Chapter 4 - Troubled Thoughts

There was no time to lose as soon as Malfoy was gone. Grabbing at her wand and thanking her lucky stars that she finally had it back in her hand again, the first thing Hermione did was put up the protective barrier around her body again, including a spell of invisibility, and then summoning up her Patronus to let Harry and Ron know that she was on her way back. For the moment, she was too rattled—and, quite frankly, confused—over what had just happened to mention anything else, but for now it would be enough for them to know that she was fine and would be rejoining them soon.

Her sprint back to where she had left the boys—and where, thankfully, they had stayed—was made in record time. As soon as she entered the clearing under the protective wards, Hermione saw just how close she had cut it, as both Harry and Ron looked anxious to say the least, and Ron in particular looked like he was ready to murder someone. Both boys relaxed a bit once she came into view though, but those looks quickly changed to confusion and worry once they noticed that she was all wet and muddy.

"Blimey, what the hell happened, Mione?" Ron demanded.

"Nice to see you too, Ron," Hermione replied drily, with more ice to her tone than she intended.

"Hermione, we were just about to go looking for you, and I mean, hang the consequences!" Harry said, clearly piqued. The silver chain of the locket peeked out from under his sweatshirt. "I wanted to go out several times already, and it's only thanks to Ron that we held back!"

Hermione turned to Ron, surprised. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Ron gave her an exasperated look from beneath his eyelashes, but there was something of their old fondness behind his eyes as well. "Yeah, well, every time we didn't do what you said, we've ended up in trouble before in the past. I had no idea what you were up to or if something happened to you any more than Harry did, but I figured we should extend the time limit we set by at least ten more minutes, given that we have no idea where we are."

"And who's fault is that, I wonder?" Harry asked sarcastically.

Ron shot him a glare, but before the boys could start arguing—it was a miracle they hadn't had a go at each other already—Hermione jumped in. "Actually, I do know where we are," she said. "Ron was right, it was the first location near the lake. It's just a mile or two north of here."

Knowing where they were seemed to calm both boys down a bit more, and at least now they knew the distance they would need to apparate back to camp. To keep on the safe side of things, Hermione grabbed both their hands and apparated them all herself, rushing into her portion of the tent as soon as they got back and leaving the boys to re-check the protective wards.

She wanted to avoid for as long as possible having either of them question what had kept her so long or why she came back wet and muddy. Thankfully, they had enough decency to leave her alone at least while she was changing, but Hermione was under no illusions that their silence would last for long; sooner or later, they'd start asking questions.

Too bad that she had no answers yet, not even for herself...

Back in his room at Hogwarts, which was thankfully devoid of anyone as Crabbe and Goyle had gone to raid more of the kitchen, Draco sat by the window and absently twirled his wand in his hand. After apparating back to his home near the Vanishing Cabinet, he had quickly gone back through to the Room of Requirement and then found his way down to the Slytherin common room unseen. The last thing he needed or wanted was to talk to anyone right now, though he did have the uncanny feeling that someone knew what he had been up to. Maybe not with encountering Granger specifically, but definitely with sneaking out of Hogwarts.

If that someone was—and it most likely was—his godfather, then Draco knew he could expect a summoning to the Headmaster's office very soon.

But Severus is a master at legilimency, Draco thought. He could just as easily read the details in Draco's mind if what he said wasn't convincing enough. And Severus Snape could smell out a lie, no question about it. Draco knew just a bit of occlumency to protect himself, but nowhere near enough to shield his mind from someone as gifted as his godfather.

Not that he should have to though, since as of yet Severus hadn't performed legilimency on him—or, at least, not that Draco knew of, not even last year when for months he had refused to come to the Head of Slytherin House for aid regarding his mission—but right now Draco was so confused that he didn't know who to trust anymore.

Shockingly enough, it was only Granger and Potter of all people that he felt were trustworthy, since they were essentially defying the Dark Lord to his face; but no one, absolutely no one in Hogwarts was the same.

And it wasn't like he could talk to anyone even if they were trustworthy. There was Longbottom, Lovegood, and a couple other of Potter's friends who still returned for term, but Draco and Potter didn't exactly run in the same circles; of his own Slytherins, Draco had no one to rely on, and once again he remembered his secret jealousy of Potter for having such true friends whereas he had none. Crabbe and Goyle were idiots, true, but besides that, they would both give him up in a second if it meant pleasing either of their lackluster Death Eater parents or gaining the favour of the Dark Lord; even when she was disarmed before him and Draco had tested the waters to see what she would do, it was clear that Granger had no intention of giving Potter up.

Aunt Bellatrix could even have used the Cruciatus Curse on her and I don't think she would've caved, Draco reflected. Damn it, his thoughts were spiraling out of control and getting away from him in a direction that he did not like. Not only was it making him feel even more morbid, but it brought back thoughts of the afternoon and how, even though he hadn't been the one who was disarmed, Granger could still have had the advantage over him if she'd known they were alone. But she hadn't known that and probably suspected that there were others nearby, and that was why she hadn't reached for her wand. She was testing him just as much as he had been testing her, and besides which...

Merlin, Granger looked tired. Apart from looking pathetic and dirty after having half-fallen into the lake, beyond that it was clear that Granger was nearing a breaking point of sorts. Draco guessed that she, Potter, and Weasley had to rough it for as long as they were on the run, but for it to affect know-it-all, can't-do-wrong Granger, it had to be something worse than that. Draco still had no idea what Potter was up to and if keeping out of the Dark Lord's clutches was all that he was doing, but something told him that Potter wouldn't just be wasting time that way. The threesome was up to something, but what?

The Dark Lord's been on edge recently too, Draco recalled. Just two weeks back, when Draco had been summoned alongside his father to one of the Dark Lord's inner circle meetings, the Dark Lord had struck his father full across the face, not even bothering with a hex or any use of magic. With his snakelike appearance, the Dark Lord looked as imposing as ever, but something around that time had happened to make him seem even more enraged, unhinged almost.

Lucius Malfoy had merely been reporting on the progress in recruiting more creatures to their cause and the successful capture of one of the former wizards of the ministry who had been on the run, but then all of a sudden the Dark Lord had hit him, the sound echoing back from the mostly empty room. Confused, Lucius had merely stared up at his master with wide eyes, whereas Draco had stayed perfectly still, afraid to move a muscle lest he incur the same wrath. The Dark Lord had left soon after, but Draco remembered thinking at the time that something must've gone wrong in his plans, something unrelated to their meeting there.

Thinking back, it was around the same time that the infiltration of the ministry had happened with Potter and his friends...

Damn, I should have dug for more information on that! Draco thought. Not that Granger would have told him anyway, but at least he could have made guesses and her reactions might give him a clue as to whether he was right or not. Had something important happened then, or was the Dark Lord merely ticked off because Potter had managed to get in and out of the ministry under his control and not been captured?

There were a lot of pieces missing to the puzzle, but Draco wasn't in a position to get any of them.

Unless of course he happened to run into Potter's group again by chance, though that was highly unlikely. No matter that it had happened once, it was clear that Granger hadn't known just where she was, and she definitely wouldn't return there now that Draco had identified his family's lakehouse. He might have just wasted the perfect and only opportunity for finding out information that he so desperately craved, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

Consider yourself lucky, Granger, he thought. And he meant it for more reasons than one.

Meanwhile, after she had changed and gotten a chance to calm herself down, Hermione sat alone in the tent puzzling yet again over her copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which she had received from Dumbledore after his death. Truthfully, she had read through the whole book dozens of times already and had every tale memorized, but she still wasn't making any headway on what it could all mean, so having another look wasn't a bad idea. Besides which, she badly needed a distraction (and an excuse not to talk) after what had happened, and studying, as always, was the best thing she had.

Not that it stopped Harry from coming into her section of the tent once it was Ron's turn on guard duty. Harry was still wearing the locket, but, to his credit, looked more concerned for Hermione than ready to tear her head off or anything for the scare she had given them earlier that day.

"Hey."

"Hi." Hermione set the book aside.

"Find anything?" Harry asked, nodding towards it.

Hermione shook her head. "Nothing. From what I can tell, it's just a book of children's tales, Harry. Nothing we can use."

Harry nodded, then cast a sideways glance at her. "You ready to tell me what happened out there today?"

"Nothing happened, Harry," Hermione said, trying for a lie even though she didn't have hopes of it working; but since she had no ready explanation that wouldn't sound completely mental or maybe even make Harry suspect that she had been jinxed or something, it was all she could think of saying to buy time. "I just got lost in the woods and then had to conjure up a compass to help me find my way. I had to backtrack to find the lake first and then find my way back to you—"

"Before, you sent us a Patronus saying that you thought there was another wizard nearby. Ron nearly lost it and insisted we go check then, but it was still in your time limit so I told him to wait. When you didn't come back and didn't send us word though, I also started to worry. What happened, Mione?"

On the one hand, Harry definitely deserved to know the truth. Confusing as it was to Hermione, she knew that telling him might rationalize the situation in ways she could not, maybe even answer a few pressing questions—like, why hadn't Malfoy hexed her anyway, or sent out a call to other Death Eaters to come and collect her? For that matter, even in the questions he had asked her, it was clear now that he wasn't really trying to dig up any information, otherwise he could have gotten creative and Crucioed it out of her. Hermione had never been tortured before, but she didn't want to be put to the test and see how long she would hold out.

Had Malfoy been waiting for something then, was that it? For Harry and Ron to come after her, or for other Death Eaters to make their move? No, neither scenario made sense, as there was no reason to wait and stall for time—unless there was something Hermione didn't know—and Malfoy was not someone she would ever have described as "patient".

Plus, he looked tired, Hermione, you know you thought so, she reminded herself while considering what to say to Harry. And he was like that in his sixth year and Harry saw him and might know what that means, but...

But there were still certain things Harry wouldn't be able to explain, like why Malfoy had let her go and then even given her that warning about Voldemort's finder spell. And speaking of which...

"Harry, I've been thinking," Hermione began purposefully, knowing that right away she would have Harry's attention. "You know how attacks from Death Eaters and searches by snatchers have been intensifying recently?"

Harry looked confused, but nodded.

"Well, we've already determined that it's because Vold-because You-Know-Who has probably sensed that we took the locket away. He's more obsessed than ever with finding you now, and I was thinking that maybe sending out his followers isn't enough. Face it, Harry, he's had years of experience in finding what he's looking for, and what better method would there be than to use magic—if not to locate you, then at least to lure you to him?"

"Mione, he's already in my mind half the time," Harry grumbled. "And we're lucky if that doesn't tip him off to where we are eventually."

"You're right, so far we're lucky that it hasn't but that doesn't mean that he's willing to wait for the time that it might. He'll speed up the process, Harry—use magic to get to you and to all people who are against him and bring them right to him."

"What are you thinking of, Mione? How would Vol—"

"Just like that, Harry! What better way for the Dark Lord to bring you directly to him than if not by turning around your defiance in using his name against you? He could use a finder's spell, which requires only the most basic of skills, and make it so that anyone who speaks his name will be transported right to his nearest Snatchers. It would be both unexpected and truly make his name something to be feared!"

Harry was quiet for a few minutes, taking in the information. Suddenly, his eyes brightened as he realized just what that could mean. "Mione, that's brilliant! I can't believe we didn't think of it before! Hang on, I'll tell Ron!" And he ran out of the tent to do just that, leaving Hermione alone to think for a moment.

On the one hand, she was glad that she had been able to communicate this to Harry and, thinking back, realized that it did make sense and was most likely true; but on the other hand, again, she wondered why Malfoy of all people was her source for this information. If she revealed that to Harry or Ron though, would they believe it and take it to heart?

Best to probably not mention anything about Malfoy then, Hermione, she told herself. It was for the best if no one knew about what had happened, and soon hopefully she would forget as well.

But what she neglected to both mention and admit to herself was that she would sooner forget everything not only because it confused her, but because it was a keen embarrassment to to think that for even one moment, Draco Malfoy had seen her helpless and at his mercy. It was something that, should the situation ever arise for them to meet anew, would never happen again.

A/N: Reflections aside, I hope I've properly planted the seeds of doubt in an already doubtful relationship. A lot of the early chapters will be centered around challenging everything that Draco and Hermione think they know about each other, and more or less shifting perspectives around until we bring them to a semi-tolerable place with each other.

I'm expecting the next chapter to have a lot more character interactions between Draco and Hermione with people other than each other, but please bear with me and trust that there will be a lot of scenes putting these two together in the near future!

As always, please follow, favourite, and especially review to let me know what you think of the story! Until next time, cheers!