Trust
Now you're standing there tongue tied
You'd better learn your lesson well
Hide what you have to hide
And tell what you have to tell
You'll see your problems multiplied
If you continually decide
To faithfully pursue
The policy of truth
(The Policy of Truth—Depeche Mode)
Hermione was standing, leaning against a table, one leg crossed over the other as she lightly tossed the cup from one hand to the other as she muttered to herself. She was making Harry nervous, the way she was handling the horcrux and he had to fight the urge down to just snatch it from her hands. The thee of them had sought solace in the Room of Requirement after Hermione had at long last eaten her dinner and had already transfigured a cup to replace the one they had taken from the case.
"Well," Hermione sighed, "we have to find someway for the piece of Voldemort's soul to manifest itself to destroy it. That seems to be the common denominator here." To Harry's relief, she set the horcrux down to rest on the table. "At least I think that's what we have to do."
"Sometimes the simplest solution usually works," Ron said as he took out his wand.
Harry looked at him. "Ron, what are you—"
"Reducto!"
Harry grabbed Hermione and practically yanked her down to the floor face down before he moved on top of her, shielding her from Ron's spell that rebounded off the cup and bounced crazily around the room. Ron hid under the table until the spell finally landed on a chair and destroyed it. The room immediately replaced it with another one.
Hermione removed her hands from her head and chanced a look around the room.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked her and she nodded. Harry moved off of her and helped her to her feet. "Well, we won't do that again, will we?" he said pointedly to Ron.
"How the hell was I to know it was going to do that?" he asked innocently.
"Look, it's late," Harry said, "Let's just sleep on this and figure it out some more tomorrow, alright?" He took the cup and stuffed it into a pocket in his robes. Hermione nodded reluctantly and Harry took the lead in leaving the room. It was late and they knew that Mrs. Norris and Filch would be patrolling the halls. They hurriedly made their way to the Gryffindor common room where Hermione separated from her friends.
"I'll see you two tomorrow," she said sleepily as she turned to walk away.
"Just a moment," Harry said, letting the portrait close behind him as the two of them stood alone in the hall. Hermione turned to look at him as he approached her.
"I need you to promise me something," he said softly to her.
"Of course, anything," Hermione replied, a little concerned about the agitated look on her friend's face.
Harry scratched the back of his head. "I need you to promise me that…you won't do anything…dangerous with this horcrux."
Hermione's features softened and she took his hand in hers. It felt warm, slightly rough and calloused in spots. "I can't do that, Harry," she said softly. Harry frowned. "I can't do that because it conflicts with a bigger promise," she explained. "A promise I made to you before when I said I would do anything to help you defeat Voldemort."
"And I would do anything to keep you safe…and Ron…safe, too," he added quickly.
Hermione smiled. "Goodnight, Harry," she whispered softly and stood on tip-toe to kiss him gently on the cheek before turning to walk away.
She was feeling tired and sleepy but the memory of the way Harry's hand felt in hers, the slight roughness of his stubble on his cheek when she kissed him and his very presence made a little grin grow on her face as she floated to her room.
The grin dropped when she saw who was waiting for her.
"What do you want?" she asked, irritated that he burst her little bubble of contentment.
Draco was leaning against the wall next to the portrait and slightly pushed himself off of it to greet her. "I could just brush off your despicable manners and attribute it to you being a mudblood and all but you really should work on your greetings."
Hermione smiled brightly. "Okay," she said in an overly cheerful voice. "Malfoy, get the fuck out of my way."
"Ooh, Weasel has your knickers in a twist because he hasn't fucked you yet? I know. I looked at the list. Don't worry, I'm sure it's not entirely your fault that he isn't attracted to you in that way. You can't help who your parents are."
"Is there something you want or are you just standing here taking up space?" she asked.
He grinned. "Time for another field trip, Granger," he said and walked away.
Hermione hung her head. She was sooo tired but she found herself willingly following the Slytherin jerk.
The Leaky Cauldron was busy tonight, the pub filled with witches and wizards welcoming the weekend and celebrating the end of another work week. Hermione and Draco easily were able to slip in unrecognized in the crowd and made their way up to the rooms on the upper floors. Draco stopped at one of the doors on the fourth floor and knocked.
"Fizzing whizbee," he said to the door. Hermione looked at him and saw that he was blushing slightly and not meeting her gaze. The door unlocked and his mother opened the door.
"Do you have everything ready to go?" he asked as he walked into the room.
Narcissa eyed Hermione uneasily. "Mother?" Draco asked, getting her attention. She turned to her son.
"Yes, did you talk to…him?" she asked, glancing again at Hermione.
"We've got to get you out of here tonight," Draco said, looking out of the window in the room.
"Where will I go now?" Narcissa asked quietly.
"Someplace where I'm sure he would never look to find you."
Narcissa looked at Hermione who shrugged. She turned back to her son. "The Four Seasons," she said softly. Hermione's eyes widened.
Draco looked at his mother. "I've never heard of it."
Narcissa opened her mouth to say something but then closed it and looked away, ashamed.
Hermione looked at her. "It's, uh, a muggle hotel," she said softly. Draco looked up at his mother sharply then looked away, cursing loudly.
"Look what we've been reduced to. My mother staying in some filthy muggle…"
"It's actually quite nice," Hermione spoke up.
Draco said nothing for awhile before he finally said a quiet, "Fine."
"There's only one problem," Hermione said. "You don't have any muggle money."
"And we can't access the vault," Narcissa added.
Draco pursed his lips together as if he were holding back a tirade he so badly wanted to launch into.
Hermione sighed and looked at an armchair in the room with detachment. "Well, two of us don't have access to muggle money," she said lazily. Draco swooped down on her in an instant, his arms rested on either arm of the chair, trapping Hermione into it. But she wasn't afraid. She had the upper hand.
"How much?" he demanded.
"Not enough to take her to the Four Seasons but enough to put her up in a nice place with room service," she answered.
"Take us there."
"I'm not taking you anywhere," Hermione protested.
Draco pointed a finger in her face. "You swore to help me."
"I know what I did," she snapped back. "But I want something from you this time." Draco stared at her. "Carte blanche. Blank check."
"I know what it means," Draco snapped at her. He regarded her for a moment before answering. "Where are you taking us?" his tone was slightly resigned.
"It's in town, follow me."
Hermione was in a seriously agitated mood, she was tired and cranky. Her moment of happiness with Harry had been rudely interrupted by the presence of this blond haired git and now she was obligated to smuggle his mother into a muggle hotel. From what, from who, she didn't exactly know.
The lobby of the hotel was carpeted and outfitted with plush furniture in a cream color that was just asking to have coffee spilled upon it. Hermione and Draco walked up to the marble countered front desk where a man was standing behind it, looking like he had better things to do than deal with these two young people.
"Can I help you?" he asked, lazily.
Hermione, in the mood for some serious payback, linked her arm around Draco's and pulled him close. "My fiancé and I need a room for the night and we were wondering what you had available."
Draco stared at Hermione, his lips pursed together in a fine line.
"Single or double?" the man asked.
"Single of course," she replied then leaned forward and in a conspiratorial whisper said, "All this wedding planning is driving us crazy. We need some alone time, if you get my drift. Isn't that right, sweetheart?" she beamed up at Draco who now looked as if he was torn between throttling her right now and risk the muggle police or just behaving and playing along.
"That's right…sunshine," he said in a false cheery voice, unhooking his arm from hers and moving it to her shoulder where he squeezed it tightly.
Narcissa followed behind the two of them as the room was paid for by cash Hermione had taken from a credit card and the bellhop took "their" luggage to the room. Seeing that his mother was set up nicely, he ordered her not to leave the room.
"The money Granger used will be enough for two days. We'll be back to find some way to get more money and get you out of here."
Hermione looked away as Draco hugged his mom and examined the Fire Escape routes on a laminated square piece of paper by the door. There was a small tug at her sleeve and she looked up to see Draco opening the door for them to leave. The lighting in the hall was soft on the eyes and their footfalls were quieted by the soft rug underneath their feet. She pressed the button to call the lift and waited for the gilded doors to open. The two of them walked inside and Hermione leaned against the side panel after pressing the button for the lobby. Draco stood on the opposite side, leaning against the back of the lift, hands resting on the railing as he crossed his legs. Hermione reached out and pulled the Stop button then turned to him.
"Are you loyal to Voldemort?" she asked him.
Draco looked at her. "You don't seriously think I'm going to answer that question."
"I want to know what side you are playing on."
"Who said I'm taking sides?"
"Don't toy with me, Malfoy," Hermione said quietly. "I know what happened last year. I know you were ordered to kill Dumbledore and that you chickened ou--."
"You don't know anything," he said disinterestedly, gazing blankly at the door in front of him.
"You didn't answer my question," Hermione repeated.
Draco looked over at her and walked over, stopping just in front of her. "You really want to know, huh?" She looked up at him, determined. He grinned softly. "Too bad." He reached out and pushed in the Stop button, letting the lift resume its journey. The silence continued all the way to Hogwarts.
"Harry! Harry wake up!"
Harry rolled over to see that Tonks was shaking him.
"What is it? What's the matter?" he asked, shaking his head, clearing it of sleep.
"Meeting in McGonagall's office, quicky," she said before moving onto Ron to wake him.
Harry sat up and put on his glasses. Isis hissed softly in her cage next to his bed, muttering about Ron's snores. He scooted out of bed and put on some dark grey sweats and a white t-shirt.
"Ron! Get up!" Tonks whispered fiercely.
"What?" Ron whined.
"Meeting in the Headmistress' office…now Ron!"
"I'll get him there," Harry offered as he put on a pair of trainers.
"I'm going to find Hermione," Tonks said as she walked out of the door.
"She's in her room," Harry muttered.
"No, she isn't," Tonks said dismissively. "She's probably out on rounds."
Harry stared at her as she left the room. Hermione wasn't in her room. He knelt down and opened his trunk, pulling out the familiar folded piece of parchment that was the Marauder's Map.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said, tapping it. Lines grew from the area his wand had touch, vining over the paper as it drew the halls of Hogwart's. He looked to the Head Boy and Girl suites and found that she was, indeed, not there. He looked at the library, the Great Hall, the Headmistress' office. Hermione was not at Hogwarts.
Harry erased the map and pursed his lips together in annoyance. Where the hell was Hermione?
"Did you find her?" Ron asked as he pulled a sweater over his head.
"Come on," Harry muttered, "let's go."
Wand in hand, Harry marched down the hall. "Hey man, what's the hurry?" Ron said, agitated, as he scrambled to keep up with his friend. Harry didn't answer him, he wanted some answers from the Head Girl.