A/N: Hello everyone! Hope you guys liked the last chapter. So, yet another chapter that ended with a cliffhanger, well this one wasn't a big cliffhanger anyways. Read the A/N at the end to find out when the next chapter will be out. On with the chapter!

"What did you want to tell me about the horcruxes, my Lord?" The Death Eater asked him. 

Hermione gasped.

Draco's eyes widened.

And Voldemort immediately turned his head towards the direction from where the sound seemed to be coming. 

The Malfoy Heir immediately covered his wife's mouth with his hand, and used his other hand to wandlessly cast a shield charm around them, in case Voldemort decided to try using a spell on them. 

Not that it would help them anyways, since the way the spell would bounce off the shield would immediately alert the Dark Lord of their exact location. 

Voldemort slowly started walking towards their direction, each step of his bringing the danger closer and closer to Hermione and Draco. Finally, when he was almost standing in front of their invisible forms, the Dark Lord raised his hand, the shape of his mouth forming a spell-

-When suddenly he was called.

"My Lord?" The Death Eater called him. "My dark mark is burning. I think Rowle is calling us, he was talking about interrogating some goblins which we caught last week."

Voldemort continued looking at the invisible witch and wizard for several seconds before he finally nodded and turned around to face the other wizard.

"Ask him to bring them to the dining room, Jiggs. And also send a message to all the Death Eaters that have gone to Hogwarts, telling them to come here within half an hour." The nose less wizard's face showed an evil smile. "We have some important matters to discuss."

Jiggs nodded. "And My Lord, what about the matter of the horcruxes? I had thought you wanted to tell me something about that."

"Haven't you yet learnt to never question me?" His eyes narrowed at the Death Eater in front of him. "Do as I say, Jiggs, and you shall be rewarded."

"My Lord." He bowed and immediately left the room. Voldemort once again turned around to look at the space next to the bookshelf, his eyes flicking back and forth.

Hermione and Draco did not even think about making a sound, let alone moving away from there. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the darkest wizard of his age nodded to himself and left the room, closing the door behind him as it got enchanted with the spells. 

The two remaining people stood still for several minutes and slowly, stepped forwards from their place. Draco didn't dare remove the disillusionment charm from them, only modifying it to allow themselves to only be visible to each other. 

"That was close." Hermione sighed. "Anyways, it is not safe for us to stay here for much longer, we need to leave right now." With that, she walked towards the door, and raised her hand to touch the handle.

Unfortunately, Draco was too late to warn her not to do that. 

"Granger, don't-"

"Oww!"

"-Of course, you never listen to me."

The blond wizard sighed and stalked forwards until he reached the witch who had fallen down on the ground, and held his hand out for her.

Hermione simply stared at the outstretched hand for several seconds, with narrowed brown eyes.

"Idiot." The Malfoy Heir sighed again, and then without warning, bent down to grab her arm, and roughly pulled her up. "That should teach you to not do things you don't know about without asking me first."

"Never do this again." The muggle born witch pulled her arm away from his grasp. "You could have waited for me to accept your help instead of doing that-"

"You were staring at my hand like it had nails grown on top of it, Granger, and mind you, you should actually be thankful that I offered you my help-"

"But no, I am the great Draco ferret Malfoy and I have to act like the ostentatious prat that I am and-"

"And you have to act like the stuck up snob which you believe you are, Granger the beaver and- Wait, what did you just call me?" Draco narrowed his eyes at her. 

"Ferret." She simply shrugged.

"I dare you to call me that one more time-"

"Ferret." Hermione cut him off. "Ferret, ferret, ferret, ferret-"

"This is it. You have crossed the limits, beaver." Draco lunged after her, causing her to take a few steps back, towards the door.

Just then, Hermione stumbled on a crumpled piece of paper that her husband had thrown on the floor, and she fell back towards the door, the handle just a few centimeters away-

-When Draco caught her in time. He pulled her by the waist, and turned them around so that now she was between the table and his body, and his back was towards the door. 

"Wasn't getting the shocking and repulsion effects from the door handle once enough for you?" Draco hissed, securing his hold on her as she stumbled forwards once again, feeling a little fatigue because of the effects. "Learn to listen to instructions, Granger-"

"Can you lecture me about this, later on?" Hermione subconsciously leaned her head on his chest. "We should go back to our room right now."

The blond wizard's eyes widened as he heard her say 'our room'. Did she even realise what she had just said?

Well, if she hadn't, he was not going to mention it, not now, not ever. 

He tried taking a step away from her, but the witch lost her balance as soon as he did. "The things I have to do for you, Granger." Draco sighed.

Reluctantly, he bent down to place an arm under her knee, and picked her up in bridal style. Hermione closed her eyes as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I just hope you don't realise what I am doing right now." The Malfoy Heir opened the door with the key he was holding in the hand which was under his wife's waist. 

He was thankful that both of them were disillusioned, so that no one would notice them, specially his parents.

He really did not want his mother to get a wrong idea.

Upon reaching his room, Draco placed her down on his, no, their from now on, bed and shook his head. 

"You better thank me when you wake up, Granger." With that, he sat down on the chair next to the bed, and as he felt asleep, his head was turned towards his wife's direction.

----------

 "The Dark Lord was definitely thinking of something more than just us sleeping in separate rooms." Draco sighed as they sat down on the bay window in his room a few hours later. "I could feel it. He was searching for something specific."

"Was their some sort of pattern?" 

"Yes, Granger." He nodded. "If he just wanted to know about why we were staying in different rooms, then he would not have tried looking for my memories of the day he had made the decision of making us get married to each other. Something is going on in his mind, I am sure about that."

"Do you think he has some sort of doubt on 'Amelia Malfoy'?" Hermione asked him. "That was the day I talked about the powers and contacts the non existent witch had in Italy. So, do you think he suspects her?"

"That might be true, but I think the matter is more than that. Maybe he not only suspects about the things Amelia talked about, but also the whole identity of Amelia?"

"He believes her to be an Order member." Hermione quickly said.

Damn, Draco thought, he had forgotten that he was talking with the Brightest Witch of Their Age at that moment. 

"I think so, yeah." The blond heir nodded. "There is a huge possibility of that. The Dark Lord's mind works in ways we can't even think about, and this is why we have to be very, very careful in front of him. We cannot afford to make even the smallest of mistakes."

Hermione simply nodded and rested her head on the shoulder, looking at the wide and beautiful gardens of the Malfoy Manor.

As Draco's eyes flicked from her face to her wedding ring, something suddenly clicked in his brain. "Granger, are you sure you had not removed the disguise the whole day yesterday?"

"Yeah, I am sure." Though she said this, she frowned a second later. "Oh wait, the ring fell off somehow when I entered my room, and I found it lying on the ground next to my shoe. But not before that, no. And I haven't removed it since then."

"That does not make sense though, Granger." Draco muttered as he got up from the window seat and started pacing in front of her. "The ring would not fall off on its own. There has to be something, I am sure about that."

He turned towards her and asked, "Are you really sure that the ring had not fallen off before that?"

"I am sure, Malfoy. I did not notice the ring fall off before that, when we were arguing, that is." Hermione said, but even she felt the doubts arise in her head. 

There was something that they were missing, and whatever it was, they were sure that it would somehow affect their plan. 

Or maybe it already had, who knows?

"About the argument," Hermione began as the wizard sat down next to her again, "I am sorry for throwing the book at your foot, Malfoy. I-I should not have done that. Really, I am sorry for hitting you-"

"Granger, you are mad if you are apologising for that." Draco shook his head. Despite the fact that he was still angry at her, he knew that he should apologise to her as well. "I should not have taken the matter on that level. I included your personal life in it, and that was not right, Granger."

Hermione thought she should tell him that whatever he had said about her personal life, about Ron being her boyfriend, was totally wrong. 

But then, why would Draco care if she was in a relationship or not?

"But you are completely right." Draco continued, "You should not have hit me. That is straight up violence against poor beings. And you support that rubbish spew of yours, what a freaking hypocrite-"

"It is S.P.E.W for Godric's sake! It stands for Society for Pro-"

"Blah blah blah." The blond wizard covered his ears with his hands and smirked wildly when the witch sitting in front of him narrowed her eyes at him. 

"Anyways, I don't like hitting people-"

"You punched me in third year, Granger-"

"You definitely deserved it and I am never going to apologise for that-"

"And I am pretty sure there must have been instances when you would have hit Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum as well-"

"Tweedle- Who?" Hermione looked at him in confusion.

"Potter and Weasel, idiot. Do learn to keep up." He rolled his eyes at her.

"Not my fault you have ridiculous nicknames for everyone, dragon-"

"You don't get to call me that and why are you still sitting here?" Draco quickly spoke before she could say anything else. "Don't you want to unpack your bags and arrange your things here?"

"Won't Amelia Malfoy's husband help her in unpacking her stuff?" She huffed as she got up from the seat after he nudged her.

"Amelia Malfoy's husband has been irritated to hell by an annoying witch called Granger the beaver so he wants to rest." Draco smirked at her again and leant back on the window.

"Lazy prat."

 "Get to work, Granger. Or do you want to call the house elves for help?"

Hermione scoffed and started unpacking her bags. While she was rummaging through her last bag, an empty vial fell on the floor, and rolled towards Draco.

The wizard picked it up and frowned as he realised what it was. "This is a heavy dose of the Calming Drought. Why do you have it? You do know that it is not be taken very often, right Granger?"

"I-I know but I needed it." The muggle born witch sighed as she sat down on the bed, facing her husband. "I couldn't sleep for the past few days. The nightmares... they have increased."

"And," She looked away from him, "Today's was the worst. You... You were present in my nightmare."

"Granger, I-"

"Shit."

"What, Granger?"

"I had taken the list we made on all the information we have about destroying the horcruxes when we had went to the office." Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. "And I forgot the list in You Know Who's office, Malfoy!"

-------------

"Oh Ginny- Zabini? What are you doing here, Zabini?" Harry frowned when he saw the Italian wizard leaning against the counter in the kitchen.

"Didn't your girlfriend tell you?" Blaise asked while munching on his apple pie. 

"Tell me what?"

"That I was supposed to come here." The Slytherin wizard answered. "Well Theo and I were called here, actually. But the idiot has gone to see Lovegood-"

"Lovegood? Xenophilius Lovegood? Why would Nott want to meet him?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing in confusion.

He didn't know what was going on.

"Really, Potter?" He shook his head. "No wonder they call you oblivious. Lovegood as in Xeno's daughter. Looney Lovegood- and no, don't tell Theo I called her that, he will kill me otherwise."

Harry still did not understand what was happening.

"But why would Nott want to meet Luna? Doesn't he hate her or something?" The raven haired wizard asked him, his brows furrowing. "I thought you all Slytherins hated everyone except your own house members."

"You know what, Potter? You will find the answer when you get the wedding invitation." Blaise sighed and walked away from there. "Who even allowed this idiot to be the Chosen One?"

The Boy Who Lived, who now stood alone in the kitchen of twelve, Grimmauld Place, wondered, "Wedding invitation? Whose wedding is going to happen? Hermione and Malfoy had to marry a few days back, and of course, they are not going to have a real wedding, then who?"

"And," The Gryffindor wizard continued, "Why will I find the answer to why Nott was visiting Luna when I get the wedding invitation?" 

Meanwhile, Theo, who had gone to see his girlfriend, exited her room to see Ron Weasley standing a few feet away, looking at a picture hung on the wall.

"What are you doing here, Weaselbee?" The Nott Heir asked him. 

The red haired wizard jumped and frantically looked around, before settling his eyes on the other wizard. "Nott? What are you doing here, Nott?"

Theo had just opened his mouth to answer when he noticed that the other wizard had pointed his wand at him, a spell on the tip of his tongue.

"Put it down, Weasel!" The Slytherin wizard warned. "I am not your enemy that you have to be ready to hit me with a spell-"

"YOU ARE A DEATH EATER!" Ron bellowed. "FLIPEN-"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Theo's head snapped towards the end of the corridor and found none other than the Chosen One standing there.

Of course, who else would always use Expelliarmus other than Harry James Potter?

"What is wrong with you, Ron?" Harry asked him, his best friend's wand still secure in his hand. "You do know that Nott is an Order member now?"

"Order member?" Ron frowned. "Are you delusional, Harry? He is a freaking Death Eater-"

"Ron, I get that you hate him, well his best friend Malfoy actually, but you can't try to harm him because of that." He sighed. "Nott has never been a Death Eater, and you were present in the meeting in which Nott, Zabini and Malfoy were made Order members." 

The youngest Weasley wizard closed his eyes for a few minutes. When he finally opened them, it was as if he suddenly remembered everything that his best friend was talking about. 

He sighed and turned towards the Slytherin wizard, who was now standing next to his friend, Blaise, who had arrived there a few minutes back. "I am sorry, Nott. I-I do not know what had come over my mind. I should not have done that."

For Ron, it was easier to apologise to Theo than it was to Draco. 

Theo had never really done anything against the Golden Trio, although Ron could remember him being present when Hermione had punched the blond wizard, but still, the Nott heir had not done anything to them.

And as for Draco, well that is a different story all together. 

"Weaselbee," Blaise called him just as the two Gryffindor wizards turned to leave, "Can you tell me about your horcrux hunt?"

When Ron looked at Harry, Theo said, "I mean, it would only help us in finding more items to destroy the horcruxes, right? Besides, you know we are Order members now, Saint Potter just said that a few minutes back, so you can trust us."

Harry sighed and nodded. The raven haired wizard led them towards his room, where after putting all the necessary charms up, he gestured the other wizards to sit down. 

He looked at Ron once more before he started the story, with his best friend throwing in his inputs. When they finally finished the story, the two Slytherin wizards looked at each other, as if mentally communicating something.

Which maybe they were, who knows?

You could never trust the Slytherins, according to Harry.

But we will ignore the Boy Who Lived for now.

"Weaselbee," Theo started, "Can you tell us what exactly happened with you when you had left in between the horcrux hunt? I mean to say, what all places you had gone to and who all you met and all of that stuff."

"I don't really remember that much." Ron admitted.

"You are acting as if someone Obliviated you, Ron." Harry rolled his eyes as he attempted to joke to lighten the mood. 

"Or," Blaise's tone suddenly grew serious, "As if you were under an Imperius Curse, Weaselbee."

-------------

It was nearing midnight when Draco quietly walked out of the room, after making sure that his wife was still asleep, and locked the door behind him perfectly.

"I could have let Granger go and get the list since she was the one who had forgotten it there, but the damn key would not work if a muggle born was holding it." He grumbled as he cast the necessary charms upon himself so as to not let anyone see him, and started climbing down the stairs.

Well that was not a total lie. 

It was true, if they wanted the key to work, then only a Pure Blood, or a Half Blood could use it. So, it made sense that the Malfoy Heir had to go to office, as he couldn't tell his parents anything about why they had gone to the office in the first place.

How would he explain it to them when they would see a paper filled with information written in Hermione Granger's penmanship?

They still did not know that their daughter in law was actually the muggle born witch, whom his father hated very much, in a disguise.

The other reason for Draco to go to the office was, well, he did not want Hermione to go there. 

It was simple. The Brightest Witch of Their Age had never stepped foot in the Manor before this plan had been decided, except when the Golden Trio had been brought to the Malfoy Manor. And so, she did not really know all the secret passages and rooms of Draco's ancestral house properly, despite the fact that he had given her a short tour.

And so, in case of any danger, Hermione would not know where to go, or to hid, because even with the Disillusionment charm on, it did not mean that she would remain safe.

Draco did not want her to be in danger.

Why? Because she was an Order member and his spy partner, and they were working towards defeating the darkest wizard of his age, together.

That was it.

There was no other reason why Draco should care about her, or what happens to her. 

That was why he had pulled her towards him when they were in the office. She was... just his partner, nothing else. 

Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, the Malfoy Heir quickly made his way to the office, and entered inside, after checking no one was there. Once he had locked the door behind him, it took him a few minutes to find the list they had made.

With the list safe in his pocket, Draco checked that he had not left any evidences of he and his wife being in there, and left the office for his room.

"And she is still sleeping." He mentally remarked when he saw the witch still sleeping peacefully, well as peacefully as the potion which, do not tell anyone, Draco had secretly brewed for her, and had pour it in her tea. 

In his defence, if Hermione would not get enough sleep, she would not be able to work properly and so, Draco had made the potion, without telling her of course, because she would absolutely refuse his help straightaway. 

He had changed his clothes and was heading for the bed when he noticed that Hermione had fallen asleep on the wrong side.

On his side. 

Sighing, the Slytherin Prince walked towards the couch near the bed, and laid down on top it, pulling the blanket up towards him.

He had thought about sleeping on the same bed as her, but he slept shirtless, and he figured that Hermione would probably scream when she would wake up in the morning and see him sleeping next to her like that.

And Draco really did not want anyone to disturb his sleep. 

"And today's was the worst. You... You were present in my nightmare."

The Gryffindor witch's words played in his ear as he tried to sleep. They had not discussed much about it because of the panic they were feeling. But of course, they had no choice but to wait until everyone was asleep to get the list back.

They did not trust Voldemort to not come into their room unannounced once again. 

Still, Draco wondered what role he played in her nightmare. Was he the villain as usual?

Or maybe he had done something close to saving her, not like a hero, mind you. He could never be a hero.

But that did not mean he was a villain either. At least that's what his mother always told him, but he had never believed her.

On the other hand, the witch lying on the bed slowly opened her brown eyes to look at her husband, who had now closed his eyes, trying his best to sleep properly on the couch which was definitely very uncomfortable for him. 

Hermione sighed and looked at her wedding ring, glistening in the light of the moon which had penetrated through the curtains Narcissa had put on the windows a few hours back. 

Draco had gone to the Dark Lord's office instead of her to get the list back.

And the muggle born witch knew very well why he had done that. It was to save her from the danger she would have been in if Voldemort would have caught her.

Yes, she was the Brightest Witch of Her Age, but you can't just assume to beat Voldemort at midnight when you are totally unprepared. 

"Why are you such a confusing person, Malfoy?" Hermione mumbled as she looked at him, and she realised that it was the first time she had seen him look so peaceful. Every other time he had worry lines on his face, always thinking about the danger and how they had a plan to execute. 

But now, for the first time, he looked relaxed, not totally because she could understand his need of constant vigilance, but still. He looked peaceful. 

And Hermione had to admit that he looked more handsome like this. 

"If anyone was a good example of how there are shades of grey in every person, in every world, be it muggle or Wizarding, it would be you, Draco Malfoy." She whispered. 

And as she turned on her back to finally fall asleep, for she had been waiting for him to return, she made a promise to herself that night. 

When the war would get over, Hermione would not let Draco go into Azkaban. She would testify for him, give her memories if she had to, but she would not let anything wrong happen with him, not when the Malfoy Heir was risking his life to help them.

There were shades of grey in every war, and roles more than just a Hero and a Villain in every situation.

-------------

Next Day....

Lucius Malfoy flinched as his Dark Mark burnt yet again for the second time in as many minutes. He rubbed his arm, and faced his wife, who was looking at him with furrowed brows. 

"The Dark Lord does not seem to be in a good mood, does he?" Narcissa asked. "It is barely seven o'clock in the morning and he is calling you."

"I just hope it is for a meeting, or even for just interrogating members," Her husband sighed, "And not because he wants to punish Draco yet again."

"My baby dragon." The Malfoy matriarch smiled sadly at the wizard in front of her. "Who knows when the Dark Lord will finally believe that Draco is on his side now? Or if he would ever do that, anyways. I just hope he does not find out that we are supporting the Order now."

Lucius nodded, and before his Dark Mark could burn again, he got up from his chair. "We should go and see what he wants from us. You go and wake up our son, Salazar knows how he loves sleeping till late."

Narcissa chuckled and nodded. As her husband walked towards the drawing room, she left for her son's wing. She took her wand out when she reached his room, and used it to undo all the locking charms her son had done on the door.

"When will my idiot dragon learn that he can never fool me with these spells?" Narcissa tutted and opened the door, careful not to make any noise. "I am his mother, for Salazar's sake."

She huffed a laugh when she saw how her son was sleeping on the sofa just to let his wife sleep on their bed. 

"Love is in the air." Narcissa smiled and quickly woke her daughter in law first. Thankfully, she was not anything like her son who would get irritated whenever someone woke him up early in the morning.

When Hermione, as known as Amelia, went to the enjoined bathroom, Narcissa tried waking her son up. 

A few minutes later, he still had not bothered to wake up, although he had shifted on his side, as much as the couch would allow him to do so, and had used a pillow to cover his ears.

The Malfoy matriarch rolled her eyes and conjured her peacock patronus, instructing it to make peacock noises, because she knew that this had to work.

As expected, the Malfoy Heir woke up with a gasp, wildly looking around to find where the sounds were coming from-

-Only to narrow his eyes when he saw his mother standing in front of him, her peacock dancing next to her. 

"When will you learn, Mother?" He sighed. "You should not use your stupid tricks anymore." 

"Well as you so eloquently said, these stupid tricks do not fail in waking you up, so I am afraid that I cannot comply to your request." She smiled sweetly at him.

"As if you would comply with anyone's request, ever. You do not even listen to Father, poor him, poor me. Poor us." Draco shook his head.

"That's not true, I do listen to people. I am not that bad." Narcissa insisted.

"Yeah, and you know who comes under 'people'? You and that bloody wife of mine-"

"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY!" His mother pulled his ear harshly. "You will not talk about your wife like that if you know what's good for you."  

"And of course, my mother will always scold me, only me." Draco groaned. "Fine, fine, I am getting up. Bloody woman."

Smack!

"Mother!" He rubbed his head. 

"No swearing, my dear stupid dragon." Narcissa grinned at him. "Now go and get a shower in the bathroom of the guest room."

"Why can't I go to my own bathroom-"

"Because Amelia is having a shower there. You see, unlike you, she likes waking up early in the morning, my lazy dragon."

"This is straight up partiality." The blond wizard grumbled as he got up from the couch after shooting a glare at his mother.

Narcissa simply reminded him to not take an hour again to get ready, but of course, her son simply ignored that.

Two hours later, Hermione and Draco were standing in the drawing room with Voldemort at its center. The other Death Eaters were standing in a circle around them, and the older Malfoys were nervously looking at the Dark Lord.

The muggle born witch had immediately clutched her husband's arm tightly when she had realised which room they were in.

The same drawing room where she had gotten tortured by Bellatrix just a few months back.

And Draco had simply squeezed her arm, letting her know that he was with her this time, and would not let anyone harm her.

They had not let go of each other's hands since then. 

"So, I observed something yesterday," The Dark Lord began, "and it is puzzling me. Therefore, I called all of you here to ask a very important question."

He stayed silent as he walked around the room, and smirked when he stood directly in front of two young witch and wizard. 

"So Draco and Amelia Malfoy," Voldemort spoke, "Tell me, who broke into my office yesterday?"

A/N: That's it for this chapter. It was 5000+ words. Hope you guys liked it. So, Blaise and Theo noticed something peculiar at the Order's Headquarters, and Voldemort knows that someone broke into his office. Do you think he knows the truth? Random question: If you were a spy, which HP character would you want to be your partner? Answer in the comments below. Vote, comment and please share my story. Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you! 

Next chapter on 7/9/21(Tuesday). 

Until next time.