Chapter Three: Animagi and Word of a Mission

            With a final scowl at the boys sitting next to him the red-head looked up at Hermione with a lopsided grin and stood up.

"I'm here because I've got something to tell you. I…I love you." Ron said sweetly.

            Hermione's look of anger turned to one of confusion. Her mouth was slightly open and she shook her head. Disbelief crossed her features as she looked up to stare at him. He stared right back at her with that same lopsided grin that, if she wasn't so mad, would have made her happy to see. She looked back at the other boy on the bed who also looked very dumbstruck. It was obvious that he hadn't come bearing lies.

"Fuck you Ron." Hermione said angrily.

"B-but I thought…." Ron whispered.

"No. You just need to stay out of my life. I'm tired of your sick little games. I thought you were my friend but then I found that you had lied to me. Just…just go…I don't want to ever talk to you again." Hermione said.

            Ron looked at her sadly and then nodded. Then he pulled out his wand and faced her again.

"Hermione…I didn't lie about that. I do love you. I just…hope one day we can at least be friends."

            A loud pop echoed throughout the room and he was gone. Hermione hung her head until the other boy on the bed made a funny noise. She looked up and saw that he had a terrified look on his face and was staring into the doorway leading to the other room.

"They…they saw him." He said oddly.

"Don't worry, they're witches too. They go to Salem Witch Academy in Ireland. It's an all girl academy." Hermione said as she waved her hand dismissively.

"Well Hermione we know that the other one was Ron so who is this?" Kat said energetically.

"This is Draco…and I have to wonder why he's here." Hermione replied as she turned her gaze back to the blonde on her bed.

"Ah right…" Draco said as he fumbled with the pocket of his robes "You forgot this at my house."

            Kat and Ash looked at each other and then back to Hermione with an eye brow raised in question. Hermione gave them a look and they quickly pretended to be uninterested. Draco had watched the whole scenario and was curious as to who those two were. He had guessed that they were her friends but wasn't sure how they knew her. Figuring it best not to ask he smiled at all the girls and saw two of them smile back eagerly. Hermione took the phone out of Draco's hand and finally gave in and smiled at him.

"Is that it? You could have simply owled it to me but you came here…to my house…to give this phone back to me." Hermione asked curiously with a mischievous grin.

            Draco grinned back as he stood up and looked down at her.

"Of course. A real gentleman doesn't simply mail a woman's things back to her after she's been at his house; he comes to her house and gives them back in person." Draco said as he took her hand and kissed it.

            Kat and Ash giggled furiously as Hermione turned a shade of deep crimson. They giggled even harder when she used her free hand to flip them off behind her back. Draco smiled against his will as he saw the other two girls leaning on each other to hold themselves up as they giggled. They seemed to be just like Parvati and Lavender. That's all them seemed to do was giggle. He let go of her hand and just stood there shifting his weight until she spoke.

"Uh…um…th-thanks." Hermione said quietly.

"Hermione why don't you invite Draco here to come over tomorrow? I'm sure you two would have lots of fun." Kat said through giggles.

            Hermione gave him a nervous questioning look, he face still flushed. He looked back at her with a smirk. He was going to wait for her to verbally ask him.

"No, I think Mr. Malfoy here has better things to do." Hermione said, her face turning back to its original color as she turned away and looked back at her friends, "Besides he should be going now."

            Draco looked at her and nodded. With a final farewell to each girl he dissaperated with a slight pop. Hermione let out a sigh and set the cell phone down. Kat and Ash looked at her like she was a lunatic for telling him that he should go. Hermione shook her head and ended the wordless conversation, at least in her mind she had. Kat and Ash figured that she should be left to her own thoughts and left her a note before they walked down the stairs and out the front door.

            Hermione cleared the room of the instruments with a wave of her wand and, with another wave, the room filled with work out equipment. She lay down on her seat and began lifting the weights. She did this anytime she was frustrated. The pain from the workout would block out any and all emotional pain, at least until the next morning. Why she did this to herself she didn't know but she found that pushing herself to her limit didn't seem to help. It was just a habit, a bad habit. She lifted the barbell up and put it back on the hooks. She moved over to the punching bag and began to punch. Suddenly she stopped as she realized that she was in excruciating pain. Her body went limp and she fell to the floor. Her vision went foggy as she let herself lay down on the floor and then her eyes shut completely.

"Hermione…Hermione wake up!" she heard someone say.

            Her head moved to the side and she let out a groan of pain. She opened her eyes to see her mother staring at her. Her eyes shut again but then her mother began to shake her so she opened them again. Her mother continued to stare at her so she sat up wearily.

"Sweety…we're going to a dentist convention for a few weeks. A man named Percy called last night for you. I told him what happened and he said he would just owl you later."

"Right mum."

            Hermione watched as her mother walked out of the room. She rubbed her forehead and let her eyes adjust to the light that was streaming through the window. With a flick of her wand the equipment disappeared. A yawn escaped her lips as she stood up and went back into her room. Unsurprisingly enough there was a very official looking owl on her bed that she would recognize anywhere, it was Percy's owl. She smiled as she took the letter from its leg and opened it. The smile quickly turned to one of concern.

Hermione,

            I do realize that this must be an inconvenience for you but I would like to request your services at the Ministry. I am fully aware that Ronald has been trying desperately to keep you from this but it must be done. We request that you come to the Ministry building tomorrow night. Your special brand of service is needed. Please tell no one of this, it is a big secret. You will be working with a partner, we won't say who until tomorrow night for safety purposes,one a rouge mission. We have called your employer to inform her that you will not be at work. Please send your reply as soon as possible.

Percy Weasley,

Minister of Magic

            So old Percy became Minister of Magic after all. What could he possibly want her to do at the Ministry? She shrugged and wrote a short note saying that she would be there and attached it to the owls' leg. She gave it a small owl treat and it hooted gratefully before it took off out the window. With another sigh she headed down the long spiral staircase to the living room. Just as she sat down the telephone rang. Mumbling about people calling too early she picked it up.

"Hello?" she said sleepily.

"Uh…hi Hermione." Said the voice on the other end.

"Draco?"

"Yeah."

"It's 7:30 in the morning. What could you possibly want?"

"Listen I got a letter this morning. It said that the Ministry wants me to work on some secret mission. Do you know anything about it?"

"No…well I got the same letter but…it said that 'my special brand of services' was needed."

"Look can I come over?"

"Um sure I guess."

"Okay be there in a second. Bye"

"Bye."

            A split second later a platinum blonde was standing in the middle of her living room in nothing but pajama bottoms. She gave him a curious look and by the look on his face it was clear that he hadn't realized that he didn't have a shirt on. She didn't say anything though because she wasn't exactly in a position to talk, wearing her pajamas and a robe. He looked at her and she motioned for him to sit down. He sat next to her and she let out another sigh. Silence rang throughout the room as neither spoke; both seemed to be engulfed in a deep reverie of thought. Not being able to stand the silence Hermione finally spoke.

"So what could this all mean?"

"I don't really know. I mean my letter just requested that I come to assist my partner in a mission. But yours…yours said something about your special brand of services. What does that mean?"

            Hermione nervously let her gaze travel to the floor. She had managed to keep her secret between herself Kat and Ash. She had never told a soul, she hadn't planned on telling anyone more. No one needed to know and yet, here Draco was, about to be sent on the same mysterious mission she was. She felt the need to tell him but her mind kept telling her not to. Her mind wanted to keep it inside of her until she couldn't anymore.

"I'm an animagus…" she finally whispered.

            Draco had only been half paying attention. He thought that she would refuse to reveal her secret until the next night. But then she had just said it, plain as day. Had he heard right though?

"You're a what?" he asked.

"I'm an animagus okay? After Sirius was killed, you know about Sirius right?" receiving a nod from Draco she continued, "Well after he was killed I knew we might need a disguise so…I trained hard. Night after night of agonizing pain until finally I had achieved my goal. I had become an animagus."

            Searching his mind for more answers he simply stared at her. She had turned her gaze once again to the carpeted floor as he remained silent. She hoped desperately that he wouldn't tell a soul, or ask anymore questions for that matter.

"What form do you take?" Draco asked casually.

"A black wolf. I didn't want to seem to close to Sirius or too far. Our team needed a reminded of him to keep them going. I would occasionally pop up and howl when they seemed to be thinking that there was no hope. When they saw me they would go right back to fighting against any opponent." She said.

"And none of them know you're an animagus?"

"No. Not a one."

            Two loud pops diverted her attention and she leaned over the back of the couch to find Harry and Ron standing in her kitchen, both looking a tad confused at the sight of Draco Malfoy sitting with her on a couch with nothing but pajama bottoms. Even though Draco wasn't that close to Hermione but he could feel the shudder that went through her as she stared at the two.

"Well Hermione. How are you?" Harry asked, completely ignoring Draco.

"Perfect. You?"

"Brilliant. So what exactly are you two talking about here?"

"Nothing that would interest you."

"Yes well we we're just curious as to whether or not you knew anything about this rouge operation to capture Voldemort and his supporters."

            Draco looked at Hermione and saw that she didn't even flinch when they asked her. She was obviously very good at lying otherwise they would have never believed her next statement.

"Of course not. You know the Ministry won't hire me." She said.

Harry and Ron nodded before they dissapperated again. Hermione turned quickly and laughed a little because, once again, she had managed to fool them. Draco smiled unwarily as he laughed with her. It seemed that no matter what the situation, he always ended up laughing when he was with Hermione.

"Well I should be going. We've both got to rest up for tonight. I have a feeling it'll take a while." Draco said before he dissaperated.

            Hermione smiled one last time before she laid her head down on the couch and drifted off into and uneven sleep. Her dreams were racked with horrifying images of Voldemort killing the ones she loved as well as herself being mercilessly tortured. Screams and Yells echoed throughout her mind as she mumbled in her sleep. Even though she had never personally seen him, she had heard Harry talking about him with Ron and his words were enough for her to produce a pretty good mental image. She had already seen what he could do, she knew how he would control those weaker than he so that his evil would rule over all those who opposed him. She knew the fear that he instilled in almost the entire wizarding world. Even the bravest of Auror's had to admit that they were just as scared of Voldemort as anyone else. No one seemed to be able to stop him, but soon maybe that thought would be gone, as well as Voldemort.

A/N: Well???? How was that? I imagine that the ending was a little cliché and it was a bit short but still. I bet you're wondering a lot of things right now huh? Curious are you? Well give me some more feedback and I'll continue! Once again thank you to all of you who reviewed and for those of you who put me on your author alerts. I think that's the first time anyone's done that for one of my fics. THAT MAKES YOU GUYS SUPER COOL! I still love those of you who read but didn't review…though I would love you more if you reviewed…Come on and review…I have cookies! Not that you'll get one or anything…just letting you know! HAHHAAHHA! Until next time!

                                                                                            Emma