Sapphire (Lazuli Book #3) - Harry Potter Fan Fiction (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter Twenty-One

Our feet pound along the stone floor as we sprint, carrying as many brooms as we can. I sent some of the other Slytherins off to help with building up the defences, but myself, Sophia, Blaise, Crabbe, Theodora and some first years ran as quickly as we could to the Quidditch locker rooms down by the Quidditch, grabbing as many brooms as we could. It had been Sophia's idea, her words being that "if they can attack from the sky, so can we."

The brooms were nothing special, just standard brooms that Madam Hooch used to teach first-years to fly. I remembered my first flying lesson, and how amazed everybody had been that I could already fly. Little did they know that I had 5 older brothers, and I used to steal their brooms and practice as a child.

I looked over my shoulder as we sprinted back up the hill, and gasped in horror as the Quidditch pitch suddenly erupted into flames. The flames were so hot that I could feel them even this far away, and beside me a first-year whimpered. I looked up at the sky and saw a silvery veil beginning to fall slowly towards the ground in front of us. We were never going to make it.

"We can't run!" I shouted, wrapping my leg over one of the brooms. "We've got to fly, it's our only chance!"

The others didn't take much persuasion. Those first-years who couldn't fly clambered onto the brooms of the older students and I didn't hesitate to kick off the ground and soar forward. "Hold on!" I called to the little girl who was burying her face in my shoulder fearfully. The veil was falling, still falling. If we didn't get there in time then we'd be trapped out here, left to the mercy of the Death Eaters. I wasn't about to let myself fall into their hands again.

Up ahead, Sophia and the boy she was carrying soared past the veil and landed at the door of the castle, climbing off the broom and waiting for the rest. Theodora and her passenger were through, then Blaise and his, and then myself and the girl I was carrying. We touched down next to the others and watched in horror as Crabbe got closer and closer, but not close enough.

He saw that he wasn't going to make it, and looked at the rest of us sadly. Then, he jolted the broom to a stop so suddenly that his first year went flying over the top and soared just under the veil, landing in a bed of feathers that Sophia had transfigured from nowhere. He had saved the child, but sacrificed himself in doing so.

Crabbe nodded at me a final time as the veil touched the floor and he was trapped out. "Give my regards to Draco," he called to me, before he shut his eyes and flew straight at the veil. There was a burst of light, and then Vincent Crabbe was nothing but ash and dust.

Sophia screamed Crabbe's name, running towards the veil only to be stopped by Blaise, who wrapped his arms around her and held her back. My hand went to my mouth in shock and horror; Crabbe was dead? He'd been one of my closest friends, and now he was gone.

"Come on Li, we have to go," Blaise urged me quietly as he dragged a sobbing Sophia past. I nodded numbly and turned to follow, grabbing the left-over brooms and handing some to Theodora to hold. "All of you need to go down to the common room now, and stay there until somebody comes for you," I addressed the first-years. I wouldn't have their young blood on my hands. They all nodded obediently and rushed off, so young and afraid. Theodora and I didn't waste another moment, instead we followed Blaise and Sophia back inside the castle, and headed towards the Entrance Courtyard, where we had arranged to meet with Neville.

We crashed around the corners and shoved past other students, eventually reaching the courtyard. Theodora and I dropped the dozens of brooms down by the door and she ran off to start some other task, but before I could I overheard McGonagall and Flitwick talking.

"You do realise, of course, that we can't keep out You-Know-Who indefinitely?" Flitwick sighed as he stared out into the black night. "That doesn't mean we can't delay him," McGonagall retorted. "And his name is Voldemort, Filius. You might as well use it, he's going to try to kill you either way."