"Alright. Who's going first?" Hermione asked us the next day as the four of us were outside with the locket.

"I'll go first," Harry and I said at the same time. We looked at each other, then I decided to let Harry go first.

He grabbed his wand from his back pocket and pointed it at the locket on the ground. "Dissendium!" he shouted.

We went to see if the locket was destroyed, but it was still there, as if it was untouched.

"Incendio!" Hermione tried, sending the locket up in flames. But like last time, the locket looked like it hadn't been messed with.

"Expulso!" I yelled, making the locket fly into the air.

I got the same result as last time. I also noticed that the locket made this chattering noise, which was really annoying.

"Diffindo!" Harry shouted. Nothing. "Reducto!" Still nothing. Getting frustrated, he fired every spell at the locket. Each spell was a little bit stronger than the one before.

"Stop it, Harry! Clearly, shooting spells at the locket isn't going to destroy it," I told him. "Besides, if you keep shooting fire at it, you might burn the entire forest down."

He stopped, panting and staring down at the locket. He picked it up and placed the necklace around his neck, tucking it inside his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"We have to keep it safe until we find out how to destroy it," he replied.

"Seems strange, mate. Dumbledore sends you two off to find all these Horcruxes, but he doesn't tell you how to destroy them. Doesn't that bother you two?" Ron questioned.

"Believe me, Ron, a lot of things bother me," I said.

Harry just stared at Ron for a moment, then huffed a sigh and walked away. I followed him down a hill and watched as he sat down. I went over to him and sat down beside him.

"You don't have to get angry, you know," I told him.

"I'm not angry, Max," he said.

"Oh, really?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

He sighed in defeat. "Okay, yes, I'm angry," he admitted. "I'm angry because we have no idea how to destroy this stupid locket."

"Well, stop acting like we won't figure it out, because we will," I assured him. "Maybe the things Dumbledore left us in his will are clues to how we can destroy the Horcruxes."

Harry scoffed. "Yeah, right. How is a Deluminator, a children's book, a Snitch, and a charm for a bracelet going to help us?" he snapped at me.

"Well, whatever reason we got those things, it's up to us to figure out why they're important. Just stop taking out your anger on everyone else."

"I'm not taking my anger out on everyone else!" he shouted at me.

"Yes, you are! You're doing it now!" I retorted, making my point. "You need to calm down and stop overthinking about the Horcruxes, Harry. I know we don't have forever to figure this out, but we just need to give it some time." I sighed and shook my head. "I've never seen you so frustrated and impatient in my entire life."

Harry didn't say anything back. He got up and walked back to the tent, so I decided not to go after him. I wasn't sure how his mood changed from being happy last night to being grumpy the next day. It was like he was on his period.

Boys these days.

After my argument with Harry, I headed back to the tent and did my best to stay away from him.

He was outside with Hermione and I was in the tent with Ron. Ron was on his bed, listening to the radio. I wished it was music that he was listening to, but it wasn't, much to my dismay. He was listening to the latest news that was going on in the Wizarding world. Now that Voldemort had taken over the Ministry of Magic, the death count was going to increase by a lot. I wanted to tell him that listening to that station was not a good idea, but I decided against it. After all, he already had one Potter give him the cold shoulder. I didn't think he wanted the other Potter telling him what he could and couldn't listen to on the radio.

I went to my bed and grabbed my rucksack. I dug for a book and grabbed the one I wanted: Pride and Prejudice. I began reading the book, letting all the words sink in.

"How can you read those kinds of books?" Ron asked me, looking up from the radio.

I looked up from my book and shrugged my shoulders. "I just find them interesting."

"What are they about?"

"They're mostly about love."

"Do they remind you of Malfoy?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, they do."

"We know you miss him," he said, referring to himself, Harry, and Hermione.

"I miss a lot of people, Ron," I said, smiling and laughing at him a little. "But he's at the top of the list."

Ron nodded and went back listening to the radio, which was filling the tent with sounds of static. All of a sudden, I saw something. I dropped my book and closed my eyes, trying to figure out what I was seeing.

"Tell me," Voldemort said. "Tell me, Gregorovitch."

"It was stolen from me!" another voice said.

"Who was he? Who was the thief?" he asked.

"It was a boy. It was he who took it," the other voice replied. "I never saw it again."

A young boy was seen jumping out of a window with a wand in his hand.

"I swear on my life," the voice said. An old man was whimpering and leaning back against a wall, staring at Voldemort with fear.

He chuckled. "I believe you." He stood up and pointed his wand at him. "Avada Kedavra!"

I quickly opened my eyes, gasping. I panted, my heart beating faster.

"Max, are you okay?" Ron asked, making me jump.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Ron nodded and went back to the radio that was still making that static noise. Suddenly, I felt angry.

"Why do you even listen to that thing? Do you expect to hear good news?" I blurted out at Ron.

"What?" he questioned, giving me a weird look. "Is there a problem with me listening to the radio?"

Before I could say anything else, the sound of yelling came from outside.

"I'm doing everything I can!" Hermione shouted.

"You're not doing enough!" Harry shouted back.

There was a short pause, then Hermione spoke up again. "Take it off! Take off the locket, Harry!"

All of a sudden, I felt better. I didn't feel angry anymore. The chattering noise was gone. It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I sighed in relief, looking back at Ron.

"I guess it's a twin thing," Ron said.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, remembering what I said to Harry about taking out his anger on others. "I just felt...I don't know...angry."

"About what?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea. I saw something, though. I think You-Know-Who got into my head again."

"Because you're letting him in," Ron informed me as I plopped beside him on his bed. "You can't keep doing that, Max. Not again. I thought it had stopped after fifth year, but I guess I was wrong."

I huffed a sigh. "Listen, I'm trying my best to keep him out, but it's harder than it sounds. I need time to block him out on my own. Harry needs it, too. Just let us figure it out on our own, okay?"

He nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Okay. So what did you see?" I told Ron everything I saw. He listened and didn't say anything until I was done. "So You-Know-Who is after something that Gregorovitch used to have?" he questioned. I nodded. "Who is Gregorovitch?"

"He's a wandmaker. He's obviously dead now since You-Know-Who killed him."

"Well, he won't stop at nothing just to get what he wants," Ron pointed out.

"You're right, Ron," I agreed. "You're absolutely right."

*******

I didn't talk to anyone for the rest of the afternoon.

I went back to reading Pride and Prejudice after my conversation with Ron about Voldemort and Gregorovitch. Even during dinner, everyone was quiet while eating whatever Harry had caught today. I didn't ask him what it was, assuming it was just more rabbit like before, but it was still good once he cooked it. Harry, Hermione, and I were taking turns hunting for the food. Once Ron was better, he would hunt for food as well.

That night, I went outside and sat beside Hermione, who was trying to get warm from the fire that was burning in front of her. She looked over at me and gave me a weak smile.

"It's warm inside, you know," I told her.

"I know," she replied. "I decided with Harry that we would take turns being on lookout. Just in case Death Eaters are around or something."

I nodded my head. "Do you think Harry is still mad at me?" I blurted out.

"I didn't know he was mad at you, but he hasn't said anything about it. Did something happen between you two?" Hermione was now curious.

"I don't even know, honestly," I responded. "I swear, it's not pretty when boys are on their periods."

Hermione laughed. "I don't understand how you can make jokes when there's a war going on and we're in the middle of nowhere. It's ridiculous."

I shrugged my shoulders. "We all need a good joke every now and then. Besides, I just want to look past all of this stuff and remind myself what I'll get after all of this is over."

"Which is what, exactly?"

"Draco, obviously."

She laughed again. "Of course. I should've known that."

"That doesn't mean I don't care about anyone else. I still care about you, the Weasleys, and Harry."

"I know you do. Speaking of Harry, if he is mad at you, he'll get over it. He always does. He can't stay mad at you forever."

I chuckled a little. "Got that right."

Just as our conversation about Harry died down, we heard the sound of twigs snapping and leaves crunching, which got our attention.

"What was that?" Hermione asked, panic in her voice.

"I don't know," I replied, standing up and grabbing my wand from my sleeve. "Do you have your wand?" She nodded. "Okay."

We went down the hill and began to walk slowly. We heard rustling from a distance, which made us stop and gasp. We looked around and still saw no one.

"Do you think anyone knows we're here?" Hermione whispered.

"I don't know," I whispered back. She began walking again when more rustling occurred. "Stop walking."

We saw three Snatchers walking towards us with bodies in two of the Snatcher's arms. It was weird, though, because--

"They can't see us," Hermione whispered as they walked past us.

Suddenly, they stopped.

"What's that?" one of them asked, even though it sounded muffled. He turned around and walked until he was right in front of Hermione. "What's that smell?"

I took a whiff at what was Hermione's perfume beside me. We stood still, not moving a muscle. I closed my eyes, hoping he would go away. Why were they even out here? Why were there bodies? Not only that, but they were children. It made me sick just thinking about it.

"Max, he's gone," Hermione told me.

I opened my eyes and saw the Snatchers walking away from us.

"Good to know your enchantments work," he told Hermione from behind us.

She nodded her head in agreement. "He could smell it. My perfume."

After an awkward silence, Harry and Hermione started walking back to the tent. I waited until the Snatchers were no longer in sight before heading back to the tent with the other two.

SNAP!

I turned back around and saw nothing. Just as I began walking back to the tent like before...

SNAP!

I spun around and my heart almost stopped.

"Draco?" I whispered.

He was walking the same direction the Snatchers were going in, followed by Blaise. Draco was walking a little faster than he was, causing Blaise to run up to him so that he wasn't left behind.

"Draco, slow down!" Blaise called out to Draco.

"Sorry, mate," he replied.

"It's her again, isn't it?"

Draco stopped walking and huffed a sigh. "Yeah, it is her. I just miss her, you know?"

"Just write to her," Blaise suggested. "I told her that you would write to her."

"You...you saw her?" he questioned, his face beaming.

"Yeah, I saw her. She was in the Ministry of Magic yesterday. I meant to tell you when I got back last night, but You-Know-Who would've suspected something if you were more cheerful than usual."

"That's true, I guess," Draco agreed. "I would've been more cheerful. I miss her. I miss Max so much. Funny that you should mention about me writing to her. I actually wrote her a letter."

"What?" I whispered to myself.

"You did?" Blaise spoke up. "Why didn't you send it to her?"

"I didn't want it to get intercepted," he replied, taking something out of his pocket.

"Have you been keeping it in your pocket this whole time?" Blaise asked him.

Draco nodded. "The last thing I wanted to happen was this letter getting into the wrong hands."

"Please don't tell me there's dirty things written in there," Blaise said.

Draco smirked to himself, making me grin and also making my face turn red. Draco was always thinking dirty. "Are you curious to know what my desires are, Blaise?" Draco asked him, still smirking.

"Hey, no need to go into detail," Blaise protested.

"But you asked," Draco pointed out.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you need to contact her somehow. Just let her know that you're okay."

Draco looked in front of me, unaware that I was standing there. "I just want to know that she's okay. I want to know that she's safe."

I felt my heart tug at his words. I really wanted to read that letter now. I wanted to see his words on paper and see what he wanted to tell me. He was so close to me.

Blaise placed a hand on Draco's shoulder. "She's okay, Draco. She's a smart girl. She knows what she's doing. This war won't last forever," Blaise assured him. "Mate, we have to go."

Draco nodded sadly and followed his friend as he began walking away from me. Draco looked down at the letter and clutched it tightly in his hand. I watched them leave, not taking my eyes off the two until there were out of sight.

"It was Draco, wasn't it?" I heard Harry come up from behind me.

I nodded. "I saw him. He was talking about me with Blaise. I saw the look in his eyes when he was talking about me. If only he saw the look on my face, but he didn't. He didn't see me."

Harry placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to find the words that would comfort me. "It's hard, Max. Believe me, I know. I miss Ginny more and more every day. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about her. We'll get our happy endings. We just have to get through this first."

I huffed a sigh. "Stupid war. I hate You-Know-Who."

Harry chuckled. "Everyone does. Come on. Let's get some sleep."

We walked back to the tent and found Ron and Hermione fast asleep already. I climbed into my bed and wrapped myself in my blanket, looking at my bracelet. I stared at the lion Draco gave me and smiled a little.

Brave. I had to be brave. I always told myself that I had to be brave.

I was now starting to think that my conversations with Harry were beginning to get repetitive now. But we always talked about being strong for everyone and having to do our mission before anything else. I wanted to skip the whole saving the world part and just be with Draco.

I thought about him again and drifted off to sleep, thinking about our future together.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Well, not really a Drax moment, but it was close enough, right?

So yeah, comment, vote, I love all of you! :)

-A