Out of Hand II: A Matter of Time by relativelypositive
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related and I make no money from the use of the characters created by J. K. Rowling.
Chapter 14
"Does anyone else feel that?"
The note of panic in Hermione's mother's voice broke Hermione of her kiss-haze. She pulled from Draco's grasp because she did feel something.
Was the room vibrating?
"Oh, shit!" yelled Draco when a Patronus shaped as a mink slinked its way to him and spoke in his mother's imperious voice.
"Hopefully, someday, you will forgive us. If you survive."
It disintegrated and Draco almost dislocated Hermione's shoulder pulling her behind him. A ball of light flew from the wall to her right and another appeared to her left.
What spell was this?
Two balls of light came from the ceiling as Draco was pulling her around, dodging the first lights.
Hermione's parents and friends and Blaise and his chaperone stood helplessly and tried different defensive spells. When they realized the balls were only targeting Hermione and Draco, Harry ran for the door only to find it sealed.
What was this? An assassination spell of some sort? Targeting her? Or Draco?
"It's him," Draco yelled. "That's why he's here. That's why he didn't try to stop the bonding ceremony!"
"Your father? What is this, Draco?"
"Can we discuss this later? The spell will dissipate if we dodge it long enough."
Hermione didn't get a chance to reply, because Draco was caught in the thigh by a ball of light and skidded to a stop. He crumpled to the floor with a roar of rage.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Draco could barely think through the swear words flying through his head. He hadn't planned for his father to be in attendance, so he hadn't thought through the dangerous possibilities.
He'd been too calm. Too accepting. And here.
As the head of the Malfoy family he had the right to attend Draco's bonding regardless of charges brought against him. As long as he wasn't convicted and imprisoned in Azkaban, his father legally couldn't be kept away.
His mother had to have known what he was planning. Or had she? His father would never have let her send a Patronus to warn them, fat lot of good that did them anyway.
He knew how this went. He'd seen firsthand how this spell worked.
Sealed room. Spell caster at the door the victim last entered willing his magic into the four walls, the floor, and the ceiling.
The most devious part of this spell was that it was not illegal. It was a variation on a Healer's spell that stops the heart. It was supposed to temporarily keep a person from bleeding out. The Healer fixes the damage and the spell is lifted, then business as usual. Thirty seconds at the most.
No one, to Draco's knowledge, had ever died from the spell while in a Healer's care, since you kept breathing all through it. Eventually, if the spell was used too long, you lost consciousness, but a simple Enervate fixed that once the damage was repaired and the spell lifted.
What the Death Eaters had figured out was that the spell was easily adaptable. It could be used as torture. Or punishment. It was also an effective way to kill someone.
If your heart didn't start beating again after just a couple minutes, your lungs would stop and you would die.
"Who was watching him? He's Lucius Malfoy, for goodness sake! Didn't he have an escort?" fumed Hermione. When she realized the lights had disappeared, she wheeled around frantically. "Where did they go? Did anyone see where they went?"
"They vanished," Harry answered.
"Maybe someone realized what he was doing and made him stop."
"No, Hermione. They stopped because they did their job," Harry explained as he approached her. He pointed to Draco and Hermione dropped to his side.
Draco didn't think a Finite Incantatem was going to cut it. He didn't know the counter-spell, or its official name.
"Get Pomfrey. Heart-stopping spell. It's a Healer's spell. She should know how to undo it. Get to her."
Harry ran for the door but it was still sealed. He started blasting it with spells, but they weren't budging.
Blaise and Ron and their chaperones joined him and they all kept trying to find a way out.
Ginny was running the perimeter, trying to find a window or door that wasn't blocked, without success.
"Where is Dumbledore when you need him?" Hermione screamed.
Her parents stood helplessly next to her. Catherine had tears in her eyes, but Timothy had a calculating look on his face.
"Draco, do you know what's happening?" Timothy asked.
"My heart has stopped. I'll breathe for a few minutes, then lose consciousness. A few minutes after that I'll die. If Pomfrey gets here and performs the counter-spell before that happens an Enervate will wake me back up. It's a shitty way to die!"
He looked at Hermione, and she had turned white again. Catherine had knelt next to him and grabbed his wrist.
"No pulse. Timothy, pay close attention to his breathing. When it stops, be ready."
"Should you start compressions now?" Hermione asked. "If his heart isn't beating…"
"Not while he's still breathing and conscious."
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked in a panic.
"They're doctors, Draco," Hermione soothed. "They'll try to keep you alive until Madam Pomfrey arrives. I'll explain it to you later. They'll keep you breathing when your body stops, and try to pump your heart for you."
"Is it like a duplication spell? I match their breathing and heartbeats?"
"No," Hermione let out a humorless laugh. "They're going to push on your heart to help it pump, and force air into your lungs through your mouth."
It sounded better than dying, but it still sounded awful.
"Let's get to it, then," he bravely stated.
"They can't start until you stop breathing."
"Why the fuck not?" It was getting harder to breathe and Draco swallowed back tears.
"Because while pushing on your heart they will be pushing on your lungs. You're still breathing and you're talking. When things take a turn for the worse, they're ready."
Hermione grabbed his hand again and squeezed tightly.
"How much time do you think we have?"
"Couple minutes, maybe. My vision's getting funky."
"We'll get you through this."
"If I don't survive, take all the Malfoy money and give it to the house elves. My parents will hate that."
Hermione laughed sadly. "Absolutely. And I'll still insist on being called Madam Malfoy, and I'll try to shove it in your mother's face whenever I can."
Draco smiled. "Fuck with them as much as you can. But stay safe. They're sneaky old Slytherins, and don't forget it. My father may never stop trying to kill you."
"In truth, if you died I'd probably never speak to either of them again."
"You have to. You have money and power now, whether I'm alive or not. Do what you want with it, but do something with it. Do Hermione Granger things with it."
"Stop talking about it. You're going to be fine."
"I'm…" Draco faltered as his vision darkened and he got more light-headed. "I'll try to come back and haunt you. I've always wanted to know how that worked. And get one of my portraits from the manor; give it to the twins. I want in on that action. Plus, I'd rather be in your hands than have to listen to my family's tirade for the next millennium."
"You are not going to die!" Hermione yelled in his face.
He could hear her trying not to cry, but could no longer see her.
"Hermione, you changed me. You could change a lot of people. Do that, love."
He was losing consciousness and there was nothing she could do.
"Draco? Hey, stay with me here." Hermione's hand moved from his hand to his face. "Is he dead? Mum? Is he still breathing? I can't see his chest moving any more!"
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No no no no no no!
Hermione watched Draco's face, which was amazingly pale on a regular day, turn a pasty white.
She vaguely saw her father straddle Draco to start compressions while her mother knelt at Draco's head opposite Hermione. She positioned Draco's head and counted with her husband to get in rhythm with each other.
"Hermione, grab his wrist. Monitor his pulse."
Hermione grabbed his hand in desperation and watched her parents work.
"We're through!" Ron yelled.
"I'm sending a Patronus to Madam Pomfrey," Harry announced.
"I'm going for Dumbledore!" yelled Ginny.
"Snape," Blaise said as he pulled his chaperone down the hall.
"Should we get Kingsley Shacklebolt? He'll want to know about this!" Harry asked from above Hermione's shoulder.
"Get him on the Malfoys' trail. Send Ron. Please, stay with me, Harry."
"Of course." She heard Harry giving Ron orders, but couldn't look away from Draco and her parents. They were working smoothly, but Hermione couldn't feel a regular pulse.
She knew the moment he died. If the ring hadn't suddenly become too big and slipped down her finger, she might have mistaken the sensation for her heart breaking.
It flew through her chest and a part of her went with it. A piece of her magic. The feeling she'd had with her since the engagement. Her bond with him. It was gone.
"Get him back!" she ordered her parents in desperation as she finally let the tears fall.
"Hermione," Harry called. "Madam Pomfrey is coming down the hall."
She jumped up and started relaying all the information she had. The medi-witch listened while she started her diagnostic spell.
Hermione watched as patiently as she could while Madam Pomfrey tried likely counter-spells. On the seventh try, white light seemed to seep from Draco into the floor, and it raced around the walls and ceiling.
"That was it," she said in relief. She started to smile when she saw the look on Madam Pomfrey's face.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Malfoy has been under the spell too long. I tried to wake him, but nothing happened. He's been gone too long, Hermione," she added sadly.
"What spell is it?"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm going to fix this! What spell is it? And what is the counter-spell? Tell me!"
"Corcaesura."
"Where were you an hour ago?"
"What?"
"Madam Pomfrey!" Hermione yelled impatiently. "Where were you an hour ago? Hurry!"
"Well, I was in the infirmary, of course."
"You didn't step out? At all?"
"No, why?"
Hermione pulled the time turner out of her robes and started dialing it back. "Because I'm going to fix this. I'll see you in a minute."
Hermione bound out of the Great Hall with Harry on her heels.
"Where are you going?"
"Hospital Wing!"
"I'm coming with you!"
Hermione squeezed her fist tightly to hold her Malfoy ring in place. First chance she got she was going fix that, too.
She rounded the last corner and threw herself into the bed-filled room. She grabbed Harry and hugged him as she looped the necklace over his head.
"We're going to save him." Harry stated.
"Yes. We are."
"What's the plan?"
"Get Madam Pomfrey to secretly attend my wedding, then perform the counter-spell as soon as it hits Draco."
"Hermione!"
"What? What is it?"
"That doesn't stop the problem of Lucius Malfoy."
"And possibly Narcy."
"Who?"
"Never mind! We're wasting time!"
"We're about to gain it back again!"
Harry grabbed her shoulders to steady her and make her look at him.
"Look at me. Breathe. Recalculate before you spin that necklace. You're shaking."
"I am?"
"You are."
"Well shit."
"Indeed."
Hermione looked at her best friend and took a few deep breaths.
"He's dead."
"It won't stick."
Hermione smiled.
She thought through the amount of time she'd need to make sure Draco lived and Lucius Malfoy ended up in Azkaban.
"Thanks, Harry. I almost sent us back too soon. We'll need a little more time to make sure."
"Of what?"
"That I get to live happily ever after!"
"Hermione, I thought you were over that!"
"Over what?"
"Your Cinderella complex!"
"Harry!"
Harry continued in a falsetto, "My life is shit. Everyone treats me horribly. When will someone come and take me away from all of this?"
"Shut up, Harry."
She spun the necklace.
A/N:
You know what the enemy of fanfiction is? The holidays. I always forget how exhausted I am after everything. I've had this done for almost a week but didn't have five minutes to proofread and post!
Thanks to everyone still reading this, and I'll probably manage at least one more chapter before Christmas. The next couple planned are mostly adventure. I've started the next one and it's fun!