Well, here you have it! Chapter 6. Once again, thanks again for all the reviews, especially mhaj78, Aswen, and FreakyLongHairedGirl. You guys encourage me to write so much!! Hope y'all enjoy.

Chapter 6- Deadly Feelings

"Draco, dear, what have you DONE to yourself?" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed at the arrival of the two rather exhausted-looking children.

Draco rolled his eyes at the unnatural level of care of the woman. He hated being fussed over, especially now that he was almost a grown man.

Hermione answered for him. "He wandered out of the school and ran into a pack of dementors in the woods."

Draco tried not to notice the way he sounded like a stupid stray dog in Hermione's description. There was no way Pomfrey would buy that story, dementors didn't exactly wander around the woods for fun. She would see right through her lie, and realize that the dementors were much closer to her than she thought.

Much to Draco's relief, however, Madame Pomfrey did not see through her lie. "Oh, no, you mean they've come this close to the school? I don't know what You-Know-Who is planning, but at least we know that if they're so close already, we haven't much time before he strikes. We can gather our forces in preparation."

Hermione nodded her head in agreement. Draco only stood in stunned silence. Pomfrey had heard about the rumors? How could someone so isolated hear about them, and not him?

"Well, let's get you inside and taken care of. You look even paler than your usual self. Dementors can be nasty creatures, even to a boy as hardened as you."

Draco entered the room and sat down on the nearest bed, listening to the endless chatter of Madame Pomfrey. Hermione followed, keeping a close eye on him. He didn't know if she was watching him out of worry, or out of suspicion, but either way he was glad that she was there.

Madame Pomfrey hurriedly shoved a chocolate bar in Draco's hands, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Eat this while I find your medicine, you'll feel better."

She bustled about the room for a little while, but came up empty handed. Draco munched on the chocolate absently, watching her in her quest for his cure.

"Oh, dear, I seem to have run out! Oh, I'll have to go ask Professor Sprout if she has any mandrake root handy. You two stay here, I'll be back in a jiffy!" Madame Pomfrey bustled out of the room to her destination.

An empty silence followed in the absence of her chatter. Both of them were afraid to speak for fear of what might come out of their mouth. Hermione knew he was staging an uprising, she had seen the dementors herself. So why didn't she condemn him of it? Why didn't she threaten to tattle like she always did? Somehow the matter of uprisings and war didn't seem nearly as important as the person who was sitting before her, gazing up at her with eyes paler than a winter sky.

"I… I know that you lied to me." She said timidly, trying to find the right words to say.

Draco looked down dejectedly. For the first time in his life, he actually felt ashamed for something that he had done. It was an unusual feeling, he didn't think he would grow accustomed towards it anytime soon. It caused him to feel responsible for the hurt that he knew she was experiencing. The sadness and betrayal in her eyes was too much to bear. He hated to see her in pain, he hated to see her like this.

"I don't know how much of it was a lie, but… congratulations, Draco. You made a fool of me. I don't know if that was your intention or not, but that's what you did. I thought maybe by getting closer to you, I could either turn you over to our side or keep an eye on Voldemort's plans. I was wrong, though. All along, it wasn't me who was using you, you were the one using me. Just to unleash a horde of dementors on our school, just to test out your little plan for domination."

Bloody hell, she was so smart. She had seen through everything, just from the attack. Any other ditsy girl would have brushed that attack off as nothing, but not her. She knew better. And he loved her for it.

"But, if it was all a lie, why did you save me?" She asked.

Draco avoided the question. He didn't have an answer that would satisfy her, he didn't even know the answer himself. "Hermione, I know I lied to you before, but believe me when I say this: you need to get out of here." Hermione looked at him in surprise, waiting to hear the rest of his words. "I know you don't trust me, and I know you have good reason not to. I know you'll probably hate me for the rest of your life, but please, just trust me on this one account. Hogwarts is in danger, I don't know if it will happen today, or tomorrow, or next week. But no one will survive."

He saw a spark light in her eyes. This was it! This was the information that she was waiting to hear. But what if it was all a lie, just to get her into a trap? Hermione was anxious to go and tell Dumbledore all he had just said, and reveal the deadly plan about to unravel. However, she couldn't leave. As much as she hated to admit it, she hated even more the fact that she didn't want to leave Draco's side.

"I should tell Dumbledore," she started to say.

"No one can stop them, Hermione," Draco interrupted her, "they will destroy everything. The only way for you to survive is if you go far away."

"Why are you telling me this? You know I'll just go report everything. You know I won't run from a fight, not when people are in danger of dying." Hermione pointed out. Her courage burned in her eyes, making them shine beautifully in the light.

Draco sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. I guess I wanted to save you from the one thing I've been fighting you for this whole time. I can't believe I'm saying this, but… I feel bad for using you, Hermione. I truly do. When I saw you in danger, something was unleashed in me. I couldn't bear the thought of you hurt, for some reason, I… I would rather lay down my life than to see you harmed like that again. So please, please believe me when I say, you have to get out."

Hermione looked into his eyes, trying to find that gleam of deceit that he was so well known for, but it was nowhere to be found. She couldn't be sure if he was telling the truth, it was more likely that this was just another lie. However, she knew at this point that what she had been cautioned against for so long was finally happening. She was falling for him, and, against her better judgment, she trusted him.

Draco gently cupped her cheek in his right hand. "Not all of it was a lie, you know."

Hermione gazed into his eyes, and knew exactly what he meant.

While she was falling for him despite his own deceit, he had been falling for her despite his determination not to.

She took his hand in hers. "Draco, you know that I will always fight for my side. No matter what I feel… I cannot turn away now."

Draco answered, "As long as you know that I will always fight for mine. I will always be a follower of the Dark Side, I will always be evil, and nothing you can do will change that."

"I do understand, Draco," she answered. That doesn't change how I feel about you, she thought to herself. "When we leave here, we're enemies again, until this war is over."

Draco sighed, "I know, I know. We might not make it out alive."

Hermione looked away, to hide tears that were dangerously close to brimming over. "I don't want to have to fight you, Draco."

Draco framed her face with his hands and forced her to look at him. He took a deep breath, inhaling slowly, and said, "Hermione, I know I've lied to you a lot. I know that you can't trust a word that I've said. But there is one thing that is true, and always will be."

Ignoring her startled response, he pulled her down into a kiss. He buried his hands in her bushy hair, trying to cling to her in what might be their last moment together. He pulled her on top of him, desperate to be as close to her as possible. She was the only good thing in his world, the only pure existence he had ever touched. No harm would ever come to her, not if he could save her.

Hermione clung to him, grasping his shoulders and wringing her hands through his hair like he was her only salvation. She wanted him with her, always, even if he was fighting for the enemy. She loved him, and she didn't want to fight it anymore.

Finally, they broke the kiss. Draco held Hermione close, and whispered to her quietly. "Nobody knows what will happen in this battle, but I swear to you I will slit a thousand throats before I let any harm come to you." Even as he made the promise he didn't know how he was going to keep it and still appear to fight for Voldemort, but he didn't care. Suddenly his allegiance to Voldemort didn't seem so important anymore.

Hermione replied quietly, "You know I have to tell Dumbledore. This doesn't change anything."

"I know." Draco replied, accepting the fate that he knew was coming. He could face it bravely now, knowing now how Hermione truly felt.

Hermione rose and began to exit the infirmary, heading to confront Dumbledore about her findings, betraying her true love for the last time.

XXXXXXXX

Snape was worried about Draco. Ever since the boy had stormed out of his classroom in hopes of finding Granger, an expression that held nothing but worry for her written all over his face, Snape had been uneasy. Something about the way that Draco was so ready to rush to her rescue, something about the way that he looked at her when he spoke to her, something about the ungodly amount of pain that entered his face as he saw what an effect on her his words truly had…

Something about it seemed so wrong, so far from the plan.

Draco Malfoy was falling for Hermione Granger. The entire plan would be ruined, if Draco let his lies become truth.

Snape sighed. He had to talk to Lord Voldemort about this. Lord Voldemort always knew what to do in situations like these, he never became worried about his children the way Snape worried.

Snape strode over to the fireplace, tossing a handful of powder into the fiercely burning fire. Within seconds, Lord Voldemort's voice rang out, and yet his face was nowhere to be seen in the eerie fire. The only thing that could be seen was the bright red blaze.

"Severus, this had better be important. You know what precious little time I have." The sinister voice filled the room, not only with its sound but with the sheer magnitude of its presence.

"Yes, my lord, I'm sorry, but it is very important. It has to do with the plan." Snape said in a trembling voice, fearing the wrath of his master at his own words.

"What has gone wrong with the plan? The plan is flawless. How did you manage to screw it up, Severus?" The fire blazed dangerously bright.

"It's the boy, master. I think… I might be wrong, but… I think he has fallen for her. I think he loves her." Severus offered. He couldn't help feeling as he said the words that he was somehow betraying Draco, putting the boy into danger.

The fire grew very dim, and Snape wasn't sure if Voldemort was even present anymore. Perhaps he had pressing matters elsewhere, and didn't bother to inform Snape. However, within a few moments, the fire blazed again and Voldemort's wrath spilled into the room.

"I commanded you specifically to not let this happen! What were you thinking, Severus?" The flames licked the edges of the fireplace, coming dangerously close to Snape.

"I warned the boy, I did! But it seems that, against his better judgment, he truly has fallen for her."

Unbeknownst to Snape, Draco slipped in the potions classroom, afraid that he had invaded his professor's privacy but dangerously curious nonetheless. He had become dreadfully bored in that infirmary, with nothing to do but wait for Madame Pomfrey to come back. She had told him to stay put, but he was never one to follow rules.

Draco watched very carefully, observing the interaction between Snape and Voldemort. Snape seemed terrified, and made no effort to hide it like he usually did. The fire burned with a red angrier than a bloody sunset on the eve of an epic war. The circumstances did not look good. They were obviously discussing parts of the plan, parts that had been hidden before. It seemed that there was something to this plan that no one had told him, some horrible dark secret kept from him.

"So, the boy has gone to the other side." Voldemort observed with an emotionless voice. Draco marveled at the fact that Voldemort could put no pressure whatsoever into his words and yet they still managed to weigh down the entire room with their magnitude.

"Well, I wouldn't say he has gone to the other side, lord. He is simply… having doubts. Please, don't treat him as you have treated the others who have left our cause."

Draco immediately thought of the thousands before who had abandoned Voldemort when he was weak. He saw their tortured bodies, corpses left to rot where they fell. He cringed at the thought that perhaps Voldemort would come after even the most sinister of purebloods, his hope for the future, the one who would one day follow in his footsteps.

Surely Voldemort wouldn't throw such a thing away over this.

Voldemort sighed, although there was no sense of relaxation in its sound. "No, Severus. Draco has betrayed us, he has betrayed us all, and gone over to the other side with them."

Draco was tempted to defend himself, however, that would give away his hiding spot. His emotions screamed at him to say something, though, reassure them that he would never turn his loyalties from them. He couldn't imagine a life with Potter and Weasel, fighting for good, always defending the right. There was no fun in that, and he knew it. Hermione accepted him the way he was, then why should he change?

"At least he is loyal to something." Voldemort's comment weighed much heavier on Draco than the few harmless words normally would have.

Draco's heart seemed to stop in his chest. He had heard those words before, and although it was from a different voice, the tone and the attitude of the speaker held the same hopelessness. Something was dreadfully wrong about this feeling of foreboding. He felt like he was on the verge of discovering something important, something so horribly important. He should be able to interpret its meaning, but it kept slipping his mind before he truly understood anything.

Suddenly, he knew.

The awkward liquid on Dumbledore's desk…

There was no doubt left in his mind now.

Hermione was in danger.

She was currently on her way to see someone who had said the exact same thing that just came out of Voldemort's mouth.

Without waiting a second longer, Draco stormed out of the classroom and sprinted towards Dumbledore's office, terrified of what he might find there but determined to face it nonetheless.