It took the three of them two hours to merge their camps. They combined their tents to form a large common area with two separate wings. They also created a private bedroom for each of them. Hermione had suggested it, knowing that Harry and Draco were likely to murder each other unless they each had a small space of their own to which to retreat.

Hermione was still angrily making up her bunk when Draco found a moment to speak with her alone. He walked over and sat down on the bunk. "Hey, so at the risk of being hexed, can we talk about what happened today?" he said carefully.

Hermione threw her pillow down in a huff. "What about it?" she snapped.

Draco grabbed her hands and pulled her to sit next to him. She sighed in annoyance, but didn't pull her hands away. "You and Weasley…" Draco began delicately. Hermione scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You two were together before we left, weren't you?"

Hermione pulled her hands away from his and ran them through her hair. "No," she snapped, "we were not together."

Draco raised an eyebrow at her.

Hermione sighed. "Do you really want to talk about this?"

Draco shrugged, "I never wanted to know before. The past is the past, but I feel like I have a right to know now that your past has popped back into our lives."

Hermione paused, realizing that he was right. He deserved to know. "There were a few…moments. Things were possibly heading in that direction, I guess. But we were not together." She admitted.

Draco nodded. "So if I hadn't come along, you two would be together."

Hermione smirked slightly, "Draco Malfoy, are you jealous of him?"

Draco scowled. "The day I'm jealous of that moronic weasel is the day I kill myself. Just answer the question, please. Would you two be together?"

Hermione wouldn't meet his eyes. "I don't know. Maybe. But that doesn't matter now. I'm with you." She grabbed his hands again to reassure him.

"But if you had to choose…"

"Stop." She interrupted quietly. "I have chosen. Did you not just see that insanity? He's crazy. He's irrational. How could I be with someone like that? He and I fight all the time!"

"We fight." Draco pointed out.

"All couples do, Draco. And you have to admit that we fight a lot less than we did before we got together."

"I mean, I'm obviously superior to Weasley in every way. What you ever saw in the git is beyond me and frankly, it calls your sanity into question. You picked the better man. I just want to make sure that you're not going to have a moment of insanity down the road and regret choosing the better man," Draco said bringing her hands to her lips to kiss them.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, smiling in spite of herself. "Listen. Whatever I felt for Ron once is gone. The only thing I feel for Ron now is friendship and, well, at the moment, anger. But you don't need to worry about him. That chapter of my life is closed."

Draco smirked. "Everything is books to you, isn't it?"

Hermione nodded. "I find it an eloquent metaphor."

Draco leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. "Of course you do."

Harry ducked into the tent, clearing his throat and looking uncomfortable by their closeness. "We need to talk." He announced.

Hermione nodded and they all settled at their dining table. Draco and Hermione sat next to each other out of habit, but upon receiving a pointed look from Harry, Hermione moved a respectable distance away from him.

"Just because I didn't kick you out, Malfoy, doesn't mean I trust you yet. You've proven yourself to Hermione. Now you need to prove yourself to me. You can help us with the horcruxes, but step carefully. One wrong move and I'll obliviate you and send you home to your charming family. I also want to make sure you both understand how important it is going to be to communicate with each other. We've had different experiences these past few months, so we all have different information. We need to make sure we fill each other in on everything we know that might be able to help.

"And it's going to be a while…probably a very long time before I'm comfortable with this." He said gesturing to the two of them. "I would appreciate it if you two were a bit discrete for the time being."

"No promises, Potter." Draco chuckled.

"No," Hermione interjected. "Harry, of course we'll be discrete. He's joking."

"Right," Harry said hesitantly. "This is really weird, Mione." He stood and walked out of the tent to take the first watch.

"He's gone. Let's make out." Draco whispered excitedly once Harry had disappeared.

Hermione laughed, "No!"

"Why not?" He smirked, leaning over to kiss her neck.

Hermione giggled, but turned her head to block his advance. "Because he's right outside the tent! We literally just had a conversation about being discrete!"

"He just left! We have at least twenty minutes before he could possibly come back in."

"You don't know that!"

"Come on," he urged playfully. "Five minutes."

"Umm," called Harry, poking his head back into the tent. "It's a tent, you guys. It isn't sound proof. Please stop." His head disappeared again. Hermione and Draco looked at each other and laughed.

"I'm actually going to go sit with him a while, if you don't mind," said Hermione softly. "It's just been so long since I've seen him, you know?"

Draco rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, "Yeah, fine, whatever. Just leave me for the Wonder Boy. I don't feel betrayed at all."

Hermione just smiled and gave him a quick reassuring kiss. "See you later," she mumbled before exiting the tent.

"Hey, Harry," she said as she sat down next to him.

He looked sideways at her with a smile. "I missed you. I'm so glad you're alright."

"You too," she grinned.

He raised an eyebrow and nodded toward the tent. "You sure about him?"

Hermione blushed. "Am I sure about us? No. It's…new. We've been in a bit of a bubble as you can imagine. But we've kept each other safe and I feel…happy since we got together."

Harry nodded. "Alright. And you're sure you can trust him?"

"Definitely."

"And you're definitely not under the Imperius curse?" Harry asked.

Hermione laughed. "I'm definitely not. You know I'm not so easily controlled."

Harry leaned a little closer to her. "Is he under the Imperius curse?"

Hermione laughed again and shook her head. "No, Harry."

"Love potion?"

"Brewing love potions hasn't been high on our list of priorities lately, funnily enough," Hermione said with a wry grin.

Harry was quiet for a moment, and then he grimaced and shook his head. "Sorry, I just pictured the two of you together." He shuddered and Hermione pushed him playfully. He laughed. "Sorry, it's just weird. I mean, how the hell did it even happen?"

Hermione shrugged. "We were alone together for a really long time, Harry. Things were awful at first. We were at each other's throats constantly. But we were nearly caught by snatchers a few times, and he protected me…and I protected him. Then we were becoming more civil with each other. Then I started to trust him. After we escaped from Yaxley at Grimmauld I realized that…I don't know, some part of me cared for him very deeply. And I really believe that he cares for me too."

"Alright, fine. I accept that this might be something real," Harry said with a sigh.

"I know it will take you a while, but please try to keep an open mind about him," she pleaded.

Harry bristled. "I doubt Malfoy and I will ever consider each other friends. But for you, Hermione, I will at least refrain from hexing the ferret."

"Thanks," Hermione grinned.

She glanced sideways at her friend, spotting the large locket around his neck. "Hey, is that…?" she gestured to it hesitantly.

He pulled the locket from his neck and held it in his hands. "Yeah," he said lamely.

"Can I see it?"

He held it out and she took it from him. It was heavy and cold and she felt a dark feeling of dread settle in her as soon as it touched her hands.

"The longer you hold it, the more it affects your mood. Ron had been wearing it since yesterday. I'm sure that had something to do with his behavior earlier. Not that I'm excusing it, of course. We'd been taking turns wearing it."

"Well the three of us can take turns now," offered Hermione, ignoring her instinctual desire to never let the evil locket touch her ever again.

"You think it's wise to let Malfoy wear it?" asked Harry warily.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I don't trust him yet, for one thing. For another thing, it might make living with him that much more difficult."

"I'm sure he would say the same about you wearing it. Things won't be easy. They aren't even easy for him and me, but the three of us will just have to work through the difficulties, yeah?"

Harry frowned and replaced the locket around his neck. "I'm glad you're alright, Mione and that you found me; I just wish you hadn't come with the amazing bouncing ferret."

"I wouldn't have survived all these months without him, Harry. Please just remember that every time you want to strangle him," Hermione sighed.

They sat in strained silence for several moments. Hermione thought back to that morning when she and Draco had been alone. It seemed like ages ago now. As happy as she was to be with Harry, a heavy stone of worry had settled in her stomach. Could she and Draco survive as a couple now that they weren't alone? Would their little romantic bubble burst now that they had to cope with a small part the outside world?

"Hey, I nearly forgot," Harry began, breaking her out of her worried reverie. "Dumbledore left you something in his will. Scrimgeour gave it to me because there were stipulations stating that it go to me in the event of your death. Since we couldn't find you for such a long time, you were presumed captured or dead."

"What did he leave me?" Hermione asked, surprised that Dumbledore would think of her.

"It's a book. No clue why he left it to you. It's full of children's stories. Flipped through it, but it didn't do me any good. But you're the brilliant one, maybe you'll find something I didn't."

"Can I see it?"

"Of course. Come inside. I keep it in my rucksack." He stood up and entered the tent, nodding stiffly at Draco as he did. Hermione followed him in and waited as he rifled through his pack in search for the book.

He pulled out a tattered old book and handed it to her. She held it and looked at the cover curiously. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," she read curiously.

"My mum used to read me those," Draco said from his bunk. The canvas door to his room was tied back and he was stretched out on his bunk casually.

Harry and Hermione looked at him, their mouths agape.

"What?" Draco asked. "Didn't think I had a normal childhood because my parents are Death Eaters?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance. "No, that's not it," Hermione insisted hesitantly.

"My mother read me bedtime stories all the time," Draco insisted.

Feeling slightly guilty about assuming that Draco hadn't had a normal, happy childhood, Hermione examined the book. None of the stories were familiar to her. She wondered why Dumbledore would choose to leave her a book of children's stories of all things. It didn't seem particularly remarkable to her, but if she knew Dumbledore at all he surely had his reasons.

Late that night, Hermione sat at the table, reading the book by candlelight. So far, nothing had jumped out at her as helpful. She remained as perplexed as ever. Harry had told her that Dumbledore had left him the first snitch he ever caught, and had left Ron his Deluminator. More of Dumbledore's riddles. Hermione sighed and turned the page to the next story. She had more questions than ever, and a splitting headache to go with them.

She heard raindrops begin to hit the roof of the tent and Draco entered the flap. He spotted her at the table. "What are you doing up? It's late," he said quietly, making his way over to her. "Potter asleep?" He asked, looking toward the flap that led to Harry's makeshift room.

"Yeah," Hermione replied, barely looking up from the book.

Draco sat down next to her and looked at the book. "You don't have to figure out all of Dumbledore's secrets today, you know."

Hermione sighed and closed the book. "I know, I just don't understand why he would leave me a children's book in his will."

Draco nodded and took the book from her, opening the front cover and examining it casually. "I know how frustrating it is for you to not understand things," he droned sarcastically.

Hermione blushed and hung her head in her hands. "My head hurts," she whined.

"Call it a night, Granger," he urged.

Hermione nodded and pushed herself away from the table. "You're right, I'll dig back into this tomorrow. Thanks. Goodnight, babe," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She stopped short, however, upon realizing what she'd said. He regarded her with amusement, one of his eyebrows raised. She went beet red. "Sorry," she spluttered, "it just kind of slipped out. I don't want to…we don't have to call each other…"

Draco placed a finger to her lips with a smile. "It's okay…" He leaned down and kissed her quickly, "babe." With a wolfish grin, he turned and walked into his wing of the tent.

Hermione's heart glowed with happiness as she lay down in her bunk. She knew it was stupid with everything going on, but even the tiniest moment like that with Draco gave her butterflies. She had obviously never seen it coming, but she had never felt like this before about anyone.

She tried not to think about the future. She was hopeful about the Order's chances of winning the war. The optimistic side of her was convinced that the good side was sure to triumph, but she knew that they were out numbered. If the Order won the war, she knew Draco would have to answer for the crimes he committed in June. She only hoped that his actions during the war would gain him some leniency. And if Voldemort won the war, she would likely be put to death. And of course all of that would be moot if they didn't survive the war. She thought, with a feeling of dread in her stomach, their chances of survival were very slim.

She tossed and turned for several minutes before standing up and shuffling to Draco's bunk. He rolled over when she approached and he moved over to make room for her. She lay down next to him and nestled into his side. He pulled the blanket over her, wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her close. She slowly drifted to sleep listening to his steady heartbeat. If they were doomed to be parted, she wasn't going to waste a moment of it sleeping in the next bunk over.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. I really liked a lot of these moments, so I hope you all enjoyed them too. I have a brand new fanfiction Tumblr account! Please Follow it here. I will share teasers of upcoming chapters as well as new stories as I work on them. Please follow me on tumblr and also leave me a review of this story! I'll try to have the next chapter up within the next week or so.