Save Me

ESCAPE

TW: violence

Draco woke to the sound of loud metal hitting his door.

He felt so weak. Do I have a fever? He wondered. A guard walked in; he looked older than the previous one and more hardened. Great. What now? But instead of talking to Draco, the guard walked over and pulled him up. Malfoy tried to scramble away but was so surprised, he reacted too slowly. Over and over the guard punched Malfoy. He wasn't even using magic- just intense punches everywhere slamming into his body. Then he was dropped to the ground. Draco bowled over holding his stomach. He probably had a few broken ribs to add to his injury list. Suddenly, the guard landed a punch right to his jaw. Ouch. Draco didn't even try to defend himself, his list of weapons included a chamber pot and a tin cup of water. The guard bent down to where Draco lay and seized his bandaged left arm. He tore off the wrapping. Malfoy's arm was screaming in pain. It was blinding. The guard plunged a knife deep into the cut and twisted. Draco screamed. "A word from Scrimgeour, you better start to remember what happened. Your time is running out." He pulled out the knife and left.

(End of TW)

Draco was shaking. There's so much blood. What did Scrimgeour want with him? Why couldn't he remember? And shit, Granger? Where was his ring? He hadn't even had time to process his latest memory before the guard. Draco slowly crawled over to his tin cup of water. He was suddenly grateful for the replenishing charm and used it generously. He poured water on his face and through his hair. He was threatening to pass out from the pain in his arm and figured the water would keep him alert. He was no healer but he knew it was bad. Definitely infected, he decided. He wished there was something to bite down on. Oh well. Without looking he poured the full-again cup of water onto his arm. It burned like hell. Draco felt unwanted tears streaming down his face. He was so cold. He was so tired. I'm going to die of infection, he thought, now his arm looked 10 times worse and he had nothing to wrap it with. Draco decided to name the mystery guard Chief Torture Dickface.

Cradling his arm, he made a half effort to sit up but winced from the pain in his stomach. He guessed he had three broken ribs on his right side. He sprawled his legs out and poured more water on his head. He threw it back and focused on his breathing. Light and shallow, to combat the searing pain from expanding his chest. His mind wandered- What happened? He promised Hermione that he would tell his parents how he felt when he returned home, but had a Death Eator's mark? What did he know that Scrimegour needed so badly? Where was the ring she had given him? He promised her that he would never take it off. Malfoy had made a lot of promises in his life- ones he regretted. Maybe something had happened between them and he regretted that one too.

Draco's eyes fluttered, he felt so weak, maybe he would just die right then.

Through the small space under the door, Draco saw an envelope. He grabbed it and tore it open with the last energy he had. A note read "Put this on and get out when you can." He slipped the small signet ring onto his pinky and collapsed unconscious.

–

"DRACO!?"

"MALFOY?"

The ring concealed where Draco lay in an unconscious sleep.

"Where is he? Revelio."

Hermione screamed, "Draco!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed to him. "Bloody hell," said Ron, "What happened?"

"Shit his arm, look Hermione," Harry replied. She kneeled to see and gasped. She took out her wand and quickly cast a protection charm. "What have they done to you?" she whispered.

"Uh, not to rush you guys but we're running out of time. Polyjuice potion is up in 15 minutes," Neville interjected.

"Damn it, this is not going according to plan. He likely won't even be able to walk. His ribs are broken." Hermione lightly shook Draco. Please wake up, she prayed.

"Yeah, sorry 'Mione, no time," Ron said as he threw the cup of water onto Draco.

Draco woke with blurred vision. There were four figures, all shouting something at him. Get up. Get up. He tried. Hurt to breathe. He was suddenly being lifted by two people, one on each side.

"You have to try to walk." His head snapped in the direction of the voice.

"Hermione?"

"Yes, Malfoy we've come to your bloody rescue, now WALK," Ron shouted.

"Give him a wand at least," Hermione reached for the spare that she packed.

"Wait," Harry grabbed her arm, "What if he doesn't remember he's a good guy yet?"

"I- I trust you. Please," Draco whispered.

"Fine, but if he Avadas us all, it's on you, Hermione."

"I'm willing to take the risk." She handed Draco the wand. At least his right hand still worked.

"10 minutes," shouted Neville while bouncing on his toes.

"Right- er- what's the plan now," Ron asked.

"They know that something's wrong, we won't be able to walk about unnoticed, especially since Malfoy can't walk very well. I reckon Scrimgeour will show up anytime now."

Their original plan had been to slip Draco the ring, charmed with an invisibility spell, and polyjuice themselves through the prison. They had taken out and hidden four guards. That part took longer than expected as it was difficult to find a female guard, and Hermione didn't want to risk the extra time it would have taken to brew a polyjuice potion that recognized the genetic sequence for gender change. After they slipped into Draco's cell, they would explain to him that they were going to casually walk out at shift change, and Draco would go unnoticed with the invisibility charm. Hagrid was waiting outside with a carefully constructed port key to take them to a safe house. The Order had secretly been constructing a port key trail for months before the war, just in case something went sideways and they had to evacuate. They never thought they would be using it to break Malfoy out of prison.

As Draco previously thought, a lot of the plan relied on luck. The Order had underestimated the security wards placed on his room, and it took a long time to find Draco's secluded cell. 8 minutes. Suddenly, the trail of wards that the group left in front of Draco's door started to shake. Someone, or more likely, many someones, were coming.

"Right then, we could uh- Harry how high up do you think we are," Ron asked.

"1,000 feet? We're at the top floor, and probably level with the encircling cloud of dementors."

"Counting on it." Everyone locked eyes and understood what Ron was suggesting.

"I bloody hate flying," Hermione said. She downed a calming drought.

"Okay, this is going to be a terrible idea. Let's try not to die, yeah? Everyone ready? Wands out," commanded Harry.

–