"Desperation: In these silences something may rise." - Stephen King,
Desperation. (SO not from Resident Evil.)
*
"Why are you slowing down?" asked Draco.
"Gas," said Hermione, pushing on the accelerator in some kind of illogical hope that if she just pressed hard enough, the car would continue to move. "We're out of it."
"That's bad?" He was still fiddling with the radio. If he didn't stop it soon, Hermione was going to hit him.
"Yes," she said, through gritted teeth. "The car needs gas to run."
"So, you're saying that we can't go anywhere else?"
"I am."
"Huh." Draco was now tapping the radio lightly with his wand. He didn't look at Hermione when he spoke.
The car gave one last shuddering spurt ahead, then ground to a halt. Hermione hadn't even managed to pull over to the side of the road. She banged her head against the steering wheel, causing the horn to sound loudly. She hadn't been expecting it, and jumped, banging her knee on the underside of the wheel.
Perfect. Hermione suppressed the urge to scream, and instead fiddled with the car until she'd managed to turn on the emergency flashers. She only hoped that the first person to find them would, in fact, be a person, and not a zombie. Or anything else. She looked over at Draco, who was now poking his wand into the CD player.
Hermione snapped. "Would you stop that and at least pay attention to the fact that we're not stranded in the middle of the road, not far from a town filled with zombies?" She grabbed his wand and held it above her head.
At least she'd succeeded in getting his attention.
Draco gaped at her for several seconds before any words came out of his mouth. If she hadn't been so mad at him, Hermione would have found the look quite hysterical. As it stood, though, she only felt like shoving his wand down his throat.
"Have you gone mad, Granger?" Draco said, when he could finally form words.
"I should ask the same of you. You're like a toddler, sticking his fingers in things. Next thing I know, you're going to be teething on the seats. We're in a bloody mess here, and I'd appreciate it if you showed some proper respect."
"Would you like me to panic?"
"Maybe. At least act a little disturbed."
"How's this?" He pulled a face, raising one eyebrow, opening both his eyes widely, and biting his bottom lip.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh. She stopped when she remembered how cross she was with him.
"You know," she told him, "You're beginning to sound disturbingly like Ron."
The face disappeared, and Draco grabbed for his wand. When he had it in his hands again, he resumed his prodding of the radio.
Hermione looked at him quizzically. "Are you actually trying to do something with that, or has this town affected the few brain cells you have?"
"So the great brain of Gryffindor finally catches on."
"What are you doing, then?" Hermione could think of no purpose, unless Draco was intent on listening to music.
"I do know a little about Muggle science, contrary to popular belief. This thing works through transmissions of sound waves, right?"
Hermione nodded.
"Well," Draco continued, "I thought, that maybe if we could send sound waves like they're received, we might be able to contact someone at Hogwarts."
Hermione's eyes lit up. "Draco, that's positively brilliant! Let me help." She pulled her own wand out from under her thigh, where it had been resting during her driving excursion.
"Now I'm brilliant. A minute ago I was Weasley."
"Well, you still sound a little out of character. But that's not the point. Anyway, while your idea is brilliant, I'm not sure that I've the knowledge of radio waves or geography to make it work. If we manage to reverse the signals, how do we know that the message we're broadcasting is getting to Hogwarts and not, say, Voldemort?" Hermione was now studying the radio in an intense way that mimicked Draco's earlier actions. She'd moved from the driver's seat to the middle seat, and was leaning over Draco's legs. Her head was probably obscuring his view of the radio, but she didn't care.
"When I was playing with this thing" he tapped the tuning bar "it flashed the words 'Convenient Plot Device: Hogwarts wavelength' when I got to a certain point. I thought that was a pretty good indication." Draco swished Hermione's hair away from the face of the radio with his wand.
Hermione tried to swat the wand away, but only managed to get her hair tangled around it. She sat up, and tried to untie the knot, using both hands. "It's too easy. Since when do these Convenient Plot Devices work for us?"
The wand was thoroughly stuck. Hermione wondered if he'd somehow managed to find some chewing gum to drop in her hair. She began pulling, haphazardly. Between Draco and those damn birds, she'd be bald by the time they made it back to Hogwarts.
"It's all we've got, unless you fancy walking in the rain. Here, let me help you with that." He pushed her hands out of the way, and went to work on untangling the wand.
"No, thank. We'll stick to your plan."
"There." He'd gotten the wand free from her hair.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
"Magic."
"Cute. Work on the radio." Hermione fingered her hair, amazed to find no broken strands. Maybe he did use magic.
They soon realized that, even if they did find the right spell to reverse the way the radio worked, they wouldn't know if they'd made contact. It was rather frustrating, and after nearly thirty minutes of tapping the radio, muttering random spells, and shouting at each other, Hermione had had quite enough.
"I give up!" she cried.
She sighed and sat back in the driver's seat, fooling with the controls until she'd reclined into an almost horizontal position. She closed her eyes.
"Fine," said Draco, sitting back in his own seat, and trying to make it slide back as Hermione had done. He only managed to move it back several inches. The seat back was still in its full and upright position. He growled at it.
Hermione opened one eye and looked over at Draco. He was bent over the seat, hands concealed under it, apparently searching for the reclining lever. She watched him find something and smirk, only to have the seat back more forward instead of back. She giggled.
"If I'd have known I was going to be the comic relief here, I never would have gotten in the damn car with you. How do you make the seat do that?" He waved his hand.
"You have to press the seat backwards, with your back, while you're holding that lever down."
Draco tried again, to no avail. "You hexed my seat while I wasn't looking, didn't you."
"Yes, Draco, I did. I thought it would be a much better use of my time than trying to figure out the radio. After all, it's my greatest dream to be stuck in a car with you, with no hope of rescue."
"When did you get to be so sarcastic?"
"I'm not sure. Oh, for heaven's sake, you're going to amputate a limb if you keep at it that way. Let me help you." Hermione moved from her own seat until she was next to Draco.
He was still bent over the seat, fooling with the controls.
"Hold the lever down," said Hermione.
"Okay."
"Are you holding it?"
"Yes."
"All right." She pushed sharply back on his seat. The resistance wasn't as great as she'd anticipated, and Hermione found herself flying backwards with the seat.
Draco sat up, turned around, and looked at Hermione. Her arms were dangling off the sides of the headrest into the back seat. Her face was pillowed on the seat, and she was panting; the fall had knocked the wind out of her. He laughed, and leaned back in the seat with her.
She glared at him. "I don't think it's funny."
"Turnabout is fair play. And thank you."
"You're welcome." She started to push herself up from the seat and away from Draco. "I guess we really should try some more with that radio. I haven't seen a single car on the road since we've been here."
Draco snaked his hand up and around Hermione's side. "Let's take a little break from the radio."
Hermione was about to protest that they really didn't have time to waste, and besides, she wasn't about to kiss him. Again. But then his hand started tracing little circles on her side, and she forgot what she'd been about to say. She looked at him and discovered that at some point, he'd moved his face only inches from hers. She was looking directly into his eyes.
"Hi," he said.
"Um," said Hermione, but wasn't able to finish the thought, as Draco's lips covered her own.
Oh, this was nice. Draco's lips and hands and - when had his leg moved over hers? Never mind that. She wiggled in the seat until their bodies were touching from head to torso. Her hands found their way to his hair. She moaned into his mouth.
Draco had moved one hand to Hermione's cheek and was gently stroking it. Such a move spoke of tenderness, and it confused her. Shouldn't Malfoy be rough and thoughtless? Damn him for messing with her worldview.
When he pulled away from the kiss, she used the hand resting on the back of his neck to pull him back to her. She traced his lips with her tongue, and then parted them, tracing his teeth. The hands on her back crushed her tightly to him, as the kiss deepened.
How long they'd been kissing, Hermione wasn't sure. She could have stayed in the car with him forever, with no thoughts of zombies, dogs, or returning to Hogwarts. Something in the back of her consciousness was still alert enough to pick up sound, however, and there was definitely a tapping on the window.
"Umfph!" she said into Draco's mouth, and used her hands to push him away. "Get off. Do you hear that?"
Tap tap tap.
Hermione looked out the window, but it was clouded with steam. Blushing, she reached across Draco to wipe it clean.
She screamed. Standing outside the car was a very wet, very cross looking Severus Snape.
*
"Why are you slowing down?" asked Draco.
"Gas," said Hermione, pushing on the accelerator in some kind of illogical hope that if she just pressed hard enough, the car would continue to move. "We're out of it."
"That's bad?" He was still fiddling with the radio. If he didn't stop it soon, Hermione was going to hit him.
"Yes," she said, through gritted teeth. "The car needs gas to run."
"So, you're saying that we can't go anywhere else?"
"I am."
"Huh." Draco was now tapping the radio lightly with his wand. He didn't look at Hermione when he spoke.
The car gave one last shuddering spurt ahead, then ground to a halt. Hermione hadn't even managed to pull over to the side of the road. She banged her head against the steering wheel, causing the horn to sound loudly. She hadn't been expecting it, and jumped, banging her knee on the underside of the wheel.
Perfect. Hermione suppressed the urge to scream, and instead fiddled with the car until she'd managed to turn on the emergency flashers. She only hoped that the first person to find them would, in fact, be a person, and not a zombie. Or anything else. She looked over at Draco, who was now poking his wand into the CD player.
Hermione snapped. "Would you stop that and at least pay attention to the fact that we're not stranded in the middle of the road, not far from a town filled with zombies?" She grabbed his wand and held it above her head.
At least she'd succeeded in getting his attention.
Draco gaped at her for several seconds before any words came out of his mouth. If she hadn't been so mad at him, Hermione would have found the look quite hysterical. As it stood, though, she only felt like shoving his wand down his throat.
"Have you gone mad, Granger?" Draco said, when he could finally form words.
"I should ask the same of you. You're like a toddler, sticking his fingers in things. Next thing I know, you're going to be teething on the seats. We're in a bloody mess here, and I'd appreciate it if you showed some proper respect."
"Would you like me to panic?"
"Maybe. At least act a little disturbed."
"How's this?" He pulled a face, raising one eyebrow, opening both his eyes widely, and biting his bottom lip.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh. She stopped when she remembered how cross she was with him.
"You know," she told him, "You're beginning to sound disturbingly like Ron."
The face disappeared, and Draco grabbed for his wand. When he had it in his hands again, he resumed his prodding of the radio.
Hermione looked at him quizzically. "Are you actually trying to do something with that, or has this town affected the few brain cells you have?"
"So the great brain of Gryffindor finally catches on."
"What are you doing, then?" Hermione could think of no purpose, unless Draco was intent on listening to music.
"I do know a little about Muggle science, contrary to popular belief. This thing works through transmissions of sound waves, right?"
Hermione nodded.
"Well," Draco continued, "I thought, that maybe if we could send sound waves like they're received, we might be able to contact someone at Hogwarts."
Hermione's eyes lit up. "Draco, that's positively brilliant! Let me help." She pulled her own wand out from under her thigh, where it had been resting during her driving excursion.
"Now I'm brilliant. A minute ago I was Weasley."
"Well, you still sound a little out of character. But that's not the point. Anyway, while your idea is brilliant, I'm not sure that I've the knowledge of radio waves or geography to make it work. If we manage to reverse the signals, how do we know that the message we're broadcasting is getting to Hogwarts and not, say, Voldemort?" Hermione was now studying the radio in an intense way that mimicked Draco's earlier actions. She'd moved from the driver's seat to the middle seat, and was leaning over Draco's legs. Her head was probably obscuring his view of the radio, but she didn't care.
"When I was playing with this thing" he tapped the tuning bar "it flashed the words 'Convenient Plot Device: Hogwarts wavelength' when I got to a certain point. I thought that was a pretty good indication." Draco swished Hermione's hair away from the face of the radio with his wand.
Hermione tried to swat the wand away, but only managed to get her hair tangled around it. She sat up, and tried to untie the knot, using both hands. "It's too easy. Since when do these Convenient Plot Devices work for us?"
The wand was thoroughly stuck. Hermione wondered if he'd somehow managed to find some chewing gum to drop in her hair. She began pulling, haphazardly. Between Draco and those damn birds, she'd be bald by the time they made it back to Hogwarts.
"It's all we've got, unless you fancy walking in the rain. Here, let me help you with that." He pushed her hands out of the way, and went to work on untangling the wand.
"No, thank. We'll stick to your plan."
"There." He'd gotten the wand free from her hair.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
"Magic."
"Cute. Work on the radio." Hermione fingered her hair, amazed to find no broken strands. Maybe he did use magic.
They soon realized that, even if they did find the right spell to reverse the way the radio worked, they wouldn't know if they'd made contact. It was rather frustrating, and after nearly thirty minutes of tapping the radio, muttering random spells, and shouting at each other, Hermione had had quite enough.
"I give up!" she cried.
She sighed and sat back in the driver's seat, fooling with the controls until she'd reclined into an almost horizontal position. She closed her eyes.
"Fine," said Draco, sitting back in his own seat, and trying to make it slide back as Hermione had done. He only managed to move it back several inches. The seat back was still in its full and upright position. He growled at it.
Hermione opened one eye and looked over at Draco. He was bent over the seat, hands concealed under it, apparently searching for the reclining lever. She watched him find something and smirk, only to have the seat back more forward instead of back. She giggled.
"If I'd have known I was going to be the comic relief here, I never would have gotten in the damn car with you. How do you make the seat do that?" He waved his hand.
"You have to press the seat backwards, with your back, while you're holding that lever down."
Draco tried again, to no avail. "You hexed my seat while I wasn't looking, didn't you."
"Yes, Draco, I did. I thought it would be a much better use of my time than trying to figure out the radio. After all, it's my greatest dream to be stuck in a car with you, with no hope of rescue."
"When did you get to be so sarcastic?"
"I'm not sure. Oh, for heaven's sake, you're going to amputate a limb if you keep at it that way. Let me help you." Hermione moved from her own seat until she was next to Draco.
He was still bent over the seat, fooling with the controls.
"Hold the lever down," said Hermione.
"Okay."
"Are you holding it?"
"Yes."
"All right." She pushed sharply back on his seat. The resistance wasn't as great as she'd anticipated, and Hermione found herself flying backwards with the seat.
Draco sat up, turned around, and looked at Hermione. Her arms were dangling off the sides of the headrest into the back seat. Her face was pillowed on the seat, and she was panting; the fall had knocked the wind out of her. He laughed, and leaned back in the seat with her.
She glared at him. "I don't think it's funny."
"Turnabout is fair play. And thank you."
"You're welcome." She started to push herself up from the seat and away from Draco. "I guess we really should try some more with that radio. I haven't seen a single car on the road since we've been here."
Draco snaked his hand up and around Hermione's side. "Let's take a little break from the radio."
Hermione was about to protest that they really didn't have time to waste, and besides, she wasn't about to kiss him. Again. But then his hand started tracing little circles on her side, and she forgot what she'd been about to say. She looked at him and discovered that at some point, he'd moved his face only inches from hers. She was looking directly into his eyes.
"Hi," he said.
"Um," said Hermione, but wasn't able to finish the thought, as Draco's lips covered her own.
Oh, this was nice. Draco's lips and hands and - when had his leg moved over hers? Never mind that. She wiggled in the seat until their bodies were touching from head to torso. Her hands found their way to his hair. She moaned into his mouth.
Draco had moved one hand to Hermione's cheek and was gently stroking it. Such a move spoke of tenderness, and it confused her. Shouldn't Malfoy be rough and thoughtless? Damn him for messing with her worldview.
When he pulled away from the kiss, she used the hand resting on the back of his neck to pull him back to her. She traced his lips with her tongue, and then parted them, tracing his teeth. The hands on her back crushed her tightly to him, as the kiss deepened.
How long they'd been kissing, Hermione wasn't sure. She could have stayed in the car with him forever, with no thoughts of zombies, dogs, or returning to Hogwarts. Something in the back of her consciousness was still alert enough to pick up sound, however, and there was definitely a tapping on the window.
"Umfph!" she said into Draco's mouth, and used her hands to push him away. "Get off. Do you hear that?"
Tap tap tap.
Hermione looked out the window, but it was clouded with steam. Blushing, she reached across Draco to wipe it clean.
She screamed. Standing outside the car was a very wet, very cross looking Severus Snape.
