Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
—————————————————————
Draco glanced around himself as he nervously made his way through the darkened forest.
If he was found, not only would he die, but so would his darling and their families.
He could practically feel the perspiration beading on the back of his neck as he pondered the pressure he had suddenly found himself thrust under.
Using one of the sly spells Severus had been kind enough to teach him, he effortlessly transversed the heavy, cloaking barriers Hermione had cast around their hidden camp.
As soon as Draco had made it through the magical blockade, what had looked like trees and an empty path was revealed to house two tents and a large cage between them.
Draco frowned at Anuman as he walked over and sat down on the empty log next to the abandoned fire pit.
Unable to understand Parseltongue, Draco remained ignorant to the real meaning of Anuman's low hiss.
—————————————————————-
While he waited for dawn, Draco eventually nodded off to sleep, with his head in his hands and his arms resting on his lap.
The cawing of passing crows woke him sometime the next morning, although he frowned after he quickly determined that he had remained alone at the campsite.
He furrowed his brow as he glanced at Anuman once more.
Harriet would not condone animal cruelty, neither would the Granger girl.
Surely the captive snake signaled their eventual return?
Slowly, Draco stood and stretched himself before he walked towards Anuman and the tents.
Perhaps there would be some clue there as to where they had-
As he reached towards the closed fabric curtain of the first tent, pop after pop suddenly rang out.
Draco's grey eyes widened as he looked in the direction of the noises and saw Ron, Hermione, Harriet, and Tom all apparate directly into the center of the camp.
Ron and Hermione gaped in surprise.
"Malfoy?"
"........MALFOY?!"
Tom's handsome face twisted into a scowl of disgust, but Harriet looked angry.
"What are you doing here?!" She spat at Draco.
"I could ask the same of you." He shot back without hesitation, "Or you." He scowled at Tom, "Or you." He said as he looked at Hermione. His eyes moved to Ron as he huffed, ".........Or even you, Weasley."
Harriet glanced over at Tom, who hurriedly walked towards her and slipped an arm around her waist while she cuddled against him.
"It's none of your business what we're doing, Malfoy. Go home to your mansion, I'm certain Mummy and Daddy will miss you soon." Harriet snapped.
Her mocking insult failed to offend Draco, but the possessive grip she allowed Tom to maintain on her shattered his already broken heart.
"And even if they did, I'm certain I wouldn't care," Draco retorted, "I've been sent here by your mother and father to make sure you received a letter about Thursday."
Hermione furrowed her brow, "How did you even find us?! How did you pass through-"
"-Professor Snape is more talented than most people realize." Draco arrogantly quipped.
Hermione frowned as she closed her mouth.
Ron took a protective step in front of her.
Draco had never felt like more of an outcast as he faced the two couples.
"This Thursday, eleven o'clock, Snape, be there." Draco nodded, "My home.....he always holds these wretched things in the same place, be there and come alone. Your father told me-"
Draco hesitated as he thought.
Should he give Harriet that much slack?
Was there no end to his mercy?
"My father told you what, Malfoy?" She grouched.
"Why don't you find him and ask him yourself?!" Draco spat.
Without another word, Draco turned on his heel and walked off.
The four traveling companions watched him purposely leave the protected area of their camp before he took out his own wand and apparated away.
Left without any answers or much explanation, Hermione and Harriet exchanged questioning glances as Tom maintained his grip and Ron maintained his closeness.
"Well, Tom, you know I'm rubbish at Occlumency. Yesterday's lesson was a disaster. How can I face.....him......with what I already know?" Harriet frowned at her beloved, "We'll all be dead the moment he peeks into my thoughts."
"Not unless we can make a bit more progress." Tom smirked.
"We've tried." Harriet frowned, "It's not working very well.....You're a fine teacher, I'm just a poor student, I suppose."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Harriet Snape." Tom grinned, "Allow me one more chance....."
Ron and Anuman listened to their conversation while Hermione resisted the urge to bite her lip nervously.
It occurred to her while she stood there in the woods that her best friend had surely underplayed her connection to Voldemort if he demanded her very presence at one of his follower's private meetings.
As Harriet glanced over and noticed Hermione's disappointed stare, a frown danced across her lips.
————————————————————
The night before the next Death Eater meeting was scheduled to take place, Hermione and Harriet lay awake in their cots as they both stared up at the cloth that composed their tent's ceiling.
"I saw the way you looked at me when Malfoy showed up." Harriet said into the darkness.
Outside, Anuman listened closely from the confines of his cage.
".......What?" Hermione asked.
"I saw the way you looked at me, Hermione. It's not my fault, you know, any of this, all of this. It's not my fault!" Harriet whispered.
Hermione looked over at her friend as Harriet turned her head to meet her gaze.
Harriet went on, "I saw everything through a child's eyes. I didn't understand who he was or what I was doing, or what anyone around him wanted....I didn't know any of that! I was a little girl and-"
"-Harriet, I don't blame you. No one does." Hermione scowled.
"I think my parents are working as spies." Harriet admitted abruptly, "That or they're flat out lying to me.....and my brother."
"Of course they're working as spies." Hermiome nodded, "That's the only believable excuse.....considering everything and-."
"-Yeah." Harriet nodded. She sniffed as she turned to look at the ceiling again while she answered, ".........Yeah, they're spies, that's it."
A long moment of tense silence passed.
As both girls eventually closed their eyes to sleep, Hermione whispered, "Don't be nervous tomorrow.....You've faced him a hundred times before, the only thing that will be different is that you know who you're really looking at."
"........That's the hardest bit." Harriet whispered to herself with a heavy sigh.
—————————————————————
The next morning, as Severus tended to a formality assigned to him by Voldemort, he found himself, Lily, and Ellery unexpectedly invited to eat breakfast with the Malfoys.
Lily hid her disappointment under tense smiles and polite nods.
Wasn't it enough she and her family would have to directly risk their survival yet again later that night?
Could she not have shared a pleasant, peaceful morning with her husband and son?
"I must ask, Lucius, where is Draco?" Severus pressed as his dark eyes stared at his old friend, "I do hope he's not.....ill."
Lily resisted the urge to smirk at her husband's sly prodding while Severus discretely investigated whether or not Draco had completed his secret mission.
"Draco has been unwell, I'm afraid." Lucius confessed with more than a bit of silent reluctance.
"Oh?" Severus drawled, purposely feigning surprised concern in his voice as Lily's knife scraped against the porcelain plate while she sliced through a piece of ham.
"He went for a walk last week and has stayed confined to his room ever since." Narcissa nodded.
"Perhaps a healer should be called." Severus nodded, "If he needs a bit of Healing Elixir, Laima and I would be glad to provide him with a vial or two."
"Thank you, Severus." Narcissa replied with a smile that seemed more grateful than Lily preferred.
"He's refused any such help, stubborn boy." Lucius snapped, "He's refused everything, to eat, to leave his room........I told him if he's interested in staying on the Dark Lord's good side, he had better not refuse to come to the meeting tomorrow."
"Wise words of advice." Severus quipped.
—————————————————————
While his parents and the Snapes dined on eggs, ham, and beans, Draco sat on his bed in his grand, lonely room after yet another sleepless night.
His skin looked paler than usual.
Dark bags of an exhaustion no amount of rest could ever cure hung under his eyes.
With a sigh, Draco passed his hands over his face as he prepared to endure another day of existence knowing that Harriet Snape had chosen Tom Riddle over him.
It nauseated Draco to consider his beloved out there, in the woods, on some sort of secret quest, with Tom at her side instead of him.