By Reason Of Birth

The Discovery

Blaise and Theo had left the Transfigured ballroom five minutes or so after Jacob Bones had seen Draco leave, it having taken most of that time to make his way across the room of men to where Theo was speaking with Alistair Hooper from the Magical Law Enforcement Department in the Ministry.

They didn't know where Draco would go, but decided to check on Hermione first, just to be safe. When she wasn't in her room, they knew that she was in her new favourite place.

They were almost there when they heard voices and knew that Draco had gotten there first. They ran towards the clearing, assuming that they would have to break up a small spat. What they saw when they entered the clearing neither was expecting, and it made their blood turn cold.

Hermione and Draco were standing less than a meter apart, her wand on the ground and his limp by his side, both with looks of pure shock and horror on their faces. Hermione was staring into Draco's eyes, her hands holding her chest as she shivered in the warm night, her face becoming a deathly pale. Her hands, as well as the entire front of her white peasant top, were covered in blood and right before their eyes she slowly dropped to her knees, the quick blood loss draining the strength from her body.

"You fucking coward," she managed to whisper to her attacker before she fell to her side, faint from blood loss.

Draco was knocked out of his stupor as he knelt on the ground next to her, telling her that she had to wake up and that he didn't mean it. He didn't hear Theo and Blaise run up to them, Theo throwing himself on the ground next to his sister to look her over, but even in her unconscious state, her hands would not move from her wound.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" Theo shouted to Draco, who was now sitting on the ground a meter and a half away, rocking back and forth, shaking his head and muttering the same phrase repeatedly under his breath, as if it was the only thing he could think of, but couldn't say aloud.

When he didn't respond, Blaise turned his attention to Draco even as he continued to stroke Hermione's hair in an effort to get her to respond to him. He crawled over to the other boy until they were practically nose to nose. "Draco, tell us why you want us to get Potter and what you did to her before I put you in a condition far worse than the one she is in right now." There was no room for doubt in Blaise's voice that not only would he deliver on his threat, but he would do it tenfold.

"Sectumsempra," Draco whispered before repeating, "get Potter," his voice just loud enough to carry over to Theo, who gasped before his expression turned to granite.

"Lammy! Imisin! Epidia! Glippy!" Theo called out, and within seconds all four of the family's house-elves were in front of him. "Lammy, go to number twelve Grimmauld Place and bring Harry Potter here. Glippy, get as much Blood Replenishing Potion as you can from the potion stores. Imisin, Epidia, tell my mother and father that Hermione has been hurt very badly and they need to send everyone home but Lucius Malfoy, then bring them here as well."

The house-elves all looked at Hermione with wide, worried eyes before disappearing to follow their orders. Glippy was the first back, and Theo immediately poured one of the potions down her throat. "We should take her to Mungo's," Blaise said, his eyes watery with unshed tears.

"No! They can't help. Potter will know what to do," Draco said, paying more attention to what was going on around him and they had thought.

"Why are you suddenly obsessed with Potter?" Theo bit out.

Draco didn't answer him though, instead he just continued to sit on the dirt in the fetal position, his rocking never having stopped. Blaise had his wand trained on the blond, about to hex him for all the help he was being in the situation that he had created, when Lammy came back with Harry in tow.

Harry looked around the small clearing, taking in every detail. "What did he hit her with?"

"Sectumsempra."

"Fuck!" Harry swore. "Why the hell would you of all people choose that curse?" he yelled at Malfoy, though he didn't expect an answer. "Can your house-elf take me to Snape's?"

"No," Theo answered. "Snape's house is warded against house-elves. What does he have to do with anything?"

"It's his curse, he created it, and as far as I know, he's the only one who can heal it properly. Can your elf at least take me to the Apparation point?"

"Yes, that she can do. Lammy, take Harry to the Apparation point and wait for him and Snape to return."

Almost the exact second Harry and Lammy disappeared, Epidia arrived with Caoilinn, who practically fainted herself at the sight of her daughter. "What happened?" she asked, taking Blaise's place at Hermione's head.

"She and Draco were fighting and he cursed her. Harry's getting Snape now; apparently he's the only one who can help her."

"How would he know that?" she asked, her head clearing as the initial shock wore off.

"I don't know." Theo glanced over to Draco, but he didn't look as though he was going to rejoin the conversation any time soon. "Is there anything we can do to try and stop the bleeding without using magic?"

In response, Caoilinn moved closer to her daughter's wounds and pulled her slick hands away from them. Both she and Theo gasped at the wound, which was quite deep and started at her collarbone, crossing her old scar, and ending underneath her left breast, the cloth of her shirt having been cut open as well.

Caoilinn took her son's hands and placed them at the upper part of the wound before putting her own at the lower portion. "Gently apply pressure... not too hard... good," she said, having learned the Muggle technique during Brisco's Death Eater days. The wound was rather wide, and the feeling of the inside of Hermione's skin was almost more than either could take, but neither were going to stop in their efforts.

"Blaise," Caoilinn called, not knowing where he was even though he was kneeling right next to her, all of her attention on Hermione.

"Yes," Blaise responded, letting her know where he was.

"Can you conjure a warm blanket for her, she's getting cold."

Within seconds, Blaise had a thick blanket with a Warming Charm covering her from the waist down.

"Thank you. Please conjure one for Draco as well, I think he may be going into shock," Caoilinn requested, her eyes never leaving Hermione's wound, which was still bleeding, though not quite as badly as before.

Blaise wanted nothing less than to do anything that could help the person who cursed Hermione, but he did as he was told, feeling at a complete loss that he couldn't do more.

Chapter End Notes:
thanks to the readers, reviewers, and lupie beta.