In the Library

Draco had been out of the hospital wing for four days when Hermione found him in the Room of Requirement. She had slipped in quietly through the door and approached cautiously, wondering whether he would get angry at her for showing up again or not.

But she wasn't going to entirely avoid him. She had made a promise she was planning to keep.

"Um, D- Malfoy?" she asked tentatively, not sure what to call him any more.

Obviously not expecting her, he spun around in shock and stumbled back into the cabinet. His wide eyes showed his disbelief and confusion, making Hermione feel sorry for him and wish she had stayed away.

"What are you doing here?" Draco snapped, clenching his teeth afterwards in annoyance at himself. Why did he always have to come across as angry?

"You see, um..." Hermione swallowed nervously. "I promised I was going to help you."

"Oh, right." Draco mumbled, stepping away from the cabinet slightly and lowering his eyes.

"I- I also wanted to let you know that whatever is going on between yourself and Pansy Parkinson is none of my business." Hermione rushed out, biting her lip after. Should she have said that?

"That was a lie if ever I heard one." Draco scoffed, turning back to the cabinet and fiddling with the handle.

"Well if it really concerns me so much, why did you do it?" Hermione asked angrily. Her fury came bubbling to the surface and she had to look away from him to try and calm down.

"I was in a hospital bed! I couldn't really say no, could I? And besides," he added, pausing and half looking over his shoulder. "Who ever said we were-" Apparently choking on the words, he stopped there and turned his attention to the cabinet once again.

"Sometimes those sorts of things don't need to be said to be true." Hermione said in a low voice.

"Anyway, like I said, I had no choice in the matter." Draco shrugged.

"Are you saying you didn't want to kiss her?" Hermione pressed curiously, trying to sound casual.

"No." Draco said firmly. "For goodness sake, she's a girl! Of course I wanted to kiss her."

Hermione felt her chest tighten and did her best not to make a sound which would alert him to her pain. She was having trouble connecting words together, but one question kept appearing in her mind and it was the only coherent thing there was, so she said it.

"So when you kissed me... it was only because I was a girl?" she asked quietly, her vision blurring from tears which had begun forming.

"So what if it was?" Draco asked gruffly, refusing to turn and look at her. He was worried what he would see, knowing that if she was crying he would want to apologise and take her into his arms again.

But he couldn't do that. He had to end this before Pansy started spreading rumours. That way when anyone tried to investigate they wouldn't find any evidence.

"Then hurry up and let me help you fix this stupid cabinet so I can get out of here." Hermione hissed, wiping her sleeve across her eyes quickly.

It was then that Draco made the mistake of turning to look at her. The first thing he saw was her blood-shot eyes, still moist with tears. Next he saw her glare which was directed straight at him and lastly he saw the way she was gently biting part of her lower lip, causing him to involuntarily open his mouth and stare.

A loud bang interrupted both of their thoughts and Hermione spun around in terror, fearing the worst. Draco took two quick steps forward and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back into his chest protectively, something which she did not try to stop.

"There's something I haven't told you," Draco whispered right next to her ear, making her shiver.

"What's that?" Hermione whispered back, her hands moving up to grip his, which were still on her shoulders.

"Pansy knows."

Hermione gasped and tightened her grip on his hands, her entire body becoming tense with fear.

"How?" she asked almost inaudibly.

"After you came in... she figured out why you were upset." Draco explained quietly. "I thought I should let you know before she comes barging in here."

"She's outside?" Hermione gasped.

"I heard Crabbe telling her this was the place I always went when I disappeared. I can only assume she's come to try and find me now." Draco told her.

Hermione was silent for a moment as her terrified mind tried to think of what she could do. The next moment she had turned to face him and kissed him quickly.

"Hide me." she whispered pleadingly.

Taking her hand, Draco looked around for somewhere to hide her. His eyes paused on the cabinet and he felt his heart jump in excitement. He hadn't finished fixing it yet, so it would be the perfect place to hide her while he spoke to Pansy and explained that he wasn't involved with Hermione in any way.

"Do you trust me?" he asked suddenly, staring into her eyes seriously.

"Yes." Hermione nodded minutely, swallowing.

Draco nodded slowly and then moved over to the cabinet, opening the door and half pushing her inside.

"Draco, what are y-"

"It's not fixed yet! Nothing will happen." he assured her as she turned around to face him again. There was worry on her face and Draco couldn't help chuckling. Spontaneously he leant up and kissed her again before shutting the cabinet door.

It was time to face Pansy Parkinson.

Walking towards the door to the Room of Requirement, Draco fixed an annoyed expression on his face. He was already running words through his mind of what to say to her and knew it wouldn't take much to convince her that nothing was going on.

Reaching the door, he opened it just in time to see Pansy raising her fist again to knock loudly. She paused when she saw him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?" he asked in a bored tone.

"What are you doing here?" Pansy asked accusingly, lowering her hand to her hip and narrowing her eyes.

"Ask Zabini." Draco said shortly, moving to close the door. Pansy put a hand out to stop it and stepped forward.

"I did. He said you won't tell him." Pansy said. She glanced past him into the room and then looked back at him. "She's here, isn't she?"

"The mudblood? You're kidding, right?" Draco scoffed.

"Let me in, then." Pansy pushed forward, pressing right up against his chest to make him move backwards.

"I never said I wouldn't." He grumbled, shoving her away from him into the room and shutting the door again. "Take a good look around and tell me if you find her. Maybe we can have a bit of fun if you do."

Pansy seemed doubtful, but walked further into the room anyway. Her eyes took in the countless objects all shoved together disorderly and she wondered what on earth Draco could have been doing in here.

"Try not to take too long." Draco sighed, following after her slowly to pretend he was uninterested in what was happening.

Pansy paused to open every object which had a door, and Draco began wondering whether he should have put Hermione in the cabinet after all. If Pansy kept up like this she'd discover her and everything would be out in the open.

"Why can't you tell me what you were doing in here?" Pansy asked in a whiny voice as she opened another small door – far too small to contain a teenage girl, but Draco didn't feel like pointing that out right now.

"It's secret." he shrugged.

"Why?" Pansy probed, glancing over her shoulder as she moved on.

"Are you really that stupid? As soon as I said it was secret you should have realised it wasn't something I thought up myself." Draco sighed. Pansy froze and slowly turned around to face him, her eyes now wide in shock.

"He let you join? And he gave you a mission?" she whispered.

Draco couldn't help smirking, folding his arms and nodding slowly. It was a wonderful feeling to have someone so impressed by something he had managed to do. Of course, he was the first person his age to ever be accepted as a Death Eater so there was no wonder why Pansy was impressed.

"What's your mission?" Pansy whispered excitedly.

"I can't tell you." Draco said shortly, turning away and fiddling with a random object that faced him. Pansy let out a sigh of disappointment but then continued on, searching more doors.

When she reached the cabinet, Draco could barely conceal his concern.

"Look, isn't that enough?" he asked hurriedly, moving over to her as she began walking towards the cabinet. "I'm doing a mission for the Dark Lord in here, so could you please leave? I have to finish it soon or he'll get really angry."

Pansy glanced up at him, wide-eyed, but then she frowned and turned back to the cabinet. Draco took a deep breath involuntarily and held it, waiting for the inevitable moment where she would open the cabinet, find Hermione, and start screaming again.

Pansy reached a hand forward and grasped the handle, turning it. Draco shut his eyes tightly and in an instant did the only thing he could think of. He gripped his wand and murmured the spell which he had been using to try and send object through the cabinet to its twin in Borgin and Bourkes.

"That's disappointing. It's the perfect size and I really hoped I had finally found where you were hiding her."

Draco slowly opened his eyes and looked into the empty cabinet. Pansy was still staring into it as well, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

Time to convince her I don't like Granger, he thought to himself, and put an arm around her shoulders, leaning close to her ear.

"Look Pansy, if you leave now I promise I'll meet up with you tonight." he whispered, softly kissing her neck. She shivered and backed into his chest, gripping his arms with her hands.

"You promise?" she asked quietly. Draco chuckled and kissed her neck again.

"Only if you leave and let me continue with my mission." he reminded her and she hurriedly nodded.

"What time?" she asked excitedly.

Draco was silent for a moment, a smirk on his lips, and Pansy spun around to look at him as if she was afraid he had suddenly changed his mind.

"How about I surprise you?" he whispered, leaning down and kissing her lips. Pansy murmured an agreement, her eyes closed, when Draco pulled back and gave her a gentle push towards the door.

"See you tonight." he told her, thankful that Hermione was in Borgin and Bourkes now instead of a few steps away in the cabinet. She would never forgive him for this, even if he explained that it was unavoidable.

When Pansy slipped out of the door with a wink at him, he sighed in relief and turned back to the cabinet, shutting it. He lifted his wand again and whispered the incantation, hoping beyond hope that Hermione was still alive and had been smart enough to stay inside the cabinet at all times.

Biting his lip nervously, he reached out and opened the cabinet.

Immediately a blur of brown hair lunged at him and he felt two arms go around him and hold tightly. He grinned and put his own arms around her as well, glad that she had survived.

In fact, he was more than glad. He had fixed it! It worked! She was still alive!

"It worked!" He heard Hermione whisper, and she sounded just as excited as him. "I'm so glad you tried it out, I was hoping you would! While I was in there I did a bit of adjusting and thought I'd figured out what the problem was so I fixed it."

Great, the mudblood fixed it. So much for his amazing abilities.

"I hoped you wouldn't be mad at me." he said with a small chuckle.

"Of course not! When I heard Parkinson coming I knew you'd probably try that, so I wanted to fix it quickly so that you wouldn't feel guilty if it didn't work." Hermione slowly pulled back from him, her face lit up in excitement and happiness.

"You have no idea how much you've helped me." Draco said quietly, a smile on his lips as he moved one hand to gently caress her cheek. She leant into his hand, also smiling, until suddenly her expression grew grave and she swallowed stiffly, stepping away.

"When are they going to come?" she asked quietly. Draco stiffened as well when he realised what she was talking about and silently cursed himself for forgetting that she wasn't on his side.

Oh, and there was still the issue of Pansy.

"Whenever I inform them that it's finished." he whispered.

"And when are you going to tell them?" Hermione asked cautiously. Draco wet his lips nervously with his tongue and looked away from her.

"I- I can't wait too long. But maybe a few days will be alright." he said, swallowing.

"I don't want you to get hurt." Hermione murmured, sadness in her eyes when he looked back over at her.

"What happened to you being upset about me kissing Pansy?" he asked, a bit too harshly for his liking.

"I still don't like it..." she whispered. "But if you promise you didn't have a choice?"

"I promise." Draco nodded, feeling his heart constrict as he thought about when he would be meeting Pansy that night. There was no way he would be able to talk his way out of it again, but how would he keep it from Hermione when Pansy would then want to go public with their relationship?

"Then I'm sorry for getting mad," Hermione said with a small smile. "I'll try not to assume next time."

Draco pulled her towards him and hugged her, closing his eyes. He didn't want to hurt her but it was inevitable, as was their future of not being together. There was no way that would work out, so they would have to cherish their time together now.

Which was probably going to be only a few days. After he brought the Death Eaters he would have to leave Hogwarts and Hermione would never want to speak to him ever again.

He had failed to explain his entire mission to her. She wouldn't want to know.

It was better to keep her in the dark.

It meant he would have a few more days of her love.