Draco Malfoy had changed a great deal since his Hogwarts days and so had Hermione Granger. The War changed everybody. Who thought that the Ferret would become friends with The Chosen One and he could maintain a civil relationship with the Brightest...
It would be unfair to say that Draco Malfoy, bad boy extraordinaire, did not care. He had, in the past few hours, worked himself to the grave and worried himself sick for Granger and Harry. If anyone would have told him he would be fretting over their well-being a few years back, he would have called them mad and pranked them later.
As the Floo in the Malfoy library glowed green, in a burst of emerald flames, appeared the object of his agony. Hermione Granger seemed calm and collected. Her appearance was exactly opposite of how she felt; anxious, embarrassed and excited to share her findings.
"What did you find?" Both spoke at the same time. Neither waiting to greet the other. Draco was too relieved to see her back, unharmed.
"You are alright? And Potter too I hope? And that guy, Boot?" Draco smiled from his desk. He felt funny seeing her by his fireplace after their interlude last night. If she wanted to pretend like nothing had happened, then two could play the game, he decided. Hermione was a little confused and relieved at his reaction. At least he wasn't bringing up her shameless need of him the previous night. He wasn't as insufferable to work with as she had first anticipated, she concluded.
She moved towards the table and took a chair opposite his. "We all returned safely, but we never made it to the actual scene of the crime. We had to turn back before we got in trouble because we found this." She said as she stacked the newly acquired books on the table.
Malfoy put down the journal and looked at the covers. "Will o'-wisps? You found Will o'-wisps in the Marshlands, is that it?" He sounded rather alarmed as if he could not believe his eyes.
"Yes! Even I did not know that they were there in these parts. None of the books had any mention of them. Am equally surprised!"
"Actually, Granger one book did have a mention of them. My Great grandfather's journal to be precise." Now Draco seemed more nervous than happy about his findings. This worried Hermione too.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"What did you find Malfoy? You don't seem particularly excited about the findings."
Draco passed on the parchment where he was writing his notes as he started narrating his findings. "Uh..so the Marshlands technically belong to the Sacred Twenty-Eight. The lands were popular with wizarding families, especially the pureblood families, to go for fishing, picnics and other leisurely activities from the 17th to 19th century. There was some bond that was signed between the Ministry and the Sacred Twenty-Eight to provide them with free access in return for some resources. As the activities grew, the animals started to disappear and so did a lot of plants and trees, which were vital for many potions. This vastly affected the flora and fauna in the Forbidden Forest as well. In the mid 18th century, an act was passed to stop the activities as the Ministry no longer needed the resources that the Sacred Twenty-Eight were providing and the danger to the forests had reached a new peak."
Hermione was shell-shocked. There was absolutely no Ministry record of this!
"No wonder the Marshlands are not marked or filed under the 'Public Property of the Ministry! All other public grounds, including the Forbidden Forest, are marked in it, but there is no mention of the Marshlands at all! So the claim could be true!" Hermione was leaning over the table, trying to scan their notes.
