Hearts Combined

~* Hey! I hope you're all still interested in this fiction, sorry it's been a while since I've updated, but I have to update my other fictions as well, and all the school work I'm getting… oh well, I've updated now! I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter! *~

Chapter 14 ~ Never Give Up

Once again, Hermione found herself unable to drift off to sleep. She pulled the curtains aside and glanced over at Draco's drapes. Neville was asleep on his small mattress on the floor in between Hermione's and Draco's beds. She found herself admiring his courage. After Draco and herself had filled Neville in on what was going on, he still found the strength to carry on.

Oh, Neville, if only I was as brave as you… then maybe I'd have the guts to tell Draco how I feel about him. Hermione thought as she stared through the darkness. A slither of moonbeam snaked across the floor and billowed light onto the wall where Harry's portrait was. Hermione got out of bed, placed her feet into her slippers and pulled her dressing gown over her silken night gown.

Hermione dragged her armchair over to the portrait of Harry, where she sat in it, facing her old friend. Harry opened his eyes and blinked at the sight of his friend coming to talk to him at this time in the morning.

'Hello, Hermione, can I help you with something?' Harry asked groggily.

'We haven't talked in a while, and I was just after a friendly chat,' Hermione said, lying through her teeth. Harry frowned in concern.

'A friendly chat, at two o'clock in the morning? I find that hard to believe, come on, tell me what's on your mind?' Harry said. Hermione let a sigh escape her lips.

'Yes, you're right, I just needed a friend to talk to,' Hermione said sadly.

'Why me? You have Malfoy, and even Neville over there,' Harry said.

'It's not that simple, everyone seems to be ganging up on me, and the only people who stay loyal to me will end up in cages awaiting the day when Parvati says they are to die,' Hermione told him.

'Parvati has some issues,' Harry complained.

'It's because she loves you,' Hermione commented.

'If she really loves me, then she wouldn't be doing this to one of my closest friends,' Harry told her.

'She thinks that I'm a traitor, and that I'm disrespecting your memory by being around Draco,' Hermione said.

'Well, I can understand why she would think that, but I don't see why all this is necessary! She's hurting me by killing your friends, which are my friends also,' Harry said.

'I think she needs to know that, she needs to be set straight,' Hermione told him. 'Someone needs to calm her soul,'

'I only wish I could be that person,' Harry said sadly.

'Well, even though you're just a portrait, could you will your ghost to come back to Hogwarts, if for nothing else than to put the record straight with Parvati?' Hermione suggested.

'I am just a picture of my former self, I only know what I knew when I was alive, and from what I've seen in this very room,' Harry told her. 'Even if I could, my ghost wouldn't have a clue what's been going on,'

'You're right, there's no way that Parvati can be stopped,' Hermione said defeated.

'Don't be defeated, Hermione, if there's one thing I learned about you in the past six years, it was that you are extremely clever at coming up with solutions to problems, you'll work this out, I know you will,' Harry smiled out at her. Hermione's eyes welled up with tears.

'That's the thing, I don't have any idea what I'm going to do!'

'You'll find a way,' Harry reassured her.

'There's something else troubling me,' Hermione said meekly.

'What might that be?' Harry asked.

'Each day, these feelings I have for Draco get stronger,' Hermione paused. 'I don't know why, but I think I'm falling in love with him, is that bad?'

'Well, I don't know him like you do, but I know when it comes to it, you will make the right decision,' Harry told her. Hermione let a small smile creep onto her face.

'Thank you Harry, I'm feeling much better now so I think I'm going to get back to sleep,'

But Hermione didn't go back to her bed, she waited until Harry's eyes slipped closed, and she walked across the room to Draco's bed. She slipped through the gap in the curtains and sat towards the top of the bed, next to Draco's torso. Hermione gently shook him shoulders until he woke up.

'Huh?' Draco sat up, noticing that Hermione was there. 'What are you doing here?' He rubbed his eyes.

'I want to tell you something,' Hermione said, looking deep into his eyes.

'What?' Draco asked, at a loss for words.

'That night, when you came into my bed, and you told me that you loved me, thinking I was asleep, well I was awake,' Hermione began. Draco looked down. 'Draco, look at me please,' He looked up into her soft, warm brown eyes. 'I've fallen in love with you,' She finally said.

~***~

Phillip no longer protested, he had long accepted the fact that Lavender and Parvati were serious about putting them to death. Ginny and Ron sat in silence, so Phillip followed suit. Occasionally, there would be some nervous chit chat, but the three awaited the next victim who would come to be caged.

The all knew that Parvati and Anivatria were after Dean and Seamus now, although they had no idea why. Dean and Seamus didn't really support the idea of Hermione being chummy with Draco Malfoy.

The three waited, well into the early hours of the morning, for some sort of sign from Parvati. They got it sooner than they were expecting. Parvati and Anivatria walked into the cave, closely followed by Dean and Seamus, who looked around in amazement. From what Phillip could see, they had come of their own free will. There were no chains which bound their hands of feet.

'Woah, so you guys are really producing a movie, right here?' Dean asked, finally looking up and noticing the three caged Gryffindors. He nudged Seamus, and pointed.

'So there you all are! You've been in on this movie all this time and you haven't had the decency to tell us!' Seamus bellowed out. Ron rolled his eyes.

'We're terribly sorry, we didn't think that you would want to be caged and killed,' Ron muttered.

'They're very ungrateful, aren't they Ron?' Ginny said.

'Anyone else would be happy that we kept this small detail from them,' Phillip added.

'Shut up!' Parvati snapped, and pointed her wand at Dean and Seamus, caging them. Their cages floated to the cave ceiling where they hung next to Phillip. Dean took in the sights from up in his cage.

'So what do we have to do? Do we have any dialogue?' He asked Parvati.

'You really are as stupid as you look, Dean,' Phillip looked over. Dean and Seamus began to look puzzled.

'What's really going on, Parvati?' Seamus asked. Parvati sneered.

'You're all going to die! The list grows…' She trailed off, and swept out of the cave. Dean and Seamus slowly looked over at the other three, realisation dawning over their faces.

'This isn't a movie, is it?' Seamus trembled.

'No, this is real, and Parvati's a Psycho,' Ron said.

'It's okay, you'll get used to the idea of being killed in a few days,' Ginny said merrily.

'Killed? How can you be so calm?' Dean yelled.

'We once were like you,' Phillip informed them.

'Yes, but we realised that the more we complain, the longer we're going to be in here,' Ron said.

'The quicker they get all the people, the quicker we're going to be out of this hell hole,' Ginny mused.

'What if we don't want to die?' Seamus whined.

'We don't want to die either, but we don't really have a choice in the matter, do we?' Ron growled. Seamus and Dean both turned their attention down to Lavender, who looked up at them innocently.

'Lavender! We're your friends! How can you sit back and watch Parvati do this to us?' Dean pleaded.

'Besides, we never supported Hermione's closeness with Malfoy!' Seamus quickly added.

'Traitor!' Ron bellowed.

'That's right! I saved Neville's life by putting my own in danger, and all you two can think about is saving your own necks,' Phillip growled.

'You saved Neville?' Dean asked.

'Yes, they thought I was Neville when I was brought in, oh the surprise when the Polyjuice Potion wore off,' Phillip said gleefully.

'Wait a minute…' Lavender cut in, 'This means that Hermione and Malfoy must know about our plans!'

'Duh, they aren't stupid you know,' Ginny seethed. Lavender gave her a sarcastic look.

'No, we thought that they would never realise what we are doing, what with Hermione's friends going missing daily,' Lavender said sarcastically. 'Besides, we left a note with Ron's departure,'

'I hate you,' Ron looked down at Lavender.

'It won't matter in a few days,' Lavender replied.

'But it matters now, you are a bad person,' Ron told her.

'I don't have to answer to you,' Lavender said haughtily.

'But you have to answer to your conscience,' Ron said, his voice barely above a whisper. The whole cave was silent for a few moments. It was Lavender who broke the silence.

'Bloody hell, Ron, you should have learned by now that no matter what you say, I will not let you go!' She boomed.

'Why, because you're afraid getting on Parvati's bad side will land you a cage to call your own?' Ron challenged.

'How dare you!' Lavender screamed. 'I'm doing right by my best friend!'

'Your best friend who just happens to be always off with Anivatria, and your job is to make sure we don't escape, an impossible feat,' Phillip caught on to what Ron was getting at, and added his part. Ron smiled slightly.

'Shut up, I told you, I'm not listening, and I'm most certainly not letting you out,' Lavender folded her arms.

'Hermione has good friends, explaining why we're all here,' Ginny said, her voice in a wandering tone.

'Be quiet!'

'That's right, don't you wish you could have friends, just like Hermione does?' Phillip questioned.

'Shut up!'

'Standing up for Hermione is totally worth losing my life for,' Ron said strongly. 'I would do anything for her,'

'Are you joking?' Seamus cried.

'No, Seamus, I am not joking,' Ron said, with the most serious expression on his face that they had ever seen him express.

'That's ludicrous,' Dean muttered, shaking his head. However, they all snapped their heads down when they heard a sob come from Lavender.

'Your conscience getting the better of you?' Ginny asked. Lavender frowned.

'No!' She turned her back on the five Gryffindors, and refused to speak.

~***~

Hermione searched Draco's eyes for a response, though he was unable to get his mouth around words. Draco stared at her, gaping for a few moments.

'You haven't changed your mind? Have you?' Hermione asked in a timid voice, his silence trampling over her heart like a stampede of elephants. Draco slowly shook his head, relieving some stress from Hermione.

'No, but I just had no idea…' He managed to stammer.

'Neither did I,' Hermione replied. 'I never knew that I could feel this way about you, and it keeps getting stronger every day,'

'I am definitely at a loss for words,' Draco told her.

'Well, what are we going to do about it?' Hermione asked. Draco stroked his chin.

'Look, not like I'm trying to put anything off, but we both have a lot to worry about right now, with Parvati running around kidnapping your friends and hanging them in cages,' Draco said. 'Us being together would make things very complicated, and hard on everyone involved,'

Hermione bowed her head.

'I understand,'

'No, Hermione, please don't be like that, I do want us to be together, more than anything, but this happens to be the worst time possible for anything to happen,' He explained.

'I know it's bad timing, but since when has love ever come at a good time?' Hermione asked. 'And will there ever be a good time?' She demanded.

'But -'

'No, Draco, don't you understand? No matter what the circumstances, there will never be a good time for you and I,'

'Can't we just wait until all this blows over?'

'This will not blow over, this is something we have to deal with together, we got ourselves into this mess, and I'm positive that we can get ourselves out of it, together!' Hermione pushed.

'Look at us, we're having an argument and we aren't even together, if we can't agree on a simple thing like this, then what's the chance of a relationship between us surviving?' Draco said. Hermione let out a sigh.

'As much as it hurts, I agree, we shouldn't fight,' Hermione told him.

'You're just saying that because you think it's what I want you to hear!' Draco said, beginning to get frustrated.

'What's gotten into you?' Hermione asked, giving him one last pleading look before getting out of his bed surrounded in the curtains.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

~* Well there's the chapter all finished! I would appreciate some reviews, but if I don't get many, then that's the way things go hay. I hope everyone liked this. *~

~Gryffindor Gal~