I'll be going on vacation for a week and a half. Hopefully I will be able to send you all something during that time. I'll be stuck in the woods and I'm not allowed my arrows. Boredom will kill me.
"Just get on the horse, 'Mione." Ronald yelled from atop his own. She glared back at him, sizing the horse up again. How they ever expected her to ride side saddle on this monstrosity was beyond her. She reached up, but couldn't quite grasp the saddle to pull herself up. How she envied girls like Ginerva graced with height.
"Coming up." Neville Longbottom warned her as he grasped her hips and hoisted her up into the saddle. She fumbled ungracefully as he held her long enough to swing one leg over, but she wrapped her arms around the neck of the horse.
"I can't do this." she said defeated pressing her face into the horse's neck.
"I'll ride with you, Hermione." Neville said and Hermione turned her face to look at him. She gasped when she saw how much he had grown.
"If it wasn't for your voice, Neville, I wouldn't have recognized you." He looked completely different from the chubby insecure boy she remembered. She heard rumors that he grandmother sent him to train in the desert lands, but couldn't believe the man he had become.
"I'll take that as a compliment." he smiled, blushing as he did. "Would you like me to join you."
"I honestly don't see any other way." she shrugged, removing her feet from the footholds so he could hop up."
"I can do that, Neville." Ronald urged, moving his horse back to the pair.
"Perhaps later, Ronald. I'm already on the horse and I don't want to risk spooking it with Lady Hermione on it." Neville handled Ronald like a petulant child. He wrapped his arms around Hermione, taking the reins and slowly moving forward towards the group. Leaving Ronald to stew behind them.
"Thank you, Neville." she said for two reasons. Surely he had known about their rather public absolution of engagement.
"Bout time, 'Mione." Harry nodded to the rest of the party. They moved swiftly through the woods, but kept alert in case the Snatcher's caught on to them. She shuddered at the thought. Snatchers were hardly men anymore, evil and savage and they would tear apart a human like a chew toy.
"Where did you disappear too, Neville?" Hermione asked as they eased into the ride.
"You know my Grandmother." he tensed. "She couldn't bear the thought of her only heir being regarded as a weak fool."
"So?"
"So she sent me to the desert lands. There is a blacksmith there who makes some of the strongest swords and armor. He took me on as an apprentice."
"Did you enjoy it?"
"I actually found myself in his wife's garden more." Hermione blushed, her mind instantly going south. Neville, realizing that it could be misconstrued laughed. "She grows all sorts of plants. I felt drawn to it. You know I'm shit at everything else, Hermione. I can't make a decent potion, my charms are rather weak, but plants...I knew how to work with them."
"You can do something with that. It's hardly something to be ashamed of. You don't need to be one of the men who excel at swordsmanship to get by, Neville."
"I knew you would understand." he relaxing his arms to his legs as the horse trotted slowly through a meadow. "Are the rumors true?"
"Rumors?" Hermione turned her head to him briefly, nearly touching his nose.
"The Prince of Slytherin. Is it true what they have been saying about you two?"
"You'll have to tell me what everyone is saying so I can confirm or deny it." she said rather stiff. The whole subject felt more like an open wound that everyone kept sticking their fingers in.
"I wasn't here for the season, but when everything happened at the faire my Grandmother sent a raven to tell me to come home. I heard some of the ladies talking about you and him. The women love to embellish on how tragic it is, but you seem to be holding up fine. Everyone wonders if he would have still chosen you, because your muggleborn-"
"It's true." Hermione affirmed. "There's a lot the others don't know. I pushed him away at first, rejected his advances. I did everything short of telling him I was a muggleborn, but he persisted. He let me feel his power a few times, it was unbelievable. I don't know how to describe it well, he never really could explain it to me. It was like a fish trying to teach a human to breathe. But when we are together he says that my magic makes him feel what he tried to show me."
She felt herself moving towards the sorrow she had been feeling. She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "He helped us escape."
"I'm sorry, Hermione."
"I know, but I can't afford to be some depressed mess over it."
They stopped as the sun begun to set, setting up tents for lodging and warding the area. Hermione gathered a few branches, lighting up a fire in the center of the camp. Harry and Ronald were the first to rejoin her. "Remember that time you ran into Healer Promfrey's with Hermione's flames on your head?" Harry laughed thinking about the healer's face when the blue flames seemed to take over Ronald's hair.
"I still can't believe I let you brats talk me into that." Hermione chuckled. "She refused to talk to me for a week after that stunt."
"I wish I could have been there to see that." Ginerva joined them, tugging her cloak from her shoulders. "You guys all had these fantastic adventures without me. I couldn't help but feel like the blocked out little sister."
"We couldn't risk a Lady like yourself getting injured." Harry said with a loving smile.
"A Lady like myself? You do realize, Harry James Potter, that I have six older brothers? I'm hardly a damsel in distress."
"She's scrappy."Ronald said looking completely serious for a moment.
"Were going to need that attitude for the fights coming up. I'm going to volunteer for first watch-"
"Hermione," Harry laughed waving his arm out at the men surrounding them. "I think I have enough knights to watch overnight. Just do me a favor and do that protection ring your good at."
"Hope none of them are scared of fire." she mumbled building a flame in her palm and pushing her arms out. A wave of flames burst outwards, settling themselves in a neat circle along the forest floor around the camp.
Draco yawned as they neared a river. They had been riding all day and it was growing dark. He narrowed his eyes and the river, he had been hoping to cross it before nightfall. Blaise sensed his tension and slowed next to him.
"Think it's too deep?"
"Not right here. But if we want to continue we should go now. Snape said they would stop overnight, so we will have a fair chance at meeting them if we keep pushing. Our plan won't work if we don't cut them off before Hogwarts."
Draco pulled Crookshanks cage up to rest in his lap as they crossed. He feared drowning Hermione's cat wouldn't be forgiven. The half kneazle glared at him as water sloshed up, wetting its tail. Crookshanks hissed at him, trying to shake the cold water off his tail. "Oh shut up or I'll drop you in the river and leave you." The cat settled to the bottom of his cage, vigorously working to dry its tail.
"We should stop and build a fire for at least an hour, Draco. The horses will die of exhaustion if we keep it up."
"Fine." he relented, waiting till they got a little further up the shore before hopping off of his horse. He piled sticks and wood up and let Blaise light it with a flint. The flames raised up in the usual yellow and orange. He ran his hand over it briefly, enjoying the warmth, but he wanted to see the blue flames again. He let Crookshanks out of his cage, letting the angry orange cat settle himself on his lap by the fire to dry off.
Blaise fed the horse before cooking two skinned rabbits that he brought along with them. He watched his friend over the fire, unawares to Draco. He'd never seen the prince look as lost as he did now. Draco refused to discuss his plans with him, a way to keep him out of it, safe. His friend had always been rather misunderstood in that respect. He had a hard exterior, belittled people for fun, and oft made a joke he shouldn't, but Blaise knew it was because he feared rejection. He feared it so much he refused to give you a chance to reject him, he made the choice for you.
"We could just stay with them." Blaise suggested. Feeling a sense of freedom since leaving the castle."
"My mother will die if I do."
"He is scared of Dumbledore. If you let him live-"
"I'm killing Dumbledore." Malfoy affirmed, putting the cat back in the cage. Blaise handed him a stick with the rabbit on it. He picked a large piece off and put it through the bars for Crookshanks. "If I don't there will be a target on my back, and my family is dead.
"Couldn't you get your mother to sneak out of the castle. He has no power over you if you do."
"She wouldn't get far." His horse walked towards them, standing close as if to tell Draco he was ready to continue. Draco dug a apple out of his pack and held it out. The horse chew greedily, excepting his treat. "We should move on."
"We should." Blaise gave his friend one last hopeful look before stamping out the fire and retrieving his horse.
She hated nights in the forest when everything seemed too quiet. She tossed and turned next to Ginerva and Molly, looking out the slightly open flap of the tent. She could just see the stars peaking through the tree canopies. Her restless mind made for a restless body and she shifted slowly out from between the Weasley's. Outside Dean, Seamus, and Neville chatted idly to stay awake. She walked over to them, pulling a rucksack over to the fire to sit on. Rubbing her hands together she instantly felt warmer next to the flames.
"You should sleep, Hermione."
"How about I take over the watch so you all can."
"Harry would make us walk tomorrow if we left you out here alone." Dean kicked at the fire pit. "Besides, your flames don't really protect us from arrows."
"With all the tents set about." Hermione turned in a circle to look. "There is only one clear shot."
"One's enough." Seamus sputtered, taking another sip of firewhiskey.
"So what were you talking about before I interrupted?" Hermione inquired.
"We were talking about different attack and defense plans. Hogwarts is on a mountain, so you'll need to cross a bridge to get to one side, or climb up a hill to get to the other. It puts us in an excellent tactical defense." Neville drew a picture in the dirt for her.
"We blow up the bridge, and we can take out a good amount of them before cutting off a main route."
"And I suppose will have archers to main the hills?" Hermione added some x's near the hill.
"Did you hear about the moving statues its rumored to have?"
"That must take and amazing amount of concentration." Hermione added thinking about the sheer magic it would take to animate the inanimate.
"There's a man I met in the desert lands who was looking to create something to increase our abilities." Neville said almost fearing they would find him silly for saying it.
"Like a channel of some sort?" Dean asked and they all had peaked interest.
"He had something that he was working on. Let me look at it after I brought him some acacia branches to work with. He called it a wand and he could use his magic incredibly well with it." Neville swung on stick between his fingers, remembering the smoothly designed ones that Ollivander had been making.
"And you think that he is making it as some sort of weapon?"
"I don't think that is his intention, but I told him that King Harry would love to see his creations and he considered it."
"But we are headed to Hogwarts, what's the chance of him finding us now?" Hermione asked disappointed.
Neville pulled a small coin out of his pocket. "I will send this when we arrive, along with a letter. He promised he would bring us the first ones he perfects."
"And you're sure he is not just a helper of Voldemort?"
"I'm sure, Hermione. He stayed with us for weeks."
Draco's eyes began to drift shut as they crossed another river. They were closer now to where Snape told them to meet up. The man hadn't sent a communication since they left the castle. He yawned, his eyes drifting shut again until the horse jolting woke him back up. Blaise was in the same shape as him, but they soldiered on, dawn would be soon and they needed to cut them off at the camp.
A small sensation rolled over him, waking him up and sending his body into overdrive. They were close, so close that he could feel her magic. He kicked the horse hard, moving into a trot, going the direction that made it the strongest. He stopped when he sense the wards around the area. He slipped off his horse, tired and happy to feel the ground under his feet.
"Hermione! Hermione!" He yelled, running around the magic barrier like a puppy to its owner. "I know you're there!"
Hermione woke up when Neville stirred. She had fallen asleep on his shoulder during the night. He looked past the tents. A faint yelling could be hear from outside the barrier. She moved towards the voice, her flames around the wards burning strong in case they were broken. She stared at him the moment she saw him, he couldn't see her, but she knew he could tell that she was there.
"Don't let him in, Hermione!" Ron yelled but she reached out to him anyway.
Harry stopped her arm before she could go through the ward. "He could be helping Voldemort."
"Look at him, Harry!" she yelled now. Draco had bruises and scratches all over him. He collapsed on the ground feet from her and she shook Harry off. "He wouldn't come all this way like that. Not unless he was running. Please! Drop the wards!"
Suddenly Draco could see her. He looked up at her like she was the only thing in the world, pushing himself up and threw the flames. He grabbed her, pulling her to him tightly and kissing the top of her head. He dug his nose into her hair, challenging any of them to stop him.
Two men grabbed him by the shoulders, yanking him from her and tying his hands behind his back. "I hope you can understand, Malfoy. We have to be sure."
The men dragged him into a tent and dropped him into a chair. Snape put a vial up to his lips and forced him to drink it. He swallowed the liquid, realizing that Snape hadn't given him Veritaserum like he told the others he did. "Now, Draco, do tell us the truth of why you're here."
Harry's eyes bore into him, waiting for the tired boy to speak. "I escaped."
"And you found us how?"
"There was rumor that you were heading to Hogwarts, Potter. I followed the trail and then I felt her magic." Harry's own magic flared and Draco laughed. "Leave it be, Potter. I'm not going here to kill you."
"Give me one reason not to kill you and leave you here?"
"The honorable King Harry threatening to kill an unarmed man. Seems rather pathetic of you. Have you stooped so low?" Draco scoffed. "I'm here for help, Potter. I wouldn't have come to you if it wasn't absolutely impossible any other way. He has my kingdom in his clutches and my mother. I need to get her out of there."
"How can you help us?"
"Untie me." Draco urged, battling Harry with his eyes. Harry pulled a knife from his belt. He could just run it across Draco's neck and be done with it, but Hermione would never forgive him if he did. He cut the ropes around Draco's wrists releasing him. The blonde reached down and pull a scroll of parchment from his boot. "You'll find that information to be useful."
Harry unrolled the parchment and left the tent immediately. Draco looked up to Snape, but wasn't greeted with even the slightest kindness. "You're not to make a move until I say so. I'm not helping you for nothing, Draco. Don't deviate from the plans I make."
Dumbledore walked into the tent, an eyebrow raised inquisitively at the men in the room. "How is it, Prince Draco, that you have learned about the horcruxes?"
"I heard him talking to Bellatrix about Godric's sword. The one she took off Potter when she took him. He told her that she had to keep it hidden, because it could kill a Horcrux." he paused. "Mind telling me what the hell that is?"
"Get a cart cleaned up from Prince Draco and Lord Blaise. They'll need to sleep during our journey." Dumbledore instructed Snape without another word to Draco.
Hermione walked into the tent with Crookshanks in her arms. Her expression was of worry, but he could see how happy she was under the surface. "I thought you both dead."
"I fear I would have been better off." he rubbed his wrists.
"He hurt you?"
"You think all this damage to my pretty face was from the ride?" he asked sourly but reached out for her.
They couldn't be kept apart too long. It's a long road a head. I want everyone to note that for the most part we do still very much have horcruxes and Dumbledore's death is very important to the series. I can't wait to introduce wands.
Hope you enjoyed it,
Rose.