Disclaimer: I am not JKR, she did not write this, but she did come up with the characters.
Liberation
Chapter 10
Sand. Billions of golden granules flowing through eternity, breaking in on themselves to form hills the only disturbance in the endless sea of sand. It was the first time in the three days that Hermione had spent assisting Draco and Bill Weasley to prepare for this excursion that she actually worried for their safety. If Hermione turned approximately ninety degrees northwest she could see the dusty outline of the Valley of the Kings. In her mind's eye she could picture the top of the tomb where King Tut lay somewhere near the northwest part of the valley. She could also see the rounded tops of the Colossi of Memnon, built by Ahmenotep III, but named by the Greeks. Hermione sent a silent plea to the great kings protecting the ancient mortuary to protect not only the dead within, but the living that might soon venture there. She was imagining lung clogging sandstorms and massive pits of quick sand ready to suck in Draco or Bill at any moment. Hermione bent over to pick up a handful of smooth sand and stared wide eyed as it flowed through her fingers. She could actually imagine it turning into quicksand overnight despite her rational mind telling her it wasn't true.
"This is definitely the place. Can you feel it?"
Hermione laboriously dragged her mind back to the present to look at Bill. He was standing about ten meters behind her holding his wand in front of his body like a divining rod. Even from her distance she could see the slight trembling of Bill's wand as it located what must be the magical entrance to the Tomb, and therefore the elusive Ankh. Draco wandered over to where Bill was standing, closed his eyes and breathed deeply. For several moments he remained in that position until quite suddenly he fell to his knees and pressed his forehead to the ground. A gust of wind tore through the air at that moment muffling the sounds Draco began to make, but by the trembling of his back Hermione guessed it was either great trembling laughter, or sobs. Hermione quickly went forward to him feeling the charge of magic changing in the air as she got closer, but stopped when Bill raised a hand and walked around Draco to meet her instead.
"Is he all right?" Hermione asked Bill, the trembling in her voice betraying her nerves. The last few days had provided ample opportunity to get to know Draco, albeit more as a friend and a zealous adventurer than a lover, but such a conspicuous display of emotion was beyond her knowledge of him. Her regard for him had grown by leaps and bounds as she learned how dedicated he was to his goals, but she had not imagined his fervor to run quite so deep.
Bill swiftly unpacked their tent and pitched it in the sand before saying anything. Draco slowly rose without opening his eyes. He turned in slow circles breathing deeply as he absently brushed grains of sand from his face. "He is fine. The magic is affecting him more powerfully than it would you or I because he has been looking for this longer. I've learned as a curse breaker that when you are seeking something, and you know you've finally found it, it is like coming home and the magic calls to you. I have been on jobs before where a certain one of would go in just because the magic tells us it should be him. This is definitely here for Draco."
Draco's circuitous route ended directly facing Hermione where he opened his eyes and grinned broadly. There was no trace of embarrassment over his emotional outburst as he strode forward and lifted her up into a bear hug.
"Finally! I have been waiting for this for so long, Hermione. It feels like every part of my life is finally coming together." Draco brought his face to Hermione's and gave her a lingering kiss. Bill blushed slightly and quietly slipped inside the tent unnoticed by the occupied lovers.
Hermione stumbled when Draco released her because her head was spinning from the kiss, Draco's previous emotional display, and the too warm Egyptian desert air. Another gust of wind blew through the desert valley swirling about the sand. With it Hermione could feel the unmistakable tingle of ancient and powerful magic sweeping through her body. She could feel it as it seeped through her skin and bones to rest in her magical core. Despite the warm air Hermione felt cold and shuddered involuntarily.
"You can feel it can't you?" Draco asked as he looked at his wand hand, the piece of wood still gripped tightly within it. "It has been a long time since anyone magical has been to this place. We are renewing old and forgotten magical energies just by being here."
Hermione stared at his wand too as if expecting it to glitter or something, but it did nothing, just sat in his hand, a deceptively harmless looking piece of wood. "I felt this charge the first time I entered Hogwarts Castle. No magical place I have ever been too has the same kind of concentrated magic the castle has."
"That is true," Bill said as he exited the tent and looked towards the sky. "Hogwarts is pretty overwhelming to wizard born and Muggle children alike the first time. We still have a couple of hours of daylight left if you want to start looking for the way in right now, Draco. It's going to be cold and windy tonight, though."
"You mean you aren't going to just, erm, dig?" Hermione asked stupidly. The whole time Draco talked about finding the Ankh he talked of it being buried. She assumed they had been on some sort of treasure hunt the whole day. Take ten paces west, five more east, spot the red X and start digging. Break the curses when you find the treasure chest, sort of thing.
Draco laughed, but not in a condescending way. "Hermione, look how far we are from the actual tomb. The Ankh is directly beneath his tomb, I believe that with all my energy, but the way to it is most definitely not through the tomb. Many people, including Egyptians and scholars, both Muggle and magical, believe the place is cursed. The Valley of the Kings is a highly magical place; you just didn't feel it so much when we were there early because there were so many people to absorb the dispersed energy. You feel it here because there is so much of it and we are the only ones to come to this very place in a very long time and actually know what is here."
Draco bent down and scooped a handful of sand and slowly let it pour out of his cupped palm. "Anyway, remember how I told you the entrance would be just far enough away from the tomb that there would be no natural magical register? This is it."
"So you're saying that you might have to dig from here to somewhere directly below King Tut's actual tomb?" Hermione asked incredulously. "That's just as dangerous as breaking a thousand unknown curses!"
"Perhaps, but it will be more likely a lot of digging, a lot of curses, and if we get lucky some sort of tunnel we can at least walk in. Based on my research, if we dig far enough we will find some sort of magical trap door leading to a chamber with the first series of challenges. That is as far as the journals I have of Kashta's went though." Draco led Hermione inside the tent and sat at the little table sitting in the small kitchen. He pulled out an ancient scroll from his bag and spelled it open. "See, it says that much right here at the end," he said pointing to some script at the bottom that Hermione couldn't have read if she wanted to because it was written in old Kush Hieroglyphics.
Bill settled down in one of the other chairs and began to peruse the documents. Having spent most of his career working in Egypt the writing was no problem for him.
"It still seems really dangerous, and I am afraid to just leave you two here. I know that I said I wanted you to do this, but now that I can see where this begins, and what it feels like just being in the area, I am really frightened for you both," Hermione said looking from Bill to Draco with worry. After a moment of silence, Hermione threw her hands up in the air. "But, this is something you want to do and I respect that. I understand what it is like to want something so badly you would give up everything for it. I just want you to know that I will not sleep until you get home, and if my work suffers it will be entirely your fault."
Draco frowned at Hermione's comments, but Bill just chuckled. "Duly noted. Would you like me to write a note to your boss? The challenges we face will be more to test our honour and less our abilities, Hermione. We might come across some dangerous curses, sure, but if our heart's our pure and we go through this without malice or a desire for personal gain we should be fine. But if you must know, I did have to lie a little to Fleur about what we were doing because I knew she would worry just like you are. I promised that if it gets too dangerous I would get out any way I could and go home to Fleur and Victoire."
"And will you?" Hermione entreated.
"Yes, he will," Draco answered for him. "We agreed that he would leave in that case. I, however, will keep going. I am fairly confident Bill will only be able to help me get so far."
Hermione already knew all this, but now that the moment had come she felt as if it was news to her. Now that her and Draco were together she felt as if she was about to lose him already, and she couldn't bear the thought with alacrity. She knew it was silly to feel so attached, but he truly was her savior in more ways than one and the selfish insecure part of her didn't feel like she could be anything without him. While Draco was searching for his Ankh she was going to have to search for the piece inside of her that allowed her to be alone and happy at the same time. The thought raised another question and it almost left her lips, but Draco silenced her with another warm kiss. This time Bill did not look away despite how private the moment had become. After the kiss, Draco leaned back into his seat and searched Hermione's eyes for some sign of acceptance of what could possibly be his fate.
"What do you want to ask, Hermione? I see a question in your eyes." Draco tenderly stroked Hermione's face from brow to chin with the back of his fingers.
Hermione's voice cracked as she asked the thing she needed to know. The question that had been lingering somewhere in the recesses of her mind since she learned about the Ankh. And not just before the first date where he spoke of it in great detail, but since he mentioned it when she had been kidnapped.
"Is it your destiny, then? To find this thing?" she asked quietly.
Draco looked puzzled. "In a manner of speaking, I suppose."
Finally Bill took this moment as his cue to leave once more. "I am going to go set up some wards," he mumbled to no one in particular.
Hermione spared Bill an apologetic glance before answering Draco. "So, what happens if you find your destiny, and this is really it?"
Draco's face cleared with understanding. "I mean that I believe I am destined to find this, not that it is my only destiny. Are you trying to see where you would fit in the equation of my life if this was my one true destiny?"
Hermione could not help but admit that is indeed what she was wondering and she looked at him shamefaced for thinking it. She must really look like a shrinking fish to him.
"You make it seem like your life would be complete if you had this one artifact. I don't see you going crazy over any of your other things, and you never mentioned wanting anything so badly besides it." Hermione fiddled with the hem of her shirt unable to meet Draco's eyes. He reached across the table and lifted her chin up with one strong finger.
"There is something else I want just as badly, Hermione. I don't think you need me to say it, but if you want me to I will." Hermione shook her head. No, she didn't want to hear it unless he wasn't going anywhere. Her gut told her that if she heard the words before he was safe and sound at home it would hurt twice as bad if something happened to him than if he didn't say them.
"However, when it comes to my career, this might be my destiny. The end, that is."
"Why?"
Draco swept his notes and Kashta's journal back into his bag with a sweep of his wand. "Because, if finding the Ankh is fraught with danger and excitement as I hope it to be, then anything else I look for would be anticlimactic. I have been studying this thing for years, Hermione. Years. Nothing else has captured my attention in the same way, and I am worried that nothing will."
"What would you do then?" Hermione glanced at her watch. The Portkey that would be taking her home was going to activate soon. Draco had invited her along to find the place they were to begin, but that is where her part of the journey ended. Even if she could take the time off from work, Draco would not let her come. She wasn't prepared like he was. He'd spent years studying what kinds of curses and spells might be in place. After the Horcrux hunt and her kidnapping, Hermione was fairly convinced that she could live the rest of her days without any more adventure.
Draco noticed her look at her watch and checked his own. "I don't know what I would do. Maybe write about my adventures? All the things I had to do to build my collection? I would like to write histories revolving around my artifacts. I doubt anyone would read them, but it sounds fulfilling doesn't it?"
Hermione smiled. The action felt foreign on her face and she could feel her muscles trying to resist. "It does sound fulfilling. I guess it is time for me to leave."
Hermione pulled the small elephant out of her pocket. It was the same one Draco had given her to Portkey her out of the castle by Loch Ness when he rescued her. Draco pulled her into a quick but bone crushing hug.
"I will be home soon, Hermione. I don't want to lose you either." Draco quickly stepped back so that he wouldn't be touching her when the Portkey activated. He saw Hermione's hand go up in a wave just before the Portkey activated and she disappeared. Draco picked up his bags and threw them on the top bunk in one of the bedrooms, and armed with just his wand and a bag of potions and talismans, he went outside to meet Bill and begin his search.
Once Hermione appeared in her living room she immediately had to sit on the floor to re-orient. Her head was spinning and her stomach was rolling in on itself. Portkeys always made her want to vomit, but long distance travel was excruciating in that manner. She would take a good old fashioned Muggle aero plane with all the risks of crashing over long distance magical travel any day. As soon as her head was clear, Hermione went to the bathroom and washed the sand and grit from her face. Being away from the desert and in her own clean home she was able to see how much sand was actually all over her. It was in her hair and trapped in every tiny crease of her clothing. Her hair was wild and windswept like it always looked in her school days. When Hermione's face felt sufficiently clean she spoke to her reflection in the mirror.
"Draco thinks he has found something he is meant to do and is content with actually doing it. What about you, Hermione? What is your destiny? Or destinies? Draco? Work? Resolving things with Harry? What is it going to take to make you feel whole again?"
The woman in the mirror stared back at Hermione with wide tired eyes. Of course she had no answers for herself, and after a shower, a warm cup of soup, and a good night's sleep she still had none.
A/N: Hey all. I do apologize for the huge break in between updates. My computer crashed and I just recently replaced it. I actually started writing again, but then my mother died and it pushed my back a little further. The last couple of months have been kind of difficult. But everything is getting back on track slowly but surely. I know this chapter is a little short, but I hope you can forgive me for that. It is also unbeta'd. I did a grammar and spell check, but that was it. I couldn't bear to make you guys wait any longer for it. I would like the next chapters to be beta'd though so… anyway, I need some opinions. Do you want the next chapter to be what's happening with Hermione, or with Draco? I am curious to see where you all want the story to go next. Thanks for sticking with me!!!