Authors note: Okay, so I owe you all an apology. *kneels on ground, hands and forehead on the ground* Please forgive me for not posting a new chapter since November. I had a horrendous case of writers block. I hope that you all who have been with me since the beginning can forgive me! On with this chapter =)

Chapter 11: Confrontations

"Who is it?"

"Hermione, it's Ginny. Can we talk?"

Hermione wiped her eyes once more and ran a brush through her hair before opening the door to allow Ginny to enter her room.

"What's wrong, Ginny?" Hermione said as both girls sat on Hermione's oversized bed.

"Harry and I are really worried about you. You've barely been seen outside your room since the holiday started and Blaise said that there have been times that he's heard you crying well into the night. Why were you found in the dungeons?" Hermione could tell that this had been what she had really wanted to ask and watched as Ginny looked at her. Hermione could feel the beginning of tears forming in her eyes again, and then falling onto her shirt as she looked away from the red-headed girl. Ginny became worried as she watched Hermione begin to make her hands fidget.

"Hermione, you're stronger than this, whatever it is. Get it off your chest. I'm here to listen to you and help in whatever way I can!" Ginny pleaded with her friend. Hermione cast her quivering eyes on Ginny.

"I was kidnapped, here at Hogwarts."

"By whom?" Ginny gasped.

"I can't really say." Hermione said, her eyes screwing up in concentration. "They snuck up behind me while I was walking back to my dorm the night that I told Ron, Harry and you about my relationship with Draco. They whispered a spell that knocked me unconscious."

"Stupefy?"

"I don't know. There are several different options that they could have used. When I woke up, my head was throbbing. I apparently had fallen when they had knocked me out. When I finally had my surroundings, Pansy was in the room with me. She started spewing her usual nonsense about Pureblood superiority and such. Then she started talking about Draco and how he never actually liked me. How he only kept me around for an occasional lay."

"Have you two actually slept together before?"

Hermione knew that she wasn't going to have to answer that particular question; her blush was answer enough. Ginny's eyes grew wide as Hermione continued.

"It was just a couple times. I was so surprised how tender and passionate he could be."

"So what happened?"
Hermione's attitude suddenly hardened, her facial features etched with anger and unshed sadness. "It was all a lie to get me to bed him." Ginny gasped as Hermione looked down, angry tears beginning to fall from her already bloodshot eyes.

"What would make you say that?"

"Because it was Draco who told me that it was so. He was there when Pansy locked me in the dungeon until Ron came and got me."

"No!"

"Yes. Draco said that everything that he- that we- had done between the Halloween Masquerade and the night I told you about him and I, was fake. He used words like Pureblood and Mudblood in his speech, and said something about never being able to fall for filth like me."

"From what you told us about him the first day of the holiday, that doesn't really sound like the new Malfoy."

"Well it was him in the flesh. I just found out his true nature that he had been hiding from everyone. Even... even..."

"Hermione, you don't look well."

"Excuse me!" Hermione said urgently as she jumped from her bed and ran to the adjoining bathroom. Ginny followed her with her eyes and was surprised, and saddened, when she heard retching coming from the other side of the door to the bathroom.

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"So what's wrong with her, Ginny?" Harry asked the next morning during breakfast.

"She was put through emotional hell, which has made her physically ill."

"What makes you say that?"

"Shortly after we started talking about Draco, she continuously was running from the bed where we were talking, to her bathroom. We talked until one am and I think she ran off at least a half a dozen times."

"Poor Hermione. Maybe she should see Madam Pompfrey."

"Perhaps. We may have to make her go physically because she was retching something fierce half the time."

"What happened in the dungeon?"

"Apparently, Malfoy showed her who he really was. Making Hermione so happy, and then cutting it from under her."

"So she's in a state of depressed stress?"

"That is pretty much it, really." Ginny sighed. "How can we help her, besides taking her to the Infirmary?"

"I can beat up Malfoy for her." Harry suggested eagerly. Ginny laughed.

"I do not doubt your physical prowess, dear, but I really don't think that violence is the answer. If Malfoy really is how Hermione says he is again, then we can't really go up to him and talk about it, can we?"

"Then what can we do?"

"We could always talk to Zabini. He's friends, however remotely, with Malfoy. Maybe he can help us help Hermione."

With a plan set in stone, Harry and Ginny parted paths and headed towards their first classes of the day.

"Zabini, can I have a word?" Harry said when he had caught up with the Head Boy as he was heading down to the dungeons for Advanced Potions.

"Sure, Harry. What's up?"

Still getting used to being on first name basis with the Slytherin shadow-turned-school-girl-fantasy, Harry shook himself so that his brain would get to the point of which he hailed the other boy down.

"I need to talk to you about Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She told Ginny, who then told me out of concern, that Hermione had been kidnapped by Pansy. Hermione said that Draco had told her that everything that they had done or been through was a lie. Ron found her in the dungeon. Apparently, she had been there since the night before when she told us about her relationship with Malfoy."

After regaining his composure from the shock of hearing what his friend might have said, Blaise said, "Draco said that, did he?"

"It seems that way. Now the only time anyone ever sees Hermione is during classes. Even then, she doesn't speak. Just keeps her nose in her books. We are all worried about her." Harry paused and rolled his eyes. "Well, not Ron so much. He insists that this would have happened eventually and that she will get over it soon. I've never seen Hermione so depressed."

"Nor have I. Am I to assume that since you told me all this, you want me to talk to Draco?"

"That's what Ginny and I were hoping. If he really has started showing how he really feels about Hermione again, like before, I am pretty sure that he would talk to neither me nor Ginny."

"I will see what I can do, but I'm pretty sure that Draco wouldn't say things like that to Hermione." Blaise said as they paused outside the open classroom. Looking in, they saw Hermione in the back of the class, in the furthest corner with Ron.

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because Draco cares greatly for Hermione; He may even love her. Would you spend over three hundred thousand galleons on Halloween Masquerade dresses, jewels, and family heirlooms on someone you weren't serious about? Why so shocked, Harry? I'm pretty sure that they have the same kind of courting rituals in the Muggle world too. Am I right?"

"This is true to an extent. I'm pretty sure that most Muggles don't spend three hundred thousand of anything on someone to be honest, but this is Malfoy. He likes to be extravagant." Harry said as they parted ways to sit in the last open seats.

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"I'm really starting to think that certain people are becoming suspicious about what happened."

"What makes you think that they would ever suspect you? You're her friend after all."

"Pansy, they aren't dumb. It's rather suspicious when they find out that Draco never left his Manor and that it was me using a Polyjuice potion that you stole from Snape. I think we slipped up somewhere."

Pansy shifted into a more comfortable position on the crate in a broom closet that she had just been drug into by her paranoid partner. Rolling her eyes, she replied, "Oh please. You worry too much! Now; can we please get out of here before people see us and think that we are doing something that I would want to kill myself for sinking so low and is only in your dreams?"

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"So, Draco, how are things going between you and Pansy?" Blaise asked casually as they sat listening to Snape lecture about restricted potions and why they have been dubbed that way.

"Pansy and I? What brought that up?" Draco restated incredulously, chuckling at the abrupt conversation change as Blaise shrugged. Calmly, Draco said firmly, "There is no 'You and Pansy'."

"Aren't you two betrothed?"

"Not anymore," Draco said with a smile. "Mother told me that Father was the one that forced that set up. Mother told me over Christmas that she broke that contract. Something about a pug and not being fit to bare the Malfoy heir to continue the line. Pansy was furious when she heard the news, from what I was told. Did you hear about that explosion in Essex?"

"Yes I did." Blaise paused and watched Draco begin to nod. His eyes widened. "That was her!?" Draco confirmed and Blaise's facial features relaxed, muttering "Damn" under his breath.

"I agree. It's quite a way to start December, huh? Anyways, what brought that horrible thought up?"

"Is it about the explosion? Or my comment about Pansy?"

"The Pansy thought." Draco thought for a second before chuckling. "You know? Those two words don't really work together that often."

Blaise chuckled also, nodding in agreement. Waiting a moment, he continued. "Well... You weren't here at all during the holidays, were you?"

"No, I spent the whole time with my Mother, talking about things from when I was three and how she wished it could have been a little different for me."

"So you were home the entire time?"

"Yes. Where are you going with this, Blaise?"

"It's nothing. I was just curious." Blaise said hoping that Draco wouldn't notice that his questions had a central theme. He should have known that Draco was the most observant of all the seventh year Slytherins.

Draco faced Blaise, crossing his arms. "That's a little too pushy for just being curious. Who put you up to it? Was it Pansy? If it was, she needs to get over the fact that we aren't betrothed anymore."

"Draco, it wasn't Pansy." Blaise whispered. Looking around to see if anyone was listening in, he noted that everyone was working hard on today's potion, the Draught of the Living Death. Blaise turned back to Draco, satisfied that their conversation would remain confidential.

"Then who asked?" Draco whispered back as he himself turned to face the front of the room as if looking at what was needed for the potion next, even though he knew the recipe by heart.

"It was Potter and the youngest Weasley."

After raising an eyebrow in questionable surprise, he said, "I'm sure that they know by now that Hermione and I are dating. When Hermione saw me off on the train, she told me that she was going to tell her friends that night."

"Well, they weren't sure if you would be willing to speak with them."
"What do they want to talk to me about?"

"That's for them to discuss with you."

Draco could feel himself become more anxious with the line the conversation was following.

"So shall I tell them to meet you in the Room of Requirement tonight after dinner?" Blaise continued as they began packing while letting their potion simmer until the end of class. Draco nodded, becoming suddenly distracted when he noticed how Hermione, his Hermione, was acting around Weasley.

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"Hello, Ginny. What can I do for you?" Blaise said with out looking up when he saw a shadow looming over him during dinner that night.

"Have you talked to Draco?"

"As a matter of fact, I have. Even though he is rather confused as to why, I asked him to meet you and Potter in the Room of Requirement after dinner."

Draco sat in one of the plush, leather armchairs that he had imagined in his mind when he walked back and forth past the door. He had been there, staring into the fire, waiting anxiously for Harry and Ginny since before dinner, thinking about many things.

'What do they want to talk to me about? Perhaps while we are talking, I can inquire about why Hermione was acting chummy with Weasley..."

"Don't stare at the fire too intensely, Malfoy, you will go blind."

Draco looked up, surprised, when Harry had said this as he entered through the door, a smile plastered all over his face, Ginny following him in shortly after.

"Why did you want to meet me here, Potter?"

"We need to talk to you about Hermione and Christmas Break." Ginny said as she sat in front of the fire, facing Draco.

"Why? Did something happen?"

Ginny paused, looking at Harry as if they were making a silent decision. Harry nodded and started the questioning.

"Hermione told us about your relationship the night that Hogwarts Express left for Christmas Break."

"I take it that it went well then?"

"Well enough I suppose. Ron didn't like it, of course."

"I'm getting the feeling that this isn't the only reason you called me to meet you here."

"No, something else happened."

Draco sat patiently, watching Harry with rapt attention. After a moments silence, he couldn't stand it any more. "What happened?"

"Hermione was kidnapped and held captive down in the dungeons for 24 hours." Harry explained straightforwardly. Draco's eyes became the size of saucers, red blotches forming on his pale cheeks.

"By who?" Clenching his fists in anger, Draco watched as Harry looked at him with a calculating look. "By who, Harry?"

"Pansy and..."

"And who, Potter?" Draco interrupted hurriedly.

"Pansy and...You."