Hermione did not know how long she was out all she knew was that she was in extreme pain and it hurt to even move. Hermione gathered up what strength she had and touched Draco's hand squeezing it softly as she heard him say he was a murder. "Draco." She said in a soft low voice.

"You… did…what…….had to be…done." She said winching and coughing up some blood looking at him. "You are not a murder." She said reaching up and touching his face. "You are stupid for……coming after me." Hermione was so weak that even her eyes looked almost dead. The truth being was one more cruico and she would have died right there in front of him.

Hermione whispered to him, "Thank you I would have died." She said as she shook gently. How was she suppose to make him feel better when she could not even help herself feel better. "You…might……need…to……go……get Harry." Hermione's eyes started getting very heavy as she held onto his hand. "Draco forgive me please." She said in a very weak voice. "I did not mean to." She said feeling more color drain from her face, "I do not know how much longer I am going to last Draco. I am proud of you." She said closing her eyes.

Draco shook his head violently when Hermione told him he did what had to be done. "No, no...I'm a killer. And the Dark Lord is going to hunt me down personally now. I am more than certain I moved up to number two on his list of people he wants to kill the most. I just killed his most faithful servant in front of him. He's going to want to kill me personally now, just like Potter." he mumbled, still unable to blink.

He looked over at Hermione and saw what a state she was in. "If I go find Potter, you're coming with me. He's probably in Hogsmeade still, there's no way the he gotten through the entire village and the woods around it already." he said, standing up, realizing they had to get back to the school, get Hermione to the hospital wing, and let Harry know she was back.

When she started talking about not knowing how much longer she was going to last, he shook his head again silently, and grabbed his broom, and helped Hermione on the back of it, and binding her arms around him magically so she wouldn't fall off the broom in mid-flight.

The flight felt longer than it really was, Draco panicking the entire way about the well being of Hermione, and hoping that Harry wouldn't do something insane with out touching base with him again. Finally he saw Hogsmeade come into view, but he past it completely, knowing that he had to get to the castle first and foremost. When they reached the grounds, Draco turned back to look at Hermione. "Hermione, I know you don't want to, but we must talk to Dumbledore. I'll have Madame Pomfrey get someone to fetch him to talk to you, and I'll go find Harry, okay? We all will be safest when Dumbledore knows. And trust me, it's going to even be hard for me to look at him, considering the task that I declined to do this year..." he said, cringing at the end.

When they reached the front doors, Draco dismounted the broom, after undoing the bind between Hermione and him, and scooped her up in his arms, making his way to the hospital wing.

Hermione glanced over at him and took his hand, "I am on his list too Draco and to be honest I know you are not a killer." She said closing her eyes and shaking gently with pain. Hermione knew that it was not going to be long before she would not be able to open her eyes up again at least not for a while. Hermione heard him talking, "Draco, he will kill us only if he can get threw us three together."

"Draco I can not make it to find Harry." She said leaning on him coughing up some blood and winching in pain. "Please Draco just go and find Harry and then come back for me. He might go looking for Voldemort hun." She said squeezing his hand tightly then coughed a bit with more blood coming out of her mouth. Hermione felt as if she was going to die right here and now.

Hermione felt Draco bind her to him which was a good thing because she felt as if she could not hold onto anything let alone cling onto Draco as he flew with her. Hermione hated flying and to be honest she could not even bring herself to say anything about hating flying.

Hermione was listening to the way Draco was talking she could not even open her eyes up to speak to him. "Draco……I……am……fine." Hermione winched in pain she did not want to talk to Dumbledore or to Harry about it. Her eyes was watering and she was crying holding onto Draco, "Only if it helps you and Harry." She said holding on to him tightly. Hermione was feeling like she was losing her grip on reality. When they arrived at Hogwarts and she felt Draco scoop her up in his arms running with her to the hospital wing he heard someone yell. "DRACO STOP!"

Harry caught up to them and looked down at Hermione in tears. "Hermione?" He touched the side of her face and looked up at Draco, "Please tell me what happened Draco. What happened to her? Is she?" He could not even say what he was thinking he just looked at Draco close to tears.

Draco froze as he heard someone yell his name. He turned slowly to see Harry running towards them, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Draco was relieved to see him. "Harry..." he said gratefully. Harry bit his bottom lip, glancing at him momentarily, then turned his attention to Hermione.

"She'll be okay, I just got to get her to the hospital wing." Draco said, starting to walk as fast as possible again. They reached it in record time, Draco's breath hitching, his chest burning from running so fast. Harry opened the door to the hospital wing, and they saw Madame Pomfrey standing over a bed giving a student a glass of water. She watched them enter, and screamed, dropping the glass, shattering it into a million pieces. "What has happened?!" she exclaimed as Draco laid her on a bed. "Cruciatus Curse, performed numerous times, by you-know-who and two of his supporters." Draco said, "I'm going to go get Dumbledore, stay with her, Harry." he added, grabbing his hand and giving it a slight squeeze, then leaning over the bed and kissing Hermione on the forehead. "You're safe now." he whispered.

By the time Draco had reached Dumbledore's office, he realized that he didn't know the password, and he paced back and forth, catching his breath, and collecting his thoughts. After a few moments, he saw Professor Snape walking towards him. "Draco?" he asked, arching a brow.

"Professor! I need-I need Dumbledore!" Draco said urgently.

"We'll go see him together- Cockroach Clusters." Snape said to the gargoyle statue that led up to Dumbledore's office. As they ascended the stairs, Snape turned to him. "I just got news that Bellatrix Lestrange has been murdered."

"Yeah, I know, I killed her." Draco said in a stunned voice.

Snape stopped walking, his eyes large with shock. Draco turned and looked at his mentor for these many years, his lip quivering. "Professor...I'm a killer." he whimpered.

Snape wrapped his arm around Draco's shoulder. "No, no, Draco. You're not a killer." he said comfortingly. "You're nothing of the sorts. Let us go see Dumbledore."

Hermione had finally woken up and looked around for Draco. "Draco!?" She shouted as she then screamed in pain and Harry pushed her back down with tears in his eyes. "Hermione!" Harry could not help but wrap his arms around her and kiss her forehead. "Oh god I thought I lost you Hermione. I would have never forgave myself."

Harry looked at Hermione with tears in his eyes. "Hermione?" She looked at Harry then jumped out of bed crumpling to the ground screaming in pain. "PLEASE PLEASE STOP!" Harry ran to her, "HERMIONE?!" Madame Pomfrey ran in and looked at what was happening. "Oh dear she has been cursed to where she relives the Cruciatus Curse I need Dumbledore. Mr. Potter run, go get him now!" Harry ran as fast as he could to Dumbledore in tears hoping to god that he was not going to lose Hermione. If she did not make it he swore he would leave right then and there to find Voldemort and kill him on the spot. He could hear Hermione's voice screaming to stop and he arrived outside of Dumbledore's office as he busted in right after Draco got done talking to him and telling Dumbledore and Snape everything.

"Mr. Potter?!" Snape glared, Harry just looked at Dumbledore, "Hermione in trouble! Cruse bad." Harry took a breath, "Madame Pomfrey said it was a cruse to relive the Cruciatus curse over and over again! Please please we have to help her!" He said looking at Draco in tears.

When Draco and Professor Snape got inside Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore looked at both of them, and nodded. "So, tell me what happened, ." he said calmly, ushering him to sit.

Panic rose up inside Draco as he stared at the Headmaster, remembering what he was ordered to do not too long ago. He was stunned that Dumbledore already knew that he was involved, but the thought barely lasted through his nerves. He sat obediently, and started explaining everything. From the letter Hermione had received, to how Harry and himself had left the grounds, and with great difficultly, confessed once again that he had killed Bellatrix Lestrange. The entire time, Dumbledore's expression stayed the same; calm and collected.

Once he had finished explaining, Dumbledore rose from his desk, and walked in front of Draco, kneeling down and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You did a brave, heroic thing tonight, . You must not be so hard on yourself. Miss. Granger and Mr. Potter need you now more than ever." he said, then standing. The headmaster went to speak again to Snape, when Harry came barging through the door, out of breath and panic in his eyes.

When he had explained what happened, Draco looked back and forth between the other three in the room, and in a flash Dumbledore was through the door, followed by Snape. Draco stood slowly as he watched Harry standing there trying to catch his breath. He walked over to him and placed a shaking hand on his shoulder. "Harry, come one, let us go back down there." he said as calmly as he could manage. Harry looked at him and nodded, and they swiftly made their way back to the hospital wing to see a group of professors standing around a bed whispering nervously back and forth.

Professor McGonagall made her way over to Draco and steered him through the crowd of professors. "He's back, Poppy." she said to Madame Pomfrey. "Here you go, , lay back so we can make sure you're alright." Professor McGonagall added, gently pushing him into a bed that he saw was next to Hermione's. "I'm fine." he insisted, trying to look through the crowd of people to see if Hermione was okay. "Just let me check you anyway then." Madame Pomfrey said making her way over to him. Draco tried to refuse again, but finally gave in, still eager to see if Hermione was alright.