The Darkness of the Night 4
Draco's eyes narrowed. Discussing the terms of surrender was fine and dandy, but the way these fellows had gone about it showed that they held out hope until the very last second.
Firstly, there were the core members who had been forced to form a last line of defense after the common members scattered to the wind. It was as if these three hoped that those people might be able to weaken Draco's momentum a little and give them more room to bargain.
Secondly, they had left a very skilled assassin in the hallway, whose duty was probably to assassinate Draco when his guard was down. Not just in the hallway, but probably in the various rooms.
After all Draco was young and he was a ruthless criminal. There was hope that he would be the type of person who enjoyed pressing himself on others, which was why these three allowed those innocents to stay inside.
Once he was in the throes of passion, he would lower his guard.