Dementor's Kiss

Chapter Ten - Back To Hogwarts

What am I even doing here? Hermione thought to herself, her fidgety fingers playing with the frayed ends of her jacket as she walked. Only a month old and the thing was getting worse for wear considering the amount of times she’d had to wash it ready to wear again a day later; that was one of the problems of having so few sets of clothes – they had to wear them almost 24/7 and that left little time to wash them.

She hastened a glance at Draco who was strolling quite contentedly along beside her, his eyes staring straight ahead and his legs moving one step at a time but he seemed like a shell. He hadn’t said anything since they’d left the shelter of Number 12 Grimmauld place and had instead kept himself to himself with his eyes darting around on hyper alert as he scanned the shadowed streets around him.

Hermione’s arms swayed back and forth as she walked; in one hand, clenched tightly beneath the sleeve of her jacket, was her wand and she could feel her hand brushing against the second wooden stick that was hidden deep in her pockets. She hadn’t wanted to lie to Draco, now when she was trying so hard to persuade him that they all trusted him now or at least most of them did, but when she had called him back into the house so that she could run upstairs, she had grabbed his wand and her jacket before she had slipped out. And she had neglected to tell him that she had grabbed it. The thought had crossed her mind more than once during the first ten minutes of their walk down Grimmauld place. By the time they’d reached the main road, she’d considered tell him more times than not but then wondered if it would really be such a good idea.

Maybe he was just playing them and biding his time until he could get his wand back. Maybe that was his plan, he was finding out what they were doing while at the same time he was trying to reclaim the source of his power.

She couldn’t risk giving him his wand back for anything less than life and death when it was just her and Draco. Not that it would be just her and Draco for much longer since she’d also left a note on the kitchen table to tell the others where she’d gone. It was probably a bad idea but Hermione hadn’t wanted to hang around and tell someone what was happening in case Draco became suspicious. It was just supposed to be a simple in and out.

Her eyes slid back into focus as she directed them back to the streets that were laid out before her. The tarmac seemed to be never-ending and she wondered for a moment how much harder it would have been to get to Hogwarts if they didn’t know how to apparate. She didn’t even know exactly where it was in comparison to the hills that rose up around it, she only knew the way from Hogsmeade to the school and she was pretty sure that neither would be on any muggle map.

“I think we should apparate now.” Draco’s voice came from Hermione’s right and she turned to see that he had stopped them in the middle of a square, a single street light standing proudly in the centre of the flagstones. Hermione looked around at the houses that lined the four sides of the quadrilateral, their windows all brightly lit with both the light and the life that was burning inside. She wished that she could be one of those people living behind those walls; maybe they’d be in fear of what was going on outside and they wouldn’t really understand the concept of the wizarding war but at least they’d be safe and surrounded by family. They didn’t have the weight of knowing they were one of the few remaining people who could stop the great evil, they didn’t have the weight of knowing that it was probably their fault that this was happening, because it was her fault. If she had just put an end to the horcrux in Harry when she had had the chance then they wouldn’t be in this situation, they could have killed the Dark Lord alone.

“Hermione.” Draco spoke again; his voice was masked with confusion and a faint sense of worry as he reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Hermione turned her gaze away from the houses and looked at Draco before putting her hand on top of his.