"You have. To tell me. Everything."

Daphne Greengrass stormed into her room as soon as Hermione opened her door, straight from behind her. Had she been following her? She wouldn't be surprised.

"Daphne, do we really have to do this?" She complained and followed her into her room.

"Yes, we do have to do this. What makes you think we don't? This is crucial, Hermione, I saw you at breakfast!" As usual, her friend had more energy than may be considered healthy. Daphne looked, sounded, and moved like she had been plugged in. What in Merlin's name had she done to deserve that?

"What is it, you saw? You saw two people having breakfast, that's it," Hermione sighed and sat on one the couch in front of the fireplace.

"Spill it, Hermione. First things first, though. The cloak you gave me. Explain." Daphne was standing in front of her, arms crossed, looking at her like Mrs. Weasley used to look at Ron when he did something incredibly irresponsible and childish.

"That's Harry's Invisibility Cloak. It was his father's." Hermione knew what was coming to her as soon as she saw the look in her friend's eyes. "Daphne. No. Forget it," she shook her head but she knew it was already too late.

"Just imagine," Daphne started, her gaze wondering dreamingly around the room, "Theo will never be able to keep a secret from me again. I can follow him everywhere and find out what he's hiding!"

"Okay. Stop right there, Greengrass. You will do no such thing and I most certainly will have no part in this whatsoever. You will give me back the damn cloak and I won't tell Theo what a bad girlfriend you are for not trusting him." Hermione tried the guilt card, but they were Slytherins. The guilt card doesn't work on Slytherins. It's more likely they will find something to make you feel guilty about rather than feeling guilty themselves.

"I do trust Theo!" Daphne complained, offended. "But he is hiding something from me and I can only speculate on what that is because I have no bloody proof."

"So what, you want to follow him everywhere using a dead person's Invisibility Cloak?"

Hermione could only hope and pray she would never find out about the Map.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Daphne, I will say this once and once only. You are not touching the Cloak again unless it's a life-or-death situation. Are we clear?" The last thing she needed was Daphne dragging her in unused hallways or classrooms or Merlin knows where to stalk Theo, again.

"You know something, don't you?" She narrowed her eyes and stared intently at her.

"It's not a bad thing, Daph. You should wait and enjoy the surprise, or at least pretend to," she said and kicked off her shoes to sit more comfortably on the couch.

"So I should just sit pretty and wait?" She asked, like she'd just insulted her.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, you should do exactly that. Don't ruin this for the both of you, Theo is actually working hard to do something nice for you and you're only trying to sabotage him. It's selfish, Daph."

She knew perfectly well Theo was planning his proposal and she had been assigned by Draco to either keep Daphne distracted or just away from them. Two blokes ring shopping alone didn't quite sound like a good idea to her, but she was pretty sure they were aware of that themselves.

"Yes and I am that selfish," she stated as a matter of fact.

"Let. It. Go." Hermione decided to spell it out for her and Daphne reluctantly gave her back Harry's Cloak.

"Well, since you're as much as a traitor as Theo and Draco, do tell. What happened between the two of you?" Daphne sat on the couch next to her and crossed her legs. Hermione ignored the dramatic turn in her voice.

"What do you think happened?" She tested the waters and hoped Daphne would mind her own business. She hoped in vain, of course, but it never really hurt to try.

"I don't think anything. Don't try me, Hermione."

"Well, you know we were at Malfoy Manor. With the Dark Lord disappearing and all, I had to tell the Death Eaters what happened. No one died, so I'd say it went pretty well." Hermione tried talking her way around it, but Daphne was clearly not having it.

"And then what? Will you make me carve it out of you?"

"Well, we stayed in his room for the night," she started, already feeling her cheeks flush, "And we happened to have sex in the morning."

Daphne squeaked and turned around to face her completely.

"And then what?"

"And then what, what, Daphne? We had sex, period. I'm pretty sure you know how it works," she sighed and looked away.

"Yeah, I know, but you have to tell me more. How was it? How was he? What happened after? Was it awkward? Did you regret it?"

"Calm down, Daph, seriously." Hermione was genuinely starting to believe Daphne was more excited for the developments in her relationship with Draco than she was. "And, to answer your complete lack of respect for personal space, it was great, he was perfect, after that we just laid in his bed and talked, and I'm positive none of us regrets it."

"I have been waiting for this for just so long," Daphne sighed dramatically and leaned her head on the back of the couch.

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. Daphne had been waiting.

As she watched the Bulgars leave Hogwarts, after dinner, Hermione couldn't but sigh in relief. Viktor was leaving as well, obviously, which made her sad, but, at the same time, all of them leaving would mean she could finally breath and get some space to start acting normal again.

Plus, Viktor leaving would mean Draco would stop glaring at him at any given chance – she was sure he would very much like to do more than just glaring, but he managed to behave. Or, rather, Theo managed to keep him from hexing him. And, hopefully, he would stop being so bloody possessive with her whenever Viktor was around.

Hermione knew there was nothing between her and Viktor, but she couldn't blame Draco for acting the way he did, after their conversation. Viktor was her first, at the end of the day, and there was nothing anyone could do to change that, so Draco would just have to deal with it, but, still, she understood. She knew Pansy had been nothing serious, and Hermione was positive she had been more attached to Viktor than Draco had been or would ever be attached to Pansy.

As Hermione turned around, she found Draco, sitting next to her at the table, smirking smugly. "Stop," she hissed, half laughing, and elbowed him.

"Why?"

"You're childish."

"I'm happy. There's a difference."

"What are you doing tomorrow?" She proposed, trying to distract him.

"I don't know, do you have something in mind?" obviously, Malfoy was paying more attention to the sight of Viktor leaving than he was focusing on her. Prat.

"When were you and Theo planning to go on that shopping trip, again?" Two blokes ring shopping alone was not a good idea to her. But then again, someone had to keep Daphne busy and out of the way.

"As soon as we have some holiday. We can't really disappear out of the blue and expect her not to suspect anything. She's already stalking us." Draco leaned his elbows on the table and sighed. Daphne stalking the two of them around the castle wasn't really a surprise to her, it was more like routine.

"Right. Well, I'll get moving." Hermione tried to stand up from her spot at the table, but Draco held her down by her wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I need some books from the Manor, and we don't have much time." Hermione thought it was obvious. They had things to do and she had to figure out the conditions behind the Dark Lord's disappearance.

"But it's the weekend," he complained.

"So what?" Hermione furrowed her brows. "Even if this whole mess wasn't going on, I would still be studying for the exams."

"Hermione," Draco started, and looked at her like she was a child that needed the adult to spell things out for her, "You're already drowning yourself in work because of your insane schedule when you're at least two months ahead of all of us. I am not letting you become a walking dead just so you can figure out what happened to the Dark Lord. Dolohov said you wouldn't find anything in the library, correct?" He waited for her nod of agreement before continuing, "Then rest assured that you will find nothing. He's one of the best, if there was anything useful in those books, we would know by now."

"But what if he's lying?" She argued. She couldn't just let it go!

"And what would you do about it? Read every single book in Malfoy Manor about dark magic?"

She thought about it, but answering that yes, she would have read every single damn book in there, didn't sound like the right one.

"So what? What am I going to do if I can't study and can't research?"

Draco grinned at that like a child. "Relax." When he saw her astonished face, he sighed and took her hands into his own. "Take a day off. On Monday, you can go back to drowning in books and studying for the bloody N.E.W.T.s and, I promise, I won't bother you."

"But I don't have time to relax!"

Draco sighed. "You do realize you've stayed up all night and researched all day, don't you?"

"Well, yes. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Hermione. We are going to have a nice night in, for once, like normal people do. Tomorrow, we will sleep till late and relax, whether you like it or not."

Hermione glared at him and took her hands away from him. "Normal is boring."

"It is," he agreed, "But it's necessary, sometimes."

"You're not my father, you know." Hermione pouted and looked away, pretending to be still eating.

"I wouldn't have to be, if you weren't being a child about this, you know." Draco took a sip of his pumpkin juice, while Hermione grimaced. She looked slightly offended, but he couldn't say he was sorry.

"I am an adult."

"When's the last time you had more than three hours of sleep?" He bit into his apple pie and stared at her, already knowing the answer.

She seemed to be thinking about it. "At your house."

Draco grinned at the memory of that morning. "That was two days ago."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I am an adult, Draco."

He stared at her for a few seconds. "No, you're not. Shall we?" He stood up and offered her his hand, only to be ignored. Draco merely shook his head and chucked. He knew perfectly well that, while Hermione was usually the only adult among them, she had no common sense when it came to studying.

Hermione followed him out, and he promptly locked their hands together. First, because he liked the feeling of it. Second, because he was kind of worried she would run away.

While they were walking down the hallway that lead to the entrance, though, Hermione froze, pulling him to a stop as well. He was about to ask her what was wrong, but she just pointed a finger at the big window in front of them.

There, above the Black Lake, the Dark Mark was shining in the sky. On the grass, there was a body.

"We should find Snape," he immediately said.

"No," protested Hermione, stone cold. "We're going back to the dungeons, we can't be found here."

"What?" Draco didn't understand.

"We are the only Death Eaters here, apart from Snape. Who do you think they're going to blame?"

"Even if they did blame us, they have no proof and we control the Ministry and Hogwarts anyway."

"Barely," she whispered. "Let's go."

She dragged him out of there and into the dungeons, almost running.

"Who do you think did it?" He asked, once they were locked in his room.

"Not one of us, for sure." Hermione was pacing, like she couldn't stay still. He was sure her mind was buzzing with ideas by now.

"How's that obvious, again?"

She stopped in front of it, looking worried. "Think about it. There's only you, Snape and I. Snape wouldn't do something so stupid and reckless and we didn't do it. The Death Eaters wouldn't attack without at least telling me first. It has to be the Order."

He considered it for a few seconds. "The Order wouldn't kill so randomly, without a reason."

"No, they wouldn't," she whispered, her gaze lost. "It could have been an incident, though. Or they could be faking the death. Maybe that person wasn't even dead in the first place. Just wanted to make it look like it."

To be honest, the distance was just too much to be sure that was or wasn't a dead body. It sure as hell made sense. Stage a murder en plain air, make it look like the enemy did it and sit pretty, waiting for things to take their natural turn.

"You don't need a Mark to cast a Morsmorde," he reasoned out loud, and Hermione shook her head in agreement.

"We're being framed."

"Poorly so. What's the plan?" He asked and couldn't help but admire that pretty little head of hers. Hermione always learned something from every situation. Ever since she started living in his house, and later on in Slytherin, he saw her become more and more devious. Not in the Voldermort, sociopathic way, of course. No, she was better than that. Hermione was devious in a smart, calculated way.

"We do nothing," she said, and began pacing again, more slowly this time. Like Looney Lovegood on one of her night walks, thinking about Merlin knows what. "They don't have any proof. We'll stay here, play dumb and sit pretty while Snape brings them down like the fools they are. Or until Bellatrix snaps," she added the last part with an amused smile.

He realized it was all about whose body it was near the Lake. Who was the sacrificial lamb?

A few hours later, they found out. Snape had summoned them into his office to try and make sense out of what had happened.

"Do you have anything to do with this?" Was the first thing he asked.

Both of them denied.

"Who was it? Who died?" Draco investigated. They were all sitting down, Snape in his throne-like chair.

"Hestia Carrow. She's not dead, just badly cursed and unconscious."

"Of course," Hermione snorted. "Of course they would go for the Carrow sisters."

Hermione and he never really been friends with them. Frankly, they creeped him out, while Hermione just never showed a particular interest in socializing outside of their little group. Even if she did, he doubted the twins would be at the top of her list.

Snape started at her, as asking her to elaborate, while Draco just sighed and shook his head in resignation.

"Ginny knows about me. She must have told the others and now they're trying to put me against the Death Eaters. Clever, I'll admit."

"But nearly not enough," he finished.

"No, but it is more than enough to create a temporary distraction." Snape didn't look like he was paying them any attention, more like he was thinking out loud.

"Do you think they're planning something?"

"They might. Otherwise, why now? It's not like the twins popped up out of nowhere, they've been here for years. That, and they're relatively innocent," Hermione reasoned.

"Will she make it?" Draco asked.

"Probably, yes."

"Is someone with her?"

"Her sister."

"Should we call someone? Maybe Alecto?"

Both of them cringed at the thought of the Carrows being back at Hogwarts, but there wasn't much room for choice. Alecto and Amycus were their aunt and uncle, other than the only family members close to them. Their parents were dead, both killed in the First Wizarding War at Voldemort's side.

"About that, perhaps Miss Granger may want to consider calling for a meeting."

"Where was she when Hestia was attacked?" Hermione suddenly asked, like she hadn't even herd him and like that was the missing piece.

"She's in Herbology with Theo, they have a project they're working on for Sprout. I'm pretty sure he said something about a study group," Draco remembered.

"Yes, oddly enough, she wasn't with her sister at the moment of the… incident."

"This was either very planned out or a very lucky incident they took advantage of," Hermione sighed. It wasn't totally out of question that it may have been an accident. Cursing innocent people still wasn't in the Order's style. Not the Order members still in Hogwarts, anyway.

"I want to see her, as soon as she wakes up," Hermione demanded. He was sure her intentions were something along the lines of a careful interrogation. She just couldn't stand not having the answers.

"You will. Flora is upstairs, if you want to talk to her." Draco noticed Snape wasn't really being obnoxious that night.

"I'll go right now. Then I will call that meeting. We'll see you at the Manor?" She stood up and brushed her skirt straight.

"No, I have to stay here and make sure the situation doesn't get too out of hand. Your Floo connection has been activated for both you and Mr. Malfoy, so feel free not to step into this office for a while."

"Thank you. Let me know if I can do anything," Hermione offered and Snape nodded, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

Well, not completely obnoxious.

Draco followed her out, keeping a hand on Hermione's lower back.

"How is it there's always something new around here?" He muttered, not really expecting an answer. Hermione merely chuckled and shook her head. "I don't think Flora knows something."

"Me neither, but better to be safe than sorry."

He couldn't disagree.

They found her sitting at her sister's side in the last bed on the left in the Infirmary. Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen.

"Flora," Hermione called softly, as she turned around. Draco had to admit, she wasn't bad-looking at all. Quite the opposite, actually. Her long and dark strawberry blonde hair fit her pale skin and green eyes pretty well. "I know you've already talked to Snape, but can I ask you a few questions?" She continued.

"Sure," Flora merely whispered.

"You were at a study group, right?" Hermione waited for Flora to nod. "Who else was there?"

"Theo Nott, Tracey Davis, Nicole Royce and Jaime Knight."

"Did anyone try to stop you from leaving or made you stay there longer than intended?"

"Not at all. Why, do you think they planned to keep me away from Hestia?"

Hermione looked at him and then shook her head. "We're not sure yet, but we have to take every possibility into consideration."

"I guess. I don't think it was them, though."

"What about Jaime Knight? Do you know him well?" She asked, and he remembered he had followed her, one day.

"We know each other from class, but I don't know much about him."

"And, of course, you don't know about anyone that hated you, or Hestia, right?"

Draco could tell Hermione was making an effort.

"I'm not really a people person, neither is she. We don't have many friends. Most people outside of Slytherin tend to associate us with our uncle and aunt, especially those that were here last year."

To put it nicely, everyone could be said to hate them.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other, and he nodded.

"We're about to see Alecto and Amycus, do you want me to send them here?" He asked.

"No, just tell them I'm fine and so will be Hestia. If they come here, they might torture everyone to find out what happened. Although, you two know who did this, don't you?"

Hermione looked pretty surprised at her statement. "We kind of do, but it's nothing we can prove yet. As soon as we find something, you and your sister will be the first ones to know, I promise."

Flora nodded and offered them a faint smile.

Hermione and Draco went back into the dungeons, as per Snape's very nice request not to show their faces in his office, to Floo to the Manor. They could Disapparate there from the forest and appear outside of the borders of the Malfoy property, but it wasn't really the best option, in those circumstances.

"She doesn't seem so bad," Hermione said when they were back in her room.

"She's not. They just weren't around my house a lot when we were children and later on they mostly kept to themselves, so we never got to bond much. But I think you saw just how different Flora is from Amycus and Alecto. Hestia too."

He could tell Hermione was feeling bad for them now. That was just how Gryffindor she was.

They got in the fireplace together, and appeared at Malfoy Manor, in the entrance sitting space. The Drawing Room was empty.

Hermione brushed off the ash on her arms and clothes and sat at her new place. Draco would sit in Snape's, since he wasn't coming. That, and he wanted to be closer to Hermione in case someone – mostly the Carrows – tried to do something stupid.

Hermione rolled up her left sleeve and touched the red Mark, and he leaned in to place a kiss on her lips before everyone started popping up.

"It's going to be fine," he whispered. She merely nodded and smiled, unconvinced. Well, he couldn't really blame her.

As expected, aunt Bella Apparated there first. The inhabitants of the Manor, along with Dolohov and Macnair quickly followed. In less than a minute, every Death Eater was there, taking their assigned seats.

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow when she saw him sitting next to Hermione, in the seat that was supposed to be Snape's. He looked around, noticing most people were staring at him.

Hermione cleared her throat, and everyone stopped talking, turning to look directly at her instead.

"There's been an attack at Hogwarts," she simply stated. "Hestia Carrow has been found on the shore of the Black Lake, unconscious." She ignored the muttering of indignation and surprise around the room. "What is most… surprising about this situation is the Dark Mark that was cast over Hestia's body."

Several people around the room gasped and Amycus Carrow stood up, hands gripping the table and the face of someone who wanted blood. "What is the meaning of this?"

Hermione ignored him, addressing the other Death Eaters instead. "Of course, none of you had anything to do with this, am I wrong?"

"Someone's trying to turn us against each other," Dolohov stated, without a hint of doubt.

"And frame us. Alecto, Amycus," she turned towards the Carrows and nodded at both, "The twins are fine. Flora had a study group tonight and, although Hestia was cursed, Madam Pomfrey and professor Slughorn are already working on a cure. She will make it."

"We're going to Hogwarts," said Alecto.

"No, you're not," intervened Draco. "We talked to Flora before coming and she said you should stay here. You can owl her first thing in the morning, if you don't believe me."

"And what, exactly, are you doing in Severus' seat?" Amycus asked.

Before Draco could answer, Lucius stood up and pointed his wand at him. "Don't you dare talk to my son like that."

Well, that was a surprise. Lucius usually didn't do things like that for him. Somehow, he suspected it had something to do with his infallible plan of getting on Granger's good side.

"Snape is at Hogwarts, and it is none of your business where I sit," he hissed and stood up as well.

Hermione sighed and glared at Amycus from her seat.

"If you would please sit down and act like an adult, Amycus, I asked Draco to sit here. Does any of you have a problem with that?"

Amicus Carrow sat back down, along with Draco and Lucius, whose lips were twisted in a smirk.

"Now, it is not impossible that Hestia's attack was a distraction. I talked to Snape and we both agree that, whether this was planned or not, the Order may try taking advantage of the situation. I want you all to be on alert until we figure it out. Understood?" People in the room nodded, some indignant, others confused. "You can go, then. If you have any news, summon me. Owls can be intercepted." She raised her left arm, where the sleeve was still rolled and the Mark showed.

People began to leave. Some Disapparated, some gathered in small groups, talking to each other. If Draco had to guess, he'd say they were plotting, more than engaging in small talk.

"Dolohov, do you have a moment?" Hermione asked, standing up.

"What can I help you with, Miss Granger?" He smirked and approached them.

"While I doubt this was an organized plot to overthrow us, you have eyes everywhere. Do keep them open," his witch instructed.

"Your desire is my command," he said, smirking, and bowed a little, quite theatrically.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and Draco had to turn the other way not to smile.

"Dolohov," she started.

"Yes?"

"Do cut the bullshit, will you?"

Draco had to put a hand over his mouth not to laugh. "Shall we?" He said, offering her his hand. Hermione smiled and took it, turned around and headed for the door.

As they were about to leave the room, he saw his father approaching them. He gestured for Draco to leave them alone, so he told Hermione he would wait by the fireplace and left.

As soon as he turned the corner, he Disillusioned himself and came right back, standing right behind Hermione so he wouldn't be in the way in case anyone needed to pass by.

Before his father would even start talking, Draco felt Hermione tense up, so he put a hand on her lower back to let her know he was there and started drawing circles on her skin like he always did. She almost immediately relaxed under his touch.

"Miss Granger, I just wanted you to know that I will do everything in my power to help with this situation. Perhaps I can ask some of my contacts if they know anything," his father was saying, before she interrupted him.

"That won't be necessary of you, Mr. Malfoy. I have already asked Dolohov to keep his eyes open about the matter and I am sure he will comply with my request." Hermione was cold as ice, although polite. Then again, so was every exchange between the two of them.

"Of course. And, I was thinking, now that you and my son are so close, maybe we could put aside our differences," Lucius added, in a last, desperate attempt to get her attention.

"Mr. Malfoy, would you put aside your differences, as you so nicely put it, with someone that doesn't believe you're even worthy of your magic?" Lucius stayed silent for a few seconds, like he didn't know what to say. "Thought so."

Draco stopped touching her, as he felt the conversation was coming to an end, and returned to the fireplace like nothing happened, just in case his dad followed her. When she arrived, he was pretending to read through a book. Both pretended he wasn't with her merely moments ago. Hermione must have caught the hint, his bright witch.

He smirked his Malfoy smirk at her and leaned in to kiss her, but stopped as he looked better at her.

"Granger, no," he sighed.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"I'm not buying that. I know that look."

"I am an adult," she protested.

"In your dreams, maybe."

He put his hand back on her back and gestured towards the fireplace. He noticed that, regardless of all, she had this weird, almost shy smile on her face.

"Are you okay?" He asked once they were back in her room.

Hermione turned towards him, locked their hands and leaned in to kiss him deeply.

"Yes," she whispered and smiled. "Thank you for caring."

So that's what it was about?

He cupped her cheek with his right hand and just admired her for a few seconds, smiling. Not grinning, not smirking, just smiling.

"You know I really care about you, don't you?" Draco just felt the need to say it out loud. He wasn't sure their relationship was ready for the famous words yet. Hell, he wasn't sure he was ready for them.

Hermione nodded and leaned into his chest, his arms locking around her. "And I really care about you."