Recap:

"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...

There was a silence in the Great Hall that was unlike no other. It was the silence of walking into a graveyard, only the tombstones were made of flesh and bones, but, like the tombstones, they were ghostly and weeping. There were only three tables in the hall, as everyone was sitting together. But not everyone was there.

Dumbledore stood up, eyes no longer sparkling but red from shedding their own tears.

"My students, as you know, a terrible deed was done by the Dark. Today, forty students lost their lives on their way back from a Christmas vacation on the Hogwarts Express, which now lays in ruins at the Hogsmeade station. You escaped with your lives, but those forty students were not lucky enough. Tonight, we honor those forty, who died needlessly because of the Dark, who felt it neccesary to shed innocent blood to put their reign over the magical world. Rise and raise your cups in honor of them." Everyone stood, raising their cups.

As they sat again, Ron and Harry turned to the girls. Ginny was silent, watching Hermione carefully. The Head Girl sat, not even knowing people were around her. All she could see was the table in front of her. And all she could hear was Blaise's voice in her head, repeating itself like a broken record player that would not stop.

He went out the window while we were in the tunnel...He wouldn't listen to Pansy when she told him to sit down...He went out the window while we were in the tunnel...

Her eyes closed. The past months flooded in on her and she stood sharply, attracting attention from the whole hall. Without a word, she left, walking the halls alone to the deserted Library. Going to the back, she slid down against a shelf and began to cry. Holding her arms around herself, she suddenly felt alone.

But remember, you're not alone anymore, a voice whispered in her head. This caused her to sob harder. She wasn't alone.

"I didn't even tell him..." she moaned, covering her face with her hands. The charm had lifted and her stomach protruded softly from her robes as she leaned against the shelves, curling into a ball.

She had known for a while, but had been waiting until Christmas to tell him. But with everything that had happened, she had forgotten. And now he was gone.

Gone and leaving his seventeen year old wife and three month old unborn child to suffer.

Narcissa walked briskly down the steps, ignoring the gazes she was getting. Reaching the bottom, she turned down the dark hall, heading for the only door at the end, guarded by two Death Eaters. They hailed her, brandishing their wands.

"What the hell do you want?" one of them snarled and she snorted.

"Don't bullshit me," she snapped. "Let me in."

"Can't do that. Orders from Lucius."

"Well, I am his mother, so let me in!!" When they refused once more, she pulled her wand out on them. At this gesture, one of them pulled out a key, unlocking it and then waving his wand over the door. Pushing past them, she opened the door and stepped in.

The room was dark and damp, with a musty smell coming from the mold and dank corners. Lighting her wand, she gasped in horror. There, hanging from chains around his wrists, was her son. Rushing over to him, she touched his face. He was practically naked, with his robes hanging from him in tatters. His flesh had either been ripped or burned off of him and several bones were visible, some jutting out of his skin. His scalp was torn, with tufts of hair missing. Blood dripped from a gash in his neck as a metal shard stuck out of his stomach and legs. His chest was barely moving and a small whisp of cold breath came from his lips.

He was alive. But barely.

"Draco, my son," she whispered. There was a moan, but that was it. One eye was swollen shut and she looked away in horror to find that the other had been grotesquely removed. "Draco, please." There was another moan and his head rose slightly from his chest and then fell back. His spine was broken.

"Mmm..muth.." Much of his upper lip had been completely ripped off, exposing darkened gums and jaw. She bit her lip.

"Oh Draco," she murmured. "How could this have happened? How could you have been so stupid?" A gurgling sound errupted from his throat and blood spewed from his mouth. She stepped back, looking away.

"Hu..hum...Humio..."

"Hermione?" At his attempt at a nod, she nodded.

"She's at Hogwarts. She's shaken, but safe. She owled me a day ago to tell me about the attack. She didn't mention you, but Blaise owled me about your 'death'. They think you're dead, Draco." His eye moved slightly and opened into a slit. She couldn't tell if he could see her, but it didn't matter if he could.

"Da...Da Lo..."

"The Dark Lord is to arrive later this evening to examine you, Draco. You're not to be healed, only kept alive, my son." A moan escaped him and more blood flowed forth. She swallowed down her tears, touching his mutilated face. "This cannot be my son...not even after being healed will you look the same..." The door opened and Lucius stepped in. Closing the door behind him, he stepped down beside his wife.

"The Dark Lord is on his way, Draco," he said softly. He could see his son shivering, though not much, because his nervous system was all but obsolete. "He will decide your fate. You have been here for three days, Draco. You're days for the Vow are coming swiftly to an end." With that, he pulled his wife out of the room, leaving the young man to his mind, as his body was useless.

She thinks you're dead... he thought. Probably better that way...what was I thinking?

"You weren't." The door closed behind the Dark Lord and the room was again pitch black except for the sparkling red eyes boring holes into the helpless man. "So this is my heir now? He is not much more than blood, broken bones and an aching heart for filthy blood." Draco no longer tried to hide his fear. He had no wand, no way to defend himself and he was hanging from the wall by chains. He was hopeless. "Tell me something," The Dark Lord continued. "Why did you go through the window? Did you think that doing that would make you incapable of fufilling the Vow?" The thought had never actually occured to Draco that that was what might have happened had he died. He had put himself in danger willingly, knowing that his chances of living on a self-destructing train were not good, yet not once had the thought of killing himself to rid Hermione of her fate occured to him. Maybe it had, but he hadn't realized it.

He spluttered out more blood and the red eyes grew disgusted.

"You are a disgrace," the Dark Lord hissed. "To your family and to me. I am disgusted to be your master. But that will have to be overlooked. Though a traitor you are, you are still my heir. But you will still be punished."

"Hu...how?" Draco managed out before coughing up more blood. Even through the blackness, Draco could tell the creature had grinned.

"I have released you of your Vow, my heir. You no longer have to kill that filth you call a wife." A chill filled Draco. It moved like a frost through his bleeding veins and even into his weakening mind.

"Whu...whu aw ya...gonn..."

"What am I going to do?" He laughed. "I will have you hang there, like you are now, and watch her die in front of you. But not a swift Killing curse. That is too good for the likes of her. She will die, but slowly, and painfully. Yes, my heir. I will have you realize what happens to traitors." Wrath filled Draco. Wrath and fear.

What have I done...

It was easy to see that something was wrong with her. She had become not only distant as in the mind, but distant physically as well. She had barely gone to a class for the past four days since the train incident and was rarely seen by even her closest friends. She secluded herself to the Library or the Room of Requirement, where she sat on the couch and stared into the dead fire. The room that was usually conjured up was barren except for a book shelves filled with romance books. She never read them but she knew they were there. People gave up on trying to talk to her, knowing that there was no point. Nobody, of course, knew about her pregnancy except Blaise and Ginny, who swore themselves to secrecy.

It was now the fifth day after the incident and Hermione sat in the Room of Requirement. A book of quotes and sayings sat on the floor, opened but unread at the moment. She stared at it for a moment and then picked it up, staring at the quote.

You don't marry someone you can live with,
you marry the person who you cannot live without.

- Author Unknown -

She flipped the page and read the next one:

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

- The Bible : 1 Corinthians 13:4 -

Letting tears run down her face, she closed her eyes. Love isn't always kind...sometimes it disappoints...it saddens... A book dropped into her lap and she opened it, staring.

The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.
-- Harriet Beecher Stowe.

It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.
-- Unknown.

Tears poured down her face and she dropped the book. It was tearing her apart. She was alone, are almost so, and it was tearing her apart. She cursed herself for being so stupid. She had let herself wear her heart on her sleeve and now the man that had taken it was dead.

Her hand moved to her small belly. She had found out, through magical ways, that her baby was a girl. A girl that would not have a father. A mother that was too young for this.

She stood to leave when the door opened. She frowned. The only people who knew where she was would not come up here. Blaise stumbled in, a wand pressed against his neck. Ginny was with him, skin pale as she also had a wand to her neck. Hermione backed up, gasping when three darkly cloaked men stepped in. Blaise gave her a look that said "I wouldn't have, but Ginny..." Hermione had cast a swift charm over her stomach, making it flat. One of the men stepped forward and she pulled her wand on him.

"What do you want?" she spat. He didn't answer and instead kicked her legs out from under her. Ginny screamed as the man scrambled on top of her, tying her hands and legs with magical rope from his wand. He gagged her and stood her up and then waved his wand at the fire in the room. It blazed up for a moment and then disappeared. Blaise and Ginny were shoved forward and disappeared quickly, followed by their guards. Hermione was pushed in and was sucked up. She appeared in a pitch dark room, the ropes gone. Getting to her feet, she felt around and found a lantern in the musty room. Turning the switch, it came on and she sighed. Turning around, she screamed, backing into the wall.

The body on the wall moved slightly and the one eye opened into a slit, staring through the gloom at the new arrival. Hermione wanted to throw up but stopped herself upon realizing who it was.

"Hu...humio..." Blood poured out of his mouth and he coughed. Hermione moved forward, disbelief on her features.

"Draco?" she whispered. There was a moan from the disfigured man and Hermione gasped. "Oh my God, Draco!!" She reached forward, touching his unrecognizable face. "Oh, Draco..."

"Ge...ge ou...ge ou..." She leaned in closer.

"What are you saying, Draco?"

"He's saying, get out. Unfortunately for you, that's not an option." Hermione spun around as a heart-broken moan escaped Draco's destroyed lips. A man stepped into the lamp light. He was middle-aged with black robes and dark brown hair. He had a scar down the side of his face and an evil glint in his eyes as he pulled out his wand. Hermione backed up into Draco's hanging body, shivering slightly at touching the burnt skin.

"What do you want with me?" she whispered and the man smiled.

"You are the wife of Draco Lucius Malfoy, Death Eater, traitor, and heir of the Dark Lord. What do you think you're doing here? You are to be executed in front of Malfoy as a lesson to him about disloyalty." Her breath caught in her throat as another moan came from behind her.

"No," Draco managed out. "No..." The man smirk increased.

"Oh, by the way, Malfoy. She's pregnant."