Author's Note: I hope you enjoy the third and final part of this adventure. I may one day write the next phase of their story together if people want to read it, but for now this is it. Thank you for reading.

Alpha credit to Kyonomiko; beta love to CourtingInsanity.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.

"Where to next?"

Draco glanced up as he stowed the remains of their lunch into his pack. "I thought we would make our way back towards the meadow. It's been a few days already since you broke through The Nearby, and it may grow harder to track your path as more time passes."

Hermione nodded, slinging her bag and her bow onto her back as they prepared to venture out. They had lounged in the springs into the afternoon, and then basked in the sun until dry. Following a quick meal of leftovers from the village, they were prepared to continue on with their journey.

"We can take the path through the mountains if you like," Draco intoned, "although it'll take a bit longer than going back through the forests."

She smiled, her heart dancing a merry rhythm in her chest. "It doesn't matter."

He shrugged, even as his lips twitched. "We'll take the road north into the mountains and then make our way back west through the forest," he explained. "After all, you need to experience all Timbervale has to offer."

"Of course," she returned, her tone soft and musing. "Thank you for showing me this. And for last night."

He approached her side, his gaze flickering down to meet hers. "Maybe it's for me as much as for you." He was silent for a long moment as they began walking, pensive. "For as much as I don't want to rule, I do love Timbervale. I've always loved spending time out here in the wilds." His lips pulled up with amusement. "And it's sort of nice to have someone to share it with, now."

She returned the smile, feeling colour grace her cheeks. "Well I'm glad to not be alone, either. Maybe I can show you some of my favourite places in Cascadia one day."

Ever since Draco had suggested he might like to stick with her after leaving the woodland realm of his home, her mind had been racing at the possibilities. The places they could go together. She had only known him a few days, but for the first time, she could see the faint possibility of a life with someone else.

Most often, it was the case with fae that they bonded for life — and those bonds would twist and form into a living, palpable existence between the two. She had seen and admired it in her own parents' relationship. And it was always a tentative decision to pursue such a bond.

Furthermore, it was sobering to consider the fact that she was of such a simple station in life, when he was the Crown Prince of the realm.

But even so, she couldn't keep the smile from her face when he returned, "I'd like that."

Draco couldn't entirely comprehend the thoughts that cycled through his mind on a loop as he led Hermione through the mountain pass along the east of Timbervale. He had never met any female that held him so captivated, and he was ready to follow her through The Nearby to whichever realm she wanted to explore.

It was a rare case that two fae should feel so connected to one another so soon.

And he couldn't be sure, but he thought she felt it too, the tense pull between them. She wasn't of any sort of noble class, of course, in Timbervale or Cascadia, but Draco didn't care about any of that anyway. Especially if he never intended to rule.

"What's beyond the east?" she asked, gazing out towards the boundary of the realm.

"Nothing," Draco said with a shrug. "A great drop into nothing."

"Fascinating," she murmured, glancing to him. "I've never been to the boundaries of Cascadia. What lies further north?"

"More mountains," Draco intoned, sidling a step closer to her, a bracing hand extended. "Mind your footing here. These rocks can be loose. The mountains break back into forest, to the far north and west."

Hermione nodded, squinting into the distance again. "And what's that? Out there?"

She was gesturing to the tallest peak in the Timbervalian range. "I haven't been that far into the mountains," Draco explained. His own breath was starting to pick up at a combination of the higher elevation and the occasional steep climb of the rocky pass. "It is difficult to reach by foot. The mountain there is known as Escaro. The Timbervalian word for heart."

"Escaro," Hermione repeated, her gaze still fixed in the distance. "I think we should go to it." She cast him a glance, rolling her eyes at his skeptical brow. "Something in it is calling to me."

"Calling," Draco said, a furrow creasing his brow. "Like your magic?"

She nodded. "Something like that. Perhaps I have enough magic left from the springs… we might be able to chase it."

Draco blinked, shaking his head. "I don't know what you mean. Chase it?"

"It's… difficult to explain. It's a means of breaking through the time-space," Hermione said, fixing her chocolate eyes on his. Her fingers found his hand, and entwined with his. "Will you allow me to channel your magic?"

Draco swallowed, his heart racing in his chest at the intimacy of the gesture and the request. He didn't know much about magic, but he could feel the depth of trust he would be giving her if he surrendered control of his magic to someone else. He breathed, "Yes."

Her smile was kind as her hand gripped his more tightly. He could see the concentration in her stare, the sparkle that occurred at the periphery of her as his magic was tugged from somewhere deep within. In a moment, he understood the closeness of the act as he felt his magic flow through him to coil with hers. Draco swallowed, his gaze unblinking.

"You'll have to teach me this, when we get to Cascadia," he said.

"Draco, I'll teach you all of it," she whispered, and her eyes winked shut.

In an instant, they were elsewhere. Draco stumbled, jarred by the sudden transportation, but her hand still held his, securing him to the spot beside her. He gaped, a breath chasing from his lungs; before them stood the vast and cold beauty of Escaro.

Hermione's hand tightened, squeezing the pulse from his own, and he followed her gaze, down from the rocky slopes of the mountain, into a valley far below.

"Hermione." He choked the word, eyes wide in astonishment.

"You said it yourself," she breathed in return. "The heart of Timbervale."

He shook his head, unblinking. "I never thought —" He turned to Hermione and there was a glaze to her eyes as she stared out over the crumbled ruins of the village below. "It's truly here."

Her warm eyes met his, a brilliant smile tugging at her cheeks.

Draco shook his head, heart racing a frantic beat in his chest. "And I never would have found it if not for you."

He pulled her closer by their entwined hands; Hermione stumbled and her free hand caught in the fabric of his cloak. Before he could consider his actions, his fingers trailed across her cheekbone, flushed in the mountain air, and along the length of her jaw.

And then he was kissing her, his lips pressed against hers, his eyes sliding shut at the feel of it. Her fingers fisted against his chest as her soft lips pillowed his, tucking herself tightly against him. His tongue grazed her lips, catching hers as he pulled her closer still, releasing her hand to wrap an arm around her back.

When they drew apart, hearts racing and breaths mingling, Draco felt his lips pull into a slow grin. Her eyes sparkled and she kissed him again. Then she smoothed a wrinkle from his chest, a secret within her gaze.

"Let's go explore, shall we?"

The descent into the valley had been perilous and slow, but the reward so worthwhile. They spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring the ruins of what had once been a magnificent village.

Draco had heard it existed, but never could he have imagined all of this.

Homes built from the rock of the mountains, pathways of stone and overgrowth reaching through the cracks. Lanterns twinkled like fairy lights at every corner, as if they'd been waiting for someone to return at long last. As if they retained all of the magic that had been lost from the realm.

The ruins were formed in a circle, facing upon the largest structure of all, and Draco knew in his heart and his soul that it was the lost archives he had been searching for since he'd been a youth. At last, he would learn the truth of his own realm and all the others.

He swallowed, overcome with the emotion of it, and found Hermione at his side, her fingers twisted within his. He smiled down at her, huffing a long breath. "I can hardly believe this."

She pressed a lingering kiss to his jaw, her breath warm and enticing.

And Draco knew that whatever it was that was stirring between them, she felt it too. He didn't know whether he was willing to separate it all out just yet, but he tugged her close to his chest all the same. Then he pulled her forward into the lost archives, knowing it would mean as much to her as it would to him.

Tall pillars of stone, eroded with time and exposure, welcomed them in. Hermione released his hand and darted alongside, her eyes wide as she took in the unparalleled wonder of the structure. Growth had overtaken the interior, trees bursting through the crumbled ceiling, tall grasses and wildflowers swaying in the soft breeze that fluttered through.

The brightness of the sun was failing, casting the interior of the ruins with a myriad of oranges and pinks and darkening blues. A wide staircase ascended before him and Draco held his breath as he approached. A tome, thick and broad, sat on an altar of stone, its cover in an ancient form of Timbervalian. It must have been imbued with an old protection spell, to still be held in one piece after so long.

"Can you read it?" came Hermione's hushed tone from his side.

He opened the cover, nodding, a thick lump in his throat preventing him from speech. "Most of it. Much of Timbervale speaks the common tongue now, but I learned as a child." He ran his fingers across the fragile parchment, faded and yellowed with age, its ink dull. He cleared his throat and read her the title: "A History of the Realms of the World."

He flipped through the first few pages, careful to mind the parchment, running his fingers along a drawing of a forest, dark green and umber pigments etched on the page. "Timbervale."

He could feel the tension beside him as Hermione held her breath, rapturous, watching. Three pages later, her breath hitched. Soft blue pigments traced a water's edge, and Draco read, "Cascadia."

There were pages of stone mountains, of deserts and sand hills, meadows and fields of wildflowers like the King's Meadow in Timbervale. A world of ice and snow.

"Can you believe it?" he whispered. The book went on for hundreds of pages, documenting the histories of each realm.

Her hand reached out to caress the page where he'd stopped; a grey pigment hovered like mist across the page. "The Nearby — this is what it looks like."

Draco blinked in surprise, reading the ancient text. "Of The Nearby — where all realms exist and none at once."

Hermione peered at the small drawing, her fingers gentle as they traced the page. "Does it say anything about breaching it? I think if we can combine our magic we can get back through — but just in case."

He read down the page, his recollection poor on certain characters, but shook his head. "All it says about accessing The Nearby is that… I'm paraphrasing because it doesn't translate well into the common tongue, but… if the heart is true, the realm shall appear."

Dusk had fallen and the lanterns drifted in and out of his periphery, but it was too dark to carry on reading. He closed the book, his hands lingering on the thick cover before stepping away from the altar. There was a lightness and a fullness to his heart that he couldn't recall feeling as he glanced at Hermione.

"As wonderful as this is," he said, casting her a sidelong glance, "I'll look forward to exploring it all, one day."

Her hand slipped into his once more. "As will I."

"We'll make for the meadow at dawn, and from there we'll find your entrance to The Nearby." He took a long breath, pulling Hermione into his arms. "And perhaps one day, once we're through, the forest will call me home."

They slept beneath the stars, tangled amongst the tall grasses in the ruins of the archive and one another's arms.

Hermione woke with the light of the sun streaming through in shafts, casting the crumbling stone walls with an otherworldly glow. Draco's grey eyes jolted open, pale and sparkling with the soft light of the rising sun. His lips curved into a smirk and found hers, his tongue slow and tantalizing as he kissed her like he could spend millennia doing so.

Finally they broke apart, exuberant with the energy of the sun blazing down, and risen for a breakfast of roasted fruits from the village.

After another tour of the ruined village, its appearance joyous and placid in the light of day, Hermione summoned together the waning power of their magic and chased them back as far as the mountain pass.

From there, the journey north and west continued.

Hermione's heart raced in her chest with the memory of all she had seen and experienced in her few short days since leaving Cascadia and making her way into Timbervale. The depths of the vast wilderness she had explored — and that she had found a travelling companion of her own.

Her focus was now fixed on breaking through into The Nearby once more, and on the realm in which they would next land.

By the time they broke back into the forest, Hermione was pleased to once more see the protective umbrella of verdant greenery high overhead. The trees here were ancient and wide, nearly as much so as those in Bristlecone where they had feasted and danced. But as the day wore on and the path lead them further into the heart of the forest once more, the trees were tall but narrow.

When they rested for lunch, Draco scaled the tallest tree he could find and leapt from one to the next, causing a horrendous gasp to chase from her lungs. She'd grumbled under her breath, "Show-off."

Then he helped her to practice with her bow and arrows once more, his chest firm and tantalizing against her side as he corrected her form. His eyes caught hers, his lips curving, and they were distracted again.

The failing light of day was almost upon them when Draco extended a hand to falter her step, his grey eyes sharp as he cast her a quick glance. "We're near to the territory of Hawthorn's Hazard once more. The king's archers patrol these woods. Just to the north lies the tributary of the stream, and beyond there, the king's meadow."

"Then this is the way I came," she whispered, eyes flickering around. It had been easy to forget, exploring the wilderness with Draco, that she had been exiled from this territory, and that he had fled.

Orienting herself with the flow of the stream, she turned to face the direction from which she had come. Draco nodded, pacing forward and dropping to the ground. His fingertips swept the ground, searching for disturbed earth.

"Your trail is faint," he whispered, "but still here. Luckily you walked without due grace or care, considering you had breached an unknown realm."

She heard the amusement in his voice and scowled as she bent to see what he was looking at. He traced something that might have been the outline of her boot, though she struggled to see it.

The pair trekked onward as the day began to fade into dusk and Draco was soon unable to see well enough to continue following the trail.

"Do you remember the magic you used to break through?" he asked, as they leaned against the solid trunk of an old cedar, picking at the remains of their dinner.

Hermione nodded, snacking on a handful of berries. "Yes. And if I can channel our combined magic again, it should be enough. I don't know that I would have made it through on my own — and I would have had trouble trying to find it."

"You absolutely would not have found it," he teased, nudging her in the shoulder. "You were so lost when I took pity on you."

She scowled at him, folding her arms. "I would have eventually made my way."

"Before or after you'd starved to death with your amateur archery skills?" He snickered, taking a long drink of water. He'd filled both of their skeins once they came across the flowing water of the king's meadow, and nothing had happened.

Hermione huffed a breath through her nose as he grinned.

"I'm only teasing, of course." His expression softened into something else entirely. "I never would have found the archives without you. I'm glad you've been with me and not just to have someone along — but that it's you."

Her irritation with him sloughed away at the sentiment and she returned the smile, her fingers dancing across the back of his hand, laying on the ground beside her. "Same. I'm glad it's you."

He leaned back against the trunk, taking her hand with him. "Ted and Andromeda loved you, by the way. And my cousin, Dora." He gave her a fond stare. "I asked them to pass my regards to my parents, when the squadron of archers come looking for me."

"Good," Hermione murmured, entwining their fingers. "I imagine they would have worried if you just vanished."

He gave a flippant shrug, belied by a pensive expression. "I guess they might have." His brow flickered. "We'll carry on in the morning — it can't be much further now."

She drifted off to sleep, the stars twinkling overhead through the canopy, his warm arms tight around her.

Draco awoke with a sort of anxious trepidation and was on his feet to prepare his bag before he could think to stay basking in the warmth of Hermione at his side.

Being so close to the Hazard was unnerving, and the likelihood of being discovered was so much greater. He wanted to move fast and cover ground before anyone could come across them. He had no interest in explaining to his parents that he was leaving — or in their attempts to convince him otherwise. And at this point he was committed — if Hermione had to leave, he would leave with her anyway.

She stirred, bleary eyes fluttering awake, her hair wild with sleep. His heart leapt in his chest as she caught his eye and gifted him a sleepy smile.

She dusted herself off, wrapped herself in the forest cloak — looking for all the world like a Timbervalian — and threw her arms around his neck, reaching up to press her lips against his. "Today's the day."

"Today," Draco echoed, his voice rough with disuse. "The first of the rest of all days."

The rest of her trail led to a nondescript area closer to the Hazard than he would have guessed — and nearby to a boulder Draco had seen hundreds of times in his travels.

"So this is the portal," he said, the words feeling anticlimactic as they left his mouth.

She nodded, coming up alongside him. Her hand found his. "Are you ready?"

His mouth was dry, a thick lump in his throat. He could only nod in return.

He caught her chocolate gaze, his same anticipatory trepidation echoed back.

She raised their clasped hands, and Draco once more felt his magic drawing out from the well deep within him, and pouring through into her. The faint shimmer from before once more glowed around her edges, and this time, Draco felt it pull on him as well as her magic delved and twisted deeper with his. He could feel the depths of her soul, and if she hadn't held him so tightly, he might have lost his grip as the magic swirled and pulled with greater force. He had never experienced such a thing. He hadn't realized the depth of his own magic.

"Hold on," her voice whispered, and it sounded far away. "It's almost there." He blinked several times, his focus returning, and there was something that felt so final — her clammy hand released his, the shimmer fading from her hair.

Draco stumbled, feeling weak and jittery from the expulsion of so much magic, and as he opened his mouth to ask her whether it had worked, he stopped. A soft smile lingered on Hermione's lips as she gazed forward, and Draco could feel The Nearby — he could hear it, a dull vibration that grew into the sounds of all of the world at once.

"This is it," he breathed.

She echoed, "Yes, this is it. Once we step forward, we'll have left Timbervale."

Draco took her into his arms once more, pressing a kiss into her curls. He caught her twist, entwining his fingers with hers once more. He could see by the look on her face — they were ready.

With a deep, steeling breath, he met her gaze — transfixed in the warmth, the excitement, the hope he found there.

And together, they took the next step beyond.