Transfixed: A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction

Chapter 40

I awoke with a start in the early hours of the morning, not from any particular noise, but from silence. The campfire outside our tent was enchanted to never burn out, so we constantly heard the crackles and hisses of a burning fire. But as I slowly became conscious, I realized that the air was suspiciously still. The fire had been put out.

I sat up and looked over to Draco's bed, but he was still lying down, fast asleep. My heart began to beat faster in my chest as I grabbed my wand and slid into my shoes.

"Draco," I whispered. "I think someone's here."

He sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes. "What're you talking about?" he muttered.

"The fire, it stopped. Draco, I think someone followed us back here last night."

This got his attention. He scrambled out of bed and came over to me.

"What should we do?" he asked. "I bet it was those bloody centaurs. If we would've left last night..."

"There's no point fighting about it now," I hissed. "I think it's the centaurs. I want to go out and talk to them."

"Audrey, that's a suicide mission. They're not interested. The Order already got to them. C'mon, please let's just leave!"

"No! Get it through your head. I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere."

And with that, I walked to the front flap of the tent, and went outside. It was chilly, and there was a morning mist in the air. I looked over to the fire, which had clearly been put out by someone. I figured if the centaurs were here, they still had some interest in us. Although it seemed that their interest was in killing us, not hearing us out. But deep down, I had some unexplained confidence that I could do it. Maybe it was because of Dad's letter telling me I had some special gift, or maybe it was just the pressure to prove myself to the Death Eaters, but whatever it was lit a fire underneath me to not give up.

"Hello?" I called out. "Look, if it's you Archel, please just hear us out. We don't want to fight."

In a flash, I saw a rustle of leaves from the underbrush, and I raised my wand but quickly lowered it.

"I don't want to fight," I said again, shakily. "I just want to have a discussion with you. I want to understand your side of all this."

Then, they appeared. Archel and Annora emerged from the trees, both of them holding bows and arrows. They walked a couple of steps towards me, and the rest of the tribe appeared from behind them, almost all of them carrying weapons.

"You should have taken our refusal last night as a warning, young one," Archel called. "Now you are in our territory, and we are going to get you out."

I couldn't curse them. If I did that, I would be starting a war with creatures who were not our enemies. Who knows what kind of trouble I would get into, if I even got out alive. I dropped my wand and raised my hands, hoping they would take my act of submission as enough. I heard a rustle from behind me as Draco rushed out from the tent, wand extended. He dashed to my side and glared at the centaurs. Just as I opened my mouth to stop him, I saw a layer of sheer frost sweep over the nearby bushes out of the corner of my eye. I exhaled, and my breath was visible in front of my face. The temperature was suddenly even colder than it was last night. Draco and I looked at each other, terrified. Dementors.

The centaurs slowly lowered their weapons and looked at the sky in horror. I turned around to see a trio of dementors descending from the sky, heading straight for us.

"We've gotta get out of here!" Draco cried. He grabbed my arm, and I barely had time to pick up my wand before he started dragging me towards the tent. I stared at the sky in a daze. Why in the world would dementors be here? They passed over our heads, choosing instead to set their sights on the large group of centaurs ahead of them. The tribe didn't have a chance to run as the dementors immediately began to attack. One by one, the centaurs fell as the dementors sucked the life force right out of them.