{23} Blood Deal

Draco sat as calmly as he could in front of the balding wizard. He could see the sweat beads trickle down his forehead, as the wizard nervously wiped it away.

"Tell me, old man. Who hired you and your messed up bloody pricks to kill my girlfriend?" Draco asked in a shaky voice, trying to not let his anger get the better of him and to stop himself from killing the man in front of him.

The house elf's message scared him, but his time with Lord Voldermort gave him access to all the high security places. This place was the dreariest of them all. Bounty Wizards were merciless, greedy and would do anything for the right price. That one kill would give the Death Eater glory beyond recognition. It was the one personality Draco could never do. Killing innocent lives for the sake of satisfying a revenge was ruthless and wrong.

Draco watched the bald man stare at him with a hungry, greedy look. A shiver ran down his spine as the emotionless man sweated more.

Licking his lips, the man smiled a toothless smile and stated in a slick voice, "Draco Malfoy. How...sweet to see here. Have you, let's say, changed your ways?"

Draco sneered. "Changed my ways? Your ways are heartless. I was just a pawn in your little game. Family honor, did you call it? Well, to inform you, I don't give a damn about family honor. My father can rot himself in Azkaban."

The bald man smiled again, a wicked grin playing on the corner of his lips. His eyes twinkled as he sat forward on his desk. Draco shuddered involuntarily, but his gaze never left the man's. The man calmly stated after what seemed like an unending staring contest, "I see. Well, what brings you to my cozy office, if what you said is true?"

Draco sucked in a breath, anger flashed in his eyes as he leaned forward and pressed his wand into the man's neck. His silky voice penetrated the man's ear, "Who hired your pathetic services against me and my girlfriend?"

The bald man flicked out his tongue like a snake, before sneering back, "I don't give out information at will. You're going to have to do better than that."

Draco pressed his wand further into the man's neck, tempted to just say the killing curse. He hissed again into the man's ear, "I wish you wouldn't tempt me, old man. Two lives are on the line, and probably more, if my friends get in the way. Now, last chance, who was stupid enough to come to you and kill my girlfriend?"

The man's Adam apple pulsed against Draco's wand. The beads of sweat was pouring down rapidly now, and he didn't have the nerve to wipe it away. Licking his lips again, he rasped out, "Only for something in return."

Draco knew it was a trap before the man even said it. He didn't loosen his grip on his wand but only barely managed to say, "What do you want, Death Eater?"

The man smiled slightly before rasping out again, "A blood deal."

"Whose blood?" Draco nervously stated, not liking one bit where this was going.

The man calmly stated, "Blood of the son of the b***h that destroyed our name. Bring me his dead body, and I'll give you the information. If not, I'll kill the traitor mudblood and you won't live to see the day you're past life 

came to life once again."

Draco pulled himself away from the man, wand wavering at his neck. He wanted to scream. He couldn't kill Harry Potter. It was an impossible task and suffice to say he actually didn't see any wrong in him. He was somewhat considering him a friend, and Hermione would never forgive him.

Draco relaxed a bit, not wanted to show fear in front of the Death Eater. He had no choice, but he still felt like he needed to accept, and still come up with a plan to save both their lives. He owed it to them both for saving him.

Taking in a rattled breath, Draco slowly brought the wand back into his robes and gazed at the man with a burning hatred, and despite his own conscious telling him no, he whispered out, "Deal." and whisked himself out before he could do anything else.

Draco returned to St. Mungo's, and found Harry sleeping by Hermione's bedside. His heart was beating so fast, he didn't know how to stop it. Sighing to himself, he tucked himself back in Hermione's bed, and curled up next to her, talking to her, holding on to her for dear life, not noticing the tears spilling down his face that he kept bottled up for so long. He fell into a dreamless sleep.

***********************************************************

"Malfoy! Malfoy! Wake up!" Harry shouted out a little louder than he wanted the brunette to.

"Wot?" Draco said sleepily. Hermione was keeping him warm, and it was a feeling he really didn't want to let go. He realized how much he did love her and he wanted to see this work out.

"Healers need some time with Hermione. They don't want us in here, while they check her out. Let's go grab something from the Leaky Cauldron. Might take awhile."

Nodding slighly, he extracted himself from Hermione and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and follow Harry to the Leaky Cauldron. Both ordered a butterbeer, and sat in silence drinking it. Harry watched the blonde and asked casually, "Something bothering you, Malfoy?"

Draco raised his head slightly and said sarcastically, "Oh yes, Potter. Everything is just f*****g peachy. As if my girlfriend gets cursed and stalked and winds up in St. Mungo's daily. Yep, just another daily ritual in the life of Draco Malfoy."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Stalked?"

Draco silently cursed himself. He didn't want anyone to know, but shrugged it off and said, "Its just a feeling, Potter. Just because your Hermione's best friend, doesn't mean I'll share everything with you all of a sudden."

Harry brushed off the remark but stated cooly, "Just making conversation, Malfoy. No need to get snippy with me. Hermione would bite your head off if she knew you were being rude to me … again. Story of my life, Malfoy."

Draco let out a frustrated sigh. "Sorry, Potter. I want to tell you, be I fear it might lead to someone's death." With that he paid for his butterbeer and left.

Harry let the words mull over him, shaking his head. Impossible. He was about to leave when he was roughly pulled back down in the chair. A glimpse of red hair appeared in front of him.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? My best mate with the ferret?" he said snidely

"What are you doing here, Ron?" Harry said in a nervous voice.

Author's Note

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