Serendipity

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing from the Harry Potter universe. This fanfiction is written purely for entertainment purposes and nothing more.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reached out in support of my trials. Hearing your positive feedback and advice and support means the world to me, more than you could know. I am grateful for all of you.

Right now I would to take some time to clear some things up, hopefully for the last time. At least a few reviewers have notified me that I make Hermione seem 'pathetic' and get 'pushed around' a lot, as if having weakness and not being perfect all the time is some kind of crime. I'm sorry to those of you who share that mentality but it's false and here is why:

Hermione has never been and will never be pathetic. Hermione is a young woman, and even though she is a strong young woman, she still has insecurities and things she isn't happy about with herself - don't we ALL? A lot of people like to pretend that Hermione has no flaws because she seems like such perfect character, but that's not what I'm here to write about. I write people as they are - real people with real problems and flaws. I've said once before that the Hermione I'm writing in Serendipity is not the same Hermione as she was in DH nor is she the same as how I wrote her in Destiny. Are you the same as you were five years ago, two years ago, one, six months ago? No.

She's stubborn as hell and has a strong, good heart. She came to France to figure herself out because she became someone she didn't like when she was dating Ron (someone who was pushed around and taken advantage of and she came to believe that was acceptable) so she's struggling to stop being that person. If she comes across pathetic or pushed around that's why. I made these changes to her character for a reason. Her relationship with Ron had turned into an emotionally abusive thing and believe me, as someone who knows exactly what that is like, it's not easy to escape from. And I warned everyone that it may bother some people but to bear with me because she's not always going to stay that way. She's healing and figuring out her shit, pardon my language. That doesn't make her pathetic. It actually makes her incredibly strong.

You will see Hermione turn into more of the person we see her as in later chapters, especially when she returns to England and has to face reality. As for the pureblood society - they are not perfect either. They can be extremely judgmental and there are some families and members of that society who are very old fashioned, especially the French. But as Blaise and Draco and Ariana and even Astoria at times have been showing bit by bit, society is changing. Things aren't going to change with a snap of your fingers just because Voldemort is dead and gone. It takes years.

Some pureblood families admire Hermione and her bravery and her strength (Weasley's as an example, several teachers including Slughorn who was a Slytherin, Astoria as an example, Ariana as an example). Some are still disgusted by her (more than half of the pureblood society and those we saw in the previous chapter at the charity auction). Some only care about what she will do to benefit their reputation (Greengrass family). The wizarding world is healing and recovering from the aftermath of a WAR, struggling to change, to adapt, to make change happen.

The generation that is Hermione, Draco, Blaise, Ariana, Astoria, etc are VITAL in changing the way the world views Muggleborns in the future. And Draco just bid and danced with a muggleborn at a pureblood charity event in front of the press. Sorry, but that's HUGE.

Many men have wanted to date Hermione: Viktor Krum, Cormac McLaggen, and Ron Weasley might I remind everyone. They didn't want her for an agenda or even her beauty necessarily, even if Etienne did. They wanted her for her. I'm sure there are tons of other guys in the world who would want to date Hermione. Etienne just wasn't one of them. It doesn't mean that Hermione is ugly or I am portraying her as pitiful and no guy will want her. How many times does Blaise comment on how beautiful Hermione has become? Draco obviously has an attraction to her. At the auction, her beauty had nothing to do with why she wasn't auctioned off immediately. She's intimidating as hell and so even the purebloods that ARE fascinated with her and MIGHT want to bid on her are too intimidated by what she brings to the table. It has nothing to do with Hermione whatsoever and more to do about the purebloods.

Okay, rant done, haha. Hopefully that clears things up for some people.

Enjoy!

.-Annie

Chapter Eleven

Backlash

Panic began to unravel and swell hotly in my chest. I blinked through the darkness but could only see shapes and outlines, moving too fast and scrambled.

"Mum?" I gasped, trembling. "Mum? MUM?!"

There was a high pitched screeching sound, tearing, ripping, slicing my eardrums.

"Granger!" Draco hollered from my side.

His hands fumbled desperately with the folds of my dress, searching, prying. Finally, he found my waist just as the building shook again and I felt him shove me forward. I hit the ground hard, my chin raking and sliding painfully against the polished wood floor. The wind from my lungs blew out in a gust of painful screams as I felt Draco crumble on top of me like a shield, his arms circling my waist and head and pulling me tightly to his form.

Glass erupted at a deafening volume, shattering and cutting through the air, slamming forcefully to the ground, pinching and scraping and breaking the skin of my hands. I heard Draco hiss and something wet and warm trickled onto the back of my neck.

"Let me go!" I snapped, shoving at him. "I have to find my mother!"

I realized with a start that I could now slightly see my surroundings. A fire had burst to life in the street outside, licking hungrily up the side of the building. Bile squirmed up my throat - I could practically taste the burning flesh on my tongue.

"Keep calm!" someone ordered but the screams of the crowd were too loud, too insistent.

Everything was swirling fast, different colors - red, green, blue, violet - whipping around me. The pressure in my chest increased in intensity until I couldn't breathe.

A powerful, scorching wind shook up and came rushing toward me through the now gaping hole in the far wall, close by where our table had been. I covered my face, coughing and squinting through the roiling smoke and debris.

BOOM!

I felt Draco swear under his breath as the ceiling rattled above us and the light fixtures swayed dangerously, hissing and sparking ominously.

"What is going on?" sobbed a woman on the ground next to us.

Choking fear for my mother flooded every sense.

"We're going to die!" shrieked several people from near the hole in the wall.

"What the bloody hell are they doing?" hissed Draco angrily and began to shout as he pulled himself off of me, attempting to get to his feet. "Get away from there - "

With a force greater than I'd ever witnessed, the wall exploded in a rush of breaking stone and mortar. As it wall collapsed, the couple standing closest to the wall fell backward at the force of it, spiraling to their deaths toward the cobblestone street below. The blow threw several others forward, knocking them unconscious. The floor began to crack, straight through the middle, making jagged patterns in the wood surface.

I felt something break inside me, making my vision hazy as my brain shoved repressed memories and jagged, sharp slices of the war to the front of my memory, engulfing me. Hogwarts was crumbling around Lavender Brown's lifeless body as she stared up at me with glassy wide eyes, silently wondering why I couldn't save her, accusing me of not being a better, faster warrior. For not being there at all. The searing pain-filled sobs of anguish I never dreamed I would hear escaping from Mrs. Weasley's seashell pink lips as she held her broken and battered son to her bosom and could not bring him back to life. The sting of Bellatrix Lestrange's cursed dagger sliding along my broken skin like shots of high powered electric voltage, her delighted laughter and black rage ripping and snarling and gnashing me until my throat was hoarse and dying from my helpless, powerless cries.

I didn't even have time to catch my breath before I felt Draco pulling at me once more.

"We're about to be trampled, get the hell up!" he grated urgently, yanking my arm nearly out of my socket and pulling me through the crowd.

"My ankle!" I squawked in protest, feeling red hot pain shoot up my leg. I flung my heels off my feet as he continued to rip me through the crowd to little avail.

BANG BANG.

"Blaise!" hollered Draco roughly. "Blaise!"

I covered my ears.

The noises were getting louder, flashing lights erupting in the sky. The ground trembled and shook violently beneath me. I coughed again, smelling the heavy smoke which lingered above.

"JEAN!" I screamed desperately.

BOOM!

Something hit me in the arm and once my vision cleared, I looked down and screamed, scooting back from the severed, bleeding hand. Draco clenched me closer and I felt his shudder.

"Claude!" someone cried out in tortured anguish. "NO!"

"Leave him! He's dead!"

I closed my eyes at the sound of the man's screams and the others cries. Everything was in pure chaos and my mother was nowhere to be found.

"Draco, I have to - "

"Granger, duck!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

I flattened myself against the crumbling wall, clutching Draco's arm in petrified fear. He uttered a strangled howl, which trapped itself within his throat, causing him to sound like a feral, dying cat.

The elderly man that had bid on the leggy redhead just moments before sank to his knees ahead of us and fell onto his face with a sickening crack, lying limp and lifeless on the ground. I heard a cackle of pleasure and realized the exit had been overrun by hooded figures.

"Death Eaters!" someone screamed.

I lurched forward in hysterics. "Jean! Mum! Oh my God, please!"

Draco shoved me against the wall and the violence of the movement jarred me momentarily.

"Shut up. Our exits are blocked. She has to be here somewhere. We will find her but you have to stay calm," he explained fiercely and I glared at him viciously as he scooted us against the wall toward the back of the building, toward the collapsing wall.

"Crucio!" cried the figure nearest me, cackling again as the elderly man's body twitched and writhed lifelessly.

I flinched, momentarily struck and transported back to the Malfoy Manor. It was sick, just plain sick and I wouldn't stand for it happening to anyone else. I jumped into action but found myself unable to speak, my jaw locked around my words. I flung nonverbal spell after nonverbal spell at the unsuspecting figure and they shot from my wand at double time, breaking off in different directions. I was shaking so hard I thought I might give way. I managed to stun him just as he turned his wand to me.

"Expulso!"

There was a loud bang, followed by a loud cracking noise from somewhere in the crowd. There was another bang and the ceiling caved in toward the middle of the room, crushing at least five people huddled together. The floor moaned and swayed. Bits and pieces of rubble and stone from the walls spiraled down like a vengeful rainstorm from an angry God.

"Protego!" I screamed and my shield blocked three Unforgivable's from hitting the girl next to us.

Draco and I weaved through the crowd, doing our best to shield ourselves and anyone around us.

That's when I saw him.

Blaise Zabini, huddled in the corner by a booth, shielding my mother - who seemed unconscious - with his own shield charm. His shield was dwindling due to the excessive shots being fired at him by two figures moving quickly toward them.

"No!" I shrieked, pulling at Draco's sweaty palm, doing my best to push my way through the crowd on my injured foot. "Draco, there!"

At the mention of Draco's name, one of the figures snapped his attention to us, cocking his head to the side and releasing a malicious sneer. He raised his wand toward Draco. His mouth opened, the words soared, and the spell lit its fuse. I cried out, slamming into Draco and taking him down, sending both of our wands several feet ahead of us. I felt the sting of the spell nick my ear as it sped past us and connected with someone behind us. Blood began to drip onto my dress and neck.

Just then, Blaise's shield broke and he swore loudly, throwing himself in front of my mother.

"Blaise!" Draco shouted, scrambling for his wand, but he was too late.

I watched in horrified fascination as the remaining figure shot an immobilizing spell toward Blaise, immediately stunning him. He cackled, throwing back his head as he and the other figure took their prizes, apparating with both my unconscious mother and Blaise Zabini.

"Her - mione?"

Alarmed, I spun around in time to witness Ariana de Jean sink to the floor, confused and pale, staring down at her hands which were stained in her own blood. Her wide, orb-like eyes met with mine, just as she raised a shaky hand to her severed neck. As if only then realizing what had happened, her eyes filled with terror and tears and she coughed, dark, black liquid bubbling up at the corners of her mouth. And then she crumbled to the ground, coughing and retching on her own blood.

"Ari!" I lashed, sprinting toward her in desperation. "Draco, our wands!"

Draco shot off in search of our wands.

"It's okay, Ari," I breathed out, ripping off a chunk of material from my plum dress and pressing it firmly to the large gash in Ariana's throat. She was shaking from the adrenaline. "You're going to be fine. I just need you to stay with me and apply pressure."

When Draco returned, he dropped to his knees by my side, shoving my wand into my free hand.

"She - She must have caught - caught the spell aimed at you," I stammered, watching in panic as Ariana's eyes rolled to the back of her head and her shaking ceased as she fainted. "I - I don't re-remember the counter curse."

"I do," Draco stated darkly. "She was hit with Sectumsempra. Potter hit me with that in sixth year. Snape taught me the counter."

Ariana was dead weight. The ceiling had begun to shake fiercely, light fixtures popping and wires buzzing.

"We have to get her out of here - this building is about to collapse."

"Hold onto her carefully and grip my arm," Draco commanded. "I'm going to apparate us."

I did as he told me to and immediately we were sucked through a vortex of spinning colors just as the building gave way under our feet.

We landed in a large puddle of rainwater, mud, and blood in an alley wedged between a lingerie shop and a pharmacy at least a block away from the fallen building. The streets were full of chaos - Muggles and magic folk alike were scrambling through the streets in a stampede of screams, blood, and confusion.

"Where are we?" I wondered, staring up into the dark angry sky alight with fiery fumes.

The skies seemed to leak blood.

"About a block south of the Moulin Rouge," he responded tightly, drawing Ariana into his lap.

With determination on his face, Draco pointed his wand down at Ariana, took a deep, steady breath, and began to heal her. As he did so, I assessed my ankle, wincing. Luckily, it was only a small sprain. I muttered a small numbing spell - it would have to heal on its own.

"She's going to be okay," he assured me once he was done healing Ariana, perhaps noticing my teeth gnawing away at my bottom lip. "She just passed out over the adrenaline and blood loss. She'll be awake any moment now."

I nodded, clutching my wand tightly and observing our surroundings. The air was thick and suffocating with ash.

We were silent for quite some time, looking anywhere but at each other, before we felt Ariana stirring beside us. She started with a shuddering, sudden gasp, flinging her arms about.

"Ari?" I attempted, brushing the hair from her face tenderly. "It's Hermione and Draco. You're okay."

Draco helped her sit up and rest against the alley wall.

"Focus on your breath," I instructed, placing my hands on each of her cheeks.

"How did we get here?" she wondered with a shudder.

"We had to apparate," Draco told her. "The building was coming down. We had to protect you and get you somewhere safe so we could heal you in time."

Ariana began to cry. "What the hell happened back there?"

I shook my head, worrying my bottom lip again until I could taste the tangy bitterness of blood.

"I'm not quite sure," I answered truthfully. "There was an ambush, riots on the streets like the ones appearing in the news, a clear act of some sort of terrorism. Both Muggles and wizards are being attacked."

"Death Eaters?" Ariana wondered.

My eyes wandered over to where Draco sat scowling at the mucky water swirling around us.

"I - I don't know," I muttered. "They weren't wearing masks."

Draco snickered. "Doesn't mean it wasn't them."

I wrinkled my nose in distaste, feeling agitation pulsing hot and sick in my veins. "Obviously, Malfoy. I'm not ruling them out just because they weren't wearing masks. I was simply making an observation."

"Wonderful, Granger, keep making observations. Hot lot of good that'll do in getting your mum and my best friend back!"

"Will you two stuff it!" shouted Ariana, visibly upset. "Whoever attacked us obviously attacked us for a reason and knew who would be in attendance tonight. They took my father."

I paused, sucking in a deep breath and turned to Draco. His eyes were cold and hateful.

"The two that took Blaise and my mother - they didn't kill them."

The expression on Draco's face read that he had clearly been thinking the same thing.

"Which can only mean they need them alive," I continued. "But what do they want them for?"

Draco shook his head, his typically perfect blond hair in complete disarray and covered in soot. He was littered in blood and scratches, a deep cut running across his chest and bleeding through his torn white dress shirt.

Desperate to do something, anything, I began to pace barefoot through the muck.

"Will you stop that?" ground out Draco heatedly after several minutes. "You are driving me crazy, woman."

"Oh, I'm dreadfully sorry, what would you rather have me do, Malfoy? Hm?" I snarled, rounding on him. "Any bright, clever ideas? You might have the ease to just sit there and be fine about everything but I can't!"

"Shut up about things you know nothing about," Draco growled. "Might I remind you that my best friend was also taken and he was kidnapped trying to protect your bloody mother. At least I'm not turning into some hysterical madwoman and trying to think of a solution."

"This is all my fault. I never should have pushed you to come or to take your mother," Ariana sniffed miserably but I ignored her with a fierceness I had never felt toward her.

"Oh, poor Draco Malfoy," I continued snappishly. "Might I remind you that my mother is a muggle disguised as a pureblood that was just kidnapped by possible Death Eaters!

My howls echoed around the dark alley and Draco shot off the ground, coming at me fast and angry.

"Her disguise will be up any moment now and if they find out she isn't Nicola Zabini, they will kill her! Especially if they find out she's a muggle and my mother!"

Draco collided into me, shoving me harshly into the alley wall with as much force as he could. My skull scraped loudly against the dirty brick.

"You need to calm the hell down, right now," Draco snapped, his lips receding to reveal a snarl of clenched, straight white teeth. For one absurd moment, I thought about how my parent's would be proud of his dental care. "You'll get us all killed."

"Calm down?" I laughed hysterically, kicking him roughly in the shin. "How dare you tell me to calm down, you horrible, rotten little spoiled brat! You care about nothing but yourself. You always have!"

"Really?" he spat blackly, his eyes flashing a dark and stormy color of rage, his nails digging into my skin. My heartbeat raced, picking up speed like a car merging onto a busy freeway. "Is that why I saved your idiot skin tonight? Why I stayed with you and healed your friend when I could be out there looking for Blaise? If all I cared about was myself I wouldn't be here with you, you stupid little mudblood!"

Smack!

I hadn't meant to hit him that hard. I also hadn't meant for him to see me fight back a sob.

I certainly hadn't expected that comment to hurt me as much as it did.

"Draco, how could you?" chastised Ariana.

He recoiled easily, as if burned, when I shoved him off of me. His hands fell limply to his sides and his lips made a loud pop as he opened them.

"Granger, I'm - I didn't - "

"Don't speak to me," I seethed, hating the way my voice shook with emotion I couldn't explain. "I can't believe I had the audacity of thinking you could change."

"I can - I have."

"I hate you," I bit out.

Draco looked as if I'd hit him again and staggered back, further away from me.

"Fine, then bloody good riddance to you, then," he said dryly, sneering. "I'll find Blaise on my own."

He stalked off to the entrance of the alley to join the panicked crowd.

"Draco, you can't leave!" protested Ariana and rounded on me. "Hermione, what the hell? Stop him!"

I set my jaw stubbornly.

"He could be killed out there!" Ariana cried and shot to her feet, shaking her head angrily at me when I made no move to try and collect him. "Well, I'm going to find him before he does something stupid."

"Ari," I called after her in frustration. "Ariana de Jean! You can't go out there!"

She ignored me, darting after Draco into the crowd. Muttering to myself, I hastened to keep up with her through the panic, grabbing her arm.

She shrugged me off, glaring as she shouted over the noise, "I found him up ahead and I'm going after him!"

The suddenness of what happened next shook the breath from my lungs.

"Ari!" I yelled, just as the ground shook and somewhere up ahead another explosion lit up the sky.

Ariana gave way, slamming into me and I wrapped my arms protectively around her, making sure to keep my feet planted firmly on the trembling earth.

Lightning shot viciously through the sky.

The skies opened and released a floodgate of tears.

A flash of burning red, a gleam of snake-like green, a dash of white blond hair.

I saw him swipe through the air and felt him crash into the ground. He stayed there, crumpled.

"Hermione!" Ariana screamed in fright.

Anxiety like I'd never experienced before rushed through my veins, seizing my heart, crippling my brain from coherency. Without conscious thought, I tore through the crowd, shoving left and right, clawing desperately. I felt Ariana hot on my heels.

I fell to my knees when I reached him, ignoring the way they cracked against the hard ground in protest. He lay flat on the ground, eyes closed, pale and frozen, unmoving as stone.

No, I begged internally, dropping my head to his chest.

"You aren't dead," I said, throat thick. "Please."

His heartbeat was thumping strong in his chest. I deflated, letting the tears flow.

"Get off me, woman," he grumbled.

I gasped gratefully, glancing up and meeting two very confused gray eyes. Relief coursed through my system and I suddenly felt very exhausted.

"Get off," he said more forcefully. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" I practically shouted, slapping his shoulder. He winced. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're lucky you aren't dead! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about your mother," he told me stiffly, pointing up ahead. "And Blaise."

"You found them?" Ariana gasped.

"The two that kidnapped them gained reinforcements. There's four of them now, two in the front and two in the back. Jean and Blaise are in the middle. One saw me following and tried to get me but Blaise shoved him just in time and his killing curse shot in the other direction. I tried to stun one of them but they were too fast," explained Draco. "I got knocked over by some wankers and kicked in the head."

"Which way did they go?" I demanded.

Draco took my extended hand and got to his feet. We both stared at each other, neither of us releasing the other. I wanted to tell him, I wanted to say -

Somehow the words wouldn't leave my throat.

He nodded stiffly, somehow knowing, and for extra measure he squeezed my hand.

I couldn't ignore the electricity that shot through my veins, stronger than before and more concentrated. It cackled around us and built until I could no longer stand it. I could no longer breathe right, think straight.

Alarmed, we both retreated from the other.

He cleared his throat. "They rounded that street up there but my guess would be that they expect me to follow and will be standing ready."

Ariana furrowed her brow. "I know these streets like the back of my hand. There's a back alley that connects to that one. What if we cut them off? They wouldn't be expecting it and while they are busy covering their tracks, we can take them down."

"The element of surprise always works," Draco agreed.

Ariana set off and Draco and I followed closely, slipping into the narrow alley. Rain pelted down painfully upon our skin like venomous bites and despite the rushing, fiery blood coursing powerfully through my veins, I felt strangely cold.

Ariana abruptly stopped, causing Draco and I to skid to a halt, crashing into each other. She held a finger up to her lips, warning us to be silent. We peered into the connecting alley and I felt Draco's fingers lock around my wrist instinctively, as if he could feel the overwhelming urge I had to draw damage upon the men that had kidnapped my mother.

Blaise and my mother sat on the alley floor, both their hands tied by magical rope. Behind them, two of the figures stood with their backs to my mother and Blaise, obviously watching guard for where they expected Draco to be coming. The other two figures stood in front of my mother and Blaise.

I noticed with a sickening start that she no longer bore resemblance to Nicola Zabini.

"I will ask you one more time, you stupid bitch," snarled the larger of the two men, "where is the real Nicola Zabini?"

"And I will tell you one more time, I don't know," replied my mother curtly, still sobbing. "Please, just leave us alone."

"Ah, you see, I can't very well do that now, can I?" the man grated. "You've seen things you shouldn't've seen."

"I won't tell anyone, I swear," promised my mother desperately. "Please, don't hurt us. Just let us go."

"Didn't even have a wand for us to take from you," said the other man, who was taller and leaner, to my mother, circling her. "How very strange for a witch in these dangerous times to not have her wand on her person."

"I left it at home," my mother scoffed, trembling. "I would hardly think I needed a wand at a charity function."

"Hm, and yet you needed to come to the event disguised as a wealthy pureblood."

"It was my idea," Blaise interjected. "My mother isn't a sociable person. If others saw me with her they wouldn't come up and talk to me and photograph me. You really think I wanted to be photographed at a de Jean event? I only went because I was invited and it would have been poor status of me to reject an invitation. The Zabini family will always attend something they've been invited to. It was my idea to disguise her, all for my benefit. If you want a Zabini, then take me but she has nothing to do with it."

"How noble," mocked the larger man.

My mother swallowed.

"Your face, it looks quite familiar to me," the leaner man noted, stooping to look at my mother more closely.

"I'm nobody," she said hurriedly.

"Hm, so quick to try and convince me you aren't important," he mused, tapping his chin. "Which can only mean you are more important than you let on. Perhaps with some convincing you will tell me exactly who you are and where the real Zabini is."

As he lifted his wand to torture my mother, I felt Draco leave my side. He flung himself into the alley at the same time as Ariana, both shouting to draw the attention away from my mother. The curse already connected with her, though, and she began to writhe and scream in agony.

At that moment, I scrambled into the alleyway, just as the bigger man circled around to block Draco's spell.

"Stupefy!" I shouted, stunning the leaner man, blasting him off his feet.

The two others that had been looking in the other direction swung around at the blast just as Blaise shot off the ground. Blaise, hands still tied, swung his arms upward, catching the figure closest to him in the face and reeling him backward. He hollered and beat down upon him until he succeeded in freeing his wand from the man's pocket.

"Blaise, run!" screamed Ariana, throwing a stunner toward the man on the ground.

Blaise threw himself off the man just as the stunner hit him and scrambled to his feet, running toward Ariana. Ariana and I both turned to the larger man, throwing and blocking hexes every which way.

Seeing that the odds were not in his favor, the remaining figure began to retreat toward the end of the alley, firing curses half-heartedly.

"Don't let her get away!" screeched the larger man to the other. "She knows our faces!"

The other man pointed his wand toward my mother and in a flash of green light, I felt my heart constrict and the air swirl and halt around me. The stream flew toward my mother's chest like a laser beam, crisscrossing with my stream of red toward the man's chest. I wasn't going to get there in time.

"Mum!" I wailed, darting forward.

Immediately, I felt a hot pain curling up my thigh and realized I'd been hexed with a stinging jinx. It burned, cutting and chafing into my leg. I sunk to the ground, my wand clattering away from me.

Mere nanoseconds away from her death, my mother suddenly pitched forward and connected harshly with the ground. The jet of green light bounced into a delivery crate by the wall instead, missing her by a fraction of an inch. I noticed Draco Malfoy cradling my mother to his chest, whispering to her, stroking her hair as if to calm her. She was in hysterics, shaking excessively, and badly scraped up.

Draco Malfoy had just saved my mother's life.

Ariana disarmed the larger man finally just as Blaise managed to untie himself and stun him. Together, they bound the unconscious men and Ariana sent up a purple flare, alerting the law enforcement squad that we'd apprehended dark wizards.

"Get him!" I shouted, pointing toward the remaining wizard.

He was cackling, shaking his head back and forth and grinning widely from under his hood.

"Mum, eh? Knew she was important," he cackled, rounded the corner, and in a loud pop disappeared.