PART THIRTY THREE

The Locket

"Point me," Malfoy whispered to his wand in his hand as he made his way through the Forbidden Forest, which was growing thicker by the minute. He'd been going deeper and deeper into the woods for quite a while now, and he was never more grateful that Hermione had taught him the very useful spell he was using now. She was always concerned for his safety…teaching him all kinds of things in case he ever got lost or if he ever needed help. He bit back a small smile, remembering one night in the study when Hermione had blindfolded him and had asked him to find her using the "point me" spell, and they had ended up chasing each other with their blindfolds off, and minutes later, with their clothes off, too.

Malfoy shook his head and sighed, trying to erase the image from his head. This wasn't really the perfect time to be thinking about her and longing for her again…and he had a feeling there never will be.

Malfoy increased his pace, realizing, as he focused on his path again, that he was almost where he was headed. After a few more minutes of dodging low-lying branches and hopping over overgrown tree roots, he finally reached a miraculously barren clearing in the middle of the woods, where a huge, lone oak stood right in the middle.

It was oddly quiet in the wide, circular clearing, as if all the birds and crickets and all the other creatures in the forest avoided this place despite the beauty it brought. It was very peaceful, but there was such a thing as being too peaceful that it became eerie, and this clearing was a perfect example of that.

Malfoy stopped the "point me" spell and had his wand at the ready, stepping slowly into the clearing with his eyes darting back and forth, as if expecting something to jump at him from all directions. As he stepped nearer to the tree, the silence grew, and so did the fear in him. He knew he got himself into this, and for a long while back he hadn't even thought about turning back, but now he wasn't quite sure that he was not stupid enough to have made the wrong decision.

The moment he reached the oak, a magical and unexplainable aura seemed to rush from it, sending shivers—good shivers—through his spine. In a split second, he had dropped his guard and had stuffed his wand back into his pocket, extending his hand to touch the bark of the huge trunk, his eyes dazed and his heart swelling with an oddly curious explosion, as if the tree was a very being of divinity, come to shed light into his long damned path.

But as soon as his fingers touched the rough bark, he screamed so hard that it echoed through the woods, breaking the stillness of the clearing and sending the wild birds from the trees he'd passed to fly madly away in a flutter of wings.

Pain seeped through his veins, and in an instant, he fell to the ground on his knees with his eyes closed and his teeth gritted. He mustered enough strength to pull his hand away from the tree, which now seemed to have a magnetic force pulling him towards its torture.

He clutched his hand the instant he withdrew it, panting. Realizing now that this was truly a terrible mistake he'd made, he started to get up and leave as soon as he could, but he heard a voice behind him say, "Serpensortia"

To his horror, an enormous snake was now crawling its way around his body and the tree trunk, wrapping him tightly bound to the tree and rendering all his limbs helpless. A horrible, hissing sound made him look up to see the snake's head hovering above his, its yellow eyes almost telling him that if he struggled, it would crush his bones to the tree in a matter of nanoseconds. He opened his mouth to breathe, because even now his chest was being crushed and he could barely get any air. He swallowed heavily and looked straight ahead at a hooded figure now making its way towards him.

He didn't need for the figure to lower its hood to know who was underneath it.

"I'm honored," came a low voice from under the hood, "that you acquiesced to my request immediately, Draco Malfoy. Such obedience is highly appreciated."

"I came because I wanted to know exactly how you intend to make me do what you want me to do in your letter, not because I've agreed to your terms," Malfoy spat, ignoring the thought that the giant snake around him could easily bite his head off. "So is this any way to treat someone you're requesting something from?"

A chuckle escaped the figure's hidden mouth, sending shivers through Malfoy's spine and making his hair stand on end. It was a low chuckle, but it was by far the most terrifying sound he'd ever heard. "Forgive me, Draco, for my lack of hospitality. But I believe that this is necessary, considering your infamous…temper. Binding you is standard procedure."

"Losing my temper is not something I'm proud of," Malfoy said, glaring, "but if you keep beating around the bush like this, trying to avoid the topic we're here to discuss, then I will gladly be proud of using my temper against you."

"Ah, yes; there it is. The strong, rebellious side of you has always captured my interest, from the moment I first laid my eyes on you. Your very being is…intriguing."

Malfoy's eyes flared, and the figure emitted another spine-tingling chuckle.

"Very well, very well. I asked you to come here because I have something for you to do. A mission, if you will." The figure began to walk. "Now, normally I wouldn't have any problems with making you do something for me, but in this case, I can only push this through if you will do this of your own free will first, which makes everything a tad bit more complicated."

Malfoy's glare followed the figure as it walked back and forth in front of him. Malfoy snorted. "A being like you can't even cast a spell on me to make me do it? I never realized how weak you've become."

The figure stopped abruptly in front of him, and the snake instantly squeezed him tighter, making him cry out in pain. "I will cast a spell on you soon, Draco; don't worry," the figure said as Malfoy gasped for air. "But a task like what I will be asking you to do requires your will before I can perform anything on you. Therefore, my dear boy, kindly promise me your volition."

There was silence for a while as neither of them spoke, with the snake's hissing and Malfoy's own panting as the only sounds that could be heard. Then, after a while, Malfoy said through gritted teeth, "And what the hell makes you think I will give you my will?"

At this, the figure lifted its head a bit, menacingly revealing a slow and sinister grin spreading slowly across its mouth, making it the most evil thing Malfoy had ever seen. "Because, Draco Malfoy, with a flick of my wand, I can get rid of the last remaining person that you hold dear."

"Hermione?"

She looked up from the table to look at Ron, whose eyebrows were raised in an unsure way. "Yes?"

"Tell me again why we're watching this," he said uncertainly, eyeing the hologram playing like a film in front of them, as it continued to shine out from the open locket Hermione had placed on the table. "I mean, I know we're in one of the corner tables, but the people here at the Three Broomsticks aren't blind; anyone who passes us by will see everything we're watching."

"I know that, Ron; why do you think I've stationed Ginny to stand guard? She'll be enough to keep anyone out of our hair. Besides," Hermione looked at Harry, "I'm showing you both all these because I want to explain everything that's been going on between Malfoy and me. I've been hiding this for a long time now and I'm sorry; it's time to come clean."

"We're about to graduate and now you decide to tell us? Ow!" Ron glared at Harry, who had nudged him. "What is it with you people and nudging me?"

"Tell us everything, Hermione," Harry said, staring intently at Malfoy's thoughts emanating from the locket.

And this was when, after months of secrecy and confusion, Hermione told her two best friends everything they had needed to know: McGonagall wanting to speak with her all the time, the tutoring, the study, the Dummy, the muddy detention, Malfoy's distracted Quidditch practice, the beginning of their relationship and the stuff they did every night Hermione was out…

Ron winced when Malfoy's thoughts during sex flashed before him, but he tried very hard to suppress his disgusted expression.

…their nightly escapades…the prefects' bathroom…

"So that was why Myrtle came up to me all of a sudden! She looked ready to kill me for not visiting her in years…"

…the Three Broomsticks incident…Ginny and Hermione's conversation in the Hogwarts Express during the Christmas Break…

"He entrusted you to Harry because he thought you were over him, but then you guys made up and you slept with him? No wonder Ginny was repulsed when you girls were discussing it on the Hogwarts Express!"

…Malfoy's Death Eater tasks…Lucius' punishments…the threat of having Hermione killed off…the last task…

"That explains the load of hubbub about Justin…and his bad-ass attitude his father wanted him to bring back explains Cho's accident…" Harry mused, biting his lip. "So what the 'at stake' thing was really referring to was Malfoy's accident during the Quidditch Final, then…?"

"But I can explain that, too." Hermione cleared her throat. "See, we all thought that Malfoy was behind all the horrible things happening—Cho and Justin's unfortunate encounters, but it was all because of Lucius' threats, so even though you were seeing him as the bad guy in your visions, he really isn't. But he isn't the person at stake, either."

Ron frowned. "What?"

"Do you remember your fifth and sixth visions, Harry? You told me that they were telling you how to stop Malfoy. But they weren't; they were telling you about what was going to happen, that's all. And it happened not because Malfoy was at stake, but because You-Know-Who tried to summon him through his pure-blood Dark Mark, causing the gashes on him as a side effect."

"But if Cho, Justin, and Malfoy's accidents had different reasons of occurrence, then who are those people who are 'at stake'?" Ron said.

Harry sighed speechlessly.

Hermione looked at him sternly. "Look, I know you saw Malfoy with You-Know-Who in your seventh premonition, but Malfoy had nothing to do with all this."

Harry looked at Ron as if to ask him if it was time to tell Hermione about his eighth vision, but decided against it. "So what do all my dreams mean then? What is Godric trying to say?"

Hermione heaved a deep sigh of hopelessness. "I don't know, Harry; I don't know."

"Aren't you guys forgetting something?" They all looked up to see Ginny standing beside their table, pointing at Hermione. "Hermione told me that Godric said the visions were signs of things to come, so what Harry's probably been seeing about Malfoy are just, you know, yet to come. Not to mention Godric also said that 'things around you are at stake', but that might mean that it could be Harry who's in danger," she said, making Ron gape at her sudden burst of intelligence. "And what about the whole I'm-not-myself-something's-about-to-snap-in-me crap he wrote about? Has that ever happened to you yet, Harry? Because I'm telling you, if it hasn't, then Godric's probably just senile when he wrote that—excuse me, yeah you; sorry, you can't pass here…Dungbombs and Stink Pellets everywhere…they've only just started cleaning up…" Ginny walked back to her guard post, shooing off a confused-looking young couple trying to get past Harry, Ron, and Hermione's table.

"Much as I hate to admit it, my sister's got a point," Ron spoke up as soon as they were alone again. "But if she's right, then we're all back to square one again…unless you're being randomly possessed by some weird force that's tried to do Godric in before, which I highly doubt…"

And the three of them stayed in silence.

Hermione continued to stare at the video clips from her locket, reminiscing about everything she and Malfoy had been through. She sighed helplessly as her eyes flickered on clip after clip, realizing that there were a few thoughts in there she hadn't noticed before, like the way he'd found her breathtaking that night when he was first attracted to her in the study right after she had distracted him during his Quidditch practice…or that time that he'd actually thought about keeping her warm when he saw her in the stands during the Quidditch Final for a split second…or the fact that she was his very last thought before he'd gotten his Dark Mark…and that thought about him thinking of their "point-me naked escapade" in the forest and—

She blinked. Malfoy in a forest? When did that ever happen? He never told her anything about entering the Forbidden Forest before…

Wait a minute, she straightened in her seat, staring intently at the thoughts now newly flashing by her. This couldn't have been in the past; it was the latest of all, which could only mean he was thinking of these right now, at this very moment…

"Oh my god," Hermione hissed all of a sudden, making both Harry and Ron jerk up in their seats. Harry watched as she gripped the edge of their table with trembling hands, and his eyes widened when she finally tore her eyes away from the locket and stared at him and Ron with nothing but utter fear in her eyes.

Ron opened his mouth, but Hermione spoke first, her voice quivering, "It's Draco," she whispered urgently. "I have to go." And she stood up right away.

Harry instantly gripped her wrist before she could leave. Hermione looked back with a plea in her eyes, but Harry couldn't take it in much longer. "I had an eighth vision."

She couldn't seem to find the reason why Harry thought it was relevant to tell her now, when she was so worried and very much in an urgent hurry. "I should really—"

"You were dead, Hermione. In a forest. I don't know where you're heading off to right now, but you said you're going to Malfoy, and I'm sorry but I won't let you," Harry said firmly to the shocked expression on Hermione's face. "And if what Ginny just said is true, then you're heading exactly towards the danger about Malfoy that's about to come, and you'd just as well be the person around me who's at stake. I'm not being possessed by anything just yet, but everything Godric's said is actually coming true. My seventh vision told me Voldemort and Malfoy are behind this, and my eighth vision told me it'll all get you in the end, and call me crazy, but I'm not letting you go, Hermione. Please," finished Harry with an exasperated yet unyielding plea.

For a few minutes, Hermione stayed rooted in her place, staring at Harry as Ginny and Ron stared at them both. For a moment there Harry almost flinched to see that Hermione's eyes had started welling up, preparing for rivulets of tears. But then she had blinked it all away and replaced it with a brave determination, and it tore Harry right through the heart to see that there was a faint hint of a suicidal decision in her pained eyes.

"Harry," she breathed softly and calmly, despite her quivering lips and shivering body. "You told us that you've just asked Cho to stay away from harm's way…but if she were me and you were Draco, it's obvious what she'd rather do…because she loves you, Harry…" She paused, but kept her eyes on him. "And I love Draco…"

And that was when, despite every fiber of his very being telling him not to, he found himself letting her wrist go.

Ginny stepped in front of her when she started to leave again, but before Hermione could protest, Ginny looked at her with a plea in her eyes and said, "You promised me, Hermione, that day you told me about him…that you'll always think before you act…and you won't mess with things that you don't understand…you promised you won't hurt yourself with him…"

Hermione squeezed Ginny's hand. "I know what I'm getting myself into…and I'm ready for it all." She smiled at her, and finally left.

And as soon as Hermione walked out the Three Broomsticks' door, Harry buried his face in his hands and sighed deeply. Ginny slumped down in Hermione's now vacant seat, not anymore bothering to stand guard. Ron was still staring at the door Hermione had disappeared to. "Don't you reckon we should follow her…?"

"Follow her where, you bloke? You saw her leave; you heard her not tell us where she's going," Ginny snapped. "If you have any idea where she's headed, you're nutters."

"In that case, I'm barking mad," Harry suddenly said, and Ginny and Ron both stared at him like he'd just sucked on a dozen Sherbet Balls. "What?" Ron and Ginny said in unison.

"It doesn't all make perfect sense, but a great lot now does," Harry said in an almost euphoric yet extremely and ironically terrified tone, his eyes widening as he continued to stare at the new thoughts flashing out of the locket. "I can't explain every detail but I think all my visions are pointing to this…the clearing…Malfoy…Voldemort…Hermione…" Harry looked up at his two friends the moment the images from the locket were abruptly cut off, signaling the end of Malfoy's thoughts at the moment.

"What are you jabbering on about, mate?"

Harry turned to Ginny. "Ginny, please make sure Cho stays out of this, and keep monitoring this locket for updates in case Malfoy thinks of Hermione again. Alert the teachers right now and tell them Ron and I are at the Forbidden Forest—with Voldemort himself."

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I know, I know; I'm late again! It's kind of getting harder as the story culminates and stuff. But as I've said for like, a gazillion times before, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou………………………

(after five hours…) Ahem. Okay, now that I've expressed my sincerest and deepest gratitude, I would also like to apologize for not being able to reply to the reviewers…I'm afraid I won't be able to give my occasional "reply to the reviewers" thing for a while, so I'm really sorry. Also, I would like to apologize for all those people who gave me suggestions and stuff. Much as I appreciate them all (ssoooooooooo much!!:D ), I unfortunately can't write what you guys suggest because I already have my basic plot figured out from the start…which means I already have plans for all the events on this ficcy…so I'm really really sorry…I just hope that when I finally finish this story, I can still somehow satisfy you guys . But don't worry!!! I'm pouring out my heart and soul into this fic!!! I won't let you guys down!!!

Once again, muchas gracias!!!!! I've had 281 reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mygawd, it's almost like a dream:D THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!sniff sniff waaaaaaaaaaahhh…………………………………..

Up next: One question—What the hell will happen next???????? (hohoho :D ) Stick around and find out!!! Love you guys!!!.