Hello, I've managed to update on time! Yay! I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter, thank you all for the reviews! I don't have time for personal thank you's but you know who you are!

Anyway I've been really busy catching up work and such and also I'll be taking my time now with the next chapters as they're really important!

I guess you're all wondering what's gonna happen next between Draco and Hermione. Well the answer is in this chapter, so read on!

..~**~..

Chapter 26

Hermione stepped out of the Hogwarts and looked up at the castle before her eyes. She was eager to see everyone again and tell them all about skiing with her family. She hadn't seen Harry or Ron on the train and decided they had probably returned earlier to school. She hadn't heard from Draco either but she hadn't expected a letter from the Slytherin Prince. After all, he had left her without a note or anything and was probably playing another mind game with her.

As she walked into the castle, heading for the Great Hall for dinner, she suddenly felt herself being pulled to the side.

She turned to face her red-haired friend. "Ron, what are you doing?" she asked surprised.

He looked back at her with a worried expression, which scared Hermione. She hadn't seen him like this for a while; not since last year's massacre.

"Harry wants to see us now," he whispered hurriedly before leading her up to the Gryffindor common room. "Come on, we need to talk before everyone gets back from dinner."

Hermione followed without muttering a word, dreading something had happened during her absence from the wizarding world.

As she entered the common room, she found Harry in an armchair in deep thought. He had a determined look on his face, quite different from the usual scared one. It reassured her a little.

"Hello, Hermione," he said warmly, as he noticed her presence.

She sat down, next to Ron on the couch and noticed Ginny was absent.

"Where's Gin?" Hermione asked, panic in her voice.

"She's fine. She already knows," Harry answered before exchanging nervous looks with Ron.

Suddenly, Hermione's heart started beating furiously. Oh my God, what if they know? What if they've found out everything? What if they've found out about Draco?

"Hermione, a lot has happened since you left," Harry began, "First of all, Lucius Malfoy has disappeared for nearly a month now."

Hermione let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. "What happened to him?" she asked confused.

"We don't know," Ron explained. "He simply vanished from one day to the next and apparently, even the Death Eaters don't know why."

"What else?" Hermione dared to ask.

"As Lucius is missing, a new and more powerful Death Eater has apparently taken his place. Snape still hasn't returned to inform us who it is," Harry continued. He seemed worried about the news but there was also something else that bothered him and Hermione wanted to know.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she asked softly. "We've already dealt with new and more powerful Death Eaters and Lucius' disappearance seems more like a blessing than something to worry about. Something else is on your mind."

Ron grunted and folded his arms in disapproval as she spoke, apparently already knowing the answer to her question. Harry signed deeply but before he could speak, Ginny appeared at through the common room door.

"She hasn't returned!" she told Harry who nodded in return.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked once more.

"We're worried about Abigail," Ginny explained to her. "Harry received a letter from her at the very beginning of the holidays but since then, we haven't heard from her. I just heard that she hasn't returned to Hogwarts yet and neither has Snape! Nobody seems to know where they are, not even Dumbledore." She seemed very much affected by Abigail's disappearance.

Worry crept on Hermione's face as Ron started asking Ginny for more details which she didn't have. Hermione listened carefully whilst watching Harry. His sparkling green eyes bored deep into her own. Abigail was the 'something ' or someone on his mind and although he wasn't showing it, Harry Potter was scared for her.

..~**~..

After much discussion, Hermione went back to her own common room. She anticipated seeing Draco again and as she stepped inside, she found him, sitting by the fire, lost in his thoughts. Seeing him like that, brought back painful memories of the ball night.

"For God's sake, what the fuck do you want?"

"You."

Tears suddenly formed in her eyes as she realised the pain Draco had caused her the next morning. She had tried to forget about it, telling herself it was nothing and that he had probably done it to many other girls but it was all too much and she broke out in silent tears.

She walked past him and went straight up to her room. She didn't want him to see her like this, she would never give him that satisfaction. She put a silencing charm on her room and continued to cry the tears she had held back all these weeks. A few minutes later, she heard a soft knock at her door.

"Who is it?" she asked wiping her eyes quickly.

"It's me."

Hermione quickly checked her appearance, magically hiding her red puffy eyes and opened the door.

"What do you want?" she asked sharply.

"Can I come in?" Draco asked, ignoring her tone of voice.

"No," Hermione told him, shutting the door on him, but Draco pushed it back open and walked in anyway.

"Draco, I don't want to see you right now," she continued, already knowing that he had come to apologise - as ever.

"We need to talk," he insisted.

"Like I haven't heard that one before," Hermione spat out and just as she was about to ask him to leave again, he interrupted her.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Hermione looked back at him. "For God's sake, you keep saying that, but I doubt you even know what that word means! Now GET OUT!"

She opened the door but he grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look into his steel grey eyes.

"Hermione, please, listen to me! I need you," he admitted. "I need you more than you know. After the ball night, I was lost and I didn't know what to do. For Merlin's sake, you're a Gryffindor and part of the Golden trio! I tried to forget about you, forget everything but I couldn't and finally I realised that I missed you and I need you."

Hermione stood in disbelief as she listened to him talk. He needed her! Draco Malfoy has just admitted that he missed me and needs me!

She stayed silent for a few seconds, taking in everything he had just told her. Somewhere, deep inside of her, she had always hoped for him to tell her this. After all, she was like every other girl, daring to dream about moments like these, knowing they would never be true. But now that it was reality, could she just forgive and forget?

His dark eyes looked down at her, full of remorse. "I'm sorry. Please, can you forgive again, one last time?"

"Then it's the last time, Draco," Hermione finally gave in. "You mess up again and your life will become a living hell, you understand?"

He nodded and before she realised what she was doing, she kissed him. He responded with the same lust for a few seconds but then stopped her.

"Wait," he breathed out hesitantly. "There's something else I have to tell you."

But Hermione didn't want to know, she was tired of thinking, tired of the stupid war and couldn't care less if Draco was just pretending. All she wanted was Draco, his arms around her and his warm lips against hers; everything else was unimportant.

"Not now, Draco," she surprised him, wrapping her arms back over his shoulders.

He wrapped her in his arms and brushed her lips with his. "You have no idea how much I missed this." He cupped her face and kissed her deeply.

His touch sent sparks through Hermione's body and his kiss was blissful. Hermione, herself, hadn't realised how much she had missed him and felt she was losing control when Draco stopped again.

"Hermione," he said seriously. "What about tomorrow?"

Stop with the questions! her body screamed. Maybe she should have stopped and listened to what Draco had to say – or maybe she could wait until morning.

Looking up into his silver eyes, she grinned devilishly, and said. "What about tonight?"

..~**~..

Hermione woke up the next morning to the sound of rustling. Draco was already out of bed, in boxers, looking out of her window. He seemed in deep thought again and Hermione knew something was up.

"What do you want to do when you leave Hogwarts?" he asked her suddenly, his back still turned to her.

His random question caused Hermione to shift uncomfortably. "I'm not sure – I guess it'll depend on the war, if it ever happens. I wouldn't mind going into Ministry training, maybe train to be a Defender or a judge."

"So you can put criminals like me in jail?" Draco suggested, smirking at her.

"I doubt I could ever do that," Hermione retorted.

"Sure you would," he stated logically.

Stepping up to the bed, he bent down to kiss her, loose strands falling into his eyes but Hermione stopped him. She had been too tired and lonely last night to care about what he wanted to say to her but now she regretted it. She couldn't help thinking about what Draco had wanted to tell her. Whatever the revelation would be, it was surely going to be bad and how would she deal with it?

"Tell me," she demanded, preparing herself for the worst.

He sat beside her on the bed and looked into her determined chocolate eyes. She felt like his was trying to reach into her soul and quickly looked away.

"I'm not sure I can tell you what you want to know," he said truthfully.

"Where's your father?" she responded on the beat.

Draco smirked at her question. "So you heard about his disappearance. Unfortunately, he wasn't gone for long. Abigail turned him into stone over the Christmas holidays, that's why he's been missing. But now he's back."

Hermione burst out laughing at his words. "Abigail changed him to stone?" she cried out. "I can't believe it!"

Draco looked back at her amused. "Well it's true. The look on his face was priceless and it was very humiliating for him as well. But now he's out for revenge and he'd do anything to get her back."

Hermione stopped laughing abruptly. "Oh God! Is that why she's missing? Did he do anything to her?"

Draco frowned at her question. "Abigail's missing?"

"She hasn't returned to Hogwarts yet, neither has Snape."

Draco kept silent, lost in his thoughts again. Hermione waited for an answer but didn't get any. He slowly got up and slipped his shirt back on. He headed for the door but she stopped him.

"Who replaced Lucius?" Hermione dared to ask. She knew he had the answer, but did he trust her enough to tell her?

He remained silent as he closed the door behind him.

..~**~..

Hermione spent her first days back at Hogwarts lost in the amount of homework the teachers were giving out. The NEWTs were approaching and realisation seemed to finally hit the seven years about how much work they had to do for them. She hadn't seen much of Draco during the first few days due to the amount of work she had. She groaned once more along with the rest of her class as McGonagall gave them yet another list of essays and spells to practice.

Walking out of class with Harry and Ron, she thought about Draco and suddenly remembered what he had told her. She summoned her two best friends to follow her to the entrance hall, which was unusually quiet, to tell them.

"I know why Lucius was missing," she said eagerly to them.

Harry's eyes lit up as she told them about Abigail putting a spell on him.

"But he's back now, though he won't be so chummy with Voldemort anymore. He got depromoted after all and for a Malfoy, that must be really humiliating," she continued.

"Hermione, how do you know all this?" Ron asked intrigued.

Hermione stopped for a moment; she hated lying to her friends. "I overheard Malfoy talking about it last night," she answered, trying to sound casual.

"This is great news!" Harry exclaimed. "If only we knew why Abigail hasn't returned yet."

Hermione tried to reassure him but after all, she was extremely worried herself and tried not to think of the worst. The trio stayed silent for a moment, until Ron tried to discreetly nudge Harry with his elbow.

"Oh yeah – I, um, I need to go practice Quidditch," he suddenly blurted out.

"Harry, it's pouring outside!" Hermione reminded him, as they watched students running in through the doors, soaking wet.

"I meant library," he quickly replied, heading down the corridor.

Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation. She realised what he was trying to do. She hadn't seen anything so unsubtle in her life. Yet now she was facing a very nervous Ron, who she hoped wasn't about to finally express his feelings for her after all these years.

"Hermione," he began, his ears turning red, "I need to ask you something."

It unnerved Hermione how embarrassed he still was about these things. Not that she was too popular around guys, but they were seventeen after all!

"Yes?" she said with encouragement. She had no idea what to say if he asked her out but she knew that she would have to let him down easy.

"Hermione, I really like you and –" But suddenly he stopped short and his eyes opened wide in shock, as he looked at the girl who had just walked through the main entrance. "Merlin, who the hell is that?" he tactlessly exclaimed.

Hermione turned around to face the girl Ron was talking about and then understood why he'd seemed surprised.

The poor girl seemed to be soaked to the bones with the rain pouring outside. She was wearing a large black cloak and pulling her trunk behind her. Her face struck Hermione more than anything. It was sickly pale, black mascara had trickled down the cheeks and her raven black hair stuck to her face with the rain. The girl simply looked like lifeless, her eyes were hollow and it spooked Hermione.

Suddenly Snape also walked into the entrance hall and took the girl's trunk for her. Hermione was surprised to see him helping this girl when he had been missing for several days and should be reporting immediately to Dumbledore. Ron, however, nudged her and pointed to the students around her. Hermione hadn't noticed the hall had become silent all of a sudden; all eyes were on this girl who had just come in. They seemed to recognise her but her appearance still shocked them.

"Oh my God!" Hermione gasped suddenly. "It's Abigail!"

She turned to Ron who looked just as surprised. "But, she looks so – different!" he managed to exclaim.

Hermione continued to watch as Snape called a few Slytherin girls and asked them to accompany Abigail to her dorm. They nodded in silence and the whole hall watched as they led a deathly pale Abigail up the stairs.

As soon as they were out of sight, the hall snapped back into action and everyone started talking quickly about what had just happened, some even left the hall, eager to tell the rest of the school.

Hermione, however, stood stock still. What the hell had just happened? Had she just seen a living dead version of Abigail or had she been dreaming? She turned to face Ron but his expression mirrored her own.

"We have to tell Harry," he finally said. "Come on."

He started dragging Hermione away from the hall but she pulled away.

"No, I have to know!" she answered back and made her way through the pack of students, catching up with Snape.

"Sir, please," she called out. "I have to know what happened."

But he simply narrowed his dark eyes at her. "Miss Granger, even though you may be Head Girl, it still does not give you the right to know," he answered sternly.

"But sir, you must know that Abigail is -"

"Is related to you?" he butt in,"yes, I know." He paused for a moment, looking around in case anyone was eavesdropping. "This is for your ears and your ears only Miss Granger! If tomorrow the whole school knows the truth, I shall give you detention until you graduate, do I make myself clear?"

Hermione nodded, anxious to know what was wrong.

"As you may have noticed, Miss Serpent has been absent for the past few days. During these past days she has busy taking care of personal matters - such as organising a funeral," he slowly explained to her.

"A funeral?" Hermione echoed in whispered tones. "But who?" She dared to ask, but the answer instantly came to her mind as Snape answered.

"Her mothers."

..~**~..

Uh oh – Abigail's mother has passed away. Don't worry, the next chapter will explain what exactly has happened to Abigail in the last few weeks.

Also, some of you might be confused about Hermione getting back with Draco so quickly. Well, it happens all the time. Girls, especially naïve ones such as Hermione, are usually more forgiving when it comes to the guys they love. They did have sex again, (for those who didn't get that) and for those who were disappointed that I didn't write it up, next time I will. Also are you wondering why neither of them have said the traditional "I love you."? Well I guess they're still not ready to admit it yet. They will eventually and it will be a decisive moment as well.

But anyway, now too the most important things! This chapter is what I would call, the beginning of the end! Indeed, the following chapters will be longer, bigger in terms of revelations, action, suspense, love, etc and will eventually lead to the final battle! So if I don't update every week forgive me but it's for the best. Don't worry though, I figured out that there will be at least another ten chapters before the end! Yay!

Next chapter: Abigail goes beserk and recalls everything that happened to her since she left Malfoy Manor! Also Blaise, the dangerous git, is up to something!

Review! Thanx