The Truth Lies Benieth

Part Two

Chapter 7

Sight

By Ladyslythendor

Draco was awoken by the clatter of chariot wheels and the whine of what sounded like a team of horses. And then, of course, there was that sudden blinding light.

"Fuck." he swore beneath his breath. He could hear Hermione complaining as well. Squinting and shielding his eyes from the beaming morning sun, he tossed off his covers and with little grace rolled out of bed.

And then he heard a shriek.

Covering his ears he swiveled his head and looked towards the source. Hermione lay with her face mashed between her pillows and her frame coiled into a ball.

"Damn it Malfoy!" she yelled through the pillows, "Would you do the world a huge favor and put on some blasted trousers!"

It had been six days since the decent from the cliff and the pair had been scouting the forest for any sign of intelligent life. No such luck. The area seemed utterly uninhabited. Not a single living thing, neither bird nor bee, had been spotted, (well other than the chariot god of course). One night Hermione attempted communication with the god. Needless to say her attempt was unsuccessful the wild mares drowned out any hope of the god hearing her.

For once in her life Hermione was stuck. She couldn't figure it out. She had her theories, of course. But they were questionable. Hermione was convinced that they had somehow stumbled into an alternate universe, one without humans that was far less advanced, honing only the most basic forms of life (plants and trees), created by maybe these superior beings (gods). Draco, on the other hand, was betting on the fact that this was some enchantment of Dumbledore's gone horribly wrong and that any day now someone would show up and portkey them out of here. But sadly, Draco had to admit; the gravity of their situation was growing. They lacked supplies. Though they did find a small stream not too far from the campsite, there was little they could do with it. Every day they've had to transfigure leaves and water into shallow meatless broths.

Definitely not the three course meal Hogwarts students were used to.

Food was not he only issue though. The lack of soap meant cleaning charms and cleaning charms can only do so much. Their clothes seriously needed a proper washing. And don't even mention hair. Hermione was pretty sure that once she saw Draco transfiguring tree sap into shampoo and trying to use a couple of twigs as a comb.

But this state of want had caused things between the two of them to become a bit more casual. They knew they were the only ones around for miles, so they began to loosen up their rigidity on their strict social image. There were no books so Hermione needn't act like such a worm. One day she sat all day in the sun by the stream without a single smart thought in her head. Draco, though still arrogant and surreptitious in his ways, would too, occasionally lay back and relax with Hermione by the stream and not give a damn about his status or blood. There were no longer as argumentative as they were in the cave. They shared theories and ideas in the semi peace that had been bred. They knew that if either of them wanted to survive they needed to cooperate. Sadly neither of them were morning people and that caused them to be quiet irritable, what with the sudden sunrises and all.

"Cool it Granger" he murmured scanning the ground for his predisposed clothes. He was still quite groggy and not in the mood for nagging but Hermione was beyond stopping. Facing away from him she began her rant.

'Why in Godric's name would you sleep nude! Were in the middle of a…. of… blast! You see! I don't even know where we are and you- your just bearing all!!

"Granger," Malfoy growled flipping over his blankets and eventually the cot. 'where the fuck are my clothes, I could have sworn…?'

"What if something happened in the middle of the night, hmmm?" she continued, "What if some bear were about to swallow you whole, Draco? What then?"

"Granger, My"
"I'll tell you what. You wouldn't have been ready! YOU would have been dead! YOU would have been ROYALY SCR-!"

"GRANGER! MY CLOTHES ARE FUCKING GONE!"

Hermione turned around quickly to give Draco and incredulous stare, but quickly turned around again once she remembered his undressed state.

She coughed quietly to ebb the awkwardness

"Well I could have told you that Draco" she muttered.

"That's not what I meant" he sighed grabbing up his blanket to wrap around his form.

"I piled my clothes next to my cot last night and now their more lost than Luna's mind." Hermione groaned and he smirked "You can look at me now Granger. I'm decent."

"Actually, I wouldn't mind never seeing your ugly mug again Malfoy. Pretty sure I've had quite enough of it."

Draco rolled his eyes and lay down upon his makeshift bed. So she wanted to play… uhgg it was way too early for this.

"Now you don't mean that." He yawned "You can't get enough of me like you can't get enough of oxgen" Hermione scoffed and crossed her arms

"Draco, you're hardly a necessity." 'wait, Draco? What-?'
"You only say that because you've never been without me"

Hermione stole a glance towards him and he met her gaze with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. She could feel the smugness roll off of him in waves. He lay extended on his cot, with one arm casually behind his head and his hair fanning about his features. His blankets were draped upon him in a toga like fashion making him look like he belonged in Rome. The sunlight beamed down on him and his relaxed expression, from through the trees and he appeared dare I say it, angelic. Lying back herself she listened to the rustle of the leaves and the whistle of the wind as bright beaming Panoptes Helios shone down and warmed her skin. She sighed, "Stupid git" and in the peaceful silence she was lulled back to sleep.

A gentle wind stirred the trees and a single green leaf was shaken loose and skewed about in the air before landing upon the face of a strikingly blond young man who was awoken by its intrusion.

'Apparently I fell asleep,' thought Draco as he lifted his heavy head. Rubbing his eyes he reached under his pillow for his wand. "Haud puer!" bellowed a tremulous voice. He quickly glanced in that direction and froze.

There stood three armed men, two wielding menacing swords the other a dagger to an enraged Hermione's throat. Her hair flew about every which way as she struggled against the animalistic grip her captor had upon her. Draco gripped his wand but didn't move from his awkward position on the cot. He hurriedly tried to assess the situation. Hermione was captured, but by who? The three men appeared to be bandits. Their clothing was scraggly and dirt besmirched their faces.

The dirtiest of the men stood closest to him. He was heavy with muscle and had a flaming red beard with curly matted hair to match. The second swordsman was tall and thin, clearly unbalanced. Draco sensed that he was wounded in his right foot for he put most of his pressure on his left causing him to sway a bit. Lastly, the man with the dagger. There was something about him that made him appear more threatening than the others. He had jet-black hair and a thin but muscular frame. He was a shade of ungodly pale and his expression mirrored Draco's; it was blank and observing. Draco felt he was holding back something more egregious than any dagger. Clearly the brightest (not to mention cleanest) of the group, he kept a firm grip on Hermione and let his counterparts do the talking.

"Puer! Quid est nomen tuum ( Boy! What Is Your Name)? Asked the bearded one in Latin, poking his sword in Draco's direction. Draco sat up quietly and flashed a look towards Hermione. She caught it and stopped struggling. He stealthily stowed his wand in the folds of his suedo-robe, pretending to be rolling it. The red beard angrily watched Draco prim himself dusting the leaves off his clothing and finally flipping his hair out of his face.

"Mea nomen, " began Draco, keeping his voice low and even, "Est Malfoi. Draconius Malfoi. (my name is Malfoy. Draco Malfoy)

The bearded one visibly blanched and turned towards Hermione's captor.

"Iaces ( he lies)," whispered the black haired one, "Narramus versus( Tell us the truth)" he ordered silently threatening Draco by pressing the dagger to Hermione's throat.

"Es versus!" Proclaimed Draco, angrily rising from the bed, "Polliceor a Dei!" (It is the truth! I swear by the gods!).
This statement resulted in a upheaval of shouts and sword swinging from the bandits.

"Quid est! (What is this!)?" questioned the skinny, unbalanced one, motioning his sword between the pale one and Draco.

"Nescio!" exclaimed the pale one flinging Hermione aside and brandishing his sword "Tuum Argumentum ex silentio!" (I don't know! You are trying to prove something based on the absence of evidence)

"Iaces," hissed the skinny one.

"Cur fratem? Pro Quo?" Red beard angrily questioned "Cui Bono" (why brother? For what [do you lie? To who's advantage?)

During all this yelling Hermione manage to crawl over to Draco. He helped her to her feet

"Are you alright" he whispered eyeing her and the fight

"Yeah," she murmured unable to take her eyes of the confrontation. "What is this all about?"
Draco had almost forgotten that Hermione didn't understand a speck of Latin. "Well?" she questioned.

" My name," answered Draco, then added "Inter alia. (Amongst other things)" under his breath

"Do you have your wand?" Hermione asked ignoring his murmuring.

"Of course" Draco scoffed, "Do you?"

"Obviously," Hermione mimicked Draco's tone of arrogance

the fight was winding down the two men seemed to trust the black haired man but barely . They looked over to the pair of adolescents. Hermione stepped closer to Draco and he unconsciously grabbed her wrist.

"Draconius et…" (Draco and….?)

"Hermionea," Draco answered for her

The black haired one scoffed. "Estne Malfoi quoque? (Is she a Malfoy too?)

Draco glared at him "Est Malfoi. Et est mea femina" (She is a Malfoy. And she is my wife."

The black haired one spared Draco a disbelieving glance before sheathing his dagger and sword.

"Patience brother," Grunted the Red Beard.

"You two," he said pointing to Draco and Hermione "follow us back to town. We will question you there". He began to enter the woods and the black haired one immediately followed. The skinny one stood behind them trying his best to look formidable. He was sneering and motioning his head for them to follow the red beard.

Still clutching Hermione's wrist Draco ambled after their captors into the dense forest.

"They're taking us prisoner" stated Hermione. Draco didn't respond. Hermione sighed and they marched on.

But then they stopped.

"Wait," said the black haired one "we almost forgot." He pulled out two rough white cloths and approached the two captives.

"You must be blindfolded" he stated while tying the cloth over each of the pairs eyes.

"Pro tempore." Hermione could hear the amusement in his voice (though she didn't understand) as he finished the knot around her head.

With a shove forward a terrified Hermione blindly began to walk. She found herself regretting her earlier words. She really did wish he could see Draco's ugly mug again.

(A/n Yeah, I got sick of writing in Latin. From now on I'll only put the important phrases in Latin)

Panoptes is Helios's epithet

Temporally; for now

Soooo what did u think?! I know it's getting really bizarre! But I'm sure you guys will like where it's going… coughcoughdracoandhermionearetotallygoingtotohavetopretendtheirmarriedcoughcough! Excuse me.

Yet again excuse me for my lack of updates this chapter has been sitting on my Mac for like a good three months I just haven't been able to upload it! (fan fiction doesn't like Macs ) bad excuse I know! But if it makes you feel any better you will never EVER wait this long for a new chapter again because well most of them are written!

I aim for at LEAST 20 reviews by next sunday aka the next chap so please please review OR NO MORE STORY! (((

I love my reviewers! Thank you for your support!

Pax out!