Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, the troupe woke with the sun in order to pack up camp and move on. They were traveling north, which could only brighten Hermione's spirits, despite that everyone else had sunk back into their usual gloomy routine.

Adrian paid Hermione a morning visit to bring her an extra biscuit and a carrot he'd snagged for her horse. The horse was probably more grateful than Hermione. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy Adrian's company – he surely was a gentleman – it was just that he looked so much like Draco she couldn't help but think of the youngest Malfoy every time Adrian appeared.

As if trying to make matters worse on purpose, Draco had decided to keep an eye on Hermione, as if he expected her to leave and go crying back to the Weasleys for comfort. He was suspicious and irritable, probably because he lacked the proper means now to slick back his hair in his traditional way. It hung limp and slightly mussed-up in front of his face, turning out to be longer than Hermione had realized.

Draco rode up on his horse without so much as a saddle, looking cranky, a frown etched into his face, pale as marble.

Hermione lowered her eyes as he approached. If he noticed, he did not say anything about it.

"Get lost," he spat at Adrian.

"Woah," Adrian said defensively taking a step back and glaring at Draco with venom, "you have serious issues, man.

"Bugger. Off." The words were so final even Hermione was surprised they'd been uttered.

"Adrian's just being nice," Hermione muttered, still not looking Draco in the face, "you don't have to be so rude."

Draco gritted his teeth.

Adrian took a step forward, "Are you two dating or something?"

Draco's jaw tightened – the very idea of him dating Hermione Granger! Of course they weren't a goddamn couple. All he was trying to do was keep her in one piece until the end of the month, after which he could escape to school and never worry about her again…

That was the original plan, anyway. Lately he'd been worrying about other stupid things, like her happiness. Since when had he cared? And why did it bother him so much that she could never meet his eyes?

"No. We're not a couple," Hermone half-whispered. Draco turned out to be quite frightening when he was this worked up.

"So then why does it matter if I decide to make friends?" Adrian demanded, nostrils flaring.

Draco stood silent; Hermione was watching him out of the corner of her eye as she tightened the girth of the saddle around the horse. Finally, Draco shrugged. Hermione felt disappointment creep up on her, although she wasn't really sure what she had wanted him to have said.

Adrian raised one eyebrow, "You are one guy who needs to make up your mind."

"If you'd just gotten lost like I had originally suggested," Draco countered, sliding off his horse to stand face-to-face with Adrian, "we could have got this conversation over with a long, long time ago."

It was an odd sight to see: The two boys looked so remarkably alike that it reminded Hermione of watched someone argue with their reflection in the mirror.

"You want to fight me?" Adrian suggested, a wild glint twinkling in his green eyes.

Draco didn't even attempt to protest: Adrian's smirk was enough to make up his mind. The little brat actually thought he could win! He would never have been able to live up to it anyway, had he refused. He would be mocked for the rest of the damn month if he didn't fight.

"Fine," he muttered darkly, throwing off his cloak.

"Fencing, fists, or wands?" was the next big question. "I'm skilled in all three."

Those seemed to be the magic words because members of the group began to gather around and some of them groaned as they saw between whom the fight was taking.

John, the loser of the previous day's match shouted, "Teach him a lesson!"

A thin woman with a harsh face named Ursula swooned a bit as she saw the fight brewing. "You didn't pick a fight with ADRIAN, did you? Oh no!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide.

Draco's lower jaw jutted forward in defiance. For the first time, Hermione noticed that Draco Malfoy – the little twit who first made her life at Hogwarts miserable – had grown up.

"Fencing, fists or wands?" Adrian repeated.

Draco weighed these options in his mind; He was no good at fist fighting – such a barbaric way of solving things, anyway. His father had always taught him that it was better to hex someone's turned back than it was to raise fists.

Fencing, he was skilled at. But he was skeptical about the sword he'd been given. He would have to go with wands.

"Wands," he chose.

Ursula nearly swooned again, "He had to pick wands… he had to pick wands…"

Adrian smirked – a very Draco-like thing to do, really – and said, "You won't last long. Wands is my expertise."

Draco pulled his wand from the scabbard by his side and Adrian produced his from the inside lining of his cloak.

"Be careful," Hermione murmured subconsciously. She had always hated fighting, especially after the Great War.

Adrian scowled, seeming to know that Hermione was talking to his adversary. It took a Draco a few seconds to consider her words; She had just told him to be careful. So what, though? She just didn't want him to loose an arm, right?

At that moment, the fact that she cared did mean something to him – he was just too inexperienced with matters such as those to realize it.

Peering at the two boys with their wands extended, Hermione began to grow worried. They seemed an even match; Heck, they even looked so much alike that had she not known any better, she would have said they were brothers.

"Any rules you'd like to state first?" Adrian asked, feigning politeness, though it was clear he would quite enjoy ripping Draco's head off.

Ursula began to hyperventilate.

"None."

"I don't think killing is quite necessary!" someone shouted out.

"Yeah, sure," Adrian agreed, waving this suggestion away and twirling his wand in his fingers. "You ready, weasel?"

Weasel.

WEASEL!

Draco began to fume; His blood boiled. Weasel! That's what he called Weasley! The very idea of HIM being called a WEASEL!

He saw red.

Draco tapped his wand a couple times; A few red sparks issued angrily out of the tip. Very stiffly, he bowed to his adversary.

Adrian made a flourish out of bowing swiftly and deeply, beginning the match as he was still coming out of the bow, hurling four jinxes at his opponent all at once.

Draco managed to counter three of the jinxes with a shield charm and dodged the last at the last second.

By the time he'd had a chance to defend himself, another curse had been thrown his way that took the form of a jaguar-like shape made of black smoke and glowing red eyes. The creature snarled and attacked Draco in a frenzy.

Finally managing to banish the thing, Draco was unsurprised to find himself covered in bleeding wounds. Adrian smirked and threw some extra jinxes.

The wounds were slowing Draco down, however and it was only due to another impenetrable shield charm that he remained unscathed from this round.

In a last-minute decision, Draco sent a hex Adrian's way that the boy was unable to block and occupied him long enough to come up with a few more jinxes to paralyze him. Hermione was sure he wasn't supposed to know some of the curses he was yelling.

Everywhere on Draco's body that was wounded began to fester slightly, turning a nasty shade of purple around the openings of the cuts. Whatever the thing that attacked him had been, was apparently poisonous.

Adrian had been true to his word – he was a very skilled dueler. Hermione found herself clutching at her sides, feeling helpless and wishing she could do something to stop them fighting.

Draco unwisely spared a glance at his wounds, which cost him when a shock was sent up his spine. A noise of fury escaped his lips, almost animal-like in its ferocity as he sent back a curse so powerful that it made Adrian go careening backwards into a tree, where the excess power that had gone into the curse made scorch marks around Adrian's body imprint.

Adrian hit the ground and lay still for a few seconds before groaning in discomfort. Draco took this moment to catch his breath; His opponent was down, and despite all assumptions regarding his character, he had been taught to duel fairly. Adrian could have five seconds to get up.

With a yelp, Adrian came to his senses, remembering that he was in battle. It was just a split-second too late however – Draco used his reserve curse before Adrian had the time to recover his senses and form the words for his next hex.

Wand at Adrian's throat, Draco was the clear winner of the duel.

The entire match had taken less than one minute.

There was a moment's awed silence before the troupe burst into cheers: They loved a good fight and this certainly had been that.

"Come on now, let's get you fixed up," a thin man with a ridiculous moustache prompted Draco. The crowd began to disperse. Adrian looked up at Draco, an expression that was too venomous to be classified, even as a dirty look. Hermione had a feeling the true fight wasn't really over.

The thin man was quite quick in healing. He used a few spells before locating the correct one in draining the venom from Draco' body. Then he set to work healing his wounds; All in all, the process was over in ten minutes and the band was ready to get moving once again. Excitement had ceased for now, but Hermione was sure the duel would be well talked-about for days.

Draco's mood, however was just as foul as it had been before the match and he snapped at her for several trite omissions, such as forgetting to tighten her riding boots properly.

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Author's Note: According to my word count, this chapter is just as long as the others, but for some reason it just doesn't seem it to me. Ah well...

Thanks a ton to: TheGreatAmericanNightmare, brooklynsam3, Readerforlife, GoodCharlotte615 and RIPJameSiriusLupinTrueMarauder for your reviews!!

You know... with Draco being so much like himself, I really need to think harder as to how to get him to be more amiable. He's like a pale, bullying Mr. Darcy, isn't he?