A/N: Thanks to HallowRain8587, Hyk, Oro Rosa, StephanieTreat, XritaskeeterhatersX, pinkcrazyness, Goddess Athena In Disguise, marzipan18, KaitiDiddle, & stiltinski for the follows/favorites, & thanks to I heart Star Trek, HallowRain8587, leilanecris, and my Guest for the lovely reviews! Hope I'm not disappointing you thus far.
Here's chapter 22 - took me a bit to figure out how I wanted to do this one, so I'm sorry for the delay. As always, JKR owns all the good stuff. Plot's mine, that's it. Please R&R, & enjoy! :)
Hermione was already awake when Draco made his way into the kitchen the next morning.
"Morning, Granger," he said, sliding into the seat opposite hers. "Where's Little Red?"
"Ginny's asleep," Hermione replied. "Her watch ended about half an hour ago, and I told her she could go back to bed. We won't be going anywhere for a little bit yet – in case you haven't noticed, it's still dark."
"Please don't tell me you're doing homework," he snorted, gesturing towards the stack of parchment in front of Hermione.
"No, I'm not." She stuck her tongue out at him and reached across the table to slap his arm. "I'm going over the warding spell again." She paused, tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, and looked up at him. "Did you want something to eat?"
"What?"
"Breakfast, Malfoy. First meal of the day, usually accompanied by the arrival of the post, absolutely necessary if you want to make it through morning classes alive…ringing any bells?"
"I know what breakfast is, Granger! I just didn't realize we had anything, or I would've already asked." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Boys and their stomachs," she muttered. "Of course I have food – after all the bickering I had to put up with last year, I certainly wasn't about to go into this unprepared. I highly doubted we'd be able to eat anything we found in here, and as food is one of the five-"
"Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?" Draco finished. When Hermione stared at him in shock, he smirked and said, "Honestly, Granger, just because Potter and Weasley don't read doesn't mean the rest of us don't. Gamp's Law is basic O.W.L. stuff."
"I…well, yes, I suppose it is," Hermione said, rather flustered, "and I suppose I did start to go off just now."
"No matter." Draco waved it off. "Now, what was your point before you got sidetracked?" Hermione's cheeks turned even pinker, but she managed to answer.
"Last night's dinner wasn't the only thing I got from the house elves," she said. "We have enough food to last us two full days if we need it." She got up and made for the cupboards, coming back moments later with two steaming platters of bacon and eggs. "Stasis Charms are a beautiful thing," she said as she set the food down. "Want anything to drink?"
"Got any coffee?" Draco asked. "I'm still not fully awake." She chuckled and passed over the pot, and the two dug in, chatting quietly about their tasks for the day as they ate.
"If you want a shower, I suggest you take care of that now," Hermione said as they cleaned up. "Ginny will be up soon – she takes longer showers than all the eighth years combined, and unlike Hogwarts, this tent does not have an endless supply of hot water."
"Duly noted," Draco said with a laugh, "thanks."
"Towels are in the trunk in the bedroom," Hermione replied. "I'm going to start packing up."
Two hours later, they'd dismantled their campsite and were ready to leave. Ginny had indeed taken an incredibly long shower – although, when an indignant shriek undoubtedly signifying rapidly decreasing water temperature forced both Hermione and Draco to smother their laughter, they knew the redhead's soak hadn't been nearly as long as she would've liked. She'd emerged from the bathroom in a huff, her hair dripping all over the carpet before she'd cast a drying charm on herself and sat down with a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Luckily, the beverage had soothed the younger girl's legendary temper, and she was much calmer by the time they departed.
The rest of their journey was uneventful, which was rather unusual when dealing with the Forbidden Forest, but nobody complained. Just the centaurs and Fluffy, a mere fraction of what the Forest had to offer, had been more than enough the day before. After about twenty minutes or so of walking, Hermione stopped and consulted the map.
"We should be almost there," she murmured, "but I'm not sure exactly how we're going to find the breach if we can't see it…"
"It's there," Draco interrupted.
"Sorry, what?"
"The breach is right there," he said, pointing at a spot some twenty feet ahead.
"How can you tell?" Hermione asked curiously.
"I can feel it – the disturbance in the magic," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Can't you?"
"I-"
"Close your eyes, Granger." Hermione glanced at him skeptically but did as he asked. Next to her, Ginny did the same. "Now, concentrate on the magic around you. Where is the breach?" Hermione's battle-honed senses had heightened dramatically the instant her eyes had closed, and she was surprised to discover that Draco was right – she could feel the wards' magic. The wards were extremely powerful and woven like an exceptionally tight blanket, the different spells rippling together in a waterfall effect. Powerful, undeterred, uninterrupted…except…wait. There was a spot, roughly the size of Gryffindor Tower's portrait hole, where there was a rip in the seams, so to speak. In that one spot, the haze of the magic was absent. She opened her eyes, and instead of verbally answering Draco's question, she fired a spell at the spot. Her aim was true, and the jet of light went right through and distantly hit something on the other side – by contrast, if she'd hit any intact part of the wards, the spell would've rebounded.
"Exactly," Draco said, giving her an approving look. "Little Red, did you find it too?" Ginny nodded.
"A bit weird, but yeah," she confirmed. "How'd you know to do that?"
"My house is almost as heavily warded as Hogwarts," he replied. "When you've felt that kind of magic around you since birth, you can tell when something's changed about it. And…well, when you spend time in the dark, you have to learn to see in other ways." He looked almost ashamed as he spoke this last sentence, and the girls both knew he didn't mean literal darkness.
"Thank you, Draco," Hermione said in an effort to ease some of his sudden tension. "This makes our job a lot easier." She gave him a small smile, and he relaxed slightly. "Shall we get to it, then?"
Professor McGonagall had told them that, although they'd each be casting something slightly different, the charms would be the most effective if the three casters were connected. Physical touch would, by association, link their magic, intertwining the spells and multiplying their effectiveness exponentially. It was neither practical nor possible for the three to go the obvious route of holding hands when they needed to be able to use their wands, so they compromised by having Hermione and Ginny rest their free hands on Draco's shoulders. As they quickly discovered, this was a more than adequate substitute – no sooner had they begun casting did Hermione feel her companions' magical presence. It was strange, being linked to someone else like that, but it was almost soothing, in a way.
The charm was multifaceted and lengthy – if they managed to do it correctly, it would take them the better part of ten minutes to complete. The three chanted in harmony, the different tenors of their voices mingling in a sort of song as the Latin flowed from their lips and the magic from their wands. Light of all colors poured forth and spiraled together to create a bolt of purest gold, which connected with the existing wards and began weaving itself into place as the spell continued. About halfway through, Hermione felt Draco's arm tense under her fingers, but she didn't dare look at him for fear of breaking her concentration. She'd just have to wait until they were done to ask what was wrong and hope he hadn't messed something up.
Finally, the arc of golden light finished spiraling in on itself and fully connected in a perfect circle before shimmering into invisibility. Utterly exhausted, the three teenagers sank to their knees on the cold ground.
"We did it," Ginny said weakly. "We actually did it!" In spite of the tiredness lacing her voice, she was grinning, and Hermione couldn't help but smile back. Their smiles faltered when Draco hissed involuntarily and grabbed his left arm.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing, Granger, leave it go," Draco said. He was trying to sound nonchalant, but the pain betrayed him.
"Don't 'nothing' me, Draco," Hermione scolded. "I've known something was wrong for the last ten minutes, what is it?" The spark in her brown eyes told him she wouldn't accept whatever bullshit lie she knew he was trying to come up with, so he resigned himself to the truth.
"I added something to my part of the warding spell – with McGonagall's permission, of course," he added hastily when Hermione's narrowed eyes darkened. "An extra layer against Dark magic, if you will. Only I don't think my…past liked that very much."
"Draco," Hermione said slowly, "What. Is. Wrong?" Her tone was so dangerous that he immediately rolled up his sleeve. His Dark Mark, which had faded a bit since last June, was midnight black and surrounded by angry red splotches, not unlike those of an allergic reaction.
"Malfoy, what the hell?" Ginny asked. "I thought that thing didn't work now that Voldemort's dead!"
"It doesn't," he replied, trying not to wince again, "but as much as I'd like it to be, I don't think the magic behind it's completely gone yet, and casting something so clearly against its purpose…in any case, I doubt it'll happen again – I dunno about you two, but I'm drained, and I can't imagine there's much left in this thing after that – but for now, it hurts like hell."
"Here," Hermione said suddenly. She had been rummaging in her beaded bag as he spoke and now offered him a washcloth soaked in some sort of liquid.
"What is it?" he asked, somewhat apprehensively.
"Something that will help," she snapped impatiently. "Just take the damn thing, Draco." He did, and he relaxed visibly as the cool liquid hit the rash.
"OK, I'm never questioning you again, Granger," he said. "What is this stuff?"
"Essence of murtlap," she replied. "It won't make the rash go away – you'll probably have to see Madam Pomphrey for that – but it'll ease the stinging, at any rate."
"Is there anything you don't have in that bag, Granger?" Draco asked. Hermione snorted lightly and made a show of looking through the bag.
"Tent, changes of clothes, several dozen books, an apothecary's worth of potions, one of Ron's old chess sets, enough parchment to rewrite all my Hogwarts essays to date…no, not really."
"Hermione, you're something else," Ginny said with a laugh. "Any chance you've got some more sandwiches in there? I'm starved."
"Let me tell Professor McGonagall that we're done here first, then we can eat." Hermione sent a Patronus off to the Headmistress with her message, then extracted the last of the sandwiches from her bag.
After a quick lunch, the three began their return trip out of the Forest. It was nearing nightfall as they finally stumbled out of the trees into the thick snow near Hagrid's hut, and they made their way up the gently sloping lawn as quickly as they could, eager for hot baths and warm beds. Hermione and Draco bid Ginny goodnight on the third floor landing, and Hermione sent another Patronus off to let the Headmistress know they'd returned as they made their way back to their common room.
"Here," she said to Draco once they'd reached the familiar space. She offered him the bottle of essence of murtlap. "Just in case."
"You don't need it?" he asked.
"You think I don't have more?" she replied, smirking slightly. "Keep it. I'd still go see Madam Pomphrey tomorrow, or even tonight, if you're feeling up to it, but it can't hurt to have that around."
"Alright. Thanks, Granger." He pocketed the vial and made to open the door to the boys' dormitory. Just before he stepped inside, he turned back to her.
"Granger?" he asked.
"Yes?"
"Do you think I could cast a Patronus?"
It was an odd way to phrase the question, Hermione thought, but she understood what he meant. The Patronus Charm was widely recognized as a very 'Light' spell – besides requiring a happy memory for proper casting, she couldn't think of a Dark wizard who'd been capable of producing one. She cocked her head to one side and gave him a thoughtful look.
"There are very few people who I truly believe could never do so, and they're all dead," she finally said. "Does that answer your question?" He didn't reply, but he smiled slightly, bid her goodnight, and retreated to his room.
Hermione smiled to herself as she got ready for bed. Draco would never ask her to actually teach him the Patronus Charm, and she certainly wasn't going to shatter his pride by volunteering, but the fact that he'd asked her about it at all, the fact that someone who'd previously been enveloped by Darkness was interested in something so Light, still made her feel like she'd accomplished something good.