"What friend?" Hermione asked glibly.

Harry raised his eyebrows and walked over to the bed, watching Hermione as he said, "Come out, Malfoy."

She gasped, as he expected. "You knew?"

"I do now." Harry turns to face Draco, pulling his wand against the Slytherin's throat in what was clearly a planned more. "Confundous Hex? Or a special Slytherin-exclusive one?" Harry brandished his wand threateningly, and Draco stopped mid reach. His hand hovered just over the opening to his robe and to his wand. His eyes had met Hermione's, big, brown and scared. Once again, and not happily, he forced himself to trust her and raised his arms carefully, hands spread. His eyes never left hers.

"Harry stop it!" Hermione ran at him and tried to yank his hand down, pointing it away from Draco in case of a misfire. Harry looked at his friend, surprised as he easily fought her off after years of Quidditch training.

"I'm really sorry, Hermione. Stupefy!" His wand was pointed at her and she flew against the wall of Hagrid's cabin. Snarling, Draco lept towards her as fast as he could. Hagrid took it upon himself to tackle an increasingly bewildered Harry.

"Stu—Stupefy!" another voice cried. Draco fell against the floor weekly, barely managing not to collapse on Hermione. He was rudely shoved aside as a voice whispered, "Ennervate!" and Hermione's vision cleared to show the last person she would have expected…

"Neville!"

Neville paused halfway through the window, wand still pointed at the prone Draco. Harry was standing over Hermione, wand out. Hermione yelped and tried to stand, but fell back. Hagrid reached over, pushed Harry out of the way, and bodily lifted the girl. He held her up, hands tight on her shoulders, until she regained her balance. However one step towards Draco later, Hermione had collapsed into Harry, who caught her gallantly, only to be rewarded by a fierce glare and a harsh shove when she had her feet again. Her mind, however, finally began to grasp the situation and she turned to Neville, still halfway through the window, bewildered and more than a little frightened.

"Neville, it's ok. What did you do to him?" Hermione tried to keep the fear out of her voice. Before the DA, Hermione would have dismissed the boy as almost a Squib and not given the curse a second thought. But now… Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat.

"I… I Stunned him. What he did to you." Harry began to stutter incoherently, but a single glance from the furious Gryffindor girl shut him up.

"Its all right, Neville." Hermione reassured him in what she hoped was a comforting voice. "We were just having a little fight. Thanks." The last word came reluctantly; even pretending to thank Neville for Stunning Draco was hard. Snatching Harry's wand, not sure where her own was, Hermione leaned over to revive Draco. "Ennervate."

He groaned and shifted forward, falling into Hermione and she held him. "Neville, If McGonagall finds out she'll be angry that you were Stunning anyone. Draco won't get into trouble. Not with Snape." Thankfully Neville took the hint, hopped inelegantly back through the window and ran. In one corner of her mind, Hermione suspected that the boy was more scared to be around when Draco woke up than he was of any punishment that McGonagall might give him.

As soon as the three were confident that Neville was gone, Hagrid gently pulled Hermione away and lifted Draco up. He seemed to be recovering more quickly than Hermione had, and he reached out a hand to the girl. Instantly, she ran to him and held him tight. He held her back, hand in her hair, as if he would never let her go. Right now that didn't sound like a bad idea, she was warm, safe, and quite stabilizing for his shaky balance. Too quickly she began to pull him away, "Come on," pulling his arm around her shoulders without him even asking. Gratefully, and partially involuntarily, he leaned on her as they pushed past Harry.

Suddenly, Draco stopped. "Hermione, wait."

"What is it?"

"You don't want to leave it like this." Hermione looked at him, completely dumbstruck. "Harry's your friend, you don't want to lose him like this."

"Draco, let's go." Draco could tell that she was trying to keep her temper and not succeeding. So he held her there and braced himself for the explosion. He didn't have to wait long. "Are you mindless? He Stunned you, Draco! He hates you. Now can we go?"

"Hermione." Draco turned her to face him and planted a kiss on her forehead, holding her a little far south of the waist. "I love you and I won't let you lose your friends because of me. It's bad enough that one of us is alone, we don't need two miserable people here. Hey," He saw the tears that she hadn't even felt running down her cheeks. "I'm ok, it's all ok, it's ok." He hugged her close, wondering how much she was crying for: him? Harry? Ron? Things he didn't even know about?

Hermione snuck a look at Harry, who was watching her, completely astounded, and realized that her friend had never seen her yield to someone. She realized that her friend, her best friend, hadn't seen a lot of her life. And it wasn't his fault.

Even with that thought, sitting down at Hagrid's familiar table wasn't easy with both Draco and Harry there. Hermione and Hagrid sat like moderators between them, although Draco privately thought there was more need for a moderator between Hermione and Harry. Slowly, his girlfriend (that word made him grin even in less than pleasant circumstances) explained what she had to. Telling Harry that they had been together since the first week of school, and that she had concealed it, was hard. Explaining the silence wasn't easy either.

Harry sat there, speechless, just staring at Hermione, never taking his eyes from her face. She found herself blushing heavily and alternating her glances between Draco and Hagrid and becoming increasingly interested in the colour of her tea. When she had said everything, she dared to look at him again. He nodded and hoarsely asked, "Why?"

"Why what?" Draco asked, decided that Hermione had been through quite enough alone. He reached out his hand to her, under the table. She took it gratefully.

"Why didn't you tell me, Hermione?" The girl winced as he added her name, making it impossible for Draco to answer it for her.

"Voldemort." She managed finally, ignoring Hagrid's flinching and muttering. Harry looked confused. "A Death-Eater and a Mudblood." She snapped, the word seeming unfamiliar after all this time, yet still painful.

Draco thought it a fit moment to interject, "I'm not a Death-Eater Potter. I'm supposed to be in training. If He finds out though, he'll kill Hermione." Draco had admitted to himself a few months ago that he was scared not just for himself if his erstwhile defiance and now love was found out. Hermione squeezed his hand reassuringly. He smiled in spite of himself; she was worth the risk.

Read and Review Please! More soon-ish (busy weekend, but I'll try!)

Sorry Harry didn't get to attack Draco… I think if he had, Draco wouldn't have walked away the beautiful boy we know and love. But I think Harry actually handled it fairly well… all things considered.