Draco felt chill go through his entire body. Whether he was ready or not, this was it. It was time to say goodbye to his family and his old life and to start his new one. He'd thought about this so many times for the last few months. He'd tossed over nearly every scenario and he knew this was the best one. The thought of putting this plan into action, however, was terrifying. He looked over at Hermione to see her perfectly still, in complete shock. As much as they both knew that this was coming, there was still no way to truly prepare for it.
"We don't have long," Dumbledore gestured to the door and the three of them started hurrying down his spiral staircase. "Our number one priority is to make sure that the fifth and sixth years are safe."
"I know the perfect place the students can go." Hermione interjected, stopping for a quick breath when they reached the bottom of the stairs. "They will be perfectly safe until Hogwarts is safe and we can evacuate them properly."
"Very well, Miss Granger." Dumbledore nodded, with a knowing look in his eyes. "I'm relying on the two of you to take care of it, and quickly!"
On that note Hermione and Draco separated from Dumbledore and hurried away from his office and towards the great hall. Teachers and Aurors were running around casting enchantments and preparing for what was yet to come.
"Okay," Hermione puffed as they mad their way quickly along, jumping out of the way of Professor McGonagall on a mission. "So there's this room in the castle right? It's going to sound completely absurd but it can become whatever you want and-"
At this Draco cut her off. "My father told me all of the Hogwarts secrets that he knew." He smirked that trademark Draco Malfoy smirk that Hermione was no longer used to seeing. "Honestly, Granger. Do you really think that I don't know about the room of requirement?"
Hermione groaned and grabbed his hand and yanked him along the corridor. "Fine! Will you stop being an arrogant toe rag and help me hide the rest of the students?"
On that note, they made their way to the great hall in silence other than a few obnoxious comments from Draco about what a arrogant toe rag actually was, to which Hermione, very smartly, chose to ignore. They strode into the hall and Hermione did not waste a second of time before addressing the students.
"Attention Fifth and Sixth years. We need you all to remain calm and follow us. We are taking to a room where you can wait out the attack. You will be perfectly safe, however you will only be so if you remain there until someone comes to grab you. The prefects will be in charge and hopefully it won't be long."
"What if we want to fight?" There was a rumble of agreement around the crowd at this. Hermione looked in exasperation at her red headed friend. "Really Ginny? Hopefully there will not be much of a fight. This is an evacuation, not a war against Death Eaters. Of course, if any of you are older than 17 than there is nothing we can do to stop you."
There was an instant lot of muttering as the students turned to their friends to find out what they were going to do. Hermione huffed in annoyance as she looked at the face of determination on her friend. Harry and Ron are not going to like this, she thought to herself.
"It's your neck." Draco helpfully interjected before gesturing for the students to follow him.
"Well, what are we waiting for!" a committed Neville Longbottom announced to the group. "Let's get ready for some Deather Eaters! "
"Anyone who wants to stay, may stay." Hermione begrudgingly agreed. "But decide quick because we need to go now!"
At this they left the hall with a mixture of students from all the house following them. When they got to the room on the seventh floor, across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barry, Hermione shut her eyes, walked back and forth three times and thought I need a safe place for the students to hide that no death eater or otherwise can enter unless by instruction. At this a big door appeared and Hermione wasted no time by ushering the students through it. It had turned onto a large comfortable lounge area decorated in all the house colours. There was impressed comments made here and there mixed with annoyance that they never knew about the room before now.
"Stay here until it is safe." Hermione looked at them all. "I mean it, if you have chosen to hide here you must stay hidden or you risk the lives of the other students. We will get you as soon as we can."
When Draco and Hermione left the room of requirement and made their way down the hall they could hear a large commotion going on. There was yelling and bangs and the sound of people running around. THey looked out the window to the left to see figures running into the castle. Quickly they darted into a nearby classroom before someone could stumble across them.
"You need to go now." Hermione gasped as she heard another loud bang. "If anyone sees us together it will put us both in a really difficult situation. Go find your family."
"I guess this is it," Draco looked at her sadly before forcing a cheerful expression on his face. "I'll see you on the other side."
"Stay safe, Draco." Hermione whispered, barely able to force out the words.
Draco grabbed the side of her face and pulled her into a desperate kiss. Hermione felt her hands move into his hair of their own accord, and for just a few seconds they forgot about the world outside the classroom door. With a pained expression on his face, Draco broke their embrace and stepped back.
"I love you, Hermione." Without another word, Draco was out the door.