Parade of the Sun - Dramione

PART SEVEN.

April 30; 10:30am

Hermione pressed against the corners of the map, watching the writing appear again in the morning sun. When she had gotten home last night, she had thought the water might have erased everything from the scroll. She had tried several different spells to no effect, and it wasn't until she had been on the edges of sleep in her bed that she remembered the alter. The sun had been smoothed into the rough wall, and as soon as she'd woken up, she had thrown open the window to sunlight and watched the map reappear.

At least Malfoy hadn't gotten this one. After finding the scroll blank last night, she had checked her pockets before getting in the shower. The accidental brushing of her bum had been far less accident and far more thievery. She had been so out of it, and so busy thinking about their escape, and hiding the sound of the scroll crinkling, that it hadn't registered. When she had turned to face their exit, he must have spotted the replica map poking out from her pocket and swiped it.

It couldn't have worked out better if she had planned it. Losing the map wouldn't have been a problem since she had the memory of it and the other two places marked on it. The problem would have been someone else finding out what those places were. Thankfully, Hermione had charmed the map to change into one of Africa without the proper revealing spell. Malfoy might figure it out, or he might go off to a city and a small village in Africa. She sincerely wished for the latter, as it would only serve him right, and perhaps she'd get too far ahead for him to catch up.

If he did find out the correct revealing spell, she wasn't too worried. The map she had found in the cave was a more completed and sophisticated version of the one she had copied from Oliver. Only one of the two locations on the crude map, besides the cave, was on the new one - the one that hadn't had the X over it. She would go to the other location before Malfoy could get there, and then move on.

There were six locations marked on the map, and one of them was the cave she had been to last night. All she had to do was find the current places for the other five, and then maybe she could get something solid before she got any deeper in this mess. She was hesitant to trust the map, especially with what she had found inside of it, but the vision had led her here. Hopefully the map would lead her to the plant. There was a strange symbol in the corner that had also been on the original of the other, but she hadn't found it in all the books she dug through. She was guessing it was some sort of signature for a person or a group.

"Strymon, Opizum, Heraum, Pan-- Great, more mountains."

May 2; 9:09pm

Harry looked miserable. It was evident in the slouch of his shoulders and the way he kept staring at where he had been standing one year ago. Ron's chest was puffed out so much, he might explode any compliment now. Neville was excitedly recounting, for perhaps the thousandth time, his moment in front of Voldemort. Luna was staring dazedly at a bouquet on the table. Ginny was trying to convince Headmistress McGonagall to let the battle-participant students stay past midnight, and several of their friends were weaving their way through the crowd in the middle of the room.

Hermione, for her part, was sitting next to the miserable Harry, drinking another glass of champagne, and staring at an uncomfortable spot near the Great Hall doors. Up until now, she had been wondering how she was supposed to feel at all, and contemplating if time had seemed too fast or too slow. That was until nearly half the room seemed to take a general heave towards the front of the Hall, exposing two sets of platinum hair and a lot of awkwardness.

"I didn't invite them." Harry shrugged, when she looked over at him.

"Why would they be invited?"

Harry folded his napkin, the only thing that had kept his hands busy for the past two hours. If the napkin wasn't there, she figured he would have soared past Tipsy and straight into Hide From The Public at least an hour ago. He shrugged again, reaching up to rub his cheek and fix his glasses.