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Shivering, Deanna and Harry heaved Dumbledore onto the top of the boulder and looked at each other.
"I'll Apparate us, Harry," said Deanna, holding her father's arm tight in one hand and Harry's in her other. "Hold on tight." At Harry's nod, Deanna closed her eyes and Apparated. Soon, the sea breeze had gone and she opened her eyes to find themselves in Hogsmeade.
Suddenly, Deanna could see Inferi coming towards them from the alleys, but she quickly blinked, letting out a little shiver. There was nothing, only streetlamps and empty streets.
"We did it, Deanna, Professor!" Harry whispered. "We did it! We got the Horcrux!"
Deanna smiled at him despite the sudden pain she felt in her head. "We did it, you did well, Harry. And – Pops?" She and Harry quickly supported Dumbledore who staggered, his face growing paler.
"Pops, are you all right?" asked Deanna worriedly.
"I've been better," said Dumbledore weakly, though the corners of his mouth twitched. "That potion... was no health drink..." He sank to the ground and Deanna knelt down beside him.
"It's not like Voldemort's inviting us to drink wine, Pops." Deanna mumbled under her breath, making Dumbledore chuckle weakly. She pushed back his hair. "You're going to be all right, Pops."
Harry started looking around, but the streets were completely empty. "We need to get you up to the school, sir... Madam Pomfrey..."
"No," said Dumbledore. "It is... Professor Snape whom I need... But I do not think... I can walk very far just yet..."
"Right — sir, listen — I'm going to knock on a door, find a place you can stay — then I can run and get Madam —"
"Severus," said Dumbledore clearly. "I need Severus..."
"All right then, Snape — but I'm going to have to leave you for a moment so I can —" Harry made to move, but someone had come up from behind him.
"Madam Rosmerta!" said Deanna hurriedly.
Madam Rosmerta ran towards them. "I saw you Apparate as I was pulling my bedroom curtains! Thank goodness, thank goodness, I couldn't think what to — but what's wrong with Albus?" She stared at Dumbledore with wide eyes.
"He's hurt," said Harry. "Madam Rosmerta, can he and Deanna come into the Three Broomsticks while I go up to the school and get help for him?"
Remembering something, Deanna snapped her fingers. "We can go to Hog's –"
"You can't go up there alone! Don't you realize — haven't you seen — ?
"If you help me support him," said Harry, not listening to her, "I think we can get him inside —"
"What has happened?" asked Dumbledore. "Rosmerta, what's wrong?"
"The — the Dark Mark, Albus." And she pointed into the sky, in the direction of Hogwarts. Deanna let out a little gasp. The mark on the Death Eaters' arms, Voldemort's mark, a green skull with a serpent tongue. Deanna worried immediately. What if someone had died? Hermione... Their friends...
"When did it appear?" asked Dumbledore, and he held onto Deanna for support as he stood up.
"Must have been minutes ago, it wasn't there when I put the cat out, but when I got upstairs —"
"We need to return to the castle at once," said Dumbledore. "Rosmerta, we need transport — brooms —"
"I've got a couple behind the bar," she said, looking very frightened. "Shall I run and fetch — ?"
"No, Harry can do it."
Harry raised his wand at once. "Accio Rosmerta's Brooms!" A second later, two brooms came out of the front door of the pub and raced to Harry's side.
"Rosmerta, please send a message to the Ministry," said Dumbledore, as he mounted the broom nearest him. "It might be that nobody within Hogwarts has yet realized anything is wrong... Harry, put on your Invisibility Cloak, and Deanna can sit beside you. Deanna, will you be fine?"
"I should be asking you that." Deanna frowned and mounted the broom Dumbledore was on, sitting in front of him.
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at her. "Deanna –"
"Just trust me, Pops." Deanna smiled at him. "Hold on tight and trust me." Dumbledore stared at her for a moment before sighing and wrapping his arms around her. Happy that they were both fine, Harry smiled at them under the Invisibility Cloak and soon, Deanna and Harry kicked off and rose into the air.
As she flew, Deanna could feel her father's gaze on the Dark Mark. He was focused as if he hadn't drunk the potion at all. Deanna too was worried upon seeing the Mark. She immediately thought of Hermione, her friends, their professors... They were patrolling the corners as Harry had asked them to...
Deanna was broken out of her thoughts when she heard Dumbledore muttering behind her, but she kept silent and let him do what he needed to. Soon, their broom gave a shudder because Dumbledore undid the enchantments around the castle so that they could enter.
The Dark Mark was just above the Astronomy Tower, the highest of the castle. Deanna sped up as much as she could and landed on the tower. Dumbledore dismounted the broom immediately and Deanna followed after. The door to the staircase was closed. It was quiet. As if nothing happened at all.
"What does it mean?" Harry asked Dumbledore, upon landing. "Is it the real Mark? Has someone definitely been — Professor?"
"Pops, are you alright?" Deanna said worriedly upon seeing Dumbledore clutching at his chest with his blackened hand.
"Go and wake Severus, Harry," said Dumbledore faintly but clearly. "Tell him what has happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, speak to nobody else, and do not remove your cloak. I shall wait here with Deanna."
"But —"
"You swore to obey me — go!"
Harry nodded and hurried over to the door. Dumbledore turned to Deanna with a sad smile that made her feel nervous. Was something happening? "Deanna, I –"
The sound of footsteps from behind the door cut him off, and Harry stopped in his tracks. Dumbledore gestured the two of them to retreat. After a moment's hesitation, Deanna ran towards Harry who had backed away and threw the cloak over the both of them, both drawing their wands.
Suddenly, the door opened and someone shouted. "Expelliarmus!"
Deanna's eyes widened because her body became rigid and immobile and she felt her back hit the wall of the tower. She could not speak nor move. She looked beside her and saw that Harry was in the same state. They could not understand it... Expelliarmus was a spell to disarm, not a spell that immobilizes people.
Deanna saw Dumbledore's wand flying over the edge of the ramparts and cursed immediately when she understood... Dumbledore wordlessly immobilized them and it cost him his wand to do it. Now what? Deanna's heart beat loudly against her chest because she had no idea on how Dumbledore would defend himself... She thought no more surprises would come, but she was shocked at who Dumbledore's disarmer as.
Without a sign of distress, Dumbledore merely looked across at his disarmer and said, "Good evening, Draco."
Malfoy stepped forward, glancing around quickly to check that he and Dumbledore were alone. His eyes fell upon the second broom. "Who else is here?"
"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?"
Malfoy looked back at Dumbledore, the light of the Dark Mark illuminating them. "No," he said. "I've got backup. There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight."
"Well, well," said Dumbledore. "Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?"
"Yeah," said Malfoy, who was panting. "Right under your nose and you never realized!"
"Ingenious," said Dumbledore. "Yet... forgive me... where are they now? You seem unsupported."
"They met some of your guards. They're having a fight down below. They won't be long... I came on ahead. I — I've got a job to do."
"Well, then, you must get on and do it, my dear boy," said Dumbledore softly.
Silence. Deanna stood beside Harry, staring at the two of them under the Invisibility Cloak. The Death Eaters met some of the guard? Her worry just increased more due to what Malfoy said. She thought of a way to get out of this spell, but no... She had no idea how. Only Dumbledore could take the spell off them.
Malfoy stared at Dumbledore who, incredibly, smiled. "Draco, Draco, you are not a killer."
Deanna felt the pieces fall into place. The mission Voldemort gave him was to kill Dumbledore all along? Her anger rose then. He was such a coward, a manipulative bastard. How could he ask a young boy to kill for him? But then again, Deanna was not surprised. It was Voldemort after all. Despite Draco Malfoy being an arse, Deanna knew he did not deserve it. No one deserved it.
"How do you know?" said Malfoy at once. He flushed for a moment before his eyes hardened once more.
"You don't know what I'm capable of," said Malfoy more forcefully. "You don't know what I've done!"
"Oh yes, I do," said Dumbledore mildly. "You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts... So feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it."
"It has been in it!" said Malfoy vehemently. "I've been working on it all year, and tonight —"
Deanna heard a muffled yell somewhere deep in the castle. Malfoy stiffened and glanced over his shoulder.
"Somebody is putting up a good fight," said Dumbledore conversationally. "But you were saying... yes, you have managed to introduce Death Eaters into my school, which, I admit, I thought impossible... How did you do it?"
But Malfoy said nothing. He was listening to what was happening below just like how Deanna and Harry were.
"Perhaps you ought to get on with the job alone," suggested Dumbledore. "What if your backup has been thwarted by my guard? As you have perhaps realized, there are members of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight too. And after all, you don't really need help... I have no wand at the moment... I cannot defend myself."
Malfoy merely stared at him.
"I see," said Dumbledore kindly, when Malfoy neither moved nor spoke. "You are afraid to act until they join you."
"I'm not afraid!" snarled Malfoy, though he still made no move to hurt Dumbledore. "It's you who should be scared!"
"But why? I don't think you will kill me, Draco. Killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe... So tell me, while we wait for your friends... how did you smuggle them in here? It seems to have taken you a long time to work out how to do it."
Malfoy gulped and took several deep breaths, glaring at Dumbledore, his wand pointing directly at the latter's heart. "I had to mend that broken Vanishing Cabinet that no one's used for years. The one Montague got lost in last year."
"Aaaah." Dumbledore's sigh was half a groan. He closed his eyes for a moment. "That was clever... There is a pair, I take it?"
"In Borgin and Burkes," said Malfoy, "and they make a kind of passage between them. Montague told me that when he was stuck in the Hogwarts one, he was trapped in limbo but sometimes he could hear what was going on at school, and sometimes what was going on in the shop, as if the cabinet was traveling between them, but he couldn't make anyone hear him... In the end, he managed to Apparate out, even though he'd never passed his test. He nearly died doing it. Everyone thought it was a really good story, but I was the only one who realized what it meant — even Borgin didn't know — I was the one who realized there could be a way into Hogwarts through the cabinets if I fixed the broken one."
"Very good," murmured Dumbledore. "So the Death Eaters were able to pass from Borgin and Burkes into the school to help you... A clever plan, a very clever plan... and, as you say, right under my nose."
"Yeah," said Malfoy, who seemed to look a little less afraid. "Yeah, it was!"
"But there were times," Dumbledore went on, "weren't there, when you were not sure you would succeed in mending the cabinet? And you resorted to crude and badly judged measures such as sending me a cursed necklace that was bound to reach the wrong hands... poisoning mead there was only the slightest chance I might drink..."
"Yeah, well, you still didn't realize who was behind that stuff, did you?" sneered Malfoy. Deanna struggled uselessly against the enchantment when she saw Dumbledore slide a little down the ramparts, the strength in his legs apparently fading. She knew Malfoy would not kill Dumbledore, but the Death Eaters would not even hesitate to kill her father.
"As a matter of fact, I did," said Dumbledore. "I was sure it was you.
"Why didn't you stop me, then?" Malfoy demanded.
"I tried, Draco. Professor Snape has been keeping watch over you on my orders —"
"He hasn't been doing your orders, he promised my mother —"
"Of course that is what he would tell you, Draco, but —"
"He's a double agent, you stupid old man, he isn't working for you, you just think he is!"
"We must agree to differ on that, Draco. It so happens that I trust Professor Snape —"
"Well, you're losing your grip, then!" sneered Malfoy. "He's been offering me plenty of help — wanting all the glory for himself— wanting a bit of the action — 'What are you doing?' 'Did you do the necklace, that was stupid, it could have blown everything —' But I haven't told him what I've been doing in the Room of Requirement, he's going to wake up tomorrow and it'll all be over and he won't be the Dark Lord's favorite anymore, he'll be nothing compared to me, nothing!"
"Very gratifying," said Dumbledore mildly. "We all like appreciation for our own hard work, of course. But you must have had an accomplice, all the same... someone in Hogsmeade, someone who was able to slip Katie the — the — aaaah..."
Dumbledore closed his eyes again and nodded, as though he was about to fall asleep. "... of course... Rosmerta. How long has she been under the Imperius Curse?"
"Got there at last, have you?" Malfoy taunted. There was another yell from below, rather louder than the last.
Malfoy looked nervously over his shoulder again, then back at Dumbledore, who went on: "So poor Rosmerta was forced to lurk in her own bathroom and pass that necklace to any Hogwarts student who entered the room unaccompanied? And the poisoned mead... well, naturally, Rosmerta was able to poison it for you before she sent the bottle to Slughorn, believing that it was to be my Christmas present... Yes, very neat... very neat... Poor Mr. Filch would not, of course, think to check a bottle of Rosmerta's. Tell me, how have you been communicating with Rosmerta? I thought we had all methods of communication in and out of the school monitored."
"Enchanted coins," said Malfoy, as though he was compelled to keep talking, though his wand hand was shaking badly. "I had one and she had the other and I could send her messages —"
"Isn't that the secret method of communication the group that called themselves Dumbledore's Army used last year?" asked Dumbledore lightly, but Deanna saw him slide an inch lower. They needed to help him, but Deanna felt helpless and frustrated. Why did it have to be like this?
"Yeah, I got the idea from them," said Malfoy, with a twisted smile. "I got the idea of poisoning the mead from the Mudblood Granger as well, I heard her talking in the library about Filch not recognizing potions."
Deanna's eyes flashed at that. He may be a boy who was forced to do some things, but how dare he call Hermione that word.
"Please do not use that offensive word in front of me," said Dumbledore.
Malfoy gave a harsh laugh. "You care about me saying 'Mudblood' when I'm about to kill you?"
"Yes, I do, and that's my daughter's girlfriend you're talking about," said Dumbledore, and Deanna saw him struggle to remain upright. She wanted to smile upon hearing Dumbledore's words despite her worry for him. She just hoped he had a plan as he stalled for time.
"But as for being about to kill me, Draco, you have had several long minutes now, we are quite alone, I am more defenseless than you can have dreamed of finding me, and still you have not acted..." Malfoy's eyes hardened at his words, hating what Dumbledore said.
"Now, about tonight," Dumbledore went on, "I am a little puzzled about how it happened... You knew that I had left the school? But of course, Rosmerta saw me leaving, she tipped you off using your ingenious coins, I'm sure."
"That's right," said Malfoy. "But she said you were just going for a drink, you'd be back..."
"Well, I certainly did have a drink... and I came back... after a fashion," mumbled Dumbledore. "So you decided to spring a trap for me?"
"We decided to put the Dark Mark over the tower and get you to hurry up here, to see who'd been killed," said Malfoy. "And it worked!"
"Well... yes and no..." said Dumbledore. "But am I to take it, then, that nobody has been murdered?"
"Someone's dead," said Malfoy in a higher voice. "One of your people... I don't know who, it was dark... I stepped over the body... I was supposed to be waiting up here when you got back, only your Phoenix lot got in the way..."
"Yes, they do that," said Dumbledore.
There was a bang and shouts from below, louder than ever; it sounded as though people were fighting on the actual spiral staircase that led to where they stood, and Deanna's heart felt a little heavier. Someone was dead... Who was it? She felt bad for thinking it, but she just hoped it wasn't one of the Order or the students. Not her friends. Not Hermione.
Deanna would never expect herself to admit to her feelings at this time of danger, but right at the moment, she just realized just how much she felt for Hermione. Just how much she fell for the Gryffindor and she just prayed to the gods up there... She just hoped Hermione was alive.
"There is little time, one way or another," said Dumbledore. "So let us discuss your options, Draco."
"My options!" said Malfoy loudly. "I'm standing here with a wand — I'm about to kill you —"
"My dear boy, let us have no more pretense about that. If you were going to kill me, you would have done it when you first disarmed me, you would not have stopped for this pleasant chat about ways and means."
"I haven't got any options!" said Malfoy, and he was suddenly white as Dumbledore. "I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family!"
"I appreciate the difficulty of your position," said Dumbledore. "Why else do you think I have not confronted you before now? Because I knew that you would have been murdered if Lord Voldemort realized that I suspected you." Malfoy winced at the sound of the name.
"I did not dare speak to you of the mission with which I knew you had been entrusted, in case he used Legilimency against you," continued Dumbledore. "But now at last we can speak plainly to each other... No harm has been done, you have hurt nobody, though you are very lucky that your unintentional victims survived... I can help you, Draco."
"No, you can't," said Malfoy, his wand hand shaking badly. "Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice."
"Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban... When the time comes, we can protect him too. Come over to the right side, Draco... you are not a killer..."
Malfoy stared at Dumbledore. "But I got this far, didn't I?" he said slowly. "They thought I'd die in the attempt, but I'm here... and you're in my power... I'm the one with the wand... You're at my mercy..."
"No, Draco," said Dumbledore quietly. "It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now."
Malfoy did not speak, his mouth was open and his wand hand was trembling. Deanna saw his hand lower, but suddenly, footsteps thundered up the stairs and four people in black robes burst through the door.
Deanna stared in terror and recognition. Did it mean the Death Eaters won?
"Well, look what we have here." Bellatrix Lestrange gave a cackle, the woman who hated Deanna because Voldemort loved her. "Well done, Draco!"
"Good evening, Bellatrix. I think introductions are in order, don't you?" Dumbledore nodded to her.
Bellatrix smiled at him mockingly. "Love to, Albus, but I'm afraid we're on a bit of a tight schedule."
A lumpy-looking man gave a wheezy giggle. "Dumbledore cornered!" he said, and he turned to his sister who grinned. "Dumbledore wandless, Dumbledore alone!"
Deanna knew who they were. Amycus and Alecto Carrow. They tried casting the Cruciatus Curse on her countless times, but luckily, she had escaped them by using her fireballs.
"Good evening, Amycus," said Dumbledore calmly. "And you've brought Alecto too... Charming..."
Alecto Carrow tittered angrily. "Think your little jokes'll help you on your deathbed then?"
"Jokes? No, no, these are manners," replied Dumbledore.
"Do it," said the man standing nearest to them. He spoke with a bark of a voice. A smell of dirt, sweat and blood coming from him. A vicious werewolf, Fenrir Greyback.
"Is that you, Fenrir?" asked Dumbledore.
"That's right," rasped Greyback. "Pleased to see me, Dumbledore?"
"No, I cannot say that I am." Greyback grinned, blood trickling from his chin. "But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore."
"Am I to take it that you are attacking even without the full moon now? This is most unusual... You have developed a taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?"
"That's right," said Fenrir Greyback. "Shocks you that, does it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?"
"Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little," said Dumbledore. "And, yes, I am a little shocked that Draco here invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends live..."
"I didn't," breathed Malfoy, not even looking at Greyback. "I didn't know he was going to come —"
"I wouldn't want to miss a trip to Hogwarts, Dumbledore," rasped Greyback. "Not when there are throats to be ripped out... Delicious, delicious..." He leered at Dumbledore. "I could do you for afters, Dumbledore."
"We don't have time!" Bellatrix glared at them all. "We've got orders. Draco's got to do it. Now, Draco, and quickly."
Malfoy stared at Dumbledore, terrified. Looking paler than ever, Dumbledore slid down the wall even more. Deanna felt tears coming into her eyes. What should they do? What should her father do? He was cornered and defenseless.
"He's not long for this world anyway, if you ask me!" said Amycus Carrow with his sister laughing. "Look at him — what's happened to you, then, Dumby?"
"Oh, weaker resistance, slower reflexes, Amycus," said Dumbledore. "Old age, in short... One day, perhaps, it will happen to you... if you are lucky..."
"What's that mean, then, what's that mean?" yelled Amycus. "Always the same, weren't yeh, Dumby, talking and doing nothing, nothing. I don't even know why the Dark Lord's bothering to kill yer! Come on, Draco, do it!"
But at that moment there were renewed sounds of scuffling from below and a voice shouted, "They've blocked the stairs — Reducto! REDUCTO !"
Deanna felt a little hope in her heart. The Order was still there. The Death Eaters did not win yet. They only made a barrier.
"Now, Draco, quickly!" said Bellatrix, glaring at him. But Malfoy's hand was shaking so badly that he could barely aim.
"I'll do it," snarled Greyback, moving toward Dumbledore.
"I said no!" shouted Bellatrix, and in a flash of light, Greyback hit the ramparts, looking furious. Deanna wanted to shout out due to everything she was feeling in that moment. If only she could move, she and Harry could help Dumbledore. They could get out of this mess.
"Draco, do it or stand aside so one of us —" screeched Alecto Carrow, but at that precise moment, the door to the ramparts burst open and there stood Snape, his wand clutched in his hand as he looked around from Dumbledore slumped against the wall, to the four Death Eaters and Malfoy.
Snape was there. Snape's presence made Deanna feel hope once more. He could stall them or he could save Dumbledore. They did not have to worry anymore... right?
"We've got a problem, Snape," said Amycus pointing his wand on Dumbledore, "the boy doesn't seem able —"
But somebody else had spoken Snape's name, quite softly. "Severus..."
Deanna was frightened in that moment. All night, Dumbledore hurt, yelled and commanded, but not once... Not once did he plead. For the first time in the entire night, he pleaded.
"I didn't even get to spend much time with my daughter," continued Dumbledore in the same pleading tone though he spoke a little louder as if he wanted Deanna to hear. "Years passed by and she must have been so lonely. I wanted to be a father she would be proud of. I wanted her to feel loved. I wanted her to know I loved her so much."
Deanna felt a tear slip from her eye. She knew. She knew how much he loved her. She was proud of him. She didn't care about the years they missed because what mattered to her were the years they spent together. She did not care about all that. All she wanted was for him to live. For him to be saved just as he's always done for them.
Snape said nothing. He walked forward and pushed Malfoy away. The other Death Eaters moved back without a word. Snape gazed at Dumbledore with hatred. With no sign of friendliness.
"Severus... please..."
Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore. "Avada Kedavra!"
A moment. A moment was all it took for a person to feel hope. It was that moment for Deanna when Snape came, but it also took only a moment for a person's entire world to crash down, and that moment... That moment was one Deanna would never forget, that moment would be imprinted in her heart and memory as long as she lived.
From the end of Snape's wand, a jet of green light hit Dumbledore in the chest. Deanna's cry for her father, her "I love you" was unheard. Immobilized, she could only watch. Dumbledore was blasted into the air, and he seemed to hang beneath the Dark Mark shining in the sky. Slowly and gently, as he spoke and loved, as he was with Deanna, he fell out of sight.
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