DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter

Tonks was the one who actually 'kidnapped' Narcissa, since she was her niece. Narcissa wasn't too keen on the idea (read: nearly killed Tonks) until she was made aware that she would not be against her son.

I clearly remember the morning The Daily Prophet reported that Narcissa had been, 'abducted by wizard or wizards unknown.'

I was on my way to breakfast, half-awake, when I was ambushed in a secret passageway. Draco had caught me up in his arms and was holding me tightly. I couldn't help but squeeze him back.

'Thank you, Granger,' he said into my hair, before realising it was me he was embracing fiercely, at which point he let me go as he had been burnt.

'You're welcome,' I said, as we both tried to hide our confusion.

'Right, well, Mother is taken care of now,' he told me, avoiding eye contact. 'Thought you'd like to know before everyone finds out from the Daily Prophet.'

I nodded and followed him to breakfast at a distance.

Later that week, we got into a debate in the library, which isn't the best place for that sort of thing.

'You can't add an anti-clockwise stir there,' Draco protested as we hunched over a recipe in a book lying on the table between us. Our heads were almost but not quite knocking across the table as we hissed arguments back and forth.

'It smoothes the consistency of the potion,' I defended. 'If you just stir clockwise then there are traces of salamander blood which remain separate from the rest of the mixture.'

'But the directions, in a book that's several hundred years old and reputable say "clockwise, three times."'

'But the directions are more like guidelines,' I pointed out. 'The fact that the recipe hasn't changed since this version of the text only means nobody has been creative enough to experiment. And I'm telling you, it would work!'

'If it would work and work better, Snape would've taught us your way.'

Madam Pince came bustling over to us. 'Take your lovers' spat outside,' she shooed.

I loaded my books into my bag before she could send them banging against my head after me, and I scurried out of the library.

'Snape couldn't teach us with the improved recipe, because very likely it isn't Ministry approved,' I argued as Draco joined me in the corridor.

'So, you're suggesting I do something illegal?'

'I'm suggesting making a beneficial amendment to the potion that would increase its efficacy,' I told him. 'Exemplary Potions Masters, such as Snape, probably do it already.'

'But if we used it in class, we'd be in trouble.'

'No,' I said. 'Harry didn't use the directions written in the textbook last year and Slughorn thought he was doing it exactly correct.'

'So I could do as you suggest and be praised?'

'Well, I doubt Slughorn would praise you, because he doesn't think you'll go far in society.'

'I am a Malfoy,' he said haughtily. 'I will go far.'

I raised an eyebrow at him. 'Malfoy is synonymous with evil nowadays, in case you hadn't noticed,' I said. 'Your father's a Death Eater. You're a Death Eater ...even if not in spirit...'

'It's cold out here,' Draco said suddenly, avoiding the topic then at hand.

I produced a jar of bluebell flames, placed it on a bench, and sat down next to it.

'You're mental,' he muttered, but took a seat on the other side of the jar anyway.

'Are you going home for the holidays?' I asked him.

'Yes,' Draco answered, emotionless. 'Are you?'

'I'm going to the Burrow,' I told him.

'Don't your parents mind?'

I shrugged. 'I went home last year for the first time in years and they weren't all that enthused. I think they suspect I'm involved in something and don't want to know for sure.'

Draco raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

'If they don't know anything, they can't be tortured into giving information that would get me hurt,' I explained. 'My parents are very nice and I love them, but... Well, we just aren't best friends.'

'Er- I know this is going to come out all wrong, but - they're Muggles. They just can't understand our world,' he said matter-of-factly.

I was surprised to find that I agreed with him. 'That's true,' I conceded. 'They understand a lot of things, but not how the wizarding world works.'

'Like prejudice over blood, over lineage?' Draco asked cautiously.

'Perhaps not so precisely, but that's the way it used to be in the Muggle world, but over skin colour,' I said. 'Blood's more complicated, but carries the same basic concept. Both are prejudices over a factor beyond an individual's control and wholly unrelated to an individual's character.'

'I never really thought about why I hated Muggles and Muggleborns,' Draco said, 'until the night Dumbledore died. I started wondering why I held such a deep hatred for Muggleborns: about why they're different from Purebloods. And then it hit me. The only difference is who their ancestors were. We're all human, we all possess magical abilities.'

'And that's why you've decided you can be seen with me now?'

'Yes,' he answered quietly. He picked up the jar of fire. 'Let's go inside.'

'But we got kicked out of the library,' I reminded him.

'Come on, Granger, you're Head Girl, I'm feared by three quarters of the student body. No one will tattle on us for going up to the seventh floor corridor,' he wheedled.

I don't know what impulse I followed that afternoon, but I went with Draco to the Room of Requirement. We didn't even have to try to make the door appear; it just did. But one thing I do know is that neither of us could have guessed what the interior of the room would look like.

I went in first and Draco came in after me. The only lighting was from candelabra set on a low table, which also held a tray with tea and biscuits. The table and a worn but comfortable-looking sofa were before a crackling fire.

I walked over to the sofa and sat down, looking across the room at Draco. After catching his gaze, I became cognisant of the fact that we were alone, together, in a room that no on else could get into, with the lights down low. Oh, the number of things that could be read into that situation. Even then that thought did not escape me. For the first time, I felt self-conscious in front of him.

'Didn't realise I wanted tea so much,' he said lightly, seating himself on the sofa a bit over from where I was sitting. He started to pour out tea for each of us.

I don't think tea is really what this is about I thought, and I could tell that he was thinking the same thing.

I took the cup he handed me, willing my hands not to shake as I raised the cup to drink. After a few minutes of incredibly awkward silence, I put my tea down and reached for a biscuit. Draco did so at the same time and our hands touched. Instead of jerking way, I reached towards him. He took my hand in his. Both of us had forgotten the biscuits by then.

'Hermione,' he said, the first time he had addressed me by my first name.

'Draco...' My heart was beating what felt like a hundred times faster than normal and my mouth went dry as he gravitated closer to me on the sofa.

'I - '

For once, he was speechless.

I hadn't a clue what to say either so I took a chance and, before I lost my nerve, kissed him. He kissed me back before drawing away. That kiss may have been short, but; however cliché it may seem, I felt like part of my life had slid into the right place. Or maybe that was relief that he hadn't pushed me away from him. Or both.

He looked down at our joined hands and then up again.

'We're really in for it now,' he said. 'The single thing more dangerous than Death Eater or best friend to Harry Potter...'

I nodded and laced my fingers through his, finding reassurance on his gentle grip.

'One more thing to conceal,' I said.

'Are you sure about this, though?' Draco asked, his cool grey eyes searching mine. 'If I can't trick the Dark Lord, I don't know what they'll do to you.'

'I'm sure,' I told him. 'You're worth the risk and I'd rather the danger than wondering what might have been.'

He leaned back into the sofa, as did I beside him, resting my head on his shoulder. We stayed like that; quiet, for a little while. Then we realised there were only ten minutes left until Potions, frantically slung bags onto our shoulders, and raced out of the room. I flung myself hurriedly into my seat at the table with Ron, Harry, and Ernie just before the late bell sounded.

Draco was less fortunate and Slughorn took away five points from his own house for Draco's miniscule tardiness.

'Granger,' Draco said mockingly as he passed me into the Great Hall later.

'Malfoy,' I replied haughtily.

'He looks rather smug about something,' Ron said as we sat down with Harry.

'I heard you two got kicked out of the library today for arguing,' Harry said to me. 'Is he getting up to something?' He lowered his voice. 'I mean, since we helped his mum I thought you've been on pretty good terms.'

'He's not planning anything,' I dismissed the idea. 'Whatever he's pleased about is relatively innocuous.'

'He did nearly as well as you did in Potions today,' Harry continued. Harry had decided to never use Snape's Potions textbook, though it was locked safely in his trunk just in case.

'Imagine that,' I said. 'I guess he decided my idea would work after all.'

'Idea?' Ron blurted out. 'You didn't tell us.'

'Relax, Ron. I didn't have time to tell you. It's just to add an anti-clockwise stir after all the clockwise ones to even the consistency. Nothing terribly ground breaking.'

'Did you get that from Snape's book?' Harry demanded, startled.

'No,' I said patiently. 'I thought it up myself. That's what Malfoy and I were arguing about in the library.'

'Where'd you go when you got kicked out? You were barely on time to Potions.'

'Courtyard, then inside.'

'With Malfoy?'

'Ronald, he's not horrible,' I berated him quietly. 'Remember, he's on our side now.'

As dinner was winding down, I heard a cool voice from behind us.

'Can I have I word?'

Ron glared at Draco as I followed him to the side of the room. I regarded him expectantly.

'Look, Granger,' he said nonchalantly, as people were everywhere around us. 'I can't abide the thought of patrolling with Pansy tonight. Can you find me another partner?'

This has to be the weirdest way to ask to spend time with someone I thought.

'You'll have to work with me instead,' I told him.

'At least you don't simper,' he replied levelly.

'Ten o'clock, at the top of the Great Staircase. Have Pansy meet Harry in front of the Great Hall.'

Harry, our own Head Boy, by the way, was none too pleased about this arrangement and made me promise not to make a habit of letting Draco escape the torture of Pansy's presence.

Draco and I started our patrol officially in the dungeons and worked out way up, floor by floor. When we were finished, he insisted upon seeing me safely to the corridor that led to Gryffindor Tower.

He kissed me softly on the lips and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.

'Good night, Hermione,' he told me, smiling.

'Good night, Draco,' I said. I smiled at him briefly before dashing off to the portrait hole.

After that, we kept meeting in secret, sometimes just slipping away to the Room of Requirement, other times rearranging the patrolling schedules in ways that disgruntled probably everyone but ourselves. I'm surprised no one noticed that the one constant in these changes was that Draco and I would patrol together. It was blatantly obvious in my opinion. But then again, everyone else was more worried about the possibility of being stuck with Pansy.