Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Chapter 10

**Somewhere in a rundown cabin in the middle of nowhere. **

Antonin Dolohov paced back and forth in the cramped space he had. It had been years since he had abandoned the search for the girl but sacrificing her could be his last chance to finally be rid of Potter. She and her family had disappeared just before the rise of the Dark Lord, their names apparently erased from history. There was powerful magic surrounding them. Someone had gone to great lengths to hide them. The Beaufleurs had had a daughter, this he knew for sure. The French princess should still be alive, and he needed both her and her magic. He would find her. If it was the last thing he did, he would find her.

Back at Hogwarts, the students were preparing to go home for Christmas. It was a busy time for the prefects; they had to make sure none of the students were skipping their classes in their excitement. Many students would be remaining at Hogwarts for the Holidays this year due to any number of reasons. Hermione and Draco had to decide which prefects would be asked to remain at Hogwarts and which ones could return home to their families. It was a hard decision to make since many of the prefects also missed home and wanted to get away from all the changes happening at Hogwarts for a while.

One evening, Hermione was sitting in living room she shared with Draco looking over the list of names and trying to decide who would be best suited to staying at the castle over the break. She didn't want to ask Ginny because she knew how excited the red head was to go back home to her family, but Ginny was also one of the only people she trusted enough to leave the castle to while she was away. Hermione was mulling over this dilemma when Draco walked into their suite. At the sound of his entrance, she began to put her things together to return to her room. She wasn't ready to face the blonde yet after what had happened when he apologized to her. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough and he noticed her before she could get away.

"What were you doing?" he asked her as he entered their shared space and looked over the lists she had made. Hermione stopped packing and sat back down but still avoided eye contact. It was too late to run away now but maybe she could make this go quicker and escape at an opportune moment.

"Nothing," she mumbled "Just trying to figure out who will stay at the castle over Christmas."

"I can help, who do you have so far?" Draco settled down in a chair and started looking over the lists Hermione had made. He noticed that she avoided looking at him but he didn't want to push her so he just ignored it.

"There are no Slytherin prefects on this list." He noted while looking it over.

"I don't know if any of them would want to stay." She said in response. It was true that there was a definite lack of Slytherin in the prefects she had been considering but that was only because she didn't know any of them very well and didn't want to ask them to do anything they may not want to if they didn't have to.

"You can put me, Pansy, Theo, and Blaise on the list. None of us particularly have a home we're willing to return to." Draco said to her. Hermione nodded and added their names to her list. She couldn't imagine what the homes of death eaters was like but she didn't think it was appropriate to ask. So instead, she just left it alone and gave him the final list to look over. With his additions, she no longer had to worry about asking Ginny to stay and she could also, in good conscience, go home herself.

"You're not staying?" he asked her suddenly while looking over the list.

"No. There's something I need to do so I'm going back."

"Alright."

And then he got up and left.