Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.
Author's Note: Warning! This chapter contains some minor graphic descriptions! It may be a little violent, sorry. I'm a little too used to action so I'm not sure how most people view it.
Hermione's POV
This was not supposed to happen. We weren't supposed to lose Professor Carrington, we weren't supposed to have to take charge, we weren't supposed to have to experience violence like this ever again, and we definitely weren't supposed to come face to face with Death Eaters. Not here, not now, and certainly not after everything we've already gone through. Yet here we are now, with carnage everywhere and the weight of the world being thrust upon us once again. Here we are, being thrown back into a battle when we thought we were done.
I feel bad for reprimanding Draco earlier. His almost panic attack was very much warranted and right now I feel right on the verge of my own. I struggle to press my jumbled thoughts down and keep my head above it all. The looks on the faces of Alecto and Amycus don't help me either. They leer at us and spew hate. They insult me and my heritage, my friends, and my family. They insult Draco and his choices, his mother and his cowardness.
I try to block it all out because their words hit too close to home but it's very hard. With a quick glance at Draco I see that he's feeling similarly torn up inside. His fear stirs up determination in me. I don't want to die today, I don't want him to die today, and if we do, I sure as hell ain't letting them do it without putting up a fight.
I switch my mindset from panic to planning. With a glance around I see that the rest of the Death Eaters are starting to crowd around us, but haven't quite reached us yet. All of them are dressed in their black robes, and everyone except for the twins wear their ghastly masks. However, there seem to be no muggles in our immediate vicinity and no one seems to see what's going on here. They must have put up some sort of muggle repelling charm to prevent them from seeing us. I guess it means that they can do what they want with us without fear of outside interference.
It also means that perhaps this was wasn't just a coincidence, but perhaps a deliberate attack on us as a class. Perhaps this was a deliberate attack on Draco or me or anyone who was involved in the war.
"Hey Amycus, what say we teach the blood traitor a lesson, huh? I'm sure he'll be begging for mercy after a dozen crucios. Maybe we can even have bit of fun with the mudblood. I'd love to hear her screams under the influence of some of our own special curses, no?" I fight to keep the fear off of my face and keep up a front of determination and strength. Years of practice allow me to do it with relative ease, but I'm not quite sure if it's entirely convincing.
"Wonderful idea Alecto, perhaps we should warm them up first with a couple of Severus's curses? I believe that he had one in particular, Sectumsempra, that creates some very interesting results. Something about it having the effect of an invisible sword slicing across the recipient. There should be quite a lot of blood." I see Draco stiffen at the mention of that particular curse and I remember that Harry used that on him in sixth year. It was so horrifying that Harry felt guilt-ridden for weeks after that. I shudder at the thought of possibly seeing or experiencing it for myself.
While they debate what to do with us I realize that if we have any hope of getting out of here, we have to make a move, and we have to make it soon. I start to formulate a plan in my head by I still don't have a way to take down all the Death Eaters in an efficient way. I look around us to try and find something I can use. I could take any of the items or wreckage around us and use expulso at it to get it to explode, but I don't think that it'll have that much of an effect on all of them.
As I glance at the semi-complete circle, I notice a small silver canister that can only be one of the bombs they used underneath a nearby set of seats. From the look of it, I'd guess that it's a fuel air explosive, or FAE. It makes sense for the Death Eaters to choose it considering the size of the explosions and how barbaric the effects of it are. They are legal in warfare, but are cautioned against use for the sole reason that they cause unnecessary suffering. The thought of just how many people must be suffering right now because of them sickens me to the core and makes me want to fight even harder.
I turn to Draco and mouth 'cover me' to him. He doesn't nod or say anything, but acknowledges me with his eyes. He casts a quick stupefy at the twins before sending combinations of petrificus totalus, expelliarmus, incarcerous, impedimenta, relashio and confundo to the other Death Eaters gathered. At the back of my mind I take note of how he only uses spells that will disable or incapacitate them and not really hurt them, but I'm too distracted to fully register it.
I then lunge between two Death Eaters and roll out of the way using a technique I picked up from Tonks during the Battle of Hogwarts. Draco continues to throw spells at the Death Eaters around us, but starts to add hexes to his flurry of wand movements and last minute dodges. With one last look at him, I scramble towards the bomb and reach under the seats for it. Once I have it in my possession, I cradle it in my arms. I then cast a patronus charm to send a message to Harry. It takes me a couple tries to calm down enough and focus on a happy memory, but my silver otter soon greets me. "Send the following message to Harry Potter: Heathrow Airport, Death Eaters, bring help!" I command at it. As I watch my otter leave with the message, I turn back to the battle between the Death Eaters and Draco.
He seems to be holding his own, but they are slowly overpowering him. I cast a couple of stunners at the Death Eaters and a couple of them fall down. Some of them are starting to notice where I went and fire some curses at me. As fast as I can, I run back to the throng of people with the bomb and try to not get hit by anything. Draco notices me and I signal at him to run. He sees the bomb in my arms and sprints away after casting a sturdy shield charm around himself.
The Death Eaters all turn to look in my direction and I hurl the canister in their direction with all of my strength before any of them can react. As it sails through the air I cast a reducto to detonate it, followed by small shield charm to try and lessen the full effects of the the bomb. It still explodes in a huge fireball and sends many of the Death eaters flying. All of a sudden I feel what seems like a huge hand of fire smack me into the wall. My last thought is of Draco and my last emotion is a mix of worry and relief before everything fades into black.
Draco's POV
The twins are debating about how they might torture Hermione and I, but I can't bring myself to listen to them. That is, until they mention sectumsempra.
That curse has scared me since the day Scar-Head used it on me. When it hit me that day in the bathroom, it felt like a white hot sword had just sliced my whole torso open. It burned so much, even more than when Voldemort used to use the Cruciatus curse on me when my father failed him. Not only did the wound burn, but I felt like I was choking on my own blood. It was everywhere and started to pool around me. The wounds that the curse make are ridiculously deep. Most victims die of blood loss, but thankfully Snape was there to use the counterspell. The spell is not something to be trifled with and I feel very scared at the very mention of it.
I'm sure Hermione has noticed me tense up since she knows everything, but I hope that none of the Death Eaters have. If they notice the slightest sign of weakness, they will descend upon it like vultures. The Carrows keep talking and the rest of Death Eaters have pretty much all joined the group. I start to descend back into my panic mode but just as I'm about to let go, I see Hermione mouth 'cover me' out of the corner of my eye. I turn briefly and see the fire in her eyes. I can tell she isn't going down without a fight here, and her courage suddenly bolsters my own. I look back at her with a determined expression and cast stupefy at the twins before my mind can tell me not to.
As soon as I've cast the first spell, the rest comes naturally. I immerse myself in the calm nature of my battle mindset. I visualize my spell set and just keep rotating through them. I allow myself to see all of the movement around me by adjusting my vision to a slightly more blurry state and using my peripherals. I cast the spells and perform the arm movements like a dance. I dodge the spells with practised ease, the choreography of battle being like second nature. All of the practise from the Battle of Hogwarts and the raids we used to do as Death Eaters have allowed it all to be muscle memory. It's entirely different and so much easier than it was just 4 years ago when Voldemort first came back.
However just like these skills have come back so easily to me, so have they for the rest of the Death Eaters. Most of the wizards I'm facing now are some of the top dark wizards in history, and I'm just a child who had to grow up way too early. As I cast more and more spells, my arms become more sloppy and I start to mess up. Facing off against almost 12 fully trained adult Death Eaters tires you out faster than I expected.
I realize that the defensive spells I chose previously are no longer going to cut it, so I start introducing more hexes and curses. The whole time I keep track of all of them in my mind in a pattern so that I can fight on auto pilot.
While I'm fighting off the Death Eaters, my subconscious mind sees Hermione scrambling to get a silver canister from under some of the seats. It sees her cast a patronus to get help. It sees her try her best to ease my load by stupefying some of the Death Eaters on the fringe of the circle. Thankfully, my conscious mind picks up on her signalling for me to run away. I quickly cast a shield charm and run as fast as I can. As I start running I realize that she's obviously trying to throw the cylinder at them in the hopes of it getting rid of them. When she throws it I realize that it's going to explode and that it must be one of their bombs. When a spells makes contact with it and a fireball suddenly swirls around it, I realize that she isn't far away enough to not be affected by it. When I see her body start to fly I realize that even though I'm further away than her, I'm still not entirely safe.
The resounding shockwave that's expelled pushes me back into a pillar support. The glass around us all shatters, but thankfully none of it hits me. However some of the flying rubble from the nearby crater that the bomb created does. Most of it is just small shards that nick my skin, but one particularly large piece lands right on my leg. I hear an awful snapping sound and some crunching as well when it makes impact. I've probably broken it, but at least I'm still alive. Suddenly I remember that Hermione was even closer than me. With greater speed than you would think is possible, I stand up while grabbing my wand and hobble over to where Hermione's now somewhat broken body lies.
She lies in a pile of rubble next to the wall and some small fires. I carefully pull her out after moving the pieces of concrete around her. She must have hit the wall with a decent amount of force because the back of her head seems to oozing a lot of blood. There are millions of tiny cuts all over her and her clothes are all shredded. Her left leg and right arm seems to bent at really awkward angles and I suspect that they are probably broken. I carefully position her on her back like my mother taught me when I was younger in the case that someone was knocked unconscious. I guess since she'd wed a Death Eater it was a decent thing to be worried about. I check her pulse and feel a huge wave of relief when I feel the steady beating of it. I pull my wand out and start to heal the more basic cuts on her face and the skin that has been exposed.
I'm halfway through healing the minor cuts when I hear a voice holler through the terminal along with a handful of new voices. It makes me freeze what I'm doing and groan internally.
"Stop Malfoy, put your wand down and step away from her." I turn around in my awkwardly crouched position to see Ron Weasley with a very red, angry, and worried face. "What have you done to Hermione? I knew you couldn't be trusted! Did you tip the rest of your Death Eaters pals about today? Did you bring them here just to kill her and the rest of our class?"
As he screams at me I can't help but feel pity for the man-child standing in front of me now. He's so ignorant and stupid. He seems to care more about yelling at me and proving that he was right about me still being a Death Eater, than taking care of Hermione.
"As a matter of fact Weasel, I was trying to heal her seeing as how she's currently just alive. Now if you could go get someone more qualified at medical care than you or myself that would be wonderful. Actually, that's probably too much to ask of you in one go. I'll do it myself." Suddenly Weasel grabs my arm and twists it closer to him. I resist the urge to slap him for that. I hate it when people touch me without my consent or warning.
"You're not going anyway till I get a confession from you." He snarls at me. I'm about to deliver a very insulting retort when Potter suddenly appears next to me and starts telling Ron off.
"Ron you can't do that! Can't you tell he's injured as well? He's just barely standing. And he's probably one of only reasons the Death Eaters weren't busy torturing muggles when we walked in here." Ron turns even redder in the face at Harry's words.
"What are you talking about? He's a Death Eater! There's no way he would help the muggles. He probably did this to Hermione on purpose to get back at her." He yells accusingly and pointing at Hermione.
"Ron, I'm going to have to ask you to leave before you cause someone else harm right now. We have to deal with this mess as soon as possible, and as your supervisor right now I can't have anyone causing unnecessary trouble."
"You can't d-" He splutters before Potter cuts him off.
"I can and I will, do not make me suspend you from duty." To his credit, Weasel stops putting up a fight and with a grumble disapparates on the spot. I hope he's so angry that he splinches himself.
"Now Malfoy, what on earth happened here? I was just in my office taking care of paperwork when I got Hermione's patronus about being in Heathrow Airport and there being Death Eaters." I'm about to respond to him but my adrenaline rush from earlier has started to fade and all of a sudden pain explodes in the leg I broke as well as everywhere else in my body. With a cry I fall down and my vision starts to fade as I feel tiredness seeping into my veins.
At the edges of my vision I see Potter reach out in an attempt to stop my from falling.
"No, dammit Malfoy, don't do this to me!" But his words are for naught because my mind goes blank and I pass out.
Author's Note: The bombs mentioned are real and are called FAE for short. If you want to see a short explanation of how they work, look up 'fuel air bombs' in google and take a look in images. There should be a blue diagram near the top. It's been awhile since I've done a split chapter, but I didn't think that I had enough content to post them seperately. Thanks for all the support guys, it's really appreciated. Please read and review! Have a great week, till next time.