Dear lovely readers,

I am so sorry for taking so long to update! I haven't really had time to write, and when I did have time, I had no idea what to write. Hopefully you can forgive me, and here is a new chapter!

Chapter 10

~Hermione~

The next few weeks passed by smoothly. Hermione had most of her classes with Draco, so she hardly ever walked through the castle alone. She also took to sitting with Draco and her new friend Blaise at the Slytherin table for meals. Most of the the Slytherins seemed to accept Hermione's presence at their table after only a few meals (Hermione suspected that this was because most of them feared Draco and wouldn't dare challenge his decisions) and the rest of the student body seemed to accept it after about a week, save Ginny and the eighth year Gryffindors who would throw her looks of betrayal. She and Draco had finalized the plans for their ball, which was set to happen in a week, and Hermione was doing very well with her school work again. Everything was going very well for the head girl, and she even almost completely forgot about the threat of one red-haired boy.

Almost.

Hermione was wandering through the dark, empty corridors. Draco had caught a 24-hour bug and was unfit for head duties, so Hermione insisted that she'd be fine doing rounds by herself. He was still shouting his protest when she slipped out of the portrait, chuckling at the boy. Tonight was particularly uneventful, she caught a few first years vandalizing the potions classroom (they left some amusing drawings of Professor Snape), but other than that, the castle was dead. She paced the final corridor quickly and turned to head back to her room when she came face to face with the last person she wanted to see.

"Hello, Mione" he grinned evilly at the frightened girl. "You know, thanks to ferret boy I haven't been able to have any fun with you. I can't believe I had to slip him one of George's stomach flu capsules in order to get him to back off. Don't worry, he'll be fine tomorrow, but tonight we are free to be together."

"Ron please leave me alone!" she was looking around frantically, trying to think of a way out of this situation. She couldn't believe this was happening, all because she let her guard down. 'How could I be so stupid?' She scolded herself. Hexing him wouldn't work, he would see that coming, and she doubted she'd be able to fight him off. He was advancing on her now, and she was running out of options.

"Mione, when will you quit pretending you don't want me? I know you enjoy our time together, you're just lying to yourself." He snatched her wand suddenly and she whimpered. Hermione didn't know why she couldn't run, she was completely frozen to the spot. Ron grabbed her and began kissing her neck, she felt hot tears run down her face. 'Please, not again. I can't do this again.' she thought hopelessly. She had given up all hope and closed her eyes when she heard another voice.

"Ron! Mate you promised I could have a go!" She opened her eyes to reveal one Cormac McLaggen walking toward them, hunger in his expression. "You promised if I drugged Malfoy I could have some alone time with Hermione here." He smiled at her.

"Calm down, mate, you'll get your reward. All I want is for her to suck me off then you

can have her all to yourself." Cormac seemed satisfied and stood to the side, patiently watching them.

"C'mon now Mione, wouldn't want to keep Cormac here waiting." Ron shoved her to her knees and began undoing his pants.

"STUPEFY, STUPEFY" Both boys collapsed to the ground and Hermione felt someone drag her up. She looked at her savior and saw the face of Blaize Zabini. He was cursing to himself as he lifted her legs into his free arm and began trekking to the head dormitory.

"What are you doing here Blaise?" She asked shyly. He looked extremely aggravated at the moment.

"Draco contacted me. It's a damn good thing too, seeing the situation you got yourself in back there. Are you daft? What were you thinking? That bastard is still a threat! You really should have known better than to go wandering about the castle alone at night. Why the hell didn't you call someone to patrol with you? That was really poor thinking Granger." He was obviously very angry, but Hermione found herself stifling a giggle. He sounded like a worried mother reprimanding their child. When he glanced at her his face got even angrier. "Why are you smirking like that?! Were you not just attacked?" She flinched at this.

"I'm sorry Blaise, I am still shaken, of course I am!" He eyed her uncertainly, "It's just, you sound like my mom right now." She couldn't hold in this last giggle.

"Oh well I'm glad I can amuse you, Granger." He said sarcastically. He pouted as she giggled violently at his words. "Here you are, home sweet home." He set her down in front of the portrait hole. "I shall see you tomorrow, please don't get yourself in trouble between now and then. I'd like to sleep tonight." He began walking away.

"Blaise!"

"Yes, Granger?" He sighed and turned to look at her.

"Um, thanks." his mouth slipped a tiny smile.

"Don't mention it. You should get to bed too. Good night."

"Good night." She gave Lucille the password and crawled inside, thinking that she could use a proper night's sleep right now.

"HERMIONE GRANGER" she jumped. Sitting on the sofa wrapped in blankets looking absolutely dreadful was an angry Draco Malfoy. "HOW COULD YOU I ASKED YOU NOT TO GO BY YOUR BLOODY SELF DID YOU GET YOURSELF HURT ARE YOU OKAY ANSWER ME THIS BLOODY INSTANT." Hermione erupted with giggles again. The sight of Draco Malfoy reprimanding her while shivering in a pile of blankets was an amusing sight indeed. "HOW FUCKING DARE YOU LAUGH IF I COULD I'D COME OVER THERE AND, AND, AND-"

"Draco, shouldn't you be in bed?"

"DON'T YOU DARE CHANGE THE SUBJECT GRANGER ANSWER MY QUESTIONS."

"Draco please calm down. I am alright, Blaise saved me before anything happened."

"So the bastard did get you! I TOLD YOU DIDN'T I BUT NO MISS BRAVE GRYFFINDOR IS BLOODY INVINCIBLE." His face was beet red now, and Hermione continued laughing. All of the fear caused by the attack had vanished. She knew she should be afraid and vulnerable right now, but she kept thinking about how she seemed to have not one, but three mothers: her birth mother, Blaise, and now Draco. "Why do you keep laughing what could possibly be so fucking funny right now? This is serious!" Hermione walked over to sit with him on the loveseat, still grinning like a madman.

"I'm sorry Draco, I know I shouldn't be laughing, it's just, you're so… cute." big mistake.

"CUTE?! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT GRANGER ARE YOU TRYING TO PISS ME OFF?!" Hermione scooted over to him, still grinning, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Draco. Please calm down. You're absolutely right. I shouldn't have gone out alone. I wont do it again, I promise. Thank you for sending Blaise after me." He eyed her for a bit, then cleared his throat.

"Yes, well, I'm glad you're okay, Granger. Please be more mindful of your actions from now on." He wrapped one of his arms around her back. He wouldn't look her in the eye, trying to act as if it made no difference to him. After a few moments of silence he spoke again. "Was it very bad?" She looked him in the eye.

"Well, it was going to be, that's for sure. If Blaise hadn't come when he did-" tears filled her eyes, and fear seemed to engulf her once more.

"You don't have give me details if you don't want to." he said comfortingly, "It's just good knowing you're alright."

"No, I think you should know. He…. He was going to prostitute me. He brought C-Cormac McLaggen with him." She felt the blonde tense.

"That fucking bastard! He's just bringing his friends to play with him now is he?"

"Well, no. He got Cormac to do him a f-favor in exchange for me." Draco lifted an eyebrow.

"What kind of favor?" She looked at him uncertainly.

"Ron got him to slip you a stomach flu capsule from his brother's joke shop, that way you'd get sick and have to stay here all day." Draco lept off the sofa, forgetting about his state of poor health.

"THAT FUCKING BASTARD! He is playing a very dangerous game, and he will lose!" Draco's eyes looked like murder as he paced the common room, Hermione was looking at her thumbs, unsure how to calm the Slytherin down again.

"Draco-"

"It's bad enough what he's doing to you!" He was wearing a hole into the rug, violently grabbing at his hair with one hand.

"Draco-"

"The fucking weasel wants to play, does he? Fucking coward can't even drug me himself."

"DRACO." He looked at the girl in shock, as if he'd forgotten she was there. "Draco please don't do anything…. hasty."

"Hermione, it seems he's going to do whatever he can to get you alone. We need to be more aggressive in our actions. We can't play keep away anymore, we need a plan."

"Can it wait until after the ball at least? I want there to be at least one good thing in my life right now." His head whipped in her direction.

"The ball." He smirked his Malfoy smirk.

"Draco, no. Please don't ruin the ball! I-"

"I'm going to bed now, you should too. Goodnight!" He strutted to his room, leaving a worried girl on the sofa.