A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters related to the franchise. That all belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. I hope you enjoy the only thing I do own...the plot. Also M rating for language and possible sexually explicit scenes (really just wanted to be safe with the rating).
-TNHGTNHGTN-
Hermione let Harry lead her down towards the tunnel that had emerged at the defeat of the boggart, allowing Harry to wrap an arm around her shoulders as they walked. They walked in silence for most of the tunnel, Hemione was digesting what this knew boggart meant for her. She always knew that she had gotten relatively over her fear of failure, but it never occurred to her that she might have conquered it completely. This new fear. Well it was pretty terrifying. The fear of being betrayed by her Slytherins. The fear of them using her and constantly wanting to hurt her underneath it all. The fear of her never being good enough for them...or anyone for that matter. That wasn't possible though, because they would never do that. Draco had even said that he didn't want to hurt anyone ever again under Wizards Don't Lie.
"Granger," Nott was the first to speak, rousing her from her spinning mind and breaking the suffocating silence, "Want to switch wands?" She laughed a little at that. She stopped in the hallway they were walking down, the small stalactites bright white and shaped like soda straws hanging above them, occasionally dripping water that would roll down her face.
"Yeah, I expect that would be for the best. I don't think your wand would like me very much." She reached into her pocket and grabbed out his wand. They traded in the hallway.
"Hermione? Are you alright?" Harry asked. She looked at the curious stare of her best friend. His green eyes shining and reflecting the glow of the algae back at her. She almost told him right there. Told him everything including the panic attacks and the anxiety. She almost begged him to understand how much she was suffering, and asked for his help. But they still had so much of the obstacle course to go through. She wasn't sure he would focus if he knew how much she actually was hurting, and Harry not focusing could get him hurt. So, instead of confessing how she and the Slytherins had gotten so close so fast she gave him a strong smile, one that she had perfected over the months since the war.
"Of course Harry, the boggart just caught me off guard. I forgot that they could hurt you if their form allowed it. Lupin never let them do that." He nodded in understanding, giving her a reassuring squeeze on her hand.
"It won't hurt you again," He said confidently. Running a hand through his dark messy hair, "She can't hurt you again," There was no need to mention that he couldn't promise that the Slytherins wouldn't hurt her. That unsaid secret was left in the silence of the cave, consumed with the echoes of the dripping water. He couldn't promise that. Only they could, and they already had.
"Let's just go, we only have about thirty minutes left." She said, sighing slightly in the dark. This was definitely more intense than they originally thought it would be going in. She had the distinct feeling that they were worried about what was coming up, but being the Gryffindor she was she took lead. Reckless, headstrong and needing to prove to herself that she was stronger than this. Stronger than everything she had ever gone through.
The algae ended a few meters away from where they had stopped to talk, and as she reached the edge she lit her lumos, hearing the boys do the same behind her. After a few more minutes of walking they came to a new chamber.
"Lumos Maxima," Hermione heard Draco shout as a bright light was thrown into the center of the chamber. They were currently standing at the edge of an underwater lake. There were no other doors in the room, and there was no watercraft available to help them travel over the water. In fact the water seemed to go directly to another cave wall. No way out at all. They were trapped.
"Did we take a wrong turn?" Harry asked as he approached the water, running a hand through his tousled hair.
"I don't think so," Draco said, walking up to stand beside him, "There were no other turns to make," They stared out over the water. Now that the adrenaline from the last two encounters was wearing down Hermione felt a dull throbbing in her arm.
Looking down at her arm she noticed that the bite the inferi had taken out of her arm was still bleeding pretty heavily, she just hadn't noticed until right then. Remembering what Nott had said about not being good at healing spells, and Harry's relative subpar performance of them as well, Hermione called out Draco's name. He approached her with mild curiosity until she held out her arm. "Salazar Granger! What happened?" The other two boys were there in an instant as Draco raised his wand over her forearm and began casting a basic healing spell. As the spell knitted her flesh together she felt the sensation of someone watching her, and looked up to see Nott gazing at the pair of them with an unreadable look. She blushed and looked back down at where Draco was running his hands over her skin to make sure he hadn't missed any other injuries. As soon as Draco was finished Hermione shoved her sleeve back down and approached the water with curiosity.
"We are missing something," She said slowly, gazing at the water as it sparkled under Draco's Lumos spell. The other three walked up until they were by her side and they stood there in silence. Hermione started to worry her lower lip as she wracked her brain to figure out what they were missing.
"Maybe we are just stuck here," Harry shrugged his shoulders slightly as he moved to grab a rock and skipped it across the water.
"Potter what did you just say?" Nott asked.
"I said we are stuck," He replied looking back at the other three who were currently staring at each other wide eyed. "I know that look, but I'm going to be honest seeing it on more than just Hermione is a little freaky. What do you know?"
"We're stuck, Potter," Draco said, reaching up and grabbing his pendent.
"He gave us a fucking hint. Smug bastard." Nott said as he grabbed his.
"And no one else was clever enough to figure it out! Harry you are a genius," Hermione yelled before flinging her arms around his neck, knocking his glasses askew.
"Unbelievable. We figure it out and she gives him a hug." Draco huffed.
"Oh, shut it." Hermione said before wrapping her arms around both of the Slytherins at the same time. They both hesitated before returning the hug. This was the first time they had shown blatant affection in front of another Gryffindor. "They are adder stone's Harry," She said as her best friend continued to look confused, when his brows scrunched even more at this admission Draco scoffed.
"That means, Potter, that if we do this," Draco raised his own up to his right eye and closed his left, "We should be able to see...There!" Draco said triumphantly and pointed at the wall on the other side of the lake. The rest of the group copied the blond's actions. Sure enough on the opposite side of the water was a magical doorway. "Looks like we are getting wet," Draco said before wading into the water. It didn't take long for the other three to follow. They all started swimming towards the door, excited to finally exit this cursed cave. They didn't notice something was wrong until Hermione felt something wrap around her ankle. She had just enough time to emit a strangled yelp as she was pulled under the water.
She wordlessly lit her wand, and was horrified to see Grangleroot arms tightening around her ankles. She remembered briefly learning about it in sixth year, it was a plant like animal that often lived in dark damp places, and was semi-aquatic. It often reminded people of mounds of seaweed as it had several arms that were flat and seaweed-esk that they tangled around people before dragging them into the depths, drowning them before consuming them for dinner. She tried feebly to pull herself free but couldn't fight against the creature's strength. There was something they didn't like...something that she could do to get them to let go. Already slightly out of breath from swimming, and having not gotten a good breath before she was dragged under, Hermione started to panic as her lungs began to burn with her need for air. She yanked harder at the fleshy arm as she started to see black dots in her vision. She couldn't remember what made them let go! She briefly thought she saw two dark shadows swimming towards her from the surface as the darkness consumed her.
The next thing Hermione knew she was being held above the water by a strong arm, as her face bounced limply on a shoulder. Hermione sputtered a couple times before breathing in that sweet familiar scent. "Nott?"
"I got you, Granger." He said as he pulled her closer still swimming towards the edge. She looked over and saw Draco reaching out towards her. She extended her arms and let him pull her to the edge of the hidden door where a small platform was waiting for them. She gasped for breath as Harry pulled himself up on the platform before rushing over to her. He grabbed her face with both hands, his green eyes searching hers. When she nodded he released her face after taking another shaky breath. Meanwhile, Draco dragged Nott out of the water. As soon as he was positioned so he wouldn't fall, Hermione launched herself at Nott burying her face in his shirt. He smelled a little like cave water earthy and stale, but beneath it all was that scent. His scent. As she stayed there he wrapped his arms around her holding her tightly. "I got you, Granger." He said again. She took several deep calming breaths before nodding and pulling back.
"Let's get out of here," She said. They all voiced their agreement before turning and pushing on the door. They were blinded by the bright afternoon sun as the door opened. They emerged from the trunk of a tree that was just outside of the clearing that the class was being held in. As they stood there sopping wet, their peers looked on at them in shock.
"Congratulations Saviors and the Saved. You made it. That will be 300 points each to Gryffindor and Slytherin. Also, you can keep your Adder Stones," When he said that several groups groaned, realizing where they had gone wrong, "and you don't have to write the essay I am assigning this week on Inferi, Boggarts, and Grangleroot. You heard me! Three topics, three times the length, three times the fun," Another groan erupted from the group, "Lets go get warmed up!" With that the class filed out of the Forbidden Forest, leaving that blasted cave behind them.
-TNHGTNHGTN-
Later that night, after she had showered and dried, and after she ventured to Madam Pomfrey to get the abrasions on her ankle healed from the Grangleroot, and after she had taken several potions to fight off infection, Hermione laid back on her bed and thought about Nott. In the darkness of her room she thought about his daring rescue. Harry had reminded her that Grangleroot didn't care for getting cold, so he had dived under and had cast a simple wordless cooling charm and had scared it off of her. This made her face palm at her own ignorance. Once the Slytherins had left the infirmary and Hermione in the capable hands of Harry Potter, Harry had told her that Nott hadn't hesitated to dive under the waves once they had realized she had gone under. He also mentioned that once Harry had gotten the Grangleroot to release her, Nott had snatched her up and swam to the surface. Harry casually mentioned it was the first time he was genuinely impressed with a Slytherin. Her mind then wandered to Nott swimming with her, holding her head above the surface and her realizing that it was him by his scent alone.
She pondered on the vaguely familiar scent for a few minutes before she sat up with a start. She knew that scent from Rowena's Study. It was a scent she had always associated with her get-away in that small room. A smell that she could vaguely catch in other parts of the castle like the library or her favorite clases. Classes that Theo always shared. His scent had permeated the deep fabric of the couches and chairs in Rowena's Study and always made her feel at home. The one place she felt she could relax without being judged. The one place in the castle he had access to before her. Parchment. Spearmint. Something sweet like freshly mown grass...except it wasn't freshly mown grass. It was him. She was so doomed, she thought as she threw her head down her pillow, she had definitely started to fall for Theodore Nott.