I'm so glad you guys still (after all this time) review me! Thanks a bunch! I wanted to wait a while longer to get more reviews, but decided, heck with! You guys can review the next chapter. KEEP IT UP WITH THE GREAT REVIEWS! Oh, and before I forget, this story is set in an alternate universe (AU). Melly Kay told me to put that up, just so you guys would know. Here are my thanks to all the Chapter 8 reviewers:

Melly Kay: Wow! Two reviews from you! Thanks for the AU and OOC thing. But I have to say – this is fanfiction. We have right to make it as sick and twisted as we want. Don't take this personally. Thank you for complimenting my hideous writing. REVIEW THIS CHAPTER!

Linwe Amandil: Thanks for the great review! I'm so glad you think it's a "Fabulous Story". Here's chapter 9 for ya!

Aly Spy: I know the language is a little rash. Chapter 1 was bad because I was in a terrible mood. I'll TRY to tone it down for you. Thanks anyways!

HaliJade Snape: Nice name. Anyways, your idea is nice. The whole Hermione pregnant with Draco's kid thing... But, that isn't really what's supposed to happen in my fic. See, I got it all planned and figured out. I'm sorry if you disagree with my idea though... Maybe in another story? If you want, I can make another story about it and dedicate it to you. Tell me if you agree in your next review!

Kurama Luver 518092: Ah... nice and short reviews... Just what I like! Thank you!!

Diamondcrystal12: Thank you for your great review! I know I made Ron mean (I'm sorry!), but I needed somebody to be the bad guy in this AU. If you're wondering about Harry, you'll soon to find out in THIS chapter. Review this chapter please!

lacekiki: Okay, okay! I'll make it a happy ending, but just because you like it so much! Thank you for the review! Please keep it coming!

mastercreater: Ooh... curious indeed! Heheheh! THANK YOU!

charmed piper: Thank you for your review! I'll make it a happy ending. But the thing about Ron? You'll just have to wait and find out... I don't even know myself!

DRACO'S POV :

Big blue and red lights floated around my eyes. I tried shooing them away by waving my hand at them stupidly. "Get away you bloody lights..." I muttered, trying to shove them away mentally.

"Okay, dear, let me just open these windows for you!" said a bubbly voice, pulling open the windows and allowing the sunlight to pour out in my face.

I winced and tried blocking the contact with my arms. "Put it out!" I muttered. "Put the damn lights out!"

"Do what he says," said a voice flatly. The bubbly one did as told and shut the curtains.

I relaxed a bit. "Granger?" I asked, putting my arms down. "What're you doing here?"

Granger stared at me, her eyes boring through my mind as though reading my thoughts. "What happened?" she asked, placing a hand over my forehead.

I winced a little before closing my eyes peacefully. A glow of warmth seemed to escape from the palm of her hand, filling me with gentle peace and slowly healing my bruise.

"Weasley..." I muttered, truly appreciating the tingly sensation of life Granger lent me. "He threw hundreds of heavy books over my skull."

Granger pulled her hand off my forehead. My wounds started to burn again. "Why did you stop?" I asked, gently putting her hand back onto my bruise.

"Ron wouldn't do that," said Granger grimly. "I may not be friends with him anymore... but I know he wouldn't do that. I talked to him a few minutes ago... he said he bore witness to the accident..."

"Oh, did he?" I hissed. That son of a b! He lied! "What did he say?"

Granger gave me a stony look. She pulled her hand off my forehead again and shoved my hand away when I tried to put it back. "He said you were doing magic," she said. "Even when McGonaggal CLEARLY stated that you were NOT allowed to use it..."

"What!" I snapped, accidentally snapping my head up in anger. My neck felt extremely twisted, but I ignored it. Weasley is going to pay! "I did not use magic! It was Weasley! He was the one hitting me in the chest with Flippendo and toppling books over my head with Wingardium Leviosa!"

Granger looked unimpressed. She gave me a disgusted look and pushed my head back on my pillow. "You a," she muttered. "Ron wouldn't lie like that and he certainly wouldn't do anything to injure people badly!"

I scoffed in disbelief. Weasley wouldn't injure anyone badly? What rock has she been living under after all these years?! If it wasn't for her and Potter always blocking him from me – Weasley would kill me! "What about that time Weasley tried to knock the shit out of me?! Remember that! It took you and Potter ages to calm him down! He's a bloody maniac for crying out loud!"

Granger glared darkly at me. "Don't you dare say that," she hissed, eyes glowing bright red like it did in Oblivion. "You know nothing about him!"

I stared at Granger's eyes, a look of determination fixed in my own glowing blue ones. I honoured and respected Granger a lot, but at times like these, I have to defend up to my rights. Weasley lied, and Granger has no right in saying that I was the liar. "I wouldn't lie about this, Granger," I muttered. "It happened whether you believe me or not."

"I say... not," said Granger coldly.

Then – at the exact same time – both Granger and I shut our eyes, ready to cross into Oblivion and prove our rights.

Oblivion looked much more different then it ever did before – even Granger was surprised. The sky (Instead of just midnight blue and blood red) was midnight blue with shimmering inks of blood red stars scattered all around. The blood red specks looked like droplets of actual blood. The place was neither cold nor hot – but warm and pleasant. The ground didn't burst in flaming sparks or freeze like ice – it felt fuzzy like stepping on a warm fur rug.

I shivered at the difference. It felt very nice, warming and safe in a way. "It's so weird," I muttered, momentarily forgetting Granger's presence. When I remembered, I said, "I went into Oblivion two days ago you know... by myself..."

Granger walked over to me. She gave me the same quizzical look that made me kiss her in the train – I suddenly felt light-headed and weak in the knees. "How'd it look?" she asked, her voice echoing throughout Oblivion.

"Different," I replied, remembering the heat and fire. "It was all red – and hot. The sky was blood coloured with streams of hot orange... the ground felt like it was clawing beneath my feet..."

Granger's eyes bored through my skull like she was trying to search for any scrape of a lie – there wasn't, so she continued questioning me. "What did you do in Oblivion? By yourself, that is?"

I shrugged. "Nothing much," I answered. "I don't know what the big deal with Oblivion is anyways... all it does is keep us away from people."

"Exactly!" Granger cut in, her voice strongly bouncing around the area. "We'd be away from people. That's the whole reason Oblivion exists, isn't it – to assist us at our time of needs?"

I shook my head, and stuck my hand in my pocket for a piece of crumpled old parchment. "I found this note from your book last night," I said, still searching for the parchment. "It was a letter from Aliana... You know the character from the book? Yeah, well she's real."

"What did she say?" asked Granger, who obviously didn't go through page 152 yet. Granger's red glowing eyes widened in curiosity – it was cute, but it'd look better if her eyes were brown.

I couldn't help but smile a little at Granger's big doe eyes. How often do you see Granger – in all her smarts and coldness – enlarge her eyes like a child? Not often, really. I usually do that for affect and money – it used to work during the first year too. "She said something about the prophecy... and how we're destined to save the world together..." I blushed after telling her this. "Do you think its true then? That we're, uh, soul mates?"

Granger shrugged carelessly. "I don't know," she said. I tried studying her face for any sign of blush – there wasn't any. "Probably a mistake. Aliana must've thought that because the rest of the Chosen Two were lovers. Probably a coincidence."

I frowned, feeling – for some reason I chose to ignore – disappointed at Granger's lack of excitement. "Uh... so how're we going to destroy this great evil thing?" I asked, trying to get off the embarrassing subject and push the look of disappointment showing in my eyes. "No offence in any way – but we have no experience at all. We can't even do a proper jinx without hours of training."

Granger shrugged again. "I'm the Best Witch in Hogwarts in both battle and brains," she said smugly. "I can probably pull off a few curses and high-powered spells... I don't know about you though."

I narrowed my eyes, irritated. She didn't have to brag about her position in Hogwarts! The boys had it mush tougher than the girls. I bet even the eighth best Wizard can beat the second best Witch. After all, girls were extremely weak. "I'll have you know, Granger," I said, giving Granger one of my best You-Think-You're-Better-Than-Me-But-You're-Dead-Wrong look. "I'm the second best Wizard in battle and the first in brains. I can handle whatever you can, you know."

Rolling her eyes, Granger released a glassy purple coloured bubble from the tips of her fingers. She let it hover about her right hand for a bit before breathing on it. The glassy purple bubble swam around Oblivion – circling around both of our bodies.

"What is this?" I whispered, raising my arms up on both sides. The bubble made me nervous. Swirling around me like a glassy purple glow of light made it feel like a single bead of mercury slide down my spine.

"Orb of Excellence," said Granger, linking two thumbs together. She closed her eyes and I could feel the power vibrate from her, seeping through my skin and mixing with my blood veins.

I closed my own eyes – thinking it was the best thing to do. The Orb of Excellence twirled around my legs, tinkling my skin with a glow of warmth and energy (It did the same with Granger as well). A buzz of strength went through my fingertips – electrifying my insides with a powerful shock.

Hours – or days... I don't know – later, the Orb evaporated, leaving only a swollen midnight blue glow on my shoulder. Granger also had a glow – but it was blood red in colour and on her left thigh.

"Feel the power, Malfoy?" asked Granger, her blood red eyes glowing brighter than ever.

I nodded, grinning wickedly. "Stronger than ever," I hissed, giving Granger a challenging stare. "Are you up for a battle, Granger?"

Granger nodded, her eyes meeting my own in a challenging mode. "Definitely," she hissed.

HERMIONE'S POV :

A grey ball of fire formed from my clenched fist, spitting acid flames all over. My eyes narrowed, concentrating hard on the battle ahead. I am not going to lose... Those were the only words that formed through my mind.

As my eyes focused on the battle at hand, Malfoy's did as well. He – though as clueless as I am with this unexplainable magical force – decided on a mystical swirl of rainbow coloured lights as a weapon of choice. Looking closer, I realized that the swirl of 'Lights' didn't seem to be lights at all. In fact, it was a colourful hurricane of battle symbols that I couldn't understand.

"Ready, Granger?" said Malfoy – it wasn't a question. He'd attack me even if I said no.

"Ready as ever," I said mentally, clearly forgetting that Malfoy could hear whatever was going through my mind.

Malfoy gave me a quick grin the millisecond before he threw the hurricane of powerful spells at me. Malfoy screamed out dangerous words that seemed to come out of his mouth automatically.

The hurricane of strange symbols and spells split into two and flew straight towards me – hitting me on each shoulder. I could feel the symbols burn through my skin, making its own marks on my flesh. Malfoy muttered a single word, and the symbols immediately flared. I screamed in agony as the symbols burned even more – clawing my skin, chewing my flesh, scraping every fibre of my living soul and sending my body through a very terrible way of torture. I felt my body falling, my skin crippling; falling to the ground in a lump of foul smelling leftovers, my bones twisting; bending in a way I never knew was possible, my blood shrivelling, my eyes rolling in deep anguish.

As my body weakened and my hands turned limp, I unconsciously released the grey ball of fire; letting it burn through Malfoy's chest.

I fell to the ground in a heap of blood and burning flesh. A single word escaped my lips, creating a blood red aura that wrapped my limp form in a comforting and healing glow. I could feel my body recharge and Malfoy's weaken. Seeing Malfoy's body crumple to the ground, I seized my chance by snapping my index finger together with my thumb to release a luminescent spark of silver coloured liquid that seeped out of my skin, only to take form of a Silver Otter.

The Silver Otter swam towards Malfoy's sleeping form and settled itself on his bloodied chest. The Silver Otter stared at Malfoy; its huge doe-like eyes stared at Malfoy's stony face innocently.

I smirked; my body still limp on the ground. Blood flew from my skull, arms, ankles, shoulders, chest, neck, hands and cheeks. Don't judge a book by its cover, Malfoy...

Malfoy smirked at my Silver Otter. "Heh," he sneered. "Is this all you've got, Granger? A dumb otter?"

I smirked. Malfoy took me for granted – that was a good sign. "Don't judge a book by its cover..." I muttered.

The Silver Otter stared at Malfoy innocently, blinked, and reappeared with glowing blood red eyes. Malfoy's eyes widened – a look of fear plastered across his face. The Silver Otter opened its once plant-eating mouth, only to bare blood-dripping fangs. Without even the slightest show of pity, it dug its razor sharp fangs into Malfoy's bruised neck.

"AARGH!" Malfoy screamed, clenching his neck. Blood trickled down his neck, staining the fur rug with a blood droplet in the shape of a perfect circle. Malfoy fell to the ground, his face pale but completely covered in blood.

I smirked. I guess my Silver Otter did its job. I walked over to Malfoy, placed my hand gently on his pale cold face, and set my mind on a healing spell.

Minutes – or hours, or days... I don't know – passed. Malfoy awoke, shivering cold and slightly stiff. When he saw me standing there, right next to him with a healing hand over his cheek, he went paler than usual. His eyes (which were usually midnight blue in Oblivion) seemed too heavy and difficult to meet mine.

I sighed knowing he would never look at me the same way again. "I'm sorry, Malfoy," I said, having difficulty opening my mouth to let the words roll out. "We were in battle. I tend to fight fiercely and without pity during battle..."

Malfoy met my eye for a moment. I could still feel the fear within them. "I know," said Malfoy silently, his eyes studying the bite mark my Silver Otter gave him. "I'm kind of impressed actually," he muttered after a while. "I really thought I had a chance of winning... How did you do it? The Swirl of Symbols thing seemed to be working."

I grinned sheepishly, fingers gently rubbing Malfoy's cheeks unthinkingly. I didn't realize the blush that slowly crept up Malfoy's cheeks. "I kind of... sort of... er... took some of your life..." I said. "Sorry."

Malfoy shrugged carelessly (Even though he winced while doing so). "It happens, I suppose," he said, placing his own hand on my lap without thinking. "But nevertheless...You still owe me."

After minutes of sitting (I was sitting, Malfoy was lying on his back) there silently brought us back to our senses. We both realized what an embarrassing position we were in – with me sitting Indian style, hand gently rubbing Malfoy's pale cheek, and Malfoy's head laying on my lap, staring upwards at the miraculous sky.

"Sorry," both Malfoy and I said at the same time. We both flushed a pale shade of pink and moved away from each other.

After that short embarrassing moment, we both made a silent truce not to think about it anymore. I let my back lean against a non-existent barrier as I sat, eyes closed and drifting into soul-less sleep.

"Granger," whispered Malfoy, his voice (Although very quiet) awaking me from an empty dream. "Come here... there's something you've got to see."

I sighed heavily, picked myself up and crawled over to where Malfoy lay. "What is it, Malfoy?" I asked, voice flat and weary.

"Look at the sky," whispered Malfoy, not bothering to turn his eyes away from the midnight blue sky and the glittering blood red droplets of stars. "Lie down and take a look."

I sighed again. Oh well, might as well do as Malfoy says. I rested my body on the ground beside Malfoy, my eyes facing upwards at the magnificent sight. "It's beautiful..." I murmured, unable to suppress my feelings. The wall that has for so long sealed my heart close felt weak and burdened – like it needed a rest from defending my emotions.

The sky truly was an amazing sight. The midnight blue colour felt like a blanket of warmth; pouring across the whole of Oblivion, the twinkling blood red stars hung delicately in the horizon – mixing beautifully with the midnight blue.

"It looks like One," I whispered, unable to contain myself. "Two extreme differences coming together to form magnificence..."

"Yeah..." Malfoy murmured. He tore his eyes away from the brilliant sky to look at me; studying my eyes, nose, lips, ears, and forehead... It all felt extremely weird.

"Are you okay, Malfoy?" I said, trying to hide the flush under the pale moonlight. His eyes seemed to be looking through my skin, digging deep into my soul. The impressive blue glow was replaced with his gentle steel grey eyes. For some reason, he didn't look like Malfoy anymore. He looked like Draco.

"Draco..." murmured Malfoy, the weight of his head being balanced by his elbow. "You called me Draco."

Damn. I forgot that he could read my mind in Oblivion. I started mumbling unheard curses under my breath – only to be ended with, "I meant Malfoy, damn it!"

Malfoy chuckled at my ridiculous behaviour of trying to make things straight again. "You called me Draco," he repeated, his voice soft but teasing. "Don't deny it, Hermione! You're warming up to me!"

I swore again. Shit. "Yeah, well... you called me Hermione!" I said childishly.

Malfoy's eyes twinkled in amusement. "I always thought of you as Hermione, Hermione," he said. "I just called you Granger because you didn't want to admit it to yourself that you were starting to like me!"

Shit – again! "Well... keep it up and I'm going to hate you again!" Great... that was stupid. 'Keep it up and I'm going to hate you – again?!' How can I hate him again if I HATE HIM NOW! Or don't I?

Malfoy smiled, feeling triumphant as he stared at my gloomy – yet blushing – face. "You won't start hating me again just because I teased you a bit, you know," he said happily, eyes twinkling with joy like a child's before Christmas. "You like me for teasing you! You like me for fussing about you! And you definitely like me for caring endlessly about you!"

"I so do – hold on," I said, stopping for a moment as realization suddenly dawned on me. "You care endlessly about me?"

This time it was Malfoy's turn to blush. "Yes, well..." he mumbled, fidgeting with his scary fingers. "Kind of... actually I do now that I think about it. Yeah."

I couldn't help but smile at what he had just said. "Thanks, Draco..." I murmured, smile still on my lips. "You don't know how much that mattered to me... For you to admit you care..."

"Yeah..." said Malfoy, suddenly brightening. "But what I just said doesn't even compare to what you owe me!"

I gulped, wondering what the hell he was planning. I prayed that it wouldn't be that he would make me embarrass myself in front of the whole school... or bow down to him... or lick his boots... or do his homework everyday for the rest of my entire life... or attempt murder on myself... or admit to the world that I was a fricken idiot... or make me hurt anyone...

Malfoy grinned. "No, Granger, I won't make you do any of that dumb stuff" he said, answering all my dumb thoughts of torture and embarrassment. "What you have to do is neither painful, suffering, nor embarrassing. Just something only you and I will keep to ourselves."

Phew! That cuts everything I thought about out of my list. But what on earth could it be?

"Kiss me."

EXCUSE ME?! I opened my mouth to shout at him, or even raise my hand and slap him for the pervert he really was. "You want me to – won't licking your boots be something more suitable in this case?" I said, desperately trying to escape this subject.

"Come on, Hermione," pleaded Malfoy, his steel grey eyes proving seriousness. "You owe me. And you're a pretty good kisser, so you've got nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about!" I said angrily. "How about the fact that we'll be swapping saliva? And the fact that I'll be KISSING you! For goodness sake, don't you care?"

"Nope," said Malfoy, the cocky grin still stuck on his face. "You owe me, and you know what happens if you back down on something you owe, Hermione."

I groaned. Oh yes. Wizard deals and I.O.U. swears. Damn it all to hell!

Malfoy's arms wrapped themselves around my hips, pulling me into a hug.

I suddenly felt very small and weak. Unable to stand up to this teenage boy I had no experience with. Curses, abuses, threats, battles, and near-death experiences I can handle, but teenage boys? Not at all my kind of thing.

Malfoy leaned in closer to me until his breath hit my face. We were inches apart with barely any oxygen between us. From 3 centimetres to 2 centimetres to 1 centimetre... His lips almost met my own.

I did the only thing I could think of at this desperate moment. I closed my eyes – hoping to return back to Life as soon as possible.

Swirls and colours of Oblivion passed before my eyes the second before Malfoy's lips touched my own. I didn't want to deal with any such thing at the moment, because each time I felt an attraction pull or liking towards Malfoy, an image of Harry would flash through my mind – his emerald green eyes filled with sadness and disappointment...

DONE WITH THIS CHAPTER! Okay, continue to review this chapter, and I'll put your name up in the next! I'll dedicate the next chapter to you! So...

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