Hey guys! I'm really sorry for the Late late late update. Please don't hate me. I will definitely make it up to you. By the way, thank you for your reviews!

Hope this chapter isn't disappointing.

Hermione never thought that a time would come where she would regret teaching Draco how to apparate. Ignoring Ron's bewildered questions she went straight to bed crying.

Harry had been furious at what had happened. He hadn't expected the git to leave.

Give a silent treatment; maybe

Throw a tantrum; yes.

Go for a walk and come back later; yeah, that sounded like Malfoy too

But to disapparate and never getting to come back?

NO.

Had he forgotten that he couldn't come back if disapparated? Harry knew that Malfoy didn't have a clue where they had pitched the tent. Dragging Ron along, Harry went to search, Merlin knows where.

Meanwhile Hermione sobbed. How could she have let her mouth just rant off like that? She should have known better to not to argue. She should've known that it was the locket doing that to him. But when he left, he had left the locket. Then why didn't he even hesitate to hear her out when she was apologizing? Why didn't he stop when she was pleading in the rain?

Hermione wondered where he would have gone. The burrow? But he wasn't very fond of the Weasleys. Hogwarts? No, Hogwarts wouldn't be safe with the Carrows teaching there. What if he gets caught? With her heart filled with worry, Hermione cried herself to sleep.

"Hermione, you need to eat. You need to talk, for crying out loud. You're not helping….." Ron snapped. "It's not like he'll come back if you stay like that."

Harry aimed a kick under the table at Ron, with a meaningful look. Hermione just kept reading her story book despite Ron's yelp. She was especially silent today because they had moved from their previous location, which made Draco's possibility of arriving nil. A week had gone with Draco gone and Hermione had hardly slept, ate or spoken. She always ran outside with hope every time she heard a snap of twigs outside or whenever Ron or Harry entered the tent. But her longing wasn't satisfied. Now that she seemed to be temporally immobile, Ron had to help Harry in finding food. Ron was not happy.

Hermione sighed and excused herself from the table, her food left untouched. Famished, Ron just took her portion. Someone might as well appreciate the food. Hermione went straight to bed and laid herself down. Draco's scent was starting to fade away from the sheets. He had taken all his things with him. At least that was what Hermione had thought until she pushed her hands under the pillow to find a book.

Draco's Diary.

Hermione fingered it. Had he forgotten it? Or had it been purposely left behind because it was given by her? She mentally shook her head. Draco was much more mature than that. Or was he? He was pretty angry after all. She flipped through the pages and found them empty as she had expected. Hermione sighed and put the book back under the pillow. She wondered if the owner would ever get it back. Well, how could he? He wouldn't be able to find the tent even if he apparated to the area. Hermione's wards were very strong.

"I came because of you."

The words echoed in her head. And this was how she had treated him? By driving him out? Hermione didn't know what had gotten in to her.

"I came because of you."

Hermione heard it like whisper in her head before she fell asleep.

"Hermione!"

Her eyes flew open as she gasped and looked around in the dark. She saw a dark figure of someone looking down at her. Was it Harry or Ron? She blinked a few times and sat up slowly.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked groggily.

"What's wrong?" Ron's voice piped up. "You were thrashing around like a Gnome."

"Why?" Hermione asked bewildered.

"I dunno, do I?" Ron said irritated. "You looked like you were having a nightmare." He muttered Lumos and a light fell on Hermione and Ron. His hair was messed up and he had dark rings around his eyes as well.

"Where's your deluminator?" Hermione asked curiously, realizing for the first time that she hadn't seen the little fascinating object for a long time.

"The ferret stole it." Ron scowled. He noticed Hermione's face fall at the mention of him. "So-uh, you wanna talk about it? The nightmare?"

"I don't remember it." She lied. She remembered it now, of course. It was always him. Always in her dreams but always out of reach.

She heard Ron sigh and she felt the bed shift as Ron sat on it. "You've been doing that ever since he left, you know?"

Hermione remained silent. "It's not like—I mean…..We're going through a hard time…..You don't expect me to sleep peacefully, do you? ….I mean, even you're up…." She reasoned.

"I'm up because of you, Hermione. You were crying out and thrashing on the bed like you were….like you were having a pillow fight or something." Ron said, rubbing his eyes.

She couldn't help smile at the comparison. That was so Ron. Hermione grabbed her pillow and threw it at Ron's head. Ron looked startled when it hit him. He looked at Hermione who was grinning cheekily at him. It had being so long since she smiled that it was too natural for Ron to grin back at her.

"Did it sound something like that?" Hermione asked.

"A bit more depressing than that."

Hermione rolled her eyes. They stayed in a comfortable silence before Ron spoke.

"So…. think there won't be anymore nightmares?" Ron asked yawning as he got up.

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine. Go to sleep Ron." Hermione said smiling lightly. "Thanks for checking on me."

"What are friends for?"

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Harry asked curiously as he watched Hermione outside, charming the berries that seemed to have been freshly picked.

"Taking care of the food."

"So…. You're back on track?"

"I never was off track. I just….. Needed some rest."

"Well, that's great." Harry said smiling encouragingly. He paused. "And umm… Hermione? I was hoping to tell you….. I want to go to Godric's Hollow."

Hermione's head snapped up to look at her best friend. "Harry…. You know it's dangerous. You-know-who expects you to go there. There might be a trap."

"But… I need to go there. I have a feeling… I need to be there. I want to see…. My parents…" Harry muttered.

"Oh, I don't know Harry. You know it's a bad idea." Hermione said sighing as she increased the size of the berries. Harry wondered if they were safe to eat.

"Look, Ron is willing to come with me. We'll just pop in and check around. We're running out of food too. We need to stop by a village soon." Harry argued.

"Oh, let's just talk about it later. It's hard concentrating on this with what you're saying." Hermione grumbled.

Harry couldn't help grin. It had being a while since Hermione had acted…. Hermione-ish. He shrugged and decided to bring it up during dinner.

If Hermione were to be honest, she would reluctantly admit that she had tried to read Draco's diary. Of course the attempts were unsuccessful due to that little thing called "Password Protection". But she never intended to give up. She wanted some clue to where he would have gone. And she knew that the diary would somehow hint her somewhere. She really didn't know what she planned to do if she figured out where Draco could have gone. Nevertheless she flipped through the diary every night, trying to come up with passwords. She tried everything from 'Salazar Slytherin' to 'Quiddich' but nothing. She tried his name and even her name with hope, but nothing revealed.

One night Hermione overheard Harry and Ron's conversation from her bed.

"Do you think he's caught?"

"Bloody well hope not. He's got my deluminator. I swear if he has lost it…."

"I don't know, Ron. What if he spills everything?"

"I'm gonna kill him before he does that."

"We shouldn't have told him….. I wish we hadn't."

"Not my fault. I always knew he was a two faced ferret."

"We need to move quickly, incase Malfoy's planning to sell us."

"You-you think he'll do that? … I mean, he's a git and all that but Hermione kinda trusts him….."

"I almost did too but I don't know anymore. He's putting us in a risky situation."

"Well, we'll find a horcrux tomorrow at Godric's Hollow and get the hell out then."

Hermione wanted to interrupt but her little know-it-all mind said otherwise. Because it was understandable that Harry and Ron felt that way. They hadn't been with Draco like her. They hadn't spent time with him and talked to him about his dreams and ambitions like Hermione had. They knew nothing much and they were still biased to turn Draco in to the villain.

Besides she didn't want another argument between them. Ever since Draco left, the mood had been foul. Ron and Harry often got in to word battles. Sometimes Ron and Hermione would argue, which eventually made Hermione cry and ended up Ron furiously apologizing while Harry snapped at him. It was kind of a routine event every other day. But lately it had started to cease.

The next evening, Harry and Ron forced Hermione to stay behind so that they could go to Godrics Hollow. At first Hermione had being reluctant to stay behind, but then she knew that it would be hard for three of them to go invisible under Harry's cloak and stay out of sight. Besides Hermione felt exhausted, probably because of the lack of sleep and food, and the intense sobbing she did during free times whenever she remembered Draco, though now it was a bit more limited than last week.

Harry and Ron tidied up their beds, packed a bit of stuff they might need, ate the food Hermione made and with a look of farewell apparated to Godrics Hollow.

"Be careful Hermione." Ron said.

"You be careful, you idiot. You're the one who's going straight in to the trap." Hermione said darkly.

Harry chuckled. "Don't worry, Hermione. I'll take care of your idiot."

"Hey!" Ron said.

"Yeah, you do that Harry. But honestly, keep a watch out, okay?" Hermione said with a frown.

"I will. Think you can have some tea made when we get back?" Harry asked giving a quick hug.

"Sure Harry." Hermione said with a small smile.

"And some scones? Maybe pudding out of air?" Ron asked pulling her in to a hug.

"Ron, you know that it's impossible to make food out of thin air. It's the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's La—"

"I know. I was teasing." Ron said giving her a squeeze and finally releasing her from the hug. He gave her an odd smile and left.

Hearing the crack of them disapparating, Hermione felt a sense of déjà vu. She went in to the tent and washed the dishes. After making herself a cup of tea, she went and curled up on the bed to think.

About Horcruxes.

About Draco.

About Harry.

About Ron.

About every freaking thing that she worried.

Hermione wondered if she might go crazy one day, wondering too much about all those stuff.

That's war for you, Hermione. She told herself bitterly, sipping her tea. She picked up her book Dumbledore left and started reading it, only to toss it back on the bed after a few minutes in exasperation. She glanced at the watch. No, Harry and Ron couldn't come just yet. It was too early. She went to fix herself something to eat as she thought about the stuff the trio had found last week. Dean, Tonks and the goblins conversations, the attempt of the theft of the Sword of Gryffindor and the revelation that it could be used to destroy a Horcrux. To know that the real sword was out there somewhere….From that day, Hermione started having hope.

As she laid her plate down on the table she looked at her bed to see Draco's diary peeking out from under the pillow, as if taunting her. She went over, grabbed a quill and the diary and started working on it. She wondered if the password had anything to do with creatures. She tried 'Silver', remembering the affectionate and beautiful owl, but the pages remained blank. She wrote 'dragon' for Draco's name. Nothing appeared. She tried 'ferret' with a slight amusement but even that wasn't good enough for the annoying little diary. She tried 'Malfoy' for his pride for the long lasted family name. But nothing appeared. But this gave her a little hunch. With a slight hope she tried 'Granger'.

Words began to appear.

Hermione watched in awe as Draco's neat handwriting emerged from the empty pages, unwinding like snakes in to sentences. She flipped the pages and they were no longer blank. All of them were full of Draco's thoughts. She went to the very first page, to see her name in the starting sentence.

My first entry…. It's ironic how Granger gave me this diary just before she went and almost shagged herself with Weasley.

At first Hermione frowned. Then she remembered that this was the boggart Draco had seen. She frowned at the similarity of the situation she had had during the Christmas holidays to what she was experiencing now. Draco leaving her. This was the second time. She pushed away the nagging feeling and kept on reading. After all, last time it was rational.

Anyway, back to Snape. I don't understand why he just can't keep me here. I told him that it was hell living there with a bunch of Gryffindors. Now I'm back in that cramped up room which looks like somebody had died in it and Snape's off downstairs sulking.

Could he have gone to Snape again? But wasn't that dangerous? Hermione's mind started whirring in to action.

I'm an idiot. I shouldn't have thought that she ever wanted me. All this while, she probably was with me to make Weasley jealous. Because who was I? A Death Eater; some one who made her life hell. Any moron would understand that you don't go love someone who was harassing you half your life.

Tears smarted in to her eyes. Oh, how she wished that he was with her so that she could assure him that she didn't feel that way. And she did want him. Heck, she needed him!

I miss her. I want to see her. I want to go back.

Did Draco feel that way when he left her this time? Hermione wondered. I hope so, she thought with a bit of anger. Damn you, Draco. Why do you keep leaving? She had concluded it hadn't been her fault that he left. He had been an utter moron. A git. He had LEFT her, the nerve of him.

I guess Granger won't like it, but when did she ever approve what I wanted? It was always "No, we can't jump in the lake, No, we can't sneak out in to Hogsmead, No, you can't sneak in to the Gryffindor Common room, No, we can't stay late out by the lake, No, you may not switch Harry's essay with yours, No, That's enough, we need to get going. We're prefects, Draco. We can't let people see us like this. No, you can't hex them." No, no, no, no. That's all that came when I suggest anything.

She looked at the passage with surprise. She hadn't known that he felt that way. Had she being that bossy? Surely she had let him do stuff….right? Hermione thought about it. Had she being that…. controlling?

I couldn't sleep last night. I wanted her by me so badly that I felt like screaming. I wish I had being old enough for the Apparition Test.

Hermione clutched the book, her food forgotten. She had being feeling exactly the same the past few nights without him. Like screaming. How so….. accurate! The third sentence made her smile grimly. It made sense now about why Draco had pleaded Hermione to teach him to apparate after the holidays. But you used it to leave this time, not to come back, Hermione thought with irony.

I shouldn't have asked for help that night. She's a little double faced buck tooth. A liar. A cheater. She's a nobody. An ugly little Gryffindor.

Even though they were just thoughts due to misunderstanding, Hermione felt a pang of hurt at the harsh words. But it dissolved when she saw the next sentence that was written a bit below, as if he had scrawled it in later.

I think I've gone crazy but I can't stop thinking about her.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you, either." Hermione whispered. "I still can't."

Apparently they've realized where I was. I'm surprised that they even cared to look. Well, of course, they must have been afraid that I would spill their hideout.

Well, he was half right. Harry and the rest of the people had being all but interested about Draco's wellbeing. Well, Draco had missed that Hermione had being worried about HIM.

Bloody hell. I had been mistaken. I take back all those horrible stuff I wrote about her. She never snogged Weasley. How could I have thought that? I should've known that she's not like that. It was a boggart. There had been a bloody boggart in that room and I had seen it and jumped to conclusions. Wait, you can't blame me. How was I supposed to know? Well, Granger came and knocked some sense in to me and man, do I feel stupid.

Being with her again made me realize how much I missed her. Her hair's still soft and she still smiles at me even when I had been a jerk. Merlin, I don't deserve her.

Hermione couldn't help scoff. We deserve each other. When is that thick skull going to realize that? Hermione thought.

I went to the Room of Requirement yesterday. I hated it. Looking around I remember all the stuff that's waiting for me; the doom, the hell breaking loose. Hermione says it'll be alright. Easy for her to say. I don't think she understand how screwed up I'm going to be. She's never been with the Dark Lord in the same room, trying to Legilimens through her every second.

Destination, Determination, Deliberation

The three words were written in the side of the page as if a reminder. Hermione gave a faint smile at it. He did have the determination.

I went over to Dumbledore today. He told me he had a plan but the old man isn't telling me anything. He told me to come back to him tomorrow with Hermione. I tried asking Snape but that blokes got something stuck up his ass, snapping at me for something I didn't do.

Destination, Determination, Deliberation

The words were written again. Hermione flipped the pages and found them in each page.

Pansy smiled at me. I don't know what she's up to. Why did she smile? There's something dodgy abo

She just came and asked if I would go with her to Hogsmead. I told her to sod off .What's with the change of heart? She used to give me the cold shoulder and piss around Hermione. Nott and the rest must be planning something. I should get going now. Have to find Hermione and go to Dumbledore. Why do I have a bad feeling?

Destination, Determination, Deliberation

Suddenly there was a rustle from outside. Hermione jumped and grabbed her wand. She listened. Was it Harry and Ron? Or was it Draco? Hermione hoped for the millionth time. She knew that she would be wrong eventually but that didn't stop her. Suddenly a dreaded thought came to her. Snatchers? Or Death Eaters? Now come to think of it, staying alone didn't seem like a good idea.

But then she heard her name been moaned.

"Draco?" She called out faintly.

She soundlessly made her way to the entrance of the tent and peeked out, even though knowing well that her wards were strong and that nobody would see her in the dark. She blinked at the sight she saw.

Ron was supporting an unconscious Harry with his shoulder and they both looked like hell. Hermione quickly flicked her wand and rushed over to Ron, revealing herself and the tent.

"What happened?" Hermione gasped, helping Ron with hoisting Harry.

"He was waiting there….You-know-who…. He knew we'd come." Ron wheezed. There was a big cut on his left eyebrow.

Hermione paled. I told you! "What happened to Harry?"

"Later Hermione. I'll tell you everything later. Let's just—"

"Of course, Yeah." Hermione nodded, still utterly shaken by her two best friend's sight. As she helped Ron putting Harry on to the bed and healed and took care of Ron, Draco's diary lay forgotten on the table.

I know it's not much. But I have the second chapter ready for you guys. But I'd really like to hear the reviews first ;)

Thanks for reading!