Seven days had passed, and Harry, Hermione, Ron, Arthur, and all the professors had successfully created a defense plan that Ron had called "foolproof". Everyone in the Order arrived at Spinner's End at ten in the morning. Two days earlier, the Muggles who lived there had been evacuated earlier thanks to a dangerous fire that had "suddenly" broken out among the trees.
At noon exactly, Harry began to feel his scar begin to throb, and he clutched it and winced, nodding at Hermione. "He's coming."
Hermione nodded and readied herself. Ron gave her a kiss as he always did before a battle, and as the Death eaters began appearing, she and the other members of the Order rushed forward to meet them.
Chaos erupted, but lasted for only a moment.
Only a handful of Death eaters seemed to have appeared, and Voldemort himself had appeared for only a moment before disappearing again. The attack lasted only an hour, though a few homes were burnt to the ground. Seven out of the ten or fifteen Death eaters were captured and sent to the Ministry, where they were quickly locked away. Harry knew it would be a short time before the Dark Lord himself took over the Ministry and freed them.
Once they arrived back to the Burrow, they realised that no one was missing, and hardly anyone was hurt.
"What kind of attack was that?" Harry asked as he healed the few bruises and cuts he had.
"Not sure, but it seemed like a lot of them were after me," Ron grumbled as he healed himself as well. He had the most injuries out of them all, which really didn't add up to much.
"Well, it was an attack. I'm sure it would have gone much worse if we hadn't been there to stop them, what with the Muggles still there."
"I agree," Harry said, "but it seemed a bit…anticlimactic, you know?"
Hermione nodded. "I know. Well, for one thing I'm glad. I didn't want a whole battle out there."
"Told you our plan was foolproof," Ron said with a smug grin, and Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"Shut up." She turned and walked away to her room, debating whether to meet Malfoy at the Hog's Head in a week.
She did meet him.
At eight in the morning on that Sunday, she arrived at the Hog's Head, covered up again. She saw someone sitting in the secluded corner her and Malfoy had talked in, and she approached them.
"The sea serpents are at bay," she told him, and he nodded.
"I agree. Sit, please."
She did.
"The attack did go as you said, so I've come here as a sign that I trust you now. Not completely, you understand, but—"
"Yes, I understand," he said, and she sighed through her nose.
"Well, do you have any other information you wanted to share with me?"
"There's not much. You-Know-Who's growing more and more impatient. I suspect he's going to take over the Ministry soon."
"Harry has an inkling of that as well," Hermione told him, frowning as she spoke. "We captured seven Death eaters, as you probably know, and he's afraid once You-Know-Who gets a hold of the Ministry, he's going to release them."
"They're locked up at the Ministry?" Draco asked, and Hermione nodded.
"Any more attacks I should know about?"
"No. Not after this spectacularly terrible attack. Which was brilliant, by the way." He reached for her hand, and she allowed him to take it. "Who thought of the plan?"
"Well, of course I thought up most of it. There wasn't so much to think up anyway."
"You're brilliant."
"Were you in that battle?" she asked.
"No. He didn't send many people out."
"I saw that. It was the strangest attack ever."
Draco scoffed. "I agree. My father came home telling me all about it. He was so disappointed and angry. The Dark Lord was pretty furious too."
Hermione just nodded. "Malfoy, I think we need a different place to meet. This is just too dangerous."
Draco looked around and agreed. "How about the Shrieking Shack?"
Hermione paused for a moment, then nodded. She thought of Remus Lupin, then, and Sirius Black, both of whom were dead. She felt tears start in her eyes, but she tried to keep them at bay.
"You do know how to get inside?"
"Yes. I was in there during the battle at Hogwarts."
Hermione nodded again. "Right then. Well, if you need to meet, here." She handed him a Sickle.
"What's this for?" he asked. She pulled out a Sickle of her own.
"They're enchanted so the serial numbers on the side—"
"—are changed to be the time and date of the next meeting," he said. "I know. I've…used it before."
Hermione frowned, but said nothing more. She didn't want to know. "Anyway, you have the master coin, so whenever you want to meet, you can tell me the date and time just by changing the numbers."
"If it were up to me, I'd meet you every moment of every day."
Hermione sighed. "Stop being so cheeky. I hardly believe you fancy me anyway."
"You wouldn't believe me. But I do."
Hermione pulled her hand away and shook her head. "Call me when you have any helpful information. Goodbye."
She walked out of the pub and Disapparated back to the Burrow. Talking about his feelings made her feel quite uncomfortable.
One evening, Ron sat down next to Hermione, squishing her next to George, Ron's older brother, and he sighed.
"We haven't visited Bill in a long time," he commented, and Hermione nodded.
"We should go visit him!" George exclaimed. "Merlin knows we haven't seen him in months!"
"Sounds like a plan," Ron laughed. "Tomorrow sound good?"
"Brilliant."
"Want to come 'mione?"
"Of course! I haven't seen Bill in a long time." Hermione smiled and Ron put his arm around her.
"Good! I should probably go tell 'im." He stood and walked to the Floo. George sided up to Hermione and grinned cheekily at her. Hermione was reminded of Fred, one of the deceased, and her heart hurt a little. She missed his kooky twin.
"So how are you and Ronnie-kins?" George asked, and Hermione grinned.
"We're good friends, if you hadn't noticed."
"Good friends who exchange kisses once in awhile."
"Yes, you did notice. Honestly, I'm not sure what we are. We certainly aren't dating, but we're not just friends either."
"Friends with benefits!" he laughed, and Hermione smacked his arm.
"Shut up! We certainly are not. We're just friends who, well, kiss each other. Once this war's over, I'm sure we'll go out, maybe get married." She blushed and shrugged.
George grinned and captured her in a tight hug. "Oh, my little sister-in-law-to-be!"
Hermione laughed. "Not so fast, George! Your brother'll have to ask me first."
"He'll do it for sure." George released her and winked as Ron came back to them.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Ron asked, his eyebrows disappearing underneath his red fringe.
"Oh, nothing!" George sang, and got up. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." He winked again and disappeared to the kitchen.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked as he sat next to Hermione.
"Just being his same old strange self."
Ron sighed. "You got that right. He seems less…funny without Fred though."
"I don't think he'll ever be the same, Ron."
Ron nodded. "I really miss him."
"Me too." Hermione gave Ron a hug, and the two embraced tightly, thinking of the terrible chance that they could lose each other.
It was a few days later when Ron, George, and Hermione went to go visit Bill and his half-Veela and very pregnant wife, Fleur. They were greeted at Shell Cottage with open arms and shuffled into the kitchen where Fleur had food waiting for them. The act reminded Hermione of Mrs. Weasley, and she felt a little plummet in her heart as she realised that she, too, would be a Mrs. Weasley someday, serving food to guests and popping out babies.
"Hey, pass the bread, will you?" Ron asked, and Hermione conceded. She looked into her pasta and continued to eat, half-disheartened by her revelation.
"So how've you been, Ron? How's Mum and Dad?" Bill asked.
"We're all fine. Just trying to find ways to intercede the Dark Lord's plans, you know."
"How's Harry handling it all?"
"He's, well, a bit jumpy, I have to say. Skeptical of everything. Anxious. Paranoid." Ron stared into his food as he spoke, not eating for a moment.
Hermione swallowed, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore. It was true; it seemed as though her best friend would have a mental breakdown any time soon, and it hurt her heart. Suddenly, her pocket began to feel extremely warm, and she quickly dug into it and pulled out the Sickle. It began to cool down as she stared down at it, and it had the numbers 0, 5, 5, 1, 3, 3, 0 on it. May 5th at 1:30. She assumed p.m.
She quickly replaced the coin into her pocket and took in a deep breath. That was only four days.
"Let's stop with all this war talk, shall we?" Fleur was saying in her melodic voice. Bill nodded, but the rest of the meal seemed melancholy, even though George and Fleur tried their hardest to lighten things up.
"Want to play some Quidditch?" Bill asked after lunch was finished. Fleur and Hermione ignored him and began cleaning up the dishes. George grinned.
"Sounds good, ol' chappie!"
"Count me in! Last one to the dunes is a rotten wizard!" Ron shouted and took off to the sand dunes outside. His brothers laughed and look off after him, the weight of their brooms slowing them down a bit.
Ron turned to look at them and smiled, in that one bright moment of his gloomy life, and hopped onto his broom. As he neared the coast, he saw an unusual bright glare in the water and frowned, slowing down his broom.
George and Bill were only a few meters away when a loud explosion threw them off their feet.
"Ron!" they yelled, coughing. The smoke the explosion had released made the two brothers blind as they tried to wave it away. Bill used a spell to make the smoke clear, and he saw Ron lying still on his back near the ocean, his broom fallen on the dunes behind him.
"Ron!" The brothers ran to him, checking him for a pulse of any kind. Bill levitated Ron and took him back to the house as George followed behind with their brooms.
"Fleur! Hermione! Come quick!" he yelled, and the two women quickly came into the living room.
"Ron!" Hermione shrieked, and went to him, quickly checking his pulse. It was beating slowly. "Oh my Merlin, Ron!" She looked up at Bill. "What happened?"
"He was running towards the coast when a sudden explosion happened. I don't even know what it was, exactly, but it seemed to come from the ocean. If he'd been any closer, he'd been blown to pieces!"
"Oh, thank God that didn't happen!"
"Darling, are you alright?" Fleur asked, attending to her husband.
"George and I are fine. It's Ron I'm worried about."
Hermione shook Ron. "Why are you so rash?" she cried, and pulled out her wand. "Ennervate!"
Ron's eyelids fluttered open and he coughed a little. "My head," he moaned, and Hermione collapsed with tears of relief.
"Ron, are you feeling alright?" she asked, and he nodded with a little smile. "I'm alright."
"What happened?"
He furrowed his brows. "I saw something…in the water. It was a glare, which was weird 'cause there's no sun visible today, and then…it blew up in my face and threw me off my broom and sent me tumbling down the sand dune. I must have sand all over me." He made a face and sat up.
"Oh, Ron! At least you're not hurt!" Hermione exclaimed, and threw her arms around him and kissed him.
"We Weasleys are tough cookies, aren't we?" George said with a grin, and Ron chuckled.
"That's for sure. Ugh, but I really hit my head hard. And my back." He groaned and Hermione chuckled.
"I think we're going to have to cut this trip short," she said, and hugged Bill and Fleur goodbye.
"Okay. Visit again, okay? Tell Mum and Dad I say hi."
"Will do," Ron grinned.
"I think I'm gonna stick around here for a bit," George said. "Haven't seen my big brother in awhile." He grinned and put an arm around Bill.
"See you at the Burrow, then," Hermione said with a wave, and she and Ron Disapparated.
Hermione peered into the Shrieking Shack at the meeting's appointed time, and saw Draco Malfoy pacing around inside. He was exposed and wearing dark robes, his white-blonde hair neat and impeccable as always. His bangs ended at his eyebrows, giving him a boyish sort of look, but who was really a child nowadays? Just seeing him made her blood boil.
She burst into the shack, making sure to close the door and charm it locked before staring furiously at him. He stared back, somewhat confused.
"What was that?" Hermione exclaimed angrily.
"What?" he asked, surprised at the sudden onslaught.
"There was an explosion at the coast near Shell Cottage that almost killed Ron! I know it was the work of one of your Death eaters!"
"They're not my Death eaters! Don't forget that! They're the Dark Lord's!" Malfoy took a breath in to calm himself. "Besides, I didn't hear about it."
"What? You didn't hear about it?"
"The Dark Lord must've not known about it. One of the Death eaters must really have it out for Weasley." His lips curled into a sneer.
"Don't you have it out for him?" Hermione pointed out, putting her hands on her hips.
Draco shook his head. "No. I wouldn't want to hurt your best friend. Even though I don't care for him, he's your best friend and I care about you."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't give me any of that."
"Whatever you say."
Hermione took a deep breath. "So it wasn't any of your doing."
"No." He ran a pale hand through his even paler hair. "I promise I'd tell you if it was."
Hermione turned to him and sighed. "Good." She turned around to calm herself and took a few deep breaths. "So why did you want to meet?"
Draco closed his mouth and his jaw clenched for a moment. "Well, I wanted to see you—"
"What? So you took me away from my life just to see me?"
"I'm not done!" he growled. "Anyway, as I was saying, I wanted to see you and I also have info that might be useful to you."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Keep talking."
"The Dark Lord has been talking of plans for another attack. He wants to scare your lot by being more secretive with his plans. Of course, it's not really going to work thanks to me." Draco tried a smile, but it turned bitter.
"Any specifications of the battle?"
"None so far. He's just been talking about it. His 'great plan'," he said, using air quotes, "that he refuses to tell anyone. If I know more, I'll let you know."
Hermione nodded. "Thanks. Well, if there's no more, then I suppose I should be going."
She turned to walk out when Draco grabbed her hand. "Wait." Hermione turned and frowned at him. "Hermione I…can we just talk?" His eyes went to their hands. "I just…" He shut his eyes. "I don't get a chance to talk to anyone anymore. In my own home I'm filled with fear and I can't even be myself out here because everyone knows I'm a Death eater."
Draco's eyes opened in surprise at his own confession, but he looked up at her, his silver eyes pleading. "Please."
Hermione pondered for a moment. What was the harm? They'd just be talking. Perhaps she'd be able to get more out of him just by talking to him civilly. Besides, she knew it'd get awkward enough so they'd both want to leave. But…he also seemed quite lonely, and he was still a boy. Still young, like her.
"Fine."
A.N. Please review! It's been really rainy, so I've been a bit gloomy. Reviews are the sunshine during my day!