Okay, so I had decided when I first started writing this story that I wanted to see what kind of slight differences would come through the story by Draco and Hermione's relationship. That means that a lot of their time apart is very similar to what we saw in DH. I've tried to modify and tweak things to make it as original as possible, but there are some things that I don't think their relationship would have impacted very much, if at all, but I also didn't want to make massive time jumps that would make the story harder to follow.

So, hopefully this all feels fresh enough to still be interesting. (And don't worry, their relationship definitely makes a huge difference in the big picture, trust me.)

Enjoy!

Chapter 7

The following days were uneventful. Hermione had occupied most of her down time by taking a page from Molly's book and cleaning, de-griming the rooms that they had been using the most. She couldn't stand the thought of being surrounded by the filth and dust that had already re-accumulated over the past 14 months since Sirius's death and the subsequent disuse of Grimmauld Place as headquarters of the Order. However, the constant activity also helped to keep her mind off of her increasingly melancholic state. It also helped to wear her out so that, by the time evening arrived, she was exhausted and was usually able to get at least a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep before her daily nightmares intruded.

Finally, after several days with no contact from Kreacher, the surly house elf arrived unexpectedly with Mundungus Fletcher in tow. After much persuasion from the three, the prodding tip of Hermione's wand in the fleshy area of his side being more persuasive than anything else, he had finally admitted that he had stolen the locket. Their hopes that he might still have it, however, were quickly dashed when he told them about the Ministry witch with whom he had bartered the necklace to avoid getting in trouble for selling his merchandise in Diagon Alley without a license. While adamantly protesting that he had no clue who the woman was, his eye caught on something out of their line of sight.

"Well, that's her right there!" he exclaimed with a shudder. "Horrid woman, she was."

He threw the issue of the Daily Prophet that had caught his eye onto the table between the four of them. Hermione looked down at the woman in the moving picture with undisguised disgust: her small, slightly pointed teeth were just barely visible in her wide, toad-like smile. She wore a pink cardigan set and that ugly, black velvet bow in her nondescript brown hair that made her look uncannily similar to an overlarge toad. Delores Umbridge.

"Get out of here, Dung," Ron said harshly, dismissing the man without another thought. "If we catch you snooping about in here again, you'll be sorry."

They watched as the man scrambled from the room, leaving the stench of cheap tobacco and stale alcohol lingering behind him. Once he was gone, they looked at one another in alarm.

"Umbridge has it," Harry stated unnecessarily. "How in Godric's name are we going to get it from her?"

"She's back at the Ministry now," Hermione said bitterly, remembering the article she had read the day after Bill and Fleur's wedding announcing the formation of the Ministry's new Muggle-Born Registration Committee. It required all Muggle-born witches and wizards to register themselves with the Ministry of Magic and then undergo questioning as, naturally, only magical people could have children that possessed magic. The Muggle-born wizards and witches, such as herself, must have therefore 'stolen' their magic from another. It was a load of dragon dung that was headed up by none other than the bigoted and sadistic Dolores Umbridge herself.

The three of them went back and forth for at least an hour, debating ways that they might get the locket back from Umbridge. Each plan they came up with was more unlikely to work than the one before, and every single one of them was laden with so many risks that the idea of using any of them would have been laughable, had their success not been so vitally important. Finally, it had been Harry that had arrived at the inevitable solution.

"We are going to have to break into the Ministry itself, take it from her while she is there. Maybe she keeps it in her office or something."

The words were said in a calm voice, but the look of unease that passed between the three of them said it all.

"How in Merlin's name are we going to break into the Ministry of Magic, mate?" Ron asked, sounding thoroughly defeated. "It's the most heavily guarded building in magical Great Britain…apart from maybe Hogwarts…"

"And," Hermione added, "we will be going in with the wizard that the entirety of the Dark Lord's forces are searching high and low for," she pointed at Harry, who stood to her right, "his Muggle-born friend who is NOT registered under Umbridge's new, and barbaric, Muggle-Born Registration Committee," she motioned to herself, "and his other friend who is one of the children of a couple who are suspected Order members, and who clearly did not return to school this year," she finished, pointing at Ron who stood across the table from her.

There was a moment of silence as the three of them took in her words.

"So, how would we pull it off?" Ron asked, finally breaking the heavy silence.

They debated the ways to achieve it, getting nowhere. Finally, Hermione suggested watching the entrance of the Ministry for a while, taking shifts underneath the cover of the Invisibility Cloak, in order to get a more solid idea as to what kind of resistance they might meet, as well as who came and went and at what times of the day. She had always believed that the best chance of success in any endeavor was to be as prepared as possible, and preparation would be absolutely critical if they were going to get in and out of the Ministry, undetected.

"We just have to know what to expect. Our plan has to be one-hundred percent bulletproof."

Harry nodded, understanding the reference immediately, but Ron's face showed his puzzlement. Hermione smiled at him.

"Don't worry about it, Ron. Muggle reference. We just have to be smart and stay as safe as we can. We can't afford to make any mistakes."

Both boys nodded at her this time, and Hermione grabbed a spare bit of parchment, a quill, and some ink, and began to work out a rough schedule for keeping watch outside of the Ministry.

Song Inspiration: Bulletproof – La Roux