Her feet were pounding the ground. Clac. Clac. Clac. Hermione was running to save her side. Her heart, too. She was hearing him, behind her, and she knew he was getting closer and closer at every second. She quickened. Her feet were hardly brushing the floor. We could have thought she was flying. But Hermione didn't know how to fly, and she fell. She knew she had lost every chance to escape him so she stayed lying down on the floor. Motionless. She heard him slow down and finally stop, surely a few meters from her. Too close. She was picturing him, wand in hand, choosing the best way to make her speak.

-Get on your feet, Granger.

Silence.

-GRANGER!

Hands picked her up. Sharply. Without any softness. He turned her so they were face to face. His wand was directed at her throat.

-I'm waiting.

Silence, always silence. She was already too humiliated to get this worse. In a final spurt of pride, she raised her chin and plunged her eyes in his.

-I owe nothing to you, Malfoy. Nothing.

The wand pushed a little in her neck.

-I don't think you're in a position to make this kind of comment.

Hermione was cursing herself. Why had she left her wand in the dormitory? Why had she helped him when she had seen him, yesterday, collapsing on the floor? Because she was a Gryffondor, of course. He was alone, hurt, and if she had not stepped in, he would be dead by now. A little voice rang out in her head: ' Please, put me at rest, you know that it's definitly not the reason why you did it, don't you?' And indeed, Hermione knew. But she was hiding it deep in her brain under a lot of things. Deep, deep, deep...

-Why? Did you have something in mind? Maybe you prefered waiting Harry so he would do it himself? Or maybe waiting so you, you could do it...

He got closer. Dangerously. His silvery eyes plunged into hers. They were as piercing as a knife's blade. They were going through her brain, her soul, her heart. She tried as well as she could to put something into words. Anything. Get more time, Hermione. You have to get more time, to take his mind off this, and run away.

-No, no...I...I don't know Malfoy...I might just be different from you? Maybe I help people in need when I see them and whoever this is?

-You would help You Know Who? You would help Dementors? You would help Death Eaters?

-Because you're one of them?

This time, his hand took the place of his wand and tightened her grip around her throat.

-This is none of your business. You'd better think before speaking...

-St...Stop...Stoop...

-No, you have gone too far Granger.

Hermione needed some air. Inspire, inspire, inspire. Her breath was escaping from her lips endlessly. She knew that all she had got left, it was his eyes. So she told him in a glance the only thing which could stop him but also the one which would bring her to death. However, if she had to die, she had nothing to lose in telling him this.

So she explained words. Just with her eyes. Her golden and honey eyes met an icy sea, a silvery sea. And the young man understood. He understood, because it was so obvious. He moved back under the shock.

Hermione knew that in a few seconds he would pull himself together. So she took her chance. Last chance. She took back her run. Clac. Clac. Clac. Hermione was running another time to save her side. For her heart, it was too late. In a few seconds, he would catch her. In a few seconds, he would kill her, for her stupidity, to prove her it was inconceivable. After all, a pure blood with a mudblood, it would be as fire and ice could mixed together: impossible.

Too fast, she felt his hand upon her arm.

-Would you stop flying away, Granger? What was this?

-I don't see what you're talking about.

Survival instinct, you know. She was trying to get more time.

-What was that look?

-Nothing.

-I didn't think you were such a fool...

Admit defeat:

-I know. Me neither...she whispered more for herself.

-Why?...WHY?

-I don't know. It catches you, one morning, and you can't do anything. You wake up and you have dreamt of him. You're falling for him. And you're lost. T'hat's all, Malfoy.

He stayed silencious.

A long time.

And then, suddenly, before she could understand what was happening, he had grabbed her waist and he had kissed her.

She rested her head on his chest.

-And what if I was a Death Eater? What if it's a trap and you're walking into it?

New silence.

Because she knew she'd never know.

She was in love with him, and it was the risk to take.

To give and not to recieve.

To give and to die.