Keep Your Enemies Closer

by juxtaposed

The battles keep getting bigger, the losses more profound. When the ultimate loss happens, everything changes. Everyone changes. Harry and Ginny now find themselves dealing with an old friend - and a new enemy. But how do you defend yourself against someone who knows everything about you? Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

also

Hermione reminisces. Harry has mental arguments. Ginny just has issues.

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies, blah blah blah; I don't own anything or anyone you recognize. Unless, of course, you recognize something or someone I do. No lawsuits or paperwork, please.

Chapter Five: An Attempt At Drawing Out Suspense

She smiled at him as she took his offered hand, quickly taking in his appearance. He was tall, and slim, but well proportioned, and he dressed to flaunt it, with a well-cut shirt, trousers and sleek robes. All in black, of course, which only served to highlight his platinum locks, which framed and softened his angular face. "Well, you haven't changed a bit," she remarked dryly.

He chuckled. "I saw nothing wrong with how I looked before."

"And the arrogance is still there, obviously." She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Not arrogance, dear girl. Merely a great faith in my appearance." He smirked his trademark smirk at her, and she couldn't help smiling at him. "And, might I add, you haven't exactly been a whole new person since our last encounter."

"Ah, but I have," she reminded him. He acknowledged her comment with a nod. "It's cold out tonight, Draco, are you going to invite me in?"

"What, do you require permission, like a common vampire? Perhaps you have changed more than I thought." He smirked again, even as he held the door open. She rolled her eyes at him playfully as she entered the mansion. He could be a little antagonistic at times, but she found him to be dry-witted and amusing at most others. And, considering all their history, she was glad for his company, and rather enjoyed their friendly bantering; it was vastly different from their relationship only three years ago.

Draco Malfoy had always been a prat. From the very first day they had met, on the train, and he had given her his renowned sneer, they had been fast foes. When she had befriended Harry and Ron, it had gotten worse. He felt threatened that she was not only better than him in all their studies, and she was a member of the "golden Trio", but that she was achieving all her success despite being - as he so often crudely put it - a "mudblood". It was a taunt that had lasted throughout Hogwarts, right up till their sixth year. That year, Draco's father had been sentenced to Azkaban, and the boy's entire demeanour had changed dramatically. Not that he was going around giving people Chocolate Frogs, but he was decidedly less acidic than in his previous years. And he and Harry, after a meeting with Dumbledore, had developed a certain sort of civility between them, which eventually extended to include Hermione, Ginny and Ron. It turned out that Draco was not really a fan of Voldemort, and had wished to offer a truce to Harry now that he did not have his father forcing him to serve the Dark Lord. And then, in later events, Draco and Harry had struck up something oddly - and with no waning degrees of surrealism - very much like camaraderie. Ron, in true form, trusted his best friend although he still held his reservations, Ginny just took everything at face value, and Hermione had, too, until the day her parents had been killed.

Ron and Ginny had pleaded with her to stop and think things through, to which she had fixed them with a cold glare and told them she had. When they realized they wouldn't get through to her, they started in on her "accomplice" - Harry. Harry had simply eyed her very intensely, then told the siblings to bugger off. Then he had grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and Marauder's Map and, without a word, left the dorm, Hermione right next to him. She remembered everything that had transpired that night. She had realized Harry had planned to go with her, and despite being acutely aware she was a complete and utter hypocrite, insisted he was not to follow.

Harry had stopped in his tracks, and met her gaze very coolly. "Then you're not going."

"Harry! That's not -"

"Hermione. You are not going alone to face Voldemort. You know you wont last five minutes." Harry had simply stated the facts, and gave her a look to suggest that she definitely could not disagree. She had simply glared daggers at him, and his tone softened. "Look, I understand, ok? Maybe you don't think I do, but I do. Trust me. I know what its like to lose someone."

"Then you'll let me -"

"Not alone. I know you're angry, and I can feel your power, but remember - I'm the only one who has a chance of killing him." And she had seen the set look on his face; she would not be able to dissuade him. So she had sighed and nodded.

"Fine. Let's go."

"Not without us, you're not." They had turned to see Ron and Ginny standing a few feet behind them. "Do you really think I'd let my two best friends walk right out of here to face a demented evil wizard without me, and miss out on all the fun?" Ron had said, a weak lopsided grin on his face.

"And do you think I'd let all of you go by yourselves, and have Mum kill me if anything happened?" Ginny had added wryly. "The least you could do is let me have some fun, or, well, die trying." Despite the heavy air that hung around them, they all chuckled. It ought to have been disturbing, the flippant way the four teenagers approached the thought of death, but they all knew that if they took it too seriously, they would never have lasted as long as they had. And with that, Hermione had given them a grim smile.

"You forget, you don't know where to find him." A cool, silky voice suddenly materialized. They had turned to see Draco appear from around the corner, on his fine features an unreadable expression. "You shouldn't be so hasty."

"I don't have time for this, Draco," Hermione said, rather snappishly.

"You shouldn't be so hasty," he had repeated, a gleam in his eye. She had simply growled and turned away, but Harry had caught the look in the blonde's eyes, and caught her arm.

"You know something, don't you, Draco?" Harry had stated curiously. Draco had simply smirked, and gave a barely perceptible tilt of his head.

"I wouldn't jump to conclusions, Harry. In fact, I wouldn't do very much at all, if I were you."

"What are you getting at?" Ron asked impatiently. "Stop speaking in riddles."

"But I speak of a Riddle," Draco had simply replied, fixing them all with a very pointed look, especially Ginny, whose jaw had hardened. "And when one's emotions run high, one can expect certain hastiness to blind them. And I wouldn't simply give away the...prize to this Riddle, so to speak." He and Harry had exchanged a look, and Harry nodded his understanding. "It would be advisable to take some time to think about this particular quandary before taking any action which might be foreseeable." And with that, Draco had turned away and walked off, leaving the four Gryffindors alone again.

"Well, he's off his nut," Ron had remarked. Harry shook his head.

"He knows what he's talking about." Harry had glanced at Hermione. "Do you?"

She had just stared in the direction the Slytherin had left. "Unfortunately."

Hermione took in her surroundings now - lavish but not flashy, opulent but not ostentatious. It was a beautiful, tastefully done up house, very much befitting the man before her, who, due to his considerable inheritance, was – for the lack of better words – filthy rich, and lived to reflect it, as scores of his ancestors had doubtless done. However, quite unlike his parents, who were often nothing short of gaudy, Draco knew exactly how to handle his wealth - never overdo it. He noticed her admiration, and raised an eyebrow at her.

"I trust my taste meets with your approval," he said. She turned to him, a smile on her lips, as he continued. "You see, I dress my house as finely as I dress myself."

"With pure unadulterated arrogance?" She couldn't resist taking a shot at him.

"Again with the arrogance. Its faith in my tastes, dear girl. Faith." Draco smirked at her knowingly. "However, I have a feeling that you did not ask to meet with me purely as a social call, and most certainly not to discuss my exquisite taste in aesthetics. Shall we move into the meeting room, for more...privacy?"

"Isn't the manor protected?" Hermione asked curiously.

"From the outside, yes. From within, no. You see, my dear, the walls do have ears, and should they be persuaded to speak it would not be very pretty to behold."

"I'm afraid, Draco, that all the time that you have spent alone is taking its toll on you, you're speaking with the clarity and directness of a madman."

He merely gave her that smirk of his as he led her into a charmed room - she could feel the magick, thick around her, as she entered. "I speak so as to give nothing away, Hermione," he said with all seriousness as soon as they were safe within the room. "You ought to know the danger of revealing any information unintentionally."

"And I do. I just think that, given I am one of the dangers, that I don't need to worry quite so much." Hermione stated matter-of-factly.

He regarded her with a measure of amusement. "I'm aware of that, but I don't quite have that privilege." After a pause, he added, dryly, "And you call me arrogant."

"You are. But we aren't here to discuss that, as you pointed out earlier."

"Ah, yes. Then what, may I ask, are we here to discuss?"

AN: Thanks to any reviewers, you make my day. :)

AN: A special note to tiggieotoo: I cant tell you what's happening…yet. All will be revealed in the coming chapters – eventually. :) Thanks for reviewing!

AN: I keep getting people telling me not to post under Harry/Hermione, because this isn't a ship for them, but my reasoning is that they are the central characters, so I will keep it how it is, unless it's REALLY that big a deal to you people.