A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you guys liked it. So something very important is going to happen in this chapter. And it would also be an important point in Hermione and Draco's relationship. Read the A/N at the end to find out when the next chapter will be out. On with the chapter!

One week later.....

"Sod off, Potter-"

"You were about to use the Cruciatus Curse on me, Malfoy-"

"And you used a spell on me that you have never heard about ever before-"

"I was trying to defend myself-"

"You almost killed me, Potter-"

"I didn't know what the spell would have done, Malfoy. I didn't know that it was really that dangerous-"

"Of course, you didn't know, Potter. How could you, after all? With that pea sized brain of yours it is obviously clear that if not for Granger's help, you and that stupid Weasel would have never passed a single exam-"

"We are not even talking about the studious things here, Malfoy. And you speak like you are the Brightest Wizard of Our Age-"

"I will let you know that I am actually the Brightest Wizard of My Age-"

"SHUT UP!" Hermione yelled as she threw her book down on the couch in frustration. And then as if realising what a crime she had committed, she quickly picked it up, and touched it under her arm.

"Here we go again." Blaise whispered to Theo as they looked at the drama going on in the living room from the kitchen.

"One of the many perks of being an Order member." Theo whispered back as he took a sip from his tea and watched the Italian Wizard, who was standing next to him, eat snacks. "We get free entertainment any time of any day."

"Are you two nuts?" The Brightest Witch of Her Age snapped at the two enemies who had been busy arguing since half an hour.

"Why would we be nuts, Granger?" Draco frowned, clearly not understanding her meaning. "Are you crazy or something? Should we send her to St Mungo's, Potter?"

"You act like as if you care whether or not I was crazy." The muggle born witch said before her raven haired best friend had a chance to speak.

"You will find that you don't know a thing about me, Granger." The Malfoy Heir snarled. "You may be an insufferable know it all, but when it comes to me, you are as clueless as Potter and Weasel are about everything going on around them, and that's saying something."

As Harry, who had taken offence at that statement, started arguing with Draco again, the brunette witch relaxed back on the couch and thought about the blond wizard's statement of her not knowing a thing about him.

He had said the same thing last week, when Hermione had seen him shirtless.

Flashback

At first, Draco did not notice Hermione staring at his bare chest.

But when he turned towards her to say something, he noticed that her gaze weren't at his face at all. Rather, her focus was fixed on his chest.

More specifically, where his scars were there.

Small scars here and there, and the longest one right in the middle, extending from his right shoulder all the way to his left hip bone.

His sectumsempra scar, courtesy of none other than Harry James Potter.

His shirt dropped to the floor from his hands as Hermione took a step towards him. 

His breath caught as she raised her hand towards him.

But her hand stopped before it could touch his chest.

For Draco had taken a step backwards when he had realised what the Gryffindor witch was trying to do just as her hand was an inch away from his scar.

As if suddenly breaking from a trance, Hermione retracted her hand and her head snapped up towards him. Her cheeks turned a bright colour of pink as she realised what she had been trying to do.

Draco could see a lot of emotions swirling in her eyes, and though some of them were unrecognisable, one of them was clearly pity.

And that suddenly made him angry at her.

How dare she pity him when her own best friend had done this to him?

Bet she and the others had a right laugh after Potter had told them what he had done with the sectumsempra spell, Draco bitterly thought.

"I-I am sorry, Malfoy-" Hermione began but was cut off by the angry wizard standing in front of her.

"Oh look at this everyone, Granger here is apologising to me." The blond wizard let out a harsh laugh. "And pray tell, what are you apologising for?"

"I-I-"

"No need, Granger, no need." He interjected again. "I know perfectly well what you are apologising for. It is for acting like you just did now, isn't it? Or maybe it was for the party you threw after Potter had used Sectumsempra on me?"

"Party? The hell are you talking about, Malfoy?"

"Don't act so innocent, Granger." Draco hissed as he grabbed her elbow and pulled her towards him. He bent down until their faces were just inches apart. "I know how thrilled you all would have been when you heard what Potter did. After all, that is what a filthy Death Eater like me deserved, right? Bet you all even-"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, MALFOY!" Hermione harshly pulled her hand from his grasp and shoved him. "You don't know a thing about me, Malfoy. You don't know a thing about how I feel and how I want to act. So don't presume to know everything."

The Slytherin Prince simply bent down to pick his shirt up instead of saying anything. He turned around to walk away, but just as he had taken a few steps forwards, he was stopped by her voice.

"At least I am not like you." Hermione said. "I don't go around bullying people just because they aren't pure bloods. I don't go around hurting innocent people. I don't just stand by and do nothing while someone is getting tortured right in front of me-"

"You don't know a thing about me, Granger." Draco repeated her words as he looked at her over his shoulder. "You don't know a thing about why I did what I did, and why I didn't do anything. So don't assume that just because you were on the right side, that there were no broken people on the wrong side."

Without saying another word, he left the kitchen, leaving Hermione standing there as she thought about the way his voice sounded when he spoke that.

Flashback over

They hadn't spoken to each other since.

Draco simply never looked at her whenever he came here, and if forced to be in the same room as her, he would stay as far away from her as he could.

And as for Hermione, well she was too busy thinking about how he had acted all these years to talk with him.

So when Draco said something to her a few minutes back, she was shocked, but she didn't let anyone see that.

But unbeknownst to her, Draco was a master at both Occlumency and Legilimency and he knew perfectly well what she was thinking.

Though that didn't mean Draco was ready to talk with her, even though he knew that he had crossed a line while having that conversation.

But then again, so had she.

There was really no perfectly right side in this war.

For there existed right person in the wrong side and vice versa.

----------

A few hours later.....

Draco sighed as he read the message Hermione had sent to him through the galleon she had given to him what felt like a long time ago.

Kingsley calling, interrogating people.

The blond wizard got up from his bed with a tired expression on his face and trodded towards his closet to change into a suit.

For of course Draco Lucius Malfoy would wear a shiny black suit to an Order meeting.

A few minutes later, he flooed to the Order's Headquarters from the Manor and found Hermione standing in front of me.

"Were you waiting for me, Granger?" He smirked at her. "I didn't know you were so in love with me, oh dear beaver."

"Don't flatter yourself, Malfoy." The Brightest Witch of Her Age rolled her eyes at him, though she was a bit surprised that he was talking with her like that.

"Oh I don't need to flatter myself, Granger. You and I both know perfectly well that the number of girls who are after me is huge."

Hermione didn't chose to give an answer to that and simply asked him to follow her. Just as they stood in front of the room where the Interrogation was supposed to happen, she commented, "You look tired, Malfoy."

Tired but still good looking, though she didn't admit that.

"No shit sherlock." The Malfoy heir muttered. "At least I don't look like a total beaver right now, like you do, even if it is midnight. I still look handsome."

Again, Hermione decided against commenting on that.

"Who the hell does an interrogation at midnight anyways?" Draco grumbled.

"It was McGonagall's idea." The brunette witch whispered as they entered the room, and saw the said witch standing in one of the corners.

"No wonder that old cow is really crazy." The Slytherin Prince shot his professor an irritated look as he passed by her.

The head of the Gryffindor house simply looked at him with a stern expression on her face.

It was similar to the one she had given him when he had been given detention in the Forbidden Forest along side the Golden Trio.

Or what Draco liked to call, The Beaver and The Dunderhead Twins Trio.

Awesome name, isn't it?

"Earlier this week we had sent a team of Order members to a few nearby Death Eater camp sites to free the Order members that were caught and bring them here." Kingsley began as he walked forwards until he stood in the center of the room, right next to the table were four Death Eaters sat, trapped by shackles around their wrists and ankles. "The members were not only successful in doing so, but they also managed to bring a few Death Eaters here."

"We got the information regarding the Death Eater camps thanks to Mr Malfoy," Kingsley nodded towards the blond wizard who nodded back at him, "And we also decided to make him a part of the group that will interrogate these Death Eaters."

After assigning two members to each Death Eater, and sending them to different rooms, Kingsley walked towards the remaining people which were coincidentally, or perhaps not, the Brightest Witch and Wizard of Their Age. 

"Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger." He addressed them. "I want you two to interrogate this Death Eater," He pointed towards the remaining member of the Dark Lord's army, "And I have heard that he is the leader of that group. Miss Granger, we all know about your extensive knowledge, and Mr Malfoy, I know you are a skilled Legilimens. And so together, you two would make a great team. I hope you two will realise that, and would manage to keep aside your differences for this one task. Please don't disappoint me you both."

With that, he put some charms around the room and left.

Hermione and Draco would make a great team.

That had to be a joke.

A very bad joke which neither Hermione, nor Draco liked. 

Still, they turned away from each other to look at the captured leader of the Death Eaters group.

That man, whom Draco thought was Crigs or something, smirked as he recognised as the Malfoy Heir. 

Though a very strong Silencio had been put on that man, and the shackles were clearly hurting his wrists and ankles whenever he was moving them, the man didn't stop smirking at Draco.

As if taunting him that the heir of the great and noble Malfoy line was now a blood traitor.

Or maybe that if Draco or the rest of the Order made even a single mistake, Crigs would immediately go to Voldemort to inform what the Malfoys were planning on doing.

And somehow, that managed to send chills down Draco's spine more than any words of the man would have done. 

But he guessed he had the advantage of being a master at Legilimency and having watched interrogations like this before.

Even though he had never interrogated someone before, as Voldemort didn't really trust him, but he had watched other Death Eaters interrogating captured Order members, thanks to the Dark Lord making the Malfoy Manor as his headquarters.

"So shall we start this, partner?" Hermione asked him.

Partner.

Draco supposed they could put aside their hate for each other this once.

----------

The next day......

"Who does she think she is?" Draco grumbled to himself as he received yet another message from Hermione through the galleon, this time asking him to come to the Grimmauld Place because she had something important to talk about with him. 

The blond wizard continued, "She thinks that just because I have defected and joined the Order, and was her partner in interrogating the leader of the group of Death Eaters, she can order me around and ask me to come to the Order's Headquarters whenever she wanted. As if I don't have anything better to do. As if I keep laying on my bed all day, doing nothing, absolutely nothing at all." 

Of course, Draco wasn't stupid.

He had cast Muffliato around him since the moment he had received Hermione's message, afraid that in case he spoke something that would reveal his and his parents' defection and someone would hear him.

"I wish I could ask Shacklebolt to let me, for just one day, hex Granger anytime I wanted." The Malfoy Heir sighed to himself. "She is just so damn annoying and irritating. She can't ever accept that she is wrong, and that I am right. Like oh you know, I am Hermione oh so annoying beaver Granger, and I am always right because I am the Brightest Witch of Our Age, and I am a part of the Beaver and Dunderhead Twins Trio and-"

His rant abruptly stopped when he heard a laughter.

A laughter full of evil madness.

Voldemort's laughter.

Both intrigued and terrified, Draco quickly walked towards the room from where the sound seemed to be coming, and fortunately, it didn't matter that he had forgotten to cast Silencio on his legs, as he already knew how to walk quickly without making any noise.

Almost a year of Voldemort living in your house would force you to learn that.

And thankfully, it seemed as if the Dark Lord hadn't given up on his habit of underestimating the others as he had forgotten to shut the door properly and cast several charms on the room.

The Noseless maniac probably thought that he didn't need to do that, because all the Death Eaters living in the Malfoy Manor had gone on a raid, and he assumed that the Malfoys would obviously be huddled together in Draco's wing, away from the dark corners of the Manor.

Well Voldemort's mistake was Draco and the Order of the Phoenix's gain, so the Slytherin Prince wasn't complaining.

Leaning against the wall, the Malfoy Heir edged as close to the gap between the door and the wall as he could without making anyone alert.

"I don't know what that means, my Lord." A voice said.

Draco recognised that voice as Antonin Dolohov's, a Death Eater who hated the Malfoys the most, for some stupid unknown reason.

"I don't assume you to know, Antonin. You are, after all, a mere servant who lacks knowledge of even basic things." Voldemort said. "How will you know about one of the greatest gifts of dark magic then?"

"What is this greatest gift, if I my ask, my Lord?"

"You realise I am telling you a very confidential information now, don't you, Antonin? I suppose there is no major risk in doing so, thought, because I am only going to share half of the information with you. But that doesn't mean you will speak to anyone else about this, for I would not waste a second in showing you what happens if someone betrays me. Do you remember how I had almost killed the Malfoys, specially Draco?"

The said person shuddered as he remembered how the Dark Lord had tortured him mercilessly after the Battle. The torture was still going on, but thankfully, it was not as bad as it had been earlier. Though it didn't help that Voldemort's voice had turned cold when he said that, so it felt as if he was standing right next to Draco.

"Y-yes, my Lord."

If Draco could get a galleon for every time Dolohov, or any other Death Eater said 'My Lord', he would get thousands of them in a single day, the Slytherin Prince thought as he tried to distract himself from the panic growing inside him.

Panic, both because of the torture Voldemort had mentioned, and of getting discovered by him, despite the fact that the Malfoy Heir had put a Disillusionment charm on himself when he had come here.

"Do you want me to do the same to you, Antonin?"

"No, my L-lord."

Draco didn't blame Dolohov for stuttering in front of the Dark Lord, even though he had never liked the man.

"Very well." Voldemort nodded. "Then I shall disclose some information with you. You see, years ago, when I was in Hogwarts, I came to know about one of the darkest things magic has ever accomplished, that is making Horcruxes."

Horcruxes?

What the heck were they?

"Horcruxes? I don't understand, my Lord."

"I don't expect you to, Antonin. Not many witches and wizards know about them. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I was able to defeat Harry Potter at the Battle of Hogwarts. Even though he and the Order managed to destroy my horcruxes, they missed an important detail."

"And what was that, my Lord?"

"The fact that I could feel my horcruxes getting destroyed." Voldemort smirked in a very eerily way. "I assume that they knew about it and yet, for some reason they didn't consider that I would do something about it. They underestimated me, Antonin, and they paid the price. Plus, my spy kept informing me everything, so I could make more horcruxes in time, because of which I was able to win the Battle."

"My Lord, your mind is far more knowledgeable and intelligent than the whole of the Order's combined." Antonin said. "But my Lord, I don't understand what these horcruxes are."

"You see, that is something you haven't earned the privilege yet to know, my servant. Earn it, and you shall know."

"However you think is right, my Lord."

Draco quickly walked away from there before the two could come out from the room, and hid in his room.

He had to stay in there until Voldemort and Dolohov left, and then he would quickly rush to Grimmauld place to tell him about whatever he had just heard.

Well, about everything except the spy.

Because though he knew that the Order had signed on a contract which stated that no one would be able to disclose the defection of the Malfoys to anyone else, he wouldn't risk telling anyone about the spy, except for whom earned his trust.

And so far, none had done. 

But this?

This information about the horcruxes had to be discussed with the Order.

Because whatever the hell they might be, Draco thought, destroying them could very well win us this battle against the darkness.

-------

"Mr Malfoy, you do realise what you are talking about, aren't you?" Kingsley asked the blond wizard in a grave voice.

"I am telling you exactly what I heard, Shacklebolt." The said person nodded. "I told you everything that I heard."

Well, not exactly.

Draco was still hiding whatever he had heard about the spy right after the Battle, and then a few hours back from Voldemort, but we aren't talking about that right now.

"Mr Malfoy, it is not that I don't want to believe you." Kingsley sighed. "It is just that it is a lot to take in. Horcruxes... very dark magic indeed."

"But what are horcruxes? I want to know what the Dark Lord was talking about that actually cost us the war." The Slytherin Prince frowned as he looked around the room, his gaze flicking from person to person, but resting for a few seconds on a specific muggle born witch.

He might not have noticed included himself when he said that it cost them the war, but Hermione surely did.

Godric, she thought, Malfoy is actually talking as if he had been an Order member for a long time now. But I wonder, what would have happened if Malfoy had been on our side since the beginning?

What would had happened if Dumbledore had actually bothered to offer help to Malfoy in the beginning of the sixth year as he knew about the task all along, instead of waiting until the final moment when it was obvious that Malfoy won't be able to accept his help?

"You all are acting as if I would go and straightaway tell the Dark Lord about horcruxes." Draco rolled his eyes when nobody answered. "Not that would matter anyways, since he already knows. Or maybe, you all are thinking that I would become the Dark Lord's right hand and make my own horcruxes. Is that it? Am I right?"

When nobody answered again, Draco got up with a sigh. "If you all still think that I am as dark as him, then you all shouldn't have bothered accepting me as an Order member. Because if I really wanted to make horcruxes and be the next Dark Lord, then I would have asked the nose less wizard currently residing in my home to teach me, instead of risking my life by becoming a double agent."

He turned his angry and disappointed gaze at Hermione, who was quite focused on not looking back at him.

With a frustrated sigh, he turned around to walk away when someone spoke.

"I think we should tell Mr Malfoy everything about the horcruxes, Kingsley." None other than McGonagall spoke.

"Minerva-"

"No, Kingsley." The Head of the Gryffindor House cut him off. "I think we are being partial here. Mr Malfoy here has provided us with the information he knew about the Death Eater camps, and even helped in interrogating their leader. Even today, he could have chosen to not tell us about what You-Know-Who was talking about, but he did. I think we can trust him with this information."

Kingsley sighed and nodded. "Miss Granger, since you know about horcruxes the best, I think you should be the one to tell Mr Malfoy. The rest of you, follow me."

With that, Kingsley, the Dunderhead Twins as Draco liked to call them, Arthur and Molly Weasley and their oldest son and his wife, the dragon taimer whom Draco recognised as Charlie, having read articles about him due to his fascination of dragons left the room.

McGonagall paused just in front of the door, and then turned to look at Hermione, speaking in a low voice so that Draco won't be able to hear, but he did anyways. "Miss Granger, I hope you will do what is asked of you. Remember, he is not You-Know-Who. He is not Lucius Malfoy."

Draco frowned as McGonagall exited the room, leaving him and Hermione standing there. The witch whom he liked to call an old cow, was defending him.

Minerva McGonagall, a strict professor, was defending him. The hell was wrong with her?

Maybe she had gone barmy.

Draco bit back a groan as he realised it was the second time in as many days as him and the muggle born witch were alone in a room.

Well, if you would exclude the Death Eater in the interrogating room, that is.

"So, Malfoy." Hermione cleared her throat. "Listen, I am-"

"Granger." He cut her off as he sat back down in his chair. "Tell me everything about the horcruxes."

He was in no mood of her nonsense talks, specially those of Hermione.

"Alright." She nodded and sat down next to him and pulled out a notebook from her beaded bag which had an undetectable extension charm. She opened the page where she had listed all the names of the horcruxes and leaned forwards, putting her elbows on the table. "As Kingsley said, Horcruxes are one of the darkest forms of magic-"

"I have already heard that, Granger. No need to repeat it. Go on, tell me what I want to hear."

Hermione glared at him. "Learn to be patient, Malfoy. So, a horcrux is an object in which one has hidden a fragment of his or her in order to become immortal. They can only be created after committing murder, the supreme act of evil. The process for the creation of a Horcrux involves a spell and a horrific act is performed soon after the murder has been committed. Given that Horcruxes are precious to those who make them, there are usually protective measures made to prevent them from being stolen or destroyed, such as Counter charms and curses. That is why they are considered to be the darkest art and the most terrible of all dark magic."

"That is a lot to take in." Draco's eyes widened. "Damn, they- the horcruxes, I mean- are definitely very dark. No wonder the Dark Lord sounded so col and evil while talking about them."

"I thought he always sounds cold and evil." The Brightest Witch of Her Age commented.

The corner of the blond wizard's mouth slightly lifted up at that. "True, but still. Even though we are standing far apart, it still felt like he was standing close to me and threatening to commit a dark art."

"Anyways," He continued, "So many horcruxes did you all destroy?"

"Seven." She answered and told them how exactly each horcrux was destroyed. "We should have realised that he would make more horcruxes."

"We can only hope that he makes a mistake and we can take advantage of that." Draco got up from his chair and started walking away.

"Malfoy," She called just as he was about to close the door behind him, "I don't think you are evil."

He simply looked at her, then at his feet, nodded once and left.

Hermione sighed. She needed to say that she didn't think he was evil.

-----------

A few hours later....

Kingsley sat quietly as he waited for the others to finish their dinner soon and come to the meeting room. 

The room where a big decision would be taken by him in a few minutes.

It wasn't easy for him to do so. He knew he would be risking lives by doing so. Specifically two lives, one of a Death Eater turned Order member, and the other of an important Order member.

Yes, he was taking a great risk here, specially because those two people weren't exactly known for working good together, but still, he couldn't deny that they made a great team when they focused on the task and not on their hate of each other.

Take the interrogation for example.

Sure, they had not been able to achieve anything at first, but when they really started working nicely, they managed to do the interrogation successfully.

They balanced each other out perfectly.

He kept her on her toes, always reminding her to use her knowledge in a practical way and to ask others for help.

While she combined his skills with her knowledge perfectly, and told him to be patient and keep calm while working.

And the result?

They had managed to gain lots of important information.

So yes, it was the only solution he could think of.

Of course, no one would be happy to hear it, and he would be very well ruining lives with this, but it had to be done.

Because he could think of no other Order member who would be able to work as a spy alongside Draco. 

He just hoped that the two people in this question would be able to work as partners and focus on defeating Voldemort.

And not on hexing each other all the time.

He shifted a little in his seat as the door opened and people started coming in. When the last person, Charlie, had come in, Kingsley shut the door with his wand and cast several locking and silencing charms on the door.

He cleared his throat. "There is a reason I called only some Order members here instead of all of them. I hope you all realise that whatever we are going to discuss today is a very important matter and telling anyone else, even if the person is a fellow Order member, will have huge consequences."

Silence bestowed upon the room, and everyone slowly nodded at his words, seeming to agree with whatever he was saying and was going to stay.

All except Draco.

The blond wizard had simply crossed his arms in front of him and narrowed his eyes at Kingsley, probably because a few hours ago, he hadn't been trusted to know about the horcruxes and now, he was being called to a personal meeting and asked not to reveal any of the talks to anyone else.

Blaise and Theo, who were sitting either side of the Malfoy Heir, whispered something to him and he seemed to relax a little at their words.

But his posture still remained stiff.

"Today we got to know about an important detail that played a huge, and very important role in us losing the war." Kingsley sighed and then turned to The Chosen One. "Harry, did you know that You-Know-Who could feel you destroying his horcruxes?"

"I did-"

"Then why didn't you do anything about that?"

The Boy Who Lived frowned and shook his head. "We registered that fact a little too late, Kingsley. Since he can access my mind, I saw the image of him screaming when we couldn't do anything about that as the Battle was just about to begin. We just thought that it was then he realised that we were hunting his horcruxes."

"You all unknowingly made a mistake there, Harry." Kingsley shifted his gaze to look at Draco. "Mr Malfoy told us that You-Know-Who could feel you destroying each and every horcrux, and so he made more of them, the reason we lost the Battle of Hogwarts. And no, I am not blaming you, for there wasn't a way you could have realised that. You three were new to dark magic, and I think, if Dumbledore had himself told us or allowed you to tell us about the horcruxes, then we would have been in a better position. Because most of us were a part of the Order during the first war, and we have so many curse breakers, like Charlie, on the good side and they could have been a huge help in destroying horcruxes."

Kingsley may have supported Dumbledore, but he had never supported the man's ideas. Asking a seventeen years old wizard and his two friends to find Voldemort's horcruxes without taking any adult's help? 

Definitely crazy.

Kingsley continued, "But we won't make the same mistake again. I have chosen two people who would act as a spy at the Malfoy Manor and keep giving us information about the horcruxes, and we all would help destroy them, rather than just two of them doing so. The first person is Mr Malfoy."

Everyone's eyes shifted to Draco who looked a little shocked but nodded at Kingsley.

"The second person," Kingsley hesitated, "I had a hard time in making that decision. Mr Malfoy is chosen because out of us, he knows the Manor the best. But he doesn't have much knowledge about the horcruxes, or how to identify them. Of course, we can't just send a stranger to the Manor. Therefore, I thought that the other spy can, under a disguise of course, marry Mr Malfoy and the two can act as a couple in front of You-Know-Who while finding the information to destroy him."

"And the spy who would marry Mr Draco Malfoy is-"

Kingsley's eyes shifted to the witch sitting opposite to Draco. "-Miss Hermione Granger."

A/N: That's it for this chapter. It was 5200+ words. Hope you guys liked it. So, as I had mentioned something very important happened in this chapter. What did you guys think of it? Random question: What do you think about Albus Dumbledore? Answer in the comments below. Vote, comment and please share my story. Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you!

Next chapter on 10/8/21(Sunday). 

Until next time.