Save The Date (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Fifty Four (XVII)

XVII

Hermione was exhausted. It wasn't like she was unused to studying all day, but anxiety was shredding her nerves and making every minute stretch out far longer than it had any right to be.

So far, no one had suggested packing up and resuming their work again in the morning, for which she was grateful. But the truth was it was gone eleven o'clock and the woods were freezing, despite all their attempts to keep warm whilst keeping spells out of the tree ring.

There was an edge of desperation in the air. Nobody wanted to be the one to suggest they give up and leave the boys to their fate whilst they all went off and took a nap. And considering what Hermione had just found, she appreciated their dedication tenfold.

She had given up a few hours ago and transfigured a few logs into a table away from the enchanted trees, then Ron had helped her carry that and then a chair into the centre of the ring too. It had made her research process speed up considerably, which was lucky if the passage she had just deciphered was accurate.

"Professor?" she called urgently to get McGonagall's attention as she rose from her desk in the middle of the glade. The book was very old and written in a backwards sort of English that had required a good amount of concentration to interpret properly, but Hermione had persisted on a gut feeling that it would be worth it.

McGonagall was already walking briskly over, and Ron and Pansy fell into step behind her. The two of them had just about finished cataloguing the three layers of tree rings, and had then been assisting the Aurors trying to unravel the mystery of the fourth ring. It turned out everyone saw something wildly different; they had tested the theory by involving all the Aurors as well as McGonagall, and they reported seeing images that ranged from cake to a pile of letters to a train engine. It made no sense.

"I think I've found something troubling," Hermione admitted as they drew closer.

"Just for a change," Pansy said cheerily.

Hermione spun the book around so they could see the section she was referring to. "I've been researching the origins of holidays with regards to magic, and you know I noted several mentions of the 'claiming of souls' and other such terms." Her small audience nodded, so she carried on. "Well, I also noted a couple of mentions about time, and the clock striking the hour and such, but then I found this." She tapped the paragraph in question, and McGonagall leaned over, adjusting her glasses to read it.

"And those souls not reunited by the twelfth chime of the clock, that being the second on the first of the days, therein shall spend all their days in the below, their Earthly claim no longer holding the strength to keep them hither." She looked up with wide eyes. "Oh dear," she said.

"That doesn't sound good," said Pansy flatly.

"No kidding!" cried Ron. "So, we have until midnight, is that what that means? So we have..." He shoved his sleeve and his glove away to find his watch. "Forty three minutes. Forty three minutes or their bodies give up and they get stuck wherever they are. Forever!"

Hermione held up a hand as some of the Aurors came closer. "Yes, but I've been thinking. We know these pictures open, and when you got too close with you magic to those vegetables, it tried to drag you in. I think it's safe to assume at this juncture that the boys, or at least their minds, were pulled through the Halloween door?" Everyone nodded. "So, could we drag Harry and Malfoy back out the same way?"

"We've been thinking the same thing," one of the Aurors agreed.

Her colleague nodded in agreement. "In theory it should work, but we'd need something to reach out to the boys with, perhaps a way to guide them to us."

Hermione wagged a finger at him. "Yes, yes," she said, then turned to Pansy. "How about a bonding charm?"

Her eyebrows shot up. "You want to use me to try and find Draco?"

"The two of you are linked?" another Auror asked.

Pansy regarded him coolly. "We set up the charm in case of emergency, so we could find each other. It's how I located the two of them last night."

The Aurors nodded. "Yes, we could amplify that, perhaps use it to call Mr Malfoy back. If they were together, it could help retrieve both boys."

"Ms Parkinson," said McGonagall firmly. "We have no idea of the risks involved, if you prefer we explore another option-"

"Do it," Pansy said, looking her straight in the eye.

The female Auror held her hand up. "The Headmistress is right," she said with concern. "It could be danger-"

"Now," Pansy growled with more force.