“Hermione. Get. Yourself. Out. NOW.” Malfoy whispered urgently.
“Well, well well, I daresay this is Lucius’ boy, am I correct?”
The man that had his hand closed around Malfoy’s throat in a vice like grip was staring at him with a smirk.
“Shame, shame. I see they’ve broken you. You’re working for THEM now.” He spat in disgust.
Malfoy tried to jerk away, pulling at the man’s arm.
“No. Didn’t anyone ever teach you manners, Draco?” The wizard chided, much like a mother scolding their child.
Hermione saw the look in Malfoy’s eyes. He was in agony, but it seemed like there was a fight in him. He wasn’t going to take it. He glanced at Hermione and mouthed the words, “GO”. She silently protested, pleading with her eyes, but he didn’t budge. Hermione was torn. She didn’t want to leave him there, she had to do something.
“Oh, seems you’ve brought a lovely young lady along.” The man said, surveying Hermione.
“OH. I see. Miss… Granger, is it?” He released Malfoy and began swaggering towards her.
Malfoy dove into his pockets for his wand, his hands searching desperately around.
“So you’re the mudblood. Pity.” He said with distaste.
“That’s right.” Hermione raised her chin in defiance.
The man didn’t say anything, just raised his eyebrow. He seemed amused.
“Brave, are we?” He chuckled.
“How DARE you talk to us!” screeched a voice much like Bellatrix Lestrange.
It couldn’t have been her… she’d been dead for years! No, the voice was much higher pitched, much more sinister, if at all possible. Hermione looked in the direction the voice came from, seeing what looked like an exact copy of Bellatrix. She even wore the same evil smile, taunting her. A flash of white-blonde appeared behind the woman’s head, swiftly and silently. Hermione squinted her eyes, and saw that it was Malfoy. He’d managed to find his wand and was raising it to the witch’s throat.
In a swift motion, Malfoy had the witch in a chokehold, hindering her from any movement.
She attempted to open her mouth and scream, but he’d performed a non-verbal silencing charm on her. His wand was jabbed into her throat, making a concave dent in it. The expression on his face was ferocious, like he’d be ready to kill her in any second. Much of the other Death Eaters didn’t realize this quickly enough, as Malfoy was so quick that it didn’t register. He was holding his finger to his lips, telling Hermione to keep her mouth shut.
“Filth first.” The man said as he slowly walked towards Hermione, wearing a bored smirk.
He raised his wand, opening his mouth to utter the deathly incantation.
“Stupefy!” Malfoy shouted.
The man before Hermione stopped. Hermione grabbed her wand from her robe and screamed,
“Obliviate!”
A vacant expression registered on the man’s face. Malfoy was body-binding the rest of the
Death Eaters. A slew of swear words escaped from his lips as looked at all of them.
“Granger, GO!” He yelled.
“I am NOT leaving you here by yourself!” she protested.
Malfoy’s exoression was in agony. It reminded Hermione of the time right before he’d kissed her. He’d been going on about how terrible and how bad he was. Hermione could’ve sworn she saw a tear escape his eye, but it was gone when she looked up again.
“GO. I can handle it!” His voice was strained.
She stood for a moment, lingering to see if there was anything else she could do. She nodded toward him, bowing her head in sadness.
“Come back safe, please.” She said in a barely audible voice.
Draco said nothing. He merely looked at the ground where the body-bound Death Eaters lay. She began to disapparate, and just before she left, a hooded figure was right behind Malfoy, raising his wand.
