A/N: You guys are so amazing! I woke up Sunday morning with 13 emails and more than half of that was from you guys following/favoring the story so I've decided to give you guys a little treat: early update! Yay! Thank you guys so much for being so awesome! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Tallyho!

Chapter 6:

Telling Harry and Ron what Draco knew about Horcruxes went easier than expected; but then again that might be because both boys were completely dumbfounded by what the Slytherin had to say. Draco had to resist from laughing when Ron's mouth fell open and instead made a snarky comment telling the redhead to close his mouth because of his bad breath.

Despite the initial tension in the room, it quickly dissipated as Harry and Ron became fascinated with the information Draco gave them. For one solid hour, they were no longer enemies; just boys trading information and fighting for the same cause. Hermione couldn't help but smile to herself as she saw her two best friends work with someone they claimed to hate. When they were done, Draco leaned back in his chair feeling accomplished. Ron was looking over all the information that they had written down while Harry struggled for words.

"Malfoy," he began, "I-I don't know what to say." It was clear that Harry was elated with this new information they had gathered. Draco couldn't help but smirk as it wasn't many times that the Boy Wonder was at a loss for words.

"You're welcome, Potter." he said confidently.

Harry rolled his eyes and looked at Draco unamused causing the Slytherin to chuckle. Hermione watched the interaction with interest. Despite their differences, Harry and Draco could make a dangerous but effective team if the time ever came that they had to fight together. She chuckled to herself as she thought that she would pay good money to see her best friend and his enemy working together.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked her when he heard her chuckle.

She shook her head. "Nothing, it's just" she said looking at Draco, "I suppose this makes us allies now."

Draco looked at her and thought about it for a moment before glancing at Ron and Harry across from him. Looking back at Hermione, he gave a small nod. "Yes, I suppose it does." he replied.

The next few days went by uneventfully. Well, maybe not completely uneventfully but only in subtle ways. For instance, the Golden Trio was constantly whispering amongst themselves and was always sneaking glances at Draco. Once he caught them in the kitchen talking animatedly but couldn't hear anything because a silencing charm had been placed on the room. When Hermione noticed him and he offered to come back, she quickly ushered Harry and Ron out of the room while telling Draco that it was no problem. He watched her, confused, but then brushed it off, dismissing it as something they used to do all the time at Hogwarts.

It wasn't until a sunny Saturday morning that he would know why the Golden Trio was acting secretive.

"Malfoy." he heard a soft voice call. "Malfoy. Malfoy? Draco. Wake up."

He groaned and rolled over in bed, burying his face into his pillow.

"Draco, wake up!" the voice called. He didn't respond. Suddenly, he was hit by something and he flew out of bed.

"Argh!" he yelled sitting up and breathing heavily out of surprise from the impact.

"Finally!" the voice called.

He looked up and found the last person he expected to be in his room staring at him and holding the pillow he assumed he was hit with. Groaning he fell back onto his pillow and put his arm over his eyes. "Granger. What the hell are you doing here?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Get up." she replied.

He peeked out from under his arm. "Why?"

"If you come downstairs, you'll find out."

He reached over and looked at the clock on his dresser. "Merlin, woman! It's seven in the morning! Can't whatever it is, wait?"

"Nope." she said shortly. "Now get dressed and come downstairs."

"And what if I don't?" he challenged.

"I'm not leaving until you get out of bed, Malfoy." she replied confidently.

Groaning, he grabbed his pillow and covered his face in protest only to get smacked with the other pillow Hermione was holding again. "Okay, okay!" Draco yelled throwing the pillow he had on his face aside. Kicking the covers off, he stood up and looked down at Hermione whom he now towered over. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic." she said sarcastically careful not to look down since he was in his sleep clothes. Granted, looking at his shoulders up didn't help much since his usually clean cut hair was a mess and his shirt showed off his strong shoulders. Plus his voice when he first woke up was soft and unguarded compared to his usual strong and controlled voice. Hermione hated to admit it but she found it kind of attractive however she quickly rid her mind of the thought.

Draco noticed her shake her head slightly and smirked. "Like what you see, Granger?"

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. She grabbed the pillow with both hands and shoved it into Draco causing him to fall back down on the bed. "Granger! I never knew you felt that way!" he joked. She rolled her eyes again but Draco couldn't help but notice her blush as she began to walk out of the room.

"Not even in your wildest dreams, Malfoy." She said as he chuckled. "Oh! Before I forget," she said turning back around, "you'll be needing this." Draco looked down at what she was handing him and gasped as his eyes widened in disbelief. It was his wand. All humor was gone from him as he hesitantly reached out for it, fearing that Hermione would snatch it away from him and laugh maniacally. But she didn't. Her hand didn't move as he took his wand from her. His shoulders relaxed as he felt the warmth of his wand in his hand again. He smiled to himself as he was reunited with the only thing that made him feel normal- or as normal as he could feel.

He looked up at Hermione in disbelief. "Granger, h-how? I thought Shacklebolt had it?" he asked.

She gave him a small smile. "I pickpocketed it off of him after I brought you here and replaced yours with a fake. I've kept it on me ever since. I feel more comfortable knowing where it is and who has it rather than leaving it with someone where it could be stolen." she explained.

He looked at her impressed. "You pickpocketed a superior. How Slytherin of you." he mused.

She smirked. "Don't get used to it." She left the room but turned back to him at the door. "Make sure to wear comfortable shoes." And then she was gone. He raised an eyebrow at the weird request but shook his head. She wouldn't have bothered to wake him up if wasn't important. Putting the pillow she threw at him aside, he stood up and got dressed.

A few minutes later, Draco was walking downstairs, wand in hand, not planning on letting it go any time soon. It was a good thing too because as soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, a flash of red came flying his way. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and sent up a shield charm to protect himself and watched as the spell fizzled away.

"Not bad." he heard a voice say. Draco opened his eyes (which he hadn't realized he had closed) to find Hermione smirking at him.

"Granger!" he bellowed taking down his shielding charm and walking towards her. "What the hell, woman!"

She shrugged. "We had to make sure your reflexes were still reliable. I'm glad to see they are."

"We?" he said before looking around the room. "Woah." he said quietly as he saw where he was standing now. What was usually the piano room had been transformed into a room the size of the Slytherin Common Room. The bookshelves, piano, and couch that were usually in the room had been traded for a big open space with a few ceiling high mirrors on the wall. Draco turned around in awe at the room. He had never seen a space like the one in front of him before. When he finally looked back at Hermione, he noticed two other guests with her that he hadn't seen in the room before: Harry and Ron.

Confused, Draco furrowed his brows. "Granger, what is this?"

She smirked. "You said you wanted to fight and here we are. We (all of us) are going to train and train hard in defending ourselves against Voldemort. We're not going to get anywhere by sitting on our asses and reading the Daily Prophet for updates. It's time we learn to trust each other because in the end, it may save our lives, including yours Malfoy. Like it or not, you're going to have to learn to play nice," she challenged the three boys as Draco scrunched his face, "because it may just do you all some good."

"Granger, you can't be serious." the blonde retorted. "You're asking for trouble. Potter and Weasley have been looking for an excuse to send a hex my way since First Year!"

"You better have good defense reflexes then." she said in finality. Draco blinked. This is not going to end well. he thought to himself as he gripped his wand tighter.

"Speaking of defense reflexes," Hermione started again, "we're going to work on defensive and protective spells today. In partners. One partner will be casting a defensive spell while the other will be protecting themselves and their partner from the other spell coming their way. All spells except Unforgivables and Sectumsempra are allowed. Ron, you're with me. Harry, you're with Malfoy."

"WHAT?!" both boys yelled in disbelief at the brunette. "Hermione, you can't be serious." Harry said.

"I'm very serious and I'm not discussing this anymore, Harry, now get over there." she said exasperated. Harry glared at his friend and muttered to himself as he trudged over next to the Slytherin. Draco couldn't help but groan inwardly. This day was not going well by any means.

Before either boy could say anything to one another a spell came flying towards them. Instinctively, Draco sent a counter spell while Harry put up a shield charm. The two froze as they looked at each other in disbelief. Neither could seem to fathom that they just protected one another. Hermione smiled in victory as she saw the two boys see that letting their instincts kick in instead of focusing on petty matters like school rivalries would allow them to work together quite well. She'd never admit it out loud, but this was secretly a test between the four of them to earn their trust with Draco and vice versa and it seemed to be working. But just to ensure, she sent another spell their way and Harry and Draco did the same thing again, except Draco threw up the shield this time while Harry sent a counter spell. Hermione and Ron glanced at each other as they all realized in that moment that this training would have its benefits after all.

The training went on all day. About half-way into the morning session, Hermione had Ron and Harry switch so that Draco and Ron could work together somewhat. Both boys were clearly uncomfortable with the idea but kept their mouths shut when Hermione glared at them. Draco and Ron were harder to get them to work with one another; both would either send a counterspell or both would put up a shield charm. At one point, neither did anything causing Ron to get smacked with a stunning charm. There was some angry yelling from both parties but after an hour of trial and error, they seemed to figure out a system that worked for both boys.

Around noon, the four took a lunch break, courtesy of Kreacher, and Draco ate with the three Gryffindors instead of hiding back out in his room. No one made a comment at the gesture but Hermione smiled to herself. It may have not meant anything to the boys, but she knew just having him eat lunch with them could not have been easy for his ego and was proud that they were cracking into the wall he always kept up.

After lunch, Hermione ushered the three of them back into the piano room for more training. This time, however, she was Draco's partner. He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or scared since she seemed to be in control of the situation at hand but he was about to find out. Suddenly, the hexes came much faster and more were being sent at one time that Draco was struggling to keep up. Hermione, however, was keeping up just fine. It seemed that with every spell Draco deflected, Hermione was already sending three more back to Harry and Ron.

Draco was starting to get irritated. He'd been shown up in just about every class in Hogwarts by Hermione but he'd be damned if she beat him at this too. Resolving to change the game, he threw a spell towards Harry without thinking about what he was casting.

"Avifors!" he yelled. Suddenly, Harry disappeared and where he was once standing, now stood a large Emperor Penguin; the only sign that it was Harry at all was the penguin's emerald green eyes. Hermione and Ron froze as they stared in disbelief at their best friend while Draco struggled to hide his laughter. Hermione looked at him with an expression mixed between confusion and incredulousness. He merely shrugged.

"You never said no transfiguration." he defended.

She looked back at her best friend whom Ron was now studying and then broke out into uncontrollable laughter. She couldn't explain what she found so funny about the situation but something about Harry Potter getting turned into a penguin was just hilarious to her. Ron chuckled a bit but was still curious about the penguin now standing next to him and Draco just silently laughed. As for Hermione, her abs were starting to hurt and her eyes were watering up as she tried to control her laughter but failed when Harry glared at her (or attempted to glare since penguins didn't have eyebrows). He squawked at her instead.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione said breathing heavily and wiping the tears from her eyes as she regained composure despite her body shaking from the unreleased laughter, "it's just, well, you make such a cute penguin!"

At this, it was Draco's turn to laugh. He couldn't keep it in any longer. "I think you have a point there, Granger." he said while laughing. "Potter is better looking this way. And he's quieter too!" Harry squawked again at this causing both Hermione, Ron, and Draco to laugh again but this time Hermione was able to regain her composure quicker.

"Okay, okay," she said, "I think poor Harry's gone through enough today. Do you know the counterspell?" she asked Draco.

He nodded, still silently laughing, and muttered something under his breath as a flash of light appeared from the end of his wand and turned Harry back into a human. As soon as Harry was normal looking again, he glared at Draco.

"A penguin?!" he said exasperated. "Really, Malfoy?"

The blonde chuckled. "Hey, look at it as revenge for turning me into a ferret Fourth Year."

"That wasn't even me! That was Moody! Or- Barty Crouch Jr. as Moody but that's not the point!"

Draco shrugged. "Details."

Harry continued to glare at Draco but the edges of his lips quirked up into a smirk which Draco returned. Hermione chuckled and muttered something under her breath while waving her wand. Suddenly, the room shrunk in size and the furniture returned causing Ron to fall over when the couch came back right behind him.

"Sorry Ron." she said as she helped him back up. "Alright, that's enough for today. I have to admit, I'm impressed. That went a lot smoother than I expected. So congratulations on not killing each other!" she gave an excited smile but it quickly fell as the boys just stared at her. "No? Okay, anyway, the point is, you all did a good job today. We've still a long way to go but today was a good start. Now go home, get some rest, and we'll continue on Monday."

"Monday?" Draco questioned. "How often are we going to be doing this?"

"Every day except Sundays and Wednesdays. Sundays are family days with the Weasleys and Wednesdays are usually Order meetings so we won't be training on those days for obvious reasons. Otherwise, every day will be just like today. So refresh yourself on defensive spells because we'll be working on everything there is to know."

Draco nodded. "Yes, Professor McGonagall." he mocked.

She raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "Very funny." she replied sarcastically as she began to walk out of the room with Ron and Harry following. They went into the second living room and Harry grabbed a handful of floo powder while stepping into the fireplace.

"Oh, you know what, I think I forgot something." Hermione said suddenly. "You two go ahead. I'll catch up later."

"You sure?" Ron asked.

She nodded and smiled at her two best friends as she watched them disappear behind a veil of green fire. When they were gone, Hermione walked back to the piano room. Draco was still there, standing at the bookshelf scanning the book in his hands. She leaned on the doorframe and watched him silently. She had never seen his posture so unguarded. His weight was on one leg and his shoulders relaxed. Even his face seemed tranquil but as she looked closer, she could see the strain in his eyes; he seemed to be struggling to focus.

"Is there a reason you're standing there, Granger, or are you just being a creep?" He said pulling her out of her thoughts. He wasn't looking at her but she could see a smirk growing on his lips.

She chuckled. "The former."

"Damn, and here I thought you were studying my devilishly handsome looks." he joked, looking up at her and closing the book.

She rolled her eyes but didn't respond. "Unless you were studying my devilishly handsome looks…" Draco suggested.

Hermione snorted. "Actually, I was trying to figure out how such a massive ego can fit inside such a tiny head."

"You're one to talk." he retorted. "Your head's so huge, I'm surprised you can stand upright without falling over all the time."

"Easy. I wear cement blocks on my feet." she replied without missing a beat.

Draco furrowed his brows. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Hermione chuckled with victory.

"Hermione Granger makes Draco Malfoy speechless. Ten points to Gryffindor." she said causing him to shut his mouth as he narrowed his eyes at her. She chuckled again.

"Anyway, I just wanted to give you this." she said as she handed him an envelope. He put his book down to take it. It had a phoenix seal on it which Draco assumed it was from an Order member. "It's from Kingsley." Hermione explained, confirming his suspicions. "He sent it to me last night. I would've given it to you sooner but it would've been hard with Harry and Ron here."

He nodded as he opened the letter.

Dear Ms. Granger,

I have kept this a secret for a while but since you brought Draco Malfoy to Grimmauld Place and seem to be in his confidence, I feel it is necessary to inform you that the Order has a spy among the Dark Lord's followers. For their protection, I shall not mention their name and shall refer to them in gender neutral terms to not give anything away. But I'm sure it will please you and Mr. Malfoy to know that our informant has received information on his mother, Narcissa. I mentioned to our informant that she is a valuable asset to our cause and I have asked him to keep an eye on her. Our most recent update is that she is very much alive, however, I regret to say that she is not all that well.

Our informant tells me that she is weak, frail, and seems less and less lucid with each passing day. However, she is still at Malfoy Manor and our informant has remained there as a guard for the Dark Lord while keeping an eye on her. They seem to be close with the Malfoys so they have an excuse to be near her and ensure that she stays as healthy and alive as long as she can.

I'm sorry that I cannot give you more information at this time. I trust that both you and Mr. Malfoy will stay silent on the information I have just given you. I'm sure neither of you would want this information to get into the wrong hands. Please tell Mr. Malfoy that I will continue to try and get information on what it would take to get Narcissa Malfoy out but please know that I cannot make any promises on when or even if said rescue could happen. And don't worry, the informant does not know that Mr. Malfoy is with the Order at Grimmauld Place. All anyone knows is that he claimed to have gone off on a secret mission for the Dark Lord but has since gone missing.

In the meantime, stay safe and I hope to have more information for you soon. Otherwise, see you at the next Order meeting.

Sincerely,

Kingsley Shacklebolt

Draco was shaking as he finished the letter. She's alive! he thought to himself as he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. Taking a deep but shaking breath, he handed the letter back to Hermione and sat on the piano bench for support, fearing his legs would give out from the news.

"You okay?" Hermione asked concerned.

He merely nodded in response, not looking at her.

They were silent as Draco absorbed what he had just read. His mother was alive and the Order had someone on the inside protecting her. But who?

"Who's the informant?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I have no clue. Any idea on who might be close with your family but would also be a spy for the Order?"

He shook his head. "No, there's no one. Everyone who was close with them is working with the Dark Lord. Unless…" he trailed off.

"Unless what?"

He looked up at her. "Unless there was someone who needed to prove his loyalty to the Dark Lord but kept his true allegiance to the other side hidden…"

"Snape." they both said in unison.

"You don't really think-?" Hermione started.

"It's the only thing that makes sense!" Draco replied.

"But how?!" Hermione questioned. "Kingsley has no reason to trust him! He doesn't know about Snape and Dumbledore's agreement! Nobody knows the real story except you. Why would Kingsley put his trust in someone who killed Dumbledore?"

"It was a mercy killing." Draco reminded her.

"Yes, but the only people who know that are you, Snape, and now me. No one else knows that." she replied.

"Unless… it's possible one or both of them told Shacklebolt prior to the night of the Astronomy Tower. It would make sense as to why he would trust him to be the spy."

Hermione thought about that. "I suppose."

"I'm telling you, Granger, it has to be him. There's no one else in this entire world who would risk his life for us Malfoys."

She sighed and sat on the couch. "Okay, say it's him. That makes this easier and more complicated at the same time. It may be easier because now we have someone on the inside who can stay in contact with the Order and tell them where she is to get her out. It's also harder though because I'm assuming Snape is in close contact with Voldemort as well and if that's the case, it may be harder to get him alone for the rescue mission."

"If there's a rescue mission." Draco muttered bitterly.

"There will be." she said confidently.

"What makes you so sure?" he said skeptically. "You read what Shacklebolt said, he can't make any promises. And even if she can be rescued, who's to say that she'll still be alive by the time the mission would be green-lighted?! She's practically dying! The longer we wait, the the higher the chance that she won't survive." His breathing was starting to become shaky as he stared at the floor. He ran his fingers through his hair in order to calm himself down. He hadn't noticed that Hermione had moved until she sat on her knees on the floor in front of him.

"Draco," she said quietly. He looked up at her, his breath still uneasy, as she spoke his first name. She could see in his eyes that he truly doubted that he could save his mother. Her heart hurt as she saw his eyes well up with tears but he pushed them away before any slipped out. "Do you honestly believe that Snape would let your mother die?"

Not trusting his voice, he merely shook his head as he placed it back in his hands.

"It'll be okay." she reassured him. "I know it doesn't seem like it right now but everything will be okay in the end."

He groaned and stood up, stepping around Hermione to walk around the room. "God! You and your damn optimism! Would it kill you to face facts for once in your life, Granger? Not everything will be okay and you know it! So stop lying to yourself and everyone else and realize that we're living in hell and it's not going to improve anytime soon!"

"You think I don't know that?" she replied getting up from the floor. "Both of the worlds I grew up in are falling apart courtesy of Voldemort and until we destroy those horcruxes, we are helpless! But that doesn't mean I'm going to give in to the negativity that is surrounding us! Optimism is the only thing I have left that's keeping me sane, Malfoy! If I don't have that, I might as well check myself into St. Mungo's for going mad! I don't expect you to understand because you've been surrounded by darkness and negativity all your life-"

"Don't you dare, Granger. You know nothing about me or how I grew up-"

"And you know nothing about me! I didn't have it as easy as you! I was raised trying to balance two worlds in one life with parents and friends who didn't always understand what I was going through! And then being bullied by you didn't help either!"

"Oh poor you. I had to grow up with a monster for a father with extremely high expectations that I had no choice but to live up to while my mother stayed in the background not interfering. She only showed me compassion when he wasn't around! I grew up knowing that my father worked for the Dark Lord and was forced into the Death Eaters when he failed at the Ministry because your precious Potter's meddling! I've been forced to train to kill and nearly killed Albus Dumbledore! I've seen things that would give the darkest of wizards nightmares. You think your life was hard, Granger? You know nothing of hardship until you've spent your entire life in Malfoy Manor."

His eyes were dark with anger and his voice dripping with disgust. Hermione couldn't blame him. Frankly, she was disgusted with herself. She hated people who compared their lives to see who was more miserable as if it were a competition and yet, here she was instigating that exact type of conversation. She wanted to crawl under a rock and hide for eternity but instead she kept her head high and kept eye contact with him. She knew she was wrong, but her damn pride was in the way and wouldn't let her back down. The room stayed silent as the two glared at each other.

"Voldemort." she said finally.

"What?" he replied still clearly angry.

"You don't work for him anymore. You might as well call him by his name."

"Why does it matter? He'll kill me either way." And with that, he walked out of the room and ran up the stairs taking them two at a time.

"Running away from your problems won't help, Malfoy!" Hermione yelled at him in spite of herself. She was answered by the sound of a door slamming. She sighed and sat on the couch while grabbing a pillow and screaming her frustration into it.

As for Draco, he was doing the same thing into his pillow. When he was done, he threw the pillow aside and laid on his bed willing himself to fall asleep. Unfortunately, it didn't work; his mind was racing and he couldn't calm down. He was fuming. What did she know? Nothing, that's what. She didn't have to grow up with the horrors that he did. She was little miss perfect with no problems, no qualms, no nothing! No. All she ever worried about was her damn grades (and not getting killed whenever Harry dragged her into some stupid adventure but that was a different story). She knew nothing of pain or suffering. Of fear. Okay… so maybe she did but that was only because of Harry again. Wait, was he actually justifying her actions? What the bloody hell, Draco? he thought to himself. He shook his head at himself and groaned in frustration.

Suddenly he heard steps walking up the stairs. Assuming it was Hermione, he stayed silent, willing her footsteps to fade. They stopped in front of his door but there was no knock. Instead there was a small sliding sound and then the footsteps started again but faded quickly. Only when Draco heard the distant roar of the fireplace did he dare to look towards his door. He saw a small piece of paper on the floor. Picking it up, he recognized Hermione's handwriting and saw one simple sentence on it.

Keep your wand hidden.

Remembering that Shacklebolt still believed that he still had his wand, Draco pulled the familiar piece of wood out of his pocket and looked around his room for a good place to hide it. Finally his eyes laid upon a book in his room. Getting a closer look, he saw that the book was an old beat up copy of Hogwarts: A History. He knew it would be perfect to hide his wand in since no one would go looking into a dusty old book that everyone had read.

Putting the book back onto the shelf, he crawled back into bed and willed himself to sleep but to no avail. His mind kept racing and mostly about Hermione which was preposterous! Why would he lose sleep over her?! He blamed it on that she just pissed him off too much that he couldn't stop thinking about her but deep down knew he was lying to himself. For some bizarre reason, he couldn't get her out his head. Everything she did and was seemed to fascinate him. The way her eyes blazed when she was angry or determined, the way she bit her lip when she was concentrating, her undying loyalty to her two idiots of best friends were all pieces to the puzzle of her that he was trying to solve. But the biggest piece he couldn't seem to find was her fierce protection and confidence in him. She seemed to see things in him that he wasn't sure he saw them himself. It was clear she believed there was good in him but the fact that she would help him, train him, and learn to trust him despite the horrible way that he treated her throughout their school years was astounding to him. She was either an insane idiot, or she was the most brilliant witch on the planet. He had a sneaking feeling that it was the latter.

After dinner, a shower, reading of a book, and four uncomfortable hours of tossing and turning while not being able to turn his mind off, he finally fell into a dreamless but restless sleep.