Hey there! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter of my new DRAMIONE story! Hopefully, if you aren't already a Dramione shipper, this story will change your mind. Let's get on with the second installment of What If...? (NOTE: This chapter is set on May 2, 1998, otherwise known as the day of the Battle of Hogwarts. The Battle takes place about a month or so after Draco saves Hermione from Bellatrix.)

Disclaimer: You should already know this, but I don't own the wonderful world of HP. The amazing J.K. Rowling does.

Hermione whirled around, narrowly avoiding yet another Killing Curse sent her way by Alecto Carrow. The latter sneered, showing off her dirty teeth. "What is it with Mudbloods?" she growled. "They just. won't. die!" With that, she shot another Killing Curse at Hermione, who ducked just in time. This continued for a while until Alecto sent a particularly well-aimed curse at the muggle-born. Hermione braced herself and silently prayed that Harry would finish off Voldemort and that everyone would be safe.

But instead, she felt herself being dragged to the floor by someone with strong arms and hands. She opened her eyes and found herself face-to-face with none other than Draco Malfoy. What was it with him? He'd saved her twice in the past month, and sure, Hermione was grateful, but why was Malfoy, the Slytherin prince himself, bothering to dirty his hands by saving her? And twice, at that! As she stared into those endless gray eyes, she noticed that they no longer held that cold, superior look. They were sad and longing...for something. Or someone... Hermione had no idea, but at that very second, Malfoy was both fighting the urge to kiss her and shouting at himself that he "did not have feelings for her." But of course, we know better.

After a minute of this-this meaning the two locked in a sort of hug with their faces just inches apart-Malfoy let go of Hermione. Hermione wanted to thank him (after all, he'd just saved her life for the second time in a month), but when she opened her mouth to do so, he suddenly turned and disappeared down the hall, leaving a very confused, yet thankful, Hermione.

A few hours later, Voldemort was dead. But no one was happy. There were too many deaths and too many tears. The families and friends of the people who had lost their lives huddled around their lifeless bodies, mourning them. Hermione watched in silence from a corner of the Great Hall as Lupin's body was carefully placed next to the limp body that was Tonks. Hermione's eyes followed the line of bodies until they came to rest at a huddle of several people with flaming red hair. They were bent over Fred Weasley, whose laughing face would forever haunt his loved ones. Ron was kneeling on the floor, sobbing while Ginny tried, in vain, to comfort him while also stifling her own wails.

Next, Hermione scanned the hall until she laid eyes on Harry, who was sitting alone on the floor, staring off into space. Quietly, she made her way over to him and sat down on the cold floor. Not exactly sure what to say, she leaned on his shoulder and hugged his arm. After a minute, she felt him begin to shake. At first she thought he was laughing. But then she realized that he was crying. "Harry..." she whispered, looking up at him. His emerald-green eyes were watery, and a few tears had silently slipped down his cheeks. "Are you alright?" He shook his head and wiped the tears from his face. Taking a deep breath, he managed,

"I feel terrible, Hermione."

"Why?"

"Because these people-they died for me. It's my fault they're gone."

"Oh, Harry..." Hermione said. "Sometimes you really are thick. They died so that you could defeat Voldemort. And you did, so you avenged their deaths. It's not your fault. No one thinks it is. No one's mad at you." Harry laughed bitterly.

"I wouldn't say no one," he said, motioning toward a pack of Slytherins who were huddled in a corner, occasionally sending him dirty looks.

"Yes, but they're always mad at you," Hermione pointed out. "I bet that some of them are even relieved."

"Relieved?"

"Because Voldemort's gone, so now they don't have to live in fear anymore. Harry, they may be Slytherins, and some of their parents may be Death Eaters, but they're still people." As she said this, she caught side of a certain blond sitting alone across the hall. He happened to look up at that moment, and silvery gray eyes met chocolate brown ones for the second time that night. Hermione felt something stirring in her stomach-something that felt strangely like...nerves? Get a hold of yourself, Hermione! she thought. He's Malfoy for Merlin's sake! You do not have feelings for him.

The two didn't break eye contact until Harry noticed that Hermione was staring at Malfoy. "Erm-why are you staring at him, Hermione?" he asked, a faint air of disgust lacing his tone.

"What? Staring at who?" Hermione said, looking away from Malfoy's magnetic silver orbs. "And why'd you say that like that?"

"Like what?" Harry asked.

"Like you thought he was...I don't know...beneath you," Hermione said.

"Oh, so you do admit you were staring at him?" Harry cocked his eyebrow and looked at her suspiciously.

"I wasn't staring at anyone, Harry!" Hermione insisted although she knew she was losing the argument.

"Then why did you say I thought he was beneath me? Who's the he, Hermione?" The witch stared at him incredulously. She couldn't believe her best friend was acting like that!

"Why do you even need to know?" she challenged, crossing her arms.

"Because, Hermione, he's dangerous! I don't want you to get hurt!"

"I'm not going to get hurt, Harry! He was only looking at me!"

"Yeah, and you were looking-sorry, staring-straight back at him!" Harry countered.

"You don't need to protect me, Harry," Hermione said. "I can take care of myself, thank you." And with that, she stood up, turned, and walked straight over to Malfoy.

So that's chapter 2... I know I kind of made Harry sound a bit like Ron in his protectiveness of Hermione, but I promise he'll be the same old Harry we all know and love later on. Anyways, please let me know what you guys thought of this chapter in the reviews! And thank you to Pauli Jean Malfoy and CrazyAsACupcake for reviewing chapter 1! ALSO, thank you to the 3 people who favorite-d this story and the 6 who followed it. Your appreciation of this story made me SO happy!

NOTE: I don't plan on having a schedule for story updates, so I'll probably just update whenever I can. Don't worry, I won't give up on this story, but your feedback will definitely help prevent that from ever happening!

Stay healthy,

RunningMyRace