Enter for the Quidditch League Competition - Daily Prophet Competition - Caerphilly Catapults - Beater 1

Prompt: Salvio Hexia – [plot point] going from wanting to harm someone to protecting them

Word count: 548

Checkmate, I couldn't lose

Hermione was trying not to breathe too loud, to not give away her exact location. She had been running for so long, she didn't even know where she was now. Harry and Ron had separated from her when they heard the snatchers coming after them.

'I just hope they are safe, wherever they are,' Hermione thought, before she heard a twig break behind her. Her heart started beating faster and her whole body prepared to run, but before she could, someone grabbed her arm and Disapparated with her before she could think of it.

"Get off me!" Hermione screamed, sending a cut hex towards whoever grabbed her.

"Stop yelling! Do you want the others to hear you?" a deep voice said from her side, but Hermione's mind was still in survival mode.

"I don't care! Let me go!" Hermione was trying to free herself, but the grip on her arm was too strong.

"I won't let go of you, so stop being so loud," the same voice said, and it entered the fog in Hermione's brain. She knew that voice. "I'm trying to help you!"

"That's very funny, when you're on the side that's trying to eliminate me," Hermione spat, not giving a damn about what this person thought of her.

The person let go of her, making Hermione fall on the floor. "For being the smartest witch of our generation, you can be pretty daft when you want to."

Hermione glared at the person, until he dropped the hood he had on, and Hermione was looking at the face of Theodore Nott.

"If I let any of those idiots grab hold of you, you would be dead by now," Theo said, and Hermione snorted. "Don't believe me?"

"Oh, I believe you. I'm just trying to understand how you're going to help me," Hermione said, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"If you're hidden, they can't kill you," Theo said and Hermione started. "That's how I'm going to help you."

"Why?" Hermione had to ask, not knowing why he was doing this. "Why would you want to help me?"

"I think you know why," Theo said, not looking at her face. He started walking around the room where they were, moving his wand in motions she knew very well.

"You're forgetting Salvio Hexia," Hermione said softly, when he had stopped. He turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "It's to protect from any hex coming our way, and it's a very usable spell."

Theo nodded, and added Salvio Hexia to the protection around the room. Hermione didn't want to dwell on the fact that a known Death Eater was helping her because he may like her, but that's a thought for another day.

"We may be able to convey a message to Potter and Weasley," Theo said, coming to sit next to her on the floor. "Not right now, but maybe in a few days."

Hermione nodded. It was more than she would expect from him. "Thank you for saving me."

Theo just looked at her, and didn't say anything. Hermione was glad for the small reprieve. She would have to think of a plan. Theodore Nott just saved her life, and she would have to help him. They were in this together right now.