When Hermione concluded that they were far enough, she stopped and fell to her knees exhausted, but equally relieved. They had escaped, at least for a while, and that was great news. She rested her back against a tree's trunk and closed her eyes. The tension in her body was released, as she relaxed and her face became serene and calm, Draco noted. She was almost beautiful, but he wouldn't admit that.

All the years he'd been the enemy or the bad guy or everything but an ally were like a thin and translucent curtain that blurred everything around him, not letting him see anything, besides his family, their motives, their wishes, their obligations, their pride, their prejudices, themselves and, last but not the least, the Dark Lord. Sometimes, he didn't care, but there were a few times when that was unbearable. And through this curtain he could only see the day when he'd first called her 'a filthy little mudblood', during their second year, the punch from the third, the way he and his friends had been tormenting Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and her. That was the greatest thing at Hogwarts, the people you could love or you could hate. And that was great not only at Hogwarts, but anywhere. Many of the people he knew would have to die if Voldemort won. Draco needed those people, even if it was to love them, to hate them, to pick on them, to torment them or anything else.

"Granger, it's not exactly the right time to take a nap. Somebody could be following us," he uttered in a low voice, still frightened of the possibility of anybody being around and hearing them. She, however, was free of that worry.

She opened her eyes, looking at him exhausted and irritated at the same time. "Yes, perhaps somebody's following us, ready to hex us dead in an instant. That's why you've got to calm down and let me think of something to do."

Draco hissed something that she couldn't quite understand. Then she returned to her thoughts. She was wanted, dead or alive, but prefferably able to be interrogated about Harry's whereabouts. Draco would soon be reported to be missing, kidnapped by her. If they were found, the kidnapping would top the pile of crimes she had supposedly done, just because she was who she was, Hermione Granger, a mudblood, and sidekick to Harry Potter. They had to run, though, somewhere, fast enough so they wouldn't be caught. They had nothing but their wands...

Then a smashing idea sparked into her mind when Hermione realized that she still had her handbag. The odds seemed in their favour, as she knew she had put a Polyjuice potion in there before they left for their quest. It had to be still here. Hermione put her hand in, looking for it in the infinite universe inside that bag.

Draco looked curious at her, but then figured out that Hermione must have cast something upon the handbag, probably the extension charm. She was smart; he couldn't deny that at all. She herself thought that was one of the most brilliant things she's ever done.

She touched some fabric, it must be some clothes, something made of plastic that she couldn't remember about and finally glass. It was the bottle she needed and she took it out. When Draco saw it, he snorted loudly: "Granger, are you having a good laugh? Is a Polyjuice your bloody good plan for us not to die?"

Hermione sighed. "Listen to me a bit! We aren't going to survive if we stay here, so we must move. In order to survive wandering to a safe place, we need the Polyjuice. This is my brilliant plan. And, like it or not, I intend on doing this." She stood from her place, frowning in irritation at his comments. Right then, everything she'd done in the past six hours seemed useless and life-thretening for nothing. Hermione didn't quite understand why she had stayed behind anyways, despite desperate attempts to do so. Truth be told, a different and fabulous spark in his eyes made her think that he was more of a hostage than the three of them in that gigantic manor.

Draco left his place too, making one big jump forward so that he ended right in front of her. He was around ten centimeters taller than she was, but they were still able to read displeasure and worry in each other's eyes, as they fought. Draco suddenly remembered that he hated her and Hermione felt the same about him. They were never allies and never thought they would ever get to be. "Maybe, I should go back. You made it look like an abduction yourself. Or, even better, I can bring you back and gain some of the lost respect back, for my family."

"Maybe, you're right. I made a horrible mistake by taking you from there. Go back and be miserable like you so much enjoy. Earlier in the woods you told me you weren't like your family, but go ahead, use your wand. Children learn 'Expelliarmus' during their second year at Hogwarts. You will manage a decent one. Then use 'Stupefy' and you can carry me back to your home, put in the dungeons, wait for Voldemort, have me put on a tray for him and eat me with Greek salad," Hermione exploded, screaming her words at him. It wasn't just the anger from him, behaving just like the Draco Malfoy that he was, then, it was all the fury that she'd gathered in six-seven years of bullying, of torment and of being picked on.

He looked at her with electrified eyes, from both anger and surprise at her outburst. "For God's sake, Granger, even when you create a plan for me to hurt you and then for the Dark Lord to kill you, you still have to be 'the brightest witch of our generation'. It must be exhausting to be 'little miss perfect', 'miss know-it-all', 'Gryffindor princess'." He listed all the names she'd been given during all those six years. But she deserved them all, because of her hardwork and of her dedication. So many didn't care about school, but that's what she loved. And Draco was always jealous because he was always the second-best after here. That jealousy of his gave her a strange satisfaction that, yes, she loved so much.

She breahted in, thinking of an answer that wouldn't hurt his Malfoy-ego so much that he would actually do what she had told him minutes before. As she exhaled, she spoke: "Obviously, there had to be a brilliant mind in Hogwarts. Unfortunately, on a tray, in front of your family, I will be only the 'filthy little blood' that's friends with Harry. I should apologize for that, shouldn't I?"

Her words echoed through his brain. Draco instantly turned white, despite the fact that his cheeks should have been rose-pink from the cold wind that was blowing. He was surprised by her outburst from the beginning, but mentioning that was a little over the limits of bearing it. For as long as they would both live, she would remind him of that moment during their second year. As a kid, using the word 'mudblood' was a joke whenever a certain Gryffindor girl was in a spotlight. But that word was horrible, as he had much later learnt.

"I'm sorry for that," he muttered.

She heard it perfectly, despite that being the lowest tone he's ever used, but couldn't believe that he actually meant it. Draco must have been sarcastic, because Draco Malfoy never apologizes and if he ever did, it wouldn't be to her. "You're teaching me how to apologize to Voldemort for my heritage. You're so cheeky."

Draco breathed relieved. He never wanted her to take it serious, what he had said. "I'm vile and cruel; that's what you, Potter and the weasel have always said about me."

"Don't forget about cocky and arrogant. Nothing beats those two adjectives when talking about you," she snapped back at him. It was like like a game: one threw the ball to the other and each time one had the ball, it had to say something. Had one said 'pass', it would have lost the round and that couldn't happen. It would have been a shame for the least important muggle, but when it came about that Gryffindor Princess and the Slytherin Prince, it was a life-death battle.

He looked down, unable to continue after about six rounds of adjectives and titles and names, some of which were unheard of. They couldn't believe some themselves.

"Giving up, ferret?" Hermione inquired, reminding him about another smashing moment during their adventures at Hogwarts those past six years. That episode was one of his least favorites and one of the most memorable. After all, not all students get to be turned into ferrets during their... which year was it? Their fourth? Draco somehow felt that he'd lived a whole life at Hogwarts, not just six years. He'd had some of the most brilliant adventures that one young wizard could have. Surprisingly and interestingly, Granger, Potter and the weasel were present in most of them. But when Voldemort came back to rule everything, including his family, it was taken at way from him. The photo album was ripped in just as many seconds as it took Dumbledore's lifeless body to fall from the Astronomy Tower.

He raises his head and strightened, moving calmly and calculated. He stepped back. "We only lost time, Granger. Maybe you want for somebody to catch us, so you don't have to run away together with me; you loathe me that much."

Hermione eyed him surprised by the sudden change in him. He was right, though. "I would have regretted staying behind, had I loathed you. But I only regret that fifty percent. So it's just fine, Draco." She tried to force a smile, but knew that it was neither the time, nor the place right for that. "We need somebody to take a few strands of hair from."

He nodded. "Or we can find an animal. I heard that the Polyjuice can change you from one species to another. But if we're doing that, because I don't want to be an otter, I'll be picking the animal."

Hermione looked down, her cheeks suddenly turning red. She remembered a certain event from one of their earlier years, when she turned into a cat-girl hybrid and swore she'd be more careful about Polyjuice potions from then on. She hoped she'd never have to become an animal as well and then it was the case. Draco's idea wasn't bad but she knew what she experienced and it was bad, incredibly bad. "It actually turns you into a hybrid between the species."

Draco raised one eyebrow, saying: "How do you know that?"

That was the question she was afraid of the most, but she had to answer. "It happened to me once. While, huh, practicing making the potion, I tried to turn into a certain girl, but she had a cat, and it was the cat's hair that I had collected. That's one of the least favorite, but, at the same time, the most memorable things that's ever happened to me."

He turned around on his calves. "Excuse me," he told her then busted into heavy laughter. She realized that it was funny. If she had never heard about the ferret-story and he had decided to tell her, she would have found it funny too. He had all the rights to laugh; Hermione herself found it laughable, despite her being 'The Greatest Witch of The Generation'. When he was done, he turned back to her, tears from laughter visible at the corner of his bright and luminous eyes. "Granger, God, that must have been terrific."

"It was just like the ferret-chapter of your life," she replied him. It was her ego striking back because he had laughed.

With that he calmed down and, speaking as clearly and as seriously as he could, he added: "I won't put you through that again, as you said you didn't like it. You, however, don't know how much I want to. So we'd better go find someone to take some hair from. If I remember correctly and most probably I do, there's a town five miles from here."

She nodded, without saying anything else. Hermione silently thanked God, Merlin and Draco for that decision.

They got going.