Frantic, Faelan ducked through spells in the scattering crowd, looking desperately left and right. Padma had been right beside him, clutching his hand as they'd fought their way from the Inferi, but almost before he had a chance to notice her hand slipping away, she was gone. "Padma!" He shouted for her until his voice was hoarse, but her name was lost in the chorus of noise, names being called all around him, children crying, curses flying, and Inferi clearing their way of every obstacle. Cold sweat ran down his temples and he couldn't catch his breath. He needed to see and the crowd was so close it was blinding him.
Ahead, he spotted a brief parting of bodies, and beyond it, a short hillside. If he could climb to the top, he might be able to spot Padma in a sea of heads! Breaking into a run, he hurtled up the hill and turned to face the chaos. Cupping his hands in front of his mouth, he yelled again. "Padma!" His voice barely carried, and from this vantage point, he lost the wind in his lungs. He could see Aurors closing all around, but the Inferi he and Padma had fought to hold back were only a handful of the swarm flooding the festival grounds. He muttered a string of profanities, and just as he was about to turn and run further up the hill, a sudden movement caught his eye to the right. A woman was falling.
It wasn't Padma, but his chest lurched nontheless as he watched her strike the rocky ground before he could reach her. His wand felt like a useless twig as he ran, his feet slipping on the bumpy, muddy slope.
"Hey!" he called, catching the woman by the shoulders as she rolled listlessly onto her back. The woman groaned in half-conscious pain, and her eyes blinked, unfocused. "Hey, you have to get up!" Glancing away, he noticed two Inferi lumbering near them, and for a brief instant, his gaze met one pair of yellowed, bloodshot, color-less eyes. The thing stared at him and opened its mouth to let out a rumbling, chilling moan. "Hey!" he shouted at the woman again, slapping his hand lightly against her cheek.
Dazed, she rolled her face toward him and Faelan was struck with a moment of recognition. The woman was terribly familiar, but out of context...
"Hermione?" he asked, remembering her face from his birthday party months ago, and pictures he'd seen around Harry's things. "Harry's friend, right?" Hopefully, he wondered if that meant the man was nearby. "Come on, we have to get out of here!"