The Snake Among Lions

Chapter XVI-Infiltration

To protect the students, Hogwarts had stayed open for the summer that year. Harry and Draco had been among the students who stayed. Draco had begun to worry about Harry. The boy barely ate anymore. He'd lost enough weight, that even Sirius was worried. There was a shortage of laughter. No one talked to those not in their circle. Distrust grew every report of Death Eater activity. The ministry had finally admitted everyone's greatest fear. By Christmas holidays, half the students had been pulled from school by their families. Seamus had refused to let his mom pull him from school and had received a Howler one morning. Draco had only seen Harry's determined demeanor falter once. His cousin, with whom he's made up with and had been owling with recently, was the victim of a Dementor attack and was permanently a patient at St. Mungo's, nothing more than a vegetable. Harry had gone ballistic. He destroyed the Gryffindor common room, breaking everything in sight, shattering his entire hand on the wall as he screamed explicits at the top of his lungs. The older students had to move the younger ones to the dorm. Draco had run to get Remus and Sirius.

"Sirius, Remus, you need to come. It's Harry." And with that, the three of them sprinted back to Gryffindor.

"Harry, Cub, calm down!" Sirius had run and grabbed Harry, who was still repeatedly punching the stone wall. He pulled the angry boy into his arms. With his godfather's arms around him, Harry's posture changed. He deflated and soon was crying quietly into Sirius' shirt. Remus began to put together the room, with the help of some of the 6th and 7th years.

"What happened?" Remus was looking at Draco with sadness in his eyes.

"It was dementors. They got Dudley." Remus just nodded his head as he went to check on the frightened underclassmen.

Draco turned to look back at Harry and Sirius. Sirius was still holding Harry, Harry's shoulders still quaking violently with the force of his sobs. Things were getting worse. This time Harry's family had been directly attacked. Draco was pretty sure it had been on purpose. Not knowing what else to do, he decided to give the family their privacy and went for a walk on the grounds.

Soon, the school year ended. Things were worse than ever. The ministry seemed like it was being corrupted, the Prophet had fallen, werewolf and Death Eater attacks were on the rise, and there was no denying what was happening.

It was the last week of his sixth year, and he and Harry had decided to take a walk to the astronomy tower. They were sitting under the cloak looking at the stars when suddenly neither could move. They saw Dumbledore appear in the tower and soon a crowd of Death Eaters led by Theo Nott stormed in. Draco felt the terror and dread wash over him. His blood was rushing in his ears, and he couldn't hear the confrontation through his fear. Suddenly there was a flash of green light, and the headmaster fell out of the tower. The spell had dissipated, and Draco could feel Harry start to move, heading right towards the Death Eaters. Draco followed, chasing them. The members of the Order joined them, and spells were flying past. Draco stepped over a few people in black robes stunned. McGonagall was dueling MacNair, Sirius and Remus took on the Carrow twins, Tonk tried to hold off Draco's aunt, Bellatrix. But Draco saw a mop of black hair chasing the caster of the green light. He chased after them both, running as fast as he could. Theo sent a stray stunning spell, which hit Draco, who saw nothing but black as he hit the grass.