A/N: Alright, my lovelies! I was thinking of posting these every Friday but I decided Sunday would be a better day because 1) Fridays are my shut down day so I didn't want to give myself something to do on a Friday and 2) I figured it would be a little upside to your Sunday since I know you're all dreading going back to school tomorrow (like myself). Anyway, that's all I have for you tonight. Have a wonderful evening and a great week!

Tallyho!

Chapter 2:

They sat in silence for a few moments while the waiter brought Hermione her own cup of coffee while topping off Draco's. Neither quite knew how to start the conversation. Even though Draco had asked for the meeting, he honestly never thought he would get this far so now he was kind of stuck. Fortunately, Hermione saved him from the awkward silence between them.

"I have to admit," she said as she stirred her coffee, not looking at him, "I was very surprised when I got your letter. At first, I thought it was a joke."

A ghost of a smirk rested on Draco's lips. "Yes, I imagine you did."

"But after checking it for every hex and curse imaginable," she continued, ignoring his comment, "I decided to read it." She paused and looked up at him. "And I never expected to find what I did in that letter."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Spit it out, Granger. I don't have time for riddles."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to be a pun?"

He looked at her confused until it dawned on him what she meant: Tom Riddle aka Voldemort aka the man who would kill him on sight if he knew what he was doing right now. Draco shook his head as he said "No."

Hermione nodded and took a sip of her coffee before continuing. "Anyway, even after reading it six more times, it still felt like a trap. Everything about that letter was screaming at me that it was bad news."

"Then why did you come?" Draco said getting impatient.

She shook her head and bit her lip. "My curiosity got the better of me. I mean, for Merlin's sake Malfoy, you asked to meet in muggle London! If that didn't set off my curiosity I don't know what would. I mean with your blood prejudices and all-"

"Blood purity doesn't matter to me anymore, Granger." Draco muttered.

She looked at him shocked. "W-what?"

He shook his head. "It's a long story. Which I would tell you if we could just get on with this meeting already."

Eyeing him suspiciously, she nodded. "Fine. But there's some things I need to do before we start."

Draco rolled his eyes this time and leaned back in his chair while crossing his arms across his chest. "Fine. Just hurry it up, Granger. I don't have all day."

Ignoring him, Hermione discreetly pulled out her wand from her bag and cast a silencing charm around their table before putting it back and pulling out an assortment of items including a notebook, a muggle pen, and a small box with buttons on it. Draco had absolutely no idea what that last item that she had pulled out was and was frankly very concerned now.

"What in Merlin's name is that?" he asked giving the contraption a very confused look.

Hermione bit her lip to keep from laughing at Draco's expression. "It's called a tape recorder. I press the red button and it records everything that we say on the tape inside the box."

"And why the hell would you need that?"

"In case there's anything I miss while we're talking, I can go back and listen to it if there's something important that I need from the information that you give me."

Draco nodded but still eyed the contraption suspiciously as if were going to jump out and bite him at any moment. "Are we ready then?"

"Almost." Hermione said as she went digging through her purse one last time. She pulled out a small vial with a cork for a cap and handed it to Draco who leaned further back in his chair as if it were poison.

"Relax, it's just Veritaserum." she said.

"Veritaserum? Why would I need that?"

She looked at him incredulously. "Do you honestly think I would've come here without some sort of plan to ensure that you're going to tell me the truth and not send an ambush of Death Eaters on me or the Order for that matter?"

"Well, no but I figured you had more sense than that, Granger."

"I would've had less sense if I didn't bring it. Now drink."

"How do I know it's not poison?"

She furrowed her brows and tilted her head in disbelief. "I'm a Gryffindor, you dolt!" she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. And really, it was, because she was too noble to try anything like that; even if it was her school enemy.

He huffed in response and Hermione took it that he agreed with her statement. Pushing the vile closer to him she said "Drink."

He rolled his eyes. "This is ridiculous."

"Do you want my help or not?" she asked frustrated.

Draco muttered to himself before glaring at Hermione while taking the vial in his hands. "Fine." he said as he uncapped the vial and drank the potion with one swig.

"Good. Let's get started." Hermione said as she pressed the red button on the tape recorder. "First, we're going to make sure that the Veritaserum has taken effect. Name?"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy." he answered bitterly.

"Date of birth?"

"June 5th, 1980."

"Hogwarts House?"

He groaned. "You know the answer to that, Granger."

"Just answer the question, Malfoy." she said unimpressed.

Suppressing another groan, he answered. "Slytherin."

"Does anyone know you're here?"

"If by anyone, you mean Death Eaters, the Dark Lord, or anyone else that might try to wreak havoc or kill us, no."

"Anybody else?"

"No."

Hermione nodded as she scribbled quickly in her notebook. "What is Voldemort planning?"

"Right now, he's building an army. Werewolves, giants, wizards, everyone and anyone he can get his hands on, he's either recruiting or killing if they refuse him."

"What's his plan once he builds his army?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You should know that his overall plan is to kill Potter and be the most powerful and unstoppable Dark Wizard our world has ever seen."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know. But in order to beat that plan we need to know his whole plan. So what is it?"

He sighed. "Now that he's taken over the Ministry, he intends to attack Hogwarts. He knows how weak the school's been since Dumbledore's death and he intends to take advantage of that weakness. He also knows that attacking the school will lure Potter there because he knows he wouldn't be able to turn away while his school burned."

She nodded. "What happened that night on the Astronomy Tower?"

"I thought Potter would've explained to you what happened. I know he was up there that night."

She nodded. "He did. But I want to hear your side of the story. From the beginning. When you were first given your… task."

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he internally cursed her for making him take the Veritaserum. Groaning, he merely said "I failed." He paused and looked at her. She merely looked back at him with curious eyes and tilted her head slightly in encouragement for him to continue. "When I was given the Dark Mark, I knew I was done for. My father had failed in the Dark Lord's eyes at the Ministry so he came to me to punish my father and give me an even more difficult task: killing Dumbledore. Over the summer, my parents were placed under the very watchful eye of the Dark Lord's followers while I was put in training to kill Dumbledore. Day after day, I was practicing the Unforgivables, Legilimency, and protective spells that would keep me safe in case something went wrong.

"As the summer continued, I was then told that the Death Eaters would be breaking in and taking over Hogwarts the same night that I was to kill Dumbledore. The Death Eaters would be there to get rid of anyone who might get in my way and frankly, I think they were there to just wreak havoc any way that they could."

"Okay… you're still not explaining what happened up there."

"Well if you would shut up and let me finish, you'd understand." Draco snapped.

Hermione narrowed her eyes but remained silent. Draco continued. "Anyway, as school got close to starting, Voldemort was discussing how to get the Death Eaters into the school when I remembered a conversation I had with Graham Montague after the Weasley twins shoved him into the Vanishing Cabinet our fifth year. I brought it up to Snape who brought it to the Dark Lord's attention who decided that that's how they would get into Hogwarts. We found the sister cabinet at Borgin and Burkes and after school started, Snape received information that the one Montague got put in had ended up in the Room of Requirement where I spent a majority of the year fixing it. Then came the night of the Astronomy Tower."

Draco sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He was shaking more now than he was before this meeting but he still blamed it on the coffee rather than what he was talking about. Taking a deep breath, he continued once more. "While there, my only thought was 'just get it over with' but that was much easier said than done. Once I was there, and once I saw how weak he already was, any confidence I had to finish the job was gone. And then Dumbledore offered me a way out; an opportunity for freedom. I wanted so badly to take it but I was so scared, I couldn't bring myself to do it. And then the Death Eaters broke into the school and the opportunity was gone. Snape ended up killing Dumbledore and then ran off with me in tow trying to get out of there as fast as we could but of course, as I'm sure you remember, all hell broke loose and… well you know the rest."

Hermione nodded as she remembered that very unfortunate night. "If the Death Eaters hadn't broken into the school, would you have taken Dumbledore's offer?"

Draco hesitated then shook his head. "I don't know. I like to think that the part of me with any common sense left would have but I honestly don't know."

She nodded and moved on to a different question. "What do you know about Horcruxes?"

Draco stiffened. "A Horcrux is a powerful dark object that allows a dark wizard or witch to place a fragment of their soul in order to attain immortality. Why?"

"We believe Voldemort has created multiple horcruxes in order to stay immortal. Do you have any information on that?"

He nodded. "Snape gave me some information on them that he received from Dumbledore. He believed that Voldemort split his soul up into seven horcruxes. Potter destroyed one Second year when he stabbed the diary with the basilisk fang in the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore destroyed another one- the ring- with the sword of Gryffindor last year."

Hermione nodded. "Do you know where the other ones are?"

"No." he shook his head. "But I know what they are."

She raised an eyebrow? "All five? You the rest of the five Horcruxes? How?"

He nodded. "Dumbledore told Snape who told me. Don't give me that look, Granger." he said as he saw Hermione raise her eyebrows in skepticism. "Dumbledore and Snape were closer than a lot of people would believe. They trusted each other. And before you accuse Snape of treason for killing someone he supposedly trusted, you should know that Dumbledore was dying a very painful death, courtesy of the ring, which I'll get to in a minute." Draco hadn't intended to explain this to her but he felt he owed it to Snape. The man had been the closest thing to a father figure that he had so he needed to defend him and explain why Snape did what he did. "Snape knew Dumbledore was dying and had even been asked by the man himself to kill him. Dumbledore knew that by having Snape kill him, he would save my innocence (what little is left of it at this point) and show his "true" allegiance to Voldemort not letting on that he was really for the other side. Dumbledore's death wasn't a cold blooded murder; it was mercy."

Hermione was speechless. She didn't see that coming and to her disappointment hadn't written any of it down. She thanked Merlin that she had left the tape recorder running; she'd go back over what he had just said later. As she got her bearings together, Draco began speaking again. "Now, back to the Horcruxes. The first one is-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Hermione said waving her hands. "Does Snape know you're here?"

Draco sighed in exasperation. "No. Like I said earlier, no one knows that I'm here. Now where was I?" As Draco recollected what he was about to say, Hermione got her pen ready to write down whatever he said. "Oh right," he began, "the first one was Marvolo Gaunt's ring which was cursed and led Dumbledore into dying a very painful death. The curse was death to anyone who attempted to put the ring on which Dumbledore did. As I'm sure you know now, Dumbledore destroyed the ring so that no longer counts as a Horcrux. What's left is Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, Salazar Slytherin's Locket, Helga Hufflepuff's cup, and Nagini, the Dark Lord's snake."

Hermione's hand was cramping as she finished the list but she didn't care. Malfoy just gave her so much valuable information that it helped the objective of defeating Voldemort for good just became so much more real. She could hug him if it weren't for the fact that they would probably hex each other at the smallest touch. Instead she gave him a relieved smile. "Thank you. This helps us so much. Even if we don't know where they are, we now know what they are and that's better than where we started."

He nodded. "Glad I could be of service." There was no malice or sarcasm in his voice, to Hermione's surprise. He seemed genuinely pleased that he could help the Light defeat the Dark. Then something popped up in her mind that he had said in the beginning of the interview.

"Why did you say that blood status no longer matters to you?" she asked before she could stop herself.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He should've known this question would come up. "After the night on the Astronomy Tower, I saw how ruthless Voldemort really was. He began killing whoever defied him: muggle-born or pureblood. When I realized that, I saw that my family and I were doomed either way and that it didn't matter if I was a pureblood; there was a strong chance that Voldemort would kill my parents and I without a second thought. That's when I realized I needed to get out when I could."

"Which leads me to my next question: why did you contact me?"

He furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"I realize that there's not many people on the Light side that you could contact but of all people you could have contacted, you reached out to me. Why?"

He bit his lip as he thought about his answer. "You're right, there were very few people I could contact on the Light side but of all the people I could have tried to reach, you seemed the most logical. You were always the most rational one out of The Golden Trio and, I hoped, that with that rationale came the will to listen to all sides, even mine. I took a huge risk contacting you; one, because if the Dark Lord found out, I'd be killed on the spot and two, because there was a chance you wouldn't answer my letter. But you did; and now we're here."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. Draco held his breath as she pondered what he had said. Being under the Veritaserum, Draco had told the complete truth so Hermione had no reason to doubt him. But she was still weary of him; why wouldn't she be? This is the boy who tormented her and her friends for years and felt no remorse for it. Or so she thought.

She studied him as he looked away at the crowded cafe. He didn't look much like a boy anymore. His eyes held so much sorrow and stress while his face gave an aged impression when he furrowed his brows and frowned. His hair was losing it's platinum hue and his skin was so pale, he looked like a ghost. He was skinnier too, and Hermione briefly wondered if the Death Eaters weren't getting the special treatment she assumed they were getting.

No, this boy was a man now, but not on his own terms. This was a man who would be haunted by his past for the rest of his life. Despite his austere exterior, she could see the pain and fear he held inside through his eyes. Hermione felt, for the first time in the seven years that she had known Malfoy, that she was finally seeing who he was, even if it was just a sliver. She saw so much of Harry in him that it scared her. Both were placed on a certain path at mere boyhood and both were essentially forced to follow through on that path. Hermione began to wonder what kind of person Malfoy would be if he had been put on Harry's side of the tracks or vice versa.

Realizing this, Hermione decided she would help Malfoy. She knew she was probably insane for wanting to help him but she didn't care. In her mind, if she could help one person come to the Light side and redeem themselves, more people might follow suit and join the cause to help defeat Voldemort once and for all. Now the only thing to do was convince Malfoy and the Order…

She was pulled out of her thoughts when the waiter came by to top off their coffees. When he left, she looked at Malfoy who was looking back at her nervously. Not voicing her plan yet, she asked another question.

"When you say that you want out," she started, "do you mean that you want to come to the Light side or just out altogether and disappear from our world?"

Draco closed his eyes and took a deep breath before answering. "I want to come to the Light. Voldemort has done too much damage for me to runaway. Plus, I'm a Slytherin; I don't back down easily. I want to fight. I want to help end him." He spoke those last sentences with such determination that Hermione had to fight the urge to smile. Half of her plan would be easier than she thought.

"Good. Now, when you come to the Light, would anyone be coming with you?"

He hid his surprise when he noticed she said when but nodded wearily anyway. "My mother. I made a secret promise to her I would protect her and going to the Light would do just that."

"Does she know that's your plan?"

Draco shook his head. "No. She knows I'm up to something but she doesn't know what. I'm letting her believe I'm on a mission for the Dark Lord. I did that on purpose. Voldemort is skilled in Legilimency and should he attempt it on her, I want her to be safe. So all he'll find is that I'm on a secret mission for him and my mother will be safe from harm for the time being."

She nodded. "What about your father?" As soon as she asked the question, she wished she hadn't. Draco stiffened and his face darkened at the mention of Lucius Malfoy. She could see he was struggling against the Veritaserum and just as she was about to tell him that he didn't have to answer, he did.

"My f-father doesn't know anything and I don't intend to tell him or take him with me. He is nothing to me."

She nodded. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to press you."

He just shook his head.

Hermione looked down at her notes and as she was about to ask another question, she was interrupted.

"Why did you agree to meet me?" Draco suddenly asked.

She looked up at him confused. "I thought I was the one asking questions?"

"I'm tired of answering. It's my turn to ask questions now."

Hermione raised an eyebrow but sat back in her seat anyway.

"Well?" Draco asked.

"Well what?"

"Why did you agree to meet me?"

"I told you, my curiosity got the best of me."

"I know you're lying, Granger. You may have been curious, but there's more to it than that. There always is."

Hermione hesitated before responding. She knew she didn't have to be honest with him but she felt since she made him take the Veritaserum, she might as well be fair and tell the truth. Still, she turned off the tape recorder before answering. There were certain things that the Order didn't need to hear and this was one of those times.

She shrugged. "You're right. I am one to listen to all sides. When I got your letter, I was intrigued and I knew that if you gave me the right information, I could take it to the Order and we might be able to finally defeat Voldemort. I also knew that if you decided to join us, you could be a valuable asset to us with your knowledge of the Death Eaters and their plans." And I believed there was good in you, deep down. she thought to herself. Okay, so maybe she hadn't said the whole truth but she wasn't quite ready to let that last piece of information loose any time soon.

However what she said seemed to satisfy Malfoy as he nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Can I continue now?" she asked.

"You still have questions?" he asked, surprised.

"Just a few more."

He shrugged and nodded and she started the tape recorder again. Knowing she was running out of time with the Veritaserum, she threw out a question that had been burning the back of her mind since she received his letter. "How do I know I can trust you?"

He studied her for a moment before answering. "You don't." he answered truthfully. "And that's partially because I don't know if I can trust myself. I'm seventeen years old, Granger, and I've seen and done things that would give you nightmares. Because of those things, even I don't know if I'm completely trustworthy. But I have to start somewhere right?"

She nodded and paused before asking her last question. "Do you trust me?"

She could see that the Veritaserum was wearing off since he looked less strained to answer this question. Her suspicions were answered when he gave her an evasive answer. "I don't have much of a choice do I?"

"Did you ever have a choice, Draco?" she asked quietly but he still heard it.

He raised an eyebrow at her question and use of his first name. Now that the Veritaserum wore off he didn't have to answer honestly and he took complete advantage of it. Instead he tilted his head and said "Touche."

Sighing, she looked away at the other patrons in the cafe. She envied how simple their lives seemed compared to hers. She wanted what they had: petty issues like what they would cook for dinner, worrying about grades, and how would they pay the electric bill. Everything that seemed like chaos to the muggles, would've been a walk in the park for her. She swore to herself that if they made it out of this alive, she would never complain about anything again.

Taking a deep breath, she looked back at Draco who seemed to be studying her. Despite the fact that they had known each other for nearly seven years, they couldn't seem to figure the other out. Just when she thought she had him figured out, he turns around and does something unexpected and vice versa. His letter had caused that for her and what she was about to do would be it for him.

Noticing a change in her expression, he began to get concerned. "What?" he asked wearily.

Leaning forward in her chair, Hermione tried not to smirk. "I have an idea. It's completely bonkers but I need you to trust me anyway, okay?"

"That depends on what it is…" he said still weary.

She took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes: how do you feel about coming to the Order with me?"