A/N: Second chapter here. This is where the past begins, and it starts with Hermiones pov, switches to Draco's pov. Hopefully it will explain a bit more.

Looking for a beta.

Also, dedicating this chapter to my lovely wife.

Disclaimer.


Chapter 2_It Ain't so sweet

You say my name but it's not the same

You look in my eyes

I'm stripped of my pride

And my soul surrenders

And you bring my heart to its knees- (Apocalyptica [_Not strong enough_])


[Several hours ago]

Something has obviously gone very wrong here. I open my eyes again after some time, and it's like waking up to a nightmare. In the chaos around me, I am invisible. No one seems to notice me, and I use the opportunity to steady my frantic heart.

I press my palms against the broken up concrete, sharp and gritty as it cuts into my skin and stand up to wobbly knees, blurry vision, and a hammering deep inside of my skull. A wave of nausea settles over me, forcing bile to rise and a burning sensation to my chest. I am not sure how I manage, but I squelch the demand to vomit, and steel my shaking knees.

Ron is no where to be found, and it has never been more disturbing to me. Just before I blacked out, I remember Ron being there. Beside me like always, dueling off anyone who came near. Protecting me as best as he was capable of, even though I didn't really want, or need defending. It isn't a good feeling; him suddenly disappearing. I am so used to having him there, that I am lost without him near. Confused and unable to think strait, especially with the swimming of my thoughts, and uneasiness of my stomach.

I feel a very scary shiver run up my spine, and I scramble around to find my wand. Thankfully it was on the ground just where I fell, so whoever knocked me unconscious wasn't interested, or didn't know who I was. With the familiar weight back in my hands, I temporarily feel better.

The smell of smoke and the sound of screaming and crying invades my moment of weakness brings me back to the very real urgency of this situation. There was no turning back now.

This is it. This is the moment we were trying to reach, but we had failed. The war is about us, and now we have to stop it.

My friends are no where in sight, and it begins to submerge me in worry.

I know I have to find Harry, so my turn on my heels and make way for the least hostile direction.

Think Hermione, think!

I stretch my hand out in front of me as if I'm stumbling around in the dark as I carefully press forward. If anyone were to spot me, I would look like a sitting duck, reaching my hand out in front of me as if I'm blind, and my forehead creased in pain, but there is little I can do just yet. The fog that had settled over me was causing me great discomfort.

I inhale and ignore the jabbing pain assaulting my side as I exit the archway and head down the hill towards Hagrid's hut. I can't recall how I came to be on this half of the castle, but most of the fighting has diminished here. The few straggling students that remained on the grounds this far from the action, were terrified, but unharmed. No death eaters were in sight, thankfully, and it did much to steady my building anxiety.

Then, like a gift from above, I saw him. My heart swells, and the burst of adrenaline I receive from seeing him gives me temporary release from my ailments. I take off towards him as if I am being released from captivity by the sight of him; my savior.

"Harry!" I squeal, the sound was a high pitched grinding against the distant chaos of Hogwarts, and it immediately drew his attention.

When his eyes hit mine, rapture floods through me, and his relieved sigh makes me yell his name a second time. "Harry!"

He takes off into a run towards me, and we crash together in a tight embrace. It was both incredibly painful, and amazingly uplifting.

His right hand finds it's way into my hair, and his left is supporting my chin within the roughness of his fingers. Behind those familiar glasses, his eyes are scanning me for injuries, and his voice is deceptively calm. "Are you alright? Where have you been?" The questions ripple across my skin, but all I can think is how I short of breath I am.

Suddenly, I'm violently ripped from my happiness at seeing Harry again, when a squall of fire comes hurling at us. We notice it at the same time, and both dive aside. The landing jars me, and I lose my breath. For the next moment as I'm trying to gather my breath, Harry is casting spells against an evil that I can't see.

He's fighting twice as hard in protection of me. When I finally stand, I turn my wand to help Harry, only to see that he's dueling three death eaters, who are surprisingly, not dueling to kill.

They are casting body binds, disarming spells, and I narrowly dodged a stupefy, but they were not trying to kill us. My blood curdles with the thoughts of what they want with us.

I manage to stupefy the first of the three death eaters. It's surprising, because the pain of my stiff body was severely affecting my reflexes. I'm glad that I'm any help at all. With the way I was moving, the fact that I hit one at all meant that they must not have been very skilled at all.

I duck to avoid an expelliarmus, but my timing was terrible, and I scream as my shoulder is ripped open by a stray spell. Whatever spell it was had created several deep gashes out of my shoulder was fabricating a copious amount of blood, soaking my outside robes. I try to rebound from the wound as quickly as I can, but by this time the shock of my wounds are setting in, and I am rendered useless for at least the next few moments. I try to to let the panic get to me, but it's building quickly inside of me and I fear that I can't stop it.

During this time that I am busy trying to gain my wits, something outrageous happens.

Back up arrives, this much I know, but my hazy vision, and panic from the amount of blood I see keeps me from paying more attention than that.

Before I realize it, I am hyperventilating. His name slips from my mouth without my permission. "…Harry?" I believe it's the question in my voice that alerts him, and he comes running right away.


"Draco," Snape's voice is impersonal as he keeps a brisk walk through the castles halls, and towards the grounds of Hogwarts. "Hurry up, boy."

I am keeping close to his heels, but his tone is grinding against my nerves. I squeeze my wand, my knuckles crackling against it, and I grunt in response.

He is unaffected by my hostility, he merely walks at the same hurried pace, ignoring the straggling children, as well as any death eaters we pass. He's obviously leading me somewhere, but he gives me no clues. I'm not nervous, but there is a small flicker of anxiety coming to life within me. If he was taking me to the dark lord what could I do about it now? If I had to face that monster, and if I was told, yet again, that I had to kill. Or worse, if my mother were harmed because of his disappointment in me. I shiver at the thought and then push it far from my mind.

"Where are we going?" I ask, not for the first time, but he doesn't bless me with a response, yet again.

We make our way very quickly, despite my opposition I was stuck with him, by my mothers command, and his insistence.

The war is taking a toll on my morals. I have been second guessing myself all day. Did I do the right thing by following my fathers order? Should I have just gone against their wishes and denied the dark lord?

Before I have a chance to explore my thoughts and questions, Snape's drawl becomes alarmingly expressive. "Stay by my side. Follow my lead!"

I nod, and even though he doesn't see it, I know he understands me.

At this point, we take off into a run, and I drink in the sight of the one and only Potter, dueling several death eaters, his forehead creased with both worry and fright. To his side, curled into a ball on the ground, was my least favorite person in the world, and she was trembling. I could see the panic in her eyes even from the distance I was.

Without hesitation, Snape drew his wand and went to Potters aid. I followed suit.

"Harry?" It was a loud, panicked sound, with so much worry and wonder in it, that Potter immediately turned towards her with his jaw clenched.

When we arrive, Potter runs to Hermione, ready to give her his full attention. Had we not arrived sooner, he would have probably made a mistake, which could have been critical.

The sound of her voice was distressing, even to me, and I was almost hit with the killing curse in my distraction. As tempered as they were being with Potter, they were aiming to kill us. Trying to get us out of the way.

I am annoyed by the fact that I'm disposable and Snape and I quickly disperse of the two remaining death eaters.

Potter is leaning over Granger, his forehead creased in a frown when he turns to Snape.

"Help me!" There is an unexplainable look in his eyes that I struggle to understand, and the pain in his voice is unsettling. Granger was his precious person, and the fear of losing that person was obvious on his face.

I cast a look towards Granger, and the state she was in caused an uncomfortable pain in my chest. A tingling sensation, and queasiness took over me, and I had to look away.

Red eyes, tear streaked cheeks, her heaving chest covered in blood. Her wild hair was more untamed than usual. Her breathing was labored, and she was clutching Potter's arm like it was the only thing keeping her sane.

I watch in a detached way as Snape helped Potter peel off Granger's outer robes, and she groaned in pain as it drug over her shoulder. With her outer robe off, she was left in her regular uniform. They didn't attempt to remove the vest she wore over her once crisp white shirt, most likely in fear that it would be too painful. The white shirt beneath was now soaked red down the left side of her body, and it was such a sad sight that I didn't know how to tolerate gazing at it any longer. Once again I avert my eyes and try not to think of how much pain she must have been in.

The sound of her pain makes me feel oddly unpleasant. Normally I would have liked to hear the sound, but today, at this moment, it made me feel terrible. It scrapped across my skin in painful way, and made my stomach bubble uncomfortably.

Snape cast a spell that seemed to do a minor amount of help, but he wasn't a healer. He gave Potter a grave look, "It's the best I can do. We have to get her out of her, Potter. " Together they stood her up, and she yelped. She seemed to be less panicked after the spell mended a bit of the largest gash.

For the first time, her eyes landed on me and she looked entirely too hostile for someone so upset. How she managed to be so delusional and yet to look at me and immediately become so aggressive, it was amazing to me.

Snape, who always had the answers to everything, did not disappoint, as Potter looked up at him pleadingly.

"Draco," He barks, his dull voice and black eyes pointed at me, drawing my attention from Granger. "Take her."

As he said the words, I felt an intrusion in my chest. "What?" Both Potter and I cry in unison, neither pleased with this thought.

Snape nods, assuring us that it's the right thing to do with his most deadpanned expression. "Don't worry, she's harmless right now." If I didn't know the man better, I would say that might have been an attempt at a joke. "Take her to the forest for now. Make your way around, to the black lake. Potter and I can meet you there later." He says these things in a surgical manner, but with each word, I was more and more certain that he was barking mad.

"I'm not going anywhere with her." I say, and regardless of her terrible state, she agrees with me with a resounding, "If you think…"

She didn't finish her sentence before Potter silenced her with a, "Come on Mione, you need to go somewhere safe." He obviously cares about her so much more than I understood previously.

I produce a sneer, "Right Potter, safe. With me, in the forbidden forest."

Granger's cheeks were painted pink, and she rolls her eyes. "Please Harry."

Neither Snape or Potter would have anymore of our demands and pleads. They attempted to hand her over to me, but she decided that she would rather try to stand than use me to support her weight. Though she looked worse for wear, she managed somehow to gather her strength about her.

I try not to look at her, and especially not to be impressed with her determination, as Potter came towards me, "I'm only allowing this to happen because of Snape's suggestion," His green eyes reflected a very real danger, "but if anything happens to her, I'll make sure you pay for it, Malfoy." He did not voice that he would take my life, but he didn't need to. I understood extremely well the threat that lay in his words.

I suddenly felt like I was being sent on a petty mission, while they were doing all of the important duties.

Here I was babysitting Granger.

I snort, and reach my hand out to grab her wrist, but she snarled at me like a cornered dog. "Don't!" She hides her hand away behind her back, "I'll manage." She says with a bit less passion.

I sneer at her, "Like I care anyways," I grind out the words as I stomp past her and towards the forbidden forest. We've always hated each other, but I was surprised that she was so suspicious of me, even though I was just fighting with Snape on Potters behalf.

She would probably never trust me if that wasn't enough proof for her. Or maybe I had just done too much damage in the past for her to ever forgive me.

She follows me, slowly, but surely, and as we breach those dark and misty woods, I feel extremely annoyed at the circumstances that we were under.

If we could manage this without killing each other, it would be a miracle.