This chapter sucks writing wise :)

CHAPTER 13

[Half Light]

DRACO

Adrenaline floods in Draco's system. It pumps and beats like it's trying to escape. He feels his heart explode and his eyes widen with fear. Draco's body wanted to run fast for the safety of the hills or to the kitchen of weaponry, but instead he remain where he is. His adrenaline surges so fast he could almost feel himself almost vomit.

Draco doesn't know how they found him. He thought he was carefull. Merlin, how could he be so bloody foolish. He knew this wack-minded fantasy could only last so long.

"Draco, who's out there?" Harry asks more forcefully this time. There's a look about him telling

Draco knows the brunette already knows. He's just looking for confirmation.

"Who's out there Draco?"

He turns around so his back is barricading the door and he can meet Potter's eyes. For years, Draco was so ridiculously careful in his emotions. If you gave someone an inch, they'll take a mile. Ten miles. The entire block really. But now... The beating in his heart had finally slammed it's way through the fortress.

He couldn't bear it anymore and tore their gaze apart. He watched Bramble whisper enchantments under her breath, probably to protect the building she had worked so hard to protect all these years.

"Malfoy, give me my wand right now. They're here for me. "

"Ever the most egotistical, huh?" Draco manages to taunt, his breath catching in the end. Harry's eyebrows furrowed.

"What the Godric's name are you talking about, Malfoy?"

Draco turns around to the dinner table and grabs a chair to wedge underneath the knob. It was silly, seeing as they were wizards and could just blast the door open if figured out the locking spells, but it was worth a try. He didn't have much a choice.

"Merlin, not everything is about you, Potter."

A crash, closer than before, crashes from overhead again. Draco curses and slams his eyes closed. They had to get out of here fast. He took a deep breath.

No. He needed to get Potter and Bramble out of here. His father and Voldemort needed him alive. They'll take him and go. And if they found Harry, well, he couldn't say the same. He saw first hand the thirst of blood of the Dark Lord had when it came to Potter.

But at the same time, being tortured wasn't on his to-do list for today. Maybe Tomorrow.

"Malfoy, there are innocent people in the other rooms! Let me go you selfish git!"

"And let you get handed over to the Dark Lord? You really are a bloody numpty."

Harry glares at him. "And since when do you care whether I get killed or not?"

Draco felt like banging his skull against the door frame. "Do you learn anything? We're on a truce! So I can't just let you die on my watch."

"And I can't let innocent people die on mine."

They're gazes are cold and hard.

"Boys!"

Both of their heads snap towards Bramble. She was glaring at them, her hands on her hips. "Even in a life of death situation you still find something to argue about Draco."

Draco bites his lip and ignores the statement. "Bramble, is there anyway out? I thought there wards up? How did they get in?"

"I'm afraid not- I bought these places years ago. The owner had this room made into a bunker for a situation just like this one. The only way out is the door your blocking is the only way in or out." She closes her eyes and whispers something under her breath that sounded mysteriously like a prayer. It suddenly hit him how utterly terrified she had to be. To lose everything to death eaters as a child and now they were attacking her only home once again.

"And there are- I don't know how but they must have found a way around them. They didn't even set off the alarms." She rubs her face with shaky hands. "It is possible that they already had someone from the inside."

Draco feels his throat swell up. He felt the panic swell like a cluster of spark plugs in his abdomen. His fault. Draco wanted to scream. Of course it was his fault. He became a curse on everyone he loved. An inky black poison disguised as dessert . Why did he expect any different?

"But that's nearly impossible...The Obscure Demonica curse keeps anyone with ill intentions out. In fact, they can't even see the house."

"And none of that matters if Malfoy doesn't get out of the way." Harry shoots him another shooting glare. Draco scoffs. His body was feeling so many emotions at once so he couldn't exactly put a name on the emotions he was feeling towards the brunet, but anger was definitely one of them.

"You'll just make things ten times worse if they know you're here! Are you crazy?"

"Then who else are they here for then?!"

"Me you numskull!" Malfoy yells, throwing his hands up. "So shut up! If anyone is going to go out there it's going to be me and that is final."

Draco couldn't look into Bramble's face. He didn't want to see the heartbreak and mistrust promised in her eyes.

Instead, it's the Potter's stone cold face looking down at his clenched fist. It's face is good of emotion and somehow that's almost worse.

"You....your lured them here didn't you?" He says, voice barely above a whisper.

"What? No!"

"Then why are they coming for you then? I saw your dad that night, you know. He probably put you up to this. I just thought..."

Draco wanted to deny it, but he couldn't. He was right- but also so terribly wrong. How did it get so mixed up? He was the bad guy here but he couldn't help it!

He had no choice.

Harry started pulling at his hair, painfully too. Draco went to grab the other's wrist to try and calm him down but was suddenly pushed back into the door by his shoulders.

"Don't touch me." He glares and Draco swears he can see fire in his eyes. He was so harsh, so cruel, and so different from the boy from just the other night.

Something in Draco cracks. He could feel himself balancing on the edge of a panic attack. His entire body has fighting against him so he couldn't even defend himself with Bramble watching.

"Fine," he closes his eyes with ahead breath. "Chances are that I'm going to end up dying by the night anyways. But I'm asking you one thing Draco. Let me go help others."

Draco doesn't register his actions. Before he knows it, his shaky hands are handing Harry his wand and moving away from the door.

Harry wastes no time shoving the chair away and flinging the door open. His own knees buckle and Draco can't help but let out a swallowed sob.

He covers his mouth his hand and ends up biting down on his knuckle to silence himself. He was showing too much of the inside and he didn't even care. Everything was so messed up inside his head that was the last thing he needed to care about.

He felt someone kneel down beside him. It was Bramble. Despite it all, her face was soft, understanding even. She wasn't mad at him. Instead, she picked up his hand and place something cool and wooden in his palm.

"Go find him."

~~~

Chairs thrown from their tables, desks tipped over, and shattered glass filled the lobby. Draco wasn't surprised at the disaster. If his aunt Bellatrix was with them there would hardly anything left worth saving of the place.

A crash came from above and was followed by an unearthly scream. He held his breath. It wasn't Harry, but it would be soon enough.

This was the part he was supposed to say he was prepared for the worst In reality, he wasn't prepared at all. He was secretly hoping that they were here for some other random wizard despite how selfish the thought.

Draco takes the steps two at a time following the carnage on the walls. desperately tries to look beyond the scattered blood on the walls. He doesn't bother to check any of the doors as he runs. Most of them are thrown open and he hopes it was Potter's doing and not anyone else.

A stinging hex to the shoulder catches him by surprise. He curses and throws himself around the closest corner. A couple more spells hit the wall behind where he once was.

"Aw, hidin' already? You're no fun!"

He recognizes the voice immediately. It was the same one who had offered him the hot chocolate on the knight bus only a couple days ago. He can't believe he didn't realize it sooner.

Stanley Shunpike was one of the people Voldemort had under the Imperius curse. It dawned on him. The bus conductor had to be the one who had revealed their location. But there were hundreds of buildings in the combined allys, so how...?

"Redueseo Itseseo!" It was the only spell Draco knew that could bring someone out of their controlled trance. He just hoped to god it would work. He wasn't going to wait to find out though.

He casts a protection spell and fled down the opposite corridor. The rumbling was right above him now. He could picture them tearing apart his room piece by piece, Harry already dead or unconscious on the ground.

The Slytherin pushed himself to go faster.

When he reached the last of the steps he was thrown backwards by an invisible force, slamming his head on the wooden floorboard.

A silver masked figure towered over him. Their hood was pulled over their head, keeping him from having any clue on who they were. Nonetheless, Draco swung his legs wildly and ending up sweeping them to the ground next to him.

"Malfoy! Couldn't wait to finish me off, huh?"

Oh what a blessed sound.

He looked over his shoulder from where he was prying the wand out of the death eater's unconscious hand. Harry's arms and shirt were covered in various cutting hexes and his hair was matted slightly of blood, but he was alive.

One or two faceless bodies were lying unconscious on the ground surrounding him. Harry was a skilled wizard when if came to DADA but there was still so much he could do facing eight other grown adults in battle. He looked close to his breaking point.

"Stupefy!" Draco flings the curse behind Harry. The lurking death eater stumbling onto the wall behind him, taking a picture frame down with him that shatters on his face. There's a brief moment of surprise on Potter's face. But then he nods with something new in his eyes and Harry's trust began weighing on Draco's shoulders.

The blonde stood up and began to fight with new found confidence surging through his bones. Before he knew it, he was absorbed into the fight. Flashes of colors flowing past his eyes in a blur of slow motion, few finding their target in the chaos. Though,He could hardly feel them through the adrenaline. He was just lucky that these people who cared so little for human life needed him alive. If they hadn't, no doubt they'll probably be dead by now.

"Potter, we need to go!" He whisper yells. They were standing nearly back-to-back now. Both of them were breathing heavily with their hair dangling in front of their eyes. "They aren't here to kill us. They're trying to tire us out!"

"We can't just-"

Oh he was thinking he was going to let this go debated.

"Incentactum!" He grabs Harry's wrist and starts running down the hallway. The barrier would help them get a head start but not for long.

They bust into their room and start gathering their stuff and shoving them into Harry's trunk faster than Draco thought possible. There was a charm his grandma had taught him to make this go quicker. What was it? Sevium? Sanctictus? His palms were sweaty and the adrenaline coursing through his system was shutting down his ability to think logically. Never in his life had he ever been so terrified.

Harry threw open the window and grabbed his broom from the corner. He was expecting them to escape the same way as last time, but that was just too risky. If they were hit while flying it could cause them to fall. There had to be another option. One he hadn't thought of already. If-

A sudden gush of pain jolted throughout Draco's body. His stomach began to ache and his arms lost tension and his legs began to weaken. He doubles over causing his eyes to widen. The coppery tang of blood fills his mouth, and it feels like fire is rushing through his veins. The pain isn't sharp like a needle point or a knife, it burns around the blonde's innards better than boiling water. Everything feels scolded and, move or not, he's in the same agonizing pain that's so familiar to him.

To his left, he can just faintly Harry yell then fall in a full body bind next to him.

"Well done, Draco. You've led us straight to the boy."

He can hear his blood rushing in his ears as the circuitous curse tears through his body. A scream tears through him like a great shard of glass. His eyes widen and pulse quickens, heart thudding like a rock rattling in a box. God, and it hurt so much.

"Though, you did run off- That cannot go unpunished. Had it not been for you foolish ways, we wouldn't be in this mess. Now clean up. We have to leave before the ministry gets here. You've caused enough mess for me for one day, I don't need anymore."

His father's words were pudding in his ears. Nothing made sense. The only thing he knew for sure was his fear and the terrifying hole that was tearing through him at the thought he was almost free.

The curse begins to wear off and Draco pushes himself up on his elbows. He wipes coughed up blood from his chin and finally looks up to him.

His father's mask and hood was torn off revealing his menacing glare at his son. It was as if he was disgusted by him and would kill him for the waste of magic he was if there wasn't appearances to keep up.

That's when Draco snapped. It might have been the dizziness but he just couldn't take it anymore. The way his father looked at him - the way no parent should - shouldn't exist. He wanted free of this man who had kept him in a cage his whole life.

"No," He whispers. It's barely audible but it speaks volumes in the silent room. His entire body trembling with his voice as he continues. "I'm-," he chokes from the lack of air, "not a puppet." Draco meets his father's eyes, his own flashing with ache and anger, much like lightning on a pitch-black night. "You sick...manipulative, bastard. You've caused me so much pain and I-," Hot tears pour down his face, yet he channels as much spit and raw fury into his words as he can. "Would rather die than carrying on the Malfoy name next to you one more day."

~~~

And can you shake it off?

Oh, can you shake it off for me?

When you're in the half-light

I don't like the half I see

~~~

yikes this wasn'wasn't meant to be so dark

I really cannot pace my writing or do fight scene for shit sorry y'all ✌

Words: 2616

Published: 1/25/20