A/N: Thanks for the reviews, they make my day. Sorry it's been so long since I updated, but things have been kind of poopy. I'm feeling a bit better now, though, so I will be updating more often. I hope.

Next chapter I will have chocolate chip cookies (without nuts), pumpkin and apple pie, and cheesecake. Please come back and have some.

The two women crept up the stairs quietly, wands out. The sunlight reminded Hermione of the day Ron died. I can't let it happen again. I can't let another man die here because of me.

It wasn't your fault last time, the little voice in her head said.

If I had been here…

You could have been killed.

Yeah, I know, but I could have saved him.

Maybe you couldn't.

Hermione was tired of arguing with the voice in her head, but she couldn't help but think of all the similarities. That day, and today, she went to the market to buy food for someone. It was morning. Death Eaters. Grimmauld Place. The two menwere even staying in the same bedroom.

The difference is Draco is a better wizard, the voice said.

SHUT UP! I'M DONE TALKING TO YOU!

She shook her head, as if to clear it. She felt a little dizzy. The stairs started to swim in front of her face. Distantly, she could hear Ginny calling her.

"Mione. Hey, Mione. Hermione. HERMIONE." She suddenly felt a stinging sensation in her face. She blinked and looked at Ginny.

"What?"

"Snap out of it. You're okay. It'll be okay. Think about right now. Let's do this."

Hermione took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Let's go."

- - - - -

Draco was in the bathroom and heard someone thundering up the stairs. He quickly pulled his pants up and grabbed his wand. What the hell is going on?

He heard footsteps coming closer to the bathroom. They were heavy, so they weren't Hermione's or the Weaselette's. Who the hell is it? Suddenly, a terrifying thought crossed his mind. They found me. How'd they find me? Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT. He whispered a locking charm at the door to buy himself some more time. Who told them? It wasn't Hermione-

"Hermione!" he whispered, a little panicked now. He had brought them here, he had put her in danger. She didn't deserve that. It was all his fault. She wasn't the only one, either. There was that redheaded little snot, too. Is there anyone else here? Who else have I fucked things up for?

The footsteps stopped outside the bathroom. He heard some muttering, then, "Find him. Do not let him get away. He must not be allowed to go free." Double shit again. He heard at least three of them in this hallway alone. "He's got to be in the house somewhere. Search every room. Right now, he's our main priority. Leave anyone else." Well, the girls will be okay, then.

He climbed up on the sink so he could see out the window. Normally, he wouldn't run away, but he didn't think he could take on more than two Death Eaters at a time, and there were at least three on that floor. Not only that, but the girls could be hurt, and he didn't want to be held responsible for that. So, he looked for another way out. He sized up the window. He might be able to fit through it, but it was doubtful. His shoulders were too broad. Dammit. He'd just have to put an Enlargement Charm on the window and hope it would stretch to fit him. He whispered at the window, and a little jet of purple light shot out the end of his wand. The window looked a little fuzzy at the edges, which meant the charm had worked. He tried to slide the window open as quietly as he could, but it wouldn't budge. "Alohomora." The window didn't budge. Just as he was contemplating the idea of just busting the window out, the door burst open, allowing the three men in to the bathroom. He turned at the sound and nearly passed out at the sight.

"Well, well, well. A coward. What did you think you were going to do? Get away with it? You don't just walk away from the Dark Lord. If he weren't so busy, he'd be here to kill you himself. However, since that isn't possible, we're to take you in for 'questioning'. After that, you will be left alone for a while, not knowing when death will come. Then the Dark Lord will have the pleasure of erasing your pitiful existence. Crucio!" the hooded figure called. Draco was caught unaware after the sudden end to the speech. He fell off the edge of the sink into the tub, shaking with the pain coursing through his body. He didn't let out a sound, however; he was well used to this from his parents, who were both better at it than these three put together. He closed his eyes so he couldn't see the room shake around him.

His torturer lifted the curse. "Had enough?" he asked with a cruel laugh.

"I think he has," said a high-pitched feminine voice.

- - - - -

Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing. Draco wasn't making a noise; not only that, he didn't even look like he felt the pain. When the bastard using the curse lifted it, he laughed and asked, "Had enough?"

Hermione replied, "I think he has." He and his comrades whipped around to find two wands pointed directly in their faces. "However, I don't think you've had your share." Hermione, always a stickler for the rules, would never use an Unforgivable on someone else, no matter who they were. Well, maybe except for Voldemort himself. There were better ways to put a man through torture. She poked the one right in front of her in the eye with her wand, then took aim at the bastard that had been torturing Draco and shouted, "Reducio!" He doubled over in pain. Ginny had cursed the Death Eater in front of her, then turned and used the same curse on the one Hermione had poked in the eye. Both of them were bound and gagged with their pants around their ankles.

Draco was so shocked, he was still laying in the tub. "Holy shit."

"Yeah. How many more are there?"

"I don't know, but there are more upstairs."

"Well, what do you say we go get them?"

Draco looked at her, surprise on his face. "Sure. Let's."

Before they left, Ginny put an anti-Apparition Jinx on all three of them, then they made their way towards the stairs.

The three of them were nearly to the landing when they heard what sounded like two more on their way down the stairs. They were arguing about something, and weren't taking any care to be quiet. Hermione looked at Ginny and asked, "Ready?"

"Yep."

They jumped on the landing, pointed their wands upwards, and shouted, "Reducio!" Both of the men doubled over at the waist and fell down the stairs. When they reached the landing, one had passed out, but the other was still conscious, though he was vomiting from the pain.

Draco strode over to the one still awake. "How many of you are here?"

"Six."

He turned to the women standing at his side. "Did you find the other one?"

Hermione turned to Ginny, who grinned. "Yeah, we got him." Ginny put another anti-Apparition jinx on the two Death Eaters. She said, "Locomotor Death Eaters," who began floating down the stairs in front of her. "I'll meet you two downstairs. Go get the other three." Draco and Hermione nodded.

They retrieved the rest of the Death Eaters from the bathroom, levitating them down the stairs. Draco looked at Hermione and posed a question.

"Why were you using 'Reducio'?"

Hermione grinned evilly. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if you point at their crotch, their cock shrivels up. From what I understand, it doesn't feel too good." Draco winced. "Of course, it doesn't work as well on women, but there are ways to put them in pain, too."

"Remind me to never piss you off."

"Don't ever piss me off," she said with another grin.

"Ha ha, very funny."

XXXXX

"Merlin. Did she really do that?" Pansy asked.

"Yep."

"Holy shit." Pansy was impressed against her will. That is really evil. I never would have thought of that. Maybe she should have been in Slytherin. She certainly thinks like one. She smirked.

Draco saw her smirk and read her thoughts. "Yeah, she would have been one hell of a Slytherin, wouldn't she?"

Pansy nodded her head in agreement. "That'd probably the only Mud-er, Muggleborn in Slytherin. Ever."

Draco nodded. "Especially now that she's a Malfoy."

Pansy had nearly forgotten. "Yeah, I guess you could have done worse. I mean, Merlin. I can't believe she would think of something that… painful."

"The pain isn't all of it. Try going pee when you don't have a dick." Pansy shuddered. She definitely should have been in Slytherin. "Their wives weren't exactly happy, either."

Pansy giggled and gestured for another cup of tea. "Speaking of pee, I'll be right back." She stood up and Draco watched her walk away. She doesn't even know the half of it. He smirked to himself.

XXXXX

Hermione, Ginny, and Draco made their way downstairs and gathered all six Death Eaters in the drawing room. Ginny lit a fire with a prod of her wand, threw a pinch of Floo powder in the fire, and stuck her head in, calling, "Headmaster's Quarters, Hogwarts!" After a minute, they heard Dumbledore's voice, slightly muffled due to the flames.

"Albus, we have six renegade Death Eaters at headquarters. What do you want us to do with them?" He mumbled something in response and Ginny pulled her head out of the fire. "He'll be here in a few with other me-, um, backup." Ginny had changed her original answer of 'members of the Order' because Hermione had sent her a Look.

Draco looked back and forth between them curiously. "What's going on here? Why are you so secretive around me?"

"You'll have to ask Dumbledore," Hermione replied.

"I don't want to, I already asked you. What are you hiding?"

"You don't understand. I, even if I felt so inclined, can not tell you what's going on. If I did, it would sound something like this: 'This is the Hermph mmf dr Erdhrpef Fffncks'."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Draco was starting to get a bit peeved.

"It means you need to have some patience."

"I don't want to. I want to know now."

"Well, that's just too bad, isn't it?"

"You're such a pain, Granger."

"You're such a ferret, Malfoy."

"Shut up. Don't call me that."

"Well, quit asking stupid questions and acting like a two-year-old."

"What if I don't want to?"

Hermione smirked. "Remember how you asked me to remind you not to piss me off?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you're pissing me off. Stop it."

"Oh, yeah, like you'd do anything like that," Draco scoffed. Hermione raised her wand.

Finally, Ginny jumped in between the two. "Knock it off, you two. Do I need to put you in time-out?"

Just as they were about to retort, there was a clearing of the throat behind them. They looked around and saw Dumbledore. "Oh, finally, I get some answers," Draco called. "What's going on here? What aren't you telling me? Why won't these two tell me anything? What-"

"Mr. Malfoy, I will explain in," he looked at his pocket watch with twelve hands, "fifteen minutes. First, I have some business to attend to." He gestured towards the huddle of men on the floor. "I will return as soon as I can." He smiled and bowed, then removed the bodies from Grimmauld Place and disappeared.

Ginny watched the two 'adults' in front of her sulking. Sighing inwardly, she said, "Why don't we go have a cup of chocolate?" Draco looked at her, a little light shining in his silver eyes, and Hermione glowered at her, sparks shooting from her deep brown ones. "Well, let's go," Ginny called cheerfully. She turned and left the room.

Draco made to leave right behind her, but Hermione held him back. "Why can't you be a little mature and act like an adult for once?" she hissed. "That was a stupid way to act, and uncalled for."

Draco had other things on his mind, like chocolate. "Fine, I'm sorry. Can we go now?" He sounded a bit impatient again.

"No, that's not good enough. You're just saying that. You don't mean it, and that isn't good enough."

"Well, that's all you're getting."

Hermione seemed to freeze. "Oh. Okay. Well, I guess you won't be getting any until you apologize and actually mean it."

Draco didn't immediately notice what she said, he was so focused on getting some chocolate. "Yeah, whatever." A few seconds later, her words caught up to his thoughts. He stood rooted to the spot. "Any what, exactly?"

"You know what I mean."

"You mean no – no – " Draco looked horrified. "NO chocolate?"

Hermione looked at him, then burst into a fit of giggles. "Yeah, sure, that, too."

"What do you mean, that, too?" He seemed to be grasping for something else he would be denied. A light came on in his eyes, turning them a shining silver. "You can't mean – "

"Yep. I can, and I do. No screwing until you apologize, and mean it."

Hermione made her way down to the kitchen, leaving a stunned Draco behind her. Serves him right, being an arrogant prat like that. I told him no, and he just wouldn't drop it, then he started calling me names. How childish is that?

Draco stood in the hall for a few moments. No sex? Just for asking her a simple question? What a pain in my ass. I don't need that. Screw her. I'll find out anyway. Dumbledore already told me he'd tell me what's going on. I don't need her. He smirked. I don't need anyone.