AN: I can't stop myself from updating, but I bet you aren't complaining. : ) Ok, now read and review!

Chapter Eleven

Shock, and disbelief was all I could see on the faces of my friends.

"Say something," I said to the three of them. I had say them all down in a secluded corner of the Great Hall and told them the whole story about Draco and me. Nothing was left out, ok, well maybe some stuff, but that was to protect Ron. Now my three best friends in the world were staring at me as if I had grown another head.

"You can not be serious," Harry spoke first.

"No I can't, he is dead," (I had to put that in somewhere!) I responded, trying to lighten the mood. Only when I received a heart stopping glare from Harry did I realize my error. "Sorry. I am not lying though," I said trying to stay calm while my nerves were making me shake like crazy.

While Ginny already knew the truth, Ron and Harry were still in shock. Their real reactions were still to come. I looked at Ron, trying to read his emotions; he was mad, disgusted, shocked, and hurt all at the same time, or at least I assumed he probably was.
"Ron, I am really sorry. You have to believe that I am. I didn't was to hurt you-"

"Then what in hill did you want to do," Ron asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Ron, let me finish," I pleaded.

"No, I do not want hear it. Go cry to your Draco, he listens much better than me, doesn't her? 'Cuz he is so much better, like always. Merlin, Hermione. I mean, you actually believe all that crap about him being nice," Ron just kept talking, ignoring my attempts to answer, so all I could do was sit and wait. "Even if it was true, how could you just forgive him for all those things he did. I thought you were a better judge of character than that, but I guess I was wrong. I was also wrong to think you were honest, thoughtful and smart, because if you are with Draco, you have to be very thick."

"Ron," I began when he paused, but he was only pausing for a breath.

"I am so beyond over you. All the traits I liked in you aren't there, so I don't know why I ever liked you, even as a friend. Obviously, I need help when it comes to being a judge of character also," Ron then said some very rude things and stalked off, leaving me to stare at his back, dumbfounded.

"Well, considering the circumstances, I would way that went pretty well," Ginny said, trying to optimistic. "I mean, he could have tried to kill you or something."
"How can you be so unaffected by what Hermione just told us? You don't seem shocked at all," Harry almost shrieked.

"Well," I said. I hadn't mentioned the fact that Ginny already knew about me and Draco. "It is a long story."

"I have time," Harry said, leaning forward a bit.

"Well, I don't," I said. "Ginny, you tell him; I have to go." I really had no where to be, but I wanted Draco's comfort. No, I needed his comfort.

DRACO'S POV

"I need to tell you the truth, the whole truth," I said to myself. I was rehearsing what I was going to say to Hermione the moment she walked in the door. She needed to know the truth, she would forgive me and understand why I had lied. I would, of course, tell her I would not be carrying out my duty.

"Draco," Hermione's voice penetrated the thought that were making my head spin.

This was it; I had to tell her now or never. My heart beat fast as I grabbed her hand and pulled her down onto the couch in our common room.

"I haven't been truthful," I began. Hermione's already troubled face went from bad to worse.

"No, don't tell me, I don't want to hear it," Hermione said, holding up a hand. "I don't want Ron to be right. He is NOT right. Just let me think everything-"

"Hermione! I really have to tell you," I said. I didn't wait for her to respond, I just continued. "I was given a mission by the Dark Lord. It is a vital mission to the Dark Lord's whole plan to succeed against Harry." I was stalling, I had to just tell her; it was the only way to just get it over with. "My mission was to befriend you, gain your trust. I was even told to be romantic if I thought it would speed up the process. After I had you total trust," I paused to catch my breath. "I had to kill you." A look of total shock was on Hermione's face.

"You aren't really in love with me? It was just a way to gain my trust?"

"Hermione! Let me finish," I said, putting my face in my hands. "At first, I was just acing; I was still planning on killing you. I am not quite sure when or how it happened, but it did. I fell in love with you." I looked up from my hands and searched Hermione's face for emotions.

"It is vital to the Dark Lord's plans that you die, because he thinks you would figure out his plan before he could execute it. Everyone else, he thinks is too thick.

Hermione put her face in her hands and her shoulders started shaking. Although she tried hard to muffle them, her sobs were more like wails. My stomach knotted up; I had made her cry like that. What kind of monster was I?

"Of course, I had stopped planning on going through with my mission long before now," I said as I moved closer to give her a hug. "I am sorry," I said softly.

Looking up, Hermione glared at me and pushed me away. "What is wrong? I apologized!"

"Oh, you think everything is all better now? You think everything can go back to the way it was? Think again Malfoy! You think I should be unaffected by all this. You don't know how stupid and wrong you are. You are wrong, and Ron was right," she paused to take a breath, the continued. "When I told him about us, he told me I had to be very thick to be with you, and he was right. I must be on something to have left Ron for you. What is my problem?" With that, she stormed up to her room.