Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Everything belongs to J.K.R and WB and whoever is involved with the editing + publishing + distributing of the books.

Pairings: Harry/Ginny, Draco/Hermione, Ron/OC Rating: R Setting: Story starts summer before 6th year.

The chandelier lights all went out and a gust of wind blew through, extinguishing all the candles.

Harry heard familiar voices shouting and herding everyone to safety, attention paid mostly on the Muggles. Among those voices he could make out the voices of Dumbledore, McGonagall, Fudge, among other professors. Adult wizards had their wands out with the tip glowing and all Harry could see were shadows of people moving in every which direction. Suddenly he felt someone grab him by the waist and a hand covered his mouth to keep him from shouting.

"Mmmmph!" He struggled against the confining arms.

"Quiet boy. We wouldn't want Lucius over there to hear you being whisked away." A voice whispered next to his ear.

Upon hearing the voice Harry stopped fighting and quickly went along with the person.

"How about others?" Harry asked.

"The objective is to get you out first. Ask questions later." Snape roughly said as he deposited Harry in a dark corner far away from where the explosion as been and a big dog appeared next to him.

"Sirius." Snape acknowledged with a nod and then disappeared into the panicking crowd.

Sirius changed from a dog to a man and took out a wand. He muttered a spell and waved his wand at the wall and a small door appeared. He opened the door and Harry quickly ran in.

Closing the door behind them, Sirius quickly performed the sealing spell, and in place of the door was the wall once again.

"Lumos" Sirius said.

"You alright there Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, but what about Hermione, Ron, and Ginny?"

"They'll be retrieved to safety. We cannot allow them to be captured for they have information that You-Know-Who would want. For now, run!" Sirius grimly said.

"But-"

"No buts Harry. I can't promise you that everyone will be alive or well when after this attack, but you are my duty. Under my watch, you will not be harmed. Understand? Now come on!"

Harry hesitated but nodded. He ran down the small tunnel, knowing that Sirius is right behind him. The passageway curved right, left, and even deeper down into the earth. After running blindly for what seemed like hours, the tunnel slowly, but surely, inclined upwards.

Legs numb, sides aching, Harry knew that the entrance was near. A dead end appeared and both came to a halt, trying to catch their breath and listening for anyone that had followed them.

Harry tried to listen for any sounds on the other side and couldn't hear any.

Sirius made the doorway appeared and Harry opened the door to face a giant red tapestry. Pushing the heavy material aside, he realized that they were in the common room of the Gryffindor Tower.

The wall replaced where the door was and Sirius shoved the tapestry back in place. Both collapsed on the couches and stared into the fireplace, a myriad of thoughts plaguing their minds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The food was wonderful. The speeches were inspirational and Hermione strongly agreed with the fact that Muggle parents of children with magic should be more in touch with the magical world. The ministry is offering the parents subscriptions to the Daily Prophet.

Everything was fine of course, until she saw Draco yawn and stared uninterested into space.

Shooting him a disapproving look, Hermione was about to talk to him when suddenly there was an explosion where the doors are and screams filled the air.

Forgetting about Draco, Hermione frantically looked to where Harry sat and she started to move towards him when the place was plunged into darkness. Every adult wizard cast the Lumos spell and Hermione took a deep breath. Looking back for Harry she discovered he was gone. Panic started to set in.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled, head whipping around, eyes scanning through the mob of people, trying to adjust to the darkness. The blinding glow of the occasional wand that flashed past her made her blink and still she stumbled for Harry's table and gripped the table.

"Harry, where---" {LUCIUS! He probably arranged to be seated at Harry's table so when the Dark Lord bursts in, he can grab Harry easily.}

{But where is Lucius? Malfoy would know.} she thought.

Turning to face where Malfoy was, she almost rammed into Malfoy's chest. He looked down at her, a ghost of a smirk on his face.

"Where's your father, Malfoy?" she demanded.

Draco shrugged.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were lying. I KNOW that you know where Harry and your father is. Where are they!?"

"How would I know? You should be worrying about yourself Granger. You might have become better looking but Voldemort doesn't care for that." Leaning down slightly, he sneered. "Little Mudblood. That's what you are."

Hermione angrily glared back up into his eyes, their faces only a few inches apart.

Neither one was willing to give in and everything around them faded away. Hermione only knew the anger and burning frustration that seethed within her and Draco only knew that his father placed him at that specific table for a reason and no way in hell was he going to let the Mudblood go. Blurred shapes rushed past them and Hermione found herself getting lost in the gray-blue eyes that she was looking into. For the most part, she can't see his eyes clearly in the darkness, but when lit wands whooshed by, his face was lit up by a soft glow for a moment and she could see the way his eyes seemed steel gray one moment and if she moved a bit, bits of blue would shine through.

"Hermione!" a voice broke through. Draco wrenched himself from looking into her eyes and narrowed his own in the direction of Ron.

Ron dashed up to Hermione and grabbed her arm. "Where's Harry? Are you ok?"

Hermione tear her eyes away from Malfoy's face and focused on Ron as if it was the first time she saw him. "Ron."

"Hermione. Are you ok?" Ron worriedly repeated.

Snapping out of her dazed state. Hermione nodded furiously then grabbed Ron's robes. "Ron. I can't find Harry. I-" eyes widening, she gasped. "Where's Ginny?!"

"Hermione! Right here!" Ginny broke through, running over. Ron gave Draco a cold look. "What are you doing here Malfoy? Helping your Lord murder people?"

A person rushed past Draco, but had discreetly tapped him in the back. Draco didn't flinch when he felt the unexpected tap but he got the message. What his father's purpose for wanting Draco to stall Potter's friends, Draco didn't know but he knew that its time for him to remove himself from the area.

To Ron, Ginny, and Hermione, they didn't see anything unusual that went on, only that one person came dangerously close to knocking Draco down. Ron had started asking Ginny if she was ok and Hermione was telling Ron all she knew. When Hermione glanced at where Malfoy stood by her side, she found no one there.