A/N: Hello everyone!

Thank you all so much for reviewing! ^.^ It made my day! :) Sorry this chapter took so long...I got writer's block on one part of the story. It drove me CRAZY! But, thanks to my BFFL, iLaaveDracoMalfoyakaTomFelton, we have our chapter! Thanks a bunch Thea! :)

Really quickly, I'd like to address one review.

To xFlamesForeverx: Well, this was definitely an interesting review to read, and honestly, I'm not too offended. I am completely aware that my characters are out of character. But so what? This is fanfiction. You can do whatever you want. And I plan on doing just that. As for the italics, I think it's necessary. That's how I do thoughts, and some statement in italics make me feel that my chapter is complete. I'm sorry if it bothers you, but I don't think I'm going to change that much. I'll try to lessen it. So thank you for your opinion, whoever you are, thank you for reviewing, and thank you for reading my fanfiction.

So enough waiting, here's the next chapter!

Hermione POV

Within a couple of days, Draco and I apparated to Hogwarts. My head was dizzy as we landed and I was breathless.

"That couldn't have been that tiring, Hermione." said Draco, with his arms crossed.

"Shove off, Draco." I retorted. He chuckled.

We walked down into the Great Hall. To my surprise, there were a lot of people in the Hall.

"'Mione!" called a voice. I turned around, and I felt a body tackle mine with a hug.

"Hello Ginny! How have you been doing?" I asked her.

"Fine. We were actually getting quite bored a the Burrow, so it was almost a miracle when Professor McGonagall showed up to tell us about this quest." she said. "Of course Harry, Ron, and I weren't going to pass up this opportunity."

I laughed. "Of course."

"Quiet down everyone!" called a loud voice. Headmaster Dumbledore was standing at his podium with his wand to his throat. The room got quiet almost immediately.

"Thank you. Welcome back everyone! Thank you for deciding to come back early to help us. As some of you know, the Forbidden Forest is currently providing us with trouble. For some reason, there has been an uproar within the creatures of the forest, and they have been panicked. We ask that you seventh years provide us with help to either defend Hogwarts from damages from the creatures, or go into the Forbidden Forest to look for a cause. All those who would like to defend, please stand next to Professor McGonagall. For those of you who would like to go into the Forbidden Forest, please stand by Professor Lupin."

It was fairly even. About half of the students went to stand by Professor McGonagall, but the other half went to Professor Lupin.

Harry and Ron started walking towards Lupin, but Ginny headed to McGonagall. She motioned for me to follow. I looked around, and I found Draco standing next to Harry and Ron smirking. He looked up and smirked at me.

I walked over to where Ginny was standing, and grabbed her hand. She smiled at me.

Soon, everyone was sorted, and to my surprise, Blaise came to stand by me, and winked.

"Alright students!" called Professor McGonagall. "What you will be doing is defending the school from any creatures that come. There is one rule: you must not kill. The consequences that are given if this rule is not followed may be severe. However, we expect you to stun the creature, and bring it into order, or calm it." she said.

Murmurs rushed throughout the crowd, but McGonagall silenced them.

"Now, everyone, find a position, wands out, and be careful!" she said, and suddenly, she disapparated.

"I thought we couldn't apparate at Hogwarts?" I whispered.

"I'd bet they lifted that for now." said Ginny. "But where do you think she went?"

"I don't know, but apparently, we're on our own." I said, quietly.

I wasn't expecting what would happen, so it took me by surprise. A bunch of Acromantulas came skittering towards me.

I had only seen one once, and it was a dead one, but this was far more horrifying. There were 3 of them, each about 10 feet long, with huge snapping pincers, 8 large black eyes, and long, hairy, black legs.

Ginny screamed as they advanced towards us, their pincers snapping furiously.

I backed up, and Ginny shouted, "Stupefy!" The spell missed the spiders as they skittered around.

I pulled out my wand. "Aguamenti!" I shouted. A jet of water burst out from the tip of my wand, causing all of the spiders to go into confusion as the jet hit them.

"Now!" I shouted to Ginny.

She stepped forward. "Petrificus Totalus!"

One of the spiders fell over, frozen. Ginny threw the same spell at another spider, earning the same result.

Finally, the last spider walked towards me, but I stopped it. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The last spider fell over, and Ginny cheered.

"Well! That wasn't too bad." I said.

"Yep." she chuckled.

"Splendid. Congratulations, girls. You did wonderfully." said a voice, startling me. I turned around and saw the Headmaster winking at us. He walked forward, placed a hand on the spiders, and they all disapparated.

More and more creatures has come towards us, but Ginny and I managed to finish them off, and put them into a full body-bind.

Right after, some professor would come, and disapparate away with them.

"Do you wonder what the professors do with them?" I asked.

"Maybe they take them away to go investigate what's wrong with them." suggested Ginny.

"Hm..." I said. Something wasn't right.

My thoughts were cut off by a loud cry. I looked up, and saw a huge hippogriff running towards us.

I pulled my wand out, and yelled "Stupefy!"

The spell missed, and the hippogriff just squawked and ran faster towards us.

Ginny pulled out her wand, but before she could mutter a spell, the hippogriff leaped towards us. I put my arm in front of my face to protect myself, but my thin uniform sleeve didn't stand a chance against the sharp talons of the hippogriff. They sliced through the thin fabric, leaving 3 deep cuts that were bleeding heavily in my arm.

I gasped in pain and feel to the ground.

"Protego!" called Ginny, and a force field covered me.

She stunned it and the creature stood, frozen. She ran to me, helping me sit up. "Are you ok, 'Mione?" she asked, worriedly. I grunted, and nodded.

"It's just my arm." I said, inspecting it. It was pretty deep.

Suddenly, Professor McGonagall's figure appeared before us.

"I'm amazed, girls. How many have you gotten down? Twenty? Tw-" she looked at me. "Mias Granger! Are you alright?" she said, running over to me.

"I'm fine." I told her, holding my arm.

She looked at the three gashes. "We'd better get you to the hospital wing. Miss Weasley, would you mind holding her arm?" she said. Professor McGonagall put on hand on the hippogriff and another on Ginny's shoulder, who was holding my good arm.

With a flash, we reappeared at the hospital wing. Ginny helped me onto a cot, and Madame Pomfrey rushed over.

"My goodness! Let's take a look at your arm." she said, carefully holding it. She looked it over, pulled out her wand, and suddenly, the gashes began closing. I was feeling better already.

"There you go, Miss Granger. Be sure to clean it off." she said, and she walked away to another cot.

"Hey, you alright?" asked a voice, startling me.

"Oh, Blaise. I'm fine. Madame Pomfrey is really quick." I said, looking at the faint scars left on my arm where the cuts once were.

"That's good." he said.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"Unicorn hoofs are quite hard. Gave me a slight concussion. I'm fine now." he said, grinning. Suddenly his eyes lit up. "Hey, would you mind doing a little prank on our dear friend, Draco?"

Draco POV

We trekked into the forest, and somehow got separated from the rest of the group, but there was almost nothing.

"Well, this is a load of dung. There's nothing!" said Ron.

"Shut it, Weasel. We've only been out here for 3 minutes at most." I hissed.

"Shove off, Malfoy." he said, glaring.

"Won-won!" called some voice. Some girl with thick brown hair came bounding up to the Weasel.

"Oh, hi Lav." he said. Potter rolled his eyes. I could tell he didn't like her much. I smirked.

"This is your girlfriend, Won-won?" I teased.

"Shove off." he said, through clenched teeth.

"Oh, my apologies, Won-won." I smirked.

Ron looked like he was going to lunge at me, but suddenly, a loud noise startled us. About five dementors showed up, flowing in front of us. The annoying girl screamed. I backed away.

"What the hell?" I yelled.

The Weasel's girlfriend cowered behind him, as the dementors approached. Potter pulled out his wand. "Expecto Patronum!" he called. A silvery-white stag erupted from the tip of his wand.

I pulled out my wand. I had never conjured a full body patronus before, but it was worth a shot. No harm in trying.

I cleared my mind and thought of the happiest thing I could. Hermione's face came up in my mind, smiling at me.

I would've been very creeped out that she was my happiest thought, but for the situation I was in, I decided to ignore it. "Expecto Patronum!" I shouted. A silvery-white dragon came out from the tip of my wand. I was stunned.

But the strange thing, is that when Potter's stag, the Weasel's dog, and my dragon ran at the dementors, they simply just vanished.

"What the bloody hell was that?" asked Ron.

"I don't think those were real dementors." said Potter.

"But that doesn't make any sense." I said.

What was going on?

A couple hours later, we headed back to Hogwarts. Everyone else was already gathered in front of the school.

"Draco!" called a voice. Blaise was running towards me. "It's Hermione! She's been hurt terribly!"

Fear rushed through my veins. I told her she'd get hurt. I told her.

I followed him into the castle, we disapparated to the hospital wing. He pointed at a cot in the back. Sheets were over the whole body, but it did look like Hermione's. I just about ran over, lifted the sheets, and suddenly...

"BOO!" she screamed, sitting up.

"AGH!" I shouted, startled. I fell back in surprise. Blaise and Hermione were laughing.

"Ahahaha, I'm sorry Draco, but that look on your face was priceless!" said Hermione, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Shut up." I mumbled. "I hate you two."

Everyone gathered in the Great Hall to hear an announcement.

"Hello everyone! Thank you all for being here, and might I say, good job. You all passed this test." said Headmaster Dumbledore.

Confused whispers ran throughout the crowd. What test?

"Might I explain: This whole thing today was a test. Professor Lupin, who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts here came to me and requested we do this little test to see how you seventh years can put what you are learning into real life. To each student in this room, I award 5 house points, and to the Gryffindor house, I reward an extra 20 to Miss Granger and Weasley for their excellence and ability to capture so many creatures." announced Dumbledore.

All of the Gryffindors cheered.

"Well that's stupid." I muttered. "That crazy old coot. This was all a test?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, and he smiled at me, meaning he had heard me, but was not offended.

"Well, today was fun." breathed Hermione, who came up to me.

"Whatever." I muttered. I suddenly remembered what had happened earlier today as I tried to cast my patronus.

What was that?

A/N: So chapter 34 is done!

Oh my godness, there are this many chapters! O.o

About Draco's patronus: I'm not sure what his real patronus is, since it is never mentioned in the books. I'm assuming it's a dragon, because "Draco" means "Dragon" in Latin, and I guess it makes the most sense. If any of you know what it really is, don't hesitate to review to tell me! I want to know!

So thank you all, and PLEASE REVIEW!

I'll see you all soon!

Luv,

Cherri