Hermione and Ginny quickly got lost inside the house's hallways. While it wasn't as large as their manors, the old house was still a confusing mess.

"Where's the bloody front door?" Ginny muttered in a frustration tone from behind her.

Hermione stayed quiet, looking around the corner before proceeding. They were unable to light their wands for fear of being caught quickly, which only added to their anxiety. What would happen if they were caught before they could escape? Hermione didn't want to think about that and pressed on, leading her and Ginny down the dark hallway.

"Revelio."

The two girls jumped and whirled around, wands out as they faced Rodolphus. Hermione felt a creeping warmth fall down her body and looked in horror as she and Ginny were no longer blending into their surroundings.

She grabbed Ginny's hand again and attempted to apparate themselves away, but nothing happened. She tried again, only to let out a frustrated noise while Ginny attempted to apparate as well with no success.

Rodolphus let out a rare bark of laughter and said, "You have no ability to apparate here. You can thank Dumbledore for that idea."

Ginny reacted first, sending off a jet of red light towards the Death Eater. He blocked it and sent a counter red light, which hit Ginny squarely in the chest and sent her flying back towards the wall. Hermione immediately sent off a Knock-back jinx followed by a Stunner, which caught Rodolphus off guard and sent him backwards, his head bashing against the wall and knocking him unconscious.

"Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed as she ran over to her friend.

Ginny groaned and held her head as she sat up. "That one hurt."

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked quickly, looking her over. "Can you stand up? I don't know how long he's going to be knocked out!"

"Yeah, I think I can-"

"Confringo!"

The wall behind them exploded and Hermione grabbed Ginny's hand, pulling her up and running down the other hallway. There were blasts following them as whoever was chasing them fired off spell after spell, hitting the walls as the girls ran. They sent curses back over their shoulders as they tried to evade their attackers, unable to see exactly who was chasing them due to the smoke from the explosions mixing with the dust from the old house getting stirred up.

The hallway led them to a large open foyer and Ginny cried out in happiness when she saw the door. But they realized that they were not on the ground floor of the house as they had originally thought and raced around the railing to the top of the stairs.

Hermione looked back quickly to see Alecto and Amycus enter the large area from the hallway and Alecto sent a Stunner in their direction. She immediately jumped in front of Ginny, but the spell hit her hard and caused her to fly into the other witch, sending both girls falling down the steps.

She was unable to move for a few moments, feeling dazed from her head hitting the stone floor. Ginny cried in pain next to her and was holding her leg. Quickly reaching and grabbing her wand, Hermione aimed it at the floor beneath the two Carrow siblings and yelled, "Reducto!"

The floor beneath them blasted into pieces and the Carrows fell through the floor, landing in a heap on the ground away from them. When neither of them moved, Hermione turned her attention to Ginny and immediately went to her.

"I think my leg's broken," Ginny cried through tears and gasping breaths. "I can't move it at all!"

Hermione panicked for a moment and then remembered exactly what to do. She pointed her wand at Ginny's right leg and said, "Ferula."

Bandages wrapped their way around Ginny's leg and two splints appeared on either side of her broken shin, causing Ginny to suck in a deep breath from the pain as the bandages tightly wrapped the splints against her leg. After a few moments everything settled and Ginny sighed, wiping her face off.

"Merlin, that hurts!" She cursed and then looked at Hermione. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

Hermione shook her head. "I'm alright, just have a headache from hitting the stone. Here, let me help you up."

She reached out and wrapped her arm around Ginny's waist while Ginny wrapped her arm around Hermione's shoulders, using her left leg to push herself up. She groaned and clenched her jaw but nodded, taking a few deep breaths.

"I will never complain about another quidditch injury ever again," She mumbled as they quickly but carefully made their way to the door.

Hermione laughed slightly. "I'm never going to complain about a boring Ministry meeting ever again after this."

Ginny grinned and they made it to the door, but the old lock wouldn't budge. Hermione cursed again and took a few steps back with Ginny, pointing her wand at the door and blasting it open. They shielded themselves from the shrapnel and went through the new opening, sighing at the fresh air.

"How far away do you think we need to get to apparate?" Ginny asked, her face scrunched up in a painful expression as the pain grew worse with every step.

"I don't know," Hermione answered. "Hopefully it's not too far away though."

She was suddenly hit in the back by a Stunning spell and the two girls fell forward onto the dying grass. Ginny immediately rolled over with a groan and fired back another jet of red light.

"Hermione! Are you alright?!" She exclaimed, throwing up a shield charm to block the next spell.

Hermione pushed herself up off the grass and turned around quickly, aiming at the approaching Death Eater. "I'm fine, just hurting!"

Rodolphus had appeared again, firing off another Stunner and shielding himself from Hermione's attack.

"I don't think I can keep walking to find out how far away we can apparate," Ginny admitted loudly, firing a hex at the Death Eater from the ground.

Hermione groaned and cast another shield spell as Rodolphus sent a counter-attack. "We have to figure something out, we can't just stay here!"

"I can't do much with a broken leg, Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, frustrated as she sent another spell.

"I understand that, Ginny!" Hermione retorted, just as frustrated. She focused all of her energy and yelled, "Stupefy!"

The Stunner went through Rodolphus's shield charm and hit him hard, sending him flying back against the outer wall of the large house. He fell to the ground and didn't get back up, and Hermione hoped he would be knocked out for a while.

"Look," Hermione said as she turned back and knelt down next to Ginny, "We don't know when the boys are going to get here. There's at least three Death Eaters and only two of us, and I don't know how long we can fend them off."

"I know, but we also can't just go running off into the woods when they are going to be coming here," Ginny explained. "I'm willing to bet there's a town nearby; if the boys can't control their Veelas, we can't risk them coming to find us because they will destroy almost anything to get to us."

Hermione groaned inwardly as she mulled it all over. Before she could say anything though, she was hit in the side with another Stunner, falling back away from Ginny with a yell of surprise. Ginny looked up to see Alecto and Amycus rushing through the blasted opening of the house.

Ginny quickly sent Stunners back to them and threw up a shield charm to stop the next few spells, checking over her shoulder at Hermione. "You alright?!"

Hermione sat up, holding her head and groaning. She thought she was dreaming for a moment when she saw a sudden look of terror on the Carrows' faces, but as she turned around to look behind her she realized exactly why they were terrified.

There were five people soaring down to them, three on broomsticks and two in front with very large, black-feathered wings. She instantly recognized Draco and Blaise, staring at them in amazement.

"Wings?!" Ginny exclaimed from in front of her. "They have wings?!"

Hermione laughed and watched as Draco and Blaise both soared past them towards the Death Eaters. Alecto had her wand pointed at Draco but she was shaking and the spell she fired off went past his head. When Draco descended upon her, she let out a scream of terror.

"What are you?!" She yelled, backing away from him.

Hermione couldn't see Draco's face but she saw him grab Alecto by her head and in one swift motion he twisted it around, breaking her neck. She fell to the ground instantly, moving no more.

There was a yell from Amycus who pointed his wand at Draco, but Blaise was faster. Fire was already appearing in the palms of his hands and he aimed them at Amycus, who howled with pain as the flames consumed him. Ginny crawled backwards until she was next to Hermione, and both girls felt the anger emanating from their Veelas.

"Did you know they could do that?" Ginny asked quietly, her eyes locked on Blaise. She couldn't help but feel a little terrified at that moment, considering he was angrier than she had ever seen him before.

Hermione shook her head, unable to say anything. Their attention was caught by Harry, Ron, and Kingsley landing their brooms next to them and the three ran to the girls.

"Oh thank Merlin you two are alive!" Ron exclaimed, falling to his knees and pulling Ginny in for an embrace.

Harry went to Hermione and wrapped his arms around her, but pulled away after a few moments and his brow furrowed. "What did they do to you?"

Hermione grimaced. "Rodolphus had a knife similar to Bellatrix's, and he used it when I wouldn't answer their questions."

There was a loud roar of anger that sent chills down Hermione's spine and everyone looked over to see Draco grabbing Rodolphus and throwing him against the wall.

"You did what to my mate's face?!"

The sheer fury in Draco's roar made them all freeze as he picked up Rodolphus again and held him against the wall, smashing his fist into the Death Eater's face. He continued landing punch after punch until Rodolphus was limp in his grip, his face bloody and bruised.

Draco let the body drop to the ground and he produced a large fireball, slamming it down with both hands onto Rodolphus and watching the body go up in flames.

Everyone was silent as they watched the two burning bodies, and Hermione saw Draco turn around to run towards them. She pulled away from Harry and stood up, racing to Draco as well and meeting him halfway to the large house. She practically fell into his arms with relief, burying her face into the crook of his neck while one of his arms wrapped around her waist and the other hand held the back of her head. They stood there quietly together, both breathing hard, and Hermione finally felt peace.

She reluctantly pulled her head away and looked up at him. "We have to get Ginny to St. Mungo's!"

"Are you hurt?" He asked quickly, putting his hands on her face and looking her over. "What all did they do to you?"

She shook her head and put her hands over his. "Don't worry about me right now, we need to worry about Ginny."

"Blaise can worry about Ginny, but you're my mate and right now I am worried about you," Draco said sternly.

Hermione could still feel the anger rippling through his body and she sighed. "And she's my friend and I'm worried about her. She has a broken leg and she needs to be the priority."

She didn't want to tell him the other circumstances but Draco shook his head. "I'm taking you to St. Mungo's too. You're my priority right now and I'm sorry but that's non-negotiable. Blaise is probably telling Ginny the same thing."

Hermione opened her mouth to argue but Draco's expression changing made her pause. He groaned and held her tightly to him, almost bracing himself. He gritted his teeth as he felt the muscles in his back shifting, letting out a low groan as the wings slowly shrunk back into his body. She watched in amazement as this happened, her mouth hanging open slightly as the wings slowly disappeared into his back.

When the transformation was finished, he straightened back up and stretched slightly before tightening his grip on her. The sounds of footsteps behind her made her stiffen but she relaxed when she realized it was just Harry, Ron, and Kingsley.

"You two go to St. Mungo's, we'll take care of everything here." Harry said before looking at her sternly. "And Hermione, don't fight it. You need medical attention."

Hermione glared at him. "Dolohov and Rodolphus's brother, Rabastan, are still on the loose. I'm not sure if one or both is in the Ministry infiltration, but we haven't seen them here. They could still be here though.

Harry nodded. "We'll search the house, don't worry. Just focus on you right now; we'll see you when we're finished."

Ron  nodded  in  agreement  and  before  Hermione  could  say  anything  in  response,  Draco  apparated  her  away  from  everything. 

A/N: I just wanted to thank all of you for your repeated support, I know I say it a lot but seriously, I love every comment and vote and follow and add; I can't even begin to tell you all how grateful I am for all of you. I still have quite a bit more planned for this story and I might even be updating A Crazy Little Thing soon! I know I said I would wait to update it until I was done with this story but I've been itching to continue that one so we will see! I will certainly let you guys know once I update that one.

Anywho, enjoy this chapter! Next one should be up tomorrow! Love you all! <3

*Edit*: for those of you asking why I chose Ferula instead of Episkey, Ferula is actually specifically made for creating a splint for broken bones :) Episkey doesn't heal broken bones so this was more appropriate. Happy reading!