The Surprise Attack

I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed so far:

BabyRed0633- Thanks for reviewing! When I wrote that part about Draco being eight years older, I drooled too!!! Yummy!

Skippy1- Maybe he will, maybe he won't. You'll have to keep reading to figure out what happens! Thanks for your review!

I'm sorry for taking so long to update, I'm having a major, major writer's block. Oh and if anyone has any ideas for a little action in this story let me know. I'd really like some ideas. My e-mail is There are these: after horse and dolphin. I'll make sure to give you credit if anyone comes up with a good idea.

Draco was on his way to the Great Hall for dinner after his last class of the day, Ancient Runes. As he walked past the entryway he saw a head of curly brown hair slip out the front door, and knew at once that it was Hermione. He gathered up his courage, said a quick good bye to Crabbe and Goyle and went after her. He followed her down the gravel path and watched as she sat down beside an oak tree.

"Hello Hermione," he said when he finally caught up with her.

Hermione whirled around and a look of anger flashed across her face when she saw it was Draco who stood behind her.

"What do you want?" she said aggressively as he came and sat down by her.

"I want to talk to you," said Draco as he reached up to brush away a strand of hair that lingered on her face. She pulled away.

Finally Hermione couldn't take it anymore, she had to tell him how she felt.

"Why should I talk to you? I can't believe you cheated on me! I thought you hated Pansy!" she blurted out as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Hermione, I do hate Pansy. I never meant to hurt you," started Draco.

"Well you did! You hurt me a lot. I thought that you loved me!" interrupted Hermione as she started to sob.

"I do love you Hermione! I love you more than anything! It was my father. He put the Imperious on me," Draco said as he hesitantly put an arm around Hermione to comfort her.

"What?" gasped Hermione as she lifted her tear stained face to look in his tender blue eyes.

"The Imperious was on me the whole day, yesterday. My father made me go to the Death Eaters meeting, he made me receive the Dark Mark, and he made me make advances on Pansy," said Draco as he removed his arm from around her and lifted up his sleeve to show her the mark.

Hermione gasped and said, "Oh, Draco! You're one of them! I heard rumors that you became a Death Eater, but I never thought you would actually go through with it."

"I will never be one of them," he said assertively.

"Draco, he will find you and kill you if you do not answer his call," said Hermione as she disbelievingly traced the mark in Draco's bicep. "What are you going to do?"

"I guess I'll have to go to the meetings and pretend that I'm one of them, even though I'm not and never will be," said Draco as he scowled and quickly covered up the Dark Mark.

"What if they find out that your just pretending?" questioned Hermione.

"Well, let's just hope they never do," whispered Draco as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently.

"So the reason why you cheated on me was because your father put the Imperious on you?" questioned Hermione.

"Yes, and I would have been able to break it, but after not being able to kill you, my father put me down in the dungeons for the rest of the summer. He fed me only bread and water once every day, therefore I was very weak and wasn't able to break it," said Draco.

"Then what made you finally be able to break it?" asked Hermione.

"Kissing Pansy and having her fawn over me. It was so disgusting. Plus, I inherited the Malfoy temper," Draco said and Hermione smiled. "Come here Hermione."

Draco spread open his arms and Hermione collapsed into his warm embrace. He kissed the top of her head tenderly as she cried a little more. He tried to kiss her lips but she pulled back.

"Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"My mind is telling me to forgive you and to surrender into your sweet kissing, but my heart is telling me something else," said Hermione quietly.

"And what's that?" questioned Draco inquisitively.

"It's telling me to wait because it's still broken and needs time to repair. I do love you Draco and I want to get back together with you. But I need a day or so," answered Hermione sadly.

"Uh, yeah, sure Hermione," said Draco disappointingly.

"Thanks," Hermione sighed as she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"Could I walk you back to our dormitory?" asked Draco as he got up and held out his hand.

"That would be great," said Hermione as she smiled sweetly at him and took his hand but quickly released it when she was off the ground.

They walked back towards the front door in silence until Hermione broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Draco?"

"Yes?"

"Will you forgive me for all the mean things I said to you today?" asked Hermione.

Draco stopped, gently grabbed her by the face and looked into her tender brown eyes. He caressed her cheek tenderly with his fingers and said softly, "You had every right to say those things to me. I was a total jerk."

"But do you forgive me? Please, I need your forgiveness," pleaded Hermione.

Draco sighed and said, "Yes, Hermione. I forgive you."

"Thank you," said Hermione as she took his hands off of her face and started to walk towards the castle.

As the two of them walked inside, Neville Longbottom ran up to them with his hair flailing and face flushed.

"H-H-H-Hermione! Draco! Thank God I found you guys! You best come quick!" exclaimed Neville. "It's Harry!"

"What happened?" Hermione questioned worriedly. "Take me to him!"

"Come on!" yelled Neville as he started to run down the corridor.

Hermione turned and looked at Draco with panic sketched on her face, and then sprinted after Neville. Draco sprinted after her. They ran and ran until finally they were in an abandoned corridor by the Slytherin common room. Hermione saw Harry gasping on the ground clutching his side that was bleeding profusely. She looked closer and saw that a dagger was dislodged in his side.

"Oh my God!" Hermione breathed when she saw Harry.

Hermione flung herself down next to Harry and gently laid him so that his head was cradled in her lap. His face was ghostly white with sweat that wet his brow, and he was going into shock. Every breath he took seemed painful as his whole body shook, and she tenderly brushed a strand of his sweaty hair away from his face.

"Neville! What the hell happened?" screamed Hermione.

"I-I-I don't know! We left Ron and everyone because Harry realized that he forgot his Potions book. We were going back to get it when he just collapsed on the ground with a dagger in his side," gasped Neville.

Draco walked over to Harry just then and knelt down beside him.

"No, get away from me!" Harry gasped pinching his eyes shut in pain and trying to shove Draco away.

"Sh, Harry calm down. Draco won't hurt you," Hermione whispered in his ear.

Draco bent down, examined the daggers handle, and said, "This is a Death Eater's dagger. We have to get him to Madame Pomfrey, fast. The dagger's tip has poison on it that will kill him slowly and painfully."

Hermione gasped, put a hand to her mouth and asked, "Is he going to die?"

"He can still be helped, but there's not much time," said Draco as he backed away from Harry.

"Can't you help him, Draco? You know Dark Magic!" Neville cried in a panicky voice.

"This is advanced Dark Magic, Longbottom, it is beyond my knowledge," stated Draco.

"What are we going to do? There's not enough time to go find a teacher!" screamed Hermione in a panic.

Suddenly she felt Harry's clammy, sweaty hand grab hers and she looked down into his emerald green eyes.

"Hermione," he gasped as shivering overcame his body. "I just want you to know that I love you. I've loved you ever since the day I first met you."

"Harry, don't you say your goodbyes, not now and definitely not here. You're going to live do you hear me," sobbed Hermione. "You are going to live."

"Please Hermione. Before I die, can I kiss you?" Harry whispered and Hermione glanced at Draco who looked away.

She leaned down, briefly kissed Harry's lips, and then his whole body went limp causing the kiss to be broken.

"Oh my God! Harry don't die! Please don't die!" screamed Hermione as she started crying hysterically.

"He's just unconscious," said Draco as he bent down and scooped up Harry's body in his arms. "We have to go to the Hospital Wing now, or else he will die."

Harry's blood started to spill onto Draco's robes, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Let's go," said Hermione firmly.

Neville, Hermione, and Draco, who held Harry's body, sprinted to the Hospital wing and Draco, who got there first, kicked open the door, ran to a bed and set Harry's unconscious body on it.

"What's going on here?" asked a confused Madame Pomfrey as she bustled into the room.

"Madame Pomfrey you have to help Harry!" yelled Hermione as she sat down by Harry's unconscious body.

"What happened to him this time?" asked Madame Pomfrey as she looked at Harry.

"It was a surprise attack made by a Death Eater. The dagger that he was stabbed with has a poisonous tip that kills the person painfully and slowly," replied Draco who stood soaked in Harry's blood.

"He should have been brought to me straight away! What took you so long?" demanded Madame Pomfrey as she spooned some antidote into Harry's mouth.

"I'm sorry that was my fault," whispered Neville. "I went to go to find you and came across Hermione and Draco. I knew that they were both Heads, so I was hoping that they could help Harry."

Neville bent his head in shame as Madame Pomfrey said harshly, "Well Mr. Longbottom, the next time you are with someone who gets stabbed, don't rely on a student to help you. Come and get me or another teacher immediately."

"Yes, Ma'm," muttered Neville quietly.

"Now will all of you please leave? I have a patient to tend to!" exclaimed Madame Pomfrey as she tried to shoo them out.

"Please, Madame Pomfrey, if I may stay with him," Hermione begged but the nurse shook her head.

"No, Harry needs his rest," started Madame Pomfrey.

"Hermione," Harry suddenly moaned and Hermione rushed to his side.

"He's supposed to be knocked out! I gave him a very powerful sleeping draft so he wouldn't feel the pain his body is about to go through," exclaimed Madame Pomfrey in disbelief.

"He is knocked out. He talks in his sleep," whispered Hermione as she took Harry's lifeless hand in hers.

Draco looked envious that she knew this but said very calmly, "Hermione, I'm going back to the common room. Hope Potter is OK."

"I don't know how long I'll be here for. Probably until he recovers," said Hermione, keeping her gaze focused on Harry. Draco gave her a nod of acknowledgement then walked out of the infirmary with Neville following after him.

"Well, Miss Granger, I guess you can stay. As long as you're here you can help me," said Madame Pomfrey as she got out more potions and antidotes from a cupboard. "Will you remove his shirt? And please, be careful."

"What?" I breathed in surprise.

"Remove his shirt. I need to tend to his wound and take out the dagger that is dislodged in his body," said Madame Pomfrey as she handed Hermione a pair of Muggle scissors.

With trembling hands, Hermione carefully cut open his shirt and removed it from his body so that his naked torso was exposed. She was impressed by what she saw for Harry had developed quite a six pack.

"What am I thinking!?! He's my best friend! Or is he more?" she thought as she carefully removed his glasses from his face. "No. He's only my best friend."

Madame Pomfrey bustled over just then, dropped a few drops of antidote on Harry's wound and pulled out the dagger. Hermione watched as Harry's body shook even though he was under a heavy sleeping draft and she bent over and kissed his cheek.

"Sh, it's ok Harry. I'm here," whispered Hermione soothingly as she stroked the side of his face with her fingers. "I will always be here for you."

Draco Malfoy, who had been watching the whole thing from the window of the infirmary door, stalked away with tears in his eyes that he hurriedly wiped away.

Well that was the end of the sixth chapter. Hmm, is Hermione falling for Harry? I like the Harry/Hermione ship as well as the Dr/H ship so I had to add that part in about Harry loving her and kissing her. It makes the story oh so much more interesting. Who will she choose? You'll have to wait and see! Muah ha ha! If Hermione chooses Draco, how will Lucius react? How will Harry react? If she chooses Harry, will Draco go into despair and resort to be a Death Eater and the heir to Voldemort's throne? Please review!