"The boy … is he dead?"
There was complete silence in the clearing. Nobody approached Harry, but he felt their concentrated gaze; it seemed to press him harder to into the ground, and he was terrified a finger or an eyelid might twitch.
"You," said Voldemort, and there was a bang and a small shriek of pain. "Examine him. Tell me whether he is dead."
Harry did not know who had been sent to verify. He could only lie there, with his heart thumping traitorously, and wait to be examined, but at the same time noting, small comfort though it was, that Voldemort was wary of approaching him, that Voldemort suspected that all had not gone to plan. . . .
Hands, softer than he had been expecting, touched Harry's face, pulled back an eyelid, crept beneath his shirt, down to his chest, and felt his heart. He could hear the woman's fast breathing, her long hair tickled his face. He knew that she could feel the steady pounding of life against his ribs.
"Is Draco alive? Is he in the castle?"
The whisper was barely audible; her lips were an inch from his ear, her head bent so low that her long hair shielded his face from the onlookers.
"I don't know," He breathed, "what happened after the Fiendfyre-"
Her hand retracted suddenly, nails scratching across his collarbone. He felt her stand up, "Alive, my lord."
"Avada Kedavra."
Someone screamed. Giant tears rolled down Hagrid's cheeks as he gingerly set Harry Potter's lifeless body at Voldemort's feet.
Ginny fought past her mother to reach the edge of the crowd. "NO! No, Harry!"
Ron dropped his wand in shock, next to him Hermione sunk to her knees. "No, Harry. Why did you have to play the hero?"
Draco Malfoy's platinum hair stuck out like a sore thumb, and his mother spotted him almost instantly. "Oh, Draco." Narcissa opened her arms, and Draco ran across the clearing into her embrace. Her eyes watched Voldemort stride forward and place a filth-covered foot onto Harry's face. It lolled to the side with a sickening boneless flop.
The Dark Lord spread his arms wide, his smile too twisted to be as charming as he intended. "Kill the elders." Green light flashed violently across the courtyard and all the members of the Order of the Phoenix that had survived the first war dropped like stones. Screams erupted from the younger students, and Voldemort laughed low in his throat.
His next words drifted past Hermione's ears. She had more important things to consider. Ron was shaking next to her, his horrified gaze locked onto the corpse of his mother. Hermione, however, was focusing on the scared remnants of the Order. She knew that the next few minutes would decide their fates. Neville was clutching his wand with white knuckles, glaring across the courtyard at Bellatrix Lestrange. Luna had a steady hand on Ginny's shoulder, who was crying silently with tears working their way down her cheeks. There were countless other Hogwarts students who were on the verge of panic, and Hermione gritted her teeth. She had to get them out alive.
She felt Ron shift, and looked back at the Death Eaters in time to make out the shout leaving the Dark Lord's lips.
"Grab them!"
Hermione pushed all of her grief and panic and fear out of her and produced a blinding shield that bubbled out around her allies. "Get them out!" She roared, her wand arm shaking with the force of her spell.
Ron responded immediately, snatching up his wand from the ground before wrenching Ginny away from Luna. He began shouting orders to the children behind him. Luna and Hannah Abbot ran towards Hermione, adding their strength to her shield. Susan Bones and Michael Corner left the mass of escaping students and gave their magic as well.
The initial cast of Hermione's improvised shield had emitted a shockwave that had knocked the Death Eaters to their feet. Some remained hunched over, clutching their heads as their ears rang. Draco staggered to his feet, his arm reaching out to help up Blaise, who was angrily wiping blood out of his eyes from where his temple had hit the stone. Through the din, Draco could make out the large POPs that signified mass apparitions.
"Shit." Theo's voice appeared over his shoulder and Draco grimaced. It was an understatement at best.
"Get them, NOW!" The Dark Lord was pulsating with rage, his magic sparking and radiating outward of his hands.
The Death Eaters surged forward, wands drawn and glowing with the anticipation of spells. Draco approached more cautiously, and was grateful for his instincts when the first two lackeys to hit the shield evaporated into a mist of red. His eyebrows shot up to his hair and the others around him abruptly stopped, wary.
"That's a dark spell." Blaise growled, wiping blood out of his eyes again, although this time it wasn't his. "Since when do little mudblood's dabble in black magic?"
Draco peered through the shimmering magic of the shield and focused on Hermione's face. A smear of blood streaked across her cheek and her lips had curled up into a ferocious snarl. As he watched, she turned and shouted something at one of her friends behind her. They nodded back at her, grabbed a couple of panicked fourth years, and disapparated.
Draco felt the magic of the spell before he heard it and ducked as a burning ball of black flames soared overhead. It hit Hermione's shield with a boom, and began to seep across the barrier like poison. Hermione released the spell and stepped back, her wand still held high. As her magic faded away and the Death Eater's pressed forward, Draco could hear Ron shouting over the clamor.
"Get out of here, Mione! Grab Luna and go!" The ginger was passing what looked like a third year to Dean Thomas before charging up to his sister. A jet of green shot past Hermione's face and she whirled back to face the oncoming crowd with an incoherent roar. Luna appeared next to Ron, covered in grime and soot, and grabbed his arm.
"Good luck, Hermione." Her serene voice carried eerily over the sounds of war. Ron tried to twist away but Luna tightened her grip on him and Ginny, and spun away.
Hermione stood in the midst of blood and bodies. Missed curses sailed over her as she stared past the Death Eaters at Voldemort. Draco looked around at his comrades; they all seemed to be too scared to actually hit her. The Dark Lord would want her alive.
Her wand came up so fast that Mulciber did not even stand a chance. A purple light slashed through his chest and he fell, writhing to the ground. She step sided a beam of red and returned a Sectumsempra with such fury that Cassius Warrington was sliced in half.
"Holy fuck." Theo dived down to the ground as a wicked curse hissed past them. "Fucking Gryffindor, making a last stand."
"We need her alive," Draco shouted hoarsely back, "she'll know where the others went."
"So go get her then, you fuck!" Theo spat out some dirt as he got back to his feet.
Draco gripped his wand and ran forward, dodging a surge of flame spouting from the angry witch. He tripped over something that squished and let out a grating yell when he looked down and saw Warrington's intestines.
Draco could never remember how he made it past Hermione's barrage of curses but suddenly he was there and he was close enough to see how her pupils were blown with fear and the blood caked in her hair. Another step and his hand was locked on her wrist. He heard his mother scream and then he was lost in a suffocating tube of the absence of space.
A/N
New Story.
I have no idea for an update schedule.
The first section in italics is taken directly from The Deathly Hallows, creds to JK Rowling. Not my words.
Lets see where this goes shall we?
(come find me on tumblr hydroxyzinebby)
