Catching Her Heart Pt. 1

Chapter 18

Hermione turned to Ron after watching Harry continue to the next room, praying that he stayed safe and that she would see him again. Now, she had the rather daunting task of getting out. She checked, and yes, Ron was indeed still breathing, and she let out a sigh of relief. She tried moving him, but he was too heavy.

"Petrificus Totalus," she said, waving her wand and watched as Ron went rigid, just like Neville before him. "Wingardium Leviosa," she cast her second spell and his stiff form levitated into the air. She made her way back to the hall where she found the broomstick they'd left behind from the key room. She looked at it for a moment as she tried to figure out the best way to get them both back to the main floor of the castle. Whatever Oliver thought, she was not a good flyer.

Thinking about what happened to Harry in the key room, she didn't want to touch the broomstick with the door open when she found it. Sighing, she opened the door and as she thought, the keys had resumed their earlier behaviour of the slow, aimless flight. Seeing the door across from her still open, she headed out with Ron hovering in the air behind her. Making it across the room, she lowered Ron to the ground. "Finite Incantatem," she said, cancelling the spells.

She bit her lip a moment, looking thoughtful. Reaching out, she grabbed the door handle with one hand. "Accio broomstick!" she called, pointing her wand across the hall with the other. The broomstick came whizzing across the room from the other side, and she slammed the door shut before touching it, for fear of the keys coming after them again.

She sighed when she didn't hear anything and put her wand away before hefting Ron onto the broom and kicking off the ground. It was all she could do to keep Ron and herself from falling off as the broom wobbled up the stairway. She struggled a moment and carefully touched down beneath the Devil's Snare, chewing her lip thoughtfully.

"Lumos Solem!" she said, and blasted the Devil's Snare with the light charm again, causing it to go limp. She then used a severing charm and cut some of the vines from it, and transfigured them into a violin and a bow, before charming them to play. Music began to fill the anti-chamber that she and Ron were in. With a smile, she hefted Ron on to the broom again, and this time, placed a sticking charm on him. Getting on behind him, she kicked off hard this time and hovered for a moment, hearing Fluffy growling and snarling in the room above.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" she called, pointing her wand down at the violin. Slowly, she drew the violin closer, until it passed them, and had it hover just below the trapdoor. She waited, straining her ears over the loud music until she couldn't hear the growls any longer. She urged the violin higher, but nothing happened to it when she pushed it beyond the trap door. With a sigh of relief, she urged the wobbly broomstick higher and out of the way of the hole, relieved to see that Fluffy was indeed asleep nearby.

Touching down, she got off and grabbed hold of the broom handle, pulling the broom after her. She paused, noticing the invisibility cloak on the ground and hurried to pick it up, throwing it over Ron and the broomstick. "Alohomora," she whispered, unlocking the door and pulling the broom after her, Ron still stuck upon it. She sighed in relief as the door shut behind them.

Pausing for a moment to let her heart and nerves calm, then hurried on her way toward the hospital wing, tugging Ron's invisible form behind her.

"Ms Granger?" Hermione stopped short in surprise before relief washed over her.

"Professor Dumbledore!" she cried out. "Oh, thank goodness, you're back!"

"Yes, I arrived a few moments ago," Professor Dumbledore said. "What seems to be the trouble? Why, might I ask, are you out of bed after hours?"

"It's Harry," Hermione began and then hesitated. "And Ron."

Hermione paused and pulled the cloak off of Ron.