The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 178 - Percy - Too Late To Run

Harry, Hermione and Neville were all knocked backwards off their feet; and subsequently they fell on us too. 

For a moment, tiny hippocampi seemed to race over my head.

"WE'VE GOT HIM!" yelled the Death Eater nearest Harry. "IN AN OFFICE OFF--"

"SILENCIO!" Hermione and Annabeth cried together. The man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out. He was thrust aside by his fellow Death Eater.

"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forwards, face down on to the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move.

"Well done, Ha--"

But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand; a streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermione's chest. She gave a tiny 'Oh!' as though of surprise and crumpled on to the floor, where she lay motionless.

"HERMIONE!"

The Death Eater kicked out hard at Neville's head as he emerged--his foot broke Neville's wand in two and connected with his face. Neville gave a howl of pain and recoiled, clutching his mouth and nose. Harry twisted around, his own wand held high, and saw that the Death Eater had ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at Harry. Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who had murdered the Prewetts.

Alex was pointing her wand at him, still lying on the ground from the impact.

Dolohov grinned. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Harry's hand, to himself, then at Hermione. Though he could no longer speak, his meaning could not have been clearer. Give me the prophecy, or you get the same as her...

"Like you won't kill us all anyway, the moment I hand it over!" said Harry.

"Whaddever you do, Harry," said Neville fiercely from under the desk, lowering his hands to show a clearly broken nose and blood pouring down his mouth and chin, "don'd gib it to him!"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Alex yelled, pointing her wand at me. 

"PROTEGO!" 

The charm hit the silver shield and knocked Dolohov  before he could block it and he toppled forwards rigid as a board and unable to move an inch.

"Hermione," Harry said at once, shaking her as the baby-headed Death Eater blundered out of sight again. "Hermione, wake up..."

"Whaddid he do to her?" said Neville, crawling out from under the desk to kneel at her other side, blood streaming from his rapidly swelling nose.

"I dunno..."

Neville groped for Hermione's wrist.

"Dat's a pulse, Harry, I'b sure id is."

"She's alive?"

"Definitely," Alex assured him.

There was a pause in which we listened hard for the sound of more footsteps, but all I could hear were the whimpers and blunderings of the baby-headed Death Eater in the next room.

"Neville, we're not far from the exit," Harry whispered, "we're right next to that circular room... if we can just get you across it and find the right door before any more Death Eaters come, I'll bet you can get Hermione up the corridor and into the lift... then you could find someone... raise the alarm..."

"And whad are you going do do?" said Neville, mopping his bleeding nose with his sleeve and frowning at Harry.

"I've got to find the others," said Harry.