Chapter 13

Draco felt frozen in time as he saw the female muggle stumble up behind Hermione, grasping her by her bad shoulder, its jaws snapping as it made to bite into the unprepared Gryffindor's neck.

Draco and Hermione had been through so much in so little time, the thought of her dying too was just too much for him to bear. It was the last straw. It signified that there may not actually be hope after all.

"Malfoy! Pay attention, will you?"

He couldn't look away, he stepped towards Hermione, but he felt Zabini's steel-like grip land on his arm, holding him back. "Seriously, are you daft? There's three of them coming. Fucking turn around, will you?!"

But Zabini's words fell on deaf ears as Draco saw Hermione turn just as the woman was about to bit into her, kicking out with her leg to make up for her bad arm. She hit the dead muggle, who stumbled, off balance, giving Hermione time to grasp her long fire poker, stabbing it through the muggles head without another moment's hesitation.

Draco let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He should have known that she would find a way to save herself.

She always did.

"Bloody hell, Malfoy."

Shaking himself to attention, Draco turned around, just in time to see three more muggles bearing down on them. He heard footsteps behind them.

Sparing a glance to the side he saw dirty brown curls splattered with blood. Her chest rising with her rapid breaths were the only indication of her fear as Hermione stepped up beside them, ready to take on the last three of the muggles they had to kill.

"Didn't expect you to make it out of that one, Granger," Zabini grunted from Draco's left. Zabini shot him a glance, his cheek twitching. "Neither of us did."

Hermione exhaled shortly. "Would have been unfortunate for you two if I didn't."

"How are we going to take on these blokes?" Draco asked, changing the subject to more pressing matters.

Zabini lifted an eyebrow. "Oh, so now he's paying attention," Draco just barely heard him mutter.

"Get them before they get you," Hermione replied, before stepping forward, her fire poker raised. It was almost completely dark, the moonlight glowing down upon them from the parting in the trees as they stood in a small clearing, dead leaves gathering under their feet.

Draco blinked rapidly watching how Hermione boldly rushed into harm's way. He was in awe of how she had almost died moments before yet she was still fighting like nothing had happened.

With a deep inhale he stepped forward, his arm raised. He gripped his newest weapon in his hand. An axe, a tool he had never even used before that day. So much had changed, so much was changing.

His wand felt like a fragile empty stick as it stuck into his side.

A male muggle was coming right at him, his eyes darting around, seeming to glow in the bright moonlight as it caught on the glistening dried patches of blood smeared across his broken jaw. With a gurgling snarl, the dead man was on him, trying to chomp down on his outstretched arm. With his other free hand, he punched it in the side of its head, pushing him to the side, so that he could bring his axe down on its head.

Draco's heart was beating quickly in his chest as he raised his eyes. Hermione was standing watching as Zabini stabbed his knife through the eyeball of a particularly large muggle missing an arm, a dead man already laying at her feet.

It seemed his comment about her staying back before had only made her more determined to prove her worth, and Draco found himself eating his words as her hard brown eyes met his. Of all of them, she was probably the only one who could survive on her own.

He needed her. Draco knew magic, and quite well at that. Back at Hogwarts, he was the only one that came close to her in grades. However, she also knew other things. Hermione knew muggle things.

And, right now they were basically muggles.

"Well, let's be off then. We should try to get out of these trees before it gets too dark," Draco said, looking away from Hermione.

"I agree, but I could really use a bath in that river over there," Zabini interjected. "I'm covered in blood and guts. Bloody smell too."

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned, walking ahead of them. "Priorities, Zabini. Hell, maybe if you smell like one of them you can blend right on into the whole lot and they won't try to eat you."

Zabini turned his lips down in disgust at the suggestion.

Draco snorted, unable to help it, feeling a realize of tension. He started following after Hermione as she started to pick her way over the large rocks and fallen tree limbs that littered the forest floor.

They continued on in near silence, allowing themselves a moment to stop at the river to fill up their water bottles with some fresh water. Draco bent down and washed off his face, his hands coming away with flecks of dried brown blood, the cool water jolting through his system.

He took in a deep breath and straightened. He could just make out the glimmer of his reflection in the slow moving water, his hair unkempt around his face, his features drawn and showing the exhaustion that was weighing heavy down on him.

The bones in his legs throbbed, making his limp more prominent. His muscles were sore from constantly being on the move with no rest, and his head was aching after being knocked out in the fall from the broom. On top of that, his vision slightly was blurry. Draco closed and opened his eyes, willing them to work.

He looked over to Hermione, finding his eyes unwillingly drawn to her. She had aged elegantly since Hogwarts, her neck long as she pulled the mess of her curls to the side to splash water on it, washing away the blood. The droplets of water glistened on her skin in the glow of the moonlight, which now gleamed down upon them, darkness having fallen around them.

After allowing themselves a moment they all silently stood and moved on.

#

Seconds had turned to minutes, and minutes had turned to hours as they walked through the dark forest on the moor. They were deep in the shadowy trees after what felt like several hours, no break in sight.

"How much longer?" Zabini asked from behind Draco, the other Slytherin having fallen behind them several paces as Draco walked up alongside Hermione.

"Hell, if I know, Zabini," Draco retorted shortly. His head was pounding, the fuzziness at the edges of his vision more than just tiredness. He kept it to himself, as much as he wanted to complain. They all had their injuries, and they were all tired.

Draco really wished he still had his Thunderbolt.

"It's been about six miles of walking."

Draco looked at Hermione his eyebrows furrowed. It felt closer to sixty. "We have to be close to something other than trees."

"Well, it's just as well, in this dark. We have no idea what is on the other side. There could be a farm with more of...those," Hermione reasoned.

Draco pressed his lips into a frown. Zabini had said he hadn't seen anymore other than the group of them they had already killed, and he hoped the muggle-wards around the Quidditch pitch kept everyone away from the area at least prior the strange infection occurring.

"I didn't see anything when I was up there, but it sure didn't seem this far away while up in the sky," Zabini said from behind them. "We have to be close now."

No sooner had Zabini stopped talking, Draco saw a glimmer of pale light ahead. It appeared like a beacon after so much time spent in darkness. Relief flooded Draco as he quickened his pace, ignoring the pain that had been growing in his leg.

"Look there, ahead, I think we're finally there."

He felt a hand land on his arm and gently tug him, slowing him down. Draco looked back confused.

Hermione's eyes were slightly wide. She shook her head. "Don't go on rushing ahead like a fool. Let's be quiet and stay as a group."

Draco pulled his arm out of her grasp with a frown, but proceeded on with caution, both of them pausing so Zabini could catch up. He reached them, the rustling leaves the only indication he was still there as he moved out of the darkness of the forest to their side.

He lifted a brow, shooting Draco a confused look, the expression nearly missed in the shadows. But, the other Slytherin kept his mouth shut as they quietly edged closer to the treeline.

As the clearing came into sight, Draco felt like jumping with joy. On one side he could see the rolling moorland where they had camped during the Wold Cup, and on the other was a small line of trees surrounding the rising structure of what he recognized as the stadium.

"Looks all clear to me."

Hermione looked over at him with narrowed eyes. "Yes... seems so."

She didn't sound relieved. A hint of worry still edged her voice, but Draco chose to ignore it.

They left the dense forest behind them, picking their way over the uneven ground towards the trees, eventually making their way to the stadium's high walls. It was dark, though not as dark as it had been in the forest near the river. Draco felt a smile pulling at his lips.

Safety. To him, the stadium represented some form of safety - structure. A place they could gather their things and regroup before they had to face the realities of everything happening around them.

Grinning he shot a look back at Zabini and Hermione. However, both of them didn't seem to share his good mood. Hermione still looked wary, her eyes peering about them into the trees, and Zabini just looked exhausted, his chest rising with his rapid breaths.

"Well, I'm going in. You two can linger on out her if you wish."

Draco turned, seeing an opening ahead of them where he could enter the stadium, the long stacked staircases taking him to the upper stands. He walked a few steps forward, Hermione and Zabini right behind him.

However, he only got a few paces forwards before he felt a hard pull at his ankle, his legs falling out from under him as netting gathered around him and the others, throwing him into Zabini, Hermione's leg narrowly missing his face as they were lifted high into the air.