ILoveMyDraco: It depends on what he's telling her. I personally think that if Draco told her he was going to be a Death Eater, she would drop him like a hot rock, and he doesn't want that. Muggle-hating is some serious business…Also, I see this as more of Draco's decision. We all know that there are plenty of ways for him to escape, but he doesn't see them, and so for him the only choice is to just do what his father tells him. I don't like it either…

By the way, have you read HBP? I think there's some hope for canon Draco…

Arime Setta: I agree.

Chewy L.: A million times thank you. Can you guess what I'm going to say next chapter?

Soofija: Thank you…and you can review as much or as little as you want, as long as you keep reading.

Sweetypi: Sequel? Hmmm…

As for other fics, check my profile. I don't think I've got too many favorites there, and I don't really like reading stories that aren't finished, but if you don't mind then here are a few more:

Bookworm and the Beast 1934311 by JustRaeInc

Redemption 1972039 by patagonia

Saving Prefect Granger 1474185 by Harmonic Friction

Sunday Night Sex Talk 1704305 by Priah

The God of the Lost 1352741 by Gravidy (absolutely awesome story, though it's not finished. Make sure you read her other stories; they're amazing too. Follow the link to to read them in their entirety (hehe).)

NorthStar2005: I read HBP a few days ago…urgh. I'll say more on that later.

SoDaPoP: Thank you. AU means alternate universe, which basically means that the events in this story can't have possibly happened in the actual Harry Potter universe (if you've read the latest book you'll understand why).

casacrazy: Thank you. And I will. But now that Rowling's gone and made the world all unhappy…well, they certainly won't be as light-hearted as this one.

zurkie: Thanks. And slowly they will go.

Harrison J. Pecans: I almost made you cry? Yes! (Just kidding.) I love a romantic Draco…Also, I really like your name…:)

And thanks to InsanePunkSra, bbysail28, EquestrianBabe, anon, nightmistrie, SalemWitch, maddudewalking, ffyuna, padfootedmoony, HiraTsubasa, Lizzle87, Captain-Ammie, Remusluver, FeLiCiTy RoXx, Buffy-CrazyaboutAngel, Moonglitter2, and eventers club for reviewing.

Countdown

A week had passed since the day of Lucius' visit, and Draco was lying in bed with Hermione, who was sleeping beside him. Outside his window the sun was beginning to rise. He hugged the sleeping form next to him close to his chest, and sighed. As happy as he should have been with Hermione by his side, Draco was everything but that. The night of passion that had resulted from Lucius' visit had been wonderful in every definition of the word, but with the morning that followed the reality of his situation was forced once more upon him. He was going to become a Death Eater. If he didn't want to lose his life, he would have to endure the Dark Mark and rape and torture and murder and support Voldemort in his attempt to take over both the Muggle and magical worlds. Draco was sure Lucius would kill his only son before letting him defect from service to the Dark Lord.

And that meant…that the beautiful Muggle-born girl next to him was not his to keep. It was easy enough to pretend that there were no problems when she was around; just to have Hermione in his presence was enough for him. Draco would often forget that there was anything else to his world, but nothing could prevent him remembering that he would eventually have to let Hermione go. It was an inevitable thing, but if he could somehow find somewhere to go, maybe take Hermione with him if she agreed to leave with him…But how long would they reasonably last in hiding; no, that wouldn't work. She would never want to leave her life behind for him.

He'd already followed this train of thought already, and similar others, and they had taken him nowhere. Early on in the week Draco had given up the idea of escaping what he knew he must inevitably do. The worst of it was that Draco knew she would not submit to another breakup so easily. Though Hermione never mentioned it, Draco could see clearly that, having him now, she had no intentions of letting him go again—the exact way he should have felt if things were different. The way she clung to him when they were together was indication of someone who completely devoted to her lover. It was not surprising, because subconsciously Draco had known all along that keeping himself away from Hermione just wasn't going to work, and she must have known it too. And under different circumstances—life didn't have to be very different, his father would simply not be a Death Eater—Draco would have been happy with this knowledge, but instead it only made his task more difficult.

A week left. A week. Draco silently cursed the gods and considered suicide as an option, but quickly threw it away at the sight of Hermione's brown eyes focused on him. She smiled when she saw him looking back at her; he had obviously been awake for a while.

"Something on your mind?" she asked sleepily.

"Not really."

"Well, we've got to get to class soon." Hermione rolled away from him and off the bed. "Whatever it is, you can tell me later," she said as she walked towards her bathroom.

It seemed that she always knew when he was thinking about something. When she thought there was something on his mind Hermione let him know, and she was usually right.

Draco reluctantly followed her lead and left for his own bathroom. When he emerged from his room, ready for classes, Hermione was waiting for him. "I'll see you in our favorite class," she said, referring to Potions, before giving him a kiss and heading off to the Great Hall. Draco followed a few minutes after, still observant of his early cautionary tactics to avoid connection with her.

Draco spent the rest of the day in a haze of thought, as he had been doing for the past week. He felt now more than ever it was imperative that he end the relationship, as soon as possible, and yet Draco could not do it, perhaps in the hope of some sort of epiphany to reveal another option. More likely, and understandable, was his desire to be with Hermione as much as he could before the holidays; when they returned he was sure to never see her again—at least not in a romantic capacity.

As Draco knew for a fact, Hermione was aware that something was weighing on his mind. However, Hermione had taken a policy of waiting for him to clue her in, which she was sure he would eventually do. Hermione knew Draco to be the type that didn't like to be pushed; she always found it was easier to have him tell her the problem than to try and force it out of him—the latter being something at which she had yet to succeed. Since their relationship had magically regenerated itself, there had not been very much discussion of the issues between them. But, as Hermione's mother often told her, nothing would happen before its time.

Hermione hoped that the adage applied not only to knowledge inside, but outside, of the relationship. She had yet to tell anyone that she and Draco were back together, and Hermione had to wonder if all this silence surrounding her relationships was a good thing. Ron and Ginny might not be so upset if she told them—when she told them, since she was going to their common room at that very moment—but Harry was another story. Harry didn't bother to hide his ongoing distaste for the Slytherin, and Hermione was sure he wouldn't be too pleased that she'd resumed her relationship with him. Luckily for Hermione, Harry was not in the tower when she arrived.

"Looking forward to vacation?" Ginny asked as Hermione sat down on a couch.

"Yes, actually," Hermione said truthfully. With just two days left before the holiday, Hermione found that instead of being saddened by the temporary separation, she was actually looking forward to what it would do for her relationship with Draco. Her hope was that when they returned he would be a little bit more open to, well, being open with her. There were still so many questions she had, about him, about their breakup—about what was going to happen when the year ended—but Hermione thought it best to focus on the moment him.

"So you're coming to the Burrow, then?" Ron asked.

"Yeah…" Hermione had had a difficult time convincing her parents to let her spend the holiday away from her home; it was yet another thing that convinced them she was going to disappear into the wizarding world and never come back.

"So, um…" Hermione began, "I thought you guys might want to know something before we left…"

"That you and Draco are back together?"

Hermione looked at Ginny in disbelief.

"You two should probably not make eyes at each other all the time," Ginny said simply.

Ron looked up from his Quidditch magazine. "I wouldn't mention it to Harry if I were you; we think he might blow a gasket if he knew," he said.

"Good, just hold off on that for a while," Hermione said. She was beginning to wonder how much her friends knew and weren't telling her.

"So why are you back together?" Ginny asked.

"I don't really know. Maybe I'll explain later, when there aren't so many people around," Hermione said.

"You know," Ron said, putting down the magazine, "I can see where Harry's concern comes from. Wait wait…I still don't like Malfoy, in case you were wondering, but I can accept this. It's just very bizarre from other people's perspectives, don't you think?"

"You've said that already," Hermione said.

"Right. That's all," Ron said, and returned to reading.

"Harry's just jealous, doesn't like the fact that the attention is elsewhere."

"Ginny…"

"It's true—oh, look, here he comes now. Probably back from skulking around the castle."

Hermione looked around. Ron's attention was elsewhere, and Ginny was currently distracting Harry, so Hermione took it as her cue to leave. She waved to Harry before leaving the Gryffindor tower, and headed back to the Heads' common room.

Draco figured he would feel like a piece of crap no matter what he did, so spending one more night with Hermione wasn't going to change the outcome very much. He was waiting for her on the couch when she returned to the common room. If she were surprised to see him looking at her the way he did, she didn't show it. Hermione came to him immediately; and then they were kissing and Draco was pulling her shirt up and off and taking her to her room. He didn't say anything and was almost afraid to open his mouth and do anything but taste her, because somehow he imagined the truth would spill out and then everything would be worse than it already was. But at least he could give her the best he had on this last night, and himself something to remember as he continued with the rest of his life.

Draco moved slowly, so that he could memorize every part of the beautiful girl underneath him. She let him remove her clothes slowly, so slowly it seemed as if he were somehow afraid. And then Draco kneeled above her and watched her watch him as he threw his clothing away and finally touched her. He made sure to run his hands over every part of her, just to remember how her body felt, and to hold her to him as closely as possible in all of her wonderful heat. Hours after they were both too exhausted to move, Draco still held her in his arms, and listened to the faint steady breaths that escaped her lips. Even if he'd truly wanted to, he couldn't have kept himself away, but now his time—their time—was up, and so he detached her arms from around his torso and rose from the bed, leaving Hermione to sleep until the next day.

Right. So I've passed the hundred mark for reviews…yay! Thank you guys so much for reviewing this…story. I suppose there isn't much more to say. Sorry about taking so long to update and for the shortness of this chapter, but that can be explained.

I read HBP a few days ago, and let me say (I'm not sure if there's anyone reading this who hasn't read the sixth book yet, so I won't go into detail), I have been traumatized. Had I been a slightly more emotional person, I would have cried. Needless to say, to those who've read it, there's at least one character in this story who is DEAD, and two who have currently unknown whereabouts (according to Harry Potter's knowledge).

Most importantly, the overall tone of the story is no longer a hopeful one. Not even close. And while we all knew it was bound to be a rather dark tale, at least…Oh gods, I can't continue. Why did she have to kill that character? Really, it was unnecessary.

Yeah, so it's been a bit difficult for me to continue writing, knowing all these things. But, I have, because this story is for you guys, and I've also figured out how to get away with making this relationship legitimate. But I won't give that away just yet…

Also, many people may be ready to kill me because Draco is headed for you-know-what. I have to say, don't be angry. You know his heart isn't in it (yes, HBP…). And well…argh, next chapter, all will be explained.

Expect that next chapter in a day or two (and you can whip me if I don't stick to that). And if there's anyone reading this story who doesn't want me to give away HBP details, let me know before the next chapter, which probably won't come before tomorrow, because I'm feeling ready to talk about it.

coldlove