*Throws prizes to every and anyone who reviewed. Fun prizes. Noisemakers, sticky hands, things like that. Have fun!*

Chapter 11- The Darkadian Guard

Hermione watched Malfoy closely at breakfast, while trying to appear not to be. The result was a multitude of hurried excuses as to why her gaze was directed toward the Slytherin table. But she kept looking at him, and was so distracted that she did not notice the Daily Prophet delivery owl until it nipped her rather hard on the wrist. She paid the owl and set the paper aside without looking at it. She watched Malfoy carefully. His eagle owl had just descended on his shoulder with a package.

She observed his face as he opened it. She was not interested in the contents, as she had sent them. She watched his expression. When he realized what it was, he closed the box quickly and left the table, waving everyone else back to their food. Crabbe and Goyle, having shoved their faces into their plates, did not even notice. Malfoy stalked through the exit.

Hermione stood quickly. "Excuse me," she muttered. "I have to go to the bathrom." Without waiting for a reply, she hurried after Malfoy.

As quietly as she could, Hermione slipped through the door before it closed, stepping into the shadows. She watched Malfoy from her hiding place as he went through the contents of the package. He took out a plain envelope, a red one, a box containing the beautiful necklace, and a piece of paper- the only thing he had not sent her to begin with. When he read her message, he slammed a fist against the wall. Silver sparks shot from his pocket, where he was apparently keeping his wand.

"Malfoy." He froze, staring in her direction. She took a few steps toward him.

He stared for a few moments, mouth working soundlessly. Finally, he hissed, "So you figured it out, did you?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, I did. By the way, you dropped your Transfiguration homework." She whipped it from her robes and held it out to him. He took it slowly, unable to avert his eyes from hers. "Look, I don't know how this happened, and I don't wand to. If it were my choice…but anyway, I don't feel comfortable keeping this stuff. You can do whatever you want with it. But I'm warning you now: if you *ever* hurt Ron again, be sure I will have something to say about it. Yes, I know it was you on Saturday. And I'll say it with my wand."

Malfoy's eyes finally left hers, traveling to her robes, from which he had seen her draw her wand countless times. She opened her mouth again, to drive the message home, but he said scathingly, "I get it." She didn't say anything else.

They stood awkwardly silent for a few minutes. "Um…Did you draw that dragon?"

His gray eyes regarded her as though searching for ulterior motive in the question. He shrugged. "Yeah."

"Oh. It was very nice."

Malfoy shrugged again. He seemed relieved and very disappointed at the same time. Since he had looked away form her face, he kept his eyes away. In fact, he was keeping his gaze rooted to the package of his gifts to Hermione.

"Well- I should go-" she turned slowly, not sure exactly how he was reacting.

She had taken one step toward the door when she heard something shake, and Malfoy said, "What's in this anyway, Granger?"

Confused, she turned to see him opening the box containing the necklace. A brief expression of surprise crossed his face as he lifted the delicate pearls from their bed of green silk. He examined it with interest, then dropped it in the box and replaced the lid. "I didn't send this," he said, holding it out.

Hermione stood frozen. Malfoy waited for her to take the box back. With conscious effort to keep her hand steady, she took it and slid it into her robes. If not Malfoy, then who…?

"Well, thanks," she said carefully. She could not think of one person who could have sent it. They met each other's eyes for a split second. It seemed they had an understanding. Pursing her lips, Hermione turned and reentered the Great Hall.

In her seat, Ron was reading a note and Harry was intensely contemplating Neville's ear. She looked to Ginny, who was rubbing her SDADM badge with a thumb. "What's going on?"

Harry looked around, as though her voice had disturbed him mid-thought and he did not know where it came from. "Oh, Hermione. I've just had an owl from Dumbledore. He says to be ready for a week from tomorrow, eleven thirty at night. We're going to do it."

The unicorn…

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Hermione was sitting on her cloak in the common room, eagerly anticipating eleven thirty. She and the other SDADM members did not care that it had barely passed nine. Harry was sitting on his cloak as well. The four of them were impatiently bouncing their legs, ignoring the commotion around them. She tuned in time to see the anonymous seventh year shut a book, rolling her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder why I bother." And she tromped to the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory.

Ginny attacked Harry a few moments later. "We might as well do something to pass the time." She started to bring her lips down to Harry's neck…

Ron rolled his eyes in disgust, but grinned at Hermione and leaned in. She melted as their lips met. She felt one hand touch her neck, while the other wandered over her back. She traced circles on his chest and stomach with one finger, sighing contentedly. Thinking she would love to stay like this all night, she was quite annoyed when Ginny's throat-clearing interrupted them.

Hermione stood when Ginny indicated the clock and she realized that it was almost eleven thirty. "How are we supposed to leave without anyone seeing us?"

Apparently Dumbledore had thought of this as well. McGonagall entered at that moment and made straight for them. "I guess you know what this is about. Come along."

They followed her out, relieved that they had gotten that, at least, out of the way. Hermione knew the difficult part was still to come. Professor McGonagall left ehm at a statue of a wizard with his robe on backwards, holding his wand the wrong way. The statue was labeled "Confusius".

"Hermione, I think that was Nova," Ron said suddenly. He made to go down the corridor. Hermione grabbed his arm.

"Ron, don't! Professor McGonagall told us to wait here for Dumbledore, besides, you don't know where he's going or what he's doing. It's perfectly normal for teachers to walk around the halls at night. Ron, come *on*."

At that exact moment, she heard the slightest hint of a footstep behind them and turned in alarm. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Dumbledore standing there. "Ready?"

They all nodded and followed him around a corner. He led them to a door Hermione knew wasn't always there. Holding a finger to his lips, he opened the door. "Hermione and Ginny first."

The girls entered the room and gasped. It was not quite the Forbidden Forest, but there were definitely trees and rocks and undergrowth, and the ceiling definitely looked like the sky. They took a few more steps in.

By the time they were all in the room, Hermione and Ginny had been captivated by the sight of the unicorn. It stood proud and beautiful, serene yet imposing. Behind it stood the foal, still very small and golden, shyly peeking out from under its mother.

Hermione stepped forward slowly, one hand slightly extended. The unicorn stood still as she approached, letting her come forward to stroke its neck. "Good, Hermione. That was exactly what I wanted." Ginny had come to similar terms with the young one. Nodding approval, Dumbledore waved his wand. Two shimmering silver lines shot from the tip. One end of each wrapped loosely around the unicorns' necks, while the other ends would themselves around Ginny's and Hermione's wrists. "This will allow you to lead them. I am afraid invisibility cloaks will be unfavorable for you. If the unicorns can't see you, they won't trust you."

Harry tucked his cloak under one arm. "You two will follow, make sure no one sees who is not supposed to. I will be leading you. Harry, did you bring…?"

Grinning, Harry took out his map of Hogwarts, the one Hermione, while admitting its usefulness, had always disapproved of. He checked it and said quietly, "Coast is clear."

They left the forest room, Dumbledore leading, followed by Hermione, then Ginny, with the boys trailing behind. The door disappeared as soon as they had all left.

Before long they had rounded Hagrid's cabin and entered the forest. Hermione kept a hand to the unicorn's neck the entire time, following Dumbledore a few yards behind Ginny. A few minutes after the trees had swallowed them, Hermione looked behind to speak to Ron- and stopped dead. "Where are Harry and Ron?"

Dumbledore whipped his head around. "They're gone? Well, we can't stop. They probably just got held up back there. We'll be there soon anyway. I'm sure the others are all right, and we-"

Red sparks zoomed in their direction. Ginny managed to hold the young unicorn still and calm it. Hermione had her hands full with the full-grown mother. Rearing back on her hind legs, she lifted Hermione a few inches off the ground. It was then that she realized was a poor match her strength was for the unicorn. She was glad she rarely relied on her physical strength. Whipping out her wand, she shouted, "Pacify!" The unicorn calmed immediately. It stood shaking its head and making disturbed noises.

"Ginny, what happened to Dumbledore?"

"He's trying to find whoever did it."

Hermione and Ginny held the unicorns still for a few minutes, peering anxiously through the trees. Long before they saw any sign of the headmaster, hurried footsteps sounded behind them. Hermione spun quickly, wand at the ready.

"Whoa! It's just me!" Harry appeared from under his cloak.

Lowering her wand, Hermione asked, "Where is Ron?"

"He's going to open the portrait hole for us."

"What?"

"Well, we saw Malfoy in the halls, so we went to distract him. We made sure he didn't see you, don't worry. Once we got rid of him, we thought about the whole stealth thing. There's actually more of a chance we'll be caught on the way back in than on the way out. We wouldn't get in trouble, but we aren't supposed to be broadcasting SDADM. So, we realized that Ron, Ginny and I wouldn't all fit under my cloak. Two of us at the most. And your cloak only works for one person, so that's no alterative. Ron's going to get some thing a few feet away in the hall, and we'll slip in when he comes out. When we get in, the common room should be pretty empty."

Ginny looked to be stifling laughter. Smiling, Hermione said, "Good thinking."

"Thanks. And you know, part of it was Ron's." They all laughed.

"Ah, there you are, Harry," Dumbledore's voice came from behind a tree. He stepped into view. "Come along. We haven't much farther to go."

"What about-"

"It's all taken care of, Hermione."

Hermione exchanged shrugs with Ginny. Harry was confused, but they gestured for him not to ask any questions.

Approximately ten minutes later, Dumbledore stopped, holding up a hand to halt them. Hermione froze midstep, and even took a step backward toward the unicorn. The baby ducked its head to hide underneath its mother. Many tall, cloaked figures were gliding about through the trees. They looked very like-

"Expecto-"

"No, Harry! They aren't dementors." Dumbledore's assurances helped a little. One of the things stepped- or glided- from the misty shadows into view. Now Hermione saw how different form dementors these beings were. From the one she could see, she deduced a little about the rest. Their skin was very pale, almost white. She could only see part of its face, which showed a serene kind of ominous presence. Their bodies were abnormally tall- abnormal for humans- thin, and apparently wiry. The cloak it wore was a very dark brownish red, reaching right to its ankles. It wore loose pants of the same color, tall brown boots, and no shirt. More important than all this, this was one of the creatures Hermione had seen Snape guide into the castle the night after Christmas.

"Hello, Albus Dumbledore. We are here because we accept your request. We will protect the horned one and her young one from danger until the mother is fully healed. We will tell no one of their whereabouts. We will take them now." Its voice was neither masculine nor feminine, while a strange mixture of both. It sounded like two voices emitted from one throat.

The silver lines removed themselves from Hermione and Ginny's wrists, traveling to the outstretched hand of the- thing. The tall cloaked figure turned and glided away. The rest followed.

As they walked back through the trees, Hermione asked, "What were those, Professor?"

Dumbledore answered quietly, without turning. "They are called Darkadians. They are very secretive. I do not know much about them. They are skilled healers, stronger than any one man, and have formidable defenses against magic. That is all I know."

They walked in relative silence for a while, until Hermione fit another piece into the puzzle. "Professor Dumbledore, I thought you were keeping them behind the portrait of Inori?"

"After the attack, I moved them. It was obvious someone knew who shouldn't. The Room of Requirement is much more difficult to find."

In the front hall, Dumbledore turned to them. "Thank you for your assistance. That is all for now, and I expect Ron is waiting." Hermione saw the slightest hint of a wink before he disappeared down the hall.

Harry, Ginny, and Hermione all exchanged nods. She drew up her hood and waited for them to throw the cloak around themselves. When she heard their footsteps, she followed quietly.

On the basis of their whispered voices, Hermione crept close behind them. "I guess she's pretty far ahead." Stifling a giggle with one hand, Hermione used her wand to show her the exact position of Harry's buttocks. Then she poked it. He gave a yelp and their footsteps stopped dead.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, something…"

Hermione slipped around them and hurried on toward Gryffindor Tower. She found Ron's bag easily and put it under her cloak. The portrait hole opened when she spoke the password.

No one was there except Ron, snoring softly in front of the fire. Smiling, she crept over to him. Placing her face a foot from his, she started to call his name softly. He slowly woke, confused. She continued to say his name, bringing her face closer. She kissed him deeply.

Hermione could feel Ron's lips curve into a smile, and she felt a hand reach up and draw off her hood. Laughing , she pulled away. "Hello, my love."

"Where are Harry and Ginny?"

Hermione set Ron's bag on the floor. "I thought we'd leave them out there for a while, as payback for last Thursday."

"You mean when they bewitched all your books so they wouldn't open? It's not that big of a deal, Hermione. Anyway, they'll probably slip off to a closet somewhere to do the things I never want to hear that they did."

"Which leaves us plenty of time."

"What's gotten into you?"

"I don't know. I feel so…mischievous. Scandalous, even."

He raised an eyebrow. "Then you won't mind if we try-"

When he whispered in her ear, she grinned. "No, actually that's along the lines of what I was thinking." She threw her cloak aside.

End Chapter 11

My back hurts. Five house points to anyone who got "Confusius". Fifty to whoever guesses who actually sent Hermione the necklace.

Teaser:

"Nova could have had a double motive, right? There was some reason for him to go to Hogwarts, and the job was the perfect cover."

Hermione was often surprised at Harry's moments of intelligence. More often than Ron's though his were much more surprising. "So we don't know whether Dumbledore or Nova had another motive." Harry stopped himself from hitting his mug with his fist just in time.

"Or both." Harry nodded in acknowledgement of Hermione's suggestion.

End of teaser, aren't I such a tease? Now review.