45. …Draco is one-eighth muggle

Hermione sat up suddenly and painfully. She had been shaken out of a light sleep by a
horrible nightmare about Ron being trapped underwater, and…she looked around sadly.
It was true, and she was still in the dismal little cave.

She listened closely to Reginald's breathing, which was noisy but strong. Under normal
circumstances, Hermione would have felt a bit strange snuggled up next to a veritable
stranger under a ratty old blanket, but she was too warm to care. As she thought about
how much time had passed and where Ron was, she gave in to the overwhelming tension
and worry and began to cry softly, tears streaming down her face.

Reginald bolted awake, jumping to his feet and looking around frantically. With an
expression like a trapped animal, he surveyed the crying Hermione with dismay, sitting
down and scratching his head. Hermione hiccupped a few times.

"Hermione…?" he started, as if unsure what to say to someone of the female persuasion.

"I'm sorry…I woke you up…" she apologized, still crying pathetic little sobs. "You
should go back to sleep."

Reginald sat down, sighing. "It'll be okay. Draco always comes through in the end."

Hermione felt a bit peevish, and countered with "Yeah, when he's not calling me a
Mudblood."

Reginald snorted, amused. "Guess he's never told you about Grandfather Alfred, has
he?"

Hermione peered over her arms, which were clutching her legs tightly. "Who?"

"Alfred, my grandfather. Married a Muggle woman and was almost disowned, but then
his older brother died. All his children were Squibs through-and-through, except for
Arthur, Lucius' and my father." He sat back, leaning on his elbows. "That makes him,
what…one-eighth Muggle?"

Hermione blinked a few times. "Wait a minute…why are you telling me this?"

"Because Draco, as wonderful as he is, can be a bit aristocratic about his heritage. And
because you're obviously upset." Reginald looked worried. "Did I help? I can't really
remember how to talk to people."

Hermione actually laughed. "Yeah, you did."

Reginald grinned, thoughtfully stroking his chin. He looked down at his waist, length,
filthy beard and grimaced. "You know," he said, "As long as we're waiting, I might as
well make myself presentable. I look like a criminal."

Hermione looked him over appraisingly. "That's true. Do you want me to do it? I
mean…" she looked embarrassed. "You don't have a wand, and all…"

"Sure," Reginald said good-naturedly.

Hermione grasped her wand in her hand and said an incantation. Instantly, Reginald's
rags resolved themselves into normal, but plain, wizard's robes. As she watched, his long
matted hair fell away and his beard dissolved itself, leaving him clean-shaven. Years of
dirt and filth disappeared from his face, leaving his skin pink and well scrubbed.
Underneath the layers of dust and grease, his now shoulder-length hair was the same
white-blonde as Draco's. He looked a good deal like Lucius, except without the cruel
smile and haughty air. He had more lines in his face than an average man of his age, no
doubt from his cruel imprisonment.

Hermione caught her breath. Reginald was incredibly handsome, and she shouldn't be
noticing that!

"Thanks," Reginald said, standing up. "That feels so much better! Wow!"

Hermione blushed. Reginald looked at her strangely, his gray eyes searching.
Draco and Ron huddled behind a rock, praying that the kraken wouldn't notice them. Up
close, it looked like a writhing mass of ink streaming through the water. It swam into its
cave, seemingly intent on something.

Ron was digging his fingers into Draco's arm, pressed up against him in panic. He
signaled frantically at Draco, as if asking when they were going to escape. Draco shushed
him with a motion and watched the kraken intently.

There was a strangled sort of cry from the cave, and the kraken swam out angrily. Ron
started hyperventilating and Draco fought the urge to smack Ron to snap him out of it.
They had managed to get to this perch before the kraken noticed anything was amiss, but
now it had obviously noticed Ron's absence and would be looking for them. Hitting Ron
was out, if only because the kraken was sure to hear it. He settled for plugging Ron's
nose and covering his mouth until the lack of oxygen finally calmed him down. When he
took his hands away Ron glared at him but remained silent.

Ron still hadn't changed back from being Blaise and Draco found his mind wandering at
the sight of that perfect pout. With effort he dragged his mind back to the problem at
hand, and berated himself for not having done so sooner. The kraken was now circling
the rock they were perched on as if sensing their presence and Draco was sure that soon it
would send up questing tendrils to search them out. He felt Ron shaking beside him and
thought that perhaps he had already had uncomfortably close contact with those slimy,
scaly tentacles.

Then he realized something; the kraken no longer looked like a mass of writhing black
ink. It still looked incredibly dark but now Draco could see individual features. There
was light coming from somewhere. He looked up and was surprised to see pale light
filtering through a crack in the cave roof over their heads. He jabbed his elbow into
Ron's side and pointed upward.

Ron stopped shuddering and stared up at the light as though transfixed. Before Draco
could stop him he began clambering up the rock they had been hiding behind. Once at
the top he stretched up his arms but could not quite reach the lip of the hole. Draco's
attention was pulled away from Ron by a sound from below. The kraken had stopped it's
circling and was now reaching up with writhing tendrils, making Draco's blood run cold.

Quickly he scrambled up the rock to stand beside Ron and surveyed the situation. Ron
noticed the tentacles quickly coming up the rock below them and squeaked. "Draco, how
do we get out? We can't get out," he nearly wailed and Draco briefly reflected on the
differences between Ron as Ron and Ron as Blaise.

"Shut up and let me think, will you," Draco snapped. Ron paused in his distress to look
hurt. "I've got it. You lift me up and I'll climb out and then I'll pull you out."

Ron looked like he was about to object but just then a tentacle lashed upwards and
narrowly missed Ron's ankle. With a surprisingly sudden burst of strength Ron grabbed
Draco around the knees and shoved him up towards the lip of the hole. It wasn't until
Draco had grabbed the lip and pulled himself up and out that Ron realized that his face
had been centimeters from Draco's butt. He was distracted from this thought when a
tentacle twisted itself across his toes and he screeched and started jumping up and down,
reaching up for Draco's hands. Finally their hands met and locked and Draco started
pulling with all his might.

His efforts weren't assisted, however, by the fact that Ron's legs were flailing, trying to
knock away the tentacles that had finally reached up high enough and started catching at
his feet. Looking down, Draco could see that the kraken had hauled some of its inky
mass out of the water to extend its reach and was using many tentacles to cling to the
base of the rock. The other tentacles were reaching up ever higher and some of them
were now wrapped around Ron's legs and waist and pulling at Blaise's dress.

Draco managed to haul Ron upwards far enough that Ron could get a firm grip on the
edge of the hole and Draco was able to free one hand to try to assist against the tentacles.
Aside from Ron's ankles, Draco saw that a great part of the kraken's hold on Ron was
based on the good grasp it had on the dress. Producing his wand from seemingly no
where, Draco spat out an incantation that caused the straps to tear and Ron was quickly
dragged out of the hole as the dress swiftly slipped from his body.

The suddenness of the action caused Draco to fall backward and land with Ron sprawled
on top of him. For a few moments the two just lay in a stunned heap, trying to get their
breath back and feeling their hearts slow as the adrenaline drained out of their systems.

Lying, as he was, on his back, Draco found himself looking up at the bright face of a
gibbous moon and realized that that had been the light that fell through the hole and
saved them. His train of thought was cut off, however, as Ron sat up and replaced the
moon with his head. Ron was grinning broadly and, before Draco had a chance to react
to the sight of two perfect, unclad breasts dangling just above his head, he swooped down
and caught Draco in a fervent kiss. Not one to let such gratitude go to waste, Draco
grabbed Ron around the waist and rolled him over, giving him no chance for escape. Ron
didn't appear to mind this turn of events at all and Draco's hand was just beginning to
wander from Ron's waist when there came a terrible shrieking, crashing sound from
below.

Instantly, the two were sitting bolt upright, listening intently to the sounds issuing from
the kraken's cave. With out a word spoken, both stood and began looking around for a
way out of there. What they saw was not promising. They were standing on a small hill
the jutted up out of the swamp. It's presence was virtually inexplicable as looking out in
every direction all there was to see was mud and reeds and water shining coldly in the
moonlight. Ron had unconsciously taken Draco's hand and he shivered and leaned closer
to Draco as a wind picked up, reminding them that now was not the best time to be out in
a swamp naked.

The sounds coming from below suggested that the kraken was fit to pull the whole cave
down, and them with it. Somehow they had to get away. The ground beneath their feet
shuddered and Ron started to turn and run down the hill, but Draco grabbed his arm,
halting him. "No. I think we must go quietly. We have to go through the swamp and if
it knows where we are we don't have a chance."

"But if we don't get out of here what's to stop if from just coming out and seeing us?"

Draco thought about this question. Basically, they were in a lose-lose situation. "Here,
follow me," he said, starting off to where the reeds came up to the base of the hill.
"We'll have to stay low and stay in the reeds as much as possible. We'll just have to
keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't find us."

Once they got to the base of the hill Ron no longer looked quite so gung ho about leaving
it as he had before. He looked at the weeds they would have to enter dubiously. "Are
there spiders in there?" he finally asked in a small voice. Draco just looked at him,
baffled.

"We're running from a kraken and you're worried about SPIDERS?!" he finally asked,
exasperated.

"I don't like spiders," Ron said defensively.

Draco just shook his head. "Man, when you turn into a girl you really go all the way,
don't you." Ron opened his mouth as though to say something but then shut it with an
audible click. Looking resolute he turned and started wading into the reeds. Draco
followed and soon they were up to their knees in muddy water.