Montane Hope

Chapter 6 (of 16)

"The thought in your mind at this moment is contributing almost imperceptibly to the shaping of your soul. Even passing and idle thoughts leave their impression."

Lisa stared at him. They were sitting in the box of cushions. Draco's muscles as usual felt stretched and - alive, was the only word he could think to describe it.

"Dumbledore said that," he explained.

"And elephants fly," she responded, her face screwed up in disbelief.

"How come meditation works then?" he asked. "You're all for that, you practise it every day."

She smiled suddenly, lighting up her face and the surrounding area. "Meditation isn't thinking it's... just being. Knowing."

Draco paused. "I don't need a brain to meditate then," he said, pondering this idea that had just occurred to him.

"Of course you do," she said, chucking a cushion at him. "How can you know who you are if you don't have a brain?"

"You mean I might not be Draco?" Draco's thoughts ran off with this idea - If I'm not Draco, who am I? Who am I? Who am I? An image of himself shimmered and faded as he lay back in the cushions, stretching, his eyes tightly closed, expecting a new image, a new person to reveal itself. Nothing. "I'm lost," he said, opening his eyes. Lisa giggled, and threw another cushion at him. He caught it, and threw it back, listening to the crackle as it swept past her hair, making it stand up on end.

"You've got more than a brain in there, you've got eckeltricity too," he accused, watching a few stray hairs floating eerily back into place.

"Everyone's got electricity in them," Lisa said.

"Doesn't it kill them?"

"What do you think?"

He grinned, realising what a stupid question he'd asked. Of course it didn't kill them, people died when their energy stopped, not because of it. Energy - he was aware of it, coursing through his veins, sparking under his scalp. He tried to remember what it was like not being aware, like most of the time. Lost in thoughts. 'Those kids don't even know they're alive,' he'd heard a professor say once, and it was true, most of the time he didn't.

"Cushion fight," said Lisa, catching him by surprise with a cushion across his head. He retaliated immediately, and for five minutes or so there were no more words as they each strove to batter each other senseless with the down-filled cushions.

Lisa ended the fight dramatically by staging a faint, lying unmoving for nearly a full minute while Draco banished the cushions back to their box. He knew better than to attempt to help her - she had a number of tricks up her sleeve.

"Dinner time," she said finally, sitting up. "Keep practising." Draco was leaning back against the edge of the box looking at her, and she met his eyes. "What are you thinking about?" she asked, curiously. "You want to be careful you don't turn into something nasty thinking the wrong things."

"Well, actually," he blushed slightly. How could he say that he'd been thinking what a nice girl she was when Granger had come marching up behind his eyes and called him - what was it, a two-timing sod? "I was trying to create myself a seriously evil wizard. If you think about what you want to be hard enough, it'll happen."

* * * * *

Draco pulled himself up onto the surface of the tiny peak. He was standing on a piece of rock a few paces wide and sloping away sharply on every side. There had been vestiges of a path to guide him up, surely there had to be something going down as well. He walked to one side but found the rock so steep that it undercut itself. The other side was the same, sheer rock as far as he could see. It looked as though he'd have to return the way he came unless... he looked at the small patch of tussock on the corner, calculating how far he could get on it. It would be worth a try.

After a few steps across the bracken - which, being of an even height, gave him a good indication of the ground level - he spotted the path as a narrow gap winding through the tussock. Within a few minutes the tussock was shoulder high, leading down to a stretch of rock. He turned and scrambled down the rock, and back into tussock at the bottom. Before long Draco came to two rocks, one on top of the other. He sat on the top one. A trickle of water ran down it, presumably to the ground. The ground wasn't visible and he was reluctant to jump, knowing that it probably sloped away sharply. He shifted his weight onto his arms, considering sliding down the smooth surface, but then thought better of it and decided to find another way down.

A few paces to the right he could see the track continuing at the bottom of the peak. He scrambled across tussock and bush, ducked under some rocks and saw the rocks he'd been sitting on, just ahead. Trying to move forward, he put his foot out onto nothing. Throwing his weight back into the slope, onto his arms, he pulled himself back and crawled under the overhanging rocks, water dripping onto his back, until he reached the bottom of the rock he'd sat on a few moments before.

After a short steep section the slope became more gentle, then almost level. The tussock was almost as tall as Draco and thick and solid like a rock in the middle of the clumps. A few trees grew among the grass. Stumbling between clumps, Draco was pleased to see the path suddenly appear between two trees. He'd reached the bottom. Draco looked back and saw the peak he'd just come over soaring up into the sky like a needle.

Glad to be back among the trees, Draco touched the trunk of one, feeling its rough bark and the spirit glowing under his hands. It was a young tree, growing fast and had a vibrant spirit. At night in places such as this green lights sometimes appeared, glowing like a very faintly lit wand. They were little insects that used the light to catch their food. Dylan's father had told him about them some time ago, but with Lucius so engaged with volcanoes they hadn't had time to go out at night and see the little lights.

* * * * *

The second week of February Draco's routine was shaken one Monday afternoon when he realised Granger was absent from the Arithmancy class - her favourite subject. At dinner time he looked around and realised that none of the dream team were there - nor Neville Longbottom. Well - that's not unknown, he told himself But he felt uneasy. If all four of them were absent, something had to be going on. Where there was trouble, they seemed to find it.

Dumbledore looked old and tired that evening. After the lesson he told Draco that Snape would take over tutoring Subneorancia from the following Monday. Draco felt rather unnerved by the fact that Granger was not present for the last five minutes of the lesson - a strange turn around, because usually he felt quite put off by her presence.

In the common room he gave Pansy and Blaise a wide berth. The atmosphere was dry and warm - very warm. Pansy had turned the flames up so much that she had somehow removed most of the insidious damp - and emptied the common room of people.

Was it the heat? That night Draco had the first nightmare he'd had in weeks. He'd been with Granger. Crookshanks was nowhere to be seen. Together they lifted a trapdoor and set off down the steps, wands in their hands. The steps went deep underground. Draco suspected they were under the sea when they finally emerged in a wide cave. He could hear waves crashing overhead. "C'mon, let's try this way," he muttered, though his voice sounded all wrong. Granger was taking short quick breaths.

"No Harry, there might be something down there."

"There could be something down any of them, let's go." Draco/Harry swept his eyes round the cave. There were passages all round, maybe half a dozen of them. Even a little one about six feet high in a wall.

"Why did we have to check this?" Granger was saying. "We could have sealed it off."

"We have to know. This house has been abandoned for years, anything could have moved in." Together they followed the first passage. Further passages and yet further led off this one. Granger marked every entrance they passed through with a red cross.

"What's that?" she gasped. Draco/Harry stopped abruptly. Lying against the wall was an ancient skeleton, the white bones of his hand clenched over a pile of coins. The bag must have rotted. "It's alright, nothing's disturbed it. Probably just got lost, poor fellow." Granger's breathing suggested that she thought getting lost was just what might happen to them too. They backtracked and took the next passage.

How long did they do this for? Draco couldn't tell. It seemed like two or three hours that the Draco/Harry character and Granger walked up and down caves, through narrow passages and over rocks. They held their lighted wands high and studied the ground, the walls, even the roof as they passed. Finally they found an indication that there was life in these passages. Draco/Harry held his breath as he followed Granger, pushing ahead when he heard something move.

"Spiders." They both heaved a sigh of relief. They had reached the end of the first passage, and fifteen minutes later were back in the original cave, leaving the harmless two-foot high spiders in their lair. "Okay," said Draco/Harry. "That one now." He pointed to a passage straight ahead.

"Don't you think we should go back for something to eat?" said Granger.

Draco couldn't believe that he actually said no. "This one'll be shorter. We'll seal it off and go upstairs when we're finished."

The passage led uphill so that the crashing of the waves became very close. Within a few minutes they saw daylight - they were looking over a cliff wall, above big waves that splashed and tore into caves lower down. "Better seal it off," said Draco/Harry. Granger raised her wand and together they conjured a film that slid from top to bottom of the open entrance. They turned back and took the next left turn. What they saw made them turn back very quickly.

"Was that..."

"No," said Granger. "It was a manticore. I'm quite positive the last Blast-Ended Skrewt died - Hagrid wouldn't lie about that."

The next turn led down to a lake. Water dripped gently down the wall. It smelt completely stagnant, and looked oily in the light of the wands.

"I don't like this place," said Granger, very firmly.

"No, doesn't feel good, huh." Harry's voice was devoid of emotion but Draco realised his heart was thumping fit to break through his ribcage. Draco/Harry saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed Granger's hand. "Run." Draco/Harry ran faster than he would have thought possible, dragging Granger with him. He turned abruptly into a side passage as the manticore charged towards them, then headlong into whatever was behind them. They heard the screeching and tearing, then froze as a shadow slipped past them and out the way they had come. Then another, and another.

Cautiously they tiptoed out after them, wands dark. "Those weren't Dementors?" Granger asked, her voice wavering. "Couldn't have been," said Draco/Harry. "But it sure felt like it."

Quietly they moved along, till they were almost alongside the cave they had sealed. Draco/Harry heard a slow rattling sound. Granger made to turn back, but he grabbed her wrist. "Wands ready," he whispered. He charged forwards, into the cave. "Unseal," he shouted as the creatures swept in on them. Draco started in his sleep and nearly woke up. They were dementors - small ones. He watched himself raise his wand and whisper a spell, then a silver stag swept down the dementor children. They stood confused for a moment, then fled. The stag slithered to the floor and reformed with eight legs and a pair of waving palps. Harry looked curiously at it for an instant before turning to help Granger break the spells they had put on the outside entrance. An icy cold flooded the cave and the spider disintegrated. "Jump," yelled Draco/Harry, pointing his wand behind him and sending a cloud of silver towards the cloaked children that now crowded into the cave. The cold water surrounded him, over his head and throwing him up against the cliff. "Hermione," he screamed.

Draco shuddered. The dormitory was stifling hot, and he couldn't understand why he'd been asleep at all - Crabbe's snores were almost as loud as the crashing waves he'd been struggling in an instant before. He went back to the common room - he was lathered in sweat but felt quite unable to face a shower after having been nearly drowned.

His finger brushed against soft fur, and he nearly jumped out of his skin before he realised it was Proctor's tail, hanging down from the table on which she sat. Blaise and Pansy had fallen asleep on the sofa in front of the fire, and he now leant against it, watching the dying flames.

"Draco," a voice murmured. He felt Pansy's hand pass over his hair. Blaise grunted.

"I had a bad dream. The dorms are hot and stuffy," Draco said. He sat and thought. There was a very uncomfortable realism about the dream. What had happened next? He wished he hadn't woken up, how on earth could he leave Granger drowned and battered below that cliff face? Surely there was something he could do.

*

Draco sought out Snape first thing next morning. As he sat in Snape's office he wished for a moment that it was Dumbledore he had chosen to talk to. There was something very uncomfortable about the way Snape was looking at him.

"I... uh... had a bad dream last night Sir," Draco stumbled. This felt bad. He was sure Dumbledore would have been a better choice.

"I see," said Snape, silkily. "And why do you think I should know this."

"It's - well - it was Granger and Potter - at least, I think I was Potter - and it just seemed so real." Draco had had no further sleep. He looked haggard and felt it too.

"Tell me about this," said Snape, sharply. "Every detail you can remember."

Draco began, telling as much as he could remember. His voice broke when he reached the part where he was in the water and he didn't know where Hermione was.

Snape leaned forward, talking low and fast so that Draco had to strain his ears to hear what he said. "Listen to me Draco. I suspect you are overworking - and probably thinking too much about Miss Granger into the bargain. Forget about it. I may speak to Madam Pomfrey later, meanwhile take a couple of evenings off studying - you're well up to date. Spend the time with your girlfriend, and Pansy and Blaise too if you like, I'll arrange for their homework deadlines to be extended."

With that he got up and swept out of his office, leaving Draco sitting there even more concerned than before. He was to forget that Granger was probably drowned? To say nothing of Potter, and the other two, wherever they were.

*

Potter and Granger were not at breakfast, nor lunch either. Blaise obtained permission for the foursome to spend an evening down at Hogsmeade, but Draco found himself unable to settle. Even with Lisa sitting on his knee drinking butterbeer down at The Three Broomsticks, he still could feel Granger's wrist in his hand as he pulled her forwards, into danger. Blaise and Pansy became rather disgusting with each other once they'd had a few drinks, and Lisa teased so much that he laughed uproariously despite himself, until Madame Rosmerta finally came along to send them back to school. She didn't seem to mind that some of her customers had left while Blaise and Pansy were kissing.

The following morning the familiar headache was back and Proctor was following him about, mewing. Pansy was still in bed with the biggest headache she'd ever had - at least, since she'd got her new wand and didn't have to concentrate so hard. He took Proctor to the Great Hall, feeding her breakfast under the table. He couldn't eat anything, not with the four Gryffindors still missing. Ginny wasn't eating either, at the Gryffindor table, and hadn't smiled when Luna stopped by to say something, although everyone else laughed.

*

That night he told Pansy and Blaise about the dream. Blaise shrugged, saying, "Weird." Pansy looked worried. Draco knew that she hated Granger, but he also knew that she was reasonably good at Divination. "Do you think it was a real vision?" she asked.

"I'm, frankly, astonished that I woke up alive. If that was real, they're probably both dead," Draco said.

She got up and ran towards her dorm. "Wait there."

When she came back she was hiding something under her cloak. "Let's go in your dorm," she said. The boys' dorm was bare when they went up there - in fact, most of the Slytherin students were hanging out in the corridors. Snape was becoming increasingly puzzled at the number of people who chose to sit in the damp, dark corridors playing Exploding Snap or helping each other with homework.

In the dormitory she pulled a chair towards her and sat cross-legged on the floor before pulling a round, opaque globe out from under her cloak. "Don't tell, I smuggled it from Divination for practise," she said. "Professor Trelawney will never know, I don't think she even knows how to use one." She placed the crystal globe on the chair, then closed her eyes and started humming. A minute later her eyes snapped open again. 'Dammit, I can't think of anyone I would like to concentrate on less."

"Why not try one of the others?" Draco asked. There's four of them missing."

"It's all right. I'll stick with Granger now I've started. I'll get there in a minute." She closed her eyes, humming tunelessly again. After two or three minutes her eyes slowly opened wide. She leaned forward slightly, gazing into the crystal ball. Her eyes flicked back and forward, watching something intently, but when Blaise and Draco leaned over her shoulders there was nothing to be seen but a few shadowy figures. Draco was sure she would tell them in a minute, but curiosity was getting the better of him.

"Will she mind if I look?" he whispered. Blaise shrugged, he had no idea what Draco meant. Draco raised his wand, pointing at Pansy and whispered, "Legilimens".

*

He could see the cliff face, the holes that marked low caves, the waves crashing. He had no idea where the entrance was that Granger and Potter had jumped from. A voice called behind him, "This is no good. We'll need to try another way." Then another voice, "Who would have thought there'd be dementors breeding in those caves. I'll never forgive myself if they've been hurt."

Draco concentrated on the voices and the scene swung round to the open sea. Frantically paddling to prevent themselves being swept against the cliffs, Professors Snape and McGonagall were sitting in an open boat. They struggled to beat the waves for a moment, then successfully turned the boat and paddled away. He distinctly heard Snape say, "There was no need for the children to go poking about those caves. If they'd been worried they could have asked us to check it out for them."

"Oh Severus," McGonagall replied, 'Do you think you are proof against a hundred young dementors, a manticore and an unidentified lake monster." She paused. Then, "most strange the young Malfoy boy seeing it though. Has he ever seen anything like this before?"

Their voices faded away. The scene spun again, Draco was looking at the cliff face. Moving forward, he was again plunged into the waves and through, finishing in a dry sandy cave under an overhanging rock. Potter and Granger were there, alive. There weren't doing anything, just sitting there.

"They didn't hear us, did they?" said Granger. "How could they, over the waves?"

"We'll be alright - till the spring tides." Harry's face twisted into a lopsided grin.

"If we don't starve first," snapped Granger. "You wouldn't even be able to reach the ledge with that leg."

Draco lowered his wand. Pansy's eyes returned to their normal size, she had come to the same decision. "It's time to go and see Dumbledore," said Draco. They ran through the corridors, ignoring the other students who began to get up and climb back through to the common room.