Mistaken Identities

Hermione was actually beginning to be sick of hotel rooms. It had been fun, at first, to sleep in a different place every night. Night after night it was beginning to wear thin.

The latest, hotel room was one of the nicer ones they had stayed in but was still pretty faceless. She and Draco had conferred and decided that they would be easiest to locate in a high profile hotel so that meant nice furniture and sheets, a step up from many of the previous rooms. And it meant she actually recognized the name of the hotel which was sort of snazzy.

Entering, she dropped her backpack on the king sized bed with a sigh. Draco stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She leaned back, resting her head on his chest. It disturbed her a little how quickly she had become comfortable around him. She'd picked up his facial cues and body ticks even through his altered appearance and the very scent of him, ever so slightly musky, ignited an immediate tingling response. It was easy to forget that they had been enemies for almost six years when he was this close to her. That was dangerous.

She turned around in his arms and tugged his black button down out of his jeans. The black shirt looked good on him, making his pale skin look almost fey and emphasizing his collarbone peaking out of the soft material. With a sigh of contentment, she slid her hands over the velvet skin of his back and placed her lips at the base of his throat. She brushed her lips softly across his and then pulled away.

"We need to get ready." Hermione said, after clearing her throat. Draco nodded and gave her a smile that looked a little forced.

Together they set up a small alarm system using the large dresser mirror. It would notify them of anyone entering the hotel carrying or using anything magical. It was a useful skill that used a minimal amount of magic and one that she had picked up from a most unexpected source: Sybil Trelawney. Getting used to the idea that crazy-as-a-bat Trelawney was a serious, intense woman had been difficult to say the least. Accepting that Divination could have its uses at times was even harder. The only thing she'd had a harder time getting used to was the possibility that Snape and Trelawney had some sort of... arrangement. That realization had almost made her swallow her tongue. At the moment it was just a thesis, one she had not shared with anyone, but she was pretty sure she was right.

The energy between the two fairly crackled though they did not say or do anything that could be misconstrued. It was a mark of their abilities of deception that no one really knew for sure. Dumbledore might but even that Hermione wasn't too sure of. She had first realized something was going on walking out of Dumbledore's office after a brief meeting between Dumbledore, Snape, Trelawney, Harry, Ron, and herself in the middle of her sixth year. One moment the energy between the two professors could have melted butter, then the door opened and Trelawney was nutty as a field of peanuts and Snape was as cold as he ever was. The energy had vanished entirely. She'd turned to ask Ron and Harry if they'd noticed it when she'd realized that there a similar energy between the two of them. She'd had to return to her room and sit with her head between her knees for a while. Snape and Trelawney was just icky. Harry and Ron... it was weird but it ht let least explained their secrecy and helped ease some of her jealousy of the connection between the two of them. They'd finally screwed up enough courage to tell her a month or so later and, if anything, the honesty had brought them closer together. It was a closeness they had and did need if the three of them intended to survive.

"Anybody home?" Draco snapped his fingers in front of her face and Hermione realized she had been staring at the mirror, lost in her own thoughts. She jerked in surprise and focused her eyes on him.

"Wh... What? Uh, yeah, sorry." She was mildly embarrassed to have drifted off like that.

"We should set up a magic bubble in the room." Draco looked at her closely, trying to figure out what was going on but clearly reluctant to demand answers. It was a reluctance she was grateful for.

"Yes, that would be great."

She snuggled close to him and with a few moments they had anchored the bubble to the corners of the room. No sooner were they finished than the mirror began to flash, a jerky image of the lobby appearing the reflective surface.

"That was fast." Draco said.

Hermione stepped closer, looking at the runes that floated around the edge of the mirror.

"That's weird." She frowned as she said it and peered closer.

"What?" Draco stepped closer to her and Hermione had to squash the flip flop her stomach did.

"I don't recognize the spell they're using."

A/N Just a short chapter to let everyone know I haven't forgotten about this story...