Captured

Chapter Forty-One: Nightmare

Lavender's eyes met Hermione's and before Hermione could take a step forward, she saw the light in them fade.

Ron grabbed Hermione's arm, dragging her away and towards the front door where Harry was already running through, screaming after Hagrid.

"HARRY!" Ron yelled after him, pushing himself faster, trying to catch up.

Hermione stumbled over another body, and she didn't let herself see who it was as she kept running.

She couldn't look. Couldn't keep going if she saw another person she knew and loved die right then.

They made it out onto the ground, and she didn't know where to focus.

Fires raged throughout the grounds, the lawn had craters in it from the more powerful spells that had hit.

Everywhere she looked, people were falling.

Everywhere she looked, people were dying.

She kept running.

She screamed and stumbled, falling back as a colossal foot slammed down in front of her. A giant grinned down at her where she had fallen, his teeth gnashing together as he reached for her while she desperately scrambled backwards.

Another, slightly smaller giant stumbled towards them and slammed into the first one.

Hermione recognized Grawp, and she was torn between helping him and running, but Harry's scream to "RUN!" had her up and moving again.

She had to keep going.

One more horcrux.

Just one more.

They made it to the Willow and Hermione was wheezing as she tried to force air into her lungs. They had only a moment's reprieve, just a second to catch their breath before Ron had disabled the Willow and they were sliding into the small tunnel that led to the Shrieking Shack.

It was like sliding into a dampening chamber.

The sounds of the battle diminished from an unending roar to a barely discernible din outside of the musty space.

She swallowed, the sound loud in the sudden silence, and then began crawling after Harry who was already metres ahead.

They followed the familiar tunnel in silence, with nothing but the dank walls to guide them through the darkness, listening for any signs that someone may have followed them or may have been lurking ahead.

But there was nothing.

She didn't know how much time had passed when the tunnel finally changed, heading upwards toward a dim light that was leaking through the cracks around the crate that had been shoved in front of the entrance. They slowed, crawling as quietly as they could, before crowding as closely as possible to the entrance into the Shrieking Shack.

She could hear voices, one high pitched and cruel, the other deep and apathetic.

She'd know either of those voices anywhere.

Her breath hitched and she covered her mouth with a hand as she tried to mask the sound of her breathing. To her left she saw Ron doing the same as he too recognized the voices of Voldemort and Snape, mere footsteps in front of their trio.

She couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, but Harry at the front had gotten close enough to hear.

She could see the sliver of light reflected on his face, a streak of warm yellow that sparkled against the green of his wide emerald eyes at whatever he was hearing.