DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Don't sue, I'm poor. EXCEPTION: I own the Witches of Trane, the Crystal Orb, the flying carpet idea for the story (kinda), the idea that the forests of Albania are next to the Dead Sea and the Door of Serenity.
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CHAPTER 15: Dead Zombies Kiss (Chapter rated PG-13)
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Hermione screamed and immediately stood up, panting. Her left arm hurt a lot where she fell, and she knew her knee was bleeding, but she didn't care. What did she just see? She tentatively reached out to make sure nothing was there, that the whole thing was just a figment of her wild imagination, and that she really needed to eat and sleep. And then she would wake up, safe in bed with some hot soup for her sore throat and something for her wicked headache.
But something was there. She pulled away in a flash, standing as still as a frozen lake. What was it? She remembered that it's face was horrible. It had skin that was wrinkly and sunken in and eyes that were completely white. Its nose was nothing but two holes in its head, where the real nose that stuck out was supposed to be. And it had no lips, only a mouth that was open with blackness inside.
She could hear light panting from all sides of her, that she was sure wasn't her. She quietly whispered Lumos Maxima, in hopes that her wand would still work even if it was out of her grasp. Then she could get and it and run for her life.
There were at lest a hundred of them. Zombies. Dead Zombies. Staring at her. Surrounding her. Hermione screamed with terror, and dove for her wand, quickly scooping it up and running like death was on her tail. She tripped and fell many times, but she kept going, to get away from the monsters, the zombies. Then she walked right into someone she least expected.
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Draco got up from his comfortable spot in the sand, and quickly brushed the salt and sand off his butt. Then he started to walk into the forest, afraid of what he might find.
It quickly got dark, hardly any light was visible, and then, as he got deeper and deeper into the forest, there was no light left. He wished he had a wand as he tripped over roots and got scratched with twigs and branches coming out of no where. He was only walking for about 5 minutes, when he saw a light approaching quickly. Ready for the worst, Draco braced himself, but soon found it was Hermione, walking forward but her head was turned, looking back into the forest. She was running and bumped into him and spun around, wand ready. When she saw it was him, she smiled weakly, and collapsed into his arms, sobbing and sobbing. He wrapped his arms around her, making her safe. They stood like that for what seemed like forever, but was really only 5 or 6 minutes. When she moved back, his chest felt cold and alone.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him, looking behind her like something was following her.
"I don't know! That door, it took me underwater! To the Dead Sea! What are you doing here?"
"The door took me to this forest! Thank god the forests of Albania and the Dead Sea are so close... or... or I don't know what would've happened." she sighed and sat on a root, still looking shifty eyed.
"What's going on? What were you running from?" he asked her, still standing.
"I could ask you the same thing!"
"I wasn't running! I heard you scream, so I came in! You could be a bit nicer to your rescuer!" he remarked, glaring at her. He just practically saved her life, and this is how she thanked him? By soaking the front of his shirt, and then being rude?
"Rescuer? I think I could have found the way out fine, even if you weren't here!" She wiped her eyes and sniffed, looking up at him.
"So now you wish that I wasn't here? Fine, I'll go then. Good luck." He took a step, but she stopped him, holding his arm.
"No, Draco, don't go. Please. I'm sorry." she sighed, letting go of his arm as he turned around. She was standing now. "There are zombies in this forest! We have to get out of here!"
Draco gave a wry chuckle. "Zombies? Come on Hermione, you read a lot. You of all people should know that Zombies don't exist."
She glowered evilly, surprised he didn't believe her. "Well, they do here! I didn't think they existed either, but then try to explain to me what was back there."
He smirked. "I don't know. Let's go see!"
She gasped. "No! We can't go back, we have to leave! Ron is out there somewhere! Where is he, did he come with you?"
Draco sighed. "No. I don't know where he is. He might have... drowned, in the lake."
Hermione shook her head. "The Dead Sea has too much salt in it. It's too dense. It's impossible to drown. Even if you do die in the water, you still float to the top. He must be somewhere else."
Draco sighed, looking out into the forest. Zombies? Surely Hermione was kidding.
"Hopefully he's nearby." she said, wistfully. "Look- we have to go. Now. Those... those things, they're after us! We need to go and get help."
Draco spun around, enraged. How could she be so dense? "And where do you think we should go, Hermione? Where?" he shouted. "To your precious parents at their Golf Tournament? To my family? To the Weasleys? To our school headmaster? There's no where to GO! And how would we get there, anyway? We don't have a broom! We don't have a flying car! Maybe you could pull another Wingaudium Levisoa, and float us away to get some help! What should we do?" He completely broke down, and fell on the ground, tears of rage and sadness streaming from his eyes.
"My father KILLED my mother! So many people are dead! The Weasleys could be dead, or dying right now, Ron could be dead. Thank god I found you, at least. I don't know what I would have done if..." he stopped himself, realizing he went too far.
Hermione took in a deep breath. "If what?" she asked after a few moments.
Draco took in a shaky breath. "If something happened to you." he said quietly.
He was panting, but the tears had subsided. Hermione stood there, not moving. After a long pause she finally said. "So you really do care?"
Draco sighed and stood up, taking Hermione's face into his hands. "Yes. I've loved you for such a long time. And I could never tell you. I was always so mean to you... and I regret it now... I love you." He said the last three words very quietly, then took his hands off her face and turned around shamefully.
Hermione didn't know what to say. She studied his lean figure, and his beautiful shaggy blonde hair. It was growing out now, it was a little past his ears. It took her a few minutes, but then she thought of the perfect thing to say. "I kind of figured something was going on that first time we almost kissed." She smiled, hoping he would get the underlying message from that sentence.
He turned back to her, happiness showing in his eyes. His face even seemed to get a little rosy as he scooped her into his arms, and kissed her passionately.
It was perfect.
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Ron quickly went down into the passage way, not even taking the time to think it through. All he knew was he had to get out of here and fast.
It went down a long way, and as he fell, he thought about every that had happened.
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Flashbacks...
Ron woke up in his bed, smelling breakfast. 'Smells good.' he thought, as he went downstairs to get some.
"Ronald, we have some guests. Get them two extra plates. Set them in Charlie's and Bill's places, please." said Mrs. Weasley as he came down.
Ron wondered who was here as he set them out.
About 15 minutes later...
Hermione came down from upstairs, and Ron was shocked. Why was Hermione here? When did she get here? How did she get here?
He hugged her, and she sat next to him, on his right side. He smiled to himself. He'd always liked Hermione, and now that she was here, it made his summer start off right.
Another 15 minutes later...
Draco Malfoy walked down the steps. Ron and Hermione were chatting about school and being happy summer was here. Ron was extremely surprised, not in a good way, about him being here. How dare he even set foot in his house! It made him feel better when his mom told him to go upstairs and get a shirt on. He'd poke everyone's eyes out if he didn't.
Later that day...
Ron and his family were sitting in the dining room. Ron and his sister were setting spells on the dishes to clean them, seeing whose spells would clean the dishes faster.
Fred and George were working on some new joke for their joke shop that they opened up, and were succeeding to turning each other into pink elephants and long-necked giraffes. His mom and dad were whispering quietly by the unlit fireplace.
He wondered where Hermione and Draco had gone off to, but soon his question was answered. They ran into the room, hand in hand. The blood surged painfully through Ron's veins when he saw them. Hermione looked really flustered, so did Malfoy.
"They're here! They've come! Hurry, we have to leave!!" yelled Hermione.
Without a word, the family left. Ron still wasn't too sure what was going on.
In the sky...
Ron listened as his mother explained everything that was happening to him, Ginny, Fred and George. He was surprised, hurt and sad. What would become of his home?
A couple days later, at St. Mungos...
Ron walked into Hermione's hospital, glad to see her smiling at him as he entered. Malfoy left, and Ron was curious about what these two had to talk about. They did hate each other after all.
To make sure nothing was going on, he asked her about it.
"So… Hermione… how are you? Feeling better?" he asked, hoping she would say much better. He asked her a few more questions about herself, and then got to his point.
"So… are you and… Malfoy like, a couple now?" he whispered, nervously.
Hermione looked at him like he was an idiot. He probably was. "No! What makes you think that?"
"Well, you were holding his hand pretty tight a couple days ago." he shrugged, recalling how she and Draco were holding hands when they ran into the Burrow to warn him and his family about the creatures.
Hermione laughed. "Haha. Well, we're not. Don't worry."
Ron sighed with relief and smiled up at her. "Good."
Hermione grinned. Ron wasn't so sure about this, but he slowly took her hand and held it for a few moments. Then, Fred and George apparated into the room with a 'POP!'. The sound startled Ron and Hermione apart.
End Flashback...
He thought about the dungeon, and his escape from the evil place, but how he ended up here instead. It was a very long fall.
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Long chapter. I like it. I decided to do a little flashback on everything, to refresh your minds. Enjoy it and review.
Flavagurl - What country are you in? Oh, I loved IWTV. I've never watched South Park. Never wanted to, never will. :P Thanks!
kriCket x0 - Haha. Sorry. I'll take like a week to update now, okay? :P Thanks.
Lestatlover1784 - Yeah I like what I did with it better, too. :D Thanks. Keep writing your story, it's really good!
