Love Is The Darkest Art

Part 9: Harry & Ron

Scene 13:

The rain seemed to be slowing down, the storm letting up enough to let other outside noises into the loving sanctum of the tent. Up until the moment she heard them, it seemed the mere feel of Draco's lips against her own cancelled out everything. But the steady calling of, "Hermione, Hermione," now peppered with "Where are you," brought her out of the pleasant emotional cocoon she and Draco had weaved.

They both pulled away, realizing in the same instant someone was looking for them, or Hermione at least. "Oh no," she exclaimed, the fear of getting caught again in her voice. She adjusted her clothing quickly, more from habit than necessity. Draco had been a gentleman after all.

Looking at him as he peered out the open tent flap, Hermione asked, "Are they close?"

"Getting there," he replied solemnly. "We're not going to have time to take this down and send it back." He looked at her and offered her his best mischievous smile. "We'll have to hide it and come back for it later "

"I'll look forward to that," she said and kissed him quickly.

"Hermione! If you can hear us, send a flare. We'll find you!"

The shouting voice that interrupted them sounded familiar. Within minutes it would be in front of them. When another shout came, but in a squeakier tone, she realized there were at least two of them, and she knew who they were.

"It's Harry and Ron," she told Draco.

"Oh, just great," her Slytherin boyfriend lamented, pulling her out of the tent. He produced his wand, uttered a spell and watched the tent disappear from sight. He squeezed Hermione's  hand and then let it go. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

He looked to the treeline in front of them just as Harry and Ron came through the brush. He turned back to Hermione and an anguished look crossed his face. For a second she wondered why his eyes were welling up with tears. Then he pointed his wand at her, yelling "Stupefy!"

The force of the charm hit her before she could even realize what he'd done. She staggered backwards in a daze. Her head felt as if she were spinning and she lost her balance landing on her back. Despite her addled state, the impact seemed less than it should have been and the charm didn't knock her out, just disoriented her a bit.

"Alarte Ascendare!"

The spell from Harry's wand sent Draco high into the air. So high that he found his head in the tree branches and limbs of the wood. He let out an alarming yelp as he diseappeared into the foliage.

Ron ran to Hermione's aid. "Hey, you okay?" he asked worriedly, helping her to her feet.

Still dazed from Draco's charm, she could do nothing more than shake her head left to right.

"You're not?" Ron turned to Harry. "Zap him again!"

Harry turned his wand upward, but he couldn't see Draco amongst the branches overhead. His eyes scanned the trees but there didn't seem to be any sign of Hermione's attacker. "I don't see him, Ron! Where did...."

A heavy jet stream of water struck Potter in the back. The force was enough to move him, shoving his feet across the ground toward a large tree, it's trunk twice the size of Harry. He knew he didn't have time for a counter charm. He dropped his wand and stopped himself from colliding into the tree with his bare hands. An "oomph" came from his throat, but he turned to face his nemesis.

Draco stood there wand outstretched, but he didn't fire again. Harry was unnarmed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ron holding Hermione up with one hand and starting to point his wand with the other. Draco levelled the tip of his wand in Ron's direction as the ginger haired boy moved himself in front of Hermione to protect her. He could see her eyes just over Ron's shoulder, and they implored him to stop the charade and flee.

Draco fired at Ron's feet. A spurt of dirt and mud shot up, temporarily obstructing his view. When Ron deflected the spray, Draco was gone.

"Get after him!" Ron shouted angrily.

Harry snatched up his wand from where he dropped it, but before he could head off in pursuit, Hermione said, "No! Don't..."

Her voice came out tired and weak, but it was enough to make both boys stop.

"What?" Ron looked at her, an incredible look on his face. "He attacked you!"

She hung her head so she wouldnt have to look in his face and lie. "I attacked first," she said. Still on wobbly legs from Draco's purposedly diminished Stupefy spell, she looked off into the forest in the direction the Slytherin had gone. "Let him go."

Harry shook his head as he walked towards her, returning his wand to coat. "I don't always get you, Hermione. Especially here lately. One minute you are suggesting I teach everybody defense of dark arts, the next you are hanging out in the woods with the school's worse practitioner of it."

"We weren't hanging out. I needed some air and so I went out walking by Hagrid's Hut. That made me sadder, knowing he wasn't there and so I went into the woods...to be alone."

"You didn't look alone a minute ago," Ron countered, his face a little more redder than usual.

For a brief moment,  Hermione had wondered if they'd seen something. Had they seen her emerge from the now hidden tent with Draco?  Harry was checking out their surroundings as if looking for something. Had she and Draco kissed outside the tent? She couldn't remember.

"I was just standing wondering which way to go and a noise startled me so I turned and cast towards it. It was Draco. He deflected it, looked at me a moment and fired back. See, it's all my fault."

They both looked at her and she wondered if they saw through her lie. She thought it eas pretty good. If Umbridge managed to flunk her and Draco out of Hogwarts,  she supposed she could take up acting in the muggle world.

"I heard him cast a Stupefy charm," Harry finally said, looking at Ron. 

Ron looked from Harry to Hermione. "But you don't look very stupefied. "

Hermione registered a look of hurt. "What is wrong with you guys? I appreciate the rescue, but stop acting like I'm making out with the enemy."

They both looked at each other, then at their friend. "I'm sorry, Hermione," Harry said. "We didn't mean anything. We were just worried. Maybe Draco didn't have the time to work up a full charm."

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "Worried that's all. We'll let Mcgonagal sort Draco out."

Hermione thought to protest again, to try and
get them to promise not to tell, but that would be even more suspicious. She'd never protected Draco before. To do so now would reveal the secret. "I just want to go back to Hogwarts," she said.

As they all walked back through the woods, Hermione wondered where Draco was. Had he returned to school? Was he watching them now? Or was he in Slytherin bragging to his friends that they'd made out? No, he wouldn't do that. Pansy would turn him in for sure. If Hermione could keep the secret, she felt certain Draco could too. He hadn't betrayed them yet.

But still, there was a sense of betrayal in the air. After all, Harry and Ron didn't just randomly pick the woods to search for Hermione. Neville had told them he saw her go in there...carried in the arms of Draco Malfoy.

Scene 14:

The couple had just sat down to dinner. Placing napkins in their dark garbed laps, the man looked up at the clock on the wall. He peered at it with complete disdain as if time were his enemy. "Where is he," he mumbled in an angry tone. "I told him we would dine together tonight. He didn't have to put up with that ignorant rabble he calls friends."

The woman smiled condescending, yet guarded. "I'm sure he'll come, dear," she replied, just as the doorbell rang. "See, there he is now..."

The man slid his chair bsck and stood. Tall and lean, he adjusted his waistcoat, flipping the tails behind him. With a flip of his long white hair, he stepped out into the foyer, his black boots thudding on the cobblestone floor.

"Your excuse better be a good one," he declared loudly as he flung open the front door so hard it banged the outside wall.

"Oh it is," grinned Dolores Umbridge as she stood on the front porch wrapped in a heavy coat that nearly swallowed her dimunitive frame. She looked up at Lucius Malfoy. "Indeed it is."