Lyrics by Rascal Flatts
Hold On Hermione
Harry held tight to Hermione, his legs tingling from the weight of her body. He had been tearing himself apart, knowing that all of this was his fault. Hermione would never been targeted if she hadn't been one of his best friends.
Harry felt her shivering against him, and he leaned down to whisper in her ear, "We're almost there."
Hermione nodded against his shoulder. She had barley anything covering her skin and was pressing herself against Harry's warmth insistently. The wind had dried her tears and her eyes felt itchy and uncomfortable.
Ten minutes passed by as they rode through he moonlight.
"She looks horribly white," Ginny thought to herself as she stared at Hermione's frail body.
"She isn't looking too good," Ron said aloud just as the same thought crossed Ginny's mind.
"Harry, is she all right?" Ginny asked, voicing her concern.
Harry looked down at the girl in his arms. Her eyes were hanging half closed, and her breath was becoming shallow against his neck.
"We need to hurry, we've got to get her to the hospital wing," Harry said as he clutched her tighter to his body.
Twenty minutes passed before Ron spoke again, "Look, there's the castle!" he shouted aloud as Hogwarts came into view.
"Hermione, we're here!" Harry said to Hermione. He looked down at her again, but her eyes were closed all the way. His heart sped up and he put an extra jolt into the speed of his broom when he realized that he could no longer feel her warm breath on his neck. "No, Hermione!" he cried out. "Hermione, hold on, we're home!"
"I love her," Draco repeated.
"What did you just say?"
"You heard me," Draco replied with a cold stare. He walked further into the room away from the door, and faced his father.
They glared at each other, Lucius at a loss for words. Draco's heart was ramming in his chest as he realized that he hadn't said that only for the reaction he'd get from his father. He had meant those three little words with every inch of his soul.
The tension arcing between the father and son could have been cut with a knife, and Draco had no idea how to act next. He just hoped that Potter and the Weasley's had rescued Hermione by now.
"I love her and there is nothing you can do to prevent that," Draco said, standing still.
"You—you actually," Lucius broke off with a cold laugh.
Suddenly, Lucius averted his glare and sucked in a large amount of air so that his chest puffed out. He then took several steps towards Draco and slapped him hard across the face with his leather clad palm.
Draco's head jerked with the blow and he couldn't help the hand that flew to his face on instinct. Draco was now staring at the ground.
Five minutes passed before Lucius spoke. "How could you?" he gritted out. He had taken one step away from Draco, and had his nose wrinkled, examining his son as he would a worthless Mudblood.
Draco didn't respond.
The question hung in the air, and Draco wasn't sure if he should retort or not. The staring was wasting all the time he needed.
The silence was ended when a loud knock rattled the door. Lucius swept over to answer.
"WHAT?" he bellowed to the hallway.
"Lucius," Macnair said, "Amycus just arrived and told us there was a disturbance in the West Wing foyer," he said with Amycus standing right beside him.
"What do you mean a disturbance?" Lucius said, looking directly at Amycus as he stepped out into the hallway to look around at a group of men. "And what are you all just standing around for? You're supposed to be keeping guard for Potter!"
The Death Eaters murmured excuses and dispersed accordingly.
Draco took his chance to get away while his father was preoccupied in the hall. He inched his way to the secret passageway and slid into it as noiselessly as possible. He breathed a loud sigh of relief as he heard his father still distantly shouting at the men in the hallway.
Macnair had said there had been a disturbance and he assumed that Tish was responsible for that; he just hoped that Potter, the Weasley's, and Hermione were okay and escaping without difficulty.
When he made it to the West Wing Den, he clambered out of the tunnel and wiped his sweaty forehead. He muttered his command so that Tish would appear by his side.
"Master Draco!" she squeaked.
"Tish, are they okay? The people I was with earlier, did they get back safely? Did they have a girl with them? Not the one with red hair, but with brown hair?"
"Yes sirs, they did!"
Draco felt his shoulders fall.
"Tish sees the girl you is bringing to the Manor before, the one with the curly brown hair, the one who is taking a bath!"
"Thank Merlin," he sighed.
"Master's friends is already gone!" Tish said with a low bow.
"Thank you, now will you go and check the corridor for me?"
Tish gave a nod and left. They had made it; they were going to be alright! Potter and the others were safe, but more importantly, Hermione was safe.
"There are no standing ones," Tish said suddenly by his side.
"What?"
"There is a man on the ground, sirs."
Draco wrinkled his brow with confusion. He strode to the door and opened it faintly, and Tish had been right. There was a man on the ground.
Draco looked back and forth several times before stepping out into the hallway with his wand at the ready.
The man was obviously a Death Eater and Draco could tell that he had been stunned. "Attaboy Potter," he thought to himself. He ran down the hall and opened the door to his room.
All seemed calm, and he saw that his invisibility cloak had made it back to his sofa. The brooms were gone, save for his, so he shoved his wand back into his pocket and prepared to leave. Mounting his broom, he kicked off into the night sky. His adrenaline accelerated as he realized they had just stolen the Death Eaters' "Live Bait" right under their noses.
"I'm coming, Hermione," he said to the night as he sped through the misty air on his broomstick.
"MADAME POMFREY!" Harry shouted as he, Ron, and Ginny ran to the hospital wing. His voice echoed through the hall, and the doors to the infirmary opened at his shout.
"Keep it down, it's the middle of the ni—" Madame Pomfrey began but broke off as she saw Hermione in Harry's arms.
"Goodness me!" she yelped as she allowed them into the room. "Hurry, put her over there!"
Harry put Hermione down on the first available bed and cried, "She's not breathing!"
"OUT! ALL OF YOU!" she shouted as she shooed them away from the bed.
"NO!" they all protested.
"Please, just let us stay into we know she'll be okay!" Ginny cried to the older witch.
Madam Pomfrey was muttering charm after charm, and seemed to be ignoring them as they held their breath behind her.
Ginny was crying steadily as she ran into Harry's arms. He wrapped his arms around her as his eyes were fixed on Hermione's form.
"She-she can't be—" Ginny sobbed into Harry's dress robes. "She just can't!"
Ron began to pace behind Harry and Ginny and the wing was silent except for Madam Pomfrey's hushed voice and the scuff of Ron's shoes.
"Please, please, please, please," Ginny chanted to herself as tears poured from her eyes onto Harry's chest.
Suddenly, they heard Madam Pomfrey say, "Oh, thank God!"
"What happened?" Ron said eagerly.
"Is she okay?" Harry asked at the same time, as Ginny turned around to face Hermione's bed.
Madam Pomfrey stood up to face them. "Miss Granger is breathing again," she said softly. "But, the damage looks severe. She has lost a lot of blood, I need to start her on treatment right away," she said as she rushed past them to a cabinet of potions.
"You three need to leave," she said as she made her way back with an armful of bottles. "You do not need to see this."
"We aren't leaving!" Ron said suddenly.
"Mr. Weasley, do not make me repeat myself!" she said as she pointed a finger towards the door. "I need to take care of her!"
Harry nodded at the witch, and felt reassured as he caught sight of Hermione's chest rising and falling.
"Come on," Harry whispered to Ron and Ginny. He pulled Ginny along with him, and Ron followed as he walked backwards, his eyes still on Hermione.
Madam Pomfrey shut the door with a flick of her wand and Harry, Ron, and Ginny were left staring at the tall wooden doors.
"What now?" Ginny said as she pulled away from Harry.
Ron looked to Harry, sniffing loudly.
Harry thought for a moment. "I think that Dumbledore needs to know about this," he said matter-of-factly. "Hermione is being taken care of—"
"Why don't we wait in her common room for Malfoy?" Ginny suggested. "You can tell Dumbledore after Malfoy returns."
"If Malfoy returns," Harry corrected her.
Ginny jerked her eyes to his, "You mean—you think he wont come back?"
"I hope he does, but how should I know? He is outnumbered by Death Eaters, and unless he can apparate, which I don't think he can, how on earth is he going to escape?" Harry said to Ron and Ginny.
"Well, there isn't much we can do," Ron said as they began to walk down the corridor.
"All we can do is wait," Ginny said softly. "I remember Hermione's password from earlier, lets go and wait in her common room."
Ron and Harry nodded, and the three of them made their way to the Head quarters.
Draco was traveling over the forbidden forest and could now make out castle lights in the distance.
He assumed that Potter and the Weasleys would go with Hermione back to their common room, so he touched down near the Astronomy Tower and ran down the steps towards his dormitory.
"Amoureux," he said to the portrait, and it gave way.
Draco stepped into the room to find Ron standing by a window with his hands on his hips, and Ginny and Harry sitting on the couch by the fire…but where was Hermione?
"Malfoy!" Ginny exclaimed as they all turned when they heard the portrait open. She stood up, followed by Harry and they walked towards him.
"Where's Hermione?" Draco asked with a frown on his face.
Ginny looked to the ground, and let a few moments pass before she spoke, "Malfoy, she's—well, she's in the hospital wing," Ginny finished when she couldn't elaborate.
"We were run out by Pomfrey," Ron muttered.
"Malfoy, she's going to be all right," Harry said as he saw his face fall.
"What happened to her?" Draco asked as he motioned for them to sit.
Ginny looked at Harry, "Well, remember when I told you that they hit her head?"
"Yes," Draco answered.
"Well, she lost a lot of blood. When we got to her, her hands were bound, and she said she thought that her arm was broken," Ginny explained.
"Then, on the way back to Hogwarts, she—she stopped breathing," Harry said as he caught Draco's horrified expression. "But we raced her to the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey got her breathing again."
"And then the old bat kicked us out," Ron repeated.
"And now here we are. We decided to wait for you, so we could tell you that she's going to be okay," Ginny said.
Draco nodded and leaned back into the couch. He then proceeded to ask them how everything went in the tunnel.
"It didn't take us long before we reached her," Harry told him. "She was conscious when we found her, but then she fainted in Ginny's arms."
"Then we heard you and Lucius' voice from the ceiling," Ron added, "So we knew that you were still distracting him and that we needed to hurry."
"So we lifted her body with a spell and made our way back—" Ginny started but was cut off by Draco's hand.
"Wait, you heard our voices?" Draco asked, his pulse increasing.
They all nodded.
Draco's mouth fell open. "And…you said that Hermione was conscious when you found her?"
They nodded again.
"Bloody hell," Draco muttered under his breath.
"What is it?" Ginny asked with concern on her face.
"Nothing," Draco whispered. If she had been conscious, and if she heard his voice…that meant she heard his confession. She knew that he had fallen in love with her….
"Anyways," Harry continued, "We had your house elf clear the hall, and then we all got under the invisibility cloak. But when we got out in the hall, the men ran from around the corner."
"See? Good thing you had my cloak with you," Draco said.
Harry nodded. "They started talking, and that's when Hermione became conscious again and she started talking. We stopped dead still, but the men heard her voice so one of them left to inform your father of that, and of the noise the house elf made."
"And thank Merlin he did, that is how I got away. When he knocked on the door, it drew Lucius out into the hallway and I snuck off through the passageway," Draco explained.
"Well, there was still one man in the hallway, and he was walking straight for us, so Ginny stunned him," Harry said.
"Oh so it was the Weaselette who stunned him?" Draco asked, turning his head towards Ginny.
"It was," she said with a small smile. "Then we ran to your room, jumped on our brooms, and the rest is history," she said with a yawn.
"I'm just relieved that Hermione is safe," Draco said as he stood up.
"I wonder how the ball went," Ron suddenly asked.
Draco shrugged his shoulder, "Who cares, I'm sure no one missed us," he said.
"Malfoy, I think that Dumbledore needs to know what happened here tonight," Harry said, standing up beside him.
"Absolutely," Draco agreed. "And while we're at it, I plan on informing him of Pansy's involvement. Maybe that will get her expelled and Hermione won't have to deal with her for the rest of term," Draco said.
"That sounds superb!" Ginny said. "I witnessed everything in the bathroom, so I know for a fact she was involved."
"Yes, that and my father told me that Pansy wrote to him and asked to help him. She stole a letter that was meant for me. If we can interrogate her with Dumbledore and prove that the letter is in her possession, than that would prove her guiltiness."
"That bitch needs to be expelled," Ron said, "for Hermione's safety," he added.
"I think we should wait until tomorrow though, it's too late now," Ginny said.
"We'll do it tomorrow morning," Draco suggested.
They all nodded in agreement, and got up to leave.
"Hey," Draco said to Harry before he'd completely left the room, "Thank you for your help."
"No Malfoy—Draco, thank you," Harry said as he turned to leave.
