Of Butterflies in a Hurricane

*


"Zabini, you have been gone quite some time, several days longer than anticipated. What have you found?"

Blaise stood tall in the semi-dark room lit by only a few torches. Voldemort stood before him, his flat face cast into shadow by the flickering torches. Blaise's eyes gleamed from under his heavy cloak as he fearlessly faced his lord. From under the robes, he unsheathed a single piece of paper.

"My lord, it is a list that Corner had in his possession. After his death, it took sometime to locate it. That is why I am late," Blaise said swiftly, offering the paper to Voldemort.

Voldemort grabbed the paper and read it through quickly. His slit-like eyes grew even narrower as he read further down the list. He looked up at Blaise, his eyes burning crimson.

"This is what you retrieved?" he asked in a dangerously cold voice. "This is what Corner had?"

"Yes, my lord," Blaise answered promptly, showing no sign of fear in the presence of an agitated Dark Lord. "It is what I found after I killed him. It was difficult to get it without arousing suspicions amongst other people. His death was in the news after all."

"Yes," Voldemort murmured to himself. "Those fools can't let any deaths go quietly."

"Did I get what you asked for?" Blaise asked, watching Voldemort almost avidly.

"You have done well. Far better than I had presumed for such a young follower." Blaise smirked proudly as Voldemort went on, "These will have to be punished, tortured, perhaps, maybe more." Voldemort's eyes glittered maliciously as he talked of punishment.

Blaise was sure it wouldn't end with punishment. He knew many of the names on the list would lose their lives in the days to come. He had no problem with it. It didn't affect him. He had his missions, which he did well and without complaint. The Dark Lord had no visible reason to punish him. Blaise was only concerned with himself. He had little care for the fate of his fellow Death Eaters.

"My lord, is that all?" Blaise asked finally when he showed no signs of continuing.

Voldemort looked closely at Blaise for a moment as though measuring his worth. "Yes, go back to your post."

Blaise nodded and was about to Apparate out when Voldemort spoke again. "You haven't seen our dear Draco at all, have you?"

"No, my lord," Blaise replied simply. Without another word, he Disapparated.

Voldemort's expression was murderous as he sat down in his chair. No one had been able to find Draco since his escape. They hadn't even managed to track Potter successfully. None of their Tracking Spells were working any more. Voldemort guessed that Potter had finally gotten a few brains and learned a Cloaking Spell.

He sneered, his mouth curling disdainfully as he thought of his inept followers, incapable of doing a simple task such as keeping watch over a prisoner and finding a boy.

He looked down at the list in his hand, reading the sub-heading under the Order of the Phoenix heading. It read, "Death Eater Double-agents," followed by a list of names. Voldemort skimmed down the list and his red eyes sparkled maliciously as he thought that he had some cleaning to do.

***

Draco dared not leave his tree hollow. He knew that Voldemort had people out looking for him. He knew his father was looking for him. That was, perhaps, the worst person he could have possibly sent after Draco.

Lucius was ruthless when it came to his commitment to the Dark Lord. Though he had seemingly renounced his ways while Voldemort had disappeared, he had always practiced the Dark Arts in his own home, teaching them to Draco at a young age as well. He had always hoped that Draco would one day take over his position at Voldemort's side.

Draco had thought that he had wanted to become that some time ago. He had wanted to learn the ways of the Dark Lord, become a trusted servant, and do his evil deeds. Since he had been with Harry, though, Draco had realized there was more to life than power. Harry had shown him that power was merely a crutch which people used because they were truly afraid of feeling real things.

Sitting inside the tree trunk, feeling like the world's biggest coward, Draco knew he couldn't stay there. Though the world was unsafe and full of perils, he knew the only way he might survive and find Harry was to venture out and look.

The thought of willingly leaving the safety of the tree was gut-wrenching to Draco. He could only imagine what awaited him beyond the thick walls of the tree trunk. He felt like a bloody coward for doing nothing, but then, he had never been a Gryffindor.

Draco looked over to his side where his bag sat. He had been spending most of his days reading while he had tried desperately to figure out a way to find Harry. He had used his wand to conjure food and had occupied his time looking up and mastering new spells. He supposed he had better be prepared in case anyone came upon him and tried to duel.

He was very adept at silent spells so it would be quite easy to catch someone at unawares. Draco spent a lot of his time practicing spells that would protect himself. He was already accomplished at Protection Spells. He had used one on the bracelet he had given to Harry just days before Dumbledore's death.

Draco sighed, thinking back to that night. He hadn't wanted to do it and had promised Harry he wouldn't. Though he rarely made promises to people, those he did make, he kept. Harry was the only one he would have done that for.

For the past week, Draco had remained hidden in his tree trunk, wondering if Blaise had given away his location. But everyday, no one came and blasted apart the tree, so he assumed he was safe.

He knew Blaise too well to trust him very much. Blaise never did anything for anyone but himself. If he was helping Draco, it was because he saw something in it for him. Draco knew Blaise had an alternate reason for helping him as he was. He also knew that Blaise would drop his plan as soon as something better arose.

Draco groaned, knowing he was simply wasting his time by sitting in the tree. He had to get out of there and do something. He looked around him, knowing that he would find no comfort in his tiny living space.

He reached over and grabbed his bag, shoving anything he might have taken out of it back in. He had several pieces of parchment on which he'd been drawing up lists to try and help him figure out where Harry might be. He shoved them in and got to his knees, facing the front of the tree trunk.

He took out his wand and pointed it at the entrance to the tree. Slowly, the bark peeled away to reveal a small opening. It was through this opening that he crawled, taking extreme care to listen and watch for any sign of noise or person.

He crawled out carefully, keeping a close watch. The brush around the tree had grown higher than he remembered as he crept through the thick underbrush. About a foot from the entrance to the tree, Draco's hand pressed into a soft spot in the ground.

All the rest of the ground was hard as a rock except this tiny spot, about the size of a silver sickle. Draco stopped, looking at the spot suspiciously. He glanced around quickly and bent down closer. In the imprint of dirt, he saw a miniscule B, Blaise's symbol.

Draco knew that hardly anyone knew of this. It was something that only he and Blaise had shared while they had been growing up. Each of them had created a unique symbol for themselves. Draco's was three wands crossed to make a D with a tiny star in the middle. Blaise's was an ornate B; the cursive was so curled it was almost impossible to tell what it was save by someone who knew.

Draco knew Blaise had left this, for him, he wasn't sure. He pressed his finger into the soft dirt and watched as it fell away. He reached into a hole about the size of a sickle and depth of an inch. Inside was a piece of Muggle paper, folded many times and scrunched into the hole.

With some difficulty, Draco pried the paper from its hole. Draco knew it hadn't been removed since it had been placed there, a hopeful thought. Once he got it out, he looked around surreptitiously as though he might be being watched. He felt extremely vulnerable sitting out there in the open. Really, he was hardly in the open. The undergrowth curled up around him, growing over his head as he sat, crouched on the ground.

It would have been quite difficult for anyone to see anything in the thickness of the brush. Draco's clothes, though Muggle, matched the landscape quite well and he seemed to blend in.

Draco curled up into a tighter ball and carefully opened the paper, hoping to find some kind of note. Instead, he found himself looking at a piece of official-looking paper. It was a list bearing the Order of the Phoenix' crest.

As he read down it, his expression became more incredulous. Every name on this list of supposed double-agents was someone Draco had believed to be faithful to the Dark Lord.

I guess nothing is certain in war, Draco thought, reading through the paper once more.

He had read through the paper three times, each time thinking it more and more likely that these people might be passing information to the other side, when he finally noticed a miniscule mark near the bottom right corner.

It was so small that he had taken it as a speck of dirt before, but now that he looked at it closer, he saw that it was the ornate B, so curly and scripted in its tiny state that it appeared no more than a black spot.

Draco looked around once more, listening hard. When he was sure that he was indeed alone, he lifted his wand and tapped the paper, whispering, "Montre-moi ton secret." The paper shivered for a moment and, before Draco's eyes, the ink sunk into the paper then reappeared moments later.

It looked the same except that all the names had changed. The list of double-agents had shortened and was more of the sort Draco had supposed to be the type to betray the Dark Lord. Among those listed were Remus Lupin, the werewolf, a few of the Ministry workers, and a few former-student's that Draco recognized.

He stared at the list, wondering about it. If this was the true list, then why had it been altered? He knew the Dark Lord would kill for this list, or really, he would kill those on that list.

Comprehension dawned suddenly on Draco as he read the names again. Blaise had changed the list. Somehow, he had gotten this list, probably his mission, Draco thought, and then had altered it to reflect names the Dark Lord wouldn't really question.

The names that had been on the list before were questionable people. Draco could see the Dark Lord believing that they were double-agents. Some of them certainly were suspicious enough.

Draco noticed that Blaise wasn't on the list, despite the fact that he was seemingly helping the light side. Then Draco realized that he wasn't truly helping the light side, he was helping himself. By manipulating and scheming his way through his missions, Blaise was able to help himself. He knew that the war was not a good idea, and, though he had chosen to join Voldemort's side, he was really on no one's side. He used the materials he had to his advantage by turning the Dark Lord against his own followers, helping his prisoners, and lying like a God.

Though Draco knew Blaise was only doing this to help himself, he thanked his lucky stars that Blaise’s reasons happened to help him as well. Normally, Draco refused to accept help, but Blaise seemingly wasn’t helping him, so it was easier.

As Draco looked at the list, he knew that those on it were incredibly lucky, though they had no idea. He knew Blaise had saved a few lives by changing the names on that list.

Draco held up the list and set his wand to the corner, setting the parchment on fire and Vanishing the remains of the ashes. He reached into his bag and pulled out his Invisibility Cloak, throwing it over himself and feeling better already.

He stood up from the brush, finally able to stretch his legs after a week of sitting scrunched in a tree trunk with only a few feet above his head. It had been almost as bad as being in the prison with that infernal snake.

Draco threw on his bag over his shoulders and glanced around one last time, making sure he was absolutely alone. Once he was sure, he concentrated hard and was gone in a Pop, leaving only the heavy mist of the forest behind.


~~**~~


A/N: Ah, so school has again started and the internet is finally working :) I'm glad you guys like this fic even though the real end is over. Please review!