Author's Note

Thank you all for all the kind reviews! I'll update as fast as I can :)

Hermione had spent the rest of the day in a considerably good mood. Whether it was because of Draco and her banters or whether it was the good weather, or the fact that her marks were consistently soaring.

Even the week following was filled with easy going days and funny, relaxing nights.

Of course with N.E.W.T's coming, she was constantly studying, but the fact remains that she was having one of the most relaxing, calm and fun school years she'd ever experienced.

"Hermione?" Ginny asked as they sat down for Monday breakfast.

"Hmmm?" Hermione asked buttering up her toast. She turned to look at Ginny who had a funny look on her face.

"Why is Malfoy staring at you?" She asked pointing her fork toward the Slytherin table. Hermione turned and spotted Malfoy looking staring at her. She blushed when he noticed her looking back and stood up abruptly knocking down three plates, a fork and a plate of toast.

The entire great hall broke into laughter, most originating from the Gryffindor side. Hermione stifled her laughter as Draco turned beet red and hurried out of the great hall, glaring crossly at everyone he laid eyes on.

His eyes finally sought out Hermione's and if possible, his face turned redder as he curtly exited the great hall.

Hermione was in her potions class before lunch and was rushing to finish off her potion when there was a sound of screaming.

Her head whipped around looking for a sign of danger. All the other students seemed as alarmed and confused as her. Slughorn leaped up from his desk and promptly, waddled towards the door. He pulled it open and looked both ways when a non-corporeal patronus flew in promptly delivering a message to Slughorn. He gave a jerk of his head and he bobbed back into class.

"Attention! Attention!" He exclaimed as he tripped over his robes to grab his wand. "There has been an intruder in the heads dorm! The intruder may still be in the school so we ask that all students return in an orderly fashion back to their respective dorms. Same goes for heads. Go." Slughorn said before rushing off to help.

"Not again!" Draco said in exasperation as we exited the class together.

"Know one knows for certain it's because the death eaters want you dead." Hermione said hopefully as they rushed down the corridor.

"Hermione! They searched the heads dorm! They were looking in the dorm they knew belonged to me and!" Draco paled and his eyes widened in recognition. "What if they see you're stuff?! Bloody hell Hermione this is why I warned you and I was so stupid to even-"

"You're rambling." Hermione said as the ran down the hall. He rolled his eyes.

"Been hanging around you too much." He said with good humour. She laughed despite the time of crisis they were in. Not long after his face darkened again.

"Before you launch a speech on the negatives of our friendship I want to remind you of the positives. We're happy." Hermione said as they ran down a staircase and she directed some scared 2nd years.

"Happy." Draco said to himself.

"Well at least I am." Hermione said quickly. He turned to look at her as they raced down among the chaos.

"Hermione don't doubt for a second that I've had the time of my life spending time with you these past few weeks. It's been a glimpse of heaven. I'm just worried where this friendship could lead you." He said earnestly.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself these past few weeks Draco but let me tell you again that I can take care of myself. Don't ruin our friendship. It'll only make me miserable." She begged surprising herself about how true this was. She would definitely miss his company and she had grown used to spending time with him. She began to panic as Draco took his time to respond.

"Well we wouldn't want that now would we?" He asked smiling weakly. She grinned and gave him a hug as they ran.

"Avada Kedavra!" A voice boomed from behind them. Hermione whipped her head around and there were death eaters launching spells at them. A jet of green light whizzed by her head. Draco grabbed her hand and picked up the pace only turning to throw back a few curses.

"Run !" McGonagall barked as she raced from out from a corridor and began throwing hex after spell after jinx after curse at the approaching death eaters. She was clearly skilled in the art. Seeing her in action was quite the sight. " ! Stay with him!" They were about to pass her when she grabbed Malfoy's arm. "I hope you don't take this personally," she said as she continued firing curses, Sinistra racing to assist her. "But I can't have you returning to the Slytherin commons in fear that they'll trace you back there and there are other children there." She said quietly. " , since they've seen you it would be unwise to return to Gryffindor commons as well. So please, the two of you, stick together and hide anywhere in the castle, away from the death eaters. Be ready, the Order is coming as well as the Ministry. I'll come find you personally after." McGonagall said waving them off as a Cruciatus curse nearly hit her.

"What about you professor?" Hermione asked watching the older woman battle.

"Go hide in the Forbidden Forest!" McGonagall yelled loudly enough for the death eaters to hear. So she was luring them away from the castle where the ministry and Order was likely waiting. She never seized to amaze Hermione.

"Come on!" Draco yelled playing along. He dragged her hand towing along her whole body as they ran from level to level.

"I'm sorry you're in this situation Hermione." He said as they slowed to a jog on the seventh floor.

"I can handle myself." She said drawing out her wand and placing a protego charm around them. "We've talked about this." She said hearing the plea in her voice. Draco squeezed her hand as they searched for a temporary room to hide in.

"Here's an old classroom." He said opening a door and walking in slowly with his wand raised.

"Homenum Revelio." He muttered and it came out negative. He sighed a sigh of relief as Hermione maintained the shield. "Lumos." He held his wand around the classroom and their was nothing in sight. Hermione placed a locking charm on the door and moved to sit on an empty desk.

Draco pushed a few desks to block the door and placed a few chairs on top of the desks. He sighed and sat on the desk opposite her.

"How long do you reckon this will last?" He asked her wiping his forehead.

"Depends how stupid the death eaters are." Hermione replied as she placed a muffliato on the room.

"Not all of them are thick headed." Draco said taking off his robes. Underneath he wore a knitted Slytherin sweater and black slacks. Hermione felt herself blush as she averted her eyes after catching herself staring.

"Now what?" He asked chewing on his lip. Hermione looked around the classroom and hopped off the desk.

"There's gotta be some sort of books in here." She said as she began searching the desks. She felt arms lift her off her feet and place her gently back on the desk she had abandoned. "Hey!" She said glaring at him.

"This isn't a light situation that calls for casual by reading. Hermione there are death eaters outside and you want to read?" He demanded. Hermione flushed and looked at her hands.

"Then what do you propose we do?" She asked slightly irritated.

"Talk to me. I think I might scream if I think one more second about how stupid these death eaters are being." Draco said staring blank faced at Hermione.

She sighed. She looked at him and he looked truly scared and frightened about the whole situation. Maybe because last time it was just an intruder, snooping around, causing trouble. Now, they were full on actually attacking the school. How did they even get in the building? Hermione walked closer to him and held his hand gently.

"Are you scared?" She asked looking at him carefully. He raised his grey, stormy eyes to meet hers.

"Are you?" He asked, some warmth coming back into his fingers.

She inhaled sharply. "I'm terrified." She replied.

He gave a weak grin. "I'm terrified too," he pulled her onto the desk beside him and wrapped a comforting arm around her. She placed her head on his shoulder and they sat for a while in silence.

"You don't think anyone got hurt right?" Draco asked sounding worried. Hermione looked up at him and his eyes were guiltily ashamed and horrified.

"I….can't be certain." She said. "But if so, it's not your fault. Do you hear me? It's not. Not one bit." She said willing him to see using her eyes.

"Damn it Hermione!" Draco said sounding like this had been building up within him for a while now.

You could tell by the fear in his eyes, old Draco would have ignored.

"There are students that are barely old enough nor smart enough to defend themselves, they most definitely wouldn't be able to escape the death curse! And the death eaters are here because they want revenge on me! And the whole school is suffering because of me." Draco said running an angry hand through his hair.

"You know you're actually a lot like Harry." Hermione said calmly. He looked bewildered then disgusted then back to bewildered.

"How so?" He asked calming down. Hermione felt a wave of relief. Draco angry was rather quite alarming.

"Well, you were both hunted by someone from Voldemort's area and you're both brave, proud and guarded people. Another thing is that you both refuse help. It took ages to convince Harry that he needed help hunting horcruxes. You refuse help when I first offered the auror assistance. You're both my friends and you both feel immense guilt when the cause leading to this effect was not your fault." Hermione said in one breath.

"You analyze a lot." He said sounding accusing. "I am nothing like Potter. I actually care about your well being. I didn't side with the Weasel." Draco said sounding immensely bitter.

"How did you hear about that?" Hermione asked alarmed. No one except the three of them knew that! How...how did he know?

"Hermione, you might not have been up to date with the wizarding news but it leaked out that when he was caught cheating the what...third time? That the "Chosen one" sided with Weasel on this one. A bunch of readers who adore you absolutely rampaged the Wesel at his next game. As a matter of fact, I considered joining them." He said sounding quite worked up about this. In a way it was sweet that he cared about my well being.

But Hermione couldn't believe that either Harry or Ron leaked it out to the press! It was true, she was an emotional wreck in my house that summer. She had ignored all mail including the Daily Prophet and must've missed the news. After Ron was caught cheating on her again, she had cut things off for good and Harry was there and he had sided with Ron that she should give him another chance. She was infuriated and had stopped speaking to either of them for months. Harry had tried apologizing multiple times and she had finally forgiven him but Ron was just too much to handle. Even though she could never hate him.

And she was too oblivious to know that the whole Wizarding world was aware. After the war, the Golden Trio were quite famous and were almost considered celebrities.

At least readers did side with her. She had forgiven Harry truthfully. He was sorry and he had sincerely said so. When someone was sorry, you could see the sorrow and regret in their eyes. She forgave him.

"I'm sorry." He said cautiously placing an arm around her. She sighed and nodded before leaning against him. She hadn't said a word since the break up or about it, not even to Ginny who was her best friend. And here, Draco was, getting her to let it out.

Tears gently made their way down her cheeks as the emotions of rejection and hurt pounded in her ear. Draco rubbed her arm and laid his chin on top of her head.

"He doesn't deserve you." Draco murmured as they heard shouts and cries from outside. He had his wand poised on his other side and Hermione shakily rose hers to join him.

"I'll find him one day. Someone who'll love me for me. And I'll get over Ron. I'll find the love of my life." Hermione whispered, barely audible. That was what she'd been consoling herself with since.

"You will. And he'll love you because you deserve to be loved. You'll be happy. You'll be in love." Draco said quietly. She sniffed and swallowed.

There was no sound whatsoever coming from outside the room. She felt a pang of nervous adrenaline as the familiar cat patronus flew in.

"I apologize for not coming to get you myself, but the second floor of the school is terribly damaged and I need to be there to supervise. No one was severely hurt. Professor Vector has a concussion but otherwise, there were no deaths or fatal injuries. There was a few students who were stupefied and had a temporary memory loss but madam Pomfrey has assured their full recovery. The castle has been approved safe and you two are to return to your dorms tomorrow and stay there until dinner. Classes resume tomorrow." It said before whisking off.

Hermione and Draco walked silently to their dorms.

"See? No one got fatally hurt." Hermione said soothingly as they entered their dorms. You could tell the death eaters had searched but that the aurors had checked it thoroughly because things were put back neatly just in all the wrong places.

"For now." Draco muttered collapsing onto a couch.

"It'll be alright." Hermione said kneeling beside him. She lifted his chin to meet her gaze. "Are you alright?"

"I'm a mess." Draco said rubbing his temples and brushing her hand sending sparks of electricity up her arm.

"I'm a mess too." She said standing up to go to her room.

"Yes but at least a beautiful one." He muttered closing his eyes to rest as she walked obliviously to her room.

Hermione entered the great hall in time for dinner to see it full of bustling, nervous students clearly in distress from the attack.

"Attention students!" McGonagall called standing gravelly. Heads turned quickly, ears trained to listen and voices silent from fear. "As you all know there was an attack at the school during classes initiated by the death eaters. I assure you all that aurors have been stationed to guard the school intensely as of the second attack of the year with addition to a death at Hogsmeade and other issues. A death was in fact later discovered." McGonagall announced. Hermione's breath caught in her throat. "Mundungus Fletcher passed away this afternoon, killed by Dolohov. His funeral will be held tomorrow evening at 9 for students years 6-8. And students, I can not stress enough the importance of being on guard from here on out. Just because he who must not be named is dead does not mean all his followers are." She finished as she sat down, the whole hall erupted in chatter. Hermione felt sick to her stomach. Voldemort was dead. Dead. Harry killed him, she had seen it with her own eyes. The source of evil was destroyed but the little parasites following it were still keen on continuing. She curtly exited the great hall, too disgusted to eat. She bumped into someone as she was leaving the great hall.

"Harry!" Hermione said hugging him in relief. "I'm glad you're alright. I was so worried." Harry sighed and hugged back.

"It was brutal. The fight. The ministry and Order were lucky to only have one dead." Harry said sounding overworked. "Mundungus was good at heart and he didn't deserve to die. He came when the Order called and he died in the process. The Order is hosting the funeral tomorrow. They've asked me to say a few words."

"That's good of you Harry. I know Mundungus wasn't always the most responsible when it came to you." Hermione replied.

Harry nodded and Hermione noticed the dark circles under his eyes and how exhausted he looked.

"You really ought to get some sleep." Hermione scolded lightly but sternly.

Harry smiled. "I'm never able to escape you Hermione aren't I?" He asked.

She grinned. "Nope. But really, you need to get some sleep."

"Alright." Harry said sounding resigned. "But you need to stop studying too hard. There are shadows under your eyes too." He pointed out and she hugged him hard one more time.

"Be careful." She whispered.

"You too. Hermione really. It's dangerous out there. The death eaters would love to kill you to get back at you and you're definitely on the kill list to them." Harry said before he turned and walked away.

Hermione felt the sense of doom that was all too familiar. She couldn't believe that all this danger and hatred in the world was still there. In fact, she began to believe that it never left.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked standing at the doorframe of her room. She sat up in her bed and beckoned him in.

"I'm just thinking." She responded as he sat on the edge of her bed.

"You're always thinking." Draco said holding her hand loosely. She felt her heart flutter at his touch and laughed lightly. "Really. What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking that we're all really lucky that we escaped the large mass of deaths and that we were safe up in that classroom. I'm thinking about my breakup with Ron and even though I know it has nothing to do with the past events but it's driving me mad. I'm wondering what's wrong with me? Why wasn't I enough? Why? Why? Why? I'm wondering what I could have done better. I'm thinking I'm lucky you were there to help me. I'm thinking what the bloody hell is wrong with me?" Hermione asked knowing very well she was rambling. But he didn't look amused like he usually did. He looked almost disappointed.

"Hermione you are the precise opposite of all those things. Look, I may have bullied you out of sheer stupidity the past few years and I have changed past that, but I wasn't blind. Even I could tell that you were smart and beautiful and bright and brave and kind. You were more than enough. And he didn't see it. You did nothing wrong. Wrong was done onto you." Draco said shifting next to Hermione and wrapping an arm around her. She didn't notice the tears that were making their way down her cheeks. This wasn't the first time she had so openly admitted things to Draco and had cried to him. And he was there. He was being the friend she needed.

"Thank you." Hermione said resting her head on his chest. Draco twirled a piece of her hair and kissed her forehead, sending sparks of swirls in her stomach. She felt her heart contract with a contrast of emotions, undescribable.

"Always," Draco said resting his head atop of hers.

Hermione walked into potions the next day feeling relieved. Like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders. She felt less stressed as she took her seat next to Luna and Neville.

"Have you ever considered restarting the D.A?" Neville asked before Slughorn came in.

"I don't know. But I suppose with all the recent events, it seems….appropriate don't you think?" Hermione asked actually warming up to the idea.

"Let us all know if you do. You would be the temporary leader since you did practically propose the idea and Harry is your best friend." Neville said as Slughorn marched in and began writing instructions on the board.

"I feel as if I should ask Harry anyways for permission. But I like the idea given things are still quite terrible around here." Hermione whispered.

She wondered if Draco would be interested in joining. Considering he was against it and in a squad that was aiming to destroy it pointed towards no. Nevertheless this was a perfect opportunity to see if he truly did want to get over all his old habits. Maybe she would propose the idea to him and see what he thought. Strangely enough, she hoped he would concur. She gazed at him sitting on the other side of the classroom.

He looked like he was listening but that he already knew what was about to be said next. His hair was hidden in the shadows of the dark classroom. His eyes were lazily flickering around the classroom, his hand gripping a quill that occasionally scribbled something down on a sheet of paper. He really had become a best friend to her. And he had been there for her at times when no one else was. He was just...there.

Hermione shook her head and began concocting a potion trying to shake such thoughts from her already clouded mind.

"Alright. Once more." Draco laughed as Hermione scowled and marched back to the other side of the commons.

They had been working on improving practice for N.E.W.t's which were possible but not likely to happen. Hermione insited. It would also be a good chance to practice for D.A. And ask Draco if he wanted to join. She decided to wait and hear back from Harry and then ask.

"Okay. Happy thoughts." Draco said seriously making Hermione giggle. They had found a boggart they were using for practicing. "This should be easy. Just think of me." Draco smirked before winking.

She went red and held her wand ready. "And remember. Don't help me. I need to really push myself." She reminded.

He opened the chest and out came professor McGonagall walking out sternly holding a test paper. Hermione bit her lip as she began speaking.

"Miss. Granger! You have just failed the entire set of N.E.W.T.'s! You will never get a job and I certainly pity and lowly company that has to take you for a job. Good luck!" Hermione's hand trembled as she thought of the happiest thought she could think of. Boom, the boggart changed to her parents walking out. "Hermione. We're so disappointed. We can't believe you used magic on us! You wiped our memories? What right as a person did you have to do that? You failed us Hermione. You failed." They chorused. Hermione growled as she thought of another memory. But she could feel the boggart getting to her. All her happy memories involved Ron. And Rone reminded her of her saddest memories. Suddenly a new person popped up, one she hadn't heard from. She had always produced a patronus even if it was a weak one before it reached the third person. The third person, was Ron.

"You were without a doubt the worst girlfriend I've ever had. You are such a bossy know it all and couldn't be more selfish and self absorbed. You worried about the stupidest things and you managed to fail being a decent girlfriend. You're nothing but a-" Ron was cut off with an explosion of lights.

"Riddiku-!" Draco bellowed. He looked infuriated at the boggart and vanished the chest. He looked murderous at the spot which Ron stood.

"NO! I need to do this!" Hermione said tears blurring her vision. She thought rapidly of a happy moment without Ron. But if she could just do this. She could let him go. She thought of the time when Draco sat with her in the rain under the tree finally confirming their friendship. How happy and myself he's made me feel these past weeks.

"RIDDIKULUS!" Hermione exclaimed. In a blink, it was gone.

Author's Note

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