A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Exams were taking up all my spare time. But I'm done so hopefully I'll be able to update more often! So this is such a filler chapter, and I'm reallly sorry for that, but there does need to be the occasional filler. The next one will be much more intense I promise! Review Review Review please! They give me motivation to write :)
Chapter 8
"You're going to have to do better than that Malfoy." Hermione said, giving him a quick once over.
"What, don't I look different enough?" He asked, glancing in the mirror.
"You have trademark Malfoy hair. We know that there's wizards familiar with your family here, we can't risk them recognizing you!"
"Fine." He said. With a flick of his wand, he changed his hair to black. Hermione stifled a laugh at the sight of Malfoy with dark hair. Paired with his pale skin, he looked rather gothic. It was a hilarious sight. But she was still mad at him for last night, so she hid her laugh and resumed her indifferent face.
"What? This not different enough for you Granger?" He looked in the mirror and almost cracked a smile at his own reflection.
"Just leave it. I don't think anyone will recognize you with that hair." She told him, turning to leave the tent. They were heading off to library to look for some proof that anyone related to Voldemort had been here. The conversation that they had heard the night before, while terrifying, had also given them some hope. If there were magical people in this town, then perhaps it would have drawn Voldemort's relatives to the quaint little town. They quickly packed up the tent and cast disillusionment charms on themselves. They didn't want to be seen suddenly appearing out of what would appear to be thin air. Just before Hermione started walking away, Draco grabbed her hand. Hermione stopped for a minute, looking towards their hands, but of course she couldn't see them. She glanced up, as if looking for an answer in Draco's features, which of course were invisible to her. Typical Malfoy, to do this when she can't even see him.
"Just so I know where I'm going." Draco clarified. Hermione nodded, still confused. He hated touching her, why would he initiate it even if it was necessity? Upon realizing that Draco couldn't see her nodding her head either, she hastily spoke.
"Yes, of course."
"Do you know where the library is?"
"Obviously." She said, her voice dripping with attitude.
"Okay. So just making sure, we're going to try to go in invisible, but if no one comes along for a while, we'll just use our disguises?"
"Yes Malfoy, is that really so hard to grasp?"
"Bloody hell Granger we're never going to get anything done if you keep acting like this." He said in an exasperated tone.
"If I keep acting like this. Right. I'm not doing this right now. Let's just do what we came here to do." She said, dragging him along in the direction of the town. Malfoy decided not to dispute her, and just kept his mouth shut.
When they got to the town, they found that it was quite busy out.
"Of course, it's Saturday, the market would be today!" she said under her breath.
"Market?" Malfoy asked curiously.
"Another muggle thing." Hermione explained as they dodged people. They couldn't even brush up against anyone, as they were supposed to be invisible. The market would draw people in the town's centre, making it incredibly busy.
"Stay close." Hermione reminded him as they neared the library doors. Luckily for them, some one chose the moment they arrived to open the door to the library. Just before the door closed behind the lady walking in, Hermione yanked Draco inside too. They had just made it. Outside it had been noisy, covering up their footsteps and talking. Inside the library, it was painfully quiet. They were aware of ever rustle of clothing or accidentally loud footstep they made. Fortunately everyone in the small library was too engrossed in whatever they were reading to notice. Hermione dragged Draco through the library, heading to the area where she knew archives to be in most libraries.
"How'd you know where to go?" Draco asked her quietly.
"Look at who you're talking to Malfoy. I'm an 'insufferable know it all', of course I know my way around a library." She said with some venom in her words. "When no one's looking, cast a disillusionment charm on the book you want to use, THEN take it off the shelf. When you're finished put it right back, and take the charm off AFTER it's back on the shelf. Go back at least 50 years." She told him quietly, then she set about the same task. She had to be sure no one would see random books flying around, as they wouldn't be able to see Draco or Hermione. Hopefully they would be stealthy enough that no one would notice books seemingly disappear off the shelf.
They had been going through the archives for some time when Hermione heard a voice that made her freeze. It was the voice from last night. A wizard was in the library. What if they detected her and Malfoy? She leaned over to where she knew Malfoy to be and warned him as silently as possible. If an unexplainable noise was made, the man would run a detection spell and realize that there was some one concealed. He couldn't undo their disillusionment, only the caster could, but it would certainly be a nuisance.
"Hello Rose!" The voice said, nearing Draco and Hermione. "Do you mind if I go into the back room?" Hermione moved as silently as she could to get a better look. When she caught sight of the wizard, she looked closely to see if she could recognize him. She felt Draco near her, but didn't dare to move. Maybe he would be able to recognize him as the man knew his father by his first name.
"Of course Roger, go right in!" The lady behind the counter said with a smile. They watched with curiosity as the man walked into a room. Before he closed the door to the backroom, Hermione thought she caught a glimpse of a familiar book. She felt around for Draco's hand and pulled him back to their secluded corner.
"First of all, were you able to recognize him? I mean, now that we've got a better look at him?" She whispered.
"Nope. I've never seen him before."
"Okay. But listen Malfoy, we need to get into the backroom. I could have sworn I just saw Hogwarts: A History in that room. It must be a room full of magic books. Maybe we'll find something in there." She whispered.
"Are you sure? You can't have gotten a good look." He said doubtfully.
"I know that book like the back of my hand." She assured him.
"What?" He asked confusedly.
"Muggle saying. Sorry. But anyways, the fact that a wizard interested in Death Eaters entered that room should be reason enough, don't you think?"
"I don't know Granger…" He said cautiously. He didn't like the thought of snooping around anymore than they had to. As cunning as Slytherins were, they didn't like to get into unnecessarily dangerous situations.
"Oh I wish Ron and Harry were here. They were always willing to go that extra bit further." She said, hoping to provoke him. Draco stiffened at being compared to those two who he loathed so much. He couldn't let them out do him. Plus, Hermione had a point. Things on dark wizards, or wizards at all, wouldn't be out in the open.
"Okay fine. Let's just finish with these first." He suggested.
"Fine." They continued flipping through the archives, looking for anything. Their search turned up nothing about the founders, the Marvolo's or anything they could relate to Voldemort.
"Ready?" Hermione whispered when she saw the last book reappear on the shelf.
"How're we going to get in? That guy is in there." Draco asked. He could almost hear Hermione rolling her eyes at him.
"He won't be in there forever. We can wait outside the door just like we did coming into the library. Come on." She said, finding his hand and quietly dragging him to the room's door. They stood outside the door for about five minutes before the door opened. Just as the man was about to close it, they slipped in right behind him. Their timing was impeccable.
"Jesus Granger how many times have you done this?" Draco asked her, surprised at how easily she was able to sneak around.
"I spent many nights sneaking around the castle with Ron and Harry. Many of our 'extra-curricular' activities required lots of extra research and snooping." She explained.
"Yeah but you got caught a lot. You can't have been that good." He said, scanning the shelves for anything useful. So far it was just average books that any magic library would have.
"Considering how many times we snuck out and around, we got caught very few times. We had a lot of close calls though." She said nonchalantly. She didn't need to mention that she had been scared out of her wits each time. She had always been terrified that she would get expelled. In her mind, it had been a fate worse than death.
"Snape was always grumbling about you three." Hermione laughed and Draco smiled at the beautiful sound. Wait, since when did anyone's laugh make Draco smile? All this time away from the Death Eaters and in the company of bloody Gryffindors was making him soft.
"He was usually the one that we just barely eluded. It drove him crazy." She told him. Thinking about Snape, Hermione suddenly became very sad. While she hadn't known it at the time, Snape was an amazing man. She always wished that she had been able to know the real him and not the one who had always made Harry's life a living hell. The lives that the war had claimed would always haunt her. Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Snape, Dumbledore and so many others. The names of those she loved rolled through her head. Oh bloody hell. Not this again. Not here. Not now. Not infront of him. Hermione thought, as she felt another bought of anxiety and crippling sadness coming on. She took a few deep breaths, trying to get it under control. She couldn't afford to have him see her break down again. She began searching the shelves to distract herself. Luckily for her, it actually worked. She didn't see anything that she hadn't read in the past.
"This is useless." Draco said after a few minutes.
"I had thought that we had gotten lucky or something. That maybe this would be over sooner than we thought." She said, sounding somewhat resigned.
"What's this?" Draco asked, holding up a book. "I've never seen it before."
"Oh, that's on the Deathly Hallows. He wouldn't make them into a horcrux, plus Harry has them all." She explained.
"What are they?" Draco asked curiously. Jesus, Granger was like an information vault.
"It's a long story, but basically there are three of them. There's the resurrection stone, which brings back an imitation of the dead. We have that where no one will find it. The invisibility cloak is another one, which was a huge part of our success in sneaking around. It had been Harry's dads. Then of course there's the elder wand. It actually belonged to you for some time." She said thoughtfully.
"The elder wand? I don't remember ever having it."
"It's a wand that basically cannot be beaten when it is with it's rightful owner. It belongs to whoever disarmed it's previous owner. When you disarmed Dumbledore the night he was… killed, it switched it's alliance to you, so it never really worked right for Voldemort after he stole it from Dumbledores tomb. Then when Harry disarmed you at…" She trailed off at the memory, not wanting to talk about it. That day haunted her the most out of the war. It was one of her most reoccurring nightmares. Her hatred for Malfoy in that moment almost blinded her. He had caused her so much pain. He was to blame for Dumbledore's murder and her horrendous torture. Don't let it control you. Focus on the Horcrux. Come on Hermione. Drop it. She told herself. When she finally got control, she continued slowly. "Well it became Harry's wand. Then he destroyed it." She said simply. She didn't want to talk anymore- especially to Malfoy.
"He just destroyed it? Just like that. He turned down the most powerful wand in the world?" Draco asked incredulously. Hermione cringed at how power-hungry Malfoy seemed. It made her anger towards him grow again.
"The world's better off without it." She told him coldly.
"But-"
"Shut up Malfoy." She interrupted angrily. Malfoy didn't say another word after that. He was curious about these Deathly Hallows, but he knew not to push her when they were in public. He wondered what had caused her change in demeanor, but he just quickly brushed it off.
"There's nothing here!" Hermione practically yelled in frustration.
"Jesus Granger keep your voice down." Malfoy hissed.
"I cast a silencing spell you dimwit." She snapped. "Ugh I had been so sure that we'd find something! This bloody town is useless." She groaned.
"Are you sure we saw all the books?" Malfoy asked carefully. Normally he would never be careful with her, but they were in too delicate a situation.
"Positive. There's noth-" But she cut off mid sentence.
"Granger?"
"Shh. There's some one at the door." She hissed at him. They stood perfectly still, praying that no one would come in. Hermione heaved a sigh of relief when she heard the door lock and footsteps walking away.
"Thank god we're just locked in. I thought for sure we'd get caught."
"Why don't we just apparate out now?" Hermione suggested.
"And go where exactly?"
"I don't know. I'll apparate us somewhere for the night then we can figure out where to go from there. Grab my arm." She suggested. Draco waved his hand in the direction of her voice to try and find her arm. He stopped when he felt her. All of a sudden, Hermione jumped back
"That's not my arm and you know it! You disgusting little ferret!" She yelled.
"Well it's not like I can see you Granger. You can't blame me for this." He said, trying to hide his embarrassment. He grinned a little at her obvious discomfort.
"Here." She said, snatching his arm and attaching his hand to her arm harshly. She turned, and with a pop they appeared in another forest.
"Where are we now?" Draco asked.
"Just some forest I read the name of on the map. I figured we might need a spot to spend the night." She told him as took off the disillusionment charm on herself and Malfoy and began setting up again. "Don't just stand there. Help me."
"Merlin Granger calm down." Draco said. He was just about fed up with her snappy attitude. He had been nice to her all day! Plus she had been equally as mean last night. They finished setting up the tent and casting the wards in silence and headed into the tent.
"So am I making supper myself tonight?" Draco asked, his voice dripping with attitude.
"Yup." She said simply, going about making her own dinner. Merlin it smelled good. Malfoy looked through the cupboards for something that looked easy to make. He began pulling out random things, planning to put them all together.
"What in Merlin's name do you plan on making with that." Granger said, looking at his ingredients with distaste.
"Food." He snapped.
"If you're so incompetent why don't you just make toast or something."
"I don't want toast."
"Alright. I'll enjoy watching you eat your… food. If you can even call it that." She told him. What was wrong with her today? Draco was just about ready to snap. He had thought that they agreed to be civil. She was hardly being civil. They continued making their own dinners, hers smelling amazing, Draco's looking awful. Hermione couldn't help but smile as she watched his face contort in disgust with every bite he took.
"What's that?" Draco asked. Hermione snapped back to reality. She had a habit of doing that, zoning out completely. It had only really been happening since the war. She would accidently close off into her own little world, oblivious to those around her until some one snapped her out of it. Hermione followed his gaze to her arm. Her left arm. Hermione hastily covered up her arm, not wanting to look at it herself, let alone let Malfoy see it. It was partially his fault that it was there anyways. The anger was almost blinding again. The reference to that awful day twice in one day was almost too much. She knew that she'd need a really strong silencing charm on her room tonight.
"Nothing." She said. She got up, vanished the food on her plate and walked to her room. Draco watched her go, extremely curious. He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he saw a d carved into her arm.