You're Safe With Me ( Draco Malfoy )

Chapter Thirty

Alice entered the burrow to see Daniel and Lupin placing a very bloody George on to the sofa as Molly rushed over, her face pale with worry. Alice couldn't help but cringe as George's limp head lulled to the side and she saw the bloody remnants of George's ear, which had been mostly blasted off.

As soon as George had been placed on the sofa with Molly rushing to his aid, Lupin unexpectedly turned to Harry, grabbing him by his shirt and slamming him in to the wall, pointing his wand at Harry's face. Although it was clear that Lupin was angry, Alice saw the unmistakable fear in the man's eyes.

"Lupin!" Hagrid scolded at Lupin's rough treatment of Harry, Ginny also looked rather shocked. The ex-professor ignored the complaints, though, not lowering his wand or releasing his grip on Harry.

"What creature sat in the corner the first time Harry Potter visited my office in Hogwarts?" Remus demanded, pinning Harry to the wall with a hand covered in George's blood.

"Are you mad?" A rather scared Harry yelled, only to be shoved against the wall harder as a result. Alice was tempted to go and pull Lupin off of Harry, but realistically knew that wouldn't end well.

"What creature?!" Lupin screamed, his hostile attitude causing Alice's eyes to widen. If Molly wasn't so focused on George, she probably would've scolded lupin by now, but her son was her priority.

"A-a grindelow!" Harry replied with a stutter, his chest heaving with his scared breaths. Satisfied with his answer, Lupin released Harry, allowing him to catch his breath. Alice sent him a concerned glance, but he nodded to let her know that he was alright.

"We've been betrayed." Lupin admitted, sounding utterly defeated. Daniel passed Molly a vial of medicine, which she attempted to administer to George's ear, despite her shaking hands. "Voldemort knew you were being moved tonight. I had to make sure you weren't an impostor."

Harry nodded in agreement, although he was internally thinking that there were far nicer ways to go about it. Alice turned to her dad, who was assisting Molly by trying to clean the area around what was left of George's ear.

"Dad?" She asked, getting his attention. Daniel looked up to his daughter, his expression solemn and his face sunken and tired. "Why are you here? I thought you had work?"

"I managed to get out of it, just about." He explained, examining his left side which was pretty much covered with George's blood. "I wanted to assist you, make sure that nothing happened, but the only route I knew was George and Lupin's. I joined them at about the half-way point just as the death eaters showed up, so I helped fight them off."

"If it wasn't for your father, George would've lost far more than just an ear." Lupin spoke gravely, placing a hand on Alice's shoulder.Alice nodded in understanding, while Molly took a moment to assess Daniel's clothes, which were now rather bloodstained.

"Ginny, dear, can you go and find a shirt for Daniel to change in to?" Molly asked, which Ginny immediately went to do, but was stopped by Daniel himself.

"Don't worry yourselves, I'll be off now anyway, I just wanted to make sure that Alice got here safely." Daniel spoke, stopping Ginny in her tracks. Alice smiled appreciatively at her father for caring, though decided against giving him a hug due to the blood on him. After bidding everyone goodbye, Daniel left the burrow, but it only took a few seconds for someone else to apparate in.

Upon hearing the crack, Lupin, Harry and Alice rushed outside to see who had arrived. Kingsley and Hermione had appeared, and luckily both of them seemed okay, causing Alice to let out a sigh of relief.

Of course she was overjoyed that Hermione was okay, but considering that she now knew that everyone else had been ambushed, her worry for Draco only kept growing and growing.