Disclaimer: I own jack!

A/N Yep, I really got into it this time. This is really long, and I enjoyed writing every word! I'm glad everything is finally outlined. Happy New Year all! Please don't drink and drive. As a matter of fact, just don't drink at all. You'll just make a jackass out of yourself. Stay home, read my fanfic again. :) And thanks to everyone who's reviewed! You guys rock and make my day! *Cyber kisses for everyone*

"How am I supposed to get food?" Hermione asked as Draco finished his pudding.

"Like this," Draco replied. He picked up the red hawk quill and wrote on the black slate, "chocolate covered cherries." The writing then began to swirl around and sparkle off the slate and turned into a bowl of chocolate covered cherries. "It's easy, I'm sure even you could use it," he said sarcastically as he took his cherries. "Order a meal, you look awful," he said as he bit off one of the cherries and smirked at her.

Hermione glared at his comment and replied, "Good to see your returning to normal."

"What's that mean? What's normal?" Draco said as he sucked the chocolate off the cherry.

"Normal for you... a jackass," Hermione said as she picked up the quill.

"What sounds good?" Hermione asked herself mentally, "About everything at this point, I'm so hungry I'd probably eat that cherry Draco has in his mouth right now."

"Uch, sick," Hermione said aloud.

"What's that?" Draco said looking up momentarily.

"Nothing, just a bad thought," Hermione said as she carefully wrote, "Sirloin steak, Medium rare, roasted potatoes, grilled fish, 3 green bean bundles, fried sweet potatoes, side salad, Italian dressing." When she set the quill back in its inkwell, the words began to swirl and glitter again, but for a little while longer this time.

"That'll take forever, that much food," Draco said smartly as he placed another cherry stem beside his bowl.

"It's worth the wait," Hermione said with an eager grin. The food appeared after a minute of two, and Hermione quickly put the plates in front of her and dove into her meal. "Oh, crap," Hermione said as she picked the quill back up and wrote, "Diet Coke." It appeared quickly and she took a sip. She looked up when she heard hearty chuckles coming from Draco's side.

"What, may I ask is so funny?" She said haughtily.

"Watching your weight there Granger? I'm sure drinking a DIET coke will do a lot of good after you finish enough food to feed a dragon for three days," Draco said laughing.

"Ha ha, well, I could eat a whole dragon thank you, I've not eaten in four days after all," Hermione said as she cut her steak looking at the red juices run out. She glanced up and saw Draco looking disgustedly at the steak. "Problem?" she asked as she stabbed a potato and put it in her mouth. "What's the matter, pureblood steak not good enough for me?" she asked harshly.

"No," he said giving her a cool look, "I'm a vegetarian." Hermione was surprised at this and attempted to hide the look of astonishment on her face, but failed miserably. Draco looked down at the table and said, "After you see so much burning flesh, it gets hard swallow anything similar. Brings back bad memories, you know?"

"I'm sorry, I had no idea," Hermione apologized softly as she scraped the meat off her plate into the garbage can. It disappeared immediately.

"Thanks. It's really no big deal," Draco said as he ripped a cherry stem into tiny pieces. Hermione stopped eating and looked at him. His eyes looked into hers, but she could tell he was a thousand miles away, reliving some memory.

"Draco," Hermione began, "when you say 'burning flesh' you mean human flesh, don't you?"

"I don't think that it's any of your business," he snapped.

"Well, like you said, your father is going to do it whether we know about it or not," Hermione said defensively, "It's okay, I'm not going to repeat it."

"Right," he said, "you'll run right off and tell the Wonder Twins."

"No," Hermione said honestly, with pure sincerity in her eyes. She looked at Draco and could tell he was fighting to hold back pain and fear and tears he had never been allowed to show to anyone, not even himself. "I'm not that kind of person. Draco, if you bottle things up inside it's only going to poison you. Telling someone helps to share the load."

"Right, and you're just the person for me to tell," He said cruelly.

"Excuse me, I was just trying to help. Not like there's anything I could do about any of it, but sometimes it's nice to know that someone else knows. It must be hard having no one," Hermione replied indifferently.

"What do you mean, no one?" Draco said defensively.

"Who would you tell? Not your father or mother, that'd be stupid. Not Crabbe and Goyle, they probably wouldn't understand what you said, and Snape's always the wild card," Hermione said, grinning as she thought back to Snape's attempt at Fiona. "Way out of your league Severus," Hermione thought.

"What you smiling at?" Draco asked, looking heated.

"Oh, not you. I was thinking back to the hospital, Snape came and visited me, and when I woke up I heard him hitting on my nurse," Hermione said grinning as the scene replayed in her head.

"You're kidding!" Draco exclaimed with a large smile, "He tried to pick up your nurse?"

"Yep," Hermione said gleefully as she finished her sweet potatoes.

"What is it about nurses I wonder..." Draco asked himself.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, starting on her salad, sipping her diet coke.

"Well, my mum used to be a nurse, that's how my parents met. My father was a patient at their private hospital. When he was healed, he insisted on taking her out to dinner and the rest is history," Draco explained. Hermione shivered and thought, "How creepy, Draco's parents on a date."

She smiled and said, "Well, I guess if that's the way to get a fellow, nursing just might be the profession for me!"

Draco chuckled and ate another cherry, "Right, head girl, top of our class, offered any job at the Ministry, and she chooses... Nursing. You can do better than that, besides, you can get any 'fellow' you want, you just have to know how to push the right buttons."

Hermione laughed, "Yes, because I've had soooo many fabulous boyfriends."

"Well, what about Krum?" Draco asked.

"Too clingy, wanted me to transfer just so we could be closer, he was leaving anyways!" Hermione replied as she placed her empty plates on the slate. They disappeared and she picked up the quill to order dessert.

"Finnegan?" Draco tried.

"Too touchy feely, bastard wanted sex the third date!" Hermione said, shooting down Draco's second attempt.

"The Weasel, you two dated for a few months last year I recall," Draco tried again.

"Too boring, only ever talked about Quidditch and insisted Harry come with us on most of our dates," Hermione said, victorious again.

"Ginny Weasley?" Draco said with a devilish smirk.

"Just a rumor, I don't swing that way, she and Cho's lil sis are very happy together," Hermione said with an angelic "I win" look.

"Hmm..." Draco said.

"My turn," Hermione said, "Pansy?"

"Please, she's a slut, banged Crabbe just to trade seats with him in Astronomy so she could sit with me," Draco said knowingly.

"Cho?" Hermione tried again.

"Just looking for a bad boy, turns out I wasn't what she expected," Draco said, winning.

"Those twins from Hufflepuff," Hermione questioned.

Draco grinned, "Too much of a good thing, besides, having one girlfriend is hard enough, try having two! Twice as many gifts to buy and they always talked about what I did with the other, then they'd get jealous because I spent more time with one, or didn't walk one to class, too bloody confusing for me that's sure."

"Okay, lil too much info there," Hermione said as her dessert appeared; several pieces of broken up chocolate and a large scoop of peanut butter. Her eyes grew big with childish delight as she set it in front of her. "Yep, really glad I went for the diet," she said shooting Draco a happy smirk.

"My analysis, Mr. Malfoy: you fear commitment," Hermione said.

"And my analysis: Ms. Granger, you are too friggin picky," Draco responded with a grin.

"Now," she began, taking a hunk of chocolate, dipping it in peanut butter and popping it in her mouth, "I want you to tell me about CLAW."

"Oh, right, CLAW," He said absentmindedly, staring at her dessert. Hermione groaned and switched pillows. She sat on the one right next to Draco, who willingly aided her in eating her dessert. "CLAW," he said, his voice muffled with peanut butter, "Is the organization started by the Governors. It was proposed by my father and the other men agreed with a unanimous vote, with no threatening whatsoever." Draco gave a Hermione "I know what you were thinking and it's wrong" look as he said this. Hermione stayed silent and ate another piece of chocolate, licking the peanut butter off her finger. "Anyways, once it was approved by Fudge, my father was placed at the head of the organization. He drafted all the members he needed; clerks to monitor the muggle war and find out info about muggle weapons and their effects; some werewolves to track witches and wizards abandoned in the muggle world; rescuers, like me, to go and save the ones stranded, and especially; the spell writers, to write the final spell that will seal our world and end the campaign," Draco said proudly.

"So why is it called 'Return to Eden?'" Hermione asked.

"Well, it all goes back to magic's beginnings. There was once a great island called Eden where there were two inhabitants, a wizard and a muggle. The wizard, named Adam, took care of the island and controlled the animals with his magic. Eve, the muggle, in turn served him as his wife. But one day, a snake tempted her at an enchanted tree. The creator allowed only Adam to eat from the tree, because the fruit held magic. Eve then believed that she could eat it, and suffer no consequences, but she did. The snake told Adam, who had no choice but to banish her from the island for her greediness. But something happened when she left. The magic in her body from the apple formed twins, which she bore before leaving. One was a witch and the other a muggle, they sprung forth purely grown. The son left with Eve into the mortal world and the witch daughter stayed with Adam. The worlds were completely separate, but the legend stayed with the children, and the children's children. Finally, the children on Eden decided to venture out into the muggle's world and see if they could co-exist, but they couldn't," Draco told Hermione.

"They couldn't? But, we do now," Hermione said, her eyebrows lowered in frustration.

"No, we don't; we are hidden. The magic people who ventured out into the muggle world thousands of years ago were never accepted. They tried to retreat back to Eden, but it had been sealed. It disappeared and has never been found," Draco said, "But anyways, for millennia the magic population tried to fit into the muggle society, but ended up having to hide their magic. Weird hybrids were made between muggles and magics, like goblins and centaurs. Magic animals like dragons and snakes brought over from Eden terrified the muggles and were thought to be monsters. It became apparent there was no way our worlds would ever be united, so the magic peoples began to draw themselves back into a hidden world, our world. Wizards because the dominant race because we controlled the spells that kept us hidden and were the most organized. Other races, like goblins and hags found their place and developed their own lifestyle. When we secured forests for magic creatures, the giants and centaurs decided to live in them in their own civilizations."

"When did the Ministry gain power?" Hermione asked, fascinated. She stared at Draco as if he were pages in a book.

"Well, it never was really powerful until the last thousand years or so. It began as a council of the different magic races and eventually was left for the Wizards to manage since our numbers were the greatest. The other races formed their own smaller councils that still assist the Ministry today. But today, the Ministry is the law of the land," Draco summarized.

"And now the Ministry wants to find Eden again?" Hermione asked sarcastically.

"No, we want to make the world we live in now the new Eden," Draco said giving Hermione a "you better be glad I'm telling you this, so shut up and listen" look. He continued, "Once the spell is cast, it will be as if our world and the muggle world are on different planes; the same planet and land, but different existences and timelines. When they ultimately ruin their world and blow it up, it won't effect us at all, we'll be gone, in paradise."

Draco turned to Hermione and smiled. Talking about this apparently made him very giddy because he was an obvious believer in it. "Satisfied?" he asked Hermione.

"No," she answered with a smug smile, "Just what kind of spell is this, and who has enough power to cast one like that?"

"Well, it is quite complex, but there are hundreds of specialist enchanters and potionists working on it round the clock," Draco said happily.

"Are you allowed to disclose anything about it to me?" Hermione asked sweetly with an innocent smile.

Draco laughed and said, "Cut the puppy dog eyes, I can tell you, it's no secret really. It is a series of magics that every citizen of the magic world will have to partake in. First, everyone will receive their copy of the spell and a vial of Uniting Serum."

"Uniting Serum?" Hermione asked, "that's the one that makes your soul unite with anyone else drinking the same batch until the next new moon."

"Yep, you really do read a lot, that's not in any of our schoolbooks," Draco answered. Hermione's cheeks had a small crimson blush to them. "Anyways," Draco said, "Everyone will take the Uniting Serum the night of the new moon, when magic is at its highest. Then, a large signal will be sent to every magic person in the world. When it goes off, everyone casts the spell. Then, we will be in Eden once again. We'll be home, with no more threats of their world and a huge burden lifted off ours. We can finally fly in the open and not have to hide our cities."

"How poetic," Hermione said, "And that will be enough magic?"

"Yes, probably more," Draco said.

"What about those who don't say spell, who don't want to leave?" Hermione asked softly.

"Then they don't leave, they get left behind," Draco said softly. He looked into Hermione's eyes and took her hand in his. He pulled her close and rested his forehead on hers and said gently, "Hermione, understand, this is a great thing. There's nothing left out there in that world. Your family is dead, they can't come back and you will die if you stay. You have no history there because this is your world. You are not a muggle, you're not a mudblood. You're a witch. You belong here, in this world, with our people, with your friends. You belong here. You belong with me."

A tear ran down Hermione's cheek, but Draco quickly wiped it away. "There will be no more tears once this is done," he said. A tear ran down his own cheek, but no one wiped it away. It fell on Hermione's hand, and she felt him, she could feel Draco Malfoy. She felt his heartbeat and felt the cold spot where the tear had run down his face. She felt his joy at holding her in his arms. She felt the deep buried pain within his soul.

"How am I supposed to choose?" Hermione whispered.

"What is there to choose?" Draco asked sadly, "There's nothing left for you out there. There is death and disease and unmarked graves. Here, there is love, people who love you and things you love. You love Hogwarts and casting spells and being with your friends, and they love you."

Hermione blinked as several more tears fell from her eyes. She looked back in Draco's.

"Hermione," he said, "I love you."