Hermione continued to stare at the space that Snape's Patronus had just previously occupied. Her breathing was still erratic; her arms still shaking.
A doe?
She chanced a glance up at Malfoy who was too, staring where the doe had just been, moments earlier.
His brow was furrowed, and his eyes were moving frantically back and forth, as though he were concentrating extremely hard on something.
Hermione tried to shift her position in Malfoy's grasp, but immediately stopped as pain unmercifully shot through her arm.
Dammit!
Why now, of all the times that I could have read that bloody incantation! Now! When Snape needs us!
She cursed quietly under her breath.
The sound seemed to snap Malfoy out of his reverie as he looked down at Hermione.
"I have to bring you with me," he said levelly, "It's too dangerous to leave you here...Snape could be summoning us because there are Death Eaters on their way to the castle..."
Well, that works out just perfectly, because I wouldn't stay here anyways; mangled arm or not.
"...something must have happened. He's never contacted me with his Patronus before - something's not right," he added as he gently maneuvered Hermione out of his lap.
"How do you contact each other, then?" Hermione asked, wincing as she accidentally bumped her arm on the leg of the bench.
"The Dark Mark. Snape figured out a way to make a connection between just the two of us. Our Marks burn, but we are the only ones that can feel it," Malfoy replied, squatting in front of her so that their eyes were level.
"Do you think you can stand?" he asked, gently.
"I don't walk on my arm, Malfoy," Hermione replied, dryly.
He extended his hand to grab her good arm and then put his wand hand carefully around her waist, hoisting Hermione up so that she was standing.
Swaying momentarily; his arms caught her.
"You've lost a lot of blood; you'll probably be dizzy for awhile," he said, while still holding onto her.
"I think I'll be fine. Really, I'm feeling much better," Hermione said as she took a step forward.
Her knees immediately buckled, but Malfoy moved forward with such speed and precision, Hermione was quite surprised that he managed to keep her from colliding with the stone floor.
Ok, so maybe this once, you're right. And maybe this once you can help me walk.
I feel like a bloody invalid.
Malfoy, with his arms still around Hermione, eyed her nervously. His face was nearly touching hers.
"Granger, I don't...we have to move. Can you please just swallow your pride for a moment? This is no time to argue." His eyes were silently pleading with her.
Back to using 'Granger', now are we?
Why is it that the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when you use my real name?
Hermione nodded in response.
The moment her head stopped moving, Malfoy bent and placed one hand behind her back, while the other scooped her up from under the backs of her knees.
Perfect.
If Harry could see me now...
Her injured arm bumped against his chest when he took the first step up the spiral stairs, and Hermione hissed sharply.
"You okay?" He questioned apprehensively, "I"m sorry, Hermione, we have to hurry...I'll try to be careful," he said as he continued to climb the stairs with Hermione in his arms.
She nodded, too vaguely embarrassed to say anything else.
At least we're back to 'Hermione' again.
As soon as they reached the top of the stairwell, Malfoy gently set Hermione down and brandished his wand.
"Accio Nimbus 2001!" he said, loudly as his voice echoed throughout the castle.
"Your broom?" Hermione asked, panicking.
Malfoy nodded, "It's the quickest way to the apparation point, especially with you unable to walk."
"I can walk just fine-" Hermione retorted, indignantly, but was cut off by Malfoy's broom swooping in mere yards above her head.
Malfoy quickly grabbed and mounted the broom while holding his hand out to help Hermione.
She eyed the damnable object for a moment, while her head pounded.
Sensing her reluctance, Malfoy gingerly put his hand on the side of her face and gently motioned it upwards so that she was looking directly into his eyes.
"I know you don't like flying, but I swear to you; I will not let you fall."
Silence.
Of course not.
You're just saying that so I'll get on the retched thing.
And then I'll fall.
Hermione hesitated a moment longer, then moved to where he could help her mount the broom behind him.
Why me?
"You okay?" Malfoy asked, as he pulled out his wand.
No, I'm not okay. I just had my arm nearly shredded into pieces and now I'm about to fly off into a torrential rainstorm - and by the way...did I mention that I HATE flying?
"Yeah," Hermione replied quietly, as she wrapped her arm around his waist as best she could. Her right arm was already clutching to him for dear life, while her injured arm fell limply to her side.
"Ok, hang on tight," he said, and he pointed his wand at the massive doors.
"Bombarda!"
The great hinges gave way as a deafening crack resounded throughout the castle. The elephantine doors fell with an audible "thud" as dust rose where they made contact with the ground.
Lightening flashed in the distance.
And before Hermione had time to steady herself, Malfoy had kicked off from the ground and they were rocketing through the entrance and into the storm.
She closed her eyes tightly, and buried her face into the back of Malfoy's robes as they hurtled through the air.
Ok. Think of something besides the fact that you're hanging precariously hundreds of meters off the ground...right - Hogwarts: A History.
Hermione was reciting chapter twelve under her breath as a sudden gust of wind made Malfoy drop, without warning, several meters. Her injured arm tried to grasp onto him, but with a sickening feeling of dread, she felt herself slipping off the back of the broom. Malfoy immediately switched hands as he continued to guide them forward, and with his left arm, he reached back and grabbed Hermione's thigh tightly to keep her from sliding any further.
With her right arm, she clutched the back of Malfoy's cloak, and pulled herself up so she was directly behind him again.
See! I told you I would fall!
How are we not to the apparation boarder yet?
Hermione knew that they had only been airborne for a matter of minutes, but it felt like an eternity.
Unexpectedly, she felt Malfoy push the broom downwards as they rapidly descended from the blustery storm.
And just as suddenly, she felt her feet touch ground. Her right arm was still locked around Malfoy as she reluctantly opened her eyes. Malfoy was trying to pry her arm off him as he dismounted the broom.
"Are you okay?" he yelled, over the howling wind.
Hermione nodded.
He looked over her uneasily as he grabbed her around the midsection and lifted her off the broom.
"We're going to side-along apparate. I think you're too weak to do it yourself," Malfoy hollered, as he steaded her.
Of course. Just rub it in my face, why don't you?
"Ready?" he asked, loudly as a particularly loud crash of thunder sounded in the distance.
Again, she nodded and closed her eyes awaiting the familiar pull of apparation. Almost immediately she felt herself being compressed into nothingness.
And even before she opened her eyes again, the first thing that she noticed was that it was completely silent.
The metamorphosis between the two locations was almost palpable.
Gone was the howling wind, the roaring thunder, and the noisy sea.
The only sound that Hermione could hear was the distant call of a bird's song.
When she did finally open her eyes, and despite the darkness of the towering trees, Hermione immediately recognized her surroundings as Blackmoor Forest.
This was the same forest that she had stayed in with Harry and the Order of the Phoenix. Slightly ashamed, she felt herself longing to be on the opposite section of the forest, sitting with her friends and colleagues. Hagrid would be telling stories of frightened first years, Lupin would be sitting quietly in his favorite arm chair, Tonks would be talking quite animatedly about anything that crossed her mind in that particular moment, and she had Harry would be together; like they always had been.
Harry.
I hope you're doing better than I am right now.
The light from Malfoy's wand brought Hermione back to reality.
"I don't know how we're supposed to find him; the forest is huge," she said, shakily.
The combination of the adrenaline that was shooting through her veins from the recent flying experience and the throbbing pain from her arm that made Hermione feel as though her heart and shifted locations and currently resided elsewhere, made her want to do nothing more than collapse on the forest floor.
Focus. Come on. Are you an Auror, or not? You just need to focus.
"He'll find us," Malfoy said, as he helped Hermione sit on a fallen log.
He stood and moved his lighted wand around the circumference of the area before returning to Hermione. Silently, he pocked his wand, and pulled his cloak up over his left forearm, exposing the Dark Mark.
"How does it work?" Hermione asked, quietly, as she leaned back so that the trunk of the tree supported her weight.
Malfoy eyed her anxiously for a moment before answering, "I still have the connection to the rest of the Death Eaters. When the Dark Lord summons them, I fill it burn, I just choose to ignore it; of course. All I have to do to contact Snape is to think of him, and him alone, and vice versa. It forms a two-way connection between us."
Hermione pondered that for a moment while her arm continued to pound.
"Then how do you know when it's Snape and not Voldemort?" she questioned.
Malfoy looked pensive for a moment before responding, "It burns differently. It's difficult to explain, but there is a distinct difference."
Too exhausted to ask any further questions, Hermione merely nodded and closed her eyes.
"Hermione...?" Malfoy asked, making her open them again.
There it is again - why does it give me the chills?
He was leaning close to her.
"Are you doing all right? Is the tourniquet holding?" he asked.
I'm fine. Right?
Except that I feel as though I've been wrestling with a Blast-Ended Skrewt, but that's normal, isn't it?
"I think I'll live," Hermione replied, instead.
"Hermione..." Malfoy warned, "You don't have to prove -"
"Why are you calling me that?" Hermione interrupted.
Malfoy was silent for a moment.
"Does it bother you?" he asked.
No.
It sounds delicious in my ears and makes me feel something that I don't think I've known for years.
"No," she answered, "It's just...you've never used my name before."
Malfoy regarded her in silence for a moment.
"I figured," he began, "That since we will be spending a considerable amount of time together, risking our lives, and trying to kill the Dark Lord, that I should... try it out."
He smirked, "Well, that, and you scared the hell out of me and it just sort of slipped."
Hermione chuckled, softly.
"Maybe...maybe you should try it out too." Malfoy said, looking at his feet.
It was almost a whisper.
Hermione looked over at him, and found his eyes.
Again, there was that same indescribable expression that she couldn't quite pinpoint.
What is it?
Finally, she found her voice.
"Ok...Draco," she said, quietly.
And he smiled brighter than she had ever seen him smile before.
It reached all the way to his ashen eyes.
It was when he opened his mouth to speak that several things simultaneously happened at once.
A light and movement came from the left side of the clearing, Malfoy's eyes darted over to the direction of the light as he frantically tried to pull his wand from his robes, and a blinding spell flew from a deep, unseen voice.
"Expelliarmus!" the voice roared.
Hermione didn't have time to think logically.
If she had, she would have recognized the voice as Snape's.
Then why would he be trying to disarm us?
As it was, Hermione reacted on instinct.
Unable to immediately find her wand, she reached out with her right arm and screamed, "PROTEGO!"
The spell that had been heading straight for Draco rebounded noisily as it collided with the blue barrier that formed a protective shield around him.
Silence.
Draco's eyes instantly sought Hermione as she crumpled to the ground with exhaustion.
Running over to her, his head snapped back toward Snape, "What the hell was that!?" He demanded.
Snape strode into the clearing with black robes billowing in his wake.
"Are you implying that it was my fault?" Snape challenged.
Draco reached Hermione and lifted her head gently off the cool, forest floor.
"Hermione?" He whispered quietly, "Can you hear me?"
Hermione's eyes fluttered momentarily before they focused on Draco's anxious face.
Draco rounded on Snape, "What do you mean?" he yelled, "How could it not be your fault!? You were the one that sent the spell flying towards me!"
Snape was quite literally shaking with rage as he knelt down to look Draco in the eyes, "You were the one that failed to respond to the Mark! Thrice I instigated the summons on the Mark to obtain your exact location, and thrice you ignored it! Don't you dare turn this on me, boy!"
Snape grabbed the collar of Draco's robes, causing him to very nearly drop Hermione back to the ground, "Don't you dare do that again! When I summon you, you are to respond immediately! Do you understand me? I thought you both were Death Eaters! I thought they had taken you! Do you understand that you could have compromised everything that we have been working for?" he roared.
Snape's chest was heaving up and down rapidly as the heat of his breath became visible in the early evening air. He released Draco's robes as he took notice of Hermione for the first time since his dramatic entrance into the clearing.
Her forehead and cheeks had scattered patches of dried blood from where she had earlier smeared it across her face, the tourniquet around her arm was completely crimson, and her entire body was shaking.
"What happened?" Snape demanded, as his expression switched instantly from anger to concern. His nimble, ivory fingers reached toward Hermione's neck to feel her rapidly beating pulse.
Hermione tried to respond, but Draco answered for her.
Why do my arms feel as though they each weight about one hundred pounds?
"She was researching in some of the texts we brought over from my library," Draco said, as he lifted her head into his lap, "She read... the Mudiaticus Curse."
Snape turned his attention away from Hermione's shaking body and looked directly at Draco for several moments.
"Aloud?" he finally asked.
Draco shook his head, "No. If she had...I don't...I don't think that I would have been able to have performed the counter-curse."
Snape turned back to Hermione while addressing Draco, "There is a text back at Muron Castle," he said, while conjuring an unblemished tourniquet, "It contains the means to brew a potion to counteract the effects of this exact curse. As soon as you return, I want you to begin brewing it immediately - along with a blood replenishing potion. This takes precedent over the Polyjuice Potion. Do you understand?"
Draco nodded, "Which text is it?"
"Remedies to Dark Curses: A Potion Master's Guide . If I remember correctly, it's a smaller text with edges that are completely worn."
Hermione had been listening to the entire exchange between Snape and Draco with something close to amusement. They were talking as though she couldn't hear a single word they were saying. And what very nearly startled Hermione, even in her current state, was the gentleness and exact precision of Snape's nimble fingers as he tried to deduce what harm had been done.
Who would have ever thought?
"Do I get to brew it?" Hermione asked, lightly from her prone position on the forest floor. She had a slight smile, despite her shaking body, "I'm not yet sure if this one here is capable," she added as she gestured toward Draco.
Draco smiled softly, while Snape seemed to be out of the joke.
"No Miss Granger, I daresay you won't be doing anything for some time. Your insatiable thirst for knowledge proved dangerous in this instance," he said, regarding her darkly.
Hermione tried to shrug, but the movement jarred her arm, and she winced in pain.
Snape leaned slightly over her as he spoke, "I need to remove your bandaging. It's seeping through," he informed, "Try to hold still."
Hermione nodded while Snape undid her stained tourniquet. She watched Draco's face as Snape set to work on her arm, but Draco was fiercely concentrating on whatever it was that Snape was doing.
"There," Snape said, as he finished tying the new bandage.
"Thanks," Hermione said, quietly.
He nodded.
"That was... an impressive display of wandless magic back there, Miss Granger," he said, while still paying keen attention to her arm.
A compliment?
How much blood have I actually lost?
"Does it normally leave one so exhausted?" he questioned, quietly.
And in that moment, Hermione realized how truly rare a talent wandless magic was.
If Snape doesn't know...
That means there aren't any Death Eaters that can do it...and likely Voldemort can't either.
Greatest wizard of our time, indeed.
Hermione began to shake her head, but thought better of it as the pain in her arm hitched up again, "No," she replied.
"The amount of energy you exert in a spell is what is taken from you body. Normally it just leaves you slightly tired, but I think with what happened earlier...I was already weak. Well, that, and I've never used that much force in a wandless spell before...I thought you were a Death Eater," Hermione added, shakily.
"I am a Death Eater, Miss Granger," Snape's silky voice replied.
Hermione was about to roll her eyes at him, but then thought better of it.
Instead, she said, "I think...I think I can sit up now,"
Draco adjusted his position behind her, and gently helped her so that she was sitting erect on the ground. Dried leaves and twigs were now adorning her completely disheveled hair.
"Okay?" Draco asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Snape returned his attention to Draco, "I have already wasted precious time here," he said. "What happened? Why did you not respond? I was...worried," he confessed.
Draco looked vaguely embarrassed, "I'm sorry. It's my fault. I was...concentrating on Hermione..."
It was barely audible, but Hermione could have sworn as she looked at his angular face that he was blushing.
"I see," Snape replied, as he pulled himself into a standing position.
"What's going on? Why did you send your Patronus?" Draco asked, while still supporting Hermione.
"I sent my Patronus," Snape began icily, as he walked the length of the clearing, "Because, as we have just discussed, you failed to respond to the Mark. I knew that the doe would get your attention."
Draco swallowed, audibly.
"It was a risk - if you for some reason have been captured, my Patronus would have been a dead give away. But circumstances what they are, and the lengths of protection I went through at Muron Castle... it was a risk I was willing to take," Snape said, as he returned to stand in front of Draco.
"Then why did you summon us?" Draco asked, "You could have just relayed your message through the Patronus. It was dangerous to bring Hermione here in her condition."
Hermione was ready with a strongly worded retort when Snape cut her off.
'Condition'? What am I? Pregnant?
Does he think I'm some sort of damsel in distress in need of rescuing?
Hell, no. I'm a Gryffindor, thank you very much.
Just wait, I'll be the one that's saving his sorry arse from here on out.
"While it was a risk, Draco, I couldn't compromise everything we've been working for by relaying this kind of information. It had to be in person."
"What's happened?"
This time, it was Hermione who spoke.
Snape regarded her briefly before continuing, "The Dark Lord," he began, "has become aware of Potter's and the Order's location here in Blackmoor Forest."
Hermione's hand immediately covered her mouth as she looked at Snape with a frightened expression.
"No," she whispered.
Snape nodded, "He hasn't been using Legilimency against Potter from what I can tell, but certain Death Eaters that have been stationed near the forest have been alerted to the Order's presence. The Dark Lord will act, quickly, I can assure you."
And then he addressed only Hermione, "You must send your Patronus and warn them,"
"If the Order falls, there is no hope."
How wonderfully optimistic you are, Snape.
No, he's just being realistic.
Without the resources of the Order, the final battle won't be much of a "battle" at all.
Handfuls of Death Eaters and concourses of other dark creatures wouldn't take long to wipe out just the three of us.
Hermione shifted her weight as she reached into her robes to find her wand.
Meanwhile, Draco was looking directly at Snape, "Was it my father?" he asked, quietly.
Snape was silent.
"Tell me, Snape! Was it him that found Potter?" Draco demanded, now loudly.
"Yes."
"Dammit!" Draco yelled, as he stood, and pulled at his hair.
He paced back and forth on the edge of the clearing.
"If he can find Potter," he began, as he stopped in front of Hermione, "Then there's no question in my mind that he will be able to find us. He could be onto you, Snape."
"Draco, my position has not yet been compromised. And beyond that, you do not need to know," Snape replied before he turned back to Hermione.
"Miss Granger, if you please, time - quite literally, is of the essence.
Hermione nodded, as she brandished her wand.
A happy memory. Let's see...
Previously, Hermione had usually thought of Ron or Harry when conjuring her Patronus.
Now, however; a much more recent memory was encompassing her thoughts.
Draco's face when I used his given name...his smile - so genuinely content.
"Expecto Patronum!" she shouted from her sitting position as a silvery vapor erupted from her wand and immediately took the form of an otter.
Snape's expression was urging for her to continue.
"Harry," Hermione began as she looked at the otter, "Please, for the love of Merlin, don't stall or think to ask questions. Your position has been comprised. The Order is in danger. Evacuate everyone immediately and destroy any evidence about you-know-what. He knows where you are. He will be coming."
Hermione then looked to Snape, who nodded his approval, and with a quick flick of her wrist, the otter vanished.
"Good," Snape said, "Now I must be returning. I should be able to detain the Death Eaters enough long enough to give Potter and the Order more time."
He turned to walk towards the edge of the clearing, "Miss Granger, do take care of yourself, and Draco...the next time I summon you, I expect a reply," he said before disappearing into the dense trees.
Hermione stared after him.
Take care of myself?
What in the name of all that is holy has gotten into him?
Draco was bending in front of her, "Do you think you can stand?"
Didn't he already ask me that today?
"I'll try."
Draco helped pull Hermione up as she struggled to her feet.
As she tottered precariously, a radiant light permeated through the entire expanse of the clearing as Harry's stag Patronus pawed at it's massive hoofs in front of them.
"Hermione," the Patronus spoke in Harry's voice, "Thank you. We've leaving as I speak. Please contact me when you can. I hope you're safe."
And then it was gone, leaving Draco and Hermione in the darkness.
"Come on," Draco said, breaking the silence, "Let's go."
And before Hermione knew anything more, she felt the familiar compression of apparation.
The flight from the apparation point by the massive black boulder back to Muron Castle should have been terrifying to Hermione. But she was too exhausted to even know or care that the rain was pounding mercilessly all around them.
She was mildly surprised that she was still conscious.
She recalled, vaguely, Draco carrying her through the great entryway.
She felt herself being hoisted up the endless stairs.
And she felt the comforting mattress beneath her back as she was gently laid down.
Hermione was just slipping mercifully into a blissful unconsciousness when she heard him speak, as clear as day.
"I almost lost you today," he whispered, brushing her hair from her face.
And that was all she knew.
A/N: You know, it really is quite depressing that this story has over 700 hits, but hardly any reviews:( Please review!! The good, the bad, and the ugly! Send your thoughts my way! Thanks!