Recap:

"I would never make a deal with you," he snarled. The Dark Lord nodded and pulled out his wand.

"Imperio," he hissed and Draco stopped moving. Inside his head, he could hear a voice. You will agree to the terms of the Unbreakable Vow... He tried to throw it off but it wasn't working. He felt his mouth opened and his mind blanked.

"I agree." A grin that would freeze blood appeared on the face of the creature. The Death Eater tapped the hands and a rope wrapped itself around it, disappearing in a flash. Draco was released and fell back, eyes closed as horror filled him.

"Now go back to your Manor, Draco. And remember what happened here."

He watched her silently as she slept next to him. Her bare shoulders rose and fell slowly, the soft sound of her breathing the only sign that she was still alive. The room was relatively dark, except for the sliver of moonlight that filtered in through an opening in the drapes. He got out of bed, pulling on his boxers and putting on a robe. He moved about in the darkness and swore softly when he stubbed his toe against the foot of the bed. Making his way around, he found the doorknob to the balcony and slipped out. Breathing in deeply, he leaned on the stone rail, looking out over the acres of land that belonged to the Malfoy family. It was mostly wooded areas, with a lake smaller than the one at Hogwarts close to the house.

"Draco?" He turned around to see Hermione blinking out at him from the door, clutching her robe around her against the cold. "Come inside, it's freezing out there." He turned back to the grounds, trying to fix his thoughts.

It was now a full twenty four hours since the Vow had been made. In the morning, the students would return to the school.

His eyes closed, reliving what had happened. Somehow, he knew that the Dark Lord would do something like this once finding out that his heir was married to a mudblood. That's the price he had taken when entering into this union. He had known about the Dark Lords plans for him and he hadn't really objected, knowing his father's own plans. It was supposed to all intersect in some form down the road. He would have carried out the Dark Lord's plans had it not been for the simple fact that he had fallen for the bloody woman.

Her hand on his shoulder brought him out of his stupor and he turned to look at her. Her hair was slightly frizzled, but the cold air seemed to tame it slightly. Her cheeks were turning red and her breath came out in large clouds.

"Draco, are you alright?" she asked, rubbing his shoulder in concern. He took her arm and kissed it, letting his lips linger longer than he should have. He then dropped it and stared out over the frozen landscape.

"Go back inside before you freeze to death," he murmured, almost laughing and crying at the irony of his words.

"Come with me," she told him, taking his arm. "Please Draco, come inside. You'll catch something and then you'll really be put off in the morning." He laughed.

"Can't be more than I am now." She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Come inside and we'll talk about it. Really, it is freezing out here!" He sighed heavily and followed her into the room, closing the door behind him. She sat down on the edge of the bed as he leaned against the wall. "Now, what is it?" He stared at her, not really wanting to speak. If he did, then he'd regret it. He already did regret it. She frowned. "Draco, please speak..."

"What would you do if I murdered someone?" he interrupted. She gaped at him.

"What?"

"What would you do if I murdered someone?" She continued to stare, shocked at his question.

"I...I don't know. I'd be disappointed, that's for sure."

"Why?"

"Why? Because you murdered someone! What are you getting at, Draco?"

"Do you believe me capable of killing someone?" She was about to open her mouth when she shut it, her lips pressing together in a thin line of concentration. The grandfather clock in the roon ticked away at the seconds, nay minutes that passed by.

"Yes," came her quiet answer after a while. He nodded. He had thought as much. "Draco, what are you trying to say?" He moved over and squatted down in front of her, playing with her fingers.

"Would you forgive me for murdering someone, no matter how close they were to you?" She was shaking now, and it had nothing to do with the cold. She took his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her.

"Draco, what did Voldemort talk to you about?" she asked, her voice tense. "What happened over there?" He closed his eyes. He wanted to kill himself for being so stupid. Of course the Dark Lord would find out about the marriage. How could he have not? Lucius had been doing what he was supposed to by the document and even the Dark Lord couldn't do anything about that. But Lucius hadn't counted on his son falling in love. The match had been so far-fetched that he hadn't thought that, in a thousand years, those two individuals would fall so hard for each other.

It had been planned. It was going to be a quick arrangement and then everything would go back to the way it was. Draco would follow his orders from the Dark Lord and everything would go according to plan.

But she had been an unknown factor. She had not been thoroughly planned through and tappered to fit the equation. She had ruined it and at the same time made an equation beautiful all on her own.

"Draco..." His eyes opened and he realized she had tears in her eyes.

"What is it?" he asked. She shook her head, biting her lip. Tears poured harder down her face and he instantly became concerned. "Hermione?" A sob escaped her. "Hermione, tell me what's wrong." She looked up at him.

"Would you...You asked me if I would forgive you for killing someone. My answer would be yes, but..." She stared down at their hands. "Draco, how can I forgive you for killing someone if that person is me?" He stopped breathing. His heart stopped and all he could do was stare at her, complete and utter horror stamped on his features. She was sobbing now and wouldn't look at him. How had she known? he thought frantically. How the hell had she possibly found out?! "You're not hard to read, Draco," she whispered. "Especially when you're not paying attention." His eyes widened. She had probed his mind like the Dark Lord had and because he had been so wound up in something else, he had let her in completely.

"Hermi-" She pulled away immediately, sobbing harder.

"No," she moaned. "No, this isn't happening!!"

"Hermione, I didn't have a-"

"NO!!" she screamed, standing. "You promised me. You promised nothing would happen! I wasn't a problem! I wasn't a priority!! You lied!!" He stood, trying to take hold of her arm and calm her down but she shoved him off. "All of you lied to me!! You told me that He wasn't interested in me!! I wasn't in any danger!!!"

"Damn it, Hermione! You were in danger even before I became a Death Eater!!!" he roared at her, praying to God that nobody was awake. She stared at him, confusion in her sparkling eyes.

"What are you talking about?" she whispered. He bit his lip, lost in the hurt and obliviousness to what was happening. She didn't know, but he did. How could he not know? Lucius had only drilled it into him for the past six years of his life.

"Hermione..." He closed his eyes, resting his weight against the wall. He suddenly felt drained of all his strength. He wanted to just get out of the room, anything but be in there with her. She didn't know. "Hermione, this wasn't supposed to happen..." She reached up shakily and pushed his chin up.

"What wasn't supposed to happen?" she asked him and he opened his eyes, staring into hers. They held him where he was, making it hard for him to breathe. He wanted to take away that hurt in her eyes. He wanted to make it so that she never knew about this. He wanted to make it that none of this ever happened. Not the last six months. Not the marriage contract. Not this unbelievable sense of guilt and love that was ripping him apart. He wanted it to stop. Malfoy's didn't feel guilt or love. They didn't feel anything.

He had always thought he never had a heart, as many girls often told him this. But if he didn't, why was his chest pounding and aching, the skin feeling stretched across it. He wasn't supposed to feel this way.

"Us," he finally answered. "We weren't supposed to happen. We weren't supposed to fall in love. We were to be married for the remainder of the year and then, during the summer, you were to have an untraceable accident...you weren't supposed to live either way..." She was silent for a moment and then her eyes rolled back in her head and she tipped to the side, unconscious. He grabbed her and put her in the bed. Closing his eyes, he pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Is there a way for me to make it so that you don't hurt?" he whispered.

She stood silently on the platform, watching as the Slytherins miled about, not doing much. The train was scheduled to leave in ten minutes, so they had time to spare.

She had avoided Draco for the remainder of the stay, not really knowing what to say around him. It was obvious to her that this was taking a great toll on him. He had become silent and only she, him and apparently Blaise knew about it. It hurt her to do this to him but it hurt even more to realize that this whole marriage, which had blossomed into something devestatingly beautiful, had been a temporary lapse in Draco Malfoy's judgment for keeping his heart in it's iron cage instead flying around like a damn bird.

She moved towards the train just as a group came through the barrier. Red heads, with several others, filtered in and Hermione froze. The group immediately caught sight of her hesitant form and moved towards her.

"Hermione!!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, rushing over. "We heard and we had to co-"

"Stop," Hermione said softly and the whole platform went silent. The Slytherins stopped their activity to watch her preformance. "Please. Just stop. I don't want to hear it. I...I have a lot on my mind and I don't need anyone here, especially you guys, who are supposed to be my friends, making it worse. It's over. It's over and I need you to stop lecturing me about my choices. I am seventeen, and if, by some miracle, I make it to eighteen, then we can talk." Her gaze shifted to Draco, who was staring at her with an unreadable expression. She bit her lip. "If I make it..." She turned on her heel and left.

Sitting down in a compartment, she stared out the window, not acknowledging Ron, Harry, and Ginny as they came in and took their seats. When the train pulled out, she brought Jesiphire out and began stroking her back, tears forming in her eyes as the small cat purred. Ginny touched her arm tentively.

"Hermione, are you ok?" She shook her head but the tears fell harder. Jesiphire hissed softly and leapt of her lap, but Hermione made no notice. Closing her eyes, she tried to stop, but it was useless. "Hermi-"

"I'm fine," she choked out, pushing Ginny's arm away. "Just leave me alone." She got up and opened the door to leave when she ran into Draco. She realized who he was and froze.

"Hermione," he whispered, reaching up to touch her face when the train jerked, throwing them both off balance. He grabbed her, stablizing her against his chest. The lights went out and Ron suddenly noticed, with a pang of fear, that the sky had become dark and foreboding. Several students poked their heads out of their compartments and let out yelps of pain as the train jerked once more and then a loud screeching sound issued. But this sound wasn't the brakes. The train was hurtling forward, throwing Hermione and Draco into the compartment. Draco pushed himself up, reaching for his wand while Ginny and Harry helped Hermione into a seat. Ron reached for the window ledge, realizing that he was sliding to the side on the seat.

"What the hell's going on?" he yelled over the screech of the wheels. The train lurched to the side and people were screaming as the Hogwarts Express began derailing, tipping to the side. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione caught sight of a dark blur outside the window and suddenly, Harry put his hands over his scar, crying out in pain.

"It's Voldemort," he hissed and Draco and Hermione's eyes met, Hermione completely pale. A groan of the back cabins and the back part of the train leapt the rails. Windows shattered as people could be heard screaming. At the speed the train was going, metal was extremely pliable and bent easily. The back car was instantly crushed against the ground. Ron pressed his face against the window and gasped.

"We're headed for a tunnel!!" Hermione grabbed Ginny, pulling her into a hug as they sat on the seat. She had her other arm around Harry. Draco was standing, hands against both walls so that he could keep balance. The train was picking up speed and Draco was forced to sit down as another train car leapt the rails. The compartments were suddenly doused in darkness and a moment later an explosion rocked the train. A gust of fresh air blew threw the halls. The train continued to rock back and forth, the derailed cars decimated.

Draco stood, pulling out his wand and stumbling out into the hall. Hermione watched him as he disappeared and for the first time, she did not wish him any luck. He managed to get to another compartment and found Blaise clutching the window ledge, Crabbe, Collin, Goyle, Pansy and several others with him.

"Get the hell in here, Draco!!" Pansy screamed, holding on tightly to Crabbe as the train made a violent turn around the bend of the tunnel, the sound of metal on stone causing her to let go and hold her hands over her ears. "You're going to get yourself killed!!!" Ignoring her, he turned to Goyle.

"Did you know about this?!" he demanded. Goyle didn't answer, looking rather sick. Another violent turn sent Draco off his feet and out the window. His last thought was of hitting the stone wall of the tunnel.

Ginny screamed as the sound of another derailed car came to ear. The explosion against the wall was defeaning as the train shot out of the tunnel and approached a bridge. Wind and rain lashed against the remaining windows and into the halls and compartments. Dean ran into the room, followed by Parvati and Neville.

"Three cars!!" Parvati cried, clutching Hermione's arm. "Three of them gone and there are only two left before ours goes!!" Harry stumbled to his feet but was soon seated when the train's engine turned violently off the tracks. There was a horrible screaming of the wheels as the cars after it began coming off as well. Before anyone could say anything more, the train was hanging off the bridge, with half on one side and half on the other.

"We have to get out of here!!" Ron yelled. Dean pointed to several overturned trunks.

"Your brooms!!" They were taken out and Harry and Ron mounted.

"We take the girls first, and then come back for you two, ok?" Harry asked and Dean and Neville nodded. Ginny hopped on behind Harry but Hermione hesitated. Draco was still on the train somewhere. Ron noticed her lapse and grew angry.

"Hermione, now is not the time to get soft!!" he roared at her. He reached over, grabbed her arm and yanked her onto the broom. Before she could protest, the two brooms shot out of the window and were beaten down by the thrashing room. They were half-way to the bridge when a Death Eater came out of nowhere.

"Stupefy!!" the Death Eater roared. Unfortunately, Ron wasn't quick enough and was hit full on. Hermione managed to keep him on as Harry shot towards the man.

"Impedimenta!!" he shouted and the man was blasted off his broom, which Harry then grabbed. "Hermione, take Ron up to the bridge and make sure he can't be seen!!" he yelled at her and she nodded. Moving the broom, she inched her way up, not at all confident about her flying skills. She finally made it and set Ron down among some underbrush. Before she left, she caught sight of several other students and one in particular. Pansy Parkinson. She was sitting with the other Slytherins but she wasn't looking the same. She was actually crying. Tears were running down the Slytherin girl's face as several students tried to comfort her.

Looking up, Pansy stared at Hermione and burst into broken sobs. Hermione went cold.

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no!" But inside her head, all she could here was yes, yes yes...