Though Draco didn't like it, he let Blaise tell Fiona about his situation, and in turn he also let Hermione tell Harry.

Soon the whole school will know, and I'll really have no chance, he thought to himself glumly. Draco hadn't exactly resigned himself to his fate, but he nearly knew that he wouldn't think of a plan. He'd allowed himself to stay within routine, not letting the news disrupt his life, although he slept worse at nights at could never quite finish his meals. Otherwise, though, he and Blaise both thought he was getting along quite normally, considering.

"Don't worry," Blaise assured him, albeit less than wholeheartedly, "Dumbledore will think of something."

"Uh-huh," Draco said dismissively. "'Scuse me..." he added, his voice distracted. Blaise turned to see Hermione walking into the Great Hall, and Draco following after her.

Gone were the days when Hermione and Draco met only under deepest of secrecy. Draco now approached her as she was accompanied by Ginny and several other Gryffindor girls, and he didn't give it a second thought.

"Don't go in there today," said Draco, gesturing toward the Hall. " Just sit on the stairs with me."

"Alright," Hermione answered, then looking at Ginny she added, "I'm sorry, Gin."

"Don't worry about it," Ginny answered calmly, clumping back together with the other girls and sitting down.

Draco and Hermione walked to the grand staircase and sat on the bottom few steps, not saying anything, but speaking volumes with their silence.

Harry and Ron were just coming down to the Great Hall for lunch. Though Ron would neither speak to nor even look at Hermione and Draco, he would still talk to Harry, so Harry felt obliged to split his time between them. Harry had been bursting to tell Ron about Draco's predicament, but afraid he wouldn't care at all. After days of deliberation, though, Harry finally told him.

"But then... he isn't going to be a Death Eater?" Ron asked incredulously.

"No," Harry answered for the third time.

"And ... You-Know-Who is going to ... to sacrifice him like he tried to do you, when... well, after the Tri-Wizard Tournament?"

"Yeah."

"And he actually cares about Hermione?" Ron asked, stressing the sentence. This was, in fact, all he wanted to know.

"Yeah. He really does. Its almost weird, but he really seems to..." Harry paused, expecting to feel that heartwrenching sensation of saying another man loves the woman you love, but the sensation never came. "He really seems to love her."

"Well, I suppose he's alright then," Ron said abruptly.

"Really?"

"I guess so. I mean, he's still a prat, that won't change, but I mean... he's all changed round on you, hasn't he? He's nice to you and all that, so he must have really changed. It'll take some getting used to but..." Ron trailed off.

"Yeah. I know what you mean."