Disclaimer: All characters etc belong to Queen Rowling.

Chapter Five

Hermione's POV:

I tried to take a step back, but Malfoy had me in an unbreakable arm-lock. I looked frantically around the room for a way to escape, when a thought stuck me. Of course, I thought, my wand! And so, I slipped my hand into my pocket carefully, and withdrew it.

'Expelliarmus!' cried Bellatrix. Damn. My wand flew out of my hand and landed with a clatter on the stony floor.

'Silly girl,' she smirked. 'You can't outsmart me. Draco, drop her,' she ordered: and at that moment, I felt my legs give in below me and I landed in a heap on the floor.

'Petrificus Totalus!' A bright light shot out of the end of her wand and the next thing I knew, I was as stiff as a board, on the floor. I had no choice but to look up at the ceiling above me and hope that the effects of the spell would wear off soon; my wand was only a few feet away.

I heard Bellatrix's high heeled boots step over to where I was laying. She looked down at me, her wand pointed at my chest.

'Crucio,' she whispered.

And just like that, I felt as though there was a fire inside of me, scratching and burning at every possible bit of flesh. All my muscles were constantly contracting and relaxing repeatedly. My vision slowly went black, but I was perfectly conscious. I felt my body begin to curl up, and the first scream escaped my lips. My voice was scratchy and painful, but I kept screaming, with the hope that someone would find me. And they did.

'Expelliarmus!' two voices yelled at once. The pain stopped, and I lay on my back with my eyes closed, not daring to open them again.

'Leave, Malfoy,' one voice snarled. I heard Malfoy's footsteps echo off into the distance. And then, a pair of soft but strong arms enclosed around my body and lifted me up, bridal style.

'Hermione, are you okay?' It was Fred's voice. He came to save me.

'Yeah,' I murmured into his chest. My mind went black and I fell into a deep, deep sleep.

Fred's POV:

She closed her eyes and it seemed like she was asleep, and so I set her down on the side of the room, before joining George in facing Bellatrix Lestrange.

'You're not going to get away with him,' George growled.

'But sweetheart, I already have,' she purred.

I pulled out my wand. 'Reducto!' I cried.

Bellatrix Lestrange was pushed backwards by an invisible force into a long table behind her, snapping it in half. Despite this, she sat up, smirked, and disappeared with a flick of her wand.

George and I looked at each other.

'She got away…' I whispered, disappointed.

'We'll get her back for this,' George answered angrily. 'Now, get Hermione, and contact Dumbledore before someone else comes.'

I pulled out a pad that Dumbledore had earlier given me. A bit like a muggle instant messaging system, Dumbledore's matching pad would heat up when he received a message from me.

Bellatrix Lestrange was behind it, I wrote. But she got away. Hermione's alright. I think we're at Malfoy Manor.

Almost at once, Dumbledore appeared at our side.

'Where's Miss Granger, boys?' he asked politely.

George and I said nothing, but lead him over to the side of the room where I'd set Hermione down. I picked her up again, so that Dumbledore could get a good look at her.

'Let us not dawdle,' he said. 'Grab my arm.' He held up his arm and George and I held on, one of my hands clutching Hermione tightly.

Hermione's POV:

I woke up in the hospital wing, wearing soft white pyjamas that Madam Pomfrey had given me. Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked around. It was very dark, and Fred and George were both asleep in separate chairs on either side of me. Smiling slightly, I crossed my legs and leant forward.

'Fred,' I whispered. 'Wake up, Fred.'

'What?' he said abruptly. 'Is she okay?'

'Is who okay?' I smiled sweetly.

'Oh, I…' Fred blushed slightly in the moonlight. 'Don't wake up George,' he added.

Fred stood up and sat on the end of my hospital bed. I edged further towards him.

'Why did you come and save me?' I wondered.

'I went to the library to apologise to you,' he explained. 'And, yeah… I'm really sorry for not listening to you, Hermione. I know that you're a proud person, and I shouldn't go against what you say, because you're almost always right. Well… Okay, always right.' He grinned sheepishly.

I smiled back. 'How did you know where Malfoy took me? And how did you get out of Hogwarts? You can't apparate out -'

But Fred cut me off. 'I know that,' he laughed. 'We went straight to Dumbledore, and he gave us these.' He held out two identical note pads.

'What are they?' I asked, intrigued.

'Communication Pads,' he answered. 'You write in one,' (he pulled out a quill, and wrote Fred Weasley in one of them, handing the other to me) 'and the other one heats up and the message shows up.' Just as he said it, the pad that he'd given me heated up slightly. I opened it, and there written on the page was Fred Weasley, as if he'd just written it in mine as well.

'That's amazing!' I exclaimed, hanging him back the pad.

He pushed it away. 'Keep it,' he smiled. 'And I'll keep this one.'

I smiled slightly, and George stirred beside us.

'Here, Hermione,' he whispered, handing me my clothes from the day before. 'Meet me outside here in a minute.' Fred winked, and then walked off.

I stepped over to the bed next to me and pulled across the curtains, before changing into my old clothes. Madam Pomfrey must have cleaned and dried them, because they smelled of lavender and were toasty warm. Grabbing the trainers I'd been wearing, I shot outside of the hospital wing, eager to see what Fred was going to do.

'Hello, Love,' he greeted, smiling.

'Hi…' I answered suspiciously.

He didn't say anything else, but loosely grabbed my arm and guided me towards the Entrance Hall.

'Accio broom,' he whispered, and a few seconds later, his old broom came shooting towards us. He climbed on and beckoned me to join him. I shook my head.

'No way am I getting on that,' I said sternly.

'Pretty please?' he begged.

'No,' I demanded. 'I can't fly.'

'You won't have to fly, I will.' He grinned.

I sighed and got on behind him, clutching his chest for my dear life, even though we hadn't taken off yet.

'Are you ready?' he asked.

'Yes,' I lied.

He kicked off the ground immediately and the wind rushed past my ears, ruffling my hair. I clung on to his body more tightly, and I felt him chuckle beneath my arms.

'Bit scared?' he yelled above the wind.

'Yes!' I yelled back.

'I'll slow down a bit!'

And just like that, the wind rushing past me practically stopped, and I could hear his breathing a lot clearer. We flew in silence down to the lake. He allowed my fingers to skim the icy water, and we flew right up to the clouds, where I could see all of Hogwarts.

Fred's POV:

It was so comforting, feeling her arms locked tightly around me. But I knew she trusted me. She knew that I wouldn't let her drop. Ever.

'Fred,' she said weakly. 'I'm really cold.'

I awkwardly took off my jumper with one hand (still holding on to the broom with the other) and handed it to her. She gave me a smile full of gratitude.

We flew around in a comfortable silence for a while, but when I saw a slight shade of pink spreading across the horizon, I decided it was best if we went in.

I tilted my broomstick forwards and landed swiftly on the ground, my whole body shaking from the cold.

'You're cold,' she stated. 'Have your jumper back, here…' She began to take it off, but I stopped her.

'No, just wear it. We'll be inside soon anyway,' I said, my teeth chattering.

She just simply giggled, and we headed inside the large castle in hope to get some sleep. When it came for us to part ways, she gave me my jumper along with a long hug.

'Thank you,' she whispered into my chest.

I didn't ask what she was thankful for, although I really didn't have a clue. The next thing I knew, she had turned on her heel and was walking towards the hospital wing.