Hahaha don't worry I will keep posting even if you decide to hunt me down and gut me like a fish. I love all the reviews too much to stop. They make my day.

Anyway just want to address some issues. Ron and Hermione are not together YET... And I'm not really sure if they will end up together. I mean I kind of like the idea but... well I'm still thinking about it. But for now, Ron really likes Hermione (and I believe Hermione likes him too) and hence he's really worried about her.

Now, on with the story. Oh and keep the reviews coming. I love them!

Chapter 27: Allying with the Enemy

Janieve crushed the third piece of parchment in frustration. Her transfiguration homework was going nowhere with her current state of mind. It had been three days since Hermione's disappearance and Janieve had not heard from her headmaster or anyone for that matter. The whole school had treated her like dirt and not a single person believed in her innocence. Unable to contain the hurt she felt when faced with all the look of hatred threw at her by her fellow house mates, Janieve had sought refuge by a corner of the lake during her lunch break. She realised with a pang that if Hermione was here, at least there would be one who would trust her.

Someone dropped a packet of sandwich onto Janieve's lap and she looked up to see, with surprise, a Draco Malfoy.

Janieve was even more surprised when he said, "I noticed you did not have lunch with you."

Janieve eyed him suspiciously, which caused Malfoy to replace his neutral expression with a nasty one. "What?" he demanded, "Just because I don't agree with Harry Potter and those who associates with him doesn't mean I can't be nice to those on my side."

"Nothing. I'm just not used to seeing this side of you, that's all," Janieve replied coolly. She lifted the sandwich and took a large bite.

"Have anyone told you that the way you eat is revolting," Malfoy sneered.

Janieve ignored him and took another large bite out of her lunch. Malfoy stared at her with an upturned nose as she licked the juice off her fingers when she was done.

"So what do you want from me?" Janieve asked, finally acknowledging Malfoy's presence.

"What are you talking about?" Malfoy said slyly.

"Come on Malfoy, no matter what you say, we both know you're not a nice person," Janieve said flatly.

"Then you obviously don't know me well enough," Malfoy countered.

"Thanks for you lunch then. Bye," Janieve replied. She jumped to her feet and turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Janieve smirked and turned to look at him with satisfaction.

"We are both in the same class for Snape's lesson. Let's go together," said Malfoy, this time the smirk on his face.

Janieve was still trying to recover from shock as Malfoy dragged her towards the school by her arms. She had almost been sure Malfoy was going to ask a favour from her. Apparently, he was not as readable as Janieve had thought he was.

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Harry's jaw nearly dropped when Janieve stepped into Snape's dungeon with Malfoy by her arms. Although this was not the first time Harry had seen her with him but to see them on friendly terms in front of everyone was something new.

"I told you, Harry," Ron had whispered to him. Harry and Ron had made things up yesterday. Harry had apologised to Ron while Ron had forgiven him readily. Harry had however left out what he had overheard Janieve said to Malfoy. He figured that would only agitate Ron further and not make the situation any better.

By the end of the lesson, Harry felt any sense of good feeling he might have towards Janieve at the start of the year dissipated. She had sat with the Slytherin crowd during Potions and kept whispering quietly but noticeably in each others' ears. To make matters worse, Snape had picked on Harry twice than he usually did and Harry had blamed it on Janieve unjustifiably.

As Harry walked back to the Gryffindor tower after dinner that night, he was surer than ever that Janieve was the culprit to Hermione's disappearance and he knew the only way to find out where Hermione was, was to tail and spy on Janieve.

When the students in the common room began to thin out, Harry went back to his dorm to retrieve his father's cloak. He stayed under the cloak even after everyone had gone back to bed.

As Harry had predicted, Janieve crept down the stairs leading to the girls' dorm at a little after midnight. She slipped stealthily out of the door and Harry followed suit without wasting time.

He followed her down the corridor and as he made a turn, he, once again, lost sight of her. Harry almost stamped his feet down in frustration. However, he stopped himself in time when he heard someone talking.

"You've got the mark! You are a Death Eater!" said a male voice.

"No please calm down. Listen to me!" said a female voice.

"No I'm going to tell Dumbledore. He trusted you but I warned him. I warned him but he didn't believe me. I know! You are the one that placed the portkey spell on the broom!" said the man.

"No wait!" she shouted.

Harry swerved to the side just in time before Snape collided into him. Harry looked behind him at Snape's quickly retreating form when he felt someone knocked him down.

"Ouch… Who's there?" said Florence Winter.

Harry placed his palm over his mouth to preventing himself for gasping. Florence made a wild grab for Harry as he picked himself up as fast as he could.

"Harry!" Florence cried when she pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak. Harry stood up straight and felt for his wand in his pocket.

"Get away from me you filthy Death Eater," Harry spat, his wand pointed at her. "And I thought Janieve was the traitor.

"No Harry, please listen to me. I did not send Miss Granger to the Dark Lord," she explained.

"Of course you did not. You'd wanted to send Janieve instead," Harry said angrily.

"You're mistaken Harry. I don't work for the Dark Lord," Florence said.

"Snape says you've got the dark mark," Harry stated.

"Yes I have the dark mark but that was all in the past," she replied.

"You think I'd believe you?" Harry said sarcastically.

"Yes, if you give me time to prove to you," she answered confidently.

"How?" Harry asked.

"Come to my office and I'll show you everything," said Florence.

Harry hesitated. It would be really stupid to follow her to her office. Who knows what she might do to him then. But she sounded really genuine and Harry was pretty sure if it came down to a one to one duel, he would win her. Besides, Snape had already gone to Dumbledore, they would definitely be looking for her.

"Okay," he replied.

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Janieve walked towards the room of the requirement and saw a door already in place. She gently pushed open the door and walked in cautiously. The room was bare except for the serpents carvings on the otherwise black walls and a few rows of blood red curtains that ran parallel to the length of the room.

"Malfoy?" she called. She drew back the curtains nearest to her and felt a slight pricking feeling on her neck.

"Puntio!"

Janieve leapt out of the way as a jet of red light narrowly missed her shoulders.

"Impressive," said Draco Malfoy as he emerged from one of the curtains.

"What? Were you trying to hex me?" Janieve demanded angrily.

"No. I was merely testing your reflexes," Draco said smugly.

"What does the spell do anyway?" Janieve asked.

"Basically gives a kick in the place where it'll hurt the person most," replied Draco.

Janieve gave him a sly look and he quickly added, "Don't you even think about it."

Janieve smirked. "I'll think about what I want to think about," she informed him. "What did you asked me here for?" Janieve added before Draco could think of a comeback.

At that, Malfoy's face lit up excitedly. "Thought something might interest you," he said mysteriously.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Patience my dear," he replied.

"I don't really have all the patience in the world, Malfoy," said Janieve wanly. "Either you show them to me now or I'm leaving."

"What a feisty temper," commented Draco, "it's no wonder mother always say the Lestranges are an obstinate pair." He reached into his pocket and withdrew from it a spherical object made of a dark glassy material. He held it out to her.

"What's this…" Janieve asked as she bent over slightly to survey the intriguing object. Changing images seemed to be floating inside the ball. On a closer look, Janieve realised with a sick feeling that the moving images were actually memories of deaths committed by the Death Eaters. Her stomach gave a queasy lurch.

"It's a pensieve orb. I stole this from my father's room over Christmas. Apparently, my father and his associates had made this orb to remember the good times," Malfoy said with a conceited look and Janieve felt like smashing the orb against his face.

How sick can the Death Eaters get? She wondered.

"That's very… interesting," she said slowly, "Anyway, is this all you've asked me here for?"

"What do you mean is this all?" Malfoy seethed. "Don't you find this brilliant? I want you to have it."

"What for?" Janieve asked incredulously. "Besides, doesn't it belong to your father?"

"Yes but he won't notice. Just take it," he said and thrust it into her hands.

Janieve pushed it back to him. "No."

"Take it!"

"NO!"

Prang!

"Look what you've done!" yelled Draco.

"I'm sorry!" Janieve said though she really was not sorry.

The orb had shattered into a million pieces on the ground and the images had dissipated into clouds and slowly vanished into thin air.

Draco stared at Janieve furiously. He grabbed her shoulders and rammed her back against the wall. Janieve felt a fragment of fear as she saw the anger in his cold blue eyes. However, he suddenly leaned towards her face and pressed his lips against her.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!" Janieve exclaimed as she bit his lips and shove him away.

Draco merely wiped the trickle of blood away from his lips with the back of his hand.

"Good bye Malfoy," Janieve said coldly and she turned to leave.

"No one says no to Draco Malfoy."

Janieve felt herself being flung across the room and crashed into the curtains which she dragged down with her as she fell.

"I said no one says no to Draco Malfoy!"

Janieve stood up shakily and spun around to face him. "Diffindo!"

The side of Malfoy's arms slit open to reveal his flesh and blood. "Crucio!" he yelled.

Janieve felt a terrible sense of pain hit her and she collapsed on the floor in spasm.

"Incarcerous!" Janieve yelled when she recovered her senses. Thick ropes shot out from Janieve's wand and bound Malfoy's limps to his side. He struggled to release himself and Janieve made use of his distraction to switch into her Killet form and slipped out of the room.

She remained in her Killet form until she finally returned to the Gryffindor common room safely. She collapsed onto the couch, still shaky from the Cruciatus spell and fell into a daze.

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As Harry lay to sleep that night, he could not forget what he had seen in Professor Winter's office.

"Attack me, Harry," she said.

"Huh?" said Harry.

"Attack me with Legilimency. I know you have been learning it from Professor Dumbledore. Attack me with Legilimency and I'll show you what happened more than fifteen years ago," Professor Winter explained. She closed her eyes and stood in front of Harry motionlessly.

Harry lifted his wand cautiously. "Legilimens!" he shouted.

Harry saw his Godfather, Sirius Black yelling at Florence Winter. She merely walked away from him. Her eyes that were brimming with tears were veiled from him by her long brown hair. Then, he saw thirty over hooded figures working in a massive laboratory. Green, blue, orange substances were boiling in rows and rows of cauldrons. Harry realised with a start that the hooded figure beside him was Professor Winter. The image suddenly disappeared and Harry saw Professor Winter collapsed on her knees before him.

Somehow, Professor Winter had felt responsible for Snape joining the Death Eaters. Before Snape had found out about her and Sirius, he had the same distaste for Voldermort as she had. He only began working for Voldermort after he found out about them. Hence, she had joined the Death Eaters after she had graduated from Hogwarts to look for Professor Snape.

But apparently, there were many divisions under Voldermort. They had found her a talent in Potions and had sent her to work in the laboratories to concoct new weapons for the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, she did not get to see Snape at all during her five years stay with the Death Eaters.

Working for the Dark Lord is a one way road, Professor Winter had told Harry. There was no way out of being a Death Eater except choosing death itself. Fortunately for Professor Winter and many others, she had found the third way when Voldermort failed to kill Harry.

That was the reason Sirius and Florence did not end up together eventually because Sirius would never be able to accept someone who aliases herself with the Dark Wizards. The worst thing was, even though now the truth was finally out, Sirius would never ever get another chance to find out and correct his mistake.

Harry could not help wondering how many relationships had failed because of misunderstandings that were cleared too late and how many chances of a happy ending had been destroyed because of the vulnerability of the human race. If only he knew that he too, was making the same mistake.