Disclaimer ~ As always I own nothing but the plot itself. All characters are the property of the wonderful JK Rowling and I only borrow them for my amusement.

A.N. ~ So it has been a long time hasn't it. Almost nine months actually. Life hit me hard my lovelies. Between hurricanes, power outages, getting divorced, and my computer blowing up (yep I'm talking smoke pouring out of it and a small fire in it) its been crazy. I lost all my work including a large portion of a story I have been working on getting published. Needless to say that this is not the original chapter I wrote since I didn't back up anything before my computer died, so I can only hope that you guys enjoy this. There are two chapters left in this story, one chapter and the epilogue and both are being beta'ed as I write this. This chapter has some harsh language so readers beware lol. Now, without further ado, here is chapter 17 of OUAN.

The day following Dolohov's arrest was spent telling Harry everything that had happened since the attack. Needless to say he was quite surprised at what Malfoy had done for his best friend and as much as he hated to admit it he was truly grateful to the little git, not that he would ever tell him that.

Hermione spent her days with the guys, including Harry, who had decided to camp out in the Head's common room instead of returning to the Burrow for the rest of the holiday. It was now the last day of holiday break and Hermione knew the students would be arriving soon and all of the peacefulness would be gone. She decided to spend her last few hours of calm sitting under her favorite tree on the edge of the Black Lake, thinking about everything that had happened and everything yet to come. She was looking forward to seeing her returning friends, and for classes to be starting again, but at the same time she hated the thought of having to deal with the questions she knew she was going to be receiving from Ron and Ginny when they returned. Ginny was not pleased that Harry decided to stay at the school after that night, even more so with the fact that he refused to tell her why he had to go in the first place. Ron was also angry, not because Harry stayed but because he wasn't involved in what ever the Order had asked Harry's help for. They had always been involved in Harry's escapades and while Hermione could live without the adventure and celebrity that followed, Ron lived for it. Merlin forbid Harry should do something that could get him attention without Ron there to share in it.

"There you are." Hermione looked up from where she sat, to see Harry walking towards her. "Malfoy's been looking for you every where."

"Well here I am. Care to join me?" She asked pushing over a bit so he could lean against the tree to. Harry smiled down at her and sat down.

"Sure. I see you cleared the snow away. You really do know a spell for everything don't you?"

"Of course, after all who wants to walk around with a wet bum all day." She teased.

"There is something called a drying charm you know." Harry said.

"True, however do you really want to sit in cold wet snow to begin with?" Harry let out a little laugh and shook his head.

"No I guess not." Harry let out one last chuckle and then a sigh, as he looked around them. "The lake really is beautiful this time of year. Peaceful too. I don't think I've ever noticed how peaceful until now." Hermione had to agree. The lake and the area surrounding it looked like a picture taken straight out of a fairytale book. The ground and trees were covered in a perfectly white, layer of snow, the lake itself while not completely frozen, had a thin layer of icy frost covering it and all of it glistened and sparkled under the light of the winter sun.

"Its hard to notice how peaceful a place can be, when you are at war within yourself" She said, turning to look at him. "You've spent the last six years of your life fighting a mad man. You've lost people you love and were always worried that you would lose more. You were constantly fighting yourself about the choices you've made and beating yourself up when something happened to someone who tried to help you. Its really no wonder that you couldn't see this before Harry, you had to much going on in your head and your heart to really see anything else." Harry stared back at her and gave a slight nod of understanding.

"Your right." He gave out a small chuckle, "then again, you're always right." Hermione punched him lightly on the arm. He continued on. "Its like being able to see a thestral. They are only visible to people who have seen someone dying and fully accepted, understood and dealt with the concept. In order to really see the peace around you, you first have to have found the peace within yourself, and fully accepted it."

"I thought I was at peace when I first entered the platform this year. Everything was going to be great this year. No worrying about battling crazy wizards, I was going to get all "Outstanding" marks on my N.E.W.T.S, and Ron and I were finally going to be a couple." She paused for a moment before continuing on. "When I think about it now though, there was a part of me that didn't really believe all that. There was a part of me that still felt like I had to keep my guard up, but I ignored it. Not now though. I truly feel free now, as if every weight I have ever felt on my shoulders, has been lifted away." They sat there for a moment in silence, staring out across the lake and letting their revelations settle deep within them.

"Do you have regrets?" Harry asked, looking back over at her. She looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. Harry explained. "Do you have regrets about everything you've been through? Regrets about me being in your life and what its cost you?" Hermione's eyes widened at his words, and she grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Oh no Harry! I could never regret having you in my life."

"But you've been through so much more than any person should have to go through. You've given up so much and have lost things that you can never get back, all because you've stood by me." Hermione stared him straight in the eye, firm with her response.

"And standing by you through it all was my choice Harry. You have got to stop blaming yourself for other peoples choices. Otherwise you will never fully be at peace with yourself."

"I'll try, but I can't promise you that I won't feel this way at times."

"Well I guess thats all I can ask of you." She said, starting to rise to her feet. "The students should be back any minute. We should probably head up to the castle." Harry rose to his feet beside her.

"Don't remind me." He said. Hermione frowned at this.

"Ginny still sore about you not returning for the rest of break?" Harry nodded.

"She has sent me five angry letters and two howlers." He looked over at Hermione's shocked face. "I may have accidentally set the howlers on fire before listening to them." Hermione scrunched her face up in thought.

"I didn't know you could do that."

"Neither did I. I just figured I would give it a shot and it worked." Harry shrugged. "Anyway, we should get up there so I can get this over with." Hermione smiled at him, linking her arm through his, and heading towards the castle.

Draco had been looking for Hermione everywhere. He had hoped to get in some alone time with her before the rest of her annoying friends returned to the castle. He had already checked her room, the Great Hall, and was just leaving the library when he bumped into Blaise "Have you seen Hermione Blaise?"

"I saw her sitting down by the lake."

"Thanks mate." Draco said slapping Blaise on his shoulder before turning to go find her. Blaise grabbed his arm stopping him in his tracks.

"When I saw her Potter was joining her. Why don't you give them a chance to talk. They really haven't had a chance to since he found everything out."

"What are you going on about? Hes talked to her plenty since he returned here. I should know, I've had to listen to his annoying voice go on and on about random things that no one in their right mind cares about." Draco sneered, causing a chuckle to escape from Blaise.

"Exactly. You haven't given them a chance to talk alone and if I know Potter he is probably still blaming himself for everything that has happened to her, and as long as he feels that way, she won't be happy either." Draco sighed in frustration. He knew Blaise was right, that was just who his witch was.

"Fine, I'll leave them be." Draco said. Blaise rolled his eyes at his friend.

"You know, shes one of the most capable witches in school. I'm pretty sure she can survive without you hovering over her constantly." Draco looked at Blaise with utter disgust.

"Hover! Malfoys do not hover." Blaise patted Draco on the shoulder.

"What ever you say mate. Anyway I was going to head down to the Great Hall to meet Daph. You coming?" Draco shrugged and started to walk.

"Might as well, I've got nothing better to do." They talked all the way down the three flights of stairs to the entrance of the Great Hall, where they could see that the students had started to arrive. Draco watched as groups of students walked through the school's main entrance chattering happily about what they did for their holiday.

"Blaise! Draco!" Draco looked over to see a bright eyed Astoria and a smiling Daphne hurrying towards them. They hugged each other in greeting, and Draco couldn't help but notice how Blaise held Daphne a little longer then necessary, or the small blush that had crept into the pretty Slytherins cheeks. He would definitely be having a talk with Blaise about that later when they were in private. "So how was your holiday boys? Anything exciting happen?" Draco and Blaise gave each other a quick look. If they only knew just how exciting it had truly been.

"Come now Astoria. You should know that every day is exciting as long as I'm around." Draco drawled out. Astoria laughed at him while Daphne just rolled her eyes.

"Forget about that prat. How was your holiday? You went skiing, correct?" Blaise asked, his eyes never leaving Daphne's.

"Yes we went to our chateau in Switzerland." Daphne responded, while Astoria nodded. "It was quite lovely. You should join us sometime, in fact we should all plan on taking a trip there in the future. It will be fun."

"I was thinking the same thing." Astoria said, turning to Draco. "So do you know why Potter had to rush back here in the middle of holiday?" Draco looked at her oddly.

"How do you know that?"

"Half the train knows it, along with the fact that big red and little red over there were not to happy with it." She responded, nodding her head towards the Weasley siblings who had just walked through the door, both looking flustered and pissed off. Draco watched as the two disappeared into the Great Hall, neither stopping to return the greetings that they were receiving from the other students.

"You know," Daphne said. "If it wasn't for the fact that Hermione was sorted into Gryffindor, I would think that another house trait for them was immaturity." Draco and Blaise chuckled at this. "Chuckle all you want, but know that its true. I mean think about some of the past and present students that have been sorted there. Longbottom, Finnegan, Brown, the annoying Patil twin, not to mention the Weasley twins themselves. The list goes on and on of immature Gryffindor's. These two are no different." Astoria turned to respond, just in time to see Hermione and Harry walk through the main door, their hands clasped together and laughing and Ron and Ginny come out of the Great Hall angry and frustrated.

"There you are!" Everyone turned to see the two red heads walk up to a now sullen Harry and Hermione. "Where the hell have you been Harry? Why have you not responded to my letters?" Ginny said loudly, her hands placed firmly on her hips. Draco watched as the red headed girl glared at the pair in front of her, not missing the fact that she glared harder when she saw their hands. The entrance way had gone eerily silent, as everyone waited to hear Harry's response to the angry witch. Draco could see that Harry was uncomfortable with the situation in front of him and Draco couldn't really help but feel bad for the guy. No matter how many times he may have yelled about Potter being no more then an attention seeker, he knew that he was wrong. Potter hated being in the spotlight, anyone with eyes could tell, and he especially didn't like having his personal affairs being shared in front of a group of people, let alone half of the school. Draco could relate to that fact. There were certain aspects of his life that he didn't want paraded in front of the masses, his relationships being at the top of that list.

"Not now Gin. We can discuss this after dinner." Harry said, letting go of Hermione's hand and reaching for Ginny's, only to have the girl pull away from him.

"No Harry, we will talk about this now!" She yelled, not caring about who was listening. "I want know what was so important that you left the house and didn't return."

"So do I." Ron said angrily, causing Draco to roll his eyes. Of course the weasel would have to find a way to make the situation about him.

"Fine!" Harry said. "But not here."

"Why don't we go to the my common room. We can talk there." Hermione suggested, placing a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder, and receiving another glare from the red head. Harry nodded and the four headed towards the head's dormitory. After they disappeared from sight everyone returned to their conversations, some discussing what they had just witnessed.

"Well that was entertaining." Astoria said, shaking her head. "They really are quite ridiculous, aren't they." Draco nodded his head absentmindedly. He didn't like the way they weaselette was glaring at Hermione, it wasn't an angry glare so much as a jealous one. It was extremely obvious that the red headed witch was jealous of Hermione, she always had been, but since she and Potter had started dating she seemed to have let go of that jealousy and become a real friend to his witch. Now though it looked like it was rearing its ugly head again and if there was one thing Draco was sure of was that people said harsh and cruel things when they felt that way about another person. Hermione had been through enough already and he didn't want her getting upset because of something some stupid, jealous bint said to her.

"Blaise." He said, taking the young mans attention away from Daphne. "I think it would be best if we went up there. I have a feeling things aren't going to go to well." Blaise nodded before telling the girls he would talk to them later and following Draco to the dormitory. As they approached the portrait Draco could hear loud but muffled voices and noticed that both the lion and snake looked furious

"Unwavering unity." Draco said, causing the portrait to swing open and a loud shout to be heard clearly.

"...some friend you are!" The boys hurried into the common room, only to come to a complete halt when they saw the scene in front of them. Harry and Ginny were standing face to face in front of the fireplace just staring at one another. Harry had a look of utter shock displayed across his face, while Ginny's face was red with anger. Ron stood behind his sister, arms crossed, but he was glaring at Hermione, who was standing over by her desk, with tears streaming down her face and a mortified expression at what ever had been said.

"What in the bloody hell is going on here?" Draco asked as he hurried over to Hermione. "Are you alright? What did they say to you?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her body relax into his embrace as she wept into his chest. He didn't know what was said but he was sure as hell going to find out. He promised her that he would never let anyone hurt her again, not physically or emotionally, and if it meant he was going to have to protect her from her "friends" then so be it. He was about to ask Potter what was happening when he heard a harsh laugh from behind him.

"Really Hermione! Really? Are you fucking all of them. First Harry, and now Malfoy!" Ron said cruelly, looking at them with pure contempt. "What about Zabini? You fucking him to? Do you take them all at once or do they..." Ron's disgusting rant was cut off by Draco's fist connecting with his jaw, sending him crashing to the floor. Both Hermione and Ginny shrieked as they watched Draco, who had pushed Hermione into Blaise's arms, jump on top of Ron and started throwing punch after punch at the downed red head.

"Draco stop!" Hermione yelled.

"Harry! Do something!" Ginny screeched at her boyfriend. Harry chose to do nothing though. Ron deserved everything he got after what he had just said. Hell if Draco hadn't gone after him, he would have. Realizing that neither boy was going to stop the fight sent Hermione into action. She grabbed her wand and pointed it at Draco.

"Aguamenti!" A jet of water streamed out of the tip of her wand and dowsed the two boys, causing them to break apart. Hermione ran forward and grabbed Draco, pulling him back over to where Blaise was standing. Draco stood up and quickly cast a drying spell on himself before turning to look at Hermione.

"What the hell Granger!" Hermione winced at the sound of her last name falling from his lips. He seemed to only call her Granger when he was angry or frustrated with her.

"Enough Draco! Do you know how much trouble you could get into for fighting! You're Head Boy! You should know better then to fight!"

"He deserved it! Did you not hear the vile things he said about you! No one speaks that way about my girlfriend!" Draco said, still seething at the thought. He looked over and saw that Ginny, who was attempting to help her brother stand up, had frozen at his words. She looked back and forth between him and Hermione with a look that was a mixture of anger, confusion, and despair. Harry, meanwhile, just stood there, watching them with nothing more then a blank expression on his face. Draco looked at Ron who was slowly rising to his feet and smiled when he saw the damage he had done to the boy. He was already sporting a black eye that seemed to be darkening by the second, his nose looked to be broken, his mouth seemed to be swelling from what looked like a busted lip, and if his face hadn't been red before then it definitely was now since he was completely bloodied. Yes, Draco was quite satisfied with his work.

"I think you both need to leave." Harry said suddenly. Ginny looked up at him.

"Har..."

"I don't want to talk to you right now Ginerva. Leave! Now!" Harry said angrily, shocking them all with his tone. Harry had never raised his voice to her like that before let alone called her by her full first name.

"You heard him. Get out." Blaise said, walking towards the portrait and opening it for the pair, who knew that leaving was their best option. As soon as they were gone, Draco felt Hermione cup his cheek and turn his face towards her. She lifted herself up onto her tip toes and placed a small kiss upon his lips, a gesture that caused all of his anger to melt away.

"Thank you for sticking up for me. I appreciate it, I really do, but Ronald isn't someone worth getting into trouble for." He started to respond but she placed her finger over his lips to silence him. "Yes, it hurts that someone who I considered one of my best friend could ever speak to me like that, but thats all they were. Just words. I know they aren't true and so do the rest of you and thats all that matters."

"Shes right Malfoy. Hes not worth it." Harry said, heading towards the portrait. "I'm going to head down to dinner."

"Wait Potter. I'll walk down with you." Blaise told Harry before turning to his best mate. "We'll see you two downstairs." He then turned and followed Harry out the door. Draco took Hermione's hand and walked her over to one of the couches and pulled her down onto his lap as he sat.

"We should probably head down to dinner." Hermione said, pushing a piece of hair out of his eyes.

"In a bit. First things first though. Would you mind telling me what happened in here before we showed up?" Draco knew that he had heard Ginny's voice as they had walked into the room and he wanted to know what she had said to cause such a reaction from the others. Hermione took in a deep breath and shook her head.

"It was nothing really." Draco kissed her shoulder softly.

"It didn't look like nothing to me. Potter looked like someone petrified him and you were crying. Tell me." Hermione let out a heavy sigh.

"She accused Harry and I of having an affair. She said that the only reason that Harry would hide something from her was if he had betrayed her in some way." Draco let out a snort.

"Wow. Someone thinks extremely high of herself. She does realize that the world does not revolve around her, right."

"She basically called Harry out as a cheat and me as a horrid friend." She said, "I was upset because I thought she new me better then that, or at least Harry better then that. How could she think that we would do that to her?"

"Because shes a jealous little twit who needs to be dropped down a peg or two. She loves being Potter's girlfriend, and she especially loves the perks that come with it. She is just as bad as her idiot brother when it comes to wanting to be in the spotlight and she hates the fact that you are the one who is usually there by his side when the dust settles."

"Maybe, but she knows I only see him as a brother and even if she didn't she knew how I felt about Ron." She paused for a moment. "Or at least how I thought I felt about him. I just don't know where everything went wrong. Ginny thinks Harry and I are sneaking around behind her back, shagging, and Ron... well I have no idea what his problem is. I mean what was that all about. Why should he care about who I'm shagging? He made his choice and that choice was Lavender." She let out a heavy sigh. "We were all so close and now its like we don't know each other at all. "

"Its called growing up. Some of us have to do it way too early in our lives, while others just refuse to allow it to happen at all." He told her. Hermione looked at him and smiled.

"When did you get so smart?" Hermione asked. Draco stood them both up and took her hand in his.

"When I stopped letting others make decisions for me and decided to grow up myself." He replied with a smile. "Come on lets go down to dinner." Hermione nodded and followed him out the door.

It had been a week since the return of the Hogwarts students and a lot had changed in that short amount of time, not so much for Hermione as for the people around her. After the incident in the common room, Harry had made the decision to break things off with Ginny. Hermione felt awful and was quick to take full responsibility for the breakup, claiming that if Harry hadn't been brought to help her and hadn't decided to stay on her behalf, that it never would have happened. Harry, however, pointed out to her that just as she had told him that her attack was not his fault, this was not hers. Ginny's lack of trust and overall need to try and control him was what did it. The accusations she had made that day in the common room had hurt Harry more then anyone could have known. He couldn't believe, that after everything they had been through together, that every ounce of love that he had poured into their relationship, was so easily forgotten by her in a moment of jealousy. The fact that she truly believed he would hurt her like that made him feel like she never really loved or knew him to begin with. So even though it hurt him to do it, he broke up with her, and he seemed to be handling it well.

Ginny, on the other hand, was devastated by the turn of events, lashing out at everyone and everything around her for the first few days. Surprisingly it was Lavender who put the red head in her place, telling her that she had no one to blame for her failed relationship, but herself. She was quick to point out that the girl's obvious trust issues over Harry's relationship with Hermione had been the cause of it and instead of acting like a deranged harpy, she should be working on coming to terms with those things, especially if she ever wanted a second chance with him. Since then Ginny seemed to have come to terms with it all and had decided to take responsibility for it. She had yet to try to apologize to either Harry or Hermione for her behavior but Hermione could see the regret on her face every time their eyes met. While it seemed as if Ginny was learning the error of her ways, Ron was doing the complete opposite. Ron would rant and rave to anyone who would listen about the fact that his so-called best friends had turned on him, cozying up to those slimy Slytherins. He took every opportunity to throw glaring daggers their way, and dropping snide, vile remarks when ever they were in hearing distance. He was becoming so obnoxious that even Lavender had found herself spending less time with him, which only caused him to be an even bigger prat. Everyone was sick of his attitude and Hermione wasn't sure how much more she could take. This was what she was thinking about when she entered the Great Hall for breakfast that morning, wondering what wonderfully unclever remarks Ron was going to attack her with. The moment she opened the door though, she knew something was very wrong. The Great Hall was full of students but it was deathly silent and it seemed as if all eyes were on her. Hermione looked around, confused about what was happening. Ginny and Lavender were staring at her with tears running down their faces while Ron, Seamus, and Dean looked almost murderous. Neville and Luna were staring at her sadly, along with some of the other Ravenclaws at the Ravenclaw table, and all the Hufflepuffs looked like they wanted to jump up and hug her. The Slytherin table was the most interesting though because for once the usually emotionless table looked shocked. Blaise was staring at her with an odd expression on his face, as if he wasn't sure what he should do.

"Hermione!" Hermione turned to see Harry rush through the door and come to an abrupt halt. She watched as he looked about and took in the scene around him.

"Harry. Do you know whats going on?" Hermione whispered. Harry looked at her sadly.

"I was hoping to get to you before you left your dorm." He said, slightly out of breath. He held his hand out to her, which was clutching a copy of that mornings Daily Prophet. Hermione took it and gasped. There was a picture of a chained up, crazed looking Antonin Dolohov, laughing maniacally on the front page, but it wasn't the picture that had affected her as much as the headline above it.

Death Eater to Receive Kiss, Admits to Raping Golden Trio Member

No! No! No! They weren't supposed to find out. It wasn't supposed to be brought up in the trial. Everyone knows! Everyone knows! She could feel herself starting to hyperventilate, her chest felt tight, she was getting dizzy, and she could literally hear her heart pounding in her ears. She needed to get out of there, away from the eyes that were boring into her, trying to find out just how damaged she was. She needed to feel safe, warm. She needed Draco. "Get Draco." She said, right before she collapsed into Harry's arms.

You didn't honestly think that no one was going to find out now did you. Let me know what you think. Also I wanted to let you all know that I am going to be writing another Dramione after this one and it is going to be a marriage law fic. I know it has been overly done but mine is going to be very different, in fact I can honestly say there has only been one marriage fic that is anything like the one I'm going to do. So I can't wait to get that one going. Leave a review, you know I love them.