Disclaimer: So I still own nothing. All I've got is a little featherball of an owl (now named Flitter for my awesome reviewer Krista04) that has an attitude bigger than himself and a bit of plot, the rest I return credit to the master of my free time the fabulous JK Rowling without whom this little fic would be nothing.

And now onto what you actually came to read:

The Dark Lord paced the halls of malfoy manor glancing in irritation up at the ornamental clock on the wall as Severus Snape stood by his side watching patiently.

"What is taking so long, Severus? The boy should have finished his little project long ago. We are behind, every day we waste waiting for this is another day that that blasted Order can buck up its forces and prepare for our attack or learn how we plan to achieve it. There is no time to waste but that seems to be all that boy does."

Lazily, seemingly oblivious to the rage that seemed ready to burst from Lord Voldemort at any moment Snape drawled his reply, " I told you that boy was not ready. Much too young to be trusted with such a task, you doomed him to failure. What shall you do with him now? Cast him aside for incompetence at a task you never really expected him to be able to achieve? And then what, my lord?" He skillfully slipped in simperings to calm his lord's patience as he spilled out harsh realities, "What will happen? Will you really alienate some of your oldest followers by murdering their golden boy? Will to select another child of your followers to set him into the same slaughter over a task he is unable to see through to fulfillment through the innocent sins of youth and inexperience? My Lord?"

Glowering at the impertinence of his favored follower and spy in addition to the man's brilliant way of speaking so that the dark lord was unable to accuse him of any wrong and had no choice but to consider his, admittedly, sound advice Voldemort paced the hall ever faster, ever angrier. His course of action seemed much more narrow and much more stressful now that he realized that he could not merely kill the welp without killing a good number of his loyalist, and strongest followers. He would need them for the coming battle. "Well then, Severus, if we are feeling so wise tonight why then don't you advise your lord in what course of action." He flavored his words with venom, waiting to see if his servant would take the bait, uncertain whether he should punish the man if he did, didn't, or if just punishing him for both would suffice.

Yet before he could come up with a final decision, his snake eyes narrowed as he stared at the other man Severus Snape replied with the same drawling tone he usually had. "Well, my lord, as you well know as you are the creator a dark mark can only be removed by the wizarding lord who burned it into the flesh of his serfs – only he can remove them from his service, one of the reasons you chose it when you first began to… collect us. None can say you ever were ignorant of wizarding history. The answer is simple. Release young Draco from your service, insulting the Malfoy pride as they lose more holdings with you while indebting them to you for allowing their son and only heir to live. You will be showing mercy as well which will help to soften your image just enough to attract more, some of those on the fence fools who need help making that final decision to join the rightful cause. And, my lord, in terms of your plans for storming Dumbledore's inner sanctum, well there is no reason for those to not go on as planned. Merely, my lord, grant me the privilege to complete what the boy was unable to finish."

Voldemort ran a wizened claw over his head and down to pull at the tight skin of his face. Throwing himself at Snapes mind as he did so, prying at it to seek out any ulterior motives the man might have had, but he should have realized it was useless as few were as skilled at blocking others from his mind as Severus was. It was with a pained expression that he submitted to the wisdom of his follower. "Summon them for me. All of them. This is a historic event and must be witnessed by all."

"Yes, my lord." Turning from his dark master as he pressed two fingers to his mark, summoning his fellows to come meet their master he cleared his mind so his intentions would be entirely pure as he connected so entirely to Voldemort's will and was more exposed to his lord's mind. But as that connection faded he fought back a grin at those little details he had… neglected to remind his master of. Once the mark was removed Draco would even be untraceable. From there Draco would be able to go fully under the protection of the order and for his family it would seem like their boy went missing, but when he showed up on the battlefield at the end of it all to defend what it was he truly believed in his family would have no choice but to turn away. Many would follow as his peers in Slytherin would follow suit unwilling to disobey their prince for a man who was so lofty and terrifying and whose beliefs they followed for no reason other than it was what their parents believed. Teenagers lived to rebel, Snape thought, thinking of his house and classroom. This time should not be any different. And this time their families would be forced to bend to their children's will. Maybe not happily but that was unimportant the only thing that mattered was that they turned away from the fighting.

"They are summoned my lord."

…..

Her tears finally having stopped Hermione merely rested, both she and Draco lying back on her bed, their feet hanging off from the edge with her head up on his shoulder as his lips pressed against the top of her head, his fingers twisting in her mane of hair, breathing her in and holding her close as he never thought he would again after that kiss. That kiss, which had become torture to him as it had shown him what he could have if only he could stop screwing everything up. He had gotten lucky, and he knew it. The day moved on, the lazy couple missing the rest of their classes as they lay there, content just to be in each others arms. A little miracle in and of itself, enjoying the quiet as Crookshanks and the owl Draco now knew to be named Flitter had both been banned to the common room as both seemed to be sporting an attitude and the wish to demolish the other which neither Hermione nor Draco felt up to moderating.

Hermione pulled herself swiftly up, propping her upper body up on her arms as she looked down at Draco who suddenly groaned, wincing in pain. "Its… its nothing. The Dark Mark, its… I'm being summoned." Still grimacing he rolled up his sleeve to reveal the twisted mark marring his otherwise perfect pale skin. The woman still tangled in his arms stiffened, remembering who he was or rather who he had been not so long ago as well as the part he still had to play.

"Go. Just… just go."

"Hermione… I…"

"No, Draco", she plastered a fake smile on those lips he longed to kiss to try and encourage him that it was ok. As much as she didn't like it she knew it still had to be done. "Go. The sooner you get this over with the sooner you can come back. Just… just promise me you will be back."

"I promise. Nothing will keep me away." He promised, hoping it did not end up being empty, all he knew was that a sudden summoning from the dark lord was rarely something to celebrate. And with a vanishing cabinet still under construction and the lord's plans running horrifically behind schedule the wrath of the dark lord had every reason to be trained on him. Pressing his lips to Hermione's forehead before rushing from the room he prayed he could come back to her. There was nothing in the world he wanted more than that. And with that he closed off his mind. Sealing it of all stray thoughts of her, it would not do for the dark lord to see her drifting through his wayward mind.

…..

"Now, welcome my loyal followers. I am sure you all have realized why you have been summoned so suddenly here into my presence and away from the mundane lives you live on a daily basis. Our plans to take over Hogwarts was entrusted to the care of young Malfoy who has thus far neglected his lord's task and as such our purposes have been unfortunately delayed. Such neglect can not go unpunished. Though as he is only a boy I shall show some mercy for his loyal parent's sake as it is a shame to extinguish the flame of an entire pure blood family line shall do something else instead. Rise boy! Come kneel before your lord and master. Bare your marked arm to me."

Draco knelt before Voldemort, baring his arm to his master, still uncertain that he would live, or that he would in any way be able to return to Hogwarts (he refused to think of Hermione or of even returning to her). Grimacing as the Dark Lord pressed two fingers to his mark, making the snake in the skull dance and jump on his flesh, flames burning under his skin as the magical ink which bound him to his master and his bidding was pulled from the veins. Eyes glazed over in pain as he howled, unable to check his reaction under the full force of it all. And when his vision cleared, the lord's hand removed from him his skin was as unblemished as though the mark had never been there at all.

"You, boy, should thank your lucky stars for your blood and your name which makes you too important to slaughter like the dog you are. Be grateful that the pain of being released from my service is all you get. You are done, return to me when you can take responsibility for your actions and follow through on my orders. Until then, get out of my sight before I change my mind. Go!"

Not needing a second order, though still shaky from the pain he took off, tearing through the hall in his haste to get away. He was free. The dark lord released him, he was free and he was never going back.

He knew just how to celebrate.

…..

Hermione squirmed as she lay on the bed, Hogwarts: A History open to a random page before her but even this well loved tome could not keep her attention tonight. Draco had been gone for three hours without any sign that he would be back soon. Her skin crawled as doubt tricked back into her veins. Half of her waited for a message that he had been found out and that her Draco lay dead before his master. The other waited to hear that he was never coming back, that it had all been a trick. With a cry of frustration she threw the tome across the room where it smacked against the wall in a satisfying manner, alerting Ginny to her friends irritated presence in the room next door.

"Hermione?" She called out with a tentative knock on the door, ignoring the sudden silence that seemed to scream "go away" in favor of marching right in. She had enough brothers to make any girl fearless even when it came to barging into a room she was clearly unwelcome in. "What is going on? Ron told me you missed class, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm surprised he even noticed. Usually he is too busy napping or screwing around to tell if I'm there or not so long as I have the day's notes for him later on."

Giggling at the apt description of her youngest big brother she nodded, "yeah well it was only when he mentioned needing the notes that Harry said you hadn't been to any classes today but that's not the point. Hermione, you know you can tell me anything. What's going on?"

"It's Draco."

Eyes wide the ginger girl looked at her friend with an interesting mixture of shock, horror, and outright disgust coloring her face so bright a red that it hid the girl's freckles from view. "What do you mean, what about ferret boy."

"Well let's just say if you were here a few hours ago you would have seen him. I… I got a gift today, the little owl downstairs and … and a memory from him. Basically a declaration of love. And I was crying and he came here to find me. And basically just held me until he was… until he was called away."

"Hermione, you have got to be kidding me. The deatheater boy just held you until he was called away, you know we both know who summoned him. I know what is going on, that you and Dumbledore want him for our side, Harry told me, but still. Isn't this taking it a bit too far? How do you know you can trust him?"

"Gin, I just do. At least I hope I can. I need to be able to. I just hope he can come back so I can figure everything out one way or other. A meeting with Voldemort himself can never be a good thing."

"Fine, Hermione, if you trust him and want him then I will trust him too. And I am sure he is ok. Just try to get some sleep. Okay?"

"Yeah night, Gin. Thanks."

Author's Note: Sorry this took me a bit longer to write but I was really trying to make something longer for you guys and I had very little time to do it in. So is this any better? And yeah, not much Dramione cuddle time but we had needed to meander back into a bit more plot so we got back to that as well. More fluff and plot to come, and we are really rolling now. Thank you to everyone who sent me messages and to everyone who sent me suggestions for the li owl who will be back in play more later. Thanks for everything. More updates soon!

Xoxo

a-stranger-angel