Part XXXVII

Hermione makes Plans:

Hermione got up from the bed and looked out the window at the dewy grass out on the lawn. It was going to be another warm day. It was still very early morning and it was already warm. Their exams would start in a week. What made her think of something that unimportant right now? She crossed the room, hurried, and dressed. Madame Pomfrey examined her and told her she could leave. She was interviewed by the Aurors, and by the Headmistress. She told them everything she knew.

Harry came back to the hospital wing with Bill and before they left she told them what she overhead between Draco and Don, and how they were going to go find Mankin. That had her worried. Don probably knew exactly right where to find him. They could be battling right now. Draco could be dead right now.

With determination, she strolled toward the door of the Hospital wing. She threw the heavy wooden doors open with such force that they banged against the wall. Outside of the doors stood Michael Corner, and without warning, Hermione threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. It took him a second to realize what she had done. He hugged her back. He didn't even think she would want to see him, let alone hug him.

"What are you doing back at school?" Hermione asked.

"I never really left. The Headmistress and Bill were hiding me here, at the insistence of Don Boot. I'll still have to stand trial for killing Alex Stephens, but for now, I'm free. Anthony was allowed to come back to school as well. He'll arrive Monday, to get ready for the exams," he explained to her.

"Have you heard everything?" she asked him.

"Yes, Luna and Padma just told me, that's why I came to see you, although I have to admit, I didn't think you would want to see me, let alone hug me." His face turned red in embarrassment. He continued, "I think I might know where Mankin went. I can't tell the Aurors, because I'm under an oath not to tell anyone about it, but that doesn't mean I can go there myself, and unbeknownst to me, be followed."

She understood what he meant. She didn't know if they should try to find it on their own, or if they should get help. He understood her weary look, and said further, "Padma and Luna both want to help, and so does Neville. The old DA members back together. We'll all go find him and make that man wish he'd never been born."

Hermione nodded her head. She wished she could tell Harry. She had no idea where he was and she didn't want to waste anymore time waiting, so she took Michael's hand and said, "Let's go get the others."

They ran up to the eighth year's fifth floor dormitory and entered the portrait way. Being a Sunday, there were not many people milling about. However, the three people they came to look for were all willing and waiting. Hermione went into her old room to change clothing. She came out with a pair of jeans, a dark shirt, and trainers. She took her wand and said, "How do we get out of the castle undetected, and more importantly, where are we going?"

Neville said, "You forget, I know every secret passageway out of the castle. Michael already told me we're heading toward the Forbidden Forest, so we need to take the passage out of the kitchens, which will lead to the stables. From there we can double back around the east side of the castle, and head right into the forest."

"Why the forest?" Hermione asked the group.

Padma spoke, "There's cave hidden in some rock formation, deep in the forest. Ravenclaws for years have used it for secret meetings, and it's a known fact that The Brotherhood of the Raven has used it in the past for their initiation ceremonies. We believe that's where he is. No one can locate the cave except Ravenclaws, or someone with a Ravenclaw."

"Does that mean that Draco, Neville and I won't even be able to enter?" Hermione asked.

"We think you might, but Draco and Neville, maybe not," Luna answered.

"Why me?" she asked, concerned.

Padma answered, "The cave is guarded by bush, which is only one of its forms. It's a Calendula. It appears to be just an average looking harmless plant, but it's so much more. It measures a person's intelligence, cunning and wit. Sometimes it will just allow a person to pass, other times, it'll make the person answer a riddle, solve a puzzle, or answer a hard question. If the person answers incorrectly, they aren't allowed pass, and the cave won't reveal itself."

"Draco and Neville are smart," Hermione begged to differ.

Michael responded, "We aren't saying they're not. We're just saying that this plant will recognize intelligence before it even bothers to ask the question. Sometimes it won't even bother with the question, and it just won't let people in. Sometimes it won't even let a Ravenclaw enter."

"Enough, we're wasting time," Neville complained, taking control, and grabbing Hermione's hand. The five eighth year students started running down the mostly deserted hallways. They made it out of the passageway with no problem. They arrived at the stables and it was now that the problems would start. It was such a beautiful sunny Sunday, and the last Sunday before the last week of school at that. There were students all around the grounds. They decided it would be better to act as if they were merely out walking, hoping to blend in with the other students.

Once they reached the outskirts of the school grounds, and they neared the forest, they took off in a mad dash. That called attention to themselves by at least one person. Harry Potter was standing up on the southern tower, looking over the landscape, trying hard to figure out where Draco and Don had gone, when he saw five students rushing toward the Forbidden Forest. They were far enough away, and he couldn't make out any of their faces, but he knew in his heart one of them was his best friend. He ran down the tower and out the back doors and ran toward the forest as well.

Once inside the forest, Michael said, "It's a short distance to the cave, follow me." They all started walking.

Harry had just reached the forest and he didn't know which way to go. He pointed his wand and said, "Point me toward Hermione," and his wand pointed his way. He was directly behind them.

They reached the mouth of the cave, which was hidden by ivy that was twined along the rocky surface, weaving in and out, almost covering the cave's entrance completely. The Calendula plant, with its bright yellow flowers, stood guard over the entrance. Michael approached first and without uttering a word, the plant moved aside, as if it were alive, and allowed him passage. The ivy on the stone's surface began to move, as if it were a series of locks. It moved completely out of the way, to reveal an entrance. Next, Luna passed through. Padma motioned for Neville to try. However, the way was once again blocked with the ivy. Over the smooth rock, near the top of the cave's entrance, these words appeared, "I come from your side, to stand forever beside you. You come from inside me, to be alive. You walk by my shoulder, forever to guide me. You come deep inside me, when we are alone at night."

Neville looked at Hermione. She whispered, "A woman," to him.

He said, "A woman." The ivy moved so he could pass. Padma said, "Now you try, Hermione."

Hermione stood by the entrance, waiting for a riddle or a puzzle to solve. However, to her amazement, the ivy untwined and parted for her to enter. Padma came next. Michael and the others were standing by the mouth of the cave with their wands lit. Michael said, "This way," and they all followed.

A Riddle for Malfoy:

Don and Draco had not yet entered the cave. They had purposely waited until light came to enter. The arrived to the entrance of the cave while the earth was still at slumber, and the new sun had not yet awoken the day. They wanted to be sure that Mankin would be there before they entered. The moved toward the top of the hill, which covered the cave, to wait for daybreak. They couldn't see the cave's entrance from their perch, so they did not see the five teenagers enter.

After daybreak came, they decided to go back down to the front of the cave. Don told Draco that he might not be allowed to enter. They were just discussing what they were going to do, when they saw Mankin leave the cave, for just a moment. He became a raven and flew out of sight. The men looked at each other, contemplating what to do next. Shortly after Mankin flew away, they saw Dean Thomas come up to the cave. He answered the riddle that appeared over the door, and then he walked in the cave. They waited to see if Mankin would return. After only a minute or two, he did return and he too went into the cave. That was when they decided to wait and see if Dean would exit. When he didn't they decided to go get help from the Aurors.

Don told Draco he didn't want any more innocent blood shed, and he was afraid that Dean might accidentally be killed. Draco wasn't sure he cared one way of the other if Dean was killed, but he agreed. Don told Draco that he should get the Aurors and the Weasleys and Harry, and they could all meet him back here. That was just what Draco was about to do, when they saw Mankin leaving again.

"What do we do now?" Don asked Draco,

"How the hell should I know, I thought you were running this show?" Draco responded.

They saw Harry approach. He was allowed entrance to the cave without a riddle. Draco said, "Stupid four eyes."

"Draco, go to the castle and get help," Don implored.

"I'm not leaving now. Maybe we can get Dean and Harry out before Mankin comes back," Draco said. Don told Draco to try to enter first. A riddle appeared on the smooth stone. Draco let out a curse word, but read the words that were suddenly etched there.

The riddle read, "I have no form, no beginning, and no end. I live inside each and every man. I'm shared by families, and lover's alike. I'm the depth of the oceans, and bright as the stars at night. If you give me up, all will be lost. If you take a chance, than I will be of no cost. Others may know me by a different name, but those who share me always feel the same."

Draco rolled his eyes and said, "Love, dammit." The ivy parted and he ran in, followed by Don.

Don lit his wand, as did Draco. Don put his index finger up to his mouth, to tell Draco to remain quiet. He motioned to Draco to follow him down a long cavernous hollow. They reached the end and were now high up in the cave, overlooking a large room. They were behind some of the natural rock, looking down at the large room through holes in the rocky surface. The room below had many natural formations in the rock, including many stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and stalagmites reaching up from the floor. Several of the conical shape formations met in the middle, forming many large columns through the large open space. There was an underground stream running through the middle of the room, and a big stone basin in the middle. Dean was sitting by the stone basin, crying. Mankin came back into the cave right after Don and Draco. He ran back in the large room, and talked in clipped tones to his brother, which echoed throughout the cave.

"You are sure everyone thinks Granger is dead?" he asked.

"Yes, I know they do. They have called her parents and everything," Dean confirmed, lying of course.

"And no one followed you here?" he asked.

"Of course not, you went and checked, didn't you? I told you they were all in mourning up at the castle," Dean reaffirmed.

"And Malfoy is alive?" Mankin asked.

"Yes, Don Boot saved him," Dean told the man. Draco wondered why Dean was helping them by lying. At this point, he didn't care, he was just thankful that he was.

Mankin walked in front of his brother, "That Damn Don Boot saved the day again, and Draco Malfoy lives again. Well, I've tried to kill him twice now, and have been unsuccessful, but I guarantee I'll not fail the third time."

Just then, a noise from the other side of the cave sounded like waves crashing on a shore. Mankin told Dean to stay where he was, while he ran off through a little passageway, to see from where the sound came.

Neville Longbottom appeared at the other entrance. "Come with me, Dean. We don't have much time. Michael is creating a distraction. You'll be safe," and he motioned with his hand.

Dean shook his head no. Luna came to Neville's other side. Luna and Dean had become very close the year before. They spent many hours at Shell Cottage, talking and making plans for the future.

"Please, Dean, come with us. We don't have much time. Michael and Padma are creating a diversion, but it won't last long," Luna implored.

Dean looked around and started to run toward Luna. Just then, Mankin appeared directly behind Luna and Neville. Dean saw him, pointed and yelled, "Look out!"

The two turned around and Mankin captured both of their wands and stunned the pair. Dean shouted, "No!" but Mankin ignored him.

"Help me take them to the basin; I think we found our sacrifice," Mankin said.

Draco looked at Don in shock. Don shook his head, not knowing to what Mankin was referring. Dean said, "They're my friends. They just came to help me."

Thomas Mankin took his hand and backhanded the younger man. "And I am your brother, and you will do as I say. Now help me with them."

They hoisted Neville and Luna up the large stone precipice right next to the stone basin. He took out a silver knife, and he walked over to the pair. He handed the knife to Dean and said, "Do it."

Dean was shaking his head no. That's when Michael Corner and Padma came running into the room, shouting hexes and spells. Mankin rounded the corner of a column and grabbed Luna's lifeless body, to use as a shield. Michael crawled on his belly, reached the stone precipice and grabbed Neville's hand, dragging him off the altar and down on the hard stone floor. He continued to drag Neville's body and he placed it behind a column at the other end of the cavernous room.

Don said to Draco, "What the hell are they all doing here? I've seen enough, we have to help them."

That was when Harry Potter came up behind them and said, "What's your plan?"

Where's Granger?

"I was wondering when you would show up to save the day," Draco retorted, rolling his eyes. "We saw you enter the cave. We didn't see the others enter, though."

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked.

Draco said, "Don't worry; she's still back in the Hospital wing, safe. You don't think I would bring her here, do you?"

"No, Malfoy," Harry said in shock, "She came with the others. I followed them. She's here somewhere in this cave."

Draco felt like he was going to be sick. He looked back down in the room from his stone perch, and he was certain that now he really would be sick. He no longer saw Mankin and Luna behind the column. Michael, Dean and Padma, along with a lifeless Neville, were behind the other columns, and were unaware that Mankin and Luna were missing.

"They're gone!" Draco whispered.

Don leaned over the stone wall from high above, and said, "There are many passageways throughout this cave, but they all lead back here or to the entrance. Some of us must wait here, and some must wait by the front. Potter, please, go down there and get the other kids out of here, and then come back with help. You should have no problem entering, since you had no problem entering the first time."

Harry agreed. He crept down the long smooth rocky surface toward the large central chamber. He caught Michael's attention and motioned for him to follow. Michael looked around, saw no one, and he levitated Neville's body through the tunnel, followed by Dean and Padma. Harry Potter led the way.

"Now what?" Draco asked.

"Now we have some fun, come on with me," and he motioned for Draco to follow again.

They walked through a narrow tunnel, at several points they had to get down on their hands and their knees, because the way was so tight. They ended up in another large room. This one higher than the other, and open on one side. They were under a waterfall.

"You told Potter there was no other way out," Draco warned.

"There isn't. Not even a wizard could get out of here, for there's something about the natural rock that makes apparition impossible and even a wizard couldn't jump from these rocks and survive the waterfall, but a bird can. We'll wait here. I know he'll come this way," Don said, convinced.

"I wonder where Hermione is," Draco said aloud.

Don could tell he was seriously worried. "I'm sure she's safe somewhere. I don't think Neville and Michael would have let her come to harm."

They stayed crouched behind a large rock, and soon Don's hunch became a reality. Luna was once again conscious, and being dragged by the collar of her shirt by Mankin. He said, "Hurry up, Lovegood; we have to get out of here."

He approached the waterfall. The sound was deafening. Draco and Don could no longer hear what Mankin was saying to the girl, but they could see her crying and shaking her head. She was pushing against him with her hands. Don took that moment to appear. He told Draco to stay down.

"Let her go, Mankin," Don demanded.

"I don't think so, Wolfman. Did you think I wouldn't figure out it was you. You and your little brothers." Mankin laughed. "Tell me, did you howl at the moon the night your idiot little brother was blown to bits?"

Don brandished his wand and said, "Luna, come to me."

Luna was pushed toward him by Mankin. "By all mean, you can have her. I don't need her to escape. You can both jump together. Maybe that'll be more of a comfort than dying alone. I wonder if Miss Granger was comforted when she thought Draco Malfoy was close by while she was dying. Have they decided yet when her funeral will be?"

"Shut up!" Luna yelled.

"I don't think so, Looney," Mankin said. "You see, I can tell you both my little secret, since you'll take it with you to your graves. Miss Granger is not dead. She took a potion of my invention, one that feigns death. She has no pulse, no heartbeat, and no breath, but she is not dead. She only appears to be. She is aware of her surroundings, and of the cries of her loved ones. She will be aware of being placed in a coffin, and of being lowered in the ground." He laughed a sick, perverted laugh.

He said, "Tell me, Boot, was Draco Malfoy crying over his one true love when you rescued him? What did he do when you entered the cell and took out her body? Did he take her from you and curse the heavens above? How I wish I could have seen his grief. I wonder if it rivalled my own, when as a young boy and I was told that my father was killed by Death Eaters, one of which was Malfoy senior."

He kept his wand pointed at the pair. Don put Luna behind his back, and kept his wand pointed at Mankin. Don was walking backwards, toward the wall. Draco reached out from his hiding place behind the rock and grabbed Luna's arm and tugged her down behind the rock with him. Don pointed his wand at Mankin and yelled, "Crucio", but Mankin rushed behind another rock, Don's spell missing him by a mere hair.

Don ran near the entrance, and placed his body flush up against the smooth wall. He looked at Draco behind the rock and shook his head no, commanding silently that he and Luna stay where they were.

The sounds of the waterfall cascading over the rocks made it next to impossible to hear a thing anyone said. Mankin shouted, "Come and get me, Don. Don't you want revenge for Terry?"

Don shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He rushed out of his hiding place as a wolf. He pounced on Mankin, who only had time to scream. The man and the wolf tussled and fought on the ground. Draco pushed Luna toward the entrance and told her to get out of the cave, and if she saw Hermione, to make her leave as well. Luna pointed her finger at the opposite wall and said, "But, Draco, Hermione is right over there."

Draco looked across the dark cave and saw Hermione standing at another exit, nearer to the waterfall. She hadn't yet seen Draco. She had her wand pointed toward the man and the wolf. Mankin was screaming in pain. Draco pushed Luna back toward the entrance and said, "Run as fast as you can!"

He skimmed along the rock wall to reach the other side, to get to Hermione. That's when it happened. Mankin and Don, as a wolf and a man, both went over the waterfall. Hermione screamed and shut her eyes. Draco took that opportunity to rush to her. She saw him coming toward her and she ran to meet him. She was drenched from standing so close to the spray of the water. He grabbed both sides of her face and kissed her lips. He said, "Why did you come here?"

"I saw Mankin bring Luna up here, so I followed," she reasoned.

"No, I mean, why did you come to the cave? I told you not to! Don't you ever do what you're told?"

Before she could dispute him, a black raven flew back in through the side of the rock entrance, just underneath the water. It turned back to a man, and he said, "Answer the question, Miss Granger. I'm interested in knowing how you came to be here as well!"

Hermione and Draco turned around, still holding on to each other.

Mankin was so angry that he screamed as if he were being tortured. "There's no way you could have come out of that potion! No way! Even you aren't that smart and powerful! Tell me how you did it!" He had his wand pointed toward her.

"I won't tell you anything!" she screamed back at the man who had caused them all so much pain, and pointed her wand back at him.

"I have failed killing you both in the past, but if it's the last thing I do, I will kill you now!" He disarmed both Hermione and Draco, with a silent spell. Draco's wand flew to his hand, while Hermione's landed near his feet. He pointed his wand first at Draco and yelled, "CRUCIO!"

Draco fell to the ground and withered and moaned as the pain from the curse coursed through his body. Hermione screamed for Mankin to stop. He yelled, "Do you want me to stop?! Do you want his yelling and pain to end? I will accommodate you now!" and he stopped the curse on Draco and he pointed his wand at Hermione and yelled, "Avada Kedavra!"

He made the mistake of underestimating Hermione Granger once before. He shouldn't have done it again. As he was cursing Draco with the unforgivable curse, Hermione had already silently accio her wand back to her hand and she had pointed her wand directly at him, and thought the same words in her mind that he pronounced out loud to her. However, only one of the curses was completed. Thomas Mankin fell over dead.

Draco got up suddenly from the ground. He ran over and saw that Mankin was dead. He rushed back to Hermione, who had collapsed on the ground, in remorse. She hated the man, but she had never taken a life before. Even during the final battle of Hogwarts. She screamed a bone chilling scream, which even with the deafening roar of the waterfall, echoed throughout every channel of the cave. Draco had never heard of anyone killing a person without saying the spell out loud. He too, was in shock. He picked Hermione up and started to carry her from the cave. Looking once more at Mankin's dead body, he left the waterfall entrance with Hermione in his arms.

Harry and Bill and the Aurors had just reached the large room when Luna came toward them. She told them about the large cave at the mouth of the waterfall. She said that Don and Mankin were fighting, and that Draco and Hermione were there. They were just about to follow her back up to the other room, when Draco came down the tunnel, holding Hermione's hand. Once he could stand upright again, he picked her back up and told the Aurors, "Mankin's up ahead, near the waterfall, and he's dead. I'm afraid Don Boot may be dead as well, as he tumbled out of the cave and down the waterfall. Someone should check."

He walked over to Harry and with Hermione in his arms said, "She killed him. She killed him without saying a single word out loud. How is that possible?" Hermione remained in his arms, crying.

Bill came up and to them and said, "We'll discuss that later, let's get her out of here." He took Hermione from Draco, and they all walked out of the cave.