Warning: Fight scene ahead.

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Chapter 2 The Escape

The silver tray trembled a little in Draco's hands. He stared down at it with cold, hard eyes, as if daring it to move again. But it was not the tray that shook, it were his hands.

He didn't want this. Shame, or fear, or whatever else they want to call it. He didn't want to face any of them again. And until this day, he never thought he had to.

As he made his way down to the cellar, his Hawthorn wand lit and held between his long, thin fingers, he wished with all his might that she would still be unconscious. Pushing open the gate carefully, he could see that his prayers were unanswered.

Hermione Granger stood in the middle of the room, gazing at him with pure loathing in her eyes. He said nothing and escaped her burning stare by busying himself with her food tray.

She wasn't the same as the day he last saw her within the battlegrounds in Hogwarts. She seemed…more mature, more confident. There was an air of assertiveness around her.

Before Draco could set down the food tray completely, though, she had pounced on him. Her sudden act of boldness made him cry out in surprise as the bowls tipped over and broke, spilling soup all over the floor. By sheer luck, even though she was a considerable amount shorter than him, Hermione had managed to grab onto Draco's wrist, making him drop the wand. It rolled away into the darkness, and Draco fell to his knees, scrambling to catch it again –

"Get off!" He snarled. Hermione had seized his robes and was trying to get to the wand before him, reaching for it with her slender fingers. He wanted to kick her off, but was afraid of hurting her. The Ministry wouldn't be pleased if she turned up too injured.

At last, Draco's hand closed upon the wand and he raised it up and pointed it directly in her face, "Get off, Granger, or I'll curse you."

Hermione stiffened before finally releasing him and shrinking back to her original state of throwing him dirty looks.

Silently though breathing rapidly, Hermione brushed away a strand of brown hair from her face. She had prepared herself for the worst and was half expecting Draco Malfoy to hex her just for the hell of it, but then she saw him walking silently back to where the tray had fallen.

"Reparo." He murmured at the broken bowl, which fixed itself at once. He then proceeded to use the Replenishing Charm to refill it with soup. When he was finished, he carried the tray back to her and set it down at her feet, although a lot more far away than he did the first time. Draco pulled himself up to his full height and scrutinized Hermione. Her robes were torn, and covered in blood.

"Reparo." He repeated at the cuts on her clothes, which seemed to sew themselves back in mere seconds, "Tergeo." He pointed at her collarbone, cleaning up the blood.

Hermione was too shocked to say – or do – anything. It never occurred to her that Draco Malfoy would offer any act of kindness, especially when she was his prisoner. She had expected him to try to make matters as uncomfortable for her as possible.

"Too bad there's nothing I can do about that hair of yours." Draco forced a sneer, a bit of his old demeanor showing in his pale face.

This did not affront Hermione at all. On the contrary, she was quite relieved that Malfoy was still the way he was.

"It's not going to work, you know." Hermione retorted in a bossy, matter-of-fact kind of way, as if she was explaining the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane.

He looked at her in curiosity, "What's not going to work?"

"What you're planning." She said in contempt. "You're wanted for treachery, Dark activities, using Unforgivable Curses – you name it. And holding me hostage is not going to change any of that."

Draco watched her coldly, "You don't know what you're talking about, Mudblood."

If Hermione wasn't so busy trying to muster all the hate she could for him through her eyes, she would have noticed how tired he looked, how empty his eyes were, or how his usual sneer and insults were nowhere as pointed or powerful as they were before.

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In the days trapped inside the cellar of Malfoy Manor, Hermione had learned a lot. The Malfoys had not recognized the flesh colored string in her pocket that was in fact an Extendable Ear – probably thinking that it was some kind of lose thread – and did not bother to take it away from her like they did her wand. And Hermione had been eavesdropping on them ever since. It was obvious that the Malfoys, once so proud of their pureblood line, and taken a toll on their social status in the wizarding world. They argued constantly, accompanied with the sounds of broken china. The pacing footsteps upstairs were furtive, impatient, and never ceased to stop. From what she's heard and her deductions, which, she was rather good at, Hermione had decided that she was in no immediate danger. The Malfoys seemed to want to keep her alive and unharmed in an attempt of switching sides. It seemed like they can no longer survive among the other Death Eaters, who have all gone into hiding. They had not decided what they were going to do with her, but one thing was sure: they did not want retaliation.

Hermione's assumptions were confirmed when Draco Malfoy came down three times a day, provided her with edible food and drinks, and even drew up a bed and a pretty decent bathroom for her with his wand. After their first encounter though, he had stopped talking to her, or acknowledging her existence at all. He came in, dropped off the food, and left so fast without so much of a glance at her.

As she observed him, she slowly saw how different he looked. His skin was so pale that it was almost transparent, as if he hasn't seen the sun for ages. His white-blond hair seemed flatter, thinner, and longer than she had ever seen it. When he bent over, his hair fell into his eyes, hiding how very drained and inert they were.

The days passed by uneventfully. It wasn't until a particular moody day inside the Malfoy Manor (judging by the urgency of the heated conversation) that Hermione finally found out their intended plan.

"We have to act soon," Lucius Malfoy was saying. He sounded agitated and disturbed, "You and Draco should take the girl and go into hiding. It would be unwise for all three of us to try to enter the Ministry. I shall try to contact the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I will provide all the names, locations, and information I know about the members in the Council, along with the whereabouts of the Mudblood girl. I will say that you and Draco have taken her on the run to escape the Council… I will only ask you to come out of hiding once the Ministry has granted immunity. Hopefully Potter will stand on our side. Rumors say he's prone to forgiveness."

"Lucius," Narcissa's voice was barely more than a whisper, "Lucius, have you any idea how dangerous this is? Once Draco and I go on the run, the entire world will be looking for us. The Council and the Ministry. I don't want us to end up like Avery. Wouldn't it be safer if we just bring the girl straight to – "

"Of course not," Lucius interrupted coldly, "Do you think the Ministry will be keen to free us after we have offered all that we have? They will have no use of us! It would be a miracle if we can even get to Azkaban: the Council will kill us before that!"

"The Ministry will not free us either way." Narcissa said, "They will not grant immunity – not when we still have the girl."

"Which is way I will tell them that the reason that we have not handed the girl over is to ensure her own safety. And her safety is only guaranteed if every member of the Council is caught."

"We need more time…" Narcissa whispered, her voice trembling.

"We don't have any. You heard Draco. The Council is too prudent now. If we don't act now, the Unbreakable Vow will ensure that we never do."

"Lucius… You know that means… "

"Yes," Lucius said grimly, "I do. If the plan works, it might take months … years … before they round up all the members. And if it doesn't…"

"We will be on the run forever." Narcissa finished for him.

There was a short moment of silence before Narcissa spoke again. "Draco?" She asked, as if hoping her son would offer some kind of intake.

If Narcissa had not addressed her son directly, Hermione wouldn't have known that Draco was even present during the conversation. He seemed to have gone completely mute at his parents' discussion.

"Draco?" His mother asked again, sounding worried.

"Anything." Draco finally mumbled dully.

Their discussion shifted to preparations of food and clothing for Narcissa and Draco, and Hermione pulled the thread from her ear. Feeling numb and loaded with information, she sat down on the bed Draco had conjured and brought her knees up to hug them.

She didn't know how to feel about this. Last time she had been in the Malfoy Manor, Bellatrix Lestrange had tortured her while the Draco just stood there, white-faced and scared. She shuddered as she remembered the Cruciatus Curse upon her. There was not much she could do at this point. She was without a wand, which rendered her practically defenseless. Even if she somehow manages to win one before the Malfoys take action, there was still the Anti-Disapparition Jinx in place.

And something didn't make sense… Hermione expected no less for Death Eaters to attempt to switch sides, but Avery? In the intensive research she had done on existing Death Eaters in her seventh year to hunt down Horcruxes, she had memorized every one of the known Death Eaters – and Avery was one of the first ones to join, along with the Lestranges. It didn't seem that likely that he would be the one to flee… Unless they were talking about Avery Jr.?

The door creaked open as Draco Malfoy came down the stairs, his wand lit and his arms laden with the usual food tray. He did not look at Hermione as he quickly set it down. With his back slightly hunched, Hermione could see his terrified face. It seemed even whiter than it was a few days ago.

"Hurry up and eat." He said dully, "We're leaving in a few minutes."

"Don't you think this is all too convenient?" She blurted out.

Draco stopped abruptly in the middle of his walk to the door.

Seeing that he had no intention to reply, Hermione climbed up from her position on the bed and stood up, "Avery fleeing right before you've decided to go to the Ministry?" She demanded. She didn't want to help the Malfoys in any way, but their obviously flawed plan might jeopardize her own safety as well.

Draco turned around to face her, his eyes narrowed, "How did you know about that? What device do you have on you? Accio!" But since he didn't know what he was searching for, the Summoning Charm did not work.

"Use your brain, Malfoy." Hermione said hotly, completely disregarding his interrogations, "If this is a trap, you'll get everyone killed in the process!"

When Draco spoke again, he spoke in his usual condescending tone, "I suggest you keep your ears to yourself, Mudblood. Or I might curse them off for you."

"Which would be harder for you to do if you were dead."

He raised his eyebrows at her, "If I didn't know better, Granger," He drawled slowly, "I'd say you're worried about me."

"I currently have too much on my plate to worry about two-faced Death Eaters." Hermione said coldly, eyeing him with great dislike.

For a moment, they merely stared at each other, each boiling in their own anger.

"Draco?" Narcissa's voice rang through, "We have to go. Your father has already – "

But before either of them could hear what Lucius had already done, a high pitch shriek blared as if an alarm has been triggered. There was a loud bang, a woman's outcry of torment that sounded awfully like Narcissa, and many loud, angry voices all at once. Deafening footsteps echoed through the ceiling of the cellar, and more bangs sounded, as if an army was blasting through the Malfoy's drawing room.

Face white as snow, Draco grabbed Hermione's forearm and dragged her away from the door, his wand raised in front of him like a sword.

"Well, Lucius. You're a slippery one, aren't you? Planning to turn on us, were you?"

"No… No, of course not." Came Lucius's trembling voice, all dignity lost.

"Really? 'Cause I think if it weren't for the Caterwauling Charm outside your house alerting us you were trying to ran for it, you would have Disapparated by now."

"I wasn't… I assure you, Rookwood, our loyalties lie within the Council. Unlike Avery – "

"Avery's right here, you snitch." Rookwood spat, "It was a trap we set for you. We knew if you had the make the Unbreakable Vow, you'd run and turn us all in. I think you deserve some punishment for that, don't you? Crucio!"

And suddenly Lucius Malfoy's screams were all that they could hear. The little color left in Draco's face drained, and his hand grasped Hermione's arm so tight that she gasped out in pain.

"No! No! Please!" Narcissa Malfoy was screaming too.

"Just a taste of what's to come…" Rookwood said maliciously. But he seemed to have lifted the curse because Lucius's scream stopped, "Now, where is young Draco?"

"He's not here!" Narcissa said at once, "He left already!"

"I doubt it." Another voice told Rookwood, "The Caterwauling Charm was intact until Malfoy stepped out. His son's probably still in the house. Hiding, most likely. He was always a little coward."

Hermione's eyes darted upwards and saw Draco's jaw clenched firmly, making his chin tremble.

"Search the house." Rookwood commanded, and more footsteps trudged along the ceiling of the cellar. Draco's hand was now clamped so forcefully around Hermione's arm that she was wincing. As quietly as possible, the pair retreated into the shadows. Hermione's mind raced as she weighed her options. She was wandless, and if she came across any Death Eater that wasn't a Malfoy, she'd be dead within the second. From the sound of if, it seemed like both Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had been defeated already. This meant that her best chance of survival is to stick with Draco Malfoy.

"Check the cellar too!" Rookwood boomed.

Quick as a flash, knowing that they had mere seconds before someone burst in, Draco pointed his wand at the bathroom that he had conjured up for Hermione, vanishing it silently. He then redirected his want to her bed. As scared as she was, Hermione was also astounded by his wand work. The bed sprung up vertically and Transfigured itself to resemble the walls in the cellar. It flew over to where they were standing and wrapped itself around them, and Hermione realized that it was hollow in the middle. They managed to blend in with the walls a millisecond before the door to the cellar was blasted open.

"You take the left side, Alecto! I'll take right!"

With a horrified feeling, Hermione recognized the voices. They belonged to the Carrows. One set of footsteps came so close to their hiding place that Hermione let in a sharp intake of breath. Draco immediately threw his other hand across her mouth, blocking her airway. In the limited space that they had, Hermione was confined between the wall and Draco's arm. Cramped up in the tiny space against Draco, she couldn't help noticing that his hand was shaking too.

"Nothing here, Amycus." Said a wheezy female voice right in front of them.

"Homenum Revelio!" Amycus Carrow said, and the curious sensation that swept upon Hermione indicated that the human revealing spell had worked. "I knew it! There's someone else here! Look around, Alecto! He might have used a Disillusionment Charm!"

Draco suddenly made a slashing movement with his wand, and Hermione recognized it at once as the curse that Dolohov had used on her in her fifth year at the Ministry. A streak of purple flames flew through the wall that hid them and hit Alecto Carrow in the back. She cried out in pain and fell to the floor.

"Alecto! Hey! He's down here! He's – "

"Stupefy!" Draco aimed wildly at the source of the voice as the Transfigured wall in front of them crumpled to pieces under Carrow's berserk curses. He missed and blasted a part of concrete on the floor instead. "Come on!" Still grabbing onto her forearm, Draco pulled her forwards.

Hermione struggled and broke free to pick up Alecto Carrow's wand, then raced to follow Draco Malfoy. There was no way she could take them alone, she had have to form allegiance with Draco for now.

"Avada Kedavra!" A burst of green light shot at them and they dodged in opposite directions to avoid it.

Additional footsteps and voices came through the door. Other Death Eaters have joined the fight. Silently, Hermione shot multiple Stunning Spells at them, each one hitting its target.

"There's someone else here!" A jet of red light came so close to her and she felt her hair get blown away from her face. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Hermione crept back into the shadows.

"Don't hurt him – please!" Narcissa's desperate cries penetrated through the many booms and blasts, but none of the Death Eaters seemed to have heard her.

Hermione backed away to the wall, the wand of Alecto Carrow raised in front of her. She was too scared to cast a spell in case she gave away her location. Meanwhile, she could see Draco Malfoy dueling Amycus Carrow. Other Death Eaters have spotted the pair as well and advanced immediately towards them.

A small part of Hermione didn't want to come forward to save him. But she also knew that if it weren't for his quick wit, she wouldn't even be alive to contemplate this at all.

"Incendio!" She cried.

Sudden fire erupted all around, surrounding the Death Eaters. They cried out, turned their attention back to her, and shot more Killing Curses over, which she managed to avoid by diving behind one of the pillars. The fires seemed to hold them momentarily. Some of them were trying to put it out with water, but Hermione's spell was so strong that it couldn't be diminished instantaneously. She used this precious time she had to run to the doorway of the cellar, shooting another Stunning Spell at an oncoming Death Eater in her way.

"It's the Mudblood girl from the Ministry! Kill her! Kill – "

"Petrificus Totalus!" She shot at him, and he fell to the floor.

Suddenly, someone else grabbed onto the back of her robes, almost choking her. She squeaked out a shout of pain as a spell hit her in the back, shooting white-hot pain all across her body. Before she could twist around to see who casted it, someone else shot a Stunning Spell at the Death Eater, causing him to release her.

Hermione knelt down to the floor, panting as she clutched her sides in agony. But another hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her up to her feet almost instantly.

"Come on!" The owner of the hand yelled, and she turned to face Draco again. He had a bloody gash on his cheek that reached all the way to his neck.

They ran up the stairs as the others followed them. Another spell missed her by centimeters, and she could smell burning hair.

"Confringo!" Hermione pointed to the ceiling of the cellar and it exploded, showering them with rocks and pebbles.

Muffled yells and screams told her that she at least buried some of them. As they ran out of the cellar and across the living room, more spells were sent their way.

"Get them!" Rowle, who was standing over the lump on the floor that was Lucius Malfoy and holding back Narcissa, yelled at his fellow Death Eaters. "Reducto!" His spell missed and hit the huge ornate mirror, blowing it into a wreckage of sharp glass.

Hermione screamed as one jagged mirror piece cut across the side of her ribs. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Draco no longer running for the door but towards his mother, who was bounded by silver ropes.

"No!" Narcissa screamed again. "Draco, run!" The urgency of her voice pierced through all other sounds and seemed to reach Draco like a stunning spell. For a moment, he stood there, frozen, in the midst of all the debris, not knowing what to do as he watched his fear-stricken mother.

Hermione knew that she couldn't waste another second. Tearing her gaze away, she ran for the door. And suddenly Draco was running beside her, his face pale but adamant. The distance between them and the front door stretched endlessly on, and it seemed to take them all the time in the world to reach it.

As Hermione toppled into the yard, she tried to Disapparate but couldn't. On her side, Draco was still racing to the gate with no sign of slowing down. Understanding where the boundary of the spell laid, Hermione ran after him. Another spell hit the dry hedges on her right and it burst into flames.

She covered her face with her arms and pointed her wand backwards with no trace of decelerating, "Impedimenta! Immobulus! Impedimenta!" She cried aimlessly.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!" Someone bellowed behind them, and Hermione felt the spell shoot past her and hit Draco on his back. He slumped over to the ground.

Hermione blasted the gate open with her wand. She could see a group of Death Eaters advancing, shooting Killing Curses at her. If she could cross over the threshold, she could Disapparate. But the feeble movement of Draco Malfoy caught her eye and she had the shortest internal struggle of her life before she flung herself down next to him and attempted to drag him over.

"Come on…Come on, please!" She panted as her quivering fingers found the collar of his robes, but he was too heavy and she couldn't move him by herself. The Death Eaters were getting closer now, aiming at the immobile target she made by crouching over Draco. The gate behind her got blasted into smithereens, showering her with more debris and dust. Yet the dark patch of blood that was oozing from Draco's back was even more terrifying: it had spread over his entire torso, staining his shirt.

"Mobilicorpus!" Hermione gasped as she remembered the spell at the last second, and Draco's body floated into the air and out the gate.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

This time, the full-body bind curse hit her.

Dread came over Hermione as her arms snapped to her sides. She was as good as dead now. And to know that she will die trying to help Draco Malfoy… The bitter thought entered her mind relentlessly, and it was even more appalling than death itself. Thundering footsteps grew louder and louder as Hermione silently struggled to throw off the curse.

Suddenly, a hand came out of nowhere and closed upon her wrist again.

With blood dripping from his mouth, Draco had managed to crawl back up. Snarling in exertion and shaking in pain, he dragged her over the threshold of the Anti-Disapparation Jinx.

More curses surged through the air around them, and dirt from the ground flew into Hermione's eyes so she couldn't see; but then everything went pitch black as Draco Disapparated and she felt extreme discomfort in being squeezed from all directions before she knew no more.

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*NOTE:

The Council has suspected the Malfoys to switch sides for a while. Their trap was to let "slip" that a Death Eater had betrayed them before the Malfoys could, along with the information that they had to make the Unbreakable Vow next meeting. Lying about the death of Avery was a final warning to the Malfoys to let them know what's to come if they fled. If the Malfoys were planning to betray them, they would have acted before the next meeting took place, which they did.

Thank you for your time!