So it's been many months since I updated this story. After completing the biggest project of my life, it turned out I was a little burnt out on writing. Then life got a little hectic as I was (and continue) trying to figure out how make a living with this "fancy" degree I have. Turns out it's pretty tough. And predictably, Draco and Hermione were sometimes the furthest things from my mind. There were many times I started writing only to give it up for the trash bin because it just didn't feel right. But now, as the semester ends and I have some luxury time to myself, things are feeling right again. Once more, a tremendous thank you to the readers who keep checking in, commenting, and sending messages. I steadfastly continue to promise I will finish this story (though it may take me some time to do it).

The general disclaimer: all recognizable characters, settings, and sundries belong to JK Rowling. I'm just stretching my creative legs.

She struggled to breathe. Something at once dense and wispy clogged her nose and mouth. The little breath that made it through was tinged with a distinct odor that was familiar, but her sleep addled mind couldn't quite place it. With the next inhalation, the coughing started which finally forced Hermione to fully wake and roll away from whatever it was that was suffocating her. Her eyes watered as her lungs spasmed, trying to expel the irritant that had been inhaled. Finally, she managed to sit up and take in her surroundings through the tears.

Twisting around to fully survey her bed, she saw that Crooks had climbed onto her pillow and probably had settled himself on top of her head. No wonder she couldn't breathe properly with a face full of cat fur. "Naughty thing!" Her rebuke mattered little to the cat who responded by lifting his left back leg high in the air and bending in a seemingly impossible angle to lick his anus. "Ugh!" Although she had seen him do it a thousand times or more, Hermione snatched the pillow from underneath him. Crookshanks tumbled to the side of the bed, and once he righted himself gave her a filthy look that said he was not impressed by her antics.

With the cat banished from the bed, she sought out the clock face on the far left wall. It was just after eight. She'd been out for about four hours, but it felt like she'd had a whole night's sleep. The nap had done her good, and Hermione felt ready to get back to work. Stretching her limbs as she rose from the bed, she felt her muscles lengthen and contract in a pleasing way. She couldn't help but note that she felt a little stiff in some places, and the memory of her afternoon with Draco pleasantly curled through her mind as her body continued to twist and stretch.

As she went about collecting another pair of yoga pants and long sleeved t-shirt from the back of her wardrobe, she thought about what they had learned during their time in the Room. It had been incredible watching Draco go through the process of producing his patronus. Truthfully, way in the back of her heart, she was jealous that he managed the feat so quickly. She spent weeks trying to get her magic to focus enough to make the otter. Oh, she had been able to produce a shield straight away, but the animal was significantly harder to create. From their years together in classrooms, she knew he was a competent wizard. Smart, efficient, and focused, he excelled in almost all of the magical arts, even when he faked disinterest or disrupted the class. Hermione had known for a long time that a lot of the classroom antics perpetuated by Draco and his toadies were part of the ruse. It was important for Slytherins to be smart, but not necessarily outwardly so. He had said it himself in potions class on Friday; showing others just how skilled you are could land you with a target on your back. The mongoose was more proof just how powerful Draco was.

She padded into the lounge and headed for her desk with the intent of writing the note for Professor McGonagall about meeting with the Order. As she passed the fireplace, she noticed a parchment envelope floating in the center of the opening. Intra-school mail was another one of the perks of being a Head Girl. If she needed to send a message to a teacher or to a prefect, she could send it through the floo without traipsing to the respective offices or common rooms. When a teacher needed to contact her, the letter would be sent right to her. Hermione plucked the note from its invisible resting place and turned it over in her hands. There was nothing on the envelope to identify who it might be from.

"Constant vigilance," she repeated aloud before dropping the missive on the settee so she could go in search of her wand. As she suspected, it was neatly placed on her bedside table as often happened when the house elves collected soiled clothes that might conceal a wand. They were unfailingly courteous. The revelio spell took just a second and finding no sinister magic immediately evident, she went ahead and opened the wax sealed flap.

Ms. Granger, Professor Dumbledore has asked me to tutor you further in arithmancy. I know you have some affinity for the subject, and I am willing to do this. However, I am also quite busy and have limited time to meet with you frequently or at length. Still, I would like to see you this Tuesday at the lunch hour to discuss your extra curriculum. We'll take lunch in my office.

Professor Vector

Another thing to add to cauldron. Hermione audibly groaned as she rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes. She remembered the conversation with Dumbledore about meeting with Professor Vector, but had promptly put it out of mind with Draco's summons to the Dark Lord. It had been a full weekend. It was really too bad she couldn't take a mental health day on Monday, but no one cut class unless they were laid up in hospital with Madame Pomfrey. In a boarding school where the building had eyes and ears, it was nearly impossible to skip class. There was nothing for it. She would do what she did best; she would write detailed, itemized, and color-coded lists and schedules to help her (and others!) stay on task.

First things first. She rose from the cushy couch and completed the trip to her desk. She opted for efficiency and went for a biro rather than a quill to write her response.

Dear Professor Vector, Thank you for taking the time in your schedule to meet with me. I look forward to Tuesday afternoon.

Sincerely, Hermione Granger

The two sentence note offered formal gratitude as well as confirmation of their appointment. It wouldn't do to give away too much information in her reply. The mail system likely was secure, but it paid to error on the side of caution. She folded the paper in thirds and used muggle cellotape to seal the flap. A pinch of floo powder and it was on its way to its recipient. She would need to speak with Draco about revealing their relationship to Professor Vector. Once the graphs were extrapolated from the runic calculations, there would be no hiding that they had a close connection to each other. It wasn't strictly necessary for Hermione to reveal that she and Draco were lovers, but to create the most accurate predictions all the information in the equations needed to be complete. And, there were formulas specific to romantic or intimate relationships rather than political alliances that could change the graph configurations.

Chewing slightly on the end of her pen, she added this conversation to her mental to-do list and then reached for a second piece of parchment. Now she needed to set a meeting with Professor McGonagall. They could meet with her during her office hours on Monday to debrief the conversation they'd had in the Ravenclaw study lounge, but if they were going to strengthen their oaths and have Padma take one, then they needed more privacy and a lot more time. Even small oaths, like the one she had made Ginny take, depleted magical stores. Something as intense as a blood oath could put a witch or wizard in a very vulnerable place if the strain on their magic was too much. She took a second to mentally compose the short letter before putting her pen to the paper.

Dear Professor McGonagall, There are a number of us who wish to meet with you during your office hours tomorrow. We would like to discuss our on-going group project, as well as the possibility for introducing a new member who will need to be brought up to speed fully. Please let me know if it is convenient to have this cursory meeting.

Sincerely, Hermione Granger

"Now what?" she said aloud as she surveyed her nearly empty lounge. Crooks had taken up residence in the middle of the sofa, but clearly wasn't ready to forgive her as he had curled in a tight ball with his head facing the back rest. There was a pile of school work on her desk, and she hadn't even looked at the arithmancy. As it was relatively late in the day, she was uncertain about what to do where Draco was concerned. They had agreed to meet for the evening, but for all she knew he was holding court in his quarters. If there were other people in his rooms, it would be a disaster for her to try to communicate with him. At the least it would make the others—like Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson—suspicious and at the worst, it would blow their cover entirely.

There was also the matter of what had happened earlier that morning. If his afternoon was anything like hers, he might already be asleep. She didn't fancy a repeat of waking him only to have his wand dug into her jaw for the trouble of it. In the moment, it was easy for her to shake off the severity of that situation. She had been so happy he came back from meeting Voldemort alive and bodily unharmed that it seemed only natural to soothe his concerns before analyzing her own. It had also occurred to her how stupid and irresponsible it was for her to go charging into his room with no advanced signal or invitation. But she had done it anyway.

If only she had Harry's map! She could see if Draco was alone or if he was moving about his quarters. If his name hovered in one place, she might even determine if he was asleep. But without the map, she was still flying blind. Blind. She couldn't see him…

But perhaps she could hear him! "Accio Weasley box," she commanded. A moment later a shoebox sized leather case zinged through the bedroom door and landed in her hands. As a prefect and now Head Girl, she had collected a tidy sum of contraband from students. Many of the products that Fred and George sold were banned at school, and when she discovered that students had them it was part of her duty to confiscate them. At least some of the time. Dropping to the floor, she flicked open the box's lid with her thumbs to reveal the treasures inside. There were lots of sweets from the skiving snackboxes. Madame Pomfrey insisted that Puking Pastilles were banned even before the twins left Hogwarts. Last year, she collected a fair number of fireworks from students, often used to disrupt a class to the point where it had to be suspended until the spells ran their course which could take hours.

However, that wasn't what she was looking for. What she wanted was under a Fanged Frisbee that had been taken years ago. Nestled beneath was a pair of large ears. Extendable Ears had been added to the ban list when teachers discovered they were useful to students for cheating on exams. They could be charmed to become invisible and with the cord between the ears so thin and flexible, they could be stretched across a classroom floor without ever being noticed. Kept safe in the box, she was confident this pair was in working order.

A pinch of floo powder tossed into the grate and she opened the connection to the Head Boy's Room. As other savvy students had done, she disillusioned the ears first. Using the basic swish and flick, she levitated the listening ear into the fireplace opening. Hoping to remain inconspicuous, she held it just inside the chimney stack so that it was better concealed. Hermione took care to stand clear of the hearth so that she couldn't be seen on the other side. Pressing the receiving ear against her own, she strained to hear anything. If someone was in Draco's lounge, she hoped it appeared that there was a misconnect in the floo network rather than someone trying to come through purposefully. She stopped breathing in effort to reduce any interference with what might come through the ear.

After nearly a full minute, she was satisfied that if Draco was in his quarters, he was alone. She retracted the listening ear, made the pair visible again, and sent them back to box for safekeeping. With half the problem solved, it was just a matter of alerting Draco that she wanted to come through. That was easy enough. The familiar joyful memories filled her mind, and she felt her fingertips crackle with the magical energy that would be focused through her wand. Her otter materialized and swam two circles around her before hovering in front of her supine with its hands resting on its tummy. With specific instructions in mind, she willed the otter to swim into the fireplace and through to his room.

While she couldn't see what her patronus was doing, she could feel it moving through the dungeon quarters. Patronus magic was actually quite unusual as most people didn't need to know how to ward off dementors, and outside of instructions and tutelage for how to produce one there was very little written about them. Last year Professor McGonagall had personally taught her how to send messages with her otter. A skill that proved handy on more than one occasion. When she had sent the otter to Professor Snape to let him know that Draco was safe, she prepared a message for him in advance. Her magic instructed the creature to find the professor and repeat the message, almost akin to a muggle recording device. Now she waited for the magical indication that the otter found Draco, and she could speak through the animal directly.

Her wand grew warm in her hand and she could feel the confirmation that her patronus was near him. She couldn't see him with her own eyes but because the otter was an extension of her, she knew implicitly he was there. Just as she called out his name, a blaring sound blew through the floo. Shaken, she stepped back and prepared to throw up a ward in case something or someone tried to step through. She had been sure he was alone. Had she somehow been mistaken?

The screeching continued on for another minute before ending abruptly. The silence unnerved her further, and Hermione's legs tensed as she stared at the fireplace. She wasn't surprised when the green flames erupted from the cold grate; nonetheless, she held her wand at the ready just in case something unpleasant came through.

"Hermione?" Draco's familiar voice preceded his disembodied hovering face in the fire. Her body relaxed and she lowered her wand. "I'm here."

"Can I come through?" he asked, his expression a little unsure.

"Of course," she replied. His head momentarily disappeared as his whole body stepped onto the hearth. Taking in his appearance, she decided the only word to describe him was rumpled. It looked like he'd pulled his clothes from the hamper, they were so wrinkled and ill-fitting. His blond hair stuck out on all sides. She bit her bottom lip, but couldn't stop the comical smirk that twisted into her cheeks. "I took a nap, too."

It wasn't a great leap of deduction to see the state of his clothes and hair equaled sleep. Carefully, she began to smooth the flyaway hairs that formed a slight blond halo, smiling fondly as she brought him a bit closer to his usual tidy self. His eyes closed and he leaned into her touch. The small smile looked happy and peaceful; his expression reminded her of the similar way that Crooks would look, contented and purring, as she scratched behind his ears. "It's been a day, huh?" she whispered.

"Mmm. That is so relaxing. A second ago, I was practically having a heart attack and now I feel like I could go back to sleep."

"I have to admit, the alarm startled me more than a little bit."

Draco's relaxed body stiffened slightly. "I didn't want a repeat of this morning."

"Neither did I. That's why I sent my patronus."

"We're going to have to come up with a system. An alarm is going to wear thin pretty quickly."

"Agreed." They had moved to the settee, and Hermione didn't think twice about curling her body next to his with her head resting in the crook of his shoulder. "I know we could probably go back to sleep, but I feel like I should get some work accomplished tonight."

"Me, too." Draco stretched his body and gathered her more closely to his side. "Shall we order some tea from the kitchens and get down to it?"

"Splendid." With some effort, she managed to rise from the sofa and head toward the floo powder.

"Wait a second." Draco's interjection stopped her from throwing a fist full of powder into the hearth. "I know we're here and all, but I did invite you to stay in my suite tonight. I don't want you to feel like we always work in your rooms. Would you like to work there instead? And…" His eyes dropped to his knees and she could see his right cheek hollow, indicating he was biting it between his teeth.

"And?"

"And, well, maybe you want to grab a few things besides your homework. You know, in case we pass out. But I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to." It was cute watching Draco be a little tongue tied and unsure. Like figuring out which side of the bed they each would take, they would need to confront these new experiences. With Ron, they lived in the same dormitory, and at the end of a day Hermione was mostly glad to return to her own bed alone. They were, and had been, together all of the time; so much so that she prized her space in the girls' dormitory. With Draco there was so much new territory to explore. She momentarily wondered how this learning dance might have gone for them without the pressure of the war, but dashed the thought in favor of soothing his nervousness.

"I'd like that. Though I'm not sure what I ought to bring along. I can forego the toothbrush for tonight, and it's not like I'm going to need a nightgown for bedtime." That did the trick, as he immediately released his captive cheek and his lips twisted into a cheeky smile.

"Well in that case, you'd better pack the Potion you made yesterday. I hope there are a lot of nights that you won't need a nightgown." He rose from the couch and in two strides, pulled her fiercely against his body. He made no move to kiss her, but instead held her in a tight hug. They were sure to have a lot of moments like this. Both of them knowing that their future, their very lives, was precarious. She said nothing but returned his embraced with equal strength and unspoken hopes and wishes.

After a moment, they mutually eased back and looked at each other. Not wanting to draw things out, Hermione shifted to her toes to kiss the underside of his jaw before stepping away to gather her things. She went to the cupboard to retrieve several phials of the contraception potion she had brewed. Handing them to Draco, she turned to her desk to get the pile of parchments that was the working calculations for the arithmancy. They hadn't been updated really since her meeting with Professor Snape. It would also be important to add every piece of information that Draco could supply about the Slytherin students and their families. Much of that was generalized guesswork on her part. Who knew how the graphs would change based on that kind of information?

She grabbed a handful of Werther's from the candy dish and walked back to him, indicating with her elbow that he should do the fireplace honors. And, seconds later, they were in the Head Boy's room. The chill from the dungeon automatically registered throughout her body and she trembled as the prickly sensation flitted across her skin. She was instantly glad she'd had the good sense to put on a pair of socks. Apparently wall to wall carpeting wasn't something the castle was ready to embrace. "You get used to it," Draco chuckled.

"I'm not sure I want to. It's bloody freezing in here."

"Let me put these into my stores and I'll get you a jumper. You want to enlarge the conversation table for a second desk?"

"Good idea!" She made short work of it in the time he returned with a familiar Slytherin house sweater. Resisting the urge to hold the garment to her nose and take a long, deep breath, she pulled it over her head and was instantaneously thankful for the extra barrier it provided from the cold.

"I like you in my clothes. Green suits you." Looking down at her chest, she mostly saw the familiar grey color of the jumper. The small bands encircling the lower hem and cuffs were the only details that indicated house affiliation.

"You may want to see Madame Pomfrey to have your eyes checked as this is hardly green. However, you are correct in that green suits me. Did you notice the Christmas photos in the house today? I always wear green."

"I'll have to take a closer look next time." She thrilled at the phrase 'next time.' "I made good headway on my herbology essay this afternoon," he said. "Think I'll get started on the potions essay due at the end of the week. What are you working on?"

"I'd like to work on the arithmancy runes. Would you be willing to help me with it for a bit before you start your essay?"

"Sure. I haven't done all the research for the essay yet; I should re-read the chapter about brewing with incantations first anyhow."

"Especially the footnotes."

"You noticed that, too? Honestly, I don't know why he takes off points if you don't at least mention the stuff in the footnotes."

"Because I think that at heart he's a good teacher who honestly wants his students to learn and be competent in the subject. He's difficult, but I also think he's fair. Potions is really dangerous, so it's important to make sure everyone's understanding is sound. Especially at the advanced levels when there's really potential for disaster."

"You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?" he queried.

"For years, Harry and Ron pegged Professor Snape as the enemy. Even when they were told outright that he wasn't, they didn't believe it. I've spent too much time trying to convince them otherwise. If he didn't care, then he would've let Harry, and any other Gryffindors for that matter, blow themselves up in class."

"Logical point. Anyway, I'm glad to help with the arithmancy, but I'm not sure how much help I'll be. It's not exactly my strongest subject."

"Mostly I was hoping you could fill in some of the gaps for me. I did my best to take account of all the Slytherins, but I'm relatively limited in my information." At this, Draco groaned and turned to sit on the arm of a nearby overstuffed chair. Elbows to knees, he mashed his palms into his eyes for a moment before tilting his head to look up at her.

"So really you want me to tell you the private details about the people who have been my housemates for more than a decade."

Oh. Draco had been on the side of the Light for less than 48 hours. If someone had asked the same of her in a similar situation, she was sure she would've told that person to take a walk off a bridge. There were limits where loyalties were concerned.

Standing in front of him, Hermione sunk to her knees and placed her hands on the tops of his thighs for stability. "That was really thoughtless of me, huh? I shouldn't have made such a demand of you. Not now."

"I understand, rationally I do. We're on the same side now, and the goal is to end this mess as quickly as possible." His hands entwined with hers.

"But that doesn't change the fact that they're your friends and it might feel like betraying that trust."

"I'd hardly go that far for most of them. Take Pansy for example. She's just looking for a way to sell me down the river, but we have history you know."

"I understand. For now, I'll work with what I have and make the adjustments I know I can make. If someone comes up that you feel comfortable talking about, just let me know. Sound fair?" He squeezed her hands.

"Fair."

They stayed like that for a moment more until Draco slowly slid from the chair's arm to the floor. Hermione scooted back a bit so she wouldn't topple over as his body encroached on the space. Squeezing her tightly, he rested his forehead to hers. A few seconds later she began to laugh. His eyebrow arched and his lips twisted in the silent question.

"Why do we always seem to end up on the floor?"

Chuckling, "search me," was all he said before his lips met hers in a soft kiss.