It was the day after Ron's death and Hermione was walking through the corridors. Almost everyone else was outside, having snowball fights, not really caring about the shocking events of the day before. Hermione had cried herself to sleep last night and as she was walking now, she was in tears. 'How can my life get any worse?' she thought, heading back upstairs to her common room. Almost answering her question was the appearance of Draco Malfoy.

"Mornin' Granger," he said evilly.

"Move, Malfoy," she said, not very forcefully, as she was still sobbing.

"Not so fast, Granger, how about we make a little deal?" Draco said slyly.

"What do you want?" Hermione spat.

"Just tell me, yes or no, are you currently seeing Professor Severus Snape?" Draco asked smirking.

"That's none of your business!" Hermione said and started to walk away.

"Either tell me now, or I'll have to force it out of you," Draco said, anger rising.

"Do what you must!" Hermione snarled, immediately regretting it. Draco had pulled her close to him, she was struggling to get out of his grip. It was no use, he was much to strong.

"One last chance, you filthy mud blood! TELL ME!!!" Draco bellowed.

"NEVER!" Hermione screamed.

"Then you leave me no choice!" he spat. He opened the door to a nearby closet, and shoved her in. He himself walked in next, shutting the door, pointing his wand at the door. "Collopartus!" he yelled, and the door clicked, signaling that it was locked.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked, her voice shaking. She wasn't nervous, she was scared.

"Oh, trust me, you'll see, Incendio Tria!" Draco shouted. All of Hermione's clothes were burnt off. She knew what he was doing.

Hermione reached for her wand. 'If I could just disarm him!' she thought.

"IMMOBULUS! No, no, Granger, there'll be none of that," Draco explained. Hermione was frozen. With one swish of his wand, Draco removed his own clothes. He pulled Hermione faced up to his own and pushed his lips against hers. He forced her mouth open with his tongue and slid it in her mouth. His wand was in one hand, and he forcefully shoved his free hand into her. He parted his lips from hers and began to kiss all the way down her body. Hermione knew what he was going to do next.

'He's going to shove himself into me, what can I do?' she thought. She looked around, there was no solution to get a girl who's body was frozen out of the situation she was in now. Draco was getting closer and closer to push himself into her. She couldn't stop him. He was inches away from her. Just then a breeze ran through the room. Hermione's mind was taken off what was about to happen to her. 'That's odd, where's the breeze coming from, there's no window in here,' she thought looking around the room. Draco was less than an inch away from her now.

"Ready to tell yet, Granger?" he snarled.

"Ok, ok, it's true. Snape and I are…..are dating," Hermione responded through sobs.

"I knew it! Well, I've got all the proof I need now, but I suppose my work isn't quite finished here, yet," Draco said grinning. He began moving closer to Hermione again. Hermione looked away. She saw above her head, the source of the breeze earlier. It was a silvery figure, in the shape of a person. Hermione immediately recognized the ghostly figure as Ron. Ron's ghost was beginning to change shape. It was turning into a lion!

"LEAVE HER ALONE!!" the lion (Ron) yelled. Draco turned around and the color was drained from his face.

"What are you?" Draco asked nervously.

"YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!!" the lion yelled.

"What are you going to do if I don't stop?" Draco asked. The lion didn't answer, he started charging at Draco. Draco ran out of the room as fast as he could.

"Thank you so much, Ron," Hermione said.

"That's what best friends do!" Ron stated simply. "But my time grows short here, I must leave now, but I think you'll find, I will be around whenever you need me most," he stated, he tried to kiss Hermione on the cheek with his ghostly lips, then he faded away.

Hermione just sat there in the dark closet. Constantly on the verge of tears. Always finding the strength to fight them back. Hermione just walked out of the room and ran into Harry and Ginny walking down the hall. Ginny was crying into Harry's shoulder. Harry had his arm around her, silent tears were running down his face.

"What were you doing in there?" Harry asked, gesturing to the closet.

Hermione explained the whole story to her two friends. She lost all her strength, and she burst into tears.

"You and Snape?!" Harry asked, more than a little surprised.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you two," she said.

"Well, at least you were strong and didn't tell Malfoy," Harry pointed out.

"Oh, Harry, I did! What do I do?" Hermione asked nervously. She burst into tears again. Harry offered her his other shoulder. She took it graciously and began to cry. Harry began to lead them downstairs.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked between sobs.

"We're going straight to Professor Snape!" Harry said firmly. Draco Malfoy was walking back upstairs.

"Which of these two girls are you fucking this week, Potter?" Draco asked, a smirk spreading across his face. Harry face was turning red with rage. "What's wrong, Potter? Is your scare bothering you again?" Draco teased.

Harry's wand was at the ready. "STUPEFY!" he yelled. Draco fell to the ground with a "thud".

"Great job Harry!" Ginny said, leaning over to kiss him. "Why are we going back downstairs?" she asked. Through her sobs, she hadn't heard Harry.

"To go and see Professor Snape!" Harry replied confidently.

They walked down the hall to Snape's office. Harry knocked on the door.

Snape came out. "What's all this?" He snarled.

A/N: well, that's all for now. Thanks to all my reviewers. I'll try and update tomorrow! I hope you liked it!