She was doing it again. Glaring. But not just any glare, it was her glare.

It isn't the kind of glare that says 'I hate you' or 'I loathe you', it's more of a 'how could you do this?', confused and upset glare. Her eyes were piercing mine, almost burning them, so much so that I thought she'd burn a hole straight through to the back of my head. That wasn't the worst part though, the worst part was the fact that while she was so angry and infuriated there were tears sitting above her bottom eyelid, slipping down her cheeks every few seconds. Apparently I didn't feel bad enough as it was. The funny thing is that it is her glare, which means I've seen it far too often. I could feel tears threatening to well up, as if they had been transferred directly from her eyes to mine, almost as if she were trying to make me suffer, like watching her sit in so much pain and anguish wasn't punishment enough.

My lips parted, as thought I was going to say something, but I couldn't form any words in my mouth, it was as if my voice knew I was not worthy of talking to her. I tried to make some sort of noise, but nothing. Not even the sound of my breath could escape my lips.

Without really listening to him, my father's voice broke the silence within my head and my attention was dragged back into the room, away for just her eyes that held so much pain and anger. "Draco, fetch the goblin, he can tell us if the sword is real or not!" I pulled my eyes from her battered and broken body and looked at my father for a moment before turning towards the stairs that led to the cellar. Before pulling out my wand, I wiped my eyes quickly, expelling any trace of tears as I descended the dark passageway.

"Stand back. Line up against the back wall. Don't try anything, or I'll kill you." Even I knew my words were empty promises that I couldn't keep, but I said them as strongly as possible, raising my wand as I opened the cellar door. I looked around the room quickly, trying not to let Weasley's furious, almost murderous, expression affect me as I seized the goblin my the arm and pulled him towards the door, slamming it shut once we'd walked through.

I dragged the goblin up the stairs behind me, my wand still gripped tightly in my hand. Once in the presence of my family again, I put on all I could muster of a brave face and threw the goblin into their midst. Bellatrix stood up from leaning over Hermione and approached the goblin fiercely, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, brandishing the sword in his face whilst saying something along the lines of "is this from my vault?" I couldn't say I was listening to my aunt's words too intently; I was only worried about one person in the room. Hermione was lying perfectly still on the floor, the only movement coming from her chest, which was rising and lowering slowly, in strained and uneven breaths. The pain in her eyes had only intensified since I'd last looked at her and I was finding it hard to keep my eyes on her, tears threatening to breakout again.

Draco was once again pulled from Hermione's pained gaze as an unnatural, yet familiar, crack broke what silence he had delved into. "What was that?" My father's voice boomed around the room, everyone looking up at once, trying to find the source of the noise. "Did you hear that? What was that noise in the cellar?" No one answered him, so he turned to his son, his white hair swaying from side-to-side as his fury and excitement balled up on his face and in his voice. "Draco- no, call Wormtail! Make him go and check!"

I did as I was instructed, and quickly moved across the room and into a small cupboard-like room off the hallway. "Go check the cellar," I demanded as I looked down at the rattish man cowering in the corner. He stood at once and scuttered across the small room, out the door and down to the cellar. I once again joined my family in the drawing room, but this time I forced myself to look at the ceiling, as far from the heap that was Hermione on the floor.

Again a noise emitted from the cellar and my father's voice boomed from across the room. "What is it, Wormtail?" A raspy voice replied with a short "Nothing! All fine!" and with that all attention in the room moved back to Bellatrix who had thrown the goblin aside and was back to leaning over Hermione, her small, yet sharp, dagger against the skin of her rival. Hermione let out a blood-curdling scream as my aunt smiled a wicked smile as she finished off her handy work on Hermione's arm. Bellatrix stood up straight again and moved towards the goblin who had the sword in his hands and she once again demanded to know if it was the real sword or not. After being assured that the sword was a fake, Bellatrix pulled up her sleeve and summoned Voldemort, anticipation running high throughout the room, yet my eyes wouldn't leave Hermione's. Never before have I felt so useless and pained in one moment; I wanted nothing more than to pick her up off the floor and help her clean her bloody wounds, but I knew if I took even a step towards her I would probably lose a limb. However, the moment my aunt began to speak again, my eyes dashed in her direction, then back to Hermione.

"And I think we can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback, take her if you want her." I went to take a step forward, but before I could rush to Hermione's aid, Weasley had burst into the room and disarmed Bellatrix, Potter close behind, ready to catch the wand. I wheeled around, my parents doing the same, and I began to aim whatever spells came to my mind first at Weasley and Potter as they fought back.

Then all of a sudden everything stopped, as if time itself had paused, finally allowing me to take in what was going on. Bellatrix's voice pierced the sound emitting from our wands as all attention moved to her, her arm now wrapped around Hermione's neck, her knife at the throat of the nearly unconscious girl struggling to stand before me. My attention was no longer focused on what she was saying; it was all on the blade that was now digging into Hermione's skin, a small amount of blood appearing, drop-by-drop. My mind seemed to somehow separate itself from my body as I was not thinking of anything but Hermione, but my body reacted to the demands of my aunt as I found myself picking up her wand which Weasley had dropped, and I then turned back to stand beside my mother. However, I wasn't given much time to get comfortable, because the next moment the chandelier suspended above Hermione, Bellatrix and the goblin was falling through the air and landed on the now alone Hermione as Bellatrix through herself out of harm's way. Before I could do anything to help Hermione, however, I found myself in an immense amount of pain, shards of glass and crystal flying into my face, cutting every part of my skin.

I doubled over in pain and heard a loud band and a groan which I believed to be Greyback being thrown against a wall, then I felt myself being pulled backwards and out of the way of any charms by my mother's soft yet urgent hands. The pain flooding my face was immeasurable, each cut feeling like a small fire alight on my face. My cold hands provided some aid to the pain, but the stinging was almost unbearable. Suddenly remembering that I was not the one crushed by the chandelier, I quickly removed my face from my hands and looked up just in time to see the small group huddled together around our old house elf, Hermione slouched in Weasley's arms. She looked so close to death that I had to restrain myself from rushing to her and pulling her into my own arms. Her eyes were now only slits, but I could see her pupils staring at me, the now tired glare still evident. Her face was the last thing I saw before they vanished in a blur of colour, Bellatrix's knife disappearing with them.

The moment they were gone silence fell, but everyone in the room knew it would soon be replaced by the furious screams of Voldemort. But I didn't care. All I wanted was to go after Hermione and nurse her back to health, no matter how long that would take. A single tear fell down my face, stinging each cut as it slid over my skin, Hermione's pained expression still so clear in my mind as my heart lurched on every beat, my chest tightening, my breaths short and raspy.

What have I done?