Directions

Draco Malfoy

"Directions?" Granger squeaked when I revealed the tattered piece of parchment I took from my pocket.

"Directions," I said simply. "Luna had this in her fist," I unfolded the parchment and handed it to Granger.

"Start by escaping the place you know best. Then continue on your way, due west. Pass the cavernous ruins, one by one. Travel day and night, until you're forced to run. The resting rock will show you the way. Follow its arrows and do not stray. Take several weeks worth of time until you see The Light. And remember, if you're encountered, never give up the fight." She read aloud. "It's some sort of riddle."

"Yeah," Weasley said. "I think we did some of it already."

His sister agreed. "Start by escaping the place you know best; that must be Hogwarts. Then you have to continue west."

"Pass the cavernous ruins, one by one," Granger muttered, re reading the words over and over in her mind. "There must only be two," she theorized. "And we're in the second one…"

"And," Ginny interjected, "if you assume that, the next thing we have to do is travel day and night until we're forced to run."

"Why would we be forced to run?" I asked. "I mean… it could be for a number of reasons, but it must be more specific. Like, there must be something that will chase us."

"Yeah," Granger nodded, still reading the riddle. "Maybe some sort of magical creature."

"Well that's bloody wonderful!" Ron burst out sarcastically.

"The resting rock will show you the way." Granger muttered. "Maybe there's a big rock with some arrows on it? And we have to follow them…"

"Yeah, that would make sense," Ginny admitted. "But what could The Light be? And why is it capitalized like that?"

Her brother shrugged. "And we have to fight if we're encountered. Too bad we only have one wand."

"Well, it's better than no wands," I pointed out.

"True," Granger muttered.

"So, where did you put Luna?" Ginny asked slowly.

"In a bush," I said matter-of-factly.

"Okay," she said with a yawn. "'Night."

And with that… we all went to sleep.

----

"Travel day and night, until you're forced to run," Granger said when we were all awake.

"Yeah, and what about food?" Ron asked. "I haven't eaten anything in days! And wait a minute… it's my day for the wand! Hand it over, 'Moine!"

"Hang on, Ron!" Granger said, holding the wand behind her back. "Just because it's 'your day' doesn't mean you can go and make a plate of bacon appear before you!"

"Bacon…" Ron muttered dreamily, reaching for the wand.

"Ron! Listen to Hermione!" Ginny said, smacking her brother on the head.

"Oh, of course. I'll just go find some berries or something," Ron muttered.

"Oh, please, Ronald Weasley!" Ginny said with a smirk. "You're going to conjure up some eggs and toast as soon as you get your hands on that wand!"

"Eggs and toast…."

"Stop it!" Granger said. "Ron, you can't! You have to stop obsessing over food! We have to survive, now. We can't lust after things we can't have."

"But, see, you're wrong there," Ron said to Granger. "We can have eggs, toast, and bacon if we want. Hell, we can even have blueberry waffles!"

"You're missing the point!" Granger exclaimed, exasperated.

"I think what Granger is trying to say here, Weasel, is that we can't make things appear magically without magic." I said. "We have to use the magic wisely… like if we met a Death Eater or someone got badly hurt."

"But my stomach is badly hurt!" Ron whined. I rolled my eyes.

"Here, eat these," Ginny shoved some raspberries under her brother's nose. "They were growing by the cave."

"Hey, these are pretty good!" Ron said happily. "Where'd you get them?"

"Oh, uh," Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Just outside the cave."

"Show me! I want more!" Her brother said, rising from his rock.

"I'll get them for you, Ron," she said slowly. "Your stomach is badly hurt, after all," she said smoothly. I wondered what she was hiding.

"No," Ron insisted, following her. "I want to know exactly where this stash is!"

They exited the cave, and I looked at Granger who just shook her head. "We're so totally dead," she said with a sigh.

"Let me give a shot at this optimism thing you rave about so much," I said. "We're not going to die. We have directions. We've got one wand. We even found a nice little berry bush outside this cave." Even I didn't convince myself.

"Yeah," she said, eyeing me with skepticism. "We're so dead."

Then we heard a scream, coming from the mouth of the cave. It was coming from the mouth of Ronald Weasley, to be more specific. Granger grabbed the wand and we both ran to the beginning of the cavern. "Bloody hell, Ginny!" Ron wailed, spitting all over the ground. "Why didn't you pick them from somewhere else?"

"Sorry, they just looked ripe on this bush!" She yelled defensively.

"Yeah, but…" Ron made a disgusted face. "Didn't you see that thing in the bush?"

"That thing is Luna Lovegood!" Granger imitated me with mockery. I scowled.

"Screw optimism," I mumbled under my breath. "We're so totally dead."

----

We decided to leave that place while the early morning light was still dim. We had to "travel day and night," after all. We wondered how long that was for. Well, we expected to have to run at some point, but we all hoped that wouldn't be any time soon.

"I'm hungry," Ron muttered at around noon.

"Blood hell, Weasley!" I groaned. "Can't you think about something other than food for five minutes?"

"No," he said with no hesitation.

"I'm nervous about you having that wand," Granger said slowly.

"Don't worry, Hermione," he said. "I took what you said to heart. I'm not going to use it unless something threatening comes along."

"Good," his sister said lightly.

----

"How do we know we're going the right way?" I asked cautiously. We had been traveling for several hours at this point and the sun was beginning to set.

"Why don't you try being something other than a pessimist?" Granger snapped.

"I'm trying to be realistic here," I muttered. "We don't know which way west is. We could be headed back to Hogwarts!"

"We're not," Ginny said simply. "I'm good with direction. We're going in the total opposite direction of the school."

"If you're so sure…" I said.

"I am," she declared defensively.

"Alright," I muttered.

"Day and night," Granger sighed. "For how long? I hate vague directions!"

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "They must've been concerned that they could fall into the wrong hands."

"They're not that difficult to decipher!" I said. "Anyone with half a brain could figure out what they mean by these clues."

"Which is precisely why Death Eaters wouldn't get it," Ron said.

"Are you saying they have half a brain?" I asked with narrowed eyes.

"Does that offend you, Malfoy? Does talking about you're father—"

"Ron, don't!" Granger hissed.

"Weasel, you know nothing about me or my family, so maybe you should shut your mouth," I said dangerously.

"Well, Malfoy, you always seem quick to talk about my family, so why can't I talk about yours?" He remarked snidely.

"Because," I began. "Your family is different than mine. Mine is better that yours, and—"

"Locomotor Mortis!" Ron yelled, causing my legs to bind together so I couldn't walk.

"Ron!" Granger scolded loudly, grabbing the wand from his hands.

"He bloody asked for it!" Ron yelled when Granger smacked him on the head.

"It doesn't matter!" She yelled. "We have to get along, Ron! We can't keep doing this! And if someone is trying to find us, you might have just helped them!"

"This is nice and all," I muttered at Granger. "You defending my honor and all, but can you please just use the bloody counter curse?"

She made a huffing sound and muttered the spell that enabled me to walk again. We all continued walking down the trail in the forest.

"Thank you," I whispered, barely audible. Malfoy don't thank people. We don't owe anyone anything.

"What was that?" She asked, an evil smirk pulling at her lips.

"I said 'thank you'." I muttered miserably.

"Did you really?" Ginny asked with mock surprise. "Now I think you owe Hermione something."

"No I don't," I said firmly. "I saved her life three times already… if anything, she owes me."

"That's the most hypocritical thing I've ever heard!" Granger scoffed.

"Yeah," Ginny scowled. "She owes you, but you don't owe her anything?"

"That's right," I said proudly.

"That's hypocritical," said Ginny with a nod.

"Malfoys don't owe anyone anything," I declared.

"Can't you just drop the goddamn act, Malfoy?" Granger whispered.

"What was that?" I asked dangerously.

"I said, can't you drop your little act? I mean, come on, Malfoy, just drop the ego and the pride! We're in the middle of a bloody forest… we can't keep acting like we used to! Things have changed… we can all start over completely if we want."

"But I don't want to," I said, shaking my head.

Author's Notes: Thanks for reading! Please review! I'm going to answer some reviews, because I got asked a lot of questions this time!

Dream Phantom: Other people do survive, but you have to wait and see! That comes a little later.

Sayaku-chan: Yeah, I agree with you. I can't really understand why people would get so upset over it… I thought it was the best one in a while. I knew the "big sad thing" would happen eventually, so I wasn't surprised or really that saddened by it. And I can't wait until you update Reunion!

MisZHPLoVeR: They did mention Harry, in the first chapter. Draco said he was alive when he last saw him. Ron and Ginny didn't mention, him, I realize. When they find another survivor (you knew it would happen eventually… I mean, not just 4 people get away), they'll learn more about what's happened at Hogwarts. Oh, and thanks! I do read all of my reviews… they are sent to me through e-mail. I always read them.

tolazytosignin: The thing with Harry isn't quite something I can answer just yet. But the Draco/Hermione pairing question? Yes, I can answer that. And the answer is yes. It will happen eventually. It's not something that is going to be rushed from the start. It won't appear for several more chapters. But it is going to happen, you just have to be patient!

Hermione Charlotte Granger: You were right! You'll find more about Luna's death later. Someone they come across knows something.

To everyone that asked about Harry: I can't answer that yet! You'll hear more about what happens to him later, though. I can't say more.

NEXT CHAPTER SPOILER: They travel day and night. But then they're forced to run. By what? You'll see! And something else happens… but I don't want to say what it is.