"Draco, I'm worth more than this. I thought we were past all of this, but apparently not. Maybe you should've taken a few pointers from Zabini, much as I hate to say it.."

When she looked at him again, his eyes were black. Admittedly, the expression he wore scared her. He was furious, presumably with her.

"Have it your way, Granger. This would never have worked; not with someone as presumptuous and self righteous as you." he sneered.

She felt as if she had been slapped, and an unpleasant feeling settled in her stomach. He hadn't talked to her like that for over a year now.

Draco had re-entered the common room, only to be confronted by Blaise.

"You're a bloody idiot." Zabini said matter of factly.

"Sod off, Zabini." Draco muttered as he retrieved a dusty bottle of firewhiskey that he's stashed under the sofa.

1 month later...

Hermione had gave no more than a polite nod of the head to Malfoy since that night in the dungeons; she was still waiting for things to get easier. He was simply around, all the time. In her classes, in the great hall, in the courtyard after classes, and obnoxiously occupying her every thought. She had put up a good front though; the only person unconvinced of her happiness was Ginny.

"You look terrible." Ginny said, announcing her presence at breakfast.

"Thanks.." Hermione mumbled into her pumpkin juice.

"Just talk to him, Mione'. You're no fun since you broke up, I miss my best friend."

Hermione snorted in disapproval. "Fat chance of that happening, you'll sooner see Neville on the quidditch pitch."

At that comment, a snarky voice from somewhere behind her replied with "be careful what you which for, Granger. With Weaslette over here as captain, anything is possible."

Hermione didn't need to turn around to know where the halfhearted insult came from.

"Piss off Malfoy, you're just mad that I'm using all the moves you taught me against you; maybe you should learn to fight like a girl, yeah?"

Ginny's confidence made Draco snort.

"See you on pitch tonight, Weasley. As for you, Granger, a moment of your presence would be appreciated." Draco drawled.

Instead of replying, Hermione just gave Ginny a look that said 'if i'm not back in 10 minutes, come find me.' and she followed Draco to a vacant office just outside the great hall.

Once inside, Draco didn't waste any time with formalities.

"I need your help, Hermione."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Oh do you now? Looking for an unsuspecting Gryffindor to insult? Really, i've got better things to do today than to listen to your intolerable.."

She was effectively silenced by a pair of warm lips on hers. Before she could protest, Malfoy had her backed up against the door to the office, holding her in place with his hips. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she swallowed hard, trying to remember why she was there.

Feeling the bulge in his pants against the waistband of her skirt, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Sorry Malfoy, I'm not offering that sort of help to you."

Her statement may have had more conviction, had she not been struggling to keep her breaths even. He lowered his mouth to her ear.

"You're irresistable, Granger.." he breathed.

She shuddered and repositioned her leg to the outside of his in an attempt to give herself a way around him, but it did nothing to remedy the situation.

He shifted so that she was straddling his thigh. The contact made her lurch forward involuntarily, and he wrapped his arms around her, assuring that she wouldn't move.

She snaked her leg around his and pressed down on him, hoping to alleviate some of the tension growing between her legs.

Wrong move. She accidentally let out a soft moan,and just as he was about to take hold of her thigh, she slipped under his arm and distanced herself from him. Closing her eyes to bring her back to reality, she reminded herself that this was the same guy who rejected her based on blood stated a mere 30 days ago.

"Was it your plan to seduce me after breakfast or do you actually need my help?" She asked pointedly.

Looking rather disheveled, Draco blinked a few times.

"I err..No, I really do need your help." He tried to hide the disappointment in his voice, but it didn't work.

"Well, get on with it then." Hermione had recollected herself at this point, and was fighting to smother emotions that threatened to ruin her composure.

"Did you read the paper this morning?" He asked.

"If you'll recall, I was rudely intervened in the middle of a perfectly lovely breakfast by a certain conniving, conceited, blonde Slytherin! Perhaps you know him.."

Draco just frowned, ignoring her insults.

"Right. Well, if you had read the paper, you would seen to your delight, that my mother has been imprisoned."

Hermione snapped to attention.

"No, that's got to be a mistake, she was cleared of all charges!"

"She was, until that good for nothing traitor Rowle fabricated some pretty legitimate looking evidence that my mother had been working as a double for her cousin on the 'other side.'"

Hermione was now thoroughly confused.

"But that would mean she's have been passing information to.."

Draco finished her sentence. "Yep, Nymphodora Tonks. Which is bloody unlikely, considering mother can't even pick her from a crowd."

Hermione still wasn't fully understanding. "Okay, but what do I have to do with this?"

Draco took a deep breath. "The occasion they're investigating is the raid back at the last game of the quidditch world cup. It's been determined that my mother snuck away from the group of death eaters and took a portkey to the safe house that whats her face was at, but..."

Hermione cut him off. "Tonks..thats her name.."

"Right, well, anyway, the point is that my mother did leave the group via portkey, but she went somewhere else. Somewhere that only I and one other person witnessed her presence at.."

Hermiones heart sunk, recalling the night of the raid where she had accidentally took the wrong port key during the raid, bringing herself to the Shrieking Shack. She had landed hard on the dirt floor, screaming when realized she wasn't alone. At the time, Malfoy was still keen on calling her a mudblood and making her life miserable, so she prepared herself for a hex from him, but instead he just motioned for her silence. Moments later, Narcissa Malfoy appeared just feet from the dark corner where Hermione crouched.

"The Shrieking Shack.." Hermione finished.

Draco nodded.

"Tell me what I need to do." Hermione said with resolve.

...To be continued.