No Longer Helpless

Chapter Nineteen
Surprises in a Dark Forest

Following the trail of breadcrumbs actually proved to be quite fun in Hermione’s opinion. Even Draco seemed to enjoy himself, as their constant location change began to feel like a vacation of eighty countries in one day.

At the moment, Draco was feeling quite amused at how much fun Hermione seemed to be having. Though he knew she’d never admit to it, especially when it was supposed to be nothing but work. Still, there was no mistaking that gleam in her eye and the earnest grappling her fingers made for paper and pen when they came upon yet another set of runes for her to decipher.

Draco could have easily gave a helping hand, since he was also versed in the ancient runes of their world, but he let Hermione do it, since it made her happy.

From the Pantheon to the Parthenon to some vineyard in Greece to L’Arc de Triumph to Tour L’Eiffel to Stonehenge to Ground Zero to Notre Dame’s cathedral to a tea house in a dingy part of Tokyo to The Great Wall to a random warehouse in Berlin to somewhere in the middle of Madrid, Spain.

So many places and not a moment spared on soaking in the sights. The only good part about it was that they didn’t need to spend their energies on constant apparition. Once Hermione had crack the code and read their next destination aloud, the words acted like a portkey and whisked them away to another location where runes were hidden within at least twenty feet.

For all the places they had gone and recorded, scribbled down in something Hermione called a notebook, there was no trace of any missing students.

The sun was beating down on them, in the middle of the Sahara. The charm of solving the riddle was beginning to wear off as Hermione wiped her forehead of condensing moisture. It figured that the one time they had difficulty uncovering the next set of runes it was in the middle of a desert at high noon.

“This is getting redundant,” Draco stated, pointing to a template secured within the sand. He wondered if they were just lucky it wasn’t buried ten feet under or whether it had been charmed to remain free of covering layers.

“I know what you mean,” she sighed, walking over to examine the inscribed symbols. As she copied what she saw her brows furrowed.

“Guess again Granger, it is really redundant.”

Indeed, aside from the nonstop traveling they’d been doing for the past four hours, now their course overlapped. He recognized the runes the moment he saw the misplaced rock’s surface. It pointed them to the Pantheon. ‘Back to square one, eh?’ he thought grimly.

Hermione groaned, “Well, at least we can get out of this heat.”

With that, she declared their location, grasping Draco’s bunged up sleeve. They were gone.

The change in temperature was truly overwhelming. Hermione smiled and gave a loud contented sigh. “Much better”

“I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t some goose chase. You don’t suppose Fabriano knew, do you?” Draco asked, now toying with the idea that they were being strung along, much as he was unwilling to admit it.

Still reveling in the more amiable atmosphere, Hermione chose to ignore Draco’s last comment, since it almost sounded more like a thought accidentally spoken aloud.

Instead, Hermione took an unguarded moment and delighted in the noise of passing tourists. They stood in the midst of the Piazza Della Rotunda. Earlier that morning they had been further off, avoiding being seen.

Perhaps they should discuss some things, like when this would end, if ever. They should take a short break and relax a little. She made her way over to the fountain and sat nearby, the sound of gushing water was extremely nice, it was slightly cooler there, and the fact that no matter where she looked her eyes found some beautiful structure or sculpture didn’t hurt.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Draco sat back on his hands and cast his head up to the sky, letting the sun wash over his face.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence he finally spoke, since Hermione seemed content enough to remain unspeaking. “Seriously, do you think this is a wild goose chase?” He didn’t bother to look at her as he spoke, but remained staring upwards behind closed lids.

Mimicking his posture, Hermione stretched her legs out, and leaned back, propped up by her two arms. The sun was bright, so as she cast one last glance at Draco she left one eye squinted shut. Her shoulders came to his upper arm and her feet reached out to his mid calf. It was rather comical really, like five-year-old copying their idolized teen of an older sibling. Crossing her ankles she answered, “Yes”

“Oh?” he questioned.

“That’s what hazing is, for the most part. The whole thing was random as far as I can tell, and only meant to determine our own worth for the club. There wasn’t going to be some rune that said, ‘Congratulations, you know your ancient runes, welcome to the club and here are the missing students.’” When she recited the part about the rune’s translation, she put on a voice much like Sarah’s.

At this Draco stirred, looking down upon Hermione’s dark gold halo of curls and waves. “So, what are we doing here? We can’t very well go back.” She needed to explain a bit more frankly what her plans were exactly. He wouldn’t forgive her rashness earlier if it turned out she had no back up plan now.

“I didn’t say what we are doing is fruitless.” Now she met his downturn gaze, seeing his impatient eyes. “Somewhere along the line there has to be a clue. The students all followed this path-”

Draco interrupted her, pointing out an important factor, “That’s if they made it this far. If they didn’t make it to the end, then there is no telling where they got stuck.”

“Draco,” she complained, calling his name like she were chastising Ron for chewing with his mouth open, but instead of bad table manners she was reprimanding him for thinking her a fool. “We are on the same page here,” she reminded him. He might have been training longer than her, but she had already managed to catch up in many ways. Besides, she was pretty clever to begin with, Auror training or not. “These were students from Druids Mantra, poster school for nerdy know-it-alls.”

“I thought it was Dark Arts, and if it’s for nerdy know-it-alls why aren’t you leading their recruiting campaign?”

“Funny guy,” she commented wryly, giving his side a hard pinch.

“Ow!” he yelled, flinching away from her touch, but in turn mussing her hair.

“My point was,” she resumed her explanation, flipping her tresses out of the way after Draco had messed them up further, “that no matter how green any of them were, they would have been able to come this far at least. These are all basic runes,” she said, gesturing to the notebook in her lap. “If they were going to Druids Mantra and if they were interested in ancient runes enough to join the club for it, they most certainly would have been capable to getting this far.”

“I know that, and I didn’t doubt that you knew that,” he assured. “But, there is always a possibility. We may have overlooked something in the mad dash you called investigating.”

Narrowing her eyes in a serious concern she questioned his view of her, “We are quite possibly dealing with three kids’ lives here. Do you think I would hasten this along so much that I’d overlook things?” It was true she had jumped the gun a little, but she was far from not thinking and calculating everything out in her head.

“You Gryffindors have always been ruled by your emotions. As I see it, you had a lot going on in that head of yours this morning.” It was an honest answer, one which he immediately regretted the moment the last word left his lips. Even he couldn’t deny the underlying accusation in it.

He shifted uncomfortably, not used to the swell of emotions now churning inside him. The pained look in her eyes made him feel something he would describe closely to guilt and sadness. The moment seemed to drag on forever, as he waited for Hermione to react. But, she didn’t. She just looked up at him, with eyes now swimming in tears he knew she was fighting to keep from falling. Stubborn Gryffindor, so emotional and yet resistant to letting others see.

Gulping visibly, Hermione strained to keep her tears in. Why should it matter? What did she care what Draco Malfoy thought of her? She had been ignoring his comments for the past six years, so why would this make a difference? Whether or not she had an answer didn’t matter, since it didn’t change how hurt she felt. Did he really think so little of her? After all they had been through this summer?

Somehow, it was just as bad as Harry or Ron saying it. How could he think she’d make another’s life forfeit simply because she didn’t like the look some perverted principal was giving her? Finally she spoke up, saying the first thing that came to mind, “I see our definitions of trust are rather different.”

“Herm-” he began, but stopped as she abruptly stood up and took a determined stance.

“I’ll prove I’m right!” she stated in a triumphant tone, all hints of hurt or sadness gone. “Let’s go!”

‘Stubborn Gryffindor,’ he thought, standing to follow her as she spotted a set of engraved markings on the fountain. It seemed odd they wouldn’t have caught that earlier, but again he attributed it to a charm that kept it hidden until they had made the rest of their stops.

While part of Hermione had been hoping that the return to the piazza outside the Pantheon had marked the end of the location hopping, she was wrong. Though none of the other places were repeated, things carried on in the same manner for another three trips.

Now they stood on the outskirts of a very forbidding forest. It was most peculiar how they were on top of a grassy field, when naught fifty feet ahead was an immensely dense line of trees. It seemed the forest had no gradual change of scenery, but altered right from a grassy meadow full of sunshine and flowers to a dark forest of stifled air and questionable fog.

There was no telltale monument to suggest they had reached the right place. But, several other locations had been unknown to them and relatively obscure, so there could be no assumptions about this.

Hermione however, felt inclined to listen to the instinctive voice in her head telling her, ‘This is it! End of the line.’

Although they were both of the same mindset, that there would be no next clue to find, they made a good search of the area to rule it out. Once they were satisfied, they congregated back to where they had first appeared and crept forth to the immense canopy of high branches and leaves.

It felt unnatural for the ever-present mist to reach out and curl around their ankles upon making their entrance. Without a doubt this place resided in the realm of magic, or rather vice versa.

Step after silent step, they made their way side by side deeper into the forest. Shortly after the edge of trees marking their entrance could no longer be seen, the pathway seemed to narrow.

Draco was inclined to take the lead and have Hermione follow behind, but she didn’t seem to agree. Instead she opted for walking so close their arms were pressed together. This would have been a problem if Draco weren’t left handed, but since he was and she was a dominant user of her right, though he’d seen her switch it up, they were good. Besides, it felt better to have he right next to him, where he could be absolutely certain of her presence.

Neither uttered a single word, since they were better at reading each other’s body language, and without the sounds of other creatures it didn’t feel like a good idea to announce a new arrival. It was against most natural laws to have a forest that was void of all animal life, magical creatures or other, so the dead silence was rather unsettling.

Finally, the distant hoot of an owl reached their ears, causing them both to nearly sigh in relief. Slowly, but steadily, more noises were added. Birds, bats, nymphs, faeries, and various four legged creatures that fled before their forms were identifiable.

The forest didn’t seem so off now, even though the mist only seemed to grow, along with the logically impossible breezes that ruffled the leaves and swept through Hermione’s curls on various occasions.

Draco glanced down at Hermione, just making out her features in the dim light, which was getting progressively darker by the minute. Her eyes darted back and forth furiously, scouring the area tirelessly. Her brow was furrowed in concentration. Such determination in the little Gryffindor was encouraging.

On and on they went, no sign of recent visitors anywhere, though it was impossible to be certain in their given lighting. It had become completely dark by now, but the gradual change had allowed their eyes to adjust well enough to keep to the path and follow what was before them.

Hermione’s hand had taken a hold of his shirtsleeve at some point along the way. Grasping it as though she feared she’d become lost the second he moved away. He fought a smirk that attempted to play across his face. He most certainly shouldn’t be feeling so elated at her unconscious actions.

The kitten was still there, no doubt about it. Though he wondered if perhaps the kitten were still an alter ego or part of her now? ‘No,’ he surmised, the lioness and the kitten were still worlds apart. Even though he’d begun to pick up on little gestures that resembled the affectionate Angelus persona, he knew the bonding mentioned before was not complete.

If Hermione had completely received her powers, then she would have jumped him by now. Somewhere along the line, he had concluded that this would be the sign for it. Once Hermione had gained total control, thus meshing with the kitten, she’d surely act just like the affectionate little devil that felt so inclined to draped all over him.

The sound of a branch breaking jerked Draco from his reverie and study of Hermione’s gentle features. Automatically, he reached for his wand, only to have Hermione grasp his wrist and push it down. In the darkness it was rather difficult to convey all the messages he wanted to, but she seemed to pick up on his questioning look easily enough.

‘No magic,’ she mouthed.

Watching her plump red lips form each syllable, it took him a moment longer to comprehend her meaning. ‘Damn Moody,’ he thought. He had forgotten all about the ridiculous guidelines set in place for them.

The quite after the first branch snap was more alarming than if there was loud rustling and the sound of some creature scampering off. When no further sound came, they had no choice but to move on. Hermione had let go of Draco’s sleeve, much to his internal protest, and moved behind him. He understood of course, she was flanking him as added caution.

The coldness he now felt on his right side urged him to pull her back beside him. But, his back suddenly felt flushed with warmth when he felt Hermione take hold of the tail of his shirt. Perhaps it was okay then.

Still alert, Hermione dropped back to cover from behind while Draco took care of what lay ahead.

The mist at their ankles was now a dense fog swirling from the knee down. If she could use magic she’d cast a repelling charm on herself, so that if only for a few feet around her legs she would be able to see the ground where the dense puffs parted. It was not her first choice of terrain, to be walking as silently as possible when you couldn’t even see what you were stepping on. From the sound of twigs and branches they heard in the distance every now and then, the ground did contain something other than soft damp dirt. They were pretty lucky to not have made much noise.

The sound of wood snapping made her think, ‘I jinxed it.’ But, after Draco stopped and searched around in a very severe glare, she realized it hadn’t been them. If the sound had been so near that she thought it was one of them who’d caused it, then they were indeed being followed.

She could feel it now, the eyes that were watching. Draco had surely felt it sooner. He was always quicker when it came to that. But, she felt it now too, which meant it was close.

‘Very close!’ her mind yelled as she heard its step taken in the soft earth right behind her.

While part of her wanted to merely shrug it off as some curious animal, she couldn’t ignore the impending doom felt in her gut. It was yelling at her to ‘RUN!’ But, she didn’t. Instead, she stood firmly rooted, prepared to take on anything, and if her hand squeezed Draco’s shirt a little more tightly, making wrinkles in the wrinkle free cotton fabric, then it was out of concern that he might move on and lose her in the fog.

Draco sensed her frame tighten in anticipation. It was almost too much to handle when he felt her hand clench his shirt. He wanted nothing more than to pull her close and whisper that she’d be fine and to leave everything to him. Doing that however would not only be dangerous, since there was more to focus on than making Hermione feel better, but would get him slapped. He could just see her reaction to something like that now, he’d be nursing a stinging cheek or perhaps bruised eye while she ranted on about how stupid he was and how she didn’t need his protection.

The anticipation was the worst. Hermione’s mind began to misbehave as it imagined things that weren’t there. She imagined for a brief moment that she could hear haggard breaths just behind her, she imagined she could feel the warm breath on the back of her neck, she imagined the cold rough hand on her shoulder. ‘Son of a-’ she thought, realizing too late that none of it was simply in her mind.

Before she could even finish calling out to Draco who was scanning the trees and path ahead, he whipped around and pushed her out of the way. Now, she was at his back again, only he was between whatever had been following them and her.

Quickly, she nudged her head under his arm, which seemed intent on being wrapped around her, and looked at the spot she’d just been. Her eyes widened in shock. ‘What in the world?’ she thought in disbelief.

Draco’s arm squeezed her tightly.


>>