Hiii :D

I'm back with the third chapter… I hope you guys like it :D

Also, here's a shout out to my best friend Zilla, who was the first person to red this, besides me… I hope it lived up to your expectations :D

"Lavender Brown?" Hermione exclaimed.

This was the girl Ron had left her for. The girl who had been "exciting" enough for Ron. The girl who was everything Hermione was not. Hermione felt her insecurities begin to surface, when she realized the position she was in.

She was sitting on Ron's bed, half lying on him with her arms around him, and her lips brushing his cheek. No wonder Lavender and Draco were staring.

"Lavender," Hermione began. "It's not what it looks lik-"

Hermione's voice was cut off when Lavender screamed.

"YOU'RE CHEATING ON ME WITH HERMIONE GRANGER?" Lavender's voice ripped through the octaves. Her face had gone bright red and her eyes had a deranged look in them.

"YOU ARROGANT, LYING CHEATING -"

Footsteps suddenly thundered down the hallway and the room door crashed open as half a dozen Healers and Aurors, headed by Harry burst into the room, brandishing their wands.

Harry looked around the room in confusion. When he heard an inhuman shriek coming from Ron's room, he had expected Death Eaters or dragons or maybe even the ghost of Voldemort attacking Ron. What he did not expect was to find Lavender screaming her head off at a terrified looking Ron and an embarrassed Hermione.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

Everyone started talking at the same time.

"HE'S CHEATING ON-"

"Mate, she's gone bonkers-"

"Harry, Lavenders assuming things-"

"Everybody! Speak one at a time please!" Harry nearly screamed in frustration. Today had not been a good day for him. First, he found out that his family had been kidnapped, then his best friend had almost died, he was forced to cooperate with Malfoy and now he has to look after adults who were screaming like preschoolers.

Hermione, who had gotten off the bed, tried to speak to Harry. "I came in to check on Ron, when he woke up and then we were talking. I was just giving him a hug when Lavender entered and over reacted-" Hermione was cut off by Lavender when she lunged at her and started clawing her face.

"STUPEFY!" People all over the room shouted and five beams of red hit Lavender, instantly stunning her. Hermione, with a vengeful smirk, pointed her wand at Lavenders still form, and thought Levicorpus.

A healer pushed Lavenders bobbing upside down body out of the room while everyone cheered, glad that the onslaught on their eardrums had stopped.

"Wow Weasley, you certainly know how to choose them." Draco sardonically remarked. With a laugh, everyone left the room, leaving only Ron, Hermione and Draco. A tense silence pervaded the atmosphere as Ron and Draco glared at each other.

Hermione couldn't take the awkwardness anymore. "Ron, I'll, umm, see you later," she stammered and left the room, dragging Draco out with her.

Draco was feeling angry and upset, but didn't know why. When Lavender had entered the hospital like a hurricane, demanding to be taken to Ron's room, he only obliged because he thought Hermione might be there. However, when he entered the room and saw Hermione hugging Ron, any kindly feelings he might have been entertaining towards him disappeared. White hot rage had engulfed his system and he had wanted to rip Hermione out of the Ron's embrace and beat him up, injured or not. He didn't know why he was feeling so violent, and this made him even more upset. When Lavender had attacked Hermione, the stunner he aimed at the girl was without conscious thought – he had reacted at a subconscious level, attacking to protest his friends.

Its only because Hermione is my only friend, he argued with himself. Nothing more.

His voice sounded unconvinced to even his own ears. His mind was a whirlwind of emotion, and he wasn't enjoying the sensation of feeling so confused. And he knew the root cause for all this drama in his head was the petite witch walking next to him. He suddenly realized Hermione was talking to him, and started paying attention.

"That Lavender sure is a nut case, isn't she?" Hermione was saying "I cant believe she reacted so jealously. I mean, it's me and Ron. We were best friends. Still are." she gave a nervous laugh.

Jealous. Hermione's voice faded out of Draco's ears as he gave a name to his emotions. He was jealous of Ron. But why would he be jealous, unless…?

No! Draco shouted mentally. He just realized something. He, Draco Malfoy, ex death eater, had fallen in love with Hermione Granger, war hero. As he admitted this to himself, he suddenly felt a warm glow inside him, warming his cold heart up. Yes, that was true. She made him feel special. She made him laugh, made him think, and treated him fairly, in spite of his last name, something no one had ever done before. She had been friendly to him, even though she had risked her reputation. His days were no longer monotonous and painful, instead now he looked forward to each day because he knew that he would meet her. Her friendship had brightened his day, and her warm humor was balm to his weary soul. She wasn't like the other girls. Her presence was what had saved him, and made him want to be a better man. Made him want be worthy of her. The man upon whom she bestowed her affections was a lucky man. He felt his heart twist with pain when he realized that it would never be him. After all, who could ever learn to love a beast? A groan reverberated through his body. It seemed like his bad luck would never end. His tale would be like thousands around him – a tale of unrequited love. Sudden iciness filled his heart when he realized that he could not ever show her how he felt, because then he knew she would leave. He would not be able to bear that. He would ungrudgingly take only her friendship, if that was all she would offer.

He looked up and realized that Hermione was not walking next to him. She must have left when he was immersed in his own thoughts. He hurried his footsteps to find her.

He questioned the first Auror he came across about Hermione's and Harry's location.

The Auror replied " They just flooed to the Ministry. They've received a ransom note."

Hermione mind was whirling. This was all happening too fast. Around half an hour ago, an owl had delivered a letter to Harry's office. His secretary had opened it and found out that it was a ransom note from the death eaters who had Ginny and James. She immediately notified the Aurors in St. Mungos and waited for Harry's arrival.

Hermione had been talking to Harry when one of the younger Aurors came running up to him and told him about the note. Immediately, both of them apparated to the Ministry.

Hermione read the note again.

We have them. Come meet us today at the Shrieking Shack at 12 midnight with 10,000 galleons if you want them back safe and sound. And come alone.

Enclosed in the envelope was a lock of Ginny's flame red hair. When Harry had seen this, he flew into a rage. In all the years Hermione had known him, she had never seen him lose control like this. This was worse than when Sirius died. Worse than when Dumbledore had kept him at Privet Drive. Here was a man who had lost his entire world. Thankfully, he soon calmed down, but his eyes were filled with a quiet and deadly anger that spelt danger to anyone who got in his way. He immediately made preparations to meet the Death Eaters. He sent an elite battalion of undercover Aurors to scope out the entire village of Hogsmede to see if anyone suspicious had arrived, and arranged for withdrawing 10,000 galleons from his vault in Gringotts. However, something didn't add up in Hermione's mind. If the Death Eaters were only after money, why would they kidnap the family of the most famous man in the wizarding world, a man who had the power to track them down easily. Wouldn't they choose someone who was less famous and powerful? And why would they ask for only 10,000 galleons, when Harry could afford to pay a hundred times that amount. This didn't seem right. There was more than met the eye, and she needed to find out what was wrong here.

As she was puzzling over the mystery in Harry's office, Draco skidded through the door. The worried look on his face told Hermione that he knew about the ransom note. She didn't know how he had found out, but was glad that he was here now. He voiced Hermione's suspicions "The Death Eaters do not kidnap people for money. This doesn't add up-"

At this point, Harry entered the room. He seemed only mildly surprised to see Draco here, but ignored him and spoke.

"The Aurors are in place. I will meet the Death Eaters at the Shrieking Shack today as planned. Hermione, Draco, I need you. You're the smartest Ministry employees here. Can you help?"

Hermione nodded her head, her forehead creasing in worry. Then, after a moment of indecision, she burst out "Harry, doesn't this seem wrong to you. If they were after money, why would they kidnap your family? And why only 10,000 galleons? Draco agrees with me, this is not their style. They have some other motive."

Harry's face twisted with anguish. Hermione's words rang true in his ears. Once the Death Eaters got the money, if they were after it, they would kill everyone. And if they weren't after it, this was a wild goose chase and they were back to square one.

Draco, who had remained quiet throughout the whole discussion, suddenly spoke. He had realized there was a way to help Harry find Ginny and James.

"There is a way to find out where the death eaters are. After Voldemort realized that Igor Karkaroff had run away from him, he devised a spell that would enable him to track down the location of each one of his followers. This was a highly complex piece of magic. And it can only be performed by someone with the Mark."

He grabbed a piece of parchment from the table, and placed it over his Mark. Tapping it with his wand, he muttered "Revelio."

Harry and Hermione watched the paper filled with anticipation as ink danced on the parchment. Finally, a word was formed. One single word.

Unplottable.

Harry's mind whirled in confusion. Unplottable? How can it be unplottable? There was only one place in the whole of England that was unplottable, and that was Hogwarts. And death eaters could not have snuck into its grounds.

As he looked at Hermione's face, he saw his own confusion and fear mirrored there. He let out a humorless laugh. "Malfoy, looks like your spell didn't work. There's only one place unplottable, and that's Hogwarts. And there's no way they're there."

As he looked at Draco's face, he only saw a quiet resignation etched in his features. "There is one other place that is unplottable." Draco murmured.

Hermione spun on her heel, and started shaking Draco's shoulders.

"Where?"

"Malfoy Manor."

What do you think? Did you see that coming?

As always, rate and review. Please. Or else the Crumple Horned Snorcacks will get you =P