Hermione, Ron, and Draco watched the Death Eaters and Aurors. Hermione tapped Ron on his shoulder. He looked to her, eyes wide.
"Come on, let's climb one of these trees to keep a watch out for Professor Snape. And we won't get in the cross-fire of the duels." Hermione whispered to him. He turned to Draco and told him. Draco nodded. They turned away and walked to the closest tree, which was luckily one of the tallest and easiest to climb. Ron climbed up to the first branch and helped pull Hermione up, Draco behind.
They sat on a tall branch waiting for the first move. Hermione was counting the Aurors and the Death Eaters, wand being used as her index finger.
"There are twenty on our side, and fifteen on their side. That's pretty evened out. And no one's making a move. Draco, keep an eye out for Snape and Harry. You too, Ron." she said, coming back to her bossy tone. They both scowled at her.
"And may I ask what you're going to do?" Ron said. Hermione shook off the scowl and grinned.
"I'm going to stun the Death Eaters if needed. I can't do all of them suddenly; they'd catch on. So just when someone's in imediate danger." she rubbed her hands together and held out her wand.
"Hey, look! An Auror is going to attack!" Ron said franticly, pointing to one who's wand tip was emitting red crackling sparks. The Death Eater on the opposite end was now getting ready to fire a spell. A second later all thirty-five wizards were shouting or screaming. Spells, hexes, and curses were flying around like Filibuster's Fireworks, lighting up the area like a dance floor, with the fog adding a nice mist affect. It would have been very enjoyable, if those lights weren't deadly or the situation wasn't so frightning.
After five minutes the lights were fewer, and the fog lighter. Hermione could see that there where five Aurors down, and three Death Eaters. Hermione was holding out her wand, trying to decide who she should stun. Suddenly Hermione gave a shout.
"Professor Lupin! Stupefy!" she shouted. Ron and Draco watched as the curse traced it's way through the crowd and stun a Death Eater who was advancing on, no doubt about it, Lupin. Lupin whipped around as the Death Eater fell to the ground at his side. Lupin looked up, searching, wondering who had time to watch out for him and themselves.
Then it was Draco's time to shout.
"There he is! It's Snape! He's got Harry, I think..." Draco pointed to the other side of the clearing, far away from the battle. A shadowed figure had run out from behind a tree, and was carrying something.Draco started to climb down the tree, Ron and Hermione behind him. The quickly dropped from branch to branch, Draco making sure he didn't lose the sight of Snape. They fell to the bottom and began to run as fast as they could toword him, without letting the Indivisability Cloak slip.
They sped up as they watched Snape run faster into the woods. He was running past the battle, behind the trees of course, and in the direction opposite of where the trio had arrived a while earlier. Hermione looked back: no one had saw him.
"Where is he going?" Draco breathed, as they all ran faster to catch up with Snape. Abruptably, the trees thickened, and they where soon jumping over logs and puddles. As the trees began to lessen once again, Draco gasped and started to go slower, pulling up the right sleeve of his robe. Ron and Hermione where going to tell him off, but stopped when they saw his arm. Right above the elbow was a glowing skull, with a serpent.
The Dark Mark
Draco moaned loudly and stopped running. He clapped a hand to the Dark Mark, and started running in another direction. Ron and Hermione watched him run through the trees away from them. Hermione was going to shout to him but decided against it. She grabbed Ron's wrist and ran off after Snape again. Harry was who was important right now.
A.N: Sorry if that might not have been very good. The Draco thing will be explained in future chapters, but not the next one. He DID have a good reason to run off however. (well, kinda) Oh! And please go read my new story, Tears-it's also a Harry Potter fic. Thanks again to Pathetic Invader and Baasheep. Go read their stories, too!