Chapter 8

Malfoy stumbled forward, falling to his knees beside the hole. "Granger! Granger! Can you hear me!" He paused for a second with his ear straining to hear something but nothing came, not a peep. Draco pulled out his wand,"Lumos Maximos!" The wand did nothing. "Lumos Maximos!" He barked out.

He shook his wand aggrivated," What's wrong with this worthless piece of wood? Damn stick!" He shoved it back in his pocket and screamed into the hole again. "Hold on Granger! I'm coming!" He looked around for something to lower himself down into the dark hole.

He noticed that Hermione's bag lay forgotten next to Mars' statue. He leaped from his place beside the hole and snatched the bag. He opened to check the contents for a possible rope and gasped. "Well blow me! Where is everything?" Draco found the items in the bag were completely missing.

"Aggghhh!" He screamed and chucked the bag down the stairs. He again scanned his surroundings to find something of use to him. "I forgot about that damn thing." His eyes caught the glimpse of the shiny blade he weilded before. It was sticking straight out of the ground where he had left it. He was like Arthur pulling the sword from the stone...well, except it was a knife and the stone was but mere dirt.

Draco turned to the forest. He had no idea where he was so he couldn't run for help. He would have apparated, but his wand seemed to have a cold. He sighed in defeat and sat back on the stairs and placed the knife down in front of him. He lay his head in his palms,"Think man, think!" He was going through his head looking for ideas.'Wish that bleeming snake were around. I'd kill it and have something to hang from.' Then the idea finally registered. He hit himself upside the head."Why didn't I think of that before!" He picked up the machete and ran to the nearest tree. It was covered in long vines!

He climbed the tree half way and lashed out at a few of the long vines. They fell to the ground and he slide carefully from the tree. He tied the vines together and went back to the top of the temple stairs. He lassoed one end around the statue of Mars and threw the remainder into the pit."Damn mudblood. I can't believe I'm doing this for a damn mudblood!" He crouched near the hole lowering his body with the help of the vine.

He reached the bottom of the pit. It had to be at least a 15 foot fall he calculated. He brought his right leg out, drawing it back and forth."Granger?Hermione?"

"Ooooohhh." Hermione groaned as Draco's foot collided with her back. "Uh, oops." He kneeled down and felt along with his hands to check out her injuries."It's so damn dark in here." He muttered as he found her leg. "Are you ok? Anything feel broken?" He ran his hands upwards checking for any possible jutting bones.

"My whole body feels...eh...broken." Her breath caught as she tried to speak. She coughed and then moaned. "Perhaps a rib then, also my head is killing me." His hands felt for her head and he drew them back as he felt something moist and sticky. "Oh EW! I have mudblood...BLOOD on me!" His nosed crinkled," I feel dirty. I need to bathe."

"Uh can you forget about the bath until we fix MY problems please?" She couldn't see him but she could guess he was glaring at her. "Where's my bag? My wand is in it and so are some first aid things."

"That bag of yours is broken! I opened it and found nothing inside. And for your wand, it probably wouldn't do any good anyway, my wand is far greater than yours and its not working." Draco brought out his wand and searched for her hand placing it in her palm. "Here you can even give it a whirl."

"Lumos Maximos!" Hermione said twirling the wand in a small circle. Draco was then surprised to see Hermione's face. The end of his wand was glowing bright. "What the...give me that!" He nabbed the wand out of her weak grip. "Lumos Maximos!" He called into the darkness. It was just that too, darkness. "Damn thing must have some sort of glitch!" He kept trying to get the wand to produce a light.

"Give it to me again, let me try it." He hmphed,"Why not, since you've touched it I have to get a new one anyways." He handed her the wand and again the small space around them was lit. Hermione was smirking with satisfacation. He scowled, "How did you manage that?" He said through clenched teeth. She shrugged, "I don't know but as long as it works, I'm keeping the wand. Now if you don't mind. Accio bag!" She pointed the wand toward the opening of her fall and watched her bag float down.

"Hmmmm... interesting." She said opening the bag. She began to pull viles from the bag and placing them next to her on the ground."Are you sure you haven't gone mad Draco? As I see, everything is in fine working order."

"Blast! Those things were not there when I looked!"

"Well if they were or were not there, I do not care as of now. Just help me damn it!" He had disregarded the fact that she was now bleeding heavily from the wound above her eye and clutching her side in pain."Oh give it here." He took a vile from her pile and applied it to the gash. In seconds the blood ceased and the opening was now healed. Only a thin line remained. He then pushed her gently back on the ground, he noticed it was harder for her to breath this way.

He started to lift up her shirt. She swatted his hands away."HEY! What do you think your doing!" He rolled his eyes," Please Granger, like you would be so lucky! I'm just trying to apply the potion to your ribs so belt up and move your hands." He pushed her hands aside and lifted her shirt up revealing a cotton white bra. "You really don't give a man anything to imagine do you Granger?" He chuckled as she blushed and turned her head away.

He applied the potion to her ribs, gently rubbing it in."OWWW! That freaking burns!" He laughed now,"Come on Granger! Buck up! Pain tells you your alive!" Her breathing was beginning to get better and he had checked the rest of her with no found injuries." I give you a clean bill of health. Now can we get out of this joint?"

He had become uneasy of the hole. It was getting dark outside and his wand didn't produce much light. "What? Scared of the dark are we?" It was Hermione's turn to chuckle. "Lumos Maximos Ahrondos!" Draco watched as the light from his wand jetted out in a stream around them. Then in one big burst a flash of light blinded him. As his eyes adjusted he found he could now see the rest of the chamber.

"Hey there's a passageway over there!" Hermione exclaimed pointing behind him. She slowly stood up, the viles back in her bag.

"What do you think your doing Granger? Your ribs are probably broken. We need to get you out of here and seek real medical attention."

"Aw how sweet, your worried about my well-being." She batted her eyelashes at him and then her face became angry. "Well SOD OFF! I don't need anything! YOU just want to get the hell out of here and get a new assignment. Well that's not happening! If I have to deal then so do you!"

She started to walk in the direction of the passage. Draco grabbed her arm preventing her from moving forward. He shook his head," If your not going to leave then I guess I have to stay. Though don't go running full steam into uncharted territory. It wouldn't be safe for either one of us. Let's just camp in here tonight and set off venturing in the morn. Ok?"

She nodded,"Ok we'll camp here. You know, I think that's actually the most intellectual thing you've said ever since I've met you Malfoy." She laughed and walked to the opposite wall from the passage. He didn't bother to say anything back, he was to tired.

Hermione set up the magic tent inside the chamber and cast a few spells around to protect them from any intruders that might happen along. She had found her own wand giving Draco back his. He just stuck it in his pocket forgetting about it, mumbling something about,'damn broken piece of shite...'

She ignored him and made way to the loo to freshen up and wash the blood from her hair. She came out awhile later with a long white nightgown on. Draco glared at it with contempt. It had a grey cat lying upside down on a pillow with the saying,"I don't do Mornings" underneath it. Seeing that his wand was not working, she took the liberty of conjuring up some food for them. Within the hour, they were clean, fed, and ready for bed. Draco lifted the covers and got in. Hermione hesitated before slipping into it herself.

Draco cringed,'She probably was remembering this morning.I knew I should of just pushed her off of me! She probably thinks I have a crush on her or something! YUCK! Like that would ever happen!' He thought as he closed his eyes trying to sleep. Though sleep didn't come right away. He sighed and turned over, laying facing Hermione. She was on her back and awake to his surprise. "Can't sleep either Malfoy?" She asked softly.

"Nope, sure can't, must be the company." He said snidely. She glared over at him and then turned to face the opposite way. " Why did it have to be YOU! It could have been so many others but they sent YOU!" She was sobbing now. She couldn't believe she was letting Malfoy, of all people, get under her skin.

He didn't know what to do. She was crying now and he was confused.' Did my comment hurt really hurt her? HA! What should I care?' But he did care, he didn't know why, but he did. He was about to apologize, for the FIRST time in his life, but she had already fallen asleep. She had rolled on her back again and he watched the rise and fall of her chest. He looked upon her face, dry tears marked her cheeks and he sighed. A conscience was the last thing in the world he needed, he couldn't help but feel guilty. He turned over and closed his eyes, trying to will himself asleep.