You're Safe With Me ( Draco Malfoy )

Chapter Forty-Seven

As soon as Harry was strong enough to get back on his feet, the five of them set off towards the boat house where Harry had said Voldemort was hiding. They had to fight a few duels on their way through the castle, but they were nothing compared to the fighting happening outside of the castle walls. Wands drawn, they descended the stairs in to the courtyard, huddled close in order to protect each other. 

Screaming and crying filled the air, shouts of rage and anguish mixing with the smell of smoke and making Alice feel quite sick. Hogwarts was quickly becoming rubble, huge chunks missing from walls and debris covering the floor, acting like obstacles for those trying to escape the war. The only things lighting up the courtyard were the roaring fires left by explosions and the spells being omitted from the ends of wands, a disturbing amount of which were green. 

Just as Alice was about to round a corner, Draco grabbed her arm and yanked her back, a spell hitting the spot she was just stood in. Leaning around the corner he sent a curse towards the man, but Alice didn't see what Draco had done. She didn't particularly want to.

"You have to be more careful, darling." Draco chastised, giving his girlfriend a serious look, his eyebrows drawn together in concern as his chest rose and fell quickly as he caught his breath. Internally, he was absolutely terrified of Alice getting hurt, or worse, and the corpses littering the courtyard weren't doing much to calm his nerves. 

Surveying the battle in front of them, Alice noticed that the outcome was looking rather bleak for those fighting on their side. The death eaters looked to be gaining the upper hand, with the Order of the Phoenix's efforts seemingly being in vain as the night sky filled with black smoke and green light. Noticing that Harry was about to take off running towards the boathouse, Alice grabbed his sleeve to stop him. Although more stressed than he had ever been in his entire life, Harry turned to Alice expectantly.

"All five of us don't need to go, Draco and I will stay here to fight. It really looks like they could use all the help they can get." Alice decided, gesturing to the battle being lost before looking to Draco for approval. Though he looked troubled, he nodded none the less.

"Good luck." Harry replied, giving Alice a quick kiss to her forehead and patting Draco on the arm before heading off, Ron and Hermione running after him. Once they had disappeared in to the battle, Draco turned to Alice, placing a hand on her cheek. Whenever he did so, Alice could feel the cool metal of his rings pressed against her warm skin, causing her to lean further in to his hand.

"I want to tell you we should get away from the fighting-" He began, but wasn't able to finish since Alice cut him off.

"They need us!" She pointed out, gesturing to the fight just around the corner frantically, as if that would help convincing Draco they had to stick around. 

"Let me finish." He demanded, his voice deep, since he was well aware that it would catch her attention. "I want to say we should get away, but I know you better, so I'm just going to tell you to not leave my side under any circumstance. Do you understand?" He asked, his voice more serious than ever, contrasting with him affectionately running his thumb over her cheekbone. Nodding, she lifted her hand up to intertwine with his, looking in to his icy blue eyes. They had loved each other for a long time, but in that moment, neither of them had ever been more certain of anything. Leaning down, he kissed her softly, keeping their foreheads together afterwards. "I love you, clumsy." He whispered, savouring the sound of her laugh as it fell from her mouth, and memorising the smile that stayed afterwards.

"I love you too, stalker." 

Side by side, the two of them rounded the corner in to the battle, each trying to stay calm for the other's sake. Both of them drew the attention of surrounding death eaters, but it wasn't too much of an issue since they both dealt with them quickly. Draco cast something at the man attacking him which knocked him clean out, his head hitting the stone floor with a resounding crack, while Alice sent her attacker flying backwards in to the path of a rampaging giant, who stood on the man. Trying her best to forget the sickening sound of the death eaters' bones being crushed, Alice nudged Draco and gestured for them to move forwards.