The Order Of The Serpent

Chapter 5

"Dead?", Hermione asked in a shaky voice, "How?"

"Snape", Draco answered, "I've heard he killed him with the Avada Kedavra curse and threw his body off the Astronomy Tower."

"Well, at least it was fast", Hermione said, looking away so nobody could see the tears glazing her eyes. "How did the Death Eaters get into Hogwarts anyway?"

This time it was Draco who looked away.

"That's on me", he answered. "I was assigned the task to get them in the castle. I stalled it as long as I could, but The Dark Lord threatened to kill my mother if I didn't get a move on. I don't think he actually expected me to succeed. Last week I finished my work. I fixed a vanishing cabinet, allowing them a safe and secret passage into the castle. I sent a note to Dumbledore telling him to expect an invasion soon, I didn't know when. We weren't informed until the very last moment that it would be tonight. His death and all those others... That's on me."

Draco buried his face in his hands. Even though Hermione still didn't trust him, she believed that he genuinely hadn't wanted this to happen. She felt a twinge of... something in her heart. Obviously, it was a twinge of something for his situation, not for him.

"Malfoy...", she said walking over to him. "You did everything you could." Gently she placed her hand on his knee. "Besides, you saved me right?"

"Bloody Gryffindor optimism...", Blaise muttered.

Draco looked up at her. "I'm going to get you out of here somehow Granger", he told her. "Until then, I'm going to have to ask you to remove your clothes."

Blaise sniggered, Theo cheered and the others looked at her expectantly. She jerked up in anger.

"Excuse me?!", Hermione snapped, ready to hit Draco in the face.

"You have to, it has to be believable", Draco answered, edging back slightly from her. "They think I chose you as my reward, so you can't be walking around fully clothed. You can wear this."

He pulled something from his pocket and handed it over to her.

"Is this Pansy's?!", she fumed turning bright read, looking down at the short robe in her hands.

"It's only temporary", Draco said in a soothing tone, "Just until I find something better. The bed in the back is mine, you can just close the curtains."

"Bloody Slytherins...", Hermione muttered. She kept her chin up refusing to look at anyone and disappeared behind the curtains. She was so done with this shit.

The moment she was out of sight Blaise cast a Silencing Charm on the bed.

"What the hell are we going to do with her Draco?", he asked concerned.

Draco looked at Hermione's figure shining through the green fabrics and sighed. He wanted to tell them desperately that he had an ingenious plan, but he didn't.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow", he answered. "We have to keep her out of sight as much as possible and guard her at all times. We'll gather information to get her out of here. Let's try to get some sleep."

He walked over to his bed while Blaise lifted the Silencing Charm. To stall a bit he took his pyjama bottoms out of his trunk and changed into them, leaving his clothes folded neatly on the chair next to it.

He contemplated to ask Hermione if he could get in, but decided against it. He had nowhere else to sleep if she said no and damn it, it was his bed! He leaned to the bedpost for a moment and quietly said to himself "Salazar, I'm fucked."

Without a warning Draco just pulled the curtains aside and got on his bed. He saw Hermione was lying under the blankets and careful not to touch her, he lay himself down next to her. He'd never been this close to her before, at least not without fighting her.

Hermione stared down at his naked chest, wondering for a bit when he became so fit.

"I put my clothes on your nightstand", she whispered to him, just to say something. He looked over and noticed her underwear wasn't there. He wanted to tell her she'd have to shed those too, but he simply didn't have it in him to fight with her over it now.

She eyed him like he was a complex riddle she wanted to solve.

"You can get under the covers if you want", she said hesitantly, "It gets chilly at night."

"I'll be fine Granger", he told her. "Just try to get some sleep."

Suddenly she felt very tired. Feeling strangely safe in Malfoy's bed in a room full of Slytherin males she drifted off to sleep. Slowly, one by one the candles blew out, leaving Draco staring at the ceiling in the dark.

***********

Hermione woke up feeling warm and secure. For a moment she believed she was back in her dorm and it had all been a bad dream. But then Draco shifted beside her, his hand gripping her hip. She opened her eyes to look at him, to snap at him for not keeping his hands to himself, but he was still sleeping soundly. He looks so innocent when he sleeps... The hard lines on his face were faded out in his unconscious state and his hair was ruffled like she'd never seen before.

Before she knew what she was doing, she reached out to push his hair out of his face. Slowly he opened his eyes. The moment they focused on her they went from a cold silver grey to a darker stormy shade. She was a little startled, but felt something within her react to the look in his eyes too.

"Morning", she whispered hoarsely, pulling back her hand. Draco felt his cock react to the sound, he was still holding her hip. The covers had slipped down to her waist and the robe hung open, showing of her pretty breasts. He mentally berated himself and tried to focus on something else.

"I still have to place the memory lock on you", he whispered, casually letting go of her hip. She didn't like it, but nodded in acceptance and sat up, pulling the robe back in place. It was not like she had a choice.

"Okay, I'm ready", she whispered, closing her eyes.

He looked at her face, admiring how she seemed to trust in his capabilities so easily.

He sat up next to her and cupped her face. Involuntarily she leaned into it, making it hard for him to concentrate as she licked her lips.

"I'll try to be gentle", he told her. Hermione smiled a little at that.

"Don't fuck up my brains Malfoy, I still need them."

Taking a deep breath he aimed his wand at her forehead and muttered the spell.

Hermione felt like there was a steel band wrapped around her head, slowly becoming tighter and tighter. She dug her nails in her palm, trying not to move as the pressure became nearly unbearable. Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore the feeling faded.

"It's done", Draco said. "You're going to have a headache for the next few hours, but it'll fade, I promise." He dropped his hands in his lap, pushing down his hard-on.

"Draco", she said with a red face, "I... uhm... I'd like to go to the bathroom." He blinked his eyes a few times at this.

"Fucking shit", he cursed, "I didn't think about that... Alright, I'll get Blaise. We need to get in and out as fast as possible, so leave your underwear here."