A Tale of Two Dragons: A Dramione Story

Chapter 14

As their food supply given to them by Mrs. Rugova had been exhausted, Draco and Hermione were walking in the woods, inexpertly hunting for squirrels.

"Petrificus totalus," Hermione yelled. The squirrel fell right at her feet with a soft thud.

"Now what?" She said, turning to Draco.

Draco sighed. "You're going to make me do the dirty work for you?"

"Yes. Yes, I am," Hermione said, blinking.

He took the petrified squirrel from Hermione and placed his trembling wand tip onto its small neck. "Sectum sempra," Draco said softly. He shifted his body so Hermione wouldn't have to see the squirrel die as the spell tore into the squirrel's neck and body. Draco tried hard to not think about the time this same spell had been used on him.

The amount of blood issuing from this squirrel was astounding, Draco observed. In hindsight I shouldn't have done this while I was holding it, he thought as blood dripped down his arm and onto his shirt sleeve.

Draco spoke over his shoulder to Hermione. "How do I get the guts out?"

"Try scourgify," she suggested. Draco muttered the incantation and Hermione winced as she heard the wet thud of the squirrel's bowels hit the forest floor.

They repeated the process for every small animal they found, ending up with a total of two squirrels and a rabbit. Draco managed to transfigure each animal into baldness so they wouldn't be swallowing chunks of fur. Soon, each animal was cooked over a fire and being gratefully eaten.

"Well, now I can say I've tried squirrel," Draco said, trying to choke down the dry chunks.

"At least you're willing to help with the food. When I was on the run all Harry and Ron did was complain," Hermione added, trying to remove a particularly tough string from between her teeth.

After cleaning up and packing, Draco sat heavily back down, letting out a long sigh. "Hermione, I have no idea where to even start to look for the kulshedra in these woods."

Hermione had been thinking the same thing herself. "We can use a marking charm to trace our steps and show where we've gone." She waved her wand and walked a few steps, showing Draco how faint yellow outlines stayed where her foot had been just moments earlier. "I guess we just pick a direction and comb the forest."

~~~***~~~

Exploring the forest was more difficult than walking the trail from Hotolisht to Drangue. At first Draco and Hermione enjoyed their adventure, but as each day wore on they became more discouraged. There were no trails and they would often trip over hidden logs and rocks. In some spots the vegetation was so thick they had to constantly fire severing charms ahead of them. They were becoming progressively more scratched up by thorns and branches, and Draco got a nasty case of ticks that Hermione had to pry off him while he cowered. They had to keep retrieving their levitating luggage because it would often get stuck behind trees. On day four, the weather took a turn for the worse, drizzling rain steadily all day, every day. They were constantly wet and their mood was rapidly plummeting. Days passed this way.

On day ten, they came across their old path, marked by the golden traces of the charm.

"We're lost," Hermione stated, emotionless. Draco didn't respond, he just shivered.

Hermione started to set up the campsite, though it was only noon. "There's no point in travelling any longer. We're not going to get anything accomplished unless we have information to go on," she explained as she struggled to stake the tent in the blowing wind. Hermione followed him into his tent.