They All Love You

part fourteen

At around midnight, Hermione decided she wouldn't be able to sleep. Nearly an hour ago, the small group of four decided it was best to get some sleep for tomorrow, but Hermione's eyes were glued open to the ceiling of the tent. It was mid October, so the air was a tad bit colder, but bearable with the thick bedding Hermione packed for the beds. All of the supplies of course were from when Harry, Ron and herself were on the run.

Trying not to wake anyone up, she sat up extremely slowly as to not make any noise, slipping into her shoes and tiptoeing out of the room, without looking at any of the other beds. 

Walking into the living room was a relief, and Hermione flung herself on the sofa, lost in thought.

Every time Hermione would run out of things to think about, memories of being on the run or her various en-devours with the other Golden Trio members came crawling through her brain to mess up her mental state. Think, think Hermione muttered to herself, scrambling for something, ANYTHING to pop into her large brain. Maybe I'm hungry Hermione thought, standing up to look through the cupboards in the dining area.

The food supply was measly, as they were foods Hermione stored from many months ago, but sighed and grabbed a small pack of old raisins. Before she sat down on the sofa to quietly eat, she remembered finding the lake earlier in the evening with Theo. Her thoughts came quickly racing back, but Hermione quickly shut her eyes and whispered "Stop."

She was probably mad, but Hermione felt like the only way of fighting off old memories were telling herself to stop having them. Pathetic? Maybe.

Hermione grabbed the change of clothes she packed, but just threw on Dean's old Quidditch jumper from a year ago, smiling softly at the smell of him that seemed to linger in the material. She threw on the zipper-less jumper, snatched her wand from the table and left outside the tent.

Luckily, their tent wasn't too far from the lake, as only Merlin knew what lurked in the Forbidden Forest. But in all honesty, whatever unknown that lied in the Forest didn't frighten Hermione like it used to. She figured that she had been tortured, beaten, screamed at, bullied and had encountered things worse than spiders in her life, so whatever the forest offered didn't give Hermione any anxiety.

Retracing her steps from earlier, Hermione pushed branches, bushes and other foliage around her, grinning when she saw the inter-twined tree and pushed through the final bushes to see Malfoy. Wait, that couldn't be right. 

Malfoy? 

Hermione's loud entrance and the crunching sound echoing from her footsteps alerted Draco immediately, springing up from the floor to point a wand at whatever enemy was after him, only it wasn't the enemy he thought it was, it was Granger. Wait, that couldn't be right.

Granger?

"Erm, I'll just leave then," Hermione mumbled, lowering her wand steadily as Malfoy did the same, Hermione turning on her heels.

"It's fine I'm about to leave anyways," Malfoy speculated, sitting back down causing Hermione to slowly turn around and consider her options. Nightmares in a tent, or a ferret by the water. Exhaling, Hermione decided on the latter and sat down on the lake's end, a bit infront of where Malfoy sat, but keeping a safe distance.

Hermione didn't say anything or even acknowledge Malfoy, just viewing the Lake and admiring its beauty, reminding herself of the time Harry and Ron took her on a broom ride, skimming the water in their third year after Harry discovered its magnificence. "You're obsessed with this lake," Malfoy's voice called behind her, a mix of uncertainty and question.

"Obsessed?" Hermione queried, not looking at him.

"You come here a lot," his voice sounding casual. This made Hermione turn to look at him who was making questionable eye contact with her, as if he was trying to figure her out.