A/N: Does not belong to me. Please read and review!
Draco broke the moment of general calmness by announcing, "How do we get down from here?"
"There should be…ah! Here they are…stairs." Gandalf pointed to the narrow, steep stairs that winded its way down the Carrock.
Draco narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the stairs. "They don't look like much."
"If you would rather, there's another way down," Hermione pointed off the edge of the cliff sarcastically.
"Why can't I apparate?" He whined.
"Why can't you walk?" She imitated.
The dwarves chortled at Hermione's sass. "Fine." Draco muttered. He carefully extended a long leg and cautiously made his way down.
Once they were safely on the ground, the dwarves made camp, and Thorin sent Bilbo away to scout the surrounding land. Draco wandered about, then sat down beneath a tree, far enough away from the dwarves, but close enough to be able to keep an eye on Granger.
Hermione was currently laughing at some joke the dwarves had made, she got along fantastically with them. If Draco were to be honest, dwarves made him a bit uneasy. They went against every rule his mother had taught him growing up, and had absolutely zero manners. However, the elves were a different matter altogether. For the first time since landing in this place, he had been in utter and complete awe of Rivendell and the elves. Besides Gandalf, they were the only ones that he could look straight in the eye and not have to bend over. Their city was graceful and elegant, somewhere his mother would have liked to see. She had always had an eye for things that were beautiful.
Draco missed his mother a lot. He hadn't seen her since that brief moment when her and Lucius were weaving through the mayhem of battle and desperately trying to find him. She had pulled him into a hug, and Draco closed his eyes remembering the way she smelled. But he had lost her when he stepped forward to protect Hermione. Draco knew that this world was the best option for him and Hermione, but he only wished Narcissa could have come as well. He shuddered to imagine what Voldemort could be doing to her. He hoped that his father was keeping her safe.
He always had had a complicated relationship with his father. From a very young age, Lucius had always drilled it into his head that purebloods were supreme, and that mudbloods were not worthy of magic. But Draco looked up to his father, and admired him so much. However, after his father's fall from grace, he began to examine his own beliefs, and coupled with the stress and fear of Voldemort's impossible task for him, he saw the kind of man his father really was. A coward.
Draco was cut off from his inner musings when Bilbo emerged from the bushes, very out of breath.
"How close is the pack?" Thorin asked at once.
"Too close," Bilbo shuddered. "Couple of leagues, no more. But that's not the worst of it."
"Have the orcs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked before Bilbo could continue talking.
"Not yet, but they will do." Bilbo answered quickly. "We have another problem-"
"Did they see you?" Gandalf interjected. "They saw you."
Draco could see that Bilbo was getting very frustrated with all the interruptions. "No, that's not it." Bilbo frowned.
"Good. What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse! Excellent burglar material!" Draco rolled his eyes at Gandalf. Bilbo obviously was dying to tell them something of great importance, and possible life threatening. The dwarves had begun chattering amongst themselves, completely disregarding Bilbo's 'important' information.
"Will you just listen? I'm trying to tell you that there's something else out there!" Bilbo said hotly.
"What form did it take?" Gandalf queried. "Like a bear?"
"Yes…but bigger. Much bigger." Bilbo replied.
Everyone turned to Gandalf, "You knew of this beast?" Bofur questioned.
Gandalf did not reply.
"I say we double back." Bofur spoke to the group.
"We'll be run down by a pack of orcs." Thorin snapped.
"There's a house…" Hermione piped up. Gandalf turned towards her thoughtfully.
"Indeed…It's not far from here, where we might take refuge." Gandalf agreed.
"Whose house?" Thorin narrowed his eyes. "Is he a friend or a foe?"
"Neither." Gandalf replied. "He will help us, or he will kill us."
The old coot reminded Draco very much of their old professor Dumbledore in the sense that when he spoke, he very rarely made sense to those around him.
"What choice do we have?" Thorin asked resignedly.
Whatever the beast was, it roared, and Draco could tell that this was not something that would be easily defeated.
"None."
And…they were running again. Gandalf led the way through a river, into the woods, and out again. Draco spotted the house in the distance, and quickened his pace. Someone shoved him aside and he almost stopped in wonder as Bombur, the fattest dwarf he had ever seen overtook him.
The company filed through the gate but stopped at the door of the house and jumped in vain as they tried to open the lock. Draco ran up, undid the latch, and the group spilled into the house. The bear-like creature stuck its muzzle in, trying to get to the company, but the dwarves managed to shut the door.
"What is that?" Ori turned around, gasping for breath.
"That is our host."
The dwarves stared at Gandalf in confusion. That was their host? Bloody hell it lived in this house?
"There must be something more about him." Draco demanded.
"His name is Beorn, he's a skin-changer. Sometimes he's a huge backed bear, sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not over fond of dwarves." Gandalf explained.
"We'd better hope he's in a good mood with the strangers that burst into his house uninvited then," Draco muttered sourly.
Ori peered through a crack in the door. "He's leaving!" he informed the group.
Dori pulled Ori away from the door, he had a frightened look on his face. "Come away from there! It's not natural, none of it. It's obvious, he's under some dark spell."
Some dwarves glanced at Draco and Hermione, wondering if they knew what kind of dark spell was placed on Beorn. Draco simply shrugged his shoulders, showing that he was just as ignorant as the rest of them.
"Don't be a fool. He's under no enchantment but his own." Gandalf snapped. "Right, get some sleep, all of you. You'll be safe here tonight."
"I hope." Draco heard Gandalf murmur quietly to himself.
Mumbling a bit amongst themselves, the dwarves were able to settle down wearily and almost all fell asleep at once. Draco was about to go sit by Granger, the only one in the company who's presence he actually enjoyed being in, but he noticed the dark haired dwarf, Kili, once again entertaining her with one of his stories about when he was younger.
Draco smirked to himself, whatever Hermione said to convince herself not to be attracted to the dwarf was obviously not working, because she leaned forward and began sharing a tale from their first year at Hogwarts. He sat down next to her, and winked when she glanced at him. She rolled her eyes and smacked him upside the head.
Rubbing the spot she hit him on, Draco lay down and quickly fell asleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Draco heard the front door open, and a giant figure entered the house, but his sleep-addled brain couldn't process this new information and he soon blacked out once more.
Draco's nose twitched. There was something fuzzy on his nose, but he flicked his head a little to try and fling it off and return to sleep, but it stayed and buzzed loudly on his face. His eyes flew open and he let out a yell of surprise when a great big bee stared back at him.
He heard tinkling laughter to his side and glared up at Hermione who tried to repress her laughter.
"Not funny," he grumbled.
"Imagine what you would have done had it stung you!" the witch crowed gleefully.
Draco shuddered at the horror his poor face would have had to go through had the bee actually stung him. "Has the host returned?" He wondered suddenly. Last night seemed a haze, but he faintly remembered someone entering.
"Yes, Beorn is talking to the dwarves right now." Hermione nodded towards the table where the dwarves sat and ate noisily. A large man, who had to be at least as tall as Hagrid had been was serving them great big tankards of ale.
Merlin knew how much he craved some alcohol right now.
"Finally, you are up." Beorn nodded at Draco when he sat down. He handed Draco a piece of bread with honey one it. Draco quickly devoured the food. "I hear you are a wizard, like Gandalf."
Draco swallowed. "More or less."
"And your wife?" Beorn questioned.
Spluttering and choking Draco looked up at Beorn with watering eyes. "My…my what?"
"If she isn't your wife, then who is that lass?" Beorn nodded towards Hermione was sat by Bilbo's still sleeping form.
"She's not my wife, don't let her hear you saying that," Draco advised wisely. "She's also a witch…and we're…friendly acquaintances." He finished lamely, for lack of a better word to describe their relationship.
"I see.." Beorn nodded. "Why would you let a female on your quest?"
Draco snorted. "She's so bloody stubborn, it would've been easier to just bring her rather than argue with her. Besides, they don't call her the 'brightest-witch-of-our-age' for nothing."
"Aye," Kili agreed. "She's helped us out of quite a few tight spots."
Bilbo had just woken up and quietly joined the group. Beorn began questioning Thorin, " So you are the one they call Oakenshield. Tell me, why is Azog the Defiler hunting you?"
Thorin look surprised, "You know of Azog? How?"
A sad look crossed Beorn's giant face, "My people were the first to live in the mountains, before the Orcs came down from the north. The Defiler killed most of my family, but some he enslaved. Not for work, you understand, but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him."
Bilbo, who had been silent suddenly spoke up, "There are others like you?"
Beorn sighed, "Once there were many."
"And now?" Bilbo continued questioning.
"Now there's only one." Beorn did not linger on the topic. "You need to reach the mountain before the last days of autumn."
"Before Durin's Day falls, yes." Confirmed Gandalf.
"You are running out of time." Beorn observed. Way to mention the obvious, genius, Draco thought sardonically.
"Which is why we must go through Mirkwood." Draco had no idea where it was, but Thorin stiffened, and Draco groaned inwardly at whatever horrors were hidden within this 'Murkwood'.
"A darkness lies upon that forest, foul things creep beneath those trees." Beorn warned. "There is an alliance between the Orcs of Moria and The Necromancer in Dol Guldur. I would not venture there, except in great need."
"We will take the Elven Road, their path is still safe." Gandalf insisted. Ah! Elves! Draco felt himself beginning to want to see these elves.
"Safe? The Wood Elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin." Bugger, Draco thought. He still wanted to see these elves though, "They're less wise and more dangerous. But it matters not."
"What do you mean?" Thorin asked worriedly.
"These lands are crawling with Orcs, their numbers are growing and you are on foot. You will never reach the forest alive." Beorn answered grimly. "I don't like dwarfs, they're greedy and blind, blind to the lives of those they deem less than their own."
He picked up a small white mouse that Dwalin had brushed impatiently off his arm, and held it in his hand. Draco wondered for a moment whether he would kill the rodent, but Beorn gently set it free. "But Orcs I hate more."
"What do you need?" Beorn addressed Thorin.
Beorn was kind enough to loan the company fifteen ponies, seeing as Granger was small enough to ride a pony, and two horses. "Go now, while you have the light. Your hunters are not far behind."