Weep No More

Draco was angry. He was angry and confused, but most of all angry. He had seen Pansy die, yet there was this nagging feeling that told him things just weren't right. Yeah, he agreed, things aren't right. She's dead! But that just wasn't it.

The walk back to their room was quiet. Hermione said nothing, just seemed to be thinking something over. He couldn't care less. Pansy died, she lived. Draco wanted to hex someone for that.

Hermione was lower class. Her blood wasn't pure. Why did she have to live through this and not someone like Pansy? It just wasn't bloody fair.

"Do you think we should knock?" Hermione asked as they stood in front of the door called Oak.

Draco growled and kicked the door open. Percy stood there, looking confused. He relaxed slightly when he saw them.

"What are you two up to?" he asked.

Draco tackled him. "You wanker," he snapped. "You let her get killed!" Percy spluttered indignantly. "I trusted you, Weasley, and you betrayed me."

Hermione fidgeted nervously around them. "Malfoy, get off him!" she wailed.

"Yes, Malfoy, do get off Weasley," another voice said.

Draco froze, his fist stopped in midair. He turned his head to the source of the voice. Percy smirked. Hermione was already in tears.

"Pansy?" he asked.

Pansy smirked and batted her eyelashes. "Now, do apologise, and get off Weasley. It's not a pretty picture from where I'm standing."

Draco quickly scrambled off Percy, who gasped for air. He looked at Pansy for a minute, taking her all in, and then suddenly he hugged her. "How'd -?" he said.

"Well, I wasn't top of my Transfigurations class for nothing," boasted Percy. Hermione was sobbing into his shoulder.

"They made me a squirrel." Pansy wrinkled her nose, but she was smiling.

Draco gave her a peck on the lips. "They?" he asked as an afterthought.

"They," confirmed William, coming out of the toilet. He had a towel wrapped around his shoulders, and his brown hair was even messier.

"So, you did come through," Draco said.

"You're welcome, mate," was all William offered.

"Percy, you're hurt," Hermione interrupted. She was inspecting two small wounds a bit above Percy's collarbone.

"Oh," Percy said nervously, pulling up his shirt collar, "it's nothing. Pansy during her transformation got a bit nervous, and well... you see the result."

Pansy frowned.

William coughed. "I better be going. Maybe we'll meet again sometime."

"Wait," called Pansy. "When I was in the dungeon, Andrew told me about Southbire having a witch. Do you know where we can find her?"

"I've never heard of a witch here," said William. "But I'll see if I can find anything out. Percy, you know where to find me, mate. Cheers."

Draco watched him leave, grateful that he had helped save Pansy. He knew he should say thank you, but the word wasn't exactly in his vocabulary so it didn't matter.

"What happens now?" asked Hermione. She had finally stopped crying.

"Roget did offer a way home," Draco said. "But we probably shouldn't trust the bastards more than we can throw them. I say Weasleys hexes the lot of them, and we go home."

"If we find this witch," said Percy, his brow furrowed in concentration, "we could get her to lift the anti-magic barrier, and I could Apparate out."

"You're going to leave us here?" demanded Pansy.

Hermione bit her lip. "Percy, can you make a basic portkey?" she asked. "I know it's in this year's N.E.W.T.S, but did you see it?"

Percy nodded. "You want me to make one? It won't work unless the barrier is removed anyway."

"What's a basic portkey?" Pansy said.

"It transports you anywhere in the same country. Not as powerful as the ones the Ministry makes, and this it's impossible to use when there's an anti-magic barrier. To make one would be illegal, but I'm sure they'll overlook it," said Hermione. She was going into her full Hogwarts mode, and Draco wasn't exactly upset over it. She could be their ticket out of here.

"It'd take me a couple of hours to make one," Percy said. "I can easily use a bar of soap or anything else I can find. But how would we get the barrier off?"

Hermione was making odd signs with her hands. She looked up at Draco and Pansy. "Do either of you remember me talking about a square when I was... er, mentally unstable?"

Draco and Pansy exchanged looks. "No," they both said.

"Yes!" said Percy instead. "It was when I arrived." He frowned in concentration. "Something about four points... and colours!"

"Oh, yes!" said Pansy. "Yellow, silver, brown and red. I remember."

Hermione looked excited. "I know where the witch is!" She opened the window, and looked out. "Draco, remember when we went to the church?"

Draco nodded.

"Do you remember the gate? Did you see anything unique about it?"

"I suffer from short-term memory, Granger, so either make your point or we'll never get out of here," he snapped.

Hermione beamed. "On the right hand side of the wall, there was a ceramic square. It had four coloured squares on it, and at first I though it was some sort of logo for Southbire. But now it makes sense! One of those squares point into the direction of the witch's house."

"How do we know which one?" Pansy asked.

"We'll have to leave that to logic," Hermione said. "Erm, Percy, could you turn her into a squirrel again? We can't risk Parkinson getting seen."

"I don't want to be a squirrel," whined Pansy, but Percy ignored her, and with a quick swish she was a rodent again.

"Attractive side to you, Parkinson," said Hermione. The squirrel chirped indignantly.

"I think it's best if we jump down the window again," Hermione explained. "If we go out through the door we risk getting followed. "Percy, lower me down, and I'll let you know if the coast is clear."

Percy and Draco obeyed, slowing helping Hermione down. When she was down, she nodded, and ran ahead.

"You must feel really bad about yourself now, Weasley," Draco said, as he was climbing down. Pansy was stuck in his pocket, and she squeaked every now and then.

"What are you going on about, Malfoy?" Percy asked.

"Pansy's alive," Draco said. "That means Granger's going to kick the old, rusty bucket."

Percy froze. He hadn't thought of that.

*

It had been easy to arrive to the church. Apparently all of Southbire was having a party to which none of them were invited. Usually Draco hated not being the king of the party, but right now he couldn't care less.

Hermione was tracing her mysterious square with her fingers, mumbling indignantly. It wasn't even a pretty square. It was about as large as Draco's palm, and held four coloured squares in compass points. The one of the top was red, than to the east was yellow, then south was silver and finally west was represented by brown. Once again, not really something pretty, and Draco could see why he had overlooked it.

"If we go south, we'd just end up back where we were," said Hermione. "North would be the church, and east would be..."

"The graveyard?" offered Draco. "We didn't see any houses there."

"The entrance of Southbire," said Percy. "At least, the main gate is there."

"West it is then," Hermione concluded. "Shall we?"

The three of them hurried. Time was of essence now, and neither of them wanted to waste it. Draco was keen on getting home, and then having his father burn Southbire to the ground. Stupid town with its stupid people.

The trio had walked for some time when they reached a short bridge. It was over a not very shallow river. Hermione walked first, being the lightest, then Draco followed with Pansy. Percy was the last, and the bridge swayed a bit under him.

"It's pretty," said Hermione, looking ahead of them. They had reached a sort of small forest. They could barely see and opening further on and there were all sorts of birds chirping.

Pansy jumped out of Draco's pocket, and ran forward. "Pansy!" yelled Draco indignantly. "Get back here, you stupid rat."

In minutes, Pansy was merely a spot in the horizon.

"This is probably the nicest spot in all of Southbire," commented Percy.

"You just say that because we're not being chased after," Hermione teased.

Draco rolled their eyes. If they continued like this, they'd be a hundred before they even kissed, he thought. Well, if Granger reached a hundred. Draco couldn't hope but once more feel guilty that the life of Pansy had cost Hermione's.