Author's Note: This chapter is for RavensWritingProphecies, because in her review she asked if I could possibly update before she left on a six-week-long trip. And since I figured that's a REALLY long trip, I might as well try and see if I could grant her wish. Luckily, I had the day off from work today, so I dedicated it all to writing this chapter - well, most of it, anyway. I did take quite a few goof-off breaks. Anyway, Ravens, I hope you like this and I hope you have fun on your trip! I also hope I am uploading this in time for you to read it...

Thanks once again for all of the reviews! Oh, and congrats to TraceyI for totally guessing this chapter's title correctly. It is indeed "Perchance to Dream". Ah, Shakespeare. Even if you understand absolutely nothing that he has written, you can still appreciate all of the lovely quotes from his plays. "To sleep, perchance to dream..." I just thought it kind of fit with these two chapters.

Disclaimer: I like pizza. Probably a little too much.

He woke up in a dream.

The first thing he noticed after opening his eyes was that he was lying on the ground amidst tall blades of grass. When he rolled over onto his back and stared up at the sky, he noticed dark, ominous clouds moving overhead. Remembering suddenly that he supposedly had the power to alter this dream, he willed the dark clouds away and opted instead for a clear blue sky.

No sooner had the thought entered his mind did the clouds disappear and the sun emerge, shining hot rays down upon his face, nearly blinding him. He closed his eyes to block out the brightness and he smiled in satisfaction.

This was quite possibly going to work.

But first, he would have to find her.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and let them adjust to the light. When he could see again, he stood up. Looking around, he could see that he was standing a few yards away from the Hogwarts castle, although his surroundings did not look entirely accurate – but then again, places in dreams rarely looked the same as they did in real life. For instance, he did not recall the grass ever being that long, or even growing in that particular spot. Nor did he remember the castle being so…tall. When he craned his neck to look up at it, he noticed he could not see the top – as if he reached far beyond the blue sky.

Glancing down at the grass, he imagined that it was bright pink, rather than bright green. Immediately, the hue changed and he was looking at hideously colored blades of grass. He smirked when he thought about how much Pansy would have probably loved it.

He was starting to like the concept of lucid dreaming, but he didn't have the time to play around with it. He was there for a reason, and that reason was her.

He had no idea where to begin looking for her. But no sooner had he begun to realize how difficult it might be, he noticed a stone path beginning to emerge on the ground before him. It started just beneath his feet and moved forward a couple of inches…and then stopped.

Curious, he took a step forward. As he did, the stone path lengthened another few inches in front of him. Interesting, he thought. The path seemed to be moving with him, as if to guide him. But guide him to where? Looking straight ahead, all he could see was a thick forest – perhaps the Forbidden Forest, which was located nowhere near the castle in the real world. Shrugging, he began to walk forward once more. The stone path once again began to form - at a much quicker pace this time – and led directly into the forest.

Once inside the forest, the first thing he noticed was that there were no animals anywhere – no pesky squirrels, no birds - no rustling of the trees to indicate there was any other living creature around. He was surprised to find that the Forbidden Forest was a lot more eerie when it was vacant and silent.

The stone path had now reached far beyond him, so he could not see where it ultimately led. However, the forest appeared to stretch out for miles, and it seemed as though every few yards, he would just keep passing the same small patch of trees. He imagined the forest was just on a loop, only showing him what he'd seen of it in real life.

Well this will get me nowhere, he thought, and he stepped off the path.

Instantly, the entire forest around him disappeared and he was now standing next to the Whomping Willow tree. He should have automatically feared for his life, as the Whomping Willow had a tendency of being quite dangerous at times. But he knew he was in charge. Nothing would happen to him if he did not allow it to. He just hoped that the lucid dreaming potion would last as long as the sleeping potion did.

He immediately set out to look for her – but he didn't have to look very far at all. He found her just a small distance from the tree, by the lake, standing at the edge of the water. Her arms were folded tightly over her chest, as if she was cold and was merely trying to hold in any warmth she had left. He noted that it was quite chilly, even with the sun now beaming down on them.

She was dressed in her Muggle clothes, and he wondered if there was some significant meaning behind that. After all, her dream world so far consisted of Hogwarts – he would have thought she would be dressed in her school uniform.

But then he realized she'd been wearing that same Muggle outfit the day she had been attacked, so perhaps the meaning wasn't significant at all.

He stood there for what felt like an eternity, just watching her, but she never once glanced over his way. She just continued to stare blankly at the water with a somber look on her face. She looked so small and fragile standing there all alone, and his heart began to break. Had she been like this for the past two months?

He couldn't afford to waste any more time. Slowly, he began to make his way over to her. He noticed that there were absolutely no sounds around him – not the sound of birds in the distance, not the cracking of a twig as he stepped on it. He wondered why there was such silence, and he feared that when he tried to speak to her, no sound would come out. It was a common occurrence in dreams – the inability to speak when it was the most necessary.

"Granger?" he said as he neared her. Much to his delight, he could hear his voice just fine; in fact, it was quite startling to hear the sound in an otherwise silent world.

He hoped he hadn't scared her, speaking so suddenly. But she didn't jump at the sound of his voice. Instead, she slowly turned her head to the side and gaped at him.

"Malfoy?" Her brown eyes widened at the sight of him. "You…you came to me?"

He nodded. "I did."

Frowning, she turned her head so that she was staring at the lake again. "Why? I thought you wanted me gone."

His breath caught in his throat. "Granger, I've never wanted you gone. I just…I didn't know what was going on. But I know now. That's why I'm here."

She shook slightly. Quickly, he removed his robes and placed them around her shoulders.

"Thank you," she said politely. She glanced down at the ground. "I didn't think I would ever see you again."

"I'm sorry I told you to go away. I thought that's what I wanted, but it wasn't."

She smiled a half-smile and turned to him. "You're forgiven. But how did you find me? How did you get here?"

He returned her smile. "The magic of sleep potions."

She furrowed her brow. "So you're really here, then? I'm not just imagining you?"

"I'm really here."

"So then…whose dream is this? Mine? Or yours?"

"I think it's ours, Granger."

"That's a bit strange."

"Indeed it is." He turned to face the lake. "But it won't be our dream for long. We're going to wake up soon."

A solemn look came over her face suddenly as she shook her head. "No. You are going to, but not me."

"No, we're both going tol," he corrected her.

She turned on her heel and began to walk away from him. "I can't wake up – don't you see?"

"Yes you can, and you will."

"But I don't know how!" she cried, spinning back around to face him.

"Well you'd better figure it out," he said, "because the longer you go without waking up…the more likely you are to never wake up."

"Maybe that's just how it's supposed to be," she said sadly. "Maybe I'm meant to stay here forever until…until I die."

Infuriated, he stalked over to her and grabbed both of her arms and shook her. "Don't say that," he hissed. "I'm not going to let you die, nor am I going to let you give up on trying to get out of here, do you understand?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you even here? Why are you going to such lengths to try and help me?"

He loosened his grip on her arms and took a step back. He sighed. "In the last dream of mine that you were in, you said…you said that you needed me. But you're wrong, Granger. I'm the one who needs you. These past two months have been hell for me. I don't think you have any idea how hard it has been for me to continue living my life thinking you were dead…thinking I would never see you again. Because, you see, before your death, you had become the single most important thing to me. It took your death to really make me realize it, and once that realization hit – a part of me died with you. But then, just today, I found out that you're not dead after all. You're alive. Do you have any idea how happy that makes me, Granger?"

She stared at him in awe for a moment, obviously taken-aback by his words. But she quickly got over it and said, "I want to show you something."

Grabbing his arm, she began to lead him over to the Whomping Willow. He faltered in his steps at first, not really wanting to go anywhere near the tree again. But she seemed so persistent that he allowed her to continue leading him.

As they approached the tree, he noticed the opening at its base. "That leads to the Shrieking Shack," he said. "Why are we -"

She ignored him as she pulled him into the tree's dark tunnel. He felt uneasy at the sudden darkness that surrounded him, but with her hand still firmly around him, he had no choice but to continue on. Besides, he trusted that she knew what she was doing.

In the far distance, he could hear the soft sound of symphony music. It was a pleasant sound to hear, and immediately took away all of the uneasiness he'd been feeling – as did the sliver of light he could see fast approaching.

"We're here," she said, as they reached the other end of the tunnel. Taking his hand in hers, she led him through the opening.

He suddenly found himself in the Great Hall – or, rather, the Great Hall decorated as…

"The Yule Ball?" he said.

She nodded.

The room was alive with people – all Hogwarts students. Glancing around, he found Crabbe and Goyle, Blaise and Pansy, Harry and Ginny. Everyone was standing around, dressed in their finest clothes. It looked exactly like the Yule Ball they'd had earlier that year. In fact, he was sure it was the same one, as soon as it was announced by Professor McGonagall that the Head Boy and Girl would share the first dance.

His jaw dropped. "Granger, that's you and me."

She smiled. "I know."

He watched himself and Hermione as the two of them walked to the center of the room to share their dance. He remembered that night like it was just yesterday. "This is our Yule Ball."

"Mmhmm."

He watched his other self as he took the girl in his arms and began to dance. He noticed the content expression on both of their faces. He noticed how they were leaning toward each other. He'd had no idea how their dance had looked to others, but he did now. And he could see how Blaise had known about his feelings for her. It was written all over his face.

"I come here sometimes," she said, watching them. "I could just sit here for hours and watch it over and over again. I was truly happy that night, do you know that?"

He almost pointed out that it was because it was the night she had kissed Potter, but he didn't. He didn't want to ruin the mood. He didn't want to wipe that smile off of her face.

"Granger, just think of all of the moments like these that are passing you by right now. Why keep reliving the same old ones, when you could experience new ones?"

She shook her head and turned to him. Her smile had vanished. "It's not my choice."

"It is your choice. You just need to accept that fact, and then do something about it."

"But I don't know what to do," she sobbed. "I've wandered around this place constantly, trying to think of ways I could get out, but I wasn't even sure until you showed up that I was dreaming. I thought perhaps I was dead and that this was some sort of afterlife. I wasn't even sure that every time I visited you, that it was really you. I only hoped it was you. When I found out I was able to come to you in your dreams, I was…elated. I didn't have to be alone all the time – I had you to come to every night."

He glanced away from her. "But every time you came to me, you died."

She shrugged. "That wasn't just a part of your dream. Ever since I stopped visiting you at night, I still died. A different way every time." She sighed. "Only without you there, I've died alone."

The muscles of his jaw tightened. If only he had known…he never would have told her to go away…

"I took a lucid dreaming potion along with the sleeping one, you know," he said suddenly, wanting to quickly change the subject.

She tilted her head and glanced at him curiously.

"I can control everything that happens here. I can change anything."

"Is that so?" she said. She glanced around the Hall with a thoughtful look on her face and then said to him, "Then can you get rid of the people in this room?"

"What people?" he asked with a smirk.

She motioned around the room. "Those peop -" She stopped and grinned. Everyone had already disappeared. "That's impressive."

"It's like magic," he said, smirking.

"Okay," she said, moving out further onto the floor. "Now, can you make us dance?"

"I don't need a lucid dreaming potion for that," he said, "but I'm going to have to deny your request."

She frowned. "Why?"

"Because we have little time left, and because I would rather save our next dance for when we are both awake."

"But Malfoy -"

"No buts," he said, bringing a finger to her lips to silence her. "It's my turn to show you something."

Taking hold of her hand, he led her out of the Great Hall. But instead of them entering a hallway, they immediately found themselves at the bottom of a winding staircase.

"The Astronomy Tower?" she asked quizzically.

He simply nodded as he began to lead them up the stairs.

He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but he was afraid Dumbledore would show up at any moment and wake him up. He couldn't risk it, so he would have to try as quickly as he could to wake her up. The idea he had in mind was crazy – very crazy – but it could possibly work. And at this point, that was the best he could do.

The staircase appeared to have the same issue as the forest had – it never seemed to end. Sighing in frustration, he turned to the wall beside him and imagined a door. When it appeared, he turned the knob and opened it. The inside of the Astronomy Tower appeared before them.

The room was dark. She let go of his hand and walked past him, over to the window.

"It's nighttime," she observed. "But it was just daytime."

He nodded. "You're correct. Well, partly correct. It's actually closer to morning. I thought maybe we could watch the sun rise together."

A huge grin came over her face. "I would love that."

He joined her over at the window and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to wake you up if it's the last thing I do."

She shook her head. "I'm not sure if you'll succeed, but I can honestly say I appreciate you trying."

He stared out the window and wished for the sun to rise. However, all that happened was that the world brightened a bit, then returned to black.

He groaned. "Uh, Granger…I think the lucid dreaming potion is wearing off."

Her face fell. "What does that mean?"

"It means that very soon, I will have no control over anything that I do in this dream, meaning I may not be able to help you." He reached out and opened up the window. "We're going to have to act fast."

"Act fast?" she said. "But we don't even know yet how to get me to wake up!"

"Actually, Granger, I do have an idea. And you're not going to like it, but you're going to have to trust me." He paused and stared her straight in the eyes. "Do you trust me?"

She nodded, but at the same time looked worried. He couldn't blame her. He was kind of worried himself.

Quickly, he pulled himself up onto the windowsill.

"What are you doing?" she cried.

He reached out his hand to her. "Take my hand. I'll help you up."

She shook her head. "No. No, I'm not getting up there! Get down from there! You're going to fall!"

"That's exactly what I want to do, Granger."

All of the color drained from her face. "What?"

"Granger, just get up here," he insisted. "You can trust me on this, alright? Everything is going to be fine, but we need to do this – now."

She stared at him with wild eyes, searching his face for any indication that he was joking. But he couldn't have been more serious.

"Granger, please."

Closing her eyes tightly, she grabbed a hold of his hand and he immediately pulled her up on the ledge with him.

She took one glance down to the ground far, far below and gasped. Quickly, he reached for her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Don't look down," he said. "Just pretend that the ground is two feet below us."

She shook her head and whimpered, clinging to him tightly. He remembered now how she hated heights – probably the main reason why she didn't play Quidditch along with her friends. He felt bad for her in this moment, and even worse that he was the cause of her discomfort. But he had to do it. It was his last chance.

"Growing up, my father employed this woman to take care of me when he and my mother were away," he explained, keeping her pressed tightly against him. "She was really into the subject of dreams – she would always ask me to tell her mine so that she could analyze them. She annoyed me to no end, and I would most often just make up some horrible nightmare to tell her about. Most of the time, she'd be so disturbed she'd forget to analyze them."

He smiled slightly as she giggled. "But I remember this one time, she was going on and on about the meaning behind some dreams, or whatever – I wasn't really listening. That is, until she told me that if I were to fall in my dreams, I would wake up before I ever hit the ground – that the shock of it all, along with the desire not to land, would cause my body to wake up. I never found out if she was right, though, because I don't recall ever falling in my dreams."

"Why are you telling me this?" she said. She began to shake again, only this time he was sure it wasn't because she was cold. "You're not saying that you and I – that we -"

"We're going to jump, Granger."

"No," she said stubbornly. "No, no, no, and no. I am not taking one foot off this ledge."

He sighed. He had known this wasn't going to be easy. "Granger, I seem to recall you saying to me, earlier this year, that you would rather throw yourself off the Astronomy Tower than hang out with my friends. So…just pretend that they are all here right now."

His attempt at a joke was lost on her. She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head back and forth adamantly. "No, I can't do it. I can't -"

"No, Granger, you can, and you have to." He reached down and took her hand in his once again. "You have to know that I won't let anything happen to you. We will both step off at the same time, and I will not let go of you, all right? A few seconds from now, we will wake up, and you can hate me for making you do this – but that is a chance I am willing to take. So please…let's do this."

She chewed on her lip nervously, and he could tell she was weighing all of the options in her head. She was a sensible girl – perhaps too sensible to jump off the top of the Astronomy Tower – but he had no doubt she would make the right decision.

She nodded. "Let's do this."

He grinned. "I promise I'll show you a real sunrise up here when this is all over. Maybe even a sunset."

"I'll hold you to that promise," she said nervously.

He tightened his grip on her hand. "On the count of three: one…two…"

"…three," she whispered, and they stepped off the ledge together.

Draco's eyes flew open as he was jolted awake.

He was automatically relieved to find that the surface beneath him was the soft cushioning of a bed, and not hard concrete. And as soon as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he noted that he was back in the Room of Requirement, safe and sound, with Hermione still lying next to him.

Hermione.

He quickly sat up and turned to face her. He placed one hand beside her on the bed to support himself as he leaned over just slightly, staring down at her in anticipation.

"Granger?" he whispered.

He waited patiently for her to respond – for her eyes to open wide, for her to smile at him – but there was nothing.

It hadn't worked. She had not woken up.

Draco's heart sank as he let out an exasperated sigh. "Damn it, Granger, this was supposed to work," he hissed. But there was no hostility in his voice – just regret.

He closed his eyes briefly and let out one, lone sob. He had tried. He had tried and failed. He should have known he wouldn't be able to save her. He should have known there was nothing he could do.

In the distance, he could hear the sound of the door opening, and he knew Dumbledore had returned. All Draco had to do was glance up at Dumbledore, and the old man knew; the failure was written all over Draco's face.

The Headmaster gave him a sympathetic glance, but did not say a word. Rather, he just stood by the door, glancing down at his feet.

"I'm sorry, Granger," Draco whispered. He glanced down at her hand, which he was still holding onto, and he gave it a slight squeeze.

"I'm sorry." And with that, he began to rise up off the bed. He began to let go of her hand, but he instantaneously felt something tugging at his – preventing him from moving away.

And his breath caught in his throat.

"Sorry for what?"

The voice was barely above a whisper, but it was unmistakable – and so was the grip on his hand.

He laughed. He hadn't meant to, but he laughed. It was his automatic reaction, and he just went with it. Dumbledore, meanwhile, glanced up with those twinkling eyes of his, and his own features adorned an amused expression.

Slowly, Draco turned back around. What he saw made his heart practically leap out of his chest.

Hermione, who was now very much awake, blinked up at him with wide eyes and a look of pure confusion on her face.

"What's so funny?" she asked weakly.

Collapsing onto the bed beside her, Draco just laughed again – the laugh of a madman…or of a man who had just gotten everything he had ever wanted. She was alive. She was awake. And she was already giving him that annoyed look he never knew until now that he had missed dearly.

"Nothing, Granger," he replied. He breathed a sigh of relief – it was the first breath he had taken in months that didn't cause his lungs to ache. It was like a sudden weight had been lifted off his chest, and he could finally breath again. "Nothing at all."

Author's Note #2: If I had to venture a guess, I'd say there's two or three more chapters left of this story, give or take one. I really hope this chapter didn't come out seeming rushed. As it is, I'm amazed it had as many words as it did - I was expecting it to be half as long as it ended up being. Hmm.