To the Death

Sorry guys! Haven't updated in a while. Well, here it is! Enjoy! Hermione's POV

Open your eyes. Just open them. I chanted these words in my head over and over again. I had passed out from the pain of being crushed about five minutes ago. I was shocked that I wasn't dead. Surely my intestines were crushed beyond repair and my lungs were definitely damaged. How was I still breathing? If I'm alive now, surely I can stay alive for just a little longer. Just long enough for everyone else to die, and then I can get out of here and get some kind of medical treatment.

I was immediately disgusted with how selfish that thought was. To just sit there and let everyone else die. No. I couldn't do that.

I could still smell the dirt of my rocky prison, most of it covering my unmoving body. I took a painful breath. I coughed a dry, raspy cough and opened my eyes. My heart shattered out of pure frustration and disappointment. The only thing I could see was the giant rock that was crushing the life out of me with every second. Tears welled up in my bloodshot eyes.

I suddenly remembered Ron's words of encouragement on the back of the photograph. If you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation.. Oh no. What came next? I can't just forget what he said. No, I REFUSED to forget.

The photograph was in my right pocket. The only problem was.. my right hand was chained to the wall. I closed my eyes and positioned my left hand on the boulder, taking deep breaths. Just the anticipation alone caused a burning pain to bubble up in my stomach. Ignore the pain, ignore the pain, ignore the pain.

1, 2, 3. I pushed forward on the boulder with all of the strength in me. An exploding pain erupted within me, more intense than when the boulder actually fell on me. I let out a scream of agony as I felt another wave of exploding pain erupt through my body. Come on. Ignore it! My brain screamed at me to keep pushing while my body screamed at me to stop.

Tears streamed down my face in a steady river of pain. My heart lept into my throat. The boulder was lifting off of my stomach.

With a final scream of anguish, the blood soaked boulder fell off of my body with a giant thud. I arched my back and squeezed my eyes shut, gasping for air. I groaned in pain as my stomach began to burn, a fire igniting within me. Tears escaped my eyes as I began to open them, ready to assess the damage of my stomach.

I shook with panic, a cold sweat developing on my hairline, shock overtaking my body. The front of my black tshirt was darkened with blood that had dripped off the sides of my stomach and pooled all around me. With extreme cautiousness, I lifted the front of the soaked shirt up. What I saw absolutely horrified me. My stomach was covered in blood, a giant, gaping wound still gushing out blood with every beat of my heart. The area around the wound was covered in black bruises. It didn't even look human at all, it looked as if someone had used monster makeup on me.

I began to feel sick. I pushed the end of my shirt back down as the pain started to turn into a sharp ache, not nearly as bad as it was before. I focused my eyes on my pocket, continuing to ignore the pulsating pain in my stomach. I lifted my bloody left arm and reached for my pocket, desperate to seek the only comfort that I had in this horrible place.

My fingers easily slipped into my pocket, searching for the photograph. Panic filled me as I noticed that I didn't immediately find it in my pocket. I took a shaking breath. The photograph wasn't there.

"No." I breathed. Taking deep breaths, my fingers searched the depths of my pocket. There was nothing there. I quickly searched my left pocket, just in case I had put it there.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized it wasn't there. My only source of comfort, my only reminder of what was waiting for me at home. My only connection with my family. It was gone.

The pain in my stomach began to subside as I rested my head in my left hand. My body shook with sobs as I screamed in absolute fury and frustration. How could Dean do this? I never did anything to him to deserve this! I never so much as stole a paperclip from him! I never did anything to deserve this.

I was crying so violently that I didn't notice the rocks at the entrance to the cave begin to shift. An angelic voice entered the caves and floated to my ears. "Hermione? Hermione is that you?"

My head snapped up. I looked around me, only to be filled with crushing disappointment. There was nobody in the cave.

My heart gave a leap as the voice spoke again. "Hermione? Hermione are you okay?" Penelope! Penelope was here! She was going to help me!

I took a deep breath and tried to speak, but nothing came. "Hermione are you in there?" I nodded furiously, though she could not see and tried to speak again… but nothing came. It was as if my voice had broken, leaving me with nothing but loud, shaky breaths.

"Hermione? Oh my God. You can't be dead, you just can't be dead!" I shook my head, tears streaming down my face.

With a heaving breath, I finally let out a small word. "Help."

"Hermione! Hermione listen, it's going to be okay! I'm going to get you out of there." I nodded. I heard something heavy hit the rocks piled at the entrance of the cave, letting in a small bit of light. My heart exploded with happiness as the rocks began to fall apart at the entrance, letting in even more light. I heard Penelope speak to somebody else, but I was too excited and happy to notice what she had said. Suddenly all of the rocks at the entrance collapsed, rolling down the cave violently, knocking into the walls, some of them barely missing my hand. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to avoid getting any of the rock in my eyes.

When I opened them, Penelope knelt in front of me, staring at my stomach. "We're going to have to stitch it."

"What?" Justin appeared behind her, immediately running to free me from the handcuffs that still bound me to the wall. "You don't have any thread or anything. How are you supposed to stitch it?"

I took a breath and shifted, trying to speak, but Penelope cut me off. "Shh, Hermione. You just relax. We're going to take care of you."

I took another breath and struggled to get the words out. "Why?" They both looked at me, curiosity written on their features. Talking became easier as I spoke. "Why are you helping me?"

Justin spoke first. "Because you saved us." What? I didn't do anything to help them.

"What'd I do to save you?" My stomach was starting to throb again with every word. Penelope gave a small chuckle.

"Well, you saved the entire wizarding world. I think we owe you for-"

Justin suddenly cut her off. "Okay, she's bleeding profusely, we need to close that wound."

"And how do you propose we do that? I don't have anything to close it with!" Penelope was becoming frustrated. Her hand fell to the floor in defeat. Instead of picking it back up, she looked at the ground, curiosity overtaking her features. "Wait a minute." She brushed her hand over the dirt, her brow furrowed. I craned my neck to look at the dirt.

"This isn't dirt." Justin said, brushing his fingers over the dirt. He was right. The dirt was a charcoal gray with bits of black in it. "This is gunpowder."

I looked at him in confusion. "Why would there be gunpowder in here? We're only allowed to use knives and spears."

"Well, apparently someone's cheating." He said, still tracing his fingers over the powder. There was silence for a minute until he spoke again. "Wait a minute. I know what we could do. They taught us this in training." Training. Justin was all over the prophet about 3 years ago for enrolling himself in the muggle Army.

He looked up at me. "You have to trust me, though. This is the only way we can help you." I nodded quickly.

"I have matches in my backpack. I'm going to have to spread the gunpowder on the wound and we're going to have to burn it." My heart stopped and I immediately shook my head. What the hell was he talking about? You can't burn an open wound! "Just trust me. It's not pleasant at all. I know it sounds crazy, but it will work. It'll seal the wound shut with burned skin. It'll keep it from bleeding." I stared at him, wide eyed. I didn't know what to say.

I gulped, debating whether to tell them thanks for trying to help and to leave, or to trust Justin and burn the wound. I was about to tell them to get lost and let me die, but suddenly thought of Ron. He would want me to do anything to survive. I sighed deeply. If this was what it took to get back to him, then I would do it.

I closed my eyes and nodded. Justin pulled a match out of his bag as Penelope gathered a handful of gunpowder. My breathing increased as she lifted my shirt, revealing the giant cut across my stomach. I hissed as I felt cold stabs of pain as the powder came in contact with my open skin. I clenched my fists tightly, waiting for the pain.

I looked at Justin, fear in my eyes as he lit the match easily with one sharp stroke against the cave wall. The fire ignited, flickering constantly. My heart sped up as he held the burning match above my wound. "Penelope, hold her shoulders down." I felt slight pressure on my shoulders as she pushed me back, the top of my back flat against the cave wall.

"I'm going to count to three. It's going to be agonizing, but you have to keep as still as possible." I nodded, squeezing my eyes shut again. "1, 2.." I could practically feel the heat radiating from the match as it neared my stomach. "3!"

I arched my back and screamed in agony as a white hot pain erupted through my stomach. I clutched Penelope's shoulder tightly with my free hand as wave after wave of endless torture flooded through my entire body.

I couldn't take anymore. It felt as though the fire had been burning me for an hour, though it had only been burning for a few seconds. "STOP! STOP STOP STOP! PLEASE!" I begged, screaming in pure anguish.

"Hermione, you're almost done! Just a little longer!" Penelope yelled encouraging words into my ear as blackness began to swim in my vision.

"PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU!" Justin quickly blew out the flames. The pain didn't subside immediately. My stomach felt as if the inside were on fire. I struggled to stop screaming, my screams becoming harsh, ragged breaths.

My heart stopped as another voice entered the cave.

"Well that was fun to watch."

Dean Thomas stood at the entrance of the cave, a gun in his hand, and a twisted smile on his face.