When the Bell Tolls - Dramione

3.

June 7; 9:41pm

Ding...ding...ding.

"The article was printed last night. They know you escaped, and that you killed a man under your own Polyjuice to try to stop people from looking for you. That's going to get attention itself."

Ding...ding, ding...ding.

Malfoy remains still at the front of the boat where she put him this time, his robe

black in the fog and muted moonlight, the hood pulled to shadow his face. 

Ding, ding...ding.

"Tonight you'll go to Linch and ask for an Endless Robe."

Ding...

"An Endless Robe?" Dry amongst all the wetness around them, in the sea, and the air, and her breath.

She looks out at the water, but he is still the darkness in her peripheral. "Endless Robe is a rumor we started amongst the underground. It's an amulet that changes a person's appearance, is undetectable and unchangeable by outside magic, and only available at Linch."

"They have this device?"

Diiingdiiingdiiing. The boat hits the shore with a jolt, and though she had seen it approaching, she still jumps from the bench. The lantern swings to reveal Malfoy's harder grip on the edge of his seat, and she steadies herself as she motions for him to move.

"No. To get it isn't the point."

She takes the lantern from the hook, and she follows after him off the edge of the boat, the water colder than it should be for June. He heads to the shore, and she curves with her steps back as she drags the boat, keeping sight of him. She hurries so he's not watching her and moving in the dark before she arrives, but he walks too quickly. A part of her thinks he does it on purpose, and she feels angry, but it makes her pull harder.

"You believe they'll approach me tonight."

She barely pauses in wrapping the rope around the post, her fingers cold and chaffed as she glances up to his bare feet. "They'll have little doubt to who you are - especially when they'll have kept track of what you bought."

She hesitates, but changes her mind on telling him it was smart to buy a blue robe with distinctive black lining. He must have known.

"We don't know how they'll approach you, or who will. Be prepared for anything." She watches his form bob in the shifting light of the lantern, trees hanging like frozen shadows reaching for them. "Are you ready for--"

"Yes."

June 8; 4:14am

Hermione checks her watch, then turns to pace back the other way, tapping her wand against her side. All of her things except for one are packed into her bag, and a Portkey is wrapped in a cloth inside of her pocket, just in case Malfoy comes back with people. The map is on the table, a blue dot signaling that Malfoy is still at Linch.

All he has to do to activate his Portkey is twist the pendant three times over the back clasp of the necklace. Unless they chained him to something before he could. Perhaps they grossly underestimated the group working out of Linch, and they had cut off his fingers, or killed him in revenge. Maybe they're holding him until someone important comes. She had told him to be back by 4am unless it's absolutely necessary to stay - it's now 4:15, and they can't travel back to Azkaban any later than five.

Maybe he's waiting for her to come. Maybe he's cursing her in his head right now, and thinking how everything he ever thought is right, and that they never really had any plan to save him. Maybe he's conspiring, telling them all the details of the Ministry plan, and will walk through the door as a double-spy. Maybe he will come back with people and kill her. Maybe he will hold her until the Ministry gives him what he wants. Maybe--