My name has a 'J' in it, but no K, so unfortunately, I'm not JK Rowling. I'm just a humble fanfiction writer who pulled most of this very important chapter, literally out of my arse, completely unplanned…yey me.

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

The Carriage held but just ourselves…

"I can hear you breath
I can smell your sheets from New Jersey
And I got a mind
To get out of bed right now
And come over to see you
I can't imagine you all alone
In the big city on your own
Who's going to protect you?
I couldn't be there as much as I wanted to"—While you were sleeping, Man Overboard

"Do you think you could do it again?" Theo asked as he buttered toast.

Draco's toast, meanwhile, fell out of his mouth. "Huh? You want me to do it again? Do you know how much trouble it caused me the last time I did it. I broke my leg!"

Theo looked up with a bored expression. "Exactly, it's obvious the dreams are beginning to influence you, and since you refuse to take my advice and go to Dumbledore…"

"Not happening," Draco said quickly, he didn't want anyone else knowing about this.

"I know," Theo said, rolling his eyes. "But since you refuse to allow anyone else to help you, the only thing we can do right now is learn how to Apparate properly, or next time it might be more than a leg that gets broken."

Draco sighed. "You have a point, but you can't Apparate in Hogwarts, even the Room of Requirement is out, so where am I supposed to learn?"

Theo finished off his toast; licking crumbs from his fingertips. "I guess there's only one thing for it," he said. "We'll have to ask that Joana person if we can borrow the flat."

"What!" Draco raised his eyebrows. "I told you I don't want anyone knowing about me!"

"We don't have to tell Joana," Theo said. "It's pretty obvious that you're having trouble with Apparition and that can be our excuse."

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Draco asked.

"I'm sure." He nodded. "Don't ask me how or why, it's the same reason I knew I could trust you with my secrets all those years ago, I just…do."

"I supposed that will have to be enough," Draco sighed. "What if she doesn't agree?"

Theo smirked. "Then write a letter first, what harm could it do to ask? But word it carefully; we don't want it falling into the wrong hands. Just request a meeting time, that should be enough and we can explain the details then."

Draco did as he said and sent the owl on his way.

A reply came back later that day during dinner. There wasn't much on it except a date, which was set for two days from now, and a time.

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"Hey," Joana said looking up and grinning as Draco entered the Hogs Head pub two days later. "Can I get ya anything to drink?"

Draco noticed she was wearing a slightly more girly version of the bartender uniform, with a yellow apron, it was like she was purposely trying to be more girly, but with her dark eyes and blond hair, it suited her as other people settled at the bar gave her approving looks.

She didn't seem to notice as she pulled up two Butterbeers. "This one's on me, as a celebratory for that leg of yours getting better."

"Thanks," Draco said, taking a deep glug.

"So, how'd things go with your girlfriend, Hermione?" she asked slyly and Draco choked on his beer, it slid down his chin and Joana narrowly side-stepped to avoid the sputter. She whistled. "So, I take it from that, that the conversation didn't go well?"

"There was no conversation," Draco glared. "Can we just…not talk about this? It has nothing to do with why I wanted to see you."

"Eh! There wasn't a conversation?!" Joana gasped, eyes wide and completely ignoring what he said. "What, are ya a coward or something, after all that ranting about how beautiful she is, ya didn't tell her anything?"

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, regretting everything he told her. "Look, I said all those things because I was tired, I'd lost a lot of blood and I didn't know what I was saying. But in case you didn't realise from the long rant about our relationship, if you can even call it a relationship, it's a complete secret, even Theo doesn't know about her yet and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Why is it a secret?" Joana asked innocently.

"Lots of reasons," he laughed humourlessly, then suddenly realised to his frustration that he'd revealed something else he hadn't wanted to and cursed inwardly.

"That's not an answer," Joana said as she started absentmindedly cleaning a filthy glass mug with a cloth.

"How many do you want?" He asked. "That's she's a Gryffindor and I'm a Slytherin? That she's the friend of my rival who happens to think I'm an evil berk and would be completely right, that she's Muggleborn and I'm Pureblood, that's she's innocent and I'm dangerous?"

"My friend, ya just described the classic star-crossed lovers act and I can think of quite a few of them that worked out in the end…course, the rest of 'em died but who's counting them?" she said cheerfully.

"This isn't a half-assed romance novel," he said bitterly. "This is her life I'm talking about. I do care about her; I'm smart enough to admit I'm all wrong for her. But for some reason, she's decided she'll have me and I don't know what to do to convince her otherwise, besides cursing her," he shuddered, like he'd ever be able to do that.

"Sounds like a girl after my own heart," Joana laughed merrily and Draco glared. He didn't know why it was so easy to talk about this; he'd never spoken about Hermione to anyone before. Maybe that was why. Usually, no own knew, but now that someone did, Draco was having a hard time shutting up about her.

"Don't ya worry," she said, grinning, "Ya secrets' safe with me. So, back to topic, what did ya want to see me about?"

"Oh yeah," he said, blinking. He'd almost forgotten - that's how much this whole conversation unnerved him "It's about my visit to your house last time."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well the thing is, I didn't really mean to do that. I dr…sleep-walked," this was absolutely humiliating "I sleep-walked and now that my body's figured out how to Apparate it seems that I…" He trailed off, hoping she'd understand and be discreet about it.

Unfortunately, he forgot she was a Hufflepuff. Joana took one look at him and burst out laughing, her pearly giggles caught the unwanted attention of a few other customers and Draco tried to shush her, but she was having too much fun. "Ya…ya sleep-apparate! Merlin, that's a first, even for me!"

"Alright, alright, no need to go overboard," he said with gritted teeth. Soon, she calmed down.

"Thing is," he continued, "I don't really know how to Apparate, the first time was an accident. I was dreaming about it and it happened, I would wait till we're taught properly, but I don't want to accidently splinch myself next time this happens and you can't Apparate in Hogwarts so…"

Joana held up a hand. "Say no more, ya need a place to practice and my place happens to be convenient and familiar. Done, I'll even teach ya if ya want, I'm a bit older than ya, already got my licence and everything."

Draco looked at her in surprise. She was helping them, just like that? Even for a Hufflepuff that was a bit too generous, he wasn't asking for a free drink, he was asking to use her home to learn how to Apparate illegally, weren't Hufflepuff all about being noble and following the rules?

She smiled, seeming to know exactly what he was thinking. "Mate, I may be a proud Badger," she grinned. "But I come from a long line of Ashwinn Slytherins, you don't spend the first precious years of your life in a house of snakes without learning an appreciation for bending the rules a little."

"Then what do you want?" he said, taking another swig of what was left of his drink.

"Not much," she answered, drinking some of her own Butterbeer. "I'm still a Hufflepuff, I'm doing this cause I like ya—" he choked on his drink and blushed as thoughts began to whiz in his mind.

Joana saw and laughed with a smirk. "Not like that, I do like ya, but you're not my type. I mean I like ya as a person, you're an alright bloke and I get a real kick out of hearing about your little love story," she sniggered.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Of course you do," he muttered. "I supposed you want to be suitably entertained as your payment?"

"Wow," she grinned. "Ya really are a Slytherin, figured it out before I even had to say it. So we got a deal?"

Draco looked at her outstretched hand, and sighed. "Yeah, we got a deal." It wouldn't be too much of a loss on his side anyway. She swore to keep his secret, and he had to admit…it was nice to have someone to talk to about something normal for a change.

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"No, not like that, you're going to lose an arm if ya keep spinning like ya in some sort of ballet show!" Joana scolded, shaking her head and rubbing the bridge of her nose. Theo watched with interest from his own circle, having decided he could benefit from learning to Apparate early too and since the lessons were free…

"I can't do this!" Draco sulked. "This was a bad idea, maybe I should just go."

"No, no, no!" Joana admonished. "I said you were going to learn and if it's the last thing I do, you are going to Apparate into that circle without so much as a hair missing from your left eyebrow!"

He saw Theo sniggering as Joana, with one hand on hip, waggled her finger at him angrily.

"Shut up," he snapped, but Theo didn't.

"Not one hair from your eyebrow," he mouthed in response and fell back into sniggers.

"It's a quick twist," Joana said with a heavy sigh. "Just one, like ya want it over and done with…here, like so," and she demonstrated, appearing right beside Draco and startling him into falling over into a barrel used to hold umbrellas. When he couldn't get out of the barrel, Theo stopped pretending to contain his laughter and collapsed on the bed, sniggering loudly.

"Ha, ha," Draco said, struggling and glaring. "That's right, laugh it up, let's all point and laugh at the berk in the barrel."

"No, let's all point at Draco in the barrel," Joana chimed amusedly as she gave him a hand, eventually he came out with a 'pop'. "Now if that wasn't something straight from a Muggle comedy movie then I don't know what was."

"I'm not even going to ask," Draco said, rolling his eyes.

"Then I will, how do you know what's in a Muggle movie, I thought you were Pureblood?" Theo asked as he came to stand where Joana was.

It was strange, Theo was such a quiet bloke, but in the week of Apparition lessons, he and Joana had become quite friendly. Draco didn't know why though, it seemed like such an unlikely match. Joana was sweet and bubbly and a total Hufflepuff, Theo was dark and gloomy and Slytherin to the core. But they got on well enough to gang up on Draco repeatedly. In fact, the three of them were growing close enough that he was starting to wonder how they were going to handle being separated by houses once Hogwarts resumed. Theo didn't make friends often; there were so few people that agreed with him whom he also approved of.

As he watched Joana come to lean against the wall, ideas began to sprout in his mind. Maybe Theo and Joana…Joana and Theo…

Joana smiled at Theo's question. "My ex was Muggleborn," she admitted.

Theo only looked mildly surprised at the revelation. "Really?" he asked politely. "What happened?"

"I've never really agreed with my family on a lot of things," Joana went on. "Blood purity was one of those things, one of the big things actually, I just…didn't get it. It got worse when I was sorted into Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin, but to be honest, I'm glad the Hat put me there, I would have been a lousy snake and I quite like badgers." She smiled. "But anyway, 'bout three years ago, I started dating this Muggleborn and got kicked out of the family when we didn't break up. Weird thing is, we broke up a few months later, 'twas never that serious I suppose. I think I was just using my relationship as an excuse to get disowned and escape my mental family. Plus, Lois was really soft and gentle and always gave in to everything I said and didn't have a problem with any of my faults, I like my girls with a bit more spunk in 'em."

Draco's nodded, he could understand, Hermione was gentle, but she could give him a right wallop when she…suddenly his mouth fell open, "Wait…did you just say girl?"

Joana grinned and tapped her nose, not revealing anything more.

Draco felt truly mind-boggled, this was…a first, and there went his Theo and Joana Theory. But…girls? Really? This explained why she was never interested in male attention.

"Was she hot?" he asked, dumbfoundedly, after some time.

Joana laughed, as if she knew something Draco didn't and Theo rolled his eyes, "That she was my friend, almost as fine as me."

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"Is it her, the Mudblood?" his father urged.

He stood in silent horror as he saw her, them. He recognised all three of them, all three. But if he revealed them then the Dark Lord would be summoned, and she would be killed. He couldn't let that happen, but he couldn't let his parents suffer anymore and he couldn't lie to his aunt, he was too much of a coward.

It broke him to admit it, he was a coward.

The girl he loved was sitting in front of him, bleeding, her hair a ragged, tattered mess of bloodied brown curls sticking to her face, her eyes searching, scared and worried and he couldn't do a thing about it. No, he wouldn't do a thing about it. He couldn't give him the truth of his loyalties now, not when he didn't even know what they were. Sure, he cared deeply for a Mudblood, but that wasn't enough to abandon the Dark Lord and accept the consequences of such a thing.

And the consequences would be severe, so severe he could barely think of them now as he hastily confessed she might be the one they were looking for. He wouldn't give away her friend, it was the least he could do.

But still, they figured it out, and there was much fumbling about as they fought over who should summon the Dark Lord when as far as he was concerned, he'd be happy if he never saw the reptilian man again.

But then his Aunt Bella became distraught as she realised they were in the possession of a Ruby Sword. He didn't know the importance of the weapon, but seeing it sent his aunt in a mad frenzy as she screamed, "Where did you find it?!"

Then she was whirling on the prisoners.

"Take these prisoners down to the cellar, Greyback." His mother said and they began shuffling them out. But a word from his aunt's mouth sent a chill up his spine and the sentence that followed turned his blood to ice

"Wait," said Bellatrix sharply. "All except... except for the Mudblood."

"No!" the red haired man screamed. "Take me, Take me instead!"

"Put the boy in the cellar!" Bellatrix Lestrange shrieked; her wild curly black hair like dead blood flying around her face as she shoved them.

He watched as if watching a moving photograph, soundless and colourless as his aunt forced her to the ground, screamed in her face, tortured her over and over and over and over …

Crucio, crucio, crucio… he felt each one as if his heart was being ripped out and cursed himself for his weakness. He wanted to rip the wand from his aunt's hand, shove it down her throat and blow her up from the inside, he wanted to kill her stone dead, his hatred was so strong. But he did nothing, he just watched as she screamed.

Her brown hair hung by her head like a halo, tears streaming down her face, she screamed and screamed as the chant of 'Crucio' and 'Where is it, where did you get it from?!' continued without end.

She looked to him, her eyes so scared, in so much pain, and still he watched, even as his aunt took her knife and began carving the words into her forearm.

M.U.D.B.L.O.O…

"NO!" Draco screamed, shooting up in his bed and continued screaming, clutching his hair and scratching his arms in complete agony. "No, no, no, no, no! Don't just stand there!" he cried.

They'd stayed later than usual and had chosen to sleep the night at Joana's house. His screams had Theo shooting up in his own bed and Joana running into the spare room, they watched as Draco had a complete breakdown, worse than any of the others, it was like he didn't even see them, like he wasn't even really here.

"Draco!" Theo called. "Calm down mate, you're dreaming…"

"No!" Draco screamed. "No, don't…don't touch me! Don't just…stand there, watching…" he was crying, tears streaked down his face in a frenzy.

Draco's mind was a blur, a million thoughts all going at once, but one rose to the forefront, his fury at himself for just standing there, watching as Hermione was tortured by his demented aunt, as that horrible word was dug deep into her arm. That disgusting, pestilence of a word that should never have been invented, much less carved into the milky while skin of his lover.

All he could see was Hermione on the ground, bleeding and terrified.

Theo and Joana watched, fearful and shocked as Draco suddenly stopped screaming, his head rose from where he'd been clutching his hair, but he had a strange expression on his face. His eyes were glossed over, as if he were someone else. Joana watched in confusion, but Theo recognised this look from the Triwizard tournament, when Draco faced the dragon and remembered nothing of it and Theo felt fear creeping into his fingers.

"Draco," Joana finally gasped. "Are ya ok?"

"Draco…mate …just, come over here," Theo said as softly as possible, trying to coax his vacant friend like an animal.

Draco ignored the both of them, his hands shaking. "S-s-s-so much blood," he whispered. "I just stood there and watched her bleed…watched her…scream."

His voice sounded soft, so agonised and so much more grown up than his fifteen year old friend. Theo had never heard this sound before and suddenly, all of Draco's worries suddenly made more sense.

This…this was Draco and at the same time it wasn't Draco.

"Draco, come here," he said, with quiet desperation.

Draco looked up and instead took a step back. "No…no," he whispered. "I…I have to go, she's bleeding, she's…I have to go see, find her, make sure she's…safe now…but where can she…" and a look of realisation came about him. "Grimmauld Place…there!…I'll go there…I have to see that she isn't anymore…bleeding…I can't just…No!" and with that last word he spun in a perfect arc and Apparated from the room.

"No!" Theo gasped, leaping forward to try and stop him, but his fingers only just grazed the edge of Draco's shirt before he Disapparated into nothing.

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Hermione was taking a walk. She wasn't really supposed to leave Grimmauld Place, but with Mr Weasley in the hospital and Harry in a mood and everyone tiptoeing around him because of the notion that he could be possessed by Voldemort, it wasn't a very cheerful place to be at the moment, even with Sirius's best attempts at making everything cheerful for Christmas.

To be honest, she missed her parents, and she missed Draco. Three people she couldn't see this Christmas, her parents because of their trip to America for a dentist convention and Draco because he was at Hogwarts. She hadn't even been able to send a letter because she was constantly at the side of either Harry or Ron. Maybe now she'd be able to track down an owl at a local post office and send a Christmas letter that was two days overdue. She just hoped he wasn't worried.

But why would he be worried, she suddenly scoffed, kicking a bit of fluffy snow with a frown. Since that day when he gave her a present, he hadn't contacted her or talked to her. Hermione was getting scared, this was different. A part of her didn't even care if he didn't care for her romantically, but she was scared because she felt like he was pulling away from her completely, and she didn't know what to do to stop it.

He was slowly changing, drifting away from her. But what to do?

She glanced up at the sky and realised it was getting late, the Weasley's probably thought she'd gone to bed, but she was getting hungry and felt it time to return for some of Mrs Weasley's famous roast chicken sandwiches.

But as she turned, Hermione felt a shiver going down her spine. Suddenly, she felt the breath knocked out from her as something barrelled into her.

"Oh!" she cried out as she went head first into the snow.

She whipped out her wand in a defensive manoeuvre and held it out with a snarl, but lowered it again as her shock over took her when she realised who it was, "D-Draco?"

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