Hey guys, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. Mine has been a tad on the hectic side, hence the delay in chapters.
Thanks so much for all of the reviews and favourites etc. I appreciate it muchly. :-)
AN - Harry Potter and the delightful Draco Malfoy belong to JK Rowling, I only wish I could have come up with them.
Nine
I woke with a start; it was still dark and so I found myself hesitantly looking around me with sleepy eyes. Malfoy was still next to me, his arms holding me close. I couldn't help but smile, he had officially snogged me senseless last night. The situation between us had certainly evolved over the last few days; we weren't bickering as much, and well, if he kept kissing me like that, then I wasn't going to complain about it.
Maybe being transported here by the damn broom cupboard and being repeatedly nearly killed was a good thing…right?
I still had a slight sense of unease, and so pulled myself up onto my elbow. I really couldn't see anything that could've woken me; besides, Malfoy had put up all the protection wards, so I was perfectly safe. "Granger, lie back down, you're letting all the cold air in."
"Jesus Malfoy, you made me jump." His voice had truthfully surprised me so much that my heart was now jumping around a bit extremely in my chest. That's when I felt it. Goosebumps erupted along both arms and I felt the hair on my neck stand on end; there was a pulsing in the air around us. "You definitely cast all of the protection spells didn't you?" I asked nervously.
He blearily opened his eyes. "What the fuck are you going on about?"
"Can't you feel that?"
He raised an eyebrow, but quickly sat up beside me. "Wumphf, wumphf, wumphf…is that what you mean?"
"Yes, it's like the air is moving around us."
Pulling back the cloak, Malfoy gingerly climbed out and stood up, just as the ground shook violently, nearly throwing him off balance. The shaking was followed by an almighty 'crack' sound that reverberated through the air; it was like the surrounding area had been struck by lightning.
And then everything was still, even the breeze had stopped. Even though I was still covered by Draco's cloak, I was suddenly very cold. He had lit his wand and was now squinting into the darkness around us. He moved to stand behind me, and as he moved…I saw it.
Glowing incredibly faintly in the inky darkness was something thin and tall. It was so tall that it quickly disappeared amongst the trees. I stood up next to Malfoy, wincing slightly as I put weight on my ankle. "What do you think that is?" I pointed to the recent apparition.
"Uhm…I'm not entirely sure." We simply stood there for a minute or two, staring at it. The faint glow that surrounded the object seemed to pulse; just as the air had been doing moments ago. "It's like some sort of beacon; calling us towards it."
"It may be a little hypnotic yes, but I don't think going over to it is a good idea for a start."
"I don't think we have much of a choice." I began nervously biting at my nails, and Malfoy's hand came up, gently pulling my hand away from my mouth. "Come on, we could at least get a closer look. It's time to once more bring out the inner lioness."
My ankle had obviously seized up again during the night, but with the aide of Malfoy's healing charms the skin had healed and once again appeared unmarred by the wolf's teeth. Walking was still a bit uncomfortable though, so we slowly approached the glowing object, Malfoy's arm around my waist supporting me the entire time.
The waves of light pushed over us, and there was a central point of light that was about six feet wide…it seemed to be contained. A light patch surrounded by darkness. "I think this might be our next stop." He pointed towards the object. "That looks rather like one of those bloody barriers to me."
I looked closer, he was right again, damn it. Inside, the thin, tall object had become more visible. It was so tall it went up through the canopy of the trees above us. Approximately a foot in diameter, with thick vines twisting and spiralling up the length of it; it was undoubtedly a beanstalk, which meant we would have to face a giant next. Fanbloodytastic. Especially as I still had a slight injury which would almost definitely stop me running at full speed.
Noticing my hesitation, Malfoy simply lifted my body off the ground; only an inch or two, but enough to prevent my escape, and strolled straight through the barrier. It was bright in here compared to on the other side, and I attempted to glare at him as I blinked my eyes furiously in the light. "A little warning would have been nice Malfoy."
"You'd have only objected to it. It's easier to simply do it, and put up with your moaning later." He was looking at me expectantly again now, nodding his head in the direction of the beanstalk. "I'm guessing we have to climb it or something, as there doesn't appear to be a house?"
"Yeah, I think that it's probably going to be Jack and the Beanstalk; so unfortunately, I think you're right." I resisted the urge to groan simply at the thought of having to climb it.
He walked over to the beanstalk, craning his neck back to look up the length of it. "It's fucking tall; it seemingly goes straight through the clouds. This seems like a stupid fairy-tale to me…"
I couldn't help but agree; not only was I still sporting a (mostly healed) injury, but I was absolutely terrified of heights; so I was somewhat apprehensive about all of this. "There's a, uhm, giant and if I recall a hen that lays golden eggs."
"Let me guess, this 'Jack' fellow tries to steal this chicken thing…and then the giant wants to kill him?" I nodded with a defeated look on my face. "These muggle fairy-tales are all rather predictable."
"Not all of them are like this, in this case though, the broom cupboard does seem to have created a theme of sorts; using all of the stories where the characters would want to eat or maim us in one way or another."
Malfoy walked around the perimeter of the beanstalk a few times, crouching down to inspect or getting as close to it as possible. "Hmm…" he murmured absentmindedly. "I don't think this is going to be easy without magic Granger. Although, this vine here seems pretty secure." He tugged lightly at the two inch thick vine that wound its way up and around the stalk. I swallowed nervously; my mouth had suddenly gone very dry. "I guess we could use the vines to pull us up, section by section, or perhaps we could let our feet follow the spiral path around the stalk."
He was looking at me again with that expectant look; eyes fixed on me, slight quirk of a pale eyebrow, like I was suddenly going to have an epiphany about our route. "Oh, uhm whichever you prefer." I watched him carefully now, as he first placed a hand up as high as he could comfortably reach, gripping tightly to part of the vine and then he put a foot down on to a lower part, pulling himself up until only the vine was supporting his weight.
I tensed in anticipation and worry when he bounced up and down a few times; obviously checking for stability and weaknesses. Satisfied he repeated the process, pulling himself up bit by bit. He expected me to be able to do that? The way I was feeling right now; we'd be lucky if I didn't throw up.
When he was approximately ten feet off the ground, he paused and turned to obviously check on my progress. "You alright…hang on a second; you still appear to be on the ground Granger. I know you're still a little bit injured, but it's pretty much healed since yesterday, so man up and get your arse up here now."
I couldn't help but bite my lip again as I looked up at the ridiculously tall plant in front of me. Malfoy was right; and unfortunately, I didn't really have much of a choice, unless I wanted to be stuck in this wandless bubble forever.
Screwing my eyes shut and taking a deep breath, I slowly regained my composure. I reached out a hand, taking hold of the vine and dug my fingers into it as much as I could. It was surprisingly soft, covered by a layer of what felt like peach fuzz. But damn it all; Malfoy had been right again; it could no doubt easily support our weight, which still didn't make the prospect any less daunting.
Mentally screaming in protest, I used my hand on the vine to pull myself up and repeated the process. Telling myself to put one foot up, then one arm and repeat, trying to support the majority of my weight on my uninjured leg, which is practically impossible when effectively, you're simply climbing a ladder.
Time was going incredibly slowly as we climbed; with me refusing to look anywhere but directly up for the next bit of vine. I could feel my heartbeat throbbing inside my head, and I was literally shaking with the effort of climbing, pain and nerves. I had to stop, it was no good, and the more I thought about the drop beneath me; the more I began to panic.
Shakily, I moved my hands, wrapping them around the beanstalk, hugging it as tightly as I could. Malfoy's voice broke through my internal monologue of swear words. "Granger, why have you stopped?"
"Uhm how…how high are w…we?"
"I'm not quite sure; we passed through the forest's canopy quite a long time ago. Probably over a hundred and fifty feet though."
"Oh god…" I mumbled, closing my eyes even more tightly. I heard him climbing back down the stalk towards me.
"You know, for someone who survived camping with Pothead and the Weasel and an entire War, you're a bit of a fucking wimp."
"Shut up," I growled. "Just, eughh, I don't know, let me concentrate, please."
"If you opened your eyes, it would probably be a lot easier."
"Not a chance in hell Malfoy; I know for a fact that it would make it much, much worse."
"Just trust me for once in your life Hermione; you might actually like what you see."
"If it's you, then I really don't think so mister." I absolutely didn't need the handsome blond antagonising me, when in all honesty I could start having a panic attack at any moment.
"Har de har Granger, tell me why I decided to be your friend again?"
I giggled nervously, cracking one eye open to look up at him. "Who said we were friends?"
He simply rolled his eyes at me, moving carefully as he inched his way back down. He stopped and moved around the stalk until he was practically next to me. The blond removed a hand from the vines, still managing to exude the air of masculinity and confidence as he held on precariously with only one hand, and gripped my shoulder. I groaned with fear again as his fingers dug into my skin. He was only moving me body minutely, but it still felt like I could fall off at any moment.
"I doubt it can be much further…"
"I…I'm not a wimp Malfoy…" I mumbled. "I'm just not very good with heights, that's all."
"Come along then, just pretend we're nearly there." He released my shoulder, looking at me over his shoulder as he began the ascent again. "Seriously though, open your eyes. We're nearly at the clouds, it's quite spectacular."
Begrudgingly I opened my eyes further and tilted my head just enough no look up. It was true, we were very close to the low lying cloud layer. It was fairly bizarre to look at, as the clouds were localised to one area; the beanstalk. It was surrounded by a twenty foot circle of wispy clouds, stained with light pinks and purples. The sky on the other side of the barrier was a vibrant blue colour, with no clouds in sight.
Sighing, I loosened my hold on the stalk, and carefully brought my hands back to hold the vine instead, finally resuming the tortuous climb. I was hoping with everything I had that once we finally clambered through these clouds, that we wouldn't have to go any further.
For the final leg of our journey Malfoy remained close, climbing beside me; encouraging me; and so after another fifteen minutes or so, we broke through the clouds together. With a final heave, Malfoy pulled me with him over a ledge and onto some grass. I collapsed next to him, my heart rate finally slowing to a normal rate.
Everything around us seemed to be washed in pale pastel colours; the sky, the trees. The road beside us was cobbled, and wound its way uphill to a ginormous looking cottage in the distance.
So was that actually any good? I know it's been a couple of chapters since an actual fairy-tale, but definitely in the next one, ok guys, bare with me.
Thanks for reading...and reviewing (hint hint) :-D
Gemsibob
