Would You Like A Hand?

20 | my friends

"And then I was alone again. I guess you know the rest," Draco's eyes held nothing. It seemed he couldn't feel anymore, either.

Hermione wanted to sympathize.

At least, she thought she did.

She couldn't bring herself to, because what did she expect from this world? It was cold and dreary, grey and covered in red blood, silent and full of awful screams.

Here they stood, in the kitchen of a tiny orange house, full of rotten food.

Arguing.

With a jolt, Hermione remembered an old saying: be the change you wish to see in the world.

All of a sudden, she was remembering the things she did in school - starting S.P.E.W. and Dumbledore's Army, working against the prejudice as a mudblood, and even something as small as returning the time turner because she knew it was too much to handle - even for her.

She had to start somewhere. She hadn't been doing a good job of working with Draco, but she decided on the spot that she would start over.

"You wanted to know some things," she stated bravely, but with the force of a rubber band, all the energy left her and she was tired again.

"I can tell you my story," her shoulders dropped, exhaustion a big part of why.

Draco, surprised at the sudden change in behavior, raised an eyebrow at her.

She ignored the look, held her breath, and drowned herself in memories.

After Harry, Ron, and Hermione left Hogwarts, they headed for Malfoy Manor.

Maybe it was a stupid plan, but they thought they could scout out the place and see what they were up against - after all, Voldemort was a mere human now; all the horcruxes had been destroyed.

And Hermione was feeling brave after Bellatrix's death in the war.

The trio had traveled through forests and large areas that didn't have many manmade influences to avoid most of the undead.

They couldn't apparate anywhere in fear of appearing in the middle of a mob of undead (let alone the loud pop that always came with it), and flooing meant the same thing.

Although they did try to floo, picking their destinations carefully.

Flying was a last resort option. Not only was Hermione still against flying, it would have meant the trio could be easily spotted in the air by Death Eaters.

So they traveled by foot, heading for enemy territory.

The journey there was hindered by vicious undead, daily nightmares, and the occasional panic attack.

This was when Hermione had figured out that she would need to be woken every hour to prevent seeing Bellatrix in her dreams. Sometimes, the dead Death Eater visited her regardless, but for the most part, Hermione was okay with one hour intervals of sleep.

She never did find out if Harry had nightmares, though.

Other than those few trials, the trip was uneventful. The three of them discussed plans at night when they were safely enclosed in some sort of shelter, and were silent by day - at least, they tried to be silent.

Ron and Harry liked to talk.

When they'd arrived at Malfoy Manor, the trio noted that quite a few Death Eaters were patrolling the area, but not as many as they'd originally thought were still alive.

Strangely enough, undead were also all over the lawn, trying to get at said Death Eaters. It seemed they couldn't differentiate between friend and foe.

Carefully, the Hogwarts students scouted the outside, gathering as much information as they could. Harry wanted to break in, ever the stupid, impulsive kid he was.

He thought he could get in undetected and defeat Voldemort - but Harry would never use Avada Kedavra, Hermione knew. So how did he expect to defeat the villain silently and get out unseen? There were too many Death Eaters for just the three of them.

Ron agreed with Hermione, not wanting to die so soon.

"I understand you want to be done with the guy, but this is just bloody stupid. Did you lose brain cells on the way?" the redhead had scolded Harry.

Reluctantly, Harry decided that it was indeed a bad idea and compromised with them: "Alright, but we're going back to Hogwarts right away and letting everyone know that he's at his weakest right now. We've got to strike before he regains strength."

So they decided to head back to their school, retracing their steps.

Hermione would never know why they always seemed to swim in bad luck.

It was two days after they left the area when they were attacked by a couple of Death Eaters.

No one knew how the dark wizards had found them.

The trio had been halfway back to Hogwarts, traveling through a forested area. They were walking along a river, hoping the sound of rushing water would drown out their conversation.

Hermione couldn't remember what Ron and Harry had been talking about; she only recalled the Death Eaters sudden appearance.

A spell had narrowly missed Ron because he had tripped ungraciously over a large tree root.

Harry reacted immediately, putting up a shield.

A few more curses hit the shield before Ron clued in that they were being attacked, and the trio ran, trying to stay together.

"Protego!" Hermione repeatedly summoned shields as curses were thrown (Ron hurling a few curses back), and at one point, Harry had the time to get his and Ron's broom out of their enchanted bags.

As soon as she saw them, Hermione dreaded the thought of flying, but she didn't have a choice. The Death Eaters were already on their trail, so it didn't matter if they were seen in the air now.

Hastily, the boys mounted their respective brooms and Hermione got on behind Harry.

As they took off, though, Ron shouted a warning, but Harry and Hermione were still hit.

The two fell, Harry's broom flinging away. Hermione saw her friend land hard on the ground, but she had fallen into the river and was carried away.

The last thing she saw was one hooded Death Eater aiming for her, but another shout from Ron opened a shield in her direction and her enemy was distracted.

Frantically, she looked around for something to grab onto, but there was nothing in reach.

She drifted further and further away, until she didn't know where she was anymore, and when she finally drifted ashore, she collapsed in exhaustion.

Alone.