Disclaimer- Don't own it...ok I think you guys get it by now.

A/n-Thanks for your reviews guys! The regular stuff is at the bottom… Hope you like the chapter!

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Taking the Risk

Draco slowly blinked his eyes open to reveal a large white room. He was lying in a soft bed with linen and he was very comfortable. His head ached. He tried to sit up slowly and he looked around.

Madam Pomfrey bustled over to him and gave him a potion, which he drank automatically. His headache subsided.

"Better?" Madam Pomfrey asked curiously.

"Yes," he said dully. He wanted to get up and find Hermione. "Has anyone stopped by? How long have I been here?"

"A few hours. Yes, Ms. Granger and Mr. Potter were by during break to see you. I told them I would notify them if you were awake. I'll be right back dear." And she stalked off in the direction of her office. He leaned back down in the bed and ran over his thoughts in his head.

So, Lucius had to show his stupid, racist face. Great, Draco thought bitterly. Stupid Parkinson, I'll kill her. Doesn't Dumbledore's spells work at all? How did he get in here undetected? I will have a chat with him, I will.

Meanwhile, another thought forced entry into his head. What does this mean for me and Hermione? Lucius knows and is possible dangerous. He probably would have finished her tonight and maybe him also. And the Dark Lord, oh god, not him. He would want revenge, Draco knew it. How could Draco protect himself and Hermione?

A sudden noise distracted him as the hospital wing doors flew open and Hermione dashed in, followed by a seriously disgruntled Harry. Hermione almost ran to his bedside and when she did reach there, she placed a delicate kiss on his lips.

"Are you alright? You gave Harry, Ron and I quite a scare Draco!" she said sympathetically.

"Give you a scare? Definitely. Give Potter a scare? Perhaps. Give Weasley a scare? Definitely not. Weasley was probably hoping for a long term illness," he spat angrily. Hermione's facial expression changed to that of anger.

"Draco, don't start," she pleaded. Draco sighed.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know, you passed out after...after…after he left," she said, her tone wavering. Her eyes were close to tears. Lucius had really scared her, I'll kill him!

He hugged her gently and whispered into her ear, "Everything is going to be alright, I promise. I would never let him hurt you. Ever." He was more promising himself than promising her.

She sobbed. Draco awkwardly patted her on the back. And still she sobbed.

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"Hermione?" Draco whispered through the dark night. "Hermione, you awake?"

"Mmm?" she said sleepily. This is stupid, Draco thought to himself. "Lumos," he muttered. Using the light he guided himself towards Hermione's bed.

"Hermione, wake up," he said as he gently shook her small body. She blinked her eyes open.

"Whassamatter?" she asked, yawning and turning over to look at Draco more clearly.

"I couldn't sleep," he said, and even as he said it, he knew he was making a fool of himself. Why had he woken her up?

"Oh really? What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. "Did you have a nightmare?" she teased.

"My life is a nightmare, 'Mione."

"And I'm the monster right?" she asked and laughed at her own joke. Draco cracked a smile.

"No. You're the…the princess in those Muggle stories." Hermione laughed and lit the candles by her bed.

"Seriously Draco, what's wrong?"

"My father is the problem," he said and Hermione twitched and looked away.

"I don't want to talk about that," she said simply.

"We have to eventually. I can't live without telling you this. Listen to me Hermione!' he yelled at her, roughly turning her head back towards him. She looked scared. "I'm sorry…" he mumbled and let go of her. He took a deep breath. "Please, we need to talk."

"I'm listening," she said impatiently. Draco sighed.

"I don't think we can date anymore," he said and she gasped. "No really Hermione, I really like you and all but my father is dangerous. And he'll come after you, and I couldn't stand that. We can't…we can't…" he mumbled. Draco Malfoy had never cried before, but here he was and the tears were forming in his eyes.

"No…please…" Hermione said, sobbing hard.

"We have to. I'm not worth it Hermione, I don't deserve you! Just…just stay the hell out of my life!" he screamed and ran out of her room, slamming the door behind him. He found a way onto his bed and curled up.

He had no idea what to do, he was lost. He had just lost the only thing in his life that was left. The only good thing left. He didn't know how long he lay there, but he did know something. Draco Malfoy cried himself to sleep.

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Potter. Where's Potter? Draco Malfoy was searching around the Great Hall looking for Harry frantically. It had already been a week and Draco had mainly avoided Hermione. She had made obvious attempts to try and talk with him, reason with him, but he had walked away.

Harry Potter was standing a few feet behind him and finally Draco spotted him. He grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Wha?" Harry said but Draco silenced him and beckoned him to follow.

"What do you want?" he asked angrily. Today was Saturday and Draco knew he had time to explain.

"Not here, in my common room. Come on," he urged Harry and led him into his secluded Heads' common room.

"Sit," Draco ordered as they entered the common room, and surprisingly Harry listened. Draco lit the fireplace and sat down opposite Harry.

"What?" Harry stressed to Draco. Draco gave a long sigh and a hard look to Harry.

"We have to talk, about me and Hermione," he said and leaned back.

"There is no you and Hermione. You broke up with her, do you remember? And she's been crying herself to sleep every night."

"I know, but…but I had to do Harry. You know I had too!"

"You didn't have to do anything of the sort. She's miserable!"

"Let me explain. In the spring, I'll be taking my oath to the Dark Lord's inner circle. My father has promised me to do so, and I mean I don't want to but there's no arguing with him. And I have to marry Pansy, because of the stupid pureblood line. You know my father's views of Muggleborns, and he knows about me and Hermione. I'm afraid he'll hurt her if we continue to date. He can hurt me but not her. And I can't deal without her, but she's safer this way."

"Believe me Malfoy; she can take care of herself. Don't do this to her, it's really killing her inside," Harry said slowly.

"But what can I do about it! He's going to come back, Potter, and check up on me!" he paused when he heard the portrait door open. He lowered his voice quickly and said, "What if he hurts her?"

"It's nothing more than what you did to her," he said and got up. Draco got up too and looked over at the door where Hermione stood, frozen.

"What are you two talking about?" she asked cautiously.

"Nothing. Malfoy here wants to talk to you though, why don't you guys sit and talk," Harry said casually as Malfoy began shaking his head violently in his direction but when he saw Hermione's sad face, he stopped and gestured her over.

He lay down the couch and she came over and stood before him. She finally moved and laid down next to him, against him, and put her head on his strong chest. Her eyes dissolved into wetness as she began to cry.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her ear softly. She looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears, and gave a half-smile.

"You don't have to be. I…I understand why we can't do this, I just wish we could…"she said.

"No, I'm being selfish. I should have asked you something. Can I ask you something?" Draco said, barely audible.

"What is it?"

"We can stay together and take the risk. If you w-want to, then we can risk it…"

"What do you mean, risk it?"

"Well, Lucius may come and try to h-hurt you. That's why I broke up with you in the first place; if we aren't together he'll leave you alone. But I can't live without you, and if you want we can try to stay together. Dumbledore might help us…" he said slowly. Hermione smiled.

"How could you ever think I would say no to something like that? I've been…" she started to say but stopped. Draco finished for her.

"Crying yourself to sleep a night. Because of me. I…can't believe it." She gave a nervous laugh.

"I have never felt this way about anybody before. And to think, I'm in love with Draco Malfoy…" she said more to herself than to Draco.

"L-love?" Draco stammered. He had never thought about love before. It has always been shag the girl then dump her. But Hermione…well for one he had never shagged her, though he wouldn't mind it, and well he didn't understand love. "Yeah, love," he finished lamely.

"I shouldn't have said that…"

"If you mean it then say it. I like honesty. But let me be honest with you Hermione, I don't really understand love yet. But I there's definitely something about you that I just…just really like about you…"

"Yeah…"

"Hermione," Draco said suddenly," we can't do this! He'll find out, he'll kill me, he'll kill you. No…why is this so damn hard!" He grabbed the candle on the table and whipped it across the room. The candle fell out and the carpet burst into flame. The candle holder shattered into pieces. Hermione shrieked and whipped out her wand; Draco did the same.

Both of them put the flames out with their wand and Draco restored the room with a lazy flick of his wrist. Hermione hugged him for support and cried a little. "Please…" she muttered, "let's just try? For me?"

Draco couldn't bear to see her face and he looked away. His heart was telling him that he should do it, say yes, but his head was firmly telling him no. "Ok," he finally said, "One week, and we see Dumbledore today. If he shows up, even once, we quit, got it?"

She nodded and let go on him, collapsing on the couch. "You know what we haven't done in awhile?" she said in a seductive manner. Draco moved closer to her.

"Yes, I do. I definitely miss this," he said leaning closer and lying on top of her, kissing her desperately on the lips. She deepened the kiss, pleading for him, and he put his tongue into her mouth, reuniting himself with her mouth. He had successfully taken off her shirt and was in the mood for some fun.

He allowed her to lure his tongue back into her mouth again, and he moved his hands down to her pants. He began to un-button her jeans when her hands stopped him. His heart sunk. She looked him straight in the eye and said, "No Draco, I'm definitely not ready. We aren't shagging until this whole thing with your father is over…"

Draco rolled his eyes and re-buttoned her pants. He handed her shirt back to her and she put it on. He tried to fix his hair but figured he could take a shower. "Fine," he said shortly and stood up.

"Fancy a swim?" he asked her.

"No."

"Come on, this time we don't have to wear clothes," he said in a suggesting tone.

"Draco, I said no. Go and take a shower and I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" she said in a bored tone.

"No, I'll see you tonight. My room?" he said and laughed. She scowled and threw a pillow at him.

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"We have to stop," Draco said to Hermione as he broke their kiss and rolled off of her. Hermione looked at him curiously as he pulled out his books for school.

"You're ditching me for your schoolwork? I'm insulted!" she said and laughed. "We may not be able to do this for much longer you know…if…"she stopped.

"Not ditching, I'm working, and you should too. I don't want your grades lowering because I can't resist myself," he said as he leaned in for one more kiss. "And," he said and he leaned back over his parchment, "you're right, but I can't believe your already thinking about that, it's been a day since we got back together and you're already thinking of breaking up with me."

"I would never think of such a thing, but you know it's a possibility…" Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, one I would rather not think about right now. And speaking of that, I still haven't beaten the-"he started to say but Hermione cut him off.

"No, you can't beat up Pansy, Draco."

"She sold us out, this is all her fault!" he complained.

"I know, but you're Head Boy, you can't beat up other students! And you could get expelled if you do that, what would I do without you?" she explained and put on a puppy dog face. Draco sighed and laughed at her. He slammed his book closed and got up.

"I'm going to talk to her," he announced and headed towards the portrait door. A hand grabbed his arm.

"I'm coming with you," Hermione whispered and let go of Draco.

"You can't…She's in the common room, you can't go on there," he said slowly.

"I can take care of myself Draco," she said easily and led the way.

"I know, that isn't it though."

"What is it then?" she asked and stopped in the middle of the hallways.

"The common room doesn't let muggleborns in…" he murmured. Her face dropped. "I'm sorry…"

"It's ok, you didn't make that rule. Be careful, ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Draco walked slowly down the hallways to the Great Hall. Dinner has just ended and kids were milling around the entrance hall saying goodbyes or heading back to their common room. "Move along, let's go. Outta my way!" Draco called around and parted the crowd. He headed straight down to the Slytherin common room. He hadn't been there since last year.

He said the password and walked in. People saw him or turned to stare at him. A long silence followed. Blaise Zambini decided to break the silence, "Hey, Draco buddy!" he called and grabbed him and pulled him into the room.

A babble broke out again and Blaise sat down on the couch that had once been Draco's. Draco motioned him to move and he did so, sitting on one of the armchairs instead.

"Still got respect around here Draco and it ain't just me. Heard 'bout your dad visiting you, eh?"

"Oh, yeah. I thought you guys would be...a bit upset at me. But everyone seems normal…"

"It's your business who you shag, I don't really care that much. A mudblood though man, I think we need a chat eh?" he said as a side note. Draco's anger mounted on top of that he had for Pansy.

"First of all," he growled, "she isn't just a shag. And second, don't call her a mudblood, got it?" Blaise cowered under Draco's rage and bit back his retort.

"Ok, man, but I mean, you have to tell me, what's she like in bed?" he asked and raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know yet. We haven't…she isn't ready, alright Zambini?"

"Then what are you with her for? You can't actually like her, can you?" he asked and laughed.

"Grow up, Zambini. What are you going to do about it, tell my daddy like Parkinson did?"

"No way man, she's just jealous because she isn't your toy anymore. But, I have something to ask you…" he said and lowered his voice. "You still joining…him?"

Draco now had a problem. He definitely wasn't going to join the Dark Lord by choice, but if he told Blaise that, he may tell somebody. Still, Blaise was one of his best friends…

"Not if I can help it," he said simply. Blaise looked at him and gave a sigh of relief.

"Can you help me get out of it too, man? My father man, he wants me in. I mean, he's not a death eater but he wants me to become one. And I'm…I'm scared Draco. What do I do?" he whispered.

"Talk to Dumbledore, man. That's what I did. Hermione put it up to me."

"I'll do that, but you have got to tell me about this mudblood. What's she like, mate?"

"Don't call her a mudblood."

"Fine, tell me about Granger," he said.

"Well…"

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A/n- Hope the chapter was long enough. Sorry the update took a long time, but I've been busy getting songs onto my iPod mini. I want reviews, please! I have 30 now!

Reviewers, thanks:

Mistressofmiddleearth- Thanks for both reviews! I really appreciate it. I'm glad you like my story and think its 'cute'.

Zarroc- Muahaha the Lucius plot. So fun to write…Hope you liked the chapter, keep reviewing. Thanks!

Ohyeah100- I see Hermione as always being the intellectual one of the trio; Harry being the strong one, and Ron being the loyal one. Yet Hermione never shows her emotional side because we've never REALLY seen her in a relationship. With my fic I wanted people to see that girls' really do carefully consider things and they do cry when they get emotional. Small things in a relationship can make girls cry, it's just how we process. As the story progresses, you'll see less of Hermione crying and her stronger side. Thanks for your review.

Soccerpixie3000- thanks for the birthday greetings. Happy birthday also! I actually don't have too many reviews, you're the 30th reviewer! Thanks so much!

Read and Review guys, thanks! Krista