They All Love You

part fifteen

"What the hell are you doing," a muffled voice came from above Hermione's head.

Immediately, she sprang up to take in her surroundings. Scattered dirt hugged her legs, pointed bark poked at her lower back and as she adjusted her vision, she recognized the familiar lake laying infront of her. It then hit her, she never returned to the tent and she must have fallen asleep right where she had her uncomfortable conversation with Malfoy.

"Must've fallen asleep," Hermione mumbled, stretching her arms.

Theo sighed and held his hands out for Hermione to take and stand up, which she did, awkwardly taking his hands. 

"Draco said they dropped off a letter this morning but the paper's blank, so we don't really know what to do about that. Cho's found an orange tree and brought some back, and I've...done basically nothing. Little worried when you weren't in bed this morning," Theo explained to Hermione as the two walked back to their main camp.

Hermione just nodded slowly, focusing on the blank letter, that didn't really make any sense. "I couldn't really sleep last night so I went to go back there but Malfoy was there too."

"So he left?"

"No...weirdly. We sort of conversed, even attempting twenty one questions...it was weird."

Theo gave her a confused look, raising an eyebrow, "This is Draco Malfoy you're talking about, right?"

Hermione just let out a soft laugh. 

"Yeah, I was confused too. But he left short afterwards."

Theo nodded as they walked back onto their camp's grounds, but he was left a little confused. Draco Malfoy, the boy who complained about Hermione his seven years at school and decided he hated her from the get-go. Him conversing civilly with Hermione? Impossible.

He watched curiously as Hermione grabbed the letter left on the dining table and began to examine it, as Draco watched lazily from the sofa, Cho sitting next to Hermione, muttering something to her.

Hermione walked over to the table to look at the ripped up cram envelope and the white paper inside of it, blank indeed. She was eyeing the paper in its entirety, trying o notice something off about the letter. She was so invested in the letter, she barely noticed Cho Chang sit nervously next to her by the table.

"Are you sure it's blank?" Cho asked quietly to a focused Hermione. Hermione looked up at her invested eyes.

"My oh my is it blank?" Hermione muttered sarcastically, annoyed at her dullness. Cho didn't seem to be phased whatsoever by it.

"I'm just saying, maybe it's blank for us but it wasn't intended to be blank. Like, for someone else- it was blank but it seems like it is," Cho stated quietly.

"Cho what the bloody he- oh my God. Oh my God!" Hermione started, invested but then she realized what Cho was trying to tell her. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it before!"

Hermione excitedly pulled her wand from Dean's jumper's pocket and pointed it at the paper. "Aparecium," she whispered.

Slowly and faintly, a small black spiral began forming in the center of the page, growing quickly and forming a written paragraph. Absent mindedly, the two girls squealed as they started to read aloud, their voices in sync. 

"Good morning students. 24 hours haven't passed just yet, but you'll be there soon. Two teams have dropped out of the assignment, and we are proud of your efforts. Today's challenge will be more physical and intimate, so don't be weary. You have been given a small pocket watch at your team's disposal, to make you aware of the upcoming challenge at quarter past noon. You needest only yourselves and your wands."