Hermione II

They had ten minutes to get out of the manor, and time was ticking. With excruciating slowness, the two teens crept through the hallways onto the second floor. The old servant passageways, back from when the Malfoys didn't have house elves and instead employed human servants, hid them from the Death Eaters scattered through the Manor.

The second floor, picked by Draco because of the relatively short drop to the ground and a window facing the back of the grounds, had never seemed further away. The ratatata beat of Hermione's pulse echoed in her ears as they ascended. She didn't dare open her mouth, knowing that discovery at this critical point would mean the death of both of them. And she knew firsthand that their deaths wouldn't be at all quick.

They made it to the second floor without incident and Hermione let out a breath. Almost there. They could do this. Escape was so close that she could taste it on her tongue, as every part of her yearned to be free of this stuffy, deadly Manor.

But the door to Draco's room was ajar.

She had kept track of the time to try and calm her racing heart. Five minutes and 34 seconds left but the door, the fucking door was open.

Hermione's eyes darted to the sliver of light between the door and the wall, teasing her, taunting her. Because that door hadn't been open when they had left. Hermione remembered with crystal clarity how she had tugged the slab of wood shut behind her. Someone was in their room, their room with empty memory vials and shit her bedding was in there, how could they have been so careless, and books on warding and oh sweet Morgana and her unmerciful hounds. They were never going to get out.

She didn't notice how her breathing came quick and uneven until Draco put an arm around her waist and swore under his breath. "Not now, 'Mione," he murmured into her hair, his voice sharp and desperate. "Hold it together. We're almost there."

"The door," she breathed, "the door."

Draco glanced at the open room and his face, pale as it was from a lack of real sunlight, paled impossibly further. "Ignore it," he said, so quietly that he might as well have been mouthing the words.

Hermione nodded, trying to keep herself together. The knot of panic in her chest was expanding, threatening to seep into her limbs and still them. They couldn't afford this. Not now, when they were so damn close.

Stop it, she admonished herself, and the two of them made their way even more slowly to the window. Two minutes and four seconds.

Draco eased the glass pane open. No time to get the rope they had stashed underneath Draco's bed, no time, no time, no time—

Excruciatingly slowly, they climbed out of the window and down the wall as far as the uneven bricks allowed them. When they were half-way down, they ran out of easily jutting-out footholds.

"Jump," he whispered, and Hermione jumped.

A dizzy split second later and she was on the ground rolling, pain jarring her knees and ankles but leaving her otherwise unharmed. A soft thump alerted her to Draco's landing behind her as they broke into a run, making for the wardline. It wasn't far, close enough to the back of the house that they would make it, they had to make it. "Thirty seconds!" Hermione called out, and the two of them went faster. Hermione was breathing harder than before but they were just so close.

The ring on Draco's hand was fizzing sparks now, burning his fingers but he held onto it and grabbed her hand. "Three, two," Hermione whispered, and then the two of them were through, the wards brushing over her like a soft blanket in a haze of golden light.

A scream split the air behind them as the ring split in two. "They know," Draco said grimly.

"You ready?" Hermione asked, clutching his hand.

"As I'll ever be," Draco replied, and the two of them Apparated away with a pop.

A/N I'm sorry for how goddamn short this chapter is. I thought that the summer would make it easier to write—in fact, it made it more difficult. A case of writer's block and personal upheaval have delayed me from writing anything substantial, and for that I apologize. For those of you still reading, thank you for sticking by this story. It is the story I've wanted to write since I jumped headfirst into this fandom, and for that, it will not be abandoned no matter how long it takes for me to finish updates.

This is the wrap up, essentially, of the previous chapter. It's short because I switch perspectives so often that I wanted to at least make sure the POV is constant in one chapter.