Chapter Six

Sorry so long, everyone! As always, thanks to my beta, AmyLouise, and all $ belongs to JKR, Scholastic, and WB.

Draco awoke with a jolt, sending a huge book off his lap and onto his mahogany floor. He had been dreaming of Pansy riding him as he struggled and fought to free himself, and as if that wasn't disturbing enough, he had cried out for help and looked up to see her morph into Hermione Granger! Best to delete that one... Merlin.

Deciding he most definitely needed a cold shower before breakfast, he headed toward his bathroom. It was all black, gray, and white marble tile with black onyx fixtures that had cost a fortune. He twisted the water on, pulled off his t-shirt, and dropped his drawstring black pants.

After the arctic blast finally calmed his hormones, Draco stepped out of the shower, grabbed his towel, and went into his room. He rifled through his closet, finally deciding on jeans and another t-shirt, and got dressed quickly.

Heading to his living room, he wondered if Granger had found anything yet. He started flipping the pages of Shadows of Ancient Darkness, which was supposedly the oldest book of curses in the library. A shiver snaked through Draco's body at the icy coldness of the pages. He was sure it was just his imagination, but this book almost felt... alive. The pictures were extremely graphic, showing how each spell affected the human body and the grotesque expressions of pain and terror erupting on each face. At one time, Draco may have pretended to be amused by these evil illustrations, but in all honesty, he could never have performed any of these curses, even on a Mudblood.

As Draco continued through the book feeling more and more frustrated with the lack of progress, something suddenly stopped his hands, making him gag. The picture was horrid...a naked woman, eyes open and lifeless, being torn apart and eaten by hideous white, rubbery creatures with fangs protruding from their unnaturally wide mouths. He noticed black wings and was almost reminded of faeries, although these monsters were something sinister and evil indeed. The nasty creatures glowed with their glee while feasting on the flesh of the corpse.

Okay, enough of this. Draco closed the book, stood up, and Apparated to Hermione's doorstep. They would just have to meet a bit earlier than planned.

XXXXX

Hermione was brushing her teeth when she heard a loud knock on her front door. Rolling her eyes and huffing, she spat, rinsed, and ran to the door. She was glad she had finished cleaning the living room last night, although she wished she'd had time just now to tie up her hair.

When she jerked the door open, she couldn't have been more shocked. She and Malfoy were meeting later at the library, but here he stood as if she should be good and ready and it was perfectly natural to be standing on the porch of his worst enemy. She wouldn't have thought he'd ever come near her house, especially not in broad daylight.

Suddenly, she felt very self conscious about being in her pajamas with her hair strewn all over the place. She knew Malfoy would find something to use to torment her, but she didn't like giving him so many options.

Draco just stood there, smirking, so she finally said, "What?"

"That's not much of a greeting, Granger. I guess your manners do seem to match your living conditions, though. Is this all Weasley could do, then?"

"What is it, Malfoy? Did you find something, or are you merely here to annoy me?"

"What is it, Granger? Are you going to invite me in or stand there bitching at me?"

Hermione just turned around and headed into the room, knowing Malfoy would take the hint and follow. She just couldn't bring herself to actually invite him into the place. Malfoy did indeed follow and plopped himself right on the couch, putting his feet up and his hands behind his head. Hermione rolled her eyes but said nothing.

"So?" she spat, sitting in the chair across the room.

"Oh, nothing. I just wondered if you had found anything."

"I thought we agreed to meet at noon, and no, I haven't found anything yet."

"Oh, okay." He put his hands on his knees and leaned over, looking at the floor. Hermione suddenly noticed his slightly rumpled appearance and agitated manner. She felt a bit guilty for being so snappy with someone who was obviously extremely worried and probably just needing to be with someone who understood why he was restless.

"Listen, Malfoy. I'm just going to go change. I'll be right back, okay? Make yourself at home."

Make myself at home? In this hovel? Draco nodded, though.

Hermione walked straight back and to the left, heading through the slight hallway that led to her eat-in kitchen on the left and bedroom and bathroom on the right. She entered the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Oh, gods, I look dreadful! She quickly ran a brush through her hair, pulled it into a ponytail, and suddenly decided she needed a bit of lip gloss.

She rushed into her room, chose some jeans and a dark purple tee, and then she looked one last time in the mirror to be sure she looked put together. She refused to believe she cared what Malfoy thought of her appearance, so she opted to believe she was just doing what she would do for any guest. Of course she was.

She hurried back out to find Malfoy standing at her window. He had his hands in his pockets and his head against the glass, and her heart immediately went out to him. She walked over gingerly, not sure if she should try to comfort him or whether he would be disgusted by such a gesture. When she was next to him, though, he turned to look at her, showing no hatred or aversion whatsoever. She found herself reaching out to touch his arm, and his eyes locked with hers. For a moment, she almost forgot that he was a snarling, prejudiced, cruel asshole.

Draco was stunned. When Granger had gone to change, he had made the mistake of letting himself think. It had been a whole day, and they had gotten nowhere. He had no idea if his mother was still alive, or how much time he would get to find her, and he still didn't know what her kidnappers wanted. The hopelessness had begun to overwhelm him, but when Granger came up beside him, when she touched his arm, he felt a warmth he couldn't explain. It was hard for him to look away from her dark brown eyes until he reminded himself that he hated her, she was a Mudblood, and she was only helping him for the money. He abruptly turned, walked back to the couch, and sat.

"Sorry," Hermione muttered.

"Whatever," Draco replied.

The silence was awkward, and Draco found himself looking up to see Hermione's face. He inwardly chastised himself for being utterly insane, telling himself that he only found her attractive right now because of his desperate state. It wouldn't be so weird if he were merely admiring her looks (which he had secretly done plenty of times), but he wasn't. He wanted to pull her into his arms and let her reassure him that everything would be okay.

Revolting.

Hermione was unnerved by Draco's stare and even more unnerved that she liked it. He hated her, didn't he? She headed back to her chair and sat a bit unsteadily, and she looked up to find he hadn't broken his gaze at all. Finally, he said, "I haven't found anything, either, but I didn't go through one of my books yet."

"Did you want to study now, then?"

"Yeah. Um... I guess I left my books on my couch. Do you just want to bring your stuff to my place? I can't stand this scratchy couch, anyway."

Hermione rolled her eyes. He really was ridiculous, wasn't he? She had cleaned her house to perfection, and it wasn't as if her furniture was trash. Maybe it wasn't up to Malfoy standards, but she felt that she had made a rather nice home. The blue on her living room walls was the perfect shade to remind her of the ocean, and she had candles and artwork displayed creatively on antique pieces of eclectic furniture.

"Er... will Mrs. Malfoy be there?"

"What? Mrs?...oh, right. Pansy." He supposed it was a bit silly to worry about Granger knowing his marriage was bullshit. After all, she knew far more important secrets now. "Actually, I left the Ice Bitch a couple of months ago."

"You what? I mean, I thought... Never mind. It's none of my business."

She was staring at him, clearly itching with curiosity. "I never loved her, okay, Granger? Now, are we going to my place or not?"

"I suppose that would be fine," she replied hesitantly. She had not been near a Malfoy residence since her encounter at the manor, and although she knew this visit would be perfectly safe, she couldn't help the cold chill she felt rolling down her spine. She knew she was being a bit silly, though, so she shook off the feeling and gathered her books. To her complete surprise, Malfoy stood up and took them from her, heading out the door. She broke her stare and followed, Apparating with him as soon as she had locked her front door.

XXXXX

They arrived at a white modern home with dozens of windows, the style reminding Hermione of the Muggle architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. It was truly breathtaking.

Draco caught Hermione staring in awe and smirked to himself. He muttered a quick "Alohamora" and led her into the foyer.

"This place is beautiful," Hermione stated breathlessly. She was drinking in the dark hardwood floors of the open layout, turning to the left to see a kitchen that any chef would kill to have. Did Malfoy cook, or did he just have the best of everything whether he needed it or not? The countertops were solid black granite and sparkled above mahogany cabinets which matched the floors but were stained a bit lighter. Her kitchen was nothing compared to this, with its white tiled countertops, light wood floors, and lilac walls.

"Thank you," Malfoy replied. "Liddy, my house-elf, keeps it immaculate at all times, so the kitchen was my gift to her." Why did I have to tell her that, for fuck's sake? He was simply losing his touch and probably his mind. Maybe he liked hearing the awe in her voice, especially because Pansy would have been too spoiled to appreciate what he had helped his designer create.

When he looked over, he saw that Hermione was standing there like an idiot, gaping. She seemed to be staring at the open layout, but then again, her chocolate eyes were oddly blank. Actually, however, she was in utter shock that Malfoy could ever have a kind thought, much less a kind action, toward a house-elf.

"Let's just go in here," he said, walking toward the couch. He flicked his wand toward the fireplace to light it and stacked the books on the coffee table. He sat and gestured for her to do the same.

Hermione hesitated ever so slightly at the idea of sitting right next to Malfoy, despite her new impression of him, but his chairs were too far from the glass table, so she just sat as close to the opposite end of the sofa as she could. She expected the leather to feel hard and cold, but it was surprisingly soft. She rubbed her hand along the arm and heard a chuckle to her left. Malfoy was watching her, amused by her infatuation with his couch. "Er... I guess your couch is less scratchy, after all."

"Just don't get too fresh with it, Granger. It might scream and run from the room, and then where would we sit?"

"Ha, ha," she countered, although she could tell he had actually been kidding for once.

"So, I guess we should just show each other what we've seen so far," Draco said, grabbing the dreaded book which started his day. "I don't think I've found anything which will help us with my mum, but you have to see this." He turned the page to the flesh-eating creatures, and as expected, Granger gasped and her hand flew up to cover her mouth. "I know. Nauseating."

"No, that's not it. I mean, of course they're disgusting, but look..." Hermione grabbed the volume about faeries and turned to the Death Faerie page. She could see Malfoy's eyes widen as he noticed the similarities between the creatures in each book. "My book also says something about summoning these faeries for evil deeds and paying with fresh corpses. Some people must be completely sick, with nothing human left inside of them. I can't imagine dealing with creatures like these."

"You don't know the half of it, Granger."

Hermione was leaning toward Draco, trying to read the caption from his book. "Ew! They glow with excitement when they feed. That is absolutely ghastly."

"Wait! Oh, my gods!" shouted Draco, running to the hallway which led to his room. He ran back seconds later, holding the crumpled picture of Narcissa. "White sheen, Granger! I mean...is it possible?"

Hermione was stricken. Her instincts told her that they may just have found the answer, but it just seemed too easy to find this on the second day. "Of course, anything is possible. Still, it only says they glow when they feed, and your mum is, er, intact in your picture. We should certainly check it out, at any rate." She looked down to see gooseflesh on her arms. "What should we do?"

Just then, there was a tapping at Draco's small fireside window, so he stood up distractedly and hurried to it, opening it absently. The owl really didn't have the patience to wait for him to snap out of his stupor, so it screeched and pecked his hand. "Ouch! Dammit!" Draco grabbed the roll of parchment from the pouch on the bird's leg and sent the owl away with a treat as quickly as possible. He walked back to the couch, sucking his bleeding finger and falling back into thought. "I don't know what we should do, Granger. I thought you were supposed to have all the answers," he snapped sarcastically.

"Don't be a prick, Malfoy. We need to think."

"And the genius dazzles one and all with her profound assessment!"

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Do you want the money or not?"

Hermione just growled and went back to thinking. Draco opened the almost-forgotten note and began to read.

Charles Pendington

"My detective wants to meet this afternoon." He handed the note to Granger, not really knowing why he did.

"Are the Parkinsons suspects, then?"

"We just figured Pansy's family might be my most obvious enemy at the moment, although I don't think she would be after money. She would just want to hurt me because she knows I used her nasty ass."

Hermione failed to stifle a giggle. Pansy really was a bitch.

"Is there anyone else who might wish you harm?"

"That's what Charles asked, and I honestly can't think of anyone. Wait...are you trying to get back at me for pointing out your obvious flaws at every opportunity?" Draco tried to hide the hint of a smile playing at his lips.

"I certainly should! You were cruel. Not that I ever cared what you thought of me."

"Sure you didn't, Granger." Draco smirked. "Besides, I seem to recall plenty of nasty remarks from you as well."

"Oh, did I wound you, Malfoy? I'm dreadfully sorry," Hermione retorted, dripping with sarcasm.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mud...I mean, never mind. Let's focus."

Hermione swallowed the smile and her shock at actually having a semi-friendly conversation with her archenemy. He was almost fun when he wasn't being a sincere asshole.