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Thank you to all of you who reviewed and I hope you enjoy the chapter. I'm sorry it's a bit short but I will try and make the length up to you next chapter.

Thanks to my BETA KR1571AN

Chapter Six

Loyalty

Severus had been both relieved and bothered by Draco's renewed friendship with the Granger girl. If she left him once, she was more than likely going to do it again. In truth, he was quite tempted to tell his godson just that, but instead he decided to stand back and simply observe. There was no need to be hasty after all. He would simply continue to watch the interaction between the two and if there came a point where he felt he needed to step in, he would.

XXX

Draco was glad to have his friendship with Hermione back on the right track, though she still hadn't told him what she and the future Golden Trio were up to-not that he had asked. Instead, they spent their time together studying, playing Gobstones, or just simply talking. Hermione had always been a talker, and Draco was all too willing to let her jabber on. She talked about her home in Wilshire and her parents who were dentists. He knew that they had a dog named Bulldozer-because he apparently snored like one, though Draco did have to clarify as to what a bulldozer was exactly. He also learned that she was proficient in several musical instruments, including the piano.

"My mum's always finding me new things to learn-I get a bit restless if my brain sits idle for too long." Draco had to bite his lip from laughing when she said that, but only because he knew how true of her it really was. "So mum signed me up for piano lessons; after mastering it, the others were easy enough to pick up."

"Only for you, Mione," Draco gave a small laugh as they continue to walk along the shore of the Black Lake.

"What about you, do you have any hobbies? I know you can play Gobstones and draw, anything else?"

Draco shrugged, "Not really." Sighing deeply the young Slytherin's feet slowed to a stop, his eyes scanned out across the calm, cool lake. "My mum offered to teach me how to ride horses; I was thinking about taking her up on it."

Hermione gasped in excitement, "You should. I rode a horse once—well it was a pony—for my six birthday, but you see I had had too much cake and… well, I sort of got sick on him and he bucked me off."

Draco couldn't help it, he just couldn't, and almost instantly broke out in laugher. "Oh… my… God," he said, now bent over in a fit of giggles. "I can picture it now. The poor pony."

Hermione scowled, her hands placed firmly on her hips. "It wasn't funny! My dad lost his deposit on that stupid thing because of it." That just caused him to laugh even louder.

"Oh, you're such a brat, Draco." She then playfully swatted him on the shoulder.

"S-sorry." Slowly his laughs died down, and taking a deep cleansing breath he turned his grey eyes back to his friend. "You know, I broke my collarbone at my fifth birthday party."

"You did?"

"Yep. Dad got me a real racing broom. My mum was pissed at him for buying it at all, said I was too young."

"You were."

"Yes, and being too young, or maybe I should say too stupid, to realize that I shouldn't be riding such an advanced broom, I snuck out in the back garden with Crabbe and Goyle when the adults were talking, and attempt to take it for a spin. I say attempt in that I only got about two feet off the ground before I lost control and slammed into the side of the house."

Hermione winced and hissed at the mental image.

"I know, it was pretty nasty, bone was poking through the skin and everything. My mum was completely freaking out."

"I bet she was."

"I was okay though, eventually. Though I do recall my father being forced to sleep in one of the guest rooms for quite some time afterwards."

Hermione gave a small laugh before her eyes focused back on that of her best friend. He was such a wonderful person, so kind and caring, not to mention incredibly intelligent, as well as much more mature than most boys his age and…and she had hurt him. She had gone behind his back to help Harry and Ron with the mystery of the Philosopher's stone, and then actually had the audacity to ask for his help while still attempting to leave him in the dark; and why? Because Ron didn't trust Slytherins, because Harry hated Professor Snape and, in his opinion Snape, was too close to Draco, and she hadn't even tried ague with them about it. Draco had forgiven her, and she appreciated it, but still she felt awful for what she did, for what she was still doing.

She had to make it right.

"Draco, do you remember at the beginning of the year, during the opening feast, the headmaster mentioned staying away from the third floor?"

Draco cocked and eye brow, "Yes, why?" he asked.

"Because…because that's where they're hiding the Philosopher's Stone."

He blinked, and blinked again, "I beg your pardon?"

He had resolved himself to the fact that she wasn't going to tell him and that at the end of the year when she almost gets killed because of her impetuous Gryffindor nature, he would come to her bedside in the hospital wing while she recovered and lecture her long and hard about following dim witted dunderheads off on life-threatening adventures, and then reminder her, several times, that she was lucky she wasn't dead!

It would seem he didn't have as much faith in her as he should have.

"The Philosopher's Stone turns everything to pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life," she stated plainly.

Draco took a long deep breath running a hand through his neatly parted hair. "I know. That's why you asked me about Nicholas Flamel, isn't it?"

The busy haired twelve-year-old nodded, grinning, "I knew you would know. I told the boys you would!"

"So that's what you three having been doing, figuring out what's on the third floor?" He questioned her, curious as to what further information she would reveal to him.

"Yes, but well it's a bit more complicated than that."

"Oh course it is," he sighed, knowing that it was more complicated then she even knew, at least at the moment.

"Perhaps we should sit?" She suggested, motioning to a nearby boulder that was large and flat enough for both of them to fit comfortably.

"Okay, sure."

Hermione crossed her legs under her robes, dropping her rucksack to the ground as she sat on the rock. She knew Ron and Harry were going to be mad at her, furious even, but she didn't care; she trusted Draco to keep their secrets, and he had shown her more loyalty than her Gryffindor friends ever had.

So, with a long deep breath, she began her tale. She told him everything-from the article in the Prophet about the vault being broken into at Gringotts, to finding the trap door and Fluffy, to believing Snape was trying to kill Harry by throwing him off his broom and that he was after the stone for Voldemort.

Draco listened patiently, without interruption even when she was insinuating such horrible things about Severus. When she was done, she apologized once again for keeping everything from him and then, she promised from now on, despite what Ron and Harry thought, she would always come to him. In response, he did the last thing she expected: he hugged her.

"Thank you for telling me, Mione. Really, thank you."

"You're welcome, I just wish it didn't involve your godfather."

Draco gave a small laugh as he loosened his arms from around her. "I think you're wrong on that part. If Uncle Severus had wanted to kill Potter, he would have done it already, but you're entitled to your own theories, of course."

Hermione said nothing but gave Draco a look of pity.

"Come on, Mione; it's getting dark, and dinner is going to start soon."

And so they headed back into the castle, Draco more than delighted that his friend finally confided in him.

XXX

"I can't believe you bloody told him!" Ron fumed, his face rapidly changing colors to match his ginger hair.

"I almost lost my friendship with him because of it!" She yelled back.

"So what? You were better off not knowing the slimy git, anyhow," he screamed.

Hermione sighed, running her fingers over her eyes and through her bushy hair. "Ron… I honestly don't know what it is with you and him. He has been nothing but polite to you, and you continue to hate him. I understand that your dad and his have some sort of rivalry going on, but really, you're being childish about this."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron continued to rant. "He. Is. A. Malfoy. They're dark wizards, all of them."

The young Gryffindor threw her hands up in frustration. "I give up," she said with an exasperated sigh, then, grabbing her book from the table, she headed up the stairs to her room.

Ron just rolled his eyes, plopping himself on the couch next to Harry. "She's barmy. I'm telling you."

Harry, who normally tried to stay neutral on the whole Hermione/Draco thing, felt that he had no choice but to say something to his short-tempered friend. "She's right Ron, you're not being fair."

"What?"

"I'm not saying that she should have said anything to Draco but…well, overall he's not a bad guy. He doesn't seem to dislike Muggle-borns; Hermione's his best friend after all. I mean, don't you think your being a little hard on him?"

"But his father-

"He's not his dad, Ron. No one is. Everyone is their own person—capable of their own decisions, and the sooner you realize that the better." The Boy-Who-Lived then turned his eyes back to his Transfiguration book, he really was having trouble understanding the subject. Hermione suggested he re-read the theory, so that was exactly what he was doing.

XXX

A/N: So there you go, chapter six, and I managed to get it to you by Friday. It's not that long and I apologize for that, but I think it turned out well enough. Up next: the end of the year and into the summer months. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.