Disclaimer: I don't own.

: Love Sex and a Bottle of Vodka :

: Chapter Twenty-three :

Draco closed his eyes, concentrating on the incantation that they had hurriedly memorized five minutes earlier. He felt warmth wash over him, as though he had suddenly jumped into a bath. A buzzing gathered underneath his skin that grew stronger as the incantation went on. He could hear his everyone's voices mingling with his own and his heart quickened. It was too late to turn back now but Draco couldn't help the little snarky, second thoughts that were hissing in the far corners of his brain. With a scowl, Draco pushed them away.

It was only after the incantation was over that he chanced to open his eyes. He found grayness all around him and he was completely alone. The Room of Requirement, and everyone in it, had disappeared. Draco couldn't tell if this place was indoors or outside. He looked around and despite the monotone scenery he decided he must be outdoors for the lack of walls and ceiling. The ground beneath him was firm and a gray as well and it felt cool to the touch like cement.

He took two hesitant steps forward when suddenly, he felt something warm circle around his waist. Draco looked down to find a fiery, red robe there. The robe continued up into the sky where it disappeared. Draco gave it an experimental tug.

"Well? How are you guys doing?" Draco inquired. He figured no one could actually hear him so he nearly fell over in shock when he had an answer.

"Do you really have to ask?" came Ginny's voice, echoing from above.

"It worked! This is amazing, I can hear you guys in my head," said Harry. "At least…I don't think I heard you guys with my ears." His voice seemed further away; it was faint whereas Ginny's was loud and clear.

"Where are you guys?" Draco asked, frowning in thought.

"Right here," said Harry, uncertainly. Draco suddenly realized that Harry was still in the Room of Requirement and that he would merely stay in a meditative state while he and the Weasley's minds had traveled to another dimension.

"This is so weird," Draco muttered.

"You think you're having a tough time?" said Ron, sounding irritated. "Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is being stuck between two realms? Not to mention having to spin these stupid ropes."

"Is that what this is?" Draco asked, tugging at the crimson threads around his waist.

"Well, hurry up and fix Hermione," urged Ginny.

"How?" Draco asked, practically. Now that the procedure seemingly worked, he didn't know what to do.

"I don't know," she said, scathingly. "Figure it out, walk around or something." Draco shook his head seeing that both Weasleys were easily irritated. He didn't blame them though; they seemed to be taking the biggest strain in the entire operation. Draco took her advice and just started walking in a random direction. He noted that his clothes had changed. He was wearing a gray shirt and pants and his shoes appeared to be missing. He shrugged to himself; it wasn't awfully cold or anything, he'd have to make do.

Draco quickened his pace but he had the strangest sensation that he ran while everything stayed still. The scenery refused to change.

"Nothing's happening," Draco said. "I feel like I'm turning in circles."

"Well keep trying," Ron, Ginny, and Harry chorused. Draco started running. He closed his eyes as he ran and examined this strange place using his other senses. There was nothing to be heard except for the sound of his bare feet hitting the smooth, gray floor and his breathing. Occasionally, one of his friends would say something indeterminable. He figured they were talking amongst themselves.

Draco could smell nothing in this place; it was about as dull as a sheet of plain paper. There was nothing here. He opened his eyes and still the scenery had not changed. He didn't know how long he ran but Draco's breathing became more labored and he realized, a little faintly, that his feet were bleeding. Draco turned around to find footprints etched in blood stretching to as far as the horizon.

"Well, at least I know I'm not running around in circles now," he muttered. He had been running for so long, expecting nothing that it was only when he had stepped on the object that he realized it was there. He paused and knelt to the ground to look at it.

It was a Time Turner.

"I found a Time Turner!" Draco called. He studied it in his hands. He had never held one before now but he knew what it looked like thanks to his ambitious father who had desired one for a long time.

"I think you're getting closer," Harry said, excitedly.

"I guess," Draco said, doubtfully. "I guess this is better than nothing."

"No, you don't get it," Harry said, hurriedly. "Hermione used a Time Turner back in third year. You're getting close to her mind." Draco started running again. After an indeterminable amount of time, he found a textbook strewn on the ground. He didn't even pause to look at it as he ran even faster. Textbooks grew more frequent and so did other things that were reminiscent of Hermione and everything that she had ever encountered. Draco swore he even saw a mangled looking orange cat glare as he passed by.

He finally came to a chasm in the unending ground. He stopped at the edge and looked down. The drop was unfathomable and it was pitch black. There a wind blew furiously as objects flew in the cyclone that blew in the air above the chasm.

"Well, this is it," Draco said. Harry started reading to him the second set of incantations and Draco repeated them. As he did so, a thick, golden rope started to appear in his hands. When the length was so long that the golden coils were escaping Draco's hands, the incantations were over. Draco hesitantly took a step off the cement floor onto the open air and found that he didn't necessarily need ground to walk upon in this particular dimension. He crossed with ease and found a convenient metal loop firmly attached to the ground on the other side of the chasm. Draco tied one end of the golden rope there and walked back to the other end. There, he started to pull on the rope.

He didn't know how long he stood there, trying to dig his heels into the ground as he pulled on the rope. His arms strained and the rope that he had looped around his wrists for a better grip was digging into his skin painfully. Perspiration started to form on his brow and upper lip. He drew in a breath as he kept pulling, blinking sweat and tears from his eyes.

For the longest time, nothing happened. A small part of Draco's mind started to say in an infuriating voice, you weren't strong enough. It's not working. Even so, Draco kept pulling until he could hardly feel his arms anymore. At this point, Draco felt completely detached from his straining arms, his cramping legs, and his bleeding feet. He felt completely detached from his entire body. It was his force of will that kept him from giving up.

And then it happened. The rope pulled forward a fraction of a centimeter, a millimeter. But it had moved. And the healing was happening. The mess around him of Hermione paraphernalia was starting to disappear. Objects were starting to be pulled by the wind that was blowing even harder into the black void before Draco.

He pulled even harder and set his feet even more firmly into the ground, trying not to slip in his own blood. The wind was pulling at him. Then suddenly, the rope around his waist jerked and twitched and threw Draco off his feet and he momentarily lost a grip on the golden rope. He grabbed at it fiercely.

"It would be really nice if that didn't happen again," Draco called. He could feel the others' frowns.

"It's…it's the faculty," Harry said, hesitantly. "They're knocking on the door."

"They found it?" Ginny asked. "I thought the Room would conceal us until we were done!"

"Apparently at the moment, the faculty's requirement of finding us seems a bit more urgent," Harry said, wryly.

"Well tell them to stop if they don't want to kill all of us," Ron snapped, irritably. That's when it hit all of them how dangerous this was. They could die doing this. The rope around Draco's waist continued to move.

"They have to stop," Ginny gasped. "They're breaking my concentration." Draco regained his balance and tried to ignore the uncomfortable movement around his waist as he pulled at the rope. Once the chasm started to close, it was easier to pick up momentum. He pulled at it but then was thrown off his feet the second time. This time, a loud clamor flooded Draco's ears and suddenly, even the angry wind was drowned out by the voices of the worried faculty.

"They have to stop," Draco said, urgently. "Harry, can't you do something?"

"By talking to them, I'm pulling myself out of the meditation," Harry answered. His voice sounded frantic. "It would break the chain and all of your minds would be lost."

"But we can't do anything like this," Draco said, angry at himself and the faculty. He slammed his fists into the ground, on his knees, unable to stand. The shouts of the faculty combined with the wind and the unpredictable movement of the rope around his waist, he couldn't stand, or even straighten. The faculty was going to kill all of them. Objects were being flown from the chasm and Draco gritted his teeth against the pain as the corner of a textbook hit him on the forehead. He pressed a palm against it and his hand came away red.

Then, something happened that none of them were expecting. The crimson rope started to fray and strain.

"Oh no," Ginny said, lowly.

"What's happening? What's going on?" Harry asked, wrought with anxiety.

"It's the break in our concentration," Ron answered. "It's like they're screaming in our ears. It's causing the rope to weaken." Draco grabbed at the crimson rope with one hand and continued to tug at the golden one. It pulled closer to him. It was getting closer now. If he wasn't distracted, he could have finished this in half the time. A thread of the crimson rope suddenly snapped.

"Hurry," Harry said, urgently, but Draco couldn't help noticing that his voice was faint as though he was dying.

"I don't know how long it will hold," Ginny said. Her voice held the same weak quality. Draco put his concentration on pulling. It was moving, slowly but surely. And another thread of the red rope snapped. Draco didn't let himself become distracted by it and kept pulling.

"Harry, make sure to pull out of the meditation if things go awry," Draco said, through gritted teeth.

"Do you honestly think I'd do that?" scoffed his friend. His voice sounded light, masking deep concern. Draco didn't answer as he continued to pull. The chasm was picking up speed, starting to rapidly close, but the continuing snapping of the red threads were also quickening in pace. The wind was screaming in his ears and the shouts of the faculty were becoming nearly unbearable. Draco tasted iron in his mouth. He put out the last reserves of his strength and pulled, shouting out with pain.

The two sides of the chasm met and the split suddenly became illuminated with a blinding light. The last of the crimson rope snapped away from Draco to whip around in the wind and disappear and the screams of Ginny were the last thing Draco heard as he passed out even before his head hit the ground.

Draco felt softness beneath his cheek. He was lying down. He put out a hand to feel what was beneath him. His fingers plucked at a soft blanket that smelled of sun dried sheets. Draco opened his eyes. He appeared to be on a bed in the middle of a clearing in a forest. He was wearing a crisp, clean white linen shirt and pants with simple, silver embroidery. He marveled at it. It was almost an exact replica of the gray outfit he found himself wearing earlier but somehow…different. It seemed to be infused with sun and happiness instead of uncertainty like the gray clothes.

"What…" His voice trailed off before it even formed a question but unlike before, his friends' voices didn't echo from the ceiling.

"Am I dead?" he wondered out loud. He looked around himself and groaned as he sat up and swung his feet around to the side of the bed and let them rest on the mossy ground. The forest was completely silent and while the complete silence in the gray realm was uncomfortable, this forest was merely tranquil and calm. His memory started to return slowly. He seemed likely that he was dead, now. The rope did indeed snap but not before Hermione's mind split was completed. Did Hermione survive or was the fact that his mind was in hers that could have killed her too? Draco felt himself feeling strangely rested and happy despite his realizations. He turned his face up to greet the sun and couldn't help a smile. He inhaled deeply and found the rich scents of the forest delicious.

"Hello Draco." He turned around to find Hermione sitting at the edge of the bed, smiling at him. The best thing about her expression was the recognition in her face.

"You remember me," he said, reaching out to hold her cheek in his hand.

"I remember you," she said. "I remember everything now."

"Where are we?" Draco asked, gesturing about himself. Hermione smiled slowly and moved closer to him.

"You should lie down; you're not completely healed yet. You won't be until Madame Pomfrey takes a look at you." She pushed him slowly back down into a laying position and touched the bruised gash on Draco's forehead with a frown. Draco savored the touch of her cool fingertips.

"Wait what? Madame Pomfrey? I'm not dead?" he asked, incredulously. "I mean, we aren't?" Hermione laughed and the sound seemed to ring in the air like glass. It had been such a long time since he had heard the sound.

"Of course not!" she said. "The mending of my mind was complete when the rope that held you to Ginny and Ron snapped. If it had snapped before, then the chasm would have completely, well, eaten you up, I guess. I would have died as well, I believe. Or maybe I would have suddenly inhabited your personality traits." Hermione grinned.

"But I guess we'll never know for sure now," she said. "Because the rope snapped after the split was completely mended, you're entirely safe. I'm just, how do I say this, housing you in my mind until the incantation runs its course. It was supposed to last six hours, remember? Well, thanks to your superior strength, it was completed early."

"So this is your mind?" Draco looked around himself. "It looks a lot different now."

"Probably has to do with the mended split," Hermione said, and looked around as well.

"I think I like it better now," Draco said, decidedly. Hermione laughed again.

"Don't get too comfortable," she advised. "You'll eventually be sent back to your own body once the magic of the incantation ends." Draco shrugged.

"We have time." Hermione leaned over Draco and kissed him, smiling.

"Thank you, Draco," she said. Draco offered a grin.

"Anytime," he said, laughing. "Anytime."