You're Safe With Me ( Draco Malfoy )

Chapter Forty-Six

"Considering how much I used to despise running in to Potter, I really wouldn't mind seeing his stupid little face right about now." Draco muttered as he and Alice ran through the castle in a desperate attempt to find Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

Since Draco's legs were considerably longer than hers, Alice was practically being dragged behind him as he sped up a staircase. It was hard enough having to run everywhere, and she was trying to not fall flat on her face on top of that.

"Wait!" Alice yelled, stopping Draco in his tracks as he turned to see what had caught her attention. She had stopped at one of the windows looking out to the rest of the school grounds, her heart dropping in her chest as the protective bubble that had been cast around Hogwarts disintegrated. 

As soon as the shield had been dropped, death eaters came storming in to the castle, explosions lighting up the darkness of the courtyard as Alice watched with baited breath. It was too far away to be able to tell the good guys from the bad, but she could see the outlines of people fighting against the fire of the explosions. Speaking of fire, there was a huge blaze from the other side of the grounds where the Quidditch stadium had been set alight, filling the dark sky with smoke.

A gentle squeeze on her hand from Draco broke Alice out of her trance, directing her attention away from the battles outside. Knowing that they were running out of time to find Harry, especially considering that the enemy now had access to the castle, Draco knew it was best to get moving. 

Despite not commenting on it, Alice could see the fear in Draco's eyes, and she knew that his calm front was a façade. She thought it better to keep that to herself, though, to avoid potentially damaging Draco's confidence.

As they climbed the main staircase of the castle, which was absolutely teeming with panicking students, everyone ducked at the sound of glass shattering. Looking up, Alice saw the black mist of a death eater flying through the air, ready to drop in to the throng of defenceless students.

Within a second, her wand was drawn and pointed at the death eater. Blue light flew from the tip of her wand as she cast a stunning spell, causing the black mist to turn back in to the death eater's human form as he dropped from the air to the floor. It wasn't a small distance to fall, and hitting the hard ground knocked the man out, probably for quite some time.

"Nicely done!" A familiar voice called. Alice span around to see Ginny, who was rushing up the stairs with Neville, both seemingly in a rush. Neville's face was bloodied and bruised, but Ginny looked relatively unharmed.

"Alice! Ginny!" A huge sigh of relief came from Alice as Harry sprinted towards them, thoroughly dishevelled and out of breath, but at least not dead. "Are you all alright?" He asked, pushing his glasses up his nose from where they had slipped in his haste.

"Never better! I feel like I could spit fire!" Neville, who was clearly on the biggest adrenaline rush of his life, spoke loud to be heard over the screams of the students rushing by. Alice, being as subtle as she could, nudged Draco in the side and gestured down to Harry and Ginny's hands which, much like their own, were intertwined. He leaned down slightly to be closer to Alice's ear, his breath fanning her neck.

"Knew it." He whispered, both of them smiling.

"You haven't seen Luna, have you?" Neville asked, bouncing from foot to foot impatiently. Flashes of red and green came from nearby, but the body of a death eater flying down the stairs signified who won the fight.

"Luna?" Harry asked, baffled by Neville's question. Out of all the things Neville could've asked, that was probably the last thing Harry had expected.

"I'm mad for her!" Neville admitted, beginning to back away as he spoke, ready to go and find Luna. Despite the carnage around them, Alice couldn't help but crack a small smile at Neville's words. It had taken him long enough to admit that. "Figure it's about time I told her, since we'll probably both be dead by dawn!" With that, Neville took off in a run.