AN: A special thank you to Heart-Broken-In-Love for being my first, and second, reviewer. This chapter is dedicated to her, because being my first reviewer is an awesome thing! I hope everyone who read this story likes it, enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned this, Voldemort would be caught cross-dressing by Harry. So clearly, this is not my work.

Hermione walked back to the common room, her head filled with wonders and worries. She stopped in front of the portrait and sighed to herself, before uttering the password, the portrait gladly opened.

She walked through and collapsed down on the soft couch, her head gently falling back and her brown hair spilling over the back of the seat. She lifted her legs up onto the table and stared up at the ceiling, her mind spinning with uneasiness.

Why does this bother me so much? She asked herself, Do I actually care about him?

That thought sobered Hermione up, and she had to think for a long time wether it was true or not. The notion seemed almost impossible to her, Draco was still the boy who called her Mudblood, he was the same guy who tried to hurt her friends, the same guy who's father was a deatheater. Draco Malfoy was everything bad wrapped into one, there had never been signs of good.

That's not true, Hermione argued with herself, I can think of a couple times..

There was...well, today for instance, when he risked-and sacrificed his own life in order to save them, when he went against every single thing that he was ever taught, every rule that had ever been set for him by his father. He single-handedly stopped the most powerful dark wizard in the world.

But did that erase any of his past offences? She continued to herself. No, not even saving her could make her forget the hatred she had always felt, and still felt now.

"So why does it seem like I care?" She murmured outloud.

Draco lay in his bed, staring over to the window, the moon light trickling in past the thin curtains. His mind felt so hazy from the medication, thus far he had taken ten painkillers, three advils and thirteen shots, but even still the Crucio lay deep in his chest with a dull burn, not willing to leave for even a single second.

Madame Pomfrey had left him alone to himself a couple hours ago, shutting the light out behind her and leaving the pills on his bedside table.

Maybe if I take enough pills I'll have an overdose, he thought bitterly to himself, the idea holding some appeal. Of course he would never intentionaly harm himself in such a way, but that did not mean his naturally negative mind wouldn't think such things.

Draco groaned to himself for the hundredth time that day, he sat up quickly and tugged on his hair, the Crucio's effects rising once more. He started to pant heavily, feeling his lungs errupt into intense fire, his leg muscles twisted and tightened like a really painful charlie horse, and his arms felt like they were being roughly tugged and stretched. His stomach churned and his head throbbed, his heart burning. He arched his back and let out a strangled scream as his spine seemed to shift. He slammed back down into his bed, eyes stinging strongly with unshed tears as the pain beat him without mercy, over and over again.

His hand shook as it reached in desperation for the painkillers, he managed to grab four and popped them into his mouth, swallowing them and hoping with all he had that the pain would weaken, if only a bit. The Crucio had different plans though, and clawed through him once more, causing Draco to scream and shriek, his face buried into the nearby pillow.

The painkillers took effect and the Crucio resumed it's former position of a taunting burn, ready to spring up again when you least expected. Draco continued to breath heavily, clutching his pillow tight in a fist, his body shook as he recovered from the spasms.

"This is gonna be a long night," Draco moaned in agony.

Hermione was still questioning herself when she heard the sound of Harry's voice from behind the portrait.

"She wasn't in the library, so she must be in here" She heard him mutter.

The group walked in, Harry, Ginny and Ron, noticing with obvious relief that Hermione sat in front of them. Ginny sat by Harry in front of her and Ron took his place beside her, pulling her close into his arms.

"Did you visit Malfoy?" Ron questioned, glancing down at his girlfriend.

Hermione sighed, hearing the hint of anger behind his tone "Yeah, I stopped in after I finished my homework."

Harry looked over to her, his eyes curious. "What do they think will happen to him?"

Hermione repositioned herself and exhaled "I was eavesdropping and I heard miss Pomfrey say he had around three days left before the curse finally killed him"

"The killing curse?" Ginny piped in.

Hermione shook her head "No, the Crucio and the killing curse combined, he will die from the pain"

Draco sat up once more when he felt his forehead burning up. He stood and walked across the room, over to the window sill, a task made difficult by his wobbly knees. He seated himself beside it and leaned his head over to touch the cold glass, it felt wonderful against the constant heat of his skin.

"Why am I still alive?" He whispered to himself, his brow lowering in confusion.

He could not think of a good reason, it wasn't like with Harry who had his mother's sacrifice, and he was the only one known to last even a minute after being hit by an Avada Kedavra. So why was he still breathing?

That's when Draco's thoughts turned dark. If the curse didn't kill me first, my father will he observed. That was one of the most important things to Lucius, you never went against the dark lord, not ever, but that's exactly what he had done, more so then even that, he had, most likely anyway, ended the monster's life. Yes, Draco imagined his father was quite pissed off.

But perhaps his aunt might even be the one to end Draco's pain, while causing more of course. He was almost certain that Bellatrix had been in love with lord Voldemort, though what she had ever seen in him was a mystery. He was sure that Bellatrix was cursing him at this very moment. Then there was his godfather Snape, Voldemort's clear favorite. Severus would probably poison Draco's medicine if ever given the chance.

I imagine I feel quite like Potter does, Draco thought, much better in everyway of course, but having everyone of the deatheaters wishing for my blood on their hands.

Draco realized that he really didn't like the fact that all his allies were now enemies, and for a fleeting second he wished that he had never sent that spell towards Voldemort, but then he felt that familiar loss of breath and replayed the moment when he sent that spell at Voldemort, and a slight smirk lit up his face. He may be dying, but he had the satisfaction of recalling the shock that had flashed on Voldemort's face, wether the dark lord was dead or not, in that one moment Draco had stolen every bit of power and composure that the man had ever held.

The Gryffindor common room had gone quiet after what Hermione said, no one truly knowing what they should say to the others. The words hung heavy above their heads, and a wave of guilt passed through each of them, no one liked that they were part of the reason that someone was dying in such a cruel way.

"There's no way he can survive?" Ginny asked, her face alarmed. She couldn't imagine dying in such an unfair way.

Hermione shook her head "One in a million, Gin."

Harry stood up and started to pace, his face was troubled. There must be a way, Harry thought to himself, there had to be. Harry felt the most responisible, it had been his job to kill Voldemort, but he had hesitated for one second and was trapped with his friends. If he had never hesitated, Voldemort would be dead and Malfoy never would have been hit with those curses. Harry hated his good nature sometimes, he hated the guilt he always experienced, and he ecspecially hated the fact that there were people who would be heartbroken if Malfoy perished, and each one of them would blame him.

Hermione stood up and yawned deeply, she felt so tired that she could sleep on hot rocks. "I'm going to bed, we have classes tommorow"

Ron stood up and kissed Hermione gently on the lips "Sleep well"

Hermione smiled and hugged Ron before saying goodnight to the others, then she traveled to her room and fell happily on her warm sheets. She flipped herself over and looked out the window beside her. The night sky looked so beautiful, there was mist floating around the ground and it traveled up into the air, not enough to cover the beatiful glowing stars, the moon was full and bright and a gentle breeze moved the trees.

Hermione couldn't help but think about the next day, It was a habit and she loved to make scheduales. She decided that she would bring lunch for Malfoy and give him his wand back, then she would finish her classes, come back to visit him and the two would do their homework together, she would then leave and study in the library before returning to the common room.

But what if Malfoy was dead by then? She asked herself.

She didn't know why, but that thought truly bothered her more than it should have. Was she really starting to care about the ferret, she thought again. He had saved her life, and she wasn't a bad person, but was she grateful enough that she could honestly say she would be a little upset if he died?

It made a certain part of her and Draco's conversation spring into her mind.

"Perhaps, but do you think the weasel, for example, Is worrying, kind of convienent that your the only one here"

And with that conversation still playing in her head, the bushy haired witch fell asleep, questions and concerns filling her dreams.