"Why? Why us?" Ron complained to Hermione. "I know that it's going to be difficult to work with Malfroy, but do you have to talk about him all the time, we've still got that potions homework to do." "Well, what could Snape do? I mean he must know how Malfroy's life is in our hands" "Ron! How could you even think something like that?" Hermione asked outraged. Ron looked sheepishly around the common room, luckily there weren't many people in there, Harry was at a Quidditch practice, and as it was Saturday most of the Gryffindor's were taking the opportunity to get outside whilst the weather was still fine. "But he.he's a." His sentence faded under Hermione's hard stare. "Look Ron, do you think that Dumbledore would make us do this if he didn't think that there was a good reason?" "I don't really care Hermione, he's killed people, muggles and wizards, what Dumbledore thinks don't change the fact that he is a cold blooded murderer." Hermione stayed silent, as her parents were muggles she didn't really hear much about the wizarding world whilst she was at home, Harry and Ron of course had kept her informed about you-know-who's downfall, but she hadn't heard this. "What? Are you sure?" "Yes, my father told me, the ministry aren't sure exactly just how many people Malfroy himself killed, but they do know for certain that he was at the very least involved with 4 killings." "But why isn't he in jail?" "Dumbledore, he's convinced that Malfroy is innocent, he holds a lot of power within the ministry, many of them owe him their lives." "So what you're saying is that Dumbledore called in these debts and got him off?" "No one knows for sure, but that's what it looks like." "But, that doesn't make any sense; Dumbledore wouldn't let Malfroy go if he was guilty."

~*~*~*~*~*~ Harry, Ron and Hermione were sat at the Gryffindor table eating dinner, although they were all less than pleased to be within a mile radius of Malfroy let alone protecting him, they still took it seriously. As Harry had said 'Dumbledore is relying on them.' "So when are we leaving?" Ron asked in a hushed voice. "Tomorrow evening, after dinner." Hermione replied. "How long is it gonna take to get there?" "A couple of days there and back, Professor McGonagall has showed me the route we are going to take to cause the least amount of suspicion within the, 'dark circles'." "What if they figure out what's going on?" Harry asked trying to disguise the fear surfacing in his voice. "I mean we're not even fully qualified wizards yet, what chance do we have against death eaters." "Well we've got Draco, and he's a death eater." "Hermione somehow that's not reassuring!" "Oh Ron will you just . be quiet. We all know that you hate Malfroy, we all feel the same but your pessimistic thinking isn't helping." "Sorry Hermione." Ron said meekly. "Okay guys time out. What are we going to need?" "Well, we'll need muggle money and clothes, some food, but don't worry McGonagall has got everything sorted."

~*~*~*~*~*~ Draco sat bolt upright in bed, his breaths coming in short gasps. He ran a shaky hand through his hair and sighed in relief. It was just a dream. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had an uninterrupted nights sleep, he was being plagued by nightmares about what he'd been forced to do. Even his waking hours were inundated by the screams of terror he'd received just before. Draco got out of bed fumbling through the half darkness he made his way to the bathroom at the other side of the dormitory. Carefully closing the door behind him, Draco walked over to the serpentine inlaid sink. He stood over the sink staring at his reflection in the mirror, it was the third time it had happened that night, and he looked all the worse for it. Dropping his eyes from the haunted face staring back at him he turned on the tap letting the cool water flow over his trembling hands. Taking a few deep breaths to steady his rapidly fraying nerves he forced himself to look back up. 'Get a grip' he thought to himself. 'This is no way for a Malfroy to be behaving, you're stronger than this.' Shaking his head slightly he opened the door and crossed over to his bed, he checked the time on his pocket watch, it was 5:30am. Draco shuddered in just over 12 hours he'd be on his way to see father again, and if that wasn't bad enough he had a baby sitter by the name of Harry Potter.

~*~*~*~*~*~ The next day passed too quickly for anyone's liking, it seemed as if time was going at double speed, even potions seemed to be over much too quickly for their liking. They'd been given instructions by Professor McGonagall to go to Dumbledore's office straight after they had finished dinner. Harry sat nervously glancing at the Slytherin table trying to spot Draco. "Who are you looking for?" Ron asked Harry. "Malfroy." "Why?" "Because." "That's not an answer." Ron complained. "Maybe I don't have a better one, but right now I'd like to know where he is." "Look as much as I hate to admit it, and I do, Draco could probably look after himself better than we can, the last thing you want to start doing is worrying about him." "You're right as always, but Hermione seems to think that he's." "Just misunderstood, tell me about it, but you don't seriously believe that do you?" Ron asked in disbelief. "No, have you finished? I wanna get this over with." "Yeah come on, Hermione should be there by now." "I wonder what McGonagall has given her?" "Let's go and find out."

~*~*~*~*~*~ Hermione was sat in Dumbledore's office with a bag at her feet, she smiled at Harry and Ron as they took the chairs next to her. "Whoa, that's a big bag Hermione what's in it?" Ron asked. "Well, I've been given supplies of muggle money, clothes plus identification, just in case, plus a few books on spells which we might need." "Books!" Ron exclaimed. "I thought that we would be getting away from them for a while." "There are always hidden clauses Mr Weasley one of which is that you will be improving your defence against the dark arts." Dumbledore said as he walked through a curtained doorway. Draco was following behind him; he slumped into the last empty chair and sighed. "I trust Professor McGonagall has given you sufficient provisions Miss Granger?" "Yes, we're ready to go." "And what about you Mr Potter you don't look like you're very ready." "I am Professor; it's just that I'm a little confused." "What's troubling you?" "I don't understand why, why us?" "As I have already said it will be easier for you to escape detection." "Professor what I think Potter means is why them, they hate me and I hate them." Draco said. "How eloquently put Mr Malfroy, I am not at liberty to say why, but know that it is my opinion that you couldn't be in better hands." With that Dumbledore effectively silenced any protests and reluctantly they set out for their first stop, the Hogwarts express station.

~*~*~*~*~*~ It was dark and it was cold, they had been left by Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall nearly half an hour ago, and the cold was starting to eat away at them. The orange glow from the torches illuminating the platform was scattering shadows. Hermione checked her watch once again, still an agonising 15 minutes until the train arrived why Dumbledore had insisted they leave so early was a mystery to her. "Hermione." Ron called from his seat next to Harry, Hermione stood under the light of the torches. Draco was sat deep in the shadows of another bench further down from Harry and Ron. "How much longer?" "How many times are you going to ask that question Weasley, the arrival time hasn't changed since you asked a minute ago." "Hey Malfroy." Ron spat back not hiding the hatred in his voice. "If it wasn't for you then we wouldn't be sat on this freezing bench waiting for a train. So just shut up." "Is that really the best you can do." He drawled. "Moaning like a little girl you think I want to be here, this is hardly my idea of fun." "FUN!" Ron exploded jumping to his feet. "Fun would be hitting you with an extremely heavy . thing." "Oh no now I'm really scared, I'll never be able to walk in front of you again." "That's it Malfroy." Ron said reaching for his wand. "STOP IT!" Hermione yelled, everyone turned to look at her. "This is no good, we're never going to get anywhere like this not to mention the attention you two will draw to your selves if you keep shouting at each other." "Hermione's right." Harry said standing between his best friend and his worst enemy. "We have to call a truce." "A truce?" Ron cried indignantly "Why you heard what he's been saying." "Just a temporary one." Hermione quickly added. "Malfroy?" Harry said. "Oh I suppose so." He said suddenly sounding very tried and strained. "Ron?" He asked again carefully noting Draco's sudden change. "Ok." ~*~*~*~*~*~