Dancing With Dragons

WOOOO a double feature! I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween and has thought of some amazing costumes! I'm going as a drunk, pill popping 50's house wife! ENJOY!

CHAPTER 30: Duels for Ginny


“Get you filthy hands off me you scum.” She heard rough movement and laughter. She pushed Neville off her and evaded him as he made another grab. “Hermione no!”

She rounded the corner just as Lucius backhanded Ginny as if she were a fly. She flew onto the stone floor. She tried in vain to catch herself with the lengths of her arms. Ginny’s hair flew over her face and she made a tight noise of pain, as if she were trying to keep it in.

“Vermin!” Mr. Malfoy pronounced and Amycus giggled in brutal excitement.

Malfoy and Pansy saw her first and looked a flush with emotions. Malfoy shook his head his eyes wide in fear, but she had eyes only for Ginny and her assailants. As Ginny made a movement to get up Amycus appeared over top of her.

“Don’t move!” Hermione yelled out before she could think of a plan. She just couldn’t take to see Ginny handled so. They all pulled out their wands as Lucius Malfoy and both the Carrows turned around to face her. Amycus wheezed again.

“Hermione!” Ginny yelled. Her eyes brightened for a moment until Amycus brutally snatched her up by the hair. He stuck his wand deep into her neck and she yelped. She looked so scared. Hermione’s eyes welled up in tears from a moment. She had never seen Ginny look so helpless.

“Merlin, what do we have here? A mudblood come to rescue a pureblood traitor. It warms the cockles of my heart.”

“You don’t have a heart to warm. Let her go.” She made a couple of steps closer.

Everyone laughed. Malfoy and Pansy forced to laugh along with them. She suddenly realized Neville wasn’t at her back. Where had he gone? Did he really chicken out? Or did someone get him? She was suddenly hit with the realization that it was five against one.

She looked at Ginny who seemed to be trying to tell her something. She was looking at Lucius’ pocket and back at Hermione. She realized that is where Ginny’s wand must be. She was screwed. Even with Pansy and Malfoy only half trying it would be a miracle to take on three grown wizards with Dark Arts training.

Lucius Malfoy took something from Draco’s hand. It was a large scroll. The wooden edges appeared to be a deep Mahogany with the Ministries signature caved in each side. Lucius held the scroll with both hands and let the paper flow down. “Don’t take another step muggle born. This right here gives me the legal right to take Mrs. Weasley into the custody of the Ministry of Magic. We have proof she has been the leader of a student rebellion against Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic. And here I thought the Weasley family could sink no lower.” Ginny made deep guttural sound of anger and disapproval. “She is going to be found guilty of high treason. That is a high offense for an under-age witch. It also says I can put into custody anyone who tries to stop me as co-conspirators to high treason. Do try if you like.”

Ginny’s face was filled with such horror and puzzlement. She was trying to struggle as Amycus’ grip grew stronger. “I think we should take Mrs. Granger anyway. It’s the devil to me how she wasn’t put on the list in the first place” Amycus whizzed and looked and Malfoy. Ginny’s head spun to Malfoy too and looked confused.

“You’ll be doing no such thing,” came a voice from behind her. Hermione looked and it was Neville and several DA members including Seamus, Luna, Lavender, and Tom.

This really gave them all a good laugh. “It would be my pleasure to take you all in. Imagine Carrow these students think they can take us.”

Neville stepped up to her. She whispered out the side of her mouth. “Wand in Lucius pocket. You get it and I’ll take Amycus.” Neville made the barest of nods. Aloud she said. “I’m only going to ask you one more time to let…” And Neville took her words as an opportunity to take Lucius Malfoy down while he still held the scroll with both hands. The problem with being too confident is that is makes you careless.

“Accio Ginny Weasley’s WAND!”

Time seemed to slow down. Ginny’s wand flew from Lucius’ pocket and fell in the space between them. Lucius made a futile attempt to recapture it and the wooden handles of the scroll shattered and rolled as they hit the ground. Ginny watched her wand fly into the air for a moment. As it landed and slid against the stone floor she started to fight against Amycus with a vengeance. Hermione threw a Flipendo spell at Amycus. But with Ginny twirling them both around in an effort to lose his grip Hermione’s aim was flawed. It took both of them crashing down. Hermione saw them land several feet away. Luckily Ginny landed on top of the ruddy bastard. She started to push off and crawl away when Amycus grabbed for her foot. Ginny screamed.

“GINNY!” Hermione yelled but she was suddenly being thrown back as a bright yellow light blinded her. She tumbled backwards and slid into a wall. She was being pulled up by a large hand. She didn’t have time to see whom it was when an Immboulus charm was being thrown.

“Finite Incantatum!” she screamed. The spell shattered inches from her. It would have been a cool affect if she had time to appreciate it.

She threw a couple more spells into the crowd and was sure she had hit Alecto Carrow with a Locomotor Mortis curse. She gave the counter course to an Immboulus charm for a fifth year Huffelpuff before she delved deeper into the chaos looking for Ginny.

She flung herself to the left as a green blazing spell whizzed passed and created a hole in the stonewall. Pieces flew everywhere and dust showered upon her. There was already scorch marks littering the walls and floors. Debris was everywhere. She noticed as she headed head long into the thick of the fight that more had joined on both sides. In the back of her mind she counted maybe ten to fifteen. The advantage on there side and they needed it. It wasn’t just curses she had to avoid but flying pieces of the stonewalls, pictures, and knight armor that had once been decoration.

She saw Ginny’s red hair for a moment as the red head battled with someone Hermione couldn’t see. The distraction left her open and a curse flew by and slashed a deep cut on her thigh. It brought her down in the middle of the chaos. She didn’t dare look down and away from the fight, but she could feel blood oozing out quickly. She couldn’t see who had hit her or her surroundings well. There was smoke and flames. She needed to heal this but it wasn’t a good place to stop. She started to crawl backwards with one hand when she was being pulled up again and around a corner. The savor or assailant turned her around.

She tried to struggle until she realized it was Malfoy. He healed her wound without a word. “Merlin!” she hissed as a searing pain ripped through her body

“Quick fix. You can thank me later. Lets give them a good show!” He pushed Hermione back into the fight. As she stumbled back around the corner she could see several students were wounded and being pulled away. She could tell that Lestrange was down for the count for now and being pulled away by Pansy. A couple others she only recognized by their faces were battling. Where had they all come from? She could tell it was taking two to three students per Death Eaters and there just wasn’t enough of them. She caught Ginny again just as a spell whizzed by her. She spun. Malfoy was grinning at her.

“Petrificus Totalus!” She threw the spell outwards her arm extended wide. She aimed for Malfoy’s chest. Malfoy blocked just in time. They battled furiously for minutes that seemed to stretch on for eternity. It didn’t seem to sink in that Malfoy’s spells well relatively harmless. This was his fault she kept tell herself. At one pointed she saw Professor McGonagall who was fighting off Amycus and Alecto with a majesty that inspired Hermione. It also made some of Hermione’s tension ease. Her and Malfoy raged on.

“Obliviate!”
“Protego!”
“Reducto!”
“Locomotor Mortis!”

Neville and her were suddenly pressed back to back. He was exchanging curses with a pissed off looking sixth year Slytherin who was also a prefect. Neville finally got him with a Protego charm, which forced the confusion spell back onto the surly looking Slytherin.

“WE HAVE TO PULL BACK MIONE! WE AREN’T GONNA WIN THIS! There are more Slytherins coming!”

“NOT WITH OUT GINNY!”

He pulled her around and they both pointed their wands over each other’s shoulders. “Mobiliarbus!” “Tarantallegra!” they both screamed at the same time and shot at the assailants at each other’s back.

“BlOODY MALFOY!” Nevilled yelled. “WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE. I GOT LAVENDER TO MOVE THE BADLY INJURED…” Hermione felt her guilt raise.

“MOVE BACK. TAKE THE WINDING STAIR CASE TO THE RR. IT WILL FORCE THEM TO HUDDLE IN. DON’T LEAVE A SINGLE ONE AROUND TO FIND OUT WHERE WE ARE.”

Neville shot another curse over her shoulder. He started to pull her.

“NO, I SAID YOU TAKE THEM. I’M SAVING GINNY! REDUCTO!” Hermione screamed over the battle noises as the surly looking Slytherin came back for more. “MOVE IT NEVILLE!” She spun back around.

She blocked another spell from Malfoy as Zabini joined him when she saw Ginny being pulled away my Lucius. “OUT OF MY MALFOY!” She screamed. She couldn’t let them take Ginny or this would all be for not.

“Make it look good MUDBLOOD,” Malfoy taunted.

“NO FUCKING PROBLEM!” she roared over the blasting and whizzing. “Mobilicorpus!” The unconscious body of Goyle hurled its way into Zabini and Malfoy and took them both down. They had been expecting a frontal assault and were blindsided. She didn’t even take a second to gloat. She ran passed the boys as she saw Ginny’s flaming red hair disappear around another corner.

She rounded the corner wide, which was never wise. She had her wand pointed. She found herself in the middle of a battle. Amycus had his back to her and was taking Seamus and Luna on at once. She could see that Luna was injured and had fallen down. Her shoulder had been ripped open by a nasty curse and she was battling to get back up. Amycus flicked Seamus back against the wall with a brutal ease and turned on Luna. She was vulnerable. He made steps closer to her and she tried to pull back with her good arm. Seamus was back up, wand ready, running to Luna but he wasn’t going to make it.

“Your father is the one been writing all those nasty things about us. He can write about this! Avada Kadavra.” Just as the last syllable wormed its evil way from his lips Hermione took a swing at the back of his head. Pain exploded in her tight fisted knuckles but the curse went wide and missed Luna. The ceiling showered down stone and glass and Seamus pulled Luna to the side just in time. But Hermione didn’t have time to worry about that as Amycus spun on her. She used her other hand to cast a Petrificus Totalus spell. He lay on his back looking up at her with such hatred. Even immobile he frightened her. She ran over to Seamus and Luna.

“GINNY?!”

“HE MUST BE TAKING HER TO SNAPES OFFICE! THE FIRE PLACE!” Seamus screamed. It seemed none of them could hear well.

“FALL BACK. FIND NEVILLE AND MAKE SURE EVERYONE MAKES IT BACK!”

“YOUR NOT COMING!?”

“GINNY!” was all she replied as she made a dash for the Headmaster’s office and hoped that Seamus was right. She was dripping from sweat and her robes felt heavy and clumsy. She pulled them off and threw them as she ran. The early crisp spring air and the heavy dampness of castle felt good against her flushed body. All she could hear was the pounding blood in her ears and the ringing for heavy blasting that had assaulted her moments before. She could feel burses forming on the places of her body that had taken the most impact. Her lip was slit, the cut on her leg still hurt, and she could feel where the blood was starting to dry around it. She clenched her hand around her wand and felt a searing pain. ‘Basilisk’, Hermione thought, ‘My hands broken.’ Her wand hand none-the-less. ‘Fucking Amycus’ fat head.’

Hermione thoughts and feet were stopped when she heard. “GET OFF ME YOU FILTHY DEATH EATER!” Lucius didn’t seem to like this comment. Hermione was just happy they wanted Ginny alive.

Hermione knew she needed to do this right the first time. She might be young but she had trained under some of the most brilliant fighters and she was going to act like it. She slid her back against the wall and inched her way closer to the corner. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had both her hands wrapped around her wand to steady the painful shake of her broken right hand. She took a moment to clam her shacking injured body.

“Shut up before I make you, you little bitch…” Lucius hissed.

She peered around the corner quickly. Lucius had his back to the closed staircase of Headmaster’s office. She quickly wondered where Snape was but pushed that thought aside. Lucius had Ginny arms and wand pinned to her chest and was dragging her backwards. She was trying to kick out her legs but the man was much taller and stronger. Still she was slowing Lucius down quite a bit. She whispered a prayer and apology to Dumbledore. “If your listening let me save Ginny and sorry about that Gargoyle. I know you always loved that ugly thing.”

She took the corner tight and screamed “Reducto.” Her aim was true. The curse flew inches past Lucius Malfoy’s head and blasted the gargoyle into flying pieces. Ginny and Lucius both made strangled screamed and ducked. As Lucius maneuvered away from the flying debris Ginny’s feet touched the ground. Her screamed of fear turned into one of rage. She took her foot down hard on Lucius’ toes. He yelled out releasing his grip on Ginny and she swung an elbow back into his chest.

Ginny spun to back away from Lucius, her wand pointed, when she tripped over a piece of the broken gargoyle. Hermione was running to her but she wasn’t going to make it. Lucius’ wand raised, his face twisted hideously with vengeance and rage. His cheek was cut and bleeding. “Stupefy!” He roared.

“ Protego” Ginny yelled back and the flashing red spell glimmered and died against her shielding charm.

“Avis Oppugno,” Hermione screamed at Lucius. A flock of birds descended on him. Lucius flung his arm out to fight them off. Hermione grabbed the back of Ginny’s robes and pulled her upwards.

“We are falling back!” Ginny just nodded. The birds suddenly turned to ash that rained down on a very hazard, very evil looking Lucius.

“I’ve had enough with the games you insignificant little shits! Crucio!” Hermione was slow as her good hand was being used to steady Ginny. And Lucius was cunning and fast. Hermione barely made the glimmer of a protective shield around her and Ginny when it shattered. The spell hit her square in the chest. She released her grip on Ginny as the pain brought her to her knees.

She was screaming in long horrid, agonizing breaths. She could feel the panic, fear, and rage inside Lucius Malfoy and it ate at her insides. And even though she had felt this pain before it’s intensity gave it a new life. It felt like some was boiling her intestine and had lit her very bone marrow on fire. “Curico” He screamed again. She clutched her head between her hands as her screams started to came out in short burst. The pain stopping her from taking deep, solid breathes. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head.

In the background she could hear Ginny screaming her name. Then the pain just stopped. She moved her head to see why and her world swam. She realized she was still clutching her wand. She brought it up when she saw the faded outline of Ginny collapsed at her feet. Was she unconscious or dead?

Hermione panicked. Her heart almost stopped beating with the fear of being tortured again. She waved her wand around like mad when a large foot made contact with her chest. She hit the stone floor was a slap. Lucius’ cold, black boot pressed against her.

“I’m sick of you mudblood. I hardly care that my son wishes to keep you around for fun.” Hermione eyes grew wide. “Oh yes, he has taken to you. He is not the only one. We can all see it. He wants to have you all to himself. He wants to be the one to tame you. Beat you down till you are just a shell of the witch you think you are.” Tears trickled out of Hermione eyes. She tried to raise her wand hand. It shook violently. “Tisk. Tisk. Mrs. Granger.”

He took his boot off her chest and caught her bent, broken hand underneath it. He applied just the slightest pressure and she whimpered. But still she stared into his eyes defiantly grounding her teeth.

Lucius looked down shacking his head and smiling a twisted, broken smile. And then he stepped down. Her eyes rolled back again. Light burst inside her eyelids as pain roared through her. She heard her already broken hand crack and twist. She screamed out in bloodcurdling horror. Her hand lay twisted and useless beside her. She couldn’t even force herself to move it. Her sight was blotchy around the edges. Her hearing just ringing. There were black holes in her vision. She was fighting not to pass out from the pain.

“I can see why Amycus and Draco fight to be the one to finish you. It would be such fun to brake you, but they both forget your ultimate but unfortunate usefulness. I think my Lord will be pleased to have you both.” His raised his wand. With all his strength boring down on her and her crumbled, useless hand morbidly broken around her wand she could do nothing but shut her eyes to the inevitable

“Stupefy!” a voice rang out and then suddenly she felt a large weight crumble on top of her. It knocked the wind from her and it took her a moment to realize she wasn’t unconscious or dead.

She looked at the cold, dead looking eyes of Lucius Malfoy and started to squeal. She tried to push his weight off her but with one hand it was no use. Draco Mafloy’s face came into view and she flinched. But all he did was pull his father’s body off her haphazardly.

“Calm down Hermione he is just unconscious not dead.” He looked at her and his face softened. He pulled her up. He cradled her for a moment before they took to moving Ginny around the corner.

“What is left of them will be here any moment. It seems like most everyone got out alive. I can’t be sure there was so much chaos. But I know they have Professor MaGonagall and Flitwick locked up her classroom. I’m sure there will be a meeting and it won’t go well but if I make it out alive we have to meet up afterwards. Wait for me until I get there?” A nasty yellow bruise was starting to form on Malfoy’s jaw.

“Yes. Malfoy I…”

Suddenly Malfoy’s mouth was on hers. He grasped her face and kissed her lips with intensity. She could taste the salty sweat on his lips. Taste the dust and ash from the debris and spells that had showered down on him. She could also taste her own blood in her mouth. His hands were rough against her face but he felt real and solid. She couldn’t help it she opened up to him. It edged the pain back for a moment but he pulled away as quickly as he attacked. “You’re one hell of fighter Granger. I’m glad you’re alive. Now go.”

Malfoy spun as she sputtered, “Malfoy I’m glad you’re alive too try to keep it that way.”

He turned back. “You don’t hate me then?” He tried to smirk.

“Of course I do but I still… I’m still glad you’re alive and I need you.”

“That makes one of us.” And before she could respond to that he was gone.

She woke Ginny up. Before Ginny could come too she was pulling the girl up one armed and dragging them along. “You’re okay Ginny. It’s just me. But we got to get out of here, okay?” She tried to sound soothing but her voice came out ragged from all the screaming.

“How?”

“I’ll explain later.”

“I can’t believe we’re alive.”

“Me neither but I’m not complaining.”

Ginny chuckled and then groaned in pain. She put her arm around Hermione for support. Her right leg didn’t seem to be working. “You came for me. You rescued me.”

“Of course I did.” They maneuvered through the hallways in the dark. They weren’t far from the Room of Requirements now.

“I love you Hermione.”

“I love you too Ginny.” She felt like she might collapse but she pushed on because Dumbledore had answered her prayer even if it was in the form of a Malfoy. She had never been so happy to feel the heaviness of a body against her. A broken, scared Ginny was better than a lost, dead Ginny and Hermione rejoiced.

When Hermione reached the Room of Requirements she realized she didn’t know how to access the DA. She placed Ginny against the wall. She started to pace when Neville appeared. She placed her hand over her mouth to stop the scream.

“Sorry I didn’t mean… Merlin Hermione what happened to you.”

“Not here. I’m sure when they realize they lost Ginny they’ll come looking for us. Help me move Ginny inside and I’ll explain. Is everyone okay.”

Neville look down for a moment. “Everyone here is okay. No injuries we couldn’t fix, especially with the room but…well we don’t have all our numbers.”

“Who!?” Ginny eyes went wide.

“Not out here, right?” He scooped Ginny up in his arms and she winched in pain. “It doesn’t mean they aren’t alright. A couple of the professors got locked up for helping us out so...”

Neville paced in front of the door three times. It was amazing he could do that with Ginny in his arms, and Hermione in her weakened state still managed to appreciate that Neville had grown up and grown strong. Though he was looking kind of fuzzy she thought. Now that the adrenalin wasn’t running she could really feel the pain. She wasn’t feeling so good.

“We need to look at that hand Hermione. Come on.”

“Neville I don’t feel so…” Hermione saw black.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------