The Forbidden Forest pressed in around Draco Malfoy like a living thing, branches reaching with skeletal fingers through the gloom. Every snap of a twig made him flinch. Every rustle could be an Auror. Or worse.
He checked his pocket watch for the tenth ti. Half past nine. They were late.
Please co, he thought desperately. Please—
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
The sound of Apparition split the night like thunder. Draco’s heart leaped—then plumted as shapes erged from the darkness.
No Aunt Bella.
Instead, Fenrir Greyback’s yellow eyes glead with predatory hunger. The Carrow siblings flanked him, wands already drawn. Behind them stood Thorfinn Rowle, massive and brutal, with Corban Yaxley’s aristocratic sneer visible even in shadow. Five more Death Eaters Draco didn’t recognize completed the group.
"Where’s my aunt?" he asked, trying to keep the edge of panic from his voice.
Alecto Carrow laughed, an ugly sound. "The Dark Lord forbade it. Said this was your mission, little dragon. Not ti for Bellatrix to hold your hand."
"He has other plans that require her... special talents." Amycus added with a nasty grin.
Draco’s stomach twisted. Without Bellatrix, without her protection and skill...
But ten Death Eaters still stood before him. It had to be enough. It had to.
"Follow ." His voice ca out steadier than he felt. "Through here."
He led them to the hollow tree, its trunk split wide. One by one, they squeezed through the narrow, earthy tunnel beneath the grounds. The passage was suffocatingly dark, and behind him, Greyback’s wheezing breath sounded more beast than man.
Eventually, they erged into the Room of Requirent.
It was empty save for the exit - a plain wooden door leading into the castle.
The Death Eaters looked around, their wands held high, eager for action after months of forced inactivity.
The Death Eaters looked around, wands high, excitent barely contained.
"Let’s move, Draco," Alecto sneered. "I can’t wait to wreck so havoc."
"No plan?" Draco asked uncertainly. "Shouldn’t we—"
"Plans are for cowards." Rowle cracked his knuckles. "We go straight for Dumbledore. Anyone gets in the way, they die."
"The Ministry’s had us hiding like rats these past few months," Yaxley added, his cultured voice at odds with the violence in his eyes. "Ti to unleash hell."
Draco wanted to protest. This wasn’t strategy—it was suicide. But the bloodlust in their eyes killed any argunt.
He moved to the door, hand trembling on the handle.
"Ready?"
Greyback’s grin showed too many teeth. "Born ready, boy."
Draco opened the door.
The Death Eaters, desperate for blood and mayhem, charged ahead.
They had no idea they were walking into a trap.
—
Outside, near the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, Sirius Black waited in perfect stillness. The Room of Requirent was a marvel he still couldn’t believe the Marauders had missed.
Ten elite Aurors surrounded him, cloaked and disillusioned, wands at the ready.
To his right stood Alastor Moody, magical eye spinning constantly.
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE," Moody had growled when positioning the Aurors. "No fidgeting. No complaints. We wait until hell freezes or Death Eaters show. Whichever cos first."
"You nervous, Black?" he muttered now, not looking away from the wall.
"Just ready," Sirius murmured back. "They’ll co."
"Course they will." Moody’s scarred face twisted into what might have been a grin. "Potter’s boy has instincts like his father. When he slls trouble, there’s trouble."
"Any second now," Sirius agreed.
Moody’s magical eye suddenly snapped forward. "The wall’s changing. WANDS UP!"
A door materialized in the stone.
Every wand snapped to attention.
The first figure erged—Alecto Carrow, her pig-like face twisted in anticipation of violence.
For one crystalline mont, both sides froze.
Death Eaters seeing Aurors. Aurors surprised by the fact that the Death Eaters had really invaded.
Then Moody’s voice shattered the silence like a war drum: "NOW!"
The air exploded with light.
"Stupefy!" Ten voices roared in unison.
Alecto dropped like a stone. Behind her, Amycus tried to raise a shield but three Stunners caught him simultaneously. He crumpled.
More Death Eaters poured out, running into a wall of red light. They fell one after another—Yaxley managing half a curse before going down, Rowle’s massive fra needing four Stunners to stop.
Then Fenrir Greyback burst through.
The Stunners hit him and... nothing. His werewolf-enhanced body shrugged them off like raindrops. With an inhuman snarl, he charged the nearest Auror.
"LETHAL FORCE!" Moody’s roar could have woken the dead. "TAKE THE BEAST DOWN!"
The kid gloves ca off.
"Diffindo!" Five cutting curses sliced through the air.
"Reducto!" Moody’s own curse was perfectly aid.
Greyback made it three steps.
What hit the ground no longer resembled anything human.
The remaining Death Eaters, seeing their most feared mber reduced to chunks, tried to retreat. But more Aurors had moved to block the door.
It was over in seconds.
Ten Death Eaters down. Zero Auror casualties.
"Kingsley, Proudfoot—check inside!" Moody barked. "Rest of you, wands on these scum. Anyone so much as twitches, Stun them again!"
The Aurors entered cautiously, wands sweeping the room. A mont later, they erged shaking their heads.
"Empty, Moody."
Moody’s magical eye whirled in its socket, scanning through the wall itself, but found nothing.
Sirius frowned. Where was Draco? He’d been certain the boy was involved, but...
Maybe that was for the best. Whatever else Draco was, he was still just a child. Azkaban would destroy what little remained of him.
"Right then." Moody stumped over to what remained of Greyback. "Savage, get an evidence bag. What’s left of this monster goes to the Ministry. Rest get shackles—the special ones. Don’t want any of these Death Eaters pulling vanishing acts."
Footsteps echoed down the corridor. The Order of the Phoenix arrived in force—Bill Weasley, Tonks, Lupin, and half the Hogwarts staff.
"Alastor? Padfoot?" Lupin’s eyes went wide. "What happened?"
Moody’s grin was terrifying. "Death Eater raid. We were waiting." He kicked Yaxley’s unconscious form. "Walked right into it, the idiots."
"How did you know?" McGonagall demanded.
"Harry saw suspicious activity," Sirius explained. "I trusted his instincts."
"And I trusted Black’s paranoia," Moody added. "Paid off, didn’t it?"
The tension bled out of the group. Tonks actually laughed.
"Brilliant! Ten Death Eaters in one go!"
"The trouble’s handled," Moody growled. "Now to find out what they were planning."
Sirius knew but kept his silence. So secrets were worth keeping.
They began moving the prisoners toward the nearest working Floo, the Aurors maintaining combat readiness even with their enemies unconscious.
—
After both groups had vanished down the corridor, Severus Snape materialized from the shadows and slipped into the still-open Room of Requirent with practiced silence.
"You can reveal yourself now." His voice cut through the air like a blade.
A mont later, Draco Malfoy shimred into visibility in the center of the room, trembling like a leaf in a storm.
The boy looked destroyed. His grand plan, months in the making, had shattered in re seconds.
"They’re gone." Draco’s voice cracked like breaking glass. "My mission... I’ve failed. How did they know?"
"Black." Snape’s tone could have frozen fla itself. "Potter saw you were up to sothing and told him. Then he sohow convinced the Minister to act."
"I’m dead." Draco’s knees buckled. "When term ends, when I go ho... the Dark Lord will—"
"You still have tonight." Snape hauled him roughly to his feet. "And you have ."
Draco stared up at him with desperate hope. "You?"
"Did you think you were the only one whose life hung in the balance?" Snape’s obsidian eyes glittered dangerously. "If you fail, I die too."
The Unbreakable Vow burned against his arm—the secret he’d never shared with the boy.
"But how?" Draco’s voice was small. "How can we possibly—"
"Just follow . The Aurors and Order will be occupied with their prisoners for so ti."
Draco hesitated, then followed.
"It should have always been this way," Snape continued, sweeping toward the door. "Your pride cost ten Death Eaters their freedom. Perhaps their lives. But we still have a window. Follow . Quickly."
"Where are we going?"
Snape didn’t look back. "To the Astronomy Tower. Where it all ends."
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