Her eyes snapped open as the wind deafened her. It took a moment for her discombobulated mind to focus as paralyzing fear struck her. Would she hit the rocks or the water? In what seemed like the bravest thing she had ever done, she twisted her head to look. She barely noticed Draco Malfoy falling not far from her as the dark water quickly approached. How did she let herself get so distracted? Could she even survive hitting the lake from that height? If a million thoughts could rush into someone's mind at once, it would be in the moments fuelled with adrenaline, right before one's anticipated death. She could no longer hear Ron's angry war cries or Harry's periodic shouts of her name. In a surge of panic, she quite literally saw her life flash before her eyes.

"It's my turn to wear it Harry" she stated as she outstretched her hand to him.

"It's fine. I can wear it a little while longer" he solemnly answered.

"We should stick to the schedule. That way no one needs to endure its effects for a prolonged period of time."

"I know that Hermione. I said I'm fine."

She looked to Ron across the campfire, who also looked uncomfortable with Harry's behavior.

"She's right mate, no need to suffer longer than you have too."

"You two aren't' listening. It's me he wants, I can feel him. When I have it on I can sense when he is getting closer".

Hermione watched as Harry rubbed the Horcrux between his fingers, his gaze fixed to the small fire they had lit.

"Is he near now?" Ron carefully asked.

Harry paused for a moment. "No."

"Then let me have I-"

"I said no Hermione!" He stated as he ripped his gaze away from the flames to her face.

Not a heartbeat later, rustling of vegetation and hurried footsteps could be heard from the nearby woods. All three immediately stood up, wands retrieved and slightly raised at the ready.

"Hermione, you did ward us here ya?" Ron frantically whispered.

"I did." She quietly responded.

"Be ready for anything" said Harry, attenuating the fire wordlessly. Running from the death eaters these past couples of months had them repeating certain spells so many times words were no longer needed to perform the magic.

With only the first rays of sunlight peaking above the horizon, it was difficult to adjust to the darkness of the forest without the campfire's glow. Worse, listening to the footsteps in the woods made the forest seem eerily quiet.

A second pair of footsteps could be heard. Followed by a third from a different direction. Harry nodded to Hermione, who immediately began the emergency pack up routine while Harry and Ron moved into position to cover her back. Suddenly, a flurry of footsteps, indistinguishable in numbers, were walking in every direction around them. Ron fidgeted with his wand nervously, visibly shaking and pointing it at any new sounds nearing him while Harry stood steady, firm and patient. Neither seeing movement, only hearing it. Hermione was the last to notice as the rustling around them stopped, too engrossed with the last of the packing as she fastened her beaded handbag to her belt.

For a moment nothing moved. The trio stood back to back in a triangular formation, a few feet from the other.

Then, all at once and from all around them, blinding red lights shot out from behind the trees and foliage, visibly disintegrating Hermione's barrier and protection spells. As soon as it shimmered away, snatchers and death eaters appeared and attacked.

They were surrounded.

Red flashes, green lightning, and dark purple spells were being thrown while the three friends deflected them and attempted retaliation.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry and Ron screamed in unison.

Four bodies were sent flying away from them, and Hermione quickly took the opportunity to escape the enclosure of Voldemort's followers, all the while parrying oncoming attacks. Harry and Ron followed suit, and when they had created enough distance between them and the followers, the three turned to run.

"Harry you said he wasn't here!" Ron yelled as they began to pick up speed.

"He isn't!" Harry yelled back while deflecting a stun.

"Hermione how did they find us?!" Ron shrieked as he jumped over a log.

"I don't know!" She breathlessly replied.

A jet of dark red light zipped past her temple, and the heat of it singed the top of her ear, making her flinch and lose her footing. The unintended squeak that escaped her throat caught Ron's attention, and he stopped dead in his tracks to run back to her.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled.

He stopped to give them some cover as the death eaters began catching up.

One of the snatchers threw up a pink signal high through the tree line, momentarily illuminating the entire area of the forest. Harry was quickly able to count eight of them as Ron and Hermione sprinted up to him.

A couple of swooshing sounds were heard, and newly apparated death eaters joined the hunt.

"Can't run forever Potter!" One of them loudly stated while they continued their advance.

Harry ducked behind a large oak tree as a rainbow of colors flurried by him. Ron and Hermione had also taken shelter and were occasionally throwing out counter attacks.

"That's Draco Malfoy," Harry told the other two over the sounds of fired shots.

"How can you tell?" asked Hermione as Ron simultaneously said, "So?"

"I'm sure of it. I think Dobby wants to say hi." And with that raging thought in mind, Harry stepped out of his hiding spot and started taking on the brunt of the attacks one by one.

"Oh come on!" Yelled a frustrated Ron.

Then he too started on the offensive.

Hermione took a moment to think about the recently deceased house elf and the recent events at Malfoy manner. Her forearm flared in pain just thinking about it. But without Dobby, chances are they wouldn't even be here, and she would have long been dead at the hands of Bellatrix. If Draco was here, it must be in a vain attempt to recapture them. Wouldn't want you-know-who to realize his prized objective had escaped.

The ground a few feet from the tree she was hiding behind spontaneously exploded, splattering her entire body with dirt. The spell left the ground steaming.

Taking a couple of rapid deep breaths, she came out of her hiding spot and joined the boys on the battlefield.

Some of the death eaters wore masks while others didn't bother. Certain faces were recognizable while others remained typical nameless henchmen. Some wore more expensive robes, others were dressed rather commonly. The one she was fighting with now wore plain brown pants for heaven's sake. It still amazed her that people from all walks of life chose to side with Voldemort's vision of pure blood supremacy. She briefly wondered if they were promised a return for their undying obedience and servitude.

"A mudblood covered in mud? How incredibly appropriate."

Hermione turned in time to block Lucius Malfoy's green jet. Her eyes widened in fear as he vanished his mask. His long blond hair covered his shoulder perfectly as if no amount of wind had ever touched his face. His eyes, on the other hand, were exhausted, sunken in and almost dull looking.

"Do you ever get tired of running Miss Granger? It seems awfully draining."

Another jet of color hurled her way, and she twisted her body to divert it, before returning her attention to the older Malfoy.

"Oh, not to worry dear, your blood will soon run in the muk." He added, staring at the excessive blood loss to the side of her face where her ear had earlier been grazed. "Like the rest of your kind."

"Hermione!" she heard Harry call out to her somewhere in the nearby distance. Her words breathlessly escaped her as she responded,

"Perhaps, Mr. Malfoy. Whether or not you live to see its possibility will depend on whether or not he figures out you were incapable of preventing us from escaping the mansion".

It was more of an educated guess really. But as his face steeled over in anger, she concluded it was an accurate estimation.

He sneered at her as his arm shot out in front of him, throwing her a curved spell that she barely deflected. The force of it thrust her to the side, and she had to hop a bit to regain her footing. When she lifted her head, she barely had time to throw her arm up in defense against his next attack.

Her arm stayed risen as she started retreating backward from his onslaught of barrages. It was as if the end of his wand was shooting out fireworks in rapid succession, and her bicep was quickly becoming exhausted from the repetitive deflection movements. Mr. Malfoy's skill level outmatched her own as he graciously continued to step forward and elegantly maintained an arrhythmic pattern of curses at her.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" cried Ron as he ran past her, beelining the aristocrat.

"Ron wait!" She tried to cover him, but a passing red curse momentarily blinded her and made her recoil from it.

She looked over to the source and stunned the woman who shot it at her.

As her new adversary slumped to the ground, she could see Harry solely battling Draco Malfoy and about six unmoving bodies on the ground near them. She knew Harry had never used a killing curse, but his skills at dulling were frightfully exceptional.

Ron's roars of anger caught her attention, and she whirled around and intercepted a hex aimed at Ron's legs. He wasn't holding up against Lucius either and together they only managed to stop him from physically advancing.

They needed Harry and they needed him now.

The rising sun revealed they were atop a steep rock face and the dawn glimmered upon an immense lake down below. She didn't know the area; it was Ron who had chosen this apparition site, claiming his father had once shown him pictures of a research trip.

Lucius halted his attacks as his eyes darted to his son.

"Finish them" he then told a couple bystanding snatchers, who were previously admiring the display of prowess he demonstrated. Despite the failed retention of the golden trio, Malfoy senior still held mass amounts of respect within the rankings. He had, after all, climbed the ranks to Voldemort's inner circle through wealth, knowledge, connections and magical skills that almost matched those of Bellatrix.

He waved an invisible wall and walked past the two lesser skilled companions; his destination had Harry Potter in his sight, clearly gaining an edge over his let down of an offspring.

"He's going after Harry!" hollered Hermione.

"I'm on it!"

But Ron didn't get a chance at running after Mr. Malfoy as the remaining assailants focused their attention on him.

"I'm going!" she decided.

Ron was too caught up in the action to answer. She didn't wait for one as she sprinted out of the forest closer to the edge of the cliff, where Harry had Draco on the ground, pitifully raging defensive spells. As her feet propelled her forward, she watched as Mr. Malfoy covertly lifted his wand while approaching Harry from behind. An idea came to her as Lucius's cape bellowed silently in his stride, casting a shadow with the rising sun on the horizon.

"Incendio!" she screamed, and the cloth caught fire. This seemed to catch both Harry and the younger Malfoy's attention as Lucius ripped off his cloak and stomped on it in an attempt to put out the flame. Harry took the distraction and expelled Malfoy's wand from him. To Draco's utter despair, it soared over the cliff to its bottom.

"Why you filthy, disgusting little-" started Lucius to Hermione.

"This is it Malfoy." Interrupted Harry, his wand still pointed at Draco. "You've failed. Again."

Lucius remained calm and paused for a moment. "Have I now?" he replied, raising an eyebrow.

Somebody grabbed Hermione from behind as a bruised, cut up and bound Ron was thrown to the ground beside her.

Harry's boyish features contorted darkly.

"Let them go."

"I think not," Lucius stated as he inhaled the first whiffs of smoke and actually took the time to look over the lake and the skyline. "You are in no position to bargain. "

Harry's eyebrows shot up. "I have your son."

"And I hold in my possession the fate of your two best friends, not to mention the fact that you are now outnumbered."

It was true, a couple of stun's had worn off and apart from Lucius and Draco, one goon was holding Hermione at wand-point, two stood over Ron, and another slowly joined them from the treeline.

The patch of dry grass Lucius's cloak landed on had caught fire and was rapidly spreading, jumping from one area to the next with the help of the wind. Harry then noticed that while the death eater holding Hermione had her hostage, the dimwit had forgotten to take away her wand, and she was holding it tightly, hiding it in her sleeve. Draco was without a wand so he was less of a problem. But he didn't think Hermione could handle the other four goons while he took on Lucius. He glanced down at Ron who seemed to be floating in and out of consciousness.

He was running low on ideas.

Hermione, on the other hand, had been concentrating on silently cutting Ron's ropes with a spell while attempting to hide her wand, at times accidentally cutting him in the process.

"Should we call upon the dark Lord sire?" The henchman to Ron's left asked.

"Don't be hasty." Lucius turned to answer the goon. "If there's one thing I've learned about these three is to not celebrate prematurely." That's when he noticed Hermione's concentrated look to Ron. "Stop her!" he stated as he began to move towards her.

By chance, she finished cutting the last of Ron's ropes. "Innervate!" she cried, and her blast to his chest brutally woke him up.

He would need serious medical attention later from forcefully being waked from unconsciousness, but it was the only foreseeable opportunity they could have of escape.

Ron jumped into action, tackling the closest snatcher to the ground, frantically beating him. He had every intention of stealing the man's wand, since he had no idea what they had done with his after they had caught him.

Harry promptly reacted and engaged Lucius to divert his attention.

That left Hermione with three. She hastily pointed her wand behind her to her captor and incanted "Repellio!" and an invisible force threw him a couple of feet from her. Luckily, he fell into the growing fire and frightfully attempted to attenuate it as it latched onto his robes.

Draco watched dumbfoundedly as his father's usually composed face was struck with disbelief and fear. Not fear of Potter, he was sure, but fear of the golden trio's escape.

Again.

His eyes shifted to Ron, who was still wrestling his comrade for a wand and then to Granger, who was holding her own against two grown men, trained in the dark arts.

Without a wand, he was pretty useless. Fucking Potter.

Draco got up from his position on the ground and stalked over to Weasley, grabbing him by the clothes on his shoulders and yanking him off the bloke. Spells were being thrown without care or precision from the henchmen fighting Granger, so he had to dodge a few.

"Hey! Watch it!"

His outburst ended up distracting them, and Granger managed a perfect expelliarmus charm that disarmed the man closest to Ron, and his wand flew to the ground between the two. The guy Weasley had previously been pummelling was incoherently groaning on the ground next to him.

At least he still had his wand. A wand.

"Give me that." He bent down to retrieve it when a burst of yellow light shot his wrist. He yelped in pain as he held his newly burnt wrist close to him. He looked up to see Weasley's dark gaze and newly acquired wand pointed right at him, its previous owner passed out on the ground beneath him. Panic overtook him before he noticed Granger backing up towards him, her exhaustion catching up with her.

He lunged at her and grabbed her from behind, locking her wand arm to her chest diagonally and using her as a shield against Weasley.

Ron quickly stunned the last man before redirecting his wand to Draco.

"Go ahead weasel, shoot."

Ron paused, worry spreading across his face. "Step away from the cliff's edge Malfoy."

Draco froze at his words and turned his head to check. Sure enough, about three steps back would have him tumbling to his death. No matter, he knew Weasley wasn't going to shoot. All he had to do is wait for his father to overpower Potter, and a quick glance in his direction told him he wouldn't need to wait very long.

"Don't be daft Malfoy," Granger annoyingly expressed.

How can she seriously be annoyed right now? He was in control. "Shut up mudblood." And to press his point, he squeezed her tighter, causing a pained noise to escape her. As his cheek accidentally brushed her ear, she flinched away from him in pain (as much as she could).

He also recoiled when he felt wetness touch his face. He took a moment to actually look at her and saw all the blood oozing from a missing top of her ear, completely soaking a part of her hair, her neck, and her shoulder.

That's disgusting.

His attention was pulled from her when the ground shook.

The man whom Hermione repelled into the fire was heading towards them, his fury as apparent as his second-degree burns that destroyed parts of his legs, arms, and face. "Bombarda Maxima!" he shrieked at Ron.

Ron deflected the blow, but it landed nearby a thick tree, blasting the earth and shattering the tree trunk.

Draco steadied himself as the ground shook again and watched as the rest of the tree seemingly slowly fell; it's heavy top half going over the edge of the cliff and the rest following it to the bottom where a loud crash was heard. Even Potter and his father paused.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

"Stop it!" yelled Ron as he was forced to deflect another bomb. The earth shook again.

"Let me go Malfoy" panic now apparent in Granger's voice.

"I don't think so, Granger."

"Bombarda Maxima!" This time loud grunting could be heard as the ground beneath them started to give and splashes from falling rocks made Draco hyper-aware of how close to the edge he really was.

"Enough!" yelled Lucius.

Hermione had to get away from the edge. Her eyes scanned everything they could in sight. They landed on Malfoys burnt wrist.

"Bombarda MAXIMA!"

She bit down on it. Hard. Malfoy howled in pain and instinctively released her. She took two steps before the ground beneath her gave away.

"HERMIONE!" Harry and Ron's voices were swallowed by the noise of the crumbling cliff.

Her eyes snapped open as the wind deafened her. It took a moment for her discombobulated mind to focus as paralyzing fear struck her. Would she hit the rocks or the water? In what seemed like the bravest thing she had ever done, she twisted her head to look. She barely noticed Draco Malfoy falling not far from her as the dark water quickly approached. How did she let herself get so distracted? Could she even survive hitting the lake from that height? If a million thoughts could rush into someone's mind at once, it would be in the moments fuelled with adrenaline, right before one's anticipated death.

She could no longer hear Ron's angry war cries or Harry's periodic shouts of her name. In a surge of panic, she quite literally saw her life flash before her eyes, up until that very moment. As the present caught up with her she estimated she had about two seconds before she hit the water. With an idea that bordered the line of unrealistic expectations, she pointed her wand at the water that she still miraculously held onto and screamed,

"COXINUS!" and screwed her eyes shut.

End of chapter one.