Author's Note: Thank you all for your continued support. I'm so grateful to have all of you along, and your lovely comments always make me smile. :)
Alpha love as always to the wonderful Kyonomiko. Errors are my own.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.
Draco stood alongside Thomas and Hikari; the three of them watched with bated breath while Granger stared, a wrinkle to her brow, at the entrance of the staircase. From what Draco could see, the stairs were made of a simple packed earth as they led into the earth; the top few that were visible showed heavy evidence of wear as they dipped in the centre.
Thomas gave Draco a surreptitious glance, leaning in. "What is she –"
Draco raised a hand, his gaze fixed on Granger; Thomas fell silent, a knit in his brow. She wiped her palms on her denim trousers, blinking several times as she glanced back at him. He gave her a nod, encouraging.
Granger released a sharp breath and turned back to the entrance.
Draco glanced over at the curious pair standing alongside. He whispered, "She is trying to see the people who used this staircase."
"See them," Hikari hissed, his eyes wide. Draco gave him a sharp nod and fell silent once more.
Granger released a huff of irritation, pressing her hands to her temples; he frowned and stepped towards her.
"Will it help if we leave?" he asked, his voice low. He couldn't imagine three people staring at her made it any easier.
She hesitated and gave him a sort of apologetic nod. "I'll try."
"Just remember," Draco said, "don't force it."
He stepped away, gesturing with a jerk of his head in the direction of the tent, and Thomas and Hikari followed, confusion etched on their features.
"It's the spell Granger was hit with in the Department of Mysteries," Draco explained with a sigh; the entire team had clearance for vital information relating to the case. "The one that nearly killed her – she can see things that happened in the past if she focuses on a spot in the present."
"That's why she didn't have medical clearance to come on the trip at first?" Hikari asked, his eyes large.
"Yes," Draco nodded. "But to think – when she might be the one to find the answers in the end."
Hermione sighed as she glanced around, feeling the pressure rise in the racing of her heart. Her head was beginning to throb, a sign she was pushing too far – but she needed to see this. The team needed to know whether the staircase was safe.
She wiped the perspiration from her palms and forced herself to take several deep breaths.
In an attempt to steady her nerves, she pictured the moment yesterday on the docks, when Malfoy had helped her to access the trigger and see the vision of the people of the Indus Valley.
She dug into the way she had felt, the way he had coaxed the vision from her; he had told her to believe and let it happen.
Allowing her eyes to slide shut, Hermione cleared her mind. Taking several more deep breaths, she pictured the people that had utilized the staircase, what they might have used it for, how they would have felt when they stood here in this exact spot, the heat of a bright sun blazing down on them; ships flowing in and out of the dockyard.
Steady breaths, inhaled and exhaled.
A sense of otherworldly calm washed over her and Hermione blinked her eyes open, a curve to her lips as she watched a woman, a basket cradled close to her chest.
The woman approached from the side, casting a nervous glance around. She moved the thin grate covering aside and began the descent into the darkness. A muffled torch hung on the wall, casting dim, dancing shadows into the darkness. Hermione slipped through in time for the woman to return the grate to its position, uncertain how the movement between their dimensions would orient itself.
Hermione caught her lower lip between her teeth – the woman carried down deeper, beyond her line of sight; a surge of anticipation roared through her and she took the first step down into the stairwell.
The woman wasn't afraid – and neither was she. Reinforcing the protective enchantments she wore in the event of encountering any signs of malevolent magic, she took the next step.
She followed as the woman descended deeper into the earth, until the only light remaining was the dull cast of torches from the vision. Hermione kept her fingers on the walls of the narrow passage, skimming the packed earth of the sides, dirt catching beneath her fingernails.
At the bottom of the passageway, the woman cast another glance around and ducked through an opening. Hermione followed, her gaze fixed on the woman, bathed in a rich orange light.
A breath hitched in her throat as the woman took a sharp left, into another narrow channel, the basket clutched tight to her bosom.
Another sharp right, and Hermione recorded the turns she'd taken, lest she find herself lost beneath Lothal.
After a few minutes the woman arrived at a rounded chamber, dim torches hanging on each of the four curved walls. Hermione could hear her own anxious breathing, ragged and discordant, as she slipped inside.
There were a series of shelves carved into one wall, and the woman approached the empty-looking slats. She tucked the prized basket onto a shelf, and Hermione watched, her eyes wide in apprehension as the woman began a low chant, waving a hand before her.
It was unlike anything Hermione had experienced, and she didn't recognize any facet of the spell or the language – but she felt the stir of magic – the ominous sort of magic that hung in the air in Lothal. It rose and swirled in the air and Hermione began to wish she hadn't followed so blindly – but then the spell came to an abrupt end and the basket had vanished into the shelf.
Satisfied, the woman brushed her fingers across where the basket had been. She turned, an upwards curve to her lips, and walked from the chamber; Hermione could see the brilliant green of her eyes as she walked past.
With a wave of the woman's hand, the torches fell dark, leaving Hermione in the musty blackness of the cavern. Her back pressed against the wall, and she sank to the earthen floor, her mind spinning in an attempt to process the scene.
The Indus woman had taken pains to hide whatever was in the basket. So this cavern – these tunnels below Lothal were to serve as a vault of sorts. Clearly the woman possessed some of the ancient magic with which the port town buzzed.
Once she had steadied her breathing, Hermione pushed from the ground and lit her wandtip, following the reverse of the paths she had taken. She placed a tracking spell on herself so she would be able to reach the cavern again, and made her way back to the surface.
Draco paced the hard earth, his hands slipped into his pockets. He had left Thomas and Hikari in the tent to begin a report on the discovery, and returned to check on Granger's progress.
But when he arrived back at the stairwell, she was nowhere to be found. Unless he had missed her between the passage and the tent, he didn't know where she could have gone. She certainly wasn't stupid enough to descend the staircase alone, without knowing what was down there.
For all they knew, it was the pits of Harappa all over again.
His jaw clenched as he checked the watch at his wrist. Maybe she had grown frustrated and gone a different direction. In which case, he would have to meet up with her later to find out whether she had learned anything or not. He only hoped she hadn't pushed too hard and burnt out her core.
He froze, another wave of anxiety crashing over him at the thought that he had left her alone. What if something had gone wrong and she had been unable to access her St Mungo's Portkey? What if she had needed to go to the hospital?
He lifted a hand, hovering it over his own Portkey, ready to access it.
If Granger had needed someone to help her and he hadn't been there… he fumed to himself. He should have just sent Thomas and Hikari away so Granger could focus. He knew she could conjure the visions with him there.
He took a deep breath, letting his hand fall. If she had gone to St Mungo's, she had obviously been aware enough to activate her own Portkey, and she would be in the capable hands of Healers for now. He would assess the situation and determine whether he needed to go find her.
If Granger had felt the need to push her own personal safety to its limits just to learn more about the staircase… he frowned, swallowing back a hot sting of shame.
Draco continued to pace, pausing when he heard a small sound behind him.
"Malfoy."
He whirled on the spot, relief seizing his chest at the sound of Granger's voice. There was a wide, vibrant grin on her face and despite everything he smiled in return. She hadn't gone to St Mungo's, she was still here with him in Lothal –
"Hey," he said, tilting his head. "Where did you go?"
Granger caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she stared at him for a long moment. "I went down."
"Down," Draco echoed, confusion pulling at his brow. "The staircase? Granger –"
"I know," she said, her voice a rapid flutter of excitement as she waved off his concern. "There was a –"
"Granger, you could have been killed," he snapped, feeling the anxiety rising in his chest once more. "You should have told me you were going, or we could have organized something –"
"You weren't here," she whispered, shaking her head to dismiss his words. "There wasn't time. There was this woman – "
Draco froze, taking in the expression of wonder on her face. "A woman."
"Yes," she said, "and I watched her go down and I had to follow her, to see where she was going, of course –"
"An Indus woman," Draco repeated. "A vision. You went down an unsecured, potentially life-threatening staircase, with magic that could kill you, because a vision from thousands of years ago went down."
"Yes!" she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.
Draco huffed a breath through his nose, shaking his head. "Bloody Gryffindors." He folded his arms, even as his lips twitched at the exuberance rolling from her countenance. "Very well, then. What did the woman do?"
"She had this basket," Granger breathed, "and she was looking about, as if to be sure no one was watching her –"
Draco watched as she told him of her experience, suspended between irritation that she had dove headfirst into a dangerous situation on her own, and fascination to hear about this latest, most signficant vision.
And there was a third part of him – a smaller part – that smiled at her accomplishment and the pride with which she was filled. The way she shone, and how her words thrummed with excitement.
He felt his lips crack into a wry smile as he watched her, shaking his head in astonishment.
"So she left the basket down there," Draco surmised once she had finished. "But she made it invisible? Do you suppose the entire shelf was actually full?"
"It was difficult to say," Granger said, fidgeting with her sleeve. "She turned off the torches with magic and it was challenging to find my way back out with only my wandlight. But I've tracked the route now so we can return –"
"Granger," Draco sighed. "Just because the tunnels down there were safe thousands of years ago, it doesn't mean the magic hasn't somehow spread like the malevolent magic of the figurine. You could have infected yourself."
Even as he said the words, he felt a spasm of fear tug at his heart. The last thing he needed was for Granger to fall ill as well.
"I don't think so," she said, shaking her head. "The magic didn't feel dangerous – not like the pits in Harappa."
"So there are tunnels in Lothal," Draco said, dragging a hand down his face, the discovery both jarring and unsettling. "But they're… just used for storage?"
"The woman was protective of whatever she was storing," Granger noted.
"Okay." He pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to make sense of it all. "So more like a vault, then. And they hid their prized possessions with magic. But then… if the tunnels in Harappa were built for a similar purpose, why have they been so thoroughly concealed?"
She shook her head. "I don't know."
Draco dug the heels of his palms into his eyes, trying to make sense of a discombobulated puzzle. "And the ones in Harappa – remember they were reinforced with magic. Do you suppose the ones here are too?"
"Without going back to Harappa…" she trailed off, shrugging. "It's hard to say."
Draco shook his head, his face pulled into a grimace. "I wish we knew more about the magic. Why it acts the way it does, and how it came to be that way. I can't imagine why the people of the Indus Valley would have been practicing such malevolent magic, not when they were so interested in improving their circumstances."
"I agree," Granger said, her gaze fixed on the top of the stairwell. She dragged the thin grate back over top and Draco moved to help her. She looked up, her gaze meeting his. "If Lothal was such a vibrant centre of trade, what was the aim? They weren't even farming here."
Draco wiped dusty hands on his trousers. "You know what's been bothering me? Finnigan. How has the magic in his blood been progressing at a different rate than the other three Aurors?"
Granger stared at him, her lips twisting to one side. "I've been wondering about that as well. I've half a mind to ask Burke whether we might go to St Mungo's and ask him a few questions."
Draco paused, his head cocked to the side. "We have the Portkey."
"And," she released a tight breath as she stepped towards him, her hand toying with the buttons at his cuff. "It would be nice to check on Harry."
He swallowed as he appraised her expression. "And would that be a visit you'd like to make alone?"
Granger gave a jerky sort of shrug, blinking up at him. "If you wanted to come… it appears I might have some news to share with him."
Even as his heart leapt in his chest, Draco brought the inside of her wrist to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to the skin there. His mind was abuzz with information as he considered what she was saying – what she was offering. "And you think you want to tell Potter? About… this?"
Her chocolate eyes were shy as they met his. "If you think it's a good idea. I'd sooner he hear it from me."
Draco knew her words were almost certainly inspired by the run-in they'd had with Dean Thomas earlier in the day.
He dragged his thumb across the back of her hand, keeping his expression stoic. He hoped she couldn't hear the racing of his heart. "I think it's a good idea."
If she wanted to tell Potter about him – it meant she was interested enough to keep him around. He fought the urge to scowl at the twisted emotions that welled up inside of him at the sentiment.
"Good," Granger said, her voice breathy. "I'll owl Unspeakable Burke to request permission to visit Mungo's tomorrow."
Nodding and offering her a tight smile, Draco turned his stare back to the grate covering the staircase. "So they were hiding their valuables, then."
Granger followed his line of sight, slipping her hand into his. "At least some of them. The practitioners of magic."
"Hard to say how many of them there would have been," Draco acknowledged, his voice quiet. He cast her a sidelong glance. "I'm still irritated that you went down the staircase without at least telling me."
Her lips curved into a smile. "I suppose if I get sick, it's just another reason for us to find these answers."
He scowled. "That isn't funny."
"And are you irritated as the leader of the team?" she asked, her voice soft. "Or are you irritated because I made the discovery and you didn't?"
"None of the above," Draco clipped.
She turned to face him, a thoughtful smile on her face. "Then you're irritated because I didn't report in to you."
He shook his head, brows high on his forehead.
"Because I put myself at unnecessary risk," she mused.
Draco nodded once. "You're getting closer."
The smile widened and she flashed him her teeth. "You're irritated, Draco Malfoy, because you need me to solve this mystery, and if I get sick and die, you'll be left trying to figure it all out on your own."
"Shove off," he grumbled, pulling her closer to him. Something flopped in his stomach hearing his given name roll off her tongue.
The way her eyes sparkled suggested she knew exactly why he was irritated.
Draco looked up from his book as Granger came into the hotel room, brandishing a letter.
"Unspeakable Burke has granted his permission for the two of us to go back to London tomorrow to visit Seamus and Harry in St Mungo's," she announced, settling on the bed beside him. "Provided the rest of the team continues the search in Lothal."
"Good," Draco nodded. He cast her a sidelong glance, focusing on the way her hands fidgeted with the covers. "Are you nervous? About seeing Potter in the hospital?"
She gave a sort of flippant shrug, but then her eyes met his. "I suppose I am." Pressing her hands flat on the bed, she released a sigh, tension settled in her shoulders. "What if we don't figure this out? Or what if we do, but it isn't in time?"
"Don't think like that," Draco said, staring at her. "You're brilliant. We've got a great team working on this. And…" he glanced away, tracing patterns on the back of her hand with his fingers. "I happen to think you and I work well together."
She gave him a wry smile. "It took us long enough, but yes. I think we do, too."
Granger tucked herself into his side, her eyes fluttering. He set his book aside, tugging at one of her wild curls.
"And just think," he muttered into her hair, "now that you're able to manage the visions a little better, when we go back to Harappa you'll be able to see things you couldn't before." He stared at the wall for a long moment. "I'm still convinced the tunnels beneath Harappa are the key to everything – otherwise why else have they been erased from memory?"
"Most memory," Granger corrected, even as she yawned into his chest. "Master Helmo knew about them."
"That's curious, too," Draco agreed. "But yet Naveed didn't know of them. Just another thing to figure out." He stared down at her. "And we will, Granger. Figure this all out."
She nodded, pressing her lips together. She gave him a smile and Draco could tell it was forced. "You're right. I'm sure we will."