A/N: I know that I probably need a beta but I can't be bothered sending it, then checking it and so on so forth. I'll get chapters out quicker this way, and my mistakes aren't that bad are they? Also, I take a while to introduce D/H romance. They aren't going to have an epiphany of their love all of a sudden or anything.
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Disclaimer: JK Rowling is the brains behind Harry Potter. I am the brains behind this story.
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A faint smell of smoke hit Draco's nose. He slowed down and lowered toward the ground looking cautiously around him. Hermione followed his lead and waited with baited breath. He drew his wand and turned to look at her, motioning her to do the same.
Draco cleared a thicket in front of him and peered through. Hermione ducked her head into the crook of his arm to see what was beyond the shrub. A stone cottage was sitting in the middle surrounded by hundreds of trees and plants. It was very difficult to make out, even from their distance of 20 metres away.
"Are you ready?" Draco mouthed more than whispered. Hermione looked at him determinedly and nodded. He slithered through the tall grass toward the cottage. Hermione followed close behind. He reached the window and peered in. there was a fire crackling in an empty room. Suddenly the door opened and two hooded figures stepped out chuckling about something. Hermione yanked Draco around the side of the house as they descended the stairs. Hermione quietly pulled out a cloth and a bottle of a strange smelling yellow liquid. She quietly ripped the fabric in two and dabbed some liquid on both pieces of material. She handed Draco one quickly as the talking stopped and footsteps headed in their direction.
"Hold it up to their nose and mouth" she whispered in his ear. They stood ready. As the figures rounded the corner Hermione and Draco stepped out and successfully knocked them out silently with the chloroform.
"What was that? They would have realised the magic you used by now. Get ready," Draco said hurriedly. Hermione grinned.
"Actually, that wasn't magic. That was a muggle concoction. See, muggle devices can be just as useful as magic." Draco was about to retort when the door opened once more and another figure emerged brandishing a wand. Hermione looked at Draco and then at the figure that spotted them.
"INTRUDERS!" the death eater shouted. Draco quickly stunned the person and Hermione threw an anti-disapparition jinx at the house before sprinting inside toward the fireplace. She entered to find two death eaters standing there fumbling with a bag.
"Tenticulous!" Hermione shouted throwing a spell at one figure. They were too late to react and were immediately wrapped tightly in rope coils. The second person threw the Cruciatus curse at her, and this time she was too late. Draco ran in and took one look at the scene before stunning the other death eater. He helped Hermione up and together they bound and disarmed all the death eaters and collected them in a bundle in the room. Hermione sat in a chair to recover from the echoing pains in her body from the curse while Draco went out to send sparks to alert the auror's.
He came back inside and removed the hood of each person. Hermione recognised most of them from wanted posters. There sat Crabbe and Goyle, Avery and Nott. But the one that intrigued Hermione the most was the dark eyed witch sitting next to Crabbe.
"Lestrange? Fancy seeing you here," Hermione smirked. "Oh, Harry is going to go over the moon to see you put behind bars." Bellatrix Lestrange glared at her and then looked even more scathingly at Draco, if that was possible.
"What is going on Draco? Release me at once. If this is some game you are playing, quit it now and kill the mudblood. We have important matters to tend to," said Lestrange. She didn't seem fazed at all at being bound and wandless. Hermione looked at Draco questioningly, but he just sneered at Lestrange and stunned her. Just then Ron flanked by the other two aurors burst through the door.
"You guys are bloody brilliant. No wonder Harry sent you. And you caught Lestrange. Blimey!" Ron said with a large grin plastered on his face.
"Can we go now? I haven't bathed or slept in a decent bed for days, and it is going to take a while to get the mudblood germs off me," Draco drawled tiredly. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and touched the band now enclosing the death eaters. The others did the same and after a few seconds they were all transported to the ministry dungeons.
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Hermione entered the ministry office to applause after a good two days rest. She smiled and thanked those congratulating her. Harry walked up to her and enveloped her in a large hug.
"I'm so proud of you Hermione. I should send you and Malfoy out on more missions together," he said winking at her. She slapped his arm and opened her mouth to retort, but he put his hands up in surrender. Hermione was about to tell him about the discussion between Lestrange and Draco but another official cut in.
"Can I see you a moment Harry?" the official asked. He was a representative from Azkaban Prison, where the death eaters were being held in maximum security until their trial. Hermione walked into her office to find Draco lounging in her seat with his feet on her table.
"What are you doing in here Malfoy? I thought you detested being in my presence," Hermione said angrily before heaving his feet off her table.
"Trust me Granger, I am not here by choice" he began. "I came to prevent you from making a stupid mistake. I know you're going to tell Potter about my and Bella's chat in that house. Bellatrix is my aunt and has never grasped the fact that I am no longer on the dark side. She cannot comprehend that a Malfoy would ever desert the dark side. I am the first that I know of, so it has come as a shock to everyone, especially her. So before you go and put you're foot in it, I have already explained the situation to Potter and he is perfectly fine with it."
"If you say so Malfoy. But I always did have better judgement and perception than Harry. He forgives too easily," she said avoiding eye contact.
"What is that supposed to mean mudblood" Draco hissed.
"I don't trust you; I never have. I know you haven't changed, and I'll be there to catch you out when you slip up," she said her eyes flashing. He smirked at her.
"Well, my dear inferior bred Granger, you are going to be waiting a very long time then." With that he exited her office.
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"Ah, yes, Malfoy come in," Harry said referring to the tall blond man standing in his doorway. "First I would like to congratulate you on a mission well done," Harry said as Draco shut the door.
"Sit down and make it quick, I have a lot of work to get through," Harry said running a hand through his hair once the door was shut. He was perfectly respectable toward Draco in public to set an example for the others, but he could not just forget the past.
Draco sneered at his change of behaviour. He wasn't surprised and wouldn't have it any other way. "As you and everyone else has realised, Granger and I are a force to be reckoned with. This is why I think we should work as a team more often. And you know what mission I am speaking of Potter," Draco said eyeing him seriously. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you couldn't bear her presence, and now you want to work with her on the biggest assignment we have?" Harry asked.
"It's a measure I'm not happy about, but I know it's the only way I will get on this team. I want to go back to my house at last." Harry eyed him suspiciously. Draco had not entered his house since he had joined the Order. No one had. A powerful dark magic had been placed around the entire estate to prevent anyone finding, or entering it.
"I'm going to have to think about this. I need to see if Hermione is happy with it. Of course, in the beginning you are only going to be in the office doing research on the enchantments and plotting the property. Once we go out in the field you will not be going alone. Many aurors will accompany you, along with me," Harry said.
"That's what I expected. Get Granger's approval quickly. I'd like to start in it asap." Draco exited the office with a small dark smile on his face.
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"Yes, of course I'll work on it!" Hermione said excitedly.
"Did you not hear me say the first part? You're working with Malfoy, and only Malfoy," Harry said.
"Yes, yes, I heard you. But I've been wanting this mission for a long time, and inevitably, sacrifices need to be made," she said a little dejectedly.
"Great. You can start tomorrow. I will transfer your work to Shikling. He's been complaining about not being involved enough." Hermione squealed quickly and left the office to go and have lunch with Ginny. She could now finally dig up dirt on Malfoy legally, and expose him for the fraud he was.
Harry sat down and looked at the paperwork on his desk. He was itching to apparate to Azkaban and kill Bellatrix himself, but too many people would notice he was missing. He would have murdered her in the dungeons if Hermione hadn't deprived him of his wand first. She knew what he was going to do, but now she was absorbed in the mission, Harry would be freer to exact his revenge. He pulled out a booklet of parchment from his drawer and began to detail his own plans, a sadistic smile gracing his lips.
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