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Chapter 10

Chaos exploded around us as every witch and wizard reacted instinctively and immediately to Draco's shout, throwing curses and hexes at the both of us, I threw up the strongest shield charm I knew and hurriedly wove the mass stunning spell. I felt the magic coursing through me, the power enhanced by adrenaline and it was with a sharp sense of relief that I saw some them start to collapse to the floor, the effect wasn't as instantaneous as a normal spell would be and some tried to continue casting spells even as they began to go limp. The spell was nowhere near perfect but it was working and that is enough I thought as certainty and triumph replaced the fear in my veins.

Time seemed to spin for a moment as I watched the last of them go down and let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding, shakily I turned to check on Scorpius who was still unconscious though after checking I found a strong pulse, there didn't seem to have been severe spell damage but it would be best to get him to St. Mungo's as quickly as possible. Reassured that the small boy was alright for now I went over to Draco to untie him, it was only when I was a couple of steps away from him that I realised he had already used his wand to release himself of course but still he stayed sitting down, hunched over.

1 second, 2...

I was beside him before I had even realised I'd started running, dropping down next to the chair I could hear how ragged his breathing was as he looked slowly up at me and smiled wryly.

"Guess I'm not quite as quick as the great Hermione Granger" he chuckled darkly only for his amusement to be swallowed by a bout of coughing, I gently pulled at his hands that were clasped to his side to try and locate the source of his pain, I was sure I knew enough healing spells to fix it. I can help him, I can make the pain go away if I just try hard enough. A gasp slipped through my lips when I realised that the whole of his side and his hands was slick with crimson red blood and I had the strange sensation that my own heart beat harder in empathy even as my mind furiously worked to identify the curse.

The Eviscera Curse.

Bile rose in my throat unbidden and I forced it back down as I shakily raised my wand to perform a spell that would knit the wound back together, I didn't dare do any more than that for fear of how it might react with the Dark Magic. As I watched the spell work and started to lift Draco up out of the seat my mind seemed to shut down, withdrawing till I could cope with all of the emotion clogging up inside me and making it easier to deal with what needed to be done. Even as I was trying to make sure he was in as little pain as possible as he leant on me to walk and reassuring him that Scorpius hadn't been seriously hurt my mind was jumping ahead, anticipating problems and finding ways to combat them.

It was weird to think that whilst my emotions froze up everything was clearer, more precise and yet at the same time it was as if I was watching everything from behind a hazy screen. I cast a lightening charm on Scorpius and asked Draco whether we should wake him yet, he pointed out that it would probably be safer to wait until they were surrounded by Healers however he was adamant that he try to carry his son rather than have him floated alongside us.

"I won't have him just hung in the air like some rag-doll" he protested

"You're in no state to carry him and I'm already carrying you and I need a spare hand for my wand in case there are more of this lot hanging around" I countered, watching as a muscle in his jaw twitched with tension, his eyes burned with anger and protectiveness for his son and as frustrated as I was with him, I think I fell a little deeper in that moment.

I eventually relented a little of course, agreeing that I would carry Scorpius and Draco would use his wand to take care of any other threats seemingly whilst leaning on me as little as he possibly could, something I noticed rather quickly and soundly scolded him for. Just because my stomach had decided to start doing funny things in his presence didn't mean I was going to let him get away with trying to act like mr. badass who doesn't need any help.

I couldn't help but glance down as we passed the leader on our way out of the room and in the next few seconds the blood in my veins seemed to freeze as I stopped and watched unfamiliar features fade and melt into heartbreakingly familiar ones and dirty brown hair become engulfed into the trademark ginger of a Weasley, polyjuice potion.

A choked noise that sounded far too much like a sob for my comfort forced its way out of my throat as Draco halted beside me, staring silently down at the prone form of George Weasley.

George...why?

"How...why...he...but.." I stuttered, my eyes darting pleadingly between George and Draco and my hands shaking as they clung to Scorpius, this innocent, bright little boy huddled unconscious in my arms. George did this, he did this to Scorpius and all those other people.

It was all I could do not to collapse on the floor, this was my family, that someone I knew and cared about so deeply was capable of this...I could already sense my mind shutting down in an attempt to block it all out, deny that what I was seeing was real even as my vision blurred with tears. I thought he was better, I thought he had given up on the idea of getting revenge for Fred, we all did, I guess he fooled us all along, only telling us what we wanted to hear. How could I have been so blind?

"Hermione" a soft voice cut through my dulled senses suddenly and I realised that I had no idea how long I had been standing there just staring with Scorpius and Draco still hurt, I blinked back the tears and pulled out every bit of strength and resolve I had left to straighten and nod silently to Draco that I was okay. Avoiding his eyes, which I knew would only be full of enough compassion to make me really break down, and headed towards the door again.

I'm not sure how exactly I made it through the hours after that, when I try to focus on what happened all I get is a blur of events and a chilling feeling of emptiness and detachment. Luckily we didn't come across any more guards once we made our way out of the basement and I quickly apparated the three of us to St. Mungo's where both Scorpius and Draco were whisked away from me almost before I had a chance to say what had happened, a Healer came to see me a little while later to question me, I can't remember what I said but maybe it was the expression on my face more than anything that made her worried about me, I was sent away to 'recuperate' from shock, a childish part of me wanted to laugh in her face.

Images of Draco bleeding, of Scorpius unconscious and bound to a chair, of George lying there on the cold cement floor, so peaceful and innocent looking, all flitted behind my eyelids as I tried to figure out whether I should tell the Weasley's or the Aurors first. In the end I sent a patronus to Harry, I couldn't face Ron then, couldn't face telling him it had been his brother even though I knew instinctively he would have come home upon hearing about everything from Ginny earlier. It was Harry who was able to make the decision after talking to Ginny that the Aurors would be called, promising that he would do what he could to protect George though.

Both Harry and Ginny tried to persuade me to go home and rest but I refused, wanting to make sure Draco was alright, the Healers had said something about having stopped the bleeding but needing to work a little longer to halt the progress of the Dark Magic as it slowly caused more and more damage to him. Scorpius was apparently not suffering from any spell damage but had gone into a state of hysteria upon waking up so was now sleeping peacefully under the influence of a dreamless sleep potion.

Around mid-morning as I was drifting in and out of sleep on a small sofa in the waiting room some aurors came in to question me, I answered as best I could with a sleep-fogged brain and not long after they left I heard a familiar voice calling my name and experienced a strange twist in my gut, somewhere between the need for comfort and fearful apprehension of what he was going to say when he found me.

Ron...

I'm honestly beginning to think that I've become a complete angst-whore, oh well -shrugs- hope you liked the chapter, don't know when I'll be able to get the next one out, I've got a pretty clear idea in my head of what I want to happen though so I'll try not to be too long about it :) Oh and 'Eviscera' is a completely made-up word cause I thought it sounded alright and oddly enough couldn't find a decent latin word for eviscerate lol