Disclaimer: I own no rights and make no money. These characters are not mine.

Thanks for the reviews...I'm glad some of you are still with me. All comments are welcome good, bad, ect...might be updating Brave New World now since the two are now nearly caught up. Oddly I noticed the two of them have an odd thread of similarity...as to a character.

There was commotion outside. Hermione could hear footsteps all around, voices rushing by. It was still early in the morning. She tried to ignore it at first, her body and mind too weak to want to get involved. The way Malfoy had pulled her to him last night, the way he had kissed her still clung to her mind. It had been an accident, a moment of drunken anger…its not like he liked kissing her it was just that he wanted to humiliate her. Hard as she might try, she couldn't really remember how she had reacted at the moment. It had all been so fast and confusing.

Her bedroom door slammed open and before she could sit up on her bed Draco Malfoy had dragged her to her feet.

"What do you know of this?" he demanded.

"What are you talking abou…" she was still shaken from the night before and felt nervous that she had just been thinking about him. Although she was worried about his present state, she was more concerned about the fact that her robe was lying next to her bed and she was only wearing a sleeping shirt.

"Granger, don't play games with me right now. I can kill you fast or I can kill you slow" he threatened his fingers digging so roughly into her shoulders that she began to cringe, trying to pull herself in to ease the pressure.

"You have got to get a grip Malfoy. You are losing it" she snapped. "What is wrong with you!"

He was not raving mad, he was not pacing and throwing his arms up in the air but Hermione had become the only person who got to see Malfoy outside his placid façade of composure. Still staring at her he released his grip. She remained still, watching him very carefully. There was something cold creeping into him again and she had to admit that part of her preferred the more emotional Malfoy. This one, the one that had walked away from her last night, reminded her that this man was capable of anything.

"Potter and your friend Neville escaped as they were being transferred to Azkaban" he smiled.

Hermione felt her skin shiver.

"You are lying" she hissed.

"No" he continued watching her carefully. "I am glad to see that you are as equally surprised"

"Malfoy I am in no mood for your games!" she snapped and turned for her robe.

"Game?" he laughed.

"You sick asshole. I know you get off on trying to hurt me but its not going to work anymore"

"Let's stop playing, Granger. What did you have to do with this?" he demanded walking up close to her again.

"You can look all you want" she flipped her hair and raised her chin after turning to face him. "I know nothing"

"Right" he watched her, that hint of a smile still on his lips.

The smile, Hermione thought momentarily, did not look sarcastic or evil- it looked amused. He was watching her as if he was enjoying the sight, enjoying their encounter.

"Are you serious?" she ventured suddenly realizing that the commotion outside was too much of a coincidence for this to be a hoax. "So is it all over? I mean is he gone? Is Voldemort dead?"

"Ah the blood bind that Potter cast" he began to turn from her. "You think he would sacrifice himself for the good of the world? Kill himself, to take Voldemort with him" he mocked.

"Malfoy" she gripped his arm. "Is it true?"

"Sad that Potter didn't get to say goodbye before being off?" he asked and raised his wand at her. "Show me the safe house" he ordered "Demonstra Expernzia"

Hogwarts Grounds, earlier that year:

"I still don't trust him" Ron mumbled.

"Well I have my reasons for trusting him" Harry smiled.

"So I will go with Malfoy's group then?" Hermione asked.

"No, Mione, I think we should let Seamus should go with him"

"Don't trust me to keep an eye on that ferret?" she smiled. "If you think we have reason to trust him, I suppose we can't keep doubting his change of heart"

Harry glanced at her with a smile.

'Ron is so thick' Malfoy thought. 'Who couldn't tell?'

"Change of heart, as if Malfoy has one" Ron mumbled.

"Oh, Ron, I'm sure he does" Hermione shrugged. "Haven't you've seen the way he and Pansy are always smiling at each other when they think no one is watching?"

"No, actually…I haven't" Ron replied.

Harry's look this time was one of confusion.

Granger had noticed him and Pansy? The two weren't a secret, but they weren't exactly public either. They were friends and then some, but Pansdidnt want to scare off potential suitors by thinking they had to compete with Malfoy and he had never wanted anyone to think that he actually had something going on with her.

"I mean…since he's been back. I think he came back for her" she added. "I heard Lavander Brown say that she heard Millicent and Pansy talking that Malfoy had done something that it seems made them think that he had come back for a girl" she smiled at her powers of deduction. "Love conquers all"

'That bitch Millicent running her mouth' Malfoy thought. 'What had they said?' Is that why Millicent suspected something? He hadn't seen her all day today

"Oh please" Harry rolled his eyes.

Ron laughed and pulled her into his arms.

'Curse him mate' Draco thought with a smile as he watched Harry's pained expression. 'Beat the bloody prat. You know you could have her'. He could feel the way Harry burned with envy and the way he would force himself to look away when he felt he was going to lose control, because he had been all too familiar with the feeling himself.

"So here then?" Hermione smiled. "All fails we meet here?"

"Yep, the portkeys are in place, all five of them"

Malfoy was pushed back, stunned from the effect of the spell he let Granger take a hold of his wand. He didn't release it though. When he exerted this level of control over Granger it weakened him more than anything he had felt before.

"Why isn't Harry dead?" she demanded.

"Voldemort cast a spell that will keep them alive…one cannot die without the other. They must both die at the same time" he replied. "Where do the portkeys lead?"

"Safe houses"

"Where Granger?"

"Don't know. Harry can't die?"

"Its only temporary, until the new moon. Only three people know this was done" he replied. "Let go!" he pulled.

"Finite…" she tried to end his spell, still clinging to his hand and wand.

"What are the portkeys!"

"NO!" she shouted. "Fine…I just know one…a red shoe. End it Malfoy!"

"Did you have anything to do with Potter's escape?" he asked.

"No, but I have suspicious as to who is involved…Who did you come back for, Malfoy?" she shouted.

"Finite Incantatem" he pulled away. "I so love our little games" he hissed.

"It was her, wasn't it?" she demanded.

"What do you care?" he shot back.

"You mock me for my little relationship failings, but look at you. You can't even admit that you were crazy about someone and couldn't bear her loss" she told him condescendingly.

"Well there are a lot of things a man doesn't like to admit to himself. Under the spell Potter admitted that there were moments when he hated Ron" Malfoy continued after raising an eyebrow. "He even admitted to having moments when he wished him dead, even going as far as imagining his friend dying in battle"

Hermione felt her body grow cold.

"Then come back and comfort you. Ron was quite shocked to hear these revelations from his best friend and leader… Potter might have escaped but he won't get far, not with such few friends left"

"You are a coward"

"Think so?" he asked as if genuinely interested in her opinion. "You are coming with me this very instant and we are going to cast the binding spell between us. You are going to be my shield against that thorn in my side Potter. I will make sure that he knows if he kills me, he kills you"

"He might be willing to take the risk" she felt tense, she didn't want to follow through on her oath. "You have an unkilleable, undestroyable Harry now. Wow, that was a big mistake. No wonder you're scared stiff"

"No, I know he won't risk hurting you" he grabbed her by the wrist. "Once you taught me that self control was all I needed to cast the spell it worked wonders on Potter"

"But only for a little while, right Malfoy?" she smiled. "I'm sure you were surprised how fast he was able to build a tolerance to you….you second rate wizard"

He yanked her. "Second rate or not, your life is mine now" he smiled. "I told you I would make you my slave"

"For as long as I have to, Malfoy" she grit her teeth. "And it will be worth my death to bring you down"

He laughed. "You could have killed me already, Granger"

"I need you as much as you need me. I think you should remember that, and don't become worthless to me"

His gray eyes didn't seem as cold as before. It was an odd reaction, she had expected him to grow even more angry. Instead he looked pleased.

Malfoy would never have guessed Granger could talk that way- he was corrupting her by the minute, or maybe there was more to the mudblood than he had ever seen. Either way, she kept surprising him at every turn. Yeah, they did have a big problem on their hand. If he could postphone the attack on Potter, if he could kill him when the spell wore off after the new moon then he could be free of Voldemort and claim the throne as his own. Granger had to be his ticket to staying alive, otherwise Potter would be a juggernaut hell bent on vengeance.

"Let's turn you into a slave, shall we?" he whispered.