A/N: Okay, so I forgot a disclaimer. I own nothing; if I did, I'd be a hella lot richer than I am right now. And I wouldn't mess my charries around like this.. Okay, maybe I would. Here it is, chapter two..

...If you knew what I knew....

....I wouldn't be dying....

Temptation

-A Deal with The Devil-

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" Back in school I might have had sarcasm, spite in my voice. Now I don't have the heart to sustain that illusion. "You.. don't have any reason to."

She laughs a laugh almost as quiet as a sigh. I look into those deep brown eyes and I'm almost pulled into her charms again. Then I pull myself away. Her once bushy hair is now like silk, smooth, like cascades of water flowing past her shoulders.

"Draco, Draco," she says. "So suspicious. Can't I ask a former classmate for a favor?"

I want to yell, I want to scream "Get out!" But.. I can't.

Finally I say, "What do you want? If you came here to--" I break off the rest: "torture me, wound me further, break my broken heart"... then manage, "make fun of me, you can go anytime you like."

"Like I said, I need a favor. Only you can do this for me, Draco..." She paces towards me, stands close to me, puts her arms around me, her face so close to mine. Her hand faintly, seductively touches the back of my neck; she leans towards my neck, and whispers, "Please; I'll do anything."

So tempting... she's never been this outright before. I know, I know she's trying to use me, but... I smell sickly sweet perfume and the soft scent of her hair. Then I catch myself and pull away. "What," I ask, more a statement than a question.

"You may have heard from the grapevine that Harry and I will be married soon," she says, taking a step away from me.

That sends a pang into my chest, and I shake my head, not thinking of it. "No," I respond, scratching my head, looking away from her deliberately, measuring her. "I hadn't. What of it?"

She takes a few steps towards me, looks up at me, and says, "I want you to kill him for me."

"Who?" It couldn't be her fiancée she wants killed, she isn't that vicious, is she?

"Harry," she says, sounding surprised, then pleads, "You're the only person who can do it, Draco, I need you to. I'll do anything you ask... if you do this.."

I look away from her charming viselike gaze. "Why.. why would you..."

"Want him killed? It's simple, Draco," she says. She turns and paces, and for some reason, I'm thankful I can't see her face. "He knows who I am. He's beginning to suspect me, Draco..."

"Of what?" Who she is? He knows, we all know who she is. Maybe I even know the most because I've seen her dark side.. but I don't know.

She laughs. "Poor Draco. Poor, innocent Draco. A cunning Slytherin turned confused bleeding-heart. I'll tell you... only you, Draco, because you'll understand.

"He and I were perfect for one another. You know, in the three years since school ended and we graduated, Harry and I have had a relationship. However.." Hermione paces a few steps more, then turns. I see her face. A somewhat amused, cold expression. It freezes my heart like a blast of cold air for a moment, then my heart flutters back to normal. "He didn't know everything about me."

My throat goes dry. I'm unaccountably frightened of this good-girl turned evil. It's strange; this draws me closer to her yet repels me, like before, but different. Was she always this way? "What didn't he know?"

She laughs, and I pause. My head burns with imagination of what she might say next.

"I'm a Dark Witch. The high priestess of the Death Eaters; yes, we still exist, even without the Dark Lord. I veiled my appearance from all of them, even your parents, though I didn't need to. Because I was behind the scenes," she pauses, savoring the moment, then continues, "at Hogwarts."

"When you were eleven?" I can't believe it. There's much now, I suppose, I should believe.. but my mind, bent in twisted love for this studious seductive girl, won't let me.

"I'm a Muggleborn, don't you forget. We like power, and a girl like me given so much at such an early age.. Well, who wouldn't use it to their advantage?

"I became a Gryffindor--and later, friends with Harry, and it all came together. I started low but once the Dark Lord knew I was friends with him he promoted me at once. I helped Harry through all of the things, including the Final Task at the Triwizard Tournament to lead him into the trap. Everything was planned so I, the mole, wouldn't be noticed." She sighs, grips a fist, releases it. "And now I can't do what I've worked so long to do."

"Kill him," I say, realizing the truth. "You want me to do your dirty work. Because you can't. You don't want to because.." I'm loath to say it, "you love him."

"No!" She looks astonished. "In love? With that idiot? No!"

"He can't be much of an idiot if he figured all of this out himself," I say. To think I'd be defending Potter from Granger.. to think any of this would happen.. to think I'd love her through all of this.

She looks unhappy with my comment. "I actually tipped him off by accident. Stupid me, talking to my lieutenants over the fire, thinking he was asleep. Stupid!" She curses, then looks at me with a curious gaze. Even though I know she's dangerous, cold-blooded, colder than I am, I see her innocence--or what I imagine to be innocence--in her eyes; that's what I fell in love with, for it was the opposite of what I was.. and am.

"So Draco, will you do it?" She gazes at me expectantly, with those wide, innocent brown eyes, and I fall. I fall into her charms and feel a twinge of anger, unexpected and rash. How dare you treat Hermione like that? Do this for her, you love her, you've always loved her and you've always hated him.. You've hated Harry Potter since forever, do it!

I blink, and realize her face, her beautiful face again is so close to mine. I'm taller than her, so she gazes up at me with those eyes, and says, "Anything, Draco. Do this one deed and you can have anything you want." She pauses, blinks delicately. "Even me."

She angles her neck and kisses me. It's brief, but every damn moment I cling to it because in my head, my twisted heart it binds me closer to her. It makes my torn heart love her more.

And as she swiftly leaves, I touch my lips absently, realizing she's just broken open all the scars that have hardened around my heart.

Again, I'm bleeding for her.