Thanking my Magzillasaurus for being a great beta and an amazing partner.


Chapter Six

Lugu day five.

It was silent inside the Hogwarts tent, aside from the snores and a few who talked in their sleep. Despite the sheep she counted, sleep refused to come; tears came instead and the sobs she hid behind a muffliato charm, plus by pressing her face against her pillow. It became too much, too overwhelming, all the memories from the recent past returned in full power, and they choked her.

In need of of fresh air, Hermione walked outside using a silencing charm on her footsteps. She walked as far as she could go before it all got too much and she cracked; the burden so heavy, that she let herself fall on her knees. Confident she was alone, Hermione cried freely, rocking back and forth. Arms crossed at her belly, staring into distance while the tears blurred her view.

All of a sudden, she encountered a steady frame when she leaned back, his arms snaking around her, offering comfort. He only whispered in her ear, "It's okay, let it all out." Hermione turned inside the circle of his arms and threw hers around his neck. Stealing his warmth and his strength. He let her cry, and she took all the solace he offered; his hands rubbing her back soothingly.

Hermione drew back to look him in the eye, spent, "Thank you, Draco." His thumbs came up to dry her tears, the silver gaze watching every detail of her face, full of concern and something else she couldn't define. Before they left the UK, she had counted on dodging him; expecting him to push her buttons as she was accustomed to. Instead, something was growing between them, something unforeseen. Plus, she saw the side Daphne spoke so warmly of, the loyal friend, the wizard you could build upon.

It disturbed her, on one side, because this was not the image she had of Draco Malfoy and therefore he became unreadable and unexpected. On the other end, it made him human, made her want to see more of him. It brought up questions for which she tried to find the answers, even though this Taiwanese mission was not the place nor the time to do so.

They remained in each other's arms for quite a while longer, Draco only sitting down instead of kneeling, and she curled up on his lap. No words were exchanged, the only sound she heard was his powerful heartbeat, soothing. Anchoring.

She rose to her feet, suddenly, and he followed suit. "I'm going back inside." He nodded. Standing on the top of her toes, she cradled his face in her hands and kissed him softly on the lips. "Thank you, Draco. For everything." He just stood there, stiffly.


Tanya entered the tent with a foreboding look. "I have bad news." The otherwise typically energetic start of the day was this morning traded with a dark setting and the mood didn't improve with Tanya's announcement.

"The wife we saved yesterday died from internal bleeding the healer couldn't stop. We were simply too late." The majority took a deep breath. "Fortunately, I have good news too. The little girl was severely injured, but our doctor was able to stabilise her, and she's being moved as we speak, by helicopter, to a more specialised medical facility. We are positive that she'll make it." Some tears were wiped stealthily to avoid discovery, especially the ones on the male faces.

"The aftershock yesterday had luckily not set back the most basic needs, we still have power and water running. The pile of rubble, on the other hand, has grown. I'm not going to spend any more energy in splitting you into groups, you've worked long enough already with each other to form your own teams. You know the drill, I expect you to act accordingly." Tanya looked around her, pausing a moment before moving on. "For medical, I have today a few new hands, so your job today will be clean up. I would love to start rebuilding, instead of piling up the debris."

With these words, she left them. Blaise whipped the group into action, "Let us get our magical arses moving, people."

With an objective in mind, groups were formed and the work divided. The heat didn't help much, but the general consensus was: rather heat and rain than a new aftershock.

The mixed group of Slytherins and Gryffindors worked on a large area together in pairs, a witch to every wizard.


"Holly fuck, Merlin's balls, Salazar's arse." The train of swear words coming from Theo's mouth, paused everyone's movements before they all barked in laughter. Theo hopped on one leg, grabbing his foot now and then. "Oh, get the fuck out, that damned rock fell on my foot and you are all laughing with my pain. Friends my arse. Fuck…" He kept using expletives and it only made everyone laugh harder.

Luna walked to him, "Sit down for a minute before you fall and attract a lost Blibbering Humdinger." She removed his shoe and sock to inspect the foot. "Look, no blood. Only a bruise tomorrow, and stop cursing." Luna kept rubbing his foot, smiling to the wizard who was now very quiet. "My mother always gave me a kiss to make me feel better." She pecked the instep, "There, is it better now, Theodore?" He only nodded.

Behind his back, Blaise and Pansy doubled over in laughter, Draco and the other Slytherins amusedly watched their slack-jawed friend. Luna even went so far as to put his sock and shoe back on, ending it with a pat on Theo's knee, "Now, we can all go back to work."

When Theo turned around, everyone faked being hard at work but the grins plastered on his best friends faces didn't fool him. Luna gestured to Tracey to change places with her, pointing at Neville and worked further alongside Theo.

Hermione formed a heart with her hands and Theo drew a line across his throat with a grin. The mood had brightened thanks to a falling rock. Who knew?


The scorching sun drove them crazy, all the blokes worked with their chests bare while the girls knotted their tee's high up under their bosom, leaving their bellies fully exposed. Their efforts paid off, luckily and the area with debris cleared up visibly at a decent rate.

Between the pairs, a comfortable chatting happened between, grunting from the heavy lifting and the occasional sigh of relief to get rid of the burden.

"Helga's unicorn turds!" Choked Harry looked up to see Daphne suck on a finger. "I've hurt my finger." She flipped him her hurt digit and blushed heavily when she noticed which one she was openly waving at Harry. "Yikes, not nice from a lady." Daphne resumed her sucking.

"Don't worry, even Hermione drops one or two swears now and then." He chuckled at her uneasiness. "Lift that side up, Daphne. Or do you want me to kiss it better too?"

"Not in front of the kids. They might throw a tantrum." She put her hands where Harry asked and lifted a piece of concrete.

"Yeah, I know." He tried to carry most of the weight, not noticing how the witches' stare was glued to his flexed pectorals. "It's getting embarrassing."

"How are you doing? I mean dealing with the aftermath." She used the tip of her shirt to dry a trail of sweat, giving him a peep of her bra. Harry swallowed dryly.

"Being here away from Britain and all the slimy kiss-my-arse weirdness? Better than I thought. Working my butt off, seeing the results of my efforts pay out, it gives me a sense of fulfilment. What I'm doing is helping others. Like, when we worked yesterday all together to save that family? A sense of belonging. Yes, death happens here too. Yet, it feels different. Do you understand?"

"Better than you think, Harry. For once, Slytherins are not antagonising the other houses, but we are working with them for a common goal. Hexes aren't being shot around my ears, only stupid rocks crack my nail and hurt my finger. Or the earth underneath my feet shakes and scares the hell out of me." The new rock she chose was way heavier than expected, and she groaned. Harry took it over and she selected a smaller one; walking towards the pile. "It forces me to relate, Harry. The hell we went through back home was never of our own doing; we were called to solve a problem grown-ups created out of hunger for power. Sixteen years old teenagers shouldn't be branded and forced to commit murders. You shouldn't have to give up your education and go search for relics containing monstrous things."

Harry hung on her every word. "At least, here, I'm busy and have no time to think about home. I must hand it to Hermione. This is working for me."

"You and me both, Harry. You and me both."


Each time Tracey picked a heavy stone, Neville stole it from her to replace it with a smaller one.

At first, she found it funny, somewhat adorable, but after the third time, it began to work on her nerves. "Neville, why do you do this?" The moderately sized rock in her arms was being hijacked as the previous ones. Before he could finish his gesture, she turned around and kept the stone out of his reach.

"Give it to me, Tracey. You shouldn't be carrying such a weight."

"I'm perfectly capable of dragging this piece all by myself." Demonstrating her words she dragged, with more effort than she wished for, the stone to its destination. "See, Neville?" Tracey panted heavily, "I can do it."

"I'm just trying to be friendly." He said regretfully. "Sorry if I offended you." Neville dropped off, bowing his head.

"Neville, it's not that…" She followed him and put herself in his way. "Damn it, Longbottom. Look at me." She had to pull his face down to face her. "You want to help me, fine. But don't take every hurdle out of my way, dummy. I can handle things too. Smile at me, please? I feel awful now."

He gave her his goofy smile. She beamed.


Pansy had trouble focusing. The reason? Her ginger-headed partner. He carried stuff to the pile at twice her speed, while she watched the muscles of his back ripple.

Life wasn't fair.

The man irked her to no end. He had no table manners whatsoever, had zero filter while he talked but hell if he didn't have a body to drool over.

She shook her head once again, life wasn't fair, at all.

"Are you just going to drool over there, or are you going to lend me a hand?" Ron stopped right in front of her face, panting from his heavy cargo. "I'm not paid to do your job as well."

She hissed at him but did as he told, wondering however, if she let the stone fall on her head it would help against her Weasley infatuation. Pansy needed a cure, and fast.


"If you focus just a bit more on your ex, your eyes will fall out, Red." Blaise grew tired of her fixation on the couple several feet away from them. "Are you jealous of every woman he speaks to or is it rage after losing a toy?"

"Go fuck yourself, Zabini." She got back to work for a few trips but soon fell again into her habit of watching Harry and Daphne's amused talk.

"RED!"

Ginny jumped, "What is it with you? Leave me the fuck alone."

"Do you still want him or has it become an obsession? Because if it's the first, you're doing it all wrong. The latter, let it go and look wider around you. Maybe, there could be someone more worth your efforts."

"Zabini, are you offering yourself?" Blazing in anger, she picked up the first thing she found and realised it was way over her head. He came to help her drag it down.

"It seems you're mad because it wasn't you who broke it off, and less because you lost Potter. It's your pride that got a knock, not your heart that's broken. Grow a pair and move on instead of ruining a good friendship with your childish behaviour."

His truth tea hurt more than a real punch, and she lashed out, "I didn't ask for your opinion, arsehole."

"When you've matured enough to see reason, come and talk to me. Until then, go play with the kindergarten group, witch." He turned his back on her before he did something he would regret. Like, bend her over his knee…


Draco had managed to partner himself with Hermione. Yesterday's last moments kept him awake the whole night, and he needed answers.

For now, he remained empty-handed. They worked more than well together, half-words were enough to show what needed to be done. More than once a bottle of water showed up in his face, once she was even annoyingly insistent that he would drink.

Draco heard her cast a charm over his skin, while she murmured over irrational behaviour and something that had to do with the sun and his pale complexion. Plus she shifted her gaze more than one time when he caught her ogling his body. He lost count of how many times she had done this by now; at first, it surprised him, but after the third time his mouth twitched.

In return, he had to admit that he liked her features, long, athletic legs, a flat belly and according to his assessment of her bosom, he knew her tits would fit the palm of his hand perfectly. When she cropped her top like all the other witches and knotted it at the right height, he had to think of a buzzkill to calm down his hormones. Hence his payback by the very striking way he flexed his muscles. Draco was a cunning snake after all.

"Draco, can you help me?" Hermione underestimated the weight of her burden, and hauled the stone beam, unable to lift it.

Seeing a new opportunity arise to flex his abs right in front of her face, he nodded, picked up the lower side, and lifted the massive bar. It turned out it was more substantial than he thought too but the sigh he heard from her, almost made him forget to keep the cargo up high.

Grunting, they finally got the burden away from the zone, both brushing the dirt off of their hands on their pants. "Thank you, Draco."

"You're welcome." He sipped from his water bottle, and a few drops fell from the corner of his mouth. Her eyes followed the trail. "How are you feeling today?"

"Huh?" She blinked a few times.

"How are you feeling today, Granger?"

"Much better if you would call me by my given name, Draco." She felt caught and feigned irritation to get away with it.

"Hermione, my apologies." Leopards don't change its spots, he still knew how to push her buttons.

She squinted at him, seeing through his game. "So much better, did it hurt your tongue much?"

"Cheeky, really cheeky. I'm glad you're doing well if you're interested. It was a heavy day yesterday." His half smile changed into a more serious face.

"It was. I think I'll never grow used to the face of death."

"Nor should you. We've seen our fair share of it, in our lives, I don't mind breaking the habit. My consolation is, none of it is at my hand." Gone was the flirting, his demeanour now replaced with sorrow.

"Did they force you to…?"

"More than you know. I tried to avoid it, inflicting pain on another being is not my cup of tea. But it was me hurting them or someone punishing me." He shut his mouth and settled for the hard look. "Eat or be eaten." Her hand rested, suddenly, on the top of his. But before she could speak, he seized the opportunity. "Nowhere near enough, will I be able to ask your forgiveness. Not for that offending word, not for lacking courage and saving you from my aunt, not for making your entire time at Hogwarts awful with my actions."

"Say it one time to me." He barely heard her speak up.

"What?"

"I want to hear you say it one time." She was unaware of their audience by now.

Draco closed his eyes, to gather courage, but spoke with a steady voice. "I'm sorry, please forgive me."

The world paused around them and breaths were held when she kissed him for the second time in two days. "I do. Now I don't want to hear it again, I move on, and so do you."

He stared at her, blankly. It was the second time she took him by surprise, blacking his brain out, causing his nod to come with a delay. He took a deep breath, aware of the silence and all the eyes on them.

"Now, let us get all back to work!" She dispersed the attention in mere seconds, blushing. Harry and Ron stared at her puzzled; the group of Slytherins gave her a sign of respect and gratitude, bowing their heads. Feeling uneasy, she faked a visit to the ladies room.