Last Chapter: Trio have a cloak and dagger thing going on from horcrux hunting all year long. In their last mission, they come upon Draco Malfoy, whose been running from the Death Eaters and the Order. He's forced to make a deal to avenge his mother's death and Hermione's in charge of his training.
Hermione had some extra stuff going on that she's been dealing with, causing little time for her to 'study' as much as she used, causing her to seem OOC. She's still fiercely loyal to the Order and Harry, however, she's got a little Harry-complex -- brooding, serious, angry -- what with her magical ability being haywire.
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Explosions erupted as mini stone gargoyles were zapped with one powerful spell after another. Hermione took the carefully concealed anger out on the defenseless statues in a seemingly subdued, cool nature. She heard the door open behind here but knew who it was and continued to blast away.
"Expelliarmus."
Hermione wand flew out of her hand. Huffing a sigh Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to her intruder.
"Harry, knock it off."
"How else am I to get your attention?" Harry smirked and walked towards her.
Hermione held her hand out to her side in a bored gesture, "Accio wand." Her wand flew back in her hand. She pointed it at Harry.
He paused.
"I am in no mood, Potter."
"Exactly. Moody is afraid you'll destroy the Destroy Room."
Hermione snorted and turned to fire at a flying gargoyle. It exploded.
"That was one time."
"Yeah, that's what I told him. But then he counted the two other times you did it as well, so here I am." Harry stepped up to her side. He reached out his hand and lowered her arm to her side.
His mouth next to her ear, he said, "Snape is the one who did it…And all the gargoyles in the world can't substitute for his abnormally large nose."
She turned towards him and he let her go. "Seeing that pig reminds me of it."
"I know."
"It kills me that he's innocent in all this."
"I know."
"I still want to hurt him so badly but I just can't justify it with a childhood grudge."
Harry wrapped his arms around her. "I know," he repeated softly.
Hermione looked up at him, horrified. "I actually feel sorry for his loss of his mother. None of it makes sense." She choked, "He's horrible, he takes joy in hurting people but is too much of a coward to end their suffering. I hate that he's here!"
Patting her head, Harry pulled her to him. "You don't have to deal with him at all if you don't want to." But he knew her better. She shook her head, but said nothing and he understood. Hermione would never hide from Malfoy.
After a moment, Hermione sighed and stepped out of the comforting circle of Harry's arms.
"So," she said. "Just one month?"
"One month," Harry affirmed. "One month and it'll all be over…one way or another."
Hermione rubbed his arm affectionately. "We've come this far."
Harry nodded. "Yes. And trust me, I would not be here if not for you. No, don't deny it. You are definitely my lifesaver, Hermione." He gave her a warm smile.
She smiled back, and placed her hands on each side of his face and kissed him firmly, but briefly on the mouth. "Right back at ya, Harry."
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Ron cleared his throat. "So what did the ferret say?" he asked as Hermione and Harry entered the kitchenette.
"His mother is dead, killed by Nott. Snape is with Voldemort and he's just as smart as ever."
"What'd he do?" Ron frowned.
"Oh, nothing I couldn't handle." Hermione took a seat on the table and munched on an apple from the bowl in the center. "He straightened up right away though."
"So what are we going to do with him?"
Harry sighed and sat at the end of the table. "Well, either we just leave him here, for his protection…"
"—Or we take him with us," Hermione finished.
"What?" Ron exclaimed. "Why?"
"He knows Voldemort's whereabouts, his hide-outs."
"And where Snape resides," Harry finished. The look on his face made the other two inwardly shudder. Merlin help the man who got in Harry's way of Snape.
Ron cleared his throat again. "So…who will watch Malfoy while we're battling Voldemort?"
A glance passed between Harry and Hermione. Ron frowned glancing between the two.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"We have to consider…Malfoy joining us," Harry answered.
Ron's eyes bulged. "What?!"
"It's just a possibility."
"Impossible! Did you even check his arm before you considered this?" shouted Ron.
"Ron, calm down," Hermione spoke up. "And yes, he was never an official Death Eater."
"And when it did come down to it, he couldn't kill one of our own. I was there, I saw him. He could not do it. Not even to save his mother."
"Oh, well that's a grand recommendation. Why didn't you simply say he wasn't up to putting his life on the line for someone else. Let's sign him up right away," Ron snorted.
"Ron," Harry said patiently, "He has just as much reason to fight Voldemort as we do now."
"That doesn't mean he won't harm us in the process."
Hermione sighed loudly. "You don't think Harry and I have considered all this? That we don't like this idea anymore than you do? For Merlin, Ron. Think about it."
"I'd rather not, thank you," Ron retorted.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Look," Harry spoke, "You don't have to like it or him, but he is here to stay. He has no where else to go."
"So we're going to train our enemy to fight and what, pray to Merlin he doesn't turn on us?!" Ron exclaimed in disbelief.
"Ron," Hermione spoke quietly.
Both boys turned to look at her.
"We've known we might find him for months now. Don't you think we've come up with a contingency plan in case it did indeed happen?"
Ron gaped a moment before recovering. "Well, why the hell doesn't anybody tell me anything around here?!"
"Because you take things so well," Hermione retorted. Ron wrinkled his nose at her.
Grimacing back at him, she produced a pill in her hand.
"This will guarantee his total obedience to the Order. Any thought or action to do one of us harm, even indirectly, and he's out cold before any damage can be done and only ennervate can revive him. Happy?"
Ron looked wary, still holding onto the last vestiges of anger. "How are you going get him to swallow it?"
Pocketing it, she replied, "It dissolves in water." Looking up at him she smiled, a rather wicked smile but one nonetheless, "Your dad's idea of enchanting Muggle things is inspired."
Ron turned towards Harry as he felt a hand on his arm.
"We're not against you, Ron. I wouldn't fully trust Malfoy either. He may not be a killer, but he's dangerous."
Ron nodded.
"So who's taking care of his training?"
"I am." Hermione spoke up. Ron met her gaze and she dared him with her eyes to challenge her. Cutting off Ron's inevitable argument, Hermione continued. "Harry is much too preoccupied with everything else and I am just as good if not better at D.A.D.A and goodness knows Malfoy needs the other side of the Dark Arts education and fast. This is all assuming the ferret cooperates and I'm afraid you," she poked Ron in the chest, "Just don't have the patience to handle Malfoy without blowing both of you to bits."
Rubbing his chest, Ron snorted. "Yeah, I'm the one without control," he mumbled.
Hermione heard him and punched his arm. Ron cringed protecting himself from further attack.
"OW! That HURT!"
"Okay! Let's OVERREACT!"
Harry stepped between them. "Okay, that's enough interaction between you two. I need to find Moody and Kingsley to inform them of our plans. Ron, cool off in the Destroy Room. Hermione, deal with Malfoy."
Yielding to immaturity, Hermione made a face at Ron's scowl, before turning to go.
Harry sighed as Ron stuck his tongue out at Hermione's back, heading out the other door.
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"Ow!" Draco looked up from the cut in his arm to the mad woman in front of him. Wide-eyed he watched her cut her palm with the same dagger she pulled out of her boot before pressing her hand to his arm, mingling their blood.
Stunned, Draco scowled up into her stoic face.
"Now, we're the same." Straightening, she released his bloodied arm and pulled a hanky from somewhere and wiped the blood from her palm, before wiping his arm with the same hanky.
"And I don't want to hear anything about my 'dirty' blood because we are going to be busy the next few weeks and I'm not taking your shit."
Draco simply glared at her.
"Oh, yes glare me to death. Maybe I'll slap you on the back one day and your face will stay that way forever and save you the energy of having to hold it in any decent person's presence."
Waving her hand, his arms and legs were released. Unsure, he picked the bloodied hanky up off his lap and tied it around his bloodied arm before looking up to stare at Hermione.
"Up," she said.
Malfoy simply crossed his arms and slouched down in his chair. Hermione flipped her palm up and Malfoy jumped out of the chair with a yelp. He rubbed his sore bottom as he looked at the blunt spikes that had sprouted out of the chair.
Snapping her fingers, the chair disappeared. Looking forward, he started as Hermione stood a step from him. He didn't even hear her move. She'd taken off her wrapper and wore a high-necked, black, zip-up tank. Head came up to his chin, but he was growing more disconcerted to see her cock her head and study his face. He narrowed his eyes at her. Then she gave him a once-over, before stepping back and circling him. He tried not to move and give in to fidgeting under her scrutiny.
"You want your chance to avenge your mother, right?"
Draco merely worked his jaw.
"If you fight with us, you will have that chance."
Draco let a snort escape.
Hermione stopped in front of him. "Ahh. That was charming. Do you need a tissue?"
Draco kept his stoic stare forward and looked at her like she was crazy.
"No? Good. Moving on." Hermione continued to circle him. "You will show us to Voldemort's lair, if needed. You will tell us of secret entrances, traps and anything else that might be useful. And," she stopped in front of him again, "you will lead us to Snape." Draco gave her a glance and noted the menacing stare that meant she was serious. "In turn, I will train you to fight against the Death Eater and gain your revenge. Any questions?"
Draco turned his head slowly towards her. "I don't need your help."
Hermione sighed. "Not quite what is considered a question…"
"What makes you think I'll go along with this?"
Hermione fixed him with a stare, all business.
"The fact that your life is in ours hands as of now and you are seriously outnumbered. Plus, if we kill Nott in the final battle, you will be deprived of your precious avenging angel status. In other words," she walked straight towards him stopping inches from him, "You'll owe us."
Her mere presence combined with his helplessness infuriated him, causing him to strike out. Suddenly he flew back towards the wall, slamming into it and sliding to the floor on his face.
Hermione walked slowly towards him and nudged his shoulder with her boot. He rolled onto his back and looked up at her, scowling in pain.
"And this way, it's an even trade. You give us what we want you get what you want. You'll go free once this is all over and we'll never have to lay eyes on each other again."
Whipping to his feet, he glared at her.
"You're a fool to trust me, Muggle." Draco clipped out.
"Who said anything about trust?" Hermione raised her brows at him. "You agree to this deal, you will take a pill that will not allow you to turncoat on us. You even try, and the consequences will not be pretty."
Draco looked condescending then. "What like your Snitch curse for Dumbledore's Army?"
Hermione eyes narrowed dangerously. "Smart off some more, Malfoy and maybe I'll remember how you let all those Death Eaters into Hogwarts and if not for the luck potion, all of us might have been dead."
"Pity."
Draco only saw the flash of Hermione's eyes before he was sailing backwards again. This time when he banged into the wall, he stayed up in the air against it. Looking down, he watched Granger walk towards him.
"Agree to take the pill and fight with us, or you stay up there till we defeat Voldemort."
Draco scoffed.
"You can't hold me here once you leave."
"Watch me." And she turned on her heel and left.
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A/N: So we had some of that slight HHr I mentioned,(you'll find out more about why that is so later on) but it definitely won't turn into an HHr. Just like Harry's girlfriends have to deal with Hermione always in his life, guys have to deal with Harry always being in Hermione's life. Plus, it provides great fodder for Jealous!Draco ;D
Please R & R and I'll post more. I just have the very end to tie up into a pretty green ribbon, so most of it's already written.