"Holy shite. I'm gonna be sick," Draco mumbled once his feet his pavement next to Ron.

"Oi, oi, retch away from me, would you?" Ron huffed. "Where are we?"

"Tottenham Court Road," panted Hermione. "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you to change."

Draco felt faint. He half sprinted to keep up with Weasley, who still had his wrist in a vice grip. They quickly passed inebriated muggles who pointed and snickered at their attire before ducking into a side street and stopping.

"This will have to do. Here," Granger shoved different items of clothing towards the three men and dug towards the bottom of her beaded handbag. Potter and Weasley shared a look before stripping their dress robes and shoving on everyday wear.

Draco tried to follow suit but instead swayed on the spot before falling back against the adjacent wall. His head felt like it was spinning and his skin was hot to the touch. He barely registered a female voice shouting before his vision went black.

HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG

Hermione pulled her head out of her beaded bag just in time to witness Draco pass out. She rushed over and began to perform a checklist of symptoms to find the source of his fall. She pulled his shirt open and felt along his neck for a pulse point and began counting. She tried not to focus on the flutter her stomach gave when her fingers touched his skin.

Harry and Ron were checking his arms and legs for anything unusual when Ron made a strangled sound. "Hermione, you're going to want to look at this."

She looked to where Ron was pointing and gasped. Draco's Dark Mark was oozing scarlet blood laced with what looked like black tar. Hermione lunged to her beaded bag and summoned a vial of dittany. She popped the lid and poured a drop onto the mark. Draco immediately sat up and began shaking.

"HOLD HIM," Hermione shouted. Harry and Ron lept onto Draco and were practically laying on top of the blond while Hermione poured half the vial onto his mark. His mouth lolled open in a silent scream while the skin tried to tie itself together. The mark reacted like acid to the dittany and began to reopen before Hermione cast a quick stasis charm and wrapped the mark in some torn fabric.

She stood up shakily and began to recite lines of text to herself while Ron splashed some water on Draco's face. He gasped loudly and shook himself all over.

"Ya alright, mate?" Ron asked quietly.

"Um...I'm alive...ish" Draco looked around the dark alley before attempting to stand. "We need to go," he coughed out. Harry and Ron swung his arms over their shoulders and held him up.

"I agree, but move too quickly and you'll be of no use to us," Ron chuckled nervously.

"Oi, earth to Hermione," Harry snapped. She looked up and stared at Draco intently for a moment before digging into her beaded bag once more.

"Aha!" She pulled out a small vial of pepper up potion and shoved it under Draco's nose. "Drink. Quickly, we've been here too long."

He did as instructed and felt his head clear enough to stand without assistance. It would have to do until they found safety. "Alright. I think I'm good for a bit. Let's move."

"Wait," Hermione said blushing slightly when her eyes lingered too long on his chest, "you need to change clothes. Here." She held out a bundle of Draco's clothes and turned away quickly so he could change.

Draco could have sworn she was checking him out, but he couldn't be too sure. Ron quietly cleared his throat; successfully snapping Draco out of his thoughts. He roughly shoved on a pair of denim trousers and a soft grey jumper that still smelled like his bedroom at the manor.

Hermione was once again digging into her beaded bag and began frantically whispering to Potter before he disappeared. Draco only had a moment to be stunned before Hermione's hand was grabbing his. He felt a familiar pull of magic when she slid his Hawthorne wand into his hand. Hermione offered him a small smile before sharing a look with Weasley. He nodded and they began walking towards the main road once more.

Draco felt the gravity of that gesture in a span of seconds; They trusted him. She trusted him. He could have still been feeling the effects of blood loss, but he felt like dancing.

"Come on, Malfoy, we have to keep moving," Potter whispered from behind him.

"Right."

They tried to appear casual as they walked down the main road, but that was becoming increasingly difficult as they passed a group of pissed lads who were making lewd gestures towards Granger. Ron and Draco closed ranks on her, flanking both sides causing more of a ruckus from the crowd.

"Hey, babe, ditch the fags! The real men are over here!" One of the 'real men' thrust his body forward lewdly, spilling his beer over his hand in the process.

Ron practically growled in response and proceeded to raise a rude hand gesture towards the lot. Draco followed suit before Hermione groaned and yanked both men into a nearby café.

"Could you men not act like men for a minute?"

Harry snorted under the cloak as they all sat down. Hermione glared in the direction of the sound before dramatically laying her head on the table. "We need a plan...and tea...large quantities of tea."

"You know, we're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here, it's only in Charing Cross-"

"Impossible," Draco said thoughtfully. "They'll have spies everywhere by now."

"We need to find out what's going on!"

"We know what's going on! Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, what else do we need to know?"

"Okay, okay, it was just an idea!"

A waitress shuffled over to the table just as two men Draco recognized walked in. He was blocked from their view by the young woman so he took advantage of the fact and shot two quick silent spells their way, instantly freezing them. Harry followed in kind and shot a spell at the waitress before she could register what happened and knocked her out.

"What the bloody hell?" Ron whipped around with his wand pointing towards the door. Hermione ducked under his arm and walked towards the two men with her wand arm raised. Draco followed closely behind and proceeded to lock the door.

"Ron, turn out the lights," Harry instructed.

He clicked the Deluminator once before walking over to the other three hovering above the men.

"Dolohov and Rowle," Draco sneered. "arseholes."

"But how did they find us?" Hermione asked quietly. "The Trace is gone, right, Harry?"

"That's not it, Granger," Draco said while rummaging through the Death Eaters' pockets. "I bet it has to do with His name."

"Wha-"

"It has only been members of the Order who bother to speak his name. Why not make it Taboo?"

"For fuck's sake," Ron hissed. "Fair enough. What now?"

"We need to wipe their memories and get outta here."

The group nodded in agreement and set to work repairing the café. They arranged the men in believable positions and placed the waitress in a chair behind the counter before performing memory modification spells. They gave the café one final look before Hermione held out her hands to apparate the group away once more.

DMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDM

They had apparated to Hermione's parents' old dentistry practice in Felixstowe. The building had been unused for anything other than storage for several years due to the customer growth in London. She believed it would be alright since the deed was still listed under her mum's maiden name, Cartright.

The building was filled with outdated and broken dentistry equipment as well as a few old pieces of furniture and muggle housewares.

"Okay, but what is a dentist anyway, Granger?" Draco looked at the strange objects of torture in mild horror and abject amusement while Hermione was impossibly buried up to her hips in her beaded bag.

"ee ears!" She shouted from the depths of the bag.

"Nope. No good. Can't hear you," he said snickering.

Hermione made a noise of frustration and began to wiggle her torso out of the bag followed by a very loud crash. Potter and Weasley ran into the room with their wands raised as if the Dark Lord himself had appeared in the flesh.

"Teeth healers," she huffed once she managed to fully extract herself from the bag. She looked over towards Potter and Weasley in confusion before pulling out her own wand. "What is it?"

"We heard a crash!"

Draco had to hold back a snort. "You heard whatever madness is going on in that bag of hers." He pulled away from the wall he was leaning against and sighed. "Lower your bloody wands for Merlin's sake. We're as safe as we're gonna get for now."

Hello, hello shippers! Ready to murder me yet? Good! #Same #actualtrashI blame my muse, Brenda. She hasn't been kind lately. The juices are flowing! I mean that in the thinking way, not lewd way...too early for smut, but eventually! MwahahahaMuch thanks and love to La Belladone x and Crazy4Wood. I heart ya'll!Thoughts? Concerns? Prayer requests?