Disclaimer: I didn't create the world of Harry Potter

1997 – March 1

Tap tap tap.

What the bloody hell is that? Draco thought groggily. It was six o clock in the morning on a Saturday.

Tap tap tap.

Draco opened his eyes and blinked a few times to clear his vision. It sounded like it was coming from the window. He sat up and froze when he saw his owl pecking at the glass. Owls had a way of finding people, even if they didn't want to be found but Draco just hoped that no one was able to follow it. What was so important that someone had to risk sending him an owl rather than just waiting until classes started on Monday?

Draco shakily stood up and moved to the window, pushing it open. A gush of cold wind filled the previously warm room as he let the owl inside. Now shivering, he removed the note that was attached to the bird's leg and sat back down on his bed as he unfolded the parchment.

Draco,

We met last night as you well know. I explained how

you were stuck at the school and would not be able to attend

the meeting. They accepted the excuse, however, there is a revel,

tonight. Figure out what you want quickly. If you wish to stay in the

Dark Lord's good graces, I am afraid you must attend the revel

and will be expected to fully participate. Meet at the manor at midnight.

Again, I will advise you to tell me where you are so I can help you.

S.S.

Draco stared at the letter, unable to believe what he was reading. What did Snape mean by deciding what he wanted? Draco thought he was pretty clear that what he desired was Hermione's safety. Was there another way to keep her safe other than to go?

Did he wish to stay in the Dark Lord's good graces as the professor had put it? The alternative was not something he wanted to even think about. How was he supposed to choose something like this? He knew the kinds of things he was going to be forced to do; they were going to make him torture people, kill people. He didn't know if he could handle this. If he refused to participate, they would know that Hermione was still alive and Draco didn't think he could protect her if that happened. He didn't trust Snape enough to let him in on this. He could help when it came to the Dark Lord, but Draco wasn't about to trust him with Hermione's location. How was he supposed to rely on the man when he was a follower of the same evil wizard who had sent Draco to kill Hermione?

How could things switch so fast? The previous night had ended better than he could have ever dreamed. Hermione made him feel like he wasn't a monster, that he was normal even. He didn't know why he showed her his mark like that. Pain made him do strange things.

The look in her eyes when realization hit her of what he was hiding was something he wished he'd never seen from her. The fear in her gaze as he revealed the mark made him feel horrible, nothing could be worse than that.

He couldn't help but smile as he remembered what happened next. She had knocked.

Draco hated not knowing what to expect. He liked at least being able to prepare himself for what was coming. But when Hermione knocked on his bedroom door, he honestly had no idea why. Why would she voluntarily ask to face him right now? Why, when she found out what he was, would she stand outside his door, requesting for him to open it to her?

When he finally decided to open the door, somehow, she had been pretty spot on. Draco knew that Hermione was perceptive, but he didn't realize he had been making it so easy for her. He obviously wasn't on top of his game when it came to hiding his emotions. If he was, Hermione would have never guessed. Yes, he was hiding almost every part of himself from the world, yes, he felt alone, and yes, he was very confused. Confused about himself, about her, about Snape, about so much.

But she wasn't afraid of him. Even after knowing what he was, after seeing the Dark Mark that stained his skin, his life, his entire being, she wasn't afraid of him.

And she didn't believe that he deserved to be alone.

The smile faded. After tonight she would think he deserved to be alone. After tonight she would be afraid of him. After tonight, even Hermione Granger would think he was a monster. Maybe he could make it a good day until then. He would savor every moment he had as her friend.

Friend.

Draco hated the word, but knew it was as far as he was going to get with her. He never dreamed he would even get that far. And after tonight, that friendship would be destroyed.

Draco got out of bed, dressed in his day robes, and headed out into the kitchen to make breakfast. It wasn't as if he was going to be able to get back to sleep now anyway.

It was cold outside of his bedroom so with a flick of his wand, he lit a fire in the fireplace, waiting for its heat to fill the cabin. He moved over to the kitchen where he turned on the stove and got out a frying pan to start making some eggs.

He heard the shuffling movements of tired feet coming down the hall. What was she doing up this early?

"Good morning," Hermione greeted, yawning.

"Breakfast will be ready soon," he replied while cracking another egg into the pan. Once they were cooked, he scooped them onto two plates and placed them on the table, where Hermione had already sat down.

"Thanks," she said quietly as he plunked down into the chair beside her. "Mal…Draco," she corrected herself.

A warm sensation rose within him at the sound of his name escaping her lips. He had waited years to hear it from her and had long since accepted that he most likely never would. Apparently, he had been mistaken.

Draco hid his delight to the best of his current abilities as she continued. "I was wondering if I could have my wand back."

He had totally forgotten that she didn't have it. She should definitely have her wand. If, by chance, they were found, Hermione needed to be able to defend herself. "Of course. Just don't do anything stupid."

"Does it seem like I would do something stupid?" she asked.

"Not really," he replied with a slight shake of his head and a smile coming to his lips. It didn't seem as though she was asking so that she could run back to her friends. Hermione was smarter than that. He knew she now saw that she was safer at the secret cabin than she would be elsewhere.

"Are you sleeping alright? You're awake rather early," Draco asked her. It was sort of a strange question, but how you sleep says a lot about your frame of mind. He wanted to know how much all this was affecting her.

"You're awake," she pointed out.

"True." But he had been told of a terrible event that he would have to participate in that night that could literally break him.

She sighed. "I guess I haven't been sleeping all that well. I'm worried about my friends, what they're going through. It would be just awful if I had found out that one of them had been killed. I wouldn't even know what to do with myself. I just hope they're alright."

Draco knew that they were pretty beat up over the loss, he would have been angry if they hadn't been, but they were doing okay. Well enough to threaten him at any moment they got.

"They're alright," he assured her. He hated that she had to have this happen. He and his friends had never exactly been close so he couldn't relate all that much. Then again, if he found out Hermione had been killed, it would tear him apart.

Once they were finished eating breakfast, Draco got up and fetched Hermione's wand from his nightstand. He was surprised she hadn't asked for it back sooner, but he guessed that last night was the first time he had truly been civil to her, ever really. This was probably the first time she felt comfortable with asking. Either that or he just never gave her a chance to.

He walked back to the table and passed her the wand.

"Thank you," she said. She looked like she wanted to ask him something else as she bit her lip nervously. "Draco, what are the wards like around this place?"

Draco had not been expecting that question and wasn't really sure where she was going with it. "It's safe if that's what you're asking," he told her.

"I just meant…would I be able to go outside for a short while?"

He should have thought of that. Of course she wouldn't want to be cooped up in the cabin all day, every day.

"The wards make everything inside them undetectable to the outside world, they're pretty secure as well, designed so that only I can apparate or disapparate while within them."

"And how far around the property do they go?"

"The property is fairly large, not as sizeable as the manor, but decent," Draco explained.

"So, would it be alright to take a short walk around?" she asked.

"Should be fine," he said.

Hermione paused for a moment. "Would you like to come with me? I mean, you certainly don't have to. It isn't as if I couldn't go alone. That doesn't mean I wouldn't want you to come. But if you don't want to, or if you have other things to do-"

Draco interrupted her nervous rambling. "I'll come," he told her, alighting a bright smile from her that he hadn't seen in quite some time.

She wanted him to come.

Draco never thought he would see the day when Hermione Granger would ask him to do anything with her. It made him incredibly happy to think that she desired to spend time with him.

"Do you have any winter clothes I could borrow?" she asked.

"We can just use a warming spell," Draco reminded her.

"Where's the fun in that?"

Fun. She thought walking out in the cold…and being cold, was fun. They had magic to prevent them from having to experience that!

It had been a freezing winter, and even though it was now March, Draco knew for a fact from when he had let the owl inside that it had started snowing lightly that morning.

"It's cold outside. Even with warm clothes," he said, trying to push the use of the warming spell.

"Draco, I have been stuck inside this cabin for weeks now. A little cold air would be absolutely wonderful."

He sighed. If she would just keep saying his name like that, he would never get cold. Every time it left her lips, it created a warm happiness bursting inside of him.

"Fine," he replied, and summoned the items.

The two got bundled in scarves and mitts, and soon were headed outside. It was cold, as he had said it would be, and a light dusting of white covered a bit of the ground, but mostly fell on the branches of the trees.

"It's beautiful," he heard Hermione whisper.

"I take it you like the snow," he observed.

"I love it. It brings back so many wonderful memories from my childhood, and there is something about it that just seems to bring joy. Muggles would call the quality magic," she explained.

"That's ridiculous," Draco claimed, shaking his head.

"I know it is, but if you've never experienced real magic before, it is a word to describe a good feeling that you can't quite explain."

He watched her as she tilted her head back to examine the white snow against the green of the trees above her.

"Have you ever experienced anything like that? The almost instant happiness you get from something?" Hermione asked, tearing her eyes off the trees to look at him.

Draco thought. Nothing had ever been like that for him. Even Christmas and birthdays always had to be proper. If it snowed, you were expected to use magic to keep yourself warm and dry. Everything was formal, everything was a hassle. Not even a family dinner could be considered remotely fun.

"Not particularly," he replied. It seemed that his childhood had been very different from hers and he was curious to know more. "So what was it like growing up in a muggle home?"

Hermione stopped and looked at him strangely, as if that was the last question she had expected him to ask.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just didn't think you would be interested in things like that," she clarified.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," he told her.

"Well," she began. "We were very family oriented. Every night, it was tradition to sit down and eat dinner together. We didn't have any house elves or servants of course, so we cleaned up the kitchen together after dinner. It usually ended in getting splashed by the dishwater, singing along to random songs…" she trailed off on the memory. "I went to a muggle school until I was eleven and got my letter to Hogwarts. I always knew something was different about me than the other kids and the letter finally made everything make sense. My parents didn't really understand what it all meant, but they knew it made me happy, and feel like I might actually belong somewhere. They were told it was good for me, that I would get an education that revolved around the things that made me unique, that I would be with other kids who were like me. They were very supportive and now still, every summer, they want to know all about what is going on at school, what I'm learning." She smiled as she spoke.

The way she was brought up was so much different from the way he had been. It actually sounded better. Though guilt flooded through him when she mentioned the feeling of actually belonging somewhere. He had taken that away as soon as he had met her. He made her feel different and inferior when that was probably what she had thought she left behind.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Draco realized he was frowning. "Nothing's wrong, I'm just thinking."

"Whatever you're thinking of must not be very pleasant," she inferred.

It wasn't. "I'm sorry," he told her. She seemed a bit confused. "From the first time I met you, I treated you horribly."

"You did," she agreed. "But I can forgive you."

She could forgive him for destroying her childhood dream of belonging? He was taught growing up that if someone wronged you, you were supposed to wait for the perfect moment to avenge that wrong. He hurt Hermione and yet, she didn't want him to hurt? This didn't fully make sense to him.

"Why do you look so confused?" she asked.

"Because I hurt you and you don't want revenge. In my circle, those two things don't go together."

"If everyone did that, more people would just get hurt and nothing would ever get resolved."

"I guess you're right," he admitted.

Something was different about that moment. It was easy, natural, and so very strange. How could one day make such a difference? Only if the past couple of weeks were completely forced. She had noticed his contradicting actions before those isolating days and then he had retreated into ignoring her. The cold glares, the sneered words, it was so obvious to Hermione now that he had been trying to make her hate him. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why. He had agreed to go on this walk with her so quickly, it had shocked her.

Malfoy … wait, Draco, kept on surprising her. He wanted to know about her life, as a muggle. And he seemed genuinely interested. Next he apologized, something she thought she would never hear from him.

Hermione looked at him, bundled up against the cold weather. As she had been appreciating the beauty in even the light snowfall, she noticed that his eyes never really left her. It should be strange, she should feel disturbed, frightened, that his constant gaze was intrusive, but for some reason, those feelings never came.

No. She told herself. You've only even been cordial with him for one night. He is still the same Malfoy he used to be. But the words didn't have an effect. She knew it wasn't true. She had no idea who the real Draco was, but she did know that he wasn't the arrogant, insulting, prick that he was in school. Something was different.

She looked away as the thought that Draco was actually quite handsome came to her mind. It was wrong to be thinking that way. He was her best friend's rival and had been bullying her for years. How could everything be forgotten in an instant? Still, she had never before had a time like this with him. A time when they could both talk freely, get to know one another.

Hermione hated to think of Harry and Ron's reactions to her possibility of friendship with Draco. She began to feel rather guilty. They thought she was dead, and now she was off enjoying the snowy day with the boy they hated. But they don't really know him. Nobody does.

Without thinking she pulled out her wand and ruffled the tree above him, snow shaking loose and falling down onto Draco's head. Maybe it was too soon to be pushing things like this, but she was curious as to what he would do.

This was not her normal self. This impulsive behavior was entirely new to her. This realization in itself should have brought her back to reality, but for some reason, Hermione was enjoying the rashness of her recent activity.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" he demanded.

Hermione couldn't help the smile that appeared or the light giggle that escaped her. She slapped a hand over her mouth, just in case he got offended that she was laughing at him. Hermione was half expecting that he would storm off and go back inside, but she was gladly mistaken. A small grin spread across his lips and she just saw the twitch of his wand before icy snow fell down onto her own head.

She squealed a bit and laughed, quickly running a bit ahead and ruffling the branches above him again. They couldn't have a proper snowball fight because there just wasn't enough snow, but there was more on the branches of the trees and that would have to do.

Hermione heard him chase after her and more snow fell on down, sticking to her hair and clothes. She turned around to shoot more icy whiteness at Draco and heard the most amazing sound. He laughed. A true, genuine, happy laugh, not one of his insulting snickers. And his smile was so unlike the half hearted sneer he used to take on in school, but was full of sincere joy. Hermione found that she liked seeing it on his face. And even stranger, she liked the fact that she had been the one to put it there.

What was going on with her? Was she losing her mind? The situation was terrifying, horrible, possibly fatal, and here she was having fun with the boy who had been the one to bring her there in the first place.

Just as quickly as the smile had appeared, it was gone, and what she now saw in his gaze was dread, as if he had suddenly remembered something terrible.

"What is it?" he asked, practically stealing the words out of her own mouth.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You just stopped suddenly," Draco told her.

Yes, she realized that might have been a bit strange. In her focus on his expressions, she had stopped running, stopped laughing herself.

"Nothing's wrong," she assured him. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, because he had obviously started to think of something less than pleasant again. But, the more she thought about it, the more she realized he probably wouldn't answer her anyway and she didn't want to ruin the progress their relationship had made in the past couple of hours. "Do you want to go back inside?" she asked, looking at his soaking wet hair that was now dripping into his face.

She knew she probably looked pretty ratty at the moment and soon, her hair would be one big ball of frizz, but it was sort of refreshing to see Draco without his hair done up with who knew how many products.

He shivered. "It might be a good idea to get dried off and warm."

"Alright," she agreed, beginning to feel the freezing air herself. She gave him a smile, but he didn't return it this time. There was something going on. Something that made a dark feeling of dread rise within her. She pushed it to the side as she walked back to the cabin. But the thought kept coming up. Would he tell her if he was in trouble? Would he tell her if something horrible was about to happen?

Author's Note:

So, there's another chapter! I really enjoyed writing this one. I hope you all are alright with the snow bit and it wasn't too unrealistic with the timing. I'm sure it is possible for it to snow in the beginning of March and I really wanted to write this scene. I originally thought about moving the whole story back in dates to make it more realistic but I needed to keep everything moving along. Please let me know what you thought!

Thank you so much again FortyFandoms and bennettfan84 for the reviews. I appreciate them so much!

But seriously, I would love to hear some other voices too! If you enjoyed it, it would make my day amazing if you could just give me a little 10 sec. blurb telling me so.

I have an insane week with a job interview, two quizzes, a midterm, and a ton of reading I am already behind on so I really need the motivation of your reviews to get me to edit another chapter in time for next Sunday.

Thanks for reading my chapter and my obnoxiously long author's note, and thanks to everyone who favourited/followed!