Disclaimer: Nope, they're only mine in a world called 'Only Secret's reality'

A/N: Well, the updates are slower than it was before, really sorry for that. I'm hoping for at least two more updates before the end of the summer holidays. So wish me luck...I've got the general idea of what the next two chapters are going to be about...and I'm sure reviews will speed up the process. I love you all for sticking with me.

Emotions

Her legs carried her swiftly.

Her speed fueled by her anxiety…or maybe, anger.

Anger for the pain she could not halt. Anger for the persistent haunting. Anger for the small pricking in her heart.

She shouldn't be feeling this.

She hated the girl sometimes.

As if flames were upon her heels, she ran towards the snowy outdoors. She fumed as she went, feeding more speed to her legs.

Left turn.

Down the stairs.

Through the secret corridor behind the tapestry.

More stairs.

She saw the door.

The blasted door that seemed so near, yet so far away.

Hermione dug quickly into her sleeve for her wand. And with a quick flick of her wrist, she unbolted the door just as she was about to crash into it.

A pristine white surrounded her and gusts of wintry wind rushed at her. She panted, each breath forming a haze that seemed to blend in perfectly with Hogwarts' ground. She looked around wildly as if trying to determine where he was. Her hair disarrayed, tendrils flying in all directions.

She sped away from Hagrid's cottage.

She ignored the chill that blew into her face.

Her mind focused on one thing only.

She needed to get there!

Then she saw him.

Found him staining the snow in Hogwarts.

Robes askew and torn.

Dry umber patches tainting his hair.

His face grave and eyes hazy.

The mutilated Dark Mark protruding on his pale and grey skin.

He turned his head, as if sensing her presence, and saw her.

But too late.

"Expelliarmus!" She said and shot him into a tree on the edge of the forbidden forest before skidding to a stop. She noted that he didn't have his wand and was wounded more seriously than she thought he was when she saw him.

He slowly pushed himself up against the tree she blasted him into. His expression pained and reminiscing. That faraway way look upon his face when she first saw him was gone. He looked at her, with an emotion she couldn't really identify…at least not on him.

Was it…regret?

"You looked like that," He said with a sad half-smile; that awful yet lovely smile that belonged to the past, "when we first kissed."

She stiffened. But then a cynical smile appeared; her eyes hard.

"I didn't know you'd remembered." Hermione said coldly.

"I do." His voice tired but still clear. "I remember just as much as you do."

It sounded so much like how he would've said it all those years ago. Sad and honest. And the girl would've been rooted to her spot all those years ago. But the girl was no longer in control anymore...she didn't think.

Hermione snorted humorlessly, hoping to cover up for the second of uncertainty.

"I would hope so." she said. With a coldness that brewed underneath her casual tone, she continued, "You wouldn't mind me asking what's a Death Eater lurking on enemy's territory, would you?"

He didn't answer for a moment as if he was contemplating her words carefully. Like he didn't really know his answer.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. Her grip tightened around her wand.

"Nothing." He answered in the way he would've when they'd been seventeen again and she was prying too much.

"I would think that a Death Eater could lie better than that." She glared at him. "I could kill you now."

She pointed at him. Her arm never wavered. But she felt and she knew…something was breaking. Something that belonged to the girl.

"Go ahead." He said, the smile still on his face. He, still leaning against the tree, looked at her steadily. Not defying his fate. Not mocking her nor daring her to kill him. He was simply…accepting it.

Accepting that she would kill him.

Embracing the fate that he was born into.

His fate.

Her fate.

Tears blurred her vision slowly and she felt their path down her reddened cheek. The girl in her was crying. It felt like that day again. Wind blew and trees fluttered in it. A numbing cold penetrated her thin layer of clothes. Her surrounding was quiet. Her surrounding was still. Just like that day.

They waited for someone to break this silence.

Someone who never came that day.

In the silence that both figures stood in, she averted her gaze for a moment though her wand continued to point threateningly at him. She feared that she would lapse more into her feelings of that day.

"I will kill you." She said.

"I know." He replied. "I knew that…for a long time."

"I don't…" she said carefully, tears still falling from her face. "…love you anymore."

"Wish things could've been different." He said softly, barely audible. A rueful smile still on his face. "Do what you have to do."

She nodded. She wished things could be different too. Her hand steadied on her wand. She kept her eyes on him, admiring his fine features again. His handsome features that neither dirt nor blood could deterred.

"Avada Ked-"

"EXPELLIARMUS!" His voice echoed across the ground.

As if in slow motion, Hermione watched the red light zoomed at her from the corner of her eyes. She watched, incensed yet strangely grateful for the intervention, as her wand flew out of her hand and she was pushed back. She watched as her vision changed. One moment she was looking at a ruined man giving up his fight, accepting the consequences of his road; next she was staring at the pale sky that seemed so very bleak.

Snow melted under her body heat and the icy water wetted her exposed skin.

She sat up and looked at Professor Dumbledore as he hurried over with his wand readied. She turned her gaze back at the man. He was staring at the newest arrival carefully. Eyes blazing with something akin to fear. A fear for something great. A fear for someone of power. A fear for the things that the power could inflict upon him.

He'd been through it; Hermione realized.

"Professor." Hermione greeted the Headmaster while she kept a close eye on the Death Eater.

She felt rather than saw the Headmaster nodded in greeting.

"Hermione," Dumbledore said, his voice cleared in the brisk air. "Thank you for notifying me of our visitor…"

Her gaze shifted to the elderly Professor for a brief moment again before she slowly, cautiously made her way to retrieve her wand. After all, she still wasn't too sure why he was here.

"Draco," Dumbledore greeted amiably, but the fierceness in his eyes was not lost.

"…Dumbledore." Draco Malfoy returned; though his voice was tired and even weaker than it was moments ago, the arrogance that he displayed in front of others was back again.

"I must say: I am quite surprised to see you." Dumbledore stared intensely into Malfoy's eyes.

He was using Legilmency, Hermione noted.

"I'd thought…" Malfoy's breathing became more labored as he fought off the Headmaster's intrusion. "…that you knew…everything…that happens…around here."

Hermione watched between the two men as they continued their now silent battle. Finally with a sigh, Professor Dumbledore released his spell on the other man.

As soon as the spar of will concluded, Malfoy collapsed.

Hermione shot an inquiring look at the Headmaster which Professor Dumbledore responded with a firm nod to her unasked question. Then she slowly approached Draco Malfoy who lay unmoving on the snowy ground.

A/N: So that's that. Draco's back into the picture...for now. Wonder whether he's dead or not...hmmm...I might kill some people off soon...that's just a possible turn/twist for the story. Well, hope you found this chapter enjoyable, or I'm in deep trouble. So review? just to get me to squeeze the next chapter out?