Memories - Dramione story

Chapter 21

Hermione's POV

The manor seemed way bigger and imposing than it did last time we had been here. Maybe it was because of stress. Maybe it was because of fear. Maybe it was because we knew about the possible danger that could be waiting for us there.

We arrived in front of the door at the bottom of the stairs and stared at the hypnotizing light of the gate. I hoped that our plan would work and that our efforts to become animagi would serve their intended purpose. Shacklebot and McGonagall weren't with us; they wouldn't be able to help anyway.

I gathered my courage and transformed into my animal form before extending my paw in front of me, hoping it would get through the gate. It did, to my biggest relief. A few seconds later, a grey wolf stood by my side. He looked at me. I looked back. Slowly, we both passed through the gate, scared of what we would find on the other side. 

For a fraction of a second, I could only see the light of the gate, before finding myself in a big living room with plenty of different sofas and pillows. The living room would have looked cozy and welcoming if there wouldn't have been so much dust and webs everywhere. All the lights were off, which made it look even worse. Luckily for me, I could see well enough in the dark as a raccoon, and the light of the gate helped. 

I saw Draco transform back into a human. He lit his wand and looked at me, probably expecting me to transform too. Deciding that I would feel more comfortable with my raccoon vision, I simply glared back at him without transforming. He sighed and, to my biggest surprised, lifted me from the ground and took me in his arms.

All traces of fear disappeared from my mind as I felt the comfort of his arms and snuggled up. His smell made me feel so happy... I closed my eyes and relaxed in his arms as he started walking, opening my eyes from time to time to observe the surroundings. 

After several minutes of research, I saw light at the end of a long, dark corridor. Draco put me down on the floor and transformed into a wolf before sitting down and motioning me to climb on his back with his head. I climbed and gripped the fur on his neck with my hand-like paws. It was so soft...

We reached the end of the corridor, getting to the source of the light. In front of us was a large room with loads of different phials. My heart skipped a beat. I didn't know why, but I felt like these phials were very important. Each of them contained a small key. All the keys had different shapes, colors, and sizes. The only common point that they had was their magical appearance... They were all transparent and glowed softly. Draco continued walking, clearly trying not to make any sounds.

In a corner of the room was a person sitting at a desk, the person's back facing us. The thief. But the thing that attracted my attention the most was a black safe on the desk. It had intricate red patterns and borders that made it look quite mysterious. I felt like something that I needed a lot was in it. 

I reluctantly turned my attention back to the thief. I could barely see the shape of this person's body. I couldn't understand whether the thief was tall or small, and looking at the thief made me feel very weird. The thief was kind of... blurry? All I could see were swirls of dark purple smoke and a hint of the shape of a person, more precisely a man. 

A clinging sound started resonating in the room, becoming stronger and stronger, like if a fly was trying to escape from a glass. The thief seemed to have heard it too and abruptly turned his head in direction of the sound before standing up and walking towards it. Luckily, we were far enough and he didn't notice us.

More clinging sounds started, slightly different from the first one. Draco headed towards a small closet nearby and hurriedly opened it with his paw, entered it, and closed the door. I jumped off his back and looked at him. His wolf eyes were full of worry. Suddenly, the door opened and we found ourselves facing the thief, who's expression I could not see. He drew out his wand and pronounced a spell that made panic rise in me. Soon enough, Draco and I both came back to our human forms. Fortunately for us, the closet was big enough for us not to get hurt.

«Who are you?», I heard the thief ask.

The thief's voice was so strange... I could absolutely not describe his voice. In his hands were several phials with keys in them. The keys were flying in the phials, hitting their glass borders, even though they didn't seem to have wings or anything that could support them in flight. What was even more strange was the fact that some keys were turned in my direction, whilst other keys were turned in Draco's direction, and the keys' movements seemed to be following us.

The thief cast a levitating charm on the phials to free his hands and took me and Draco by one arm firmly, dragging us towards his desk. Then, he pointed at the safe that was placed on it.

«Open it», he said with a menacing tone, pointing his wand at us.

«We don't know how to», Draco answered calmly, raising his hands in the air slowly, trying to show the thief that he didn't want to harm anyone.

The thief pointed his wand at the safe and cast another levitating charm.

«Open it or I'll let it fall. If there is an important key in it, which there probably is, it will break. These keys are very fragile», he explained, his voice even more menacing with a new pinch of anger in it.

I didn't know why, but I couldn't help it and cried out.

«DON'T. Please don't. We'll try our best to open it. Put it down», I begged as stress and worry rose in me faster and faster.

The thief flicked his wand and the safe landed on the desk softly to my biggest relief. Draco seemed worried too. I looked at the safe and cast a revealing charm on it. It was sealed with blood. I felt Draco place a hand on my shoulder.

«I think I know what to do», he said calmly.

I let him get to the safe. A circle was engraved on the front of it. I watched as Draco put his palm on the circle. Red light emanated from the carvings on the safe. After several seconds of waiting filled with stress, worry, and fear, the safe finally opened.