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No Church in the Wild

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Man Overboard

In the following days, with no further leads on any Horcruxes, Harry's mind kept turning back to the symbol. The Deathly Hallows. He couldn't get it out of his head. Ron and Hermione did their best to distract him though, to focus him back on the task at hand.

Ron especially, whose leg was practically good as new, was very eager to go out and do some searching. "Come on you guys, let's try and think," was his usual mantra, "where would another Horcrux be?"

Hermione spent the hours scouring her books. Looking for some hint, some new clue that she'd perhaps missed before.

Despite their efforts, Harry let his mind delve deeper into Voldemort's, trying to see into his visions. Was he out there, looking for the Elder Wand right now? But when Harry did connect to Voldemort, it was like a static-filled television screen and he couldn't make anything out. It was frustrating that now, when he was most interested in what he may be doing, Voldemort somehow blocked him.

"I'm going for a bath," Hermione announced one morning, slamming her book shut and standing from the table.

Harry jumped at the sudden noise, and peripherally he saw Ron and Malfoy do the same. They all watched in silent surprise as she strode towards her bunk, lifting her beaded bag. She slung it over a shoulder. "And when I'm done, you all should do the same. You stink."

Ron stood, looking surprised at her rather abrupt decision. "But Hermione, you shouldn't bathe alone," he stopped, the tips of his ears burning as he realized what he'd said and he blurted out the rest of his sentence, words coming out nearly too quickly to understand, "I mean, the Snatchers, you need someone to watch out for you, it's not safe-"

Malfoy was smirking at Ron's discomfort. "I'll gladly watch out for her-"

"Shut it Malfoy!" Ron and Harry both yelled. Ron had an eerie ability to figure out what Malfoy might be saying, although in this situation it wasn't really that hard to guess the topic.

Hermione continued undeterred, chin high, "The creek's right out back and the hedgerow won't stop you from saving me. Honestly, I'll be fine. I'll put up my wards just the same as I did here." She turned, looking each of them in the eye as she said, "And I'm serious about you guys doing it too, I'm tired of the smell in here!"

And, just as suddenly as she'd made her proclamation, she left.

Ron paced for a moment, then stood by the opening, staring at the flaps, looking conflicted. Harry had to stifle his amusement. He didn't think there was any harm in Hermione's plan. In fact, he too was getting a little overwhelmed by the smells of the tent. He just had the ability to block it out and ignore it as most young men did.

Ron really wasn't enthusiastic on her being out there alone though. The whole time she was outside he remained at the tent opening, like a sentinel. He was mostly sending death glares in Malfoy's direction, as if the Slytherin was secretly performing some x-ray-producing spell on the walls of the canvas tent.

"It's getting annoying Weasley!" Malfoy finally spat, looking up from the Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore that had been open in his lap, just to see Ron staring him down once again. "I don't care about your girlfriend's tits, alright! Unlike you, I've seen plenty others!"

Ron narrowed his eyes further, crossing his arms. "What'd he say Harry?"

After some very careful consideration, and because he didn't want another blow up between the two, Harry only said, "He's annoyed that you're looking at him like that."

Ron harrumphed. He didn't move, but he finally turned his eyes away, glaring into the empty fireplace instead.

"Do not talk about Hermione that way," Harry warned Malfoy in Parseltongue, sending a serious glare of his own.

Malfoy snorted, going back to the book.

When Hermione finally appeared again, she looked much more content with the world, wearing fresh clothes and a bright yellow shirt Harry had never seen on her before. "Excuse me Ron- oooh wow it's even worse now!" Hermione exclaimed, hand flying to her nose as Ron stepped out of her way. "You guys need to leave so we can air this place out!"

Now Harry was beginning to get a little offended by all her comments. After all, they were searching for Horcruxes, not trying to sell the tent at an open house. Ron started gathering some things though and Harry slowly followed suit while Hermione stood by, hands on hips. "Don't forget the soap," she reminded "it's right there on the table- oh... all right then."

Malfoy had grabbed it, putting it on top of the small pile of clean clothes he was carrying. He ducked out the tent.

Ron frowned, nose crinkling in displeasure. "You don't happen to have anymore do you, Hermione? Not really keen to share soap with him..."

Harry shared the same sentiment and he was relieved and pleased when Hermione produced another, although significantly smaller, bar of soap. "You're an angel," Harry said, taking it.

"Truly!" Ron agreed.

She smiled and laughed. "Thanks. Now go wash yourselves, please."

They went down the muddy creek bed, leading to the languid water. Obviously wanting to be alone, Malfoy was a good distance down from them, already in the creek with soap suds floating around him.

"I guess he wasn't planning on sharing anyway," Harry said with a roll of the eyes as he stripped down. They put their things on a large rock to keep them dry and off the dirt and leaves, with Harry's glasses topping off the pile. Harry dipped a foot into the water to test it out. It was January, it should have been cold, but Hermione's water-warming spell would hold up for a while still.

"Harry what's that?!"

Alarmed, he looked up and around, trying to find whatever Ron was talking about. "What? Where-?"

Ron didn't let him finish, giving him a hard shove in the back.

Harry stumbled into the water, slipping and falling with a great splash. He pushed himself up to stand on the bottom, only to hear laughter as he broke the surface. "You know you're going to pay for that?" he asked, whipping the hair from his eyes with a toss of his head.

"Yeah, good luck with that mate!" Ron said, still laughing.

Without further ado, he launched himself into the creek. Clearly not expecting immediate payback, Ron was unprepared for the brief shoving match Harry started. "Foul play!" Ron howled right before Harry managed to swipe Ron's legs out from under him and give him a good dunking.

After they calmed down a bit, Harry floated, letting the water slowly move him downstream as he stared up at the clouds above.

Ron rubbed at his arms and chest with the soap, again bringing up the topic of where they should search for the next Horcrux. "I know we dismissed it before, but Hogwarts! Don't you think? It could be there. Hell, a Basilisk was hidden in the basement that nobody knew about for how many years?"

"True," he agreed, though again, his mind had wandered off into the Deathly Hallows. "It's a good point."

Ron fell silent as he got a good lather going on his hands, scrubbing his face, chest, arms, and Harry idly wondered if Ron was going to leave any soap for him or accidentally use it all up himself.

As he waited for his turn, Harry's thoughts turned to Dumbledore. He'd read some parts of Skeeter's book in the past weeks and he'd been left feeling somewhat duped. Like he wasn't even sure who Dumbledore was anymore. Dumbledore's own words bothered him deeply, "FOR THE MUGGLES' OWN GOOD" and "FOR THE GREATER GOOD". The slogans sounded eerily like the Ministry of Magic. The same sort of holier-than-thou, we know better than you, righteous attitude they always had.

He badly wished Dumbledore was still around so he could explain himself. Explain his obsession with the dark arts he'd had when he'd been the very same age Harry was now. That was a tough one... Hard to ignore.

Harry looked over at Ron. Distracting himself. "So, am I going to be able to use that too?"

Ron glanced up. "Oh, sorry." He held out what was left of the soap. "Here."

Harry took it, while Ron dived under the water. Suds came up from where he'd been standing, drifting away in the stream, and Harry's eyes followed them, down towards Malfoy, who faced the other direction.

He hadn't ever gotten a real clear view on the scars Malfoy had, only really seeing the ones up on the side and back of his neck which were pretty much always visible. Now he could see the extent of them, and he was taken aback. No patch of skin had been spared. The dark gouges and marks on Malfoy went all over his back, cutting up into his shoulder blades in mismatching patterns on either side. The deep scars traveled down his middle and lower back in symbols that just looked zig-zags and swirls to Harry, though he knew they must have some deeper meaning.

Malfoy was scrubbing at his short hair, standing in the bit-above-waist-high creek, still unaware that Harry's eyes were on him. Oblivious to the scrutiny.

You could see the pattern continued on his biceps and sides, no doubt leading to the same sort of insanity on his chest and stomach. It looked like a madman's painting of his own confused nightmares.

Ron popped back up in the water, taking a big gasping breath as he stood. He glanced at Harry, and turned to see what he was staring at before Harry could stop him- he suddenly felt like he'd invaded Malfoy's privacy or something.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed loudly, which was exactly the sort of thing Harry had wanted to avoid.

Malfoy looked up and around, before realizing they were both looking at him. He immediately sank down in the creek, so only his face could be seen.

Feeling a bit of guilt, Harry turned away, soaping himself. As if nothing had happened. "Real subtle Ron."

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting it!" he said, though Harry was unable to detect any regret in his tone, only shock and disgust. "Blimey, never seen something like those scars. Look, off he goes."

Harry glanced over his shoulder and saw that Malfoy was gliding away, further downstream to where the creek turned into the trees and they were no longer able to see him.

Ron shook his head, leaving the water and walking up the muddy bank. "D'you suppose I hurt that git's feelings?" he wondered aloud, more curious than worried.

"Dunno'," Harry replied but he thought that from the way Malfoy had slunk off, he probably had.

Harry saw the soap was reaching its end, only a bit left. He lathered up his hands until it was gone, then used it to wash his face.

Ron was waiting, now dressed, looking up towards where the tent was hidden behind its wards.

Harry left the water, stepping on large rocks instead of mud in an effort to keep his feet clean as he could before he could get his socks and trainers on. When he was fully dressed, he glanced over towards the forest where Malfoy had gone and had yet to reappear.

"Maybe he won't come back," Ron said when he saw where Harry was looking, his tone half joking while half hopeful. "Come on, I bet Hermione's made lunch."

"You go ahead," Harry said, readjusting the glasses on his nose. Lunch sounded good, but Malfoy's disappearance bothered him enough that he put it to the side for now. "I'm gonna' go see what's taking him."

Ron watched him start to walk away, then Harry heard a noise of impatience before Ron appeared at his side and matching his strides, his friend said unhappily, "I'll go with you. I guess it's my fault anyhow..."

They had passed the end of the defensive wards they'd put up around the creek. Automatically, Harry took out his wand and Ron did the same. Leading the way into the trees, Harry looked about, trying to find some sign of Malfoy. Had he really gone away to sulk?

A clearing opened up ahead of them and Harry's eyes fell onto a fire pit. He stopped immediately, at the very threshold of the bushes, putting a hand up and stopping Ron too.

Harry could see the fire had been abandoned only recently, wispy smoke still rising from its embers. Around it, the ground was disturbed and flattened, obviously a group of people had been sleeping or sitting there.

"Snatchers," Ron said in his ear, almost inaudible.

Harry gave a signal, and they backed up carefully.

"We have to get back to the tent," Ron said urgently, though just as quiet as before. "Wards."

Then, from a not-too-far distance, they could hear shouting. Excited shouting. It came from deeper in the forest, right about where Harry thought the creek bend would have twisted away into the woods and, unfortunately, where he assumed Malfoy might be.

They shared a glance.

"I think they found him," Harry said, still whispering and starting forward, "c'mon."

They headed towards the shouting, and the yells were soon distinguishable from one another. "He's over there!" a deep and gruff voice called.

"Watch out! Expelliarmus!"

"Go 'round, go 'round! Ignishio! "

Harry pushed old, prickly bushes out of his way and a view of the creek far down below them opened up. The Snatchers were running around the area madly, fanning out to cover more ground, wands pointing up towards the hill opposite them.

"There!" Ron hissed, pointing.

Staying low and darting from one tree to the next, trying to keep the large trunks between himself and the spells being thrown up at him, was Malfoy. He must have been ambushed as he was trying to change back into his clothes because he was missing a shoe.

"Twelve of 'em," Ron said, "too many."

Harry did a quick count himself and agreed. "But if he can make it to the top, then we'll have the advantage on them-"

A red spell tore a ragged hole in a tree trunk Malfoy had just reached, barely missing his head and blowing bits of bark outward. It did some sort of damage to him though because he stumbled, putting a hand on his face.

A Snatcher called out gleefully: "Got 'em with that one!" His gloating was cut short as Malfoy twisted and shot a spell back down at him, hitting the Snatcher's wrist, the wand spinning out of the man's hand.

"They're catching up to him," Harry said, clearly seeing that Malfoy had lost some ground, the Snatchers drawing closer.

"He's not going to make it!"

Harry saw the man closest to Malfoy- only feet away- dive forward. In that split-second, he made his decision, maybe unwise, but he wasn't going to sit there and watch anyone, even Malfoy, get taken down without doing something to help.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, jumping up. His mark fell, unconscious, and he saw Malfoy successfully duck behind another tree.

"Watch it!" Ron grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him back down and out of sight.

The Snatchers were confused now though: "Behind us! Behind us!"

"Break in two!"

The six furthest in the back were now turning around, looking up towards were he and Ron hid. Spells were being shot randomly in their direction, thankfully, the Snatchers were unsure of exactly where they were.

He and Ron crouched low, spells whizzing by above them. "I'll circle 'round that way," Harry pointed to the right. "You go to the left, and with our higher vantage point, we'll take them out. Shoot them, then move, and shoot again. Right?"

Ron nodded.

They broke apart, quickly moving off.

Harry jogged along until he felt he'd gotten enough distance that no Snatcher would be looking towards his position. He broke the treeline, poking his head out. As anticipated, the Snatchers were still a good distance below, not having made much progress. Harry aimed, taking out two more with stunning spells before they'd realized where he was. He darted back and out of view, narrowly missing their curses.

"We're buggered here!" came an angry shout.

"There's another one!"

That'd be Ron, he knew. He felt a sort of satisfaction as he continued further along. The Snatchers had chosen a terrible spot to attack Malfoy. They had nowhere to hide.

He popped back out, noting the positions of his enemies. Only two Snatchers were left trying to get to the side he and Ron were on. Four were still on Malfoy's side, swiftly making their way up and adopting Malfoy's evading technique of hiding behind trees. He did not see any sign of Malfoy himself.

A red light shot towards him while he was distracted but luckily Harry saw it and dropped, rolling back and out of sight.

He decided to focus his attention on the other side of the hill and let Ron take care of the others, confident that it wouldn't be a problem. Malfoy was definitely in more trouble than they were. Regaining his footing, Harry hurried along, still making his way right, trying to somewhat follow where he thought Malfoy would be, mirroring the trajectory on his own side.

Crouching low, he elbowed and pushed his way through some overgrown shrubbery. He saw one of the Snatchers had made it to the top of the opposite hill. It looked like he was doing the same thing as Harry, and he quickly disappeared from view before Harry could make a move on him.

The remaining Snatchers had spread out even further, making a half-circle that relentlessly moved upward, and that was when Harry finally spotted Malfoy. Blood pouring down his face, he was planted nearly smack-dab in the middle of that circle, dodging spells. But it was now clear to Harry what the Snatchers plan was: Malfoy was slowly being corralled up towards the waiting Snatcher at the top.

Harry realized the only way to stop his eventual capture was to do something drastic.

"Oi! Ya' dumb prats!" he yelled brazenly, rising to his full height. "Harry Potter over here!"

It got exactly the reaction he'd wanted. They turned and focused their attention on him, rather than Malfoy, giving exclamations of shock before spells and curses came towards him from every direction.

Harry weaved and jumped away, out of sight, confident that what he'd done gave Malfoy the chance to take some of them out of commission.

Screams of pain suddenly filled the air, echoing across the hills.

Confused, unsure of what was going on, Harry looked out from behind a tree trunk. He was shocked to see the four men were now collapsed on the ground, writhing, floundering about. Malfoy stood in the middle of this, wand still pointed, going to each man.

"Crucio!" Malfoy's shout rang out, now audible because the men had ran out of air to scream with. They squirmed in near silence as Malfoy hit them, again and again. "Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!"

Harry could see the lone and last Snatcher, the one that had been waiting at the top. He was licking his lips, surveying the situation with panic and shock written across his features. It was clear he knew he'd lost. With one last glance at Harry, the Snatcher Disapparated, abandoning the rest of his group.

"Crucio!"

The man convulsed, back curving.

"Crucio!"

"Enough Malfoy!" Harry shouted, rising to his feet, disgusted. "It's over!"

The Slytherin ignored him, turning to another. "Crucio!"

"Malfoy STOP!"

Ron appeared to Harry's left, looking squeamish as he asked, "What spell is he...? The Cruciatus Curse?"

"Yeah." He could see some of the Snatchers starting to twitch and come around, but Malfoy pointed his wand again. Feeling a real rise of anger, Harry's hand clenched his own wand. "Malfoy don't-"

"Stupefy!" he yelled instead, and in quick succession the remaining Snatchers were left unconscious.

Harry and Ron waited in silence as Malfoy slowly made his way toward them, cupping one of his eyes with his free hand, stemming the flow of blood somewhat. He was limping a bit, on the foot that had no shoe. He'd most likely cut it on a fallen tree branch or rock. When he finally reached them, there were no thank you's from Malfoy, no gratitude for the help Ron and Harry had provided. "Got turned around. Which way's the campsite?" was all he said.

"You're not going to explain that?" Harry demanded, pointing back at the unmoving bodies scattered about behind him.

Malfoy regarded him with his unobstructed eye, gray and impassive. "Explain what exactly?"

Harry was fed up with the blasé attitude. "Are you serious? You didn't need to cast any Unforgivables! You went too far!"

"Oh? I could have gone further, believe me! Those were Snatchers! This isn't a game Potter, if they'd caught me-"

"They weren't going to catch you, Ron and I had your back, we had it covered-"

"You had it covered? Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had my back?" Malfoy's voice dripped with a toxic combination of sarcasm and anger. "Yeah right, I was nearly caught and done for by the time you two showed up! No hesitation putting yourself in danger to help me though right?"

"You had no reason to use that curse, it was over! We don't cause pain to people for fun. Or revenge. Or whatever you want to call what you just did. Me, Ron and Hermione, we don't do that- and you're with us right now, so you need to follow that too."

Malfoy shook his head, dismissive. "It wasn't for fun or revenge you simpleton, it was a lesson! This will deter them from chasing us again in the future. And by the way, I'm going to do whatever I need to do to keep me-" he shoved a thumb into his own chest, "the only person who cares- alive to help my mother! You remember her, don't you? Tortured and impregnated by the Dark Lord himself-?"

"First off's, using the Cruciatus on Snatchers or Death Eaters doesn't deter them," Harry snapped, "Are you that stupid? Next time they'll be casting Cruciatus Curses at us you git. Secondly, the Order of the Phoenix has your mother as their top priority-"

"Right and they've done a bang up job so far!"

Ron, for his part, was watching them carefully during this time, arms crossed, eyes routinely going from their hissing argument back to the unconscious bodies of the Snatchers.

"They're your best bet Malfoy," Harry returned, voice low now, "what ever the Order's done or failed to do, you can't change anything right now, And either way, we can't go around doing what you just did here. You just made a bad situation worse."

Malfoy laughed, but there was no humor in it. Blood still leaked from under his hand, dripping grotesquely down and staining his shirt. "I can think of quite a few situations you've made worse than they needed to be Potter! Shall I start naming them? Perhaps we can compare?"

Resisting the sudden urge to punch Malfoy in his sneering face, Harry stared at the Slytherin across from him with new eyes. Why had he ever given this prat the benefit of the doubt? What had he been thinking? The idea of using the disarmament spell crossed his mind and he'd just began to lift his wand when Ron suddenly spoke up.

"All right, we can finish this later Harry." He pushed away from the tree he'd been leaning against. "How long do you think it's going to take these Snatchers to regroup and make a second attempt at us? Besides, Hermione's been alone long enough, we didn't even tell her we were leaving."

Harry paused, reluctant to let it go, but he clamped down on his anger and lowered his wand. Now wasn't the time. Ron was right, they needed to get out of this area. More Snatchers would be coming.

"No more Unforgivables. You're done."

"You must be joking to think you can tell me what spells I can or can't use-" Malfoy scoffed disdainfully, oblivious to how close Harry had been to just taking the wand from him without any choice in the matter.

"I'm not joking," Harry said, voice flat. He turned his back on him.

When Malfoy tried to reengage him, Harry completely ignored it, tuning out the angry insults as he and Ron lead the way back to the campsite.

All Harry could see in his mind was the focused, unemotional look on Malfoy's face as he cast the Cruciatus Curse, so unlike the raving fanaticism on the faces of his enemies who had cast the very same curse upon Harry in the past... but so very similar in intent.


this chapter is named after a song by Blink-182