Disclaimed:Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowlign, duh.

This is Co-written with Puzzels! I really owe you big time for this one! all the credit to us!

I'm Sorry

The prefect's meeting had let out a few minutes ago, and Hermione was taking her time getting back to the common room. Suddenly raised voices echoed down the corridor, and Hermione turned around and ran back to where she came from.

---

Draco fumbled, trying to get his wand from his pocket. He felt so stupid; normally he would have had it out at a moments notice, but whoever it was had taken him by surprise.

"Diffindo!" whoever the cloaked figure was yelled, pointing there wand at him. There was a ripping sound and he gasped, blood dripping from a large gash on his midsection. He tried to yell, get someone's attention, but he didn't have much hope that anyone would hear him. It was after curfew, and no student should have been out of bed. Maybe another prefect? But no, they should all be gone by now. He slid to the ground as the figure came closer, still trying to find his wand.

Hermione opened the door where the voices were coming from. She gasped at the scene in front of her, and it took a few seconds before she pulled herself together and yelled 'stupify'. Unfortunately the figure had used her pause to brush past her and run down the corridor, and she missed.

Hermione got over her momentary shock and looked around, but the figure was nowhere to be seen. So instead she turned back into the room, and noticed that someone, Malfoy, was lying on the ground. She walked over to him slowly, uncertain of what to do. She did know a few healing spells, one must if your friends with Harry Potter, but it was Malfoy after all. Would he have helped her?

Draco looked up at the person that had just entered. He felt a rush of gratitude, and started to smile before he felt a new wave of pain, and winced. Whoever it was wasn't in focus; they were blurry and undefined.

"Who...are you?" he asked in a halting voice.

"Shh", she answered, "Don't talk." Under her breath she whispered a spell and a little silver beam shot out of her wand. It dimmed the pain, but that was all she could do.

"I have to take you to Madame Pomfrey" And she began to whisper, "Wingard..."

Draco sighed in relief as a cooling light settled over the wound, but he shook his head vigorously when she tried to levitate him.

"No! Don't," he coughed, "take me to her! I'm fine, I..." Then she came into focus. "Granger!" he yelled, trying to scramble back. He was hit with a new wave of pain, and he gasped.

"Lie still," she said. "If you're fine, why are you in pain?" She tried to insult him, take advantage of him just lying there, but she couldn't. Something inside her told her to stop. A new feeling rose inside her, one of pity and of... what was the other one? She didn't know; it was new to her, yet so familiar.

"Look, I..." Draco tried to think of words to express how he was feeling. On one hand he was profoundly grateful, but on the other, she was, well, Granger. In any case, he didn't want to go to the hospital wing. If he went then Madame Pomfrey would have thought that he was dueling with someone, and with his less than perfect school record that could get him expelled. "Just don't take me to Pomfrey. Please," he said. He couldn't believe that he was lowering himself to say 'please' to a muggleborn, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"But..." she began, but the look on his face stopped her. "Let me at least heal you?" She could not believe that she was offering to help Malfoy, and why would he say please to her? This was all very confusing.

Draco nodded slowly. He wasn't sure if he could bring himself to talk, as he was feeling nauseous and thought he might vomit. Why was he letting Granger heal him anyway? Perhaps it was because the moonlight filtering in through a window, or blood loss, or either one, was making her look far more attractive than she normally did. Or maybe it was the fact that she saved him. Well, for whatever reason, he actually wanted to be close to her.

The first time we met time stood still
You left me breathless
Suddenly speechless.

She could see his face break up in a smile; she wondered what wandered through his mind to make him smile in this situation. But she could not help it; it felt as time stood still when she saw his smile. It wasn't his usual one, but a genuine, sweet smile no one would have thought he could conjure.

Draco, realizing what he was doing -smiling of all things-, suddenly made his face turn into a more customary frown. But somehow it didn't feel right, and his features slid into more comfortable neutrality. A nice compromise, he thought.

Hermione looked at him, his face more neutral, and somehow it made her laugh. How he could not show her anything, no weaknesses?

As Draco watched Hermione, er, Granger, he tried to think this through. Where was he going to sleep? There was no way that he could get through the common room and up to his dormitories in his current state, and there was no way he was going to let her into the Slytherin common room, much less the boy's dorms. So unless she finally got around to doing something about the gash on his chest, he wasn't going far tonight. But somehow, he didn't mind. He could just stay here, with Granger, listening to her laugh all night...Wait, why was she laughing at him? He looked annoyed.

"Yes?" he asked, though it turned out more feeble than the menacing tone that he was hoping for.

"You," She said simply; there wasn't anything else to say. "You," she repeated.

There was a silence she didn't know if she wanted to break. It was, however strange it might seem, nice to just be there, sitting peacefully by Draco's side.

Er, did I just refer to him as Draco? she thought. Well that's a new one. But she didn't bother to correct her mental mistake. She liked his name, and the way it suited him. He was a dragon, a baby dragon, so peaceful and gentle yet so dangerous.

Just as Draco was getting comfortable in the silence, there was another wave of pain, and he doubled up, coughing. How could he almost have forgotten that he was hurt? He chalked it off to shock, though deep down he knew that it was because he had been distracted. Distracted by a girl who had saved him, and was now right next to him, and distracted by the feeling of how right it felt.

"Oh, God," she said as realization dawned upon her. "You're bleeding!" she searched her mind for a spell that would stop it. "Oh, I can't remember that spell that Flitwick talked about, what was it, what was it?"

"You're asking -cough- me?" Draco asked dryly. At least as dryly as he could; his voice didn't contain nearly the amount of sarcasm it normally did. He clenched a handful of his robe in his fist, causing his knuckles to whiten as he gripped it tightly. He threw his head back and bit the side of his cheek, trying not to yell. "Just think of something," he gasped.

"No, I wasn't asking you," Hermione said with irritation in her voice, "I was thinking aloud. The only thing I can think of now is the old fashioned, Muggle way."

Hermione started to tear off parts of her robe into the right size and closed her eyes as she opened the part of Malfoy's robe where he was bleeding and started to make a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

Draco gasped in pain as she opened his robes. Some witch you are, he thought, but didn't say anything. Smartest in the year, indeed. He pulled up his shirt for her, because she seemed a bit squeamish. "Here..." he said, not looking down. He had a feeling seeing it would make him faint, which was something that he didn't want to do in front of Granger.

"Lucky for you we learnt this in Muggle Studies," she said.

I wouldn't know, I wasn't there, he thought before she tied the cloth around his chest.

She tied the tourniquet as hard as she could without actually being suspected of hurting Malfoy on purpose. Then she tightened it. He nearly bit through his lip in an effort not to scream, the pain was so sharp. He collapsed, gasping, into her chest.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably, but in the end let him stay there. Who knows what damage she would cause if she moved him.

"There. All set, how does it feel?" she asked though she already knew the answer. She could read it in his face like an open book.

He didn't move, because he was sure that if he did he would split in two. He settled for a low moan as a reply, blinking rapidly to stop tears from falling. He wasn't sure if he could live it down if he cried in front of her.

"It's all right, you don't have to be the strong one all the time," Hermione whispered, "It's all right to show what you feel." She hoped her words were enough to make him at ease, to make him accept that it hurts.

Draco lifted his head and looked at her, his eyes bright with unshed tears. Without speaking he carefully put his hand in the back of her head and pushed it gently towards his own, causing their lips to meet. The more rational part of his mind asked him what the hell he thought he was doing, but the other part of him quickly buried the doubt. Everything was forgotten, even the prone figure lying face first on the floor. All that mattered was here and now.

Within the hour we were one
Two total strangers kissing the moonlight.

-o-

It was finally Graduation Day! Hermione looked around at all the familiar faces of her friends. She smiled. She never thought that they would be here, not after all they had gone through. Of course there was a lot more to do, but...

Oh, you know I'm sorry I had to go
I'm really sorry it had to die
I'm really sorry I made you cry
Cry.

Her eyes wandered over the crowd. She caught the last pair of eyes she would have thought would look at her, meeting her gaze.

Draco's eyes widened slightly in surprise when he saw Hermione look at him, and he quickly looked away. Ever since that night he had dreamt of her often, though she always had that surreal quality, and never appeared quite the same way she did in daylight. So much had changed, but so little. In the year and a half since the incident they didn't talk, barely exchanged formalities in the corridors, and yet he could almost swear that he loved her.

As he looked away, Hermione looked down. Not a day went by without her thinking of that incident 18 months ago, not a day went by without her thinking about how lucky it was that she had found Malfoy. Hogwarts had certainly never been the same after.

We fell in love between the nights
Of too many lovers and too many teardrops.

And fate won't resist some satin sheets
I was so helpless
Totally ruthless.

She understood that feeling now, that feeling she had felt back then, it was love. A love she new she would never feel again.

She looked to catch his eyes again

Bloody hell, he thought as she looked back up, and their eyes caught for a second time. This time he gave her a crooked smile, one that any casual observer would mistake for a smirk. He hoped that she would know the difference. Or, he contemplated, that she wouldn't, for he didn't know if his feelings were returned. Feelings? Yes, he confirmed with a mental sigh of resignation, feelings.

After checking both ways to see if anyone was looking, he jerked his head over to the side slightly, gesturing that she should meet him outside of the Great Hall, where they were celebrating their graduation. This would be the deciding factor, and he would find out how she felt about him based on whether or not she would follow.

Hermione took the cue, and she waited for another few minutes before she started to make her way out of the Great Hall. When she came out through the doors she saw him standing there, casually leaning against the staircase.

She opened her mouth to say something but the words didn't take form, and she hoped he could read her face instead.

Draco simply nodded and moved closer to her.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it? After today, how much longer will it be? Forever?" Forever. The word had a hollow ring to it, one he didn't like. He didn't know how he could make it through the day without her in the same building, knowing that even if he never did talk to her that he at least could. After they left Hogwarts, he wouldn't have that option.

Hermione looked at him. She couldn't stand the thought of losing him, yet she told herself there was nothing to lose; it had never been them and it couldn't be.

"Forever is such strong word..." It could mean two things, and in her case it meant that they would meet again.

"Will we ever see each other?" he asked more directly, before continuing to answer his own question. "We probably won't. I have one path set for me, and you have another. I'm to serve the Dark Lord, and you...you and your precious Potter-" he said this bit with disgust, "-are to serve Dumbledore. If our paths do meet, it will be on the battlefield."

"And how I wish it was different." She could feel tears on her face "I love you," she added in a small voice. She looked at him through her tears and smiled, grateful for the time that had been.

Draco saw tears leak from her eyes, and he suddenly felt terrible. He hadn't meant to make her cry; he only wanted to make her see the truth. But then again, the truth made him feel like crying too.

"I...I wish it had been different too," he said, reaching up and wiping the tears from her cheek. Just as he was about to tell her that he loved her too, Crabbe and Goyle burst through the doors.

Draco hastily pulled back, hoping they hadn't seen it. Both of them looked at him questioningly.

"Time to go," Crabbe grunted, looking between the two in confusion. Draco cursed under his breath.

Oh, you know I'm sorry I had to go
I'm really sorry you're hurt inside
I'm really sorry I made you cry
Cry, cry.

'I love you,' he mouthed, and hoped that she got the message, because now he would probably never get to say it out loud.

Love is lifting you up and draggin' you down
Makes you go round and round and round
Time makes a stop then it's all gone
Funny how memories keep lingering on.

She saw how he tried to tell her something and thought...no, knew, it was I love you.

And that is how far it will go, or if we get nice rewiewes, maybe we continue.....