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Note: Hey thanks to my constant reviewer's funness and natyslacks, this chapter is dedicated to you guys. Sorry I haven't updated for so long, so I'll give you two chapters to make up for it. Hope you like and please review.

P.s: If anyone would be interested in being a beta reader for this story, drop me an email. My last beta reader moved to Canada, and doesn't have the internet anymore. Okies well that's it, here's the story.

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Disclaimer: I don't own this and I am evidently making no money from it so if you sued it would be rather pointless.

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Chapter six: Smack

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'SMACK'

"You are the most cold hearted bastard that I have ever met!"

Malfoy stumbled as he appeared and felt a hand across his face that delivered a force that knocked him to the floor.

'SMACK'

"How dare you do that to me?!"

His brain suddenly kicking in, he realized it was Granger.

'SMACK'

"I demand that you return me at once you –"

"I suggest that you hold your tongue Granger" Malfoy said catching her arm as she swung at him a fourth time.

"You bastard how could you stand in the same room with that –"

"Language Granger" he said releasing her arm and standing up, brushing the dirt from his robes as he looked at the forest around them.

"That –That thing!" she snapped correcting her course of words. "And not curse it to hell where it belongs?"

"Granger, I have stood in the presence of fowler things, and lucky for you, I didn't curse them to the far flung corners of hell, or the muggle population would be considerably less" Malfoy sneered as she gave a cry of frustration.

It was amusing that he was causing her so much anger and she couldn't retaliate.

"Malfoy you do realize that your precious aunt killed every chance of Harry having a happy life" she snapped as he started walking along a trail.

"Really?" he said, his face contorted in mock concern. "Remind me to thank her next time I see her"

"Deal off, send me back to Hogwarts" She hissed as he kept walking.

"Not a chance Granger, you have learnt something, now you are going to tell me everything that Dumbledore won't"

"That was not something, what the hell did I learn there?!"

"More than you learn in school, if you knew what to look for" Malfoy muttered walking faster and forcing Hermione to follow him, rather than risk getting lost in an unknown forest.

"Like what?" Hermione snapped her anger ebbing into disappointment as she realized that he was not going to take her back, no matter what she did to him.

"One, I just took you to the main staging area for the planned attack on Azkaban, If you noticed the sign above the door there was a notch in the wood in the shape of the dark mark."

"I couldn't see shit Malfoy, it was dark!" she snapped as he turned back around to face her.

"Don't swear Granger, it's not you" he said as she caught up to him and he started walking forward again.

"How do you know what is and isn't me, you don't know me!"

Ignoring her he continued.

"Two, The Aurors know their plans, there were about fifteen sitting in that bar, they were the shabby looking conscious ones"

"Wow, we have a natural Sherlock here"

"Three, Voldemort is in Russia, if his plans are there, then so is he, I suspect in the same place Bellatrix is, she won't let him walk to far away from her at any time"

"Malfoy do I even want to know how you knew that?"

"Four, had you been paying attention, she had a new wand and a lot of equipment that doesn't come cheap, meaning that she either knocked off someone quiet rich, or has one of the really big families backing this, someone with quiet contacts that won't leak which means most likely the Tsar lines."

"You mean you admit that there are families in the world that are better and have more wealth than the Malfoy's?"

"Five, even you should have figured out that Azkaban is going to fall tonight, and without the guard of the Dementors, it will fall easily, so every Auror in a thousand miles is going to be there"

"Sorry, I missed that bit"

"Six, you just found out that you fall from an ancient line of Noble Wizards"

"I what?" Hermione stopped walking.

"The Oroborus that is linked around your finger devours those with unworthy bloodlines. I expected you killed, you're alive so the dragon sensed your ancient bloodline I suppose"

And I thought it just bound us together, like a love potion"

"Granger, love doesn't factor into the equation with the noble families, only blood"

"So you could never love a mudblood?"

"No, I marry to the great family's oath, to keep our line pure, as should you if your blood has some ancient worth"

"When did this happen" she asked as Malfoy gave her a look that read 'are you stupid'.

"Probably about 500 years ago Granger"

"No, when did you grow up?"

Malfoy, who had not expected that, looked at her suspiciously, but found nothing behind the question, except what it was.

"My father's responsibilities fell to me" he said cautiously. "The rest is none of your business"

"Neither are my bloodlines yours, now can we rap this up, I have to go back to Hogwarts"

"Don't count on a quick return Granger, you wanted information, and so do I"

"Malfoy I - "

"Granger do us both a favor and shut up, I'm not going to say anything else"

"When we get back to school, I am going to make you life extremely difficult" she muttered as he walked faster.

"Not likely" he muttered back as she stumbled over a tree root.

About five hundred ways of how she defiantly could, flooded into her mind at that moment, but she didn't voice them. She was too annoyed to argue further.

Hermione analyzed Malfoy's recent words as she walked. It amazed her that in a situation like that, Malfoy could note all of the things he did. 'Suppose it comes from having Lucius Malfoy as a father' she mused looking at Malfoy's new appearance. The other part was probably that he was a Slytherin. 'He'd make an excellent Auror'

Kingsley was right, if she was going to get anywhere with this, she was going to have to think like a dark Wizard, and start to notice the same sort of things.

Her eyes immediately went to the forest around her. It was almost as dark as the alley that she had come from and looked much like the dark forest back at Hogwarts, except that the vegetation was different. It looked and smelled like a pine forest, but was still covered in snow, showing that where ever she was it was winter.

"Malfoy where are we" she asked as there was a far off sound like a birds chirp but louder and slightly deeper.

"Almost to Diagon Alley" he said as they approached a stone wall and Malfoy tapped his wand against it.

"Why didn't you just spell the port key to take me there in the first place?" Hermione snapped as the wall disappeared and a doorway appeared.

"The portkeys weren't registered, if I spelled it here, the ministry would have picked it up obviously"

"You could have – "

"Granger I am warning you one more word and you are going to end up looking worse than I did when that bloody hippogriff attacked me"

"You mean Buckbeak?" Hermione grinned as Malfoy started down the street bitterly. "Oh nothing can beat the look on your face when that happened"

"Granger – "

"Oh wait a second, that time that Professor Moody turned you into a ferret came pretty close"

"Watch it Mudblood" Malfoy sneered heading for Knockturn Alley. Malfoy was settling back into his snobby childish self and Hermione was growing cockier as he settled back into his normal state. In this state she could predict his actions, rather than his cold indifferent tone.

This situation was slowly turning to her advantage.

And she was beginning to like it.

"So where are we going?"

"Goldstep alley"

"Never heard of it"

"A person of you status, I'd hope not, they aren't very tolerant of mudbloods"

"Malfoy, at least my blood is red"

Malfoy muttered something under his breath as he stepped into Knockturn but Hermione let it slide. She had won that round; she could wait awhile until round two. Walking through the narrow alley, Hermione found she was walking quiet close to Malfoy to her almost immediate disgust, but wasn't about to stray too far from him. The looks that she was receiving from the surrounding wizards scared her.

"Grow up Granger" Malfoy sneered.

"Do you have five men staring at you breasts at the moment?" Hermione snapped bluntly regretting that she was still wearing the revolting skin tight robes that she had been forced into in Russia.

"I'd bloody well hope not" he said continuing as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Do as I instructed Granger, they are nothing but vultures, show them you are above them"

Scowling, she held her head higher and stared down her nose at them as Malfoy had told her to. She hated acting like this, but it made them slink away a little, still not enough to make her comfortable.

They walked quiet quickly as Draco led her down five more alley's, their names flashing past or concealed so Hermione gradually didn't know where she was. Suddenly she turned a corner and stepped onto marble, instead of the rough cobblestones she had trod over previous and the walls around her seemed to shimmer white.

Hermione gazed in awe at the beautiful buildings of marble and gold, then the golden statues that lined the wide street. The vividly colored dress shops and café's that were dotted everywhere were a riot of colour, but the thing that attracted the most attention of all was the massive golden fountain that sat in a beautifully manicured park at the end of the alley, that look suspiciously like the fountain of magical brethren.

The shops all advertised beautiful items for ridiculously high prices and in one dress shop hung a banner that read: 'Blueberry Hills: Our prices discriminate, because we can't '.

Hermione guessed that only people with a lot of money would shop here and her thoughts floated to the Weasley's. The discrimination that they spoke of didn't only apply to muggleborns.

"This isn't an alley it is the size of three football fields!" Hermione exclaimed looking around at the beautifully adorned people around her in very expensive dress robes.

"Football?" Malfoy sneered as she remembered who she was talking to.

"Oh three Quiditch pitches then" she corrected still gazing at the streets beauty. "Merlin it is so beautiful"

"I guess it is from a pauper's point of view" he snapped sourly. "Now come on, I want these rings off"

"I am no pauper Malfoy" she said back, not bothering to rise to his bait.

"Whatever Granger, just don't drool on anything" Malfoy snapped as he continued down the street towards a shop that was full of diamond and gemstone jewelry and little crystal animals that were pacing back and forth, or smiling cutely from the window. Above the shops entrance was a diamond encrusted sign that shone beautifully in the afternoon light that read:

'Wallace's fine jewelry: Only the best for the best'

"Malfoy pull your head out of the clouds" she sighed as they entered the shop.

"Ah but to be in Goldstep is to be in the clouds my beautiful lady" Announced a jolly voice from the counter as soon as they walked in. "For Goldstep is heaven on earth!"

The jolly voice quickly became the form of a balding old man with sparkling white dress robes that took Hermione's hand and bowed, before turning to Draco and bowing as well. Gesturing to a white sofa a moment before he seated them on it, he quickly conjured a crystal tea set and a plate of cakes, before adorning Draco with six compliments straight.

'Now I know where he gets the ego from' Hermione though silently as Draco's sneer almost showed how flattered he actually was.

"Now what can I do for you two brilliant people today" He asked as Hermione tried to bite back a laugh. She had heard of shopkeepers sucking up to their buyers but this was ridiculous.

"I want to know how to get this off my finger Wallace, and I am not going to fall for your flattery today, I am in a hurry" Draco snapped as the old man's smile lessened a bit.

"I am sorry Mister Malfoy, but I don't think there is anything I can do for you" the man called Wallace sniffed, not even looking at the ring.

"Come we are leaving" Draco snapped at Hermione.

"Oh but Draco, I so much wanted that little crystal owl in za window, it vas just darling" Hermione said in a flawless French accent.

"Perhaps another time" Draco snapped as Wallace's smile lit back up and he turned to Hermione.

"Why lady you are French" he said helping her off the sofa and leading her to the window. "French woman always have the most exquisite tastes"

"Merci, thank you sir"

"Now which of these adorable creatures did you like again, was it the kitten? Nineteenth century design, extremely playful, or was it the peacock, the most beautiful of my collection, only sixteen made a year?"

"Sir I remember zeeing an owl" she said timidly as Wallace smiled and reached down the front to get the littlest piece. As he leaned into get it Draco shot Hermione a toxic look. She ignored him as Wallace reappeared.

"Hear princess, the scope owl, a rather old design, but still a favorite among the more tasteful witch or wizard" he smiled handing the tiny creature to Hermione. It pecked gently at her palm and looked up at her cutely, letting out a soft hoot.

"Oh it iz adorable!" she exclaimed as Wallace beamed. "How much is it?"

"Normally 15 Galleons, but for you my beautiful French princess, only ten"

"Wallace, just because you are the only jewelry shop on the street, doesn't mean people don't know the worth of this junk" Draco sniffed.

"Oh don't mind Draco e' is just in one oz his moods" Hermione smiled almost as brilliantly as Wallace. "I will take it"

"Wonderful choice lady" Wallace beamed as Hermione pulled out her purse. Ten galleons. It was most of her savings over the holidays, but it was necessary she told herself as she followed him over to the counter.

"Here Monsieur" she smiled putting the coins on the desk as Wallace smiled and began wrapping the little owl in a gift box.

Stepping on Draco's foot as he opened his mouth she leaned on the desk pretending to be looking at the rings beyond the glass.

"Why Draco darling, aren't those ringz simply superb" she exclaimed drawing Wallace's attention from the box.

"Why if only we could get these old things off – "

Hermione broke off as Wallace took her hand an inspected the ring that was on there with a frown.

"Oh dear, this is rather crude for such a dainty hand, one of these would look much better" Wallace sighed gesturing to his rings then looking up at her as if heart broken. Hermione was amazed how easily this con artist could change his expression just for the promise of gold.

"Yes, they are rather 'orid" Hermione sighed. "And they just won't come off! It was a nice though of my friend to give us these as an engagement gift, but – "

"Oh mademoiselle, this is no good at all, now let me see" taking out his wand he poked the ring and muttered "linkin"

Nothing happened.

"Hmm looks like a binding spell was put of them unfortunately"

"Well, couldn't you just unbind them" Draco shot darkly.

"No I'm afraid; this spell is not a usual one."

"What does dis spell actually do?" Hermione ventured.

"As much as I can tell, simply links your minds. Allows you to see each other at all times"

"And will they come off?"

"Luckily, yes lady, after a moon cycle" Wallace said, his mood lifting. "So perhaps you would want a better ring then, yes?" he said releasing Hermione's hand and passing her the gift box as he took the money from the counter.

"Perhaps" she said as Wallace gave another smile and Malfoy started for the door.

"Here lady I will only charge you seven for the owl" he said dropping three coins in her hand as Draco took her other and began to lead her from the shop. "Never forget, Wallace's jewelers, we only sell the best" he called after her as Draco yanked her roughly out the door.

"That was point less" Malfoy snapped not letting go of her hand and leading her into the café next door and into one of the booths at the back. "A book could have told us the same thing and it would have cost less"

Ignoring him again Hermione looked around at the café. It was just as showy as the rest of Goldstep and was decorated in shades of pastels with portraits of smiling witches and wizards adorning all the walls except the part behind the tall glass counter where a large white marble list was displaying the orders in golden letters that faded as the meal was served.

"Let go of me Malfoy" she said quietly as two women from the table across stared at the two as they sat down.

"Not that I minded you wasting all of your money Granger, it was still a waste of time for me" Draco snapped as a waiter approached the table.

"What would you like today?" the waiter asked as he handed Hermione and Draco a menu. Hermione noted that he too was wearing the same white robes as Wallace had been and guessed they must be worn by all the shopkeepers in the alley.

"Vanilla Latte" Malfoy said not even bothering to open his menu and handing it back.

"You had better get some food, we won't be eating for awhile" Malfoy said as the waiter was called over by the two women opposite. When he came back it was Hermione's turn to order.

"I will just have a lemon tea" she said embarrassed at the prices and putting the menu down. Even if she hadn't spent her money in Wallace's shop, she doubted if she would have enough to buy anything.

"She will also have a piece of apple pie" Malfoy said as he stood up. "Now excuse me a moment Nicole, I have to go and wash my hands"

Annoyed at the double meaning on Malfoy's part she almost threw her menu at the waiter that flicked his wand at the list on the wall adding her order to it before moving away as quickly as possible.

"This was a great day" she muttered as one of the women across from her smiled at her before turning back to talk to the other one. "When did god suddenly decide that he hated me?"

"Darling I know the exact feeling" the portrait beside her muttered, its head painted in a guillotine. The irony of the moment almost made her laugh.

Almost.

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Note: hey just going to drop a quick note at the end of this chapter so it's not annoying you all at first. Yes, in the first chapter I specified exactly where I would be sending any flames I would be getting in this story, but I just wanted to comment on Obsidian_Magic's review. I have no problem with critical reviews, I welcome them in fact, they are extremely helpful. But I hate nit pickers. Although I am very flattered that you bothered to review even if it was a flame. My cat thanks you, but no she didn't write it. If you have something constructive to say then review, by all means, but I am just reminding you that flames like that will be ignored. Have a nice day.

Amethyst.

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