Healing // d.m.

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  DRACO focused hardly on the need to apparate. He silently cursed that he wasn't part of the team that was given the ability to apparate in advance to Hogwarts and had to be smuggled in through the secret passage. He was told that soon they would try to open and he would feel the tug inside when the anti-apparition charm was lifted for them.

  He recalled the training he once received: Destination, Determination and Deliberation. He remembered failing again and again, time after time. Once he almost splinched himself when he tried apparating out of the Manor because he was so unfocused and didn't give himself time to deliberate the motive. He was always in a haste.

  But right at this very second, as his eyes zoned in on the man he so desperately wants to strangle, standing much closer to the person he loves. Far too close for his liking. He was determined to get to his woman and take her out of this mess that she promised not to be a part of. It took most of his self control to make sure he kept calm, not only for him but for Catherine.

  He cursed again when he felt nothing, not even a jerk of movement. He pointed his wand down to the hole on the floor between them, slowly the rubbles surrounding moved to his command, forming a bridge but it will take time.

  "Oh this is good... very very good..." The death eater snickered with an evil grin. "I was just looking for a test subject."

  Draco quickly pointed his wand at him, shooting a disarming charm and throwing in a hex just in case. But he was able to deflect them all. Catherine tried again after him, shooting over and over like she was releasing her pent up rage and anger, but it was the fear in her stance that made Draco gulp.

  Harold shot a simple protecting charm, but what came out was a powerful shield. An invisible wall covered his entire body, translucent and powerful, Draco could hear its hum from a distance. Impossible, he thought.

  "Anything to say Catherine?" He goaded and Draco made a vow to snap his neck.

  "You're fucking dead to me." Catherine gritted out. He didn't know what spell she used but there was a roar of fire and bright red light shooting at his shield. Draco gaped in awe at her power, quickly shooting hex after hex, enraging the shield, willing for it to crack. Harold's face went pale as he tried to uphold it. A coward.

  When the shield was on it's last line of defence, an inhuman growl released from Harold's throat. Before, flashes of light shot to the roof as the shield exploded. Draco and Catherine had to cower at its magnified magic.

  Harold barked at her, "Not if I kill you first!"

  "Over my dead body."  Draco gritted. He had calculated this move for a while now. "Bombarda!"

  He shot the spell on a pillar near him, knowing it would topple down, creating a barricade between them. Catherine, ever so brilliant and cautious, must have realised the bridge Draco had been assembling was ready. As the pillar made its way to the ground, she turned to run towards him. Draco bolted to meet her halfway, ready to grab her. With a deafening boom the pillar dropped, creating a quake along the ground.

  They were so close, just within a finger's reach when her body was lifted up in the air. An invisible rope had been placed around her neck. Her hands clawed at them trying to earn some form of release as it strangled her. Draco panic at the sound of her gasped and ragged breathing, her body now too high for his reach. Hints of blue mark her pale lips and her face drained of blood.

  "Catherine!" He shouted. He tried to release her but all his efforts were in vain.

  Please no. Please don't take her away from me.