In the Room of Requirements, Hermione lay on the sofa in front of the fire, enjoying the silence. For the last couple of weeks Gryffindor Tower had been awash with talk of Quidditch. The try-outs for the team had taken place recently and everyone had an opinion on the team. As much as Hermione wasn't interested in the sport, she had found herself in the midst of the talk as Harry was captain of the team and Ron and Ginny were both playing.

Ginny and Harry were in the first stages of becoming a couple so the redhead was around more often than Hermione would have liked. As a result of Ginny being around, Hermione was now surrounded by three people who liked nothing better than discuss Quidditch. Hermione guessed it was just their way of keeping their minds of what was going on outside of Hogwarts, but it was bloody annoying to listen to the entire time.

Luckily Hermione spent plenty of time in the library and now she had her weekly meetings with Draco to look forward to. Hermione had restricted the meetings to once a week as she didn't want anyone to get suspicious of them disappearing at the same time. Sometimes she often wished she could meet up with him more often, but there was no way she was risking everything she was working towards just to spend a bit more time with the gorgeous blond.

As if summoned up by her thoughts, Hermione heard the door open and a few seconds later Draco was leaning over the back of the sofa. Without saying a word he smiled down at Hermione, before gently brushing his lips over hers.

"Hi." She smiled as they broke the kiss.

"Hi." Draco smiled back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Hermione replied as she sat up. "I'm just making the most of the peace before having to return to Gryffindor Tower."

"I really don't know how you're able to be civil to those idiots." Draco said, walking round the sofa and sitting down next to Hermione. "It must kill you knowing that Potter killed your father."

"Harry will get what's coming to him in time." Hermione replied. "Father taught me to always be patient."

"Well your patience with me is about to pay off." Draco grinned. "I think I've found us something that will help in your plans for Dumbledore."

"You know how to get the Death Eaters into school?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"In theory." Draco said cautiously. "In reality, it's a bit more complicated."

"Explain." Hermione ordered, snapping into Dark Lady mode.

Draco recognised that Hermione was fully focused on her plan, so it was best not to keep her waiting for an explanation. As quickly and as thoroughly as he could Draco explained about the cabinet and how he'd remembered about it. He also explained that Lucius had bought what he was confident was the matching cabinet and it was sitting at home.

"Of course, I really need to check it out myself." Draco added.

"I can arrange that." Hermione said. "I'll call a meeting tomorrow night and we can both go. You can check out the cabinet while we're there."

"I might also see if father has any books that could be of use." Draco said. "The ones I've gotten from the library, aren't really helping. They explain how the cabinets work, but not how to fix them."

"Is the cabinet in a bad way?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I've fixed the door and the leg, but I have no idea about the magic." Draco explained. "But it wasn't working properly back in first year. How Dumbledore managed to get that boy out I have no idea, and we can hardly go and ask him."

"I'm sure together we can fix it." Hermione said with confidence. "Now where is the cabinet? I want to see it."

"It's in here. Only it's in some sort of store cupboard with a pile of other junk."

Hermione pursed her lips as she thought. She didn't really want to use the room for two different purposes as it could get confusing. Thinking over everything that happened the previous year, she remembered a couple of occasions when the room suddenly provided the D.A with different things as they needed them.

"Try and bring the cabinet into this room." Hermione told Draco.

"How?" Draco asked. How the room worked at all was a mystery to him so he had no idea how he could summon an object.

"Try pacing the floor and thinking about the cabinet." Hermione suggested. "If it doesn't work, we can leave the room and enter the other one but ideally it would be better if the cabinet was in this room."

"I'll try my best." Draco said as he stood up.

For the next half hour Draco paced the floor in the Room of Requirements and tried to summon the vanishing cabinet. Just as Hermione was about to suggest they give up and re-enter the room there was a small pop and an object appeared in the corner.

"Is that it?" Hermione asked Draco, pointing at the cabinet that had appeared.

Draco headed over to it and had a good look. "Yes, this is it."

Hermione joined Draco and the couple spent a while examining the thing. Since neither of them were sure of its magical state they both avoided entering the cabinet.

"First things first we need to be sure Lucius has the matching one." Hermione said, walking around the cabinet. "I don't want to try experimenting only to find his isn't part of the pair."

"Providing I'm right and father has the right cabinet, how do we go about fixing this one?" Draco asked.

"I have no idea." Hermione admitted. "We can ask Lucius for help. He could maybe dig us up some information that we could gather up at Christmas."

"Do we have a time limit on fixing the thing?"

"I would like it done this year." Hermione replied. "Over the summer I made a plan of attack and for things to go the way I want, Dumbledore has to be dead sooner rather than later."

"Do I get to know about this plan of attack?" Draco asked, walking over to Hermione and wrapping her in his arms.

"All in good time, Draco." Hermione chuckled. "As I've already mentioned, our relationship doesn't allow you any special treatment as a Death Eater. You will find out my plans if and when I decide you need to know."

"Have I ever told you how sexy you are when you're laying down the law?" Draco asked with a smirk.

Hermione laughed as she wound her arms around Draco's neck and pressed even closer to the blond. "No, I don't think you have."

"Well you are. You're very sexy." Draco whispered, trailing his lips over Hermione's cheek and down her neck.

Hermione tilted her head back to allow Draco better access to her neck. As he nibbled on her pulse point, Hermione walked them backwards until they hit the side of the sofa. In a tangle the couple went sprawling onto the sofa, the cabinet forgotten about momentarily while they behaved like the hormonal teenagers they were and indulged in a passionate make-out session.

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Lucius was waiting in his study when Hermione and Draco suddenly appeared in front of the fire. On Voldemort's insistence Lucius had changed the charm on Hermione's locket, enabling her to arrive straight at the Manor from Hogwarts. Voldemort, Hermione and Lucius had all agreed that her heading home only to floo to the Manor before returning home to go back to school was a waste of time, it was much easier for her to head straight to the Manor when she needed to attend a meeting during term time. It had also been decided that if she wanted Draco at a meeting she would bring him with her using the locket.

"Hermione, Draco." Lucius greeted his son and The Dark Lady with a warm smile.

"Lucius." Hermione smiled back at her right hand man. "Has everything been running smoothly?"

"Everything's fine." Lucius answered. "Our little attacks are keeping the Order busy."

"Good." Hermione nodded. "And I trust everyone is towing the line."

Lucius chuckled, knowing Hermione was checking his sister-in-law was behaving herself. "Everyone's behaving perfectly. Well unless you want to count some childish sulking on certain people's parts."

Satisfied that everything was okay in her absence, Hermione sent Draco and Lucius off to check on the cabinet before the meeting. Pulling her cloak out of the cupboard, Hermione magically did her nails and pulled her ring from a hidden pocket inside the cloak. Slipping the ring on she pulled her cloak on and lifted the hood to cover her face.

When she arrived at the dining room Lucius and Draco were coming down the corridor from the opposite direction. Hermione waited for them at the doors and Draco gave her confirmation that the cabinet in Lucius's possession was indeed the matching on to the one they had in Hogwarts.

"Excellent. Now all we need to do is work out how to fix it." Hermione said. "But for now, let's get inside and get this meeting underway."

Draco and Lucius entered the dining room first, before Hermione entered with a flourish and made her way to the head of the table. It was the first meeting Hermione had attended since Draco's initiation and the torture of Bellatrix and she was very aware that some people were surprised to see her back in her cloak. It was obviously just dawning on a few of her Death Eaters that they hadn't actually seen the real her in the last meeting.

"Just a quick meeting today." Hermione began. "Firstly I want to thank you all for following Lucius's ordered without fuss. I appreciate the fact I can trust you all. Secondly, I'm pleased to say the mini raids are keeping the Order on their toes. Congratulations to all involved."

Hermione paused as she let her Death Eaters bask in her praise. She knew from Lucius different people had been working on different raids and a few unexpected people had stepped up and shone at various times.

"I also want to announce my plans for Dumbledore's demise are well under way." Hermione announced to a small wave of cheering. "I also want to take time to thank Draco for his work these last few weeks. He may be our newest recruit, but I handed him a task upon his initiation and he's achieved the first part with ease. He's also made fine in roads to the next part of his task."

"And what exactly is his task?" Bellatrix asked from the bottom of the table.

"That is between myself and Draco." Hermione responded coldly. "When the time is right certain people will be let in on what he's doing for me. But that time is not now and I highly doubt you will be involved anyway, Bellatrix. Unless of course you're going to prove to me you can be trusted."

Hermione was aware of a few Death Eaters snickering at Bellatrix as she was put in her place again. There was just something about the woman that just seemed to rub people up the wrong way, even her husband didn't look particularly upset that his wife was sitting at the bottom of the table and had been practically dismissed by Hermione.

With Bellatrix sitting glowering at the bottom of the table, Hermione continued the meeting. As promised it was just a short gathering and before long she was dismissing the Death Eaters for the evening.

After the meeting Hermione and Draco made their way back to Lucius's study. While Hermione was taking off her cloak and removing her dark nail polish, Lucius handed Draco a couple of books.

"I found these in the library." He told his son. "They contain sections on vanishing cabinets. I'll keep looking, but at least it's something to begin with."

"Thanks." Draco said, sliding the books into his robes.

"Try checking at my house, Lucius." Hermione said. "There could be some useful information amongst my father's belongings."

Lucius nodded, understanding Hermione was telling him to speak to Voldemort. While his magic may have gone and his body growing weaker, his mind was still as sharp as ever. If anyone knew how to fix a vanishing cabinet it would be The Dark Lord.


A/N – I know this wasn't the most exciting of chapters and not much happened, but sometimes chapters like these are needed to move the story along. Luckily in the upcoming chapters there's some major things about to happen, including Draco and Hermione progressing their relationship a bit further.

I would also just like to thank everyone for their reviews, I very much appreciate all the lovely comments. Thanks.