A/N: Well, sorry it took a long time for my next update, but here it is. I had work, and things have been crazy around my house, so...yeah.

Reviewers:

I'd like to thank Purple Evenleaf, Youknowwhosheir, buffy the slayer, Smiles28, DramaQueen007, and Felton-luver for reviewing! It really encourages me when I have positive reviews from all of you!

CozzaGirl16: That was a great idea. I will try to work around it with what I am planning to do later in the story. That really gives me something to think about. I'll think about letting Hermione and Draco see each other again, but it will be a surprise as to what the situation is...

Mojo the Rock Chick Munchkin: Thanks for the idea. I'll keep it in mind. I've sorta got an idea brewing in my mind that I'll try to improve with the ideas I got. I'm glad you liked the chapter!

OrangeJelloIsYummy: Thanks for the suggestions. I'm glad you like my chapters longer, but sometimes there are things that have to go into the next chapter, and I have to stop, but I'll try to make the chapter a little longer than I have been.

Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter characters are owned by myself, and if they did, then I'd be JK Rowling herself, and I wouldn't be writing on fan fiction.

Chapter Four

"Pansy and Crabbe and Goyle did it. It was Lucius's fault."

Harry and Ron looked at Hermione like she was crazy.

"What do you mean, 'Lucius did it'? That doesn't make any sense," said Ron.

"I have to go see Dumbledore." Hermione was about ready to disapperate, but Harry grabbed her arm.

"Hermione, could you slow down just a second to explain what you are talking about?"

"Sorry. I forgot that you guys weren't there yesterday at my house." Hermione took a breath and sighed. "Well, this is a matter of great urgency, so if you guys want to hear the story, then you'll have to come with me. Apperate to Hogsmeade." And Hermione was gone.

Reappearing in Hogsmeade, she didn't wait for Harry and Ron to apperate and immediately began her walk up the path to Hogwarts. Ron and Harry were fast in catching up to her. They were huffing beside her, and Hermione smiled to herself. She herself wasn't tired, as they were, and she quickly continued on until she got to the big doors of the school, and throwing them open, she ran into Snape.

"Miss Granger," he said in a low whisper, and then saw Harry and Ron. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, I don't believe you are students here anymore, so you should probably go back to where you came from." He turned his back on them, heading for the dungeons, when Hermione stopped him.

"Severus, wait!" she shouted, making students passing by turn their heads in wonder at the girl who dared call their potion teacher's first name. "It concerns Blaise Zambini's death!" Snape whirled around at the sound of his former student's name. Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and hand it to Snape. He looked at it, and looked gravely back at her. "It is urgent that I speak with Albus immediately!"

"My, my...this is a most important matter," he said, handing the parchment back to her. "Very well. Follow me."

Snape took the trio up the stairs and through very familiar halls to Dumbledore's office, where they met a giant stone gargoyle blocking their way.

"Gobstones." The stone gargoyle jumped to life and quickly hopped aside, allowing the four to climb the hidden stairs. Once they had started their climb, he sidestepped until he blocked the entrance and plopped back in his original position.

Snape in the lead, he knocked on the door they came to.

"Come in, come in," said a pleasant Dumbledore, but his smile faded at the sight of the three aurors and their former potions teacher. "I was afraid you were going to come in today with bad news," he said grimly, placing his hands together and staring back at her. Harry and Ron sported looks of confusion on their faces.

"So you already know what I am going to say," Hermione replied, never taking her eyes off of Albus.

"No, I don't, but I am sure, in some way, that it involves young Mr. Malfoy." Albus broke the eye contact with her to nod at Snape, who flicked his wand. Four poufy, claw-footed chairs clunked onto the floor, and Severus gestured for them to sit down, himself doing the same.

"Hold on a second," said Ron. "You mean to tell me that you have been seeing Draco and you haven't told us? I thought we were your friends?" Ron looked thoroughly disappointed.

"Ron," sighed Hermione. "It's not like that at all. Would you just let me explain?" Ron sat down in his chair and glared at Hermione. "Anyways, Albus knew about the case we received, and knew that some how it involved Draco Malfoy. He wanted me to find Draco." She paused, and then continued on with her tale. "I contacted Draco, who agreed to meet me in private at my house. He showed me his dark mark and told me that his father made him do it."

"How could his father make him do it?" asked Snape. "You have to waint to receive the dark mark until you want it and are willing to do Lord Voldemort's bidding."

"Would you let the girl finish her story?" asked Harry, and Snape grew silent.

"He told me that when he was looking for the killers of Blaise in seventh year, he met Pansy and those two baboons, who were they?"

"Crabbe and Goyle?" offered Ron and Harry.

"Yeah, Crabbe and Goyle. Anyways, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle admitted to killing Blaise for their initiation into the ranks of the death eaters. He would have told you, Albus, but he met his father at the school before he could get away from his common room. His father made him swear not to tell anyone about it, otherwise he'd kill me, and he made Draco swear to become a death eater so I wouldn't get hurt. It's his father's fault that he broke up with me, and he told me he still..."

"Okay, Miss Granger, that is quite enough. We don't need to know what else happened while you and Draco were alone." Snape looked disgusted at the thought of what they might have done.

What Hermione had said finally sank into Ron. "Hermione, what were you doing meeting Malfoy? He's a bloody death eater! He could have killed you! I swear, I will kill him if he's done anything to you, that bloody little..."

"Mr. Weasley, that shall do." Dumbledore had been deep in thought before he spoke. "I take it that Lucius wants Draco to marry Pansy," he said. Hermione looked at the floor and slowly nodded.

"And the worst part is, he doesn't even love the cow." Dumbledore sent Hermione a look, and she grinned sheepishly.

"Well, we have some luck. We have a meeting in two days time for the Order of the Phoenix. Hermione, since you have been able to contact him, maybe you could convince him to try returning to the meetings. He would be able to tell us what was going on with Voldemort, Lucius, and all the other death eaters. We might even be able to receive more information about where death eaters are going to attack next." Dumbledore looked at everyone in the room, awaiting a response.

"That's a great idea. Since Severus isn't reporting anymore, we could get Draco to do it instead!" Ron smiled with glee, as if the whole thing was his idea.

"Yes, Ron, that's the whole point of getting Draco to start coming to meetings again," replied an agitated Hermione.

"What do you mean, start coming back to meetings?" asked Harry.

"What she means is, Draco was once our spy for a little while after he left Hermione, though only I knew," said Dumbledore.

"Well, we should probably get going back to work. It's almost lunch and I'm getting hungry." Hermione stood up, followed by Harry and Ron.

"Thank you for all the information, Hermione. If you find out anything else, please tell me as soon as possible." Dumbledore led them to the door.

"Of course. I'll do anything that might help get Draco back." They all said their goodbyes, and after getting outside, they decided to pay a visit to their favorite gamekeeper.

O0O0O0O0O0

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, how good ter see ya!"

"Hey Hagrid!" all three chimed.

"Come on in! I'll put some tea on the fire." He closed the door behind them and went to one of his cupboards. He pulled out a kettle, filled it with water, and after hanging it above the fire, he sat down heavily.

"Hermione, I'm sorry about Draco," he said quietly, looking down at his large feet.

"What do you mean?" inquired Hermione.

"Well, I just received an owl from Dumbledore reciting everything ya just told him. I'm sorry about everything. About Draco's dark mark, about Blaise's death, about Draco breaking up with ya..."" Hagrid grew quiet. He had never really liked Draco or Blaise, but they had made Hermione happy, and he liked them for that. He stood up and took the kettle off the stove. He poured it into four cups, passed them out, and sat down. He abruptly cleared his throat. "Well, tee's a meeting for the Order tomorrow. I take it yer comin'?"

"Of course!" said Ron, taking a big gulp of tea.

"Wouldn't miss it," said Harry, draining his cup.

Hermione finished her tea and set the cup down on the table. "Well, we've got important things to do before tomorrow's meeting." Harry and Ron threw her questioning looks. "All right, I've got important things to do before tomorrows meeting, and we need to take a closer look at the other break-in's and see if we can decipher where they will strike next." She stood up, closely followed by Harry and Ron, and gave Hagrid a hug.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow night at Number 12 Grimmauld Place." Hagrid smiled, and everyone said goodbye.

When they finally got back to Hogsmeade, Hermione turned to her friends.

"So, where shall we go for lunch?"

0O0O0O0O0O

The trio had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, and by the time Harry, Ron and Hermione had apperated back to the Ministry of Magic, it was three p.m. Hermione sat down at Harry's desk. Harry and Ron stood on either side of her.

"When I was looking through the file," began Harry, "I saw some hand-written letters. Maybe there will be something in them that will give us a hint as to where they will strike." Hermione looked at the first case of a break in.

"There was no evidence as to where the first attack would be, but they have all been somewhere in England. Where was the second break in?" Hermione asked Ron, who was holding the second report and a letter.

"Well, the second one was on a Miss Mary Lewis, of Canterbury, England," Ron replied.

Hermione sat looking at the letter that was left at the first house. "It has to hold some kind of a clue as to who they were going to attack next." She continued looking at it until her face brightened up and she took a sharp intake of breath. "You said the second victim was Mary Lewis, right?"

"Yeah, what's that got to do with anything?" Ron was confused.

"Who was the third victim?" Hermione asked.

This time, it was Harry who answered. "Todd Mackey, from Salisbury."

Hermione nodded. "And the fourth?"

"Ariadne Grisson, Cambridge," Ron answered.

"And the last one was Jeanie Racicot, from Southampton."

"I've got it. Whoever wrote it wasn't really clever, but once you compare them all, it's easy to figure out." Hermione quickly took out the last letter found at the home of Jeanie Racicot, and looked at it for a while. The scratching of her quill could be heard.

"Hermione," whined Ron. "Are you even going to take the time to explain what you have discovered?"

She slammed her quill down onto Harry's desk, splattering ink towards her friends. "The name of the person who they are going to attack is defined by the first letter of the first word in each line." She picked up her quill again, and finished writing. "Okay. Their next appearance will be at the home of Sean Majors, who lives in London, the day after tomorrow, at five p.m.," Hermione concluded.

"Whoa, hold on a second," said Harry, putting up his hands to make her stop. "How did you just figure that out?"

"Well, they mention the date here," pointed Hermione, "and they make reference to the time here." Hermione pointed at another point. 'It only took me an hour to get it,' Hermione thought to herself, and smiled a bit.

"Okay. Now that we are on the same lines, I've heard of this Sean Majors. He's a rich muggle who owns a big shopping center. Aunt Petunia went there loads of times when I lived at Number Four Privet Drive," said Harry.

"So, it looks as if we've got ourselves an appointment to kick some serious death eater butt," finished Ron, a malicious grin on his face.

Hermione set Harry and Ron to put all the papers back into their proper order. She sat down at her own desk, and proceeded to write Draco an owl.

I need to see you.

Hermione knew it was a short letter, but at least he would owl back. She spent another half an hour there, and after gathering up her stuff, she apperated back to her house. She cooked herself a lone dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, and when she sat down at the table, her meal in front of her and fork in hand, her eyes glossed over.

"Hermione, this spaghetti is great," said Draco. As he slurped up a noodle, spaghetti sauce flicked up from the noodle and landed on the tip of his nose. Hermione laughed heartily. "What's so funny?" he asked, and went cross eyed looking at his nose.

"Oh stop it," Hermione said, wiping the sauce off his nose with her napkin. "You don't want you're eyes to stick that way, do you?"

"Well, it probably would make me less good looking, so I don't think I want it to stick."

"You need to get over yourself." Hermione tried to look serious, and with Draco making faces at her, it wasn't long before her smile broke out and they were both laughing again.

Hermione blinked, and Draco was gone. "It was just a memory," she whispered. She remembered that meal with Draco every time she sat down to spaghetti, and sometimes, the memories overwhelmed her. This time wasn't one of those cases, and she began eating.

She was just about to take another bite, when there was a pecking noise at her window. She quickly crossed the room and opened the window to let her owl in. she quickly untied the letter from Jasmine's leg, gave her owl a treat, and read.

Where, and when?

Hermione ripped off the bottom of the paper, and wrote her response. She tied the letter to her owl's leg, and sat down to finish her dinner.

0O0O0O0O0O

Draco was pacing in front of his bedroom window at six-fifty that evening.

"How long does it take her to write a bloody response?" he mumbled to himself. As if by coincidence, a gust of wind blew open the huge glass window, and riding the wind was Jasmine. "It's about time you got back." He scratched the owl on the back of her head, and she crooned quietly. Draco untied the letter and opened it. Down fluttered a piece of paper onto his lap, but he read the letter first.

Meet me at seven tomorrow at the address enclosed. Think about the address, and just enter the door that appears in front of you, and burn the address.

Draco picked up the piece of paper in front of him.

12 Grimmauld Place

Draco folded up the pieces of parchment and put them in the pocket of his pajama pants. He'd keep them there until he changed the next day.

0O0O0O0O0O

The next day passed quickly for Hermione, and before she knew it, she was at Sirius's home, waiting for the meeting to start. She was getting a little anxious.

People talked around her, but the voices were drowned out by her own thoughts. 'It's getting late,' she thought to herself. 'Will he even show up?'

0O0O0O0O0O

A/N: Well, how did you like it? Was it long enough? Was it good? Did it make you sit on the edge of your seat? Please review! Thanks!

Elven at Heart