BREATHE -draco malfoy

thirty seven.

"He knows. You-know-who. He knows we broke into Gringotts. He knows we're hunting Horcruxes." The words came out of Harry in a flurry as he sputtered, wiping the water out of his eyes. They were hiking up a grassy hill, trudging in their heavy, water soaked clothes. Ana was shivering hard, trying to lift her long black shirt from where it was pinned around her legs. She was still gripping Draco's wand, her knuckles white around the dark wood from how tightly she had been holding it, not wanting it to be washed away into the lake.

"How do you know?" Ana asked, finally ripping off her black over shirt, hardly able to wrench the heavy wet fabric off of her skin. She threw it on the ground in a huff, starting to unbutton the top of her black bustier.

"I saw it," Harry replied as Hermione reached into her magically expanded bag, removing a fresh set of clothes for each of them. Ana looked down at her blistering hands and watched as they were magically healed over by Essence of Dittany. She sat down and unzipped her tall leather boots, chucking them to the side in frustration. She was so tired of the damned things, but scrambled after them when she realized her own wand was still inside of the right boot. Ana retrieved her wand quickly, setting it on the ground next to Draco's.

"You let him in?! Harry, you can't do that!" Hermione said, unbuttoning her sopping wet shirt frantically. The boys were ripping off their shirts as well, replacing them with fresh, dry ones that were nearly impossible to get on because of their wet, cold skin.

"Hermione, I can't always help it!" Harry said breathlessly, trying to pull his long sleeved shirt over his head. Ana turned around, taking off her undershirt and quickly pulling a sweatshirt over her head, shivering as she rubbed her arms. It felt so good to get out of the deathtrap of her intricate corset shirt.

"What happened?" Ron asked as he struggled to remove his wet jeans.

"He's angry. And scared too. He knows if we destroy all of the Horcruxes we'll be able to kill him," Harry said. Ana turned, fully dressed in dry clothes now, and looked at Harry questioningly as she pulled her long, black hair into a low, tangled bun. She idly wished she had chopped all of her hair off, as it was such a nuisance now. "There's more. One of them's at Hogwarts," Harry continued.

"Did you see it?" Ana asked when she had finally finished dressing. She was on the ground, pulling on a dry pair of shoes, her battered old walking boots. She stuffed both of her wands into her pocket and gazed up at Harry, finally finding the time to catch her breath. Harry looked down at her, his eyes crazed and his chest heaving from his swim.

"Not completely, no, but it has something to do with Ravenclaw. We have to go there now," Harry said.

"But you don't know what it looks like?" Ana asked. She still sat on the ground, trying to slow her aching lungs that were trying to explode out her chest.

"No. I saw the castle, and Rowena Ravenclaw. I think it has something to do with her."

"We can't go to Hogwarts Harry, we have to plan. Figure it out," Hermione commented, facing Harry as she stuffed their wet clothes into her bag.

"Hermione, when have any of our plans ever actually worked? We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose."

Ana had to laugh at that. She let out a small breathless chuckle and ran her fingers through the roots of her tangled hair, remembering all of the different quests that her and her friends had been on during their seven years together. They always started with a set plan, but eventually, they just had to make it up as they went. The events at Gringotts were no exception, as they had never planned to fly out on a dragon's back and be sent, hurtling into a freezing lake.