This story is written for the Movie Fest of the Strictly Dramione Facebook page. If you are a fan of Dramione, the Strictly Dramione page is the place to be! Go check it out.
I want to thank my lovely Beta and cheerleader Filisgare. She inspired me, motivated me, and kept me writing. Many, many thanks.
Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling, all things Tangled to Disney.
xXxDracoxXx
Draco couldn't understand, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand. A library? She wants to go see a library?
"Let's- Let's just get out of this valley first, alright? We'll talk about our destination this evening." A library?!
"Ok."
He went to grab Nix' reins. "Come on."
What have I gotten myself into? He watched as Hermione bounded along the path, her ridiculously long hair wound about her, a child-like awe on her face. She stopped to smell a flower, touched trees and leaves and plants alike, sprinted forward, zigzagged across the path and giggled like a six-year-old. He tried warning her about dangerous animals and toxic plants, but nothing seemed to diminish her mad behaviour. Looking behind them, he watched the cat follow along as if it had no care in the world, its tail high in the air. What have I gotten myself into?!
"Through here," he said when Hermione finally stopped running, hesitating where the dense shrubbery obscured the path. "Watch out for the branches."
He led Nix a bit further into the forest on the other side, before turning around to look for Hermione. She stood frozen on the path, the orange fur ball rubbing against her legs. He could see she was scared.
"What's wrong?"
"No- nothing."
He simply looked at her.
"I can't see the sky," she finally whispered.
"It's still there, don't you worry," he responded mockingly, briefly looking up at the canopy. He always found the enclosure of a forest to be soothing. When he looked back at Hermione, she was glaring at him.
"No kidding!" she lashed out, hands on her hips. "It's still up there. What? You thought I might think it disappeared? I'm not stupid you know!" She brushed past him and briskly started walking.
He sniggered and mounted Nix. They trotted to catch up. "Milady, I'm sorry if I offended thee." He sniggered again, owning him another glare. She jumped slightly in surprise.
"Why are you on top of your horse?"
This time, he laughed loudly. "It's a far less tiresome way of travel. Now, if you would stop walking, I can pull you up behind me."
Her eyes grew wide. "Me? On the horse?"
"Most definitely. You didn't think I would let you walk all the way, now did you?" He could see on her face that that was exactly what she had thought. She was looking from him, to the horse, to the spot behind the saddle, and back. Finally, a resolve seemed to grow.
"Crooks, come here boy, back in the bag."
Draco watched with fascination as the cat grudgingly let Hermione handle him. He thought it was a rather comic sight, a furry, orange cat head sticking out of a bag. Wisely, he kept his mouth shut.
"Ok," Hermione said, "how do I get up there?"
"You're going to have to sit sideways. Put one foot in the stirrup, give me your hand, and Hup!" She squealed as he hoisted her up. "Now wrap your arms around me and don't fall off."
All air left him as she wrapped her arms around his torso, burying her head between his shoulder blades and squeezing with all her might.
"Need … some air," he managed to breathe.
"Oh, sorry."
Her grip eased to the point that he could breathe again. They followed the trail in silence. Slowly, her hold on him lessened even more. When they came to the more travelled path, he turned right, aiming to get back on the main road.
"There he is! Get him men!"
Draco looked over his shoulder and cursed. They're persistent, I have to give them that.
"Hold on tight, we're going to run!"
"What?"
Hermione screamed as he nudged Nix into a full gallop. Her arms once more turned like vices around his torso.
"What did you do?" she screamed at him. "Are you a thief?"
"This is not the time!" he yelled back.
"Tell me what you did!"
"Fine! I had an, uhm" How naïve is she, really? "an, uhm, affiliation with a nobleman's wife."
"A what?"
"You know, we got busted in the bedroom."
"I don't understand."
Extremely naïve it is. He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Did your aunt never talk to you about the birds and the bees?"
"Birds? Bees?"
"Right. Never mind. Let's just say the husband wasn't very happy when he found us."
"And now they want to catch you?"
"Yes." He hoped she would leave it at that and nudged his horse for more speed. "Damn it, Nix! I know you can run faster than that. We're in quite the predicament here, this is not the time for being moody!"
"You need the horse to run faster?"
"Preferably."
"I can help with that."
"What? What are you going to do? Hermione?" He could feel her moving behind him, she even went so far as to let him go completely. "Don't you dare fall off!" he shouted at her.
"Ready?" she asked, wrapping her arms back around him.
"For what? What are you going to do?"
"Crooks, nails."
Nix bucked, threw his head up, and sped forward as if the devil was on his heels.
"What? How did you do that?"
He could practically feel her smirk behind him.
"Crookshanks has very sharp nails. I think your horse agrees."
Draco did not know how to respond to that. He didn't know if he was supposed to be angry on behalf of his horse, or acknowledge the genius of her solution. In the end, he decided not to comment at all, instead focussing on getting away from his pursuers.
"Damn, persistent Muggles," he muttered. "If only I could Apparate. But that's too risky with a horse, a cat and a woman. Plus I would be breaking the Statute of Secrecy if the Muggles saw." He spotted a rocky outcrop in the distance. Ok, change of plan. "Hold on tight, sharp corner coming up."
He roughly steered Nix around the rock. Whipping out his wand, he touched the top of his head, Hermione's head, the cat and his horse. "Don't move, don't make a sound," he whispered harshly, before stilling his jagged breath and remaining as still as possible. Thank Merlin this was one lesson Nix had retained, he didn't even swish his tail. Draco watched the confused Muggles on the path in front of them.
"Where did he go?"
"Did he turn into the woods?"
"He couldn't just have disappeared."
"We would hear him if he was thrashing through the woods, he can't have gone there."
"Then he can only have gone forward."
"We're losing time men, let's go."
"Onward!"
A chorus of shouts rose up from the group as the spurred their horses and raced off into the distance. Draco sighed with relief. All in all, that went well.
xXxHermionexXx
Hermione stiffened as Draco tapped a stick on her head and an eerie, cold feeling washed over her. She obeyed as he commanded her not to move and to be silent, realising it would not be good if they got caught. As soon as the men were gone and the feeling dispersed, however, she lashed out.
"What did you do!?" She jumped from the horse and backed away. "What was that? Why didn't they see us?" Should she have listened to her Aunt after all? Was he dangerous? Was he a criminal?
"Now you decide not to trust me?" he asked her. When she didn't respond, he shrugged. "We better get moving before they decide to turn back."
"What did you do?" Hermione's voice sounded shrill.
Draco let out a sigh. "I will explain later tonight, when we set up camp. Now, we really must get going."
Hermione didn't move, instead she glared up at him. Did he really think she would simply let it pass? That she would believe him?
"What would you do if I left you behind, princess?" he asked mockingly. "Go see the world on your own? Or go back to your tower? Do you even know the way?"
His words shocked her. She looked around and realised she had absolutely no idea where she was. A panic clutched at her chest. "What have I done?" she whispered.
"You took your chance to get away from that stifling tower. You decided you wanted to go see the world and that's exactly what you were doing, up until you decided to start mistrusting me. So decide, princess. Will you keep on trusting me until I can explain this evening, or will you keep standing here while I continue on my own?"
Hermione knew she didn't have much of a choice. Grudgingly, she reached up so he could hoist her back on his horse. They rode on in silence for the better part of the afternoon , switching between walking and trotting to get as much distance between them and the band of pursuers as possible.
Hermione sat behind him thinking until she couldn't hold her question in any longer.
"So, what were you doing with that nobleman's wife?"
"Has your aunt ever talked about," he gulped, not believing he was actually asking this, "sex?"
"She bought me a book." There was curiosity in her voice. "So, is it enjoyable?"
"We should start looking for a clearing of sorts."
"Why?"
"To set up camp."
Hermione looked at the back of his head for a stunned moment, her previous question completely forgotten. "We're going to sleep outside?" she exclaimed, dumbstruck.
Draco chuckled. "Of course, what did you expect? Five-star hotels and a buffet for breakfast?"
"What?"
He rolled his eyes. "Never mind. Yes, we are sleeping outside."
"But- But isn't that dangerous?" Hermione looked around at the darkening forest. Sleeping on the ground? With no walls and no roof to protect her? He was joking, right?
"Not if we keep a fire going." He felt her grip around his torso tighten up. "Don't worry, I've done it loads of times. It will be alright."
She was dubious about the entire affair but realised, again, that she didn't have much of a choice. Not long after, Draco steered Nix off the path and to an area where the trees stood a bit further apart, creating a flat area between them.
"Why don't you go gather some wood for the fire," Draco told her, "but don't go too far so you don't get lost. If something happens, just shout, I'll be there in a flash."
Hermione nodded and set off. When building a campfire, use only downed wood, she remembered from a book. First you need tinder, twigs and leaves. Secondly, you'll need kindling. These are small, thin sticks that will catch fire easily, but won't burn away immediately. Thirdly, you'll need the actual firewood. These larger pieces of wood will keep your fire burning until well into the night. However, try not to use logs thicker than your wrist. Those are unlikely to burn away completely and will leave traces of your fire in the woods.
Nodding to herself, Hermione started gathering. No logs thicker than my wrist. In her mind, she compared her own wrists to those of Draco. Not a reliable guideline, she thought, Draco's wrists are much bigger than mine.
While gathering, she surreptitiously kept an eye on Draco. He had relieved Nix from his saddle and bags, and was currently building a fire ring. He really does seem to know what he's doing. Once the ring was ready, he started unpacking the bags, hesitating every so now and then and looking in her direction. She wondered what that was all about.
Her gathering took her further away from camp, obscuring it from view. She could still hear Draco bustle about so she wasn't afraid. When she finally returned, she looked at the open space in surprise. The area was cleared, rocks and twigs piled on the side. Over the fire circle was a stand with a large pot to cook food over the soon to be campfire. Around it were two sleeping bags and some blankets. There were two bottles partly buried in the ground and vegetables were laid out on a piece of canvas.
"Where did all this come from?" Hermione asked.
Draco shrugged. "The saddle bags, of course."
She eyed the bags with suspicion. That was impossible! The pot alone was too big to fit into them. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'll explain later, first, food!"
Finally having something familiar to do, Hermione shot into action. Draco went off to fill the pot with water. (She couldn't hear a stream, but perhaps his hearing was better than hers.) She diced the vegetables, chopped up the herbs he had laid out, and made a hearty soup which they ate in silence, together with the bread she had brought.
Once they were finished, Hermione's patience ran out. "Now you will tell me what you've been hiding from me!" she demanded.
Draco let out a sigh. "Magic."
"Magic?"
"Yes."
Hermione bursts out laughing. "My Aunt says there's no such thing as magic, except for- No, magic doesn't exist!"
"Then explain to me how I hid us all from those men?"
"You tapped me with a stick and I felt … icky." She shivered at the memory.
"It's called a disillusionment charm."
"I don't believe you."
Another sigh. "You're magical, you know."
Hermione stared at him with wide eyes. How could he know? She hadn't used her hair when he was around. Did rumour spread? Is that how he found out?
"You threw a Stunner at me, together with that heavy book of yours," he continued.
"A what?" she asked in surprise. So, he doesn't know about my hair?
"A Stunner. It's used to knock somebody out, render them unconscious."
She blinked at him, then shook her head. "I did no such thing!"
"Those books," Draco said, "at the tower. What are they about?"
Hermione frowned at the sudden change of topic.
"A variety of things: history, arts, politics, mathematics, science, geography. Whatever my Aunt can find."
"So, nothing about magic?"
"Of course not!" she exclaimed, affronted. "I think I would have known if there were such books in our collection, don't you think."
"No Charms, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, or Potions?"
"What is all that about? What are potions?"
"They, uhm, they are brews and salves that help people with all sorts of things."
"Like what?"
"Well, uhm, there are the basic healing potions, cough syrups, salves for cuts and abrasions, headache relievers. Then there are the more advanced brews, like Polyjuice, Veritaserum, different types of poisons. Things like that."
"Oh," Hermione answered, eyes lighting up. "that's not magical. You're talking about Medicinal Cooking."
She watched with amusement as Draco choked in his drink, coughing and spluttering. He looked at her with wide eyes, mouth gaping. "Me- Medicinal Cooking?" he finally uttered.
"Yes, Medicinal Cooking. You know, like cooking soup, but with special ingredients and really important instructions. There's nothing magical about it, I do it all the time. My Aunt sells them at the market and buys new supplies. This time she asked me to brew the dog-disease cure."
He was still gaping at her. She started wondering if he was alright. Eventually, he shook his head, his platinum blond hair swinging around his face. "A dog-disease cure? What the hell is a dog disease?"
"Well, according to my Aunt, it makes a person behave like a wolf during the full moon. They think they are a wolf and howl, bark and try to go hunting. The cure prevents them from doing all that."
His eyes turned distant, as if he was thinking hard. Suddenly they grew wide and he stared at her, shocked. "You can brew Wolfsbane?"
"What is Wolfsbane?"
He shook his head. "I can't believe this," he mumbled under his breath. "Ok," he said to her, "what if I tell you Muggles can't brew a dog-disease cure?"
"Muggles?"
"Yes, non-magical people."
Hermione huffed in annoyance. "There is no such thing as magic!"
"Ok, let me prove it to you. Just, don't get scared."
She raised an eyebrow at him as he once more pulled that wooden stick of his out of his sleeve. He looked around and finally pointed it at the empty pot. Hermione squealed when it, after a swish, flick and muttered word, started floating in the air.
"How- How are you doing that?"
"Like I said, magic."
She watched as he transformed the pot into a pan and back.
"This is a wand." He showed her the stick he was holding. "It guides our magic, focusses it. Each witch and wizard buys a wand at age 11. Each wand is different and works in union with the witch/wizard. Some people can perform magic without a wand, but that's extremely difficult. Do you believe me now?"
Hermione only stared at him. What she saw, it just couldn't be real, it couldn't. There must be another explanation. When Draco conjured a glass out of thin air, she realised there was no denying it. He opened one of the bottles, poured some in the glass and handed it to her.
"Have some wine, you seem shocked."
Her mind still reeling, she took a sip, and wrinkled her nose. "What's this?"
"Don't tell me you've never had any wine before?" Draco laughed.
She shrugged and took another sip. It seemed to calm her nerves and it gave her a warm feeling.
"Now," Draco said, "do you believe me?"
"Ok, so there might be something like magic," Hermione reluctantly agreed, "but that doesn't mean I'm magical. There's nothing magical about me, except for my hair." She covered her mouth with a hand. Oh no! I shouldn't have said that.
"Your hair?" Draco asked, curious.
"Never mind," she tried to evade him.
"No, explain," he insisted.
"Well, you see," Hermione started hesitantly, "I have special hair. Ever since I was little, I can make it glow, and when it does, it heals people, and makes them younger. When I cut it, however, it loses its ability to glow."
"You have … healing hair?" Draco said, incredulous.
"Yes. My Aunt said not to tell anybody. People might come and kidnap me for my hair. Not that I ever saw anybody, but still. But you are already magical, so you wouldn't need my hair, now would you?"
"There are a lot of spells out there, princess, but none of them have the ability to make someone younger."
Oh no, he wants it. He's going to kidnap me and force me to use it for him. I'm so stupid! She scooted backwards a bit.
"Don't worry, princess. You're secret is safe with me and I'm still not going to hurt you."
She let out a sigh of relieve. "But other than that, there's still nothing magical about me," she insisted.
Draco shook his head, a small smile on his face. "Never mind," he said. "So, about our destination. A library?"
Hermione nodded vigorously. "It's supposed to be breathtakingly beautiful, filled with ancient books. Can you imagine so much knowledge, available to those who want to read it?"
He snorted. "I thought you wanted to see the world?"
Her enthusiasm faltered slightly. "It's part of the world, isn't it?"
"True, but you're trading books for books." He thought for a little. "Why don't we go visit the Seven Wonders of the World?"
"The New ones? Or what's left of the Old ones?"
"The Magical ones."
"There are Magical Wonders of the World?" Hermione gushed. She was clapping her hands in excitement. "Really?"
Draco laughed. "Yes, there are. Some are pretty hard to get to though, and one is downright impossible to find, but they do exist."
"Tell me more!"
He smirked. "No, you'll see when we get there." He got up to rummage in the saddle bags. "We're going to need transportation. Where did I leave my quill and ink, I must send a message to Blaise."
"Transportation?" Hermione asked. "We have Nix, don't we?"
"It's quite a bit too far to reach on horseback, princess," he answered. He looked up at the sky and whistled.
"Is it really that far?" The world can't be that big, now can it be? "And why did you whistle?"
"Yes, it is really that far," Draco answered, sitting back down and starting his letter. "And I whistled to summon my owl. He follows me around, he should be here in a minute."
"Owl?" What does he need an owl for?
Draco didn't answer, instead focusing on his letter. At one point he looked up. "Stretch out your arm to the side," he said.
Frowning, Hermione did as he asked, and was surprised when suddenly an owl swooped in and landed on her arm. "Hi there," she greeted it.
The owl hooted and fluffed his feathers. She watched it with curiosity. She had often seen owls glide around her tower at night, but she had never seen one up close. He had a round face with black eyes and a curved beak. His feathers were a mixture of shades of brown, with beige and white mixed in. She could feel his talons poking her arm, but they didn't pierce her skin.
"He's beautiful," she whispered, stretching out a hand to pet him.
"Don't stroke his feathers he might –"
"So soft," she said, running her fingers over his front and his wings.
"Treacherous bird," Draco muttered. The owl hooted at him, managing to sound gleeful. Rolling his eyes, Draco attached his letter to the bird's leg. "This is for Blaise," he said. "Wait for his answer."
As if proving a point, the owl gently nibbled Hermione's ear before taking off, making her giggle.
"You use owls for sending letters?" she asked.
He smiled at her. She stayed with her earlier evaluation, he was really good looking. "Yes," he answered, "they are really smart birds. Some, however, do have a mind of their own."
"I like him," she said, looking up at the sky.
"Yeah," Draco mumbled, "it seems all my animals like you better than me." He turned and walked back to his sleeping bag. "We should get some rest. If we want to reach the next town by noon tomorrow, we'll have to leave early."
"Ok," Hermione agreed, burying herself in the bag and pulling an extra blanket over herself. "Come on, Crooks," she called over her cat. He had been teasing Nix, swatting his claws at the horse. "Come on, boy, time for bed." Crookshanks obediently trotted over to his master, curled up next to her and continued starting at the horse, tail flicking.
