"I don't think we should…speak to each other anymore." Draco looked down at their interlocked fingers and frowned. Hermione's breath caught in her throat, forming a lump that was impossible to swallow, instinctively her hand tightened around his as if her own strength would be able to keep him there. "What?" She asked, blinking her eyes hard and resisting the urge to pinch herself, she must be having some kind of horrible nightmare. He locked eyes with her, his green eyes seeing much more then others saw but this time it wasn't comfortable like it had always been, it made her embarrassed. "This. Us. We have to end it." He ripped his hand away from her and let it lay limply in his lap, like a dead fish. She breathed in a sharp breath, feeling the familiar prick of tears behind her eyes. "But why? I don't understand, did I do something wrong?" Her eyes wildly searched his face for some sort of answer, a reason why he would be saying such horrible things. "I have a job to do Hermione, and I've let you distract me for too long. I can't let my…feelings for you get in the way. I was given a job to do and I'm going to do." He looked away from her and she craned her neck to try to catch his glance again. "I don't know why you're still a death eater Draco, you said yourself you don't want to do those things anymore." Her voice was soft. "I don't have a choice, my parents…" he let his sentence trail off and shook his head sadly. "I'm sure if you talked to them they would listen to you, I'm sure they want what's best for you, that they want you to be happy." Her voice was pleading now, her hands clutching tightly to the lapels of his black suit jacket. "Have you ever met my father?" He retorted sarcastically, rolling his deep green eyes to the ceiling. "If I don't do what I was sent here to do then The Dark Lord will kill me. Do you want me dead?" He continued. She shook her head quickly. "Maybe there's something I could do, we could protect you." Her voice was stern, glaring past him at an invisible enemy. "We?" He asked her, sounding amused.

"Yes, we. Harry, Ron and I." She returned her gaze to him, and it softened when she finally met his eyes again. "Because Potter would be so enthusiastic about helping me, and Weasley, I know how he feels about you, it's bloody obvious, he'd probably turn me over to The Dark Lord himself." She sighed, dropping her face into her hands. She waited to feel his hand on her back comforting, tracing circles onto her back like always but it didn't come. "Then I'll protect you." She said, her voice muffled by her hands. "You wouldn't last a second against him and I would never put you in that sort of danger." His kind words seemed to rejuvenate her, she lifted her head and looked intently at him. "I would gladly die for you." The words sounded definite, and speaking them seemed to lock in her fate. "I would never ask you to do that." He whispered, his hands twitching in his lap, itching to stroke her smooth cheek. "I have to do what I have to do. It's over." He couldn't look into her eyes any longer, he could feel a pain growing in his chest, something unfamiliar, he'd never felt his heart break before. He grabbed her wrists and tore her hands from his jacket, placing them firmly into her own lap. "Draco. No." Her voice was barely a whisper. "I'm sorry." He sounded sincere, she could even hear the sadness in his voice, he was doing what he had to do, she was the thing he wanted. "Please. Please Draco. We could figure out a way. Maybe I could…I'm sure if we explained to…I just, I can't. I need you. I lov-" He cut her off, putting his hand over her mouth. "Please don't say it, I don't want to hear it. I can't hear it." His eyes pleaded with her. "It'll just make things harder." He dropped his hand from her mouth. "I love you." She said firmly, the words rushing from her mouth before he could try and stop her from saying them. "I want us to be together. I refuse to let you ruin it." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "This is my relationship too. We're staying together. We'll figure out a way to deal with whatever comes." She reached out for his hand but he snatched it away. "No." He stood up and was about to walk away but she got up quickly and grabbed his arm, pulling him back to her. "Please, there has to be some way."

He turned to face her, no trace of sadness or kindness on his face anymore, just fury. "Weren't you listening to me just now?1" He shouted at her taking her chin in his hand, he was so close to her face that their noses were almost touching. "I don't care." She whispered back, her voice shaking with the tears that were threatening to spill from her light brown eyes. "It's not who you really are Draco, I know the real you. Stop doing what everyone else wants you do to. Stop acting like a coward." He took a step away from her, his head snapping back like she'd slapped him in the face. "You think you know me? You think you know who I am?" His voice wasn't as steady as it had been only mere seconds ago when he was yelling at her. "You have no clue who I am, you filthy little mud blood!" He spit the last words at her, verbal poison she hadn't heard from his mouth for many months. She could feel her heart breaking, a pain in her chest so intense it made her double over in pain. "Stay away from me." He added, turning on his heel and storming off down the corridor. She sank to her knees, she watched him walk away, her vision blurred by her tears. Her mouth opened wide with a silent sob. The sound of his retreating footsteps echoed through the hall, and her heartbeat was perfectly in sync. She felt completely broken, so unbearably empty.