Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. All credit must be given to J.K.

The Cradle Will Fall

Chapter 13

Hermione screamed with all her might, somehow believing the louder she screamed, the better her chances of survival. Her irrational thinking did nothing though, and within seconds an unusually enormous troll had caught her in its callus hands.

Harry instinctively flailed his arms as he fell, shouting in fear when he realized how very large the trolls were. The troll he had encountered in first year had been miniscule compared to these. They were like super trolls. Giant trolls. Disgusting.

Harry was caught by a large, dominant looking troll, who immediately tightened its hand around him. The several trolls left empty handed were now shoving and battering the two holding Hermione and Harry. Harry quickly wiggled his arms free when he noticed Hermione's eyes starting to droop and body become limper by the second.

He saw his opportunity to escape when the troll holding him was suddenly shoved back towards a few trees. Harry stretched his arms up and managed to grab hold of a branch. The troll—now extremely wound in fighting—released Harry from his grasp and lunged towards the nearest troll.

Harry watched with sweaty hands as the troll violently hit another troll, the troll holding Hermione. He knew what was coming next, and cringed when the troll being beaten allowed Hermione to slip from his hand. She hit the ground with a loud thump and didn't move.

"Hermione." Harry squeezed his eyes shut tight before making up his mind. Slowly, he allowed his hands to slip off the branch, hitting the ground with a 'CRACK.' Harry bit down on his lip to keep from shouting in pain. The rowdy crowd of trolls was becoming louder, and their shoving became more violent, to the point where they were nearly stomping on Hermione. Without hesitating, Harry pushed himself off the ground and limped quickly over to her.

She stared up at him with a blank face, half-conscious and completely unaware of what was happening around them..

"Hermione, we'll be crushed." He shook her, trying to snap her out of her state. If he could carry her he would, but his leg refused. Harry thought of one way to rouse her, but hesitated, worried he would hurt her. A troll from the mob stumbled forward towards them, and his giant foot was within inches of crushing them both. 'Rather be in pain than dead.' He dug his fingers deep into Hermione's bruised side without hesitation. Hermione's eyes flew open as she gasped for air, the pain in her side so immense she was awoken from her trance.

"Hurry." Harry held on to her for support as they stumbled their way off the large troll field. Harry looked back as they were fleeing to find one troll who had noticed them. Harry choked in fear when he realized it was quickly pursuing them. He tried his best to move quicker with his hurt leg, but Hermione was still dizzy, so neither could bring themselves to speed their pace. For some reason, though, the troll was not able to leave the area it was in. Probably a magical barricade.

They eventually made it off the extremely large Malfoy property. How long it took they'll never remember. Long enough. Hermione gripped Harry's side tighter as she felt him start to collapse. She eyed the dirt road that started at the Manor and weaved its way into the dark. It had to lead somewhere, but neither had the energy to follow it.

"I'm going to faint." Harry closed his eyes and dug his nails deep into Hermione's back, causing her to wince. She understood. They couldn't go any further tonight. They'd have to hide.

Harry opened his eyes momentarily and pointed to the field of trees to the right. "There." They worked their way off the road and made their way over to a clump of bushes behind a large tree.

"We won't be seen from here." Hermione said as she allowed Harry collapse to the ground. He didn't hear her, though, for he was fast asleep. Hermione crawled down behind the bushes as well and set her head on Harry's chest, soon falling asleep as Harry did.

The Gryffindor common room was nearly empty, but a few seventh years still remained, along with one sixth year.

"I'm starting to worry about them. I had lunch with Hermione and Harry wasn't there. Harry showed up to DADA and Hermione wasn't there! Harry and I weren't too worried, figuring she was off somewhere with Danny or something." Ron bit on his thumb nail before continuing. "Towards the end of class Harry realized he didn't have his wand. Said he forgot it somewhere. When class ended Harry left to go get it and I haven't seen him since." Ron said before returning to biting his nails. He knew he shouldn't worry so much about Hermione and Harry, but he had a tendency to imagine the worst.

Ginny tried to give him a comforting smile. It didn't help. "Ah, Ron. I'm sure they'll show up eventually. And when they do, they'll have a really good explanation. You'll see." She gave him a slap on the back before returning to her spot by the fireplace.

"Maybe," started Seamus as Lavender shook her head at him, "maybe they're just off somewhere having sex. Hermione has her own chamber." Seamus nodded to himself matter-of-factly, as if he knew all along. Lavender slapped Seamus' arm.

"I don't know," Lavender hesitated, "Mandy Brocklehurst tells me Harry was having lunch with her. This morning's snow had melted all around the lake, leaving the place very muddy and completely unromantic." The group waited impatiently for the point of the latter sentence. "Well, anyway! I think Harry was bothered by the mud or something because he absolutely blew Mandy off near the end of lunch. Very rude."

Seamus shrugged his shoulders as he concentrated on his thoughts. "Ok, so that explains where Harry was during lunch. And if he left Mandy by the lake, maybe that's where he left his wand. So after DADA today, he probably headed over to the lake. Then we don't know."

"What about Hermione, though? Where was she?" Ron started chewing the nails on his other hand.

"What about Hermione? For all we know, she could be in her private chamber as we speak, doing her homework and trying to get Danny to sleep." Ginny tried providing a logical explanation. The group nodded and agreed Hermione was not a major concern at the moment.

"We can't do much," Ginny said, "and we don't know for sure that Harry's missing. All we can do is wait and see. Ron, if he doesn't show up to your first class tomorrow, we'll go to Dumbledore." They all nodded in agreement, some less worried than others, and headed to their dormitories.