The Right to Care
"Something definitely isn't right," she started uneasily. "This can't be it."
Draco groaned, "oh just sit and enjoy it for a moment before stuff inevitably goes wrong."
She huffed, knowing something was clearly wrong already, but in a way he was right; she imagined she wasn't going to get this kind of peace for a long while once this was over. It was strange, she felt like recognised the place, like it was real, as did Draco, but neither thought much of it.
Draco just lay back in the soft mattress of grass, and eventually, Hermione decided to give in to the temptation and lay down near him. She let out a deep breath and spread her arms out, stroking the soft floor.
In a moment of awkwardness, her hand accidentally brushed past Draco's face and she immediately jogged her hand back and blushed a bright red.
Draco just smirked, even with his eyes closed he could sense her blush, "getting a little familiar aren't we Granger?"
"Shut up Malfoy," she said angrily, but laughing a little to herself.
For a moment they lay there, not needing to talk and shut their eyes as if they'd happily stay there forever.
But after what felt like hours, Hermione eventually sat up, feeling oddly refreshed and said, "come on, let's find a way out."
He groaned slightly but agreed, and rolled over to get up and walk with her to the small opening they could see in the hedge.
They trekked through the long grass, fingertips brushing the tops of the wavy strands that blew about in the soft wind. Hermione couldn't understand how it was so glorious. But somehow, it seemed the closer they got to the hedge, the less pleasant everything got. It was noticeably cooler, less bright, and a sort of draught was coming out straight from the entrance into wherever the opening led.
An uneasy feeling formed in Draco's stomach.
"Why are we even bothering," he said more than asked, as he stopped abruptly behind Hermione.
She sighed and turned to face him, "because as nice as it is here, I don't exactly want to be stuck in this room forever. So finding a way out seems like a good idea to me."
She was right obviously, but Draco remained stationary. "But a way out means going back to what's out there, and believe it or not, this is the perfect place to stay and wait for everything to blow over."
Even as he was saying it he knew it was nonsense, as did Hermione, and she also knew that by 'stay and wait' he really meant 'hide'.
"I don't understand how you can say something like that. Things aren't just going to blow over Malfoy, they simply won't. No amount of wishful thinking can you save you from what will come, and when it comes, you have to be able to face it."
"Typical Gryffindor," he muttered, trudging past her in defeat, not wanting to argue.
She followed him, and they eventually came to the gap in the hedge. It was like a corridor of sorts, the walls being 10ft tall hedges though. However after about five steps in, the direction split into two. Hermione took a small step back in worry.
"What do you think this is? A maze?" she asked.
"I don't know, could be anything, but you're right it does look a bit like the maze from the triwizard tournament in fourth year." He sighed. "Wow, that feels like forever ago."
"I know what you mean... But come on, the way out has got to be through here, but we have to be careful."
Silently, both pulled out their wands in defence as they slowly made their way along the path. When they got to the crossing, the looked to each other then agreed on going left. Both had to just go with their instincts here.
"We should keep track of where we're going, so we can get back easily if we need to," Hermione said.
"If we're going to the exit, why would we..."
"You should listen to your little girlfriend Draco."
He was cut off by a gruff voice that came from the person that stepped out from behind the next corner of their path. Neither recognised him, but both held up their wands to him.
"Who are you? How do you know me," questioned Draco, stepping a little in front of Hermione, the same way he did in the first task.
"Does it matter? All you need to know, is that I'm going to kill you."
At that the man pulled out his wand at lightening speed and knocked Hermione to the ground with a single swish. Draco disarmed him quickly then sent him flying backwards unconscious.
He rushed to Hermione's side, who was a bit dazed.
"Are you alright Hermione?" he asked concerned, helping her up.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she grimaced as she rubbed her head. "I reckon more of them'll come up on the way. Let's just run through this."
Draco nodded, much more eager than before to get out of this place.
They ran, and round every corner of what now was indeed a maze of some kind, there was some person trying to attack them.
He couldn't deny how impressed he was with her, she generally shot out a spell before he could, each one with an exceptional amount of flair, despite the desperate running they were doing. After knocking one out Draco suddenly stopped, to take a breath.
"Hold up Granger," he huffed. How long had they been running for now?
She stopped and leaned over slightly, breathing heavily.
"We're going round in bloody circles," he said. "This is pointless."
"No," said Hermione, feeling very determined. "This can't be it, this can't be all..." She trailed off. She'd asked for what was wrong with Draco. Understandably, these people are obviously people he feared, must be death eaters or something. But this couldn't be it, there was more to him than just these people. His father was yet to show up, and she figured he at least would've appeared by now.
She was facing a hedge, in the section they stood in, lost in her thoughts until Draco cleared his throat. She turned to see him looking confused.
"I don't know what we should do. We've been doing this for ages, we're obviously doing something wrong. We can't just..." He stopped when he noticed Hermione wasn't listening, she just watched him, looking a little guilty.
A thought crossed his mind and he suddenly looked very serious.
"Hermione..." he started, and she looked him right in the eye. "What exactly did you think of before stepping into this stupid room?"
She gulped, she knew his reaction would be bad.
"Err," she faltered a little, "well, before I say anything, this really was just an accident, I didn't really mean to think of it I just..."
"Spit it out," he said, anxiety surging in him.
"I just, er, needed to know, um, know what was wrong. With you."
Draco would've flipped a table had there been one available.
"What!?" he shouted.
"I know I know I'm sorry!" she spluttered, but she was a little late.
"Sorry? That's the best you can do? Granger what part of me telling you to stay out of my life did you miss? What right do you have to get concerned over me?"
His voice had risen considerably, but now so did hers.
"What right? Are you kidding me? Wow well I'm so sorry for caring when you're clearly upset about something," she said sarcastically.
"Why do you even care though? Huh!" he shouted in frustration. "You're not supposed to! And you never have before so why now?"
"I don't know Draco! I don't know! Something is different this year, you're not you. I guess I thought something had changed." Her features darkened when she then said, "but I can see now you haven't."
"Oh that's right, get angry with me for your own stupid mistake. Right, screw this," he seethed, turning and heading back the way they came.
"What the hell do you mean 'screw this'? You can't just leave?"
"No, but I can wait. This is your fault, you find a way out, then you can come and let me know when you do," he sneered at her, his stare full of venom.
He was royally pissed off as he strutted back, instinctively knowing the way. How dare she think she is allowed to pry into his life. Had he not made it clear when trying to be nice? Well now he'd have to try and get through to her by not being nice. This was too much, seeing all these people who he half-recognised, getting a prick of fear every time one came round a corner. But Hermione was fearless.
No. She was stupid. And this wouldn't have happened if she hadn't been so damn nosy. Or kind and caring. He hushed his inner thoughts and continued to walk off with big strides, and then he realised she was following him back as well, though he didn't look back. But she'd be damned if she was going to let him get away with this.
The ungrateful little brat, turning his nose up at the first bit of real kindness he's ever been offered. How could he be so rude? Yes, admittedly she knew it was wrong to have thought about it, but at the same time, she couldn't see anything wrong with it at all. She was giving him a chance, a chance to redeem all his past behaviour and so forth. But no, he was far too proud to accept help from anyone.
They walked back to the field in silence, a certain air of gloom filled the air, but it soon disappeared as they reached the middle of the field again. It was like walking through a barrier that blocked out all the negativity the second the long silky grasses touched them. The sun was still shining brightly, which helped calm them both down.
But still neither spoke, as they both lay down, the same places and positions as before, and they really just laid there, trying to arrange their thoughts a little more peacefully.
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A/N; updates may not be as quick as before but then again, I do have a lot of time to write atm :), hope you liked this chapter guys, I hope the whole argument thing was plausible.
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