Disclaimer: All belongs to the J.K. Rowling, don't sue me, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. The first chapter title was inspired by an FOTR chapter title, ten points and a big gold star if you guess which one. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Sorry about the delay!
Chapter Two: Cornered
By Savanasi
The dust rose into the air behind Draco, his feet pounding in the night. The vision of his receding back cloaked in the moonlight was all that Hermione could see as she lay on the floor. She shut her eyes, replaying his face as he had turned. His eyes had been so calculative, shrouded in anxiety and worry. But for a moment she had thought he would come back for her. She had thought he would save her. And then he had kept running, as she knew he would, as he knew he should.
A crunch behind her forced her eyes open and a chilling panic took over her body. She felt her body tremble in sudden fear, as she realized she had no idea how close the death eaters were. Twisting her body, she managed to sit up.
The woods were empty.
The darkness swarmed around her, its thick, palpable nature submerging her and drowning her in a creeping fear. She gasped for air suddenly, feeling herself losing consciousness as the pain in her ankle soared to an unbearable height. Hermione's mind went fuzzy, her eyes swimming in tears. And then a crunch sounded in the distance. And then another and another until they became incessant, blurring into a single forbidding sound of inescapable, imminent death.
She was shocked into panic mode and her mind instantly sprang back into its generally meticulous form, calculating carefully every possible method of escape. The footsteps pounded closer. She desperately tried to bring herself upright but it was to no avail as she slipped back down the minute she had gotten there. Her hands clutched at the leaves around her, searching and searching for anything to use as a weapon. But as her luck went, only a sea of pointless leaves that couldn't dent cotton candy, let alone the human body surrounded her.
Her wand lay meters away having been flung from her hands upon contact with the ground. Just as she had given up hope on finding a weapon, logic kicked in and she realized she had forgotten all about her wand.
That happened far too often for her liking.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione uttered a soft "Accio" charm and grabbed her wand firmly in her right hand. She felt far more secure with magic on her side, but she was still trembling from the pain and the cold of the dark night.
The footsteps, which until now had been building to a stupefying frenzy stopped. All that was left was an eerie quiet. And then through the silence came a very perceptible and chilling noise.
A breath.
A heavy, panting breath right behind her.
Hermione shrieked and leapt into the air, her body squirming in pain as she hobbled to her feet, leaning against a stump that had miraculously appeared. One hand still holding on vehemently to the moldy old boot she had found by Malfoy.
"Ah, my dear Miss Granger. What might you be doing, so far into the forbidden forest? I do hope you are not being followed by anything…sinister."
"I'm not afraid of you, Lucius." Hermione's voice quivered, but her eyes met his gaze dead on.
"I would very much like to disagree, mudblood." Lucius circled her, his wand on a direct, one-way path to her temple, the perfect position for the killing blow.
"What do you want from me?"
"Where is Draco?" Lucius sneered.
"Do you honestly expect me to tell you?"
Lucius jabbed forward with his wand, his movements precise and calculated. He stepped closer, his robes whispering against the foliage on the ground. The ornately carved wand traced an outline of Hermione's neck and head. She took an unconscious step back, her breath catching. Lucius Malfoy was nothing, if not intimidating. Hermione's hand moved carefully behind her, repositioning her grasp on her wand. But her slight movement was caught and Lucius cast a body binding charm.
"Watch that hand, Miss Granger. I'm not in a mood to be toyed with." Lucius's dark odor washed over her, and she internally cringed, but her body, stuck, stagnated was unable to flinch away from him. He placed a polished wand tip at the base of her throat, pushing into the soft skin with a resolute and cruel jab.
"I will not ask you again, Miss Granger. Where is Draco?"
He whispered a hushed incantation and her mouth was freed from its magical prison. She licked her lips carefully, and then pursed them. Draco Malfoy may not have saved her, but there was obviously a reason that his father was after him. And if Malfoy was an enemy to his considerably more evil and potent father, then he was on her side, or at the very least in the same hemisphere as her. She took a deep breath, knowing she would regret this final move, and then gracefully spat in Lucius's eye.
"I wouldn't tell you even if I knew-" Hermione started to speak but was cut off when the wand precariously placed at the surface of her neck was viciously pushed into her windpipe alongside a spell muttered under Lucius's breath. She started chocking the world around her swimming in darkness. Her breaths came in gasps as she tried to remain conscious. But her efforts were to no avail as Lucius, his wand, and his crony faded as she fell to the floor.
Several hundred yards away, Draco Malfoy fell panting against a gnarled tree trunk. His hands, sweaty from his run, reached into his blond locks, pulling angrily against the baby soft hair. His eyes were narrow and focused, calculating his next maneuver and forcing his thoughts away from the injured witch he left behind.
He had to get back to Hogwarts, it was imperative that he relay the information he had to McGonagall. He itched his forearm nervously; he was running out of time, and he knew it. Glancing about, he desperately sought the portkey he had been left. His wand lay uselessly in his left hand. Any spell now would be like a flare shot in the dark, the enemy would be watching for signs of magic. So he was left to non-magic methods of finding that damn portkey. But nothing, absolutely nothing besides foliage littered the path before him. He couldn't have missed it, could he?
His arms felt around in the darkness, moving quickly and quietly, realizing that despite the emptiness of his surroundings, danger was never far in times such as these. Vigilance, constant vigilance was the law that reigned. But lost in his thoughts, Draco failed to hear the snap of a twig that his normally trained ears would have picked up without fail.
His gaze was locked on the forest floor, scanning and rescanning the grounds for a sign. He was sure this clearing had to be the location of his portkey. The note had specified that the transportation device would be left at one of the two sites. The first he had run into Granger with, and despite her minor disturbance he was sure he would have seen it. Unfortunately, he hadn't, which only left this clearing in the wood to secure his safety.
But there was nothing. And unless the stupid git who had left the note had transfigured a bloody tulip into a portkey, he was out of luck. He drew himself up; realizing that staying to long in any location was not worth the risk. He had almost been caught once, (and here, his mind pushed resolutely passed the vision of Granger saving him), and there was no way he would repeat that mistake.
Draco cast another furtive glance about him and then resolutely stood up. His dark robes swam around his lean form, the Slytherin Head Boy badge glinting dangerously in the moonlight. He had left Hogwarts a mere two days before and yet the time felt like a lifetime. He could remember back when it was all so simple, before Dumbledore had died, before he had received the note that would change his life. But before his mind could take an ill-timed trip down memory land, Draco felt himself slipping back into reality.
The cold wind pierced his fine wool outer garments, seeping in through his pores and burying itself in the dark recesses of his heart. It prodded and pricked, and he his mind created a vision of the only other Hogwarts student stuck out here. But before the alien feeling of guilt could settle over him, he heard a noise that made his skin prickle.
A hiss, a soft, deadly hiss moving through the grass.
Nagini.
Oh fuck.