friends with benefits - draco malfoy

chapter fifty eight

'where are we going?' i whispered, not wanting to speak too loudly. me and draco had been crammed into a carriage with five other death eaters, and they were all staring at us intently. it had been two weeks since dumbledore had been killed, and as far as we knew, snape didn't take credit for it. if he did, and it came out that draco never completed his task, i don't think we'd be sitting semi-safely on a train right now. 'london' he whispered back 'theyve found hermione, ron and harry with the sword of gryffindor. they want us to identify harry before they call the dark lord'. i gulped, i know i had said i wanted to gut harry myself, but i wasn't sure i could hand him over to voldemort and watch him do it. 'i know' draco murmured, wrapping his arm around me. 'it's definitely ron and hermione, but it might not be harry. if it's not harry, i don't think it'll be too bad for ron and hermione'. i knew he was probably just saying that, it was likely they were going to be killed either way, but it helped.

the train drew to a stop, and draco held my hand tightly as we apparated into the ministry. we'd barely walked down the corridor towards the noise of the commotion when we were greeted with the bellatrix lestrange herself. i'd forgotten until now she was draco's auntie to be honest. 'draco!' she cackled, engulfing him in a hug and glancing at me 'and, dracos... lady friend. we need you to identify the potter boy for us'. she grabbed his hand, steering him down the corridor. i hurried after, determined not to let us get separated. 'here' she announced, pushing him in the direction of a boy. it took a minute to register that this boy actually was harry, he'd clearly been hit with some kind of spell. his face was contorted, certain features blown out of proportion in a clear attempt to disguise him. 'well?' prompted bellatrix 'it's very important you get this right draco. if we call the dark lord out here and it's not actually potter, he won't be happy'. draco froze, staring at harry and then looking at me for help. he said nothing, but it was clear he was asking me whether or not he should bait harry out. i gave a minuscule shake of my head, and draco turned back to bellatrix. 'i-i'm not sure' he said, causing bellatrix to scoff and push his head abruptly away. 'useless'. draco hung his head, his jaw red where she'd pushed it. i walked quickly over, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him away from bellatrix. it was then i saw hermione standing in the corner with two guards, staring at me desperately as ron was held back away from her.

'ahem' one of the guards holding hermione coughed loudly 'we found this girl had this on her'. he held up a large sword, with a red stone in the middle and i gasped. 'is that-?' i asked draco quietly and he nodded in response. 'the sword of gryffindor' he said quietly. 'well' bellatrix smiled, walking over and flicking hermione's head up to face her 'where did you get this?'. hermione flinched, prompting a reaction from ron. 'don't touch her' he called unsure, sounding the least menacing i'd ever heard him. bellatrix laughed, responding by shoving hermione strongly to the floor. she hovered over her, pulling out a knife and holding it against hermione's throat. ron actually snapped into proper action here, screaming and struggling to try and break free from the guards that were holding him. 'take the two boys out of the room, lock them downstairs. we can identify them properly once i'm finished with this one' bellatrix ordered, grinning down at hermione. 'please don't' hermione said quietly, starting to cry. she quickly turned to the side, reaching for the sword, but bellatrix kicked it away from her before she was even close to reaching it. it skidded, coming to a stop about a metre to my left. 'i'll get it' i told draco, thinking that if i stepped away from him i'd have a head start running at bellatrix before he could pull me back, but he wrapped his hands firmly around my wrists, so tightly i was convinced he was marking the skin. 'that hurts' i mumbled, and for the first time in his life he didn't relax his grip. 'i don't care' he said under his breath 'at least i know you can't charge at bellatrix'. fuck. this boy was getting way better at reading me than he used to be. 'we have to get them out' i whispered, a tear rolling down my cheek as hermione started to scream out in pain. i couldn't look, but i could tell from the cries that bellatrix was carving something into her. 'okay' draco replied 'you try and apparate ron and harry out of here, i'd imagine they've had their wands took. i'll try and distract bellatrix from hermione by telling her that that is harry. you need to have him far away from here by then'. i nodded, turning and slipping out of the hall, hopefully unnoticed.

i found their cell fairly quickly, the guards that were meant to be watching them were standing at the other end of the corridor, peaking around the corner at bellatrix attacking hermione like school children watching a classmate get told off. hermione's screams sounded far worse down here, they must have been echoing off the walls. i picked the key off the peg on the wall, letting myself into their cell and closing it firmly behind me. they both looked up at me in disgust, clearly having seen me with the death eaters before. 'i know you have no reason to trust me' i whispered 'but i'm here to help. take my hands, i'm going to apparate you out of here'.
'i'm not leaving without hermione' ron spat, pulling away from me. 'okay, fine. but harry has to. draco is up there right now, telling bellatrix that it is in fact harry potter to try and get her off hermione. he can't stay here'.
'i'm not leaving my friends' harry protested, also stepping away from me. i knew he wasn't going to see sense, and hermione's screams had died out. i needed to get out of the cell before bellatrix came. 'did they take your wands?' i asked and ron rolled his eyes. 'would we be sat here if we still had them?' he laughed, although it was obvious there was no humour in it. 'here' i pulled mine out of my robe, passing it to ron. 'take mine, i would give it to harry but i don't doubt they're gonna search him. you've already been searched'. he clutched it in his hand, blinking. 'and how do i know it's not hexed? i could use it and it could blow my head off'.
'believe what you want' i told him 'i have to go now, before bellatrix catches me in here'. i walked out hurriedly, locking the cell behind me and hanging the key back up. i walked back to the door, pressing my face against the cell bars. 'it kind of hurts that you don't trust me this much. i know i'm here, but i'm only here because of draco. there's more to the story than you know. we've been friends six years, do you really think i'd hurt any of you'. harry opened his mouth to say something, but i knew i had to leave now. i could hear footsteps fast approaching. i backed away, pressing myself against a wall around a corner to avoid being seen. i glanced out at the corridor, seeing bellatrix and draco rushing down it. draco's eyes were darting everywhere, clearly looking for me. he caught my eye and i mouthed worriedly 'i couldn't get them to leave without mione'. draco shrugged 'we tried'. i paused for a second, checking nobody else was watching before i mouthed the next bit. 'don't let them search ron'. he nodded, helping bellatrix unlock the cell and disappearing into it, coming out again holding onto ron. he must have grabbed him specifically. ron caught my eye also, glancing between me and draco and clearly realising it wasn't a coincidence that it was draco holding him, deciding not to struggle. harry on the other hand, was being dragged my bellatrix, kicking out and fighting for all he was worth.