'Run, keep running and everything will be fine. Run faster! He's catching up. Why aren't I moving?' she thought panicking. She stopped and looked around. There was an old rundown shack in front of her. She ran to it and hid inside.

"Oh good, Hermione, you're here." She looked up. Harry, all the Weasleys, her family and even Draco were all standing in the well lit room together smiling down at her. There was a Christmas tree behind them. They were decorating it together. She was safe. Harry helped her up and handed her a green bauble. As she held it up to put it on the tree, she saw his reflection in it, as she dropped it in shock, she felt his cold clammy hand around her neck. She saw his other arm raised, his long white fingers holding a wand that he pointed at all her friends and family. She tried to scream out to them, but she had no voice. There was a flash of green light. It was an old shack again. The tree was rotted and crumbling. All the decorations had fallen and smashed on the floor. She looked around. All of them, everyone was dead. She fell to her knees next to them. They were so cold. She picked up her cracked green bauble and it shattered beneath her fingers.

Hermione sat bold upright in bed, hyperventilating, tears streaming down her face. As she got her breathing under control, she wasn't able to control her tears. She had to cover her mouth, it was so horrible. There was a huge dry lump in her throat that hindered her breathing and made her tears flow harder. A hand touched her back. "Hermione?"

She jumped and screamed, looking for her wand. She felt her wrists being grabbed and held fast. "Hermione, you're awake. Listen to me. I won't hurt you." She was still desperately trying to get her wrists free, but it was no use. "Calm down, Hermione." He said in a soothing voice.

Reality hit her there, she was awake, Voldemort was dead, and he couldn't hurt her or her friends anymore. She looked up slowly as saw Draco looking at her with concern. The tears continued to flow down her face and the lump in her throat was starting to her.

"D-Draco… You're-you're in my b-bed…" she said, as she realized where she was. His face didn't betray anything. He let her wrists go and continued to watch her.

"D-Draco…" she began again, still shaking from the shock of what she'd seen, and gulping down air, making the lump dryer, "Can you p-please do me a favor?"

"Anything." He said as he placed his hand on her back again. She looked up at him. "Can you please gi-give me a hug?"

The surprise was obvious in his face. She really needed one, she was almost hysterical, still reeling from seeing her friends happy, and then emotionless, lifeless and gone. Another wave of utter terror and sadness came over her and she began to hyperventilate again. She jumped when she felt Draco pull her into a hug, but it was more of a comfort to her than she ever thought it would be. He rocked her back and forth, stroked her hair, said things to her like "it was just a dream, it's all over, and you'll be okay." After a few minutes her breathing became even and her tears had slowed down. She felt safe. Her eyes were tired.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She only nodded, half asleep. She could feel herself being lowered back onto the bed and a coldness as his body heat left her. She moaned in annoyance and felt around behind her for his hand. "You want me to stay?"

She nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Just lie down and sleep, would you?" She said muffled. Draco obeyed, still quite sleepy himself. They'd only slept for about two hours.

Hermione opened her eyes. She was very groggy and warm and really didn't feel like moving. She moved her arm up out of the quilt and looked at the time.

"Holy shit!" She sat up straight and Draco's arm fell from around her waist. She heard him groan and she assumed it'd cause him to wake up.

"Hermione what are you doing? Go back to sleep."

"It's five in the evening, Draco! We have to get u-" She was silenced by a hand taking her shoulder and pulling her back to bed. She blushed red as she realized how close they were. "Draco, do you have any idea what you're doing?"

He inhaled. "Mmm-mmm. Shhhh. Sleepy time now." He buried his face back into her pillows and fell asleep again. She rolled her eyes. A Malfoy or not, Draco was just like every other male when it came to getting out of bed.

Draco opened his eyes and looked around him. Oh yeah, he was in Hermione's room. He turned around to see if she was still there. She was sitting up, reading one of her books with a weird looking thing over her ears. "Hermione?" She didn't hear him.

He poked her in the side. That made her jump, which, in turn, made him smirk. She took the things out of her ears and Draco could hear music coming from them. "Good evening." She said, "You need to start waking up, we have patrols in an hour."

Draco nodded sleepily. "Hermione, what's that?" He pointed at what she'd had in her hears.

"A Magical Muggle MP3. It's a part of a range of a load of stuff created for Muggleborns and Halfbloods to deal with the homesickness and stuff that comes with entering a whole new world."

"…Uh huh." That was quite possibly the weirdest thing he'd ever heard, but he wouldn't tell Hermione that. "Okay, I think it's time for me to have a shower. I'll meet you down in the common room in a half an hour or so?"

"It takes you that long to have a shower?" she teased.

"No. I just need to get myself ready and all that."

"Yeah, right." She smiled. He smiled back as he left her room. When he was safely within the walls of his own room, he leaned against his door and ran his fingers through his hair. 'What the hell just happened?' he thought.

Forty minutes later, they proceeded out of the oak doors and began to do their rounds, they were both very prudent on punctuality and they figured that starting twenty minutes early couldn't hurt anyone. As they got to the end of the corridor, they stopped and looked at each other.

"I suppose I'll go this way, then?" Hermione said. Draco nodded. "Do you want to perform the spell, or shall I?" she said to him.

"I'll do it." He put his wand in the palm of his left hand and muttered the incantation for a spell that connected all the prefects, the head boy and the head girl to each other. It was a spell that connected with all of them while they were on their rounds, so if any one of them encountered something particularly dangerous, the rest would be warned about it and the others wands would point in the direction of the particular person in need. It was hardly ever used, as the most that was usually encountered was a sneaky student out of bed.

A gust of wind lightly ruffled Hermione and Draco's hair, indicating the spell had worked. He put his wand back in his pocket and said "Okay, so, see you back here when rounds are over." And he walked down an adjoining corridor. He could hear Hermione go down the opposite corridor and by now they were both out of sight and earshot of each other.

They were empty as to be expected, save for one or two ghosts, placidly floating along. It was coming up to 11.30 and nothing of interest had happened yet. He turned the corner at the library and found quite a sight in front of him. Three girls on one side, Ginny Weasley on the other. The three girls, two Ravenclaw and one Slytherin had their wands pointed at Ginny; she had her wand at all three of them. The three seemed poised to attack, they looked positively feral. As he saw the three of them raise their wands, there was a glimmer of panic in Ginny's eyes, but she diminished it quickly, ready to shield and defend. Draco ran forward his own wand raised, the girl's curses left their mouths a fraction of a second before Ginny and Draco's Protego left theirs. Ginny's shield was just up in time, but it was not strong enough to ward off three curses. Draco's shield charm landed a second later, which also helped to block two of the spells, but unfortunately one had passed before his shield had landed and hit Ginny squarely in the chest. She was blown back and fell to the floor in an unmoving crumpled heap. Draco came to stop behind the three girls who seemed to be quite happy with what they'd done. But one looked confused.

"Where did the second shield charm come from?" she asked.

"That would've been me." Draco said menacingly. The girls whipped around and turned pale. Draco raised his wand to them. "If you three even think of moving, I'll hex you into next week."

They didn't look like they could've, even if they wanted to. Draco put his wand in the palm of his right hand and said to it. "Head Girl, two nearest prefects." The slightest gust of wind passed his face, indicating it had been done. He raised his wand to the three girls who were still frozen to the spot as he moved to check on Ginny. "You three will stay there. No talking. No moving. No communicating of any kind." No sooner had he said this than Hermione burst through a nearby tapestry and ran towards them.

"What's happened? Is everyone okay?" She said breathlessly, running toward them. As she ran, her eyes fell on the unconscious form of Ginny and she ran faster. "What happened to her?" she said panicked as she knelt next to Ginny and Draco.

"These three." Draco motioned to the three girls just as Anthony Goldstein and Hannah Abbott rounded a near corner, running. "You two," Draco said, as they got nearer, "Take Miss Weasley to the Hospital Wing, these three cowards cornered and attacked her. I'm not sure what they hit her with, exactly, but we'll leave that to Madame Pomfrey." He conjured up a stretcher and gently levitated her onto it. "The stretcher will follow you to the Hospital Wing. Hermione and I will finish dealing with these three." Hannah and Anthony rushed off, looking bewildered and concerned. Draco and Hermione turned to the three girls. If looks could kill, they would be long dead, Hermione's glare was overflowing with rage. Draco was almost sure he saw her eyes flash red. "What did you use on her?" She said quietly. The girls didn't make a peep. They were staring at her, terrified. They knew well who she was, the best witch in the school and Head Girl. "I asked you three a question." She said with a growl that sounded like a lioness protecting her young.

One of the Ravenclaw girls opened and closed her mouth trying to speak, but nothing came out other than a squeak. Hermione turned to Draco. "Did you see it?"

He nodded. "It was sort of a grassy green colour. It looked like a mixture between light and mist. It had the characteristics of dry ice."

"Ah, that." She turned back to the three girls. "How fitting. I suppose it was the Slytherin girl who'd heard of it?"

The three of them nodded, looking even more scared she knew what it was. "Come on then girls. Why don't we go see Professor Flitwick and Professor Slughorn?" Hermione spoke in a dangerously lighthearted voice. It was truly terrifying. Draco had never seen Hermione like this before. He began to count himself lucky he had never gotten her this angry before in the past few years.

She began to walk down the corridor, Draco following suit, the three girls walking shakily behind them, their faces the colour of parchment. They got to the door, and Hermione knocked.

"Come in, please." Said a high pitched voice. Hermione turned to Draco and the girls. "You three stay out here, Draco, I trust you won't let them get away." Hermione turned and entered Flitwick's classroom. There was muttering inside and then dead silence. The door opened and Hermione and Flitwick came out. "I've told the Professor what has happened and he had agreed with me that he and Professor Slughorn should decide on the punishment together. We are going to the dungeons to see him now." She said, her voice laced with malice. It wasn't a long journey, Flitwick's office was on the Seventh Floor and Slughorns was on the Sixth. Hermione knocked on Slughorns door. Draco felt slightly peeved she was taking control of everything, but he wasn't stupid enough to step into the lion's den.

Slughorn opened the door. "My, Miss Granger, whatever are you doing about at this hour?" he noticed Draco, the girls and Flitwick behind her. "Has something happened?"

"May we come in sir?"

"What? Oh yes, yes, of course, excuse me." He smiled awkwardly as everyone made their way into his large office. "What has happened, Filius?" He asked Flitwick.

Flitwick sighed. "I think it would be best if, Miss Granger explained it to you, as she did to me, Horace."

Slughorn looked at Hermione expectantly.

"Professor, I've asked yourself and Professor Flitwick to come together and decide on the punishment for these three." She motioned to the girls who's heads hung low. "The three of them used the Invidia Curse at the same time against one, Ginny Weasley. She was able to shield herself enough to reduce the effects, and Draco managed to produce his own shield to protect her more, but she was still hit full force with one of the curses and is in the Hospital Wing. Hannah Abbott and Anthony Goldstein brought her up."

"Good Lord…" Slughorn spoke aghast. "Where would you girls hear of such a curse?" They remained quiet.

"Professors, we really must go and tell Headmistress McGonagall about this." Hermione said to the two Heads of House. They nodded absently and Slughorn dismissed them.

As they walked, Hermione seemed very calm, but her eyes said differently. They still seemed to flash red with fury. "Hermione?" he asked carefully.

"Yes, Draco?" her voice betrayed nothing.

"What… um… what is the Invidia Curse?"

She stopped in her tracks. Turning to look at him very slowly, she enquired "You don't know? You're just as learnèd as me in Magic, Draco, you've probably heard of it before. The Invidia Curse is a curse of jealousy. There are curses named after all the Seven Deadly Sins and Invidia is one of them. Ginny has been going through hell since the start of school. She is the Chosen One's girlfriend. She doesn't open any mail anymore unless it comes from her family owl. She receives Howlers daily about how she is not worthy of him, everyone has gotten used to it. You haven't been to the Great Hall lately to eat, so I wouldn't expect you to know, but it is disgusting, and unfair. Every Howler she gets now, she sets on fire before it has a chance to explode." With every word, her eyes became narrower and her voice darker. Draco regretted asking the question and opening the floodgates. "Those girls were some of the group who are trying their very hardest to get her out of the equation, so they can try to have Harry. She couldn't even go to the Masquerade Ball as herself. She had to dye her hair and everything. Her stark red hair would have been way too noticeable." Hermione was almost crying with rage now. Draco put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and blinked away the tears. She shook her head vigorously, as if trying to rid herself of the things she was feeling.

"Well," Draco said, "Think of it this way, it's better you got all that out now. It probably wouldn't have been too impressive to McGonagall." She smiled and nodded. They proceeded to walk up to the stone gargoyle and stand before it. "Password?" it asked. Draco looked at Hermione, he didn't know it. "Salem." She said. They gargoyle moved aside and let them climb the stairs to the Heads office. "Salem?" Draco asked.

"Salem witch trials, and it was the name of her first cat." She answered. Hermione used the Griffin door knocker and knocked three times.

"Enter." Came the Headmistress' voice. Hermione opened the door and Draco followed her in. "Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, it is extremely late, what are you two doing out of bed after your patrolling?"

"Professor…" Hermione started, but Draco could see she was beginning to become lost for words, as the gravity of what happened to Ginny began to hit her.

"Professor," Draco tool up, "I came upon an incident in the last half hour of my patrols. Two Ravenclaw girls and one Slytherin girl had cursed Ginny Weasley with the Invidia Curse at the same time. She was able to shield herself and I assisted with another shield, but one of the girls' curses slipped past the both of them and hit her, head on."

"Has she been brought to the Hospital Wing?"

"Yes."

"Have the girls been brought to their appropriate Head of House?"

"Yes."

"Who took her to the Hospital Wing?"

"Hannah Abbott and Anthony Goldstein."

"Has anyone else been informed?"

"No, Professor."

She sighed. "Very well. I will send a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and inform them. Miss Granger, I would appreciate it if you could inform Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter of the situation. Knowing you three, if I told you not to go see her until tomorrow, you'd do it anyway. You may spend the night with her if you wish." Hermione nodded.

"You two are dismissed."

Hermione and Draco left her office and went their separate ways, Hermione to Gryffindor tower, and Draco to His Head Boy dormitory. As he flopped into bed, he looked at his watch. It was half past midnight. He kicked off his shoes, stripped to his boxers and curled into his bed, welcoming sleep.

Invidia: Jealousy/envy