Chapter Twenty-nine

Protective shield

Draco could see the mermaid swimming towards the bottom, pulling at one of Hermione's legs.

Not quite sure if he was going to make it, he pointed at Hermione and shouted the Bubble-Head charm he had seen two of the champions of the Triwizard Tournament use when they had to dive into that lake. None of his words were clear, but his wand reacted nonetheless.

Draco sighed with relief when he saw a bubble of air appear around Hermione's head, and repeated the charm on himself. At least he had ensured that she wouldn't drown, but if the mermaid got to the bottom of the lake, Hermione would be killed on the spot, her heart ripped out by her claws.

He remembered the spell he had learned from Hermione for drying clothes, in which a great jet of air came out, and he rolled onto his back, making that motion with his wand.

A great air blast came out, propelling him backwards. Draco smiled, it was working. He kept doing that movement, looking over his shoulder to see if he was getting close to the mermaid.

With ten more moves, he managed to reach Hermione's head. She had her eyes closed and appeared to be asleep.

Well, now he had to be quick and do it without hesitation. Draco grabbed one of her arms so as not to lose her and, after holding on to her body using his legs, he tied the bracelet Hermione had given him to one of her forearms.

Hermione instantly opened her eyes and screamed once she realised she was underwater, with Draco clinging to her back. Looking down at her feet, she saw that a mermaid was tugging at her right ankle as they dived deeper and deeper.

Draco stroked her cheek, and when she turned her head to look at him, he placed his wand in her right hand, trusting her to choose the best spell to get rid of the mermaid and escape.

Hermione held Draco's wand tightly and, after one last look into his grey eyes, shouted a spell.

She had a bubble of air around her head, so he could understand her words and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Crucio!"

A beam of red light shot out from the wand and hit the mermaid, who let go of Hermione and began to scream, writhing in pain.

"Where's my wand?" she asked, digging in her pockets as she continued to control the Unforgivable Curse she was attacking the creature with.

Draco, who was still shocked because of the spell Hermione had cast, needed a few seconds to react.

"I don't know, maybe it fell when the mermaid caught you."

Hermione muttered something and released the mermaid from the course, raising the wand towards the surface of the lake.

"Ascendio!"

They both started to rise to the surface rather quickly, but to their horror, they saw that the mermaid had already recovered and was chasing after them, her tail wagging at full speed as she bared her fangs at them.

"You won't escape, human!"

Hermione felt a lump in her throat. The creature was about to catch up with them.

"Attack her again!" Draco shouted at her back.

She aimed at the mermaid again, who tried to dodge the spell.

"Desmaius!"

The sea creature shrank back as a beam of golden light struck her.

Draco looked up, they were only about ten metres from the surface. He began to move his legs, his arms around Hermione's waist, and she mimicked him as she pointed the wand at the mermaid, ready to cast another spell at her if she dared to come close.

Slowly they reached the surface, and both gasped as they popped their heads out of the water. The Bubble-Head Charm disappeared, and Draco saw Luna running towards the lake, with Professor McGonagall at her side.

He took the wand from Hermione, who was still pointing it at the mermaid, and repeated the movement of the hot air spell. A rush of air propelled them towards the shore, and with just two more moves they were both able to stop swimming, feeling the earth beneath their feet. They stood up and went out of the lake as quickly as possible.

"Get out of the way!" shouted the professor, who was already very close to them.

Draco pushed Hermione away, McGonagall was about to cast a spell at them. They both landed on the shore, and they saw that the mermaid had followed them and was only a couple of metres away, her glowing violet eyes full of rage and claws at the ready.

"Interclusio!"

A bolt of silver light shot from Mcgonagall's wand and struck the centre of the lake, instantly creating a transparent shield that covered the entire lake.

The mermaid crawled to the shore and slammed her body into the invisible shield, furious.

Draco smiled with relief, she could no longer reach them. He got to his feet, offering his hand to Hermione. She didn't take it and stood up on her own, looking quite pale and frightened.

"An Unforgivable? What the hell were you thinking?" Draco asked quietly, putting his wand back in his pocket.

"It was the first thing that came to my mind. I didn't have time to think and I just did it" she replied, trying to catch her breath.

McGonagall walked over to the mermaid, who was still trying to get through the shield with most of her body out of the water.

"I should have known that, once Dumbledore died, the agreement you had with him would die as well" she murmured as she gazed into her purple eyes.

The mermaid shrieked and everyone had to cover their ears. Out of the water, her voice was so high-pitched that it was unbearable for humans.

"Silencius" McGonagall said, pointing her wand at the mermaid.

The creature instantly became mute and glared at her with hatred.

"Tell your queen that she must come to meet me. We'll sign a new agreement or I will not remove this barrier. You must not attack humans under any circumstances" the witch added, staring harshly at the mermaid.

The mermaid showed her fangs and moved away, diving back into the giant lake.

"Hermione? Mister Malfoy? Are you alright?" McGonagall asked worriedly, coming closer to where the two of them were drying off with the wind created by Draco's wand.

Hermione looked down at her ankle, where she had several deep scratch marks.

"We're fine, Professor" she replied, breathing in slowly to try and calm herself.

Her nerves were still on edge. It hadn't been pleasant to wake up from some sort of weird dream and find that she was sinking into the lake. And she hadn't liked seeing Draco hugging her from behind either.

Luna ran to her and hugged her tightly.

"I was really worried about you" she admitted softly, letting out a small sob.

Hermione put her arms around her and smiled.

"I'm so sorry" she whispered in his ear.

"The only thing that matters is that you're both safe" Luna answered, pulling away to look into her eyes as she smiled.

"You should go to the Hospital Wing, just as a precaution. And then to my office, I want you two to explain to me what has happened. Lovegood, come with me and tell me everything you've seen."

The blonde girl nodded and followed McGonagall up the hill towards the castle entrance, glancing back several times.

Hermione sighed once she realised she had been left alone with Draco. She looked away, she needed to get away from him.

"Well, let's go to the Hospital Wing and get this over with as soon as possible" she said in a shaky voice, starting to walk.

She felt two arms wrapping around her, pressing hers against her own body to hold her down.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" Hermione protested, trying to free herself.

Draco dragged her a few feet away, until they were hidden behind a tree.

"I'm not letting you go until you listen to me" he murmured, holding her tighter from behind.

Hermione snorted and squirmed, desperately trying to get free.

Draco tightened his grip and spun her around, until her back was against the tree trunk. He pressed his body to hers again and looked into her eyes, meeting her reproachful gaze.

"Will you listen to me?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

Hermione stopped moving and snorted in annoyance.

"I guess I have no choice. Say what you have to say quickly, I want to get out of here and forget everything that's happened today."

Draco sighed, fixing his grey eyes on Hermione's brown ones. He never thought he'd say anything like that, let alone to her.

"I've... I've realised that... Fuck, this is hard. Now I know that I love you" he admitted, his voice dropping lower with each word.

Hermione started laughing.

"Very funny, Malfoy. No one's going to believe that."

"I'm not lying."

She narrowed her eyes.

"You dare to say that to me when you were sleeping with someone else yesterday? Don't try to deny it, I know all about it" Hermione grunted under her breath.

Draco frowned.

"I didn't have sex with her."

"I know, the whole castle knows" Hermione muttered in a mocking voice.

Draco rolled his eyes, twisting his lips in disgust.

"It wasn't like she said. I couldn't do it because I was thinking about you all the time, and I didn't like her touching me... I want you to be the only one touching me from now on, Hermione."

Her smirk disappeared and she stared at him.

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you're a bloody liar."

"I'm willing to take Veritaserum if you won't believe me" Draco replied, sighing again.

Hermione made a face, unable to find the words to answer him.

"I'm not lying, I mean it."

She rolled her eyes and snorted. It was quite hard to believe his words.

Draco bit his lower lip and pulled her into his arms.

"If you give me another chance, we could go together to Hogsmeade, walk around the lake at night now that it's safe again, kiss non-stop until dawn... and laugh at the look on everyone's face when they see we're together, including my parents" he whispered, his breath touching her ear.

Hermione shuddered as she listened to him, she had been waiting for months for him to say something like that.