Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of Ms Rowling.
A/N: Once again, a round of thanks to my reviewers, you guys really keep me going (: This one was posted a little in a flurry, I hope the action isn't too confusing! Let me know if the pacing is alright, I'll do the necessary editing if need be. Thanks and enjoy (:
"MAL – " Ron stopped short, his eyes disbelieving.
For a moment, Hermione's heart stopped. Was her hand still in Draco's?
Thankfully not. They had jumped apart when the flying object had swooped past them. But now, beyond Ron, Hermione could make out the dazed faces of Ginny, Luna, Neville – and Corrinne. Although the last person wasn't exactly dazed; she looked positively livid.
The next thought that came into Hermione's mind was: aren't I supposed to be relieved that they're here?
Before Hermione could say anything, Ron had pulled his wand out and directed it at Draco Malfoy, who looked completely bewildered. Slowly, a lazy smirk appeared on the blond boy's face.
"You stay away from her!" yelled Ron, immediately marching forward and thrusting the wand at Draco. With another hand, he pushed Hermione towards the rest. Hermione was about to protest, but Draco merely looked amused.
"If I had wanted to kill her, Weasley," said Draco, with a drawl. "I would have killed her a long time ago."
"Don't try to be funny!" snorted Ron. "You're a Death Eater!"
Draco's smirk was replaced by a deep scowl.
"Stop it, Ron!" Hermione couldn't help but interrupt. "What are you people doing here in the first place?"
"Hermione, this is Malfoy we're talking about! What do you mean..."
"You heard her, Weasley. How did you all come here?" Draco's voice was rising now. It was completely perplexing that the bunch of them could have just come through the veil. What in Merlin's world were they doing, hurtling into the depths of Optimisticheskaya like this?
Then something clicked in him. Unless...
"We got your message, Hermione," said Corrinne, her eyes fixed on Draco instead, burning with hatred. "To come through the Transporting Veil."
Time seemed to stop.
Hermione just stared at Corrinne. A lump had come into her throat. She could feel the heat of someone's fierce gaze boring into her side.
"A message?" Draco's voice was no longer filled with sarcasm. It was incredulous. And full of –
Ron fumbled in his robe pocket with his free hand, and brought out the DA coin. Hermione's gaze swivelled to look at the coin, her breathing becoming heavier. "Hermione gave this to us when we were fighting your pathetic Inquisitorial Squad last year, Malfoy! Bet you couldn't wield out a charm like this with your ferret fingers!"
But Draco was not looking at the coin; he was staring at Hermione.
All of a sudden, he threw back his head and broke out into derisive laughter.
The laughter that rang in Hermione's ears hurt her terribly. She didn't know what to say. Sorry, Draco, I'm sorry I had to do this... She could feel the familiar tears come back into her eyes, and she blinked them back fiercely. I'm really sorry, okay!
"What are you crying for?" The sneer in his voice was unmistakeable. Finally, she looked up and blinked the blurry tears away. There he was, standing there with Ron's wand pointed at him – his expression was stone-cold once again; his grey eyes were hard and menacing. But the edge of his mouth was twitching, and his fists were clenched. He wasn't just angry; there was – hurt.
"I..."
Ginny sensed that something was not very right between those two, and she pushed past Neville towards them. "There's no time for chat! We need to get back through this Veil!" She grabbed Hermione's arm, forcing the brown-haired girl to turn towards her. "Harry's in danger; he and Dumbledore are trying to destroy the first Horcrux!"
It dawned upon Hermione that Harry was not with them, but before anymore could be said, there was a huge outburst.
"What do you know about the Horcruxes!" bellowed Draco, in full fury. He immediately whipped out his wand before Ron could react, and knocked the wand out of Ron's grip. Ron swore and attempted to tackle Draco, but the blond boy had him pinned down in an instant under his boot. Hermione gasped; the rest pulled out their wands too, but Draco did not flinch. His expression was so icy-cold that Hermione felt herself shudder.
He was back under the mask again.
Ginny realised her mistake. "I mean, the Inferi will kill them before they try!" She winced as everyone looked even more terrified. "Well, Dumbledore told us about them and all..."
Draco could barely conceal his rage. But he was not looking at Ginny; he was glaring at Hermione in the most terrible way ever. "You little..."
"This is my business!" He roared, as he swung his wand towards the rest. "Try me, Weaselette. Or you, Longbottom. Or Lovegood. Or you, Whitemayer," Corrinne's rage was at tipping point. "Pathetic attempt, Weasley." Ron growled from under his shoe. "Or even you," Hermione's eyes met his, and for the first time, he really saw fear in her eyes. "Mudblood."
That last word seemed to drive the wedge so deep into her that she couldn't help the tears that were now falling down her cheeks fast and furiously.
"Don't – call – her – that!" Ron choked out, his face purple from struggling under Draco's weight.
Luna stepped forward, her wand raised, but her face a picture of serenity. "If you want to avenge your father, you'd like to know that Harry is very close to destroying the Horcrux in the basin. Should you want it to be your glory, you should hurry up and leave this place with us."
Luna's words seemed to snap Draco back to reality. His eyes swivelled towards the ground, and with a gesture, the broom was in his hand.
"Luna, what are you talking about? He's not going to destroy the Horcrux; he's going to destroy Harry!" Ron cried out, exasperated.
"I'm going alone!" Draco snarled ferociously. "You all can just stay here!"
"What?" Corrinne screamed. "We've come through this thing to save you both, and you're heading off alone? You selfish Death Eater, you're just like your father..."
"DON'T YOU DARE MENTION MY FATHER AGAIN!" Draco had completely lost it. First, it was Hermione Granger pitying him and playing up to him all this time while being a sneak; now Corrinne Whitemayer was just tearing his wounds open and showering salt over them.
"Stop screaming at her!" yelled Neville, angrily.
"You beastly, son of a..." Corrinne's red eyes flashed dangerously, her hand reaching into her robe pocket.
"Draco, you can't do this!" burst out Hermione.
There were three seconds of silence; Corrinne's hand gripped her wand.
"Draco?" Ron gasped from the ground. "Hermione, what are you..."
Immediately, Draco lifted up his foot and gave Ron a mighty kick. The redhead flew backwards into the rest, coughing and hacking. Corrinne's wand went upwards; so did Neville's. Ginny bent down to help her brother up, but Hermione was glaring at Draco very fiercely. He was pushing it too far!
"I can do anything..." Draco whispered, his eyes glinting. "I told you this before, Granger. You wanted to fall into this yourself. I told you, I'm dangerous. I will kill you if you get in my way."
Hermione was trying her best not to lose her temper. "We're all on the same route, you don't have to..."
"You and your same route!" Draco roared, his wand now directed at her. "Moralising little Mudblood, you and I are NOT on the same route!" He felt himself boil further when she cringed at the name he used for the second time. "Especially not when there's betrayal involved!"
"I didn't..." Hermione couldn't take it anyore. "Oh you selfish bastard, do you think we could really get out of here if not for all of them? You were going to turn another way if not for the screams they made! We would have to go back to destroy the first Horcrux ourselves and deal with the Inferi ourselves! Now Harry's doing the work for you! What do you mean by..."
"Potter's doing the work for me?" Draco snorted. "I didn't BLOODY ASK HIM TO!"
"Quit the conversation, Hermione, let me blast this jerk into oblivion!"
"Try me, Whitemayer, and I'll assure you that your final resting place will be marked West Ukraine!"
"STOP IT!" screamed Ginny. "This is not the time to be arguing about such things, HARRY'S IN DANGER! STOP BEING A PRAT, Malfoy, just figure a way to get ALL OF US out here! Like it or not, Hermione's the one who has helped you this far, so stop being so self-centred – at least get Hermione out of here as well!"
"Ginny!" Hermione gasped in disbelief.
Ginny's words were swimming in Draco's head, which was already aching from all the yelling and the wand-wielding and the confusion and anger boiling within him. Like it or not, Hermione's the one who has helped you this far... Then why did she betray him? Why did she tell her bunch of friends about his pathetic story? How dare she?
But even as those thoughts raged in his mind, deep down inside, he knew that she should have told them a long time ago. Even when she was back at Hogwarts. It wasn't as if he didn't know that... he had just been convincing himself that...
In a swift movement, his wand hand came down, and he turned away from Hermione bitterly. Bloody hell, why did I kiss her?
Luna reached out to lower both Corrinne's and Neville's wand arms. Surprisingly, they let her.
"Our – our broom's a mess though," mumbled Neville, pointing to the broken broom that they had crashed on. "We can't all be hanging onto one broom..."
"We can all hold hands and get dragged along," said Luna, simply. Everyone except Draco stared at her.
"Wow, that's brilliant," muttered Ron, who was still very sore from being pinned to the ground by Draco Malfoy's boot. "You try doing that twice, Luna, I bet you'll scream your lungs out."
Luna's calm gaze seemed to assure Ron that she'd be perfectly stable, and he growled in response.
"Draco Malfoy, if you don't care for Harry Potter, then maybe it'd do you well to know that Hogwarts is also in danger right now!" Hermione shouted.
"Hogwarts is in danger?" Ginny gasped.
Draco slowly turned back to look at them, particularly Hermione. When their eyes met, she felt another pang of guilt. But she remained glaring at him defiantly. "We'll discuss this later, Ginny. Right now..." Her gaze turned to uncertainty as she stared at the broom in Draco's hand.
"Somebody can fit on that broom with Malfoy," said Luna, who seemed to have unofficially taken charge of the situation. "I'm the smallest actually, so..."
"I'm not having to put my arms around you while I fly, Lovegood!" snarled Draco.
"I actually meant that I can squeeze right in the front. So the one right in front of you has to be the next smallest, who is..."
"Nor Weaselette! Are you trying to get me clawed?"
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"I don't suppose Corrinne really fancies it either," said Luna, simply, and Corrinne muttered a silent thanks. "So you must take Hermione in front then."
Hermione turned her fierce glare onto Luna, but it seemed to have been completely absorbed by a vacuum around her. The blond-haired girl merely smiled serenely as she gestured towards the broom. Hermione felt like screaming, but she knew that if she delayed this any longer, they'd never get out of here, and Harry...
Draco opened his mouth to object, but found himself unable to completely reject having Hermione in front; if there was to be somebody on that broom with him, he couldn't possibly imagine anyone else. And this was despite the feeling of betrayal that was so strong he wished he could hex her there and then.
But he couldn't bring himself to.
Ron was about to argue, when Luna's gaze stopped him. Angrily, he positioned himself right behind Draco. "I'm holding onto the broom here, just in case he tries to be funny to Hermione!"
"I don't think so, Ron," muttered Neville, wincing. "You might just lose your grip on the broom if you try to whack him."
"But..."
"Malfoy, promise that you won't hurt her." The sense of urgency in Ginny's voice was evident; she was clearly agitated that they were taking so long to get out of there to help Harry.
Draco's cold grey eyes set upon Hermione's defiant brown ones. She should stop making me feel like there's an earthquake going on in me! He had a good mind to be sarcastic and just dawdle, but it wasn't so much about Potter that the fact that the Horcrux he wanted to destroy was at stake. He curled his lip, and assented with a curt nod.
Before Hermione could protest, Ginny had bundled her up front with Draco behind her. Hermione glared coldly at Ginny, but the redhead ignored her and proceeded to the back. It was decided that Neville would cling onto the broom at the back, since he was the strongest (although of course, the real reason was to prevent Ron from getting overly agitated), with Corrinne and Ginny, and then lastly Ron (who had spluttered upon hearing he had to be the one dangling around the most). Luna squeezed herself right in front of Hermione. Quite unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, Draco refused to lend a stabilising hand to any of them.
As Draco was now the steering force, he had to bend forwards in order to direct the broom. If Hermione moved too front with Luna, he would have trouble balancing the broom. If he wanted his vision to be less obstructed, Hermione would have to sit back into his arms; Luna was smaller after all. But this also meant that he had to encircle his arms around Hermione to reach to the front.
Hermione realised this fact, and she grumbled a little. Luna edged forwards in anticipation, while the rest gripped onto each other's legs tightly. Seeing that Hermione was rather reluctant to lean back into him, Draco swore under his breath, then reached out with one arm to push her backwards into him. Hermione let out a gasp, but Draco refused to comment. He slipped both his arms under hers to get a good grip on the broom, and began to take off. Hermione felt a familiar lightheadedness overtake her.
"Malfoy, take your stinking hands off her!"
"Not unless you want me to drop her from a height, Weasley!" Draco sneered.
It was his first time riding a broom while having to balance so many people, and Draco was not at all pleased that it was more difficult than he expected to. In fact, it was made all the worse that Hermione Granger's bushy hair was all around the side of his face – instead of irritating him with the curls as he thought it would, it was irritating him with the fragrance. Draco swore inwardly again. It seemed even more difficult to block out all thoughts of her with constant reminders that she had snitched on him, compared to blocking his mind from the Dark Lord.
Staring at the glowing white Veil before him, he focused all his attention ahead, and zoomed through the Veil.
"AAHHHHHHHH!"
-.-.-.-.-.-
"No, no... please stop!" Dumbledore's moaning voice was getting weaker. His pathetic cries made Harry shudder with fear and pain, as he tipped the pitcher towards Dumbledore's mouth for the fifth time. "I'm sorry, Professor, you have to drink this! You told me we can't stop!"
The Headmaster gurgled as Harry forced the liquid into his mouth, babbling like a baby afterwards. His hair and beard were all wild and straggly, his entire body was shaking. Harry felt tears sting his eyes, but he ran to dip the pitcher into the liquid once again. Just a few more times, Professor!
The Inferi were poised at the edge of the platform. Harry knew that once he attempted to retrieve the locket, they would all pounce on him. They had no eyes, but Harry felt as if they were all concentrating on his every movement. His limbs felt like jelly as he made his way back to a shivering Dumbledore, who was now backing away from Harry.
"Don't make me drink it!" Dumbledore begged, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Harry heard a few shouts, and saw that there was a stream of Inferi floating towards some kind of light source. Where Lupin, Ron, and all of them are! But Dumbledore had told him to focus on the task at hand; the Order members would handle the Inferi.
Just as Harry managed to grab hold of Dumbledore's cloak to force down the next gulp of liquid, the light source in the distance suddenly became an explosive ball of fire, causing all the Inferi to turn their heads towards the light. Before Harry could react, there was a loud screeching noise, that seemed to come collectively from the Inferi.
Immediately, the Inferi began to scramble away – some of them towards Harry and Dumbledore. Harry yelled as one of them began to tug at his legs, and another was scrabbling at Dumbledore's.
"STUPEFY! IMPEDIMENTA!" Harry screamed, waving his wand about. But even as the Inferi nearest to him got blasted away, there were more advancing towards him. Harry paled as one of them extended its bony, translucent arms towards him, as if about to strangle him.
Suddenly, there was a loud yell.
"DUCK, HARRY!"
Harry immediately ducked; a huge ball of fire came hurtling towards the Inferi, causing them to scatter away from the platform. In the recesses of his mind, Harry seemed to recall Dumbledore telling him before that Wentervale used fire to scare away the Inferi. But he had no idea how to wield a fire charm, and it was best that he didn't try anything funny. It was probably better that Moody was the one controlling the fire, which was licking away at all the Inferi.
Dumbledore moaned and groaned; he nearly rolled into the water, but Harry grabbed him and lugged him away from the rippling water, which was being disturbed by all the Inferi submerging back underwater. Quickly, Harry ran towards the basin again to refill the pitcher. Dumbledore screamed for the umpteenth time, but his screams were drowned by the raging fire, as Harry forced the liquid down his throat. Finally, when Harry ran back to the basin, the liquid was all gone. There was only the locket left.
As Moody started to reduce the intensity of the fire, Harry picked up the locket and stared hard at it. The curved snake that formed the unmistakeable initial of Salazar Slytherin seemed to hiss at him, and he felt as if it was speaking to him. He closed his eyes and tried to listen to the hissing.
"Harry..." Dumbledore's weak voice called out, but Harry could not hear him. The voice of the snake seemed to be enveloping his mind. His fingers unconsciously moved towards the clasp of the locket.
Open... open me to see the secrets... my secrets...
"POTTER!" A huge roar jerked Harry out of his trance. Harry stared at the locket in horror; the hissing had whispered to him to reveal its 'secrets'. Should he really do it?
"Give me the blasted thing in your hand, Potter," snarled Draco, as he appeared in the distance behind Moody, who had now simmered the flames, leaving only bits of fire upon certain parts of the water. "It's not for you."
"Where's Hermione?" demanded Harry, snapping back to reality as he saw the familiar mop of blond that he had come to associate with nothing good.
Hermione appeared from behind Draco, shaken by all the action that had just happened. Not to mention that Draco had practically been hugging her on the broom one moment, and the next he was acting like she was his biggest enemy again. But this was not the time to think about that. Harry was safe; she gave him a small smile to express her relief.
Harry himself heaved a huge sigh of relief upon seeing his best friend once again, and Ron appeared with Ginny, Luna, Neville and Corrinne, all sporting different degrees of dishevelledness.
"Screw your flying skills, Malfoy!" yelled Ron, rudely.
"This is not the time for your pathetic complaints, Weasley," said Draco, coldly. His piercing gaze was fixed on Harry, then followed by the locket in his hand. "Give. Me. That. Locket. Potter."
"Why should I? You're just going to return it to Voldemort!" Harry held the locket protectively.
"You were going to open it," Draco's eyes gleamed. "You don't want to open it."
"Why not?" asked Harry, defensively, even though he was sorely tempted to do so.
"Give – it to Draco..." whispered Dumbledore, weakly.
"Professor!" Harry exclaimed, angrily. "He's a Death Eater!"
"ACCIO – "
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
Draco's wand flew out of his hand, and into Harry's. Rage was barely concealed on Draco's face. "Trying out your trademark spell, aren't we, Potter?"
"Harry, you can't open the locket!" Hermione gasped, weakly, realising why Draco was so adamant that Harry did not do so. "You'll release the soul of Tom Riddle!"
Harry stared at Hermione in disbelief. "What?"
"The Horcrux contains a soul bit of Voldemort; Dra – Malfoy and I destroyed one just now," Hermione gestured to the Hufflepuff cup that was still in Draco's hands even after all the flying he had done with so many of them hanging off the broom. "And it was released upon orders! Don't let it eat into your soul, Harry!"
Draco felt something rise in him when Hermione had reverted back to calling him 'Malfoy', and snarled, "GIVE IT TO ME, POTTER!"
"You destroyed the Horcrux?" Harry looked at Draco incredulously. "You?"
Draco didn't know whether he should just drop the act and follow with what Hermione Granger and that old fogey Dumbledore must have told everyone, or he should continue trying for that one chance to gain that little bit of favour with the Dark Lord. Did he have a chance? After all, he had exposed Rookwood. Granger also said that she was the one who stabbed the Horcrux. He hadn't done anything except confront Wentervale, and later Rookwood. How could he be considered traitorous?
But deep down, Draco knew that it was really, truly over. The Dark Lord wouldn't tolerate his underlings knowing more than they shouldn't. Even if he had done the Dark Lord a service by exposing Rookwood, he had certainly done a disservice by allowing the Horcrux to be destroyed. Even with his Occlumency skills, Draco knew it was impossible to hide from the Dark Lord. The Dementor that had witnessed everything would tell tales the way Draco knew to be the truth, but far from what he was hoping to explain it to be.
Hermione brought out the basilisk fang from the pouch at her side. "Harry, do you remember this? You used one of these to stab Tom Riddle's diary, to destroy the first Horcrux! You have to hand it over before the thing eats into you, so that I can destroy it!"
"I'll destroy it!" cried Harry, and he stepped back into the boat that was floating by the platform.
"Take Professor Dumbledore with you!" Hermione was alarmed that Harry seemed to neglect the Headmaster completely.
Harry blinked and looked back at the limp figure of Dumbledore. Then he looked back at the locket in his hand. The hissing was resuming.
Open... open me...
Lupin brushed past the students and immediately wielded his wand to conjure another boat. Jumping into it, he quickly moved towards Dumbledore. Harry, seeing that his former professor was going to do the rescue duty instead, eagerly moved the boat back to where the rest were. As Lupin helped Dumbledore into the boat, Harry jumped out of his and ran towards Hermione, his hand outstretched for the basilisk fang.
Hermione refused to give it to him; she took a step back.
"Hermione, what are you doing!" Ginny yelled in frustration.
"Hermione, stop wasting time!" Corrinne shouted. "Whose side are you –" And Neville tugged at her robes urgently to shut her up.
"Granger, just give it to him!" growled Draco, tired from all the commotion.
"No, look at him," Hermione whispered. "He's being possessed by that locket!"
"Give the fang to me!" Harry shouted.
"No, you'll use it to pry open the locket instead!" shrieked Hermione.
Harry's eyes widened in shock, then they began to narrow. "Hermione, you have to give it to me. I'm sorry that I made you do so many things that you didn't like... I'm sorry that I made you go near Draco Malfoy when he was so horrid to you and made you cry..."
Hermione gasped, and Draco stared at her incredulously.
"He made you come near me?"
It was so surreal... but yet, he had pre-empted it, hadn't he? He had always accused her of sympathising with him as though he was so pathetic, before she'd go run off to tell Potter and Weasley. Why was he so horribly disappointed? So horribly... betrayed?
"Shut up, Harry!" Hermione was in a frenzy. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
Harry pretended to look confused. "But you yourself said he called you a Mudblood and everything. And Ron told me to stop feeling guilty that I made you spy on Malfoy because you were intelligent enough to deal with things..."
"Harry!" Hermione was desperate, not only because Harry's eyes were glazing over with a rather insane look, but that Draco was looking none the better. "This is not the time to..."
Ron, despite all his earlier misgivings towards Malfoy, could tell that his best friend was not in the right frame of mind. Immediately, he stepped forward to try to restrain Harry. "Mate, you've got to get a grip! Malfoy's here, you can't possibly be..."
"Enough!" yelled Harry, nearly deafening Ron as he tried to shake the red-haired boy off him. "I've had enough! Malfoy's a bloody Death Eater, he's not going to help us kill Voldemort! I AM! I'm the CHOSEN ONE! LET ME GO, RON! Hermione doesn't need to do this stupid job anymore, she doesn't need to get close to Malfoy to spy on him anymore, it's too dangerous! Then she won't need to leave stupid cryptic notes about seven cuts across V and a note from Malfoy senior, and..."
Draco's agitation had completely boiled over. He turned the most scathing of looks onto Hermione, but no words could come out from his mouth.
"HARRY!" screamed Hermione, completely wild with horror. "STOP IT! ACCIO – "
With a howl, Harry broke free of Ron's grip and charged towards Hermione. Before he could knock her over, somebody stepped in and shoved him away. Harry glared at the intruder angrily – Draco Malfoy was standing there, his eyes full of hatred and rage.
"Move it, Malfoy," said Harry, dangerously.
"Sod off, Potter," said Draco, thinly. "And hand over that locket. And my wand."
"To give back to your master, Draco?" Harry held out the locket in his hand, daring Draco to snatch it. Immediately, Draco responded by grabbing, but Harry snatched back his hand, smirking. Then he placed his fingers against the clasp of the locket. "I don't think so..." Suddenly, Harry began to whisper something in a hissing voice, and slowly, an Inferi began to creep out of the water towards Draco's legs. Draco leapt forward, but the Inferi had latched onto his trouser leg. Hermione immediately pulled out her wand to repel the Inferi, but it reached out to grab her leg as well, causing her to scream.
Before Draco or the others could react, Moody and Tonks pointed their wands towards Harry, and in a flash, the bespectacled boy was sent flying against the wall. Ginny screamed; Hermione gasped; Ron yelled. The Inferi released Draco and Hermione's legs and dived back into the water; the locket and Draco's wand flew out of Harry's hands.
"NOOOOO!" A raw cry issued from Harry, before it was abruptly terminated with a loud thud against the wall.
"HARRY!" Ginny ran towards the slumped figure, and Ron dashed over as well. Hermione merely stood rooted to the spot, shivering while she stared at the water where the Inferi had dived back into.
Draco reached out to nick his wand; Moody caught the locket in a bottle that he had magically produced. Just as the locket dropped into the bottle, Lupin and Dumbledore had sailed back to them. The Headmaster was now very weak and wheezing badly, and he looked semi-conscious.
"We have to take him back now," said Lupin, grimly. "Hermione, destroy that locket please!"
The sense of urgency in Lupin's voice prompted Hermione to rush forward. But just as she raised the basilisk fang above the locket, she looked back at Draco.
The Slytherin lifted up his tousled blond head, but in his eyes was such a poisonous look that her heart ached terribly. She knew that he had just started to trust her, and it must have all fallen apart so horribly. Trying to catch her breath, she turned to a dazed Harry, who was being helped up by Ron and Ginny.
"Harry," she called out, weakly. "I think you should do the honour..."
Harry groaned as he stumbled over, his arms around Ron and Ginny. He mumbled an incoherent apology as he faced Hermione, but it was only when the basilisk fang was in his hand that he finally gained a little more strength. Glaring at the locket with all the hatred that he could summon, he whispered,
"Die, you foul creature...", before he reached in and pierced the Horcrux with all his might.
A piercing shriek filled the air; all of them had to cover their ears, as the basilisk fang was splattered with more of the silver liquid that had oozed out of each Horcrux. A blinding light – shut eyes – and when the light had receded, the cracked locket lay pathetically in Moody's bottle.
Moody produced a cork and shut it tightly. Everyone held their breath as they watched him. Finally, he silently motioned for everyone to follow him.
Draco didn't know why he didn't feel exactly happy when Potter had stabbed the locket. He felt himself deflate with the liquid that oozed out of the locket. He had seen the locket as it lay in Moody's bottle; the ornate 'S' that was carved in the shape of a serpent. No doubt the locket was property of Salazar Slytherin's. There were four more Horcruxes to deal with, out of which two were still unknown. His head was throbbing tremendously, and he felt his limbs wobble as he attempted to follow Moody out of the cave. All that had happened was suddenly too much for him to handle, and he still had to block his mind while everyone else was there. He thought he saw Dumbledore nod at him slightly as the old man was helped along by Lupin, but he merely returned an angry scowl. Now, he was too tired to think any further. There was such a fine line between the two sides, and he was sitting right in the middle, and paying for being in no man's land. He gritted his teeth and walked, trying to ignore the relentless pounding inside his head.
As for Hermione, it felt like a dream. The way everything had happened so fast. Even though it had been ages since she had first stepped into this damp cave, now that she was walking out of it, it was as if all the adventure had been completely surreal. But even then, even as Harry slowly pushed the stained basilisk fang back into the pouch that hung by her side, even as Ginny reached out to steady her with a hand as she trudged on, she was feeling worse than ever.
Everything was swinging back and forth like a pendulum, but at the same time, less predictable than its rhythm. One moment, she and Draco Malfoy were enemies by default of being on opposing sides, the next moment, she was helping him. One moment he was sneering and smirking at her for seemingly doing things without her friends knowing, the next moment she was exposed as to having really sneaked out information about him. Even when there were so many things that she could have told Harry and Ron, but she never did.
And one moment they were kissing like the most passionate of lovers, the next – they were avoiding each other like the plague.
Or at least, in Draco's eyes, there was a bitter hatred burning so fiercely in them that she hadn't the faintest idea what it would take to extinguish it.