𝐎𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 {𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲}

| 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐗 | 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴

Fornax is a constellation in the Southern sky. Its name means 'the furnace' in Latin, and is partly surrounded by the constellation Eridanaus.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

🖤

He could feel the fire lick the edges of his feet he clung to the pile of desks. They were made of wood, and Draco knew that it would be a mere seconds - a minute at most - before the flames would completely engulf him and Goyle.

With thundering screeching, the Fiendfyre reared its serpentine head from the far end of the room. It spotted them and flew past the flaming junk, its gaping mouth a cavernous red hole of hellfire.

He closed his eyes as the heat singed his face, and Angel's face floated in his mind. He'd have liked to see her again. But it was not meant to be.

"Malfoy, grab on!" His eyes flew open at Potter's voice. He was hurtling towards them on broomsticks with Hermione and Ron.

He reached out, their hands clasping firmly in each other's. With a strength he didn't know Potter possessed, his foe hauled him up onto the back of his broom.

The wind cooled his cheeks as he held on to the broom, focusing on balancing his weight so they wouldn't topple over.

With a final burst of speed, they tumbled out of the Room before the doors slammed shut and disappeared behind them.

As they sat there, catching their breath, the diadem in Harry's hand started to crumble. Harry shouted in pain as thick black smoke emitted from the dust.

Goyle scrambled to his feet and fled, and the trio turned to look at Draco. Before any of them could say anything, a group of Ravenclaw students ran past them, shouting about spiders and the Forbidden Forest.

"Sp-spiders?" Ron croaked, grabbing his wand. "Harry, we need to go," Hermione reminded them. They gave him dirty looks, and Hermione shook her head slightly at him before he found himself alone in the corridor.

He remained on the ground, still shaken from his brush with death. Rumbling of debris, screaming, shouting of spells, all amalgamated into a discordance of chaos around him.

He stood up and leaned against the wall, still breathless. He had no idea what to do or where to go now. He had failed his mission.

Before Goyle set the bloody place on fire, Potter had stood right in front of him, and yet, even as he had readied himself to attack him, he couldn't. Why?

You're not a killer, Malfoy. Angel's words swam in his head. That goodness? It's in there, and you know it too. He smiled to himself. She had been right after all. She had been right and he'd been wrong about himself, and it felt good to be wrong.

A sudden inspiration of courage bloomed in him. It was then Draco decided that if he was going to die anyway, he would go down fighting. On the right side, this time. With that, he walked out of the hallway and threw himself into the thick of battle.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

He quickly identified which were students and teachers, cursing all the Death Eaters in rapid succession. But they were also fast, and the moment they realised they were outnumbered, they flared their cloaks, turning into smoke and disappearing.

He continued down the staircase as he deflected one or two attacks from some who hadn't realised who he was. Those who did gave him encouraging smiles, and it seemed that none of them noticed that he wasn't fighting on their side any longer.

When the courtyard finally came into view, he almost drew back in shock. Huge fires, tall as trees, burned the heavy stone, and the air was opaque with dust and smoke. Rocks and beams that had been structures and archways only yesterday now covered the ground.

Two trolls towered above everyone, their blindly swinging scythes catching people from both sides. The one nearest to him started to bring down its weapon on a pair of students who were too busy duelling Death Eaters to notice.

"Protego!" he shouted, running towards them. The scythe hit the force field, bouncing back against the troll with equal force. As it fell over in pain, he saw that it was Cho and Luna whom he'd saved. They could only afford a split-second to stare at him before turning back to their fight.

He heard the spider before he saw it - aloud insect-like chittering from behind him. He barely had time to react before-

"Arania exumai!" A blue light flashed from the left, blasting the arachnid sideways and into a rock a yard away. He turned, coming face to face with Angel's wand.

"Draco. You never came for me."

He was about to formulate a response when a brilliant red light shot in between them, narrowly missing Angel and knocking her wand out of her hands. The Death Eater raised his wand again but Draco was faster, hitting him with a Stupefying charm.

"Draco, my wand..." She bent down to pick up the broken pieces of wood.

"Wait, where's Cedric? I thought I told you to stay with him."

Angel looked at him as though he was an idiot. "I told him to help the others. You really can be daft sometimes, Malfoy. Did you really think I'd let you go after Harry? Where is he, anyway?"

"You just missed him. We were in the Room of Requirement."

"And?"

"And we went our separate ways."

Emotions sparked behind her eyes. Confusion. Understanding. Then, pride. "I saw what you did for Cho and Luna."

"It's nothing," he mumbled, but she shook her head. "It's everything."

Before he could reply, a low moaning filled the courtyard, so loud that it drowned the sounds of explosions, sending a shockwave of cold air over the castle grounds.

Frozen in horror, they watched as Dementors swirled their way up from the bridge and spread across the courtyard.