Hermione watched in despair as the room around her span uncontrollably. Every breath she inhaled seemed to tear at her lungs as she fought desperately to fully comprehend Grace's shattering words. The tears streaming down her face were unstoppable as the image of Draco holding Grace in his arms threatened to cripple her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that Grace's words held no truth. Hermione knew that Draco Malfoy would never stoop so low as to sexually assault anyone, yet still she couldn't help but see them together. Grace was beautiful and enchanting, how could anyone resist her.

The pain of it all, spread through her body like poison, leaving her feeling empty and numb. As she continued to sob Hermione felt her knees buckle, and collapsed to the floor. But instead of hitting the cold hard ground, Hermione felt a pair of arms surround her. She saw the tell-tale fiery hair of a Weasley and she scrambled to her feet. Seeing her friend through her tear blurred eyes, Hermione burrowed herself in Ron's arms and wept.

As her breathing began to slow, Hermione hastily wiped the tears from her face and stepped out of Ron's comforting arms. Her trembling hand dropped back to her side lifelessly, but soon Hermione felt the numbing pain inside her recede. It was as if the impenetrable fog of pain was being swept away by a fiery anger. The hands by her side were soon clenched in fists of anger. She had done nothing to deserve such pain and she refused to wallow in her sorrow like a fool. She deserved an explanation and she was damn well going to get one.

Ron reached out to console Hermione, as he watched an array of emotions flash through his friend's eyes.

"Hermione, what's wrong? What happened?" Ron whispered soothingly.

But Hermione could not see passed her anger, could not overcome her tremendous need for an explanation. Without looking at Ron, Hermione strode out of the room.

"I need to talk to Draco."

Ron turned swiftly and reached out to stop Hermione.

"Hermio-…"

"No! I need to do this alone."

Stunned at the pain in Hermione's voice, all Ron could do was stand back and watch as Hermione walked away from him…

~*~

As Draco strode out of Greenhouse Four, stamping his feet to rid them of manure, he was suddenly attacked by an almost overwhelming feeling of unease. He froze, and sensing his mood, Crabbe and Goyle, halted as well. Draco scanned his surroundings searching for an explanation for the foreboding sensation in his gut. As if mirroring the tension that was nagging at him, dark grey clouds rolled overhead threatening to unleash a violent storm.

"What's wrong?" Crabbe asked, eyeing his surroundings suspiciously.

Shaking his head at the uneasy feeling, Draco told himself he was being stupid.

"Nothing's wrong." Looking down at his hands, Draco realized he had left his textbook in the greenhouse. "Hey, I've gotta go back and get my book. You guys go on without me. I'll see you later."

Draco turned on his heel and headed back into the greenhouse. Out of the corner of his eye Draco saw Crabbe and Goyle quicken their pace in an effort to find shelter before the storm broke out.

As he opened the door of the greenhouse, he was assailed by a wave of heat. The plants growing in the greenhouse thrived in hot and humid conditions. Draco closed the door, knowing any change in the climate of the greenhouse could seriously harm the fragile plants of the greenhouse. Realizing his book would be right at the back of the greenhouse; he made his way down the darkening and slightly eerie greenhouse. He couldn't seem to shake the perturbed sensation that gripped him and the sudden downpour of rain made Draco jump. He felt incredibly stupid and hastily grabbed his textbook off the table. A loud bang made him look up to see that the greenhouse door was swinging wildly in the strong winds of the storm. Draco frowned, certain that he had securely shut the door. The foreboding sensation grew stronger and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He could feel his heart begin to pound. Something was very wrong.

Suddenly Draco became aware of a presence behind him. He tensed, prepared to fight whoever it was that lurked in the shadows. He held his book tightly in his left hand and clenched his right hand into a fist. He was just about to lunge when a pair of soft hands reached out and covered his eyes.

"Draco." The husky voice whispered.

"Jesus Christ, Granger! What are you doing here? You scare-." He stopped abruptly not wanting her to know his fears.

"What Draco Malfoy was scared? Did I scare you, spunk?" she laughed.

Blinded by the hands that covered his eyes, Draco reached up to remove them but was stopped.

"Don't Draco. Close your eyes. I've got a surprise for you." She murmured softly.

  Draco ginned and did as he was told, anticipating his surprise with delight. He turned to face Hermione and felt her hands locked behind his neck. Sightlessly he bent down and searched out her mouth. Draco wrapped his arms around her small waist, and pulled her closer to him. Running his tongue lightly across her bottom lip, Draco sighed softly then deepened the kiss.

It was odd but with his eyes closed Hermione felt terribly different. He tried to laugh it off, but the uneasy feeling returned in full force. Something was very wrong. Draco opened his eyes, but instead of seeing Hermione in his arms, Draco was shocked to realize he was kissing someone else entirely.

"Grace!" He yelled in confusion, as he tried to push her away.

Grace held steadfast onto him and grinned manically. She swept her long chocolaty locks over her left shoulder, turning to look out of the glass panels of the greenhouse and began to laugh.   

Draco turned in the same direction, to see Hermione standing outside the greenhouse staring at them. Draco forcefully pushed Grace away but that only made her cling tighter and laugh harder. With a great heave Grace fell onto the manure littered ground, still laughing manically. Draco wasted no time running out of the greenhouse into the rain.

He felt a stab of pain at the sight of Hermione. She stood stock-still, seemingly oblivious to the heavy rain. Her normally bushy hair was plastered to her head, her black cloak was thoroughly soaked and her hands hung lifelessly at her side. Draco looked into her eyes, thinking he would see hurt and confusion, but instead he was faced with a chilling emptiness in her eyes. She had fashioned her facial expression into a mask of calm, and she continued to stare at him through the pouring rain.

Unexpectedly, Draco felt a flare of anger. Nothing. Hermione felt absolutely nothing. She had just watched him kissing another girl and she felt nothing. Draco thought to himself. Goddammit! She had cried for Finch- Fletchley.  But fuck him; she didn't care if he betrayed her. Like she was fucking expecting it.

Draco took in a deep breath to control his anger, and took a wary step towards Hermione. To his surprise she didn't move. Just stood there watching him through the heavy downpour.

"Hermione…What you just saw was a mistake." Draco started, watching Hermione closely. He blinked the raindrops out of his eyes as he waited for Hermione to say something. Anything. For what seemed like an age, though must only have been a few minutes, they stood almost drowning in the stormy rain, silently staring at each other.

"A mistake? If that was a mistake, then what was our relationship?" Hermione spoke so quietly that Draco almost missed her words.

"What the-?"

All of a sudden it was as if something inside of Hermione snapped, and Draco saw a fiery anger in her eyes.

"A mistake, Draco! Do you think our whole fucking relationship was a mistake!? Or was it all apart of some sick joke. You've hated me for years. What was your plan, huh? Make me care about you just enough so that seeing you in someone else's arms would pretty much cripple me. Was that it?" She screamed hysterically.

With amazing speed and agility, Draco covered the space between them and took Hermione by the shoulders, shaking her slightly.

"That's not it at all. I don't know what Grace was doing but it wasn't what it looked like. It was a mistake." Draco shouted.

The fire in her eyes was doused and Hermione seemed to withdraw into herself. Her lower lip trembled slightly as she tore her gaze away from Draco's and looked at the sodden ground.

"I saw you Draco. I saw you kiss her." Her voice quavered as she spoke.

Draco gripped her under the chin and forced her to look up into his eyes.

"Hermione, you've got to believe me! You've got to trust me." Draco said sternly as he lowered his head to kiss her. Softly he placed a kiss on each of her fluttering eyelids and tasted the saltiness of her tears. He moved his hand to rest on her cheek, and trailed his kisses down her nose until he reached her lips. Draco pulled her head closer to deepen the kiss, but Hermione turned her head away.

She stared at the eerie looking greenhouse behind Draco and whispered;

"My mother once told me that when you fall in love, you need to have great inner strength to put your trust in the person you adore."

Draco felt his chest tighten in fear as he began to realize that Hermione was going to leave him. She stepped out of his grasp and turned from him.

"Hermione. Don't! Don't walk away from me, Hermione." He choked. Knowing that he needed her in his life he was deadly terrified that he was about to lose her.

At the sound of his strangled words, Hermione turned back to face him. She had believed that she could cry no more, and yet fresh tears were now streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry, Draco. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to trust you." With that she turned, and with every step she took away from Draco, she felt her heart break a little bit more…

~*~

Through the rain Hermione saw the great castle looming ahead of her. The sky was slowly but surely darkening and Hermione watched as the castle began to glow with the flickering lights of a thousand candles. Biting her trembling lip, she tried to stem the relentless stream of tears cascading down her cheeks. She had no wish to return to the castle where she would be forced to endure worried questioning and sympathetic glances. She needed to be alone.

Hugging her thoroughly sodden cloak tighter to her body, Hermione turned away from her view of Hogwarts and ran. She didn't know where she was headed, didn't really care. All she knew was the persistent voice inside her head telling her she needed to escape.

She ran until it felt like her chest would burst from exertion. Her leg muscles tightened painfully but still she ran down a gravel path, made slippery by the torrential rain. Hermione hadn't realized until she saw the winged statues that heralded the entrance gate to the school that her path was taking her out of Hogwart grounds. She didn't care. She was oblivious to the silent darkness that surrounded her; all she knew was the need to escape the pain that ate away at her soul. Her eyes blurred with yet more tears as she thought of Draco's treachery. Her blurred vision and the dark night meant that Hermione could not see very far into the distance, so it came as a surprise when Hermione collided with a hard chest. With a startled gasp, Hermione reached up to wipe away her tears, apologizing for the collision. But her hands were clasped in a strong grip. Feeling an unreasonable sensation of fear in her chest, Hermione hurriedly blinked the tears from her eyes. With her vision cleared, Hermione looked up to see the man she had collided into and fought to contain her scream of terror.

"Now, now, Miss Granger. That isn't happiness to see me, is it?" Lucius Malfoy chuckled, as Hermione struggled wildly in his grip. He released his grip from one of her hands, tightened the gloved hand into a fist and slammed it across Hermione's face.

The scream in her throat died, as she was enveloped into darkness…

~*~

Draco lay in his bed staring into the darkness. A bone-weary exhaustion had prevented him from removing his sodden clothes as he had clambered into his bed. Soon he realized that he would not find solace in a dream-less sleep. The pain of Hermione's lack of trust in him threatened to overcome him, but he refused to give into such petty emotions. Instead he ignored the pain and fuelled his anger. Damn her! Damn Hermione for not bloody trusting in him, for taking someone else word over his. Goddamn her! He thought furiously as he tried to shut away the image of Hermione standing so vulnerably in the rain. He closed his eyes against the pain. Hermione had walked away from him. A silent tear trickled down his cheek.

Sunken in his melancholy, Draco failed to notice the presence of a person at his bedside, until it was too late. A hand silently swooped down, covering Draco's mouth and nose with a dampened cloth. He struggled in surprise, reaching out and gripping his assailant's throat, but the heady fumes he was forced to inhale soon overcame his senses, sending him into a dark abyss.

Grace broke away from Draco's firm grip around her throat, gasping for breath. Thank God the potion had taken effect, for it was unlikely that she could have survived much longer in his vice-like grip. Removing the dampened cloth from his face, Grace smiled. Gently she pushed a stray lock of his white-blonde hair back into place and kissed his still lips. She picked up Draco's unmoving left hand and ran it gently across the smooth skin of her face. Softly she placed a kiss in the middle of his palm, and began to hum.

"I'm going to the chapel and I'm going to get married…hmmmmm…"             

~*~

Hi people… Okay I know I haven't updated in an age. No excuses this time. I'm just a lazy, lazy bum. But I'd really like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed my story. It's been really great. I can't believe that I have 117 reviews. I'm sorry I didn't update sooner but I lost inspiration and couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm pretty surprised at how this chapter turned out. I quite like it. It's not very long though. I was seized by a sudden and uncontrollable urge to write so I put it together. I sincerely hope you enjoy it. Feel free to tell me what you think. (About the story, not about me being a lazy bum).

Okay I haven't done shout outs in a while which is a big shame, because I love all the reviews I've been getting.

Here we go:

Big Thank you to Halfling, a great supporter of my stories and a hussy husband stealer. He's mine…precious.

Dmbabe: You're always one of the first to review each of my chapters and I'd like to thank you for your support.

Thanks to magical ferret, Angela Malfoy, Claire, Andina of Rivendell, and all you others who have reviewed my story so far.   

Fingers crossed the next chapter won't take so long to pop into my head and get written.