Life without danger is a waste of oxygen

"Hey, Harry." Ginny smiled sweetly at her boyfriend as she came across him in the owlery. "Who are you writing to?"

"Err, no one," he replied, going slightly red as he shoved a piece of parchment into his back pocket.

"Well, what are you doing here then?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Just visiting Hedwig. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, silly." Ginny walked over to him and wrapped her arms round his neck, forcing his head down to kiss her. Pretty soon their hands were all over each other as they kissed passionately.

"Ginny," said Harry, pulling away, "I'm really sorry but I've got so much homework to do."

"That's okay," she smiled innocently up at him. "I'll see you later." Ginny gave him a last peck on the cheek before he turned to leave.

As soon as he was gone she began to unfold the parchment in her hand. Picking his pocket had been too easy.

Dear Cho,

Thank-you for your last letter, I didn't expect an owl from you so quickly. So, you're in the jewelry making business? It all sounds great. A lot more interesting than NEWT levels. I think my next Hogsmeade trip is in a couple weeks but I'll let you know when I know for definite. I'd love a little extra help with my charms, thanks. I know you were always good at that and it was never my strongest subject. It will be great to see you anyway.

Please stay safe and always carry your wand.

Love,

Harry.

'Bastard!' thought Ginny, furiously. Harry wasn't even taking charms. 'Does he really think I'm that stupid?'

She screwed the parchment up into a tight ball and then set it alight with her wand.

*********

Hermione was doing the same thing she did most evenings when she didn't need to be out patrolling. She was studying in her common room.

She became stuck at a particular problem and knocked on Draco's door to ask for his help. He answered the door and immediately she knew something was wrong.

"Draco, you're shaking. Are you cold? Are you ill?" she asked, quickly putting her hand on his forehead.

"I'm fine. Of course I'm fine. Why would anything be wrong with me?" he asked, very defensively, shrugging his body away from her.

It was then that she noticed the fear in his eyes. Taking his hand she gently led him onto their comfortable sofas in their living room.

"I won't laugh," she began, "or judge you in anyway. You do need someone to talk to though. And probably a hug," she added as an afterthought.

Water began to well up in Draco's eyes. "A hug?" he spat, indignantly. "I'm a Malfoy! We don't need hugs! We don't need..."

Before he could finish Hermione had pulled him into a tight hug. The concept was so unnatural for Draco that he just sat there and let her.

He began to think of what had happened that night. Being back at Hogwarts had made it all seem like a distant dream but he knew it wasn't. He had done something only an hour ago that he would hate himself for forever, and now there was no going back.

Slowly, but not reluctantly, Draco brought his arms up to hug Hermione back. He needed her now more than ever.

*********************************

The trio had their next potions class the following day. However, instead of being met with Snape's surly grin, they were met with a beaming smile.

"Class, my name is..." began the unfortunate replacement.

"Bill! What are you doing here?" asked Ron.

"Well, as I was about to say," continued Bill Weasley. "My name is profess..."

"Bloody hell, not another Weasel," drawled Draco, loud enough for the class to hear.

"Is there a problem, Malfoy?" asked Bill in his most threatening voice.

'I wonder where he got that earring from?' thought Draco. 'It's quite cool. Though of course it would look much better on me! Though Father would never let me get one.' Draco was brought back from his thoughts as he realized the whole class was staring expectantly at him.

"I don't know, Weasley. Is there a problem?" sneered Draco.

"It's Professor Weasley. Remember that and there'll be no problem. Now," said Bill, turning to the rest of the class, "Professor Snape has had to be called away urgently to attend a family matter. I'm here filling in temporarily while he's away. What has he been teaching you recently?"

Hermione's hand shot up.

"Yes, Hermione?"

"We were doing the properties of the different kinds of hellebore and what potions they are used in. Professor Snape had said that we would be tested on it today," said Hermione. There was a loud groan from the rest of the class and several dirty looks were thrown her way.

"Well, perhaps we'll hold the test next week when I'm a little more prepared," said Bill, wanting to get on the good side of his pupils. "We will be studying the properties of asphodel today."

The class went on without any interruptions. Mainly because of how well liked Bill was. Most of the females thought he was good looking and the males thought he was cool.

Straight after class Harry grabbed his bag and made his way immediately to Dumbledore's office. He knew there was no point in asking Bill where Snape had gone, but something told him it was important to the order.

"Chocolate limes," said Harry. The gargoyles opened to allow Harry up to the office.

"Come in, Harry. I've been expecting you."

"What's happened to Professor Snape?" asked Harry, getting straight to the point.

"Sit down; I'm afraid the news isn't good. He left last night to attend a Death Eater meeting and he hasn't been heard of since."

"Maybe, maybe the meeting, or whatever they were doing dragged on," said Harry, although in a not too hopeful voice.

"They believe Severus is a spy for them. It is vital therefore to have him back here at Hogwarts so that he won't be missed and so I won't get suspicious."

"Then what could have happened to him?"

"That, Harry, is what I do not understand."

"But we need him! We need his information!"

"Please, keep calm. Severus is a very skilled wizard. There's nothing either of us can do right now so I suggest you go back to classes and..." Dumbledore was cut off.

"No! I'm not a child. If Snape was stupid enough to get himself in some sort of trouble he's landed us all in it."

"Now that is enough!" shouted Dumbledore. It was the first time he had ever raised his voice at Harry, or even in Harry's presence. "Severus is not a doing you a favour by all these lies. He is risking his life to help the side of light. It's his life you should be worried about. Not his information."

Harry looked up at Dumbledore in shock. He'd never known the twinkle-eyed professor to be so angry before, he had been grave, but never angry.

"I'm sorry, Sir. Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Harry, his voice suddenly growing meek.

"No. Alas, all we can do is wait," he replied, his eyes softening. "You may go now, Harry. Please do not discuss this conversation with anybody."

*************

Hermione sat in the library going reading up on next weeks magic runes work when Ginny came in. She looked up in surprise for it was unusual for anybody to come into the back section of the library. It was full of books that would never be needed for class subjects but Hermione found it to be a peaceful place to study as it was far from everywhere else.

"Hey, Hermione," began Ginny, "how's it going?"

"Hey, Ginny," replied Hermione, looking up at her friend's sister in suspicion. Ginny was carefully looking at the titles of the books on the surrounding shelves. "What book are you looking for? Maybe I can help," continued Hermione after a pause.

"That's okay. I'm just browsing."

"Oh," replied Hermione. She hated awkwardness. It's not as though she'd never spent time with Ginny before but it was always with other people. Ginny had her own friends in her year and if it wasn't for Ron and Harry, they probably wouldn't know each other at all. Still, Hermione felt she should make more of an effort to get to know Ginny better. "How's things going with you and Harry?" she asked.

"Fine," replied Ginny, still looking at the books. "And you and my brother?"

"Great. Well, Ron's still Ron but things are going well."

"What do you mean 'Ron's still Ron'?" asked Ginny, suddenly turning round to face Hermione.

Hermione wasn't sure whether or not she was imagining the slight look of fury in the younger girl's eyes. She decided she was. "Well, he's still immature, clumsy and the rest, but I still love him."

"So, what's going on with you and Malfoy?" The question caused Hermione to feel as though she was being interrogated.

"Nothing."

"C'mon, you can tell me." She smiled sweetly at Hermione. "You two share a common room and there's nothing going on?"

"Draco and I are just friends," said Hermione, a little more firmly this time.

"Draco, is it?" teased Ginny.

"Just friends, really."

"Whatever, I have to go. Have fun studying." Ginny turned to leave. "Oh, and we should talk more often," she added as an afterthought before making her way out.

Leaving a bewildered Hermione behind in the library, Ginny made her way down to the Head's sleeping compartments.

Draco was sat reading at the desk in his common room when he heard a knock at the door. "Come in," he called out without thinking. Ginny stepped gracefully into the room and looked around. "Oh, it's you," began Draco in an irritated voice. "What do you want?" He barely knew Ginny at all, but she was a Weasley and that's all that mattered.

"Hermione, is she in?" asked Ginny, refusing to be put off by the obvious irritation in his voice.

"No, try the library." Draco looked back to his book.

"Right," she said, before sitting down on the couch.

"I said she's not in and before you ask, no, you can't wait. Now, piss off, Weasley, I'm busy."

"You know, we're the same me and you."

"Is that right?" asked Draco in a bored voice.

"Yes, we're both beautiful, misunderstood individuals."

"Is that all? Because whatever else you've got to say, I'm not interested."

"You're in love with her, aren't you?" questioned Ginny.

"In love with who?" he asked, suddenly looking round at her. She smiled at finally having his full attention.

"Hermione, of course."

"You don't know what your talking about, little girl," said Draco, with a voice full of warning.

"She'll never love you back," she continued. "I can though, we're both alike and..."

Draco jumped up and grabbed her roughly by the arm before she could finish her sentence, and pushed her roughly back through the portrait.

"Get one thing straight, bitch," he hissed at her. "I'm not interested in you and I never will be. You're just a stupid little girl and I want nothing to do with you. So, if Potter's not satisfying your needs you have to find another loser to party with. You'll have trouble finding someone who'll actually be interested in a pauper such as yourself though."

Ginny went bright red at his words and reached up to slap him before walking away with what little dignity she had left. Draco was not amused. How dare she come and say those things to him about Hermione? Was it that obvious how he felt about her?

******************************

Having put the Ginny incident to the back of his mind, the last few weeks before the Christmas holidays were very busy for Draco. Apart from the heavy load of NEWT work he was given, he had had to find a way of ensuring he would not be going home for Christmas.

Hermione was surprised to find Draco spending almost as much time in the library over the past few weeks as she was. He was appearing increasingly worried as he studied book after book to try to find what he was looking for.

Eventually, Hermione found him in the library with a wide smile over his face.

"What are you finally looking so happy about?" asked Hermione.

"Just happy about going away for the Christmas holidays," he replied, still smiling mischievously.

"Oh, are you going home?" she asked with a slight look of disappointment in her eyes.

"No, I can't..." he paused, took a breath and tried again, not wanting to give too much away. "I'm unable to be at the Manor this year for Christmas."

"So where are you going?"

"Not sure yet. I might try somewhere in Africa or Asia."

"But you're coming on the trip," she protested. "You'll only have a week there at most. Who are you going with?"

"Just myself. I like traveling."

"Well, if you wanted to, my parents wrote to ask if you wanted to come back to ours for Christmas. Though, if you've already made plans, you don't have to."

"I'd love to," replied Draco, his face breaking into an even bigger smile.

"Are you sure? It would just be a normal muggle Christmas and..."

"Really, I can think of nowhere I'd rather be."

"Okay," said Hermione, smiling too. "So what have you been looking for in these books?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they're hardly from the syllabus are they? And you have been in here a lot so I guess whatever it is it's important." Draco looked like he was going to answer, and then hesitated slightly. "I can keep a secret, if that's what it is," urged Hermione.

"Not here," he said, pulling her up and into the direction of their common room. Once there, they sat down on the sofa, Hermione eager to here what was this important to her friend.

"I've been looking for a spell to make me unplottable," he said, simply.

"But, you can only do that for buildings. If you tried to cast something like that on yourself you could end up doing irreversible damage. Why would you want to do that anyway?"

"I know the spell is complicated and only for buildings but I've thought this through. I knew I'd heard my father talking about something to do with this in the Manor. There was a man who had started creating a spell for it to be used on people. I've found bits of his work, or rather, other people's descriptions, but I think I know exactly what to do."

"Think? You think? No way am I going to let you hurt yourself, Draco. So you can forget about this whole thing right now! It's way to dangerous. What made you even think about the idea?"

"I need to, Hermione. You don't understand," he said, pulling away from her like a child with a tantrum.

"Then help me to understand," she said, a little more gently.

"My father wants me to become a Death Eater. I can't go home and if I don't go home he will find me anyway. Can you imagine if I could create this spell and it worked? No owl could find me. No amount of magic my father could do would allow him to find where I am. I'd be unplottable, and I'd be able to reverse it when I came back. I have to do this, Hermione. I have no choice."

"You could go to Dumbledore and he could..."

"No!"

Hermione sighed. "Well then I guess you'd better give me all of the information you have so far so that I can go over it all and make sure not a single thing can go wrong."

"Do you mean it?" He smiled at her.

"Yes."

Hermione prepared herself for the long night ahead of her. Amazingly, although she picked apart at everything, she found it to be perfect. Draco Malfoy had done it. He had created a spell. She only hoped that it worked according to the theory.

************************************

The theory was able to be tested on the last day of term before the Christmas holidays. Harry, Ron and Ginny were some of the few students who had decided to remain behind. Harry and Ron were unsure of why Hermione had chosen to go home. Though, with the threat of the war, who could blame her for wanting to spend what little time she might have left with her family?

Draco stood in the center of his common room with just his wand, and looked up towards Hermione, who was sat at the other end of the room, watching intently.

"Well, here goes," he grinned at her. Hermione bit down on her bottom lip with worry and screwed her face slightly as if she were concentrating. She was, though of course it would make no difference to the spell. Only Draco's concentration would cause affect.

Draco said the words and a blue light spun out of his wand like silk above his head, and then spiraled down his body before disappearing.

"It worked!" shouted Draco as he smiled over at Hermione. Her shoulders visibly relaxed and she gave a small smile back, relieved that he was okay. "I'm a genius!" He grinned at her.

"Oh great, another thing to inflate that already awfully large head of yours," she said jokingly. "Come on, let's take our bags out or we'll never be back to my parents for tea time."

**********

"It's so nice to see you again, Mrs. Granger, Mr. Granger," said Draco. "Thank you so much for inviting me over."

"It's our pleasure to have you dear. Though we weren't sure whether or not you'd be spending the holidays with your parents," said Sue, smiling.

"Well, unfortunately Father is away on business over the holiday period so I would just be rattling round the house on my own."

"But what about your mother?"

"She goes along with Father, but other wives attend too so she's never on her own."

"Oh," replied the family natured woman, unsure of what to say next.

The awkwardness didn't last long though and soon enough it felt to the Grangers that they had known Draco for years. It was because of this that he received a rather extravagant gift from them.

It had been Mr. Granger's idea initially. He had decided that Draco needed a pair of biker boots and suggested leather steel toe capped boots. Then Mrs. Granger had suggested dragon hide as it was stronger. Hermione had also contributed by suggesting she magically enhanced them. Mr. Granger had not been overly excited, but had allowed her to do so.

Hermione cast a simple unbreakable charm upon the boots then set about with her real work. She stitched a pouch onto the inside of the left boot.

She had bought Draco a dagger a while ago. She had wanted to get him a gift as a thank you for him being there for her. He had changed and Hermione knew this. She just wanted Draco to realise that she appreciated him. It was also a sort of apology for not being able to be more than a friend, though that had seemed silly, so Hermione had simply kept the dagger to wait for an opportune moment. What better time than Christmas when people were going to be giving gifts anyway?

Knowing that Draco like extravagant things, Hermione had begun looking at the top range. However, she was not rich, so had decided on something simple. The dagger was plain and made out of solid silver. She had engraved on it 'To Draco, with love, Hermione.'

Hermione had pondered over using the 'love' word for sometime, but decided that it was okay to love him as a friend. She had also cast a charm on it to make it lighter, so much so that it was almost weightless. It was faster and easier to throw when it was light as she herself had discovered after all the target practice with Harry and Ron.

It was this that had made Hermione choose a dagger. Although she hated violence, she wasn't stupid, she knew that the war was coming and wanted the people she cared about to be well protected at all times.

When Christmas morning finally came Draco smiled as he made his way down the stairs to the warming smell of pancakes and syrup. The four sat round the tree after breakfast to exchange presents.

"Draco," began Sue, "this is from all of us." She handed him the wrapped gift. The smile on his face as he unwrapped the boots was priceless.

"Well, do you like it, Son?" asked Mr. Granger.

"I...I..." he replied, suddenly speechless.

"Well?"

"I love it!"

The rest of the day was full of festivities. Draco had bought the Grangers a vintage Lamborghini having remembered them complaining about only having the one car between them. It was a ridiculous present for an eighteen year old schoolboy to buy but as usual, Draco had no concept of the value of money and so had simply bought the best. They had been uncomfortable to accept such an extravagant present at first, but after taking it for a spin Mr. Granger had insisted it was only right to accept it.

Draco's present for Hermione was not nearly as large. He had bought her an otter pendant on a simple silver chain. The otter, after close inspection from Hermione was discovered to be made out of diamonds. It had been charmed to change facial expression to reflect the wearer's mood.

Hermione waited till the end of the day to give Draco the dagger she had bought him as she thought her parents would not have approved of the weapon.

Hermione had also received clothes, money and make up from her parents and a new homework diary from Harry. Ron had bought her a book called 'Defensive Magical Theory' which she couldn't wait to start. Hermione had bought Harry a book called 'Confronting the Faceless' and Ron a new chess set.

**********

The time came for Draco and Hermione to leave and return to Hogwarts for the trip with Professor Larkin.

"I can't believe Malfoy is coming with us," said Ron, while sat in a train compartment with Harry, Ron and Ginny.

"Ron, if you're going to spend this whole trip complaining about him than tell me now because I'd quite happily go and talk to Pansy. I'm sure I'd enjoy her company more," scolded Hermione.

"Fine," grumbled Ron.

"Harry, you're looking forward to this trip aren't you?" asked Hermione, keen to lighten the atmosphere.

"Yep, especially since you were able to come too, Ginny," he reached over and pecked the younger girl on the cheek.

"Yes, but I can't do anything. I'm only allowed to collect potion ingredients," she complained.

"Stop whining, Ginny. Count yourself lucky you're here at all!" snarled Ron, still in a bad mood.

"Ron, don't talk to your sister like that," snapped Hermione after seeing Ginny's face redden. "I can see this is going to be a fun trip. I'm going for a walk!" She jumped up and ran out before anyone could protest.

Hermione made her way down through the corridor of carriages until she found an empty compartment to cool off in. She sat and gazed out of the window for a while before she heard someone else come in.

"Hello, Hermione," Draco began graciously, "and what are you doing here all alone while those trolls you call friends are back there?"

"Draco, they're not trolls." She looked down at his feet. "I see you're wearing your Christmas present."

"I love it, although they do slightly weigh me down when I walk." Hermione smiled. "And from the beast shone beauty," he continued.

"Oi," she teased, "are you calling me a beast?"

"Perhaps. Are you wearing yours?" he asked, trying hard to sound as though he didn't care.

Hermione pulled out the necklace from under her clothes. "I put an unbreakable charm on the chain so I'd never lose it."

"That's not very clever," he said, full of concern. "Someone could use it to strangle you."

"Do you have to be so morbid?" she questioned. "I don't want it to break in case I lose it." Draco's face broke into a grin. "You don't look too bad yourself, you know. That smile does wonders."

"I know, I'm gorgeous aren't I?"

"I said it did wonders, I didn't say it performed miracles," she teased.

"You always know just exactly how to raise my spirits," he replied, sarcastically. "I came to say thank you for putting up with me over the past week. Your parents are amazing."

"You're welcome. It was lovely having you there."

"Seriously though, what are you doing back here by yourself?"

"I just needed a bit of space," she sighed.

"Loverboy doing your head in?"

"Ron is not doing my head in. If you must know, things are great between us."

"That's good to hear. I'd hate to have to break his neck for not looking after you properly. What am I saying? I wouldn't hate it."

"Draco, stop it! How are we supposed to be friends if you keep insulting people I care about?" she questioned.

"And they're never mean about me?"

"Yes, and I'm sick of it. I wish you could all just make an effort to get along with one another." Draco began to laugh at the thought of it. "Draco, I'm serious."

"Does it really mean that much to you?"

"Yes, it does."

"Okay. I can't stand Potter and I hate Weasley but I will make a proper effort during this trip to be civil to them.

"Thank you. I'd better be getting back. They'll be wondering where I've got to," she said, getting to her feet.

"I'll escort you."

Draco followed Hermione back into the carriage with the others. Ron and Harry jumped to their feet when they saw Draco, holding their wands out.

"Oh for gods sake!" said Hermione. "Put your wands away, Draco is my friend and my colleague and I've invited him to join us." Ron and Harry cautiously sat back down but then Ron put his legs up across the seats so that Draco would have nowhere to sit. "But," continued Hermione. "If there's no room in this compartment Draco and I can always find a different one." Very slowly, Ron removed his legs, the colour rising to his cheeks.

"Great day for it, isn't it?" asked Draco, cheerfully.

"For what exactly?" asked Harry eventually, after a meaningful look from Hermione.

"For sitting with losers," replied Draco in the same cheerful manner, unable to help himself.

Hermione looked at her watch. "Five seconds that lasted. Thank you all very much!" she stormed out.

**********

Hermione didn't join back with them all again until the train had stopped and they had all gotten out. Amazingly, Draco was still with the others and they seemed to be putting up with each other's presence.

The drills that Professor Larkin made them do during their days away were tough both mentally and physically, but in the evenings they were allowed to socialise.

On the second night Draco retreated early to his tent after a hard day's work consisting mostly of push ups, running and getting shouted at. He'd just changed out of the camouflage gear Larkin made them wear and into normal robes when Ginny Weasley stepped into his tent.

"What do you want?" asked Draco sharply. He was in no mood for games tonight.

"To see if you'd thought anymore about my offer," replied Ginny coolly.

"What offer?"

"Me." Ginny unzipped the jacket she was wearing to show a very revealing top underneath. "We both want each other and I'd rather it was sooner than later."

Draco walked over to her and roughly grabbed her arm in the same fashion as he had done before.

"I'm not interested," he snapped.

"Don't tell me you're still pining over Hermione."

"Don't even think about comparing yourself to Hermione. Now get out!" He shoved her violently back outside of the tent.

**********

On one evening towards the end of the trip, the trio, Ginny and Draco were sat around a fire outside when an unexpected visitor turned up.

"Now, now, this looks cosy," said the visitor. Ron, Harry and Hermione all jumped up, their wands at the ready. "Oh really, there's no need for that is there? We're all civilized after all, well, most of us are." He looked pointedly at them, his long blond hair blowing slightly from the wind. "Draco, get up, we're going home." Draco looked up blankly at his father. "Now, Draco. I don't have time for games," Lucius responded warningly.

"I don't think Draco wants to go with you," said Harry, calmly.

"Fool!" said Lucius, turning slightly red as he faced Harry.

"I think you'd better leave, Mr. Malfoy," said Hermione.

"Oh this is precious," chuckled Lucius. "The Mudblood stands up for the Pureblood." He stopped laughing suddenly. "You stupid little girl! Did Draco toss you a quickie? Think he cares for you now, do you? You don't have a clue. Draco, have you not told your new little friend about your history with her kind?" Draco continued to stare blankly at his father, not moving a muscle. "Draco kills you kind!"

"You sad man," replied Hermione.

"Ask him yourself if you don't believe me."

There was a long silence, causing Hermione to wonder why Draco was not protesting his innocence.

"Draco," she began eventually, "it's not true. Tell your father it's not true." Draco still refused to move. "Draco tell him." Hermione started to cry. "TELL HIM!" she screamed.

Harry put his arm protectively around Hermione. "Leave, before I call the professor," he ordered to Lucius.

Lucius and Draco continued to stare wordlessly at one another for a few moments, ignoring Hermione's sobs. Then Lucius turned, his cloak floating up as he apparated away.

Draco slowly got up and walked back to his tent, still ignoring the sobbing Hermione and the dumbstruck Harry and Ron.

"Oi," Ron called out after him. "You owe us some answers!"

Draco stopped briefly to reply. "I owe you nothing. I would rather be dead than indebted to you."

"Well that can be arranged."

"Ron, stop it," said Hermione. "What's wrong with all of you?" She ran off, followed closely by Harry and Ron, leaving Ginny sat there pensively.