And it was with this feeling that she awoke and found herself face to hood with a Dementor. Hermione screamed and
got up to run but her legs would not cooperate as she felt the air around her become thick and cold. She began to shake
and in the back of her mind she could hear a faint screaming and then a woman's voice.
"No, don't touch her. Take me, I'm the one you want anyway."
A voice hissed an answer as Hermione caught a small glimpse of a robed figure wearing a mask.
"As you wish Mudblood. I will not touch the girl now, but I will have her later. And by your hand too, I'd wager."
Hermione heard herself say one thing before her vision cleared.
"Persephone!"
Then she found herself back in the forest and could barely hear a voice calling her name.
"Hermione, come on. Get up. We have to get out of here."
She looked up to see Malfoy had a hold of her arm and was trying to pull her to her feet. She saw the Dementor come up behind Malfoy and saw it begin to lift its hood from its face. She knew what it intended. It was going to give him the kiss. She had to save him. After all, wasn't that why he had followed her into the forest? Before she knew what she was doing, she lifted her wand and shouted the spell to summon the Patronus.
"Expecto patronum!"
Though her voice was barely above a whisper, she put as much force behind the spell as she could. Suddenly, a bright silver mist erupted from the tip of her wand and there, before them was the image of a huge house cat. It was very large and had extremely fluffy fur. The Dementor tried to brush it aside, but pulled its hand back as it touched the silver creature. It reared back and hissed as though in pain. Then it turned and found itself impaled upon the horn of Anthera the unicorn. It dissolved into a green smoke as Hermione heard Anthera's voice in her head once more.
"I told you I would protect you always. You need only call for me and I will be wherever you need me."
Hermione ran to the unicorn and threw her arms around her neck. Hermione spoke mind to mind with the unicorn.
"Thank you and Anthera. I don't know how long I could have held off the Dementor with out you."
"You did it all on your own. The reason you could summon that Patronus was because it was done out of concern for someone whom you are not fond of."
"That's putting it mildly there."
Anthera made a noise that was half a snort of annoyance and half a snicker.
"I showed you those things for a reason my friend. He cares for you. He proved that today. You should reciprocate the gesture."
"Well he did try to save my life. And it was brave of him to face a Dementor with out his magic. I guess you're right."
Hermione let the unicorn go after bidding her farewell. She then turned to a shocked Malfoy.
"What was that all about? I mean what just happened here?"
Hermione didn't answer him. Just bent her head down and brushed her lips gently against his. Pulling away she stopped to whisper in his ear.
"I think we started a half friendship Mal- Draco."
The use of his given name did not go unnoticed by Draco and he smiled crookedly at Hermione.
"Maybe we did Gra- Hermione."
They smiled again at each other and then in silent agreement vowed to keep their friendship a secret from their
classmates. One never knew what would happen if others found you consorting with a member of the wrong house. With a
wave of their wands, they cast light hexes on one another and made their way back to the school bickering the whole
way. All the while, their minds were working to digest this new development in their acquaintanceship. Hermione was
also working to uncover the meaning of the visions Anthera gave to her. To the untrained eye, it would appear that she
was watching herself with Draco's daughter, but how would one explain the presence of the brown eyes so much like
her own? And the other little girl as well as the mysterious arms that engulfed her and the child with love. It was all
so confusing. More confusing, however, was the vision she had with the Dementor. For the life of her, she could not
remember who Persephone was, but something in the back of her mind told her it was important, that she needed to
remember. Hermione shook her head and ran to pass Draco to the Hospital wing. She'd think about all of this later.
For now she just wanted to get rid of the. the extra eye in the middle of her cheek that Draco had hexed her with. She
took a peek at him and saw him scratching at the athlete's foot, poison oak combination she had spread all over his
body. Yes, there were much less complicated things to think about right now, such as the perfect revenge for what Harry
and Ron had put her through over the last few days. Revenge would most definitely be sweet.
TBC…