Hermione smirked when she had closed the door behind her. She had found it hard not to smile when she was in bathroom with Malfoy, and knew it would look extremely wrong if someone had walked in on them. But luckily no one had so she and her reputation were fine.

Hermione walked over to the bed she thought was hers and sat down. Considering Malfoy's room was one of the finest in this place, it seemed very boring. She had expected a snake to crawl out by now and curl up on the bed, or a house elf bringing the shiny slippers (she doubted that Malfoy had slippers but it was funny to think of) and placing them by the bed. Nope. Nothing. It was so…not what Malfoy had painted it.

After ten minutes, part of Hermione had thought Malfoy had drowned in the shower (she could hope right?) and the other part just thought he was being a prick and standing in front of the mirror making sure not one strand of hair was out of place.

Malfoy was standing in front of the mirror, but he wasn't fixing his hair. He was staring at his image. What in Merlin's wand was his mother playing at? How dare she make him share a room with Her-granger? Doesn't she know that this could turn out ugly? Like they both end up killing each other? And what would his father say? Or maybe it was his father who had suggested it. Or was it Voldermort? What would Hogwarts say if they knew this?

Malfoy clutched his head in his hands, his brain in over drive. This was too much thinking. He doubted that even Granger thought this much at once. And that meant he was sick or something.

Well lets see how long this thing will last. Malfoy said to himself as he wrapped a towel around his middle, threw his dirty and sweaty clothes into a basket, and opened the bathroom door.

Steam poured out from behind him as he scanned the room for Hermione. When he saw her he smirked. She had rested back into the pillows, her eyes closed- but her breathing was irregular and he knew she wasn't asleep.

"It's about time." She said opening one eye. "I thought you had fallen down the drain."

"Think I'm that skinny?" Malfoy asked his smirk obvious.

Hermione frowned. "No. But magic can do interesting things."

It was now that Malfoy noticed Hermione was no longer in a towel- like he was- and was now dressed in long sleeved pjs, showing nothing of interest to him.

Hermione noticed his towel and smiled. "Ran out of clothes? House elves protesting to washing your clothes now?"

Malfoy snorted. "No. This is more comfortable." He said sarcastically.

Hermione nodded. "I'll bet."

Malfoy walked over to his closet and closed the door. He reemerged in black pants and a black long sleeved shirt.

Malfoy sat on his bed. "Right…well this is extremely awkward granger."

Hermione pulled the covers up over herself and turned away from Malfoy. Malfoy started drumming his fingers loudly on his leg. "Granger…"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes?"

"Why are you ready for bed? Weren't you just knocked out for a few days? Didn't you get plenty of rest?"

Hermione scowled to herself. If she could be bothered to get her wand, she would wall Malfoy's mouth shut- again. And if this was an apartment and not a manor Hermione would go and sleep on the couch! But…there were bound to be a lot of them here and she didn't feel like getting lost.

Instead, she shivered. "I simply want to rest Malfoy- it's not like there's going to be a fashion parade so I'm safe in some pjs."

"But…the suns up granger." Malfoy said pointing to the open curtains.

Hermione sighed, threw the covers off and marched over to the curtains, pulled them closed so the room was thrown into darkness. Hermione then walked back over to her bed and climbed in again.

"Well what good would that do?" Malfoy asked watching her smirking.

"Goodnight Malfoy." Hermione said, tired of this conversation three minutes ago.

Malfoy frowned. "You're seriously going to bed…in the middle- well almost the middle- of the day?"

"Shut up!" Hermione said angrily.

Malfoy smirked. "Ha okay. Nighty night." He said, in a mocking tone. "Don't let the sun rays bite."

Why the hell am I here? Hermione asked herself as she closed her eyes and ignored Malfoy who chuckled, got up off his bed and left the room, not bothering to close the door quietly.

Malfoy had one mission in his mind- to find his mother and request, no, tell her to remove Granger from his room. He figured his father wouldn't have done it, but his mother seems so taken with Hermione.

So, heading down the familiar corridors, Malfoy made his way down to the first level of his enormous house.

"Socky!" he called as the little house elf appeared.

"Yes master Draco?"

"Where is my mother?" Draco asked his voice firm.

"I believe…" socky's hands trembled under the gaze of her master, and she struggled to concentrate on forming a sentence. "I believe Mrs. Malfoy is in the garden, on the west side by her pond."

Draco groaned. His mother had asked his father to hire a muggle gardener to design a place that she could call her own. Lucius agreed, as long as Narcassia ensured the muggle would see no more of the house then was necessary.

So this ancient looking muggle had turned up, and within a week had transformed a section of their forest covered land into a private retreat for Draco's mother. Now it seems, if the muggle had put a roof there, his mother would live out there instead of the manor.

Draco made his way out of the manor, along the path he had stopped Granger escaping, turned left at one of the forks, and soon was coming up to his mother's favorite place.

Secretly, Draco didn't mind it. It was peaceful, nice looking, and a good place to come.

There was a pond, about as large as an average muggle swimming pool, with a special stone chair, and a wooden double-seat swinging chair that on looked the pond, and a small, very small field of flowers. As socky had said, his mother was sitting on the wooden chair, swinging back slightly, and appeared to be deeply interested in a book.

Draco smiled to himself. His mother must see some of herself poking out through Granger. He made his way over to her, careful to not tread on his mothers flowers as much as possible.

"Mother, what in Merlin's world are you playing at?" he asked, as politely as he could as he slumped next to her on chair. "Do you seriously think Granger and I make good room mates?"

His mother watched him in surprise at first, then smiled when he finished. "Ah. Well Draco, I think you are more then capable of taking care of her."

"Mother, that is not the point." Draco said throwing his hands up for emphasis. "We'll kill each other!"

"You're both breathing." His mother replied calmly. "Draco, a mother knows…you two have a connection."

Draco snorted. "Yeah. A connection with a wand maybe."

His mother shook her head smiling. "You cant deny it Draco. Something draws her to you…I never told you how your father and I met did i?" she asked

Malfoy was taken aback. That was out of the blue…no, she hadn't, but what has that got to with anything? "No." he finally replied.

"Well we were much like you and Hermione. Didn't think much of each other, argued every chance we got…tried every curse under merlin's sun on each other- I mean the bad ones-" she added smiling. "And one day, we were in potions, and someone played a nasty trick on your father, and he started to like me- he was under a potion you see. Well, I hated him at the time, and told him to get lost…and soon I guess the potion wore off onto me. Anyway, one day, we found out he was under a spell…I was deeply depressed and upset…and your father found me and told me the potion had worn off three months before…I was told it wore off two nights before."

Malfoy watched his mother, in slight disgust. How could his father, someone who gave off a vibe of death, be even remotely romantic? An image came to Draco, one of his father reading poetry and handing his mother roses. He tried hard not to laugh. "Right."

"Anyway, the rest is history." She concluded.

"What has this got to do with anything?" Malfoy asked frustrated- he could never understand women.

"The point is Draco, first impressions can be wrong." His mother said smiling kindly. "You cant ignore your feelings. There is no point in fighting them."

"Who says I have feelings?" Malfoy asked, slightly afraid- damn motherly instincts.

"You did. When you asked Hermione to have better living conditions. When you didn't kill her. When you took her for a walk…and defended her...joked with her."

Malfoy paused for a minute. She was sort of right…but it didn't mean he liked her. She was a Mudblood after all. He scowled. "I still don't care. I did most of them things because you asked me to!"

"And you obey so well." His mother smiled.

"I don't care. Just don't make me share a room with her. She's fine- we're arguing again…she's in perfect health. Put her back in the tower…" he caught the look on his mothers face and remembered the reason why granger was sharing a room to begin with. "Fine, the room you had her in before- I don't care."

Narcassia sighed.

"By the way, does father know?" Malfoy asked.

His mothers face darkened. "Yes." She said, her tone changing completely.

Draco looked at her questionably.

"Your father…he…was the one who suggested it. You know Hermione's going to Voldermort's home this week…he thinks you two have a connection and if she can trust you, she will tell the Dark lord everything he wants to know." Narcassia's eyes widened, like she had said too much.

"You…She…granger?" Malfoy said shocked. "You cannot be serious."

"I am sorry son." Narcassia said. "But your born into a blessed and cursed family- I wish I could spare you of this burden, but I can not."

Malfoy stood. "Right." He said, slightly angry now.

His mother opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but sighed and closed it again. Draco shook his head and stormed off, his head bowed, deep in thought. His father is trying to set him up? With Granger? Voldermort wants Hermione to see his house? Draco knew that, but he had thought his mother was joking when she first told him- no one ever saw his home…unless they had a death wish or a damn good reason.

Hermione was half asleep- but her brain kept telling her senses to be on alert, and that made it hard to sleep. She heard someone come in and leave again, though she didn't know who. At first she thought it was someone unwelcome, then her mind calmed and decided it was a house elf.

The door opened again, and Hermione heard a familiar voice cursing.

"Stupid family ties…shit…god damn it!" Malfoy shoved a lamp off a bedside table, and sent it flying.

Hermione sat bolt up right and spun around. "Malfoy? What the hell is wrong with you?" she screamed.

Malfoy turned to her, and Hermione saw nothing but anger. "Just shut it." He snapped.

Hermione was stunned. He was in an okay mood when he left, now he was a time bomb- one that, apparently, the timer had ran out.

Malfoy walked briskly to his wardrobe, got a black zip up jacket, threw it on, grabbed his broom and made for the closed curtains.

Hermione covered her eyes as he ripped the curtains open, and marched out onto the balcony. Hermione fell out of bed and stumbled over her own feet as she went after him. But when she stumbled onto the balcony, Malfoy had already mounted his broom, and was shooting off.

Hermione was breathing hard. She had never seen Malfoy lose it like that. It was extremely scary. "I guess its one thing he got from his father." She muttered. But for some reason, she was a little worried about him.

She went back inside, and sat on her bed for twenty minutes. When Malfoy hadn't returned, Hermione threw some clothes on and noticed the sun was beginning to set. She didn't have long.

Hermione briefly wondered if she would be allowed to go outside, but didn't care as she half ran- half walked along the corridors, not knowing where to go. She only knew that she had to go down. Finally, she found herself on the lowest level and went outside. She hadn't run into anyone, and was glad.

She looked up at the manor when she was out in the fresh air and saw Malfoy's balcony. From there, Hermione traced with her eyes the way Draco had gone in and headed that way.

The world was getting darker, and she knew she didn't have long before it was completely black. She ran along the paths, hoping she was heading in the right direction. Hermione panicked when she head a twig snap. She paused and listened with all her might. When Hermione was sure there was nothing there, she moved on, starting to panic even more.

Hermione stopped and slapped her forehead. Idiot! She pulled out her wand and waved it. She closed her eyes and then saw a bird's eye few of her surroundings. She scanned for Malfoy, but couldn't see him. She expanded the line of site…

Nope, not there she thought to herself. Not there either…the mountains? Maybe…no…no…is that him? No…that's his mother…watch out…umm…a blond rock? Right….is that him? Maybe…closer look…yes!

Hermione saw him sitting on the mountain, about half way up on a little cliff out crop. Seeing a path she could take, Hermione ran in the direction and soon found that she was heading up hill.

Within ten minutes, and almost complete darkness, Hermione was coming up behind Malfoy on his little crop of rock.

"You're a hard man to track down." Hermione said sitting down next to him.

Malfoy jumped. "How did you get here?" he asked.

"I used my brains and walked." Hermione answered smiling slightly. "Truth is you kind of scared me a little. You're obviously mad about something."

Malfoy looked away. "Yeah you could say that."

"Want to talk about it?" Hermione asked.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I choose not to." Malfoy said controlling his anger- what is this? 20 questions?

Hermione was silent a minute. "Were you serious when you said before that I'm going to Voldermort's home?"

Malfoy hesitated a minute. Then he nodded slightly. "Yeah."

"Should I be worried?" Hermione asked, implying that Malfoy had been there before and knew what to expect.

"What? how should I know?" he snapped. "I've never been there!"

Hermione retreated a little. "Okay…" she swallowed and asked "Do you know when?"

"In about three days. I guess it can be something we experience together." He said dully.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked confused.

"I think I'm going with you." Malfoy replied.

"Why?"

"Because I'm taking care of you remember?" he said. "We should be heading back."

Hermione noticed it was now dark over the manor. She thought of the manor. It seemed a little bit more like a home now, and not some scary prison. It still scared her senseless, and she knew the evil inside, but from the outside, it looks peaceful, almost beautiful- much better then what it had when she first arrived.

Malfoy had stood. "Can you find your way back?" he asked.

Hermione snorted. "Doubt it. But I can try."

Malfoy shook his head. "Gryffindors are always so stubborn."

"As appose to Slytherin." Hermione said pulling herself up.

"Jeez, without me the guards will tear you apart if they see you." He said smiling almost at the prospect. "So why don't you just jump on and we can be back at the manor in minutes."

Hermione eyed the broom. "I'd rather take my chances with the guards."

"Trust me, you wouldn't." Malfoy said shaking his head. "Ever wondered why Pansy looks like such a pug?" he said smirking.

Hermione laughed but it was sort of forced. She was still scared, and defiantly didn't want to see Voldermort, or ride on that broom.

Harry, Ron, Order, find me soon. She prayed as she sighed, nodded, and climbed on Malfoy's broom, gripping his waist tight.

OMG it's been forever! I am sooooooooooooooo sorry. Eternally sorry.

Really…sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry- you get the point? Well….. SORRY!

Okay…moving on. Anyway, next chap things get REALLY interesting…we see Voldermort's home, at least, the home he has for this story, in my mind. I think it will be interesting…ha yeah…interesting…yep. And we see some of Dumbledore's plan.

I know the story about how Draco's folks met is alittle…well weird and probably major OoC, but hey it sort of fit.

So, read, enjoy and review if you forgive me…

Once again, SORRY

Aj