When the door opened, Hermione glanced over. Harry offered a smile as he set some things down near by the wall before coming to sit by the cot.

"How is he?"

"He looks better." Hermione placed a hand on Draco's forehead. "He still has a fever."

Harry watched as Hermione resumed bandaging up Draco's arm. She was very attentive, making sure the wounds were clean and the bandages were tight. Completely opposite of how he expected her to act towards Malfoy. But he had seen how distressed Hermione had been until they had managed to stop Draco's major bleeding. Something was definitely going on between herself and the unconscious blond.

He took this time to go over what had happened down in the dungeons. The beast that had brought Draco out of the dark had been more massive than he had anticipated, like a great dark lion. Covered in blood, it had struck fear into his heart. But its actions made Harry wonder how insane the thing was.

"Hermione, I need you to tell me what's going on."

She sighed. "It…he was so small when I found him, Harry. I didn't know what he was but I just needed to have him. I tried showing him to you in Diagon Alley, but he disappeared. He doesn't show himself to people except for Dra…for Malfoy. He let Malfoy see him for some reason."

"That thing was a pet?"

"Easter didn't start growing until after Malfoy got involved! He just kept getting bigger, so I couldn't keep him in my room anymore. Malfoy and I had him in the second floor lavatory. He…we were just outside with him, Harry. We took him out to play in the snow and when we brought him inside, he just…this is all my fault."

He pulled her into a hug. "How many times have you cried this semester?" he asked after a few minutes. She laughed, covering her face as more tears came.

"More times than I can count." Removing her hands, she sighed. "Harry, I don't know what to do. Malfoy…I did this to him."

"Hermione, do you honestly think Draco Malfoy would do anything for you if you made him?"

She blushed at the look he gave her. "This isn't the time-"

"This is the perfect time. I managed to convince McGonagall that you and I were going to stay at the tower for dinner, buying us a lot of time. They won't do head counts until nine. So, why don't you tell me what's going on between you and Malfoy?"

She shook her head. "Nothing is going on."

"Seriously? Because, from what I've gathered from you, you have been ditching dates with Ron to spend time with Malfoy and the psychotic cat."

For a while, she just stared at Draco. He was breathing fairly normally now. The leg that Easter had attacked had been completely shredded, but the Room of Requirement had provided some healing potions that had managed to stop the bleeding and started bringing back some skin. His face was scratched up and, like her hand, was still red and bleeding intermittently. She could still hear him demanding that she go on without her.

"Hermione?"

"He kissed me."

Harry's eyebrows rose. "What?"

"He kissed me…today, actually. Before all of this happened. Gosh, it's been a really long day."

"If you want to go sleep-"

"No. I'm fine, Harry. I'll stay up with him." She turned to him, smiling. "Thank you so much, Harry. You helped save his life."

"Yes, well…don't mention it ever again."

She nodded. "Promise."

He stood to stretch. "What are we going to do? About…what did you call him? Easter?" At her nod, he shook his head. "What do we do about Easter? The officers are heading down to the dungeons. I'm not an idiot, Hermione. There is going to be blood down there and they are going to find it."

"Let them find him."

The bitterness in her voice made him hesitate. "Hermione-"

"Look what he did!" She pulled down her collar so that he could see the bruises forming around her neck. "Look what he did to Malfoy! He almost killed both of us."

"Hermione, if Easter is that thing you asked Hagrid about the other day, then more people could get hurt before the Ministry even catches it."

The Mngwa description flashed in her mind and everything went cold. If it was that, then odds were that nobody would catch it. Nobody would be left.

"We can't let them into the dungeons, Harry. More people will die if they go down there." She let out a frustrated yell. "My wand is down there!"

"God, Granger, your voice."

A loud, excited noise escaped her lips and Draco flinched. "Are you completely deaf to yourself?"

She rolled her eyes, taking hold of his hand. "How do you feel?"

He managed an eye open to look at her. "Well, I'm not dead…pity…"

"Don't say that!"

He looked over her tired but relieved face before sighing. "You look terrible."

"You should see yourself, Malfoy."

With a groan, Draco turned his head so that he could see Harry. "What the hell, Granger?"

"You were dying and Zabini was nowhere to be found."

"Blaise Zabini knows?" Harry shook his head. "Hermione."

"Hey, Potter. Go away."

"I could have left your bleeding arse in the dungeons."

"Then you'd have a hysterical muggleborn on your hands. Instead, you just have an anxious one. You're going to break my hand, Granger."

She relaxed her hold on him. "Sorry. And I would not get hys…" At his raised eyebrow, she blushed furiously. "You're alive, so why don't we just drop it?"

He smirked and then winced. "God, I feel awful."

"You were mauled. You're lucky to still have your leg! I expect you would feel some kind of terrible."

Harry sat back down with a frown. "Hermione said Easter attacked you. What happened after she left?"

Draco frowned as the events slowly returned to his mind's eye. "He was killing me…"

Hermione hit him hard in the side, glaring. "Stop it," she hissed. "Don't do that."

He chuckled, squeezing her hand. "Calm down, Granger. I'm still here, so obviously he didn't."

She pulled her hand away and walked to the other side of the room. Harry noticed Draco's expression and shook his head. Getting into the logic that sparked the twisted feelings between Draco and Hermione would have to wait another day.

"So…so, what happened?"

"I don't know. I passed out."

With a sigh, Harry stood. "Well, you two did a bang up job, hm?"

"Screw you, Potter. This came out of nowhere."

"You knew that thing was dangerous!"

"It never attacked us before!"

"Yes, well, I'm sure it would never do that again."

"Stop it!" Hermione yelled, turning back to the boys. "We don't have time for this. We have to figure out a way to get to Easter-"

"And what?" Draco snapped. "Kill it? You saw what happened when I tried?"

"You both tried to kill it and it didn't work?"

Hermione ignored the surprise on Draco's face. "I don't know what we can do. Maybe I should just go tell Professor McGonagall-"

"No!" the boys said simultaneously. They glanced at each other before Harry approached Hermione. "They'll expel-"

"Malfoy almost died because I refused to say anything and thought I could handle this myself. I don't want anyone else to die because of me, Harry."

Harry could see there was no way of dissuading her. Draco saw that decided expression as well, but he was not going to have any of it. He pushed himself up despite his pain, glaring at her.

"You are not going anywhere, Granger."

"You can't stop me, Malfoy."

"They're going to expel you for this!"

"At least nobody will get hurt."

"Bullshit, they'll shut the school down and you know they will! There's no way they'll catch it and plenty of people will die trying! It lives in the shadows, Granger and even when it's light out, it's a bloody nightmare! Nothing good is going to come of you telling them!"

"People are going to get hurt if I don't! I am not going to be selfish just because I don't want to get in trouble!"

"And I'm not letting you ruin your life because you're trying to be a freaking martyr!"

She screamed and threw her bag at him. "This is all of your fault! If you hadn't shown up, he wouldn't have gotten bigger and none of this would have happened!"

Harry grabbed Draco's wrist before the boy chucked anything back. "Both of you stop it! God, it's worse than when you're at it with Ron!"

"Don't compare me to that prick," Draco snarled, pulling away before looking back at Hermione. "You go tell them, then four of us get thrown out of Hogwarts. Well, not Potter, because he saved the freaking magical community. But the rest of us will be expelled and probably get shit from the Ministry."

"Somebody's paranoid," Harry muttered, going over to calm Hermione down. "Look, Hermione. I know you're scared-"

"I have to, Harry," she whispered. "I have to…I don't know how I'd live with myself if someone else got hurt."

Harry knew there was no dissuading her and sighed. "Alright. We'll go now."

Hermione turned to Draco, but he had laid down with his back turned to her. She approached the cot.

"I'll tell them you weren't involved, Malfoy-"

"Get the hell away from me, mudblood."

Her heart twisted horribly at that word coming from his lips. The same lips that, earlier that day, had kissed her.

"Hermione," Harry said softly. She wiped her cheeks and grabbed her bag. With a last look at Draco's still form, she followed Harry out of the room.

It was a slow, tense walk underneath the invisibility cloak. Harry kept his eye on Hermione, finding it hard to ignore the hard look on her face. He took her hand, squeezing it.

When they got near the Entrance Hall, they ducked into a corner and shed the cloak. But before they got close to the doors, two Ministry officials intercepted them.

"Please come with us, Miss Granger."

"I was just going-"

"Now, Miss Granger. Mr. Potter, I will have to ask you to go inside the Great Hall."

She was led away, a dark feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Where are we going?"

The Ministry official shook his head. "Headmistress McGonagall and Minister Shacklebolt will explain it all to you."