The silver moonlight gleamed on the thin layer of ice on the pool surrounded with birch trees.
That was where Draco found himself standing by. He felt his magic was being tugged persistently to the pool direction. The frozen pool's black cracked surface was glistening with not only the moon, but with something else that was shining from under the water. Draco raised his mother's wand. Defense and attack spells ready at the tip of his tongue. He moved one step forward to examine and stopped when his foot stepped on something soft. He looked down.
Layers of clothes. And then, light reflected on round glasses next to the fabrics caught Draco's eyes. The gears on his brain worked too fast that in reflex Draco ran toward the small lake and dived into the light source underwater.
Harry Potter was struggling to swim to the surface. Something around his neck was strangling him and the Gryffindor was beginning to drown. Draco spotted a fluorescent sword on the lakebed nearby. He grabbed the sword and swung it toward the black shadow that was surrounding Potter's neck. And then he took a hold of Potter and with high agility he swam back up. Draco brought them to the ground and Potter choked and inhaled the air greedily.
After Potter gained his state back, he took his spectacles and put them on.
"Malfoy?" was the greeting Draco received from Potter.
Draco opened his mouth to speak but was cut by the panic calling from behind.
"Harry!" Granger screamed and ran toward Potter. Weasley followed. "What were you thinking! Don't go somewhere without telling us first! Oh God I thought something happened to you!" She hugged him.
"What the bloody hell! Why Malfoy here?" Weasley, of course, chose to be more alerted by Draco's appearance than the state of his best friend's wellbeing.
"Is that the Sword of Godric Gryffindor?" Granger gaped at the sword on Draco's hand. "How did you get that?"
"I found it in the lake. I was trying to take it but the locket tried to drown me. Then he came and saved me," Potter looked at Draco. "How did you get here?"
Draco was about to answer when, once again he was cut by the witch.
"Now's not the time to discuss this. We have to destroy the Horcrux now!" Granger took off the locket on Potter's neck.
"Horcrux?" Draco went pale. He had heard that word once somewhere in the past, and his memory told him it was something negative.
"Malfoy, I need the sword," Potter held out his hand. Draco handed him the sword and saw Granger and Weasley stepped away. Didn't know what was going on or what would happen, Draco followed their move and stepped back as well.
It was cold. And the surrounding was so quiet. Potter put the locket on the ground and spoke in Parseltongue, causing the locket to spring open. He then held the sword high, intended to thrust it to the locket. But before Potter draw the sword, white mist burst out of the locket and began to transform into a vision.
The vision played a scene where Potter was standing far from Granger, Weasley, and some other people Draco didn't recognise. The people walked far away from Potter, leaving him alone.
"You are not worth our time and effort. You only cause misery to everyone close to you. You brought chaos into the Wizarding World. Go away. We don't want you," Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the vision told Potter.
"Don't listen to it, Harry! We all love you, you know that!" real Granger was yelling at Potter.
In the vision, those people kept saying cruel things to Potter. And then Draco gasped and held his breath when he was featured in the vision.
"You are good for nothing, Potter. I never wanted your filthy cheap gifts!" vision Draco squeezed something in his hand to pieces.
Draco didn't understand what was happening. But from the panic faces of Granger and Weasley, and the withdrawing Potter, it looked not good. And apparently, they needed to destroy the locket. Draco came to realisation. The locket had something to do with the Dark Lord.
Without further ado, Draco yelled at Potter.
"Potter! Harry! Wake up! It's all not real! Your best friends are here with you! And I'm still keeping your gift!"
"Harry!" Granger and Weasley called at the same time.
The combination of it all brought Potter back to reality and finally he was able to break through the negative vision and thrust the locket with Gryffindor's sword, shattering both glass windows inside the locket and thus destroying the Horcrux. The white mist turned to black smoke and then evaporated. Potter then picked up the locket and stored it to his pocket.
Granger ran toward Potter and hugged him tightly.
~o~
They were now in a charmed tent, sitting on the bench around the small table in what looked like a sitting area, investigating each other.
"You pulled me to the lake," Draco told Potter when they demanded his unexpected appearance.
"Later," Potter dismissed his two best friends when they asked what did Draco mean.
"Now, Horcrux," Draco's turn to ask them. Quid pro quo.
"A Horcrux is an object in which a Dark wizard or witch has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality. Horcruxes can only be created after committing murder. Voldemort created Horcruxes. Long story short, we are hunting for Voldemort's Horcruxes." Granger explained.
"Horcruxes? As in plural?!" Draco asked in disbelief. Three other teens nodded at him. "Damn it! I knew there was something securing his power and soul! How many does he have?"
"Hold up. Why suddenly you are interested in this, ferret?" Weasley smashed the table with his hands while he stood up.
"Because he's holding my mother," Draco answered short. Eyes stared at Weasley in challenge.
Silence filling the invisible small and warm tent.
"Oh," Weasley broke the tensed atmosphere.
"There were six of them. We have destroyed three," Potter answered Draco's previous question.
"And how did you know there were six of them and what the Horcruxes were?" Draco asked again.
"Dumbledore told me. Voldemort put his Horcruxes in items which were related to the founders of Hogwarts. We have destroyed Slytherin Horcrux," Potter patted the destroyed locket in his pocket. "Now we have to search the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff precious items. And the last one is Voldemort's giant snake."
Draco flinched at how casual they say the Dark Lord's name.
"Can you all stop saying his name? Didn't you know it was jinxed with Taboo?!"
Weasel looked agree with Draco but said nothing, while the other two Gryffindors only blinked at his words. It confused Draco. Did they not afraid or something? Decided to put aside the matter, Draco asked about the Horcruxes instead, "What about the Gryffindor's?"
"Saved, apparently," Potter touched the Godric Gryffindor sword lay on the table.
That reminded Draco of what had happened at the lake. The dark shadow encircling Potter's neck gave him goosebumps.
"Why was the locket displaying those illusions?" Draco asked.
"Voldemort put some kind of defense on the Horcruxes. And it looked like the locket armed with a spell that," Granger glanced at Potter who sat beside Draco, "manifest the deepest fear of the person who tried to destroy it."
Draco frowned at that. If it was true, then why Draco appeared on the vision? It didn't make sense that Potter afraid Draco wouldn't like his gifts. Or...was there something more than that? Draco glanced to his side and noticed Potter's face turned red.
"Alright, let's end this conversation for now. We'll continue tomorrow to discuss about the other Horcruxes. You need a rest, Harry." Granger told everyone as she took the sword and put it into her magical bottomless pouch. "Me and Ron will be on guard."
Draco then noticed that Granger was holding Bellatrix' wand. Ah, Draco remembered. Their wands were taken by his aunt. Oh, and he remembered his wand was on Potter.
"Potter, my wand…" Draco said when Granger and Ron exited the tent.
"Oh, right," Potter pulled out Draco's wand from under his sleeve. "Thank you. For helping us escape."
Draco was staring at his Hawthorn wand held by Potter. He took it and sorrow flashed on his face.
"Why did you help us?" Potter asked after a minute pause.
There was another pause for about two minutes. Then, with a soft voice, Draco spoke to Potter.
"I thought he was a supreme pureblood wanted the Wizarding World free from Muggleborns. Protecting our world and traditions that started to be tainted by Muggles' cultures. But, after I witnessed myself of his cruelty and powerthirst traits, I realised that all this time I had been blindly admiring a lunatic dark wizard. He didn't care about others. He wanted me dead. He wanted my family dead. He has my mother…"
"I'm sorry about your mother. But why didn't you take her to the Black House? It's safe from him."
"He put her under a spell that prevents her from leaving the manor," Draco stood up, signaling Potter to stop talking about it. Then, what for Draco was embarrassing happened. His stomach growl loudly. His face reddened.
"Oh, you're hungry? Well, we don't have anything. But I have…" Potter rummaged inside his bag. "A bar of chocolate. Here. Eat it. I'll hunt for food tomorrow morning."
Draco eyed the chocolate offered to him hungrily. It's been two weeks— no, months! He hadn't had sweets for months! Oh Merlin, receiving food from others, so not Malfoyish! Swallowing his Malfoy pride, Draco took the chocolate from Potter and thanked him. He was controlling himself to eat as slowly and elegantly as his hunger could bear.
Draco glanced at the right time Potter gave him a gentle smile before the Gryffindor walked deeper in the tent toward the rest area.
"Oh," Draco heard Potter's bewildered voice. Intrigued, because Draco didn't know what to do there and he had shoved the rest of the chocolate into his mouth, he walked toward the voice.
"I just remembered we only have two beds…" Potter turned his head to Draco.
"So?" Draco didn't understand what was the problem.
"So," Potter rolled his eyes, "we have to share a bed. That one there is Hermione's. And she'll be using it in five hours. Ron always insist to let her rest after five hours guarding outside."
"Can't you just transfigure another bed?" Draco raised his eyebrow.
"This is a small tent we have. And we have expanded it to its maximum. I can enlarge the bed, but only a bit." Potter expanded the bed's width anyway. Still looked the same size as original, though.
"A hammock, then?" Draco's suggestion met Potter's "Nope."
"Tch. Well, better than sleeping on rocks," Draco shrugged. His comment apparently got to Potter's curiosity.
"You've been sleeping on a rock?" asked Potter.
"Two weeks," Draco told him in distaste. "I've been on the run since the day you escaped the manor."
"Ah. Yes," Potter grinned. "Did you know that you are the second undesired wizard the Ministry wanted after me now?"
"What?!" Draco genuinely surprised by the news.
"Yep," Potter took off his shoes and then climbed to the small bed. "Good night, Malfoy."
Draco stared at Potter's back for minutes. He was number two on the Ministry bounty list? Salazar, he hoped his mother didn't receive any negative consequences from it.
Draco sighed tiredly. There was only small space for Draco on the bed. No way he would sleep with Potter! And he still had dignity to steal woman's bed. He was too tired to complain. With a resignation sigh, Draco took off his shoes and climbed the small bed.
Oh the luxury after two weeks sleeping on the hard dirty ground! He lay back to back with Potter. And after a few minutes passed, Draco whispered,
"I still have your dragon in my pocket, scarhead..."
~o~
The next morning, after they made sure summoning a house elf was safe (and received a glare from Granger), Draco called Tippy to return his mother's wand to her. He also asked the elf to bring him some changes and to not tell their whereabout to anyone.
"Well, I didn't know you could summon a house elf anywhere anytime. This is great! We can ask Do—" Weasley choked on his last word and Draco noticed the other three teens made mourning faces.
"What happened to Dobby?" Draco asked. He was sure Weasley meant to say that house elf's name.
"He...was killed by Bellatrix' dagger the day we escaped…" Potter said. He looked the saddest among the others.
"Oh… So, what's the next Horcrux we're hunting?" Draco changed the gloomy subject.
"'We'?" Weasley asked while Potter and Granger gave a strange look at Draco.
"The day I set you lot free from the manor, I committed to be the archenemy of the Dark Lord," Draco said deadpanned.
"Riiight…" Weasley averted his eyes to the trees seen from the opened tent entrance.
"Well, we have to find treasure items of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first. What are the most precious items they have?" Potter tapped his fingers on the table.
"Isn't Helga Hufflepuff's Cup a famous magical item?" Weasley said.
"And it's stolen," Granger told them.
"Dumbledore suspected it's one of the Horcruxes. Shall we go for it?" Potter said.
"Dumbledore never wrong," Weasley said like it was something obvious.
"So where do we start searching?" Potter asked.
And so they were looking for information everywhere but with careful manner as the four of them were hunted fugitives. They visited every Muggles and wizards libraries and people related to Helga Hufflepuff available on reach for weeks.
It was the second Monday of April when suddenly Draco remembered something.
"Aunt Bella's vault in Gringotts was secured with maximum security. The Dark Lord trusts her very much. Could it be that he hid a Horcrux in her vault?"
"It might. But Gringotts itself is armed with the highest protections ever exist," Potter said while munching their lunch, which were apples.
"Griphook!" Granger said. "We can ask him to assist us!"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go to Bill's house!" Weasley stood up in excitement.
"Malfoy, you take a Side-Along with me. We'll be visiting Griphook at Ron's brother's house," Potter raised his left arm for Draco to hold.
~o~
When they arrived at the beach house, Draco couldn't blame everyone there who looked and treated him with hostile. And Draco learnt that a goblin was a greedy creature. Griphook, the former Gringotts employee, wanted the Gryffindor Sword in exchange for his assistance. Everyone reluctantly agreed.
"Now, how do we pass the guard?" Weasley asked. They were in the living room with another two adult wizards Draco recognised one of them was their former DADA teacher, Remus Lupin.
"Well, obviously one of you have to disguise as aunt Bella," Draco spoke for the first time since they arrived.
"Of course. And we happen to have her hair, of course," Weasley sneered.
"Actually, I do have her hair," Granger smirked. "Grabbed her hair when she tortured me."
"Well...uh, then I'll disguise as one of her guardians," Weasley said sheepishly.
"I'll take Griphook with me under the Invisibility Cloak," Potter told them. "Um, Malfoy, I don't kno—"
"I'll use Disillusionment charm," Draco told Potter. "Because I'm going with you."
"Why?" Bill Weasley towered him.
When Draco just stared at their host, Potter answered for him.
"Voldemort is holding his mother."
It was as if Potter's words were an authority voice, nobody asked Draco again. As soon as Lupin gave Granger the Polyjuice potion, the five of them was ready to visit Gringotts. And before they Apparated, Lupin patted Draco's shoulder.
"Thank you for saving them," Lupin nodded at Draco then the four teens and the goblin started their mission to break into Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Diagon Alley.
~o~
It was quite tricky to pass the front guards, but they managed to make the guards undetected the Disillusionment charm on Draco.
When they arrived at the front desk, they felt something was off but they played their role anyway. Granger coughed to have the old goblin's attention.
"I wish to enter my vault," Granger as Bellatrix said.
Wish? Merlin, aunt Bellatrix wasn't a nice person! Draco prayed she wouldn't ruin their disguise.
"Identification please," asked the goblin.
"Identification? I — I have never been asked for identification before!" said Granger.
The old goblin then raised his eyes from the parchment he was writing on, then looked surprised.
"Madam Lestrange! Ah, wait a moment please," the old goblin went to the back and reappeared with the head of the bank.
"Ah, Madam Lestrange, would you please give us your identification. An act of formality, of course," said the goblin. Then they saw a guard walked slowly approaching them.
"They know!" whispered Griphook. Draco was standing close enough to Potter to be able to hear the whisper. "They must have been warned there might be an impostor!"
"Your wand will do, madam," said the goblin. He held out a slightly trembling hand, and in a dreadful blast of realization Draco knew that the goblins of Gringotts were aware that Bellatrix's wand had been stolen.
"Act now, act now," whispered Griphook, "the Imperius Curse!"
Potter looked at Draco with his mouth and eyes wide open. He didn't have a wand! Acted quickly, Draco raised his hawthorn wand, pointed it at the old goblin, and whispered the dark spell, for the third time in his life, "Imperio!"
The curse hit the goblin then he took Bellatrix's wand, examined it closely, and then said,
"Ah, you have had a new wand made, Madam Lestrange! Very well, let me assist you to your vault. Follow me, please."
The five of them were escorted by the Head goblin on a cart which was taken over by Griphook. When they rode the cart and passed the Thief's Downfall, all they disguise were disappeared and Gringotts defense was activated and alarms were ringing.
As soon as they arrived before the Lestrange's vault, they were thrown out of the cart unceremoniously and were faced a chained Common Welsh Green dragon guarding the vault door.
"Oh no! What do we do?" Granger yelled between the deafening alarms.
"Don't worry, it's afraid of bell sound," Griphook took a goblin's clankers from the ground and shook it to make sound. The dragon then shrank back at the sound of the clankers. "It's been trained to associate the bell sound with painful punishment.
"What?! That's cruel!" Granger protested. Draco had to agree with her. Dragons were his favorite magical creature, after all.
Griphook approached the door then put his entire palm on the door to open it. The door of the vault melted away to reveal a cavelike opening crammed from floor to ceiling with golden coins and goblets, silver armour, and jewelries. They all stepped into the vault and without delay, started to search the Hufflepuff's Cup. But when they touched the items in the vault, the items replicated at a rapid rate and were hot to the touch.
"All of them has been cursed with Geminio and Flagrante!" Griphook informed them.
True to his words, everything kept doubling identically and the treasures kept doubling filling the vault. The five of them began to get buried and burned.
"Harry! Quick find the cup!" Granger screamed while swimming in sea of treasures.
As they searched the vault and struggling not to get buried, Draco felt a jolt in Potter through their connection. He looked up at Potter who was trying to reach a gleaming cup. The Hufflepuff's Cup!
After a struggle, Potter finally managed to grab the real cup. He screamed to tell the others.
"I've got it! Let's get out of here!"
By the push of the replicating treasures, finally the five of them able to get out of the cursed vault.
"The sword, give it to me now!" Griphook demanded. Potter threw the Godric Gryffindor Sword to the goblin. But as soon as the old goblin claimed the sword, he ran and alerted the other goblins to their presence. Griphook had betrayed them.
Not long than a second, they were surrounded with goblins attacking them with hexes. Some of the hexes hit the dragon, automatically angered it. The dragon began to attack everyone, destroying everything.
But suddenly, the magical creature seemed interested at Draco for as the dragon sensed something on Draco and suddenly aimed its rage at Draco. In secluded place like that, Draco couldn't do anything but trying his best to dodge and kept running to avoid the dragon's wrath.
"Malfoy!" Potter called him. Draco looked around and found Potter with Granger and Weasley were on the dragon's back. What the bloody hell?! "Hurry! Climb from its tail!"
"Are you out of your mind?!" Draco yelled back. Easy to say than done! But with the help of Potter distracting the dragon, he managed to climb the dragon and sat on its back.
"Reducto!" Granger screamed the spell and the heavy chain binding the dragon's leg to the big pillar exploded, freeing the dragon.
The dragon kept moving wildly in place so Draco hexed its tail and the Dragon jolted up. Realising it could jump higher, the dragon tried to move farther. And as if it knew it was now free, the dragon flapped its wings gradually higher and higher, though still awkwardly. Finally, the dragon flew up high piercing through the Gringotts tower and the four of young wizards and witch were flying away up to the sky.
The dragon flew far away toward the north. Harsh of the freezing wind hitting their bodies. In the middle of the trip, it roared and turned its head to its back. It tried to shake its body and its irises were pointing at Draco. They felt a sudden warm on their bottoms.
"Oh shit! It's going to spout fire at us!" Weasley screamed.
"Make it fly lower! Make it fly lower and we jump!" Potter screamed at Granger. Below them were ocean and islands.
"How?!" Granger yelled.
"Hurry!" Weasley screamed in panic. They saw the dragon's neck glowing orange.
"Agh!" Granger screamed in panic and hexed the left wing. The dragon was surprised and fell few meters in the air.
"Now, now, jump!" Potter screamed and the four of them jumped down.
~o~
They fell to the sea and with luck on their side, it was only approximately twenty metres ahead of them was shore. When they arrived on the land, they changed to dry clothes stored in Granger's magical pouch.
"Where are we?" Potter asked as he changed to brown T-shirt. Draco cursed mentally as he saw Potter topless. The scene flipped his stomach in funny way. Male or female, changing clothes in the open seemed barbaric to Draco. So, not following the inappropriate display, he used drying charm on his clothes instead.
Granger took out a map and put her wand tip on it.
"Point me," Granger whispered. "We're near Boston. Come on."
They walked by foot instead of Disapparate as they didn't know that area. And when they found a small town with a small inn, they rented a room for them.
"Alright, we have the cup now. And we don't have the Gryffindor sword now. How do we destroy it?" Weasley asked. He and Granger sat on the two single beds while Draco and Potter sat on the chairs in the rented room.
"Wait. Harry you are sure it's Horcrux?" Granger asked. Potter nodded.
"How did you know that it's a Horcrux?" Draco asked when he saw Potter handed the cup to Granger.
"I can feel it. I can hear it. I'm connected to Voldemort, so," Potter shrugged. "Wait. You promised to tell me about the bond. Now I have mastered the Occlumency. You can tell me now, Malfoy."
"Ah, yes, about that. What bond are you two talking about? You haven't told us about it yet, Harry," Granger demanded.
"Um…" Potter glanced at Draco and he shook his head.
"I'm not sure it's safe to tell anyone else about it right now and I don't want to take a harmful chance," Draco told Granger.
"But you can tell me?" Potter asked him.
"I'll have to test your Occlumency first," Draco glared at Potter. The later young wizard pouted. After a while, Draco sighed. "Yeah, I think there's no more threat for me to tell you about it now. I'll tell you later in private," Draco glanced at Granger and Weasley to make a point. Maybe Granger felt insulted by that, because next he attacked Draco with question.
"You know, I'm wondering why the dragon was so aggressive toward you, Malfoy?" Granger folded her arms over her chest.
"I don't know," Draco frowned. So, it wasn't just him then. The dragon was indeed angry because of Draco. Or something on Draco. He looked down and noticed he was wearing shoes from dragon's hide.
"I saw the dragon sniffed at him at the Gringotts, also when we're flying," Weasley spoke.
"You seem to know much about dragons," Draco meant that as an insult but apparently the ginger head took it as a compliment.
"Yep. My brother Charlie is a dragon trainer in Romania!" Weasley said proudly.
Then Draco realised something. Could it be…? He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out something and opened his palm for everyone to see the object on.
"That's the dragon statuette I gave you!" Potter shocked. "You're still keeping it!"
"I told you I still have it," Draco squinted his eyes at Potter. "It couldn't be the dragon was upset because of this, right? It's just a dragon statuette…"
"Is— is that…" Granger stood up from bed and walked closer toward Draco. Then she gasped in disbelief. "Oh my God! It is!"
"What? What is it?" Weasley followed Granger and now everyone was crowding Draco.
"This is the statuette of the Common Welsh Green dragon that caused the Great Fire of London in 1600. It attacked London because a dark wizard resided in London took a dragon egg from its pack. The dragon then imprisoned by an amount of wizards and trapped it in an apatite gemstone to calm the anger of the dragon. How did you get it?!" Granger spoke and asked without a pause or maybe even a breath.
"I got it from Potter," Draco told her. He almost rolled his eyes. Didn't he just say that? "How did you know this is that dragon statuette?"
"Seriously, Malfoy? Didn't you take Ancient Runes class? Look at the small runic scriptures. It clearly says so," Granger pointed her index finger at the statuette stomach part. "Why you gave it to him, Harry? And where did you get it?"
"Sirius' vault," Potter replied as he stared intently at the statuette. "Is it dangerous or something? Dark artefact?"
"I don't feel something negat—" and then Draco remembered. "I think… I got a sudden fatigue when I touched it. But it was only few times and in… certain situation so I can't be sure if the fatigue was caused by my situation or by the statuette," Draco told Potter.
"Does it absorb magic?" Potter asked again.
"The book didn't say anything about it. It was stolen long before anyone had a chance to examine it properly," Granger said.
"Well, that's not our main problem right now," Draco said as he put the statuette back into his pocket. Then he looked at Potter. "Have you decided what to do now?"
"We rest right now," Potter glanced at the window. It's getting dark. "Tomorrow we discuss what to do next."
"Can't we have our own rooms?" Draco asked them.
"Malfoy, we can only afford this. So, we share bed. Again. Tonight," Granger glanced at the twin bed forlornly.
"What?! But we're in a hotel. I don't—" Draco's word was cut by Potter.
"It's alright, 'Mione. I'll get another room for me and Malfoy. We have shared bed for months. Let's enjoy luxury tonight," Potter smiled in understanding at his two best friends.
Tch, Potter must be feeling guilty for dragging them into his troubles, Draco thought.
"Harry, I don't have any more Muggle money," Granger said apologetically.
"Magic will work," Potter replied.
"Harry! You can't be serious? Are you really going to the put the Muggle under a spell?" Granger asked incredulously.
"Just this one, 'Mione," Potter shrugged tiredly. "Come on, Malfoy, let's get us a room."
"A room? I want my own room!" Draco protested as the both of them walked toward the receptionist.
"No. We stick together. And because you owe me explanation about our bond," Potter said decidedly.
When they got their twin bed room beside Granger and Weasley's, the first thing Draco did was taking a bath. A nearly one hour hot bath. He cleaned his body thoroughly, washed his precious hair with all the provided generic shampoo. Potter wouldn't need it anyway, Draco thought. His hair was more important than Potter's bird nest.
And when he had finished his body care, he realised that his clothes were in Granger's pouch. Sighed in irritation, Draco got out of the bathroom with only towel covering his slim waist.
"Potter, Granger has my clothes," Draco informed Potter. The shorter boy choked on his room-service dinner when he looked at Draco.
"J-just use the cleaning spell on your previous clothes then wear it again," Potter said as he averted his eyes from Draco. "Then eat your dinner. I put a static charm on it. So it's still warm."
Because Draco was tired and hungry, he just did what Potter suggested. The cleaning spell felt rough on his skin. After they finished their dinner, Draco began to explain their bond to Potter.
"So, in other word, I'm 'tying' you to my magic?" Potter asked in disbelief.
"Our magics tied together so you can keep track on me. But it seems that's not just it. I suspect the bond develops advance connection and it evolves through time. At first, we can only sense each other's magic signature. And then we can do simple telepathy like, alerting you that I needed your presence," Draco spoke from under the warm cover on his bed.
"And then what?" Potter asked from his own bed.
"I don't know yet. I had cut off our connection since last summer. Speaking of summer, I felt the bond trembling on last day of July. Did something happen?" Draco moved his eyes from the ceiling to Potter.
"Oh, it was my seventeenth birthday," Potter stared back at him. "Maybe some come-of-age wizard stuffs or something happened."
"Happy belated birthday, Potter," Draco said after a long pause. "Good night."
"Thanks. Night, Malfoy."
~o~
The next morning, the four of them sat in the lobby discussing their next move.
"Rowena Ravenclaw items, now, there are several of them missing, but we don't know which of her precious possessions became a Horcrux," Granger said.
"Wasn't Rowena Ravenclaw a Scottish?" Draco wondered aloud.
"Should we check there?" Potter asked them.
"Well, we don't know where she lived. And if the Horcrux is in her house, then Voldemort undoubtedly had set traps or curses on the house to protect it," said Granger.
"If there are indeed traps or curses, then we are on the right track," Weasley said.
"Not necessarily," Draco murmured. "Could be a diversion, too."
"Nothing to lose, either. Alright. Let's go," Potter patted his thighs.
"Wait. How do we go there? Even if we know the house location, we don't know the exact coordination. We can't take Apparition there. And I don't think we are safe to travel with Muggle's transportations. The Dark Lord has spies even in Muggle world hunting for us," Draco told them.
"He's right. Oh! How about Buckbeak?" Potter suggested.
"Buckbeak?" Draco asked. He didn't know what kind of Muggle transportation was that.
"Hippogriff. Hogwarts' hippogriff," Potter told him.
"A— What?! NO!" Draco shrilled.
At that, the three Gryffindors burst out laughing remembering the third year accident involving Draco and an offended Hippogriff.
"Shut up!" Draco seethed, feeling a sudden warm on his face.
"Well, there's no other choice. We have to disguise and use trains and cabs," Granger decided. "And camp in the woods."
"What? Camp?! Going the barbaric way again after we find civilization?!" Draco protested.
"Nobody asked you to come with us, ferret," Weasley chided and Draco gave him a cold stare.
"Why didn't the adults search for them instead?" Draco asked in annoyance.
"Because only me who can sense the Horcrux," Potter told him.
Suddenly Draco remembered about the void he found in Potter's mind. He forgot to tell Severus about it. Potter's mind was truly a wonder!
At that moment, a hotel lady walked into the lobby with freshly-cut flowers and Draco recognised some of them.
"Pansy!" Draco lit up at seeing the tricolor pansies. He took a piece of paper and a writing instrument (a text that said "ballpoint" written on it. Rather big and slippery compared to quill, Draco noted) provided on the table and wrote something before he called Tippy. "Give this to Pansy Parkinson. But make sure only her who receives this. Wait for her reply and don't tell anyone about our whereabout."
It was Tuesday, eight thirty. Draco was sure his close friend was in the Slytherin common room at the moment. Fifteen minutes later Tippy came with a small envelope while Granger Obliviate five people in the lobby for the second time that morning.
"Never do that again in front of Muggles!" Granger scolded Draco.
Draco ignored her and opened the envelope and smiled in triumphant.
"Got it!" Draco snatched something from inside the envelope. At the confused look from the other, Draco explained, "This card convert Galleons to Muggle currencies. I can't use mine because I keep it in my vault in Gringotts. Pansy lends hers to me. Now we can sleep in hotels and say goodbye to camp!"
"There is such thing?" Potter asked while eyeing the plastic card on Draco's hand. "Huh, that looks like a credit card."
"Well, how else we do business with Muggles?" Draco rolled his eyes.
"Hermione, did you know about it? Why didn't we have it?" Potter asked Granger.
"Well, I didn't think it was necessary for us. Usually only adult wizards and witches who have businesses in Muggle world own it. Besides, the procedure to get one is complicated. Why Parkinson has one?" Granger asked.
"Pansy and I have this. We sometimes purchased robes at Muggle shops," Draco answered. He got shocked looks from the others. "What?"
"I thought you despised Muggles," Potter told him.
"I do. But some of them have good tastes in fashion and other things, and I appreciate quality and beauty even when it comes from Muggles," said Draco in defense.
"...Right. So, we use that card to rent rooms. I'll pay you back when I have access to my Galleons," Potter nodded.
"Wait. Won't they be able to track the transactions when you use it?" Granger asked.
"For underage owners only. Pansy's seventeen now. So, it's safe," Draco assured them.
"Why would underage wizards and witches need that?" Weasley asked.
Draco was about to flaunt the wealthy of pureblood families but stopped. That sounded too arrogant even for him.
"Okay. We use trains and rest at hotels. Don't risk using Apparition because we don't know exactly any places on our way to Scotland. Unless you want to stray somewhere and get stuck between walls. Avoid wizards and witches' places. And first, we need to go to the Leeds Library." Granger reminded them.
"Okay. Disguise?" Weasley asked.
"Well, we have no problem blending with other Muggles. On the other hand, Malfoy, your platinum blond hair screams 'I'm a Malfoy' to Voldemort's spies," Granger told Draco.
"Huh? Why only me?" Draco asked.
"Let's be real. How many people have platinum blond hair in England and Scotland?"
"If you are suggesting I change my hair color..." Draco fumed.
"Just wear a beanie, Malfoy," Potter sighed and pointed his index finger at the front corner of the hotel. "They sell some at the souvenir spot."
After ten minutes convincing Draco that a beanie wouldn't ruin his hair, finally the Golden Trio got him a grey one. Draco put it on his head with resentment. He hexed a Muggle who gave his head a weird look.
"Oh Merlin, Malfoy! Stop it! You will alert the Ministry for using magic on Muggles!" Granger whispered in anger and fear after she Obliviate the poor Muggle.
"Relax, Granger. I won't be detected," Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go."
"What do you mean the Ministry won't be notified when you use magic on Muggles?" Potter asked as they walked out of the inn.
"Let's just say I have my way to avoid being detected by the Ministry," Draco dismissed the subject with a wave of his hand. "And I'm seventeen now! Duh." Lower restrictions.
They began the journey to Scotland on Tuesday of April the 14th by train from Boston to Leeds.
~o~
"How much Lumos these Muggles use to light all those buildings and streets?!" Weasley asked in awe as the four of them exited the library after looking for information about Rowena's hometown. It was early evening. They would continue the trip after they find out the late Ravenclaw lady hometown.
"And it lasts for a very long time," Draco added the comment. It seemed that he and Weasley's comments sounded funny because Draco saw Potter and Granger giggled at them.
"What? What's so funny about the questions?" Draco reproved.
"Muggles don't use Lumos, Malfoy," Granger told him, still giggling.
"They use electricity as the power source for the lights," Potter informed.
"...Whatever," Draco didn't know what was elect-tree-city. "That's a hotel there. Let's find some rooms."
The hotel they were staying at that night was not far from the library. Draco protested that they had to be paired in a room again.
"We stick together," Potter stated.
"Might as well rent two extra beds and we all sleep in one room," Draco mumbled.
"You know what, that's a good idea!" Potter turned his body and was about to walk to the receptionist desk.
"I was just joking!" Draco grabbed Potter's wrist and pulled him back in panic. Granger rolled her eyes while Weasley, somehow, looked at Draco with murderous stare. Whatever that meant. He didn't want to be in the same room with the ginger head and weasel anyway.
"What's that?" Weasley asked in alert as the four of them facing an empty small closet with mirrors installed on the three sides of its walls. The metallic double doors were each sliding to the right and left side through the walls on their own.
"That's an elevator, Ron. We go in there and it will move to our destined floor," Granger told the tall Gryffindor.
"A what?" Weasley eyed it skeptically.
"It's like the box when you want to go to the Ministry. Now, come on," Granger dragged Weasley into the box.
Draco was hesitated, just like Weasley, but he didn't want to be labelled as a coward. So, he braved himself and entered the box, standing close to Potter. He closed his eyes when it moved…upward? His stomach lurched. And when a ding sound was heard, the double door opened and Draco immediately stepped out of the elevator with a sway.
"Can we call room service for dinner? I want to finish these books before morning," Granger asked Potter. "The sooner I find her place, the better."
"We can read the books together, 'Mione," Potter offered.
"That's okay. You don't know what you're looking for anyway," Granger said to Potter nonchalantly. Draco wanted to laugh.
"Well, okay, if that's what you want. We'll have room services in our rooms. Night, 'Mione, Ron," Potter opened he and Draco's door and stepped inside, followed by Draco.
"How did she know if the library had ancient and wizardry books?" Draco asked as they lay down on their respective beds. He took off his beanie immediately and threw it to the nightstand between their beds.
"Don't ask. She's like a walking libraries and books catalogs," Potter answered. Then, after some minutes, he called Draco. "Malfoy,"
"What?" Draco answered after a yawn.
"Do you think we can do telepathy through our connection?" Potter asked.
"Hm?" Draco thought about the possibility. "I don't know. Your magic supposed to just bonds mine to you. It acts more like a Draco-radar," Draco stopped when he heard Potter chuckled.
"'Draco-radar'. You know, I have suspected you a narcissist, Malfoy. Especially with your silky blond hair," Potter told him.
Draco was a bit surprised by the comment. Nobody knew about his obsession on his own hair but his parents, Pansy and Blaise. Was he that obvious? Wait. Did Potter just say he had a silky hair?
"You think I have a silky hair?" Draco sat up on his bed, looking at Potter. His face a little bright up. Nobody else ever complimented his hair. Well, except his mother and Pansy, of course.
"W-what? No- I mean- uh, well, your hair looks, uh, neat. Let's call a room service! I'm hungry," Potter said quickly.
~o~
"—rry! Harry!"
Draco heard persistent knocks on he and Potter's hotel room. Granger was calling her friend. Her sleepyhead friend. Draco casted Tempus that told him it was seven in the morning. He woke up from his bed and opened the door.
"Granger," Draco greeted her. Behind the girl was Weasley. They both seemed ready to go somewhere. He opened the door wider to let them in.
"Harry, wake up!" Granger shook Potter's body to wake him up. And when she succeeded, she told him, "I've found where she lived!"
"Where?" Draco asked.
"According to the books I read, she lived in a glen somewhere in Dufftown. I have checked there'll be train to the city at nine and we will arrive there at half past six evening. Now, hurry take a shower. We'll wait you two in the lobby," Granger said and then she and Weasley left the room.
"I'll take the shower, first," Potter told Draco.
"SERIOUSLY, MALFOY? ALL OF THE SHAMPOO?!" Potter shouted in disbelieve from the bathroom.
Draco tck-ed. It's not like Potter needed the shampoo for his wild hair anyway. And Muggle shampoos were suck! He would never use any of them again.
So, after having breakfast in the hotel, a short visit to a gourmet shop to buy a bottle of extra virgin olive oil (Draco), and a visit to a candy shop (Draco and Weasley were over the moon ogling thousands variants of candies), finally they took the train from Leeds to Dufftown. And as scheduled, they arrived in Dufftown on Wednesday evening.
Their mission in the city was to find information for the exact place of Rowena's house. But they had to be very careful because the wizards and witches population in Dufftown might have the Dark Lord's spies. In that case, they had to rely on Weasley to dig information from the wizards and witches community as he's the only one who wasn't on the Ministry's wanted posters.
"Can he really do that?" Draco asked Potter and Granger in doubt.
"What do you mean by that, ferret? I can do so much better than you!" Weasley said offended.
"If he makes a wrong move or say something that can reveal us to them..." Draco looked at Potter purposefully.
"I'm not that careless, you arsehole!" Weasley gripped the collar of Draco's black shirt.
"Stop it, you two! Alright, I'll go with him," Potter released Weasley's fist from Draco.
"No, Harry. I better go with Ron. You wait here with Malfoy. Wait for us in that cafe," Granger nodded at a cafe direction near them.
And so Draco and Potter waited. Over two hours later Granger and Weasley returned.
"It's not here," Granger told them with tired voice. "They said her hometown was Carbost."
"And that's a valid information?" Draco asked her.
"Yes. Turns out, Rowena has a special place in the community's heart. Let's get us rooms first, then I'll tell you the details," Granger nodded at a hotel not far from the cafe.
After Draco rented two rooms for them, they were crowding Granger and Weasley's room. While having spaghetti for dinner in the room, they listened to Granger.
"She used to visit Dufftown a lot. She liked the area and according to the community, she had planned to locate Hogwarts around here. But for unknown reason, her plan was cancelled. When she fell ill, some of her dear friends from the community here visited her in Carbost. They had a picture of her taken with Carbost on the background. So it's confirmed that she lived in Carbost." Granger showed the duplicate picture she duplicated secretly.
"And you got all this information easily?" Draco asked skeptically.
"With a bit lies and Confundus charm, of course," Weasley shrugged his shoulders.
"So, this is the part where we should be on alert and very careful," Granger continued, "She died after she fell fatally ill. Legend had it that a broken heart was the cause. So, she added broken heart to her demise."
"And what's that mean?" Potter asked.
"Her house is cursed, and the curse has something to do with heartbroken. They didn't know what was the exact curse, but it caused the visitors to loss affections in them. Two couples of the witches and wizards who visited her house became disloyal with each other and then one couple committed suicide and the other witch murdered her partner. Later another couple visited the house and they got divorced and ended up hating each other to the point where they tried to kill each other." Granger finished her story. The four of them swallowed hard.
"So the curse isn't from Horcrux, then?" Potter asked.
"We have to check it. The curse is too cruel from someone like Rowena Ravenclaw. We'll go there tomorrow. There's no train from Dufftown to Carbost. So we have to travel from town to town to reach it," Granger told them.
"By bus?" Potter asked.
"I don't think every town has the town-to-town travel services. So, bus if we're lucky. Walk if we're unlucky," Granger informed them.
"Walk," Draco said in detest, "Why didn't you buy broomsticks at the wizard's place?"
"We don't have Galleons!" Granger told him in offense.
"Well, let's have bicycles then?" Potter suggested. "Or purchase a car…"
"None of us can drive a car— No," Granger said immediately to Weasley when the redhead opened his mouth to say something. "And we don't have the money. And no, Harry, we will not steal one. And bicycle would be impractical, considering the field's trip we'll take. Besides, it'll only waste our time teaching Ron and Malfoy how to ride bicycle first."
Potter and Weasley mumbled something that sounded like passive protest directed at the witch. They all said good night to each other and Draco and Potter retired to their room.
~o~
Luck was nowhere to be found. No bus to deliver them to Carbost. The four teens had to travel by foot.
The long trip to Carbost was plain at first. They kept walking and took rests as brief and minimum as they could. They wanted to get to Carbost as soon as possible. But as days went by, they became restless. Perhaps it was because they were lack of rests and sleeps during the trip. Weasley got easily snapped by everything Draco did and he became very frugal with their food supply. And Granger seemed uncertain and she spent most of the time reading books, Apparated back and forth visiting libraries. Meanwhile Potter was getting anxious and worried for his friends' strange behaviour.
One afternoon, when they stopped in a forest to take a rest after ten hours walking, Draco applied extra virgin olive oil on his hair. He found a clear water spring near their small tent. So, he decided to treat his hair with the oil and rinse it there. When Draco was sitting by the spring waiting for his hair and scalp to absorb the oil, Weasley stumped in and suddenly barked at him.
"What the bloody hell, Malfoy?! We are saving food here and you just waste that oil for your fecking precious hair?!" Weasley yelled in anger.
"What the hell is your problem, Weasel? I bought it with my own Galleon so I can use it as I please! And it's not like you all eat salad with olive oil dressing!" Draco stood up and yelled back.
"You're an ungrateful creature!" Weasley snatched the oil bottle from the ground and stomped away angrily with it.
Upset with the redhead Gryffindor, Draco chased him to their camp. Hair treatment forgotten.
"Give it back!" Draco grabbed the bottle from Weasley's tight hold. Weasley didn't want to let it go, so they began to fight to get the bottle. After some pushes and hits later, the bottled oil slipped to the ground and broke.
"Look what you've done!" Draco stopped their fight and yelled. He pushed Weasley hard until he fell to the ground bottom first. At that moment, Potter came out from the tent and saw them.
"Stop it you two! What is wrong with you?! Fighting over a bottle of oil?" Potter stood between Draco and Weasley.
"He stole it from me, yelling about how I wasted food supply. That's my oil! What is wrong with your friend, Potter?!" Draco seethed.
"Ron," Potter sighed, "Please, not this again. Nobody's wasting food. And we still have plenty of them. We just picked lots of apples and plums from the forest."
"Why you always defend him, Harry? Are you on his side now? Oh yeah, you and your mysterious bond with that ferret! Tired of me and Hermione now, Harry? You never cared if we run out of food. Or you simply don't care if me and Hermione get starved?" Weasley looked at Potter with raged eyes and then went inside the tent.
Draco and Potter looked at each other.
"You know, Potter. I think something odd is going on here. I've noticed he and Granger acted strange these past few days," said Draco.
"I don't know, Malfoy. I feel something uneasy in the air, too, these past few days…" Potter stared at the tent. "Okay, I don't like this. When I feel something's not right, there's always something not right going on. And I don't want to wait until it's too late. Let's tell them and solve whatever it is going on with them."
"What? I have to come, too?" Draco raised his eyebrow.
"Yes," Potter said as he walked into the tent. With a sigh and eyeroll, Draco followed him. But not before he hurriedly rinsed his hair in the spring.
"Okay, Ron, 'Mione, tell me what's going on here. You two 've been acting unusual for the past days," Potter started. Ron was behind the curtain in the rest area while Granger was so absorbed in her reading that none of them answered.
"Mione?" Potter called, and when the witch didn't acknowledge him, Potter shook her shoulder.
"Not enough information! I need to know what's the curse before we arrive," Granger snapped at no one in particular then she closed the book and was apparently ready to take Apparation to a library again.
"No, Hermione! Listen, you have Apparated to libraries too much in just one week! You won't find anything about the curse in any books, Hermione. Just stop it!" Potter cried half crossed half worried.
"No, 'Mione, don't stop," Weasley emerged from behind the curtain and walked toward her. "We must know about the curse. He won't care if we get hurt and hit by the curse. He only cares about himself and finding those fucking Horcruxes. Come on, let's go!"
"Ron—" Potter called when Granger was ready to Apparate with Weasley to Side-Along.
"Don't wait for us. We won't be back before we find out about the curse! Come on, 'Mione!" Weasley pulled Granger out of their tent and a moment later a whoosh sound was heard.
"Ron! Hermione!" Potter ran outside the tent and called his friends but they both had Disapparated away.