Hermione looked at him, surprised. "The Dark Mark? Why?" Draco shrugged, "I don't really know. Maybe they think that if they give me the Dark Mark I'll think that there's no way back and give up on everything." Hermione considered this for a moment. "Will you?" He leaned back and took her head in his hands. "Will I what?" Hermione leaned on her arm. "Will you give up?" Draco looked at her, irritated. "No, what kind of question is that?" Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. You can't expect me to trust you." Draco now looked offended. "You've spent the last month living with me, sleeping on my bed and you don't trust me?" Hermione tried to convince herself, "That was different, I was cat. I didn't have to trust you." But she knew that she already trusted him. She didn't really have a choice. Draco nodded, and fell silent. They both withdrew into their own minds for a minute or two.
Draco broke the silence first, "What about tonight?" Hermione blinked and asked "Tonight?" Draco nodded, "Yes. Will you sleep on my bed tonight?" Hermione answered the question that had not been asked. "I can't. It's too dangerous with your father here." Draco hesitated and asked, "What if I told you he wasn't here?" Hermione looked at him sternly, "You mean he isn't?" Admittedly she had not smelled him all day, but that only meant that he had not walked down the corridor. Draco shook his head. "No, he and mother left this morning to visit my uncle in Manchester. They won't be back until tomorrow afternoon." The miniature sneakoscope in Hermione's pocket did not go off.
Hermione got up and walked towards the bathroom. Draco watched her and she could feel his eyes on her back like she had so many times before. She turned to face him, "I need to take a shower, to think some things over. We'll talk afterwards." Draco nodded. "I'm suddenly very hungry. Do you want anything?" She thought for a moment. "Egg and chip please." He nodded and she shut the bathroom door. How long Hermione spent in the shower she did not know, but when she stepped out wrapped in a towel there were two plates of egg and chip on a small table by the bed. She guessed she had probably been a half hour in all. Draco was sitting waiting for her. She wrapped the towel more tightly around her and sat down next to him.
"Your house elf did a good job. But I didn't hear him come in." Draco smiled softly, "That's because I did all this." Hermione could not hide her surprise. "Even the cooking?" He nodded. She picked up her knife and fork and dipped a chip into the egg and took a bite. She had to admit that it was pretty good. Draco now began to eat but was watching her carefully. "Yes?" she asked. "Is it all right?" he asked. "It's fine, why?" Draco finished his mouthful and replied, "I've never cooked for anyone else before." Hermione continued chowing down and soon she was full. "Do you cook often?" she asked as Draco magicked the plates to the kitchen and the table elsewhere. "When mother and father aren't around I cook for myself and let Rind do as he pleases. There's no point making him cook when it's just me." Hermione was admittedly impressed, but she set her mind to business.
"Draco, about tomorrow. I have an invisibility cloak but I am going to need your help." Draco looked at her. "What if I don't help you?" Hermione thought for a minute. "I leave you here, miserable and lonely. And then you can do just as your father wants and join the Death Eaters." She knew this would push his buttons. He did look angry as he considered his choices again. "Hermione, I won't become a Death Eater, even if you leave. In fact I think it would be best for both of us if you did leave." Hermione opened her mouth to reply harshly, but instead she took her time to think her response through. "You don't want me to leave Draco." He smiled. "You're right, I don't. But I don't want you to come tomorrow. It's too dangerous, and not because you're inept," he added quickly at her annoyed look. "These men, they're bad. They're like Dementors, only human. They love pain and suffering. What they do to me is nothing compared to what they would do to you, you're muggle-born."
Hermione got up and went to the bathroom again. "What are you doing?" "Getting dressed," she called through the door as she pulled on her jeans and shirt. "Oh." Draco sounded disappointed. Though, Hermione thought, she had taken special care never to see him fully in the nude she had seen quite a lot of him without clothes. She came back out and sat next to him. She took his hand. "I know that they're bad Draco but you have to understand the Order needs more information. And once that you come back with me, the Order is one source less. I need to get the best information I can tomorrow and then you'll get never have to look back. I'm going whether you like it or not, but I do want your help. Please…" Draco sat in silence for a few minutes. "Where will we go?" She sighed, not particularly wanting to tell him in case his father tortured it out of him. But she knew that his devotion to her was a fatal attraction, he would die before he betrayed her.
"It's called Grimmauld Place. It used to belong to Sirius Black. As the closest thing to family Sirius had, Harry inherited it when he…passed on." Draco nodded. "We have pictures, mother showed me. My grandmother and Sirius' mother were friends." "Yes, well. When the meeting is over we'll come back here and leave through the floo network." He looked at her disbelievingly. "And that's it? It's just that simple?" She shrugged, "In theory, yes. But you should pack." "Pack what?" She looked around. "Clothes, books, things you will need. And money. It's doubtful your father will be willing to provide you any once you leave." He looked annoyed again and said "I wish I'd known when we'd gone to Diagon Alley, I could have emptied my vault."
He said we, she thought. He's been saying we, as if it's already decided in his head. At least Ron isn't around to deal with this. Then she felt guilty. She was thinking like she was glad Ron was dead and she was not. While it did admittedly make the whole Draco situation more bearable, not having to face the look on Ron's face. She missed him. He had died a few weeks after they had visited the ministry's Department of Mysteries. It had been sudden, and according to the healer's in St. Mungo's it was something that the strange brain thing had done to him. They had comforted everyone with that fact that his death while sudden was painless. This was, however, little comfort. She brought herself back to reality and found that he was watching her intently. "What's wrong?" She shook her head, not able to speak and went to his closet, pulling out his Hogwarts trunk. "Just thinking about Ron. Help me pack," she said. She began pulling down his Hogwarts robes from their hangers, fighting back her tears.
Draco watched her, folding his shirts and laying them in his trunk. "I'm sorry about Ron," he said quietly. She looked at him, and hung his head slightly. "He told the Death Eaters just after it happened." She nodded as she folded his robes and was about to put them in his trunk. She stopped when she noticed the Slytherin crest that had been sewn on carefully by a house elf. She ran her fingers over the silver and green patch, and Draco watched her. "Will you go back to them?" He looked at the patch. "I don't think I can. Probably isn't safe. Can I transfer houses?" Hermione shrugged, "I don't see why not. I'm sure Dumbledore would be happy to have the hat re-sort you." Draco thought for a moment or two, "Can the hat do that?" She shrugged, "People change. Who you were is not who you are now. Did you ask the hat to be in Slytherin?" "Yes. Why?" She smiled, "well you didn't give the hat a choice in the first place did you? I'm sure it will re-sort you." Draco looked comforted at the thought.