Hermione stopped at door to the shack, looking nervously around her shoulder. Draco stood awkwardly behind her, as if he didn't want to return. They could hear slightly muffled voices from within.
"They ought to cast the Muffliato charm if they don't want anyone else to hear!" Hermione huffed.
"Shhhhhhhh!" Draco said impatiently, nudging her. He pulled her away from the door by the arm, and peered through the window. "Merlin, they're so careless..." she muttered.
Once again, he shushed her, wrapping his hand around her waist, and pulling her closer again. "Be quiet!" he hissed. He leaned against the window, flinching a bit as she leaned her head against his shoulder to see.
"Harry, I can't believe that prat has to come with us!" came Ron's voice. Draco smirked from behind the glass.
They could hear Harry sigh in resignation, and see his figure walk in front of the window, blocking their view a bit. "Listen, Ron. I'm not exactly sure why he's here...or what happened between him and Hermione, but he could be useful!" he answered practically.
Ron finally came into view. "Useful!" he shouted. "All Malfoy's ever done is cause trouble! I don't see how Hermione can stand him! He called her a Mudblood in our 2nd year! He broke up the DA! Not to mention, he's-"
"Enough!" Harry yelled back. Hermione looked behind her shoulder again. "I was there in 6th year, when he tried to kill Dumbledore-"
"Exactly!" Ron broke in.
Harry sighed exasperatedly. "No! He tried to, but he couldn't! He couldn't kill him. He never did. Listen, I know he's done some things in the past...and I don't like him much either..."
Draco snorted, and Hermione stepped on his foot. "But, this is different. Right now, we're in the middle of a war, and there's more important things than who's got the best broom, and who's won house cup. Right now, it's a matter of good and bad; light and dark."
Ron opened his mouth to protest, but Harry continued louder. "But, the world isn't split into light and dark, Ron. We've all got both inside of us. What matters is the side we choose to act on." He put his head in his hands for a moment, and the shack remained quiet.
"Maybe Malfoy's finally decided to act on the light." He finished, looking up at Ron.
"That's not our problem to fix!" Ron argued weakly.
Harry nodded. "But the least we can do, is give him the benefit of the doubt. When Hermione and Malfoy come back, you're going to apologize, alright?"
"Urgh..." Ron said, sitting down on Hermione's bed. "Do I really have-"
"Yes." Harry interrupted briskly. "You don't have to be friends, you don't have to like each other. Just. Be. Civil." He paused. "Is that a deal?"
"Do I even have a choice...?" Ron complained.
"No." said Harry, flatly.
"Well, I'm not being civil unless he's going to be civil..."
"You know what?" Harry asked rhetorically. "I'm sure Hermione's had that same conversation with Draco already, anyways. So sod off!" Silence followed his words.
At that, Draco turned to Hermione, who had loosened her grip on him, and smirked. "Oh, I suppose you didn't." he said triumphantly. Hermione glared at him. "You'd better." Draco chuckled darkly. "And what makes you think I will?"
She raised her eyebrow. "Then we'll leave you to the Death Eaters. They're probably looking for you, anyways. In fact, we shouldn't be out here in the middle of Hogsmeade—someone could see us!"
Draco folded his arm across his chest. "I've already obliviated Rookwood, nothing's going to-"
"Just do it!" Hermione said exasperatedly, looking behind herself for about the millionth time. Without waiting for an answer, she strode over to the door, and grabbed Draco's arm. "Alright, then..." she said. "Now, when we go in-"
"Psh." Said Draco, obviously undaunted. He slammed the door open with one swift movement, smirking as Ron and Harry instantly turned around, with their wands at the ready.
"Oh, er...Malfoy!" Harry said. "How...Where did you...?"
As soon as Draco opened his mouth to speak, however, Hermione looked around the shack, shrieking loudly, and closing back the door. "Honestly, you two! You could have at least locked the door!"
Harry and Ron exchanged guilty looks. "Well, we...uh...we had our wands!" Ron waved his wand about as if it were the solution to all problems.
"That wouldn't be too much of a help if a few Death Eaters turned up! That wouldn't help any!" she raged on.
"Hermione, we were-" Harry started.
"No! We'll have to change grounds immediately! Someone's probably already found us-"
"No one's found us, 'Mione..." Ron interrupted.
"But we'll do the charms!" Harry added quickly, as Hermione turned furiously to Ron.
"I'll do it." She said sharply, holding out her hand to Draco.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked innocently.
"You know full well that I was-"
"Okay!" Draco cut in, handing his mother's wand, once again, to Hermione. And with one last, fleeting look, Hermione left the shack, already muttering incantations under her breath.
He looked back to Harry and Ron, the latter pointedly refusing to meet his eye. "It's funny, because she actually already charmed the place, before we left...I suppose she's forgotten...except for the door bit..." Draco said, in an attempt to strike up a conversation.
Ron looked up at last. "Yeah. 'Spose so..." he answered, obviously trying to remain civil.
"So..." Said Harry. "How exactly did you two end up here?" he asked curiously.
"Well, Potter-" he started sardonically, cutting himself off as he remembered Hermione's words, earlier. He sighed. "To make things quick, we Apparated out of the Manor, actually. And then we ended up here...And then we-"
"Went to the Malfoy vault in Gringotts." Harry finished, to the annoyance of Draco, who bit the inside of his cheek tolerantly.
"Precisely..." He said, a trace of sarcasm still intact in his voice.
Ron, who had noticed the sarcasm, spoke up finally. "So what did you go to Gringotts to get?"
Draco sniggered. "Unfortunately for you, Weasley, Gringotts is where you store your money...something I'm sure you don't have..."
"OI!" Ron shouted, pulling out his wand.
Draco reached into his pockets, and then froze as he realized Hermione had the wand.
"I thought so, ferret." He said, his wand still pointed at Draco.
"Ron, let him go. He's not worth it." Said Harry, who looked almost disappointed.
Draco sighed. "Look, Weasley. I don't want to be here with you just as much as you hate being here with me."
Ron opened his mouth to retort, but Draco continued calmly. "So, for Hermione's sake. I suggest we...er...act civil..."
"Do you hear this prat?" Ron whispered to Harry, who ignored him.
"Alright, then." He said. "I suppose we can call this a truce."
He held out a hand, which Draco shook, and then looked expectantly at Ron.
"Wait, wait, wait." He said suspiciously. "I'm only going to be civil if he'll be civil."
Draco smirked. "Isn't that what I just said, Weasel...ly?" he snapped.
"This one here!" Ron said loudly. "Acts like I'm deaf!"
"I'm sure that's why you're talking so loud, Weasel Bee!" Draco retorted.
"Yeah, Harry. I'm definitely going to make a truce with Malfoy." Said Ron.
"Enough!" Harry shouted. He seemed tired of being the diplomat in their arguments. "Malfoy, stop antagonizing Ron, Ron stop taking everything Malfoy says seriously! We already know he's a git." He whispered to Ron shrewdly.
"Shake hands!" he said, nudging Ron forward.
Ron stuck out his hand awkwardly, looking Draco in the eye defiantly.
Draco, on the other hand, looked at Ron's fingers as though they were something disgusting stuck to the bottom of his cauldron. However, he eventually grew tired of Harry's consistent glaring, and shook Ron's hand reluctantly.
At this moment, Hermione walked back in, Narcissa's wand still glowing a bit in her grasp.
"Oh! I knew you'd come around!" she cried excitedly.
"What?" Ron yelled.
"No!" Draco shouted.
Off in the corner, Harry lounged casually on the bed, smirking at them both.
"Well, I was thinking for a moment which pair of us should head off to the shops to get some food, earlier!" Hermione plowed on. "And I think you two should definitely go together! We'll need two to keep the shack safe, anyways. So Harry and I, should stay behind, and you should go together!"
Ron and Draco looked at each other with horror.
"Yeah, I reckon that'll do." Harry piped up, grinning as he earned a glare from Ron. "I think you'll need time to..." Draco threw him a look that said clearly, "Potter, I'm warning you...".
"Bond." He finished triumphantly.
"You're right, Harry!" Hermione agreed. "So it's settled. You can go tomorrow morning, while Harry and I figure out a way to get into Hogwarts. We'll need all the energy we can get, so get to bed!"
"We only have three beds, Hermione!" Ron pointed out.
Draco smirked. "I don't have a problem with sharing." He looked to Hermione, who folded her arms across her chest.
"No!" Ron shouted instantly. As though he could read Ron's mind, Harry conjured another bed in a split second. "There we go." He said pleasantly.
"Sorry, Malfoy." Ron started. "We banished the other bed after you left." He stalked over to the bed farthest from Draco, and climbed in. And before he could get another answer from Draco or lecture from Hermione, he pulled out his Deluminator from his trouser pocket, and clicked it, washing them all in darkness.
Draco, who had fumbled into his own bed, scowled at Ron as best as he could. "Goodnight, Weasley." He managed.
Ron shifted from under his covers and sat up. "G'nite, Malfoy."
Author's Note- Hello! I'm sorry for not posting any updates in a couple days, but I haven't been feeling well recently, and wasn't up to making any new chapters. :( However, I'm definitely better now, so I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thank you all for reading, bye! 3