I am so sorry for not updating sooner. The electricity went out on New Years Eve, which was the day I said I would update and it did not come back till yesterday night. So here's the next chapter and hopefully I will be able to get the next one up before Sunday!
Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters, which you do not recognize.
At eleven o'clock, the grandfather clock in front of the fireplace began to chime. Draco watched as Hermione put tape on the last present. Once she was done, he surveyed their work. He had to admit, they had done a pretty decent job of it. He hadn't realized that time could go by so fast while doing something as menial as wrapping presents. She had a lot of presents though.
Suddenly, Hermione began putting them all back into her bag. "What are you doing?"
"I have to go up to the owlery. These presents have to get there before tomorrow, remember?"
Draco scowled at her as she put the last present into the bag. It mad him a bit angry. Undeserving people like Potter and Weasley were going to see the presents the next morning and rip open the paper without any regard to the person who had wrapped them. He shook his head as Hermione called his name. "What?"
"I said do you want to come with me to the owlery to send off the presents?" Hermione looked at him questioningly. "It's perfectly fine if you don't want to. I wouldn't expect you to want to come either."
Draco sprung of the couch with a scowl and grabbed the large bas from her hand and stomped out of the common room. Hermione followed him with a smug smile on her face.
Once they reached the owlery, Hermione took the bag from him without and said, "That was rather easy, wasn't it?"
Draco scowled at the girl and snapped, "You weren't the one carry the stupid bag."
"I never asked you to carry the bag in the first place, did I?" Draco glared at the Hermione who proceeded to find a few owls to take her presents.
Attaching the presents to the birds, she whispered to them the places that she wanted all her presents to go. As soon as all the birds were gone, she looked out of the window if the owlery onto the magnificent landscape in front of her. By the moonlight, Hogwarts looked very different. The Forest looked particularly darker than usual and the fields were shining oddly under the moonlight. A faint tinge of smoke was seeping out of the chimney of Hagrid's cabin and Hermione smiled, thinking of the present she had gotten for him.
She turned her head towards the lake. It was nearly frozen. She would go ice skating tomorrow with a few of the other students. A spot on the lake caught her eyes. From what she could see, there appeared to be a hole in the lake. It was probably just water that was not frozen but as Hermione squinted her eyes, she noticed that it was giving off a faint blue light.
"Malfoy." Draco grunted in reply. "Come here a moment, would you?"
Draco grudgingly stepped into place next to her. "What?"
Hermione pointed to the lake and said, "Tell me what you see on the lake."
Draco rolled his eyes and said, "I see nothing except ice and..." Draco leaned forward slightly. "...a hole?"
"Good, I'm not the only one." She swiftly turned on her heel and left the owlery, Draco following her.
"Where are you going?" he shouted. She was quite a bit ahead of him.
"Stop shouting," she hissed. "Do you want to wake the teachers?"
Draco groaned and caught up to her. "Where are you going?"
"To the lake, of course."
"For what?"
"To see what that hole was."
"It's probably just water that hasn't melted. Surely you would have figured that out, Granger."
"I'm not an idiot, Malfoy. Didn't you see? The hole was giving off a blue light. What water do you know that gives off light?"
"It's the lake," muttered Draco. "Who knows what's in there."
"Mermaids," mumbled Hermione.
"What?"
"Nothing." She stopped and faced him. "Look, you don't have to come if you don't want to. I'm perfectly fine with going out there on my own."
"I'm letting you go out there on your own," blurted out Draco, immediately regretting it.
"Why not?" asked Hermione suspiciously.
Draco thought of the first thing that came into his head and said, "If you die, I'll be able to thank the person who killed you."
Hermione scowled at him as he realized how stupid that had sounded. She turned her head and frowned. "Can...Can you hear that?"
Draco looked around and said, "Hear what?"
"That music." Hermione left Draco standing in the middle of the corridor and continued walking.
Draco shook his head and followed her. The funny thing was that she seemed to be getting faster by the second. Draco was sure that she didn't realize it either. He watched as she slipped through the doors to the entrance of the school. He groaned and rubbed his arms muttering that if he was sick the next morning, he would never forgive her. Draco slipped through the entrance doors as well and stopped for Hermione was standing at the top of the steps with her eyes closed. She seemed to be in some sort of trance.
"Granger, what are you-
"Shut up!" she hissed in a harsh tone. Draco looked at her taken aback and wondered what was the matter with her. He looked on with intrigue as she began walking down the steps with her eyes closed. Her head would turn every once in a while as though she was trying to hear something.
Draco followed her unaware of what she was doing. A shivered as a gust of wind brushed past him. For a second, he heard a whisper but as quick as it came, it left.
The two of them stopped in front of the lake. Draco looked at the water in awe as he beheld it. As Hermione had said from the owlery, the water was giving off a bluish glow. Draco felt compelled to touch it for some reason. There was something funny about it though. Something dangerous. Draco blinked and looked down. He jumped back as he saw that if he had taken two more steps, he would have fallen right into the water.
He turned to Hermione who was kneeling on the ground and looking at the water. He watched as she reached a pale hand out to touch the surface. With lightning speed, he went to her and turned her away from it. Hermione blinked and said, "The singing is gone..."
"What singing?" hissed Draco. "Do you realize that if I hadn't gotten you just now, you would have fallen into the lake?" Hermione turned and looked at the water which was a mere foot away from her.
She turned back to Draco and said, "Someone was singing, Malfoy." She looked almost desperate as she told him. She looked back at the water. For a second, something flashed under the surface.
She looked at Draco who was still staring at the water. "Did you see that?"
Draco mutely nodded and said, "Look, I think we should get back inside. I don't want anyone to see me out here with you."
Hermione shook her head and said, "As I said, I didn't ask you to come with me." She leaned towards the water, ignoring everything Draco had just told. The blue light seemed to dance on the surface of the water. It was odd, though. This was the only part of the lake that was still liquid. Hermione reached out to touch the water when out of nowhere, something cold and slimy came out of the water and grasped her hand. Her eyes widened with shock as it yanked her into the water with such force and speed that Draco was not fully able to register what had just happened.
Draco stared at the water, his eyes wide with terror. He didn't know what possessed but, picking up her wand, which was lying carelessly on the ground, he grabbed his own from his robe and dove in right after her.
Had he cared to look up, he would have noticed that the water turned to ice as soon as he had dove in.
