A/N: Okiedokie, so here's the continuation of that last chapter. This is somewhat of an abridged version of the interrogation scene in OotP, I guess . . . just with more Dramione, haha. Reviews are very much appreciated. c:

At the very least, Draco was kind enough to hold onto her very gently on the long walk to Umbridge's office. He had taken it upon himself to lead Hermione along, knowing that anyone else would likely try to hurt her on the way. And after everything that happened, that was the last thing he wanted for her. He kept a gentle grip on her left arm, and walked behind the rest of the Inquisitorial walked close enough beside her to be able to carry a very quiet, whispered conversation.

"I know what you're thinking," he said, leaning into her ear, "but I swear I didn't tell Umbridge anything."

"You didn't exactly stop anyone either," she snapped.

"Excuse me, but you couldn't possibly think that I wanted you guys to get caught. Be reasonable."

She looked up at him, her eyes narrowed. He was quite a bit taller than her. She hated that right now; it wasn't exactly good for standing up for herself.

"Well, if you loved me so much, you'd help me out," she snarled.

His grip on her arm tightened as his face flushed red. "Don't you dare use that against me, Granger."

"So, what, I'm Granger now?" she asked. "Really, we're back to surnames? I suppose you'll be calling me 'mudblood'next ― ?"

"You're going to tell me what the hell I did that made you upset, and you're going to tell me now."

She scoffed. "I'm not taking orders from ―"

"Just do it."

She was silent for a few thoughtful moments. It really wasn't his fault. But, he had the power to stop them, didn't he? He could have swept in and saved the day!

. . . But that wouldn't exactly go well for anyone.

She took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind and calm down. "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm not exactly glad that we got caught by your friends."

"They've known for a while," he said. "I mean, about your little club. They've just never been able to catch you. Now they have, and here we are."

"But you couldn't even try to help?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Stop accusing me. This isn't my fault. I kept your secrets for months. I didn't tip anyone off. Don't accuse me, understand? If I could've helped you without getting my ass kicked, I would, believe me."

She sighed. "Fine. I apologize for accusing you of things you didn't do. But you still need to apologize for your attitude."

"What attitude?" he asked. "You started it ―"

"I'm not getting into a childish argument with you, Draco. I only want an owed apology."

He scowled at her. "You're so irritating."

She smirked. "Well, you are, too, but I've forgiven you for it."

"I really, really can't stand you. . . . I'm sorry. Happy?"

"Very," she said, with a smile. "Now loosen your grip on my arm, it's hurting a little."

It was a quick reaction. He immediately jerked his hand back, but then returned to gently holding her arm to not arouse suspicion. It was a weird feeling. He had never taken orders from someone who wasn't technically an authority over him.

His thoughts drifted back to his confession. He had told her. He really told her. He knew that one day, someone would say something. But in his mind, it was always her that was confessing, while he listened to her and welcomed her love with open arms. He never imagined, in his wildest dreams, that he'd be the one who confessed first. He needed to get it off of his chest, though. In a way, it felt good. But she currently wasn't showing any signs of confessing herself, or even considering his offer to her.

He wanted to bring it up, but that hardly seemed tactful. The moment was too tense to attempt such a conversation. Maybe if he worded it in the form of an apology. . . . But that wasn't something to apologize about. She must've been playing hard-to-get. He knew she liked him, even if it wasn't as much as he loved her. Maybe it was equal, but he didn't know that for sure. All he knew was that the brightest witch of her age wasn't exactly as subtle as she seemed to think she was. But maybe Hermione would save him from having to try to bring it up.

She looked up at him intently. "When this is over, we need to talk."

"About what?" he asked, as innocently as he could."About what you said yesterday," she replied. "Listen, I need to tell you that ―"

He shook his head. "Tell me later, we're here."

Umbridge's office had never felt more menacing. It was usually hard to take someone seriously if their office walls were covered with cats. But with the power Umbridge had now, anything could happen to them here.

"Do you know how you ended up here?" Umbridge asked.

They didn't need to give her an answer. One look at Marietta Edgecombe's poorly-concealed face told them everything.

"Impressive jinx," Draco whispered in Hermione's ear.

"I'll make this simple for you," Umbridge said. "You'll either tell us the intent of your group ― "Dumbledore's Army," did you call it? ― or you'll suffer the consequences for not owning up to your mistakes. And the consequences . . . they may be rather harsh. We don't have

to make this difficult. Just tell me what happened, and everything will be fine. . . . Ah, how about you enlighten us, Mr. Potter?"

Umbridge now stood directly in front of Harry, who looked livid. His arms were held tightly behind him by Crabbe and Goyle so that he couldn't retaliate physically. Most everyone present knew Harry did have a tendency to react not-so-politely to people he didn't like, regardless of their age or authority.

"This has nothing to do with you," he spat.

Upon further examination, Draco realized that Harry didn't just look livid; he looked sick. As if he was worried about something. He had heard somewhere that Harry had first seen Arthur Weasley get attacked in a dream, and that was how he knew to alert the proper authorities. Maybe something else had happened. Well, Hermione wouldn't be too happy about that, either.

Draco leaned into her ear again. "Did something happen? Like in his dreams again?"

"I ― I don't know," she replied. "He hasn't told me anything so far . . . but then again, I don't spend much time with them anymore these days. . . ."

"With who, Potter and Weasley?" he asked. "They're your closest friends."

"Two of them," she replied. "But with the night shifts, and everything that's been happening lately. . . ."

"Such as?"

Draco raised his eyebrows inquiringly, and when Hermione opened her mouth to speak, she was cut off by a quickly opened door and the sound of Professor Snape's footsteps.

Hermione sighed exasperatedly. "Why is he here?"

Draco didn't answer. He, too, had no idea why Snape came in. They must've missed Umbridge's request for him to come to her office while they were having their short-lived conversation.

"She's trying to get a dose of Veritaserum to use on Harry," he said. "But it looks like Snape's not exactly obliging."

"He's got Padfoot!" Harry suddenly exclaimed, facing Snape. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"

Umbridge looked bewildered. Draco had to work hard to stifle his oncoming fit of laughter. If there was anything Umbridge hated, it was not fully understanding what was going on, because it usually meant people were hiding something from her.

And Snape left, having no duty left to perform, with his black robes billowing after him. Umbridge was clearly furious.

"Well, we don't have much of a choice left, do we?" she said, as Crabbe and Goyle pushed Harry into one of her office chairs. "Maybe the Cruciatus Curse will loosen your tongue ―"

"That's illegal!" Hermione cried. "You can't perform Unforgivable Curses on students, that's barbaric!"

Draco's grip on her arm tightened. "Are you mental?" he hissed. "Do you want to be next?"

"I'm not going to watch one of my best friends get tortured by a sadistic, evil toad!" she snapped.

"Well, I'm not about to watch one of my best friends get tortured for standing up for him!"

"What the Minister doesn't know won't hurt him," said Umbridge, with a dismissive wave of her hand. No one seemed to have heard anything Draco and Hermione said to each other, much to Draco's ease.

"Come on, Potter," said Draco, raising his voice so everyone could hear. "Don't be stupid. You're wasting everyone's time. Stop trying to be such a hero and just tell everyone what the deal is."

Hermione glared at him, but her features slowly began to soften. She didn't dare bring her voice above a whisper when she mouthed, "Are you helping us?"

"Just go along with it," he whispered back.

Hermione and Draco had always been known to never get along. Everyone knew that they hated each other; well, they did act that way towards each other for quite some time, anyway. But this was going to be a different experience entirely; they were going to have to pretend to fight. They would stage an argument in front of everyone. It was genius, but so many things could go wrong. But it was well worth the risk if it meant saving a life.

"Now isn't the time for spiteful comments, really!" said Hermione, as condescendingly as she could. "Harry, don't listen to him!"

"Well, it's true," he snapped. "He needs to hear that he can't just be a hero all the time. If he tries to play the hero constantly, he's going to die from it. Then where would you be? Where would any of your army be?"

Hermione tried to look as if she was considering his statements. "Harry . . . I never thought I'd say this, but I think he might be right. . . . Just tell her what's going on, Harry."

Harry looked at her like she was insane. "What?"

"Fine. If you won't, then I will." She turned her gaze to Umbridge. "Dumbledore's Army was founded in order to prevent a . . . well, a secret weapon of sorts from being discovered. We were trying to hone our skills to fight anyone who tried to find it. But you've won. You've found us out. We only owe you the right to know what exactly is going on. . . . We'll take you to the weapon, if you'd like."

Umbridge paused for a moment, but eventually nodded. "Yes, that would be lovely. You and Mr. Potter will accompany me on the way to go see it."

Draco looked up at Umbridge hopefully. "Professor, may I go with you?"

"And why would you need to do that?" Umbridge asked.

"He's only curious about the weapon," said Hermione. "Don't let him go, Professor, he's just trying to get his hands on it ―"

"But let's just say that they ambush you," Draco interjected, his grip on Hermione's arms tightening. "How would you call for help ― ?"

"She's a witch, she doesn't need you to help her ―"

"But let's just say ―"

"There's nothing to say about it, Malfoy ―"

"Well, something could be said about your attitude, Granger ―"

"ENOUGH!"

Umbridge stared at the two, exasperated. Draco no longer had her hands held behind her back; while they were arguing, he walked around and stood directly in front of her, so close that the tips of their noses almost brushed against each other. He was close enough to kiss her, if he wanted. But he settled for the devious, adorable little smirk she shot him instead.

"A fine point, Draco," said Umbridge. "You may accompany us as well, for safety reasons."

"And I will help you in any way I possibly can," said Draco, not breaking his eye contact with Hermione.

Hermione tried as hard as she could to suppress the satisfied look that was growing on her face. "Fine, we can't have it any other way. Let's go, Harry."

The four of them were all very quiet on the journey out of Hogwarts and toward the Forbidden Forest. Umbridge had decided to trail a fair distance behind the students, but not without Draco keeping a constant watch on her. Draco was trying his best to not walk alongside Harry, who looked like he had something to say to him. But eventually, Harry caught up and caught Draco's eye.

"What do you want, Potter?" he mumbled, so that Umbridge wouldn't hear their impending argument. "If it's about how I ratted you out, I don't want to hear it. I was doing my job, and I'd think you'd better focus your anger on that Marietta girl.""It's not about that," said Harry. "And I can't believe I'm talking to you about this, but it's about Hermione."

Draco's stern expression flickered slightly. "What about her?"

"I saw you in Umbridge's office," Harry explained. "You two were having a conversation, I could tell. You didn't look at each other very much, but you were whispering things to her in her ear."

Draco glared at him. "So what, you think I actually like the mudblood or something?"

Harry blinked, surprised. "Er . . . no, that's not actually what I thought at all. I was just curious as to why your conversation seemed so civil."

"What's it to you, Potter?" Draco snarled, pushing him aside. "Hey, Hermione, how much farther is it? We can't walk that deep into the forest, you know. . . . God knows what's out there this time of night, and I don't exactly want to end up in the hospital wing. . . ."

Harry looked at Draco, his eyebrows raised. "Hermione? Not mudblood? Not even Granger?"

Draco could feel his face heating up. What a stupid, stupid mistake. He knew that he'd have to go all or nothing on this one.

"In case you haven't noticed, Potter, she and I patrol together. And some people prefer being called by their first names and get pretty bitchy if no one obliges."

"So you did what she wanted, then?"

"Yes, I did. Because I, unlike you, am a gentleman to all ladies," said Draco, rather smugly.

Harry snorted. "Even 'mudbloods'? I thought you said a while back that muggle-borns didn't exactly fit your idea of a lady."

Draco shook his head. "A lady is a lady, Potter, regardless of her blood status."

"So patrolling with her changed your mind?"

Draco scowled at him, shoved him again, and sped up towards Hermione. He needed someone else to talk to.

"So how much further is it?" he asked, once he had caught up with her. "I'm bored."

"Oh, God forbid," said Hermione, giggling. Her face quickly fell as she looked down at the ground, where a broken piece of rope was laying. "I don't know, it's supposed to be right here. . . ."

Suddenly, an arrow hit a tree behind them, and Hermione knew exactly what was coming.

"What was that?" Umbridge asked, her wand out and pointed in the general direction of the arrow's fire. "This is an ambush, isn't it? Well, Draco, I'm glad you came, you can ―"

Umbridge was interuppted by the firing of dozens of arrows in their direction. Hermione quickly gripped Harry and Draco by the arms and pulled them down behind a nearby fallen tree.

"What are the arrows for?" Draco asked, brushing dirt off of his robes. "Where are they coming from?"

"Centaurs," Hermione breathed. "And keep your voice down, they can be dangerous ―"

"Hermione, exactly what was the weapon supposed to be?" Harry asked.

She sighed. "Did you see that length of rope on the ground? Well, that was attached to Grawp, and I guess he got free ―"

"You were taking us to Grawp?"

"Who the bloody hell is Grawp?" Draco asked.

Hermione turned to him, unsure of what to say. "Well . . . Grawp is . . . he's a friend of ours, you see. . . ."

"He's a giant," Draco said, looking at the ground near the rope. "Those footprints are huge. . . . You were taking us to a giant? That thing could kill someone, Hermione! . . . You're not trying to kill Umbridge, are you ― ?"

"No!" said Hermione. "No, not at all, trust me! It's just that . . . well, I wasn't sure what to do, and I sort of thought of it on a whim. . . ."

"It's brilliant, Hermione," said Harry, peering over the log. "This is great, don't worry about it."

Draco couldn't help but scowl at Harry. He was able to compliment her any time he wanted without it being strange, because they were accepted as friends to everyone at the school.

He tried to get it off of his mind by watching the scene with Umbridge. Centaurs were surrounding her, but they weren't hurting her physically; that was enough for the students to stay behind the tree. But what was an issue was the sound of sudden, loud footsteps coming towards them.

Hermione gasped sharply. "I think he's coming back. . . ."

Draco tore his gaze away from Umbridge and looked at Hermione. "Grawp, you mean?"

She nodded frantically, and looked over the fallen tree. Sure enough, Grawp was there. As he was so tall, he was able to see Harry and Hermione and get an idea of what was going on. He picked up Umbridge, trying to see why she would provoke the centaurs. Unfortunately for him, the centaurs began to shoot their arrows at him instead.

Hermione jumped over the log. "Stop, he doesn't understand what he's doing! Stop shooting at him! He's not the problem, be reasonable!"

Draco got up and ran behind her, gripping her arm tightly. "How many insane choices do you intend to make tonight?"

Harry was the next to follow, who stood at Hermione's other side. "They don't hurt children," he muttered. "They spare children because they're innocent. I had a run-in with them in first year; trust me, it's fine."

Grawp decided to put Umbridge down, but that only allowed the centaurs to get to her again. They promptly dragged her off, probably to further interrogate her about the doings of the ministry and their effects on the other magical creatures. The whole way, Umbridge called out for Draco to warn someone, and screamed at the centaurs for being "filthy half-breeds" who didn't have any right to even touch her.

Draco loosened his grip on Hermione's arm, changing it to a gentle, friendly hold. "You ― you just ― you just got rid of the worst professor Hogwarts has ever seen."

Hermione smiled lightly. "Well, technically the centaurs did ―"

"But who led her to them?" he asked, beginning to laugh. "And you just thought of that while we were in her office? Damn, Hermione, that was good. . . . And you're in Gryffindor why?"

She giggled. "I guess there's a bit of bravery in there somewhere. . . . What do you think, Harry?"

"I think Malfoy's lost his mind," Harry said, staring at Draco with a bewildered expression. "Did you just ― did you just compliment her?"

"I'd be a fool if I said she wasn't clever, Potter. Anyone can see that." He turned back to Hermione, impulsively pulling her into a hug. "And brilliant, if I do say so myself."

"Thank you." She turned to Harry, her face flushing red. Draco promptly let her go, also blushing furiously. She tried not to make eye contact with Draco for fear of further awkwardness. "We ― we should head back to the castle . . . we're prefects, we can cover for you, Harry. . . ."

And nobody spoke to each other the rest of the way to their dormitories.