Having good Holidays? I am! ^^ Here's chapter 11, finally. I hope you enjoy it! Merry Christmas!
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The portkey dropped the group off on a small stretch of land surrounded by water on all sides-also known as an island. A very much deserted island.
It was dark out, obviously night. It was very warm, despite the dark. A little ways up the shore, the group found a small hut. There were three rooms-one for Hermione, one for the boys, and the kitchen and living area.
Hermione was best-she retreated to her bedroom as soon as they arrived, Draco and Sirius having offered to lug her trunk up to the hut.
There was a set of bunk-beds and a hammock in the boys' room. Ron took the top bunk, Sirius took the hammock, and Draco took the bottom bunk, wanting to be alerted if Ron ever got up in the middle of the night.
Sirius groaned as he eased himself into the hammock. "I'm going to walk the perimeter of this island tomorrow. See what we've got to work with. See what we've got for entertainment. I'm not going to resort to talking to coconuts, no sir. There's got to be something on this Merlin-forsaken spit of land to ease how boring it's going to be here."
Draco snorted lightly, turning down his bed. "I'll think of something," Draco said. "Sitting by myself in silence while I was a Death Eater gave me lots of time to think up games."
"We'll see," Sirius replied, yawning. "I'm not playing "Pin the Avada Kedavra to the Poor, unsuspecting muggle citizen."
Draco rolled his eyes, knowing he probably should have been insulted. "Right," he responded before he left the room, favouring Hermione's company over that of the other two.
"Hermione?" Draco whispered, peering through the leaves that separated her room from the kitchen and living area.
"Yes?" he heard. It was a tiny little whisper, one he had to strain to here, but one there nevertheless.
He pushed through the leaves and approached her bed, a mattress on the floor of the hut. He sat down beside it.
"Are you alright?" he whispered, leaning down so he could see her better.
She smiled and nodded. "Yes. Will you stay with me tonight? I don't like this place."
Draco's lips twitched into a small smile as well. "Of course. Scoot over."
She obliged and Draco moved in beside her. She snuggled close to him and Draco wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close. He kissed her forehead before he closed his eyes.
He could get used to this.
...
The next morning, Hermione searched through the cupboards, finding them full of different things. She cooked the boys breakfast before they left, off to explore the island. She wanted to stay behind to clean up the hut and see what she could do about the front yard, asking them kindly to explain everything they found in great detail.
And they were off. Sirius whistled a familiar tune, one from a popular, year old, band called Cauldron, and Ron sulked, hands deep in his pockets, staring at the ground. Draco was mesmerised by the things he saw. The trees that made up the forest at the centre of the island consumed his vision. They towered over him, making him feel so small and unimportant in the world. He bet that if one could scale to such a height he'd be able to see all the way across the ocean.
He knew Hermione would like to see this. He wondered why she didn't want to come along. Normally she would have been eager to do some exploring, especially of a place she'd never seen before, not to mention heard of. She should have been itching to figure out everything she could about the place, so they could at least figure a location on a map.
But she'd stayed home for reasons all her own. Hermione worked hard to sweep and dust the place clean. The place was stocked with food, magicked so it would never perish, and ready for anybody to live in at any time, but it was filthy from top to bottom. This was her excuse to stay behind-the need to make the place more liveable.
That wasn't the reason she stayed behind. The reason, as she knew the guys probably guessed, was Ron. She didn't want to deal with him right now. For the first time in a very long time, Hermione was purely happy. She didn't want that spoiled. She wanted this newfound happiness to last as long as she could stretch it out. She knew that as long as Draco was around, she could be happy.
...
They'd been walking in silence, nothing but Sirius' whistling, until nearly halfway around the island. That was when Draco heard something.
"Sh!" he hissed, placing a hand against Sirius' shoulder. "Do you hear that?"
"I don't hear a thing," Sirius replied, trying to move ahead.
"I heard talking," Draco said, holding Sirius back. "Familiar talking. Stay here, I'm going ahead to see if it's true, what I hear..."
Sirius shrugged and dropped to the ground lazily, leaning against a tree. "Suit yourself."
Draco nodded and jogged quietly ahead, ducking inside the forest a ways, to give himself a little more cover. He crept forward, hunched over, hoping he was wrong, hoping he wouldn't be spotted and, as he got closer, hoping it was all a dream.
He hoped with all of his heart that it was a dream.
...
Fifty(imaginary)bucks to the follower who can relate something in this story to Chip Away the Stone! ^^
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