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Chapter Nineteen

"Come on, Andrew, time for bed," Hermione tugged at his arm. He followed her to her room where a bed had been set up for him. She tucked him into the covers and sang to him until he fell asleep. After sitting with him for a few moments more, she stood and went back into the common room. Everyone was staring at her. She assumed they had been waiting all day to get her without Andrew to talk to her. Harry and Ron spoke first.

"Now, Hermione, where should we start?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, you nearly scared us to death!" Ron exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," she replied.

"Is that all you can say?"

"Ron, will you please calm down."

"No! You up and left without telling any of us. You didn't leave a note or anything. For a week, you were gone. A whole week of us sitting around, fretting and worrying, wondering if we'd ever see you again. We were scared, Hermione. And when you came back, you fainted into a coma."

"You didn't even see me, Ronald. That coma shouldn't have frightened you one bit. I woke before you had seen. Hell, I went and I saw you. The only people that coma should have scared are Draco, Blaise, Ginny, and Andy, mainly Andy."

"Well, it did scare me, Hermione. You'll just have to realize that."

"I'm not going to, Ronald! I have no reason to. I've got to damn much going on to focus on whether or not you're scared. I'm sorry I scared you, all of you, but you have no idea what was and is going on. I'm scared, okay? I'm scared!" Tears filled her eyes.

"So, tell us what was and is going on." Draco's voice broke through the fight. It was sharp. It stabbed Hermione in her heart, although she knew it shouldn't have. She knew that it was his defense. If his voice was sharp, you couldn't hear the emotions traveling throughout it.

"I…" In the next moment, an owl flew through the window and straight for Hermione. It landed on her shoulders and was no doubt a school owl. She took its letter and watched it fly off. Unhurriedly, she opened the letter. It was in hand writing she recognized but this time, it seemed angry.

Don't you dare tell them, my sweet. Don't you dare. You don't want to know what'll happen.

And BREAK UP WITH HIM. YOU'VE HAD ALL DAY!

That was all it said.

Suddenly, she heard Andy scream.

"If you'll excuse me," she began, her voice cracking, "my brother needs me and then I'm going to bed." She left the room without looking back.

"What's wrong, baby?" she asked as she entered her room and shut the door behind her. She quickly walked to his bed and scooped up his crying form, cradling him in her arms.

"That guy… the one I saw in the hospital wing… he was here. I swear, he was here. He told me he would hurt me. He told he would if you didn't do what you were supposed to. Then, he touched my face and disappeared."

"Oh, Andy, I'm sorry. I'll never let him hurt you, I promise. I'll never let him hurt you."

"Can… can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Yeah, you can sleep with me every night if you want too."

"Okay."

Hermione climbed into the bed and pulled him under the covers with her. She held him close and fell fast asleep, as did he.

(I'm pretending it's a Monday and the first day back to classes.) Hermione woke at 7 AM the next morning. She showered and dressed while Andy kept sleeping. When she was almost done, she woke him up.

"Morning, sunshine. Do you want to shower or just get dressed."

"Dressed."

"Okay, go pick some clothes out of your back pack and put them on. Then, I'll take you down to breakfast where I'm sure many girls will just fawn over you."

He smiled tiredly and got up.

Hermione began packing books into her book bag. She tugged her robe on and turned around to find Andy ready and waiting.

"Okay, let's go!" She grabbed his hand and they set off to the Great Hall.

Hermione sat across from Harry and Ron. Harry smiled at her and Ron gave a look that said he wasn't sure if he was on her good side.

"Good morning Harry, Ron," she said cheerily.

"Morning," Ron said, echoed by Harry.

She put a small amount of food on her plate and took small bites. Mainly, she watched her brother eat and be fascinated by the décor.

"Hermione," Andy said in a tone that she knew would follow with something towards instructing her on what she needs to do, "you need to eat more. I thought we solved this already. It's not like Daniel made this."

"Who's Daniel?" Harry asked.

"No one," she gave her little brother a look. "I'm eating fine, Andy. I know when I'm full and when I'm not."

"Well, your stomach must have shrunk. You used to eat like a pig!"

Surprise filled her face. "Andrew!"

"You can't yell at me when I'm not lying."

"I sure can, you little heathen."

He laughed at her. "Your so touchy."

"Your so mean!"

"Like I said yesterday, I get it from you. I'm just like you."

"Yes, I think I raised you right."

"Duh!"

Hermione looked to the head table, feeling someone staring at her. Dumbledore motioned for her to come up to him. She nodded.

"I'll be right back, Andy."

"Mmk."

She walked up to Dumbledore. "Yes, sir?"

"Poppy has decided that while you're in class, she'd be delighted to watch Andrew… this way, he may be entertained and will stay out of trouble."

"Okay, thank you, Professor."

"Of course, Ms. Daniels."

Hermione returned to her table. "Are you done, Andy?"

"Almost." He took three more bites. "Yes, now I'm done."

"Okay, well, Madam Pomfrey is going to watch you during the day while I'm in class. Is that okay?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, let's go get your backpack so that you'll have some toys to play with."

When she got to her room, she emptied out the clothes in his bag, leaving just toys. He pulled it onto his shoulders. She, too, grabbed her book bag, and they set off for the infirmary. She dropped him off, assuring Madam Pomfrey that he'd be no trouble and to call her out of class if her was too much trouble.

Quickly, she ran to the library. She went to the back where it was dark with hardly any occupants.

She waited a moment before whispering, "Jake… Jake, I know you're here."

"Yes, yes you do. What is it you want? You usually don't want me."

"I want you to stay away from my brother! He's nothing to do with me and whatever your job is."

"Well, now, see, he's good bait… to get you to do things, I mean. For example, breaking up with Draco, which you best do soon."

"I will, okay?"

"Do that, and your brother want be a part of any of this." He disappeared.

She groaned and ran to Potions, her first class. Snape was at the front, talking about some Potion. There was an open seat in the back next to Neville and one in the middle next to Draco. To play safe, she sat next to Neville. Draco stared at her for a moment before Snape broke his train of thought.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Daniels."

"Sorry, sir. I had to tend to something."

"Fine, it's your loss, not mine. We're concocting the Dreamer's Potion. It allows the drinker to dream of only peaceful things for one night. Everyone, begin."

For the rest of the week, Hermione avoided Draco. She had no idea how to tell him that she couldn't go out with him anymore. She knew he'd ask questions. He was a smart boy. He'd figure something out.

Late Saturday night, Hermione trudged into the common room. She was completely drained, having just had an excruciatingly long argument with Jake. He kept arguing with her this week, and she didn't know why.

Before she knew it, Draco was in front of her. She jumped back in surprise before resting against the wall to calm her heart.

"Don't do that!" she exclaimed.

"I began to think I needed to. You've avoided me all week, Hermione."

Tears came to her eyes, and she looked away.

"No, Hermione, look at me… talk to me." He used two of his fingers to guide her chin so that her face was looking at his. "Please."

Two tears fell.

"Hermione, what's going on?"

"Dr-Draco… I need… I can't… We need… We have to break up." A flood of tears came out of her eyes.

"What?" Draco yelled. "You've been avoiding me all week." He walked to the couch and gripped it tightly. "Now, you're breaking up with me. Hermione, come on-"

"Please, stop yelling," she whispered feebly as she sank to the ground. Her words never met his ear as he kept yelling.

"There's something going on. I know there is. Would you talk to me?"

"Hey!" Andy yelled as loud as he could, having come from Hermione's room. "Stop yelling at Hermione! Can't you see that she can't deal with that right now? Can't you see that? If you were such a good boyfriend, you would've seen that."

"Andy," Hermione said through snobs, "Andy, go to bed. I'll be up in a little while. Just go to bed."

"But, what about…"

"Nothing's going to hurt you, baby. I fixed it," she cried. "Go to bed." She waited until he shut her door behind him before running out of the common room. She ran to the lake. Shaking and crying, she just wanted to die at that moment. Without Draco, she didn't have much to live for. He was almost her everything.

Author's note: Okay, there it is. Chapter Nineteen. I hope it was up to your reading pleasure.


Now, I'm not sure if I'll be able to post tomorrow, so I'll tell you now. I have to go to my dad's for six weeks. I'm not sure if I'll write while I'm there. I do know I'll barely get on the computer and when I do, it'll only be to check email. I come home (to my mom's) every two weeks but only for a weekend. I'll try my hardest to post thing on Saturdays or Sundays. I just want to let you know so you don't think I'm abandoning anything. I leave tomorrow for my dad's house, around 3 PM, probably.

But, please review so that when I'm back for the weekends, I'll be motivated to write more and post two chapters a weekend or something crazy like that. The more reviews I get, even if they're anonymous, the faster you'll find out what happens. I will tell you, Hermione and Draco end up together. :)))

Review, Review, Review (while I go eat SpaghettiOs!)

Mucho Amor,

Heather