Draco woke up when rustling outside the tent caught his attention.
He sat up to get a better listen. Footsteps. More than a few.
He let out a laugh.
Finally.
"Hey! In here," he called loudly.
Hermione jumped, startled awake at his shout.
Her hand dove into her pillow as she instinctively grabbed her wand in fright. Her eyes rapidly shifting around the tent.
When she didn't immediately see anything out of the ordinary she got angry for being awoken.
"Malfoy! What are you shouting ab-"
Her sentence halted as a perplexed and filthy looking man poked his head through the tent's entrance.
"Malfoy?" The man repeated.
"Stupify!" Cried Hermione in surprise.
Red light shot from her wand and hit the man in the head, effectively propelling him straight out of the tent. Hermione pushed off the bed and started for the tent entrance.
"Not even Saint Potter can save you now," called Malfoy from his spot on the bed.
She stopped. So, it was his people. She did a one-eighty and ran to him.
"Wait-" he started, but she had already untied the rope around his feet and the leash from the bed.
She hulled him to his feet.
"Walk," she stated.
"Don't be daft Granger, you're surrounded."
"You don't know that," she said.
He felt her wand push against his shoulder blade and a hand around one of his wrists; which were still tied together behind his back.
"Your funeral," he said smugly as she ushered him to the tent entrance.
"Ok," she said with a shaky breath once they reached the tent opening, "stick your head out."
His eyebrows shot into his hairline, "have you gone mental?"
"Just do it," she hissed.
"No, they'll blow my head off thinking it's you."
"I can only dream," she responded darkly.
With a little shove, she forced the crown of his head to poke out of the tent. Her heart fluttered as she waited for something to happen.
"Mister Malfoy, are you alright?" Sounded a voice from somewhere to the left.
"Be a lot better once you blundering idiots get me out of here," she heard him answer with an annoyed tone. "Took you long enough."
"Relax mudblood," someone sinisterly called from the front, "we're here for Potter".
They thought Harry was here.
"And me of course," added Malfoy.
Hermione's spirits lifted a little. Harry had escaped. Chances are Ron had too.
"Don't bother with another attempt at apparition," said the man in front. "We've disabled it for the entire area."
Ok, so plan A was gone.
She pushed Malfoy all the way out of the tent so she could peek a look at her situation, careful not to poke her head out.
"That's it," cooed the man from the left.
They weren't men from the ministry. Nor were they snatchers. They adorned death eater cloaks. She counted three of them, but she had no idea how many were around the tent in total. She quickly analyzed the situation. She couldn't do this alone.
"What are you planning to do with us?" she asked, slowly pulling Malfoy back towards her until he was in the tent entrance again, his back inside while the death eaters still had a good look at his front.
"We don't need you. Give us Potter and you and your friends may go free," the man in front snickered.
"Potter's not here," she felt Malfoy grumble to them.
Her eyes widened in fear. She debated the consequences of her next actions. She might not be able to forgive herself. Malfoy never would, she was sure. She couldn't think of a plan C and she needed to act now. Having never before preformed the spell herself, she prayed Dumbledore would help her pull it off.
With a shaky hand, she dragged her wand to the middle of Malfoy's back.
He turned his head towards her, trying to see what she was doing.
She took a couple of quick breaths, reminded herself it was her only possibility of escape and whispered, with the most feeling she could muster,
"Imperio."
Malfoy inhaled deeply as the spell spread from his back to his head. Against his will, he turned his head back to the death eaters and spoke, "he's out hunting with Weasley and the others. Granger had the honor of keeping guard."
"How many are they?" asked the man on the left.
"About 6 in total," she heard Malfoy carry out her will.
"It would be best to take them by surprise," said a man to the right.
She watched through the crack as the man on the left nodded a signal. Footsteps from around the tent retreated into the forest. The three men in front stayed put.
"Now, miss…Granger, is it," started the man on the left. "Before soon, your friends will have been round up and Harry Potter will be on his way to see the dark Lord. Speaking in your interest, it would be best to hand us over the Malfoy boy before we result in doing it ourselves."
"Promise you'll let me go?" Asked Hermione as she untied Malfoy's hands.
"I give you my word."
She sneered; his faux sincerity deserved an award.
"Alright."
She stepped away from Draco and quietly made her way to the right corner of the tent.
Using her wand, she silently cut the fabric to about the length of her thumb. Lifting the flap, she stuck the tip of her wand through it, pointing it to the third death eater.
By her will, Malfoy walked over to the death eater on the left.
"Your father will be most pleased we've returned you to him," Hermione heard him say, "I've heard through the grape vine he was quite humiliated by your performance during the last raid."
Hermione watched as the man she was looking at pulled out his wand and pointed it to the tent.
"Pity," said the man from the front of the tent. "She was a pretty thing."
She set her plan into action and fired a stupefy to the man in front of her, who proceeded to hit a tree behind him. A rather loud noise was muffled as the tent absorbed the attack of retaliation from one of the other two, her wards holding. She ran back to the front and looked out the crack of the entrance to the man on the left. He was angry, arm outstretched and wand pointing to the tent.
Perfect.
On cue, Malfoy dove for the wand of the man on the left, successfully ripping it out of his hand and stupefying him with it.
She cast a shield charm in front of her and ran out.
The surprise attack took the middle man off guard and she easily knocked him out.
She turned back to see Malfoy hexing a fourth man she hadn't seen near the back.
With all visible death eaters down, she ran.
She needed to gain some distance from the others before they returned, silently pleading she wouldn't run into them.
What's more, she didn't know how many of them they were, so if she did run into them, she might need back up.
She willed Malfoy to follow her.
He caught up to her relatively quickly and she made a mental note not to use "run away" from him as a plan should she ever need to escape him.
She ran until she was winded and came to a stop, Malfoy right beside her. She tried to apparate, but the spell seemingly covered a very wide area of the forest.
Keeping hold over Malfoy's conscience was mentally and physically draining her. It was a real miracle she had pulled off. Still, she propelled her legs forward.
They ran for what seemed hours and she could feel it taking a toll on her. It was around noon when her magical reserve just about emptied. There were no other signs of death eaters.
She took Malfoy's wand from him and stuffed it into her bag, tied at her waist.
She pointed her own wand to him and silenced him.
This was going to be an ordeal she was not ready to deal with.
She'd heard of wizards losing their mind when the imperius curse was poorly casted. She hoped to God she didn't have a brain dead Malfoy.
She hesitated, partly in fear of his reaction, partly in fear of his lack thereof.
As she felt the last of her magic pour out from her, she lifted the imperius curse.
Author's note: Hi guys! Sorry this one took a bit longer, next one shouldn't be so long of a wait ;).