Oh my gosh! You guys are hysterical. A bunch of the reviews you left me were subtly hinting not to kill Fred. As far as that is concerned I will say this... the Weasley twins are some of my favorite characters. Take that as you will:)
As far as pairing Ron off... I have definitely eliminated Pansy. That pairing also takes away some of the novelty of Dramione. That's all I've decided so far, but thank you for all your suggestions! I really appreciate it!
Thank you for following, favoriting, reading, and especially reviewing.
As Mcgonagall walked away, Draco turned to me.
"She seemed... trusting," He muttered.
"She trusts me, and I trust you," I explained. "You don't have to fight with us you know? You could go back-"
Draco pressed his lips against mine gently, cutting me off mid sentence.
"I'm with you Hermione," He whispered against my lips.
"Oi! Save it for when we've won will you? At least let us think of a name for you two!" Fred called.
We stepped apart. He was right, this wasn't the time.
Suddenly Voldemort's voice filled the air demanding that we turn over Harry or die. He gave us one hour.
"Teachers! Strengthen the wards! Mr. Potter needs time and we are going to give it to him!" McGonagall commanded.
Ron ran up to us.
"Harry, I was thinking-," He started.
"Sounds dangerous," Draco murmured under his breath.
Ron ignored him and continued, "Even if we find the horcrux we need a way to destroy it, and the cup from Bellatrix's vault. Didn't you destroy the diary with a basilisk fang?"
Harry nodded and we slowly realized what Ron was suggesting.
"Why don't you three go get some? I need to figure out what this horcrux could be," He suggested.
"I'll come with you Harry. Honestly that makes more sense," Ron put in.
"Alright. Here Hermione take this," Harry handed me the Marauder's map. "That way you can find us once you've gotten them."
Ron and Harry gave me a tight hug and I returned it.
"Take care of her Malfoy," Harry snapped and the two of them went their own way.
"Horcruxes? He made a horcrux?" Draco asked incredulously.
"Seven in fact," I started towards Myrtle's bathroom.
He didn't reply, but I could hear his footsteps following me, all the way to the doorway of the bathroom. Then he stopped.
"Coming?" I asked.
He shook his head to clear it.
"Sorry. My memories of this bathroom aren't the greatest," Draco smiled ruefully.
I grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, before pulling him along.
"This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry showed it to me after I was... um unpetrified," I explained.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"What?"
"For saying I wanted you to die," he continued.
"Forget it," I said, but smiled at his apology none the less.
I grimaced, staring at the sink, and then I made a hissing sound similar to what Harry mumbled in his sleep sometimes. Draco's eyes bore into my face as the sink folded in on itself.
"Harry talks in his sleep."
"So what do we do now?" He stared into the black hole.
I tugged him to the edge.
"Jump."
With that I pulled him into the hole.
"I still can't believe you three pulled all this crap every year and got away with it," Draco sighed and pulled the last fang from the basilisk's mouth.
"Neither can I," I laughed.
"Let's get out of here. It's kinda scary," He gathered up his fangs in his arms.
"It was the founder of your house who made this place."
"Exactly."
"What is this?"
"It's called the Marauder's map. Lupin, Sirius, Pettigrew, and Harry's dad made it. It shows where everyone is in the whole school. See, the boys are right there," I pointed to the dots heading towards the room of requirement.
Luckily we had ended up only a floor below them. It didn't take long before we found them, Ron pacing outside the room. Harry caught sight of us and set Hufflepuff's cup on the ground.
"Go ahead Hermione," Harry said.
I took a fang from Draco and knelt in front of the cup, raising the fang above my head. Then it began, just like my best friends had warned me it would.
A Draco, made of smoke and my darkest fears, appeared.
"Hello mudblood," The mist Draco sneered at me and I blanched. "What? Did you actually think I cared for you? That I could possibly be in love with a filthy little mudblood whore like you? You were a means to an end mudblood. All I wanted to do was break you, and crush your pathetic soul to dust."
"Hermione don't listen!" Ron screamed, but I barely heard him.
"I would never love scum like you! You are barely worthy to lick the dirt off my shoes!" It continued and I felt hot tears streaming down my face.
"Hermione don't you dare listen to what that thing is saying!" The real Draco shouted. "I love you!"
It was his voice that brought me back to reality and I brought my arm down. A piercing scream filled the corridor as the cup practically melted, and the fake Draco was no more.
Then real Draco caught me around the waist and pulled me against him.
"I'm sorry Hermione! I'm sorry!"
I shook my head into his chest. This wasn't made from his thoughts I knew. My deepest fear had just been exposed. I shook for another moment against him then stood straight up.
Draco's eyes asked me if I was okay, and I nodded slowly. I met first Ron, then Harry's eyes and nodded.
"Alright. Long story short, it is the diadem. And the Grey Lady, who's Ravenclaw's daughter by the way, thinks it's here," Harry's voice shook as he spoke.
And together the four of us walked into the room of requirement.
"Switching sides are we Draco?"
I spun around and pointed my wand at the speaker. Crabbe, Zabini, and Goyle had their wands pointing at us. Harry was halfway up a mountain of furniture, having seen the diadem near the top.
"Yeah, I am!" Draco snarled at them.
"For the mudblood it would appear," Zabini chuckled darkly.
"Don't call her that!" Ron shouted.
"Stupify," Draco hissed, but it was blocked.
"Crucio!" Goyle yelled, training his wand on me.
Draco slammed his shoulder against me hard, and took the curse straight in the chest. The scream that haunted me constantly reverberated through the room.
"Stupify!" I bit out.
This time they couldn't block the spell on time. Goyle was thrown backwards several feet, causing the curse to lift from Draco. Crabbe was muttering something under his breath causing bright orange flames to erupt from the tip of his wand.
"Got it!" Harry called down, before noticing the fire.
Ron tried to put it out with water while I pulled Draco to his feet.
"It's fiendfyre. That won't work," Draco gasped for air.
"Brooms! Go now!" I shouted over the roaring flames and pointed at several discarded brooms not far from us.
The fire had begun to form snakes and winged monsters, setting everything ablaze.
Harry jumped the last few feet to the ground and climbed on a broom. Ron grabbed the second one and Draco the third.
I gazed at the two Slytherins running away from the fire. Sure they had caused it but that didn't mean they should die. Of course they wouldn't let us save them anyway, but even so I felt guilt pooling in my stomach.
I turned towards the brooms reluctantly... and was met with a wall of fire.
I hope you all liked it! Please keep reviewing!
If I made some drastic mistake please tell me. It's almost one in the morning.
On a side note... I'm working on a couple of one shots right now (Dramione of course) as well as another full length Dramioen.
Also my friend Reecse42 is working on a post war Dramione. It's amazing! She's on my favorite author list if you want to check it out!