With Darkness There'll Be Light
Sixteen - Running Out of Time
"They haven't killed me," Hermione sneered, her voice not even hers anymore. That bossy, know-it-all, sweet tone that had once come from her mouth was no longer. Her voice was cold, hard and laced with venom that would make any Slytherin proud. "I'm right here." She grinned at them, baring her teeth.
Draco, still on his stretcher, glanced at Harry and tried to communicate telepathically some sort of game plan. Neither Harry nor Draco's forte was planning.
"Now," she said crisply, brushing her hands together and sighing happily. "If you'll follow me." She took a step down, back to where they'd come from.
"I thought you were going to kill me," Draco said, his voice weak. His face was contorted in pain, Harry could tell that he hurt and that Draco would not be much help in a battle. Specifically a battle involving, not wand skill, but bare hands.
Hermione watched him for a second, curiously. She cocked her head to the side and flipped stray hair from her face. "Well, I was thinking that would be fun…but it might be better if I just tied you up and had my way with you."
If Draco hadn't been in so much pain he might have grinned, "Well, if you weren't the Anti-Christ, I might say 'Please, do tie me up and have your way with me.' but seeing as how you're turned all evil…actually, evil is hot. No, no, Draco stay on track." He looked up at her, his gray eyes burning holes through her brown ones and he became serious. "I don't really want anything to do with you now. I turned from the Dark Side years ago. I'm not going back. Not even for you."
Hermione's eyes narrowed, "You'll rethink that before the torturing is over."
"Torturing? Why is there torture involved? Why not a nice marshmellow roast over an open fire?" Draco mocked.
"It's chestnuts on an open fire, you nitwit," she replied frigidly, "And torture is on the menu, not treats."
"Pity," he stated, shaking his head in sarcastic sadness, "Would have been nice in front of an open fire."
Hermione shook her head at him, "Stop stalling. Let's go. Potter, wheel him down here."
Harry was about to point out that there were no wheels on the stretcher, but didn't feel up for an argument. Plus, he was still in shock about her being an ice queen all of a sudden.
"So," said Draco conversationally, as he winked at Harry and watched Hermione's figure sashay into a room off the main corridor. The room was lit with torches on the wall, but it gave very little light. This area, like the entire structure, was made of stone and it was very cold; just like a dungeon. "Tell me, Hermione, when did you become all evil? Was it a sudden dawning like, 'Oh! I think I'll join the Dark Lord today!' or was it more of a long, drawn out process?"
Hermione sighed heavily and waved her hand, making the stretcher disappear. Draco fell to the ground, landing directly on his left leg which crumpled beneath him and a sickening crack filled the silence of the room. Draco stood up with the help of Harry and cursed wildly. "My arm bloody hurts, and NOW thanks to YOU, my leg is bloody broken," he looked at Harry, "Can't you do SOMETHING? I can't be much help to you like this." He glanced down at his leg which was sprawled in an odd direction with blood stains on the knee of his pants.
The most Harry could do was hold Draco up. He was really quite useless; sad how shock does that to people.
Pointing her wand at Draco's tattered leg, she opened her mouth and cleared her throat.
"Don't kill him yet," Harry begged helplessly, "Please don't do it yet."
Hermione looked at him condescendingly. "I'm not going to," she remarked harshly. "Now shut up." She cleared her throat again and then muttered, "Bracchialis repareo."
With a ripping sound, like the tearing of a piece of paper, Draco righted himself and bounced up and down a bit on the once broken ligament. "Wow. Thanks." He looked up at her, "Now tell me who you are and what you've done with Hermione."
*
"Where the hell are they!?" Fred snarled, looking out into the eerie darkness that surrounded the remainder of the Fellowship. They were all crouched tiredly around Justin's body, looking very weary with sorrow. The moon cast very little light down on them and they were surrounded by trees on all sides. Fred was looking over the top of a very large bush while the others sat numbly on the cold ground.
Justin's eyes looked up into the sky, unmoving. The light blue reflected the stars in the sky. Seamus' lip trembled. "There isn't anything we can do with him, is there?"
"We could prop him up," George suggested lightly, "But it won't do much good." He looked at his younger brother. "Have you ever seen a product of the Dementor's Kiss before?"
Ron shook his head, swallowing hard. "No. And I wasn't keen to either, now you mention it."
Seamus sniffed, "What are we going to do?"
Ginny set a light hand on his shoulder, "All we can do is wait."
Ron nodded at his sister, "How are you feeling?"
"Weak," she replied, her cracked lips forming a very slim smile. "If I pass out again, which I will, just revive me again, okay?"
"Yeah," Ron answered stiffly, "Sure."
The Weasley brothers had carried Ginny out of the establishment about an hour earlier and she'd regained consciousness when Fred had performed a spell on her that had, miraculously, woken her up. She'd fallen back into sleep (or a coma, none of them were doctors and therefore couldn't tell) and had been awoken once more. She was very weak and trembling and it was imperative they get her to a MediWizard pronto.
They just couldn't do it yet, because they had to wait for the rest of their group.
Ron began wondering what was keeping them, but in the very back of his mind he knew.
As the clock ticked on, the fellowship waited…with not much hope in their hearts.
"What if they've been captured?" Seamus ventured, an hour and forty five minutes into their long wait in the darkness. "Again."
"By who?" Ron asked, "It's impossible. There was no one left."
"That we knew of," George pointed out. "One of us should go in there…or…or call them on the Wireless."
"The wireless won't work inside there. Or rather, it won't work from outside to inside. The walls are spelled, I think. It prevents radio waves from entering the building. Pretty smart, really." Fred sighed heavily. "There's nothing we can do. Maybe we should go back to Sirius's cave." He paused. "Wait a second."
Seamus, George, Ginny and Ron all looked up in surprise. Maybe he'd come up with a plan.
Fred looked exasperated, "Where is the backup we called for hours ago? Where the hell is the Ministry?"
Ginny gulped, "Oh God."
"What? Ginny, what is it?" Ron asked frantically, scurrying to sit beside her and hold her head up as it threatened to fall back.
"I feel really ill," she said and then jumped up and rushed through the trees, Ron following her.
The boys could hear her being sick for over ten minutes and could hear Ron's soothing voice as he presumably held her hair back and tried to comfort her.
George turned to Seamus and Fred. "We need to get her somewhere safe. We can't wait any longer. They'll have to fend for themselves. I'll call for more back up."
Seamus nodded grimly and began to help Fred heave Justin off the ground. Justin's head lolled around as it were unattached to his body.
Ron, carrying a very green Ginny (with her eyes closed), emerged through the trees in time to see Seamus and Fred pulling Justin away from the scene. Justin was propped up between them, as they couldn't use any magic to lift him. Ron waited while George called for more backup and then the three of them left the clearing.
Ron glanced back as he, Ginny and George caught up with the rest of their group. "I hope you're okay, Harry," he mumbled, allowing George to take Ginny from him for a little bit.
"They'll be okay, Ron," said George reassuringly, "I promise."
But both of them knew that it was only speculation…and speculations don't save lives.
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A/N: Next chapter we find out what the hell is up with Hermione…and we also get a full report on Justin's condition.