It was another week before things started to become interesting. Hermione had just finished an essay and dropped it in to her professor's office before breakfast. It was finally the weekend again and she was planning on spending a nice day with her friends in Hogsmeade.

She walked down to the great hall and looked out at the sun coming up over the grounds, the green grass finally beginning to get back to its full growth. She couldn't really believe that in six months she wouldn't be here anymore, she would be out in the real world finding something new to consume her life. That might sound like a life sentence but she was so excited to be moving forward. The only bump in the road was how to tell her friends about Draco.

She wasn't going to think about that now though, today she was halting her study and going out with her friends and spending the evening with her boyfriend. Her lips twitched into a smile; she still couldn't get used to it. If someone had told her two years ago that she would be willingly spending her nights wrapped in Draco Malfoy's arms she would have scoffed and turned away.

Things grow and change over time and she wondered if Draco would even be here if she hadn't entered his life. The cold licked her skin as she thought of the story about the aconite. She had never known such pain as that which she had seen in him. She often wondered how much more he was hiding from her about it. She knew not to push him when it came to deeper wounds. They were still painful and she could see it in his eyes sometimes. All she wanted was for him to stop hurting.

When she sees that look it makes her heart ache, there was more pain in one concealed gaze than she had in her entire being. All she wanted to do was take it away.

She shook her head and tried to forget, that look had been appearing a little less lately and today was not about that. It was about escaping it, and escaping the memories of the painful past.

She walked through the doors of the great hall and saw most of them sitting at the table. She looked over to the Hufflepuff's table to see Dean flirting with a group of sixth years and laughed at the way they were gaping up at him.

She walked down and sat next to Harry who was halfway through a plate of breakfast.

"I see Dean is up to his usual tricks." She smiled and Ron and Ginny turned to see him smiling with those perfectly white teeth.

"I don't know why they fall for that, he's a right git if you ask me." Seamus stabbed his bacon violently and Ginny raised her eyebrows at Hermione.

"You alright there Seamus?" Ron asked with a bit of a grin.

"I'm fine." He said with his thick accent.

"Sounds like you might be a little jealous Seamus." Hermione smiled and Harry sniggered a little.

"Yeah he'd like that. Why would I be jealous of that fool?"

"Don't worry Seamus, you'll find somebody…eventually." Ginny laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will… someday." Harry chuckled.

"I don't know, he's pretty much the last one, even Neville's got himself a girl." Ron said.

"Hey!" Neville piped up.

"Come on mate, you got to admit that no one thought you'd get a girl before Seamus." Ron shrugged, a big grin spreading across his face.

Neville looked away for a moment then shrugged back. "He's right Seamus; I think you've fallen behind a little."

Seamus turned a bright red colour as he seethed over their teasing and the rest of them roared with laughter. Just at that moment Dean wandered over and sat next to Seamus.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

Seamus gave him a hard shove and he almost fell off his chair. Everyone else was giggling to themselves.

"What was that for?" Dean asked.

"Ignore him, he's just jealous." Ginny smiled and Hermione saw Harry grit his teeth a little.

Apparently today was the day for jealousy.

"Of what?" Dean scowled over at Seamus who pulled an equally childish face.

"The fact that you can charm girls without breaking a sweat." Hermione said casually.

"So you don't want to meet them in the Three Broomsticks later for a butterbeer or two?" Dean asked smugly.

Seamus looked up at him quizzically and distrustfully. "Oh yeah? You better not be trying to make me look like an idiot." He said.

"No! In fact, the one in the orange scarf wouldn't stop asking me questions about you. After a while I figured I had better start telling the truth because she was dead serious. Don't ask me why." Seamus looked over very obviously to where they were sitting and the dark haired girl with a line of bright orange fluff around her neck smiled at him and turned back to giggle with her friends. "The other one said she'd only come out with me if I talked to you for her."

Seamus looked pretty happy with himself and went back to eating. Harry leant around Hermione and tugged on Dean's shirt to mouth the word 'really' and Dean scoffed silently and shook his head.

Harry and Hermione chuckled to themselves about that.

"So I guess the two of you will be off trying to romance a few sixth years while we're all having a good time." Ginny said, a little spitefully.

"You know, you're a sixth year so you can't really join in if we tease them." Ron said.

"Excuse you." She retorted.

"That goes for you too Harry, you're just as bad as them, but worse. You honestly need to rethink your priorities." Ron nodded with a mocking tone.

"You are quite possibly the most annoyingly rude person I have ever encountered." Ginny said, clearly getting angry.

The two continued to bicker and Hermione leant in to whisper to Harry. "Are you going to jump in at some point?" She smiled.

"Are you kidding? I've done that once before and neither of them talked to me for a day or two. I got so bored that I let Molly show me how to make some kind of Christmas pie. That was a long day." He grinned back and they just let the siblings continue with their quarrelling.

"Are you and Luna coming too?" Hermione asked Neville who looked a little startled to be included in this discussion.

"What? Oh, yes, we'll be there." He said.

"You know, I barely eve see the two of you together. Where is it that you hide?" Hermione asked with a smile on her lips.

"No-nowhere really." He sent her back an awkward grin.

"Don't make him uncomfortable Hermione." Harry said, taking a sip of juice only to have it run down the sides of his face.

Neville turned away and laughed and Hermione just looked at Harry with a bemused smile as Harry cleaned himself up.

"What are you doing over there Harry? You're worse with food than Weasley." Seamus laughed loudly as he pointed to Ron who was just finishing up the argument with Ginny.

"What?" He asked.

"Look, mail's here." Ginny said and they looked up to see a swarm of owls descend on the four long tables.

Hermione watched them all fly around until they spotted the student they were after, or the teacher. Dean received a letter first, then Ginny and Ron, at least from the loud clanging sound just in front of her Hermione assumed it was Errol. Hermione even got a letter from her parents. They only ever send a few; they didn't particularly like owl post.

Hermione looked over at the Slytherin table and saw that Draco received nothing in the post. He never does, and she couldn't help feeling a little sad at that.

She began reading her letter and the rest of them seemed to be engulfed in their own letters. She smiled to herself and knew she would have to hide all her mail from now on, especially if her father mentions Draco any more.

"Harry, mum has a bit for you in my letter." Ginny handed it over to him with a playful roll of her eyes. "Can I read the prophet while you're not using it?"

Harry nodded and they traded papers.

Hermione was reading through her letter for the second time when she heard Ginny speak up.

"Oh my god…" They all looked up and she had a concerned expression on her face.

"What is it?" Dean asked.

"Three aurors have been sent to St Mungo's Hospital this morning after three separate attacks occurred during the night." She read.

They all looked at one another.

"They were attacked?" Hermione asked.

"What happened?" Seamus pressed.

"The aurors, who will remain nameless, were found unconscious at each scene, all appearing to have been rendered so by-" She cut short and her eyes darted up and slowly over to Neville.

They all seemed confused.

"By what?" Harry said.

Neville looked away and Ginny bit her lip a little before continuing. "All appearing to have been rendered so by the excessive use of the cruciatus curse." This time they all looked over to Neville who had started moving the leftovers on his plate around with his fork. "While the attacks were merciless the aurors are suspected to make a full recovery with time. The Ministry is launching a full scale enquiry into the matter but all witches and wizards are advised to carry on with caution." Ginny looked up at all of the wary faces.

"Who would do such a thing?" Hermione asked and took the paper away from Ginny to read the rest.

"No one's done anything like this… for a while." Ron said, the look on his face betraying everything that they were all thinking.

Hermione felt her heart ache as she read on. The article spoke about the most famous case like this, the picture beside the column was of Alice and Frank Longbottom. She looked up at Neville who appeared to be lost in thought.

"But why would…" Harry looked around and leant in closer to whisper. "Why would the death eaters be rising now? Voldemort is gone."

Everyone, except Neville, leant in. "Maybe they're pissed off." Seamus offered.

"Maybe it's someone trying to take his place." Dean said.

"But why would they want to dredge this up? It's over, they can get on with their lives now." Ginny said.

"Well, not really." They looked over at Hermione. "All I mean is that even now they're still going to be seen as outsiders, maybe that's what they're angry about. Maybe they just don't want to have to try."

"I think they're just bad dudes who are angry that people are trying to tell them what to do." Seamus said.

"I thought most of the death eaters went to Azkaban." Ginny said.

"Not all of them, some of them were released; some of them went into hiding. Most of the worst ones went to Azkaban." Harry said.

"You don't think that there could be a break out… do you?" Ron looked a little nervous.

"They've upped security; no one even knows what else is guarding it." Hermione said, she didn't want to believe that there could be another breakout.

"The dementors took his side once, who's to say they won't do it again? Maybe they don't like being distrusted either, like Hermione said." Harry said.

"I don't think this is the worst thing, I think it's a warning." Neville finally spoke and after that they all went silent.

This was a lot to think about.

They tried to put it to the back of their minds after breakfast so that they could enjoy their day like they had planned. It was going to be difficult.

As they got up to leave Hermione scrawled on a piece of paper for Draco to meet her right then in the usual place.

"I just remembered that I had an extra piece to hand in, I'll meet you guys at the train before it leaves." She said as she left, sending the note to Draco as she did so.

Draco was still picking through his breakfast, alone at his table when the little paper not came flying his way. He snatched it out of the air and opened it.

I need to see you, now.

And that was it.

He had no idea what could make her send something like that. It made him a little nervous.

Still, he headed off to meet her, he had time. He walked to the room of requirement and opened the door to find her already inside.

"What took you so long?" She asked as she paced.

"I… uh… wait, what's wrong?" He asked, trying to stand in her way but she just dodged him

"Did you hear? About those aurors?" she asked. "The story in the prophet?" She looked up at him and he just gave her a questioning look. "The ones that were attacked?"

"There… there was an attack?" He asked, something rising in his throat.

"There were three. They were all tortured with the cruciatus curse." She stopped pacing and sat down, shock written all over her face.

Draco sat by her side, his heart beginning to race with the panic that was setting in. Then he turned to her slightly. "Why are you telling me?" He asked slowly.

She looked up, that worried look still on her face. "I'm not saying that you have anything to do with this, I know you don't." That lump in his throat seemed to get larger. "I just… I thought that you might have some idea… as to who would do something like this." She looked so guilty but he was managing to keep his guilt hidden. "I'm sorry, I know you never wanted any of it but you know a lot of those death eaters, I thought maybe you would know if any were capable of doing that. I'm sorry, I'm just still in a bit of shock."

He put his arm around her and pulled her into him. He felt sick. His heart was beating outrageously fast and he could feel him starting to sweat.

It was starting. Dalton's words echoed hauntingly in his ear. I'm sure you'll know when we have started.

"Your heart is pounding… are you alright?" Hermione murmured into his chest.

"Uh, yes. Yes I'm okay, just… shocked like you I suppose." He said, his voice a little croaky.

She leant up to kiss him and sighed. "So you have no idea?" She asked, he big glassy eyes staring straight into his.

This was the time, he knew this was the time to tell her. She was sitting there, in his arms and asking him what he knew.

"No." He said. "None."

She sighed again and snuggled back into his arms. "I just want all of this to end." She whispered.

"Yeah, me too." He closed his eyes because he knew that he had just made a colossal mistake.

Draco stormed through the castle, most students were heading into the grounds on their way to Hogsmeade but he was walking furiously to the dungeons. He had said goodbye to Hermione and let her go on with her day while he went to find Pansy.

He growled the password at the portrait entrance to the common room and tore through it to find Pansy sitting in a corner scribbling something on a bit of parchment. He slammed his hands into the table and she flinched a bit. When she saw it was him she rolled her eyes.

"What?" She snapped.

"Who did it?" He demanded.

"Did what?"

"The…" he looked around to see a few people looking. "The aurors." He whispered in a low growl.

She rolled her eyes again and went back to writing. "I don't know, Dalton maybe? Probably Kresta trying to get her Lestrange on." She muttered.

"So this is the start?" He asked.

"This is most definitely something." She smiled.

His heart sank. There was nothing he could do now, even if he had tried would it have mattered? Or would he have ended up with a worse fate? Would he have seen it as fate or is that just his inevitable future? He could feel the darkness closing in on him, the clouds circling him impossibly close and he felt himself getting dizzy.

"If you want to help you can find someone with a similar hair colour to you so that I can send it to Kresta… preferably a chubby little first year." Pansy grinned wickedly, her hatred or jealousy of Kresta completely obvious.

"Yeah, sure." He pushed the table away and walked over to the couch.

"I'll let you know when I need you to do something else." She called.

His head pounded, a searing pain pressing into the back of his skull. What was left for him to do now?

Hermione and the others headed into Hogsmeade feeling less than cheery. All of them had the recent attacks on their minds but they had promised to try and act like it was just another normal day. Unfortunately they were not the type of people who could just let something like that go by untouched.

They sat in the Three Broomsticks with full butterbeer glasses relatively silently as the crowds around them chattered away noisily.

"So Dean, when are you and Seamus meeting those girls?" Harry asked, earning a minor glare from Ginny.

"I don't know, when they come in I guess." He shrugged.

He was no longer excited at the prospect of some more flirting, neither was Seamus. Hermione sighed.

"Well, this is turning out to be a great day, isn't it?" She said.

"Only because we're trying not to talk about it." Ron said, finally taking a long swill of his butterbeer.

"Do you think it's the death eaters?" Seamus whispered.

"Why would they bother? They don't even have a leader." Neville said, more as a question than a statement.

"Maybe we're over thinking it, maybe it wasn't Voldemort's followers at all. It's a one off thing at the moment, I'm sure bad things happened before he came to power." Harry said.

They all nodded to themselves.

"I think Harry's right. We've probably just forgotten how to have fun." Luna smiled causing the rest of them to laugh a little.

"I don't know, that bonfire out by the lake was pretty good. Next time though I say we branch out and get some new members to join us." Seamus grinned and the girls rolled their eyes.

"Hey, sometimes you need to just spend some time with your friends, not other parties." Ginny laughed.

"Hey, just because the lot of you have it both ways." He pointed around the table and the rest of them laughed.

The slowly pushed the attacks to the back of their minds and distracted themselves. They knew that they would have to come back to it at some point but for once the distraction seemed like the better thing to do.