12:08pm
Hermione opened her eyes, feeling as if someone had realigned her bones and stapled them to boards. She couldn't move at all -- didn't want to. The blur of black moved from her vision, and she realized it was a boot that had been knocking against her chin. There was pause of silence, of her breath wheezing into her lungs, before she was promptly lifted to her feet.
Hermione groaned in protest, gurgling on some saliva reservoir built up at the back of her throat, and her head lolled. There was a sharp tug on her hair, followed by a hard shake that had her brain rattling, and she blinked repeatedly at the...burning ceiling?
It took three seconds for the events of the night to crash back down on her head, and she would have staggered under them had someone not been holding her up. She leveled her gaze at the face across from hers, not that surprised at all to see Malfoy's sneer greeting her across the space.
"You are the dumbest person I know. I'd like to fucking kill you for what you just did. Do you have any idea how badly you have messed things up now?"
He shook her again, making her bite her tongue, and then dropped her to the floor just as she tried to set her feet down. Hermione grunted as she shoved herself up, her head spinning. She felt like she would pass out at any moment. She was so tired and worn down, that it was like a dream she was living in. Her concept of reality didn't seem to want to catch at all, despite how hard a part of her brain was trying to pound everything in.
She used the wall and had to focus all her concentration into it. Malfoy seemed in a complete panic over something, and there was an ugly vein throbbing in his temple as he stared at her. Hermione looked past him, to Bletchley, and went still when she only saw a body laying there. Crabbe's was laying on the ground as well, and she could bet that the other lot that had been on their way down had met the same fate.
"Was there an Auror?" she asked, but her vocal chords were so abused it was just a squeak and then 'Auror'.
-17-
He glared at her some more and then grabbed her arm, pulling open the door to the stairwell and shoving her in. He followed, aiming his wand at the flames creeping up the steps and clearing an opening for them at the side.
