What If

By the time everyone of them arrived back at Ron and Hermione's place, the fading sun's beams turned to a shockingly bloody color that promised no good to the four figures gathered in the living room. They all sat down wrapped in a heavy, thoughtful silence. What should they do?

Ginny was the first to come up with an idea.

"I think we should just go and fight them. We'll improvise. There's nothing much we can plan, is there?"

"Well... But that would be really dangerous!"

"I know. But look! We can never be prepared enough. I suggest to go there and let ourselves being led by our instincts. I know it's risky. But we saw what happened when Harry and the Aurors went to fight them. They had a plan-"

Ginny trailed off, and again, everybody sinked in a thoughtful silence.

"Okay, but how do we get in? We can't fight them if they stay inside their shield." reasoned Ron who seemed to surrender to Ginny's plan first.

"I'll go inside. On my own." said Draco quietly who hadn't let his voice to be heard until that. "I can try to do something. Maybe get them out."

"But it wouldn't be good if they came out all. We can't fight thirty or more Death Eaters!"

"Yeah, Ron is right. We have to think before we act. There are too many risks!"

"Fine. But let's do it quickly, because I'm aching to get a Death Eater hexed." sighed Ginny.

***

A long chain of arguments started, which hadn't stopped until late at night when the four desperately twinkling eyes started to get unfocused and heavy lidded. They were all exhausted, but they could tell proudly that they had a plan.

So this time, when Ron and Hermione retreated to their bedroom, while Ginny went to the guestroom and Draco made his bed on the couch in the living room, they weren't as nervous as they had been a day before.

All four of them knew what an important day they were facing, so they tried to sleep as much as they could with their hearts pounding in excitement.

***

The first weak beams of the morning sun woke Draco, who rubbed his eyes tiredly until the significance of that day dawned on him. Then his eyes widened and he weren't feeling tired anymore.

He dressed up quickly and went to the kitchen to wait for the others to wake up.

He was sitting on a chair, gazing out of the window trying to decide what he was seeing was a mist of smoke emitted by the slowly moving cars below or just a natural fog, when Hermione stepped into the room.

"Oh, good morning, Draco!"

"Morning."

"How are you feeling?"

Draco only shrugged and looked down at his feet. Neither he knew how he was feeling. Excited because finally he could get revenge on his father for the terrible childhood he got? Or worried because he couldn't be sure if their plan would be successful? Or afraid because maybe Harry would never know they'd liked each other-

He sighed deeply and hoisted his gaze to look at Hermione, only to see that she was watching him with a hint of concern (or pity?) in her eyes, with the two sleepy redhead behind her.

Neither of them spoke during breakfast. They were all occupied with their own thoughts about their plan.

Draco was toying with his spoon, watcing as the metal cutlery drew patterns in his porridge, wondering what to do.

The day before they talked through all their opportunities. There were some minor arguments, but the thing they could all agree was that Draco was the only one who could get into the fortress. So they agreed that he would go in.

"Well, that wouldn't be a problem" thought Draco "if my father wouldn't want to kill me immediately." And that was what the others hadn't wanted to understand. They all assumed that Draco would be captured. "But what if they'll kill me on the spot?"

Draco shook his head in an attempt to chase his dark thoughts away, and went through their plan again.

***

The forest floor was damp and slippery. They had to walk slowly not to slip so they wouldn't drew any attention to themselves. When they reached the edge of the forest, the same spot they were standing before Draco got into the headquarters to rescue Harry so many days before.

"Deja vu" muttered Ron.

"Evrything will be alright" stated Hermione, however a hint of doubt was audible in her trembling voice. "We'll meet you inside. Good luck!"

Suddenly Draco felt his mouth dry. Strangly enough he felt an urge to say something nice to Granger and the Weasleys, to compliment them, to say sorry to them and then say goodbye... But he knew he couldn't do that, because these three people in front of him had faith in him, they trusted him to get them inside the fortress and help them get their best friend back.

"Yeah. Thanks" he said finally and started to walk towards the transparently gleaming shield. He shuddered as his last memories floated in his mind. He stopped abruptly, his knees gave in and he dropped on the wet soil.

He heard a muffled scream and a shout.

"Hermione, no! They can see you!"

But apparently Hermione didn't care if the Death Eaters spotted her. She ran up to Draco, crouched down and shook him gently.

"Draco, are you alright? What happened? Was it the shield?"

"No... Yes."

"You can't enter?"

"I... I can't do it! I can see him. When he was lying here... lifeless..."

Hermione stroked his back not knowing what to do or say. She knew Draco loved Harry, and she knew she couldn't force him to go through with the plan. But still-

But then something happened that none of them expected. A tall hooded figure appeared on the other side of the shield, getting nearer and nearer with his wand aloft.