As you may have noticed, my new name is DominoTyler. ^^

Hermione left early the next morning. She was leaving just as Draco was waking up. It was better that way, he decided.

Getting up as quickly as he could, trying to be quiet for a reason he couldn't understand, Draco was dressed and ready within the next ten minutes. He quickly packed his backpack and set off from the heads commons.

Harry wasn't the only one who knew of Hogwarts' secret passages. He had discovered several when he was trying to escape Pansy's or Crabbe's or Goyle's constant attention. One of them, he knew, would take him straight to the fenced area around the Shrieking Shack. From there he could simply walk to the cave and see his mother.

His stomach was churning the entire time he was passing through the tunnel. It was cramped and suffocating. He wished he had Hermione with him. He just sighed and continued climbing through the tunnel, nearing the end with every step. He could see it now.

He shivered when he stepped out into the light. It was cold and the light reflecting off of the snow was blinding. He stumbled around a few seconds before he had the mind to close the tunnel and find his way to the cave. He was shivering with excitement and cold.

The snow crunched beneath his feet, and the wind whirled through his ears, but he still heard her call. "Draco?"

His head perked up and he stopped for a split second, staring at the entrance to the cave. "Mum?" He called.

"Draco!" The call sounded frightened, but what came next confused him even more. "Draco, leave! Run as fast as you can! You're safe at Hogwarts, go!"

He kicked himself whenever he thought back on it, but instead of taking the rushed advice, he hurried towards the cave.

"No, Draco!"

Something struck him in the chest. As he was falling backwards, a tug came at his chest, he fell forward, and was dragged into the cave.

The first thing he saw was his mother bound and leaning in a bloody heap at the back of the cave. This made him look upon everything else with rage-the Death Eater holding her by the hair, the Death Eater holding the rope now tied around him, the other Death Eaters scattered about the room, and, most importantly, his father.

"Good morning, son," the man he hated said in a sickeningly smug tone. He grinned down at Draco, whose rage was building with every second.

"What are you doing here?" Draco snapped.

"He intercepted the letter, Draco!" his mother half-sobbed, half-coughed out. "I'm so sorry, it's my fault! I-"

"Shut up!" the Death Eater hissed, pulling his fistful of her hair backwards.

Draco elicited a small growling noise he wasn't aware humans were capable of creating, and he angrily tried to rip free of the ropes binding him.

"It's useless to try and escape, Little Draco."

Draco closed his eyes as what felt like icicles pooled in his stomach. He had dreaded she might be the reason he was here.

But Bellatrix pranced into the cave anyways, despite Draco's urgent hoping that she might just be a figment of his imagination. She smirked down at Draco, who wished he could just spit on her. Or do something much more violent and disrespectful, all at the same time.

"You're not leaving until we have the girl."

Draco swallowed hard. This wasn't happening.

...

"Hermione!"

It was Sirius who threw his arm around her shoulder and led her swiftly into the living room.

Hermione laughed. "Hello, Sirius. Is there something you needed?"

"Just wondering how Draco's doing on his mission," Sirius replied, looking around, trying to find the blonde boy amongst the bustle of arriving Order members.

"He's doing wonderfully," Hermione replied. "He's even joined the DA so he can be watching me more often."

"I see," Sirius continued. "So...where is he?"

Hermione sighed. "I'm afraid he's sick in bed. He missed all day yesterday and barely ate a thing. I couldn't let him come today. I wanted him to rest."

"I see," Sirius repeated. He looked at her carefully. By now, they were seated by each other on the sofa, and the way Sirius was watching her at such a close proximity was making Hermione a bit uncomfortable.

"Yes?" she said to speed up the moment.

"And how is your part of the mission going?"

Hermione shrugged after a small moment of thought. "Well enough, I suppose. He seems happy. And he recently told me everything. He trusts me now, and I don't think he plans on harming himself or anything. I think he's...content now. Though he has been talking about his mother a lot. I think he misses her."

Sirius grinned. "Mission accomplished, then. His mother recently broke away from the Death Eaters. All we have to do is find her and bring her here."

"Just like that?" Hermione questioned. "No interrogation?"

"Of course there will be," Sirius replied. "But at least he'll get to see her. Narcissa was always the kindest of my cousins. I understand why he might miss her. I don't think she was ever too involved, anyways."

Hermione nodded just as Remus beckoned them all into the kitchen for supper. Hermione brought along her notes and her quill, readying herself for any discussion that may happen during supper.

After supper was when the real meeting began.

"It is very unfortunate that Draco isn't here," Remus said, "because this news would be beneficial especially for him."

Hermione froze in her writing. That meant whatever this was must have been about her protection.

"We have recently received intelligence that the Death Eaters plan to attack Hermione through Draco."

"What do you mean?" Hermione said, raising her hand a bit out of habit.

Remus gave her a small, sympathetic smile. "I wouldn't be worried. Draco Malfoy is too smart a boy to fall for any of the Death Eater's tricks."

"Unless he's lying," Ron muttered.

"What is that supposed to mean, Ronald?" Hermione snapped.

He shrugged, staring at his lap. He was slouched deep in his chair, and hadn't said a single thing the entire meeting.

"I don't know," Ron replied. "Doesn't it seem a little weird that they know Draco's guarding you? How would they know unless he told them? And maybe he wanted this all along. Maybe getting the position was just a plus. Maybe he was going to turn you in the whole time."

"He wouldn't do that!" Hermione said angrily. "Draco hates his father-why would he do anything that might help him?"

"She's got a point, mate," Sirius said. "I would never do anything to help my father."

Ron shrugged. "Just saying what I think 's all."

Hermione sighed. Then a thought occurred to her. "Do you think they made him sick? To get to me?"

"They wouldn't do something so simple, would they?" Harry asked.

"Anything's possible, Harry," Mr. Weasley said. "Maybe someone should go back to check on Draco with Hermione. You were still planning on doing that, correct?"

Hermione nodded. "After the meeting."

"Then let's get to it," Remus said.

And with that, they simply continued.

...

Blaise Zabini was a bit worried about his friend. Draco wasn't the type to just fall ill. And when he did turn out sick, he usually ignored it. So this must have been pretty bad.

So, after lunch on Saturday, Blaise went to visit his friend. Having learned the password from Hermione in case he wanted to check on Draco, he pushed through the door and looked around. The room was empty, but Blaise hadn't really expected to see anybody. It was only Draco here, and he was probably in bed, anyways.

So Blaise turned right after passing by the coffee table and headed towards Draco's room. The "click" that sounded as he opened the door was deafeningly loud.

The room was empty.

Trying not to freak himself out, knowing all of the possible things that could have happened to him, he went through all of the possible places he could be in his head. He resolved to first check the Hospital Wing, and turned to go straight there.

...

Back at the meeting, Hermione and Sirius were preparing to return to check on Draco. The Order had convinced her that it would best if she brought someone with her, and Sirius had volunteered, wanting to have the chance to make fun of Draco in such a lowly state. Hermione finally resigned to let him come, and they floo'd to Hogwarts.

"Ah, this place takes me back," Sirius said with a sigh, looking around the cold, dark walls of Hogwarts. He examined an old tapestry of a lion and laughed. "You'll never guess what I did in the alcove behind that tapestry," Sirius said, laughing.

"I don't want to know," Hermione said, still walking determinedly towards the Heads Dorms.

Sirius shrugged. "Suit yourself. You know, I can name someone I'd like to do things like that to again."

"I'm sure you can," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes.

He chuckled and followed her in silence the rest of the way to the dorms. They had no idea what was awaiting them there.

...

Hey, everyone! So sorry it's been taking so long in between chapters! :/ I'll try and get better with this.