Hello! I am really quiet glad you all liked Ron's portrayal. I was really nervous that people wanted a true "villain" and were hoping Ron was going to be it. I have always figured that, while he was an objectively shitty dude as a kid, he tried to be a good friend and would eventually grow into a decent person.
In any event, Fic is done. It will be 50 chapters. I still need to make edits an probably rewrite a scene I am having trouble with but if I die the SO knows to post it as is so you guys won't be left hanging. You're welcome. Enjoy.
Hermione agreed readily enough when Draco brought up that Harry had been following him. She could have sworn she saw a familiar dark head of hair floating around the cafe the other day while she read the news. It had been setting her on edge, but this had just pushed her into panic overdrive. Suddenly the idea of being as far away from London as possible sounded wonderful. Besides it wasn't like she couldn't work from anywhere, she was a witch after all. She hated packing though.
A large brown trunk was sitting in the middle of her living with various objects flying into it. Larger items like cauldrons shrank as they bumbled into the case while other items like ingredients needed a quick statis charm cast on them to ensure their freshness. As the last set of mortars floated jauntily into the luggage the leather snapped shut and shrunk itself down into a small briefcase.
She was casting the first of many featherlight charms on the case when her floo roared to life. Draco stepped out looking a bit too pleased with himself only to scowl at his missing couch.
"You packed a couch… really?"
"You love that couch." She scoffed as she continued to layer the charms. "I didn't want anything happening to it while I was gone."
"It's ugly as sin."
"Who are you trying to convince?" She huffed, tying off the tidy spellwork with a flick of her wrist. Another general stasis charm directed at her remaining ingredients had all the open drawers clacking shut at once and the cheery fires dying down as her workshop went into a peaceful hibernation. Crookshanks grumpily jumped down from the loft only to meander over to meet her at the floo with a great yowl.
"Suli's parlor." Hermione stated as she tossed the powder into the flames. The flared green and the cat wasted no time walking directly into the warmth. Suli loved cats and had agreed to keep an eye on him until she got back. Hermione expected him to be no less than a kilogram heavier when he returned.
"Are you ready to go?" He questioned as the cat faded away with the swish of his long tail.
"Yeah I am heading out now." Hermione picked up her case, only mildly grunting under the weight of everything she owned.
"Where are we going? I hear Las Vegas is a cracking good time." Hermione started as she eyed his person.
"We? I don't remember inviting you." She huffed, looking him up and down. He smirked, opening up his stance confidently and she rolled her eyes. "You don't even have anything packed."
"Well of course we. Someone has to keep you alive." He scoffed as if it was obvious. "And I have my basics in my pocket. Some of us can afford a much more compact expansion charm."
"Isn't the point of this whole thing to throw off suspicion of us being involved?" Hermione questioned, pushing down the bubbling excitement from the idea of having him tag along. As it was, she was just running away, if he came it would definitely fall into a fun leisure trip category. She was sure of it. It just took her a moment to realize how used to having someone around again she had become.
"Well first off we aren't involved." He drawled, scrunching his face up in disgust. "When you say it like that it makes me feel dirty. Second off the point of disappearing would be moot if I was going to any of my properties. It would take less than a day to locate me. So considering your the one with the undetectable bolt holes all over the world I figured I would just tag along with you. Where are we going?"
"Dirty? Excuse me?" She shot back, wiping away all images of a companionable holiday spent reading and chatting amicable. She had forgotten who she was speaking too.
"You are excused and I forgive you for not inviting me. Where are we going?" She sighed. She supposed it was her fault he had to disappear for a while. And Harry was right, if he did some digging on the man he would probably find out everything anyway. It was her responsibility really and some company would be a nice change. Alright, she had talked herself into it.
"Fine. But you don't get to complain, deal?" She huffed pulling out a portkey in the shape of a small screw.
"Deal." He nodded, linking his arm in her's as the portkey began to glow.
They landed with a thunk, the small piece of metal that served as a portkey glowed faintly before becoming a normal screw once again and falling onto the soft forest floor. The air smelled of deep pine and wet earth. All around them thick and heavy trunks rocketed towards the sky blocking out the sun. Creeping ivy was the only thing growing in the dark understory. Soft needles made up the floor in an endless expanse of light brown. An overarching sense of darkness hung in the branches. Danger sparked quietly across her mind, almost like it belonged there and she was the one intruding.
"Gloomy." Draco supplied as he glanced around. It was chilly even for early April. She shivered lightly, pulling her robes tightly around her.
"Let's go." She set off at a quick pace towards a barely there path that meandered through the trees. As soon as her feet tapped lightly against the path she cast a quick point-me spell toward civilization. The shuffling of leaves and sticks breaking off to the right was enough to get them moving.
"Do you know where we are going?" Draco questioned as they passed more of the same landscape. He seemed jittery.
"We can figure it out." She shrugged.
"Wait," She heard his footsteps pause as she continued to stare at her wand turned compass. "you don't know where we are do you?"
"Not exactly no."
"But you made the portkey!" He hissed as a large bird took off in a flutter of wings, scrambling to keep up.
"Actually… the Ministry has a drawer full of portkeys that it doesn't remember the destination for. That drawer may have a very small, undetectable switching charm connected to my doohickey shelf." Malfoy groaned realizing she wasn't aware of where they had ported either. "The best way to disappear cleanly is to not even know where you are going."
"That's well and good until you ported us into the middle of some haunted woods."
"They aren't haunted, don't be ridiculous." Hermione scoffed immediately as she shot a suspicious glance behind them. It seemed far too dark for midday.
"I know dark magic when I feel it." Draco rolled his eyes, his hand firmly holding his wand. "This place is permeated with it."
"No one makes a portkey to nowhere. We are either by a muggle town or a wizard town so keep a sharp eye out. If we see any muggles we will have to restrict our magic immediately."
"I should have just gone to Blaise's villa in Italy. His mother would have taken me shopping."
"No complaining. You promised." He grumbled as they walked. The point-me charm was practically vibrating as she cut off the magic. Up ahead the trees began to thin out, replaced by the lower level scrubs and bushes that couldn't out compete the trees. She strode ahead happily, ready for anything.
When she pushed through the ticket she found a lightly beaten path trailing through the gentle curves of a hill and down to a picturesque small town. A small chapel poked out of the long grass at the base of their path before it widened into a proper stone walled street. She smiled slightly at the scene. When Draco joined her he came to a fairly quick conclusion.
"German. You can tell by the architecture." He nodded towards the church as Hermione looked behindly at the foreboding towers of trees and the cloud of black waiting to swallow them back up. She gulped heavily.
"About the forest..."
"It's fucking haunted I told you." Draco scowled in her direction.
"Not quite… I think we are in The Schwarzwald."
00000000000000000000000000000000
He and Hermione quickly made their way down the path leaving the heavy dark aura behind them as they wandered up to the small village. A few loose goats met them at the town's edge before they meandered into the square proper. A small circular fountain was happily bubbling away in the center. The image of a kobold hammering some ore out of a rock shone brass in the sun.
He turned to glance at the area around them only to be left disappointed. The town appeared to be composed of maybe 30 buildings, most of which appeared to be private homes. On the square was a general store, bakery, and tavern but that was it. There was no inn in sight and Draco dreaded the idea of camping. A woman burst from the door of a nearby house bustling along with a child in tow when she caught sight of them.
"Oh visitors!" She remarked happily, making her way over. "Pardon the emptiness, everyone is out prepping the fields for the spring planting. How are we doing today?"
The woman's black dress fit tightly against her chest before flaring out in a wild expansion of frills and petticoats. Thick white puff sleeves were detailed with small red and green embroidery. Not any sort of wizarding dress he had ever seen. Shaking off the oddness of the situation Draco took charge. "Just fine thank you for asking. We are researchers, here to catalog some of the local legends of the Black Forest from villages just like yours."
Hermione stepped forward quickly catching on. "Yes, we want to help preserve the oral culture of the more remote areas for future generations to come. If at all possible, we would love to speak with whoever is in charge."
"How sweet they let you bring your sister along!" The woman remarked pulling her young son up to her hip. He repressed a chuckle as he felt Hermione bristle. "But, no one is in charge here. Too small a village to get all caught up on formalities. If it's stories you're after you'll be wanting to join the men at the tavern after work hours."
"That would most certainly serve." Draco responded formally, hoping that he sounded academic. "Do you have an inn we could stay in?"
"No inns here. Who would visit? Well, I can see if anyone would put you up." The woman offered. "May have to split you though."
"Oh dear. That's unfortunate." Hermione responded with a vicious grin. "My brother is very protective of me you see. We don't like to be separated."
"Oh! Oh course! It would be improper otherwise. You'll have to forgive me. I forget what you city folks are like." The woman questioned glancing around their person curiously. "Where are your things?"
"Edge of town." Draco responded. "Parked the whole lot over by the church."
"Oh isn't that just perfect." The child squirmed out of her hold, clearly having no interest in being held. "Well it looks like I better go. Why don't you all set up on the East side of town that a way? There is an old mill close enough to the water for convenience. It may need some cleaning and repairs but you are welcome to it."
"Thank you." Hermione bowed her head respectfully.
"Happy to help little mice. Now you hurry on over. You may be able to get it fixed up by the time the farm hands all come back down in a rush of hunger. Keep an eye on your sister though, it's not often the men in this town have a new woman to court. If you need anything I'm-" The woman formed some sort of word before a buzzing sound hit his ear unpleasantly. He swiped a hand around his head to fend off whatever insect there was but saw woman smiled before nodding her head and scurrying off about her business.
Hermione nearly growled. When she turned to Draco he simply shrugged his shoulders and set off in the direction the woman had pointed, indeed not running into another living soul who wasn't busy working on chores in their own households.
"Odd little place." Hermione mused softly as they exited the town. Just off the main path the somewhat dilapidated structure of an old mill could be seen carving out a small plot right in front of the woods and alongside a small bubbling creek. A few guide stones were all that was left making the rough outline of a square.
"I am not sure we are qualified to judge that." Draco smirked before frowning towards the rubble. "But I think we were oversold on this."
"I'd say so." Hermione scoffed, checking around to ensure they were alone. "Let me throw up a muggle repelling charm and we'll get to work."
Hours later they had managed to piece the original building back together following the previous template of stones and wood. He grumbled at the small size hoping it was larger once they stepped in or he would have to fight Hermione for what he hoped was at least a singular bedroom. The large water wheel creaked next to them, not that he had any hope of electricity. He felt surprisingly spry for the amount of magic they had spent fixing the hovel and felt more than prepared to set to work on the inside.
With a hard shove he shouldered open the door and stepped in. The thick wooden plank walls were still moss covered and thankfully appeared to keep most of the air outside. He was greeted by a dim single room with a stone hearth, the water wheel spinning a mortar for milling. He openly groaned.
"It's technically a shelter." Hermione supplied helpfully sparking a fire to life in the hearth. She charmed the remains of an old table back together and began withdrawing things from her bag. "And I have everything else we need."
He cast a silencing charm on the mill and grimaced. He felt cautiously optimistic as she clicked open the case and various pieces from her home began to drift out. The nearly sighed in relief as a large bed plopped itself in the corner taking up most of the floor space. He threw himself back on it while she continued to unpack.
"Not bad Granger." He conceded as he debated on a quick kip. "But where will you sleep."
"What's the matter Malfoy, don't want to share?" She teased lightly and Draco felt his pulse jump. He fought down the blush uncomfortably. He wasn't used to being flustered, it wasn't like his other friends flirted with him. Well, Blaise did on occasion but that was hardly to say it meant anything. Blaise flirted with everyone.
"I am a snuggler and will not be held responsible for anything that my hands do in my sleep." He yelped as half the bed gave out underneath him, effectively splitting in half. Grumbling he pulled himself up to spell some weather-proofing charms into the wall. By the time he was done transfiguring a single window onto the wall Hermione had set up the two beds, a small sitting area and a breakfast nook. He grimaced at the warm golds and rich reds that were splattered around the room. With a quick wave of his wand the colors shifted to a cooling silver and green.
"I was thinking that- Oh absolutely not." Hermione huffed as she turned to see her new bed linens.
"What?" He questioned innocently frowning as she shot her bed back to gold and red. As soon as she turned to face him he returned it to much calmer colors.
"I am not decking this place out to be a cold and broody environment like your study. It's bad enough dark magic is already hanging over this place like a thick curtain." She shot his bed back to her colors before turning to the table again. He smirked as they shifted again.
"I am not living for two weeks surrounded by blood red and sunshine." He scoffed smiling as she caught sight of the beds. She glared at him with anger sparking in her eyes and he chuckled.
"You will not win." She responded holding up her wand menacingly.
And thus they spent the next few hours waiting for the work day to end. By the time a cease fire had been called the mill had been splattered with various shades of house colors and none of them looked halfway decent. A compromise was reached and they settled on an objectively nice silver and red combo before Draco decided to take that nap.
World Building with Om
Destination portkeys
Highly regulated by the ministry. They have no time restraints and will trigger when pushed with magic. They have no limit on the people they can transport and as such require quiet a bit of magic to create. They are usually used for auror missions. As such they are unavailable to the public. No exceptions. (That they are aware of.)
The Schwarzwald
Also called the black forest this stunning stretch of forest in the south west of Germany is one of the few remaining forest of antiquity, mostly filled with pine. It also has some cool geological features which I suggest googling. For this story though, it is also known as a hot spot for German folklore with a suspicious number of stories and mythologies being sourced from it.