Sorry this took so long! I've been busy. And just warning you that this chapter is kinda boring, but I promise that it will get better. This is just helping to lead up to the exciting parts. ;)

After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. ~J.K. Rowling

That night Draco couldn't sleep. He could hear Harry and Hermione whispering downstairs. He could hear them crying and wiping their noses. He sympathized for them and almost wanted to go down and talk with them. He knew his presence would just upset them, so he stayed put on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling, counting the lines. He felt sorry for Hermione. She never even married him in the end. And he even felt sorry for Harry. Besides Hermione, Ron was one of the only friends he had left… Well, at least he had a friend.

Downstairs Hermione dabbed her eyes with a tissue. She sat on her couch with Harry. Her knees had been brought up to her chest. She still felt like crying but she didn't have any tears left. Hermione still couldn't believe that he was dead. It still felt like he would just wake up at their feet and ask for something to eat. The only way Hermione fully reminded herself that he was dead was by peeking over her knees and seeing her fiancé pale and silent on the floor. Hermione dug her face into Harry's chest and he wrapped his arms around her. He stroked her hair and shut his eyes.

"You will find someone else who will love you just as much. No one can replace Ron, but we will just have to let him go. He would want us to live happily." Harry said.

"I guess you're right Harry. But I don't want to let him go yet."

"You don't have to…but try. He wouldn't want you to stop living." Harry's reassuring words helped Hermione. She knew she couldn't let go any time soon, but she would definitely try.

"I agree." Hermione said after a few moments. "I've learned that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It could be the last time you see them. And when we were at Fenrir's I just ran away and barely said anything to him. That was one of my worst choices in my life." A single tear raced down her cheek and fell onto her folded hands.

"Hermione listen to me. You didn't have a choice. It's not like you could pull him out from fighting to hug him. There was nothing you could've done." Once again Hermione had to agree with Harry.

"Harry, not to be rude, but I don't think I can let him go if he is lying on my floor. Would you mind?" Harry understood and so he nodded his head. He used a spell on Ron to make him float in the air. Then he walked to the door. Before he left, he turned to Hermione.

"Hermione I've learned that love can break your heart…but it's worth it." He said and then walked out without another word.

Hermione laid her head down against her pillow. She felt lost and alone, just like Draco. Then she heard a soft purring sound and saw her cat at the arm of the couch. She beckoned her forward and slowly, Crookshanks stepped on Hermione's lap. Hermione stroked the cat and found that an animal's company was better than any persons. Crookshanks soft orange fur calmed Hermione. But not for long.

Draco came into the room, sending Crookshanks into some terrible hissing fit. She ran away leaving Hermione sad. Hermione stared up at Draco waiting for him to say something. He grabbed a chair and sat on it across from Hermione. Then Draco reached for his pocket and pulled out a chocolate frog. He handed it to Hermione.

"Chocolate doesn't solve your problems, but it doesn't make them worse either." He said.

"Where did you get this?"

"I found your secret stash." He noticed Hermione giving him a questionable look. "Don't worry I didn't take any for myself." Hermione did have a secret stash. It was in a black jar in the kitchen cabinet that no one ever opened.

"Well thanks." Hermione answered. Suddenly, she felt uncomfortable with Draco watching her so closely. She looked just as attractive as a mandrake. She attempted to run her fingers through her hair but her fingers just ended up getting stuck so she gave up.

"The death of someone we love is a good reminder that we are still alive, and that we should keep living while we can. He died the best way any man could- trying to save others from dying. Ron was a brave and didn't deserve to die. But no one does. But as long as he stays in our memories, he is still alive." Draco said. He had been thinking of what to say to Hermione when he saw her later. He had decided on the first two sentences, but he couldn't stop from saying the rest, because it was true.

Hermione sat there staring back at Draco. Eventually she let a small smile appear on her face.

"Who knew you could be so deep." She said. Draco smiled somewhat too. "But I suppose you are right. And I know I have to move on, but it's harder than it looks. I want to, I really do but it's not going to be simple. I know how I can speed up the process though."

"How?" Draco asked. He looked at Hermione and saw a change in her expression. Her eyes were still soft and sad, but her eyebrows were set in a determined way and her smile was just a little to cunning for the situation.

"I have to kill Fenrir." She said. "He killed Ron, now I have to return the favor."

"Hermione, you know Harry won't let you." Draco secretly knew that he had replaced his own name with Harry's so Hermione wouldn't be suspicious. Draco did not want Hermione to do something so dangerous especially when Fenrir wanted to turn Hermione into a werewolf.

"If I say it's in Ron's honor, then he might." Draco believed that she might be right. He would just have to convince Harry to say no to her. For now, he played along.

"I guess that's true." Draco said.

"He will probably come over tomorrow, so for now I guess I'll just go to bed. I will be up in my room if you need anything." Hermione said. She got up from the couch and went upstairs to her room. She got under her soft pink blankets after removing the many books that lie on her bed. She hadn't realized how much crying and fighting had exhausted her. In minutes she was in a deep slumber.

Back on the couch one floor below, Draco himself was sleeping. He closed his eyes but still remained upright. It was uncomfortable, yes, but he knew he wouldn't be able to fully sleep if he tried. He always did this after fights. He grieved over deaths and injuries he had caused. He replayed his relationship with his father and how screwed up it was. And the biggest thing that kept him up was how much he cared for Hermione now. He realized that he couldn't be with her. She hated him in the first place so it wasn't even worth it. Little did he know that Hermione felt the exact same way but had more reasons why she shouldn't like him.

Two hours past and only the moonlight streamed through the windows. The stars reminded Draco of Hermione's eyes. They both sparkled. Then without warning a huge scream reverberated throughout the house. Draco's eyes opened in a flash and then he ran up the stairs. He swung open Hermione's door without knocking because he knew that the shout came from her.

When he entered the room the lights were off and no one else was in the room. He saw Hermione still lying beneath her covers. She was screaming into her pillow now and crying. With a sudden revelation, Draco found that she was still sleeping. She was having a nightmare.

"Granger?" He whispered. She didn't hear him but she whimpered. She was talking out loud now. She kept repeating Ron's name. She did mention Draco's name once too. Then again, Hermione was crying. She was still asleep somehow. Draco saw how much pain she was in so sat on the edge of her bed where her head was. He placed his hand on hers to try to wake her up but instead she rolled over to him and wrapped her arms around his arm like a teddy bear.

"Ron, don't go." She said softly. Draco peered down at her. Her grip on him was tight so he swung his legs onto the bed and rested his back against the headboard. He assumed that it would be a while until she woke up. Hermione pulled herself more toward the bed frame as well and rested her head on Draco's chest. He froze and felt extremely awkward. What would she do if she opened and saw him so close to her? "Don't go." She repeated. Draco didn't blame her for having bad dreams. After what had happened lately, he was surprised he wasn't having them too. Then with just Hermione's warmth and his own exhaustion he fell asleep still propped up against the headboard.

When morning came Draco still felt Hermione resting on him. Her screams and mumbles had decreased as the night went on, so Draco had gotten a decent enough sleep. With carefulness he slipped away from Hermione and got off the bed. She rolled back over but didn't notice anything. Her eyes did not even open like Draco expected them to. When Draco headed for the door that's when he observed someone standing at the threshold.

"Well that was interesting." The man said. The man happened to be Harry. Of course Harry would be the one to see Hermione curled up with Draco. And to make the situation worse, Harry didn't know why they had been like that in the first place.

"She was having nightmares." Draco said. He walked past Harry, making sure to hit him with his shoulder.

"Was she crying in her sleep?" Harry asked after rubbing his arm. The two boys walked to the kitchen.

"Yes. Why?" Draco asked.

"She used do that when Ron left during our hunt for the horcruxes." Tears brimmed Harry's eyes as he recalled Ron. Draco wondered what it felt like- to have a friend die. He considered his old friends followers. Crabbe and Goyle always did what Draco told them to do. That is definitely not friendship.

"By the way, how did you get in the house?" Draco asked Harry.

"Oh, Hermione set up this password for me. I can get in at any time now."

"Oh okay…uhh, Harry, I wanted to talk to you about something." Draco declared. They sat at the kitchen table and were drinking coffee. Harry nodded and curiosity laced his eyebrows. "Hermione wants to help you kill Fenrir. And to be quite honest, I don't want her to. Fenrir is already out to make Hermione a werewolf. I think it would just be too dangerous for her. She said she wanted to do it in Ron's honor, but I doubt Ron would want her to go off on a suicide mission." Draco pointed out.

"I never thought I would say this but Draco, I actually agree with you. It's not safe for her. It doesn't matter how good Hermione is at magic, she will be competing with an immortal werewolf. Even I won't do well against him. My wand and his wand don't have the same connection as mine did with Voldemort's. It's just not the same scenario."

"Alright, so it's decided. We won't let her do this." Draco, who was very satisfied, smiled a bit. Now he would not have to worry about Hermione.

"Yes…except there is one tiny detail…" Harry trailed off.

"And what would that be?" Draco asked.

"Hermione is a girl." Harry said bluntly.

"Well I sure as hell hope so." Draco said sarcastically. He wasn't quite sure where Harry was headed.

"If there's one thing I learned about girls in my life is that if they want something, you should never underestimate their ability to get it." After a pause Harry realized something. "I guess you wouldn't have figured that out yet seeing as no girls even wanted to talk to you at school." Harry snickered.

"It's really not that funny. All the girls at our school were complete rubbish." He said indifferently. "And anyway, weren't you the one who got rejected by that Chang girl?" Now it was his turn to laugh.

"Are you two having fun?" Hermione's voice came from nowhere. She waltzed into the kitchen and sat down with them. Harry nodded.

"Did you have a good sleep last night?" Harry had a smirk on his face. Only Draco knew why it was there.

"It was alright. I was having some bad dreams, and my pillow was really stiff so I'm still a little tired." She said. Harry and Draco chuckled knowing that her 'pillow' had been Draco's chest.

"What?" Now she was confused.

'Nothing." Harry said immediately. He winked at Hermione then remembered what Draco had said before. "Oh, and Hermione, you cannot come with me to kill Fenrir. I know that you want to, but it's just not going to happen." Hermione's eyes got slightly bigger and her nostrils flared.

"You told him!" Hermione yelled at Draco. Draco just shrugged and said,

"I thought he ought to know." Hermione glared then turned back to Harry.

"Well it doesn't matter, because I am still going to." She said with indifference.

"What can I do or say to make you change your mind?" Harry rubbed his eyes and sighed, knowing it wasn't a question even worth asking.

"Nothing. I'm going with you." Hermione stated matter-o-factly.

"Fine." Said Harry.

"What? You're not even going to fight her on this! Just a minute ago you said you wouldn't let her come! She'll get killed!" Draco couldn't help from shouting.

"I will not! I'm a great fighter!" Hermione yelled at Malfoy.

"Oh yeah, you really proved that when you were fighting them in your backyard." Draco said sarcastically.

"I hate you Malfoy." Hermione glowered at him but he did not even flinch. After receiving cold stared from Voldemort, Hermione was nothing. Her words stung him though.

"I'm just saying that I really don't think you are ready for this. It is not your job to save the world. That's Harry's job….it's always been."

"It wasn't my job to help him defeat Voldemort either, but I did. And guess what? He's dead." Hermione said. "And Fenrir even has less horcruxes."

"Yes but Fenrir has more of a reason to want to kill you."

"Not true. Voldemort knew I was helping Harry all along and I am a muggleborn. Fenrir wants to turn me into a werewolf just as much as Voldemort had wanted me dead." Hermione knew she won her argument. Draco closed his eyes in frustration.

"Fine. Go off with Harry and get yourself killed."

"You are coming too." She said.

"Oh right." Draco rolled his eyes in annoyance, remembering how he was practically bound to her due to her job. Next, Hermione turned to Harry.

"So where do we start?" She asked. Harry looked up and his lips curved into a cunning smile that Draco thought only Slytherins could do. Then Harry spoke.

"With stealing Fenrir's ring."