Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or anything affiliated with them.

Author's Note: Hey I'm back from vacation and yay! 50 reviews wow I really didn't think I'd ever get that many LoL ok I edited Ch.6 and decided to keep the chapter name after all even thought it doesn't sound quite right..oh well this chapter has lots of Draco and Hermione time and don't worry there'll be loootsa fluffiness soon enough. I'll get there eventually I'm sooo sorry this chapter was late but here it is.

Slythindor

Ch. 7: Heroics, Screw ups, and More Swallops

Hermione thought hard as she anxiously watched what was going on before her. A minute later Lucius looked over his shoulder before he was going to strike Draco, and she saw a level of rage in his eyes that she'd never seen before. Right at that moment Hermione knew she had to do something. Sure Draco was the bane of her existence, not to mention a cynical jerk, but prat or not, no one deserved a beating like that. She didn't know what she could possibly do though, was she just going to waltz in on a bunch of death eaters? 'Think, Hermione, think...augh what to do in a situation like this sure wasn't in any book,' she thought to herself, 'but I know I can think of something.' Suddenly she had an idea; it was a very simple plan, but it would only work as a very temporary diversion...VERY temporary. She picked up a fairly large rock that was next to her and as she was about to throw it, she saw that it was too late to prevent any damage as Lucius had struck Draco hard in his chest. Lucius was about to strike again but Hermione opened the window and while eluding notice she threw the rock toward the opposite side of the room where no one was standing. She heard glass shatter and she realized she must have thrown it through the window on the other side. Lucius stopped just in time and threw suspicious glances at the others in the room. Draco looked relieved and started inching away as his father went to see what happened.

"What was that?" Lucius said while walking over to the broken window with the others following, "Go out front and search the area." He stood there a couple of minutes more looking around for anything suspicious, then turned around to see Draco with his wand out. Not wasting any time, Draco shouted the first spell that came to mind.

"Petrificus Totalus!" he bellowed and he watched his father go stiff and fall to the ground. He grinned at his success and ran out the door but as soon as he left he felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest and collapsed. The pain was blinding and he knew the others would probably come after him any second now. He was lying there a minute thinking of how this situation couldn't get any worse, but he thought back at his victory against his father. It wasn't usual for him to use that kind of spell, it was very clever yet simple and very useful but at the moment he couldn't recall how that spell had gotten into his head. He heard footsteps coming toward him now and he knew he was going to be in for it.

"Malfoy? Malfoy are you alright?" Hermione said kneeling down next to him and trying to pull him up, "We have to get out of here the others will be back."

"Who's there?" Draco managed to ask through his labored breathing.

"I...we'll play who's who later okay, now come ON" she said as she helped him up and looked around for somewhere to hide.

"They'll find us...just forget it there are...too many of them and...I won't be able to get ...far enough," he said with difficulty.

"No, there must be some way out of this...umm...I'll use a spell! I'm not sure what I could possibly use though...oh, I know! Transpiricus Visibilis!" she said while waving her wand over both their heads. To his surprise they were both transparent now and he wondered who on earth knew how to do a spell like that. Hermione beamed for a second at remembering that spell since now they could easily be eluded in the dark.

"Where...did...you learn a spell...like that?"

"I read it somewhere," she said dragging him behind a large tree and lying him down.

"Who...are you?" he asked again as he couldn't open his eyes from the pain he was feeling on the right side of his chest and the pain sharpened every time he inhaled. Plus they were transparent now and he couldn't make out the figure opposite him. He heard an annoyingly familiar female voice but he didn't know who could possibly be in this area of the Forbidden Forest at this time of night.

"Never mind that now, do you know how to get out of here?"

"Yah, but they have...to apparate out...of...here first which is...going to take a while."

"Do you think they'll come near here?"

"They'll search...the whole area...so...we have to stay still."

"What was that?" she whispered as she peered over the edge of the tree, "They're coming, don't breathe so loudly." She saw a revived Lucius coming toward where they were but as he approached the tree he stopped.

"That boy has to learn to obey me, but he must have gotten too far into the forest," Lucius said chuckling, "It'll be punishment enough for him now, trying to find his way out. He's a clever boy but that spell was only a distraction, merely delaying the inevitable. He probably ran into a werewolf or something by now. Grab the traitor and let's go."

They heard them apparate with a few distinct popping noises and Hermione turned to Draco looking annoyed.

"You didn't untie the poor man they wanted you to kill?" she said exasperatedly. He couldn't help chuckling at that even though it did cause him quite a bit of pain.

"You mean...rescue him? Bad...enough that I didn't...kill him, I'm in for it...as it is and I...don't DO heroics."

"Hmph...I should have figured as much. I hope they don't go do it themselves though. Well, now we have to get ourselves out of here so lead...erm or point the way."

He tried to get up but fell down again, he couldn't understand what could possibly cause this much pain. Hermione sighed and tried to help him up but he pushed her away.

"I can do it...just give me a minute...will you?" he said as he tried again and fell back down clutching his chest. She watched him as he tried over and over in vain to get onto his feet. He didn't look like the Draco Malfoy she knew; he looked frail and helpless, but she knew he was still the malicious jerk he always was. She couldn't just leave him there though and she found it somewhat satisfying to see this side of him. It pleased her to see that he wasn't AS evil as she thought he was but he does come very close. After about ten tries to get up and a significant amount of pain Draco, even though he wouldn't admit it, had given up. He was lying on the floor grasping his chest and groaning.

"Augh...I think I made it...worse," he managed to say before completely blacking out.

"Oh no...Malfoy wake up! Wow I didn't think your father hit you that bad...this situation is getting worse by the minute," she said aloud as she started panicking and thinking to herself 'I have to calm down...no, I can't! I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, no I can't panic I have to figure this situation out. I'm in the middle of the Forbidden Forest late at night with my worst enemy who is wounded and unconscious yet is the only person who knows the way out of here. What if he dies? What if I die? He's pretty close though what am I going to do? Umm I guess I could see what's wrong with him. Yah, I could do that, after all I do want to be a doctor when I grow up and a magical doctor at that. But wait, then I'd have to open his cloak and shirt to do that; no I can't possibly. I could probably be able to help him though if I knew what was wrong with him. Do I even want to help him? Why should I? I guess if I think like a doctor they really don't judge people. A person in need is a person in need; yes that's it, even thought he would never do the same for me. Heck he'd probably just leave me here. Well I'm not like him, not like him at all and out of the goodness of my heart I'm going to help him even though he doesn't deserve it.'

She frowned at her instability as she kneeled down beside him. She had only read about three medical books, and highly doubted that she would be able to do anything about his injury. 'I could probably figure out what's wrong with him though, that's a start, but if I don't know what to do I'll just leave it alone,' she thought to herself as she unfastened his cloak, 'Oh God if anyone finds out about this I'm transferring to Beauxbatons!' she thought as she nervously undid his school robe and fretfully unbuttoned the shirt he had underneath. Her hands shook a little as she found it rather scandalous to be undressing an unconscious boy...especially Draco Malfoy. She found herself giggling a little as she thought of what the other girls would pay to be doing this. She turned serious again though as these thoughts were rather unprofessional. She took a deep breath as she found herself becoming very uneasy as she lifted the shirt he had underneath his school shirt. 'I can't see a thing,' she thought and took out her wand, "Lumos!"

She gasped as what she saw was worse than she had expected. It was a rather large and severe bruise with an awful amount of discoloration that stood out gravely against his pale skin, but she knew what was wrong as soon as she looked at it. That part of his rib cage was misshapen and it looked like a few of his ribs had buckled in and she realized they must be close to puncturing his lung. 'Ok I know what to do...sort of. I know the spell to heal bones but only a temporary one, I'd have to have Skele-Grow to fully heal them. I've never tried this sort of spell before though, so it'll probably have a weak effect but I'll give it a try...' she thought as she stood up and took out her wand. "Skeletonus Intactium!" she whispered as she waved her wand over the injury. To her delight she watched his ribs gathered together bit-by-bit and his wound got smaller. After they stopped moving though they still weren't completely corrected so she knew that was the best anyone of her experience could do. His injury looked a lot better though and she felt a sense of satisfaction at what she'd done. But she wasn't done yet; she'd have to finish what she began. 'I need to wrap them or they won't heal properly...augh why do I have to know all these things? And what on earth am I going to wrap them with?' she thought then remembered watching on movies how people ripped up clothing to wrap wounds, 'Well I'm not ripping up any of MY clothes that's for sure, but I'll be glad to rip up this death eater cloak...wait a sec though...I can't just rip cloth. I may have brains but I definitely don't have any brawn,' she thought as she carefully took the cloak off of him and examined it, 'If I could just...what the...' Something had fallen out of the cloak onto the floor but she couldn't quite see what it was. She felt around for it and found herself picking up a very old and sharp looking knife. The pattern around the handle was that of a snake wrapping itself around the base and it had rubies as eyes. Hermione gave Malfoy a disapproving look but at least she had found something to rip the cloth with, so she went on and ripped it into strips. "Oh God I feel like Florence Nightingale" she mumbled as she carefully wrapped the cloth around his chest. Her hands started to shake again as she'd never felt so uncomfortable in her life. His skin was rather soft and she was thinking just how he'd react if he woke up while she had her arms around his waist tying the bandage. Then she found the thought rather nauseating but after she was done she felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

She watched Malfoy lying there still unconscious and for a split second she thought back to how Ron looked, as he was lying unconscious after the bludger incident. She shook her head because at that second they both looked somewhat the same and she wished Malfoy was like this all the time. Not just because he was completely out cold, but also because he didn't have that menacing expression on his face and she didn't see his cold gray eyes giving her a sharp, piercing look. He was just lying there just utterly...serene and tranquil, so calm and passive. She sighed, as she knew she'd never see that look on him again and did what she had to do..."Hydronus Aquilis!" she said pointing her wand at his face. Water came streaming out and she watched while Draco stirred as he came into consciousness. His eyes flickered before he opened them completely. His icy gray eyes became alert immediately and he sat upright suddenly with alarm. He looked around him and saw that his shirt was open, he was wet, and his cloak was torn to shreds. Then he looked up to see the worst part of all.

"Mudblood?! What have you done to me? How did you get here...no augh," He couldn't continue as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. It didn't measure up to the pain he was feeling before but he was still hurt. "What's wrong with me? What have you done?" he shouted threateningly. She didn't look well herself as her robes were torn and she was scratched in several places. Her hair had several leaves in it...and was that a piece of a branch? He didn't care about her particular injuries though as he eyed her with alarm.

"Shhh! Nothing, you have three broken ribs thanks to your saintly father and all I did was fix them up a bit. One of them was getting too close to your lung and you would have died," she said but as he threw her a look that clearly showed he thought she'd gone insane she continued, "...not that I care anyway. I just needed to get out of here and you said you knew the way so if you don't mind, I'd like to leave this godforsaken place!"

He gave her another look and slowly got to his feet. He had a little difficulty but he wouldn't let her see that, it was bad enough he blacked out in front of her. Malfoys weren't supposed to show any sign of weakness after all, it was even well known that they didn't even have any. He looked past her in the darkness and started buttoning up his shirt. He glanced at his chest and noticed that it was wrapped up and he realized it was the same cloth from his cloak that was lying on the floor in shreds. Draco looked at Hermione standing there with her arms crossed looking impatient and annoyed. No one had ever done anything like that for him, and why would they? Why did she even do it? He could never understand that girl; she always seemed to turn up wherever he went. Even in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, of all places. The pain he felt now was drastically less than before. He felt pain hardly equivalent to a mere headache and he wondered how on earth she could have pulled it off. He thought back to that moment when the glass shattered and remembered the overwhelming sense of relief he felt, then that spell that was on the tip of his tongue just came out. Just then he realized where he got it.

Hermione was eying him with raised eyebrows as he had stopped buttoning his shirt midway and was staring into space. He glanced at her and all of a sudden he felt...gratitude. Then for a split second he thought of possibly thanking her since he would have died after all. He stiffened at the thought of this though, as that was completely absurd. Malfoys were always malicious bastards, and though he despised everything his father was involved with, he still had some pride. He was still a Malfoy and she was still a mudblood, heroic escape or not.

"Were you expecting some sort of thank you? Because I can assure you that you're not going to get one," he said silkily.

"Ha! A thank you from Draco Malfoy? You may think you're smarter but I can guarantee you, I'm not THAT dense!" she said raising her voice, "I'll have you know that I was in full knowledge as soon as I decided to help you that you would have NEVER done the same for me or anyone else. And when your father started beating you? Do you think I threw the rock through the window because we were such dear friends? NO! You would have sat there and watched with pleasure as I was getting the pulp beat out of me. Some people on the earth don't ENJOY seeing people suffer and die Malfoy, and lucky for you I just happen to be one of them. Unfortunately for me though, YOU happen to be the only person who knows how to get back to the castle from here so..." she was interrupted by Draco who had rushed over and covered her mouth with his hand as her voice had gotten too loud and seemed to have stirred something nearby. They were both surprised that he was touching her but Hermione was surprised at how gentle his touch was. She snapped out of it though remembering what she was just saying.

"Get your hands off me!"

"Shut up Granger! Don't you hear that?"

They heard a shuffling sound to their left and after Hermione conceded they moved slowly in the opposite direction behind a tree. They saw green eyes glowing from behind a bush and heard a loud growl then all of a sudden the bush started shaking violently. They watched it in horror in fear of what was causing the movement, as the Forbidden Forest was famous for having extremely rare and dangerous creatures creeping about. Suddenly the bush stopped moving and the eyes disappeared. They breathed a sigh of relief and after a minute, came out from behind the tree. Then out of nowhere and to Hermione's utter terror a Swallop leaped out of the bush. She screamed louder than she thought she was capable of, to Draco's bewilderment, as this looked like a completely harmless creature.

"What's this? You're afraid of this tiny thing? I would have thought you were a little bolder than that Granger," he said smirking and approaching the Swallop.

"Malfoy! I need you to be alive so I can get out of here! Get away from it!" she said reproachfully.

"If you think I'm afraid of this thing then you've completely lost it! Why I'll show you how afraid I am of this puny..." he said with a proud tone of voice and was about to kick it when Hermione grabbed him forcefully and pulled him back.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she bellowed, "That thing is how I god forsakenly GOT here ok? I was at Hagrid's and I accidentally threw it across the room then before I knew it, it was the size of a house and I was a surrounded with a smoke cloud. THEN the smoke turned into a hand and started chasing me into the forest and that's how I ended up at your stupid cabin," she explained quickly as she was pulling him away.

"If there was ever a moment I couldn't possibly think you could go any more completely MAD it would be now, so get off me you senseless...augh!! What in bloody hell?!" He bent over suddenly and grabbed his leg. Hermione screamed again as the Swallop had bounced over while they were arguing and had bitten Malfoy. Then to her horror and before she could stop him, Malfoy had lunged at the Swallop and harshly threw it past a few trees beyond where they were standing.

"Malfoy! You DIDN'T! Oh my God RUN!" she shouted as she grabbed his arm and started sprinting. He tried to struggle out of her grip but stopped resisting as he looked back and saw the top of the now gigantic Swallop sticking out from the tip of the trees. Hermione heard that ever-familiar deflating sound and they found themselves completely immersed in smoke. They could hardly see each other now and Hermione was practically hyperventilating, as she knew what was going to happen next.

"Th-The smoke...oh my god...oh my god..." she was saying as she tore through the forest.

"Calm down it's just a bit of smoke," Draco said, but what was déjà vu to Hermione was a very new experience for him as the smoke started whirling around in front of him loudly. Although, it wasn't as loud as Hermione, who was incessantly shrieking at the top of her lungs and running in the opposite direction. She didn't know what to expect this time and she didn't WANT to know, but it was too late. Draco was curious though but as soon as he looked back he wished he hadn't as a Skull had formed from the smoke and appeared to be coming after them. He hadn't realized that Hermione was clutching his arm as they darted through the trees, but he soon found out as he was being thrown to the ground. Apparently, Hermione had tripped on something and had taken him down with her. He managed to get up quickly with his heart pounding as the skull began to appear from afar. He started running again but he heard a voice calling out to him.

"Malfoy! Malfoy, this blasted plant's got me!" she screamed as she was struggling to free herself. He could hardly see her now and the Skull was gaining speed. He saw it emerging from behind the trees a few yards back and he heard Hermione scream frantically. He hesitated for a second but he found himself, as if possessed, turning back. He found her a few seconds later fighting with a web of thin leafy vines that had wrapped around both her legs. He reached in his pocket for his knife but to his shock and horror he couldn't find it.

"M-My knife, bloody hell where's the knife?"

"Forget the blasted knife just tear through them, there's too many!"

His heart was pounding as he kneeled down and started rapidly ripping apart the vines. His hands were getting caught in them and the leaves had tiny sharp thorns that pricked his skin as he fought them. They finally stopped multiplying and after a few more seconds they had shredded all of them. He didn't know what had overcome him as he helped Hermione up, but as she got to her feet she let out a blood-curdling scream. Draco went half deaf but as he looked up he hadn't realized the Skull had gained on them so much that it was looming above their heads now, looking like it was going to attack suddenly at any second. Then before he could start running again, he noticed that Hermione had suddenly stopped screaming and then a second later, as he saw complete terror in her eyes, she completely passed out. He panicked, as he didn't know what to do; his mind was completely baffled by the situation. "I've done enough to shame the entire Malfoy name already," he thought, "That's definitely enough heroics for one day." But Hermione's voice rang in his mind as he remembered her telling him how he would never do what she did for anyone else. He couldn't stand her being right, and he had no idea what this dangerous looking skull was capable of. So he put her arms around his shoulders since he was too weak from his injury to carry her and ran with her as fast as he was able to. But all of a sudden to his complete terror and shock he tripped and fell over a jagged rock, as he couldn't see where he was going from all the smoke. He felt a severe amount of alarm as he looked at the smoky Skull, which was about twice his size. It was still standing in the spot he left it at, but suddenly the wind started blowing wildly and it's mouth started to slowly open. Then quick as a whip it lunged at them and the last thing Draco remembered was the Skull's mouth covering them both.



Hehehehe I know I know that's the most evil cliffhanger ever but damn this chapter took SOOOO long cuz I didn't plan to have it here LoL and the next chapter wasn't planned either o0o well we'll see wut happens hehe o0o btw PLEASE REVIEW and also read SweetWaters's story called The Mistake They Can't Deny it's another reeeeeally goooodd original Draco/ Hermione fic go read it noww haha but review first cuz I luv reading them LoL so far anyway haha cyaa I'll hopefully get the next chapter up soon k byee