Chapter Nine
Draco put away the tent and slung the backpack over his shoulder, the sun rising behind him. He raised his brows at Hermione, "Ready?"
"Yes," she answered, pulling her shoe laces. She stood from the log she was resting on and crossed the distance between them. He held out his arm and she took it without a word.
Eventually, a modest cabin appeared before them. Shadows covered the home, as the sun hadn't yet begin to rise. It looked abandoned at first glance, as if forgotten out in the woods. Draco made his way towards the safe house. The brunette hesitated before following, absorbing everything around her.
The view was beautiful. It seemed unreal, as if she was staring into a postcard you buy in those tacky gift shops. Up close the cabin had clearly been very well taken care of.
"Feel free to speed up your pace. I'd like to unpack a bit before we have to leave again." Draco stood promptly in the front doorway, eyes curious.
Hermione's cheeks burned from the awareness he was directing at her. She adverted her eyes while moving hastily towards the porch. He closed the door as she brushed past him, placing his bag on the counter to fish out random kitchen supplies. The home was cozy but not cramped, furnished and stocked with more food than she'd anticipated. A staircase sat across the living room, leading up to a small hallway and two doors.
She didn't bother waiting for Draco as she went to investigate the bedroom situation. Opening each door led to identical, mirrored rooms, both with a twin bed, small closet, and a single window. Seeing as they were the same, she stayed in the one she was occupying. Heading towards the window she noticed it gave her a view of the lake. It came off dark and mystical, as there was no sun to glimmer off it.
"I see you've found our rooms," he remarked, strolling towards the outside view. He propped his hand on the wall as he gazed out.
Hermione rose from the window ledge, feeling small compared to him. She glanced between Draco and the view. "I figured i'd get myself acquainted with where I'm going to be sleeping."
He half turned and waved a hand towards the door. "Follow me."
She raised an eyebrow but complied. "Where exactly am I following you to?"
"How many places could I possibly lead you to while we're constrained at this location?"
"Fair enough."
Her eyes rested on his broad shoulders as they made their way to the small kitchen. Draco kneeled and began searching for something on the floor. He lifted up a small door from the hardwood in what looked like out of nowhere. From the darkness of the entryway emerged stairs. How far down they went Hermione couldn't tell. She watched Draco begin to ascend and decided against her better judgement to follow him. Thirty seconds passed before her eyes adjusted and she came to a flat surface. Draco pulled on a thin chain, switching on a lightbulb from the ceiling.
"Ahh, so this is where you're going to hide my body," she said, peering at the illuminated space around her.
Something between a smirk and an actual grin crossed his face, "I swear you know me better than I know myself. Unfortunately I don't have the plans all drawn out yet, but I'll keep you in the loop. On another note..." he tossed something thin at her.
Hermione caught it without effort and stared at her hand. "A wand… But- who's wand is this? Where did you get this?"
"There's an emergency stash of a few unregistered wands down here. I know we didn't get to grab yours from your home, but this should suit you fine until you get yours back." He moved around a few boxes, checking over what was down there and where things were located.
She scoffed. "Yeah, if I ever see my wand again. For all I know they've torn my house down to nothing. If they found it I would bet they've already broken it out of spite."
"I don't want to give you false hope, because there's a strong chance they may have, but you never know. Knowing you were already a step ahead of them, they may not have wanted to exhaust the resources. But honestly, we won't have any indication until we're back in the real world."
"What is down here anyways?" She tried to change the subject, feeling a loss from the one thing she'd been able to keep connected to after she left London.
"This," he gestured around himself, "is our emergency 'shelter', if you will. If we are found by people we don't want to be found by, and we can't get elsewhere, we come down here. Once the door closes and we put up some enchantments, they'll never be able to locate where we are. Hell, I had trouble remembering exactly where in the floor it was."
"Why is there muggle electricity?" She questioned, pointing to the bulb he'd turned on.
"If our wands get dropped or stolen in the mess of things, it'd be nice to see down here."
She nodded at him in understanding.
Draco finished a bit of unorganized organizing before turning back to Hermione. He watched her as she looked through everything for herself. No doubt keeping a mental list for the future. She was the same girl from school yet a different woman all in one. It was a strange thing for him to think about. It was easier to boil her down into the cookie-cutter person she used to be and leave it at that. But she wasn't.
Hermione finished rummaging through the supplies before heading back upstairs. Weighing her options, she decided to take her mind off of everything else going on around her and cook. Looking at her options in the cabinets, they would be eating better there than they'd been in the woods. She heard Draco drop the door closed from behind her.
"Please don't tell me your food is as tasteless as your humor?" A false look of disgust on his face as he peered over her to see what she prepping.
"Why don't you shut up and get out of the kitchen since you're not cooking, hmm?" She felt uncomfortable having him so much in her personal space.
He made to look as if he were contemplating something. "Well I suppose I could help you cook."
Hermione snorted, tossing scraps in the garbage bin. "Must we start a fire to the place that's keeping us alive?"
"Hey, I can hold my own in a kitchen. I didn't have a house elf to cook for me once I had to follow you around," he countered matter of factly.
"Yes, it must have been awful to not have everything done for you all the time." She rolled her eyes, trying to avoid his.
"Right, whatever, I was a twat for having a house elf. They have rights. Yeah, yeah. Not the point. Give me a task. I've gotta eat the same as you and it seems much less likely you'll poison me if I'm standing right there," he persuaded.
Stopping her motions, she gazed at him suspiciously a few moments. Giving in, she told him to grab something else out of the small pantry for her.
"This?" He called, holding out the item.
"Close, but no."
Draco disappeared and reappeared in seconds. "It's this, yeah?"
She gave him a look and shook her head, chuckling as he huffed back out of view. Wanting to get the process going, she abandoned her task and dried her hands on a towel. She found the blonde peering throughly over the goods on the shelves.
"Need another set of eyes?" Hermione questioned, amused.
"I don't need help. It's... just a lot of shelves to look over." The blonde tried to appear indifferent to her presence. After a long pause, he turned around. "I have no idea what I'm looking for. Happy?"
"It's a little comical," she reached straight in front of him and grabbed what she'd asked for, a smug grin plastered on.
He rolled his eyes and took it out of her hand, "Tell me what you want me to do with it."
When night arrived, Hermione felt relieved to have the night to herself in her room. After sharing a tent with Draco with no private rooms, she'd felt like she couldn't quite unwind. Like she was constantly watched and thus had to keep up some sort of appearance. But what appearance? It was Draco, for crying out loud. While he'd never seen this much of her before, it's not like she had anything to prove. She had no reason to care about his opinion of her. Although, it would make things easier if they kept getting along somewhat. Who wanted to always feel uncomfortable or awkward, or to be always arguing and angry?
Unwinding led to crying. The tears wouldn't stop as she thought about what her life had become. Her world flipped upside down time and time again since she was eleven. She hadn't been to either of the places she called home in years. As of now she couldn't even be at the place she'd made an awful attempt of calling home. Where in the hell was she? What were her muggle friends doing after she dumped them and ran with Draco? What was Harry doing right now? Where was Ginny, Ron, all the Weasley's, everyone she knew in the wizarding world? Or everyone she used to know. Were her parents happy? Would she ever get them back?
Draco leaned hunched against a wall on his bed, hearing her sobs. He assumed she wasn't used to being able to often use a wand again. Otherwise he was sure she would have put up a silencing charm. He felt guilty listening to it, but there wasn't anything he could think of doing to make it stop. He thought it was because she was overwhelmed, and that once she finished she'd be fine and feel better. He put his book on the night stand and flicked the light off, not being able to put up his own silencing charm. Just in case.
