A/N: I am so happy. Today alone, I have already gotten 9 reviews. This is awesome, and has also inspired me to write faster.
Disclaimer: Don't own it, wish I did
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"Hermione?" Draco opened the now-unlocked door to her house. He held his wand out in front of him as he looked at the mess in the room. "Spread out, find her. Blaise, try to find her little sister, her name's Anna." The three walked into the house, wands drawn. Draco took in the details of the room in horror, from the broken chair at the foot of the tall Christmas tree, to the splatters of blood around the room. The blood was everywhere. Her blood. He finally came to the wall near the foot of the stairs. A handprint was etched in blood on the wall, like someone had tried to steady themselves, using the wall as support. He turned the corner, then gasped, running up the steps. Halfway up the stairs, on a landing, lay Hermione, her hand at a knife in her side. He knelt next to her, a hand at her neck, desperately searching for a pulse. Finding one, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Harry, Blaise, I've got her!" Hermione's brown eyes fluttered open.
"Draco?" She asked weakly, "Oh, thank God. I knew you'd come." Draco smiled at her.
"I promised I would." Her eyes were looking at something behind him as they widened in fear.
"Look out!" She screamed, shoving him away from her. A knife embedded itself in the floor where he had been, only moments before. He turned around to see a tall brown-haired man standing over him with anger in his eyes.
"Trespassing, eh?" The man spat angrily. He removed the knife from the floor and raised it over Draco."
"Stupefy!" Draco shouted. The man fell backwards down the steps as Harry and Blaise appeared around the corner.
"Get Anna, she's upstairs." Hermione whispered, before she began coughing. Her body shook with every cough. Draco nodded at Blaise as he moved to hold Hermione. Blaise disappeared up the stairs as Draco supported Hermione's frail body.
"Harry, when he gets back, try to keep the child occupied. I'll apparate with Hermione, Blaise and you take Anna. Apparate to the edge of Hogwarts and run ahead for help." Harry nodded.
"What should I tell them?" Harry asked.
"The truth. I can't tell them anything because Hermione and I made a blood oath." Harry gave him a strange look, but nodded again. Blaise came downstairs with Anna in his arms.
"She's fine," He informed Draco, upon his questioning look. "I found her asleep under the bed." He informed them quietly. Draco smiled in relief.
"Okay, you and Harry go back, I'll apparate after you. One of you run ahead for Madame Pomfrey." They nodded, and apparated. Draco scooped Hermione up in his arms, trying not to hurt her. He apparated to the gates of Hogwarts, and could see Harry running into the castle. Blaise stood just inside the grounds waiting for him, a still-asleep Anna in his arms.
"You need any help carrying her?" Blaise asked as they walked towards the castle. Draco shook his head with a frown.
"No, she's light. Too light." He looked down at her sadly, but with tenderness in his eyes.
"I never thought I'd see the day." Draco looked over at Blaise curiously. "The day you fell in love." Draco smiled and opened his mouth to respond, but fell silent as the doors to the castle opened and Harry ran out, followed by a few professors and Madame Pomfrey.
"You and your friends are always crossing lined, you have no thoughts for danger, or ever think to warn a teacher." Snape was snapping at Harry, who appeared to be ignoring him.
"Don't yell at him, it was my idea to go to her house." Draco interrupted his tirade "And if we hadn't gone, she could have died." He gently passed Hermione to Madame Pomfrey.
"You?" Snape asked in shock. "But how did you know to go, and why would you?" Draco looked away.
"I can't tell you." Snape frowned at him.
"No matter what promises you made to her, whatever secrets you are trying to hide, we need to know. I will force it out of you if I have to." Draco's temper, which he had been keeping a control on all evening, snapped. He glowered right back at Snape.
"Then you would see me killed!" He shouted at him. "You speak of promises, of petty secrets that, even if that was all this is, I would keep to her. I owe her that much. She saved my life tonight; I owe her a life debt, not mention the blood oath I made with her. I cannot, and will not tell you anything!" Snape took a step back in surprise, as the other Professors around them gasped. Draco turned and stalked off, a move that would have been more intimidating were he not wearing his pajamas under his cloak. Draco walked briskly towards the Hospital Wing. He found Blaise sitting on a chair with Anna on his lap. Blaise had left earlier, before his fight with Snape, with Madame Pomfrey. "I'll take her." He reached his arms out for the little girl with brown ringlets. She glared at him suspiciously."
"Who are you?" She asked, clutching a baby doll to her chest.
"I'm Draco. I'm a good friend of your older sister Hermione. You must be Anna. Hermione talks about you a lot." Anna nodded. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"Daddy was mad at My-oh-nee because she give me a dolly for Christmas. Lots of yelling, he really mad." She started to cry. Draco picked her up and put her in his lap.
"It's okay, you're safe here." She sobbed into his shirt.
"Want Mione." Draco sighed and looked up at Blaise, who shrugged.
"Mione isn't feeling well right now, Madame Pomfrey is taking care of her. I'll take you to see her as soon as I can. I'll go check on her now, if you'll stay with Blaise." Anna sniffled, but nodded. Draco put her down gently on the ground and walked back towards the beds in the room. He saw Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall huddled around a bed.
"Still unconscious...lost a lot of blood..." He listened to a bit of their conversation before coming forward.
"How is she?" He asked, looking down at Hermione's pale face.
"She'll be fine, but you shouldn't be here." Madame Pomfrey tried to shoo him off. He gave her a dark glare.
"I'm not going anywhere." He took a seat next to the head of her bed. Draco tucked Hermione's hair behind her ears as he looked at her in worry. Her eyes were closed, and her face deathly white. The locket he had given her still hung around her neck. The arm he could see was covered in bruises and cuts. He gently took her hand in his, running his hand over her knuckles.
"Now isn't that just the sweetest thing you've ever seen?" Professor McGonagall sighed happily to Madame Pomfrey, who smiled.
"Nothing quite beats young love. I am happy to see them overcome their House differences to end up together." She replied quietly. "It reminds me of another young couple I remember." Her eyes turned to Minerva, who blushed.
"That was quite a while ago. We broke up a long time ago too. I'm sure by now he's over me." Madame Pomfrey laughed softly.
"I doubt it Min. I've seen the way he looks at you when he thinks no one's looking. He loves you yet." Minerva opened her mouth, but was interrupted by Draco's voice.
"Madame Pomfrey?" She looked over at him. "Her little sister really wants to see her, may I bring her back her, just for a little while?" Slowly she nodded.
"Only for 5 minutes, I know she must be worried about her big sister." Draco nodded and let go of Hermione's hand. He walked back to Anna.
"I'm going to take you to see Hermione, but you have to be quiet because she's sleeping." Anna nodded solemnly, then stood up and took Draco's hand, clutching her doll in her other hand. He led her to Hermione's bed. She peered over the edge of the bed at her older sister. She glanced back at him, and then pulled herself up on the chair next to the bed. She carefully slid into the bed ext to her sister. Draco watched as Anna laid her doll down on top of Hermione's chest.
"So she's not alone." She informed Draco, sliding off the bed. Draco smiled at her and held out his hand.
"I'm going to take you to meet the Headmaster, I think he'll like you." She nodded and looked up at him.
"I want a horsey ride!" Draco sighed, but kneeled down and let her climb onto his back.
"Hold on tight okay?" She laughed at him
"Go!" Draco smiled and stood, walking out of the Hospital Wing and down the hallway. "Faster!" She yelled, holding tight to his neck. Draco ran down the hallway, finally stopping in front of Dumbledore's office.
"Help me think of types of candy." He said to Anna, before trying. "Lemon drop, Chocolate frog, Cockroach cluster..."
"Lollipop!" Anna added from his back. The gargoyle slid aside and Anna beamed with pride as Draco walked up the stairs...
A/N: Well, that's all for now folks. Review please!