PART ONE

Draco Malfoy plucked at his black slacks as Hermione plodded along beside him. He was sick of her presence but remained silent knowing that now was not the time to ditch his shadow. He just wanted to be alone. But he knew better than to fight her at this stage. Granger would never let him return to his simple solitude and he hated her even more for not just letting him go back under his own terms.

"Listen Granger" Draco finally said after they finally passed out of sight of the Channel waters. "There's a few things I want to pick up. I'll meet you back at the school on time like a good little boy."

"I'll go with you" Hermione offered intending to stick with him.

"I want to go alone" Draco gave up being polite as he glared at her.

Hermione shook her head"I have to go with you Draco. It's "

"Orders" He bit out derisively with a sneer. "Let me guess, Dumbledore or McGonagall gave them to you"

Hermione looked guilty when McGonagall's name was mentioned. Draco was not surprised although he had to admit that he felt better for snapping at Granger even though it would do nothing for him other than to have her be an even more overbearing shadow. He turned his back on Hermione and trudged up towards the picturesque village. Once there he bought some apples and a deep green sweater of fine wool from a street vendor. He could feel Hermione's eyes on his back but he refused to acknowledge her. He was at least going to pretend that he was by himself and if she got all huffy that was just too damn bad. After all, he had wanted to be by himself and ignoring her was the next best thing.

He pretended to peruse the other carts and booths even though he knew he was not going to buy anything else that day. He had no wish to remember this particular part of the journey but if it served to piss Granger off then that was just fine.

"Ready Granger" Draco asked walking off back towards the shore, not caring if she responded, almost hoping she would remain silent.

"Where are you going" Hermione demanded crossly.

"Back towards the beach" Draco stared evenly at her. "I figured we could apparate to Hogsmeade and walk up to the castle, unless there's something wrong with that? Or did McGonagall give you orders on where we should apparate from too"

She even had the grace to blush at his remark. He once more turned his back to her and stalked off. After a few moments he heard her footsteps behind him.

The two apparated back to Hogsmeade, into the back of the Weasley's Wizards Wheezes. Fred looked up from where he was tinkering with a new product. Draco was a little surprised he still remembered that Harry had taught him to distinguish between the twins. Fred had slightly smaller ears and a tiny freckle on his chin whereas George had a freckle on his temple.

"Hello Hermione" Fred nodded to the girl with a friendly smile. "Would you mind helping George out for a bit? He's trying to restock some of the shelves while I work on this. We're a bit short handed today."

Her eyes flicked to Draco as she tried to decide what to do.

"I'll watch him" Fred offered.

Hermione finally gave in and moved up front and out of the back leaving the two young men alone. Draco shifted his packages from one arm to the other.

"She means well" Fred shook his head apologetically as he made sure that Hermione really had gone to help George. "She really does."

Draco said nothing, merely leveled his cool gaze at Fred.

"I can tell you're getting annoyed with her following you around everywhere" Fred explained with an easy grin. "No worries though. I can fix that problem for you real fast. Come with me."

Curious Draco followed the older Weasley twin into the other back room. Fred moved to a shelf and muttered something under his breath that Draco did not quite catch. The shelf soundlessly detached
itself from the wall and he could see a set of stairs going down into the darkness.

"It's a new tunnel George and I put in" Fred said proudly stepping back to let Draco in for a closer look. "It goes out near Hagrid's hut. Now get going if you want to leave Hermione behind here. I can keep her busy for a bit longer."

Draco did not ask why because he did not want to know. He did not say thank you but he took the flashlight Fred offered to him and went down the stairs. He heard the shelf moving back in place, just barely. He clutched his two parcels under his arms and moved off towards Hogwarts.