I'm so sorry this is so late. I went on vacation last week and I've been behind on my writing. I still am behind actually, but I'm done with summer classes so it should be easier to find time to write. I hope you're all still with me and not too mad. I think you will all enjoy this chapter or at least I hope you will. Enjoy Chapter 20.

"Enough!" McGonagall barked.

Hermione was breathing hard and it was apparent in her deep chest movements. She still had her wand raised ready to protect herself at any moment.

As the Slytherin's cleared out, Hermione became more relaxed.

"Potter, what do you need?" McGonagall asked as Harry approached her and the chaos began.

"Time."

"I'll do what I can." He started in the other direction, "And Mr. Potter," he turned back around, "it's good to see you."

"You too Professor."

Harry ran from the Great Hall on his search for Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem.

"Harry!" Hermione called. "We still need to destroy the cup."

"We can't do that without the sword."

Draco spoke this time, "The Chamber of Secrets."

"What are you on about now?" Hermione asked.

"A basilisk fang…that's how you killed the diary right?"

Harry furrowed his brows. "Yeah it is." Hermione scoffed, mad she didn't think of it herself. "You two go."

"Harr-" Hermione started to protest but Harry ignored her.

"Here take this." He handed Draco the Marauder's Map.

"What's this?" Draco asked.

"A map of Hogwarts…you can use it to find me when you're done." Harry rushed away.

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Hermione and Draco stood in front of the door leading to the Chamber of Secrets, stumped.

"Great. You don't happen to speak parseltongue do you?" Hermione had meant it as a sarcastic statement but her eyes went wide when he started speaking the snake language.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I'm a Pureblood Slytherin. What do you expect?"

Hermione simply rolled her eyes and pushed past him. She walked over to the snake carcass and pulled out a fang. "Here." She handed Draco the fang and laid the cup on the ground. "Since you haven't had the pleasure of doing this yet." Truth be told neither had she but she was scared.

"Are you serious?" He held the fang, not knowing what to do with it.

She looked up at him from her squatting position. "Yes Malfoy," she spat his last name out like an insult, "Too much for you to handle?" She knew she was being hypocritical but she still held a slight grudge.

He rolled his eyes and knelt down. "Do I just stab it?" She gave him another one of her notorious looks and he took it as a yes. He inhaled deeply, slightly nervous. He raised the fang and stabbed the cup. As soon as the fang left the cup it rolled away and a fierce wind took over. Hermione and Draco immediately started running the other direction as waves of water chased them. However, they weren't fast enough and a down pour of cold water drenched them.

"Bloody hell." Draco muttered.

Hermione sighed, shaking the water off of her. "Let's get out of here. This place creeps me out."

"Why? Because you could have been the one that died down here?" He didn't realize how harsh his statement sounded. Hermione fought hard to keep her tears back but her glare was full force. "I-" When he realized what he'd said he tried to correct himself but it was too late.

Hermione whipped out her wand and sent a curse his way but he dodged it. "What is wrong with you?" He attempted to answer but she had meant it to be rhetorical. "What happened to you?"

There she went…making him angry again with so few words. She was so stubborn and it annoyed him to no end. He pulled out his wand. "What happened to me? What happened to me? Let's see I was forced to become a Death Eater at sixteen. I was ordered to kill the most powerful man in the wizarding world. Failed. I fell in love with you. You screwed me over! Oh and I've been forced to kill more Muggles than I care to admit and I had to deal with it all alone because the one person I let in and trusted left me!"

She threw another curse at him that struck his arm, causing a small cut. He grabbed his arm at the stinging pain. "Left YOU? If I remember right you told me I was a worthless mudblood!"

It was his turn to fire. He went for her leg but his accuracy was less than hers and he missed. They did this for a while. Throwing and dodging curses…hiding behind rocks…wanting only one thing…to cause the other as much pain as they had caused them, neither of them realizing that they had both suffered enough already.

In a moment of running and dodging, they came face to face; wands aimed at each other waiting for the other one the finish the other off. Both were breathing deeply.

Hermione had a fierce look on her face while Draco's face softened.

He was kidding himself. He couldn't kill her or cause her any major pain. He loved her and in that moment he realized all this once again. He sighed and lowered his wand.

"No! NO!" Hermione grunted.

Draco shook his head. "I can't do it."

"Come on!" She mumbled angrily, wand still raised.

Draco shook his head, realizing that she couldn't do it either…realizing why she couldn't do it. In a moment of pure adrenaline, he pushed away her arm and passionately kissed her. It was the kind of kiss two lovers had after being away from each other for years. He wanted to inhale her…be intoxicated by her.

Hermione was shocked to say the least at his bold move but she had never felt more comfortable. However, in her mind the moment had ceased when she began to think about the last person she kissed. And with that she pulled away, picked up her wand that had been knocked out of her hand when Draco pushed her arm, and silently headed out of the Chamber.

Once they were out of the Chamber, Hermione spoke, "We need to find Harry. Do you still have the map?" Silently, he handed it to her.

He felt guilty for attacking her like that. A part of him knew it was too soon, but the other part of him, the selfish, lustful part, didn't care.

He looked over her shoulder at the map as he was astonished what it showed him. This was his first time ever viewing the map and it seemed to show everyone and where they were in Hogwarts. He quickly found Harry's name but it came just as fast as it vanished. "Where did he go?"

Hermione folded the map up and put it in her back pocket and then wiped her wet face.

Draco watched her do this and he instantly felt worse. She started to walk away but he grabbed her arm. "Hermio-"

"Um he's in the Room of Requirement. We should really go." Not once when she spoke did she look him in the eye, so he let her go and followed her.

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After destroying the diadem that Harry had found in the Room of Requirement, searching for Voldemort so that they could find and kill the snake, and watching Professor Snape get killed, Draco, Hermione, and Harry entered the Great Hall where the injured and dead and barely alive were gathered.

The three young people stood there at the entrance for a while not sure where to go. None of them had immediate family there to comfort them. Hermione was the first to move.

Draco watched her. To him she moved in slow motion, everything did. He watched as she reached the red headed, pureblood, family. Her family. He realized the Weasley's were her wizarding family. He saw Mrs. Weasley immediately hug her as both women began to cry, surely over Ron, Draco thought.

Harry was the next to move. He slowly made his way through the bodies and people thinking this was his entire fault. He too reached the Weasley's.

Draco still stood in the entrance of the hall feeling very out of place. He got a few harsh stares and glances but he ignored them. He started walking through the people trying to stay under the radar. He stopped when he saw a couple lying on the floor. He knew who it was. The man on the left was Remus Lupin, his ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The woman on the right was Lupin's wife, Nymphadora Tonks, Draco's cousin.

Draco fell to his knees. He couldn't stop his shoulders from shaking or the wetness on his face. He never even knew her. She was his own flesh and blood and he didn't know her at all. He moved a piece of hair that was in the middle of her face. He also put together the couple's hands. As he did so, he noticed something nearly falling out of her pocket. He pulled the small piece of thick paper out and looked at the image. It was a moving picture of Lupin, Tonks, and what Draco guessed what their baby son.

Draco had never felt more saddened and more sympathetic. This young boy had to grow up with no parents because of Voldemort. Then he realized that's exactly what had happened to Harry.

Before he could get lost in his thoughts anymore, he felt like he was being watched. He looked up and around. Of course he had the skeptical glares coming his way but then he met those warm brown eyes.

She had an expressionless look on her face and he couldn't read her at all. She jerked her head towards the doors leading to the rest of the castle.

He nodded yes of course. He took one more look at Nymphadora and pocketed the picture. He knew it was selfish and he knew it wasn't his to take but having it with him made him feel safe as though he was protected instantly.

He stood and made his way out of the Great Hall. He saw her walking ahead of him and started following. He wasn't sure where she was going or even if she knew he was following but when he sharply turned a corner he nearly jumped out of his skin when she was right on the other side.

"Are you okay?" She asked in a hushed tone. Draco swallowed hard, not really knowing how to respond. "I saw you looking at Remus and Tonks." He nodded solemnly. "She was your cousin was she not?"

He nodded again. "I didn't even know her." He slowly made his way past her and sat on the stairway that was behind her.

She turned towards him. "I did. She was a really good person." She took a seat next to him. "She was so funny. Her hair changed color according to her mood. She was stubborn too. Kind of like you. You two would have loved each other. You would have fought all the time, just as if you were brother and sister I imagine. She was also very giving and was able to see past what others couldn't. She was good like that with Remus. She took care of him when he turned. Remus was afraid of having a child, being what he was, but Tonks knew. She knew that when they created little Teddy, their son in the picture of them you took, that he would have the best qualities of both his parents. She was fearless."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Draco choked out.

"Because you wanted to know."

"How'd you know I took the picture?"

"Because I was watching you. You're not very sneaky by the way." He laughed. A genuine laugh. He hadn't realized how long it'd been since he'd even smiled. He pulled out the picture and stared. "You shouldn't feel guilty taking it."

"Why's that?"

"It's just a picture, Draco. She's your family."

Draco closed his eyes. It'd been so long since he'd heard her say his name. He took a deep breath. "I have no family."

She furrowed her brows. She was about to speak when they heard someone behind them. "Harry," he kept walking past them. "What are you doing?"

He stopped and slowly turned around. "I'm going to the Forbidden Forest." Hermione shook her head. Draco's mouth dropped. "I know something about myself and I've known for a while actually and I'm pretty sure you have too."

Hermione started crying. "I'll go with you."

"No."

"I already lost Ron. I can't lose you too. Please…" It was the first time she had used his name since he was killed.

"I have to do this by myself. I'm not going to let anyone else die for me."

Hermione threw herself at Harry, knowing that this could be the last time she ever spoke to her best friend.

Harry looked at Draco who seemed dumbfounded. Despite his shock, they seemed to be having a silent conversation in which Draco nodded.

With that Harry left Hermione's embrace and headed off to the Forbidden Forest.

Thanks for reading.