"What do you want?" she asked angrily. Her arm hurt from where he had held her and as she looked upon him, she noticed further differences between him and the Harry of before. The changes bothered her, hurt her, and made her feel heavy and frustrated.

He had that new aura that Draco now had. That one associate with the use of Dark Power. Also, where were his crooked/broken glasses? His face looked… paler without them.

And his scar of his forehead was bright and noticeable. Hermione wondered briefly whether it was hurting him.

"Ron told me to say Hello," Harry said, smirking.

Since when did Harry Potter smirk? Harry grinned, Harry laughed, Harry smiled, but Harry didn't smirk. Malfoy smirked. Voldemort smirked. But Harry Potter hadn't. Why did he have to change?

And why was he bringing up Ron, the one subject that made Hermione weak?

"Oh?" She tried to sound offhand.

"Yes."

"And… how is Ron?"

Is he dead?

"Alive," Harry replied shortly.

"Well… that's good."

"He's a bit of a nuisance though. Always in the way. Always yelling. Sometimes even crying. I told him the other day you were dead. It should have been amusing, but it wasn't. Instead it was... irritating."

"Why don't you let him go?" Hermione offered, still trying to sound casual.

He slammed his hand into the wall behind her; effectively leaning over her, cornering her against the wall and making her feel trapped.

"Why?" He smiled down on her. "Would you like that?"

She looked up at him and suddenly, she was afraid. His teeth gleamed in the little light. She thought frantically of a night demon, of a vampire, swooping down into the darkness to kill her.

He was too close. Too close. Hermione couldn't think. He was in her face. She could smell him. She could feel the heat coming of him. Could feel his Dark Power against her skin, making her shudder.

She nodded to reply to his question, not trusting herself to talk. Her tongue felt numb in her mouth.

"I have a deal to make with you, then."

Another one? Hermione felt like she was about to faint.

''''''''''''''

Hermione left that room, feeling very shaken indeed. Harry was in front of her, walking briskly. He started talking to Lucius Malfoy.

Hermione stood there, on her own, feeling like a complete loner. She knew nobody here. She liked nobody here. They were completely different to her, practically a different race. They thought differently, they believed in different things and their morals were the complete opposite of hers.

As Hermione stood on her own, she wondered what the hell she was going to do…

Harry's words still echoed in her head.

"Then spy for me… Use that clever little head of yours… While you're with Draco, you can be useful… Explore your Dark Side, Hermione… Help me rule… And maybe Ron can live…"

"There you are," a voice hissed in her ear.

She turned. Draco was gripping on to her shoulder and he looked mad. Angry. Hermione, again, was surprised when she felt her fear. It was strange, feeling scared of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. They were only her age and she had got better grades than they had at school.

But what she was feeling, was definitely the ancient feeling of fear.

"We'll talk about this later," he said shortly. "Now come on."

They joined a new party of people where they were discussing the New Hogwarts.

Hermione felt a deep pull down in her stomach. The new Hogwarts? What had been wrong with the Old Hogwarts? Hadn't Harry and Draco enjoyed their time there as much as she had?

She felt physically sick at the enjoyment in each of their faces when they talked of the injuries, bestowed on the defiant at Hogwarts. McGonagall, Hermione's all time idol, had suffered.

Hermione felt guilty. Here she was, at a ball with one Dark lord and now unofficially working for the other one.

She was minding Draco's mother and, when Harry had been above her, she had wanted to kiss him…

And that was the root of Hermione's guilt, really. Because when he had made that deal with her, she had been staring at his mouth, wondering why it seemed so different then before. She had been staring at it and realised that her body was reacting to his. And when she had nodded to his deal, his lips had advanced upon hers and he sealed the deal with a kiss.

And Hermione hadn't pushed him away.

He had ended it, smiled at her and had walked away calmly, leaving Hermione to hurry out after him into the Ball room, with her heart shattering inside of her, and her skin crawling.

And now here she was, trying to put on a face of indifferent, as they all side glanced at her occasionally to see her reaction to their tales. She still didn't feel normal. Something inside of her was twisting, breaking free and mutating her.

"Hermione," Draco was close to her suddenly.

She jumped, startled at his close proximity, and he smirked. She had been so lost in her own thoughts.

He offered her a hand, silently.

The music was changing, she realised, into a slow steady beat. A slow dance? For a minute Hermione forgot how to dance! Why was Draco Malfoy asking her to dance anyway?

And why not?

Terribly aware that Harry was staring at her, terribly aware that everyone was staring at her, she accepted his hand with her own and was surprised when Draco used that hand to pull her close to his chest.

It was the first time she realised how tall he was. Since when had he got so tall? She felt small and fairy-like in his arms. She felt so light-headed. None of her thoughts made too much sense at that moment.

"So… what were you talking to Harry about in that room then?" he asked in a casual tone.

Oh.

Hermione was struck dumb. What could she say?

"H-h-he." Oh, Granger get a grip, she thought angrily. Calming down, she said, "Draco, we've been friends for a very long time. We have much to discuss."

"For some reason," he said in a slightly darker tone, "I doubt you were discussing Quidditch."

"Well, no," she answered in what she hoped was a reasonable tone, "but why are you so curious anyway?"

"Because you picked me," he suddenly said in a tone she would not have expected. "Not him. I hope you still remember that."

"How could I forget?" she snapped.

"Listen up, Granger. I've been very nice to you so far, don't you think? Let you have excess to one of the Malfoy Libraries, let you roam around most of the Malfoy Manor freely. Don't push me. Remember, we are not friends. I could be much much worse."

In truth, Hermione had expected him to be much worse. But, in fact, he hadn't been too bad after all. Not friendly, but he hadn't made her clean out the 27 toilets in the Malfoy Manor or anything like that. And she didn't have a wand, and he did. If he had wanted to, he could have made her. Hermione didn't fancy being a toilet cleaner.

"You're right," she said. It was as much of an apology as she was going to offer.

"Oh Hermione, cheer up," he said in a much lighter tone. "Can't you just try to have a good time?"

She was feeling a bit grouchy. "No."

He looked around briefly and then his face lightened and he pulled her closer again so he could talk into her ear without their audience hearing. "I know what'll cheer you up," he said softly. "Look over my right shoulder. Gently now, don't be too obvious." She moved to re-position herself, curious despite herself.

"Now, look at Potter's face. Think of his betrayal, think of him choking you, think of everything that makes you mad about him, and now look at his face," he whispered.

She looked at Harry's face and saw what Draco meant. He was so obviously jealous that it was hilarious. His nostrils were flaring and his eyes were narrowed. His hand was shaking.

Knowing that she had made him feel like that gave Hermione an odd sense of satisfaction.

She turned back to Draco, and something about his 'smirking-at-Harry' face made her laugh out loud.

Draco looked quite taken aback by her sudden mood change but seemed pleased by it. He chucked shortly along with her and pulled her close to him once more.

Hermione didn't really mind being close to him. He was warm and it was much better than the utter loneliness she had felt before. She didn't feel like the odd one out now. Girls were eyeing her jealousy and that made her laugh some more.

Draco didn't seem to mind being close to her either.

Suddenly Hermione's mind started to come back to life again. Why exactly had Draco brought her anyway? Why exactly wasn't she scrubbing those toilets? It didn't make much sense, did it?

"This is all just for show, isn't it?" she asked him, trying not to sound too uncertain. "I mean, why are you doing this?"

He was holding her so tenderly…

He didn't answer.

She was very comfortable in his arms, and so close to him…

"Draco?"

"Maybe," he replied.

"But… it must have been funny, right? Seeing your Death Eater's faces, when you brought a Muggle Born to the ball? I mean, your father's…"

"I suppose," he said nonchalantly.

She felt a small prick of alarm.

"Draco?" She was confused when he stroked her hair just once.

No answer.

"Malfoy?" She wanted to get back on to known territory quickly!

It worked.

He quickly moved away, leaving Hermione feeling oddly cold and rejoined their party, leaving her to follow him and once again, not enjoy their conversation and not participate in it.

She wanted to go home. She felt very tired all of a sudden.

Another hour or so passed and then Draco started saying goodbye to people. Hermione followed suit, not very committed in the whole "politeness" thing. She tried to avoid Harry but he wouldn't let her, blocking her way at the exit.

"I think you'll find," Draco said, from close behind her, "that you are in our way, Harry."

"Goodbye Hermione," he said, completely ignoring Draco's presence. He lowered his face down to hers and kissed her on the cheek. While doing so, he pushed something discreetly into her hand.

Hermione could feel Draco's eyes on her. She gave Harry a weak smile and tried hard to not push by him too rudely.

When she was well passed him, she looked over her shoulder to make sure Draco was coming and saw the two boys smirking at each other, Draco's eyes narrowed and Harry's mouth thin.

Then Draco passed him and, laying one hand on Hermione shoulder, apparated them back to the Malfoy manor.

''''''''''''

And there you have it folks. It's been a long time since I've updated this! I think the problem is I've become too attached to Sudden Changes, my other story! I'm sorry! Anyway, I don't know about this story! I'll try my best, okay? J

Anyway, thanks for all reviews from before chapters! Again I'm way too lazy to write personal thanks but please not that I appreciate them all very much!

Thanks for reading this far and hopefully, you like dthis chapter, and will give me a nice review!