The Houses Competition

House: Slytherin

Class: Herbology

Prompt(s) [Action] Sneaking around [Location] Woods (Small forest)

Word Count; 2124

Beta: Hope, Dhrish and Aya

Something unfornite happeneds to Hermione as the Golden Trio runs through a forest in an effort to get away from Snatchers.

Hunting Season

Harry, Ron and Hermione ran, their feet fighting for traction on the uneven ground of the forest floor as the five snatchers that had come across their campsite chased after them. Curses hurtled towards the trio, narrowly missing their mark as they ran through the trees for cover. The three frantically looked for a trail to run down; blindly dashing through the woods was too loud, with the leaves crinkling under their feet, the branches that brushed past their body, the thorns cutting into their exposed skin like razor blades and the twigs that broke off after being tangled in their hair.

The ice-cold air constricted Hermione's lungs, preventing her from catching her breath. Yet she kept running, going deeper and deeper into the unknown woods. Her legs became heavier and her pace slowed. Fear filled her heart, mostly the fear of what was to come if they happened to get caught. The fear of being tortured into madness only to be never given the sweet release of death.

She clenched her teeth, pushing the pain down as she forced her legs to keep going. Hermione knew it was hunting season and that they had more than the Snatchers to worry about. She tried to spell their feet silent, but she wasn't sure if the spell worked. Their clothes were too visible for these parts of the woods, and if some trigger-happy hunters might be able to spot them, then the Snatchers would too, and it wouldn't help if one of them ended up with a bullet in their leg.

She fought to keep up with the two boys as they kept running. It was getting difficult for them to keep together as they darted around the trees opting for narrow trails. Before any of them could realize it, Hermione tripped. She fought every instinct not to scream as her legs gave out underneath her, and she fell into a ditch that ran along the forest grounds. While the woods weren't quiet, it seemed like Hermione slipping down the debris and mulch was the loudest sound for miles around.

Harry and Ron heard the sound before they saw what was happening, turning around to see Hermione sliding down the ditch, her fingers digging into the dirt in an effort to stop herself.

Harry reacted fast, pointing his wand at Hermione and casting a silencing charm over her. The two watched in horror as Hermione landed hard on her back and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Ron's face turned into a sickening expression as he saw a bear trap clamp down on Hermione's ankle.

Harry didn't think twice as he jumped in after Hermione, followed by Ron who went straight to Hermione's side as Harry went to the bear trap.

"How bad is it?" Ron whispered as he helped Hermione to sit up, her cries being unheard.

"Looks like it's broken," Harry replied. "I'll open the trap and you pull her leg out," he instructed as he placed his hands on either side of the trap, ready to pry it apart.

"No, please no," Hermione cried, her pleas being unheard by Harry as he slowly pried open the trap. Hermione screamed once more, tears streaming down her face as she arched her back into Ron as the jaws were spelled off her ankle, blood seeping out of the freshly made wounds. Ron placed his hands under Hermione's arms and pulled her back as soon as her ankle was released, with Harry letting go and allowing the trap to snap back into place.

Hermione cried as the pain in her leg increased tenfold, looking down to see her blood soak through the bottom of her pants leg.

"We have to go!" Ron said in a panic as he listened to the crinkling of the leaves underneath heavy boots, signalling that the Snatchers weren't far behind.

Harry shook his head. "We'll never make it, not like this." Harry grabbed Hermione's bag from her waist and started to dig through it.

"Just go, leave me," Hermione mouthed.

"I can't hear what you just said, but I can probably guess and it's not going to happen," Harry said quickly as he pulled out his invisibility cloak and draped it over the three of them.

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the ditch under the cloak and watched as the five Snatchers made their way over to them. Harry assumed what had to be the leader giving out orders to the other four. "Spread out. They couldn't have gone far."

Hermione watched as the four Snatchers surrounded them, searching for any trace of where they might have gone. She could feel Ron's grip tighten around her as one of the Snatchers made his way down into the ditch and started to kick leaves and sticks about.

Harry had his wand up, ready to attack if they were discovered, but after half an hour and several close calls, the Snatchers decided that they weren't worth the trouble and started to head back. Harry waited until the five were out of sight before he took the cloak off them and let out a sigh of relief along with Ron.

With a flick of his wand, Harry took the silencing charm off Hermione. "How are you doing?" he asked softly, not wanting to take the chance that one of the Snatchers might hear them, even if they were out of ear shot.

"It feels like my leg is burning," Hermione sobbed out. "It really hurts…" She took in a deep, unsteady breath in hopes of relieving some of the pain she was feeling.

"Okay, I know this is going to hurt, but I need to fix the break so we can get you out of here. It won't be long until they come back," Harry said sympathetically, remembering when Luna had fixed his nose at the beginning of his sixth year. He grabbed a branch off the ground and handed it to Hermione. "I'm going to need you to bite down."

Hermione took the branch from Harry, her hand shaking as she brought it up to her mouth and bit down hard. Her teeth bitting through the bark as she closed her eyes tightly. She felt Ron move his arms over her chest and stomach, holding her against his chest.

"Alright...I have to take your shoe off, so bear with me," Harry said before undoing the laces and carefully sliding the shoe off.

Hermione tried her best to keep her cries to herself as her foot was pulled out of her shoe, biting hard on the branch, the branch cracking from the pressure of her teeth.

"Alright, on the count of three," Harry said as he set the shoe down and pointed his wand at Hermione's ankle. Taking a deep breath, Harry started to count, "One...Two..." Looking up at Ron, he cast the spell, "Episkey."

Hermione screamed into the branch as her bone snapped back into place like a rubber band snapping back after being stretched.

"What happened to the number three?" Hermione said harshly after spitting the branch out. "You said you'd count to three, so where was three?"

"I must have forgotten the number three," Harry said with a bit of a smirk, in an effort to get Hermione to forget her pain. In Harry's experience, anger was more powerful than pain. He inquired, "Do you think you can make it back to the tent?"

"Do I have much of a choice?" Hermione snapped.

"Not really, no," Harry said as he got up to his feet, brushing the dirt from his pants before taking Hermione's hands. "On the count of three...for real this time," Harry added after Hermione shot him a dirty look.

"One...two...three," Harry counted, pulling Hermione to her feet with the help of Ron.

Hemrione let out a moan once she was pulled to her feet. Even though her ankle was no longer broken, the bear trap had still done a lot of damage and she knew enough about healing to suspect there would be swelling.

"Once we get back to the tent, we'll heal you, and then we'll leave," Harry murmured, placing his arm around Hermione's waist, lifting her up a little so her ankle didn't have to touch the ground.

...

Hermione didn't realize how far they had run, but judging from how long it was taking them to get back to the campsite, they had run for quite a while. Hermione was finding it more and more difficult to keep going. Traveling through the woods on one foot wasn't easy; with every tenth step, Hermione would trip over an unseen root, which wasn't ideal since they were still trying to keep quiet.

Once the three got back to the big tree that was intertwined with another, Hermione stopped. "I can't," she cried, out of breath. "Please...I need a break, just a couple of minutes."

"We can't take the chance. We have to get back," Harry explained as he tried to push Hermione forward only for her to collapse into Ron's and Harry's arms as her one good leg finally gave out on her. "We have dittany in the tent and that should help with the pain."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, knowing that she was putting her friends in danger. The longer it took them to get back to the campsite, the more likely it was that the Snatchers would be able to find them again.

"Alright…" Ron spoke, out of breath himself as he passed Hermione off to Harry, before getting down on his knee in front of her, presenting his back to Hermione. "Get on."

"Are you serious?" Hermione questioned.

"Yes, it's a serious piggyback. Now, get on," Ron said.

With Harry's help, Hermione was able to climb up onto Ron's back with him placing his arms under her knees before standing up.

"You good?" Harry inquired, and Ron nodded before he continued walking.

The trip back was much easier on Hermione, and almost half an hour later, the three arrived back at the campsite. Harry did a quick check with a wave of his wand to make sure that no one was around. "Alright, let's be quick," Harry said as he entered the tent, followed by Ron who set Hermione down on her cot.

As Harry went around quickly packing up their belongings, Ron grabbed the dittany from the table and got back to Hermione, kneeling down in front of her and rolling up her pants leg.

Hermione hissed as the bottom of her jeans rubbed against the jagged wounds on her ankle.

"I'm sorry," Ron said sympathetically as he unscrewed the top and took the eyedropper out.

Hermione braced herself, biting her lower lip as Ron squeezed the contents of the potion out. Her wounds hissed and smoked as the potion cleaned and then closed her wounds, leaving slight scarring behind in its place.

"I'm sorry, I should have been looking where I was stepping." Hermione said, feeling embarrassed that this had happened to her.

"You're always taking care of us," Ron responded. "It's about time we returned the favor."

Hermione just nodded. The idea of needing care was humiliating, but if this last year had taught her anything, they needed each other. For now she would take a moment to sit still. There would be more work to do as soon as she was okay to move.

"How's the ankle?" Ron asked as he took out a long bandage from the first aid kit and started to wrap Hermione's foot in order to help with the swelling.

"It's a little tender but a lot better from what it was. I should be able to walk" Hermione answered as she wiggled her toes a little, feeling a slight sting as she did.

"It will be best if you didn't, you need to keep it rested for the swelling to go down." Ron explained.

"We don't have the luxury of resting, we need to keep moving." Hermione said "It's just a little tender, I will be fine."

"As soon as we find a new place to camp you will be resting, allowing Ron and I to take over for a while" Harry charmed in, throwing their bag over his shoulder "Come on, we need to go before they come back."

Both Ron and Hermione nodded with Ron helping her to her feet. Hermione shifted her weight on her good leg, nodding to Ron and Harry to show that she was alright to continue on. Limping out of the tent with the help of Ron as Harry waved his wand to put the tent down and packing it away before making his way over the two.

The three of them took each other's hands and apparated, hoping that they would be safer somewhere else.