Chapter 15

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted, and Draco's partially drawn wand flew through the air. Harry lurched forward a step and caught it. Ron moved slowly toward Hermione, wand trained on Draco.

"Are you alright?" Ron asked, looking over at her. "Why are you crying?!" He looked back a Draco, furious.

Harry seemed equally pissed, stepping forward and pressing the wand to Draco's throat. Draco raised his hands up.

Hermione had been too shocked to speak or even move. Draco reaching for his wand had put a few inches of distance between them. Surprised by the sudden entrance, she had automatically tried to grab her wand, which of course was not there. Instead, it was firmly gripped in Harry's hand.

"Give me that!" She said, pulling the wand from Harry's grasp. He looked shocked, still holding onto Draco's wand with his other hand. "Boy's! Throwing spells at each other without figuring out the situation first!" She was frustrated, but at the same time thrilled to see her friends were ok.

"Hermione…we thought you…we were really worried about you." He said, throwing his arms around her. Ron did the same.

Hermione felt slightly ashamed of herself. Her friends were so worried about her, while she'd been…well, she certainly hadn't been trying to let them know she was ok, or finding the horcrux. "I'm ok. Really!" She said, hugging her two friends back. The two of them broke off the hug, awkwardly, as usual.

She wiped the tears from her face. "Sorry…I'm fine. Actually…Draco was the one who saved my life."

The two stared first from her, then to Draco, who was still standing near. He had a look of deep contempt on his face as he started back at the boys.

"We saw this place and thought we'd stay here for a few days…." Harry began.

"We also thought you might have made it here, somehow." Ron said. "I can't believe it…I knew you couldn't be…gone. It would have been too much." His voice cracked on the last sentence.

Harry looked at Draco. "You saved her from the storm? Way out here? Why are you out here, Malfoy?"

"Like I have to tell you, Potter."

Harry ignored him completely and asked Hermione, "Did you find the mansion, after all? This place is much too far from the last camp. We didn't see the mansion, but then it probably has spells to make it a complicated find." Harry said, thinking out loud.

Hermione's eyes flashed to Draco's. He let out a loud sigh. "You might as well tell them that you found it; I'm screwed if any of you get captured now, anyways."

She nodded. "Yes, He found me in front of the mansion. But Bellatrix showed up, so this place is safer now…"

"What about the H…" Ron started, then snapped his mouth shut, looking at Malfoy. "The, uh, mission?"

"I didn't find it, but if Bellatrix is there…"

"Then it must be too." Harry finished, thinking.

Ron turned to Draco, his face red with anger. "Why the hell didn't Hermione try and find us? You rescue her, but you don't help her get back? What, you kept her prisoner or something?!" Ron asked, glaring at Draco.

"Maybe she was having a bit of fun with me." Draco said, grinning evilly at Ron. "I'm loads of fun in places I'm sure your not…"

"Draco!" Hermione yelled, glaring. Ron looked like he might lung at Draco at any moment. "I didn't have my wand. And if Draco had let me go and I was caught, they would find out he had kept me a secret. He would be punished for helping me. So I agreed to stay." She said, trying to sound confident and convincing. "I also looked for it." She said meaningfully, looking to Harry. "Now if we could all just lower our wands…"

The boy's wands stayed up. Right. When did they ever listen to her?

"So, yes, he did keep you prisoner." Ron said accusingly, facing Draco.

"Yes, I guess I did." He said, looking over at Hermione. His face was a mask, giving nothing away.

Hermione placed her hands on both of the boy's wands and lowered them. "I've just about had enough of this crap. I said he saved my life; isn't that good enough?"

"You should mention that I saved it three times" Draco said, in his best I'm-not-really-trying-to-be-helpful voice.

"Three times?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Never mind. Just cut the animosity crap. You two need food, and Draco deserves a bit more respect than a wand in the face."

The boys finally lowered their wands to their sides, though neither put it away. Actually, Harry had Draco's wand, but Hermione would work on that one later. She was thrilled to be holding her very own wand again, herself.

Crap. What the hell could she do? She didn't want her friends- who have been close to her for seven years- to know about what had been going on between her and Draco.

But on the other hand she knew that it seemed to Draco that she had chosen their side, and that he had been reverted back to the "bad guy" again. And so she was ashamed that she was ashamed.

As the two starving travelers ate side-by-side on the wooden bench attached to the table, Hermione sat opposite, by Draco.

She reached down discretely, touching his hand on the bench. He grabbed her hand in his, and his face seemed to relax right away. She tried to portray to him her complex feelings through a small touch and a look. He seemed to understand her situation, even if he didn't like it. She had a job to do; she had to leave, and he had to stay. Pissing off her friends and comrades would not be super smart. When everything was done, maybe the two of them could be together…depending on who won, of course.

Hermione looked to her friends. Harry seemed deep in thought, worried about something. Ron was glaring Draco down, no doubt still viewing him as the Villain who had locked away the princess. Sigh. Life was complicated enough, fighting evil and all; why did personal things like love have to make it so much harder?

Love. Had she really said that? It made her feel so embarrassed she wanted to cry. Although there were many reasons she wanted to cry right then. He hadn't had time to answer…would he have tried to change the subject awkwardly? Would he have kissed her again? Would he have answered back, "I love you too?" It seemed ridiculous for her now, to imagine words like those coming out of the mouth of Draco Malfoy. She hadn't said it because she needed to hear it back. She had said it because…because of some implausible mistake in the fabric of the universe, she did love him. It had only been days, but she did. The thought of him being hurt in this war…

"What will they do to you, if they find out you let us go?" Surprisingly, it was Harry's question, which mirrored Hermione's thoughts, that broke the silence.

Draco sneered at him from across the table. "'Let go' is a bit of a stretch, wouldn't you say? You have my wand."

"But you didn't tell anyone you had found Hermione. No, I don't think you'll get us killed if you can avoid it. But letting us go seems to be stretching the limits of what I would have thought of your "bravery" level. Not turning Hermione in seems to be putting you in a good deal of danger, if…you know who… reads your mind."

"I can explain it, and just accept the punishment on that one. Letting you go without informing anyone, however…"

A silence hung in the air at the unfinished sentence. "That's what I meant. They'll kill you for that."

Draco shrugged. "If they find out? Oh, yes they will." He shuddered. "And it won't be quick. But the Dark Lord doesn't often pay me much attention. I'm small fry. Reading my mind isn't worth it." He stared pointedly at Harry. "But reading yours, or using veratiserum on you, would be just his style. If any of you talk, then I'm just as dead."

Harry sighed heavily, seeming to regret his next words deeply. "Then come with us."

Ron choked on his canned corn and Hermione sputtered a "What?" at that suggestion. Harry wouldn't just let Draco pay the price for helping them (ok, her) out. Not to mention one less death eater is always a good thing.

Draco laughed bitterly. "Are you serious? Fat chance in hell. Why the hell would I want to spend my time in a hole somewhere hiding with you, waiting for the Dark Lord to come pick us off? Won't you Gryffindor's give it a rest? This one's already been through that crappy suggestion with me about three times." He pointed to Hermione next to him with his free hand. His other hand was still holding hers under the table.

"Draco." Hermione said softly. "If…if we don't win, you can always claim we held you hostage. We could even change your memories so you'd think that's what happened. The logistics of it aside, all it really comes down to is what you want: Do you want to help you know who, or do you want to help the innocent who are being hurt by this?"

"Neither."

"You don't get that choice anymore." Harry said, motioning to Draco's left arm.

Draco met Harry's eyes and it was like all the hatred between them in the past seven years came to a culmination. Draco slammed his hands on the table, standing up. At the same time, Harry stood and raised Draco's wand.

"Get out." Draco said.

"I hardly think you're the one to be giving order's here." Ron piped in, pulling his own wand.

Hermione was pissed. Just when she thought everyone was acting like grown-ups….But now, she had her own wand back.

In a flash of fancy wand-work and a gust of wind, all the boys were knocked backwards, tripping on the benches. Hermione loomed over them, a furious snarl on her face.

"I've had enough of this! You obviously can't be in a room together at the same time and still act civil. We need to get back to the mansion." She turned to Draco. "How long until Bellatrix leaves?"

"I don't…" Draco started.

"Shut up, just shut up! Best estimate."

"Maybe two days." Draco answered immediately. He then grinned in a way that seemed indecent. "You know, you're really sexy when you're angry."

"Oi!" Ron yelled.

"SHUT UP! I need to think!" She rubbed her temples. Secretly, she found his comment amusing and his evil smirk that accompanied it a turn-on. Sigh. She was a mess.

Harry stood up again, assuming the "I have a daring plan" face.

"Did you ever just…you know, ask Draco if he had seen the object in the house?" he asked.

"No, that parts top-secret, remember? If there's one thing we do not want getting back to Voldy, it's that we're looking for that."

"So…" Draco said, standing up at the same time as a red-faced, angry Ron, "This is yet another secret I'll have to keep to avoid a painful death?"

Hermione sighed. She didn't like the idea of Draco having even this small bit of information; it was a danger to him and to their mission. "We're looking for a small cup, with the symbol of Hufflepuff on it."

"Hufflepuff's cup?" Draco asked matter-of-factly, confused.

"Yes! You know where it is?"

"I saw it in Aunt Bella's vault."

There was a long silence in the room. The three hero's looked at each other, looking very tired."

"The vault." Hermione said.

"At Gringotts." Ron added.

Draco laughed. "So the whole reason you were all out here was to get that old thing? I saw it a few weeks ago and almost gagged. Hufflepuff- can you image? I don't care if it is an ancient treasure; it's still a part of the loser-house." He said this to Hermione. He was pointedly talking to her and ignoring the other two.

"So...why is Bellatrix at the house here?" Hermione asked.

Draco looked serious for a moment. Then he said something completely unexpected. "Small Backed Yeti's."

"…What?"

"Since I'm already a complete traitor for letting you go, I might as well let you know: I'm up here for no reason other than my parents got me the cozy post of making sure no Order members tried to approach the Yeti's. Aunt Bella's the one who's recruiting them. It's sort of a side project; the Canadian Small Backed Yeti's are pretty strong and numerous, so we thought we could ship some back. The Dark Lord doesn't trust the Malfoy's to handle the project, so he gave the mansion to my Aunt."

"And how's that going?"

Draco smiled slightly. "Not too well."

"Draco, thank you." Hermione said, standing and facing him. "We need to go now. Keep this in mind, though: we will win. And even if you don't come with us, your going to have to stomach the fact that you just helped us get a step closer to our goal."

Draco smiled. "I think I can stomach it, for a price."

The boy's stood a ways away. Harry wand was shoved in his back pocket, but Ron's was still out. He took a step closer.

Draco leaned into her, putting his mouth by her ear where the other two couldn't see. He whispered, "I want a goodbye kiss." The words seemed a bit choked, and Hermione looked up to find his eyes looking a bit wet. Or was it her imagination? He looked away from her, and she couldn't tell anymore.