Chapter 47-

AN- Sorry for the wait, my internet wasn't working well at my house and I just got it re-hooked up here at college…. Anyway, Enjoy…

Last Time

"Please, Hermione. Come back to me! I need you!" he pleaded, taking her hand and placing a gentle kiss on each of her knuckles.

Draco stayed at Hermione's side as the weeks passed by. She had made no sign of improvement since she had first lost consciousness, and everyone was slowly giving up hope. Draco, however, refused to give up on the woman he loved. He sat by her day and night, talking to her, holding her hand, and praying.

One day, three weeks from the end of term, Harry and Ron paid Hermione a visit.

"Any improvement?" Harry asked as he took a seat on the opposite side of Draco.

Draco just shook his head, eyes never leaving his love's still form.

"Come on, Malf-Draco, you need to get out of here for a while. Let's go get a Butterbeer at Hogsmeade." Ron suggested.

Draco shook his head at the thought of leaving her side. "I can't go anywhere. What if she wakes up? I have to be here when she wakes up." Draco explained, eyes still focused intently on Hermione.

"You are going to drive yourself crazy sitting here. She wont wake up while we are gone. Come on!" Harry asked in a deeply concerned voice. "You have to get out of this room for a little while."

"NO! I would never forgive myself if I wasn't here for her when she woke up!" Draco said, finally tearing his eyes from Hermione to glare at Harry and Ron.

Ron jumped out of his chair in frustration. "DON'T YOU GET IT? SHE ISN'T GOING TO WAKE UP!!!" he yelled as tears began pouring out of his eyes.

Draco jumped out of his chair and grabbed the front of Ron's robes and balling his fists into the cloth. "Don't you ever say that again!" Draco hissed in a low, threatening voice. "Hermione is going to wake up! She has to!" When Draco finished talking, he released Ron and collapsed into his chair and began to cry. He kept repeating, "She had to" over and over between sobs.

Harry stood up and walked to Draco's shaking form. Harry had never seen him so vulnerable, with his hands covering his face and his head between his knees. Harry gently touched Draco's shoulder and Harry and Ron left Draco to mourn his loss.

When they were out of the room, Draco lifted his head and looked at Hermione. Rage suddenly surged through his veins and he flew to the bed. He grabbed Hermione shoulders and began violently shaking her. "WAKE UP!!! GRANGER!!!" he yelled over and over as he shook her. "HERMIONE! I LOVE YOU!! WAKE UP, NOW!!!!"

"Mr. Malfoy! Put Miss. Granger down this instant!!" Madame Pomfrey said as she ran towards him.

"NO! SHE'S MINE AND I REFUSE TO LET HER DIE!!!" he yelled, clinging to Hermione as if his life depended on it.

"If you don't put her down, you might kill her!" Madame Pomfrey tried to reason with him.

Draco shook his head, refusing to let go of her.

Madame Pomfrey was about to call Dumbledore when he suddenly appeared in the doorway. He saw Draco and Hermione and he immediately went to them. "Draco, you must let her go." he said in a quiet understanding voice.

"No…I can't let her go! I won't. She's all I have to live for."

"Please, Mr. Malfoy."

"I can't." he whispered as her buried his face into her hair and cried.

Suddenly, Draco felt arms grab him and pull him off of the bed. "Let her go!" Severus Snape ordered.

Draco refused at first, but eventually was forced to let go. "Come on, we need to talk." Snape said, trying to escort the boy out of the room.

"No, I can't leave her. What if she wakes up?" Draco cried, reaching out to his only love.

"Come, NOW!" Snape ordered and practically dragged the boy out of the room.

"I'LL BE RIGHT BACK HERMIONE, I PROMISE!" Draco yelled as he was begin drug out of the room. When they were in the hall with the hospital door closed, Snape released Draco. "What do want? I need to get back in there!" Draco spat at his favorite professor.

"I will not tolerate that tone of voice from a student!" Snape snapped back. Draco stared at his for a minute before he seemed to calm down.

"Fine, I am sorry. Now what is so important that I needed to come out here to hear it?"

"Draco, it's about Hermione." Fear passed through Draco's mad eyes, but he quickly hid it and put on his best blank face.

"And…"

"And, I think that you should know, the Medi-Witches say that she isn't going to wake up. They said that the life-support was useless." Snape was barely speaking in a whisper when he finished.

"No! She is going to wake up!"

"Draco! Listen to me!" Snape said looking the boy straight in the eyes. "They are going to take her off life-support tonight." Snape willed Draco to understand.

"No, not tonight! Please, give me one more night. I know she is going to wake up!" Draco begged.

Snape studied the pain and desperation in his eyes and couldn't help but feel extreme pity for the boy. Finally, he nodded. "Fine, I will see if the Headmaster will allow you one more night." Snape said, immediately turning away from Draco and re-entering the hospital.

Draco waited in the hall for what seemed like forever, but was really only a few seconds for Snape to return. "What did the headmaster say?" he asked eagerly.

"He agreed, but by this time tomorrow you are going to have to say goodbye." Snape answered in a carefully blank voice.

Tears continued to cascade down Draco's cheeks as he thanked his professor and went back into the room. Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey were no where to be soon, so Draco headed straight for Hermione's bed and sat down on it. He gently picked up her hand and held it. He stared at her for a few minutes, willing her to just move one finger. When that didn't work, he began pleading with her once again. "Come on Hermione, I need you…"

Several hours of reading, talking, and crying later, Draco laid down next to her and fell asleep still holding her hand tightly in his.

Draco was sitting next to Hermione on her hospital bed reading when he was suddenly overwhelmed with sadness. He needed Hermione, he couldn't live without her. Tears welled in his eyes, but he refused to cry. Hermione needed him to be strong. He closed his eyes in an effort to blink away the tears, but when he opened them again, he was no longer in the Hospital wing of Hogwarts. He was in the Forbidden Forest. He looked around for Hermione, but all he saw was trees and darkness. He turned around several times, calling her name, but got no answer. It was as quiet as death.

After a few minutes of trying to figure out what to do, he decided that he needed to get back to Hogwarts. He had no idea how he had got out here, but he knew that Hermione needed him and he couldn't waste any more time standing there.

Draco began walking towards what he was hoping would be the edge of the forest when he heard a scream. He froze. "Hermione." he gasped before turning and racing towards his love's cry.

Soon, he heard the familiar voice of his father. 'How can he be here? He's supposed to be dead…' Draco thought as he paused to hear what the man was saying.

"So, Little Miss. Mudblood, should I kill you now so that you can join me in hell?" he asked Hermione.

Draco peeked through the bushes and saw that Hermione was tied to a tree and Lucius was standing in front of her, wand raised and pointed. "Answer me!" he demanded. Hermione raised her head and glared at him for a second before sitting in his face. 'Go Hermione!' Draco thought before watching his dad raise his left hand and striking her across the side of her face.

"You FILTHY BITCH!!!!" his father yelled.

That was the last straw for Draco. He jumped out from behind the bushes and ran at his father. "How many times do I have to kill you?!" he yelled right before he tackled him and rode him to the ground. When they hit the ground, Lucius Malfoy hit his head against a rock and was rendered unconscious.

"Draco!!!" Hermione yelled, joy evident in her voice. Draco wen to her and began untying her. "I knew you'd come! I know that you would save me! I never gave up hope, not once!" she said excitedly, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Hermione, I am really glad that you are okay, but what are you talking about? You have been in a coma for the last three and a half weeks. You must have just woke up twenty minutes ago." Draco said in a very confused voice.

"No, I have been here since the battle against Voldemort." she replied in all sincerity.

"What?"

"I have been here since the battle at Malfoy manor. I don't know what happened though. All I remember is surrounding Harry and Voldemort then getting hit with one of the spells. I blacked out and woke up here."

"But--"

"Look, can we talk about it later, I want to go home." she said.

Draco smiled and nodded. He encircled her in his arms for a few seconds before pulling away and kissing her on the lips.

Soon the couple was standing in front of their home, Hogwarts.

Draco woke with a start. He sat straight up and immediately started looking for Hermione. When he finally realized that she was still laying lifeless beside him, his heart broke once again. She was dying and he could do nothing about it.

"Hermione, come on. We are running out of time. I need you to come back to me. I love you."

Tears welled in his eyes for what seemed to be the millionth time in the last month and he buried his face in his hands. 'I can not take this. I need her…'

Draco's thoughts were interrupted by the hospital door opening. He turned to see who had entered the room and saw Dumbledore, Madame Pomfrey, McGonogall, Snape, Harry, Ron, and Ginny. 'No, I haven't had enough time.' he thought as soon as he realized that they were there to "pull the plug" on Hermione.

"I am sorry Mr. Malfoy, I think that it would be best if you left." Snape said, approaching the boy.

"No! I won't leave her!" he said immediately grabbing her hand and holding it tightly.

"Fine, Mr. Malfoy, but I don't think that it is a good idea."

"Wait, can I have a second to say goodbye?" Draco practically begged.

"No, Mr. Malfoy." Professor McGonogall said in her stern, end-of-subject-voice.

"I can't let you do it." Draco whispered to them before turning back to Hermione. "Come on, Hermione. I can't let you go!" he said, willing her with all his might to live. "I love you more than anything!" Draco then buried his face in her hair and cried openly and loudly.

"I love you too." a weak voice barely whispered into his ear.

Draco pulled back and stared at Hermione with wide eyes. She didn't look any different, but he knew that she was alive. She was going to be okay. "She's alive!" he yelled.

"Mr. Malfoy, you have to go now." Snape tried to pull Draco off of the bed, but he wouldn't be moved.

"No! She's alive!!! She just spoke to me!!" he said, turning back to Hermione. "Tell them!! Tell them that you are okay!"

Everyone froze and looked at Hermione. When she didn't move or talk, Snape started to pull at Draco again.

"Come on Hermione!" Draco yelled as Snape pulled him off the bed and began half dragging, half carrying Draco towards the door.

"No, she's alive! Don't kill her! Come on Hermione!" Draco yelled, crying so hard that the words were all muffled. "Hermione! Hermione! Hermione!" he screamed her name over and over as Snape finally got him to the door. "NNNNOOOO!!!!!!!"

Snape forced Draco through the door, but just as he was about to close it, he saw something that he would never be able to explain…

Hermione sat up straight in the bed as if pulled up by some invisible strings. Her eyes flew open and she screamed, "DRACO!!!"

Draco broke free of Snape and ran back into the room to Hermione's side. They wrapped their arms around each other and cried as the others just stood there in shock.

"Oh, Draco. I knew that you would save me! I was scared, but I knew that you wouldn't give up on me!" she said crying into his shoulder.

"I would never leave you. I love you!" he said, kissing her deeply.

"I love you too, I love you too."

AN- Who thought she was going to die?? Come on, I can't be that mean to Draco! He he he! Well, there will probably only be one more chapter and I will try to get that up soon! Until then, see ya!!"