What Shakes The Elephant

What Shakes The Elephant

Chapter 53 – You Can Both Keep Me Pinned

Harry had turned onto autopilot. Whatever that was. Ultimately, he was moving along as though something or someone else was controlling him so that he need not waste time thinking. It was effective for fast action but not so useful for covering their tracks and sneaking up. Draco, thankfully, had not fallen victim to this. Which is what struck him, of course, as odd. Under normal circumstances Draco would have immediately fallen into a panic and crumbled under the pressure. But these were, of course, not normal circumstances at all.

His insane ex-wife had abducted his son and his lover’s sons. There was no room for panic or collapse. There was no room for mistakes.

And that was why Draco still had his head.

They had bound Sinistra more adequately and summoned Longbottom, Nott and Creevey to see to her and contact the Aurors. They left immediately after that. Now, while Harry flew forwards towards the property that Draco had suggested, the blond spent what little time he had elaborately concocting a plan to allow them to retrieve their children without risking their lives. Something else struck Draco then.

He had found that only in the direst of situations do you realize just how incomplete you really are. No one can achieve anything on their own and, through the madness that he and Harry had faced, it became clearer and clearer that they were foils to one another –they were each other’s “other half”.

He hated that now was the moment he was realizing just how strong their bond was, but he was grateful to know it at all. He had never felt complete. The closest he had come was when he had held Scorpius in his arms for the first time, but still then, something had been missing. And despite himself, Draco wondered if Harry felt the same way.

He grasped the handle of his broom more tightly and urged it forwards to catch up with Harry’s broom. They were flying towards Holt. The castle that Draco had suggested was on land that the Malfoys used to own. Years ago they had castles and homes all throughout the British Empire stretching as far as India. Once the nineteenth century had hit, however, and the British Empire had dwindled, the Malfoys forfeited a number of their estates in favour of self-preservation. They had abandoned many of their estates in North America and in the East. Now, mostly, they owned estates in the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

This particular estate had been one of the castles that Lucius had offered to Lord Voldemort during the first war. It was, of course, ruined and later abandoned by the Malfoys. Lucius had destroyed all record that ever suggested they owned the land. He was good at that sort of thing… once.

Nevertheless, Hydra knew about it because her family knew about it because Karkaroff had known about it. It was the only place he could think of in Norfolk. Naturally, it had occurred to Draco that she might avoid it simply because it was the only land they had owned, but this was not a game of hide-and-seek. It was a trap.

Draco knew that. Hydra was counting on his arrival. He knew that.

Which was why it was so difficult for him to plan out a way to get in and get out with their lives and children intact.

The night was cold and bitter against his skin as they flew but Draco didn’t feel it. The sky was black and starless. There was no light but the light of their wands now. Harry was flying close and so provided the only heat that Draco could sense at all. But his adrenaline was still driving him on and he had a nasty feeling that once this all was over he’d be dead, one way or another.

The thought struck him hard as the realization of everything that had happened dawned on him. Any normal person might suppose it had all been one elaborate and mildly horrifying dream, but Draco was more accustomed to the insanity of living in a world with Harry Potter than any normal person was.

Not that he should blame Harry for the whole mess. He simply doubted whether or not anything would really happen at all if Harry didn’t exist.

“We’re almost there,” Harry called to him. He was right. The ruins of the old castle were approaching and looked thrice as ominous as they might have had Hydra not been hiding within them.

“We’ll land over in the trees over there,” Draco instructed, pointing to a small wood outside the ruins. Harry nodded but said nothing. His face was set and his eyes were trained on his goal and Draco felt an immense sense of guilt wash over him.

This was his fault. His doing. His mistake. He wanted to take care of Harry. No one ever did that, he knew. No one took care of Harry Potter. Harry Potter took care of everyone else. Draco wanted to change that and he hoped to never see this face on his lover ever again but now it was there, and there was nothing he could do because he was the cause.

They glided silently down into the woods and Harry immediately cast a cloaking and silencing spell around them. Draco, meanwhile, gazed upon the castle, his eyes wide and searching. He was taking in every detail that he could about the structure in order to divine all possible courses.

Frankly, there weren’t many.

A whole half of the castle was ruined and left in piles of rock and rubble around the left of the building. The other half was still standing but the roofs were missing in places. One of the towers looked very much as though it remained erect through sheer force of will and nothing else. Draco might have thought that the slightest breeze could have knocked it over if he didn’t know better. The bricks and stones were worn and cracked throughout the structure and it looked as though only part of the bottom floor was still in useable condition.

There was one large door that he could see from his vantage point, but he was sure there was at least one more. Furthermore, he had no intention of simply waltzing in through the front doorway. It was not particularly stealthy, to say the least. There were arched windows on the walls of the second floor and one of the towers looked to be sturdy enough to hold people without toppling.

Hydra was either in the tower or on the bottom floor. She may have been mad, but she was not stupid. No other area of the castle ruins were strong enough to withstand much movement.

“Alright, we’ll fly in through the arched windows of the second floor and check both the eastern most tower and the lower level,” Draco explained slowly to Harry, who was standing very tense at his side. He nodded in assent. “Hydra is waiting for us, I know, and she’ll have traps and all sorts of unpleasant magical wards set up. Beware of everything.”

“I have done something like this before,” Harry reminded Draco quietly. “Once or twice anyway.”

Draco nearly rolled his eyes but decided to ignore the comment and pulled a small bag out of his pocket. He eyed the small candies briefly and wondered.

“What is it?” Harry asked, looking at the bag.

“We should use these,” he whispered, showing him the back of Shifting Suckers. “But I don’t know if it will matter. She’ll know it’s us anyway. She’s expecting that I’ll come. She means to kill me, I’m sure.”

Harry paused and looked thoughtful for a moment before biting his lip.

“Then you use one,” he said quickly. “And turn yourself into me.”

Draco started. What was he on about? How would that help things? Again, Hydra may be mad but she does know better than to think that there are two Harry Potters running around.

“What for?” Draco asked, feeling that either Harry had lost his mind or he, himself, was quite stupid.

“Because she wants to kill you,” Harry explained, picking a candy out of the bag and shoving it into Draco’s half-open mouth. He nearly choked. “She won’t be able to tell the difference between us then and it’ll serve as a distraction.”

“What makes you think she won’t just kill us both?” he asked, sucking on the candy and concentrating hard on Harry’s specific attributes. He had studied that face so closely that he was sure he had every last gorgeous imperfection memorized.

“It’ll just buy us some time,” Harry explained, looking rather odd as he watched Draco turn himself into a duplicate Potter. Something of a memory flashed in his eyes but he shook it off.

“I haven’t any glasses,” Draco remarked. Harry gave him a pointed look as though wondering when the joke would end. Before Draco could properly establish what it was Harry was suggesting, the other man picked up a stick and transfigured it into a pair of glasses identical to his own.

Draco blushed softly and took them with a curt nod.

“Yes, thank you,” he muttered under his breath. Draco took it a step further and modified his clothing to look more like something Harry would wear.

They gave each other a simple nod before mounting their brooms and flying off towards the window. As they landed on the second story in the cold night air, he noted immediately that something was off.

It was far too quiet for his liking. Draco licked his lips and froze on the spot, trying to hear everything and anything he could. Harry imitated him but his body had become fluid as he swayed slightly in the wind. Draco didn’t know why but Harry had done this more often than he had. He supposed it must help.

Then, without warning, there was a soft and whimpering call.

“Daddy?” came the panicked call from what was unmistakably his son’s voice. Draco’s eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat.

“Scorpius,” he tried to whisper but nothing came out.

Forsaking all cautionary tactics, Draco swung around and ran like the wind up the spiraling stairs of the tower towards where his son’s voice. Harry gasped, tried to grab him but missed and was forced to follow him up. Reason was not running Draco’s mind at that point. It was simply fear for his son’s life that urged him forward into harm’s way.

He pushed open the old, moldy door and came upon an empty room with only the ghostly sounds of Scorpius’ voice echoing throughout it. Draco stopped dead in the centre of the round room. He was breathing heavily until he noticed what was lying at the far side of the room. Then he stopped breathing altogether.

“Draco!” Harry called to him as he reached the top of the tower and found the frozen Draco staring at the thing on the floor. “We’ve blown our- fucking hell!!”

Harry had apparently just seen what Draco had noticed.

It was the mangled body of Albus Dumbledore holding out a putrid hand to Draco, mumbling inarticulately. Next to Dumbledore was the body of another man. Thicknesse’s pallid face was contorted in rage and stained purple from suffocation as he grasped at the air for Draco.

“No,” Draco whispered softly, his adrenaline faltering as he faced his worst nightmare. He was gripped with fear and sorrow and barely felt it as everything faded away around him.

“Draco, listen to me!” Harry whispered madly to him. “This isn’t real. Come back to me Draco. You need to wake up, for Scorpius!”

Draco felt his heart palpitating painfully against his chest and his muscles had tensed oddly in his position. He tried to concentrate on Scorpius but it muddied his concentration on Harry’s appearance and his hair began to shift back to blond. He screamed very softly, for lack of muscle control, and tried to think of Harry’s appearance while trying to ignore the terrifying images before him.

Soon, however, he didn’t have to pretend they weren’t there because the floor collapsed underneath him and the false images disappeared in the crash.

“DRACO!” Harry screamed as he grasped out. Draco felt Harry’s arms around him and he slowly came back to himself, realizing the danger far too late.

They crashed through to the first floor with a flurry of broken wood and ruined rocks tumbling down over them.

The dust was thick and both of them screamed as they threw up their wands to try and divert the falling rubble. Rocks and splinters still hit them, however, and Draco felt his ribs crack as a larger rock knocked him full over and into the already shaky wall behind him.

He looked up through the falling dust and called out for Harry but he was pinned between a piece of the floor and a pile of stones. Draco couldn’t breathe. He coughed and tasted the iron tang of blood in his mouth. The candy had broken between his teeth but it was still effective, if not useful.

“Harry,” he whispered. There was movement. Harry was still alive. He was pushing at the rocks that had imprisoned him but he couldn’t get out.

Draco groaned softly and managed to lift his wand arm to banish the rock that had lodged him against the wall. He couldn’t get to his feet just yet but he tried to drag himself through the dust and dirt to find Harry. There was no sign of Hydra or the children. He coughed again and nearly vomited from the pain it caused.

He tried not to think about it and banished the rocks that stopped Harry from moving. The other man pushed himself up and ran to Draco to help him to his feet.

“Are you alright?” Harry asked, apparently mostly unharmed. Draco nodded.

“Just my ribs… again,” he whispered. “Are you ok?”

Harry winced under some unseen pain. He clenched his jaw and nodded, squinting through the mess to find the children. They couldn’t see a thing.

“Just my ankle and a lot of bruises,” he explained carefully. There was a tension in his voice that Draco hated. He had been such a fool. He knew that there would be a trap and he walked right into it. He knew that Hydra knew of his darkest nightmares and most painful memories. He knew better than this… he knew better than to rush in like a fool.

“Do you see anything?” he asked, ignoring his guilt and pain to wave away some of the dust.

“Nothing. You?”

“No, it’s all a mess. I suppose that was the point though.”

“Indeed, it was the point. I didn’t imagine it would work so wildly well, mind you.”

Draco froze on the spot and realized that the reason the dust wasn’t falling was because she had spelled it to stay. She had been watching the whole time. He gritted his teeth and lifted his wand to disperse the magic that maintained the mess.

Within instants it was gone and the two of them were standing, facing a very smug looking Hydra. At least, it must have been her.

Her hair was wild and untamed, shining black and brown in the dim moonlight. Her face was waxy and pale, though she hadn’t completely wasted away in prison. The madness, however, showed mostly in her eyes. The wildness that was contained within her irises was as bright as a beacon in the night despite that her eyes looked black.

“Where are the boys?” Draco asked harshly, immediately standing straight again. He gripped his wand tightly and hoped that his adrenaline rush would come back full force.

“Over there,” she said quietly, pointing. Draco followed her arm and saw the three small figures of their sons lying on the ground.

Harry immediately made a move for them but Hydra blocked him and he froze on the spot, completely unable to move.

“Now, now, Mr. Potter,” she said with a smug tone. “You didn’t think it would be that easy did you? Tut, tut. You’ve done this before. When has it ever been that easy?” She let go of her hold on him and he glared at her. “Or is it just that you’ve gotten reckless in your old age? Forgotten how to fight the baddies, have you?”

Her voice was full of some kind of cackle that made Draco’s blood run cold. He held up his wand to her and pulled his face into an angry grimace. He would not allow her to make further fools of them. She would pay if he had to kill her for it. He didn’t care. He would do anything to protect his family and Harry was now a part of it.

“What do you want?” he asked with a warning tone. He had stopped sucking on the candy and his appearance shifted back to his natural one. She could see through it anyway.

“I’m quite sure you’re aware of that,” she snickered, eying his wand. “I want you dead.”

Draco might have gasped had it been surprising at all. Harry stood his ground and stepped forward to defend Draco.

“Why did you bring Harry into this then?” he went on. “And his sons?”

“I hadn’t intended to,” she admitted. “The little brats wouldn’t leave Scorpius’ bedside for a moment so I had to take them with me. It wasn’t a waste, mind you. I did get Potter out of it, after all.”

“And what do you want with me?” Harry demanded angrily. Every so often, his gaze would flit back to the children to try and figure out if they were sleeping or dead. Draco hoped it was the former.

“You’ve stolen my husband,” she explained as though it was plain as day. “No one steals the title of wife from me. You don’t know what the repercussions are for shaming my name that way!”

“I think I have a pretty good idea,” Harry retorted defiantly. He stepped forward again with his wand raised.

“Don’t mock me, you filthy pansy!” she shrieked, waving her wand in the air to attack. Before she could finish her spell however, Harry had thrown up a shield charm to defend himself. Somewhere in between, however, something unexpected happened.

“Dad?” a quiet and somewhat sleepy voice rang out. Harry gasped and both men looked over to see a little figure in the distance stirring.

“James!” Harry cried out. But, having let his guard down he was hit full-on by Hydra’s spell and thrown back into the stone wall of the castle. There was a thundering crack and Harry fell to the ground.

“Harry!!” Draco screamed, making a move to run to his aid but it was for naught. Hydra was waiting for him to turn his back. Instead, he fought the urge for flight and picked fight instead. “Sectumsempra!” Draco hollered, aiming his wand at Hydra but she deflected the curse and it hit the wall instead.

“What happened to you?” she demanded with far too much amusement. “You never fight back, Draco. You’re just a coward and a weakling. Has a few months fornicating with the Saviour of the World built up a false bravery in your head?”

“You are endangering mine and Harry’s sons!” he screamed, throwing curse after curse at her as she fought to deflect them or counter them.

“He’s my son too, Draco!” she shrieked, sounding very much like a banshee. The two other boys were stirring now as well and James was on his feet in front of them.

“You are no mother,” Draco retorted, blocking her curses. His strength was failing him. “You’re not even human. I see no reason why I shouldn’t attack you!”

Draco was full of spite and venom towards his ex-wife and he could think of nothing else but saving the children from harm. He needed to make sure no curse hit them and keep her busy enough that she wouldn’t have a chance to hurt them.

“Then why didn’t you fight back last time?” she asked with a cackle. Draco’s movement faltered and her curse skimmed the back of his neck, leaving a raw burn where it hit.

“Draco?” Harry mumbled from the background as he came to.

“Father!” Scorpius was calling out from behind Hydra. He was being called from all sides and crumbling under the pressure. He was breathing erratically because of his injuries as he ducked to avoid her spell and sent another one of his own.

“Go ahead, Draco!” Hydra was shrieking. “Tell them why you didn’t fight back! Tell your bastard lover and your son why it was you let Sneetch die and nearly forfeited your own life!” She shot another curse at him. “TELL THEM!”

“You aren’t worth the effort!” he retorted with venom, throwing a body bind at her that missed and marked the wall behind her. She growled.

“WRONG ANSWER!” she yelled and before he could do anything at all she sent a jet of fiendfyre towards the boys.

“NO!” Draco screamed trying to throw up a shield but there was no need to. Once the fire had dissipated, Draco realized that James was standing and had thrown all his energy into putting up a shield strong enough to deflect most of the flames. His arms and face were burnt and his clothes were singed but his brother and Scorpius were completely unharmed.

Draco didn’t take a moment to consider how strange that was. He simple dove forward and threw himself at his ex-wife. He knocked her over and wrestled her for the wand in her hands but she sent another curse at him and he was thrown backwards to the floor. His chest was burning from the inside and he was writhing on the ground from the white hot pain that spread through him.

“Tell them the truth!” she screamed at him. “Little James Potter won’t be able to deflect my next attack and your little whore won’t forgive you for letting his sons die!”

Draco spat at her and knocked her feet out from under her. He had never been this physical in his life and he doubted very much it would ever happen again. But he would see Hydra dead if he had to wring her neck with his two bare hands.

“Draco!” Harry called, forcing himself to his feet in the distance. Draco heard him stumble and fall. The boys tried to get up to help them but Draco refused.

“Stay where you are, boys!” he yelled to stop them.

“They won’t be safe for long, Draco!” Hydra cried out, hitting him again with the Cruciatus curse. She reminded him remarkably of his aunt Bellatrix. “Tell them the truth or else they die.” She held her wand to his neck and he stopped dead. He stopped writhing as the pain ebbed slightly. His eyes were wide with fear and hatred. “TELL THEM!!! Why didn’t you fight back, Draco? Why did you let the fiendfyre burn you so badly?!”

“Because I deserved it!!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, still burning from the pain. “I deserved to suffer for everything I’ve done! For Dumbledore, for Thicknesse, for everything and everyone that hates me and suffered because of me! I wanted to suffer!”

“You wanted to die!” Hydra screamed at him, brandishing her wand in his face and having completely forgotten about everyone else in the room. Her eyes were mad and trained solely on Draco’s exposed neck. He was glaring with pure loathing in his eyes and blood staining his lips.

“No,” he answered more quietly. “I wanted you to die and I had to suffer for that too.”

Hydra was caught mildly off-guard and in her brief moment of indecision Harry knocked her over and sent her flying straight into the wall. The impact was so powerful that it shuddered through the structure and triggered further crumbling. It began to collapse upon itself.

“Scorpius!” Draco screamed, pushing himself to his feet. Harry had already pulled the boys away from the wall and Draco picked up his son and they Apparated out of the castle and into the lobby of St. Mungo’s.

“Are you all alright?” Draco asked, immediately turning to his son and the other two boys. They seemed unharmed apart from James’ burns.

“We’re fine, thanks to James,” Scorpius admitted, glancing shyly over to the older boy. James was holding his face where the fire had burned him now. He could not look at Scorpius.

“Thank god,” Draco gasped pulling his son into a hug. He looked up at Harry who was covered in dust and bruises. There was a considerable amount of blood running down the back of his neck but he was still standing.

“Draco…” Harry began, his eyes wide with fear. He put Albus down and made a move for Draco but he started a coughing fit. Draco turned away and coughed into his hand. He looked down at his palm and realized that it was covered in blood. “Draco, you need a Healer!”

But he hardly heard the words. The full extent of his injuries had gripped him as the adrenaline subsided and he collapsed into a motionless heap on the ground.

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A/N: That was intense. All wrapping up in one or two chapters. But the kids are safe!

The adrenaline bit is taken from my knowledge of the subject. As far as I’ve read adrenaline can sustain a person and bring them to do insane and unbelievable things (like lifting a car) until the danger has passed. The most extreme cases I’ve heard of are to do with parents trying to save their children from something. If the action is too demanding of their body, once the danger has passed, they can collapse and fall into a comatose kind of state for however long it takes for their body to retrieve all the energy it spent. Yeah.

I like that anyway. Draco has been through quite a bit at this point and he’s going to need quite a bit of recovery time.

Anyway, thanks to everyone! I love you all so much! I hope you’ve enjoyed this and I’ll be answering the little questions that are remaining in the final chapter(s). I hope I don’t miss anything! Anywho, thanks for the lovely reviews and all the support!