Chapter 9

They woke in the morning and didn't bother exchanging words. They got dressed, ate, and took down the tent. Hermione lit her wand and gave Draco the flashlight as they sauntered down the small passageway. They stopped as they came to a fork. Neither passage was lit so they had no clue which way they should go.

Hermione, like usual, had an idea, and began rifling through her bag. She emerged with a piece of parchment and a muggle pen. "We'll go down one tunnel, mark are progress on here and if it's the wrong way we can follow our map back."

Draco nodded, " Well you go on ahead then." He stepped back so she could enter one of the tunnels. She glared at him and he smiled," What? Your the one with the wand. It's only fair that you go first. Wouldn't want anything to happen to ME."

She snorted," Your suppose to be MY backup, I'M the one who's suppose to be protected!"

He smirked," Yeah, well, I didn't ask for the short end of the stick. Besides, what would the Wizardry world do without me?"

"Probably mark the day on the calendar, declare a national holiday, and celebrate for weeks." She said sarcastically and past by him going down the passage. He was still to stunned to say anything snide back so he just followed her silently fuming.

She had taken the tunnel to the left. It was a journey filled with many twists and turns. She figured they were deeper into the forest and not under the temple anymore. Finally, what seemed like ages they came to a stop. Draco was ready to take a break and then move on but he then saw what had made her stop.

"A dead end!" He screamed. He stomped the ground and sat down. He was pondering what ever made him decide to be an auror. He was busy rubbing his aching temples to notice that Hermione was no longer with him. His head bolted up,"Mudblood?"

"That is NOT the way to address me MALFOY!"

He looked around, he could hear her voice but could not see her. "What's going on GRANGER? Where are you hiding? Did you have an invisiblity cloak in that bag of yours?" He stood up and began swiping the air around him.

He heard a chuckle come from behind him. He immediately turned and found himself facing the dead end wall. "What the...?" A hand came through the mass and pulled him forward."Aggghhh!" He screamed in surprise. He was pulled into a room filled with bright light. His eyes took a minute to adjust to it.When they did he could plainly see Granger in front of him smirking.

He looked around,"Where are we?" She chuckled," Still in the same passageway. It was just an illusionary wall blocking us from moving on." She was now busy looking around and studying the walls. They had different child-like paintings on them. He noticed that the light was from old torches strewn around the room. The room was the size of her apartment, it had jutting rocks hanging from the ceiling and cobwebs in every corner. He shivered remembering the web he almost got tangled in.

"What are you looking at?" Malfoy asked her since she hadn't moved from the same spot.

"It's this drawing. It's glowing." She reached out to touch it. Malfoy jumped to her side and slapped her hand away abruptly. "Don't! You don't know if that thing is dangerous or not! Damn Granger, I thought you were the smart one here!"

She just glared at him and went back to studying the painting. It was of a small dagger, about 6 inches all together with blade and handle. She brought out her wand," Finite Incantrum." The painting of the sword shimmered brighter for a moment and then went back to its original state.

She looked at him as if for permission and he nodded," Ok, but just be ready for anything." He took a step back and watched as she placed her hand on the wall. They both gasped as the painting became blurry and Hermione grasped something round and solid. She pulled back and was in awe to find the dagger was in her hand. The painting had disappeared and Draco was still gaping.

She started to giggle and then to laugh. She started to prance around him gleefully in a little victory dance. "Ok, Ok! Enough already! Your making me dizzy!"

She stopped in front of him." Do you know what this is Malfoy?" She held the dagger up. "NO, but I bet your going to tell me." He said sarcastically.She ignored him and went on."THIS, is the cloaking device key! It's going to help us disable the wards around the clock!" She opened her bag and dropped the dagger in. She then proceeded to jump around he stared at her stoic.

"If that is quite enough Granger, can we get the hell out of here? This whole thing gives me the creeps." She sighed and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the secret wall. They followed their makeshift map back to the original passageway and then out to the room she had fallen into the day before.

"AGGHHHH! " She screamed as two figures seemingly floated down from the hole above. "Deatheaters!" Draco, out of habit, pulled out his wand,"Emulsify!" Nothing happened and Draco groaned,"Damn it! I forgot about that." Hermione realizing the situation, actually pulled him back behind her and pulled out her wand.

The two deatheaters were stalking closer. One looked female the other not human. They were wearing black hooded cloaks and she was only able to see the bottom half of their faces. The female brought out her wand."Vivani Bindoredum!" Again nothing happened. The deatheater shook her wand as Hermione called out,"Tytraceous Opticus!" The female transfigured into a pair of large eyeglasses. The other deatheater had already fled up the rope to outside.

Draco was busy rolling on the ground laughing. "Granger, when I get my magic abilities back, you have got to teach me that one!" He continued laughing until tears were streaming down his face. The large set of glasses were blinking at him. Their rims were bent as if in a scowl. Hermione sighed,"Come on Malfoy! We've got to get out of here. No telling who or what that other deatheater is going to bring back." He stopped long enough to take her hand and get help pulling himself off the ground.

He took one last look at the large glasses and gave a snort before following her up the rope. When he emerged he found Hermione pondering the map. "I think if we leave now and go East we will come to a place to camp for the night." She stated as she put up the map. Their little excursion through the tunnels had cost them most of the day and the sun was beginning to set. "Lead on." He said with a slight bow.