A/N: Here's the next chapter finally! I've had this finished for a while now but I've been running into a lot of problems trying to get it posted. I know I've kept many of you waiting and I apologize for that.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 21

Three days passed since Draco and Hermione's fight. They hardly spoke to each other because Hermione thought Draco had ignored her that first night and Draco didn't talk to her because she was ignoring him. It was all one huge misunderstanding but both of them were too proud to admit it and apologize.

"I just don't see why he's acting like this!" Hermione said to Ginny. "He's is over reacting."

Ginny nodded her head as she spoke, "You know how boys are. They always blow things out of proportion. I wouldn't worry too much about it", she said, "He'll come around."

"Yeah, you're right. But it's so frustrating. This is the first time we've had a fight."

"Every couple has fights; it's just part of the relationship. Harry and me have fought before but we're still together", said Ginny.

"Do you think I should make the first move or something?"

"No, let him be the man and do it. He started it so he needs to apologize for it and make up for it."

Hermione nodded, "OK, thanks Gin", she said with a smile.

Ron sat on the opposite side of the room listening to the girl's conversation through an Extendable Ear. 'So, Hermione and Malfoy are in a fight. This makes everything easier.'

Hermione glanced at the clock, "I should be going now, it's getting rather late and I have work to finish." Hermione gave Ginny a good bye hug and left the Gryffindor Tower. Ron watched Hermione leave and quickly put the Ear away.

Draco sat on his bed with a letter in his hands. His mother had finally responded. He pulled off the green ribbon and unrolled the parchment.

Draco,

I am happy to finally hear from you since you haven't written as often this year. I am glad to know you are in a relationship but find it interesting how you won't tell me her name. But no matter, I will help you in you dilemma. The only advice I have for you is to apologize and admit you were wrong. Don't let pride get in the way of love.

I hope you are well and making excellent marks in your classes. Everything is well here. Aunt Bellatrix has temporarily moved into the Manor to keep me company. It's lonely here in this large house with only myself. I'll see you at your graduation and hope to have you return to the Manor for a little while.

Love, Narcissa.

Draco pondered over what his mother had written. Just apologizing didn't seem like enough but seeing how this was the first time having a fight with a girlfriend how was he supposed to know? "It couldn't hurt to apologize, even thought it's only about the argument and not what I said about Weasley. I meant that. But I do miss talking and being with Hermione."

Hermione soon returned from her visit. Draco heard her walk up the staircase and quickly ran to his door, opening it right as she reached the landing. "Hermione, can I talk to you?" he asked.

"Sorry Draco, but not now. I've got a load of homework to finish for tomorrow. Can we talk after classes tomorrow?" she asked with a smile.

It wasn't the answer Draco was looking for but he agreed. Hermione entered her room and Draco slid back into his. He returned to his bed and flopped down on it. He knew she had been spending all of her time in the Gryffindor Tower for the past three days. He figured she was with Ginny or Potter. But Weasley had to be close by. He couldn't understand why she would want to be there knowing he would be around. Was she beginning to warm back up to Weasley for some reason? She had said before to not worry about him and she seemed to be defending him. Draco realized that was ridiculous. Hermione wouldn't do that… would she?

XxX

The next morning started off as a typical day at Hogwarts. Students went about their morning getting dressed and heading down to breakfast, everyone except Ron and Pansy. They secretly met again to go over their plan one last time.

"We're doing it today alright?" Ron said after going over the details.

"Yes, I'm ready", Pansy replied.

"Good. By tonight they shall be split up", said Ron as he rubbed his hands together.

Hermione munched on a slice of bacon as she read the Daily Prophet. Harry and Ginny sat next to Hermione chatting away with each other. Hermione glanced over at them and longed to be with Draco. She was hoping he was going to apologize for everything today after classes. She hated to blow him off last night but she figured he could go another day.

Draco was ready for classes to be over today so he could finally talk with Hermione. Ron entered the Great Hall and Draco's eyes followed him until he sat down at the Gryffindor Table across from Hermione. He watched them exchange greetings. Draco couldn't understand why she would do that. 'Maybe they've started being friends again since she's been spending time in the Tower?' Draco disregarded that thought because that wasn't possible, was it?

Classes seemed to crawl by but finally the pair was in Potions together. Hermione still didn't talk to Draco. She was to busy thinking about that afternoon but Draco interpreted her silence as ignoring him still. Draco tried not to think about her silence too much. He was going to get this whole situation fixed and they would be back together like before.

Or so he thought.

Potions ended and Draco left class first as usual. Hermione figured he was going straight to lunch like he'd been doing for the past few days. But Draco actually waited for Hermione like he used to do while Hermione cleaned up and returned all of the unused ingredients back to the supply closet. Again, she and Ron were the last remaining students.

"Hermione, care to walk to lunch with me?" Ron asked.

"Sure", was all she replied. She was already going to lunch.

The two left the Potions room in silence. They passed by where Draco was waiting but Hermione didn't notice him. They continued walking with Draco following quietly behind them. He was curious to see what was going on.

Ron tried to make small talk with Hermione as they walked so it wasn't so quiet between them. Hermione replied but was trying to figure out what was going on. Soon, the Great Hall was ahead of them. Hermione was glad until Ron stopped walking. Hermione stopped as well and look at him to see what was wrong. He motioned for her to follow him to a vacant classroom. She hesitated for a moment but followed him. Draco quickly ran up to the classroom and stood by the door. He cautiously peered inside and watched as Ron started talking to Hermione again but he couldn't hear because Ron had his back to the door.

"Hermione, I still love you and regret what I did you last summer", Ron said as he approached Hermione.

Hermione backed away from Ron until her back hit a wall and Ron pinned her there by placing his arms on both sides of the wall. Draco watched in horror as Ron leaned his face down and planted his lips on Hermione's. Draco couldn't look away for a couple of seconds. He couldn't believe this was happening or that Hermione wasn't trying to stop him. 'Well, this looks like this is the reason why Hermione has been hanging around the Gryffindor Tower. I should have known.'

Hermione couldn't believe it either. She was completely taken by surprise. She tried to push Ron off of her but he was too strong for her. Draco looked away from the scene covered his face in his hands. Ron pulled away from Hermione with a smile on his face. Hermione smacked him across the face, wiping the smile off of it.

"How dare you", she hissed in a whisper, "I can't believe you!"

"I now you're with Malfoy but it's wrong. I want you to be back with me."

"That will never happen, Ron." Hermione walked away him.

Ron sighed, "Well, when he's done with you, I'll still be here for you." Ron walked toward the door to leave.

Draco was fuming. He didn't pay attention to what was being said between them in the room because he was trying to figure out what to do. As soon as Ron emerged from the classroom, Draco threw himself at him. Draco wasn't sure what he was doing but he wanted to cause Ron a lot of pain.

Ron fell to the ground from the punch. Hermione heard commotion outside and ran out to see what was going on. She shrieked when she saw Draco on top of Ron, punching him repeatedly. Ron knocked Draco off of him and quickly jumped up. He wiped his bleeding nose on his sleeve and brought his fists up. The two continued to fist fight while Hermione stood to the side screaming at them to stop but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

The two drew closer to the Great Hall entrance where the doors were wide open. The students inside jumped from their tables when Ron flew through the entrance and landed on the floor inside. He struggled to his feet and backed away from Draco. A crowd of students formed around the two before the professors could get to them. Hermione pushed her way through the crowd and everyone turned their attention to her.

"Draco! Ron! What are you doing?" she yelled.

"Stay back, Hermione!" Draco said not taking his eyes off of Ron.

Hermione forced herself in-between the two fighting boys, facing Draco. Draco starred at her. To him, it looked as though she was protecting Ron, which fueled his anger even more.

"Draco, why did you attack Ron?" she asked, unaware that he has seen them kiss.

"I saw you and Ron snogging in that classroom. You are a pathetic Mudblood! I can't believe I ever fell for you. Why don't you just be with your blood traitor and leave me alone. I never want to see your face again!"

Tears fell from Hermione's eyes. Draco's words felt as through he had stabbed her heart with a knife. She didn't know how to respond. Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall made their way to the middle of the crowd.

"Students, please return to you lunch. There is nothing more to see here. Mr. Malfoy and Weasley, I'm saddened by this display of violence from the two of you. I want to see the two of you in my office immediately then you will report to the Hospital Wing.

The crowd dispersed as the students returned to their tables, chatting about what they had witnessed. "Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were together?" Hermione ignored the comments as she watched Draco and Ron leave with the three professors. Harry and Ginny remained standing next to Hermione but she wouldn't say anything at first. She wiped away her tears, "I need to be alone right now."

Her friends nodded and Hermione left as the whole Hall watched her leave. Once she was out of sight, she ran through the halls to her room. She collapsed onto her bed into a ball and continued to cry her eyes out.

"I expected good things out of you this year Mr. Malfoy. That is why I made you Head Boy. And Mr. Weasley, I never expected this from you. Fighting is not tolerated here at Hogwarts. 150 points will be taken from Slytherin and 100 from Gryffindor."

"Why does Slytherin lose more?" Draco injected.

"Because you are Head Boy. Now both of you will have detention until finals and I will owl you about them tomorrow once I figure out the punishment. I sincerely hope this will never happen again."

Both boys nodded their heads.

"Good, now you should go to the Hospital Wing to be examined."

Both of them rose from their chairs and left Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore sighed once they were gone. "There goes that plan", he finally said. "I've spent the majority of my time focusing on Hermione and Draco because I though this was the best way to defeat Voldemort. I haven't bothered to search for the remaining Horocruxes."

McGonagall and Snape didn't know what sat. They were thinking the same thing.

Madam Pomfrey flew into action as soon as Draco and Ron entered, bruised and covered in blood. She pushed each one of them onto a bed and started cleaning them up before she examined them. She fussed over the two of them as did so, saying they should have come straight to her fist. Draco and Ron remained silent the whole time as well as avoiding eye contact with each other. Ron was happy on the inside, granted Draco had beaten the shit out of him but he was satisfied with what happened. It was better than he expected and Pansy wasn't entirely necessary now. But Pansy shortly joined them in the Wing.

"Draco!" she exclaimed as she darted toward his bed.

Madam Pomfrey eyed her as she sat on the side of Draco's bed but didn't say anything because she was busy taking care of Ron, who was the worse out of the two.

"How are you feeling?" Pansy asked.

"I'm fine", he replied, annoyed that she was there. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to check on you of course", she replied with a smile.

Hermione couldn't believe what she was doing but something was telling her to go to the Hospital Wing. As she entered the Wing, she saw Pansy sitting on Draco's bed and lean down to kiss him. Draco saw Hermione out of the corner of his eye so he allowed Pansy to kiss him, though he hated it. He wanted her to feel the pain he was currently feeling.

Hermione turned around and left immediately with fresh tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe how stupid she was for going there. But she was glad to know that she had seen Draco cheat on her. It showed how he really felt toward her.

As soon as Hermione was gone, Draco pulled away from Pansy.

"Ms. Parkinson, I'm going to have to ask you to leave right now so I can finish examining Mr. Malfoy", Madam Pomfrey said.

Pansy gave Draco a peck on the cheek before hopping off his bed and leaving. Ron held in his happiness. His plan had worked. There was no way they would still be together now. Even if Hermione didn't want to be Ron, she wasn't with Draco Malfoy anymore.

Hermione returned to her bedroom crying. She skipped the rest of her classes that day. She didn't care about them right now. All she wanted to do was explain to Draco what had happened so they could straighten this whole mess out. Hermione knew it probably wouldn't help much but she still wanted to try.

Draco and Ron were released from the Hospital Wing just in time for dinner. Madam Pomfrey had healed all of the cuts and fixed Ron's broken nose. He still had a black eye but he didn't mind. Draco had less damage and was mainly sore all over. Ron went ahead to dinner because he was starving of course from missing lunch. But Draco didn't want to be around anybody and went to his room.

When he entered the common room, Hermione had just walked down the stairs. The two stood there staring at each other.

"Draco, can we…talk about what happened today and let me explain?"

Draco crossed his arms against his chest, "What's there to talk about? You've been seeing Ron on the side."

"Oh like you and Pansy?"

"You started this. I can't believe I thought you would want me or me want you."

"Why are you doing this, Draco?" she begged, holding back her tears. "I thought I meant something to you because you meant the world to me."

"You never meant anything to me. I never had and true feelings for you. It was merely Nero wanting Cassandra. How could I ever want someone like you?"

"I was a fool for ever loving someone like you. You'll never change, Malfoy."

Hermione pushed past Draco as she left for the Gryffindor Tower. She knew Harry and Ginny would be at dinner still but she wanted to wait for them anyway.

~~~
Harry and Ginny couldn't believe what had happened today and knew Ron was to blame. They glared daggers at him as he sat down across from them. He didn't notice their glares at first as he piled food onto his plate. They continued to stare until he noticed.

"What's up with you two? Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked after swallowing a piece of chicken.

"You shouldn't have done what you did", Harry answered.

"What break them up? Make Hermione see Malfoy for his true self?"

"You don't understand, Ron! There was more to this than you know. You've ruined everything!" Ginny said.

Ron starred at his them confused and laid his chicken leg down on his plate. "What are you two talking about?"

"Come with me now", Harry said as he rose from the table.

Ron joined him in the corridor and followed him into an empty room. Harry closed the door and placed a silencing charm on the room.

"You are so fucking stupid and selfish! You lost Hermione by your own actions and you can never have her back. You need to understand that and leave her alone!"

"But Harry, she was with Malfoy!"

"I know that. She told me herself and they were happy. There was nothing wrong with their relationship. Not to mention they were working together by Dumbledore's orders to help me defeat Voldemort. But that plan is ruined now because of you!" Harry paused for a moment to catch his breath from all the yelling.

"Dumbledore had them working together?"

"Yes and they were doing well too." Harry gave Ron time to process everything he had said.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Ron spoke. "I'm sorry."

Harry stared at him, "That's all you can say, Ron? Merlin, you've done some stupid things over the past six years that 'sorry' could fix but not this time."

"Why are you so mad at me over this?"

"Hermione is my best friend and she's been through a lot this year, more than anyone should have to go through. You're responsible for half of it. I just can't believe you would actually ruin her relationship like this."

"In my defense, I though Malfoy was using her or something."

"If he was, I would have already done something about it." Harry had had enough of Ron and turned his back to him. He removed the charm and left the room.

Hermione sat in a comfy arm chair waiting for her friends. The day's events ran through her mind when it finally hit her. She had dreamed this days ago. It wasn't just a nightmare, she was seeing the future. She wished she had realized this at the time then maybe she could have stopped it from happening.

A couple of minutes later, Harry and Ginny entered the common room. They saw Hermione and joined her by the empty fire place. Hermione moved and sat in-between them on the couch. She didn't talk much but they comforted her the best they could. She was glad to have them.

A/N: I'm sure a lot of you are not happy with me right now. I should have the next chapter up by Wednesday.