Chapter 6

"I love you Hermione, more than anything in the world. Will you please marry me?" Ron asked. Hermione's heart swelled with happiness and love for the man on one knee infront of her. Her eyes welled up with tears, and for a minute she lost the ability to speak. She started to nod her head before she could choke out that one word.

"Yes!" Ron jumped up off his knee and enveloped her in a hug. "I love you."

Hermione woke with a start, tears streaming down cheeks. She brushed them away, trying to forget the dream that she had just had. Ron's proposal had been one of the happiest moments of her life, and she couldn't bear to relive it when she knew that she might never see him again. She especially couldn't bear the fact that even if she did see him again, there was a possibility that they would never end up back together. No matter how angry she was at Ron for being so selfish and controlling, she was overwhelmed with a sadness that gripped her heart. What had happened to the man that she loved so much? The man that had tried to forbid her from going on this mission certainly wasn't him. Suddenly she felt as though she was being suffocated. She needed air. Now.

Safely outside the tent, Hermione shakily sat down outside the tent. Her head dropped into her hands, and she took a few ragged breaths. Why was she unable to breath all of a sudden? What was happening to her? She felt a sharp pain in her chest, and she had to resist crying out. She felt as if she was losing total control. She struggled to gain control of her body and her emotions for a while. She was not one to show weakness, ever. She had already been caught crying once by Malfoy, she didn't need him thinking that she was a weak, emotional wreck of a mudblood. She felt completely alone. Harry was back at the ministry, with no way of contacting him, she could have potentially lost Ron forever, and any one that she considered a friend was back in London. She was left alone with her emotions and only Draco Malfoy to keep her company. At this realization, Hermione finally gave in allowed herself to cry freely. She was completely alone. She had lost everyone. Another sharp pain gripped her chest. She gasped at the sudden intense pain. What was happening to her? This wasn't normal? Was she dying of loneliness? Heartbreak maybe? Jesus Hermione, get a grip. She tried to reason. You can't die of loneliness and heartbreak. Those are emotions for the weak. You are not weak. She tried to tell herself, but it was no use.

"Granger?" She heard a groggy voice say behind her. Her head snapped up, and she quickly wiped her tears away.

"What do you want Malfoy?" She asked, trying to keep her voice even.

"Are you… are you alright?" He asked. Merlin he sounded awkward. She let out a sharp laugh.

"Like you care. I'm fine though." She lied. She heard him move around her, she turned her head away, trying not to let him see her tears. She knew that her attempts were futile, as her hiccups and ragged breathing were tell-tale signs of her distress.

"I'm just trying be civil." He said, sounding somewhat exasperated at her stupidity.

"There's a difference between being civil and caring. I know that you're incapable of emotion. Stop pretending and go back to bed. I'm fine." She said coldly. Her words had little effect though, because as soon as she finished speaking another sharp pain shot through her chest. She gasped at the pain. This time it was much stronger. She tried to put on a brave face, but her attempts were in vain, as the pain was too obvious.

"Granger, you're clearly not alright. Come inside." He said, offering a hand to help her up. Hermione glared at the hand with disdain, deciding whether to take it or not. She decided on the latter.

"I'm okay out here thank-" But she couldn't finish her sentence, as the pain increased. Malfoy ignored her and grabbed her hand, hauling her up and practically dragging her into the tent.

"Sit." He commanded. Hermione obliged, sitting at their little makeshift dining room table. He could feel her eyes on him, as she watched him suspiciously. Of course Granger would be suspicious, she was raised by muggles. She would know what tea was. He finished making the tea, and placed it infront of her.

"Drink." He commanded again, sitting down across from her. He watched her take a tentative sip, and saw the shock register on her face when she recognized what she was drinking.

"Is this chamomile tea?" She asked incredulously. Of course she would be surprised. He had always showed such disdain for muggle things, so the fact that he would have tea would be a huge shock for her.

"Yes." He told her. She continued to drink, eying him suspiciously. "Dammit Granger stop staring at me and just drink."

"Why are you helping me?" She asked after a little while. To be honest, Draco had no idea why he was helping her. He had felt something tug at his heart when he saw how upset she was. He couldn't explain it, but he felt the need to make her feel better. However, old habits die hard, so he didn't allow himself to fully comfort her. He couldn't let her know that he could potentially be softening towards her. Wait. Softening towards her? Get a grip, he told himself. Draco would never feel anything besides contempt and disgust for Granger, right? So why then, when he had recognized the tell-tale signs of a panic attack, had he decided to help her? He had no clue.

"Because I don't want to deal with it for longer than I have to." He settled on. This wasn't exactly a lie. He really didn't want to. It made his heart feel weird, and he didn't like it. Hermione smiled slightly at this comment, knowing that it was probably the truth, as Malfoy was always incredibly blunt.

"Well… Thank you." She said with another small smile. "I feel much better."

"What's wrong?" He asked before he could stop himself. Why did he care what the cause of her pain was? He should be enjoying watching her suffer. Hermione looked a little taken aback at his question, but she quickly recovered.

"I'd really rather not talk about it. I'm fine." She said. To Malfoy it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of this, not him.

"Is it the weasel? Are you still upset about your fight?" He asked. He tried to add a little bit of mockery to his tone to hide his genuine curiosity. He took her silence as a yes. They sat in silence for a while, until Hermione finally spoke.

"How did you know about the tea? It's a muggle thing." She asked with her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Just an old trick I picked up from Snape. If people needed subduing and there was no access to magical ingredients, this was the next best thing. Although it is a muggle technique, it actually proves quick effective." He lied. He really knew about it because of his mother. She always drank chamomile tea before going to bed, and if she ever got upset. It was something that he had taken to since he had betrayed them. But Hermione couldn't know this. He had to appear cold and indifferent to her. Even his answer had had too many words in it. He preferred to speak to Granger as little as possible.

"My mom used to give it to me when I got upset." She said simply. She tried to hide it, but Draco noticed the slight pain in her eyes at the mention of her mother. Why did talking about her mother make her sad? Was she dead? Draco decided not to ask. This was already getting to friendly for his liking. Civil was one thing, but an actual conversation like this was too much for him.

"Well, you seem to be okay now. I'm going to bed." He announced, and strolled off towards his room.

"Malfoy?" She said when he reached the doorway. He turned to look at her. "Thank you." She said with a smile. Malfoy nodded and turned to walk away. Why did she have to be so nice? Why couldn't she just accept the tea and leave it.

"Good morning!" Hermione chirped happily when Draco walked into their tents kitchenette.

"Feeling better?" He inquired, yawning.

"Much better. Thank you." She said with a smile. Draco tried not to grimace. Why was she being so nice? Didn't she understand that they weren't friends? He helped her because he wanted her to stop crying, not because he actually cared.

"Granger just because I helped you, it doesn't mean we're friends now." He told her coldly. Hermione turned around to glare at him.

"Of course. One act of kindness doesn't undo years of hatred and rudeness. It doesn't undo everything you've done to me. If you thought for even one second that I might want to be anything more than civil towards you, you thought wrong. I'm not that quick to forgive." She said, her anger flaring in her eyes. Draco watched her calmly, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he smirked.

"Are you done?"

"For now." She said, then turned her back to him again. He watched her as she began preparing food. He admired her ability to control herself. Most girls would scream and cry at him. She simply told him like it was, and continued on about her day. And she was always so hesitant to cry infront of him, trying to cover it up as quickly as she could. Her attempts were rather futile, but the fact that she wanted to appear so strong said something for her.

"Stop staring at me." She told him coldly as she slammed a plate of food down infront of him. Had he been staring? He hadn't noticed.

"Thank you." He said, choosing to ignore her previous comment. Why would he have been staring at her? Hermione glared at him and went on eating her own food. They ate in silence, not even looking at each other. When they were finished, Hermione flicked her wands and the dishes were clean.

"We really should start working. I have some maps and pictures. We need to narrow a location down."

"Yeah for sure." He said, watching her pull maps and pictures and quills out of her little bag.

"How did you fit all that in there?" He asked curiously. Hermione looked at him as if it was he most obvious thing in the world. He didn't like being made to feel stupid, especially by a mudblood.

"Undetectable extension charm. It came in handy when I was looking for horcrux's last time." She explained.

"Okay, so I have a map of Scotland and England. Can you mark where you travelled and tell me about where you stayed each time?" She asked, pushing the map and a quill across to him. Draco marked the way that him and his fellow Death Eaters had taken. When he had finished, he pushed it back across the table to her. Her eyebrows raised when she saw the complex routes.

"There's no pattern. You bounced around everywhere!" She exclaimed.

"Magic is traceable if you know what to look for. We apparated to many different places before each destination in the hopes of throwing anyone who might be following us off. We also all took different routes to get there, so that should anyone get caught they wouldn't drag everyone down with them." He explained. Hermione groaned.

"They're going to be impossible to trace!" Hermione groaned. Draco smirked at her.

"You seem to have forgotten that I knew where they were going and their travel habits Granger. We're able to figure things out by looking ahead and some estimating too. I know these people very well." He assured he. Wait, why was he assuring her? He should just be stating things. He shrugged it off.

"I guess so. Okay, so where were they headed?" She asked.

"Last I heard, they were heading for a place in the North of Scotland. They were taking a round about way of getting there and picking things up along the way. I think that they were recruiting people in various towns as well." He exclaimed.

"Recruiting again? They're very confident." Said Hermione.

"We were positive that it was there. We just weren't quite sure where."

"Okay. Is there a particular place in the North that you were headed?" she asked. Draco shook his head regrettably. "How were you planning on finding it?"

"We were going to go to various towns and ask about Tom Riddle, not Voldemort. Maybe there was somewhere that had been of significance to him. The Death Eaters will take longer to get there, if we leave within a few days we could beat them there and get a head start on the hunt." Draco suggested. Hermione nodded, clearly very deep in thought.

"Did Salazar Slytherin have any relationship to Northern Scotland? Do we know of any of the Marvolo's living there?" Hermione asked, thinking of anything that could be of significance to Voldemort.

"I have no idea. Do you have any books on his family?"

"I didn't read anything about Slytherin in Scotland in Hogwarts: A History, and I know that book inside and out. You're a Slytherin? Do you know anything?"

"Nothing was mentioned to me." Draco said, shaking his head. Hermione slumped in the chair. This was going to be such a tedious job. It was going to take so long to do all that research in all those different places. It could take months. Months that she would be spending with no one for company but Malfoy.

A/N: Hey guys! So I'm in exams right now, so updating is going to be a little slower. I'm working on making the chapter longer that the beginning, because I've just been realizing how short they are! I made the already posted chapters a couple hundred words longer and edited them a little bit better, so if you want to check them out again go for it! It won't change anything in the story though. Anyways, let me know what you think!