"The time has come!" The Dark Lord shouts through the very crowded dining room. "Draco Malfoy has succeeded and there is now a perfect way from here to Hogwarts!"
The room breaks out into cheers. The Dark Lord sent me and my friends to Borgin and Burkes to get the other cabinet about a week ago to prepare for all this.
"Not everyone will be coming. You know who you are. I will be sending Violet LeStrange along first, she will cast the Dark Mark above the Astronomy tower to lure Dumbledore there. Draco will be waiting."
The crowd parts and I walk through to the smiling faces and make my way to the vanishing cabinet. I pray that Draco actually succeeded and I don't get lost in limbo like Graham did. I pull open the cabinet door and step inside. As soon as the door closes behind me everything goes dark. Nothing happens, but I can't hear the chattering of Death Eaters anymore.
I take a deep breath and push the cabinet door open again. I'm in a very cluttered room full of the strangest things I've ever seen. It doesn't take a genius to realize that I'm at Hogwarts. I take a breath and rush to the door. In the corridor, it takes me a minute to realize where I am. Seventh floor. I turn around to look at the door again but it's not there. Genius Draco, the room of requirement.
I hurry down the corridor and start up the ladder that leads into the Astronomy tower. I rush over to balcony, raise my wand into the air, and shout "MORSMORDRE!" The sky above me parts, green smoke shifts and gathers in different areas, forming the Dark Mark. I can hear muffled screams coming from below me so I can only assume that the Death Eaters are filing through the vanishing cabinet.
I watch in a sort of awe as the Death Eaters land on the Hogwarts grounds. They appear to be met by members of the Order. This isn't good at all. I look back up in the sky and there's a grey figure soaring towards me, Dumbledore.
I start down the spiral staircase but there's footsteps coming up. I manage to squeeze myself under the floorboards almost as not to be seen by anyone or anything.
"Go and wake Severus." I can hear Dumbledore say faintly, "Tell him what has happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, speak to no one else and do not remove your cloak. I shall wait here."
"But-" A small voice says.
Dumbledore cuts the voice off, "You swore to obey me Harry- go!" I can hear footsteps that I assume belong to Harry as he rushes off to do what Dumbledore told him to do.
Footsteps start up the stairs, I can see a flash of bright white hair. Draco. Fuck. The door bursts open, "Expelliarmus!" Draco cries.
I start to un-bury myself from my hiding spot and slowly creep up the stairs so I can get a better look at what's going on.
"Good evening Draco." Dumbledore says casually.
Draco looks around the room, "Who else is here?" He spits.
"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?"
Draco laughs a little, "No, I've got back-up. There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight."
"Well, well," Dumbledore says, "Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in did you?" He talks to Draco as if he's just said that he's gotten full marks on one of his compositions.
"Yeah." Draco says, his voice is shaky, I can tell he's trying his hardest not to cry, "Right under your nose and you never realized!"
"Ingenious. Yet forgive me... where are they now? You seem unsupported." Dumbledore says calmly.
"They met some of your guard. They're having a fight down below. They won't be long... I came on ahead. I-I've got a job to do." He says stumbling over his words.
"Well then, you must go on and do it my dear boy." Dumbledore says softly.
There's silence, Draco's wand arm is shaking slightly. I step out of the shadows carefully but Dumbledore looks at me and shakes his head no just a little. "You are not a killer Draco."
"How do you know!" Draco says all in one breath. Draco's shoulders slump a little as he realizes just how stupid what he said sounds. "You don't know what I'm capable of." He says more confidently, "You don't know what I've done!"
I roll my eyes involuntarily a little, he's really out here trying to talk big huh.
"Oh yes I do." Dumbledore says, "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!" Draco roars, "I've been working on it all year and tonight-" There's a muffled scream from down below which cut's Draco off mid-sentence.
"Somebody is putting up a good fight." Dumbledore says casually, "But you were saying... yes, you have managed to introduce Death Eaters into my school which, I admit, I thought to be impossible, how did you do it?" Draco doesn't say anything, he's listening to the sounds coming from downstairs. "Perhaps you ought to get on the with the job alone." Dumbledore continues, "What if your back up 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."
The two of them go on for quite some time, Dumbledore has Draco explain exactly how he managed everything he's done this year in detail. I zone out for most of it, till Draco says, "Someone's dead. One of your people... I don't know who, it was dark. But I stepped over the body on my way here. I was supposed to be waiting here when you got back but your Order got in the way."
Dead? Someone on the Order is dead? My mind instantly jumps to George. Then Fred, then to all of the Weasleys. One of them is dead. I can still feel the pulse of my ring so I know its not George but that doesn't stop my stomach from doing summersaults.
"There is little time," Dumbledore says cutting though my thoughts, "So let us discuss your options."
Draco snaps, "My options! 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 gong to kill me, you would have done it when you first Disarmed me, you would have not stopped for this pleasant chat about ways and means." Dumbledore tries to talk Draco down a bit.
"I haven't got any options!" Draco whimpers, "I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my family!"
My grip tightens on my wand, if Draco doesn't or well can't kill Dumbledore I'll have to do it.
"I appreciate the difficulty of your position." Dumbledore says, "Why else do you think I have not confronted you before now? Because I knew that you would have been murdered if Lord Voldemort realize that I suspected you."
Both Draco and I flinch at the sound of the Dark Lord's name. It sends shivers all the way down my spine and into my legs.
"I did not dare speak to you of the mission with which I knew you have been entrusted in case he used Legilimency against you." Dumbledore continues. "But now at least 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..." Dumbledore's eyes flicker from Draco to me, like he's talking to the both of us.
"No you can't!" Draco barks, "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 and to Violet tonight to hide them as well. 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." Dumbledore speaks calmly, his attention flicks between Draco and I. I believe him, I want to believe him. Draco's grip on his wand a little and his arm lowers slightly.
Suddenly, footsteps were coming up the stairs. I come running out of the shadows and grab onto Draco. "You're alright. I'm here." I say to him softly.
"Violet..." Draco whispers.
"Dumbledore cornered!" A Death Eater named Amycus says eagerly, "Dumbledore wandless, Dumbledore alone! Good job Draco!" His sister, Alecto is smiling like a ninny beside him. Draco looks at me terrified.
"Good evening Amycus." Dumbledore says calmly, "And you've brought Alecto too... charming."
"Think you're little jokes' ll help you on your death bed?" Alecto sneers.
Fenrir Greyback comes up beside Draco and I, "Do it." He says. He's got blood smeared all over his face.
"Is that you Fenrir?" Dumbledore asks.
"That's right." Fenrir says barring his teeth, "Pleased to see me Dumbledore?"
"I can't say that I am."
Fenrir licks some of the blood off his lips, "But you know how much I like kids Dumbledore." He seethes.
"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?"
I pull Draco closer to me and away from Greyback. I stare at his blood stained face with fear and anger all mixed together.
"That's right, shocks you that does it? Frightens you?" Greyback says staring at Dumbledore with a hunger that I never want to see on another humans face ever again.
"Well I cannot pretend it does not disgust me." Dumbledore says, "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." Draco says. I tighten my grip on his arm to try and get him to shut up, "I didn't know he was going to come-"
"I wouldn't miss a trip to Hogwarts Dumbledore, not when there are throats to be ripped out... delicious... delicious..." Greyback picks at his teeth with his fingernails. "I could do you for after's Dumbledore."
I pull Draco away from Greyback a little more, I want as much space between the two of them as possible.
"No!" A man shouts, I recognize him from meetings but I've never learned his name, "We've got orders. Draco's got to do it. Now, Draco. And quickly."
Draco spins to look at me, his eyes are full of fear and tears. "I'll do it." I say. I pull my wand out and point it at Dumbledore.
"Just because your mother is his right hand LeStrange doesn't give you superiority. Back down." The man snaps.
"I'll kill him then kill you if you speak to me like that again." I spit, literally, spit at his feet. Greyback screams with laughter.
"REDUCTO!" There's a blast from below that makes everyone in the room jump.
"Now Draco! Quickly!" The man roars.
Draco raises his wand but his hand is so shaky he can't possibly aim. "Let me do it!" I say pointing my wand back at Dumbledore, my hand is steady, my eyes are staring right into Dumbledore's.
"I said no!" The man roars.
I turn around and make eye contact with Professor Snape. I spin back around towards Dumbledore, my heart starts to beat faster.
"We've got a problem Snape," Amycus says not looking away from Dumbledore, "The boy doesn't seem able."
Dumbledore cuts him off, "Severus..." He begs. Dumbledore is begging for his life. I lower my wand and focus my attention back on Draco who is shaking violently at this point. I pull him into me, one hand wrapped around his torso the other one holding the back of his head so he can't see what I know is going to happen.
Professor Snape pushes past everyone, I stagger backwards but I don't let go of Draco. He whimpers in my ear a little and I stroke his hair and hush him.
"Severus... please..." Dumbledore whispers.
Snape raises his wand and points it at Dumbledore, "Avada Kedavra!"