The next few days passed slowly. Neither one of us left my place but we didn't really talk either. I would get up early, make breakfast. And he would get up late and eat the leftover breakfast cold. He stayed in his room most of the time. I refused to talk to him; he was the one who owed me an apology! But he didn't talk to me either. In fact, he barely looked at me. It was downright chilly outside and in.

I was sitting in the living room, reading a book when a knock on the door caught my attention. I walked over and opened the door without thinking. My eyes went wide when I saw who was standing there.

"Hello." Goyle said. He looked ragged. He had a sweatshirt on and it looked like he hadn't shaved in several days. He raised his hands when he saw the alarm in my eyes. "I'm unarmed."

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. "How do you even know where I live?"

"Look, I came here to warn Draco." He said exasperated.

"What is all this racket about?" Draco said coming over to the door. As soon as he saw Goyle, his wand was out. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not armed." Goyle repeated. "I came here to warn you. May I come in?"

I looked at Draco to see what he thought. For the first time in almost a week, he looked at me. I could see him weighing the risks but then he nodded.

I stood aside to let Goyle through and directed him to the living room. I grabbed my wand from the table and put it my pocket, just in case. He took a seat on the couch and Draco sat next to him. I chose to sit on the love seat. "So, what do you have to tell us?"

Goyle took a breath. "It's Pansy." He said quietly.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"It's Pansy. She's behind it." Goyle said. "Right before I was cursed at the funeral, I remember seeing her looking at me. I thought it was strange because she usually doesn't give me the time of day. The last thing I remember before being cursed is seeing her say something."

"But why would Pansy want to hurt me?" Draco asked. "She obviously still cares for me."

"I don't know." Goyle answered. "But I think it's her."

I crossed my arms. "I never liked that chit." I said. "Why come to tell us? I thought you were friends with the Notts."

Goyle looked at his hands. "I was. Until I figured out they cursed me!" He responded. "Merlin, even Draco never cursed me...or Crabbe. Abused us, used us, maybe. But cursed us?" He shook his head.

I looked at Draco and saw him taking it all in. "I suppose this means a trip to the Ministry. Will you come with us and tell them what you told us?"

Goyle nodded his head. I walked over to the floo and threw in some powder. "12 Grimmauld Place!" I yelled, sticking my head in the green flames. "Harry? Harry you around?"

"Hermione?" I saw Harry approach. "That you?"

"Yea. We need to meet at the Ministry. Now. We have a break in the case." I said quickly. "Can you gather everyone?"

I saw him reach for his robes. "I'll be right there. I'll let everyone know." He said walking out of the room. "See you in a few!"

"Bye Harry!" I said taking my head out of the floo. I looked at the two boys sitting on the couch. "Okay. Let's get to the Ministry."

I walked over to my room to grab my Ministry robes, grateful that I had already showered and dressed. When I came back out, Draco was standing there with his jacket on and both of them were next to the floo.

I grabbed some floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. "Ministry of Magic, Auror Department!" I yelled and I was soon walking out of the fireplace.

I waited in front of the fireplace and watched Goyle stumble through followed by Draco. I led the way to the conference room, happy to see everyone there. Ron looked disheveled, as if we woke him up from a nap. Seamus, Angelina, and Harry were sitting together. I saw everyone's eyebrows rise when they saw Goyle come in with us. As we sat down, I saw Goyle look around and then a realization came upon his face.

"You're working for the investigation!" He said looking pointedly at me.

I sighed. I had forgotten that it was supposed to be a secret. "Uh, well, you see, I'm not directly involved with the investigation." I said trying to get out of it. I could see everyone looking at me to see what I came up with. An idea came to my mind as I looked around. "You see, I am part of the department, but it was decided that I shouldn't be involved in this case due to my, uh, relationship, with Draco." I said emphasizing it by grabbing his hand. I felt him stiffen under my touch but he didn't pull away.

"Oh." Goyle said. "So then, why are you at this meeting?" He inquired.

"Well, since Draco is living with me, I had to be a little involved. I am helping protect him." I said smoothly.

"Oh, okay." Goyle said, looking convinced. "I guess that makes sense."

I saw everyone else smile and as we sat down Draco ripped his hand out of mine. I was a little startled but he didn't even look at me. I decided to let it go and start the meeting. "Goyle has something to tell us." I said opening the floor for him.

He repeated everything he told us and I saw everyone nodding their head and taking notes.

Harry stood up and extended his hand. "Thank you. This helps us a lot."

Goyle shook his hand. "You're welcome." He said. "Now what?"

"Well, that's all we need from you. Please see Penny at the desk outside. She has a copy of your statement and we'll need you to sign it. Also, we'll need you to keep quiet with this information. You will be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement as well." Harry said.

Goyle nodded. "Ok. I'll be on my way, then." He said as he left the room.

Harry closed the door behind him. He looked at me and smiled. "Nice cover up, by the way Hermione."

"Thanks." I said. "What do you think about the information?"

"I think it was good and the only lead we have right now." Harry responded.

"We need to come up with a plan to corner her." Angelina spoke up. Harry nodded in agreement.

"What about the New Years Eve ball?" Seamus said. "I don't know how they do it, but the Notts' are always there."

"Stupid wealthy bloke." Ron said. "He buys the tickets off of someone every year. Merlin knows why he would want to be at a Ministry event though."

"It's because of Pansy." Draco spoke up. "She sees it as a large social event and she needs to be at all the large social events."

"Okay, so they'll be at the ball tomorrow." Harry said. "Let's work with that."

"Who would be stupid enough to attack at an event full of Aurors?" I asked.

"Someone who was given a golden opportunity." Harry answered, a smile on his face.

"This doesn't sound like a plan I'm going to like, Potter." Draco scowled.

Harry looked over at him thoughtfully. "You'll never be in real trouble, Malfoy. Besides, Hermione will be with you."

I looked at Harry wearily. "So what's your plan, Harry?"

"Sometime after midnight, you two need to lure the Notts onto the balcony. Say you want to chat, anything. We'll have people hiding in the garden. All you need to do is to goad her into wanting to kill you." Harry explained. "And I'm sure that won't be hard with Hermione next to you."

Draco rolled his eyes. "That sounds like a stupid plan, Potter. I'm trying to get someone to want to kill me with Granger next to me and the supposed killer's husband next to her."

"Ok, do you think there would be a way to lure her out without Theo?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but I doubt Granger can be with me." Draco answered flatly.

"Of course I'll be with you!" I exclaimed. "I'm not letting you go out there with her alone!"

Draco eyed me carefully. "I don't particularly care what you want, Granger. Pansy won't go anywhere with you so keep your frizzy head out of it." He sneered.

I was taken a bit momentarily but recovered quickly. "Listen you pale haired git, I am supposed to protect you, like I did the last time I saved your pathetic life!" I said scathingly.

His eyes narrowed and he glared at me. "The day I need protection from the likes of you, will be the day..."

"Okay, okay." Harry cut in with his hands in the air. "Look, while he has quite the way of saying it, Malfoy does have a point, Hermione."

I huffed. "Harry, it just doesn't seem like a good idea."

Harry came over and put his arm around me. I could have sworn I heard Draco growl. "We'll be on hand, at all times. No one will get hurt. And you need to make sure no one comes out and interrupts them, otherwise someone else might get hurt. Okay?" He asked, placating me.

"Fine." I said stubbornly.

"So, Malfoy, you need to tell us before you're going to go out alone with Pansy." Harry went on.

Draco nodded. "I'm sure I'll be next to her the rest of the time." He said while pointing a finger at me. "I'll tell her to let you all know what's going on."

"Make sure it's after midnight." Harry continued. "There will be less people around and less likely anyone else might get hurt."

"That's easy enough. Pansy is always happy to get me alone." Draco smirked.

For some reason, that made my stomach tie in a knot.

"Harry and I will make sure we make our way to the gardens right after midnight." Angelina said. Harry nodded.

"Ron and I will make sure we are somewhere near the balcony doors after midnight." Seamus said trying to work out the plan.

"Make sure you don't look too conspicuous." I interjected.

Everyone nodded. "And make sure you have your coins at all times." Harry said. "This will be a primary mode of communication. When Malfoy leaves with Pansy, Hermione will send us all a message to get in our spots."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, thinking through the plan.

Draco shook his head. "It still doesn't make sense that it would be Pansy." He said.

"Still mooning over your ex, Malfoy?" I said bitingly.

"Shut it, Granger." He shot back. "I'm just saying that it doesn't make sense that someone who claims to still have feelings for you wants to kill you."

Harry nodded. "Look, if we're wrong, nothing happens. But it's the best lead we've got."

"Harry's right." I said. I gave a look to Draco that said, as always and I heard him scoff.

"Okay, I'll see everyone tomorrow night at the ball." Harry said.

"You two seem a little tense, everything okay?" Angelina asked worriedly.

"Bloody fantastic." Draco muttered.

"Why don't you two go out or something?" She suggested. "I was just reading an article wondering about you two. Something about not seeing you since Christmas."

I heard Draco swear. I sighed. "Right, of course. We'll go out tonight." I said resigned to my fate.

We left the conference room and floo'd back to my flat.

"Look Malfoy." I started and he turned around to look at me. "We need to get along. I don't know what happened at Christmas but until we figure this out, we need to work together."

He nodded his head and sat on the couch. I heard him mutter under his breath, "I can't wait to go back to my life." He put his head in his hands.

"Do you want to tell me what has you so angry with me?" I inquired.

"No." He shot back quickly.

"Draco..." I said, trying to make peace.

"Look. I don't want to tell you anything. I'll be civil for the rest of this charade." He said quickly. "But that's the best you're getting."

I lifted my hands. "Fine. That's fine with me." I sat down next to him. I felt him stiffen as my arm brushed against his. All of the sudden I felt like a teenage girl again. I wrung my hands together and I could feel Draco looking at me from the corner of his eyes.

"Do you want something, Granger?" He asked sarcastically.

"Oh, uh, no." I said, still staring at my hands. What did I want to say anyway? That the silence has been killing me? That I missed the way we were at Christmas? That I missed...him? Of course I couldn't say any of that.

In the end, I decided not to say anything and I reached over for the remote. I felt him relax as I turned on the television. "So, where do you want to go for dinner?" I asked casually.

"Don't worry about that, Granger." He looked over at me. "I always know where to go."

I nodded and didn't say anything else.

We watched some sitcom about some family with some kind of drama for a half an hour before he got up from the couch. "We should get ready." He said walking towards his room. "We should leave in about half an hour."

I looked at my watch and was surprised to see that it was 6pm. I got up and ran over to my room and started to get ready. If I knew Draco, and for some reason I felt like I really did, he was taking me somewhere nice. I put on a black skirt and an emerald green velvet top. I put my hair up in a messy bun and grabbed a black purse that I put my wand and other things in.

I walked out and saw Draco already standing there in a white button down with a black jacket and pants. I grabbed my coat and walked over to him. "Floo or apparating?" I asked.

"Apparating." He responded holding his arm out.

I walked over and latched onto his arm. A familiar pull, a little bit of dizziness and I found myself standing in front of a busy restaurant.

"Let's get this over with." I heard Draco say as he pulled me to the hostess.

The hostess looked at us and without saying a word, showed us to a table. We sat down and were handed menus.

"You know, this might be a little better if you weren't so grumpy." I pointed out.

Draco looked up and put his hand on his head as if he had a headache. "Look, Granger." He said quietly. "If you could just be quiet for the rest of dinner, the evening would go much better." With that, he looked back down at the menu.

"What happened to being civil?" I challenged.

"This is me being civil." He responded not even looking up.

I harrumphed but continued to look at my menu. What was his problem anyway? And just when I thought the night couldn't get worse, it did.

"Draco! Hermione!" I heard a voice yell out. I turned around to see Blaise making his way to us. And it looked like he was being tailed by Astoria.

"For the love of Merlin." I muttered under my breath. Draco looked up and I saw him wipe the scowl off his face.

"Blaise." Draco nodded when they reached the table.

I nodded my head as well. "Hello." Blaise was dressed in a navy suit and Astoria was in a black dress looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"Funny running into you guys here." Blaise said with a big smile.

"A riot." I heard Astoria mumble behind him.

"How was your Christmas?" Blaise asked.

"Good." Draco said. "It was a nice holiday. Yours?"

"It was fantastic!" Blaise answered. "Astoria...surprised me over the holiday." He continued. "She came over and showed me what I was missing." He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.

"That's lovely to hear." I responded. "Draco and I spent a lot of quality time together. It was a wonderful time for us." I smiled at him and he nodded his head.

"Are you going to the Ministry ball?" Blaise asked. "My last case was for a Ministry worker who can't make it so gave me the tickets."

"Of course, we are." I answered.

"Great! I guess we'll see you tomorrow." Blaise said. His arm was currently being tugged on by Astoria. She obviously didn't want to stay any longer. "Our table is ready, so have a good night." He said as he walked away, his arm around Astoria's waist.

As soon as he was out of eye sight, I dropped the smile that I had plastered on my face. I looked at Draco to see a scowl set firmly on his face.

"I guess he got back together with Astoria." I said.

"Obviously. You're quire astute tonight, aren't you Granger?" He said dismissively.

I narrowed my eyes at him and picked the menu back up.

The rest of dinner passed in silence. We attempted to look happy for the on lookers but neither of us talked or looked at each other for the rest of the night.

We apparated back to my flat afterwards where he went straight to his room. "G'night Granger." He said over his shoulder as his door closed.

I went into my room and got ready for bed. I sat in bed wondering what happened in the last few days. He was a right fine bugger tonight. Did I really miss him? Draco Malfoy? What did that mean? What about when the case was over? Did I...care about him? Like him even? I scoffed at the thought but it slowly dawned upon me that maybe it wasn't as far-fetched as I had initially thought it was. I fell asleep, my eyebrows furrowed, confused by what I was feeling.