Ok, I thought I typed this up, but now I can't find it, so I have to retype it, sorry for the delay! I've also been really busy with finals and I was sick, plus I wrote another fic! It's called You and Me, Harry/Ron, mostly fluff, go check it out!

So here's the next chappy, finally!

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Chapter 21: Test

Draco looked at Lucius in amamzement. "You're joking, right?"

Lucius' eyes were hard. "I would not joke about this. It is true."

Draco's mind was spinning and his heart was pounding. He had been right…Lucius had told Pansy to spy on him this morning. And he was shocked at what Lucius wanted him to do to prove his loyalty. "You want me to kill an entire family to prove I'm loyal to the Dark Lord?"

"Certainly. They are only Muggles, after all. They don't matter. Stupid, slow, unmagical, they are just cluttering up this place for someone useful. If you are truly loyal to the Mark, this should mean nothing to you." Lucius' eyes were narrowed into slits as he stared at his son.

The rest of the Death Eaters had gone on ahead, leaving Lucius to deal with Draco's test.

Draco though fast. In his entire time 'serving' the Dark Lord, he had managed to avoid killing anyone. He couldn't possibly evade it now, unless he wanted to die himself.

If he died, Voldemort might never fall. It was almost impossible to get new spies incorporated in the Dark Lord's inner circle. The Muggles weren't essential to the downfall of Voldemort. Of course, he didn't know if he could kill. Hermione had sensitised him to hurting others. This would torment him the rest of his life.

Draco nodded once and started walking to catch up with the rest of the group. They were almost to a town. Soon they were walking down a street, a nice, suburban-looking street with upper middle class houses on it.

Voldemort stopped in front of one. He sniffed, then nodded. Two Death Eaters silently disintigrated the door. They then stood aside. Voldemort, Lucius, and Draco entered.

The house was quiet. Everyone was asleep. Voldemort walked boldly through the rooms until he found the staircase.

Unfortunately, there was someone already there.

A small Muggle girl, not more than five years old, clutched a teddy bear as she stared at them. "Who are you?" Her shrill voice rang through the house, and Draco winced at the sound after many minutes of silence.

Voldemort stepped aside. "This is your time, Draco." He stood there, waiting. Nothing but cold malice gleamed in his red, cat-like eyes.

Draco took a deep breath and walked forward. He had to do this. He raised his wand, and prepared to say the two words he never wanted to say.

They didn't come. The seconds stretched on. Draco's wand was lifted, pointing at the girl, his mouth slightly open, trying to form the words. The little girl stood frozen in front of him, fear starting to enter her face when she realized these men were not nice, her eyes darting from Draco to his wand to Voldemort, and back.

Draco's mind swirled into a decision. Before anyone could do anything, he Disapparated.

Running up the road to Hogwarts, Draco barely remembered to take off his mask before bursting through the front doors. He hurtled down the hallways, not caring who saw the Head Boy, with mask in hand and cloak billowing behind him.

Draco stopped, panting, in front of the entrance to Dumbledore's office. "lemon drop," he gasped, and ran up the moving staircase.

Hermione watched Dumbledore examine the journal. Nothing had happened to it. dumledore sighed and handed it back to Hermione. "I'm afraid the prediction has yet to comed true. I had thought…" he shook his head and said, "Never mind. You may go."

Hermione stood up to leave, but as she reached her hand towards the door, it burst open, and Draco hurtled through. Hermione lost her balance as he slammed into her, but his quick Qudditch reflexes caught her before she fell.

"Draco, what's wrong?" she looked at his disheveled hair (this was cause for concern), and flashing eyes. He strode over to Dumbledore's desk. The Headmaster looked calmly back at him.

"I was afraid this would happen," Dumbledore said quietly, his gaze piercing. "They put it together, what with the messages, and your evasivness, and her," he looked at Hermione, "correct?"

Draco nodded bitterly. Hermione gaped. "Professor, how did you know…"

"About the two of you? Not much of a secret. Tell me, why did you bring the journal, when it was in Draco's possession?" his eyes twinkled when Hermione closed her mouth guiltily. Dumbledore turned back to Draco and motioned for him to sit. Hermione did as well, since she knew all about this anyway. Dumbledore did not object.

Draco explained about the test and the Muggle child, and his inability to kill her. Dumbledore simply nodded. "Obviously you will be ending your spying duties. You will remain at Hogwarts during the holidays until a hiding place can be acquired. You are not safe anywhere else." His voice was business-like.

A tapping on the window drew their attention. A pure black owl was waiting outside. Dumbledore flicked his wand to let it in. it soared over to the desk, landed, and stuck out its leg. The headmaster took off the parchment and girgerly opened it. the owl flew off out the window. Dumbledore quietly read the letter.

"I really did it now. No more spying, eh? Oh well, maybe it's all for the best." Draco brightened as he looked at Hermione.

Hermione sighed. "It could have been worse. If you hadn't escaped…" she shuddered. Draco looked at her with soft eyes.

"Hey." He tipped her face up with his finger under her chin. "It'll be okay." She smiled at him through watery eyes.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. They jumped, having forgotten he was there. Hermione blushed and looked at the floor again. Draco tried to show no signs of embarrassment, but his eyes betrayed him. "Please excuse me. I have to write a few letters to some people informing them of our situation. I will get in touch with you, Draco, sometime tomorrow to further dicuss your arrangements." The young man nodded and exited, his hand discreetly skipping into the young lady's beside him.

Albus smiled to himself. They went really quite well together. He was proud to see what Hermione had done with Draco, completely turning him around from his path towards the Dark. Although he didn't act much different in public (he couldn't), Albus knew Draco's heart was full of love, not hate.

Draco and Hermione silently made their way towards Hermione's room. Any time they saw another student they quickly dropped hands and adopted business-like looks; Draco's snear would be firmly in place.

When Hermione's portrait opened, they silently made their way inside. Harry was sitting on the couch, head in his hands. Hermione froze as soon as she saw him, and Draco lost any color in his face he might have possessed. Harry didn't look up, but said, his voice muffled, "I had another dream, Hermione." He looked up and started.

Malfoy was standing right beside Hermione, holding her hand protectively. Harry's mind went wild. This was the boy in his dream, the reason he had come to Hermione instead of Ron…

"What is he doing in your room?" Harry whispered as he slowly stood up, fists clenched.

"I could ask the same thing, Potter," Draco sneered.

"Draco, please, you're not making this easy. Harry is my friend, nothing more, you know that, so maybe you should leave, this can only get worse if you're here," Hermione whispered quickly in her boyfriend's ear.

"You're right. You always are," Draco sighed, and turned his back bitterly on Harry. "I'll see you tomorrow, and if Potter so much as touches you, he's dead." With that, he left swiftly, with a last calculating look at Potter.

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Wow, I didn't realize this until I typed it, but this is a pretty short chappy. Sorry about that, after such a long wait! I swear I'll get another one out soon. Since finals are over, I have much more time (as long as my mom doesn't kick me off to "go get some exercise", bah!) on the computer, but I have to update my other fics too! Please review!