CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

The next two weeks were rather stressful. With only a few, half explicit notes from Dumbledore, and warnings from the Order not to let anyone into the Hogwarts grounds, the exams had been further postponed to the point that some of the examiners had sent angry messages proclaiming that if they weren't let into the school the next week, they would not come at all. Hermione tried to push her own disappointment aside to make way for her Head Girl, or Head Student, as the case now was, duties. However, every now and then, she would pop up to her Common Room to check up on a date or wand movement, just to be prepared for when the exams did start. If they did start.

McGonagall and the teachers, with some outside help from the Order had set up security measures so that no one outside the grounds could enter the grounds. Of course, this had caused an uproar within the wizarding world. The Ministry kept calling for the school to reopen with a few hints that if their demands were not met, more drastic measures would have to be taken. Parents were outraged that they could no longer visit their children, a previous privilege that few had ever taken advantage of. A few even demanded that their child be taken from the school. While warning them that they may not be able to re-enter it for a little while, McGonagall let those without external exams go happily. "If it did come to the worst, it would be better to have as few little ones out of the way as possible," she said quietly to Hermione at one point.

Meanwhile, within the school, students, who had initially been grateful about the delay in the exams, were starting to get edgy and irritated. And as it was not so obvious to the general public the extent of Voldemort's strength, McGonagall could not use the reasoning she had given to Hermione and Blaise to explain the absence of the examiners, the Head Master and the Head Boy to the student population at large. Hermione was very grateful for her team of prefects. They were all very supportive and helpful, led mostly by Ginny and Diego. Diego had, apparently, been finally brought into the cause by Ginny, and he had never looked happier.

"I suppose I never knew how great a feeling it is to belong," he laughed when Hermione pointed out this fact to him.

Classes continued as usual, and with the lack of exams, and therefore lack of study, there was a general unrest. Even with the normal number of prefects and teachers patrolling the school at night, there were a large number of discipline problems, especially in the dungeons. Hermione would return to her common room late each night to fall asleep beside Blaise, who had invariably given up waiting for her, in a light, nervous sleep. In fact, she had had little contact at all with Blaise since Malfoy had been found missing. Occasionally he would still be awake when she returned from patrolling the corridors, or they would have a little bit of time together in the morning before class. However, for the most part, the most amount of conversation that passed between them was a few words during class.

One night, Hermione met up with Ginny and Diego for their shift. Ginny stared openly at Hermione. "You look had it, Hermione!"

"Yeah well... I've been helping out most nights..."

"You mean every night," Diego countered, looking concerned. "Go on. Go get some sleep or something. We'll be fine."

"But I..."
"You heard the man! Go dream, 'Mione!"

Hermione laughed and shot a grateful glance at Diego and Ginny before heading up to her common room.

As Hermione entered her common room, she was pulled into Blaise's strong arms and was kissed vigorously. When he pulled away to breathe, Hermione gave a small smile.

"Hey Blaise!"

However, Blaise's response was to push her up against a wall and kiss her energetically again; on the mouth, neck and shoulders. Hermione lent into him but when she felt him start to undo her shirt buttons, she reached to stop his fingers.

"Blaise... I'm really tired. Can we just go to bed? We have to be as well rested as possible if You-know-who attacks... I need to sleep."
Blaise put one of her fingers in his mouth and played with her hand, while gently restarting to unbutton her shirt again. "We're always sleeping. I never get to see you. Just a few more minutes..." He let go of her hand and pushed her shirt off her shoulders. Hermione sighed and lolled her head to one side, letting him kiss her chest and stomach, his hands everywhere. However, suddenly, she felt his fingers under her skirt at the top of her stockings pulling them down. She immediately snapped her eyes open upon understanding his intention and pulled away. "Blaise, no."

Blaise stopped and slowly straightened, regarding her in the eye. "Why not?" he asked almost angrily.

Hermione had to control herself not to crumple under his look. "Not here..." she said tentatively. "Not now..."
"Why not here, why not now?" Blaise had a slightly mad glint in his eyes.

"Well... it's school!" Hermione said slightly exasperated, knowing how weak the excuse was. Blaise lifted his eyebrows. "And I'm not ready now," Hermione added in a rush.

Blaise regarded her before closing the gap between them and speaking low into her ear. Hermione tried to ignore the feeling of his warm breath on her skin. "Well then, Granger, you may never be ready. We might be dead tomorrow, for all we know. And then where would you be?"

Hermione didn't answer, too well aware of the logistics of his argument and his warm body against hers. Blaise waited a few moments before meeting her lips with his own and letting his hand run high up her thigh again.

Hermione closed her eyes, reluctantly enjoying the sensation and then pulled away again. "No, Blaise," she said in a little more than a whisper. "I just don't think I'm ready. Please. Can we just go to sleep?"

Blaise looked at her for a moment, his face expressionless. He then kissed her forcefully and turned away from her. "Night," he said without emotion and started to make his way to the door.

"Where... where are you going?" Hermione asked confused.

Blaise turned to look back at Hermione, composed. "I'm going to get some sleep. You were right, as usual. We need to sleep, and I won't be able to do that well with you looking as you are." He lazily ran his eye down Hermione's half-naked body, causing her to blush. "I'll be in my bed for once, in Slytherin. Goodnight, Hermione," he said with a slight bow before turning back to the door and disappearing into the darkness.

Hermione ran to the door calling out Blaise's name miserably. However, it was beneath her pride to go chase after him, especially dressed as she was. Feeling somewhat glum, she picked up her shirt and slid it back on before heading to her bed in her dorm for the first time in a long time.

There was a sudden crash and Hermione jumped up with a start. She glanced at her bedside clock. It read three-o-two. Groaning quietly, Hermione got out of bed, pulled on her dressing gown and grabbed her wand. Hesitantly, she made her way down to the common room, her wand outstretched in front of her. To her horror, there was a dark figure huddled on one of the seats. Her heart jumped in her throat. Her first hope was that it was Blaise. But she couldn't understand why Blaise might be crying, as the figure obviously was. 'Constant vigilance' suddenly ran through her mind and she yelled, "Expelliarmus!" The figure's wand flew to her hand, and she looked at it quickly. It most certainly wasn't Blaise's. She turned back to the figure both wands raised to find the man was looking at her, his hood removed. Her eyes grew wide as she recognised the blond hair.

"Stay where you are!" she hissed at Malfoy, pretty sure he could not do wandless magic, though she was not about to risk it. Malfoy, however, looked far from capable to do anything. His back was slumped and his eyes and cheeks tear strained. In truth he looked utterly helpless and submissive. His grey eyes flickered to hers as she stepped closer. "Do your worst, Hermione. I won't stop you."

Hermione had never heard him speak with such rawness. The lack of emotion from Malfoy usually symbolised the amount he was hiding. In this case, it only amplified and exposed the amount he had. She said nothing, only moving forward still, not entirely sure that he was not just acting. "Why are you here? You left for... You-know-who... for him."

"I did... but I..." Hermione did not fail to notice the tears falling down his face again.

"Answer me!" Hermione said, wanting this to be a dream, nightmare, something but not her and reality.

Malfoy opened his mouth, and then his body heaved. He turned, so his curved back was towards Hermione, so much that he fell off the sofa with a loud thud on to his knees. He put his face to the sofa's arm, his body shuddering.

Hermione, very sure now that he was genuine, moved towards him. "Draco?" she asked quietly.

He turned to her, his face anguished. "Don't call me... He killed my parents..." His words were swallowed up by a new bout of tears. Hermione, her eyes wide in comprehension, stood frozen for some long moments, watching him. However, she suddenly came to her senses and bent down to his back and pulled him back up onto the sofa. After a bit of manoeuvring, she managed to get them placed so that he had his head on her chest, similar to the way one would hold an older child. Hesitantly, she started to comfort in the way that her mother had comforted her once upon a time. She stroked his hair and repeated his name softly, hushing his sobs and occasionally giving in to the impulse to kiss his head, her disgust at him giving way to the affection that had grown for him over the year.

After some time, he had quietened down, and his body was shaking less. By now, he had wrapped an arm around her waist and was gripping her rather tightly. Hermione smiled as a thought came to mind. "Just as well Zazi's not here to witness this," she said quietly. Draco gave a half sob half laugh and swallowed a few more tears down deeply. After a bit longer he pulled away from her and sat back against the sofa beside her.

He gave a brief smile to Hermione, who felt he was ready for her next question. "How did you... find out that..."
Draco looked into the distance with a hardness in his eyes. "He made me... I was forced to watch. Punish the whole family."
Hermione stopped herself in time from grabbing his hand. Comforting was one thing, over-affection was another."But... why didn't he kill you too? I mean..." Hermione cringed at her lack of diplomacy, however, Draco did not seem to notice.

"Because Mother and Father are too important, too powerful. Whereas I am 'a pitiful, failure of a creature who would best aid him by being a hindrance for the order.'"

"Draco!"

The blond turned to look at Hermione, shrugging his shoulders showing his lack of fight.

"Draco, you've got to stop this!"
"Stop what? Living?"

"Don't be stupid. Stop this sense of helplessness. I would have thought the way forward was clear for you."

Draco looked at her with a mixture of a taken-aback and confused look.

"Join us. I don't know if you do or do not believe with your heart that purebloods are better, but surely you love your parents more. Help us prevent their murderer from doing the same to others."

Draco looked at Hermione sceptically for a few moments. "Where's my benefit in me helping prevent the same thing happen to strangers? It's already happened to me. They aren't going to care. I'm afraid that concept is too Gryffindor for me."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I thought revenge would have been Slytherin enough for you!"
"Only when it suits us," Draco muttered.

Hermione huffed sarcastically in mock amusement. "And the murder of your parents suits you? You will have to chose, Draco, and I think You-Know-Who's proven how he would treat you!"

Draco thought for a moment. "And the Order will treat me like a saint?" he asked ironically.

"At least we won't think of you as a failure, or try to take your life! Or your parents' for that matter!"

"Oh! Well that puts me in my place doesn't it? The Order won't kill my parents! We'll just ignore the fact that it is impossible to do so now! Everyone, join the Order! They won't kill your dead parents!"
Hermione felt herself tensing up in anger. However, she reminded herself that Draco had just been through a terrible ordeal and he had every right to be angry. Calming herself down, she said quietly, "Just... just think about it, ok?"

There was a long silence. Hermione stood up and went to the door to relock it. Just as she was about to ask how he had managed to get into the school in the first place, she heard him say, "Ok. And by the way, he's coming in the next few days."

Hermione blinked and then turned around, unbelieving.
"What!?"

Draco turned around to look at Hermione, his grey eyes emotional. "I'll join you. For my parents. And the Dark Lord. He's coming."

A/N: Just when you thought you had them all sussed out... hehe. Sorry about the cliffy – though I suppose it is pretty obvious what Hermione's reactions going to be... Get ready for the last chapter!! Please please please review :)