A/N: Here's my weekly update. I don't usually use curse words for my chapter title, but I couldn't part with it. Since I didn't have any Dramione action in the last chapter, I decided to make it up to you. If you don't like things of the 'sexual nature' skip the beginning. I also want to say, this fanfiction is M for a reason. Anyways, please review/give feedback. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JKR does.

True Love's Locket

Chapter 10-Imagination is a Bitch

His gray eyes closed in enjoyment as the salty breeze coming from the ocean caressed his face. For once, Draco didn't question why exactly he came to be on a beach or who changed him from his stuffy school clothes into the gray swim shorts that he was wearing. His only remote concern was the glass of an empty drink in his hand. Mentally concentrating at the glass, the firewhiskey that he loved so dearly reappeared non-verbally.

Taking a long gulp of the contents, he just stared out at the everlasting blue of the ocean. The sun's rays winked at him through the waves, sparkling in the distance. Another salty breeze made his blond hair brushed the inner part of his ear seductively. The shivers ran down his body until he put the glass to his lips and drank another sip. He looked down the white beach on his left and found no one. Looking to right, was a black spot in the distance that carried a different scent in the air, the light smell of perfume. That scent teased his insides, and made his heart pound like an addict.

Draco didn't care about the dot in the distance. Instead, he looked out to the ocean again, taking in the beautiful scenery. Not feeling any ounce of worry or panic, he placed his glass on the sand before he laid on his bare back on the pure white sand. His skin heated from both the sand and the sun. Draco felt like he was in paradise, he tucked his hands underneath his head. His body started to relax and he sighed in peaceful contentment.

A shadow grew over his body while his skin cooled from the lack of consistent heat. Draco sat up with his eyes squinted and his hand up to block the sun. When his eyes adjusted to the brightness, the first detail he noticed of the shadow was the curly chestnut-brown hair. The next detail, made Draco blush and turn his head quickly away.

The heat of cheeks blended in with the heat on his face from the hot sun. His fingertips buzzed in pleasure again as he mentally roamed over her naked body before him. Draco didn't dare look at her again, if he did, he would lose all control of himself. The desire to take her, throbbed at his manhood. Draco licked his lips, nervously when he looked into her usual innocent eyes. Her chocolate depths weren't at all innocent, instead her eyes carried a deep carnal heat, that made him nervous.

Goosebumps flowed over his body when he felt soft, gentle fingertips trace over his bare foot. He jerked his foot away from her light touches, and concentrated his eyes to look at her face only. When he felt small soft hands on each of his bare shoulders, Draco bit back a groan from new pleasure seeping down his body again. The pressure of her hands grew and Draco fell onto his back. The excited blood in his vein grew as she straddled him, with her creamy thighs on either side of his legs. Draco grasped the sand desperately when he absolutely froze when his eyes lost sight of her face and stared at her creamy, well-formed breasts. His grip on the sand only grew harder like other parts of his body.

He swallowed loudly when she shifted to lie her bare-naked breasts on top his hard, well toned chest. With her shifting, other parts of his body were pressed preciously into hers. Stifling another groan, Draco begged and pleaded to Merlin to stop Granger from teasing him into insanity. This sexual torture could be compared to the pain of the 'Cruciatus Curse.'

Draco clamped his eyes shut and bit his lip when her soft lips began to caress his ear. He shivered underneath her touches, knowing full well that he wasn't cold. As she kissed his ear, her sultry voice whispered, "I know you desire me, I can feel it," to make her point, she shifted her hips downwards to grind into him. Draco unconsciously threw his head in pleasure with a low groan spilling from his lips, almost missing her next words,

"Touch me Draco."

Shaking his head back and forth almost violently, Draco felt the particles of hard sand intertwine with his blond locks of hair. If he touched any part of her soft body, he would undone. He felt small hands travel to his wrist, grasping around them firmly to try to pull them from the sand. Draco put all of his effort not to move. After a couple of tugs, the smaller hands removed from his wrist with a frustrated sigh.

His gray eyes cracked open to still see the goddess of a women sitting on top of him with her hands resting on his stomach. Draco focused on her face which only smiled at him. However when he looked at her eyes, shadows of mischievous ideas danced behind them. In that moment, Draco wished for his wand to able to ask her 'What are you doing?' She answered with a low purr of her voice,

"If you won't touch me Draco. I'll touch you."

Draco felt his silver eyes widen, which would have been comical if he hadn't taken her for her word. He shivered deeply when she placed her warm mouth onto his neck. Her rosebud lips kissed, caressed, and sucked every ounce of his skin she could find. When she found his weakness of his collarbone and her trembling breath ran slowly across it, Draco thrust his hip upwards. Low groaning escaped him when the devilish woman repeated her actions to his collarbone with her lips.

When she moved lower down his body, Draco hitched a breath. Her lips leaving small trail of pleasurable kisses to his nipple. He gasped loudly when she took his nipple into her warm mouth, manipulating it into hardness. His body only trembled under the sensation when her light fingertips caressed his other neglected nipple. Draco knew that he didn't have much time until he broke, this woman was driving him into sexual madness.

Her mouth left his nipple and began to travel downwards, goosebumps broke out against his skin again when he felt her own breasts dance across his stomach. Draco bit his lip to keep himself from either moaning, groaning or even saying her name when she forced his gray shorts from his hips and down his legs.

The touching had stopped and the lack of it made Draco look down at her. When he saw her, he was lucky that he didn't take her right then and there. Her head rested on his leg, while she just looked at him in his nude glory. Draco tried to keep eye contact with her but when she started her teasing ministrations, he couldn't.

His breath hitched in his throat when her fingertips ran lazy circles in his inner thigh. He swore that he stopped breathing when she lightly caressed his scrotum. When she did it again, he moaned loudly. His body shivered from the heat of her mouth on his hip bone, sucking. Light kisses danced across his stomach then stopped.

Draco arched his head to look at her. Her pink mouth, now puffy from her assault on his body. Her cheeks flushed with blushing color. Her eyes, the dark pools of madness that he knew would drown in. He shivered when he felt her warm breath of the tip of him. Shivering again, Draco knew that he should stop. That he needed to stop. That he couldn't let her touch him anymore, not when he hated her for the filth that she was. When he felt a small hand grasp his harder shaft, all of his thoughts were lost.

Looking at her like a drowning man waiting his thirst to be quenched, he waited for her to cross that last boundary before he rolled her over and claimed her. When she pull her mouth away from the very tip of him, Draco closed his eyes and threw his head back in groaning disappointment. The lazy circles started inside his thigh again which forced Draco to look up. When their eyes met, she spoke,

"Do you want me Draco?"

Wishing for his wand again, he would tell her, 'No.' He would deny everything that he was feeling. He would smother every ounce of pleasure underneath his iron will. When felt her hand glide down his shaft, Draco threw his head back and moaned, "Yes."

Underneath the pleasure that he was feeling, came another emotion of shock. Shock because of his truthful answer and hearing it by his own voice. The heaviness of the silver locket was gone and Draco was free to speak. He could tell her that he wanted her. Not just now, not only in this moment. Not just for sex. He wanted her and the heat the heat that she carried in her eyes. Forever.

Draco watched her like it was his first time watching her. His eyes made an effort to watch her and not lose himself in his pleasure. Her brown chestnut curls flowed with the salty breeze. Her brow, along with her eyes in deep concentration, focusing on her task of pleasuring him. She suddenly bent over the tip of him and he felt her warm breath on him. Draco threw his head back, completely forgoing trying to remember her.

Just as he felt warm lips wrap around him; Draco felt a strong jab to his ribs. His blond brow furrowed at her in confusion. Another jab to his ribs happened and her brown eyes stared at him. Her mouth opened to say something, but instead of her sultry voice, came the nagging words of,

"MR. MALFOY, GET OFF THAT BOOK AT ONCE!"

Upon hearing the word 'book,' Draco's beach paradise along with sexually aggressive Granger disappeared. His gray eyes opened and his vision had the world sideways. When he blinked the sleep from his eyes, he realized that he was still in the library. Groaning, Draco pulled himself off of the pile of books that he unwillingly used for a pillow last night.

As his neck and other limbs popped and groaned, a figure out of the corner of his eyes, snatched the book that he had abused the most by drooling on it. He heard a woman's voice coo at the book like a kicked puppy then he flinched when the crazy librarian slapped her ruler on the desk, and screamed at him,

"GET OUT!"

Grabbing his wand from the desk, he non-verbally herded up his things into his satchel. He stood up quickly, ignoring the pain of being male first thing in the morning. Draco threw his bag over his shoulder and gathered the fallen green blanket from the floor when it fell off of him. Draco ran out, ignoring the wild threats of Madame Pince, the third most detestable person in the castle, rating behind Filch and Jeeves, who was a person before.

His panicked feet carried him all the way to his bedroom door without stopping. Waving his wand down the door, he unlocked it, then stepped in. Draco rested his back on the door with his eyes closed. His head was still foggy from waking up. A small yawn escaped him and stuttered down his whole body. Draco held in a frustrated groan when his manhood throbbed eagerly.

Groaning, because he would have thought his morning surprise would have disappeared by now. Instead, he was ready for action; Draco decided that it was time for, yet again, another cold shower. He quickly slipped from his clothing and walked across his room in the buff to his bathroom. Turning the water at the coldest setting, Draco climbed into the tub unflinching.

Diving face first into the water, Draco ignored his screaming mind about the water temperature. Icy spray hit his back as grabbed for his soap and lathered his body. His hands ran over every inch of himself, which reminded him of his dream. Instead of own fingers, her smaller ones ran over him. Another dream to tease him into utter oblivion.

It was the fifth one this week, his other dreams consist of the Astronomy Tower, where an extremely short skirt was involved. One was taking her in Potions during class. The third, was a broomstick, which Draco was more or less confused and curious to see if it could work. The fourth, was in his very room, on his bed. Let's just he hasn't been sleeping very well at all. Especially after his bedroom dream. His own imagination has been a complete bitch to him.

When he was finished cleaning himself in an ice cold shower and he felt that he was finished when all of his digits had turned a light blue color, all except one. His 'I-had-sex-dreams-all-night' erection was still there. Still hard and waiting for the person of his desire. He knew that he would rather kiss Weasel than have sex with 'Her' but in order to function today, he would have to do what he would have to do.

Running the soap through his hands again, Draco leaned against the shower wall while he closed his silver eyes thinking about her from his many different dreams. His slipped his hand back and forth over his harden shaft while losing himself in his last resort, self-induced pleasure.

There was silence in the infirmary after Hermione asked her question. Her words had quickly faded away. Hermione bit her lip to keep herself from groaning about her position on the floor. Instead, she moved her heavy hand in circles on Ginny's back. The red head hiccuped in her arms one last time before pulling away completely to sit back in her chair by Harry's bedside. Hermione got up from being a crumpled heap with a low groan from her throat. She walked to the chair on Harry's other side and sat down.

She automatically took his larger hand into hers and she mindless swept a black strand from his eyes before asking her question again, "What's wrong Ginny?"

At first, Hermione spotted Ginny just shrugging at her for an answer as the red head stared at Harry's face. She sighed, and arched her matching chestnut eyebrow at her in reply. Ginny whirled her head away from her then spoke, "Dean asked me on a date in Hogsmeade today."

Hermione blinked her chocolate eyes again as she watched Ginny run her thumb over Harry's other hand, "So, you're upset that Dean asked you out?"

The red head jerked her head up angrily, "Well, when you say it like that, it sounds silly. You have no idea how I feel Hermione! So don't pretend you do."

She sat there silently. Hermione had a feeling no matter what she replied with, Ginny was going to take her many frustrations out on her. Making Ginny sound like she was being silly was by accident, Hermione was only trying to understand why she was upset. Several weeks ago, Ginny had complained about being lonely and they sat down for an intensive girl talk, which ended with Ginny crying again.

While the red head was being consoled by her, Hermione only made the suggestion of talking to a male that could return conversation. She wouldn't cheating on Harry and she would have a guy friend to relate too. At the time, Ginny had mixed thoughts but the next morning she was talking her heart out to Dean Thomas. Apparently, Dean wanted more then Ginny wanted.

Shrugging her shoulders as she let go of Harry's hand to stand up. With her feet planted firmly on the ground, she bent over Harry's still body and placed her lips on his forehead, "See you later, Harry." Then she walked to the door, with her back to Ginny, and said,

"You're right, I don't know how you feel Gin. What I do know that you're not the only one that misses Harry! Do what makes you happy. We both know he would want you happy because he loves you Ginny."

Then Hermione left the room, leaving another emotional upset woman behind. Sometimes, even when you want to comfort someone, it's sometimes better to leave them alone in their thoughts. While walking to the Great Hall for breakfast, flashbacks of Harry's reasoning to faced Voldemort played in her head. He wanted to protect Ginny because he loved her.

She sat down at the Gryffindor table silently and watched the other students happily chatter about everything while she sipped Pumpkin Juice from her goblet. For once, Hermione wished that Ron's loud but happy voice rang out next to her. Their relationship was growing stronger in ways, with spending every waking moment together to ease his jealously of her non-existent relationship with Malfoy.

In fact, Ron was absolutely thrilled when she told him that Dumbledore relinquished her from helping Malfoy. She didn't mention her other mission of 'getting-to-know-him' instead. If Ron was jealous of the mere fact she had to help Malfoy, then he would completely lose his head if he knew about her other mission. To save herself from massive headaches, Hermione chose not to say anything. Ever since she told Ron her little white lie, he's been reasonable. This Saturday, was their first date since classes had started and a late celebration for her birthday.

Hermione left Gryffindor Table when Ginny walked in. She pinched the bridge of her nose and claimed a headache when Ginny stand down next to her. Still hurting from Ginny's snide remark, Hermione briskly walked to Gryffindor Tower for her winter coat and Gryffindor scarf. Meeting in the courtyard before their date was Ron's idea, she would've rather meet him someplace warm in Hogsmeade.

Groups of people gathered excitedly, talking loudly in the frozen courtyard, Hermione stood underneath the stoney decorative arch to shield herself from the icy wind. She brought her hands to her mouth and breathed on them. In her rush, she had forgotten her gloves. Instead of going to fetch them, she dealt with the cold just in case Ron was on his way. Hermione didn't want to appear late. So, she continued to wait while mentally counting the seconds until Ron showed.

Draco's heart fluttered against his chest, his closed eyes open after the rush of his orgasm was chased away by the icy cold water of his shower. He carefully avoided the icy water and turned the knob to make the water stop, having no doubts that the castle probably wouldn't have any cold water left. Sounds of dripping water echoed in the now quiet bathroom. Running his fingers through his blond wet locks, Draco stepped out and walked through the door into his room.

His fingers rustled through his wardrobe as he decided on what kind of casual clothes to wear. He pulled out a white, crisply starched, button up shirt and slipped his arms into it. Draco quickly buttoned his shirt then tucked the still-cold locket into his shirt. Slipping on a pair of black dress pants and matching dark black shoes. Draco was ready for his trip into Hogsmeade.

Grabbing his dark cloak and leather gloves, Draco left his room and closed the door behind him. Using his wand, Draco locked his door before leaving the Slytherin Dungeon. The pass several weeks, Draco kept finding Pansy in his bed and no matter how poorly Draco treated her, she kept showing up. He knew that he was partly to blame, since he hadn't given her the letter that he wrote a month back.

Then he walked out of the Slytherin Dungeon and went towards the Great Hall. Scents of food teased his abused hungry stomach as he approached closer. Draco stopped in the hallway split between two choices, the stairs on his left led down to the courtyard to meet with the teacher before being released to Hogsmeade. The choice on his right, promised him food, which immediately won him over. Draco refused to listen to the teacher's lecture while he could be eating. Opening the giant doors, Draco was greeted with an ambushed of more scents of delicious food and a excitedly buzzing atmosphere.

As he walked passed, he heard multiple student chat about future purchases at the Zonko's Joke Shop. Then Draco heard an outburst of laughter coming from a giggly bunch of girls talking about Madam Pudifoot's Tea Shop.

Draco sat down in silence and planned to eat a small breakfast since he had plans to eat later. Though, once his eyes saw the food, his stomach let out a huge rumble and Draco started piling food on his plate automatically without a second thought. He got lost in the food and the buzzing atmosphere to care about anything else.

Hermione's teeth chattered when she gave Ron a half-smile as he approached her in his Quidditch uniform. She mentally lost count on how many seconds it took Ron to meet up with her, but she knew he was late since the crowd of people vanished to go to Hogsmeade.

Forcing a smile through her blue lips when Ron kissed her on her cheek, she was expecting something of a small, bashful apology from him. Instead, nothing of sort came out of his mouth as Ron literally dragged her frozen body to the wintery trail leading to Hogsmeade. The only thrill was the warmth of Ron's hand in hers and knowing that they would be someplace warm in no time. Hermione fought to roll her eyes when Ron spoke, "Hermione, your hands are freezing."

Ron's dragging pace slowed down as they crossed the wooden bridge leading into Hogsmeade. Hermione dazed out and just watched the falling snow until Ron's voice broke the silence,

"You should have seen me at Quidditch practice Hermione. I saved all goals but one, though it wasn't my fault. Ginny and Dean decided to have a row in the middle of practice. She stormed off before we were finished."

Hermione only asked to confirm her suspicions that possibly Dean asked Ginny out during practice and that's how Hermione stumbled upon her bad mood in the infirmary,"Do you know what their row was about?"

She felt Ron shrug next to her, "Haven't got a clue. Whatever it was about, Ginny ran off crying again. She's been crying an awful lot, wouldn't you say?"

Biting her lip, Hermione held back her snide remark of nagging Ronald about comforting Ginny. Her nagging would be as productive as beating a dead horse with a stick. Instead, she silently agreed to his question and continued walking. The snow crunched underneath her shoes as they approached the Three Broomsticks.

Hermione let go of Ron's hand and excitedly ran the last couple of steps to the door. Knowing that warms drinks and atmosphere was inside, she threw the door open and stepped inside. Rubbing her neglected frozen hand against her warm one, Hermione scanned for an open table.

She hissed from the breezy wind when Ron stepped through the door and paused. Gushes of cold air quickly stole the warmth of the room which made Hermione grab Ron's Quidditch robes to pull him out of the door way. When he stepped closer to her and looked at her with his blue eyes, Hermione knew that he mistaken her intentions. She could only watch as his head and lips bent forward closer to her.

Gulping, Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and dragged him to an open table before he could finish trying to kiss her. Her newly warm fingers quickly unbuttoned her knee length coat and scarf. Then she stuffed her wand into her jean pocket. Out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted Ron looking at her with a bizarre look on his face. Gulping again, Hermione spoke,

"I'll be back, I- have to go fix my hair in the Ladies Room."

Ron only smiled at her before whirling around to brag about his Quidditch skills to Seamus and Lavender. Hermione shook her head while walking to the Girl's Bathroom. When she entered, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her cheekbones were hollow, but not noticeable to anyone but her. The dark bags under her eyes, made her eyes look even darker. The wild mane on top of her head called hair, was wet and dripping down her back. With both of her hands leaning on either side of the sink, she questioned to herself, Why did she avoid Ron's kiss?

She knew her answer, she kissed him out of habit, not out of desire. The lack of her own desire to him, made her draw away from public displays of affection. Taking her wand out of her pocket, Hermione cast the Hot-Air charm on herself. When a giggly bunch of girls walked in, Hermione took that as her cue to leave while stuffing her wand back into her pants.

As soon as she was outside of the door, Hermione wanted to turn around and go back in. Three Broomsticks became even more crowded while she was in the restroom. She squeezed and maneuvered around seas of Hogwarts students and regular customers alike. Her brown eyes lit up in a rage when she felt a hand curve down her backside. When Hermione got the space to move around, she withdrew her wand from her pants and whirled around, to face no one. Whomever copped a feel of her backside, was long gone. She felt sorry for that poor soul if they tried again.

She continued to trek through the sea of people, only to a crowd gathered around the table where she left Ron. His voice carried dramatically over the excited crowd as he retold his story about the amazing Quidditch practice this morning. He boastfully claimed that Gryffindor would win Quidditch up. Hermione fought against the crowd, roaring in agreement. When she finally reached Ron, he smiled at her and pecked on the cheek.

Hermione only watched when Ron climbed up onto his chair while holding his giant mug of Butterbeer, the room when very silent. His blue eyes looked at her before shouting,

"HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY HERMIONE!"

Then he tipped his mug up and she bit back her grimace by taking it out on her lip. Hermione could only smile halfheartedly as she was swarmed by students and strangers alike gave her well wishes while patting her on the back. One older wizard gave her the birthday gift of hitting on her and asked her to marry him. She only smiled kindly while declining as she backed away to find Ron.

When she found him, he was sitting and sipping on his Butterbeer while Lavender was perched beside him, talking happily. Hermione didn't know whether she wanted to lecture at him for making a scene about her birthday when she wanted a quiet celebration or pull him aside to escape the crowd. Spotting his hand on Lavender's knee, Hermione made up her mind that instant.

She grabbed his other hand when he let go of the mug of Butterbeer and she dragged him through the crowd, through the door and into the weather outside. Hermione counted to ten before dealing with the confused Ron. When she was mentally relaxed, Hermione faced him literally,

"Ron, I was hoping for a quiet celebration. I was hoping to talk about Harry-" her voice trailed off when she saw his glare.

Before she could apologize for doing absolutely nothing to Ron but bring up Harry's name. He spatted back at her, "I don't to talk about Harry, Hermione." She watched as he turned around and started to push the door open.

"But, Ron, I have to tell you something about him." No, she wasn't going to spill the secret she promised Harry. Hermione was going to tell him about the old conversation she heard between Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey an month ago. Her only reply from him was his back as he went inside. Hermione sighed, before following. The crowd of people were away from their table when she returned. Not even Lavender Brown was at their as Ron sat in his chair, sipping on his Butterbeer.

She plastered on a small smile on her face before sitting down beside him. The silence between them was heavy, she could feel the weight on her shoulders. When her eyes spotted Ron's newly empty mug, Hermione excused herself while reaching into her coat. With her coin purse in her hand, she walked over to the bar to order more.

After Hermione paid, she was walking back the table with the mugs in either hand, when her eyes spotted a glimmer of rare pale blond hair flashed past the window. Something clicked in her head about her mission, she needed to know where he was going for the sake of 'getting-to-know-him.' For once, Hermione didn't groan, instead, she actually welcomed it. Ron wasn't exactly be Mr. Charming today.

Walking across the Three Broomsticks quickly, Hermione set down each Butterbeer on the table. She took her seat, while carefully planned her escape in her head. Swallowing the possibly excited lump in her throat, Hermione spoke to Ron, who was busy gulping down his new mug of Butterbeer, "Ron, would you mind if I stopped in Tomes and Scrolls a bit? You could come with me."

Not missing the grossly grimace on Ron's face, Hermione knew that she was in clear from Ron. He removed the mug from his lips and replied, "I know you Hermione, 'stopping in for a bit' would mean hours. I'll wait for you here so you don't forget that you live at the Castle, not in the bookstore."

Hermione only snorted in response to Ron and she slipped her coat on over her shoulders. She buttoned up her coat at lighting speed then made her way to the door while draping her Gryffindor scarf around her neck.

Without a second glance to Ron, Hermione left Three Broomsticks and faced the wintery cold. Of course, instead of going to the bookstore as she originally told Ron, she follow Malfoy's slowly disappearing footsteps in the snow. Her eyes were trained on his hair, shimmering in the not so far distance.

Draco felt awful. He hated eating too much food. He hated the cold. He hated that he had to walk in the cold with a very full stomach. Grumbling underneath his breath to make himself feel better, Draco walked forward through Hogsmeade. The noises of cheerful students rang loud behind closed doors.

When some students crashed into his shoulder after exiting Zonko's Joke Shop, Draco did nothing but stop in his tracks. The food in his belly made him too lazy for a written insult with his wand or a non-verbal hex. Instead he moved forward, he didn't wait to be late. His feet carried into the unbeaten path, towards the Shrieking Shack.

Hermione quietly followed and watched Malfoy handle getting rammed into. Her fingers hovered over her wand as she expected the worst. She had arched a dark eyebrow, when he did absolutely nothing to them. The shock made her stop in her tracks because any other time, she knew he would make a scene. However, the only retaliation to their 'insult' was the pace of his feet increased.

She followed Malfoy into the unbeaten path, his stark footprints were obvious in the untouched snow. Her gut started to churn uneasily when she realized where he was going. The Shrieking Shack, was only rumored to be haunted, she had known that since Third Year. Though, as she was waiting for Ron to show, she listened to the lecture that Professor McGonagall gave about apparition boundaries. Hogsmeade, in general was under the protection spell from anyone appariting in or out.

Professor McGonagall had made a severe point not to go near the Shrieking Shack, because the building wasn't included with the protection spell. Once, pass the boundary, anyone could come and go. Hermione just watched as a glimmer of magic fluttered as Malfoy passed through the boundary. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Hermione passed through several moments later, with her wand ready.

When Malfoy stopped and ran his hand in the air before the Shrieking Shack. Hermione drove into the leaf barren trees when she thought he was going to turn around. Sneaking slowly, Hermione carefully maneuvered to avoid fallen branches so she didn't step on them. She was to his left side, when she saw his eyes closed in familiar concentration.

The horrible feeling in her gut returned as she realized her was going to apparate somewhere. Knowing full well about his little plan from last year, Hermione wasn't going to let him try to hurt Dumbledore or anyone else again. The old Headmaster, refused to tell the Order exactly why Malfoy spared his life.

Instead, only preached about second chances. Biting her lip and ignoring Dumbledore's speech playing into her head, Hermione sprinted from the trees and tackled Malfoy. Before they landed on the ground, a loud crack echoed through the woods. They were gone.

A/N: So? Any ideas where they went? Thanks for reading. Please review/give feedback.