Finders Keepers

“What the hell are you doing?” Draco’s sharp intake of breath halfway through his sentence made it yelp out. Hermione ignored him as she pushed his pants open further, her eyes taking him in for the first time. His cock was hard, silky and was just begging to be licked – Hermione complied by swirling her tongue just over the head of him.

“Do you want me to stop?” she questioned, a smirk on her lips as she lightly sucked the salty tip of him, Merlin this felt naughty.

“Oh, god no…” the words were ripped from his throat as she squeezed the base of his cock and swirled her tongue once more – she was having more fun with this than being locked in the library after hours.

She felt the car slow down to an almost crawl as she began to stroke Draco with a firm fist – all while still lightly sucking and licking for all she was worth. Draco’s moans from deep within him resonated through Hermione’s body landing squarely in her groin. She squeezed her thighs together to stifle her own arousal – it made her hotter instead.

There was no thought to her safety as Draco continued to drive slowly along the road, cars passed them and it just added to the naughtiness of the situation. Imagine Hermione Granger being caught doing lewd oral acts on Draco Malfoy in a foreign country – she sucked harder and engulfed as much of his length as she could – before sliding back and popping her mouth off the end. Draco swore above her and she felt a shaky hand land on the back of her shoulders, not pushing or guiding, but pleading. He was losing his self-control, and she’d never felt sexier.

Draco involuntary thrust upwards and Hermione hummed, the vibrations making another muttered oath leave his lips. She lightly grazed her teeth down him and she felt his hand clench into a fist on her back – she couldn’t help but grin as she wrapped her tongue partially around his cock and slid it back up and out again.

The indicator was loud over her small moans and sucking noises and she wondered briefly if Draco was just going to pull over on the side of the road, surely somebody would stop and catch them in the act. But he kept driving slowly as she continued her ministrations; his breathing was jerky as the car slid to a stop. Hermione sucked hard, hollowing her cheeks and Draco grabbed the back of her head pulling her up.

Frowning at him she met his eyes – they were blown. Heat fused in her stomach – he looked absolutely and completely fuckable in that moment.

“If you don’t stop I’m going to….” He didn’t get any further as she smirked and leant down to engulf him in one swoop – sucking, licking and fisting until she felt his body jerk uncontrollably and he bellowed his release. Hot saltiness filled her mouth and she swallowed it down, slowly cleaning him with long strokes of her tongue. He was still shaking slightly.

Her head was lifted tenderly and she suddenly felt a little lost and not as confident when his eyes captured hers. “That was…..indescribable, Granger…why?”

Hermione tried to duck her head, but he wouldn’t let her, she was still feeling hot and bothered and her own release demanded to be sated but she didn’t know what would happen now. “I figured we could die trying to save the world – why not?”

His expression was unreadable as he looked over her entire face before answering, “So, you’re using me for sex in case it’s the last time you get it?”

“Yep, that’s all.” Hermione replied, noticing the slight narrowing of his eyes. There was no way she was going to admit to anything else, hell she’d only just allowed herself the luxury of admitting he was absolutely gorgeous. Why should she deny herself the pleasure of screwing this beautiful arrogant man she’d hated until three days ago? Hell, if she was going to be reckless it may as well start with this.

“If that’s the case…” she didn’t hear the rest of his words as he’d jumped out the car. For the first time Hermione looked at their surrounds. They were tucked in a small picnic area – completely out of sight of the main highway which ran not even two hundred metres away. She could hear the traffic from here.
Then her door was slammed open, and she was unceremoniously pulled from the vehicle into Draco’s arms. He pushed her against the car and captured her lips between his, moulding against her like a second skin. Hermione groaned as his hips pushed into her and his hands feathered light touches down her side until his fingers hooked under her jumper – he stood back and slipped it off in one move. The chill wasn’t too bad under the cover of the forest but she felt her nipples harden even more. Draco pulled her up higher against the car until she couldn’t do anything but wrap her legs around him.

He wasn’t hard, but it didn’t matter to Hermione, she was lost in the sensations as Draco’s lips kissed and bit playfully along her jaw line onto her neck. Shivers sprung up on her body as his tongue swirled little circles down to her collar bone. Next minute her t-shirt was removed too, she didn’t even feel it. Draco looked down at her, his eyes assessing and almost black with desire as he looked at her dark emerald green lacy bra. He lifted her even further so his tongue could trace the lines of the top of her bra, his tongue ducking under the silky lace every so often, so close to her nipples but not close enough. Suddenly his mouth covered one silk covered nipple – Hermione’s senses went into overdrive as she cried out; her pussy began to throb.

She could hear Draco’s small growls, as his teeth bit into her nipple, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to send shards of lust through her; she feebly pulled his head closer – wanting more. Suddenly he was moving – away from the car, but Hermione didn’t care as he bit her again. Holy-moly he was good.

Her arse landed on a picnic table and Draco drew her legs apart and pushed himself between them, all while cupping her breast and kneading slowly now his hands were free. Hermione threw her head back, and opened her eyes – seeing a canopy of trees above her. Outdoor sex, she wildly thought – was something else she’d always wanted to do. Who knew she could get it both with one unsuitably hot wizard.

Then his hand was snaking into her jeans and Hermione saw stars as his fingers found her slick wetness. How did it feel so good – how on earth could Draco Malfoy be doing this to her while she writhed around beneath him – not caring in the slightest they could be caught in seconds?

He found her clit and began to stroke her tightly, caressing the small nub as she panted for a release, and just as she was getting to the point of no return – he stopped.

Scowling Hermione looked up at him; he was smirking down at her – it was almost too sexy, when did it go from annoying to hot? He still didn’t move - Oh for the love of God, he was being an arrogant prick about her orgasm – at what point was sleeping with him a good idea, she couldn’t remember.

“Don’t look at me like that, Granger.” His deep voice shivered over her, Hermione was about to retort that he deserved it, when he slid her jeans and panties off in one movement and dropped to his knees before her. Oh, Merlin.

His tongue was stiff and supple as he pushed into her, his hand coming up so his thumb could continue to press against her clit. She was about to die of pleasure and it was at the hands of a damn Slytherin. She didn’t give two hoots.

As his tongue quested deeper while it slithered around, Hermione felt the beginnings of her orgasm crash back to her. He nipped at her lightly before licking around her nub at the same time as flicking it. She was in heaven. Leaning back on the table she looked down at what Draco was doing to her – it took a split second for her orgasm to hit as she watched
Draco’s blonde head between her legs – what the hell was happening to her? Whatever it was - it felt delicious. White heat flared through her body as she writhed under Draco’s unrelenting tongue; he continued until she gasped in over-sensitisation.

Throwing her arm over her eyes, she lay on the table a moment – jeans and panties around her ankles, and just wearing a bra – it was cold out, but she was heated from the very core. She’d never felt so reckless and wanton. She’d slept with a few men – she wasn’t a nun, but none of those could even be compared to the shards of electricity which coursed through her body when Draco touched her. How was this possible? Her body clenched in aftershocks and she couldn’t help but wonder what having his thick length encased in her would feel like…

Hermione sat up quickly, she’d gotten the orgasm she wanted – there was no point dallying over it anymore, she’d let him do more to her than she thought she would. Now the excitement had left her body she felt exposed and a little vulnerable. Draco was staring at her, crouched still between her legs, his breathing unsteady.

“Granger…I can’t even begin….”

She held up her hand and he stopped. “Using each other, remember?”

She didn’t look at his face as she jumped off the table red-faced and pulled her jeans back up. Her underwear against her wetness made a jolt run through her – Merlin, she wanted more, hell she didn’t want to stop now – Hermione wanted Draco to bend her over the park bench and pound into her until all she could think about was his cock and the sensations it was creating. And that’s why she grabbed her t-shirt and put it on – she didn’t want to get attached; she felt a light thought telling her it was too late.

“Right, using…” Draco echoed, Hermione couldn’t tell what he was thinking; he had no expression she could see. She adjusted herself and they both slid back into the small car silent. The smell of sex permeated the air and Hermione cracked the window a little – she didn’t want to get turned on again just from the smell of their arousals. Had she made a mistake? No – if she died, she would at least go with the knowledge of what a mind-blowing orgasm was like. She gave Draco a side-on glance, he was concentrating on the road, his cheeks were still flushed and she once again felt a tug deep inside. She crushed it with a small amount of shame, Christopher was captured and in danger, the world was on the brink of getting a mystical Chest opened up for who knew what and here she was mooning over the fact she wanted sex with Draco Malfoy – her priorities were screwed.

Hermione grabbed the EMS from the backseat and began to put in her wands tracking number, Draco glanced over a few times to see what she was doing. She ignored him as best she could – which seemed to be not at all. Hermione was acutely aware of every breath, every gesture and every gear change. Her face flushed a little when she realised she was watching Draco’s hands on the wheel and daydreaming about where they’d just been instead of concentrating on their next move. The EMS beeped; she silently thanked it for the reprieve.

“This must be wrong,” Hermione muttered when she saw where the EMS was saying her wand was.

Draco leaned over and she showed him the device, his eyebrow cocked slightly and Hermione couldn’t look away. He caught her eye and she flushed, angry at herself. He was not that great – who was she kidding, she’d opened a door which couldn’t be shut now, because it was wedged open with grey eyes and a mouth that wouldn’t quit. She was a first, second and third class idiot. She caught a small smile he was trying to hide and it made her angry – was he mocking her? Bastard.

She should concentrate on work and not worry about the disconcerting sensations running through her body, there was time enough later to forget Draco’s tongue and all the wicked things it could do…this was not helping. Narrowing her eyes in concentration she looked at the location again - the EMS said her wand was in the middle of a swamp. There was nothing around it, nothing at all – the nearest town stood at least an hour’s drive away. “Could it be a faulty reading?”

Draco looked offended that she had questioned his device. “No.”

Hermione huffed, annoyed for more reasons than she could count, chief being her inability to forget how Draco’s moans slid through her. She’d never had this much trouble compartmentalising her feelings – why now of all times was it failing her – she was pissed-off. “Right, of course there could be nothing wrong with the device your company made – because you are so perfect and never make mistakes…”

“Are we still talking about the device or…?”

“Don’t interrupt me I’m sick of it – you think you’re so superior, so freaking special and untouchable due to your name and Pureblood status…”

Draco jerked the brakes on and Hermione flailed forward throwing her hands out at the last minute to stop her head connecting with the dash.

“Are you mad? You could have…” Hermione’s voice cut off when Draco leaned over and grabbed her jumper in his fists, yanking her half out the seat and into the middle of the car. She felt the vibrations through her as the car idled. The whooshing noises of cars passing infiltrated Hermione’s psyche, it was the only thing penetrating her thoughts as Draco’s cold angry eyes held hers.

“Let it go, Granger. Just let it go.” The iciness in his voice stopped her retort dead in its tracks. “You’re angry at our situation or at Herbert or bloody Christopher being taken – but I’m sick of you taking everything out on me for the last fifteen years – I am not the cause for every bloody problem you possess. Now are you ready to fight?”

Hermione gulped, surprised and slightly chagrined. She was taking it out on him – but it was her security blanket, how she knew the world was right – Draco equalled bad, Hermione – good. Now she didn’t know, and it ate away at her – she liked answers and having things set out properly and plain to see. Things had gotten complicated and she only had herself to blame. But if she could go back and change things…no, she wouldn’t, it wasn’t her way – Hermione Granger looked danger in the face and fought it – even if it was a burgeoning feeling for one Draco ‘arrogant’ Malfoy.

“Yes, I’m ready to fight – but I need to know one thing before we do this.”

Draco slowly let her jumper loose, and Hermione hated the small pang at the loss of closeness. He sat back in his seat and flicked the indicator on before carefully pulling the car into traffic, then answering her, “What?”

“Who are you?”

He shifted in his seat and looked in the mirror sighing heavily before answering. “We need to find an Apparating point – or fly like a Muggle to get to this swamp. Personally I want to Apparate, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

Hermione’s mouth hung open – he was completely dodging her question, “Malfoy….”

“Do you get that I can’t talk about it, Granger?” His voice was snappy and brokered no room for an argument.

This didn’t stop her from wanting to argue though – but when she went to open her mouth ready to start a fight, a memory hit her and she closed her mouth instead. Hermione knew very well about not being able to tell people the truth – the whole time-turning event came to mind, and pretty much everything the DA discussed in the war. So yes, she got that he couldn’t talk about it, but it didn’t stop the strange twinge at him not telling her the truth.

They sat in silence after that – the tension in the air more than just sexual now. She watched Draco as he changed gears, his trousers tightening with the movement showing his half hard cock and her mouth went dry – she looked away, maybe it was mainly sexual tension in the car. Hermione had jumped from the frypan into the fire and she loved the heat.

~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~~

Using him, what the hell did that mean? Nobody and he meant nobody used Draco Malfoy, not now, not ever. Especially not Ms Hermione ‘I make the most scrumptious sounds when sucking cock’ Granger. He mentally face-palmed himself – now he’d heard her moans, he was finding it hard to un-hear them. This is why he never got involved with witches who had an IQ higher than five. He liked them dumb and malleable – not bloody pushing his boundaries and challenging him. Smart women were a complete turn off…

He chanced another side-on glance at Granger – the chit had the impertinence to sit there all flushed with tousled hair and a come hither look – it was driving him insane. Draco ignored the sane side of his brain which told him she was just sitting in an office and not taunting him. Growling to himself he knew he didn’t want this – he never wanted this. Granger was supposed to be a sexless creature until the day he died next to his blonde Pureblood Slytherin wife who would make his parents happy. He was not supposed to have these strange and quite frankly alarming sensations starting in his chest at the thought of her beneath him as he ravished her lips and slid into her hot wet heat.

Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger were born enemies – it was a fact. There was no getting around the knowledge that nothing of any importance could ever happen between them – it would be ludicrous and foolish to think otherwise. Hell, she’d practically told him how much she abhorred him in the car. But, he could still fuck her – that would be allowed…surely.
He had to get something out of this situation. Once again he tried pushing aside the voice telling him he wanted something more than sex, it stayed with him. Angry at himself, Draco knew if he wanted more from a woman he could find a well-bred witch who didn’t make his blood boil. Simple. This was about sex, nothing more nothing less. But the fact he kept thinking about sex with Granger more than once made him stop and wonder what exactly was going on in his mind when it came to the brown eyed witch - now was not the time though.

Huffing, Draco glanced up at the staid looking man with a bad comb-over who watched them above his thick reading glasses from the safety of a desk. They had arrived at the nearest Apparation point about an hour earlier and Draco was starting to get really pissed off that they had been waiting for so long. Apparently they needed their identity verified. He thought it was just bureaucrats wasting time – his time – time he’d been thinking about the damn witch next to him. Calm down, he told himself for the fiftieth time in eight minutes; he watched with narrowed eyes as another man joined the first one – whispering in his ear. The wizard with glasses looked up sharply then tried to hide it with a glance at the clock. Malfoy knew the look was because of them – something was wrong.

Immediately Draco went onto high alert, Granger was none the wiser next to him; he didn’t blame her – she’d never been trained for this sort of thing – plus she was exhausted. He still cursed her ability to trust everyone – everyone but him he thought bitterly – not that he wanted her trust anyway, but it still annoyed him she wouldn’t give it. Draco thought back to Granger’s question in the car – he found himself surprised he wanted to answer with the truth. Usually the lies rolled off his tongue; he’d almost outed himself as a Ministerial Asset.

“Granger – you need to go to the toilet.”

She looked up, her face puzzled. “Uh, no I don’t.”

Malfoy gritted his teeth, this witch was a bloody nightmare. “Yes. You. Do.”

“I think I’d know…”

“Bloody do it.” He saw her about to argue and he pinched her leg out of view from the two men, “and keep your eyes peeled for other people.”

Her eyes widened almost indecipherably and she glanced at the men behind the counter who were still talking in hushed whispers. Nodding once she stood up.

“Excuse me Miss Granger – take a seat. It won’t be a minute.” The man’s voice sounded high pitched and nervous. Hermione looked at Draco – he saw the realisation dawn – things weren’t right. She sauntered over to the desk and leaned forward – the man swallowed in fear. What was going on?

“I’m not going anywhere…Dennis.” Draco found himself hiding a smirk as she drawled the man’s name while reading his badge. “If I’m not mistaken you’ve been working here for about twenty years – isn’t that right?” The man nodded, and Granger grinned. Draco looked away quickly, obviously suffering heartburn if the feeling in his chest was anything to go by. Her voice hardened slightly “Now, Dennis – you know I’m Hermione Granger, I’ve actually used this facility many times over the years – so what’s the damn hold up?”

Suddenly the man behind Dennis grabbed his wand at the same time Draco jumped forward and threw himself at Granger – slamming them both into the ground. A stunning spell flew over their heads.

“I said to go check out the perimeter for hostiles,” he hissed furiously. “And what do you do – antagonise the damn men watching us.” Draco was bloody lucky he’d seen the man move otherwise Granger would be like a stunned mullet on the ground, useless to him.

“You said no such thing.” She retorted as they crawled around the desk towards Dennis, the other man with the wand had jumped around the front of it trying to locate them. Draco wanted to throttle her – did she ever do what she was told?

“You can’t hide or escape – there’s a Ministry APB out on you two. It will mean a promotion for me if I detain you here until the Auror’s come. Stealing world changing artefacts and declaring war on the Ministry is not the smartest thing either of you have done.”

Hermione defiantly stood up and for a second he thought she was going to stamp her foot. “What do you mean? I have done no such thing – we’ve been protecting the damn thing.” Draco pulled her back down as another spell came flying overhead. He heard Dennis from under the desk calling for help. Granger and he were shit out of luck.

“Herbert is framing us.” Hermione spoke, shock clearly setting in. “I’ve done nothing but conserve the historical value of every artefact I’ve ever found or searched for – donating millions to the Museum of Magical History – and what – the Ministry believes the first pack of lies it’s told. What about you – you bloody work for them.” She poked him hard in the chest – just as the wizard rounded the corner and pointed his wand at them.

“I don’t bloody work for them, I’m what you’d call a contract worker – I get called in to do weapons research and development…Merlin, Granger is now really the time?” As he said this Draco kicked his leg straight up and caught the wizards arm with his foot, realising at the same time he’d practically told Hermione what his ‘secret’ employ was. How did she manage to make the words slip from him? Especially as he’d just congratulated himself on not telling her – no-one else could make his mind forget itself, it was a frightening thought. The man’s spell flew wide and the wand went airborne. Draco cursed and rolled to his feet in one motion, sending one hard jab at the wizards face – he squeaked and fell down. Amateur.

The door behind Dennis’ desk flung open and a man wearing a gas mask came in, wand raised. He sent a spell out into the room as Draco fell once again to the floor - he was sick of hiding on the ground. His nostrils started to quiver as a green smoke began to float through the air; it was a knock-out gas. Granger grabbed him – eyes wide and panicked, then right before him she took a gulp and her eyes hardened. The change was mesmerising. She grabbed her jumper’s neckline and lifted it over her nose and mouth, motioning Draco to do the same then she disappeared from view. He was too shocked at her
transformation from fear to fight to do anything but.
Then men were on him. He jumped up and started to try and fight his way through, but realised it was a lost cause almost immediately. His breathing was labouring – the jumper only doing so much to slow the knock-out gas. Where the hell was Granger, he thought as he blocked a punch aimed for his stomach.

A blue spell came from nowhere knocking the man in front of him clear off his feet – Draco coughed and watched in trepidation as the attacker materialised beside him – Granger stood there, the wizard’s wand who he’d punched out earlier gripped in her small fist. He could have kissed her. Before he could say anything, Granger grasped his arm and in a haze of green smoke and lurching stomachs she Apparated them out of there.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

Hermione took in a large gulp of fresh air and coughed almost immediately, they stood arm-in-arm in a swamp – a dirty great big smelly swamp. As she stood there trying to get the last of the noxious gas from her system without letting in too much swamp air her hand began to burn. Looking down in shock she watched as the wand she was holding began to glow red hot. She let it go with a small sound and dropped it to the dirt. She felt heat from it through her boot and cursed the damn spells you could put on your wand to thwart thieves – they could have used the help of magic, but when had things ever gone smoothly? Looking at the wand she knew it would glow red-hot for too long to be a help.

It took another few seconds to realise she was still grasping Malfoy’s arm like a vice and she practically flung herself away from him, still in denial about everything that had happened that day. He frowned down at her then sighed exasperated.

“Really? If that’s how you want to play it - then fine.” he walked a few steps away from her, looking at their surrounds. She was suddenly very interested in the ground. Maybe she was over-reacting – but the last thing Hermione needed was this damn strange attachment she was forming with her fellow outcast. She knew he wasn’t feeling anything at all in return which infuriated her even more. How long would it take her to forget the heat they could create together?

“I don’t play.” Why in hell had she answered him? That wasn’t what she was supposed to say, his sharp look had her swallowing hard. He strode over to her, invading her personal space for the umpteenth time since this saga began and she stilled as his breath tickled her cheek and his leg pressed against her thigh. Why could she only stare at his lips?

“Yes you do, Granger. And you know what – I like games just fine, especially when you end up flat on your back with me…”

“What exactly is a contract weapons developer?” she interrupted feeling her face flame red as heat infused it. Lord knows she couldn’t let him finish his sentence – her panties felt wet again already. Judging by Draco’s small laugh he knew what she was doing.

He took a step away from her and began walking around, still looking for something in the swamp which was different from the norm. “I was serious when I said I couldn’t talk about it.”

“But you let it slip out, hell – we are now on the Ministry’s most wanted list – probably have a shoot to kill order on sight – the least you could do is tell me your dirty little spy secret.”

She watched as he took in a deep breath; then exhaled slowly. Once again he ran a hand through his hair, she was startled to realise how sexy she thought this slightly nervous gesture had become. This was the beginning of the end, who’d have thought Malfoy’s blonde locks would be her downfall.

“When the war was over, I felt…” he trailed off and watched her a moment, Hermione felt something shift inside her, he shook his head, “doesn’t matter, I decided to change things – so I got into research and development to make Muggle electronics work with Magic. I still am a relic hunter on the side – except I find pieces I can utilise in my research. I figured the Muggle world was not going anywhere and we needed to streamline with them more. Being a Malfoy – I can’t exactly just be open about my new-found career of a Muggle gadget expert.”

“Gadgets like what?” Hermione asked harshly, knowing what he was going to say before the words had left his mouth.

“Weapons, electronics and other…”

“Actually, you know what - I don’t want to know, Malfoy. Just when I start to think you could be a decent human being you go and screw it all up by being a damn war-lord.”

“A warlord; bloody hell, Granger - that’s highly exaggerated, and not even slightly true.” She ignored his angry words as she was angrier.

“You freaking make Muggle weapons useful to wizards, it’s horrific, unethical and very Malfoy-like.”

“No, hang on, I don’t do that - there are many soldiers and hospitals which…”

Hermione interrupted him with her hand lifted towards him as if she could physically stop his voice. “I don’t want to hear it, Malfoy.”

Instead of backing down like she thought he would, he grabbed her by the arm. “Okay, you don’t want to hear it, but I’m going to say it anyway…”

The ground suddenly opened up underneath them just as Draco began to kick-off. She heard something about ‘saving lives’ and ‘doing the best he could’ but the rest was lost as they fell through at least a tonne of dirt and ended up slamming into a concrete floor about ten feet below.

Groaning, Hermione turned over and absently rubbed her lower back – it bloody hurt. Against all her instincts she reached out for Draco through the dust falling over them, he was right there and sitting up cursing loudly. She let a smile out and instantly tried to smother it, remembering she was pissed at him.

Draco stood up in one movement and reached down for her hand, she ignored it and as graceless as a giraffe she stood on her own, she heard his huff and spun – eyebrow raised.

“I’m not what you think…”

“Where are we?” she butted in, annoyed at the fact she was
already starting to forgive him. Damn hormones which seemed to like bloody half smiling, soft blonde haired gits. Hermione knew she needed to re-evaluate things which made her angry.
Draco stared at her a moment before shaking his head, Hermione felt an urge to apologise jump to her lips, but she didn’t let it become more than a fleeting thought. Regardless of his protesting innocence he was still a Malfoy and they never did things for the good of the wizarding world ‘just because’. He had an angle, she knew it – she just had to figure out what it was. Hermione overlooked why she was so hung up on finding the
worst in Draco.

“A tunnel – I guess.” He looked at the EMS, “it’s not coming up on here; I’m going to say it’s an old bunker or underground compound of some description.”

“Well, let’s check it out – if Christopher is here I need to find him.”

“Of course….” Draco whispered - she disregarded his snark.

Hermione started to walk into the darkness, the tunnel appeared to be well kept – there must have been a weakness in the structure’s roof which when their combined weight was on it tore a hole through the ground. She felt Draco at her back as she carefully walked forward and was perplexed to feel a sensation of comfort start in her core at not being alone. Or was it comfort in the fact it was Draco Malfoy backing her up? Even after what she had just learned, she felt a strong connection and didn’t know what to trust - her ears, a lifetime of mistrust in him or her gut? Was it time to go on a little faith? Hell, everything was so bloody jumbled.

Originally all she wanted to do was find The Grindle Chest key so it would be kept in the right hands, then Draco materialised and they’d been through hell just to get away from Herbert and Raul – now they had the Ministry looking for them with intent to arrest them or worse. How had things gotten so damn screwed up? Since she met Draco up on the mountain, she had been shot at, chased and almost killed – was he to blame?

“How did you meet Christopher?” Draco’s question caught her off-guard and she fumbled slightly with her response.

“Um…Harry…Harry and Ron introduced me to him just after Hogwarts.”

“That long ago…?” Draco’s voice trailed off.

Hermione didn’t know why he seemed interested: it seemed out of place in the situation they were in. “I hate that they have him, he’s just a tech-savvy nerd who would do anything for his friends. He’s one of the good guys.”

Draco stopped walking and Hermione looked back in the gloom, unable to make out his facial expression.

“Some of the bad ones turn out good too, Granger.”

Hermione frowned and answered without thinking, “not in my experience.” Malfoy said nothing more as they started to walk on. She wasn’t sure what his questions were about – she knew she should come clean and tell him Christopher was only a friend, but something was telling her not to, she realised it was her self-preservation. Hermione was frightened of being hurt.

They came to a cross road of sorts halting all conversation – the tunnel branched off in three different directions – there was only light emitting from one way. Hermione assumed that would be where the bad guys were, because who would work their evil plans in the dark?

Draco pushed himself in front of her and she felt herself bristle in agitation – why did he have to be gallant and chivalrous right now – right when she wanted him to act like a prick? Somebody up above was absolutely mocking her to the extreme, she couldn’t think straight – she had no basis for comparison. Was she supposed to be scared, upset, angry, turned-on, indifferent or slowly falling in…..like?

“There’s a light ahead.” Draco’s voice startled her from her musings and she realised he was standing next to her, close.
As they walked towards the beam, Hermione felt his hand settle on the small of her back – guiding her forward. Shit – no matter what the future held; no matter what shady dealings he was involved with, she bloody liked Malfoy. She stumbled and took in a harsh breath of air as it finally became clear to her. That’s why she questioned everything, why she couldn’t think straight and had been obsessing over every detail – she really like liked him. He could never find out.

As she had a crisis of confidence, Draco had come to a complete stand-still. He suddenly grabbed her around the waist – pushing her behind him. Ignoring the feeling of his hands on her she knew exactly what this meant – trouble was ahead.

“Why am I not surprised to see the two of you here?”

Hermione mouth went dry and before she could make a move to come out from behind Draco to slap the smarmy drawl from her provoker’s face, Draco had tightened his grip and hissed a small ‘don’t give him the satisfaction’. She knew he was right, but her instinct was to shout, scream and yell out.

“Herbert.” She said instead, with a small incline of her head – as if they had been passing each other in the corridor of the Ministry. It took all her willpower and a very sharp pinch from Draco to leave it at that.

Then the sickness hit. Both Hermione and Draco could hardly keep their feet as Raul slowly came up to stand by Herbert. Another three wrong-feeling wizards came from behind and Hermione knew for the moment the chase was over – they had been captured. As she swallowed thickly, she saw Herbert’s evil little smile and wondered why she’d never seen it before.

“Welcome to our home, it may seem like nothing – but I’m sure it will grow on you.” With a small gesture the men grabbed both her and Draco; they hardly put up any resistance due to the nausea running through them. Hermione needed to find out what the hell was going on – this was not normal and seemed worse in the small confines of the hallway.

As they were hustled down corridor after corridor – Hermione surmised that this was an old bunker of some description, the halls were grey concrete and practical. She saw only four doorways and marked them in her mind in case she managed to escape – though at the moment the likelihood of that happening was remote – especially if she couldn’t get Draco out with her. Hermione huffed in almost insane laughter – ten minutes ago, she could have killed Draco – now she was worried about getting him out alive. This is what she was talking about – her inability to practically and logically work out what her emotions were – it was exhausting.

They finally came to a large room – a laboratory of sorts, equipment, jars of solutions and broken wands lay across many benches. Dark stains were also prevalent – Hermione tried not to imagine what that could be. Then she spied The Grindle Chest and felt panic join the sickness. Shit – this was not good.

“Darren – if you would.” Herbert gestured to Draco.

One thing Hermione would give Draco; he put up a hell of a fight when cornered. She winced when one of Darren’s blows struck him particularly heavy on his shoulder – she heard a crack and hoped it wasn’t bones she could hear. Draco’s face was sweaty and scowling by the time Darren and another man had wrestled his jumper and shirt off – leaving the very obvious and very priceless artefact strapped to his chest.

As they started to undo the bindings Hermione couldn’t hold her tongue anymore. “Why, Herbert – what in Merlin’s name possessed you to do this? What could be so important that you would risk altering time and history?”

Herbert stopped talking to one of his men and looked her over critically, for a second she believed he wouldn’t answer. He surprised her when he walked over and gently cupped her cheek; the look of guilt in his eyes was quickly replaced with a steely resolve. Hermione flinched from his touch and he smiled wryly.

“Family – of course,” he whispered.

In that moment Hermione knew they were screwed, because if she understood one thing in the entire world it was that nothing came before family – nothing. And this crazy son-of-a-bitch standing in front of her would obviously do anything for his. She and Draco were in more trouble than she could imagine – because these men would stop at nothing to get what they wanted – even if it meant killing them both and half the wizarding world.

So be it, Hermione gulped and looked over at Draco – their eyes met and they both understood what was at stake. Get out alive and save the wizarding world…or die trying.