Parade of the Sun - Dramione

PART THIRTY-FIVE.

1:51pm

They stepped very carefully around and over the mess of the third man at the entrance, and Draco looked like he had to really force himself to walk out of the cave. She knew the magic that had killed the man wasn't going to kill them, but one look at the body would have had anyone hesitant.

They gathered up the few things that had spilled from their bags, looking around for any sign of Valencia and the tall man, but only found a bag and the dagger. The bag only contained water bottles, wands, a pair of boots, and one caper. Hermione stared distrustfully at the dagger before grabbing it by the handle.

"I wish we had a pen so we could leave a note not to touch it."

"Anyone is going to sense the Dark magic coming off that. Toss it in the cave." She pulled her hand back, the dagger whipping away from her fingers just as Draco yelled out, "Don't!" 

She snapped her head towards him, the dagger already gone, and saw his eyes wide on something in front of him. She turned as he stepped back, and jumped back herself, staring at the beast. It was standing silently five meters away, within the trees sloping down the mountainside. She couldn't believe they hadn't heard it at all - it must have come when they were in the house, perhaps smelling the blood. She wondered how intelligent it was if it had just stood there, knowing not to move a millimeter or they would hear it.

Draco's hand closed around her wrist, pulling her back a step to stand beside him. "Remember what I said about running?"

"We couldn't possibly run now--"

"If you didn't throw that dagger, I might be inclined to agree with--"

"You told me--"

"I didn't--" He cut off when the beast let out a hard breath, rancid hot air blowing against them. "It's back for revenge because of you. If--"

The beast collapsed to the ground in a tremble and huff of air. Decided to lay down, and just looked at them. "Do you think it's trying to trick us?"

"Look at that mutt. It wouldn't know--"

"But it would know enough for revenge?"

"Revenge is entirely different than intellect. It's an emotion."

"I wouldn't--" He pulled her back a step, two, five, and the beast remained where it was. "Maybe it's the ring."

"You can thank me later for that, by the way."

She snorted, and they both paused to see if the beast would move. "I would have found it myself. And I'm the one who figured it out--"

"Steal all the credit. Merlin forbid if you--"

"There is no more credit! You didn't do anything but wear it around your neck--" 

"It was too big for my pinky, and too small for my--"

"--key to stopping everything, while we went through all these horrible things--" 

"Steal the credit, and blame me. Somehow, I'm not surprised."

"Why did you keep it anyway?" She looked away from the unmoving beast, pretty certain that they had reached an understanding, and looked at the side of Draco's face. "If you didn't think it was worth anything."

"It reminded me of what I wanted Floralis for." No wonder he got that weird look on his face whenever she touched it - the person he was going against to get it.

"From the supposed entrance to the underworld - immortality? To save you from hell?"

He smiled bitterly and didn't answer, but she thought that maybe that was answer enough.