Disclaimer: See Prologue

A big thanks and a shoutout goes to:

Serlene – Hehehe. I'm very glad you like it! I was almost afraid to put the intimacy in there...it almost felt like I was getting too much mush between them too soon.

'Mione n Sevvie – Thanks...I work hard on it and it's great to know that the work pays off.

Evillizzy89 – I think I'm going to leave it at a cliffy. Things will begin to come together, but slowly. I like slow. It helps me write more nonsense in between.

Badgurl13a – Glad you like it.

I apologize for taking so long on this. Chapter ten is a long one, considering, and I've been busy with schoolwork. Yeah...even writers have to go to school to major in their careers. Anyway...last time we ended with a rather ominous patch of black mist. I know, I know...you're all thinking "WTF!"...but I guess you'll just have to wait and see, hm? I don't know what the black mist's purpose is. Ask it.

Yours,

Allison

Chapter 10

Hermione gave a weary sigh and began the trek back to Hogwarts. She'd stayed behind for a bit longer to make sure that the third and fourth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had all gotten back to the castle, and now she was exhausted herself. She and Draco had agreed to pair up two years and two houses per trip so that the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors went one week and the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs the others. They had also compromised on the seventh years, to save time, and the entirity of the seventh year students would go at once, with the added protection of Dumbledore and McGonagall themselves overseeing the trips.

Teddy, Titian, Raven, Draco, and the prefects were long since gone, and Hermione imagined that she was going to be in a spot of trouble when she got back. Sighing, she stretched and glanced around the empty path. They had managed to get all of the students to Hogsmeade at least once before Christmas, and the next day she and Draco would be climbing onto the train the next day to go to the burrow for two days...much to his dispair.

Hermione smiled to herself as she thought about her fiance. She really was growing to be fond of the man, despite it all. Of course, she would only admit it to herself...and barely even that. She was brought out of her reverie, suddenly, when she heard something behind her. Jumping, she turned and stared in horrorified curiosity at what she saw. There was a black mist floating behind her...more like a burning black fire, really, like a stereotypical muggle cartoon bad guy...watching her with glowing cobalt eyes. It floated there for a moment before taking shape into that of a young man, still watching her.

"What are you?" She whispered softly.

"I am the enforcer." Its voice was a soft rasp.

"Who are you?" She hesitated slightly before walking towards it.

"Who I am is of no concern." She could hear a note of sadness in the voice that was neither male nor female. "It is getting late. You should get back to Hogwarts before the last ray of light disappears."

"Why?" She asked, softly. "What happens after dark?"

"The creatures of the woods have been recruited to patrol Hogwarts' borders after dark." It said, quietly. "Now go."

Hermione turned halfway before turning back. "Will you..." it was gone. Hermione glanced towards the lowering sun and turned, beginning to hurry back towards the castle once more. She was running past Hagrid's hut when the last ray of the sun disappeared, and she stopped and doubled over, looking back towards the woods to see a pair of glowing green eyes. She didn't say a word, merely turned and ran on, reaching the doors of Hogwarts and slipping in, moving into the Great Hall and slipping into a seat beside Draco at the Slytherin table.

He looked at her, arching an eyebrow at her ruffled appearance, "Where have you been?"

"I stayed after in Hogsmeade to finish up a bit of shopping and to make sure everyone got back safely." Hermione said, taking a bite of her food.

"Ahhh." He took a bite of his own food and sighed. "Do I have to go to the burrow, Hermione?"

"Don't whine." She said absently. "And yes, you do. I'm going to your ball, aren't I?"

He let out an exaggerated sigh. "Yes."

"Then don't argue. You'll survive at the Burrow." Hermione said, taking a bite of her chili. Down the table a ways, Ryne Leil was unnaturally quiet as he ate automatically, never seeming to taste his food. His friends stared at him silently...afraid for his health. He'd been like this since his confrontation with Draco Malfoy, and they were growing more and more concerned.

"You're going home, Midonas." Whispered one girl. "You can tell the Master."

"Okay..." The boy in question whispered, nodding. "I will."

Hermione relaxed in her seat as she ate, talking idly with Pansy. Draco reached over, on impulse, and rested his hand on her knee. This made her pause and look at him, smiling. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "We still haven't finished what we started a while back, you know..." Hermione bit back a laugh, and a blush, as she remembered.

"Malfoy?" He ignored her. "Malfoy...?" Growling, he still didn't seem to hear. "Draco!" That brought him up short, spinning him around to glare at her for a moment before his glare fell away. "What is it?"

He crossed the room in three strides and kissed her. Hard.

Surprised, her lips responded to his automatically. A fire rushed through her veins and she lifted her hands to his cheeks as he pressed her back against the door. A groan passed his parted lips as she slipped her tongue into his mouth, entering into a delicate dance with his. He broke away from her lips, gasping for breath, before beginning to drop kisses down her neck and shoulder. She rested her head back against the wall as she struggled to regain her breath, her hands resting on his shoulders.

"Sorry to interrupt this...frollick..." They both shot death glares towards the portrait on the wall where Natasha was standing, looking prim and proper. "But Titian Angelline and Theodore Krie are here to see you..."

"No, we haven't." She replied. "And it probably won't happen until we're married, now." She caressed the hand on her knee before turning back to her food, smiling as she took a bite. "Are you packed?"

"Not yet." He said softly. "I'm going to right after dinner."

"Draco, I told you to pack LAST night." Hermione said, gently chiding him. He arched an eyebrow at her. "Now, you'll be throwing stuff into your trunk at the very last minute, freaking out and begging me for help, before you finally realize that you can use magic."

"Naw..." Draco said, confidently. "I'll be good. You'll see."

SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK

"Hermione, PLEASE help me?" Draco gave the witch puppy dog eyes, kneeling before where she was sitting on the sofa in their common room reading. She directed her chocolate eyes over the book at him.

"Malfoy, you're a wizard for christ's sake!" She snapped. "Use your wand!" He stared at her for a moment, feeling a bit of de ja vu, before he snatched up his wand and stomped into his room. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her gaze back to her book...just to snap her gaze upwards once more. The enforcer stood before her.

"You must not be gone from Hogwarts past the fifth day of the new year." It said.

"What? Why?" She asked, softly. Their honeymoon was supposed to last right up until the end of break, which was until the nineth of January.

"I cannot say, but you must be back by the fifth day of the new year, when the rest of the students return." It told her again, looking at her. She thought she detected a sorrow in those deep cobalt-blue eyes. On impulse she reached up, her fingertips moving towards the mist.

"Hermione?" Her gaze shot to her fiance's doorway. "Who are you talking to?" Her eyes moved back to the spot where the enforcer had stood moments before, meeting nothing but air. Sighing, she let her hand drop.

"Nobody, Draco. Go on and pack or we'll miss the train." She told him.

"I'm finished!" He told her proudly. Hermione bit back a laugh. "Well, shrink your trunk then, and come on." She told him, smiling as she stood up. He nodded and disappeared into his room for a moment or so more before ducking back out, tucking a miniature trunk into his pocket and his wand up his sleeve. Hermione grinned and opened the door to their dormitory, slipping out.

"Goodbye Natasha." She told the grumpy portrait. "We'll see you in two and a half weeks." She ignored Draco's questioning look until they were outside, out of earshot.

"I thought our Honeymoon was lasting until the last day before classes." He said.

"I got a warning from an anonymous source to be back by the fifth of January." She replied, her voice soft.

"And you're trusting this source? No, Granger. We're staying in Maui until the very last moment."

"Back to last names are we, Malfoy?" Hermione snapped. "We'll leave Maui early if I say we will. We'll be in Paris all summer anyways."

"Because our HOUSE is going to be in Paris!" He growled back.

"Well we're getting one here, too!"

"But not until we know for sure what we're going to do with our lives!"

"Stop bitching, Malfoy! We're coming back early and that's that!"

"Why do you get the last word!"

"Because I'm the wife and that makes me the boss!" She snapped, storming by Harry and Ron and flouncing onto the train. Draco stormed past Pansy and Blaise, muttering murderously to himself the whole time. Harry and Blaise exchanged looks.

"Good thing we're going to the Burrow with you." Pansy said, as she and Ron watched the angry couple stomp up the steps to the train. "They'd kill each other."

"I don't know if there's any way around THAT particular fact of life." Harry said, wincing as the screams began again on the train...over who would get which compartment.

"Maybe they'll get along better when they've lost their virginities." Blaise muttered. Pansy elbowed him and he grunted. "It's true!"

Ron's jaw dropped. "Malfoy's a virgin?" A wicked grin began on his face before Harry elbowed him.

"Not NOW Ron. He's marrying Hermione. Do you really want him to have lost his cherry before now?" Ron turned red...and then green...at the thought.

"FUCK YOU, MALFOY! I GET THE WINDOW SEAT!"

"THE HELL YOU DO, GRANGER! MOVE THE FUCK OVER!"

"I wonder how long it'll take them to remember that there are two window seats." Melissa said from where she and Kayla had been sitting playing a muggle cardgame on the steps. The other four snickered, and the students started inside, chuckling to themselves. Their laughter lasted only until they reached the door of the compartment that their friends were in. A pair of sixth year Slytherins stood in the doorway, wands pointed, an extra wand in each of their hands.

"Calm down, Shry." They heard Hermione's voice, soft and gentle, from within. The six students looked at each other and slipped silently into another compartment to listen.

"Granger...why the fuck are you doing this?"

"Why am I doing what, Shry?" Hermione's voice was steady...pitched as if she were trying to soothe a spooked unicorn.

"Why are you marrying that...that...him."

"Because of the marriage law. You know that."

"Why the hell didn't you take someone else's petition?"

Harry, who was watching through a crack, could see Hermione as she moved slowly to the upset Prefect, lifting her hand slowly and closing it- not over his wand- but over his hand. What she said couldn't be heard, and both of their voices dropped to inaudible. After a long time, Hermione's arms went slowly around the taller, slightly younger boy and she rested her head against his chest as he closed his arms around her tightly. Lesse, the other Slytherin Prefect, quietly set one of the wands in his hand down and walked away to give the two their moment.

Realization hit Harry, widening his eyes and making him lean heavily against the doorframe of the compartment. "She likes him." He whispered.

"He's in love with her as well." Blaise said softly from where he'd been standing beside Harry. "Why haven't we seen it before?"

"They're always fighting...neither of them will admit it to themselves, let alone each other. Now that she's marrying someone else, he's realized it." Harry said softly.

"I wonder if Draco's alright...Hermione's the only one that's come out..." Blaise said.

Shry pulled away from Hermione after a long moment, handing her her wand. "I'm going to petition for Andrea Hatlan." He said, softly.

Harry could tell from where he was that Hermione's smile was forced. "She'll be good for you."

"You trust me to keep her safe?" He looked almost surprised. Andrea Hatlan was a Hufflepuff.

"Yes. I do." She said, quietly. Shry nodded to her and walked off. Once he was out of sight, Hermione sagged against the doorframe of her compartment before spinning and running inside.

"Draco!" She knelt beside the boy who'd been hit with two spells at once, checking his pulse before relaxing lightly and whispering "Ennervate." As her fiance's eyes fluttered open, Hermione sighed softly and relaxed.

"Hermione?" Remembering what had happened, Draco shot upright, despite the soreness of his back where he'd hit the edge of the seat. "They didn't hurt you, did they!"

"I'm fine, Draco!" Hermione soothed.

"Their lives are going to be living hell..." Draco snarled.

"Let it go, Draco." Hermione said, her voice going hard. "It's been sorted out." They looked to the doorway as Harry, Ron, Blaise, and Pansy walked in slowly. Kayla and Melissa had gone off to find their friends.

"What took you so long?" Draco demanded, sitting beside Hermione...who had the window seat.

"We were...held up."

"Doing what?" Now Hermione looked suspicious, too.

"We were...putting a snake in...Snape's boxers." Blaise lied quickly. Hermione and Draco looked at each other.

SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK

As the train pulled away from the station, a pair of cobalt eyes watched from the astronomy tower silently, black mist swirling in a shapeless form.