Pawns | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

Familiar Faces

My ankle had gotten better over the course of our time camping. Draco helped me wrap it when we'd gotten far enough from our ambush.

We'd been in the forest for what felt like weeks, though again, I didn't know the specific date or time. It wasn't until I heard a familiar voice that I learned exactly what day it was.

"Draco," I whispered harshly. "Draco get up," I said, slapped his leg.

It was the dead of night and we were asleep in the tent. I'd had a hard time falling asleep on my rolled shoulder, and so when I heard voices and the sound of twigs snapping under footsteps, I was wide awake.

"Mmm?" He moaned.

"Listen," I said. "People are out there."

He sat up almost at once, the look of sleep wiped from his face instantly. He listened intently, chest rising and falling, lips sealed tight. He silently but quickly moved towards the front of the tent and put himself in front of me, a hand behind him to keep me back.

"Pass the bag for a second," I heard someone say.

"Here," a deep voice said. It took me a moment to place it but I suddenly recognized the latter voice as Dean Thomas'.

I pulled on Draco's shoulder for him to turn to look at me. "They can't see us because of the enchantments, right?" I whispered.

"Right, yea. We should be invisible to them," he confirmed, also at a whisper.

I crawled on my knees past him to unzip the tent so we could see outside. He protested, pushing on my shoulder to keep me out of sight behind him, but I managed to pull the zipper down from under his arm.

I peered out, still instinctively moving carefully even though we couldn't be seen.

They were probably around 15 meters away. I recognized Dean's figure instantly, and he had some other people around him too. Though, it was harder to tell who these ones were. Some were shorter and I somehow made out that they were goblins.

I recognized one of them, Griphook. He and the other unknown goblin were laughing about something, a sword I think, but I couldn't really hear. I strained my eyes to see in the dark and I saw another person that I recognized - Ted Tonks. Both Dean and Ted were now in an intense conversation with the goblins.

I exited the tent carefully and Draco grabbed my sleeve in protest.

"Get your wand out," I said.

He patted his pockets immediately before holding it out in front of him, unsure of what I was asking.

"Say 'muffliato'," I instructed him. "It's a charm so they won't hear us."

"Brilliant," he whispered before casting the charm. I'd never thought to use it before because we'd never encountered anybody this far off the grid.

I waited a couple seconds before I left the tent, and Draco followed. I approached nearer to the group but still within our protective enchantments. I caught the end of a sentence "...Ginny."

I became even more alert if it were possible.

"Were Ginny and the others hurt?" asked Dean.

I pieced together that Ginny and others from the DA had gone into Snape's office to try and steal the Sword of Gryffindor. Apparently they were punished badly.

One of the men that I didn't recognize expressed concern over the fact that Harry, the supposed Chosen One, wasn't rallying troops to fight back against the dark side. Dean immediately lent his support to Harry and I felt good about that.

The other man wasn't too convinced yet, claiming that it's been far too long since they'd all last seen Harry and that it was hard to trust someone who'd disappeared.

Apparently it was late November.

I couldn't believe it'd been that long. I felt bad for Dean and any other Muggle borns that were on the run right now - Hogwarts wasn't letting any of them stay. Poor Dean, on the run since September.

I wondered how long Harry had been on the run for, and where he was right now. I desperately wished that I knew where or how to find them, to tell them it was all a big misunderstanding and that I should be there to help them, Draco too - though they probably wouldn't believe that.

Regardless, I didn't know how to find them. I just hoped they were alright wherever they were.

It looked like the group was getting ready to sleep and so I turned around, passing Draco and crawled back into the tent.

He came in after me, zipping up the front again. "Hey," he said softly, sitting down next to me. "What's wrong?"

I sighed. "I don't know. Just feeling bad for them out there, I guess," I sighed again. "And I wish there was something I could do to help Harry and the others. They need help - I know it. Whoever that guy was, he was right, they did just disappear and I bet they're struggling finding those Horcruxes."

I was rubbing my injured shoulder nervously and he leaned over to take my hand, keeping it steady in his.

"They're going to be fine," he said. "That Granger girl, she's smart."

I let out a tired laugh. "Never heard you complement her before. That's different."

"Yeah, well, what can I say. I'm not the same guy that wanted her dead in my second year," he shrugged.

I laughed at his funny tone without thinking, not comprehending the meaning of his words. Then, I registered what he'd said.

"Wait what?" I said, in disbelief, craning my neck to look at him.

But he just kept going like it was nothing, rubbing my shoulders from behind. "I'm sure Dumbledore gave them instructions and they're doing fine. They're probably laying low for a reason."

"I guess so," I said. "I wonder if they know about the taboo on the name," I said.

"I dunno, but let's hope so. With the trace off of them and the name not coming out of their mouths, they don't have too much to worry about in terms of snatchers and Death Eaters."

"We don't have to worry much about the trace either, I said.

"Huh?" he asked.

"I'm 17. My birthday passed," I said, now that I knew what month we were in.

He gaped at me with a sort of why didn't you tell me, I woulda baked a cake kind of face.

I waved my hand in front of me and clicked my tongue. "It's not a big deal, stop. It's not a big deal," I whined, as he still had his mouth open with a sort of betrayed look.

"When?" he asked.

"October 4th" I replied.

"Well shit, I wish I'd known," he said sadly. "What did you do last year?" he asked.

"Something small in the evening. It was just in the common room. Ginny set it up for me," I said with a smile, remembering the quaint little party. I don't make a big deal of birthdays," I explained. "All that's exciting me now is that I can use magic again. Though, I don't have a wand."

He looked distressed, remembering that my wand was still at his manor.

"Maybe we can find you another one at some point," he said.

I laughed a little. "Where?" I asked. It wasn't like there was a wand cart in these woods.

"Not sure, but we can be hopeful," he said.

"Yeah, yeah," I said sarcastically. "I guess I'll just be taking yours."

I suddenly jumped on him and wrested it out of his hand. He was caught by surprise but yanked it back from me anyway, flipping me over onto my back and trapping me in a kiss.

"I don't think so," he said.

"You did that mufliato charm correctly, right?" I asked him with a smile.

"Mhm," he said before kissing me again.