Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: Yes I know cliffhangers are evil, but they make everything so much more exciting they're impossible to resist. Anyway, I'm glad everyone liked last chapter, and I hope you all like this one even more because I certainly enjoyed writing it!

You Rock, Buck-A-Beak, unknown, LJ924, zuvalupa, midnightwanderer01, anIme-prYncess, Chantal J, Lee, Sayaku-chan, mickey823, Sunflower18, Ginny-W13 – Thanks for the reviews! I hope the update came fast enough and that you all like this chapter.
jesska-14 – that's an interesting idea . . . . . I won't tell you which one is right though (cause you find out in this chapter anyway. Thanks for the review!
Fire Angel – slytherin-kittycat looks at the chapter title ummmm . . .no comment lol It certainly would be a surprise if Hermione had no clue and then Draco came back. There are definitely a lot of possible ways for this story to turn, so I hope you like the direction I've decided to take it here and in later chapters as well. Thanks a lot for the review!
CB – lol there's no shame in feeling sorry for Ron, he's not a bad guy, just a bit selfish. I would answer your questions, but that would seriously ruin this chapter, so I won't. Hope the update came quick enough, and I hope you like it!
cindy – oh no, I hope my fic didn't keep you from sleeping entirely! I also hope this chapter meets your expectations, thanks for the review!
SharkAttak – thank you very much, I'm so happy you liked it. And I don't think it's mean to want Hermione to suffer a bit of guilt, after all, he was telling the truth, and she did refuse to listen, so I think it only natural that she feel guilty. That is, if Ron tells her the truth of course . . . . . Thanks for the review!
Melia – thank you! I'm so happy you thought Ron hearing the truth was such a good idea. I hadn't thought about that, about Draco owing Ron for finding out the truth, hmmm . . . I have to consider this for the future chapters. Thanks again and I hope you like the update!
I wish your heart was mine – thank you, I'm glad you liked it so much. I think we'll find out this chapter whether or not you end up hating Ron forever, so that should be interesting. Anyway, thanks for the review, and I hope you like this chapter!
elektra30 – I'll start out with a big I'M SORRY for not reviewing your fic sooner. I feel horrible for taking so long to read/review your chapter, when you're always so quick to read/review mine. I'll seriously try to be better about that next chapter, and in the future. Anyway, I'm so happy you liked this chapter. And yeah, I thought it would be a bit boring focusing only on Hermione and Draco's thoughts here because they would become rather monotonous and repetitive, but Harry's and Ron's perspectives brought a new angle to the same story like you said, so I'm glad it succeeded in keeping it interesting. Thanks for the review, and I really hope you like this chapter!

Now, onto the much anticipated chapter 21!

Chapter 21: The Kiss

Ron woke up with a feeling of dread. He wished he could go back in time and just keep on walking when he heard Parkinson and Zabini talking, that way he wouldn't have any guilt complicating his thoughts. He took a frustrated breath and slid out of bed. Once he and Ginny were ready, they left the Gryffindor Common Room to pick up Harry and Hermione in the Head's common room.

"Good morning!" greeted Rowena when they arrived at the portrait.

"Good morning to you too," smiled Ginny as she knocked on the portrait frame.

After a moment, the portrait opened and Harry and Hermione came walking out. The four friends made their way to the Great Hall. As they started to pile food on their plates, Hermione noticed that Harry was throwing Ron strange looks, as if he were expecting him to do something. "Harry you alright?" she asked curiously.

Harry threw one last glance at Ron before turning his attention to Hermione, "yeah, I'm fine why do you ask?"

"Never mind, I'm probably just imagining things," answered Hermione shaking it off with a shrug.

Harry waited until Hermione was focused on her breakfast and talking to Ginny about Ginny's boyfriend before he looked at Ron again. Ron was frowning at Harry, clearly trying to send him the message not to bring up their discussion from the previous night. Harry huffed, and tore his eyes away from Ron's, he did not want to let Ron get away without talking to Dumbledore, but he also didn't want to break his promise about not bringing it up in front of Hermione.

To avoid making Hermione suspicious or angering Ron, Harry began scanning the room to occupy his attention. Up at the professors table, McGonagall was discussing something with Dumbledore that appeared to be very serious. Snape was sneering at the students, he appeared to be angrier than Harry had ever seen him, and Harry had seen him frighteningly furious. The students all seemed to be their usual happy, carefree selves. Or not, Harry's examination of the room came to a halt when his eyes fell upon the Slytherin table; it was the only table in the room that did not seem to be in a good mood. Indeed, ever since Slytherin lost the quidditch game after Malfoy had been imprisoned his entire house had lost their swagger. He had been their prince, the very definition of what it was to be a Slytherin, and without him, they felt lost, though none of them would ever admit it.

Zabini had clearly been attempting to fill Malfoy's shoes as the most popular Slytherin. However, even those who had absolutely hated Malfoy had to admit that he had something that they could not quite place. He had an air of confidence and charm that simply could not be taught, and although he mostly used his confidence to hurt everyone who crossed his path, the school was clearly not the same without him.

Harry's eyes slid over to the end of the Slytherin table, and if he didn't hate her so much, he would have felt sorry for her. Pansy Parkinson was sitting all alone at the end, separated from the rest of her house and not even attempting to eat, from the looks of it, she had not eaten for quite a while, because she was becoming freakishly thin. Her head was hanging down, so her hair was covering her face, but Harry was positive that she was crying. But before he had time to ponder the inner workings of Pansy's mind, a rush of wings drew his attention away from her and turned it towards the sky where hundreds of owls were delivering the morning's mail.

Harry scanned the sea of feathers for the snowy white form of Hedwig, but she was nowhere to be seen. He hadn't been expecting any mail anyway; he just thought she may decide to come for a visit. Then, as the last owls entered the Great Hall, a shrill and horrified scream sounded from across the room. All conversation in the Hall ceased as every head turned towards the source of the scream, Pansy Parkinson. But Pansy was completely oblivious to the fact that every eye was on her, because she was staring at the front page of the Daily Prophet. Even from two tables away Harry could tell that she was breathing heavily, and looking horrified.

Hermione's attention was drawn away from Pansy when the owl delivering her copy of the Daily Prophet pecked at her. "Oww," she huffed with annoyance as she hastily paid the owl and unrolled the newspaper. When she saw the headline, she too gave a shout, she didn't scream nearly as loud as Pansy, but it was enough to bring everyone's attention to her. Hermione was whiter than a ghost and her breath was quick and uneven.

"Hermione, what is it?" questioned Ron attempting to ease the Daily Prophet away from her. Hermione kept tight hold of the paper as she ripped it away from Ron's hands, not letting anyone other than herself read the headline. In the center of the page was a picture of Draco, he was in a cell surrounded by dementors, and he seemed absolutely lifeless. Although this was a wizarding photograph, it would not have looked entirely out of place amongst a group muggle photos because he was not moving at all. He was sitting against the wall, his head hanging limply on his shoulder. His usually perfect platinum blonde hair appeared greasy; it was slightly longer than Hermione remembered, so that it was covering his eyes, which were closed. However, the photograph was not what disturbed Hermione the most. She frowned and bit her lip as she read the article beneath the headline which had caused both her and Pansy to scream.

Draco Malfoy to Receive Dementor's Kiss

In a decision made Monday regarding the fate of Draco Malfoy, it was unanimously agreed upon by the members of the Committee of Magical Law Enforcement that Malfoy should receive the Dementor's Kiss. This decision was made as a result of the Committee's desire to show other members of the wizarding community the severity and danger of following He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Draco Malfoy was discovered to be one of You-Know-Who's followers, a Death Eater, one month ago, and has been locked in a high security cell in Azkaban ever since. He is the son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, a formerly prominent pure-blooded family. Lucius Malfoy was also discovered to be a member of You-Know-Who's followers. At the time of young Mr. Malfoy's capture, the Magical Law Enforcement team had been nearing the end of an investigation against Lucius that had been going on since August, when he somehow escaped from St. Mungo's, using Dark magic. The investigation would have successfully proven that as a Death Eater, he had been a leader of several tortures and killings of both muggles, and members of the wizarding world. It is also believed that he was one of You-Know-Who's most trusted followers, and therefore he could have been persuaded to reveal the names of nearly all of the current Death Eaters. However, the entire investigation has been ruined due to the fact that Lucius was murdered by his son Draco on the night of his capture.

Lucius' murder was a key factor in the decision to administer the Kiss to Draco, in addition to the testimony of Hermione Granger, a muggle-born witch and Head Girl at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Granger was witness to young Malfoy's initiation. Malfoy was Head Boy at Hogwarts, and the fact that Granger, and the students at the school were not harmed by him is truly surprising. The Ministry feels that this is a result of the fact that Albus Dumbledore is the Headmaster, and is the one wizard whom all dark witches and wizards fear. Even so, the students attending Hogwarts, as well as their family and friends are surely feeling much safer now.

The Dementor's Kiss ceremony will take place at 12 noon today at the Ministry of Magic. No spectators are allowed. The Ministry wishes to express their condolences to all families who have been affected by You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters. And it hopes that actions such as these will bring hope to community that one day, we will be freed from the fear of despicable people such as You-Know-Who, and the Malfoy family.

"My God," breathed Hermione when she had finished with the article.

"What is it?" asked Ginny, her voice filled with worry.

Hermione stared into space, not really seeing anything, she unconsciously handed the paper to Ginny who held it out for her, Harry and Ron to read. "Bloody Hell!" she breathed when she read the headline. As her friends were reading, Hermione was lost in thought. She couldn't believe that they were going to give the dementors kiss to Draco. She had felt that he deserved a lifetime in Azkaban, but to have his soul sucked out? That was a fate worse than death. Yes he had become a Death Eater, and yes he had lied to her, but there was no evidence that he had actually hurt anyone except Lucius, and Lucius hadn't exactly been a saint himself. So did he really deserve the kiss? In her heart Hermione thought not, but is didn't matter because there was nothing she could do about it now.

By now word of the article had spread throughout the Hall, and everyone was discussing the ceremony. No one could quite believe it was true. It was far too difficult for most of the school to believe that someone who they had known, one who had been a very high profile member of the student body could possibly have really been a Death Eater. Plus, most felt that he had become more tolerable especially this year when he had been Head Boy. Most of the students seemed lost, and they were looking around as if hoping to find an explanation. Many were eyeing Hermione discreetly because she had been mentioned in the article.

"I can't believe it!" whispered Ginny. She eyed Hermione uncertainly, "what do you think about this?"

Hermione shook her head, still staring without seeing, "no, he doesn't deserve that, even after all he's done, he doesn't deserve that." Her three friends exchanged looks, Harry's brows furrowed at Ron, silently demanding him to go to Dumbledore. Ron pursed his lips and his eyes widened, ordering Harry not to say anything. Harry grit his teeth and frowned even more deeply at Ron, but their silent argument was interrupted by Hermione's next words. She spoke barely above a whisper, and she didn't seem to be aware of the presence of the rest of the school around her, "It's all my fault."

The two boys stared at her in shock, and Ginny gaped at her. "No!" Ginny cried, "no Hermione, how can you even think that for a minute!"

Finally Hermione's eyes focused on the other three, a slight frown on her lips, "It says so right here." She pointed to the section of the article that named her testimony as a key factor to the Ministry's decision.

"Hermione!" Ron draped his arm around Hermione's shoulders and placed a light kiss on her cheek, "he chose that life; it's his fault, not yours!" He kissed her cheek again. She looked at him, attempting to smile, but what little smile she did make definitely did not stretch to her eyes. Her chocolate brown eyes were filled with a deep sadness, the sadness of a lost love, of guilt for being the one to imprison the man who had brought such love to her heart, and of regret for ever allowing herself to fall for him in the first place.

'Why couldn't I have just stayed away from him! I could have saved myself all this trouble if I had just listened to my friends and my own conscience and ignored my attraction towards him. Of all the people in the world why did I have to fall for Draco Malfoy!' Yet as she waged this inner battle with herself looking into Ron's concerned gaze, she knew exactly why she had fallen for Draco. She closed her eyes, and instantly saw his flawless face swimming in front of her. The emotion those dark silvery eyes disclosed to her, the tingling he had made her feel with every gaze, every touch, every kiss; that was why. She had never felt any of those feelings with Ron, not even when they kissed, but Ron was safe, Ron was secure, with Ron she knew she would never be hurt. But deep down she also knew that with Ron, she would never again be in love. 'How could he have betrayed me like this?' she wondered, her thoughts returning to Draco as she reread the headline.

Suddenly, all noise in the Hall went dead. Hermione looked to the professors table and saw that professor Dumbledore had risen and was about to address the school. Even from their seats, the students could tell that he looked incredibly weary. "Well," he began in a weak voice that surprised just about everyone in the room. "It seems as if everyone has heard about the news by now. It disappoints and saddens me a great deal to see a young man with so much potential, such as Draco Malfoy doomed to such a fate. However, it was his choices which brought on this fate. May this be a warning and a lesson to everyone, of the dangers of allying yourself with darkness and evil. Following such a path will only lead you to pain and suffering." Dumbledore stopped, his speech left the room silent and heavy. "Now, I would like you all to please go onto your classes and do your best to concentrate on your work and not on situations that are beyond your control. Thank you." He seemed to be looking at Hermione specifically when he said the last part. It was as if he knew she blamed herself at least partially for Draco's tragic fate.

Once Dumbledore stopped, there was a scraping of chairs and silverware as the students began to slowly pile out of the Great Hall. There was little conversation as most people were still too stunned to speak. Ron began to follow Ginny and Hermione out of the Great Hall, but he was stopped by someone grabbing his robes and nearly causing him to topple over. "What gives?" shouted Ron with annoyance before spinning around and discovering that it was Harry who had stopped him.

"Ron" whispered Harry furiously, "we have to tell Dumbledore now!"

Ron didn't speak, he just stamped his foot and looked towards the floor, clearly not intending on speaking to Dumbledore.

Harry roughly shoved Ron's shoulder "Ron, what's wrong with you! He's going to be worse than dead in less than four hours! You're the one who heard the conversation; you have to be the one to tell Dumbledore!" Harry could not believe the way Ron was acting, if it were up to Harry, he would have rushed up to Dumbledore as soon as he had read the article. He could not believe his best friend was being so stubborn and immature. "Come on!" Harry dragged Ron by the robes passed all the other students and up to the professors table. He didn't see Dumbledore, so they walked up to professor McGonagall instead.

"Can I help you gentleman?" she asked stiffly.

"We need to speak to professor Dumbledore! It's urgent," answered Harry.

"Well I'm very sorry, but professor Dumbledore just left. He is required to attend the ceremony, and he needs to help the Minister make the appropriate preparations.

Ron frowned, and looked uneasy, and Harry stared at her wide-eyed and speechless. "But, bu . . ." Harry stuttered.

Professor McGonagall frowned, "now please, go on to your class." She turned on her heel, and swept out of the room, her robes flowng out behind her.

Harry and Ron slowly shuffled out of the Great Hall towards the dungeons for their potions class.

Ron, who was certainly in no mood to return to the dungeons after what had happened the night before leaned over and muttered to Harry "What are we going to do?"

"Well we're gonna have to find a way to get there and stop it!" answered Harry as the two sped up. "Let's try to think of a way during potions, and then we can discuss it after."

"But Harry," argued Ron, "Even if we do get there in time, they're never going to believe us, we have no proof! They'll think this is just another wild story!"

"Well we can't just sit here doing nothing! We've got to at least try!" demanded Harry.

Ron opened his mouth to argue, but before he could they arrived at Snape's classroom, and he knew it was useless to argue with Harry when he was like this. They arrived just as the bell rang, and they sat on either side of Hermione.

"What happened to you two?" she whispered harshly as Snape magicked the instructions for the day's potion on the blackboard.

"Never mind", answered Ron, doing his best to ignore Hermione's skeptical gaze.

"Now!" barked professor Snape. "For today's assignment you will brew a sleeping drought. You will work with partners, whom I will choose for you. Snape began pairing students, much to the student's dismay, he was pairing Slytherins with Gryffindors, so they knew that they were not going to like their partners. "Bulstrode, you shall work with Granger. Goyle with Weasley, and Parkinson, you're with Potter." Hermione and Ron groaned, but Harry suddenly had an idea. He quickly gathered his belongings and without a word of complaint, moved over to sit next to Pansy.

Pansy was clearly pissed, and she did not seem to have the ability to concentrate, Harry didn't even make a fuss when she made no effort to help him prepare the ingredients. They were a good halfway into making their potion before either of them spoke. Harry was carefully watching the potion bubble, not even caring that it looked more swamp brown than forest green as it was supposed to. He glanced upward to make sure that Snape was nowhere near him. And he didn't even have time to feel sorry for Neville when he saw Snape criticizing his potion, though Harry felt that Neville's partner Crabbe was probably just as much to blame for the horrendous mixture as Neville was. Harry eyed Pansy, who was staring at the desk with her hair covering her face. "Pretty upset about that article aren't you?" he began, hoping that she would respond to him in some way.

Pansy glared at him furiously, "fuck off Potter!" she spat in a threatening whisper.

Harry smiled to himself, her anger made him think that his plan may actually work. "Must be pretty horrible for him, having his soul sucked out and all," he continued as nonchalantly as possible.

Pansy's face contorted into a ferocious glare, "I told you to shut the fuck up Potter!" she was having trouble keeping her voice down and the people around them glanced up with mild curiosity.

Harry grinned, and spoke in a barely audible whisper, "Imagine, suffering a fate like that, when you're completely innocent." Harry viewed Pansy out of the corner of his eye, and wore a cunning grin on his face.

At first she opened her mouth wide to retort, but as the meaning of his words sunk in, her eyes widened in shock, "what are you talking about Potter?" she spat, her eyes narrowed.

Harry ignored the question "must be killing you inside to know that you're responsible for his current predicament. Imagine what it's going to be like after twelve o' clock when it happens. And you will never be able to see him again, not even to visit him in prison." He saw Pansy's reaction and immediately knew that he had hit a particularly sensitive nerve.

Pansy looked straight ahead fighting a losing battle against her tears, "how in the hell do you know about that?" she demanded through gritted teeth.

"That's not important, what really matters is, what are you going to do about it," said Harry forcefully, completely ignoring the bubbling potion in front of him.

"There's nothing I can do Potter! So just leave me alone!" Pansy was starting to break down again; the guilt was clearly killing her.

"What if you could get there, would you tell the Ministry the truth?" Harry asked, ignoring the potion completely and staring at Pansy.

Pansy turned looking stunned and confused at Harry, she opened her mouth a couple times, but no words came out.

"Would you be willing to tell the truth and save him or would you rather live with the guilt for all the rest of your miserable and pathetic life?" asked Harry, desperately hoping for the right answer.

"I can't . . . .I can't . . . but there's no way to get there anyway, so just forget it and leave me alone," sobbed Pansy, shoving Harry forcefully away.

"There is a way, but you have to trust me," said Harry hopefully, ignoring the shove.

"Yeah right, trust a Gryffindor like you, forget it Potter," huffed Pansy.

"Forget about ever seeing Malfoy again then, and get ready to live with a lifetime of pain and guilt knowing it's your fault he's gone." Harry stopped, allowing the words to sink in, then he continued. "Look, if you really want to save him, meet me outside the Founder's Portrait at 11 o' clock."

Pansy sneered, but did not answer yes or no, she just went back to sulking and staring that the desk in front of her.

"Potter what have you been doing the past 10 minutes?" growled Snape loud enough to draw the classes attention.

"Err, nothing," muttered Harry.

"That, Mr. Potter, is obvious," scowled Snape as he looked down upon the now black gooey potion which was supposed to have turned light blue and runny.

Harry frowned at the potion, he had entirely forgotten to decrease the temperature while he had been talking to Pansy.

"Don't even bother turning in a sample Mr. Potter, I already know what mark you shall be receiving. The rest of you bring your samples up to my desk now."

"What happened with your potion Harry?" asked Hermione reprimanding.

"I forgot about it while I was talking to Pansy," answered Harry honestly.

"What!" both Ron and Hermione cried.

"I'll tell you about it after class," said Harry. His two friends were still looking at him as if he was mad, but Hermione shrugged and turned to head off to arithmancy. Once she had turned around, Harry grabbed a hold of Ron's robes tight and began pulling him through the halls.

"Umm, Harry," protested Ron, "the divination tower is that way," he pointed away from where they were headed.

"We're skiving off, this is far more important that that stupid class," answered Harry determinedly.

Ron stopped fighting Harry, and brightened at the idea of skipping divination, "so where are we going then?"

"My common room," said Harry shortly.

Ron's spirits dampened, "what's so important to do there?"

"We're going to have a talk."

Ron had a feeling he wasn't going to enjoy this conversation, and suddenly the idea of going to divination sounded much more appealing. The boys arrived at the portrait and Harry gave Helga the password, he yanked Ron inside, and forced him to sit on the couch. "I have a plan."

"What?" cried Ron.

"To save Malfoy, I have a plan, and we need to know what we're going to do if she decides to go along with it. I'm pretty sure she will cause she's really making herself crazy over it. So now we have to plan what we're going to do,"

"Do you realize what you just said? Why are we going to save Malfoy? He's just a pathetic ferret," Ron huffed. He was really hating the idea of coming to Malfoy's rescue, but one look at Harry's stern expression told him that even if he didn't agree, Harry would do whatever he was planning anyway, so there was no point in arguing. "Alright fine, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to go to the ceremony, and Parkinson is going to confess," answered Harry.

"What!" shouted Ron.

"I told her to meet me here at 11, and then we're all going to go to the ceremony and make sure she confesses." Harry stopped and looked Ron square and the eye. "And we have to tell Hermione."

Ron glared at Harry stubbornly.

"She has a right to know Ron! And she's going to notice that we're not around after we go anyway. She would want to come, you know that."

Ron huffed, but didn't reply. He did know that Hermione would want to know Malfoy was innocent, that was why he didn't want to tell her, he was afraid of what she would do once she found out.

Harry and Ron sat around pretty much the rest of the period, Harry was going over what they were going to do once they got to the Ministry, they would need to find where the ceremony was taking place. Harry thought they would first look in the basement where he had had his trial fifth year, that was where they seemed to like to do important business regarding Dark witches and wizards, from what Hermione had said, it was the same place they had held Malfoy's trial.

As the end of the period neared, Harry took to pacing in front of the fireplace. He looked inside a smooth black jar on the mantle and was pleased to find that it was filled with floo powder. 'Good,' he thought, 'that's how we'll get there then.'

With five minutes until the end of the period, Harry decided they should go get Hermione at her arithmancy class. That way they could tell her everything before Pansy, hopefully, arrived at the Founder's portrait. Harry led the way through the halls. Ron followed with a pissed off look on his face, he hadn't spoken the entire time he and Harry were in the common room. The bell rang as they were walking through the arithmancy hall, and they saw Hermione exit. "Hermione!" called Harry loudly.

Hermione turned towards the sound of her name and looked at the boys curiously, "did divination get out early or something?" she asked.

"No, we skipped," answered Harry in a rush, they only had five minutes before 11, and Harry was not going to risk missing Pansy.

"Harry! Ron! You can't go off skipping class for no reason even if it is divination," Hermione reprimanded in a manner that suggested she was preparing to give them a long lecture.

"We had good reason!" said Harry as he began to drag her back to the common room.

Hermione looked with confusion at Ron, who was stony faced and silent. "What's going on?" she demanded.

"We'll tell you all about it back at the common room."

"But Harry we have Herbology!" protested Hermione.

"We're going to miss it."

"No! I will not . . ." Hermione abruptly stopped, planted her feet in the ground and refused to move.

"Yes you will, it's about Malfoy." Harry turned to look at her seriously then continued dragging her even faster through the halls.

Hermione's eyes went wide but her mouth went silent. When they finally arrived at the portrait, she demanded, "what is going on?"

Harry looked to Ron, but Ron was looking determined not to speak at all. His lips were pursed and he wasn't looking at either his best friend or his girlfriend. Harry made a very frustrated noise and spoke, "last night Ron heard Parkinson and Zabini arguing, about Malfoy. And today Pansy confirmed what Ron heard."

Hermione frowned angrily, she didn't want to think about Draco anymore, "and what was that exactly?"

"He's innocent Hermione, he really was under the imperius curse the whole time, Parkinson and Zabini are the real Death Eaters." He said softly.

Hermione went white, and she could feel herself shaking slightly, she stuttered for a moment before she was able to speak, "are . . . are you sure?"

"Positive," Harry then began telling Hermione everything.

"He's innocent," Hermione said quietly when Harry was finished. She couldn't believe her ears, that was exactly what she had wanted, but her knowing he was innocent didn't help him any. "He's still going to die," she realized aloud.

"Not if we can stop them," said Harry.

"What?" whispered Hermione with disbelief.

But Harry didn't answer; he was anxiously scanning the hall, though Hermione did not know what he was looking for.

"Harry what!" Hermione repeated, forcing him to look at her.

"We're going to the ceremony, we're going to stop it and save him."

"Harry that's crazy, no one's going to believe us," whispered Hermione dispiritedly.

"Exactly!" said Ron, finally breaking his silence, "so there's no point in going, even Hermione thinks so."

"I didn't say that Ron!" cried Hermione, "We should go; I was just saying that they're not going to believe us."

Ron frowned at Hermione and she glared back at him.

But Harry's attention was elsewhere, "Even if they don't believe us, they might just believe her."

Hermione turned to give Harry a confused look, when her eyes fell upon Pansy Parkinson. Hermione glared ferociously at Pansy. "What is shedoing here?" spat Hermione viciously.

"She's coming with us, and she's going to confess," Harry answered, though he seemed to be giving Pansy an order more than he was answering Hermione's question. "So, let's go, we don't have a lot of time."

Pansy had not spoken, and she was sending guarded threatening looks at the three Gryffindors, but nevertheless, she followed Harry into the Head's common room. "Disgusting," she muttered when she saw the room decorated entirely in red and gold.

The three Gryffindors ignored her, and Harry led them to the fireplace. He lifted the jar with the floo powder, and held it out for each person to take a pinch. Harry made Pansy go first so he could assure that she did indeed go. He then made Ron go for the same reason, he went third, and Hermione arrived fourth.

"Now to stop the ceremony!" declared Harry quietly once they had all safely arrived in the main entrance of the Ministry of Magic. There were so many people milling about that no one even gave the group of students a second look. Still, Harry didn't want to take any chances that they might draw attention to themselves, so instead of taking the lift down to the basement, they took the stairs. Harry flew down, the other three racing just to keep up with him.

Harry glanced around quickly once they reached the level he thought was right, he wasn't sure where exactly the ceremony was taking place. Come on, we have to find the right room. Harry and Hermione both charged to the two closest doors, opened them, but found the room's empty. Pansy and Ron followed their progress. Ron made no effort to help, and Pansy looked conflicted between her instinct to make things more difficult for Gryffindors, and her desperate need to help Draco.

- - - - - - - - -

The minutes were quickly ticking down until 12 o'clock. Dumbledore stood next to the Minister of Magic. He sighed wearily; he was not at all looking forward to seeing Draco receive the dementors kiss. Dumbledore was always one to believe that it mattered not what family one was born to, that one's family did not determine a person's fate. For a while Mr. Malfoy seemed to be proving Dumbledore's view, he truly seemed to have escaped the fate predetermined by his family. But he had not been able to free himself from it; it appeared as if the lure of power and darkness was too strong for Draco to overcome. Dumbledore sighed again.

"It has to be done Albus," said the Minister quietly, correctly interpreting Dumbledore's sighs.

Dumbledore frowned, suddenly looking very stern, he did not agree that it had to be done. He felt that Draco deserved a lifetime sentence in Azkaban, but he did not feel the evidence supported the sentence he received.

Draco himself was in a side room being held captive by two dementors. He was completely lifeless except for the labored rise and fall of his chest. He was aware of what was about to happen, but that was not what brought the lifelessness to him. The power of the dementors didn't affect him nearly as much as he affected himself. He was the one who made himself lifeless, because he had given up on himself. He had given up the will to live, the will to fight, he had given up hope.

The dementors were growing eager, they did not like waiting to administer the kiss. Both hooded creatures were breathing more and more heavily, coming dangerously close to sucking out Draco's soul right then and there. The action caused Draco to relive his worst memories. He had been reliving them so often every second of every day since he had been in Azkaban that after a week they had all passed through him in a painful and depressing blur. But at this moment, one memory stood our particularly clearly, and it was so painful to deal with that it made Draco want to claw his way through his skull to remove the memory from his mind.

He was recalling the night in the Hog's Head last year. It was as if he were experiencing all the pain all over again. He could feel his skin burning with pain as if he was under the cruciatus curse again. He also experienced the horror of witnessing Lucius torturing Hermione. Then finally and most painfully, he recalled what he felt when Lucius cast the frozen death spell on him. In addition to the pain of the spell, he also recalled with intense clarity the fear he felt when he thought that the curse could possibly hit Hermione. The sensation that his blood was turning to ice ran through him, and he faded in an out of consciousness. He slumped down on the ground, wishing it would all end right then. But before his body completely shut down, the door leading to the main chamber opened, and the dementors lifted him and dragged him to the center of the room.

Many of the chamber's occupants were a bit surprised that Draco was so weak. Usually after being in Azkaban, when a prisoner was delivered to the court they regained some of their strength, but he appeared to be growing steadily weaker. Many shuddered to think of the horrors he must be reliving that would have the dementors affect him so violently. The dementors dropped him unceremoniously on the ground, allowing the Head of Magical Law Enforcement to begin the ceremony. From somewhere above the chamber, a loud clock had begun to chime the twelfth hour, it was time.

- - - - - - - - -

In the distance, as if it were sounding from high above them, they heard a booming clock striking 12 o'clock. There was a jolt that ran through Hermione's veins, she had already opened three doors, and was thinking they might be too late when she finally opened a door and heard voices inside. "Guys! She yelled in a whisper. She ran into the room, they were up in the empty balcony, but down below she saw a large gathering of adults. She scanned the room to see what was going on, and in the center she saw it. A man was laying on his back on the stone floor, a man with the unmistakable blonde hair that belonged to Draco Malfoy.

Hermione panicked, there was a dementor gliding next to him. It was slowly lowering its face to administer the Kiss. Hermione instinctively did the first thing that came to her mind. She whipped out her wand and shouted "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

She wasn't the only one either, three silvery animals charged at the dementor, sweeping it away. Hermione glanced to her side and saw that Harry, and surprisingly enough, Ron had also drawn their wands and cast the patronus charm.

Down in the lower level of the chamber, a room full of shocked Ministry officials and Dumbledore gasped in surprise at the appearance of the partonus's. Their eyes followed the silvery animals as they returned to their creators, and they were even more stunned to see who was responsible for interrupting the ceremony.

"What is the meaning of this!" roared the Minister of Magic. "Explain yourselves!" he ordered Hermione, Harry, and Ron, who were all still pointing their wands at the dementor. Pansy was standing next to them, she didn't even have time to be astounded that they had all just produced corporeal patronus's, she was staring unblinkingly at Draco's body. He was lying face up, and from the balcony where they were standing, Pansy couldn't tell if he was alive or not, she was too far away to tell if he was breathing.

"Minister," cried Hermione "you see . . ."

But she was interrupted by the forceful and solemn voice of professor Dumbledore, "Perhaps, Miss Granger, you and the others should come down here and explain what this is all about."

Hermione closed her mouth, and the group traipsed down to the lower level where the Ministry witches and wizards were waiting, with fury in their eyes. Pansy followed a step or two behind the others, for a moment unable to tear her eyes away from Draco, "Oh please be alive Draco," she whispered to herself in a choked voice, a tear falling down her cheek.

I hope you all liked this chapter, and I'm doing my best to get the next one posted as fast as possible. As always, I love hearing what you all think, so please submit a review. Thanks a lot!