"Long, Long, Long"

Chapter 14

"I'm sorry, father, it was unavoidable." Draco sat in his father's study once more, getting angrier by the second as Lucius failed to grasp how Draco had been discovered as a Death Eater.

"Unavoidable?" spat Lucius, enraged. "You were the Dark Lord's only link to the Ministry! Do you know how much longer the war will last? No, none of us do, and thanks to you and your 'unavoidable' incident, we have no defense against the Ministry!"

"I must have told you a hundred times," said Draco, his voice rising, "there was nothing I could do! Would you rather have me in Azkaban, rotting away until the end of the war? I'm sure that can be arranged all too easily!"

"No, Draco," said Lucius, calming down slightly, "we cannot afford to lose any more to Azkaban."

Heartless bastard, thought Draco, glaring at his father, he doesn't even care that it's his only son that would be locked up; he's only worried the Dark Lord will be one man short.

Lucius seemed to think for a minute, playing with a roll of parchment on his desk. "I hope you can make up your mistake with your new orders, Draco," he said, holding up the scroll, "but before I give them to you, the Dark Lord has asked me to explain some things." He took a deep breath and continued, "Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore have seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. We are under the impression that they are being hidden by the Fidelius charm near the muggle town of Lake Forest, which is north of here.

"This information we received from several letters we think passed between Charles McCoy and Albus Dumbledore. The letters, which we found during a search of McCoy's house, were unsigned, however, so we do not know if Dumbledore was indeed the correspondent. In any case, a search of the woods near Lake Forest has revealed that McCoy's cabin has disappeared, a possible sign of the use of the Fidelius charm."

"But then who is their secret-keeper?" Draco asked, interrupting his father's long and seemingly unnecessary explanation.

"Do not interrupt," said Lucius firmly, "I was getting to that. In mid-May, you may remember hearing something about the disappearance of an old schoolmate, Hermione Granger? Well, earlier this year, we took an auror captive, hoping to find out the plans of the Ministry using Veritaserum. We were disappointed in this respect, but found some other very interesting things in the process." Draco did not like the look his father was giving him as he spoke. Draco shifted slightly in his seat as Lucius continued, "This person, who we discovered with the truth potion was Hermione Granger, is a very close friend of Harry Potter. A close enough friend that he would trust her to be his and Dumbledore's secret-keeper.

"It just so happens that the time of Ms. Granger's disappearance is a little after the last letter Dumbledore sent to Charles McCoy about the use of his cabin."

So where's my part in this? wondered Draco apprehensively, his heart beating slightly faster than usual.

As if reading his mind, Lucius explained, "There was something else Ms. Granger said that, strangely enough, involves you. When asked if she knew the names of any Death Eaters or where they were, she said your name, and that she knew you had come here at the start of the war." Lucius stared unwaveringly at his son, searching for something in Draco's eyes. "That's not all she said, either. When she was questioned further, it became clear that Ms. Granger was under the impression that you and she had become…friendly. Apparently, she also read some of the letters I sent you. What do you think of all this, Draco?"

Draco was fighting the feeling of panic that was spreading rapidly through him. He searched his mind frantically for a suitable explanation. Lucius's piercing gaze was still on him, and he tried desperately not to look guilty as he thought up some excuse. "Well, like you said, Granger is a close friend of Potter's. I merely thought having her on my side might prove useful for the war," he said quickly, his hand on his wand in case his father didn't believe this.

Lucius's pause made Draco anxious, and he remained perfectly still as he waited for some sort of angry explosion from the man across from him. To Draco's surprise, Lucius smiled, "You were right in thinking so, Draco, and since you have put yourself in such a favorable position, your next assignment should be relatively simple." He handed Draco the scroll in his hand and Draco stood to get it.

"Be careful, Draco, this is important," said Lucius as his son headed for the door.

Draco merely nodded, looking worriedly at the orders in his hand as he left the study.

…

Hermione walked quietly through the forest on a particularly warm afternoon under the cover of Harry's invisibility cloak. She was headed for the lake in hopes of cooling off in the pleasant water, as she had nothing she absolutely had to do. Dumbledore was out yet again and Harry was taking a nap, having exhausted himself that morning trying to master a particularly difficult hex. Hermione noticed as she neared the shore of the lake that several trees looked a little worse for wear, Harry having practiced on them.

Looking around carefully to be sure no one else was there, Hermione was happy to finally take off the heavy cloak. She set it at the base of a tree and waded into the refreshing water, sighing contentedly at the picturesque scene around her.

The trees rustled slightly in the breeze as Hermione floated peacefully, her eyes closed. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, she was relaxed. Voldemort hadn't yet discovered their hiding place, Harry was steadily preparing himself for his duel with Voldemort and was doing very well, no one she knew had died recently, she wasn't being punished by the Ministry…things were far better now than they were even a month ago.

Hermione suddenly felt the creepy sensation that someone was watching her. She opened her eyes, standing on the shallow bottom of the lake and looking around. She didn't see anyone, but sank lower in the water so that only the top half of her head was above the surface. The forest suddenly seemed eerily quiet…Hermione wondered if she was just being paranoid. Her heart started to beat a little faster in anxiety as she walked back to the shore.

A cry of surprise startled her and she jerked her head to look at the opposite side of the lake, where she saw a black-cloaked figure quickly slip behind a tree. Not waiting to find out who the person was, Hermione sprinted to where she'd left the invisibility cloak and slid it over herself without hesitation. She ran as fast as she could back in the direction of the cabin, her heart beating quickly in both fear and strain.

It didn't seem as though anyone was pursuing her, but Hermione didn't take any chances, stopping only when she reached the door of the cabin and threw herself inside it.

She was still panting, her hands on her knees when she heard Harry ask sleepily, "Hermione? Is that you?" Realizing she was still wearing the invisibility cloak, Hermione slipped it off and hung it on its hook, still visibly shaken. "What's wrong?" Harry asked, leaping off his bed at once and stepping over to her.

Hermione muttered a drying charm, as she was still wet from the lake, and took a deep breath, calming herself before answering, "I think a Death Eater saw me at the lake." At Harry's inquisitive look, she continued, "I went there to take a swim and then there was this noise and I looked around and it looked for all the world like a Death Eater. I panicked and just ran back here as fast as I could, I just got scared…."

Harry looked a little worried, but comforted Hermione all the same, "That's alright; it's good you got back safely." He thought for a moment, looking unseeingly out one of the windows. "Are you sure it was a Death Eater?" he asked finally.

"Well, no, but no one is supposed to know we're here."

"What did the person look like?" Harry pressed.

"It was across the lake, but I think he--or she, maybe--was wearing a long black cloak, and I couldn't see the face," Hermione replied as best she could.

Harry nodded, glancing at his watch. "I think Dumbledore will be back soon; we can see if he thinks there's anything to worry about. I doubt there is…I mean, we're protected by the Fidelius charm, right?" Despite his words, he seemed a bit anxious.

"Yes…but we're not protected by the charm when we leave," Hermione pointed out, collapsing onto the sofa.

"Clearly," said Harry, sitting at one of the chairs at the table.

The front door squeaked and in walked Dumbledore, his large hood shadowing his face. He closed the door behind him and lowered his hood, smiling wearily at the two of them. At the troubled looks on their faces, he said concernedly, "Something happened while I was away?"

Hermione nodded and immediately relayed what had happened at the lake to Dumbledore, who listened intently. "…I ran back here because I didn't know what else to do. I don't think whoever it was followed me, though," finished Hermione, leaning back into the sofa. She waited tensely for him to say something, to tell her they would have to leave, that she had been careless, that this was what he'd hoped wouldn't happen…

But Dumbledore said none of these things. He stood silently for what seemed to Hermione like an hour before saying, "I must admit I expected they might find us soon." At Harry and Hermione's puzzled looks, he sighed and said, "There is some bad news I discovered today. Please sit at the table."

Hermione got up from the sofa and did as Dumbledore asked. When he himself sat, he explained, "I told you when we arrived here that this cabin belonged to a friend of mine, Charles McCoy. I went to see him today, and was greeted most unpleasantly with a deserted house that looked as though it had been thoroughly searched. I feared the worse, so I went to the Ministry in hopes of finding some record of what had happened to him and his house.

"A copy of the Daily Prophet had a brief article about Charles. It explained that he had been killed by Death Eaters when they invaded his home for an unknown reason." He paused, looking sadly down at his intertwined fingers, "The Dark Mark was cast overhead and the Death Eaters disappeared before the Ministry ever got there.

"I returned to the house and found his desk torn apart, parchment of various kinds everywhere. What I did not find, I fear, are the number of letters that I sent to him when we spoke of his lending me this cabin. I think it is safe to assume that the Death Eaters discovered what they were and have used them to find where we are." He paused again, looking intently over Hermione's head at something apparently on the ceiling.

A moment passed in which no one said anything at all, until Dumbledore recovered from his trance and said, looking fixedly at Hermione, "I need you to return to the lake in a few minutes, Ms. Granger."

"Alright," said Hermione, a little surprised, but she stood and reached for the invisibility cloak anyway.

"You will not be needing the cloak," said Dumbledore calmly.

Hermione lowered her arm and looked at him in question. "But…after today, wouldn't it be safer…?" she asked hesitantly, confused.

"No, I don't think it will be necessary," said Dumbledore, shaking his head. "There is, however, one thing I must ask you to remember before you leave: the duel between Harry and Lord Voldemort will take place at Hogwarts, and no sooner than September."

At this apparently random bit of information, Hermione could not hide her utter confusion. She couldn't even form words to ask what on earth he meant by that, but the Headmaster gestured to the door and as she opened it and stepped through, she could have sworn he said quietly, "Good luck."

…

Draco kicked the side of his bed in frustration as flames incinerated the parchment on his window. His newest orders were still fresh in his mind and every thought of them pushed him to the edges of insanity as he tried unsuccessfully to figure a way out of this.

He had been instructed to use his relationship with Hermione to get her to tell him where Potter and Dumbledore were staying. This would seem easy enough to the Dark Lord and Lucius, both of whom thought the relationship he had with Hermione was one-sided and meant nothing to him. As simple as it would make things if this were true, it wasn't, and his orders left Draco in a terrible position.

Throwing his black cloak over himself moodily, he took one look out his window before apparating to the place indicated on the parchment that was now a small pile of ashes on the sill.

Draco arrived in the midst of a dense forest seconds later. The bright sunlight streamed through gaps in the treetops and showed him the way to a clearing ahead. Not really knowing what he was going to do or what he was supposed to be looking for, Draco stepped slowly towards the clearing.

The clearing turned out to be a crystal-clear, glimmering lake that seemed a bit out of place surrounded by the huge trees that lined the shore. I should have guessed it was called Lake Forest for a reason, Draco thought to himself, looking out over the glassy water. A ripple disrupted the peaceful surface and he looked around for the source.

A person waded into the water from the opposing shore and Draco instinctively hid himself behind a large tree. Peering cautiously around the trunk, he squinted at the figure, trying to see him or her more clearly in the bright glare of the sunlight. He realized with a jolt when the person turned around that it was Hermione.

She was wearing a long tee-shirt in place of a swimsuit--Draco suspected she hadn't remembered one when she ran away--and as she swam slowly back and forth, she looked so…peaceful. Draco stood rooted to the spot, entranced, as Hermione stopped moving and just floated calmly at the surface. Moments passed and Draco inched forward, longing to call her to him; to wrap her in a tight embrace and forget that the past months had existed; to wake up in the tower and find that everything that had happened since was just a nightmare….

Hermione suddenly opened her eyes and stiffened. Draco froze. She sank low in the water so that only the top of her head was visible and slowly moved towards the shore. She was looking around suspiciously, and Draco tried to step out of sight, but slipped on a rock, losing his footing and crying out involuntarily in his surprise.

Throwing himself behind the nearest tree, he heard Hermione's splashes as she ran the last few feet to the shore. When he finally got up the courage to look again, she had disappeared.

Draco sighed and slid down the trunk to a sitting position. That went well, thought Draco sarcastically to himself, picking up a twig and fidgeting absentmindedly with it. Now that probably Hermione, Harry, and Dumbledore knew that Death Eaters had discovered their hideout, the three of them would probably lock themselves up in the safety of their cabin for months.

Draco would have thought this best were it not for the fact that he was supposed to be persuading Hermione to tell him where she, Harry, and Dumbledore were hiding. He supposed he could run away, but that would be of little use, considering everyone on both sides of the war would want him dead or at least locked up. If he could find Hermione again, maybe he could ask to stay with them, but that wouldn't go over so well with the Dark Lord…or with Harry, for that matter.

Draco spent close to an hour thinking of possibilities and immediately discarding them, realizing they were stupid, if not impossible. He groaned in frustration, tossing the stick he'd been playing with aside. What was he going to do? He was playing with the idea of drowning in the lake when he heard light footsteps to his right somewhere.

Pulling his masked hood over his head despite the heat, Draco stood and waited for someone to appear. He drew his wand for good measure as the sound of crinkling leaves drew nearer.

A scared-looking Hermione appeared from the edge of the lake and stepped carefully over the root of a large tree. Draco instinctively lowered his wand and watched as she gasped softly, finally seeing him.

The Death Eater's mask hid Draco's face and Hermione did not recognize him. Standing up a little taller and trying to look more confident than she clearly felt, she took a step closer to him but said nothing.

Draco did not act for a moment, overly tempted to remove his hood and tell her she shouldn't be scared of him. This, however, was not an option; there was no need for him to complicate things further in their already difficult situation. The two stood rigidly, staring at each other for a long time until Draco finally cleared his throat, preparing to speak, but Hermione broke in first, "I know what you're doing here, and I've come to negotiate with you."

Draco was confused. What did she mean by "negotiate?" Seeing as she had no idea who he was, what made her think he wouldn't just attack her, all negotiating aside? But Hermione answered this almost as soon as Draco thought it, "You can't do anything to me; you know I'm the only one who can tell you where they are." There was no need to explain who "they" were--it was clearly Harry and Dumbledore she was talking about. She had raised a fair point in that he couldn't hurt her, but Draco hadn't intended to do that in the first place.

So now what? Draco asked himself as Hermione waited for a response, What am I supposed to do now? I can't really speak for the Dark Lord…so should I bring her to him? The idea didn't make Draco happy, as he wasn't sure what Voldemort would do to pry the secret of Harry and Dumbledore's hideout from Hermione. The Dark Lord did not negotiate well. What alternative did Draco have, though?

Trying to alter his voice so that she wouldn't recognize it, he said, "The Dark Lord will speak with you, but he won't come here. We need to apparate to where he is." Fear flashed briefly across Hermione's face and Draco knew that she did not want to leave the forest.

"Alright," said Hermione with forced calm, "Where exactly is that?"

"I can't tell you."

Now Hermione just looked irritated. "How am I supposed to apparate there, then?"

"I'll take you," Draco stepped forward and placed a hand on Hermione's elbow. Hermione looked suspiciously up at him, her right hand tightly clenching her wand. "One…two…," said Draco softly, trying to ignore the fact that they hadn't been this close since their goodbye in February, "three."

The two disappeared with a small popping noise and reappeared almost instantly at the Malfoy manor. In truth, Draco had no idea if the Dark Lord would be there--in fact, he highly doubted it--but he had no other ideas of where to start. Hermione looked up in apparent awe at the enormous stone house, though she obviously had no idea what it was. Draco let go of her elbow and gestured for her to follow him.

Hermione hesitated slightly before stepping after her unknown companion, wishing with all she had that she didn't have to do this…but Dumbledore had wanted her to, she was almost positive of that.

When she had first left the cabin earlier, she didn't have the faintest idea what Dumbledore wanted from her, why he was sending her out on her own with no real means of protection. As she walked to the lake, however, she began to realize that there was a reason Dumbledore had made her leave the invisibility cloak behind and told her his wish that the final duel take place in September--she was meant to be caught, and meant to make sure that what Dumbledore wanted would indeed happen. With more thought, she figured out that she was the only one who could do the bargaining; she was the only one the Death Eaters couldn't kill.

These thoughts hadn't inspired as much confidence in Hermione as she might have hoped. However, she knew what she was supposed to do now, and she would do her best to go through with it.

The two walked up a short flight of stone steps and entered the mansion through an old wooden door that Draco held open to allow Hermione through. The inside was dim, lit only by a few hovering candles that drifted aimlessly through the corridor. Draco headed immediately for his father's study, intending to get from him some hint as to where the Dark Lord might be.

The walk was silent; all that either heard was the sound of their footsteps against the stone floor. It seemed unnaturally awkward to Draco, who was dying to speak, but just finel to Hermione, who thought her companion was a complete stranger.

They finally reached the dark wooden door to Lucius's study and Draco raised his fist to knock twice, just as he always had, but the sound of voices made him hesitate. Pressing his ear closer to the door, he tried to figure out who else was in the study. He saw the confused expression on Hermione's face out of the corner of his eye.

Hermione, who thought the Death Eater's behavior was somewhat strange, opened her mouth to speak when he put a finger to his mask--obviously where his mouth would normally be--indicating that she should remain silent. She did so, watching suspiciously as Draco strained to hear the voice of the man speaking quietly with his father.

A moment later, Draco realized that the cold voice could belong to no one but the Dark Lord and stopped leaning against the door. Hermione was staring at him curiously and Draco felt that were she not scared out of her mind, she would have raised an eyebrow at him. "He's in here," said Draco, gesturing to the door.

Hermione nodded, taking a deep breath to try and calm her abnormally fast heartbeat. She waited for him to open the door, but Draco didn't move. His mind was quickly trying to find any alternative to what he now saw as handing Hermione over to Voldemort. Why couldn't Dumbledore do the negotiating? thought Draco, a little angrily, He's the one that needs to communicate with the Dark Lord….Voldemort's not scared of Hermione…. But Dumbledore was not there to take this responsibility, and Hermione would never run away from it and leave him and Harry to fend for themselves.

So, with a strong sense of foreboding and an inward sigh, Draco knocked twice on the study door. The voices stopped. "Come in," said Lucius, knowing who it was without asking.

Draco turned the knob and entered the room, seeing the Dark Lord turn his head slightly to see him. Ignoring his father, Draco said, "I have brought Hermione Granger, my Lord; she wants to speak with you." He stepped back to let her in.

"Ah," said Voldemort as Hermione entered. "Dumbledore has sent you, hasn't he?" Hermione nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "I expected as much," he said, standing and walking over to her.

It was all Hermione could do not to scream and sprint from the room as the wizard everyone in the entire magical community feared stepped closer to her. Grasping her wand firmly in her shaking hand, she said, quite steadily despite her nerves, "I'm here to talk about the final duel."

Voldemort pressed his hands together beneath his chin. "And I expect that when we have agreed on that, you will tell me where they are hiding?"

Hermione blinked, thinking. Would she tell him? No, she couldn't, the cabin was the only place they were safe…but then what did she have to bargain with?

The Dark Lord smiled at her hesitation. "Didn't think this all the way through, did you?" he asked, drawing his wand and toying with it in his hands. Holding it up for her to examine, he said, "I, however, have. I remember the problem Harry Potter and I faced when we last tried to duel--our wands wouldn't cooperate. I have found a way to alter my own so that it won't happen again." Hermione waited apprehensively, wondering where he was going with this. "I have been very much looking forward to our little duel, and I do not want to wait much longer."

His wand was now pointing directly at Hermione, who was losing composure every second. "It will take place in September, on the Hogwarts grounds."

Voldemort's smile disappeared. "I will not wait until September."

"Until then, Harry and Dumbledore will remain hidden," said Hermione boldly.

Anger flashed across the Dark Lord's face and he raised his wand so fast that Hermione had no time to react, "Cru--"

"Proteti!" shouted Draco before he could stop himself. The well-cast shield reflected the Dark Lord's curse. He turned angrily to face Draco, who quickly tried to cover up his mistake. "Torturing her to insanity will only postpone the duel further," he pointed out.

Voldemort did not like to be corrected, and was about to make this clear to Draco when Hermione spoke, "The earliest it will be is September first, and it will be on the Hogwarts grounds."

"What evidence do we have that he will be there and that this is not just a trap in which we will all be found and arrested by the Ministry?" asked Lucius from behind the Dark Lord.

"In case you've forgotten," said Hermione, far less afraid of Lucius than of Lord Voldemort, "the Ministry believes me to be missing and has been looking for Harry and Dumbledore for some time. We have no connection with them."

No one responded for a moment as Voldemort thought. "I will be there on the first of September, I give you my word on that," he said after a long pause, extending his pale hand toward Hermione, who hesitated slightly before taking it.

A surge of pain flowed up Hermione's arm and she gave an involuntary cry of surprise. Draco tensed as he watched the handshake take place, wondering what had happened and whether he should act. A moment later, however, the contact was broken and the Dark Lord continued with a smile, "I expect you will be there, too."

Hermione didn't need these last words to know that she was now under some sort of magical bond. She had no doubt that Voldemort had just ensured her presence at Hogwarts on the first, whether Harry and Dumbledore came or not. She hadn't really expected for him to take her word on it, but she also hadn't anticipated the pain she would endure in sealing their deal; her arm still ached where the magic had spread.

Draco took the silence as a cue to lead Hermione from the room, which he did, and she did not object. Her relief was evident when the entered the corridor and the study door closed behind them; she gave a heavy sigh and suddenly looked much less rigid.

They walked in silence once more and Draco couldn't help feeling relieved as well. He hadn't been sure what would happen at the meeting, but he knew things could have gone much, much worse than they did. He still didn't know what had happened between the Dark Lord and Hermione at the end, but it didn't seem as though he'd cursed her, and she didn't look very worried about the whole idea.

They stepped out into the now dark outdoors, stepping carefully down the stone steps. Draco stopped walking at the point at which they'd arrived, expecting Hermione to apparate without a word.

This, however, she did not do. Instead, she hesitated, looking curiously up at Draco's masked face. Draco didn't know what she was thinking; little did he know it was about him. Hermione had noticed several things over the course of the evening: his familiar walk, the fake-sounding voice, the fact that he'd shielded her from Voldemort's curse. She was almost positive she knew who he was, but did not want--as he hadn't--to complicate things further, especially when they were so close to the end.

She took a tentative step toward him, offering a small smile that she hoped would express some of these thoughts. "Thank you, Draco," she said softly, and disapparated before he could reply.