Chapter Thirty-seven

New Alliances

Hermione thought hard as Grawp carried them through the trees, further into the forest. The plan was forming quickly. Harry. Grawp. Ron. Draco. An acromantula. She could do it. She could have her revenge.

"Grawp! GRAWP! Put us down, please!"

The moment Hermione issued the request, she wished she hadn't. Grawp opened his hands, dropping the two startled students unceremoniously on the ground. Draco once again started screaming as soon as the giant's fingers gave way. "Ow," Hermione moaned as she hit the dirt.

Hermione stood up, kicking Draco lightly in the invisible boot to get him to shut up. "Grawp," Hermione called loudly, "I think we should go alone from here on out. We have to surprise them. Which way are the spiders?" Grawp pointed straight ahead. "Thanks, Grawp. Which way is Hagrid?" Grawp pointed directly behind them. "Okay. Why don't you go on back to your clearing? Get some sleep?"

The giant looked somewhat disappointed at this. "Hermy come visit soon?"

"Of course I will, Grawp," Hermione promised.

Grawp turned to look at Draco. "Nice meet you," he said.

Draco shook his head wearily. "You too," he muttered, rubbing a sore spot on his leg caused by his recent contact with the ground.

"You come visit too?" Grawp asked eagerly.

Draco stared at Grawp, appalled at this suggestion. Hermione nodded quickly at Draco, trying to urge him to say yes. Draco thought about refusing to do so, but decided it was probably better to be nice to a giant.

"Okay. Yes, I will."

Grawp grinned, said his goodbyes, and lumbered off noisily. Only when Grawp disappeared into the deepening darkness did Draco realize that having a friendly giant around was definitely not a bad thing.

"Wait! Come back!" Draco yelled, getting to his feet. Hermione shushed him and he turned to glare at her. "Are you insane? You want to sneak up on a gigantic spider alone? When only one of us has a wand?"

"We're not going to be able to sneak up on one at all if we're with Grawp."

"So? At least we'd have had a better chance at fighting it—"

"Harry and Ron said there were hundreds of acromantulas in this forest. Well, Ron said thousands, but he always gets a bit emotional when he talks about it. So we can't run the risk of attacking one spider and having it call dozens upon dozens of spiders to its aid."

"Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?!" Draco yelled shrilly, alarmed. "That's it, Granger, no way in hell am I going to help you—"

"Listen to me," Hermione interrupted. Something about her tone—quiet, insistent, and pleading, rather than the bark-like yells she used when angry with him—made him shut up and decide to at least hear her out.

"Malfoy—Fred, George and Ron left us here in the Forbidden Forest. They knew we could get hurt. They tried to remove our clothes so we'd have to sneak up to the castle naked. And knowing the twins, they probably are trying to make sure we're seen in our leaf-covered half-naked state. I don't know about you, but I've had enough of being humiliated."

"What are you getting at?" Draco demanded, not liking the way she was talking, as if she were trying to strike a bargain.

"Ron is terrified of spiders. Completely. He'd sooner face an army of giants combined with fifty basilisks than even a small acromantula."

"Weasley's afraid of spiders?" Draco repeated incredulously, feeling like he'd just been made king of Britain. Hermione nodded, matching his grin with a small, mischievous smile. "Wait—why are you telling me this?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because if Ron finds an unnaturally large spider in his bed, he'll never even think of crossing me again. I can make it happen."

"How?"

"Easy enough. I've got it all worked out. But I can't do it without two people—Harry and you."

Draco stared at her. "You're actually going to ask me for help? And expect to get it?"

Hermione stepped closer, her eyes boring into his, that slight smile still on her face. "Yes. I admit it. I need you. I need your help. I'm not asking to pick out a china pattern. I'm not asking to be bestest buddies. I'm just asking for a temporary partnership, so that we can get revenge on three of the Weasleys you so despise. Imagine the look on his face, Malfoy. Imagine Ron coming upon an enormous spider in his bed. Imagine his horror when he finds the door locked, when he realizes there's no escape from his worst nightmare."

Draco's grin broadened at that, but faded quickly as he gazed at her thoughtfully. Something about her was different. Well, perhaps not different—he didn't know her well enough to know if this side of her was new, but he did know he'd never seen it before. It was strange, a change more felt than seen. He could sense her passion, her devilish side, her raw power and her strength. It was frightening and yet oddly alluring.

He let his eyes travel over the rest of her face, amusement adding to his already confused emotions. She had twigs and leaves caught in her poofy hair; dirt and scratches marred her skin. Her eyes glittered at him with an almost crazed spark. Feeling the urge to test her, he let his gaze go lower, linger on her almost-bare chest before looking her in the eye once more. She didn't call him on it, though her smile changed to a half-smirk, a daring one, almost playful, accepting his challenge and giving him one of her own.

"Well?" she asked, in a lilting, somewhat mocking tone.

Draco shook his head, suddenly angry at himself. He'd allowed himself to think she was pretty, to think that she looked endearing covered in cuts and dirt and leaves. That was far too dangerous, and he knew it. It was one thing to think of her as a girl he'd like to shag. It was something entirely different to think of her as cute. He had to put a stop to these more frequent trains of thought about her. Still…

A vision of Ron's face swam before his eyes, of Ron screaming pathetically and trying to run from a small, easily bested spider.

"I'm in, Granger," Draco said, shrugging slightly. "I can always make your life hell tomorrow."

She let out a short laugh. "Same here."

Draco smiled again. "So what's the plan?"

Harry sighed, stretching his aching shoulder muscles. He'd had the bright idea to start at the top of Greenhouse Three's walls, and the soap and water had slid down the wall, helping to cut through the muck on the bottom half, so he'd finished faster than expected. Now he just had to put the cleaning supplies away, and then he could hunt down Ginny, and they could spend a few hours hunting for Hermione before finding their friend in some embarrassing and possibly dangerous situation. Great.

Harry forced his mind back to the wonders of knowing his dreams were false. While they were still disturbing, it was greatly comforting to know that they would end soon and that they wouldn't come true. It was even more comforting to know that Draco didn't know it.

As he was leaving the greenhouses, an orange blur hit him in the chest; he looked down just in time to catch Ginny before she fell over. She was gasping, and looked like she'd been running nonstop for four hours.

"Checked… every… w-where," Ginny gasped. "No… no sign of… Mione. Then… realized… was an… idiot… for doing… things the hard way." She held up the Marauder's Map. Harry slapped his forehead.

"I can't believe we didn't think of this hours ago," he muttered, grabbing the parchment eagerly. "If Hermione's still in Hogwarts, she'll be on here." He began scanning the map anxiously, which was no easy feat; it did, after all, show all of Hogwarts, and with all the towers and floors and secret passages and whatnot, one person was going to be difficult to find.

Ginny shook her head. "Already found her," she wheezed. "Ran all the way here from Gryffindor Tower. Harry… Hermione's in the forest."

Harry stared at her in horror. "What? No way! She… what would she be doing in there?"

"Open your eyes, Harry!" Ginny snapped. "Fred, George and Ron must have put her there. I know you don't want to believe it—I don't either. But my brothers have turned on us, and turned hard."

Harry sighed. He didn't want to believe it—Ron was his first, oldest, and best friend. But it was too much of a coincidence. How many people knew about the Forbidden Forest prank and also had a grudge against Hermione or Draco? Perhaps someone had thought of it themselves, or gotten the idea from their parents—but Harry doubted that a lot of parents discussed their former rule-breaking practices with their children, and he knew that most of the students wouldn't voluntarily go near the forest at all. The Slytherins wouldn't, for sure—he'd seen their terror whenever Hagrid had asked them to enter the forest for class. That left the Hufflepuffs, most of whom were too friendly to Hermione to prank her, and the Ravenclaws. A few had problems with Hermione and Harry and Ginny (some were jealous about Hermione topping them in classes, and Michael Corner and his friends were rather icy to Ginny after she dumped him), but Ravenclaws weren't often the type to do something as stupid and potentially harmful as leaving fellow students in the forest. Draco had far more enemies, but when it came down to it, Harry couldn't think of a single person who would set foot in the Forbidden Forest unnecessarily, other than Hagrid, Fred and George.

"That's why they sent Hagrid down to the Three Broomsticks," Harry muttered. "So he wouldn't be there to help Hermione."

"Exactly," Ginny said, grimacing. "Come on, Harry—we've got to go after them—"

"How?" Harry asked, stuffing the map into his pocket angrily. "The map won't help us. It's not that detailed. We'll probably run into all sorts of horrible creatures, and it could take us days to find her…"

"Well, we've got to try!" Ginny insisted, glaring at him furiously.

"I know that," Harry retorted. "I just… I wish we had a plan."

"Hey, Harry!"

The two of them looked around, confused. Dean and Seamus were walking towards them. A steady stream of people was walking behind them.

"What's going on?" Harry demanded.

"Fred and George said a Slytherin was about to get their just rewards down by the forest," Dean explained. Harry groaned, his worst fears confirmed.

"They're putting the word out that we should see something interesting before curfew," Seamus added, looking excited.

Harry and Ginny exchanged horrified glances. Fred and George had not only stranded Hermione in the forest, they'd made sure she'd have an audience when—and if—she made it out.

"Harry! Do you know what's going on?" Neville called, walking up with Luna Lovegood.

At the mention of Harry's name, the crowd—mostly older Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors—rushed forward to hear what he had to say. Given the incredibly large amount of rumors being spread and the whole confusion over Draco and the chain, everyone had been on high alert whenever the subject of Harry came up. Harry looked at them all worriedly, then at Ginny for help. She bit her lip, thinking hard, then suddenly blurted out "You've been duped!"

"What d'you mean?" called a Hufflepuff.

"Fred and George are setting you all up," Ginny continued hurriedly. "Trying to get you to break curfew in the process, too. There's not going to be any prank, unless it's on all of us."

"Yeah, right!" one of the few Slytherins said with a snort. "You're just trying to get us to leave."

"Hey, if the twins knew about a great prank, they'd want to be here to see it," Harry snapped. "If they're not here, they're worried they'll get caught, so they're establishing alibis. I don't know about you guys, but if something is about to go down, the last place I want to be is near it." A few people, looking alarmed and remembering various Weasley-twins moments, headed back towards the front doors quickly.

"I think we should go watch from the windows," Ginny added. "Much safer, eh, Harry?"

"Last thing I need is to get in trouble again," Harry muttered. "Especially three seconds after I got out of detention."

"You're right, Harry," Neville said loudly—a touch too loudly. "Those two would do anything for a laugh. If there was really a prank going on, they'd have come too. Let's get back inside before they lock us out of the castle somehow or whatever."

This seemed to inspire a touch of panic in the others; everyone turned back to the castle, save Dean, Seamus, Neville and Luna. "Coming, Harry?" Neville asked, still far too loudly.

Harry, realizing something was up, replied with, "I've got to finish something in the greenhouses for my detention. I'll only be a second."

When the last of the other students had disappeared, Neville, Dean and Seamus looked at Harry expectantly, while Luna stared dreamily into space, playing with her butterbeer cork necklace absently. Dean and Seamus, the only ones in the group who knew Neville well enough to know when something was up, looked rather excited, but Neville appeared more nervous.

"So what's really going on?" Neville asked. "Is it Hermione?"

"What makes you think that?" Ginny said, giving Harry a pointed look; he took the hint and kept quiet. They had to be careful; who knew who the twins had enlisted as spies?

"No one's seen her all day, not since Muggle Studies. Ernie came over to the dinner table, said he needed to talk to her about some Head Boy/Head Girl thing," Neville replied, without a trace of a lie. "I told him I'd keep an eye out for her, but I haven't seen her at all. Neither has anyone I've asked about her."

"What's up with the twins?" Dean added. "Why'd they send us all out here if there isn't going to be a prank to watch?"

"There is," Ginny said with a sigh. "At least, there might be."

"We think the twins and Ron have been working together to pull a major prank on us," Harry said. "We think they've stranded Hermione and Draco in the forest."

This provoked instant anger and mortification.

"You're kidding!"

"No way!"

"She could get hurt!"

"That wasn't very nice of them," Luna said, appearing a bit more serious than usual. Dean, Seamus and Neville turned to look at her as she stood calmly next to Neville. Her eyes were a tad wider than usual, but that was the only indication that she was even slightly worried.

"No, it wasn't," Harry said dryly. "Anyway—we've got to go look for her. You guys want to help?"

"Er… in the forest?" Dean said hesitantly.

"But… it's dark," Seamus protested.

"I'm with you, Harry," Neville said, shooting a dirty look at the other two boys.

Luna shrugged and nodded serenely. "I'm coming too," she said, as though marching into a forest full of deadly beasts were as simple as going to class.

Seamus looked at Luna and sighed; it went against his grain—and that of many Gryffindors—to wuss out when others showed bravery, especially if those others included Neville and a weirdo of a Ravenclaw. "Are you sure she's in there?"

"Positive," Harry replied.

"All right then," Seamus said, taking a deep breath. He looked at Dean for confirmation; Dean nodded reluctantly. "We're in."