YAY! I got five reviews! X3 I'm so happy! (yup. pathetic, I know. I only got 5 reviews, and I'm freaking out. XD)
Anyways, here's the next chapter. Hope you like :D

--

-- !Disclaimer: Don't believe, don't own, don't wish to be sued.

--

--

"I can't believe you're alive."

"Neither can I, Hermione." Harry grinned. He was finally clean again. Hermione helped heal most of his wounds. She fixed all of his broken bones; his ribs included. Some cuts on his chest refused to go, so he now had several scars all over his torso - his back, especially. He no longer smelled like blood.

Hermione even cut his hair (Harry never knew she could do that, and she was actually very good at it.) so that it was now in a shaggy cut and curled up slightly at the bottom.

"So," she crossed her arms and sank back into the couch she was sitting on. "Tell me everything. Why you left, what you did, where you stayed and more importantly, why you didn't tell any of us!"

Harry flinched. He didn't really want to tell her anything. Especially about how he so easily killed the many people on the field. Despite what he didn't want to say, Harry opened his mouth and spoke quietly.

"It's a long story, Hermione."

She glared at him, her eyes saying 'you'd better tell me everything or else.' "We have a lot of time, Harry. Heck, we could even stay here for the rest of the week until you finish," she smirked.

Harry sighed. Hermione would never let him off this time.

"I, well, got a message from Wormtail one day," he started, seeing as he couldn't not tell her. "He said that Voldemort wanted me to come face him in a final battle somewhere in Scotland. He told me that if I don't go, he'd personally come here while I'm gone and kill," he took a deep breath. "Draco. I knew that he could've done that. He would've easily done that, along with killing everyone else in the order. You, Ron, Tonks, Fred, George and everyone else.

"I didn't want Draco to get hurt; let alone die, so I agreed. I had to, because even if he didn't offer to fight one-on-one, I'd one day be forced to face him alone. I couldn't tell any of you. When I had sent my reply to him, he - Wormtail, I mean - asked me to write on this special bit of parchment that works kind of like an unbreakable vow. If I agreed, I'd be somehow be forced to never to tell anyone, or else I'll die." He said simply.

Harry looked at Hermione, who was listening intently, with an emotionless gaze. Her brown eyes unreadable.

He took another deep breath, and continued.

"So for me, not telling any of you guys would be easy - no offence, Hermione." The bushy-haired girl shook her head as a sign that she wasn't offended, and motioned for him to continue. "But the hard thing for me was to tell Draco something - anything so that he'd think I couldn't be with him anymore. I, at first, couldn't believe that I'd be forced to leave him. It was the hardest for me to just lie to him and you know, pretend that I was breaking up with him or something. Anyway, in the end, I'd decided to tell him that I just simply couldn't be with him anymore, because it'd put him in danger and all that shit. Please Hermione; I don't want to say the whole thing that I told Draco," he pleaded.

Hermione hesitated, but then said, "Alright Harry. I understand that it's hard for you to say this. Just, go on, tell me the rest," she finished with a small smile. Harry nodded at her gratefully, and continued.

"Wormtail owled me back a bit after. So enclosed in that letter was a coin - a portkey, as you probably guessed. So after I left Draco, I took some one my things and portkeyed to wherever he was, which, later, I'd found out was somewhere in Scotland. But don't I where exactly, because he never really specified it in the letter in the first place.

"Now the thing was, in the letter - the first letter - Voldemort said that we'd be alone. No Death Eaters, no Wormtail, no evil crazy, bloodthirsty creatures, but he lied. When I came there, the 'Voldie crew', as I call them, were there. The thing is that I had to fight each and every one of them. All at the same time. Voldemort wasn't there at the time, but still.

"The other thing was that the Death Eaters didn't come alone - no, Hermione, they didn't bring a Manticore or anything," he added quickly, seeing the look of shock on Hermione's face.

"They brought prisoners," he said. "Most of them were muggles. They thought that it's would be distracting for me to fight all of them at once, and also avoid hitting their prisoners. Hell, it was fucking screwed up. I- I," Harry broke off there. He couldn't continue anymore.

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked gently. "I understand that you probably killed some of th - "

" - I DIDN'T ONLY KILL THEM, HERMIONE!" Harry cut off, screaming. The witch looked taken back. She didn't expect this kind of behavior from Harry.

"I MURDERED THEM!" he sobbed. "Some of them were right in front of me, begging to let them live. 'Please don't kill us, please! We eg of you!' that's what they said. THEY WERE BEGGING ME TO LET THEM LIVE, BUT I KILLED THEM ANYWAY!"

"Har - "

" - I'm just as bad as he is, Hermione," Harry whispered, his expression dark. "Just as bad..."

Hermione then scowled. How could Harry Potter, the boy who used to be optimistic and carefree, think he were as bad as Voldemort?

"Harry, I know you regret killing them, but you're not as bad as Voldemort is." Harry looked at her sullenly, his eyes red from crying.

"Hermione, I k-killed them," he hiccoughed. "Doesn't that make me sink to his level?"

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Harry jumped in his seat, surprised by the tone of her voice. "You are NOT as bad as Voldemort. No one can sink to- to his level!" She excalimed. "Look at what he did compared to you, Harry," she said, almost screaming.

"He killed people. He killed them for no rea - " " - just like what I did!" Harry exclaimed, cutting her off.

"No, Harry, just shut up for a second. Ok?" she snapped. She was starting to lose her patience.

"He killed people, because he wanted power. He wanted to rid this world of Muggles, Muggle borns, Squibs and Half-Bloods. Do you really think that you'd stoop to his level? Look, you killed - Look at me!" she said, taking his chin in her hands and pushing his head her direction, forcing him to look at her.

"You killed people because you had to. And when you killed them, they probably did want to die!" She exclaimed, waving her arms around. Harry raised an eyebrow and sunk back into the armchair he was sitting in. "Voldemort probably tortured them for days, Harry. If you hadn't killed them, they'd probably suffer even more!"

Hermione gave him a grim smile. "And besides, Harry. You aren't as evil as he is. I know it."

"You r-really think so?" he sniffed. Hermione nodded and took him in her arms, hugging him lightly.

The way Harry was acting reminded her of a little, innocent kid.

They stayed in each others arms until Harry's sniffles and hiccoughs stopped.

Harry then remembered something. He pulled out of her arms and looked her in the eye, his emerald orbs suddenly taking a more serious light.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?" Hermione knew what he would ask. She knew that sooner or later, but mostly sooner, Harry would say those three words.

"Where is Draco?"

Hermione avoided his gaze. She stared at her hands, twiddling her thumbs together. She pretended to remember something, and said.

"Oh yeah, did you know that Neville's running for Minister? He's winning the votes!" She said, forcing a way too cheery tone in her voice.

"Oh yeah? Neat. Anyway, whe - "

" - and Ron and me are engaged." She smiled, though this time for real. She showed him her hand; on her fourth finger was a pretty golden band with a small diamond at the center of it. Harry grinned. He always knew they would end up together.

"I knew Ron would ask to marry you. He's been talking about it for years." Her face reddened slightly. "Oh yeah?" She asked, blushing even more. Harry nodded, grinning at her. Then he took on a slightly more serious face.

"Hermione, just answer me. Whe - "

" - Er... Neville and Ginny are engaged too. I think Gin's a bit too young, but hey, who's to stop anyone from true love?"

Harry began to get pissed - and worried.

"Ok, great. Yeah, I'll go congratulate them or something, but where is Dr - "

" - and also- "

"HERMIONE!" He snapped.

Hermione stared at her lap again, this time flinching at the tone in his voice.

"Why are you trying to avoid my question? Where. Is. Draco?"

Hermione didn't answer. Harry growled and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her back and forth, though careful not to hurt her.
"Hermione, you're scaring me. Where's Draco? Did anything happen to him while I was gone?" She still didn't respond.

Harry was beginning to get worried. "Hermi - "

"H-he thought it was you," she whispered.

"Huh?" Harry asked quizzically, utterly confused.

Hermione finally raised her head, her eyes now brimming with tears. "I-- he thought it was y-you. He thought, h-he thought..." She burst into tears, throwing her arms around Harry's neck, sobbing onto his shirt. The dark-haired man was growing frantic. What happened to Draco?

"Hermione?"

He waited a few minutes as Hermione kept crying, her tears wetting Harry's T-shirt, though he didn't seem to care. He grew more and more worried by the second. She finally raised her head, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

She took a few shaky breathes, then said, "Draco, he-he thought it was you."

"He thought what was me!" Harry asked worriedly. "H-Hermione, what happened to Draco?"

She still didn't answer. Harry grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "What happened, Hermione?" she refused to look into his eyes. "Tell me. Please, 'Mione, tell me," Harry said, voice breaking. Hermione took a deep breath and looked him in the eye.

"He was raped."

The words hit Harry like a ton of bricks. He laughed. "Y-you're kidding, right?" Hermione's face didn't change.

"Oh God..." Harry breathed. His heart was beating was too fast. His breathing quickened. "H-herm, 'mione. C-can't b, breathe..." He squeaked. His heart was ramming against his ribcage, constricting his airway. He couldn't breathe. He was panicking, and he knew it.

Harry only remembered seeing Hermione's worried expression until stars dancing before his eyes and he fell into the still of unconsciousness.

--

--

--

TADAA! Hope you like the chapter :) Sorry if you think Hermione's a bit OOC. .

Oh, and sorry for the short chapter. Didn't have much time to write it. 'Twas my graduation last night. XXD

IM GONNA BE IN THE SEVENTH GRADE NEXT YEAR! WHOOHOOOO! Can't wait. I'm also excited for my b-day. (I know itz kinda far from now... but wtv) IM TURNING 13! WHOOHHOOO!

Nywayz, PLEASE REVIEW!