10.

Wow. I'm on the tenth chapter! I feel like I should be celebrating or something. Ah, well, without any delay here is the next chapter....oh by the way I lied...I brought Miguel back but in a different manner...

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Fred and George were sitting in high back chair on opposite sides of the resource room of Weasly's Wizarding Wheezes, passing a Hoverbomb back and forth. (Their own patent of course.)

Thwack.

Thwack

Snape raised one eyebrow, giving them a glare that was reminiscent of their days as students. Fred just grinned, and continued throwing the orange pulsing ball even harder.

Neville gave a loud cough. "Er, Fred, George? Would you mind? We're all nervous enough, and you are not helping the situation much now..."

"Oh, tush." George snorted. "You two need to relax more. Get a grip. Let it all flow..." he said, spreading his arms to demonstrate "the flow" and missed the ball that Fred threw, and it stopped exploding near his face with a small bang. The Hoverbomb made a whirring sound as the pieces came back together, and Fred started to guffaw at George's hair, which was now sticking in a backwards direction from the blast making him look as though he had stuck his head in a wind tunnel.

"I believe, Mr. Weasly, that your demonstration of the "flow" makes it seem rather dangerous." Snape said dryly, rearranging his robes.

George simply grinned and smoothed his hair, pulling out his wand and with a flick restored his punkish hairdo.

"Well, they should be arriving back any second now," said Neville checking his watch fob.

"In fact," said Fred, "Me thinks they are on their way now..." He was pointing to a modified version of the Weasly Family Clock that the twins kept in their shop, with all the pointers of the people they knew. A long red hand and an even longer silver hand, with the names 'Hermione' and 'Draco' in gold script were both swinging around and then came to a quivering stop on "In transit", but only for a second. They started to spin even faster again, finally stopping with a click on "The Store".

A loud bang made all four people in the room jump, and they turned around to see Draco sprawled on the floor from the exit path of the floo fireplace. They all got up to rush toward him, and all (even Snape) held their breath at the sight of the figure that Draco was still carrying slung in his arms.

"Mr. Malfoy. What has happened?" Snape asked sharply.

"Take her." Sid Draco with a rasp, and coughed from the ash in his throat. "And for God's sakes, turn her back. She isn't in any shape to do it herself." He continued.

Fred and George both lifted Hermione's prone body, and laid her down on an old couch they kept in the room. Neville helped Draco up, and they all crowded around her body.

Immeditaely, George pulled out his wand, and Fred started a chant of words that made the hair on Draco's neck stand on end. Hermione let out a contented sigh, and a silver mist suddenly erupted out of Fred's wand and enveloped her body. A few minutes later, it suddenly cleared away as though from a breeze, and the old Hermione lay in front of them, though still asleep.

Draco gave a loud exhale of relief, and collapsed to sit on a nearby armchair.

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"So, what exactly happened?" asked George handing Draco a cup of tea from the pot warming over the fireplace."

"She was drugged. Glittermoss and Anise." Draco said in a tired tone. He went to sip his tea, but paused to stare at the cup as though recalling a distant memory. He gave a tiny little smile and drank deeply from the teacup.

"Why didn't you use the crystal?!" said Neville with a little irritation in his voice.

"We couldn't. Too much attention would have been drawn. Too many people were staring at me and the lady I was dragging like a caveman as it was. And believe it or not, that sort of cocktail is a drug that many of the Dark Women enjoy, and Hermione' symptoms would not really be considered unusual at all. And the men seem to like it too, though for another reason. They use it to "butter up" girls for-... well you know what." Draco replied shortly, grimacing at what he knew were Zachary Montero's intentions, and wondering at why Hermione had accepted it.

"'Mione's not a drinker anyway." Interrupted Fred. "She couldn't have known."

"Well, she'll be out for a while either way. She had a of information gathered too I believe. We'll have to wait for a debriefing until tomorrow." He said, placing the cup in the saucer and looking at Neville. He nodded back, and they all sat waiting for the sun to rise. When dawn was peeking over the town, Fred and George got up to get the shop ready, and Snape apparated with apologies, but he had to be back to Hogwarts before real trouble erupted there. Finally, Neville and Draco were the only two left guarding the prone form of the sleeping Hermione Granger.

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It was odd, but Hermione was somehow not surprised to see the garden around her. The flowers blossoms were the size of her head, and their heady smell filled her nostrils. Smiling, she leaned back in her emerald green dress tilting her face to the sun and, why it was the same one Ginny had made for the wedding!

Hermione closed her eyes and felt her long honey-brown hair swish pleasantly across her open back.

"Sénortia, will you be sleeping long?" asked a voice that was close to her ear, and she opened her eyes in surprise. Balanced on the long stem of a large sunflower across the ring like garden that totally surrounded the grassy clearing, was Miguel, though he looked ...different. He was wearing red pantaloons and a orange silk shirt with a red vest. He was also bare footed, and he wore a wreath of violets and roses in his slicked back hair, and his mustache was twirled as usual. But...were those little horns coming out of his head?

"You look like a satyr." She giggled, getting up off the grass, and crawling closer to him. He grinned wickedly and executed a perfect forward flip to land in front of her. She looked up, and grinned. She got up, and stood in front of him expectantly.

"Some, senorita, would call me a diablo as they have chased me out. Or they have thought me an amante come to fulfill their desires, and I run away." He said in a sing song voice.

"But you, oh senorita, you know me as what I am and have not chased me out of this dream like other stupid humans who have forgotten..." he said using the wreath as a hat as he bowed deeply in front of her. Giggling, she curtseyed back.

"But really, Sénortia, you will have to wake up soon. It is not right to make him worry like this..." he said leaning in to whisper to her, and she leaned in as well.

"For heavens sake why?" she said whispering too.

Suddenly he laughed loud guffaws. 'Because, while others think I am the amante of their dreams, your future one is waiting for you....!"

Hermione felt her face frown; she had a working knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. Her Spanish however was never cultivated.

"What... is my amante?" she asked in a curious tone.

Miguel placed the wreath back on his head, and back flipped back on to the flower, and singing like a bard, suddenly with no accent in a perfectly British tone:

"But then you will think, which I protest I am not, that I am assisted by some wicked powers..."

"No, I am content to hear..." she found herself replying, as though the words were rehearsed in her head...

"Hermione is innocent...the king shall live without an heir, if that which is lost is not found..." he intoned

He leapt up and landed on a flower even farther away

"But-!"she cried after him.

"-they only have to think they have been asleep and dreaming, and that all these adventures were visions which they saw in their sleep..." he said swaying in beat to his sing-song.

"Aye!" she suddenly realized pointing at him "for you are the one they call-!"

a burst of light seemed to wash over her....

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Draco looked up from his drowse and held back a loud sigh of relief, as Hermione suddenly got up with a start when a beam of sunlight landed on her eyes. She gave a small whimper as a thudding pain washed over her head.

"Up then are we?" said Neville coming to sit next to her.

She nodded lightly, and winced as the pain shot through her skull...what on earth?...oh. Her face fell, and Draco snorted as the realization dawned on her face.

"You were both drugged and drunk Granger. Both states of mind which I believe you have never experienced?" he said a little acridly, and Hermione closed her eyes at what sounded like his voice ten times louder. Neville gave her a kind look, and Hermione gave him a smile as she gratefully accepted the cup of tea he offered her. They both turned startled a few seconds later as a loud bang told them that Draco had slammed the door on the way out of the resource room. Neville gave Hermione a puzzled shrug, and she just sighed.

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Draco had no idea what it was exactly that had made him snap. But when Hermione had smiled at Neville a few moments ago...

He gritted his teeth and kicked a nearby wooden barrel which skidded a few feet and startling two young boys who were poring over some Canary Creams. He breathed heavily to himself, counting in his mind to calm his temper, not wanting to end up....like he had before. Dumbledore had given him some mental exercises to help restrain that persona inside him he could not control, that had taken over him and frightened him afterward...counting was one of the simpler techniques....

He continued counting, leaning again a shelf near the resource room door. 31...32...33...34....

"Eh Draco? She up I'm guessing?" said one of the twins (Draco assumed it was Fred) clapping him on the back. He simply nodded, still mentally counting.

"Good. Neville's probably going to take care of her anyway, get the info and other stuff. He said he would take her back to the ministry anyway. Here, official opening's in an hour." Fred said, giving the two boys who guiltily shuffled away from eavesdropping. "Give us a hand. We had a massive load of Elephant Nose Hats, and well the boxes weight as much as-"

"-An elephant?" Draco interrupted in a dry tone. But, he smiled and clapped Fred back, and they walked down the hall arm in arm. He needed something to occupy his mind, and manual work like this was perfect.

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Hermione sat on the stool by the counter in her kitchen, delicately sipping the tomato juice she had bought for the first time a few hours ago. She never thought she would have to resort to drinking the most distasteful drink, but then again she never thought she would end up with a nightmare of a hangover either.

She had just arrived back from her debriefing in Neville's office, and her head had protested at every moment. But she had made a valiant effort to recall all the information she had memorized before Zachary Montero had gotten a hold of her. As she was leaving, she was startled as Draco had briskly walked in, his cloak over his arm, his shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal rather well sized pale biceps, his hair disheveled, a five o'clock shadow of a blond beard, and his bow tie askew, and sweating as though he had carried bales of hay on his back and ...he looked so exhilarated. He had barely given her a curt nod as he stalked into Neville's office for his own debriefing, and Hermione had apparated to the corner store, giving up on trying to figure out what had set him on edge.

"Well you did slap him..." she said out loud to herself.

"Ooh...did you?" said the Monet girl from the hall, her hand delicately covering her shocked mouth.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and chucked the drink into the sink, and went into her room. She flopped down on her bed, wondering what do to next. She was on paid leave from the ministry until Medi-Wizard classes resumed in September, and she had the unfamiliar position of having nothing to do.

Her eyes landed on a flyer that Ginny had pressed into her hands as she had left the shop yesterday (was it yesterday? It seemed like a lifetime away...). It advertised a game between the Chudley Cannons and Yorkshire Yellow jackets. Hermione shook her head with a smile. Though they had Harry as one of the number one ranked Seekers in the league, the Cannons were no better then when Ron had been enamored with them. In short, the Yorkshire players would make mincemeat of them...

The game was almost over...if she changed fast enough she might make the tail end of what was sure to be a short game.

She got up too quickly, and held her head in her hands. She let out a moan, and she heard the Monet girl make a scandalized sound. "Oh shut it!" she yelled back.

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Hermione tried not to let the sound of the boisterous Chudley fans make her head pound, but she gripped the aisle seats in pan.

"Ginny! 'Oy!"

Ginny turned around from her box seat to find the voice, as Hermione employed one of Ron's favorite phrases to get her attention. Hermione glanced at the clock and shook her head as it read:

Home: 34521 Guest: 1842

A bludger whizzed by her head as she ducked and scurried toward Ginny's seat. Ginny immediately burst out laughing.

"Well, I don't know what's so funny." Hermione said in an uptight voice. "Seeing as to how badly your husband is losing."

"First," said Ginny giggling, "he is not my husband yet. And second of all, why are you wearing those sunglasses, it's a lovely day and not at all that sunny- oh god, do not tell me the high and mighty, I –do-not-drink-thank-you-very-much- Amazon, Hermione got plastered . At least tell me sex was part of the deal."

"Ginny!" Hermione said in an appalled voice, though she didn't know why she bothered. She couldn't quite pinpoint when, but at some point in Ginny's sixth year, the outside sweetness was starting barely holding a façade over her bluntness. It was not a selling point, in Hermione's opinion, though it often made her laugh.

They stopped their discussion to cheer as Harry went by on his broom to give them both a wave as he chased after the snitch. He dove into the grass, as he caught it, but a loud collective groan came from their side of the stadium as the points revealed the real winner. Harry, got up, and brushed himself off, raised his hand to reveal the snitch, and still , even though he had lost, Hermione cheered just as loudly as the others...

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A.N- yes it is getting more serious. OOH! Who ever can tell me where the conversation b/w "Migue" and Hermione came from in her Dream sequence, you will get a mention in the story! I need both authors and the work of literature! Good luck!

Teaser- Hermione talks it out....Draco has a conversation with Dumbledore...more looms on the horizon than previously thought.

HEY! I also want (need) more reviews! Tell me how you feel!