A/N: I tried to put more Hermione/Draco in this chapter because I felt that the last one was rather lacking. Sorry it's so short.

Chapter 6: A Promise

Hermione's adrenaline rush from the escape had left her more tired than she had been previously, and it was hard to keep her eyes open. She led the way into the hotel and asked for two rooms, then paid for them and let everyone follow her upstairs. Hermione opened the door of the first room. "Everyone in," she ordered.

"But there aren't enough beds for—" The younger Malfoy began.

She raised an eyebrow. "We're not sleeping, Malfoy. We're waiting for Ron."

He fell silent and walked into the room, followed by Harry. Lucius Malfoy hesitated, still staring at the back of his son, and then he turned to her furiously. "What have you done to my son?"

"Excuse me?" she scoffed.

"Don't play dumb," he snapped. "I know who you are. I know almost everything about you, Mudblood Granger. You've done something to my son, and I want to know what."

"And you think I'm just going to tell you?" she asked him.

"That's exactly what you're going to do," he said, grasping her throat tightly in his hand and pinning her to the open door.

Hermione wriggled in his grip and reached up to clasp her hands around his arm in a vain effort to get him off of her. Her vision was edged with dark grey storm clouds that were increasingly blocking her sight. "I didn't—" she tried to gasp.

Lucius Malfoy squeezed her throat tighter in response and pulled her up onto her tiptoes. Her vision had gone almost entirely black when suddenly the pressure on her throat was gone. She slid to the floor gasping for breath and then felt someone's arm tighten comfortingly around her shoulder. Her vision cleared, she looked up to see Harry was crouching protectively beside her, wand out, while Draco Malfoy stood between his father and her. The Malfoys stared each other down.

This time, Draco Malfoy was not the first to look away. "If you ever touch her again I will gut you and let the rats eat your insides while you watch," he said in a low growl.

Hermione blinked rapidly. Had she been knocked out? Why was Draco Malfoy coming to her rescue? Beside her, Harry's jaw dropped and he looked like he too was trying to figure out what was going on.

Lucius Malfoy stared at his son, almost as shocked as Hermione and Harry. "I can see what has happened here now. She's slipped you a love potion, hasn't she? You think you're in love with her. Well, that can easily be fixed if you'll just come with me."

"I don't love her. In fact, I despise the Mudblood. But I hate you more," the teenager said, still glaring at his father. Lucius's face twitched in the phantom of a wince before it turned as stoic as stone. Hermione now saw where Draco had gotten his expressionless mask.

For some reason, it hurt for him to say that he despised her. Hermione frowned. She'd never had any illusions about his feelings for her—nor hers for him—but hearing him say that he despised her hurt. Perhaps it was that after all she'd done for him, he was still the same cold boy he'd always been. She sighed and leaned her head on Harry's shoulder. Things were so complicated, and all she wanted to do was sleep.

Abruptly, there were a few pops, and out of nowhere Ron appeared with Moody, Tonks, and Lupin. The Malfoys were still glowering at each other and didn't seem to have noticed their arrival. Ron took a look at Hermione and Harry and froze. She lifted her head from Harry's shoulder and he helped her shakily to her feet.

"Perhaps we should get inside the room," she suggested, then grimaced as her throat protested the use.

Ron's eyes widened and he hurried to her side. "What happened to you?"

"Malfoy decided the best way to figure out what I'd done to his son was to choke me. The only problem with his logic is that I neither did anything to his son nor can I speak while I'm being throttled." She smiled wanly at him.

He looked furious enough to kill, but Hermione grabbed his arm and leaned on it. Ron quickly checked himself and led her into the room, sitting her down and standing protectively beside her. Harry came next, followed by the Malfoys and the members of the Order.

"Moody, Lupin, Tonks, you know what to do with Malfoy, right?" Hermione said. She was losing the chance to talk to him about Horcruxes, but at the moment it didn't seem like he would be willing to give up that information.

"Of course," Lupin said. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Hermione said lightly.

"Okay, then I suppose we'll take him," Tonks said.

Moody walked over and grabbed Lucius Malfoy's arm. "Let's go," he said, Disapparating the two of them with a pop. Tonks waved goodbye and Disapparated too, but Lupin held back.

"I do hope the three of you know what you're doing," he said.

"Oh, right. Lupin," Hermione said, reaching inside her robes and pulling out the three wands. She put hers aside, then looked to Malfoy, who came over and picked his wand out. The third wand she handed to Lupin, "This is Malfoy's. You can decide to give it back to him or not, but don't lose it."

"Goodbye," Lupin said. "And good luck." He, too, Disapparated with a pop.

Hermione sighed and flopped down on the bed, suddenly exhausted. Ron came and sat beside her. "How many rooms do we have?" he asked.

"Two," she said, reaching inside her pocket and handing him the second set of keys. "I didn't know—" she yawned "—if we would actually be staying the night."

"I think we'll be staying the night," Harry said, reaching out and squeezing her hand.

"Okay," she murmured.

Ron leaned over and kissed her forehead, and then her boys left, leaving her alone with Malfoy. Hermione sat up in bed slowly and shrugged off her robe, then kicked off her shoes and slid under the blankets in her jeans and tee-shirt. She was asleep before there was even time to wait for Malfoy to change into his nice self.

Sometime during the night, Hermione woke up. She didn't know what had awoken her, but she didn't fall back to sleep immediately, as was normal for her. Hermione rolled over onto her side and curled up deep into her blankets but when sleep didn't come in a few minutes, she opened her eyes in annoyance.

Draco Malfoy was standing by the window, looking up at the moon. Hermione sat up in bed. "Malfoy?"

He spun around and hastily wiped his eyes. "Granger, what are you doing up?"

"I don't know," she said honestly. "Are—are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he said.

Hermione didn't say anything for a long minute in which they simply stared at each other. "I don't think you're fine."

Malfoy's face crumpled and he turned back to the window so she couldn't see his face. "I don't really hate my father," he confessed. "There are times, though, a lot of times, where he does things I don't approve of. Things that are awful and cruel and illogical. Sometimes I think he just likes to see people squirm. Not, mind you, that he's ever touched me or my mother. He's great when he's not feeling sadistic, though. He's not always a bad example, a bad father."

Hermione stared at his back and didn't say anything. "I don't hate him," he said again, as if trying to convince himself. "But I don't love him. And I think after this he's not going to love me anymore either."

She hesitated, then, "It's like what I said about you. You're not bad, but you're not exactly good."

He laughed dryly. "Something like that." He didn't say anything for a minute, and then asked, "How's your throat?"

Hermione shrugged. "It's been better," she said wryly, reaching up and touching it lightly. Wincing as her fingers hit bruised flesh, she put her hand back down. She paused again. "Malfoy, about today…"

"I didn't do it for you, Granger. I did it because…" He stopped abruptly, and turned toward her enough that she could see his profile. Malfoy was trying to work out a reason for saving her. Opening his mouth, he closed it again while he struggled to find the words. "Look, after everything you went through today to get him out of Azkaban, you didn't deserve that. I don't agree with you on everything, Granger, but you have helped me when I needed help the most, and you've saved my parents from the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord. Even if I don't like you very much, Granger, I respect you. And I respect you especially for everything you've done for me and my family—"

"Malfoy, it was—"

"NO!" he yelled, turning towards her. He looked furious, and the fact that half of him was in shadow while the other half was bathed in moonlight had a rather sinister effect. Hermione glanced at the bedside table to be sure her wand was in reach. "Don't you dare tell me it was nothing, don't you tell me it was part of some grand plan you have. I know it wasn't, and I'm trying to say thank you but every time I try you interrupt me!"

She looked at him but he was silent and didn't continue. "I think," she said carefully, "That you stopping your father today was quite a large thank you."

Malfoy sighed, glanced one last time up at the moon and then walked across the room to his bed. He pulled off his shirt and his shoes, then wiggled out of his jeans and got under the blankets. She turned onto her other side so that she could look at him.

Hermione hesitated. She wanted to ask him something, wanted to ask him because she felt it was important somehow. She didn't know how, but she knew that she had to ask, had to know. "Malfoy," she began, and then paused to take a deep breath. "Malfoy, when you threatened your father…" he didn't say anything, forcing her to say all of the words, forcing her to admit she'd been thinking about it, "…were you serious?"

The last came out as barely a whisper, but she knew that he heard it because he rolled onto his back to look at the ceiling. "Yes," he whispered back. "If he ever touches you again, Granger, I'll kill him."

"Do you promise?" This she barely breathed, and she didn't know where it came from either. What am I doing? she wondered vaguely. Maybe she was just too tired to be thinking clearly, or something, but right then, that night, it seemed the right thing to do. A clandestine, moonlight promise of protection between two people who barely liked each other somehow seemed appropriate. Perhaps Hermione was just scared of Lucius Malfoy and wanted to know that someone would be there to save her.

Maybe she just wanted to know that someone would be there for her.

"I promise," Malfoy said, turning back to look at her.

Hermione smiled softly, unsure of what she'd initiated. "Goodnight, Malfoy."

"Goodnight, Granger," he agreed and they closed their eyes together, unable to fathom what they had just done.

Her last thought was of Ron. I'm not betraying him, she thought guiltily. He wasn't here for me. Besides, this doesn't mean anything…does it? I like Ron, not Malfoy. But Ron isn't… Hermione sighed. Ron's sweet, but he hasn't really made a move towards me, and I can't wait for him forever.

Feeling distinctly like she'd betrayed Ron, Hermione went to sleep.

When she woke up next, it was because sunlight was streaming in through the window. Hermione yawned and stretched, then looked across to Malfoy's bed. She wasn't surprised to see that he was sound asleep. He looked calm as usual, but the fact that his hair wasn't meticulously primped gave him a casual look that he rarely accomplished. His left arm was outside of the blankets and thrown across the bed, and she though she tried not to stare at his Dark Mark, she'd never seen one up close and was curious.

Hermione crossed the room and stood by his bed, staring down at the Dark Mark. It looked almost exactly like a tattoo, except with black ink that changed hues depending on the light. She almost wanted to touch it but decided against such an action. That might wake him up.

"Admiring it, Granger, or just trying not to vomit?"

"Neither," she said quickly, embarrassed she'd been caught. "I was just looking at it."

"That's so like you," he said, shifting his arm so she couldn't see the mark. "But I'd rather not be on display, thank you."

Hermione took a few steps back as he opened his eyes. They looked at her curiously, and then there was a flicker of remembrance and his expression turned thoughtful. "We need to leave here," he said, getting out of bed and pulling on his clothes. "If that security guard wakes up the Ministry will be after us in two seconds. And though you're more inconspicuous that Potter or Weasley, I'm sure they'll figure out who you are too eventually."

She nodded. That made sense. "It's almost a pity we're not at Hogwarts. McGonagall would be able to keep them off us for a while if we were, at least."

"She's no—" he stopped himself, his back stiffening as he continued to dress.

Hermione gave him a tight smile. "No, she's no Dumbledore. But she's not a bad headmistress either, and though she wouldn't be able to keep them from us for as long as Dumbledore would have, maybe, she'd still give us some time." When Malfoy looked at her next, his mask of cold indifference was in place. "Malfoy," she began, "You didn't kill him. And you weren't about to. It's not your fault."

"You don't know what I was about to do," he said harshly.

At that she silenced herself, because he seemed very uncomfortable with the subject. She pulled on her shoes and robe and walked down the hall to Harry and Ron's room. When they did not answer her knocks, she unlocked the door with her wand and went into the room to wake them. "How'd you get in here?" Harry asked her blearily.

"Magic," she said pointedly. He smiled sheepishly at her. "I tried knocking but no one answered. Get up you two, we have to go. We're too close to Azkaban, the Ministry will come looking for us and if we're not as far away as we can get, they'll probably catch us."

"Okay, okay, give us a few minutes," Harry said.

Hermione sighed. "Fine, be at the car in a few minutes. If you're not there then I won't be so nice about waking you next time."

"What's got her in such a bad mood?" she heard Ron whisper to Harry on her way out. She slammed the door behind her and stormed out to the car.

In the car, Hermione took a minute to calm herself down and figure out why she was being so moody. The promise…she thought. Stupid promise. Why did I even say that? That was so stupid of me.

Why did he promise me he'd protect me?

She leaned her head against the steering wheel. "I didn't mean to betray you, Ron," she whispered to herself. "I want you, not him, but…please, ask me out or tell me that you love me, or do something to claim me as yours. Please," she said sadly, "Don't just do things so that I know you want me back. Do something to make us real and not just a flirtation between friends."

There was a tap on the opposite window and she snapped her head up. Malfoy stood impatiently outside, so she reached over and unlocked the door so he could get in. He did, and they sat together in an uncomfortable silence until Harry and Ron came out a few minutes later.

"Now where?" Hermione asked.

Harry and Ron looked at her blankly. Sighing, she turned to look out the windshield while she thought. "Does it matter?" Malfoy asked after a minute. "Just drive, and we'll figure out where to go later."

Giving Harry and Ron a scathing look, she muttered, "Sounds good to me," and peeled out of the parking lot.

--

Hermione drove until almost midnight and then she pulled into a large hotel by the roadside. "We'll stay here tonight," she said, "Because I can barely keep my eyes open."

Malfoy woke up as soon as she began speaking, but Harry and Ron were more difficult to wake. A few minutes later, the four of them trooped into the hotel and asked for three rooms. They were handed their keys and then they pulled their trunks upstairs to their rooms.

Hermione was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Hermione didn't wake up the next morning until almost nine in the morning. She yawned, stretched, and then got up. Her stomach growled at her for not feeding it sufficiently the day before, so she dressed quickly and went to wake up her three companions to go downstairs to breakfast.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy picked a table in a secluded corner of the room. The first three sat together, Harry in the middle, while Malfoy was very careful that his seat was as far away from all three of them as it could be. "Where do you think we should go now, Harry?" Hermione asked.

He shook his head, hopelessness etched upon his features. "I don't know," he said honestly.

Hermione paused, thinking. "Do you…do you think perhaps he left one at Godric's Hollow? I know—"

Ron snorted, cutting her off. "If you didn't notice, we've already been there. There was nothing at all in that house."

"We weren't looking for one when we went there," Hermione pointed out. "It could be somewhere that we didn't check. We didn't even look through the whole house, just the ground floors. What if he put it in the basement or upstairs?"

"Why would he put it in a stupid place like that?" Ron snarled.

"Because people don't check basements normally!" Hermione said angrily. She stood up and leaned heavily on the table to get closer to him. "Harry said that they were in places of significance to him. What place is more significant than Godric's Hollow?" To emphasize her point she jabbed the table with her finger several times.

Ron stood up as well, and Hermione straightened. Everything in their stances was belligerent. "He wouldn't put it in some place where he almost was finished off," he yelled.

"Maybe he would! I think we should go back and check!" Hermione shouted back.

"I think that you should stop thinking and let Harry choose where we're going because he would know better than you!"

Hermione looked at Harry, a mixture of guilt and accusation on her face. How could Ron say that when she'd spent weeks of her time practically living in Flourish and Blotts? When Harry remained silent, her only words were, "I see," and she was gone.

Up several flights of stairs, Hermione realized she didn't know where she was going. Abruptly she turned another corner to find, not more stairs, but a wall. She swirled, feeling distinctly confined, and went out the door directly opposite her, only to be immediately battered by a gust of wind. Without a thought, she stalked angrily to the low wall of the roof and leaned up against it, letting herself cool off in the morning breeze.

The presence at her side was impossible to ignore, but she did so for a while. "I'm sorry," she acceded at last. "I guess I should try to be less bossy."

"It doesn't matter to me," Malfoy said, taking a step so that he stood level with her instead of slightly behind. She set her jaw and looked out over the city. Until that second, she had been sure, had even been hoping a little, that it was Ron behind her. It would be the action she was waiting for from him. "Here," Malfoy said, holding a muffin out in front of her. "I noticed you hadn't eaten anything. It's blueberry," he said encouragingly.

Startled by the sudden act of kindness, Hermione turned and looked up at him. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, hesitantly taking the muffin from his hand. She still didn't understand what had made him want so desperately to leave the Death Eaters that he would come to join the despised Golden Trio.

Malfoy shrugged and looked out over the city. "I'd rather be in your company than Potter's or Weasley's," he answered carefully. "You're the only one of them that's even partially tolerable. Weasley is loud and violent and Potter has that whole 'I have to save the world' thing. You only read or think, neither of which is loud and obnoxious." His mouth twisted strangely in a half smile, "Until Weasley steps in, of course."

She was oddly touched at the compliment, but more amused at him. "You know that's not what I was asking," she accused quietly, taking a bite of the muffin.

He smirked broadly and didn't even glance at her as he replied, "I know."

Laughter bubbled up out of her before she could stop it. It felt good to laugh, she realized dimly. She had been spending far too much time worrying about helping Harry save the world and far too little remembering that life was supposed to be enjoyed. Smiling brilliantly, she turned to Malfoy. "Thank you," she said. "For the laugh."

Malfoy gave her a half-smile that implied she was crazy, but Hermione didn't care. She took another bite of her muffin and looked down at the waking city below.

When you need someone
I promise I'll be there for you (there for you)
I promise

--Stacie Orrico, "I Promise"