Finding Draco - A Dramione Novel

Chapter 25 - Draco

The thick crowd of bodies surrounding the duel was easily five deep. Abandoned breakfast trays and half-drunk glasses littered the long, wooden tables inside the Great Hall. As Draco ran in, Hermione in tow, his hair stood on end from an ambient electric charge in the hall.

The once dim torches usually illuminating the room were now engulfed in flames, raging pyres that cast deep shadows where their light could not penetrate.

Whoever was dueling Anders must be dueling to kill.

Intention gave power to magic—it shaped it—and he could feel rage charging around the room.

Hermione wore a determined look—searching the wall of bodies for an opening. Dropping his hand, she vaulted on top of the Fourth and Fifth year table, porridge and toast skidding off on its tray and crashing onto the stone floor.

"Who is it?" Draco shouted.

Hermione clapped her hand over her mouth.

Draco leapt onto the table after her, it was a good feeling—standing on a table. He kicked a glass and watched it shatter onto the floor, the wicked energy in the room gripping him.

From his new vantage point, he could see why Hermione looked horrified. Anders was swinging upside-down by an invisible rope around his ankle, his face nearly purple from the pooling blood and repeated blows.

Blaise was punching him in the mouth, his fist landing decisively against his jaw. After the third vicious blow, Blaise dropped Anders to the ground, magically cutting the bind holding his leg.

Clutching his eye, Anders spat a mouthful of blood out onto the floor.

Draco felt nauseous.

"Get up, you piece of shit." Blaise wiped his mouth—wand pointed directly at Anders' throat.

Bracing his weight on one knee, Anders tried to stand but stumbled. Draco's own duel with Anders dashed in his mind. His loss of control and the punishment afterward.

The crowd was cheering for blood now, a great, building cacophony that screamed and jeered. Anders must have made more than one enemy during his educational career. From the table, Draco could see every face—barking obscenities, fists raised.

For a moment, Draco saw himself down there, bleeding and broken. Potter's wand against his throat as the crowd of Hogwarts students screamed for his torture, for retribution. Anxious energy flowed through him, and he slammed his hands over his ears to drown the noise.

"He's a Death Eater, he's a monster!"

"Kill 'em, Potter!"

"He cursed me, Harry! Let the Dementors have him!"

He felt Potter's spell hit his head, and he collapsed to the ground.

"DRACO!" Hermione was shaking him violently by the collar. "Are you alright?"

Draco looked around. He was laying on the floor and his head was throbbing. Running a hand over the source, he felt a massive knot building behind his ear. "What happened?"

"I don't know, you just passed out. Fell forward off the table. Here, sit up against the bench."

Draco eased his back against the hardwood, he felt like he was going to be sick. Hermione nodded then jumped back up on the table.

"NOW ADMIT IT, ADMIT IT TO EVERYONE!" Blaise was bellowing at Anders. His voice reverberated off the walls and through the crowd.

"Fuck you, Zabini. She's mine."