Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. K. Rowling. Just my idea.
A/n: Enjoyand don't forget to look at my facebook page! Thanks to my beta Tessa Cresswell!
A reviewer responded to an old review-reply about the stats if this story, particularly the comparison between Draco and Hermione perspective chapters. I'm not sure any of you besides that sole person care, but in case you do here they are:
Draco perspective chapters= 21 chapters, 364 combined reviews, 17 reviews on average; 40,638 hits, about 1,935 hits on average per chapter.
Hermione perspective chapters= 14 chapters, 239 combined reviews, 17 reviews on average; 23,278 hits, about 1,662 hits on average per chapter.
For a moment, I don't even register what he has said. I'm swinging my arm around to examine the damage, discovering old, mistreated wounds that look infected. I may know a few good healing spells, but some of the complications look beyond my skill level, just like Ginny's wounds. These people are monsters.
When I finally realize he has spoken, I shake my head. "What?"
"You'll die! You can't be here. You have to get out now before someone comes back."
I crouch down, looking him straight in the eyes. He's scared- I know he is- but I will not leave him alone that easily. "I don't care Neville. Ginny told me-"
"Ginny," he whispered, as though in disbelief, "She's alive?"
Nodding slowly, I lift an eyebrow. "Did you presume otherwise?"
He pursed his lips, and I notice a flicker of pain dance across his face. Aiming my wand, I attempt to heal some of the wounds while we talk. I can't possibly get him out of here in this condition. "I thought she would've let herself die by now."
This catches me off guard, and I glance back at his face again. "What do you mean? Ginny is strong; what would make her want to die?"
But he just shakes his head. "I'll tell you Hermione, but not now. You have to get to safety before someone returns." His eyes jump around the dark space, as though expecting a Death Eater to appear at any moment. "It's not safe here. Take yourself somewhere you can apparate before anyone finds you, or you will suffer greater pains than those who litter the ground.
I wince. Neville is very blatant about the bodies littering the floor, which is so unlike him. Here stands a boy that used to flinch at pain, who lost his parents through such awful circumstances, but brushes off the masses of death lying before us. I don't want to consider what happened here to harder his emotions so. Instead of replying, I change subjects entirely.
"Where are the others," I ask, paying as much attention to the space as he is. The moment someone enters I have to know, or we will be easily found. I continue to heal the gashes, but just like Ginny he will need some blood replenishing potions, and soon.
He shakes his head, and I can feel his forehead brushing my side in his crouched position. "Many Aurors were gone or escaped when we were ambushed. Snape was among us, though I will spare you the details of what became of him. He no longer walks this earth anymore- or at least not with the living. I-I don't want to go through the list of who they killed looking for Harry, but… it was bad. I'm lucky I'm alive."
"Who else is alive," I plead, helping him stand. I don't want to remain here anymore, not with the danger lurking just outside the door. The stench of rotting flesh is suffocating, and I can't imagine how Neville is feeling.
"I don't know. I haven't tried to speak to anyone in many hours, maybe days. It's so hard for me to keep track of the time in here."
I nod slowly, swinging my wand around. There is a suffocating silence here, and accompanied by the lush red rivers of blood it's something straight from the Stephen King novels I used to read. Horror is etched into the very structure of this building now, and the violence that took place here lingers in the air. This place is forbidden, and although I must search for other survivors, I fear this scene may stay with me from the rest of my existence.
A thorough- though rushed- search of the gory scene breaks my heart as I realize the others are gone. No voices or cries for help fill the air, no eyes slide to meet mine. The spirits of everyone here have moved on, and I am helpless to do anything for their remaining flesh. There is no way I can bury them, or even straighten out the mess; it will draw too much attention. I drag a limping Neville to the door and can't quite force myself to look back as we depart. If I look on at the space any longer I fear I will fall to pieces; it's gruesome.
"Hold onto me," I say, slipping my arm around his waist. "I'm going to use a concealment charm on us so prowling Death Eater's pay us no mind, but we have to be as quiet as possible. I need to be sure that we can move semi-quickly, so we can get back to them."
"Them? Who exactly are you talking about?" But I silence him with two fingers pressing to his lips, silently shaking my head as I cast the spell. I lose sight of him and sigh. So begins the dangerous trek back.
It feels like so little is being accomplished over such long spans of time.
It's a relief to find that nothing has gone horribly wrong in my absence between Draco and Ginny. Indeed, she still looks as awful as ever, but at least he's not trying to kill her. My arrival however stirs up commotion in the small space.
Dragging a half alive Neville with me probably doesn't help matters at all.
"Well shit," Draco mutters, immediately getting up from where he was resting. Ginny attempts to sit up and see what's going on, but I demand that she stays horizontal. I don't need people in any worse condition.
Getting Neville pulled off my side is a huge relief. Considering how much he relied on me for support, I'm surprised we didn't fall over. I am strong, but he is heavy and quite a bit larger than me in size. In comparison to Malfoy, he's slightly smaller, and the blonde easily moves him across the room to lie on the floor. I notice Ginny's eyes widening from the corner of my own, but I can't think about that right now.
"Fuck Granger," Malfoy's saying as he pulls back a stained shirt to reveal wounds I had completely looked over in the dim space. Slashes linger here on his chest, and I bite my lip. He's in horrible condition, and even as Malfoy begins healing the wounds I know we are in for a problem.
Both Neville and Ginny are in severe conditions, and if either I or Draco mess something up one of them could die on the way out. This thought settles into my mind as I turn away. Yes, getting out will be a tricky matter to deal with.
A few minutes pass, during which time I can hear Neville whimpering; I help as much as I can, but the memory of what lay behind that door haunts my very mind, and I have a hard time looking on at Neville without visions of piles and piles of rotted bodies popping into my mind. When there is no more we can do for him I'm practically shaking.
It's at this time that Draco takes me away to the far side of the room. The unusual placement of his hand on my back does little to comfort me, and I don't meet his eyes as we start walking.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I say, though it sounds like a lie even to me. If he catches the shake in my voice though, he has nothing to say about it.
"We can't stay here," he continues, crossing his arms. It bothers me that he seems so unaffected by what is going on around us, though it could all be a mask. This is Malfoy, and though I have spent more than enough time with him parts of his demur still throw me off. He didn't see the horrors in that room, nor did he drag a half alive body back here. I suppose he doesn't have as much to fear about this place.
Yet.
"I know. We are lucky this place has been left alone so long. Staying any longer will be pushing it."
"Agreed," he says, though his eyes jump around my face. I get the feeling that he is studying me, looking for signs of fear that I'm holding back. If I let anything out right now I may just have to cry; it's sad what happened in there, and what is probably happening to other innocent people around Britain. "How do you propose we move the nearly dead ones though?"
I flinch at his choice of words but glance back at the pair. If they are the only ones who come out of this hostage situation alive it's a truly disappointing thing. How can people take lives so easily, without a single regret? "I don't know yet." I reply quietly, looking on at them with concern. "But we have to do something. We have to make sure someone knows that we intend to find them."
"That's a brilliant idea Hermione, just one problem; how do we do that? We have no contact with anyone."
"Not yet." I pull out my wand, finally looking back at him. Whispering quiet words, I step over to Draco's side as the figure of my patronus appears, smiling lightly as the blonde's eyebrows shoot up.
"You can cast a patronus?" he asks, sounding more than a bit awestruck.
"Yes, I've been able to for a while." Glancing at him, my smile widens to a grin. "You can't cast one?"
He scoffs. "Well of course I can Granger! I am skilled in the dark arts; something as simple as a patronus is no match for me."
"Have you ever even attempted the spell?" I ask, not believing for a damn minute that he is capable of performing one if he is so awestruck by mine.
To this, he turns. "The patronus charm isn't one that I was required to learn," he says quietly, killing the calm moment. I had been enjoying the useless banter between us, but he quickly put a stop to it. I should've known; these are serious times and I am trying to provide comic relief like Ron would instead of remaining levelheaded like I usually am.
"Oh," is all I say in return, rubbing my head awkwardly. The blissful moment is past, and it's time to get serious again. "When should we leave?"
"Now would be good, or within the hour," he mutters. "We are taking a chance every moment we remain here. The sooner we get out the better, and the more energy your friends will have. We'll have to move quickly, and get somewhere we can apparate to safety."
"Agreed. So an hour is all we have to prepare then."
The blonde glances back at me over his shoulder. "And that's probably too long."
This departure is more dangerous than the last. The fact that we even came here was foolish, but even if I can only save two souls, I am glad it's these two souls. Merlin knows who exactly fell, but all I know is that I hope neither Ron nor Harry met a bitter end.
Draco is in front of me somewhere, though I can't tell exactly where. Neville is with him- and he's probably horrified by this- because I had such a difficult time moving him across flat surfaces. Walking down the stairs would've been bad, and already Ginny is a heavy burden on the right side of my body. I wonder how far away an apparation point is, and if we will even make it before we are discovered. There are more Death Eater's roaming the halls than ever, and it's a bother to consider how crowded those staircases will be. I only hope Neville and Ginny don't suffer more.
For some reason, knowing Malfoy is out here with me settles my nerves a bit. When we get out of this house I'll find him and Neville at the meet-up point, and hopefully we can travel the rest of the way without the need for invisibility spells. These things can be unreliable in certain lights at the worst of times.
Today however, they prevail. We get outside without a mishap, and I find Draco quickly enough. I can see it in Neville and Ginny's eyes that they don't trust his presence, but honestly they don't get a say in it. If he is choosing to help us, they should have no complaints.
"How far off do you think their wards go? We can't apparate until we get past them."
Draco nods. "Usually Voldemort had us cast them between a mile and a mile and a half out; the Manor is three miles, but that's only because he's made it his fucking home." He shakes his head. "If this place is the center point, we have a lot of hauling to do."
Suppressing a groan, I grimace. My body is tired as well, however I can walk on my own. Extending an arm, I help Ginny stand again, trying to ignore the pain written on her features. In the growing light, it's obvious that she is in enormous amounts of pain.
It's going to be a long walk to safety.
A/n: Hello readers! Yes, again, it's late. December is just not my month! I apologize for the suspended time between updates, but I ended up going out of town unexpectedly for a funeral and just returned. I didn't bring my laptop or flash drive with, so this was just written. Sorry for the long amount of time, and I hope everyone's holidays were well! Please leave a review at the bottom and I'll surprise everyone with super-fast updates!
In case anyone is curious, there are about ten chapters left, maybe a few more. That's not a lot for this story!