Chapter 42 (Ava)

I looked in through the library window, but all I could see was darkness. I tried to push the door open but it wouldn’t budge. If it was locked, surely Draco wouldn’t be in there. I took a deep breath and turned around, trying to figure out where to go next in the castle. I’d already looked in various unused classrooms and the girls’ toilets where he had hidden before. I hadn’t wanted to go anywhere near the Room of Requirement for fear of a Death Eater catching me. How on earth would I help Harry if I was trapped with the Death Eaters?

A faint green light coming from the window caught my eye and I ran towards it to see what it was.

Just as I got to the window, my heart stopped. There, in the sky above the towers of the castle was a glowing green skull with a serpent tongue- the Dark Mark.

I shivered and pulled away from the window, not wanting to look at the mark for a second longer. The Death Eaters were here. How on earth could I stop them?

I started to race through the corridors, my heart pounding. They had to be somewhere. So did Draco. Were they going to be together?

Where were Harry and Dumbledore?

I stopped for a moment to catch my breath, and tried to think logically about the situation. Where could I go to see if there was anything going on outside the castle? The Astronomy Tower. The thought struck me and I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before. I would be able to see everything from there.

I was off again, sprinting down the corridor towards the steps to the Astronomy Tower. As I made my way up them, I lost my footing and reached out for the banister. I caught myself just in time and stood up straighter, taking a deep breath. Come on.

When I got to the top of the steps, I froze.

Lit up by the green from the Dark Mark, I could see Draco holding his wand- pointing it at someone. I knew who it was without needing to look.

Dumbledore.

“I’m standing here with a wand- I’m about to kill you-” Draco shouted.

“No!” I cried out, running forwards before I could think about it, “You’re not about to kill him, please, Draco.”

Draco turned to look at me, keeping his wand pointed at Dumbledore’s chest. His eyes widened when he saw me, and he shook his head,

“No- no… Ava you- you weren’t meant to come here tonight. I was meant to be doing this alone. I was protecting you from this- from them.”

I stepped towards him,

“You were in no way protecting me, Draco. The moment I heard that you hadn’t gone to your dormitory yet, I ran to find you. I am not letting you kill Dumbledore.”

“I haven’t got any options!” He burst out, “I’ve got to do it! He’ll kill me! He’ll kill my whole family!”

I froze and stared at him,

“Your- your whole family? You didn’t tell me that-”

“Because I didn’t want to! I knew they wouldn’t die because I am going to do this. I’m going to kill him.”

I gulped,

“Please. Don’t do this- you told me you weren’t going to! We planned to run away from all of this together, but you’re doing your mission anyway! I thought you were finally on my side. On the good side.”

Dumbledore took this opportunity to speak up,

“Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban… when the time comes we can protect him too… come over to the right side, Draco… you are not a killer…”

My eyes filled with tears and I nodded furiously. It was a perfect solution. Dumbledore would live, and Draco would change alliances. It would work.

“I could be a killer…” Draco whispered.

I shook my head,

“No- you can back out now. You don’t have to do this, there’s a way out.”

“Ava!” His voice was sharp, “I accepted this mission because I had to- with full intention of doing it, just like you accepted yours-”

“No.” I cut him off, “I didn’t accept the mission with full intention of doing it. Not at all. I was given a choice- take Harry to his death after you killed Dumbledore, or let Fred die. I knew that if I declined the mission, Fred would die- they would find someone else to take Harry instead. So I accepted it- I accepted it to keep both my brother and Fred alive for as long as possible. I never intended to complete the mission- you only assumed I did. I wanted to help Harry out of it- I could never do that to him. I could never let him die.”

Draco stared at me, his hands shaking. I took a deep breath,

“If you do this- if you kill Dumbledore- you’ll never be able to live with yourself. I don’t really think that you wanted to do your mission in the first place. You just accepted it to keep yourself and your family alive for a bit longer. You never wanted to do this. Please.”

Draco kept his eyes locked with mine, but he slowly started to lower his wand. I was conscious of the tears rolling down my cheeks, but I had persuaded him, and that was enough.

Suddenly, he raised his wand up again and turned to Dumbledore with a new-found confidence,

“But I got this far, didn’t I? They thought I’d die in the attempt, but I’m here… and you’re in my power… I’m the one with the wand… you’re at my mercy…”

Dumbledore shook his head,

“No, Draco. It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now.”

Before either Draco or I could respond, four people thundered into the Astronomy Tower, knocking both of us out of the way. I longed to reach out or Draco’s hand, but  wasn’t sure that I knew him anymore.

One of the Death Eaters who had run in chuckled,

“Dumbledore cornered! Dumbledore wandless, Dumbledore alone! Well done, Draco, well done!”

Dumbledore inclined his head towards the Death Eater,

“Good evening, Amycus. And you’ve brought Alecto too… charming.”

The woman beside Amycus- Alecto, I presumed- giggled,

“Think your little jokes’ll help you on your death bed, then?"

“Jokes? No, no, these are manners.”

The biggest man out of those who had entered the Astronomy Tower spoke, his voice rough,

“Do it.”

“Is that you, Fenrir?” Dumbledore spoke kindly.

Fenrir Greyback laughed loudly,

“That’s right. Pleased to see me, Dumbledore?”

“No, I cannot say that I am…”

Fenrir grinned, and blood trickled down his chin. My throat tightened and I looked away as he spoke up,

“But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore.”

Dumbledore looked disgusted by Fenrir, but he tried to hide it,

“Am I to take it that you are attacking even without the full moon now? This is most unusual… you have developed a taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?”

Greyback appeared to be pleased,

“That’s right. Shocks you, that, does it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?”

“Well,” Dumbledore kept his voice steady, “I cannot pretend that it does not disgust me a little. And yes, I am a little shocked that Draco here invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends live…”

I turned on Draco and stared at him,

“What?”

Draco spoke quietly, staring at the floor,

“I didn’t. I didn’t know he was going to come-”

Fenrir smiled again,

“I wouldn’t want to miss a trip to Hogwarts, Dumbledore. Not when there are throats to be ripped out… delicious, delicious…”

He paused for a moment and turned to look at me,

“Oh look, it’s the Potter girl! The Dark Lord has been talking about you!”

My hands started to shake,

“Saying what, exactly?”

“He’s wondering exactly which side you’re going to take this evening. Obviously we know which one he wants you to take. He says you’re an interesting case. Personally I don’t see why- you’re only Potter’s sister.”

I gulped,

“He doesn’t know which side I’m going to take? But I accepted the mission, surely he thinks I’m on his side-”

Fenrir laughed, cutting me short,

“The mission? He doesn’t really want you to take Potter to him- that is something that the Dark Lord would like to achieve alone. It must be him who kills Harry Potter.”

I stared at Fenrir, my heart pounding,

“What? He doesn’t want Harry?”

He leant towards me and pointed a yellow fingernail at my face,

“No, no my dear- it was all a test to see where your alliance stands. The Dark Lord says that if you were to attempt complete the mission as he asked, he would take you in as one of his own. You’d be a spy- keeping an eye on the Order and feeding us all of the information that we needed. And what a good spy you would make. No one could suspect such a pretty face…”

Fenrir’s face was only a few inches from mine, and his tongue flicked out as he licked his lips, causing more blood to drip down his chin. I took a shaky breath and gulped, trying to compose myself.

What a good spy you would make.

I stood up straighter, my heart thumping in my chest,

“No. I know exactly where my alliance stands- where it will always stand- and that is with the Order of the Phoenix. I will never become a Death Eater. I haven’t made a single attempt to take Harry to Voldemort-”

“Don’t you dare speak his name! You will call him the Dark Lord!” Amycus hissed.

I shook my head,

“I will call him by his name- and that is Voldemort. And I will not take Harry to Voldemort- I never wanted to. I am not on your side.”

The Death Eaters looked at me with disgust, and I glanced at Professor Dumbledore. He looked at me with a faint smile on his face, and I realised that he was proud. I had stood up to Fenrir Greyback.

I’d chosen the right side.