The Face of His Enemy - Chapter 6 and Epilogue
Here is the final chapter and epilogue of my story, "The Face of His Enemy". Once more I'd like to thank my absolutely wonderful betas lastscorpion and jasmasson.
Title: The Face of His Enemy
Author: mahaliem
Rating: R
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Summary: On the train to Hogwarts, Draco is hit with a curse that results in him reassessing who he is and who his true enemies are.
Disclaimer: JKR owns everything and everyone (except for some minor original characters). No profit is being made on this work.
Author's Note: I had written over 33,000 words of this story before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were sold. It is therefore AU. Any similarities between this story and JKR's is purely coincidental.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
"Do you understand what I want you to do?" Draco asked Vince, who nodded.
"I’m to send my father this letter you dictated telling him how I saw Potter do something strange today, but don’t want to write it down because I’m not sure how to describe it."
"Good."
"My father… he won’t get into trouble for this, will he?"
"We’re saving his life, Vince. Voldemort killed Greg’s father. He’s holding mine prisoner. Besides, if it all falls through you can claim I tricked you."
Leaving his friend, Draco walked out into the corridor where Harry joined him.
"How much did you tell him?" Harry asked.
"As little as possible. If Vince’s father is aware of Voldemort’s obsession with discovering your power, then the letter should make it into the Dark Lord’s hands. That tracking spell Granger put on the letter had better work."
"It will. It would’ve been easier if Snape knew where we apparated from."
"We already discussed this." Draco ran a hand through his hair. "Snape knew where to apparate to because the mark called for him. It’s how you and Lucius got there. That way the location stays unknown."
They continued to walk down the hallway side by side, each deep in thought until Harry stopped, causing Draco to stop as well.
"I need to tell Dumbledore," Harry announced.
Draco couldn’t believe it. He knew Potter wasn’t the brightest of students, but this was venturing into Crabbe and Goyle territory.
"That’s a mistake. Do you really think he’ll risk you to rescue a known Death Eater?"
Harry was adamant. "I’ve made mistakes before by going off on my own. Mistakes that could’ve been avoided if I’d discussed them beforehand with someone."
"So discuss it with me, then. Hmm, you wish to launch a rescue of my father? I heartily approve." Draco spread his hands. "See? Discussion over."
Harry shook his head. "I’m sorry, but I have to at least make an attempt at convincing him that we should do this."
Draco exhaled heavily. "I don’t trust Dumbledore."
"Why does that not surprise me?"
"It’s not just because he favours you Gryffindors. Or that he’s completely barmy. Or even that he has an unhealthy addiction to sweets, though all of these reasons are sound. I don’t understand why he didn’t undo the spell that made me look like you. I don’t know why he didn’t change me back."
"Maybe…" Harry said, appearing to be searching for a good reason, "…maybe Voldemort used a Dark Art to get you back to normal."
Draco made a sound of disbelief. "I had an interesting conversation with him when everyone thought I was you. He told me all about the prophecy. I think that Dumbledore was hoping that power of yours, that’s so secret you don’t even know what it is, would manifest with two Harry Potters running around."
"He wouldn’t do that."
"It may have escaped your attention, but there’s going to be a war and I think he’d do anything he had to in order to win it. That includes keeping you protected and not letting you run off to confront Voldemort before you’re ready."
"I don’t care," Harry said firmly. "I have to at least try to get him to see why I have to do this."
* * *
A few hours later, Draco watched as Harry and Dumbledore faced each other in the Headmaster’s office. The conversation between them was going about as well as he’d expected.
"You don’t understand," Harry was saying.
"I do understand. Far too well, in fact. It is my fault that you feel this obligation to Lucius Malfoy." Dumbledore paused and glanced at where Draco was slouched in an armchair.
"Oh don’t mind me," Draco assured him. "Pretend I don’t exist. I’m sure you’ve had quite a bit of practice at that."
"That’s not fair." Harry turned on Draco. "He cares about everyone."
"Perhaps. But he cares a little more if they’re wearing red and gold."
"Dra-"
Dumbledore interrupted Harry’s protest. "Mister Malfoy is entitled to his opinion just as I am. As I was saying - it is my fault you feel as you do about Lucius. I am the one who placed you with the Dursleys where you never felt a parent’s love."
He sighed deeply before continuing. "Harry, it is natural for you to not want to lose that after having experienced it at last."
"Lucius was good to me," Harry said quietly.
"I’m sure he was. He thought you were his son. But how does he treat the sons of other men? One cannot forgive sins simply out of affection for the sinner."
"But he can be redeemed, like Snape was. When my… when Lucius knew who I really was he still helped me escape. If he hadn’t, he’d be fine right now."
"There is that. But we can’t risk it." Dumbledore shook his head. "Until we know how to destroy Voldemort, then it is best that we do not seek out confrontations with him, even if we knew his location."
Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Draco stood, cutting him off. "I told Harry you’d be no help."
* * *
Several pairs of eyes followed the owl that winged its way toward Vincent Crabbe and dropped a letter in his lap.
"It’s from my father," Vince muttered to Draco.
"Then perhaps you should open it in private," Draco suggested. He rose to his feet and waited while Vince grabbed two more slices of toast before joining him. Exiting the Great Hall, Draco nodded to Harry across the room while Vince chewed on his toast morosely.
He led Vince into an empty classroom and held his hand out for the letter. He was still scanning it when Harry slipped inside, shutting the door behind him.
"What’s it say?" Harry asked.
Draco glanced up at him. "The tracking spell isn’t going to work." He held up the parchment in his hand which was the same one that Hermione had charmed. "He replied at the bottom of Vince’s letter and sent it back to us."
"Well… what did he write?" Harry said impatiently.
"Grandmother is still feeling under the weather and gnomes have gone crazy in the formal gardens." He paused and read some more. "Oh, this is exciting,"
Harry leaned forward. "What?"
"Vince’s sister is getting married." He smiled at Vince. "Congratulations."
Vince wiped crumbs from his mouth. "Thank you."
The expression on Harry’s face indicated that if Draco didn’t stop fooling around and tell him what he wanted to know soon, there was going to be trouble. As if that look would do anything but encourage Draco to continue.
"Your cat, Marbles, had kittens," he told Vince. "They think that they might be part Kneazle."
"How many?" Vince wondered.
"Three. Marbles had them in the front hall closet. Your mother is fairly miffed about that."
"She’s never liked Marbles."
"Excuse me," Harry said loudly, clearly more miffed than Mrs. Crabbe had ever dreamed of being. "What does Vince’s dad say about Voldemort?"
"Hmmm."
Harry folded his arms across his chest. "Hmmm, what?"
"His father wants Vince to go to the Owlery right after dinner. He’s to tell the person who meets him there everything he knows."
He handed the letter back to Vince, who plopped down at a desk and began to read it thoroughly.
"The Owlery?" Harry repeated. "You don’t suppose he’s going to send Dauntmoor, do you?"
"It would make sense. Dauntmoor’s animagus form of an eagle has been useful in getting in and out of Hogwarts before."
"If Crabbe passes a charmed parchment to Dauntmoor, then we’ll find out exactly where Voldemort is holding Lucius."
It was at that moment that Ron and Hermione opened the door.
"Harry Potter," Hermione scolded. "We’ve been looking all over for you."
"We saw Crabbe get a letter," Ron interrupted. "Did his dad send off the other one to Voldemort yet?"
"No," Harry stated unhappily.
"Then what’s going on?" Ron asked
"Vince’s sister is getting married." Draco smiled brightly.
"Congratulations," Ron said to Crabbe, who was still seated at the desk with the letter. Crabbe politely thanked Ron.
"Honestly," Hermione huffed, walking over and yanking the letter from Crabbe’s hand. "Oh no. This is the same parchment that we used."
"He’s supposed to meet with someone in the Owlery. We think it’s going to be Dauntmoor," Harry explained to his friends. "We’ll have to charm another parchment with a tracking spell and have Crabbe convince him to take it."
Ron, Draco, Harry, and Hermione looked at Crabbe who looked back at them.
"What?" he asked, blinking a bit.
"There’ll have to be an extremely good reason for Dauntmoor to take it with him." Hermione thought for a moment. "Voldemort wants to know what Harry’s secret power is. Why don’t we tell him?"
"Potter has a secret power?" Crabbe straightened in his chair and looked at Harry.
"Yes, but we don’t know what it is," Hermione confirmed.
"Then how can we tell Voldemort?" Ron asked.
Draco wanted to smack him, but seeing how if he did Harry would probably never have sex with him again, he refrained. "We lie, you git."
Ron’s eyes widened. "You’d lie to Voldemort?"
"Why not? Not like he doesn’t have it in for us already."
"What power should we tell Voldemort he has, then?"
"I could be like Superman," Harry suggested. At Draco’s blank look, he added, "Super strong, super fast."
"Super stupid." Draco shook his head. "Strength and speed isn’t going to worry Voldemort one bit."
"Maybe we could say his animagus form is a dragon," Ron said, excitedly. "Make Voldemort think that one minute he’d be duelling Harry and the next minute he’d be facing a Hungarian Horntail."
"That’s not bad," Draco admitted.
"Maybe Potter can split himself," Crabbe said. Everyone turned to look at the unexpected source of the comment. "It was pretty spooky seeing two Potters around earlier this year. We could let on that the whole Draco turning into Harry bit was part of the plan to confuse people into not realizing what Harry could do. Maybe even make it so Harry can be three or four people. An entire army of Harrys."
"That’s actually quite a good idea," Hermione said slowly.
"I agree," Ron admitted. "I always knew Slytherins were talented liars."
"Thank you," Vince and Draco said together, before smiling at one another.
* * *
Huddled under the invisibility cloak, Draco and Harry watched as Vince paced back and forth in the Owlery. It had been a fight to determine who’d hide under the cloak and wait. Ron had wanted to go with Harry, but Draco had won.
"Quit fidgeting," Harry whispered to him.
"Suppose you'd prefer it if Weasley was under here with you," Draco pouted.
"I didn’t say that."
"You didn’t have to."
The trouble was that Harry hadn't said anything when Draco and Ron had argued. The thought that Harry might actually prefer to be with his best friend irked Draco. And it made him determined to change Harry's mind.
Pretending it was accidental, he slid his hand to the right so that it nudged against Harry’s thigh. Harry edged over a little, giving Draco a little more room under the cloak.
"You use this cloak a lot, Potter?" Draco murmured.
"Some."
"Bet you enjoyed sneaking around under it."
"I usually had a good reason," Harry stated huffily.
"You never used it simply to…" Draco let the sentence trail off as he placed his hand on Harry's leg.
"What?"
"You know." At Harry’s look of confusion, Draco ran his hand up Harry’s thigh. "We’re under here. No one can see us. Or what we’re doing."
Harry's mouth dropped open for a moment before he gathered his wits to form a reply.
"You are truly sick."
Draco noticed that despite Harry’s words, he didn’t move away. He also seemed to be breathing a bit more erratically. Leaning closer, he nuzzled at Harry’s throat. His hand moved further up the thigh.
"We could do anything we wanted under here, anywhere we wanted, and no one would know." His hand cupped the bulge in Harry’s pants. "We could do it on the Quidditch pitch… in the middle of the Great Hall… on Snape’s desk during Potions class."
As he said the last option, Harry let out a low groan and Draco chuckled. "You like that idea, don’t you? Snape’s desk. And you think that I’m sick."
"I-"
Whatever Harry had been about to say was interrupted by the beating of wings. In moments, Dauntmoor had flown into the Owlery and shifted out of his eagle form. He approached Vince.
"You’re Crabbe’s boy?"
"Yes," Vince stammered, backing away a foot.
"You have some information for me. Tell me what you know."
"I wrote it down." Vince pushed the parchment with the tracking charm on it at Dauntmoor. "Here. Take it."
Dauntmoor snatched it out of his hand, but didn’t bother looking at it. "I want to hear it from your own mouth, boy. What’s Potter’s power?"
"I told you, I wrote it down. All of it." Vince backed up another few feet.
"I can’t ask a piece of parchment questions, now can I?" He dropped it to the floor. "Now answer me - what do you know?"
"I stumbled across a room and saw Dumbledore with Potter," Vince lied. "I looked again and saw that it was two Potters."
"Bah, that was only the Malfoy brat."
Under the cloak, Draco bristled at the term "brat".
"But Draco was there, too," Vince insisted as Dauntmoor advanced on him.
Dauntmoor reached out and grabbed Vince’s robes, yanking him forward. "When did you see this?"
"A few days ago."
Dauntmoor’s eyes widened. "Two Potters?" He focused his beady eyes upon Vince. "Could it have been polyjuice? Did you watch for more than an hour? Tell-"
The door to the Owlery swung open to reveal Snape. He advanced, his wand pointing at Dauntmoor.
"You must think me a fool, Dauntmoor, to dare come here again. Did you think that we would not set a charm to warn us if you once more tried to infiltrate Hogwarts?" Snape glanced at Vince. "I am most disappointed in you, Mister Crabbe. We will discuss this at length once I’ve rid us of this vermin."
"Oh shit," Draco murmured to Harry.
Dauntmoor twisted his hold on Vince, holding the boy in front of him as a hostage, his wand pointing at Vince’s head. "Drop your wand, Snape, or I'll kill him."
Snape simply sneered. "Do it."
Letting out a cry of frustration, Dauntmoor flung Crabbe at Snape, then shifted into his animagus form and escaped out the window.
Harry and Draco tossed off the invisibility cloak and raced forward.
"What’s going on here?" Snape demanded.
"Damn it, we had a plan. We were going to track him with a charm, find out where their lair is, and rescue my father," Draco said. "It’s ruined now!"
"Draco?" Vince said. He picked up the fallen parchment. "I’m really sorry."
He looked at Vince’s crestfallen face. "I’m not mad at you. I know you did your best."
"Track him?" Snape asked. "When you could simply follow him back instead?"
Harry and Draco looked at each other, wondering how they could be quite so dumb.
"Accio Firebolt," Harry shouted.
Draco followed his lead. "Accio Nimbus 2000."
"As soon as you’re in the air, use a disillusionment spell," Snape ordered. He didn’t summon anything, but there was a momentary shift in the air and in his place was a huge black bat.
"Figures," Harry muttered at the transformation. "Half the students think he’s part bat anyway." He grabbed his Firebolt as it arrived and climbed on.
Draco snatched the parchment that had been charmed with a tracking spell out of Vince’s hands. "Let Granger know that I’ve got this. If she tells you to do something, do it." He mounted his broom.
Snape had already flapped his leathery wings and soared out into the dwindling light in pursuit of the eagle that Dauntmoor had turned into. As Draco spoke to Vince, Harry was disappearing out the window, as well.
"I’m counting on you," Draco said, clasping Vince’s hand.
Vince nodded solemnly and stepped back. "I’ll tell her."
As Draco flew out of the Owlery, he wondered if he would ever see Vince or Hogwarts again.
* * *
They’d been right.
Voldemort’s base of operations hadn’t been far from Hogwarts. After a short flight they found themselves still edging along the Forbidden Forest
Making Harry out despite the disillusionment spell, Draco steered his broom next to him. "It looks like he’s headed for that building next to the mountain."
"Next to?"
Draco looked again and saw what Harry had seen. The front of the building actually jutted out of the mountainside. No wonder it had seemed as if they had been forced to run for so long to reach an exit when they’d been here before. There were only a limited number of entry points.
It appeared that the hole they’d escaped through before had been repaired. Additionally, four guards were stationed nearby. There would be no unauthorized exit from that spot now.
In the dying sunlight, he was just able to spy the eagle they’d been following enter a cleft in the mountain. Snape swooped in after it with Harry close behind. Taking a deep breath, Draco entered as well.
Through crevices they flew. All of Draco’s attention focused on dipping and diving, sliding around obstacles that loomed up in the darkness that was only illuminated by the occasional torch. It strained his skill at flying to the utmost. After a third near miss, he could feel himself gripping his broom handle much too tightly. It was only by following Harry as closely as possible that he avoided getting lost in the warren of caverns.
Upon flying into an actual room, he was so surprised that he almost ran into Harry. Fortunately he skidded to a stop in time. Both Dauntmoor and Snape had resumed their human forms. One of Snape’s hands held Dauntmoor by the throat against the wall. The other was pointing his wand at Dauntmoor’s chest.
"Where’s Lucius?" Snape hissed. At Dauntmoor’s silence, he began to squeeze.
As Dauntmoor’s breath became more and more laboured, Draco shrank his broom and placed it in his pocket for ready access. A few words to Harry and he did the same. Glancing at Dauntmoor, Draco wondered how much longer the git would hold out. The man’s eyes were beginning to bulge, and his face was turning an unnatural colour.
"If he can’t breathe, he won’t be able to answer," Harry remarked, watching in fascination.
"I’m sure Snape knows what he’s doing," Draco answered. He discovered Dauntmoor’s wand on the ground and bent to pick it up. "After all, practice does make perfect."
Snape released Dauntmoor’s throat. The man fell to his knees sucking in air as Snape reached into a pocket of his robes and withdrew a vial of clear liquid. After a few seconds, he grabbed Dauntmoor by the hair and hauled him back to his feet.
"Listen, you worm, in a moment I will administer an exceedingly strong dose of Veritaserum of my own brewing. If you try to resist and delay us in any way, I will be more than happy to flay your skin from your body. If you do not, then I might allow you to live."
Dauntmoor’s eyes darted to where Draco was toying with Dauntmoor’s wand, bending it back as far as he could before releasing it and letting it thrum and vibrate.
"He means it," Draco assured him. "The flaying part, anyway. Not so sure about the living bit." He stuck Dauntmoor’s wand in his pocket.
When the Veritaserum was administered, Dauntmoor cooperated. He gave them directions to where Lucius was kept when not undergoing torture for Voldemort’s pleasure. At Snape’s probing questions, he informed them of the locations of any guards throughout the stronghold that they might run into.
After learning all they might need to know, Snape raised his wand. "Obliviate," he shouted and Dauntmoor’s eyes became empty of all knowledge.
"Why did you do that?" Harry asked.
"Never leave an enemy behind you if you can help it," Snape instructed.
Dauntmoor was happily asking who he was and who Draco, Harry, and Snape were, when Snape grabbed Dauntmoor and viciously slammed his head into the stone wall.
"And that’s for threatening Vincent Crabbe," Snape snapped as Dauntmoor’s unconscious body slid to the ground.
They opened the door that led to the rest of Voldemort’s hideout and found the corridor outside filled with guards. Before they could defend themselves, a dozen wands were pointed at their chests.
Hogwarts was not the only place where charms had been set to prevent infiltration.
"Drop your wands," the head guard snarled.
Every instinct told Draco not to obey. It was only when he heard Snape's murmur of "Do it" that he forced himself to release his grip. The three clatters of wood on the stone floor sounded loud to Draco's ears.
Their wands were quickly gathered up by the head guard. A moment later, Snape, Draco, and Harry were herded down the stairs to where Voldemort waited for them.
Dauntmoor’s wand, tucked in Draco’s pocket, went unnoticed.
* * *
Voldemort’s chamber was as dark and smelly as Draco remembered. It was practically empty however. Except for the clusters of guards, Nagini, and Wormtail, the large room was empty.
The head guard bowed low and placed their wands on the table next to where Voldemort sat. Instead of one familiar box on the table next to Voldemort’s elbow, there were now two.
The guards, despite being unable to revive Dauntmoor, carried him in with them. Voldemort spared his follower a glance before waving for the guards to take him out of his sight.
"Snape, Potter, and Malfoy - I’m so pleased that you decided to visit me again."
Voldemort’s sibilant hissing made chills creep up Draco’s spine. He glanced at Snape, who was looking at the Dark Lord with hate and Harry, who was glaring at him defiantly. For his own expression, Draco settled on disgust.
"This place is as charming as before," Draco said scathingly. "What lovely company you keep, too." He looked at Nagini. "Snakes." He shifted his gaze to Wormtail. "Rats." Lastly he fixed upon the Death Eater guards. "And toads."
"Young Malfoy, I understand that you came to see your father," Voldemort replied and his smile started those darn chills again. "I’ve arranged for him to be brought here in honour of your visit."
The door clanged open, and four more guards appeared dragging a burden between them. When they deposited it at Draco’s feet he let out a cry and dropped to his knees beside it.
His father appeared to have been beaten and starved. His clothes were rags that hung on his withered frame. Fingers had been broken and healed wrong, so that they were twisted lumps of flesh. His cheeks were sunken, and his mouth was toothless. The worst part, however, was not physical.
Lucius gazed up at Draco, his mind empty.
Harry knelt next to Draco and touched Lucius’s arm, stroking it, offering what comfort he could. The man, if he could even be called that anymore, seemed to seek out the source, turning toward Harry.
"I once promised him that I wouldn’t let Dementors hurt him," Harry said quietly.
Draco swallowed hard. He glanced up at Severus, who slowly shook his head to Draco’s unspoken question. Such harm could not be healed or undone. He gently moved the tangled mat of long blond hair away from Lucius’s face.
"I must congratulate you, Potter," Voldemort said loudly, regaining their attention. "Whatever spell you used on Lucius to keep your secrets worked outstandingly well. Despite using every method at my disposal to convince him, he didn't say a word concerning you. Not even something as trivial as what you prefer to eat for breakfast."
Harry's hands ceased their stroking and clenched into fists.
"As for you, Malfoy, your father talked of you incessantly. It was such a pity, though, when his mind began to go. He became confused over your earlier predicament, thinking there were two of you instead of two Potters. It was quite amusing, listening to Lucius babble on about how proud he was of both his sons."
"And I'm so proud of you," whispered Draco to the form that was now huddling in his arms.
Harry angrily rose to his feet. "You’re going to pay for this."
Draco stayed where he was, still saying his goodbyes to his father.
"Pay?" Voldemort laughed. "I don’t think you understand, Potter. I’ve decided to forget about whatever power the prophecy claims you have and simply destroy you. It will be so much less complicated."
He looked at the group in front of him. "I believe that it is time for all of you to die. Lucius will be the first to go."
Instead of raising his wand, he opened one of the boxes next to him and withdrew a crystal that contained a glowing blue orb. The crystal thrashed in his grip, but he held it firmly.
"Didn’t you wonder how Lucius had managed to linger for so long? I didn’t want him to perish before he’d suffered all of the punishment he so richly deserved."
Voldemort slammed the hand holding the crystal down so hard on the table next to him that their wands and the second box seemed to jump. There was the sound of shattering, and shards scattered over the tabletop.
The glow disappeared from the center of the crystal. Lucius sucked in a final breath, then was silent.
"He’s dead," Draco said blankly, still caressing his father’s face.
"As will you be," Voldemort replied. "But you will not go nearly as quietly."
Gently, Draco placed his father on the floor then stood. The smile on his face was frightening to behold. "I think for the first time since we arrived here, you’re actually right about something."
In a sudden burst of movement, Draco pulled Dauntmoor’s wand from his pocket. With every ounce of anger he had in his body, he shouted "Accio wands," then dove to the side to avoid any retaliatory burst of spells from the guards, Wormtail, or Voldemort.
To his surprise, not only did his, Snape’s and Harry’s wands come flying to him, but the wands of most of the Death Eater guards shot towards him, too. Although the summoning had no effect on Voldemort, Wormtail was struggling to keep his wand from flying from his hand.
A curse flew towards him and Draco threw up a shield, thankful for all the training he’d received. Snape and Harry had scrambled for their wands. With a malicious "Evanesco!" Snape made all the other wands disappear.
The guards, now unarmed, decided the better part of valour would be running for help.
Nagini hissed and uncurled from her position at Voldemort’s feet. Wormtail huddled close to his Master.
"You fools," Voldemort snarled. "You can not kill me."
"We can still stop you," Harry shouted. He aimed his wand and ropes wrapped around Voldemort in an effort to bind him. Draco and Snape both shot similar binding curses at Voldemort as well. Draco was about to aim a second one when Nagini rose in front of him and he flinched back, barely avoiding the strike of her poisonous fangs. She flicked her tail and slithered after him. Seeing her nosing towards him again, he hit her with a bat bogey hex.
"The box," Snape was shouting to Harry. "We must smash the crystal inside." Snape raced toward the table to grab the box while Voldemort still struggled with his bonds but was hit in the side by a bone-breaking hex from Wormtail.
Snape winced in pain, clutched his ribs, then whirled to face his opponent.
"Pettigrew. Traitor to the Marauders. Do you know how they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" At Wormtail’s nod, Snape smiled. "They lied."
The curse that hit Wormtail slammed him into the wall.
From the corner of his eye, Draco could see Harry sprint for the box which held the crystal. He would’ve liked to help him but he was too busy dodging a very pissed off snake.
"Densaugeo," Draco shouted. He watched in horrified fascination as Nagini’s fangs grew even longer. "Oops." He quickly moved even further away and shouted, "Impedimenta!"
Harry had the box in his hands now and was fumbling for the catch, but Voldemort had at last dispelled the ropes.
"Incendio," Voldemort shouted and Harry let out a yelp, dropping the box in his hands as it burst into flames. A moment later the crystal sprang free, its container now reduced to ash. It hovered for a moment before darting away.
"Go after it," Snape ordered, then cast another curse at Wormtail.
From his pocket, Harry retrieved his broom and reversed the reduction spell. Draco spied Voldemort aiming a hex at Harry while his attention was elsewhere and threw up a shield, shuddering at the impact when the hex hit.
Harry soared away on his Firebolt, flying through the open doorway after the escaping crystal.
Voldemort turned the force of his fury onto Snape, who failed to block a curse entirely and was knocked sprawling onto the floor. Draco hurried to help him and was soon under fire, as well.
As if sensing Snape and Draco’s imminent defeat, Death Eaters began to pour through the door.
Back to back, Snape and Draco stood, no longer sending out curses but spending all their rapidly dwindling energy on protecting themselves.
Draco was just about to give up hope and let himself be bitten by Nagini when there was a loud boom. The room rumbled and the floor shook.
In their midst stood Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and several other adults and students, many of whom Draco failed to recognize.
"Oh dear God, no" Draco murmured. "We’re being rescued by Gryffindors."
"Truly a fate worse than death," Snape replied.
As the new arrivals took on the Death Eaters, Draco breathed a sigh of relief. Lupin seemed to be attacking Wormtail quite viciously. Weasley’s parents were making short work of Nagini in a similar manner. The others seemed to be split between attacking Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
Draco spied in one corner Neville battling his Aunt Bellatrix. He started forward to help his friend when he saw that Neville already had assistance - Daphne Greengrass. It was only at that moment that he realised that she wasn't the only non-Gryffindor fighting the Death Eaters. Scattered among their rescuers were Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Slytherins.
Although the most shocking fact was that Daphne, who went through lovers like Dumbledore went through candy, was obviously serious about Neville. Judging from the way she was standing by his side and throwing hexes at Aunt Bellatrix, Daphne was extremely serious.
Before Draco could join the others in attacking Voldemort, Ron and Hermione raced over to him.
"Where’s Harry?" they shouted, their faces filled with concern.
"He got bored and went for a ride on his broomstick."
"He what?" Hermione screeched.
Before Draco could reply, a high-pitched scream filled the air. It was Voldemort.
Voldemort was collapsing, as if he’d been filled with air and it was leaking out. As his screams continued, the remaining Death Eaters began to back away, first in dribbles and drabs, then in an all-out retreat.
The scream continued for longer than Draco imagined possible. For years to come, he would wake at night, still hearing it echo in his mind.
At some point Harry arrived, his broom held tightly in one hand. His other hand dripped blood. He made his way to the front of the room to witness Voldemort’s last gasp.
When all was silent, Dumbledore stepped forward, pointed his wand, and burned the corpse.
Draco stumbled to where Harry was surrounded by his friends. Pushing through the mob, he grabbed Harry’s bleeding hand and turned it to the light.
Embedded within Harry’s palm were shards of crystal.
Epilogue
Draco had been searching all over for Harry, but he certainly wasn’t going to admit it to him. It was difficult enough to admit it to himself.
He'd spoken to Neville earlier and had been surprised to find himself agreeing to be the best man at Neville's wedding. Daphne, who well knew the depths of depravity that a Slytherin bachelor party could sink to, took Draco aside afterwards to make various threats of retaliation if anything were to happen to her fiancé.
Then there'd been the fairly unpleasant scene with Ron and Hermione. He'd allowed Granger to hug him, though he'd deny to his dying day that he'd hugged her back. When Weasley had tried to do the same, there'd been a bit of hexing that involved body parts shriveling up. Despite his belief that there were already more than enough Weasleys in the world, he'd seen Hermione's side of the argument and agreed to reverse it.
Idly, he scratched at the mark Hermione's wand had made on his neck. Some people really knew how to argue a point.
Draco finally found Harry walking away from the Quidditch pitch, his broom in one hand and a practice Snitch in the other.
"Congratulations, Potter." Draco said as he began to walk beside him, matching his pace. "You managed to survive long enough to pass your NEWTs. I suppose it’s off to Auror training with you."
Harry grinned at him. "Actually, I’m thinking of joining a Quidditch team." He released the practice Snitch, then snatched it out of the air before it could escape. "I like playing Seeker and have a special talent for it. It would be a shame to let all those hours and hours of practice go to waste." He moved closer until their robes brushed as they walked.
"Speaking of special talents, did you ever discover what power you were supposed to have to defeat Voldemort?" Draco asked.
Once more Harry let the Snitch go and then grabbed it before it darted out of his reach. "Never did," he said. "Trelawney was the one who originally came up with the prophecy, you know. She probably messed it up."
"I suppose." He watched as Harry released and caught the Snitch a third time then shoved it into his pocket. Draco's brow furrowed as he remembered Harry dashing off on his broom after the crystal like a Seeker after the Snitch.
Exactly like a Seeker after the Snitch
"You don't suppose-" Draco began, but Harry interrupted him before he could finish.
"What about you, Malfoy? I guess you’re going home to be waited upon by your legion of house-elves."
"Naturally. I’m sure they’re currently all agog with anticipation of my return. I am, however, planning to spend some time at the Ministry. I believe several positions have recently opened up after the sudden departures of the employees. Particularly in the department that deals with the Dark Arts."
Harry’s mouth dropped open in shock. "You’re planning on working for the Ministry?"
"Potter," Draco admonished. "I plan to one day run the place and have the Ministry work for me. I was born to give orders."
They reached the memorial that Dumbledore had ordered erected to honour all those who had lost their lives in the fight against Voldemort. Draco found Lucius’s name and ran a finger over the letters. Harry moved next to him and did the same, letting his hand cover Draco's and their fingers entwine.
When Draco turned to face him, Harry gave him a small sad smile in acknowledgment of his pain. In response, Draco turned Harry's hand over and examined the scar that now marked the palm. Bringing it to his mouth, he pressed a kiss upon it.
In silence, they continued to make their way towards Hogwarts. They hadn’t gone far when two house-elves appeared directly in front of them, forcing them to stumble to a halt.
"Master Malfoy, we have come to bring you home with us."
"You’re going home? Now?" Harry's voice reflecting his astonishment and disappointment. "I thought we’d have tonight and part of tomorrow before you left."
"My father’s solicitors feel that they have been most gracious to allow me to finish my NEWTs before demanding my presence. They’ve been after me since the moment they were magically notified of his death."
Harry stepped closer and placed his hand on Draco’s arm. "You can’t delay them one more night?"
His heart thumping painfully in his chest, Draco shook his head. "I can’t." He motioned to the house-elves. "My trunk is in my room. Please fetch it."
"I’ll miss you," Harry said, wrapping his arms around Draco’s waist and leaning against him.
"I’m sure you will," Draco smirked, receiving a sharp nip to his ear from Harry in retaliation. Despite the little flare of pain, he held Harry tightly, trying to memorise each tiny sensation so that he could call them back up to his mind during lonely days and cold nights. He knew Harry’s warm breath against his ear and the sharp hipbones pressing into him would haunt him for a long time to come.
Giving Harry one last squeeze, he stepped back and forced himself to smile.
"I must be off." He was proud that his voice remained firm and steady as he gazed as Harry’s sad face. "I won’t say I’ll miss seeing you for I’m sure that as soon as some team snaps you up, your likeness will be plastered over every available surface. You’ll be on magazines and posters everywhere."
"Going to pin me to a wall?" Harry asked.
Draco grinned lustfully. "It wouldn’t be the first time, now would it?"
Once more, the house-elves appeared in front of them. "Master Malfoy, your carriage is ready."
Draco turned to leave, but Harry reached out and stopped him, grabbing an arm.
"Wait! What if I want to see you? In person, I mean."
"Potter," Draco said, smiling widely. "All you have to do is ask."
The End
Title: The Face of His Enemy
Author: mahaliem
Rating: R
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Summary: On the train to Hogwarts, Draco is hit with a curse that results in him reassessing who he is and who his true enemies are.
Disclaimer: JKR owns everything and everyone (except for some minor original characters). No profit is being made on this work.
Author's Note: I had written over 33,000 words of this story before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were sold. It is therefore AU. Any similarities between this story and JKR's is purely coincidental.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
"Do you understand what I want you to do?" Draco asked Vince, who nodded.
"I’m to send my father this letter you dictated telling him how I saw Potter do something strange today, but don’t want to write it down because I’m not sure how to describe it."
"Good."
"My father… he won’t get into trouble for this, will he?"
"We’re saving his life, Vince. Voldemort killed Greg’s father. He’s holding mine prisoner. Besides, if it all falls through you can claim I tricked you."
Leaving his friend, Draco walked out into the corridor where Harry joined him.
"How much did you tell him?" Harry asked.
"As little as possible. If Vince’s father is aware of Voldemort’s obsession with discovering your power, then the letter should make it into the Dark Lord’s hands. That tracking spell Granger put on the letter had better work."
"It will. It would’ve been easier if Snape knew where we apparated from."
"We already discussed this." Draco ran a hand through his hair. "Snape knew where to apparate to because the mark called for him. It’s how you and Lucius got there. That way the location stays unknown."
They continued to walk down the hallway side by side, each deep in thought until Harry stopped, causing Draco to stop as well.
"I need to tell Dumbledore," Harry announced.
Draco couldn’t believe it. He knew Potter wasn’t the brightest of students, but this was venturing into Crabbe and Goyle territory.
"That’s a mistake. Do you really think he’ll risk you to rescue a known Death Eater?"
Harry was adamant. "I’ve made mistakes before by going off on my own. Mistakes that could’ve been avoided if I’d discussed them beforehand with someone."
"So discuss it with me, then. Hmm, you wish to launch a rescue of my father? I heartily approve." Draco spread his hands. "See? Discussion over."
Harry shook his head. "I’m sorry, but I have to at least make an attempt at convincing him that we should do this."
Draco exhaled heavily. "I don’t trust Dumbledore."
"Why does that not surprise me?"
"It’s not just because he favours you Gryffindors. Or that he’s completely barmy. Or even that he has an unhealthy addiction to sweets, though all of these reasons are sound. I don’t understand why he didn’t undo the spell that made me look like you. I don’t know why he didn’t change me back."
"Maybe…" Harry said, appearing to be searching for a good reason, "…maybe Voldemort used a Dark Art to get you back to normal."
Draco made a sound of disbelief. "I had an interesting conversation with him when everyone thought I was you. He told me all about the prophecy. I think that Dumbledore was hoping that power of yours, that’s so secret you don’t even know what it is, would manifest with two Harry Potters running around."
"He wouldn’t do that."
"It may have escaped your attention, but there’s going to be a war and I think he’d do anything he had to in order to win it. That includes keeping you protected and not letting you run off to confront Voldemort before you’re ready."
"I don’t care," Harry said firmly. "I have to at least try to get him to see why I have to do this."
* * *
A few hours later, Draco watched as Harry and Dumbledore faced each other in the Headmaster’s office. The conversation between them was going about as well as he’d expected.
"You don’t understand," Harry was saying.
"I do understand. Far too well, in fact. It is my fault that you feel this obligation to Lucius Malfoy." Dumbledore paused and glanced at where Draco was slouched in an armchair.
"Oh don’t mind me," Draco assured him. "Pretend I don’t exist. I’m sure you’ve had quite a bit of practice at that."
"That’s not fair." Harry turned on Draco. "He cares about everyone."
"Perhaps. But he cares a little more if they’re wearing red and gold."
"Dra-"
Dumbledore interrupted Harry’s protest. "Mister Malfoy is entitled to his opinion just as I am. As I was saying - it is my fault you feel as you do about Lucius. I am the one who placed you with the Dursleys where you never felt a parent’s love."
He sighed deeply before continuing. "Harry, it is natural for you to not want to lose that after having experienced it at last."
"Lucius was good to me," Harry said quietly.
"I’m sure he was. He thought you were his son. But how does he treat the sons of other men? One cannot forgive sins simply out of affection for the sinner."
"But he can be redeemed, like Snape was. When my… when Lucius knew who I really was he still helped me escape. If he hadn’t, he’d be fine right now."
"There is that. But we can’t risk it." Dumbledore shook his head. "Until we know how to destroy Voldemort, then it is best that we do not seek out confrontations with him, even if we knew his location."
Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Draco stood, cutting him off. "I told Harry you’d be no help."
* * *
Several pairs of eyes followed the owl that winged its way toward Vincent Crabbe and dropped a letter in his lap.
"It’s from my father," Vince muttered to Draco.
"Then perhaps you should open it in private," Draco suggested. He rose to his feet and waited while Vince grabbed two more slices of toast before joining him. Exiting the Great Hall, Draco nodded to Harry across the room while Vince chewed on his toast morosely.
He led Vince into an empty classroom and held his hand out for the letter. He was still scanning it when Harry slipped inside, shutting the door behind him.
"What’s it say?" Harry asked.
Draco glanced up at him. "The tracking spell isn’t going to work." He held up the parchment in his hand which was the same one that Hermione had charmed. "He replied at the bottom of Vince’s letter and sent it back to us."
"Well… what did he write?" Harry said impatiently.
"Grandmother is still feeling under the weather and gnomes have gone crazy in the formal gardens." He paused and read some more. "Oh, this is exciting,"
Harry leaned forward. "What?"
"Vince’s sister is getting married." He smiled at Vince. "Congratulations."
Vince wiped crumbs from his mouth. "Thank you."
The expression on Harry’s face indicated that if Draco didn’t stop fooling around and tell him what he wanted to know soon, there was going to be trouble. As if that look would do anything but encourage Draco to continue.
"Your cat, Marbles, had kittens," he told Vince. "They think that they might be part Kneazle."
"How many?" Vince wondered.
"Three. Marbles had them in the front hall closet. Your mother is fairly miffed about that."
"She’s never liked Marbles."
"Excuse me," Harry said loudly, clearly more miffed than Mrs. Crabbe had ever dreamed of being. "What does Vince’s dad say about Voldemort?"
"Hmmm."
Harry folded his arms across his chest. "Hmmm, what?"
"His father wants Vince to go to the Owlery right after dinner. He’s to tell the person who meets him there everything he knows."
He handed the letter back to Vince, who plopped down at a desk and began to read it thoroughly.
"The Owlery?" Harry repeated. "You don’t suppose he’s going to send Dauntmoor, do you?"
"It would make sense. Dauntmoor’s animagus form of an eagle has been useful in getting in and out of Hogwarts before."
"If Crabbe passes a charmed parchment to Dauntmoor, then we’ll find out exactly where Voldemort is holding Lucius."
It was at that moment that Ron and Hermione opened the door.
"Harry Potter," Hermione scolded. "We’ve been looking all over for you."
"We saw Crabbe get a letter," Ron interrupted. "Did his dad send off the other one to Voldemort yet?"
"No," Harry stated unhappily.
"Then what’s going on?" Ron asked
"Vince’s sister is getting married." Draco smiled brightly.
"Congratulations," Ron said to Crabbe, who was still seated at the desk with the letter. Crabbe politely thanked Ron.
"Honestly," Hermione huffed, walking over and yanking the letter from Crabbe’s hand. "Oh no. This is the same parchment that we used."
"He’s supposed to meet with someone in the Owlery. We think it’s going to be Dauntmoor," Harry explained to his friends. "We’ll have to charm another parchment with a tracking spell and have Crabbe convince him to take it."
Ron, Draco, Harry, and Hermione looked at Crabbe who looked back at them.
"What?" he asked, blinking a bit.
"There’ll have to be an extremely good reason for Dauntmoor to take it with him." Hermione thought for a moment. "Voldemort wants to know what Harry’s secret power is. Why don’t we tell him?"
"Potter has a secret power?" Crabbe straightened in his chair and looked at Harry.
"Yes, but we don’t know what it is," Hermione confirmed.
"Then how can we tell Voldemort?" Ron asked.
Draco wanted to smack him, but seeing how if he did Harry would probably never have sex with him again, he refrained. "We lie, you git."
Ron’s eyes widened. "You’d lie to Voldemort?"
"Why not? Not like he doesn’t have it in for us already."
"What power should we tell Voldemort he has, then?"
"I could be like Superman," Harry suggested. At Draco’s blank look, he added, "Super strong, super fast."
"Super stupid." Draco shook his head. "Strength and speed isn’t going to worry Voldemort one bit."
"Maybe we could say his animagus form is a dragon," Ron said, excitedly. "Make Voldemort think that one minute he’d be duelling Harry and the next minute he’d be facing a Hungarian Horntail."
"That’s not bad," Draco admitted.
"Maybe Potter can split himself," Crabbe said. Everyone turned to look at the unexpected source of the comment. "It was pretty spooky seeing two Potters around earlier this year. We could let on that the whole Draco turning into Harry bit was part of the plan to confuse people into not realizing what Harry could do. Maybe even make it so Harry can be three or four people. An entire army of Harrys."
"That’s actually quite a good idea," Hermione said slowly.
"I agree," Ron admitted. "I always knew Slytherins were talented liars."
"Thank you," Vince and Draco said together, before smiling at one another.
* * *
Huddled under the invisibility cloak, Draco and Harry watched as Vince paced back and forth in the Owlery. It had been a fight to determine who’d hide under the cloak and wait. Ron had wanted to go with Harry, but Draco had won.
"Quit fidgeting," Harry whispered to him.
"Suppose you'd prefer it if Weasley was under here with you," Draco pouted.
"I didn’t say that."
"You didn’t have to."
The trouble was that Harry hadn't said anything when Draco and Ron had argued. The thought that Harry might actually prefer to be with his best friend irked Draco. And it made him determined to change Harry's mind.
Pretending it was accidental, he slid his hand to the right so that it nudged against Harry’s thigh. Harry edged over a little, giving Draco a little more room under the cloak.
"You use this cloak a lot, Potter?" Draco murmured.
"Some."
"Bet you enjoyed sneaking around under it."
"I usually had a good reason," Harry stated huffily.
"You never used it simply to…" Draco let the sentence trail off as he placed his hand on Harry's leg.
"What?"
"You know." At Harry’s look of confusion, Draco ran his hand up Harry’s thigh. "We’re under here. No one can see us. Or what we’re doing."
Harry's mouth dropped open for a moment before he gathered his wits to form a reply.
"You are truly sick."
Draco noticed that despite Harry’s words, he didn’t move away. He also seemed to be breathing a bit more erratically. Leaning closer, he nuzzled at Harry’s throat. His hand moved further up the thigh.
"We could do anything we wanted under here, anywhere we wanted, and no one would know." His hand cupped the bulge in Harry’s pants. "We could do it on the Quidditch pitch… in the middle of the Great Hall… on Snape’s desk during Potions class."
As he said the last option, Harry let out a low groan and Draco chuckled. "You like that idea, don’t you? Snape’s desk. And you think that I’m sick."
"I-"
Whatever Harry had been about to say was interrupted by the beating of wings. In moments, Dauntmoor had flown into the Owlery and shifted out of his eagle form. He approached Vince.
"You’re Crabbe’s boy?"
"Yes," Vince stammered, backing away a foot.
"You have some information for me. Tell me what you know."
"I wrote it down." Vince pushed the parchment with the tracking charm on it at Dauntmoor. "Here. Take it."
Dauntmoor snatched it out of his hand, but didn’t bother looking at it. "I want to hear it from your own mouth, boy. What’s Potter’s power?"
"I told you, I wrote it down. All of it." Vince backed up another few feet.
"I can’t ask a piece of parchment questions, now can I?" He dropped it to the floor. "Now answer me - what do you know?"
"I stumbled across a room and saw Dumbledore with Potter," Vince lied. "I looked again and saw that it was two Potters."
"Bah, that was only the Malfoy brat."
Under the cloak, Draco bristled at the term "brat".
"But Draco was there, too," Vince insisted as Dauntmoor advanced on him.
Dauntmoor reached out and grabbed Vince’s robes, yanking him forward. "When did you see this?"
"A few days ago."
Dauntmoor’s eyes widened. "Two Potters?" He focused his beady eyes upon Vince. "Could it have been polyjuice? Did you watch for more than an hour? Tell-"
The door to the Owlery swung open to reveal Snape. He advanced, his wand pointing at Dauntmoor.
"You must think me a fool, Dauntmoor, to dare come here again. Did you think that we would not set a charm to warn us if you once more tried to infiltrate Hogwarts?" Snape glanced at Vince. "I am most disappointed in you, Mister Crabbe. We will discuss this at length once I’ve rid us of this vermin."
"Oh shit," Draco murmured to Harry.
Dauntmoor twisted his hold on Vince, holding the boy in front of him as a hostage, his wand pointing at Vince’s head. "Drop your wand, Snape, or I'll kill him."
Snape simply sneered. "Do it."
Letting out a cry of frustration, Dauntmoor flung Crabbe at Snape, then shifted into his animagus form and escaped out the window.
Harry and Draco tossed off the invisibility cloak and raced forward.
"What’s going on here?" Snape demanded.
"Damn it, we had a plan. We were going to track him with a charm, find out where their lair is, and rescue my father," Draco said. "It’s ruined now!"
"Draco?" Vince said. He picked up the fallen parchment. "I’m really sorry."
He looked at Vince’s crestfallen face. "I’m not mad at you. I know you did your best."
"Track him?" Snape asked. "When you could simply follow him back instead?"
Harry and Draco looked at each other, wondering how they could be quite so dumb.
"Accio Firebolt," Harry shouted.
Draco followed his lead. "Accio Nimbus 2000."
"As soon as you’re in the air, use a disillusionment spell," Snape ordered. He didn’t summon anything, but there was a momentary shift in the air and in his place was a huge black bat.
"Figures," Harry muttered at the transformation. "Half the students think he’s part bat anyway." He grabbed his Firebolt as it arrived and climbed on.
Draco snatched the parchment that had been charmed with a tracking spell out of Vince’s hands. "Let Granger know that I’ve got this. If she tells you to do something, do it." He mounted his broom.
Snape had already flapped his leathery wings and soared out into the dwindling light in pursuit of the eagle that Dauntmoor had turned into. As Draco spoke to Vince, Harry was disappearing out the window, as well.
"I’m counting on you," Draco said, clasping Vince’s hand.
Vince nodded solemnly and stepped back. "I’ll tell her."
As Draco flew out of the Owlery, he wondered if he would ever see Vince or Hogwarts again.
* * *
They’d been right.
Voldemort’s base of operations hadn’t been far from Hogwarts. After a short flight they found themselves still edging along the Forbidden Forest
Making Harry out despite the disillusionment spell, Draco steered his broom next to him. "It looks like he’s headed for that building next to the mountain."
"Next to?"
Draco looked again and saw what Harry had seen. The front of the building actually jutted out of the mountainside. No wonder it had seemed as if they had been forced to run for so long to reach an exit when they’d been here before. There were only a limited number of entry points.
It appeared that the hole they’d escaped through before had been repaired. Additionally, four guards were stationed nearby. There would be no unauthorized exit from that spot now.
In the dying sunlight, he was just able to spy the eagle they’d been following enter a cleft in the mountain. Snape swooped in after it with Harry close behind. Taking a deep breath, Draco entered as well.
Through crevices they flew. All of Draco’s attention focused on dipping and diving, sliding around obstacles that loomed up in the darkness that was only illuminated by the occasional torch. It strained his skill at flying to the utmost. After a third near miss, he could feel himself gripping his broom handle much too tightly. It was only by following Harry as closely as possible that he avoided getting lost in the warren of caverns.
Upon flying into an actual room, he was so surprised that he almost ran into Harry. Fortunately he skidded to a stop in time. Both Dauntmoor and Snape had resumed their human forms. One of Snape’s hands held Dauntmoor by the throat against the wall. The other was pointing his wand at Dauntmoor’s chest.
"Where’s Lucius?" Snape hissed. At Dauntmoor’s silence, he began to squeeze.
As Dauntmoor’s breath became more and more laboured, Draco shrank his broom and placed it in his pocket for ready access. A few words to Harry and he did the same. Glancing at Dauntmoor, Draco wondered how much longer the git would hold out. The man’s eyes were beginning to bulge, and his face was turning an unnatural colour.
"If he can’t breathe, he won’t be able to answer," Harry remarked, watching in fascination.
"I’m sure Snape knows what he’s doing," Draco answered. He discovered Dauntmoor’s wand on the ground and bent to pick it up. "After all, practice does make perfect."
Snape released Dauntmoor’s throat. The man fell to his knees sucking in air as Snape reached into a pocket of his robes and withdrew a vial of clear liquid. After a few seconds, he grabbed Dauntmoor by the hair and hauled him back to his feet.
"Listen, you worm, in a moment I will administer an exceedingly strong dose of Veritaserum of my own brewing. If you try to resist and delay us in any way, I will be more than happy to flay your skin from your body. If you do not, then I might allow you to live."
Dauntmoor’s eyes darted to where Draco was toying with Dauntmoor’s wand, bending it back as far as he could before releasing it and letting it thrum and vibrate.
"He means it," Draco assured him. "The flaying part, anyway. Not so sure about the living bit." He stuck Dauntmoor’s wand in his pocket.
When the Veritaserum was administered, Dauntmoor cooperated. He gave them directions to where Lucius was kept when not undergoing torture for Voldemort’s pleasure. At Snape’s probing questions, he informed them of the locations of any guards throughout the stronghold that they might run into.
After learning all they might need to know, Snape raised his wand. "Obliviate," he shouted and Dauntmoor’s eyes became empty of all knowledge.
"Why did you do that?" Harry asked.
"Never leave an enemy behind you if you can help it," Snape instructed.
Dauntmoor was happily asking who he was and who Draco, Harry, and Snape were, when Snape grabbed Dauntmoor and viciously slammed his head into the stone wall.
"And that’s for threatening Vincent Crabbe," Snape snapped as Dauntmoor’s unconscious body slid to the ground.
They opened the door that led to the rest of Voldemort’s hideout and found the corridor outside filled with guards. Before they could defend themselves, a dozen wands were pointed at their chests.
Hogwarts was not the only place where charms had been set to prevent infiltration.
"Drop your wands," the head guard snarled.
Every instinct told Draco not to obey. It was only when he heard Snape's murmur of "Do it" that he forced himself to release his grip. The three clatters of wood on the stone floor sounded loud to Draco's ears.
Their wands were quickly gathered up by the head guard. A moment later, Snape, Draco, and Harry were herded down the stairs to where Voldemort waited for them.
Dauntmoor’s wand, tucked in Draco’s pocket, went unnoticed.
* * *
Voldemort’s chamber was as dark and smelly as Draco remembered. It was practically empty however. Except for the clusters of guards, Nagini, and Wormtail, the large room was empty.
The head guard bowed low and placed their wands on the table next to where Voldemort sat. Instead of one familiar box on the table next to Voldemort’s elbow, there were now two.
The guards, despite being unable to revive Dauntmoor, carried him in with them. Voldemort spared his follower a glance before waving for the guards to take him out of his sight.
"Snape, Potter, and Malfoy - I’m so pleased that you decided to visit me again."
Voldemort’s sibilant hissing made chills creep up Draco’s spine. He glanced at Snape, who was looking at the Dark Lord with hate and Harry, who was glaring at him defiantly. For his own expression, Draco settled on disgust.
"This place is as charming as before," Draco said scathingly. "What lovely company you keep, too." He looked at Nagini. "Snakes." He shifted his gaze to Wormtail. "Rats." Lastly he fixed upon the Death Eater guards. "And toads."
"Young Malfoy, I understand that you came to see your father," Voldemort replied and his smile started those darn chills again. "I’ve arranged for him to be brought here in honour of your visit."
The door clanged open, and four more guards appeared dragging a burden between them. When they deposited it at Draco’s feet he let out a cry and dropped to his knees beside it.
His father appeared to have been beaten and starved. His clothes were rags that hung on his withered frame. Fingers had been broken and healed wrong, so that they were twisted lumps of flesh. His cheeks were sunken, and his mouth was toothless. The worst part, however, was not physical.
Lucius gazed up at Draco, his mind empty.
Harry knelt next to Draco and touched Lucius’s arm, stroking it, offering what comfort he could. The man, if he could even be called that anymore, seemed to seek out the source, turning toward Harry.
"I once promised him that I wouldn’t let Dementors hurt him," Harry said quietly.
Draco swallowed hard. He glanced up at Severus, who slowly shook his head to Draco’s unspoken question. Such harm could not be healed or undone. He gently moved the tangled mat of long blond hair away from Lucius’s face.
"I must congratulate you, Potter," Voldemort said loudly, regaining their attention. "Whatever spell you used on Lucius to keep your secrets worked outstandingly well. Despite using every method at my disposal to convince him, he didn't say a word concerning you. Not even something as trivial as what you prefer to eat for breakfast."
Harry's hands ceased their stroking and clenched into fists.
"As for you, Malfoy, your father talked of you incessantly. It was such a pity, though, when his mind began to go. He became confused over your earlier predicament, thinking there were two of you instead of two Potters. It was quite amusing, listening to Lucius babble on about how proud he was of both his sons."
"And I'm so proud of you," whispered Draco to the form that was now huddling in his arms.
Harry angrily rose to his feet. "You’re going to pay for this."
Draco stayed where he was, still saying his goodbyes to his father.
"Pay?" Voldemort laughed. "I don’t think you understand, Potter. I’ve decided to forget about whatever power the prophecy claims you have and simply destroy you. It will be so much less complicated."
He looked at the group in front of him. "I believe that it is time for all of you to die. Lucius will be the first to go."
Instead of raising his wand, he opened one of the boxes next to him and withdrew a crystal that contained a glowing blue orb. The crystal thrashed in his grip, but he held it firmly.
"Didn’t you wonder how Lucius had managed to linger for so long? I didn’t want him to perish before he’d suffered all of the punishment he so richly deserved."
Voldemort slammed the hand holding the crystal down so hard on the table next to him that their wands and the second box seemed to jump. There was the sound of shattering, and shards scattered over the tabletop.
The glow disappeared from the center of the crystal. Lucius sucked in a final breath, then was silent.
"He’s dead," Draco said blankly, still caressing his father’s face.
"As will you be," Voldemort replied. "But you will not go nearly as quietly."
Gently, Draco placed his father on the floor then stood. The smile on his face was frightening to behold. "I think for the first time since we arrived here, you’re actually right about something."
In a sudden burst of movement, Draco pulled Dauntmoor’s wand from his pocket. With every ounce of anger he had in his body, he shouted "Accio wands," then dove to the side to avoid any retaliatory burst of spells from the guards, Wormtail, or Voldemort.
To his surprise, not only did his, Snape’s and Harry’s wands come flying to him, but the wands of most of the Death Eater guards shot towards him, too. Although the summoning had no effect on Voldemort, Wormtail was struggling to keep his wand from flying from his hand.
A curse flew towards him and Draco threw up a shield, thankful for all the training he’d received. Snape and Harry had scrambled for their wands. With a malicious "Evanesco!" Snape made all the other wands disappear.
The guards, now unarmed, decided the better part of valour would be running for help.
Nagini hissed and uncurled from her position at Voldemort’s feet. Wormtail huddled close to his Master.
"You fools," Voldemort snarled. "You can not kill me."
"We can still stop you," Harry shouted. He aimed his wand and ropes wrapped around Voldemort in an effort to bind him. Draco and Snape both shot similar binding curses at Voldemort as well. Draco was about to aim a second one when Nagini rose in front of him and he flinched back, barely avoiding the strike of her poisonous fangs. She flicked her tail and slithered after him. Seeing her nosing towards him again, he hit her with a bat bogey hex.
"The box," Snape was shouting to Harry. "We must smash the crystal inside." Snape raced toward the table to grab the box while Voldemort still struggled with his bonds but was hit in the side by a bone-breaking hex from Wormtail.
Snape winced in pain, clutched his ribs, then whirled to face his opponent.
"Pettigrew. Traitor to the Marauders. Do you know how they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" At Wormtail’s nod, Snape smiled. "They lied."
The curse that hit Wormtail slammed him into the wall.
From the corner of his eye, Draco could see Harry sprint for the box which held the crystal. He would’ve liked to help him but he was too busy dodging a very pissed off snake.
"Densaugeo," Draco shouted. He watched in horrified fascination as Nagini’s fangs grew even longer. "Oops." He quickly moved even further away and shouted, "Impedimenta!"
Harry had the box in his hands now and was fumbling for the catch, but Voldemort had at last dispelled the ropes.
"Incendio," Voldemort shouted and Harry let out a yelp, dropping the box in his hands as it burst into flames. A moment later the crystal sprang free, its container now reduced to ash. It hovered for a moment before darting away.
"Go after it," Snape ordered, then cast another curse at Wormtail.
From his pocket, Harry retrieved his broom and reversed the reduction spell. Draco spied Voldemort aiming a hex at Harry while his attention was elsewhere and threw up a shield, shuddering at the impact when the hex hit.
Harry soared away on his Firebolt, flying through the open doorway after the escaping crystal.
Voldemort turned the force of his fury onto Snape, who failed to block a curse entirely and was knocked sprawling onto the floor. Draco hurried to help him and was soon under fire, as well.
As if sensing Snape and Draco’s imminent defeat, Death Eaters began to pour through the door.
Back to back, Snape and Draco stood, no longer sending out curses but spending all their rapidly dwindling energy on protecting themselves.
Draco was just about to give up hope and let himself be bitten by Nagini when there was a loud boom. The room rumbled and the floor shook.
In their midst stood Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and several other adults and students, many of whom Draco failed to recognize.
"Oh dear God, no" Draco murmured. "We’re being rescued by Gryffindors."
"Truly a fate worse than death," Snape replied.
As the new arrivals took on the Death Eaters, Draco breathed a sigh of relief. Lupin seemed to be attacking Wormtail quite viciously. Weasley’s parents were making short work of Nagini in a similar manner. The others seemed to be split between attacking Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
Draco spied in one corner Neville battling his Aunt Bellatrix. He started forward to help his friend when he saw that Neville already had assistance - Daphne Greengrass. It was only at that moment that he realised that she wasn't the only non-Gryffindor fighting the Death Eaters. Scattered among their rescuers were Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Slytherins.
Although the most shocking fact was that Daphne, who went through lovers like Dumbledore went through candy, was obviously serious about Neville. Judging from the way she was standing by his side and throwing hexes at Aunt Bellatrix, Daphne was extremely serious.
Before Draco could join the others in attacking Voldemort, Ron and Hermione raced over to him.
"Where’s Harry?" they shouted, their faces filled with concern.
"He got bored and went for a ride on his broomstick."
"He what?" Hermione screeched.
Before Draco could reply, a high-pitched scream filled the air. It was Voldemort.
Voldemort was collapsing, as if he’d been filled with air and it was leaking out. As his screams continued, the remaining Death Eaters began to back away, first in dribbles and drabs, then in an all-out retreat.
The scream continued for longer than Draco imagined possible. For years to come, he would wake at night, still hearing it echo in his mind.
At some point Harry arrived, his broom held tightly in one hand. His other hand dripped blood. He made his way to the front of the room to witness Voldemort’s last gasp.
When all was silent, Dumbledore stepped forward, pointed his wand, and burned the corpse.
Draco stumbled to where Harry was surrounded by his friends. Pushing through the mob, he grabbed Harry’s bleeding hand and turned it to the light.
Embedded within Harry’s palm were shards of crystal.
Epilogue
Draco had been searching all over for Harry, but he certainly wasn’t going to admit it to him. It was difficult enough to admit it to himself.
He'd spoken to Neville earlier and had been surprised to find himself agreeing to be the best man at Neville's wedding. Daphne, who well knew the depths of depravity that a Slytherin bachelor party could sink to, took Draco aside afterwards to make various threats of retaliation if anything were to happen to her fiancé.
Then there'd been the fairly unpleasant scene with Ron and Hermione. He'd allowed Granger to hug him, though he'd deny to his dying day that he'd hugged her back. When Weasley had tried to do the same, there'd been a bit of hexing that involved body parts shriveling up. Despite his belief that there were already more than enough Weasleys in the world, he'd seen Hermione's side of the argument and agreed to reverse it.
Idly, he scratched at the mark Hermione's wand had made on his neck. Some people really knew how to argue a point.
Draco finally found Harry walking away from the Quidditch pitch, his broom in one hand and a practice Snitch in the other.
"Congratulations, Potter." Draco said as he began to walk beside him, matching his pace. "You managed to survive long enough to pass your NEWTs. I suppose it’s off to Auror training with you."
Harry grinned at him. "Actually, I’m thinking of joining a Quidditch team." He released the practice Snitch, then snatched it out of the air before it could escape. "I like playing Seeker and have a special talent for it. It would be a shame to let all those hours and hours of practice go to waste." He moved closer until their robes brushed as they walked.
"Speaking of special talents, did you ever discover what power you were supposed to have to defeat Voldemort?" Draco asked.
Once more Harry let the Snitch go and then grabbed it before it darted out of his reach. "Never did," he said. "Trelawney was the one who originally came up with the prophecy, you know. She probably messed it up."
"I suppose." He watched as Harry released and caught the Snitch a third time then shoved it into his pocket. Draco's brow furrowed as he remembered Harry dashing off on his broom after the crystal like a Seeker after the Snitch.
Exactly like a Seeker after the Snitch
"You don't suppose-" Draco began, but Harry interrupted him before he could finish.
"What about you, Malfoy? I guess you’re going home to be waited upon by your legion of house-elves."
"Naturally. I’m sure they’re currently all agog with anticipation of my return. I am, however, planning to spend some time at the Ministry. I believe several positions have recently opened up after the sudden departures of the employees. Particularly in the department that deals with the Dark Arts."
Harry’s mouth dropped open in shock. "You’re planning on working for the Ministry?"
"Potter," Draco admonished. "I plan to one day run the place and have the Ministry work for me. I was born to give orders."
They reached the memorial that Dumbledore had ordered erected to honour all those who had lost their lives in the fight against Voldemort. Draco found Lucius’s name and ran a finger over the letters. Harry moved next to him and did the same, letting his hand cover Draco's and their fingers entwine.
When Draco turned to face him, Harry gave him a small sad smile in acknowledgment of his pain. In response, Draco turned Harry's hand over and examined the scar that now marked the palm. Bringing it to his mouth, he pressed a kiss upon it.
In silence, they continued to make their way towards Hogwarts. They hadn’t gone far when two house-elves appeared directly in front of them, forcing them to stumble to a halt.
"Master Malfoy, we have come to bring you home with us."
"You’re going home? Now?" Harry's voice reflecting his astonishment and disappointment. "I thought we’d have tonight and part of tomorrow before you left."
"My father’s solicitors feel that they have been most gracious to allow me to finish my NEWTs before demanding my presence. They’ve been after me since the moment they were magically notified of his death."
Harry stepped closer and placed his hand on Draco’s arm. "You can’t delay them one more night?"
His heart thumping painfully in his chest, Draco shook his head. "I can’t." He motioned to the house-elves. "My trunk is in my room. Please fetch it."
"I’ll miss you," Harry said, wrapping his arms around Draco’s waist and leaning against him.
"I’m sure you will," Draco smirked, receiving a sharp nip to his ear from Harry in retaliation. Despite the little flare of pain, he held Harry tightly, trying to memorise each tiny sensation so that he could call them back up to his mind during lonely days and cold nights. He knew Harry’s warm breath against his ear and the sharp hipbones pressing into him would haunt him for a long time to come.
Giving Harry one last squeeze, he stepped back and forced himself to smile.
"I must be off." He was proud that his voice remained firm and steady as he gazed as Harry’s sad face. "I won’t say I’ll miss seeing you for I’m sure that as soon as some team snaps you up, your likeness will be plastered over every available surface. You’ll be on magazines and posters everywhere."
"Going to pin me to a wall?" Harry asked.
Draco grinned lustfully. "It wouldn’t be the first time, now would it?"
Once more, the house-elves appeared in front of them. "Master Malfoy, your carriage is ready."
Draco turned to leave, but Harry reached out and stopped him, grabbing an arm.
"Wait! What if I want to see you? In person, I mean."
"Potter," Draco said, smiling widely. "All you have to do is ask."
The End