Disclaimer: I own nothing when it comes to Harry Potter since it all belongs to JK Rowling. I wish I owned it, because there would have been so many changes in it! But alas, I don't.

Summary: What if? Hermione didn't go to Hogwarts at eleven, but struggled to deal with her magic alone in the muggle world where she was labeled a freak. A scared Draco stumbled into her life, they learn to depend on each other for the things they need; a safe-haven and knowledge. HG/DM. AU.

Warning! : This is not beta'd. I don't know if it ever will be. There will be mistakes in the chapters and I am horrible for switch my tenses from past to present. This is for fun, so I'm not worrying too much over it.

A/N: So I've edited the older chapters and siwtched them. I added the older chapters together in pairs so that they're longer and I'm going to start making the chapters twice as long. If you're already caught up with this story, the newest chapter will start in the middle of this one. There's no real need to reread the older chapters again if you've already read them. I didn't change much besides a couple of spelling mistakes and few awkward sentences but it's all basically the same.

Chapter 3

Hermione couldn't believe it was happening; she was sitting here learning about magic. After all the years of wishing that she could learn more about it, it was finally happening. They had been sitting cross legged for more than a few hours with Draco answering her questions in a detailed manner as well as adding in his own opinions as he saw fit. It had taken Hermione awhile to convince him to sit across from her, and even when he sat there, looking out of place with his hair groomed and his clothes that seemed to scream wealthy, he still managed to look nonchalant while sitting on the grass.

They slowly went through everything that Hermione could think of... What causes a person to have magic? What was supposed to happen for her to learn? So where was Hogwarts? How does no one in the normal world know about this magical place? A war? The topics had gone full circle, back to the word that had been spoken the day that they had first met.

"So, what's a mudblood?" Hermione asked, curiosity peaked from Draco's vague explanation of the war that was going on in the wizard in world. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, messing it up slight from its overly groomed state. He didn't want to tell her, it wasn't something that was used in polite conversation. He normally wouldn't care but the fact that he knew he would have to spend time with her meant that he needed to at least get along with her for the time being.

"It's a term used for someone with dirty blood, a child introduced to the wizarding world born from two muggles. They aren't exactly thought well of in wizard society." Draco said, looking at the nails on his right hand as if they were suddenly interesting.

"Do most wizards think this way?" Hermione paused for a minute before speaking again, "My parents are both muggles, as far as I know. I guess that's why you called me a mudblood when we first met."

"Pureblood wizards still believe this way, it's the reason there's a war going on. One isn't considered well-bred if they are willing to conspire with muggleborns"

"Well bred? Are we talking about wizards or dogs?" Hermione said, sneering at him slightly though she couldn't place much emotion behind it. She had long grown indifferent to names and insults.

Draco held up his hands in defense, "I didn't say it was right. There are things that you couldn't understand; there are families that are better than others. Purebred families that have never been tainted by anything, only consisting of well-bred pure blood. Malfoy, Lestrange, Black, Avery, Carrow... these are only a few of the most well-bred families. I can't help that it's the way the world is."

Hermione considered it for a moment, "and what do you think?" She couldn't help but wonder what he thought, without the Purebred supremacy that he seemed to return to while they were speaking.

"Well, the Malfoy family is one of the oldest-" he started but was interrupted.

"No, you as an individual. Not your family, unless that's honestly what you believe but you've been more open than you have needed to be with me."

Draco leaned back a little, studying Hermione for what seemed like ages before opening his month to reply, "I don't think they're completely wrong. I do believe that purebred wizards are superior to muggleborns. We have always had the magic in our families and have been marrying to make the strongest connections between each family. There have even been rumors that magic feels connections to their compatible partner, much like what happens when a young wizard or witch buys their wands. With all this being said, I don't believe that muggleborns should be restricted from their magic, nor should they be treated like cattle, as some people in the war would like." He stopped, already feeling like he had said too much. In this instance, Draco was being truthful, he couldn't understand many of the extreme views when it came to blood supremacy and until this moment, he had never had a reason to think deeply about anything happening to muggleborns, he had always assumed that what his father had said was correct. After watching what had happened to Pansy, he knew that not everything was black and white, and not everyone deserved their fate.

Hermione just nodded, he noticed that she did that a lot. As if she just quietly took things in and processed it on her own. She quickly started with another topic, one that she had been itching to ask about since the first night.

"How do I get a wand?"

Draco had to stop and consider it, "I guess I could bring you into Diagon Alley. I know Ollivander has gone missing but I think that I saw his shop open last month and-" he stopped and looked at her "and none of this means anything to you. Look, I'll bring you to get one sometime."

"Can't you just bring me a wand? Or maybe I can just practice with yours?" Hermione said, she wouldn't admit it to him, but she was terrified of confronting the world that she had been deprived from.

Draco seemed to sputter for a second, catch off guard. He couldn't believe she would even suggest... "For one, your wand has to choose you. It's not something I could go pick up for you and expect it to match you well enough for you to function properly with it. It's just... not done. And second, sharing a wand is more private than... sex. It isn't something that's just done. The intimacy of it all is something that you obviously don't understand." He shook his head, a faint blush rushing to his cheeks while he spoke as if he was talking to a small child.

"But I... I used your wand before." Hermione felt the blood pull to her cheeks, she knew that she was blushing but she couldn't understand why he hadn't mentioned it before.

Draco nodded when she spoke. It was true that she had been using his wand but he was not as bothered by the idea as he had been when it happened. I guess that I got over it with time. He pursed his lips, knowing that he would deny her if she asked again now that she knew what it meant. Though he was no longer bothered by the idea of her using his wands, at least the feeling was gone from when she used it before; he still wasn't going to allow her to make it a habit.

"You used mine, and it will never happen again, do you hear me?" He waited until she nodded for good measure but from the flush of embarrassment on her face, Draco did believe that she would respect his wishes when it came to his wand, though it crossed his mine quickly that he may be giving her too much credit.

He knew that in order to teach her everything she would want to know, that she would need a wand. Draco would never be able to explain a lot of the things that are involved in the wizarding world; he would be more capable showing her by example more so than explanation. And for that, she would need a wand. Maybe next month, need to put that off as long as possible. Possibly find polyjuice potion. And a person who she could pose as. Draco couldn't believe he was even considering it, if it was discovered by The Dark Lord that he was parading around with a mudblood, Draco knew he would be killed on the spot. Not to mention what his father would say if he found out, The Dark Lord may be the least of his worries.

Draco focused his attention back to Hermione and saw her looking at him, as if she was waiting for instructions on what to do next. It was where Draco was struggling most, to think of things that she would want to learn. She reminded him of a toddler, with no concept of the world around her and an unreasonable need to ask questions.

They continued to go through things that Draco could remember from his First Year of Hogwarts; the spells that they went through in Defense against the Dark Arts, the plants they interacted with in herbology, the animals they faced in Care of Magical Creatures. Draco was going through stories he can remember of his classmates, "… I bloody swear, the idiot blew up a pitcher of water on the table at Gryffindor trying to turn it into wine and glass went everywhere! He sent four kids to the Hospital Wing and destroyed a large part of the table."

Hermione laughed as she listened to him recount stories from Hogwarts, a universe where she should have been sitting at one of the tables in the Great Hall. She couldn't help but wonder who her friends would have been and what they would have gotten up too. Listening to Draco talk about these times made her feel sad even through the happiness; it should have been her life. She had also noticed that through the whole story time, he never talked about his own friends or anything that directly involved him. Hermione couldn't find it in herself to mention this fact to him, it was the first time since she met him that he seemed relaxed. He wasn't constantly looking over his shoulder and was actually smiling. Hermione couldn't think of anything in her life that made her body tingle like watching him be comfortable in his skin and smile, even if it was talking about the mistakes of his classmates during their years at school.

He had moved on, talking about how some kid in the same year as him named Potter had gotten himself almost killed and in two other situations had actually gotten other students killed.

"Killed? Like, he was actually the reason the other students were killed?" Hermione asked, she couldn't understand what kind of school Hogwarts was to let children be killed during the school year.

Draco nodded, neither looking upset nor happy about the death of his fellow schoolmates. Hermione could understand the way he felt, in a way. He talked about them like he was talking about a film that he had watched, not that he would understand what she meant if she told him that was what it seemed like. She was slowly figuring out that he ignored a lot of what she said about the muggle world, most likely out of ignorance. She wasn't stupid; she knew that he was most likely too proud to ask about things that she would sometimes talk about. He would look interested when she talked about things, like when she was trying to explain her laptop to him. She figured it would just be easier to show him sometime when she got the chance.

Hermione couldn't help but ask, "What's the story behind that? And who names their child Potter. That seems odd."

"Well, I don't know if he killed either of them directly, but they were killed because of him. It might as well be the same thing. It was always one of the best reasons to avoid Potter, people die around him and if they don't die, they get injured. And his name is Potter, well... his given name isn't Potter, its Harry. It's a custom in the wizarding world to call acquaintances or well anyone that isn't a close friend by the surname."

Hermione laughed a little, "So people call you Malfoy? What happens if you and your father are in the same place? How do you know who someone is calling out for?"

"We're not uncivilized. We don't just call out to each other; we walk up to one another quietly and address each other face to face." Draco's face flushed a little, almost like it was upsetting to think that he would act like that. "And yes, people call me Malfoy. It is my surname. The Malfoy name is one of the sacred twenty-eight. "

She laughed again, and watched as his face became a little more flushed. She thought that he sounded like something from the eighteenth century but now wasn't the time to point it out to him. When he talked of being… whatever it was he was a part of... he seemed so proud.

Hermione couldn't find it in herself to spoil anything that he was happy or proud, not when he was normally so defensive and broken.

…oOo…

Hermione walked into her house, feeling more tired than she could ever remember. She was disappointed that they had spent more the day just talking through things and not actually using magic but it was more than interesting to learn about the world that she had missed out on.

She was alone by the time she got back to the house, a loud crack echoed through the forest behind her. She had tried to convince Draco to come back to the house but he was adamant that he needed to leave. When she had mentioned how long they had been outside together, he had gotten fidgety and pale.

Hermione noticed that it happened whenever he talked about having to go home or even when his home was brought up. She had tried to get him to talk about his life, but he wouldn't open up about anything personal. The only thing she knew so far was that his name was Malfoy, which was apparently a big deal in the wizarding world, and that there was something going on in his life that he was having trouble dealing with. She could tell from the way that he flinched when she mentioned his home and he would become flighty whenever she would mention his family. She knew that she wanted to learn more about the history, and about Draco himself but he was so tight-lipped about himself.

She had tried to steer the conversation towards his family and his life multiple times but he would tense up and change the subject quickly. She yawned as she walked up the steps towards her bedroom with Crookshanks twirling around her ankles as if he was trying to trip her back down the steps.

She didn't know when she would see Draco again but she was hoping that it would be soon; she needed more though of whether it was of knowledge or this strange boy, she couldn't be sure.

…oOo…

Draco felt the rush of the apparition pull at his navel before he dropped on the grass outside the Manor. He landed on his feet ungracefully, it annoyed him that apparition was the one thing so far that he couldn't completely get the hang of. He would have apparated directly to his room to ignore everyone that The Dark Lord had lingering around the Manor but he was trying to find Theo.

He needed a plan to help Hermione, even though he still couldn't understand his need to help her, besides the Vow, he still had an intense need to help her with her magic. Draco knew that Theo would help him figure something out, but first he needed to figure out a way to get Theo to understand why he was willing to go through so much to help her.

He found Theo in the library, which was the second place, after the kitchen that Draco checked. He knew that Theo would be either eating or hiding away in the library reading. Theo wasn't a bad guy, but he did have a fascination with the dark magic books that Lucius Malfoy kept in the library. Draco didn't say anything to Theo as he walked down through the shelves of the library before coming to a stop in front of an unused section, looking through the selections before grabbing the newest edition and pulling it from the line of books. He blew the coating of dust and smirked lightly to himself before making his way back to Theo.

His friend raised his cold blue eyes from the book he was reading and perked an eyebrow at the book in Draco's hands but didn't say anything. Theo folded his book together and placed it on the table next to him.

"You went there? How's the teaching going, Professor?" Theo snickered at his joke before looking at the book in Draco's hand again; watching as he clenched his fingers around the book in what Theo could only imagine was nervousness.

"You're nervous." Theo said, looking over Draco closely.

"I need to ask you something, I need to get her a wand. I need a plan and help." Draco said, trying to look more confident than he felt. He couldn't understand what was happening to him, he was normally confident and what some would call cocky, but just the mention to what was going on with that girl would stir his nerves.

Theo knew this wasn't like his friend, Draco had always been confident and … well if they were to actually admit it, he could be more than a little cowardly. If The Dark Lord knew that he was spending his time with a mudblood, willingly and didn't tell anyone right away to "get rid of the problem," Draco would be killed, most likely in the slowest way possible. But with everything going on, Theo knew why he did not instantly to The Dark Lord, Lucius or Bellatrix. They had seen enough death and Pansy had been the straw that had broken the camel's back, so to speak. When it came to the Order of the Phoenix, they weren't exactly innocent, killing for their cause the same as the Death Eaters had.

Draco held his breath, before speaking. "It's the Vow. I need to help her. Did you forget about that? I need a plan; she asked a wand so I need to figure out a plan to get her to Ollivander's... Do you even know if it's open now?"

Theo tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair he was sitting on before answering, "Yes, as far as I know. After The Dark Lord allowed Bellatrix to kill Ollivander for not submitting, she was ordered to find another wand maker but they were planning to put someone there for any new students who needed a wand. Anyone pureblood, that is." Theo paused, before continuing again. "How exactly do you plan on bringing an unknown witch into Diagon Alley? It's full of Death Eaters and you're Draco Malfoy."

Draco knew this was where things could get dicey with his friend. He watched as Theo studied him closely and began to glare at him. Theo knew he was up to something, his friend wasn't stupid.

"See, I was thinking of a polyjuice potion. That gives us a month to figure out all the details." Draco said, looking at the book in his hands.

"Why not just buy it? It would save you having to sneak around to brew it."

Draco looked at him flatly, "And what could I possibly use as an excuse for buying it? With Diagon Alley covered in Death Eaters and what if it gets back to The Dark Lord? I may know some Legilimency but he would break me until I opened up… or died first."

"Ah," Theo blew out a gust of air before he spoke again, "Whose identity do you expect to use for this? You can't exactly use someone who could stumble upon themselves."

Draco began to pace in front of Theo, "Well, I was thinking and you could completely say no but I was hoping I could use your hair for it."

"My hair?!" Theo squawked. Draco snickered, he had never heard his friend make such a shrill noise and it was a funny sight. Theo was always the rational and calm one of the two of them, being described as cold by many of their classmates at Hogwarts. To see him so far out of his element was just what Draco needed, he began speaking before Theo could say anything when he noticed his friend opening his mouth. Whether he was going to argue or was just gapping from shock, Draco wasn't sure but he didn't give him a chance to speak.

"You can meet her, so she can understand how you act and you can just stay in my bedroom or the forest for an hour while we go to Diagon Alley… Will a wand work for her though if she's disguised as you?"

Theo was reluctant when he spoke, "It should, technically. It is her magic inside of a shell of my body but Draco, if you haven't noticed, I have a wand. And everyone knows it. I can't exactly politely ask for a new one."

"Yes, you can." Draco jumped in, "A couple of days before we do it, you can just say you lost your wand. Magic changes all the time, so you… she will be tested for a new one. I'll have enough gold on me that no one will question it."

"I haven't said yes." Theo said coldly. He had slipped his face into a blank mask after he had gotten over his surprise.

Draco was smirking lightly at him; he knew that he had him. He knew that Theo was interested in meeting her, especially after telling him about the wandless magic.

"Fine." Theo said, his voice resigned.

Draco grinned; his white teeth flashing in the light, making Theo compare him aloud to a shark. Shrugging slightly, he dropped into a chair beside Theo triumphantly and again saw Theo eyeing the book in his hands.

"I'm going to bring it to her whenever I go again." He said, looking rather sheepish.

"What's going on with you? This isn't normal. You've never been interested in mudbloods. Turning into Dolohov, are we?" Theo frowned as he said it, it was supposed to be a joke but even Theo could see that it was in bad taste.

Draco felt his face screw up in was he could only imagine was a disgusted grimace. Antonin Dolohov was a Death Eater who was known for taking muggleborn pets. They would never return to the manor dungeons as whole as when they left, sometimes missing larges areas of flesh or even limbs. Draco thought they were the lucky ones, having heard Dolohov talking to Greyback one evening about the ones that he kept. Draco shuddered and heard Theo mutter a quick "Sorry." It was as good as Draco would get from his friend so it accepted it easily. It wasn't that Draco cared much about what Dolohov was doing, but it was where Hermione would end up if anyone found out about her and that was one thing that she didn't deserve. Dolohov always wanted any muggles or muggleborns that made their way in front of The Dark Lord and Draco was sure that she would be no exception.

He sighed before answering Theo's earlier question. "There's nothing going on with me. I took a Vow, even if it wasn't something I intended on doing. Besides, having you ever wondered what would happen to mudblood who was stuck in the muggle world?"

"No." Theo answered bluntly and started at his friend before shifting his eyes down to the book that Draco had placed on the table before them.

It had been a long time since either of them had read Hogwarts: A History.

…oOo…

Hermione spent the time cleaning the house; she had started upstairs in her bedroom before making her way through the rest of the house. Her parents were due to be home in little over a week and it had been at least two weeks since she had started spending time with Draco. It had been a couple days since she had seen him but she spent the time in between his visits practicing, cleaning and keeping up with her summer school work as best she could with everything that was going on. She needed to keep the house as normal as possible so that when her parents returned they wouldn't know something was different from when they left.

And cleaning was where Draco found her.

He crept into the house carefully, trying to see why she wasn't in the forest where she normally met him. Over the past week they had met three times and Hermione had mentioned that her parents would be back soon from their boat tour… she had called it a cruise.

Draco wasn't sure when they were supposed to be back but figured he should be careful sneaking into the house, just in case. What Draco didn't expect to find was a red-faced Hermione laying on the floor in her lounging room with a black stick in her hand that directed light under the couch as she tried to squeeze close enough to look under it.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" He asked, he couldn't help but snicker when she shot up onto her hands and knees to look up at him in surprise.

A look of relief came over her face when she saw that it was only him before she became annoyed as she scrambled to her feet, "You scared me! How did you even get in here? I locked the door last night before I went to bed and haven't gone outside yet today."

Draco smirked and raised an eyebrow at her, "I forget how muggle you are sometimes. Wizard, remember? I can unlock a simple door. What exactly are you doing?"

"Crooks sometimes loses his toys under the couch and it's too heavy for me to move on my own. I was looking with a flashlight to see if I could see any that I could reach." She explained, frowning slightly when she looked over at the couch.

"Why not just use magic to lift it? I've seen you lift things windlessly." Draco asked, crossing the room to collapse in the chair opposite to the couch.

"You've seen me lift small stones and leaves, I can't lift anything heavy like this." Hermione explained, she was surprised when Draco reached into his robes before pulling out his wand and waving it effortlessly at the couch, making it float up far enough that she could peer under it and grab the few toys that Crookshanks had poked away.

"Why did you come here anyways?" she glanced over at the clock that was on the wall to see that it was well past when they would normally meet. She would normally go into the forest at four in the afternoon and if he didn't show up after fifteen minutes she would know that he wouldn't be there that day. It wasn't the best system but it was the one that they had fallen into over the past weeks. "I am so sorry; I didn't realize that it was so late."

She sat down on the then lowered couch and looked at him. No matter where he found himself, he would always look almost too put together. He was raised that way, she had discovered during one of their talks, when they were talking about the way pureblood wizards were raised. Even sitting in a chair in her living room, he looked formal. His back was straight and his ankles loosely crossed. Hermione tried to find something out of place, even a hair or a wrinkle in his robes but he was more perfect than anyone she has ever seen. The only thing that bothered Hermione was…

"I hate those robes." She blurted out, not thinking before she spoke aloud. It was more than true though; the deep black robes that he wore sometimes were more than a little intimidating. She preferred the deep blue robes that he sometimes wore that made his silver eyes shimmer, or the black robes that were… just not as black. No, these robes were intimidating, Hermione decided. She had only seen them twice, the day he had appeared and today.

"My robes?" he drawled. Draco raised an eyebrow at her statement. She couldn't help but wondering if he practiced raising it, but she knew that with how much he did it, he would have perfected it by now.

Hermione nodded, "They remind me of a creature that was in the forest the day before you showed up." She couldn't believe she hadn't mentioned it before, especially with all the time they had spent in the forest, with everything that was going on it had slipped her mine. It had come to the forefront of her mind when she had focused on those black robes that seemed to taint the colour of everything around them.

Draco looked confused before asking, "Creature? What did it look like?" Surely she couldn't have been speaking of a regular animal.

Hermione looked a bit pale as she spoke, "I was out in the forest practicing when everything felt cold. I didn't notice at first but there was this thing floating around that was wearing robes that were so black that I hadn't seen anything like it before. I threw one of those red blasts—"

"Stupefy." Draco filled in, ignoring the way that she huffed at being interrupted before continuing.

"Yes, that and then I ran."

"You haven't been able to perform that windlessly since we've been practicing." Draco mentioned, even though he knew that it was highly irrelevant at the moment, it was the focus of his thoughts.

"I didn't know I would really do it, especially so hard. I was panicked."

"Draco nodded before speaking again, "It was a Dementor."

Hermione hadn't even considered that the thing that had stripped her of her happiness and warmth had been linked to the wizarding world; she couldn't imagine why all these events that were linked to her being a witch would have happened so close together in time.

"A dementor?" she looked over at Draco, taking note that he was looking quite pale. Well, paler than he normally did. Did this boy ever go out in the sun?

"They guard Azkaban. It's where the Ministry of Magic keeps their prisoners." He said, looking at something on the wall behind Hermione's head. She knew that Draco tended to do this when he was thinking or worried. At least she assumed he was worried when he did it, she could never completely tell and it didn't help that he would never speak of anything personal.

"Have you ever been there?" She asked quietly but Draco gave her a startled look.

"Been there? Are you kidding? It's one of the worse places on earth. Downright torture. You need to do something especially evil to end up there."

Hermione looked annoyed at the misunderstanding, "Of course I didn't mean to ask if you've been imprisoned there, you idiot. Just if you have ever visited there? You seem nervous, that's all."

He narrowed his eyes at the insult but let it drop, "My aunt spent time in there."

Hermione looked over at him, "Past tense? You said that they had to do evil deeds to get into that prison. I guess I'm sorry for your loss."

"My loss? What are you talking about?" He looked surprised at the muggleborn girl sitting across from him. No one would ever apologize for anything that happened to Bellatrix if they knew her. He knew that he certainly wouldn't.

"Well, obviously she died. They don't let evil people out, do they?" Hermione watched as Draco laughed bitterly, "No, they don't let them out, but that didn't stop her from breaking out."

"She escaped? What did she do to be locked up in the first place?"

"That, Granger, you really don't want to know." He said as he stood up and walked over to a black satchel that he had set down after walking into the house. He looked through it before pulling out a rather large book that he proceeded to pass to her as she looked at him with her wide expressive eyes.

Draco watched as she ignored the world around her in favour of the book. He had never had someone act so interested in anything he had given them since he had given Pansy chocolates during their second year of Hogwarts before Zabini had claimed her. Hermione read the title, running her fingers along the letters before opening it up. Draco opened his mouth to make a remark about bookworms to save his dignity for bringing a book just for her when a sharp burning flowed down his left arm ending at his dark mark, making his teeth clench tightly and a low hiss escaped from his mouth as he let the air leave his lungs.

Hermione glanced up at him from the book quickly, when she heard the sound, only to see Draco looking at his arm and pulling out his wand. She watched as he muttered a quick goodbye before vanishing with a crack. She looked past where he left to see the black bag there, still open from where he had been searching through it to find the book in her hands.

She stood up and lightly placed Hogwarts: A History on the table next to the couch before walking over to the bag. She sat down, folding her legs under herself and paused when her hand was placed on the lip of the bag. This is such an invasion of privacy… It's so wrong but… before she could talk herself out of what she knew was highly inappropriate she shoved her hand in the bag. She knew that if she wanted to look at anything she needed to do it now. When Draco would leave quickly like that, he wouldn't normally return for a couple days but as he had left his bag, she didn't know when he would be back.

Hermione grasp a vial with an orange coloured thick liquid inside, she kept pulling out all the vials she found, placing them alongside one another in a line up; Aside the orange liquid, there was a purple one, a brown one and a clear one.

She took a chance on the clear one to uncork it, bringing it up to her nose only to be disappointed when there was no odor. Having no clue what any of them were, she set it back down and reach inside the bag again before pulling out two letters. She immediately placed the one sighed from Draco's mother down, it was too personal to her, though she believed that she was being overly sentimental considering her hands were already unfolding the other one so that she could see it was from someone named Theo.

Draco,

The Dark Lord has sent me on another mission. I figured I should mention it so that you can check on the potion and add the needed ingredients. I left it in your room and warded the door. I don't think I will be gone long but if you need me, just send me an owl.

Oh, and be careful. I kept an eye on everything happening at the manor before I left and Bellatrix is starting to sniff around since you've been gone more than usual. You know she will go crazy if she catches wind of dirty blood.

Cheer mate,

Theo.

Hermione looked at the note in confusion, not understanding everything that was being said. Bellatrix? What an odd name but Draco wasn't exactly normal name either. Maybe everyone from the wizarding world have odd names. Hermione though as she looked back at the paper, noticing the name Theo before discounting her assumption. She knew that the dirty blood must have been her, she had Draco explain what a mudblood was but for what reason would anyone really care if he was talking to her. And why would this Theo person have to keep an eye out.

Hermione huffed before putting the note down, she had more questions than before after reading it. She wondered if she should bring it up to Draco but thought better of it.

Hermione then looked back at the letter from Draco's mother before shaking her head and looking farther into the bag. There were three crumpled up pieces of paper in the bottom of the bag. She unfolded and straightened the first one as best she could before examining it, there was a boy moving on the paper, looking back at her with striking green eyes. His face was narrow and worn, as if he hadn't slept in a long time and there was a mess of black hair sticking in all directions on his head. The words WANTED: Harry Potter. Wanted for offenses against the Ministry. Wanted Alive. Reward on Capture.

Hermione pulled out the second sheet to see that it was like the first one but the black haired boy was replaced with a red haired boy with blue eyes and scattered freckles that coloured his cheeks and nose. Ronald Weasley, the paper named him. The only slight difference was that the paper specified dead or alive.

Potter? Wasn't that who Draco didn't seem to like that went to Hogwarts with him? Hermione couldn't help thinking back to when Draco was telling her about his times at Hogwarts and how people around Potter would die.

Hermione grabbed the last piece of paper, straightening it out to see a photo of a rather large group of people. Under the photo, the words said WANTED: Order of the Phoenix. All members are known criminals at large. Wanted Dead or Alive. She couldn't understand why Draco had these, or what these people did. It seemed rather barbaric to place out a kill order on all these people to the general public.

She glanced back at the picture of Harry Potter before picking it up, looking him over again. He was rather attractive even with his hair looking uncombed and the large bags under his eyes from exhaustion. Hermione couldn't help but wonder why Draco disliked this boy so much; she could hear the disgust in his voice every time he was brought up. She stuffed everything back into the black bag as best she could, trying to remember exactly how it was placed away in the first place. Maybe Hermione would have to ask Draco about him again, just to see what happens.

…oOo…

"What's the whole story on Harry Potter?"

It was a week later and Hermione sprung the question on Draco as soon as he popped into the forest with a crack and shimmer of air.

"Potter? Why are you wondering about him?" He asked as he looked over to see Hermione sitting with her legs folded under her and his bag sat on her lap. He knew that he had left it when he had been called to a meeting a week ago, but decided to leave it there for now. There was nothing important in there and he had extra potions at the Manor if he needed them.

"I looked through the bag, and I saw the pictures of Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and a group photo of a bunch of people. I know that you don't like Potter, but I was just wondering why. And why he's wanted, the only one who seems to matter if he's alive or dead." She said, looking more confident than she felt. She had debated for the whole week on whether she would tell him that she looked through the bag or not, but in the end, she assumed that if he thought that anything in the bag was too important for her to see, he would have taken more time to remember to take it with him when he left.

Draco looked at the ground around him, seemingly deciding that it wasn't too dirty for him to sit on before gracefully folding himself onto the ground. Hermione couldn't believe how nervous he seemed, she had never seen him act as fidgety as he picked at his fingernails and looked down at the ground. He signed, wetting his lips before speaking.

"There's a lot that you don't know about the wizarding world, especially when it comes to pureblood customs and how badly some families want to stay pure" He spoke the word with disgust. "Right now, there's a war going on in the wizarding world against a person who should be dead… who has died but has since returned. If he has his way, another born with muggle parents would most likely not survive if he succeeds."

"I don't understand why you're telling me this, I asked about Harry Potter. Is he the person who wants muggleborns dead?" Hermione asked, watching him carefully.

"No, he isn't. Apparently, when he was a baby, he survived our killing curse and defeated The Dark Lord. Now Harry Potter is leading the Order of the Phoenix, a group trying to keep the muggleborns safe." Draco wouldn't look at her, choosing instead to study the trees around him as he waited for her to ask the question that he was dreading to answer.

"But why would there be wanted posters with their names on it if they're trying to help? This story doesn't make much sense." She asked slowly, trying to wrap her head around everything.

"The ministry is corrupted, it always has been but lately it's been worse. They have actually begun arresting muggleborns on the charges of stealing magic from pureblood families." Draco snorted to himself, even when he was consumed with dislike for muggleborns, he never did believe that they had stolen their magic. That seemed silly, even to Draco as a child.

Hermione was quiet for a moment, "But you and Harry Potter don't get along. You think that he's an idiot… Are you not a member of the Order of the Phoenix group?"

"No, I'm not." Draco said, exhaling quietly and chancing a look at her. She was staring at him wide eyed.

"But you're involved in the war, when you first showed up…you looked like you had been in some kind of battle."

"I wasn't in a battle, it was punishment, but I am involved in the war." He paused for a minute before beginning again, "I'm not on the side that favours your… kind."

"My kind? Draco, are you actually on a side trying to make it so that people like me are killed?" Hermione knew that she needed to keep calm and try to think rationally but she couldn't help the feeling of betrayal and hurt that welled up inside her. Has he just been toying with me all this time? She could feel her eyes start to tingle as they began filling with tears. She knew that she had to get away, she was not crying in front of him.

"Yes, I guess I'm on that side, but it's not exactly by choice! If I believed in the things that The Dark Lord stood for, I would have killed you when I first met you." For the first time since meeting her, Draco tried to initiate contact with her by grasping her arm gently, only to have her yank her arm from his grasp as soon as he made contact. He watched helplessly as she stood to her feet quickly and began walking away from him towards her house.

"Hermione—"

"Just… leave me alone for now." She spoke so softly, he wasn't sure he had heard everything she had said.

He couldn't help but wonder what he could do to fix it. It wasn't like he could leave her alone for too long, the Vow would never allow it.

He needed to know how to fix it… He would ask Theo.