A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry! T_T I know how much you all wanted to read this new chapter, I'm SO sorry for not bringing it up sooner! T_T I REALLY hope you like it! Please REVIEW!

Chapter 12 – Breaking Through

"So you cannot sleep either........." smiled Hermione.

Draco shook his head.

"How could I have any sleep when my head's full of problems and questions for which I find no answers?"

"What do you plan on doing now that you're back to Hogwarts?"

"Try to escape my father's plans, I guess........."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"I dunno......... What's for sure is that I need help. He's too strong for me alone to face him. Or maybe I'm just a pitiful coward........."

"No, you're not! How can you say such horrible things about yourself?"

Silence fell for a few moments, before Hermione broke it again.

"You......... could ask Harry to help you, you know?"

"Never!"

"But why? You're on the same side now, right?"

"We'll never be on the same side, Hermione! Don't you see?"

"See what?"

"We're nothing alike! He's always the one who wants to save everybody else's lives. I, on the other hand, only want to save myself from a disastrous life........."

"That's not true! You saved me from getting killed by Voldemort!"

"That's because I love you too much to loose you! See how selfish I am?"

"That's what I thought about you for years, but you've made me change my opinion with your sincerity and true feelings! Draco, face it! You can become even better than Harry, if that's what you want!"

"I don't know what I want anymore.........."

Again, silence fell upon the two, but only for a few moments, because on the corridor near them they could hear Filch's voice:

"Who's there? I'm going to catch you little brats, whoever you are, and I'm gonna get you expelled this time! I know your plans!"

Draco and Hermione exchanged some amused looks, Draco whispered something that was very much like "The old man's paranoid", and then both of them ran each through another corridor, desperately trying to get to their towers before getting catched.

In the girls' dorms, Hermione kept thinking of her beloved. She desperately wanted to help him get out of Voldemort's reach, but she could find no way. Terrible images kept popping into her head, red flashes of blood, or green flashes of the deadly curse that once had almost killed Draco. As she sank into a comfy, red silk armchair, thoughts after thoughts, questions after questions kept driving into Hermione's mind. She knew Voldemort would do something about it as soon as he would find out his......... son......... wasn't dead. She needed solutions.

"Minnie?" Ginny's head appeared from behind the massive, wooden door of the girls' dorms.

"Yes?"

"I heard you when you came in. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah........."

"Minnie?"

"Yes, Gin."

"What are you going to do from now on?"

"I dunno........." Hermione shook her head, her brown, wavy curls bouncing gracefully.

"I think it's time you payed Dumbledore a visit........."

"Without talking to Draco first?"

"Without. Minnie, you know he'll never agree! He's much too proud!"

"That's exactly why........."

"That's exactly why you MUST pay him a visit! Promise me you'll do this! He's the right person to talk to, he can help you!"

"O.K." Hermione said half-heartedly.

"Promise?"

"Yes."

Draco still couldn't sleep. He couldn't allow himself to. He was determined to stay up until he would find answers. Solutions. Help, damn it! He was alone in the room his fa......... - Lucius had bought after many efforts for his so......... - for Draco, because the blonde had refused to share his intimacy with his noisy, curious fellow sixth-year Slytherins.

Suddenly, the huge window swung open to reveal a huge, black owl with fiery, red eyes. Taken by a cold, chilly wind, it flew inside, landing on the top of his bed and, apparently for no reason at all, shredding an emerald-green pillow.

"Hey, Malefice, don't do that! I've got enough problems already!" Draco took out his wand, and, with a hurried "Reparo", he put his pillow back into one piece. He recognized in the black, old bird, the faithful owl of his......... - of Lucius, Malefice.

He noticed the obvious: a letter was attached to the foot of the owl. Draco took the letter and read it with disgust. It wrote: "I expect you know I will no longer take care of you. You're on your own. At the end of this semester you shall not return to Malfoy Manor. And your name from now on shall be the one of Draco Riddle. This was all I had to say. Lucius Malfoy"

"Just.........great!" thought Draco, as he threw the parchment into the fire. Malefice got back to Malfoy Manor by the time the letter was entirely burnt and its ex-owner, now Mr. D. Riddle, exclaimed in a very much non- prophetic tone: "Fuck. He knows."

A/N: Oh, and, by the way, "Malefice" is the French word for "Curse"! ^_^ Don't forget to REVIEW!!!