Chapter Twenty Eight
They were already moving, trying to pack their belongings back together as they rushed through the foliage, heads snapping back and forth, peering frantically through the snow as they attempted to locate the approaching threat.
"What's coming?" Harry asked Malfoy who was rummaging through his satchel as they ran.
"Don't know," said Malfoy. "We heard a bang, surprised it didn't wake you."
"And there's a funny smell," added Parvati. Harry realised she was right as he naturally breathed in heavily after the sudden bust of exercise. He tasted something faint on the snow that made him think of a closed rubbish bin with something unpleasant lurking inside.
"Vampires?" he suggested, making Seamus' eyes pop all the way open. He knew from his Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons that vampires often lived in the wild and that, as well as their diet of blood, gave them a rather pungent aura.
Malfoy was still rummaging, and Harry wasn't sure how he wasn't tripping over. The sunshine was still speeding loyally over his head, but there were plenty of roots and ruts that were challenging their footing even with the help of the ball of light. "Possibly," said Malfoy, finally pulling out a dark waxy drawstring bag that he hastily yanked open. "You might want some of these."
He slowed and plunged his arm into the bag, all the way up to his shoulder even though the bag was only a foot or so deep. Hermione gasped.
Malfoy seemed to feel about for a bit, then retracted his hand that was wrapped around as many things as his long fingers could cling on to; a wooden stake and slender silver spike, a couple of crucifix necklaces, a string of garlic bulbs and a bottle of holy water gripped precariously between his fingertips.
Harry rescued the bottle first then took the other items as Malfoy delved back in to fetch pouches labelled 'salt', more stakes and silver weapons, as well as a wicked looking knife, bushels of herbs and a string of marbled stones. It reminded Harry of Professor Lupin's stock cupboard.
"Everyone take something," said Malfoy, as he and Harry distributed the lot indiscriminately. "Stakes, crosses and holy water are for vampires, silver for werewolves, salt for spirits and this," he held up the sheathed knife before sliding it through his belt loop. "Is for anything else."
"Werewolves are still people," protested Harry, thinking of Lupin.
"Not these ones," said Malfoy darkly.
Parvati held up the string of stones. "What are these for?" she asked as they hastily got moving again.
Malfoy glanced over at them. "Let's hope you don't have to find out," was all he said.
The path was winding upwards and becoming more narrow. They had been climbing the mountain steadily since the village and the temperature was dropping noticeably. "Shouldn't we stand and fight?" said Harry, looking up at the rocky surface rising to their left. "We could take higher ground, get an advantage."
"No telling if they're on the ground of not," said Malfoy as they pounded on. "We're not too far from the entrance I think, we might just make it, we just need to-"
He was blasted of his feet by the ground erupting in an explosion. The rest of them shouted and screamed as they jumped aside, flailing arms to keep themselves upright. Malfoy dropped and rolled, scrambling back upright as he jerked back and forth, looking for the source of the attack.
"Er," said Seamus, staring in front of his nose. "I don't think it's vampires somehow."
The snow had frozen to a halt, suspended in front of them like a photograph with what had to be magic. "What could do that?" cried Harry, but Malfoy's face had already shifted into panic.
"Run!" he shouted. "Run, run!"
The group didn't need any more encouragement. Harry wracked his brains as his trainers slammed into the hard and slippery ground, glancing over his shoulder almost every other step to check the others were keeping up as they flung themselves through the suspended snowflakes. Tree branches were snapping and ripping off over their heads, and flock of crows went screaming past, flying, worryingly, in the opposite direction to the way they were running.
"What's doing this?" cried Harry. "What could stop the snow and break the trees?"
"Not 'what'," said Malfoy grimly. "'Who'."
"You mean Death Eaters?" hissed Parvati from behind them in alarm as several pinecones danced along the ground in front of them.
But Malfoy shook his head. "I don't think so, not from the smell. And if it was them, we'd probably be dead already."
"Then what?" asked Harry.
Malfoy looked like he was going to answer, when he stopped dead in his tracks, practically causing the rest of them to run into him. There, on the path, was a small child of only about four or five. She was filthy and dressed in rags, her shoes patched together and her hands and head bare against the elements. Her hair was a mane of frizz and twigs, and in her hands she held a mucky bit of cloth protectively.
"Oh sweetheart," cried Parvati, the first to react to this strange sight as she pushed between the boys. "Are you alr-"
"NO!" shouted Malfoy, shoving her down, but not quick enough. The little girl stamped her foot and shrieked, and a flash of light tore through the group, knocking Parvati down and bursting the tree behind her into flames. Parvati had not escaped unscathed though; she screamed, her coat on fire, and tried desperately to struggle out of it.
"Roll her! Roll her!" shouted Hermione from where she'd landed several feet away, and Malfoy did exactly that, pushing the other girl down into the snow.
Harry heaved himself back onto his feet as the young girl began wailing at the top of her lungs in frenzied, irate German, tears rolling down her cheeks as another tree burst into a tower of flames.
"Get off me!" shouted Parvati, despite the fact that Malfoy had successfully stopped her coat from burning.
"Fine," he snarled, and turned back to the little girl. "Stupefy!" The girl was thrown off her feet, flying several feet and crumpling into a heap of unconsciousness.
"What did you do!" squealed Parvati racing over to where the child now lay, her singed coat forgotten. Harry hastily but both the trees out before any of the ones around them could catch fire too, and watched on as Parvati lifted the girl's head and inspected her small, unconscious body.
"She'll be fine," snapped Malfoy scanning the shadows beyond the light of their tiny sun. "Which is more than you would have been if she'd really hit you."
Parvati scowled at him, cradling the girl. "She can't have done that," she argued back. "She's too young, she doesn't have a wand."
Malfoy looked furious. "She's an Ungezähmt," he said. "Feral, inbred witches and wizards, they live out here and never use wands, they just build up their natural magic and it is massively dangerous and unpredictable. You're welcome, by the way, for saving your life."
He glowered at her and she left the child to jump to her feet. "I can take care of myself," she yelled. "I don't need you Malfoy!"
"Shh!" hissed Hermione, her eyes like saucers and Sarah's wand trembling in her hand.
Harry blinked and listened.
There were shouts coming from the distance.
"There's more," he breathed.
"Go!" cried Malfoy, and broke into a sprint again. Harry went to follow him, but made a split second decision to shoot up some red sparks first.
"What are you thinking!" scalded Seamus as he ran to catch up.
"She's still just a child," said Harry. "I don't want her to freeze to death, and maybe they'll be more interested in finding her than us."
"Good thinking," said Malfoy.
The snow had started falling again and the tree branches had stopped snapping down onto their heads, but the sounds that were following them through the forest suggested to Harry the random magic hadn't stopped just yet. In fact, he was pretty sure the snow was turning green.
"They work for the Death Eaters?" he breathed as they pelted along the narrow track, dense trees either side of them, the ball of sunshine still hovering above Malfoy protectively.
"More like natural guard dogs," replied Malfoy. "We must be in their territory."
"So if we leave it," said Seamus. "Go far enough, they'll just leave us alone."
Malfoy huffed in a way to suggest that was highly unlikely.
"How far," panted Hermione, struggling greatly with running for so long. "Until the entrance?"
Malfoy shook his head, unsure. "Five, maybe ten minutes."
"We just keep running then," said Seamus. "Hopefully those Ung-whatever will be more interested in the girl, and forget all about us."
"If someone knocked your daughter or sister out," said Malfoy. "Would you just let them get away with it?"
Seamus grimaced in response.
A small mound of earth exploded by Harry's feet as he raced past, and he hopped out of the way. "I think we've got company," he warned as several other small mounds spat outwards, like moles using dynamite.
"They're not controlling it," said Malfoy. "They're not targeting us necessarily, they're just angry at us so it's cropping up in our vicinity. If we keep moving, we might outrun it."
Seamus cried out as a rock flew at his head and smashed into a tree that was apparently humming. "It seems pretty targeted!" he yelled.
A boy who couldn't have been much younger than them leapt from the trees and landed on Harry's back, smashing them both to the ground. Within seconds another four or five figures erupted from the foliage, but Harry was too busy wrestling with the boy to see properly. He was screeching in an animalistic way and grabbed Harry's head to slam it into the forest floor, making Harry gasp and see stars. The boy began punching anything he could reach, Harry's head, chest, arms, but before Harry could get his wits together to defend himself a boot came flying into the boy's side, sending him flying.
"You okay?" said Seamus, offering Harry a hand to get back up. Harry nodded as he took it, seeing the magic blasting through the air from the others. Hermione was just shouting "Stupefy!" over and over again. Her aim wasn't great, but as Harry watched she hit a woman dressed in a hessian sack and animal furs, throwing her to the ground several feet away.
The boy that had attacked Harry wasn't down for long, and was already scrabbling to his feet and running back at them. "Stupefy!" shouted Harry, following Hermione's example and knocking the boy down for the count. But almost immediately Harry and Seamus were both swept off their feet by someone else and slammed violently into trees several feet away, and Harry cried out as he crashed to the ground with a painful thump. "Seamus!" he called, but the Irish boy was slumped, unmoving, and blood was trickling down from his head.
"Seamus!" screamed Parvati, running for him. But an scraggly man grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. Harry jumped back on his feet to run to Seamus, seeing how she pulled out the string of stones Malfoy had given her. She began to beat the man off with viscous swings of her arm, whiping and thrashing them against him with gutteral sounds and shrieks. Harry wasn't sure what the stones were supposed to be used for, but the scraggly man's howls suggested they were working well enough.
Harry skidded to a halt by Seamus and inspected his head. He was starting to stir and moaned as Harry turned him to see his face. "Salvio Hexia," he said, hopefully giving Seamus a bit of protection whilst he came back around. "Come on mate," said Harry, tapping his face. "Episkey." The cut on his head vanished, and Seamus blinked his eyes open.
Harry's attention was grabbed by Parvati screaming as she finally broke free of the man attacking her. A flock of bluebirds had appeared over the man's head - Harry guessed from an unwitting Avis charm rather than naturally - and they had begun attacking both Parvati and the scraggly man indiscriminately, causing him to let go. The man looked shocked at what he'd created, but it didn't stop him from reaching out trying to grab Parvati again. She seemed to have forgotten about her wand and just lashed out with the stones at both him, and his bluebird creations.
Malfoy had been tackling another grown witch, but at that moment she was subdued and he turned his attention instantly to Parvati and her attackers. The birds had swarmed out and launched for Harry and Seamus, and Harry yelled out as he threw his body over Seamus' to try and protect him.
"Incarcerous!" he heard Malfoy cry, followed by "Confundo!"
The birds vanished, but not before they had got a few dozen stabbing beaks and scratching claws onto Harry's coat and skin. He exhaled in relief and jerked his head up to look out. There was one girl about ten feet away who they had not managed to yet tackle, and she saw in horror the scraggly man where he sat, chained and docile in a confused state on the forest floor.
The girl looked at Malfoy and screamed in fury, balling her fist and throwing her head back.
"Get down!" Malfoy cried, grabbing Hermione's arm and pulling her to the floor with him. After what had happened before, Parvati was quick to do the same, and Harry once again threw his body over Seamus'. A ring of purple magic exploded from around the girl, slamming over their heads into the trees which bent backwards with the force. Wind was rushing so loud it was practically a roar, and all the snow was swept upward, smashing into the trees as they suddenly lurched back the other way, aiming their branches down to where the five teenagers were huddled.
"Impedimenta!" yelled Harry, hitting the girl square on the chest. She froze, mid scream, and toppled over like a toy soldier, landing on her back. The magic was broken immediately, snapping the trees back up and dropping the snow in a minor avalanche.
"Plugh!" cried Seamus beside Harry, shaking off the pile that had plonked on his head, finally waking him up.
"You okay?" Harry asked.
Seamus blinked and touched his head gingerly. "Never better," he said, wincing.
"Is that all of them?" asked Parvati, still holding her stones as she cautiously got to her feet.
Malfoy looked around before doing the same, offering his hand to assist Hermione as she stood. "I doubt it," he said.
The scraggly man that he had hit with the Confundus Charm was the only Ungezähmt still conscious, and Harry watched him smiling at them and wiggling his feet as Harry also helped Seamus to get back up.
The confusion charm would wear off soon, but Harry didn't want to take any chances. "How would I tell him to behave himself, in German?" he asked Hermione.
"Um," she said, brushing the snow from her coat and holding up Sarah's wand again apprehensively. "'Sie gut sein' is like 'you be good', if that helps?"
It was good enough for Harry. He turned back to the man and fixed eyes with him. "Sie gut sein," he said firmly, hoping his pronunciation was alright. The man nodded though, still smiling.
"I think we should get out of here whilst we still can," said Seamus, rubbing his head.
"I think we might be too late for that," said Malfoy, pointing down the path where the ball of sunshine was just illuminating. They would have still been in the dark, but with the advantage of the sunshine Harry could see the group of Ungezähmts creeping their way, and his stomach dropped.
"Keep calm," he said to the others as they raised their wands in fear. The ground was rumbling unnaturally and the air had become so warm the snow was melting at a rapid pace, running in rivets through tiny pathways in the dirt.
"What's the worst they could do?" asked Parvati, her eyes anxiously taking in what was left of the snow around them. "We beat them okay."
"There are a few craters round here that might answer your question," said Malfoy as they backed up slowly down the path, edging away from hostile group of witches and wizards.
The woman in the animal furs sat up suddenly, and Harry realised Hermione's spell mustn't have quite worked as well as it should have. She blearily eyed up the five of them, then turned her head towards the approaching Ungezähmts.
"Stop," said Harry urgently. "Don't make any sudden movements."
"Like running away?" asked Seamus sardonically.
The woman was groggy at least from the spell, and didn't try to get up or attack them as such, but Harry wasn't going to take any chances.
"Just follow my lead," he told the other four as the first of the Ungezähmts crept into the sunshine's radius, and stopped in shock. "It's alright," said Harry coaxingly as they spun around, suspicious that they could suddenly see like it was daytime. "It's okay, it won't hurt you."
"You can't reason with them!" hissed Malfoy, but Harry didn't look back at him. He just kept his eyes on the woman at the front of the group, she seemed like their leader by the air of authority hanging off of her. But she barred her teeth at their ball of light, and a crackling sound filled the air.
"No, no," said Harry hastily. "None of that. Look." He pointed his wand at the scraggly tied-up man, which caused the Ungezähmts to jerk into reaction, but Harry beat them to it. "Relashio," he said, and the ropes fell away from the man, who was apparently still feeling the lingering effects of Malfoy's Confundus Charm, and just grinned happily at his friends.
The woman at the front of the group frowned and looked between the man and Harry. "See," he said, knowing they probably didn't understand his English but hoped his tone was reassuring enough. "We don't want to fight you, we just want to be on our way."
"This is madness," muttered Malfoy. "We should just blast them and leg it."
But Harry wasn't done, he didn't want to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of the journey. "We can fight you," he said, lighting up his wand again to illustrate his power over them. "But we don't want to, alright?" He aimed at the girl he had hit last, the one that had tried to shish kebab them with the trees. "Rennervate," he said, and she woke up with a gasp.
The other Ungezähmts gasped too and rushed to her side as she coughed and spluttered, but the leader woman remained standing, and looked towards the other three of her people that were still lying on the ground. Harry wasn't sure what Malfoy had done to them.
"Are they alive?" he whispered to the other boy through the corner of his mouth.
"Should be," Malfoy whispered back.
Harry took a deep breath, then turned the awakening spell onto each of the three in turn, saving the boy that had jumped on his back until last. He watched in great relief as they all sprung back to life, one after the other.
The woman continued to watch as her fellows went to these Ungezähmts, then turned back to where dozens and dozens of them were crowded in the shadows, out of the ball of sunshine's reach. "Ulla!" she grunted, and there was movement within the throng.
Another woman came forward, her face livid and covered in tears. In her arms she cradled the small girl that had attacked Parvati with the fire, the one Harry had sent up the flare over. The new woman gnashed her teeth and snarled something in garbled German, but the leader pointed her finger to the floor. "Legte sie," she said, and the other woman knelt down, her angry eyes never leaving Harry as she placed the still unconscious girl onto the muddy ground.
The leader then pointed at the girl, and Harry understood her meaning. Wake her up, was what she was saying. "Rennervate," said Harry without pause, and the little girl gasped awake, just like the others had.
"Okay," said Seamus as the group rejoiced and the angry woman became joyful and lifted the girl up once again. "Does that mean we can go now?"
Harry waved his hand to shush him, then met the leader's eyes again. "We can leave, yes?" he said, and took a slow step backwards.
The leader's eyes narrowed. "Oh damn it," whispered Parvati, anticipating more trouble, but then the woman gave them a single nod.
"Go," whispered Harry, before the other Ungezähmts changed their minds. But they seemed more interested in tending to their friends rather than following them as they made a hasty retreat up the path.
They ran in silence for a good five minutes before Harry called for them to stop and catch their breath. They had dropped down into a small inclination with a rock face rising up to their left, and it seemed to offer a good amount of cover.
"Muffliato," he cast, sound-proofing their conversation as they panted and dropped to the once again snowy floor. "Everyone okay?"
"I'm not sure," said Parvati, her voice a little shaky, and began peeling off her charred coat.
Seamus hopped over to her. "Hang on," he said, giving her a hand as she grimaced. Harry stepped over to see what the problem was, and it was soon clear that Parvati had not escaped the little girl's fire as much as they had first thought. She hissed as Seamus eased her holy pink sleeve down her arm, and could see where her coffee coloured skin was now shiny and red in patches through her jumper.
"Okay, okay," assured Seamus as she winced. "No one has any salve do they?"
Harry shrugged off his backpack and rummaged through the supplies lumped together at the bottom. "Yep," he said, fishing out a tube of cream.
"We should really wash it first," said Hermione.
Harry took Parvati's arm gently. "Aguamenti," he said in a controlled voice, producing just a trickle of water from his wand.
Parvati sucked in air through her teeth. "It's cold," she said.
"Sorry," Harry apologised as it splashed onto the floor. "Can't do much about the temperature."
"That will be good for it though," said Hermione, smiling at the other girl. "Cool down the burn." Parvati swallowed and fought back tears.
"I didn't realise it was so bad," she said, and Malfoy sighed, loudly.
Seamus' head snapped around. "Something to say, Malfoy?" he snapped.
"My name is Draco," was the only response he got back, and the blond boy stalked off.
"We need the light," Hermione called after him though, and he stopped, looking over his head. The ball of sunshine was hovering directly above him as usual, and he huffed, before coming back.
"That's probably clean and cold enough," said Harry, stopping his water spell. "Tergeo." The excess water siphoned from Parvati's clothes, leaving her dry but still shivering as Seamus gently applied the salve.
"Ahh," Parvati sighed, obviously in less pain. "Thank you."
Hermione looked on as the skin became less pink. "It would be good to wrap it up too," she said, looking to Harry.
He replied with "Ferula," creating a bandage to protect the tender skin.
Hermione pursed her lips. "Well, that's one way to tie it," she said, before she set about undoing Harry's work and starting all over again.
"Right," said Malfoy impatiently as Parvati gingerly put her coat back on. "Can we go now?"
"I was hurt," snapped Parvati indignantly. "And these guys actually cared enough to help me!"
"How about," said Malfoy, his voice silky. "You help yourself, and listen when I try and save your life. Or," he added, raising his eyebrows. "Just learn some bloody magic."
Parvati apparently forgot about her arm and shoved Malfoy with all her might.
"Whoa! Whoa!" cried Harry, stepping between them.
"You know why I don't know the same magic as you!" Parvati shrieked. "Because YOU let the Death Eaters into the school and then THEY taught you all sorts of nasty things whilst I learnt standard spells at home!"
Malfoy didn't move, he just ground his jaw together. "I'm not having this argument again," he said. "We haven't got time."
"No," said Parvati, shaking her head and working herself up. "No, no, you do not get to insult me and when you're the one who betrayed everybody!"
"I didn't KNOW!" Malfoy shouted back. "I just..." he closed his eyes and balled his fists. "I thought he was going after Dumbledore, not the whole school."
"What difference does that make?" cried Seamus, outraged. "So you only thought You-Know-Who was going to murder one man!"
"A man I was taught to despise!" Malfoy fired back. "I had no clue it would be a massacre! I was wrong, okay, I was wrong and I'm sorry!"
Parvati shook her head in revulsion. "Is that supposed to mean anything?"
Malfoy trembled and glared at her. "Not to you," he said. "No. Let's just go."
"I'm not going a step further with you!" Parvati barked.
"Not this again," cried Harry. "Guys, please, we haven't got time."
Parvati shook her head. "Harry what's wrong with you, you're defending him, again!"
"He knows where Sarah is," said Hermione, indicating Malfoy. "He saved your life from that girl."
"I didn't ask him to," said Parvati petulantly.
"And I begged you not to come!" Malfoy shot back. He'd moved himself so he was beside Harry and Hermione again, facing Seamus and Parvati. He glowered at them through a fringe of ragged blond hair, and Harry was suddenly aware he was the tallest person there.
"We're Harry's friends," Seamus retorted. "You're only here because you're a traitor who knows the way!"
"This isn't helping anyone," said Harry. "We don't know how much time we have left. Draco said-"
"Draco!" spluttered Parvati, dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, did you just say Draco?"
Harry let out a noise in frustration. "What does it matter?"
Seamus looked as incredulous as Parvati. "It matters because he let that snake out, that he killed all those people."
"He can't have let the Basilisk out," said Harry simply, repeating what he had told Malfoy by the riverbank. "You need to speak Parseltongue to get down into the Chamber of Secrets."
Seamus and Parvati stared at him, mouths open for a good few moments. "How did you," said Seamus. "I mean, what makes you say...?" he trailed off, looking at Harry funnily.
"So what," said Parvati, regaining her composure. "He still let the Death Eaters in, he said so himself."
"I didn't have a choice," growled Malfoy. "You have no idea-"
"Oh," scoffed Seamus. "I think I have a fair idea. You were told your whole life to be a good little Death Eater by mammy and daddy, and thought you would get all the credit when they took over Hogwarts, and never stopped to realise there would be death and carnage and actual consequences."
"Yeah," said Malfoy, tight jawed. "Yeah, you got me, that's the whole story. So hate me all you want, I'm still telling the truth when I say I've changed sides, and I am taking you Potter's sister."
Hermione went to open her mouth, then clicked it shut again. "What?" said Harry, seeing.
Hermione looked at the others almost fearfully. "It's none of my business," she said, shaking her head.
"It's all your business now," said Harry, wanting to hear her insight.
She bit her lip and looked at Malfoy for a moment, who held her gaze. "But that's not the whole story, is it?"
Malfoy's scowl remained, but he blinked, once. "It's all that matters," he said. "I let them in, people died, I can't do anything about that now but regret it for the rest of my life."
"But," pushed Hermione, glancing to Harry for reassurance. "You keep telling us we have no idea, that you didn't have a choice. They made you do it, didn't they?"
Malfoy stared at her for a moment, then turned on his heels. "We have to go," he said, stomping off.
Seamus gave out a false laugh. "Oh nobody made him do it Hermione," he said jovially. "His family are the worst of the worst, they torture Muggles for fun, he did it for the glory!"
Malfoy spun and lunged for Seamus, but the Irish boy was ready for him and met him head on with a closed fist.
"Stop!" shouted Harry, yanking Seamus off and pushing himself between the two again. "Stop it."
Malfoy was breathing in and out rapidly, his whole body trembling and his cheek pink where Seamus had grazed it. "There was no glory," he hissed through closed teeth. "There was only fear. I was a child, I was twelve years old."
"Old enough to know what would happen if you let them in!" accused Parvati.
"Old enough," breathed Malfoy. "To know what would happen if I didn't."
Harry's insides went cold as Hermione's eyes opened wide. "They were going to kill you?" Harry asked, still standing right in front of Malfoy.
He chewed the inside of his cheek, but didn't answer.
Seamus sneered. "Trying to save your own skin, what a surprise."
Malfoy looked disgusted. "What difference does it make," he said quietly, trying to turn away again, but Harry grabbed his labels.
"What difference does it make?" he asked in disbelief. "If you did it because you wanted to, or because you were made to? That's the deference between whether we should trust you or not, right there!"
But Malfoy slapped him off and marched away again.
"He's just a scaredy-cat Slytherin," said Parvati. "Selfish and treacherous, he doesn't care about us, or your sister Harry, he's probably just trying to finish the job, kill all the students he missed!"
Malfoy stopped, but he didn't walk back this time. "I have," he growled. "Every single one of those students' names etched into my brain. I recite them before I go to sleep at night, I see their faces, I beg their forgiveness, but that will never happen because they are DEAD and I just have to live with it. I have to try and do something with my worthless life now to make up for even just a fraction of that death and THIS is it!" He jammed his finger towards the floor. "Right here, right now, and if you don't like it, I don't need you, I just need Harry!"
"Like we'd leave Harry with you," Seamus retaliated. "You say they made you betray us, but you won't say how, so why should we believe you! This is probably all a trap, we're idiots for ever listening! We're going to walk through this secret entrance of yours right into You-Know-Who's hands, you're going to betray us all over again just like-"
"They had my mother!" screamed Malfoy.
The rest of the group stilled, and Malfoy bent forwards, propping himself up on his thighs, his fingers digging into his jeans.
"Your mother?" repeated Harry.
Malfoy's eyes were unseeing, staring several feet in front of him. "They said it was for her own good," he said through clenched teeth. "That she was being protected, but I'm not an idiot. I'm not an IDIOT!" He lurched forwards and the group collectively flinched backwards. "I knew, I knew if I kicked up any fuss, if I did it wrong, they would hurt her, kill her!" His gaze moved frantically between the faces in front of him. "What would you have done, huh? The only person in the whole blasted world that actually cared if you lived or died?"
He gripped his blond hair and screwed up his eyes, tears leaking from their corners. "I convinced myself it would be okay, that it would be a duel between him and Dumbledore, that Dumbledore might even win!" He shook his head. "But then they let that thing out, that snake! And it didn't care, didn't know who was pureblood or Muggle-born, it went after everyone - it came after me! And my father..."
He stilled, eyes dancing in the middle distance. "He left me there. Just left me. I did what they asked, but it went wrong and he blamed me, they all blamed me." He snapped back to the here and now, fury on his face as he shook his finger at Seamus. "So don't you tell me it was easy, don't you talk about glory. I had one person who cared if I lived or died, they took her away from me so I did what I had to to get her back!"
Harry couldn't find any words to say. He thought of how, forty eight hours ago, he was willing to do anything to save Sirius, and it had taken him to a world where both his godfather and his parents were alive as well. What lengths would he go to help his mother, now that he had her back?
How far was he willing to go for his sister?
"I'm sorry," was all he said in the end.
Malfoy scoffed, and wiped the back of his hand over his eyes. "Yeah," he said. "Right. Everyone still died, didn't they? And I'd 'disgraced the name of Malfoy'," he added in a mocking tone. "My father was disgusted, even though I'd done everything he asked of me, I was a black sheep to them and a traitor," he spat the word out. "To the rest of you. So I'm so sorry if I don't care what you think of me, or if you believe me or not, because there's not much worse you can do to me."
He glared at them, though Harry felt like Seamus was getting the brunt of it.
"Did you," piped up the small voice of Hermione. "Save your mum?"
Malfoy's eyes took a second to dart her way. He considered a moment before answering, breathing deeply. "She came back home," he said eventually. "Though I don't really think I saved either of us."
"Okay," said Parvati, flustered. "Okay, that's not great, obviously." She pawed at her injured arm fretfully. "But you don't really expect us to just forgive you do you? You didn't have to do what you did, you could have asked someone for help, an adult, or-"
"I'd followed these people my whole life, I thought The Dark Lord was some kind of saviour," Malfoy spat. "And then they were threatening my mother? Asking for help would have been like admitting there was something wrong, and I couldn't do it - let alone to Dumbledore and his lot! No," he said flatly. "No I don't expect your forgiveness. I just thought..." He trailed off. "I'm telling the truth. I want to help you."
"Why did it take you three years?" challenged Seamus. "Why not go to the resistance as soon as you got your mam back?"
The fight seemed to have blown out of Malfoy though. "Because it did," was all he said, then turned, and began trudging down the path again.
Hermione had tears in her eyes and her arms wrapped around her chest. "That's awful," she said.
But Seamus and Parvati didn't looked all that moved. "Don't let him fool you," said Seamus coldly. "He lies like breathing. That might be true, or it might just be a way to try and drop our guards down."
"Whatever the case," said Harry, honestly not sure what to think. "He has the sunshine. Let's go before we lose him."