A Throne of Blood and Stars

Chapter Sixteen

He sees dashes of her clothes--left, right, down as she dashes under a large log. And then she stops, and he clears the next line of branches and jumps over a ditch. She turns to him, stance ready with her wand drawn.

Draco notices they're back in the copse.

"You!" Hermione points at him menacingly and moves to take a step to him, wand raised with a clear shot to his chest.

But then there's an inhuman screech making birds scurry from the dead trees behind him. They both turn to look at each other in horror.

"It's not you," he hears her say.

"What is that thing?"

Hermione just frantically turns several different directions in the span of three seconds and screams, "Run!"

Draco's survival skills lag dramatically, and he watches as she jumps back into the forest. His brain slows down, so when he hears bark snapping and crunching, he turns to see what Hermione's running from.

His heart freezes.

It's hideous, first of all. This huge, slimy black creature that slithers from side to side, with sickly yellow eyes that glow with a dark hunger. It has large horns sticking out in odd angles, and when it turns to him, the thing opens it's mouth and he can see thousands of teeth from where he's standing.

Draco doesn't think he wants to get any closer.

But he also can't seem to move. His body is stuck in place, frozen in terror, as the thing approaches.

Slow. Calculating. Preying.

It's close enough to where Draco can see the details but he's so terrified he closes his eyes and shakes his head. He can't feel his chest and his breaths start getting short, and then all of a sudden there's rustling behind him and he jumps.

His robes are harshly yanked backwards and he yelps in surprise, looking up to see Hermione standing with her shoulders squared and her wand pointed at the thing.

"Get up," she hisses.

Draco stumbles to his feet in record time and steps back, a little bit behind Hermione.

"Start walking backwards, slowly," she moves her hand behind her blindly, and Draco realizes she's feeling for him. He takes her wrist and she pushes against it, moving him back as she starts walking in reverse. "And stop shaking."

"No," he chokes out, holding her wrist with a vice grip. Her elbow against his abdomen is just enough to keep him standing, but he's pretty sure that if she tried to wrench her hand from him he'd faint.

The creature is watching curiously, it's horns tilting from side to side as he tries to understand what is going on.

"What is that thing," Draco whispers, yanking her towards him when the thing leans forward.

"I don't know," Hermione says quietly. "But it's been chasing me ever since I got here."

Draco looks around as slowly as possible while they still move, and he breathes out when he notices they're close to the tree line. "Are we running?"