The Power of a Wish Chapter Seven

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Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. Neither is Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore..... you get the idea. They all belong to J. K Rowling.

The Power of a Wish

Chapter Seven

'...' indicates thought

*...* indicates emphasis

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From last time:

As soon as my feet felt the dirt ground of the Forbidden Forest floor I gave a small sigh of relief. I was back.

I could have sworn I saw some lights to my side, but they vanished before I was even sure. Before I could ponder that, I felt a blow slam me across the face. I went flying and crashed into a tree.

Father stalked towards me, a scowl on his face. "If you ever," he spat, "insult the Malfoy name even more then you already have, I'll kill you."

I struggled to stand, my body telling me to stay down, my pride telling me never to give up. "I'm sorry Father. Next time I'll be sure to follow your every instruction."

He backhanded me across the face. "Don't you dare mock me Dragon. Now you'd better make me proud." Then in a pop he was gone.

I collapsed on the ground, falling to my knees in a defeated pose. My body still wracked with pain I felt my eyes close, welcoming the coming darkness.

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"Uh... What just happened?" asked Harry as the forest once again lay silent after the departure of Lucius Malfoy. The three Gryffindors looked at the still form of Malfoy, whose right arm still clutched his left.

Cautiously, Hermione approached the fallen boy and kneeled on the damp ground next to him. Gently, she took his right arm and pulled it toward her, attempting to dislodge his death grip on his upper left arm.

"What are you doing?" asked Ron looking at Hermione, whose efforts seemed to be in vain.

"What's it look like?" she snapped. Then she looked at Ron, a strained expression on her face. "Sorry. But I'm trying to see what's wrong. Maybe if I twist it like this...."

A small yelp escaped from the unconscious Slytherin and if anything his grip became even tighter. Hermione groaned in frustration. "Listen Malfoy, we can't help you if you don't move your arm. Please?"

The pale hand didn't release its clutch on the arm. "He can't hear you Mione," said Harry quietly. "But we can all tell he's in intense pain. Something happened, and it wasn't just a beating. I don't think Lucius did this all by himself. Remember what he said?"

"You're right," said Hermione slowly. "He said something like if you ever insult the Malfoy name more then he already had, Lucius would kill him."

"So that would mean," said Ron, understanding dawning on his freckled face, "That someone else was there that did *not* have Malfoy blood. Right?"

"Exactly," said Harry. "Now, who could-" Harry was interrupted by a pained moan emitting from Draco. The blond haired boy was shaking violently, now curled up on the ground, trying to conserve body heat.

Hermione laid a hand on his cheek, before quickly drawing back. "He's freezing!" she exclaimed. Harry removed his robe and handed it silently over to Hermione. "Harry, don't you need this?"

"He needs it more than I do Hermione. Look at him, he's even paler then normal, if that is even possible."

The brunette nodded and draped the cloak over Draco, tucking it in at the edges. "What do we do know?"

"Shouldn't we move him to the castle?" supplied Ron. "We can get him warmed up there and it is defiantly safer then being in the middle of the Forbidden Forest."

"What time is it Harry?" asked Hermione.

"It's about five."

Just then Ron's stomach grumbled. "We haven't eaten since breakfast... I'm starving! We've been out here for hours! Do you think anyone has noticed that we're gone?"

"No, I doubt that," said the girl. "It's a Saturday, so no classes. Everyone probably just thinks we're wandering around somewhere. But we can't bring him back to the castle, it's too dangerous."

"What could be more dangerous then staying in the Forbidden Forest? We could be attacked at any moment," said Ron, glancing around nervously.

"What if some of the students saw him? How would we explain this? And we know it's called the Forbidden Forest for a reason... It's forbidden. Students aren't supposed to be in here and if we were caught we could get expelled. We'll head up to the castle while everyone is at dinner."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Harry. "Do we just wait here until then?"

"Uh huh. Oh! He's bleeding!"

Draco's relentless grip on his arm had cut through the cloth and the skin surrounding what ever was bothering him. "Harry, Ron, we need to get his hand off of that spot. I need to treat it."

"Alright, Ron hold him down," directed the raven haired boy. Ron placed both of his hands on Draco's shoulders and pinned them to the ground. Harry grasped Draco's right arm and pulled it, Hermione pulling on Harry.

No luck.

"This isn't working Harry," stated Ron. "He doesn't want to let go."

"Wait a minute," said Hermione, "I know what's wrong."

"What?" Both boys looked at her, confused expressions on their faces.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. Let's review the facts. Draco left with Lucius, a Death Eater. They come back, Draco clutching his left shoulder. What is put on Death Eaters' to show their loyalty to V- Voldemort?"

"The Dark Mark, of course," breathed Harry. "But I don't think they are supposed to hurt unless they are being summoned. Malfoy isn't being summoned.... And why did you call him Draco?"

"I called him Draco because that is his name. We may at least try to be civil, seeing as we are all on the same side, am I correct?"

"Yeah... But Draco sounds so weird..." muttered Ron.

"But if Draco's on our side," mused Hermione, "Why would he have a mark?"

"We have to see it," said Harry determinedly. "Something is not right, and we have to find out what it is. Now on my count, everyone pull on his right arm, okay?"

The other two nodded and each grabbed his arm in a different spot.

"Three

Two

One!"

The Gryffindors wrenched Draco's arm to them and surprisingly it released its tight grip on the skin below the left shoulder. Ron quickly pushed Draco's right arm to the ground and held it down.

Hermione and Harry rolled up the arm sleeve of the left arm. The girl gave a gasp and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Harry stared in a sick sorted of fascination of the image on Draco's arm.

The Dark Mark was burning a bright red color, standing out tremendously against the white color of his skin. Surronding the mark were small cuts that all oozed blood, the marks Draco had inflicted upon himself from holding his arm so tightly, his nails digging into the flesh.

"Harry," said Hermione faintly, "Isn't the Dark Mark supposed to be black?"

"Yeah...." Harry conjured up a long bandage and wrapped it around the mark and the cuts. "That'll do until we get back to the castle."

Draco gave another moan and tried to get his arm out from the strong hold Ron had on it. But the red haired boy didn't let go, and Draco soon stopped struggling. The little clearing was suddenly filled with little whimpers and moans of pain from the injured boy.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open to reveal bright silver eyes, pain reflected in them. A choked cry sounded in his throat and he once again tried to move his uninjured arm.

Hermione gently took his left hand and placed it between her own. "Draco, Draco can you hear me?"

The pain filled eyes turned to the sound of the comforting voice. "Draco, what happened? What happened to you?"

The boy blinked up at the figure looking down at him. It looked like a girl, she was kind of fuzzy looking. Wait, was she talking to him? He strained to understand what she was saying... something happened? Oh, she wanted to know what had happened...

"....Voldemort....heir....test..," he said hoarsely, his voice barely a whisper. Then slowly, his eyes closed again and the group was once again left with an unconscious Draco Malfoy.

"Did any of you catch what he said?" asked Ron.

"Something about Voldemort and a test," replied Harry.

"He said heir too!" said Hermione.

Ron suddenly stiffened. "There's something bad out here." As if to punctuate Ron's remark a lone howl sounded through the trees, very close by the volume.

"Is that a werewolf?" asked Harry, his wand out and pointed into the darkness.

"No," said Hermione. "The howl was different. It was just a normal wolf, but just as deadly. They hunt in packs so if one is here then-" She was cut off as more howls added to the first, all sounding closer than they had before.

"We should go," said Harry. "I don't really want to be wolf food."

But before any more words could be uttered a pair of glowing amber eyes pierced out of the darkness. Before the group knew it, pairs of the amber eyes had surrounded them, low growls emmiting from their throats.

The three Gryffindors pointed their wands at the snarling beasts. But as they noticed, the wolves didn't seem interested in them. All of their eyes were directed at the still and defenseless Draco.

"They smell the blood," whispered Hermione. "We have to get out of here and fast."

"Well what do we do?" asked Ron, a note of panic attatched to his voice.

"Attack them," said Harry. "Stupefy should work."

During their short discussion, it seemed the wolves had grown impatient. With a growl from the lead wolf, they all lunged at the blond form on the ground.

"STUPEFY!" screamed Hermione, her spell slamming into the one of the creature's sides and causing it to fly backwards.

Harry and Ron were busy doing the same thing, all with one goal in mind: Don't let any of those wolves touch Draco.

One of the wolves, a huge black one, broke free of its pack and leaped towards Draco. It was directly above him when Hermione whirled around and saw that the Slytherin was about to be cut into tiny little pieces.

She saw Draco open his eyes, the silver orbs becoming wide with fear. But then before anything could happen, a strange gold light surronded Draco, his hair and clothes blowing although there was no wind. And then, the wolf flew backwards, crashed into a tree and didn't move.

Hermione turned to see Harry and Ron staring with similar expression at the young Malfoy whose bright glow was fading and his eyes were once again closed.

Ron ran over and threw Draco over his shoulder. "I don't care what anyone says, I'm leaving!" Harry and Hermione looked at each other and then followed their fleeing friend.

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