A/N: Hello everyone. Thanks for reading and reviewing. You guys are great. Keep them coming. Feedback and comments welcome (but no flames please).

This is a very long chap to keep you for awhile. It took longer than usual to write. I hope everything is as clear as possible and I haven't left anything important out. All of what's in this chapter needs to be said now, since it all happens within the course of one day.

Rated M for language today and a sex scene.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, just this plot.


Draco sat at his desk biting the end of his quill while he pondered over the list in front of him. He had gotten into the office pretty early today, in an effort to start the search he promised Granger without prying eyes. He had finally gotten a hold on the safehouses the Resistance were known to have used. He started making notes and checking maps, trying to determine which safehouse would be the most likely location when he heard a sharp knock on his office door. He looked up momentarily before going back to the list, "Enter".

Avery walked into the room with his head held high and made a small grunt. Draco looked up and immediately walked around the desk to stand in front of Avery, offering a salute.

Avery nodded before saying, "Draco, I see you're in early this morning. Admirable. I have something important to show you." Avery pulled out from behind his back. Recognition flashed through Draco's eyes as he saw the girl on the flyer, but he quickly hid it.

Avery spoke up, "It seems like someone wants this Mudblood found and they've supplied a lot of information relevant to her whereabouts. We have been searching for her for five years and now we know she's alive and within reach. Stop all current preparations, you have a new assignment. I am entrusting you and your squad to find and apprehend this Mudblood. Bring her straight to me. Do you understand?"

Draco gave his superior a solemn salute, "Yes Sir." Avery nodded again and left the room.

As soon as the door had closed, Draco's shoulders slumped and he leaned up against his desk, causing some of the papers to fall to the floor. He pulled a hand down his face. The room suddenly felt increasingly warm, small droplets falling down his forehead. What was he to do now?

He quickly grabbed up the list and the map and ran out of his office.

...xxTWTxx...

Hermione was dead to the world as she slept on her bed. She hadn't even bothered to pull back the sheets or change from the night before. She didn't even wake up when the blonde man had appeared in her room with a loud crack.

He shook her roughly, "Granger!"

She blearily opened her eyes but couldn't see much in the dark. Once her eyes had adjusted, she jumped slightly at the face of her intruder just inches away from her own but then allowed her head to fall back onto the bed. "Malfoy, what do you want? It's 5 in the morning. I have work in about 3 hours."

He roughly shook her again, "Get up Granger. This is important."

With a groan, she lifted herself off the bed and sat up, turning on the light in the room. Her eyes stung at its harshness, her hands flying up to shield them. Malfoy stood in front of her, she could feel him fidgeting. Malfoy never fidgeted.

She finally opened her eyes and said, "Ok, What is it?"

Without a word, he shoved the flyer Avery had handed him into her hands. Her eyes scanned the page, her face getting whiter with every word she read. It listed everything about her: age, place of birth, last seen, shoe size. Anything that could be used to find and identify her. She saw her own eyes staring back up at her from the two images. They were both unsmiling and shifting nervously. They had been her pictures for her IDs. Once she reached the bottom, she stared back him with soulless eyes. She swallowed, her lips feeling increasingly dry. Small gasping noises came from her throat as she tried to find the words.

The flyer fell from Hermione's hands as they trembled. They were looking for her now. After all that time hidden, they were now hunting her again. With these flyers and such a high bounty, anyone who found her would not hesitate to take her in.

Her eyes darted wildly around the room. Right now, this is all I know that is safe. Her eyes landed on the man before her. Malfoy's mouth was held in a thin line. He hadn't moved. He hasn't said a word. He has no words to offer her.

Her first few sobs escaped her unknowingly as her surroundings seemed to swim around her. The next were heart-wrenching. Five years of sadness poured from her eyes. Her life on the outside would soon be over, no matter how bad it had been, and just when it was turning for the better. She was unravelling, getting closer to madness. She felt trapped. She wanted to escape this life she had been forced to live. She wanted to go back to how things were before. She wanted to forget everything that had happened to her. Through the tears, she didn't even notice when Malfoy had drawn her into his arms as he sat on the bed beside her.

He cradled her head to his chest and held her close, helping to keep the broken pieces together. She was grateful to have someone on her side, someone who was protecting her. She wasn't alone. She knew he could have just easily thrown her out after he found her, even turned her in now and collect the reward for himself. But he didn't do that. He just held her.

She looked up into his eyes which revealed the conflict taking place in his mind. He was unsure like her. He didn't know what would happen now. But right now they were just living in this moment together, anchoring each other.

...xxTWTxx...

She was so small. If Draco wasn't there, he felt she would have literally be in pieces on the bedroom floor. He had instinctively took her into his arms, rocking slowly as her tears bathed the front of his robes.

She looked up at him, her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. His heart reached out to her. She hadn't done anything to deserve this. She would be persecuted for something that was never her choice to begin with.

He had shown her the flyer and she had made her own inferences before he could say anything, enough to send her into maddening sobs. How could he tell her that he would be the one to bring her in? Maybe that would work to his benefit. No one would be looking for her except him and his squad. And he wouldn't have to inform his squad of anything. She could remain hidden. She could remain his.

He almost jumped at the thought. When was she his? Why would he want her? Why was he jeopardizing his job and possible life for her? He could just put her away now and wipe his hands clean of this whole mess.

Her cries pushed through his muddled thoughts and he was stuck to her all over again. How could he think to throw her out? She needed him. After all he had promised, he couldn't let her down again.

He placed small kisses against her temple, trying to calm her down. She was getting hysterical now and they would soon have to take some action. He brought her to face him, moving his kisses to her forehead, whispering against her cold skin. She started to still, only a few small whimpers coming from her shaking form. He cupped her face and moved his thumbs to wipe away the trails of moisture on her cheeks.

Then he looked into those eyes that had drawn him to her when they first met. Cold, guarded, unfamiliar. She shut them tightly, causing the unshed tears to slip quietly down the curve of her face. He frowned. Her fire was truly gone now. He needed to see them that way again, to get some sense of normalcy back.

Suddenly his lips were on her mouth as his hands moved to tangle in her hair. She hiccuped slightly as the tears still ran from her eyes, but she hesitantly responded, her lips strikingly warm in contrast to the cold air which hung in the bedroom. He pulled her closer tasting the salty tears that had found their way to her mouth.

Her hands found their way to the nape his neck, her fingers moving through his hair. She pressed her body against his when his hands moved down to her waist to pull her close. They fell back onto the bed, his body hovering above hers.

Soon they both lost themselves into the kiss, the worries of the world melting away. She smelled like the vanilla scented shampoo he knew was in the bathroom. She traced small circles on the back of his neck as she played with his bottom lip, eliciting a small groan.

His mouth moved down from her lips to bury itself in the crook of her neck, attacking it with ferocity. She startled slightly under him and he pulled away unsure of how to proceed. But then, she pulled him back to her, her mouth finding his with purpose.

Maybe he had scared her with his forwardness, so he moved slower now although it pained him to. After that small taste, he wanted more and he couldn't get it fast enough. But she seemed to be warming up to him now. Her hands slowly travelled across his chest, leaving tingling trails in their wake. He shivered involuntarily and moved his own hands to the smooth curve of her waist.

Their clothes lay in a mangled heap on the floor and neither knew how they had gotten nude, their chests now skin to skin. He looked down at her skin, which was marred with long slashes and dark shades, but she still looked beautiful. He took her nipple into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue, finding pleasure in the loud moan that poured from her lips. His member throbbed at the sound and he smirked. She didn't know what that sound was doing to him.

He trailed kisses down from her nipple to her stomach, giving extra attention to each bruise and scar he found along the way. She sighed and even that Draco found was arousing.

He moved back up to her ear and whispered, "Granger, you're driving me crazy and you don't even know it." He was just about to ask her permission when she turned her head to start sucking deeply on his neck and the question vanished from his mind. I guess that's permission enough.

He knelt between her legs and wrapped them around his waist. He captured her lips as he slowly slipped inside her. He moaned lowly into her mouth as her walls surrounded him. Once completely in, he waited to gauge her reaction. Then she rocked her hips up towards him and he grinned.

They moved as one, Draco pushing as deep and hard as he could. The sensations radiated from their union to the ends of their hair as they each got closer to their peaks. Draco's mouth switched from her sweet lips, to her tempting neck and her taut nipples, as he pumped in and out. All that could be heard was their short breaths, getting increasingly faster. Then Granger let out one shuddering moan as he rode her through her orgasm. Her walls tightening deliciously around him, allowing him his own release, filling her up inside.

When he felt he has spent his load, he captured her lips one last time before rolling off to lie beside her, holding her hand in his.

...xxTWTxx...

Harry and Ron sat in the small dining area of the Resistance safehouse. The previous night's exhaustion was catching up with them, as they both tried to stifle their yawns. Ron rubbed at his eyes, trying to rid himself of the sandman's dust when someone started shouting wildly.

"Harry! Ron! Look at this." Dean ran into the small dining area of the Resistance safehouse, wildly waving a sheet of paper. Harry and Ron looked up from their bowls of runny stew as Dean pressed the paper flat onto the table, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"Hermione..." Ron whispered. His throat suddenly felt very tight. Harry's eyes widened behind his cracked glasses. She looked older in this photo than when he had last seen her but there was no mistaking her face. He looked at the other image over the words 'Lucy Caroll' That must be how she was hiding. Clever girl.

He looked up with a wide grin on his face, his purpose renewed. She was wanted but she was alive. He picked up the flyer and held it up to Ron. "Ron, we just have to find her before anyone else does." Hermione, we're coming for you.

...xxTWTxx...

Astoria got to work early that morning, before most of her coworkers. She had woken up alone and ate breakfast alone. Draco was nowhere to be found. Probably went to work early as well.

She had just sat down at her booth when Mr Robbins marched out of his office and stopped directly beside her. His gaze was piercing as his mouth opened and closed trying to find the right words to say. Astoria was confused and scared. Mr Robbins anger had never been directed to her before, but she maintained her composed and asked politely, "Anything I can do for you, Mr Robbins?"

He sputtered before shoving the pamphlet she hadn't noticed he had been clutching into her hands. Her eyes scanned the heading: "Mudblood wanted. Bounty: 20,000 Galleons." She saw two images below, one of a mousy-looking girl with frizzy brown hair and the other girl with similar hair but looking just like Draco's friend, her new coworker.

Mr Robbins finally burst, "You let me hire a Mudblood? Do you know what that'll do to this bank if word get out that she was working here right under our noses?"

Astoria blanched, "I'm sorry Mr Robbins. I didn't know she was a mudblood."

Mr Robbins pointed a finger into Astoria's face. "I hired her under your recommendation. I trusted that you knew all about her. She was under your care!"

Mr Robbins pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath to calm himself down. No use getting worked up now. "Astoria, I think it's better you just leave. You may have just cost us a lot with this incident. Our reputation may be comprised, depending on who knows she was associated with us. Everyone has probably seen it now. Pack up your things and escort yourself out. I have to do some damage control."

Astoria's mouth hung open. She had this job for five years and she was an exemplary employee. She was even close to being promoted to a Junior Executive. All of that dashed because of a stupid Mudblood! Tears sprung into her eyes, whether from sadness or anger, but she would not spill them here. She was only lucky it was too early for anyone to have seen her departure. Now she had to find her darling Draco.

...xxTWTxx...

Hermione lay on her back as the light finally hit the trimming of the ceiling. Her hand still intertwined with Malfoy's but neither had let go since their romp.

She had been scared at first. The feeling of Mr James still lingered on her skin from their last.. engagement but Malfoy had replaced it with warmth and a lustful desire had bubbled within her. She needed to have him. She was able to let herself go and he had fully satisfied her. Her heart felt a small flutter. Another feeling was coming to the surface and she willed it to stop. This wasn't affection or love, it was just sex, and it would cause nothing but trouble to think otherwise.

However, laying here in the silence where they had finally come to rest had allowed the demons she was running from to catch up to her. Her throat still dry from her earlier crying session, she croaked out, "What will happen now?"

Malfoy sighed. He released her hand, a tiny part of her missing its warmth. He sat up with his legs on the ground and then reached to pull on his boxers before saying, "Well, someone tipped off the Ministry with some information about you, which caused them to reopen your bounty. My squad has been assigned to find you and bring you in."

Her eyes widened as she slowly slid away from him on the bed, drawing the sheets over her exposed skin. "After all you said you'd do for me, you're going to take me in?"

"I never said I-"

She jumped off the bed, still clutching the sheet in front her, the rest of it pooling around her feet. She pointed at him angrily, "I trusted you. You took me in just to lock me up, even though you said you wouldn't." She couldn't stop the tears from returning. She whispered, "I trusted you..."

"Granger!" he shouted, stretching across the bed to grab her wrist firmly. This time she wouldn't flinch. She was no longer afraid. She was angry. She was betrayed. She looked him coldly in the eye.

He continued, "Granger, I was assigned the task but that means I have all the control. No one else will look for you. This may be the safest place for right now."

She shook his hand off her wrist. "How will you able to keep me safe? What will your boss wonder when you don't report back to him? You've said it yourself. You wouldn't put your life on the line to save someone like me."

"I don't know exactly what to do then but I'll figure something out. I don't want to turn you in. I want to help you." He looked into her eyes pleadingly.

"I don't know what you can do now, Malfoy. I can't even go outside right now. This is just like before, but at least then I could walk on the surface world. Now I'm trapped underground."

"But you won't be captured or tortured or dead. You can hide out here and then we'll come with some plan," he tried to explain.

Hermione shook her head, "No, I'm done hiding Malfoy. I've hidden for five years. I need to do something." She picked up the sheet and ran around the room and began shoving her belongings into her bag. "I'll just change into a new glamour and get a new fake ID. If that's too much trouble for you and you don't want to be involved, then I'll get out of your hair as well. I'll find my own way to Harry and Ron."

He went over to her trying to grab her bag out of her hands but she stood firm. He spoke softly to her, "You could but I know you're not happy, Granger. If you did that again, you'd be in this situation again in a couple years and every time, slowly losing a little of yourself."

She laughed derisively, and with one last tug, finally got her bag back. "If you knew me Malfoy, then you'd know I've already lost myself. One more personality won't be much of a difference."

She saw that his patience was running thin when he finally said, "Ok. Go on then! Leave! I'm done with this. You should hope I don't find you again. You won't be so lucky then." He shoved past her, knocking into her shoulder. Her bag fell from her hands, the hastily shoved contents spilling across the floor. Draco left her there to pick up the items, slamming the door behind him.

...xxTWTxx...

I'm going to get to the bottom of this now. Astoria stepped out of the fireplace, not even caring to dust off the soot from her expensive navy blue dress robes. She flung her work bag carelessly into a high-backed arm chair and ran up the stairs to her bedroom.

She forcefully pushed open the door and walked over to her vanity mirror. The bed had been immaculately made by the house-elves in her absence and she threw her dusty outer robe on top of it. She shivered a little from the chill in the room. It was still a bit early in the morning to be bare-sleeved.

She heard a loud slamming from outside. Moving the towards the window, she saw a familiar head of blonde hair standing outside the door of the guest house. He looked flustered and dishevelled, his locks sticking out at odd angles, before he disappeared with a pop.

She had to find him but first she was curious as to what he had been doing in that guest house.

...xxTWTxx...

Hermione had gathered all her things off the floor and finished packing her bag. She hadn't taken much out to begin with so it wasn't so hard. She had just been finishing up in the bathroom when she heard the door of the guest house open again.

"Malfoy, if you're hear to curse me out again don't even bother."

She walked out of the bathroom to find Astoria standing in the middle of the bedroom as regal as ever. She froze in her tracks. This was not good. Someone had found her, made worse by the fact that she now looked like Hermione Granger.

A smile was plastered on Astoria's pretty lips as a sprinkling laugh came out, "Now this is a rather amusing situation. I knew Draco had been spending all this time out here. I called myself a jealous fiance for thinking that there might be something going. Thought I was insecure for being so paranoid."

She came stepped closer to Hermione and Hermione took a step back.

Astoria continued, "Then, he introduces to me a Lucy Caroll, and the warning flags go up again, but I still think, dear Draco would never do that to me. He loves me too much. As the ever-loving fiance, I help out my darling."

She took another step and Hermione could feel the hard wood of the bathroom door against her back. She felt like a fly caught in a spider's web as the spider drew nearer and nearer.

"But then a flyer was put around, a bounty for a mudblood, the same mudblood that was hired under my recommendation, the same mudblood who cost me my job!" Astoria screamed.

She bent down and picked up a hastily discarded pair of socks and a man's cloak lying on the floor. She laughed again, "But this is the funny part, the plot-twist: Not only is my Draco harbouring this fugitive the whole time, he's been sleeping with her."

She finally strode right up to Hermione, grabbed her by the shoulders and then slapped her. Hermione whimpered, her cheek turning red instantly, a familiar sting radiating from the bruise that had just recently faded.

"Nothing is below you Mudbloods. You're all just slags and sluts." Astoria pushed Hermione down to the floor.

"Stealing pureblood husbands away from more deserving women. You. Make. Me. Sick."

She aimed a kick to Hermione's stomach with every word. Hermione groaned out in pain, holding her hands protectively to cushion the blows. Astoria noticed her resistance and then aimed a kick to her face. Hermione cried out, tears springing from the pain. "He was probably just using you for a quick one anyways."

Astoria walked away from the girl's prone form and spied the acursed flyer on the floor near the bed. She picked it up and then crouched down over Hermione, yanking her up by her hair. A gashed had opened up above her right eyebrow. "You really did have a pretty face though 'Lucy'. I think I might have messed it up awhile ago but you won't have much use for it now anyway." She slammed Hermione's face forcefully into the floor one last time and stood back up.

She walked over to the fireplace and made a floo-call. "Summers? I got an arrest for you."

...xxTWTxx...

Draco hadn't gone back to work after leaving Hermione. He couldn't concentrate. Could she really be so stupid as to just leave? She really was safest there. He didn't even get show her his progress with the safehouses. If she knew, then she might have actually been able to make a better plan than to just run out blindly.

He appeared right in front of the guest house door and walked in. "Granger?"

The house was eerily quiet. All lights inside the house were off, the dying light outside casting evil shadows along the walls. He called out again, "Granger?"

He walked into the bedroom, his footsteps echoing off the hardwood floor, and saw a figure sitting on the bed in the darkness. The figure hadn't made a sound yet but she must have seen or heard him by now. There was no other sound in the house. He hoped she wasn't crying again. He walked over, reaching out to touch her shoulder, "Granger, I'm so sorry. I-"

"Sorry for what, Draco?"

Draco stopped, his arms still floating in the air. That was not Hermione's warm but timid voice. This voice was higher, confident and falsely curious. The figure rose from the bed and put the room into light. Before him stood Astoria, beautifully dressed in a long emerald green gown.

She noticed his eyes moving up and down her body and she giggled, "I put this on just for you Draco. Isn't it beautiful?"

Draco was unnerved now. It was obvious Astoria knew, that the secret had been uncovered but he never expected her to act so calmly.

"Astoria, what are you doing here?"

Astoria pouted, "I can't be here? I'm entitled to be in guest house. I mean it wasn't being used for guests."

She walked around him and then continued, "I came out here earlier looking for you actually. I had something important to ask you and had just missed you. You see, something happened at work today and Mr Robbins was not pleased." She paused a bit, studying his face, and then said simply, "Draco, who's Lucy?"

Draco's face was rigid but he would not play Astoria's game. "Toria, I know-"

Her features were suddenly distorted in anger, "Don't Toria me Malfoy. Who's Lucy?"

"Astoria," he stressed, "I know you know who Lucy is. I will not play these mind games with you."

She drew her hands to her chest. "Draco, how could you do this to me? to us? and with a stupid Mudblood."

"I didn't do anything to anyone."

"You fucked that Mudblood though!"

Anger flashed across Draco's face as he stepped up to Astoria, "What did you say?"

"My, my, defensive of the girl now aren't we." She put her hands on his chest and calmly stepped away from him. "I will excuse you for your tone with me and your momentary lack of judgement regarding the mudblood. Even the best leaders can be led astray."

She picked up a bundle he didn't notice lying on the bed and handed it to him. He recognized his socks from earlier that morning. "No one will know of your involvement in the matter. We will move past this Draco. And soon the mudblood will be gone for good and it can go back to just the two of us."

She stepped around him and moved towards the bedroom door.

Her words played over and over in his head before he turned to her retreating back and asked slowly, "Astoria, where's Granger?"

Astoria stopped in the doorway, her hand on the frame. She looked at him over her shoulder and laughed, "Oh Draco, you always did suck the fun out of everything, but that's still my game to play. I'll leave you to think out that one for yourself. But you better think fast Draco, the clock is ticking."

...xxTWTxx...

Ron and Harry sat in the dining area again, exhausted after a day of searching the previous day. All thoughts of other missions had been put on hold. The main focus was finding Hermione as soon as possible.

Harry shoved a spoonful of porridge in his mouth, "Well we can still check Scion and Marroth today, both are within a stone's throw from here and not many Raiders go by there." Ron nodded, greedily eating his own bowl.

Dean ran into the dining area again, with Ginny in tow. His expression was less hopeful than the one yesterday morning and tears were streaming down Ginny's face. Without a word, Dean tossed the Prophet onto the table in front of Harry and Ron.

Hermione was there again, the same girl shifting nervously in the pictures from yesterday but the headline read:

Potter Mudblood finally found. Public execution tomorrow.