was the more the fact that the hair had been hexed rigid.
"You alright?" Ron urgently called out.
Harry blinked, poking ay the stiff peak. "Yeah."
"Then don't stop firing! Moody told us not to let up!"
Harry had a perplexed expression on his face. "Ron, when was the last time you recall a Death Eater using only Petrificus in a do or die wand-fight?"
Ron was now staring at Harry's vertical fringe. "Um."
"Hold up for a minute," Harry said, after further thought.
"What are you doing, come back here!" Ron hissed, but Harry was crawling past Ron, through bushes and past the trees that were their only cover. He sat back on his haunches and regarded the clearing that separated their bit of the wood from the enemy's.
It was still very dark. Sunrise wouldn't be for at least another hour or so.
Harry cupped his hands and bellowed a long, "OY!" The sound carried across the field.
Several birds took to the air. You couldn't see them, but you could hear the distant squawking and flapping of wings.
All wand-fire from the opposite end was suddenly set to pause.
"HARRY?!" came a reply shriek, about ten seconds later.
Harry bolted up from his hiding spot. He knew that voice anywhere. "Hermione!"
And then she popped up from an outcropping of boulders. Hermione tentatively stepped onto the grassy field, wand still held up cautiously. The walking turned into a jog, and then a run when she recognised him. She launched into him so forcefully that he had to take a step back to avoid toppling over.
Harry hugged her tight and laughed. "Fancy seeing you here! I thought we' d-"
All good abruptly humour fled from his face as he took in her blood-splattered clothing. His mouth dropped open a little.
"I' m fine, Harry," she cut him off with a confident smile. "Just a little shaken, but otherwise completely fine."
Not entirely convinced, Harry set her down with care and took to squinting into the distance. Another figure was emerging out of the gloom. "Who are you with?"
"You'll see," she beamed. "Oh, Harry, I can't believe you're here!"
"And where else would I be except on some dangerous rescue mission?"
"Hello? I' m on the same mission, last time I checked." It was Ron. He had come to a stop behind Harry and was looking happy, but disgruntled. Hermione tried to pull him in for a hug too.
He made a face and good-naturally pointed out that Harry apparently wasn't finished having his turn yet.
"Of course you're both idiots to come, but I expected no less," she told them breathlessly.
"That' s gratitude for you," Ron scoffed. His eyes widened when the dark shape approaching them materialised into Tonks.
"TONKS!"
Tonks was dusting off evidence of Ron's numerous Reductos from her person. "So that was you two firing on us?" she asked pleasantly. "Weasley, that had to be the unfriendliest friendly fire I've ever encountered."
Ron and Harry were thrilled to see her. Harry thumped her hard on the back. "You, Madam Auror, are apparently indestructible."
She winked at him. "That' s the popular theory. Where' s Moody and the rest? And where the hell is Remus! He'll never hear the end of it from me if he stayed behind!"
"They're inside. All of them."
"Moody left the two of you on your own out here?" Hermione asked, incredulous.
Harry misunderstood the question. "I know!"
Hermione patted him on the arm. "I'm sure he had this reasons."
"What reasons? After going to the trouble of bringing us, we're told to wait outside for them? I knew this was going to be a token job, firing on anyone who tries to leave. That was until you two showed up," said Harry.
"Three," she corrected.
"Harry," Ron added with a sigh, "it is a token job because apparently no one apart from these two have left the building."
"Three," Hermione repeated.
"Three what?" Ron asked and then quite suddenly, he looked ill. "Hermione! Is that is that blood?"
Harry interrupted her reply by flinging his wand arm up. "Get back!"
Draco was the cause of this new panic. He was making his way toward them.
"You going to shoot before I start growing roots, Potter?" Draco drawled. His leg was stuck out at an odd angle and even in the darkness it was apparent he was a deathly shade of white.
Harry's wand hand twitched.
"Harry, no!" Hermione grabbed his wrist. It was like hanging on to a monkey bar. He didn't budge. She waited until he was looking at her before she spoke to him. "He's with us," she enunciated.
"What?"
"He killed