Immediately the world around them began to swirl and change, all the colors mixing together so quickly that neither of them could make out the images that were flashing by. A second later the two Heads stood on a dirt pathway that led up the side of a hill and disappeared around the other side. To their right was the gorgeous aqua colored sea, moving about with the slight breeze that blew from the West.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Hermione declared, walking to the edge of the path so as to view the sea better. "That water is the bluest I've ever seen!"

Even Draco, impressed by few things, was at a loss for words upon seeing the beauty before him; he had never been to Greece, after all, even though he had some distant relatives that lived there. After a moment of staring out at the scenery, his mind recalled their mission.

"Alright, Granger, we've got to find these jinx people before I go stir crazy by your side," Draco announced dryly, clearly ready to get this whole ordeal over with.

He glanced up at the sun, squinting under its bright, hot rays, and quickly took off his heavy coat and gloves. There was a drastic change in temperature this time of year in Greece, especially by the seaside, and it was probably about 85 degrees.

Hermione soon followed suit, shooting him a hefty glare in the process, annoyed he had broken in upon her reverie. "Ok, ok, keep your wands in a row, I was just getting my bearings is all." With a sigh she began to walk up the path, Draco close on her heels.

"How do you know where you're going, Granger?"

"I don't, really, I'm just following instinct."

"I'm sorry, what? You're just going to follow your instinct and see where it leads us? Why, it could take years to find these nut jobs if we do it that way!" he exclaimed angrily. "No, we need to find a map and locate them."

Hermione stopped in her tracks, hands on her hips. "Malfoy, do you think if I had a map I wouldn't be using it? We have to follow this path to see where it leads—which could be to a town, which could have people that know where Giacomo and Cassiopeia are, or quite possibly a map!"

"Oh," was all he could muster in response, knowing that he had just sounded like a complete idiot. Why didn't I think of that? This ruddy jinx is making me daft!

Hermione was about to turn back around to continue her trek up the path, but just then a sea breeze blew from behind Draco, taking his unique scent and sending it straight up her nose. She froze in her tracks, eyes wide, hands trembling. She realized instantly that the jinx had never made her react in this way before—this was much more intense. Draco stared at her curiously, not comprehending what was going through her mind.

"Granger…are you quite alright? It looks like you've seen a ghost," he commented, his brow furrowed.

The breeze still blowing slightly, Hermione closed her eyes and breathed him in—cologne that smelled half sweet and half bitter (if that was possible), freshly laundered robes, and hair gel. She licked her lips, taking one in her teeth and biting down hard. She knew it had to stop now, or else she honestly didn't know what she would do. Probably throw herself on him, or something similarly horrifying.

"Granger!"

Draco was there then, shaking her brusquely by the arms.

Hermione's eyes flew open, taking in the Slytherin that was inches from her. Thanks a lot, Malfoy. That helps a bunch, the rational side of her brain thought sourly of his proximity to her.

As she thought this, the breeze suddenly switched directions. She no longer smelled Draco, but it was just the opposite for him. The sweet scent of Hermione was like a slap in his face, as if he'd been dreaming and was just woken up. Lilacs, strawberries, and some clean scent he couldn't place. To the part of him that was driven entirely by the jinx, it was intoxicating. Oh, who was he kidding? Even the other half of him agreed. Hermione noted the change in his eyes and tried to pull away, knowing that the absence of the breeze was her only way out now.

"Wait, don't," he said softly, although still firmly holding onto her arms.

"Malfoy, we can't—"

"Why not?" His eyes bored into hers, so intensely it almost made her melt.

"Because we're not thinking clearly, it's just the jinx, remember?" Hermione sighed, looking away towards the now abandoned path. "We have to keep moving."

"Is it?"

She snapped her head back, her eyes meeting his once again. "Is it, what?"

"Is it still the jinx causing these emotions? Or is it you and me?"

Hermione's resolve faltered at this, unsure of what to say. Was it still the jinx that was making them feel this way? Or had…other feelings developed? She had registered in her mind that the feelings were stronger than before…but, what if that was just her own feelings getting stronger? Dumbledore had never mentioned anything about that—a growth to the jinx. If that was the case, the Headmaster's true love would have ended up falling for him, just like he wanted. And Cassiopeia wouldn't have cheated on her husband, because she would have ended up more in love with him than in the beginning. Merlin, was she falling for Draco Malfoy? Was such a thing possible? Hermione needed to find out as much as she could about this jinx, and she needed it now.

In one swift movement, she brought her hand up and slapped Draco flush across his cheek.

"Oi! What the—what was that for?" he exclaimed crossly, gingerly cradling his angry red cheek.

Hermione looked apologetic. "Look, I'm sorry I did that, but I had to. You weren't thinking straight and it was the only way to snap you out of it."

Draco snorted. "Right! I could think of a lot better ways, Granger! Like shaking me, or yelling, or—or anything other than that!"

"Ok, ok, I said I was sorry! I could have kicked you in a rather unpleasant place, would that have been better?" Seeing Draco widen his eyes was answer enough. "Yeah, you're welcome. Now let's get on with this already, shall we? I'd like to find these people before they die, you know."

Rolling his eyes, Draco followed her, all the while muttering under his breath something about how his perfect complexion was ruined forever.

After quite some time, the pair finally spotted a city not far off on the other side of a hill.

"Check it out! I wonder if this is where they live," Hermione questioned out loud, speeding her pace up.

"It better be, this bloody hike is killing my feet," Draco complained for the thousandth time that hour. "I don't know how these people did this, it's ridiculous!"

"Oh, buck up, Malfoy, we're almost there. Here, this should help in the mean time," the Head Girl replied, taking out her wand and casting a comfort spell on his feet. Draco's expression relaxed as his feet regained feeling and suddenly felt as though they were walking on clouds.

"Thanks, Granger."

Hermione turned to look at him and smiled, seeing that he was being genuine for once. "You're welcome, Malfoy."

Inwardly, Draco scowled at himself for not knowing that spell himself. What is it with her getting the best of me these days? It's like this jinx is sucking the smart right out of me! These Greek characters better have an answer, or they're going to die sooner than they thought!

They rounded the hill quickly and came upon the entrance to the city, where the name "Thermi" was mounted on a wooden board that was nailed to the gate. Next to it was a single guard, who was currently slumped over in his chair fast asleep.

Draco snorted. "Some security system they got here."

Peering around him and the gate, Hermione noted that the town wasn't very busy, with only a few groups of people moving throughout the square.

"I don't think there's really that much to protect," she offered.

The two of them snuck quickly past the guard and started off down the main street, walking by small booths filled with local art, food, and furniture.

"So now what? We just ask around for these people?" Draco questioned, glancing warily around at the vendors that kept calling out for him to buy their products. "They don't exactly look that knowledgeable."

Hermione shrugged. "What other choice do we have?"

She soon spotted a man who was sitting cross-legged on a blanket, and had incense spiraling upward around him like a slow-motion whirlwind. His forefingers were pressed against him thumbs, and he was chanting in a low voice while his eyes remained closed. He seems like the town's medicine man, or something similar. I bet he'd be the one to know where they are.

"Excuse me, sir?" she said nervously, not wanting to interrupt anything. At first, there was no response, so Hermione cleared her throat. "Um—"

"Hello!" the man nearly yelled at them, his eyes flying open to reveal piercingly blue orbs. "Hello there, hello there, who are you? What do you want, eh?"

Hermione exchanged a quick glance of uncertainty with Draco and then returned her attention to the medicine man.

"Yes, hi, um, we were wondering if you might know where two of our friends were. Their names are Giacomo and Cassiopeia. Do they live around here?"

The man's blue eyes widened until Draco thought they might just pop right out of his head. "Ohhhh! Oh! Giacomo and Cassiopeia! Oh…poor souls. Doomed. Doomed to die…so sad, very sad…"

Once again, Hermione looked to Draco, this time in alarm. They were both thinking the same thing—were they already dead? Draco decided it was time to get to the bottom of this once and for all.

"Listen, buddy, do they live here or not? We really need to find them, and the sooner the better. It's an emergency," he said authoritatively.

The man looked directly at him and narrowed his eyes, as if he were trying to see into Draco's soul. The Slytherin took a step back involuntarily, clearly unsettled by this mysterious towns person. Finally, the man answered him.

"Yes. The two young souls that you seek live here. Follow this road until it ends and you will find their house. It is perched on the rocky cliffs and surrounded by sky."

The two Heads lit up in excitement. "Excellent!" they both exclaimed.

"But!" the man shouted harshly, making them both jump. "I must warn you, terrible things have happened there. Terrible things are about to happen there. If you value your lives, stay away."

Hermione looked positively alarmed at this, and came closer to the man to hear what he had to say

. "What kind of terrible things?" she questioned fearfully. Draco watched them suspiciously from a few paces behind.

The medicine man leaned forward so he was almost nose to nose with Hermione, and then whispered, "Ask your friend."

She cocked an eyebrow at him and stood back up, clearly confused, and glanced between him and Draco. At that same moment, Draco grabbed her upper arm and yanked her in the other direction.

"Come on, this guy is a lunatic, let's go," he commanded under his breath, forcefully leading her away from the old man.

"Ow! Malfoy, you're hurting my arm!" she complained as they struggled up another hill. He immediately released her and kept on going, trudging along in determination. Hermione sped up to him, and then had to fast walk to keep with his pace.

"What was that man talking about, Malfoy? Why did he tell me to ask you about the terrible things that happened in their house?" she asked skeptically. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Draco remained silent, focused on getting up the steep hill and to their Greek friend's house. She stared after him incredulously.

"Malfoy! I am talking to you, you git! What is wrong with you!"

"Look, I don't know, ok! I have no idea why he thinks I would know anything about it, I obviously wasn't alive when these people existed!" he shouted back in annoyance.

"He thinks you know something! Why would this random medicine man from hundreds of years ago think that you, of all people, know about the exact same couple we came searching for, huh?" Hermione said back. "You're hiding something from me!"

"NO I'M NOT!" Draco bellowed, now stopped in the middle of the road and facing Hermione. "I don't know what he's talking about, Granger, you're just going to have to trust me!"

Hermione glared at him hard, her chest rising and falling quickly in rhythm with her increased heartbeat, her hands balled into fists.

"Why should I trust you?" she snapped.

Draco stared back at her just as furiously, but answered in a softer voice, "Because I'm all you've got."

Hermione peered at him, almost as if she were probing his mind to see if he was telling the truth. After a lengthy silence in which she stared at him and he waited to see her reaction, she finally conceded with a sigh. "Oh, alright. Let's go then."

It wasn't long before the house on the bluff was visible from their position on the hills. Unfortunately, their path had suddenly become rather steep and narrow, clutching the hillside so tightly Hermione had slowed down considerably behind Draco so that she could watch her footsteps with caution. Her companion, however, seemingly had no trouble at all with the perilous road, and kept his pace as if he was on any other trail and not inches from an untimely death.

"What are you doing back there, taking a nap?" Draco asked in frustration after he had turned back to see that Hermione was nowhere in sight. He believed her to be just around the corner he had just rounded, but after waiting a few seconds actually became worried she had fallen off the cliff. "Granger? Granger, where are you?" Silence answered his beckoning. Draco began to panic. Granger's gone! If she's dead, that means I'm dead! We can't be far apart, and if she's gone and thrown herself off that bloody cliff…I might as well follow her down!

He sprinted back around the corner as quick as his feet would carry him, only to be stopped by the girl in question as they rammed right into one another.

"Oi! What the—," he yelled. At the same time, Draco's foot slipped, causing pebbles and dirt to slide off the edge and down to the churning sea below, his leg soon following. He grabbed onto Hermione's sleeve as she reached for his hand and waist. After a moment of immobility, she hoisted him as best she could back to a standing position on the narrow path, brushing herself off and breathing hard.

"Thanks for trying to bulldoze me down, Malfoy!" Hermione cried, clearly shaken by the experience. "You're lucky I didn't die just then!"

"YOU? I'm the one who almost fell off the cliff, if you hadn't noticed!" Draco retorted, gesturing wildly towards the sky blue ocean below them.

"Yeah, and you're still alive no thanks to me of course, I only saved your life is all!" she reminded him.

Her exclamation hung in the air like a taboo as Draco struggled to think of a smart comeback that would slyly thank her at the same time. He could think of none, so just shouted, "Well thanks for nothing! I'd rather die than be stuck with you!"

Hermione's mouth opened in an inaudible gasp, stung by his words. She quickly recovered so he wouldn't see the hurt in her eyes by shutting her mouth and marching back up the incline towards the seaside house.

Draco cursed inwardly as he started to follow her. He had meant to thank her, and honestly was forever in her debt for what she had done, but as he felt the words coming out of his mouth he just couldn't say it. His Malfoy instincts took over and he said the nastiest thing he could think of instead. Stupid genes, he muttered in his head. I shouldn't be so mean to her, Granger is kind of an okay girl, I mean she's pretty and nice and isn't a bad kisser—Draco physically shook himself, surprised at where his own thoughts were taking him. It's just the jinx, Draco, it's not real. Soon it will all be over and you won't have to feel these weird emotions anymore, and you can hate each other until you die. He smiled to himself at this thought. That's better. Happy thoughts, Draco, happy thoughts!

By the time this internal banter had finished, the pair was in the front yard of the old home. It appeared at first glance that no one had inhabited this house in a long time. The yard was overgrown and full of brambles, the once pristine white and blue paint on the exterior was peeling and chipped, shingles were missing from the roof, and most of the shutters lay scattered across the lawn, save for one that was hanging on by its last hinge from the looks of things.

Draco looked over at Hermione, and seeing the worried and disappointed look on her face, felt oddly compelled to comfort her and fix the situation.

"Look, Granger, maybe the place got robbed or something, they're probably just too poor to fix it up. We should at least check inside," he said, watching for her reaction.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right, let's knock and see if anyone's home." With that she strode to the front door, giving it two hard raps. Draco appeared next to her while they waited. A minute passed with no answer at the door, and Hermione's shoulders slumped, clearly disappointed they had come all this way for nothing.

"They aren't here, Malfoy. This is pointless, we should just go," she said dejectedly as she turned to leave.

Draco grit his teeth in anger. Being stuck to Hermione, going back in time, and almost falling off a cliff had given him determination it seemed, and there was no way he was giving up that fast. They had to be there somewhere, and by Merlin he was going to find them if it was the last thing he did!

"No!" he suddenly yelled as he began pounding furiously on the old wooden door. "They must be here! Hello! Anyone in there? Giacomo? HELLO! We need your help with your—er, a jinx! Please!"

Hermione watched his futile attempt, feeling utterly hopeless about their situation. It appeared they would just be stuck with each other for the rest of their lives, and there was absolutely nothing that could be done about it. Thinking this, the once brave and fearless Gryffindor suddenly felt, for the first time, that she had been sorted into the wrong house. I'm no courageous warrior, she thought sullenly as Draco continued his assault on the door. I can't even figure out how to get rid of a silly little jinx, and I have no idea what to do…I always know what to do! What's happening to me?

Interrupting her thoughts was the cessation of Draco's pounding and his surprised gasp. Hermione whipped her head up, hopeful.

"What is it? Do you see them?"

Draco's face was immobile, but she could see the gears turning in his head at top speed. He looked shocked, then confused, and finally angry, pure and raw. He punched the door hard and cursed loudly, and then began pacing back and fourth.

"Malfoy?" Hermione cautiously said. Giving no sign that he heard her or was going to react violently against her, she then asked, "What's going on? What did you see?"

He pointed at the door, such hatred in his expression that Hermione was glad he wasn't speaking at the moment. She walked over and finally saw what she didn't notice before—a small crest in the center of the door, normally where a peep hole would be placed. It resembled a shield that had two black dragons on either side and bore the colors of Slytherin, green and silver, all throughout. A large silver "M" was set in the middle, and under it were the words "Sanctimonia Vincet Semper."

Hermione didn't have to think twice about what this was, especially due to the way Draco had reacted upon seeing it, and the fact that the Latin words translated to "Purity Always Conquers". She was afraid to ask him about it, but she thought back on what the medicine man had said and knew this was somehow connected and important.

"Your family crest is on their door." It was clearly a statement, for there was really no need to ask him why it was there—it was obvious that he had no more idea than Hermione did.

He finally turned to look at her, still seething, and simply said, "Yes, Granger."

She couldn't contain the question any longer. "But why—?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he exclaimed, cutting her off. "This is all my father's doing! It all makes sense now—this jinx has apparently been in my family for generations, centuries, maybe since the beginning of time! It's the reason there is no anti-jinx listed in any book we've looked at, of course the Malfoys would want to keep that secret to themselves if they created the ruddy thing. Typical!"

Hermione stared at him blankly, still confused. "But why would your father want us to fall in fake love and be stuck together forever? He hates me!"

"Well of course he hates you, you idiot! You're a Mudblood! But he also loves himself more than anyone or anything, and to protect himself he wants you to keep your pretty little mouth shut about what happened this summer, and that means making sure we're as close to friends as we can get," he explained animatedly.

He watched her expression and could see that things were finally clicking into place in that smart brain of hers. Hermione's eyes were wide with…did he see a little fear in them? Some Gryffindork you are.

"Why not just threaten me then? Why take the long way around?" A touch of prideful anger had crept into her features as she said this.

Draco sighed, as if explaining this was taking a toll on him physically. "Haven't you ever heard the expression, 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'? I suppose he thought it easier to keep an eye on you if you were by my side 24-7, although I'm sure it never crossed his mind how horrible that would be for me."

"For us," she corrected with a growl.

Draco was just about to retort with a witty comment about how life with a Mudblood was terribly detrimental to his health, when a man with a short, white blonde beard and head of hair to match came tottering from around the corner holding a hastily-made bouquet of wildflowers. Upon seeing the pair of teenagers, he stopped short in surprise and began speaking to them in Italian.

"Oh, bloody hell, now what? I can't speak Italian!" Draco complained, staring at the man as if he was an alien from another planet.

"For goodness sakes, it wouldn't hurt you to pay attention in class, Malfoy!" Hermione chided. She took out her wand discreetly (in case this man was a Muggle) behind her back and cast a spell under her breath. Instantaneously, the Italian the man was speaking had turned into English.

"…help you?" he said, looking very confused.

Hermione stepped forward tentatively. "Hello, I'm Hermione and this is Draco." She gestured to each of them respectively, and then continued. "We were wondering…you wouldn't, by any chance, be Giacomo, would you?"

Uncertainly, he responded, "Yes, I am Giacomo. What can I help you with?"

Hermione's smile was so big, Draco was afraid she was going to jump for joy and embrace the man, but luckily she contained herself.

"Oh, wonderful! That's wonderful!" she exclaimed instead, looking back and fourth between Draco and Giacomo to see their reactions. "Isn't that wonderful, Draco?"

He shot her a look that clearly said calm down, and then began to speak for the both of them. Hermione's excitement did not diminish even the slightest from his glare.

"Giacomo, we have come to you in need of your assistance. Have you ever heard of Amore Redimio?"

Draco watched his face carefully to see his reaction, which was instantaneous; recognition crossed it, accompanied by shock and fear.

"No! No I've never heard of that, I'm sorry. I don't think I can help you," he said hurriedly as he began towards the house.

"Please!" Hermione cried, stopping him short. He turned to look at her pleading face, evidently torn between leaving and helping.

"Please," she repeated, "You're our only hope."

Giacomo stared at them in silence, thinking. Finally, he broke down and nodded furiously, glancing from side to side nervously as he ushered them into the old house.

Hermione and Draco were pushed inside, yet immediately disoriented. Were they in the same house? The interior was immaculate, from the dark green drapes on every window to the silver-flecked paint that covered the walls, from the exquisite furniture in every room to the house elves that were scurrying around due to the arrival of their master. The two Heads exchange a look of disbelief and then turned their attention to Giacomo, who had seated himself in a plush armchair.

Noticing their incredulous looks, he filled them in with a sly grin. "Ah, I find keeping disillusionment charms on my house keeps out…well, those who are unwanted."

"So you're a wizard, then?" Hermione noted out loud.

"I'm not just a wizard, little girl, I'm a Malfoy!" he answered her snidely, pride filling his voice. She frowned at him and internally rolled her eyes, while Draco smiled from ear to ear.

"So am I!" the Slytherin blonde announced.

Giacomo looked at him in surprise, studying his features very carefully. He stroked his chin in thought, then spoke.

"That is impossible. I have no relatives alive and my children have none of their own as of yet. You are lying," he stated simply.

Draco's smile instantly disappeared. "No, I swear I am! My father is Lucius Malfoy, I—I'm a Malfoy, I am! Granger, tell him!"

Surprised that she was called upon, Hermione looked up, unsure of what to say. "Uh, yeah, he truly is, sir. I can vouch for him being a spineless, hateful prick a hundred times over," she answered as honestly as she could, smiling a bit in Draco's direction. He gave her a scowl in return.

Giacomo's voice interrupted their exchange. "Is this true, boy?"

"Well, yeah, but she is an insufferable know-it-all!" he retorted, glaring hard at Hermione.

"Oh, and you're so much better?" she yelled back. "You got drunk at 11 in the morning, and then proceeded to hex my best friend just to annoy me!"

"He deserved it; he's a redheaded weasel who's friends with Mudbloods!"

"Enough!" Giacomo interrupted loudly, cutting their argument off. He surveyed Draco for a moment and then smiled. "I believe you are a Malfoy. How you got here I will not question, but I haven't heard that word in these parts since my own father died. Wizards in these parts do not believe that Purebloods should be the only ones with magical abilities." He paused to give Hermione a disapproving look that she inferred to be related to her blood status Draco had just blurted out. Great, now he won't help us at all! Good going, Malfoy! She thought irritably, shooting him daggers that he chose to ignore.

"Now, you asked about Amore Redimio?" Giacomo said, now talking only to Draco and completely ignoring Hermione.

"Yes, you see we have—er—seemed to have gotten this jinx cast upon us unknowingly sometime in the past week, and well, we heard that you were the one who created it, so I thought maybe you could help us find a way to get rid of it," Draco explained earnestly.

"How did this come to be when I myself have yet to cast it? I only perfected my jinx just recently, and I haven't tried it out yet," Giacomo answered in confusion.

"But that's great!" Hermione squealed in excitement. When the two Malfoys gave her looks of perplexity, she continued. "Don't you see, Malfoy? If he never casts the jinx, that means your father won't ever have a chance of doing this to us—it won't exist at all!"

"Stupid girl!" Giacomo shouted, suddenly very angry. "Do not assume I will cease my experiment just because you two random strangers appeared at my doorstep today! I have every intention of casting the jinx upon my lover; this very evening, in fact."

Hermione looked crestfallen and more than a little afraid at this sudden outburst. She glanced up at Draco, pleading him to help with her eyes. He gave a small sigh and turned to the disgruntled man.

"Giacomo, please see reason," he began seriously. "You, being a Malfoy, have a way with the ladies, am I right?"

The stormy expression on the Italian wizard's face softened a bit as a sly grin crept onto his visage, and he gave a little shrug as if it were no big deal. "Well, I have been known to woo beautiful women on occasion, it's true."

Draco smirked back, knowing he was going about this the right way. "Then it's only natural to assume you have absolutely no need of this jinx. I would think with your good looks and wealth you'd be able to have any woman in this entire country!"

"While you flatter me with the truth, dear boy, there is one exception—Cassiopeia!" he snarled her name out with such hatred, the pair of Heads were confused as to why he wanted her at all. Noticing their blank expressions, he explained.

"She is the only woman who has refused me, never even noticed me or looked twice in my direction. When I finally got her attention after months of trying, she dismissed me as if I were worth no more than the dirt on her shoes. I have tried everything! Flowers, chocolates, declarations of love under her window…nothing. Nothing works!" he shouted, clearly upset and defeated. Giacomo hung his head in despair, then ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. He looked up at Draco and Hermione with pity in his eyes.

"I am sorry, but I must cast this jinx upon her. It is the only way I can be with the one I love."

"Please!" Hermione blurted out in frustration, causing Giacomo to look at her in even more contempt than before. She swore he even turned up his nose a little. "Please, Giacomo, it's not a good idea, trust me. I know this might be hard to believe, but we're from the future, and we know someone who used this jinx to do what you're about to do, and it destroyed him. And according to the history books, it's going to destroy you and Cassiopeia. It's going to kill you."

It was clear by the lack of change in his expression that Giacomo wasn't going to believe anything a mere Mudblood told him, so he turned to Draco, his eyebrows high upon his forehead. Draco nodded grimly in response to his questioning look.

"It's true, sir. It's going to kill both of you. She can't stand being trapped and leaves despite the pain. If you really love her, you have to let her go."

The man stared at him in silence for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a couple of seconds, and then his lip began to quiver, and soon he was sobbing like a school girl, slumped over on his armchair.

"I—I—I c-can't! I c-c-can't l-lose her-r! You d-don't und-derstand-d!" he blubbered uncontrollably. Draco and Hermione shared a look of shock and took a step back to let the man wail by himself.

Suddenly Giacomo reached up and grabbed the end of Draco's sleeve, his face pure desperation. "Malfoy, boy, you have to help me! Please, she must love me! I'll go mad!"

Draco's wide eyes stared down at the pitiful wizard who was clinging to his robes and crying, amazed at how calm and collected he had been only moments ago. He looked over at Hermione questioningly, but she shrugged in response, unsure herself of what they were supposed to do now.

Sure, stupid old coot gets us in this mess, but doesn't tell us how to get out of it. Typical Dumbledore, Draco thought to himself irritably.

Giacomo finally released his sleeve in defeat, and slumped back into his chair once more, hiding his face in his hands as he continued to cry.

Draco pulled Hermione into a corner where they couldn't be overheard, even though it was unlikely considering the Italian wizard's current condition.

"Well, now what do we do, Granger? This is ridiculous! He's not going to help us, the man has gone batty!" he cried, glancing out of the corner of his eye to make sure Giacomo hadn't heard that. He was relieved to see the other Malfoy blowing snot into his sleeve, totally oblivious.

Hermione sighed and shook her head, just as lost as Draco. "It seems that we only have two options I suppose. We either get him to remove it somehow, or we find Cassiopeia and convince her to fall in love with this wacko."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh, those are really plausible options! If she didn't want him when he was being suave and giving her gifts, do you really think she's going to fall for this blubbering idiot?"

They looked over briefly to see Giacomo still crying into his hands, mumbling something about never loving anyone again and dying alone in a dirt hole. Hermione chuckled a little at this scene, she couldn't help it. Draco narrowed his eyes at her incredulously.

"And just what are you laughing at? This isn't funny!" he snarled in a whisper.

"I—I'm sorry, it's just—Malfoy, this is what you came from?" she laughed, keeping a hand over her mouth to keep the noise down. "No wonder you put up such a hard exterior, underneath you're just like a little girl!"

Draco whipped out his wand so quickly she barely had time to blink before it was under her chin and at her throat. The laughter died on her lips as she stared wide-eyed into his stormy grey orbs that were barely slits. She was afraid he was actually going to hex her or something, but as soon as their eyes connected, the jinx sprang to life.

Hermione's heartbeat increased substantially, beating like a drum in her ribcage and matching the rhythm that was pulsing inside of Draco. He dropped the hand the held his wand, slipping it back inside his robes, and then latched onto her waist, pulling her against him forcefully. Hermione was crushed to his chest, but didn't find it unpleasant. She was still staring at him, but her brown eyes had gone soft and searching, boring into his with a probing intensity. Soon, Hermione realized that Draco's lips were being lowered to her own, getting closer and closer until—

"Stupefy!"

A jet of red light that came out of the end of Giacomo's wand hit the pair of them, knocking them to the ground with a sickening thud. With a cruel smile, he walked over to them and looked down upon their faces, their glassy but still aware eyes blankly staring back at him.

"Stupid children, you should never trust your first impressions! Or a Malfoy, for that matter. So easily fooled by tears and matters of the heart," the wizard chided them, smirking triumphantly. "Now that you are out of my way, I will cast the jinx upon Cassiopeia at tonight's party and she will love me forever!"

He stepped over them and headed towards the door, then stopped short. "Oh I almost forgot— Incarcerous!" A loud bang resounded off the high ceilings as ropes shot out of his wand to bind Draco and Hermione together by their hands and feet. "Wouldn't want you escaping, now would we?" Giacomo laughed at himself, pleased with his work.

"I do hope you've enjoyed your stay," he offered, and with that he grabbed his wildflower bouquet and walked out the door, letting it close behind him with a definitive slam.