Author's note:

Sorry, three weeks I know.

I usually talk about the chapters at the end, but I have to fore warn that there is slight mention of content in this chapter. I mean LITERALLY: mention. I didn't actually use the word though, but I'm not sure how okay that is for a K+ fic

Disclaimer: Umm, once again, I've got nothing. Didn't think about it.

Hermione's P.O.V.:

As the horses' hoofs ground into the road, I was lost in thought. Draco and I… last night, we almost made love. It could have been amazing; it almost was, actually, but I had pulled away. I'm not sure why, though. I really do think that I…l-love him.

Why am I not ready?

The question kept repeating over and over in my mind, yet I had yet to find an answer to it. Something else kept haunting me though. Draco had seemed so energetic, and willing and so completely ready to submit himself to me. I wondered if I'd made the right choice. I also wondered how Draco felt about this. We hadn't really talked about it last night but he had told me that he would wait until I was ready. Is he mad at me My first instinct would be to say no, but this morning I noticed a slight change in his behavior. When I kissed him, it was different…barely enthusiastic, not at all like his usual self. And he had actually suggested that we stop in order to leave. Normally I would have had to pry him away from me! And when I was changing he didn't make any of his annoying, yet amusing remarks about my lack of clothing.

I ached to know what was going on and debated asking him but I thought I would save it for a more appropriate time. Draco, just in front of me, had stopped. I looked up to see why. The morning (almost lunchtime) sun clearly illuminated a fork in the road. I trotted up beside Draco. He glanced at the map in his hands and back at the road again.

"Problem?" I asked.

He looked at me. "Gareth's map doesn't show anything about a fork in the road." I leaned over to inspect it and surely enough there was no indication of a fork.

"Well, what do we do? I mean, there's no one on these roads to ask directions from."

"I guess we just have to pick one," he sighed. "Perhaps something will indicate whether we are on the right track or nor. We can just turn back if not."

It seemed to me as though we had no other choice, and I decided to go along with it.

"The next thing on the map is supposed to be… a cave," Draco said after consulting the paper once again.

After clopping along for almost an hour, we hadn't seen any sign of a cave. Both of us were hungry, so we stopped for lunch. The horses grazed on some juicy clumps of grass while we sat under the shade of a tall oak tree.

"Hermione, do you hear that?" He asked as we were finishing up.

"What?" I asked, no noticing anything out of the ordinary.

"Nevermind."

As we restarted our journey though, I was becoming increasingly aware of a dull roar. It seemed that every foot we rode, it just became louder and louder.

"What on earth is it, Draco?" But he didn't know either. Is it some of creature? It was possible, but the horses seemed quite unaffected. The noise was nearly deafening now.

"Draco!" I shouted over the sound. "It sounds like water!"

"You're right, it does!"

At that moment, the horses stepped out into a clearing and we saw what was making the noise. A huge, magnificent waterfall was pouring into a river. Draco and I took a moment to admire the beautiful sight but not one second more.

"Draco! I don't think we're going to find a cave anywhere here. Maybe we should turn back!" I looked to Draco for his answer.

He agreed and we abandoned the road, turning around and trekking away. When we were back at the fork, we were quite confident that this was the way.

«§§§§»

"Hermione, something is definitely wrong." Draco looked at me concerned.

There was no arguing with that. We'd travelled along this road for about four miles, and were now standing at a godforsaken cliff edge. The cave that we were supposed to meet was nowhere to be found. " Weren't we supposed to meet up with that cave how many miles back?" I looked at him, frustrated.

"Bloody hell…we had to have missed something on the other road." Draco also looked frustrated and tiredness was clearly displayed on his face. He ran his hands through his long blond hair. "We'll have to go back."

It was late afternoon when we finally arrived where we had left off; the waterfall.

"We're back where we started, and still no cave. What should we do, Draco?" Draco shifted his gaze from the waterfall, and looked at me. "We can either go on and hope we find the cave or settle here."

"Well, if we go on, there is a chance that we might not find the cave at all, us being so off-schedule. I think we should rest here…well, not here, because we'll never be able to get to sleep with this racket."

I glanced at the waterfall. It might have been nice to stay here, but I knew he was right. The waterfall really was making a lot of noise. Suddenly, a wild idea came to my mind. I quickly scanned the folds of water for an imbalance of shading. There! Found it! A dark spot.

Draco saw me staring at the rapid torrents and he too turned to look. "What's the matter?"

"Look over there!" I pointed, "The cave."

"Merlin! You're right. It's behind the waterfall. Hermione you are bloody brilliant!" He exclaimed.

I grinned. "Now, how do we get up there?"

In response, Draco walked closer to the rushing water with me close behind. We both searched behind the folds of water for the cave. When we located it, we then scanned the rock for some way to get up, even though the cave wasn't extremely elevated. Draco noticed a pattern of ledge that we could use to our advantage.

Leaving the horses nestled in the bushed, well fed and tired, we took what we needed for the night and found some way or the other to attach it to ourselves. Then, Draco and I climbed the ledges up to the cave. But it wasn't as easy as it sounded because along with all the stuff clipped on to us, we also had our weapons.

"Are you alright," Draco asked, after reaching there first.

"Yeah," I grunted and grabbed his outstretched arms. He then proceeded in hauling me up.

"Whew!" Draco wiped his brow pretending to be exhausted. "What are you Hermione, a girl or a troll? You can certainly compete with a mountain troll."

"This is no time for fun, Draco." I collapsed on the cave floor, waiting for my heartbeat to slow. I cursed my severe case of acrophobia. It would have been much easier on both me and Draco if I hadn't been worrying about falling off a nine foot drop. Yeah, a measly nine feet. This just describes the extent of my fear of heights.

"Are you okay?" Draco looked concerned.

"Yeah," I propped myself up on my elbows, finally feeling my heartbeat begin to slow.

Draco turned and looked around the cave. It was dark, but strains of light were reflected through the falling water, and were fanned out in random ever-moving patterns over the walls. It was quite mesmerizing to look at the lovely blue veins against the dark background. Almost like magic.

Draco offloaded himself and walked over to help me. As soon as we'd detached the last of the few objects, he strode over to the edge of the cave, and swung himself down. I stared at him.

"Where are you going?" I was a bit alarmed at the prospect of, for some reason, having to climb down after him.

"Well, I thought I'd make use of the river. Fancy a dip with me?" He grinned.

He was right. It would have been a crime to waste the opportunity of a bath. I paused for a moment and his head disappeared. "Dracoooooo…"

«§§§§»

"Bloody hell," Draco swore.

"Let me try," I offered, and he none too hesitantly complied.

I held the rocks together and in one smooth stroke had a fire going. After having our baths, we had gathered fire wood and situated it here for the night, in preparation for the darkness that would soon approach.

Draco ran his fingers through his hair frustrated. "Well, if you knew how to do it, why did you ask me?"

"I didn't know I could do it, I just thought you might have been able to do it better."

"When you need magic the most, it's no where to be found," said Draco dramatically. "And now we have to resort to the muggle way of doing things," he added under his breath sounding quite disgusted.

I heard him and was a bit stung. However, I didn't let it show.

"Are you ready to eat?" The sun had by now sank, and we sat in the small dry cave around the fire and ate in silence. The noise of the cave was surprisingly muffled quite a bit, and wasn't particularly noticeable anymore.

"What's wrong?"

I looked up from my food, at Draco, surprised. "Nothing. Why?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Oh, please, Hermione. Don't try to fool me. I know something's bothering you."

I scooted closer to him; he was opposite to me, on the other side of the fire. Not too close though, just enough to see him properly.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked softly, smoothing down the folds of my dress which we had magically mended from the fight in the castle.

He stared at me. "For what?"

"Last night." And suddenly it all came rushing out in torrents. Everything from us almost making love down to his strange behavior. "…And then you made that comment about us having to resort to muggle technology and it just made me worry even more that you regretted this entire thing…you know, us. Because I'm a muggleborn…." All through my tirade, he remained quiet. When I finally looked at him with tear in my eyes, was looking at me incredulously.

"Hermione, I can't believe this…" He seemed lost for words. "After all we've been through together, how could you even think that I regretted our relationship? You've done so much for me…"

His eyes softened, and he shifted closer to me and held my face in his fingers, forcing me to look at him. His eyes were intense, and he said to me,"I love you."

My fluctuating heart felt as though it was about to burst, whether from beating so fast or with love for Draco, I didn't know. Before I could say anything, he continued.

"The only reason I acted so differently was because I thought it would be uncomfortable for you and that you needed time. I didn't want to say anything stupid and make it sound as though I was pushing you into doing anything. And I'm sorry for the comment. I was in a bad mood, but I shouldn't have said that."

I smiled, not needing to say anything. He pulled me into an embrace and spoke lovingly against my hair. "Gods Hermione, I love you. I've loved you since that day you let me kiss you when we came out of detention," he whispered huskily.

Bringing my lips dangerously close to his, I whispered back, "I've fallen in love with you also, Draco Malfoy."

«§§§§»

"Hermione, I think something's wrong," he exclaimed for the second time that day.

"What?" I looked over at Draco, concerned. "What's the matter?"

I don't know, I just - " he froze in his tracks, listening intently with a furrowed brow. Following suit, I also stopped and listened, but could hear nothing out of the ordinary.

"Dra - " I began too loudly for his liking.

He cut me off, "Shhh! Get off the horse."

I stared at him for a moment and then complied. We were at a small clearing in the forest, and everything was silent. I really couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Draco, please tell me what's happening. I can't hear or see anything strange," I said in a soft voice tantamount to his.

He didn't answer, he just walked slowly to me, studying the skies sharply. Suddenly, Draco's head snapped toward something straight ahead. His expression was one of alarm, and it invoked a large amount of fear in me. My anxiety increased considerably when his hand fell to the sword at his hip.

Immediately I pulled loose my bow and strung an arrow.

«§§§§»

Draco's P.O.V.:

I had no idea what I was searching for. But somehow I knew that something was terribly wrong. Neither the horses nor Hermione sensed anything bad though, and Hermione, with her weapons drawn, was staring at me as though I was crazy. I myself would have thought that I'd gone round the bend were it not for the amulet; it was burning red hot against my skin. This might not have necessarily meant that anything was lurking around, but it was still a strange reaction and I had to be cautious.

I walked a little further into the clearing with Hermione in tow. She seemed to have realized by now that silence was golden and had ceased to ask questions.

In my mind, I could sense something moving furtively, I just didn't know where. Then the horses started fidgeting. This indicated to Hermione that something was indeed afoot. The unease of the horses rapidly turned to fright. I grabbed Hermione and pulled her behind me. The horses fled. I knew I had to take care of this myself.

"Go after the horses!" I told her. She looked at me skeptically as she knew I was trying to get rid of her.

"I'm not - " she froze. I turned to where she was string. Something was materializing in front of us.

"Go!" I shoved her roughly. She reluctantly took off running.

The ethereal creature was a mere shadow, indistinct and translucent. The only reason I could tell it was there was because its barely noticeable profile was tinted darker than the environment and the space where it held was slightly disconcerted in my vision.

In one fluid movement, I drew the sword. It was something entirely different than I'd ever felt before; a euphoria of unity with the sword overtook me and I was no longer aware of my amateur skill with a sword.

I lunged and the shadow jumped back. With its claws which I could not see but knew were there, it sent a series of deadly jabs my way, all of which I avoided with skill I had never even dreamed of possessing. Immersed in the sword's magic, I released my anger, which was eagerly absorbed and submerged in the sword's own wrath. This concoction served as the channel between the sword and I.

Subconsciously, the figure and I spun around the clearing, weaving in between the trees, ducking, lunging and leaping.

In a detached state I danced with the flowing shape which was like a cape in the wind, its movements sharp and rapid.

The creature lunged. I drew my arm back, poised to strike. Just as I'd let my arm fly, an arrow sliced through the air and beat me to the chase. It came to an abrupt stop, buried deep inside the shadow.The sword followed, piercing the heart. The shape fell.

I stood panting, staring at the figure as it took shape and became oblique. A part of me surreptitiously experienced regret that it was finally over.

"That was amazing, "Hermione breathed. I snapped out of my dreamlike haze to find that everything that had previously happened was a blur. Hermione was standing there staring at the scene in front of her in awe.

There was a man in black trousers and boots lying face down on the ground, his entire upper body covered by a haphazardly strewn cloak. All that was visible really were his legs, which the black cape failed to cover. Next to the man lay a shafted arrow, perfectly halved in fraction from the tip to the feathered end.

"Thank you,"

"What?" She stopped staring long enough to spare me a bewildered look.

"…For trusting me enough to leave when I told you to. I wouldn't have been able to do this while worrying about you."

"I'm not doing it again though," she was serious.

"Unless its one of these guys, you won't have to." I smiled, "Great shot by the way."

She looked embarrassed. "Lucky shot you mean. Despite what I said earlier, I really don't know how to use this thing too well. "She looked back at the corpse. "You however…wow! Where did you learn to fight like that? I've never even seen expertise like that on television!"

Without waiting for me to answer, nor enquire what the hell television was, she stepped forward and grabbed the edge of the cape and pulled it back.

"I wonder is he's working for the order?"

I realized with a jolt of shock, that I'd never even thought of that possibility, nor wondered how he had managed to be in that translucent state of invisibility. I wasn't given much time to either, when Hermione screamed and pitched back into me.

The creature that lay unhooded in our view was most definitely not a man. On the bloodstained grass, where its head should have been, there was in place the head of a lizard! From its mottled green hands, sharp metal claws protruded where the fingers should have been.

Hermione gulped and choked out, "What…the hell…is that?"

I didn't answer because I was wondering the same thing myself.

«§§§§»

I swore loudly at myself. Hermione looked at me bemused.

"What's up with you?"

"For the millionth time, I can't believe I didn't commit the bloody map to memory!"

"Don't beat yourself up about it Draco. I didn't think of it either. Plus if I'd only caught up to the horses, I would have gotten it back."

"Never mind. We're making out just fine without it anyway…for now. We should be entering Perdron soon, I think."

If you're wondering what is going on, what happened is that Hermione was unable to catch the horses, which had been expected, and they took off with most of our food, clothing and the map, which was in a pocket on the saddle of my horse. Relieving though was the knowledge that Hermione still had the bag of money and the marriage papers. At least we wouldn't go hungry for too long; I still had no idea for certain how long it would take for us to get to Perdron on foot.

Out of the blue, a woman walked into view from behind a tree, going apparently in the same direction as us. She was wearing a light blue dress of the same style as Hermione's. She had long blonde hair and dark eyes.

"Oh, hello," she acknowledged us breathlessly.

Hermione took this moment to ask her, "Hello, could you tell us how far Perdron is?"

"Oh, it's minutes away. I'm headed there myself." She smiled with full pink lips. Her smile disappeared for a moment as she said, "Please forgive me. I'm forgetting my manners. I'm Delilah."

"I'm Hermione Gr – Malfoy."

I, in a much happier mood to know we were close to Perdron, smirked at her embarrassment and followed with, "And I'm Draco Malfoy, her husband."

"Well, since we're headed the same way, we might as well walk together." She smiled coquettishly at me.

I pretended not to notice, as did Hermione, though I had to admit that she was quite lovely whether smiling or not.

Author's note: Should I continue?