A Tale of Two Dragons: A Dramione Story

Chapter 12

Hermione woke, her hand still loosely interwoven with Draco's. I'm not even going to try to examine the consequences of what I did last night. She gently extracted her hand and wiped her palms on her shirt, removing the sweat that had accumulated there during the night. Draco was still asleep, making soft breathing noises. He looks so much less anxious when he's asleep.

She took hold of his shoulder, softly shaking him awake. His gray eyes blinked open slowly.

"Good morning," she said, smiling down at him.

He rubbed his face with his palms. "What time is it?"

Hermione glanced at the clock on the wall. "Eight a.m. We should get on the road. It's a fifty mile walk."

"Fifty miles? Merlin's sake. Our feet will be worn down to the knees by the time we get there. Can't we buy any bikes?"

"I didn't see any stores," Hermione pointed out. His face fell.

"I'm a lot lazier than I let on," Draco explained, laughing.

~~~***~~~

The road to Drangue looked rarely travelled. It was strewn with branches and moss draped itself from every tree. The thick limbs over the road blocked out the sun, keeping the trail cool and filled with dew. A thin mist hung in the air, ghostly, without a breeze to move it.

Hermione couldn't help but feel like travelling down this road was a bad idea. It looks so much like the Forbidden Forest, she thought. But it was the only way, so they walked. And walked.

Carrying the horcrux around was starting to wear on Hermione. Though it was always neatly stashed in her luggage, the knowledge that it existed weighed heavily on Hermione's mind like a persistent shadow filled with cobwebs. She thought perhaps she was being too casual by keeping the horcrux in her suitcase rather than on her person at all times. She figured it was okay because she and Draco didn't have a bounty on their heads, unlike five years ago.

She glanced behind her to make sure that as they walked down the road the charmed luggage continued to levitate and follow behind them. It was, and she felt relief that the horcrux was still safely with them.

They both walked in silence.

"Lets play a game," Hermione suggested, ending the quiet pall that had surrounded them. Draco looked up from staring at his moving feet.

"A game?" Draco asked.

"Tell me what it's like to be in Slytherin."

"I'm not sure if that qualifies as a game."

"Still. I'm sure it's fascinating. Tell me something I don't know."

"If you really want to, then, sure," Draco shrugged. He considered what would be the most surprising thing for her to hear. "We Slytherins are very friendly with Hufflepuffs."

Hermione raised her eyebrows in doubt.

"It's true," Draco asserted. "They're the only ones in the whole school who don't automatically judge us. It seems that everyone else at Hogwarts mistakes ambition and cunning for evil. It's frustrating to no end. I sometimes wonder if the reason why so many Slytherins became Death Eaters is because it was so hard to find acceptance elsewhere." Draco paused before solemnly adding "I used to date a Hufflepuff girl, you know."

"WHAT? Of course I didn't know. Why would I know that?" Hermione said, shocked. She couldn't picture him with a gentle and innocent Hufflepuff.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I assumed you knew because you and your idiot friends seemed very invested in my personal business," he drawled sarcastically.