"Harry, did you hear that?"
"Stay back, Hermione!"
Hermione Granger was panicking. As clever as she was, she was prone to losing her head in these kind of situations. Clutching her wand tightly in her hand, she pointed it forwards to reassure herself.
"Who's there?" she called, taking tentative steps forward towards the edge of the tent.
"Hermione, I said stay back! I'll go," Harry hissed, but Hermione waved him off.
"I can do this, you know," she whispered back.
It was a quarter past midnight, and Hermione had been on the night watch at the edge of the tent. Just as she had gone inside to wake Harry for his shift, they heard a ruckus outside of the tent and were on high alert.
Somewhere deep in the Cornish countryside, they had allowed themselves a break from the icy conditions up in the north of the country, even if down here they had to put up with copious amounts of rain. At least they weren't shivering and struggling to sleep from the cold each night.
Harry was stood in his pyjama bottoms and a hooded sweatshirt next to his bed, having leapt up from his sleepy stupor upon hearing a rather loud swear word that definitely had not come from Hermione - and judging by Ron's snores, not from him either.
"Who's there?" she called again. "Show yourself!"
There was still no reply, and when Hermione began to shuffle toward the door again Harry called out.
"Wait! I've just realised, they can't hear you! Whoever it is, your wards stop them from hearing anything we're saying."
Hermione cursed herself for not realising that earlier. Wand arm shaking, she took a deep breath to steel her senses.
"Well if they can't hear me, they won't be able to see me either. Stay there, Harry. You know who they want. I'll just check - I promise I won't go outside of the wards."
Harry looked dubious. He was reluctant to let either of his friends take any chances on this journey, particularly as he had tried to go alone in the first place. Although now he had to admit he wouldn't have survived without them, he still wanted to save them from his undeniable fate. Dumbledore had prepared him for the worst, but the worst didn't involve his two best friends.
"Fine," he agreed reluctantly. "But if I don't hear from you after 10 seconds of you going through that door, I'm coming out."
Nodding her agreement to that plan, not wanting to be ambushed outside, Hermione ignored the bile rising in her throat as she reached out for the tent flap.
"Wait," she whispered, turning around. Harry looked alarmed and jumped into a defensive stance. "You should wake Ron."
Harry relaxed and shot Hermione a look for scaring him, but reached towards Ron to stifle his snores and bring him into consciousness.
"Hello?" she called out as she pulled back the tent flap, mentally cursing herself again when she remembered the wards. With a deep breath and a frantically beating heart, she stepped out into the darkness.
What she saw wasn't exactly what she expected. There were the dark black robes of a death eater, but she recognised that ruffled blonde hair and pale face anywhere. He had his hand up in front of him like a Muggle mime, but Hermione realised his hand was placed on her wards.
"Potter!" Draco hissed. "Granger! Weasel? One of you, goddamn, listen to me."
Hermione moved forwards until she was stood right in front of him. She couldn't ever recall being so close to him, except perhaps the time she had punched him in Third Year. But he was so much taller now. She had to crane her neck to look up into his face, and took great wonder in knowing he had no clue she was there.
She jumped when he spoke again, forgetting his voice would be much louder now she was right in front of his face.
"You need to get out of here. They know your location within a 5 mile radius - one of you said the Dark Lord's name, it's Taboo - and they're combing the area. Lucky for you I found you first. They know how to break your wards -"
Hermione's heartbeat had increased dramatically again, and without a second thought as to whether this could be someone using Polyjuice or what Draco's intentions were, she reached her hand through the wards and grabbed Draco's aloft hand.
His face was comical, the white expression of shock making him look ghost-like. Dragging him through her wards, Hermione pulled him into safety - or at least safety for the moment, if what he said was true.
"How long do we have?" she asked immediately. Draco looked taken aback. He wasn't expecting to be invited in for tea and crumpets when he chose to warn them. Fuck, he thought. I'm for it now.
"Hermione? Who are you talking to?" Harry came running out of the tent, Ron stumbling sleepily behind. He stopped in his tracks, taking in the man in front of him. Hermione realised she was still holding his hand and dropped it promptly.
"Tell them," Hermione ordered. "Quickly."
"Fucking hell, Granger, what did you bring me in here for?" Draco groaned, running his hand through his hair. "If the others find me in here the Dark Lord will crucify me for the rest of my life."
Hermione did feel a little guilty - she hadn't thought of the consequences for Draco. He was helping them already, after all.
"Sorry," she said brusquely, her wand still pointed forwards - at him now. "Just say it again."
"One of you said his name, and it's Taboo -"
"I told you!" Ron cried triumphantly, looking around at Hermione and Harry. Draco shot him a disgusted look before continuing.
"They know your location within a 5 mile radius - it could be anywhere within those 5 miles. They're searching now. They sent me off alone, and I found you first. You need to fucking go, right now. Death Eaters will be here any second and will smash down your wards like they're fucking Protego."
Harry looked thoughtful - and skeptical.
"Why should we trust you?" he asked.
"Merlin's pants, Potter!" Draco cried, exasperated. "How would it harm you if I told you to move? I'm not telling you where to go, or asking you to tell me where you're going."
"Why are you helping us?" Hermione asked, not unkindly.
Draco stood motionless for a few seconds, looking around at the three faces staring back at him. The gormless freckled face of Weasley, the older-than-his-years expression upon Potter's, and the keen inquisition on Granger's. Why was he helping them?
"Because you're the only chance the world's got," he muttered bitterly.
Harry looked surprised at this admission, but Hermione had had an inkling all along that Draco wanted this war to end. It was clear to anyone with a brain that he didn't want to be a part of it.
"You can come with us," she offered confidently.
"You what?" Ron spluttered, staring at Hermione like she'd grown three heads.
"Excuse me?" Draco said at the same time, sure he'd heard her wrong.
"Come with us," she repeated. "We can protect you. You don't have to do horrible things anymore, Malfoy. Help us win. You'll be forgiven."
Ron was still spluttering and had turned a rather amusing shade of pink, but Harry said nothing, showed no expression. As much as he disliked Malfoy, he knew Hermione was doing the right thing. Plus Malfoy could have some vital information.
"What if I want to do horrible things?" Draco muttered, embarrassed at her generosity.
"We all know that's not true, Malfoy," Harry said evenly. "You know I don't like you, but she's right. It's too late for you to go back now. Come with us and do the right thing."
"Do you have to sound so perfectly pretentious all the time, Potter?" Draco said, rolling his eyes.
"Now isn't the time, Malfoy. We've got to get packed up and go."
"I'll start collecting stuff up," Ron offered, stumbling forward a step. He was still half asleep, and only wearing his pyjama bottoms.
"Good Lord, Weasley, put some clothes on will you? You're making me feel sick," Draco drawled, looking away in horror from Ron's bare chest.
"Oi! Can it, Malfoy!" Ron began, but cut himself off quickly.
All four froze, perking up their ears like dogs as they strained to hear outside. They had all heard the deep voice outside.
"It's too late to pack up," Hermione panicked. "Accio," she muttered, summoning all the important items she needed for Horcrux hunting that weren't in the beaded bag tucked into an inside pocket of her dressing gown. Stuffing them in the bag, and the bag back in her pocket, she grabbed Draco's hand, holding tight despite his immediate protests. With the other she grabbed Ron's.
"Harry, hold onto Ronald," she ordered quickly. "Get ready for Apparition."
More voices could be heard outside. But just as Hermione began the thought process of Apparition, Ron spotted his wand lying on the floor just a meter from him.
"My wand! Wait a second, Hermione!" he called, letting go of her hand as he dashed forward to retrieve it.
Hermione's sense of fear returned at the loss of contact, and the last thing she saw as she and Draco Malfoy Apparated away was the horrified look on Harry's face as he rushed forwards to grab onto one of them, still holding Ron's hand.
As she slammed into the hard, frozen ground of a hidden cave midway up a remote mountain, Hermione cried out immediately.
"Harry! Ron!"
She had bitten her lip landing, as she had fallen instead of landing upright, but ignored the trickles of blood now dripping down her chin.
"They're not here, Granger," Draco told her, feeling sick himself. Being stuck with the three of them would have been bad enough, but just Granger? And only Merlin knew what had happened to Potter. He hoped they had been quick enough to Apparate away too.
Hermione's head was swimming. The distracted Apparition had knocked her senses away, and as panic erupted inside her like a fountain at Draco's words, she fell back to the floor in a sea of darkness.
Hey guys! New story. Sorry it's been so long, but exams, you know? Enjoyyyy :D
