A/N: Hi! I'm elixirgurl, 16, and this is the first adventure/romance fanfic I'm going to put up here on fanfiction. Sneak preview:

Hermione is in the hands of the deatheaters and gets saved by Draco, who's a spy for the Order. but when his act gets caught, his whole life turns upside down and he falls prey to the fury of the Dark Lord. Anyway, consequences have to be dealt with, some time or the other. So, Draco, being a deatheater, ultimately is left with just two choices: to live with the Order and fight for the good side and then, perish with the fall of the Dark Lord, or to return to the dark side to die…

Either way, its curtain call for him…

During his stay at the Order headquarters, he wins the concern of the most unlikely person in the world who sees him in a different light. With her sympathy and understanding, could he possibly turn the world around and fight the war that wages in and around him?

Your average adventure story, but I promise you will never regret reading it!

People, this is 'Curtain Call'!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter – 1: The Escape

Wind wisped through Draco's silky blonde hair as he made it through the forest of Czars. Night time whispers and cries were heard from all around: the blackness of trees and wood sent ominous creaks through them. The dying gust blew over dry leaves and weeds, causing them to rustle and roam the forest floor…

Every now and then, he'd would look back to see if he was being followed, for it was easy to be traced now that he was so deep into their domain. But the only thing that reached his ears was the whispering of trees and sounds of a nighttime forest. He scanned the layers of shadows, the dark patches between barks and the single pathway of moonlight through which he'd walked, then resumed his journey to the Circle, his senses, alert and alive to the slightest sign of movement.

The face of the rich king shone brighter than ever with the moonlight washing over him, commanding the forest to show him the way to his greatest treasure….

(xxx)

"I order you to get me out of this place-right now! THIS VERY INSTANT, you dummies!!!" shrieked Hermione Granger from behind the bars of her enclosed cell. Her cheeks were red from shouting atrocities at her capturers and not soon after, her throat was parched dry.

Oh bother, she thought meekly, gripping the bars and resting her head against their metal surface, now she wouldn't even have a voice to declare her distress.

The two men in cloaks guarding her cell stopped conversing with each other and looked at her with annoyance. One of them, a thin gold-toothed wizard in his early thirties, walked up to her cell and peered into her face with squinted eyes. "yer-whats yer name again, missy?" spat the wizard. His teeth made a grinding sort of sound at the utterance and Hermione suspected from the stench of his breath that he'd been chewing on tobacco.

"Hermione Granger, as I've already told you-" she told him impatiently, glaring through the iron bars.

"Well, ain't that a pretty name, Grant?" he laughed, turning to the other figure, who returned a smirk.

"Why do you say that?" the girl asked him, obviously irritated by their behavior. "Is yours something like PumkinHead Pimp?"

Had the words just left her mouth, she regretted saying them, for the gold-toothed wizard turned sharply to her with a mad gleam in his eyes. Before she could draw back, he'd grabbed the amulet dangling from her chain and pulled her as close to the bars as possible.

She let out a tiny gasp as her head hit its iron surface, feeling pain and pressure spread over her entire body.

"Not short of pride, are you, young missy?" the wizard rasped into her ears. "Why, I say, you had better keep a watch on that mouth of yours, or you'd be sitting in this cell – naked -" he grinded the last word between his teeth and let go of the amulet.

Hermione instantly moved back, replacing the fear unveiled in her eyes with defiance. The men had been laughing. And she felt all traces of dignity abandon her at the given time….

Whoever these men were, she detested them. Detested them with a passion. She had been quite sure they were not death eaters – death eaters were not so stupid…

"I'm afraid she will not be doing that," said a third voice. "And had you been so unfortunate to live to see that day, you'd have only ended up with your eyes poked or a blinding margarine."

Hermione's eyes darted from the men to the source the voice, to be met by cold grey ones….she remembered those eyes from somewhere…her heart took a wild leap within her ribcage as she saw the wizard in black robes. He was tall and elegantly dressed, strands of silky blonde hair falling over his forehead and he wore that trademark smirk…

"Malfoy," she said his name in a single breath, hatred and loathing rising up in her like a tumultus wave.

He nodded in acknowledgement, a smirk gracing his lips.

"And who be ye-?" asked the gold-toothed wizard, looking Draco up and down with a beady eye.

He came and stood in front of the blonde, scrutinizing every bit of his appearance with a hint of awe. The other man watched him too, alert with the stiffness of a stick.

"Draco Malfoy, heir to the Rising throne as you must know, presently in charge of the prisoner in cell no.1548 by the command of the Dark Lord," replied Draco coolly, looking down at his filed nails.

"Ye don say…" the wizard searched his face for any hint of dishonesty. "Maybe – but do you have proof of your allegiance that you can produce at the moment? I wouldn't have a liar come up to me and claim a prisoner to my face-"

Draco raised his eyebrows at him, then produced a roll of parchment from the pockets of his robes. The man snatched it away and went over to Grant to read its content, his expression full of uncertainty.

Draco looked down at the girl in the cell and he almost laughed out of pity: it appeared that she'd been forsaken of all dignity and pride, and the shallow look in her eyes could only mean they'd taught her a lesson. Mirth at watching the young Gryffindor ground in her sorrows dawned upon his face unrestricted by cause or time…she was a tad bit malnourished, he could tell by the hollow structure of her cheeks and the frailty of her limbs hanging by her sides. The brown mangled tresses were messed up and her flimsy robe sported dirt and grime...

"Yes, I suppose you want to take her with you then?" asked the gold-toothed wizard, giving him back the parchment.

"What?" cried a voice from the cell.

"Yes, I do," said Draco, folding up the parchment and feeling its edges. "So, if you please, work the charms…"

A large hot air bubble seemed to have swelled up in Hermione's chest, where she could hear her heart beating like voodoo drums.

"NO!!" she said forcefully as the charms around her cell were removed. "No, he can't take me anywhere!!"

"Say, say, missy, you have grown fond of our little place here quite clearly," said the guard, grinning at her with a glint of gold. "But you see, your master has come to claim you and - well, you must go..."

Master? Thought Hermione, as tears rose up in her eyes. What – was she hallucinating? She turned towards Draco with hatred written all over her face. "What is the meaning of this, Malfoy? I'm not coming anywhere with you!" she shouted.

Draco's face was impassive except for his smirk. And his smirk struck her like lightning.

Grant forced her out of the cell and she was left muttering, cursing silently to herself. What was Malfoy going to do with her? She hadn't seen him since so long and knew nothing of him except what he'd told the guards a little while before. And that she never wanted to know…

She felt a hand take hold of her arm. She looked up to meet the placid, pale demeanor of Draco Malfoy, and fought for words…

"I'll need her wand," commanded Draco, turning to the guards. "I'll be keeping it with me…."

(xxx)

The dark night swooped down on her with a refreshing taste on her skin as she stepped out the Circle's headquarters. But she – she felt like fainting. Her body trembled in the light wind, unable to support herself with the many progressive shocks.

"Come on, Granger. We have a long way to go," Draco's voice sounded from her side. "And the lesser you protest, the sooner we can get there."

He turned to her, finding her to be staring right at him, obviously very, very angry. Of course, he'd always envisioned it this way: he'd come to save her, she'd get mad and mistake the purpose and then, go bonkers and start screaming and…

"At least, tell me where you're taking me."

Her meek eyes met his. She really was weak.

The top of the mountain was cold and her robe did not help her keep warm. The wind simply fluttered around the fabric between her legs, chilling her to the bone.

"Home," he told her, staring out from atop the mountain, at the many layers of trees and slopes spread before them. "We're going home, Granger."

(xxx)

They began to go down the slope in silence, fighting against the wind to keep moving. Hermione, hugged herself against the midnight chill. She'd been so cold, her body was trembling and the tip of her nose felt like a block of ice. She moved a few idle stands of hair from her face and unconsciously stared at the shadow ahead of her…

Draco had a close watch on the witch behind him, he was almost definite she was looking for the chance to escape since she'd been tagging a little behind with just enough spacing to make a dash back to the headquarters... but running back to Knot and Grant seemed just as distant a possibility as flowers blooming in Voldemort's castle on a misty December morning. Had she somehow escaped into the forest, she'd be serving herself on a silver platter to the wild heinous beasts lurking through the woods….

His dark grey eyes took a peek at her over his shoulders. The girl had her eyes downcast, holding the robe tightly around her frame, cursing, if he'd known better. She wasn't planning on escaping, he concluded…a satisfied smirk crept up his face and Draco focused on the forest out below…

(xxx)

Accio wand, accio wand…Hermione forcefully repeated the spell in her mind.

Her agitation grew as her attempts turned futile. She was getting the gut feeling that she wasn't going to like what was coming.

Accio wand, she mouthed.

Why wasn't the spell working? She was supposed to be having her wand in her hand by now. Maybe magic didn't work soundly in this area. After all, it was dominated by dark forces – the balance of good and bad magic may have been upset…

Her eyes scanned the area ahead. They were heading out into the forest, descending into the trees…

Accio wand…

Her wand shot into her hand.

Draco stopped instantly in his tracks.

Behind him, Hermione had her arm outstretched, wand at the ready, pointing it straight at his back. "Make a last wish, Malfoy…" she sneered.

Draco turned around slowly, wearing nothing but a grim expression of calm and composure with a little bit of annoyance on his features.

"Going to kill me already?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips and staring down mockingly at her. "Geez, that's a bit fast, don't you think? I mean, I haven't really had the chance see my grandkids grow up yet…"

"Stop being so cocky, Malfoy, your words are nothing but scum to me…" Hermione welded her wand between her fingers, her eyes shot fire. It amazed him that she could appear so completely compelling even when she was tired and freezing.

Draco noted with quiet dismay that she wasn't as weak as he had expected.

"You expect me to believe that you actually came up here to take me back? To think that you're actually of some use to wizard kind?" she said with an icy sneer.

"Actually, no. I didn't expect you to believe anything I said," he said dryly, smirking up at her. "In fact, if you had believed it, it would have meant that pigs gave birth to sparrows and love-struck canines went around with water lilies in their ears…"

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Shut up, you pathetic excuse for a wizard… what's going on here, Malfoy? You wouldn't have got me out of there, even if you were to have a deal in death…"

How well she'd picked her words, only Draco knew…

Nevertheless, he dropped his smirk and told her in a drawl, "You shouldn't be so sure of yourself, Granger. After all, the last time you were sure of yourself, you got lost in a forest with a bunch of death eaters on your chase. And shall we say, you still haven't been very successful at warding them off."

"Don't try to escape my question!" she shouted, silencing all fancy remarks that were to come her way.

Over her shoulders, Draco glimpsed at the fortress atop the hill. It looked like a giant black dragon crouched in slumber…a frail mist hovered around its upper terrace, rolling languidly over the cannons and flags.

Out on the grass, something seemed to move…or was the mist simply clouding his vision, Draco wasn't sure…

He looked back at the girl who hadn't taken her eyes off him and was still waiting for an answer. Why couldn't it have been simpler, he thought, why couldn't he just hex her into following him wherever he went? That way, he couldn't be bothered about her getting killed...

He began to take steps towards her, his cloak fluttering wildly in the wind.

"Listen, I cannot explain it to you right now…." He said, making it back up the slope.

"Why not?" asked Hermione pointedly. She was still holding her wand directly at him.

"Because…" he had come up to her right now and was peering at a spot behind her shoulder. "Because if I explain it to you now, we'll be getting our rumps fried by the gnarly man behind that tree…"

He suddenly grabbed her hand, shouting, "incendio!" at a spot layered by mist. And before Hermione could comprehend what was happening, she was running straight into the woods with Draco.

(xxx)

Had her heart not been pounding so loudly, she'd have heard the man screaming in pain behind him.

"Come on, they're on to us," he told her, running faster and faster into the darkness of the woods.

"Who's on to us, Malfoy?" came Hermione's voice, panicked and choked. "You couldn't be meaning the death eaters, could you?"

Blimey, she was daft. Draco pushed the thought away from his mind, focusing on what lay ahead. All he could make out in the dark was the closest thing in front of his eyes. A tree bark, a stray branch.

An acute sensation of frenzy, replaced by imminent fear caught on to him: they were deep in the death eater forest, he and Granger, and he'd done the single worst thing that would expose his plan…he'd attacked one of them…what wouldn't make them suspect him now?

He could hear Granger's pants behind him. "Keep up!" he snapped, pushing through the thickening vegetation of the forest.

The wind whipped past him, accompanied by the sound of many a shifting hedge. A sharp "ow!" sounded from behind him as Hermione went headfirst at a tree.

He knew that she couldn't see either, but she had to keep running…

(xxx)

Finally, they'd made it to a small clearing lit by pale moonlight.

Staggering to a stop, Hermione attempted to catch her breath from the tiring exertion, adjusting her vision to the pale light at the same time. She could hear Draco breathe raspily at her side, trying to catch a breath too.

It then struck her that he was still holding her hand - And he didn't know it himself. He was too busy scanning the area for movement or threat.

Slowly, she untangled her hand from his and stepped back. "Explain," she said curtly to him.

Draco turned to her, his face emotionless.

"What did you do to that man out there?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "And why are they after us?"

"You want to know why they were after us, Granger?" he spoke dryly. Hermione noted the serious look on his face, and couldn't help anticipate the worst. Nevertheless, she stared him in the eyes, demanding an explanation.

"You want to know why we're here right now, in the middle of a crazy forest, about to be hunted by the death eaters? It's because your stupid headmaster set up a plan to rescue you from the Dark Lord's clutches. A plan that, unfortunately, involved me. Which is why I'm standing here before you, trying to get us back to civilization in one single piece-"

Draco's eyes had darkened considerably, the steely grey glinting as if currents lurked underneath. He scanned her face for understanding for he couldn't help but feel mortified at portraying the plan so blatantly to her. He was hoping he'd get to play around a bit.

But then, with the present circumstances, she'd probably go ballistic and hex him if he didn't tell her at least a bit of what had been happening in the past few months of his life…not that he was afraid of her hexes, but it would lead to their capture - and he didn't want to stress on what would happen to him then.

"You're a spy," she stated quietly.

"Well, yes!" he cried in frustration. "So, would you, please, just cooperate, and let me do this-?"

Hermione leaned back against a tree trunk with folded hands, looking at him with a scrutinizing glare. "I can get back on my own…I don't need help from someone who's going to serve the Dark Lord after this."

Draco noticed the cutting edge of her voice and at once, began to feel his blood boil. "I've told you before – you're just going to get hunted down if you try to get out on your own! - why aren't you thinking?"

"I am thinking!! That is why I'm not going to believe you when you say that you're going to help me get out of this hell!" she spat out scathingly. "For all I know, you're just going to murder me and leave my body for some wild animal to prey on."

Draco advanced on her with a meaningful look. "I can do that right now if I want to…" he growled.

His animosity for her augmented to ten times its size. Why was she making this so hard for him? Why couldn't she just shut her mouth and hold back her spite until they were done with this mission?

"If we wait around here, they're going to catch us," he said, trying to sound reasonable. "I'm done trying to convince you. You can come if you want."

He gave her a nod, then, turned away and walked into the woods….

No sooner had he been very deep into the woods, he heard a hushed voice from behind him, "keep your wand at the ready, Malfoy."

(xxx)

They'd been walking for half an hour now, listening cautiously for noises or sounds of peculiar movement. So far, there was nothing but the crunching of Draco's boots and Hermione's short breaths. An occasional howl of the wind, accompanied by the cry of a preying wolf would reach their ears, but without threat.

Till now, they'd come safely, with neither of them getting hurt by any means, relying only on moonlight to show them their way. Draco had almost been won over by the idea that the journey would remain peaceful if they'd kept up the discretion and quiet.

He turned back once and found the girl carefully coming up behind him, shoving away branches and leaves from her face.

"How long should we keep up like this?" she asked when she'd reached his side.

"Till morning I suppose," he answered. "We can't rest, by the way. We'll have to keep moving until we reach the edge of the forest, where balance between pure and evil magic is stable. From there, we can apparate."

Hermione let out a long sigh. This escape would take the whole night and she was tired. Not being able to get some rest didn't help either. But she went on.

"You know, I can't believe you to be at one with the good side," she said, lagging behind him as he walked on. "With Dumbledore's side. We've had your name down with the death eaters for the past many weeks. Tonks has been on your case."

Receiving no remarks, she continued, "Do you know the Order thinks you're the one responsible for the charring of the Patil household, and for the killing of Frank Longbottom? They think you're highly dangerous."

"And you-? What do you think?" came his steely, cool voice from up ahead.

"Oh, I just think you're the dirt under my shoe…"

Blimey, that was when she realized she didn't have her shoes. She looked down at her feet. At her bare feet.

Damn that stupid, Knot and Grant! How was she supposed to go through a forest without anything protecting her feet?

Maybe she could knock down Malfoy and get into his boots.

(xxx)

Another clearing had come and gone. Draco had slowed down for some time, taking in a whip of cool air and stretching out his limps. Behind him, Hermione fell upon a broken tree trunk lying on the ground. I'm so tired, I could fall asleep right here, she thought, rubbing her face with her hands, at the same time, keeping her eyes open for anything strange.

She stared out at the forest, at the dark, empty spaces between the trees, thinking about how all this happened-

She remembered it was a cold, wearisome night. Her sources had told her that the missing aurors had gone wandering around in this forest. She'd also received intelligence that they'd been under the imperious curse, moving in a direction south of the Polar Balance (the line separating the realm of dark magic from the world, which extended from the edge of the wood till the shores of the Great Ocean).

Her task had been to find the two missing persons. And she had been pursuing it with little success as she was without backup and could not send or receive information regarding their whereabouts due to the unstable condition of the woods.

Her task took two whole days and a single night.

The second night, she'd been captured.

Anger plunged into her veins as she thought of how lamely she'd landed in the lap of the dark forces. She wasn't even aware of their presence when they stood right beside her by the tree trunk, though her compass moved wildly with no certain direction…

Hermione shook away the unpleasant memory. She'd been feeling bad enough for herself to go land in a situation like that. Now, there was another situation she had her hands dirtied in: her escape with Draco Malfoy.

It made her feel, if possible, worse. Because she was relying on Malfoy, convicted death eater, to lead her out of the forest, with full knowledge of her circumstances, making her possibly vulnerable to any kind of mojohe sent her way…

Anyways, there was no point in cribbing about 'feelings'. Feelings change all the time.

Maybe she might even end up liking her journey with him by the break of day tomorrow, and who knows, maybe he's been right all along - he would take her to Dumbledore!

Such happy thoughts were fairly elevating for her mood, but when the puncture came in form a look from Draco, all the air just frooffed out. Deflated.

He noticed that her face was twisting in some odd way. Probably anxious about something (what wasn't there two be anxious about?). Then, he'd noticed the way she was biting her lips in some kind of act of desperation, and it was garnering her his attention, he had to glare and burn a hole in whatever was her issue.

Satisfied, he peered around the forest…

He couldn't have mistaken it, but there was an odd chill the place was giving him. The forest had been on fairly moderate temperature till then. He looked towards the girl. She was feeling it too, slowly, tightening her robe around her.

A creepy, layered mist spread through the trees, wreaking across upturned roots and hedges and making its way towards their clearing.

Hermione got up and walked towards him. "Draco…what's happening?"

"I-I dunno," he replied uncertainly as the mist closed around them. He could feel Hermione come closer, a small tug at the sleeve of his shirt to indicate her presence. The sheer whiteness of the fog had blinded them, getting into their noses and chilling their bodies.

A breath of icy cold air was blown their way, and Draco felt her curl into him. He couldn't mistake the action for anything other than the need to not loose him in the fog, for it had grown so thick, they lost sight of the trees and the vegetation around them.

Then, he saw it.

A glistening pair of eyes set into the fog. He couldn't say how deep in the fog it was, but the shinning orbs shone dully with layers of mist passing over it.

He placed a hand around the girl lightly, never once taking his eyes off the orbs. "Don't move…" he whispered.

The chill crept in through his shirt, pressed against his body. His own heartbeat seemed to die within his chest…

The girl made a sound similar to a whimper. The chill was starting to affect her too.

The two orbs of shining light drew closer, a haze around them like the flashlights of a car on a foggy night. Then slowly, inch by inch, a face was revealed.

Draco watched horror-struck as the eyes were set into deep sockets in a black face…a dog's face.

He wanted to close his eyes…was he seeing the grim?

The muffling sound of the frigorific ambience, the horrible chill pressed onto them from all around, flowing into their clothes like gaseous water. "Don't move," he whispered again, holding her close….

A haze of slivery white light erupted from the behind the black face, shrouding it in its pure essence. It cast out over Draco and Hermione, and for a minute, they were standing under a glimmering, white sky...

No sooner had the light appeared, it wisped into nothingness. The chill receded, withdrawing into the trees, as did the mist. And the face of the dog disappeared into the wood along with the shinning orbs of light.

"Is it gone?" Hermione's voice reached his ear.

She opened her eyes and looked around…there was no fog, there was no chill… "What was that?" she asked, stepping away cautiously.

She received no answer; for Draco's eyes hadn't left the spot where he'd seen the dog's face disappear. Yes, he'd been spooked, but far worse than witnessing a supernatural phenomenon, he had seen the grim, the omen of death…

"Let's go," he said in a whisper.

He looked at Hermione who'd been watching him funnily.

"You look terrified, Draco," she said. The unnerved look was clearly visible on his face. His pale exterior had clearly betrayed his feelings at the moment. "Did you see something?"

"No. I said, 'let's go'!" he said a little more forcefully. "Move it - now!!"

(xxx)

The midnight moon appeared like a ring descended between the hills. Sure, it was an object of quiescent enchantment and all, but Hermione couldn't help but be reminded of werewolves when she looked at it. She even heard one howl in the woods.

"You'd tell me if it was important, wouldn't you?" she called out.

Draco was walking straight ahead with his wand out, pushing branches from his face on high alert.

"Why does it bug you so much, Granger?" he asked back in an unconcerned voice.

"Because we're in this forest together, and if something goes wrong and I've got to bear witness to-"

"Will you just shut it?"

Hermione glared at him: he'd seen something. She knew it. Like a primal instinct.

Heck, she'd felt the cold too – the absolute chill grazing her face and arms, the strange feeling that was something was out there…

Yet, why wouldn't he tell her what it was? He wasn't even ready to admit what he'd seen…ugh, she hated it when things were so hard to figure out! Malfoy was such a prat, at times! Ever so stubborn!

Meanwhile, in Draco's mind, very different thoughts lurked.

Judging by the way of things, there was an end coming up for him pretty near in the future. His life span had already been cut short due to the war and now he knew death was waiting right around the corner somewhere….his brain was stormed with ideas of how he was to die…and no, he didn't have to think much about that…he knew how he was going to die.

"I saw the grim, Granger," he told her with no distinct emotion underlying his voice.

"Oh! Is that all?" came her response in a cool, unaffected manner.

Draco stopped by a hedge and turned in her direction, a scowl written on his face. "I saw the omen of death."

"Doesn't mean you're going to die," she replied casually coming up to him. "That Trelawney woman saw the grim in Harry's tea cup in third year. He didn't die."

"Potter lives on luck. He'd be roasted in hell if it weren't for that bird to show up in the chamber on time."

"And what do you live on?"

"Choices."

"Everyone lives on choices, Malfoy. Not only you…besides, even if you do die after seeing the omen, it's not going to be a loss for anyone…" she smirked at him cheekily and continued her walk proudly into the woods.

Draco leaned back on a tree trunk, contemplating the meaning of her words. It hit him with hard anger that the words were indeed true: he was of use to the Order and to the Dark Lord, but between the shift of sides, he didn't think he was very much valued by anyone. Even his mother despised him. There was a possibility that after his death, he would be remembered as a Malfoy boy with no backbone…

His predictions and muses were broken when he heard a shrill scream rake through the forest

– Granger! He thought in alarm.

He ran into the part of the wood into which she'd disappeared, searching for the girl with a frantic gaze. "Granger! Where are you?"

The woods were dark, sending back echoes. His body turned around, cloak swishing on the ground. Stupid girl, what had she gotten herself into now?

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our little Draco," came a sneering voice from the shadows.

Draco froze as he heard the voice. He knew that voice…it couldn't be…

A hooded figure stepped out into the moonlight, followed by another, shorter in stature, holding Hermione in an arrested position with a hand covering her mouth and a wand stuck at her throat.

Draco's eyes widened, but he tried not to show his alarm.

The figure out down the hood to reveal himself, "I'm afraid Miss Granger has been running into some very troublesome spots recently," drawled Lucius, looking towards the girl who squirmed at the address.

The other hooded figure strengthened his hold on her, pushing his wand deeper into the side of her throat.

"Yes, well, I – I know," Draco cursed himself for stammering so much in front of his father. But he couldn't help but feel nervous for the girl in the death eaters hands. He watched her brown eyes dart between him and his father, panic showing in them rather blatantly.

"Wasting her time, looking for dead aurors, winding up with Alecto and now loose in the forest…." Lucius put on a fake scowl. "My, my, she is intent on getting herself killed."

"She's my charge, father. I got permission from the Dark Lord. That's why I brought her out," Draco said quickly.

Lucius turned his grey eyes on to him instead. "Really now, Draco? I didn't ask for that…" he said, a sly smirk forming at the corners of his lips.

Damn! thought Draco. He felt like slamming his head into one of the nearby trees…

"Now why would you want you want to keep this girl?" continued Lucius, looking as if he was trying to answer his own question. "What use could she be to you?"

"It's for my own pleasure, father," he replied quickly. "She's a waste of space at the quarters. Knot and Grant haven't been able to get a word out of her. I can do the job very well, then, discard her off like the rest of their lot. I'm sure that by the time I'm done with her, we'll have all the answers we require…"

His father gazed intently into his eyes, keen on making him squirm on the inside…Lucius was a powerful wizard, Draco knew. He could detect lies like it were a fly in his face.

"Good…" he ordered the other man to release Hermione.

"But I do hope you know what you're doing. You are going to step into the free world after this, where our magical enforcements will not always be there to assist you."

"I do not require enforcements to get this task done, father."

Draco looked towards the girl – she was rubbing her arm gingerly, glaring sideways at the hooded man. Lucius looked at her too.

"Such a pretty face, don't you think?" he asked in a long drawl. "It's almost a pity she'd going to die…come, Travers, we should get back."

And with that, he raised his hood. "and Draco, I received intelligence that you set fire to a guard right outside the fortress….whether your intentions were honorable or not, it is not wise to harm one of us when we're lacking in number and strength….once again I'd like to say, I hope you know what you're doing."

After he'd wisped into the woods with the other deatheater, Draco breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the trying conversation was over. He expected Hermione to share the same relief, but for some reason, she appeared to be bothered, not relieved…

"I think he's on to us," she told him finally. "You could make it out in his words. He doesn't trust you."

Draco came over, placing a finger on his lips, gesturing her to keep silent. When they were close enough, he leaned in and said, "I wouldn't bet on it."

(xxx)

The sky had turned a shade of pale grey. Light clouds dotted the horizon and the stars had faded. They were still making it through the forest, the very first portions of it though, happy to have come so far. The lower layers of the forest were marked by thin trees and scattered bushes. The chirpings of birds could be heard, lending an almost elevating feel to the place. Hermione's spirits brightened when she saw the dawn of the fields and grasses…she could see the long grasses shift and bend in the cool, relaxing wind…

"See where we are right now, Granger?" Draco asked from her side. "We're going home, I told you."

She turned to him with a smile. It was the first time she'd smiled at him…with her cheeks reddening in the soaring wind and her hair flying back…her smile, he'd never noticed it in this way before, but it was a charming smile. Draco thought he must have gone crazy, coz he actually noted her smile – and found it … interesting, to say the least.

"I didn't think you would do it," she breathed, placing her hands on her hips. "I really never thought we'd come this far."

"Well, I guess you owe someone an apology," he said with a smirk.

"I was being cautious!"

"But you still had the wits to go around doubting me at every juncture in the journey!"

"Oh please! We're not best buddies and you're not exactly the person I trust the most in this world…so I have all reason to doubt you."

Draco rolled his eyes, "fine. Whatever. We should get moving. I suppose the line of Balance is right behind that row of trees…" and he began to go down the slope into the fields.

Hermione paused before following his steps. The smile that had leaked onto her face through the conversation faltered when she looked down at her feet… they were bleeding. And sores had come up on the sides.

But she had to keep on going. She had to reach the line of balance.

She had to go back home.

So, with tired, bleeding feet, Hermione took small steps down the grassy slope.

(xxx)

By the time they'd reached the Polar Balance, the first few rays of sun had spread across the sky, lightening its hue to a faint pink. Standing under a withered willow tree, Hermione stared out at the land they'd journeyed across. She could see only the beginning of the forest, for the latter body extended back through the hills, to the ocean…

"Let's go," said Draco, pointing to a certain tall bush in the middle of the plain.

Hermione's eyes swept across the land for one last time and then, went over to Draco.

"We're going to have to apparate, right? …something a bit odd … a ring…yes…"

She came over to see what he was muttering about. "Looking for the port key?" she peered at the branches bearing small round berries.

"Found it-" and he pointed at a small, crusted ring hooked onto one of the top branches. "Yeah, so grab on to me, Granger…we're going home…" and before she could say anything, he'd grabbed her hand and touched the ring….

(xxx)

Landing on her sore feet, Hermione stumbled forward onto rough ground with a loud, "ooff!" she rubbed her back gingerly feeling pain shoot through. God, that hurt…her feet were now pounding with pain after the sharp landing.

"Oh god…" she got up shakily and stood awhile without certainty whether her legs would give way beneath her. However, she could claim balance over them and the only thing she had to deal with was the pain.

Malfoy stumbled in after her, landing firmly on his feet without losing balance. He dusted the sleeve of his shirt, checked on her, then turned to face the morning sunlight in full blast…

"Down there is Hogsmeade." he pointed with his chin. "The towns just waking up. Maybe we could catch a spot of tea before the townsfolk fill in."

Hermione looked down from where they were standing and took in the view of civilization…something she'd been missing for a long, long while.

As they walked down the streets, she saw sights she loved: a wooden cart being loaded with potion bottles, a street corner with an empty newspaper stand, the last of the streetlamps going out and young mothers throwing open windows of their tiny houses…it felt so good to witness such regular scenes. Hermione couldn't believe how long she'd been cramped inside the Order headquarters, working on cases, completely cutting off all contact with the outside world…

They got into a small coffee shop and ordered two cups of coffee.

"I'm sure you're thinking the next time you get caught, it should be in the Sahara, so I could burn my back before I come to get you," Draco smirked.

"I wasn't thinking that," she said defensively, a grin creeping up her face.

"Yeah. Yeah. Keep on denying."

The next stop:

The Order's doorstep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: hope you found it to be a good read. if you liked it, please leave a review! It'll always be appreciated. :-)

Most of the chapters in this story are long and have a number of incidents bunched up into it. if you find it difficult to follow, do let me know, I'll do something about it.

since the chapters are long, the fic is likely to get over with 8/9 chapters. However, if you guyz really like it, I can continue, maybe with a sequel!

Now, the review button is right there – bottom left.

Just click it once and type out what you felt about this chapter, my fic, the writing style, the idea or anything else related to the HP context. It'll really get me going and I'll be putting up another chapter for your entertainment before you know it!

Next chapter sneak preview: The Order, the Black's library, and some aroma therapy…

Luv yah!

-elixirgurl