Call Me Psyche - Dramione

24

This was far from Malfoy Manor.

The Dark Lord had taken the entire Malfoy household with him to wait in the place once known to all of them as the Shrieking Shack. Hogwarts was close. Potter was close. And Draco was wound tense as a spring, ready to cross the age line and infiltrate the castle.

Lucius sat quiet and beaten in the seat of a boarded up window. Narcissa had been forbidden to heal him, even if it was just with the vine wood wand of the Muggleborn girl her son had seduced. Lucius was marshaling what strength he could, raising his voice to insist that the Dark Lord not send Draco into the castle, into the thick of the coming battle, no matter what the rash boy said.

"No, we will send him," the Dark Lord said, pacing around his snake as it floated suspended in a protective golden orb in the centre of the shack's musty sitting room. "You all felt Carrow's signal in the marks of your arms. It means Potter is in the castle. He has gone there in an attempt to steal from me. His mind is weak and I have seen into its secrets. He is greedy for something of mine that was left at Hogwarts for safekeeping. Of course, it is in a place where not just anyone can go. But we can never be too careful with a beast like Potter. And young Malfoy is one of only a few people who can find and protect my hiding place."

He stopped his pacing and lay each of his cold, heavy, grey hands on Draco's shoulders. "You remember the room, the enchanted room where you hid the Vanishing Cabinet in preparation for our liberation of the school from Dumbledore."

Draco nodded, his eyes on the bare grey feet standing on either side of his. "Yes, my Lord. The Room of Hidden Things. It revealed itself to me in the hour of your need."

"Yes. Good. The time has come for you to return to it on my behalf once more," the Dark Lord said. "Watch its entrance, and if Potter finds it, stop him. Do NOT kill him. He must die by my hand alone. But bring him to me, as you promised. Whether through the trust you say he has in you or through violence, bring Potter before he robs me again."

Draco staggered as the Dark Lord shoved at his shoulders as he unhanded him. He gave a clumsy, hurried bow as his mother poured a handful of Floo powder from a sachet into his palm.

"Yes, go by Floo," the Dark Lord said. "Your age allows it. Young Crabbe and Goyle will be waiting at the hearth when you arrive."

Draco was still nodding, taking his leave as his mother threw her arms around his neck. "Be careful and wise," she said, her voice teary against his ear. "Oh, my darling boy – "

"Go? When he says he has no wand?" Bellatrix interrupted, tugging at Narcissa's arm hard enough to wrench her away from her son. Bellatrix scanned Draco from head to foot one in one last attempt to catch him in the lie of not having his mother's wand hidden on himself somewhere.

But the Dark Lord was weary of her and only waved a clawed hand to warn her to be silent. "With the Crabbe and Goyle boys' wands on his side, Young Malfoy will not need one of his own. He is not on a combat mission, but a recovery mission – "

"He'll be defenseless, my Lord," Lucius dared to protest. "Couldn't he serve you better if – "

"Enough," the Dark Lord roared. "Young Malfoy will lead the way to the hiding place and coax Potter out of it. That is all. In fact," he turned to Draco, grinning, "wandless is how I prefer this little minion to go. Off with you, young Malfoy. And remember that I have your parents here with me."

It was not reassurance. It was a threat. With a grim final nod to his mother and father, Draco disappeared through the fire.

His face set in a scowl, he burst through the green of the flames and into the Hogwarts Entrance Hall. It was noisy with the running footsteps and shouting of those who were evacuating, and noiser still with the scraping of stone and steel as those left behind prepared their fortifications. Just as the Dark Lord had promised, Crabbe and Goyle were waiting to catch Draco as he arrived, seizing him by each of his arms.