Disclaimer: so, I legally own Tom Felton now. He's mine. He follows me around and cuts my food into bite sized pieces.

A/N: This is sort of a short one, but although I knew I needed to get another chapter, I didn't know what would come next exactly. Honestly, I would rather have a good short chapter than a long terrible one. Thanks to all the reviewers! Cheers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Nasci Mortuus."

Draco's voice faltered, but the words still rang clear across the silenced sand. Draco squeezed his eyes tight as an angry red beam shot violently out of his wand, spreading out like a blanket of light across the crashing waves to settle and disappear into the water.

"Yes," breathed Lucius, watching the writhing sea hungrily. Hermione crouched under his wand, pushing down against the sand under her hands and holding her breath. Lucius looked down at her, his smile seeming to reach both ends of his eyes, and winked.

"And we're doomed," murmured Ron out of the side of his mouth.

Draco stood near the waves with his eyes closed. He could hear the straggled breathing of Hermione, Ron, and Harry from behind him and feel the intense pressure of his spell pressing against his back. A cold wind blew in from the sea, blowing his silvery hair back from his face and sounding a strange whistle across the beach. Draco opened his eyes to the sea, which was no longer moving in its waves. The surface had grown eerily still for as far as he could see into the darkness.

"Draco, step back," Lucius whispered, staring intensely into the darkness. The wind's whistle sounded again, less human and sending supernatural shivers down the back of everyone present.

"Draco! Move back now!" Lucius hissed, motioning for a Death Eater to pull Draco back. The Death Eater went up to Draco and pulled him sharply back from the edge of the beach. Draco moved back with him, legs suddenly feeling very weak. Hermione looked up as he passed her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. She only smiled grimly and looked swiftly back up at Lucius, who was starting to frown. The sea, although now weirdly calm, sent out nothing else out of the ordinary. Nothing arose from its depths; no sound of the undead reached the shores, except for the eerie whistle.

The group of Death Eaters shuffled their feet nervously. Hermione dug her fingers into the sand, gathering up a handful near Lucius's feet.

"Where are they?" Lucius hissed, straightening up and striding to the edge of the water. "Something should be happening by now!" A Death Eater walked up and took Lucius's place beside Hermione. Hermione looked over her shoulder at Ron, who was drawing pictures in the sand with a twig.

"Harry, look at my horse," Ron whispered to Harry.

"Not now Ron, I'm trying to think," Harry whispered back. On a second thought, he looked over to where Ron was pointing. "That's a horse?"

"Yeah, it's a horse."

"A very large horse. A very whale-ish horse." Harry muttered, looking back into his hands.

"Well, thanks Harry, for all your creative support," Ron mumbled, scratching out the horse with his finger. He noticed Hermione looking at him from behind his shoulder. Ron sneaked a look up at his Death Eater and then looked back at Hermione.

"How are you holding up?" Ron mouthed.

Hermione shook her head and mouthed, "Tell Harry to get ready to run."

"To run?" Ron mouthed back. Hermione nodded and motioned to Harry.

"And grab your brooms," she whispered, turning back to where Lucius was staring out at the water.

"What the HELL happened to the spell?!" Lucius shouted, striding back to where Draco was being held. He grabbed Draco by the front of the collar and dragged him to the edge of the water. "Shouldn't something be happening?! Isn't that what usually HAPPENS when you perform a spell?!" Lucius yelled, pushing Draco's face towards the ocean.

"Maybe when you perform a spell correctly," Hermione said, just loud enough to Lucius to hear.

Lucius turned around slowly. Draco's heart beat loudly against his chest as he looked over his shoulder at Hermione. She was sitting on her heels, her hands in her lap, looking innocently back at his father. Lucius dropped Draco into the sand and sighed.

"It never fails. Even under WAND POINT, you somehow find a way to get your opinion into the matter." Lucius took a step forward towards Hermione. Draco looked up from the ground, shaking sand from his hair.

"It's not an opinion," Hermione said, softly, pushing her hands father into her lap, hiding the sand that was hidden in her fist.

"Oh really." Lucius pulled off his gloves, clenching and unclenching his fingers.

"Harry, get ready to run," Ron mouthed to Harry. Harry nodded silently, bunching up his knees into spring position.

Draco looked at Hermione wretchedly. She was on the precipice of a cliff and she had only to push his father one more time and she would go careening down and not even he could save her. Hermione found his eyes and nodded.

"Don't say anything," she mouthed to Draco. But Lucius, who had been stretching out the leather in his gloves, caught the exchange. He stepped in front of Draco and pushed away the Death Eater's wand on Hermione's back.

"Say what?" Lucius asked smoothly. Draco pulled himself up shakily and stood by his father.

"Nothing Father, we were just-" Lucius cut him off with a sharp behind slap with his glove across the face.

"Shut up, Draco. The girl is capable of answering for herself. Merlin knows, she's done it enough in the past week." Hermione only smiled and clenched the sand harder into her hand. "You were saying?"

"It's not an opinion. It's a fact that you didn't do the spell the right way," Hermione replied in a bored drawl. Lucius gritted his teeth and took another step further.

"Then pray tell us. Tell us ALL why my son didn't do the spell sufficiently enough for you," Lucius said, raising his voice so that the whole congregation could hear him.

Harry and Ron were on their haunches, their Death Eaters too engrossed in the conversation to really pay attention. They glanced at their brooms, which were being guarded by Goyle's father over at the side.

"That'll make it a bit easier," Harry whispered to Ron, who nodded.

"Loudly, so we can all hear!" Lucius continued.

"Necromancy is different than regular magic. In order for dead spirits to rise, they must settle somewhere else. They need a body for them to reside in," Hermione said.

"Why not their old bodies?" Lucius asked, twirling his gloves.

"Sir, we must hurry. The Ministry must have already sensed the magic," Antonin said softly. Lucius nodded, but made no pretense to move.

"Why not their old bodies?" Lucius repeated.

"Their bodies laid for hundreds of years in the ocean. Do you really think that after all this time there would be anything left?" Hermione shook her head pityingly.

Lucius grimaced and strode to where Hermione was sitting, slapping his gloves against his forearm in annoyance. She smiled up at his face, which was growing ever more red with fury.

"WELL then, tell us! Where DID the spirits go?" Lucius asked sharply, trying to contain his manic rage. Hermione shrugged nonchalantly.

"The nearest cemetery, I suppose. They're probably all spread out. They were a HUGE army." Hermione moved slowly onto her heels.

"Get ready," Harry whispered. Draco saw Harry and Ron watching Hermione fixedly and moved from behind his father. Harry found his gaze and motioned with his eyes to the brooms. Draco nodded ever so slightly.

"Are you suggesting that we go tramping all over Ireland looking for each individual warrior?" Lucius asked, voice rising at the incredibility. Hermione only shrugged. Lucius screamed in frustration and threw up his hands. When he looked back at Hermione, she was laughing softly.

"What is so amusing?" Lucius said softly, pointing his wand at her head. Draco's breath was haggard.

"You had better know what you're doing," Draco whispered under his breath.

"You remind me of a spoiled child, that's all." Hermione replied, matter of factly.

Lucius looked at her in shock, his eyes going wide. "I'm going to make you scream, you little-"

Hermione chose that point to finally fling the sand into Lucius's eyes, sending him reeling back in pain, clawing violently at his eyes. Harry and Ron launched themselves up and threw themselves towards their brooms. Goyle's father, who Harry punched flat in the face, fell over backwards with a grunt as all the other Death Eaters frantically grabbed their wands. Hermione rushed over to Lucius, who was writhing in the sand, and grabbed her wand from his pocket, afterwards running towards Harry and Ron, dodging the Death Eaters' hands and ducking under their cloaks.

Draco tried to run towards the brooms, but Antonin caught him and pulled him back. Despite Draco's frantic attempts to free himself, Antonin held him calmly in one arm as he shot out spells with the other.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled, trying vainly to break Antonin's vise like grip. Hermione mounted after Ron, shooting out spells behind her. She was past being expelled at this point. Draco's cry reached her ears as the brooms lifted.

"Draco!" Hermione screamed as she lifted up higher.

"Good God, hold on to something, Hermione!" Ron yelled back at her. Hermione watched as Draco's figure grew smaller and smaller and their brooms lifted higher and higher into the clear night...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: You know what I found out? It's proven that not reviewing fan fictions causes cancer.