Resurgence of Evil

CHAPTER 14

Hermione rolled over and smiled, stretching slightly. It was a little after dawn - her favorite time of the day, when the hues of the sky were golden, fresh and new. She quickly got out of bed, leaving Ron to sleep for a bit, and bathed.

When she went downstairs, she was surprised to see Malfoy up, the fringes of his hair damp. He'd been awake for awhile, and gotten to the bathroom well before her, she realized.

He was eating in the slow, disinterested way she'd noticed that he'd adopted recently. With sudden insight she realized that he must be affected by the symptoms he'd mentioned earlier and was forcing himself to eat, though he didn't feel hungry. She also noted that he was thinner than several months ago.

Wondering why she cared, she realized she hadn't really hated him since his trial. But she hadn't cared, either. Her feeling had been a neutral apathy - if he were to die tomorrow, she wouldn't be particularly sad, but she had no urge to see him die, either. Now, it seemed, she was starting to see him as a person, as something more. Hermione walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning," she said, unable to keep her happiness from shining through.

Malfoy looked up, surprised, the shadows under his eyes like violent bruises. "Morning," he replied.

She began cooking in silence, and was surprised when Malfoy broke the awkward tension by asking a quiet question.

"Do you know what plant this could be?"

Hermione turned to see him pull a small, sooty red box out of his pocket. It was battered, old, and all the corners were ragged. He opened it, and in the faded lining were several blackened leaves.

She took a close look, and stretched out a hand. About to grasp a leaf, she hesitated, and Malfoy said, "Go on, Hermione. I don't think it'll bite." There was a trace of humor in his voice. Hermione tried to glare at him, but ended up smiling.

Back to business. Picking up the box, she sniffed carefully at the leaves. No distinct scent, but the color and texture could give a clue as to what it was. Walking to the living room, Hermione searched, and then pulled a book from the shelf, opening it and returning with it to the kitchen, where she leafed through it until she found the page she wanted. "Here," she said, pointing to the picture.

Malfoy frowned. "I'm not so sure, Hermione."

"This plant, though dried almost beyond recognition, looks mostly like the leaves of Belladona," Hermione stated.

"But it's not dried," said Malfoy. "And it doesn't have the scent of Deadly Nightshade."

"What?"

"The color of the leaves is naturally black," he said. "These leaves are fresh - and there's a spell to keep them that way, I'm sure. I was actually thinking that they resemble something Lord Parker found on his circumnavigation of the world."

"Lord Nathaniel Parker?" asked Hermione skeptically. "The Muggle who claimed to have found what he called the Dragon Islands?"

The look Malfoy leveled on her could only have been called derisive. "Yes, Hermione," he said, clearly exasperated.

"Parker was widely known to be mad," Hermione protested. "There's no proof that such a place even actually exists."

Malfoy only snorted. He pulled a book from within his robes, and Hermione wondered briefly what he'd been doing with it. Peering around, she got a good glance at the cover. The Unprecedented Discovery of the Dragon Islands, June - September 1819. HMS Argonaut, Lord Nathaniel Parker R.S.

Looking more closely at the date, Hermione frowned. She could have sworn that the date on the only journal that had existed chronicled April to June of that year.

"Nosy," Malfoy commented, noting how she had nearly folded herself in half - backwards - to catch a glimpse of the cover. Hermione flushed, then said directly, "I was certain that the only existing journal ever copied was from April to June, not June to September."

"Yea," Malfoy said, continuing to pore through the detailed illustrations. "I had this copy made because I couldn't just carry the original around, especially when the missing pages of the April to June chronicle kept falling out."

Hermione started. The original journal, published in both Muggle and wizarding book stores, ended rather abruptly, she had been told. The only reason she was even familiar with the book was that it crossed the bounds of the two worlds, but she'd never read it herself.

"Ah!" Malfoy exclaimed in delight. "Here it is - he didn't have a name for it, but the description and illustration are it, right enough." There were a few minutes of silence as he looked over the details carefully, and Hermione suddenly asked, "Why did you ask me what I thought it was? You already knew."

Malfoy barely glanced up. "I wanted a second opinion. And I thought maybe you'd think of something I'd missed. I hadn't considered Belladona, but I'm almost certain that Lord Parker found this plant on the Dragon Islands. His ship was still in a bad way, when they chased a sail away from Salvation Bay, though he didn't know it at the time. They were forced to return, and stayed for several months. He filled about six journals with notes and observations during this time, until they finally left port again to continue around the world."

"But-"

"Contrary to popular belief, Parker was not insane," Malfoy cut off her dispute before she had even voiced it. "Muggle-born wizards within the upper circles of muggle intelligentsia and society circulated that rumor, on orders from the Ministry. The Dragon Islands do exist."

"Then why have I never heard of them?" asked Hermione angrily.

"Ask your brother-in-law Charlie about it sometime," Draco replied, without even looking up to acknowledge her fury. "Bill might know something, as well."

Later, still suspicious of Malfoy - and trying to shake off the shame she inexplicably felt - Hermione called Charlie.

"Oh," was his reaction after all greetings and news had been exchanged and Hermione had finally gotten around to asking her question. "Well, we're not supposed to talk about it," he said, after a slight pause. "Yes, it does exist, and it's a preserve for the most ancient dragon species, as well as other, more rare, and extremely endangered dragon-like species. Its location is one of the most guarded pieces of information in the Department of Magical Creatures. It's local rumor that the only person who truly knows is Lord Parker."

"But isn't he dead?" asked Hermione. "And wasn't he also unaware of the true location?"

"Yes," Charlie replied vaguely to both questions. "Look, I don't know anymore, Hermione, and even if I did - well, this information is the kind that serious trophy-hunters would kill for. How did you even find out about the Islands, anyway?"

"Oh - I saw the book in a bookstore, and just wondered," Hermione replied glibly, not stopping to ponder why she was protecting Draco, of all people.

After a few more minutes of chatting with Charlie, Hermione thought back to Draco's earlier comment on how Bill might know something about the Dragon Islands. She was just about to call him when Ron rushed into the kitchen, out of breath and panting.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Harry," Ron managed to gasp. Filled with alarm, Hermione could barely wait for Ron to choke out the rest of what had happened. "He . . . got a tip. On the Lord's location. He - went after him."

"It's a trap," said a new voice with certainty, and Hermione turned in shock to see Draco leaning in the doorway, blood staining the left sleeve of his shirt a dark crimson.