“Who are you?” Harry asked.
“For now you can call me . . .”
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“Are you sure they went this way?” Ron asked.
“Yeah,” Fred answered.
“They went through that door,” George continued.
Slowly they made there way towards the door trying to listen for Harry’s voice, “This is hopeless,” he whispered.
“Let’s just knock down the door,” Ron suggested.
“Works for me,” Fred and George agreed. “On the count of three, 1…2…3!”
Fred kicked down the door only to have a woman give off a high-pitched scream from fright.
“I don’t think that was the right door,” Ron blushed.
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“. . . Ferret,” the man answered. Harry started cracking up from the odd name.
“Ferret?” He laughed. “I’m sure there’s a good story behind that!”
“Forget it . . . my name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy,” the man said. “What about you?”
“Oh, my names Harry, Harry Potter.” After he said that they heard a high-pitched scream. “What was that?”
“I don’t know,” Draco said, pulling his wand out of his pocket. “Bring out your wand, just in case.”
Together they walked towards the door that led to the hallway. Harry took a step out of it and saw Fred, George, and Ron getting beat up by an old woman, wearing a knitted, purple shawl with a broomstick.
“That’s what you get for scaring an old woman!” The old lady screamed, while beating the boys with her broom. “You also scared the fluff off of Mr. Whiskers!”
“Back off you old hag!” Ron yelled as he held his arms up to protect his head from the broomstick that would whack him whenever he tried to talk to the woman.
“Yeah,” said George, who was using Ron as a shield from the blows. “We didn’t mean to”” but he was quickly cut off when he had to duck because the broomstick almost hit him on the head.
“Fred, George, Ron! Over here!” Harry yelled to his three friends. They looked up at the sound of his voice and started retreating from the old woman to the door.
Draco slammed it when they all ran inside the room, deafening the screams coming from the old woman, who was pounding on the door saying that they were a bunch of ninnies, and couldn‘t steal candy from a four-year-old girl.
“What was that about?” Draco asked, shocked from the language coming from the old woman on the other side of the door.
“Wrong door . . . ” Fred answered. It seemed Ron and George were too stunned to say anything as they sat in two wooden chairs, their eyes wide.
“Listen, thanks to your friends,” Draco said to Harry while looking at Fred, George, and Ron, “it would be best if we got out of here right now.”
They agreed to leave through the window so they could leave in quiet and not have to worry about their crazy neighbor.
After they left, Draco led them to an ancient watchtower on a tall hill ten miles from the lodge. It was cold, creepy, and there were statues of dead kings looking at them from their stone thrones.
“This,” Harry said slowly, “is your idea of a good place to sleep?”
“Everyone get comfortable,” Draco said, ignoring Harry sarcasm. “Tomorrow morning we’ll be leaving again.”
“Thank Merlin for good favors,” George said under his breath.
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Night settled very quickly over the hill surrounding them in darkness. Draco was sitting by himself away from the others as they slept. He was softly singing a sad song in a different language to himself but stopped and looked up at the sound of someone approaching.
“Who’s the girl you’re singing of?” Asked Harry, looking at Draco with new respected.
“I’m not singing of a girl,” Draco answered quickly.
“Then you’re singing of a man?” Harry asked, looking shocked.
“No!” Draco said looking disgusted at the thought.
“Because if you are, then that’s ok I promise not to tell anyone . . .”
“I told you, I’m not singing of a man!” Draco half yelled, almost raising from the ground to walk off.
“Wow . . . then you’re singing of an it?” Harry said sarcastically.
“No!” Draco shouted exasperated. “I was singing of a woman.”
“But then . . .”
“I was trying to be mysterious.”
“Oh,” Harry said, “I guess I kind of screwed that up.”
“You think?”
“Not recently…why?”
“Never mind.” Draco got up and walked over to the campsite. “What the bloody hell are you doing!”
“We just lit a fire . . .” George said looking up from were he was cooking marshmallows.
Harry grabbed a heavy cloak and put out the fire with it.
“The Death Eaters might have spotted the flame!” Draco shouted at them.
“Either that or they could have heard your yelling,” Fred said.
Draco scolded him.
“Shut up and listen. Let’s just . . .”
He saw a black shape wondering in the shadows. He stopped his sentence short and pulled out his wand, motioning for the others to do the same.
“Avada Kedavra!” The shot missed Fred by a couple inches but shattered the rock next to him.
“That must be the guy from the road,” Harry whispered. Ron snorted and got a glaring look from Draco.
Four Death Eaters entered at the corners, as another one with snake like eyes entered through the middle. Draco muttered a spell that created a shield around them, protecting them from weak spells. Harry stood in the middle of the group and turned to face the heavily cloaked figure, while the rest turned on the four Death Eaters.
In unison the Death Eaters shouted, “Crucio!” Knocking Draco, Ron, Fred, and George to their knees.
“I am the Dark Lord,” the heavily cloaked man started, his voice held a cold hiss. “Give me the wand and die, or I will take it by force and you will still die.”
“Then I guess your taking it by force . . . and I’ll die. Wait! No! Is there a third option?” Harry said quickly.
“Avada Kedavra!”
The spell hit Harry square in the chest but he only fell to his knees, a lightning shaped scar formed on his forehead. Voldemort screamed in agony and rage and he and his Death Eaters disappeared in a blinding white light.
Fred, George, Ron, and Draco staggered over to where Harry laid unconscious.
“What . . . do we do . . . ?” Fred asked clutching at a pillar to stay upright.
“I’m not sure no one has ever survived that spell.” George added.
They suddenly felt a strong wind and it threw them onto the ground. A black Thestral landed lightly down next to them, it‘s white eyes staring at them with little interest.
“Give him to me,” a woman’s voice said softly from atop the Thestral. “I’ll take care of him.”
Draco looked up to the woman.
That voice . . .it sounded so familiar. He thought to himself.
“The Death Eaters are still out there,” he said sitting up. How could he have not recognized her voice?
“I know the risks,” she said with power showing in her voice, “and knowing this boy’s destiny; I’m willing to take them.”
He stood up as the searing pain started to diminish. He slowly bent down and lifted Harry up to the Thestral she was riding.
“Be careful,” he told her silently.
“You know me,” she smiled.
“I know . . . and that’s why I’m saying be careful.” She laughed and slowly shot into the air carefully holding onto Harry
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