Escape
Hermione groaned softly and pulled herself up into a sitting position, her head spinning. She leaned heavily against the wall behind her for support. Blinking slowly, she tried to dispel the blackness that threatened to swallow her again in its unconscious embrace. Her arm was throbbing dully at her side where Azalea had sliced into her skin. Her limbs felt heavy and unresponsive, her body trying to drag her back into the escape of oblivious sleep. But Hermione refused to give in, and pulled herself to her feet, her legs reluctant to support her. She staggered slightly and bumped into an overturned table by the door.
She looked around her surroundings with growing awareness. She had been so absorbed in trying to stay conscious that she had temporarily forgotten where she was, and what had happened. Now, looking at the devastated room, it all came back to her. The burning pain as Azalea cut her. The blood pouring over the sapphire. The brilliant blue light. And Azalea's pain-filled screams, going on and on...
Hermione's unsteady gaze focused on the crumpled body of Azalea Rookwood, laying unmoving by a shattered window. She crossed the room, unsteadily meandering around the debris that covered the floor. Slowly she approached her tormenter and knelt down next by her limp form, her limbs screaming in protest with every movement.
She studied Azalea's face closely, looking for any signs of life, or an imminent return to consciousness. Seeing none, Hermione scanned the room, her eyes finally finding what she had been looking for. Her wand lay in the shattered glass of the window, and she quickly snatched it up and gripped it firmly, feeling slightly more hopeful and stronger now she finally had her wand back after weeks without it.
She turned back to Azalea and frowned slightly. Hermione wanted to get away from there right away, but her conscience stopped her. You can't just leave her there an annoying voice in her head told her, she could be dying, or dead. Hermione hovered undecided for a long minute, looking back and forth between Azalea's collapsed form and the door - her escape route. She let out a frustrated sigh and squatted down next to the witch. There were no visible signs that Rookwood was alive and breathing, but Hermione didn't want to have to touch Azalea to check for a pulse so she picked up a silver goblet at her feet and held it in front of the witch's mouth. The surface of the goblet clouded over, showing Hermione that Azalea was at least breathing, but shallowly. As she got to her feet she noticed the Staff of Amaror was still clutched tightly in Azalea's hand. It was now pitch black, the peculiar sigils along the shaft glowing with the unsettling azure light that had surrounded both the Staff and the witch holding it as Hermione's blood was poured over the sapphire.
Hermione hesitated before unenthusiastically stretching her hand towards the Staff, uncertain whether to pick it up or not. I can't just leave it here! she told herself firmly and resolutely plucked it from Azalea's unresisting hand.
She shivered at the touch of the wood. The Staff was icy-cold and smooth, as black as night. She hated to even touch such a blatantly dark object, let alone use it. But she realised that she would have to do just that. By now she had realised that she was in Hector Rookwood's Manor, which she knew was in the middle of nowhere, so she couldn't go to any nearby villages for help, as there were none. She also knew that the Manor was unplottable, meaning that there wasn't much chance of anyone coming to rescue her, or happening across her accidentally. Besides, there was a good chance that it would be the Death Eaters who found her rather than the Order. She couldn't apperate away because she was underage and hadn't learnt yet.
So Hermione was left with two options, neither of which appealed to her. The first was to simply walk until she found a witch or wizard willing to help her, which wasn't very likely considering the location of the Manor. She was also very aware of the fact that her body was still protesting about her wakefulness, and she knew that she was in no condition to walk for miles and miles, and she must look like a mad woman, blood all over her, hair tangled and matted.
The second option was worse, but the one Hermione grudgingly accepted that she would be forced to take.
The Staff had many powers, and she knew that it could be used to transport a witch or wizard to another location, even one that you cannot ordinarily apperate to. So Hermione knew that she would just have to figure out how to do this, and fast. With Azalea unconscious at her feet, and dozens of witches and wizards in the Manor who may or may not be in the same state, Hermione knew that she didn't have much time. With each passing second she chanced discovery and imprisonment again, so it was now or never.
Determinedly she moved into the middle of the room, navigating around the mess of furniture, books and dark artefacts on the floor, and held the Staff firmly in one hand, her wand in the other. With one last glace as Azalea, Hermione shut her eyes and took a deep breath. She thought hard about Hogwarts, picturing the castle in her mind, and expressing her desire to be there. After a few minutes she let out a noisy breath and opened her eyes, blinking away tears. Nothing had happened, she was still stuck in Azalea Rookwood's study, and, to her dismay, she realised that Azalea herself was stirring slightly. Hermione looked on helplessly as the powerful witch moaned softly and jumped as suddenly her eyes flew open. Hermione gasped when those blue eyes instantly focused on her, and Azalea sat bolt upright, an icy glare centred on the terrified young witch in front of her.
Hermione searched her mind desperately for a way to escape, and found herself thinking despairingly of Harry, the one thing she loved above all else. She pictured his brilliant green eyes, his messy hair. He would know what to do! How she wished she was with him now!
Suddenly she saw the sapphire atop the Staff in her hand glow with that strange blue light, and gasped in shock as cold swept abruptly through her body from the Staff and her surroundings blurred. She saw Azalea raise her wand and shout out a stunning spell, and in slow motion saw the red light rush towards her as the room bent out of shape and became transparent. Then unexpectedly she found she was standing in the middle of the Great Hall at Hogwarts at meal time and in at the same time standing in Azalea's study, with the stunning spell still rushing towards her so slowly.
The two images overlapped and stretched and twisted and turned then, Hermione felt herself twisting and was… inverted… so much surely she would break… suddenly the world went back to its usual speed, her feet hit the floor, the red light of the stunning spell slammed into her chest, Hermione screamed and collapsed onto the floor of the Great Hall, in front of the astounded students and teachers of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.