Spells flew through the air, some finding their targets, some deflecting into their surroundings. Hermione ran through the debris of the castle, wand held high, searching for Harry.
It was madness, it was chaos, it was completely and utterly terrifying and yet the only thing Hermione's brilliant mind could think about was which spells she would use to fix the crumbling walls around her. Would a simple 'reparo' work on the ancient stone she wondered? Or would she need something more complex to ensure the magic of the castle was protected? She watched as Yaxley sent a particularly nasty curse hurtling towards Neville which ended up deflecting up into the roof of the Great Hall and wondered, would that affect the charms placed on it? Would it damage the roof above which they couldn't see or would it dissipate into nothing?
Stop it Hermione, she thought, shaking her head, focus, find Harry. She scanned her surroundings quickly but had no luck finding her best friend.
"Stupid, brave idiot," She muttered under her breath, of course he'd run of on some unknown mission without telling her or Ron. She knew he only did it to protect them but right then, she believed she could strangle him and his goddamn hero complex. Across the hall she saw a flash of pale white hair darting between the crowds. Hermione could have sworn she saw Draco Malfoy flick up a protection charm behind a duelling Luna, saving her from a wayward reducto. Lucius and Narcissa had been running through the chaos of the battle, apparently unconcerned about causing damage and instead screaming desperately for their son. Hermione had come face to face with Lucius earlier, only for him to ask her if he'd seen Draco. She had shook her head dumbly and he had run past her to continue his hunt, the whole event had Hermione giggle slightly at the absurdity until she remembered she was standing in the middle of a battlefield.
Coming back from her thoughts, she began to make her way outside, perhaps she would find Harry out there. Just in time she flung up a hasty Protego to stop an incoming curse from Dolohov. It seemed he still held a grudge against her for not dying those years ago at the ministry and was stalking towards her now to remedy that. He slashed his wand through the air sending a purple jet of light towards her that Hermione was pretty sure would do something very unpleasant to her internal organs. She ducked quickly, sending back a curse of her own. Back and forth they went until Hermione nicked his shoulder with a slicing curse, he roared in pain but continued, looking even angrier than before. At that moment Hermione caught a glimpse of a head of black messy hair and allowed her eyes to wander only to discover a young Hufflepuff dueling fiercely. The momentary distraction however was crucial and as she turned back to Dolohov she cursed her stupidity. He had seen her mistake and was taking full advantage, a jet of white light was hurtling at her with incredible speed. Oh shit, Hermione thought, just as she was knocked viciously to the side, out of the path of the spell. She hit the ground hard, landing heavily on her shoulder but was quickly turning to see what had pushed her out of harm's way. Draco Malfoy stood there, arms outstretched after pushing Hermione with a shocked look on his face, as if he himself couldn't believe what he'd just done. There was no time for Hermione to react, the spell hit Malfoy squarely, knocking him off his face and onto the ground where he lay still.
"No!" Hermione yelled, scrambling to her feet and sending a killing curse at Dolohov, just as she should have done to begin with. Dolohov, still confused by the abrupt target change his spell had undergone, was not prepared for a counter attack so quickly and fell, unceremoniously to the floor. Hermione rushed to Malfoys' side, casting every diagnostic spell she knew in quick succession. She had no idea what spell Dolohov had used and there seemed to be no outward damage to Malfoy's body, whatever it was, it was doing something inside.
"Draco!" a blood curdling scream came from behind Hermione and in flash she was surrounded by two terrified Malfoys.
"Is - is he - Is he dead?" sobbed a distraught Narcissa. Hermione glanced up at the Malfoy matriarch, she was a beautiful woman, even in distress. Her gaze moved to Lucius and she marvelled at the parents ability to produce a son the spitting image of each of them, there was no doubting Draco's parentage. I suppose that tends to happen when your family tree crosses over more times than you count Hermione thought rather snidely.
"No but he will be soon if I can't figure how what that damn curse was," Hermione said through gritted teeth. Sifting through the results of her diagnostic charms she gasped.
"Fuck," she swore.
"What is it?" Lucius demanded, both parents were looking to Hermione for answers, they'd heard of her intellect and neither were very experienced with healing spells. Narcissa had taken Malfoy's hand into her own and was gently stroking it as if her touch alone could heal the damage being done.
Hermione stared at Malfoy once again, her hands still for the first time since he'd been hit, the curse Dolohov had intended for her was currently eating away at Draco's magical core. Probably some sick kind of joke, designed to take away the magic she had "stolen" from wizard kind she thought detachedly. Fuck, fuck, fuck, this was bad. Think Hermione, brightest witch of your age, do something!
Lucius and Narcissa were watching the girl that held their son's life in their hands with bated breath and Hermione felt the weight of the responsibility bearing down on her. It hit her all of a sudden, it was a bad idea, a terrible idea, an idea that in all likelihood would get the both of them killed but if she didn't try anything Malfoy was going to die in front of her, hit by a curse aimed for her. It was a rather terrible place to die she decided, he was probably laying on all kinds of rubble that would be doing horrible things to his back, not good at all. Although, he likely didn't care much for any back pains at this point in time she supposed.
Hermione took a deep breath in and steeled herself, she lifted her wand and began moving it in a series of complicated movements over Malfoy's body.
"What are you doing?" Lucius demanded again though he made no move to stop her and Hermione made no attempt to explain.
Please work, please don't kill me, please don't kill him, Hermione chanted in her head before she spoke aloud, "Nos sigmul pundare."
Magic thrummed to life in the air between Hermione and Malfoy, so strong she was surprised she couldn't physically see it. It latched onto her and pulled tight like a cord and the last thing Hermione could think of as blackness crept into her sight was, gods,I hope they properly research how to repair the castle when this is over.
A/N: I currently have no publishing schedule, i'm just releasing as I write it. I have no beta either so any typos/ grammatical errors are solely my fault. Hope you all are enjoying this brain child of mine so far and any of your opinions I would be glad to hear, even criticisms, I'm not so big-headed as to believe this is a perfect work of art and I would love to know anything I could work on!