Disclaimer time - ok . . .blah, blah no, I do not own Draco (much to my great dismay), Hermione or any other characters you may recognize, if I did the movies would get far more interesting, trust me. The lyrics towards the end of the chapter are from "Reel Around the Fountain" by the Smiths. I need to say thanks to, Heather, my amazing beta reader, who brings a sense of order to my overly excessive use of adverbials, an almost obsessive impulse to insert commas and the ever-irresistible run-on sentences, I'm so fond of, and without whom this story wouldn't be nearly as readable ;) And of course, any typos & grammatical errors are, as usual, my fault . . . sorry. Anyway, such a long AN – I'm sorry, let's get back into the story .

Chapter 33 – Fifteen Minutes With You . . .

Madison yawned softly as she stretched out her arms in bed, glancing over at the dark-haired man, still lying on his back staring up at the ceiling. Turning slightly on her side, one hand landed gently on his chest. "Did you get any sleep at all?"

Sighing, Sirius shook his head. "Not really, an hour here or there . . . maybe."

"Worried about Harry?" His nod was all the answer she needed. Leaning up on one elbow, she trailed her hand reassuringly up and down his chest. "Well, you can find him later on today and talk it over with him."

He smothered a sarcastic snicker. "Yeah, I can try, but he's seventeen and not likely to listen to an old man like me and on top of that, remember, I knew his father. Harry is at least as stubborn as he was and Merlin knows I was never able to talk James out of anything."

"So then what?"

"Well, I'd try to talk him out this nonsense, but it's probably just going to piss him off and let him know that Ron told me. In which case, he'd cut both of us out of the loop, leaving me with no way to know what's going on. Instead, I'll make myself 'available' if he brings it up, I can try to talk him out of it, if not I'll have Ron keep tabs on him and whenever he decides to go ahead with this foolhearted scheme, I can knock him out beforehand and avert disaster."

"You really think that will work?" She fought to keep her skepticism out of her voice.

"I'll make it work, I've got no choice. I've been to Azkaban, Madison, I'll do whatever it takes to keep James and Lily's son out of that hellhole. If he winds up hating me for it in the end, so be it, but I will stop him from destroying his life at all cost." He lay still for a moment, enjoying her touch, before he forced himself into a sitting position, abruptly tossing his legs over the side of the bed and with a deep sigh he stood up. Madison leaned back on the bed, taking in the view as he walked across the room to the armoire and began pulling out clothing.

"Going out already?"

"Yeah, well, I figure that I'd go out and try to round up Remus, after all, we are all that's left of the Marauders. Besides, out of the three of us, he was always the most logical. He might have some idea that I haven't considered yet." He finally finished pulling a dark blue, nearly black sweater over his head. Walking past the bed, he brushed a light kiss over Madison's lips as he continued on his way out the door. "I'll see you in a bit, alright, love?"

Infinity sat slumped over at the desk, books scattered around her, even as she pushed one off in her sleep. In the fireplace, a face appeared and sighed upon seeing the sleeping auror. "Infinity . . . Infinity wake up, come on Infinity, I know I'm late, but this is a bit ridiculous, don't you think? INFINITY!!!" With a start, she sat up abruptly, sending the rest of the books crashing down to the floor.

"What, what's going on?" Her voice was raised as she pushed herself to her feet and she waved her wand about wildly, as her head swung from one direction to the next, searching for the voice that had awakened her.

"Down here," the figure waved a barely visible hand from within the flames.

"Oh, Alex," she relaxed, falling back into her seat. "It's just you . . . damn, you scared the hell out of me. What time is it anyway?" She rubbed her eyes, still somewhat sleep-dazed.

"Nearly eight-thirty AM. Sorry about being so late, but I had just got some information and wanted to confirm it before I brought it to you."

"8:30?!?! Damn, I've got class in a few hours." Infinity's eyes suddenly opened wide as her brain started to catch up with her body in waking up. "Wait . . . what information? You found out what Lucius is up to?" She sat up excitedly.

"No, not quite. We're not sure the extent of Lucius's involvement or even if he's aware of what is happening. But you remember that little bastard Gage, right?" She impatiently nodded, waving at him to get on with it. "Ok, well a few days ago, he was found in Wales, apparently he got involved in some sort of wizarding duel with someone who left him alive, but with a broken wand and a very obliviated memory. Interestingly enough, earlier that night he was spotted at a muggle club in London and he wasn't the only wizard seen there. One Hermione Granger, a muggleborn witch, attending Hogwarts, was also observed there in the company of Draco Malfoy."

Frowning, she interrupted him, "When was that specifically?"

"Umm, they were all seen at the club on Saturday night, Gage was found sometime on Monday. Apparently it was just dumb luck that he happened to bump into a medi-wizard in Swansea, who recognized his condition, otherwise who knows how long he might have lingered in the muggle medical system."

"Hmmmm," she mused out loud as she stood up and began pacing back and forth before the desk. "Ok, timing wise that fits together, it certainly explains the tension I saw from them on Monday and most of Tuesday. I don't suppose we were lucky enough to get any info out Gage before he was released?"

"No, of course not. As soon as he remembered who and where he was, he immediately clammed up on us. However," and the face in the fire smirked slightly, "I did take the liberty of setting a tail on him, just to see what he was up to."

She rewarded him with a brilliant smile, "And that's just one of the many reasons why I love you, Alex . . . So what did you find out?"

"Well last night, he visited Hogwarts. Unfortunately, we lost him inside of the Forbidden Forest, but based on his recent correspondences and what we were able to glean from the centaurs, we're fairly sure that he met with Pansy Parkinson and one definitely, but possibly two other unnamed individuals."

"Damn, I'd really like to know who else he met, but one name is better than none I suppose. Bloody deatheaters," running her hand through her hair, distractedly as she thought aloud. "Ok, Alex, I want to you to continue the tail on Gage, you know the deal – if it seems like he's onto you, keep on him, but back off slightly, if it looks like something is up, double it and inform me immediately. Meanwhile, ask around, especially our other deatheater contacts, somebody has to know what he's up to, so find that person and report back to me."

"Oh is that all? Anything else, you'd like me to take care of on the side – world peace, an end to world's hunger problem or a muggle cure for the common cold?" His voice was lightly tinged with sarcasm.

She smirked at him, "Yeah, yeah, you know that you're my little miracle worker. I have faith in you. But we don't really have the time to squabble at this particular moment, you've got work to get started on and I need to get ready to teach a class in bloody Arithmancy. And how I got stuck with that as my cover, I will never understand." She rolled her eyes at that absurdity.

They quickly said their farewells and she bent over, retrieving the books scattered on the floor and quickly stacked them into a neat pile, before she walked out of the room and back into the bedroom. Snape looked up dressed for the morning as she entered. "Working late?" His eyebrow arched up ironically.

"Yeah, well . . . Alex was running just a tad bit late, but at least he came through with some information."

"Do tell," he lounged back into a nearby chair, watching her expectantly as she paced in front of him.

"Apparently over the weekend, Draco and likely Hermione had some sort of clash with Gage. You remember him, that little deatheater upstart that all but worships Lucius?" She paused as he nodded in agreement. "Well, it seems that he got the worse of it, a broken wand, an obliviated memory and left to wander aimlessly through Wales."

"Ahhh, though Hermione's efforts, I'm sure, because I can't see Draco sparing the bastard of his volition, considering their past history."

"Most likely, which works to our advantage, because trying to keep Draco out of an official murder investigation would be one helluva headache that I'd prefer to avoid if possible. Of course, since they didn't report the incident, we can't charge him with anything either and he's still running around free. He wound up wandering into a medic-wizard who was able to repair the memory loss, so now he's got even more of a reason to come after Draco and it looks like he's lost no time in pursuing that goal. Last night he actually had the audacity to come to Hogwarts. The ministry's operative lost him in the Forbidden Forest, but we're fairly sure that he met up with a Pansy Parkinson and one or two others. Parkinson, she's Richard's daughter, right?"

Snape snagged her by the hand as she passed him again and pulled her into his lap. "Yes and a Slytherin, naturally . . . but I can't see her knowingly working to harm Draco, since she has been infatuated with him since their first meeting, despite his constant rejections over the years. However, she's not exactly the brightest student, so it's more than possibly that she is being used as a dupe." He paused for a moment, his arms wrapping themselves around her waist, as he rested his chin on her shoulder, trying to think the situation through. "And there is no indication of who else might have been at this meeting?"

"Nope, not yet. I've ordered Alex to keep pressuring our spies and contacts for whatever information they might have and to maintain the detail on Gage, but that's all we have thus far. Anything theories or insight you'd like to offer up, considering that you personally know all the involved parties?"

He scoffed at that statement. "Please don't insult me, Infinity. Gage and I have never exactly been on what you would call 'personal terms'." He pulled her more tightly against him, turning his head slightly, as he inhaled the fragrant smell of her herbal shampoo. When he spoke again, his breath was warm and slightly ticklish against the skin of her throat. "What would you like me to say, the animosity between Draco and Gage is near infamous, I would think. Draco has wanted his head ever since that incident with his sister and Gage has always had it in for Draco, because he wants to usurp his position as Lucius's heir. Lucius believe that 'a healthy bit of competition and rivalry' is to his personal benefit and has allowed, hell he's outright encouraged it."

"Would he take to the extreme of allowing them to try and kill each other?" Infinity asked, but her voice was quieter than usual, not really wanting to hear the answer and Servus' bark of sarcastic laughter in her ear did little to reassure her.

"Of course he would. He believes that if it ever came down to that Draco would be victorious, blood winning out and all that pure-blooded nonsense. If Draco died, well then he'd just write it off as survival of the fittest or something of that ilk. Although I am inclined to believe that whatever Gage is currently plotting, it most likely isn't sanctioned by Lucius or the other high-ranking deatheaters."

"What makes you say that?" She twisted around in his grip to face him.

He shrugged his shoulders, "It makes no sense otherwise. If Gage had been working with someone, he certainly would have had some sort of back up in Wales. If he ambushed them, which would be the logical conclusion, considering his preferred modus operandi, there is no way that they should escaped so easily, never mind actually defeating him. Instead, it seems that he went alone and suffered for it. Additionally, there is no reason to use Pansy Parkinson for assistance, even as a dupe if he didn't have to. There are several other deatheaters in training that he could tap for assistance that are far more capable than her. But of course they would also be better informed on the most current deatheater activities and less likely to join a rogue and unsanctioned plot such as this."

"Great . . . " She jumped up, easily evading his arms that sought to imprison her, and in fact she actively batted away his hands, offhandedly scolding him. "Not now, Servus, we don't have time for that. We've got to figure out what the hell that little bastard is up to and who he's working with. Meanwhile, you've got to get to class and I need to catch some sleep, take a shower and prepare for yet another scintillating hour of teaching Arithmancy, all before I can get back to my real job."

Turning around, she laughed at the petulant expression on his face as she stepped over to the bed and fell backwards into it, waving one hand lazily at him. "See you later, darling." Sighing deeply, he pushed himself out of the chair, murmuring a few choice curses under his breath, as he gathered up his supplies and exited the room.

After dinner, Hermione found herself in the Arithmancy classroom helping Infinity organize her paperwork, while casually chatting about the upcoming lessons. As much as she enjoyed discussing her favorite class with someone who valued her opinions, Hermione felt slightly off-kilter. She subtly glanced over at Infinity, trying to maintain the appearance of working, while actually attempting to figure out why her teacher had a book on blood magic. Unfortunately as it worked out, she wasn't getting very much out of either effort. Her concentration split, she completely missed Infinity's question the first time around and was completely blindsided, catching only a vague reference of blood spells.

"Umm, excuse me?" Hermione was clearly startled, nearly knocking over the short stack of books balanced on her knees.

"I asked if you were interested in blood spells, since I couldn't help but notice you looking at my book." Infinity's voice was sounded somewhat distracted as she sorted through various piles of documents. "You could borrow it, if you like." She shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "Merlin knows, I've got more than enough here to occupy me. Until I get a better handle on teaching this class, I won't have the time to read through it again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, I'm a bit of book fanatic, if I buy a book, I keep it – forever. I've read everything I own at least once, although most I've read over and over. Someone had asked me a question about a particular wizard known for using them and I looked up the information for them and thought while I had it out that I'd might as well review the material. But it's nothing I need to do at this moment, so you're welcome to take it for awhile, if you like."

Hermione looked up at Infinity, scrutinizing her expression trying to decide if this was just a useful coincidence or if her teacher was indirectly alluding that she knew something specific, but was unable to make a solid decision either way. Reviewing everything she knew about Infinity, she came to the unsatisfying conclusion that she didn't know nearly enough. Either that or she was letting Draco's near obsessive sense of paranoia infect her.

But regardless of whatever was going on, there was no way that she could justify turning down the chance to take the book to study it at her leisure, considering the fact that the Hogwart's copy was suspiciously missing from the restricted section. Not wanting to appear too eager, she paused for a moment as if debating it, when she was actually resisting the impulse to snatch the book up immediately. "Well, if you're not going to use it, then sure I'd like to look through it. You never know, it might help me score extra points on the NEWTS."

"Hmmm, it's possible, I suppose." Infinity tilted her head slightly, as if she was trying to think back. "I don't remember any specific questions on blood magic when I took the exam, but then again, I think that I quite happily blocked most of it out of my memory. Either way, I know that you are intelligent enough not to want to mess around with blood magic, but knowing something allows you to know it's weakness if you are ever forced to deal with it." She took a second to finish her filing in a neat pile, before she dropped it into a file and when she was finished, she pushed the book towards Hermione. Standing up, she stretched, arching her back slightly as she reached up towards the ceiling and then she began collecting the various other books covering the desk. "Anyway, it looks like we're finished a little early, and I'm sure that you have better things to do than hang out with my all night, so you can take it and get going, ok?"

"Umm, sure, all right. Goodnight then and thanks for the book." Hermione gave a slight wave as she took the book and picked up her bag, making her way out of the room.

"Goodnight, Hermione." Infinity watched the young girl, quite pleased with herself for so neatly arranging the situation to her liking and in a way that allowed her to retain a certain measure of plausible deniability. Hermione was now armed with the book and all the knowledge contained within it, which hopefully would give them a bit of an edge against whatever Gage might throw against them. Knowing Hermione, Infinity was sure that she'd put the information to good use.

Leaning up against the wall outside of the classroom, Seamus kicked the wall impatiently. Malfoy had snagged him earlier, demanding that he find Hermione totell her know that he'd 'be busy tonight with work,' whatever the hell that meant. He had been waiting around for what seemed like forever to pass along his message, so he could get back to his own business. Arguing with himself over whether or not to leave, he nearly missed Hermione's abrupt exit as she darted off in the opposite direction. He pushed himself off the wall, only to stumble as he began to follow her. Dammit, this sucked. Somehow he had managed to become Draco's lackey and errand boy and while he wasn't entirely sure how that happened, it was definitely turning out to be an enormous pain in the ass.

And where the hell was she running off to in such a bloody hurry, anyway? He sighed, rolling his eyes as he started off after her. Turning the corner, he broke out into a burst of inventively creative curses as he realized that somewhere along the way, he had completely lost her. Draco was going to have his head. . . if he was lucky. The Gryffindor ran his hand through his hair, wondering who he could hit up for one of the Wealsey twins skiving snackbox's to get out of class for awhile. With any luck, he could hide out in the Medic ward until Draco forgot this little incident.

Hermione didn't know where Draco was but she made herself more than comfortable in his room. She sighed, hoping he'd wander in sometime soon. Dropping her bag on the floor, she sat down on the loveseat and began reading through the book she had gotten from Infinity. As time passed, she began to grow more and more impatient, wondering what was keeping him. While it was true that they hadn't made any plans, she thought that they had an unspoken understanding.

Despite the fact the book was interesting and full of information that she suspected would become useful, she couldn't force herself to give it the attention it deserved. Yawning, she checked the time and realized that it was nearly midnight and Draco still hadn't appeared. The growing chill and dampness of the room was beginning to seep though her robe and clothes, so she stood up, stretching slightly. Pulling his comforter of his bed along with her, she dragged it back to the loveseat and wrapped herself up into it, kicking off her shoes and curling up into a small ball. She decided to wait for a little longer, maybe another hour or so, and propping the book up against a pillow, she took a deep breath and continued trying to read it through.

Draco fought back yawning as he entered his room. He had spent most of the night listening to Dumbledore, Snape and the other members of the sainted freaking "order," debating strategies and various plans of attack. He suspected that both Snape and Dumbledore were fully aware that he regularly snuck in when they had meetings on school grounds with every intention of listening in on their plans and gave their tacit approval by not busting him. This gave them plausible deniability in case if he ever chose to act on any privileged information that he overheard at the meetings. If anyone ever suspected that they gave him the information, the veracity potion would only prove their innocence. Unfortunately, the "order" rarely discussed anything of any real use for the young Slytherin, and he hadn't figured out a way to sneak into either Snape's or Dumbledore rooms to learn the really interesting information, which made tonight yet another exercise in futility.

Seeing Hermione bundled up on the loveseat asleep was a more than welcomed surprise. "Hermione . . . Hermione," he sat down next to her, running a light hand through her hair, as he tried to gently wake her. A small smirk curled up one corner of his mouth as she just snuggled into him closer. Sighing, he stood up and began getting ready for the night. He picked up the book on the couch and noting the title, he buried it somewhere on a pile of his books. Shrugging off his robes, he bent down to pick up Hermione, comforter and all and smoothly carried her across the room to the bed.

Sitting down on the other side, he quickly removed his own clothes, before turning to dig out his 'sleeping beauty,' who fought him every step of the way, clinging to the comforter, as if her life depending on it. Although she had fallen asleep fully dressed, he figured that he might as well make sure that she was comfortable. So he stripped her down to just her shirt and undergarments, before pulling the sheets, blanket and comforter over the both of them. She immediately sought him out, shivering lightly, as she snuggled up against his body heat. Smiling faintly, his arm slid out around her waist anchoring her firmly to his side.

Hermione felt warm and secure as she stretched slightly in her sleep when she realized that she was very much restrained. Reluctantly she forced herself to open her eyes only to discover an arm tightly wrapped around her and twisted her head slightly to the side. She smiled when she saw Draco's head tucked into the crook of her neck. Turning her head back, she relaxed back into his embrace and wiggled a bit as she tried to get comfortable enough to fall asleep again.

"Just to let you know, if you don't stop moving like that, then I am going to take it as an invitation," his voice was a husky rumble and warm against the back of her neck before he punctuated his words in a light kiss.

"I thought you were sleeping," she whispered back in a hushed and sleepy tone.

"Not really, I was just enjoying watching you. It's late, you should get back to sleep, we're going to have to be up in a few hours," he kept his voice low, as he lightly stroked her hair in an attempt to lull her back to sleep.

"What about you?" She yawned softly, threading her fingers through his and pulling his arm tighter around her body.

"Don't worry about me. Just close your eyes, ok?. . . " He watched as her eyelids drifted close. "That's my girl . . . " Waiting for a long moment, Draco listened until her breath slowly evened out and then he slowly withdrew his arm. She moved slightly and he froze until she settled back and then he quickly slid out of the bed without waking her.

Walking across the room, he fell back into the armchair behind and grabbed his cigarettes as he watched her in the dim shadows. A quick flash of flame illuminated the room and she rolled over, one arm reaching out into the spot he had just left as if searching for him. After a moment, he found the remote control and turned the stereo on, the softly muted moodiness of The Smiths filtering through the room. Leaning back, he deeply inhaled and watched the slow burn of the cigarette as smoke rose and coiled through the air like a living phantom under a mysterious compulsion to dance, following the melody of the music.

"Fifteen minutes with you

I wouldn't say no.

People see no worth in you,

Oh but I do"

The chorus haunted him and as he sat there, brooding in the dark, he idly wondered what Hermione would make of the lyrics. He reached out to the remote again, pressing the repeat button, caving into his impulse to in indulge his moody whims, letting the music sink into him, before focusing back on the task at hand. Draco ran his hand through his hair, taking a strong drag off the cigarette, before turning slightly to dig through his pile of papers and dug out the book he found Hermione reading earlier. Opening it up and without glancing on the index, he quickly found the page that interested him. He had long ago memorized the details of the spell, having studied this volume in his father's library, but rereading it over never hurt.

He wasn't sure where Hermione had gotten the book, something he'd have to remember to ask her about tomorrow, but it definitely made him uneasy, because he knew for a fact that she couldn't have possibly gotten it from the Hogwarts library. This was a particularly ancient and rare edition and although there had been a copy in the restricted section, Draco had liberated it years ago, before promptly destroying it. Blood magic was all too often the blackest, there were one or two pages in this book that bordered on grey, but even the so-called 'grey' spells were notorious for inevitably turning out to be more trouble then they were worth. Too many apparent coincidences were happening for his peace of mind the appearance of this spell, in this particular book, turning up so quickly after encountering Gage didn't bode well.

The very fact that Hermione had read the book was enough to disturb him. Draco was fairly certain that she was smart enough to understand the dangers of such magic, but wouldn't put it past her to consider using one in an emergency, a risky proposition at best. Now he had to make the difficult choice of whether or not he should cast the obliviate memory charm on her. He knew how her mind worked, the intellectual challenge combined with a dangerous situation might be too much for her to resist. On the other hand, depending on how things played out, her knowledge might be necessary. Draco swore under his breath before inhaling a lungful of smoke. This was the exact situation that he had been struggling to keep her out and yet here is where he found himself. Closing the book in frustration, he angrily stubbed out his cigarette and the smoke stilled before fading out of existence.

"I dreamt about you last night

And I fell out bed twice

You can pin and mount me

Like a butterfly"

TBC

Ok . . . as usual, if you've left me your email, then I've added you to my mailing list for this story, so you get a happy little email each & every time I update, if you didn't get one, well obviously I don't have your email or I missed it somehow. If you review this chapter & leave your email in the review or I can get it off your profile, I will gladly add you. And don't forget . . . Reviewing is Good Karma! So please, read, enjoy & if you didn't hate this chapter then please review ;)