Chapter 13 - Further Exchanges

With the book in hand, progress with the trio had escalated significantly from where they had been before—to a point. Once they had discussed every detail about Grindelwald that the book had provided though...there really wasn't much left for them to do. Hermione had hoped that it would give them something useful to work with, like with Nicholas Flammel in inventing the Philosopher's Stone, but apparently not. For, while Grindelwald's life had been full of a great many happenings, they were all referenced in very vague detail, and a more in-depth biography of him—if any existed—was needed for them to decipher much of what was written. In other words, they had no idea why Voldemort would be after him, just that it was far away and was apparently taking up much of Voldemort's time.

"Besides which, I just don't see how this ties in to what he wanted from Ollivander and Gregorovich. The connection is there somehow, but what is it?" Harry mused one night, about a week after Hermione had brought the book back to camp. Switching back and forth between discussing his visions and the horcruxes, right now they had hit a dead end in both cases, and it showed. Hermione sensed that tensions were higher than ever, and as such she tried to do her fair share by volunteering to wear the locket more and more, but still it didn't seem to help. Slowly, even she was getting discouraged.

Throughout this time, one thing that stayed in the back of her mind was the fact that Malfoy still hadn't contacted her about anything, which, she barely admitted to herself, was kind of disappointing. Granted, he didn't have to feel obligated to contact her or anything, but...well, he could at least let her know how his search for the whistle had gone! For Merlin's sake, Hermione had practically given him the answer!

Well, they do say be careful what you wish for, because it just so happened that two days after having this rather morbid thought, a small, silvery peacock patronus did wander into their campsite, but unfortunately it was during such time as Hermione was sitting around the table with both Harry and Ron. Basing their discussion around wands as the connection between Ollivander and Gregorovich—because, after all, they were both wandmakers, though the connection to Grindelwald was a bit more vague—the trio had been trading ideas back and forth that perhaps what Voldemort was after was a new wand after his original one had gone through priori incantatem with Harry's back in forth year. Harry was just insisting that it was the most logical explanation for what Voldemort (not mentioning the name, of course) was after, when suddenly, mid-sentence, Draco's peacock wandered onto the table surface. Then, in a disguised voice, it said: "We need to talk."

Harry and Ron stared at the peacock, confused expressions on their faces, before turning to Hermione, whom the peacock had been facing when making the announcement.

"Who was that?" Harry asked immediately, thinking over their friends' patronuses and how none of them were a peacock. Heck, he didn't know anyone whose patronus might be a peacock, and especially not one that was...er...so small.

Ron scratched his head absently—he was currently wearing the locket and, for once, was quite calm on the outside. "Doesn't sound like anyone we know."

Hermione ducked her head, wondering how to approach this conversation. On the one hand, she'd battled with herself over the fact that she really should have told Harry and Ron everything earlier, but now perhaps she had no choice. In fact, it was right on the tip of her tongue to tell them everything, but then she remembered the message from the patronus and realized that...whatever it was, it could be urgent, and thus Malfoy didn't have the time to wait until she explained everything, including answering Harry and Ron's questions. Besides which, she was curious and more than a little, erm, eager to hear what Malfoy finally had to say to her, so she wasn't keen to waste time on explanations.

Thankfully, she didn't have to say anything, as Harry had sort-of guessed what was up based on the half-truths she'd told him. "Is it that contact of yours from before? The one who gave you the book?" he asked.

Relieved, Hermione just nodded. "Mm-hmm. They probably want it back now and that's what this is about."

Ron, who had been more or less filled in on the details as Harry knew them, wasn't as keen on that idea. "Well, if they want to meet and have you bring it back to them, tell them it's not possible right now."

"Ron, we've had more than enough time to look over everything we could possibly need from it," Hermione said, not wanting to contradict him when it could provoke a negative reaction, but at the same time keenly aware that perhaps that was what Malfoy wanted, and therefore it was only fair that she give it back to him since she was done with it. She hadn't exactly asked him the circumstances of getting ahold of the book, having assumed that it would be easy for him to do so, but what if someone else needed it now and they would connect the dots to Malfoy? The last thing they needed was anyone from Hogwarts looking in closer on Malfoy's actions and meetings with her, as already this "list" of his was sure to be private business.

Reviewing this in her head, for the first time Hermione realized that he might actually be in worse danger than she was, and taking worse risks...

After all, she only had Harry and Ron to answer to, and keeping them in the dark had been practically (but not emotionally) easy; for Malfoy though, he had his father, Snape, Bellatrix, and maybe Voldemort himself to answer to, so it was hardly the same.

Merlin, no wonder he asked me for help and always looked so tired...

Distracted, Hermione completely missed what Ron had said, and so, ignoring it completely, she picked up the book from where she had left it on the table and stood up to leave. "For now, I'm just going to answer their patronus and see what they want. For this, they'll only talk if they're sure I'm alone and I'd rather not lose their trust by lying," she said, as Harry and Ron also stood up to follow. "So please, just give me a few minutes alone outside, and then I'll tell you what was said, I promise." And seeing as she was going to come clean to them about everything, she really meant it.

Harry sat down right away, but Ron remained standing. He stared at Hermione for a long time, clearly at war with himself as to how to reply, but in the end he also sat down with a heavy sigh. "Just don't agree to meeting up with them or anything, okay?"

Harry nodded. "We'll give you ten minutes, Mione."

Hermione smiled. "I thought we agreed on thirty?"

"Fifteen," Ron grumbled, folding his arms on the table and putting his head between them.

With a nod, Hermione left the tent, sure she wouldn't need even that time for just a patronus discussion—their last one had been very brief, after all. Taking out her wand, she summoned her patronus and disguised her voice as well for her first reply.

"What is it?"

After exactly a week of back-and-forth warring with himself, Draco finally decided to contact Granger and at least see if she was up for the idea. As of yet, Snape still hadn't returned to Hogwarts, so Draco hadn't been able to schedule a meeting with him, and the increased isolation and especially the "newly innovative" D.A. that was being taught was almost enough to make him cave in for the outside contact alone. If even his own headmaster and godfather couldn't be there for him, then at least there was someone on the outside who could help. So far, attempting to practice occlumency alone hadn't exactly worked out since it was a two-person exercise.

To say that he needed Granger to help improve his skills was much better than admitting that he needed someone to talk to.

As it was though, he still had no idea precisely just what to say, so the first patronus he sent out was brief and nonspecific. Draco plotted out how he could phrase things while he waited for a response.

When Granger's otter finally swam back to him in the Room of Requirement with a message asking him what they need to talk about, unfortunately Draco was still at a loss. Noting that the otter's voice was disguised, he summoned up his own patronus on instinct and sent a message assuring Granger that he was alone so they could talk openly. Whatever he planned on saying next was lost entirely once he got her response though:

"I'm afraid I'm on a time limit, Malfoy. You caught me when I wasn't alone and now Harry and Ron will both want to know what's up. I...I haven't told them anything yet, but they are wondering. I-is this about the book—do you want it back now?" And then the otter swam away, leaving Draco feeling foolish and embarrassed. So, Potter and Weasley had also been present when his patronus arrived—great, just great that they had seen it! If Granger was to be believed though, they still wouldn't know that it was his, so that was a relief, but all in all it also took away any chance Draco thought of...well, more or less "talking", as Granger had so helpfully suggested a while back.

In fact, maybe he was a fool to have suggested it in the first place! She was busy and in a hurry and he...he had no right to go anywhere with this, much less open up about himself just because he wanted to. And occlumency was an excuse to do just that, helpful though it would be and satisfactory to his natural pride. At the back of his mind, maybe it had been there the entire time: he was more interested in opening up than merely practicing his skills, but he and Granger just didn't have that kind of relationship where he could do those sorts of things easily...

And just because you want something against logic and your own common sense doesn't mean you'll get it, Draco reminded himself, thinking back, of course, to how he wished that his family had never had anything to do with the Dark Lord in the first place. Since he was in power now, of course it went against logic to hate having a relationship with him, and besides which, he was acting on all the morals that the pureblood Malfoys had upheld for years. And yet here Draco was, craving someone to talk to and turning to a muggleborn witch of all people...

Somehow, Draco sensed that his own inhibitions were going to be his downfall in this perhaps more than his conscience.

Realizing that he hadn't yet responded to Hermione's patronus, Draco summoned his own and said, "More or less, yes. When can you bring it back?"

A long pause followed, during which Draco almost regretted such a short response, as well as the fact that he hadn't admitted that this was about more than just the book. However, finally the otter appeared with one last, enigmatic message: "Tomorrow, same place as before, if I can."

If anything, the book was a better excuse to meet than occlumency practice had been. And while Draco found himself feeling a bit disappointed that it might be a quick meeting because of that, just a quick "here you go!" with Granger returning the book, he...he found was he looked forward to it regardless.

Hermione was aware that she shouldn't have done it. Definitely not without asking if Harry and Ron approved, in any case. Already, this would be the fourth time that she was meeting with Malfoy behind their backs—though the first time had been accidental, but still, she hadn't told them about it—and it was by no means a decision that her friends would condone. After specifically telling her not to agree to meeting up with someone, she had gone and done just that! Why?

Because you're too bloody curious for your own good, Hermione Granger, she fumed to herself as she walked back towards the tent. Because you feel like you're making progress and because Malfoy's turning out to be a semi-decent and you're attracted to that, and—

Woah, wait...attracted? Hermione wrinkled her nose in uncertainty. Bad choice of words there, but there was no other word that came to mind. Just like a forbidden book, Malfoy was appealing to her as a sort of puzzle that she had to solve, the tangled web of his mind something she'd like to unravel so as to...

To what? To get him on their side and save him up for future use against Voldemort? Well, there was no denying the strategic convenience of that, but it wasn't the main reason behind why she wanted to talk to him and listen to what he had to say about himself—if he ever did, that is. It was...

Think about reasons for it later, Hermione—you don't have time to analyze yourself!

Then, temporarily shutting down that train of thought, she went back inside and prepared herself to talk to Harry and Ron. They book looked up at her inquisitively, of course curious to know the details of whom she had been speaking to. Ron in particular looked apprehensive, and for some reason his expression put Hermione in mind of how she had first looked and felt like when meeting Malfoy again. She hadn't trusted him in the slightest and her first instinct would have been to hex him and then make a run for it. And though she had gone through the motions and had a slightly better understanding of Malfoy enough to know that he wouldn't hurt her or turn her in or anything now, would either of her friends likewise understand?

Definitely not. They had spent years at Hogwarts butting heads with Malfoy, with Ron being belittled because of his family and how poor they were, and Harry being all-out rivals with Malfoy over just about everything.

Hermione realized it now and couldn't help but wish that she hadn't: she couldn't tell Harry and Ron about Malfoy, at least not until the war was over. For starters, of course they wouldn't let her go to return the book and might even body-bind her and confiscate her wand if they had to, but that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part of it was that they wouldn't trust her again or even think that her mental capabilities were "all there", and thus question more or less everything she did from now on. To sow that seed of distrust between them was something that Hermione couldn't afford to do, not with the way things were now.

So, even though she would be actually breaking their trust by keeping this a secret from them...right now it was the only choice she had, and ultimately the lesser of two evils.

Now, the easy thing to do would be to just stop seeing Malfoy altogether. After all, they were on equal ground now, weren't they? They had already exchanged favour for favour and now she didn't owe him a thing. She had never promised to bring the book back or anything and he hadn't asked until now; besides which, what would he do if she refused?

Probably be shut up to her forever, which Hermione found she definitely didn't want.

So, taking the conclusions all in all, she was going to do two things that would give her pangs of conscience later on, but were made up in her mind regardless: continue lying to Harry and Ron about Malfoy, and of course going to see him regardless of whether Harry and Ron agreed.

To take the diplomatic route though, Hermione did at least try to convince them of why she needed to go. Harry wasn't happy about it, of course, but taking into consideration that she had gone once already and nothing bad had happened as a result, he was willing to condone it a second time—"Maybe they'll even have additional information for you on what's going on at Hogwarts," he had added hopefully, as well as to placate Ron.

But the redhead himself was far from convinced. Glaring at both of them in turn, he crossed his arms stubbornly. "I suppose Harry's approval makes it all fine then, does it?" he snapped. "That was enough for you last time, wasn't it?"

"Ron..." Hermione began, but he cut her off.

"Look, you've been doing this often recently," Ron said, leaning forward across the table. "First time to Diagon Alley where who knows what could've happened to you, and then again last time after letting only Harry know. Now, I'm finally in on it as well, but it's still enough for you to go whether or not I'm okay with it—is that about right?"

"Ron, in case you haven't noticed, Hermione's won us a new ally!" Harry cut in.

Ron hissed at him in a very un-Ronlike fashion, looking angrier than the situation warranted. Hermione was just about to reach for the locket but then Ron pushed away from the table. "Right cozy for you two, having the final say-so, isn't it? I guess I've got no bloody good reason to be here then!"

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, making another grab for the locket. This time however, Ron outright slapped her hand away, which in turn caused Harry to grab his friend's arm in anger.

"That's enough, Ron!" Harry yelled, managing to yank the locket off of him anyway. He broke the chain in the process as Ron shoved away from him, and it was only by luck that Harry ducked Ron's next upcoming punch. Having missed, Ron crashed into the table, groaning as the corner caught him in the stomach.

Hermione gaped at both of them in horror, and could only watch as Ron straightened himself up and then cast both of them a dark look that was all his own, his face now as red as his hair.

"You're fucking clueless!" he accused Harry. "You don't know what you're doing and you're dragging us along on no leads at all! You're letting Hermione do all the work and setting her up as a target, and for what?!"

"Ron, stop it!" Hermione exclaimed, needing to say something, needing to intervene before things got worse...

Ron turned to face her. "And you're always defending him, your bloody hero! I reckon you both only need each other's approval anyway and don't give a damn about me! Am I even in this anymore?!"

"Ron...what...what are you talking about? Of course you are and I never said—"

"Bullocks!" Ron snapped. "You'd both prefer to be alone anyway and just kept me around for no bloody reason until now, right? You don't even care enough to tell me anything and don't even know what to do anymore! Well, you know what, I've had it!" Then, suddenly, his face crumpled and he looked more sorrowful than angry. "I've got more to lose than both of you. My family's running for their lives and here we are doing nothing. I'm through with it, I can't stand it anymore!"

"You think you're the only one who's worried, Ron?!" Harry exclaimed as Ron headed to his area of the tent to pack his things. "I'm just as—"

"No, you're not!" Ron growled, looking up at Harry with vengeance. "Your parents are dead, you've got no one! Except Hermione, of course, and it'll be better once I'm gone anyway, won't it? Ha! I'd rather not be around to watch you two together."

Realizing what was at the core of his rant at last, Hermione stepped up to him. "Ron, there's nothing between us!" she cried. "How could you even think that?!"

Harry himself was silent, having been cut deep by Ron's last comment about his parents. "Hermione, let him go," he said in a quiet voice. "If he wants to leave so much, then let him go."

Hermione couldn't accept that though, and followed after Ron even when he had stormed out of their tent. For once, she couldn't blame the locket anymore, as Ron wasn't wearing it, but his attitude was still the worst she'd ever seen it. Only when Ron turned around to confront her did the truth have to come out:

"Come with me."

"H-huh?"

His expression softened. "Hermione, come with me."

"Ron!"

"It's me or him, Hermione. He's getting nowhere and you know it. You're only fooling yourself if you think you'll get anywhere."

"Ron, I can't just—"

"You said there's nothing between you—"

"There isn't!"

"But do you feel anything for me?"

"What?!"

Ron stared her down. "Give me one good reason to stay, Hermione. Do you feel anything for me?"

Hermione froze as she realized that...no, she didn't. In sixth year, just a few months ago and if anyone had asked, then yes, she would have answered without a doubt that she loved Ron but...had it been more than a crush, even? Certainly, she could barely recall her feelings anymore after all this time spent with Ron and seeing him in a bad mood—a different side to him completely than what she had known before. Somehow, for a cold and rather unfeeling moment, she wondered if maybe she would even mind it if he left, if all he was doing was sowing discord left and right.

Either at her hesitation or at something he read on her face, Ron seemed to have his answer. Without so much as even a 'goodbye', Ronald Weasley thus disapparated, leaving Hermione and Harry alone on their mission.

A/N: When starting to write this chapter, I'll admit that I did not anticipate writing about Ron's leaving this early on in the story. However, time-wise it makes sense as he left Harry and Hermione maybe a month after their infiltration of the ministry, and it's been slightly longer than that in my fanfiction timeline. Besides which, while I can definitely see Harry agreeing to let Hermione go off and see Draco in secret all the while not knowing who Draco is, I don't see Ron ever agreeing to that. As many people in Dramione fanfictions can agree, Ron is just "in the way". Anyway, having him confront Hermione about her feelings puts those to rest as well, and I tried to come up with a reason why, even in the books, Hermione should have stopped liking Ron at around this point after seeing his character while they were camping. Hard times show one's true character, right? Later on in the story, I will have to redeem Ron and send apologies all around, but for now he's out of the story temporarily.

As for the Dramione interactions in this chapter, I know that they're brief, but let's just say that next chapter will be L-O-N-G and meaningful. Fans, get ready!

Anyway, please do follow, favourite, and review, keep those reviews coming! Again, questions are also appreciated, and if they're non-spoiler questions I can answer, I will be very glad to do so. Take care, all!