Draco and Harry sat on the floor of Severus' office studying. They were so far ahead in most of their classes that Minerva allowed them to skip Transfiguration and Charms so that she could give the two of them Animagus lessons. "Professor, have you heard anything about Hermione?"

Harry's head jerked up and he looked at Severus almost pleadingly. "Sirius said that all she does is study. She's been in the Muggle world for nearly two months and she doesn't have a single friend at her new school."

"There haven't been any Death Eater's around there, though?"Harry asked. Though he claimed he didn't love her anymore, he sure sounded protective.

"No, but he did figure out which "ministry official" came to them."Severus turned his chair toward them. "Draco's dear Aunt Bella."

"Wait a minute, Professor…Aunt Bella went into a completely muggle neighborhood, talked to some muggles, and not one of them ended up dead? I wasn't aware that she had that much restrain. Besides, I thought she was in Azkaban." Draco set his books aside. "Something's up."

"So did we. Apparently, Voldemort broke out his most loyal 've known that since the beginning. We just haven't been able to figure out what's going on. He's been extra vigilant since he found that out, of course. He also mentioned that your parents are going to get married over Christmas."

"You can't have my room."Harry grinned at Draco for the first time since Hermione had left.

"I wouldn't want to sleep in your room. It's probably too Gryffindor for me." The grey-eyed boy pretended to be disgusted.

"Actually, my room is green and black, just like Uncle Severus' room."Harry stuck his tongue out at Draco. "I was supposed to be in Slytherin, you know."

Severus sputtered. "When were you in my room, Harry? I have some of the strongest wards in the house on my door and my window…there are some volatile Potions ingredients in my room at home, too."

"You forget, dear Uncle Severus, that I helped ward the house, and that my wards are stronger than yours. It took me about three minutes to take down the ones on the door and change the color of your bed to a nice sunny yellow and your walls and furniture to Chuddley Cannons orange. I did it right after you and Aunt Minerva left for Hogwarts."

His eyes narrowed. "You are going to be in for some big trouble when we get home, Harry."

"Draco and I together can undo anything you could do to us."

"I highly doubt that even you and Draco could undo something if I asked Gawain and Sirius to help me." Severus grinned, happy to see that his favorite nephew was starting to feel better. "I should take points from Gryffindor for that, you know."

"You wouldn't!" Draco put his hands to his heart. "You've never taken points from Gryffindor!"

"That would be horrible, Uncle Sev! Taking points from Gryffindor would be like…giving points to Slytherin!"

Severus shook his head."You two are impossible. Isn't there someone else you could go bother? Don't you have Animagus lessons soon, or something?"

"We don't have Animagus lessons at night."They said together. "We don't have them during the day anymore either." In a few seconds, two "tiny" silver dragons stood before him. Harry was about eight feet long and five feet high, while Draco was a bit smaller. They both had dark blue wings.

"I have never seen anyone manage a transformation into an American Midnight Dragon. They're extremely rare. Have you shown Minerva yet?" They changed back.

Draco nodded. "She nearly passed out. For once, she said that perhaps it would be better if we didn't register with the Ministry."

"We live in Paris anyway, Draco. We don't have to deal with the British Ministry unless they start interfering with Hogwarts." Harry sighed contentedly.

"They will if we can't find a Defense Professor soon. It's December 14th and none of the applicants have been anywhere near qualified." Severus wrote a giant, red "T" at the top of the paper he was correcting. "For Merlin's sake, you would think that a Seventh Year who was intelligent enough to make it into NEWT level Potions would know that bezoars can serve as an antidote to nearly any poison."The Potions Master glared at the parchment. "You two knew that, didn't you?"

"It was in your speech first year," Draco said without looking up from So You Want to Get a Potions Mastery.

"It's typically found in the stomach of a goat, though one can occasionally come across them in cows. Phoenix tears are much more effective when getting rid of deadly poisons, though," Harry added, while finishing Defense Techniques for the Auror Trainee.

"At least you two pay attention. I have no doubts that you'll receive all O's on your OWLs."Severus looked at the two books that they were reading. "Have you been raiding my private library again?"

"Nope. We had Dad send these from my room at home. I love being able to read an entire book in five minutes and understand every word. It makes life so much easier."

"Lucky…where'd you get that from?" Draco was a bit jealous, though he could read fast; he was nowhere near as fast as Harry or Hermione.

"The McGonagall side…everyone can do it. How else do you think Aunt Minerva has time to keep up with everything?"

Draco looked as if he had a brilliant idea. "We've been reading for three hours, Harry. We should test some of our new knowledge."

Severus stood up. "You may not have a duel in my office, Mr. Malfoy. You know the rules. If you're that bored, you could go make some potions for the Hospital Wing. They're running low on Pepper-Up."

Harry suddenly turned pale. "Uncle Sev…Hermione's in Little Hangleton."

Severus' eyes went wide. "You wouldn't have made any mistakes with the location work in your bond…Draco, go get Minerva and tell her to alert Gawain and to make sure that Sirius is alright. He wouldn't have let them take her if he could help it. Tell her that Harry and I went to save her."

"You aren't bringing me?"

"Someone who has a connection with me has to stay here, Dragon. You're part of our blood bond and you can tell where she and I are at all times, can't you?" The day Hermione left, Harry had made Draco a part of their bond, if only because it allowed both of them to keep track of her better.

"I can. I can talk to you, too. Good idea." He sprinted off to find the Headmistress.

Harry looked at Severus. "I don't know that she deserves this after what she did, but I certainly don't want Voldemort to kill her."