first and was starting to think Potter was
mental when he noticed the mist. He narrowed his eyes and analyzed it, the mist
was over a good part of the forbidden forest and it seemed to be advancing
slowly, the blond panicked for a second and looked around, the mist was
everywhere, thicker at some points, it was surrounding the castle. He gulped
but tried to calm his panicked mind and think what it could be, at his side he
heard Potter muttering his worst fear.

�Dementors?�

Malfoy bit his lip and
considered the option.

�Could be, but they�ll need a
lot of them to surround the castle at that distance and create the mist, surely
they don�t have that many.�

At least he hoped they didn�t,
he�ll hate to have to deal with a lot of those things.

�What else could it be?�

Malfoy thought hard for a few
seconds about other possibilities.

�Well, it could be a spell; they
may be trying to isolate us, to cut communications and any way to escape.�

�Like an outer ward?�

�Yeah, something like that. Dumbledore can be happy now, that could very well
mean that we are next.�

�About bloody
time! I am tired of waiting! I want this to be
over!�

Malfoy only nodded, he was about
to suggest to go down when he heard the rest of the players flying over to
them.

�Hey you two! What are you doing?�

Soon, all their schoolmates were
looking to the strange mist, utterly shocked, until Malfoy decided that it was
enough and shooed them back to the ground. Potter went directly to give the
news to Dumbledore while Draco explained to the girls what was happening, after
a few minutes everyone was inside the castle again.

It turned out that Malfoy�s
assumptions were correct. It was not long before the staff and the aurors confirmed that the floo
network was not working and that the owls refused to fly more than a few meters
away from the owlery, some parents had gone out the
wards to try to apparate and had returned frustrated
and tired of reappearing on the same spot that they were trying to leave, a few
aurors that had volunteered to explore the limits of
the mist had flew back, confused and having forgotten why they had left in the
first place, people started to panic and turned to Dumbledore for a solution.
The Headmaster remained calm and announced a meeting in the afternoon, every
adult that wanted to go was welcome, as for the students, only the sixth and
seventh years prefects were invited.

Malfoy, Millicent, Lilith and
Andrew Deli walked to the room of requirement where they met quite a lot of
people waiting for Dumbledore. Malfoy sighed and proceeded to make his way
among them to find Hermione, the Slytherins followed him. They found the
Gryffindors near the entrance, they didn�t look very happy, in fact Potter
looked like he was starting to forget that Ginny was supposed to be on his side
and was considering the idea of strangling her, Hermione practically ran to
Malfoy�s side as soon as she spotted him, the red-head did a pathetic imitation
of a sneer when she saw the Slytherins.

�Well, who could have said it?
You�re here after all, and I see that Nochland is not good enough to be a
prefect, too bad, maybe she�s not good enough for many other things.�

�Ginny, shut up already!�

Potter was angry; Draco narrowed
his eyes at the Weasley girl and snorted.

�Typical Gryffindor that thinks
that to be a prefect is the only way she has to attract attention. Maybe
someone like you doesn�t have any other way to get people�s respect.�

Ginny paled and was ready to
retaliate, but Harry spoke first.

�Please! Not now! Can�t we at
least pretend to have a truce? We can get attacked at any minute! We can�t
afford to lose time in fruitless bickering!�

Malfoy raised an eyebrow and
smirked, embracing Hermione. Dumbledore appeared at that moment and invited
everyone into the room.

After the few first moments of
chaos, shouting and demanding a solution, Dumbledore could make everyone calm
down and pay attention, he began to answer questions and explain his tactic for
defence. Draco noticed that the Minister was there, as well as many of the
principal men of the Ministry and the Wizengamot. Malfoy
sniffed, they were after all an attractive target, the
only thing that could be more obvious was a sign at the top of the castle
saying �attack here� with a bunch of
arrows signalling its way, it was a misfortune that the Dark Lord had decided
to make a show in Hogsmeade first.

He heard the instructions that
were given in order to defend the school and noticed how everyone progressively
abandoned panic to focus on fight strategies; they analyzed a spell to keep dementors outside the wards but were instructed to be ready
to cast full force patronus if some of them managed
to get through. Only the sixth and seventh years were going to be allowed to
fight, the rest of the students would have to stay in their respective Houses.
The strategy was so well designed that Draco didn�t have any doubt that the old
man had been working at it for some time, and judging by the faces around him
it seemed that some people had realized it too and didn�t know if they should
be annoyed or glad about that.

The only moment when Draco
tensed and felt danger was when someone accused professor Snape for not being
present, fortunately Dumbledore had thought about that too and had been able to
cover Severus. It was a long meeting and Malfoy zoned out after they explained
what position he would cover, he started to think about all the possible
outcomes of a battle, he still was dealing with Vincent�s death and he didn�t
want to have to deal with another one. He came back to reality when Dumbledore
was almost finished.

�Tomorrow will be a busy day my
friends, we would have to get ready, when the attack begins it�s going to get
hot inside here, remember to not panic, some of the outer walls may start to
melt but it would stop soon, don�t cast any cooling charms, just move to the
main hall and get ready, we are going to give them a fight.�

He dismissed the audience and
everyone headed to the exit, Malfoy embraced Hermione and kissed her head while
Harry walked towards Dumbledore.

�I�m a bit scared Draco�

�Don�t be pet.
We are going to make it, the Death Eaters would be weak, my godfather has told
us the amount of energy that is necessary to do the ritual, I�m
more worried about Dementors.�

He looked around him, there was
still some people talking among themselves, he supposed they must be of the
Order. Out of the corner of his eyes he caught a glimpse of red and turned to
see Mrs. Weasley in the process of asphyxiating Potter with a hug, he grimaced
at the display and considered to disappear before someone decided to notice him;
unfortunately Hermione was already waving her hand at another red-head who
approached them immediately.

�Bill! You�re here! I�m so glad
that you�re ok!�

�Hi Herm, Malfoy�

Draco nodded curtly and pulled
Hermione to his side, Bill looked amused at his display.

�Hermione I�m sorry about what
Ron did, and I have heard that Ginny had not been nice either.�

�Don�t worry Bill; I�m ignoring
Ginny at the moment. I was hoping to not lose you all, you�re really important
to me.�

�Well, it took a while for
mother to accept it, but when she knew about the baby she just changed her
mind, you know what she thinks about parenthood, she�s glad that you two are
taking your responsibility.�

Malfoy almost rolled his eyes,
but narrowed them instead, analyzing Bill, he wasn�t sure if he should drag
Hermione away from this Weasley, he didn�t seem like a threat and Hermione was
happy to know that not all the Weasleys hated her,
but he was considering if such company was advisable, he hated mediocrity and
all his life he had been told that the Weasleys were
losers and commoners of the worst kind, though he recognized Bill as the one
who had married Fleur Delacour, that was really
something, the Delacours would never have allowed
such a marriage if the groom wasn�t good enough for their daughter. Malfoy was
deciding to give Bill the benefit of the doubt when Mrs. Weasley appeared next
to them.

�Oh, here you are dear!
Hermione, I�m so sorry for my children!�

�Don�t worry Mrs. Weasley.�

�I�ll keep them both in line;
they won�t bother you or Harry anymore sweetheart.�

Finally, someone heard Malfoy�s
prayers and hopefully Ginevra and Ronald Weasley
would stop to be a pain in the ass, he thought that he could almost tolerate
Mrs. Weasley�s company. Almost.
She was still a bit exuberant for his tastes, she just had an overwhelming
motherly presence and he wasn�t used to it; so he tensed and barely stopped
himself from giving a step back when the woman turned to look sternly at him.

�And you young man. You better
take good care of her, you hear me?�

Malfoy raised his eyebrows and
nodded, trying his best to not look shocked, Hermione giggled at his side and
he glared at her. After a few minutes the group broke apart and the students
returned to their respective common rooms.

After leaving Hermione in Gryffindor�s tower, Malfoy made his way to the dungeons,
still thinking about the inevitable confrontation, his godfather had told them
that the Death Eaters that would give their magic for the attack would be
drained and useless after it, but not all the Death Eaters had to participate
on it, that meant that there would be a fight and there was no guarantee that
they�d be able to catch all of the Dark Lord�s followers or to defeat the Dark
Lord himself once and for all. The Order was ready for a chase.

Draco thought about his unborn
son. Dumbledore had mentioned the fact that it may be to someone�s advantage
that they had the Minister of Magic in residence, Malfoy could ask for the
marriage forms at any time, it was all they need to be legally married, he would talk about it to Hermione first thing in the
morning. Funny, all his life he was expected to marry a worthy pureblood witch,
one that had a respectable and influent family, who could enhance the social
power that his own family already had, and it should have been a big social
event. Malfoy smirked to himself, his mother would be disappointed at the lack
of party, but they really couldn�t wait, maybe later when they were safe they
could think about celebrations, for now the legal stuff would have to be
enough.

He got to his common room�s
entrance and said the password absent mindedly,
entering the room, he really wasn�t expecting the entire Slytherin House
waiting for him, as soon as the door was closed they all turned to face him,
Malfoy was quite shocked for a second but pulled himself together quickly and
raised his eyebrows in askance at his fellow housemates. Soon Blaise started
talking.

�We really are going to do this,
right? We are going to fight against them.�

Oh, that. Malfoy cursed himself
for having completely forgotten the fact that some of the Slytherin�s
parents were Death Eaters and that they may have to fight against them, not to
mention that they could find some of their ex-housemates among the enemy lines.
He sighed and looked seriously at them.

�In fact, only the sixth and
seventh years would be allowed to fight if they wish to do so, the rest are
supposed to stay in the common room, away from the danger. But you can all stay
behind if you want. No one is going to force you to do it.�

He saw many faces relax at his
words, some first year raised his hand timidly, wanting to talk.

�Malfoy, do you really think
this is going to work?�

�It has possibilities.�

�It�s too risky Malfoy.� Said a
fifth year, Malfoy recognized him as one of the firsts that had followed
Vincent�s little rebellion. �We are risking too much, what if the Dark Lord
wins? You can�t really think that Potter would be able to stop him, he�s just a
student like any of us, he has no special powers, and you had said it yourself
all these years!�

�I know he doesn�t have anything
especial, I�m not like those idiots that think that Potter is a hero who can
save us all! Of course he�s not going to defeat the Dark Lord; maybe he won�t
even fight him! Dumbledore is the one who�s gonna do
it, Potter and some of the aurors will help, that�s
why they have possibilities.�

�But what if they loose anyway?
We can get killed if we fight with the light!�

�Fighting for either side would
not guarantee your life Hummold! Crabbe
was with the Death Eaters and he�s dead! Do you think the Dark Lord would give
a shit about it?!�

They all looked down and Malfoy
sighed tiredly.

�Look, if you want to go to the
Dark Lord you can still do it. Just go talk with Thorney
and I�m sure he�ll be more than happy to accept you. But you�ll have to do it
tonight, tomorrow could be too late.�

A few of the Slytherins did
funny faces at Malfoy and others snickered.

�Patrick Thorney?
That looser?�

�You got to be kidding, no
wonder that you and your girlfriend are still in one piece!�

�Yeah, who would think it a good
idea to have someone like him leading anything?�

Malfoy snickered too and shook
his head, suddenly someone shot another question.

�What about professor Snape? Why
he�s not here?�

�He got stuck somewhere, but he
won�t be a problem.�

�Really? Are you sure of that?�

�Yes Blaise, I�m sure.�

�Then, do you think that there
would be an advantage for us if we help in the fight?�

�Surely, if the side we�ll be
fighting for wins.�

�And if it doesn�t?�

�Then we would better be dead.
Even if we were with the dark, believe me the Dark Lord is not what everyone
tells you, he�s not a great wizard, he has power, but he�s mad and he only
wants slaves at his side. I don�t want to live like that, if he wins I rather
be dead.�

Malfoy stared at his housemates
for a moment, making sure they knew he was serious.

�So, what�s your answer?�

Blaise smirked and leaned on a
couch.

�I�ll fight, I have someone to
protect too you know.�

Malfoy rolled his eyes at him
and muttered something hideous about romance. Millicent just shrugged and
sneered.

�I�ll do it too. I have nothing
to lose anyway and mother is going to fight too, even if she�s terrified that
she might find father among the Death Eaters, I have to be with her in case
that happens.�

Malfoy nodded at her and looked
at Goyle, the boy seemed to not be paying attention to them, Draco
sighed and turned to the rest of the Slytherins.

�What do the sixth years say? Nochland?�

The girl raised an eyebrow and
smirked.

�Are you kidding? What kind of
girlfriend I�ll be if I don�t support my partner?�

That made the Slytherins roll
their eyes and some of the girls giggled, a fifth year girl that was beside
Nochland punched her playfully.

�Sis! As if it wasn�t enough that our baby brother was sorted in
Gryffindor! Did you have to go and get one of them as a boyfriend?!�

�And the Golden-boy at that�
said Lilith mockingly, there was some laughs this time and Artemisa shrugged.

�You�re jealous of my good
luck.�

�Just don�t let the Gryffindor
rubs into you too much Nochland, I�d hate to have a Slytherin rushing at
foolish acts of heroism. Try at least to teach him something useful, would
you?�

Now the laughs of the younger
Slytherins were more open, Malfoy smiled, content that they were more relaxed,
he announced that the next day the upper years were expected in the room of
requirement and then proceeded to take a seat beside Goyle, successfully ending
the informal meeting. He was not sure of what his housemates would decide, but
he expected that they waited until the attack was over to make a final
decision; being Slytherins he knew that they�d prefer to be sure of the facts
before making a move, and at the moment everything was still uncertain, but he
had to his advantage the fact that none of them had liked the idea of having to
speak to Thorney if they wanted to go to the Dark
Lord.

He was worried about Goyle, so
he waited until the majority of the Slytherins abandoned the common room. When
there were only the seventh years left, Malfoy nudged at the bigger boy.

�Greg, you all
right?�

�I�m going to kill him Malfoy.�

�Hey, don�t get over exited.
Kill who?�

�Him. That stupid Marshall!
It�s all his fault!�

Malfoy narrowed his eyes in
confusion for a moment and then sighed.

�Greg, it was Vincent�s
decision, Marshall
only happened to be there for him to get a hold to.�

�No! You don�t understand Draco!
It was Marshall the one who convinced him! I went over Vincent�s house on
Christmas and the Marshalls
were visiting and that son of a bitch convinced him to go to the initiation!
Our fathers didn�t want us to go, when I arrived home, father asked where you
were and told me to do exactly as you said, because he didn�t want to make a
mistake! I know that Crabbe senior said the same to
Vincent, but then that bastard had to come and convince him to do stupid
things! If it wasn�t for him Vin would still be
alive!�

Malfoy looked at the boy and
considered for a moment. Crabbe and Goyle had been
good friends practically since birth, he couldn�t blame Gregory for being so
upset; finally he sighed and conceded.

�Ok Greg, if we find Marshall, he�ll be all
yours.�

The boy sniffed and nodded his
thanks; they all went to sleep after that.
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Consequences