A/N: I really hope you guys don't hate me for A) the ending of that last chappie and B) the fact I've been on hiatus for such a long time. I actually almost gave up on this fic, but I've decided to give it a few more tentative shots. So, here we go.

Additional Author's Note: This chappie is loooooooooooong...

Rhea's POV

She stumbled through the hallways, trying desperately to find an exit to the outside. Air, she needed air!

Spotting the door that led to the Greenhouses and Hagrid's cabin, she bolted for it and ran as far and fast as she could go, needing to put distance between herself and the damned castle. Tears were already slipping down her face but she payed them no heed. Instead, she ran, heading to her secret spot. Well, not so secret. Her very nemesis knew it too.

Anger burned through the tears.

'That undeserving bitch! Not two seconds after he says goodbye to me, and he's already sitting with HER!'

She sank down on the soft ground and let her tears flow freely, shoulders shaking, the trees protecting her from anyone's view.

Meanwhile, lunch had finished. Draco and Hermione still had no afternoon classes. With nothing better to do, they went to the dormitory.

Draco sank down on one of the six armchairs, yawning, putting his feet up on one of the arm rests. "That went better than I thought it would."

Hermione nodded, sitting next to him. "Yeah. Ron's laugh kinda opened it all up."

Draco nodded too, but soon his eyes got cloudier as he remembered how he ended things with Rhea. 'I think I messed that up for myself, permanently..'

Noticing the tension in his eyes, Hermione put a hand on his arm. He was startled, but he saw the sympathy in Hermione's warm eyes. Neither of them said anything. Neither of them had to.

Unfortunately, this sweet moment was soon interrupted by a knocking at their tapestry. Sighing, Hermione got up to get it.

Opening the door, she found... "Professor Lupin?"

She gasped. There he stood, looking as if he'd aged three decades. His robes were in dirty, disheveled rags. They barely covered his privates, and Hermione was ready for an onslaught of berating herself for appreciating the view, but no such feeling came.

Only pity reared its head, and to her horror, a bit of disgust. Her throat felt as if she'd just swallowed a cloud of hay dust. "Wh-" she cleared her throat, but there was still a small hitch in her voice.

"…What h-happened to you, Professor?" she asked, her eyes wide.

He smiled, or rather tried to, but it looked more like a pained grimace. "I um, well, I'm afraid I can't really talk about it out here in the hallway, Hermione. Order of the Phoenix business."

And when Hermione gestured to his clothes and opened her mouth, he shushed her with a look. "Don't concern yourself with my appearance, I only have a few precious moments anyway."

Swallowing apprehensively, Hermione stepped aside so that he could come in. Walking into the room where she had just been, she said, "Draco.. Pr-Remus is here.."

Draco's jaw tightened without his even realizing it, at the mention of the werewolf who obviously held a special place in Hermione's heart. 'Probably as special as Rhea is to me.. Hermione's cute, but Rhea..' A pain rose in his body and he couldn't continue down that train of thought. 'It'll take a lot of time to get over what happened between me and Rhea in that short amount of time we had..'

Lupin sighed. "Perhaps we should sit down?"

They did, waiting for him to speak.

It took him some time, but when he began speaking, his voice was hushed, almost reverently so.

"Lately…there have been rumors about Lord Voldermort… It has been whispered that Harry having avoided him almost his entire life up to adulthood has driven him into a

frenzy to kill Harry before this school year ends. It…has also been rumored that, as such Lord Voldermort has…has begun to take as many members as possible, including ones whom even some of his followers agree with us are too young. The youngest member is a mere six and a half! And no one at that age, no one, should be taught to listen to pain and kill whenever possible.

The members who disagree have the view that these young children simply can't be good enough to be of use to their Lord. Nonetheless, the dislike of seeing such young people among them has caused enough of a stir for us to get wind of it. In this way, Lord Voldermort's quest for Harry's blood may well be his downfall if he keeps seeking younger and younger members."

Now, almost unnoticeably, Lupin shifted a little so he was facing Draco more than Hermione.

"I think, Mr. Malfoy, you may have some idea what I mean." Draco wanted to sneer. In fact, a few days ago, he would've. But Lupin's words made him uneasy. A six-year-old serving Voldermort? His face carefully neutral, Draco nodded slightly.

Lupin sighed. "I'm afraid this doesn't change anything, and I must ask you to risk your life for our cause nonetheless. The information the two of you could get us could be immensely helpful.

At the mention of their task, Hermione struggled against a blush as she imagined the different "lover-y" things she and Draco had to do. But at the same time, a different part of her rose up inside and said 'To hell with it. If I'm going to pretend to be in love with the biggest heartthrob in the school, I might as well have so damn fun with it at some point.'

Lupin cleared his throat. "Um, Hermione, have you been listening at all?"

Hermione looked at him blankly. "Um…no."

Draco snorted.

She stuck her tongue out at him, and he rolled his eyes. She made an in-your-face face at him, and he smirked.

Lupin cleared his throat very obviously this time. However, he couldn't resist saying, with a twinkle in his eyes, "I see you two won't need much help acting in love."

Hermione flushed an incredible shade of scarlet, but Draco just smirked softly as he stared out the window.

"Yes, well, anyway," Lupin continued. "I'm afraid that most of this is up to you two to figure out, as far as when and how and such. If you think you can pull off a love-at-first-sight scene, then go ahead, but I'd be careful. There are many eyes in this castle. I also bring a warning from Professor Dumbledore. Nowhere, not even your own homes or the Quidditch field in the middle of a storm, are you two to talk about this, except in here. In this dormitory. Let's just say that Professor Dumbledore has had it specially…prepared for you."

Hermione nodded at the warning. "We've already kinda started, for now we're just publically friends." 'I have no idea what we are for real..'

Suddenly, Hermione's bubble disappeared. "Professor Lupin? You never explained..." At a loss for words, she gestured at the state of his clothing.

Honey brown eyes met pale, watery blue.

Surprisingly, Lupin held her gaze, almost sternly, and, abashed, she hung her head a bit. But she knew he had to answer her question now. He definitely took his time too.

Slowly, with a hard bitterness to his words, he spoke until he had painted a grim scene:

"Four days ago, the Order was called upon by the Ministry. Death Eaters were on a rampage in Diagon Alley. We went, almost all of us, leaving just a skeleton crew behind at headquarters. We couldn't have known, but that was exactly what Voldermort wanted. You see, we had no true idea of how much his army had swelled, and when we saw the masses at Diagon Alley, and the destruction wherever we turned, we thought it was his entire army. Little did we know, it was less than a third."

Hermione stifled a gasp.

"By the time word had reached us what had happened at Headquarters, where twice of what the entire Order had been fighting had amassed upon Tonks and Kingsley, it was much too late. The walls…the walls were painted in their blood."

Hermione had tears in her eyes. She had already forgiven his appearance by now, and now this sickening picture was even worse. She was almost choking on the sympathy she felt for him. Tonks was Lupin's one true love, and Kingsley was a dear friend.

By now his voice was dull, numbed to the pain, breathing shallow.

"Their hair and nails covered the walls, imbedded where they had tried to fight and…stuck on in the sticky paint of their blood where they had sprayed their very lives. We couldn't find any skin. We think the army skinned their bodies, and took the skins as a sort of prize."

At this point, Hermione had tears running down her face, and Lupin had them pooling in his eyes. His pain was so great he couldn't even feel it, couldn't feel anything as he relived that moment, when he saw the door lying on a bush forty feet from it's singed hinges. When he ran in, calling Tonks' name, and saw the horrible collage on the walls and floors. The upturned furniture, what was left of it. That sickening, sweet, ripe smells of painfully spilled blood. The ominous mark hanging above the roof. He could see it all in his Mind's Eye; it was there whenever he blinked, whenever he thought about anything other than the mission.

The worst of it all was that he was a werewolf, and Tonks would no doubt go to heaven. He…He would never see her again… As Hermione shook, and Lupin relieved it all a thousand times, Draco was in mental shock. The picture painted before him was… horrifying.

A bit later...

Hermione swallowed hard, but there was still bile in her throat. She couldn't get the picture Professor Lupin had painted out of her head.

Draco's face was, even to her, unreadable. And the only way to describe his eyes was aloof. Like, he wasn't even there. But she couldn't really think much of it.

Lupin sighed, and despite still blinking more often that necessary, got back on track.

"In all truth, the Order of the Phoenix is all but destroyed." It hurt so much to say that. "Dumbledore still has faith in it, but… Well, he's one of the few. Many members quit after they saw the sight at headquarters, when they realized they couldn't deal with it. And I don't even blame them."

Hermione did however.

In fact, she was furious. "But, Professor," she managed to add the title in time to keep some respect, "Shouldn't they have known what they were facing? The risks that come with joining? Weren't they at least warned?"

He looked at her coolly. "Of course they were warned. But Hermione, you have to try and remember they were human. Now, onto why we need you two to pretend to fall in love. Mr. Malfoy is already, as you are aware, a member. Pausing there, you also have the option of quitting extended to you Mr. Malfoy. Do you wish to remain a member still? The choice is entirely yours."

Draco's eyes hardened. For the first time in a long time, he was being given a choice. It was ironic, the choice coming from the side he had worked his entire life against. He could choose the path of coldness and death, or the path of bravery and death. Not that it mattered much, he was damned either way, and all the chess pieces were set against him. But he'd be damned if he'd just wait for Death to stroll around the corner. "I'm staying in."

Hermione relaxed visibly, much as she tried not to show it. It wasn't her fault, but she really hadn't known which way he would choose, and when he just sat there with cold, unfeeling eyes, her heart had plummeted and she had feared the worst.

Lupin, it seemed, was also relieved. "Thank you, Draco."

Said-ferret grunted softly, but there was something shining in his eyes, something neither teacher nor genius had seen before.

Collecting himself, Lupin continued. "Ms. Granger, this really asks more of you than Mr. Malfoy. But, it is time for the Final War. The War of Good against Evil, of Mr. Potter against Voldermort. Professor Dumbledore has already informed Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley of this, but before the War can start, we need more spies on Voldermort than just Mr. Malfoy. We need you, Hermione, to publicly fall in love with Mr. Draco, and allow him to seduce you to come to the dark side with him. Or, at least pretend to. We need more information that just what you can get us, Mr. Malfoy. The information you get us is good, and always reliable, but there are things you are kept out of because of being Lucius's son, because Death Eaters are jealous of his position among their ranks."

Draco snorted. "So she has to endanger her own life, and it all comes right back to my father." He said angrily. Professor Lupin cocked an eyebrow.

"Mind your feelings Mr. Malfoy, they will betray you. And yes, in the root of it all, that is true. Hermione, we believe, despite being new, could get us more, things happening within the ranks themselves, not just plans, so we know their weak spots."

Now the ex-teacher turned to her. "You've been quiet Hermione. What do you think? Would you do this for the Order?"

She squared her chin bravely. "I'll do it." She saw something flash in his eyes, concern perhaps?

But it was gone as quickly as it came, and so he stood, nodding briskly. "Very well then, I shall inform Professor Dumbledore of this. Thank you, both of you, and good night." He said the last part looking them sincerely in the eyes, and then without further warning he was gone, he had Apparated.

Hermione blinked. "I thought it was impossible to Apparate and Disapparate on Hogwarts grounds."

Draco shrugged nonchalantly. "Dumbledore probably gave him special permission." He was looking at her carefully out of the corner of his eyes, and it was starting to really annoy her.

"What? Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Without even realizing it, she stepped close to him, practically feeling the warmth his body generated. He smirked his trademark smirk, but it has changed. Or maybe she just knew better now, but the smirk wasn't so cold, more a rather fake cover. "Nothing Granger, good night."

He tried to walk away, but she rolled her eyes and grabbed his arms, forcing him to stay.

In a gentler tone, she said, "Look, I can tell something's wrong. If we're going to pretend to be in love there can't exactly be tension between us." But instead of opening up like she hoped he would, he shrugged her concerned hand off of his tense arm, and his eyes were cold and hard again. "It's pretend Granger. Acting. What goes on in my personal life is no concern of yours."

Inside, Draco was shocked with himself. 'Why am I treating her so badly? Why is it sometimes I want to be nice to her, and sometimes I'm cold again? Am I that fucked up? Jesus...'

With that verbal slap in her face, he strolled to his room, and before long his light was out and he was asleep.

Hermione on the other hand was paralyzed. I've…I've never seen him be that cold. Even before this year, even before…she couldn't hide it from herself anymore.

Even before I started falling in love with him.

Little flashes ran through her head.

When their eyes had locked so intensely at the train station.

When he held her and let her cry on him.

When he tried to cheer her up with the most horrible muffins she had ever tasted.

When he got so mad realizing it was his dad's fault she was putting her life on the line.

Goddess, I'm really in love…and he…hates me…

Realizing she couldn't go upstairs anytime soon, she lied down on the couch, her mind for once quiet. She had meant to only lie there for a little while, but soon fell asleep.

Draco however, was not as asleep as he seemed. In fact, he wasn't asleep at all. He wanted to be, but when he still hadn't heard Hermione's steps on the stairs, he admitted to himself he was worried about her.

He hadn't really meant to be that cold to her, but the way her eyes, her pure eyes had been concerned for him. He couldn't possibly unload on her how much he loathed his father and what the bastard had made him go through on that blood-soaked day, and it angered him all the more the fact he wanted to spare her like that.

'I'm confusing myself, and I can't even imagine how confused she must be. I wish I could set things straight for her, but with my father and Rhea... Rhea... I can't deal with any of this. But I know I have to do something...'

Resigned to his fate to apologize, despite the outcome, Draco rose dressed still in what he had been wearing before, not bothering to change. But when he went downstairs, he found the bookworm curled up on the couch. He would've just gone back to bed, but she was shivering. He rolled his eyes. And she's supposed to be a genius.

He found a spare blanket in a closet somewhere, and draped it over her, pulling it all the way to her frail shoulders. He couldn't help it and let himself study her. Before long the Slytherin sighed; she had definitely changed since First Year. And now she hated him. He could hardly blame her, walking back up the stairs. After all, he hated himself most days...

A/N: Heh, hope you guys liked that, if anyone is still actually reading this. Review! Also, I don't like anonymous reviews. They can't let me give credit to people! Well, anyway, someone left me a review, signed 'Whatever'. They corrected my Japanese. "Girl" is "onna no ko", not just "onna". Lol, I know next to nothing about Japanese, so THANK YOU! I'm going to go back and change all the chapters to "onna no ko", but I wish I knew who to give credit to! Well, anyways, thank you. And please, all of my readers, if you see an error, or have a suggestion, hey, type it out and leave me a review about it! I'll only be grateful, seriously.