Hermione stared up at Draco, who stood in front of her, his sword blocking the blow from the other man's weapon. With a snarl, the large man pulled back to strike at Draco, but when he swung, Draco deftly knocked the sword from his hand and quickly shoved the edge of his own sword against the mans neck. "Get back!" He ordered darkly, his face brutally serious. The man obeyed, although not happily, and Hermione reached out and picked up the fallen weapon. Draco didn't take his eyes off the man in front of him until she was beside him with a sword in her hand. Only then did he glance at her. "Are you okay?" She nodded, testing the weight of the sword in her hand.
"Just a little shaken up, that's all. I wish I had some flats." She muttered, looking down at her blistered and bloody feet. "At least I have a sword now." Draco turned back and glared at the man.
"I don't want to kill you, and this castle is falling down." As if to prove his point, the castle shook again. "I think you should get out while you can and forget about us." The man sneered at him, swatting away his sword and running down the hall away from them. Draco put his sword back into the sheath and looked at her feet. "Would you like me to carry you?" He glanced back up to see her reaction and she could see the worry on his face.
"I think I can walk, although I will let you know if it gets too much for me to bear." It was only a few steps later that Hermione was limping, even though she was trying her best not to seem hurt. It didn't work, though, because she found herself being lifted from the ground. "Draco?"
"There's no way I'm letting you walk any more. You're obviously in pain, stupid. It's okay to admit it." She opened her mouth to retort, but she found she had nothing to say, so she closed it again. She felt him shift his arms around her as they began to walk. "Keep you hand on your sword. I don't know who else is in here with us." When she turned to look at him, he was looking straight ahead, a determined look on his taunt features. "We're almost in." He didn't seem to be struggling in the least, so she relaxed in his arms and looked ahead of them.
His footsteps led them down a long corridor with flickering candles, some that had gone out and fallen down from the quaking. The steps where short and narrow, and led them by windows on the left side, some of which had crumbled and left open a wall. Falling dust and some debris fell around them as Draco hurried as fast as he could down the stairs. Just as Hermione was sure the walls would close in on them and they'd never get out, they reached level ground and the corridor opened to reveal a door, now hanging ajar. People were now all around them, screaming and yelling, and trying to escape the crumbling castle with as much as they could. His grip tightened on her, and she winced. When they were finally outside the huge doors, she spoke.
"Draco, I can walk now." His eyes went to her face, and studied her for a moment. She couldn't tell what he was thinking behind the steely, stormy gray eyes.
"Are you positive?" She nodded, trying to keep his gaze. She felt so useless, and she hated it. Finally, and with a sigh, he put her down. Careful not to step on any of the sharp rubble on the floor, she touched her feet to the ground and forced herself not to wince. The pain was terrible, but she didn't want to admit it, because he'd pick her right back up. Putting her hand on his arm, she began to walk, but stopped again when she noticed Harry and Ron running up to them.
"Hermione! Thank Merlin you're okay! What took you so long?" Ron held her shoulder and looked her over, his face strained. Harry was completely dressed in his armor, sword in hand.
"The castle is about to come down!" Someone called out from a spot on the wall. In panic, people began to shove others out of the way, trying to get out.
"Princess!" Hermione heard someone yelling over the crowd and turned to see her maid rushing towards her. "Princess, thank goodness that I found you!" She looked at the men around Hermione. "I'm relieved you found protection on your way out. I apologize greatly for not being at your side!" The maid bowed deeply and Hermione smiled shakily, waving her hands.
"Oh! It's fine, I'm okay. I'm just glad you're safe." The maid looked at her like she'd never heard anything like that. Then, her eyes strayed down to Hermione's feet and she gasped.
"Princess! You shouldn't be walking around with your feet like that!" Hermione tried to protest, but the maid cut her off, not realizing that she was about to speak. "You!" She pointed at Draco. "You need to carry her out the gates and set her down in the grass. Make sure she's safe and comfortable, I'll meet you there!" She then rushed off, leaving them staring after her. After a second, Draco easily picked her up.
"We need to get out now!" He said, barely dodging a falling slab of rock. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and gripped Draco's shoulder as he broke into a run. She could hear the castle crumbling, along with yells and screams and the beating of wings above her head. She figured Harry and Ron were somewhere beside them, because she could hear Harry urging someone forward. Forcing her eyes open, she looked back at the castle and caught a flash of something in one of the windows. Someone still inside. Curiously enough, as the rest of the castle broke down, the tower where she'd seen the person stood tall, unaffected by the chaos around it.
"Draco, look!" She found her voice as he set her down on the grass, where everyone else was gathered, tending wounds and the such. He turned and followed her gaze to the tower.
"How..."
"There's someone in there!" She pointed at the window, one hand still on his shoulder. "I saw him, up near the top!" He was breathing hard from running and carrying her, and as he watched the window, shaking his head in astonishment, she figured they made quite a picture, both of them dirty and tired. Harry came up beside her, and she saw Ron helping a wounded man up a hill where a few doctors were tending to the wounded.
"Why to you think that one tower is still standing?" Harry asked after looking to where she was pointing. She shook her head, her eyes narrowed.
"I don't know! The structure all around it fell, it should have fallen with it!" As the three of them stood there, catching their breath and staring at the tower, Hermione's maid ran up, holding the bag that she'd left on her horse.
"Princess! They saved your horses, and thank the gods, there in shoes in here." She handed Hermione the satchel after taking out the shoes and, after she told her to sit down and cared for her injuries, slipped the shoes on her feet.
"Thank you, that feels so much better." Hermione said, smiling at the maid. After she had gone, Hermione turned back to the tower. There was another flicker of movement, and someone moved to stand in the window. "Look!" Ron had joined them sometime before, and he looked up with them.
"Maybe he's on the dragons side?" He said, squinting his eyes to see better. "They never went to that tower." He looked back at his friends to see them staring at him. "What?" He asked, worried.
"That's just it! He must be working with the dragons! That explains the people who've tried to kill us on our journey, and attacked us here!" Hermione bit her lip, thinking hard and watching the tower. "If we figure out who's controlling the dragons, or leading them, we can defeat that person and shut this whole thing down."
"And maybe get back to our own world." Added Harry. They all looked down, faces sullen and solemn. Home sounded great right then, as the chaos continued on around them.
"That's it." Draco shook his head. "I'm tired of this place. Whatever it takes to get home, I'll do it." Hermione reached into her satchel and, after a few moments of searching, pulled out the book that had sent them there.
"This might help us."
