Baton Rouge

- 34 -

Draco opened his eyes as they materialized at the place Blaise had mentioned when they had said goodbye at the boarding house that morning.

Blaise wouldn't be here, but had promised to let Potter know they were coming so he wouldn't curse them as soon as they entered the house. The very house Potter had made Blaise his Secret Keeper for. It was almost like a bad theatrical performance and Draco still couldn't believe it was actually the truth.

Now he blinked and, glancing down at his hands, realized that he hadn't Disapparated a moment too soon. He was already beginning to transform back into himself and was more than happy about it. The Muggle's feet, whose red hair he had secretly snatched from a broad shoulder, had been too big for his own shoes and had been hurting terribly the entire time.

He sighed in relief and wiggled his toes. Then he looked down at Granger. Still clinging to him, she looked up at him so trustingly that Draco's stomach dropped.

Merlin, she really had an absurd effect on him.

Of course he hadn't allowed Blaise to take him directly from Fowey to Potter. Blaise had been annoyed because he felt it was an unnecessary risk to involve Granger in the whole thing, but Draco hadn't backed down. Aside from the fact that the mere thought of leaving her in the Baton Rouge without being able to check on her regularly had been almost physically painful, it would have been downright stupid as well.

Granger was intelligent. And they would benefit from that intelligence once they brought her into the loop, Draco was sure.

Besides, she would probably go mad with joy when she finally saw her beloved Scarface again. That thought sparked a hint of jealousy in him, but he quickly pushed it aside. After all, it hadn't been Potter who had been flirting with Granger back at school. Weasley (and only Merlin knew how) had won her heart back then. And as everyone knew, Weasley was quite dead.

Draco pulled himself together and distanced himself a little from Granger, who had now also turned to the small house. He had no idea how to prepare her for the shock that would inevitably struck her once he told her about Potter.

He cleared his throat.

"Where are we?" she asked quietly.

"Berwick-upon-Tweed," he murmured, eyeing the old cottage intently. So far nothing indicated that it was inhabited, but it was definitely the right address.

Another house near the sea. The parallels were ridiculously obvious. Berwick-upon-Tweed was slightly larger than Fowey but shared some striking similarities. Blaise, however, had lured him to a village as far from The Undesirable's actual whereabouts as Great Britain's borders would allow. It had literally been on the other side of the country.

"Are we close to the Scottish border?" Granger asked, puzzled by the harsh environment.

They could hear the crash of the waves. The sea was probably only a stone's throw away.

Draco nodded. "I checked the map after Blaise told me where to go yesterday."

He bit his lower lip as she tensed next to him.

"Zabini?"

Her voice was full of suspicion and caution, but Draco felt it wasn't meant for him. Granger had only met Blaise once in the last few weeks and that day he had broken into Draco's apartment to threaten her. As he now knew, it had only been Blaise's desperate attempt to keep Draco from doing any more stupid things that would inevitably lead Umbridge to have him surveilled.

Without thinking, he took her hand and his fingers gently closed around her wrist.

"We can trust Blaise. And I will explain everything to you, I promise," he said, carefully examining her unconvinced expression. "If it wasn't for Blaise, we probably wouldn't be here now. I wouldn't have been able to get you out of that shithole either if he hadn't helped me. He gave me the money I bought you with. I can't just walk into Gringotts like that anymore."