Pawns | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

Allegiance

I could barely hear myself screaming.

Everything was moving at half-speed, and I could only hear the muffled sound of my surroundings mixed with my own heart beat.

I saw that Tonks was staring at me, shocked and confused. She began to kneel next to Lupin, looking at his wounds.

Suddenly, Draco pushed me forward, forcing me to step over Bill's body and head up the stairs of the astronomy tower. I almost threw up, not sure if the Weasley was dead or alive.

Light was still bouncing off all the walls and it was by chance that we weren't hit by any of the flying debris.

We climbed up a few of the stairs before I needed to stop, my numb legs not pushing me forward anymore. The staircase was barricaded at the bottom by the other Death Eaters and so I was able to stop half way up - safe from the jets of lights, but not wishing to continue climbing.

"What have I done?" I whispered to myself, leaning against the wall of stairwell, hand to my forehead, trying to stop the pounding headache.

"You saved me Arabella," he said, arms on other side of me, trying to calm me down.

But his words were no consolation. I started to hyperventilate, feeling dizzy and faint.

"No, what I have done!" I said loudly, realizing how serious this was.

The whole Order would now be after me too. To them, I was just as bad as the Death Eaters; I was on their side for all the Order knew. But my spell was only to protect Draco, not to help the Death Eaters.

Because, despite how mad I was at him, I didn't want to see Draco hurt.

Tears were welling in my eyes but I didn't have enough emotion left in me to cry. I was too drained to really feel anything beyond shock and disbelief. My whole body was going numb now and I couldn't move from that spot.

Draco started to speak urgently. "Don't move! Promise me!" he said, shaking me. "I don't want you involved in this part," he said, looking into my eyes, his face only inches from mine.

I barely had any strength nor mental capacity to argue. I nodded once and he took off, climbing the stairs two at a time to the top of the astronomy tower, leaving me against the wall.

As soon as I heard his foot hit the top step, I heard him shout, "expelliarums."

I didn't hear another's wand hit the ground over the noise, but I still somehow knew that who ever it was up there was now wandless.

Curiosity, or perhaps stupidity, overtook me and I managed to climb one step higher to hear better.

"Who else is here?" I heard Draco ask, voice unsteady.

"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?" I head an old man's voice say - Dumbledore.

I took one step higher, listening to Draco tell our Headmaster that there are Death Eaters in the school, fighting just down below with members of the Order.

My ears, by their own accord, focused back on the sounds coming from the bottom of the staircase and I shuddered, remembering that I'd cursed Lupin and stepped over Bill's likely dead body.

"You don't know what I'm capable of. You don't know what I've done!" Draco's angry voice yelled, capturing my attention once more.

I tried hard to focus my hearing on their conversation, trying to slow down my heart so that the blood pounding in my ears would stop making so much noise.

I heard him explain that he got Death Eaters into the school by mending the vanishing cabinet in the Room of Requirement. He told Dumbledore that the other of the pair was in Borgin and Burkes.