(Oh Fffff- the amount of reviews I saw I had just now freaked me out so much. Eeek! Thank you very very much to LemonCheese of course, and Darkness Approaches, you guys are the absolute best! Even though I have a Physics exam tomorrow, you keep me smiling. ChinaDollMaiden-I couldn't have killed him off, but I couldn't resist a cliffhanger lol. Thank you also to Weasley-Basher, and AbbyGreenEyes. To answer your question Lizzle1661, I'm going to have the prequel up as soon as humanly possible. I'll try and get it up by the end of this week, but who knows; maybe it'll be up before I published this chapter! I have to say to Darkness Approaches, the reviewing being constant is not a bad thing. It's wonderful. And I'm glad you've taken the time to give me your advice and thoughts! Cheers to Kimiko16 and also to Ylime-Etak! You're all amazing beyond words! DSOTM94)

I cannot express the relief at Draco having survived. But he was going to be in the hospital for a long time. Luna was back, and she visited too. I slipped in whenever I could. Even if it was between lessons, I just stuck my head around the door to see whether he was conscious or not. I noted the glass apple was beside his bed now, on the table. At lunchtime, I bolted my dinner down in a matter of minutes, the sausages barely chewed, and the chips hardly digested. Drink first, next time. I decided, as I panted along to the hospital wing, again saying I'd be in the library to the boys. They didn't dare set foot in there unless they had to. It was comical, really. Except this was no laughing matter. Draco was going to live, but sometimes he just lay there without any life in him, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Hermione…" Harry started up, one night, in a weary, I-don't-want-to-do-this tone.

"Mm?" I mumbled, checking through some homework. That day had been okay, one of the good ones, in a long time.

"You weren't in the library at lunch."

"What? Yes I was. I was doing my homework for Professor Vector, drawing up some charts."

Actually, I'd done it in the lesson, but I wasn't about to let him know that.

"No. Because me and Ron looked."

"Must've been when I was in the loo or something."

"Or something." Ron rolled his eyes. I opened my mouth but Harry stopped me.

"We checked. You were talking to Mal-"

"Draco. In the hospital wing. Yes, I was. In case you hadn't noticed, he could have died and because I do care for him-it's not sexual lust, well, not just that, Ron do not pull that face! But yes, I care for him and I like to check that he's alright. It must get boring, just lying there, alone."

"It could be worse than it look." Harry muttered sullenly, but I stopped him.

"Don't you try and defend yourself, you saw it. I saw it. The blood. The gashes. He is bleeding. He is unconscious. Don't look away Harry. Try and think about that. What if you had killed him?"

He didn't reply to that, and I stormed to bed, fuming. I couldn't stay still. I thought about it for a moment, and decided, I'd do it. I slipped on my famous white robe, and slipped through the darkness once more. Draco. He was awake. Lyrics running through both our heads.

Nothing could have persuaded me to have let Draco's hand go, even when I assumed he was delirious and kept going on about a job he'd been given to do, how much he didn't want to do it.

"You don't have to." I said softly. "If you don't want to then it's your choice."

He settled after that, and asked me once again to whisper the lyrics of a song. I didn't know which one to choose. In the end, I decided on that one I really did love.

"Feeling ugly, looking pretty…yellow ribbons, black graffiti…" I started easily.

Word is written, bond is broken.

"No big secret left unspoken." I hummed.

Sun is painted in the corner. "But it's never getting warmer." He shivered as I mouthed the words.

"All the lies they keep on selling, but you never check the spelling."

Flying bullets, hit the targets

Wings and halos

Five to seven

In the white robe

Through the darkness

Paragliding back to heaven.

"Open doors for dead man walking." I shuddered at the sudden thought.

Maybe Ner Ver, Ne Boisya but in English.

"Someone will tire, and someone will want no more…"

"Someone like you, and someone like me."

"Someone will leave, someone will come back…"

Was I predicting the future?

Hmm.

"I am the son, and the heir." He smiled weakly, and continued, "Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar. I am the son and the heir, of nothing in particular."

"You shut your mouth!" I went on. "How can you say, I go about things the wrong way? I am a human and I need to be loved!"

"Just like everybody else does." He finished. I had a think.

"They…say….they don't….trust…you…me…we…us…"

"It's all about…it's all about…" his throat was dry.

"Run away if we must, 'cause ya know it's all about us. If, they hurt you, they hurt me too."

"So. We'll rise, up, won't stop, and it's all about...all about…" I caught snatches of song.

"They don't know, they can't see…who we are…fear is the enemy…"

"I can try to pretend, I can try to forget, but it's driving me mad, going out of my head…"

As I traditionally found my way into the bed with him, he lay there, and asked hoarsely, "Do you remember how - how I was always taking care of you when you were upset?"

I smiled gently. "Well, it's my turn to take care of you now."

"It doesn't matter anymore, not really."

"No! You can't leave me here."

He looked at me, fully conscious, fully aware and spoke clearly. "Tell me a story, Hermione. I used to love your stories. The way you weaved the lyrics into something you could write down…"

"t.A.T.u's songs were always much better to listen to, not my rubbish. Oh, what is the world coming to?" I whispered, dabbing his head gently with a damp cloth. There was still a bit of the old Draco, still fighting, as he nudged it away.

"But you're still going to be a writer though, aren't you? And they'd like that. Do you remember how we talked about it? About - about what we were going to do, after the war?"

I couldn't believe he'd remembered the conversation. But then again, there was a lot I couldn't believe these days.

"And what were you going to be?" I murmured.

"I can't - I can't remember." He coughed.

"Yes you can! You have to! You never told me…" I urged him.

"Tell me where you were going to travel, Hermione." He breathed.

"Paris or Amsterdam, that's where I'm going. To see the world."

He repeated, almost to himself, "To see the world..."

I can't remember when I fell asleep. Maybe it was all a dream, but I remember Ginny coming in and finding me curled up at the end of the bed. She half carried, half led me back to bed.

"Something's going to happen Ginny…" I mumbled. "Something bad."

"Mm. Shush now. You need some sleep."

And then, the day everything really did change. Especially the night.

That was the last conversation I ever had with him.

Oh, so many thoughts. So many words. As with all bad days, it started with apparent happiness.

I wanted to cry at the end, but I couldn't. I wasn't allowed. I had to hold it together. But how was I to know, as it was a boiling hot summer's day. June, I think. Yes, it was June, and Harry and Ron insisted I spend some time with them, not Draco, not Blaise, not Luna, them.

I decided, okay. I would. Ginny was with Harry now, and he did seem to be more mentally stable. Thank God. I was humming t.A.T.u still, but Draco was on the mend, I was sure, and the day was long and cloudless and blue and beautifully warm. I was bouncing in my school shoes.

"Someone's in a good mood!" Blaise commented as I practically skipped past him. I gave him a look of delight, so cheerfully that he grinned back, and Luna looked up serenely. "I think it's nice."

"I've been stolen by Harry, Ron and Ginny, by the way. I'll see if I can sit by you at lunch, but I can't guarantee anything. If that fails, meet at about tennish, in the Room?"

"Ah, sounds good! Have fun with lightning bold, old ginger and…" he tried to think of a suitably hilarious nickname for Ginny.

"Ah, forget it. Have fun, anyway." He told me, as Ron hopped about impatiently.

"I think everything's going to look up from now on." Luna's eyes and voice were clear.

"It better had do!" I laughed freely and sprang after Ron, Harry and Gin.

We ended up having food outside, and even my favourite odd comfort food appeared, grapes and chocolate cake.

"Haha!" Ron gaped, laughing. "Giant cake and tiny bunches of grapes. What a combo."

I stuck my tongue out, and then to both the boys' amazement, tossed a grape in the air and caught it in my mouth.

"I thought only boys could do that!" Ron exclaimed.

"Sexist nonsense." I scoffed.

"But seriously, I've never seen a girl-"

"Yo, I'mma let you finish," Ginny started in an American accent, "but Hermione Granger is the cleverest girl OF ALL TIME!"

I rolled my eyes. "Nobody is ever going to say a sentence like that, ever. Not even in like 2009. Especially not September 13th, 2009."

"You're so random." Ginny told me.

I shrugged, and the best part was when Ginny shoved some cake in Ron's face for making a derogatory statement about me, Draco and what we did in our spare time. I laughed harder than I had done in ages, and the sun blazed in the sky.

"I should do some revision." Ginny groaned theatrically, rolling her eyes at the drama, and standing up.

"Have fun!" I called, and at the look on her face, I grinned widely.

Oh, and just talking with the boys, pretending Draco wasn't in my mind, and just making jokes (Though secretly, Blaise's and Draco's were funnier…) with each other…and at tea I was dragged along to the common room and I went along with it, thinking about ten o'clock. It'd be here soon enough.

It was sunset when Harry was sent for by Dumbledore. It was just me and Ron speculating about what they might be talking about when Harry came back, clearly out of breath. I picked up on his nerves.

"What does Dumbledore want? Harry, are you ok?" I asked anxiously.

"I'm fine." He said quickly and dashed into the dormitory and reappeared with his cloak.

Ron looked as stunned as me.

"I haven't got much time." Harry panted. "Dumbledore thinks I'm getting my clock. Listen…"

He was going with Dumbledore to destroy a Horcrux. Ron kept asking questions and I was gasping at the danger, but Harry ignored that, and carried on. "See what it means? Dumbledore's not going to be here tonight, so Malfoy's going to have another clear shot at whatever he's up to."

I opened my mouth to protest but he hissed, "No, listen to me!" angrily. "It was Malfoy celebrating in the Room."

He shoved the Marauder's map at me, and instructed us to "watch him and Snape. Rustle up the DA, those coins still work. Take this-" he shoved the Felix Felicis he'd won so long ago at us, and then, after more meaningless words, he was off like a shot.

In the words of Ron Weasley.

The fun begins.

(The fun begins indeed! I'll try and do a longer chapter next time, but it might take a while, 'cause I have to figure out what Hermione's going to be up to whilst Harry's at the cave, but I'll see what I can do. Much love to those reviewers of mine, you're all utterly wonderful! And there IS going to be a sequel, and I've had a few ideas about it now, so the prequel should be up shortly…I hope! Bunch of hugs to you, now I'm off to listen to t.A.T.u of course! DSOTM94)