"With what?" He asked, taken aback. He didn't know what he had been expecting, he was sure that any response would have floored him, but this really was a surprise.

His momentary silence gave Granger the time she needed to compose herself.

"The room of requirement," She said, her voice much more level, "We need something from it."

Draco snorted, his mind still racing, he let common sense work his tongue, "It's called the room of requirement, Granger, you ask, it gives," He said snarkily.

He could understand why she had come to him, he had spent all of their sixth year in that room, but the fact of the matter was that the golden trio knew how to use that room too. Hadn't they organized a student-led militia group in their fifth year and used that room to practice? Hadn't Potty stashed that goddamned tiara in there and gone back for it during the battle of Hogwarts? What in the world were they trying to do in there that the three of them couldn't figure it out? She was Hermione Granger for Merlin's sake, she always had the answer.

With everything going through his head, Draco missed most of Granger's response, all he caught was the end, "... McGonagall's given us permission, so we probably ought to leave now," she paused, noting the look of confusion on his face, "...that is if you're not busy."

Malfoy was momentarily speechless, and then he wanted to say that he was in fact busy, that she had been foolish to come to him for help. In what world would he agree to help three Gryffindors, the three Gryffindors he had spent many of his school year bullying. The three Gryffindors who had spoken out against him so many times.

But a small voice in the back of his head chose this time to remind him that those very same three Gryffindors were helping him, or at least trying to. And while he wouldn't admit it to anyone, especially them, he was grateful for their help. Grateful that he wouldn't have to go through this alone, with just his mother's grief for company.

Grateful enough, he supposed, that he could help them, if it was something he was actually capable of doing.

But then he remembered the other part of Granger's sentence, "Now?! You want to leave now? It's the middle of the bloody night, Granger!"

Hermione shrugged indifferently, as though she didn't care much for restricting herself with something as trivial as sleep. "Harry, Ron and the others should be there by now,"

"Others?" Malfoy asked quickly, he wasn't keen to spend time with more of his former classmates.

"You'll see when we get there," She said impatiently, "I'm not sure who else Ron would've called."

And so Draco resigned himself to spending the rest of his night in the company of some of the most insufferable people he knew.

"Errr...," She started, "Right then, we should get going, we'll have to walk up to the castle from Hogsmeade."

Draco nodded at her and called for Gwind to get him his cloak.

Moments later the pair of them were walking side by side down the gravel towards the gates that marked the edge of the property. Hermione was content to walk in silence but Draco wasn't. He had questions and Granger had answers.

He wanted to know what she had meant about her parents earlier when she said they didn't remember her. He also had questions about what exactly they were going to attempt to do in the room of requirement, but he figured that he would have that answer soon, seeing as they were headed there.

He cleared his throat, and cast a surreptitious glance in Granger direction and decided to start off with a question she might answer. Because he could always reliably count on Granger to answer a question, especially when she thought the answer would influence him.

"What was that thing you mentioned earlier?" He asked, rather tactlessly. He winced as soon as he said the words, she would have no idea what he was referring to. He was tempted to add, 'the Holocaust,' to his statement but refrained. He didn't want Granger to think he had paid enough attention to remember something she had said.

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "What thing?" she asked coolly, somewhat surprised that he had initiated a conversation.

He sighed to himself, deciding he had to elaborate, "That thing about that idiot muggle who said some shit about choices or something," He said, hoping his voice sounded unaffected and disinterested.

Hermione raised her eyebrows even higher, reminding him of Professor McGonagall, "What about him?" She asked again, her voice losing its practiced edge so that he could hear her curiosity.

"I-" He had been about to ask what the word Holocaust but stopped himself again, "Well, I wouldn't know, would I? You're the one that brought him up!" He tried to sound snarky, but instead he sounded rather pathetic, even to himself.

Hermione smirked slightly as they walked, their footsteps crunching into the gravel in a strange sort of pattern.

"He survived the Holocaust," she said, and after seeing his confused face, she elaborated, "The Holocaust was a, err- a dark period in muggle history. They uh- that is- there was a group of people in power that persecuted another group of people who practiced a certain religion."

They had reached the gates, Malfoy waved his hand through the air and they swung open, allowing the pair of them to walk past the apparition wards.

Malfoy was frowning so Hermione decided to elaborate further, "They er- they did some horrible things to the people, they did experiments on them and threw them in gas chambers, and made them live in concentration camps."

Malfoy's frown deepened, he had just heard a bunch of words he knew but he still hadn't understood much of what Granger had said. "So a group of muggles-"

She interrupted him, "The Nazis" she supplied,

He nodded quickly, "They killed a bunch of other muggles, because of... what again?"

"Their religion," She answered, "it's sort of like a belief system,"

"I know what 'religion' means Granger," He snapped back, not wanting her to think him stupid. "I do celebrate Christmas,"

"Right," Hermione said, not in the least bit affronted, "Well, Judaism is a religion and the er- the Nazis persecuted them."

"What's all that you said about camps, then?" Malfoy asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

As many faults as Malfoy had, Hermione had to admire his persistence to learn something. To know something.

She had been about to open her mouth to explain, she would never shoot someone down who wanted to learn, but just then a chilly breeze forced her to pull her cloak tighter around herself and she remembered why she was here.

Funny, she thought to herself, when Malfoy wasn't being an absolute prick, she felt almost comfortable around him.

She faked an exasperated sigh and said, "Look, Malfoy, I don't want to know what prompted your sudden interest in Muggle history but we have to go. If you're really curious, I suggest you visit a library.

He blinked once, clearly affronted, his voice settled back into an icy tone and he asked, "How are we getting there?"

Hermione nearly flinched at the change in his voice but she managed to stop herself, "Apparating in front of the Three Broomsticks. We'll walk up from there."

Draco nodded once in her direction and stepped into the night, disappearing with a 'pop'.

Hermione frowned to herself, rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes, and then spun on the spot, visualizing the street corner of Hogsmeade where the Three Broomsticks was.

****

Ron stood outside the Three Broomsticks, shivering. He really wished he had grabbed a coat on his way out of his flat. Ginny had offered him one when he stopped by Grimmauld place to get Harry, but as was the way with siblings, he insisted he didn't need one.

He really regretted that now.

Harry had contacted Blaise, Neville, and Cassie and the three of them had flood directly into the castle. Ron knew that the fireplace at Malfoy Manor would not be connected to the Hogwarts floo network and that Hermione and Malfoy would have to apparate into Hogsmeade to get to the castle.

The Three Broomsticks was closed, but he had just been about to knock on the door and ask Rosmerta if he could wait in the warmth when two deafening 'CRACKs' rang through the air in quick succession.

His eyes settled on the bushy brown hair of his best friend and his face broke into a grin.

****

Malfoy trailed behind the two Gryffindors as they made their way up to the castle. He had thought he would have Granger to himself for this long walk and was sure he could get some more answers about her parents but his plan had been thwarted by Weasley.

He strained his ears in an attempt to make out what they were saying, but the wind blew half their words away, the only snippets of conversation he had been able to catch seemed inconsequential.

Something about some lad called Teddy with bright pink hair, and something else about someone called Fleur being pregnant again. Both of their voices seemed excited.

Draco retreated back into his thoughts, he supposed he could find answers about the Holocaust on his own, he doubted he would need to ask Granger again. Now that she had begun to explain what it was he couldn't help but feel curious. He wanted to know what had happened. She hadn't said where this had all occurred, were there still muggles being attacked for their religious practices?

As for her parents though, he doubted he could find that information in a book. He wasn't sure how he would find out what had happened to them, but he was determined to. These thoughts carried him all the way into the castle, up several flights of stairs, through a passageway behind a portrait that he hadn't previously known about and in front of a familiar blank but of wall on the seventh floor.

By the time they got there, there was already a small group of people gathered in front of the portrait of a dancing troll. He could see Blaise- his former housemate, a short blonde woman he didn't know, and Neville Longbottom. He grimaced in distaste.

Hermione stepped forward eagerly to talk to Harry, Ron, and Neville while Blaise, McGonagall and the blonde girl stood awkwardly to the side. He couldn't hear what the four former Gryffindors were saying but Hermione kept gesturing back at him with an impatient wave of her hand.

Finally the group broke apart and Harry and Neville approached him.

"I don't know how much Hermione told you, " Harry started, but Malfoy interrupted him,

"-Nearly nothing, Potter," He said, making sure his voice sounded bored and annoyed, "don't worry, she didn't spill any precious Auror secrets."

Harry took a deep breath as though he were willing himself not to punch Malfoy and started speaking again, "We need the room to protect us." He said vaguely.

Neville flashed Malfoy an unhelpful glance.

"From what?" Draco asked tersely, enjoying his momentary position of power.

Harry sighed again, shot a look at Ron and said, "Could you get it to protect me from Hermione? Specifically from a stunning spell?"

And now Draco was absolutely flummoxed.

"What is the meaning of this?" Professor McGonagall interrupted, before Draco could question Harry. "Do you mean to attack him, Ms. Granger?"

"No! Not at all Professor," Granger said quickly, looking scandalized, "just testing something is all,"

Professor McGonagall opened her mouth to speak again but both Hermione and the other blonde woman seemed ready to answer her questions so Draco turned his attention back to Potter.

"You want Granger to stun you?" He asked slowly, "And you want the room to make sure you aren't actually stunned?"

"Yes," Ron said, having materialized at Neville's elbow, "but whatever you do, you can't change the spell that Hermione casts."

Draco frowned to himself, thinking. He was fairly certain he could get the room to do this, he wasn't sure why they had had so much trouble the first time around.

"Just one more question," Draco said, knowing Potter would answer him, "What the hell are Zabini and Longbottom doing here and who's that blonde witch?"

To his surprise it was Ron that spoke, "Technically that's two questions, Malfoy, you ought to learn how to count," he drawled out in what Draco could have sworn was an imitation of himself.

Harry shot his red headed friend a quick smile before addressing Malfoy, "Blaise is an Auror, and seeing as this is Auror business, he has every right to be here. Neville is here because, well, he knows the room of requirement and I trust him. And her name is Cassie." Harry finished.

Draco noticed he didn't elaborate on who this Cassie person was but there was finality in his tone that ended his line of questioning.

"Well, do you think you can help or not?" Ron asked quickly.

"Yeah, yeah" Malfoy said, "I can try."