Draco came into work early, plans of attack to pull together and Death Eaters to find. Surprisingly, only a few minutes later, Ginny walked in. With a smile, she handed him a gently steaming cup of tea.

A huge grin spread across his face. "Your Tea Privileges?"

Still smiling, she shrugged. "For now. You survived a family dinner at the Burrow, and that is no easy feat."

He took a sip. Marvelous, as expected. "I'll take what I can get."

"You earned every drop." Ginny gestured towards his stack of papers. "Can I see what you've been working on?"

Draco nodded, beckoning her over. She looked over his shoulder, so close behind him that he could feel her breath against his neck. Oddly enough, he didn't mind. "Here are the known Nott residences. We need to figure out which is the best target to strike first. And I'm definitely open for any insights."

Ginny frowned in concentration, finger hovering lightly over the different marked locations on the map. She stopped at one in the south of France. "Is that where...?"

"You caught Rowle, yes. Most of these aren't registered in the Nott name, I just happen to know their pseudonyms, having been to a few myself."

Still concentrating, she nodded. "Can you mark which aren't in their name? Those'll be more likely targets for hideouts."

Draco felt stupid for not thinking of it on his own. Hopefully, he would have eventually. He highlighted one in England, Ireland, Spain, and Russia.

Ginny let out a frustrated sigh. "I didn't even see the one in Russia," she remarked mostly to herself. "Why do they need to be so international?"

Draco chuckled. "I should take you to the Malfoy home in Russia sometime. It's a beautiful place. The forest freezes over entirely in winter, and..." He trailed off, suddenly self-conscious about waxing poetic. "You do like snow, don't you?"

Ginny grinned delightedly. "I adore it. Especially when you have a cozy fire to come back to, and some butterbeer and a good book to curl up with."

Draco returned the grin. "I haven't tried that exactly, but it sounds delightful."

"Oh! You should add this too." Ginny pulled a page out of her bag. "Hermione gave me the locations and findings of each of the Macnair raids so far."

Three hits, each discovering nothing of consequence. "Oh? One day and you're already back to pulling those political strings?"

Ginny shrugged innocently. "I didn't even have to coax her. For some strange reason, she's willing to help our team now. Maybe cause she realized I'm not the only competent one on it."

"Or because she realized we'd keep coming to dinner until she did." Draco looked at the new marks he'd put down to indicate Hermione's raids. Was it just him or... "Those seem to be close by the Ireland home."

Ginny raised her eyebrows, apparently seeing exactly what he had in the map. "First target?"

He nodded. "Let's call the team."

Blaise, Daphne, Goyle, and Warrington joined them soon after being summoned. No one wanted to miss a traditional mission, a raid.

Draco felt the pre-battle jitters looming on the horizon. He'd been on raids back before Slytherin Squad, but never led one. Briefly, he looked at Ginny, who'd likely been on countless missions before becoming an instructor. She smiled, winking at him over her cup of tea. He returned the smile, but it didn't help his nerves.

He cleared his throat loudly. "Alright, let's go over what we know." Draco conjured a larger version of the map on the wall, zooming in on the Ireland Nott residence. "Here's our target. It's an isolated house up in the countryside, no Muggles within a mile. It's not large, but I haven't been there before, so we'll have to play it by ear. I pulled a blueprint from the Ministry, but it's only minimal detail. Has anyone actually been there?"

Everyone stared blankly or shook their heads. Perfect.

“I’m guessing it’s got hefty wards,” Blaise added. “I know their main house had nice ones, and if they’re hiding Death Eaters, it’ll be worse, not better.”

Ginny nodded agreement. “I don’t do wards, so I can’t say much about the house in France, but I know our Charms Expert had a hard time for a while.”

Draco looked expectantly at Blaise. “Will you be able to join us?”

Blaise grimaced. “I can get you in past the wards, but I’ll have to scram after that. I can’t risk being hit again.”

“Understandably.” Draco suppressed his pain over his still recovering friend. “We’ll take what we can get.” He turned back to the map. “Once we’re inside, Ginny, Goyle, and I will scour the house room by room. Daphne, Warrington, you two make sure we're alone in the house, and then guard the perimeter.”

Warrington frowned. “Why can’t I go inside where all the action is?”

“It’s the perimeter’s job to confront any other wizards on the premises.” Draco raised an eyebrow. “If my assumption was wrong, and you’d rather rifle through bank statements and old scrapbooks, be my guest.”

Raising his hands in surrender, Warrington backed off.

Draco continued. “Ginny, Goyle, and I will start in the study, hence our entry to the house at this point outside the garden. We’ll go through the rooms in a clockwise direction, ending up in the living room.” He looked to Ginny. “Lieutenant? Anything you’d like to add?”

She looked pleased at being remembered. “I’ve contacted Harry, and in the case of extreme emergency, send a Patronus to him. He’ll bring reinforcements immediately. I must stress that, if we call him in, it will be deemed a failure, no matter what else we do.” Her mouth drew taut. “We won’t get another chance like this.”

Goyle hemmed awkwardly. “I can’t do a Patronus.”

Ginny nodded, taking it in stride. “Alright, who can?”

No one volunteered.

It stopped her cold. “Seriously? Have any of you even tried?”

Blaise shrugged. “It’s one of the few charms that didn’t work for me.”

Ginny couldn’t believe it. “Daphne?” But the girl just shook her head.

“It’s generally assumed that Dark wizards can’t cast Patronuses, Ginny,” Draco volunteered quietly. “If they fail badly enough, the spell will kill them.” His face tightened. “It’s why most of us haven’t tried.”

“I counted on being neutral enough to confuse it,” Blaise added with a forced grin.

Ginny ran a hand over her face, clearly distraught by the news. “I guess you’ll just have to keep me alive long enough to cast it. You all know the distress call?” Each member of the team raised their wands, red sparks and a piercing eagle cry blasting forth. Ginny nodded in approval, looking back to Draco.

“Any questions?” He surveyed his team, all eagerly awaiting the mission. Thankfully, they understood the importance of seriousness for once. Draco nodded decisively. “Then let’s move out.”

The Nott residence perched on a small hill overlooking the Cork harbor a few miles away. With a clear sky and lush greenery surrounding, it was a gorgeous day. Ivy entwined on the wrought iron fence, the tranquility utterly at odds with Draco's anxiousness.

Blaise rolled up to the fence. "This place has got wards, all right." With him absorbed in his work, the team had to wait.

Shielding her eyes, Ginny eagerly took in the distant bay. "How did the Notts manage to get this place?"

Daphne shrugged. "Cause the rest of us had the better ones."

The wards cracked audibly. Blaise backed away with a slight frown. "That should do it. I wouldn't get your hopes up though. It was just a hefty Anti-apparition with a few other standards. Not what I'd call high-security."

Likely a waste of their time. Draco tried to keep spirits high. "We'll still take a look around. You're good to go, Blaise."

With a nod, Blaise Disapparated.

The iron fence parted, vines peeling back, as Draco stepped towards it. He motioned the team to follow.

The garden lay still and near-silent save for a light strumming of music, and the faint trickle of water.  On approach, he saw it came from the fountain: a statue in the middle enchanted to play the harp. Draco unconsciously hummed along with it.

Ginny came up by his flank. "Homenium Revelio!" She nodded. "No one here so far."

He moved forward, steadily scanning for any signs of movement. A simple Alohamora unlocked the study doors, and they were inside. "Daphne, Warrington, make sure we're alone."

They split off into the next room, wands at the ready.

The study was larger than the blueprint had made it seem. Floor to ceiling windows let in plenty of light, towering bookshelves lining the pale wooden walls.

Draco felt a piece of his soul die: this was just one room in the likely useless residence.

"I'll start with the desk." Ginny sighed wearily, and he couldn't agree more.

Draco turned reluctantly to the main bookshelf. It stretched easily six feet taller than him. A ladder to the side was the only way to reach the top few shelves. Inside books were great hiding places, so of course he'd have to flip through every single one.

Goyle uselessly examined the walls and floor.

Ginny looked up from the desk, head cocked curiously. "The music stopped."

Draco spun towards the garden. A sickly green sludge overflowed from the fountain, creeping through the open doors towards them. Instantly, every door slammed shut, windows bolting down. The sludge reared, spreading up the walls and towards them in every direction.

"The wards are back up!" Ginny shouted. "I can't Apparate!"

They launched every spell they knew at it.  Freezing, burning, blasting--even the Killing Curse had no effect. The sludge kept rushing forward. He had no idea what it did, but desperately didn’t want to find out. Anything with this insane amount of spell-resistance wasn’t meant to be stopped.

“Draco and Goyle!” Ginny called. She beckoned to Draco from atop the desk. “Get up here!”

Eagerly, he clambered up. A tendril of the sludge clawed its way between Goyle and the desk. He backed helplessly against the wall.

As the sludge crawled over the bookcase, some of the books disintegrated instantly. Others, it slid harmlessly over, continuing its creep toward the back of the room.

With the realization, Draco swore violently. “It's destroying evidence!"

Quickly, he scanned the room for anything he could grab before the unstoppable sludge got to it. High on the wall, a lone shelf with odds and ends disintegrated as the sludge crept over it. A pair of glasses, a broken wand--nothing worthy of destruction. With a double take, Draco saw the last item: Richard Murstow's belt buckle. Trophies, he realized with horror. "Accio buckle!" He pocketed the damning evidence.

"Help!" Goyle shouted. The sludge engulfed his feet, slowly creeping its way up his legs. "I can't move!"

Draco and Ginny targeted the sludge nearest Goyle, but with no better results than before. A screeching eagle distress call came from the next room. Nothing they could do, Draco fired off a return distress call, hoping Daphne and Warrington could hold out.

The sludge crept up the legs of the desk. Ginny tried different shields. It slid unhindered through all of them.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Goyle's spell lifted Draco and Ginny safely into the air, his surprisingly quick thinking buying them time. "Hurry, guys, I think it's rising!" From the thighs down, the sludge pinned Goyle in place. His wand hand shook as he held them aloft.

“Ginny,” Draco panicked, floating sideways. Above him, he had a fantastic view of the sludge consuming the ceiling. No surface remained uncovered. “Please tell me you have an idea!”

“I’m trying!” Her eyes sparked with determination. "Did the Notts play Quidditch?"

"Yes--"

"Accio broom!"

Following her lead, Draco cried, "Accio Nimbus!"

Moments later, two brooms smashed through the sludge and window behind. A tantalizing gap hung in the wall, but shrinking quickly.

Draco and Ginny gladly hopped on the brooms, the vertigo of hanging weightless happily disappearing.

"Get Daphne and Warrington!" Draco called to Ginny. She nodded, darting through the shrinking hole in a flash.

Draco swooped down to Goyle. He thrashed as frantically as he could in the sludge. But as it came chest high, his wrists were all that were left free. Goyle achieved only irreverently hilarious wrist flutters. Draco fired hexes, without expecting it to help, and was correct.

He quickly compiled what he knew about the sludge. Immensely spell-resistant (immune?), slow-moving, ignores shields, destroys evidence...but leaves innocuous things alone.

In desperation, he cast the Notice-Me-Not charm on Goyle. The sludge released its grip, swirling harmlessly around him. Draco grasped Goyle's outstretched hand. Bracing himself, he heaved his heavy teammate up onto the back of the broom. Draco would be feeling that one later.

He spun, looking for options. The sludge completely covered the opening the brooms had created earlier. Every other window or door should still be bolted shut, though. Not liking the only option he could think of, Draco cast another Notice-Me-Not charm on himself and then on the broom.

Gritting his teeth and hoping his memory was correct, he charged straight for where he remembered the hole to be. "Hold your breath, Goyle!"

The sludge sucked them in hungrily. Eyes squeezed shut, all Draco could do was hold the course. He couldn't tell if they were still moving forward. It felt like the longest minute of his life.

Sputtering and gasping, they burst forth on the other side.

Relief instantly covered Ginny’s face. All three floated on her broom. Daphne clung to Ginny, looking terrified, but holding Daphne, Warrington was still relatively unfazed. Did anything bother that man?!

“How did you go through the sludge?” Ginny asked, frowning in concentration.

“Notice-Me-Not charm,” Draco replied, scanning the room. “Have you found any exits?”

Ginny, Daphne, and Warrington instantly cast it on themselves and the broom. “None whatsoever.”

Draco scanned the room. Sludge covered every inch of this room as well. It looked to be a few feet deep and still growing. The little cube of free air they hovered in shrunk as they spoke. He estimated that within a minute, the entire room would be filled with only sludge.

A new idea lit up Ginny’s face. “The walls aren’t spell-proof, only the sludge!”

Draco frowned. “If you see a free wall, please let me know.”

She ignored his comment. “How well did the broom fly through the sludge?”

He shrugged helplessly. “I couldn’t tell. It might not have made it much farther through.”

Ginny nodded, processing the information. “I say we fly into the sludge until we hit a wall, and blast it out. Bubblehead Charm just in case it takes more time than we have air.”

It was a good plan. Draco instantly stopped feeling like he would be buried alive. It had not been a pleasant feeling. The slime still pressed in from every direction, growing claustrophobically quickly. “The outer wall. Now, while we still have time.”

Nearly as one, the team cast their Bubblehead Charms. Ginny and he flew for the wall as fast as they could manage. The sludge hit with a sickening squelch, sucking on his arms and legs. As soon as his whole body passed into the slime, Draco felt like he would be sick. It pressed hideously from every direction, getting worse with each second.

The Bubblehead Charm shrank under the pressure. It was designed for water, not this heavy substance, Draco realized with horror. He sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes for the inevitable.

The bubble burst.

The sludge ran up Draco’s nose and down his throat. He felt it worm its way inside his ears. Shuddering, he endured the agony, and pressed on. If he had any other options, he would have taken them instantly.

Moments still dragging by, his air supply dwindled. His lungs burned as he desperately hung onto the broom, forcing every last ounce of speed out of it.

His lungs hungrily needed air. Sluggishly, Draco stretched a hand in front, searching for the wall. Nothing but more sludge. Had he missed it? Had he angled his broom improperly?

His fingers brushed something. Desperately, he pushed towards it. A wall. He didn’t know if he had enough energy to do a non-verbal spell, but what other options were there? Summoning every last ounce of strength, he blasted the wall with everything in him.

The wall exploded outwards. Draco tumbled through the hole, gasping for breath on the ground. Goyle retched, but was still breathing, and therefore fine. The sludge jiggled tremulously, but fortunately remained within the confines of the house.

Where was Ginny? With mounting alarm, Draco realized with three people aboard, her broom would have been considerably slower. Would she have enough air to reach the wall? A clenched fist of ice in his stomach told him the answer.

Panicking, he exploded the entire wall. The sludge formed another wall behind it, with no discernible markings. Even Draco’s brief opening had closed over.

Re-casting the Notice-Me-Not for good measure, Draco sucked in a deep breath. Desperately wishing for anything else, he plunged back in. Time was running out. He left a hand outside the sludge so he could find his way back, and groped blindly with his wand in the other. He felt nothing.

With all his might, Draco pictured Ginny Weasley, casting the Seize and Pull Charm. A rope shot from his wand, deep into the sludge. Hoping it hit, he backed out of the sludge, pulling as he went. Fresh air on his face felt amazing, and he breathed hungrily.

“Goyle!” he yelled desperately, “Help me pull!” Goyle ran over, lending his considerable weight and strength to the venture.

With a slurp and a pop, an unconscious Ginny tumbled out onto the grass. Thankfully, all three had glued themselves to the broom, and Daphne and Warrington followed, in equally bad shape.

“Wake them!” Draco commanded Goyle, gesturing to Daphne and Warrington. He ran to Ginny.

“Ennervate.” With eyes closed and face terrifyingly pale, luckily she was still breathing. Although the spell had little effect. With more energy, Draco tried again. With a gasp, she jerked awake, retching violently next to her. An ungodly amount of slime came out of her. Draco looked away, for fear he’d be next.

“Everyone ok?” Ginny asked hoarsely.

Draco nodded. “We got the last of them out. Are you alright?”

She dropped back into the grass to catch her breath. “Let’s never do a mission without Blaise ever again, yeah?”

“Would Blaise have--” Draco started to ask, but stopped as he realized every spell they’d cast had been a charm.

Daphne and Warrington sputtered into consciousness over by Goyle.

“I’m so glad I made it through that,” Ginny said, laughing lightly. “I think I would have died a second time if my tombstone read, ‘Killed by slime’.”

Draco couldn’t agree more.

"Let me get this straight." Hermione stared down the two Aurors in front of her desk. "You didn't find Nott or Macnair, and you destroyed a house-full of evidence. And you have the audacity to call this mission a success because of a belt-buckle?!"

Draco's face tightened unreadably. "We have determined that Nott was involved with, and likely responsible for, Richard Murstow's death. We have reason to suspect that this was the headquarters for a good number of renegade Death Eaters. And we did all of this without sustaining a single injury," Draco added, temper rising. "Tell me again how we failed."

Harry leaned idly against the wall, tapping his wand against his arm. "Ginny? Why didn't you call for backup?"

"Because we didn't need it, sir," she snapped, eyes blazing. "As demonstrated."

Harry was taken aback, but said nothing.

Hermione sighed. "It could have been worse--"

“Much, much worse,” Ginny added darkly.

“--but it could have been better. Surely you can see that.”

“Much, much better,” Harry added. “You guys stumbled across a treasure trove of helpful information, and now not a page of it remains.”

"I don't think you quite understand," Draco responded icily. "This wasn't some home we knocked over. That ward was designed to lure Aurors in--and kill every one of them."

Hermione shook her head. "It was foolish to go in without a Charms Expert. I assumed you would've taken a replacement."

"That ward was designed to withstand three squads of Aurors," Draco growled.

"We'll admit we should have taken a Charms Expert," Ginny added, "but we still did a darn good job, just staying alive."

Hermione rubbed at her face wearily. “Yes, yes you did. Harry?”

He shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not disappointed. I expected a total disaster, and you were able to get some good info. Also, no one died,” he smirked.

“If he’s happy, I won’t interfere.” She waved a hand helplessly. “Figure out what you can, and we’ll have a meeting to pull together the next step of the plan.”

“Thank you for omitting the slime ingestion from your report,” Draco mentioned to Ginny as they walked back to the Training Room. “Bloody awful to get that out of everyone. Nearly qualified as an injury for Warrington.”

Ginny chuckled darkly. “I’m still upset you didn’t puke like the rest of us peasants.”

“I am the scion of House Malfoy,” he haughtily intoned, “From an early age we are taught never to be publicly indisposed. Besides, we’re made of sterner stuff than ordinary folk.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “You weren’t in it as long as the rest of us.”

“I had to go back in to get your sorry excuse for an Auror out.” He raised an eyebrow self-importantly. “You owe me tea for that, Weasley.”

“Fine,” she laughed, purposely bumping into him. It caught Draco completely off balance, sending him sprawling into the wall. Ginny let out an undignified snort. “Sterner stuff, eh?”

Scowling, Draco brushed himself off. “Ha,” he laughed sarcastically. He’d get her back for that, but found it unwise to broadcast intentions. “What are you doing today?”

She shrugged. “I was thinking of heading to Diagon Alley, restocking on all the stuff that blew up.”

“Should I be alarmed?” he asked. “It sounds like you’re tired of living like a vagrant and properly moving in.”

Ginny tossed him a teasing grin. “You could always come along and keep me out of trouble.”

Did he want to spend more time with the Weaselette? Surprisingly, the answer came without hesitation. “That sounds wise. Otherwise you might start hanging tapestries of Godric Gryffindor all around the place.”

She looked off in the distance thoughtfully. “My room really could use some more red and gold…”

Fairly certain she was joking, the thought still panicked him. “That wasn’t meant to give you any ideas!”