A/N: I have FINALLY updated! I want to thank you all for sticking with me! I will not hold you back; you have been waiting way to long for this chapter. So go ahead and read.

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and Sarah, I'm kind of proud of that.

Chapter Twelve: Lots of Questions

"Hermione, Hermione!" A soft voice whispered.

Hermione opened her eyes slowly. She held back a yelp when she saw Ginny standing in front of her.

"What are you doing here, Ginny?" Hermione asked in a hushed tone as she pulled the sheets up to cover her naked body a bit more.

"I see you had a fun date last night. I expect details later!" Ginny said smirking.

Hermione's cheeks reddened.

"Anyway the reason I woke you up was because you need to talk some sense into Harry. He told me that since you won't listen to him about Malfoy, then he was going to go to Voldemort to find out for himself what's going on."

"What! Is he insane, does he have a death wish or something?"

"I don't know, but he won't listen to me so I need you to talk to him."

Hermione tapped Draco on the head, which was the only thing revealed, since the rest on his body was covered in blankets. When he didn't respond she shoved his shoulder gently, which in return he only shifted under the covers.

Hermione groaned going to her last resort. She picked up her wand, pointing it at Draco's face.

"Aguamenti."

Draco immediately shot up, coughing out the load of water that slipped into his mouth. The blanket that was covering him fell from his shoulders down to his torso.

Ginny's eyes widened and a scream emitted from her.

Harry barged into the room, looking over at Ginny. "Ginny what is it?"

Ginny lifted a shaky finger and pointed towards Draco.

Harry and Hermione looked towards Draco, and saw cuts and bruises on his chest.

"Ginny, go get Dumbledore, now! And get Madam Pomfrey, too! And bring Harry with you!" She told Ginny, not trusting Harry to be around Draco in his condition.

Ginny nodded and grabbed Harry's wrist, sprinting out of the room.

"It's worse that it was before." Hermione said in a concerned tone.

"Each time it happens it gets even more severe." Draco explained.

"But I don't get it! It stopped." She told him confused, grabbing a hand full of sheets, trying to dab up some of the dripping blood.

"That's another part of the curse; it doesn't come back until it is completely healed."

"Is that why you didn't want me to take you to the hospital wing?" Draco nodded.

"We have to figure out how to break the curse!" Hermione sighed, putting her head in her hands. After a while she then looked up at him with worried eyes. "If we can't figure out how to rid you of the curse, could you die if it gets too bad?"

Draco sighed and looked away, giving Hermione the answer.

Hermione felt her eyes sting as tears slid out of her eyes.

"Look at me, Hermione!" Draco said cringing a bit in pain as he sat up. He placed an embracing hand on her cheek, wiping away her tears. "As long as I've got you with me, we are going to get through this. You are the smartest witch I know, and if anyone can figure out how to get rid of this curse, it's you."

Hermione a little smile and leaned down giving Draco a soft peck on the lips, "Thank you."

After a moment suddenly they heard the portrait door swing open.

"Bloody hell! We don't have any clothes on-" she was cut off when Draco's bedroom door opened. Hermione let out laugh as she pulled the sheet over Draco's hips and she pulled the sheets on her as well.

Ginny walked in, followed by Harry, Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, Pansy, Blaise, and a girl that Hermione didn't recognize.

"I thought you two would be dressed by now!" Ginny said.

"Sorry I was a bit preoccupied." Hermione said, blushing as Blaise winked at her.

"Were you to busy giving Malfoy head?" Harry snorted. Ginny elbowed him in the ribs.

Blaise burst into a fit of laughter, but immediately silenced himself when Hermione glared at him.

Hermione turned to Harry, "No, Harry, I was not! Now, if you will excuse us, we will get dressed and meet you in the common room."

Once they left Hermione sighed and got out of bed.

"Damn, all my clothes are in my room."

"Where are the clothes you had on last night?" Draco asked pushing himself off the bed.

"Scattered around in the common room." Hermione answered, laughing.

There was a knock at door and Hermione walked to the door and opened it a crack to stick her head out.

She saw Ginny standing there and holding a bra, and her clothes from the other day.

"I thought you might need this." Ginny said smirking.

Hermione grabbed the clothes and mouthed 'thank you'.

"You must have a nice arse, Granger!" Blaise said throwing Hermione's knickers to Ginny.

Hermione glared at Blaise and grabbed her panties from Ginny, "Also, I just thought you should know that we can hear everything you two are saying, so don't say anything you wouldn't want us to hear."

"Alright." Hermione closed the door.

"He's right you know you do have a nice arse!" Draco said smirking.

"Shut it, Malfoy!" She whispered smiling, throwing his trousers at him.

Draco and Hermione sat down on the couch once they finally emerged from the bedroom.

"So, Mr. Malfoy, what appears to be the problem?" Professor Dumbledore asked calmly, as he examined Draco.

Draco wanted to yell at the old man, but held it in. "What appears to be the problem you ask? Well, I am bleeding from every part of my body! I have pretty sure I have a broken arm, and not to mention I have about four cracked ribs! So does that answer your question?" Everyone stared at Draco after his outburst.

"Draco!" Hermione scolded, as if punishing a child.

Professor Dumbledore let out a chuckle, "Ms. Granger, its fine. I guess I should've rephrased the question." He turned to Draco again, "What seems to be causing this problem?"

After Draco had explained everything about how he got put under the curse, everyone was shocked and feeling a bit of pity for Draco, except for the girl who Hermione didn't know, and it was biting at her nerves.

"Hm, and what did you say the spell was?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Hermione stood up suddenly, "Excuse me for a minute please."

Everyone looked up at her curiously.

Hermione stopped in front of Blaise, "Blaise, could I borrow you for a minute?"

Blaise smirked, "Why didn't you ask sooner, I'm sure Draco wouldn't mind if we had a quickie, right Dra-" Blaise never got to finish his sentence because Hermione grabbed him by his ear and dragged him into her room.

Hermione took her wand out of her pocket, and Blaise immediately put his hands up in surrender.

"Whoa, Granger, I was just kidding!"

Hermione looked at him confused for a minute before rolling her eyes. She raised her wand and put up a silencing charm on the room.

Blaise raised an eyebrow, "We aren't going to be that loud."

Hermione slapped Blaise's cheek.

Blaise put his hand up to his reddened cheek, "Merlin, Granger, save the S&M for later."

Hermione ignored his comment and put her wand back in her pocket, "Who is she?"

Blaise looked at her confused, "What?"

Who is she?" She asked again slowly.

Blaise still looked confused, "Who is who?"

Hermione's patience was running thin, "The girl you came in with."

"Pansy? You already-"

"Not Pansy, the other girl!"

"Oh, that's Sarah, but why would you ask if you already know her?"

It was Hermione's turn to be confused, "What do you mean; I have never seen that girl in my life."

"But, she's in Gryffindor, you had to have at least see her once," Blaise answered looking very confused.

Hermione shook her head, "Like I said never seen her before today."

Blaise watched Hermione leave the room. Could he believe her? She is a mudblood, she might be with his best friend but that still wouldn't change. He needed to have a little talk with Sarah.

Hermione walked back into the room, her gaze immediately dropping down to Sarah.

'What is it about her?' She wondered.

She sat down next to Draco, "What have you found out so far?" She asked not talking to anyone in particular.

"Well, they only way to get rid of the curse is to either get the caster to reverse the curse or you would have to kill him." Dumbledore answered.

Draco snorted, "Well, that isn't going to happen, so we are going to have to go with the latter."

"Easy, then all we would have to find him," Hermione said as a matter-of-factly.

"It isn't that simple, Miss Granger," Said Dumbledore, interrupting her, "if Mr. Malfoy here comes within 5-feet of his father, her will have serious damage done to his body."

Hermione sighed, her confidence wavering, "Then we can just have someone else do it."

Dumbledore shook his head, "Not quite, the person who does the deed must have a special connection with the victim, in this case, that would be Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione looked down at her hands, and then she looked up at Draco, "I'll do it."

"No, I won't let you take that risk, Hermione," Draco answered, clenching his jaw.

"Draco, I'm doing this."

Draco leaned in closer, "He could kill you, Hermione."

"Well, we can't let that happen can we?" Pansy said, speaking for the first time since she entered the room. "My connection to Draco may not the same as yours, Hermione, but he is still my best friend and I would do anything for him."

Before Draco could intervene, Hermione's bedroom door opened and Blaise walked out.

"Don't worry about repeating anything, I heard it all." Blaise said sitting back down next to Sarah.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. He has to be lying; I put a silencing charm around the room! Unless the charm came down once I left the room, or someone else removed it.

"Are you ok, Mate? You seem a little out of it." Draco asked.

Blaise looked up at him giving him a small smile, "Yeah, I'm fine, no worries."

Draco looked at him strangely before turning back to Pansy. "Pans, I can't let you do it."

"Draco, you know once I've set my mind on something, I'm not changing it."

"We don't need to worry about this now. Mr. Malfoy here has time to think about his decision." Dumbledore said interrupting them.

Hermione spoke up, "Exactly how much time does Draco have?"

Professor Dumbledore looked over at Draco, who nodded to him.

"Well, given how early on it is, I'd say about a year at the least."

Hermione looked oddly at the transfer between Draco and the professor, but ignored it.

"I think we should leave the students be for today, Albus." Said Madam Pomfrey, who had closed up most of Draco's cuts.

"I agree, lunch will be start in a few." Dumbledore said standing up and walking towards the portrait. "I will see you all at lunch!"

Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey walked out, leaving nothing but silence in the room.

Blaise stood up, pulling Sarah up with him. "We need to talk." He took her hand and led her out of the room and into the hallways of Hogwarts.

"Uh, I'm just going to head out." Pansy said feeling very uncomfortable.

Once she was gone Ginny opened her mouth.

"We still need to talk about what I originally came here for!"

"Can't we do this later, I'm starving." Draco whined.

"Yes, we talk about this after lunch?" Hermione asked Ginny.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Yeah whatever."

Sarah followed Blaise faking confusion on her face. She was the one who had lifted the spell from Hermione's room, so she had already prepared an answer to his unasked question.

Once they were far enough, Blaise turned to her.

"I need answers and I need them now. Who are you?"

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, remember to REVIEW! I will see if I can get the next chapter up by next week if not, I'll be sure to make it extra-long ^-^

Ana