A/N: Let me know if this is a little messed up or not, I did the letter to the end and then went back and did the whole right after the kiss thing....I don't know, I think it's ok, but it might not be....eep. And another thing....I am tired of always trying to think up a witty disclaimer. However, I hate those people who are like "These characters and scenarios do not belong to me. Thank you." Hey, wait a minute.....

Disclaimer: These characters and scenarios do not belong to me. Thank you.





CHAPTER NINE: The Letter.

When they broke apart, Hermione hesitated before opening her eyes, as if to savor the kiss. She fluttered them open and looked at Draco. He was smiling.

"What?" she asked him, suspicious.

"You look really cute like that." He said and she blushed. She gave him another kiss, so quick he hardly had a chance to kiss her back. She broke away from him and walked toward the door. Draco reached out as if to stop her, mouth about to speak, when she looked back to him over her shoulder. He sighed, it was no use. ** Did I expect her to stay all day? ** He let her leave.

Draco turned back to the window and was surprised to see Hedwig, wide-eyed and beak open.

"You're not stupid, are you? You know what's going on. I don't care what Hermione says...well I do, but I think she's wrong. It IS a good thing you can't talk." Hedwig clicked angrily and Draco and he chuckled. "Okay, okay I guess she doesn't have a note for you, but..." he paused, then picked up and opened a small can that was on the table near the window. Owlnip. "You can have these." He said, holding out a small pile to the owl.

Hedwig looked at it suspiciously, then back to Draco. "Oh, come on! I'd eat some first, but I'm not really into owl food." Hedwig ate the treats, a bit hesitant at first. "There you go, I'm not so bad now, am I? Haha. You can stay if you want, but it could be a while before Hermione writes a letter. Why don't you just go back home." Hedwig clicked in response and flew back through the window.

* * * * * * * * * *

Draco heard a blood curdling scream.

"Hermione!?" he yelled and ran toward the door. He flung it open and skidded out, looking in the direction of Hermione's room. He saw her there, ghost white and shaking. She had her hands covering her mouth and was backing away from the door. Draco ran to her and held her arms protectively.

"Hermione, what is it?" She said nothing, but pointed a shaking arm toward the open doorway. He turned his gaze to her room, eyes following the straight path of her arm, and what Draco saw made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

The bed had been shredded, the stuffing spread across the floor in cloud- like globs. Most of Hermione's possessions, as well as most of the furniture and other accents, were destroyed, scattered about the room. Everything was covered in a clotty red substance; which Hermione had assumed was blood, but Draco knew wasn't. Messages were written in the substance, on the walls, but the letters did not form words. 'yekehtrofkcabeblliwew' covered all four of them. Draco turned back to Hermione, who was shaking violently. He realized this and looked instantly disturbed by it.

"Whoa, whoa....it's okay, calm down Hermione," he said as he embraced her. She put her head on his chest and hugged him hard. Draco rubbed her back comfortingly until she let go. He was glad to see that she looked much better. "Alright?" he asked and she nodded.

Draco let go of her and turned back to the room. He took a step toward it, but stopped when Hermione grabbed his hand. "It's alright." He said, but she didn't look convinced. He sighed, "Okay, stay here. I'll be right back." He turned back to his room and walked to the door, ignoring the pleading look on her face. He entered the room, exiting again before the door could close itself. He held up his wand for her to see, as if asking for approval.

It didn't matter that she didn't give it to him; Draco went straight into her room. Surprisingly, Hermione followed, staying close behind him. Draco surveyed the room carefully, walking through and jostling things. He turned to Hermione.

"I don't think there's anything here..." he looked around again, "Do you want me to clean it up or..." She nodded and cut him off.

"Please, and could you start with the blood?" she said, a bit high pitched.

"It's not blood; it's too bright a red for blood." She sighed heavily.

"Thank god...but it's still rather creepy."

"Right then. I can't get rid of it, but I can cover it up..." He finished with a flick from his wand. The walls were instantly back to their white, gold-flecked color.

"Okay," Hermione breathed, "I'm better now. Could you find my wand? I'll help you clean up the rest..."

"Accio wand," he said and caught Hermione's wand as it flew toward him. He handed it to her, "Looks alright, probably the only thing not broken." ** How can he be so calm? ** Hermione thought as she began to fix things, reverse messes, and put various items away. Draco too had begun cleaning. They were silent for a while, then Draco spoke.

"Hey, Hermione....what's this?" he asked holding up a strange object.

"I don't know; it's not mine." She moved closer to him and Draco picked up the small wooden intruder.

The object looked very old. It was a light brown wooden rod, longer and wider than a wand, and was intricately carved. At the tip was an owl, its beak open and its feathers on end. Below this, three symbols. The first was what looked like a hypnotist spiral, and endless round swirl. Under this was a detailed sun, flaming at the center. At the bottom was a series of curls followed only by a section of smooth wood to be used as a handle. Hermione noticed, as did Draco, that the handle had a large chunk missing, but neither commented.

Draco tucked his wand under his arm and cradled the new found treasure in his hands. Hermione reached out to gingerly touch the center symbol, and retracted her finger quickly.

"What?" Draco asked, worried but curious.

"It burned me," she said, holding up a sore red finger to him. Draco grasped the thing by the handle, which he presumed was safe, and placed it on a cleaned area of the floor as if it were sacred.

"Best we leave that alone until we find out what it is," he said and she nodded, sucking lightly on her finger. He stepped toward her, "Are you okay?" She nodded, and showed him her finger again. He pointed his wand at it and voiced a simple spell.

"Thanks, I hadn't even thought of that." He smiled and kissed her cheek lightly before continuing to clean the room. It only took the pair about fifteen minutes to fix and clean everything, and when they finished the room looked almost exactly the same, save the unknown object that occupied a section of the carpeting.

"Thank you for helping me clean up, Draco. I'm glad you were here."

"Hell, I'm glad you weren't here," he said, coming up behind her and placing his hands in front of her waist as he had done earlier. "Can you imagine what could have happened if you had slept here last night?"

"I know..." she said quietly and shuddered. "But I didn't, thanks to you. It's a good thing you're psychic, because I suck at divination," she said, enjoying his closeness to her.

"That had nothing to do with this, it was a coincidence... I cannot be premonishing again, I just can't." He tightened his hold on her, and she was a little afraid for him.

"Draco, what is it?"

"It's terrible, Hermione. It's not just waking up with that feeling...eventually there are dreams, and they show everything very graphically. They repeat in my head months after the event occurs... but that's not the worst of it. When I was seven my mother was involved in a car accident. It was late, and I had gone to bed long before she was scheduled to come home. My father found me in the garage the next morning, lying spread-eagle with like a circle of old keys and my mother's jewelry around me. That was the only time anything like that has ever happened, but I've never seen anything as life threatening in a premonition as that either. Everything stopped when my father died, Hermione...and I do not want it to come back."

"Oh Draco...." for a moment she couldn't say anything more, but she began to get over the shock, and the words formed. "I'm sorry you had to go through that...and I don't want you to have to go through it again anymore than you do, but this is a pretty big coincidence."

"I know; I just don't want to believe that that's what it is...." Hermione really did feel for him. He was shaking, and they were rocking back and forth. She decided a change in subject may be best.

"Draco, what do you think we should do about that thing?" Hermione felt Draco relax intensely against her. She noticed him breathe on her cheek and Hermione wondered if he had breathing at all since he had stopped talking.

"I don't know, but I think we should try to figure it out ourselves before we tell Dumbledore. I've noticed things don't seem to go as well when he knows about them." She nodded in agreement. Hermione would have nodded no matter what he had said, she had never seen him act this way...and it scared her.

Hermione turned around in Draco's arms to face him. She placed her hands on his chest, liking the warm feeling he gave her. She took a deep breath, not wanting to ask this.

"Draco?" she whispered, "What if you are premonishing again? What do you think it means?" she finished timidly. Feeling him tense, she panicked. "Oh, god I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about it; I don't know why I asked, I..."

"Hermione, it's ok, really..."

"No, Draco. I know this is hard for you, I'm so inconsiderate...we can talk about something else....let's see, um....the test! We can talk about the test, let's talk about the test. How is your studying? Have you memorized all the tables for potions? What about the SMCP tables? I can never remember number 53, what is number 53?" She said as if it were one long sentence.

"Lacewigs, but Hermione..." she cut him off and continued.

"And what about 79, is it lily-sprout or lily-leaves?"

She never got her answer. Draco decided the only way to stop her hysterical rambling was to kiss her, and that's what he did. He only did so long enough for Hermione to settle in for another of their long kisses, which she did, and cut her off abruptly to speak before she could.

"It's okay, Hermione, honestly. I don't know what it means, but it can't be anything good. I hope I'm overreacting and it was just a one time thing, but I don't think it is. I'm just glad I was lucky enough to have the first one."

"Never leave me, Draco..." she whispered as she looked into his eyes.

"Never, Hermione...never."

* * * * * * * * * *

Hermione sat at her desk, quill in hand, empty parchment staring back at her. She took a breath and began to write. She was angry with Harry and Ron, but she wanted to tell them everything.

"Harry and Ron,

First of all, how dare you? I thought you were my friends, and you betray me like this? I can't believe you! I'm assuming you used the marauder's map, correct? At least you didn't lie to a damn piece of parchment. How long has this been going on? Was this the only time, or has it been longer? Since September, or has it been years? You tell me, how long have you been violating me? And is the map the only way? Do you come flying to the window under that bloody invisibility cloak and spy? Watch me dress even? How am I to know?

I am incredibly angry with and disappointed in both of you. I am taking this opportunity to vent and let you know of some feelings that have been plaguing me. Firstly, why can't you just back the fuck off!? Since at least third year you guys have treated me more like a volume of infinite knowledge than a friend. Merlin forbid we let encyclopedia Hermione have a life, she might realize what assholes we are and get real friends. Well I'm sick of it! All you've ever done is taken me for granted, and I don't want to play this game anymore.

I do appreciate your 'concern', however. Although I know it's not concern for my well being as much as it is concern that I might wise up to you and gain a little power. Draco has done absolutely nothing to me, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't go around falsely accusing him of things he would never do. Neither of you know the least bit about him, or me for that matter. He means a lot to me, and he treats me like a person, which is more than I can say for either of you. Realistically, I have been neglecting to inform you of our situation. I love him. He loves me. I hate both of you. When I'm around Draco, I can be myself, I don't have to be afraid that what I say might not be up to his standards, and I don't feel like I need to impress him. The opposite of all said characteristics apply to you jerks. Our entire friendship has revolved around the superior males. You treat me like dirt, so eat it. I don't care what you think anymore. Draco makes me happy, and if you were really my friends, you'd understand that, but I'm not holding my breath for your blessings.

You should be thanking him, actually. He cares about me, and he knows that you are a big part of my life. If Draco had not convinced me that you were my friends, although not very good ones, and deserved to know about this, you probably wouldn't have received this letter. And mark my words, if you so much as attempt to harm him, I swear you won't live long enough to attempt it again. Don't kid yourselves, you know I'm capable of it, and the way I'm feeling right now, I could come near me. I thought I knew you, but I have no idea who either of you are. You don't know me, and I don't know you. You are strangers to me, and I'd be obliged if you never attempted to contact me in anyway ever again.

Granger."

She finished the letter and dropped the quill from her shaking hand. She was breathing hard, and there were tears streaming down her face. She couldn't believe she had written it, and she didn't know if she could send it or not. No, she couldn't but it was a positive vent. She took a couple of deep breaths and regained her composure.

Hermione read over the letter, intending on checking it for mistakes, but she got back into it. By the end she was furious. They had violated, neglected, and betrayed her. As if that wasn't enough, they had also falsely accused and threatened Draco. She was going to send it, she had to.

She couldn't. There was no way. The fact that she felt that the reason she couldn't send it was because it would betray them made her more furious. She gathered the pages, rolled them into a tube, and tied it with a piece of brown cord. Hermione then took another piece of parchment, and wrote another note.

"Draco,

I need you to send this to Ron for me. I told them everything, with the exception of this morning. I wrote about us, how I feel about them, and yelled at them for violating me and falsely accusing you....everything. I can't bring myself to send it, but I want it to be sent, it has to be. Everything will change after this, but I'm willing. Thank you. I'm glad you're here for me Draco; I don't know how I could get through this without you.

Love always, Hermione."

Hermione placed the roll and note on Draco's desk. Knowing he would go there to take notes this evening, she stood and slowly returned to her room, leaving her friends behind.

* * * * * * * * * *

Draco was in the library, frantically searching for any information on the strange article they had found in Hermione's room. He had been searching for hours and had found no trace of anything remotely similar to it. He was getting panicky. They would have to tell Dumbledore if they couldn't figure it out themselves, and Draco dreaded it. He had no problem with Dumbledore and looked up to him in a way, but telling him was like giving up, and he was not a quitter.

He sighed. There was nothing, no where. They would have to tell the old man. He stood intent on informing Hermione of this, when his eyes caught something. Draco stepped to the bookcase next to him and proceeded to extract the very last book on the very last shelf. ** It's always in the last place you look.... ** the book was brown and dusty, and looked like many of the other books found in the Hogwarts library.

Draco had no idea why the book had caught his attention, but he knew he had to read it. He opened the book, not bothering to sit down, and was surprised to see that it was filled with detailed photographs. Draco began flipping through the pages, a bland and hopeless look on his face.

Suddenly, his pupils grew wide and a surprised look of horror shown on his face. ** Oh no, this is far worse than I had hoped... **

* * * * * * * * * *

Hermione had left her desk and proceeded to the door of her dormitory when she hesitated. She was scared to death of that room, and never wanted to enter it again. She retracted the hand that had been reaching for the knob and backed away as if the door were hot. Hermione then headed for Draco's room and opened the door slowly, although she knew he was not there. She entered, not really knowing why. The strong presence of Draco that filled his room was comforting to her.

She noticed a book lying on the floor, partially covered with various debris. She picked it up and read the title: 1001 Objects and Symbols Associated with the Dark Arts. ** This would be a rather good place to start, I believe. **

She contemplated whether or not to stay in Draco's room; she didn't want to leave, she fell safe in here, yet she thought it better not to stay in someone else's room without them knowing about it. Hermione left Draco's room and entered the common room. She sat on the deep red sofa that faced the fire and began to read.

* * * * * * * * * *

Draco exited the library carrying nothing more than the one inconspicuous brown book. He made his way quickly back to the Head Dormitories, planning on immediately telling Hermione about what he had found out. He entered quietly, not wanting to scare her if she happened to be in the common room. He saw her on the sofa and smiled affectionately as he shook his head. ** Half the time she spends 'reading' is actually time spent sleeping....yet she is still far more intelligent than me... **

Draco thought about waking her as he headed for his desk to gather parchment and quills to begin notes. He noticed the note from her and read it to himself, then sighed. ** She has been through a lot of shit today, this can wait ten minutes. ** He set the book down and picked up the roll of parchment.

* * * * * * * * * *

Draco made his way to and from the owlry directly. It was an uneventful trip, and he had spent the entire seven minutes thinking about Hermione. He had not read her letter to Harry and Ron, but he knew she was telling him the truth about what it contained. He was proud of her. She had spent so long doing the opposite of telling them how she felt and now she had finally done it. He frowned. Draco had inspired her to do so, but, hypocritically, had never done so himself. He had never told his father how he had made him feel, and now he never would. He suspected that his father already knew, but it would have felt so good to tell him off. He sighed; at least he had convinced Hermione to do so.

Draco returned to see that Hermione was no longer sleeping, but now energetically scanning the pages of a book. She looked up at him and smiled brightly. He smirked his famous "Draco Malfoy Smirk" and followed it with a classic smart ass comment.

"Good morning, sunshine. Why are we so happy?" he asked her innocently.

"I think I'm on the verge of figuring this out," Hermione answered. Draco's smile became a frown and his face looked grave as he remembered the dusty brown book.

"So am I," he said, "but I don't think it's cause for excessive happiness." Hermione's smiled also dwindled, her energy gone. She looked emotionless.

"Well," she said, "what did you find?" Draco turned toward the desk and retrieved the book he had placed there. He then returned to Hermione and sat beside her on the couch. Not speaking, he flipped through the pages of the book. Draco stopped at the page he was looking for and held it up for her to see.

"It's a Tetrabric Staff," he said, and surprisingly Hermione smiled.

"That's what I was thinking." Draco looked confused, and she began to explain her theory. "Look," she showed him her book, "This is a Plantron Staff. The Tetrabric Staff, I don't know if you knew, can be used to reverse any and all curses, with the exception of the unforgivable curses, of course. The Plantron Staff is almost the opposite. It is used to perform any curse, including the unforgivables, flawlessly and with tremendous power. The staffs are like good and evil, and balance each other out. We have good on our side."

"That's not good, Hermione, not at all." She looked at him, not understanding.

"Why not?"

"Our staff may be the good staff, but neither staff can be used unless in direct connection with the other."

"That's even better; the one who holds the lone Plantron can not use it."

"That is true, but someone left that Tetrabric in there on purpose, and I'm guessing whoever it was is trying to set us up. Hermione, this is a listing and description catalogue of all dark things collected by the ministry over the last six centuries, and who each item was collected from." He said gesturing to the book. "The staff pictured was collected from Gwendolen Ruthford Riddle." Hermione gasped and Draco nodded, frowning. "Voldemort's mother. Look closely, see how a chip is missing...there." he said, pointing to the picture. She nodded and spoke the words Draco was about to speak.

"The same chip as the one that was left here. It's the same staff." He nodded. She looked at him, "but why would someone destroy the room and then leave us a stolen artifact?"

"Maybe they were looking for something?" he suggested.

"Well, I don't know what I have, or had, that they would what so badly," she replied

"Maybe it wasn't something of yours, maybe it was something of you room's." She looked scared at this statement, but remained calm.

"Do you think there might be something in there? Where could it be that they didn't look?" She said, a little scared.

"I don't know, Hermione. I may be way off track on this theory; it could be totally untrue." He paused, "More than likely, it's a trap. Someone may have stolen the staff from the ministry and planted it here to frame us, but that seems unlikely."

"Yes. It's more probably that it was already stolen from the ministry and a second thief stole it from the original. It could have gone through hundreds of hands. The last to have it may have left it here to frame us, but not for the ministry, for one of the previous owners." She added.

"Exactly what I was thinking. But, If they were going to frame us, why would they leave it in plain sight and not hide it somewhere? There has to be more to it than that."

"I agree, but I have no idea what." She frowned.

"Neither do I, I'm tapped," he paused, then said: "I'm glad you didn't tell your friends about this, Hermione. I don't know what's going on, and I don't expect they would know any more than we do..." he looked away, "Plus they'd probably suspect me. There are two of them...if they caught us off guard they could bind you and hex me before we could react."

Hermione's first thought was that Draco had read her letter and she was hurt. She tried to tell herself Draco wouldn't do that, and that there had to be another explanation, but she needed convincing.

"How do you know I didn't tell them?" she asked suspiciously.

"Your note... you left me a note on the desk, remember?" he paused, "You DIDN'T tell them, right?" Hermione suddenly remember the note and felt stupid, ** How could I forget that, I can't believe I thought he would read the letter... **

"No, I didn't tell them. I'm sorry, I forgot about that note.....wait, when did you read it? I've been in here since I wrote it and you've been over here since you came in..."

"Actually, I came in before, but you were asleep. I read the note and then went to the owlry, intent on waking you upon my return and tell you about the staff. Obviously, you were awake when I got back and there was no need for me to do so."

"So you've already sent the letter?"

"Anything for you, Hermione," he said and smiled. Hermione attempted to return it, but her lip quivered, making it evident she was not in the mood for smiling. Draco noticed this and his smile broke. He reached out to her and opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione lifted her hand to stop him before he could.

"Please, Draco...don't. I'm trying not to cry, just..." she stopped there, unable to say anything more without crying.

That stopped Draco cold. He looked at her in disbelief. **I'm just like them....I'm making her feel just like they do...** He embraced her hard.

"Oh god, no Hermione... How could you let me do that to you? You can cry if you want to Hermione, I'm sorry...if you need to, go ahead." She took his advice and bawled into his shoulder. Draco really did hate to see her cry, but he hated making her feel that way even more.

Draco put his discomfort aside and held her. He knew she was okay, and was just going through a lot, and he understood what she was feeling. He rocked her gently, and her sobs died down after only a few minutes. Draco saw now as a good time to further apologize.

"I'm sorry, Hermione.... I was acting just like them. Why did you let me make you feel that way? Promise me you'll never let me do that again."

"No, Draco...you didn't. I mean... it was different, not like them. I tried to make you happier....with them I was always trying not to get in trouble," she sighed, "It's complicated." He pulled away enough to look at her.

"Hermione, you happy is what makes you happy...and if crying makes you feel better, then you cry. Never let anyone change you, Hermione. I don't want anyone to make you feel as if you need to, and I certainly don't want to be the one doing it either. Please tell me if I ever do that again, I swear I had no idea." She put a hand on his face reassuringly.

"Really, you didn't do anything... stop blaming yourself. I hadn't even made the connection," she sighed, "I know I cry a lot, and I know it makes you uncomfortable, but it's easier than trying to deal with everything at the same time, and I can't help it. I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. I have no right to tell you when you can and cannot express uncontrollable emotion. You can cry whenever you need to Hermione. I'll never ask you to stop again. Hell," He held out his arms to her, "you can cry right now if you want to, I've got all night." She smiled and accepted his embrace, but did not cry. She broke away and looked at him.

"I love you, Draco," she said and he smirked.

"That was really corny, Hermione."

"I know, but I meant it."

A/N the last part may look familiar, but that's because it was used earlier....Chapter Seven, I believe. Hehe. I know they're figuring this whole staff thing out rather quickly, but I'm not exactly sure where it's going yet...and I needed something to fill in the space with. If you thought this was creepy, wait til next chapter, haha.

PRF:

Avi: I totally agree. What is it with the bad boys that make them so damn good? Haha and yes...more action.

Stace: I thought the map idea was pretty good, and it IS original, unlike most of my story, haha...

Caroline: We have something VERY MUCH in common. When Tommy boy Felton gets a couple years older, we are so gonna have to kidnap him. Haha, meet me at fifth and main, planning must begin as soon as possible. We need the Perfect plan for the Perfect guy!

Hasapi: Haha, guess we'll find out sooner or later, won't we?

Nikki: Thanx, and I thought it was pretty good, until I read it. You did actually read it, right? Haha...

Beth: I dunno about that, I was kinda hoping they could get over it by themselves, but I dunno. Fighting is so necessary.

S-Star: Thanx for reading, and I know it's not long. All of the chapters are really short....I'm trying to make them longer, but I usually just end it when it feels right, which could mean problems.

Talleenian w/ Hailey: Thanx, and I try!

Lil-spitfire: I agree with the fluff, it's my favorite part. I love all well written Draco/Hermione romances equally, but mine has some damn good fluff if I do say so myself. ;o)

Silverbunnies: Well, about Draco changing pretty fast....if needed I could just make up something to explain it like: Well, his father sort of had a curse on him, plus his death proved to Draco that he was nothing like his father. I explain about his father's death later, in more detail, and it might provide some sort of explanation as to how that could be true. If you saw that happen, I think you'd hate your father too. I know you're confused, but I don't actually talk about it until like, chapter fifteen.