Hermione didn't understand how she got herself into these situations. Honestly, she reprimanded herself as she peeked through the keyhole on the closet door. It's not like this was her first mission- far from it in fact, it's just that this time she had no partner to cover her tracks. She chastised herself for growing so dependent during her work. There had always been a possibility that she would no longer have a partner, and she should have prepared herself more thoroughly. Her eyes scanned as much of the room as she could from her limited peephole, and counted at least three visible guards. With a deep sigh of exasperation, Hermione stood up from her crouch and looked around the tiny room she had gotten herself trapped in. Itching for her wand, she thought about how it was hidden in her luggage back at the safe house; freeing her from being tracked by any magic trails. Biting down on her lip, Hermione unconsciously pushed back a few strands of her unruly brown hair; trying to get it to lay neatly in her bun as her eyes scanned along the small shelves. As her eyes glanced over the shelves she noticed a small air duct on the ceiling, just big enough for her to squeeze in, and crawl through she reckoned. Without a single hesitation Hermione expertly began to climb up the shelving unit, and move towards the back of the room. Allowing herself a moment of pause to study the grate on the duct, she quickly pulled out a small hair clip. Maneuvering beneath the lock Hermione was easily able to open the grate. Hooking her leg into the small crawlspace, she used her arms for leverage and slid into the air duct with ease- backwards.

"For Godric's sake." She muttered under her breathe in annoyance, backing up in the small space; hoping for a "T" intersection for her to be able to turn around in. After a few minutes of crawling, she stopped and caught her breath as she pulled a small electronic GPS device out of her tight cat suit. Her eyes followed the in depth analysis of the mansion she happened to be in right now. She noted her position on the map, and used her finger to follow a path she needed to take to get to the vault. She quickly replaced the GPS in her suit, and continued her backwards crawl, until she heard voices bellow her. Freezing in her tracks, Hermione let out a very quiet breath, and tried to find any sort of grate for her to spy through. With no luck she lowered her ear to the metal and tried to eavesdrop on whoever was below her.

"I reckon that the longer we keep the prisoners in the basement the longer we can interrogate them. I mean, honestly no one will come for them here." The voice was deep, and rugged; Hermione thought back to the report she got, and came up blank. Maybe he was just a guard.

"I don't think that anyone will come for them anywhere. I mean, think about it… They have no alliances that we know of, and most everyone doesn't even know that they're missing." This voice was higher pitched- a female. A frown of confusion flickered over Hermione's face. Who were these people?

"I guess you're right. Though, I'm not sure where they are supposed to be transported to. I guess it doesn't matter either, really." The man droned on and Hermione could no longer pick up any useful information, so as silently as she could manage, she began to crawl again.

It seemed as if the air duct had no end, and Hermione began to feel her muscles cramping up from being confined for so long. Finally she felt a wall behind her foot, and began to twist her body until she was able to turn in the small intersection. Thinking back to her GPS she moved forwards until finding a grating in the masters' suite. Looking through it, her shoulders relaxed in relief. The guards must be outside the room, as she had hoped. Carefully she removed the grate, and lowered herself down until she only had a few meters to drop. She landed softly on the balls of her feet, hardly making a noise. This was the part of the job that she was good at- breaking into the vaults. Quickly she moved behind the desk where she knew the safe was. Just as it said in her report the safe was under the desk. Crouching down she kept her ears alert as she maneuvered the lock. A small 'click' sounded and she felt herself smile as she opened the door. Between a few stacks of galleons, and sickles laid a few scrolls and a key. Grabbing them she shoved them into the small bag inside her suit, and stood up. She paused for a moment to contemplate her next move just as the doors opened and two guards walked in.

Before the two guards registered what was happening Hermione had already vaulted across the desk and used a wooden chair to hold herself as she kicked the guard on the left across the face. Staggering backwards the man reached for a wand, just as Hermione threw her body at him in a fierce tackle.

"Oh no, you bloody well don't! If I can't have my freaking wand, then neither can you." Hermione used her weight to drive the man to the floor, before deftly punching him twice. Quickly she hopped up, and grabbed a vase in front of her, turning just in time to see the second guard rushing to her. Standing her ground she waited until the last moment to swing the vase back and hit him in the face with it. "It's a shame that was a very nice vase" Hermione mused as she stepped over the two unconscious men.

She silently left the room, holding herself close to the wall as she peeked around. "Well dammit." She hissed as she saw more men running down the hall. Quickly Hermione began to bolt down the corridor, twisting around corners until finally when she could no longer see her pursuers she hid behind a door. As she tried to take a deep breath, she turned to look where she was, and was surprised to see stairs leading down. 'Prisoners in the basement…' With a second glance to the door, Hermione quickly went down the stairs, listening and watching. As she turned a corner she saw a guard dozing against the wall, and two people tied on chairs. Wiping sweat from her brows Hermione contemplated her next move for a moment, before acting on it. Deftly she moved to the guard and kicked him hard- hard enough to knock him out.

"Granger?" A hoarse voice murmured, causing her to falter for the first time this mission. Her shoulders tensed and she turned around, her eyes narrowed in hardly hid contempt. As she turned her eyes finally could make out the prisoners, but her eyes focused on the man on the right. Draco bloody Malfoy. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Her voice came out sharper than intended and she glared. "I'm doing my job, Malfoy. And apparently I'm once again saving your sorry arse as I do it." With hardly hid disdain she walked over to him, trying not to stare at his bruised face. Without trying to she noticed that his hair fell perfectly into place, even though it looked like had gotten the crap kicked out of him more than once. She tried to focus on her job as she moved to untie the rope tied around him, pausing just as she almost started. She owed nothing to this man. Nothing. He had almost ruined her life more than once, and here she was about to save his. Again.

"Hermione, thank Godric you're here. I knew you would come." The voice came from beside Malfoy and Hermione looked up, noticing for the first time that her partner was there. Maria's face was slightly swollen, but she looked at Hermione as if she were God.

"Maria? The institute… They all think you're dead. I thought that you were dead? Why are you here?" A new thought occurred to Hermione and she frowned in confusion. "Why are you with him?"

Maria stood up, her petite 5'4 frame making Hermione feel like a giant next to her, although she was only a modest 5'8. "I'm sorry, there's no time to explain right now." Maria said, looking ashamed as she rushed to Malfoy and undid his bonds. "We have to get back."

"To the Institute?" Hermione was baffled, she hadn't seen Maria in more than a month, and yet Maria was focused only on Malfoy- the git.

"Of course not the Institute, it isn't safe there." Draco glowered as he looked around, quickly moving towards a counter on the far side of the room, limping slightly. "We have to get back to my safe house and have a large discussion about who the fuck gave away our information. Maria when we get back you get to the lab and you cross examine every single one of the operators on our team, got it?" He returned to Maria's side holding a bag and a coat. "Is your wand still in here?" He muttered as he began to search the pack"

Maria nodded, and ignored Hermione's pointed glares and scowls as she delicately pulled the pack away from Draco and easily reached in, returning her hand with a wand. "Want me to go right now, Draco?" It was obvious to Hermione that the two knew each other a lot more than Hermione would've thought. With a curt nod from Malfoy, Maria apparated, leaving Hermione shocked and alone with Draco Malfoy. Crap. How did she get herself into these situations? She glanced over and was surprised to see Draco staring at her, not even trying to hide his blatant gaze.

Thankfully, before either of them could break the silence a crash sounded from the stairway and a guard walked in, He paused when he saw the two, but without any more hesitation he yelled for back-up and ran towards Hermione. She was thankful for the distraction. As he charged, Hermione crouched, and flung out her wrist, allowing the man to run straight into her outstretched fist. As he staggered back Hermione began to lay out blow after blow. Hitting him in the stomach, the side, the face, Hermione grunted lightly with the excursion. With every hit she began to feel more in control of herself, like she did after a good research, or book. Finally the man staggered and collapsed, blood oozing from his nose. With a small noise of disgust she wiped off her knuckles, and turned around.

Malfoy was grinning and had packed up his supplies; now walking towards her. "From the expression on your face earlier, I thought that was going to be me. Good job, partner." He stopped beside her, and she felt her heart leap, before she glared, and looked up at him. Which was a mistake. A big mistake. All she could see was his deep, grey eyes staring into her hazel ones.

With a silent kick to her brain, Hermione focused again, and frowned. "I am not your partner, Malfoy. You made quite sure of that when you left the force without a word to anyone almost a year and a half ago. And you haven't sent any word to me since then." Didn't you think about how worried I was for you? How much I missed you? She kept those thoughts silent, glaring.

Malfoy rolled his eyes, and stepped closer to her. "I couldn't tell anyone where I was going, Granger. Especially not you, after what happened the day before I left. They would have tortured you for information."

"What happened the day before was nothing except a mistake. A big mistake!" Hermione insisted, even though she knew she was lying.

"Nothing? It was nothing?" Malfoy murmured, his gaze turning icy. With a quick step, he was right in front of her, his chest pressed against hers. Hermione realized with a start that he was about to do it again, and she remembered her first rule: Never make the same mistake twice. Just as his lips where about to touch hers, she stomped hard on his toe, making his jump back.

"What the fuck, Granger!" He growled, his eyes narrowing. Her heart was hammering, and she wished for a moment that she hadn't stopped him.

"I don't trust you, and I have no idea who you are, and what you're doing here, Malfoy. If you try and do that again, I will not be as polite. Do you understand?" Hermione's voice was icy, and her eyes were slits of anger. She would not let him hurt her again, she promised herself. Before he spoke, Hermione's eyes rested on his lips for a brief moment. She would not let herself be seduced again, and used for his own dirty purposes.

"Fuck." Was all he said before grabbing her arm and pulling her toward a door she hadn't noticed just as a 'ping' sounded behind her? Was she getting shot at?