Doriansportrait—glad you are enjoying the story! I will be updating as much as I can!

Kayette—I started this story last summer and have added quite a few chapters in the last month. I'm hoping to finish this story before the summer ends and my work schedule picks up again. Thanks for adding me to your favorites!

Chapter 8

Draco paced back and forth across the small room. It had a table in the middle of it, with four chairs around it. One with Slytherin colors, and three with Gryffindor. It was time, he had realized. It was time to bring Potter and Weasley into his plans. Not just for himself, but also for Hermione. He realized that he needed their help to protect her properly.

Because Hermione was more in danger than she realized. She had opened a pot of worms, to use a Muggle expression. She had opened discussion of the Dark Arts in her class with seventh year Slytherins, and she had not realized that they would notice that she was up to something. They had alerted their parents, and the followers of the Dark Lord.

Draco had anticipated their reaction, but had not thought it would happen so quickly. In the beginning, he hadn't really thought of how his plans would affect Granger. But, slowly, it had started to matter. She had started to matter, and now he was utterly confused about how to handle the situation. The one thing that he knew was that he had to make sure she was safe, whatever the cost.

The door knob turned. Ron and Harry walked into the Room of Requirement. Usually, when they walked into the Room of Requirement, it was full of instruments that fought the Dark Arts. But tonight, all it held was a table and four chairs around a single lamp that hung from the ceiling. It reminded Harry of the rooms in which Muggle policemen interrogated criminals.

Draco gestured towards two of the chairs.

Harry eyed him warily. He gave his adversary a sardonic smile and gestured towards the green and silver decorated seat. "No, really," said Harry, "I insist that you sit first."

Draco did not say a word. He merely nodded and sat down. Ron and Harry exchanged a quick glance and slid their chairs out. They sat tentatively in their chairs. Nobody spoke.

Draco realized that he was going to have to begin. He cleared his throat and concentrated on not smirking at his two sworn enemies. "I've asked you two to meet me here for a very important reason." He folded his hands together on the table and did not look at them. "And I asked you to meet me here before Hermione joins us because I don't want her to know something."

Ron and Harry exchanged a meaningful look before Draco continued.

"Hermione is in trouble," Draco said simply. The words whooshed out of him. Harry and Ron rose from their seats, their stances angry. Ron swung his fist into his open palm. Harry planted his hands on the table, towering over Draco.

Draco didn't move. He knew that he deserved their wrath, and he resisted every urge to stand up and fight them. He wouldn't take the bait. He couldn't. Hermione's very life was at stake.

"I didn't mean for it to happen," Draco swore. "I... I knew that the Death Eaters would eventually discover that something was happening from within Hogwarts, but I didn't really think it would happen so soon. And, I don't think most of them realize, but at least one does."

"What do you mean?" asked Ron suspiciously. He glared at Draco. "Who knows what she is trying to do?"

Draco looked away. "Karl Moorehouse," he mumbled.

"Who?" asked Harry.

Draco swiveled to face Hermione's friends. "Karl Moorehouse. He knows. He's already tried to attack her. This past weekend, when everyone was at Hogsmeade. I stopped him before he killed her."

Ron made a move to pummel Draco, but Harry held him back.

"What the hell do you mean, you stopped him before he killed her?" Harry was using all of his strength to hold Ron back from attacking Draco. "What the hell did he do to her?"

Draco stood up and slammed his palms down on the table. "He tortured her with the Cruciatus curse," he yelled. "That's what he did."

Ron almost leapt on Draco. "You got her into this mess, Malfoy. Get her the hell out!"

"I can't!" Draco cried. "She's in too deep now. With her work for the Order and with what she has started here at Hogwarts, she knows too much information about the Dark Side. Probably more than she realizes. And they are going to want to eliminate her."

Harry was no longer holding Ron back. "What do you mean, eliminate her?" Harry's voice was low and threatening. He looked like he wanted to leap on Malfoy, too.

"Potter, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by spelling it out. You know exactly what I mean. The Death Eaters are going to want to kill her. They want to kill her now." Draco flung himself back in his chair and turned away from the other two.

"And you're the one who put her in this danger!" bellowed Harry.

Draco's mood shifted. "Yes, I did," he said quietly. "I did it because I knew that in the end, it would help Dumbledore. And you." He looked Harry squarely in the eye.

Harry relaxed just a bit. "Why would you want to help me?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because you are the only one who can defeat the Dark Lord, as you well know. It was foretold, and the time will come when you will face him alone. And you need all the knowledge that you can get about who is still involved, and who is being controlled. About who is betraying the Order and who wants to help," Draco explained.

Silence ensued. After a moment, Ron asked the question that he and Harry had been wondering all along. "Why the sudden change of heart, Draco? Why should we believe you?"

Draco crossed his arms and looked away. "Let's just say that I learned a few things this summer. My father disappeared, and I had to actually start thinking for myself. I spent my entire life trying to please my father, and in the end, he never even cared. Serving the Dark Lord was more important than my mother or me. He knew that we would be killed after he was, but he went out for a bit of muggle sport anyway. He was weak. If he had stood up to the Dark Lord, my mother would still be alive, and I wouldn't constantly have to watch my back."

Draco turned back to Harry and Ron. "The Dark Lord turned my father against his family. He killed my mother. He tried to kill me. Someone who brings so much destruction to his own followers is not someone who I am going to support." He shrugged. "I might not agree with everything Dumbledore has to say. I might not like you two, but I'm on your side."

Harry and Ron stood there, stunned by the onslaught of words and emotions pouring from Draco. Malfoy had changed over the summer. They couldn't believe it. They didn't want to trust him, but it looked like they might have to trust him.

Some of Harry's rage deteriorated. He sunk back into his chair. Ron followed suit, a bit confused. "What does Karl Moorehouse have to do with all of this?" asked Harry.

Draco also sat and leaned on the table, staring at them both intensely. "For some time, I believed that there was someone spying on me from the Dark Side. I wasn't sure who, and so I bided my time. After facing the Dark Lord, I knew that I could face one of his followers. Especially one that I had known for so long. I knew that it had to be one of my peers." He leaned back. "Karl Moorehouse made a few comments the other day in DADA class, and when I found him attacking Hermione, I realized that he knew she was purposely generating discussion during class." Draco rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "And now she's even in more danger since I confronted him."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Harry.

"Well, now he knows that he can use her against me. He knows that I actually care about her," said Draco simply.

"And how could he deduce that?" interrupted Ron, a small smile threatening to break across his face. Malfoy had just admitted that he had a crush on Hermione, and Ron found a lot of amusement in that fact.

"I threatened to kill him if he ever touched her again," replied Draco.

He was serious, Harry and Ron realized. Malfoy really would kill anyone who threatened Hermione. It was a little astounding to think that Malfoy, who had called Hermione a "mudblood" for so many years, had turned around.

Harry had to make sure that Malfoy was telling the truth about his feelings, though. He was still wary of Draco's transformation. "Why do suddenly care about the little 'mudblood'?"

Draco stood so quickly that his chair fell backwards. "Don't call her that, Potter!"

Instead of feeling frightened, Harry smiled. "Sit down, Malfoy, and let's start discussing what needs to be done to protect Hermione."

Draco glared at him, knowing that Harry had gotten the reaction that he wanted. "All right, but we better do this quickly, before Hermione shows up."

Ron and Harry nodded, and a tacit agreement to get along for the time being was made between them. For Hermione's sake.