Would You Like A Hand?

5 | sunrise.

So Hogwarts is the name of the school, Hermione deducted after hearing Draco talk. She was happy that her brain still seemed to retain some of its basic skills.

They peeked out of the house as the sky lightened to a pale blue.

Everything was in the same state of frozen chaos as before; houses in ruin and silence stretching over what felt like the entire world. Even the air felt still today.

Draco broke the frozen moment with a question: "What is it that you have to do?"

He didn't have a goal for himself; it was only his survival instinct keeping him alive. He wasn't even sure he had a reason to live anymore. He thought maybe he didn't want to die just yet because his parents had died to keep him alive.

Instead of answering, Hermione only asked him, "Whose side are you on?"

She started walking ahead, and he followed behind her. Draco thought about the question before saying, "I'm on my own side."

He was no longer welcome anywhere - the Dark Lord wouldn't be happy to see him after Narcissa had lied about Potter's death, and the Order would have turned him away for sure since he was a Death Eater.

The sound of their footsteps filled the silence that followed his statement. It was a while before Hermione said, "Me, too."

Draco wondered what she meant, but didn't ask. This was not a good time for conversation; they were traveling outside with the undead. They needed to focus.

Not knowing what the Gryffindor girl's plan was, Draco merely followed along as she walked as silently as possible. They headed further into town, presumably for more tools or sustenance.

Slowly, the sun came up and they started walking past commercial buildings rather than residential ones. The closer the pair got to the center of town, the more rubble there was lying around, crackling under their feet. The air was just as still as when they'd left the house earlier, although it was warming up.

Their paranoia got worse with every step as well. The softest footsteps they could manage in the ruined town sounded like explosions in the silence. At one point, a blood curdling scream rang out from across town, causing both Hermione and Draco to freeze for a fraction of a second.

The undead always made such awful noises. But Draco was grateful that he could at least tell where they were in relation to himself. The last scream let him know that he was safe for the time being; it had come from their right, at least two blocks away from them.

It came closer than he would have liked, but at least it wasn't on the same street as him. He didn't want to think about what the scream meant. Maybe there was one less survivor in the world.

Hermione continued walking straight along the road, never once turning. They entered a small plaza sometime later, when the sun was high in the sky.

The Gryffindor girl headed for what looked like a former convenience store, and before she pushed open the door, she sent a look back at Draco. He translated it as something along the lines of get ready.

Their wands, always in their hands, were held up as the door was shoved open.

Light filtered in from the big windows on the front, so sight was not a problem. The store was also smaller than most, leaving few dark areas inside while the sun was up.

Hermione walked in first, without hesitation, always the brave Gryffindor. She signaled for Draco to check around the shelves on the opposite side of the store.

He stalked around the room, taking in the strange neatness of the shelves. Some items had been knocked aside, but there was little mess on his side. From the silence, he guessed that Hermione's side of the store was about the same as his.

The townspeople must've been murdered almost immediately. Stores like these were always ransacked; either no one was left alive to steal food here, or there were so few left that none of them had come around to this area to search.

Draco circled the store and found his new ally grabbing a tin can off a shelf.

"Time to start eating and stocking up," she explained. The girl looked at him and paused before saying, "You don't carry a bag or anything?"

He hadn't felt the need to carry a bag, but seeing her stuff some cans and snacks in her knapsack made it look like a great idea. In response to his blank staring, Hermione made another small knapsack by transfiguration. Draco had missed what the original object was supposed to be, but he supposed he didn't care.

Passing the bag to him, she carried on with her packing and reorganized her knapsack. When she closed up her bag, almost full with different kinds of food, she grabbed one last can off the shelf and tried to pry the lid off with a knife from her bag.

Waving his wand, Draco removed the lid with little effort for her.

"Right," Hermione muttered, but it was loud in the surrounding silence. She tended to fall into her Muggle ways. How hard it must be for Muggles to survive in this world without magic, she thought.

The tin can held a thin soup. Lighting a small fire with her wand, Hermione patiently warmed it up. In the meantime, Draco had turned away to pack his own bag full of food.

The girl had just decided her soup was warm enough to drink and sat against the shelves when Draco took a seat in front of her, back against the opposite line of shelves. He had his own can of soup and proceeded to copy Hermione in warming it up.

"Are we staying here for the night?" Draco asked. It was still light out, but there was plenty of remaining food here, and traveling anymore meant they had to lock down another place to sleep at. Who knew if their next camp would be as nice as it was here.

Hermione hesitated. It seemed she was thinking the same thing. But then she said, "The glass door and the big windows might be a reason to leave. This place isn't all that safe."

He nodded, understanding her train of thought. The two drank their soup slowly, Hermione taking her time because she didn't want to upset her stomach. It had been awhile since she'd had a properly sized meal.

Draco watched her pace and tried to finish at the same time as her.

Almost as if on cue, as soon as they finished their soups, a frightening scream assaulted their ears and they heard the sound of an undead being ramming itself into the store window.

Instantly, Hermione and Draco jumped up, dropping their cans and holding up their wands.

This was going to be fun.