A/N: Hi guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm so annoyed…I have been trying all day to upload this, stupid internet connection! Anyways, just about managed to get on here to upload this for you in time…let me know what you think! Once again, a massive thank you to all those who have been reading and reviewing, you guys are awesome!

A/N: Chapter Warnings – bad language, potential mentions of sex, sexual assault, violence and suicide.

Chapter 50 - Harry, Ron and an Awkward Conversation

"Hermione?"

She hummed in response.

"Sweetie?" the deep masculine voice called her again.

She was being pulled away from a fantastic dream, and she didn't like it.

"Darling, wake up" Severus murmured in her ear.

Hermione's eyes opened and she took in the room, remembering that she had gone to sleep to get a few hours rest.

"How long have I been asleep?" She asked him whilst cuddling into him.

"About four hours, your friends have just arrived" Severus told her.

She yawned and nodded. She knew Harry and Ron would want to talk to her and she relished in the peace for a few moments before they bombarded her with questions and conversations about quidditch.

As she was preparing to get up, heavy footfalls could be heard coming up the stairs.

Hermione groaned; she knew whose footsteps they were.

Severus looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Harry" she answered the unspoken question.

"Just the one?" He asked.

"Yup, Harry has really heavy, but quick, footfalls whereas Ron's are really sluggish almost like a shuffling sound. It's only Harry coming to intrude" she explained.

A second later there was a hesitant knock at the door. Severus smirked and went to open the door; he would take satisfaction in scaring the crap out of the boy.

Severus answered the door by quickly and violently throwing it open. Harry almost pissed himself on the spot when he saw his potions professor staring down at him.

"Errrrr..." Harry stammered still in shock.

"Articulate as ever" Severus drawled at him.

"I was told this was Hermione's room" Harry said.

Severus said nothing and just stepped aside, allowing the boy enough space to get into the room.

Hermione was just making the bed when Harry walked in.

"Hey" she said casually.

Harry looked back at Severus as if he did not want to talk to Hermione whilst Severus was still hanging around.

"Severus, would you mind giving Harry and I a few moments please? Or we could leave if you'd prefer" she asked her Severus.

"No it's fine; I shall go downstairs and show all the other students that I'm around. It might make them less hassle for me" he told her with a wink.

Hermione giggled and went to hug him before he left.

"Thank you Severus" she said.

She looked up to him and Severus bent his head to give her a kiss on her forehead, almost forgetting Harry was in the room.

Hermione moved so she could sneakily make her lips line up with Severus' rather than her forehead.

Severus automatically cupped either side of her face and gave her a light, quick, kiss before remembering that Harry was still in the room.

Severus cleared his throat and left the room, closing the door shut behind him.

Hermione turned towards Harry, who hadn't moved and who looked slightly green.

"I don't think that is something I'm ever going to get used to" Harry muttered.

"Shut up, I'm happy" she grinned at him as she gestured for him to sit down.

Harry perched on the end of the bed and then turned to Hermione.

"Is everything alright? We didn't realise you were coming here last night" Harry said.

"Yeah, sorry Harry. I was brought here last night because the Order wanted to speak to me this morning" she said hesitantly.

Harry's eyes widened.

"What? About..." he trailed off.

Hermione nodded.

"They wanted to hear my story" she said.

"How did it go?" Harry asked her gently.

Hermione sighed and conveyed to Harry what had been discussed at the morning meeting. She knew she probably shouldn't be discussing Order business, but she had promised to keep Harry informed.

After Hermione had finished telling Harry, he let out a nervous breath.

"Woah, that's some morning" Harry said.

Hermione nodded in agreement.

"I was exhausted, I came up here to nap and have been asleep ever since. I only woke a few moments before you knocked" she said.

Harry's cheeks turned pink.

"Ah...I thought you might have been..." he stopped talking again.

Hermione guessed the end of that sentence. Harry assumed that she had been getting dirty with Severus.

"Nope, we weren't. Even if we had been, would you still be sitting on the bed?" She asked.

Realisation hit Harry like a ton of bricks and he immediately launched up from his perched position on the bed to his feet. He was thoroughly disgusted.

Hermione just laughed at him.

"Just joking Harry, I was really just sleeping. Earlier this morning however..." she trailed off, letting Harry's imagination run away with him.

"Anyways, are you all here now?" She asked him.

Harry nodded.

"Yes, I managed to slip away from all the pleasantries and got Kreacher to tell me which room you were in" he told her.

"I suppose that means I should go and say hello then" she said.

Harry shrugged, leaving the decision up to her.

"Come on let's go then" she said.

She knew that she just had to get the afternoon over with. Then she could go to sleep and her and Severus would be gone in the morning.

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The two friends headed downstairs and when Hermione stepped inside the main room, the chatter died down slightly. The other Weasley children did not notice the change of atmosphere and continued their idle chatter with the various people in the room.

Molly Weasley was the first to approach Hermione.

"A bit pale dear, I will make you something to eat" Molly said, leaving no room for argument as she left the room.

"Hey Mione" Ron said as he noticed her, he smiled at her and made his way across the room.

"We were worried when we couldn't find you earlier, is everything alright?" He asked her.

She nodded.

"I'm good thanks" she replied.

Ron still remained oblivious to the slightly awkward atmosphere in the room.

"Come on guys, we should unpack for the holiday" Harry said. He needed to talk to his two friends, and he wanted to do it in private away from the rest of the Order.

The three of them made it to the library and they sat down on the seats available.

"I knew something was wrong, what's the matter Harry?" Ron asked him.

Hermione was confused, for someone so observant; she had clearly missed all signs that indicated something was wrong with her best friend.

"I think Malfoy is a Death Eater" he stated.

It took everything that Hermione had in her not to gasp.

"What makes you think that? You can't just accuse someone of something as serious as that Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. She hated herself in that moment because she knew she was lying to her friends. But she had no choice; she had to lie to one friend to protect another.

"I had one of those dreams. Voldemort was talking to Draco Malfoy about some task, and Malfoy was just stood there with his Dark Mark on display" Harry said.

Hermione was about to speak when thankfully Ron stepped in.

"Mate, we cannot even begin to understand what you're going through with having HIM inside your head but, do you remember what Dumbledore said? You have to be careful about trying to determine what is real and what isn't" Ron reminded his friend.

Hermione was silent but nodded in agreement.

"I know Ron but, what if he is one? What do we do? There is so much damage he can do" Harry stated.

"I think you're over thinking things Harry. Malfoy would not be able to do anything too damaging, there is such powerful protection in the castle, even more now than ever, he just wouldn't be able to do anything undetected" Hermione said to him.

Harry watched her for a moment, trying to figure out if she knew something or not.

"I just think we all need to be a bit more cautious around him, especially you Mione" Harry said.

Hermione understood what Harry meant. Harry was aware that she and Draco were not the mortal enemies that they had been when they first started Hogwarts. Harry was trying to warn her. Ron however, did not get what Harry had said and took the comment in the wrong context.

"Harry, I don't think her blood status matters..." Ron trailed off as his two friends looked at him.

Harry looked back at Hermione who silently glared back, daring Harry to speak any more about the issue.

At that moment Molly walked into the room.

"I've made food for everyone" she announced.

Ron was immediately out the door, forgetting about the conversation, he loved his mother's cooking.

Once Ron was gone Harry turned to Hermione.

"Hermione..." he began.

"Don't Harry" she said.

"You don't know Draco that well Harry, just trust me, at the moment you have bigger things to worry about than him" she said hotly.

Harry stood up and looked quite angry.

"You don't know him that well either Hermione. I know you and he have some form of friendship going on, but that does not mean that I trust the bloke. Besides, you haven't been watching him like I have. He's even managed to do something to my map! Either that or he's duplicating himself somehow. I just don't think you know him as well as you like to think you do!" He snapped at her.

"How dare you Harry! I admit that I do not know him that well but since the beginning of the school year, I have been his confidant all year. Believe me Harry, you would be surprised about what I know about Draco Malfoy" Hermione shouted back as she headed towards the door to the library.

"Yeah? Well how do you explain the dark magic that he has used on my map? I asked Lupin and he said that if something has caused it to go wrong then it can't be anything good" Harry told her.

"And just what do you think he has done to your map Harry?" Hermione asked.

"He's cursed it! He's used some ancient dark magic on it! I had Lupin look at it and even he couldn't figure what had been done to it. But he suggested not messing around with it further. I'm telling you, Malfoy is a Death Eater and he has become well acquainted with dark magic" Harry yelled.

Hermione took a deep breath and looked at Harry.

"You're wrong, you've completely got it wrong" she said.

"Well how do you explain his behaviour? He's been acting odd recently" Harry asked her, feeling slightly calmer.

"Ummm...maybe it has something to do with the fact that you are watching his every move. You're not very subtle Harry, I hope you know" Hermione replied.

"God, now you sound like Snape!" He said.

"Professor Snape, Harry, and good; I'm glad I sound like him. Perhaps you should keep out of Draco's business and let Severus deal with it" Hermione said.

"But it's not just that Hermione! He keeps going to the room of requirement, and I followed him the other night and he came out looking all hazy eyed, he had definitely taken something. I think he had been meeting someone in that room. I don't know who it was but there was a strong, sickly, sweet, smell coming from him. The only time I've ever smelled something that sweet was when the seventh years had been brewing contraceptive potions" Harry informed her.

That got Hermione listening.

"So what? He's shagging someone! That's not something suspicious" she replied.

"But it is" Harry said without backing up his statement.

Hermione sighed. She knew Harry and his inability to let things go. She was not going to win this battle, now that Harry had a small piece of information he would hold onto it until he knew every little thing about it. She would have to warn Severus; Draco would need someone watching out for him now more than ever.

"Look, I think you should just leave Draco alone for a little while, alright?" Hermione said.

"But Hermione..." Harry began.

"Oh for god sake Harry! It was me alright!" She growled, her patience now gone.

Harry froze for a moment. Didn't Hermione have a thing going on with Snape? How could she possibly think about trying to shag Malfoy.

"What?! You're shagging Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed loudly, unable to keep his thoughts to himself.

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed back shocked, that's not what she had meant.

"You're what?!"

Hermione and Harry both spun round to see Ron staring in shock at Hermione. He had begrudgingly come back, at the request of his mother, to drag them all to the kitchen for something to eat. He surely had misheard that Hermione was shagging Draco-fucking-Malfoy.

Ron immediately started shaking his head in the negative.

"No, no, no! Please tell me you're not Hermione!" He begged her.

Ron took Hermione's shocked silence as confirmation and before she could actually give a verbal answer, Ron fled the room.

Just perfect, now Hermione was going to have to run after him before he opened his mouth to anyone.

"Well done Harry! That's not what I meant!" Hermione said.

"Then what were you talking about?" Harry asked confused.

"Your map, you idiot! It was me that placed the spell on it" she admitted as she turned to go after Ron.

"What? You?" Harry asked astounded.

"Yes and I used blood magic to do it" she stated firmly before leaving a gobsmacked and concerned Harry behind.

Harry was now really worried. His best friend was secretly hanging around with a Death Eater, he was still unsure if she was actually shagging him or not and to make matters worse, she had knowingly and willingly used a form of dark magic, blood magic at that, in order to use one of his own personal belongings against him. Maybe she was spending too much time with Malfoy.

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Hermione sighed as she headed back up to her room, she hadn't been able to find Ron anywhere, and she had been kicked out the kitchen so the Order could have their meeting.

She, Minerva, and Severus had begged to allow her to stay for the meeting but Moody held firm and told her to leave. So, she had been given a massive plate of food by Molly and sent up to her room like a naughty child. Well, if that's the way they were going to treat her, then that was the way she was going to act.

She sulked as she made her way into her room, fully aware that she was behaving childishly. It was unfortunate that she had been put in a bad mood by her two friends. She guessed that Harry and Ron would be in their rooms on the second floor but she wouldn't join them. She would have to walk past Sirius' room; she didn't feel quite ready for that.

She imagined she would probably see an unmade bed and a fairly untidy room. She knew she wouldn't handle that; it would make Sirius too human for her.

She resigned herself to waiting for Severus, and she read a book to entertain herself.

Her mind kept going back to her and Harry's heated debate. Harry had been serious when he told her Draco was meeting someone in the room of requirement. Hermione was worried, but knew she could wait a couple of weeks to ask Draco about it.

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A few hours later, Severus eventually made it up to their room, he looked fairly wound up and before Hermione could say a word, Severus practically sprinted to the bathroom.

Hermione immediately panicked. Had he been hurt? What if the meeting hadn't really gone on for hours but Severus had been summoned? Hermione was trying not to hyperventilate as she tried to patiently and calmly wait for Severus.

It didn't work, she waited anxiously until Severus exited the bathroom a couple of minutes later looking more relaxed than when he had entered to room.

"My god Severus! Are you alright?" She asked him, still worried.

Severus' cheeks flushed but he still managed to chuckle.

"Well, an extra-long meeting and too much pumpkin juice makes quite an uncomfortable wait with an over-worked bladder." he said sheepishly. He was slightly embarrassed that she had seen him like that. He was known for being so in control, in all areas, but even Minerva had been staring at him for the last 45 minutes with an eyebrow raised as he had shuffled about uncomfortably in his seat.

"Oh..." she trailed off as she realised that Severus just really needed to use the loo.

"I really thought something was wrong" she said, feeling relieved herself.

"Something was wrong! I nearly humiliated myself in front of everyone who has ever shown a shred of respect for me" he said.

"Wow...that bad?" She asked him.

He nodded.

"I'm fine now. Which is more than I can say for you; something was wrong when you came in the kitchen for dinner. Are you alright?" He asked her.

She shrugged.

"Harry had one of those dreams where he sees what the Dark Lord is doing" she said.

"Right...and you're worried because..." Severus encouraged.

"The dream showed Harry that Draco had the Dark mark" she said.

Severus' eyes almost bulged out of his head.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed.

"My sentiment exactly" she said dryly.

"I've got to find that twerp and make sure he says nothing. Draco could seriously be in danger if Potter opens his mouth, especially with all these Order members walking about" Severus said rushing out the room to find Harry.

Hermione went to follow him, but Severus was gone. She sat back in the bed and started playing the waiting game again. Before Severus got back, she was asleep.

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Hermione woke with a start and sat bolt upright, scaring Severus out of his sleep beside her.

"Morning love" he said to her.

"I'm sorry I fell asleep, I was waiting up for you" she said.

"I know love; your body was definitely at an awkward angle when I got back. I put you to bed and then went to sleep myself" he told her.

"And Harry...?" She asked.

"Will be keeping his mouth shut" Severus said.

"How'd you manage that? Harry is stubborn as hell!" She said.

"I've been inside his head, I may have threatened to expose some of his personal life should he decide to try and expose some of Draco's" Severus informed her.

"Slytherin! That ought to do it" she said.

Severus nodded in agreement.

"Are you ready to leave after breakfast, or would you like to stay a while longer?" Severus asked her.

"I don't mind leaving after breakfast. But what will everyone think? Do we have a cover story?" She asked him.

Severus shook his head.

"They might wonder, but they shall never find out" Severus grinned at her.

Hermione couldn't help but grin back.