"What about your two idiots, Crabbe and Goyle?" asked Harry.
"You can't pin the blame on them, Potter, they weren't even around." Malfoy sneered. That was a thought, the two clot-heads would probably looking for him right now. Then again, this was Crabbe and Goyle he was thinking about. "Oh, we're doomed!" he wailed. "And it's all your fault!"
"Don't be so stupid," said Hermione. "It wasn't anybody's fault. I should have known it would be you who started pinning the blame on people." Malfoy ignored her. She was a stupid know-it-all mudblood anyway.
"Well, Granger, you're the most intellectual person in this hole. What do you suggest we do?" he leered. Hermione remained silent. "Not sure, are we? Not so high-and-mighty without your beloved books, are we?" Harry doubted Hermione was paying much attention. Malfoy's attitude to everything was something they had all got used to. God knows how he and Hermione could have coped if this had happened when they first started.
"I'm sure Ron will find us, he's usually very quick at noticing things going wrong," Hermione said eventually. Harry nodded in agreement. Malfoy looked disgusted at the thought of being saved by a Weasley.
Harry was a little confused. He decided to take in everything that had happened from a critical point of view. He, Hermione and Malfoy were stuck in a very deep hole together, until somebody found them. What were the chances of their being found? Well, they were in the forest at night, so there could be a chance of a centaur finding them. But even if they were found, what could anybody do to get them out? Harry knew the centaurs had some kind of mysterious power, but did it include making kids rise up out deep pits? And that was only if they got as far as asking the centaur to get them out. He would probably just make some weird reference to the position and radiance of an unheard of planet, then wander off muttering to himself. Then there was the unpleasant thought of something other than a centaur coming across them. Like a werewolf, or something. Harry had a sneaky suspicion that if a werewolf found them, it would dive in and eat them first, then think about getting itself out later. Next unpleasant thought, what would happen to them if they got out? Yet another spot of bother for Harry Potter. He didn't think that following Malfoy into the woods to see what he was up to would extract much sympathy from any teacher. And Snape! Of all the people they could have the bad luck to be found out by, Snape would be the worst. Harry thought miserably that at least it would be interesting to see how Snape avoided punishing Malfoy.
Hermione felt totally helpless. Yes, she knew the exact spell that could get them all out of here, but her wand had been left up on the surface during the slight scuffle with Malfoy. In fact, none of them had their wands. What was the point in living anymore? They had no way out of this wretched hole. What on earth was it doing in the forest anyway? Then Hermione had an unpleasant thought. The hole could be a trap laid by some kind of creature to catch unsuspecting wanderers. But that was a stupid thought. Most disgusting, salivating, hairy and ferocious monsters weren't clever enough to dig deep pits like this one. There must have been some kind of magic involved, otherwise whoever dug the hole wouldn't have been able to get out after reaching the bottom. So, at least she knew this had been made by some kind of wizard or witch. However, that wasn't a great deal of help, seeing as no-one other than a wizard or witch could have been here at Hogwarts. That reminded her of the school, and she was grateful that nothing exciting like a feast was going on, otherwise she'd have felt really left out. As it was, they were just missing out on precious sleep. Sleep…it seemed like Hermione had been getting anything but sleep these past few nights. Friends of Harry Potter rarely did get sleep, that was guaranteed. Hermione admitted that she did get the odd bit of excitement from creeping around in the dark, despite how much she complained about the amount of school rules they were breaking, but she also admitted it would be nice just to have a little sleep once in a while. It certainly didn't help her study.
Malfoy had considered for a split-second shouting for help, but he knew that if he did he would be the laughing stock of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and he'd be stared at loathingly by fellow Slytherins. He decided that none of them in the hole would start shouting before someone else did. Malfoy sat and stared at the ground, thinking up reasons for blaming Potter on getting them into this mess. It was his good luck if Snape was the first person they ran into when they got out. If they got out. One thing that made him happy was Granger's loss of her wand along with him and Potter. At least they were all equal, so he didn't have to have the embarrassment of being saved by the goody two-shoes. The only thing better than that would be if he could rescue them, but unfortunately he hadn't got his wretched wand either.
"If I had my wand, I could get us out of here," Malfoy snarled at Harry. "But of course Harry Potter, scarface of the century, had to grab it off me and throw it helpfully into the bushes. How thoughtful of him." Harry didn't flinch.
"You were going to petrify me!" he protested. Malfoy snorted.
"Hardly, Potter. Just something to prevent you from breaking my neck. I mean, anybody would have tried it if they saw you, eyes widened and bloodshot, nostrils flaring, snarling like a madman, and coming straight for them." Malfoy laughed.
"What were you doing in the woods, anyway, Malfoy?" demanded Hermione. "That's why we were following. And don't try spinning any lies about being sent on an errand by a teacher, because not even your beloved Snape would be stupid enough to send a pupil into here." Malfoy considered answering the question. If they were never to get out of here, what harm would there be in telling them? Then again, it was slightly possible that someone could stumble across them, and get them out of here somehow, and then Potter and Granger would start spinning it all around the school.
"I'll tell you," he said carefully. "If you do me in a favour in return." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Forget it, Malfoy. We'll find out anyway, won't we Harry?" Harry didn't look sure.
"I don't know, Hermione. The only people who know we're in here are Ron and Crabbe and Goyle, and this place is so large and overgrown, I'd be surprised if they could find an elephant in here after a year of searching. And if Ron can't find us, then Crabbe and Goyle never will. Even if they told a teacher, we'd never be found."
"Ahem." Harry and Hermione turned to Malfoy, he looked as if he didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed. "If I may interrupt your overwhelmingly optimistic chatter, there appears to be a centaur looking down at us."
Indeed there was. A well-built centaur with black hair was staring down at them as if finding three school children at the bottom of an impossibly big pit was not uncommon. Harry, Hermione, Malfoy and the centaur stared at each other expectantly. Malfoy turned to Harry.
"Is he simple, or something?"
"Er…" Harry raised his voice. "Hello." The centaur smiled, then looked up into the night sky.
"Let me," muttered Malfoy. "Listen, I don't know whether you'd noticed, but we appear to be stuck down in a pit. It would be greatly appreciated if you could get us out, somehow. This year, preferably." The centaur looked back down at them.
"I knew you were here," he said calmly.
"How?" asked Hermione. She couldn't blame Malfoy for his sarcastic approach. The centaur seemed quite prepared to do things in his own time.
"There was an omen." replied the centaur.
"How interesting," sneered Malfoy. "If you believe in that kind of stuff. Now, my good centaur, if you would divert your attention to the matter in hand, do you think you could get us out?" The centaur looked back up at the sky. "What does he think he's doing?" Malfoy hissed. The centaur didn't move.
"Erm…Mr. Centaur?" Hermione called. "Can you find any wands lying around up there?" Harry hadn't thought about asking anyone to find their wands. However, the centaur didn't even glance at the ground.
"Draco is bright tonight," he stated. Malfoy looked confused.
"How did you know who I am? Did someone send you looking for me? Are you even listening to a word I say, or am I just wasting my breath?" Malfoy was getting more irritated by the minute.
"Draco," said Hermione. Malfoy stopped for a moment, he was so unused to having his first name used.
"What?" he demanded. Hermione smiled smugly.
"You didn't let me finish. Draco is actually the name of a constellation." Malfoy took all this in, then groaned.
"Look…" he said pleadingly to the centaur. "Can you just try and understand that we don't want to be down here, and we will reward you greatly if you get us out, no matter how you do it?" The centaur smiled.
"Draco is bright tonight," and with that, he slowly walked away.
"What do you think you're doing?" screamed Malfoy.
"Come back!" shouted Harry, but the centaur was already out of sight. "We need help!"
"It's no use," wailed Malfoy. "He's mad! As mad as a brush! We're doomed, and it's all your fault!" The Slytherin started whimpering. Harry didn't even think about criticising Malfoy. He felt just as helpless himself.
"Oh, Harry, what're we going to do?" Hermione said. "Malfoy's right, you can't get a straight answer from these centaurs."
"Let's look on the bright side," said Harry. "He might have gone to get help." Malfoy wiped his nose with his robes.
"You saw his face, Potter, for all we know he might not have realised we were even there. Doomed…"
"Well, I can't say I've ever wondered what dried earth and rock tasted like, but there's a first time for everything…" muttered Hermione. Malfoy groaned even louder.
One day later, they still hadn't been rescued. Not even a centaur had come across the pit. Malfoy still let out a groan whenever he woke up and remembered where he was. Harry stared miserably at the dark, claustrophobic walls of the pit, having given up trying to forget about food. Hermione gave advice to the other two on how to preoccupy themselves, but somehow she didn't think anyone could stand playing charades for too long. Excitement had risen a little bit, when a single red berry tumbled into the pit, blown by the gentle wind.
"Okay, let's just settle down," said Hermione. "First things first, is it poisonous?" The boys groaned, and slunk back to their "corners" of the pit.
"Did you have to suggest that?" muttered Harry.
"Well, we may be going to die, but that doesn't mean I want to speed up the process." she explained.
"I don't know about you, Potter, but anything to speed up the process would be fine by me," said Malfoy, but he didn't touch the berry anyway.
That night, Harry decided to start a conversation that might keep them occupied for half an hour or so, just to pass the time. None of them had said much; in any case he and Hermione had given up any attempt of a private conversation, it was so silent that Malfoy could hear anything within metres of the pit.
"What did you want to do when you grew up, Hermione?" said Harry. Hermione was startled, as no-one had spoken for at least an hour.
"Well…a teacher at Hogwarts, I suppose." Harry tried to laugh, but ended up coughing violently.
"Of what?" Hermione was best at practically every subject, apart from Divination, but she never cared to talk about that in front of anyone.
"Hmm…Defence Against the Dark Arts would be nice." Harry smiled. He knew that she was eager to follow in the footsteps of her heart-throb, Gilderoy Lockheart, however obnoxious the man had turned out to be in reality. Malfoy snorted.
"If we weren't in this mess, I'd wish you the best of luck," he said. "Not one Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher has lasted as long as any of us has been here. If you ask me, it's jinxed. But that doesn't matter now…" Malfoy's eyes suddenly became very distant, and Harry worried that he might go into another anxiety fit, so he turned to Malfoy quickly.
"What about you, Malfoy, what did you hope to become?"
"Oh, I don't know. Something respectable, but not too glamorous. In fact, I never really thought about it. What about you, Potter?" Harry decided that it had been a stupid question anyway, because he himself had never thought about it. He didn't have time to answer anyway, for at that moment there was a loud and shocking howl. Malfoy jumped, and his eyes became wide. "What…was that?" he whispered. Harry gulped.
"Maybe it was just the wind…" He never thought he'd find himself saying that.
"The wind, in summer?" exclaimed Hermione, hoping she was wrong. Suddenly, the pit didn't seem quite so hidden away. The possibility of something falling into the hole was on all of their minds. Something with sharp teeth.
"Now…we all know there's no such thing as werewolves, don't we?" Hermione stammered. Malfoy looked at her as if she was mad, as did Harry, who had had a close enough experience with a werewolf to prove beyond doubt that they existed.
Malfoy edged closer to Hermione, his hands shaking uncontrollably, as did Harry.
"I need the toilet…" said Malfoy, but he shut up. They shivered down in the pit, jumping at every single sound they heard.
"Do you think we're going to die?" whispered Hermione.
"Well…maybe it'll be a friendly monster." Harry said, trying to sound cheerful.
"Curse that centaur! Curse them all!" shouted Malfoy, shaking his fist at the night sky. Hermione and Harry told him that if he shouted any louder, it would be as good as killing them already. There was a crunch of twigs under foot…or paw. A strange yelping sound, then an ear-piercing howl. Within seconds, everybody in the pit was hugging each other, quaking in their robes. They wanted to close their eyes, but they still stared up, whimpering. Then, suddenly there was a voice.
"Oh, yeh stupid mutt, get out of the way." Hagrid appeared at the top of the pit, restraining a whimpering Fang on a leash. He stared down at the three occupants of the pit, clinging onto each other as if it was the end of the world. But the most surprising thing was seeing Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter clutching each other's arm, past rivalries forgotten. "What're yeh doing down there?"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I happen to be English, so that explains any spelling mistakes for the any American readers.
DISCLAIMER: Believe it or not, I did not invent any of the characters in the piece of fan fiction, J.K. Rowling did, and I owe it all to her. Ta.