Chapter Six:

LOCKBOX

HERMIONE WASN'T SURE what was inside the box, but it was indeed intriguing. Sitting on the floor alone in a corner of the room, she held the tiny box in her hand. No larger than her palm, it was very light. Covered in spider web copper work, intricate designs flowed on its black surface, a light contrast to the darkness.

Draco came over to her after a while, wondering what Hermione was trying to do. She looked very dirty compared to earlier in the day when the five of them had first trekked down to Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class. Her usually springy hair was now sticking out at odd ends and crimped outward. Draco was reminded of Professor Trelawney and the thought amused him. All Hermione needed was the spectacles and the shawl.

Coming to a stop beside her, Draco towered over her sitting form. Her black Hogwarts cloak fanned out across the dusty floor and she let the box rest in her lap as she looked up. Brushing her bangs out of her eyes, they flickered up wearily due to lack of sleep.

"You okay?" he asked as he crouched down beside her, resting on his haunches.

"Yeah," she started, the faint memory of a smile appearing on her lips for a second before the corners dropped down to her neutral expression once more. "I just – can't figure this out."

She brushed her hair out of her face in frustration. Draco felt her frustration as well. The whole situation that the five of them found themselves dropped into was maddening. Just a few hours before, they had all been happily safe on the grassy lawns outside the castle and now they were abandoned on an unplotted island in the middle of the Great Lake.

Draco didn't even know that an island existed in the middle of the famous lake, but now he did. It was so far out that he couldn't see it from the shore. Perhaps there was some sort of cloaking spell on it so that only those close enough to the overgrown island could see it. Maybe Hagrid didn't know where they were because he couldn't see the tower himself. Perhaps Dumbledore didn't even know they were there.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Draco suggested, putting a hand on her shoulder as he noticed the dark blotches of weariness beneath Hermione's straining eyes. The eyelids were looking heavy now and everyone was exhausted.

"No…no, I really want to figure this out." Hermione replied stubbornly. Draco could tell he wasn't going to be able to persuade her to leave the box.

"What do you think it is?" he asked, knowing that the question was probably futile.

Hermione shrugged and shook her head.

"I'm not sure."

There was a long pause with only the sounds of Harry and Ron's conversation accompanied by Neville's snores.

"You think they're okay?" Draco asked as he glanced back at Harry and Ron. Harry had shrugged off his old clothes and hung them up on the windowsill to dry while Ron had given him his old robe, wearing only his under-uniform for now.

"I hope so." Hermione said as she closed her eyes and rubbed them with her fingers.

Continuing to watch, Draco saw Harry grin and Ron chuckle. At least somebody was having an enjoyable time. Although Harry still appeared whiter than normal, he looked happier than earlier.

"I don't see how they can be so let down," Draco started conversationally with Hermione. "We're stuck on a flipping island and they're having a happy chat."

Hermione smiled.

"That's just the way they are. You can't tell them a situation is too bad for a conversation."

Draco shrugged.

"Guess not."

Hermione turned completely around to watch her friends.

"Neville's out like a log." she said after a few minutes of listening to his snores. He was curled up on the floor in a corner, a candle they had found close by. He hated the dark, especially when they were stranded in a strange place. The pudgy boy's chest rose and fell as he dreamed. Perhaps his dreams were more comforting than staying awake as the rest of them had chosen to do.

"Yeah." Draco muttered as he leaned against the wall, resting his head back. Hermione glanced up and noticed the way he looked, exposing his neck and beneath his chin. She had never seen him so vulnerable before. His icy blonde hair was all messy compared to usual when it was plastered back with an enchantment. His normally perfect robes were all messy – the first two buttons open on his white dress shirt and the green striped Hogwarts tie pulled loose. Then there was the way he was letting his black robe hand off his shoulders a bit, and the gigantic burn hole on the sleeve that hung down.

Draco looked up at her and smiled.

"What?"

Hermione looked away, feeling her cheeks redden as she was caught staring.

"Nothing." she muttered as she stared at the ground. The light from the torches played on the uneven stones.

Her hand was flat on the floor and she felt it brush against Draco's as he sat up. This sent goosepimples up her arm and a shiver through her spine. What was she doing? Falling for Draco?

No way, she thought to herself. He's probably just being nice to me because we're going to be stuck like this for a while. He never showed interest in me before, except to make fun of my heritage.

This was all true, but was there some truth in the way Draco was acting towards her? Was it even possible?

Just calm down, she thought to herself as she crossed her arms as an excuse to get rid of the contact between her and Draco. She didn't want to look like she was hating the way they were acting – because it was definitely pleasant compared to their normal activities. But if it was all just a lie or a spur of the moment thing, she didn't want to have herself crushed beneath a twist when they all got out of this situation.

The tiny box tumbled from her lap and rolled a few times across the floor as a die would and landed with the lock side up. Light from a flickering torch above them caught the copper lock and its intricacies, and Hermione sat up suddenly.

Reaching forward, she grabbed the box and examined it.

"What?" Draco asked as he watched her pull out her wand from inside the depths of her robes.

"Watch," Hermione muttered back blandly as she waved her wand tip over the lock a few times. What looked like tiny sparkles started shooting out of the wand and began circling the interior of the lock as they had done to the door hinge down the spiral staircase. Draco wasn't sure what was going on, but he watched intently, eager to see if Hermione had managed to figure out what was going on.

Then, in one swift movement, Hermione raised her wand up in the air and brought it back down, making contact with the lock. Along with this movement, she added the word, "Dissever," and the lock instantly fell apart like a cluster of dirt would when a child puts pressure on it.

"What?" Draco started as he watched Hermione get to her feet.

"Everyone!" she started as the dust that was once the lock drained off in trails, floating through the air.

"Huh?" Neville started as he sat up, rubbing his eyes and knocking the candle over, which, thankfully, blew out in the process.

Harry and Ron were just going through a hand game where one makes gestures such as wand, parchment, potion, and stopped in mid gesture as they looked up at Hermione with Draco getting to his feet behind her.

"What is it, Hermione?" Ron asked as he sat Hermione hurry around the table to face them. She waited until Neville and Draco were included in the group before she started talking.

"Look," she started as she held up the box for all to see. It took a minute for the impact of the revelation to sink in for Harry and Ron, but Neville knew what had happened immediately.

"You got the lock off?" he started anxiously.

"Yup," Hermione started as she let them all see the box.

"So – so we can see inside it now?" Ron asked, glancing up at her from the box.

"I guess so," Hermione said as the box came back to her. She held it in her hands which were trembling from the excitement she was experiencing. "I'm going to open it. Cross your fingers that there's something in it that can help us."

Everyone did – Neville crossing each of his fingers so that his hands were a mess of tangled appendages. The tension in the room was so thick that Hermione could have sliced it with a severing charm. But, she took her time in pulling the top of the box off, swinging it on the hinge near the back until the cover was opened and the contents were displayed for all of them to see.

"Wha…" Harry started as he looked into the box.

Everyone stared, dumbfounded.

"What in the world is it?" Draco asked as he watched Hermione take it out and examine it more closely. They recognized what it was immediately after she removed it from the box, placing it on the table to get it out of the way, but they were still oblivious as to how this was going to help them make their escape from the tower.

Hermione held up the old, wrinkled packet of paper about an inch thick, bound between two covers of cracked leather.

"Looks like a book of some kind…" Hermione said as Harry took it in his hands, wanting to look at it more closely. It appeared to be damaged a little by water or some sort of moisture, probably created by the damp hole it was in for so long.

Harry glanced at each of his companions before taking the cover and flipping it open to read the first page.

"Well, what does it say?" Draco asked as he tried to look over the book from where he stood.

Harry continued to look at the page before he replied.

"An account of the Great War between the Wizarding World and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Everyone in the room was perplexed as they waited for Harry to read on.

"Hold on a second, it's all watery. Kind of hard to…"

His eyes scanned the page until they reached the bottom right hand corner.

"Written by..."

Ron was impatient.

"Go on, Harry!"

Harry looked up. Then, with determination on his face, he continued.

"Written by the Students guarding Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from danger and the threat of the Dark Lord."