A/N – This chapter is…pretty dramatic. I kind of feel as if my writing is getting worse though. I'm sorry about that, I just thought I'd mention that. I do love the drama of all of this though, I really hope you all enjoy it.

"Just do it, Draco"

Harry Potter woke up from his dream shaking and covered with cold sweat. It was another one, a dream where he knew he was in Voldermort's head. He knew it was from the eyes of the snake once again and now that he knew why it wasn't quite so terrifying that he had been the snake.

But what was terrifying was the nature of it. Hermione was there surrounded by people who were planning to kill her. Now Harry knew where his map had gone and he also knew that Hermione was in danger. His head was spinning. The snake had been hidden. If Malfoy couldn't perform his task then Voldermort possessing the snake would probably do it for him.

After a few minutes of head spinning and getting his thoughts together Harry leapt out of bed and ran over to shake Ron. As angry as Ron was with Hermione he would forget it all if he knew what was happening. Ron mumbled in his sleep as Harry shook him prompting Harry to shake harder until Ron awoke.

"What?" Ron grumbled, trying to hide his face in his pillow. "What do you want Harry?"

"Hermione, she's in trouble!" Harry told him. The minute Ron heard those words he looked up, seemingly wide awake. "She's down in the passage from the One Eyed Witch with Malfoy and her two new best friends." Ron rolled his eyes. "I just dreamed about it. Apparently they have to kill her. Voldermort's there as the snake but Hermione doesn't know…it'll take too long to explain. We have to go"

Ron didn't need to be asked twice. He jumped out of bed and ran towards the door still dressed in his pyjamas. Harry decided it would be best to just follow his lead and scurried along behind him. They ran along corridors without speaking, not even caring if they got caught. They had to get there in time.

"Please, don't do this" Hermione pleaded, staring at Draco as he stood in front of her with his arm outstretched, holding the wand.

"Look, if you're looking for someone to blame and trust me when I say I was, then blame Professor Singlia and her fucking sister." Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. "They prophesized about us and you bringing me to the light side and preventing the Dark Lord's plans and the Dark Lord found out. He wants to prevent it so…I have to kill you…or he's going to kill me"

"Do it!" Scarlett insisted, gripping her wand tightly in her hand. "Get it done, Draco"

"Come on!" Amber-Rose egged him on as she walked to join Scarlett behind the action.

There was a collective intake of breath as Draco raised his wand higher and Hermione's tears stopped as if someone had pushed pause on a scene. Everything was frozen except Draco's shaking hand. It was so still and so quiet that they all heard the sound of footsteps running down the passage towards them. Scarlett and Amber-Rose swung around on their heels and pointed their wands towards the intruders. Hermione turned to look too and her eyes widened as she spotted Harry and Ron in the wand light.

"HERMIONE!" Ron screamed and he tried desperately to push past Scarlett and Amber-Rose to get to her. "Let her go!" he yelled at Draco as Amber-Rose warded him off.

"I can't Weasley" Draco said, his voice turning harsh and spiteful.

"The Dark Lord will kill him if he doesn't kill her" Amber-Rose snapped. "You wouldn't understand, how could you?"

"Yeah, well…" Ron glared at her and Scarlett in turn. "There are some people who would die for the people they love. Harry's mother did!" The he spoke in a quiet voice. "I would"

"I'm sure you would" Draco rolled his eyes. "You have no idea what this feels like"

"STUPERFY" Scarlett and Amber-Rose exclaimed at the same time. Hermione had been trying to make a break for it while Draco was distracted. At the force of the spells she collapsed to the ground, stunned.

"Expelliarmus" Harry swung around and pointed his wand at Amber-Rose, deciding she was possibly the biggest threat. Ron did the same to Scarlett. Ron was kneeling on the ground next to Hermione, every now and then looking up and glaring at the two girls who had stunned her.

Quickly Amber-Rose and Scarlett hurried back to stand behind Draco. Amber-Rose's fists were balled and Scarlett was looking at the floor. Now Harry was facing Draco and both of them had their wands pointing towards the other.

"I'm not even going to ask for an explanation" Harry snapped, eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you have a perfectly pathetic explanation for trying to kill our best friend-"

"Your best friend?" Draco scoffed. "You two have refused to speak to her for months. You didn't give a shit that she was happy, as long as she was with me she was your deadly enemy"

On the floor beside Hermione Ron's ears turned red.

"That's not the point!" Harry gripped his wand tighter. "Now you're my deadly enemy and there's no way I'm going to let you kill her." Draco slowly turned his wand towards Hermione and Harry's eyes turned to slits.

"For fucks sake, just do it!" Amber-Rose yelled. "Or I'll do it for you!"

A small hiss came from the ground behind Scarlett and everybody looked around the passageway to figure out where it was coming from. Harry just stood there, knowing what had made that noise. Apparently Voldermort didn't like the idea of Amber-Rose doing Draco's task for him. But the Slytherins needn't know that Voldermort was in the room.

Finally deciding that they had just been hearing things the three Slytherins turned back to face Harry, Draco pointing his wand at Hermione once again.

His breath catching in his throat Harry looked down at Ron and Hermione. Then he smiled a little, trying to keep it subtle. Ron had his wand behind his back, trying to make it look as if he had no defences. It was all coming down to this moment. The D.A was actually going to help at last. Whatever it was Ron was planning to do there was no doubt he could do it.

"AVAD-" Harry turned at the beginnings of the spell, placing his attention back where it was needed. He had to stop himself from doing anything, Ron could handle this. His hands were sweaty and his chest was tight.

"LEVICORPUS" Ron yelled before Draco could even finish his spell. Everybody in the room watched in amazement as Draco looked like the wind had been knocked out of him and suddenly he had been flipped upside down, hung in the air by his ankle.

"LET ME DOWN!" he screamed and Amber-Rose and Scarlett stood on, helpless without their wands. It took them a moment to notice that Ron had Hermione in his arms and was running back down the passage with her, Harry following behind. They began to run after them but it was too late. Ron had handed Hermione to Harry and he had climbed up the exit. Then Harry managed to pass Hermione up to him and climbed up himself.

"Fuck!" Amber-Rose cursed.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Ron asked as he and Harry stumbled along with Hermione held between them. They were both still shaking from the experience and weren't completely sure what to do with themselves.

"I don't know. We might have to take her to the Hospital Wing. Maybe more than one stunner is worth being looked at" Harry suggested. They didn't have much time to consider the idea for they ran into Professor Singlia a few seconds later.

"What?" was all she could manage to say when she saw Hermione. It was sure to be a strange sight. Two teenage boys running along with an unconscious girl held between them. "What…happened?" she asked, finding her voice.

"Hermione…Malfoy…stunned…almost killed" Ron tried to explain but running with Hermione's weight had started to become a strain and now that they had stopped he was catching his breath.

"Draco? What does Draco have to do with this?" Singlia asked, her face falling. She could tell that something had gone totally wrong and it was obvious to do with Dumbledore's plan. How could Dumbledore's plan lead them to this?

"What does have to do with…?" Harry began shaking his head, irritated. "He did this! Your precious Draco tried to kill Hermione! In fact…he almost did"

"He didn't! He wouldn't! Why?" Singlia put her hand to her forehead, suddenly feeling faint. Draco had tried to kill Hermione! The idea was laughable, it must be a joke. It had to be.

"Well…" Harry began, just as heatedly. Then he stopped. "Well, I don't actually know." Then he continued, seeing Singlia's look. "But, I mean…there wasn't time to ask was there? He was going to kill her! This isn't one of those muggle cartoons where the villains stop to gloat about their big evil plan"

Singlia shook her head, moving towards the wall and collapsing against it. "But Draco isn't the villain" she exclaimed, desperately. "He was going to be the hero, that was the plan…Hermione was supposed to help him. I don't understand why he would try to kill her"

"Maybe because his Lord told him to" Ron suggested, having finally gotten his breath back.

"Exactly!" Harry agreed. "I mean, Voldermort was there!"

"Wait…excuse me?" Singlia shot back to life and stared at Harry, dumbstruck. "Where was this exactly? Not…in the school"

"Yes, in the school…do you think we…? Oh, never mind" Harry rolled his eyes. "It happened in a secret passageway in the One Eyed Witch statue. They're probably still down there…we have Scarlett and Amber-Rose's wands"

"He Who Must Not Be Named is…in this school?" Singlia looked faint again but this time it was worse. She looked as if she was about to pass out. "Okay, well…whatever is actually going on we need to make a plan. I will go back and check the passageway to see if they're still there. I'm not afraid of…of…Voldermort" she stood up and gulped. "And you two take Hermione to the Hospital Wing. Tell Poppy I sent you"

And with that she was off, running in the direction Harry and Ron and come from. Sharing a half nervous, half amused look Harry and Ron began moving forward again.

"She should be fine" Madam Pomfrey confirmed, looking harassed. "I do wish you would explain what happened. Are you sure Professor Singlia said you couldn't tell me?"

"Positive" Harry nodded. He and Madam Pomfrey looked over to Hermione's bed where she was lying. Madam Pomfrey had performed the counter curse and Hermione had awoken but she didn't appear to have much of an idea where she was. Madam Pomfrey had forced some sort of sleep potion down her throat and now she was perfectly silent, hardly moving. Ron was sitting beside the bed, he hadn't moved for a good half an hour.

"Alright, well…she'll wake up when she's ready. I have to fill out some paperwork for the records. If you need me, well…just try not to need me"

Harry walked over to the bed and sat down in the chair on the opposite side to Ron. Ron looked up at him, his eyes hollow. "Why is it never me?" he asked, sounding as if he was struggling with something.

"What?" Harry asked, feeling a little confused.

"If anybody ends up in the Hospital Wing or hurt…it's always you or Hermione, never me!" Ron explained, shaking his head.

Harry thought for a moment. "That's not true" he said, trying to be comforting. "Remember? After we found Sirius when we thought he was trying to kill me. You didn't help us save him because of that." That seemed to cheer Ron up a little.

"Do you think that maybe…if we had just tried staying friends with her…maybe this wouldn't have happened?" Ron suggested a few minutes later.

"No…" Harry had been lost in his thoughts previously but he answered fairly quickly. "Singlia seemed to know what it was about somehow and I just kind of got the feeling that we really had nothing to do with it. It probably would have happened either way"

"No, don't! Please!" The two boys instantly looked at Hermione once again. A little colour had come back into her pale face and she was moving, talking in her sleep.

"'Mione?" Harry asked, reaching out and shaking her shoulder a little.

Much to his surprise she snapped up instantly, sitting up in the bed and looking around. Her eyes were frantic and she seemed to be trying to find something. Then her eyes settled on Ron and she settled back onto the pillow, seeming confused.

"Ron?" she asked, her face showing signs that she was trying to piece things together. "Where's Draco? Scarlett? Amber…? What am I dong here?"

"So you remember Malfoy trying to kill you?" It was comforting to Harry that they didn't have to explain everything. Hermione nodded slowly and took a deep breath covering her face with her hands.

"I'm so stupid!" she exclaimed, sounding very frustrated with herself. "I can't believe I trusted him! I can't believe I let myself into that. And…why didn't I listen to you two? Why didn't I think that Amber-Rose could have stolen the Marauders Map? I can't believe it!"

Harry and Ron looked at each other unsure of what to say. So Amber-Rose had stolen the Marauders Map. That explained how they knew about that passageway. "You're not stupid" Ron said, breaking the small silence that followed Hermione's outburst.

"He tried to kill me…because if he didn't…You Know Who was going to kill him." Hermione dropped her hands from her face and looked at her two friends. "Somebody told You Know Who about the prophecy and…he wanted to stop it"

Now Harry and Ron were very confused. "The prophecy?" Harry wondered allowed and Hermione spent the next fifteen minutes explaining everything they had missed. The entire time the two boys remained silent, they couldn't find anything to say. They had had no idea that Hermione had been going through this and it almost made them feel worse for not speaking to her.

There was a clatter and the group turned to see Professor Singlia looking very dishevelled standing in the doorway. Her eyes were wild and she looked terrified.

"They're gone!" she told them, clambering into the room and collapsing onto one of the beds. "I looked everywhere. I checked their Common Room, Hogsmeade…I didn't know where they could possibly be. I suppose they were taken with…with He Who Must Not Be Named. But…I don't know where. I know what my sister is going to say. She's going to say that this is what happens when you listen to Dumbledore and go against a prophecy. Maybe she's right…"

"Wait, You Know Who was…he was there? How could they have gone with him?" Hermione asked, blinking rapidly.

"He was there…he can possess his snake" Harry explained. "He was watching you the entire time. I guess he's whisked them off somewhere"

"But he's going to kill him!" Hermione jolted up in her bed, shaking. "He's going to kill Draco! We can't…he can't…"

"The bloke tried to kill you…" Ron said slowly. "And you still want to save him?"

Hermione just shot him a look and then turned away, beginning to climb out of bed. "No, Hermione…you can't" Harry said, grabbing her by the shoulders and making her sit down. "Ron's right…Malfo…Draco tried to kill you. You don't owe him anything and you can't, it could get you really killed"

"It doesn't change the fact that I still care!" Hermione yelled, bringing Madam Pomfrey rushing back into the room. Her jaw dropped when she saw the scene before her.

"Do you people have no sense?" she asked raising her arms and glaring around at them all. "How many times do I have to tell everybody not to disturb my patients? Miss. Granger doesn't need anymore excitement tonight. Nor does she really need visitors"

"I'm fine!" Hermione insisted. "I can go, it was just…it was nothing. I'm fine"

"Out!" Madam Pomfrey commanded, pointing at the door. "All of you—including you Shaylene—get out!"

Singlia was the first to stand. "We'll be back in the morning" she promised Hermione and then turned away before she could see Hermione's pleading glance. She motioned to Harry and Ron and they had to follow, muttering their goodbyes to Hermione as they left.

Left completely alone, aside from Madam Pomfrey and Hermione didn't really count her, Hermione slumped back against her pillow. She couldn't leave Draco, she had to do something.