Draco seized Hermione's hand, and before she could beg him to help her, they were stumbling out of the room and turning down a familiar narrow corridor just outside of the Great Hall.

The groan of injured bodies rumbled toward them, and Draco pressed flat against the wall, edging slowly through the doorway. He peered around the threshold, sucked a breath, and tugged her through.

Splashes of red crested high on the walls. Bodies everywhere, like mounds of boulders hidden beneath grass, and not a single one moved. The room itself seemed to bleed.

Hermione blinked, focusing only on the pressure of Draco's hand as he dragged her through the chaos. He clenched his jaw, his gaze steeled and empty as they wove through the dead. They walked between the severed halves of a man's torso and Hermione nearly heaved, swallowing back her bile. Another man was missing a head and a leg — a clean slice for each.

An untouched platter of champagne glasses on a lone side table, the bubbles still rising. A platter of cheese and fruit on another, the grapes plump and violently red.

The grand fireplace at the other end of the Great Hall glittered at them, a pile of bodies crumpled around it. Draco tried the Floo regardless. Blocked.

He spun back to her, his eyes flying over the room. "Maybe one of the other sides of the castle is unprotected. Maybe we can pass the Apparition line on the west and—"

A shadow behind him shifted. Her eyes popped as a suit of armor propelled forward. She shoved him to the right and jumped to her left as it bisected them, but before she could blink, Cho Chang was emerging from her hiding spot, swinging the sword at Draco's chest.

"No!"

Her veins crackled as she cried out, and Cho stumbled as if she'd been shoved by an invisible hand. Hermione stared down at her vibrating fingertips, mouth open. Draco skidded backwards, narrowly avoiding the blade, and drew his wand.

"Don't!" she screamed as Cho's blood-splattered arms hefted the sword up, her teeth grit in fierce strength.

Draco ducked her blow, spinning to cast a Disarming Charm. The sword flew from Cho's hands just as the doors to the Lounge burst open. The room roared to life — girls in short dresses and heels screaming and tripping over the bodies. Death Eaters trampling them to get through.

Hermione clambered over the wide chest of the overturned suit of armor and watched as Rabastan grabbed Draco by the scruff of his collar and screamed, "This way, Draco!"

"Get off!" Draco struggled, strangled by his own collar as he was dragged back the way they came. She started after them, but Cho grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her against the wall just as a large, hairy creature bounded in through the doors.

Hermione's blood froze. One of the werewolves was inside the castle.

Through the mass of the running hoard, she saw Draco rip free of Rabastan's grip and spin to find a werewolf blocking his path. The terror on his face tore through her heart. He was swept with the current as the beast prowled forward, dragged away from her by Rabastan and the frightened crowd.