Reliving the Past, Present, and Future

Chapter 39

Hogwarts' protectors waited uneasy on the outskirts of Hogwarts grounds, still waiting for any news from Professor McGonagall and the Order.

Dozens of acromantulas had scurried directly into the protective enchantments protecting the castle and died immediately upon impact. The large arachnids eventually disappeared back into the forest but occasionally a group would come back to investigate and try again.

The giants had also tried to attack but after seeing three of their own die, they resigned to sitting outside the border and built a bonfire from nearby trees.

For now, Hogwarts was safe.

Madame Pompfrey's concern however was Hagrid knocked out cold in the courtyard.

"Horace! What's happened?"

"He - He wanted to save the bloody spiders and tried to leave!" spluttered Slughorn, sounding panicked.

"So you stunned him?!"

"No, no! Just a spell of my own creation! He's taking a - a bit of a kip."

Madame Pompfrey scowled and hurried over to Hagrid to check his vitals with a wave of her wand.

"And when should he wake up?" she asked sharply, relieved to see everything looked normal.

"Oh - well - er - everyone is different, you see. So maybe a few minutes or - er - a few hours... haven't exactly been able to test this on half-giants!"

Slughorn chuckled weakly but Pompfrey's stern expression didn't waiver. Instead, she gently floated Hagrid to the Hospital Wing muttering under her breath as she went.

***

Chaos reigned throughout Malfoy Manor.

It could be argued the Death Eaters were even more volatile under the influence as they fired spells and curses without thought.

Hermione tried staying with her team but she had to constantly produce a shield and dodge the dozens of unknown spells flying through the air. In a matter of minutes, she was separated and in a completely different part of the manor than where she started.

She had just finished handling Macnair and was catching her breath.

The ambush had gone as planned, but they were more scattered than they had hoped. Every room had a duel taking up the entirety of the space. No one knew who was winning.

She knew Harry was under the cloak, blasting spells at the backs of Death Eaters. She knew he wasn't thrilled with not facing them head on, but he needed to get around the Manor undetected and look for Nagini.

Hermione peeked behind a corner to see Charlie dueling Yaxley but immediately pulled back, a spell missing her by inches. Just as she went to charge back into the thrall, she was sharply pulled back by her braid and wand ripped from her fingers.

"Hey there, girlie."

Fear.

She thought she knew fear but hearing Fenrir Greyback whisper in her ear was a thing of nightmares.

Hermione screamed and writhed from the werewolf's grasp, but his claws around her braid were tight and too close to the scalp for her to even attempt to cut her hair with wandless magic.

He was dragging her off into what she faintly knew as the drawing room from hours of studying the floorplans of the Manor.

"Been so long since I've had the flesh of a witch," Greyback purred, throwing her hard against a wall.