Fearfully, wands drawn, they released the latch. The door swung open.
Draco Malfoy? What by Merlin was he doing here!
Considering he'd been the one to approach them, Malfoy was not very openmouthed. In fact, he stood there looking disgusted for over a minute before Mrs. Weasley ushered him inside with a fluttering and murmuring about "unsafe" and "dark." Harry did not lower his wand.
Malfoy's baleful stare concentrated itself on Harry and Ron. "What do you want?" Harry demanded. "What gives you the right to disturb a private gathering of family and friends?"
Malfoy shifted from anger to disdain. "Oh, come of it, Potter, I know about the Order. Did you really expect me to believe McGonagall is a family friend?" Minerva's expression grew even more disapproving. Malfoy showed no sign of being bothered at his overt rudeness to a former professor.
"If you won't answer Harry, then we'll ask again: what do you want?" Hermione's voice was deadly. Malfoy looked startled, not seeming to have noticed her before.
"Well, naturally," he said mildly, "I've come to switch over."
During the next few moments, while everyone else was still in shock, Hermione strode over to Malfoy, seized him and pushed him bodily out the door, then slammed it shut and turned around. "It's no longer safe for us here," she said sensibly. "Voldemort knows where we are. We've been very careless. Too many of us live here for business to happen here, too – even just for a day." Most of the Order members (and Ginny, who was not yet old enough to be in the Order but, with a little help from Fred and George, never found herself excluded) were dispatched upstairs to through a few things in a trunk and leave in a hurry through the downstairs floo. Harry, Ron and Ginny stayed with Hermione, Ginny slightly hesitant, given what Harry had told her about Dumbledore's death, Ron feeling protective in case Malfoy should decide to force his way in with more Death-eaters in tow, Harry feeling protective of Ginny.
"Ginny," Hermione gave her a grave look. "I know what Harry told us, but we agreed it wasn't enough to trust him. Right? You still think that way?"
"Of course," Ginny said uncertainly.
Hermione gave a half-smile, "'– It's just…'" Ginny began to nod, then stopped.
"No 'just.' It's Malfoy. There's nothing 'just' about him. He's really dangerous, even if he's here on his own."
"Heaven see it true," Harry offered. There was another moment among the four of them, and then three of them dashed off to pack the essentials while Hermione turned to quickly lock the door using several of the more advanced spells suited to that purpose.
"Bugger!" she heard from outside. She put her eye up to the peephole curiously. "Blast, bollocks, bloody… damn!" Malfoy was shouting and kicking a tree. Smiling slightly, Hermione did not move away.
"Why did I," kick, "think I could," punch, "make them," shove, "believe me? Wretched, awful, bloody… ugh!" He yelled. "You want to know something!" he asked the tree, rather defensively considering that trees are in fact mute. "I… really... hate… Harry… Potter!" At this, he turned and leaned backwards onto the trunk, landing with a frustrated thunk. Hermione inexplicably found herself unlocking the door, and opening it just a crack.
"These aren't our headquarters, you know," she ventured. He turned to look at her, confident she was lying, but she was not. "On the occasion we do happen to need a meeting place, it's not usually here." Draco tried to find an image in her mind, but there was nothing. She was not as unarmed as he has expected. "And no," she gave him a pointed look, "you don't get to go there. But I will say this:"
He looked up at her.
"If you have something to say," Hermione spoke solemnly, "We will listen. We may not believe it, or act on your suggestion – but we will listen."
Draco had to look at his feet. Merlin, goodies were easy to manipulate, he thought gleefully, choosing it ignore a tendril of gratitude snaking its way through his body.
"Oh, and Draco," Hermione called out cockily, "We've figured out a foolproof way to test for the imperius curse, so don't try it."
She shut the door after this admonishment, leaving Draco blinking on the front lawn. Then she gathered her belongings, confirmed her destination with the rest of them, and vanished.