Draco's POV:

"Hi, Lizzie! Look at what Draco and I found!" Sammy exclaimed, holding out the grapes, his cheeks stuffed with them.

"I see you brought back company," I spoke, noting the kids who had come back with Lizzie. All of whom were Gryffindors much to my chagrin.

"Erm- yeah. Everyone, this is Sammy. He's a second year Ravenclaw that Draco and I rescued from the dungeons where the Carrows had him chained up for dropping an apple at dinner. Sammy, this is Neville Longbottom," Lizzie explained, gesturing towards the short, blonde Gryffindor next to her, who waved at little Sammy. "He's the friend that I was telling you about. He and a few of his other friends have come to stay here with you. This is Ginny Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, and I'm afraid that I don't know anyone else's name." She frowned at the group behind her, guilty that she didn't know their names.

"Hi, Sammy," said a girl who stepped forward. She had dark skin and golden hair so frizzy that it rivaled Granger's. She was in my Dark Arts class. "I'm Lavender Brown."

A girl with long black hair that was pulled back into a plait who had stood next to Lavender stepped forward as well. I remembered that she was the one who had a twin in Ravenclaw. "I'm Parvati Patil."

"Seamus Finnigan, here," Finnigan quipped raising a hand in greeting.

A boy with mousy brown hair grinned with large teeth and waved towards the boy who sat beside me. "Hiya, Sammy! I'm Colin Creevey," he introduced himself with glee.

A boy who looked almost exactly like Creevey but was significantly smaller stepped forward and shyly introduced himself as Dennis Creevey, Colin's little brother.

"Natalie McDonald, pleasure to meet you, Sammy," said a girl with curly blonde hair.

"In case you hadn't known, I'm Lizzie Samuels and this is Draco Malfoy," Lizzie said rather unnecessarily.

As if reading my mind, Longbottom spoke up. "Oh, come on Liz, there's no need to introduce you two. Everyone knows you guys."

"As for why, well that's a touchy subject," Weasley began, not all that happy to see me and Lizzie. Longbottom turned his head and glared at her, stopping her from continuing.

Lizzie pursed her lips and looked to the ground, knowing that Weasley was implying that everyone knew us due to our affiliation to Voldemort and our murder of the previous headmaster.

"Alright everyone," I spoke loudly. "Let's clear this up now. Yes, Lizzie and I were dragged into some dark matters because of our parents, but let me make this one-hundred percent clear: we did not do anything by choice. You-Know-Who kidnapped Lizzie's mum and told her that is she ever wanted to see her again, we had to kill Dumbledore. So we tried, but in the end, we were not the cause of the Headmaster's death. Another Death Eater stepped in after we refused to do anything that night and killed Dumbledore. But Lizzie's mum died, and because of this, we both swore on our graves that we would do anything in our power to bring the monster down. So if you would like to hold our past against us, tell me your story and I'll hold it against you as well, because I can guarantee that your lives are not any purer than mine," I sneered, staring straight at Weasley.

"We want You-Know-Who dead just as much as you do, if not more. So, yes, please let our past go and fight alongside us," Lizzie said quietly, looking at them with pleading eyes.

"No one holds that against you guys," Longbottom spoke. "Like you said, Malfoy, we have all done things we regret."

"Thank you, Neville," Lizzie smiled softly. "But it's important that You-Know-Who doesn't find out about our insubordination. Draco and I are still acting as loyalists and are planning on sharing any information that might help us win this war."

"Your secret is safe with us, right guys?" Finnigan cajoled, followed with a chorus of 'yes's, some of which were hesitant, but said anyway.

"Thank you, guys," Lizzie smiled before turning to me. "Two things: one, where did you get that food? Two, where did all those hammocks come from?" She pointed at the rest of the room behind us with a frown.

"That door doesn't lead to the kitchens, and I'm not sure. When Sammy and I got back from getting the food, they were just there. I figure the Room knew that you were bringing more people, so it created more places to sleep. There's also more showers and toilets. It's fit for half of Hogwarts to stay in here," I replied coolly, popping a grape into my mouth.

"Where does it lead then?" Longbottom asked curiously, butting his way into our conversation. I noticed that his Gryffindor pals were listening as well.

"Hogsmeade," I replied.

"Hogsmeade?" Weasley repeated, looking confused.

"That is indeed what I said," I said shortly.

"Where exactly in Hogsmeade?" Lizzie asked.

"The Hogshead. Turns out the guy who owns it is Dumbledore's brother. He gave me and Sammy here a bit of food after I explained our situation. I don't think he realized I was a Malfoy though," I frowned, not meaning to say that last part out loud.

"Bloody hell, Dumbledore's brother?" Finnigan gaped. "I didn't know he had a ruddy brother."

"You guys didn't know that?" Patil questioned, looking around at the group she had arrived with, all of whom were staring at me with expressions of shock or confusion.

"You did?" Longbottom countered, just as surprised as everyone else.

"Well, yeah. His name is Aberforth. He looks quite like Dumbledore. That is Albus Dumbledore, I mean," she said.

"How did you bloody know that?" Finnigan gawked.

"Padma talks about this book she read once quite a bit. Do none of you honestly know about what happened?" she asked, looking genuinely confused that no one but her knew about this.

"I guess not," Longbottom replied.

"Well I'll tell you the story later. We should get settled down, don't you think?" Patil offered, gesturing towards the other hammocks.

As the Gryffindors dispersed, Lizzie walked forward and sat on the floor beside me, still frowning. "Dumbledore had a brother?" she whispered, trying to keep her horrified tone from reaching Sammy's ears, who sat beside us happily sipping at the soup that Aberforth had shared with us.

"Yeah. He didn't seem to bothered by the fact that Albus had died though. I don't think they were close," I muttered.

"He just gave you food?"

"When we stepped through the other side of the tunnel, he was sitting there, eating his own dinner at his dining table. We scared him a bit, but once I got him to put his wand down, we sat down and I explained that we came from Hogwarts and were hiding in the Room of Requirement from the Carrows because of what they did to Sammy and that the Room had provided the passage for us. He gave us some of his food and said that we were welcome to return for more if we needed any. I'm not sure he anticipated there being so many of us though."

"I'm sure more will be joining us too. The Carrows have made lots of enemies here," Lizzie said, watching the Gryffindors unshrink their trunks and slide them under their hammocks. "I just hope this doesn't get out of hand."

"Me too," I agreed, watching as Sammy grinned at me with a pumpkin juice mustache. I couldn't help but smile. Somehow, I had taken a liking to this little boy and I wanted to protect him as if her were my little brother.

"We can't stay here, you know," Lizzie murmured.

"I know."

"If we go missing on the same night that half of Gryffindor house, most of whom have been fighting against the Carrows, someone might get suspicious."

"I know."

And Merlin did I know. I wanted nothing more than to disappear with Lizzie into a mundane village far away from here where Voldemort couldn't reach us and we didn't have to live in constant fear. But not only would Voldemort find us no matter where we were, but because of Sammy, I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay and fight with every ounce of my being so that kids like Sammy don't have to suffer at the hands of the Carrows or Voldemort ever again.