Recap:

"She'll be horrified!"

"So were you, but look where we are, Muggle." She stared at him and he stared back. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped. It wasn't worth getting into an argument over. Besides, he was right. She sighed. She hated it when he was wrong.

The song ended and Hermione began walking away to find Ron when Draco pulled her back into him.

"Wait," he whispered and they were gazing into each others eyes again. This was a nasty habit that they were picking up and it was starting to irk Draco. She gasped as his lips brushed hers and she was released. Stumbling backwards, she immediately lost sight of him.

"There really is something wrong with him," she murmured to herself. "There really is."

"Mione?" She turned around and smiled.

"Come on Ron. Lets dance."

Hermione cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindors as the Gryffindor Quidditch team soared out onto the field, followed by the Slytherin team. She watched eagerly as Madam Hooch released the Snitch.

"I don't believe I need to say it at this point," she sighed, "Just play fair, or as fairly as possible, with you two teams. GO!!" She hurled the Quaffal into the air and Ginny snatched it. The game had begun. Hermione could see Harry and Draco high above the game, scoping out the field for the elusive Snitch.

It was halfway through the game when it happened. First, the sky seemed to shift. Dark, rolling clouds moved in, rumbling and lighting up a bit. Rain began coming down in a light drizzle which, within moments, became a torrent of rain. Students huddled together, peering out at the field to see what was going on on the field. The players could barely be seen as the zoomed past on their brooms. Then someone on the other side of the field screamed and soon everyone on the Hufflepuff end of the field was screaming. The rain was so thick, Hermione barely saw the flashes of bright colors coming from that side of the field. Suddenly, a darkly cloaked and masked man zoomed at them on a broom, wand out. Shouting out a curse, a jet of red hurtled at some students. Everyone screamed and shoved to get out of the way. Hermione leaned over the edge, eyes wide. Another man on a broom was firing curses at the bottom of the stands. An ominous creak sounded out and someone near her fainted as the stand began shaking. Tilting back and forth, frightened students clung to bars and benches in an attempt to hang on.

In the air, a battle was taking place. The Gryffindors on brooms had taken out their wands and were battling with the Death Eaters. Slytherins were no where to be seen. A sudden violent shake and shriek from the wood as it gave way and fell even more to it's side, still managing to stay up. However, some students, including Hermione, were thrown over and managed to cling to the railing to keep from falling. Biting her lip to keep from screaming, she threw up her other hand to grab the water slick rail. Suddenly, something hit her in the side and, crying out in pain, her fingers slipped and she was now hanging by one arm. The other was hanging limply at her side, broken. She turned her head around and screamed as she saw a Death Eater coming at her, wand out. He was almost on her when another broom came hurtling at him from below, knocking the Death Eater off his broom. Draco pulled up next to her.

"Get on!" he yelled and she shook her head. He moved the broom closer and under her. "You've got to fall!!" Closing her eyes, she let go of the railing and felt Draco's arms snatch her. She clutched his soaked through Quidditch robes as he held onto her with one arm. "Hold on!" He then hurtled downward in a freefall. Below them was another Death Eater, preoccupied with breaking another leg of the stand. Draco kept at him and pulled up at the last minute, swinging his legs off the broom and catching the Death Eater in the face. He came back around, settling onto the broom and shooting off across the field. The beating rain was causing them to wobble a bit but Draco's face was set. He glanced down at her to see her face burried in his chest. Suddenly, from above, hexes came down with the rain and Draco chanced a glance upwards. A Death Eater was following them. Draco knew they didn't know who they were shooting at or else they would have thought twice. Pulling upwards and back, he heard Hermione screaming as they were now flying upside down.

He saw the Death Eater hesitate and that was all he needed. "Hold on to me!" he yelled into her ear. With her only good arm, she wrapped it around his neck. He glanced down at her face to see her staring up at him in fear. "Trust me." She bit her lip and nodded. He let go of the broom with his legs and hung down as the broom continued to hurtle forwards. His wife held onto him tightly and he let go with one hand. Timing it right, he swung out his arm and hit the Death Eater in the stomach before he could be identified. He grabbed the guy's broom and turned it around, standing on it while holding onto his own broom. The Death Eater tried to straighten out but Draco kicked him again and he was doubled over.

"LOOK!!" Hermione screamed, nodding forward. Heading towards them through the pouring rain was another Death Eater. He kept the two brooms heading forward, which was difficult seeing as he had to balance between them and hold onto his injured wife.

Just as the three brooms were about to collide, Draco let go of the lower broom and yanked downwards on his own broom. Going into a dive, he barely heard the crash above over the sound of the thunder. Pulling up, they shot off across the field back towards the leaning stand. Taking out his wand, he muttered a spell. The wood began to place itself back into order and the stand straightened out.

The Death Eaters retreated and with them, the sudden storm, restoring the stillness of the November afternoon. Quidditch players were helping students and teachers back onto the ground as the others flooded out onto the field. Draco landed in a more secluded part and set Hermione down on the ground. She held onto him for a moment before letting go and looking up at him.

"Thank you," she whispered quietly. He nodded and then winced in pain. She frowned and looked over his body, eyes widdening in shock. "You're hurt," she told him, helping him sit down. He looked down to see a large gash in his side. It was bleeding uncontrollably. "Draco!" He stared up at her weakly.

"Oh calm down, mudblood," he grunted. "It's not that bad." But it was bad. The gashes were spreading to other parts of his body, opening and pouring out founts of blood.

"DRACO!!" she screamed, yanking off his robes only to find more of the gashes. "DRACO!!" He was gasping for breath and his eyes were rolling in his head. Tears running down her face, she looked up. "HELP!!! SOMEBODY HELP US!!!" She turned back to him. "Draco, please!!" He wasn't moving anymore as Hermione saw the crowd from the field running over. "Draco, NO!! WAKE UP!!" She was instantly surrounded and Ron, Harry, Ginny and Blaise found themselves in front. She looked up at Blaise, eyes shining. "He won't wake up!" she cried. Fortunately for her, everyone else mistook her tears for water from her hair. But Blaise wasn't fooled. She could see that she was genuinely scared for her husband's safety.

Dumbledore pushed his way to the front, Professor Snape and McGonnagal with him. Upon sighting Draco's unmoving body, he whipped out his wand and levitated the body. The silent crowd moved a side as he made his way up to the Castle. McGonagall stared around at the stunned students.

"I want all of you up in you dorms right now. No excuses. Nobody leaves until you are told so by your Head of House." As the students moved hurriedly up the hill, Harry and Ron helped Hermione to her feet.

"Are you ok, Hermione?" Ginny asked nervously. Hermione numbly nodded, her mind not on the conversation. Her mind was with Draco

What would happen if he was dead? she thought, her good arm immediately going to the chain around her neck. Her eyes closed. God, protect him...he saved my life, save his...

"Hermione? Is your arm ok?" She turned to Harry.

"I think I broke it."

Hermione watched as Madam Pomfrey handed her a potion.

"This should fix you right up," she said. "Just drink it up. Then I'll give you a Pepper-Up Potion so that you don't catch anything from being soaked through the way you were." Hermione nodded, downing the potion. She sat in a hospital bed in the infirmary of Hogwarts. Several other students were there, some asleep, others moaning in pain. But Hermione was watching one bed in particular.

"Madam Pomfrey?" she said, putting down the glass.

"Yes dear?" the woman asked as she tended to the patient in the next bed.

"How...What happened to Dr-Malfoy?" Madam Pomfrey stopped what she was doing and turned to look over at the silent bed, sighing.

"Hit by some bleeding spell, dear," the woman answered. "He was barely alive when Headmaster brought him up here. I gave him a blood replenishing potion but he keeps bleeding." She sighed again. "I don't know what to do." She left, leaving Hermione with a sense of dread creeping up her spine.

She waited until it was night to get out of bed and go over to where Draco lay. Closing the curtains around his bed, she sat down in the chair, staring at his face. It was deathly pale, practically matching his hair. Bandages were wrapped around his forehead, neck, shoulders, arms and chest and probably everywhere else on his body. She reached over and took his hands.

"Draco?" He did not move except for the shallow breathing. All the bandages seemed to be tinged with red, with some of them redder than others. Some of them looked like they were steadily gaining blood. "Draco, please wake up..." He groaned softly and his eyes fluttered open. He turned his head and looked at her.

"Muggle?" he whispered and she nodded. He looked around. "Where the hell am I?" She shivered. His voice was so soft and weak, it frightened her.

"You're in the infirmary," she told him. "You...you won't stop bleeding, Draco." He stared at her and she bit her lip, keeping down her tears. He flinched and closed his eyes in pain.

"Am I dying?" he whispered and she let out a sob, burrying her face in his hand.

"Stop it," she begged. "Please, just stop..." Why was she acting like this? Why did she care if he died off or not? His other hand touched her cheek and she looked up at him. "Please don't die..." He moaned and motioned her forward. She leaned over and he caught her lips with his, making her cry harder. Sitting up on the bed, she deepened the kiss. This wasn't a kiss like before, filled with lust and passion. It was filled with fear, saddness, anger, rage, and something else that they refused to acknowledge but knew was there. "Please..." she murmured as they pulled apart. They gazed into each others eyes and he managed a smirk.

"Mudblood, I can't die. If I did, then what would happen to you? You'd probably run off with Weasley and then what?" She laughed despite herself and rested her head on his chest, silently crying. He stroked her hair, eyes closed in unbelievable pain. "I'll try, Hermione. I'll try. For you...and to keep Weasley's hands off of you...but mostly you..." His voice trailed off and she spent the rest of the night listening to his painful gasps for air. All night, she prayed for him. And all night, she waited.