Saving your life

Draco felt the magic of the wards as soon as he stepped in front of the blank wall, and knew beyond doubt that he had found the place. Reaching inside his pocket, he retrieved the roll of parchment Severus had given him and reread the detailed directions on how to lower the wards. Even with Severus’ meticulous instructions, the energy and concentration it required was exhausting, not to mention time consuming. Almost a complete hour had passed before he even reached the last level.

He had never seen anything like it, hadn’t even heard of wards set in such a way, layer after layer, some of them set so that attempting to lower one in any way other than the predesigned one would automatically trap him in place, activating at the same time an ‘alarm system’ that would alert the Dark Lord as to what was happening. Draco imagined that whatever it was the Dark Lord was keeping in that room, it must be every bit as important as Severus had implied to require such security measures.

*

As if everything was suddenly happening in slow motion, Hermione’s gaze moved around the clearing, watching friends and enemies fall, bleed, die. She didn’t want to see, didn’t want to recognize any of the faces on the ground, but it was so hard not to let the fear and despair take over. Instead, she aimed her wand at every Death Eater she saw, cursing them and protecting herself and others as she still searched for Harry.

Suddenly, a flash of green lit the clearing, blinding her for a second, and as she turned to the source she saw Voldemort, standing alone, his wand aimed at the sky above them as he cast the Dark Mark, and then something else, something she would never had recognized if she had not been expecting it. As he moved his wand in a slow circle, red light erupted from his wand, forming a thin like around him and then flying between the trees and out of the clearing, carrying it’s Master’s message. He was finally summoning the Inferi.

But Voldemort’s actions were not all that registered in her mind. If he was standing there alone, where was Harry? Had Voldemort’s curse killed him? Was he lying broken somewhere among the trees, finally free of the battle? Had all their hopes been lost?

She refused to believe that, refused to let her mind consider the possibility for another second. Instead, she did what she should have done from the start. Moving to a calm spot just outside the clearing, she used one of the spells Severus had taught her. With a quick flick of her wand, she focused on Harry, and let her magic guide her to him.

He wasn’t far away, but it wasn’t until she was standing only a few feet from him that she saw him. Voldemort’s curse had apparently sent him flying against a tree, and the power of the curse had been such that the impact had uprooted the tree, which had then fallen on top of Harry. With her heart beating wildly in fear, she ran the last few steps between her and her friend, all the while straining her eyes to see any movement, any sign that he was still alive, but finding none.

She stopped as soon as she reached him and knelt by his side, taking in his bloodied face and robes. The tree lay mostly across Harry’s legs, she saw, but a few of the larger branches had fallen on top of his chest, and she wondered how, or if, he could even breathe under their weight. His chest certainly didn’t seem to be moving at all. Her hand tentatively reached out to him, but she was too scared to touch him, too afraid that a simple touch would somehow worsen the already terribly looking wounds.

And then, as she felt the tears run down her cheeks at the thought of losing Harry, his lips parted in a soft groan, and his eyes slowly opened.

“Harry,” she gasped, reaching forward to touch his face and seeing him wince in pain in response. “Harry, are you hurt? Can you move?” The fleeting thought that those were two rather stupid questions crossed her mind, but she was too worried to think clearly.

“Can’t…breathe,” Harry replied, his voice so low she wasn’t sure if she had actually heard him or read his lips.

The tree, she thought; she had to get him out from under the tree, but how? Physically pushing the tree away was out of the question, and she had no idea how hurt Harry really was. What if the smallest of movements hurt him more?

“Move it,” Harry gasped, as he struggled to take another breath. Her gaze moved over the large tree again, and she realized she couldn’t use magic to move it either. No spell she could cast would be powerful enough to do it.

“I can’t Harry, it’s too heavy,” she replied, as more tears fell from her eyes. How could this happen? He was suffocating under the tree, dying in front of her very eyes, and there was nothing she could do to help him, nothing she could do to save him. She turned around, desperate to get him some help, but there was no one around them, no one that could save him. They were alone, and she didn’t dare leave him long enough to go find someone from the Order.

“Lift it,” Harry replied, his bloodshot eyes closing as the pain became too much. “Have…to…move…”

“I can’t do it, Harry,” she cried. “It’s too big, it won’t move.”

“Please,” she heard him breathe, and her own breath caught at the sight of him. She couldn’t just sit there and watch him die, she had to do something. Anything.

Standing up again, she took a step back, her eyes taking in the size of the tree as she took a steadying breath and lifted her wand. Trying hard to keep her hand from shaking, she focused on the task ahead, aiming her wand at the part of the tree that was crushing Harry’s chest and yelling, “Wingardium Leviosa.”

A slight tremble; that was all she achieved. All the concentration and strength she had managed to gather had only been enough to make the damn tree tremble. She wanted to scream in frustration, in fear, but instead turned to Harry again when she heard him groan in pain.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, stepping closer to him once more. “It’s too heavy, Harry, I can’t make it move.”

“Wand.”

“What?” she asked, confused. When his eyes opened again, she followed his gaze, then saw his right hand open and close slowly. His wand was lying a few inches away.

“Wand,” he repeated, and she rushed to give him what he was asking for, not sure how it would help. “Together,” he whispered then, and she understood, although in the state he was in, she wasn’t sure it would be much help.

“Are you sure you can do this?” she asked, even as she stepped back again, ready to try the charm once more. He merely nodded slightly as his eyes closed.

“On three.”

“Cut,” he whispered before she could even start counting, then took another short breath. “Cut. Tree.”

“What? No, I can’t, Harry. I could hurt you even more.”

“Cut,” he repeated, and she could hear the firmness in his breathy tone.

Cursing loudly, she took another deep breath in an attempt to control her nerves, then tried to decide where she could cut the tree, trying to minimize the risk of hurting Harry even more and at the same time searching for one perfect spot that would make it possible for them to lift it afterwards. It was a hard decision, one she wished she wouldn’t have to make, but she knew she had to try it, had to do anything she could to save her best friend.

Not giving herself time to rethink, she aimed her wand at the top of the tree trunk and whispered a Severing Charm, hearing the wood creak at the impact and hoping it would be enough to cut through it without cutting Harry on the way.

“Fuck,” she heard Harry cough in pain as the charm sliced through the tree, splitting it neatly in two. She wasn’t sure whether the charm had reached Harry or it was the trunk’s movement that had hurt him, but she wouldn’t waste any time wondering. If Voldemort, or even one of the Death Eaters, found them while Harry was still crushed under the tree…she didn’t even want to think about it. They had to lift the tree off of Harry. Now.

“Ready?” she asked, after a few seconds, and caught Harry’s small nod. Praying to Merlin he wouldn’t get even more hurt, she aimed her wand at the part of the tree that was on his chest and waited for him to do the same. Then, as one, they murmured the words, Harry’s lips barely moving as he concentrated on the charm.

For a few seconds nothing happened, and her eyes filled with tears at the thought that maybe she wouldn’t be able to free him, that she would fail him, but then saw the leaves shake slightly, and saw Harry take a deeper breath. When her eyes moved down to Harry’s body she realized they had managed to lift the tree almost an inch.

Empowered by the notion, she focused even harder on the task, slowly feeling the magic thicken the air around them, making the trunk move further away from him. But even after they let the piece of tree fall a few feet away from Harry and he took a pained but relieved breath, she knew they were not done, and that they had to hurry. She had no idea how long it had taken them to lift the first part, but she was sure it had been too long, and with the battle still raging on so close to them, it was nothing short of a miracle that no one had found them yet.

“We have to move the last part,” she said to Harry after a moment. “Do you think you can do it?” she asked, and waited until he nodded to aim her wand at the bottom part of the tree and cast the charm.

This time, with Harry able to breathe more freely and move his arm, it took much less time, and although she could see the pain clear in Harry’s face at every inch the tree trunk moved, only a few more moments passed before the last part of the tree was lying on the ground away from Harry, and she was kneeling by his side.

As soon as the tree had touched the ground Harry had sagged back, clearly exhausted, his eyes closed as he let go of the wand and moved his hands to his chest, rising and falling rhythmically as he took shallow breaths.

“Harry,” she whispered, her gaze moving over his body, trying to find every visible wound and think of the best way to heal them. “Harry, are you all right?” she asked. “Can you breathe properly?” When he didn’t reply, she pressed. “Harry, you have to tell me where you’re hurt. We have to hurry, someone could find us any minute.”

“My legs,” he finally whispered. “I think they’re broken. And my chest hurts, maybe some ribs too.”

“Perhaps you should use the Portkey, go back to headquarters. They can heal you there.”

“No,” he gasped, “I won’t go back. This isn’t over, Hermione. I have to kill him.”

She took a moment to process his words, the determination in his tone, and realized he was right. If he could stay there, he would. There was still much to be done, and Harry would not give up.

“Right. Bones, I can fix broken bones,” she muttered nervously as she moved closer to his legs. One was clearly broken, the strange angle in which it was bent made her cringe, and although the other didn’t look as bad the swelling around his ankle told her it was probably broken as well. “This might hurt a little,” she said, as she waved her wand over one leg first, then the other, hearing the snapping sound of the bones moving into place followed by Harry’s pained groaned.

His ribs were next, and after a quick check she noticed his left shoulder had popped out of place. She cast a few more spells over his torso, making sure to heal all the internal damage, which surprisingly wasn’t much, as best she could, hoping it would be enough. Only when she was done did Harry open his eyes again, and seemed to look at her for the first time since she had found him there.

“Hermione,” he said, alarmed, startling her. “Hermione, what’s happened to you?”

“What?” she asked with a frown, not sure what he meant. Before she knew it he was on his feet, pulling her up, his hands on her shoulders as his worried gaze moved over her, from head to foot.

“What’s happened to you? Are you hurt? Are you still bleeding?”

It wasn’t until she looked down at herself that she understood what was going on.

“It’s not my blood,” she replied softly. It took a few moments for Harry to process her words, and then he let go of her.

“What?”

“It’s Ron’s,” she explained softly. “I had to send him back to headquarters, Harry.”

“Is he…? Will he be all right?”

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “I hope he will.”

“This has to end,” Harry told her, wiping away a stray tear from her face. “We have to kill him.”

“We do.”

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

The cold voice coming from behind her froze her on the spot, and her gaze locked on Harry for a second, both of them startled, both their minds trying to find a way out.

“I do believe, Harry, that we were to settle this between ourselves,” Voldemort said. “I do not remember inviting your little Mudblood to the…oh no boy,” he hissed, when Harry launched for his wand. The next second, Harry was pinned to a tree, unable to move. “Play nice, now,” he taunted. When Hermione turned to face him, his attention went back to her. “So, after all this time, I finally get to do what I should have done so long ago,” he said with a cruel smirk, his eyes flashing crimson, matching his pleased expression. “It seems this will indeed be a night to remember.” Without another word, he flicked his wand once, a single flash of light marking her fate.

As the green flash of the curse flew towards her, time seemed to slow down once more, as if wanting to give her the chance to enjoy her last few seconds on earth. Movement to Voldemort’s right caught her attention, and her eyes flicked to the figure running towards her.

As their gazes locked from afar for a fraction of a second she saw the desperation on Severus’ expression as he ran. They both knew he was too far away to reach her in time, too far away to do anything but watch her die. This time, as the killing curse made it’s way towards her, he wouldn’t be able to push her away, take her to safety, keep her by him, and as she unsuccessfully tried to be strong, be brave, to accept what was going to happen, she realized she wanted nothing more than another day with him, another chance to be by his side, to have him with her.

Knowing there was no escape, no way to flee, no chance to Apparate to safety, she silently resigned herself to her fate. She tried to say goodbye to him without words, to somehow let him know how she felt, how much she wished they had had a chance.

But she was a fighter, after all, and although she knew there was nothing she could do to save herself she also knew that as soon as she was dead Voldemort would turn to Harry and kill him just as easily, and no one would be able to save him either. That knowledge was what kept her mind sharp, what kept her instincts running and told her to use her last seconds to give her friend a fighting chance. Turning her head to the side just enough to see him, she aimed her wand at Harry and released him from the magic pinning him to the tree, watching him fall and instantly scramble to reach his wand.

It was with a smile on her lips that she turned back to face Voldemort, her eyes flicking to Severus as the green became almost blinding.

And then fingers wrapped around her still stretched arm, strong fingers that tightened around her wrist and somehow pulled her up into the air before the killing curse reached her.

Then she felt another pull, and her body shifted and turned in midair, and she closed her eyes in both fear and relief as she felt the cold wind against her face. The next second she was upright again, as she landed on something hard. But it was strange; although she was sitting down on something as hard as the ground, and certainly as cold, she could feel she was still moving.

The sounds from the battle were fainting away, and as she moved her hands down to touch the surface she was sitting on, she felt herself sway slightly, and a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist.

“Careful there,” someone said against her ear, and she opened her eyes in surprise as she recognized the voice, yelping and grasping those arms as soon as she realized where she was. “Are you all right?” Charlie asked, when she tightened her hold on him.

“I don’t like flying,” she replied in a shaky voice, “and I don’t like dragons.”

“Well,” he laughed, as the dragon they were riding abruptly turned to the left and she yelped again. “I believe Norbert here saved your life,” he told her, patting the dragon’s neck with affection. “Maybe it is time you change your opinion of them.”

*

As the last protective ward was lifted from the room, Draco reached for the doorknob, stopping mid-motion when he realized he actually had no idea what was in there, what he would find. What if it was something dangerous? What if he would manage nothing but getting himself killed as soon as he opened the door? It was strange, not knowing what to expect, and he did not like the feeling. Whatever was in that room, it couldn’t be good.

But he wouldn’t be afraid, and he wouldn’t fuss by the door another second; he had to do what Severus had asked him to, and then he had to return to the battlefield, like he had promised Hermione he would. He was a Death Eater, for Merlin’s sake! More so, he was a Death Eater who had betrayed his Master, the most powerful dark wizard in, well, forever as far as he was concerned, to his greatest enemy, the Order of the Phoenix, and the one wizard who, according to a prophesy, would might bring him down, and one of the main reasons for said betrayal had been a Mudblood. If he hadn’t feared Voldemort, then what was there to fear now?

“Just get it over and done with,” he whispered to himself, then turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

It was a good thing that his hesitation had kept him a step away from the door as it creaked open; that was the only reason why the green flash of light that shot through it didn’t hit him.

Without stopping to think he took another small step away from the door, standing right in front of it, and then kicked it open as hard as he could. He felt it hit something hard as it opened, and then heard a pained groan, but it was the figure standing by the canopy bed that caught his attention. Hawkins, one of Voldemort’s most trusted, was standing there, facing him, with his wand aimed straight at his chest.

If he hadn’t spent the last few days training, it would have taken Draco longer to react, but being as it was, it barely took him a split second to make his decision. Falling to a crouch he miraculously dodged another curse and fired back, and although Hawkins managed to deflect his curse, it distracted him long enough for Draco to step inside and kneel behind the cover of a large wooden chest.

As if he hadn’t moved at all, as soon as Hawkins’ attention went back to where Draco had been standing, he saw him there, kneeling on the floor, apparently searching for his wand. Even after having used it many times, Draco was still amazed at how well the modified Mirror Charm worked.

Crawling to the edge of the chest, he watched Hawkins’ eyes fall on his mirrored figure, the look of anger on the wizard’s face turning into a smirk as he slowly stepped closer to the Draco on the floor, lifting his wand and aiming it at him.

“How can someone with such a clean bloodline be so inept at duelling, I wonder” he asked aloud as he stepped closer to the entrance, his wand aimed firmly at him. “Answer me!” he yelled, when the figure didn’t respond.

As he took another step closer, Hawkins put himself just a few paces from the real Draco, unintentionally giving him a clear shot. Draco didn’t waste his chance, standing and screaming “Stupefy!” then watching the wizard fall, oblivious to the other man that had been standing behind the door. There was nothing he could do to protect himself as the second Death Eater closed the door with a bang, aimed his wand straight at Draco’s chest, and then screamed, “Crucio!”

*

She closed her eyes as she felt the wind blow past her, and tightened her arms around Charlie’s as the Norbert abruptly turned again. She heard him laugh lightly at her actions, and elbowed him on the ribs, making him laugh harder.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” he laughed when she elbowed him again. “You don’t have to worry, I won’t let you fall.”

“You better not, or I will kill you,” she replied, only half joking.

The dragon was flying so fast it made everything around them turn into a blur as they moved higher and higher into the sky, and only seconds passed before she could no longer see the ground beneath them. Suddenly they were surrounded by clouds, the air clear and moist around them, and as much as she hated flying she couldn’t deny a certain charm to it, a sudden break from reality that was most welcome, if only for a few precious seconds. But as soon as the thought crossed her mind reality came crashing down on her. They were in the middle of a battle larger than she had ever seen, and she had left Harry alone to face Voldemort.

“Charlie, we have to go back,” she yelled urgently, her voice barely carrying through the wind.

“What?”

“We have to go back, I have to help Harry.”

It took him a moment to understand what she had said, and then he pulled at one side of the reins around Norbert’s neck and they were descending so fast it took her a few seconds of utter terror to realize they were not actually falling.

“Do you think maybe we can…” she started, wanting to ask him to slow down, but before she could even finish the sentence they were out from between the clouds, and the scene around them paralyzed her.

“Look out!” she yelled, when she saw a Death Eater flying straight towards them, and before she could even draw her wand she felt Charlie push her forward with his own body, both of them barely missing the curse shot by the wizard.

“Hold on tight,” she heard Charlie yell by her ear as he moved her free hand to the reins and let go of her.

Even as she held on to the dragon beneath her for dear life she felt the world around her twist and turn at every change in direction the animal made. And still, the surprise at what she was seeing somehow managed to cover the fear, and her mind cleared as her instincts told her what to do.

There were six more dragons in the air, and at least twenty Death Eaters on brooms flying around them all. By the looks of it, their battle had been going on for some time.

Sitting up straight and wrapping the reins around her wrist for safety, she turned to the side, shutting up the part of her mind that kept trying to remind her she was Merlin-only-knew how high into the air on top of a dragon and could fall any minute as she focused on the Death Eaters moving fast as lightning towards her and Charlie.

She cast a Shield Charm around them to stop the curse coming their way, and heard Charlie yell another behind her as he made Norbert turn sharply to the right, barely missing yet another curse.

As her eyes searched their surroundings, looking out for another attack, she saw four Death Eaters fall into a straight line in front a large red dragon, all of them ducking as the animal flew towards them, stopping just as it went over their heads and firing as one, hitting it on the abdomen. Suddenly, the dragon opened its mouth in a silent cry its wings freezing mid-motion; and then it was falling, too fast for anyone to do anything, taking the wizard riding it along.

“Cornel!” Charlie cried as he saw his friend fall, and then whirled their dragon around, heading for the four Death Eaters.

They were still yards from them when she felt him pull on the rains again, and felt the Norbert’s chest rumble. Then it opened its mouth and breathed a flame so large she could feel the air heating all around them. It only took it seconds to reach the four wizards; then they were enveloped by the fire, their pained screams breaking through the air as they fell helplessly to the ground.

That seemed to get the other Death Eaters’ attention, and a large group of them turned towards her and Charlie, falling into a V formation with practiced eased as they charged.

“How good are you with Shielding Charms?” Charlie asked her urgently as the wizards flew closer.

“Good enough,” she said, her hand easily twirling and flicking her wand as Charlie got ready to attack.

“Keep the shield just around you,” he whispered into her ear, as he drew a small knife and cut part of the reins. Then he was gone.

“Charlie!” she yelled, just as the first curses hit her shield. She wanted to turn around, to see where Charlie had fallen, to help him, but knew a second’s distraction would be enough for the shield to weaken and the curses to slip past.