You guys, we are more chapters to the end of Draconian! I'm so excited for you guys to be done with it because then you get to read Astoria (pretty please...?). Anyway, now that we're so close to the end, I thought I'd ask: how many of you do ship Dramione, but because of this story, kinda sorta do?

I gotta be honest, after writing fifty chapters of Dramione...istilldonot.

x Noelle

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Cleans target object.

whirlwind of excitement when she rushed into the kitchen several afternoons later. Hermione was seated at the table with Blaise, Theo and Luna, the four of them elbows deep in separate bowls of flour and sugar. Baking. Theo had come in earlier and almost laughed out a lung at the sight, but then Luna had remarked something about how girls – especially the Patil twins – liked men who could bake, and Theo was promptly reeled in hook, line and sinker.

Hermione and Blaise had exchanged amused glances. There was something very unusual about the friendship that had sprung between Theo had Luna. In earlier days, it mostly consisted of Theo calling her "Loony" and swearing under his breath whenever she brought up something entirely out of this world (out of any world, really), but the animosity had long since diffused into something else.

So a new bet had begun, this time centred on Theo and Luna. Draco and Pansy thought that Theo still liked his slags and would continue his hedonistic activity to the ends of this earth. Ron and Harry had agreed too, and jumped on the bandwagon by offering their share of two galleons each. Hermione, on the other hand, was a hopeless romantic and she, Blaise and Ginny thought there might be some potential between them.

Neville, of course, wasn't involved in the picture. According to Ron, he'd been – "head over heels for Luna, but the git still hasn't summoned any balls to ask her out". Whereupon Draco had offered to conjure up some literal balls for Neville, you know, just for fun.

Ginny had smacked him then.

And Hermione had approved.

She was still thinking about this incident when Andromeda's voice broke her trend of thought. Pushing aside her bowl of batter, Hermione looked up at the older witch, who was telling them two things – the first being that the Order had just gone on a siege to take over the Malfoy Manor.

"The Order's been setting its sights on that place for a long time," Andromeda said, as she put on her apron and took the bowl from Theo, who was making a horrendous mess. "They finally managed to break down the wards less than an hour ago."

Blaise blinked. "The Dark Lord's headquarters isn't guarded?"

"Apparently, Arthur Weasley says that's no longer the headquarters. It's been relocated."

"Where to?"

Andromeda looked faintly hesitant. "Well – Hogwarts."

A silence descended upon the group. Hermione could practically see the expressions of nostalgia on Blaise, Theo, Luna and even Andromeda's faces as they evidently recalled their days spent in the school.

"So," Theo finally began, "if the Order wants to defeat the Dark Lord, they're going to have to face him off at Hogwarts? Again?"

Blaise shook his head. "I can't believe the final battle's going to be at Hogwarts."

"It all ends where it first began," Luna didn't seem at all disturbed by the turn of events.

Andromeda nodded in agreement, but Hermione didn't miss the faint flicker of sadness in her eyes. After all, Tonks and Remus had died during the battle of Hogwarts three years ago. Hermione vaguely wondered if Andromeda would ever step foot back in Hogwarts again, where the ghosts of the past still lingered.

"What else did you want to tell us, Andromeda?" Hermione asked, in an attempt to divert the conversation to a lighter matter.

"Oh, right," Andromeda's face lit up now, but she jerked her head in the direction of the living room. Hermione quickly got up and followed her out, watching as Andromeda cast a wordless muffling charm on the room before speaking. They spoke quietly and quickly, and moments later, Hermione was grabbing her satchel and the Cloak of Invisibility.

She had just stepped out on the front porch, getting ready to Apparate when a familiar voice stopped her. "Hey, 'Mione, where're you going?"

Ron.

Hermione spun round quickly, her lips tilting up in a bright smile as she saw the redheaded wizard and Harry a good distance away, heading down the path towards Andromeda's house. Ever since Draco had expanded 17-65, there was never a day that Harry, Ron, Neville or Ginny didn't visit the house, and they spent most of their time there too, occasionally staying over when they ran late-night missions.

Hermione figured it was only sooner or later before they'd ask to move in. Draco would have a blue fit when that day came and she could only hope that Blaise would capture it on his camera in time.

"I'm going on a heist," she told Harry and Ron now, her smile widening when she saw the looks of surprise on their faces. "Are you coming with me?"

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"I can't believe I'm risking my life for a bloody Ferret."

Hermione grinned at Ron's disgruntled face and slung a casual arm around his shoulder. He was much taller than she was, though not quite as tall as Draco, and she had to push herself on the tips of her toes to hang onto him, with her other arm around Harry.

"Breaking into the bloody Malfoy Manor, while the Order's battling a whole hoard of Death-Eaters at the very same place," Ron continued to grumble, even though he secretly looked pleased about the prospect of the Golden Trio finally going on a mission together again, "honestly, if we get ourselves killed I'm going to haunt the Ferret everywhere he goes."

"Everywhere, really?" Harry smirked in amusement. "Even to the loo?"

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, thanks very much for putting that bloody idea into my head."

"You're very welcome. Now I know you fancy Hermione's boyfriend."

"Don't make me hex you – "

Hermione stifled a giggle and shushed the both of them as a nearby window exploded into smithereens. They were carefully hidden behind a thicket of bushes, with the Cloak of Invisibility hiding the three of them. Ron had said it felt a lot like old times, although Harry was more than sceptical because he realised that the three of them together could barely fit under the Cloak.

"Okay, the coast is clear, what now?"

Hermione carefully considered Ron's question. "Andromeda said it would be somewhere in the attic, where they keep the rest of the Dark potions and ingredients. So we'll start from there." Swiftly, she cast a Disillusionment charm on the three of them, before stuffing the Cloak back into her satchel. "Come on."

"Just out of curiosity," Harry said, as they headed towards the side door, "how did you find out that You-Know-Who had phials of phoenix tears?"

"Well, Andromeda used Legilimency on Mundungus Fletcher. She said that since he was a certified thief, he'd know where to get illegal and rare goods. Turns out that Fletcher's in charge of stealing a lot of healing potions from the Malfoy Manor itself, although how he gets in is entirely beyond me."

"So that's how the Order has an endless supply of Dittany," Ron sounded impressed. "I couldn't figure out why. The D.A.'s been trying to find ingredients for potions, but those they find at Diagon Alley's bloody pricey."

"Everything at Diagon Alley is these days. If you're not pilfering from You-Know-Who's stash, then you have to go to the Black Market. They have everything there."

Harry let out a noise of sheer surprise. "Since when were you into illegal goods?"

Hermione smiled innocently. "Well, Draco can sort of be considered illegal, and his goods are – "

"Bloody hell, Hermione, don't you dare finish that sentence!" Ron cried, sounding utterly appalled. "You've been spending too much time with Ferret and Company."

Hermione chuckled. She wasn't actually going to finish the sentence, but she honestly couldn't resist seeing, or hearing, their reactions. But they were now at the doorstep of the Malfoy Manor, and she quickly focused on the matter at hand.

"Okay, ready?" She asked. Harry and Ron mumbled in agreement beside her.

Slowly, hesitantly, she pushed open the door, only to hear a cacophony of spells and hexes being cast in arbitrary directions, the occasional scream of pain and the patters of footsteps. Hermione wasn't intending to participate in the fight – all she wanted to do was to get in, get the Phoenix tears and get out, undetected.

The trio were silent as they made their way through the Malfoy Manor, and Hermione knew exactly what Ron and Harry were thinking. It seemed like just yesterday that the three of them were at Malfoy Manor. Even though Hermione was vague on the details, she remembered one part of it perfectly – and she could practically picture herself lying on the marbled floor as Bellatrix Lestrange carved the word Mudblood into her arm.

Without thinking, she slipped her hand through Harry's, and he tightened his grip on hers comfortingly. They headed down the narrow hallway, cowering behind a pillar when a Death-Eater was suddenly flung against the wall next to them. He recovered swiftly, sending a dazzling red light back at whoever had hexed him, before striding into the room again. They passed the same room, but Ron seemed to pause at the sight of a badly bleeding Dean Thomas duelling two Death-Eaters simultaneously.

"Go," Hermione told Ron softly, nudging him in Dean's direction. "He needs your help."

"But – "

"Harry and I will be fine. We'll meet you in the attic."

Ron quickly went over to Dean, removing his Disillusionment charm and yelling back hexes with the kind of determination only seen on the battlefield. Several doors down, Hermione urged Harry to help Professor Trelawney, who was lying beneath a pile of rubble, and headed on alone.

Going on a mission with Ron and Harry was proving to be vastly different from the ones she went on with the four Slytherins – with them, it was just sheer focus on the mission at hand, without any regard to the people around them. Ron and Harry, on the other hand, were more concerned with the well-being of their allies, even at the cost of jeopardising the mission.

She was still keeping close to the wall, blended in perfectly with her surroundings under the Cloak, when she accidentally bumped her head. Wincing, she glanced up, only to frown when she saw absolutely nothing. She reached out, only to hit something that protruded slightly from the wall.

Her wand was out in the blink of an eye. "Finite Incantatem."

What she saw next was completely unexpected – a portrait of the Malfoy family shimmered into visibility again, the same one she had seen Narcissa staring at when viewing her memories in the Pensieve. She didn't know why it had vanished, but she didn't think twice about magically shrinking the portrait and stuffing it into her bag.

Draco would want this. She knew he would.

Making her way down the narrow hallway, she finally approached the stairs and began to scale it quickly, hiding at every corner she found just in case. She had to duck past two stray spells on the way, and she was just thankful that they were simple stunning spells, and not darker ones. It took awhile, but she finally found the attic and climbed the winding stairs that led up to the uppermost room.

Once inside, she didn't waste a moment to find the phoenix tears. She found several phials of it in one of the shelves and shoved them into her satchel, along with several other important potion ingredients, like bezoar and mandrake essences. There were darker potions, ones that she recognised from the volatile liquids sloshing within the bottles, and she left those alone.

She was still clattering about among the bottles when she heard a sudden shifting behind her, and she spun round. Footsteps. Someone was making their way up the stairs. Heart racing in trepidation, she quickly ducked behind a shelf, just in case it wasn't Harry or Ron.

It wasn't.

And Hermione saw the living embodiment of one of her greatest nightmares step into the room, a tall witch with a mess of raven black hair and a slightly deranged look on her features. Her shoulders were tilted back proudly, fearlessly, and her lips were curled in a half-sneer, half-grin that made her look almost maniacal.

It was almost an instinctive reaction for Hermione's thoughts to flit to Draco in the next second, wishing desperately that he was right by her side at that moment. Just as he was when the same aunt of his had tortured her to an inch of her sanity.

She remained stock still now, willing herself not to breathe. But Bellatrix, with the ease of a proficient wizard who had been in far too many battles, had reached out to remove the Disillusionment charm in the blink of an eye. And then Hermione found herself at wand-point, with the tip of Bellatrix's wand digging tightly into her throat.

"Fancy seeing you again, mudblood," Bellatrix smiled, and for a moment, Hermione could actually feel the scar on her arm pulse to life. "I figured a little bitch like you had died a long time ago. Guess I was wrong."

Hermione felt her mind shut down. The words were stuck in her throat, her lungs clawing for a breath that would not come. Merlin, she was terrified, and that didn't even begin to describe how she was feeling.

Bellatrix reached over and twisted the girl's arm behind her back, preventing Hermione from directing the wand at her, ignoring the painful cry that escaped the brunette's lips as she struggled futilely. Bellatrix's sharp nails dug deep into her skin, until she was sure they'd created perforated dents and drawn out blood in the process.

"That's right, Mudblood, embrace it," Bellatrix's laughter was the only thing Hermione could hear, that and her own staggered breaths. And now Bellatrix's wand was a hot glow on her throat, searing right into her skin. "This is what fear feels like."

"Stupefy!"

Ron's voice was hard and furious as he and Harry came rushing into the room. Bellatrix evaded the spell and twisted, snarling at them as she threw a hex at Ron – the green light that jetted out from her wand an indication of the killing curse, plain and simple.

Ron barely evaded the spell, just as Harry directed his wand at the ceiling. "Reducto!"

Hermione wrenched herself out of Bellatrix's grip and latched her hand on Harry. The three of them quickly disapparated, the sounds of falling debris and deranged laughter echoing like an endless loop in her head, the phials of phoenix tears safe in her satchel.

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The Golden Trio apparated back in a flurry of dust and grime. Once Hermione had steadied herself, she turned to the two boys, ignoring the flaming pain on her throat. "Thanks for saving me."

Harry shook his head. "We've always got your back, you know that."

She shot them a grateful smile and together, the three of them slowly headed into the kitchen. Harry was stumbling slightly, having sprained his leg earlier while helping an Order member in a fight, while Ron was picking out shards of rock that had grazed his arm.

"Merlin," he mused, dragging his elbow up to examine a nasty scrape on it. "That bloody Bellatrix really has it in for you – "

And then he trailed off as the three of them suddenly noticed the people in the kitchen. Blaise, Theo, Luna and Andromeda were still baking, but now Draco was in there as well. Andromeda looked utterly relieved to see them, and the others mumbled greetings, but Hermione felt her breath catch as she noticed the look on Draco's face.

His eyes were wide with disbelief, his posture stiff with surprise. It was evident that he didn't know a thing – it was exactly what she and Andromeda had planned after all, to get the Phoenix tears without Draco knowing anything about it.

"Bellatrix?" He repeated, a hard edge in his voice, "you three saw Bellatrix?"

"Actually, we saved 'Mione from Bellatrix – ow!" Ron trailed off as Hermione elbowed him.

"Where the hell did the three of you go?" The taut anger in Draco's tone was enough for Blaise, Theo and Luna to scramble up from their chairs, hurriedly excusing themselves from the kitchen. Draco didn't even notice them leave, his eyes were focused on Hermione, and when he caught sight of the burn on her neck, his face darkened with fury, a frightening sort of murderous intent in his expression. "And what the fuck did she do to you?"

"Malfoy – " Harry stepped forward in an attempt to explain, but Hermione held him back.

"I'll explain everything to you in a bit, Draco." She levelled him with a pleading look that seemed to soften his features and he sighed heavily, turning to the shelves to search for a healing potion. "Here, 'Dromeda," she pulled the bottles out of her bag and handed it to the older witch, before patting Harry and Ron on their backs. "Thanks, you two, I really appreciate it."

"Anytime," Ron returned with a grin, while Harry gave Hermione a pointed look, his eyes flickering between her and Draco. Hermione simply sighed and shook her head. It might be a little tedious to explain this to Draco, but she was certain she could do it.

Funnily enough, it turned out that her worries were unnecessary.

Because the moment they were in their room, Draco had her pressed up against the door, cradling her face carefully in his palms as he kissed her gently. He kept it brief, a light brush of the lips that had her aching for more. "I know," he mumbled against her lips. "I don't know what you did, but I know you did it for me – so thank you."

She smiled brightly as she looked up at him. "How'd you figure?"

"I'm brilliant, Granger."

Rolling her eyes, she huffed and pushed him away, but her lips were still twitching in amusement. "'Dromeda and I were trying to find a way to break whatever bond you seem to have with You-Know-Who," she started, wincing lightly when he tapped his wand to the wound on her neck.

Instantly, the discomfort ceased and he held out a phial for her to drink, which she did without any complaints. Once she was done, she handed the bottle back to Draco. He took it, but kept her body tightly melded compliantly against his, content to just hold her there, arms wrapped tightly around her waist, fingers tracing arbitrary patterns along the small of her back and sending tiny delighted shivers glossing down her spine.

"Anyway, based on Dolohov's memories that you showed to 'Dromeda, and a lot of research, it seems that she may have chanced upon a way," Hermione said, and smiled as Draco's eyes met hers in surprise. "She's very clever, and she seems to have a strange but incredible understanding of Dark Magic, for some reason..."

"Not a surprise. 'Dromeda, my mum, Bellatrix," he paused, a flicker of hatred crossing his face when he all but spat that last name, " – they were all brought up in a family that practiced Dark Magic."