A/N: I believe I woke up today and saw that our next door neighbors have been replaced with two Russian assassins, so as a form of self preservation, I'm posting that last chapter. I hope you guys like it.

P.S: ForensicGeek2 I LOVED your reviews on both my stories! It's a shame I can't PM you. If you can PM me, please do. :)

Draco walked back to his room in wide unsteady steps, frustration had gotten the best of him. Nothing he did seemed to be working, not even his last desperate attempt at stealing some of that bloody stupid potion from Slughorn's office.

He had spent quite a while trying to sneak into the old git's office and when he finally did, he spent twice that time searching for the potion. He almost gave up but on his way out he dropped one of Slughorn's boxes and all the potions that were in the box fell to the floor. Hastily collecting them to put them back before anybody comes, Draco finally saw it. A medium-sized flask, full of golden liquid: Felix Felicis. Letting a couple of drops slide through his throat, he closed the flask and placed it back in the box before putting it back in place and leaving.

He hurried back to the room of requirement hoping this time his spell worked. "Harmonia Nectere Passus" he said pointing his wand at the cabinet in front of him, but nothing seemed to happen. Draco threw his wand to the floor violently letting out a loud desperate groan. Just another futile attempt, even luck couldn't help him with it!
Picking up his wand once more, he took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind in order to try the spell again but he suddenly felt faint, his legs were shaking and his eyesight was blurred. The exhaustion of the previous days was finally catching up with him, he thought grimly. Feeling the need to lie down, he left the room of requirement and headed back to his room.

Just as he raised his hand to the door knob, he heard a movement inside his room. Perfect, he thought broodingly. Just what he needed right now, an intruder. He blinked rapidly in an attempt to lose the blurriness that clouded his vision, then raised his wand and opened the door in a quick movement.

"Stupefy" he muttered, pointing his wand at the figure in front of him and it flew across the room before hitting the wall and falling down. Draco turned on the lights to see who it was and his mouth fell open when he saw his cousin. What was she doing there!

"Expeliarmus!" he said as the witch in front of him tried to stand up.

"Accio wan.." she started to say before he interrupted her.

"Imperio" he voiced and the older witch let out a sigh before letting her shoulders fall, looking at him blankly.

He started searching one of his drawers until he found his potion box, opening it, he ran his fingers idly over the tiny flasks until he found the one he had been looking for, a tiny flask that held a few drops of a transparent water-like liquid. He pushed it into Tonks's hand "Drink this." he ordered and she complied.

After several minutes he started his interrogation.

"Who are you?" he asked, unsure whether it was his cousin or somebody disguised as her.

"Nymphadora Tonks." she replied

"What are you doing here?" he asked

"I was placing this." she said, pointing her finger at his desk. Looking at the direction she was pointing at, he saw it. It looked like a small gift, wrapped in green with a silver ribbon on it, there was a card attached to it and his frown deepened as he read it. Pansy? What bloody madness was this!

After what seemed like ages of asking so many questions and receiving concise answers in return, Draco finally understood what was going on. Dumbledore suspected him, apparently he hadn't been discreet enough about his mission and it earned him the old wizard's suspicion. And out of all people, he had enlisted Granger to persuade him to spill his secret...pathetic. It made sense, though, she was Potter's best friend and Dumbledore probably trusted her.

The idea was remarkable however, he mused with a frown. Had he walked into the room finding this gift from Pansy, he would've eaten it without a second thought.
But he hadn't, he walked in earlier and now he knew all about Dumbledore's plans. He was several steps ahead of Dumbledore now and it gave him the upper hand, but did he really want it? Part of him wished he had stayed in the room of requirement for a while longer. The bliss of ignorance, he thought ruefully.

But maybe he could...Draco pondered carefully before a familiar smirk played on his lips. He put the bar back on the desk then turned to Tonks "Obliviate" he spoke confidently before going to hide in the adjoined bathroom.
Slightly opening the bathroom door, he pointed his wand at Tonks and with a swift movement the Imperius curse he had cast on her earlier was terminated then he closed the door and listened carefully. Minutes later, he could hear her footsteps leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

Sitting on the nearest chair, he toyed with the so called gift, juggling it from one hand to the other. Draco thought of the endless options he had, he could simply ruin their plan by going back home for the holiday instead of staying, but he didn't want to. For the first time in so long Draco felt like he had a wide range of choices, ones that nobody was going to make for him. He just had to make the right one.

He stayed up all night, thinking of the right approach, how do you act in love when you've never actually experienced it?

When the morning came, Draco took a quick shower and headed to the great hall, he could see her sitting where she usually did, fidgeting in her chair and it satisfied him that she was nervous about this. He was going to give Hermione Granger four extremely uncomfortable days and he was going to enjoy it thoroughly.

She was failing at this miserably, he mused. She had spent the whole day acting like a frightened mouse, trying to hide from him when she was the one that should be pursuing him for answers.
She flinched every time time he touched her and it irritated him and pleased him all at once. It pleased him because anything that caused Granger to flinch was definitely good, but it irritated him that she found his proximity so repulsive, he's the one that should be flinching away not her!

Hermione Granger proved to be very entertaining if watched closely. Draco decided. He hardly bit back a laugh when she suddenly snatched the piece of toast from his hand. If this was how she showed affection then he really pitied Weasly. He was finding it hard to plaster a smile on his face when he had spent so much time waiting outside her room earlier. He had spent the past night contemplating on whether or not he should give her that book.

He wanted to give her some sort of gift; people in love usually did, and he wanted to leave her with a reminder of that mission of hers. But finding something she would actually like, proved to be hard until he finally remembered that book he had. What would appeal to someone like Granger more than a book?

When she started pushing him for answers over breakfast he decided it was the prefect distraction.
It was only when she eventually said that she liked the book that Draco realized he was holding his breath. He smiled with pride as he watched her skimming through the pages in awe. But when she jumped off the bed after he sat next to her, he was so tempted to pull her back.

...

"Draco, you don't love me!" smart move, Draco thought grimly. If he was under the effect of that potion he wouldn't have kept a single secret from her after she had said that. He watched as she walked away, waiting for her to turn around at any minute, but she didn't. She was pushing him further and he was finally being pushed for real.

Suddenly he wasn't sure about anything anymore, he thought as he entered his room. The choice he thought he wanted to make seemed so hard. Three lives were on stake, the three lives he valued the most, his and his parents'.

It was easier said than done, help Granger carry out her mission by telling her about his. Then proceed working on his own mission. It wasn't the right thing, he knew, but it was the closest thing to it. This way, Dumbledore would know what to expect, whether or not Draco would be able to kill Dumbledore was unknown to him yet.

He was torn between wanting to disappoint Voldemort by succeeding in his mission and sparing his family's life, and feeling terrified of the thought of killing somebody. And not just anybody; one of the most powerful wizards the magic world had known...one of the main obstacles in Voldemort's way. And out of all the things that terrified Draco, Voldemort's rise to power terrified him the most, nobody was safe if he did. Because it didn't matter how loyal his followers were to him; he wasn't loyal to any of them.

He stepped under the shower, holding his breath as the cold water ran down his body. Sooner or later, he will be tested again, if he survived after this mission, he will eventually have another one thrown at him. With the same things at stake, he will be forced once more to do something against his will. He looked at the mark on his arm and knew this was never going to end as long as he was breathing and more than anything, he wished for Dumbledore to kill him before he does.

A sharp knock at the door snapped him out of his thoughts, he knew who it was. Wrapping a towel hastily around his waist he ran out of the bathroom. Grabbing his wand he pointed it at his left arm and muttered something under his breath, when he was sure the mark wasn't visible anymore he opened the door, unsure why she was here.

"I love you, Granger." the words left his mouth before he was able to stop them, he didn't want to say it but he reveled in the the color that rose in her cheeks and how her eyes widened, getting a shade darker. For a fleeting second he was tempted to let her know that he wasn't saying that under the effect of a love potion to see how she would react, but it was just a fleeting second.

Draco had wanted her to stay, because in spite of himself, he had to admit that he actually liked her company, he wasn't lying when he said it took his mind off things. Ever since Granger's mission came up, he hadn't given his own mission much thought. He hadn't even went anywhere near the requirement room. But what she wanted in return for her company that time was too much, he finally decided as he watched the back of her head for the second time that evening.

Draco stayed in his room all day long and although his ego wanted her to come looking for him, he was thankful she didn't. He wasn't ready to talk to her just yet. He had finally made up his mind about telling her everything, he just needed to figure out how to do it.

...

"_you're not a murderer." that was how she thought of him? Draco frowned. Her whole behavior during that night was unpredictable. He expected her to try and extract as much information as she could before coming up with an excuse to leave, but she didn't. Instead she stood there, fiercely talking him into switching sides. He hadn't expected that, neither had he expected it to overwhelm him so much.

"I love you so much that even though I knew you'd hate me after what I've shown and told you tonight, I still did it." his voice echoed inside his head, he hated how real it sounded to his own ears. This mission was taking its toll on him and he couldn't differentiate between reality and acting anymore.

After he made sure she was in her room, Draco sneaked back to Slughorn's office. The old man had a flask of almost every potion ever known! He was sure he had seen a flask that had an antidote to forgetfulness potion while he was searching for Felix Felicis before. Ironically, it was the only flask that had a label on it. When he finally found the flask he took it with him and went back to his room. Hopefully, Slughorn won't notice it was gone until he could replace it.

The day that had started too dreadful for Draco, gradually took a perfect turn. He knew what to expect from people when they saw his mark: fear, respect and poorly hidden repulsion. But aside from that horrified look she gave him last night in the astronomy tower, Granger showed none of those. He was taken aback by the forcefulness of her reaction when he tried to avoid her.

But he wasn't lying to her when he said he was terrified of how she would treat him that day. He had never revealed so much of himself to anybody and she accepted it so well. She was a horrible liar, he would've known if she was acting that night at the astronomy tower, but she was actually sincere in her attempts to change his mind. And he appreciated it so much that he was afraid of having it ruined by how she might react the next morning. Maybe when she had time for herself to think she would realize what he actually was, and he wasn't ready to put up with any fear or disgust from her. At least not now.

The day slipped through Draco's hand like water. Granger still hadn't tried to make him drink anything and he was wondering whether there had been a change of plan. Maybe she planned on obliviating him instead, he reached for his pocket to make sure his wand was there.

...

Subtlety doesn't become her, Draco remarked with amusement. Even under a love potion he would've been alarmed at the fact that she had poured herself a glass before coming into the room. Glad that he had already drunk some of the antidote before opening the door, Draco confidently poured himself a glass and drowned it, this should give him some time before the potion started affecting him.

This time she didn't flinch back when he touched her; she stepped closer. This time he didn't touch her to irritate her; he did because he couldn't stop himself. And when he thanked her it was because he was feeling eternally grateful.
He was reluctant to let her go but if she had stayed any longer the potion's effect would have started taking over him and he couldn't drink the rest of the antidote without her noticing.

Draco closed his eyes and a sense of relief washed over him, for once he had made a choice on his own, and it was the closest thing he had ever done to the right thing. He had no idea whether it was his family or Dumbledore who would survive, but at least the guilt that had been consuming him had retreated.

The next morning, when Draco saw Hermione walking into the library he knew he should've stayed in his room. But he was going to have to face her eventually and the sooner the better.
He desperately wanted her to insult him back, she could've hexed him right there and he wouldn't even raise his wand to defend himself. Anything was better than that hurt look on her face. Say something he pleaded silently, but she just brushed against him into the library.

As Draco made his way back to his room, he seriously considered drinking what was left in that juice bottle.