More than thirty heads nodded.

"What?" Hermione frowned. "No, we'll come back, get you all out, and then all fifty of us will storm through that door—"

"Don't be an idiot, Granger," Pansy said from her corner.

Ginny pressed her lips together. "Hermione, you have to get through that door as quickly and silently as possible. The mediwitches will be waiting on the next group."

"Why would five witches with a maximum of two wands be better chances than fifty?" she argued. "We're ten floors deep underground."

"Fifty unarmed witches fitting in the lifts is better?" Pansy sneered.

The bang of the doors unlocking again. The girls scattered, looking innocent.

Yaxley returned the five freshly bathed girls.

"Baxter, Lovegood, Patil, Mortensen, and Granger."

She stood. And wondered for the first time where the other Patil was.

Parvati moved quickly to be at the front of the line of girls, giving Hermione a nod. Luna stood behind her. The other girls filed in and Hermione stood at the back. Yaxley led them out, holding the door to lock it. Another Death Eater waited in the hallway, and gestured for Parvati to follow. Hermione eyed Yaxley as he locked the door and turned to bring up the rear.

Her heart thudded a dull beat.

They turned left.

She stared at the back of Baxter's head. She didn't know her. As her arm swung back she could just make out the word Nott.

They turned left again. A long hallway with a door at the end. Midway was a door on the right, which according to Ginny would lead to the showers. A hallway sprouting to the left to take them to the medical exam room.

She focused in on the hum of magic in her blood. And she spun and reached out, focusing on the spell, and pushed Yaxley through the air.

She opened her eyes when she heard a shout. Yaxley's body hung by his ankle. Baxter joined her, hands outstretched. Their magic synced, a force of wind and desperation. Yaxley's wand flew from his hand. Her eyes followed, heart hammering. Without the grace and delicacy of wandwork on the Expelliarmus, the stick just zoomed across the hall.

A commotion from behind them, possibly the other three attacking the first Death Eater, and she felt the power slipping from her fingers, distractions everywhere and her mind spinning circles. Yaxley dropped, falling in a heap.

Get the wand. Get the wand.

A scream behind her.

She spun, and Parvati was on the floor, writhing.

The Death Eater's mask had slipped off in the attack. It was Dolohov. His wand trained on Parvati in what must be the Cruciatus Curse. Hermione gasped for air, searching for the wand as Luna jumped on his back. He swatted her away with his wand, her little body flying backward.

Hermione was useless in a duel without a wand. Her eyes darted, searching. There, in the corner that lead to the exam room: Yaxley's wand. She dove for it, as a fresh round of screams from Parvati poured into the hallway. Her fingers plucked it from the ground.