Oh no...what could be wrong with Hermione...read and find out...

Disclaimer: not mine...

Close to the End

"My Lord her stomach!" shouted one of the Death Eaters pointing at Hermione's stomach.

Right where her hands pressed to ease the pain was from where the blood began to pour. It soaked through her tank top and onto the pristine white sheets of the bed beneath her. Her whole body had gone white as she let out yet another deafening scream.

Draco turned around and saw Voldemort looking as angry as ever. His face was as white as Granger's but his eyes were like fire. They shimmered the deepest red color that anyone had ever seen before. He seemed to be thinking on the possible things that could be doing this to the Mudblood.

Draco heard something then that came from Granger, a sound that he had never heard come from her before. He turned and saw that she was blue. Her face was pale and bluish and her lips were purple. Her arms were no longer tight against her stomach that still spilled her blood out onto the bed but instead were lying limply beside her.

Draco reached out and found that she wasn't breathing and that to his horror, her heart had stopped. She was dead.

"My Lord she's…dead." Draco said watching Voldemort's eyes.

Draco had never seen such a sight. Voldemort's eyes were tiny slits and were no longer red but a pure onyx black. There was an aura about him that Draco could clearly see. It consisted of pure fury. Everyone in the room stopped moving to watch their master. He looked like he would literally explode.

"Do everything and anything that you can to save her. If she dies we all die." Voldemort said then he turned and started from the room. His movements were swift his black cloak billowed behind him like he was walking into a torrential wind.

After Voldemort left the room Lucius arrived. He was beside Draco in a moment asking what had happened. Draco was still staring down at Granger with confusion in his eyes wondering what he could possibly do to bring her back. But he realized that every moment that they stalled it became less possible to save her.

"She's dead Lucius. We have to figure out how to bring her back." Said a voice from behind Draco somewhere.

"Move aside Draco." Lucius said quickly. Draco looked up at his father and did as he asked quietly.

Lucius took his wand out of his cane and began trying to save her. He performed the revival spell first but that didn't work to the astonishment of everyone. He tried a spell that would restore her breathing but that didn't work either. Others tried their own spells but everything failed much to their distress.

Draco realized that no magic would work. He knew that whoever was doing this to her was smart and had thought about this. They truly wanted her dead so they made sure that no spells would be able to bring her back, but there was something that would.

Draco had taken a muggles studies class in his fifth year just because he couldn't take divination anymore. He never told his parents because he was sure that his father would be furious. During that class however he had learned a method that muggles use to revive other muggles. It was called CPR.

Draco moved his father out of the way as quickly as he could not saying anything. He was trying to remember exactly what to do to save Granger's life. He had to lower her down to the floor because the bed was too soft to do the chest compression's on. When she was on the floor her blood was soaking the carpet but Draco couldn't worry about that.

"What is he doing?" asked a man somewhere by the door.

"Shh." Cried another. "Be quiet he needs to concentrate."

Draco couldn't hear any of it however as he tilted her head back and pinched her nose. Opening her mouth he blew in two deep breaths. After that he immediately started to manually pump her heart. Thirty pumps two breaths thirty pumps two breaths. He continued this for a few minutes. He was beginning to feel that he'd started to late.

He checked her pulse before starting another set of breaths and pumps and found a very weak beat. He checked to see if she was breathing and found that she was taking shallow breaths. She still wasn't moving and the blood was seeping from her stomach as quick as before. He had to stop it or she would die from blood loss.

"I need supplies. Gauze and bandages, something to clean it with and warm water and lots of cloths." Draco called to no one in particular.

"Get him what he needs." Lucius shouted and people began to conjure things all around him.

Draco took the hem of her shirt between the forefinger and thumb of each hand and gently pulled it upward. The shirt was absolutely covered in blood. He had to pull the shirt up pretty far exposing her entire stomach. Her skin was white and the blood splattered on it looked obscene.

The bowl of warm water was sitting beside her with a cloth in it already. He wrung it out and began to pat at the wound getting rid of the blood. Lucius lowered himself to the floor taking up a towel and drying the spots that Draco cleaned. Draco was surprised by this but said nothing.

They worked carefully and soundlessly. When her wound was completely visible Draco grabbed a clean cloth and the bottle of antibacterial potion that was sitting near him. He knew this would hurt and if Granger was awake she was liable to scream. He dabbed the cloth with it so only a little was on it. He would only be able to do the outside because you couldn't very well pour a bottle of antibacterial into a hole in someone's stomach.

The wound that Granger suffered from resembled the one in her arm except the fact that it was much larger and deeper. Her breaths were still not to his liking and he was sure that he would have to continue the CPR soon if someone didn't figure out how to get rid of this curse. Blood still spilled from her but Draco's father wiped it up as Draco worked.

He couldn't close the wound because there was much inside her that needed to be fixed. They would have to get a surgeon for her because if they didn't she would die. But Draco did dress it as best he could. He put the pieces of gauze over the wound watching them become soaked with her blood. He put more and more on until they stopped soaking through. Then he tapped them to her skin with medical tape.

Soon it was finished but Draco was still uneasy. She was far from out of the woods yet. There was still a great chance that she would die if her breathing didn't improve or if her heartbeat didn't grow stronger. Lucius could tell that things were looking grim.

"How did you know all of this Draco?" Lucius asked.

"I took a muggle studies class in fifth year. I couldn't stand Divination any longer the teacher was a nutter. So I dropped it a few weeks in but all that was left open was muggle studies."

"Do you still take the class?" Lucius asked his eyes stern and unhappy.

"No I dropped it last year and took Arithmancy." Draco said looking at Hermione's throat where his two fingers lingered.

"My Lord." Said a voice from behind Draco. Draco turned around so fast he almost fell on top of Hermione. There he was standing in the doorway looking satisfied.

"How is the girl?" Voldemort asked.

"My Lord her breathing is shallow and her heart beat is weak. The wound was too large to fix so it's only covered. She'll need to see a surgeon or she will die." Draco said standing as he spoke. He didn't want to because she could stop breathing again at any second.

"Who saved her?" Voldemort asked.

"It was Draco my Lord." Lucius said a hint of pride in his voice.

"Really and how was it that you did this Draco?" Voldemort asked.

"I used muggle resuscitation and muggle first aid. It was the only way my Lord. Whoever did this made sure that no magic could revive her or fix her wounds."

"Yes well that has been taken care of. She was being cursed by one of the oldest forms of the process. A voodoo doll was used to do the damage. A powerful one as well. It took me a few minutes to realize for they are hardly ever used anymore unless as a stupid trick for muggles." He paused for a moment. He looked down at Hermione before continuing. "What is perhaps the strangest part of the whole ordeal is who was performing the curse."

"I found the woman who was performing the spell. Her location was a tiny hut hidden in the center of a thick black wood not far from here. When I walked into her hut I found her in the process of strangling the doll with a rope which was causing the girl to stop breathing."

"I confronted her threatening to kill her unless she answered my questions. I asked her why she was doing this and she told me that she had been paid to do it. When I asked by who however she replied Draco Malfoy."

Draco's eyes widened in shock. How was this possible? He hadn't even been out of the house. Plus why would he do this if it were only going to end in him being caught and killed? He wasn't that stupid.

"My Lord I…it wasn't…it's couldn't have been-"

"I know that it wasn't you Draco. Someone impersonating you paid this voodoo witch to kill the Mudblood. It was someone who knew that she was here and someone who would be able to give the witch the information she needed to do the deed." Voldemort paused and looked at Hermione again. "We haven't got time now to ponder. We must get the girl to a surgeon."

"We shouldn't move her. I was stupid to do so in the first place. The wound could tear more or something could happen inside her, there's a hole in her stomach about four inches across." Draco said leaning down and checking her again. Her breathing was beginning to grow slower if that was possible.

"Lucius Apparate to St. Mungo's and bring me a surgeon. We will erase their memory if we have to just bring them and anything that they'd need."

Lucius was gone in a moment. The other Death Eaters were cleared from the room as Draco sat down beside Hermione again. He was starring at her while trying to figure out who could have possibly done this. There had to be a good explanation.

Voldemort was pacing the floor which looked a mess now for their were stains of vomit and blood all around. Draco looked down at himself. His hands were caked with dried blood and his white T-shirt was stained beyond fixing. His shorts were destroyed as were the bed sheets and blankets. The mattress could probably be cleaned and the little bit of the wall that had been sprayed with blood could be painted.

"When I discover who has done this they will pay dearly. They could have ruined everything. Luckily Draco you were able to save her life. I'm pleased."

'I did save her life. That's twice her life's needed saving this summer.' Draco thought his eyes shifting from his blood soaked sneakers to her face. It was still pale and soaked with sweat. Flecks of blood were on her neck and chin a few on her forehead as well. She looked as if she could be dead already having passed before anyone noticed but he checked again reassuring himself that his patient was alive.

Voldemort saw the constant checking of her pulse. Draco was worried. Maybe he didn't realize that he was but he was. His hands moved over her skin with the gentlest touch almost afraid that he'd hurt her further.

"What are you thinking Draco?" Voldemort asked.

"Nothing my Lord. Just checking to see if she's living."

"Don't attempt to hide things from me Draco."

"I was just trying to figure out who would hate both Granger and I enough to try to get us both killed. If you had believed that I was the one to do this you surely would have killed me and she would die." Draco kept his eyes ahead. That was not all he was thinking but the other thoughts in his head were too ridiculous to tell to the Dark Lord.

The time seemed to be going backwards. It was like an eternity had passed before two pops broke the still silence of the room and his father and another man appeared.

The man immediately saw Voldemort standing in the center of the room and became very still. He seemed to be scared out of his mind his eyes wide his mouth gaping.

"Fix her." Voldemort said in a calm but forceful voice.

The man scurried over to where Draco was seated and looked at Hermione. He recognized her from her picture in the Daily Prophet where the story of her disappearance was splattered across the front page. He looked her up and down trying to figure out just who had done what was done to her.

"I've never seen bandaging like this." He stated more to himself than to anyone in particular.

"I'll remove it for you doctor." Draco said gently removing the tape and pulling back the bandages. The doctor gasped at the wound.

"That's horrible. What happened to this girl?" he asked Draco the only one he seemed comfortable looking at.

"She was cursed. Someone made a Voodoo doll of her." Draco said sitting the blood soaked bandage on the floor.

"It looks like she's had a pole shoved into her. This will take a while to repair. How long has she been unconscious?"

"I'm not sure. I had to use muggle CPR to revive her."

"Really. That's amazing. You did well boy, this girl's pulse is stronger than it might have been had you tried magic."

Draco didn't bother explaining about the inability to use magic to revive her. He was exhausted and just wanted the doctor to fix Granger. Things were becoming quite hectic and he was sure if they stayed in this direction both he and Granger would be dead by the end of the week.

The doctor had brought as much as he could with him. He had Draco force a potion down Hermione's throat that would numb her entire body to the pain she would feel while the doctor repaired her. He would have to administer this potion every half-hour because it wore off quickly. Normally it was taken before the surgery and the cutting took place so that it would spread and settle but in Hermione it couldn't do that because her blood would seep out the wound.

The doctor used his wand to remove the blood from the areas that he was fixing. Then he would apply creams while clamping the areas together with magic clamps. The flesh would mend and the clamps would move on. The process had it been done on a smaller scale would have been quick but it was being done on such a large scale that it took a long time.

After close to three hours of mending all her insides were back as they were supposed to be. The doctor used his wand to bring the skin together mending it much like you mended a cut. There was a scar where the wound had been silver and marring against her skin. The doctor than repaired her arm, something that took fifteen minutes for there was much less damage.

When he was finished he waved his wand conjuring pajamas. He waved his wand again and the striped pajamas were on Hermione and her bloodstained clothes were gone.

"She should be fine now. Her breathing is normal, as is her heartbeat. All I suggest is that she rest and stay in bed a few days. Her abdomen may hurt. If that happens just give her some pain potion and send her to bed." The doctor said to Lucius trying to keep from looking over at Voldemort who now stood over by Hermione.

"Thank you doctor. If you'll just accompany me we can send you back to St. Mungo's." Lucius led the man away. When he returned he joined Draco and the Dark Lord by Hermione who still lay on the floor.

"Did you change his memory Lucius?" Voldemort asked not turning his head to look the man.

"Yes my Lord. He thinks that he was visiting a sick child who was unable to go to Mungo's." Lucius replied.

"What should we do with her my Lord?" Draco asked after a moment of silence.

"For right now we shall take her to your room. She will rest there while the house elves clean this room. It should only be a few hours. I want you to watch over her. If anything happens at all I want to know."

"Yes my Lord."

Draco bent down and picked Hermione up carefully walking with her out of the room. Voldemort and his father followed right behind. They reached the bedroom and Draco waited for his father to open the door so that he could go in. He sat her down on the bed pulling the covers down then back up over her much like he had the day before. She however looked a lot different to him now. She looked vulnerable and weak.

"She will sleep for a time Draco so you may relax. Your father and I will look for the culprit who will be brought to justice." Draco nodded his head feeling heavy on his shoulders. It was close to four o' clock now. It seemed like forever ago that he had actually seen her walking and talking.

The Dark Lord and Lucius left the room closing the door softly behind them. It was so quiet in the room as Draco sat there on the other side of the bed looking down at Granger who was still pale. He still knew that he hated her. That would never change but now he felt sorry for her.

She had lost both her parents in the beginning of the summer and now she was trapped in a mansion being forced into a marriage she didn't want while someone tried to kill her. She was lost and alone sad frightened and helpless. She was weak in spirit though she kept up a good act fighting with him. But even they were beginning to grow a little one sided. She seemed to tire quickly and mope about even when she was alone.

He knew that nothing he could say or do would ever make her feel better but he did promise himself that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. He would protect her. She needed that right now because he was right when he said that Potter wouldn't be there. But he realized also that she did need someone at that moment to be there. She needed someone to protect her from everything. If it couldn't be Potter…

Than it would have to be him.

Phew...ok so she's all right...ok...

Anyway...so keep reviewing...I know the chaps are coming up a little quick at times and slow at others but sometimes I fall into the worse cases of writer's block...I just happened to be having a good day...-...lol...

Starry