Draco remembered his mother telling him of her adventures in the Royal House of Black. How she would play hide-and-seek with her sisters when they were children, and how the house was so big and mysterious that it would sometimes take them hours to find each other. How they'd always be making trouble of the deranged house-elf that resided there. How their cousin Sirius would help them play pranks on everyone, children and adults alike. They had lived as a joint family so there had never been any problem finding victims . . .

Now that he was giving the whole situation so much thought, he was able to make some connections and come up with quite a few revelations.

Through the centuries, the House of Black had always been passed onto the eldest male heir of the family. Sirius was supposed to inherit the house - even if he was kicked out of the family - and Sirius had gone to school with part of the generation that was now in the Order. Perhaps he had handed it over to one of them in his will?

It was all too confusing and complicated, but one thing that Draco knew for sure was that the house was very well protected. Many ancestors had put up all sorts of charms and wards around the house throughout the ages.

Perhaps he would revisit the unfamiliar street where he had picked up the parchment and see exactly how powerful those wards really were.

-!-!-!-

Hermione frantically searched her pockets for the piece of parchment with The Order's address on it.

She could not find it anywhere.

"No," she moaned in despair.

"What's the matter?" someone asked from behind.

She was supposed to be bringing in new recruits to the Order, but alas, there was no way for them to enter.

"Nothing. I'm going to need you lot to just stand here for a few minutes. I'll be right back."

When she arrived at the Order, her eyes grew wide with realization. She had made sure that she had the address right before they went to ambush the Death Eaters's lair. Therefore, the only place she could have lost it was during that time, seeing as she had brought he recruits as soon as Draco had left. And the possibility that Draco would find that piece of parchment was quite great, if that were the case.

"Damn it all!"

-!-!-!-

From what Draco could tell, they were a bunch of graduates. Because there was no way a working person would act so immaturely.

"Hello," he said in greeting.

One of the girls from the group turned around. "Hello," she said, flashing him her pearly whites.

"You know Hermione Malfoy? That woman who was just with you? Could you please tell me where she went?" he asked them.

The girl's smile immediately turned to a frown. "Why? I mean, who are you?"

Draco put on his most charming smile and brought out his hand. "Oh I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself first. My name's Draco Malfoy." The girl shook his hand.

"Malfoy? Oh, so you're related to her! I'm Lucy!"

"Well, actually, I'm her husband."

Lucy's eyebrows scrunched together. "But she wasn't wearing a wedding ring," she told him.

"She doesn't wear her wedding ring on her finger. It's on a chain around her neck; much harder to notice. Keeps her hands free to work with and at the same time protects the ring."

That sounded lame even to him. He would do good to finish this fast, lest Hermione come back.

"As I was saying before, I arrived just in time to see her vanish off somewhere. See, today's our anniversary and she thinks I've forgotten so she's been in a foul mood since morning. I'm sure you've noticed."

They nodded.

"Now I just need to find her and wish her and make up." He added a sheepish smile and a shrug just to go with the whole innocent act.

"Aw! That's so sweet!" Lucy squealed.

Draco smirked. He was too good.

"She just disappeared into that space between 11 and 13 Grimmauld Place. And there's no number 12. Freaky, right?"

Draco smiled. "Not really." And with that, he strode away.

-!-!-!-

"Sonorous! Everybody evacuate immediately! There's an intruder on premises!"

Her message was received with loud of clear. Loud mostly, considering the amount of POPS that suddenly started echoing through the empty house.

Filled with guilt at her impromptu mistake, Hermione felt that she could not leave the house until she made sure that everyone had left the building. It was definitely possible that someone in the attic was so absorbed with the clutter of weapons that they did not hear her announcement.

After searching the whole house thoroughly, she was just about to apparate when she heard the painting of Mrs. Black start screeching.

"How dare you enter-" there was a pause during which Hermione started descending the stairs slowly to see Mrs. Black's next victim.

"Oh my! You look exactly like a young version of Lucius Malfoy!"

Hermione froze on the stairs. Unfortunately, she stopped on the creakiest step and immediately drew attention to herself.

"Tell me boy," the portraits was saying, "Are you his son?"

However, Draco only had eyes for Hermione at that moment.

"Nice hideout," he drawled as he walked towards the stairs.

"Better than yours," she snapped, stepping back the whole time, wand behind her back.

"Ah, but I don't have one. I happen to live in a luxurious mansion."

Hermione had reached the top stair now and Draco was at the bottom. She could still apparate right out of there but her curiosity would not let her.

"Whereas you," he continued, now on the middle step, "are stuck here in this hovel, all alone with nothing but an old portrait to keep you company." He was only about two steps away from her now and looked as though he would lunge forward any second now.

Hermione gave him a tight smile. "Not everything is as it seems." With that, she apparated away.

She arrived at the Auror office in the Ministry of Magic and found the rest of the Order waiting there for her.

"How could you let this happen?" Lavender shrieked.

"I swear I have no idea how someone as reckless as you got accepted into the order!"

"I can't believe you're one of our best!" another sneered, "Some example you're setting for the rest of us!"

"Ladies!" Dumbledore's loud voice was met with immediate silence. "You have no right to criticize Hermione's actions. This incident will not be repeated. Understood? Now please leave us."

As soon as the last of the people exited, Hermione spoke up, "Sir, I can explain-"

Dumbledore held up his hand. "I don't want any explanations, Hermione. What I want is results. Must I stress exactly how important this mission is? This needs so be done and on time. You have four days and time is ticking by fast. If you are not able to-"

"Don't worry, Sir," Hermione interrupted. "That won't happen. I will complete this mission successfully and nothing is going to stop me."

Especially not my Death Eater husband.