Part six

A short time later they found themselves traveling the same road that they traveled at the beginning and end of every school year.

They arrived at Hogwarts. "This feels so strange," Hermione remarked as they entered the great hall.

"I don't feel like I'm supposed to be here."

"You *were* expelled, Draco," Ron replied. "I guess we should talk to someone first..." He looked around. It was just after dinner, so there were still a few students loitering about, basically ignoring them.

Draco pulled aside two Slytherin girls, probably second or third years. "You two. Could you go fetch the Headmaster for me?"

"Why? Who're you?" one of the girls, a blond, questioned.

He sighed. "Draco Malfoy."

Her little friend nearly dropped her books. "*The* Draco Malfoy? The one who--"

"Yes," he cut her off.

"Wow." The girl stood, transfixed on him. The blond crossed her arms over her chest.

Draco turned and looked at the other two. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, you're famous. Just think about why you're famous. Can we please speak to the headmaster?"

The blond grabbed a hold of her friend's arm. "We'll go get her." She glanced at her friend, who was staring at Draco. She groaned. "Anything for Draco Malfoy."

"Her?" Hermione muttered to Ron.

He nodded. "You wouldn't know, would you? Dumbledore retired last year. McGonagall has taken over. It was all over the Daily Prophet. I was invited to the retirement dinner. I didn't go."

A few moments later Professor McGonagall descended the stairs, smiling. "Ron, Hermione, how wonderful to see you. Mr. Malfoy." She nodded stiffly.

Hermione smiled, though the boys did not. "Hello Professor."

"Whatever are you doing here?"

Hermione frowned. "I'm not sure I know..."

"We need to speak to Professor Snape," Draco cut in.

Ron nodded. "If at all possible. And as soon as possible."

McGonagall frowned. "That can be arranged. I believe he is in his office. You can go on down. Will you be here long?"

"Thanks," Draco said stiffly and started down the hall. Ron followed without a word. Hermione looked at her old professor and shrugged her shoulders sadly before following her companions.

They found his office and knocked on the door. "Come in," came a muffled reply. Snape was sitting at his desk grading papers. He stood when he saw who had entered the room. He looked at Ron's bloodshot eyes and Draco's leather jacket, and how Hermione stood a few feet away from the boys as if she were fearful that mediocrity was catching. "I see what Hogwart's finest have turned into." He sat again, and gestured to some chairs. The three remained standing.

Ron looked at his feet, but Draco and Hermione did not recoil from his biting remark. "I believe you, Mr. Malfoy, should be in Azkaban."

Draco reddened in the face. "The charges were dropped two years ago."

"And your downward spiral, Mr. Weasley, has managed to travel the gossip line even to Hogwarts." He turned to Hermione. "I haven't heard anything about you."

"I'm at University, Professor," she said stiffly.

He sighed. "At least one of you turned out okay."

Draco crossed his arms. "Now that you're done belittling our pitiful existences. There is a reason we're here."

"Do share, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco took a slow breath. "Please address me by my first name. Thank you. We came to ask you for information on a seer named Fenella."

"Never heard of her." But his face said otherwise as he paled as he spoke.

"Try again, Professor," Hermione said.

"She had a vision of the Dark Lord's downfall. He was going to kill her. I convinced her to run."

"There was a prophecy. About three squibs."

"Three barren shall rise, bringing forth a new power."

Ron nodded. "That's it. Do you know what it means?"

Snape leaned back in his chair. "Seers are funny creatures. They like to be vague. The only one who can tell you what it means is Fenella herself. And she's not accepting visitors. Let sleeping dogs lie. Whatever it means, it can't be good."

"We don't care. We need to know. We heard she could help us."

"I know this woman. She is much too powerful to mess with, and none too friendly either. Go back to your worthless little lives and forget about the Wizarding world. Believe me, you will be better off without it."

"How would you know?" Draco asked, none too kindly. "Have you ever tried living without magic? A day, a week? It's torture. I'm living proof that it's torture. Okay, maybe Weasley is. Its worse than dying, because only part of you is dead and you can feel that missing part, and nothing can fill it. Nothing. I wouldn't wish it on anybody." He paused. "Well, maybe my father."

Ron and Hermione both stared at Draco in shock. Snape simply opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a sheet of parchment. "You're not going to like this." He started writing. "Here is how you get to her home. Unfortunately, you can only get there by foot. I hope you don't die. Getting there, or her killing you." His voice still held a twinge of his old patronizing tones.

He handed the scrap of paper to Ron. Ron blanched. "The-the forbidden forest?"

*****

The three all stood at the edge of the woods. "I don't want to go in there." Ron was fumbling with the tiny green bottle that he always kept in his pocket. Draco, likewise, had pulled out a pack of cigarettes and was searching for a lighter. "Maybe we should re-think this whole thing."

Draco gave up finding the lighter and shoved the crumpled pack of cigarettes back into his pocket. "No. We're going to do this." He looked slightly sick to his stomach at the idea.

Hermione sighed, realising that she would be taking charge of the expedition. "Okay you two." She wrenched the bottle of Drug from Ron's fist and chucked it as far as she could into the woods.

"Hey! I need that!"

"Not while I'm around." She then took a step over to Draco, reached into his jacket pocket, and handed him his lighter. "Okay. Are we ready to go now?"

Ron scowled. "No."

"Tough." Hermione started walking into the trees, and the other two hadn't much choice but to follow.

The three walked in single file. "This isn't too bad," Ron said nervously after about half an hour. "Kinda,' y'know, peaceful and all."

Draco stubbed his toe on a tree root and cursed before replying. "Until it gets dark." Ron turned to him, fear showing in his paling face. "We should have waited until morning. I'm not keen on running about in a place with werewolves, trolls, and who knows what else."

"Can I have one of those fags?" Draco handed Ron the pack of cigarettes wordlessly.

"Don't forget the Ford Anglia," Hermione said thoughtlessly.

Ron froze. "Let's not talk about that."

Hermione glanced back at her old friend. "You can't pretend he never existed, Ron."

"Watch me."

Draco saw the tension between the two, and decided the subject needed to be changed. Besides, if they kept on the subject they would without a doubt bring him up eventually. Hermione would probably hit him again. The idea was not appealing. "I wonder why she decided to hide in the middle of dangerous woods."

"Because we're the only ones crazy enough to actually come in after her," Ron remarked, as keen as Draco was to get off the subject. "Or we're not, and the others have all ended up dead in the process."

"That's a pleasant thought." Hermione looked at the directions and roughly sketched out map that Snape had given them. "We go...this way. I think." She started off in a direction on a path so indistinct it would go unnoticed to anyone but Hermione. "So what do you know about this woman anyway?"

"Nothing," Ron replied.

Draco agreed. "Absolutely nothing." Hermione stared at both of them. "I mean, we've pretty much reached the end of our rope haven't we? We're desperate. Especially Weasley here. Who cares, if we have a chance of getting our powers back?"

"I could still go either way. I do just fine without it."

"Then why are you out here risking your neck in the forest?"

She shrugged. "Someone has to keep an eye on you two."

"You don't give a shit about me."

"Ron then."

"Yeah. Weasley needs all the help he can get."

"I heard that!" Ron called. He had begun to lag behind the other two. "Look guys, we need to stop." They turned to find him clutching a tree branch, trying to catch his breath. He looked a bit green around the gills. "I think...I'm going...to be sick."

Draco glanced at Hermione. "Withdrawal. Shouldn't have thrown that stuff out. Either he's going to get very scary, or he's going to pass out. Probably both."

Hermione sighed. "Why me? Okay. It's getting dark anyway. I wasn't planning on stopping-we're not exactly prepared, are we-but I certainly don't want to have to carry him along. Ron, we're stopping." She turned in time to see him running off into the trees. She started to follow.

Draco grabbed her shoulder. "Don't. Let him throw up in peace. Give him that dignity. He doesn't have that many left." Hermione sighed and nodded in agreement. "Let's find a space to start a fire."

She agreed and they found a small clearing a small bit away. As they cleared the forest floor down to bare earth Hermione glanced up at the rapidly darkening sky. "Give me your lighter."

Draco complied. "Good luck." He added under his breath, "You'll need it."

"Oh, shut up." She quickly gathered some twigs and sticks, and two minutes later she was in the process of building up a satisfying campfire. She glanced at Draco's shocked expressions. "Six years of Girl Guides."

Draco sat down. "I am impressed."

She almost smiled. "Thanks."

They sat in a silence brought on by the short peace between the two. "I still think you're a bitch," Draco said finally.

"I still want you in jail."

He stood. "I'm going to track down Weasley. Make sure he hasn't coughed up anything vital."

"Maybe I should go..."

He shook his head. "I've seen him like this before. I don't want him to be embarrassed because of you. He wants you to think of him as what he was. Not what he's turned into."

She let him go, and within fifteen minutes he had tracked down Ron, half conscious against a tree. "You alive?" he asked casually.

"Somebody's taken a sledge hammer to my head. But I'm done throwing up, if that's what you mean."

"Good. Granger is getting on my nerves. I really can't stand her." Draco pulled him unsteadily on his feet and they started walking.

"Why? I mean, it's not as though you're all, 'die, muggles, die.'" He gave Draco a sideways glance. "What's she ever done to you?"

"Her holier than thou attitude gets to me. Especially since she has every right to act so. She's got my number, even if you've buried all of that in the past."

"Leave the past buried." Ron kicked a rock. "I don't want to deal with it."

"You're going to have to sooner or later."

"Whatever."

Draco decided to change the subject. "Why didn't you and Granger ever get together?"

Ron laughed, then clutched his head in pain. "I dunno." He winced. "Ow. Just never happened. But I don't do too bad, relationship wise."

"Yeah. Moaning Myrtle."

"How did you know?"

Popped in on me during a shower a couple days ago. Nice girl, that one." He chuckled.

"Very funny. Wait. In the shower?!"

They had come back to Hermione's fire. She was standing still in the middle of the clearing. "Quiet," she hissed.

"What?" Ron asked. Then he heard it too. The crunching of twigs and dead leaves. There was another. Footsteps, and not small ones either. They looked around nervously. "There's giant spiders out here, you know," Ron said nervously. "I think I'm going to throw up again."

The timing of the sentence was perfect, because two very large green forest trolls took that moment to crash through the trees. The trolls stared at the invaders to their woods.

"We've done trolls before," Hermione said evenly. "We can handle this." The invaders stared back at the trolls. "Run!"

******

A/N: No, I have not given up on this story. I finish what I start. (No matter how long it takes.) I should be able to get through one more part before I hit another writer's block. And see, that part where I leave you hanging means the next part should be coming up soon.