THE ESCAPE OF MALFOY MANOR

At the last word there was a perceptual grinding noise from above. All of them looked upwards in time to see the crystal chandelier tremble; then, with a creak and an ominous jingling, it began to fall. Bellatrix was directly beneath it; dropping Hermione, she threw herself aside with a scream. The chandelier crashed to the floor in an explosion of crystal and chains, falling on top of Hermione and the goblin, who still clutched the sword of Gryffindor, glittering shards of crystal flew in all directions: Draco doubled over, his hands covering his bloody face.

As Ron ran to pull Hermione out of the wreckage, Harry took his chance; he leapt over an armchair, straight to Draco, who stood in the corner, enticed as to watching the havoc displace before him. Before Harry could reach him, and hopefully receiving the wands, Narcissa stepped out of the shadows, pointing her wand at Harry. Protecting her son from the up coming danger Narcissa quickly whispered: "Stupefy", sending a red beam of light at Harry, who barely missed it by throwing himself to the floor.

Ron bounded towards Hermione, who at the moment was untangling herself from the chandelier's chain, unaware of his best mates attack, but most importantly Greyback, who had picked himself up and was now charging towards the unsuspecting ginger. They landing with a loud clatter, causing crystal to embed its self in to the left side of Ron's face. The noise startled Hermione, causing her to look up frantically at Ron.

"HERMIONE!" he bellowed, "RUN!". Hermione's eyes quickly roamed the room, stopping at the sight of Harry, who was now defending against a very desperate looking Lucius.

"GO! GET OUT, WE'LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU! NOW GO!" he yelled above the loud assortment of curses which filled the room.

Scrambling out of the remaining chandelier, Hermione pushed herself forwards, ignoring her arching joints. Hearing footsteps behind her she risked a look back, only to just miss a blue curse, which instead hit the fireplace, sending shards of marble in her path. Bellatrix was quickly gaining on her, her hair looking crazier than ever.

"GET BACK HERE YOU DIRTY MUDBLOOD!" she screeched, sending another array of spells her way. Swaying and ducking she made her way to the door without being hit. Unfortunately, this wasn't the door they enter and certainly not the door to the exit. But she really didn't have a choice. Yanking the door open Hermione flew down the hallway. The moment the she opened the door the portraits, which covered the wall, started to shout abuse at Hermione, adding to the already loud noises.

All of this was a blur to Hermione, as her eyes were filled with fresh tears and blood, which streamed down from cut above her eye. Hearing her pursues footfall behind her over her own heavy breathing, Hermione pushed her legs even faster. Coming to the end of the hallway, Hermione had to make a choice, left or right? Making a last-minute choice she veered left, sliding on the polished floor. As soon as she spotted the upcoming staircase she regretted her decision, but it was too late to go back now.

"Bad move Granger!" Bellatrix taunted, followed by a string of mad laughter. Although she hated to admit it, Hermione knew she was right. There would be no escape route up stairs but she had to get away. Reaching the staircase base she used the banister to propel her self upwards, the strain of her arm painfully sending blood to gush out of mudblood, which was carved into her arm. Ignoring the searing pain she reached the top of the staircase, a sickly yellow coloured curse hitting the wall just above her head, causing the wallpaper to hiss and sizzle.

Cutting round the corner Hermione lost sight of Bellatrix for a moment. This hallway, painted a pale green, seemed to be less used than the rest of the manor, the walls covered in doors instead of portraits. Choosing the furthest away right door, Hermione sprinted down the corridor. Bursting the heavy oak doors open she entered a study, which by the look of the thick layer of dust, hadn't been entered in a while.

Just as she closed the door Hermione heard Bellatrix high cruel laugh, freezing her in her place.

"You can run, but you can't hide!", followed by another laugh, sending shivers down Hermione's back. A loud bang brought Hermione out of her frozen state, she's breaking down the doors, she thought wildly. Thrashing her body round she looked around the study, no way out. Frantically, she started opening all the draws, looking for something to help her escape, a spare wand, or something. Her count down being the loud bangs of doors being broken into. Almost out of hope a flash of light caught her attention,

The moon light, coming from the large windows at the back of the room which over looked the gardens, was reflecting off a tiny delicate chain. Almost hypnotized, Hermione started to walk toward it, momentary forgetting the up coming danger.

Carefully picking it up by the chain, Hermione examined the Time Turner's hour-glass, fascinated by the fine shimmering sand. Flashbacks of her third year's extra studying came to mind, her lack of sleep and eating just to get good grades. She wondered how her past self would reacted to her skipping her all important NEWTs.

BANG! Times up. The force of Bellatrix's spell knocked Hermione over and sent the window smashing open. The wind coming from outside caused Bellatrix's hair and dress to wipe around herself, her crazed eyes locked on to Hermione and a sick smile spread across her face. "Gotcha" she hissed.

Still facing laid on her back, Hermione used her hands and feet to quickly back away, getting glass stuck in her hands. As Bellatrix raised her wand Hermione flipped herself around, and not looking where she was going, tried to run, but her foot caught on something, sending her flying through the smashed window.

For Hermione every thing went quiet, only a small buzzing coming from her ears and every thing seemed to stop, or at the very least slowed down. Slowed down enough for her to see the shards of glass, which had followed her out of the window, seamlessly hang in mid-air, looking like raindrops. For her to see the Time Turner just out of reach. And worst of all, the ground, which seemed to be slowly rising to met her.

Seeing this she frantically tried to think of something to do. Trying what she had done for the past year she tried appariting, to no place in particular, just not here. A black curse, sent by Bellatrix, shot past her head, missing her by inches, hitting the Time Turner. Hermione could see the Time Turner change from the soft golden chain to inky black, link by link. And even in this slow motion state the hours glass seemed to be spinning fast, the once pale yellow sand, now stark white, falling this way and that. Obvious to the now Dark object Hermione tried to avoid it, which was difficult when falling from a second story high window. Despite her best effort the dark chain still found its way wrapped around Hermione's wrist and before she could take it off she felt the tell-tale signals of apparition. Before the tug behind her navel could take her, she wished, not for the first time that night, that she was where she should be, Hogwarts.

The usual discomfort of apparition seemed to be multiplied ten folds, the surrounding darkness suffocating her, squeezing her breath from her lungs. She felt eyes pops and a roaring in her ears, and a searing white-hot pain on her arm, the Time Turner leading her to the unknown.

Just when she thought she was going to pass out from the intense pressure, it stopped, before she land, hard. Muddy water soon soaked into her hair and clothes, chilling her to the bone, except her arm, which still felt as if it was burning. The muddy grass squelched as she raised her head slightly. Through her blurry eyes should could just make out a familiar silhouette, "Harry", she breathed out her last breath. Before slowly the darkness surrounding her eyes closed in around her and she fell in to blissful unconsciousness.