"Hermione, you've been wounded!" Katniss said in panic as she realized the state of her remaining companion in the Games. The two have just set on moving out again and trying to find a new place to stay.
"The boy… district 1…" Hermione tried to speak as the strength and consciousness seeped out from her. She staggered a bit before Katniss took her arm and started to half carry her where they walked.
"Don't talk. You need to save whatever energy you have left," Katniss said while trying to adjust to the weight bearing upon her. "We need to find a river to clean you up."
They made their way through the foliage with very little progress. The sky was darkening with gray clouds over them.
"You're losing too much blood!" Katniss panicked under her breath. She quickly looked around for any sign of the river. Fortunately, it was not too far from where they stood so it didn't take them too long to find it.
Katniss plopped Hermione onto a big rock next to the flowing waters to keep the wound in elevation. She held her breath as she examined the wound. It was a deep cut and it was very close to the heart. A little too close. Katniss filled up a bottle with some river water and poured a stream of it to wash the blood and dirt from the wound. Then she made a compress and tightly secured it with a self-made bandage to stop the bleeding. Hermione seemed to be slowly regaining her consciousness.
"That should do it," Katniss said triumphantly.
"Thanks Katniss," Hermione gasped.
"Don't mention it."
Suddenly, the booming voice of Claudius Templesmith was heard overhead. He was saying that there had been a rule change. Hermione and Katniss looked at each other in a brief moment of confusion. According to Claudius, both tributes from the same district can win if they're the last ones left in the arena.
At first, Katniss contemplated the possibilities of the new rule over in her head. Then she looked sympathetically at Hermione. This wouldn't be able to benefit her because her male counterpart was already dead. Hermione knew that Katniss was already thinking of Peeta as they exchanged glances. What will happen if the three of them will become allies? The two of them will fight together so they'll have the greater edge. She'll be that other girl that they will eventually have to kill. In the end, even if they all make it together, it's either her or the two that will have to die and it will be by the other's hands. There has got to be a way to change this. Hermione just couldn't imagine Katniss being dead.
"You go and find him," Hermione said.
"Who?" Katniss said absent-mindedly as she snapped back from her thoughts.
"The boy… Peeta. You guys can work together and win."
"What about you? I can't leave you in the state you're in."
"Trust me. I'll be alright. Look, the blood's already stopped flowing. And there are only a handful of us left; it would be better if we separate now."
Katniss thought for a moment and when she finally decided, she stood up. "I'm gonna go look for Peeta. Then I'll come back. You'd better be here when I do." She sprinted away following the river upstream. Hermione thought of escaping but both of them knew that she was not going anywhere in her state. They had chosen a good hiding place—huge rocks provided her with a refuge and if that wasn't enough, bushes grew strategically around her which prevented her from being seen by a passing tribute.
A few minutes of solitude and peace had passed when Hermione heard careless shoving and muttering a little to her right although there was no one there. She was already suspecting this, so, in disgust that they had been spying on her for quite some time now, she threw a ball of mud at them.
"Ow! Hey!" a voice said as the ball of mud hit something invisible and dropped to the ground. There was a little angry murmuring as Hermione began to chuckle. Then someone whispered, Muffliato.
Hermione knew the spell and how none of the cameras or anyone around them will be able to hear anything she was going to say—so long as she kept a moderate volume. "So much for stealth," she said while trying to make it appear that she was just murmuring or humming a tune because, unfortunately, Panem would still be able to see her mouth moving.
"It was Ron, he kept on squirming!" Harry said underneath the cloak.
"I wasn't squirming!" Ron defended.
"Were you guys spying on me?" Hermione didn't know whether to be angry that they were sneaking on her or relieved to know that her friends were there.
"No! Why would we spy on you?" Ron said.
"Actually," Harry said in a calmer tone, "Dumbledore told us to keep an eye on you while not showing ourselves. But some of us are not too good at it."
"Are you trying to say something?" Ron retorted.
"You threw a ball of mud at her yesterday! Did you think flying mudballs was an ordinary sight for the muggles?"
"It could be in this world…" Ron muttered.
"Wait, why would you throw a ball of mud at me, Ron?" Hermione inquired.
"You're just so full of yourself now that you could perform the spell when you were in first year while others can't so you tell everybody about it."
"What are you… Oh… The story I told Rue… I didn't mean to offend you."
"But it was kind of true. He couldn't do the levitating spell right back then," Harry said.
Ron started to speak but Hermione was faster than him. "But why hide yourselves? Why can't we just get out of here now?"
"Because Dumbledore said so," Harry replied.
"He said that this was a rather thought of and complicated plan. We can't just get you out of here that easily," Ron explained.
"Dumbledore learned that many muggles will bear witness to it because everything's on live tv. And there's also a powerful magic that's somewhat obstructing something. He didn't fill in on us much with all the details. All he told us was to keep an eye on you because he also learned about the… you know… the Games," Harry said.
"Yeah, there was this girl who was about to get you yesterday after you were stabbed but I used a petrifying spell on her," Ron said proudly. Hermione smiled because Ron was being Ron and she wasn't dead.
"Yeah, sorry about letting you get stabbed back there. It's just that when we woke up, you and your friend were already gone. It took a while for us to find you. And when we did, we were too late," Harry said.
"It's alright. I'm just glad that you guys are here. I'd hug both of you right now but that will blow your cover—or whatever's left of it," Hermione said.
"So yeah. We'll just stay alive until Dumbledore gets here… whenever that is," Ron said.
Then it began to rain. It was a slight drizzle at first but it was eventually getting stronger. Then Hermione saw Katniss running toward her. She heard Harry and Ron back up while Harry broke the Muffliato spell.
"Hermione, come on! We'd better get under shelter before we get soaked."
Hermione looked back to where her friends were but she wasn't sure where they were now. She stood up and, aided by Katniss, made her way to a cave made from giant rocks where Katniss led her. She saw that Peeta was already inside trying to sleep. She suddenly realized that she was very tired so she collapsed on a blanket and immediately fell into slumber.