Hermione extinguished her wand and hurried back over to her bed, motioning for Draco and Harry to follow.

She sat down heavily and sighed. "I can't really grab anything of mine at the moment because it's downstairs in the front hall closet with my cloak. Arion put it all there after he caught me snooping in the Lady's Room. It's 'punishment' and the two of them are really light sleepers. I got up for a drink of water and they were at the bathroom door with their wands brandished in two minutes flat."

Harry lit his wand so he could get a good look at Hermione's face. "What's the Lady's Room?" he whispered. "Why were you snooping around in a toilet, Hermione?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "The Lady's room was the room Arion's wife occupied before she disappeared."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Did you just say Arion's wife disappeared? I heard that she was killed by the vampires from the Clan after they found out that she ran off with Arion."

Draco shook his head. "No, that was what she told Arion to tell Fallon so that he wouldn't feel resentment after she was gone."

Now Hermione and Harry were both looking at him, eyes wide. "Why did she leave?" Hermione asked, "And where did you hear about this?"

Draco shrugged. "I heard Father and Arion arguing about it years ago. She left because she missed her family. I wonder if she's still around somewhere. Maybe she can give us advice."

Hermione suddenly stood up. "That's it!" she yelled. Harry pushed her back down and slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Quiet! Do you want us to be heard? If we get caught we'll never get out of here. Do you understand?" Draco hissed. Hermione nodded.

"Good. Now if Potter lets you go, do you absolutely promise not to say a word until one of us says talking is all right?"

Hermione nodded again and Harry released her. She stood up slowly and walked over to her bed, tucking herself in. "Harry hide! I think Fallon and/or Arion are coming!"

"I wonder whose fault that is." Harry grumbled, but he ducked under the bed just the same. Draco hopped out the window and made it seem like he was just coming in. Not five minutes later, Hermione was proven correct when Fallon poked his head in the door. His hair was a mess; his eyes were half-open, and his night clothes were ruffled. Immediately, his gaze focused on Hermione, and she expected a lecture of some sort about noise level or not trying to escape. Instead, at the sight of her, Fallon's eyes lit up.

"Mama!" he cried in a high voice, "You came back!" He ran toward Hermione, arms outstretched as if he wanted to hug her. Fortunately, Hermione wasn't asleep yet so she was still well on her guard and was able to get out of the range of Fallon's arms. Unfortunately, the method with which she accomplished getting out of range was leaning further away from Fallon the closer he got to her, which resulted in her falling off the bed and hitting the floor with a muffled umph.

Fallon heard it and ran to her side. "Are you all right, Mama?" he asked, helping her up. Hermione looked at him and nodded. "Yes Fallon, I'm fine." Then she turned away from him to look at Draco, urgently mouthing "what should I do now?" at him.

Draco, for his part, was trying very hard not to laugh and not succeeding at all.

The next moment, the door opened again. It was Arion.

"Is everything okay in here?" he asked. "I thought I heard crashes."

Fallon jumped up from Hermione's bed, holding her hand and grinning as if Christmas had come early.

"Look Papa!" he crowed. "Mama came back!" Fallon then began to hug her and was in the process of giving her a kiss when suddenly his body movements changed. He looked at Hermione as if he were truly seeing her for the first time. His eyes widened in horror as he shoved her away and stood up, scrubbing his mouth with his hand. Then he looked at his father. "How did I get here?"

Arion cleared his throat. "You were sleepwalking again. Did you dream about your mother tonight?"

Fallon nodded and Arion grimaced. "I shouldn't have told you about what really happened with your mother, but I thought you could handle it."

As Hermione watched this conversation, she saw Harry squirming under her bed uncomfortably. And no wonder, the bed was very low to the ground. She looked at Draco again who gestured at Arion meaningfully, mouthing "talk to him."

She cleared her throat. "Arion, I'm all right, really, I just got a little shock, that's all."

Finally, Arion looked at her. "What kind of shock?" Then he saw Draco perched on the window sill. "What brings you here, Draco?"

"Dark Lord's orders, Arion. He wanted me to check on the sacrifice, make sure she was in good condition," answered Draco without missing a beat.

Arion nodded satisfactorily. "I see no harm in that. Well, since everything here seems to be in order, Fallon and I will be going back to bed."

As soon as the door closed behind the pair, the three teenagers breathed a sigh of relief as Draco vaulted back into the room and Harry pulled himself out from under the bed.

"That was close," Harry whispered.

"Yeah," Hermione nodded. "A little too close. I think I'll stay here while the two of you get my things.

"Good idea," Draco nodded approvingly. "You stay here and pretend you're asleep just in case Arion or Fallon happens by to check on you again. Potter and I will go downstairs and get your things." And the two of them were gone before Hermione could say another word. She sighed and got herself deeper in the covers. Maybe she could just try to get a little more sleep before they came back. It sounded like she would have some long days ahead of her.

Harry and Draco walked so close to one another in the dark and narrow hallways that it was difficult to tell whether they were two beings in the dark, or just one really, really big one.

"How are we supposed to get downstairs to get her things without being noticed?" Harry asked.

Draco put out a hand, nearly causing Harry to topple down the staircase. "Shut up, I'm trying to think. There's got to be a secret passage around here somewhere that will take us straight to the front hall so we don't have to worry about stumbling around in the dark like disoriented garden gnomes." The two of them were silent after that. They continued walking, Draco navigating the castle's dark twists and turns as if he knew them like the back of his own hand.

Finally, they managed to find one and gathered Hermione's things without much trouble, then shrinking them and hurrying back to her room.

She sat up as soon as they entered. "No more interruptions," she whispered cheerfully.

"Good," Draco nodded. "Now get into your robe. I grabbed a spare broom for you on the way here."

Hermione nodded and stepped into her closet, quickly exchanging her borrowed nightgown for one of her school robes.

When she was dressed, the three of them got up in the air with all of Hermione's shrunken belongings tucked neatly into her schoolbag.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked from her place behind Draco.

"We're going to see if we can find your great-grandmother," he answered. "Do you remember where she used to live?"

"I think so," Hermione replied. "So, why did Dumbledore want you to take me away?"

"Because he knows a way to save you from being sacrificed."

Hermione gasped. "Really? But the only way to save me would be to make it so I wasn't---oh, no! Please tell me he's not thinking about saving me that way."

Draco grimly bit his lip. "I'm afraid he is."

Her eyes widened. "If you wouldn't mind telling me, who did he want to, um, you know, "

"Me,"

Hermione nearly fell off her broom. "You can't be serious!" she cried, breathing hard. "You and me? Doing that? You are so lucky that we are on brooms right now so I can't slug you!"

Draco nodded. "I know. That is why we are having this conversation now instead of when we land."