"The mark will guide you."

The last thing he remembered hearing before opening his eyes into reality.

A glance down at his arm revealed another surprise.

Traitor.

The horrid word was scrawled across his inner forearm, droplets of blood still rolling down from the perfect cursive font indicating that it had been just carved. Draco's lungs had given out by the time he heard the window creak open and with a swift dash, the culpritʼs silhouette was already gone. His own vision had betrayed him- the dark cloak had masked everything about the intruder; from his appearance his words which Draco knew held double meaning. It didn't matter if he thought he had heard the voice somewhere before because the person was already gone.

Even if he did remember the voice at some point later, he wouldn't be able to put a face to it.

"Fuck!" he screamed, finally, it was epiphany. "Fuck! Fucking hell! Fuck!" the mark on his arm was burning again, this time, the pain was double; given the agony from the mark itself and the bloody word scrawled onto him like second skin. He was shouting at the top of his lungs, for what, he did not know. All the Malfoy heir knew was that it was making his eyes water and the world around him spin. He'd give anything in that given one moment to even fucking trade lives with nearly headless Nick if it meant that he had to live his life as a ghost for the years to come, only if it provided to be a substitute for the searing pain in his body.

"FUCKING HELL WHERE IS EVERYONE?!" He was tossing violently in the shaking single bed, as if his body had bend shackled. "Hermione!" he tried again, this time louder, his throat sore. "Hermione?! Professor! Potter?! Anyon—" fuck was going to regret this. "WEASLEY!"

It was only then that he saw Hermione make her way inside the room, she peaked a look from the door first, confusion written all over her face before finally seeing his state and pushing the door wide open to let herself in. Potter and the two Weasleys followed suit. "Draco?" Hermione cupped his hot face in her hands. She ran her either thumb on his cheeks while holding his face. With her brown eyes wide, she searched his own for answers. "What's wrong? What happ—"

But he beat her to it.

"Someone was here!" he stood up shakingly, his legs betraying him as he fell down on his knees, the mark was making him lose the little bit of sanity he held. "Someone—" it was becoming difficult to breathe, let alone speak but Draco knew this could be their only chance to catch the bastard who had just fled the scene; he might as well take his chances. Smart as always, Draco found a way to communicate with the four shocked faces without speaking. He jutted out his forearm, the other one where the mark wasn't tattooed on his pale skin to reveal the word traitor.

Ginny gasped and so did Hermione.

With one final look out the window and then at Potter, Draco had already passed out in Hermioneʼs arms.

But it didn't matter, he had managed to tell them— so when his drooping eyes saw Potter and Weasley run in the direction of the small window, he knew he had done the right thing.

The world around him was spinning but the thought of doing the right thing for once, actually played the role of the solid in this dizzy sway of restlessness.

——————

He was screaming.There was a huge pool of blood right next to where he stood.One look around him and he knew where he was— the dining room back at the Manor where everyone sat to discuss the Dark Lordʼs next tactic to take down the Wizarding World. The seat reserved for him, however, was taken for he was standing next to the head of the table, Voldemort himself.The table was for gruesome elites— wizards and witches who didn't even flinch when they Avadaʼed the shit out of an innocent soul, people who didn't give a flying fuck about children who had to suffer when their parents were killed by them or parents who had to go through the agony of losing a child being murdered right before their eyes, no, these were highly ranked psychopaths who battled to be on the top spot for The Dark Lordʼs number one.He had been eliminated from the head table at his own house; while it was music to his ears on one hand, it was also equally terrifying because it confirmed the what he had already experienced.And then, he say Bellatrix point a crooked finger at him, laughing in a sadistic manner. "Traitor." she had giggled, causing the whole table to erupt in laughter which slowly turned into sadistic smiles."You've betrayed your morals, boy." it was his aunt again, she was walking towards him. All he could do was look. "And you will pay for doing so." without a warning, she pulled his forearm forward and traced a long fingernail to his red skin, digging deeper as the seconds went by."Traitor." she repeated, flashing him her yellow teeth. "All shall end soon. The Dark Lord will rise ag—"

"NO!" a high pitched scream and a full violent shaking later, he came face to face with Granger.

For three minutes, no words were spoken. While Draco continued to look at the woman before him with wide eyes and heavy breathing, Hermione studied his face with utmost attention. He noticed tears pickling her eyes but she was quick to divert his attention. "It was just a nightmare, Draco." she cupped his cheek and smiled a little. "Everything is fi—" but she never got to finish the sentence for he was already pouncing on her, his lips claiming her own in a heated fervent kiss. Her mouth was already waiting her like a question, begging to be answered by just his own lips. His tongue swiped across her bottom lip and then, her tongue; it was like the serpent tempting Eve and Adam in the garden of Eden all over again— Adam chose to feast on the apple with Eve and give knot temptation; this was him, all him, ignoring everything else in the world and giving it all up for the woman he loved.

The apple had never tasted so sweet.

She tasted of cinnamon with brief traces of rich dark chocolate; if he had to, he'd wager that she'd been stress eating all those chocolate frogs she said she'd save for next year's Christmas.

We all knew that was a lie.

"You're still here." a kiss was pressed to her neck and then down her collarbone, the skin slightly nipped at to entice her.

It worked, he heard a heavy moan.

"Hmm," She pulled back to look into his eyes. It was maddening to think that Hermione Granger could hold him captive by just his sight; could speak to him without words and always, and he did mean always, manage to make him calm down.

"Where else would I go if not next to you?" she half smiled at him, pressing one lingering kiss to his forehead as she cupped his burning skin in her palms.

Something pulled at his heart.

It was utterly shocking to wonder how far Draco had come with his prejudices and virtues— it was like he was a new person again, someone who had just experienced the joy of being birthed into the world, someone who was led by the finger to tell the dos and don'ts of the world all over again; only this time, unlike the last time, he knew he was doing the right things. And it was all thanks to the girl before him. Quite literally, she had rescued him from the tangled thorns of evil and mockery, scolded him at all the wrong things he had done and told him what was right and what would only bring heartbreak in the future to him.

A sudden thought pulled him out of his reverie about Hermione and he was already scrambling up on his feet, pulling Hermione with him. "The intruder—" he yelled with eyes wide, "Did you catch him? Did Potter and—"

Hermioneʼs shoulders visibly slumped, he could swear he heard her gulp, too.

"Oh." was all he supplied, slumping back to his former position with his back against the wall, arms dangling off his knees as he crossed them.

"I'm sorry, he was too quick." she went upto him again, eager to lock arms with him as they sat down next to each other— their minds haywire but not a single coherent word on their lips.

"It's not your fault." the old Draco Malfoy had hexed the other person into oblivion rather than admit it wasn't their fault. He would've also thrown in a chair or two for good measure, just in case.

While some would term him weak, he knew exactly where he stood on the chain of supremacy— for there was no greater deed than that of forgiving someone.

While she had spoken the truth, her heart believed otherwise. She already knew Draco would tell her that it's not her fault, but it felt wrong all sorts of levels. It felt like it was the collective failure of the five rather than one person.

"But we did manage to find something." she perked up, eager to lighten the tensed mood.

The pale boy before her regarded her with speculative grey eyes.

"Yeah?"

If not anything, this whole mess had given them one more lead.

"The person we're looking for,"

"It was a man," he interrupted her, his mind going back to earlier today.

"Go on, love." fingers were entwined, lips were touched.

Too baffled with what he had called her, she tried to focus with a shake of her head. Hermione sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth. "We know they can infiltrate the castle."

Eyes wide, Draco opened his dry mouth to speak, "You mean—"

"It's someone who was part of the castle. We're dealing with a traitor." Hermione confirmed his thoughts.

To think that there was a definitive chance they had met this person, maybe even talked to them at some point and trusted them in one way or another was completely horrid to wonder. They knew they had seen this person but they didn't know how exactly he looked like, they knew he could talk but how did they exactly sound like, question after question bugged their heads until they both couldn't take anymore. The room was becoming claustrophobic as the seconds passed by; the walls closing up on them, their throats tightening. They both had, at some point, dealt with a murderer and they didn't even know it until now.

"It's been a long day," she tried to divert his mind from the obvious fear clicking in their minds. "Let's go to bed." almost immediately, she saw Draco smirk.

"You perv!" Hermione pushed lightly, failing to hide the little smile on her face and the blush tainting her cheeks. "You're sleeping in your own room tonight."

"But—" horror grasped him immediately.

"Goodnight, I love you." she had already kissed his lips and strolled her way towards her bedroom, leaving Draco alone to wonder in the small living room. He stood there for a good minute or two before scoffing and turning on his heels like the prat he already was. "Fine. But don't come crawling back when you miss the absence of my fingers down your knickers, Granger." with the absurd statement out of his mouth, he raised his nose and went to the other side of their dorm.

His bed it was then.

"It's been a while." he regarded the mattress before him with dull eyes. Eversince they had started sharing beds months ago, Draco had come to realise that Hermioneʼs bed was softer and dare he say, more comfortable; guess putting in extra effort to fluff up the pillows in the morning actually did something. While he believed it wholeheartedly, even he knew that he'd never admit it to her— so, day after day, he had found an excuse to stay in her room. It had been a good month or more the last time he had slept in his own bed. Now, the thing just seemed useless to him.

"Just you and me buddy, just you and me." and with that, he plopped down on the mattress with a soft thud.

As mundane the bed looked to him, sleep did come to him, if not immediately but still, it did.

—————

Something was crawling.

Something was twisting.

Something was horribly itching.

Something was making him scream.

Skin.

Pale and bloody.

Skin.

But it wasn't the burn that had graced him far after midnight, no, it was something else. Had it been the usual burn of the mark etched into his pale skin, it would've shaken him from the core—this, this was something else for it only targeted the skin on his right forearm.

He didn't know when it stopped— the burn or the screaming, all he knew was that his skin was burning, something was being carved into it.

He slapped himself to make sure he wasn't dreamimg, or worse, hallucinating.

He wasn't.

Hermione was quick to barge in, her hands cupping his face on instinct. It seemed like the only thing he did was cause trouble for her, he was the damsel in distress and she was the knight in shinning armor— the roles had been completely switched.

"Draco—" tears were streaming down their faces.

And then, he stopped turning.

"Look—"

With her tears falling down, she managed to turn her head in the direction of Draco's gaze.

An audible gasp was heard from them both.

The word traitor had vanished from Draco's skin. Instead, there was something else written on his skin.

Hermione had never seems such a spell, but as far as her knowledge went or her mind, for the matter, she knew.

She knew what was happening.

He did, too.

And all they could do was watch the cursive writing on his skin in fearful silence.

Their culprit was trying to communicate with Draco.

——————

Hello, hope everyone is well. Truth be told, I had mixed feelings about updating this story again but when I saw so many of you still hadn't given up on it, I thought why should I? Thank you for your continuous support. I don't know if this cvaoter even gets noticed but if you do resd it, I appreciate it.Not proofread.As always, leave a comment and vote if you liked it!