Chapter Four:

Sacred Vision

A/N: Please read, review and enjoy!

There's no way to temper your thirst

With lasting impressions or pictures of home

There's no way to grow that don't hurt

She growled from the station then hung up the phone.

There's no sacred vision like her

No eye-crushing mountain or jewelry to wear

There's no granted wish I prefer

Then she to be with me, for us to be there

It was early June as Hermione banged on the Sixth Year Boys Dormitory door, she couldn't go inside for it was against the rules but Ron still hadn't come down to goto breakfast. Grumbling, she screeched on the other side of the wooden door, "Ronald Billius Weasley, get out here right this instance!"

She heard groaning from the otherside and smiled smugly, moments later she was joined by a rather dreary looking redhead who leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek, as had been custom 'hellos' for them for weeks now. "Sorry 'bout that, I was just getting dressed," he held out his arm for the bushy-haired girl who took it and they began to descend down the staircase together.

"It's Sunday, isn't it?" Ron asked with a strained voice as they came into the Great Hall and walked towards the Gryffindor Table.

"Yes, why?"

"That means we've gotta go help Snape," he groaned, plopping down nearing the end of the Table so the two could have thier privacy. Ever since Harry's disappearance a week ago, the two spent most of their time alone and away from everybody else - avoiding the questions they didn't have answers to.

"Ronald, you say that like it is a bad thing! Helping Professor Snape means we get to help Harry too! The quicker we finish the potion, the quicker he's home,"

"And Malfoy too, what was that prat thinking anyway? Apparating out of there like that? And why haven't they apparated back?" Ron snapped coldly, stabbing his fork into the sausages he just loaded on his plate.

"It's not that simple," Hermione scolded, placing her own breakfast on her plate, "If they are lost then chosing apparation as a technique to get home would most likely prove fatal. They would splinch themselves, and Harry hasn't an idea how to apparate only Malfoy so that's even more difficult a task; Side-Along Apparation should never be done over great distances,"

"Well that means that they're still in the Nagril Forest, why haven't the search party found them yet? And why've they given up?" Ron grumbled, he had been frustrated ever since his disappearance.

"They haven't given up, they've just gone out a mile each way from the Death Eater camp in the forest the moment they had the situation under control. That means that they apparated elsewhere, or perhaps deeper into the forest. The Aurors did the best scope they could of the area, but it's a rather large area. Our best chance is this Locator's Potion, so if that means helping Professor Snape then we'll do it," Hermione hissed with finality, not wanting to think about the particular brunette and his current situation, she concentrated on her breakfast.

Ron grumbled to himself before doing the same, but his thoughts never strayed far from his missing best friend.

After breakfast, the two made it down towards the dungeons arm-in-arm, but quietly with their faces stern.

"Oi! Granger! Weasley!" came the familiar call, the two stopped walking and turned around to face a small group of Slytherins.

It was Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle who approached them with all their arms crossed across their chest. "Can we help you?" Hermione asked unsurely, without Draco or Harry being around the two Houses hadn't clashed or spoken to each other whatsoever.

"Where's Malfoy?" hissed Pansy, stepping forward from the group of four as she withdrew her wand, but her hand shook as she spoke.

"Why the hell would we know?" Ron growled, clenching his fists as he kept his hand by his pocket with his own wand in it.

"Because Potter's missing too, put two-and-two together," Blaise drawled from behind his housemate. Ron shot them all scathing looks.

"We haven't a clue where Malfoy is because we have no idea where Harry is either," Hermione answered sourly, her grip around Ron's arm tightening as the four Slytherin's sneered at them.

"Now if you'd kindly piss off," Ron snapped, before whirling Hermione around and stalking further down into the dungeons leaving the Slytherins thinking in their wake.

"That wasn't very nice," Hermione said lightly.

"You know just as well as me that they wouldn't have left us alone, they'd want to know anything about where their Prince is and I'm not about to jump in and tell them bugger all. They're Slytherin's, they can't be trusted, they could all know about what happened and be playing dumb,"

"I-I don't know, they're Malfoy's friends. If they knew where he was, don't you think they would want to help bring him home?"

"Are you kidding me? 'Mione, they're Slytherins! All they care about is their own skin," Ron snarled, dragging the bushy-haired girl into the Potion Master's chambers without knocking.

Hermione sighed. It certainly was going to be a long three weeks.

It was day eight of being lost and things seemed only to be getting easier for the two. They hadn't encountered a storm since their second night alone together, lost within the brushes of sprouting trees and oaks over 200 years old. Harry was beginning to become more open with Draco, and the blonde didn't seem keen on silences between the two either. Harry would tell himself it was because Draco was used to having cronies to talk to all the time, but now his only choice was Harry himself.

Most of their conversation revolved around school and friends, talking about their past memories and the fun times they had. Harry mostly spoke of going to Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione, and sometimes he would even delve into the pranks he and Ron would get around to doing under the Invisibility Cloak with the Marauder's Map - two items Draco was quite impressed by.

Draco would talk about the summer galas he was forced to take Pansy Parkinson to, they were Balls and parties that pureblooded families held to try and betroth their children to one another. Most Purebloods had a chosen wife or husband by the time they were sixteen, but Draco was a special case. His Father only wanted the best for him, and Draco couldn't help but feel the same way. If he was going to be forced to marry some stranger, than he wanted to take his time picking her.

They had a daily routine now it seemed, but everyday seemed so much different from the last. They would take turns sleeping at night, and the one on guard we venture out to survey the area for any other signs of life. Harry liked hunting at night and would usually kill at least one small game animal, he would have it gutted for Draco to cook it for breakfast the next morning. Draco was still squeamish with this entire thing, though killing and cooking wasn't difficult for him he could not get near disembowling the creatures which Harry did with ease.

During the day, the two would nonstop walk and talk alongside one another. They would always walk South, figuring it was best to make their destination Hogwarts for Draco calculated it was the closest non-Muggle place. Harry offered that they could make it to a small Muggle town and maybe call the Knight Bus. Draco considered this option, but then brought up that it was too dangerous being who they were. The Knight Bus (which had to be called on a road, hence why the pair coudln't do so in the forest) was to be their last resort.

Draco often found himself thinking, whenever there were silences between him and Harry, about how lucky they were to get out of their situation alive. And they were still thriving with life, able to catch their own food and sleep soundly now. Everyday things seemed to be less of a problem to him, and he found himself relaxing more with his rash decisions he made in front of Voldemort and the Death Eaters that night. His head was cleared, for once in his life, and he was able to be himself away from all the expectations society and his family held on him. It felt fantastic, actually, and the more he thought about it the more he was at ease with the current situation.

Harry felt much the same way. All he had to think about was food, sleep, and defense. His mind was cleared of thoughts, his dreams were kept away from Voldemort lately and he slept better on the forest floor than he did at Hogwarts. Being so intuned with nature made him feel so relaxed and carefree, and it didn't bother him one bit that Malfoy was there beside him the entire time. It gave him somebody to talk to, if he ever had something on his mind. Even though Harry didn't speak much, he observed a lot more and listened to the blonde boy speak quite often. Which, once again, Harry didn't mind either. With each coming day, his smile was a little brighter.

Both sixteen year-old boys were become more than accustomed to the forest, and less accustomed to thoughts of 'home'.

"How much further, do you reckon?" Harry asked on that Monday afternoon, his hands in his pant pockets as his cloak was slung over his shoulder. Inside of his cloak pocket sat his wand, his Dark Detector which had yet to go off, and a fox hyde in which he used as his own pillow. He figured one day he'll collect a bunch of them and make them into a thicker pillow. Draco much preferred the hyde of rabbits.

"Until we are out of the Nagril Forest? I would have to say by the beginning of July, or middle of it. Somewhere between six and ten weeks," Draco shrugged, he had his cloak over his shoulder too with his own rabbit hydes tucked away inside, his wand was in his trouser pocket and his blouse was open to let the breeze in as they walked nonchalantly.

"D'you think that there'll be another forest to go through?"

"We are pretty far up North..." Draco contemplated, he tried hard to recollect all he knew about their geographical situation, "I would say at least one more forest, maybe even two or three. But none will be as large as the Nagril, it is the Mother of them all. See how all the trees here are 200 years old? The other forests will be younger, some 50 some 100," he explained.

"Well, we can only hope that there'll be another forest. I'm excited for the new scenery," Harry said truthfully.

This caused Draco to slowly smile, he understood why Harry had said 'we can only hope', and it was because the two felt more comfortable than they had in years almost...but neither would admit it aloud.

"Do you hear that?" Harry asked suddenly, he had stopped walking and turned his head to the West.

Draco paused beside him, his heart rate increased but then he remembered neither of their Dark Detectors were going off. It must be something else Harry was hearing. And then Draco heard it too, the sound of babbling water. But it wasn't the sound a creek would make, but what a river would. A big river.

"Is that a-"

"C'mon!" Harry grabbed ahold of Draco's forearm and dragged the blonde quickly to their left. Harry was grinning widely as his brisk walk turned quickly into a run, still pulling Draco behind him.

Then they came upon it. It was a large river, in comparison to the other ones they had seen in the forest thus far. It was about ten meters wide, and looked to be nine feet deep. "We can actually bathe in this water!" Draco said, and without a second thought he threw his cloak on the ground, he fully unbuttoned his shirt now and threw it aside as well. Harry was doing the exact same, hurriedly kicking off his shoes. The two could use a good soaking in the water, and both were more than excited to ease their aching muscles from all their days walking.

Harry was down to his boxers, and he finally looked over to his companion with an awed experssion.

'Oh my...Malfoy's so...wow' he blinked at what he was seeing. The pale skin looked so touchable and silken, Draco's messy platinum hair fell haphazardly around his angelic facial features. Harry found himself growing aroused and embarassed all at once, and then his eyes travelled over the tight abdomen and down to...'He's naked! Malfoy's naked! Oh-my-Merlin, and he's...big!' Harry gapsed inwardly, unable to remove his widened emerald eyes from the package that was staring him in the face. Draco was busying himself with untying his shoes, the last thing he was wearing. Harry couldn't help but stare, because he also couldn't help but notice that he wasn't the only one that was aroused...he finally tore his eyes away with a flushed expression and wiggled out of his own dirty briefs.

Once Draco was done to his bare essentials, the blonde quickly sprinted to the water. He lowered himself in the center of it all as the waves were gentle around him - barely moving as the wind wasn't high that day. The blonde looked over at Harry, who was folding his clothes into a pile by the tree. 'Potter's naked. Well of course he is, so are you!' he yelled inwardly, but he couldn't tear his eyes off of that ripped body. Since when had he gotten so muscularly toned?

Harry's body was tanned, his muscles were well defined for a sixteen year-old and his messy raven hair completed the picture for Draco. It was the same colour as the hair that was bushed up around...Draco's eyes went wide as his groin grew hot and harder at the sight of Harry's own member. It was big, that's for sure. But it was also hard. 'Is Potter aroused...because of me?' he asked himself increduously.

As Harry was flushed and lowering himself into the water, only when he was fully submerged could Draco concentrate on washing himself.

The boys were completely silent and a couple meters away from one another the entire time they bathed. The only sound was the splashing water and the ruffling of squirrels and rabbits playing nearby.

They spent over an hour soaking in the river, unwanting to move for two reasons. One of them being the understanding that they wouldn't be able to gawk 'secretly' at each other nude anymore, and also that meant that they would have to walk so more and leave that riverbank.

But eventually, all things come to an end and they both dried themselves off looking very keenly anywhere but at each other. Then they started back off South together.

They walked for the rest of the day and far into the night not saying one word to one another, but only stealing glances when they thought they were distracted.

I'd rather to be all alone

Forgiveness is fickle when trust is a chore

It's not every sin that's atoned

I heard her speak softly than heard her no more.

There's no sacred vision like her

No eye-crushing mountain or jewelry to wear

There's no granted wish I prefer

Than she to be with me, for us to be there.