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Chapter Three

"So how are you going to find him? It's not like he walks around on the streets in broad daylight," Ron said at the bar, for the second time yet again.

Hermione sipped her drink thoughtfully. "I don't know. I'll have to find the mansion that he lives in, won't I? But where it is, I don't know…"

"Which will be impossible to find. There's only so many places his mansion can be," Ron exclaimed.

Hermione didn't answer straight away. She knew he was right, but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction that Dumbledore might be losing his marbles when he stated that she had to go find the Malfoy Manor. She sighed and shoved the glass away from her again.

"Oh, this is ridiculous. I can't think of how I'm going to do this. I wish Dumbledore had found a more experienced Auror. I'm hardly good enough to find the person that I don't want to see—that I haven't seen since our school days," Hermione said angrily.

Ron cleared his throat suddenly and pointed towards the doorway. Hermione followed to where he was pointing and gasped.

"Speaking of the devil," Ron muttered under his breath.

He had grown taller, more masculine, and to say the least he didn't look like a skinny wimp that he used to. His features were sharpened; his white-blond hair shaggy and his skin less looking like a pale white color. Draco Malfoy had really come into his own, but it still didn't make Hermione like him any better, after all she remembered what he had did during Hogwarts and she couldn't forgive him for that.

"What am I going to do? I can't just walk up to him like we're long lost best mates," Hermione sneered in a low tone.

Malfoy turned towards the counter and grinned when he saw Ron and Hermione. He strode over to them and sat down on the stool next to Hermione and she glared her most evil look as he did this.

"Why, look, it's the Weasel king and his girlfriend. Fancy seeing you two here, I didn't think you had the money to pay for TWO drinks, Weasley," Malfoy sneered.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione said, then turning to Ron, she said, "Don't listen to him. He just wants to stir up old rivalries because he hasn't got anything better to do."

Malfoy laughed. "Still the nosy, interfering Mudblood as you always were, Granger. So what are you doing here, Granger, telling your woes to your old boyfriend?"

"Does it matter what I am doing?" Hermione asked in a deadly whisper. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just checking the surroundings, does it really matter, as you just said," Malfoy said carelessly.

Hermione forced herself to calm down. Dumbledore had told her that she had to befriend this man and find out what he was hiding. She couldn't push him away by acting like she used to whenever he was around. But that was going to be very difficult, and it wasn't going to be very easy. But she had to try, for the Order.

"You're right, I have no business asking what you are doing here, Draco. I am so rude. Would you care for a drink? It'll be on me," Hermione said sweetly.

Malfoy looked at her suspiciously. "What are you getting at? Why should I trust you? I can't trust anybody anymore."

Hermione nodded giving him the benefit of the doubt. If he wanted to play this game, she'll play it out along with him.

"And you are right again, you can't really trust anybody these days, you don't know which side they are on. If you really want to trust me, you'll accept the offer. It shows that we can both trust each other that we're not going to do anything stupid," Hermione said, desperately trying to get him to do what she wanted. If he can't trust her over a drink, then it was going to be almost impossible to get anything.

Malfoy straightened his back and lifted his chin up. "I do not accept drinks paid by Mudblood money."

She narrowed her eyes. He was going to make this difficult. Hermione glanced up at Ron. He was trying hard not to paying attention to what was going on, staring determinedly into his glass. Hermione sighed; her best friend wasn't going to be much use, after all, if she brought him back into the conversation, he would probably end up having a fight with Malfoy and they would all be kicked out of the bar for starting the fight.

Hermione shrugged. "Well, have it your way then. I was only trying to be nice, but obviously your pride and stubbornness are refusing to let you try something new. But oh, well, if you want to waste your own money, I'll let you do that."

She paid the bartender and got up to leave, telling Ron to come on, that they were leaving. They were halfway out the door, when Malfoy suddenly called out.

"Fine, I'll take up on your offer to have a drink and a chat. But only if the Weasel king leaves," Malfoy exclaimed.

Hermione and Ron glanced at each other. Ron raised his eyebrows in protest and Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Don't worry about me, Ron, I'll be fine. I've been in worse situations before," Hermione said in an undertone so Malfoy wouldn't hear her. "If anything happens to me, you'll know what to do. Go straight to Dumbledore."

Ron nodded. "I'll wait right outside the door, where you'll be able to see me if you need anything."

"I'll be sure to call you if I need anything," Hermione said with a smile. Ron nodded uncertainly and walked out the door.

Hermione watched him go before turning back towards Malfoy. She gave him a sweet smile.

"Shall we?" she asked and walked back over to the bar. The two of them sat down as Hermione ordered drinks for the two of them. If somebody had asked her that this would be happening to her right now, she would have called him or her crazy.

"So," Malfoy said, lowering his voice down to a whisper, "which side are you on in this war? I've heard you are working for Dumbledore to defeat the Death Eaters and Voldemort."

Hermione swallowed the liquid in her mouth. "Rumors can be deceiving. I could be serving anybody and you wouldn't know it, Malfoy. I'm not going to tell you, though."

"And why not?" Malfoy asked, "You trust me to sit right next to you, having a drink."

"Because I don't know which side you are on, either, Malfoy. If you're on the side opposite of mine, I don't think it would go over too well, wouldn't you say?" Hermione said, trying to keep from shouting, I know what side you're on as well as you know which side I'm on, but she didn't. She couldn't pass by the opportunity of the lifetime.

Malfoy sighed and nodded. "Fair enough. You play the game well, Granger. You would make the perfect Auror, but I'm sure the Ministry would never higher you. You have too much sass in you."

"Is that right?" Hermione inwardly chuckled. If he only knew…Hermione glanced up and looked out the window. Ron was still there, leaning against the window ledge. She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. She had heard in the news that people had disappeared and then were found later, murdered. Probably the work of Voldemort's minions, no doubt.

Malfoy followed Hermione's gaze and grinned. "You watch out for him too much, Granger. I remember you defending him at Hogwarts."

"He doesn't need defending. We watch out for each other. I'm sure you read the newspapers, Malfoy?" Hermione asked daintily.

"Of course. I'm not ignorant of the ways of the world, myself," Malfoy said, taking another swig of his drink.

Hermione fell silent. Of course he wasn't ignorant, his father was a Death Eater after all. Hermione pulled her eyes away from Ron and then gasped, dropping her glass on the floor, the glass shattering. She had seen him again, Harry. The second time in two days this has happened. How was she going to get over there without Malfoy noticing?

Malfoy looked at Hermione closely. "Are you alright?"

The bartender came rushing over to them. "Madam?"

Hermione took a shaky breath and then looked at the too of them. She gave them both a sweet smile and nodded.

"I'm quite fine. I just got a little dizzy, was all," Hermione assured them.

Standing and paying the bartender, Hermione hurried out the door to get Ron. Rushing out into the breeze caused by the door, she ran over to where Ron was supposed to be.

"Ron, I—" Hermione exclaimed, but stopped short when she realized he wasn't there. Hermione spun around and began searching frantically for her best friend. She began running down the street. "Ron? Ron! Where are you? Ron!"

Turning back around, Hermione headed back towards the bar, suddenly angry. This was Malfoy's doing and he was going to pay for it. Rushing back into the bar, she grabbed Malfoy by the collar.

"What did you do with him?" Hermione growled.

Malfoy stared at Hermione squarely in the face. "How do you know if I've got him or not, Granger? You don't know anything."

"Knowing your personality, you're probably in on it," Hermione nearly shouted.

"Of course you can't—" Malfoy began.

"Hermione, stand aside. He's not worth your time. Let me deal with him," a voice said from behind them.

Hermione turned around and nearly sighed with relief. So the newspapers were wrong and what she believed was true and now he had come out of the shadows to help her. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, was alive.