"Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere." ~ Barack Obama

Chapter Twenty-eight: Failure Is Not An Option

Draco could drive.

And not only could he drive... he could drive an American car down a two lane road hundreds of feet above ground level.

And... he could drive a stick!

"Normally I would ask how you came to know how to drive a manual shift muggle car..."

"... But that would be pointless, wouldn't it? Face it, there are a lot of things you don't know about me, even now."

"It seems especially now."

Loki nuzzled Draco's arm from the arm rest between him and Hermione. He gently elbowed her so she would go back to the backseat.

After taking the public bus system (which Draco was pissed to learn went directly to the airport he had apparated from) to a residential street, they had walked a bit before coming to a path lined with greenery... and what appeared to be an abandoned car waiting for them.

It seemed that Draco's initial escape had been more complicated than Hermione had expected, and it also seemed as if he wanted to do the exact reverse in order to go back to the Death Eaters' stronghold. Draco had retrieved the key from behind the small gas tank door and sat Hermione inside.

"Alright then. Tell me something I don't know about you, and then I'll tell you something about me."

Hermione thought. This was something they should have done a while ago she realized - it was very unlike her to even be interested in someone without knowing the first thing about them. "Um... my favorite color is green."

Draco raised an eyebrow. The same color as your mind? "I know you can do better than that, Hermione."

His voice sounded a lot more mature at the moment, so she decided not to scoff. "Okay. Um... I'm slightly anemic."

"Okay." He tried not to cringe at the memory of the amount of blood she had lost when she had been impaled by the wood of an exploding tree. "I... don't have any cavities."

"Well, at least my parents would like you," Hermione joked. "Let's see... can it be anything?"

"Anything."

"... I like spicy food."

Draco nodded. "Same here. And anything with rosemary on it."

"Interesting... your turn."

Draco looked to his left, being careful not to turn the car the same direction. The view really was fantastic - miles and miles of mountains piled behind each other, perched under a heavy, looming sky. The leaves on some of the trees were orange, something he knew was typical a little later in the year. White mountain tips touched darkening clouds as the sun began to fall.

"I... love art. Especially landscapes."

Hermione nodded, adjusting her seat belt as she felt him make a particularly tight turn. "So do I. I prefer still life though." She paused. "My favorite author is F. Scott Fitzgerald."

"Hmm. If I had a favorite he might be it, muggle though he is. No disrespect of course." He slowed the car down as they neared another sharp turn. "I'm fluent in German. Lucius's mother was German; I still call her Oma."

Hermione smiled a bit. "I thought you might be, somewhere in there. I'm actually fluent in French."

"Lucius's father was English though, and a bit of a hardarse to be sure. So naturally he raised a cretin like my father."

It was weird to hear him talk about his father now. He sounded normal about it, not like an obsessed little kid using his father as both a shield and a sword. "My grandmother was an author. She always said I was her favorite grandchild because I appreciated a good book."

Draco smiled. "And so you do, bookworm."

Hermione huffed. "I'm not some swotty nitwit! You don't even know. Books give me air. Reading is my air. Just the smell of books... sort of an unsalted pretzel twist smell, you know? The smell of old parchment." She stopped. "I... I'll never be able to read again."

Without her eyes, she was unable to indulge herself in the many novels and research journals she had piled up in her flat back in London. She couldn't scan the Prophet in the mornings while sipping chamomile tea, her favorite.

"That's nonsense, Hermione. Even if we don't succeed in killing No Name, once the Ministry and the Order have you back, the first thing they'll do is bring you that cure."

It seemed, even though she trusted her friends and at least some people in the Ministry, that this idea of her being all better after this... was not likely to be a reality. If anyone else had been blinded this way, she would have been researching and researching until she had the perfect potion to cure it... but it wasn't her making this cure. It wasn't Snape brewing a perfect antidote for some ailed student in the hospital wing.

In reality, school had babied her. Now that she was in the real world, she had to deal with the incompetence of the ones running everything. Because it always seemed to turn out that way - the ones with the loud voices with nothing meaningful to say seemed to always obtain power.

"I think it's my turn," Draco said quietly, not unaware of Hermione's thoughts. "I learned how to drive as a Death Eater."

Hermione quirked an eyebrow. "Well, I never guessed a Death Eater would have use for that." She paused. "Why did you become a Death Eater?"

"I believe it's your turn," he said somewhat stonily, his demeanor taking on the same quality it'd had in Scotland.

It didn't turn Hermione off as much as it would have just months before however. She knew that even when he got like this, she could still get an answer out of him; their strange new relationship made both of them a little less afraid of each other.

"I'm not trying to be self-servicing here," she put forth, leaning back in her seat. "I just want to know you better."

It was amazing how she could still make his heart do that. He put his free hand on her leg. "Alright then. I didn't really choose to become a Death Eater - I was chosen. By the Dark Lord. I suspect he picked me because of Lucius... because he could have chosen any other Death Eater's child that went to Hogwarts. Naturally, I was gratified that he picked me out of everyone else to do his bidding - never mind the task - but at the same time, I was sickened by it. I think I knew, even then, that I was just another tool for him to use." He looked over at her, and was hit with the strangeness of the situation - him sharing these thoughts with Hermione Granger, who for once was not jumping down his throat.

"I can relate a little," she said, playing with the end of her braid. "I've always felt that I worked too hard at times to be Harry and Ron's friend. As a result, I really never made friends with anyone else. Not even Ginny that much. And... for the longest time, everyone except Harry just saw me as this... information hub. Even Ron still treats me that way sometimes."

"Well, I bet it was nice to have close friends at least." He hadn't meant that to sound so cold, so he quickly followed it with, "The closest thing I had to a real friend was Blaise, even though we fought more often than not."

"What about Crabbe and Goyle? Pansy?"

Draco shook his head, trying not to remember the look on Crabbe's face as he had casted the spell that had led to his own death. It was... a smug look. "They were not much for conversation, as it were."

"I bet."

"The only reason they hung around me is because their parents wanted them to. I wasn't exactly nice to them ever."

"You were nasty to them, actually, now that I think about it."

"Yeah. Most of the time they just grated my nerves - but they were handy at times."

They lapsed into silence, Hermione listening to the sound that the wind made as it moved over the little car. After a minute, Draco spoke up. "I think it's still your turn."

She shook her head. "I don't know what to tell you, Draco. I'm just... not that interesting really."

"Everyone has quirky things about them, Hermione. Even a downer like myself."

"I know... lets see. Um... I like cats."

Draco had to chuckle at that. "I couldn't tell. You own a cat, if I'm not mistaken."

"A huge, flat-faced furball, yes. I love him so much."

"Loki's pretty obedient, isn't she? She makes me miss my cat back at the Manor."

"You have a cat?"

"Yes. A pompous little thing, but still great to have around."

On cue, Loki popped her head out next to Hermione's arm. All the noise from the car was making her nervous, and she hadn't eaten much besides water, bugs, and the occasional bird or rodent since they had left Bergen. She meowed and rubbed her head against Hermione's hand.

"Aw, poor Loki." she pulled the cat onto her lap and let Loki get comfortable. "Why did you bring her again?"

Draco shrugged, and then remembered that Hermione couldn't see the gesture. "I don't know. It was an impulse, really."

"What color is she?"

"... She's sort of a stormy grey color. Like storm clouds."

"A Russian Blue?"

"No. more like... a Tortoiseshell, except grey."

Hermione nodded slowly, realizing that he knew more about cats than she thought he did. "You really are something."

"I am, aren't I?"

"Pump your brakes, Malfoy."

He grinned.

"We haven't gotten them on the mobile in a while, have we?"

"No, I don't think we have," Nora said absently, reading over a document on bleached parchment. She pulled out a quill and wrote something at the bottom.

Harry turned away and faced the fake windows.

"I'm sorry I'm always busy now, Harry, but the Auror training finished, plus the Department of Mysteries is trying to harangue me about sharing information with them. As if. Last time I checked, they are researchers and we are ones that actually get shit done."

Harry raised an eyebrow; Nora was not usually this affected by her work. He turned around. "What do I need to do?"

She looked up at him and ran a hand through her dark fringe. Her bun was coming undone. "I don't know anymore, Harry. Without the direct connection to Hermione, we are in the dark as to what they are doing. And yet, I feel that a confrontation is only weeks away. Like... it's coming and we aren't prepared."

"Of course we aren't. The Death Eater's hideout is somewhere out there, and we can't be ready without knowing where it is and when Malfoy plans on striking it."

Nora got up and paced the length of her office slowly. "I could try him again, see if he'll tell us. But he won't... he's as stubborn as ever. I don't like this situation, to be honest. Surely he knows they are going to a certain death? And yet he continues... dragging a blind Hermione behind him. I mean... it's a fool's mission. Through and through." She stopped. "So then why is he doing it?"

"You heard him. He says that the Ministry would make a mess of things."

"No it wouldn't. The old Ministry would make a mess of things... but my department would not. And the Department of Magical Law Enforcement would not. It's when you get to the politics and the press conferences and all that crap that everything starts getting messed up."

Harry shrugged. "In my experience, the Ministry always complicates things. Even when it came to the War."

Nora nodded slowly. "Well, the Ministry thoroughly botched the War, I'll give you that. But that's before I came to this position - the Ministry is different now."

His stare didn't budge. "No it's not. You know that."

She stared back at him, looking ready to challenge his statement, but a moment later she shook her head, fully freeing her hair. "Fuck. You're right." She paused. "I guess I just like to be in control. It runs in my family... both my brother and I were that way."

"The one No Name murdered?"

"Yes. Both intelligent, controlling, aggressive. I bet he put up a good fight. He wasn't afraid to fight dark magic with dark magic." She shook her head again, her face pensive. "If she capped him, then Draco has a real challenge catching her off-guard."

"I think the lot of us do."

"And then... the only other reason I can think of that he is taking Hermione along with him to destroy them... is that nothing has changed. He is still doing No Name's bidding."

Harry stopped. Of course, they had thought that at the beginning, when all they'd had was his name and that he had kidnapped her. But somehow... they had been convinced otherwise. By Hermione? By Draco himself?

"Oh no."

"Yes, it is a scary thought, but it's one we have to consider. Why else wouldn't he tell us the location of the Death Eater stronghold? He doesn't trust us to keep it to ourselves, keep it quiet... or he doesn't want us to know because No Name doesn't want us to know?"

"But... they really do like each other. And he was civil enough to us... and he talked about protecting her..."

"If he really wanted to protect her, he would have let us take her back in Norway. Or before that, even."

"That's... that's true."

"I know," she mumbled, taking up her quill again and moving back to her seat. "I tried to tell him so... but he said he wanted to stay with her. Be with her. In reality, he's probably sealed both of their fates."

Harry blanched. "This has gone on long enough. It's about time we stopped them and handled the Death Eaters ourselves. Besides, I heard that the Minister gave you a hard time about not bringing them in immediately after we talked to them over the phone."

Nora shrugged. "I can handle the Minister. He throws his tantrums, but he knows we are too valuable to write off. And Hermione's smart, and so is Draco - they're likely to find a way to infiltrate and get No Name alone... but after the alarms have been raised, it's all over for them. He must know this."

"But... there is only two of them - correction, one and a half of them - versus maybe thirty or forty rabid bludgers like Rubinoff."

"Well then," Nora said, looking up again. "I think we should call them, shouldn't we?"

"That thing is ringing again."

"Well, answer it."

"I told you, I'm a little preoccupied with the road right now. Besides, I doubt we'll get reception here."

"Well, where is the next town?"

Draco shook his head. "We aren't even close to Tok yet, Hermione. We still have another few hours left."

"Didn't we pass through a town?"

"Yes, but we still have enough gas and money to get there, so why stop? Trust me. I'm the one driving."

"I swear..."

Loki meowed from Hermione's lap. Why were they talking that way to each other?

"Don't worry, sweetie, we'll get some proper food for you soon." Hermione shook her head. "How did you get your hands on American muggle money?"

"How do you think? I nicked it of course." He heard her mutter something like "terrible" under her breath. "Well how else would I finance such a trip? Of course, a broom would be fantastic right about now, but we don't have that luxury - "

"Listen to yourself. To tell you the truth, I don't even think I remember what the relationship is between American dollars and euros. How you managed to pay for things is beyond me."

"I just give them a large bill and trust that they give me the correct change."

"Lessons in life from Draco Malfoy. You're lucky they don't try to short-change you."

"That's likely," he scoffed.

"In any case, I don't imagine you brought the phone charger with you, so the mobile is likely to not have much battery left."

"What the hell is a phone charger?"

"... It's like a cord with these... these spikes on the ends..."

"Oh, I was wondering what that was."

Hermione began to undo her loosening braid. "So you didn't bring it, did you."

"Of course not! It looked like some weird kind of rope to me." Draco began to slow down as he spotted another one of the many pulloffs along the road. It seemed that the Americans who had built this highway knew that they were building a road right through some of the most beautiful mountains in the area, and deemed it necessary to indulge passing cars in suitable places to stop and gawk at the majesty unfolding right outside their windows.

He pulled into the area slowly, knowing that his driving skills weren't good enough to try anything fancy so high above ground. "Alright. I'll talk to them." Draco pulled the bag from the backseat and plopped it unceremoniously on Hermione's lap, forcing Loki to relocate with a confused meow.

"Malfoy? Wow. You actually called back."

"Shut it, Potter. What do you want?"

"Well, let's see now. We were just wondering where the FUCK you are - no, I won't, Nora - because this has gone on long enough and it's about time that the Ministry handles things!"

"So you're a dog of the Ministry now, Scarhead? I figured you were less impressionable than that."

"Thanks Malfoy, I never knew you cared. Now you can either give us your location or we'll just have to triangulate the mobile."

"Triangulate? Whatever, Potter. You wouldn't even be able to find us. If you haven't noticed, the reception is terrible, meaning that we are far out of your reach - literally."

"Oh, you are so - " the line went silent for a second before the voice changed. "Draco? Harry is being serious. You two are not equipped to handle this mission, and you know it. You're going to get both of you killed or worse."

"You don't have a lot of faith in us, do you Constable?"

"Don't give me that, Malfoy. Be reasonable. You must know by now that this is a huge mistake."

"Look," Draco said quietly, ignoring Hermione's hand on his arm. "I don't finish anything ever. I need to finish this."

Nora was silent for a few seconds before she replied, "I understand your need to satisfy your revenge, Draco. But you don't have to die in the process."

Hermione shook her head, overhearing. Nora was being logical, while she was not. Of course, in the beginning she had thought long and hard about the stupidity of this mission, but all of that had gotten clouded by her emotions. She guessed that at some point she had been content to just let him worry about it, just let him take control, which in ways is exactly what she let Harry and Ron do all those times back in school. Either that, or she had guessed that eventually someone would come for her and then it would stop mattering.

"Nora?" Hermione asked, waiting for Draco to hand her the phone. "Nora. I know this seems bad - "

"Hermione, please. We need to help you and you know it - at least to get your eyesight back before you go in there."

Hermione felt her eyes prickle. That feeling she'd had for a while, that she and Draco were running out of time, came back again full force. "I... I know. It's just... if we don't do it, it will be like he kidnapped me for no reason... at least if we bring them down, there is a chance that... there's a chance that people will understand and..."

"... And let him off the hook."

She shook her head. Crying about this would solve nothing. She sucked in her feelings and took a deep breath.

"Hermione... I don't want to upset you, but the longer you spend in his custody, the heavier his sentence will be. And yet, I need you to hold off going after the Death Eaters because you aren't fit right now to take on something like that."

"So basically... I'm buggered either way."

"No, it doesn't have to work like that."

"Well, it will."

"Trust me, Hermione. In the long run, it's better if this ends now. That way if you still feel strongly about him, you can write to him while he's in Azkaban, and then once he gets out, you can start a normal life."

Hermione suddenly had the bizarre urge to smile. Of course, she thought. "Nora, I've been living a somewhat normal life for as long as I remember - "

"I don't think your escapades with Harry and Ronald can be called normal, but go ahead."

"I've been living a normal life. I guess what I needed was a little extreme abnormality. Let's face it - this is pretty extreme. Being blinded, chased by dark wizards, traveling through forests... growing to like a previous enemy. It's... I don't know."

"That's all good and well, Hermione, but above all you should be concerned for your own safety. At least let us give you a spell to make it easier."

"What was that?" Draco asked, taking the phone from Hermione. "You know a spell that can make it easier for her?"

"Yes, we've done some research. It will help her better feel where things are, and paint sort of a three-dimensional map of the area around her."

"That sounds... wait, what is this beeping noise?"

The line was silent.

Author's note: There is a new trailer for this story! Brand spankin' new. Visit my profile for the link.