IMPORTANT

Okay, so — the world's pretty crazy now, huh? It's a little better where I live (for now); I've been through SARS so this is like deja vu. What's hard to see though is my fellow Asians being discriminated against, people losing their jobs and loved ones, and inconsiderate assholes still going out to parties. This is the new Dark Ages now, you guys, with new draconian laws. And I'm not even the least bit happy that my titles are so apt right now.

Please bear with the delayed updates because I'm figuring out what I want to do for April. I know many of you are quarantined or in lockdown, and need some cheering up. I got you. So Draconian will still be updated, of course, as will Astoria once this is done.

So I have to know: are you interested in reading a story from Universe #1? I can't let you know anything more right now except that it's thebigone. Let me know by commenting HERE OR ON MY PROFILE and if response is positive, I will post it come April.

That being said, how're you guys? What's the situation like where you live? Please know that I'm sending all my love and best wishes to you, wherever you are.

x Noelle

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4 8

a v a d a   k e d a v r a

Instantaneous death.

HOW DO YOU fight a war knowing you've already lost once?

Hermione Granger didn't know the answer to that.

But she did know that she couldn't risk losing anything more. The battle had begun in the Quad next to the Clock Tower, starting with Shacklebolt casting the first spell as a Death-Eater emerged from the shadows.

Tuning her ears out to the sounds of screaming and hexing below, she took out the Cloak of Invisibility and draped it over herself. She knew she had to head to the Grand Staircase as per Draco's orders, sealing up the windows with protective charms along the way and finding prisoners locked up in any of the rooms.

But then two people slid under the Cloak next to her. "What are you boys doing?"

"Oh, come on, 'Mione," Ron's voice was surprisingly light-hearted despite the grave situation. But she noticed the tension in his eyes and realised that he was just trying to diffuse the terrifying atmosphere surrounding them. "We'll all be safe under this Cloak."

Harry chuckled in agreement. "Besides, it'll be like old times."

She rolled her eyes and slung her arms round their shoulders. The three of them made their way awkwardly down the stairs of the astronomy tower, not without the occasional bump and accidental stepping on each other's toes along the way.

After Ron had bumped against the railing for the third time, he swore under his breath. "Merlin, this bloody Cloak is far too small for the three of us."

"It's only big enough for two people, at most," Hermione explained.

"Just out of curiosity," Harry started, almost uncertainly, staring at her with suspicion in his eyes. "When you say 'big enough for two people', are you implying something along the lines of you shagging Malfoy under this Cloak?"

Hermoine hadn't, but she couldn't stop the smirk that curved her face. "Well..."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Ron hastily extricated himself from the Cloak and Harry followed suit, the both of them practically running away from her down the hallway.

Hermione chuckled. The Cloak belonged to Harry and she had kept it in its best condition so she could return it to him when the war was over. But she wasn't going to rectify what Ron and Harry had misinterpreted. She had a job to do.

Hiding in a tiny alcove, she took out the Marauder's Map from her satchel and used it to navigate her way towards the Grand Staircase. Unlike the others, who had a firm grasp of the school, her memories of this place were convoluted and she needed the Map. Pansy and Blaise were already at the grand staircase, while the rest were making their way towards the meeting place slowly from different directions. Theo and Luna were slowly but surely making their way there too. Ginny's footsteps on the Map were quick, and so were Neville's - they were evidently on brooms. And Draco was -

Where was Draco?

Skimming past the names on the Map, she tried to locate him. She soon saw his name somewhere in the Middle Courtyard, but her relief was soon replaced with an ominous feeling when she noticed how he was stationary in a singular spot.

Her first thought was to apparate over, but Draco had told her that Hogwarts had anti-apparition and disapparition wards. Without a second thought, she turned on her heels and ran towards him, but there was still a long way more to go. The blood surging through her veins was like a toxic, addictive form of adrenaline that came only in the face of danger, and there was only one thought that pounded through her mind.

Save Draco.

Glancing out, she noticed a Death-Eater flying past on his broom and didn't hesitate to train her wand on him. "Everte Statum!" The Death-Eater was flung off his broom, and she held out her other hand. "Accio broom."

The broom jolted with a dangerous lurch as she climbed on. She wasn't at all adept at flying, and she made several frightening swerves as she navigated her way towards the Middle Courtyard.

It wasn't until she jumped off the broom and rushed into the clearing when she realised what had happened to Draco. He was twisting and struggling on the floor as a flock of Dementors attacked him, swooping down and slowly sucking the very life out of him.

Hermione shut her eyes tight and summoned the happiest memory she could think of - Draco, always Draco - and held her wand out.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Draco lifted his head weakly in her direction, watching the Dementors disperse every which way as a magnificent Patronus in the shape of a dragon protected the both of them. Then her face crumpled in relief as she rushed towards him, just in time for Draco to notice a Death-Eater shadow her, his wand trained on her lithe figure.

The curse that teased his tongue was an Avada, but he barely caught it and shot the next one he could think of. "Confringo!"

Hermione's shocked face was almost comical as she saw the spell zip towards her, only to miss her by mere inches and blast the Death-Eater behind her in a fiery explosion. She quickly gathered her wits about her, sinking down to her knees and pulling Draco up, the sudden realisation that she had just saved his life crashing down equally as hard as the realisation that he had saved hers simultaneously.

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The two soon found their way back. The rest of 17-65 were standing in a safe corner near the Grand Staircase, where Blaise was doing his best to calm Harry and Ron.

"We should never have left her in the hallway!" Ron was saying, as Hermione headed towards them with Draco, well-hidden under Disillusionment charms. Ron was running frantic fingers through his hair, while Harry kept pushing his glasses up his nose in evident anxiety. "Who knows where she is now?"

"Missed me, Weasel?" Draco drawled, removing the Disillusionment charms on himself and Hermione.

Neville's eyes were wide. "Malfoy?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "No, it is I - the Dark Lord."

The tension immediately skyrocketed at his statement; Hermione and the three other Slytherins exchanging amused glances, until Neville recovered with a heavy glare directed at Draco. "That's not funny, Malfoy!"

Draco smirked, but the grin faded when he heard an explosion from the rooftop of the tower. "They're here," he said quietly. "Stand ground here. Keep them out, or put them down. Don't let them in the Great Hall. McGonagall says that the Order's setting up an infirmary in there, and we can't let any Death-Eater in - "

His words were cut off when Theo, whose sharp senses detected things before any of them could, suddenly whirled around. "Expulso!"

His spell narrowly missed a Death-Eater who had just entered, but more came in after him. And then Draco was pushing the others out of the way as Luna joined in alongside Theo, while Blaise protected the others with a shield.

"Let's go! Potter," Draco grabbed onto Harry and climbed on the broom. "Get me up there."

"What? Why - "

"Just go!"

Harry swerved past a spell and took off, flying them to the highest point of the stairs. Draco had just got off the broom when an explosion blasted off the roof of the stairs. Harry cast a powerful shield to protect them from the falling debris. They barely had time to recover when the stairs lurched forward, and the two of them dropped to their knees to regain their balance.

"What the hell?" Harry gaped as the stairs below them began moving as well. "Who activated the stairs?"

"It's a tactic, Potter," Draco didn't look surprised at all, his eyes alert as he watched the shattered roof closely. "Best way to kill your opponent is to let them plummet to their deaths on the moving stairs."

"And you knew about this?"

"Why else did I arrange for us to fight in the Grand Staircase?" Draco returned. "Get Ginny, do an aerial sweep with her. I'll fend them off from here."

Harry agreed and took off. Draco climbed up, landing neatly on the seventh floor just as that flight of stairs jerked away from the platform. A Death-Eater swooped through the shattered roof, aiming a hex at Draco.

"Malfoy!" It was Augustus Rookwood. "The Dark Lord will be pleased to see you."

"Give the Dark Lord my regards," Draco fired back calmly, side-stepping the next spell and blocking the one that followed. He was keeping one eye on the moving stairs, wondering how he could make use of it to his advantage. "Tell him Draco Malfoy says hi. And to hit me up for fucking tea and crumpets when he's not busy massacring the entire Wizarding world."

"I'd much rather kill you first. There's a bounty on your head, you know?"

"Really?" Draco froze when he noticed several other Death-Eaters heading his way on their brooms. "What's my bounty? It had better be higher than saint Potter's. Expelliarmus."

Rockwood's wand flew out from his hand. With an angry roar, the Death-Eater flew straight towards Draco to physically knock him over, but Draco jumped off the ledge just as the stairs swivelled back to the platform. He put Rockwood down with a blasting curse, before running down the steps to the sixth floor.

His actions weren't missed by Hermione, who had heard the roof explode with a force that shook the entire tower. She grabbed onto Ron, who was busy fending off several Death-Eaters alongside Pansy and Blaise. "Get me up there," she told him, pointing skywards.

His eyes widened when he noticed the Death-Eaters flying in from the roof, and nodded. Hermione climbed onto the broom after him, and the two took off. Ron deposited her on the fifth floor, before heading back down to help Neville below. Hermione scaled the stairs that Draco was on and held out her wand.

"Protego Maxima!"

Her shield blocked the Dark spell that the Death-Eater shot at them. Draco didn't waste a second hurling one back the moment her shield was down and he shot her a brief grin over his shoulder. "Here to save me again, Granger?"

"Naturally." She winked at him. "Avis."

"Oppugno." The flock of conjured birds that streamed out from Hermione's wand were promptly redirected by Draco to attack the nearest Death-Eater.

She smiled, pleased by his perfect synchronicity with her, and stayed by his side to fight. His duelling style was of a more offensive kind, a variation of blasting curses fused with stinging spells that were meant to cripple their enemies. Hers, on the other hand, was defensive by nature, and the impenetrable shields she cast saved the both of them more than once, giving Draco the window of opportunity to recover and hex their enemies back.

The rest of the team had since separated, and Hermione glanced down several times to note that each of them had taken a single floor. She and Draco fought off Death-Eaters on the sixth and seventh, while Blaise was one floor below them, followed by Pansy on fourth, Theo on third, and Luna on second. Harry and Ginny were on their brooms, weaving between the moving stairs to help with the duelling, while Ron and Neville held their ground on the first floor, fending off any Death-Eaters that entered the tower.

On and on and on the fighting went, until her eyes burned with the effort of keeping them peeled for any wayward spells. Her throat was dry and her heart had hammered in her chest for so long it was a wonder she hadn't exploded with the effort.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a corporeal Patronus in the form of a stag gallop towards them.

"Incoming fiendfyre!" The distorted voice from the stag sounded remarkably like Harry's. "Sweeping in from the Quad!"

"Shit," Draco swore, vanishing the stag with a wave of his wand. "Time to go."

Hermione nodded and rushed down the stairs. She leapt onto the platform below just as Draco amplified his voice to call for a retreat. They were never going to make it, she realised. So when the stairs locked onto the sixth-floor platform, she directed her wand at the stairs.

"Glisseo!"

The stairs flattened to a slide at her feet and she slid down, tumbling onto the floor next to Blaise. "Good thinking, Red," he rasped and grabbed her hand. "Come on!"

He dragged her onto the next moving stairs before they missed it, heading down each floor with minimal difficulties this time as Hermione cast the same spell on the stairs, over and over, hurrying a frazzled Pansy along the way and picking up a badly injured Theo who was protected by Luna.

"Jump!" Hermione urged them. She did so first, casting a Cushioning charm on the bottom before she hit the ground. The others followed her, and rushed to help Ron and Neville lead people away from the Quad.

"Use the viaduct!" Neville was yelling, his face pale and forehead bleeding. "Retreat!"

There were horrified screams and shouts as people pushing their way through blindly, just to escape the terrifying flames sweeping towards them. Hermione kept her gaze fixed fixed on Draco several floors above, who was still fending off the remaining Death-Eaters.

"We have to go!" Blaise ordered, shoving the rest of them after the crowd. "Luna, get Theo and get out of here."

Luna and Theo were the first to leave, but the others stayed to help those who were badly injured. Hermione kept her attention on Terry Boot, who had collapsed midway due to a broken leg. She binded his leg swiftly and helped him over to the other D.A. members, while Blaise and Pansy did the same for Cho, who had half of her face burnt in a blasting spell.

"Where's the rest of the Order?" Draco demanded, pushing his way through the crowd.

"Some of them are still out there!" Ron called back. "Shacklebolt's trying to round up the rest but we've got to stop the fire before it kills them all!"

"You can't stop Fiendfyre," Neville interjected, but Draco was already heading towards the Quad. "Malfoy!"

Draco paused. His eyes scanned the crowd for Hermione. He found her some distance away, lifting a young girl to her feet and soothing the latter's tears.

"You - get everyone out of here," he said quietly to Neville, ignoring the way his eyes widened. "And you," he gripped Ron's arm. "Get her out of here."

"Malfoy - "

"I mean it, Weasel," Draco levelled him a firm gaze. "Keep her safe at any cost."

Without waiting for either of them to reply, Draco turned and vanished into the crowd.

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Everywhere she turned, Hermione saw a sea of red.

Red streaking down people's faces, red-rimmed eyes mourning the lost of loved ones, red staining the clothes of the victims. It was war at its finest, and she was in the middle of it all.

She tried not to think about the losses - there were at least eight casualties she knew about, Dean Thomas, Michael Corner and Seamus Finnigan from the D.A. being among the eight - along with many others she was thankful she didn't know about. Draco had once told her that in a war, numbing oneself proved to be incredibly easy after awhile and she found it to be true.

She was certain, however, that when all was over, the sadness would come crashing down on her like a tidal wave, suffocating and drowning.

She forced the thought out of her mind and slipped her arm through Ginny's, following her and Ron across the Viaduct. The first wave of Death-Eaters had dispersed, and Shacklebolt had called for a respite before Voldemort came with the rest of his army. The only thing they had to escape was the Fiendfyre, which had not caught up with them.

For now, they were safe.

Everything else was a time-ticking bomb.

"I hate this," Ginny muttered, when the three of them entered the courtyard. "This is the worst part of the war."

It was a scene of devastation that greeted them. All around the Courtyard, people sat in huddles, their wands lit so that they could see in the dark. McGonagall, Flitwick, Slughorn, Arthur and Molly Weasley stood with several others, their wands raised as they chanted incantations to strengthen the protections of the Castle. Healers dashed around, treating the severely wounded, while in the far corner huddled a small crowd of people as they paid their respects to the deceased.

She saw familiar and unfamiliar faces, people who waved to acknowledge her, others who stared back vacantly. The D.A. had gathered in the middle of the Courtyard, while other members of the Order had joined them.

Then Hermione felt her gaze locking onto the group huddled in the distance. Blaise was seated on a wrecked boulder treating his own injuries, while Luna was trying to heal Theo's broken leg. Hermione's eyes widened and she turned to Ron so quickly she almost caught whiplash. "Where's Draco?"

Something flickered in Ron's eyes. "He's right behind."

Hermione spun round, searching for a familiar head of white blonde hair amidst the crowd. "Where?"

"He'll be here soon. Let's just wait with the others."

Reluctantly, Hermione allowed Ginny to lead her off and was soon healing the other members of 17-65. Theo had a broken leg, Ginny's wrist was fractured and Blaise had taken the brunt of two Crucios.

"I think we can win," mused Luna, after awhile. "We seem to have far more people fighting on our side this time."

Theo chuckled almost mirthlessly. "Hate to piss on your parade, Luna, but the Dark Lord also has far more people fighting on his side this time. What you saw earlier was just a taste - call it a prelude, if you want - of what's to come. Hey, Pansy, what's wrong?"

Pansy limped over to the group, her face withdrawn. "Tracey's dead," she said, settling beside Blaise who wrapped his arms around her. "I didn't even - I mean, I just met her again."

"The D.A. isn't fairing too well," said Ginny. "The Order's lost a couple of people here and there too."

"It's a war, Ginny." Ron's jaw was clenched. Hermione could see that it was taking him a huge effort not to look in the direction of his old schoolmates, to count how many there were left and how many who were no longer there. "People die all the time."

"Yes - but we've buried too many. Some we couldn't even bury at all."

Blaise tossed Ginny a phial, before passing two others to Ron and Luna. "This might help. Numbing potion," he explained, when they shot him a quizzical look. "Draco and I concocted it some time ago - well, that and the anti-disarming charm. This potion dulls your emotions while you're on the battlefield."

"It's what we drink to kill people," Theo quipped, with a wry smile.

"Or, in this case - to forget," Blaise assured Luna when she looked at Theo in alarm. "This isn't a time for mourning. We have to keep our grief at bay. Drink up."

Hermione faded out from the conversation. Her mind was in a whirl and she was worried sick for the others. The crowd had thinned out by now, and almost everyone was gathered.

The Neville came running up, herding the last of the crowd into the Courtyard. He ran up to them, a streak of blood trickling from the side of his forehead, and crouched down to catch his breath. "It's done," he said breathlessly, "I blew up the Viaduct. I had to."

Hermione felt her heart plummet. "What?"

"I - " Neville's eyes widened when he noticed her pale face. "Oh, bloody hell, Hermione - "

"You blew up the Viaduct?" She repeated, her voice deathly calm. She was suddenly aware that everyone's eyes were trained on her as she got to her feet, slowly but steadily making her way towards the entrance of the Courtyard.

Neville reached out for her. "Hermione, I'm so sorry - "

The blood rushed to her ears as she stumbled forward. People were reaching out to grab her but she pushed them aside, running to the low archway that led to the now obliterated bridge.

She saw it at last - the dark looming bridge that was blown to bits somewhere in the middle. What was left on the other side was utterly charred, clear evidence of an infernal fire that had surged through and devastated everything in its path. And that was when it suddenly hit her, the frightening, irrevocable harsh truth of reality.

It destroyed her.

She was clapping a shaky hand over her mouth before she could scream into the silence, but inside her head was nothing but screaming, long and painful and devastating. Then there were frantic sounds of people calling her name as she surged forward, heading for the dark hallway, but Ron's arms had tightened around her before she could get far.

"He'll be fine, Hermione!" Ron's voice was harsh, as if he was struggling to hold back tears of his own. "He'll be fine, you don't know yet. He could still be out there."

He pulled her towards him to wrap his arms around her. In the haze of tears, she could see them all - Theo struggling up as Blaise and Luna pushed him down, Pansy, Ginny and Neville running over to her.

Hermione ignored them all and kept her eyes trained on the empty bridge. "Come back to me," she whispered, her plea an empty echo in the tired wind. "Please come back to me."

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Draco's disappearance into the crowd had only been the first of many trials and tribulations he had to endure within the next twenty minutes. It took him awhile to track down the Death-Eater who had started the Fiendfyre. It was Crabbe Senior, and Draco had no wish to kill the man, so he'd simply placed him under an Imperius curse.

He'd then ordered the Death-Eater to curb the Fiendfyre, while he took off running in the direction of the Viaduct, just behind the last group of people, who were being herded across the bridge by Neville. He was less than thirty feet away from them, but the infernal flames had been catching up. If Crabbe Senior didn't stop the flames in time, they would consume him, and then the rest of the school.

There were two things that came to Draco's mind at that moment. The first was that he needed to survive. The second was that Hermione needed to survive.

The second overrode the first, and he was yelling at Neville before he could even process the implications of his request, his voice a sharp order in the tired wind and deafening flames. "Blow up the bridge!"

Neville threw a horrified glance over his shoulder. "But - "

"Now!"

Drawing in a reluctant breath, Neville held his wand out. "Reducto!"

A portion of the bridge disintegrated into rubble. Neville was forced to run before the rest of the bridge collapsed under his feet. Draco watched as Neville dragged several people across the other side. Then it was his turn, but the gap was daunting, to say the least.

And impossible to cross.

"Fuck it," he mumbled under his breath, before sprinting the last few feet forward, hurling himself off the bridge.

It was almost like flying. For a moment, he felt himself hover in mid-air, in free fall, his legs dragged out in a perfect leap forward.

Then his hands connected with the precipice on the other side. The jagged edges scraped the flesh off his palms as he slipped. The air blurred around him and he couldn't register what was happening, couldn't breathe, as he scrambled for something, anything, to hold on to.

His lifeline came mid-fall - a hand came out of nowhere latched onto his wrist. Sharp pain shot through his arm as his elbow tore with the sudden momentum, but he gritted his teeth and glanced up.

"Potter?"

Harry grinned down at him. "Contrary to what you may think, Malfoy, you're not the Boy Who Lived, so don't ever pull a stunt like that again."

Draco was so relieved that he couldn't think of anything to say. Instead, he hauled himself up and let out a breath once he gained his balance on the broom.

"How - " he rasped. "How did you - "

"I was circling the area," Harry replied, as he flew them towards the Courtyard. "Couldn't see you with the rest of them, so I figured you'd gotten stuck out here somehow."

"And Hermione?"

"I saw Ron and Ginny bringing her across the Viaduct. She's safe."

Harry lowered the broom to a secluded corner of the Courtyard. Draco collapsed onto the ground, ignoring the cobblestones digging into his back and the numbness in his right arm.

"This is a one-off thing," he murmured, slowly peeling open his eyes to look at Harry. "But thanks, Potter."

Harry grinned widely. "You're welcome. Now will you stop being such a prick?"

"Don't count on it - "

Someone slammed into him before he could finish his sentence. He caught a faint rush of citrus that was purely Hermione, a mop of curls smothering him and arms wrapping around his neck. She sobbed his name over and over and over again until he could barely make sense of the syllables.

"Hermione." He propped himself up on his good elbow and pressed his lips to her neck. He tasted the salt on her skin, the stench of blood in her hair. It was absolutely fitting at a time like this. "It's okay, I'm here now, I'm safe."

She pulled back, brushing the back of her hand against her tear-stained cheek. "I thought I lost you." She choked back a sob. "When Neville said he - he blew up the Viaduct - "

"I told him to."

"I just - I thought - "

He kissed her. Brusingly, painfully - like he was trying to make sure that she was real and he was finally able to breathe again. He tangled his fingers in her hair and dragged her down so that she was hovering over him.

And she kissed him back with fervent abandon, delving her slick, hot tongue into his mouth and clutching his face tightly between her hands. He tasted tears and blood on her lips, an ever-pressing reminder of the situation they were thrust into, but forgot all about it in the next instant, because Hermione Granger was a kind of aphrodisiac that one lost themselves in, the world could spin madly on but she was the epicentre of everything that mattered.

Hermione finally pulled back when Harry let out a discreet cough, but she continued to freckle swift kisses on Draco's face. "Merlin," she whispered so softly that no one else could hear but him, "I love you."

His lips quirked in a wry smirk. "My name's Draco, actually."

Hermione laughed, in spite of the tears still streaking down her face. She reached over Draco and pulled Harry into a hug. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Anytime, Hermione."

"Malfoy!" Ginny and Ron were running up, with the rest of the group following behind. Theo was the first to hobble over, aiming a well-deserved punch on Draco's shoulder.

"You arse!" Theo's eyes were red-rimmed, despite the aggravated expression on his face. "Don't fucking scare us like that again!"

Then Ron and Ginny were threatening Draco in a similar way, while Blaise, who had seen the disjointed angle that Draco's elbow was turned in, hastily reached for his arm to heal him. Pansy was a shrieking mess as she hugged him, and Luna's thrilled smile seemed to light the whole atmosphere. Then Neville came up, looking rather shamefaced as he sat down on the ground, eyeing Draco with evident concern.

Draco noticed, and he nudged Neville. "Not your fault, Longbottom. If you didn't blow up the Viaduct, the fire would've spread over to the Courtyard. You did good."

"The fire's gone now," Luna mused, looking in the direction of the ruined bridge.

"So it's just a waiting game from here on out?" Ron asked.

"Well, there's not much else we can do," Pansy pointed out reasonably. "I've no doubt that Voldemort's on his way over, and he's trying to break through the shields as we speak."

"Okay, do we have a plan?"

"We could try Disillusionment charms again." Ginny shrugged. "It's a sneaky attack - might keep us alive."

"So - Disillusionment charms until Neville or Harry gets to face off Voldemort?"

"Sounds good to me," Theo said. "Draco, what do you think?"

Draco hedged. He looked at his friends. Their faces were expectant, drawn tight with anxiety. Then he turned to Hermione, and realisation dawned on her face when she noticed the determined gleam in his eyes.

"That's the plan," he said at last. He climbed to his feet and turned to Harry. "Except - you have to disarm me first."

Silence fell on the group.

"Me?" Harry was the first to break the silence. He frowned in confusion. "I don't understand."

In his peripheral vision, Draco noticed that the tension within the group had not gone unnoticed by the people around them. Several people had begun to head towards them, and he braced himself.

It was time.

"Because, in order to defeat Voldemort, you need the allegiance of the Elder Wand." Dragging a frustrated hand through his hair, Draco met Harry's gaze frankly and sighed. "And I am the Master of the Elder Wand."