A/N: This chapter is a little later than I would have liked, but I did pretty well with finishing it... I hope to get the next chapter out very soon. I've given up on finished before book 6 comes out, but hopefullypeople will still want to read itanyway.

Thanks to the people who are reviewing. I don't feel so compelled to thank the ones who do not review… a simple "This is what I liked about this chapter" would be great. Please, if you find this story to be entertaining, or good in any way, leave some type of comment. Constructive criticism is something I never see, so if you have anything (aside from typos, many of them are screw-ups) then review me.

A chapter to move the plot along. Draco returns from the manor, Blaise receives a shock, and Ron appears once again. The reason why this is a Draco/Herm fic is approaching quite quickly: the faster I get a bundle of reviews, the faster we'll get to it!


The Negative Side


The Room Beneath The Cellar

Students were streaming into Hogwarts at the end of Christmas break, returning with stories and sometimes gifts for their friends. Some small groups gathered in the Great Hall to wait. Among these were Harry, Hermione, Blaise, and Ginny.

They knew that Draco was due to return that day, but none of them mentioned him. Each one pretended they were only waiting for lunchtime, because they had all somehow woken early that morning and had breakfast before everyone else. It had been at least four hours since then.

Hermione wondered what he had done with the pendant. She doubted he would have thrown it away- not after the way he had been acting toward her. But she did not think he would wear it, either.

If she did see him wearing it, that would mean some confusion on her part.

"Why are we still sitting here? Hermione, you always spend all your free moments in the library," Harry said.

Instead of answering, she glared at him. She did not want to tell them that the thought of seeing Draco after the recent separation made her heart and head feel light. They would know, if she did, before she even knew what she truly felt for him.

Harry leaned into the table, folding his arms. "I was only asking."

Hermione smiled, "Sorry. I suppose I just didn't get enough sleep last night." This was a lie, but she really did not care. A noise from beside her caught her attention, and she growled at Ginny and Blaise, "What are you two laughing about?"

They exchanged amused looks and replied, "Nothing."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione turned to the book she had brought with her, which detailed the myths surrounding the wizard Merlin. They were incredibly interesting; one even suggested that Merlin had once had a love affair with the Lady of the Lake. Furthermore, the book never mentioned outright that any of the myths were true, but some were blatantly denied, as there was often proof to the contrary. The myth of the Lady of the Lake was not denied.

Absorbed in reading, she did not notice anything going on around her until the door opened suddenly, as though a great force was behind it. It slammed against the wall, startling Hermione. She looked up to see a very small girl running into the Great Hall- too small to have slammed the doors open like that. The inconsistency led logically to accidental magic.

At first Hermione took the girl for a first year. She did not recognize her, and it was natural that a seventh year student, even the Head Girl, would not know every eleven-year-old kid at Hogwarts. However, Hermione soon discovered that she was mistaken.

The girl, whose dark hair reached almost to her waist, glanced around the room, and then her gaze locked on something. Hermione followed it… right to Blaise Zabini. The girl started running again, directly into Blaise, who held her by the shoulders as he spoke to her.

"Bianca, what are you doing here? Is mother or father with you?" Hermione assumed, from this remark, that Bianca was his sister. She shook her head, and Hermione could see that her eyes were wide with fright. "What happened, Bianca?"

The girl did not seem able to answer. Blaise looked worriedly at the others. "You should take her to Dumbledore," Hermione told him.

Blaise nodded. "Good idea. But first, I have to know what is going on." He turned back to the girl. "Bianca, did something happen to you? Why did you come here?" He stopped suddenly, seeming to realize something.

"Did someone hurt you, Bianca?" Blaise asked in a whisper.

The girl nodded.

"Who?"

She said only, "He did."

Blaise seemed to understand this better than his friends. He inhaled sharply. "I definitely need to go to Dumbledore," he said. "Come on, Bianca. I know someone who can help."

He started to walk, but Bianca did not move. She held her arms up wordlessly. Blaise gathered her in his arms and carried her from the Great Hall. Needing to find something to look at, Hermione tore her eyes away from the doors through which they had left. Her gaze fell on Ron, but she did not look for long. He was the last person she wanted to think about. He could provide neither answers nor comfort.

Instead, Hermione turned to Harry and Ginny. "I didn't know Blaise had a sister. He's never mentioned her."

"He does," Ginny said, sounding assured. "She's either eight or nine years old, I can't really remember. I think nine, because he did mention something about her starting at Hogwarts in two years."

"I wonder what happened?" Harry voiced what they were all thinking.

None of them could guess. They sat in silence, trying to banish disturbing images from their minds. Distracted in this way, they made it quite easy for Draco to approach them unnoticed. Reflecting on this later, Hermione could not decide whether that would please or annoy him.

"Where's Blaise?" was the first thing he said to them.

Harry was the first to look up. He shrugged, then went back to staring at the table. Ginny did not respond at all, and appeared deep in thought. Hermione, at last, faced Draco and gave him a real answer.

"Blaise is in Dumbledore's office, I believe," she told him. "He's not in trouble, or anything. His sister arrived a little while ago."

"Bianca? What is she doing here?" Draco seemed as surprised as Blaise had been.

Hermione glanced at the other two, who remained staring in other directions. "We don't know exactly. All we know is that someone hurt her. Blaise knows who, I think, from his reaction, but he didn't tell us. He was very disturbed, but it may just have been out of concern for his sister. I don't know how much it has to do with the offending party."

"Offending party?" Draco repeated.

"Well, what else am I supposed to call him? I don't know his actual name," Hermione retorted snappishly.

"Him?" asked Draco.

"Oh, yes. I got that from Bianca's part of the conversation. She said exactly two words. It was all very quick and confusing, and personally I'm hoping that Blaise will tell us what is going on later."

Draco ran a hand through his hair, causing a slight shiver in Hermione's spine. She berated herself for it. "I have to talk to him," he said. Hermione instantly became worried upon hearing his tone. "If you see him… never mind, I'll find him myself a bit later on."

"Draco, are you all right?"

"For the moment, yes. Listen, Hermione, I'd love to explain this to you, but I have to talk with Blaise first. It's an important matter, and Blaise really has to be the first to know. But I do have one thing I wanted to tell you privately," he added.

"What is that?" she asked, leaning toward him ever so slightly.

Draco closed the gap and said in her ear, "Thank you."

For some reason, Hermione understood right away. Her eyes instantly went to his neck, where she saw a silver chain peeking from beneath his shirt. She smiled. "You're welcome," she answered, blushing. "I didn't think you would be wearing it."

"I need to go," Draco said, as an alternative to responding. He was as good as his word; in another moment, he had left.

"What was that all about?" Ginny murmured. She looked at the doors to the Great Hall. "And where is Blaise?" Following Draco's lead, she removed herself from the Hall. In a very short time, Harry had gone as well, and Hermione found herself alone.

Her first thought was to visit Erik, though she had just been to see him a few days before. She was sure that he would not mind the company… she had almost decided to go when she saw Anthony Goldstein bearing down upon her. She sighed, but forced a smile on her face with which to greet him. Her duty was likely to distract her from the present problems stirring in her mind.


It occurred to Draco to check the infirmary for Blaise, since he was unlikely to leave Bianca, and odds were that she had been sent there. Sure enough, he found Blaise standing angrily outside the door.

"What's happening?" he asked, causing Blaise to spin toward him. He looked relieved to see Draco, but still quite upset.

"The old bat won't let me come in while she's running tests on Bianca," he muttered, sounding murderous. "I swear, if I'm not told, then I'm going to do something destructive."

"What do you know?"

"They were trying to find out if I was still loyal to their cause," Blaise said simply. Draco needed no more information than that.

"Then you are aware," he said. "Blaise, Lucius knows something is going on. If he manages to find concrete proof that we're not on their side, I have no doubt you and I are both going to be tortured and killed."

Blaise's eyes widened. For a second, he forgot his sister's plight. "What are we going to do, then?"

An hour later, Blaise and Draco were sitting in the Slytherin common room while Bianca slept in the infirmary. Blaise had admitted that she would be safe there while she was asleep, and it would be more convenient to have her be somewhere else for the moment. Draco's eagle owl had been sent on a mission to find Ginny, and the two Slytherins were about to carry out their plan.

"Are you sure about this?" Blaise asked, and though Draco knew what he meant, he decided to use it as a start to their public conversation.

"Blaise, you worry too much. They don't suspect, do they? No, of course not. Do you know why?"

"No, Draco, why?" Blaise prompted. He looked a tad peeved about not having received an answer, but Draco could not appear to care right at that moment.

"Because the heroes are always so eager to trust. They want to believe that we can change. It's in their nature to help and except everyone, even their enemies, if we ask." Draco seemed quite proud of himself. While this was not the case with him and Blaise, this fact was generally believed about heroes.

"You called them heroes," Blaise pointed out.

"Only in the disgusting Muggle fantasy sort of way," Draco amended, and Blaise nodded.

"Well, it does seem to be working. There is that."

"Mmm. Voldemort will be proud. Oh, and our parents."

It did not take long for the story to spread. Draco and Blaise were involved in some kind of plan to get into the Boy Who Lived's inner circle. The Slytherins were most excited about this, and they could not stop talking about it, but they were not stupid enough to let any of the Gryffindors hear. Or so they thought.

Draco went down to the kitchens to order dinner for ten sent to his room. The house elves were very accommodating - predictably. Dobby seemed very happy to see him, which was surprising, since he had been traumatized by working forthe Malfoyfamily.

He had reached the stairs leading to the dungeons, and was planning to descend them. However, another idea was had by Ron Weasley, who came at him from just ahead. Typical Gryffindor move: a Slytherin would have come from behind.

"I've heard about what you're doing. And Slytherins call themselves subtle," Weasley began bluntly.

"Well, more so than Gryffindors, if nothing else," Draco returned, sneering the old sneer. He couldn't help it. Weasley grated on his nerves. "For your information, the rest of Slytherin house might have been given the wrong impression for a reason."

"You mean you aren't pretending to be Hermione and Harry's friend just to get close to Harry? You aren't reporting everything you can back to your big boss You-Know-Who?"

That "You-Know-Who" business was really a sad thing. Slytherins laughed at everyone who ever said it. "Forgot all about your sister, did you?" was all Draco said.

Weasley would not be misdirected. He took a few steps closer, which was just a little disconcerting, since he was taller than Draco by more than just a few inches. People often talked about how tall Weasley was. It was much more noticeable when he stood a foot from you.

"This could be considered invasion of personal space, Weasley."

"Do you love her, Malfoy?"

"What?" The conversation took an interesting and unexpected turn.

"Hermione. Do you love her?"

Draco remained silent. Malfoys did not discuss emotions, especially not with anyone who might use it against them.

"I'm giving you this one warning. If you hurt Hermione, I'll be waiting for you. She doesn't love me, but that doesn't mean I don't care for her. I do. If you would make her happy, then she should be with you. But if you break her heart, or set her up, Azkaban will hold no meaning for me."

"That would have been threatening, Weasley, were it not for the sickeningly good-hearted noble I-will-give-up-the-woman-I-love-if-that-is-what-she-wants Gryffindor attitude underlying the entire thing." That was a lie. It was sickening and Gryffindor and noble, but still threatening. Draco believed that Weasley really would forget about laws if he did anything to Hermione.

"You would do the same if you were ever in love," Weasley said.

"Don't count on it," Draco answered, but he secretly almost agreed. Slytherins and Gryffindors were almost complete opposites, but love was not concerned with things like Houses. After a minute of a Glare-of-Certain-Doom, Ronald Weasley walked in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

Shaking his head, Draco continued on his way. "Arvadek," he said to the entrance to the Slytherin dorms. He hated that password and wondered why Snape had chosen it to begin with. So did Blaise, as he had said about thirty times.

"I just had a nice, civilized talk with your girlfriend's older brother," he said to Blaise, who had been waiting in Draco's room. It was the most private place that existed in the castle, and far less suspicious than a bunch of people suddenly coming out of a wall. This was what tended to happen when they met in the Room of Requirement.

"What did he say?" asked Blaise casually.

"He threatened me, in simplest terms. He's worried about my intentions, you know?"

Blaise raised his eyebrows. "I wonder why."

"You know, your sarcasm is unappreciated, Blaise."

"Don't be absurd. Every Slytherin appreciates sarcasm."

"Well, okay, it's appreciated, but it was unnecessary."

The two of them carried on a conversation made entirely of one-liners for a while, until a knock sounded at the door. "They're here, I guess," Blaise said.


Ginny sat next to Hermione at her table in the library. Without prelude, she told her, "Draco wants us to meet him in his room during dinner. He said he would have food there for us."

"In his room?" Hermione asked. Ginny nodded. "Why?"

"It doesn't say. It seems very urgent, though, it's not like this kind of thing happens that often."

Hermione sighed. She hated situations like this; being in Draco's room, talking quietly with him… "Does Harry know yet?"

"I was on my way to tell him now. I think he's on the Quidditch pitch, though Merlin only knows why. It's freezing out."

"Well, you know Harry," responded Hermione simply.

"Don't we all," Ginny said. "Time to brave the snow, I guess. See you in the Slytherin dorms." This last sentence was spoken very softly.

"Why must Draco and Fate torment me?" Hermione asked herself before packing up her books and exiting the library. There was only a little more than an hour before dinner, and she had just decided that she needed to get cleaned up. She ignored the part of her mind that was accusing her of putting on a show for a boy.

"I am not," she protested. "I just feel like having a shower and smelling nice. There really isn't anything wrong with that."

Are you convinced yet?

"Shut up," she said, and then took her own advice. She would seem either crazy or foolish to anyone with whom she crossed paths if she kept talking to herself.

Five minutes after dinner had started in the Great Hall, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione approached the dungeon entrance to the Slytherin dorms, with Ginny leading. Apparently, Blaise had taken her there before.

"Arvadek," she said to a section of the wall. Also apparently, he kept her informed of the passwords. Hermione asked Ginny whether Blaise knew the password to the Gryffindor dorms. The answer she received was a shrug.

"Ginny, you aren't supposed to give out passwords to people from other houses," berated Hermione.

Harry held a finger to his lips. "Quiet. If there are any other Slytherins in here, we don't want them to know we're invading their House."

"Why didn't you bring the Marauder's Map with you, then?" Hermione snapped.

"Because I lent it to Blaise last week and he hasn't given it back yet. I should get that back today…"

Just like that, they were before a very elegant wooden door. Ginny knocked after peering down the hallway in both directions. It took only a moment for the door to open, and they stepped in to find Draco and Blaise waiting.

"The food will be here shortly," Draco said, gesturing for them to find seats.

"Oh, good," replied Hermione. "Because you know, that's what we were most concerned about, the food."

"I know I was," Harry said with a grin. Hermione shot him a look, and he grimaced toward her. "Well, I'm hungry."

"Can we begin now?" Hermione asked impatiently.

Draco nodded. "Fine. We've called you here to explain a few things."

"First, we decided to let you in on our plan, just so you won't be too confused," Blaise said.

"Lucius has been hearing rumors about us, Blaise and me, that is, and it's quite clear what our fathers will do if they discover our true intentions. To keep this from happening, Blaise and I decided to stage a private discussion in the common room."

"It is not the most likely thing for a Slytherin to do - discussing secret plans where others can hear - unless they want someone else to know," Blaise interjected.

"Right," Draco continued. "From what they know of us, the Slytherins will probably just think we're bragging and write it off as true. Aside from that, they will also be sure to stay out of our way if they think we have direct orders from Voldemort."

Hermione considered this for a moment. "So, what impression are you giving these poor, unwitting Slytherins?"

"We could take offense to that," said Blaise.

"But you won't," returned Hermione.

"We basically told them that we're pretending to… reform, I guess, to get close to Harry. It's a fairly simple plan, but I doubt most Slytherins could carry it out. Something so overt and direct would be beyond most of them. That's why they'll believe that Blaise and I were specially selected for this mission," Draco explained.

"And your friend Ron heard about it," Blaise added. "He thought it was true."

"Well, you can't really blame him," said Ginny. Blaise shrugged and blew her a kiss. Hermione was shocked that they had not yet snogged each other since the Gryffindorsarrived.

"Basically, you've told the other Slytherins that you're still on their side, and that you have to act like you aren't whenever you're within view of us?" Harry asked.

"Actually, it would be more convincing for us to act as part of your side whenever we're outside the Slytherin common room," Draco told them. "Slytherins are very thorough with our plans."

"That's perfect!" Harry exclaimed. Hermione and Ginny looked at him in slight confusion, while Blaise and Draco sat back with proud smirks. "Slytherins won't be suspicious of your actions, and the others will get used to you being - well, not evil."

"It does make sense," Hermione said. She gave Draco a smile, though she was still annoyed. She hated him. No you don't…

"Oh, the food's here!" Ginny said suddenly.

"Thank god!" Hermione whispered. She saw Draco's head turn in her direction, but she ignored him as much as she could. They all gathered around the sizeable tray and heaped their plates with supper.

"There are two more things I want to know," Hermione said once they had settled with the food. "I think you mean to explain them, but I'll tell you the subjects of interest anyway. One is what Lucius said to you, Draco. What he told you when you were at home. The other is what Blaise's sister is doing here."

"You're right, Hermione," Blaise answered. "Those were the other things we planned to tell you. However, we're more interested in the food right now. Can you wait a few minutes?"

Draco laughed at Hermione's glare. Her heart fluttered. She rarely heard a real laugh from him, and the novelty made it enticing. The way the corners of his eyes acquired subtle laugh lines was incredibly becoming.

She was sure they had all seen her stare, so she looked at her food instead. "Is there some joke we're missing, Draco?"

As an alternative to answering, Draco dove into the rest of the information session. "Lucius had some very interesting things to tell me. One of these things was in the contract, by signing which I came into my part of the family fortune."

"How big, exactly, is that part?" Hermione wondered.

"Sixty million galleons cash, not including properties," Draco said matter-of-factly.

Hermione knew that her slack-jawed expression would do nothing for her reputation. Luckily for her, both Ginny and Harry looked similar. Draco continued.

"I'll inherit the rest when Lucius and Mother both die. Of course, the most interesting part of this contract is who gets my money if I die. This lucky person happens to be the head of the Parkinson family." Hermione felt shock and horror all at once, as though she had just been told that Draco killed puppies during the break. "Don't worry too much about it, though. I'll make legal changes of my own. I can do that now, since it's my money. It's kind of like changing a will."

"It's exactly like changing a will," Ginny pointed out.

"Yes, correct. But anyway, There is something more important, which surprised me quite a bit. Lucius told me what Voldemort is planning to do to the Dark Mark."

The others leaned in collectively. It would have been humorous if the topic of conversation had been a bit less serious.

"The plan that someone or other devised is to alter the spell," said Draco, "that places the Mark on your arm. Only those with the Mark on their own arm will be able to see it."

"At all?"

"Yes, Potter, at all."

In the silence that followed, a thought occurred to Harry. "Wait, I thought you said before that Lucius knew about your… betrayal, I guess. Why is this such a surprise now?"

"I never said he knew, Genius Potter. I said he suspected, and he still suspects. The only difference is that now he has said so directly," Draco answered. Hermione thought this explained things quite well. "His subtlety seems to be decreasing with every conversation we have. Maybe you Gryffindors are rubbing off on him through me."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Sarcastic jokes, the signal for the next topic."

They all looked to Blaise. "What?" he asked.

"Blaise," chided Ginny, "you know what you're supposed to tell us."

He sighed. Tilting his head, he caused some of his dark hair to fall in front of his eyes. He did not bother to brush it away. "Bianca was…" He took a deep breath. Hermione saw a tear roll down his cheek, and understood why he wanted his hair to cover his eyes. "Our father tortured her, along with a few other Death Eaters. They were trying to find out if I was still loyal to them."

"So Lucius is not the only one who has been hearing rumors," Draco put in, giving Blaise a second's respite.

"Yeah, it seems almost everyone's been talking. And Bianca, aside from being my younger sister and very dear to me, is a seer. They thought she would know, if anyone did, and they could get it out of her."

"Did they?" Harry prompted as tactfully as he could.

"As far as I can tell, she didn't. Dumbledore decided that he would bring his Pensieve out, and he and I went into the memory. She doesn't remember if she told them. All we got was her being grabbed and brought to the room beneath the cellar, then being tortured and- and screaming… she kept calling out my name."

Blaise turned and rested his head on Ginny's shoulder. She had moved next to him as soon as he began to explain, and now had her arms around him. He was shaking uncontrollably.

"I must look decidedly un-Slytherin right now," he laughed through tears.

"Oh, Blaise, don't worry about that. We won't tell anyone we saw you display emotion, especially in an appropriate situation," Hermione told him. Interestingly enough, she said this with complete sincerity. He smiled appreciatively, but she could still only see the bottom half of his face. She reasoned that his eyes must still be leaking.

"Maybe we should get out of here," Harry suggested. "If we have to sneak out once all the Slytherins are back from dinner, it will be just a little more difficult."

Draco caught Hermione's eyes. She could see that he was having a time of holding back his emotions. A strange feeling came over her as she realized that she must know him better than anyone, except for himself, and possibly Blaise. She could read emotion in his face or in his voice, whereas most would miss it.

She gave him a look that she hoped he would understand. Meet-me-in-the-Room-of-Requirement-if-you-would-like-to-talk, it said. To her surprise, he sent her a look of his own, which seemed to be saying I'll-be-there-at-nine.

And Hermione, who was very familiar with Draco and his mannerisms, was shocked by the emotions he vented while they sat in the hidden room for the entire night, eventually falling asleep in each other's arms.

…TBC…