Secrets and Masks

54. You

31st March

Hermione and Malfoy were an incredible team.

Over the last sixteen months, they'd done nothing but fight each other. She'd slapped him and they'd screamed in each other's faces. He'd hexed her and she'd shot him. She'd fought with him more times than she would ever be able to count, but she'd never fought with him, never on the same side, not really, not of her own free will, so it'd never occurred to her just how well they could work together when they weren't trying to kill each other.

When Malfoy went on the attack, Hermione was his shield, blocking every advance and gnash of the spiders' fangs before they could make their mark.

And when it was Hermione's turn to go on the offensive, Malfoy did the same. He took a step back, gave her the room she needed to throw curses and use the spiders' own weight against them, but was always close enough to protect her if she needed support.

He knew where she needed him to be without her telling him, almost like it was instinctual. He took over when something in Hermione's plan went wrong and let her step back, covering her while she worked something else out.

They were perfectly in sync, that was the only way Hermione could describe it. Wands in the same hand, steps perfectly matched, like the threat in front of them fused them together until even the rhythm of their hearts matched.

The most important part of Hermione's plan was not letting the spiders get around them. Yes, it was overwhelming to have two great big bloody spiders stalking towards them and forcing them further into the tunnels, but it felt safer than having the spiders surround them.

If both spiders stood at the same end of the tunnel, they could combine their magic and work together, but if the spiders divided, they'd be forced to do the same, and Hermione didn't like those odds.

The main problem they had, however, wasn't the spiders themselves. It was the walls. It was like the bricks were their own separate entity. Hermione didn't know what type of enchantment Crouch Jr had used on them, but whatever it was, it meant that they moved on their own and protected the spiders.

And he'd placed Anti-Apparation wards on the tunnel, meaning that Hermione and Malfoy wouldn't have been able to Apparate to safety even if they'd wanted to.

As Malfoy threw another Avada, the walls shifted to give the huge spiders enough room to dodge the curse.

"Fuck sake!" Malfoy snarled. "Every fucking time!" He threw another Avada, this one stronger, but the results were the same. The walls widened, allowing the spiders to curl up the sides and out of the way of Malfoy's attack. One stayed on the left wall while the other perched on the ceiling and made a horrid screeching noise.

Hermione tried not to let the way the spiders moved towards them distract her, or the third green curse that Malfoy threw - which missed, again. Instead, she twisted her wand against the bricks and concentrated.

She didn't want to use the spell that made the walls close in on themselves. Every time she thought about using it, it made her stomach twist and her throat tighten. She didn't want to use it, but the tunnels were their biggest enemy - and the spiders' biggest advantage - and they didn't have a lot of options left.

After almost an hour of being forced further and further into the tunnels by the spiders, they had no idea where the exits or the medallion were. If she used the spell now, they'd likely be crushed to death right alongside the spiders.

When she'd used the spell before, she used it on one long stretch of corridor. The advantage they had this time, was that there were so many of these tunnels, dozens that wove around sharp corners and connected to other passageways, and if she manipulated the bricks just right, she could isolate one stretch of tunnel and close those walls in while she and Malfoy were safe on the other side.