Chapter 41

The day after Narcissa and Hermione's parents returned to England, Sirius had been suddenly summoned back as well. He was grave and tight lipped about the necessity of his trip. But the three teenagers were absolutely flabbergasted when he informed them that because he would only be gone a few days, while their tutors would still be coming in on their regular schedule, at night they would be on their own.

It was an incredible display of trust that all three of them were determined not to betray… too badly. And since Sirius' last instructions to them were: "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." They all just decided that they'd basically been given permission to break a few rules.

Harry joked about having a party but then they realized that they didn't actually have anybody else to invite. So, instead, Draco and Harry broke into Sirius' stash of Firewhiskey and cigars- Hermione had no interest in either- but she did laugh at their drunken antics, and even more the next morning when they were sick as dogs. Draco spent the four nights Sirius was gone in Hermione's bed, while Harry pretended not to notice, but as they hadn't done anything that could possibly make Narcissa a grandmother before her forty-first birthday, Hermione also didn't feel too guilty about it.

When Sirius returned- looking much more upbeat than when he had departed- he had just glanced around at the tidier than usual house, smirked at them, but asked no questions, and that had been that.

The rest of the summer was even more wonderful than the other three summers since Hermione had started Hogwarts. She missed her parents and Narcissa, and especially Lucius since he hadn't even been able to visit. But living in the same house as Draco- and to a lesser extent Harry and Sirius- the whole time made up for the people she was missing.

And the best part was, for the first time in their relationship aside from their brief forays into the muggle world, she and Draco didn't have to hide. They could hold hands and kiss and cuddle whenever they wanted. They could work together in their lessons. They could eat their meals side by side.

The only downside for Hermione was that living with three men wasn't always a cake walk. There was just a lot of testosterone. And when she came down for breakfast one rainy Saturday morning in August and overheard Sirius suggesting that they spend the day watching a Sylvester Stallone movie marathon for 'inspiration,' she immediately turned on her heel and marched back upstairs to write a letter to Claire begging her to come for a visit.

Then she penned one to her mother asking for her assistance in stopping her father in his campaign to brainwash the wizards in her life with action movies. There was enough real fighting in her life, the last thing she wanted to do with her free time was watch Rambo gun people down.

Claire arrived three days later and stayed for the last two weeks they were in America. Their Hogwarts letters arrived several days after Claire did. Hermione was shocked when only she and Draco made Prefect.

Harry wasn't the student either of them were, but he was the strongest Gryffindor fifth year boy by quite a large margin, plus he'd proven he could juggle his school work and play quidditch and that wasn't even considering how well he'd performed in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Hermione couldn't think of any reason to withhold the honor from him.

As it turned out, the only person not enraged about the entire situation was Harry himself. He was resigned, even unsurprised. "When has my life ever been fair?" He'd asked after she and Sirius had finished ranting and raving: "my parents, Sirius in prison, the Dursleys, not being told about magic, the Tournament, now the prophecy," his voice dropped into a harsh whisper at the end.

"Harry," Sirius sighed.

"No, I know you all think it's nonsense. But Voldemort believes it, so he's going to keep coming after me, I don't think it's foolish to believe that it's almost inevitable that I'll have to fight him. It wouldn't even be the first time. I appreciate you all sticking by me, but it's just true."

Since learning of the prophecy at the beginning of the summer, they'd mostly been able to keep Harry upbeat, but he sometimes slipped into melancholy. Not that Hermione could really blame him, he'd had a hard life. And while in some ways things had improved, in others it had actually gotten worse. There were people who seemed all too eager to lay the weight of the world on his shoulders.

They all just stared at each other, unable to come up with any way to refute Harry's assertion, especially considering they'd spent the entire summer planning and training for such an eventuality.

"We love you, Harry," Hermione eventually said quietly, and reached over to take his hand, Sirius clapped him on the shoulder and Draco took Hermione's free hand, linking them all together.

Three days before the start of term they were back on British soil. It had been decided that Harry and Hermione would be shown Order headquarters in case they had need to take refuge there. Considering that said headquarters were located in Sirius' property, nobody could really argue with the idea.

Sirius had also demanded that the two teenagers be allowed to attend an Order meeting to meet the members of the Order, and because he believed they had earned the right to hear what was going on. Because sometimes ignorance wasn't bliss, it just made you a sitting duck.

They departed for the meeting from Potter House. Before they left Sirius handed Harry a slip of parchment, waited for him to read it, and then instructed him to give it to Hermione.

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

"Do you have it memorized?" Sirius asked. They both nodded and he offered each of them an arm. "Ready?"

"Yep," they answered in tandem.

Sirius took a deep breath, he had obviously not been looking forward to this. "Let's go."

Hermione grasped Sirius' arm tightly, she knew now, from experience, that sticking close to him would somewhat ameliorate the side effects of side along apparition. They'd had theoretical lessons on apparition over the summer and often apparated along with an adult so that they would get used to the sensation. The adults swore it would help them learn the skill more easily themselves when the time came. She hoped that was true, because side along apparition sucked.

They landed on the stoop of what appeared to be a rather worn down townhouse in central London. Hermione looked at Sirius, askance.

He smirked at her in return; she'd begun to see a family resemblance between him and Draco when he did that. "Welcome to my childhood home."

He opened the front door and Hermione peered inside. She glanced at Harry and could see that he was thinking the same thing that she was: no wonder Sirius had run away from home. It was dark, and dreary, and if a house could feel malicious, this one certainly did. They stepped inside and looked around.

"Didn't your family have elves? How did this place get so dirty?" Hermione asked as she looked around, there were visible cobwebs hanging from the ceiling; this place would have given every elf she knew a coronary.

"There was only one left," Sirius answered. "His name is Kreacher and he went a little crazy being here by himself after my mother died, so that's how it got into this state." Sirius took a deep breath. "He recently did me a great service and wanted to be put back to work as a reward, but Molly doesn't like him and wouldn't let him do his job, so he's been sent elsewhere."

Well, that was...an oddly vague explanation. She could only assume this great service had something to do with the trip back to England Sirius had made over the summer, but Hermione had accepted they weren't going to be told what that had been about, which probably meant that she actually didn't want to know.

"What's this?" Harry asked, walking up to a set of curtains, and Hermione understood his curiosity, given that they appeared to be hung on a windowless wall.

"No!" Sirius bellowed lunging for him but it was too late, Harry had pulled them open and then the corridor was filled with the sounds of a woman screeching about her house being defiled by blood traitors and mudbloods. Hermione stepped back in shock, Harry caught her around the waist and Sirius struggled to pull the curtains back over the portrait of a plump middle aged woman who, given her features, was obviously a Black.

"What the bloody fuck was that?" Harry asked, he pulled Hermione closer and she looked over her shoulder to see the disgust on his face as he glared at the newly re-covered portrait.

"My dear mother," Sirius answered gravely. "I am sorry," he said when Harry turned his glare on him.

"Harry," she whispered, squeezing the hand he had protectively clasped at her waist. "It's not his fault."

Harry relaxed, but before he could respond, they heard the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs. Hermione looked around frantically- she was now seriously on edge- to see a troop of redheads nearly falling down the stairs: the four Weasley siblings who were still Hogwarts students.

"You'll learn real quick to avoid waking Mrs. Black," one of the twins called out as the quartet approached them.

"I can imagine," Hermione murmured, and could only stare in shock as Ginny practically shoved her aside and threw her arms around Harry's neck. His eyes went wide and he looked at Hermione over the younger girl's shoulder in obvious alarm. But she could only shrug, she wasn't very well going to pry Ginny out of Harry's arms, that would only make things more uncomfortable.

"Harry, good to see you mate!" Ron exclaimed, "Ginny let him go. Hermione, hello," he added in a much more subdued tone.

The twins hovered around them looking exceedingly amused by the entire display.

Ginny shot her brother a dirty look but released Harry.

"Hi Ron, how's your summer been?" Harry asked, automatically returning to Hermione's side. It was just something he did automatically these days; she and Harry and Draco had rarely been apart for two months, it really didn't mean anything, but Hermione saw the way Ron's face fell and his eyes narrowed at the maneuver.

Hermione sighed internally. She was going to have to talk to Harry about Ron and about how he seemed to be threatened by her. She'd been trying not to insert herself between them, or offer any opinion at all, but it was unfair to allow the issue to be decided before Harry even really knew there was an issue. Ron meant something to him and it had to be his decision if he wanted to let that go.

"Well, we've been here at headquarters, so that's been great," Ron answered with false cheerfulness. "But probably not as great as whatever you two have been up to," he finished, obviously bitter.

Harry's eyes narrowed at his tone.

"Don't exaggerate things Ronniekins," one twin said.

"We've been stuck here cleaning, without magic," the other chimed in.

"We're not allowed to know anything about what the Order is actually up to, much less be admitted to any meetings, it's been anything but exciting," the other finished the thought, as only they could.

"Yes, well," Sirius cleared his throat. "Speaking of, Harry, Hermione, and I are due in a meeting now."

There was a cacophony of protests from four Weasleys asking to be included.

Sirius held out both of his hands. "You should take this up with your parents. I'm responsible for these two and I think that it's important that they be given all the available information. But I cannot make that decision for children not under my care."

Sirius led them to the kitchen, the sounds of the Weasley's complaints still drifting down the corridor. Hermione' first thought when she realized where Sirius had taken them was that the kitchen was an odd choice for a meeting space, surely this house had larger rooms that were actually designed for such things? But then she saw Mrs. Weasley bustling around, preparing a meal and she understood. The red-headed woman turned around at the sound of them walking in the room and frowned.

"These meetings aren't for children," she tisked.

"I agree," came a growl from down the table, Hermione whipped her head around to see who had spoken and had to suppress a flinch at the sight of Alastor Moody. She stepped closer to Harry and he immediately took her hand. Neither of them had ever met the real Moody, but their memories had taught them to be wary of him. And to hear Sirius tell it, he was nearly as vicious as the Death Eater who had been impersonating him.

"Your objections are and have been noted," Hermione could practically hear Sirius rolling his eyes. "But it's not your decision. They're mature enough to handle this and their occlumency is better than nearly everybody in this room. If anybody gives up our secrets, it's not going to be them."

Mrs. Weasley huffed but didn't say anything further and Sirius led them around the table where there was enough space for the three of them. He and Harry positioned themselves protectively on either side of her which made her roll her eyes, but she didn't protest.

"Wotcher Harry, Hermione," Tonks greeted them with a bright smile from across the table. "How was your summer in your super secret location? It must have been sunny," she eyed their tans and gave them a wink.

She felt Harry sit up a little straighter next to her. "It was brilliant! We learned loads but it was fun. And yeah, it was sunny, but that's all I can say or I'll have to obliviate you," he said with a cheeky little grin.

All of a sudden there was a large plate of food placed in front of her: some kind of meat casserole, dumplings, and mashed potatoes all topped off with a more than healthy portion of gravy. While it smelled delicious, the portions were more than she could ever consume in one sitting. Also, the food itself was far heavier than anything she would eat except on special occasions; there wasn't a fruit or vegetable in sight.

Their summer fighting instructor was also a physical fitness expert and he had drilled into their heads the importance of a healthy diet. That, combined with the copious amount of fresh, local produce and seafood that had been available to them over the summer and they had become accustomed to, meant that the idea of consuming such a rich meal made Hermione feel a little ill. Not to mention that they'd already eaten at Potter House. The elves were over the moon to have them back and anxious to try out some new recipes (Hermione had a feeling the vegetable garden was about to get a massive expansion.)

She glanced warily at Harry who looked just as reticent as she did. It seemed rude to refuse when they'd already been served, but then again, wasn't it a little rude to serve them without asking first? Luckily, Sirius came to their rescue.

"Molly, I owled ahead to let you know that we were eating before we arrived."

"Well, wherever you've been, they weren't fed properly. They are far too skinny."

"No, actually, they're in fantastic shape." He turned to them. "Are either of you hungry?" They shook their heads in tandem and Sirius reached over and pushed the plates away from them. "I know that you're a mother, Molly, and that you worry, but these two are my responsibility, whether you like it or not. Please stop trying to undermine my authority, especially in my own damned house. It makes you look petty and it puts Harry and Hermione in an incredibly awkward position."

The silence in the kitchen was deafening. Luckily, at that moment, Professor McGonagall strode into the room, closely followed by Professor Dumbledore who called the meeting to order. Hermione looked around in surprise and did a quick head count, she thought they'd be waiting on quite a few more members. There were barely even twenty people in the room. This was the entirety of the Order? She knew that Remus was out on a mission, so she could only assume that there might be others that were as well. Still, this was not a positive sign.

By the end of the meeting Hermione was choking back frustrated tears. They were doomed. From what she could tell the Order had accomplished nothing in the two months it had been re-formed, except to alienate the majority of the populace. And they had no further plans.

Remus was trying to infiltrate himself with the werewolves- a risk Sirius had begged him not to take as it was doomed to failure, he'd been living as a wizard for too long. Apparently Hagrid and Madame Maxime had gone to parlay with the giants which seemed like a massively stupid thing for two half- giants, or really anybody to do. And Bill Weasley was their goblin liaison- the goblins, who would stay out of any wizarding conflict until they had absolutely no other choice.

The only thing they actually seemed to actively be doing was guarding the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. Which, in Hermione's opinion was like drawing a big 'X marks the spot' on a map for Voldemort. He already knew the prophecy was there, of course, but this basically announced that the Order believed it to be important. And what was the point of standing guard over it in the first place? Only Harry or Voldemort could retrieve the thing and Harry wasn't going down there. Did they actually think Voldemort was just going to go waltzing through the Ministry to pick it up himself?

When the meeting concluded Hermione couldn't get out of there fast enough, so while Sirius stayed in the kitchen to chat with some of the members who were loitering, Harry and Hermione went in search of the Weasley children looking for a distraction from all they'd just heard.

When they strode into Draco's suite at Malfoy Manor later that evening, Hermione was surprised that Harry was the first one to speak after they spotted Draco; Crookshanks draped across his chest, he was stroking his head as he read, and Nox was lounging against the top of the sofa where Draco lay.

"They've been cleaning the house all summer. Without magic. What a waste of time. Merlin, what are the Weasleys thinking? That if they don't admit that they're targets then nobody will come after them? They're leaving their children totally vulnerable," Harry growled, pushing his glasses up onto his forehead and rubbing his eyes.

Draco sat up, transferring Crookshanks from his chest to his lap and Hermione curled herself against his side. "It's not your fault Potter, or your problem, really. You really need to get over this martyr complex you have."

Harry flopped into an armchair next to them. "But they wouldn't be in danger if they weren't associated with me-"

"Shut up Potter. Do you really believe that? The Weasleys are a light family, notorious and outspoken blood traitors, they were always going to be a target." Draco kicked at Harry's shins and he easily dodged. "If anything they, along with everybody else, owe you a debt. Your family's sacrifice bought our society fourteen years of peace for their children to grow up in."

There was a heavy silence as they all contemplated that heartbreaking truth. "Harry," Hermione eventually said tentatively. "Do you think sometime when you go to Godric's Hollow to visit your parents I could come along? I'd like to pay my respects."

Harry looked at Hermione, his eyes soft. "Yeah, I'd really like that, I think they would too. Though I don't know when it will be safe to go back there again."

Hermione sighed, she hadn't considered that.

"Hey," Harry perked up obviously intending to change the subject. "I've been waiting to ask you all night. Do you know what was with Ginny? She's never been that...touchy-feely before."

It wasn't just the hug when they'd arrived at headquarters. When they'd gone to talk to the siblings after the meeting she'd attempted to practically deposit herself on Harry's lap. And then she'd stuck to his side, stroking his arm; she and Ron had practically fought for his attention until they left. It had been highly uncomfortable to witness.

Hermione snorted. "Don't tell me you didn't know that she has a crush on you."

"I thought she'd gotten over that."

"No, she just learned to be more discreet about it. Honestly, Harry, after the Tournament I'm probably the only girl in Gryffindor Tower and most of the rest of the school who doesn't have at least a tiny crush on you. I can only assume she's gathered her courage to make a move before somebody else can beat her to it."

"Great," he griped, "just what I need, a whole slew of witches after me for all the wrong reasons."

"You poor sod," Draco mocked.

"Easy for you to say," Harry shot back, glancing at Hermione pointedly. "What can I say, I'm a lucky wizard," he smirked at Harry and squeezed Hermione's shoulders. "How was it otherwise?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. "A disaster," Hermione answered, "at least in terms of how they plan to win the war. If it wasn't for your parents and Sirius I would be terrified right now."

Draco's eyes went wide. "Surely it can't be that bad?"

With Harry's help she launched into an explanation of how their perceptions of the Order: a (very small) group of well meaning witches and wizards who, despite the fact that many of them had individual talents that could be valuable, seemed to be completely incompetent as an organization.

Draco swore quietly when they were through, and then they all sat in silence for awhile.

"I'm thinking of offering the Weasley twins a business loan for their joke shop," Harry said all of a sudden.

"What?" Hermione nearly screeched the question.

"You were there," he insisted, "some of that stuff they've invented is kind of genius. Those extendable ears will sell like gangbusters. And Remus has been encouraging me to make some of my own investments. This is something that interests me, and I think it would be a good way to honor my dad," he added quietly.

That took some of the wind out of Hermione's sails. "But they're so irresponsible, Harry! Do you really want your name associated with something like that?"

"Which is why they could use a responsible backer," Draco interrupted.

Hermione stared at her betrothed. "You think that this is a good idea?" She asked incredulously. After all, he had been the one who had pointed out to her that the twins could be bullies.

"I think it's an interesting idea, like Potter said. And as much as I don't agree with some of the pranks they pull, some of them are rather brilliant. If Potter invests he'll have some contractual control over their behavior- no experimenting on underaged students, for example- or they lose his backing.

"Oh," Hermione breathed. "Well that's a good point." She turned back to Harry, "do you really think they could be successful? It seems risky."

He shrugged. "I know I'd buy a lot of their products, and if you think about it, I'm probably their target audience, so that's a good sign. And knowing them, they have a million other ideas we haven't heard about. And yeah, it's a risk, but one I can afford to take. It's rare for new businesses to get funding in our world, most of them are owned by old families who don't want to fund the possible competition."

"And given what the pair of you just told me, the Order could use as many members with legitimate professions and ties to the community as it can get. It's better for everybody if they are businessmen and not just troublemakers who nobody takes seriously," added Draco.

Hermione nodded as she thought through the issue. " You both make very good points," she conceded and smiled at her friend. "Smart thinking Harry, sorry I jumped to conclusions."

"Is Hermione Granger admitting she was wrong," he grinned, clearly relishing the moment.

"Yes, yes," she rolled her eyes. "Hey Harry, does Mrs. Weasley always act the way she did tonight?"

"From what I can tell. I haven't spent much more time with her than you have, but she definitely spent those few weeks I spent at their house after first year trying to fatten me up. Why? "

"It's just, if my mum or even Narcissa was like that I think I'd feel stifled, and it might make me want to act out too. And now that I think about it, Bill and Charlie both moved out of the country right after Hogwarts. From what Ron said today, Percy is rather estranged from the family." She shrugged, "I think she means well, but it's a little much. I mean, like Sirius said, she was trying to boss him around in his own house and he's an adult."

"Yeah that pissed me right off," he answered, and then seemed to consider that, "do you think that's why Ron was being so weird about us being away for the summer? He wanted to get away too?"

Hermione sighed. "Yeah, I knew I was going to need to talk to you about that."

"Okay," he prompted.

"Ron's jealous again."

Harry made an annoyed sound. "Merlin, really? What does he want me to do, give him half of the Potter vaults? I have no control over which family I was born into."

"Well it's partially that, and if he knew more details about where we were, and the kind of accommodations we had this summer it would probably be even more so. But I was referring to our relationship."

"Our relationship? But we're not together. He knows 're wearing a small fortune's worth of jewelry to show that," he snorted gesturing to the charm bracelet Lucius and Narcissa had bought her to celebrate her betrothal to Draco in lieu of the Malfoy crest signet ring she was now entitled to wear but couldn't, for obvious reasons.

"No," she shook her head, "not my relationship to you. Your relationship to me."

"What's the difference?"

"What I mean is that he's envious of my position in your life. Our first three years he had a certain amount of social currency for being 'Harry Potter's best mate.' Not that he doesn't care about you, I'm sure that he does, but he was kind of stuck on being your most important friend, I don't think he really has any experience being the most important anything to anyone..." she trailed off, she was thinking it through as she spoke, and now that she'd voiced the thoughts, it was actually kind of sad. "I think he thought he was getting that back after he was chosen to be your hostage during the second task. And then when you were distant with me after you found out about Draco. But after Easter we were closer than ever. Anyway, he resents me for usurping his place, especially because there are all these things we can't tell him, all this time we spend together he isn't a part of. It makes him surly," she shrugged.

Harry frowned, seeming to think that through. "He could have believed me about the Tournament though, helped me train like you did. He could have learned occlumency with me and then we could tell him more."

She held up her hands. "I'm not saying you owe him anything, especially not anything as precious as your friendship and trust, and especially when he's shown he can be a disloyal git. I'm just telling you what seems to be happening."

"That actually makes a lot of sense," he sighed. "Should I do something about it, do you think?"

"That's entirely up to you," she shrugged. "Do you miss him, do you want to spend more time with him?"

Harry thought about that for a long time, Draco sat silently at Hermione's side rubbing her upper arm.

"I don't know if I miss him, or if I just feel like I should miss him. Like I should feel guilty for leaving him behind."

"Play it by ear mate," Draco advised, "I mean, this time last year who would have thought we would all be here together? That you and I could be in the same room together without trying to hex each other, much less be friends. You just never know what's going to happen. And you aren't preparing for a fight, you're not going to get your arse kicked by Master Jensen if you don't have a plan of action."

Harry's eyes lit up at the mention of their rather overzealous American dueling tutor and he snickered and nodded. Hermione kissed Draco's cheek and wondered when her boys had grown up.

0000000000

Draco was alternatively seething and brooding. He'd woken up brooding. It was September 1st which meant back to Hogwarts, back to pretending and hiding. But Hogwarts was also where Hermione would be, so he was going, there wasn't another option.

And then he'd sat down at breakfast and seen the Prophet and his mood turned ten times more sour. It was front page news. They'd found Longbottom's body.

His mother was tense and silent. His father wouldn't look him in the eye. Draco read the article and immediately knew that it was no coincidence that Longbottom- Neville- had been discovered just in time to make the papers for the start of term at Hogwarts, because it made Dumbledore look like a fool. Actually, Draco was coming to believe he actually was a fool, just a powerful one.

And it destroyed Longbottom's reputation. They were saying that due unpopular at Hogwarts and his only- sane- family being his grandmother, he'd given in to depression and he'd run away from home, and had finally succumbed to an animal attack. It was the Ministry's official stance and the paper didn't question it. They argued that couldn't have been killed by You Know Who in late June, because his remains were fresh (it was like nobody had ever heard of a stasis charm.) Draco had known his classmate hardly at all. He'd seen him around school, of course, but he'd only spoken to him perhaps a handful of times first year, and then it was only to taunt or berate him; after that he'd just ignored him for Hermione's sake. But he was innocent, and he had been Hermione- and Potter's- friend. Seeing his memory dragged through the mud hurt.

When they arrived on Platform 9 ¾ his eyes were immediately drawn to Hermione. The longer they were together the easier it became to locate her in a crowd, her magic called to him. Even from a distance he could see her eyes were red and puffy, it was obvious she had been crying. She was huddled in a group along with her parents, Sirius, and Potter who had an arm draped across her shoulders and he was inexplicably jealous. Not because he was threatened by Potter, he was actually happy that she had him, but because he longed to be part of that group. He wanted to hold Hermione. Hell, he wanted to give Potter his condolences.

He wanted to go and be with the people he actually cared about. And yet he had to pretend that he despised them in favor of people he actually did despise. If he never looked at Crabbe or Goyle again it would be too soon. And so he started brooding again. He said farewell to his parents, he did his best not to be too perfunctory about it. He was learning his lesson about how short life was, he even let his mother hold him for as long as she pleased.

He wasn't angry with either of his parents, per se, it was just that he wanted Hermione, and because of them he couldn't go to her. So, perhaps he actually was angry with them, but he also loved them, and the very thought of what had happened to Neville Longbottom kept him from just storming away from them. "I love you, Mother," he murmured into her ear before clasping his father's shoulder and making his way to the train.

The entire journey was a trial. From the moment Pansy danced into his compartment cackling about the morning's Prophet, to having to ignore Hermione in the prefects compartment, and especially the idle gossip of so many of his fellow Slytherins. Their excitement over the Dark Lord's return made him feel sick.

He managed to pass a message to Hermione as they brushed against each other while they were patrolling in opposite directions, asking her to find a way to wait and take the last carriage to Hogwarts once they reached Hogsmeade. He easily bullied every other student into leaving him alone once he'd boarded the carriage. Every student except for Theodore Nott, whom he could neither intimidate or brush off, it would look too suspicious.

"My Father was gone a lot this summer," the other wizard began as he seated himself.

Draco schooled his features. "On business?"

"Perhaps the same kind of business your father was on?"

Draco regarded his schoolmate, his friend, warily. What was he fishing for? An ally? Information?

His thoughts were interrupted by Hermione climbing into the carriage. It took everything he had to keep from offering a helping hand, but she didn't miss a beat. She glared at them both.

"Nott, Malfoy," she greeted with a curt nod. "Good summer?"

He just nodded and then had to stop himself from strangling Theo when he smiled at her. "Very nice, thank you for asking. Congratulations, by the way."

"For what?"

"For making Prefect, and for your betrothal, though I'm late on that part."

That seemed to catch her up short. "Well, thank you, on both counts," and her eyes flitted, ever so briefly, to Draco.

But he was as confused as she was. Draco glanced at Theo but he couldn't discern his motives in speaking to Hermione so cordially. And soon the carriage came to a halt and they disembarked at the Hogwarts gates.

When they reached the castle doors Potter was waiting on them, a look of pure terror on his face. It brought Draco up short.

"Mione, thank Merlin you're finally here, we're going home!"

"Home! Harry, we can't go home, it's the start of the school year, we have to go to the feast!"

Potter stepped forward and took her gently by the arms. "Please listen to me Mione. Nobody else will, they all think that I'm a nutter."

"What's going on?"

Before Potter could open his mouth Holly emerged from his collar and began hissing. He stroked her head, trying to comfort her, but a feeling of dread was building in Draco's chest, it was obvious the snake was distraught.

"Holly sensed that something was off the moment we passed through the wards," Potter explained. "She said that an old one had awakened and that her magic had been tainted."

"Old one?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, neither does Holly. But the moment I walked into the castle I heard a voice."

Draco watched Hermione go totally still. "A voice?"

"Speaking parseltongue. Telling me it meant to rip and tear and kill. And that it, whatever it is, is searching for its master, wanting instruction." He flipped his glasses onto the top of his head and wiped his eyes, Holly rubbed his jaw with the top of her head.

"Harry, we have to tell somebody!"

"I agree, but we are not setting foot in that place," he gestured to the castle at his back, "until we know it's safe. I've done my best to warn the other students, but I have a promise to keep to Sirius and your parents," he pulled her into a hug.

Potter looked at him over Hermione's shoulder. He knew the other wizard well enough to see that he was genuinely terrified, and that he was silently pleading with Draco to follow his lead and get the hell out of Scotland.

Draco wracked his brain. What could he say to excuse going along with the suggestion of a wizard who was, by all accounts, his enemy? But then is came to him: he'd go with his old fall back. He looked at Theo.

"My father will need to hear about this. Not to mention that if there's even the slightest chance that Potter's right, and I go in that castle before he has a chance to investigate, well my mother will see fit to remind me that she is a daughter of House Black."

Nott actually shivered. "I'm with you then. My father won't question me too thoroughly if I tell him you left too, and I don't want to step foot in there either if there's a monster in there which I can't even hear coming."

By that time Potter had practically begun dragging Hermione back through the grounds towards the wards, and she kept glancing back at him furtively. He casually touched his finger to the side of his nose, hoping their secret sign would give her some reassurance and strode after them, his fellow Slytherin at his side.

He sighed to himself. What disaster had befallen them now?

Author's note: Thanks to Weestarmeggie for beta reading. Thanks to you all for reading!