A First AttemptChapter 3

Slowly he reached for his wand on the table. He rose silently from the couch griping his wand tightly and inched towards the wall. A scuffling brought his attention to the portrait hole and a small dark figure moved towards him. He leapt forwards and head a squeal as he collided with it.

"Lumos," he said wand pointed towards the persons neck. Light came from the tip o his wand and he realized the person he lap atop was Lavender. Her eyes were wide with shock. He growled then stood and roughly pulled her to her feet. "Lavender what are you doing here?"

She still seemed to be recovering from his attack on her but managed a few words, "I was on my way to the hospital wing for a headache potion and passed by when I noticed the portrait open. I came to see what was going on."

"What?" he said incredulously and looked over the portrait, sure enough a rock was wedged into the hinge to keep it from closing. "Hermione!" he hurried into her room, the bed was empty. "Damn it!" he cursed and ran through the common room past Lavender. After a second thought he doubled back to :Lavender, "was Hermione in the Gryffindor common room when you left?"

"N-no," she replied confused as to way Draco was acting so strange. "Everyone's still abed, it's only five in the morning. What's wrong?"

"Go back to your dorm," he said as he disappeared into his room coming back a moment later with a black tee shirt and jeans on. "I said go!" he snapped at Lavender and she scurried away. As he stepped up to the portrait hole he realized he had no idea what to do. The castle was huge and there was no telling where she was, he would need help. Reluctantly he yelled after Lavender. She turned regarding him with a frown. "Get Potter and Weasley, tell them it's an emergency and to come to the head dorms." Lavender nodded and left. He pried the rock from the portrait hinge before going in to grab his wand, as he picked it up he saw the piece of parchment folded on the table, after a minute of hesitation he stuffed it into his pocket and exited. Harry and Ron came running up a minute later looking tired and obviously not happy about being woken so early in the morning.

"You better have a good reason for this Malfoy," Harry growled eyeing him suspiciously.

"I need your help," Draco said grudgingly. Harry and Ron eyed him with growing suspicion.

"What could you possibly need our help for?" Ron asked.

"Here," Draco said pulling the parchment out and handing it to them, "read it." They read it and looked up at him worried.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron asked shoving past Draco into the head dorms. "Hermione!" he called.

"She's not there!" Draco snapped, "that why I need your help, we have to find her."

"Wait a second," Harry said stepping forward. "why do you want to help Hermione, and how do we know you're not the one behind this? We could be walking into a trap."

Draco growled in frustration. "Stop jumping to conclusions Potter. I'm only doing this because I know they'll blame me if something happens to her, it's not like I care about the little mudblood. As for the other this, well you're just going to have to trust me." Ron snorted and Draco glared at him. "Lets get started, the sooner I get away from you two the better. I'll take the dungeons and outside, Potter you take the lower floors and Weasley the upper floors. Check all secret passages and rooms, on telling what has happened to her." They all nodded and headed off.

After Draco was sure he had checked every corner of the dungeons he headed outside. It was still dark out, and with only the light of his wand to guide him he headed towards the Black Lake to begin. Halfway around the lake he heard a creaking and muffled whimpers. Casting the light from his wand across the lake he saw a small rowboat near the middle, rocking from side to side. That was when he noticed it was sinking fairly quickly, the sides where full of holes and the boat was filling with water. The person in the boat suddenly sat up. It was Hermione bound and gagged. She cried out and thrashed trying to pull free of her bonds. Knowing she couldn't swim like that Draco discarded his cloak, shirt, and shoes then dove in. When he came up for breath he noticed the boat was almost completely under water.

He reached halfway when the boat was completely submerged, he knew it would be second before the boat raced to the bottom leaving Hermione with no was to stay afloat. He swam with renewed vigor and was close enough to see the terrified look in her eyes when she went under. A little closer, he thought to himself and dove forwards speeding through he water towards her. He caught her arms and began to pull her up when something pulled back. A mermaid came behind him jabbing him with a sharp trident. More surrounded him and he felt the skin on his chest and back tear. His lungs screamed for air and he released Hermione's arms and rose to the surface. "Stupefy!" he shouted pointing into the water then took a deep breath before going under again. Mermaid were floating around Hermione's sinking body. He pushed them away and wrapped an arm around her waist. As he turned to the surface he collided with a trident, it cut vertically up his cheek and forehead barely missing his eye. Shoving it away he pulled her to the surface and swam with everything he had for the shore.

He hauled her limp body onto the solid ground and pulled her into his lap. "Hermione?" he said lightly slapping her cheek. No response. Her lips were turning blue. He but an ear to her mouth. She wasn't breathing. Laying her back he pushed on her chest. "Come on, Hermione, breath." Nothing. Leaning forwards he placed his mouth over hers, it was cold. He blew and pushed on her chest again until her eyes shot open and she coughed up a mouthful of water. He rolled her onto her side and patted her back as she emptied the water from her lungs. When she was done he rolled her back over but her breathing was still shallow and her eyes were closed. Knowing she wouldn't last much longer without medical attention he scooped her up into his arms ignoring the searing pain in his chest and back and hurried towards the castle. Blood from the cut on his face began to run into his eyes but he just wiped it away not caring about anything but getting her to the medical wing before it was too late.

The sun was beginning to rise and the halls were already filling. Everyone stopped to stare as a cut a bloody Draco was carrying an unconscious Hermione. His vision was becoming blurry and he felt faint, he wouldn't make it to the hospital wing. That's when he saw a familiar face ahead. "Professor McGonagall!" he yelled hoarsely. She turned just in time to see Draco collapse with Hermione still in his arms.

A blinding light woke him from an uneasy sleep. The morning sun shone bright through the windows across the hall and he covered his eyes groaning. Madame Pomfrey began to close the drapes and he sat up. "Ah," he gasped in pain, a bandage was wrapped around his torso. Madame Pomfrey came rushing over.

"Lie back Mr. Malfoy or you'll mess up the bandage, you're still healing." She pushed him back and began rearranging his pillows so he sat up slightly. "Some nasty cuts there, most will heal up just fine."

"Most?" he asked concerned.

"Ah yes," she sighed, "a few were cause by cursed objects, and they can't be healed magically which means scarring."

"How many?" he asked sadly not looking forwards to the answer.

"Not many, nothing major on your chest or back, but this one," she handed him a mirror, "will never be gone."

He held up the mirror. Beginning at his hairline was a deep cut, it ran down, skipping his eyes, and continued down his cheek ending on his jaw. "I'm doing all that I can but there will still be a visible scar." Madame Pomfrey smiled sadly and took the mirror setting it on the bedside table. "That was a very brave thing you did Mr. Malfoy, if you had been seconds later she wouldn't have made it."

He sat back up looking to one side of him then the other spotting a sleeping figure. Hermione's chest rose slowly and gently. She was pale and her lips were still tinted blue.

"As you can see, she is in good care, now lay back and sleep, you need to rest, you overexerted yourself and lost a lot of blood." Draco nodded and fell back to sleep.

When he woke a soft moaning made him glance at the bed beside his. Hermione was beginning to stir, she put a hand to her head and struggled to sit up. He immediately leapt up and helped her. He rearranged her pillows so she could sit up comfortably then sat on the edge of her bed. The color had come back to her face and her lips were a rosy color.

"How- how are you?" he asked nervously. He was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

"I'm better, I really want to thank you for saving me." When she looked up at him with her deep chocolate eyes he lost control of his emotions and panicked.

He leapt to his feet and stepped back, "I had to, I mean if I didn't someone would have blamed me for it, can't have something like that following me around now could I," he said, his normal mocking tone returning.

Her eyes turned cold, "you are so selfish! All you can think about is how something will affect you even if someone else's life is in jeopardy."

"Shut-."

"Hermione!" A flash of red caught her eye as Ginny came rushing to her throwing her arms around her. Ron and Harry followed closely behind.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" Ginny asked coldly.

"He was just leaving," Hermione said sounding hurt but that was quickly replaced with contempt. "Leave Malfoy, that block of ice you call your heart is making the room cold." She raised her eyebrows regarding him with a fierce look. He growled and snatched his shirt off the table.

"Don't you think you can tell me what to do!" he snapped.

"I sure as hell can if you're keeping me from getting the rest I need," she was mocking him.

He turned to leave muttering, "damn mudblood."

He lay on the couch in the common room trying to read a book. The fire was blazing but he still felt a chill in the room. As hard as he tried he could not concentrate on the book, images of Hermione going under water, almost drowning plagued his thoughts. The door suddenly burst open and Hermione came storming in, she looked healthy again, if fact she looked up to killing someone, which seemed to be what she planned on.

"Malfoy how dare you! I can't believe you said those things to me!" she walked right up to him poking him hard in the chest. "I can't believe I thanked you, I thought you actually cared enough to save me! I especially can't believe I let you kiss me!"

He pushed her hand away and stood, "don't touch me mudblood, don't threaten me, you are crossing a line here," his voice deadly low and the firelight cast eerie shadows across his face. The cut down his face only added to the look. "You should be thanking me for risking my life to save yours." She raised her hand to push him back but he grabbed her wrist in a tight grip. He slammed her against the wall hard enough to make her whimper in pain. With one long stride he brought himself against her and lowered his face towards hers. "Don't ever raise a hand against me again, filthy mudblood, or I will hurt you." He then caught her lips in a rough kiss and she began to struggle.

"Let go Malfoy," she said in a trembling voice as he broke their kiss. So many emotions were swarming through her. She loathed him and everything he was, but at the same time she saw something in him that no one else seemed to see, his kiss brought butterflies to her stomach and sent shivers down her spine. A lump rose in her throat and anger knotted in her chest as his grip tightened on her wrist. She could feel the bruises forming and yanked her hand from his.

"No," he whispered in her ear then began to nip her neck. "You can't tell me what to do mudblood." He took both of her hands and pushed them above her head attempting to pin her. As he deepened their kiss she bit his bottom lip, he jumped and released his grip on her hands.

That was it, she wanted out of this, placing her hands against his chest she shoved him back, "I said get off!" she shrieked and began to run. Draco had landed hard on his back and was standing slowly when Hermione began to run. Once on his feet he took a step towards her when she stopped mid-stride and collapsed.