Harvest Moon

Thank you to everyone for your patience. I sincerely appreciate it.



***

Hermione frowned at the odd patterns of stonework in the cave floor. It was too precise, too evenly spaced to be anything but another trap. She wondered how many of these blasted things they’d have to go through before getting anywhere near Lucius. Better yet if he’d still be . . . she shook her head to negate the thought. She would not let that even remotely cross her mind. Lucius was a survivor. He was probably scheming a way out of his brothers clutches as they stood there pondering.



She looked around the space, taking in the dark niches in the otherwise smooth sides of the cave walls. She shuddered to think what might be lurking in those perfectly placed notches. She turned to look at Draco.



“I don’t suppose you remember what this one does?” she asked, looking at the flooring again.



“Oh, I remember this one all right,” Draco said. “Step on the wrong square and part of the floor falls away. Then when you get to the halfway point there’s the added fun of swinging axes if you make a wrong step.”



“Charming,” Harry said with a snort.



Draco’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “You can go back any time you’d like, Potter. Granger and I are perfectly capable of finding my father on our own.”



“I am doing my job,” Harry growled through clenched teeth. “Add to it, the gods only know what kind of evidence you’d tamper with given ample opportunity.”



“You were always a prat, Potter. This just solidifies my opinion of it even more. He was kidnapped for gods’ sake,” Draco snarled back.



Hermione reached up and slapped them both in the back of the head. “If you two are through being men playing at being boys I’d like to get on with this,” she said, glaring at both of them.



“Calm down, Granger. No need to get your knickers in a twist,” Draco said.



“You seem rather unconcerned about your father’s safety, Malfoy,” Harry said suspiciously.



“My father can take care of himself in dangerous situations,” Draco said with a shrug. “We won’t do him any good if we don’t get to him in one piece though.”



Hermione nodded. “How many more things like this do we have to deal with, Draco?”



“A few more. I think there’s a collapsing wall on the other side of this. Then there’s a cargo net thing you have to climb to a zipline. I’m most worried about that one because gods only know how rotted that line is by this point. Even though, if I recall correctly, Father said that Grandfather had everything reset. Still that was over forty years ago.”



“Well, they certainly knew how to show a girl a good time,” Hermione grumbled.



“Anything else fun and fascinating you want to tell us about this place, Malfoy?” Harry asked.



“There ye blasted brats are!” suddenly seemed to echo all around them.



Draco grinned. “Good not to see you again, Angus.”



“Ya grew up on me, Lad,” the massive ghost who had suddenly appeared in front of them said.



“I understand that happens with children quite a lot,” Draco said. “I take it you thought I wouldn’t recall the trick to this.”



“Did ye?” Angus asked skeptically.



“Vaguely,” Draco admitted with a shrug. “I remember you had to take you shoes off and feel for the rough stones. But I don’t remember if you were supposed to step on them or not.”



“Aye. The rough stones are the safe ones. The others’ll drop ya down inta the drink.”



“So, what are we feeling for?” Hermione asked. “And wouldn’t the stones have gotten worn down over all those years in here? All the seawater and damp is corrosive.”



“Looking for raised grids in the stone work. Three should be a pattern of how the safe ones are set after the first few,” Draco said. “It probably has worn down a bit but the flooring is far enough away that there should still be enough to go by. Do you happen to remember the pattern, Angus?”



Angus looked the flooring over with a squint. “Hmmm. Maybe a jump to the left . . . naw, that’s sommat else. Damned if I can remember what the pattern was now to help.”



“Marvelous,” Draco grumbled.



“I’m guessin’ the ghost of professors past told ye yer Da was here,” Angus said.



“He did,” Draco said with a nod.



“Is he all right?” Hermione asked, trying to sound less worried than she actually was.



The ghost shrugged. “All right as he can be, all things considered. At least he’s still breathin’. Which is more than I can say for all those poor lassies the crazy one took apart piece by ever lovin’ piece.”



“Angus,” Draco began, sounding hesitant. “You’ve seen everything that’s happened here, haven’t you?”



“Aye. Wish I hadn’t mostly,” Angus said.



“Do you know if . . .” Draco paused for a moment, not wanting to voice what was running through his mind for fear that giving it voice would also give it truth.



“Do I know if wha’, lad?” Angus asked.



Draco squared his shoulders and took a deep breath to center himself. “Do you know if my mother is involved in any of this?” he finally blurted out.



Angus shook his head and looked away from Draco. “I can tell ye she’s not in any danger from the mad one.”



“That wasn’t what I asked, Angus,” Draco said pointedly.



“It’s all the answer I can give ye for the moment, lad,” Angus said.



Draco sighed and rubbed his hand across his forehead to ease the ache that had suddenly started there. Hermione gave his shoulders a reassuring squeeze before sitting down on the cave floor and starting to remove her shoes in preparation for the treacherous trek ahead of them.