~Hermione POV~

It has been one week since Draco had told her that he had to kill her best friend. Seven days. One hundred and sixty eight hours. Ten thousand and eighty minutes. It has been… too long since she has spoken to Draco. They have gone longer without speaking, but this time, there are words left unsaid. She knows that she left too quickly and she knows that she shouldn't have left. But as soon as Draco had spoken those words, Ron became her priority. She loved Draco, but she loved Ron too. She just hoped nobody would ever ask her who she loved more.

Since she had gotten back, Draco had haunted her dreams. She had imagined Draco killing Ron; she had imagined seeing the flash of light shoot out the wand and hitting Ron square in the chest. She imagined herself screaming, and Harry holding her, with his wand pointed at Draco, ready to kill him. The dream ended when Hermione had to make the decision on who to save: Harry or Draco.

"Hermione?" Ginny gently shook Hermione from her thoughts. "Are you alright?"

She looked up at her red headed friend. "I was just thinking" she smiled weakly.

"About Draco?" Ginny asked casually, keeping her eyes on Hermione while taking a seat next to her.

"You know me so well" Hermione joked, then sighed and leant her head on Ginny's shoulder.

"What happened between you two? Please don't tell me you let Ron get in the-

"Leave Ron alone, he hasn't done anything, and he is not involved in this" Hermione interrupted harshly. Seeing Ginny's eyes filled with confusion and hurt made Hermione backtrack slightly.

"Sorry, I just… I'm not ready to talk about it. I need to see Draco. I'm going to go and owl him… Sorry again" Hermione said quietly, and got up to leave the room, leaving Ginny sitting on the threadbare sofa in the Burrow's living room.

Hermione was in her and Ginny's room trying to decide how to send a note to Draco. She couldn't use her real name, but she didn't want to remind Draco of her stupidity about the whole Pansy Parkinson thing. So, she decided to use Astoria Greengrass' name. Hopefully he would figure it out. Getting out her quill and parchment, she began to write…

'Draco,

No words can describe how sorry I am for leaving you in the Leaky Cauldron this time last week. It was selfish of me, and unfair on you. You cannot help what you have to do. I cannot imagine what you're going through, but I have had nightmares about the task. Draco, I wish I could say that whatever you decide to do that I will stand by you. But I will not make a promise that I can't keep. Please do the right thing; if you decide to do that and not stand by those people, then owl me. If not… then I'm going to be standing against you, beside my friend. Remember Dumbledore? He was a wise man Draco, and he once said "We must choose between what is easy and what is right". I know I'm asking a lot of you, but you need to find a way out of this. You need to.

All my love,

A. Greengrass

Hermione stared down at the note, and attached it to the Weasleys' new owl. Hopefully it won't be recognised, and since it's the evening, won't be seen either. As she watched it fly out of sight, the sound of Apparition behind her made her jump, and she felt two hands on each of her shoulders.

"We've come to cheer you up Hermione because we've noticed that you've been a bit down in the dumps lately" Fred said cheerily and looked towards his twin's equally mischievous grin.

Hermione turned around and looked at them warily.

"Me, you, George, Ron, Harry and Ginny are all going down to our shop and we're going to play a few games –

"Oh no you're not Fred!" his mother boomed behind them, with her hands on her hips, looking frazzled.

"I am making a nice dinner, and we're going to sit down and have a nice calm evening. You can play Exploding Snap later if you like though. But that is the most I am allowing!"

The twin's shoulders deflated as they trudged behind their mother and Molly followed them downstairs giving them orders. Hermione felt nothing but relief. Aside from the fact she wasn't in the mood for games, she was slightly nervous about what kind of games they would have been.

Sitting down on the bed, Hermione wonders how Draco will reply. She knows how much pressure he's under, but he cannot kill her best friend; he cannot kill her Ron. There's a knock on the door, and she takes her eyes off the wall to see Harry walking over to sit down on the bed next to her. He slips his hand in to hers and squeezes it in reassurance.

"Hermione… you'll never be able to change Draco you know" Harry starts cautiously, "Ron, Ginny and I are worried about you. I know that something happened at the Leaky Cauldron, because you've barely left the house since, and you're always checking up on Ron. Please tell me?"

She shook her head, "I can't. But Harry, when you do business for the Order, please keep an eye out for Ron… he's… clumsy" she lied, concealing the real reason that Harry has to look out for their best friend.

"Of course I will, I always do. But Hermione" Harry grew serious and looked her straight in the eye, "Just because you and Draco are together, I need to know you're still on our side. I need to know you wouldn't do anything to jeopardise what we're working for no matter how charming he is or what you think he can offer you."

Hermione felt slightly insulted that he even had to ask, but she understood his reasons as admittedly she had been acting weirdly. "Of course Harry, for as long as Voldemort is alive, I will stick with you". Hermione looked down as Harry looked at her oddly.

The plan to change her blood was meant to be done after Voldemort's demise. As soon as he was out the way, and she knew her friends would be safe, only then could she even think about the blood status potion. In the back of her mind though, she was glad the potion would be reversible. Just in case.

After Draco had told her about Cruor Statua, on the same day the Order got word that people were using it to avoid being put on the Muggle Born Registry Commission. It was lucky because the potion was only temporary and they only checked once. As far as she knew, the Death Eaters weren't aware of this potion, and she assumed Draco had found out about it from the library; he was intelligent like her.

Looking back up at Harry, she noticed his attention had been diverted by Ginny coaxing him towards her. She smiled slightly and nudged him to go with her. He nodded at Hermione, gave her hand another squeeze and went in to the arms of the female Weasley.

Sighing heavily, she squeezed past the love birds aiming to go in to the kitchen, went downstairs but suddenly got pulled in to the living room by Bill Weasley. He looked panicked and the skin around his deep scar looked red raw, like he had been scratching it in frustration.

"Hermione, you're still seeing Draco Malfoy aren't you?" he asked, trying to conceal the franticness in his voice.

"I… uh, yes, I suppose. Why, what's happened?" she asked worriedly, hoping Draco was okay.

"There's barely been any activity from him. We think he's planning something… something big. Usually he's out and about in Knockturn Alley and –

"Wait, Knockturn Alley? You must be mistaken, Draco doesn't… he doesn't associate with the Death Eaters anymore…" Hermione said quickly, trying to avoid the topic of what she knows he is planning, and the feeling of dread in her stomach.

Bill looked at her incredulously, "Hermione, he lives in the same house with You-Know-Who and they hold regular meetings there. It would be impossible for him to not associate with them. But that's not what I was asking, I was going to ask if you knew anything, anything the Order might find useful?"

She stared at him, her brain working hard at something to reply. Mercifully, Molly called for dinner.

"I am starving, shall we go and eat?" she said cheerily, then backed out the door and went into the more comfortable hustle and bustle of the dining room full of ravenous witches and wizards diving in to the freshly prepared food. Taking her place, she helped herself to some food and ignored Bill Weasley walking in. She ignored how he walked over to Arthur and whispered in his ear, ignored them looking at her suspiciously. She ignored it all.