Author's Note: Iloveyouall. Sorry I haven't updated. I mean, I'm really, really sorry. I admit that I'm not really into this story anymore and I admit that I don't have any excuses this time, and that it was a result of my laziness. I realize that I cannot promise you guys anything anymore without breaking it, and am surprised that I haven't had a truckload of flame reviews... Yet. That's why I really appreciate you all so much!

debarie and hanvu: Since an explanation probably wouldn't fit in future chapters, I'll tell you about Lucius and Pansy. They're really not sleeping with each other. Just you know, faking it. Why Lucius want to be with Pansy? EW. That scares me.

Ellie: Is just so wrong to want to be appreciated? I mean, I respect your opinion and all, but I must argue. Doesn't every writer here at want as many reviews as possible? It makes me feel happy, okay? And of course it would take me at most a week to write my story! Maybe even more! I'm sure you all know that school eats up most of your time, right? With homework, tests, and all that crud. Now I add my daily swim practices. I have nearly three hours of it each day after school, which gives me little time to do my homework. Not to mention swim meets, which I have at one or two times a month. I have to go on both Saturday and Sunday mornings until the afternoon each time. I get one after another, and it /is/ tiring. It's hard to update in like, a day with all these things going on. Writing stories is just something I do in my spare time.

windsinger257: I wrote chapter nine before debarie gave me the idea. Let's just say.. He didn't want to arouse any suspicion yet.

Zippy-Wings: Okay, okay.. I won't for now. 3

rigflurry: Hey, thanks!

pandorina86: No, don't! Because then the smell will drive me away and I'll never ever return!

Sllug92: Good point. xD

kostos: Aww, thanks. I'm picky, too. I prefer stories with good plot lines and chapters either about the same or longer than mine. But I'm not currently into reading fanfictions right now.

Sunflower18, animerocksjapanrocks, Hippielover459, ghilliekitten, ellamalfoy8, BA de Danone, Kaydotsidot, aznchic2009, luckycharm04, Winona Corrine, Starfire13579, devinnetjuh, Artemis1415, and jazzymine91: Thanks for the reviews! You all are the best!


Chapter Eleven: Preparations

"Ron likes me?" Hermione still couldn't believe it. Even though Ginny had told her just yesterday, the shock of it all just continued to pester her. She sighed, as she changed into jeans and a t-shirt. Unfortunately, she would have to ditch school, and ultimately her future (at least to her), just to put all her energy into foiling Lucius's plans. But what choice did she have? It was either that, or be killed. Hmm.. Tough decision. Would she rather die or skip classes? Obviously, she chose that she'd rather not be dead. Although it was merely Sunday morning, she knew that she would probably not make it back in time for classes tomorrow.

After looking around for a moment, she checked to make sure that her door was locked, and right on cue, the second door appeared. She quickly opened it and closed it as quietly as possible, as to not arouse any suspicion from the supposed 'Draco'. Ginny was waiting almost impatiently, with Harry and Ron beside her. The three looked up, Ginny with relief on her face. Harry's look was a bit similar, and he did smile. Ron differed from both of them, and looked entirely gloomy. He almost immediately averted his eyes, as if Hermione was Medusa.

This brought a blush to Hermione's cheeks, but she acted casually. "Thanks for helping, guys." She smiled as cheerfully as possible, but Ginny didn't bother to smile back. She appeared to be lost in her own thoughts.. Either that or she had a dreadful pain in her stomach. They had an idea what they were getting into, but just the same. They didn't know what to expect from this. They hardly even believed that they would get out of the school grounds at all.

"Yeah, well, can't let Malfoy rot while his father tries to kill you, right Hermione?" Ginny suddenly said, in a desperate attempt to sound happy. "Anyway, we'd better go, right?" She stood up a bit reluctantly, dragging the boys up with her. She was clutching their arms so tightly, that her knuckles were turning white and they had looks of pain etched in their faces.

"Let go, Ginny!" Ron squeaked. It was the first thing he'd said in Hermione's presence in a while, now. Ron's face instantly turned scarlet, and he rubbed his arm as he grumbled under his breath. He seemed to be examining his arm afterwards, as if Ginny might have given him a rather painful tattoo of Voldemort, or something of the sort.

Hermione sighed, and looked at them. "Wait, Gin. Don't we need more people? I mean, we can't get into the Malfoy Manor and keep alive by ourselves! There are probably Death Eaters staying there!" She glanced at each of their worried faces. She knew they were thinking that no one would want to help them help Malfoy. It just wasn't done. "Look, Ginny, could you go up and ask Luna to help us, please?" After Ginny had agreed and scampered up the stairs to the girls' dormitory, she turned to the boys. "And could you guys go ask Neville or Seamus or Dean to help us?"

Ron and Harry exchanged looked that clearly meant they weren't sure about this, but they turned and trudged up the stairs.

Hermione smiled weakly to herself and plopped herself on the nearest chair. Her stomach was doing flips all over, and she couldn't imagine what was in store for them in the manor. Booby traps, Death Eaters? She shivered at the thought of dying if she did this. Although that was a bit drastic, seeing as it /was/ a home to the Malfoys... Somehow, this didn't cheer her up much. But she forced these thoughts to the back of her mind when Ginny arrived back down with Luna Lovegood. She seemed excited with her wand tucked behind her right ear and a grin on her face. Moments later, Harry and Ron came down with Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom. Apparently, Dean Thomas did not want any part in this.

"Alright. So do you all have your wands?" She looked at all of them. Each of them nodded or replied with a 'yeah'. "Harry, do you have your invisibility cloak and Marauder's map?" She asked him. Although the map wouldn't be of much use to them outside of the castle, they could at least sneak out without getting in trouble. She got a yes from Harry. "And I'm guessing that Neville and Luna don't have brooms, and neither do I.. So maybe Luna could go with Ginny, Neville could go with Harry, and I could go with either Ron or Seamus. But since Ron doesn't seem to like me very much anymore, I'll go with Seamus." She thought that it was a pretty good plan. The only means on transportation they could use was with broomsticks. It was a bit slow, but it was all they had.

Ron let a frown cross his face at Hermione's last comments, but then turned away so she couldn't see properly.

"Now, I have a map that I got from Draco..." Hermione patted one of the pockets of her robe. "Don't ask how." She added, noticing the questioning looks she got from Luna, Seamus, and Neville. They hadn't be told why they were rescuing Malfoy. Just that they had to, and it was a matter of life and death. "So.. I guess that's all we need..." She thought hard for a minute to make sure that they really did have everything. "Oh, and don't forget to summon your brooms."

There were a few muttered spells, and the four brooms were accio'd to their owners. In the period of only minutes, the seven of them had snuck out of the castle and far enough into the Forbidden Forest so that they couldn't be seen. They mounted their brooms, each with their partners except for Ron, and started to the southeast, where the Malfoy Manor was supposed to be located.

It seemed like everything was on their side that day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Of course Hermione had to perform camouflage spells all of them, so they couldn't be seen, since they couldn't fly above the clouds. The sun was at first shining in their faces, and slowly moved above them. As the day wore on, the sun moved down behind them, and they had an easier time seeing.

They flew over various muggle towns and cities, and even vast areas of rivers, forests, and mountains. Everything seemed to be so beautiful..

"Hey, what's that black line in the sky?" Neville suddenly asked. At this, all of them turned to look at a very thin black line coming up from the ground. It was out far into the distance, and was hardly visible, but it was there.

"It looks like smoke.." Hermione answered calmly. It was probably just someone lighting a fire for camp or something. She shrugged it off and continued to fly, enjoying the cool breeze against her face. Her robes flapped back, making small flapping sounds. Somehow, it sounded soothing.

Several hours had passed, and it was nearing dusk. The sky was a darker blue-ish color, and so was the world. It was as if someone had pulled a clear blue sheet over everything. The black line had enlarged, and it was smoke. Large billowy clouds of dark grey smoke rose up in the air, rising higher and higher. "We'd better check it out!" she called out to her friends, and Seamus sped up, along with the others. In no time, they had reached and landed in the area. Hermione was shocked to see the remains of a large building that used to be elegant, by the looks of it. Hermione took the cloaking charm off of them and checked her map to see where they were, and was startled to discover that this was the exact place that the Malfoy Manor was supposed to be sitting.

"What happened here?" Harry saw that the fire had burned out, and shifted some of the ashes with his foot. He found a piece of what looked like a golden quill. The feathers were half burnt.

The others merely stared in awe, and explored a bit. They moved the remains around with their feet, even picking up a few things.

"Guys.." Hermione started, feeling a lump form in her throat. Her eyes welled up a bit as she continued, "This is the Malfoy Manor. It burned down." She leaned against Harry, choking on her last three words. She began to cry. If the mansion had burned down, then... She wept even harder. She couldn't bear to think that Draco had gone down with the building as well.

The others seemed to realize the same thing, and they stood in solemn silence. None of them shed a tear except Hermione. She was the only one that felt unbearable grief at the fact that Draco had perished along with his home. She was the only one that had truly got to him, and truly known who he was on the inside.

"Hermione?" came a voice. It did not belong to any of the group's, but it was all too familiar to all seven of the Hogwarts students standing there, and they all whipped around in the direction that the voice had come from. Hermione was the fastest.

She immediately stopped her crying once she saw who it was.


Author's Note: Bleh. I'll end it here... Review, even though I've been a bad girl? D: