Chapter 11

Draco sat back, looking at Granger as she finished tying off her sling. Her broken arm was now braced with two sticks and wrapped with ripped shirts neatly, another dull blue shirt used the tie sling over her shoulder. She used her teeth to pull the last knot tight and set her lips in grim satisfaction.

She looked up, her chocolate colored eyes meeting his and he darted his away, embarrassed to be caught looking at her. There was something in the set of her shoulders, a fierceness in her eyes that spoke of a will to keep going, to keep surviving. The war had made a warrior out of her.

He couldn't help but think the same war had made him a coward.

"That all set, then?" he asked, cutting through the morbid silence.

Granger's eyes darted to the sky then back to him. "It'll do. Magic, even a little bit would be better."

Draco shifted uncomfortably. He felt a pang of guilt for not healing her.

He fingered his wand, which continued to sit dormant in his pocket. Was it really because he feared to become weak from using magic?

Or, was he just afraid that it wouldn't work at all?

Magic. It had been a part of him for so long, it was who he was. He was a wizard, and a good one. If he didn't have his magic anymore, was he still even himself? Was he still Draco Malfoy?

He was afraid to find out. Draco couldn't fathom a future without magic.

Draco fisted his hands. He was already weak, he was afraid of the moment he went to use his wand, to cast a spell – and nothing happened.

Granger, now, she wasn't afraid of that. Maybe because she came from muggle heritage, and maybe because she was simply stronger than him. But no matter what this new, fucked up world threw at her. She would face it, and she would fight it.

Deep inside, he found himself jealous. He wished that he had that in him, right then. He needed some of her confidence. He didn't know what had happened back at the Burrow, but he could see how it haunted her eyes. Regardless, she didn't collapse into a ball and give up. Before he had made the choice to help her back in the clearing, when the muggle woman had almost had her, she wasn't ready to give up. She would have fought even the certainty of death.

Draco wasn't so sure he could do the same.

And maybe that's why when she looked at him earlier, the weapon in his hand, knowing he was more able bodied, he had complied. It had been against his nature to put himself at risk like that. To go around the corner to find one of those things feasting on a fresh, still alive, human being. But he had done it because, without Granger, he was alone.

He didn't want to be alone. Not in this world, not ever. And now, Granger, she was one of the only living human beings that he had seen in the last twenty-four hours, the others most of which were already dead.

He needed to keep her close, he needed to keep her alive. To survive, to fight. SHw as smart and skilled. She knew muggle first aid. She was useful, that was why he needed her.

At least, that's what he told himself.

"Oy! Granger, Malfoy!" came Zabini's frantic voice. He looked up to see Zabini coming down, his broom sputtering out behind him. Out of instinct, Draco reached over, pulling Granger to him so Zabini just narrowly missed her as he crashed to the ground, tangling himself in the already half destroyed tent behind them.

Granger's eyes were a mere centimeter from his, wide with shock from where she lay on top of him. Draco shifted as she pulled herself away, balancing on her one good arm and raising to her feet. He eye darted back to Draco as she straightened herself out, then she looked away.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Draco grunted his response, suddenly feeling embarrassed and he wasn't all too sure why.

"What did you see, Zabini?"

Zabini straightened himself out, pulling the material of the tent off of him as he untangled himself from the material and poles. He frowned, his dark eyes lingering on the two dead muggles behind it before he turned to face them.

"About ten or fifteen of those things in a big group." He pointed out towards the river. "They are all up around there, which is also the direction of the stadium. I found it, but to get to it we have the follow the river, and ultimately cut it pretty close to the lot of them. However..."

Draco was frowning as he crossed his arms over his chest. "What? Sounds like we need to go the long way around to avoid that whole mess."

"Well... there's them, then nothing. No other signs of life, and no more of 'em."

Draco furrowed his brows. "Yes, Zabini, that's the whole point of coming out here."

Granger tilted her head, a contemplative look in her eyes. She rose a finger to her lips as she thought deeply.

"We have to kill them. All of them."

Zabini's face was grim as he nodded slowly. Draco looked at them aghast.

"What? Have you two completely lost it? We don't have to kill them, we just go the way they aren't, then come back around and head for the stadium. Easy as that!"

Granger shook her head. "No, there's no way to know they have moved unless Zabini goes back up in the sky." She held out her hand, pointing towards his broom, the brush portion of it slightly singed and smoking. Zabini looked down at it too, his expression solemn. "Which doesn't look like it's going to work again anytime soon."

"So, what? We are just going to bulldoze through a whole pack of them in case they move?" Draco said somewhat hysterically, looking between his two companions.

They were both completely mental. He was not having it.

"Well, not just that," Zabini chimed in. He looked towards Granger hesitantly. "If we plan to make the stadium a base, if we take them all out the area will be more or less safe. At least for a while. We could stay out here for some time, let whatever this is play out."

Draco's shoulders slumped. That...that kind of made sense.

And he hated that. If they tried to take them all on, it was likely they wouldn't survive.

But... If they did survive, maybe, just maybe they could remember what is felt like to be safe. It had only been a day ago the last time he had felt it, but it already felt like a lifetime.

Slowly he rose his eyes to both Granger and Zabini who were looking at each other grimly. Granger had one arm in a sling, and a long metal fire poker in her other good hand. Zabini was more or less well off but in need of a weapon. Draco had a slight limp and an axe.

The question was, could they take on all of them? Just the three of them? They were tired, injured, and lacking any skilled use of a weapon after years of relying on their wands. Would they make it through this alive?

Granger's eyes looked towards the river, and he could see the gears working in her mind. Draco followed her gaze, an idea of his own reluctantly forming as he contemplated what he was committing himself to doing.

He didn't like it, but the chance to be somewhere away from them, knowing that they weren't lingering somewhere unseen, ready to jump out and attack them once they turned their backs was something he couldn't pass by. He just wanted to feel safe, even if it was short-lived.

Maybe what Zabini said was right, they could make a safe home out here for awhile, let this bizarre illness pass them by. Give the world some time, and maybe it would figure itself out.

Draco exhaled slowly, his reluctance still apparent in his demeanor. "We take them out, one by one. Sneak up on them from behind, take off as many strays as we can before we have to take on the group. Then, maybe we will stand a chance against better odds. From what I have seen, they are pretty thick. They can hear us, so we have to be quiet."

Granger looked at him and nodded slowly. "Great idea, Draco. It just might work."

Draco nodded grimly. In theory, it was a good plan. But would it be in practice?

As Zabini leaned over and started digging through the supplies, and Draco watched as Granger joined him, grabbing another bag and loading it with necessities, he figured they would find out soon enough.

With a deep sigh, he bent over and started to make another bag, if they were going to do this, survive, they needed whatever they could get.

For, he had no idea how long this new life of his would last.