They land roughly at the side of the stream, and the stones to step across are lit up — but there's no one there to greet them.
Draco feels a distinct uneasiness whisper across his skin.
They rush over the water and through the tall, miry grasses, heading towards the wall of stones. But it isn't there.
The shucked husks of rock are still laid in a neat pyramid to the side, but there are no living members of the pod above the surface.
"Down the rabbit hole," Granger mutters.
Draco gets on the ground after her and slides through the hole like it is a chute, his arms crossed over his chest. When he lands at the bottom, he's comforted by the familiar softness of his landing, as if gravity takes a break for a moment whenever they fall through.
That, along with Harry's hand grabbing his, is the last comfort he feels.
Draco lets himself be pulled through the cavern, the growing cries of the Wallygagglers echoing off the walls. He tries to tell himself it's good that they can hear them. If nothing else, it means they're still here, and they're alive, but he recognises the mournful, throaty bellow as a distress call. He feels the emotion of it rise in his throat.
Draco remembers the canaries as they break into a sprint, their sweet twittering to the coal miners. His legs begin to ache as though they've been running for hours, but only minutes seem to pass until light sneaks its way into the tunnel.
Behind him, Scorpius, the last person in their group, has got one finger plugging his ear, and the other ear mashed up against his shoulder. Draco doubts it's doing much to conquer the noise, but he doesn't blame him.
Quite suddenly, their ears fill with muffled hissing, and it sounds as if they're getting farther away from the Wallygagglers, not closer. Draco knows they're moving in the right direction, because the sensation of being underwater strikes him again.
Finally, they make it to the mouth of the cave, and Draco's startled when he bumps into Harry from behind.
The whole group has stopped moving.
Draco readies his wand immediately. He breaks away from Harry and Scorpius and pushes to the front, prepared to see Aurors waiting for them.
Then he hears Lavender whisper, "No," and his heart falls out of his chest.
Oh, Merlin.
Draco forces his way around her, stopping short when he sees the Wallygagglers crowded around a thunderegg, its surface dull and lifeless.
Scorpius tries to peer around his shoulder, and Draco pushes him back, "Don't," but it's too late. He's already seen.
In the crowd of Wallygagglers, there is one noticeable absence. Click is nowhere to be found.
Harry is heedless to the dread holding the rest of them back. He takes one slow step forward, then another. Finally, he stumbles the rest of the way to meet the Wallygagglers and kneels beside the rock, head bowed.
The silence is ear-splitting.
"Leave," a voice growls.
It's Pop. He hobbles forward from behind the hanging basin, trembling with fury.
"We can help," Harry whispers, and it's only due to the Wallygagglers' resolute silence that he can be heard.
"We do not want your help," Pop claims.
"We've got a theory," Scorpius says. "And potions you could try right now. Teddy—"
"We do not want your help."
Teddy's fist opens and closes at his side in indecision. He still looks sickly, but it's impossible to tell if his pallor is from Parvati's spell bomb or the sight before them. Finally, he pulls out a vial.
"If it can prevent even a single death, isn't it worth it?" Teddy asks.
"You wizen don't prevent death. You cause them. My brother believed in you. He said we should stay and wait for a solution. Look where it got him."
Draco doesn't want to, but he looks at the rock again.
"Brother?" Weasley whispers, not loud enough for Pop to hear.
Draco feels sick. "I read about that. All the Wallygagglers consider themselves siblings. Born from the same parents: Lightning and Thunder."
"Which one is which?" Blaise asks, and it seems like an untimely and failed attempt to break the tension.
"Couldn't tell you."
Harry draws their attention again by cursing. "Don't you owe it to him to—"
"Do not insinuate that you know anything about what I owe," Pop hisses.
Granger takes a step forward. "What spell hit him? We'll figure out a way to stop it from happening in the future."
Pop's face twists. "Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."
"Then we'll find another way to help," Harry promises. "You don't trust the potions. That's okay, but we're not giving up. We're going to help."
Pop gets right in Harry's face, using his entire height to get eye-to-eye with him. Harry is still on his knees. "If you want to help, you'll make sure the Ministry doesn't get into Lightninglen, and then you'll leave, and you'll never come back again."
Slowly, Harry stands. "The Ministry is here?"
"Above. Waiting, searching. If they find us, we'll lose more than one life tonight."
Parvati lets out a shaky exhale. Lavender reaches out and squeezes her hand.
"I won't let that happen," Harry swears.
Pop looks at him cryptically, his tusks trembling with emotion so strong it cannot be reeled in.
"We'll see," Pop says.
It's a clear dismissal. Harry rejoins them at the edge of the cavern, and Weasley throws an arm around his shoulders, all at once casual and concerned.
Scorpius has been quiet the whole time, Draco realises.
"Are you all right?" Draco whispers.
"How could I be?"
The journey back is speedy. Draco thinks he smells blood in the air, and he's not sure he wants to know what it's from. Weasley and Granger help haul him out of the hole and onto firm land.
He can already hear that something is wrong. The moor is not quiet with the sounds of nature. Human voices carry across the empty land to his ears.
Draco and the others keep low to the ground to avoid detection.
"We can't let them find the entrance," Granger says.
"So, some of us need to distract them while the others put the spells up," Blaise says. "I do a wonderful job distracting people."
"No. Obviously, we need your help with the wards. It's got to be three people, at least, for it to be strong enough." Her expression sours. "Oh, I wish Rolf were here."
They don't have time to worry about what they should have done differently.
"Parvati," Draco says, "do you still have the other Spell-Bombs?"
She reveals three vials from inside her pocket. "Sedation, Allergic Reaction, and Size-Increase."
"Try for Sedation again. We don't want an altercation, and we don't know how long we have left until the Aurors get here. Be ready to set it off on our signal." He turns to the others. "This ward will be bright, so there's no way they won't see it. We need to finish the spell and Apparate away immediately."
"Where too?" Weasley asks.
"Grimmauld Place. If there's any possibility we can sneak back in before the Aurors still posted at the house recover..."
"Hang on," Teddy says. "What do you think they're doing around the water?"
He points to the basin, where half of the Aurors have formed a loose circle. There's a great big splashing coming from within, and it sets Draco on edge.
"Someone needs to go check on that," he decides. "The rest of us can focus on this part."
"I'll go," Scorpius says.
"No," Draco says immediately. "No way."
"Dad—"
Astoria was right. Draco can see a thousand disasters in front of him.
"I'm not letting you go over there," Draco says. "And certainly not by yourself."
"We can't just walk up to them, anyway," Parvati points out. "We'll be recognised."
Harry's expression flickers. "Not necessarily."
He pulls a vial from his pocket and meets Draco's eyes. "Told you I always kept some on me, didn't I?"
Draco bites back his protest. If anyone here can handle that many Aurors alone, it's Harry.
A moment later, Thomas Heffley is striding across the grassy field, brushing aside juniper bushes and calling greetings to the assembly.
"Now!" Granger whispers sharply.
Parvati chucks the red bottle as far across the field as she can, sending it skipping across the grass. Draco watches as it breaks open against a rock and a cloud of heavy grey steam pours from it. It shrouds the people in a dark, indistinct fog.
"You really use that on Crups?" Blaise asks.
"Never more than a drop or two."
"Go!" Granger says. "While they're distracted. If the light alerts them, we don't want all of you getting caught too."
Parvati, Lavender, Teddy, Weasley, and Scorpius depart.
"All right," Granger tells him and Blaise. "I'll start with a Disillusionment Charm. Draco, you use repelling charms, and Blaise, you're in charge of shield charms. Ready?"
"Ready," they say.
Everyone begins casting.
Draco focuses on his bit, first putting up a spell for hex protection, then muttering, "Repello Inimicum," so enemies will be repelled.
Finally, Blaise casts, "Fianto Duri!" his wand pointed at the sky, and the spells are strengthened and secure.
"Will the Wallygagglers still be able to leave?" Draco asks.
"If they want."
That's all he needed to be sure of.
Draco raises his wand and casts to Disapparate, but the expected sensation of being squeezed through a tube doesn't come.
Granger looks back at him, her expression grave.
They start running towards the edge of the moor, towards the forest.
When they make it to the first dense cropping of trees, they slow down. They can't afford to attract attention by making lots of sound rushing through the underbrush. They clouds above part, the full moon providing just enough light for them to see.
Something in the air catches his attention. A large, blurry form hurtling towards them. It swoops down dramatically and dives towards the earth.
They all jump out of the way as the large, tawny owl lands at their feet. Draco recognises its sleek brown feathers and goggling eyes immediately: it belongs to Madam Pomfrey.
Granger scrambles to untie the letter from its foot, and Draco notices something else affixed just a little lower. It's a small black paperweight, one he thinks he recognises from Poppy's desk. He removes it quickly from the owl, giving it a cursory stroke before its wings spread and it takes off.
They keep walking as Granger reads the message aloud. "Draco, when you write with the name of a powdered moonstone supplier, would you mind sending along my reading glasses? I seem to have forgotten them. Please respond as soon as you get this. Love, Luna."
They look at each other. Glasses. Madam Pomfrey, Luna, and Rolf should be able to handle anything the world throws at them. If they need help, Draco doesn't want to imagine why.
"Should we—" Blaise begins, but then a voice comes from behind them.
"There!"
Draco turns just in time for a blast of light to hurtle past his shoulder.
He dives out of the way, and so do Granger and Blaise.
"Run!" Granger whisper-screams.
Draco hops to his feet, throwing up a Shield Charm as he rushes through the trees. Just a few more metres, and then he'll be far enough away that the Aurors won't spot him. Draco ducks beneath a low branch.
Twigs crack on the ground as Granger and Blaise pound after him, footsteps heavy in their haste. If they can make it to higher ground, they'll have the advantage over the people chasing after them, but it's so dark that he can't tell where higher ground is.
Blaise stumbles behind him and Draco turns back to haul him to his feet.
What direction are they running? Hadn't Granger said something about what was on either side of the moor — or was that Hexhamshire?
His feet hit cold water, soaking his trainers through. The icy chill is so shocking that he gasps, and he can barely feel his feet enough to keep moving.
They make it across and clamber onto the bank.
"I don't think we'll get to higher ground before they catch up to us," Draco wheezes.
"Can you climb a tree?" Granger asks.
"No."
"Me neither. Levicorpus!"
"Ah!" There's a flash of light and suddenly he's hanging upside down in the air. It feels as if a giant is dangling him haphazardly by the ankle.
He claws at the tree branches whacking him in the face, finally grasping hold of one just as Granger drops the charm.
She's soaring through the air next, grabbing on with surety, and swinging around to straddle a bough. Finally, she casts to haul Blaise up, and he hits nearly every branch on the way as he struggles against the spell, cursing ardently.
When they're all secure, they listen for the sounds of their pursuers.
Granger gives a small, complicated wave of her wand, and Draco feels hot air hit his ankles, immediately relieving the stiffness that had settled in.
"Thanks," he says, unable to hide his surprise.
"Can you see anything from up here?" Granger pants.
Draco squints into the distance.
"I think that's Potter." Blaise points at the people still gathered around the basin.
They don't look happy with him.
"And the others?" Granger asks.
"No sign of them," Blaise says. "We could signal them somehow, but..."
"How could we do it without attracting the Aurors' attention?" Granger finishes.
Draco thumbs the paperweight he'd stuffed in his pocket. He withdraws it and flips it in his palm until every side of its pyramidic shape has caught the bright moonlight, but he can't make out a hidden message anywhere.
"What do you think Poppy might have sent this for?" he asks.
Granger puts a hand to her mouth. "Oh God, I'd nearly forgotten about the letter." She bends around the trunk of the tree to get a better look. "Blaise, keep an eye out below, and make sure no one sneaks up on us."
"Yes ma'am."
There's some rustling a ways off, but it'll be a while till it nears them. They'd kept up enough of an irregular pattern while running to throw their pursuers off for a bit, at least, and the river might have helped break their trail, but they don't have long.
Granger takes the paperweight from him gently. "Aparecium."
Nothing happens.
"Try Revelio," Blaise says.
"Really? I thought I might just chuck in the water next."
Blaise grins, and Granger casts.
"It's a potion," she says, sudden understanding breaking on her face as she screws off the tip of one edge and sniffs the inside.
A faint blue smoke swirls from it until Granger caps it again. She shakes her head.
"No smell."
"What'd the letter say again?" asks Blaise. "Urgent, wasn't it? Something about responding as soon as you got it. I reckon we've got a deadline for this being useful."
"We're not taking it without knowing what it is," Granger insists.
"You're rather uptight, aren't you? Fine. We can ask Pomfrey soon enough. Someone's got to go help her."
"I'm not leaving without Scorpius," Draco says, "and I don't feel good about any of us walking into a situation that Poppy, Luna, and Rolf can't handle by themselves without bringing
backup."
"Speaking of backup—" Blaise says, "looks like half of the Aurors are heading this way."
Draco glances down. He doesn't love their odds: three against seven.
He likes them even less when Blaise calls, "Hey, arseholes!"
"Damn you," Draco curses. He aims several Stupefying Charms at the people below.
Between him, Granger, and Blaise, they take the team out in moments. Only one of them had enough time to try casting a spell, and the light veered just to the left of Draco as they were Stunned.
Blaise flips his wand in the air, catching it again with a satisfied flash of teeth. "Good work, team."
"Would you mind terribly if I killed him?" Granger asks.
"Maybe wait until after tonight. I'm afraid we might need his expertise again soon."
She nods, mollified.