Captivate and Mesmerize

Captivate; Part 1.5

Things happened as if in slow motion when the lift reached the busy atrium. Harry waited a second before guiding Hermione towards the door of the lift after the other Aurors which had just filed out. But as he walked past the operator who was trying very hard to smother a grin on his strange but yet familiar face, Harry knew something was off. A quick look to the man's hand and Harry saw it was inching towards the wand sticking out of his pocket. Harry acted on instinct. He shoved Hermione to the side causing the witch to fall with a gasp and he dived down just in time to see the green light of the Killing Curse whiz past his head and hit a marble column. There was a scream of rage from behind him so he immediately cast a Protego shield just in time for another spell to bounce off it. He couldn't get to her on time though before another light, orange this time, hit the back of Hermione who was still crouched on the ground. Harry watched as Hermione's body turned slack and sagged on the floor. A yell so fierce erupted from his throat before he casted a flurry of curses and jinxes and the exploding charm towards the lift. He only stopped when his fellow Aurors came up behind him and almost wrestled his wand from his grasp. When his wand lowered, two Aurors headed towards the lift, wands drawn and shields up, to see the operator bloodied and bruised underneath the rubble caused by the Bombarda Maxima Harry had just cast. The man was apprehended and detained.

Harry turned to see two of his fellow Aurors tending to Hermione. A crowd had gathered around them and Harry vaguely heard yells and commands to call the mediwitches and alert Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic, about what had just happened. He sank to his knees and looked at her. Her eyes were closed and her lips were parted slightly. She was so pale too. He grabbed one of her hands and a strangled gasp left his lips at how cold it was.

"Harry," Amanda Roche, an Auror friend of his and also an old flame, looked at him gently. "Harry, she's alive. She's breathing, but faintly. The mediwitches will be here soon and they'll be able to help Hermione."

With shaking fingers Harry stroked Hermione's hair. "She has to be okay." He almost pleaded.

The mediwitches came running up to the group on the floor while other Aurors who were on the lift with Harry did their best to dispel the crowd. He was shoved aside by a mediwizard who quickly cast diagnoses spells on Hermione's still form before another one gently levitated her body onto a stretcher. The mediwitches were quick and efficient and soon Hermione's body was floating between them as they raced towards the hospital wing of the Ministry with two other Aurors as an escort. Harry was commanded to stay put.

Amanda came to stand by Harry whose gaze never left the group with Hermione until they were out of sight. She placed a hand over where the ink stag would have been and squeezed. "Harry, you can help her by finding out what curse she was hit with."

Harry's emerald eyes turned dark and his gaze shifted to another group of mediwitches who was still tending to the lift operator under the watchful eye of Aurors. The man's wand had already been taken and his hands were magically shackled as he was lifted onto a stretcher. He was conscious, Harry noted, and the man actually looked at him and sneered.

His strong legs carried him to the group and he stared down at the man who tried to kill him and had harmed Hermione. Harry couldn't place why the man looked familiar, but he didn't care. His identity was not important. All he needed from him was one thing only.

"You will tell me the counter curse to what you hit Hermione with or so help me God I will kill you once the Ministry is done with you," Harry whispered.

The man sneered again. "That's a threat, Potter. You can't threaten me!" He goaded.

"I don't give a fuck and no one here does either," Harry said coldly. The mediwitches and Aurors around pretended no threats were said and continued with their tending and watching with not even a flinch. "You hurt one of ours and for that you will pay. You can make this easier on yourself if you tell us what spell you used!"

"Fuck you, Potter," Macnair spat.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "That's the wrong answer," he whispered. The mediwitches headed towards the holding cell with the man floating in a stretcher between them and two other Aurors standing guard. Harry promised he would make the man talk one way or another.

He needed to help Hermione.

He needed...

He needed her, he realized.

He needed her so badly and could not even imagine what life would be like without her.

The thought clenched his heart in a grip and choked him.

She was his rock. His foundation.

He could not live without her.

He needed her.

And so, he would do anything to help her.

Because now, she needed him.