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Chapter 6: Dilemma:

Draco knew that when Hermione finally woke up from her nap, she might be disoriented, because the room was bound to be considerably darker, since it was considerably later. He didn't want her to be concerned that he had left her, or even maybe try to come find him, so he knew he should go back down to her soon.

However, right now, Malfoy was taking the opportunity to snoop around the house while Hermione was sleeping. He was upstairs in what he could only assume was her childhood bedroom, and he was looking at a scrapbook of sorts. It had pictures in it; wizard pictures and the non-moving Muggle type; as well as her report cards, and certificate of achievements, and other such childhood things. He finished looking at the book and threw it on the floor. He walked over to the bookshelf and picked up a little brown stuffed bear. He threw it over his shoulder. "Please treat Mr. Bear with a little more respect, Malfoy." He turned around and saw Hermione at the door, out of breath, and clutching her side. He rushed over to her and helped her to the bed.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" she inquired.

Deciding to be honest, he said, "snooping."

"Ah," she answered. He picked up the bear he had thrown and handed it to her on the bed. She gave the little bear a hug, which made him smile, and then she threw it over the side of the bed, where it landed on the floor. He bent over to pick it up again.

"Please treat Mr. Bear with more respect, Granger," he mocked her and put the little bear back on the shelf. He turned back around, and she was still clutching her side. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I feel rotten," she moaned.

He walked up to her and put his hand on her head. She had a raving fever. What if she had an infection of some sort? The healer said that could be a possibility. Malfoy knew he had pushed her too far today. He made her exert herself too much. The healer gave him some potions just in case she might get an infection from her internal injuries. He ran downstairs to his bag to retrieve the medicine.

When he got down there, he looked and looked and even dumped the entire contents of the bag on the sofa, put there was no vials of potion. Damn. He remembered her pain medicine, but not the others. As he mentally kicked himself, he heard her hoarse voice feebly yell out, "Draco."

He ran up the stairs. She looked awful. She was sweating, but had chills. He had to go back and get that medicine. It would be a terrible risk, but a risk he simply had to take.

"Hermione, I need to go back to my flat and get your other potions. I forgot to pack them, and you really need that medicine. I think you have an infection."

Her eyes closed, she said, "Please don't leave me. I'm afraid to be here by myself." He ran out of the room, slammed her door, and cast a spell on her the bedroom door, so that no one could enter but him. He could still hear her call out, "Please, don't leave me." His insides felt like they were being ripped to shreds, as she pleaded with him not to leave her, but he had to leave. It was for Hermione's own good.

He disapparated right there on the spot, and ended up in the guestroom at his flat, where he knew the medicine was. He took a quick look around to make sure he didn't forget anything else. He started to apparate back to her house, when someone hit him with a stunning spell, and he fell over, and blacked out.

When he came to, he was bound, magically, and was lying on his living room sofa. He looked around and he saw a dark haired man sitting on one of his chairs, holding two wands, one of which he knew was his own.

"Where's Hermione, Malfoy?" the man asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Draco asked. The man unbound him, and Draco sat up, but did not dare move with two wands pointed at him.

"You would know me as Kevin Riley. I know Hermione probably told you all about me. Now, tell me where the hell you've taken her," the man said as he stood, facing Draco.

"Go to hell and back again you fucking son of a bitch," Draco responded.

The man put the tip of his wand between Draco's eyes. "I'm through playing games. Just tell me if she's safe. I want to know that they didn't get her."

"What the hell do you care?" Draco spat. "It's your fault that she was hurt. You've been playing her like a violin since you met her."

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!" the man yelled.

"She's safe and away from you, you bloody wanker!" Malfoy yelled back. In truth, he hoped that she was safe. He locked her in a room that only he would be able to enter, and she was sick and maybe dying as they spoke.

"None of this turned out right. None of this turned out like I planned," the man said, more to himself, as he sat down.

"Tell me what you mean!" Draco demanded, now intrigued.

"I've been undercover, working as a member of the Mud Ones for nine months. I'm a Muggle-born, who works for the Ministry, in a little know department called 'Special Intelligence Affairs'. Even upper members of the Ministry don't know of our existence. Neither do most members of the Auror Department." The man stood back up and started pacing around the room like a caged animal. Malfoy didn't say a word. He decided to let the man talk.

"The real Kevin Riley really did contact Hermione, wanting to feed her information about the Mud Ones. He was reconsidering his association with the group. He believed that all former Death Eaters, but not their heirs, should be rounded up and made to pay for their crimes, but he wasn't comfortable with the violence that was ensuing. He talked to me at length about this, and that he wanted out. He believed me to be member of the Mud Ones, and I pretended to have second thoughts as well, so he would confide in me. He told me he had already contacted someone at the Ministry, and now he was going to contact someone from the press, and he was going to stop them, if he could."

"What he didn't realize was that I was the person to whom he had originally contacted at the Ministry, and Hermione was the person he contacted in the press. I oblivated his memory, right there and then, and sent him under protective custody. I had already infiltrated the organization as a Muggle-born named Ian Michaels. Nevertheless, Miss Granger didn't know my pseudonym, so to her I became Kevin Riley."

"Why did you put her in danger?" Draco asked.

"I tried to do everything in my power to keep her from danger. I found out that a former Death Eater was trying to contact her, pretending to be an Auror, so I arranged for them to meet where I knew you would be. I couldn't openly protect her, because I would blow my cover, but I thought she would see you there, and she would go to you for help, since you were familiar to her, and also since she knew you were in danger from the information I fed her. But, everything got mucked up. The real Aurors were called, and I had to arrange for them to back off, and then little did I know that Dolohov would find Hermione in the place where she was supposed to meet me. I got there, but it was too late. He was already cursing you when I arrived, and then Hermione picked up your wand and killed him."

"I still couldn't blow my cover, and I saw you two disapparate, so I thought she would be safe with you. I made arrangement to meet her again, to actually persuade her to back off, because I thought she was in too much danger, however, the Mud Ones followed me to the warehouse; I think for some reason they no longer trusted me. They cursed me, and then they left with her. When they returned to the warehouse, and I saw what they did to her, I knew this was more than one agent could handle. I brought her to your doorstep, and I went back to the Ministry and told them my cover was blown. I told them everything that I had found out, and that you both were in danger. I'm the one that put the note on her. I wanted to scare you both enough to make you stay in hiding. Please Malfoy, tell me where she is. It's my fault she's hurt. I need to know she's alright."

"What a load of rubbish!" Draco vented to the man, "How do I know what you're telling me now is real? You could just be trying to get to her."

"You're a smart man," the agent said, "I have proof." He walked to Malfoy's fireplace, and called out, "Potter."

Soon, Harry Potter appeared out of Draco's fireplace. "Where's Hermione?" Harry asked as he rushed to Draco.

"You mean you knew she was in all this danger all along, and you did nothing?" Draco screamed at Harry. "You disgust me; she's supposed to be your best friend, and you used her."

"I didn't know about any of this until I went to the Minister of Magic and demanded they try to find Hermione, and that was when I was told the whole story. I wanted to come here to find her at that time, but the Ministry assured me that your flat was well protected, and that she was safe. Why did you leave your flat?" Harry asked.

Draco was beginning to wonder that himself. "Listen, she's alone right now. She's at her parents' house. She's very ill. I came back here to get her medicine. We have to stop all this talking, and go to her this instant," Draco said squarely. Then he added, "You know, if someone had just clued me in on a few things, then maybe I would have known not to leave here."

"Yeah well, the last time I tried to talk to you, you wouldn't listen to me," Harry clamored back to him. "Let's go find Hermione."

Draco grabbed his wand, and disappeared on the spot, leaving Harry to

apparate with the fake Kevin. He appeared right outside her bedroom door, and said the unlocking spell to release the locking charm. He ran in, and she appeared to be sleeping, but she may have been unconscious. Potter and the Ministry agent appear right behind him. "What's wrong with her?" Harry asked with concern.

"Ask your little coworker there. It's his fault she's in this state," Draco retorted. Then he put the medicine vial up to her lips, and tried to give her some, spilling more than he was sure she took. He sat down on the bed next to her, and held her hand.

Potter came up and held her other hand, while kneeling on his knees next to the bed. The other dark haired man stood at the foot of her bed, cursing himself for letting this happen to her. Unbeknownst to Hermione, she was surrounded by three men, each whom loved her in their own way.

(Coming up in Chapter 7, Harry takes Hermione and Draco to a safe house, but how safe is it?)