"Draco, people!" Hermione whispered her warning.
"Hello people, nice meeting you. I'm Draco." Draco jested.
"I'm not joking, come out." she urged.
"No, you come in." he argued.
"I'm sorry but there are other people in this room who are interested in hearing what you have to say, Malfoy." Ginny appeared out of thin air behind Hermione.
Draco stepped out of the cabinet. "We need to talk." he heard Ginny mutter to Hermione as he walked past them.
"You have to leave." Draco directed his words to Harry.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"The Dark Lord knows you're coming to Hogwarts. He doesn't know you're here yet but he sent orders to Snape to search the castle for you." Draco informed.
"We can't leave, we have to stay here. There's something we're looking for." Hermione said.
"Then you have to take over the castle before he does." Draco replied.
"When's he coming?" Hermione asked.
"He is not coming. They are. A whole army. If they entered the castle you'd all be dead before you realize what's happening." Draco explained.
"Well, we're an army as well; we can take them down." Neville said enthusiastically. Approving noises erupted from the students behind him.
"Sure thing, Longbottom. If the Carrows alone forced you to take refugee in the room of requirement then imagine what an army of Death Eaters can do." Draco belittled disdainfully, earning himself several glares and scowls from the students occupying the room.
"When should we expect this army?" Harry demanded.
"A day or two." Draco guessed, "However, if you choose to reveal yourself and take over the castle, expect them in a few hours later. He wants to trap you in Hogwarts so you won't escape this time."
"If Hogwarts is strong enough to trap us then it's strong enough to shield us." Hermione announced suddenly after a long moment of silence.
"What?" Harry and Ron asked at the same time.
"She's trying to say that Hogwarts is safe enough for us to take refugee in." Luna interpreted.
"Marcus, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, Theo and Pansy." Draco listed the names, "They are the ones who are most likely to fight back along with Snape and the Carrows." he informed.
Harry nodded in acknowledgment. Everybody else seemed indulged in a wide debate over the best way to take over the castle.
"I need to talk to you about something important." Draco said to Hermione as he guided her as far away from the others as possible.
"I thought Pansy Parkinson was your girlfriend." Hermione blurted out before she could stop herself.
"What?" Drack asked, her question taking him by surprise.
"I..that's not important. I just thought that..." Hermione stuttered, cursing herself for saying the first thing that popped in her mind."You wanted to talk about something important, what is it?" she changed the subject.
"Whatever gave you that impression?"
"What impression?"
"That Pansy was my girlfriend."
"Look, it was a silly thing to say in such circumstances. Let it go."
"Hermione, answer me." Draco ordered with a finality in his voice that told Hermione he wasn't going to give up on the answer he demanded.
"People talk, you know. And..the two of you were..a bit too physical in public." Hermione answered.
"You have no idea how tempted I am to be physical in public with you right now." Draco twisted his mouth in a wicked smile.
"Draco!" Hermione tried to glare at him and failed. She bent her head down to hide her now crimson face.
"As much as she wanted to be, Pansy is not my girlfriend." Draco admitted, bending his own head down to take a look at Hermione's face.
Hermione exerted extra effort to wipe the smile that curved her lips, "What about that important thing you wanted to talk about."
"Yes..remember when I told you there was something stronger than the Basilik poison?" Draco reminded her.
"Yes.." Hermione replied, looking more focused now.
"Alright, there's a beast called the Manticore. It's a.." he started to explain.
"I know what a Manticore is. Everybody who ever payed attention to Hagrid would know." Hermione's remark held a not-so-subtle hint of disapproval.
"Do you really think it's time to scold me for my academic performance?" Draco rolled his eyes at her.
"I was just saying." Hermione shrugged.
Draco was about to say something in retort but a loud thud came from the direction of the door. For a moment, everybody froze in their places, glancing at each other. Everybody in the room recognized what was happening; they were all too familiar with the scene. Draco, however, was seeing things from the other side of the wall for the first time. Everybody scurried to find a hiding place, clutching their wands tightly and preparing themselves for a fight. Draco and Hermione hid behind the huge cabinet.
"Go. Now." Hermione whispered to Draco who was staring at the door with a fearful expression on his face.
"After I leave, wait for five or ten minutes then destroy the cabinet." he dictated.
"Yes yes, now leave." Hermione urged.
Take care of yourself, Draco thought. He tried to bring himself to say the words but the sounded too intimate for his liking. "Try not to get yourself killed." he advised.
The thuds were getting louder and Draco looked back to see a small crack in the wall. He opened the cabinet's door and stepped inside. Starting to question his choices, wondering if he should leave. As reluctant as he was to leave Hermione there, not knowing whether or not he would see her again, his sense of duty prevailed. He had responsibilities towards his family that he needed to shoulder.
Hermione had a room full of friends and almost a family waiting for her in that old house. His father only had him. Unaware of the inner turmoil he was going through, Hermione kept urging Draco to leave. Making up his mind, Draco bent down and pulled Hermione for what seemed to him like a last kiss. Suddenly a loud crack echoed in the room and the door burst open. Hermione pushed Draco back into the cabinet forcefully and slammed its door shut.
A few minutes later, Draco was back at Borgin and Burkes. "Obliviate" he muttered, pointing his wand at the old man before leaving the shop. His mind was already fogged with speculations about what could happen to the girl he left behind. Unable to go back to the confines of his room, Draco felt an urge to see his mother. He stood in front of the door for too long before she finally opened the door. Never had he seen his mother so ghostly. She looked like she barely ate or slept. When she hugged him tighter than ever, Draco couldn't tell which one of them needed that hug more.
He could see his family torn apart and it stressed him more than anything. The lies he told his mother every time he saw her about his father were becoming more and more redundant. And he knew, he always knew that she didn't believe them but for the sake of her own sanity, she forced herself to believe that her husband was coping well with her so called death.
"How's your father?" Narcissa asked after spending too long interrogating Draco about his own seemingly deteriorating health.
"He's getting better by time." Draco lied.
"I just wish you would tell him, Draco." Narcissa pleaded softly.
"No." Draco shook his head determinedly, "We can't trust him enough with it."
"Don't speak about your father like that!" Narcissa reproved.
"I meant that..he won't be able to hide it well from the others. Specially not the Dark Lord. And now is not the right time" Draco explained.
"Why not?" Narcissa questioned.
"Because there's an impending war, mother! Potter is at Hogwarts. By tomorrow morning at most, we'll be heading there." Draco twisted his mouth grimly.
"And you're going with them?" Narcissa demanded with a horrified look on her face.
"Of course I am." Draco replied.
"Draco don't. Please." Narcissa begged, "Go to Bella, beg her if you have to. She could help you."
Draco scoffed, despite everything his mother still had faith in her sister. "Aunt Bella had been more hysterical than you've ever known her. She keeps telling me that soon we can avenge your death. She promised me there would be a war and that I'll get to be in the front lines." he bit out a nervous laugh.
"Then stay, don't go back to the Manor." Narcissa suggested desperately.
"And what happens to father then?" Draco dismissed her suggestion lightly.
"I don't know!" Narcissa whimpered in frustration. Bending her head down until they almost reached her knees and covering it with her hands.
Draco knelt on the floor in front of his mother. He hugged her, resting his chin on her back.
"I'll be fine. We'll both be fine, I promise." he assured her.
"How am I supposed to know if you're fine? I'm stuck in here with no means of knowing what's happening in our world!" Narcissa snapped, her disapproval of staying in the Muggle world finally showing.
"I'll come for you as soon as the war is over. And if I...can't come. I'll make sure Hermione does." Draco replied.
Narcissa Malfoy pursued her lips in reservation at the mention of Hermione. She could think of a long list of questions that she'd like to ask about that certain girl. The most important one being, where did she stand from her son.
"This girl, she's..." Narcissa started to speak.
"No." Draco cut her off decisively, "I really am not in the mood for talking about that." he stood up to leave.
"You're leaving so soon!" Narcissa protested.
"Nobody will be sleeping at the Manor tonight. I don't want to risk anybody finding out I wasn't in my room." Draco said, raising his head to press a brief kiss into his mother's forehead before apparating back to the Manor.
At Hogwarts, things went fairly better than expected. With very few Death Eaters to fight back, controlling the castle seemed like an easy task. Snape and Alecto Carrow managed to escape, while her brother and the rest of the students affiliated with Voldemort were secured in the dungeons. What wasn't a remotely easy task, was protecting the castle. Even with the ancient charms and wards placed over Hogwarts, it wasn't enough to protect them against the forthcoming attacks.
Professor Mcgongall was assigning tasks to everybody. The great hall looked like a beehive. Hermione stood in silence like the rest of the students, each of them eagerly waiting for their professor's orders. Bill and Fleur along with several students were responsible for securing the windows in every classroom. The Weasly twins, given their reputation, were responsible for blocking out every secret passage they knew of. For such a great honor, they chose Lee Jordan to accompany them.
"Professor Slughorn, please take care of the Astronomy tower." Professor Mcgongall requested.
The old professor looked around him for a moment, narrowing his eyes in concentration. "Miss Granger, Miss Lovegood, please come with me." he decided.
Hermione and Luna almost ran to keep up with Slughorn's long strides. Unable to believe how such an old man managed to walk so fast. Hermione could swear the man was giddy with anticipation!
After going through some spells with his students, professor Slughorn started casting one spell after the other to protect the tower. The two girls followed suit, Hermione secretly adding some charms of her own.
"Hermione.." Luna whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Yes Luna?" Hermione answered distractedly.
"It was probably just Nargles messing with my head...such dangerous creatures if you ask me." Luna said, "But I believe I saw you kissing Draco Malfoy earlier at the room of requirement."
Hermione's hand stilled, she tried to mask her expression before looking at Luna innocently, not knowing what to say.
"I really hope you don't think I'm nosy but I needed to know if what I saw was true or just the Nargles giving me a foggy mind again." Luna pursued.
"Nargles, Luna. Definetly the Nargles." Hermione replied, nodding her head strongly in confirmation.