Howdy! It's time to update. I can't believe I passed 100 reviews already! Thanks so much to all of you. One reviewer even said that I should get 1001 review… think it could happen? Well, even if it doesn't, I'm very pleased at all of the positive feedback that I got. Did anyone watch the world premier of HpatSS on TV? I threw myself a whole Potter Party! It was complete with popcorn and a nice Coke and a pile of things to throw at the TV when Sevvie was being mean. Yeah okay, on with the story.
Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter or anything like that.
Chapter 8 Draco's First Steal
There were barely three days left before the Festival of Fire would begin, and Draco was hardly ready. Although he had passed the tests so far, there was still much to learn in a real steal. Which was why Draco was sitting down at the dinning room table, listening to a meeting that Hermione had called.
"Listen up everyone, especially Draco. We need money, and fast. So we're going to multi-task and train Draco and get some money." She explained.
"Does this mean that we're going to the palace up north?" asked Dean. Hermione smirked.
"That's exactly what I mean."
"Are you sure he's ready?" asked Seamus looked skeptically at Draco. Draco kept a straight face.
"I'm ready for any curve you throw me." He said simply. Hermione nodded in approval.
"Well then, let's get started." She said as she swept from the room into the storage room. Draco followed closely behind her.
Hermione entered a small and darkly lit chamber that was filled with things pilled against the walls and lying on the ground. When she lit a torch, Draco could see that it was much cleaner than he thought. Standing up were suites of armor with giant shields in their hands. The walls were lined with swords of all sizes. Each one looking more magnificent than the last. Hermione walked over to the corner where a small chest was sitting on the ground. She opened it and rummaged through to find what she needed.
At last, Hermione emerged from the chest with several things in her hands. Motioning for Draco to follow, she walked out of the armor room and back to the dinning room. She laid the things on the table for everyone to see.
"I think I got it all. Let's see… There's two pocketknives, two sets of ropes, two large sacks for stealing, one thing of grease, one rope with a hook on the end… Yeah, that's about it." Said Hermione going through all of the things that she had picked out.
"Looks good to me." Said Harry. "You're going with him right?"
"Oh yeah. I don't think he's ready to do this alone." Said answered. Draco looked at her intently.
"Why not? I've passed all of the tests with flying colors. I'm ready for this." He protested. Hermione shook her head.
"Trust me, you're not ready for a steal on your own. Very few on them," said Hermione motioning to the others, "steal alone. There's no chance for you. No, you'll be my charge for now. If you do well, then maybe you can steal alone, but it might be awhile for that."
Draco looked at the floor for a minute before asking, "Then you'll be with me, right?"
"Of course." Said Hermione smiling. "Okay, now take your stuff and get ready. Meet me at the doors in an hour. By then it'll be almost sunset. We'll have just enough day light to get there and get in." said Hermione as she took a few of the things and went off to her bedroom. Draco took the other one's and headed off to his own.
When Draco arrived at the entrance, Hermione was already there along with the rest of the clan. They smiled at Draco and Hermione as they stepped forward and said the password together. The rocks opened letting them all walk out onto the beach. The clan stopped there.
"All right, this is where we split." Said Hermione nodding towards the others.
"Break a leg." Said Blaize. Several people nudged him in the ribs. "Figuratively speaking of course." He added. Hermione let out a loud whistle and her magic carpet came flying towards her. She jumped on it as it floated down to the ground and hovered just a few feet above the ground.
"Let's go, Draco." She said. Draco eyed the carpet for a minute before climbing on.
"We'll be right here for you, Princess." Said Neville.
"There'll be a nice big, crackling fire already for you." Assured Ron. Hermione and Draco said their goodbyes and soared right out towards the palace.
This was no regular palace. A cruel man whose name was Count Hugh Twist owned it. He was an evil man, who never bothered to give money to poor families or even throw a party once in awhile. Alone and rich, he lived in a gorgeous palace not too far from Sirena. As heavily guarded as it looked, the palace guards were poorly trained. Hermione had chosen this spot just for that reason.
As they flew closer, Draco became more nerverous.
"What if I screw up?" he asked Hermione as they flew just outside one of the open windows. Hermione laughed.
"You're forgetting one thing. You have me with you. Your chances of screwing up and getting caught are very small. Besides, the guards wouldn't kill you. They'd kill me then return you to your precious palace." Said Hermione. This made sense to Draco although he really wasn't looking to going back if he was caught. The carpet let them off. "Just circle around, Carpet. Make sure you aren't caught though." Hermione said to her carpet. It flew off and they were left at the bottom of a, opened window.
Hermione took her rope with a hook on it from her belt and began to swing it around. When she let go, it flew up and hooked itself to the open window. She tugged on it to make sure it was sturdy and began climbing. Draco followed closely behind her.
The open window led to a corridor that was just lit by the setting sun. Hermione figured that they would be out of the palace by the time the sun was fully set. Draco looked around, thinking of where to go. They looked up and down before Draco motioned for her to follow him down the corridor. He saw a small light coming from the end so she followed him down there. They crept down as quietly as they could, hiding in the shadows that danced upon the walls.
As they got closer, Hermione could see glass doors. That meant that they had gotten lucky and had entered right next to the treasure room. Draco peered through the doors and quickly pulled back. Five guards were in there, sitting and chatting. He turned back to Hermione as if to ask what to do. Hermione was in deep thought as she looked around to find something that might prove useful.
Finally, she saw it. Her eyes lit up. Draco looked in her direction and saw what she saw. He smirked as she looked back at him. She smiled and went toward the thing. It was a huge vase, just sitting there waiting to be pushed. Draco laughed to himself. Vases seemed to be his worst enemy lately. Maybe he could over come it.
Hermione went over to the vase, as Draco got ready to pick up one side. They carefully set it on its side with great difficulty. When it was ready, Hermione and Draco gave a huge shove and the vase began to roll down the corridor. Because of its size, it hit the wall with a loud crack. The guards picked up their heads and ran out of the room to investigate. Hermione and Draco crept out of their shadows and walked into the treasure room.
The clan was right. This guy did have enough treasure to go around. The room was stashed full of all sorts of treasure that would put Draco's parents to shame. There were pieces of gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and golden crowns, mirrors framed in gold. Draco's eyes lit up as he saw this. Hermione just smirked.
"Let's get to work." She said walking toward one pile of gold. She began to fill the bag. Draco did the same on another pile. When his bag was three fourths full, he walked over to Hermione, who was already finished.
"Was that it?" he asked as though waiting for something big to happen. Hermione nodded.
"That's it. The only thing left is getting back. Easier said than done." She warned him. Draco laughed it off as the exited the treasure room. Just then, they heard the thumping sound of footsteps. The guards were coming back with lit torches in their hands. Hermione and Draco looked at each other nervously. The corridor was blocked. The only way out was back down that rope, or if they were lucky enough, they could find an open window that Carpet might be flying around. This was only if they were lucky though.
Voices and noises came closer and closer to the spot where Hermione and Draco were standing. They listened closer and heard that it was only two of the guards instead of five. Draco suddenly got an idea and pulled Hermione to the side. He hid her behind a vase.
"What are you doing?" she hissed at him.
"Don't worry. I have a plan." He assured her as the guards walked past the vase. Draco picked up two smaller vases sitting on the ground and pashed the two guards on the head with them. Hermione carefully crept out of her hiding place.
"What did you do?! You know we don't hurt the innocent." She exclaimed. Draco remained calm.
"They aren't dead. Just knocked out for a while. Now we have time to take their clothes and run back to the rope." He explained. Hermione's frown turned into a smile as she helped Draco steal a few of the garments from the guards.
"Why don't we just run down there now?" asked Hermione looking off towards the end of the corridor.
"Incase the rope isn't there. We can walk out of here like we own the place." Said Draco as he finished dressing himself. Hermione pulled her hair into a turban and they walked down the hall, looking every which way.
They came at last to the window. The rope wasn't there! Someone had cut it and it was too far to jump down. They had no other choice.
"We'll have to find another way out." said Draco as they began to walk in the opposite direction. Suddenly from behind, the two half-naked guards came running down the corridor. Draco and Hemione looked at each other for a quick second before the guards noticed them.
"There they are!" cried one of them.
"Let's get them!" cried the other. The two guards rushed towards the two thieves. Hermione and Draco didn't waste any time. They darted forwards, running with all their might. The guards were barely five feet behind them. They hurdled down a corridor that was a dead end with only a window at the end. Hermione and Draco turned around. The guards had cornered them. They backed the two up against the wall. Hermione could see no sign of Carpet. The only things below them were a line of a small rooftop.
"Do you trust me?" she asked Draco just as the guards were about to be face to face with them.
"Of course." He said hoping she had a brilliant idea somewhere in her brain.
"THEN JUMP!" she yelled taking Draco's hand and pulling him out of the window. They fell down and down, trying to stay on the little bit of rooftop that was there. Just when they were about to hit the ground with a huge crunch, Carpet came out of nowhere and flew right under them. He caught them just in the nick of time.
Hermione and Draco looked at each other after recovering from the initial shock. Then they looked back at the palace. The two guards were starring out of the window at them, shouting and shaking their fists at the two. They laughed and waved back.
"Buh-bye!" Hermione called back.
"So long, suckers!" yelled Draco. Carpet began to fly back towards the hideout, with Hermione and Draco laughing all the way.
The clan was outside partying to no end. They had started a huge bonfire on the edge of the lake. Tables had been taken out and were now filled with food. Justin and Crabbe were playing a fiddle and the drums, making a happy tune in celebration. They saw Carpet flying towards them, and cheered. Their leader and the rookie had returned.
"You made it!" exclaimed Ron slapping Draco on the back.
"We almost thought you were goners!" yelled Seamus shaking a bottle of wine and popping it open. It sprayed all around. The clan cheered again and danced around. Draco seized the moment. He pulled Hermione to him and planted his lips firmly on hers. Her eyes widened in shock. Her whole body was going crazy as the wine sprayed over them. The rest of the clan was too busy celebrating to notice Hermione and Draco. It didn't matter. Draco gentle sucked on her lips, making her go crazy. She could feel the want in her stomach. No one had made her feel this way. This kiss seemed to go on before Hermione finally pulled away, smiling a sweet smile. Draco smiled back as she took his hand.
"Let's get back to the party." She whispered to him.
And so, for the rest of the night, Hermione, Draco and her clan danced the night away, with Hermione almost never letting go of Draco's hand.
!
Back at the palace in Sirena, King Lucius and Queen Narcissa were in a meeting with the head guards.
"Are you sure that there's no sign of him at all?" asked King Lucius. One of the guards nodded.
"We've looked everywhere. He's not in Sirena. No one has seen him since the day after his party." explained the guard.
"Maybe he was captured by that girl and her clan?" asked Queen Narcissa.
"That's possible. The clan hasn't been seen either." Said the other guard. The conversation went on, but little did they know that they were being watched.
From the shadows, Adam sat listening to the whole conversation. So, the prince was missing and nowhere to be found. Though, wasn't it odd that just as the prince is missing, Hermione suddenly gets a new clan member?
That was it! Adam knew now. The new member of Hermione's clan was the prince of Sirena himself. Adam smiled an evil smile. All he had to do was get Hermione to marry him, kill the prince, and the throne of Sirena would be his at long last!
A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating quicker! I tried really hard, but my sister had sleepover last night so I couldn't use the computer. I will update much more tonight. Thanks so much for being loyal readers and seeing this chapter through! I love each and every one of you!
Me,
RonFan