November 21st

Avoiding Rodolphus in the small Dower House was a lot easier than Hermione assumed it would be. Following the rather violent end to their almost sexual encounter, she'd been trying to stay out of his way. Not that he minded her hiding in her bedroom and even taking her meals at odd times of the day to avoid meeting him in the dining room. He seemed perfectly content to forget for the present that there was another soul inside his house. Neither of them appeared to be looking forward to changing their current circumstances at any time soon.

It had been frightening to run from Rodolphus' room naked in the middle of the night, unsure if he would follow her a short time later to make her pay for her boldness. He was a man who liked to inflict pain on those that displeased him. Rejecting him at a very delicate moment couldn't have been easy for his fragile self-esteem. She knew that they couldn't keep living the way they were for long. Something would give eventually.

After spending more than twenty-four hours inside her bedroom without leaving, Hermione was going stir-crazy. She'd spent too much time over the previous year and a half remaining in the same place. Getting out of the Dower House even for a few hours could help clear her mind. Hopefully, with a fresh perspective she would be able to figure out how to smooth over the hurt feelings.

Just the short walk from her temporary home to the gates of the estate chilled her entire body. Her cloak was warm, but not enough to beat the cold. She reached into her beaded bag to search for one of her favorite scarves. Considering she had no further plans for how to spend a few hours than to walk around outside somewhere, she would be foolish not to be properly dressed.

Her fingertips brushed the cool metal of the chain she stole from Draco Malfoy's flat. When she took it out of his book, she never planned on actually using it to cast the tracking spell. It simply provided her with the security that she could if she wanted to. Curiosity might indeed one day kill her just as well as the damned proverbial cat. There were many questions she wanted to ask the tracker about his relationship with her husband. At the time she discovered they were working together, she didn't want to hear his explanation. No doubt it would be partial truth riddled with outright lies. With a much cooler head as time passed, she was sure that she could at least listen to what Draco had to say for himself. Just because she listened didn't mean she had to believe him.

Casting the tracking spell on the silver chain was easy. Within moments of it glowing blue, she was able to Apparate directly to his current location. Seeing the depressing façade of the damned Malfoy Manor annoyed her down to her very bones. Why hadn't that monstrosity been blown up after the end of the last war? Surely the owners wouldn't want any lingering reminders of what life was like in there under the Dark Lord's bony thumb. After the night that she assisted Thorfinn in killing Aubin, she'd hoped that she would never have to return to the cursed location again.

"Hermione?"

Before she could make up her mind whether she would step through the open gates towards the house or turn around and pretend she'd never been there, the very wizard she'd been trying to track called out her name. She couldn't very well rush off after she'd been spotted. No, that would be the height of rudeness, and she refused to allow any of the proper Pureblood snobs to accuse her of not having manners. Draco was at her side less than a minute after calling out her name.

"I saw you when you arrived. Came here for a late breakfast with my mum. Would you like to come inside?"

She couldn't stop the snort that came out of her mouth at the very idea of sitting in Narcissa Malfoy's formal dining room discussing current events over eggs. Maybe in another life she could've enjoyed getting to know his parents on a more personal level, but in their present incarnation of reality, it was madness. It had been a mistake to track him in the first place. When she turned away to make her exit, his hand slipped into hers.

"Don't go, please."

No promise to remain had been made before a lurching and a squeezing through space infuriated the witch. Their feet landed in the middle of a forest. Furious that Draco would dare to Side-Along Apparate her anywhere without her permission enraged her to her very core. Where were they? Why would he do that? She slapped his arm.

"I told you never to do that again."

Draco shrugged his shoulders and smirked, not a single ounce of regret anywhere on his countenance.

"You were going to run off. I just thought you might like this location better. You were looking for me after all, weren't you?"

She didn't miss the change in the tone of his voice. Deep and teasing, she could feel it through her skin. Why did she allow him, or any man really, to have that sort of power over her? It was frustrating. Too much time isolated in the Dower House was threatening to turn her batty.

"Where are we?"

"The Forest of Dean. You seem to like this place."

It was thoughtful that he chose a neutral location to talk where she did indeed feel at peace. A nearby fallen log was decided upon by both parties to be a suitable place to sit. When they were situated as comfortably on the giant piece of wood as possible, Hermione was the one to break the silence of the forest.

"I didn't let you explain why you were communicating with my husband using those mirrors. Please tell me now."

"I was concerned about you when you just ran out of my flat like that. Wasn't sure if I'd done something wrong."

"I was just confused when I realized that you and Antonin were in communication."

She was trying to remain as diplomatic as possible, but it was getting harder and harder the longer they sat together. When she saw Antonin's face in Draco's mirror, she'd felt betrayed. Why did it seem like everyone was working behind her back together? Perhaps she was being overly paranoid. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time. Knowing that yet again she wasn't allowed to be involved in a secret made her feel isolated even more than she already did. Part of the reason she sought out attention and companionship outside of her marriage was because Antonin had a terrible way of keeping secrets from her that he claimed were for her 'own good'. She hated being treated like a child even when he believed that he was just trying to help.

"Antonin and I have been working together since before the first of the year. It was actually his idea to have me try to track you down."

"But you claimed that Rodolphus was the one that demanded you find me and keep tabs on me to make certain I wasn't in any danger."

"It really wasn't that difficult to plant the idea in Rodolphus' mind that you needed to be tracked. Once he thought it up on his own, with some gentle prodding and pushing from me of course, it was easy to make him think it was his idea, but no, Antonin was who told me to do it first."

If she stopped to really consider the implications of what Draco was saying to her about the secret alliance he had with her husband, she felt mortified. Was Antonin aware of everything that she'd done when she was on the run? Or how about after she was back in Hogsmeade pretending to be a dutiful wife? Even though she was extremely curious, she was afraid to ask Draco how much Antonin knew. She was afraid that she wouldn't like the answer.

"How else do you think I got this to track you with?"

Draco pulled a gold necklace out of his pocket. Simple and plain, all it possessed was a small round pendant that was hardly bigger than the nail of her smallest finger. Her eyes widened when she realized what he held. She thought it had been lost. Ripping it from his grasp, she wanted to make sure that it was what he claimed it to be. On the back of the small pendant there was the faintest engraving of a tiny lightning bolt. Early on in her marriage, Antonin presented her with the necklace as a subtle way for her to remember her best friend. It had been such a breach of the Dark Lord's trust to even allude to the boy that almost killed him twice. For one of his most loyal Death Eaters to give his wife such a thoughtful, personal gift, they could've both been executed. Because it meant so much to her, she never took it off. Only in the chaos of the day she stabbed her husband did she lose it. Antonin reached for it as he was falling to the ground with the knife still protruding from his side. The chain snapped in his fall. There had been no time to retrieve it from him before Corban burst into the room to stop her from escaping.

"All right, I believe you. Antonin was the only one you could've possibly gotten that from."

It was tempting to keep it in her possession, but before she slipped the chain around her neck, Draco grabbed it. He smiled as he returned it to his pocket. She thought it was only fair that he continue to be able to track her considering she could do the same to him with the silver chain.

"Mostly I've just been gathering intelligence for Antonin and his allies. I pass on most of what I learn to Rodolphus too. We have to make it look like I'm not working against my uncle."

"Is that why you were always telling him everything you learned about me?"

The wizard had the sense to feel uncomfortable by her blunt question. She'd loathed the fact that every time she told Draco something it seemed to eventually get back to Rodolphus. Was that all part of the plan that he'd cooked up with her husband? And if it was, how much about her personal relationship with Draco did he know about?

"Antonin doesn't know about our relationship. I swear. It's one thing telling my uncle about what we do when we're together and something completely different telling your husband."

"I doubt he doesn't know. I was naked when I opened your mirror that day in your flat."

He cleared his throat, suddenly awkward and ill at ease. Hermione was feeling even more frustrated than she did when she arrived. Somehow she got the impression that there were only a few carefully composed statements that he was going to be allowed to give her explaining his clandestine work with Antonin. No one wanted her to know what was happening. She wasn't stupid enough to miss those clues.

"Is it true that you are staying at Rodolphus' house?"

"Yes, I am."

She chose not elaborate any further on the reasons why she was actually there. Anything that she told Draco, she had to worry about getting back to Antonin. She wasn't ready for him to know what she was trying to uncover. If he thought she was in danger, he might do something reckless to save her. Sometimes he regretted introducing the worst of her Gryffindor traits to her husband. She'd been a bad influence on him.

"Please be careful, Hermione. You still have a lot of enemies."

That was a truth that she didn't need explained. Wiping her palms on her thighs, she started to stand up, but was stopped before she got very far. Draco didn't want to let her walk away without kissing her. She allowed it for just a few seconds before she pushed him away. He was a complication that she didn't need at the moment.

"Thank you for giving me at least some of the truth, Draco. I appreciate it."

She returned to the estate seconds later. Her short visit with the tracker only emphasized for her how important it was that she continue to seek out the truth of Rodolphus' plans for her. There was nowhere else she could go to find it out. As much as it pained her and frightened her to be across the corridor from the wizard she was convinced was insane, she knew she had to be there. Just a little bit longer.