A/N: Yay! No reviews! I'm buzzing with inspiration right now. Oh well, hopefully I'll get a few now. I hardly ever read one chapter stories either ;-)

Disclaimer: JK Rowling is the brains behind Harry Potter. I am the brains behind this story.

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Hermione stood impatiently at the corner of Fitzgibbon and Glory Streets. She looked at her watch for the fifth time in 30 seconds. Ron grabbed her hand and put it down.

"Stop doing that Hermione. You're making them really nervous" he said motioning to the other two aurors.

"Well he's taking his bloody time isn't he? We were supposed to have left 10 minutes ago" Hermione snapped.

"Well we better get a move on then instead of just standing around" a voice drawled behind her. Hermione opened her mouth to lecture Draco but with a faint 'pop' he was going.

"Ok let's go" Ron told the group. He bent down to Hermione's ear and whispered "we just have to follow the rank smell of ferret." Hermione chuckled and disapparated.

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The sun was sinking lower beneath the trees. Hermione and Draco had not spoken once on the journey. They had been walking for about three hours now.

"I think we should stop. Soon there will be no light to make camp and we'd have to do it all by wand light, "Hermione said to Draco. He shrugged and pulled the sack off his shoulder. Hermione did the same and they began rummaging around. She pulled out four small pyramids and placed them in a square around their campsite as a temporary ward. Draco took out a small tent and with a flick of his wand, it was erect. He then went to look for wood.

(AN: The tent is like the one the Weasley's had that is like a small house on the inside)

Hermione in the meantime took water, food and cooking utensils out of her bag. The bags were enchanted to carry unusually large items without the excess weight. Draco returned with wood and Hermione lit it with her wand. She then cooked their packaged food and served it.

Dinner was held in silence. Hermione kept sneaking looks at Draco out of the corner of her eye every now and then, but he was engrossed in a book. She cleared her throat quietly. He didn't look up. She tried again a little louder this time. He just flipped a page and continued reading.

"Malfoy" she said finally. He looked up at her reproachfully. "I think we should decide what to do if we come across the death eaters. In case something goes wrong." He looked at her pointedly.

"I'll start shall I?" Hermione asked, clearly annoyed. "Well, there is a high possibility that we will be discovered beforehand through our use of magic, but they can't run because…"

"Can I ask one question?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"Did you read the brief Potter gave us?" he asked.

"Yes, of course I did."

"As did I. and the mission was set out pretty straight forward in there, what to do if we were discovered, how to alert the Order, how to collect information. So if you plan on retelling the entire contents of the brief to me, I'd rethink it. I already have to put up with your presence for however many days and believe me; my compassionate, patient side isn't going to suddenly emerge to make this mission more comfortable for you. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to return to this book and ignoring you." Draco glared at her before opening his book again.

Hermione was speechless. She narrowed her eyes and grabbed the pail of water. She threw it on the fire and headed into the tent. She heard Draco curse outside as he tried to find his wand in the dark. Hermione lit a number of candles in the tent to provide some light before heading to her side of the tent. A pair of rough hands grabbed her shoulders and whirled her around.

"Don't ever pull something like that again Mudblood. I'm already in a fucking bad mood, and it would be so very easy for you to be 'mauled' by a lambear out here. Oh, I know you may have been the brightest witch in our year, but you don't know half as much about the dark arts as I do." His face was inches from hers and she could smell his faint cologne. She was slightly shaken on the inside but it didn't show. His grip loosened slightly but stayed there. Hermione placed her hands on his chest and leant up to his ear. Her cool breath tickled his ear as she spoke in a dangerously low voice.

"Malfoy, you may be the bad boy death eater's son, but I assure you. I know a lot about the dark arts. It wasn't just books about pixies and love potions I was reading in the library." She shoved him as hard as she could and he fell back a few steps. She entered her half of the tent and closed the door. She then fell back against it and let out a long shuddering breath. It wasn't only death eaters she had to look out for now.

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Hermione looked at her compass and then the map. They were about two days from the hideout. She smelled of sweat and dirt, but it went unnoticed by the two as they smelled the same. They had been travelling for three days now with very little interaction since the incident in the tent. Use of magic had been limited to wand lighting only. They couldn't risk any chance of being noticed. They were walking along in the shaded sunshine when Draco suddenly grabbed Hermione around the waist and mouth. He pulled her down behind a bush as she struggled to get free. But then she too froze. Neither one breathed for what felt like an hour as a black hooded figure roamed the clearing ahead picking what looked like small pink flowers. The figure finally turned and headed away from them. Draco released Hermione's mouth but not her waist. She leaned into him and they sat like that for 15 minutes longer before making any movement.

"Do you think it's gone?" Hermione whispered turning her head slightly toward Draco.

"Yes, but still get up very quietly. I think we better stop for today and use the invisibility tent" he whispered back. Hermione got up quietly once he released her as did Draco. They moved to a small clearing just big enough for their tent. This tent had a special charm to make it camouflage in with the surroundings. The only problem was it was very small on both the inside and outside. They entered and Hermione sat on her sleeping bag, pulling out some food that didn't need heating. Draco sat on his bag opposite her and pulled out his book once more.

"Thanks for today Malfoy" Hermione said quietly. He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. She handed him a cold vacuum sealed sandwich and bottle of butterbeer. He took them without a word and returned to his book. Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled out her own book on mind spells. She had learnt a lot on how a persons mind could be horribly transformed by curses. She had just finished a chapter on the 'Honurys Curse' which causes the victim to take on dual personalities of pure good and evil when she felt Draco's eyes upon her. She looked up to find him looking at the page intently.

"I know how to do that curse" he said smugly.

Hermione smirked. "I know the antidote as well as how to perform it. Why are you reading my book? You've been pretty caught up in yours for the last few days."

"I've finished" he said shrugging. "Surprising really that you haven't Granger. I'd have though you would have finished ages ago."

"Well, if I wasn't busy cooking your food, keeping the fire going and setting up the wards every night, I probably would have finished it by now" she said wearily.

Draco grinned coyly at her. "Well, that is your place mudblood, to serve others. Especially those of my stature." Hermione scowled at him.

"Lovely as this chat has been, I'm quite bored of your company. Wake me in the morning." With that he climbed into his bag and fell asleep even though the sun was still reasonably high in the sky.

"Lazy prick" Hermione muttered before returning to her book. After half an hour, she too grew tired and decided to turn in for the day.

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She was woken a few hours lately by rough shaking ad panicked whispering. "Granger, get up! Granger you piece of shit if you don't…"

"What is it Malfoy" she asked. He clamped a hand of her mouth and shushed her.

"Did you put up the wards tonight?" he asked her. She shook her head. "Fuck Granger! There's something out there now and we can't use magic to kill it." He was becoming slightly hysterical. Hermione got up and felt around in the darkness for her bag. She pulled out a dagger and walked toward the opening of the tent.

"What the hell are you doing Granger?" Draco asked.

"Well someone has to go out there, and it obviously isn't going to be you," Hermione said quietly before reaching out to open the flap.

Draco grabbed her and pulled her back close to him. "What if it's a death eater?" he whispered.

"Then my dark detectors would have gone off" she said before leaving his arms and the tent. He listened and heard rustling followed by a faint squeal.

"Granger!" Draco ran out of the tent with his wand in front. Hermione was standing a couple of metres away patting a small gold unicorn. The second it saw Draco it sped off. Hermione turned angrily to Draco.

"What did you do that for?" she said.

"I was, I thought… I thought something was hurting you and I couldn't miss out on the fun. Very disappointing outcome," he retorted weakly before entering the tent in a huff. Hermione smiled and followed him. She walked in to find Draco packing up his sleeping bag.

"Seeing as we're awake, we should start moving. We're less likely to be caught at this hour," he said. Then he looked up at her. "How could you think about bringing dark detectors? What if they went off when that thing was in the forest yesterday?"

"They didn't go off because they are disabled during the day. I only turn them off when we're asleep. It's very strange though. The first night they went off every time you came back with wood and stopped when you went away. I had to charm them so they wouldn't react to you." Draco just looked at her.

"Well, that just proves how dangerous I could be to you and that you need to watch your back" he said and continued packing. Hermione looked at him sceptically.

"Granger, I know you've always found me alluring, but would you please stop staring and start packing or we'll be here till midday," he said without looking at her.

Hermione grimaced. "Don't inflame your ego any further or we'll never go unnoticed."