Draco could see the door—it was so close. He glanced down at Granger who was just barely holding onto the broom. His grip on her sweatshirt was tight, but it was her hand that was keeping her aloft. Just a few more meters. They'd both be safe, in just a few more meters.

He'd only looked away for a second when the girl had made a most uncalculated decision. No doubt trying to get a better hold; her dangling hand reached up taking to the tip of the broom. The shift in weight sent their flight in a forward spiral like an unbalanced seesaw. Despite his best efforts, Draco could do nothing to correct the problem and curled his head down to brace himself for impact. A searing pain ran down his back as they flew end over end through the fire that had started to rise up in front of the door. It happened in seconds. One moment he felt his stomach in his throat the next he was landing hard on his back.

His body skidded down the stones just beyond the room leaving a path of red in his wake. The broom he'd had hold of bounced somewhere out of sight and the world around him grew dark around the edges when his head finally smacked against the stone. It took all his strength to stay conscious; each breath burning the inside of his throat as his body desperately tried to take in the air it had lost.

"Hermione!"

Ginny's voice echoed down the hall making Draco's head pulse. He turned his eyes to try and orient himself, only making the world tilt sideways. He managed to push himself up onto his side before he realized that Granger had fallen a bit further back. Coming to land crumpled on her side; her head was curled up in one hand as though she too had tried to brace herself while the other laid still in front of her. He blinked his blurry vision, trying to see if she'd lived or died but the Weasley girl had suddenly obstructed his view.

"Hermione, can you hear me?" Ginny gently cradled the elder girl's head in her palms. She gave her a gentle shake before letting out a relieved sob when Hermione opened her eyes.

"I...hate...flying..." Hermione's voice was gruff and she could already tell she'd bitten her tongue when she landed. Her ankles too, pulsed in protest but didn't feel broken. She swallowed down the coppery fluid before lightly batting one of Ginny's hands away. It was then that she realized that neither Ginny nor Harry had been the one to save her but rather Malfoy. She couldn't even begin to process that heavy amount of information, especially when her head was threatening to split open like a cracked egg.

"Hermione, what happened?" Ginny leaned back on her heels letting her have a bit of space to breathe.

"I don't know..." She lied.

"Malfoy...you alright?" Harry had paused beside Hermione until she'd opened her eyes before going to check on her savior. The trail of blood leading to the blond didn't look promising even though he was apparently conscious. He didn't know why Draco had done it, but he was going to find out.

"Just peachy..." Draco let out a sharp hiss when his back protested his movement. The entire back of his shirt was burned away, leaving only charred skin, that had been ripped away, behind. He couldn't feel it as it had burned too deep, only the resistance of his muscles not responding clued him into the damage.

"Your back..." Harry glanced between Hermione and him; Hermione didn't appear to have any marks that he could see but he was sure that Draco was going to bleed out if he remained as he was. Torn between his wont to do what was right and his history with the Slytherin he chose the difficult option. He turned to the bag that Hermione had given him and hastily looked through. He didn't have anything for burns.

"Is Malfoy...okay?" Ginny had gotten Hermione into a seated position but both of them were still trying to clear their lungs of the thick smoke. Neither one looked like they had much energy to move.

"He's burnt...bad..." Harry made a face when Draco's pale skin turned an even snowier white. The boy had suddenly lost the will to speak and had promptly pitched forward onto his stomach. Harry feared that they might be too late and turned his hopeless face towards Hermione.

"This...use this..." Hermione lowered her head down reaching into the pocket of her hoodie. It was charred around the hem but had otherwise had remained intact. She pulled out the pillowcase she'd made to store the potions she'd stolen from Snape's Alchemist cabinet and let it fall to the floor, "There's a salve..." She closed her eyes for only a moment and she felt Ginny cradling her head further into her throat. She took the small effort at comfort for what it was and listened to Harry shuffling closer. "It's like...semi-liquid...green...put it everywhere he's burnt...then use the Dittany..."

Hermione's weak voice was almost completely drowned out by the sounds of fierce battle below. The entire castle was trembling on its foundations, more and more horrific screams could be heard. One could never begin to imagine the horror that laid below. Harry didn't waste the time, however, and quickly looked through the enchanted bag.

Ginny did her part well, keeping Hermione's head tucked under her chin so she could breathe more easily. This wasn't what she had expected when she had decided to join the fight but there was no way she was going to back out now. Her mind wandered over where Tonks had gone, she and Neville's Gran had been sent to guard the hall. They weren't there now; in fact, the entire fifth floor seemed barren of all fighters.

"What can I do to help you?" Ginny looked down into Hermione's face; her own brow lining with worry when she saw it had gone lax. "Hermione?" She gave the girl a firm shake around her shoulders startling her back into the waking world. "Hermione? What can I do to help you?"

Hermione took a deep breath, her nose having somewhat cleared. Her head still felt like a dropped egg on stone and her left lung felt as though someone had driven a spike through the bottom, but she knew she had to answer Ginny's question. She couldn't give up now. No, the battle wasn't over, not yet. With as much strength as she could muster she pushed herself against the floor trying to pull away from Ginny's embrace, "I'm fine...I just...I'll take..." Hermione shook her head slowly and blinked her eyes open. A strong feeling filled her chest while she waited for her vision to come back into focus. Snape. Snape was calling her. She didn't know how she knew, only that she did. She shifted her hand feeling the invisible band tightening around her wrist. How on earth was he calling her?

Hermione turned slowly unable to fully pull herself away and reached down to pull the flap open over the satchel still miraculously at her hip. She didn't have much left of the energy potion, and only two more doses of pain potion. They were unlike the ones she had found in his cabinet; different, stronger maybe? She couldn't be sure, but she didn't want to risk taking something else at the wrong dose. She needed her strength and she needed to get to Snape. She pulled two vials from the pouch and raised them to her lips. She could feel Ginny watching her as she took measured drinks of each before she turned her eyes towards Draco and Harry.

Harry had done exactly as she'd instructed. He had been completely amazed at the speed in which both potion and salve had worked and he could already see Draco's breathing becoming deeper. Where had she gotten the potion and salve? They definitely hadn't been in her own bag, that was for sure. He glanced over to the pillowcase he'd taken them from and his mind spun back to the brief time he'd been in Snape's quarters. He couldn't clearly recall but he was almost certain there had been a randomly discarded pillow on the floor when they had passed through. Had Snape left her instructions? Was she on her own mission?

"He'll need a blood replinsher...we should hide him... somewhere..." Hermione could feel the borrowed strength returning to her limbs and managed to push herself away completely from Ginny's hold. She dug through the pillowcase pulling out the potion he'd need. She felt Ginny shift to take it from her and didn't resist. Releasing the vial to the redhead she let out a slow breath before sitting herself up a bit straighter.

"Ennervate..." Ginny frowned slightly when Malfoy let out a pitiful whine. She didn't know why she was helping him, it felt wrong on so many levels. She tried not to dwell on the feeling as Harry helped turn him onto his side. Malfoy's eyes fluttered open for a brief moment and Ginny really did have pitty on him. "Drink this..."

"Two swallows..."

Draco felt like the world was spinning without him. Even he could understand the irony of what was happening to him. Still, he didn't want to die. He raised his hand up, taking the vial from Ginny before drinking it down. He made a face at the horrid taste before the vial was taken by Harry.

"You need to hide...can you stand?" Even as the words left Harry's mouth they felt rushed and unbelievably cruel.

"Yeah, there's a closet...just that way..." Draco rolled back over on his chest but didn't make any more moves. The sparking pain of the muscles regrowing in his back had sent him completely out. Harry frowned deeply but motioned for Ginny to take his arm.

"Wait..." Hermione crawled herself back onto her feet before pulling out the replacement wand Harry had given her from her back pocket, "He'll need to defend himself..."

Both Harry and Ginny frowned but didn't comment. Hermione stepped closer before pushing the wand into his front pocket. It would uncomfortable but at least he'd know it was there. Harry and Ginny pulled him up the rest of the way half-dragging the pompous Slytherin around the bend to a small broom closet.

In the time between their return, Hermione gathered up the potions Harry had used and put them back into the pillowcase, though she left out one that she believed would slow the heart in the case of a catastrophic injury to keep one from furiously bleeding out. At least, that's what she believed it did. She'd recognized it from the time he'd given her a similar potion to slow her heart so as to endure the Cruciatus Curse. It wasn't much but she was sure she could spare it.

"Here..." Hermione pressed the vial into Ginny's hand, "It'll help in the case of an emergency..."

"Where did you get all these?" Ginny looked down at the vial in her hand briefly before stowing it into her front pocket.

"Not important..." Hermione turned towards Harry then, "Just the snake is left... You've got to look inside him, Harry. It's the only way..."

"No... it's too dangerous what if he...possesses me or..."

"If he wanted to do that, he already would have. We can't just go blindly running down those stairs into chaos. We need to know where he is..."

"We need to find Ron...No offense, Ginny but I stand by what I said earlier about your mother..."

Ginny made to respond but Hermione interrupted any brave speech she was about to make.

"We can find him on the way." Hermione's voice was growing impatient and the band around her wrist had only grown tighter. He was urgent now, more so than before. She didn't understand how the connection worked but she tried to take some of her focus into pressing against the feeling. "Come on, Harry. We don't have time..." Her voice lowered down with her head as she took hold of her wrist to try and ease the pressure. She was coming. She was coming.

Harry looked at her with worry on his brow but couldn't refute her logic. He suspected that it was the brand that had sent her tumbling from her broom. Just like the time with the cup. With each step closer, he was not only killing his worst enemy but his best friend as well. He no longer believed that Voldemort had sent his words just to taunt him, but rather throw the impossible choice in his face. He had to get to Voldemort first.

"Right...right..." Harry closed his eyes tight, trying to shut out the sounds of battle raging around him.

The world around him shifted, growing quieter, he could still hear explosions but they sounded distant. The world grew darker, alight with only a single lamp inside a damp and dusty place. His vision turned and he could see none other than Lucious Malfoy cowering in the corner of the room. He could hear his ragged breathing and see the marks of the punishment he had received after Harry's last escape. One of his eyes remained closed and puffy.

"My Lord...please...my son..."

"If your son is dead, Lucius, it is not my fault. He did not come and join me, like the rest of the Slytherins. Perhaps he has decided to befriend Harry Potter?"

"Impossible," whispered Malfoy.

"You could only hope." Voldemort turned, slowly shifting the world from which Harry looked on. It took him a few moments to realize where they were but when he had, he couldn't believe it.

"Aren't-aren't you afraid, My Lord, that Potter might die at another hand but yours?" Malfoy shifted, his voice shaking. "Wouldn't it be...forgive me...more prudent to call off this battle, enter the castle, and seek him y-yourself?"

"Do not pretend Lucius. You wish the battle to cease so that you can discover what has happened to your son. And I do not need to seek Potter. Before the night is out, Potter will have come to find me. You see, I took can formulate plans." Voldemort dropped his gaze once more to the wand in his fingers. He would use the girl, he knew Potter couldn't resist coming to the aid of one of his friends; it was what made him weak. Though still something else troubled him, something—that could not go unchecked.

"Go and fetch Snape."

"Snape, M-my Lord?"

"Snape. Now. I need him. There is a—service—I require from him. Go."

Harry felt the world spinning out again as Malfoy moved to his trembling legs to fulfill his master's request. Harry could feel the world coming back into deafening focus and when he looked at Hermione he knew, it was either her or Voldemort. How could possibly make such a choice? He had to keep her safe, with him. If Voldemort couldn't get her, perhaps...he could somehow save her.

"He's in the Shrieking Shack..."

"He's not even FIGHTING?" Hermione's voice cracked when it flew up several octaves. Her eyes burning with a fury only a few had ever seen. "Was the snake with him?"

"Yes, I think so..." Harry actually hadn't looked, though it would seem foolish not to have the familiar by his side at this point, what other reason would he have stationed himself so far from the battlefield. "He was talking to Malfoy Sr...he wants Snape for something..."

"Let's go...we know where to go..." Hermione took a slow breath rubbing at her wrist again. She didn't know what would happen if Snape answered his call, but she knew it would be anything but pleasant. The sounds below seemed to have swelled and she knew they were in for a rough ride.

"We can't risk taking the hidden passages, they could collapse and crush us...Come on...we'll have to fight our way through." Hermione turned as though she were a one-woman army, her wand coming down from her sleeve to be held tightly in her bruised and smoke tarnished knuckles.

Ginny looked at Harry with worry on her brow. Was she always this intense? She'd never really seen Hermione during one of their adventures, even when she'd gone with them to the Department of Mysteries they had been separated. It was like she believed herself invincible, or perhaps, didn't even care to consider that going down the stairs so blatantly could kill them all. Another thing that was bothering her; why had she fallen off her broom? She had never been incapable of anything magical before. Something didn't add up and it was gnawing away at the inside of her thoughts.

"Harry...do you still have your cloak?"

"What?" Harry had moved to follow after Hermione, blindly trusting her judgment.

"Your cloak? Your invisibility cloak? Don't you think it'd be a lot easier to get down the stairs if no one saw us?" Ginny looked over Harry's shoulder to Hermione who had also come to a stop. She could tell the brunette looked exceptionally guilty for not even taking the time to consider it as a possibility.

Harry turned down to the pouch on his hip, he'd stuffed the cloak under the potions when they'd gone into Snape's quarters. He dug through, pulling out the enchanted fabric. It never would cease to amaze him how brilliant Hermione was at charms.

"I'll take lead, Ginny you stay in the middle." As much as he wanted to protect Hermione, he knew she had way more realistic combat experience. He raised the cloak up as they took their positions. It wouldn't cover their feet but he hardly thought anyone would notice.

They half jogged towards the central staircase. The moving stairs were all out of sorts, some jammed in place while others were just completely missing. The staircase meant to lead down to the fourth floor was one of the latter. Half-gone, the stone that would have made it up, laid in a broken mess two floors down where he could just make out Tonks flamingo pink hair. She was holding her own against two death eaters.

Hermione pushed her way to the railing and frowned before pushing the cloak off her hand. She shot two stunners down from on high sending both deatheaters, in turn, to the floor. Tonks turned her head for a split second before another spell, just out of sight of all of them, raced towards her. She scrambled out of sight then, her fate unknown.

"We can't jump this!"

Hermione shifted them both out of her way before pointing her wand at the remaining half. A few words, that were drowned out by the fighting below, passed her lips before a thin bridge of stone arched across. "Go!"

Hermione gave Harry a small push staying beside the crumbling landing to let the other two pass. The cloak had fallen from her shoulders by then but she didn't care. Both Harry and Ginny headed her command; when Harry looked back he saw Hermione in full view on the small bridge.

"Up there!"

A voice from below turned his head but before he could react Hermione blocked the spell meant to destroy the bridge before jumping the rest of the way. Crashing into Ginny's obscured back, she sent them all stumbling forward. The railing beside Ginny's head exploded and she let out a shocked scream as the stonework tumbled off the cloak.

"Keep moving!" Hermione pushed herself up over the edge sending out a barrage of stunners that she didn't linger around to see if they hit their mark. Her hand took hold of the back of the cloak and she threw it over her head just in time for Harry to get the moving again. They had just rounded the third floor when a flash of red hair stopped them all.

"Did I mention I'm resigning?" Percy's attempt at humor made Fred laugh. The two of them stood side by side taking turn for turn against the masked death eaters that sought to their end. A large bolt struck just from out of sight sending the one fighting Percy was fighting crumbling to the floor.

"Wisest choice you've made in years!" Ron came from the side casting another spell, all three of the redhead's spells sent the death eater dueling Fred soaring over the three on the stairs beneath the cloak.

"Ron!" Harry pulled the cloak off his head in awe.

"Harry?! Have you seen Hermione!?"

"She's here!" Ginny pulled the cloak off the rest of them balling it up in her arm.

"Ginny? You're supposed to be hiding in the Room of Requirement!" His disbelief was diverted when his eyes landed on Hermione. "Hermione!" He made to run to her when the entire floor gave a mighty shudder.

Harry, Ginny, and Hermione scrambled to get closer to the others but another sharp shake threatened their steps. Hermione, Ginny, and Harry had just stumbled onto the landing when the wall behind Fred and Percy burst open with concussive force. The air around them rung deafeningly loud. Like a bowling ball into a set of pins, their bodies flew forward knocking them all in opposite directions.

Ginny found herself wrapped tightly in Harry's grip before they both went tumbling hard to the side, rolling one over the other until she was on top. Dust and small rocks pelted down over top as thick stone dust filled her lungs. Ron landed hard in the opposite direction with his brother's heavy body landing over his back. Both of their heads smashed into the others before they finally came to a skidding halt at the base of the stairs. Hermione had rolled down to the side, but a large chunk of stone had clipped her hip mid-dive, taking her feet completely out from under her. Fred had gone in a similar direction and had actually taken hold of her briefly before a smaller bit of rubble crashed into his eye rendering it blind. His body pitched down to the floor out of his control with his hands coming up to shield his head. Both of them skidded sideways down to the right away from the others. Fred came to a stop in at the mid-way before Hermione came to a stop at a collapsed column.