The Boy who lived and The Boy who survived (Drarry)

Chapter 35: Found

Unknown Location. 2 years ago. Late October 1997.

Hermione sat alone outside of the tent, her back leaning back towards the fabric as she looked around aimlessly in the dark forest. It was her turn on guard duty. Harry, Ron and she have been travelling for a month now, looking everywhere for Horcruxes. So far, they have found only 1 and have yet to destroy it, making it 4 more Horcruxes to find and destroy before they could defeat Voldemort for good.

Hermione twirled around with her long bushy hair as she drew her knees nearer to herself because of the cold. It was then she suddenly heard it, a twig snapped. By the loudness of the sound, she could tell it was not very far from here. Slowly, she stood up and drew her wand, as she walked slowly and kept her eyes on the hill where the sound had come from, walking towards it.

Inside the tent, Harry slowly jerked awake from his slumber on the table, having dozed off after his turn to guard the tent. The soft sound of Ron's radio filling the tent as Harry rubbed his eyes and stood, looking around for Hermione. He walked over to Ron's radio and picked it up, words transmitting through the device.

" ... Severus Snape... appointed headmaster of Hogwarts sch..."

Shaking his head, Harry put it down.

Back outside, Hermione was slowly walking towards the source of the sound as she suddenly could hear muffled voices and footsteps. Slowly and shakily, she gulped as she walked up the hill closer to the voices. Another twig snapped to her right as she turned her head. What she saw terrified her as she took a sharp intake of breath, her eyes widening.

A group of Snatchers were walking towards Hermione direction as one of them held a young girl, no more than 20 years, lifeless in the arms of one of the snatchers, and in the arms of another was a young man. Hermione's eyes followed the body in shock and horror, her breath quickening in fear and shock as the rest of the snatchers, along with their leader, Scabior, followed behind.

Suddenly, Scabior stopped in his tracks right after passing Hermione. He paused and raised a finger for the rest to stop. He sniffed the air once.

"What's that?"

Slowly, he turned around and backtracked, sniffing the air again before coming to a stop right in front of where Hermione was standing. Thinking quickly, she took a deep breath and held it, not wanting to give away her location.

"What's that smell..." Scabior said again.

Although Hermione saw Scabior standing right in front of her as she held her breath, in Scabior's eyes, she was invisible to them thanks to her strong disillusion and silencing charms that hid her and the two boys away from the rest of the world.

Scabior's interest was broken when another Snatcher dropped the body he was carrying onto the grass, causing a loud thump as Scabior turned to look at him before walking towards him, his attention on Hermione's scent now forgotten.

Hermione breathed out shakily as she looked over at the Snatchers, muffed conversations were taking place as the eventually picked the body up again and continued walking, eventually disappearing deep into the forest.

"Snatchers." Harry suddenly said beside her. Hermione jumped at the voice, not noticing that Harry had come over, she placed her hand on her heavy beating heart as she sighed.

"My God, Harry. Don't do that."

"Sorry." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Good to know your enchantments work."

Hermione looked away, back to the hill where the Snatchers had disappeared into, and breathed out shakily, her arms hugging herself.

"He could smell it." She gulped. "My perfume."