CHAPTER 21: WHY DRACO MALFOY SHOULD NOT BE IN CHARGE OF ESCAPE PLANS

It was a new feeling; the security and warmth that came with an uninterrupted sleep. The lack of any dreams were welcome, and for the first time in a long time, Hermione slept like a log. The faintest scent of vanilla and the earthy tone of Draco's cologne seemed to work better than any sleep medication ever had, reassuring her mind, that as long as he was present and next to her, there was no danger at that moment.

She'd half expected to be visited by people in her dreams, warning her about the things in her mind that were already bothering her, but the lack of them was comforting and saddening.

It was only five hours later, when the atmosphere was starting to darken as the sun began to sink beneath the waves of the oceanic view of their room, that Hermione sat up suddenly in her bed, an alarm ringing in her head; warning her that someone with magic had just entered the premises and was heading towards her and Draco.

Draco sat up suddenly too, gazing at her in alarm when she raised a finger to her lips and closed her eyes, trying to calm the panic raging in her mind. "Granger?"

"Get ready. We have to leave." She muttered, swinging herself out of bed and stretching quickly. "Wait, what's going on?" Draco asked, crawling out of bed lazily, and yawning.

There were four abrupt knocks on the door and Draco cringed, suddenly alert as to what was going on. It sounded like whoever it was outside, was trying to break down the door, the knocks echoed though the room and through Hermione's bones, rattling her very soul. They thumped loud enough to wake up anyone dead for a mile around at least.

Hermione grabbed her wand and cast a simple spell, watching keenly as the wood and metal exterior of the door was instantly replaced by that of glass, so that they could both see who was right outside.

Draco grasped her arm as if to ask her what the hell she was doing, but she waved off his worry, "don't worry, its one way; whoever's outside can't see us..." she trailed off as the person outside become clear through the glass, the words dying at her lips.

Draco's eyes widened in shock; and he stepped back in horror. Hermione let out a sigh, she'd expected it, but to see him so soon after leaving him behind was a surprise. He really had improved in the two years she hadn't been around.

But more importantly than that, how the hell was she supposed to get out of this mess now?

.*.

Harry Potter glared at the man behind the desk, not bothering to hide his irritation. It had been a while since he'd had to deal directly with muggles, and he'd forgotten how annoying not using magic in their presence was. If this had been a magic based establishment, then he would already be on his was up to catch Hermione.

"I don't understand what the problem is! Why can't you just tell me?" Harry asked, tempted to knock the man out and find the small trace of magic he'd sensed here, himself.

"I'm truly sorry sir, private information like that cannot be indulged to strangers. We have to keep our customers' information and matters private!" the man stated.

Harry almost punched the muggle in the face for delaying his investigation, but that would only give him more paper work. He hated being delayed, and he hated using the fake identifications more, but begrudgingly, he grabbed the identification card from his jacket and proceeded to shove it in front of the man's face.

The card was fake, made especially by Seamus Finnegan, who after many years of working under cover for the ministry now specialized in making fake ID cards and such, (and it kept him away from spells that exploded in his face).

The card was one that told him that Harry was a private detective. The type of cop that required no search warrants or letters from the court; the type that was listened to instantly, under the jurisdiction of the national security team of whatever country he was in. Which meant he could search whatever the hell he wanted, whenever the hell he wanted.

Harry accepted the card back, and waited, his eyebrows raised. "Yes, we have a woman and a man staying here who fit those descriptions. They're in our honeymoon suite."

Harry, who'd been making his way to the elevator, paused and turned back around in confusion. "The honeymoon suite? Hermione and Malfoy are in the honeymoon suite?"

"Um...yes?"

Harry scowled and made his way to the elevator, his mind trying to figure out why the both of them would willingly spend any time together, let alone in a honeymoon suite!

A few minutes in the elevator and the doors opened, far too slowly for his liking. But his pulse quickened, and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He was close, so very close to finally ending this cat and mouse game that had been going on for ages now...so close to finally getting some answers and maybe even justice.

There was only one door on the floor, and Harry banged on it impatiently. For a moment, there was only silence, but then, he could hear the faint whispers of someone talking inside.

He felt a tingle in his stomach that alerted him that someone close by was using magic and stared at the door closely. There was definitely something going on inside, he tried to open the door, but it was locked. Physically locked, and locked with magic spells too.

So this was the place then.

.*.

Hermione gulped as her eyes met that of Harry Potter's. Sure, he couldn't see her, but the very fact that he was so close made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. He looked more determined than ever, his teeth gritted in an unyielding look of irritation as he began to work through the locking spells she'd cast on the door as a precaution.

Draco was struggling into clothes as Hermione took a deep breath and settled her mind. "Draco," she glanced at him and then at the door, "locking charms, as many as you can, gain me some time to think."

Draco immediately nodded, aware that arguing against her in the current situation was a bad idea. Once she was focused on something, interrupting her was a bad idea. Straightening his shoulders, he began throwing as many door locking charms at the door as possible, trying to remember all the spells he'd forced himself to memorise during his last years at Hogwarts.

Hermione quick-changed into comfortable clothes and packed up everything that she needed into her bag before tucking it into her pocket. Satisfied she glanced at the door, her mind whirling as she tried to figure out a way to diffuse this situation without getting caught. Draco was repeatedly throwing locking charms at the door, while Harry on the other side was unlocking just as fast. They were almost equally matched, both of them focused solely on their jobs.

"God dammit, Potter's gotten good!" she heard Draco mutter to himself as he counter-cursed Harry's alohomora.

Hermione scowled, how had Harry found them? She'd been careful, no magic until now, and besides, there were no traces on Draco or her either. So how had he found them? Some new technology she hadn't heard off? A spell that she couldn't detect?

She rubbed the bridge of her nose in thought, "Draco, we can't apparate, and the floo-network won't be good either." Hermione stated. Draco faltered and gaped at her, momentarily pausing his defence. "Why the hell not?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, "because Harry can trace our apparation or the fireplace to where ever we go. We've been here the whole night, so our magic has already webbed around here. He'll be able to trace us easily," she explained, ignoring the aghast look on the blond man's face.

Draco wanted to hit himself over his head, of course, why hadn't he thought of that? Had his brain cells depleted because he had come face to face with Potter's stupid face?

"So what can we do?" he asked, hoping for a great escape plan that would leave Potter gaping in a stupid way and him impressed beyond measure at the cleverness of his companion.

Scowling at the door, Draco countered Harry's spells again and threw five severe locks onto the door, smirking in satisfaction as outside, Potter groaned in frustration and kicked at the door.

Hermione almost smiled.

"I don't know; I suppose we could jump out of the window?" she mused.

Draco stood up and brightened, smiling at her like he liked that plan and Hermione took a step away from in worry.

"You can't be serious?" she asked, sceptically, "jump out of the window? Are you barking mad? You could die! I could die!!! There is no way in hell I'm jumping out of the window! Do you know how high off the ground we are? What are you planning to do? Jump off; die, so I land on you so I'm cushioned by your dead body? No way in HELL!!! I'd rather fly on a bloody broomstick!!!" She cried, crossing her arms.

Draco ignored her rambling, aware of her fear of heights quite well. He glanced at Potter and then back at her when he realised what she'd just said and smiled to himself.

Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that? Draco made a mental note to start involving himself in the plan making process. Leaving her to do all the thinking wouldn't look good when they were explaining their adventures to their kids---Draco chocked on air, coughing violently, his face suddenly turning red.

Hermione thumped him on the back, wondering what the hell had made him react like that. "Gods, Draco! Are you all right?"

Draco let his head drop into his palms, hiding his embarrassment.

Why...why would he think that? And now of all times? If she caught wind of what he'd been thinking, he could forget about kids for the rest of his life, that was for sure...but of all the things in the world!!!

He desperately wanted to blame the ring, but it hadn't bothered him at all. Kids? Kids...Draco clenched his teeth against the fluttery feelings in his chest at that thought.

Fluttery feelings...Malfoys' did not get fluttery feelings in their chests.

"Draco, are you okay? What happened? Was is something I said?" she asked.

Draco cleared his head and looked up at the pretty brunette, who, seeing the devilish smirk that appeared on his face, instantly paled as she realised what she's said that made him smirk like that.

"Oh shiitake mushrooms!" she muttered, face-palming.

.*.

Harry groaned; there were a lot of locking charms placed on the bloody door, it was almost scary how well they were place too. Harry shook his head and concentrated, he couldn't afford to get distracted by the placements of spells, after all, the more the spells, the guiltier the suspects.

It would take him a few more minutes to remove the spells; but he wasn't all that worried. If it was really Hermione and Malfoy in there, and even if they'd started getting along at Hogwarts in their last year, they were both stubborn. They always argued about everything, and there was no way that they would suddenly start to get along now. They were both so tenacious, both refusing to give in, and people didn't change their mind sets that fast, no matter what the situation.

If it was Hermione and Malfoy inside, and with the amount of magic radiating from inside and the high levels of these locking spells, there was a high chance it was them; they would probably be arguing over something, which meant they were distracted.

And distracted criminals were made to be caught.

.*.

"Granger! I have a plan!" Draco shouted with glee, clapping his hands in excitement.

Finally, something he could really do! Something that he could input on their adventure so that he wouldn't sound like an idiot when their adventures were made public! He put all thoughts of adorable blond haired, brown eyed children out of his head and focused.

Flying had been, after all, his profession at school, and besides, though he wasn't very boastful of it, he was extremely good at flying. Like, really good. Almost overly fantastic actually.

"Oh no! No way, nada, zilch, there is no way I'm getting on a thin stick and expecting it to do something as ridiculous as hold the weight of a human being! I'd much rather jump out of the window!" She threw a locking spell at the door, one that would take another two minutes for Harry to solve.

Draco waved off her worry. "Look Granger, I know you're afraid of falling to your death and all, but you'll be safe with me!" He stated calmly, smiling as reassuring as he could at her.

Hermione cringed and took a step away from him in fear. Why was he smiling all creepily at her like that? "I have no idea what you are talking about, Malfoy."

"Are you, or are you not afraid of heights Miss Granger?" Draco asked her in his most neutral tone.

Hermione winced and wrung her hands in slight embarrassment, before holding up her head proudly. "Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Malfoy," she replied, copying his neutral tone, "of course I'm not afraid of heights... I just don't like the idea of getting onto a broken tree and telling it to fly." She crossed her arms and let out a huff.

"My, for an Auror, you're terrible at lying! And yes, of course you're afraid of heights! You never took much liking to Quidditch because of it! If I recall correctly, the last time someone tried to get you to play Quidditch was during our last year, and as far as I remember, you punched Blaise in the face for doing that." Draco smiled gleefully at the memory. That had been a good day.

Hermione gave him a heated glare in return, that had been a memory she'd being trying to forget. Blaise had forgiven her for it, but she'd punched the boy in the face! She hadn't meant to really hit him, but her body had reacted before she could think of a way to stop it, and Blaise had been held down at the infirmary for three days.

She glanced at the smirking face of her companion and growled to herself. She didn't want to give in, she hated not getting her way, but Harry's relentless spells and the fact that she'd promised to keep Draco safe, meant that she couldn't very well stay here and let themselves get caught because of her irrational fear of flying.

She huffed in pride filled irritation, "fine, but if you kill us, I'll drag you to hell in a pink tutu, and leave you there with Voldemort for eternity!" Hermione muttered. The smirk on Draco's face dimmed slightly at the mental image as Hermione took out her beaded bag from her pocket, and put her arm inside, searching for something.

Draco watched as her arm, up to her shoulders, disappeared inside the bag. Obviously, it was bigger on the inside, but to see it happening, even to him, was a bit off-putting. Or perhaps, it was just smaller on the outside?

For a second, he watched her search around inside her bag, and then she gave him an annoyed sigh before handing him a Sparkers' 350, closed her bag and put it back in her pocket, crossing her arms and waiting impatiently for the remarks to begin.

Draco gaped at her in shock. "Where on earth did you get this?" he asked her, holding the broom like it was made of glass, close to his heart like he never wanted to let it go. Hermione thought she even saw his smell it in adoration for a second, and sighed. Boys and their broomsticks.

Draco subtly sniffed the broom and almost screamed in excitement, the smell of fresh oak wood filling him with the boyish joy of seeing a rare broomstick. These models weren't even out in England yet, how on earth did she actually have a Sparkers Broom?

Hermione rolled her eyes, "just because I'm on the run from the law doesn't mean I don't have connections! The Sparkers' family owned me a favour, and they paid me with that. Something about agility or something. I almost said no, but then I felt bad."

She glanced at the door and threw a few more spells, watching Harry's eyes glint in anger as he encountered more spells. He tried to blow open the door, but Hermione had already thought of that and reinforced the structure with as many strengthening spells as she could.

She was Hermione Granger, after all, she'd known that inevitably that being on the run with Draco Malfoy would mean an argument or two, and she had planned ahead just in case one of those conversations was going to occur whilst they were trapped somewhere.

Draco gaped at her. "The Sparker's family owed you a favour? Are you kidding me right now? They're the most secretive family in the wizarding world! How did you even talk to them, let alone get them to owe you a favour?" he asked incredulously.

"Draco, do you really think that this is the time or place to have this conversation?" Hermione muttered, thanking whatever lucky stars were still with her for the fact that Harry had come after them by himself. If he'd brought back up waiting outside, even the broomstick idea would have been a flop.

"Granger. Potter's an idiot, but you're right." Draco scowled in the general direction of the scar headed man, "you better tell me how you gained favour with a family like the Sparker's, though."

Hermione definitely saw him smell the broom now, and rolled her eyes, "sure, when we have time to sit down and discuss the various joys of being on the run, I'll tell you how I managed to make contact with a reclusive family like that." She stated sarcastically.

Draco opened his mouth to reply, but was cut short by the sound of the door's last lock being unlocked with a fate-blindingly loud 'click.'

Hermione froze, turning around in time to see Harry open the door and stare at the two of them in surprise, before he gritted his teeth, and raised his wand in a stance she knew well from practising duelling with him.

He was waiting for her to attack him.

Before Hermione could say anything, or Harry could do anything, Draco grabbed the woman by her hand and the broom with his other hand, and ran towards the open window facing the sea, muttering a quick spell to protect them as they crashed through the glass.

Draco swung himself and Hermione onto the broom and wrapped her arms around his waist before scowling once more at Harry Potter and flying off, faster than even the old Firebolt of Potter's could have done.

Hermione clung onto Draco, her face pale and her form shaking slightly. For a moment back there, just for a moment, after seeing Harry so close, seeing the pain in his eyes, even the hesitation he showed in attacking her, she'd been tempted to give up and let things fall as they were.

If it hadn't been for Draco, she would have given up already, never getting the chance to solve the murders of the people she knew and cared for. She was a coward, through and through.