Chapter Three:
Care For A Little Exploring?
She felt like she had been out for a week. Even through her exhausting sleep, Hermione could feel the cold press of the pebbles against her face, and the chill of the locket against her neck. Her neck felt unbelievably stiff. Slowly, she heard a sugary sing-song voice break her sleep.
"Oh, Granger…"
Her eyes blurred open, only to be caught by the blind darkness of the cave.
"Wake up, precious," the sing-song voice continued, and she felt someone gently prodding her, though she couldn't see anything.
"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey…"
Unsticking her cheek from the pebbled ground, she raised herself up. "What?" She asked confusedly, "You made eggs?"
"No," suddenly the sugary sweetness of his voice drained, "Just wanted you to be fully awake for this."
"Wha-" she began, wondering, but suddenly –
PUNCH!
An angry, clenched fist socked her squarely in the eye.
If she couldn't see anything through the darkness before, now she couldn't see anything but bright flashes of painful light. She reeled in pain, clutching her face in agony. "What the hell did you do that for?"
"Oh," he said casually, as if thinking, "Since you tried to drown me!"
Hermione's eyes widened. She couldn't believe him!
"I saved your life!" Hermione roared angrily, "I dragged your stupid, unconscious, ungrateful balls out of the water - You ungrateful … Death Eater!"
"Saved me?" He roared, "You wouldn't have had to save me if you didn't pummel me to Merlin when I tried to save you from drowning!" His voice was dangerously angry, "I was the one who saved your filthy mudblood arse!"
He strode over to her, and pushed her against the wall, pushing his wand in her throat. He said in a dangerous whisper, "You could thank me for stopping Bella in the cave from spinning you in the air; you probably forgot I saved you during the World Cup from the muggle-hunters; I saved you from Fenrir finding you and your stupid friends when they attacked the castle! You COULD thank me like a decent witch," his voice hardened, "but being the ugly, swotty Hermione Granger, your standard greeting involves thrashing me till you draw blood!"
His face took on a strange expression, as if he was aware of a softer tone to his voice that he hadn't intended.
She gulped painfully. "I wouldn't have thought it of you. It's surprising you punched me with your hands since you hate muggles so much. What, too scared to use your wand?" she blustered, struggling against the wand at her throat.
"All right, Granger, have it your way." he said, calmly, walking away from her.
Suddenly, like the sound of a match striking, his wand lit up. He held it over his head, so the cave, and the both of them fell into light for the first time.
He held up three fingers. "Pick one."
"What?" She coughed, squinting at him in the dim light.
"Just pick one!" He said impatiently.
Against her better judgment, the curiosity-piqued Hermione gently nudged Draco's ring finger, and she waited expectedly.
He nodded solemnly. "You picked the Imperius," he informed her, "It's not my favorite, but It's more fun in the long run; You see, I could make you run around here flapping your arms, make you transfigure yourself into a owl, jump into the water, snog an Imperi, snog the Basilisk, and snog that stupid rooster you summoned, swim back here, and kill yourself."
He looked at her, a playful wickedness creasing his face, "You see, Granger, the possibilities are endless."
That's it, she thought, getting to her feet, her hand still massaging her blackened left eye, no more mercy, Mr. Malfoy.
She snatched her wand, screaming her spell in her anger: "STUPEFY!"
A jet of red light burst from her wand. It broke on his chest, and he stumbled back.
"WANDIWASI!" Draco yelled. Her wand slipped from her hand, and shot painfully up her nose.
Horrified, she stopped; attempting to discretely pull it out by turning her back to him. Why did she care if he saw her with a wand up her nose?
She could hear him laughing behind her. She turned, seeing him leaning on a rock for support, and his face was beet red, reminding her of Ron. He was doubled over, and practically wheezing.
Not wanting to stop the momentum of the fight, her stinging nose advised Hermione he'd look practically scrumptious covered in oozing boils.
"Furnunculus!" She yelled.
He gasped, feeling his rutted, oozing face.
"Tergeo!" Draco roared venomously.
A shot of green engulfed her, and a tingling sensation shot through her body. Shaking her head, Hermione asked, "Was that - a cleaning spell?"
He sneered, as if he'd been waiting for her to ask. "Too bad it didn't work on your filthy blood –"
She didn't give him time to finish. "REDUCTO!" She screamed.
He doubled over in pain, but not for long.
His deep voice echoed around the cavernous walls, "CRUCIO!"
Draco's spell grazed her shoulder and sparked on the rocks behind her.
She gasped scandalized, turning back to look at him, as if she couldn't believe he was capable of casting that spell. He winced slightly under her shocked gaze.
Hermione could swear she saw a glint of his white teeth as he smirked playfully in the dark.
"Next time, Mudblood, I won't aim to miss."
Sweat was pouring down her face, and her breaths came out in gasps. There was a stitch in her side.
Draco certainly wasn't the easiest Death Eater Hermione had ever dueled, even if a nagging feeling at the back of her mind told her he didn't take her seriously as an opponent. It felt more like a dueling club at Hogwarts, with the harmless spells Draco and Hermione had been throwing at each. That is, it felt like a game up until he cast the Cruciatus, even though it didn't actually hit her.
Hermione felt anger bubble inside her. She felt like a fool thinking that things would change after she had saved him. She felt so stupid, and deceived. Did he really mean to torture her? Some part of her had hoped they could put their differences aside, and find a way out together of the cave. She wondered momentarily if he could actually torture her. A shiver of fear shot up her spine.
"I'm not going to kill you," Draco murmured, as if reading her mind, "And stop looking at me like I've sprouted two heads!" He spat angrily.
She gulped, trying to hide her anger from him, but she couldn't hold back. The words spilled from her mouth unconsciously, "Why didn't you stop Snape from killing Dumbledore?"
She winced. Great going, Hermione, the last question you'll ask before he murders you. She wished she hadn't spoken at all after the words came tumbling out of her mouth. The darkness was undulating. It felt like hours before he answered.
"It wasn't worth it. Too dangerous."
"You could have let Dumbledore hide you and your family! Make - make You-Know-Who think you died fighting! You could have saved everyone involved!" She screeched, her eyes clouding with tears.
"I told that old fool what would have happened if he helped me." He said quietly.
"How? Harry said you never said anything back to him!" Hermione was still screeching angrily.
"So, you haven't caught on that Potter's not the smartest wizard in the world?" He said, irritatedly explaining, "Legilimens! The old fool could hear my thoughts, and I told him! His beloved double agent would have to die if I let him protect the Malfoys like that. In the end, he knew Snape's worth more than him in this war. There's a lot more that I don't know that happened between them, a lot more that Snape won't tell even me. My head's dizzy from watching him play both sides." He paused, "Dunno why I have to tell you all this. Since when did you take over for the Wizengamot?"
She blinked the tears out of her eyes. "I - I didn't know all that." She paused again, before saying, "Sorry," under her breath. Not that she really was sorry, but it was always a good thing to say to cover her arse, now that she was trapped with a supposed mass-murderer.
"What was that?" He asked, and she could hear the smirk in his voice. "I couldn't hear you."
She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of apologizing twice. "Don't know if you've noticed, Malfoy," she said, mimicking his mocking tone, "but we haven't been trying to kill each other the last few minutes. I think the apocalypse is near." She said, smilingly.
She lit her wand, and held it up over her head, so the cave was dully lit around them.
"Don't remind me." He said, groaning, "I'd much rather black your eye, Granger, than have a heart-to-heart," Draco remarked, pausing for a moment, "let's not make a habit of this."
"Deal!" She smiled, holding out her hand to him. The corners of his twitched, before he forced his mouth straight. Ignoring her outstretched hand, he looked around him, and peered over at the dark waters of the lake.
"Where are we?" He asked confusedly, searching for some familiar signs that weren't there. He looked here and there for the caved-in entrances, but he couldn't find them. He realized that they were probably far away from where they had first entered. "Where'd you drag us, Granger?" He spat angrily.
Pulling her hand back quickly into her pocket, she yelled, "I didn't drag us anywhere! And I don't know either where we are! Miles away from the archway, from what I can tell."
His stomach suddenly gurgled loudly. So loudly that Hermione giggled.
"Think it's funny, do you, that I'm going to starve to death?!" Draco burst out, "At this rate, I'll probably have to eat mudblood stew with basilisk pie." He grinned, "Though, I could floss with your hair."
She made a face. "You disgust me."
"That's what I've been aiming for."
Hermione looked around at the dark walls, hoping to find a small chink of sun or moonlight, "How long do you think we've been here?"
"Hours. Days. Weeks. Who knows, Granger, we're probably going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives." He smirked, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.
"Don't get any ideas and try to do something." She cried, edging back, "I have a wand and I know how to use it."
"Who'd want to do something to you?" He asked, sounding hysterical, "I'd rather fondle Crabbe or- or snog Goyle. The Dark Lord has a more attractive face than you, and a Wildebeest has better hair. And Granger," Draco paused, "That wasn't a compliment, either."
She pretended not to hear him, though she was knitting her eyebrows in anger. "well, I think you secretly love me," she said, summoning up every last ounce of sanctimoniousness she had, "that's why you love to rescue me so much. Face it, Malfoy, you're in love. With Hermione Granger. And you can't get enough. " She smirked, and she wondered why she sounded so unlike herself. She sounded almost like him, she thought with shock, as if spending time with him was rubbing off on her.
There was silence for quite some time.
Finally, he spoke.
"Fancy getting out of here?" He asked, clearly annoyed by her last outburst, "Don't know about you, but I've had enough of your pompous Gryffindor arrogance for a lifetime."
"What do you suggest?" She asked quickly, since she herself was desperate to get out. Even if she felt infinitely safer with him around, the Cave still gave her the creeps. And she'd much rather be with Ron and Harry than with the stupid, evil prat sitting in front of her, casually dusting crumbs from his shirt front as if he had forgotten they were in the middle of a war. She explained, "We can't use the Reductor Curse, since we don't know how deep the Cave is. We'd end up caving ourselves in further."
She wished she still had her purse with her, and hated herself for leaving it in the tent. Well, at least it's with Ron and Harry, who probably will need it after they're healed.
"Of course we can't use the Reductor, Granger," Draco said, pulling out his wand and placing it on his open palm, "I was thinking of something more simple."
His wand suddenly spun around on his palm like a compass, before slowing down and pointing to the dark walls behind him. After looking in that direction for a moment, he looked up at her.
"Care for a little exploring?" He grinned at her mischievously, and she couldn't help smiling back.
