Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JK Rowling, I own nothing! But I am one of the many people who wished they owned Draco ^_^
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Harry and Ron stared at the retreating back of Draco Malfoy and the mysterious person that followed closely behind him.
"You'd think he would have grown out of the taunting faze by now," Harry said, turning his gaze back to the seething Ron next to him.
"That ferret faced prat! How dare he talk about Hermione that way!" Ron had had a crush on Hermione for as long as Harry could remember. Even now after their Hogwarts years, he still lusted after her. They had dated briefly in their sixth year, but Hermione had given him the "let's just be friends" breakup routine. Ron acted like he felt the same way on the outside, but it was obvious that he didn't when he looked at her. "You should have let me blast his arrogant ass through the wall."
"Ron, you know he just does that to get a rise out of you. You encourage him more when you decide to threaten him. You've got to let it go, it can't be that hard to ignore him; you've been putting up with him since you were eleven."
Ron knew that Harry was right, but it still didn't change the fact that he wanted to bash Malfoy's head in. "Yea, I know," he sighed. "Who do you think that person with him was? It's a bit strange that they had their hood up in the middle of the day, in an ice cream parlor nonetheless."
"I personally don't care because anyone that associates with Malfoy is no concern of mine." Harry picked at the strawberry sundae in front of him while he thought of a way to change the subject. He had brought Ron here to calm his nerves, but Malfoy had to turn up and make them worse. Typical, he thought. "Have you talked to Hermione lately?"
"No, which is really odd because she usually replies to owls right when she receives them. Do you think anything has gone wrong?" he asked. He stared at the other boy with bright blue eyes, which started cloud over with concern.
"I highly doubt it; Hermione is good at keeping herself out of trouble." Harry reassured him. "If anything she probably got caught up in one of her experiments and just hasn't noticed that so much time has slipped by, you know how she gets."
"Yea you're probably right," Ron sighed.
Harry wouldn't admit to Ron, but he was worried as well. It wasn't normal for Hermione not to write to them for more than a couple of days. The only reason why he didn't worry as much as Ron was because of the fact that he knew that Hermione was capable of taking care of herself; at least, that's what he hoped.
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Hermione was still furious with Draco for his little scene at Florean Fortescue's with Harry and Ron. She was lucky that they were too preoccupied arguing with him to even notice that he was being accompanied by someone. If he spoiled her plans in any way, she would kill him if it was the last thing she did. Hermione Granger never failed at anything, and didn't plan to start now. She would have to work fast, with no little mishaps like the one today. Maybe I should leave Malfoy Manor so that Draco doesn't get in the way, she thought, but dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come. Living at Malfoy Manor gave her many advantages: one, she couldn't be found as long as she was on the property; two, if she Apparated from or to the drawing room, not even the Ministry could trace the location and; three, anything that she needed, she would be able to get.
She smiled to herself; this was starting to seem easier than she thought.
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"How did the shopping go today, Hermione? Did you find everything alright?" Narcissa asked over dinner that night.
"I think it was quiet a successful day; I found five new robes. Thank you so much Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy for buying them for me, you are too kind." Draco watched as the two women conversed over dinner. He could tell that Granger was fully sucking up to his mother, just like she did back at Hogwarts with their teachers.
"Please call us Lucius and Narcissa." This was the first thing that Lucius had said all night. Draco found it bizarre that his father was back at the manor for dinner; he usually came home once a week, if not less, and now here he was for the second time that day.
"Alright, Lucius," Granger let the name roll out of her mouth as if she was speaking in foreign tongue.
At the sound of his name from her mouth, Lucius let a smile escape his lips and turned his head so he could see the young brunette sitting next to him. Draco watched as a mischievous glint crept its way into the older man's eyes as he leaned over and whispered something into Granger's ear, which caused her to blush. Was his father flirting with her? Then he heard Granger start to giggle and saw her lean more into him; she was flirting right back! Draco's eyes immediately shot to the blonde woman next to him to see if she had saw the interaction between her husband and house guest, but she was concentrating on cutting up the food on her plate.
Draco stood up from the table and pushed his chair in. "Granger, when you're done eating I would like to have a word with you." Hermione tore her attention away from Lucius to give Draco a slight nod to show she heard him; then turned back to the older man next to her.
Right after Draco had stepped out of the shower, he heard a faint knock come from his bedroom door. "Come in," he yelled from the bathroom. He quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into his bedroom. He watched as Granger blushed after noticing he was standing before her in nothing but a towel; he smirked to himself for being able to have this effect on her.
"Y-You wanted to speak to me?" she choked out with reddening cheeks.
"Yes, Granger, I was just wondering why in the bloody hell you were flirting with my father at dinner tonight?" he asked as he lazily sat on the edge of his bed, locking his eyes on hers.
She looked offended at the question and she automatically switched to defensive mode. "I was not flirting with Lucius!" She sounded like a child in denial, he could imagine her stomping her foot as she spoke.
"Really? Could have fooled me; he had you giggling like a silly little school girl." He couldn't help but notice how cute she got when she was angry; the way her eyes lit up like a fire and how her brow slightly furrowed as she glared at him.
"Don't be ridiculous Draco, the man is old enough to be my father." she snapped.
"Age doesn't really matter these days Granger, but next time you feel like whoring around the manor, please be so kind as to not do it in front of me or my mother." Draco was now off his bed and walking towards her, his eyes never leaving hers. He got so close that she could smell the aroma of his soap still lingering on his skin from his shower. As if he weren't close enough, he leaned in closer, filling the small gap between them. Hermione looked up into his stormy eyes as his tall figure towered over her small one. She could see the tiny water droplets at the end of the hair framing his face, dangling in attempt to fall off. Hermione held her breath, not knowing what to do, she felt like a deer caught in the head lights and was pretty sure that she looked that way. When he opened his mouth to speak, she could feel his hot breath hit her face.
"Good night Granger," he said as he opened the door behind her and gently pushed her out of his room. Draco flashed her one of his trademark smirks as he shut the door in her face.
What the hell happened to me in there? How could I let him have effect me like that? Hermione asked herself as she slowly made her way to her bedroom. She wasn't going to deny that Draco was gorgeous, he had been since Hogwarts, but she never thought he would have that kind of effect on her. Hermione knew that Draco was right, she had been flirting with Lucius a bit at dinner, but she would never admit that to him. She didn't really mean to, it just sort of happened when he spoke into her ear; he used words that could only make a woman blush. Between Draco and Lucius, Hermione realized she would have a lot of distractions from her initial goal, but she was just going to have to deal; there was no backing out now for this Gryffindor.
Draco smirked as he shut the door in Granger's face because he just figured out a way to find out what the little lioness plans were. He had noticed how she had crumpled beneath him as he leaned over her to open the door. All he had to do was turn on a little of the Malfoy charm, which he possessed a great deal of, and she would be his. As he slipped into bed, he smiled to himself. This is going to be fun.
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Hermione slowly came into consciences when she started to feel the warm rays of the sun, which were drifting through the window, hit her face. Still keeping her eyes closed, she stretched out her arms only to find that one of them hit something hard. Her eyes flew open, and the first thing she saw was a pair of grey eyes, framed by silver hair, looking down at her. She let out a small shriek of surprise.
"Good morning to you too Granger," Draco said, smirking down at her.
"What the hell are you doing in my room?" she asked as she abruptly sat up.
"Well, after you left my room last night…" he began, but Hermione cut him off.
"I didn't leave your room, Draco, you pushed me out."
"I didn't push you; I gave you a gentle shove," he said with an innocent tone.
"Pushing and shoving is the same thing; both of them being incredibly rude!"
Draco saw the irritation building up in her cinnamon eyes; she was starting to get angry with him. He wasn't about to provoke it or his whole reason for being there would be pointless. "Think what you want Granger, I'm not about to argue about this with you." He got up from her bed and turned around to look at her. "The reason I came here is to tell you that I began to think about last night, and I came to the conclusion that I was being absurd as to thinking that you and my father were flirting. Not to mention I haven't been the best host since your arrival. To make up for it I decided I'd take you out to dinner, wherever you want to go."
Hermione stared at the blonde boy as she made her decision on whether or not to take him up on his offer. She realized that this was his way of saying "I'm sorry", and that he wasn't the type of person to just come out and say it with words.
"Yea, sure," she said. She knew that if she pressed for a spoken apology, she would never get it, so she took what she could get.
"Alright, be ready at 7:30." With a swish of his robes, which strongly reminded her of Professor Snape, he turned as was out the door.
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Severus Snape gaped at the older wizard across from him in disbelief. Hermione Granger, goody-goody Gryffindor, in allegiance with Voldemort and ratting him out. "Albus, are you sure that you heard him correctly?"
Dumbledore gave the professor a solemn smile. "Yes Severus, I am afraid that what I heard from Mr. Malfoy is true." As if on cue, the flames in Dumbledore's fireplace roared and out stepped Draco Malfoy.
"Started the meeting with out me I see," he observed as he headed towards the two older wizards. He took a seat next to his former potion's master, across from the headmaster.
"I was just filling Severus in on the information you presented to me the other night."
"Mr. Malfoy are you absolutely sure that it was Miss Granger you saw receive the Dark Mark?" Snape still couldn't believe that the Gryffindor bookworm had joined Voldemort and his minions.
"Professor, I know what I saw," Draco said. "Not to mention that Lucius is having her stay at the manor," he added.
"When did this happen, Mr. Malfoy?" Dumbledore asked as he slightly leaned forward in his chair.
"After I left here and arrived at the manor, Lucius and Granger were waiting for me in the drawing room." Draco watched as the Headmaster absorbed this new information.
"Albus, clearly something isn't right here; none of it adds up." Draco almost could see the wheel's turning in Snape's head; running a million different reasons as to why Granger would willingly join the Dark side.
"I agree, Severus, that something is off about this whole ordeal," Dumbledore said, clearly still deep in thought. He glanced at Draco before he began. "But at least she is somewhere where we can keep an eye on her."
"Headmaster, have you told Potter yet?" Draco asked.
"Unfortunately I haven't yet, but I plan to today after the Order's meeting." He paused to look at the two wizards across from him before beginning. "Lets set this matter aside for now and focus on the one I called you both here for today. Draco, as you know, you should never cross paths with Voldemort, for it can bring you death. From now on Severus, you must be either on Hogwarts grounds or at Grimmauld Place. You are an asset to the Order and we cannot afford to loose you, so we must not take any chances." Dumbledore switched his gaze over to the younger wizard of the two. "As for you, Mr. Malfoy, I will need you to pay close attention to any leads they might have on the whereabouts of Severus. There is no doubt in my mind that many witches and wizards will be out looking for him so they can gain whatever price that was put on his head."
Draco listened intently as the headmaster gave his instructions. Granger becoming a Death Eater had more repercussions than he thought it would.
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Thank you to all that have reviewed! I really appreciate that encouragement :-D….I'll hopefully get the next chapter up soon.