Lucky

Betrayal

It hadn't been anything like she'd expected. It had been very quick, very painless, and now, very empty. Oh well. At least, if this was death, it was peaceful. Nothing but darkness and silence.

Wait - perhaps there was more. There was a voice - a man's voice, calling her name softly. She felt herself being shaken gently, and opened her eyes. "Dad?"

She was in a forest, the indigo sky of the evening above her. It looked exactly the same as the forest where she had met her demise.

"Dad?" She called out again.

"No, no, it's me," a distracted voice told her. "It's Abraxas Malfoy."

Morgana sat up and looked in the direction the voice was coming from. It was true. Her father was nowhere to be seen. The only two people in the clearing were her and Abraxas Malfoy.

Leaping to her feet a little shakily, Morgana drew her wand and pointed it at the young man before her. "You!" She growled. "You stay away from me!" Malfoy dropped his wand and put his hands up in surrender. Morgana looked at him, eyebrows raised. He clearly had some plan up his sleeve.

"So I'm not dead?" Morgana questioned. Abraxas shook his head. "Alive as ever, clearly." Morgana stared at him. "How?" She wondered aloud. "I mean - he shot the killing curse at me. So - it didn't kill me?" Abraxas shook his head again. "No. It didn't kill you. Because it didn't even hit you."

Morgana looked at him, confused beyond belief. "Care to explain?" She demanded sarcastically. Abraxas shrugged. "Well basically, it was all a matter of luck. When Rodolphus shot the curse at you, he was focused solely on you, and everyone else on him. No one noticed me perform a non-verbal stupefy as I pretended to block you. So... really, you just collapsed. You probably hit your head when you fell, because you were out longer than I anticipated. And they were all all too busy celebrating to think of looking for a pulse. Rather quick thinking on my part, I must say," he added smugly.

"Hold on, so - you literally just stunned me?" Abraxas nodded. "And that convinced them I was dead?" He nodded again. Morgana exhaled slowly, running her hands through her hair, confused and disorientated. "Well...um... thanks, I guess?" She told him. "But - why? Why in the name of Merlin's left ankle would you save my life, Malfoy?"

Abraxas sighed, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Because this was never the life I wanted," he told her finally. "It was the life my family chose for me. And I didn't really want you dead." Morgana raised her eyebrows. "Why not?" She puzzled. He shrugged. "I don't know!" He cried in exasperation. "Just stop asking questions! I saved your life - good enough?"

Morgana contemplated it and nodded. "Yep. Thanks. But where are the rest of them now?" Abraxas paled slightly. "Um... they're heading for Hogwarts," he told Morgana, not quite meeting her eyes. Morgana's heart stopped. "No," she breathed. "NO! I thought he was just bluffing, that he wouldn't actually go, but-" she breathed heavily, beginning to pace. "What do we do, what do we do...."

She turned to Abraxas. "What does he want with Hogwarts, anyway? Why would he attack it?" Abraxas shrugged. "To display his power? To scare them? To spark a campaign of terror just like Voldemort did in his day?"

Morgana grabbed her DA coin out of her pocket. "What time is it?" She demanded. Abraxas checked his watch. "Half past nine." Morgana immediately set the time on the coin to nine thirty and slipped it back into her pocket, feeling it warm up slightly to alert everyone of the meeting. She then drew her wand from her pocket, thought hard of every good memory she could muster, and cast a patronus. "Tell Emma Fortis that Rodolphus Lestrange is on his way to Hogwarts, and to prepare the DA to fight."