A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews, darlings. They make me so happy!

Patronuscharm2 – It's not so much that Draco's working for the Minstry so he must be a good guy. I wouldn't call him bad, but he's still the asshole we love to hate.

Once again, forgive me for grammatical errors. No beta!

Chapter 4 – The Remembrance

"Let's just say he left me alone for the rest of the day."

Harry laughed heartily as Ginny's hand held his own. "Priceless. That's better than third year, 'Mione. Hermione Granger hexing Draco Malfoy's penis off. I would have paid to see it."

Hermione had finally found her own place and Harry and Ginny had helped her move in. It was small and simple, but Hermione thought it was perfect. One bedroom, one bath, small kitchen and a living room. It was enough for her. The trio was lying on top of the Hermione's mattress, exhausted.

"I hate it though, because I know that it'd probably be best if he and I stuck together in this project. You know, because of our work in the war. And plus I know he will actually put some effort into it."

"Well, tell him to put the personal shit behind him and just stick to the job," said Ginny, sitting up. "I'm hungry. Let's forget Malfoy and go get some food. Chinese, preferably."

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Five damn years and the fucking mudblood looked better than ever. Sweet Merlin, the look on her face when she whipped around… he shivered at the thought.

He poured himself another glass of brandy, closing his eyes as he put the glass to his lips.

"Master Draco, a letter here for you!" said Tibsy, his house elf, as she knocked on the door.

"Come in." Draco took the letter from her small hands. Hermione's curved print adorned the front of the letter, addressing it to Draco Malfoy."

Let's put the past behind us. I don't want it to get in the way of our work. We can do this again, Draco, if you'd stop being such a prat.

-H.

He read over it again. We can do this again, Draco. The blonde rose from his seat and began to address a letter to Robert Lonski.

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Hermione exited the lift on the eleventh floor, walked past the receptionist, and headed toward her desk.

"Ms. Granger!" She turned around and saw the receptionist running after her. "Mr. Lonski said that you will be working with Mr. Malfoy at Malfoy Manor and for you to apparate there immediately."

"What? Why?"

She leaned toward Hermione whispered. "Malfoy Manor is the only death eater home still standing, and its library was untouched. From what I hear, Mr. Malfoy does a lot of the council's work from home."

Hermione nodded. "Thank you." She stepped outside the Ministry of Magic and apparated to the front gate of the Malfoy Manor, which opened after she appeared. Walking on the cobblestone pathway, Hermione gazed at the house. It was still as majestic as it used to be. Still as chilling.

Immediately after knocking on the door, a house elf opened it. "Ms. Granger, Master is in the library. Follow Tibsy."

"Thank you, Tibsy." Hermione couldn't help but stare at the marble floors, the mahogany staircase, the hallway lined with portraits of members of the Malfoy family. All fair-skinned, all handsome.

Tibsy opened the door to the library. "Master Draco, Ms. Granger is here to see you."

"Tibsy, are you not supposed to knock?"

"Oh master, Tibsy been bad." She went to the wall and began to bang her head against it.

"Tibsy, leave." He stood up.

"Yes, master." The house elf ran out of the library and Draco shut the door behind her.

He looked at Hermione's face. "What?"

"I'm just… shocked to be here."

"Well, we're 'putting the past behind us.' Let's get to work, shall we?" Draco lifted the large rug in front of him. He pointed his want at the floor and whispered the incantation Hermione had heard so many times five years ago.

The floor between them transformed into a staircase that led to the library's dark arts section. Hermione followed Draco down the stairs, his whispers lighting the room as they entered. The space was actually larger than the library above them, but not as grand. It was dark, cold, and frightening. Hermione felt the evil deeds that had been planned there in the years before them.

"You and I are working on the Unforgivable Curses. You take Cruciatus, I'll take Imperatus, and we'll both work nn the killing curse. You should find what you're looking for over there."

"I know, I remember." Hermione went to the shelves and grabbed an armful of books. She turned around to Draco sitting down at the table, accio-ing his books to the table. He smirked at her. "Sometimes I forget that I'm a witch again."

She sat down across from this. "Quill? Parchment?" He leaned over and handed her what she had asked for. Hermione took a deep breath, taking in the beloved smell of leather-bound books. Nothing smelled better. She opened the top book, scanning its table of contents and index, jotting down pages that might be helpful.

An hour passed of flipping pages and scratching on parchment. The brunette looked up from her notes and looked at the man in front of her. "Malfoy?"

"Yes?" He kept writing on the parchment in front of him, his blonde locks falling into his gray eyes.

"Why work with me again? You had four other people to choose from."

He sighed and lowered his quill, his eyes meeting hers. "Because I know you're not incompetent and we'll get the work done together. They would have been disgusted reading about these curses, talking of nothing but the immorality of the books."

" 'There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.'"

"Oscar Wilde."

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Draco Malfoy reads Oscar Wilde? He reads muggle literature?"

"Who said Oscar Wilde was a muggle?"

"I just assumed—"

"Granger, assuming makes an ass out of you and me. And no one makes an ass out of Draco Malfoy."

"Except, of course, Draco Malfoy." He opened his mouth to speak but Hermione cut him off. "Does the word 'ferret' mean anything to you?" She giggled. 'Don't get pissed off Malfoy. I'm only teasing."

"We should get back to work." Hermione picked up her quill again, doing everything she could not to laugh. The two of them worked for three hours straight, both continuously thinking about that night—

It was late and Hermione and Draco had been researching for hours and they were finally getting somewhere. The pair had spent days in that room, only leaving to sleep and to refresh.

He asked her if she was ready to call it a night. "I'm ready to call it a year, Draco," she replied. She stood up and looked at a forlorn Malfoy.

"Draco, the Order will find her."

"He's punishing me, Hermione. He fucking took my mum because I couldn't kill Dumbledore. She's hurting and scared and I'm hiding out researching. What the hell are we researching, Hermione? We won't win this war with books. Wars are won with blood, with passion—"

"With strategy, Draco Malfoy. And that's what you and I are here to do."

"Strategizing while Potty and Weasel are fighting." He stood up. "I am a Malfoy! Malfoys do not sit behind the lines, they fight!"

"Malfoys would be torturing your mother with branded forearms."

He stared at her, knowing she was right. She crossed the room and embraced him tightly and looked into his eyes. "We will win this war, Draco." The surprise of his lips pressing into hers elicited a moan from Hermione's lips and she clutched onto his tighter. Pure desire overtook them as their hands groped at each other, their tongues fighting for control. Arousal pooled between her legs while Draco pulled her closer to him, his need for her pressing against her thigh. Ron was never this demanding.

Hermione gasped and pulled away. "D-Draco, this is wrong." She tried to catch her breath. "I'm with Ron—"

"Fuck Weasel… you know I'd give you more than he could."

"But… I love him."

"Look where loves gets us, Hermione. It breaks our hearts and runs ours lives. Love beats us down till we're nothing but empty carcasses. Love… love is dangerous business.

That had been their breaking point. It only took Hermione and Draco two more days to get and plan what Harry and the Order need to defeat Voldemort. Those two days trailed like months. They only spoke about the curses, the strategy. The silence between them was so loud; their bodies that ached for one another sat on what seemed like opposite sides of the earth.

He had hated her. She knew he still did a little. What witch would ever turn down Draco Malfoy, especially a mudblood?

Towards the end of the afternoon, Hermione let Draco know that she was leaving and that she would see him in the morning. After he watched her small figure ascend the stairs, he followed a few minutes later and bewitched his floor back to normal. He heard the door to the library open as the carpet moved back into place.

"Forget something?"

"Hello, Draco." He hadn't heard that voice in three years.

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A/N: Hope you liked. Please review and let me know :)