I Found - Amber Run
November 1st 1999
Finally, FINALLY, Draco felt the last charm lift and, with a quick check to make sure the exit was still clear he drew back the rusty bolt and entered the room with his wand dimly lit.
Eight faces turned to look at him, eyes squinting against the harsh light, and there was a deafening silence.
'Malfoy?!' A familiar red head spat. 'Should've known you were bloody involved in-.'
'Shut it, Weasley.' Draco snarled in Ron's direction. He had been prepared for Ron's resistance but there was no time for petty school rivalries to get in the way. 'There's not much time to explain but your sister and Granger are here, too. We're getting you out.'
Ron bit his tongue; this was the first sign of rescue that he had seen in eighteen months. He had to put his differences aside and trust that Draco was in fact aiding their escape. Another silence echoed around the walls of the damp cell while Draco's words settled.
'Draco?' Another familiar voice asked, drawing Draco's attention to the far corner of the room.
Slowly, in an effort not to blind everyone, Draco brightened his wand and pointed it towards the owner of the voice. Looking bruised and rather filthy, like the rest of the cellar's occupants, Pansy Parkinson was slowly pulling Harry Potter away from her lap. Draco, completely thrown by the sight, took a moment to compose himself. Once back in the mindset, the plan forming once again in his mind, he made sure that no one was restrained - they weren't - and walked over to the other side of the cellar.
'You look like shit, Parkinson.' Draco said, plastering the trademark Malfoy smirk over his face before pulling his fellow Slytherin into a hug.
'Took you bloody long enough.' He heard Pansy murmur in his ear.
Draco quickly let go of Pansy and found the four faces that he needed first and turned to them.
'Patil, Brown, Macmillan, Lovegood, look sharp.' Draco said as he carefully helped a very frail looking Luna up to her feet. 'You're going first. No time for explanations.'
No one spoke until Theo got to his feet and wrapped a protective arm around Luna's waist. 'Lovegood goes with me.'
Draco turned to his old classmate, a questioning look on his face, a biting remark for Theo to shut up on the tip of his tongue. But when he saw the determination on Theo's face he kept it to himself.
'Fine.' Draco snapped. 'Weasley?'
Ron looked over from his position on the floor, next to a sobbing Lavender, and nodded.
'I'll go.' Ron said gruffly. 'Theo should stay with Luna.'
Draco nodded once and then quickly conjured a Patronus to signal to Blaise and Ginny that he was ready. He'd wait a minute and then escort the first group to the top of the cellar stairs where they would be met by Blaise, who would take them to Ginny at the bottom of the main staircase, who would take them up to Hermione in his old room.
Draco just prayed to Merlin that no one would get in their way.
'Parkinson, Nott, Lovegood... Potter,' Draco said, throwing a quick glance to a silent and somber Harry who was still sat in the corner. 'I'll be back.'
Draco motioned for the first group of four to follow him, extinguishing the light at the end of his wand, as he made his way to the first "drop off point" in darkness.
'Don't make a sound until you're safely out of this place.' Draco hissed to them as he made out the faint outline of the stairs.
The sound of a wand tapping a shoe, Blaise's all clear signal, echoed down the stairs and Draco motioned for Ron to lead the way. Ron nodded, kept quiet, and gave Draco a brief pat on the back as a hasty sign of his gratitude for saving them and an apology for jumping to conclusions.
'Weasley.' Draco said, quickly pulling one of the spare wands from his pocket. 'I'm trusting you remember how to use this.'
He placed the wand in Ron's hand and gave him a nod that communicated everything that needed to be said, which was returned, and let the group continue up the stairs to meet Blaise.
When Draco heard them moving across the room, safe in Blaise's hands, he hurried back down to the rest of the group.
'We need to wait a few minutes before sending you four.' Draco said quietly, casting another glance over to Harry. 'What happened to Lovegood?' Luna was now resting on Theo's side, her eyes closed, and Draco was pretty sure she'd lost consciousness.
Pansy and Theo shared a look, the only ones who reacted to Draco's question, before Pansy spoke.
'Too many Unforgivables.' She whispered.
'Fuck.' Draco muttered. 'Are you alright to carry her, Nott? We don't have time to waste with her walking all the way.'
Theo nodded.
'What's been going on, Draco?' Pansy asked.
'There's no time to explain, Pansy.' Draco replied as he saw Blaise's Patronus float down the stairs, the signal that they were ready for the next group. 'Time to go.'
Pansy hurried over to Harry, whispering in his ear that it was time to go, and pulling him up rather forcefully by the arm.
Theo wasted no time in picking Luna up, one hand under her knees and the other safely secured behind her back, and she used all the strength she had left to as she regained consciousness to hold on to his neck.
'Can Potter be trusted with a wand?' Draco asked Theo under his breath.
'Best give it to Pansy.' Theo muttered.
Draco led the four out of the cellar and towards the stairs, slipping the wand into Pansy's hand with a quick hiss of instruction to keep everyone guarded, and waited for the tap of a wand against a shoe.
When Hermione heard the secret knock she couldn't react quick enough, throwing the door open, but she was met by something completely unexpected.
A mess of ginger hair ran straight towards her and hugged her.
'Ron!' Hermione gasped. 'I thought you were supposed to be in the second group?'
'Slight change of plan.' Ron replied as he stepped away from the embrace. 'Ginny said that I should go first to warn Mum. She'll probably have a heart attack when she sees me looking like this.'
Hermione let out a small laugh as the other three escapees piled into the room and gave Ginny a thumbs up to get the second group, it wouldn't take long to get them all through the Floo.
'I'm assuming we're sending everyone to The Burrow? Our first destination is out of order.' Hermione asked Ron.
'Ginny said to send everyone to Mum's.' Ron nodded.
Hermione took the pot of Floo powder from the mantle and handed it over to Ron who, almost breaking the pot in the process, pulled Hermione in for another hug.
'Sorry,' he mumbled, 'wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I missed you, Mione.'
'I missed you too.' Hermione said quickly. 'But we can have a proper reunion later, no time to waste.'
Ron took a handful of Floo powder, stepped into the fireplace, and was gone in a flash. Hermione ushered Lavender next half a minute later, followed by Parvati, then Ernie as the last. When they were all gone, and she knew they were now safe, she let out a breath and willed herself not to cry.
'Pull yourself together, Granger.' Hermione muttered to herself, imagining Draco was giving her one of his infamous pep talks. Unfortunately for the slow burning rage that she still felt towards him it worked and she quickly got back into place by the door to await the next knock. But Hermione was more terrified than ever that things were about to go wrong.
Draco followed closely behind the group of four, Blaise leading them through the hallway towards Ginny, when he thought he heard a floorboard creak behind him. He didn't react straight away, not wanting to spook the people in front of him, and walked slower to hang back and check out the noise. When they had all disappeared around the corner Draco turned and whispered the spell to reveal any human presence.
No one was there.
He allowed himself a quick sigh of relief before catching up with the others. Draco was more terrified than ever that things were about to go wrong.
Ginny had kept a cool head thus far, even when she had seen Ron for the first time in a year and a half, she had not allowed her emotions to take over in an effort to get the job done. She would wait until everyone was safe for the tears to spill and the sobs of relief to escape. But when she saw one of her closest friends barely conscious in the arms of a Slytherin, and the boy she once loved only a shell of his former self, she almost lost her grip.
'Weasley.' Theo hissed when he was a few steps away from Ginny. 'Snap out of it.'
Ginny immediately held on tighter, grasping back onto the plan, and led Theo and Luna, who was still in Theo's protective arms, up the stairs. She could see Pansy and Harry a few steps behind with Blaise and knew that he would protect them should he need to. This was the final stage of the plan, they were so close, so close to pulling the whole thing off. And Ginny was more terrified than ever that things were about to go wrong.
Blaise quickly pushed Pansy and Harry up the stairs behind Ginny, urging them to go faster and to waste no more time. He had never seen Harry look so lost. But he pushed any thought aside that didn't relate to the plan, remembering every contingency should they need it, all he had to do was get them up the stairs and down one small hallway and they had done it. Blaise was more terrified than ever that things were about to go wrong.