Chapter 9

The Escape

Hermione pointed the wand at the window, and muttered a few words under her breath. The bars over the window bent sideways, leaving a small crawl space. As Hermione climbed atop of the bed, she pulled herself up and out of the room. Draco leaned over outside the window, to see how far down it was. She looked back over to him in a hesitant way.

"You don't have to do this," Draco said, "Not like this at least. We can plan this more carefully,"

"You don't get it, do you?" Hermione shot a glance over to him. "I don't care about safe, Draco. I've been threatened and beaten for days now. Death doesn't seem so terrifying anymore." She pointed the wand at his ropes and allowed him to be untied. Hermione began climbing down the cold bricks which was becoming a bit difficult. Draco quickly rushed down beside her, as if he would actually help her.

Hermione really didn't know at this point how much she could trust him. She still wasn't sure exactly where his heart lied. As she took a deep breath, she began climbing down again. Draco looked around to make sure that no one was watching. Reaching down farther Hermione's foot slipped and she almost fell. Thankfully, Draco reached out and held her up by her hand. She looked down at the ground which was still far below the two of them.

"Draco!" Hermione cried out.

"It's okay, Granger. Just-just hang on," He grunted, trying to grasp a brick in the wall a bit more tightly.

"That's all I can do, Draco," She said as she tried gripping the wall with her other hand.

They struggled trying to help each other out, but nothing was working.

"Draco," Hermione tried pulling herself up again, but she was unsuccessful.

"Granger," Draco tightened his hand around hers, but she was slipping from his grasp. "I can't hold both of us for much longer. Get a hold of the wall."

"What does it look like I'm trying to do?" Hermione snapped.

"Why are we fighting right now?" Draco looked up at the wall.

"It's in our nature," She grunted as she finally found a brick that would support her. As she slipped over to it, Draco steadily watched her and waited to make sure that she was alright.

As the two went further, Hermione could finally see the ground about fifteen feet below her. She looked up at Draco to make sure he was still close to her. But when she saw him, she noticed the look on his face. Hermione turned over to where his eyes were to find that Bellatrix was standing at a window, looking down on them. Her features quickly changed in an angry rage as she left.

"Hermione, we need to move faster, they saw us," He continued to move.

"Draco, I'm stuck." Hermione saw that he had now passed her and had his feet on the ground.

"Step on the brick right over there," He pointed.

"I tried, I can't reach it," She shook her head with panic in her voice.

"Just-just jump, Granger."

"I'm not jumping," She shook her head.

"I'll catch you, just jump." He said quickly.

"Draco—"

"Bloody jump!" He demanded.

Hermione took a deep breath and tried to rationalize the situation. But nothing she could think of would actually comfort her. She looked down at Draco who looked both irritated and angry. From the corner of her eye, she could see Bellatrix rushing towards them, with Lucius close behind. Hermione closed her eyes and then let go of the wall. As she fell, Hermione kept her eyes closed, deciding that if Draco actually let her fall to the ground, she didn't want to know when it was coming. But to her surprise, she fell onto Draco and accidentally pushed him to the ground.

"Ow," Hermione said as she pushed herself up.

"You were never one to be graceful," Draco sighed as he stood up to his feet. He grabbed Hermione by her arm and the two began running, trying to keep a long distance between his aunt and father.

"Draco, my legs hurt, I can't run much further." Hermione panted for air.

"This isn't the time to be weak, Granger." He said as he kept a good pace.

"No really, Draco. My leg—oh my, Draco," Hermione cried.

"Stop thinking about it, we have to keep moving, Granger!" He shouted. But she didn't answer him. "Granger?"

He stopped running and turned around, seeing that she wasn't standing nearby. Draco noticed that they were in the forest behind his house and pretty deep into it too. Looking around for her, Draco called out her name again. Eventually, he found her lying on the ground surrounded by leaves. She still had been wearing the dress from the dance, which was torn and tattered. Kneeling down beside her, he saw a blood stain on the lower part of the dress. He put his hand on her, trying to wake her but it was evident that she had fainted. Draco grabbed the bottom of her dress and ripped it. When he was done, her dress stopped at her knees. At this point, he was able to see a piece of glass that was sticking out of her hazel skin. He wrapped the material from the dress up and bandaged her leg with the piece of glass still sticking out. But he knew that he wouldn't be able to fix the wound in the forest when they were still being followed.

After giving another look around to make sure he was alone, he picked Hermione up and began carrying her. Draco continued to walk for hours until eventually, he couldn't carry her anymore. As he sat her down, he realized that by now Bellatrix and Lucius had given up. But he also knew that he would have to move quickly in the morning if he didn't want to get caught in another web of his family's mess.


Hermione woke up to the sound of leaves being crushed under feet. As she turned her head to the right, she saw Draco hovering over her. Blinking a few times, Hermione tried to sit up, but Draco pushed her back down. A rush of emotions overcame her as he leaned down to kiss her. He smiled as he looked around the brightly lit forest. She had always loved the fall and it seemed even more beautiful with Draco sitting so close next to her. Putting his arms around her, he pulled her up and close to him. Laying her head on his chest, she nestled closer to him and smiled. It had been months since she had felt this safe.

"Hermione," Draco looked down at her.

"Yes?" Hermione smiled.

"Look at me," He held her tighter.

"I am," She laughed.

Hermione felt a sharp pain in her leg, making her yelp.

"Hermione,"

"What is that?" She cried out.

"Shh—" He kissed her.

The pain in her leg struck her again.

"Ow!" Hermione screamed loudly, her body jolting up from the ground.

"Hermione! Hermione, wake up!" Draco called out.

Her eyes shot open as she awoke from her dream that was all too good to be real. Quickly, she looked down at her leg, trying to grab a hold of it. But Draco pushed her back down, keeping her from seeing the blood which was covering both her and him at this point. She screamed in pain and his left hand covered her mouth.

"You have to stay quiet, we're still in the forest." He told her. "I have to take this out, you're going to lose too much blood, just take deep breaths."

"What the Hell is in my leg?" She cried out.

"It's glass, I'm guessing from the window." Draco gripped ahold of the long shard of glass.

Hermione couldn't help but to scream loudly as Draco pulled it out. There was blood all over the glass. She cried in pain as Draco took the extra dress material and wrapped it around her wound to add some pressure. Then he hurriedly stood up, and picked her up from the ground. The two started out, though Hermione limped behind with tears still pouring out her eyes. Draco walked ahead of her, searching through the trees to make sure that no one was following them.

"My—my dress," Hermione looked down, realizing what he had done to it.

"Really, Granger? That should be the last thing on your mind right now! We're being chased, in case you've forgotten." Draco took another quick glance around.

She didn't try to fight with him, she was too upset. After a few hours of limping around, Hermione saw that they were nearing the end of the forest. Looking over at Draco, Hermione took a deep breath. He stopped and looked around apprehensively. Then he turned back around to face her.

"What now, Granger?" Draco asked, "Since you're just filled with such great ideas, what do we do now?"

"Why are you angry, I got us out of that hole!" Hermione cried.

"You got us out of that?" He questioned, "No, Granger, I got us out of that. You would have died if I wasn't there to save your sorry—"

"Well, looks like we're even." Hermione crossed her arms.

"Even?" Draco turned towards her.

"If it wasn't for me, you'd have killed yourself the other day. And if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't be away from that, that place!" She hollered, "Maybe my plan wasn't flawless, but at least it was a plan! At least I didn't give up like you did!"

"That's rich," He flashed an angry look towards her. "Enough of this, I'm sick of fighting with you. Where are we going?"

"We?" Hermione seemed surprised. "I'm sorry, I just…I didn't think you were…"

"You didn't think I was just going to leave you, did you?" He neared her.

"I didn't think you'd stick around," Hermione admitted and then paused. "I think I know somewhere we can go,"


Author's Note:

I know this chapter was short and I'm really sorry for that! But there is plenty more to come so I hope you all keep reading!

Thanks!