I'd like to give a shout out to dirty-icing for writing the 300th review on this story, and to JennKM for being the 500th follower on this story. I am so in awe of how you've all responded to my writing, and I can't thank you enough for reading, following along, and sharing your thoughts with me.

Thank you to flightglow32 for talking me through some of the action sequence in this chapter.

Cheers,

Elle

~oOo~

Seventh Year, Part 5, 1997

Weeks later, Hermione was at her wit's end. Ron was sulky and petulant, apparently annoyed with her for her secret relationship with 'Draco,' and all three of them were frustrated with their inability to destroy Slytherin's locket. Hermione had even attempted to cast a few spells that were most definitely both dark and illegal, but to no avail. She knew Lucius was discreetly researching the issue as well, looking for anything in his vast library that might help them destroy a horcrux.

Harry thought they needed to leave Grimmauld because they'd exhausted the books in the Black library and weren't going to find another horcrux within the walls of the townhouse. It was a fair point, Hermione acknowledged to herself, but leaving would put them all at greater risk of capture, especially since they did not exactly have another place to stay. Not even Sirius's cottage would be an option for them because too many members of the Order came and went, making it harder to keep the trio's location a secret. Hermione had taken to keeping her beaded bag packed and within arm's reach at all times, and it was this level of paranoid preparation that ended up being their saving grace.

Harry had dozed off on the sofa in the parlor while Ron looked deep in thought as he moved pieces around on a chessboard. She was knitting whilst thinking about their possible next steps when her bracelet heated up.

Death Eater attack, 12 Grimmauld Place. Tell Sirius, leave NOW.

"Oh my God!" Hermione stood up abruptly, dropping the kitting on the floor. "Harry! Ron! We need to go. NOW!"

"Huh?" Harry roused from sleep, looking disoriented.

Hermione tried to think about the contents of the house, where their belongings were stashed, and what they most needed that wasn't already in the beaded bag looped across her body.

"Message!" she gasped. "The bracelet. Death Eaters are coming! We need to go!"

Ron knocked over the chessboard in his haste, sending pieces flying. "What? Are you sure?"

"I need to get some things from the library," she said, running from the room as Harry pulled on his shoes.

"What? Are you barmy? Leave the bloody books!" Ron shrieked.

Harry darted after Hermione, realising that she was likely trying to gather anything related to horcruxes.

"I shouldn't have left this out," she muttered under her breath. Her heart was pounding in her ears and her hands trembled as she frantically shoved parchment and books into the beaded bag and adjusted the lightweight charm on it.

"How long do you think we have?" Harry asked as he shoved Hermione's beloved copy of Hogwarts: A History into the bag.

"I don't know. He said 'now.' I didn't - he didn't know where we were staying. I think he was trying to save Sirius."

She stopped mid-stride and looked at Harry.

"Where's the locket?"

He lifted the chain and revealed the locket, tucked safely beneath his jumper.

"That everything?" he asked.

Hermione took a quick glance around the library, saddened at the thought of leaving the rest of the books behind.

"I hope so."

Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her from the library, running into Ron in the hallway, his arms filled with what looked to be a ball of clothes and food. Hermione held open the bag as he shoved it in, trying to ignore Ron's muttered curses.

A blast startled them all, and dust fell around them as something shook the house.

"They're attacking the wards!" Ron said warily. "It won't hold up for long."

"We need to get out of here. Hold onto me, and I'll apparate us," Hermione said, reaching for Ron.

Another blast hit the house, and she could see the flash of a spell through the parlour window.

"Why aren't you going?" Ron cried in a panicked voice.

"I'm trying! Nothing is happening!"

"They must have set anti-disapparation wards," Harry said. "We need another way out."

Hermione looked frantically around the room. It appeared the Death Eaters were about to break down the front door, if not blow a hole in the entire front of the townhouse.

Since moving into Grimmauld, the trio had kept the floo mostly locked down, save for Sirius's occasional scheduled visits. It was too risky to leave it wide open for fear that floo travel was being tracked. The floo was an option, but where to go? Not the Burrow, certainly, for they couldn't risk leading Death Eaters to Ron's family. Flooing to a public place wasn't a great option either, especially without being carefully glamoured or polyjuiced. Her bracelet was a portkey directly to Lucius's lodge, but she was afraid to bring Harry and Ron there. It would expose her true relationship if Lucius showed up in response to her portkey, and she shuddered to think what would happen if Draco or Narcissa happened to be there.

"Back door, come on!" Ron yelled, making the decision for her and pulling her away from the parlour, just as the front door and part of the building facade exploded in a shower of splintered wood and crumbling brick.

"Sirius! It's time to die!" Bellatrix Lestrange cried out in a chilling sing-song voice as she sauntered into her cousin's former home.

The witch was unmasked and followed by a handful of masked and robed Death Eaters. Hermione's eyes frantically scanned the group, looking for Lucius, but his familiar mask was nowhere in sight.

"IT'S THEM! IT'S HARRY POTTER!" the Death Eater beside Bellatrix yelled.

"The Dark Lord wants Potter alive, but we can kill the others!" Bellatrix grinned sadistically.

A chill went down Hermione's spine at the witch's instructions.

Hermione was unsure how many of Voldemort's loyal brethren had come with the crazed witch, but she didn't dare stop to count.

A flash of red light from a spell shot past them, narrowly missing Ron's head.

"Harry, put up a shield!" she hissed. It was almost impossible to hold a strong magical shield and cast offensive spells at the same time. She'd been working on it, but even Lucius admitted he couldn't do it.

"You're better at it. You do it!" He said, casting a stupefy at the nearest Death Eater.

Spells flew back and forth as they moved through the house. No one had cast an avada kedavra, but Hermione knew that Bellatrix and her team were using dark spells. A single hit would cause any of them tremendous harm. She wanted to cast back, to throw everything she had at them, to let them know that the light wasn't going to give up without a fight. Harry was right though - she was the best at shielding spells, thanks to Lucius.

The floo was lost to them as a possible escape route as they moved away from the parlour.

"We can get out through the basement, through the back door," Ron said in a frantic whisper. "We need to get out of the building and past any anti-disapparation wards"

Harry sent a chest of drawers flying down the hall, slamming it into their attackers.

"Give up now, and you can beg the Dark Lord for mercy!" one of the Death Eaters taunted.

Ron's depulso spell hit its mark and sent another Death Eater flying back out of the large hole where the front door had been.

A bombarda cast behind them blew up another door and part of the library wall.

"Basement, hurry!" Ron said, pulling Hermione and Harry both toward the stairs.

She half-ran, half-tumbled down the stairs into the basement, praying they'd be able to escape. If not,they would be trapped below ground. Harry cast a colloportus on the door behind them, and she followed it up by sending a bulk solid oak table against the door.

"Come on, this way!" Ron said, gesturing to the small door at the back.

Another blast shook the house as the Death Eaters tried to open the door to the basement. Ron cast an alohomora on the basement door that led to the outside, sliding it open. It was clear from the cobwebs no one had used it in quite some time.

"Why is it always spiders?" Ron muttered, cringing as he pushed his way through the cobwebs and up the narrow stone steps that led to a gated area behind the home.

Someone must have cast confringo at the door and table behind it because they both exploded and burst into flames then. Hermione ducked to avoid a flying piece of debris. With a wave of her wand she sent rows of old china and other supplies flying at the first Death Eater to enter and followed it with a darker cutting spell intended to maim and slow their attackers.

"Come on!" Harry yelled, pulling her up the stairs and into the open air before she had a chance to see if her spell hit its mark. The cold crisp air of early winter had never felt so good to Hermione.

"We need to get to the edge of the property!" Ron yelled, his longer legs putting him ahead of Hermione and Harry.

They ran for the street behind Grimmauld, throwing curses over their shoulders. Judging from a yelp of pain and a crashing sound, she thought they'd managed to disable at least one of their attackers.

"Grab onto me," Hermione yelled as they approached the edge of the property. Harry locked arms with her, and she grabbed for Ron's hand. His grasp was sweaty, and she struggled to hold onto him.

Bellatrix's shriek of anger was the last thing she heard as they disappeared in a swirl of magic, leaving Grimmauld Place behind.

~oOo~

"FUCK! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

Harry cursed as they landed hard in the middle of the woods. She'd wanted to move them as far from Grimmauld as she dared, and to a place where no one would hopefully see them before she could erect protective wards.

Harry caught Ron as he stumbled and then fell onto the ground.

"He's bleeding!"

"I know. Wards first," she hissed as a sharp pain shot up her leg. She was unsure if it was the result of a hex of some kind or if she'd just landed poorly on her ankle. A cursory glance told her it wasn't bleeding, so she dismissed it and tried to ignore the pain. She raised her wand and cast a complicated series of wards around them in the woods. As soon as she finished, she fumbled in her beaded bag, silently cursing the mess inside that was created when they left Grimmauld so hastily.

"How bad is it?" she asked as she turned toward Ron and Harry. Ron looked deathly pale and had what looked like a deep gash across his shoulder down to his armpit.

"He's losing a lot of blood," Harry admitted, pressing his hands onto the wound to try to staunch the bleeding.

"Splinched," Ron pushed out through teeth gritted in pain.

"Looks more like a defodio," she murmured.

"Just FIX it!" Harry demanded.

"Hang on. I've got dittany," she said, kneeling beside him to heal the wound with the precious potion.

Ron relaxed almost as soon as the potion took effect and then passed out, likely from loss of blood. Still, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and poured a blood replenishing potion into his mouth. Harry, however, was still on edge, so she sat quietly on the ground beside Ron while Harry felled a tree, exploded it, and then used his wand to slice what was left of it into numerous small pieces. She'd watched Lucius act out similarly in his anger, so she waited for Harry to calm before attempting to speak to him.

By the time he'd calmed enough for rational conversation, Ron had regained consciousness.

"There are DEATH EATERS in his house. In Sirius' house. That was… it was the ONE safe place we had," Harry finally said in a defeated voice as he sat down on the tree stump.

"It wasn't Sirius's home, not to him. It hadn't been in a long time," she said quietly. "Look, we knew we couldn't stay there forever, and that's why I've been carrying that tent around in my bag all this time. The important thing is that no one was captured or killed today on our side."

She took Harry's lack of a response to mean that he acknowledged the accuracy of her words but was still angry enough about what had happened to speak logically about it.

"Was Malfoy there?" Ron asked.

Hermione glanced over at him and had to remind herself that he was speaking of Draco, not Lucius.

"I...no. No, he wasn't."

"How can you be sure, when your Death Eater lover is dressed like all the rest of them?" he sneered.

The adrenaline of the fight was beginning to wear off as she rummaged in the bag for the tent, and she allowed herself a bit of an emotional outburst.

"How can I be sure? Because I KNOW HIM. I know him, and I know his mask. I've seen it. Do you get that? I've seen him wear it, and I would recognise him anywhere, even in Death Eater robes, even in that bloody mask, Ronald. HE SAVED US tonight. Get that through your thick skull: he warned us, and you were saved by a Malfoy tonight."

She jerked the tent out of the bag and angrily began setting it up. Harry joined her, sensing that she needed him to be calm for her sake now.

"Malfoy...he knew where we were staying? All this time?" Harry asked. "You told me he didn't…"

She shook her head. "No. I told you that. I never told him where I was staying. I didn't want to take the chance. He… he knows occulemency, but he didn't want to know where we were going to be. It was best for everyone. The message was that Death Eaters were coming to 12 Grimmauld Place, and that we needed to tell Sirius to leave. He must have assumed Sirius was there."

"Well, it is still technically his, whatever's left of it after Bellatrix is through with it," Harry said bitterly.

"He's shared information with us when he can. I'm sure if he'd been able to get the message to me earlier, he would have," she said.

Harry was quiet for long enough that she finally asked him how he was doing. He looked at her with an unfathomable expression on his face.

"It's just hard to wrap my mind around, you know? Draco Malfoy saved our lives. I know he didn't know we were there, but he acted tonight to try save Sirius Black." He shook his head in wonder before ducking into the tent. Ron followed silently, leaving Hermione alone outside.

'No, Harry, Draco didn't do anything. It's Lucius you owe,' she thought to herself.

~oOo~

She messaged Lucius as soon as she could: We were at Grimmauld. Fought with D.E., but all escaped. Cannot thank you enough for warning.

He messaged back almost immediately. Stay out of sight. Do not go to lodge. Will contact soon.

She waited for a response, waited while they built a campfire, cooked a meal, and the boys settled down to sleep on cots in the tent, Hermione volunteering to take the first watch. She was still waiting when Harry relieved her hours later and sent her inside to sleep.

She did not hear from Lucius the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that.

They fell into a tense routine at the campsite. Harry's angry decimation of the tree provided ample firewood within the wards, and he took responsibility for keeping a fire going. She and Ron took turns cooking and cleaning, and they all took turns at night, keeping watch over the campsite, ready to alert the others in case of attack.

They sorted the contents of her bag, and thought they had supplies to sustain them for a month or more. She regretted having to leave behind some of her books and clothes, and to Harry's dismay, he'd lost the mirror he'd used to communicate with Sirius. He panicked at this, realising that Sirius would have no way to reach them, no way to know that they'd safely escaped Grimmauld. Ron was the one who reminded Harry that messages could be sent by patronus, for hadn't they all seen Kingsley's lynx patronus warn everyone at Bill and Fleur's wedding?

It took several days of heavy practise before Harry felt confident enough to cast a patronus with a voice message. Hermione was rather envious, as she'd practised with Harry but was still unable to cast the spell. Her patronus was corporeal and beautiful, but silent. She watched with envy as Harry's shimmering silvery white stag danced around the forest clearing before bounding away. She was relieved for Harry that he'd be able to at last send a message to Sirius, but she still ached with anxiety over the lack of a response from Lucius.

She messaged him nightly, short messages: We are safe. Mission still on track. Let me know you're okay. I miss you. Are you there? Are you okay? I love you.

For two weeks she heard nothing at all from the wizard she loved. For two weeks and two different wooded campsites, she heard nothing at all.

Sirius sent Harry a return patronus, his voice echoing through the silvery image of a large dog, telling them to only use a patronus in an emergency, as anyone nearby could see it. His instructions to the trio were clear: stay out of sight, complete whatever task Dumbledore had set before them, and do not worry about the Order. It was reasonable advice, but she knew Harry was distraught at the thought of essentially being cut off from contact with his godfather.

But at least Harry had heard from Sirius. At least he knew that he was alive and well. Each day she became more and more tense, more convinced that Voldemort had somehow discovered Lucius's treachery and eliminated the Malfoy patriarch. Ron offered little comfort during this time, but Harry proved himself a true friend, sitting beside her and quietly offering explanations for why she'd not heard anything.

Maybe Malfoy's on a mission. Maybe he lost the ring he uses to get your messages. Maybe he's surrounded by other Death Eaters and can't risk sending you a message.

She appreciated his attempt at comfort, but his words offered little relief from her fears, particularly on the days when it was her turn to wear the necklace. Wearing the necklace wasn't quite as horrible as being near a dementor, but it did leave one with a similar feeling of malaise. It affected their moods as well, and the person wearing the necklace was inevitably the most likely to lash out at the others. She did not know - did not want to know - what thoughts tormented Harry or Ron when they took their turns carrying a bit of Voldemort's soul around their necks.

The first time she wore the locket after leaving Grimmauld Place, she heard Draco, heard him as clearly as if he was standing behind her, whispering in her ear.

He never loved you. Never. You were nothing more than a quick fuck, a dirty mudblood whore to use. The Dark Lord killed him for his betrayal, tortured him and killed him because he sullied himself with filth like you. He's gone now, and it's all your fault. My father is DEAD because of you, and I will make you pay for that!

She woke up screaming or gasping for breath more often than not, as images of Lucius's bloodied, mangled corpse haunted her mind. She was so distraught over Lucius, over her fears for the man she loved, that she did not see at the time just how distant Ron was becoming.

Absolution came for Hermione more than three weeks after they fled Grimmauld Place.

Need to see you now, pet. Activate portkey.

She scrambled for her wand.

"He's alive! Harry! Ron! He's alive!" she shrieked, flinging herself into Harry's arms and squeezing him tightly.

"I'm so glad," Harry murmured into her hair. She knew there was no love lost between Harry and Draco, who he believed to be her lover, but she knew that Harry was genuinely happy for her.

"Did he say where he's been?" he asked.

She released him and straightened her clothes and then cast cleaning charms and a scourgify on herself in an effort to improve her appearance. "No, he wants to see me. I'm going to activate the portkey."

"WHAT?" Ron thundered. "You can't be serious! He's a DEATH EATER. He could be dropping you into Voldemort's lap, Hermione! Don't be stupid!"

"It's perfectly safe. The portkey goes to a Malfoy property in a remote area."

"A Malfoy property. You've had access to a bloody mansion somewhere this whole fucking time, while we're apparating all over England and Wales and sleeping in the fucking woods?" he asked incredulously.

"He told me not to go there. As soon as I let him know we were safe, he told me not to go there, and then I didn't hear from him again. Obviously that property was not safe until now. I'm going."

"You are not," Ron said, pointing at the ground. "You're staying right here. With us. Where you belong."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Harry shake his head in disbelief at Ron and then take a step away from his friend, moving out of Hermione's line of fire.

"Where I belong? Excuse me, but you don't get to tell me what to do," she said in a low voice. "I have been in AGONY for WEEKS, not knowing if the man I love is alive or dead. I WILL go to him, right now, and you cannot stop me."

Ron apparently took her at her word, for he turned then to Harry for support. "C'mon, Harry, you can't just let her leave. It could be a trap. Or he could be using her to lure us out of hiding. And you -" he said turning to Hermione, "You do NOT love that slimy, awful ferret!"

Hermione glared at Ron and then turned to Harry as well. "He sent the message to try to save Sirius."

Harry looked at both of them and then around at their makeshift home. "How can you be sure it's really him using the bracelet, and not someone who'd want to trap you?"

She blinked in surprise at his very logical, reasonable question.

"It's him," she insisted. "He… he has a nickname for me, and he used it. Just now. In the message. Besides, my message goes to his ring, with the Malfoy crest. He implied that only he'd be able to see it, that it was far more secure than owl delivery. Constant vigilance, Harry. No one else has ever used that nickname for me. Ever."

"Can you send a message back and at least verify that it's really him?" Harry prompted.

She was about to snap back a snide retort before she remembered Lucius questioning her at the townhouse in Kensington, to make sure it was really her. Harry was right. It had been weeks since she'd heard from Lucius and even longer since she'd seen him, and it couldn't hurt to ask a simple question.

She thought about asking him the date they first made love but then hesitated. She didn't exactly want Harry and Ron to know those sorts of details. She frowned and then tapped her bracelet with her wand, falling back on the same question he'd asked her that day in London.

Name of 1st book you gave me?

She did not have to wait long. Mere seconds passed before the metal around her wrist heated.

Occulemency: Protecting the Mind. Portkey. Now.

She grinned triumphantly at Harry as she showed him the bracelet as proof. "It's him. It's really him. Only he'd know about that book!"

"We said we were leaving tomorrow, headed to a new place," he reminded her.

"I know. We can still do that. I'll be back before then," she promised. She slipped the locket from her neck and handed it to Harry.

"Promise?"

"I promise," she said. She kissed him on the cheek and then gave them both a backward glance as she stepped outside the wards and activated the portkey.