"Why exactly have we not thought of this before?" She heard him ask, opening her mouth to answer before snapping it shut again.
"I'm… not sure, actually. It would have certainly saved us some trouble before." She said shrugging, unable to stop herself from glancing at his right thigh, where the bullet had struck him not three weeks ago. He'd recovered rather quickly thankfully, and by now he seemed like he was back to 100 percent. A muggle would surely have needed a few months to recover from such an injury, but magic worked wonders in this regard.
"Huh… Well, now we know for the future, don't we?" He responded to her words, and she had to manually drag her attention away from his near-fatal wound to the conversation at hand.
"Indeed. Are you certain we should return back here after we're done?" She asked, bringing the topic from their way of transportation to the cabin that had been their home for more than a month now. Hermione could almost say she'd grown to like the place, despite the lack of space, proper heating and certain necessities. Like a shower, or toilet. Living off cleaning charms certainly didn't leave you dirty, but she didn't feel entirely clean either.
"Do we have a better alternative?" He volleyed the question back, and she shook her head in the negative.
"Then I suppose we'll stay here a bit longer. It's not even that bad now that the days are starting to get warmer." That much was true too, the first few days of February proving to be surprisingly warm for this time of year.
"Have we got everything?" She asked just before they were about to leave, after having already triple-checked to make sure they indeed did have everything. Before Harry could answer, she mentally went through the stuff they agreed they'd take with them.
"We have our wands, I have the cloak and the locket, and the tent is in your backpack. That should be all we need if everything goes to plan, and the tent should make do if something goes wrong." She nodded at this, steeling her nerves for what was to come. From what Kreacher had told them there wasn't really anything to worry about, but she had a bad feeling about this. Something about it just felt… wrong.
Harry, probably seeing her shaking hands and clammy skin, walked right up to her, taking her hand in his own and giving it a comforting squeeze. That, too, was something she had to get used to again, her rather stupid two-week abstention from touching him still fresh in her mind. To say she felt stupid for how she'd acted would have been an understatement, and she cringed as she remembered her actions from not a week ago.
After Harry's near death, something simply clicked into place in the days after, and all of a sudden she was seeing her best friend in an entirely different light. It was a similar feeling to what she had felt for Ron at the closing end of the previous year, only it was much stronger with Harry. She supposed a part of it had to be due to her just getting along with him better. That, and their closeness over the past month and a half certainly had an influence too. For Merlin's sake, they had been sleeping in the same bed, or tent, for the past month and a half.
In any case, she had somehow managed to fall for her raven-haired best friend, and too afraid her feelings would mess up their friendship, she had pulled back from him. That had been a terrible decision, and she was incredibly glad Harry had the courage to call her out on her behaviour. She dreaded that talk more than anything in her life, she remembered. She was certain Harry would call her weird, or maybe even laugh at her.
But he was Harry, kind and understanding as usual, and his words had somehow managed to just make her like him more. He hadn't outright rejected her either, and he had even entertained the idea of them being something more. She fully understood his reluctance despite not agreeing with his reasons, but she was still more than happy with their agreement. Getting out of this mess alive was priority number one, and everything else, including figuring out whatever they might be would come after.
"You ready?" Harry asked her, and she put everything but their mission out of her head, nodding sharply. She was still nervous, and that ominous feeling still persisted in her gut, but with Harry next to her, she calmed at least somewhat.
"Let's do it." She gave the response, her voice strong and steady, and Harry gave her a comforting smile.
"Kreacher!" He shouted into the air, and the small elf almost immediately popped into existence.
"I need you to take us to the cave, as we discussed." Harry commanded, but Hermione was glad to see his tone was devoid of any hate. The old elf bowed at the request, before replying with a simple; "As Master commands." He proceeded to walk up to them, grasping Harry's leg. He hesitated for a moment on grabbing her own, before reaching over and grabbing a fistful of her jeans, a disgusted expression on his face.
A split moment later, Hermione felt like she was being squeezed in all directions, before hitting the hard rock ground with a loud thud. Harry hit the ground next to her, while Kreacher didn't look bothered, standing by and observing with a barely concealed frown. Hermione got back to her feet, giving Harry a helpful hand before dusting off her clothes and casting a quick Lumos.
Just as Kreacher had described, the pair had found themselves in a cave, only glistening rock visible around them. The cave led somewhere into the dark void behind them, while the path in front was blocked by a wall. She looked at Kreacher inquisitively.
"You didn't mention a wall." She said accusingly, but the small elf didn't seem perturbed by this.
"Apologies, I forgot. It is rather simple to get past, all one needs is a drop of blood." Kreacher said eyeing her before both of their eyes went to a grumbling Harry, who had already brought out his pocket knife. He was about to cut into his palm when Hermione grabbed his wrist, halting him.
"I'm not about to let you do it, so let go." He said in clear exasperation, but Hermione merely flicked his forehead at that.
"I wasn't going to argue for that."
"You weren't?" He asked, confusion clear in his voice as he looked back at the blade of his knife.
"No. But cutting your palm is a terrible idea. Rather, you should cut the back of your hand, or better, the upper part of your forearm. It'll hurt less." She prattled off, her cheeks warming up as Harry's amused expression centred on her. She tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear, before urging him on.
"Come on then, we don't have all day." She said still avoiding his gaze, but her teasing tone soon turned into a hiss of pain on his behalf as he cut a short shallow line into his forearm. He next turned the arm towards the wall, squeezing the wound to produce a few drops of blood. The wall lifted just as she cast an Episkey, closing his shallow wound.
The place they walked into next was some sort of a ginormous cavern, a lake covering its expanse and a small artificial-looking island in the middle of it. There was no bridge connecting the island to where they were standing though, and Hermione could see no boats in the lake, so she once again looked towards Kreacher for help.
"The boat is this way, Master." The elf spoke, leading the pair towards a specific part of the wall, suddenly revealing a boat that had been hidden there. Hermione looked over at Harry, nodding as the pair followed Kreacher in boarding the small wooden boat. So far, everything was going to plan, and with the small exception of the wall, everything seemed exactly like Kreacher had described it to them.
As Harry oared them towards the island, Hermione observed the water around them, still and calm but for the ripples created by Harry's paddle strokes. A moment later there was a splash to the side of the boat, and Hermione screeched as she spotted a humanoid figure in the water. Harry nearly dropped the oars at her screech, now looking with growing panic at the water around them.
The water was filled with bodies, hundreds of them surrounding them, and Hermione's brain managed to just about inform her that she was looking at Inferi before being overwhelmed by her growing panic and fear.
"These are Inferi." She said as much aloud, looking towards an ashen-faced Harry for support.
"Kreacher." Harry said in a tightly controlled voice, a warning clearly written in the way he spoke it. Despite the detailed conversation they'd had with the elf surrounding this place and what they'd find, he had seemingly forgotten to add this small detail.
"Forgive me Master, it has been a long time since I was last here." Kreacher said calmly, and Hermione was certain she saw a corner of his mouth twitch. Her bad feeling intensified.
"Harry, maybe we should turn around and leave." She said overwhelmed with sudden panic, her eyes still staring at the bodies littering the water around them. Harry paused to look around them for a few seconds, before shaking his head and resuming his oaring.
"We're nearly there, and they seem dead. We should be fine as long as we don't fall in the water." The voice he replied in was anything but confident, and Hermione didn't have the courage to tell him that the Inferi were in fact indeed dead. Yet even dead, they were still one of the worst magical beings a wizard could stumble on, or that was at least what Magical Creatures and Beings, written by Marcus Gr- She forcefully stopped her train of thought, interrupting her running mind and focusing on the present.
It took them less than 30 seconds after that to reach the island, the boat hitting the rock with a loud thunk that resonated through the empty cavern. They waited in a tense silence for a few moments, but after the water remained calm Harry stood up, walking over and jumping from the boat to the island. He offered her his hand, and she gratefully took it, joining him on solid ground. Kreacher hopped off last, his eyes already trained on the raised pedestal in the middle.
"Kreacher, what is this?" She asked as she took a better look at the pedestal, a small stone basin in its centre, some kind of a fluid filling it. The small elf was looking at the basin with a morose look, before tearing his eyes away and looking directly at her.
"The final obstacle."
"What is that supposed to mean? You said the Horcrux would be here." Harry said harshly, moving to look into the basin while Hermione waited for Kreacher to elaborate.
"The Horcrux is here, but whoever wants it needs to drink the water in the basin." The elf said with a small smile, and Hermione's gut was beginning to churn. This, too, was something the old elf had forgotten to mention in their talks.
"Is it poison?" Harry asked looking at the fluid curiously, while Hermione took a fearful look back towards the still water.
"No, Master, it will not kill you. But for you to get the Horcrux the entirety of the water must be drunk." Kreacher said, and it was only as Harry nodded and approached the basin that Hermione's mind spurred her into action.
"No, Harry!" She exclaimed, walking over and putting herself between the pedestal and him. Harry simply raised one eyebrow, crossing his arms.
"We haven't gotten this far to turn back now Hermione. We need to get this Horcrux." He said simply, as if he was completely okay with risking his life. Then again, she shouldn't be surprised, she thought bitterly, he did this on a regular basis.
"What if the liquid kills you, Harry? Or, or makes you… blind, or paralyzed or something!" She hissed his way, the wrongness in her gut increasing by the second. Something about all of this felt… off.
"Kreacher said it won't kill me. Come on Hermione, we've gotten this far, we can't give up now."
"Yes, yes, we can. We can leave and inform Dumbledore. Please, Harry." She was quite literary begging him now, having ignored her inner voice once already and not willing to do so again.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but I'm doing this."
"Then I'll do it." She said determinedly, under no circumstances willing to allow him to do this, to put his life in danger again. Harry was starting to look annoyed now.
"You are the only one with a usable wand, and as such you need to keep me safe while I drink this… stuff." He said, and she cursed him for somehow having a clear enough head to use logic against her. She chewed her bottom lip hard enough to taste blood, but before she could reply he walked right past her, leaning over the basin.
"Conjure me a cup please, will you." He said whilst looking inquisitively at the innocent-looking fluid in the basin. Her heart was pounding, her breathing was rapid, and she had half a sense to hit him with a stunning spell. Her own instincts warred with the ones that told her to trust Harry. But while she trusted Harry implicitly, she certainly didn't trust Kreacher, at least not anymore. The elf was no longer standing by motionlessly either, having approached Harry and conjured up a cup of his own.
"Here, Master." He bowed as Harry took the cup from his hands, looking over at Hermione with regret in his eyes.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but I must do this. With the Horcrux inside me, my life's worth much less than yours anyway." She gasped at that, his words cutting her like glass, but before she could give him a piece of her mind, he sunk the cup in the fluid, brought it to his lips and took a large swig. She was just waiting for him to drop dead, her heart beating at a million miles an hour.
But Harry merely frowned the slightest amount, before refiling the cup and emptying it again. He did this for two more cupsful, before faltering, his hands shaking like leaves in the wind and his face growing pale. He seemed like he was fighting against himself, one part of him telling him to drink the fluid and the other preventing him from doing so.
"Harry…?" She asked shakily, approaching him and shaking his shoulder, receiving no response.
"Master has to drink the entire basin, or he will die." Her head whipped around to look at Kreacher, the small elf looking incredibly smug next to them. She swore loudly, before turning to face Harry again, her concern rapidly changing to pure fear.
"Harry, you have to drink it. Come on." She said in a low whisper, at which he nodded and filled the cup again, reluctantly bringing it to his lips and emptying its contents. His entire body was shaking now, and Hermione could see a tear slip from his eyes. Whatever was happening was beyond bad, Hermione knew, because Harry never, never cried. She cried out as he nearly fell over, only her timely intervention preventing it.
"I don't wanna. Don't… make me." His words were barely intelligible, but they broke her heart regardless. She glanced towards a still-grinning Kreacher, anger and helplessness mixing in her gut. She steeled herself against his pained whispers, refilling the cup and making him drink another cup full. His pain only seemed to intensify at that, and to her it looked like he was trapped in some horrible nightmare, seeing things she couldn't even begin to understand.
"C-can't I drink the rest?" She was openly crying as she asked Kreacher, the elf simply shaking his head. "No, Master must do it alone. Master must drink it all or he will die." She'd never wanted to kick a house elf before, but Kreacher was severely testing her patience at the moment. Instead of violence, she lowered the cup into the fluid with shaking hands, bringing it to Harry's mouth again.
"N-no, not Cedric. Kill me, please, not him. S-sirius..." His sentences were making less and less sense by the second, and Hermione was just barely holding on to her thinly held composure as she watched Harry suffer so terribly. They should have called Dumbledore, should not have been so rash and unthinking. So arrogant too, she knew, bolstered by their success in finding the locket. As she tipped the next cup-full down Harry's throat, he snapped his head around to look at her, his eyes wide and glassy.
"No more, please. J-just kill me, please! Kill me!" Hermione felt her knees wobble at that, and her vision was now so blurry she could hardly even see him.
"Y-you must drink this. I-I'm so sorry, so sorry. It's the last one. Just one more." She babbled, refiling the cup with the last of the fluid and bringing it to Harry's mouth. He drank the contents, convulsed and collapsed to the floor, motionless. She watched on in petrified horror, certain she had just killed her best friend.
She dropped to her knees next to him, immediately checking for a pulse. To her immense relief, she found one right away, his heart beating strong and steady. A large rock rolled away from her heart at that, but there were still two more blocking it.
"H-harry? C-come on, wake up." She shook his shoulder but he didn't wake, and her Rennervate didn't do anything either. She looked towards Kreacher for help, but the old elf was watching her dispassionately, and her plight deepened. She was beginning to hyperventilate when Harry at last moved, his eyes blinking open.
"W-water, please." He croaked as if his mouth was entirely dry, despite him just drinking several cups of water. But Hermione didn't question his demands, immediately using her wand to pour water into the cup. Only for the water to disappear. Frustrated and confused, she tried again, but the water vanished again.
Losing her patience, she chucked the cup away, using her wand to conjure a new one, filling it up with water. This seemingly did the trick, and Harry drank hungrily as she offered him the water-filled cup. Her attention then turned back to the basin, upon which a worryingly familiar locket now stood.
Her horror steadily increased as she took the locket into her hands, able to tell immediately by the lack of the slimy feeling it was a fake. All this effort and suffering on Harry's behalf, and the locket was a fake. She knew what this meant though. Her eyes went to Kreacher, and she was now barely holding back from hurting the old elf.
"Why?" She asked simply, not understanding why Kreacher would betray them.
"Master will no longer sully my Mistress' house with his presence. Or with the presence of filthy mudbloo-" Harry's order seemingly kicked in at that point, as Kreacher couldn't finish his sentence. He glared towards her and a nearly catatonic Harry, before smirking and picking up the cup she'd discarded.
"My work is done." The elf said, before flinging the cup into the lake, Hermione watching in petrified silence as the water splashed up from the impact, the sound echoing across the cave. Almost instantly there was a flurry of movement coming from the water around them, as the Inferi were awoken.
With Harry still half-conscious underneath her, Hermione felt darkness starting to close in on her, her mind running at a million miles a second but her body refusing to act. Even as the first gruesome-looking Inferi began pulling its dead body onto the island, she still didn't move or act. Marcus Greengrass, Magical Creatures and Beings, page 213, Inferi… Fire. She needed fire.
She knew of two spells that produced fire, but she felt comfortable casting only the first. With a loud shout of 'Incendio', fire burst from her wand and struck the leading Inferi, which took one more step before faltering and collapsing, its entire body engulfed in flames. But he was quickly replaced by three more, and Hermione realized with growing horror that there were way too many to fight.
"Incendio! Kreacher! Incendio! Help!" She shouted desperately towards the elf, who was still standing a few feet away, his head bowed and arms hanging limply by his side. The Inferi were now advancing on her and Harry from all sides, and she knew there was only a single spell that could save them now. She positioned herself so that she was leaning over Harry's prone body, protecting him with her own.
Clearing her mind and remembering the incantation, Hermione brought her wand above herself and cast the spell. The fire that burst through her wand as she did so was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before, and she had to use both hands to keep her wand from flying out of her grasp. The fiendfyre was more than effective however, the thunderstorm of flame that had surrounded them annihilated entire swaths of Inferi, their bodies melting as the magical fire hit them.
Kreacher, too, had disappeared in the flames, and Hermione felt a brief pang of remorse surge through her before battling it down. She tried reducing the output of fire exiting her wand, but very quickly realized why this spell was considered almost suicidal to cast unless one was an Albus Dumbledore strength-level wizard.
Even worse than the fact that she couldn't stop the fire from bursting forth from her wand was the fact that the safe space in the middle of the fire ring was slowly but surely getting smaller, the heat from the flames starting to lick at her face. Barely holding onto her wand, and with the flames about to engulf them both, she yet again used the last lifeline they had.
"Dobby!" She shouted at the top of her voice, but even then, the roar of the fire drowned it out. The 'pop' of the elf appearing was still audible however, the elf appearing a few feet from Hermione's side. She could see the look of surprise on Dobby's face as he realized their predicament, the firewall now so close she felt her eyes sting and her skin burn.
Dobby wasted no time, grabbing Harry's arm with one hand and her leg with the other, but there was no pull of apparition. Hermione, her arms aching terribly from the effort of holding onto her out-of-control wand, looked at Dobby in fear and worry.
"Dobby! Get us out of here!" But Dobby didn't do so, looking up at her with his wide eyes and shouting in return.
"Mistress must release her wand!" She realized at once what Dobby meant, and her stomach churned at that thought. It was her wand that was producing the flames, and if Dobby apparated them away now they'd just burn down their cabin once they appeared. With a heavy heart, she used all of her remaining strength to throw her wand into the air, and a moment later she felt the sensation of being squeezed through a tube.
She landed roughly on the grassy ground followed immediately thereafter by Harry's limp body, and she just about managed to move her thigh so that his head didn't hit the hard floor. He groaned at the impact, his eyes fluttering open, and she was on her knees by his side instantly. She could see their cabin in her peripheral, and she felt a modicum of relief pass through her.
"Is Master Harry Potter okay?!" Dobby's frenzied tone was next to arrive, but she ignored him altogether, all her attention on Harry.
"Harry?" She asked carefully, "Are you okay?" He blinked up at her, before giving her what was probably intended as a soft smile, but came out as a grimace.
"Probably." He slurred, "Tired…" She nodded, putting his head in her lap and starting to comb her fingers through his hair, realizing only then that her entire body was shaking like a leaf in a storm, her heart beating so fast she was wondering if it was going to jump out. They'd nearly died again…
A loud hoot alerted her to Hedwig's arrival, the snow owl coming to a landing beside Harry's head, her feathers frazzled and beak-stained red. The owl immediately pinched her fingers that were on Harry's scalp, and she yelped in pain.
"Hedwig! What…" She trailed off as her gaze followed the direction the owl was looking in, her heart stuttering at the sight that awaited her. The door of their cabin was smashed in, and just as she started putting the two and two together a blackly clad man peeked his head out of the door, his eyes lighting up as he spotted them.
"They're here!" He shouted, and one soon became three. Hermione stumbled to her feet, reaching for her wand only to grasp at thin air, only then realizing she was wandless. The three Death Eaters were approaching them casually, their wands raised and smiles on their faces.
"What a surprise!" Bellatrix Lestrange cackled as she approached, Dolohov and one other Death Eater flanking her, this unfamiliar man bleeding from a gash on his cheek. With no other alternatives, Hermione reached into Harry's coat pocket and pulled out his phoenix wand. She pointed the unfamiliar wand at the three Death Eaters, who chuckled at the sight.
"The old elf wasn't lying." Dolohov said with mild surprise on his face, and the last hints of regret over her accidental killing of Kreacher disappeared at once. The bastard had betrayed them!
"Stand back!" She growled at the approaching trio, the desperation in her voice clear. But they would be getting to Harry only over her dead corpse, that was something she was certain of.
"Drop the wand, girlie." The Death Eater she didn't know said with an amused sneer, and she tightened her hold on the wand. It was then that she was struck with an idea. It was desperate, and all it would do was change who would capture them, but anything was better than giving Harry to Bellatrix. Mind made up, she cast a silent Reparo charm over nothing, knowing that Harry's wand would instantly inform the Ministry of underage magic being cast and their location.
"Dobby will not let you hurt Mistress." It was only now that she remembered Dobby was still there, the house elf positioning himself between her and Harry and the three Death Eaters. The three Death Eaters burst into laughter, followed a second later by Dolohov bringing up his wand, purple light exiting it and flying straight towards Dobby.
Hermione's scream never left her throat, as the spell simply vanished halfway to its target. The laughing stopped instantly, the bafflement on Dolohov's face almost comical had the situation not been so tense.
"I said nobody hurts Dobby's friends!" The elf shouted with more vigour, before extending a hand and loosing a bolt of grey energy towards the unnamed Death Eater. His hastily cast Protego was like wet paper to the spell, which continued on and struck him in his chest, sending him flying backwards and into the side of the cabin. He didn't move again.
Shaking off the surprise first, Bellatrix moved to the left, chain-casting spell after spell at Dobby, but the little elf didn't seem to be having any problems in stopping them. Dolohov however turned his wand to her, purple light leaving it and flying towards her. She was certain she could have beaten the man if she had her own wand, but the Protego she had cast with Harry's was barely able to stop Dolohov's spell, the force of the hit sending her sprawling to the ground next to Harry.
As she looked back up, Dolohov was about to cast a follow-up, and she knew she was going to die. But Dolohov never managed to complete his spell, as he was hit in the face by a white blur. He screamed in anger and pain as Hedwig descended on him, her beak and talons ripping into his face. Dolohov fired panicked spells into the air, but Hedwig simply dodged them and continued clawing at his face.
Hermione, having recovered from hitting the ground, pointed Harry's wand at the besieged dark wizard, casting a silent stunner. It struck dead on, and Dolohov collapsed into the dirt. She next turned her attention to the last Death Eater standing, Bellatrix still engaged in a duel with Dobby, but the elf seemed to be winning.
"Hermione…" Harry's weak voice made her crawl over to him, meeting his gaze.
"We're fine, Harry. Hold on." She told him, before pointing his wand at Bellatrix, intending to help Dobby finish her off. The aim of her stunner was put off course by the sound of several loud 'pops', and her eyes widened as a trio of familiar Aurors appeared behind Bellatrix.
"Ministry Aurors! Hands up!" The lead Auror shouted into the air, their wands split between Bellatrix and her. Realizing they now had no chance of winning the battle, she made a split-second decision.
"Dobby! Get us out of here!" Dobby disappeared and instantly reappeared next to them, grabbing hold of her and Harry. She heard Bellatrix' enraged 'no!' whilst preparing to be apparated away.
"Avada Kedavra!" Hermione saw the spell leave Bellatrix's wand and fly towards them, but just as it was about to reach them, she was pulled into the apparition. She realized something was wrong right away, feeling like she was about to be squeezed to death even more than usual. Just as she was about to start panicking, she was ejected from the apparition, her hand still holding onto Harry's.
But instead of the familiar feeling of meeting the hard ground, her body soared through the air. It was only then that she realized they had appeared at least 10 feet above the ground, and she screamed as gravity took hold. Even in his injured state, Harry somehow managed to place himself between herself and the ground, the impact knocking all of her breath out of her.
She could hear Harry's pain-filled grunts underneath her as she tried to catch her breath, a quick look below telling her that their fall had been stopped by the front windscreen of a car, Harry lying in the middle of the bent and shattered glass. The car alarm started blaring a second later, and Hermione winced as the sound pierced through her aching head.
"H-Harry." She managed to say over her ragged breathing, going on her knees on top of the hood and leaning over him.
"T-that… hurt." He said through clenched teeth, his fists clenching and unclenching by his sides.
"Y-you okay?" She knew her question was stupid, but the pain and fear coursing through her being made clear thinking rather difficult.
"N-no." He returned with difficulty, and she reached for her wand to start casting diagnostic charms. Only to once again remember her wand was gone, and Harry's was completely useless since the Ministry could track it. If she thought they were screwed when they escaped from that hotel not a month and a half ago, then they were now capital F – Fucked.
"Dobby." She called out in a desperate voice, wondering where the small elf had disappeared. There was no response, which prompted Hermione to look around their position on top of the beeping car. They seemed to be in the middle of a large car park, cars surrounding them as far as her eye could see.
"Dobby!" She tried again with a steadier voice, but there was no distinct 'pop', only silence. Giving up on calling the elf, she grabbed Harry's shoulder, helping him push himself upwards. She knew the blaring car alarm was soon going to attract unwanted attention, and without any usable wands, they would be completely at their mercy.
The one thing they still did have, was Harry's invisibility cloak, which she extracted from her backpack and placed over them, hiding them from view. Harry seemed to be in terrible pain as she slowly helped him of off the car, his legs folding underneath him as soon as he tried standing up. His gaze seemed to be directed somewhere up ahead, his eyes wide and Hermione felt fear starting to mount up. Was he going into shock?! Was he bleeding inte-
"Dobby." Harry croaked out in an unsteady voice, and her eyes followed his gaze to a small crumpled form lying motionlessly by the tyre of the car next to the one they'd fallen on. She was stunned into inaction at the sight, but Harry moved at surprising speed on all fours, crawling to Dobby's side. He grabbed the elf's shoulder and rolled him over, a muffled sob overtaking him as soon as he did so.
"No…" She heard him say, and the sight of his eyes starting to tear up restarted her brain. She crawled over to his side, recovering him with the cloak as the car alarm behind her finally went quiet. She took a quick glance at Dobby, her emotions starting to overwhelm her. Because Dobby's pupils were blown wide open, his chest terribly still. The elf was dead.