The echoing of the gong rang through Hermione's ears as she leaped from her platform and took off down the pitch with Draco at her side. Keeping her eyes trained on the large corridor ahead, Hermione's breath became shallow and rapid as she tried to speed up her pace to keep up with her partner. The closer they ran to the corridor, the more she could see down its dark hall.
At the very end, a dim light radiated across rows and rows upon silver shelves practically spilling over with everything they needed to survive: food, containers of water, weapons, medicine, extra clothing, fire starters. Draco yelled something to her but she didn't hear. Instead, she ran with all her might past the end of the silvery wall.
Hermione and Draco weren't the only ones to have reached the end of the barrier. The boy tribute from Ireland, who she recognized as Aidan Lynch, the ex-captain of the Kenmare Kestrels from Ron's quidditch magazines, pushed past her knocking down the boy from Norway. The girls from Italy and Denmark tripped over one another resulting in an entire shelf falling to the ground. The wave of tributes continued to come as they wrestled through, almost tripping over each other in the process of trying to get to the supplies first.
Hermione barely missed an elbow to the face as she bent down and grabbed an orange backpack. Tripping over herself, she scrambled to her feet and threw the bag of supplies over her shoulder. Not even bothering to look inside to see what loot she had managed to grab, she frantically looked around for Draco. Instead a silver weaponry caught her eye.
A smooth bow and sheath of arrows laid sprawled out on the floor underneath the fallen shelving.
Hermione practically dove for the weaponry. Gripping the bow and black bag of arrows, Hermione was suddenly yanked back by the hair and fell to the stone floor with a grunt of pain. Apparently the girl from Spain had her eye on it, too. She quickly rolled out of the way before the knife aiming for her stomach struck its target.
Her forearm didn't manage so well.
Ignoring the searing pain running through her veins, Hermione dodged the first punch that came her way as the girl continued to pursue her for her new weapon. The second time she wasn't so lucky.
Her fist met with Hermione's eye knocking her back into one of the shelving units. Knives and canteens of water clattered to the ground, sending what was left of the available supplies in every direction. She tried to sit up as the girl began to take another step towards her, but her vision was blurry and everything seemed to faze in and out. Looking up at her attacker, Hermione was about to brace herself for another blow to her stomach or face, only to find her attacker had retreated back a few steps. The girl scowled in disgust as her partnering tribute called for her to hurry up, leaving the other twenty tributes and a now bloodied Hermione to fend for themselves.
Suddenly, a firm grip latched onto her shoulder and yanked her up towards the end of the corridor. Out of pure reflex, Hermione kicked the person with all her might sending them sprawling to the floor.
"Merlin, Granger!" the blonde screamed, bending down to clutch his shin. "What was that for?"
Hermione winced as she realized it had been Draco who was trying to lead her back away from all the chaos. Before she could ask if he was okay, he stood up and again and grabbed her by the wrist. They sprinted down the corridor, not far behind the Spanish tributes, leaving the oncoming wave of competitors behind.
Hermione managed to match her pace with Draco's, keeping his long strides and quick footing in check with her own. Nonetheless, he never released or eased his grip from around her wrist. Brushing it off, she had no time to think on the matter as they came to an abrupt halt.
Breathing heavy to try and regain her breath, Hermione took in what stood before her.
What seemed to be a twenty foot high hedge with a single gap awaited the end of the corridor, the clear midnight sky barely visible over it's towering wall.
Just how long had they been out for?
The two carefully walked closer, and as they did, Hermione noticed something about the wall; it wasn't rock, but made of an array of bushes.
"A maze," Hermione whispered, barely audible over the howling wind atop the sides. "It's a maze." Hermione no longer felt uncomfortable with Draco holding onto her. If he hadn't, she was sure she would have fainted.
From her past experiences, especially when it came to the encounter her best friend had gone through coming back from the final task of the Triwizard Tournament, Hermione had never been keen on re-entering what seemed to be the never-ending walls of bushes closing in on her with each turn she took. The fact she was now in a tournament herself in a fight to the death didn't help her situation either.
An eerie mist seemed to below out of its sides, accompanied by towering shadows. Hermione was in absolute awe as she stood before it, and it was only when she heard a shout behind her did she snap out of it and gently pull on Draco. They couldn't stop here and wait for the rest to catch up.
He pulled his gaze away from the entrance and looked down at her, his eyes shielded and a bit cold, no doubt to hide the worry or fear she knew he now tried to hide all-too-well. Hermione gave him a reassuring tug as her heart threatened to leap from her chest, and before she could think of what she was doing, she led him inside. As soon as both their feet touched the gravely path, the bushes suddenly caved in behind them, sealing off the entrance.
Everything was quiet.
Hermione slowly turned to gaze into the maze ahead of them. The mist was so thick she couldn't see more than a few feet ahead of her. Not wanting to wait around by the entrance in case it re-opened for the other tributes, Hermione began to make her way slowly into the maze. Draco followed in her footsteps, glancing behind them every so often to see if anyone was following.
"Did you get anything good?" Hermione asked as they reached a fork in the maze. Although it had only been the start of the competition, her throat was already parched, her open wound to her forearm was starting to sting, she was sure the blow to her eye was starting to swell, and her stomach growled in adamant hunger.
Sliding the bag off her arm when he didn't reply, she turned and asked, "If you wouldn't mind standing by yourself for just a minute, could you let go of my wrist, Malfoy?"
He quickly let go and turned away, the tips of his ears burning a soft pink as he muttered something under his breath.
Hermione held back a smirk as she unzipped the orange backpack and rifled through the contents, naming them off as she set them aside. "Canteen of water, rope, two pieces of cloth and a heat-absorbent sleeping bag." Picking up the canteen, she unscrewed the lid and sighed in relief to find it was filled to the brim with water. She took a large gulp before handing it up to Draco.
"Well, I was going for a set of knives before I saw you hit the ground," Draco responded, studying each fork of the maze. "And as my thank you, I was kicked in the shin and almost trampled."
Hermione's cheeks flushed pink at his not-so-subtle reminder. "I didn't mean to," she mumbled, putting the contents of loot back into her bag.
Rising from the floor, she dusted off her pant legs and looked around at their three options: one path was littered with an array of thorns, another had a thicker fog than they were already in, and the last smelled of rotting fresh and hippogriff dung.
"Which way?" she asked. One of her goals in their truce was to build up their trust in one another. His surprised expression answered it all that Draco certainly hadn't expected to be the one to choose between the path of potential life or intimate death. A twinkle she didn't catch flit over his eyes as he turned back to their options.
"The thorns might be our best bet. The fog is too thick to see any attacks coming from ahead or behind, and a creature of some sort probably lives down that way," Draco pointed out, gesturing to the fork farthest to the right. "With how thick the vines look, I doubt anything lives down there and I don't think any of the tributes will be following us. At least not close enough to worry about."
Hermione nodded in agreement and made her way to the left path. Carefully stepping over the thorny roots on the ground and climbing up the sides of the maze, she made her way around the first large knots of sharp vines. Looking back every so often to check she wouldn't leave Draco behind, the two wove their way through the path of vines; neither quite let the other know just how many beats their hearts skipped when a rustle of leaves would sound from behind, or a whistling breeze would sound too familiar to a scream.
...
Coming to the end of the thorny pathway within the end of two hours, Hermione stopped dead in her tracks as a blood curdling scream rang out around them.
Draco fumbled to get a sharp dagger from inside his jacket pocket as Hermione whipped out the bow and cocked an arrow into place. The two were standing back to back, holding their breaths, waiting for their attacker to come. Instead, the sky seemed to erupt into a constellation of green, shadowing the walls of the maze. The Dark Mark appeared in the sky, the wispy green skull opening its mouth to reveal a long snake with huge fangs. Slithering down into the maze, it rose again a moment later, this time carrying two bodies. Hermione couldn't even make out the difference between face to limbs as they were so bloody and battered it looked like a heap of flesh. She wanted to look away, to forget seeing such a horrid sight, but her gaze remained locked on the corpse as the Dark Mark faded away, taking the dead tributes with it.
Hermione let out a ragged breath and finally looked back to the ground. The maze had regained its eerie darkness, and Hermione suddenly felt dizzy. She wasn't sure if it was from the pain racing up her arm and radiating behind her eye, or the thought that this wasn't just a game; it never was to begin with. Reaching out to steady herself, she leaned against the cool branches and tried to calm her breathing. Around her the walls seemed to close, and she was sure it was her imagination. She never liked small spaces, especially when she couldn't see a way out.
She second guessed herself as soon as Draco stood in front of her yelling for her to get moving. Hermione's gaze was fuzzy as he pulled her arm away from the shrinking path, the thorny bushes scratching her skin and ripping through the thin material of her pants. She winced as a large vine caught her ankle and a shooting pain went up her leg. Nonetheless, she didn't stop running.
Hermione followed blindly as they turned their bodies to avoid the sharp bushes. The howling winds blew through the middle of the pathway, sending waves of debris, twigs and leaves right for her mane of bushy hair. Pulling the jacket over her head, Hermione ran down the pathway following the platinum blonde in front of her.
From what seemed like hours of fighting against the harsh breeze and enclosing walls, Draco finally found an off set path, leading back to a dead end. It was better than nothing as the wind kept pushing at their backs. Yanking Hermione off to the side, the two barely registered the large root in front of them until Hermione found herself sprawled out against the ground, a throbbing sensation suddenly filling the base of her ankle. Before either of them could get to their feet, the bushes' branches sealed closed behind them, blocking out their only means of escape.
Hermione frantically sat up and looked around. The maze seemed to groan before all had become absolutely silent, the only sounds the rustling of feet behind her. Draco got to his feet and brushed himself off, looking back to the sealed entrance and then to the dead end ahead of them. Hermione released a long sigh and covered her hands with her face, willing the tears not to come. The pain in her arm and ankle had grown to an agonizing extent, and she was truly afraid to look at the damage that had been done. And she didn't even want to think about the bruising colors that would surely encase her eye the next day.
Carefully removing her jacket while Draco was distracted with finding a way out, she looked down at her forearm to see the blood-soaked area of her shirt. Ripping it open, she saw a large gash with a mixture of dirt and sweat seeping into the wound.
"Great Merlin, Granger, what happened to you?" Draco asked from behind her. Hermione whipped her head around to see him staring down at the cut on her forearm.
She hastily covered it with her jacket and mumbled "It's just a small scratch."
"Small isn't the word I'd use," he remarked, walking over to her and crouching down. He unzipped the backpack and pulled out the canteen of water and the two pieces of white cloth. Popping open the lid, he dunked one of them into the canteen and wrung it out.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion as he held his hand out to take her arm. The slight concern in his eyes for her was replaced by obvious annoyance. "I know I'm not Madame Pomfrey Granger, but I know how to heal a cut," he drawled.
Hermione gave him a skeptical look before slowly extending out her arm and removing the jacket, exposing her hidden wound.
She slowly rolled up her sleeve and clenched her teeth as the wound opened into the cool night air. Draco frowned for a moment before picking up the wet cloth. "This might sting a little."
Before she could retaliate or say otherwise, Draco pressed the wet cloth gently to the edge of the wound. A searing pain like fire in her veins shot up her arm, and she bit into the collar of her jacket to suppress a scream, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. Draco continued to dab at the wound, being careful around the deep edges. He watched with a passive expression as Hermione's face contorted into absolute pain and only when she barely opened her eyes to look down did she see a flicker of concern pass behind his eyes before it was tucked away again.
Seeing that look on her face abruptly brought his cleaning to a halt as the memories of her at his family's household came back in a wave of horror.
He glanced down at her other arm and saw the light outline of the word MUDBLOOD carved into her arm. He couldn't tear his eyes away from it.
Hermione fully opened her eyes to see why he had stopped and saw a million emotions pass through his silver eyes: pain, suffering, fear, regret, and shame were just a few to name. Following his gaze down to her left arm, she saw the scar from Bellatrix Lestrange was on full display. Hermione hastily pulled the sleeve down over her forearm and turned it over. She knew the memories it brought back for him, and truth be told, she was still trying to get over them herself.
This seemed to snap Draco out of his daze as he gently went back to work on her cut. "What happened to you, anyway? I'd assume you didn't get this cut from any bloody hippogriff."
Taken aback he had spoken to her in a means to make conversation, Hermione stared for a moment. "I - uh - think it was the girl from Spain. She put up a bit of a fight to get her hands on the bow."
He gave a small nod and dabbed closer to the opening of the wound. She hissed as the cool water made contact with her blood and swallowed the painful lump rising in her throat. Draco held back a grimace as he took the cloth away to see it soaked the brim in blood. The wound, while they had been walking for at least two hours by now, was still pooling up with fresh blood.
"If there's not much more you can do, I'd suggest we look for a way out sooner rather than later," Hermione bit out over her rising tears. She wiped her face as a few stray ones leaked from her watery eyes, and not wanting to give the Death Eaters the satisfaction of seeing her so broken down, she got to her feet before Draco could respond. A twinge of guilt squeezed her heart at brushing off his small act of what she could have called kindness, but she shook it away when the howling winds returned.
The maze had left its silence and began to groan. The leaves and branches of the bushes at the dead end of the maze parted ways, creating a new path from the one they were on before. The silvery mist was nowhere to be found, prickly vines weren't scattered on the floor, and it didn't smell as if something had died in there.
Hermione took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder. She motioned with her head for Draco to follow and he gave her a hesitant nod. Starting up the pathway, and ignoring the throbbing sensation encasing her ankle, Hermione held her armed bow at the ready. She squinted her eyes in an attempt to see what was before her and blinked twice to make sure she was seeing right. The maze's walls seemed to come to a halt on the edge of a large clearing.
Hermione all but broke into a run practically dragging Draco behind her. She pushed aside her ankle's protests as she came to a halt on the edge of the maze, slightly out of breath. Laid out before them, a vast forest climbing up a number of hills and up the edge of a mountain awaited the next trial. Whatever it was, Hermione was relieved it didn't take place inside the maze. Seeing as they hadn't officially left it yet, she took a deep breath and stepped out. No sooner than she had, the wall a few yards down began to shift, creating an opening in the bushes. Inside, Hermione could hear the clashing of metal and shouts of instruction.
"Zhere!" a male voice shouted. "Gabrielle, get up, now. The maze opened, we can finally get out of zis wretched maze - oh for Merleen's sake, you stupeed girl, GET UP!"
Hermione ran the short distance to the side exit of the maze and froze in place as she heard Gabrielle grunt in pain. Her partner tried to drag her towards the exit by the end of her hair. Glancing around the wall of the maze to see the young girl struggling to get to her feet, Hermione held back a gasp as her partner yanked her up again, this time causing her to shriek in pain.
In all honesty, Hermione wasn't sure what had come over her. Draco was already tugging her by the wrist towards a clearing in the trees, but her feet wouldn't follow. Eyes darting from her screaming partner to the two French tributes fighting their way to get out and to the tree line, the brunette witch shook her head and tried to unjumble her whirling thoughts. The sensible and reasonable side told her to sprint down to the trees and wait until it was safe to make her next move; her Gryffindor courage told her otherwise.
She knew she was being dangerous and reckless to try and save another tribute when the entirety of the Games was made to bring another down. She knew it was stupid to try and run back in to save the young girl. She knew she should be listening to Draco screaming at her to run down into the trees.
But she didn't.
Wrenching her arm away from the blonde's firm grip, Hermione made a move to enter the maze again where the tributes seemed to blur together in a mix of swords, blood, and screams. Out of those, she could clearly pinpoint Gabrielle's.
Sneaking around the opening of the entrance, and being careful no one saw her in the midst of the fight, Hermione bent down on her knees to see the silver-haired girl huddled into the ground, her partner in front holding off the remaining standing tributes that weren't already occupied with one another.
"Granger what are you -"
Hermione zoned out her partner as she extended her hand forward. "Gabrielle!" she hissed. "Gabrielle, quickly!"
The whimpering girl uncovered her face and looked up at Hermione. Her lip was busted open and a trail of blood was smeared against her chin. Tears spilled over her bright-blue eyes as she studied the brunette witch for a moment, seemingly unaware of who she was.
"Gabrielle, we have to get you out of here, come on!" Hermione shouted over a piercing cry of pain. "We'll get you down to the tree line, and - mph!"
One hand gripped Hermione by the arm, the other securely wrapped around her mouth. Hermione didn't even have to see the face to know it was Draco pulling her away. She struggled against him, even as he yelled in her ear with no avail to his words.
"Granger, we need to keep moving, come on! She'll get out on her own, just get it passed that big-bushy brain of yours for once that Potter and Weasley aren't coming to save you this time!" Draco gritted through clenched teeth.
Hermione pulled her head free of the hand encasing her mouth and turned around to see him bouncing in anticipation, aggravation and fear evident in his fiery gaze. Casting her eyes down and ignoring the stab of his insult, she yanked herself from his hold and sped off down into the clearing, all the while praying to Merlin Gabrielle would make it out alive. Not far behind she could hear the second round of tributes making their way up the opened pathway, their shouts and screams filling the cool night air.
Jumping behind a large tree, Hermione ducked down and watched as almost all of the tributes came bounding down the hill towards the forest, each group heading in a different direction. Only when two tributes were left inside did Hermione realize the opening was starting to shrink. A strangled cry came from the inside of the wall as it sealed itself shut. The sky erupted with the Dark Mark, and just like before, a long snake slithered down and arose with two more bodies, each with long gashes down the sides of their neck.
Hermione released a long sigh and slumped against the tree's trunk. She heard Draco do the same a few feet away from her. A sudden burst of frustration and anger towards him boiled in her blood. Before she knew what she was doing, Hermione had grabbed a nearby walnut and hurled it towards his head.
Hello my fellow Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins!
Chapter 6 is up and ready for you guys, and I hope y'all enjoyed! Be sure to keep a look out for the next update coming next Monday, and other than that, no further updates. :)
And, as always, have a marvelous morning, afternoon, evening, or night!
-Summerwinds