Author's Note: Hey friends, thanks for coming along on this fun little journey with me. This is the end of their adventure in Kingswood, although as prefaced in the first chapter, there may be additional parts written about their future adventures in Dust. :) I will be focusing on other things for a while, though, so if I carry on with the next part of Dust there will be a break in between. Let me know what you think! Thanks xoxo
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.
Once the dust storm settled, Draco climbed the ladder out of the cache; it took some effort to open the old, weather-worn trapdoor, a layer of dirt having settled on top. Hermione followed and he tugged her by the hand from the top rung of the ladder. She snickered as she stumbled, stabilizing herself against his chest.
The afternoon had passed, the beginnings of a golden sunset settling on the western horizon. A few lonely clouds drifted through the sky.
Draco secured the metal pail to the trapdoor with a length of rope, in order to ensure they wouldn't lose track of the door to the cache again, and then marked the location as best he could guess on the survey map.
"We'll get the horses, and come back for the treasure," Draco said, meeting her gaze. "It's too heavy to carry all the way to the shack."
"Right," Hermione said, falling into step beside him as they began the trek back to the distillery shack. Twice, Draco caught her watching him and had to refrain from grabbing her.
He was probably crazy – most assuredly crazy. But he couldn't help but feel like it was a good thing.
That despite the fact that they had struggled to trust one another since they had met – with good reason – Draco still wanted her by his side and watching his back, as he would do for her.
By the time they retrieved the horses and made their way back to the treasure it was nearly dark. It took some effort to haul the treasure from the cache, and they had had to split the gold between their horses in order to carry the load.
They returned to the distillery shack with matching exhilarated grins beneath a sky full of stars.
Draco made sure to store the gold safely inside, in case anyone came across their horses outside and dropped into the grass beside Hermione, gazing up at the clear sky.
"Doesn't this feel familiar?" he asked with a smirk, glancing sidelong at her.
She released the lid from the fourth growler of moonshine with a wry grin, whispering, "Now it does."
Draco planted two mugs on the ground beside her, wrapping his arms around his bent knees. "Can you believe it?" he asked. "We found the treasure – and it was still there."
"That's the part that baffles me," Hermione admitted as she poured two generous measures of the hooch. "That no one before us ever came across the fact that they had buried their gold."
"It doesn't baffle me," Draco said, picking up his glass. "That book was terribly dry. If you hadn't been coveting it, I never would have looked twice at it."
She shot him a look. "The founding of Kingswood was interesting enough." She picked up her own glass, pressing the rim against his. "To the future."
"To the future," Draco echoed but didn't remove his glass. "To a different life, where we aren't on the run and fighting for our lives."
"Where we can settle in one place," she whispered, her gaze meeting his. "Not a different place every night, scrounging for food, sleeping in the grass."
"It's possible," Draco said quietly. "I know it is."
She stared at him for a moment, and Draco read a heavy sort of significance in her eyes. He knew she wanted – as badly as he did, if not more – to believe that something else was out there for them. That they could find it together.
Draco felt a restless twist in his soul.
"To the sunset," Hermione continued, "and traveling far away from this place."
Draco chuckled, "To the sunset."
He clinked their glasses, moonshine sloshing dangerously up the insides, and took a long swig. Hermione did the same, her eyes fixed on his.
"Are we going north?" she asked, setting her glass in the tall brush between her legs.
"We can," Draco said, leaning back on his hands as he stretched his legs out, nudging her. "We can try and find the rest of the treasure if you like – or we can move on altogether. What we found today –" he cut himself off, shaking his head. "That's a lot of gold."
"What are the other options?" Hermione said, taking a sip as her gaze slid to the horizon before them. She quickly added, "Not Sequoia Bluffs."
"Not Sequoia," Draco confirmed. "Too many rival bandits there. It'll be going towards what we're trying to escape. If not north to Falcon's Ridge, we ought to go south through Greendale, or west to Wakefield."
"I went through Wakefield on my way into Kingswood," Hermione said with a shrug. "It isn't a very big town."
"Ultimately," Draco said, taking a swig of his moonshine, "we won't stay in any of these towns, not if we want to get far away from Kingswood. Those are all within a few days' ride. But beyond there, I don't know many towns. It's been so long since I've lived anywhere but around Kingswood."
"You wanted to go north," Hermione said, a musing smile dancing across her lips. "So let's go north and see where we end up."
"North," Draco repeated, a wrinkle to the bridge of his nose. "And if we happen to go through Falcon's Ridge along the way, it couldn't hurt to take a look around."
"Right," Hermione said with a flicker of her brows. "In case we happen to come across any information, you know."
Draco sucked on his teeth and turned to face her, stretching his legs out before him. "I have an old friend in Falcon's Ridge, named Theodore Nott. Last I heard he's the Mayor of the town now."
"You know the Mayor?" Hermione asked with a snicker.
"He isn't like Sherriff Potter, if that's what you're thinking," Draco explained. "He's… never hesitated to turn a blind eye to certain things."
"So you're saying he might be able to help," Hermione said, her words cautious.
"He might," Draco returned.
She said, "I think we ought to go north."
Draco nodded slowly, chewing the inside of his cheek. He flashed her a tight smile. "North it is."
He took a swig of his moonshine, his eyes settling on the cosmic blanket of stars as it fell across the sky, the moon high and shining.
"We should make sure we have enough food packed for a few days on the road," Draco said after a long, comfortable moment of silence. "So long as we can avoid the sheriff, our best bet will be closer to town."
"I wonder if Sheriff Potter pieced it all together," Hermione said with a thoughtful sip from her own mug. "That he had Double-Draw under his nose all these years."
"He might have," Draco said with a shrug. He stretched his legs out before him. "He isn't stupid, and I wouldn't be surprised if he figured out that I was involved with that gang of bandits. In which case, he'll know he was right in your involvement."
Hermione's brows flickered, a curve playing at the corners of her mouth. "Come tomorrow, we'll be long gone from here, anyway, and it won't matter."
"Cheers to that," Draco said with a crooked grin. Her chocolate eyes sparkled in the light of the moon as she pressed her mug to his again, following in to meet his lips in a kiss.
Draco tugged her closer, tossing her hat from her head and burying a hand into her curls as he pulled her onto his lap, her knees gripping his thighs as she settled atop him. Feeling her mug of moonshine slosh onto his shirt, Draco swiped the cup from her and set it beside his in the grass.
He returned his attention to her mouth, his tongue sweeping hers, his teeth catching the flesh of her lower lip. A low growl escaped his throat as she removed his hat and dug her hands into his hair, pressing herself closer to him.
Draco untied her bandana with one hand, grazing the gentle curve of her jaw with his teeth, and his hand slipped down to release the top few buttons of her shirt.
He breathed against her throat, "You aren't planning on leaving before I wake up this time, are you?"
Her eyes were glazed, a quirk to her lips as she said, "Not a chance."
"Good," Draco said, a shiver sweeping down his spine as her hands made short work of his shirt. She pressed herself down against him as she kissed him again, and the action drew a groan from his throat. In a swift movement, Draco stood from the grass, tugging her up with him as he continued his assault on her neck.
"Not the grass this time?" she whispered, and Draco could hear the smile in her voice.
"Not the grass," Draco confirmed. "Not when we have a perfectly good bed inside."
"Of course," Hermione said with a tilt to her head, her hands loosening the dual holsters at his waist. Then she took a step back and removed her own pistol, piling her daggers on the table in the kitchen. Draco snickered, divesting himself of his own weapons.
He tugged her bandana off, slipping loose the remaining buttons of her shirt. Her eyes glowed, heated, as they met his.
Then he tossed her over his shoulder and carried her into the bedroom.
Hermione cast Double-Draw a sidelong glance as he pulled up beside her on his horse. He returned the look, a smirk curling at a corner of his mouth.
Late the night before, they had finished off the remaining growler of moonshine, half-naked and half-intoxicated, and then slept well past sunrise.
They had spent the majority of the day preparing to leave the vicinity of Kingswood, stocking their bags full of food and extra water skins. And aside from a near run-in with one of the sheriff's guards patrolling the outskirts of town, the day had been successful.
The founders' treasure had been divided between the saddlebags of their horses upon preparation to leave the distillery shack, in search of something unknown – something, they hoped, filled with promise.
Draco's horse sidled closer, and Hermione smiled at the way the failing light of the sun caught in the golden stubble on his jaw, the oranges and pinks of a cloudless sky casting the field before them in a soft, warm light.
And beyond, the hard, dusty earth, the canyons and the dried-up riverbeds – and beyond that, neither of them knew. Beyond that, life would be that they made of it.
The tips of Draco's fingers grazed the back of her hand, rough from years of hard living. Hermione glanced up, turning her hand so his fingers slipped between hers.
"I'm glad you're coming with me," he said, his voice soft as he gazed at the vibrant beauty of the setting sun.
"I'm glad to be coming with you as well," she returned, blinking at him. It was strange, to actually allow someone in.
But the thought of losing him – of driving him away – had been the most frightening thing she could imagine. Things wouldn't be easy – it would take some time and effort for them both to grow used to being together – but this was what she wanted.
He grinned, his grey eyes sparkling with the refracted shades of orange.
Hermione met his gaze again. "There's your sunset."
His smile softened into something that caused a breath to catch in her throat. "My sunset and my girl."
The air was still, the dust settled; the wild expanse stretched in every direction as they ventured out, canyons in the distance. She felt a sort of peace settle in her soul, with which she was unfamiliar.
The trail that led northwest to Falcon's Ridge lay before them, coated in a fresh, untouched layer of dust.
She gave his hand a squeeze and grinned. "Let's see what sort of trouble we can get into."
Double-Draw cast her a quick glance, his tongue flicking out along his bottom lip. He winked and before she knew it he was gone. She cursed under her breath.
Hermione spurred her horse into action, chasing him down, into the sunset.
TBC...