A/N: I know my chapters have been very short so I've tried to make this one longer. Hope you like it. Thanks again so much to all my readers and reviews! )

.::Chapter 5 -- Mistakes::.

Two dark figures appeared near the base of the Whomping Willow. With a quick spell from the taller person, the tree stopped moving, and the pair entered, with the shorter one being dragged in by the other.

Hermione found herself entering the Shrieking Shack, and looking around at the dark house rattling in the cold wind. Draco had certainly picked a good spot- there was no chance of Harry finding them here.

"This is insane, Draco!" she protested. "I thought you wanted Harry to find us!"

Draco sneered at her. "Oh, he will," he said coldly, shoving her into a dark room and closing the door behind them. "I'll leave him enough clues to find you, don't you worry. And then I can kill you both." Hermione gaped at him.

"You know you can't do that, Draco! Like Dumbledore said, you're not a murderer."

"A lot of things have changed since then, if you haven't noticed."

So, what do you plan to do after you carry out this elaborate plan, Draco? Run off somewhere, happy with your kill, and hope the ministry doesn't catch you? You're telling me you don't have any idea what you are going to do then?"

Draco gripped her arm tightly. "Why don't you shut up, Mudblood?" he said angrily.

Hermione wrenched free. "No, I won't. You've gone far enough with this insanity- I'm not going to let you go any further!"

"Oh, yes you are." Draco stepped closer to her. "Because there is nothing you can do about it." He shoved Hermione backwards, and tripped into the wall behind her, feeling a slight pain in her side. Then she realized what it was that she had felt.

She shoved her hand into her pocket, feeling for the piece of glass she had left in there before she had left the Malfoy mansion. Gripping it tightly, she lashed out and knocked Draco's wand down with her free hand. He made a dash for it, but she kicked it to the other side of the room quickly. Draco let out a roar and leapt for Hermione, who stepped backwards, holding out the piece of glass.

"Don't touch me, Draco!" she screamed. Draco looked at his wand, and then back at her, as if trying to make up his mind which to go for. Suddenly, he ran for his wand and Hermione saw her chance. She dashed for the door, but Draco turned around and was at her heels. She had almost reached the doorknob before he leapt on her, and they both fell to the floor with a tremendous crash.

Suddenly Hermione felt something warm gushing down her arm, and noticed that Draco was not moving anymore. She let out a gasp and pulled herself free, rolling Draco over frantically, seeing a gaping wound in his side, where the glass must have accidentally cut him. He was loosing blood quickly, and Hermione knew she had to do something.

Ron could barely see anything in the dark behind him, but slowly caught sight of a head of bright red hair, and knew who it was.

"Harry!"

Harry ran up to Ron quickly, nearly slipping on the wet street.

"Ron, please, listen-"

"No, Harry, I'm not listening. And I'm not coming back."

There was long silence.

"Then I'm coming with you."

"What?" exclaimed Ron, turning around. "No, Harry! I know you're used to it, but you don't always have to be the hero. Hermione's my problem."

"If you don't remember, she was and still is my friend. So stop acting like I don't care!"

"I'm not acting like you-"

"Good. Then I'm coming with you."

"Draco, please!" Hermione gasped, tears streaming down both her cheeks as she worked furiously at trying to save Draco's life. She had already torn a strip of cloth from her sweater and was now using it to attempt to stop the flow of blood that was pouring from Draco's side. He was deathly pale and shaking.

No matter how hard Hermione tried, the cloth in her hand was quickly soaked, unable to stop the blood. She hadn't meant to murder Draco. She just wanted to save her life – save Harry's life. Draco's breath began to come in loud shudders. Hermione suddenly froze. Why hadn't she thought of it before?

She leapt up and ran to the bed. She desperately searched the room for Draco's wand, and finally saw it, sticking out of his coat pocket across the room. She dashed across the room for it, but not before she heard a loud bang behind her and the word, "impedimenta!" She fell to the ground with a thud and knew no more.

Harry and Ron paced down the dark street as fast as they could go without slipping and falling on the still-damp pavement. Ron was already out of breath, but driven by a strange determination that even he couldn't explain or even understand.

"I've had been a horrible boyfriend, Harry."

"What?"

Harry was so shocked that he stopped dead and stared at Ron. "What is that supposed to mean?" he repeated. "Hermione loved – loves you."

"No," Ron said hopelessly, stopping as well. "She was always so kind and sweet, but did I ever show her how much I loved her?"

"Of course you did!" exclaimed Harry, unable to understand why his friend was thinking that way. "Look at all that you did for her- look at you know, coming to her rescue like the knights in the old books!"

Ron laughed bitterly. "Oh, that's right. Now I have a chance to show her how much I love her. But did I ever before? Did I even tell her? No. I don't deserve her."

"Snap out of, mate!" shouted Harry, alarmed. "It's not the time to think of things like that right now. Even if you were a bad boyfriend, it doesn't matter. Her life is in danger."

Ron nodded, reluctantly realizing that Harry's words were true. No matter how he felt at the moment, Hermione was in danger.

Harry and Ron had finally reached Hogwarts. It was still drizzling, and the wind blew fiercely across the grounds, but the sun was rising, slowly, but surely. Harry glanced up at it, suddenly feeling exhausted. He realized he had been searching for Hermione all night. The light normally would have been welcomed by Ron, but now it seemed to taunt him, telling him to give up hope. It seemed to glare at him, forcing him to give up; telling him there was no more use

"This is useless, Harry. Why would Draco take Hermione in a place he was sure to be discovered at?" argued Ron.

"Harry," Ron said gently, "listen. There are dozens of secret passages in Hogwarts, right? Well, maybe Draco knows about a few of them."

Ron shook his head, and then suddenly, he froze, looking past Harry.

"Harry…" he said slowly. "I think you're right. Draco is smart enough to have found out about those passages. And the one that comes to mind is right behind us. Harry, the answer is right behind us."

Harry whipped around and found – nothing.

"Ron, have you gone mad or-"

"No, look!" Ron interrupted, pointing at a large tree with huge branches whipping from side to side, behind his friend.

Harry's eyes widened in recognition. "The Whomping Willow?" he exclaimed, glancing back at the tall, foreboding tree behind him. "Do you think-"

"Yes," said Ron, already running toward the tree. "Come on."

Harry and Ron ducked skillfully beneath the flailing branches of the Whomping Willow until they reached the entrance. Quickly, they climbed down beneath the earth, running through the dark passageways of the Shrieking Shack until the reached an old, wooden set of steps. Ron leapt in front of Harry and whipped open the door of the room directly in front of him and let out a shout.

"Harry! Harry, he's killed her!" Ron shouted, falling to his knees. "No!"

Harry was just as horrified at the sight of blood. He slowly looked around the room and saw nothing but the pool of blood on the floor and a large shard of glass lying near the bed, also covered in blood. So Hermione was dead, Draco had run off – and this was the end of the road.

The light from the rays of orange sun danced across the trees of the forbidden forest. It was unusually peaceful in the woods for the time of year, and only the soft sound of rustling leaves could be heard. There was a stream that ran across the heart of the forest, and the clear water sparkled in the rising sun. The rays of light began to fill the forest, revealing dark red marks near the lake. As the sun rose higher, one could see that the marks were blood – a person's blood. It looked as if the person had crawled – or been dragged – across the forest floor. But on far side of the lake, the marks seemed to have suddenly vanished.

The wind began to blow harder, and the harsher the wind blew, the more the trees began to sway, and the more the leaves on the forest floor shifted. Slowly, but surely, all traces of the blood were covered up, and by the time the sun was high in the sky and Harry and Ron arrived, nothing was left of the trail of blood.