Fact 1: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling

Fact 2: I am not her.

Conclusion: It isn't mine

A/N: Sorry for any grammar mistakes etc. I didn't read over it a many times as I usually do... but I wanted to just go ahead and get it posted! Hope you enjoy it- please R&R! Thanks :)

The next thing I knew we were standing in the doorway of what appeared to be a living room. It was huge, over decorated, and looked like it was never used. Exactly what I would have expected.

I gripped Draco's hand probably a little harder than was necessary and bit down on my bottom lip.

I heard the sound of footsteps behind us and turned sharply, more nervous than I wanted to admit, even to myself.

It was an older man with graying hair and a tired expression on his face.

"Young Master Malfoy. We were expecting you sooner." The man stated flatly, his voice holding no sign of interest.

"Something came up." Draco responded easily, shrugging slightly.

"Very well then." Just as the man turned to go, Draco called after him.

"Franklin, Is my father home yet?" He asked, as if it was an afterthought, not at all important.

"No, we just received notice that he is running late as well. He wanted me to tell you he will be here around noon and for you to show Ms. Granger to one of the guest rooms."

I breathed a sigh of relief just knowing that Lucius hadn't been sitting there waiting for us.

"Seems odd." Draco said quietly, as if he were talking to himself.

"What's that?" I turned to face him and crossed my arms across my chest. It was just cold enough in there to be uncomfortable.

"He's never late." He said, shaking his head. Then his expression changed and he smiled down at me. "Good for him, though, gives us a couple of hours to get you settled."

Draco led me up a tall winding staircase and then down a wide hallway.

He pointed out one closed door as the bathroom and I tried to count back at how many doors we had passed before getting to that one, but before I could figure it out he pulled me into the door next to it.

"This can be your room, I guess. If that's okay. We have several, but to be honest- they mainly all look alike, and this one is the closest to my room."

"Works for me." I said, smiling. The room was large, but simple. The walls and carpet were dark grey, the bed was black wrought iron with grey bedding, and the dresser and desk were both black as well. There was a door on one of the walls that I assumed was the closet. To be honest, it was kind of depressing, a little scary, and not the least bit surprising.

Draco took my miniature trunk out of his pocket and sat it on the bed and then pointed his wand at it, putting it back to its proper size.

"How much time do we have?" I asked, realizing I had packed my watch with my other things.

"Couple of hours." Draco said, walking across the room to where I was leaning against the wall beside the door.

He planted his hands on either side of my head and leaned in to kiss me.

I smiled against his lips and put my hand on his shoulders, allowing his mouth to overtake mine.

After a few moments, though, I pushed him away. "We can't do this here." I said, quietly, almost afraid someone could hear me.

He looked at me for a second and then took my hand and said "You're right."

I looked at him in surprise, the last thing I had expected was for him to agree with me, but I didn't have time to protest or ask questions. He was walking, rather quickly down the hall. When we got to the next doorway on the opposite side of the hall, he pressed his hand firmly against the door and it swung open. He pulled me inside and shut the door behind us.

"We'll do it in my room instead."

I giggled and followed him willingly to his bed.

I propped myself up on my elbow and wrapped the sheet tightly under my arms.

"You seem surprisingly happy considering where we are." I remarked, tracing my finger along Draco's top lip.

He smiled at me and raised one of his pale eyebrows. "Having a naked girl in my bed tends to do that to me."

I smacked him in the arm and narrowed my eyes at him "Very funny."

"It wasn't a joke." He replied, laughing.

"Oh, I know it wasn't. In fact, I bet this bed has seen more naked girls than I care to think about." I tried to keep my voice light and joking, but even I could detect the hidden emotion in it. This was a topic I always tried really hard to not think about.

Draco kissed my mouth softly, pulling my head toward his. He kissed along my jaw and bit lightly on my ear before whispering "If it makes you feel better… I don't care to think about them either."

I smiled and turned my head so that my lips met his again. He rolled us over and hovered above me, the sheets tangled around both our bodies.

He kissed me again, with more pressure this time. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and pulled him down closer to me, so that his body was flush against mine. Draco groaned loudly and pulled his mouth away from mine, only slightly so that our noses were touching.

"We can't do this." He said. I could feel his breath on my skin.

"What? Why? What's wrong?" I stammered, running my hand up and down his back. It felt very odd, and almost ironic that our normal roles had taken on such a reversal.

"My dad. If he got here early and came looking for me…" He started to explain and I nodded. Of course. How had I let myself forget? I knew where I was, but still somehow, I managed to get caught up in the moment and let myself pretend that everything was okay and that we were perfectly free to spend all day in bed.

Draco sat up and pulled me up with him so that we were sitting side by side on his bed. I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him, resting my head against his shoulder.

"How are we going to get out of this?" I asked, unable to keep the question out of my mouth anymore. I had been thinking it and avoiding it for too long. It was always the unspoken question with us. We talked around it, discussing everything but it, and the closer we got to it- to where we were right then, right in that very moment- the further we stayed from that one question. The more real it had gotten, the more we had ignored it, pretending- always pretending that we had more time than we had, time to figure it out. I had broken the spell now and there was no going back.

"I don't know yet." Draco said uneasily, and I could tell the question had been at the back of his mind as much as it had been my own. It made me feel just a little better knowing he had the same worries I did, even if that was selfish of me. "I think we just have to wait for them to make their move, otherwise, we would be planning blindly."

I nodded. That made sense. Logically, I knew he was right. Still, my neurotic side wanted to have everything planned out perfectly. And hadn't that worked out for me so well in the past? I had planned my whole life out, written lists, marked days off calendars, had back up plans for everything….. and yet, here was – In Malfoy Manor with someone who had once been my enemy, waiting to discuss the plan Voldermort had for me; my friends hated me, my parents barely knew me--- oh yeah, my parents.

"Hermione….. what is it?" Draco asked, seeing my face fall as my train of thought took me back to the place I had been just a few hours before.

"It's nothing." I said, shaking my head. I even attempted a smile. "I was just thinking… I wish I could be there with my dad."

"Oh… right. Of course you do. I'm sure he's fine, though. You said he was doing well?"

"Yeah, he is. The doctor's all seemed really positive about his condition. I just hate that I'm missing it. My Christmas with them got cut short as it was, and then him being in the hospital…. Just makes an already bad situation worse, ya know?"

Draco nodded and then his face brightened.

"We still have a little while I think… could I cheer you up with presents?"

Somehow, I had forgotten all about my perfect present for him that I had been so happy about before.

"I love presents." I said smiling at him. "Yours is in my trunk, let me run get it." I hopped off the bed, tightening the sheet around me and headed for the door.

I wrapped my hand around the knob and then stopped and turned around. "Wait, is anyone going to see me?" I asked, anxiously.

Draco laughed and shook his head. "No, Hermione. Anyone that is here is downstairs. Besides that, no one that is here would care if they did see you. Now- go get my present!" He winked at me and I ran down the hall and into my room, shutting the door behind me, just in case.

I had to knock at Draco's door, as it apparently only opened for him, but he answered it quickly, having put his pants on while I was gone.

He held a black silk robe out for me as I sat his wrapped gift on the edge of his bed, and I quickly traded my sheet for it.

We sat down on the bed and he picked his present up, looking at me curiously.

"It's heavy." He noted, turning it over in his hands carefully.

I nodded and grinned, knowing he would never guess what it was.

"You want me to open it?" He asked.

"Of course! Why else would I have gotten it? For you to sit it on a shelf and admire the wrapping paper?"

He narrowed his eyes at my sarcasm and slid his finger underneath the silver paper, tearing it away from the heavy box. He looked up at me and then lifted the lid and looked inside.

His brow furrowed and his mouth opened, like he was going to say something and wasn't sure what.

I giggled watching him.

"It's okay if you don't know what they are. I didn't either when I saw them."

He looked relieved and lifted one of the dark colored objects out of the box, studying it carefully.

"Okay, you got me. What are they?" He finally asked

"Thought Spinners." I said smiling. He raised an eyebrow at me, so I explained. "We have to acclimate them to us… there's a paper underneath the cloth that tells us how. After we do that- we each take one, and when I am thinking of you, yours will spin, and vice versa." I explained, suddenly afraid that it was kind of lame. What if he hated them?

My worry seemed to be in vane though. Draco leaned over and kissed me.

"You like them?" I asked, cautiously.

"I think they're perfect. Do you think we should wait, though… about fixing them? I would hate to get half way done and my dad come busting in. With my luck- it would probably mess the spell up and suddenly it would alert me when my dad was thinking of you." He shuddered and I laughed, rolling my eyes.

"Sure, we'll do it tonight." I said and held my hands out, face up, and smiled at him.

"I take that to mean you want yours now?"

"Oh, sure….. if you want." I said coyly, grinning. Actually, I was quite curious. I hadn't seen a gift anywhere in his room.

He pushed his gift over to the side and took my hands in his, his expression suddenly serious. That made me nervous, and my expression shifted quickly to match his.

"I worried over what to get you for quite a while. Of course, all the things I really wanted to give you couldn't easily be bought in a store. I wanted to give you the assurance that everything will be okay. I wanted to give you protection- from everything, no matter how big or small. I wish I could give you your friends back." That bit made my eyes begin to tear up. Not just because I did miss my friends so terribly, but because Draco hated them, and still, he wanted them back in my life. "I wish I could take back all the terrible things I've said to you in the past, or the time I missed out not having you in my life because I was such a bloody idiot. So many things I wish I could give to you, and I can't even begin to imagine how to."

He pulled his hand away from mine and wiped a tear off my cheek.

"I feel awful." I said, quietly "I didn't even have a speech."

He laughed and kissed me lightly on the corner of my mouth. "Your gift didn't require a speech."

Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. It was shiny box, and shaped like a perfect cube, with a very thin band of gold around the middle, distinguishing the lid from the bottom of the box. My breath caught in my throat. It was obviously a jewelry box- more specifically- a ring box.

He handed it to me and it felt very heavy in my hand for such a small box. I looked up at him hesitantly, and was surprised to see how calm he looked. I wasn't calm. I wasn't sure what I was- but I was pretty positive no one in the world would have called me calm.

"Open it." He urged.

I took a deep breath and did as he said, lifting the lid and look inside. What I saw took my breath away. It wasn't at all what I expected, but somehow it was exactly what I wanted- even though I really wasn't sure what it was.

It wasn't pretty, not in the classic sense. Most girls probably wouldn't have even liked it. But I loved it.

Nestled in crumpled dark red velvet was a darkened silver ring, a thick band, with a strip down the middle of something that was pale and shimmery, it seemed to be moving, almost like liquid, or maybe smoke.

I pulled the ring out carefully, and turned it in my hand as I studied it. It wasn't a thick band at all, it was actually three thing bands together, the pale one between two of dark silver.

I looked up at Draco curiously, not even sure what question to ask.

He took the ring from my hands and slid it onto the ring finger of my right hand.

"I had it made for you after I read about one very similar. If you ever find yourself in trouble, or need me- for whatever reason- you can turn this middle part." He showed me that the middle band, the pale smoky one, turned between the other two. "And I'll know, I'll know something's wrong and I'll come to you."

I looked up at him, my eyes wide and my mouth open. I was amazed that a ring like this could even exist. I looked back down at it and for the first time saw that his initials were engraved into it, a D on the top band and an M on the bottom.

"I love it, Draco" I said, still staring at the ring. "It's perfect."

"I don't know about perfect, but it may come in handy." He shrugged.

I shook my head and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Seriously, it's perfect. My gift just seems silly now." I said, looking over at the box sitting on the bed beside him.

"You are ridiculous." He said, simply, as if it were a proven fact and stood up beside his bed. "I love them and I can 't wait until we get them animated, or whatever it was you said, but right now, I'm afraid we need to get dressed. My dad will be here any minute."

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed, jumping off the bed and spinning around, looking for my discarded clothes.

Draco laughed and held my shirt out to me.

I found my bra and underwear at the foot of his bed and pulled my clothes on quickly.

"Should I go wait in the other room… in case he comes looking for us?" I asked nervously, all my anxiety that had temporarily faded because of presents had bubbled back to the surface.

"He won't come." Draco said simply, fastening his belt and sitting down on the bed to pull his shoes on. I sat down beside him to do the same.

"You're sure?" I asked. "You said earlier…"

"I was just kidding about that. He'll send someone, most likely Franklin, who could not care less if you are in my room."

I could tell that, despite the façade he was trying to put on for my sake, he was nervous, too. A life time with his father had taught him not to look forward to his arrival.

I zipped my boots up and placed my hand under Draco's chin, turning his face toward me.

"We're going to be okay." I said, giving him back the line he had been giving to me almost daily.

He put his hand on my cheek and kissed me on the lips, lightly at first, and then with more pressure. There was something in the kiss that made me feel sad, worried in a way.

I pulled away from him and looked at him carefully. There was no mistaking the worry in his eyes.

"Hey," I said, taking his face between my hands "This is just your dad. He isn't going to hurt you… and he isn't going to hurt me. Whatever he tells us, at least we'll know. Knowledge is power, and no matter what kind of knowledge he gives us- we'll be better off than we are now."

I'm glad I had at least one moment of courage and strength, because as soon as Franklin knocked on the door, I felt like my insides had been stripped out with a knife, leaving nothing but my pounding heart and butterflies the size of dragons.

I walked down the long hallway and the spiral staircase thinking only of putting one foot in front of the other and breathing in and out. It took actual effort for me not to grab Draco's hand and hold on for dear life; it felt like I was attracted by a magnet, but I knew how big of a mistake that would be so I clamped my hands together instead. Then, I had an idea.

I turned the band on my right ring finger around two solid times and glanced over at Draco. Behind Franklin's back he winked at me and I felt a little better. At least I knew the ring worked.

We were led into Lucius's study and there he stood, leaning against a large desk. He motioned for us to sit and somehow I managed to walk across the short distance and lower myself into one of the two straight back chairs.

"I assume you have had no problems out of the girl, Draco?" Lucius asked, as if I wasn't even there. I was almost offended, but my mind quickly halted and turned in a completely different direction- my head jerked toward Draco and I prayed that he wouldn't say anything that could get us in trouble.

"There have been no problems." Draco replied, his voice flat.

Lucious only nodded and shifted his gaze to where I was sitting. I forced myself to look at my shoes, until finally he spoke again.

"Very well, then. You will be returning to Hogwarts as soon as possible, as it will be beneficial to the plan if the two of you have time to prepare while the school is all but empty. Your role in this will actually be quite minor, but it is essential. If you mess up the very simple task we are giving to you, the entire plan will fall through and you will be appropriately punished." Lucius paused and looked at Draco and then at me, "both of you. Do you understand?"

I nodded and saw out the corner of my mind that Draco did the same.

"All that is required of you is that you get Dumbledore out of his office and into an empty room. You will decide on a room you feel will work best in the next few days- it needs to be somewhere deserted, where no one will come, but where the girl can get Dumbledore to go with her. You will need to make us aware of the exact location of the room so that we can come there. Draco, you are to make sure she does as she is told and makes no effort to alert Dumbledore or anyone else as to what she is doing. I do not care what she says to get him there, but it must be believable and it must work. Once he is in place, Draco, you will alert me. "

Lucius stopped talking and looked at Draco expectantly. That couldn't be it? All I had to do was convince Dumbledore to come somewhere with me? That was it? After all that worrying about what they would ask me to do, whether I would be capable, if it would kill me in the process… and I just had to get Dumbledore to take a walk with me?

I looked at Draco in confusion and saw the look on his face wasn't very different from me.

"That is all, father?" I could hear the skepticism in his voice.

"That is all." Lucius replied, "We have made this as simple for you as possible, Draco, it would be a huge embarrassment if you were unable to accomplish it."

"Of course." Draco said, and I wondered if his dad could hear the sarcasm in it as easily as I could. If he did he chose not to react.

"You may go. Please let Franklin know when you plan to returned to Hogwarts and he will make the arrangements. I will write you soon to make you aware of the date and time we will be coming. I expect you to make me aware of the location as soon as it is decided." If I hadn't been so terrified of the man standing in front of me, I might have laughed. The way he talked about it, someone would think he was going to let Draco know when he was arriving for tea or for a family dinner- not the complete takeover of an entire school, and probably the murders of several people.

And with that, Lucius turned his back and began flipping through papers on his desk. I looked at Draco and he nodded and stood up. I did the same and followed him out the door, down the hallway, through the living room and back up the stairs- neither of us saying a word until we were safely in his bedroom.

The door had barely managed to close behind me when Draco turned around and picked me up, spinning me in the air. My mind spun ever more quickly than my body did, and I was barely aware of him sitting me back down.

"This is perfect!" He exclaimed as my feet hit the floor.

I looked up at him: eyes wide and mouth open. Sure, it was better than I had expected, but I still didn't know how I was going to get out of it. No matter how easy my part of it seemed, I still couldn't go through with a plan to kill Professor Dumbledore and take over Hogwarts. I wouldn't play Voldermort's puppet no matter how easy the moves seemed. Surely Draco knew that?

"Don't you see… this is better than I had hoped!"

"I don't think I understand." I said carefully and sat on the edge of the bed. He sat down beside me and turned to face me. Taking my hands in his, he looked at me for a moment before speaking.

"Okay, baby, just think about it for a minute." And just like the typical girl I had tried all my life to not be, my mind went completely out of focus. I knew what he was saying to me was important, but all I could think about was that he called me baby. To think, Draco Malfoy was holding my hands, calling me baby, and calmly trying to explain something to me. My stomach did a happy little flip and I smiled, despite myself.

"I'm sorry… what did you just say." I asked, grinning at him like an idiot.

He looked at my curiously and then said "We have to find a room, Hermione. A room in Hogwarts. Any room we want… don't you see how this is perfect for us to get out of? We will barely even have to try!"

And just then, as he seemed to know it would, it hit me. "The Room of Requirement!" I said excitedly.

"They won't even know it exists" He said with a smirk.