Author's Note: How are we already twenty-five chapters in? That is surreal. You have all made writing and sharing this story an absolute joy. Thank you for your support.
Alpha love as always to the wonderful Kyonomiko. Errors are my own.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.
Hermione awoke with an uncharacteristic abruptness, her eyes wide and a thin sheen of cold sweat on her temple as she stared up at the ceiling. Her heart was pounding in her chest, images still clinging to her mind's eye as she forced her breathing to steady.
Malfoy rolled over, blinking at her, still half asleep. He ran a hand down his face, grumbling, "Everything okay?"
She swallowed as she nodded, unable to force a smile. "Just a dream."
He stared at her through one eye, the other slipping shut again. "Okay."
"I think," she whispered as an afterthought, rolling onto her side as she tried to chase the images away. Malfoy shifted up behind her, slipping an arm around her waist and tugging her close.
Hermione could feel the warmth of his steady breathing lulling her back to sleep, but still she couldn't shake the idea that it had been more than a dream.
She had seen the same group of people from the vision she had seen the first day in Harappa – the people she'd first thought to be tourists but later learned had been actual Indus Valley citizens. They had been walking across the plains in the distance, only Hermione could see them closer up and clearer this time – they had been congregating somewhere, for some reason.
There had been an urgency to their movements, a seriousness to their expressions. Magic had swirled around, even thousands of years prior.
Hermione couldn't help but wonder why none of the magical history books mentioned the prevalence of magic in Harappa. And what had the group of citizens been doing? Where had they been going with such an intensity?
"You aren't okay," Malfoy muttered in her ear, nudging her back around to face him again. "What was your dream about?"
His grey eyes were wide and awake now. Hermione gave him a grimace. "I think I'm dreaming the past."
Draco stared at Granger, spreading marmalade on a slice of toast that had been delivered to their room. "So you couldn't see where they were going."
"No," she said, shaking her head as she sipped from a mug of tea. "That was when I woke up."
"But they were on the same trajectory as they were the first day in Harappa?" She nodded, her expression that of deep thought. "Then if we go back to Harappa, you'll be able to work out where they were going."
"Maybe by the time we go back to Harappa, I'll be able to manage the visions," Granger said, and Draco could hear the frustration in her voice.
Draco knew how much she was struggling with being unable to access the trigger with any sort of consistency or reliability. "You've accessed it on purpose once already," he shrugged. "I have faith you'll be able to do it again."
"Do you think it was just a dream?" she asked, catching her lower lip between her teeth as she stared at him.
"Might have been," Draco said with a shrug. "But your brain has been dealing with this spell in strange ways. It isn't improbable for the visions to affect your subconscious; I wouldn't be so quick to discount this new vision in that way."
"Maybe you're right," she admitted, her eyes fixed in the wall.
He took a bite of his toast, chewing as he thought. "Perhaps it's worth an owl to Healer Randall. Your brainwaves might suggest something."
Granger nodded, her hands shaking a little as she set her cup of tea on the table to draft a letter.
Draco spent the morning exploring Lothal, keeping a keen eye open for any more carvings of the bull; he paid special attention to the various brick pillars and constructs around the port town. Granger had gone with Thomas and Hikari to investigate for any evidence of the protective enchantments they'd found concealing the pits in Harappa.
He found himself lingering by the dockyard again, his gaze sweeping the bull carved into the pillar there, and assessed the other pillars on the dock for any signs of more.
Granger found him sitting by the dock, deep in thought. She slipped a sandwich into his hand and took up a seat beside him.
"Thank you," he said, unwrapping the offering. He took a bite, staring out over the dockyard as he chewed. "I don't understand why someone would have bothered carving this here."
"Neither do I," she said, eating a sandwich of her own. "But it was such a common symbol. You saw how often they popped up in the history books. In carved figures like this one, on their seals, painted on jars, everywhere."
"Right," Draco agreed, not entirely convinced. He took a bite and rose from the dock, glancing at Granger. "But look – this one's different." He gestured to the pillar on the opposite side of the channel and she walked closer to peer at the pillar.
"There's an extra protrusion here," she said, running her hands along the brick of the pillar.
And there was – where the other pillar was flattened on the top, the second one had a small raised portion, with what appeared to be a crescent carved into it.
"What's the significance of this?" he asked, tracing the shape with a finger.
Granger walked back to the first pillar, taking a closer look. "There was one here too. It must have eroded or been damaged over time. You can see where the top surface isn't entirely flat."
Draco walked over, raising his brows. "Why the crescent, then? And what relation does it have to the bull?"
Granger gave him a look, her fingers drifting across the fabric of his sleeve. "I want this all to make sense, too, but there just might not be a connection."
He carded his free hand through his hair, shaking his head. "I know." He glanced away across the massive basin. "I just can't help but try to piece some of this together. It feels like the first clue we've found."
She took a seat on the edge of the dock again, folding her legs beneath her. "I'm not trying to say there isn't anything at all, but… this is our first full day in Lothal. We have a lot of ground to explore."
"So stop wasting time sitting here?" Draco teased, cracking a wry smile. He sat down as well, nudging her in the shoulder.
Granger turned to face him with a smile, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight, even despite her hat. "I've been wasting just as much trying to access the trigger. I just can't, for the life of me, figure out what I'm missing."
Draco stared at her for a moment, chewing his lower lip in thought. "You're trying too hard."
"Excuse me?" she asked, raising her brows.
"The first two times it happened – when you weren't reaching for the trigger at all – the visions just happened," Draco explained, folding the wrapping from his sandwich and tucking it in a pocket. "The third time, in the hotel room –"
"I was actively trying," Granger said with a sigh. She pressed her lips together, shaking her head. "But… I was only imagining myself seeing something, not forcing it."
"So don't force it," Draco breathed. "Just think about it and let it happen."
She stared out at the dockyard for a long moment and he fell silent, allowing her to focus. Finally she shook her head, a disappointed curve to her lips. "Nothing."
"Maybe what you're missing, Granger," Draco said, eyeing the way she fidgeted her hands together, "is belief."
"Belief," she echoed, shifting so her side pressed against his. "I've done it before – I believe it can happen."
"You don't believe you'll do it again," he said, meeting her stare. "Stop thinking about it, and just feel it." He looked away when she quirked a smile, waving out at the ruins all around them. "Just look at what was accomplished here, and thousands of years ago, at that. In all of these sites that we've visited – the feats of engineering, the plumbing and drainage systems, their city design and development… they were so far ahead of their time. Just think of the people that built this empire – how they must have lived and worked and organized themselves –"
Granger nodded, releasing a tight breath.
"Their trade networks expanded as far away as Mesopotamia…" Draco continued, feeling something build within himself at the thought of what they were truly experiencing. "And through all that they were peaceful – within the largest, most widespread civilization of their time."
"I can see them," she whispered, swiping at her eyes.
Draco turned to her, tension in his shoulders, but she was gazing out beyond anything he could see, her eyes brimming with moisture. He swallowed, exhaling a breath. "What are they doing?"
She shook her head, a small laugh breaking from her throat. "They're walking around… the kids are running and playing." She turned on the ground, a grin splitting her face. "They're carrying baskets of – copper, I think – into the warehouse – Merlin, I can't believe this. It was beautiful."
Draco smiled, allowing his gaze to linger on the pillars again as he took in her words. He just couldn't shake the thought that they were significant in some way. He slipped his hand into Granger's and breathed, "I wish I could see them."
Another minute later, Granger relaxed beside him again. "They're gone," she said, her fingers sliding between his. She winced, rubbing at the beginnings of a headache in her temple. "If we can find a Pensieve you'll be able to see them too."
He nodded, chewing on his tongue. "I'm glad you were able to access the trigger, Granger." He cast her a sidelong glance, lips curved into a smirk. "Didn't I say you would?"
"You were right," she said, rolling her eyes.
It was such a tremendous, tumultuous thought – that Granger could see the occurrences of the past. A shiver chased Draco's spine at the possibilities that would be opened if she could reach it with any measure of reliability.
They might be able to find some answers at last. He took a deep breath in and released it. "I didn't need to be right," he snickered, "but it's nice to hear from your mouth."
Granger opened her mouth to retort and he cut her off with a kiss.
Hermione stared at Malfoy as he wrote his daily update to Auror Robards; she had already penned letters to both Burke and Randall on the occurrences of the day. There was a furrow to his brow as he stared down at the parchment; he hadn't been shaving his face every day, and a thin layer of stubble had built up along the curve of his jaw and cheeks.
Feeling her gaze, his grey eyes shifted up to meet hers across the room. His lips pulled into a smirk upon seeing her stare at him. He swallowed, his tongue flicking out to moisten his lips as he breathed, "What?"
Hermione shrugged, giving him a private smile. "You're quite handsome."
He blinked, cocking a brow. Amusement shone in his eyes. "Thank you," he clipped. "And you're lovely."
"Thanks," she whispered, feeling her heart race in her chest at the words.
He turned back to his letter, and Hermione watched as his hand flew across the page; she knew his penmanship to be of the tidiest script and it was interesting to watch, when her own letters were often rushed and messy.
"You're still staring," he clipped, his eyes hot as he signed off on his letter and glanced up at her again.
A flush rising to her cheeks, Hermione looked away, picking at a loose thread on the comforter. "I guess I'm trying to figure out what changed – and when."
Malfoy froze, his brows high as he considered her words. "I don't think it was one specific thing. I just started to realize you weren't so bad," he finally said. "Although that dress you wore to Shah's house didn't hurt anything."
She forced a tight smile. "So it's… it's just physical, then. For you."
His brow furrowed and he rose from the table to seat himself beside her on the bed. He leaned back against the headboard, his legs bent and knees up. "Granger," he sighed, shaking his head. He waved a hand between them. "This isn't just physical. Just to be honest… I don't think we could have moved past our old animosity if there wasn't something more."
She swallowed, her heart jumping again at his words.
"Unless," he said, running a hand through his hair, "that's all it is for you."
"No," Hermione said, relief coursing through her. They hadn't exactly discussed what this was between them, but she had wondered at his expectations. "You could have been the most handsome git on the planet and I wouldn't have kissed you," she teased.
Malfoy chuckled and stretched his legs out in front of him. "I'm not going to take offense to that."
"Good," Hermione breathed, smiling as she blinked at him. "Because you haven't been anymore – a git."
Laughing, he slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. A breath hitched in her lungs, and she dropped her head to his chest, her hand snaking around his side, playing with the soft fabric of his shirt.
He dropped a kiss into her hair, and said, "Good."
Her eyes fluttered shut at the easy comfort of the moment with him, another long day catching up with her. She could feel the rhythmic pulse of his heart, breathing to the steady beat of it.
Malfoy pressed his lips against her brow, a soft, lingering contact, and her lips tugged into a smile as she opened her eyes to meet his. Pushing up against his chest, Hermione caught his lips with her own, her tongue grazing his, slow and languid.
His fingers gripped her waist as his teeth tugged at her lower lip, shifting her to straddle his waist. The feel of him pressed against her set her heart racing as she kissed him again, snaking her hands into his hair.
The kiss was patient and thorough, and set every nerve in her body alight, his hands grazing her sides and skimming her face. When his fingers snagged in her curls they both snickered, drawing back to stare at each other as Hermione freed his fingers from a rogue knot.
"Sorry," she breathed, her lips brushing against his as she spoke.
He chuckled, leaning back against the headboard. "I should have known better." He cocked a grin, his grey eyes sparkling. In a lower tone he added, "Perhaps a sign we ought to go to sleep."
Hermione ducked her head and nodded, grateful for the lack of presumption, and shifted from his lap.
She hopped up to prepare for sleep, and Malfoy was yawning by the time he crawled in beside her. There was a genuine curl to his lips as he stared at her, pressing a last, firm kiss to her lips. "Night, Granger."
Her eyes fell shut, an absent smile on her face. "Goodnight."
Malfoy grinned, waving a hand in her direction. "That is absolutely not correct."
"It is, too!" Hermione exclaimed, gaping at him. He shook his head, eyes narrowed. "Revelio can certainly be targeted towards specific inanimate objects with enough focus and intent."
"You're making this up," he said, exasperated. "Granger, I get that you're highly intelligent, but that doesn't mean I'm going to believe the crock of nonsense coming out of your mouth all the time."
Hermione laughed and shoved into his shoulder, causing him to knock a stack of books over on the table in the tent he'd been organizing. He raised a formidable brow, his lips pursed.
"It isn't nonsense!" she exclaimed, laughing. "Why would I make something like this up?"
"Okay," he said, rolling his eyes, "have you ever done it?"
He began to re-stack the books, his fingers deft and idle as he stared at her.
Hermione paused, sucking her teeth. "Well I haven't done it, but according to Theoretical Spellwork –"
"Theoretical!" Malfoy exclaimed, pointing a finger. "Exactly my point. They can put all sorts of things into a book and call them theoretical, but that doesn't mean the circumstance is ever going to arise in which the specific conditions occur –"
Hermione swatted his hand away and gave him another light shove to the side. "It's possible – and I'll prove it to you."
He snorted, shaking his head. "I'll look forward to it. And will you stop bashing into me."
She swatted his arm again, her eyes narrowed, even as her lips twitched.
He caught her hand around the wrist, turning to face her with a smirk on his face. His grey eyes were hot and teasing as they met hers.
Hermione held his gaze, with a snipped, "I will look forward to proving you wrong."
Malfoy shook his head again, his lips parted into a scintillating smile. His hand slipped along her wrist, his fingers entwining into hers. His gaze flickered to her mouth as he breathed, "I'll wait for that."
She returned the smile, her other hand grazing his side, and opened her mouth to retort when someone cleared their throat on the other side of the tent.
Malfoy released her hand, stepping back and rubbing at his neck, his gaze averted. Wide-eyed, Hermione turned to see Dean Thomas standing in the entrance, looking uncomfortable.
"Sorry to interrupt," he hedged, taking a step in and keeping his gaze on the wall. "Hikari and I discovered something – we thought you might like to see."
"Right," Malfoy said, his voice dry as he swept a hand through his hair. He gave Hermione a tight grimace as he swept from the tent. She made to follow, catching Dean's eye on her way out.
"Hermione," Dean said, his head cocked at a strange angle. "Really?"
She shrugged, feeling a heat in her cheeks. "Really." She owed it to Malfoy not to discount what they had been through together – the way she was beginning to feel about him.
Her old classmate gave her a strained smile and clapped her on the shoulder. "Alright. I get it – we've all come to know Malfoy out here. But just – perhaps you ought to tell Harry before he finds out elsewhere. He'd rather hear it from you, I'm sure."
Hermione released a tight breath and returned the smile. She whispered, "That's probably a good call."
Malfoy was standing beyond the tent when they joined him, a pair of dark glasses perched on his nose in the sunlight and his hands tucked into his pockets. "So, what did you find?"
Draco peered at the ragged edge of a hole in the earth, crouching down to take a closer look. "I'm not entering it this time."
"Neither," Thomas said with a laugh, holding his hands up. "But here's what's strange about it – this wasn't concealed by magic at all. We found a thin grate covering the opening, buried under centuries of dust and earth."
"How did you find it?" Granger asked, folding her arms and wincing as a swirl of dust kicked up.
Hikari cracked a grin. "With those density scanners that couldn't detect anything in Harappa."
Draco frowned into the hole. It was barely wide enough to contain one person, and appeared to lead to a narrow, steep staircase. He lit his wandtip, reaching it into the space, even as he shook his head. "I can't tell how far it goes. But it's definitely different from the pits in Harappa, isn't it?"
"It doesn't appear to have any magic," Thomas confirmed. "It was hidden by Muggle means – and was probably only concealed due to the effects of time. It could have been as simple as a storage cell – but without exploring it, we have no way of knowing."
Draco grimaced, exchanging a quick look with Granger. She shrugged, her brows darting up. "Is there something we can send into it? The pits in Harappa also didn't display magic until they tried to swallow the two of you up."
"The pits were concealed with magic," Hikari pointed out. He rested his hands on his hips. "But all the same, we shouldn't go down until we know what we're dealing with."
Draco frowned again, noxing his wand. He rose to his feet, carding his fingers through his hair. His gaze flickered to Granger again, but she was focused on the ground at their feet.
He was uncomfortable following the run-in with Thomas in the tent, and didn't know how Granger felt about her friends knowing about the two of them. It was easy, here on the site, and in the hotel room, to forget how entirely different their lives were. To forget that she was a hero – and he nothing more than a man trying to erase his past.
He glanced away, releasing a breath. "We'll have to find out. But we're going to formulate a better plan than last time."