A/N: Really appreciate those who pointed out errors, I've tried my best to fix them! Continue to let me know yeah? I tend to be quite muddleheaded. Hope you guys will like this one!

She didn't know how long they had stood there for, or how they looked like. All she knew was that the way he was kissing her now was making her feel incredibly lightheaded. And she could swear, it felt like a tiny bud of happiness in her heart had burst out into full blossom when he had pulled her towards him just to place his lips on hers.

It had completely taken her aback, but at the same time, it was as if subconsciously, she had been waiting for this very moment. All the prickling electricity between them before was still making her feel incredibly flushed. In her mind, there was a hazy memory of Draco's arm on hers, pulling her and Corrinne Whitemayer apart – or rather, him pulling Corrinne off her... the rage inscribed on his face when he saw Corrinne lunge at her... Hermione let the memory dissipate in order to feel the warmth of the kiss.

Finally, when the reverberations around them had completely stopped, she retreated a little to break the kiss. But Draco's arms were still tightly wound around her, and he leaned his forehead on hers, staring deeply into her eyes. She could see the gray orbs in his eyes sparkling – for the first time, she could see life in them – but his face was still as impassive as ever. She could feel his warm breath all over her face, and the beads of perspiration that were dotting his forehead and temples. Even his neck, where her arms were still fastened around, was just as hot and flushed as she was.

"Are you okay?" she whispered.

Nobody had ever asked him this question with such genuine feeling. The last time his parents really asked him that question – he could barely remember if they ever did. In the Malfoy family, the parents always planned ahead for their children. It was never if he was okay, but rather if the situation was okay.

And this girl – this girl that he had been brought up to despise because of her blood, was the only one who had stood by the decisions that he had made himself. The only one who really made him feel like he was an individual. Draco Malfoy, the person. Not Draco Malfoy, the one who has to walk in the Malfoy footsteps. Even when his father died, he was expected to walk in his footsteps to become a Death Eater, whatever the intention.

He found it really hard to form words, just looking into those warm brown eyes of hers.

She looked pained at his lack of response, and her eyes turned towards the ground as she released her arms around his neck. But he did not let go.

"Draco..." She tried to pull away, but his arms remained firmly around her.

"You're strange." Draco's voice was strained. "You do the strangest things ever, Hermione Granger. Why do you do them?"

Hermione felt herself smile. "I don't know."

Draco closed his eyes and pressed harder against her forehead, his thumb running circles on her back. That little movement made Hermione shudder even though his embrace was warm. It seemed rather foreign to her to have someone holding her so intimately – especially when the someone had been looking down on her blood for as long as she could remember, and was a Death Eater to boot – yet at the same time, it really warmed her entirely.

She tentatively reached out to brush away the trail of blood at the edge of his lips; he shut his eyes to feel the soft touch of her fingers.

"Do you have something to tell me?" she asked, softly, trying hard not to think of the 'Death Eater' bit.

That question snapped Draco back to reality. Immediately, he let go of her, and then backed away a few steps, running his hand through his mussed blond hair. His face had turned hard once again. "Yes, yes, there was something..."

Hermione tried not to look disappointed at the break in contact. Her hand, which had been in mid-air trying to clean the blood off his face, fell back to her side.

Then Draco snapped his fingers. "Right! I wanted to tell you that I know of another Horcrux!"

Hermione forgot her disappointment; her eyes were huge and round. "You do?"

"Yes!" And Draco began to tell of how he had discovered the diadem on Rowena Ravenclaw's bust, and how Tom Riddle indirectly acknowledged that it was another Horcrux, likely the second one created after the diary.

"And quite likely created while Tom Riddle was still at Hogwarts, or else it wouldn't be in the Room of Requirement," said Draco. "Nobody would bother searching through all the junk in that room."

"That's brilliant!" Hermione felt a wave of relief wash over her. "So with the diary and Helga Hufflepuff's cup destroyed, that just leaves the diadem, the ring, the one in the basin at the first cave, ..." She began to falter. "And two more."

"That's good enough," muttered Draco, hastily. "And we might be able to deduce what those two are. If two of his Horcruxes are items belonging to two out of four founders of Hogwarts, then..."

"I know for sure that Godric Gryffindor's sword has always been with Hogwarts," said Hermione, firmly.

Draco raised his eyebrows, and Hermione smiled. "Harry pulled out the sword from the Sorting Hat before to kill the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore said that only a true Gryffindor can do that."

"Oh." Draco felt a little annoyed at the mention of Potter.

"There's still Salazar Slytherin's though..." Hermione frowned. "Have you any idea what precious item he might have?"

Draco shook his head. "Not that I know of. But it's highly likely that the Dark Lord might choose an item from him – Slytherin was so very like him. Besides, he is Slytherin's heir."

At that, he winced a bit. He sounded like he was really championing the Dark Lord.

"Who was that man in the chamber just now?" Hermione suddenly remembered. "He's a Death Eater, isn't he? But he – he wanted to go after the Horcruxes himself, didn't he?"

"Augustus Rookwood," growled Draco. "One of the longest-serving Death-Eaters. But I can bet all my Galleons that he just wants to usurp the Dark Lord. We have to get rid of him before he destroys the last of the Horcruxes and absorbs some kind of power from the destruction to become the new Lord."

"But Voldemort will now know that he is a traitor, won't he? The Dementor..."

Draco flinched at the name of the Dark Lord, then he sighed. "Yes, and what's more, the Dementor will report that I was there too. It will be clear as crystal to the Dark Lord that I am betraying him."

"I was the one who stabbed the Horcrux!" said Hermione, hotly.

For the first time in her life, Hermione saw a little smile appear on Draco's face. It wasn't even a smirk; it was a proper smile. It made him look so different; perhaps this cave was pretty much churning out some kind of Optimism after all.

"There's no room for heroes... or should I say heroines?"

Hermione had to smile, although it was a weary smile. The quote reminded her of Dumbledore, and she thought of the coin in her robe pocket. It made her even more discomfited seeing Draco like that now, and the fact that she had just alerted Harry and Ron. Or at least, she was hoping that they would be alerted.

"But Rookwood heard me declare to the Dark Lord that I knew where the diadem was. He is bound to get to Hogwarts." Draco paused, his face darkening as Hermione stared at him in growing horror. "And not just that, the Dementor will tell the Dark Lord that both of us know it, and he will try to protect that Horcrux of his."

"Hogwarts is in danger!" Hermione clapped her hand to her mouth thereafter.

Draco nodded gravely. He looked at the shocked face of Hermione, and he could feel a thousand and one emotions bubble within him again. He felt like pulling her into an embrace once more, even though thinking about it made him feel rather hot in the face. Instead, he grunted in frustration and sank to the floor with a scowl, mussing up his hair even more with his hand.

"I have an idea." Hermione turned to look at the rest of the passageway they were in. "Let's try to get out of here first."

-.-.-.-.-.-

"The Horcrux is in there?" Harry whispered, as Dumbledore pointed his lit wand to the middle of the cave, where the beautifully carved basin stood. It was awkward trying to squeeze everyone along the narrow platform where they had arrived on from the equally narrow staircase.

"Yes," said Dumbledore, but he looked grave. "And I need your help, Harry, for I believe it is only you who can retrieve it for me."

Harry gulped.

"Do not worry." Dumbledore smiled. "I will go with you."

"It is too dangerous!" snapped Lupin, but Tonks placed a hand on his shoulder. "Remus, let Albus decide. He knows what he is doing."

"Thank you, Tonks," said Dumbledore, dipping his head slightly. "Remus, I must ask a favour of you. That you take everyone across to that platform over there." And Dumbledore turned his wand to the distant area where he had brought Draco and Hermione to. "And from there, let the children take over."

Lupin stared at him in disbelief, but Dumbledore's serious face meant that there was no room for discussion. Defeated, Lupin conjured up two boats, and hustled everyone along. He, Tonks, Neville and Corrinne took one boat, and Mad-Eye Moody led Ron, Ginny and Luna on the other. As they boarded the boat, Harry watched the roving eye of Mad-Eye Moody, which made his heart even chillier than usual. Everytime it moved so fast, it made him think there was danger lurking around.

"You afraid, boy?" The deep, coarse voice of Mad-Eye shook him.

Harry managed a faint smile, hoping that was sufficient enough an answer. He looked at Ron, who gave him an equally faint smile, and Ginny, whose red hair was more flaming than ever, and in her eyes, was the same hard look she had when he first kissed her.

The boats began to sail away.

"Sir..." Harry began, as he watched the boats disappear into the mist.

"Be brave, Harry," said Dumbledore, quietly. "We will wait till they reach the other end. For lying in these waters, are Inferi."

That sure is comforting, thought Harry, bitterly.

After what seemed like a terribly long wait, Dumbledore finally raised his wand, and from the depths of the water, rose a tip of a boat. Then slowly, the entire boat emerged from beneath. Harry stared warily at it.

Dumbledore motioned for him to step in it, and followed thereafter. As the boat made its way towards the basin, Harry thought he saw the small structure glow a little. He blinked; it remained eerily grey with the light that Dumbledore was illuminating it with.

"Sir..."

Dumbledore motioned to his lips with his finger, and Harry fell silent. When the boat hit the platform, Dumbledore gingerly stepped out, and Harry followed suit. The silence was so deafening and chilling at the same time. Harry thought he might half expect Inferi jumping out of the waters. Not that he had any idea what they looked like, but he had a good feeling that it wouldn't be the most pleasant of faces.

Both of them walked up to the basin, and Harry raised his eyebrows as he looked into it. Beneath the clear liquid, right at the bottom of the basin, was a locket. And on that locket, there was a intricately-carved snake in the shape of an 'S' on top of it. Harry instinctively reached out to retrieve it.

"No!" Dumbledore's voice was not loud, but it was so commanding that Harry's hand immediately went back to his side, and he flushed.

"It is poisonous water, remember?" The Headmaster stared at the basin. "The only way to retrieve the locket is to drink the water."

"Professor, you can't be serious, you just said it was poisonous!" Harry was alarmed.

Dumbledore obviously looked more than serious, and Harry gulped. He knew that Dumbledore wanted to do this because he was more powerful, stronger, wiser than Harry was. But still...

"Harry." In Dumbledore's hand, a pitcher magically appeared. Harry swallowed hard again.

Each step towards the basin made him ill.

When he stared into the basin, he found himself more occupied with the reflection that was staring back at him, than the locket right at the bottom.

Just as he was about to put the pitcher into the liquid, he felt something vibrate in his coat pocket. With one hand, he pulled out what he had forgotten resided in his pocket. Staring hard at it, he looked back at Dumbledore, who was eyeing him. Slowly, the older wizard walked over and picked up the object. His eyes narrowed as he scanned through it.

"Is it..."

"Your friends will handle that," said Dumbledore, quietly. "Please, Harry, you must hurry."

Harry closed his eyes as he dipped the pitcher into the liquid.

On the other side of the cave, Lupin was feeling terribly apprehensive as he watched Neville, Corrinne, Luna, Ginny and Ron slip through the crack. Neville groaned as he moved through, but he could still squeeze through anyhow. Tonks tried to follow suit, but Lupin held onto her arm tightly. She looked at him questioningly, but Lupin shook his head.

"Albus wanted the children to go ahead," said Moody, gruffly. "By themselves."

Tonks glanced up at Lupin, then frowned. "You know..."

"Tonks can't fit through," announced Lupin, loud enough for the rest to hear.

"Ah," Moody let out a low cough. "It was meant to be a dead end because no child would have made it here so far. Even if one was as small a wizard like Wentervale, if he squeezed through, he would have met his end with the dragon. It was just that Voldemort hadn't the faintest idea that Wentervale was a dragon Animagus."

"Tonks can't fit through?" Ron's voice was slightly incredulous. "But..."

Lupin frowned, then bent down to the crack. "What do you see there?"

"Lots and lots of Riddlebees..." came a dreamy voice.

Remus Lupin looked up at Moody with a perplexed expression. "Err...Riddlebees?"

"Sorry, that's just one of Luna's erm – " Ron tried to sound diplomatic. "Conjectures."

"It's an abyss," came Corrinne's hard voice. "But for some reason or another, there's a glowing light right at the bottom. Or middle. I can't tell how deep this thing is. Luna thinks it's a colony of Riddlebees."

"They give off light when they're scared," said Luna, simply. "Spells danger."

"R-right..." muttered Ron.

"A glowing light in the middle of an abyss?" Moody thought hard. "Remus, I think we must take a look for ourselves."

"Hey!" A shout from Neville made the adults turn their heads towards the crack, and Lupin yelled back, "What happened?"

Neville reached into his pocket, and Luna followed suit, as well as Ginny and Ron. Corrinne stared in bewilderment as all of them produced a coin in their hand.

"What – "

"It vibrated!" Neville stared at it.

"And there're words!" Ron gasped.

"What?" Lupin was baffled.

"It's our DA coin," explained Ginny, hurriedly. "Basically it's a group of us that want to help defeat Voldemort and last term our Defence teacher was pathetic. Hermione charmed this coin for all the DA members to inform them when there is danger..."

Before Corrinne could remark, Neville was reading out what was on the coin.

"Trans... transporting veil..."

"Veil..." Ron squinted hard. "Is that word 'abyss'?"

"The last word is definitely 'Dumbledore'," said Luna, quietly.

All of them stared at each other.

"What's going on?" demanded Lupin, angrily.

"Hermione sent us a message!" Ron yelled back, excitedly. "She says 'transporting veil abyss Dumbledore!'"

Tonks stared at Lupin and Moody in bewilderment. "What gibberish is that?"

"Well, abyss definitely means where we are now," said Neville, loud enough for the Order members to hear. "And I don't think Hermione knows that we are here, so she must be asking us to tell Professor Dumbledore."

"What's a transporting veil?" asked Corrinne.

"It requires very powerful magic to cast a transporting veil," called out Moody, his magical eye rolling a bit faster and more maniacally than usual. "As it name suggests, it transports someone from one place to another."

"The glowing light..." Lupin trailed off, his eyes shining.

Moody nodded. "Okay, I think it's really time that we should join the kids," he said in a rasping voice.

Lupin looked doubtful. "But..."

Moody shoved him aside and raised his wand.

Just as Moody was about to cast spells to attempt to make the crack wider, there was a huge reverberation that caused all of their knees to buckle, and all fell to the ground, including the five who were on the other side of the crack.

"What was that?" demanded Ginny, horrified.

Lupin immediately got up to run down the corridor, and then back to where the lake was. When he came back down, his face was grim. "The Inferi have been awoken. Half of them are heading to where Albus and Harry are."

Tonks' eyes flew open in shock.

"And half of them," Lupin gritted his teeth, "are coming here."

Moody marched over and roughly pushed Lupin and Tonks aside.

"KIDS, LISTEN HERE!" He bellowed through the crack.

"WE'RE NOT KIDS!" Ron bellowed back, but Ginny tugged at his sleeve angrily.

"We need you to get to the Veil, NOW! We've no time to join you all, the Inferi are coming!" There were gasps from all of them. "Remus, Nymphadora..."

"Tonks, you git!" came the annoyed voice of Tonks.

"SHUT UP!" Moody was exasperated. "ALL OF US HERE. We're going to stop the Inferi..."

"ALASTOR!" Lupin yelled.

"GO!" Moody roared.

There seemed to be a lot of noise coming from the other side, and there was a sudden red glow in the crack. The four teenagers slowly backed away when they saw a glimpse of flames licking out through it.

"What are we going to do?" demanded Corrinne, looking down at the abyss with a disconcerted expression. "Jump?"

"I don't think we need to do that," said Ginny, firmly, and pointed upwards.

Everyone's gaze followed her, and they saw something that looked like the edge of a broom in the darkness – on a stone ledge.

"What's a broom doing there?" wondered Neville.

"Well, it's a sodding broom, alright? That means we can skip the option of suicide?" Ginny rolled her eyes.

Neville didn't seem to think that flying was a better alternative, but he decided to shut up.

"Only two of us, maximum, can fit on that!" Ron shouted.

Ginny bit her lip, then she looked at Corrinne. The older girl's red eyes were now a bright, gleaming ruby red that seemed to give her a lot of confidence for some inexplicable reason.

"You guys trust my flying skills?" The hard look had come back into Ginny's eyes.

Corrinne was torn between insulting Ginny after the latter had chided her for banging into Zabini during the last match, and really acknowledging Ginny's skills. In the end, she nodded. With that, Neville nodded vehemently. Only Ron looked mildly skeptical.

"Accio broom!"

"Ginny..."

"Stop being wishy-washy, Ron, it's all we've got!"

"You know I'm... scared of heights, right?" Ron cleared his throat as he said that, probably only thankful for the darkness because it hid the bright red flush that was going up his neck.

"You're Quidditch Keeper, Ron," said Luna, mildly.

"Yeah, but being on a broom, and hanging from a broom is kind of..."

Corrinne grinned as Ginny caught the broom and mounted it. "But Neville's the biggest here. He can't be flying at tailend compared to you."

"I can fly!" wailed Ron, but Ginny shook her head. "No, Ron, not with Keeper skills. This needs agility."

Ron grumbled as Neville climbed on awkwardly behind Ginny. Luna, being the smallest, somehow managed to squeeze on in front of Ginny. There was only so much space at the back where the broom hairs were, for Ron and Corrinne to grasp on.

"I'll hold your hand!" Neville looked at Corrinne, who smiled gratefully. Ron was about to protest when Ginny yelled exasperatedly at them to hurry. With that, Ron whimpered and grabbed part of the broomstick and its hairs, while Corrinne grabbed onto whatever was left, with her right hand firmly in Neville's grasp.

"Ready?" Ginny asked, hoping that her shivering was more out of her cold than fear. Although she knew better.

"Never been more so!" Luna offered, chirpily.

Ron let out a loud groan. "Easy for you to say, you're on the broom..."

"Okay, so, one –"

"This is dreadful..."

"THE INFERI!" screamed Corrinne, as the ghostly figures began to seep through the crack and appear before them (or at least Corrinne and Ron were facing them). Ron's face turned white when he saw the empty faces of the corpses trudging towards them.

"Merlin's..."

"GO!"

"AAAAHHHHHHH!"

-.-.-.-.-.-

"I... I... this is hopeless!" Hermione groaned, as she sank to the ground.

She and Draco had been running down the long passageway, only to find themselves emerge at the same place where they had discovered the hole in the ground. The hole was still there, where Hermione had blown the ground to pieces. Circling it, they had to walk sideways through the narrow pathway that was covered with mist. When they had finally squeezed out of it, they were back in the large cave that was filled with stalactites and stalagmites. After running for a long time, Hermione found herself very out of breath.

"You can't just stop here!" Draco was exasperated. "We're actually on the route back! Stop for any moment now and the – " He scowled. "The Dark Lord will come!"

"You think I don't know that?" Hermione demanded, weakly. She closed her eyes as she took in gulps of air. "I'm just not physically cut out for this, Mr Macho Quidditch Player!"

Draco paused, then he cocked an amused eyebrow at her. "You think I'm macho?"

Hermione's eyes flew open in horror. "I did not say that!"

Draco chuckled. "So you did."

If it had been back at Hogwarts, when she and Draco were in the library at night discussing what to do next, Hermione might have found that little chuckle rather warming. It would have added to that budding human dimension she was discovering in him. But now she found it extremely disconcerting, and she looked away.

Draco's amused look faded, and was replaced by the traditional scowl. "Well Miss Let's-Hug-Libraries, maybe we should really try to find a way out before we starve and freeze to death," then he snorted. "Or maybe get Avada Keda – "

"Alright, don't say it!" It was Hermione's turn to be exasperated, colouring a little at the word 'libraries' given her earlier thought. She struggled to get up. "Fine, I'll just – "

He held out his hand to her once again. Hermione stared at it like it was a can of worms.

Or at least, given what had happened the last time he did this, she had opened a can of worms.

Draco frowned. "Stop staring at my hand like it's full of worms."

Hermione groaned inwardly. Stop bloody reading my mind!

She reluctantly took his hand and heaved herself up, careful to maintain some distance as she got up and pulled her hand out of his grip. The kiss that they had shared earlier on now felt too surreal, and what was bothering her now was the coin that was banging against her side in her pocket.

Oh now it chooses to be conspicuous, doesn't it? She felt angry with herself as she followed Draco, who had turned away wordlessly to lead the way. Then again, I'm not betraying him. He's the one with the Death Eaters. I'm Harry and Ron's best friend. I have a duty to tell them about this, because we're all helping the Order. And they'd want to know what happened to me, disappearing off with Draco like that.

But even as she tried to console herself, the fact that she was now calling him 'Draco' (and maybe also that he had called her 'Hermione' just now) was making her feel more terrible than ever.

He should know! She scolded herself, as she trudged along the damp ground. He should know that I would have told Harry and Ron. Even that faithful day at the Quidditch pitch – he had just broken down like that. It's not my fault that he wanted to be so vulnerable. It's not my fault that I happened to be nearby when he was talking to Snape at the Hospital Wing. It's not my fault that I heard about Maldash Wentervale and he decided to tell me the story behind it all. Or that he decided to let me see that parchment his father left him. Or that...

"Everywhere looks the same!" Draco's roar of frustration shook her out of her reverie.

Hermione was still in a cloud of guilt, not only because of her attempts to push the blame away from herself, but also the fact that she was secretly hoping that the DA and the Order would come and rescue them. At least it would be easier for the group of them to come here and find them instead of the other way round. And at least they wouldn't be stupid enough to walk away from the Transporting Veil without marking their path. She fervently hoped that the Veil was still in use.

"Do you think the Veil is still working?"

Hermione could have screamed in frustration. He should just stop repeating what my mind says!

"Hermione Granger, are you even thinking about how to escape this place?" Draco glared at her when she did not respond, except to look rather annoyed. Now he was really furious.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione suddenly felt hurt. "You mean I want us to be trapped here?"

She instantly felt another pang of guilt by saying that. Right now, her head was swimming with so many thoughts that it was hurting very badly. She felt like sinking to the floor again, with the thudding in her head.

Draco closed his eyes, massaging his temples. Then he opened his eyes again, and this time the look was gentler. "I didn't mean that."

Then he held out his hand to her.

Again.

"You look like you're going to faint," he muttered, when he saw Hermione staring at him. "Come on."

Stop it, Draco Malfoy... stop being so nice to me... you... oh argh!

Hermione tried to ignore the thudding in her body as she took his hand. It felt warm, having her hand enclosed in his. She swallowed hard as she followed him, his fingers firmly around hers. Once or twice, because her fingers were cold, he would rub them a little. When she stole a look at him however, his face was expressionless.

Stop it, Hermione. Stop looking...

"This place looks vaguely familiar..." mumbled Draco, as he raised his wand to light up the place further. The bejewelled cup of Helga Hufflepuff dangled on his last three fingers, and the beautiful stones sparkled beneath his wand light. "I think I saw this mangled stalagmite before..."

"AAHHHH!"

"AAHHHH!"

The yells were not very loud – like they were from a far distance – but they shook Draco and Hermione considerably. Before Draco could respond with a bewildered remark, the yells were followed by lots of screaming. The noise seemed to be coming closer and closer, and louder and more piercing.

Draco pulled Hermione along by hand as they tried to scale a small slope.

And beyond the small slope, there was the bright white light of the Transporting Veil.

"The Veil!" gasped Draco, suddenly shaking very hard. "We've found it!" Then he stared at the ground near the Veil. "And the broom! The broom we flew on to come in here! We won't be dropping into that black hole when we get out of here!"

Hermione, who had not seen the Veil before considering that she was unconscious when she entered it, was about to respond with equal enthusiasm when the yells started again, this time VERY loud and VERY piercing.

"AAAHHHHHHHH! GINNNYYYYYY!"

It was not just the last word that shocked Hermione; it was the voice. A voice that she would recognise anywhere.

"What the..." Draco began, completely taken aback.

Suddenly, out of the Veil, something flew out of it – there seemed to be some legs dangling behind, but it was too fast for Draco or Hermione to see – and flew beyond them.

BANG! CRAACCCKKKK...

THUD.

"OOF!" There were collective groans and wails, before that was interrupted by...

"GINNYYY WHAT KIND OF SKILLS DO YOU CALL THAT, YOU...!"

"RON!" Hermione finally gasped.

"HERMIONE?"

"WEASEL?"