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Chapter 19: The Proposition

"Okay, so I've been thinking...and reading..."

Draco smiled. "Of course you have."

Hermione looked over at Draco from over the stack of parchment she had just set in front of him, trying not to smile. They were in the Room of Requirement again, and Draco was watching the snow fall outside the window that the Room had sprouted as Hermione spoke.

"This is serious!" She said reprimandingly, separating the parchment into two piles so she could see over it easily. "I think I found a way to get you out of this mess."

Draco leaned forward. "What is it?" He was quite eager to hear her ideas, especially when they involved saving him from an early death.

"Well, it's a bit complicated, but basically you would go forward with your task and complete it before the deadline that's been set for you."

"And...?" Draco pressed.

"And then I would have a bunch of the Order-of the Phoenix, that is-come over to the Room of Requirement just as you let the Death Eaters in through the Cabinet," Hermione said. "And they would capture the Death Eaters. Imprison them, most likely. Then, we would hide you-"

"And Mother?" Draco interjected.

"Yes, and your Mother I suppose. Is she..." Hermione left her question hanging in the air.

"No," said Draco, grabbing at the question he knew Hermione had meant to ask. "She's not. She never took the Mark."

Hermione looked relieved. "And your father...?"

Draco frowned. "I really don't care about him. But for Mother's sake, could you add him in there, too?"

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "All right. That's fine. So then we would hide your family until the end of the war. And afterwards, if you needed a trial, you wouldn't be found guilty of anything because you would've helped us capture the Death Eaters."

Draco nodded slowly in response. "Okay," he said. "So...what's all the parchment for?"

"Nothing, really," said Hermione.

Draco raised a single eyebrow.

"Well," said Hermione. "I'd like to work on S.P.E.W. a bit, that's all. And I thought you could help me."

"How?" Draco asked.

Hermione bit at her lip. "I'm not sure..." She smiled shyly up at him.

He grinned back.

"Well, as you ponder over how I might be able to assist you, do you have any other ideas as to what we might do in the time we have left until curfew?" He asked, standing up.

Hermione stood up as well. "There is this place in the Forbidden Forest I'd like you to see. We could go there."

"Lead the way," Draco said, gesturing to the door. Hermione pulled on a pair of hand-knitted gloves and a hat which looked handmade as well. "Did you make those?" Draco asked, pulling his own pair of black-and-silver gloves.

"Yes," said Hermione. "I made them for the house elves." Her eyes lit up when she spoke about house elves, Draco noticed.

"May I have a hat?" Draco asked. "I forgot mine. Or are they just for the house elves...?" He smiled as she scowled.

"No," she said, handing him a brown woolen hat. "Here, you can have this one."

Draco pretended to pout. "Don't you have one that matches my gloves, at least?"

Hermione smiled. "I thought you could fix that yourself."

"It's nice to see you have faith in my magical abilities," Draco laughed as he pulled out his wand and transfigured the hat to a deep coal black.

"What, no silver bordering?" Hermione teased.

"I don't know how to do that," Draco grumbled. "You just want to show off."

"That I do!" Hermione pointed her wand at the at and within seconds, a silver border encircled the base of the hat.

Draco jammed the hat onto his head as soon as Hermione was done with it, determined to prevent her from performing more trick on it. "Okay," he said, moving his head so Hermione's outstretched arm couldn't take the hat from his head. "Are we going now?"

"Sure," Hermione said. She took Draco's hand and led him out of the room. They walked out of the castle, over the grounds, and right to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"So, which way?" Draco asked. "Toward the giant spiders or the actual giant?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "How...how do you know about Grawp?"

Draco smirked. "Let's just say," he told her. "That Hagrid need so speak a bit more...quietly."

Hermione smiled. "Well, we're not going to either of those places, er, creatures. No, the place I'm taking you is different. Even you probably haven't seen it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure," Hermione said, entering the forest. Draco followed her through the brambles and bushes, his robes getting snagged on variously sized branches.

"Er, how much farther?" Draco called to Hermione, who was about ten feet ahead of him.

"Not too far," Hermione called over her shoulder. "Ah, yes." She stopped at the top of a small hill between two tall trees covered with moss.

Once Draco caught up with her, he froze. He was looking at the most beautiful place he had ever seen within the Hogwarts grounds. The ground was covered in a soft carpet of clovers, lightly dusted in snow. The surrounding trees were covered in vines laced with bright purple flowers that seemed to glow. Small bunches of flowers grew all around the small clearing. One patch of flowers was blue, one green, one red, and one yellow.

Draco smiled. "They're all the house colors," he whispered. He had no reason for whispering, but the area seemed to have a silencing effect on everything.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Hermione whispered back.

"Not as beautiful as you," Draco replied. He crouched down and plucked one red flower and one green flower from the patches closest to him. He turned his back to Hermione, pulled out his wand, then waved it over the two flowers. Her turned back to Hermione, holding the hand containing the remaining flower in his hand. "My turn to show off," he whispered, pulling his hand from behind his back. He held the new flower before Hermione's face and watcher her eyes grow wide. The flower was now a single flower with petals of both green and red. On each green petal, inscribed in silver, was "Draco". On each red petal, the same thing was done, except in gold, and the name on the petal was "Hermione".

"How...how did you?" Hermione asked, flustered. Draco chuckled and placed the flower in her hand. She twirled the stem between her fingers, looking at the flower from every possible angle. "Thank you," she whispered. "I'll keep it forever." She stood on her toes and kissed Draco's cheek.

Draco smiled, but then the smile slid off his face like melting wax. "The flower won't live forever," he said, glancing at the flower in question. "It'll die someday."

"So will I," Hermione said. "So will you."

"And," she added. "I'll make sure you don't die too soon."

Draco frowned slightly. "Are you sure your plan will work?"

"No, not yet," Hermione said, gazing at the flower in her hand. "But once we talk to Dumbledore..."

"No!" Draco interrupted. "We can't talk to Dumbledore. At least I can't. You could, maybe."

"Why can't you talk to him?" Hermione asked in astonishment.

Draco took a deep breath. "The Dark Lord can use Legilimency," he said. "You know that. And if he sees I'm planning a way to get out of doing the task, he'll kill my mother in a heartbeat."

"Can't you use Occlumency?"

"Yes," Draco replied. "But it's not always that easy."

"Then practice," Hermione suggested.

"Alone?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "You could ask Snape,"

"No." Draco said firmly. "No, I can't."

Hermione didn't seem to want to question this.

"Hmm," she said. "Well, maybe I could help you."

"Can you perform Legilimency?" Draco asked skeptically.

"No," sighed Hermione. "But I could learn."

"How?"

"From a book, of course!" Hermione laughed.

Smiling, Draco took Hermione's hand.

"Let's go back to the castle," Draco said. "Maybe we can go to the kitchens for some tea."

Hermione looked up at Draco from the flower, which she had been admiring once again. "Okay," she whispered. They headed back up to the castle.

When they reached the portrait concealing the kitchens, Hermione reached out and tickled the appropriate pear. She was about to step through the revealed door when Draco pulled her back.

"They can't see us together," he whispered in her ear. "I'll go in and get the tea."

She hesitated, but then let him enter the kitchens. Once inside, Draco was surrounded by a gaggle of house elves which, Draco was glad to see, did not include his former house-elf, Dobby, who would have surely refused to allow tea to be made for Draco.

"How can wes help you, sir?" The house elves squeaked.

"May I have two cups of tea?" Draco asked. The house elves nodded and rushed off.

As he watched them scurry away, Draco realized just how much he had changed since the previous year. Last year, he would have barked at the house elves for food, but this year, he noticed, he had asked them politely. It must have been because of Hermione, Draco decided.

A few minutes later, a group of house elves came running toward him carrying a silver tray laden with spoons, tea, sugar, teacups, and a variety of delicious-looking scones.

"Wow," Draco commented. "I only really need the tea."

"Takes it sir," a small house elf squeaked at him. "'Tis for you."

Draco smiled. "Thanks," he said as the house elves escorted him to the exit.

When he managed to get through the door with the tray upright, Draco found Hermione waiting for him in the corridor. Her face was bright red.

Draco frowned. "What have you been doing?" He asked.

Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, smiling broadly. "McLaggen just came by," she said giggling.

Draco felt jealousy rise up in his chest. "What did he do? Did he...?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "Oh, no Draco, it wasn't like that. Well, he came up to me and asked if he could 'show off his Quidditch moves'. I said no, but he proceeded anyway. WIthout a broom, I might add. It was so ridiculous, and I was trying not to laugh. It was so funny!"

Draco chuckled. He could imagine the huge McLaggen attempting to demonstrate his flying-on the ground. "Anyway," Draco said. "I got the tea. And a bit more." He lifted the tray slightly.

"Draco," Hermione scolded. "Why'd you take it?"

"They wouldn't take it back," Draco shrugged. "I don't mind, though. The scones look delicious."

"That they do," Hermione agreed. She opened a nearby door, which revealed an empty classroom.

They sat down at a desk facing eachother, the tray and the flower lying between them. Draco sipped his tea quietly, deep in thought. He really hoped that Hermione would sort out her plan and get it to work. He didn't want to have to kill Dumbledore. He realized he was having this conversation with himself quite often now.

Draco's gaze moved upward to find Hermione pouring more tea for herself, a scone in hand.

"Penny for your thoughts," she said, noticing Draco watching her.

"What's a penny?"

"It's a...oh, never mind," Hermione dropped a lump of sugar into the warm brown liquid within her teacup. She stirred it, then took a sip of the tea.

Idle chitchat passed between the pair until eight thirty, when they both stood up and retreated to the kitchens to return the tray and tea things to the house elves. Then they went up to the seventh floor to retrieve their bags from the Room of Requirement.

Before they went their separate ways, Draco took hold of Hermione's arm and asked, "You'll talk to Dumbledore, right?"

"I'll see what I can do," she said in response.

"Thank you for showing me that place in the forest, " Draco said a bit awkwardly.

"You're welcome," said Hermione distantly. "Thanks again for the flower." She twirled it between her fingers. She looked into his eyes for a moment, then wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him once, very gently. "Good night, Draco."

"Good night, Hermione."

Draco watched her walk down the corridor and out of sight. THen, he himself headed down the corridor, only to run straight into Filch.

"And why might we be out so late?" Filch wheezed. "After curfew?"

"It's eight fifty five," Draco pointed out.

"Yes," Filch said. "But can you make it down to the Slytherin common room by then?"

"I can," Draco said. He turned and started running. He heard Filch hobbling behind him for a while, but then the footsteps stopped echoing through the corridor. No doubt FIlch had taken a shortcut to the common room, eagerly waiting Draco's late arrival.

Draco slid in front of the stone wall just as the clock struck nine, and practically dove through the opening there. Filch was nowhere in sight.

Draco leaned against the wall on the inside of the common room for a while, trying to catch his breath. When he was finally able to stand upright again, he found himself nose to nose with Theo Nott.

"Hey Malfoy," Theo sneered. "Running away from your Mudblood girlfriend?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Again, Nott, you have no proof." This last-names thing was strange.

Theo scowled. "Then where were you at dinner today?"

"Why were you looking for me at dinner?" Draco retorted.

Theo growled rudely, then stalked off. Glad to have avoided an issue, Draco rushed up to his dormitory, pulled on his pajamas, then lay in his bed, trying to close his mind.

A thought had occurred to him that evening. The Dark Lord could use Legilimency on him. He could see Draco's thoughts about Hermione.

And if he told Mother...

It would only kill her faster.