A/N: This was written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, for the team Wimbourne Wasps. My position is Chaser 1 and for this story, my challenge was to write a genre I had never written before. I also had to use three prompts: (setting) Thunderstorm, (object) knife, and (dialogue) "It's like the blind leading the blind." Word count - 1829
I open my eyes to the nightmare.
No longer is my body warmly wrapped in soft sheets but cold, wet, and covered in mud as the rain pours down around me.
"Hermione!"
I shoot to my feet as the sky lights above me and thunder booms from the heavens.
"Hermione!"
It's Harry's voice barely carrying through the storm.
On either side, walls tower above me, covered in thick, thorny vines. And down the narrow path that lies between those walls, two figures sprint.
"Run!" Ron shrieks.
Then I see it. The nearly invisible threat. A shadow at the end of the lane. And as lightning once again brightens the darkness of the night, I see the glint off the blade in its grasp.
"Run Hermione! Run!" Harry screams.
I am paralyzed with fear, unable to move, eyes wide and staring at the dark creature.
Harry grabs my hand and hauls me with him as he runs by, pulling me from my frightened daze.
Stumbling, my bare feet slip and splash in the mud until I'm finally able to gain my footing. I race, one foot leaping in front of the other, in a desperate attempt to escape whatever that thing is.
And the shadow follows.
It doesn't seem to move, yet, every time I look over my shoulder, it's closer.
"What the hell is this!" I yell through the pounding of the rain.
"Our death most likely!" Ron screeches.
"Turn!" Harry shouts, seeing an alley up ahead.
When we come to yet another crossroad, it hits me.
We're in a maze; a maze that's probably not meant to be escaped.
My wand. I don't have it. Why don't I have it?
The last thing I remember is my bed. I always put my wand on my night table while I sleep. How did we get here? Why are we here?
But that doesn't matter. We can figure that out later. Right now, we run. Fast. And my legs are burning, lungs aching for air. My wet night robes cling to my body weighing me down, making it increasingly harder to maintain my pace. But there is a burst of energy surging from within me, willing me to survive.
As we turn another corner, my heart is filled with dread. A thorny wall stands in our path. A dead end.
It's coming. I know it is. But there's nowhere left to run! I stare as it appears at the end of the alley, seemingly from thin air, its long, curved knife held at its side. With another burst of lightning, I see the blood. Someone else is here. Or was here.
"Harry! Do something!" Ron cries, his voice high and shrill.
"Why do you think I have a plan!"
"You're good at getting out of things!" he turns to me. "Hermione? Tell me you've got some sort of idea! Anything!"
I'm silent, arms hugging my own wet body, trying to hold myself together as fear pierces a hole through my stomach.
I've got no plan. Nothing.
And as we watch, it vanishes, only to reappear a few steps closer. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tense with anticipation of the final blow.
Without warning, the vined wall to my right explodes. I scream and shield my head as shards of stone and thorns shoot towards us. But the shadowy figure is gone and squinting through the darkness, I see Draco Malfoy step around the corner.
"Malfoy! What the bloody hell are you doing here!" Ron yells, wiping rain smeared dirt from his face.
"I just saved your pathetic lives!"
"You're probably a part of this somehow!" Harry shouts back.
And I see it. It takes me a moment to realize as I wipe away the droplets which have run into my eyes and squint through the dimness of the night, but Malfoy's hurt. The blood on the knife was his.
I run to him.
"Hermione! What are you doing?"
"Just grazed me," he claims, but I can see the blood running between his fingers. "I'm fine Granger! I don't care for a mudblood's concern! Let's just get out of here!" Pointing his wand at his wounded side, he performs a simple temporary healing spell.
"You know how to get out?" I ask. For a brief moment, there is a glimmer of hope, but the crash of thunder brings me back to the situation at hand. We're still here, with the shadow, and we are a long way from actually leaving this behind.
"He's probably the one who brought us here!" Harry accuses coming up behind me.
"That was the Dark Lord's doing. I'm the only one who knows how to escape this place," he tells us.
I swear, for a moment, I see fear in those icy eyes.
"Why should we trust anything you say?" Ron retorts.
"Because your other option is being killed by Shade."
There's a moment of realization where the only sound is heavy raindrops slapping against the muddy ground.
"Is that its name? What exactly is it?" I finally ask.
"No one really knows. The Dark Lord made it a while back. Some very dark magic."
"But it just-"
"It'll be back!" Malfoy shouts. "What? Did you think I killed it? You can't kill it! I'm not even sure it's alive!"
"Why would you help us? Why would you risk everything?" I ask.
"I didn't, idiot!"
"Excuse me?" Oh, he did not just call me an idiot.
"What's in it for you?" Harry jumps in.
"None of your damn business!" Malfoy yells. "Do you want to live or not!"
"Yes but-
"Good then. If you'll follow me." He turns back to the path and begins to walk away.
"Are you seriously going to listen to him?" Ron sounds absolutely shocked.
"Do you have a better plan, Ronald?" He glances at the ground sheepishly. "I didn't think so."
"Do you even know where you're going?"
Ron's been accusing Malfoy, pretty much since he arrived, of leading us into a trap. I don't think it could get much worse than the situation we're already in, but that's just me.
My feet are numb from the cold, wet ground. It seems to envelope my soles with its freezing mud, squishing between my toes. And the thunder; I flinch with every crack, thinking we've been found.
We haven't seen Shade again, but there's been screaming elsewhere in the maze. There were others in here, and I assume they were caught. My heart aches when I think about them, but as long as the creature is killing elsewhere, it isn't here. I hate that I'm thinking like this and it scares me what this place is doing to my mind. Or is it just the fear that's changing me?
Every once in a while I feel the prickle up my spine of being watched.
Hunted.
Were we sent to be this thing's prey?
I have noticed that Malfoy peers down the alleys before he leads us around the next corner. It makes me question whether Ron is right about him not knowing.
And as we reach a wall blocking the end of our path, the hole of fear in my chest rips open once again.
"Bloody hell! You have no idea where you're leading us! It's like the blind leading the blind!" Ron yells.
Malfoy is at the wall, pounding against it. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! They changed it! They f***ing changed it!"
There's something that he's not telling us.
"Malfoy, stop it!" I shout. He's smashing his fists against the wall as though that would break it down. I see blood running down his arms, the skin on his hands being ripped apart by the thorns.
Without thinking, I yank him away from the wall. He pushes me to the ground and pulls out his wand, blasting the wall, once again sending shards flying. But it's too thick and only the front is destroyed.
"Stop it!" I repeat.
"You don't understand!" He turns to me, eyes filled with terror. "We are not getting out of here alive."
"We haven't seen it for a while-
"Just because we haven't seen it, doesn't mean it isn't there."
I swallow.
"You said you knew the way out Malfoy! What's your game here?" Harry demands.
"Game? You think I'm playing games!" Malfoy is radiating with unrestrained anger and despair. "This is real life. And our lives are about to be over. So, if you've got any more of that boy-who-lived luck, now would be time!"
I look to my friends. Is this really it?
For a moment, I swear Ron is missing, but with another glance, he's right behind me.
What is this place doing to me?
Maybe it's the constant storm playing with my sense of reality.
Something feels wrong.
I'm tired of fighting and a sudden numbness spreads through my body. My senses are overwhelmed, shot, drained, and strangely, gone. Even the prickling of the rain against my skin feels dull and far away.
"I know you said it was none of our business, but would you please explain?" I ask Malfoy.
He just stares at me.
"Why do you think I'm here? The Dark Lord wasn't satisfied with my effort. And when the Dark Lord isn't satisfied," he laughs ruefully, "you're eliminated."
So he was a Death Eater. Or is. I'm still confused.
"Why would you try to help us?" I repeat.
"Because I didn't want to die alone!" he hollers, his face contorted with agonized emotion.
No one does. It's in this moment that finally he shows his humanity.
Can there be silence in the middle of a thunderstorm? It's eerie, that quiet that comes before something absolutely horrible occurs. I feel it. We're being watched once more. It's stalking, hunting.
I scan the area around us, but see nothing. There's nowhere left to go. It's like we're just waiting for it to appear.
Something catches my eye, but it isn't the shadow, it's Ron.
He turns to me and I see it. His eyes have turned red and his lips slowly curve into a smile.
This isn't Ron.
It is Ron.
I wake up, heart pounding, chest heaving. It was a nightmare. Only a nightmare. But I can't get over how real it felt.
Sitting up in bed, I run a hand over my head. There's no way I'm getting back to sleep now. What is wrong with my mind?
I take a deep breath and crawl out of bed. Maybe a splash of cold water will clear this from my thoughts.
It was a nightmare. A bad dream. I repeat the words like a mantra in my head in an attempt to convince myself of its truth. Only a dream. Only a dream.
But when I turn on the light and stand in front of the mirror, I am frozen.
If it was only a dream, then why am I covered in dirt and blood?
A huge thanks to my teammates DaughteroftheOneTrueKing, Ayesha Altugle, and lun27 who beta'd!