A/N: drabble #2 of the #HPWMM challenge! This is practice and patronus! Hope you enjoy!
His parents would have to watch. All he could think about while the intruder's voice filled his mind, was that his parents would probably be forced to watch as Draco was executed. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, if they were still alive, would have to watch as their traitorous son took his last breath. The Dark Lord does not deal with traitors, he tortures them, and the fact that Draco was out saving the life of the Dark Lord's newest undesirable number one was the cherry on top of his very shallow grave.
He turned wildly to face the trespasser, and was surprised to see the girl looking the opposite way. She had long brown hair down to the small of her back, and a tall stature that reminded Draco exponentially of someone he knew… if he could just place it. A small crease formed between his eyebrows and unintentionally his mouth fell open, not that he was going to speak with it. He wouldn't be daft enough to break the cover of their invisibility charm, even if he knew her as a sister.
Regardless, know-it-all Granger slapped a hand over Draco's mouth, her eyes even wilder than her hair, and her free hand gripping at her wand. Her expression said something like 'you speak, you die' and still stubbornly enough, Draco pushed her hand off his mouth. He wasn't a child, he knew when to play dead.
"Hello?" The girl called again, this time somewhat lighter. She was turning in the center of the forest, as if looking for someone or something in particular. The forest was desolate besides a few stray woodland creatures, so unless she was the descendent of Newt Scamander, he guessed she wasn't out to find Thestrals.
She had wide green eyes from what Draco could tell from a distance, and a sleek face that Draco recognized from somewhere. Judging from her age, he would assume Hogwarts, and judging from the timing he would assume she was a death eater.
"Hello? My name is Astoria, I'm here with Weasley, if you are out there Hermione Granger, please respond!" She turned again, this time taking sure steps away from their camp, and Hermione seemed magnetized to follow.
Abruptly, Draco grabbed her arm, his face incredulous because how could Hermione Granger fall for something like that? He shook his head, as if it were obvious to her that this was irrational. Draco recognized her from somewhere, which means she cannot be good. Hermione would be able to identify her if she were truly on their team, but judging by the fact that Draco Malfoy of all people knew the girl was an obvious red flag. Invisibility charm or not, if Hermione ran out of her own safe ground, she would be as good as dead, and Draco was not about to save her a second time.
Hermione seemed to snap out of it though, sadness creeping back into her eyes. "He's dead, I know." It was a whisper, so low he was surprised even he could hear it. Ronald was dead, yes, Draco assumed that, but there was something irrevocably unethical if he were to bring that up in a time where the Gryffindor had lost so much. It was a wonder Hermione Granger lived past the death of Potter, but having both Ron and Hermione survive? Impossible, not that he was going to bring up statistics now.
He nodded in agreement as the girl continued to proclaim her speech. They watched from the edge of their tents, just barely covered by Hermione's charms, until the girl finally wore out. She looked defeated, and for a fleeting second Draco felt something unsettling flip in his stomach. She may be dangerous but sad was not a look he liked on her.
Hermione seemed to take it better however, probably glad that Ronald's name stopped filling up the forest. She gave one last sparring look to the girl and turned away, about to walk back into the tent when her wand fell from her tight grasp.
Just at the end of the forest, along the line of thick trees, a silver whisper could be spotted. It was dancing lithe and fast, it's shine dimming ever so slightly with every movement as it came closer and closer to their camp and 'Astoria'. Draco could finally identify it. A weasel.
Hermione gasped something loud, and Astoria perked up. The weasel settled next to her, and suddenly the very alive voice of Ronald Weasley resonated. "Astoria, I've yet to find anything. I'll try the channel side next, good luck." It was short and unusually lacking its usual annoyance, but it was definitely Weasley. And Hermione, without thought, or reason started running towards the fading light of Ron's patronus.
"RON!" It was silly, she knew it wasn't really him here, but it was enough to get Astoria shaken. The voice must have startled her as she rose with wand in hand. Surprisingly, Hermione didn't even care, just continued on to the spot where the last appearance of Ron was, and looked pointedly at Astoria.
"How do we find him?" She asked, as Draco was just barely catching up, after retrieving the fallen wand of a mental Granger.
Astoria looked as if she were about to answer until her eyes landed on Draco. A short jet of something blue exploded from her wand, and Draco, without thinking deflected it with some level of difficultly. He stood perplexed, wand at the ready as Astoria was calculating her next move.
"You're Draco Malfoy." She stated.
"And you need practice." At that, Astoria rolled her eyes, something Draco couldn't help but notice she even looked pretty doing. In truth, the spell was exponentially powerful, but Draco was just professionally adept at deflecting. Something about a lifetime of people trying to kill him might do that to a person.
"No, you just caught me off guard is all." She looked peeved that someone was questioning her power, but not furious to the point she might strike again. "I'm Astoria Greengrass, I've been on the run with Ron since the battle, and we've been searching everywhere for you." At the last part, she directed her attention over to Hermione. And Draco relaxed enough to put his wand back in his pocket.
"Ron thought you might be traveling alone, so we retraced your steps from the first time you went on the run." But Hermione wasn't listening. Sure, she was nodding politely, but even spending three days with the girl, Draco knew she was just waiting till the moment she could interrupt. At least some things never change.
"Where is he now?" Her voice was strong, leaving no room for question, not that anyone ever questioned the walking encyclopedia.
Astoria seemed to think for a second, and then nodded promptly. She held out both her hands in either direction of the two runaways, inviting them each to take her hand.
"You sure you don't want to practice first?" He wasn't sure why he was baiting her, but Hermione threw a light pat to Draco's arm anyway to display her disapproval.
Astoria gave him another challenging look, and Draco couldn't help but realize how much he loved getting that out of her. Greengrass. He knew the name now. That was the recluse family that had turned down the Death Eater proposal. They were pure-blooded, but not important enough to have the Dark Lord himself knocking on their door, so in turn the Malfoys had went… and promptly got the door slammed in their face. She was definitely a Greengrass alright.
"I'll take you to him now." And never in his life had he seen Hermione Granger trust someone else with taking the reigns so fast.