A.N- Hi, its me again!! First of all I want to say a HUGE THANKYOU!!!! To my only reviewer, DracoMalfoyLuver. I love you soooo much, I was jumping around so much from sheer undiluted joy, thankyou soo much for that. My Beta and I resembled a couple of hypereactive, over joyful monkeys when we saw the review. I love you Muah!!

Secondly I want to apologize for not uploading in ages. I was incredibly busy with my uncle's wedding, my cousins from abroad coming over after twelve years, and college applications. It's kind of ironic actually that the moment I actually do get a review I don't update for practically two months. Sorry!

Anyway, on with the story.

Within The Depths

Chapter 5: Vexing Voyage

By Princess Beeduru

'Ron, can you stop that, please!!' Hermione begged. 'It's really distracting.'

She glared at Ron who was drilling his fingers on the tabletop. He sighed in defeat and looked at the scenery whooshing past him.

The three of them had boarded a muggle train for obvious reasons and were well on their way to Wales, their destination getting nearer, second by second.

Hermione was searching the map, trying to find the shortest path to Drygarn Fawr. She was mumbling incoherently to herself, slapping Ron away from her whenever he would lean over her shoulder.

He sighed in relief when their compartment door opened with a hiss, and Harry entered, his arms laden with food.

'Voila,' he said, displaying the snacks, which he bought.

Ron practically jumped him and then was reprimanded by Hermione for being too bouncy.

Rolling his eyes, he began stuffing his mouth with all the Snickers and Mars bars he could get.

Muttering about uncouth youths, Hermione daintily unwrapped a Milky Bar. Harry decided that staring at them wasn't going to affect them in the slightest so he decided to join them in satisfying his hunger.

While munching his food he glossed over the plan. They would be reaching Wales in about two hours and would then switch trains to get to the nearest train station to Drygarn Fawr, located in Powys. After that they would have to go on foot along the valley, to get to their cave.

It would be hard work, as Hermione constantly reminded them. The journey itself was dangerous, not only was the terrain hard to handle but it was rumoured that dark creatures inhabited that area.

Hermione's dark hair, nearly black, was shining in the waning sunlight. Her head was bent in concentration and after a few tense minutes she emerged grinning broadly. 'I've got it!' she exclaimed.

'The sun is starting its decline now so we should be in Powys by evening. We can stay in the Inn there and then continue in the morning. We should be near Drygarn Fawr by about two hours worth of walking.'

'Oh joy!' said Ron sarcastically.

'We are not going to get there by any other means apart from on foot. Don't tell me you want to ride on a broom there, Ron!'

'Well, why not? I mean why don't we go in the night and fly over there. No one will see us and we can get there by the end of the day.' Looking around as if his idea made perfect sense.

Hermione was trying very hard to fight the urge to knock some sense into him. 'Ron, you might like flying into unknown lands in the dark where anything can be lurking about just waiting to catch stupid prey who are idiotic enough to go about wandering there…'

'I don't think I've met anyone apart from Hermione who can talk that long in one breath. Amazing really,' Ron said to Harry in an undertone.

'… but I'm not risking our lives due to your blatant stupidity, it's best if we do as I say.'

She looked over to her companions who were staring at her blankly, sighing in annoyance; she stood up and stormed off.

She was walking along the train, trying to dispel her anger. Truth was that she wasn't really angry with Ron. It was just that the all the tension, expectations and the fear of the unknown made her a little edgy.

After finally calming down she started to walk back. Fragments of conversations drifted towards her, but she paid them no heed for, there were other pressing matters to worry about. That was until something caught her interest.

She saw a couple in the refreshments bar who were conversing about muggles. Hermione quickly drew in a breath and tried to eavesdrop on the conversation, without being noticed.

'Why were there wizards on a muggle train? What are they doing here? Who are they?' she asked herself.

She heard them talk about Draco Malfoy. 'What the hell!? How do they know Draco Malfoy? Is he even alive?'

She heard them say that he had been sent away by Him. He was settling something for them, something of great importance.

'Personally I don't trust him. I don't know why the Dark Lord does,' It was a woman's voice speaking in a hushed whisper.

'Don't be silly. Of course he doesn't trust him, this is another test, one which would settle his fate. One more failure and he'll end up like his mother,' the man hissed.

'Oh God. Malfoy is a death eater! These people know him ergo they are death eaters too!!! Oh shit!!'

Suddenly the P.A system boomed that they were about to reach their destination in five minutes. She didn't know that two hours had already passed by.

'Harry and Ron will be worried about me. What if they've started looking for me, no no no, they can't come looking for me, they might be seen.'

She quickly rushed away to their compartment, heaving a sigh of relief when she saw the two boys getting their entire luggage together.

'There you are Hermione. Thought you weren't going to come back,' Harry joked.

'Sorry about earlier, but that's not important,' she wasted no time in telling them what she overheard.

'That son of a bitch…'

'Harry that's not important. What is, is the fact that there are death eaters on the same train as us!! We need to be extremely careful,' placing stress on the word.

'Well I checked out all the exits before we came on,' said Ron.

'And…,' urging him on.

'And we can go through the next few compartments and get out that way. As much as I want to kill those death eaters, we can't draw any attention to ourselves.'

'Okay, so what are we waiting for, let's move,' said Harry.

They got their luggage and opened their door.

Suddenly Hermione's heart froze!

There in front of them stood the couple she had witnessed earlier.

She was now very grateful for the diguses they wore. Seeing Harry's clear forehead and his brown hair, she sighed in relief.

But Harry and Ron didn't know who the two people were.

Remembering that she had to change her personality she quickly readjusted her facial expression and said, 'Hi, like did you want something?' with a flip of her hair.

Harry and Ron whipped around to see her with looks of incredulity, thinking what the hell happened to her.

The couple gave her a look of utmost disgust. 'Muggles' the woman murmured.

The boys had a look of dawning comprehension. Hermione responded with an, 'Excuse me?'

The couple said nothing and just pushed past.

Looking thoroughly relieved, Hermione leaned on the wall and looked over at her boys. She motioned to go back inside. There was no need of changing compartments now that the couple were moving themselves.

At that moment the train stopped and there was a frantic rush to the doors.

'Here we go!' Harry prepared his friends.

Together they disembarked and went in search of the train that would take them to Powys.

Three hours later the trio found themselves in a rather cramped compartment.

'God, could this be more annoying and uncomfortable?' complained Ron.

'That must be the… 29th time you've said that Ron,' responded Hermione.

'Oh, good. You've been keeping count, heaven forbid I think it be the 30th time'

Hermione opened her mouth to retort but was cut short by Harry, 'Please you guys give it a rest. We're nearly there. Don't waste your energy bickering when it will be needed later on.'

The two saw the sense in his judgement and so agreed. After what seemed an extraordinary amount of time, they reached Powys.

They grabbed their luggage and began dragging it towards the nearest Inn, which happened to be a few miles away. Harry hailed a cab and they drove to the Frolicking Lamb, which they found to be very cosy. Harry and Ron would share a room and Hermione would have one all to herself.

They didn't unpack since they knew that they'd only stay one night there. Their rooms were comfortable, it didn't have the modern luxuries or anything, but it would suffice. The lack of grandeur was more than made up for by the delicious food. It instantly warmed the young travellers and made them sleepy almost instantly. They had a long day ahead of them, well actually many long days ahead of them. They didn't know when the next time would come that they'd have a proper bed to sleep in or if they would have a roof over their heads or even if they would have enough food to last them.

However for the moment they were content. They had gone over the plan so many times that Harry felt that he had memorized each and every word, and one more repeat would drive him increasingly paranoid.

The boys bid Hermione goodnight as she walked into the bedroom next to theirs. Luckily it was adjoined so she felt safe knowing that the boys were right beside her.

Hermione sank into the warm bed, and was trying to get to sleep. As she was dozing off, cold grey eyes came across her thoughts. Shuddering involuntarily, she pulled the covers tighter around herself and managed to fall into a peaceful slumber.

Sunlight was streaming through her window and shining on her face. Grumbling, she turned over and the action suddenly got processed by her brain. There was sunlight, meaning it was morning already!

'Oh, shit!' she shrieked. Panicking, she stumbled out of bed and went over to the adjoining door and started banging on it. She heard muffled responses, a crash and suddenly the knob was turning to reveal a very disgruntled Harry.

'Mione, what's the problem?' he asked groggily.

'The problem?' her eyes widened incredulously. 'The problem, Harry is that we've overslept!' she shrieked. 'We were supposed to be out of here by dawn, its already morning!! Hurry up, get ready and remember that even walls have ears. I don't trust this place.' With that eerie warning, she turned around and started to get ready.

Ten minutes of muttered curses and banging into doors, they finally managed to make it out of the Inn and the main city. They were now hiking up a dirt trail which led into the valley of Wye.

Hermione was fuming due to their late start, and the thing which angered her the most was that she couldn't blame anyone because she herself was at fault.

Glaring up at the sky as if waiting for an answer but the only reply that she got was a drop of water in her face. Surprised, she shook her head and to her dismay saw that the sky was about to burst upon her head.

Cursing to no end, she followed Ron who led them into a little cave.

'This sucks so bad!!!' Hermione screeched. 'First of all we wake up incredibly late and now nature decides to bring rain and hinder what little progress we could have made!'

'Don't worry Hermione, it'll be okay'

'And how can you be so sure of that Harry?'

Harry knew his friend well enough to know when not to answer her back as it would only anger her more.

While Hermione seethed at their misfortune Harry turned to Ron who was looking at the map. Noting where Hermione had marked their destination he tried to estimate how long it would take to get there in such conditions.

'So Ron, what do you make of it?'

Ron ruffled his hair anxiously. 'Well Drygarn Fawr is a long way off yet, hate to say it, but Hermione has a right to be worried.'

'If we carry on now, how much longer will it take to get there?'

'Assuming we don't get killed in an avalanche, or get hit by a bolt of lightening or fall from a great height I would say probably five extra hours. It was going to be hard enough for us to get there, but now that the terrain is wet… lets just say its not going to be easy.'

'But can it be done?'

'Yeah mate, it can.'

'Alright then we have to get started. We can use a water repelling charm…oh shit I forgot we can't use magic here. It might be traced.'

Pondering slightly, he said ' No matter, we can still trudge along. We would waste too much time if we wait for the shower to stop. Who knows how long it might take.'

'You're right about that. Well we can't do anything except carry on, oh look Hermione's coming back.'

Hermione sighed before apologizing.

'Don't bother Hermione, its okay. But now let's get going onwards.' Said Ron.

'I'm happy that you guys see the urgency of the situation.'

'Of course, a mission to help defeat Voldemort would hardly be on the bottom of the to do list.'

'Oh haha.' she said dryly.

Making sure they had all their supplies, they resumed trekking. It was extremely hard to see where you were going as the pellets of rain were hitting them hard in the face blurring the limited vision they already had.

After two hours of slipping and sliding the sun decided to peek out of the clouds and lift the darkness. Soon enough the rain stopped, leaving the world as bare as it was when it was born. The land around them seemed more fresh with all the moisture it had, invigorating the trio and giving them a burst of hope. After another hour of walking, Hermione had had enough.

'Come on guys, let's rest.' She panted.

'Now who's being lethargic about the mission huh?' joked Harry

'Oh be quiet. You should be ashamed of yourself, you two know that I am no way near as fit as you guys.'

'Aww is little Hermione tiwed? Maybe Hermione needs to wake up.'

With that Ron started tickling her, amidst all the laughter and shrieking Harry heard Hermione say, 'Please stop! Please, come on! I'll do anything.'

Harry rolled his eyes at the two. Had someone from afar seen the scene, they would think that the two rolling around in mud were a couple, but those close to them would only see their strong friendship which allowed them such intimacy and a brotherly-sisterly love between the two.

After what seemed like hours, Hermione finally resurfaced gasping and clutching her sore tummy. Laughing really takes the energy out of you!!

(A.N- speaking from experience here)

The three fell into a peaceful silence with the occasional sound of opening crisp packets and the munching of biscuits. After they finished their lunch they stood up, but Hermione fell down. Rushing to her side, the boys asked her what was wrong.

She replied, 'I just feel tired. After eating … I don't know… I feel lazy.'

'Well, Hermione I'm sorry but you know that we can't have a nap right now, we still have such a long way to go.' Said Ron.

He was starting to get just a bit annoyed with Hermione. In the morning she was on their backs about hurrying up and now… she was being a hypocrite! She wants to take a break from such an important mission. I mean I know she's tired but so are we. We've been trekking the exact same distance. Do you know what! I think I deserve a bit of a rest too.

To Harry's complete surprise he saw Ron fall to the ground.

He just stood there looking completely bewildered at the turn of events, 'What the hell just happened?!'

But no one answered as no one was listening, his two comrades were fast asleep and left him standing alone in the cold.

He went to Ron and tried to nudge him awake, but gentleness didn't work so he started to push him harder. With each shove his eyes started drooping with weariness, his efforts becoming weaker and weaker until he lay there among his friends, motionless.

The day wore on and turned into night yet the three travelers had still not awoken from their slumber. The darkness was slowly spreading as were stormy clouds.

As fortune had it, the majority of clouds decided to gather directly above the area the trio were in.

Big huge droplets started falling, the rain was fast, heavy and showed no intention of stopping.

'Stop it Ginny, ahh I told you I don't like waking up this way. Ginny!!!'

Harry sat up straight, his arms encircling air. Coming to his senses, he realized that he wasn't in his warm and comfy bedroom nor was Ginny the person in his arms. Reality poured down on him with an almighty crash, quite literally as a huge mass of water pelted him in the head.

He quickly stood up and gasped in mortification. It was night and here we are… in a forest… in the dark… it was raining… I can't see… and we cant use magic… not exactly the best thing to happen to you when you're trying to defeat Voldemort.

'This is definitely not good!'

'Ya think!!!'

Harry turned around to the source of the voice. He couldn't see where she was but felt Hermione shuffling around.

'I've been awake for about half an hour trying to get you two up, but you guys sleep like rocks. Not even pinching you to death was working!!'

'Hasn't Ron woken up yet?'

'No!! Believe me I tried but I think you just have to wake up yourselves.'

'Wow this is bad. How did it happen?? We were all fine one moment, the next we're like dead!! How does that work out.'

'Beause this Harry… this is the culprit.' She shouted with the proud air of one unveiling Houdini's secret. Harry knew she was brandishing something wildly in the air, due to slight whooshing sounds, but he was at a total loss as to what exactly the culprit was.

'Umm, could you be a bit more clearer, I can't really see you, you know because of the dark and the rain.'

With a sheepish giggle Hermione said, ' Oh right sorry, the gulshand plant is the cause. It's probably mating season which is why it's spreading it's pollen.'

'So what, the pollen makes humans fall asleep?'

'Yup, normally the pollen would stay in the air for a very long time. Luckily it rained so it drowned the power of the pollen.'

'Does that mean that we can only trek when it's raining?' Harry was completely shocked. Now how would they get through the journey?

'Well yes, but we can also stay out for a while after it's rained, because it takes some time for the pollen to take it's effect again. Probably about five hours after it rains, that doesn't give us much time. Luckily for us, it's going to rain a lot here so we can get by.'

'Hermione are you okay? You do know that if it was going to take a whole seven hours to get there, now it would take double the time if not it tripled? '

'I'm perfectly aware of that Harry, but now… I think we should be optimistic. There's nothing else to do really,' she finished glumly and resumed brandishing the evil plant which may just have planned their doom.

'Damn!' Harry sighed in frustration.

Suddenly out of the heavy silence a voice bellowed, 'Noooo, get away from me. Get the bloody spiders away from me!!!'

Harry felt something bang against his leg and grunted in pain. Ron had just swung a massive arm out to protect him from the 'spiders'.

'Bloody hell Ron!!! You scared the shit out of me!' one would expect that outburst from Harry but it was actually their female friend.

She was clutching her chest in fright, and breathing heavily. She had been trying to meditate to calm her frazzled nerves and then suddenly she'd been jolted out of peace by the shriek.

'What… where did the spiders go?' Ron asked dumbly.

'Ron you prat, there aren't any spiders. It was a dream, a figment of your imagination,' Harry said furiously while rubbing his sore leg

There was an audible sigh of relief, courtesy of Ron.

'That's good. Wait a minute, why am I wet?'

'It could possibly be that perhaps we are in the middle of a forest where it is raining heavily and we seem to be in the worst part and we can't move back or forward since it's so dark.'

'No way Hermione!' Ron quickly stood up.

'Hey I didn't make the rules! I didn't decide for us to fall asleep out here, it's all the stupid gulshand plant's fault.'

'The what?'

'Harry explain. I just got an idea. Wait a sec, okay.'

'Hermione, no wait tell us where you're going!!Don't move, the ground's slippery and... wet.'

'Well did you expect it to be dry or something,' she responded mildly chuckling.

'And it's dark,' added Ron intelligently.

'I'm right here. Just shut up for a sec.'

'I hate it when she does that,' Ron whispered, but no one heard because the wind picked up again.

All this time Hermione was thinking of how to attain light. That would be the first step towards progress, and after wracking her brain she finally came up with an answer.

She had to use what she had, and they couldn't use magic, so she had to use nature. Making a fire wouldn't do at all, because obviously it was raining and windy.

She then realized that there were gulshands everywhere which were in the process of pollination. That meant there must be loads of insects nearby including the illumabug, which were the evolved species of the fireflies and produced a more intense beam of light.

Hermione quickly whipped out an empty jar from her bag and decided to try catching the illumabugs. A feat not easy when you're in the middle of a thunderstorm, not to mention in the darkness too.

After flailing her arms around madly and sputtering while doing so, she gave up. The rain was stopping her from doing anything productive.

She plopped down on a boulder and resigned herself to the fates and the heavy downpour.

Dark skies, threatening clouds and over bearing silence were situations which Draco Malfoy was accustomed to, that is why he didn't find his path to his destination at all troublesome. In fact he quite liked it. No one could annoy him out here, no one to look at, no one to waste his time on, no one to please… wait! Did he just think that? How could he? He loved pleasing the Dark Lord. It was his life.

Shaking his head, he blamed the temporary lapse of insanity on the bad mood he was in.

He had been walking through an abandoned alleyway when a gang of teenagers decided to corner him and take his money. Not exactly the best idea when the person you're confronting is Draco Malfoy. At first Draco decided on humoring them and played along with the nonsensical banter, but then the lead member decided to get funny by jabbing him in the neck with a knife.

That was when Draco's generosity gave out, and in a flash of green light the four goons were laying on the dirty ground with their eyes open and glassy. The lead member sported a rather ugly gash in his chest whereas the other guys got off easy with just death.

Draco was berating himself, how could those stupid people mistake him for a commoner. Was he not intimidating enough anymore? Well he just had to fix that now didn't he.

He stalked through the dark of the night wishing the days to go faster. It had been almost three weeks since he had left his manor. He had been traveling on foot for the past few weeks as his mission was of utmost secrecy and did not want any magic to be traced to him but now it was getting…dare he say it, tedious. He had survived on a fortnight's ration of food, three change of clothes and a wizarding tent.

After days of trekking, he had finally reached Wales and was well on his way on getting to his destination which was a cave hidden deep within the mountains. His mission was very important and could very well be the preservation of the death eater race. His job was to find that cave and make it suitable for death eater inhabitation. It sounded more menial then it actually was. He had to make sure that it was completely off the map and unknown to muggles and had to find out who had been there in the last thirteen years as well as their current location not to mention the innumerable spells and curses he had to place on it.

It had been raining continuously, which had hindered his process but he still managed to get quite close to the cave. Luckily for him the rain had stopped and the day was clear and bright he was about one hour away from the cave.

His head was feeling heavy with each step, he so dearly wanted a lie down, but NO!! HE COULDN'T DO THAT. HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AT THE CAVE LAST WEEK. HOW COULD HE EVEN THINK OF DELAYING THE DARK LORD'S PLAN EVEN MORE.!!

He forced his eyes to open and continued on his soon to be finished, wearisome journey. Finally after an age Draco saw what he wanted to.

The cave.

He rummaged around in his bag and found the piece of paper on which he had written everything down.

'Yes,' he said while comparing the features of the cave with that on his paper, 'this is the right one! I have not failed you Master!'

He stumbled up to the entrance and murmured incantations which would permit him to enter. The stone wall gave way and he was sucked in as if he was in a vacuum. He fell unceremoniously to the floor; trying to get up but only succeeded in crawling a few centimeters. He found his head too heavy to move and ended up succumbing to a deep deep slumber: one which could take days to wake up from.

Why you ask? All because of the Gulshand plant and Draco's unawareness about it.

Two days later a panting Hermione, a black and blue Ron and a very tired looking Harry all made their appearance infront of a set of identical caves.

' Right,' she paused for breath, 'one of these is the ,' she paused before continuing, 'the entrance,' she panted, 'give me a minute will you.'

She breathed in and out, trying to gain some sense of composure. It had stopped raining half an hour ago, and they had decided that the remaining hour of their journey should be completed in a mad dash to the end. It didn't fare well with Hermione as was evident from her deep breathing, Ron had slipped on the wet ground and had to battle with a spunkle: creatures who resembled a dog until it was their feeding time and insanely sharp horns and fangs came out.

Hermione dove into her bag to get her research out. After scanning it for five minutes or so she declared that the cave on their right was the one they were supposed to go to. She fingered the indentations on the stone wall, letting her hands delve into grooves and whispered, 'Levanto Uanlo!'

With a painful creaking noise the wall simply …faded into nothingness, the trio looked on in surprise.

Hermione turned toward them, while taking in a deep breath. 'Okay guys, now I'm not sure what might exactly happen inside the cave but what I do know is that there are instructions in there. These will most probably be written on scrolls and you need to be extremely careful while handling them. Hang on to your copies of my research at all times, I've written down the signs which will point you into the right direction so keep looking at them.'

She paused and looked to each of her friends, they all felt the unspoken fear in the air. Would they be successful? Would they still be alive at the end? Who knew what lay inside the tomb of Helga Hufflepuff.

Hermione launched herself at the two boys and held them close to her. Harry reveled in the moment, and basked in her comfort. Ron remembered all the times that they used to have group hugs and knew that he would sorely miss them.

Looking at each other and nodding to themselves the trio held onto each others hands, passed nervous smiles and stepped into the darkness.

Hermione couldn't help but scream as the entrance of the cave somehow sucked her in. Her tight grasp on Harry and Ron proved to be no hindrance whatsoever to the force and with an almighty wrench she was pulled altogether from the two boys and hurtled down to a painful landing. Cracking an eye open, she was glad to see a boy lying besides her but her relief was short lived when she saw that he was neither Harry nor Ron. Panic flooded through her body as the boy's hood shifted and a shaggy mane of platinum blonde hair made its way into her vision.

'Oh shit!' was the last thing she thought before passing out.

A.N- I really hoped you guys liked it. Please send me your comments whether bad or good, ( but mostly good please :P hehe.) Also I had a question to ask you guys, do you terribly mind my A.N's in the middle of the fic? Please do tell me and hey, REVIEW. Till next time, See Ya!!