He didn't wait to name the creature and raised his wand, the banishing spell already on his lips.

"Riddikulos!" shouted Draco right as green sparks surrounded his aunt Bellatrix's wand - pointed towards his... travelling comrade. There was only one spell to release that disgusting light, the killing curse. The magic coming from the wand's end eluded Hermione, making a U-turn mid-air and heading towards somebody else.

For the first time ever the cold eyes of the Dark Lord were clouded with what muggles would call utter fear. Boggarts were fear itself; of course that they'd be able to portray it on a face, be it Voldemort's or anybody else's. But the curse never got to him. The snake jumped and took the blow for its master, then landed lifelessly on the muddy ground before crumbling to ashes. A pained roar broke the immediate silence, coming from the dark wizard himself. It wasn't just the loss of a pet, but the loss of a part of himself, the loss of his own life piece by piece. Boggarts respected reality, the boy thought, remembering a phrase from an old book about awful and lovely creatures like the one before his eyes. And things all clicked in Draco's mind. Horcrux. He'd known the word, heard of what it meant but had always been too afraid to pursue learning more. They, the Horcruxes, were the only way to kill him, once and for all.

He looked up again to find his aunt far away from her.

"Riddikulos!" she screamed, making the smirk go away from the platinum-haired boy as his head grew larger and larger, swollen and very pink despite the little light. Within seconds it exploded, scattering pink and yellow matter towards her. When she looked again, she sighed relieved to find her... travelling comrade... as confused as he had been since the beginning of their journey to God knew where. "Draco," she called. "It's a Boggart."

He looked up. "I figured that much..."

She's fine... It was just the damn creature!

He's okay... That's well.

Their thoughts intertwined. They thought the same, after all.

"It's a strong one. We could run," she started.

"The Dark... damn Boggart would follow."

"Then we fight."

"I can't believe I can't disagree with you, Granger." Hermione was surprised to see a quick smile finding its way to his face and thought he looked good, or at least better, like that. But, then again, that applied to most people on Earth. She tried clumsily to return the smile, but he'd already looked away, perhaps even realised what he was doing.

They raised their wands uttered the Boggart banishing spell at the same time. Riddikulos! Indeed, a very memorable spell! The fake Dark Lord looked at them with pure hatred as the wand in his hand became smaller and smaller, too tiny for his skeletal hands to manoeuvre.  It fell from his hands into the weeds-covered muddy soil.

The next thing they could see was great black smoke rising to the starless sky.

"He's gone," she sighed relieved, letting herself fall against a tree.

"The Boggart's gone. The real him is never gone." He was looking down, knowing that some tens of kilometres away was his manor and his parents making sure the Dark Lord was well-fed and enjoying the lovely spectacle of using the Cruciatus curse on any wizard that dared oppose him or some muggles that dared live their lives or, worse, on a mudblood like the girl sitting on a tree's roots, inches from him.

"Draco, calm down." Something in her voice was soothing.

He looked at her, pain on his face. "Stop calling me that! Don't you realise I'd never be able to call you Hermione after all I've done to you?" And they were back, to the kids hating each other, all kindness gone from their hearts, just regret that he couldn't be helped and regret she hadn't been born different.

She didn't answer, though she did know that.

He looked down again, and, in the end, the lack of an answer hurt more.

Draco had always wondered whether there was such a thing as redemption because he'd never felt that and never thought he would, so her words were an incredible surprise. "Just... try not to do bad things from now on..."

Hermione stood from her place and got going, walking in front of him. Draco only followed, numb after her reply, numb after that kindness, numb because of her, numb and endlessly grateful. He could only look at her from behind, see her ripped denim jacket, her shoes covered in mud, her clothes stained with blood and all kinds of dirt, her brown hair coming undone from the braid she'd been wearing for who knew how many days. Even from behind, she was light.

Just light...

She knew he was following her. There was no other place he'd go, no one to return to. Indeed, he'd chosen and her heart filled with something that mimicked joy when she thought that he'd chosen them, her and Harry and Ron and all the others in Dumbledore's army over his own blood, that he'd chosen her above all. It was something she'd never expected of him, an incredible surprise. And in many ways, he did deserve a second chance. Draco deserved to have some faith, some hope for himself, things his family and Voldemort had taken away long before they met.

Hermione couldn't turn around to him, though, to walk beside him. His pained face was painful to see. He didn't want to see that, to see him like that, because she didn't want to believe that he could be a simple boy, a good person only when his platinum hair was greasy and dirty or when his hands were ripped or when there was fear in his eyes. There was no point in denying that she was hoping for the best when it came to him, that maybe there was somebody else under that Malfoy skin, a truly nice man.

"Granger," he whispered as if trying his luck.

She kept walking.

"I just can't stand the silence."

She felt the same.

"So I've tried to fill my mind with thoughts and it occurred to me that there was only one Boggart and Boggarts can find themselves a little confused and useless when attacking more than a person," he said. "But it had no problem attacking us." His words were a mere excuse to end the silence, she figured that much. It was a nice try.

A second later, Hermione found herself responding. "It was a strong one, you said it yourself."

He had no reply for that and silence once again tried to suffocate him.

Another second later, she woke up asking, "What was your fear? What did you see?"

"The Dark Lord. Nagini. Aunt Bellatrix. And her wand..." He stopped, reluctant to add the next words, "...at your neck." After a short pause, he asked her what hers had been.

"Voldemort. Nagini. Bellatrix. Saying that they had Harry and Ron, that everything was over."

"Potter and Weasley, obviously!" he mumbled under his breath.

Ignoring his remark, she too hesitated to give the full answer. "And you with them, having betrayed me for them." She even hated remembering the image, the portrayal of her hopes gone with the wind.

Draco wanted to ask her whether she was truly afraid of him betraying her, but her Boggart having been that already answered the question. Both relief and sadness sparked in his soul, but he chased them away as fast as possible. "Also, in the mirage, a curse hit Nagini, killed it. That nearly killed him."

Those weren't news to her ears. "Nagini is a Horcrux. Destroying all the Horcruxes is the only way to kill him. That's what we've been chasing. The serpent, locket, the cup, they're all parts of his soul - if what he has can be called like that."

"So the next step is finding those and destroying them?"

She nodded, still not looking at him. "That would be it, but without Harry, there's no way to know what those things are."

"I think I know how to find one of those."

It was then when she finally stopped and waited for him. "What did you just say?"

Her reaction surprised him. It took him a moment or two to find his words again and gather all the courage left within himself to continue. "I said I know how and where to find a Horcrux. I'm saying that I've overheard a discussion between my father and him. The Dark Lord ordered him to move something apparently very important to a far, far place where not even he could find."

"So... is Voldemort actually... afraid?"

"Perhaps..."

"Do you know what place did you father hide it?"

He thought a bit. "There is a place no one knows we own, not even The Dar- Voldemort, a house we planned to move in if everything was lost, if we ever had to leave England, and my father would be foolish enough to hide the Horcrux there."

"Outside England?"

"Yes, deep within the Europe."

"Where?"

"I'll tell you under two conditions. First, I'm in for everything from this moment on, including killing him, and second, you must answer me a question." Draco bit his lip, caught her hand, turned her around and looked Hermione in the eye. His words were full of pain and fire, brutal and shy at the very same time. "Are you afraid of me?"