Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or else I wouldn't be writing here.
Guess who's back with a new chapter? Me! This chapter is dedicated to "anotherboarduser", who has reviewed every single chapter Jthanks! I feel like you're the only one that's still reading this, because no one else ever reviews… Anyway, on with the story!
Hermione led Harry through the white maze with incredible stealth. She seemed to know the place by heart, and she had an incredible determination to get out of that hellhole. Luckily, they didn't find too many bully-guards on their way, and they managed to avoid the ones they saw. She was so focused that it was hard to believe that she had been one more of the dazed patients locked there only a few moments ago.
Harry wondered how long had they been out there in the hallways, maybe just a couple of minutes, maybe hours. He was too dizzy and lost to know for sure, and honestly, he didn't care. The only coherent thought that was in his mind was to follow his best friend. He trusted her completely. Even now after she had suffered some weird psycological issues, she knew what to do and acted in a brave and confident way. This girl was unstoppable.
After having walked through enough halls to make a person insane, they finally stopped in a corner. Hermione put a finger to her mouth to let him know they had to be quiet. She mouthed something like "stun the guard", so with a firm grip on his wand, he peeked his head and his wand just a little bit. He saw the side face of one of the white bullies sitting on a chair behind a counter. He carefully casted a stunning spell and knocked him out. He turned to look at his friend and gave her a reassuring nod. They both walked straight to the lobby with a confident stride. She walked to the counter, and jumped over it like it was no big deal, leaving the boy gaping at her. Apparently, she wasn't the fragile girl he had first found in that cushioned room. She quickly scanned the little squares that were marked with the patient's lastnames, but she couldn't find hers. He looked for it too, but there was nothing.
"I think it's not here" he stated the obvious.
"It doesn't matter" she sighed, "we have to go before they find out I'm gone. We'll have to make do without my wand"
"Don't worry, I'll cast spells for the two of us. Just tell me, are there too many guards out there?"
"Well, I'm not sure… I think there are only two guys at the gates, but stay ready anyway"
Taking a deep breath, he took her hand in his, and together they opened the main doors and stepped outside. In front of them they saw a huge area, green and completely open. Hermione had been right, there were only two guards at each side of the gates, and they looked like some tiny dots. They started walking, and as soon as the tiny dots became more visible, Harry stunned them. It was a straight line to the exit, but Harry prefered the white maze. They had no cover here, they were easy targets. Fortunately, the building had no windows.
When they were halfway to the exit, they heard a faraway scream that said "There! Stop them!", so they turned around and saw, in the entrance of the building, the director of the institution accompanied by several bullies. Harry, without turning to the girl, whispered "Run!"
And she did.
She turned around and ran as fast as her legs could toward the gates, without sparing Harry a second look. She was desesperate to get out. Meanwhile, Harry sent all the curses that came into his mind, knocking them all out and succesfully getting rid of the bullies in mere seconds. He was a profesional. The director was astonished and befuddled, but it didn't last long, because Harry stunned him too.
Harry turned around and saw that his friend was already at the gates, trying to open them to no avail. He ran towards her and when he reached her, he took her hand again and made the door explode with a bombarda. He could have just opened it, but there was no thrill in that.
There was a path that lead to the institution, and nothing else. It was all empty and dull field. St. Heathsburg was in the middle of nothing. They decided to run a little bit more, so they ran into the unknown as far as they could until the adrenaline wore down. When they finally stopped, he apparated them back to a familiar place.
"The Shrieking Shack?" she asked, looking around and analizing her surroundings.
"It's the first place that came into my mind"
"Harry" she said before she trapped him in a tight embrace "thank you"
As he hugged her back, he never noticed her delicate fingers grabbing his wand from his back pocket, were he had put it after apparating them there. They broke apart after a few moments.
"I couldn't have done that without you" she said with a strange smile that he had never seen before on her face. She had that tell-tale look in her eyes, the same one he had seen during her suicide attempts.
This was bad.
It all happened so fast. He saw how she raised his wand. He saw a flash. And then nothing.
Nothing but darkness