Hell's Hand-Basket
Chapter 1
On Broken Wings
Hermione was furious. How dare he? The nerve of that man!
Once gain Ronald Weasley had managed to screw up their carefully constructed friendship, potential relationship, by thinking with his dick instead of his head! Well she'd had it! Absolutely had it with him and his childish games!
She struck a small rock with the toe of her she out of frustration, watching it roll, clattering as it went over the abundance of small stones and pebbles lining the black lake. She knew she shouldn't be out this late, and if caught she'd be in more than enough trouble to land herself in detention for the next decade...given the circumstances
Hermione heaved a tired sigh, plonking herself down near the water. She kicked off her shoes and peeled off her socks, and let her feet soak in the cool wet. It was all getting too much - the looming war, her constant falling outs and making ups with Ron, her best friend's erratic and violent mood swings...the prospect of loosing them...
If nothing else, part of her wished she could go back and simply ignore her Hogwarts letter. That way she wouldn't be here, in the middle of a war, completely hopeless and vulnerable...But 'simple' seemed to be a word not often heard amongst wizard folk
Hermione shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. For now all she wanted was to relax under the silver moonlight by the lake, and simply forget. Closing her eyes she leaned back onto the river bed, and small smile gracing her face
Minutes later she realised the world had gone quite. The chirping of the crickets and cooing of the night jars had ceased, leaving in their wake an eerie silence. Sitting up right and alert, Hermione glanced about her surroundings with wide eyes. Hastily pulling on her shoes and socks, she stood...nothing. Everything seemed as it should be, as if her world had simply fallen asleep. Still Hermione felt uneasy, and she listened with baited breather for any sign or sound of life
And there is was; a small, throaty moan. A man, perhaps. 'Hello?" Hermione called into the darkness. She was answered with the rusting of leaves. The noise came from the direction of the forbidden forest, closest to Hagrid's hut where the trees were at their thinnest "Is someone there?"
Igniting the tip of her wand in a ghostly blue glow, she held the wood as far out in front of her and paced steadily towards the disturbance. Within a few meters of where the trees began she stopped, holding the illuminated wand high over her head. "Oh, my Merlin...!"
It was indeed a man, or, at least, was...at some point. Uncaring as to weather the mangled form was friend or foe, Hermione rushed forward. He was bent awkwardly over the twisted knob of a tree root, breathing shallowly and unevenly, an obviously dislocated arm slung over the wood and sitting at an odd angle out in front of him, the other crushed between his chest and the ground. His naked body was littered in deep knife wounds and dark bruises, and caked in a layer of his own blood. His hip bone was visible where a particularly nasty cut had opened up his flank, and a 'Devil's Trap' symbol had been branded into his right arm. Hermione wanted to be sick
She reached out to brush his black bangs away from his puffy, bruised face, and blackened lids flittered wearily open, revealing striking, crystal-blue eyes. He stared for a moment, something like confusion and distrust glittering in his magnificent orbs, before his face contorted into a look of agony and his eyes scrunched closed
"It's ok" Hermione whispered soothingly, still stroking his hair. Her voice trembled, adrenaline pumping trough her body as she concocted a way to get him to the school matron without causing to much commotion. She didn't dare move him, lest she cause more damage, but if she left him to find help he could die...or worse. If only Hagrid were here, the thought wistfully. 'I...I'm going to help you. I'll get you out of here, just...just hang on"
"Kill me" he rasped weakly. "Please, just kill me"
"Wha-what...n-no, I can't. I'll...I'm...just hang on. I'll be right back!" A split decision was made, and Hermione took off as fast as her legs could carry her towards the castle. Firenze, the exiled centaur made his home on the ground floor - she'd go to him. Charging up the front steps and through the front doors of Hogwarts castle, she kept her pace as she flew through the entrance hall, foot falls echoing loudly about the empty room as she made her way to the left passage, hidden behind the grand stair case. Her lungs burnt as if acid had been pored down her throat, and she clutched a stitch in her side as she ran
She skidded to a halt in front of the fourth door and rapped frantically on the wood. "Professor, open up! It's an emergency!". Moments later the door swung open, revealing a very tired and dishevelled centaur
"What is it?" he mumbled, rubbing her eye with a closed fist. Had she not been in such a
state of alarm, she may have found Firenze's almost human-like behaviour rather humorous
'There-there's a boy, a-a man...he's hurt! Down near-near the forest! You have to help him!" Hermione wheezed, trying to catch her breath. The centaur sobered immediately
"Where exactly?"
"In the trees just down by Hagrid's hut! He's hurt - bad!"
"Alert Madam Pomfrey - I will find him"
"Y-yes Professor" Without a moment's waist, the centaur cantered off towards the hall, leaving Hermione to make her way as quickly as possible to find the school nurse. She burst into the infantry, startling a few patients out of their slumber with yells and shrieks. She'd not even called for the middle-aged healer before the matron came scurrying out of her private quarters, fastening her dressing gown
"What is it, dear? What's wrong?" she stressed, eyes raking over Hermione for signs of physical damage
"A man ... He's hurt ... Hagrid's hut ... hurry" Hermione managed to choke out
"Lead the way" Madam Pomfrey ordered, and Hermione turned sharply and hurried out of the ward, Healer in tow
Ten minutes later they reached the tree root, where Firenze had started a small camp fire next to the injured man, throwing into full sight his disfigured form. The man himself was unconscious, and a few of the less terrible cuts and bruises had been healed or bandaged. With a wet cloth the centaur had cleaned some of the blood from his face
Seeming to have completely forgotten about Hermione, the healer immediately got to work, and within minutes most of his cuts and bruises had vanished, his swollen face was restored to reveal and exceptionally beautiful young man, and his dislocated arm had been popped back into place. "We'll need to take him back to the Hospital Wing before I can do any further examination. This will take some work. Firenze, if you could - "
"You may want to take another look now, Poppy" the centaur interrupted, gesturing to the large hanging branch curving crookedly into the tree's foliage. Leaning forward curiously, Hermione noticed something rather odd about that branch. For one if looked to have some kind of torn material hanging from it. For another, it was attached to the man's shoulder blade
Her first thought was that perhaps the man had fallen, and impaled himself. But then she realised, leaning forward further still, that up close it looked like -
"Wings" she whispered. Madam Pomfrey frowned, moving around the blue-eyed man to examine the overlooked appendage more thoroughly. She moved her hand over the arm, her eyes following a line up into the tree
"You're right..."
A/N: So, what do you think?