Wireless Fic claim:
Of Losing Hope And Winning A War [T, 19k]
With the Dark Lord living in the Manor and no way to escape, Draco felt lost, trapped in a nightmare.
He couldn't know things were about to change for him. But first he had to lose all of what was left of his hope.
Excerpt:
“So! Everyone ready?” Moody bellowed over the sound of the wind and Hagrid's bike. “We have fifteen minutes. As soon as we arrive we have to get Potter and leave, no chatter, there'll be time for that later!”
“We heard this at the Burrow already, Mad Eye, no need to tell us again,” Arthur called back, gripping his broom tighter.
It was already getting dark. Once they got Harry and set out again it would be pitch black, hopefully granting them a safe way out of Little Whinging. As for now, everything was working according to plan but something about this mission still seemed off.
A dark feeling had settled on them the second they left the Burrow, only increasing the nearer they got to Harry. The group was silent, everyone concentrating on what needed to be done and how crucial it was that they didn't fail.
Arthur still remembered this feeling from the first wizarding war, the tickle of his nerves whenever he had to leave for a mission, not knowing if he'd make it back home. He knew when to trust his guts, and knew when it was time to escape. The only thing he couldn't have prepared for is how much worse all of this was when his own kids were on the same mission as him. For their entire lives he had feared for them, but never as much as when they had joined the Order; memories of the families they had lost were still fresh in his mind even though years had passed by. But he couldn't get distracted by fear—not tonight.
Tonight, everything depended on getting Harry out of his Muggle home and safely to the Burrow.
Far below lights came into view and the group tensed up even more, if that was even possible. Moody took the lead and everyone followed him towards the ground, looking around to see if they could spot anything suspicious. But the sky was clear and the only people still on the streets at this late hour didn't look up while hurrying towards their homes. A few seconds later they all landed safely in a small garden, the patch of grass brown from the burning July sun.
Ron and Hermione immediately stormed off towards the door, but were quickly called back by Moody before Arthur could do so.
“Don’t storm in like the brainless Hippogriffs you are! Wands out! We move together!”
Arthur pulled out his wand and pushed Ron and Hermione behind him. When they entered the house the lights were on in nearly every room, and a shudder ran through his body. The only noise to be heard was the ticking of a clock in the living room. But besides that—silence.
“Harry?” Hermione asked anxiously, but there was no answer.
“Split up, search the house, see if you find anything. Be careful! This could be a trap!” Moody whispered to them.
Doing as told, they split and searched room after room but found nothing. Arthur took a look around the living room, remembering the last time he was here. The fireplace he had fixed was now gone, blocked by a concrete wall of stone, and probably filled all the way to the top of the chimney with rubble as far as he could guess. He trusted those Muggles would fill the chimney with explosives if that meant they'd never get visitors from the wizarding world anymore.
But besides that Arthur couldn't find anything extraordinary. Nothing explained where Harry had gone, and nothing here showed any signs of a fight either. There was no way to explain Harry's absence.
Until a horrible scream from the upper floor made them all jump and run towards it.
