Harder To Breathe
By Samantha Turner
Prolouge
"Hermione! Run!" My Mothers terrified voice cut into the painful jumble of thoughts that were passing through my mind. My head snapped up and I braced myself against the wall, wincing slightly as the bruises on my back send fire through my body. I planted my feet slightly apart, and tried to hold my ground as she tried to shove me out the door.
"No!" I screamed at her. I saw the tears leak out of the corner of her eyes, they mixed with the blood on her face, the tears streamed down her cheeks like a river of red tears. I felt tears bite at my own eyes as I watched her try to regain her composure. "Never, I can't leave you!" I tried to rush past her, to stand behind her, but she caught me, digging her fingernails into the flesh on my shoulders.
"Hermione, do you love me?" My Mothers eyes, so like my own, bore into mine. My throat constricted violently, I felt the tears wind down my face.
"Yes." I whispered, the realization that she really wasn't going to run with me hit me a little to hard.
"Then you'll run, leave me to distract him for a bit." She whispered to me. My lips began to tremble as I opened up my mouth to protest, but all thought fled my mind when there was a thunderous crash, I threw up my arms to protect myself from the bits of splintered wood that rained down upon me.
Before I could react further, I was thrown out the back door. I threw out my arms just to in time to catch myself. The pain rattled it's way through my bones and muscle, blurring my vision slightly. I started to scramble against the slick pavement, the rain had already soaked me, the lightning bit at the sky. I looked up into the rain, then I heard the high pitched scream. Then everthing was still.
It was like I had been hit by a cement truck, that was driving 20 over the regulated speed limit. The force of the pain seemed to grow with each breath I took.
"Hermione!" I heard someone shout behind me, but before I could even register who had shouted my name, I was thrown to the ground, a warm body pressing me into the hard, wet pavement. I heard two voices shouting seprete curses. I closed my eyes tightly as I heard someone get thrown against something inside. The warm body suddenly left mine, lifting me up off the pavement and I heard multiple "pops" as ministry members appeared all around me.
I tilted my head back to look at the sky. The green mark of the Dark Lord traced itself malciously in the stars, hovering over the house I had grown up in.
I felt myself growing weak, I stumbled backward slightly, then my eyes rolled in the back of my head, and I fell into someones arms.