the_debt_of_time

"Not yet." Hermione chuckled and swished her wand. "Avis." One by one, a tiny
flock of canaries burst from the tip.
"Still at war here," Draco muttered impatiently.
She grinned, a hint of mischief in her eyes. "Oppugno."
The canaries descended and began viciously attacking the Death Eaters, who began
to scream and thrash against their bindings to no avail.
Draco, against his better judgement, looked amused by the sight, and Hermione
beamed in response.
"Careful there, Granger." He gave her his famous smirk. "People might think you're
flirting with me, and something tells me that you're already spoken for." He winked at her,
and her face heated. Waving his wand, Draco strode fluidly through the Great Hall,
expelling Death Eaters through its glass windows with every step.
"What do you know?" Hermione demanded as she caught up with him.
Draco laughed. "I know that I'm not as stupid as everyone else. I know that Black
called in a life debt from my mother back at the manor, and when she hesitated, he
threatened to use a very old, very powerful spell. Did you know, Granger, that life debts,
when called in properly, can even bring back the dead?" He turned and grinned at her, a
gleam in his eye as he watched her reaction.
"It's not Dark Magic!" she defended.
"No, it's Blood Magic." Draco's grin spread across his face. "It's Binding Magic."
"Malfoy, I swear if you say anything, I'll―"
"Oh, I'll keep your little secret, Hermione," he used her first name and laughed when
she grimaced at the sound of it coming out of his mouth. "After all, we're practically family
now."
Before she could say another word, silence fell over the castle.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, and the Death Eaters made a hasty retreat as if
silently commanded to do so. Before anyone could ask what had happened, the walls
echoed once again with the high, cold voice that Hermione knew to be Voldemort. Her
eyes narrowed, and she turned to Malfoy for an explanation, but the blond wizard—who
looked fearless in the face of multiple Death Eaters—shrank against the sound of the Dark
Lord.