Draco practically stumbled back to his room that night, dazed and completely infatuated with the image of her soft, tender lips. He didn't know what made him lean forward to press his lips to hers, but it felt so good. His mind was a great haze and his mind clogged with thoughts and feelings overwhelming him. He sat down on his bed and ran a trembling hand through his silky hair.

The kiss was the first and last, he thought to himself. But he knew it wasn't true. He wanted so much more out of her and he wished he had watched her reaction. He felt guilty for just kissing her and leaving her, and she undoubtedly was confused as well. She would probably demand to know why he had kissed her…and he wanted to know why he wanted to do it again.

This, again, was not supposed to be happening. Running his hands over his eyes several times, he stood up to walk over to the window. He felt alone as he gazed up at the moon, and it flooded the room with a white glow. He wondered what she was thinking at that very moment, and how she felt about him.

And it hit him. Like a ton of ice had just toppled upon him. He had feelings for her. As this didn't come so obvious to him, it did just then. A knock at the door removed him from his entrancement with the moon, as he opened the door.

There was no time to react as Hermione yanked his head down and once again her soft lips grazed his. His first response was shock but shock was quickly replaced with desperation as he tried to pull her close. She clawed at his robes as he tilted his head to gain better access to her lips. After a few more moments of light kisses, Hermione backed up into the dark hall and disappeared.

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The next few weeks were uneventful to say the very least. The Combat Wizards and Generals were all called down for very important meetings elsewhere, so that meant that the half of the building was gone. In the brevity of time that Hermione had spent with her kids over the past few weeks, she had avoided Draco as much as possible. She still couldn't believe she braved knocking on his door just to continue the kiss. She was left in shock after his lips touched hers, but he had tortured her. Her heart cried out for more, when her mind wouldn't allow her to believe he actually felt something for her and that she actually felt something for him. The precious time she had spent with her children had helped distract her from her thoughts on Draco, though she often couldn't sleep. She re-lived that kiss every night.

Sadness was also looming in the air. She was aware that her children's stay was up, though she wanted nothing more than to have them with her.

She was busy packing away Corey and Gabriella's clothes when Jade entered her room holding Gabriella, wearing a smile on her face. Hermione looked up and then continued folding. Jade handed Gabriella over to Hermione and began to fold the rest. Jade was also saddened because of the departure of Hermione's kids. She had grown fond of them, and attached as well.

"Corey is in the nursery with the other boys." Jade said with a brave smile, pretending to be happy. Hermione nodded, her face still grim as she tried a weak smile. She brushed her hair away from her face and began to rock Gabby to sleep. She kissed her daughter's forehead, and tried to hold back tears. Jade took this as her cue to leave, but only to return a few minutes later with Corey. She put their coats on and tried to hold back the tears that were choking her. She kissed both of their cheeks and sighed.

"I love you both. I promise this will all be over soon." She lied. As Jade picked up their bags and went to exit, she opened the door to see Draco standing there, ready to knock. Hermione's break caught in her throat.

"Hermione are you OK?" Jade said as her eyes widened. Draco stepped into the room and smiled at the two young children. It was probably the only smile she had ever seen him give…in that sort of way. Everything from his gleaming smile to his broad muscles was making her knees weak. She forced herself to speak.

"I was just sending my kids back. Excuse us." Hermione avoided his gray eyes as she passed him to go to the door. He touched her arm lightly and she recoiled back. He gave her a confused look as he spoke. "I'll take them back—Muggle transportation." Before she could protest or even be confused as to why he was doing this, he had two men come in and take their bags downstairs.

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Days had passed since her children had left her, and as the time drifted on her mind was cluttered with confusing thoughts and ideas that clouded her vision. She had once almost fallen down the stairs when she saw Draco exercising in the training gym. They hadn't spoken since he had taken her children home. She was a little skeptical and afraid at first, but strangely enough something inside of her said trust him.

More weeks passed, and the war dragged on until she felt like it would never end. She missed Harry and Ron, dearly. All she wanted was everything to be back to normal again. While humming a quiet tune, she cleaned up her room. The Manor was oddly quiet, though it was only 7:00 AM. There usually was a little bustling about but there was no one.

Outside the rain fell, beating on her window as if it were angry. The gray sky cried out in thunder and lightening lit up her entire room. Though it was still faintly dark out and the clouds only helped make it darker, she could faintly see wizards and witches training on the grass fields with their brooms and wands. She pressed her palm against the cold glass surface and longed to be out of there, if only just for one day. She felt as if she were in a prison, her own prison and the Manor's as well.

And then she heard it. Blood-curdling screams, shrill voices, and loud explosions disturbed her inner thoughts as she nearly stumbled at the sound of these voices and explosions suddenly cutting through the silent air. Though her door muffled the voices she could clearly hear what they were screaming about and she could tell what was going on.

"GET UP ALL OF YOU NOW! GET UP NOW!" Shouted the Generals as the beat on the doors. "UP NOW YOU BLOODY MORONS!" Hermione stumbled out of her room and opened her door that separated her from the chaos. All around her people were running up and downstairs, screaming hexes and curses. She felt a cold gust of air coming from downstairs.

"We're being ATTACKED!" Her first thoughts were to find Jade but as she saw what was before her, nothing could have prepared her.

Hermione's eyes dilated and her entire body froze as she gazed down the flights of stairs. Blood and people practically covered the front of the lobby and she could tell this was no ordinary attack. Her eyes rose up as she noticed half of the front of the Manor was gone. With her mouth hung open she watched in horror as the Lightside forcefully pushed through the halls, shouting curses and pointing their wands at any person they saw.

While making her way down the stairs to see what she should do, she tripped over bodies that lay twisted on the huge staircase. Rolling down a couple of stairs, she tried to stand up but her back cried out in protest as she fell to her feet. There must have been hundreds of people in the lobby on the first floor, and though the Manor was huge, she could not see anything but people running. She heard nothing but screams and yells of pain. She saw nothing but flashes of colors before her. She felt nothing but grief and heartache as she watched it unfold before her eyes.

She was finally able to stand and she searched the crowd for any sign of Jade. She pushed her way back up the stairs to the nursery but all she found there were the children, crying that they were scared. She quieted them down enough and she screamed over the explosions that were heard from downstairs.

"Where's Jade?" Hermione shouted over the loud noises that were slowly getting more audible. One small child spoke up first through her tears. "She went downstairs to see what's happening." As the explosions grew louder, she knew that she had to get the children out of there and away from the danger. She huddled them together in a big group, while she and the older children carried the younger ones.

"Follow ME!" Hermione yelled. Amazingly enough, she led them all the way up to the top tower without any one getting hurt. She huddled them into the far corner of the room.

"This is the safest place for you to be right now. I'll be right back. I'm going to find Jade." She appointed the older children to keep an eye on them and to keep them quiet. She closed the door behind her and enchanted the door with a magical lock, so that no one could break an entry but herself.

Running down about 10 flights of stairs, she had to jump from the second floor to the first now that the staircases were almost all completely blown up. She tried as best as she could to avoid any curses and hexes that were heading her way, but she had gotten hit several times. Knowing that she couldn't possible heal everyone she came across she did as best as she could. Bleeding and hurt, she stumbled to the corner of one of the rooms and slid down the wall. Her eye vision was beginning to get very blurry and slowly the world around her started to spin into a mush of colors. When her focus finally came back to her, she noticed a familiar figure lying beside her.

"Jade!" Hermione crawled over to where she was, propped up against the wall too, along others who were hurt. Hermione quickly placed her hands over Jade's head, where most of the bleeding was coming from. When she finally regained herself, Jade started talking out of fright.

"Hermione! THE CHILDREN! I left them, are they all right? Oh…I'm so dizzy. Hermione?" Hermione shushed her until she calmed down some, and spoke while she stroked her hair.

"The children are fine. They're in the Upper Tower." Jade stood up, hugged Hermione, and ran off towards the tower. Hermione rose to her feet, limping towards the door. She didn't care how hurt she was; she knew she needed to help people. Then another thought entered her mind.

Draco.

She had completely forgot. He could be hurt and she didn't have any idea where he was. She ran from the room, still limping and dodging wands that slashed the air. The rooms shook with yells and bright lights. She had checked every room on the bottom floor and all that was left was the training areas in the gyms.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she approached the large gym, and there were flashes of a violent purple color. And she saw him, Harry and Draco circling each other, wands in hand. Both were breathing erratically. They didn't even blink as she entered the room and stepped into the gym. If they heard her footsteps, they didn't show any sign of it. They continued to stare each other. Amongst them were other battles going on everywhere between the sides. They didn't seem to notice her screaming either. Everything began to go in slow motion before Hermione's eyes.

Everything was blurry and she walking straight toward them…or at least she thought she was. She wasn't sure if she had said it but her cries must have been heard because both Harry and Draco whipped around just when they were going to hex each other. The both stopped in their tracks and froze. Hermione didn't even have time to comprehend what they were saying when she heard them cry out things she couldn't hear over the hum of cries.

But it was too late. She saw them as they ran toward her but just as a blinding white light struck her in the back of her head. She dropped to her knees and fell over.