Parade of the Sun - Dramione

PART THIRTY-TWO.

November 24; 1:10pm

Hermione sniffed, tucking the book back into her bag after checking it again. She bumped into Draco's back, her nose crunching oddly, and made an annoyed sound before stepping around him. She didn't make it further than his side when she spotted the woman about seven meters from them. Hermione's heart jumped, and her eyebrows drew together at the way the woman was pounding on air. When she was confused, her eyes had a tendency to skip all over the place like they didn't know where to look. It made her vision blurry with how fast her eyes were darting, but she managed to see that the woman's mouth was open in a scream she couldn't hear, and that her face was blue.

Hermione jumped into a run the moment she's trapped popped into her head, and she felt Draco's hand skim the fabric at the back of her shirt. The woman was crying when she ran closer, clutching her throat, her arm making wide swings back before slamming to a stop against the air. She was dying, Hermione knew, and she was almost there to try kicking in the trap from the outside, when Draco grabbed her around the waist.

Her momentum flung her against the barrier of his arms, pushing her stomach in and all of her air out. Her hair flew forward, and something yanked against her scalp as he pulled her back against him. She cried out at the pain, strands of her hair tearing out when she lifted her head, searching for the woman who...

"She's gone," Draco rushed. "It must have been an illusion to make us come in here. There's no one there."

She gasped out at the empty space, at the curls stuck straight into the air in front of her. Her adrenaline slowly decreased as it sunk in that there wasn't an actual person dying in front of her. She should have thought of that before she even started running, but all she had thought was how she needed to help her. Another two steps and she would have been trapped in whatever her hair was stuck in. Maybe whatever the illusion had shown.

She reached up to pull on the three locks of her hair when Draco carefully reached over her head with the dagger. "Hold still, or I'll fucking scalp you."

He was angry. He wasn't even close to accidentally scalping her if she moved, and she knew the biting edge to his tone. There was no reason for him to be angry with her. What if that had really been someone? And she just stood there? It's not like she had put his life in jeopardy - well, their lives sort of depended on the other's for now, didn't it?

"I know it's your life on the line too, but I can't see someone dying like that and not do something about it."

There was a disbelief that edged around the slight narrowing of his eyes, his mouth opening to say something. He released a quick breath instead, glaring harder, and a sneer formed as he turned to walk away.

6:12pm

"That woman, and trapped in that space - it reminded me of the story. About the boy trapped in the bubble, who couldn't get out until someone else was there to take his place."

"Fascinating." He was still angry with her, apparently.

"I just wanted to thank you. For stopping me. I didn't think about it being a trap." She inspected her nails.

"My life is on the line, too," he drawled, his face stoic. 

"I... Well, all right. Thanks, anyway."

He made a noise of aggravation.

November 26; 7:30pm

Hermione turned her head as she slanted the hunting knife, dropping the squirrel fur into the hole. She bent over to hit the bones inside before pushing the dirt back over. It wasn't the most appetizing thing to do before she was about to eat the meat that had come off of it, but she thought it was a show of respect towards something that was going to give them sustenance.