I clearly don't know what a scout's honor is nor how to um...honor it. I am so sorry that it took me two months to update...again. Unfortunately, personal life and feelings got in the way. Also, I am so sorry that this chapter is so short. Just think of it as another one of those 'calm before the storm' kind of chapters. I promise that the next one won't disappoint.

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing

Pissed

British- Drunk
American - really mad

"Oi, look at Tim! He's pissed off his ass! Haha!"
"Man, I'm fuckin pissed!"

Hermione slowly sat up, scooting back.

"I knew what could probably happen, I hoped that it would…and it did."

"Oh my God," Hermione chanted over and over.

Deep down, Hermione had known the truth. She wasn't stupid, not by a longshot. Draco having an alibi when she knew that she had seen him was the first red flag. His constant avoidance of the question was all too obvious.

"Hermione…"

She jumped up, sprinting towards the portrait door.

"Hermione!"

She had just reached the door when his hands came slamming down on either side of her. His chest was firmly pressed against her back, rising and falling in sync with every one of her breaths. His face was next to hers, her hair grazing his cheek.

"You told me that you wouldn't leave again…," he whispered next to her ear.

Hermione clenched her jaw, hands trembling.

"…I'm holding you to that."

Hermione's heart fluttered as his breath fanned over her skin, goosebumps erupting over her flesh and sending a shiver down her spine. She swallowed, briefly closing her eyes, fingers scraping against the door, curling into fists.

"Let me out," she quietly demanded.

Her voice was steady, a perfect symbol of composure, but inside… Inside, Hermione was having a full on panic attack. Even if he did let her out, what would she do? Would she tell? The answer came almost immediately; no. She knew without a doubt that more than likely, should would not tell, no matter how much she knew that she should.

"I can't do that, Hermione…"

Hermione felt the calm façade weakening, the urge to scream becoming harder to resist.

"Get away from me this instant-."

His arms came up to wrap around her waist and he yanked her away from the door. She screamed, digging her nails into his arm.

"I didn't plan it, Hermione. It just…happened. She made me so angry…"

They landed on the floor in a heap, his form pinning her down.

"She was out to get you! She was trying to hurt you-."

"That doesn't make it okay!"

"I did this for us!"

His face was a hair's width away from her own and his eyes bore into hers, anger blazing within them as his hips pressed into hers. His jaw was clenched, looking as if he was on the verge of snapping at any minute.

"You killed her!"

Draco frowned, suddenly slamming his hand down against the floor beside her head.

"What does it matter? Are you really upset that there's one less vapid, hateful bitch in this world," he spat in her face.

Hermione shrunk away from him, glaring at him through blurry eyes. She was all sorts of conflicted at the moment. Sure, maybe there was some truth to his words. Maybe the world would be better off with one less person like Fay in it. Did that make what he did any better? Hermione was sure that the answer was no.

Who was he to make that decision? Besides, someone could have just as easily said the same about him years ago. Hell, someone could still say the same to this day.

His hand came up to graze against her cheek. Hermione turned her head away, missing the way his eyes had hardened as she did so.

"I would never hurt you, Hermione," he whispered.

Somehow, Hermione knew that. Despite the fact that she had seen him lose control, almost savagely, with so many others, she knew that he would never do the same to her.

She swallowed as he leaned down, grazing his nose against hers, his eyelashes kissing her skin.

"You can't tell anyone," he whispered.

Hermione bit her lip as he pulled away to look at her.

Her earlier thoughts ran through her mind once again. Hermione knew that she should definitely tell someone, which would be the smart thing to do. After all, Draco had admitted to purposefully killing a student, and yet she knew that if she did tell someone…

"If you tell, Hermione…," he began, his voice lowering.

She turned to stare into his eyes.

"If you tell them that I killed her, they'll probably take me to Azkaban. Hell, they might even think I need to be evaluated or something and send me to St. Mungo's…"

Draco reached up, trailing his finger over her collar bone.

"…they'll separate us. They'll take me away from you and…and we might not see each other for a long time, maybe never again."

Hermione's heart seized as his words reached her ears. There was a truth in his words, a truth that she did not want to think about. She began to panic as she imagined never seeing him again, never hearing him speak to her, never feeling his touch…

Involuntarily, her hand sought out his own, and her heartbeat began to normalize as he intertwined their fingers together.

"Wh-what am I supposed to do, Draco? I can't…I can't just pretend that you didn't kill her. I cannot pretend like it never happened. That's not me," she whispered with a shake of her head.

He pulled them up into a sitting position, bringing her to rest in his lap. He ran his hand through her hair before trailing it down her back to rest at the base of her spine. He ran his eyes over her face, bringing his other hand up to run along the crease that had formed on her forehead.

"Tell me what to do," he whispered.

She swallowed.

"Tell me what I need to do to make you happy…"

Hermione looked down, unsure if there was an appropriate response to that. At this moment, there were no more excuses for her. She couldn't plead ignorance, couldn't say that he had misled her. Tonight, Draco had been very honest about what he had done to Fay. He had finally told her the truth, and she…she wasn't going to do anything about it.

His fingers grazing her cheek brought her out of her reverie. His eyes found hers, the bright irises sparkling in the dim light.

"I…I want you to come with me to see McLaggen…and I want you to apologize to him. We can start with that," she finally said.

She could see that this displeased him, but instead of protesting, he simply sighed and nodded.

"Okay…"

"Geez Malfoy. Pissed? You were pissed? Remind me to stay the bloody hell away from you the next time you have too much to drink," McLaggen said with a groan, pressing the palm of his hand to his forehead.

Hermione slightly stood behind Draco as he apologized to McLaggen, using the age old excuse of being drunk as the reasoning behind his behavior.

"I was completely out of it and thought that you were someone else. It won't happen again," Draco said, his polite apology showcasing his upper-class, refined upbringing.

It took a while for McLaggen to let it go, but eventually did so in the end, stating that it would be stupid and pointless to hold it against him forever. Especially so when he'd come to apologize.

The two of them headed towards the exit, stopping when McLaggen called out to her.

"I'm still waiting on that date, Granger," he called out to her.

She gave a nervous chuckle, feeling Draco stiffen beside her, before they left. The corridor was empty, it being incredibly early in the morning, too early for the average student to be up and about. She glanced up at him, noting how his eyes had gone darker, jaw ticking as he stared ahead.

"Draco…"

"Just…," he closed his eyes "…give me a minute."

He unclenched his fists, letting out a long breath as he attempted to gather his composure.

"I'm not…I never agreed to anything with him. I turned him down, telling him that my current personal life at the moment was…complicated," she said.

He turned to face her, eyes hard.

"Complicated?"

"At the time it was, and to be perfectly honest, it still is," she defended.

He took a step towards her, glaring down at her.

"Are we together, yes or no?"

"…yes."

"Do you want to be with anyone else?"

"No," she answered without hesitation.

"…and neither do I. Now tell me, what's so complicated about that?"

"I…I meant that my feelings are complicated, Draco."

Draco seemed to pause, eyes flashing as he processed her words.

"What does that mean? You don't know how you feel about me?"

She wrapped her hand around his forearm as she took note of the slight hurt that she heard in his voice.

"Draco…ever since I came to you that night…things have changed, some for the better and some for the worse. It's like…it's an intensity like none other than I have ever felt and it scares me. When you add what…well, you know…," she trailed off, Fay's death coming to mind.

She sighed.

"I feel like we're on this train, and the train is just going and going. It seems to be picking up speed by the minute and there's no destination in sight."

"There doesn't always need to be a destination, Hermione."

"There does for me. That's who I am. That's how I prefer to live my life, knowing what's up ahead lest I tumble right off of a cliff," she responded.

Draco reached out, resting his hands on either side of her face, lifting her head so that her eyes met his own.

"As if I would ever let that happen," he whispered, the corner of his lips upturned into a smirk.

Despite the situation, Hermione couldn't help but to smile.

"That was…incredibly corny," Hermione replied.

She reached up, wrapping her fingers around his wrists.

"Thank you for apologizing to McLaggen. I know how much you…despise him."

Draco's small smirk grew, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Honestly, I'm beginning to accept that he really is no threat to me."

"Good. I'm going to head to the Hall, now. It's still quite early, but I'm already up, and hungry…," she trailed off.

"I'll be down later. I need to go back to the dorm," Draco said.

Hermione nodded, waving to him over her shoulder as she left him there, in front of the infirmary.

Hermione was still eating when Ginny waltzed in, well…sprinted was more like it. The redhead panted as she plopped down in front of Hermione. The curly haired witch patiently waited for the younger girl to catch her breath.

"Is it true?"

Hermione frowned, confused.

"Is what true?"

"Is McLaggen really in the infirmary because of…," Ginny leaned in "…your boyfriend?"

Hermione sat up, eyes widening, glancing around.

"What? Who told you that?"

Ginny's face hardened.

"So it is true…"

"Ginny…it's a long, complicated, 'I'm-still-iffy-on-the-details-myself' story," Hermione replied with a sigh.

"Yeah, I get it, your whole relationship is complicated," Ginny dryly remarked, taking a seat.

"Gin…"

"I'm just saying… Yeah, sure, McLaggen can be an arrogant prick sometimes, Hermione, but I seriously doubt that he did anything worth that."

Hermione huffed, pulling Ginny's plate away from her just as she began to dig in.

"Do you remember what I asked you to help me with?"

Ginny sighed, a bit put out that her food was being held for ransom at the moment.

"Yes…"

Hermione just stared, giving the other girl a pointed look. It wasn't long before Ginny gasped, straightening up with wide eyes.

"You think…?"

Hermione released the plate, nodding.

"Does he…?"

"No. He doesn't even suspect. He's completely out of control, Ginny, and I can't take the risk of leaving the castle to find out for myself. At least, not now."

Ginny blinked, mouth parting as her food sat forgotten.

"Okay, I need you to tell me everything. Make a list of every symptom, every abnormal behavior, starting from the very beginning," Ginny firmly said, stressing the importance.

"Okay."

Ginny let out a soft sigh, eyes closing in anguish.

"Also…you need to figure this thing out fast."

"Why…?"

"Ron saw him following McLaggen the other night, and I'm betting that he's the one who's telling everyone."

Hermione bit her tongue, glancing down the table at her former friend who had just walked in.

"Great…"

"Ron," Hermione called out.

The handsome redhead turned around, face morphing into shock as he just registered who'd called his name. Ron hurried towards her, a small grin breaking out over his face.

"Hermione…"

"Ron, why are you telling people that Malfoy put McLaggen into the infirmary?"

Ron's face dropped, smile disappearing from his face.

"You know…I didn't want to believe Harry when he told me about what had happened in the Heads' dorm…"

She sighed, disappointed, but not surprised at this turn of events.

"First, he defended you, and now you're defending him," Ron scoffed.

"I'm sure Harry told you why he was defending me," she threw at him, arms crossed.

Ron looked down, jaw clenched.

"I told you how sorry I was. I still can't tell you enough how sorry I am…" he looked up "…yeah, sure, he had every right to defend you, I guess, despite the fact that he's…Malfoy, but now? Why are you defending him? I know what I saw, Hermione."

Hermione stared into his eyes, trying to convey to him just how concerned she was.

"Really? So, you saw him hurt McLaggen, then? You saw this happen?"

Ron faltered, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, no, but…he was following him! It isn't hard to put two and two together," Ron argued.

"Ron, you hate him. You always have! You really expect me to believe that you aren't the least bit biased?"

"Why are you trying to protect him or something?"

"I'm trying to protect you, you idiot!"

Ron started, blinking in confusion.

"Me? Heh, you think Malfoy's going to come after me or something? That's cute," he sneered.

"Ron, please, just listen to me-."

"We aren't friends anymore, remember? Why should I listen to you? Why are you even concerned?"

"Just because we aren't friends, you think that means I want to see you hurt?"

Ron chuckled, stepping back with a shake of his head.

"I don't need your protection from Malfoy, Hermione."

Hermione swallowed as he walked away, shaking her head in defeat.

Draco collapsed on top of her, chest heaving against her own as her legs slid from around his waist, feeling like Jell-O. She tilted her head back as he grazed his teeth against the sensitive mark he'd just bestowed upon her, a shudder traveling down her spine. He rolled them over and Hermione's heart stuttered within her chest as his eyes flashed, just like that day at the Shrieking Shack.

She bit her lip, holding her tongue as they returned to their normal grey.

"What is it?"

Hermione swallowed with a shake of her head.

"Nothing…"

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, leaning down to gently press her lips against his.

"I'm not sorry about Fay, Hermione…," he suddenly whispered against her lips.

Hermione closed her eyes, resting her cheek against his chest once more.

"I know," she whispered, a small part of her accepting this side within him.

"…and you know I would do it again in a heartbeat."

Hermione's own heart skipped a beat inside of her chest.

"…I know."

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