A.N: I took a gamble with the last chapter, I admit. I know it went in the opposite direction that I would have wanted feedback wise, and I certainly hope I can make it up to you all with this chapter. Apologies to anyone I have disappointed.
"I thought I had my life all planned out, Mr. Malfoy." Hermione smiled, bringing him to his feet, his arm resting on hers, his thing, white hand digging into the crease of her elbow.
"Don't we all." The man smiled, standing upright with a tight smile spread across his face.
"I can't help but think we skipped a stage," Hermione held a smile to match Draco's, which neither of them lost as they knotted together in an embrace, their smiles connecting into a kiss which seemed to last a day, both of them feeling the world turn under the soles of their shoes, their head spinning and their stomach queasy with the motion as the earth carried on turning on its axis.
"No-one knows we're here." Hermione said in awe, breaking away and looking out at the landscape below them.
"Do you want them to?"
Hermione was looking down at her ring, not listening to the man at her side, who was staring out at the vast amount of trees and hills, rolling out to greet acres of square houses, hundreds of people getting on with their chores-not even looking up to see if the volcano he was standing under had erupted.
"Weren't we meant to be looking for something?" Hermione giggled, coming out of her daydream, putting her ring-clad hand back by her side.
"Ah, yes, I believe we were." Hermione laughed slightly, spinning himself around on one foot.
The two of them looked up above them, the mountain stretching out wildly into the sky.
"How long do you think it will take to climb?" Hermione asked warily, looking at Draco's tired eyes and slim body.
"At least a day, maybe more?" He seemed unsure.
"I've never been one for heights." Hermione stated, matching his uneasy tone, turning around to look back below them. They were barely a quarter up, but the rocky surface was still suspended in the air.
"I love it," Draco said, placing his arm around the woman's waist, "I love being with the air. The idea of being a bird, able to take off at any moment, land anywhere-some place far away where no one will know my name…my past…" Draco faltered, trailing off, "We best get going,"
A short pang of disappointment swirled its way from Hermione's stomach to her throat as Draco moved his arm from her waist. The moment was over. A perfect capture of time was now fragmented. The cracks appearing within their glass bubble-reality seeping its way in, ready to swallow them up. Hermione wasn't quite ready for the possibility that their quest may not be fruitful.
They started moving again, the blue flower silently falling from Hermione's hair in a gentle fall, a simple breath of wind carrying it home safely.
Neither of them knew what they were looking for, only that there were only about a hundred of the flowers-right at the summit. The higher they climbed, the colder it got, the tighter the air around them got, threatening to tip them off their perch. They were just two dots on a blank canvas. Hours passed since they had gone from friends to fiancés, and neither of them had much to speak about, their own glee keeping them quiet in the only sound of their footsteps.
Hermione wanted nothing more than to feel the taste of his salted, fragile lips on her own, the taste of his tongue tracing the edge of her mouth. But she dared not stop incase either of them were blown away. It was an irrational fear, she knew that herself, but there was no risking it. They couldn't get this far-only a few hundred meters away from the broken curse-to fall to their deaths.
"Tell me you brought food," Draco said suddenly, just as the mist was breaking away from the summit in front of them, allowing them sight to the top.
A loud swear word was the only response offered, along with a loud smack to the forehead.
"It doesn't matter," Draco laughed softly, bringing Hermione's hand from her face, "I'm too excited to eat anyway."
"You need your strength though." Hermione said, annoyed at herself.
"I just need you," He smirked, looking down at the woman before bending down and kissing the crease of her frown.
Hermione turned her head and allowed him to kiss her lips, before breaking away to carry on.
"You saved me, you know." Draco had built himself up for the words for so long, and now finally they had come tumbling out of his mouth, rolling off his tongue without a chance to swallow them back again into the dark where they belonged. He had to force himself not to wince as soon as the words had hit the air.
"I haven't yet!" Hermione laughed slightly, before turning to look at the man, and knowing by the struggled expression on his face that he wasn't talking about the cancer.
"No, I mean…" Draco started, knowing he had to explain. He stood upon a rock and jumped off it in the same movement, trying to distract himself from looking into Hermione's eyes.
"You saved me from myself." He told her softly, his words bouncing lightly, but with deep meaning behind them, sadness coated around the syllables.
"What do you-" Hermione stopped herself, her voice hardly audible, knowing this was Draco's time to speak, un-interrupted. She swallowed hard, focusing on the upward landscape in front of her.
"That night-only a few seconds before I apparated into your living room in the dead of night-I was standing on a bridge." Draco paused to lick his suddenly dry lips, "The wind was hissing in my ears like lost voices calling out to me, almost trying to stop me. But I wasn't listening-not to them. It sounds stupid, but I was standing there, on a ledge, looking down at the fairy lights spread out in front of me, ready to put one foot out and…
I started thinking about my life. I had nothing left to live for. No family, none who wanted me anyway. No friends. No wife. I was in pain and slowly dying. No other way out, or so I thought, than to let the disease take me like a muggle or to let the earth take me like a coward.
I was going to take the stupid way out…" Another pause, Hermione's stomach had knotted in on itself, even though she knew the outcome, she still didn't want to hear this. Draco stood on another boulder, stopping himself on it.
"But then I started to think about school," He looked at her, sending a shiver running down her spine, his cold eyes looking at her for the first time since his retelling began. "I started to think about all the things I'd done. I was a bully. I hated myself," Draco gave a small snort to himself, "I started to think about Harry Potter," He shook his head slightly, "I remembered all the things I saw when I performed legilimency on him," He looked at her again, "I was up there, one foot out ready to fall, and I was thinking about Harry fucking Potter's memories as my last," He shook his head again and then a small smile appeared on his lips, he looked down at his feet and jumped down from the mound of dirt,
"I saw you, I saw you all," He swallowed hard, "You all looked so happy. I knew instantly that it was your house when I had first seen the image-there was a picture of you on the wall," He looked at her again, "The one on your mantle piece-with your parents,"
Hermione nodded, knowing the ending.
"I got this sort of warm feeling in my stomach, a sort of compulsion. I knew I needed to go there. Not to that memory-but to that happy place. To that room that stored that much happiness within it that it may be able to break the cold surrounding me," Draco bit his lip slightly, feeling stupid, "I don't now what I was thinking-just, magic works in mysterious ways.
You don't have to explain yourself to me, Hermione thought, but she didn't say it, "So what you said about me being your last resort…"
Draco suddenly blushed and bowed his head, looking sheepish, "I lied, I didn't know what else to say. I only told you that because…I don't know, I guess I didn't want you to know that I liked you. A lot. Always have."
"I don't know whether to be angry about performing legilimency on my best friend, or to just let that one slide." She said, not sounding angry-to Draco's relief.
"Just think, if I hadn't, we wouldn't have met again. And I might be…" Draco trailed off. I might be dead.
They both looked down, Draco focusing on the ground below him, Hermione staring intently at her ring, fitted perfectly around her finger, almost like a protection.
Their discussion had reached them to the top of the mountain, and it was only when they both looked up that they actually realised.
The start of the evening had approached, the cold air swallowing them within its grasp, eating away at their skin. They carried on, walking up right to the very brim of the volcano, being able to see right around the edges.
"Is that it?" Draco asked, pointing to a small ledge on the opposite side of the ridge, hovering dangerously above the dip of the mountain, with a large green object growing from it.
"I'm guessing so," Hermione replied with a small sigh, walking closer to the edge in order to look down and see if there was a plant on this side, "There's one here, but it's quite far down!"
Draco joined her, feet nearly touching the grove that took the mountain inwards, the drop to the plant high enough to reach if you were a giant.
"What should we do?" Draco asked, uncertain.
"We just need the eye." Hermione stated, looking down at the bright pink pod surrounded by tall, thick green leaves.
"Great…" Draco said, sounding sarcastic, his hands on his hips, "How do we get it?"
Hermione bit her lip and lowered herself onto the hardened mud ground, stretching her arm, knowing she wouldn't reach but had to try anyway.
"That's really not going to work." Draco sounded somewhat annoyed, and rightly so-they had been walking all day, cold despite their charms, gone without food and the tiredness was setting in, they'd got this far, but they were still no closer.
"How about if you hold onto me and I reach down?" Hermione suggested, looking from the plant to Draco, who looked down at her with a bewildered expression on his face.
"Is that safe?" Was all he could reply.
"You've got your wand haven't you?" Hermione asked, unable to help herself from rolling her eyes, as if it was completely obvious. Something in Draco snapped at her tone.
"I can do wandless magic." He retorted, getting down on the ground to hold onto her feet.
"Hold on tight!" She took in a deep breath and began to slowly inch herself towards the edge, her head dangling dangerously off the tip, the rest of her torso following. Back on the solid ground above her head, Draco didn't think his strength was quite up to be tested so hard. Hermione was struggling to reach, despite her lower legs being the only thing left touching anything other than thin air.
The blood rushed to her face as she strained her arm, her heart was pounding in her chest, she couldn't close her eyes or she'd miss it. But all she could see was the fall below her. There was no end, the pit was that deep.
"Get me up!" The woman suddenly screamed.
Draco was so surprised he almost dropped her, but managed to pull her before he let go.
It was quicker getting on ground than it was for her to be suspended, but it didn't seem fast enough for her. She could still see the endless drop spread before her.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked, concerned.
"Yeah." Hermione nodded, letting out a shaky breath.
He pulled Hermione into an embrace, which she melted into, happy to be able to sitting on the ground and doing so. She couldn't imagine what Draco would have seen as he was standing on a bridge, ready to die.
She held onto him tighter, her arms interlocking around his small waist. She rested her head onto his shoulder, allowing his musty smell to fill her head, making her dizzy.
Draco placed his head on hers, before looking up again and briefly closing his eyes, and the opening them again with a start.
Draco let go of Hermione Hermione and stood up quickly, "Are you sure we can't just…hang on," the man stood up and walked towards the ridge, he got out his wand.
"Accio Pitcher Plant."
Hermione looked up at him, "It's not going to-"
Hermione's skepticism was silenced by a large ripping sound coming from below her, like something was physically being ripped out of the earth itself. As soon as Draco turned around, a green bundle in his outstretched arms, she knew that that was exactly what had happened.
"Do you mean we could have…" Hermione trailed off, frustration rising over her.
Draco started to laugh, staring down at the leaves in his hand, shaking his head. Soon, Hermione started laughing with him, great big gulps of annoyance coming out as enjoyment at their own stupidity.
"We've walked for half a day, and we could have just used Accio." Hermione shook her head, her jaw jutting out from her smile.
Draco put the plant on the ground at his feet, watching Hermione stand up and come towards him as he put his wand away. Hints of laughter still remaining in the air.
The woman reached down and pulled the eye of the plant from its stem, holding it carefully in her cupped hand.
"Where's the Dittany?" Draco asked Hermione, unable to take his eyes off the thing that would save his life.
"In the house," She sighed, looking down at the long path stretched ahead of them, "Nenita's." She corrected herself, after seeing Draco's shocked expression.
"I thought you meant back in London!" Draco gave out a sigh of relief, inching himself towards Hermione as they travelled down hill, his hand stroking hers slightly before she let got of the plant with it and held onto Draco's. A smile creeping onto both their lips at once.
As soon as they'd reached the road, Hermione could sense something was wrong. She walked slightly ahead of Draco, her arm dragged behind her, still attached to Draco's. Four houses past, and Hermione knew exactly what was wrong.
Their bags were sat outside the gate, waiting for them.
Hermione looked at Draco, who was stony faced.
Heart beating in her chest, Hermione pressed the intercom on the wall, scared as to what the answer will be.
"Hey, it's Hermione, aren't we meant to be staying another night?" Hermione rushed her words as soon as the receiver was picked up.
"You were meant to be, yes." Nenita's harsh words cut through the speaker, making Hermione wince.
"What's wrong?" Asked Draco from behind her, picking up the bag from the floor.
Hermione shushed him, pressing her face further into the metal speaker, "What's happened? Our port-key isn't until tomo-"
"-I'm afraid you can't stay here tonight." The woman's harsh words spat out at her.
"Why?" Draco and Hermione asked simultaneously.
It took the harsh voice a few moments to answer, "I know exactly what happened to you and Mayumi last night."
Hermione's heart sank as the memory suddenly came back to her, her cheeks burned as her stomach twisted,
"I-" she started, but Nenita had already hung up."
"Why? What is it?" Draco asked, confused.
"I think we might have to sleep in the tent tonight." Hermione sighed, picking up the other bag.
"What do you mean?" He asked innocently.
"I messed up," Hermione bowed her head, "We can't stay there tonight."
Draco took a step towards her, "What did you do? I'm sure it can't be that bad?"
"I kissed her girlfriend, Draco." Hermione didn't look up, but she could hear Draco's sharp intake of breath.
"Right." He replied, throwing her an awkward glance.
"I was drunk, I was…" Hermione trailed off, she had started to try and excuse herself, but found she didn't actually quite know what to say.
"You don't have to explain yourself to me." Draco said gently, bringing her towards him.
Suddenly, as if the weight of the day had just suddenly been put onto her, Hermione began to cry. Softly at first, but as soon as Draco had wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close, she was sobbing loudly.
They walked towards the grassy mountainside once again, eating the previously forgotten sandwiches from the rucksack. Neither of them spoke until they had reached the first sign of grass-well, somewhere where they could camp down for the rest of the night.
"Here?" Draco pleaded, bending down to feel the grass below his feet, "It's quite soft."
"Might as well then." Hermione smiled dimly, tired too after all the walking of the day.
Thankfully, after unpacking the tent, it only took a flick of the wand for the material to spring into action and arrange itself into a living area.
"Thank fuck you packed this." Draco huffed, taking off his shoes.
"I was going to take it out…" Hermione looked at the ground and flowed Draco's lead, taking off her shoes before heading into the tent.
It was small and made of a thin sheet of plastic, the local supermarket own. No magic effects like Mr. Weasley's old one, but that's not what she needed right now anyway. A good lie down was all the two of them were craving.
"Should we do it now?" Hermione asked, the Essence of Dittany in her right hand, and the Eye of the Pitcher Plant in the left, a girlish grin on her face.
Draco nodded, running a hand through his hair.
Lighting their wands and putting them in the soft soil to cast a brighter colour on the scene, the two hurriedly crushed the plant using some of the simple equipment Hermione had brought along.
All the weeks that they had been looking, scouring over library books, crying from hospital beds, walking for hours…it had all led up to this. Draco couldn't help but allow his head to take over, allow the throb to fill his vision, his thoughts.
Soon, Hermione was missing the crushed plant into the potion, heating it, handing it to Draco. He took a deep breath. It had all led up to this moment. He could feel himself smiling, despite himself. He felt Hermione's lips on his, her soft hand covering his own on the cold ground.
He pressed the vial to his lips, closed his eyes and counted to ten. He poured the hot contents into his mouth and swallowed hard. As soon as he felt the liquid slide down his throat, he opened his eyes. He breathed in a shaky breath and broke out into a smile. The pain had gone. It was if a balloon had just popped inside his skull, but instead of causing pain, it had got rid of it.
Without hesitation, Draco pounced onto Hermione, rapping his arms around her and kissing her hard. They fell onto the ground together without breaking from each other. The wands fell from their resting places and cast a half shadowed glow onto their love.
Within the early hours of the morning, the two slid into the thin base of the sheet barely stopping the shoots of the grass from poking themselves through.
"I'm sorry." Hermione said gently, turning her head to look at Draco, who had his hands behind his head, staring up at the blue ceiling.
"The only thing separating us from the stars is a sheet of fabric," He remarked, smiling to himself.
Hermione removed her gaze from his shadowed face and followed his sight to the dim stars, barely visible between the tent, but still there.
"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be alive." He replied softly, looking at her delicate face in the moonlight.
She smiled, turning her attention back to him and moving in closer to him. They were so exposed, right there in the middle of a foreign country, only a thin sheet of fabric separating their sleeping bodies from the outside world-but still, she felt safe as his arm came from behind his head and dropped around her shoulders, holding her close.
"I love you." she whispered, bending her head to rest on his chest.
"I love you also." He smiled and planted a kiss on her chestnut hair, before resting his head back and closing his eyes.
"So there really was no one else?" Hermione asked lazily, her voice heavy with sleep.
"No," Draco smiled, his own voice sounding hazy, "You were my first last resort."