Disclaimer: I do not and will never own HP or Titanic.

Warning: Character death.

"Caught in the Crossfire"

"Hello, Miss Granger," said Lucius Malfoy with a devilish grin on his face. Just when Harry, Ron, and Hermione had finally started to believe that they were going to be okay, things had taken a turn for the worst.

Standing there in complete and utter shock, Hermione slowly turned towards Harry and very quietly whispered into his ear, "Run." That was all she had said. Knowing that Lucius had come after her, and her alone, the last thing she wanted was for Harry (or Ron for that matter) to get hurt. Hermione didn't want either of them to take the hit for her. However, to her dismay, Harry merely shook his head, refusing to abandon her side, just as Ron would have done.

"You know, Hermione," said Lucius, breaking the silence, "You've truly been quite a bother to me these past few days," he was very slowly making his way closer to her at this point. Ron tightly took hold of Hermione's and pulled her behind him.

Malfoy shook his head at the boy's pathetic attempt to protect her. Clearly amused, he continued, "Before you do anything rash," he turned to the red-head, "Hear me out," he finished, simply.

After giving it some thought, Hermione realized they really had no other option. She nodded her head and looked at Lucius expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

"I'll give you two options," he smirked, "One: you come with me up to the main deck, alone, and join Draco without any questions asked," Malfoy then walked as closely as possible towards the frightened girl and gave her the second, and final option, "Or two: you die." Hermione literally stopped breathing. Obviously returning to her ex-fiancé was completely out of the question. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did…but now it seemed like she wouldn't get the chance to live no matter what she chose at this point.

"Alright," Ron sighed, "'Mione will go with you," both Harry and Hermione looked at him in shock. How could he betray her like that?

"I thought she might," Lucius said as he went to push Ron aside, but he stood his ground. "Move aside, boy," Malfoy spat.

Ron just smiled. Everyone couldn't help but to think he had gone mad. "I didn't finish," he stated as he looked back at the elder man. "I said she'd-"

Lucius cut him off, "Yes, yes, I know what you said you ignorant fool, now step aside," he threatened.

The other boy shook his head, "I said she'd join you," Hermione then gave him a hard nudge to the side as if telling him that this was really not the time, but he just went on, "When hell freezes over," Ron finished. And with that he took the other man by surprise and punched him directly in the center of his pale face. He then led both Hermione and Harry down and out of the second-class corridor as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, with all of the water pouring higher and higher on the floor below, the trio wasn't even nearly fast enough. With Ron in the lead he had managed to successfully make his way out. Hermione, who had been close behind, had also got through safely, but it was with only seconds to spare for no sooner had she made her way out the gates, Lucius' gun went off.

"Where's Harry?" Ron said in a panicky tone as he looked over Hermione's shoulder. He should've been behind her by now. Being that she didn't answer him, Ron took it upon himself to go back down into the flooding hallway to search for his best friend.

It was only in a matter of moments that he wished he hadn't. What Ron saw had literally changed his life…forever. He just couldn't believe it. The scene before him was so unreal. How could this have happened? Well, he knew how…but, still. He just didn't see this coming.

"Ron-" Hermione began to ask as she made her way back down into the small second-class corridor. Once inside, however, she froze completely (and it had nothing to do with the ice-cold water that had currently reached her waist-line).

After what felt like forever had passed, she finally came to her senses, "Ron!" Hermione shrieked from behind, snapping him out of his thoughts. She practically tackled him to the ground in order to protect him from Lucius' second shot that night.

"Ron, we have to get out of here," she said, entirely out of breath.

"No," he refused. Ron's face suddenly became a dark shade of red from all of the anger boiling up inside of him.

Although Hermione was extremely devastated as well and felt every ounce of pain that he felt, she knew that there was nothing either of them could do to fix the current situation. Malfoy was making his way closer and closer by the second.

"We have to go!" Hermione shouted as she tugged on Ron's arm, "Now!" she pointed out the deranged man that was quickly drawing near. Realizing the grave danger both he and Hermione were in, Ron quickly pulled himself together and pushed her through the door once more, dodging Lucius' last bullet. Before they carried on, however, Ron hurried and turned around. He locked the gates which would provide the elder man with no escape.

And as Hermione and Ron ran off into the distance, neither of them felt the slightest bit of guilt or regret of insuring Malfoy's death. Not only had he caused Hermione so much grief over the past several days…he had killed Ron's best friend…Ginny's husband…the father of an unborn child…he killed Harry...

Hey guys,

So…yeah, what did you think?

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Thanks :)

Reviewer Responses:

-CountDoom: Thanks for reviewing the story again :) I'm glad that it's been living up to your expectations so far :)

-79AvadaWeasleyKedavra: Again, thank you for the review :) I thought it was about time that somebody should give Rita a break, haha. Glad you liked it :)

-rhmac12: Thanks for continuing to review! I know that last chapter was kind of sad with the Snape/Lily situation. Sorry this one wasn't much cheerier either. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless :)

-don't-you-try-to-outwierd-me: Thank you for reviewing yet again :) Yes, I do believe that Rita, like any other human being, has at least one ounce of niceness in her heart, haha. As far as Snape goes, well I'll get back to him soon. You'll see :)

-rwhg 4ever: Thanks for keeping on with the reviews! I'm glad that you're continuing to enjoy the story :) And you really don't have to thank me, haha. I enjoy writing this just as much as you enjoy reading it :)

-IceBlueCrystal: Thanks for reviewing again :) Sorry, I know that last chapter was a bit sad and I also know that this one wasn't much better…hopefully you liked it though.

-PawPrintsxoxo: Thank you for reviewing once more! I'm still happy to hear that you're enjoying the story so far :) Hopefully you'll continue to.

-TheGentleWarrior: Thanks for your review :) And yes, it is so much better late than never, haha. I'm glad that you've taken a liking to the story so far! Keep me updated on your thoughts, kay? Thanks again :)

-hernameis-nolie: Thanks again for your review :) Sorry that last chapter was a bit depressing. I know this one wasn't much happier either. I hope you enjoyed it regardless :)