/an/
hi :)
I am really happy! 208 views! Thank you awesome people! So I'll try and make this chapter 2,000 words! In honor of Alan Rickman, I will have Hermione and Draco meet Alan Rickman (not Snape) in this chapter. We miss you Alan. Thank you.
Hey so please excuse me for not writing in forever! This a/n is really long so I'll just let you read.
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-Draco-

BANG! The noise came again, making everyone scream in terror.

"Prefects, please escort everyone back to the house common rooms to evade this disruption." Dumbledore calmly commanded. Everyone was already running around the room. "SILENCE!" he bellowed. "Follow the prefects!"

No one dared to argue.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, please follow me." he said ever so quietly. I strained to hear him, but saw Hermione nod. I figure it was safe to follow, he was just an old man right?

Dumbledore took us to his office.

"Draco, would you mind if I..." Dumbledore started as he shut the door behind us.

"No," I sharply replied.

"Good. Hermione, I assume you know of Draco's task?" he asked. I lowered my head.

"I suppose Professor, but I was only told about the Vanishing Cabinet." Hermione informed him before throwing me a glare.

"Oh, alright, sit down then." He raised his wand, and two chairs appeared in front of us. We sat. "Well, Hermione, Draco has some things to tell you. Go on."

"I...I...I'm a...Death Eater..." I quickly stuttered. She took a few moments to comprehend it, then slowly, her eyes widened.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy!" Hermione whipped out her wand and pointed it at me, but faced Dumbledore. "Professor! How could you not tell me?!"

Dumbledore shrugged. "It did not seem appropriate at the time." He motioned for me to explain further.

"Well," I hurriedly said. "The Death Eaters want me to prove my worth ad my allegiance to The Dark Lord. So, The Dark Lord gave me a task..."

Hermione pressed her lips in a thin line, making her look rather like McGonagall. "Continue." she demanded firmly. I felt too afraid to argue at the moment, so I nodded.

"Yeah...I guess..." I faintly responded. She shot me a glare.

"Fine, alright?" I continued. "They told me I...I had to kill Dumbledore!" I blurted out before looking away from her look of horror.

"Draco Malfoy! You are the lowest of the low! How could you?! And I suppose, you being you, you just agreed!" She sprang up from her seat and launched a hex at my head. "Anteoculatia!" Antlers appeared on my head, replacing my platinum hair with them. My hands shifted up to feel them; they felt like they were molded into me. She looked satisfied with my horrible appearance, but apparently she wasn't, since she shot a Babbling curse at me and then raised her wand yet again. I attempted to duck back into the wall; Dumbledore had confiscated my wand as we had entered, probably for this very reason. She shot a Bat-Bogey hex at me.

"AHHHH!!!!" I screamed wildly, flailing my arms everywhere. "BLAH BLAH BLAH!" Bats were fluttering around me, occasionally attacking me at their leisure.

Stupid Babbling curse...

To my surprise, this only made her double over in fits of laughter.

"That is not necessary right now, Miss Granger. But if it helps you cooperate, then I guess it can't be helped." he said laughing, making the wrinkles in his face show.

"Professor!" I groaned. He winked slightly; his expression turned more serious as a loud bang erupted from down the hall again.

"Oh, he's here. Hold on." Dumbledore walked out of his office; he came in just seconds later with a man standing next to him.

"This is Alan." Dumbledore introduced the man.

Alan was wearing a black shirt and pants; his hair was specked with bits of gray and white hairs. His startling brown eyes were almost black.

"I'm Draco. And you're wearing Muggle clothes," I suspiciously eyed him. He only nodded at me.

"Oh, hello, sir, pleasure to meet you. I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione greeted him, shaking his hand warmly.

"Are you always this cheeky with adults?" I asked her. She stepped back a moment, silently sending a jinx at me. I kept quiet then.

"I am a half-blood, mind you." Alan sharply warned me. "But I tend to find these Muggle clothes rather comfortable," He stiffened, holding his wand readily.

"Now Alan, I do hope you'll be staying with us. You are quite necessary if Draco wishes to live." Dumbledore gave me a curt nod and exited the room.

"Alright then, I assume you think you know magic then, boy?" Alan accused. I shrank back a little. "And I don't think we should discuss this here, come on, off to the Room of Requirement."

We briskly hurried down the hall, shrinking into the shadows with a useful potion Alan had brewed previously. He murmured a charm of some sort, and the door appeared out of nowhere.

"You can't do that! The door only appears at random!" Hermione protested.

"Well then, an exception must have been made." he replied briskly. I smirked in her general direction before following Alan into the room. She hexed me. Again.

"Really, Hermione?" I seethed, but smiled. She eventually stopped sending her spiral of charms I had forced her to preform the counter curses for the spells.

"Quit bickering, you two! Honestly, never a moment of peace..." He seemed to be looking for something.

Eventually, his hand fell on a cabinet; he had quickly removed the quilt that covered it just seconds earlier. "Come here, quickly."

We obeyed.

Before us stood a cabinet. It was a dark oak color, and tall. I recognized it at once. The Vanishing Cabinet.

"What...what are we here for?" I stammered. He raised his eyebrows.

"I believe our friend Malfoy here is scared," he said to Hermione, who giggled lightly.

"I prefer Draco," I shot back, taking them both by surprise. "Continue."

He held up a hand in surrender. "Alright then. And if you don't mind, I'd like to test it."

"Wha...what?" I stuttered.

"Well, you didn't think Dumbledore would actually trust you to do this, did you?" Alan replied grimly; he ran his hand over the surface of the cabinet. He eventually raised his wand, and a small dove came flying towards him.

He placed the poor dove inside of the cabinet, quietly closing it once the dive was inside. The room suddenly darkened and everything fell silent.

We stood there for a few minutes. Then he opened the cabinet again. The dove was dead.

Hermione solemnly nodded at Alan. I backed away in disbelief. "What...what happened?" I asked.

"This is how they'll get through," Hermione explained. "There's another one in Borgin and Burke's."

I took a seat on a near crate. "So that means...someone on the other side killed the dove." They both nodded at me. I turned my head away.

How could you be so stupid? Of course they're just using you, and they'll kill you if you don't do it. You're the most clueless of them all!

"Yes, I do suppose it's rather unfortunate that you gave in, but some of us must be cowards." Alan boldly stated, as if reading my mind.

I shook my head. "No, no, I won't do it!" I cried.

"I'm afraid it's too late," he simply told me. I covered my face in my hands and wept.

And then, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I defensively shot up to see that it was Hermione. Hermione Granger was possibly trying to comfort me.

"Well," Alan awkwardly said. "I think that's enough for today."

"Yes, thank you...Alan." Hermione managed, then helped me up.

Alan suddenly vanished, saying, "I'll come back as soon as I can."

"Are...are you alright?" she nervously asked me. I only nodded stubbornly at her. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Since when do you care, Hermione?" I shot back. She glared at me and backed away. By now she was on the verge of tears.

"For your information, Dumbledore requested I help you! If you start acting up on my watch, then everyone will start to accuse me of being the reason this school was destroyed! I would be the reason that one of the greatest wizards of all time died! Because I agreed to help you! I don't even want to do this anymore! And I wish you weren't such a coward and that you'd stand up for what's right so that everyone around you didn't have to suffer for it! So if that's what you call caring, then you've got another thing coming!"

She glowered at me as she stomped out of the room, leaving me in darkness.

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[2 HOURS LATER]

-Draco- (again)

Once everyone realized that Death Eaters weren't coming to kill us all, everyone was invited back to the Great Hall for more "frivolity". But no one really seemed in the mood.

I silently walked down the halls, keeping my head down. Most of the other people didn't notice me, they were much too preoccupied with themselves.

Could you really be that stupid Draco?

A million thoughts went through my head. An annoying giggle came from down the hall. I was curious, so I followed it.

And to run into Weasel and Lavender Brown.

I made sure they didn't see me, I crept along the brick wall.

"No, no, Lavender, that laugh is bloody annoying," Ron sighed with a frown.

"Sorry," Lavender mumbled dumbly, glancing at her shoes.

There was no way this was Lavender Brown. This Lavender Brown was wearing far more normal clothes, a pair of jeans and a red tee shirt-most likely supporting Gryffindor. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and she no longer just spoke in giggles.

"You know Lavender, you're not so bad." Ron stated plainly.

"Thanks," she said, blushing. He only nodded at her. They stood there in an uncomfortable silence. "I invited Hermione to study with me in the library soon," she finally piped up.

Ron smiled. "That's nice of you, Lavender...I've got to go for now," She nodded him off and they parted their ways.

The library. Lavender was going to meet Hermione at the library. Perfect.

I silently crept down the hall, hoping that they would arrive soon. Standing up against a brick wall wasn't exactly comfortable.

I waited. And waited. And waited.

"Oh, Lavender! So good to see you!" I heard Hermione's fake cheerfulness echo from down the hall. I fled into the library, taking cover behind a bookshelf. Lavender was sitting promptly at one of the broad tables; she motioned for Hermione to sit directly next to her.

"Oh, it's good to see you!" Lavender enthused then paused before looking her in the eye. "I'm really sorry you know...about me going with Ron and everything...you see, I really don't know, my mum just told me I was going to the ball with someone, and I was just grateful to have someone to go with. But really, I'm sorry..."

Hermione seemed genuinely happy. "You know, I like Ron, but as a friend, you know? And I think you two are rather nice together."

I tried to hold back my laughter.

The Weasel and Lavender...

"Now, do you mind helping me with my Potions homework?" Lavender asked, motioning to the blank parchment and textbook in front of her. "I understand it, but at the same time I don't, you know?"

She nodded and picked up the book.

This continued between the two of them for a few hours, and I was growing quite bored.

"Oh, goodness! I expect they'll be having dinner in the Great Hall soon!" Hermione eventually exclaimed as she glanced at the clock. "I'll be there in a minute!"

Lavender left, waving madly.

Hermione gathered her books, but then set them down again with a loud thump on the table.

"Draco Malfoy, why are you spying on me?" Hermione suspiciously demanded, narrowing her eyes into slits. I popped up from behind the book case.

"Oh, someone's mad..." I smirked.

"Leave me alone, Malfoy..."

"What ever happened to Draco?" I snapped back.

"Draco," she corrected. "Now be quiet, or Madame Pince will give us detention!"

"That'd be a shame," I sarcastically commented. "And I wasn't spying on you...I was...I was..."

"Yes?" Hermione expectantly looked up at me.

Her face was inches from mine. And then she did it.

Hermione Jean Granger slapped me. Hard. Across the face.

"Now, Draco, if you don't mind, I'm going to get something to eat."

Hermione bounced out of the library, leaving me to stand there awkwardly.

Some things never change.

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/an/
word count: 2,136
Hey! This was mostly filler but the next chapter will be action packed! Promise! Please vote, comment and read!

You are awesome!

~HermioneMalfoy1234