Harry went over and took the necklace off Umbridge's fat neck. But I didn't see that. Instead, I was focusing on the Dementors that were both getting closer to Mary Cattermole... and to us.
"Harry..." I said, just a little terror creeping in to my voice.
"Expecto... Expecto... Expecto Patronum," Hermione said. I turned around and could see she was just as scared as I was.
"You can do it, Hermione," Harry encouraged.
"Expecto Patronum!" she said, although it was still weak. A silver otter left her wand, and that protected us, but Mary Cattermole was still left without any protection.
Mary Cattermole was screaming, so Harry rushed down the platform and cast his Patronus. A stag burst from his wand and caused the Dementors to scatter. I felt I could breath again. I watched as Harry got Mary Cattermole out of the chair. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Reg said you were the one that turned us in."
"Oh," Harry said, looking a bit distracted. "Well, changed my mind. Let's get out of here."
"What's going on?" she asked, her voice getting frantic. She looked very scared, and I didn't really blame her. I knew more of what was going on and my heart was still thumping away violently in my chest.
"We're getting you out of here," Harry said. "Then you go home, collect your children, and hide. Now please, be quiet and trust me and everything will work out."
"Harry..." Hermione trailed off. "How are we going to go out there? There's hundreds of dementors."
"Patronuses," he said. "Kat, you cast one as well."
"I..." I started. I didn't exactly know how to tell him that I had never learned how to cast a Patronus.
"Do you know how to?" Hermione asked. I was so glad that she was taking charge
I shook my head. "No," I said quietly.
"Stay close to me," she said, so I did. We went out the big doors to the court room and were hit with a huge gust of icy air. The Dementors were everywhere. I gulped, but soon they dispersed as Harry and Hermione cast their Patronuses.
"You're all to go home, go into hiding, go abroad if you can," Harry yelled. He was still Runcorn to the Muggleborns, which was terrifying. "That is our new stance on Muggleborns. Now, to get out of here, safely, everyone without a wand find someone who does have a wand and follow them. If you do have a wand, I want you to cast a Patronus charm, that will help keep the Dementor's away. Come on then, quickly!"
We all made our way up the stairs, going quickly and quietly. There was a large, dense tension in the air, as they were unsure of what was going on, and we knew our time here was very limited. There were so many ways this could get screwed up...
The lift at the top of the stairs opened, and Ron stepped out.
Mary Cattermole threw herself into Ron's arms, thinking it was her husband. "Oh, Reg," she sobbed. "They're letting us go, they said to go home and get the children and hide... Oh, dear, you're wet!"
"It's just water," Ron said, though he took a step away from her in the meantime.
"Anyways, Harry, they know there are intruders in the Ministry. Someone said something about there being a hole in Umbridge's office? I recon we've got five minutes-"
Pop.
Hermione's Patronus disappeared. Her face went white as a sheet, and that was how I knew things had just gotten drastically dangerous.
"We've got to move fast then," Harry said. We all got in the lifts, the Muggleborns following us. I was shoved in a corner of the lift, behind Harry, and just stayed there. I was scared, not sure if it was more than I was supposed to. I looked to Harry. I didn't find his appearance, as Albert Runcon, comforting at all. However, I could see the worry that was in his eyes, and I just chewed on my lip. I wanted to see the outside of the Ministry so badly.
The lift did its job, riding up to the Atrium. When the doors clanked open, a cool voice announced "Level eight. Atrium."
It appeared we were in trouble. Ministry workers were at the fire places, sealing them up already. There was no way out. An extreme feeling of claustrophobia washed over me and I had to remember to breath.
"Fuck," Ron said under his breath. I couldn't have agreed more, really.
"STOP!" Harry yelled. The walls of the Atrium reverberated the sound well. It was a booming noise that scared every worker. "Follow me."
"Erm," a fat and balding man said. "What's up, Runcorn?"
Harry tried to make himself look authoritative, though even me looked a little scared. "This lot will leave before all of the exits are sealed."
All of the men sealing up the fireplace froze. "We have been told to seal all exits and not to let anyone out."
"Are you questioning me?" Harry snarled. That seemed to convince the people to let them though. "Their blood has been determined as pure. Off you go!"
"Mary!"
Mary Cattermole turned around, and so did we all. We turned to see Reg Cattermole- the real Reg Cattermole running towards us.
"Fuck," Ron said under his breath again. I wanted to be sick. Our cover was completely blown.
"What in the hell is going on?" Reg Cattermole asked, looking from Ron to his wife.
"SEAL THE EXIT!" Yaxley's voice sounded out before he was even seen. He came out of one of the lifts.
I knew it. We were done. This was it. I should have just stayed in my father's office and told him everything that had happened. I would have been safe. Now, I was going to be tortured or killed and my father would never know what happened.
Harry created a diversion by punching one of the men who had been sealing the fireplaces off. "He's been helping the Muggle-borns escape, Yaxley!"
Ron grabbed Mary Cattermole and they went through the lone open fireplace. I was a little relieved, that at least she was going to get out safe. She would be able to take her kids out of the country. They would be safe. We had saved one family.
Reg Cattermole, however, did not like that his wife had just disappeared with someone who looked exactly like he did. "My wife! Who was with my wife? What is going on?"
Yaxley's line of vision locked on to us. It began to dawn on him who were were.
"Katherine!" a voice called. I turned around to see my father standing there, looking very confused. I didn't have time to deal with him at the moment, as Harry's arm yanked me into the fireplace behind him.
"I'm- sorry-" I breathed, though I knew Dad wasn't able to hear me.
We were in a toilet stall. Which was exceptionally crowded with three of us in it, so luckily Hermione opened the door.
"Let go!" Ron shouted. "I am not your husband and you need to go home!"
A loud crackling noise hit my ears and made me shudder. I realised the sound was Yaxley had entered the bathroom.
"LET'S GO!" Harry yelled.
I held on tightly to Harry as Hermione aparated us all. I shut my eyes, because I knew if I kept them open, it would hurt my head. I felt my feet touch the ground, but it was only for the briefest second and a loud scream before we moved again.
What seemed like an eternity later, we landed on the ground. It seemed we were in some sort of clearing in the middle of the woods.
"I tried to go back to Grimmauld Place but Yaxley was hanging on to me and I knew we had to get away," Hermione said, obviously upset.
"Did you bring him past the Secret Keeper's line?" Harry asked, urgency in his voice.
I was only half paying attention to their conversation. I was more focused on the fact that we were outside! And we were safe! I got up out of the grass, so happy to be here.
I looked over to Ron, who had yet to get up, and saw that he was bleeding. His arm was obviously Splinched as blood began to soak his shirt.
Hermione followed my line of vision and screamed at the sight of blood. It was actually very scary to see so much blood coming out of him.
I reached into my bag and began to look for the potions that might fix this. Blood replenishing seemed like a good way to start. I uncorked the potion and handed it to Hermione.
"I've got this under control," she said, taking the potion. I had to admit, she definitely didn't sound as if she could handle it, she seemed hysterical, but I wasn't sure it would be beneficial to help her if she didn't want the help. "You and Harry put some protective spells up."
Harry had already started to put up some charms. I had no idea what I was doing, so I went to ask him for help. "Salvio Hexia!...Protego Totalum!" he shouted, raising his wand to the sky.
"What should I do?" I asked him.
"I'm all set," he said. The tone of his voice made it clear he was very angry with me.
This lit a fire within me. It was not my fault! So what if I had found my father... I didn't do it on purpose. "You're being a prat," I told him, crossing my arms.
"You nearly cost us the necklace," he said. "If your father had blown our cover we would be dead."
"But he didn't!" I shouted. "Why would he do that? It makes no sense. Why would he put me in more danger than necessary?"
"I could ask you the same question, Kat," he spat. "You did something reckless and stupid and we nearly all paid the price."
"I can't believe you!" I told him. I was getting so upset... he was blaming it all on me when we had all screwed up today. It didn't even matter, really. We had the necklace and we had gotten out safe.
Hermione came up behind me, which scared me. She must have heard our screaming, which embarrassed me. "Go finish healing Ron," she said quietly, and joined Harry in putting up charms for our safety.
However, I did as I was told. "How are you feeling?" I asked Ron, kneeling down next to him.
"Oh, fantastic. Most fun I've had in weeks," he said, hardly opening his eyes. I couldn't help but smile, as it was a little funny. I finished cleaning the cut with some potion Hermione had, and then started to heal him.
"You'll probably have a funny scar there," I told him. He had splinched a good amount of skin off.
"That's okay," he said. I guessed Hermione gave him some pain potion, as he seemed to be pretty relaxed. "I'm on your side, you know."
"Oh," I said. I was surprised. I had never really talked to Ron alone before... he was always there but we usually skirted around each other.
"I saw my Dad while I was in there and if Harry hadn't been with me I would have said something... it's hard to be out here, away from family, worrying about them all the time."
I smiled a little wider. Ron knew exactly what I was going through. It made me feel like I wasn't so crazy anymore. "Yeah," I said, for lack of something better to do.
"It's different for them," he said, quietly. "Hermione sent her parents to Australia, so she knows that they're safe, and Harry... well, he doesn't really have anyone."
"So they don't understand what it's like to have a constant, gnawing feeling in your stomach that your family is not okay," I said, mostly thinking out loud. I had fished an older, worn shirt out of my bag and used it to bandage up Ron's arm. The skin was all new and I didn't want to get damaged. I sighed when I was done with it, as it meant he was okay. He wasn't going to bleed out on the ground in front of me.
I was done healing Ron, so I helped him up. We turned around to find Harry and Hermione had set up the tent. It was a lot smaller than I had imagined it to be when Harry had first said we would be living in a tent. It seemed the tent was just for sleeping, and even that seemed like we would be sleeping on top of each other.
"Want to go check it out?" he asked.
I nodded, crossing my arms. I didn't particularly want to be around Harry right now. I didn't want to keep fighting and we were both far too angry to see things from the others' perspective today. We had other things to focus on, like what we would be eating that afternoon and setting up the tent.
Author's Note: Here's another chapter! And it's one you didn't have to wait two weeks for! Is that a success or what? Luckily, the Hurricane this weekend gave me some time to get writing done. Will try and get two more chapters out prior to the start of school next week as I'm going to get awful busy fall semester (college applications, working part time, producing a show...) but I promise you will get updates as often as humanly possible. Any errors (and I'm sure there are... I sure miss having a beta :() in this chapter are mine. Please let me know what you think!