Weep No More

It had been at least ten minutes since Hermione and Draco had escaped from the Daily Token, and Hermione felt as if they had been running for hours. Her shoes skidded against the mud and wet grass, and Draco tried ever so hard to keep her from falling down. They were running towards the church, hoping to be able to take the back way of the cemetery towards the entrance. She doubted Roget or the others would think to look for them there.

Draco didn't have as much trouble running as she did. As Seeker of the Quidditch team, he was in shape and running was easy for him. She, on the other hand, felt as if her lungs were about to burst and made a mental note to start doing exercise when - if - she got back to Hogwarts.

"We'll rest when we reach the cemetery," Draco said, pulling her harshly along him. "Don't stop now, Granger."

"Too... much.... running," she said through clenched teeth, wishing that Ron or Harry were with her. But she kept running, trying desperately to keep up with him.

"Almost there," he told her. "A bit more, Granger."

When they reached the gates of the cemetery, Draco swung them open, and ushered her in.

"Walk as quickly as you can to the end," he said. "Don't stop to catch you breath or anything. I'm going to try and get this lock to close."

Hermione bit her lip nervously. "We shouldn't separate, Malfoy."

Draco glared at her. "I'll only be a minute, Granger. Go!"

Some shouting and dogs barking blocked off Hermione's answer.

"Fuck," swore Draco, as he grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her along. "No time now."

"Be careful," Hermione warned as they broke into a run. "Some of the graves are open, remember?"

Draco stopped suddenly and perked his head up, as if he were a dog listening to something. "I don't think they followed us up here. I can't hear anymore barking."

"Percy," whispered Hermione sadly. "Do you think they're all right?"

Draco nodded, but didn't say anything. "Come on," he started walking again, "I remember Fiona talking about an abandoned house somewhere around here. We can stop for a second or two if you want."

Hermione turned to look at him, and shrieked as she saw him fall down and disappear from sight. "Malfoy!"

A second of silence passed, and then, "Granger! Down here!"

Hermione edged towards a tombstone carefully, and found a hole. She could make out the slightest glimpse of Draco's hair. "I told you to be careful," she hissed.

Draco said something she couldn't make out, then, "Go find a rope or something. I can't climb this."

Hermione looked around her, but failed to see a rope of any kind. "Sorry, I think the hardware store is closed for the night," she said dryly.

A hiss of breath, then, "I do not appreciate your humour, Granger. Go find that house I was telling you about. There must be something there you can use."

"What if they come looking for us?" Hermione asked.

"It's too dark down here to see me properly. If I stay near the wall, the shadows will cover me." Then he added coldly, "It's not like they'll be looking down graves for me."

Hermione decided it was best not to answer him. "I'll be right back. Don't... don't go anywhere."

Hermione had already broken into a run when Draco said, "Oh, well, there goes my plan to bloody Apparate to Hawaii!"

*

"Do you see something?"

"No, it's too dark, and this box is about to collapse under me."

"Then get off. We need to get moving again."

"I'm not letting those dogs come near me. Can you see anything from down there?"

"Only your knickers..."

"What?"

"Only some old stickers."

Pansy glared down at Percy, and quickly jumped off the box. "Let's go then."

Percy rolled his eyes. For someone who has been crying a few minutes ago, she was awfully bitchy right now.

"No one seems to be around," Pansy indicated, as slipped out of the shadows and hurried forward.

Percy ran after her, pulling her into a broken down shop as Andrew and someone else appeared around the corner. "No one seems to be around?" he asked angrily.

Pansy just glared, and moved away from the door of the shop. "We'll take the back way," she said.

Percy sneezed as the dust invaded his nose. Allergies, just what he needed. Andrew yelled something, and then continued down the street.

"This door's locked," Pansy hissed, rattling the doorknob. "Do something!"

Percy took out his wand and stared at it for a moment. "Hope this works," he said. "Alohamora!" Both gave out a sigh of relief as the faint click of the lock sounded.

"Pansy, stop!" Percy said, pulling her back before she could step into the next room.

If he hadn't, Pansy would have found herself falling face first through the floor. All the tiles had been removed and just an enormous hole was left. There was a ladder to their right, but it looked older than Dumbledore.

"Now what?" Pansy demanded. "We're stuck."

Percy moved in front of her to inspect the hole. "I think it leads to the sewers," he said. "If we wander down there a bit we might end up back in the open. Preferably the opening outside of Southbire."

Pansy made a sound of disgust. "I'm not swimming around in that shite pool. You'll have to bloody kill me first."

Percy nodded towards the window. "Would you rather have Roget get his hands on you?"

"Let's go then," said Pansy.

Percy jumped first, a nice splash sounding when he hit water.

"What's down there?" Pansy yelled, peering at Percy with an amused look on her face.

"It's a bit dark. Hold on... Lumos!" A lot of swishing and slushing seemed to happen before Percy started to scream.

"Weasley! Weasley!" yelled Pansy. "What's going on?"

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" responded Percy.

All Pansy could spot was the faint glow of his wand and nothing else. "Weasley, I'm jumping down," she warned, and hoped to god that she wouldn't land on some ferocious beast.

Pansy landed and grimaced when water sloshed around her ankles. No doubt her boots would be ruined. Percy's back was to her, and he was trying very hard not to panic.

"Weasley, what's wrong?" Pansy asked, the darkness not allowing her to see much.

"We've got a slight animal problem," Percy said, his voice awfully high-pitched.

Pansy looked around him to see what danger they had come across, but couldn't see anything. Whatever was meant to be big and scary was not very visible. "I don't see anything," she told Percy.

"There, by the corner," he said.

Pansy snatched away his wand, and stalked towards the corner. Pointing the wand before her, she spotted the offending animal.

"A snake, Weasley? A snake!" she exclaimed, trying not to laugh - too hard. The snake, which was probably no longer than Pansy's arm and probably no thicker than her finger, hissed in annoyance and slithered past Percy angrily. "It's not even poisonous," Pansy added smirking.

Percy blushed. "I happen to be afraid of snakes," he declared. "And, for your information, I'm quite sure that snake is poisonous. I know, I read about it somewhere..."

Pansy just rolled her eyes, and motioned for him to follow her. "They had to give me the scaredy-cat," she complained to herself.

*

The abandoned house Draco had so proudly spoke of, was no more than a really small cabin for the long dead grave keeper. There was only one window, which was barely big, but had been closed down by some wooden planks. Apparently the grave keeper had taken to growing flowers under the window, but they had not been taken care of and had wilted.

As Hermione approached the house, she noticed a metal crucifix had been dumped by a grave. Not thinking much about it, she twisted the doorknob, eager to get Draco out of his grave.

The doorknob wouldn't turn.

"No, no, no," she said to herself, panicking. "Please, open." She tried to open the door, but it still wouldn't budge.

It had started getting windy again, and Hermione found herself getting cold. A dog barked in the distance, and she was quite sure she heard a scream.

"What would Harry and Ron do?" she said to herself. Without a wand, she usually found herself stuck. Break the door down, she thought. And while this idea seemed to please her, she was quite sure that it would be impossible for her to break the door down.

All right, on the count of three then. Hermione gathered some distance, and prayed that the door was weak and old enough to be pushed down. One... two...

"Three!" she yelled, running towards the house.

In the exact moment she was meant to hit the door (and then bounce back painfully), it opened and Hermione ran right into the chest of someone.

Oh, bugger, she thought, knowing this was not good at all.

"My, my, and what do we have here?" a voice - male - said, sounding much too amused. His arms settled on her shoulders, pushing her apart from him.

Hermione cleared her throat, and removed her eyes from a red shirt to look at her current enigma.

The man before her must have been about eight inches taller than her (around Percy's height) and about twenty-years-old. He had extremely curly brown hair, and blue eyes that Hermione might have killed for if her current situation weren't so terrible. He was looking at her with a curious look, but did not seem set on killing her. At least not just yet.

"I, er..." stammered Hermione. She took a quick look around her surroundings. The cabin was indeed small, hosting only a bed, a small oven and a violin case over in the corner.

"I didn't know Southbire's most wanted would stumble upon me," the man said.

Hermione started backing towards the door, but he shook his head, stopping her. "I'm not going to hurt you, little one," he said. "I'm just a visitor of Southbire. I don't involve myself in their politics."

"Where are you from?" Hermione asked, for she noticed his accent was English and not Irish in the least. "No, wait, who are you?"

The man gave a mock bow, and said, "The name's William, love. And I'm from Manchester."

Hermione introduced herself.

"So, what brings you to my door?" William asked, his eyes glittering mischievously.

"My friend's fallen into one of the opened graves. I need a rope or something to pull him out," Hermione said. She didn't know why, but she felt she could trust him. Plus, he looked awfully familiar, but she didn't know where from.

William moved towards a small cupboard near the oven, and fished around. After a minute or two, he pulled out a rope and smiled at Hermione. "Let's go then," he said, marching out the door, leaving Hermione gaping.

What had she just gotten herself into?