Harvest Moon

Hermione held on tightly to the side of the small boat as the waves tossed it back and forth like a cat batting a ball of string. Truth be told she was feeling more than a little queasy at all the bouncing around but it couldn’t be helped. Arabella had tested the strength of the wards on the castle and had informed them there was no way they were getting in without being killed. Not even Draco, whose family owned the property. Other wards had been layered on so thickly that it almost required having the key to get anywhere near the place. They’d all traded most of their regular clothing for muggle caving gear. Draco had reminded everyone that the caves didn’t have magickal wards on them but there were slippery rocks and odd traps that were just as dangerous.



Draco glanced back over one shoulder from his position steering the boat. “All right there, Granger? You look a little green.”



Hermione shrugged. “Just . . . worrying is all.”



“Now you surely don’t think a little thing like kidnapping is going to put my father down for long, do you?”



It was Harry who rolled his eyes and snorted. “Not bloody likely. Really, Hermione, what possessed you to take up with that man in the first place.”



Hermione stuck her nose in the air. “Under no circumstances do you deserve an answer to that question, Harry Potter,” she said, giving him a look that would have wilted the sturdiest plant. “I’ll tell you though. He is my balance point, just like Ginny is yours. He keeps me from tipping too far in one direction and I keep him from tipping too far in the other.”



“I still don’t understand how you can just let the past go like that, Hermione,” Harry said, shaking his head.



“The past is just that, the past. Lucius paid in more ways than either of us can imagine for the things he’s done. But I think he’s come out a better man not in spite of it but because of it. You out of everyone should know that when iron is put to the fire it emerges tempered steel. You had that iron in you and Voldemort tempered it to steel. I see that in Lucius as well, even if you or he for that matter, don’t.”



Draco laughed at that. “Well, parts of Father may be steel but when it comes to you he’s mush.”



Hermione just smiled and tried to ignore the onset of seasickness.



The boat angled around the edge of the sheer cliffs and a deep, black chasm could just be made out in the dim moonlight. Draco steered them around the edges, being very careful to avoid the sharp rocks jutting up from the sea.



“How did anyone get anything through here?” Harry asked, his knuckles going white as he gripped the boat hard.



“That was kind of the point, Potter,” Draco said. “To make sure no one who didn’t know the reefs and rocks around the cave didn’t get in. Or if they did they got in only in pieces or washed in like flotsam.”



Hermione tried to look around as they entered the cave but even at lumos maximus, their wands barely made enough light to see by in the blackness of the cavern. The inlet had been worn smooth by centuries of the sea pounding into it and Hermione was forcibly reminded of a pirate ride she’d been on in the States. Although she had the nasty feeling this wasn’t going to be nearly as much fun.



Draco brought them into the shallows and got off the boat, sliding a little on the moss that had grown along the makeshift docking area. He breathed a sigh of relief when he pushed away some of the moss and found the heavy iron eye bolt that had been sunk into the rock. “Good, at least that’s still here,” he said. “Potter, throw me that rope.”



Harry tossed him the heavy rope and Draco secured it to the bolt. He put out a hand to help Hermione out first, gripping her tightly as she slipped a little. “Careful, Granger, it’s really slick there.”



“Seems to be really slick everywhere,” Harry grumbled as his feet tried valiantly to slide out from under him with every step.



“Where do we go from here?” Hermione asked.



“This way,” Draco said. “It’s low tide so we should be able to navigate the bridge with little trouble.”



The moved deeper into the cave, light from their wands flickering eerily off of the grey cave walls.



***Mad Ramblings AKA Author’s Notes***

Thanks to everyone still reading. I did mention it was probably going to be ridiculously long. Special thanks to Voracious Reader, who has stuck with this from the first chapter almost and whose insights are always clear, well thought out and brilliant. I\'ll get back to individual thanks for others next time around. But sincerely, thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. I\'m very grateful.