young man returning home

Chapter 11 Deep in

Hermione was leaning on a bald boxwood tree, rolling her eyes at the starry sky in boredom, while Draco on the side was picking up branches and preparing to make a fire. This is of course not a good sign, even Si Leitlin had given up on finding a way out of the Forbidden Forest on foot, which meant spending long, dark nights in the damned place.

"Tsk tsk, Gryffindor did a good job!" Of course, the qualified Slytherin would not let go of any opportunity to mock Gryffindor.The little boy glanced at Hermione slyly, and a seemingly indistinct smile lingered on his lips for a short time, and it was fleeting.

19 years have passed by, and the memories are like green vines clinging to the wall, and the feathers are like silk. It is Mr. Malfoy's festering sore under the golden thread, leaning on the cage of time alone, laughing in the forbidden forest that year The young boy and the little witch's heart beat sadly, and they were finally cast into a hollow sculpture by the perseverance and deep-rooted years, and the silver threads drawn from the top of the magic wand were like hair.No matter how desolate it is, the image of decayed years is shattered in the mirror fog, and Mr. Malfoy sighed in the lonely years of searching.

At least they are happy now.

Hermione waved her wand: "Malfoy, can you help me?"

"Come on," the boy interrupted impatiently, "hold up your wand and say 'Lumos' silently countless times. Now, girl, you are doing me a great favor."

Hermione curled her lips, the golden head dangling obtrusively in front of her eyes - of course, although she was extremely reluctant, she had to admit that maybe Draco was right, it was her stupidity that got them into this situation Difficult situation.

Before dusk, they were still hesitating in the corridors of the Malfoy Manor covered with sunburst gold. Damn Draco, Malfoy, who had always been thoughtful, was so careless—"Hey, is it that the huge Malfoy Manor Can't find a fireplace?" Hermione muttered, kicking the dead branches on the ground dissatisfied.

Wisps of green smoke rose from the pile of dead branches, and the pale face of the young man was illuminated by the light of the fire. — "Of course it's impossible. There are hundreds of fireplaces at the Manor! Well, well, girl, complaining won't change the fact that we're stuck in this bloody place—even if it's really Malfoy's fault."

On the back corridor of the manor, the boy reached out to her: "Apparition, please... girl, we have to go back to Hogwarts right away."

The price for Slytherin's trust in Gryffindor is that Hermione deserted halfway, and the moment she chanted the spell, the destination in her mind was not Hogwarts, but... this damned place.

"It's hard to imagine, Draco, that Slytherins would be willing to trust anyone else - thank you for trusting my self-taught 'apparition', but obviously, maybe... well, I've let you down. "

"You're welcome." The young man looked up at her against the firelight, "Don't say such innocuous words—Slytherins really don't trust anyone easily," he stammered, and the next sentence was firm without hesitation Spit it out, "Of course, except for you."

Hermione froze for a moment, and suddenly felt a sense of swelling in her abdomen, and sadness ran along the veins all over her body.It seems that at that moment, happiness became a mirage in the desert of the yellow sand, and it became farther and farther away than it could be.Sadness overwhelms the sky and fills the heart.

"D...Draco..." She struggled to climb the tree trunk and stood up, but her hand was scratched by the rough bark, and it hurt hotly.There is only sadness and despair all around.The night is endless.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Draco lowered his head, trembling all over, and his voice was trembling slightly.

"You feel it too? This feeling is so...so familiar..." The little witch's voice was like a fly.Sadness and despair abound.

"It's really familiar. Are all Gryffindor's reactions so slow?" Draco suppressed his laughter, enduring the pain, "It's a dementor! You idiot!"

Capture... soul... strange...

Hermione's thoughts were still sluggishly revolving around these three words, and Draco had already pulled out his wand and shouted, "Guardian... Ah! Granger!"

Hermione closed her eyes and waited quietly for the Patronus to disperse the unprovoked night, and Draco's rascal voice rang in her ears again: "Granger, can your ugly wand like a dead branch be of any use? Call God to protect you! Only then did Hermione realize that the Slytherin bastard didn't plan to go into battle himself, but ordered her to use the "Call God's Protection" spell!

Grief spreads with impunity.The little witch took out her wand tremblingly, and slowly spit out this spell towards the star-dark sky: "Hu-God-Guard-Guard—"

The silver otter illuminates the dark sky, happiness and joy overwhelm the sadness in the sky, the edge of no end, the memory that leads to the patron saint belongs to the playfulness of the trio, and the freckles on Ron's nose can almost be seen clearly under the fluorescent light Chu, Harry pushed back the hair on his forehead, revealing the lightning-shaped scar that everyone in the wizarding world feared.They laughed heartlessly under the light and shadow.

The light faded, the silver otter circled into the top of the wand with the torrent of waves, and the world returned to darkness and silence.Hermione almost slumped on the ground, panting slightly: "De...how could the dementors appear here?"

Draco didn't take her word for it, he used his wand to poke the sporadic fire in the pile of dead branches, pretending not to care: "It's that red-haired ghost again!" He was obviously sullen, and his tone was slightly jealous .

"Hey! Watch out for fire!" Hermione exclaimed. ——"Can you show full sympathy to the patients who are still lying in St. Mungo?" Hermione was obviously very dissatisfied with Draco's "red-haired ghost" teasing.

"Scarhead and red hair are the only 'good' memories in your barren head that are enough to release the dementors?" Draco confronted each other.

Hermione shook her head, "You don't understand Gryffindor friendship—"

"Then you can forget about Slytherin..." He stopped abruptly, half of the words stuck in his throat.Hermione glanced at him strangely, the blond boy stood up with some difficulty, and walked towards her, the withered branches and leaves crunching under the trampling of dragon leather boots.He slowly extended his hand to her: "Reconcile, Hermione—"

They finally sat down around the fire, the wind was blowing in the Forbidden Forest, and it was cool.Hermione curled up, pulling her neckline as far as she could.

The firelight reflected his chiseled profile, which was as gentle as a Muggle boy.With a focused expression, he kept using his wand to gather the scattered dead leaves together and build a radiant fire.Draco suddenly looked seriously at the shivering little witch: "Hermione, your Patronus has changed..." The tone was undeniably affirmative.

Hermione was almost intimidated by his serious tone, but she was also curious, thinking that Draco had made a bad joke: "No, no, my Patronus has never changed, it has always been oily. Otter, do you think it's supposed to be... a nutria? Don't be kidding me!"

Draco smiled perfunctorily, an unbearable sadness in his beautiful light gray eyes.He really wanted to tell her that one day you'd know what the truth was, what the curse was for when you met Draco in the Forbidden Forest, nutria.But he suddenly didn't want to let Miss Nutria know everything that Malfoy had been trying to hide. Everything was Granger's choice, and she should go back to the world of the trio.

"Miss Nutria, you didn't realize that your patron saint has already changed..." The boy just repeated this sentence stubbornly and earnestly.

"It's—an otter! It's always been an otter!" Hermione almost kicked him, "Malfoy's demeanor! Do you really want my Patronus to be... a nutria!"

At dawn, the selfish and cunning Malfoy finally lent his shoulder to Hermione "magnanimously", teasing in his usual lazy tone: "Although your stupidity got us into this predicament, Malfoy Fu's usual demeanor still makes me have to lend you my shoulder as a pillow, remember—" He dragged the end of his voice, and said with a smile, "Don't drool! Uneducated... Nutria!"

Hermione yawned, "Merlin greets Malfoy on his gentlemanly upbringing! Draco, I think we need to discuss... well, I mean, we need to discuss why we met dementors in this bloody place? "

"Are we only allowed to get lost and not allowed to get lost?" Draco teased her with a smile, and stretched out his hand to hug Hermione who was a little sleepy.

"Seriously!" She pushed him away in a daze. "Usually the dementors appear to hunt down the fugitives from Azkaban?"

Young Master Malfoy hissed softly: "Oh, my father is a legally bailed, watertight Gryffindor!"

Hermione rubbed up against Draco's shoulder, adjusting her posture so that she could lean more comfortably.She was raving like a little girl, and muttered in a low voice: "Cunning Slytherin...do you bother me even with the Patronus Charm to drive away the dementors, or...you have no happy memories in the past ten years At all? Poor Malfoy."

Malfoy's face turned pale, he suddenly shoved Hermione in a panic, and Hermione woke up suddenly, rubbing her astringent eyes: "Draco?"

He didn't speak, just looked up at the starry sky quietly, and sighed in a low voice.

"I'm sorry...Malfoy, are you looking at the stars?" Hermione deliberately found a topic.

"No, no, Malfoy," he suddenly lowered his head, "Malfoy has never looked at the stars." It was in the Forbidden Forest where the cold wind was blowing his sleeves, under the sky that counted the stars almost before dawn, the little boy said Such a sentence made Hermione unforgettable for the rest of her life.Many years later, in the warm hut in Andromeda, Mr. Malfoy's cold tone clanged to the ground, and the time was like dust crushed under the wheels of a car, never to return.It snowed all night.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Because," the boy looked pale and calmly looked at his beloved girl, "because Malfoy was never allowed to look up."

"Don't think that I will sympathize with you!" Hermione spit out such a sentence coldly. In fact, her heart was full of tenderness and sympathy. She couldn't imagine that Malfoy's cold and rigid family rules caused Draco's childhood What an irreparable regret.He was asked to be a gentleman, he was asked to smile elegantly against his will, and he was asked to be the future master of the manor.Although no one ever asked him if he would.How boring!

"Okay, girl, I hope you can sleep before dawn." He freed his shoulders and motioned her to lean down. "After dawn, we will go our separate ways. Girl, we are not on the same road."

"Separate? What if you run into patrolling dementors? Noble Malfoy doesn't even bother to use the Patronus Charm!"

Draco chuckled, "Poor Malfoy probably doesn't really have any good memories that could be used to dispel dementors." He stretched out his arms and rolled up his sleeves slowly in front of her, "Luminescence," against the wand With the light constantly overflowing from the top, Hermione could clearly see that the frightening Dark Mark lay quietly on Malfoy's arm!Inside the ferocious skeleton, poisonous snakes entangled, and the hissing sound of the snake letter seemed to be heard.

"The Dark Mark, it's ridiculous, isn't it?" Draco gently supported Hermione's body leaning back, his soft voice slowly flowed between his lips and teeth, "Hermione, we are destined to go on different paths. I really hope you will always Don't remember that in the world of Gryffindor, there was also a place for evil Slytherin. Girl, you belong to happiness..."

Hermione couldn't help being surprised, she instinctively reached out to touch the cold Dark Mark - despite Malfoy's warmth attached to it.Draco stopped her eagerly: "You should know the price! Granger!" He finally moved his lips tremblingly: Voldemort, what a terrible name!

Hermione withdrew her hand knowingly.

"Hermione, good girl, forget the sadness, forget..." He suddenly paused when he said this, "You should have your own road, the opposite road to Malfoy..." Draco's voice sank Come down, "Hurry up and draw a line with the embarrassing white glaze! After Christmas Eve, I will do one thing... After that, the pathetic Slytherin and Gryffindor will be truly distinct, never again... …Can not go back."

"What's the matter?" Hermione couldn't help asking.

"Then..." Draco shrank his neck, "You will only hate me more. Fate, Granger, this is Malfoy's fate." He carefully put down the sleeve, gently covering the palpitations on his arm of the Dark Mark.

She knew that the story that happened afterwards must be related to "him".

Hermione couldn't bear to recall the young man's instructions with a sour nasal voice, and the deep sadness in his eyes. This unusual night in the Forbidden Forest ended lonely when Malfoy's nasally haggard voice gradually faded away.

When Hermione woke up on Draco's shoulder, the sky was bright and the birds were chirping.