CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX : - )
The forest was eerily quiet as I ran, I could hear everything; every twig snap beneath my feet, every breath I took. But all the sounds I could hear came only from me. I couldn't hear the wind among the trees, or the sound of an owl hunting through the forest; nothing.
I stopped running and looked around me, was it just me or had everything become darker? Was I running further into the forest?
Perhaps I would be able to apparate now? I closed my eyes and immagined Grimmauld Place. I felt my body responding to the magic and I jumped a little as I heard the loud crack echo around the forest. Smiling I opened my eyes only to find the unwelcoming sight of the dark forest.
I had to hold in the sob I so badly wanted to let out.
"Come on Hermione, you've been in worse situations than this" I said over and over reassuringly. "You just have to think"
So apparating was well and truly off the list for now… they probably had a portkey at the cabin but there was no way I was going back to that hell hole, if by chance I was going in the right direction there may be a village or something nearby… but if I was going in the wrong direction who knows how long I could be lost for, and not to mention the dangers of running into an animal without a wand, especially if this was a magical forest.
My mind suddenly flashed to images of centaurs holding Harry and me at arrow-point, the giant that was Hagrid's half-brother, rising from the ground staring solely at me, dementors coming from all directions… the coldness that came with them, the memories…
I brought my arms up and hugged myself, once again forcing back tears. I was terrified.
"HELP!" I screamed into the night, I immediately clapped a hand over my mouth. I couldn't see the cabin, but for all I know my voice could travel that far, and what if Lucius had returned earlier than expected.
"Stop making up scenarios" I scolded, knowing it wouldn't help my heartbeat slowdown to normal.
"For all I know I could run into something helpful … like a threstal, or a hippogriff" And then it could tear me to shreds.
I began to walk again, further into the darkness until I had my arms outstretched, hoping not to run into a tree. The ground was layered so thickly with branches and pine leaves that I was tripping every few steps. But I never stayed down for more than five seconds, slowing down would either get me nowhere or killed.
I cried out as I fell over for what had to have been the 50th time, this time twisting my ankle.
"Son of a…" I moaned, holding my ankle in my hands. I sat there for several minutes, rocking back and forth, rubbing my hurt ankle. I remembered when I had hurt my ankle as a little girl, of course then I hadn't been in a sticky situation, and my parents had been there to make me feel better. I had cried so much, more for attention than anything else, I felt childish, but I so badly wanted the attention that little girl had, I wanted my parents to somehow turn up and give me a hug and make everything ok again... Finally I decided that I had to keep going or sit there and wait to be eaten by something.
I felt around on the nearest tree until I managed to grab hold of a low tree branch. I tested its strength by pulling down on it as hard as I could, before using it to hoist myself up. My ankle throbbed painfully, but I just took a sharp intake of breath and counted to three before taking a step. I went on for a while longer, stepping with one leg and hopping with the other, it was taking forever, but I was determined.
I must have been walking for about an hour, I was exhausted and cut up from the sharp branches, not to mention the pain in my ankle had increased ten-fold, but who was complaining?
I was beginning to regret not taking that glass of water; I could see it now, cold condensation dripping down the glass.
That was it, I needed another break badly. I limped over to a nearby tree and lowered myself down against it. I growled in frustration as I felt a tree branch under me, I reached under me, grabbed it and threw it as hard as I could at the tree opposite me. It snapped into three separate pieces. I needed that, I was losing control of my temper, I was mad at myself for the situation I was in.
"Is someone there?" My heart stopped beating as I heard these words. It came from a young male somewhere to my left.
"Hello?" He called out again; his voice was trembling slightly, obviously not sure if it was safe to be yelling out.
I didn't say a word; I just held my breath and prayed that he wouldn't see me. It could be a trick for all I knew, and I was not risking going back to Lucius to trust a stranger, he would kill me for sure for the trouble I had caused.
I heard the footsteps moving closer to me, as if scoping the area for the source of the noise. For somebody that had been trembling he certainly seemed brave, this only confirmed my thoughts that it was Lucius in disguise.
I heard the footsteps stop and I closed my eyes and prayed that he hadn't seen me. My prayers must have been answered because a minute later I heard him sigh and walk away. I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore before scrambling up clumsily and limping as fast as I could away from him.
"Petrificus totalus"
I panicked as I felt all my muscles seize up until I could no longer move. Unable to do anything I fell to the ground painfully. If I could have cried out in pain I would have.
"Gotcha" I heard the man say triumphantly. He walked straight up to me and pointed his wand at my neck… yeah, because I was definitely a threat while in a full body bind spell.
"Now what would a death-eater scum be doing in this forest?" He asked viciously, jabbing his wand further into my neck.
He started patting down my body, glaring straight into my eyes the entire time. I watched as his eyes went from harsh to confusion.
"Unarmed?" He mumbled to himself. He kept staring at me, assessing my injuries until his eyes finally dawned with realization that he had just made a horrible mistake.
With a wave of his wand the body-bind curse was lifted from me.
The moment I felt like muscles relax I let out a piercing scream and reached immediately for my ankle, holding it tightly in my hands and rocking back and forth again, trying to ignore the pain.
"Oh shit, I'm so sorry" He kept saying over and over, his hands were hovering awkwardly over me like he wanted to help but didn't know what to do.
This man couldn't be Lucius Malfoy. Purely because Lucius couldn't act this nice for this long, he would have long ago given up his identity, especially since I was defenseless and without escape. And also because you couldn't fake the amount of guilt that was in this guys eyes.
"Please help me" I whimpered out through the pain. He nodded quickly.
"Ok… um, I'm going to pick you up and take you to the hospital ok?" He asked.
"NO! Not the hospital" I yelled at him. First off, muggles would want to know what happened and secondly, Lucius would come looking in all the nearest hospitals undoubtedly.
"Not the hospital" I repeated, grabbing onto his shirt. He must have thought I was come kind of crazy lady.
"Ok ok, not the hospital" He promised.
He carefully scooped me up in his arms and began running at a steady pace. I buried my head in his shirt, finally able to relax for the moment. The movement of his body running was weirdly relaxing.
"Almost there" He said after five minutes.
I turned my head around and looked to see where we were. He'd taken me to the edge of the forest so far. I could see light, lots of light. It was so bright it hurt my eyes. Eventually my eyes adjusted to the new light and I saw a small town laid out downhill from the forest.
"Do you live in that town?" I asked tiredly.
"Yeah, nice isn't it?" Great, I asked him a question and he tried to make small talk. Well I was going to bother answering him.
He slowed down as he ran down the hill. The last thing either of us wanted was for him to trip and hurt me worse.
Once we reached the bottom of the hill he picked up the pace again and tried to take as many back streets as possible.
"Jake!" I heard a man call; I hid my face into his shirt again, not wanting anybody to see me.
"Oh my god what happened?" The man asked once he had reached us.
"Nothing Glenn, she's fine" Jake replied.
"Who is she? What the hell happened?" Glenn pushed.
"She's Lisa's cousin, I was showing her around and she fell down the hill near the forest" He lied easily, I looked up at him…he was used to lying…
"Do you need a hand taking her to the hospital?" Glenn asked. I pushed my nails into his stomach.
"No its fine, Lisa will fix her up" The men said nothing else; I guessed that they were exchanging looks, and then I heard Glenn's footsteps heading away from us.
"You're certainly drawing some looks" Jake muttered.
"Try and hurry then" I whispered back to him.
He picked up his pace, practically running, the jumping was quite painful.
Finally he slowed down and I felt as he walked up a few steps, before he reached out with one arm and opened a door.
I shifted slightly in his arms so I could see better; we were standing in the entrance of a small house. To the left I could see a tea room, it was kept neat, and I could bet that if I ran my finger inside the fireplace I wouldn't find a speck of ash. There was a narrow staircase directly in front of us; up the top I could see a landing with three doors.
Next to the staircase was a hallway, I could see the corner of a couch to the right at the end of the hall, and I could hear voices and chopping.
"Lisa!" Jake called out. The chopping stopped and a short black haired woman appeared. She was wearing an apron over her skirt, and it looked like she had splashed some sauce onto her face.
"Oh my god what's happened?" She gasped, rushing over us.
"I'm not too sure" he replied, she nodded and motioned for him to follow.
"Lay her down on the couch" She ordered, untying her apron. The voices I had heard had been the television playing a cooking show.
Jake did as he was told and put me down as gently as he could before hurrying over to where Lisa was washing her hands in the sink and whispering to her. They both looked at me, as if not sure what do to.
Lisa nodded at something he said before walking over to me.
"Where does it hurt?" She asked.
"It's just my ankle" I replied.
"Your voice is a bit hoarse… Jake can you get her some water please?" Lisa called out.
She picked up the TV control and switched it off before standing up and taking the water from Jake.
"Here you go" She said smiling down at me as she passed me the water. I skulled it down before she could say another word. She looked at me in surprise.
"How long were you out there?" She asked in shock.
"The forest… 10 hours maybe; It was where I was before that that was the real problem" She saw the look in my eyes and chose not to push the matter.
She excused herself and left the room momentarily, before returning with a jar of what looked like white ointment.
"For your cuts" She smiled. I figured she must have been a healer, it would make sense, the way Jake had spoken about her to Glenn, the way she was acting and if I wasn't mistaken, it looked as though she had made that ointment herself.
Either way, it looked like I was going to make it home alive; I was going to see my friends again, and Draco.
"They should heal quite nicely" Lisa smiled when she had finished.
"Thank you" I smiled back. "Both of you"
Lisa nodded and looked up at Jake again. It was like they were having a conversation between their eyes. I guessed it was to do with what he had whispered to her earlier.
She looked back at me, this time with a big fake smile on her face; it was as though she was trying to calm me down.
"There's just one more thing" She whispered, more to herself then me. She pulled out her wand and nodded to Jake.
Suddenly I felt two strong arms holding me down. I screamed out and started kicking; my ankle was throbbing again from the movement. Suddenly she had her wand pointing directly at my forehead; I stopped moving and eyed it, as if daring it to shoot a green light at me.
"I'm really sorry" She said, frowning at the panic they were causing me, "But you won't remember this anyway"
My eyes widened with the realization that she was about to obliviate my mind.
A/N: Short, sweet, rushed and probably shit but I don't give a flying fuck :) I'd like you to enjoy it though!