Lost In Our Memories (Dramione story) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 18

"Harry!" Hermione said, giving him an intense look. He knew exactly what she meant, and he nodded in agreement. Splitting up and fighting was their best chance to keep things under control.

Seeing Harry nod, Hermione turned on her heels and ran towards the entrance, Neville and Luna taking off after her. Ron went into the opposite direction, taking a small group of people with him, leaving Harry to organize the rest of the Aurors.

Draco watched the scene quietly but found his voice as soon as he saw Hermione disappearing around the corner.

"Potter..." he started in a sharp tone.

"Malfoy" Harry snapped, turning around and fixing his eyes on Draco. "If you want to argue about Hermione, don't! She is stronger than you might give her credit for and stubborner than even you and I put together. You won't be able to stop her from fighting, but if you're worried about her and want to protect her, then I suggest you go after her." he said stretching his arm and pointing into the direction Hermione ran to. "My bet is she went outside to check the surrounding area of the castle."

With that, Harry whirled around and left Draco in the middle of the corridor, while he shouted orders at the Aurors who were gathered around him.

After a short moment of pondering, Draco broke into a run.

Bloody crazy witch! Can't she just stay put and out of danger for once. What is with these bloody Griffindors and their self-sacrifice?! He cursed inwardly.

Draco followed the corridor he knew Hermione took and soon was facing the front oak doors of the castle. They were ajar, letting the cool night air waft inside, making Draco shiver slightly. He pushed the doors open all the way and marched on the stony steps. Two seconds later he was running across the ground in front of the castle, heading towards Hagrid's hut where he guessed Hermione was headed.

There, he saw a small group of people running around and shouting, their wands igniting as spells were flying in all directions. Taking a few steps closer he saw Hermione, Neville and Luna battling four cloaked figures.

"What are you going to do, little girl?" a sneering voice came from the figure that Hermione was fighting.

"How's this for a little girl?!" Hermione bit out, with smoldering fury in both her eyes and voice.

With a wave of her wand she sent a wordless spell in the direction of her attacker. It hit him square in the chest, throwing him onto the ground. The man fell with a thud and remained there, desperately gasping for air. With another flick of her wand, Hermione summoned shackles, who sneaked their way across the man's body, immobilizing him against the earth beneath him. Draco was getting closer, just several feet and he would be able to help.

Then, with a jolt of panic he saw Neville and Luna being defeated by the rest of the attackers. They both got stunned and were left on the ground, as the men surrounded Hermione. She tried to put up a fight, but she was greatly outnumbered. She got hit by one of the spells and stumbled backwards. In the meantime, her initial attacker, got to his feet and pointed his wand at her.

"Enough playing around!" The man growled angrily. His robes looked crumpled and his mask was slightly askew, but his face was still covered.

With a sharp movement he sent Hermione flying. She hit her head on the ground and remained there, gasping sharply. Stepping closer to her laying form, he bent down over her, muttering something in her ear.

"This looks fairly familiar. Don't you think so, princess?" the man sneered. "Let's make this a memorable night, shall we?"

Pointing his wand down at Hermione's body he shouted the most vile of curses.

"CRUCIO!" he bellowed.

Hermione's screams filled the night, making Draco's hair rise and his blood boil. He sprinted towards them and shouted a spell while still running. It missed its target and Draco cursed loudly. After another two attempts he finally managed to hit two of the closest cloaked men. They landed a few feet away with a loud thud, where they remained unmoving.

Finally reaching the rest of them, Draco pointed his wand at the one who was torturing Hermione. He stopped, looking up at Draco and deflected the curse thrown at him. Draco was panting hard, feeling stabs of pain in his sides from all the running, but he found enough strength to send another curse at the man in front of him. The man deflected it again, returning one in Draco's direction. In all appearance he looked as if he was having fun, but Draco could sense a boiling fury hiding underneath that disguise.

"Who are you?" Draco said angrily through gritted teeth, clenching his fingers around his wand tighter.

"No need for you to now that... just yet." The man sneered, evidently having fun with taunting Draco.

The other man stopped his movement and was observing the scene apprehensively. Though, Draco couldn't see his face, he knew his eyes were watching him.

So he's the boss. Draco thought, looking sharply at the man with his wand raised towards Draco's chest.

"Shy, are you?" Draco drawled. He risked a glance towards Hermione. It appeared she had fainted after her attacker stopped his torture. Her limp body was lying on the grass between them.

"Let's just say that you haven't won the right to know who I am. We'll see how you do in the future."

Just then, a big group of people came running across the lawn, heading straight for them. The man let out an evil chuckle and pointed his wand towards his two fallen comrades.

"Avada Kedavra!" he said, the lack of emotion in his voice making the hair on the back of Draco's head rise. "Go!" the man made a gesture towards his last remaining follower, who nodded and flew away in a black smoke.

Draco watched transfixed, as the green light hit the two bodies. He felt unable to move or speak, as if his body froze. It wasn't because he was not used to cruelty, he used to leave with Death Eaters, after all. What shocked him the most was the suddenty of it, the fact that he never expected this to happen. Who would kill their comrades or followers just for being stunned by the enemy?

Other than dear old Voldemort, of course. Draco's mind supplied, suddenly remembering the sheer and emotionless cruelty the Dark Lord used to show towards those who failed him.

"Don't worry, young Malfoy." The man said, making Draco jump, bringing him back to the present. "We'll meet again. And I dare say, you and her" he said pointing at Hermione with his wand "won't be so lucky then."

The man took flight in a cloud of black smoke, just as Harry and Ron reached Draco. They threw a couple of spells at the disappearing figure but missed.

"What happened?" Harry asked quickly.

Everybody's eyes swept the scene quickly, noticing the two lying corpses, Neville and Luna nearby and then they all saw Hermione.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron exclaimed in the same time, dropping to their knees beside her.

"What's wrong with her? Malfoy, what did he do to her?" Harry asked desperately checking Hermione for signs of life. He let out a sigh of relief when he realized she was breathing.

That seemed to wake Draco up. With a wild expression on his face, he went straight for Hermione, ignoring everybody's stares. He gently cradled her body into his arms, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. A small stream of blood fell across the side of her face. Draco's insides turned.

"He used the Cruciatus curse on her. I think she fainted in the middle of it." Draco said, clenching his jaws tightly.

He was finding it difficult to control his temper. He felt like shouting and cursing anyone who was around him. Feeling so powerless and scared made him remember how it used to be when Death Eaters roamed around the Manor or how he felt during the Battle of Hogwarts.

He slowly picked Hermione up, pushing through the crowd. He heard gasps and whispers as he slowly walked towards the castle, but he didn't care. All he cared about was taking Hermione to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey would surely help.

Thank you all for reading this story! I hope you enjoyed this rather dramatic chapter. Stay tuned to see what happens next. Until tomorrow! Have a wonderful day! <3