Well Draco was right about one thing. Hermione certainly didn't go to bed thinking of Ron that night. No, it was the pale-skinned, silver-tongued Slytherin that plagued her thoughts as she tossed and turned, clutching at her blanket. What are his motives? Why is he continuing to pursue her? But no matter how long her brain turned over the questions, no answers revealed themselves. She had finally succumbed to exhaustion early in the morning with thoughts of a pair of silver-grey eyes and soft lips on her mind.

Upon awakening, Hermione realises that she wasn't the only one who battled against unwanted thoughts throughout the night. Harry jolts up in his bed, sweat dripping down his forehead and soaking the collar of his t-shirt.

'What is it?' Hermione asks, racing to his side. His visions have become more regular recently, as if Voldemort's approaching mortality is causing him to unintentionally reach through the connection he has with Harry more often, showing him the inner workings of his brain. Hermione believes that the visions relate to high emotional levels in Voldemort.

Gasping, Harry says, 'Hogwarts… I saw Hogwarts.'

Hermione's brain kicks into overdrive. Her thoughts settle on two possibilities: Voldemort is going to attack Hogwarts, which is unlikely as his Death Eaters' presence in the school would make it unnecessary… or there is a Horcrux there.

'The diadem,' she whispers, then louder, 'Harry I think the diadem has been hidden in Hogwarts.'

He looks up at her, removing his hand from his head, the pain having receded from his scar. 'Why would he do that? Surely he wouldn't risk a student stumbling across it, or Dumbledore for that matter,' argues Harry.

Hermione realises he has a point. A famous missing diadem wouldn't exactly go unnoticed in that school, and Harry's ability to sense the Horcruxes should have notified him of it at some point. Plonking down on his bed next to him, Hermione sighs. 'I'm so fed up of these stinking Horcruxes.'

Smiling sympathetically at her, Harry sidles up next to her and drapes an arm across her shoulders, pulling her into his side in a comforting hug. Relaxing into his hold, Hermione lets out her breath. Harry has a way of calming her like no one else she knows. Apart from her mother. A sharp pain jolts through Hermione's chest at the thought of her mother's warm smile. She can't let herself surrender to the grief. Not now.

At this point Draco pulls the hanging blankets away from his bed. Whilst he was ignoring her, he'd asked Harry to make some curtains for his privacy. Harry had been confused, but had obliged, trying hard to accept him into their group. The blonde's eyes dart instantly to Harry's arm around Hermione and she feels suddenly self-conscious, as if caught doing something illicit. She stiffens slightly, and Harry seems to sense it, as he squeezes her closer to him.

Draco's lips twitch down momentarily before his face regains its emotionless mask. 'Good morning,' he says rigidly, leaning down to pull shoes onto his feet. 'You two are up early.'

Having spent so much time alone with him, Hermione had become more fluent in Draco-speech. Whilst his comment sounds uninterested, Hermione reads the hidden meaning behind it. He wants to know why they are up so early and why they are in bed together. And for some reason, Hermione wants to explain herself to him.

'Harry had a nightmare,' she explains, leaning out of Harry's hold and standing up. 'We think it was a vision from You-Know-Who.'

'That happens?' he asks.

Nodding, Hermione explains how Harry had been seeing Voldemort's thoughts and how it had been happening more often. Mentioning the most recent vision and her theory about it, she watches Draco's eyebrows pull together in thought. 'What is it?' she asks.

'Hmm?' he asks, looking up. 'Oh, nothing… I just thought I remembered something but I can't think of what it is.'

'Okay.'

'Can I borrow your wand?'

Without hesitating, Hermione chucks him her wand. Harry's shocked expression does not go unmissed by her.

Muttering a scourgify, he cleans his clothes and body, before offering the magical instrument out to her. As she leans forwards to take it, their hands brush and Hermione feels a spark of electricity course through her body where their skin meets. Her eyes dart to his face, but either he didn't feel it, or he is very good at hiding that he felt it. Pulling away quickly, Hermione repeats his actions, feeling better now that she's clean.

Feeling awkward, Hermione avoids looking at the Slytherin, her eyes falling to rest on Ron's cot. Ron's empty cot.

'Where's Ron?' she asks, looking towards Harry. As if only just noticing his friend's absence himself, a confused expression crosses his face.

'I have no idea. He never wakes up before us. And he never goes off by himself without making a fuss first.' Getting out of bed, suddenly seeming worried, Harry looks around. 'I'm going to go look for him.'

'How?' asks Draco.

'He probably hasn't gone far. A simple 'point me' spell should do the trick.' Grabbing his wand from beneath his pillow, he holds it flat in his hand. At his incantation, the rod spins, pointing away from their camp. Harry sighs. 'I'll be back soon.' He starts walking in the direction of the wand, and soon Hermione and Draco are alone. A situation that she does not want to be in.

Turning towards her bed, she begins straightening out the blanket, refusing to acknowledge the wizard. That is, until his arms snake around her waist from behind. Trying to jump away, Hermione fails and turns in the blonde's arms, struggling against his strong grip. 'What are you doing?' she demands, trying to calm the hammering of her heart, worried that if it gets any louder, he'll hear it.

'Just what you want me to do,' he says in a low voice, tightening his grip.

'Maybe you should take your own advice and wait for a girl to tell her she wants you to do something before you do it,' she says, her anger rising.

'My ability to read a girl's wants is far superior to the Weasel's,' he says, leaning slowly toward her.

Every bone in Hermione's body urges her to lean to meet his face, but her mind wins out. Leaning back, she asks, 'what are you doing? Why are you doing this?'

Instead of looking rejected, Draco just looks thoughtful. He loosens his grip slightly but Hermione is no longer fighting to get away. 'I… don't know,' he admits, his eyes showing a level of honesty Hermione didn't realise he was capable of. 'It's driving me insane but I want you Granger. Fuck it, I need you. And it's bloody annoying.'

Shocked by his confession, Hermione hesitates momentarily before slamming her lips against his, relishing the soft feel. He growls, matching her passion, pushing her up against a nearby tree. Her hands are everywhere; in his hair, on his shoulders, running over his back, his stomach. For his part, Draco isn't holding back. Trailing his hands down her waist, he runs them over her hips and behind her, cupping her butt. Hermione gasps, and Draco takes the opportunity to entwine his tongue with hers, his skill evident. His hands move down, around her thighs and in a surge of strength, he lifts her up, guiding her legs to wrap around his waist. He supports her against the tree, his hands holding her steady around the waist. Excited by the new position, Hermione dips her head to Draco's visible neck, trying to repeat what he did to her the other day. She feels inexperienced and awkward, but the wizard's hitched breathing suggests otherwise, and his fingers dig into her waist. Her nails drag slightly against his scalp as she tilts his head further. A deep, masculine groan is drawn from deep inside him and he pulls away from the tree, supporting his weight on his hips, holding her close to his body. He dumps her down on the nearest bed – her bed – and finds her lips again.

Hermione's legs are still wrapped around him, and the position offers a few advantages. Grinding up against him, unable to curb her basic desires, a joint moan is elicited from the two. His cold skin makes her shiver as his hands crawl under her shirt and onto the thin material of her bra, kneading in a practised manner. The wizard is driving her insane!

Breathing too quickly to continue kissing him, Hermione pulls back slightly, and Draco's mouth trails down her jaw to find her neck. As his teeth scrape lightly against her pulse point, Hermione is caught in a moment of bliss, and she thinks that no matter how much she practises, she'll never get as good at the act as Draco.

He pulls back for a moment, providing Hermione with a moment of clarity, clearing up her brain. 'Draco,' she whispers.

'Mmm?' he asks, raising his eyes to hers, the hunger in them undeniable, causing Hermione to almost regret her next words.

'We need to stop.'

'Why?' he asks, his lips drawing together in a slight pout. Hermione can't help but find the expression adorable on him.

'Because Harry could be back with Ron at any minute. And I wouldn't want to be you if they found us in this position.'

Groaning, Draco concedes, standing up. The cold that rushes to fill the gap between their bodies causes Hermione to shiver, and she just wants him back in her arms.

'But don't think this is over, Granger,' he says as he walks away.

'Hermione,' she yells at his back.

'Okay, Hermione.' She can hear the smile in his voice.

..

What is he doing? He's getting too caught up in this witch. But it's not his fault. She's intoxicating. It takes every ounce of his self-control not to touch her at every point in the day. When they'd re-joined Potter and Weasley, Draco had been worried that something would happen between her and Ron, and it had driven him away from her. But seeing how she had reacted to his kiss and reassured him that the feelings were very much one-sided between them.

And suddenly he was struggling to find a valid reason to keep away from her. Or maybe he didn't want to find a valid reason to keep away from her.

And Draco realises that he will succumb to his desires again.

Unfortunately Hermione was right about Harry and Ron returning, as they walked back into the camp not two minutes after he had pulled away from her, the ginger wearing a face of thunder, apparently not having forgiven Draco for interrupting him last night. Draco doesn't bother hiding his smug grin at the daggers the Weasel sends his way.

Hermione demands to know where Ron went, but Draco doesn't care enough to listen to his response, instead enjoying how his witch's hands move to her hips of their own accord, adopting the stance of the scolding mother.

He pales slightly under her glare, but looks angrily at her nonetheless, not forgetting how she had refused to stand up for him last night. Some of the ginger's words get through to Draco. Most of them being 'bloody ferret,' and, 'right twat,' along with something about making him leave.

Satisfaction fills him as Hermione defends him, saying that he's helping them. And he recognises the truth in her words. The thought of leaving the trio hadn't even entered his mind recently. He feels like a part of their mission, and a big part of him wants them to succeed. Voldemort's downfall would make Draco very happy, especially as it would release his mother from his hold.

He hadn't thought of his mother in a while, trying to ignore the ache in his chest when the idea of her being stuck in their Manor with the Dark Lord. Draco vows there and then that he will get her out, and that she will not suffer under the hands of the Dark Lord. He supposes if he can save his father too, at least it would pacify his mother, although he personally couldn't care less what happened to the man.

If it weren't for him, he wouldn't have got so caught up in being a Death Eater. He wouldn't have been asked to murder Dumbledore. He wouldn't have been tortured for failing. He wouldn't have had to spend hours fixing up that bloody cabinet in the Room of Requirements, surrounded by all that crap-

'Wait,' he says, not bothering to register that Ron is in the middle of speaking. Not that he would have cared even if he had realised.

'What the bloody hell do you want, ferret?' he demands, turning his freckled face on the Slytherin.

'Ron!' Hermione scolds. 'What is it, Draco?' Draco ignores the foreign flutter he feels in his stomach as her chocolate doe eyes turn towards him.

'The diadem.'

'What about it?' she asks, looking confused.

'I know where it is. It's in the Room of Requirements.'

Author's Notes: I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update! I started a new job on Monday, so have been quite busy. I'll still try to update regularly, but it'll probably be every other week at most. Sorry!

I hope you enjoy this chapter, I really enjoyed writing it! Please let me know what you think, and as always, if you see any mistakes, just let me know. Thank you!