Who Knew

A/N: Thanks again to my wonderful readers and reviewers. I just realized this story is nearing its end. I originally had 21 chapters, but after some revisions, it is now 22. I know you're all eagerly waiting, so without further ado, let's get this next chapter out. :)

thrnbrooke: haha I think you've mentioned it once or twice about needing a new chapter. :) Yep, Voldemort has Draco. Should be interesting to see what happens now, especially with Snape and Lucius learning the truth.

yaoiObsessed: Glad to see you've recovered and are on regularly scheduled visits! Yes, it seems I did buy Draco some time. We shall see what happens later. Yeah, I thought it would be good to let Hermione and Blaise know the truth. :) haha Glad you liked that little twist with Voldemort (def not over yet!) You're right...pain is pleasure. *sneaks in your room holding another needle* I'm glad you liked Harry talking to both Snape and Lucius. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Lucius, that's for sure. Here's your next update! Enjoy! :)

Black Padfoot: lol So does this mean I can come out from under my bed now? *shakily stands up and goes to computer to update next chapter* Oh come on... I know you're liking the torture... admit it. :) Glad it makes more sense about Snape and Lucius now. Here's the next chapter. Hope you like. We're getting closer to the end!! :)

sheila: haha Yes, I thought you all deserved a quick update. Glad you were happy when you saw it!! :) The end is getting closer. Will they end up together, will one of them die? I know... so much suspense! Here's the newest update. Hope you like. :)

lissagal99: Sorry for all the pain. :( Not too much longer until the end though. Hope you can hold on 'til then.

Sinister074: Thanks! *evil laugh* Got you right where I want you. Here's the next chapter. Hope you like. :)

*****
Hermione started giggling, as they left another secret room hidden in Hogwarts. When they first arrived at the school, they began their search in all the obvious places, before moving on to Blaise and Draco’s secret getaways. Thankfully, the school was still on holiday, so there were only a handful of students around.

Blaise turned toward Hermione and frowned, uncertain why she was giggling. She smiled at him, understanding his question.

“It’s just amazing that you guys had the same secret hideouts that me, Harry and Ron had,” she answered. “I’m surprised we never ran into each other.”

“You guys knew about these?” he incredulously asked.

She nodded and then laughed, seeing her boyfriend frown some more. “Aw, don’t pout, Blaise.”

“It’s just not fair,” he sighed. “We thought we were the only ones who knew about these places. It made us feel superior to the others, especially the Golden Trio,” he added.

“Sorry,” she smiled, as they reached the seventh floor. “I guess it’s true that great minds think alike,” she then winked.

He smiled at her and leaned in, brushing his lips lightly against hers. He left her side and began crossing in front of the wall three times. On his third trip, the wall suddenly changed into a door, allowing them entry. He grabbed Hermione’s hand and pulled her inside.

Hermione gasped, staring inside the large cathedral-like room, with numerous broken furniture, old dusty books, cracked potion bottles, and anything else that had been stowed away in there during the centuries. She turned to Blaise, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Finally, a room you’ve never been in,” he smirked, glad to know something she didn’t.

“How did you guys come across this place?” she asked, walking around the different aisles and admiring all the junk. She suddenly stopped, when she stood in front of a very familiar cabinet. Memories soon took over, remembering last year and how Death Eaters raided the castle by using this very same cabinet.

She quickly turned toward Blaise, eyes narrowed. “Did you help?” she snapped.

Blaise shook his head, upset that she would even think such a thing. “Of course not,” he retorted. “He never wanted me to get involved in that. He told me nothing about it, knowing the less I knew the better. We came here mainly to read the banned books.”

Hermione eyed him a few more minutes, before releasing her breath, seeing the truth behind his eyes. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to accuse you.”

“It’s okay,” he commented, walking closer to her and wrapping his arms around her. “As much as we try to ignore it, I’m still a Slytherin after all.”

“Even so,” she quietly spoke, softly gliding her hand through his hair, “Slytherin or not, I love you and trust you with all my heart.”

He smiled, leaning in closer and capturing her mouth. She parted her lips, allowing his tongue to enter. They remained in each other’s grasps, as they continued kissing, enjoying the shivers they were producing.

He pushed his body against hers, causing her to move backwards. Her back suddenly hit a large cupboard, stopping her from moving any further. Blaise started moving his hands down her sides and lowering his kisses to her neck, hearing her moan in pleasure.

He picked her up slightly off the floor, pushing her body harder against the cupboard, causing her to gasp in excitement. He ravished her neck, while she gripped his shoulders, calling out his name. Feeling more aroused, he again pushed her hard against the piece of furniture, hearing something clink to the floor, but ignoring it for the time being.

“Oh Blaise, I love you,” Hermione gasped, digging her nails harder into his shoulders. “I love you,” she continued to chant.

“Hermione,” he spoke, in between kisses. “I love you so much,” he said, while unbuttoning her pants. “I never want to be apart from you, ever.”

“Never, love,” she agreed, reaching down and unbuttoning his pants, gasping when he slid his hand inside her own pants.

Blaise smiled, as he moved his lips just over her ear, whispering, “Marry me.”

Hermione froze, staring flabbergasted at her boyfriend. “What?” she gulped.

He softly caressed her inner thigh, staring adoringly in her eyes. “I love you, Hermione. There is nobody else I want to be with,” he quietly explained. “I know people will think we’re too young, but I don’t care. Why should we care what others think, anyway?” he added. “Hermione, will you marry me?”

She took a deep breath, biting down hard on her lower lip. She stared in his eyes, seeing the love behind them. She suddenly grinned, as she wrapped her arms tightly around him and pulled him closer to her body. “Yes, Blaise, I’ll marry you,” she excitedly answered, pressing her lips firmly to his.

Blaise released his breath, as his body melted into the kiss. He started moving his hand along her inner thigh once more, needing to show her how much he desired her. He suddenly stopped, backing away from her and frowning.

She curiously looked up at him, not sure why he stopped. She began wondering if perhaps he didn’t mean what he said, wanting to take it back because it was only said in the heat of the moment. “What’s wrong?” she hesitantly asked.

“Draco,” he sighed, shaking his head and turning away from her.

Hermione understood immediately and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. She felt him touch her hand, hearing his stifled cries. She hugged him from behind, placing her chin on his shoulder, letting him know it would be okay.

“How can I be so selfish?” he whispered. “I mean, here I am, happy and in love with my wonderful girlfriend, asking her to marry me, when my best mate is out there all alone and depressed, about ready to do something terrible.”

“You know he would want you to be happy,” she tried.

Blaise nodded, wiping his eyes. “I know,” he sighed. “He’d probably hex me if he knew I was wallowing over his own misery, but I just can’t help it. He’s my best mate. I just want to know that he’s safe.”

Hermione reached inside her pocket, taking out one of the old enchanted coins they had used before to alert the students in Dumbledore’s Army. Harry had a similar one at his side, now having been charmed to alert each other if they had found Draco. She prayed that it would glow soon, hoping Harry was having better luck.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something glint on the ground, causing her to shift her eyes toward the object, curious to know what it was. She furrowed her eyebrows, realizing immediately that it was an old tiara. She knelt down next to it and picked it up, admiring the tarnished piece of jewelry. She thought it was interesting for an item like that to be thrown into this room, curious to know why someone would want to hide it.

“That looks familiar,” she heard Blaise say, looking up at him and noticing his tears were now gone.

She stood back up, still holding onto the diadem. “Why do you think someone would hide something like this in here?” she wondered out loud.

Blaise shrugged, as he continued to stare at the object, knowing he had seen it somewhere before. “This is going to sound weird,” he suddenly said, finally remembering something he had seen in one of his books, “but it almost looks like the crown Rowena Ravenclaw wore.”

Hermione nodded, noticing the familiarity as well from seeing it in one of her books. “It does look remarkably like-” she suddenly stopped, her mouth opened wide.

“What? What is it?” Blaise questioned, seeing her shocked expression.

“Oh my god,” she gasped, gripping the object tighter in her hand, not wanting to let go for anything.

She hurriedly turned to Blaise, noticing his confusion. She glanced around the room, wondering how she would be able to destroy it. She still couldn’t believe it. It had to be the Ravenclaw Horcrux. It just had to be. Why else was it hidden in this room?

“We have to destroy this,” she suddenly announced, looking over at Blaise.

“Why?” he wondered.

“If I tell you, you must promise never to say anything to anyone, okay?”

Blaise nodded, very intrigued now. Hermione took a deep breath, before telling him all about the Horcruxes, hoping he would somehow have an answer on how to destroy it, when she was finished.

“And with this piece destroyed, the only thing left would be the snake. And then Harry could actually have a fighting chance,” she finished, looking over at Blaise for some sort of reaction.

He just stood there, astounded by the story. He couldn’t believe what he heard. He suddenly looked around the room, searching for anything that could help them. “There are many weapons hidden here from over the centuries,” he started to say, as he walked along the aisles. “One of them is bound to destroy that thing.”

She nodded, as the two continued to search for anything that could possibly help. She was very thankful that Blaise didn’t shun away from it. She was scared he would somehow not want to know anything about it, knowing he feared Voldemort like so many other Slytherins, but soon realized that didn’t matter anymore. He loved her and nothing would make him deter away from helping her and her friends.

*****
He hugged his knees close to his chest, shivering on the floor of the cold, dark cell, wishing death would just take him already. Without Harry, he was nothing. Without Harry, he wouldn’t be able to move on. He started to cry again, remembering his time with him. He just wanted to be with him; he just wanted to see his face one more time.

“Rise and shine, my pet,” a voice sneered from the top of the stairs that led to the dungeon where Draco was being held.

Draco lay frozen, not wanting to move from his fetal position, but as much as he tried to defy the Dark Lord, he knew it was pointless. The Dark Lord was not going to kill him, which was by far the cruelest thing he could ever do to him. He had even ordered his Death Eaters not to raise a wand in his direction. So even trying to coax one of them into doing it was no longer an option.

“Go away,” he mumbled.

“Aw, still feeling bitter about this little predicament you’re in?” Voldemort smirked, beginning his descent on the stairs.

Draco took a deep breath and wiped his eyes, before looking up in the Dark Lord’s direction. “Why are you keeping me here?” he asked.

“I have my reasons.”

“You…this…you’re not,” Draco stammered, suddenly thinking of one big possibility of why he would be kept prisoner.

Voldemort stopped in front of the cage, staring at the boy on the ground. “Keeping you here so I can punish your father for hiding this from me?” he finished the young blonde’s question with a sneer.

“He didn’t know,” he quickly explained, needing to protect his father. “He didn’t know anything about it.”

“You mean to tell me that he didn’t know anything about his own son dating the boy destined to kill his leader?” he argued.

Draco nodded, “It’s true. It wasn’t until last night when he finally knew the truth. He had no idea. Nobody knew.”

“Yes, I know,” the man suddenly grinned, gripping the bars on the cage and kneeling down so he was eye-level with the youngest Malfoy still shivering on the floor. “No, you’re not here so I can punish your father,” he finally said, causing Draco to sigh in relief. “I’m more than certain he had no idea about your little relationship. I mean if he truly knew his son, the only Malfoy heir, was gay and dating the Dark Lord’s enemy, then he would have definitely come to me asking for help in rectifying the situation.”

“So why?” Draco swallowed, still uncertain why he was being held captive.

“I already told you,” he responded. “I have my reasons.”

“Does my father even know that I’m here?” Draco softly whispered.

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll find out soon enough,” he smirked. “And when he does, he better bring me exactly what I want.”

“Which is?” Draco gulped.

Voldemort shook his head and stood up. “You wouldn’t want me to spoil all the surprises, now would you?” he laughed sinisterly, before moving away from the cage and back up the stairs, leaving the boy alone once again, still as confused as ever.

*****
Harry began tossing and turning in his sleep as a vision of Draco continued to plague his mind. He saw him shivering on a hard concrete floor, locked in some type of cage, with tears streaming down his face every few seconds.

They had searched for Draco all day and night, still not able to find any information on his whereabouts. They reluctantly decided to rest for the night, knowing they needed to build up their strength so they could start bright and early the next morning.

Knowing Harry was still a target for the Dark Lord, Lucius and Snape decided to take turns sleeping so one of them could keep watch over the boy at all times. Having done those types of missions before, they both agreed on the terms, deciding that Snape would be the first one on guard.

After about an hour of restless sleep, Lucius opened his eyes and looked over at Snape, noticing the pain etched on his face while he stared at Potter. He closed his eyes and rubbed them, before fully awakening from his sleep. He then sat up and turned his head toward Potter, seeing him thrashing around.

“What’s going on?” he softly asked, gently touching Snape’s shoulder, causing him to jump in fright.

“Shit,” he gasped, turning toward Lucius with his hand pressed against his chest. “Don’t fucking do that.”

“Did I, Lucius Malfoy, scare thee, Severus Snape?” he smirked.

Snape rolled his eyes, before glancing back over at Potter. “I think the Dark Lord’s channeling something in his mind right now,” he began to explain.

“Should we wake him?”

Snape shook his head, still staring at the boy who was starting to perspire. “It may be something important.”

“But Severus, he’s in pain,” Lucius noticed, a bit surprised he felt sorry for the boy.

Snape suddenly smirked and turned toward his lover. “Does Lucius Malfoy actually care about thee Harry Potter?” he mocked.

Lucius narrowed his eyes, before glancing over at the young child turning over on the ground. He continued to watch in silence, hearing Snape’s words ring in his mind. “So what if I do?” he finally sighed. “I mean it’s clear as day that he loves my son and Draco loves him.”

“Can you believe that about the Horcruxes?” Snape asked.

Lucius shook his head, turning toward Snape. “I can’t believe that he’s been destroying them this whole time. Potter really is a Boy Wonder.”

“I know,” Snape smirked, “but let’s just keep that between you and me, shall we?”

Lucius returned the smirk, before leaning in closer and caressing the man’s cheek, staring into his black, lust-filled eyes. “Why, Severus?” he suddenly whispered.

Snape gulped, shaking his head in uncertainty, while he stared into his inviting gray eyes. “Why what?”

“Why has it taken us so long to see what was right in front of us?” he asked, gliding his thumb over the man’s lips. “We’ve been through so much together. Why didn’t we ever see it?”

“Well, I guess I just never let my mind believe the possibility that I could be attracted to a man,” Snape responded.

“Me too,” Lucius sighed.

Snape suddenly licked his lips, gliding his hand softly through Lucius’ blonde locks. “So what do we do about this?”

Lucius shook his head and shrugged, still caressing the man’s cheek. “I don’t know, Severus,” he whispered. “I do love you, but I also have a wife to remember.”

“Do you still love her?”

Lucius bit on his lower lip, thinking over the question. It was sad realizing she hadn’t really been on his mind a lot since he and Snape had gotten closer. He knew somewhere deep within he had to still love her, she was his wife and Draco’s mother after all, but at the moment, he just didn’t have an answer. “I honestly don’t know anymore,” he finally said.

Snape nodded, understanding the man’s predicament. “Just know that whatever you decide, I’ll understand your reasoning. I love you, Lucius. As a friend and as a lover.”

Lucius smiled, before finally closing the gap between them, pressing his lips firmly against Snape’s mouth. Snape parted his lips to allow the man’s tongue entry, capturing it with his own tongue.

“Draco,” Harry wept, causing the two men to break away from their kiss and stare over at him, noticing the tears falling down his face while he continued to dream.

“What’s happening?” Lucius frantically asked, backing away from Snape and moving closer to Potter.

Snape shook his head, not sure what was going on, and followed closely behind. He studied Potter’s sleeping form, noticing his breaths were getting much shorter now. Knowing it was never a good idea to wake someone from a dream, he was a bit nervous to do anything, but he knew he had to stop whatever it was hurting him. “Potter,” he quietly began, carefully placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder and jostling it.

Harry continued to cry, not able to wake himself up from his nightmare. He could see Draco on the ground, cold and all alone. He was so glad to see him still alive, even though he was in a horrible condition, and didn’t want to wake for fear he would never see him again. He clenched his teeth, trying desperately to keep his focus on him.

“Potter,” the voice called out again, making Harry start to lose the fight. Draco’s image was beginning to fade, causing him to cry even more, hoping to somehow keep onto it, but it was no use. The picture was gone. All he saw was black.

Harry’s eyes quickly flew open, as he stared into the nighttime sky. He allowed his breathing to return to normal before turning to his side, seeing both Malfoy and Snape staring worriedly at him. “I saw him,” he finally choked out.

“Saw who?” Snape questioned, grabbing the boy’s wrist and checking his pulse for any irregularities. Thankfully, he seemed to be okay.

“Draco,” Harry announced. “I saw him. He’s locked up somewhere.”

Lucius raised his eyebrows and turned toward Snape. Snape frowned, not sure if it was true, remembering when the Dark Lord had put a fake memory of Sirius Black in Potter’s mind to try to capture him. “Are you sure it was really him, Potter? Remember what happened with Black?”

Harry shook his head, wiping the tears out of his eyes with his shoulders. “It was him. I know it was. He’s trapped.”

“Where?” Lucius asked.

“I don’t know,” Harry sniffed. “It was a dark room, almost like a dungeon. He was in some sort of cage.”

Lucius gasped, turning toward Snape to see if his assumption was correct. Snape paled a little in the face as he looked over at Lucius. He shrugged before they both turned back to Potter.

“Is there anything else you could tell us about this room he was in?” Snape questioned.

Harry chewed on his bottom lip, while he tried to remember his dream. “Actually, there was some sort of carving on one of the walls,” he recalled. “A snake coming out of a big-”

“Skull?” Lucius and Snape gulped at the same time.

Harry’s eyes opened wide in fright, suddenly realizing where Draco was being held. He furiously shook his head, pounding the ground with his fists. “No!” he screamed, looking over at the two Death Eaters before him. He clenched his jaw and started breathing heavily through his nose, feeling his anger rise. “Take me to him,” he finally ordered.

“Potter, we can’t just take you-” Snape began to explain.

“Do it!” Harry barked, as he wobbled to his feet, brushing the dirt off his robes.

“Potter, you don’t even have your wand,” Lucius tried to reason. “You can’t just go into the Dark Lord’s lair without any protection.”

“I don’t care,” Harry seethed. “I’m fucking tired of all this crap. He will not hurt any more people that I love. We end this tonight.”

“What about the Horcruxes?” Snape asked.

“Fuck the Horcruxes!” Harry yelled.

“Potter, just listen to yourself right now,” Snape roared. “You’re not thinking clearly. Tell me, how are you going to defeat an immortal being without a wand?”

Harry opened his mouth to retort but quickly shut it, realizing the man was right. He had nothing to fight with. Even if he were to somehow get into the dungeons, how would he be able to free Draco without any magic? “Fuck,” he cursed.

“We need a plan,” Snape calmly began, seeing Potter finally come to reason. “The Dark Lord has Draco, which I’m sure is his way of getting Potter to come to him.”

Harry nodded. “He wants to fight on his territory.”

“Potter, how many times has the Dark Lord invaded your mind since this all happened?”

Harry shook his head and shrugged, not sure of the actual number. “A few, but I just can’t remember.”

“Was he ever in there when you were talking to us?”

Harry nodded, “After I showed you Draco’s note.”

Snape sighed and turned toward Lucius. “Which means he knows that you know about their relationship now.”

Lucius furiously shook his head, pressing his fingers on both sides of his temples. “You couldn’t just teach him bloody Occlumency, could you, Snape?”

“Don’t fucking blame this on me, Malfoy,” Snape seethed. “It is not my fault that the boy couldn’t learn it.”

“Well maybe if you were a better teacher to him, he would’ve learned a few things,” he snapped, looking over in Snape’s direction.

“I’m a damn good teacher,” Snape raged. “I taught you, didn’t I? And you were just as bad as he was.”

“Oh go to hell.”

“I’ll meet you down there.”

“Stop it!” Harry suddenly yelled, causing the two men to stop bickering and look over at him, forgetting he was even still there. “We need to concentrate on Draco right now.”

“He’ll be fine, Potter,” Snape snapped. “He won’t even kill him until you’re there to see it anyway.”

Harry suddenly paled, hearing the man’s careless words. Lucius glared at Snape, angrily shaking his head. “Could you be any more heartless, Snape?” he hissed.

Realizing immediately what he just said, Snape quickly shook his head, looking between the two. “I’m…I’m sorry,” he stuttered. “I don’t know why I said that. I just…I don’t know why…”

“I think we should get back to the Manor,” Harry interjected, pulling out the enchanted coin Hermione had given him. He pushed on the small part of the coin, which sent an alert to her that said for her to meet them back at Malfoy Manor.

He turned back toward Snape, still seeing the guilt in his eyes. He sighed, knowing the man really didn’t mean it. “I know you didn’t mean it,” he quietly said. “I think we’re all just very wound up right now and need to go relax for a minute.”

Snape nodded in agreement, glancing over at Lucius. Although he was grateful Potter forgave him, it was really Lucius he needed to hear it from. He tried to catch the man’s eye, but he never looked his way. He knew he was avoiding him at the moment and felt his heart break.

They slowly began their journey back to the Manor. They had thought about Apparating, but knew they all had to cool down from their earlier rage and figured walking would be able to cure some of that. Harry silently led the way, while the two older men followed behind.

Snape kept glancing in Lucius’ direction, hoping he would look over at him, but frowned every time he didn’t. Finally he gave up, bowing his head in shame and staring at the ground while he walked.

After a few more minutes, Snape suddenly felt fingers lace through his own, causing him to look over at the united hands. He took a deep breath, slowly following the arm up with his eyes until he met gray staring back at him. He felt a tight squeeze in his hand and knew he had finally been forgiven.

‘Love you,’ Lucius silently mouthed to him.

‘I love you,’ Snape mouthed back.

*****
When they finally returned to the Manor, Hermione and Blaise were already waiting for them, grinning from ear to ear.

“Why are you two so happy?” Harry questioned, as they moved to the living area.

“We destroyed it, Harry,” Hermione cheered.

“Destroyed what?”

“Rowena Ravenclaw’s tiara,” Blaise answered. “We found a weapon to destroy it.”

“Wait,” Harry gasped, turning to look at Hermione once more. “You found something belonging to Ravenclaw?”

Hermione smiled and nodded. “And it was definitely the Horcrux,” she quietly explained. “We could sense it after we destroyed it.”

Harry smiled and rushed over to Hermione, wrapping his arms around her. “Hermione, I love you,” he exclaimed, feeling a bit more confident in his fight now.

“Which only leaves the snake now, right?” Blaise inquired.

Harry suddenly furrowed his eyebrows, turning toward Blaise and then Hermione. “You told him?” he asked her.

She blushed and glanced away. “I needed his help,” she murmured, scared that Harry was going to be upset with her for spilling the secret.

He shook his head and grabbed her chin, turning it so she was facing him. “I’m not mad, Hermione,” he said. “In fact, I’m happy. Now no one in this room is in the dark.”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, glancing toward Snape and Malfoy. “You told them?” she whispered.

“They’re willing to go behind the Dark Lord’s back to protect me, Hermione. It’s only fair they know what they’re getting themselves into,” he replied.

“You’re right,” she nodded, before looking around the room once more. “So why are we back here? What’s going on? Did you guys find Draco?”

“Yes and no,” he sighed.

She placed her hand over her mouth and gasped. “You mean…he’s…”

Blaise frantically looked over at Harry, thinking the same thing Hermione was thinking. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him shake his head.

“No, he’s still alive,” he answered.

“Then where is he?” Blaise asked.

“Voldemort has him,” Harry stated, seeing the boy flinch from his name.

Hermione quickly looked over at Malfoy, noticing the anger in the man’s eyes. She knew right then and there that he no longer considered himself a Death Eater. He was in this to save his son now, not caring what the price would be for doing so.

“Hermione, will you alert the Order for me?” Harry suddenly asked, causing her to break away from her thoughts and return her attention to her best friend.

“Of course, but why don’t you do it? You know they’re going to want to see you, when I tell them you’re still alive.”

“Which is why I need you to do this,” he explained. “I won’t be able to handle all of their questions right now, especially from the Weasleys.”

Hermione nodded, “Okay.”

“Also,” he suddenly remembered. “Would it be possible for you to get my wand before telling them?”

Hermione chewed on her lower lip, wondering how she would be able to get his wand without telling them why. “I don’t know, Harry,” she truthfully answered. “They’ll more than likely want to know why.”

“Then just tell them you’ll explain it when you get back,” he suggested.

“But why can’t I just tell them at that time, and then bring you your wand?”

Harry shook his head, glancing over in Malfoy’s direction. “Because I already want to be gone before they realize what I’m about to do and try to convince me out of it.”

“Out of what?” she curiously wondered.

Harry shifted his eyes toward Snape, before returning them back to Hermione. “Malfoy’s going to bring me to Voldemort,” he declared, causing everyone in the room to start spouting their objections.

Harry held up his hand to silence them all as he stared at Malfoy. “He expects it,” he began explaining. “He wanted me to see that image of Draco so I would tell you about it, knowing that you’re aware of our relationship now. It’s a test. He wants to know how loyal you really are to him.”

Lucius shook his head, still a bit unsure. “Potter, I don’t know…”

“He’s right,” Snape interrupted, turning toward Lucius. “You have to bring Potter, or the Dark Lord will know your treason.”

Lucius clenched his teeth as he moved toward the couch and sat down, placing his head in his hands. “I hate that man,” he seethed, gazing over at Snape once more. “I really hate that man.”

“I’ll get you your wand, Harry,” Hermione finally stated, knowing that there was no way in changing her best friend’s decision.

“Thanks, Hermione,” Harry smiled, before turning toward Snape. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

“Lucius will take you to the Dark Lord where I will accompany you, making certain that the Dark Lord trusts Lucius’ loyalty to him,” he started, before suddenly stopping and looking at him nervously. “You know when he starts to possess you, right?”

Harry nodded, “My scar starts to hurt when he shows up. I’ll let you know if I feel him coming.”

Snape nodded, before continuing. “Once I know Lucius is safe, I’ll use one of those magical coins you guys have to alert the Order we need backup. It’s possible I would be able to leave the premises and alert the Order in person, but since you will finally be in the Dark Lord’s custody, I don’t see any reason for him to want to keep me as a spy in the Order, and therefore, wouldn’t understand my need to go back to them.”

“So when will you kill the snake?” Blaise suddenly asked Harry.

“He never lets Nagini down in the dungeons,” Snape answered, shaking his head when he saw the questioning look on Blaise’s face. “I don’t know why, he just doesn’t,” he sighed, turning toward Potter once more. “When he takes you down to the dungeons, his snake will be left unguarded. That’s when I’ll do it,” he finished.

“Wait, you’re willing to kill his snake?” Harry asked in surprise.

Snape smirked, “Oh, I’ve been wanting to do that for some time now.”

“But how can you even be sure that the Dark Lord will bring Harry to the dungeons?” Blaise inquired. “I mean, sorry to say this, but won’t he want to kill him right away?”

“The Dark Lord doesn’t work that way,” Lucius answered. “More than likely he hasn’t even told Draco that Potter is still alive. And if I’m right about that, then he’ll want to bring him down to the dungeons first, letting Draco find out the truth, before finally killing Potter so he could break my son’s heart even more,” he paused, feeling his body shiver at the thought.

“He wouldn’t actually do it in front of him though, would he?” Hermione nervously wondered.

“That…I don’t know,” Lucius sighed, before glancing over at Potter. “Are you really willing to do this, knowing there’s only a small chance that you’ll get out of this alive?”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to save Draco,” Harry boldly replied. “Even though I’m not completely trained for this yet, I can’t wait any longer.”

Lucius nodded, smiling inwardly at the thought of how Potter truly did love his son and seeing why his son would love him in return. “Alright. It happens tonight.”