Chapter 14

As Draco walked drearily on, Hermione asleep in his arms, a faint flickering light came into view through the darkness.

"Hey, Hermione, wake up, I can see a light," he whispered.

She stirred and looked where he was nodding, there it was, the edge of the forest. Drawing near, the light grew stronger and stronger. They could both see the trees ending and the Hogwarts grounds welcoming them back home. The glow was leaking through Hagrid's broken window. Moving faster, as if being chased, Draco broke out of the forest and fell on his knees, placed Hermione down before collapsing. He closed his eyes and fully relaxed, sinking his head in the moist grass.

A few moments later, huge feet could be heard tramping towards them.

"Malfoy? 'Ermione? Wha you two doin' down there?"

Hermione opened one eye to see Hagrid towering over them, a massive lamp in one hand.

"Getting damp," she replied.

"Well come inside, before anybody sees ya, it's late."

Draco helped Hermione up and put her arm round his shoulder to support her just in case she fell.

"I'm feeling better," she told Draco.

"Good."

Climbing up through the pumpkin patch, they all shuffled into the warmly lit hut.

"So wha' were you two doin' in the forest a' this time o' nigh'?" Hagrid asked once the door was shut, offering huge mugs of tea.

"Long story," replied Draco with a small smile.

"You can tell me the shor' of it," he persisted.

"Alright, we had a detention; we had to remake a potion from the lesson because this pickle," gesturing at Draco, who gave her an overly disgusted look at his new nickname, "blew up my original one." She grinned at him.

"Don't....just don't....call me pickle." He wrinkled his nose as he said it.

Hagrid had a mixed look of confusion, amusement and distaste.

"Moving on..." said Hermione swiftly, still smiling though, "Yes, so the potion went wrong again and we ended up in the forbidden forest, spending half a day getting out again."

"Dear me," said Hagrid.

"Yep," Draco replied.

"Well...would ya like anythin' ta eat?"

Both Hermione and Draco's stomachs growled in unison at the thought of food.

"I'll take tha' as a yes," he smiled and began cooking up some bacon and egg.

A while later the food was done.

"Smells good Hagrid," said Hermione.

Hagrid dealt it onto two large plates and pushed them across the table while Fang barked at the bacon.

"Down you dozy dog," commanded Hagrid.

Fang whined. Chucking a piece of meat at him, Hagrid watched him devour it hungrily.

Draco and Hermione dug in to their food and told Hagrid all about what had happened in the forest that day, from the dementor to the blood crystals.

"Blood crystals?" enquired Hagrid.

"Yeah...why?"

"Only they're the most rare thing, and I didn' know they were in there."

Hermione shrugged, "Well, they were in there alright, but we don't want to talk about it, alright?"

"Ok, well I s'pose you should be gettin' back anyway."

"Yeah, probably," Draco agreed.

"See you later then Hagrid," said Hermione, pushing hers and Draco's empty plates back towards him.

Stepping back out of the door, Draco took Hermione's hand, breathed in the cool night air and strolled back up to the castle.

* * *

Harry couldn't sleep, his scar was burning ferociously. He pushed back the duvet and padded over to the window bench. Pulling his knees under his chin, he placed his forehead on the cold glass but it barely made a dent in the pain. He looked over the dark grounds, wondering where Hermione was. She hadn't returned from her detention at all, nobody had seen her since Charms. He obviously blamed Malfoy for it, who else would it be? Tomorrow was going to be the day where he would pay for all the things he'd done since the beginning, it would feel so good.

Then as his eyes trailed over to Hagrid's hut, two figures emerged from the door, neither being Hagrid. His heart paced angrily as he saw one take the other's hand. What had he done? What had Malfoy done to Hermione? She would never hold hands with that jerk. He had to have done something. Harry's hands curled into fists, he could already feel them hitting home in Malfoy's face.