Chances To Come
Chapter Fifteen
The White Rose
"'The pure you can trust'—how fitting, a church," said Remus with an amused smile. "Well, there's no guarantee that it's the White Rose we're looking for, but it would fit."
"Then let's go," said Harry impatiently, but Remus grabbed his arm.
"Harry, remember, we are in Muggle London. Don't draw attention to yourself by rushing across the street to break into a church. It will probably take a spell to find the piece, and if so, let me do it. You're not allowed to perform magic outside of school. Do you understand me?"
It was the first time that Remus had actually sounded stern, and it surprised Harry for a second. He quickly nodded though.
"Look, there are Muggles crossing the street down there. Let's go with them, and then we'll walk back to the church." Remus walked off in the direction of the crosswalk, and Harry followed.
Once they were in front of the church, Remus ran his eyes over everything, and his hands over some things. He moved slowly, carefully, meticulously, and Harry fidgeted behind him.
"Follow me." Remus slipped around the short black wrought-iron fence, walking in between the graveyard and the building next to it, through the grass. Harry stumbled behind him, not watching his step but keeping his eyes on his chaperone. Remus stopped at the back of the church. There was a tall brick wall built behind the church, so nobody could see them from behind. "Harry, come here, and I'll lift you over the fence. Then we can look for your puzzle piece."
Harry was slightly surprised that someone of Remus's thin frame could lift him so easily. Remus hopped the fence nimbly after lifting Harry over, and again he let his eyes take in everything. "Now the question is... when it says behind the White Rose, does it mean behind the church or behind the gate? Get the riddle out again."
Harry dug the riddle out of his pocket and looked at it, but he still couldn't answer Remus's question.
Remus smiled. "Look. There is something on the back. Turn the paper over." It's like the Marauder's Map...
Harry turned the paper over, where a map of the church and graveyard had appeared. There were two dots behind the church. One was labeled Harry Potter, the other Remus Lupin. The dot labeled Remus Lupin moved around the church and stopped behind the gate.
"Alright, give that to me and wait here."
"But won't the Muggles see you?"
"I'll say I'm the caretaker," said Remus simply, taking the map and walking around to the front of the church.
Harry sat down and leaned against the church, closing his eyes. Draco... I hope I solve this puzzle in time to save you...
Remus stopped behind the gate and looked at the map. The incantation appeared in a speech bubble by his dot, and he pulled his wand out subtly while nobody was walking by. Timing the spell carefully, he muttered, "Cerno," quietly. The sign with the white rose vibrated slightly, and then something fell from it into Remus's waiting hands.
He quickly put his wand away and looked at the object. It was misshapen and ugly, about the size of his fist, and it looked like it should have been painful to the touch. He glanced out at the street, where some Muggles were starting to look at him suspiciously. He knelt down and pretended to pick weeds until he couldn't feel their eyes on him anymore. He made his way to the back of the church again, where Harry was still waiting.
Harry jumped up when he saw Remus coming. "Did you get it?"
"Yes, Harry. I... Harry?" Remus looked at him, concerned. Harry's face had gotten strained all of a sudden.
The object in Remus's hand started to shake, and so did Harry's body, his limbs flailing about without him being in control of them. Harry screamed, his face twisting in pain, and a brilliant light shot out of his torso. The object absorbed the light coming from Harry's body and stopped shaking. Harry collapsed, unconscious.
Remus rushed to Harry's side, scooping him up off the ground. "Harry!" His head snapped up, his ears pricking to the noises from the street. The Muggles had heard Harry scream, and they'd probably seen that light. Remus cursed colorfully underneath his breath. There was no time to get back to the Leaky Cauldron. He held Harry close and Apparated as close as he could to Hogwarts.
-
"I still can't believe he left without me!" Hermione exclaimed for the ninth time that hour.
"And I still can't believe you keep saying that! You are going to drive me mad, Hermione! Read your damn book!" Ron exclaimed, irritated because Hermione kept distracting him from his game of chess against Neville. Neville was losing. Badly. But every time Hermione distracted Ron, Neville had a fighting chance.
Hermione slammed her book down and left the common room. She muttered to herself about how infuriating Ron was, letting her feet carry her wherever they wanted. She walked carelessly down staircases, through passages, past muttering paintings... Without paying attention, she bumped into Draco.
"Oof! Oh! Draco, I'm sorry."
"It's alright, Hermione. Wait a minute, weren't you supposed to go to London with Harry? Is he back?"
Hermione scowled. "No, he went without me."
"Oh." Draco smirked. "That's right. I saw him slink off while you were arguing with Ron."
"That Ronald Weasley!" Hermione seethed. "Don't get me started!"
"Alright, I won't." Draco started to walk off.
"Hey!" Hermione followed. "Where are you going?"
"I dunno."
"Well, let's go for a walk. I could use some fresh air."
"Then go get it." Draco looked at her, surprised at her willingness to spend time with him. Is she that desperate for company?
"You could probably use some fresh air too, Draco."
Yeah... she's that desperate. "Alright," he said, almost without meaning to.
While they were walking around the lake, Hermione looked off in the direction of the Quidditch pitch. "Draco..."
"What?"
"You know why Harry went to London, right?"
"Yeah."
"He's trying so hard to get you better... so that you won't have to keep going through this... like what happened during try-outs."
Draco stiffened. "Don't talk about that!"
"You're really lucky, you know... to have a friend that devoted," she said softly.
He stopped and stared at her. "Hermione... look, Harry and I grew up together. We're like brothers. But don't look at me and tell me I'm lucky. You should be happy that you know him at all—the famous Harry Potter!"
"He's more than just Harry Potter to me!" Hermione exclaimed. "He's my friend! And I... I thought you were too."
"Just because we're both friends with Harry doesn't mean we're friends, Hermione. I don't have the luxury of just making friends with anybody—why should I? How long would I actually get to be friends with anybody?"
"Long enough, Draco."
Draco looked down. "Only if Harry succeeds."
Silence fell between them as they continued to walk and Draco's words slowly soaked into Hermione's mind. She reached out and touched his shoulder. He looked up and shrugged her off. He wanted to snap at her not to touch him, but suddenly he froze—his eyes locked on the entrance path to Hogwarts. Hermione let her gaze follow his, and she gasped and covered her mouth as she saw Remus walking with a stretcher floating beside him.
"Harry," breathed Draco, taking off in a full sprint. Hermione was rooted to the spot until Draco looked over his shoulder at her and yelled, "Well, come on then, if he's your friend!"
They followed Remus to the hospital wing, and as soon as Harry was safely in one of the beds there, Draco turned on Remus with a fit to throw that was worse than Pomfrey's.
"What the bloody hell happened to him?! Weren't you supposed to be protecting him?!"
"Draco, hang on a second—"
"No! You went with him to keep him safe, and now you come back with him unconscious! What. The. Hell. Happened?!"
"I found the first piece." Remus pulled the object out of his cloak. "And as soon as Harry got close to it, it caused a reaction. There was no way for me to know, and there was nothing I could have done. I understand that you're upset, young Malfoy, but direct your energy elsewhere. Yelling at me isn't going to help Harry at all."
Draco snarled at him for a second and then turned to Harry. "He ended up hurt because he went looking for that thing to help me."
"And do you think he will mind?"
"Knowing him, probably not. But I do." We're like brothers. Draco looked at Hermione. "I told you... why should I bother making friends? To have more people mourn me when I die?"
Hermione looked back at him with tear-filled eyes. "But he's closer to the cure now. He got the first piece."
"That may be, but I'm not going to let him keep doing this. God decided that I should die, not him, so he's not going to go and get himself killed trying to save me."
Remus and Hermione both looked surprised. Then Remus started to chuckle. "I never fancied you as a believer of God, Draco."
"Piss off," muttered Draco.
Hermione stood up and walked over to Draco. She had her head down, and Draco started to feel uneasy seeing the normally confident Hermione looking so defeated.
"Hermione, what—" Draco stopped mid-sentence as Hermione flung her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder. "Get off of me, what are you doing!" Draco squirmed, trying to pry her off.
"Even if you don't think of me as your friend, I would still mourn you."
Draco stopped moving entirely. Hermione backed away and wiped her eyes, still keeping her head down, and she left without another word. Draco stared blankly at the door. Remus's voice snapped him out of his trance.
"You're lucky to have a friend like her."
"Yeah..." Odd, how his own voice sounded disembodied to him. Then his vision started to get blurry, as if he saw everything through a haze of water. He reached up to rub his eyes, and was surprised to find the tears that rubbed off on his hand.
"Go talk to her, Draco. I'll look after Harry and let you know when he wakes up."
"I'm not crying for her!" Draco snapped, wiping his eyes on his robes furiously.
Remus smiled softly. "But she's crying for you."
Draco looked at him coldly. "Why should I trust you with Harry? You haven't exactly proven to be all that great at helping him."
"I believe I'm competent enough to alert you when he wakes," said Remus calmly, as if expecting every venomous retort Draco could come up with.
"Fine."
Remus smiled again as the door slammed behind Draco. "Young Malfoy, you are quite a piece of work."
-
Draco sighed as he walked down the hall, stuffing his hands in his pockets and counting the stones on the floor as he passed by them. 'I would still mourn you...' 'You're lucky...' 'She's crying for you...' "What's that damn girl crying over me for?" he muttered to himself. "And what right has he got to tell me to go after her? She probably just ran to the girl's bathroom anyway."
He kept walking, passing by empty classrooms, his footsteps echoing off the walls every so often. This castle is so depressing when it's quiet.
"Malfoy!"
Draco's head snapped up in time to see Ron stomping towards him with Hermione trailing behind. Ron grabbed him by the front of his robes and slammed him against the nearest wall.
"Ron, stop!" pleaded Hermione.
"Don't defend this prat, Hermione!" Ron got out his wand and pointed it at Draco's neck.
Draco's eyes widened. "What the—"
"Hermione came into the common room in tears because of you, Malfoy, and now you're going to pay!"
"Ron, stop, please!" Hermione tugged his arm, trying to pull his wand away.
"Any last words?" growled Ron.
Draco looked at Hermione. "I'm sorry." And his world turned black.
A/N: Not much to say this time, except that my heartfelt thanks goes out to all of my reviewers, especially my returning readers. You guys waited a long time, and it really means a lot to me that you came back to read some more. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as you've enjoyed the rest of the story.
FSL: Here you go. Fast enough for you:-P
dairygirl: Glad you liked it! I hope you stay intrigued, as there are still two more pieces to find...
somesiriusstuff: Thanks.
hpfananita: Thanks. I'm glad you find it original. . And thanks for the add!
And, as always, COOKIES FOR EVERYBODY!
:: Tosses cookies to reviewers ::
Seeya next chapter,
-Sabre Black